Marking More than a Fatality

SEELEY LAKE – When driving the major roads in Montana, travelers can't help but notice the white crosses dotting the side of the roads. The American Legion has used the white crosses to mark the sites of fatal traffic accidents for the past 50 years.

Jim Kelly, a member of the American Legion Post 13 out of St. Regis, keeps this tradition alive in District 5, including the Blackfoot, Clearwater and Swan Valleys. He covers more than 2,500 miles and maintaining more than 1,000 crosses, adding more each year.

The Montana American Legion White Cross Highway Fatality Marker Program began in 1953. The unique idea of marking fatal traffic accident sites with a white cross was the brainchild of Floyd Earhart, a member of Hellgate Post #27 in Missoula, after six lives were lost in that area over the 1952 Labor Day Holiday. While the program became a county and later district project, the idea was adopted in 1953 as a statewide program. 

Kelly said as he travelled the state in his retirement, he noticed all of the markers in disrepair.

"If it's our responsibility, it doesn't show very favorably on the legion," said Kelly who started volunteering two years ago as a community service.

Local Montana American Legion Posts are responsible for maintaining the fatality markers in their area. Not all of the 134 Posts in Montana currently participate in the program.  Some areas of Montana do not have a local American Legion Post.

"The posts either don't have the manpower or the resources to do it [or they have been deactivated like in Seeley Lake]. I'm one of the young ones at 72 [years old] from Vietnam. The World War II and Korean guys are gone. So I volunteered to do it for District 5," said Kelly.

American Legion District 5 includes 16 posts in and around Missoula, in the Bitterroot and north to Flathead Lake. Kelly maintains and installs the fatality markers on any city or county roads and on state highways south of Highway 200 from Thompson Falls to Ovando; to the Idaho border on Highway 93; north to Gold Creek on I-90, north on Highway 35 and Highway 83 around Flathead Lake.

When a highway is reconstructed and corrects what may have been the cause of the fatality, all markers are removed.  In these cases, only those fatality markers specifically requested by a family member are replaced.  In addition, a family may request that a fatality marker not be erected at the site of a death.

"It used to be known as the white crosses; still are by a lot of people even me," said Kelly. "We changed the name to fatality markers [in response to a lawsuit by the ACLU in 2007]."

The old crosses are made of steel and were showing more rust than paint. Now Kelly uses aluminum crosses with a plastic laminate covering so he doesn't have to paint them every year.

"It's taken some of the maintenance out of it," said Kelly. "However, because they are thin they sometimes bend."

Kelly created a database for District 5 back ten years. He searches local newspapers and radio clips for information on fatal crashes. He then compiles the articles covering the fatalities and the obituaries if he can find them.

"The stories just grab you," said Kelly when referring to the cross he just put up for a three-year-old that was killed near Missoula.

Kelly receives GPS coordinates from the Highway Patrol for recent fatalities but those are from the patrol car which can be more than a quarter mile from the accident. Along with the coordinates he uses any photos from the media to locate the accident.

Once he arrives at the location, Kelly said he can read the "tell-tale-signs" of gouging in the dirt, debris left from the accident and, if it was recent, the tire tracks in the grass. He places the fatality markers as close to the accident as possible. The Montana Department of Transportation has given permission to place the markers in the right-of-way according to specific requirements.

"They are safety markers not memorials," said Kelly. "If you can't see the safety marker it doesn't serve its purpose."

While the preference is for no decorations because it reduces visibility and defeats the purpose of the program, Kelly will allow modest decorations on the staff below the white cross.

There are several markers for which Kelly does not have a name or any information (see box on this page for Highways 200 and 83). To provide information on the markers listed call Ruth Smith at the Missoula American Legion, 406-550-4420.

Also, if a cross is missing at the place of a fatal accident, please call as well. Kelly will investigate the fatality to make sure it meets the requirements for the program.