Check it out - Lost and Found Montana

I recently encountered a brief mention of the Lost and Found Montana project in a newspaper insert.  While this project is news to me, it is not new news.  Way back in August, the story of Jeremy Lurgio,’s project appeared in the Missoulian.  Lost and Found Montana is a multimedia presentation and website documenting 18 towns that the Department of Transportation planned to eliminate from the state road map. Lurgio is an associate professor of photojournalism and multimedia at the University of Montana. His Lost and Found Montana Exhibit was unveiled at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography in Missoula and at the same time he launched his website lostandfoundMontana.com. The exhibit ran through October and netted Lurgio second place at Atlanta Photojournalism contest for Multimedia Interactive Presentation.  I have visited the website and I encourage everyone else to do so too.  It is a reminder that even though towns can seem to vanish, their people and their stories do not.  The wide expanse that is Montana is full of remnants of towns that have all but disappeared.

www.lostandfoundmontana.com

County Name Quiz Answers

I hope you enjoyed the County Name Quiz.  Here are the answers:

1.  Judith Basin County was named for the Judith River.  The river was named by Meriwether Lewis for his cousin, Judith Hancock of Faircastle, Virginia.

2.  Garfield County was named for President James Garfield who was assassinated in 1881 after serving less than six months in office.

3.   Ravalli County was named for the Jesuit Missionary, Father Anthony Ravalli,  who arrived in the Bitterroot Valley in 1845. You can learn more about Father Ravilli at:
                      http://www.saintmarysmission.org/PhotoTourRavalli.html

4.  The name for Mineral County was suggested by George Willett, a railroad employee who was elected to serve in the state legislature.  Willett had served in the Philippines during the Spanish American War where he contracted leprosy.  It took years before the symptoms of the disease developed and Willet had just been elected for a second term when he became ill. At that time there was no known cure for the malady.  After living in quarantine near Alberton,  he and his wife were forced to move to a leprosarium.

5.  Lincoln County was named for President Abraham Lincoln.

6.  Sanders County was named for Wilbur Fisk Sanders, nephew of the first territorial governor, Sidney Edgerton.

7.  The counties that were named specifically to attract homesteaders were Richland, Golden Valley and Treasure.  (I guess with the Bakken (check the spelling) oil boom, Richland County  has really lived up to its name.)

8.  Toole County was named for J.K. Toole, Montana’s first Governor.

9.  The obvious answer for this question is Lewis and Clark County.  The not so obvious one is Chouteau County which was named for Augustus and Pierre Chouteau,  fur traders, American Pioneers and founders of the city of St. Louis.

I hope you enjoyed this quiz. On a final note here is some food for thought.  If part of the county you live in were to break off to form a new county what would you suggest for the new county’s name?

Montana County Name Quiz

As a diversion from all the holiday hustle and bustle, I thought you might enjoy a short quiz to test your knowledge of Montana County history.

1.  There are twenty six counties in Montana that were named for men, either directly or indirectly. (By indirectly, I mean that a county was named for a river or other feature that was named for a person.  An example would be Madison County which was named for the Madison River which was by the Lewis and Clark Expedition for then Secretary of State James Madison).  Only one Montana County was indirectly named for a woman. Can you name that county?

2.  Of the counties named for U.S. Presidents, which one bears the name of an assassinated president that did not play an important role in Montana history?

3.  Which county was named for an important religious figure who figured prominently  in Western Montana history?

4.  This is a hard one, don’t feel bad if you don’t get the answer.  Which county, formed in 1914, was named by a man who served in the state legislature from that county and later was quarantined there because he suffered from leprosy?  (I warned you it was a hard one.)

5.  Which county was named for the U.S. President who signed the bill making Montana a territory?

6.  Which county was named for a man who was a vigilante, a lawyer, first president of the Montana Historical Society, and  represented the state of Montana in the U.S. Senate?

7.  There were three counties whose names were chosen to attract homesteaders. Can you name at least two of them?

8.  Which county was named for a Montana Governor?

9.   This is another tricky one.  Which two counties were named for two men?

I will post the answers in a couple of days so that you can see how you did.

Remnants and Relics

Montana is full of remnants and relics of its colorful past.  I am not referring to the obvious ones like the well preserved ghost towns or the highly recognized landmark’s like the head frames that  loom over the city of Butte, or Helena’s old fire tower, The Guardian of the Gulch; nor am I referring to out of the way places where no one ever goes.  The remnants and relics that we often overlook are clearly visible from the streets of our towns or the highways connect our towns.

