The End

This picture is of Castle Geyser, which we saw erupt while we were waiting for Old Faithful.

###

Reflection: Lynching—Montana Justice

Montanans are proud of their history—vigilante justice (especially hangings), gold mining and homesteading are particularly popular historical themes. There is a strong popular movement in the state to preserve log houses and all types of artifacts of the 19th and early 20th century. There were history museums in many of the towns we visited on this trip.

Invariably museum volunteers would tell us whether or not there had ever been a hanging in town. The walking tour of Red Lodge points out that “black-edged invitations” were issued for the town’s only hanging which took place at the old jail long ago replaced by the municipal swimming pool. The Galatin County Museum preserves the gallows used for Bozeman’s only hanging. We went to the museum and stood at the edge of the hanging platform looking down into the abyss below—a weird feeling.

Those stories pale in comparison to the celebrated works of the Virginia City Vigilantes who sentenced 23 drunks, rowdies and other bad guys to be hanged. The first two who were lynched met their end in January 4, 1864 when a double execution was imposed by Vigilantes in Nevada City, one of the mining towns that sprung up along Alder Gulch. Six days later, the Vigilantes moved up the gulch to Virginia City where they arrested 5 men suspected of being road agents. A short trial was held in the street on the corner of Wallace and Van Buren and all five were found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. The condemned were marched into a partially finished log store and hanged from an exposed roof beam. The bodies were then laid out on the sidewalk in front of the building.



The 5 convicted road agents were buried by friends in Boot Hill Cemetery overlooking historic Virginia City—3 of the original grave markers are in the Virginia City Museum . The other two markers were lost to history because souvenir seekers stole them. The Historical Society has replaced the five original grave markers. A photo of the marker for Clubfoot George Lane, the first to be hanged that day, is shown above.

We visited Boot Hill and can report that the replica grave markers are standing and all seems right with the world at the cemetery. It was ironic, however, to see a colorful bouquet of red, white and yellow plastic flowers adorning each of the markers. We also visited the museum to look at the original markers, shown below. The mummified remains of the deformed foot of Clubfoot George is also on display— presumably to keep it safe from grave robbers.

The log store where this lynching took place was completed and became first a drug store, then a post office and now is a museum where a model of the lynching is on display (see photo at head of blog). These lynchings by the vigilantes have prompted much writing and discussion and are the subject of the best-selling history: A Decent Orderly Lynching by Frederick Allen


Although I am not inclined to read History, preferring to read historical novels instead, I found this book a real “page turner”. The author presents the history of the vigilante movement and describes the chronological development of government in what came to known as the Montana Territories.  He portrays the principal actors in this drama with vigor and style that would serve a novelist well. The findings are documented carefully and moralistic opinions kept to a minimum. Along the way, the reader will discover how Montana got its name, the mythical origin of the Vigilante symbol 3-7-77 and learn about life in the gold mining camps that popped up in the American West after the initial gold rush to California.




The cover illustration is an historical photo of James Daniels a rowdy tavern owner who was lynched with his pardon in his pocket. Daniels stabbed and killed a man during a drunken brawl in a Helena. The Helena marshal subsequently arrested Daniels and he was tried and convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 3 months in jail. Perhaps a light sentence, but justice was served.

However the story didn't end there, friends of Daniels approached the notoriously drunken Governor of Montana Territory, Thomas Frances Meagher, and obtained a pardon for Daniels and thus Daniels was freed from jail. The Vigilance Committee of Helena took offense at this contravention of Territorial law, seized Daniels and summarily lynched him on November 25, 1865—pardon or no pardon.  The Daniels lynching is number 45 in the author’s list of Vigilante executions during the formative years of the new Montana Territory. Ironically there were more executions than recorded murders during this period.



So, how did Montana get its name? During the gold rush, Montana was part of Idaho Territory. The process of becoming a territory and then a state involved several acts of congress. First, a mining district was created by Congress for the initial gold discovery in Bannack. When gold was discovered in Alder Gulch additional mining districts were created by acts of congress. The population grew quickly as miners came to work the mining claims and soon there more than 10,000 people in the gold rush locations and congress was lobbied to create a territory. The chairman of the House committee on territories, John Ashley of Ohio, decided on the name Montana—a Latin word meaning mountainous. The Latin origin of the word made it less offensive to the sharply divided wartime congress than the similarly rooted French or Spanish words for mountain. After much wrangling a law creating Montana Territory was passed by congress and signed by President Lincoln on May 26, 1864.

