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.

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