Ellen Baumler's Blog, page 13

America’s “Stiffest Guzzlers”

At Christmastime in 1878, Montana’s territorial capital had been fixed at Helena, Fort Benton was the “Chicago of the Plains,” Butte was a struggling camp, and Miles City was a remote outpost serving brand-new Fort Keogh. Virginia City had lost its once substantial population and status. Captain Thomas Fuller, Collector of the U.S. Internal Revenue, reported on collections in Montana Territory. It was a report that some found disturbing and others relished.

The Central Beer Hall in Helena was...

Friday Photo: Pet Bear

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 82-19 F11The Bayerd family kept a pet bear at their ranch on Sheep Creek near White Sulphur Springs. The people are (l. to r.) Carry Tucker, Mr. Bayerd's son, and Mr. Bayerd's father, who looks old enough to know better. Photo taken circa 1890.

P.S. Remember this strange pet? And this one?

The Sad End of Major John Owen: Part 2

While John Owen was under the care of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth at Helena, he had the opportunity to prove his title to the Fort Owen properties, but he was too ill. So his fort was auctioned at sheriff’s sale. Friends, wanting to believe he would recover, elected him to the 1873 territorial legislature. Owen could not attend.

Major John Owen as he appeared in 1871.
Portrait from Dunbar and Philips, Journals and Letters of Major John Owen.For the next several years, Owen, indigent a...

The Sad End of Major John Owen: Part 1

John Owen came west as a sutler—or provisioner—for the army. He was in the Bitterroot Valley in 1850 when Jesuits closed St. Mary’s Mission and offered it for sale. Owen’s purchase for $250 was reputedly Montana’s first recorded legal document. Relocating a short distance north of the mission, Owen built a trading post. In 1856, he was appointed special agent to the Flathead Indians, hence the honorary title, “Major.” Owen openly criticized the government and advocated passionately for the In...

Friday Photo: Forsyth Flood

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 76-26 F50The Yellowstone River flooded in 1918, and Forsyth residents coped with the help of a few boats. Walter Dean took this photograph of the event.

Lewistown Satellite Airfield Historic District

In the dark days following the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, Congress appropriated massive defense funds. The U.S. Army selected Great Falls, Montana, as the site of a major air base with satellite airfields at Cut Bank, Glasgow, and Lewistown. On October 28, 1942, the first Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses roared over Lewistown’s Main Street with their bomb bays open, buzzed the treetops, and landed at the Lewistown Airfield. Crews trained day and night combining navigation, bombing...

The Pekin Noodle Parlor: Not a Brothel!

Butte’s Chinese community settled on the block bordered by West Mercury, South Main, West Galena, and Colorado streets in the late nineteenth century. Dwellings, club rooms, laundries, restaurants, and stores selling Chinese goods crowded its thoroughfares and alleyways. Butte attorney F. T. McBride built the Pekin Noodle Parlor building at 117 South Main on speculation in 1909. Hum Yow moved his Mercury Street noodle parlor to the second floor of the new building and soon owned the property....

Friday Photo: Standing on the Car

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, 94-84.4This man, Thomas Leslie Lyle, opened a photography studio in Helena in 1914. This photo was taken in 1917, and the location is unknown. Does anyone recognize it?

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a harvest tradition long celebrated in New England, but it took a while to catch on in Montana. In 1863 there really was no harvest to celebrate and Henry Plummer was perhaps the only resident to observe the occasion. He used it to cultivate good relations with the Sidney Edgerton family, and spent a small fortune freighting in a turkey. You can follow that story here.  

In 1864, miners at Last Chance were too busy searching for gold to celebrate. In 1865, President Abra...

Tough History

 African Americans journeyed West with the gold rush and were a presence in Montana’s first communities. While some were freemen of color, some came as slaves with their white owners and others arrived after the Emancipation. The unspeakable, deep-seated tragedy of human commerce today is difficult to understand. The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s recent annual conference in Savannah, Georgia, offered a unique opportunity revisit this history. It was a powerful, thought provo...