To give you an example, in Carbon County, just off of Highway 212 between Joliet and Rockvale, there are the remnants of a restaurant and hotel.  The restaurant and hotel were part of a Hot Spring Resort called Montaqua .  The resort came into being when a local prospector  named Major Keown, drilling for oil in 1904, instead tapped into a  natural hot springs.  Seeing it as a way to cash in on his discovery he built a spa.  In time a hotel and restaurant were added on.  While that in itself makes the remnants an interesting spot, the event that destroyed the business is equally compelling.  In August of 1959, the devastating earthquake near the Montana - Idaho border  caused a  major landslide, burying the campers who were trapped there.  Highways and buildings in the area were destroyed and a new  lake, Earthquake Lake, was formed.  More than a hundred miles away, the hot waster supply was cut off to Montaqua when the ground beneath it shifted.   As devastating as that was, the final blow came as a natural gas fissure opened up after the quake.  The gas was accidentally ignited and the explosion destroyed the spa.

There are many other examples of remnants and relics with interesting stories behind their demise and I will be sharing these stories from time to time.

Part of the information for this entry came from the brochure :Driving Tour of Historic Carbon County, published by the Carbon County Historical Society and Museum

Montana's First Vigilante Hanging, and no it wasn't George Ives

It is that time of year again when the cold winds and the short days cause me to ponder the events of  the winter of 1863-64 when Montana’s famous vigilantes dispensed with twenty-one of the territory’s allegedly most despicable road agents.  For a long time I thought that those hangings were the first vigilante activity in what is now Montana, but I recently discovered that there was an incident that predated those hangings by  sixteen months.

Admittedly this first vigilante justice differed from the latter hangings. It was a single event, spontaneously carried out, rather than a group of hangings carefully orchestrated by a large organized committee.  I came across this historical information while reading the book Shallow Diggin’s, Tales from Montana’s Ghost Towns, compiled by Jean Davis and published in 1962 by Caxton Printers Ltd., Caldwell Idaho.  I read this book back when I was in high school, (a historical fact in itself, considering how long it has been since I was in high school) but for some reason I had forgotten about the event in question.

In the first chapter, "Gold Creek", James Stuart’s diary contained an account of  two men coming into Gold Creek seeking some men that had stolen horses.  The men approached Stuart and asked for help from the citizens in apprehending the men in question. Stuart assured the two that they would have all the help they needed.  The three alleged horse thieves were apprehended,  but not without  incident.  One of the men pulled out his gun and was shot dead.  The other two men were kept under guard until the following morning when their fate was decided.  During the proceedings, one of the men testified that he had  no knowledge of the theft, he had only been traveling with the other two for a short time.  Evidently his story rang true and he was given six hours to leave the territory (which would have been Idaho Territory at that time.)  A man named Spillman, who had come to Gold Creek to run a gambling game, was found guilty of horse theft and was hanged at 2:22 p.m. on August 26, 1862.

The book, Shallow Diggin’s  is a wonderful book full of first hand accounts of events that took place in the gold camps during Montana’s early years.  It may not be readily available for purchase,  but  it should be available at most  Montana  public libraries.

The very first "Cats-Griz" game

The very first Cats-Griz football game took place on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1897. Off field, the attitude of the teams was much more cordial than it is today.  The game was played on a makeshift field in Missoula. There was no stadium, no tailgate parties, not even bleachers. The day before the game the Bozeman team traveled by train to Missoula where they were greeted by some women students and taken to Judge Knowles home for a reception. The next day their hosts provided a tour of Fort Missoula before the game. It wasn’t even a Cats-Griz game at that point because the Bozeman team was referred to as the
"Aggies" and the Missoula team was called “Varsity”. (It wasn’t until 1912 that the Missoula team was nicknamed the Bruins, which evolved into the Grizzlies. Shortly after that the Bozeman team became the Mountain Lions, a name that never caught on. The name Bobcats was chosen by a student body vote.)

The off-field demeanor of the two teams is not the only thing that was vastly different from contemporary games. Instead of having four quarters in a game, the early games were played in two twenty-five minute halves. Touchdowns were worth only five points and there were three downs instead of four. The biggest difference in the actual game is that forward passes were illegal. The ball could be passed laterally but the only way to advance the ball was to carry. Needless to say, this produced more injuries, since the players did not have the type of safety gear that they use today.

There was no coaching staff, the coaches were teachers who volunteered to work with the teams. The “Varsity” players probably had the advantage because their coach, Fred Smith, had played football at Cornell University. They also had the advantage of having fans on the sideline since it is unlikely that many Aggie fans made the trip.

