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Articles by Ellen Baumler
Isle of Books Presents: Last Best Books Fall 2025
When Montana Outraced the East: The Reign of Western Thoroughbreds, 1886–1900 by Catharine Melin-Moser In the late 19th century, Montana's leisured classes used their gains from mining, logging and ranching to invest in their newest passion: horse racing.
Isle of Books Presents: "When Montana Outraced the East," "The Life and Times of Jim Bridger," and "A History of Montana in 101 Places"
When Montana Outraced the East: The Reign of Western Thoroughbreds, 1886–1900 by Catharine Melin-Moser In the late 19th century, Montana's leisured classes used their gains from mining, logging and ranching to invest in their newest passion: horse racing.
JeffCo History 101: Fraternity & Gilliam Halls
In 1868, Swiss miner Peter Wys discovered the lucrative silver veins of the Elkhorn Mine, which would eventually yield $14 million of ore. After Wys died in 1872, Helena entrepreneur Anton M. Holter and partners developed the Elkhorn Mine. Holter sold out to an English syndicate circa 1888, and the mining camp flourished into the 1890s. At its peak, the community housed more than 2,500 residents, and three passenger trains arrived weekly on the Northern Pacific’s branch line.
Warrior Spirit: Celebrating Native American Veterans
A journey that began in 1994 will come to fruition with the unveiling of “The Warriors’ Circle of Honor” on the grounds of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in Washington, D.C., on Veterans Day, 2020. Congress mandated the memorial under the Native American Veterans’ Memorial Establishment Act. The act has proven to be a gateway to better understanding, appreciation, and recognition of the impressive service and sacrifice of Native Americans in the military.
Gold-dusted dreams on South Rodney Street
South Rodney Street is one of Helena’s first developed neighborhoods where early influential citizens built fine homes in the first decade after the gold rush. One of these historic homes, long boarded up and recently demolished, once sheltered the pioneer Johsua C. Ricker family and generations of Ricker descendants. Next door to the south, a companion structure, built a decade later, survives.
Exploring Montana’s Best Last Places
Roza Cernic died in 1917 months before her brother came looking for her. Before he could find her, he walked out of one of Bearcreek’s saloons into the path of a moving train. Killed instantly, he was buried in the cemetery’s northeast corner in an unmarked grave. When a fence later enclosed the cemetery, Cernic’s grave was left outside. That he never found his sister, died so violently, and was left forgotten outside the fence may help to explain his anger.
House of the Good Shepherd Original
Linnie Connor sat inside the tall board fence that surrounded the House of the Good Shepherd at Ninth and Hoback, crying as if her heart would break. A passing neighbor climbed the fence to get a better view. One of the Catholic sisters noticed the intruder and hustled Linnie into the house, warning the trespasser to vacate the sidewalk.
The Lone Ranger of Yellowstone: Marguerite Lindsley
On August 25, 2016, the National Park Service turns 100, and there is no better time to celebrate the pioneering women who fought the odds to champion America’s wild and lonely outposts. Although today women make up a third of the National Park Service’s workforce, it wasn’t until 1978 that female park rangers were allowed to don the official badge or wear a proper uniform. In the 1960s, women rangers wore stewardess-style fitted jackets, tight knee-length skirts, and pillbox hats.
Roger Rouse: “The Opportunity Kid”
Roger Rouse might be the best athlete in Montana’s history who most people today do not remember. Indeed, even in 1999 when Sports Illustrated compiled its list of the 50 greatest sports figures from Montana, Rouse failed to rank, although two other boxers, Marvin Camel (#18) and Todd Foster (#40), were included.
The Pekin Noodle Parlor: Not a brothel
Butte attorney F. T. McBride built the Pekin Noodle Parlor building at 117 S. Main St.(Photo: For the Tribune/Ellen Baumler)Buy Photo Butte's Chinese community settled on the block bordered by West Mercury, South Main, West Galena, and Colorado streets in the late 19th 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 S.
Living in the Devil's Pocket
Twenty miles north of Winifred is a remote, hostile, yet beautiful area in the Missouri Breaks National Monument called the Devil’s Pocket. Myrtle Hagadone Hledik, who died in 2006, was one of the last surviving homesteaders who had lived in that wild area. The Devil’s Pocket was not a place of fond memories for Myrtle. Her parents married in 1913 and the couple had three daughters. Myrtle was the youngest. The family moved to the homestead about three miles upriver from the McCelland Ferry in 1917.
A great place to gather
The remote Judith River Ranger Station traces its origin to 1906 when Forest Service Ranger Thomas Guy Myers took up residence in the newly created Jefferson National Forest. His challenge was to interpret and administer policies regarding public use of the area’s abundant natural resources.
Mining Camp Thanksgiving
Abraham Lincoln set a precedent during his presidency proclaiming the national observance of Thanksgiving the last Thursday in November. In 1863 Harriet and Wilbur Sanders, the soon to be famous vigilante prosecutor, spent their first Montana Thanksgiving at Bannack. Goods were scarce, freight was slow arriving, and no one even thought about serving a turkey. Near neighbors invited Harriet and Wilbur along with Henry Edgerton, Sanders’ uncle, to Thanksgiving dinner.
Montana Moments: Smoking Boomer
Some dispute the story of Fort Benton’s famous dog Shep, whose statue sits along the banks of the Missouri River. But here’s a dog story to rival Fort Benton’s, and there are pictures to prove its truth. The railroad town of Harlowton was a division point along the Milwaukee Road where the railroad’s electrified section originated. In 1940, a big, burly dog rode into the Harlowton rail yards on a Milwaukee train. Roundhouse Foreman Phil Leahy gave him a meal, and the two became fast friends.
Montana Moments: 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 lobby.
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