Ellen Baumler's Blog, page 52

Bill Stockton’s Chief Joseph

Bill Stockton was a sheepman and artist who returned to Montana after World War II to settle on his family ranch near Grass Range. Art and sheep seem an odd combination, but Stockton’s tender heart, love for his animals, and closeness to the land provided a lifetime of inspiration. His legacy includes writings, sketches, paintings, and sculpture. Stockton found the plight of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perces, who tried unsuccessfully to flee from the U.S. Army to sanctuary in Canada, extremely...

Friday Photo: One-Room Schoolhouse

For the students and teachers who are finishing up the school year...
Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87.63-3The five students of Marsh in Prairie County, Montana, posed with their teacher on January 20, 1914. The photo was taken by Evelyn Cameron.

P.S. Remember the drama at Paris Gibson Junior High?

Carrie Nation

In 1910, the hatchet-wielding, bar-smashing temperance crusader Carrie Nation came to Butte. At that time Butte had 275 saloons; even Mayor Charles Nevin owned a bar. Booze joints in nearby Anaconda sported signs that read, “All Nations welcome except Carrie,” while reformers welcomed her with open arms. Onlookers cheered as the stout sixty-three-year-old Mrs. Nation, with a flourish and a crowd in tow, charged down the length of Butte’s notorious Pleasant Alley.

Carrie Nation flourishes her h...

A Persistent Myth

Stories abound across the West about “Chinese tunnels” beneath the buildings and streets of cities and towns. According to Priscilla Wegars of the University of Idaho, a foremost authority on Asian culture in the West, there is overwhelming evidence that “Chinese tunnels” are nothing more than myths. Not a single “Chinese tunnel” has ever been identified. While it is true that Chinese businesses, opium dens, and even living quarters are sometimes found in basement spaces, these in no way can...

Friday Photo: Copper Commando


Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, Robert I. Nesmith collectionAnaconda worker Gus Sbragia selects a gear pattern from the forty thousand stored in four stories of the Pattern Shop at the Foundry Department of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. The photo appeared in the October 23, 1942, Copper Commando, a tabloid-format newspaper intended to spur production of Montana metals during World War II. Pattern-makers created models that engineers used to manufacture and repair...

Cattle Dog

An undated clipping from the 1940s in a Bozeman newspaper tells a poignant story of man’s best friend. Oldtime cattleman Ott McEwen was devastated when the cattle dog who had been at his side through blizzards and summer winds, long days and lonely nights, suddenly disappeared. The dog had been his constant companion, sharing hardships and joys. McEwen grieved for the loss of the best friend he ever had.


Four years later at a Stockgrowers meeting, cattlemen had gathered in the Bozeman Hotel’s...

Custer's Heart

So much has been written about the Battle of the Little Bighorn that it is nearly impossible to present new information. But here is a curious tidbit from the Helena Herald of 1890 noting a legend told by the Sioux Indians. As the only human survivors of the deadly encounter, the Herald noted, the Sioux alone can tell the true history of the infamous event. The Sioux claim that on the hill where Custer fell, a peculiar plant now grows. This plant had never been seen there before the battle an...

Friday Photo: Woodward Flyer

Happy Friday!
Montana Historical Society Photograph ArchivesThis Woodward Flyer carried a precious load of children and their dolls. Click on the image for a bigger version.

P.S. Remember this cutie?
P.P.S. Growing up in Montana wasn't all fun and games.

Mary Gleim

Every western town had its houses of ill repute. In Montana, a few significant remnants of these colorful businesses survive. There’s the Dumas in Butte, Big Dorothy’s in Helena, and two of Mary Gleim’s West Front Street brothels in Missoula. Gleim was a flamboyant character who operated eight “female boarding houses” in Missoula’s red light district where railroad men patronized its honky tonks and saloons. Gleim’s splashy career included conviction in 1894 for the attempted murder of a riva...

Evelyn Cameron Scandalizes Miles City

Photographer Evelyn Cameron is a recent inductee into the Gallery of Outstanding Montanans in the state’s Capitol. Evelyn was born in England and raised to be a proper English lady. But once she created a real scandal. Evelyn’s husband was a noted ornithologist and naturalist, but he didn’t care much for their ranch. That was all right with Evelyn who enjoyed the physical work. Chores and most everything from making bread to milking cows and working the horses fell to her. She took to wearing...