White crosses mark Montana highway fatalities

Two people died here.

On every highway in Montana except the interstates, you will see white crosses every so often alongside the road. Most often there will be a single cross, but sometimes two or three, even more.

They all mark the place where people died in a traffic accident. It breaks your heart to see a marker with four or five crosses attached. You know that some of them were families.

All of the markers are part of a program started in 1953 by an American Legion member who hoped small, simple white crosses would warn other motorists to slow down and sober up. The crosses are made by local machine shops from donated or recycled scrap iron. Metal posts are supplied by the state highway department. American Legion posts around the state erect new markers and maintain those already there. The crosses bear no names or dates unless added by family members or friends.

Many families place wreaths or other decorations on the white crosses. But most are plain.

Traveling on Montana highway 212 just north of tiny Charlo I passed six different sets of signs on one wide bend in the road — not more than a quarter mile from end to end. The old Jan and Dean song "Dead Man's Curve" came to mind.

It's sad to see all the crosses, mile after mile.