While congress debated the law creating Montana Territory, the 23rd and 24th executions by the Virginia City vigilantes were carried out. In Virginia City a rowdy drunkard named J. A. Slade was hanged summarily for a non-capital offense. In nearby Nevada City a saloon-keeper James Brady was executed for murder while his victim lay mortally wounded nearby. To the chagrin of the Vigilantes, Brady’s victim recovered so the murder that Brady was hanged for never happened.  Clearly the new territory had a ways to go before one could say that the law reigned supreme. In fact, another 25 evil doers would be executed before the law was in full control of the Territory. 

A Decent Orderly Lynching by Frederick Allen is a very readable history of the Montana Gold fields and a good introduction to the wild and rowdy history of Montana Territory.
###

Reflection: A Simple Plan Worked For Us

A few weeks has passed since I returned from Montana. There has been time to process the photos and reflect over the trip. First and foremost, the plan worked--the reservations were honored at the hotels and lodges and the accommodations were comfortable, food was available and no one went cold or hungry. A selection of photos from the trip are in a Picasa Web Album.

Traveling in and around Yellowstone Park in summer requires reservations--without them you could seriously end up sleeping in your car. Also, it is good to keep an eye on the clock during the travel days when we changed hotels. The days are long here in summer (it was still light at 9:30), but don't count on restaurants and hotels being open late. Pahaska Tepee, for example, closes down at 9:30 PM--no gas, no food, no hotel check-in...no nothing. We discovered this little fact when we arrived about 8 PM and were glad we left several stops in Yellowstone Park for a later visit.

Our first stay was at the Dude Rancher Lodge in Billings. This downtown motor-lodge has free parking, WiFi and a restaurant that serves a pretty good Montana breakfast: eggs, hash browns, juice and coffee. You can walk the entire downtown of Billings from this lodge. We found a good local pub, The Montana Brewery,  for dinner and ale--their pasta was especially tasty. It surprised us that the Montana Brewery was the only crowded restaurant downtown on a Friday evening.

We left Billings and drove to Red Lodge to stay at the Pollard Hotel, which is a truly historic hotel dating back to the glory era of Red Lodge in the early 1900s. Where we found the Dude Rancher Lodge in a state of arrested decay we found the opposite at the Pollard. The hotel was spotless and very elegant in a rough-and-tumble western fashion. The complimentary breakfast was from the menu of the dinning room and included, of course, the classic Montana eggs and hash browns. Our evening meals were at the Red Lodge Cafe and the Red Lodge Pizza Co. The Red Lodge Cafe is a traditional western cafe--they feature liver and onions as well as steaks The cafe was once featured in a NY Times travel article. Adjacent to the pizza company is Natali's Front Bar, a quiet friendly place to enjoy a beer. Especially good if you want to avoid cowboys and bikers and watch the European Football, soccer, on TV.

Next stop Pahaska Tepee, another historic western Inn. We stayed in a half of a large A-frame that resembled a tepee. The room was ample and comfortable and featured new plumbing and good beds--another planning success. The dining room opens early, 7AM, for breakfast. Classic Montana breakfast again and WiFi. The telephones were down while we were there due to a flooding Shoshone River so the internet was the only way the lodge kept in touch with the outside world.

From Pahaska Tepee we traveled to Cody to see the town and the Buffalo Bill museum complex. A power failure sent us out of the museum to picnic on left-overs from our ice cooler. Later, we found a great ice cream and cookie shop to round out our meager lunch.

We returned to our lodge for dinner and found that the whole dining room was reserved for a tour group arriving by bus from Yellowstone Park--this with the 9:30 PM closing time looming. The energetic staff found us a table in the bar and somehow got us dinner cooked and served with time left over. If you are in the area check out Pahaska Tepee. We had a great time there and would definitely go back if we were out Cody way sometime.

We re-entered Yellowstone Park to spend the day seeing things we missed crossing from Cooke City to the East Entrance and then made our way to Ennis, Montana and the Rainbow Valley Inn. Ed and Jeanne Williams are the hosts at this lodge style motel. Our room, which actually was a double-width trailer located a block from the motel proper, served us perfectly. Jeanne wove the basket at the right from pine needles taken from Ponderosa Pines.

The inn  recommended the Reel Decoy BBQ and Grill for dinner and we tried it. Great food, just what we needed after a long day of sight-seeing. The BBQ and the dessert cobbler were really special. Next morning, I ate the complimentary breakfast early at the inn's office, coffee and doughnut, and used their WiFi while waiting for my travel companions to wake up. We then went for a real breakfast at the Ennis Cafe--Classic Western breakfast or blueberry pancakes. After breakfast we traveled the 30 miles or so to Virginia City and ate lunch at a sandwich shop and had pizza for early dinner while waiting for the musical and variety show at the Virginia City Playhouse to start at 7 PM. All in all we were pretty well fed and well lodged on this segment of our trip.