In spite of all of the differances, the game was undoubtably very exciting, and it was the beginning of one of the most intense rivalries in the country.  The final Score Varsity-18, Aggies-6

Sedan, Montana

This morning while driving between Wilsall and Bozeman Montana via Highway 86, we passed the Sedan School.  I have never stopped there, but I know from recent research that the school is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Seeing the school again whetted my curiosity about the community of Sedan.

The first source I checked for information was the book, MONTANA PLACE NAMES, FROM ALZADA TO ZORTMAN, which was published by the Montana Historical Society in 2009.  I am fascinated in how a name is chosen when a new community springs up.  According to this source, the name Sedan was chosen by an early settler, for his former home of Sedan, Kansas.

A quick internet search netted me the following information:

The area was first settled in the mid 1880's and the post office was opened there in 1891.  By 1895, Sedan had its first school and by 1898, construction had begun on a Methodist Church. Sedan never became a real town, with houses and such.  Instead it was a small hub for the farmers and ranchers who made their homes in the area.This didn't stop them from being a real community, They even built their own telephone system, The East Flathead Telephone Company, in 1905 so that the area farmers could keep in touch. A cheese factory was opened in 1914, creating a market for the dairy farmers. It was in business until 1926.  Over the years there were a store, a community hall, and a gold mine.  It is hard to imagine, with only one building still standing, that Sedan was a lively place that hosted dances, rodeos, church and 4-H clubs. Now even the post office is gone, the mail coming from Wilsall, but the ranchers who live in the area probably still consider themselves residents of Sedan.

A Memory and A Reminder - Hebgen Lake August 17,1959

Today is the anniversary of the 1959 Hebgen Lake Earthquake.  Please take a minute to remember those who perished in that terrible natural disaster and then take time to make an emergency plan for you and your family. 

Unique Source of Montana History Information

Historical research sometimes takes a writer to unusual places and sources.  For the past several days I have been searching for information in two books that have proven to be both interesting and informative. 

From the quarries of Last Chance Gulch; a "news-history" of Helena and its Masonic lodges, covering the 25-year period in Helena's history from the discovery of gold in Last Chance Gulch in 1864 to the coming of statehood to Montana in 1889. by William C Campbell, published in 1951, caught my eye while I was browsing through the Montana section of my local library.  I know that the Freemasons played a large role in Montana territorial and state history so I added it to the pile of books I was checking out.  I also picked up Volume II, which covers the years 1890 to 1900.

Even if you aren't interested in the history of the Masonic lodges of Helena, these two books are a good read for anyone interested in the history of Helena and the rest of the state.  They provide readers with a glimpse of the social customs, mining, ranching financial and political history, and since they are arranged in chronological chapters, they also provide a timeline of the state's history for those years.   

I am happy to say that I found the information I was looking for in these two books and they will be included in the bibliography of my next book.

Hot today, history tomorrow.

It's hot.  This summer could end up being one for the history books.  A large part of the country is suffering from drought, some places moderate, some extreme, all of it newsworthy.  If you look at all the graphics on news stories about the drought, Montana is in better condition than many of the states in the central part of country, even so, the drought could play a major role in our ecomony.  It isn't just agricultural businesses that are keepng a close eye on the weather.   Only yesterday I heard a news report about streams that have fishing restrictions during the afternoon and evening hours.  It just doesn't take long to heat the water, when the flow levels are so low. Many communities rely on fishermen and other outdoor recreationalists for a sizable boost to their seasonal incomes. And then there are the wildfires. It is too early to tell but I have heard more than one expert compare this summer to 1988, the summer that Yellowstone National Park and the rest of the west, experienced devastating fire seasons.  I think this summer will be remembered for years as the long, hot dry summer of 2012

News of the Battle of the Little Bighorn via the Telegraph

It is a beautiful summer morning and I just came from a visit to the Depot Center Museum in Livingston.  Even though it is in my hometown, I don't visit often enough.  While I was making my way through the the exhibits, I came across a telegraphy key where patrons could try tapping out a message.  I learned Morris code as a kid, but it had been a long time since I had attempted to use it.  I couldn't resist giving it a try and my efforts made me realize the skill it  took for telegraphers  to send messages.


Thinking about how difficult it would have been to master this skill reminded me of something I had read about the events following the Battle of the Little Bighorn, in the National Park Service Handbook online. http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/1a/hh1j.htm


According to the National Park Service Handbook: 

               "To send out news of the battle, J. M. Carnahan, the telegraph operator at Bismarck, took his seat at the telegraph key and for 22 hours he hardly moved from his chair. Upon completion of this message, he remained another 60-odd hours at the key without rest or sleep sending newspaper dispatches throughout the country."

