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.