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.

A New Blog and and Additon to This One

One of the things that my husband, Frank, and I have always shared is a love for Montana Travel.  When we were younger, many summer weekends were spent exploring the state and points beyond on a Honda Gold Wing. Unfortunately those days are far behind us and diabetes complications have taken their toll on Frank.  These days his form of transportation is a battery operated scooter.  We have had to cut back on our travel, but that hasn't stopped us. 

You are probably wondering why I am mentioning all of this in a history blog.  Many of the locations that I mention are handicapped accessible.  Some are not.  In future blog posts I will include accessiblily information about any destination that I am recommending.   I would also like to share my new blog, www.MTBarrierFree.blogspot.com with any of my followers who might have mobiltiy issues or other disabilities.  It is dedicated to sharing information about all that Montana has to offer to everyone, regardless of any special needs. 

Glacier National Park Mystery 1924

Wouldn't it be grand to solve a mystery that took place almost  90 years ago. In August of 1924, two brothers from Chicago disappeared during a hike in Glacier National Park. The brothers set off from Granite Park but never arrived at their destination, the Lewis Hotel on Lake McDonald.  An extensive search was conducted, the FBI was called in, yet no evidence ever surfaced to close the case.  It remains to this day unsolved.

I first read about the Whitehead brothers, Joseph and William in the book, Roadside History of Montana, written by Don Spritzer and published Mountain Press. You can read more about the Whitehead mystery on page 110.  If you haven’t read this book, I recommend it highly.  It is full of Montana history, organized to follow highways and roads where the events took place.

I seriously doubt that anyone would be able to piece together what happened to the Whitehead brothers so long after the fact, but wouldn't it be something if someone came upon some missing bit of information that finally solved the mystery of their disappearance.

Photo Mystery, What is This?

For years, every time I drove east on Interstate 90 near Three Forks I would notice this structure on the hillside near the highway and I would tell myself that next time I would stop at the Three Forks Museum and ask if someone could tell me what it is.  By the time I visited the area again I would forget to stop, or I would pass through the town when the museum was closed.  So I am asking anyone out there if they can solve this mystery for me.  

Structure on hillside south of Interstate 90,  just east of  Three Forks,  Montana

I always assumed that the structure had something to do with the limestone business because of the proximity to Trident and its cement plant but I could be way off base.  Any thoughts on the matter?

Montana UFO's and Extraterrestrials- recommended reading

A few weeks ago, I was at the library, (that being the Livingston -Park County Public Library) doing some research.  After I finished and my computer was installing its automatic updates, I had a few minutes to kill so I wandered upstairs  to see what was new in the new book section.  Usually I check to see if there are any new arrivals from my favorite authors as well as anything relevant to Montana history.  As I was browsing the selves, I came across a book entitled  Montana UFOs and Extraterrestrials.  I picked it up and looked at it and set it down again.  I am not sure why I hesitated, I suppose partially because I really have plenty to read and partially because I thought I didn't  want to waste my time reading about something that may or may not even exist.

For some reason I mentioned the book to my husband and he said that he would like read it, so the next day I went back and checked it out. When I brought it home I took a closer look.  What first caught my attention was the credentials of the author, Joan Bird.  Ms. Bird is about as far from being a crackpot as a person can be, she holds a PhD in biology and has worked the scientific field for years.  She has approached the topic in a well researched and organized manner. Her facts are well documented and  the book is interesting and thought provoking.  My husband hasn't had the chance to tell me what he thinks of the book because once I started reading it, I didn't want to put it down until I was finished. 

I can even justify the time I have spent reading the book and then writing this post for my Montana History blog by telling you that  the events that are documented in Montana UFOs and Extraterrestrials is in fact part of Montana history.

Before Montana History- Montana Before History

As a writer who specializes in Montana history, I have never spent much time reading accounts of Montana Prehistory.  I tend to leave that part of Montana’s past to those who are the experts.  I have, however, always wondered about what happened before the recorded history of Montana.  When I discovered the book, Montana Before History, 11,000 Years of Hunter-Gatherers in the Rockies and Plains on the library shelf, I knew I had found a book that would fill me in on the prehistory of Montana , giving me some basic knowledge without making me wade through volumes of scholarly papers.  The book is a slim volume having less than 200 pages, but it is a good book for people like me who want to know a little about the subject, or a starting point for who wants to delve deeper.  

According to the author’s bio at the back of the book, Douglass H. MacDonald lives in Missoula, where teaches in the Anthropology department at the University of Montana.  He holds a PhD from the University of Washington . I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to take a brief journey back to the time before Montana History.

One tip I would like to share, when I read a book like this on an unfamiliar subject, I read through the glossary first, that way I don’t have to keep going to the back of the book. 

Montana Before History

11,000 Years of Hunter-Gatherers in the Rockies and Plains

Author: Douglass H. McDonald

Published by Mountain Press Publishing Company.

 

Helena fire January 9, 1874, Historic losses.

At 7:00 am, January 9, 1874 fire erupted in the Chinatown district of downtown Helena, Montana. Getting the fire started for the day, the Chinese cook used too much coal oil, causing an explosion and igniting one site of the room. He grabbed a bucket of what he thought was water to dose the flames but it was more of the oil.  Fueled with the additional oil the building was quickly engulfed in flames. Before the fire was stopped it had destroyed most of the city's businesses and 150 homes.

While the destruction of the homes and businesses was devastating, buildings can be rebuilt, after all this was the third time Helena had suffered a great fire and yet she always managed to rise from the ashes.  What could not be replaced were records of the Montana Historical Society which were kept in the law office of Wilbur Fisk Sanders.  Also destroyed were all of the books and record of the Montana Masonic Grand Lodge.  For someone researching early Montana history, the thought of all those early documents going up in flames is heart wrenching.

There was only one casualty of the fire, Konrad Knipper, was trapped in the International Hotel where he was employed.  

Helena's Guardian of the Gulch behind another Helena landmark, the Bluestone House.
The tower was built to after Helena's devastating series of fires to alert the citizens.