I cannot imagine what that would have been like.  It is hard enough to sit at a computer for more than a few hours, but to have to spell out each word with a series of long and short taps, it was an amazing feat.  At the time the telegraph was invented it was considered to be such an advance in communication. Can you imagine what those early telegraph operators would have thought about the internet?

In Memory of the Fallen. The Battle of the Little Bighorn

This week marks the anniversary of the Battle of the Little Big Horn.  I will not go into the details of the battle, there are many books, articles and websites for anyone who wishes to learn more about this important  event in Montana and United States history.  I would be remiss, however, if I failed to show my respect for the fallen warriors on both sides of the battle.  While the Native Americans were the obvious victors in this battle, they eventually lost the war to protect their way of life.  There is no such thing as a good war, and one cannot help but mourn the loss of life when two cultures collide and cannot find a way to coexist.  Hopefully something can be learned, even a hundred and thirty-six years later, from this horrible battle so that those who perished did not do so in vain.

Memorial obelisk with the names of the officers, soldiers and civilians killed in the battle 

Indian Memorial at the Battlefield

Markers at the site of a Fallen Warrior,  a relatively new feature at the  Battlefield.

History Clues on the Montana Highway Map

It is funny how much history is recorded on a state highway map.  If you take any given region and read the names, there are all kinds of clues to what went on there.  For example, if you look at the south eastern part of Montana you can spot all sorts of references to the Sioux Indian War, including the Battle of the Little Big Horn.  There is Custer, the town and Custer County named for Lt.Col. George Armstrong Custer; the town of Garryowen is named for the marching song of the Seventh Cavalry; Miles City is named for Colonel Nelson A Miles; the town of Terry is named for General Alfred H. Terry and Sheridan County is named for General Philip Sheridan, who also played a major role in that part of Montana History.

If you were to go the other side of the state in the southwestern corner, the region that is known as the Gold West Region, you can find all sorts of names that reflect the history of that region. The clues to the areas history from the names on the map are not as obvious as the ones in the east, but they are there if you look for them.  The small town of Clancy was named for the prospector William Clancy; Anaconda comes from the Anaconda Copper Mining Company; Gold Creek gets its name from the discovery of gold there; Philipsburg was named for Philip Deidesheimer, the inventor of square set mine timbering; and Walkerville bears the name of the Walker Brothers who operated the Alice Mine.

Across the entire state there are names of Railroad employees and their families, postmasters of tiny towns and ranches who settled the area. 

Seven Montana History Events

I was killing some time at the library, waiting for the rain to stop so I went to www.visitmt.com to see what historical events were on the calendar for this summer.  I clicked on "Things To Do", scrolled over to "Events," went to the "Select type of Event" and selected Historical.  Voila!   There were 51 events listed, some of them already past, some that might appeal to others with different interests than mine and I ended up with this list that I would like to attend.

• BANNACK DAYS,  July 21-22, 2012   Bannack State Park
• AN RI RA MONTANA IRISH FESTIVAL, August 10-12 2012    Butte
• HISTORIC BAR TOUR, August 5, 201  2 Anaconda
• LITTLE BIGHORN DAYS,  June 21-24, 2012  Hardin 
• LIVE History Days  July 21-22, 2012   Polson
• LIVING HISTORY LANTERN TOUR,   June 23, July 21, Aug. 18, September 1, 2012  Nevada City
• THE MONTANA WILD WEST FEST,  August 10-12, 2012  East Helena  

If you too, need to kill some time or want more information about any of the above, or the any of the other events listed, check out www.VisitMt.com

Fort Peck Dam News Brief

Fort Peck Dam is in the news.  On June 23 and 24, there will be a celebration at the dam to mark the anniversary of the dam.  There will be a ceremony to honor the 59 workers who lost their lives and there will be several speakers and a picnic. For information about the celebration, go to the visit Montana website. http://visitmt.com/listing/categories_NET/MoreInfo.aspx?IDRRecordID=1883  It sounds like a great way to spend a summer weekend.

On a less cheerful note, Fort Peck Dam also made the news last week, when news sources reported that it would take 225 million dollars to repair the damages to Fort Peck Dam caused by last years heavy spring run off..

To learn more about the history of Fort Peck dam, go to  http://www.fortpeckdam.com. 


 Another great way to experience the history of the dam is the PBS documentary that can be viewed at http://watch.montanapbs.org/video/2236176232  PBS is a wonderful source for information about Montana History. Please give them your support.