  

Next day we returned to Billings by way of Bozeman. We stopped in Bozeman to visit the old Gallatin County Jail, now a museum, and the Museum of the Rockies. The folks at the Museum of the Rockies recommended the Pickle Barrel for sandwiches, so we went across campus to try it out. Great sandwiches, but the meat portions were a little large. Don't even think of ordering a full sandwich; the half is more that you can eat.

Back in Billings, we stayed again at the Dude Rancher Lodge--no surprises. Dinner again at the Montana Brewery and breakfast at the lodge restaurant. Both were consistently good. That left us some time to kill before the 4 PM flights back to California. We found nothing better in West Billings than a Sub at a gas station--Oh, well.

The travel reservations for the trip went smoothly and met our expectations. I'm thinking that that contributed greatly to our having a really nice trip.

Note: The horses were part of the 2002 Billings City Art Project. More than 40 of the horses were on display and several are still standing in the downtown area. There was an auction in support of preservation of the Billings Railway Terminal. The Trojan Horse at the right was last seen at Rocky Mountain College, being the work of an art professor at the college.

###

Parmly Billings, Here's to you

How many legs on a Santa Fe chicken? Of course it’s a trick question. I’m in the Denver Stapleton airport typing away at my computer using the free WiFi and electrical plug-in. I picked up a snack called Santa Fe chicken for my dinner. It was boxed like a pizza and alongside the pizzas so I thought was it was a pizza but it turned out to be fried chicken wings. The answer to the question: 3 wings, no legs; told you there was a trick.


I flew from Billings to Denver with a 3 hour layover before the final flight to San Jose. This airport is immense--airplane shown at right is landing in middle of concourse B where there are 87 or so gates strung out over the Colorado prairie. There are other similarly endowed concourses.

Hard for me to imagine the time when I worked at the old Denver International Airport, which didn’t have any gates at all. That was in 1957 when I was a recently hired electronics technician for RCA. A small crew of us were re-wiring the airport control towers for a new communications system. After Denver we moved to Great Falls, Montana. Spending several summer weeks in Great Falls convinced me that I should go to college and get a job somewhere with better climate. The old Denver International was decommissioned and is now a residential neighborhood; It was replaced by Stapleton the Giant. The airport in Great Falls is still going in the same location--hope they have updated their communications system.

This morning we were up and about early. Breakfast was a Montana classic with scrambled eggs and hash browns. We checked out of the Dude Wrangler Lodge and headed off for another museum.

The old Parmly Library is now the Montana Historical Museum—it is nicely done. Outside the library sits another of those log houses that Montanans seem to drag about the countryside. It looks out of place next to the stone formality of the library/museum. The name of the library comes from Parmly Billings son of the Billings that was president of the Great Northern and founder of Billings, Montana. Parmly died young, 25 years old, and the library was built in his honor. Nice thought as many young Montanans learned to read here could testify. The city build a new library on 27th and named it after the old library, neat.


Did you know that Frederick and Julia Billings were from Vermont? Yes, they were, and they returned to Woodstock after their Western adventure to become very active in the social life of Vermont. They had money and wanted to spend it. The National Park Service recently created the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, Vermont's first national park, to commemorate the conservation work of George Perkins Marsh, Frederick Billings, and Laurence Rockefeller. Now the blog is doing historical notes, good thing the trip is almost over. No telling what could be coming next.

We stopped at Lou Taubert Ranch Outfitters where we bought Western duds. The picture at the right shows a stylish lady outfitted by Lou. I settled for a canvas vest. Yee Haw! We also stopped at a pawnshop and then an Army-Navy store. Guy type shopping. Enough said about that. It was time to eat lunch and find Budget to return the Subaru. Good car, Subaru. Had to use the cell phone to find the car return—called and the attendant said to get on the street go 100 feet down Grand Avenue and turn into the driveway. We were next door and didn’t see their sign.

At the airport there were no crowds and check in was easy, giving us time to see the Yellowstone County Museum which is a short walk across the parking lot from the terminal. Of course it is housed in a log building that was hauled from downtown Billings. It houses a very nice collection of memorabilia from cowboys, ranchers, soldiers, and Indians. It is worthy of a stop; especially if you have a little time before your flight. The current exhibit is Wildlife on the Yellowstone--we cut that short because we had just been to the Yellowstone--we looked at the historical stuff. These deer are looking at you from the exhibit. Give the museum web page a look.

www.yellowstonecountymuseum.org/

Time to say goodbye Montana—it was really nice visiting.

