Off the Trail: Encounters With Montana's Weird and Wild History

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Permalink Reply by Ednor Therriault on June 15, 2011 at 1:33pm

Hey, how's it going? I'm inviting everyone to join in with your tales and observations, wherever the discussion may lead. It might lead to the funky kitsch factor of the Miracle of America Museum in Polson, or even to an illuminating exposé on the shocking number of two-headed calves in the eastern part of the state.

So speaking of museums, I've visited more than 30 official Montana museums and a few non-official backyard collections in my travels while researching the book. There are over 200 museums in Montana, each with its own charms and weird items. Anyone want to kick off the discussion with an example?

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Permalink Reply by Jason Neal on June 22, 2011 at 11:06am

I'd like to hear from the crowd about ghost towns in Montana. I've been to Garnet and found it fascinating, but it's also a pretty structured presentation (which is understandable given the preservation effort; still, there's something incongruous about a ghost town with its own website.)

Can anyone recommend some lesser known ghost towns...ruins they just stumbled upon...or places they sought out that really exceeded expectation? (Bonus points if the name of the old town contains the word "Gulch," and also if you saw any actual ghosts.)

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Permalink Reply by Ednor Therriault on June 23, 2011 at 2:34pm

I did meet a couple recently who went on about the ghost encounters they had at Bannack. Can anyone corroborate?

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Simon on June 30, 2011 at 9:25am

 

I'm visiting Billings MT now and spent a good part of yesterday kicking about in the Western Heritage Center, which has awesome interactive displays--scenes from the old West, dude ranches, and treasures of MT past.  They also have an amazing oral history display on the Northern Cheyenne & Crow Nation.These videos can only be viewed within the center.

 

Here's a link to read more about it.  

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Permalink Reply by Ednor Therriault on June 30, 2011 at 10:04am

Wow, what a beautiful building! I'd like to know the story behind it. I haven't been to that particular museum, but it just topped my next-time-in-Billings list.

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Permalink Reply by Samantha Dwyer on June 30, 2011 at 11:11am

I tend to steer clear of the truly funky/kitschy stuff.  Maybe I am missing out when I drive past the pitchfork fondue places and the House of Mystery in Columbia Falls.  I'm hoping to expand my horizons with this Roundtable discussion.  Currently my favorite Montana museums are the Hockaday in Kalispell, and the Missoula Art Museum.  I've seen some awesomely strange art in the Gallery of Visual Arts on the University of Montana campus, but I think I'm pretty mainstream.

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Permalink Reply by Ednor Therriault on July 1, 2011 at 3:47pm

Historical museums are, of course, more about artifacts than art. But some of the stuff you run across can be every bit as beautiful and soul-stirring as something you'd view in a fine art museum. Depends on what turns your emotional crank, I suppose.

Samantha, I would recommend giving in to the impulse next time you're tempted to make a side trip to one of these musty, oddball joints. The Valley County Pioneer Museum in Glasgow, the Beaverhead County Museum in Dillon, the Mineral Museum in Butte, any of the Deer Lodge Prison complex museums--they all hold their share of hidden gems.

Not to flog my book, but that's how I approached my research in all these little (and big) historical museums: what's the odd little treasure I can find here that serves as a hook for this particular museum? There was always something.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Anderson on July 1, 2011 at 2:27pm

Some places worth stopping:  

 

1)  Carter County Museum, Ekalaka - one of 5 duck-billed Hadrosaurs found in the U.S.,  one of 3 known armored dinosaurs - a Nodosaur, along with my grandson's favorite, fossilized coprolites.  Where I learned that Ijkalaka's dowry consisted of 8 horses and a 100 pounds of sugar.

 

2)  The O'Fallon County Museum, Baker - but first stop by the Medicine Rocks in between Baker and Ekalaka.  The Baker museums are housed in 2-3 buildings.  A nice collection of Eastern Montana farm equipment.

 

3)  The Range-Riders Museum, Miles City.  For me, the most touching - the boots and hats of a lot of the old-timers.  I imagine their wives wanted to throw them away when they were living, but couldn't part with them after they died.

 

4)  Fort Benton has three museums - all of them interesting.  My preference was the Museum of the Northern Great Plains - an early-20th-Century version of Virginia City.  Stay at the Grand Union Hotel, a lovingly preserved hotel with a first-class restaurant.  This was the gateway to Montana in the early days, and they've lovingly preserved their history.  As did Joel Overholser in Fort Benton: Worlds Innermost Port.