Looking for Albert Johnson

On the front page of the May 25, 2012 Livingston Enterprise there is a story about a Salt Lake City family who found their long lost relative, buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Livingston.  I was especially interested in this story because I have been searching for years for my Grandfather. He was my Grandmother's second husband and he left Livingston in 1927, headed for Saint Paul to pick up a car. His name was Albert Johnson and the only thing I know of what happened to him was that my grandmother, Minnie Johnson received a telegram from a sheriff in North Dakota, telling her that he had put Albert on a train.  I have no idea why the sheriff was involved, but Albert never arrived in Livingston.  


Over the years I have searched for information about Grandfather, but with so little to go on, and the fact that Albert Johnson is such a common name, I have had little success.  After reading the of the success  these other people had finding out the fate of their long, lost family member it has given me a renewed hope that I will be able to find out what happened.  If anyone has any suggestions on ways to solve this mystery, I am all ears.

June Disasters in Montana Disasters: Fires, Floods and other Catastrophes

June is almost here.  It is my favorite month, but it seems like it is also the one of the worst months for disasters.  Several of the disasters that I wrote about in my first book, Montana Disasters: Fires, floods and other Catastrophes, happened in June. On the evening of June 18th and the early morning of June 19th, 1938, a flash flood in Eastern Montana caused a horrific disaster for the passengers aboard the Chicago, Saint Paul and Milwaukee Railroad’s Olympian Train number 15.  Custer Creek, which was usually hardly more than a trickle was much fuller than usual but didn’t pose a threat for the trestle that was built to withstand the pressures of heavy spring run-off.  A deluge that dropped several inches of rain in a short time upstream from the bridge sent a twenty foot wall of water that weakened the structure.  As the locomotive passed over the bridge, the middle support gave way and  many of the passenger cars were washed into the raging creek.  The heroic efforts of the passengers and railroad employees, along with tales of tragedy and survival make this one of the most compelling chapters in my book.

Other June disasters included in the book are the Speculator-Granite Mine Disaster in Butte, the Blackfeet Flood of 1964, and the Battle of the Little Big Horn.  Montana Disasters: Fires, Floods and Other Catastrophes  is available at Amazon.com and at many locations around the state.  It can also be checked out at almost any library in Montana

Rainy Days are Great Museum Days

I just checked out the weather forecast for the Memorial Day Weekend.  If the meteorologists are correct, it is going to be a little cool and wet for outdoor activities.  The good news is that many of the smaller museums around the state open for the season this weekend and  rainy days are great days to visit a museum.

 Some of the museums that I have visited and enjoyed that open this weekend are:    

• Crazy Mountain Museum in Big Timber
• Powder River Historical Museum and Mac’s Museum in Broadus
• Museum of the Upper Missouri in Fort Benton
• Valley County Pioneer Museum in Glasgow
• Frontier Gateway Museum in Glendive
• Prairie County Museum and Evelyn Cameron Gallery in Terry
• Jefferson Valley Museum in Whitehall

These are only a sampling of the museums around the state and a good source for getting information for a museum near you is: www.visitmt.com

Battle of the Little Bighorn - Journey to the Battle

On May 17, 1776, The U.S. Army along with Native American Scouts, and a handful of civilians rode out of  Fort Abraham Lincoln, North Dakota.  Their plan was to follow the route surveyed by the Northern Pacific Railroad westward to the Yellowstone Basin. Their objective was to round up the Indians that were standing in the way of the settling of the Great Plains.  When the officers and soldiers marched out that morning,  no one could have dreamed of the disastrous outcome of the expedition.  Almost anyone familiar with American history knows how this venture ended.  The Battle of the Little Bighorn or Custer’s Last Stand is probably the best known battle of the Indian Wars.  Among the civilians, a reporter named Mark Kellogg, who represented the Bismarck Tribune, kept a journal of the expedition and sent dispatches back to the newspaper.  Kellogg perished pursuing the story of a lifetime.  The Associated Press recognized Mark Kellogg as the first AP Correspondent to die while covering a story.  Also among the civilians were Boston Custer, brother of Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, and their nephew, Autie Reed.  The Custer family was well represented on the expedition.  George’s Brother Tom Custer and his brother-in-law James Calhoun also rode out that morning, and they all died together at the Little Bighorn 39 days later.

Big Horn County Museum's Big News

For the second time in one week, the local newspaper has carried a story about the opening of new historical museum facility in Montana.  On Tuesday the Livingston Enterprise carried an Associated Press story about the new state-of-art home for the Big Horn County Historical Museum in Hardin, Montana.  Of course I am always excited when a new historical destination presents itself, but what I found most encouraging about this story was the fact that there are still many people out there who are willing to donate their time and money to preserve the past and present it in ways that intrigue and entertain visitors of all ages.

