As early as 1892, citizens were advocating that the badlands of the Makoshika area be designated a park.  The federal government considered the land for a national park and built the first road into the area in 1939, but decided that it would not be designated a national park.
    In the 1940s, A.J. and Catharine Caulk McCarty donated a parcel of land to Dawson County with the provision that it be protected; in 1953, the State of Montana designated it a Montana State Park.  The original McCarty donation, and a series of additions through easements, land exchanges and purchases, has culminated in the largest of Montana's state parks.  At 11,531 acres, Makoshika protects approximately 20% of the the badlands of Montana.