 

5)  Terry boasts the Prairie County Museum, next door to the Eveyln Cameron gallery.  The museum is in an old bank building, with the teller cages still barred.  There's a thank-you note from Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, a newspaper headline of Lincoln's assassination and the Terry Cowboy Band's bass drum, among other items.  Eveyln Cameron's photographs from 1894-1928 are the subject of Donna Lucey's fine coffee table book, Photographing Montana:  The Life and Work of Evelyn Cameron.  The gallery is spare and unapologetic, just like Ms. Cameron's photos.

 

6)  Any bar in Montana - I'd recommend the New Atlas in Columbus, the Mint in Martinsdale (check out the "Mint" and "Stockman's" bar article in the Spring/Summer 2010 issue of Big Sky Journal) or the Stoneville Saloon in Alzada, which advertises "Cheap Drinks, Lousy Food." This summer, try the Bear Creek Saloon's pig races - just east of Red Lodge.

 

7)  As for ghost towns, Jason, - they're everywhere.  Elkhorn, Comet and Wickes in Jefferson County.  The Amazon tunnel, near Wickes was, at 6,000+ feet, the longest tunnel on the Great Northern line (take boots if you want to walk through it, there's water along much of it).  Stop by and visit with Ellen Rae Thiel in Boulder - she's a walking repository of Jefferson County history and a true state treasure.  While you're there, visit the Boulder County Courthouse, built in 1888 for $ 45,000.  The building was designed by a German immigrant, John Paulsen, who later died on the eve of his testimony in a case where members of the Montana Capitol Commission proposed to build the state capitol for $2 million and pocket the rest of the $ 5 million bond; the capitol was later built for $350,000.

 

That's just starters.  There's Pony and Wisdom and Mildred/Ismay and Radersburg and Fort Logan, Castle and Harlowton with its Avacerotops, a large dog-sized triceratops.  The Byers Ranch round barn, near Twin Bridges, home of the only Montana horse to win the Kentucky Derby - Spokane.

 

Mike Anderson

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Permalink Reply by Ednor Therriault on July 1, 2011 at 3:39pm

Mike, thanks for the input and for the treasure trove of related info. I'm right with you on the Range Riders in Miles City and the three museums in Fort Benton. Either of those could easily be a half a day's worth of exploring. The Range Riders in particular has such a far-flung assortment of collections and displays, it's almost too much to take in during one visit.

I ran into Max Baucus in the New Atlas a couple of summers ago. He'd just come from the Belgrade Airport where President Obama made an appearance. The Senator was very engaging. He saw me hanging around with a camera, sneaking glances at him, waiting for my opportunity. He just walked right over with a big smile, stuck out his hand, and said, "Hi, I'm Max." Very personable. And almost as interesting as the stuffed albino deer on display.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Anderson on July 1, 2011 at 5:59pm

A couple of years ago, on a Bobcat-Grizzly weekend, I took two Panamanian ladies and a guy who'd never been west of Philadelphia to the New Atlas.  Part of a whirlwind trip from Billings to Bozeman and Manhattan and back.  Mind you, there'd already been a fair amount of drinking among the patrons when we arrived - about 1:00 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon.  One look at the two-headed calf and the badger and the Panamanians started discussing their merits in a language only they understood.  A grizzled old customer turned a semi-opaque eye my direction and said, "They're not from around here are they?"  Even the albino deer cast a questioning eye.

 

I bought them each a red beer - cost me $7 - about the price of a glass of water back home in New York City.

 

On the way out, there were two notices posted.  One warned patrons that, even if they were just trying to help break up a fight, they were subject to being thrown out of the bar - no exceptions.  The other had a picture of a John Deere tractor with the following notice:

 

FOR SALE:  John Deere tractor.  Runs good.  Missing a seat and a steering wheel.  Owner's lost his a** farming, and doesn't know where to turn.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Neal on July 18, 2011 at 9:20am

Mike, thanks for the recommendations!

Another great Montana bar is The Lumberjack Saloon (my local watering hole), off Highway 12 about 15-20 miles west of Lolo. It's basically a monument to the early- and mid-20th century logging industry in western MT. The place is constructed from massive unpeeled logs, and decorated inside with old chainsaws sitting up in the rafters and logging paraphernalia hanging on the walls.

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Permalink Reply by Ednor Therriault on July 6, 2011 at 2:40pm

How about some love for Virginia City and Nevada City? With the nearby Robber's Roost, there's a bounty of weird and sometimes shocking history in these thriving ghost towns. Club Foot George, anyone?

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