More information about hours, displays, and events can be found at http://www.bighorncountymuseum.org/Info.htm

Home for the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame Announced

A recent front page story in the Livingston Enterprise carried the news that Big Timber had been chosen to be the home of the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center.  While I was disappointed to hear that Livingston, which under consideration, had not been chosen, I was pleased that it will at least be nearby.

I hadn't paid much attention to the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame until I read the news story.  I was vaguely aware of  its existence in Wolf Point, but I hadn't actually visited the area.  After reading the article, I did a little research on the organization and I am really looking forward to the opening at the new location.  If you would like to learn more about the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center, including the full press release about the move to Big Timber, you can visit their website www.Montanacowboyfame.com  I will try to monitor the progress of the new facility and keep everyone posted.

2012 Nevada City Lantern Tour Schedule

I would like to thank Dan Thyer for providing the 2012 schedule for the Nevada City Lantern tours.  I am hoping that I can make it to one of them this summer. I think this would be a great way to experience gold rush night life at its best.    Nevada City and nearby Virginia City are high on my list of places to experience Montana history.

Lantern Tours of Nevada City are held once a month during the summer season. The dates for 2012 are June 23, July 21, Aug. 18,and Sept. 1. All tours start at 9pm from the Nevada City Music Hall, and take about 90 minutes. It is a chance to see what early Montana was like at night in a rip roaring gold mining camp.

Recommended Reading: I do: a cultural history of Montana weddings

Since there are two Montana weddings in the book that I currently writing, I was pleased to discover a new book on the topic at my local library.   I do : a cultural history of Montana weddings / by Kohl, Martha.  I found it to be well written.  It provided a look at weddings throughout Montana history, giving details of lavish weddings of some of Montana's more prosperous families as well as depression era weddings and everything in between.  I was hoping to find out a little more about Montana's marriage laws, and this book did touch on the subject briefly. Since I do not wish to include material that has been covered recently in other books, I was glad to find that the one of the weddings I am mentioning in my book is only mentioned briefly in this book and the other one is not mentioned at all.

Ms. Kohl is employed at the Montana Historical Society.

Lewis and Clark on the Map

In my last post, I mentioned a book that I was reading, The fate of the corps : what became of the Lewis and Clark explorers after the expedition, and it started me thinking about how often the names Lewis and Clark show up on Montana maps.  There is Lewis and Clark County, Lewis and Clark Caverns, and Lewis and Clark National Forest.  There is a Lewis and Clark Elementary School in Missoula Montana and all sorts of motels and other businesses with a Lewis and Clark tie-in.  I grew up on Lewis Street in Livingston which runs parallel to Clark Street. There are several other Lewis or Clark streets and Avenues across Montana.

Lewis and Clark are not the only members of the Expedition immortalized on the map.  The Shields River and Pryor Mountains are two examples that come to mind. In the little town of Wilsall, in the northern part of Park County, a town with only a few streets, there are Lewis Street, Clark Street, Ordway Street and Shannon Street, all names of expedition members. Then there all of the locations named for Sacajawea and her son. There are Sacajawea schools, streets, parks and peaks.  Pompey's Pillar, named for Sacajawea's son, is one of the most famous spots along the Lewis and Clark Trail.    Even York, who traveled with the expedition as a slave owned by William Clark, and who recieved no pay for his part of the expedition, is remembered on Montana landmarks. York's Islands in Broadwater County is the location of a state fishing access.   There is a town in Lewis and Clark county called York, but I am not sure if it was named for the slave without checking it out further.

And then what happened?

I have never been really enthusiastic about studying the history of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  Maybe it was because when I learned about it in grade school, the idea of traveling more than half way across the country and enduring all those hardships just didn't seem all that appealing.  Even a few years ago, when the country was celebrating the bicentennial of the expedition, when I revisited Pompey's Pillar and enjoyed the Lewis and Clark Heritage Center in Great Falls, I never found myself getting engaged in further research.

Last week I was looking through the new book section at my local library and I discovered the book, The fate of the corps : what became of the Lewis and Clark explorers after the expedition, by Larry Morris.  I glanced at it, set it back on the shelf and walked away.  After a few minutes I returned to the shelf, thinking that if nothing else, the book would make an interesting post for this blog.



I started reading the book last night and I am glad that I gave it another look.  It is fascinating to find out what happened to the members of the expedition after they made history.  While most never returned to what later became Montana, a couple came back to mark another page in Montana history.  I won't give away the details but for anyone who is interested in what came next for the explorers, I recommend this well researched book.

