Killing Time in Montana's Past

If you have ever had to spend several hours in a waiting room, you know that it can be grueling.  I do it for almost five hours three times a week while my husband undergoes his dialysis treatment.  I know I should be working on my new book or some other more productive pursuit, but sometimes I just need a diversion. While trying to pretend I was doing something worthwhile, I started doing random searches on Google for historical photographs of Montana. Now I find myself doing it each time I sit down at the computer to work. I have made a little game of it to test my Montana history knowledge. When I see picture that interests me I try to figure out as much as I can before I click on the photo.  

Sometimes I just enter a broad subject in the search box, something like "historical Montana photos" sometimes I enter a narrower topic like "historical Anaconda Montana photos."  I am never disappointed. It is fun to find subjects that are familiar and you give yourself a mental pat on the back when you recognize a person or place from Montana's past and it is exciting when a photo links you to a new destination or a new story.  

Bannack State Park Reopening Today

Bannack State Park is reopening today.  On July 17, 2013 a flash flood poured down Hangman's gulch and raged down the main street of Bannack, washing away boardwalks and one building and leaving mud and destruction in its wake.  I cried when I watched the news that night. Bannack has always been the place I have gone when I felt the need to get away.  Like a religious person needs a church as a tangible touchstone, I need my preserved and restored historic sites to connect with Montana's history.  I wish I could be in Bannack today to see for myself what has transpired in Bannack's latest page in history.

As devastating as the flood was to the town, it was just that, another page in Bannack's history.  Like every town that has ever existed, there have been periods of growth and prosperity and times of despair and disaster. The difference with Bannack is that there has been so much work preserving the past and it was all jeopardized by an act of nature.  I am sure that the Montana State Park personal responsible for the care of Bannack has done a fine job of getting the park ready to reopen.  I suspect there might be some new photos in the visitor center of the flood and it's aftermath.

Kalispell Cemetery Tours

I learned of a series of Cemetery Tours this weekend while watching the evening news.  This time the tours take place in Kalispell at the C.E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery.  The most recent tour focused on the Women in Kalispell's history.  The next one, scheduled for July 20, 2013 at 10:00 am focuses on Civil War Veterans.  I love a good cemetery tour but I am afraid it is too far for me to travel for this one.

The thing that strikes me most about these tours is that the Cemetery Association is making sure that the stories of the people didn't die with them.  Everyone has a story and sadly those stories are seldom remembered for long after a person passes.  I have to admire the researchers who work to find the stories and pass them on. I also like that the tours each have a theme. I hope that this tradition of tours goes on for a long time. This is what history is really all about.

June 19, 1938 Olympian Train Disaster

It was seventy-five years ago today that a flash flood on Custer Creek in Eastern Montana weakened a trestle and caused the worst train disaster in Montana History. When the Milwaukee Railroad's luxurious Olympian reached the weakened trestle it gave way and several cars were swept away by the swollen creek.

An account of the Olympian Disaster can b found in my book, Montana Disasters, Floods, Fires and Other Catastrophes which is available at bookstores and libraries in many locations throughout the state or online. 

Back in 1938, there wasn't the same kind of warning systems that we have in place today.  When the railroad employee checked the tracks just hours before the disaster there was nothing to indicate that a storm  was brewing upstream, intense enough to turn Custer Creek into a raging wall of water.  We are lucky enough today to have easy access to National Weather Service Flash Flood warnings at our finger tips.  

Ghost Signs

An interesting aspect of some of Montana's historical towns are usually overlooked or I suppose I should say under-looked.  That is to say the if you don't look up, you might miss some interesting ghost signs.  Butte has a bunch of ghost signs and so does my home town of Livingston Montana.  These signs painted on the buildings that once housed the businesses advertised are the only thing that is left of the original occupants. Ghost signs are most commonly found on brick structures but I suppose you might find them on any surface that has withstood the elements.


These are some of the ghost signs found in Livingston:

Last Chance Tour Train, Helena

It summer time again and for many of us that means vacations or long weekends to travel.  For those of you who have never spent any time in Helena Montana, you are missing a great historical destination.  If your visit falls on any day but Sunday, be sure to check out the Last Chance Tour Train.  It departs from in front of the Montana Historical Society Museum for one hour tours that provide an overview of the city.  If you only have a few hours to spend in Helena, the time would be well spent at the Museum and a ride on the Tour Train.  If you are lucky enough to be spending a day or two, the tour will give you an idea of where you might want to spend more time exploring. The "engineer" also serves as the the tour guide and every time we have taken the tour, the guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining.

For more information about the Last Chance Tour Train and other tour information I suggest visiting their website for tour details, schedules and contact information.

http://www.lctours.com

For visitors with disabilities, the museum is handicapped accessible but the tour train is less so.  My husband Frank was able to board the train with his walker and a little help, but special arrangements would be necessary for anyone with mobility issues.

Technology and History

Last night I stayed up late watching the breaking news about the capture of the suspect in the Boston Marathon Bombings.  Along with the live coverage of the manhunt in Watertown, the news teams showed how cellphone photos and surveillance footage was used to identify the men suspected of this horrible deed. Imagine what it would be like if that same technology had been around when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

In the unlikely event that John Wilkes Booth had gotten past modern type secret service agents, and taken his deadly shot, everyone in the theater would have taken out their smart phones, video taped his escape and had them uploaded to U-Tube before he even left the building.  How far would Booth had gotten, if everyone was aware of what had transpired within minutes?

My point is that technology is not only effecting our everyday lives, it is changing the way is history is made and how it is recorded. The Montana Post, published in Virginia City, Montana Territory, carried the news of Lincoln's assassination on the front page of the April 29, 1865 edition. It is hard to imagine that people in Montana Territory did not even know that President Lincoln had been assassinated until two weeks later.  Can you imagine what it would be like to have access to the live coverage of the pursuit of Booth and a press conference in front of the boarding house where Lincoln was taken after being shot.

While I sometimes think that we are slaves to our devices, spending more time than we should tweeting and checking our email, it is times like these, when history is being made, that I am glad that I am alive during a time where we can be witnesses to the events that effect our lives and lives of future generations.