The Portage Route Chapter is hosting a free lecture at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center at 7 p.m. Feb. 11.

The lecture, “The Reappearance of Robert Vaughn, the Celtic Cowboy,” features local historian and author Richard Bird Baker portraying Robert Vaughn, telling his unique version of Great Falls’ founding and reminiscing about his fascinating pioneer life.

Vaughn was a pioneer who came to the gold camps in Western Montana in 1864. He homesteaded in the Sun River Valley in 1869 where he started the area’s first cattle ranch. He was as vital to the founding of Great Falls as anyone, as this program will illustrate. His legacy includes the Arvon Block, the Vaughn Block, and his book, “Then and Now: thirty six years in the Rockies,” one of the most detailed accounts ever written about the lives and perils of western pioneers. He once owned twenty-five original paintings by his friend Charlie Russell.

Call 406-727-8733 for more information