Black History in Helena Montana

Here it is almost the end of February and I have not even mentioned Black History Month.  I am not as familiar with the subject as I should be, but I did a little research to see what part Black History had in Montana history.  I found that for a few months in 1894, a newspaper, The Colored Citizen, was published in Helena Montana.  By reading through the pages of that publication, I gained a knowledge of how the African Americans of that era lived in Helena, and other parts of the region.  The following are a few excerpts from the September 3, 1894 edition of The Colored Citizen. 

"WHY WE WANT A PAPER.
It has been asked why do we wish

 to draw the color line and issue a paper

devoted to the interests of the

colored citizen? The question answers

itself. Why do the Germans,

Scandinavians and other nationalities

have their own organs? So it is with

the Afro-American, he can be

reached and convinced quicker and

better through a paper of his own.

Every people have modes peculiar to

themselves and the Afro-American is

not an exception to the rule. Then

we have a race pride that has clung

to us from generation to generation,

that time cannot eliminate."

“Helena has had a colored policeman for the past six years. W. O. Irvin, our present representative on the force, is serving his second term to the complete satisfaction of all classes of citizens.” 

“A female barber is one of the boasts of Helena Mrs. Mollie Millen is the proprietor of one of the nicest and snuggest tonsorial parlors in this city and she has a lucrative trade numbering among her patrons many of our best citizens male and female. She is rated as one of the most expert handlers of the razor in the city and her haircuts are tasty and fashionable. We challenge our exchanges to name another colored female barber.”

“A female barber is one of the boasts of Helena Mrs. Mollie Millen is the proprietor of one of the nicest and snuggest tonsorial parlors in this city and she has a lucrative trade numbering among her patrons many of our best citizens male and female. She is rated as one of the most expert handlers of the razor in the city and her haircuts are tasty and fashionable. We challenge our exchanges to name another colored female barber.”

“A colored dentist in the person of Dr. J. Brister is one of our valuable accessions within the past few months. Dr. Hrister is associated with one of the oldest and best dentists most skillful and painstaking which no doubt accounts for the lucrative practice he has so speedily secured.”

Sax and Fryer

I love the smell of bookstores. Call me crazy, but if we ever come to the point where all written matter is electronic, we will miss out on one of the best experiences in the world, browsing in a bookstore.  My personal favorite bookstore for browsing is Sax and Fryer in Livingston Montana.  Not only is it the oldest business in Livingston, it is the best book store of any that I have found for shopping for Montana books.  The business dates back to 1883, and has moved a few times before arriving at its current location on West Callendar Street where it has been for nearly one hundred years.  What could be better than looking for history books in a historical building?  Like many other bookstores, it also carries stationary, office supplies, magazines and newspapers.

Sax and Fryer's history including early photos can be found in the book, Livingston, by Elizabeth A. Watry and Robert V Goss.  It is part of the Images of America Series.  I recommend the book and I recommend visiting in person if you ever get the chance. 

My new distraction - Digital Newspaper Archives

For you loyal followers of this blog, do not despair.  I know that the postings have been few lately but it is only because I have been side tracked by reading old newspapers online.  It is a very entertaining diversion and if you want to get the feel of what it was like in early Montana, as well as many of the other states, I recommend it highly. Every time I log onto the web, I tell myself that I won't spend more than a few minutes reading the Montana Post and the next thing you know a couple of hours have passed.  There are three Montana newspapers included in the Library of Congress "Chronically America".  The are the Montana Post(Virginia City),  The Anaconda Standard and Daily Yellowstone Journal (Miles City). 

When I was younger, I used to go to county museums and read through old papers, bound in huge unwieldy volumes.  I frequently scan through microfilms of old papers, which is also time consuming and sometimes gives me a feeling much like motion sickness.  These digitalized versions are by far the best, especially when you factor in the search feature, that highlights whatever term you designate. 

To access the three papers listed go to http://mhs.mt.gov/research/mdnp/all%20titles.asp  From this link, you can also go the "Chronically America" home page if you are interested in reading papers from other states.  Unlike some of the other digital newspapers on line, this resource is free.  The drawback is that there are a limited number of papers on the site to date. 

Gary Cooper, two time Academy Award Winner from Montana

My husband and I don't always see eye to eye on what movie to watch, he likes the action flicks and I enjoy the romantic comedies.  When we both have some time to spare, we compromise by watching a classic.  One of our all time favorite movie stars is Gary Cooper.  Of course only part of that favor comes from his acting ability, the other part is that Cooper was a native of Helena, Montana. Tour guides on the Last Chance tour train always mention Cooper when they pass near the house where he resided as a young man.

