Mount Sentinel
Near Missoula, Montana
The mountain rising just east of downtown Missoula has been tied to the University of Montana almost since the university's founding. In nineteen oh two, the Northern Pacific Railroad donated forty acres at its base to the university, and Congress later turned over additional acreage extending up to the crest, making the University of Montana the only university in the nation that owns an entire mountain. In nineteen oh eight, members of the Forestry Club cut a zigzag trail up its west face and hauled stones up the slope to form a large letter M.
That stone M was replaced with wood in nineteen twelve, blown off by wind in nineteen fourteen, rebuilt in stone in nineteen fifteen, and finally replaced with the concrete M that stands today in nineteen sixty-eight. On a clear day, more than one thousand people make the hike up eleven switchbacks to that letter.
