Ellen Baumler's Blog, page 30
October 31, 2013
Happy Halloween
Montana Heritage Commission photoGeorge Ives swung from the gallows on this spot in Nevada City on December 21, 1863. This remarkable photograph, taken by Heritage Commission staff on the 143rd anniversary of his hanging, captured the strange image of an unidentified man. It is not George Ives; he was not bald. But perhaps it is the image of Charlie Bovey, who recreated the town of Nevada City, placing endangered buildings from all over Montana along the streets. Charlie died in 1978 in...
October 30, 2013
A Halloween to Remember
Alicia “Lettie” Conrad never let adversity get the better of her. Kalispell’s beautiful Conrad Mansion is now a museum, but back in October 1910, Lettie nearly lost her home to a disastrous fire. The entire town turned out to fight the blaze. Despite scorched walls and water damage, the house and its contents survived. Lettie devised a way to thank those who helped fight the fire. She planned a spectacular Halloween party and invited the entire town. Soggy fallen plaster, piled furniture, and...
October 28, 2013
Haunting of the Judith River Ranger Station
The Judith River Ranger Station has a homey ambiance where the past is everywhere. Some lucky guests have experienced this firsthand.
In the summer of 2009, a crew of six archaeologists, students, and volunteers excavated a portion of the long-abandoned mining camp of nearby Yogotown. The Judith Ranger Station served as headquarters for the crew. My husband Mark and daughter Katie were project volunteers. They, along with director Chris Merritt of the University of Montana, took the upstairs b...
In the summer of 2009, a crew of six archaeologists, students, and volunteers excavated a portion of the long-abandoned mining camp of nearby Yogotown. The Judith Ranger Station served as headquarters for the crew. My husband Mark and daughter Katie were project volunteers. They, along with director Chris Merritt of the University of Montana, took the upstairs b...
October 23, 2013
Ghostly Encounter
I heard voices in the empty kitchen and the air felt strangely heavy. I had stayed in the 1860s Daems House before, but never alone. It was once home to an early-day Virginia City physician. The spacious house, actually two houses joined together, originally served as both the physician’s office and family’s home. It is now under state ownership. On this particular evening, something was off-kilter. I had recently written about Martha Daems—married back in 1913 to a grandson of the doctor. My...
October 21, 2013
Hangman’s Tree
A lone Ponderosa pine, just west of Helena's present-day Blake Street between Highland and Hillsdale, served as the town’s Hangman’s Tree. It was the only tree left standing in 1865 after miners had denuded the countryside for cabins and sluices. Mary Sheehan Ronan attended school up the hill in a simple cabin at Rodney and Broadway. From the schoolyard the children had a clear view of the lone Ponderosa. One morning as they arrived at school, the children saw the limp form of a man dangling...
October 18, 2013
Friday Photo: Newlyweds
Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, 957-755Clarence Goodell married Millie Priest on August 15, 1880. Millie's headdress marks her as a bride, but like most brides at the time, she probably designed her wedding dress to be worn again.P.S. The Montana Historical Society has a fabulous collection of wedding dresses.
October 16, 2013
Birdie Brown
The rutted road was a familiar one to Fergus County locals during the days of Prohibition. You had to be careful—bad hooch could cause blindness and even death. Those looking for a place to party knew to point their cars toward Black Butte and Birdie (or Bertie) Brown’s place. She was as nice a woman as they come, and her still—according to locals—produced some of the best moonshine in the country. Birdie was among a very small number of young African American women who homesteaded alone in M...
October 14, 2013
Ghost on the Little Rosebud
Bob Ferguson was a cowboy who lived alone on a ranch on the Little Rosebud, a tributary of Rosebud Creek. He ran some cattle and seemed to prosper. In May of 1890, Ferguson disappeared. Neighbors noted that he was missing after a few weeks, and searched for him, but they found no trace of him. During the spring roundup, all the cowboys kept an eye out for him especially since he had been one of their own. Sure enough, one of them eventually came upon Ferguson’s body buried in the red shale hi...
October 10, 2013
Friday Photo: Dudes
Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, F. W. Byerly collectionThe dudes in today's photo are admiring Cliff Lake in the Beartooth Mountains, probably in the 1930s or early 1940s.
October 9, 2013
Butte's House of Mystery
The Montana Standard of September 2, 1936, reported on the demolition of a mysterious building on the corner of Galena and Wyoming in the heart of Butte’s historic red light district.
1916 Sanborn-Perris map of Butte shows the House of Mystery on the corner of Galena and Wyoming. Note the label “Female Boarding” on neighboring buildings denoting prostitution.The long-abandoned building had been slated for demolition before, but the owner had always managed to avoid it. This, time,...
1916 Sanborn-Perris map of Butte shows the House of Mystery on the corner of Galena and Wyoming. Note the label “Female Boarding” on neighboring buildings denoting prostitution.The long-abandoned building had been slated for demolition before, but the owner had always managed to avoid it. This, time,...