Although Cooper began his life in Montana, he really didn't spend much time here.  He and his brother were sent to school in Great Britain until the first World War broke out and their parents felt they would be safer at home. He left Montana again to attend college in Iowa but did not graduate.  In 1924 he returned once again to Montana to manage the family ranch. While he was home in Montana he contributed cartoons to the local newspaper. (I am looking forward to a trip the Research Center at the Montana Historical Society so I can see if I can find some of them on microfilm.)

Gary Cooper in High Noon, 1952

When his parents moved to Los Angeles, he followed them, working at several jobs before breaking into the movie industry.  Although he spent most his life making a name for himself somewhere else, Montanans are proud that he came from here.

Beating the Winter Blahs

For those of us who really enjoy traveling to historical spots in Montana, this is kind of the slow time of year. I have been feeling kind of cooped up restless.   I suppose it makes sense, considering the unpredictability of Montana weather, that there aren't many history related events scheduled during the winter.  Most of the smaller historical museums are closed until after Memorial Day but that doesn't mean that there isn't plenty for us to do. 

This is a good time make some plans for the spring and summer. By starting now, I can do any background reading and research I want to do before I visit a site.  I like to take a look at the schedule of events listed on Montana travel websites and other Montana history websites to see if any of them fit my schedule and my interests.  A good place to start is http://visitmt.com/experiences/events/ .  Many Montana cities and towns also have websites listing upcoming events.  I usually check them out for upcoming events if I am planing to visit. It is always fun just to surf through sites that have historical photos. 

Upcoming in February, Presidents Day weekend, Virginia City is hosting Virginia City Winterfest.  I have other plans for that weekend, but it sounds like lots of fun and it would be interesting to see what Virginia City is like in the winter. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who attends.

A Colorful Chapter in Montana Women's History

The lure of gold brought more than miners to what would later become Montana.  Along with the miners came the merchants and the freighters and maybe most interesting, the women who knew that there was money to be made where the miners were bored and lonely.
I have just started reading  Wanton West: Madams, Money, Murder, and the Wild Women of Montana's Frontier, by Lael Morgan.  It is a fascinating book that explores a part of Women's history that is usually only mentioned in passing.  The author did a good job of researching the topic and presented the material in a very readable format.  Ms. Morgan also wrote Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush: Secret History of the Far North as well as several other books. 

Cooke City

Cooke City has been in the news a lot this winter. Most recently I read a story in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle about Veronika Ohlinger, Miss Montana 2011, who will be appearing in the Miss America pageant on January 14. Ms Ohlinger lives in Cooke City. Before that was the story about the two men who were killed in separate avalanches and the Welch Corgi, Ole, who miraculously survived. Reading those stories reminded me my visits to Cooke City. It is a great little town, with an interesting history.

Before Cooke City became a tourist destination, it was a mining camp. Gold was discovered there in the early 1870’s while it was still within the boundaries of the Crow Indian Reservation. It is hard to imagine people flocking to the area in a traditional “gold rush”. The high elevation assures a long winter with heavy snowfall. The miners who lived there must have been a hardy bunch. The town was named for Jay Cooke Jr. who was affiliated with the Northern Pacific Railroad. Ironically the railroad never came to Cooke City. As is the case with many mining camps, Cooke City became a ghost town of sorts when the gold panned out. In 1936 the Beartooth Highway, connecting Cooke City to Red Lodge put the town back on the map. The history of the Beartooth Highway is fascinating as well, but that will be a subject for another day. In 1988, people around the world watched as fire threatened Cooke City and burned thousands of acres in nearby Yellowstone Park.

Even though I am not a winter sports enthusiast I enjoy visiting Cook City summer or winter. It is rustic and friendly and surrounded by grandeur, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that it has a history.

For more information about Cooke City I recommend this website: http://www.cookecitychamber.org/cooke_city_montana_history.html (be sure to take a look at the historical photo slide show.

January Montana History Anniversaries

Sometimes when I am trying to decide what to share in this blog, I do a little research to see what historical anniversaries are coming up.  One of the books I commonly refer to is Montana Dateline by Ellis Roberts Parry.  It lists, day by day, events that took place in Montana history.  While the book deals just a little too much with sporting events for my taste, there are many entries that have caught my attention, leading to digging for more information.  Here are a few of the January topics that caught my eye:

• January 9, 1874  A major fire destroyed much of Helena's business district, including the building that housed the collection of the Montana Historical Society. 
• January 22, 1890  John X. Beidler, Vigilante hangman and lawman died in Helena. The book tells of his funeral at the Ming Opera House in Helena.
• January 25, 1962 Governor Donald Nutter, two state officials and three members of the Air National Guard are killed in an airplane crash.  The books entry gives some details of the flight and cause of the crash.