###

Along the Yellowstone River

The day dawned sunny as we prepared to leave Ennis Montana. Nice place to spend a few days—some here think it’s a nice place period. This year fishing is bad because the Madison River is high and muddy. The motel owner thinks that this is the natural cycle for those who depend on the weather for their livelihood. Who am I to argue? We followed the river past Ennis Lake and on until we turned toward Bozeman while the river continued toward Three Forks to meet up with Jefferson and Gallatin—hello Missouri.

First stop in Bozeman is the Pioneer Museum located in the old county jail—it features a gallows where a felon was hanged on day. There the gallows sits, the trap down, hanging noose at the ready—all they need to do is cock the trap door and find an unfortunate felon. Pretty grim, fortunately for me the museum also features many other unique displays. There is a room for Montana State where the freshman beanie has a prominent display. I remember wearing that as a frosh. Imagine me who was a veteran and world traveler being hazed by 18 year old sophomores. Ugh. I had to live in the frosh dorm also—that lasted only the first quarter. I claimed that I was getting married and moved out to an apartment on Babcock—we drove by today and it’s still there, 5 mailboxes now, used to be four.

Enough. The Museum of the Rockies on the campus of Montana State University. Is next on our tour. The feature here is the dinosaur –the staff have practically invented the word, they caused a major rethinking of dinosaurs by the scientific community. It was due to their work that most of us now believe that diny was really a prototypical bird and some flavors of dinosaurs had feathers—brightly colored ones too. Don’t take my word for it—look on Wikipedia or the museum’s web site. Here are Steffen and Ethan with Big Bob. Fortunately it is not a working model or they would be toast.


Montanans seem bent on moving old houses around—they have a turn-of-the-century log house on display outside the museum. Tinsley House is a fully functional 2-story farmhouse that was moved to the campus from 40 miles away. Montana Power had to raise 30 sets of power lines so the house could travel under on it way to MSU and Museum of the Rockies. They were baking cookies in the kitchen while we were here and a woman was spinning hand dyed wool into yarn upstairs. She used madder for her red, just like the dyer that created the red coats for the British in revolutionary times.



There was a traveling exhibition of costumes used in movies like Star Wars and other action epics: Darth Vader, Capt. Kirk, Mr. Spock, Batman and many others. There is also an extensive exhibit of Montana History. The museum has something for everybody. We could spend a long time here, but it is time to head out for Billings, the final stop on this tour.

On the way to Billings while riding along the Yellowstone River I saw an American eagle perched high on a snag. Traveling along the river I recalled that only a few days ago we were at the headwaters of the Yellowstone. And I rememberd the Upper and Lower Falls that get the river started downhill towards the Missouri.


We checked in at the Dude Rancher Motel and walked to dinner past the former Fox theater which is now an upscale traveling show venue—Lily Tomlin in playing tomorrow night. This beautiful, if somewhat fanciful, horse stands at the theater entrance.

The Fox Theater opened in 1931, built in glamorous Art Deco style by architect R. C. Reamer with the Janet Gaynor film, "Merely Mary Ann". There was also a parade down Third Avenue and live entertainment opening night. The theater was built on the site of the homestead of the Bair family. Eventually, the theater closed, was nearly raised and finally it was resurrected when the city bought the Fox, which it leased to the newly-formed Alberta Bair Theater Corporation. Alberta Bair, a daughter of the man who formerly owned the property the Fox was built on, gave a generous gift towards the theater's restoration, and the theater was afterwards renamed in her honor. The Alberta Bair Theater for the Performing Arts reopened in 1987, returned to its original 1930s beauty, with a concert by Burt Bacharach.

Seems appropriate to finish a tour of Montana with some history and a photo of a horse.

###

Virginia City—3-7-77

The Madison River, which we first saw at its headwaters in Yellowstone Park, goes right through the town of Ennis-- a wide spot in the road with four banks and as many boutique stores.. Ennis isn’t large but it is proud and patriotic too—there at also four parks in town. Peter T’s Park honors the founder of one of the banks. In the park in front of Peter T’s bank there is a very nice metal sculpture of an elk hunter and horses being menaced by bears—hungry bears after the elk meat on the pack animal.



Veteran’s Park near The Reel Decoy Restaurant where we ate last night flies a huge American flag that can be seen from all over town. The towns website declares: “In the heart of the Madison Valley, this country is truly the best of the west. The Indians called this valley, "the Land of the Shining Mountains," the locals call it Heaven.”The site continues: “An authentic western town, Ennis is surrounded by three ranges of the Rocky Mountains and three million acres of the Beaverhead National Forest. This is Lewis and Clark country. It is also a true part of the Treasure State. Gold was discovered here in the 1860's and rubies can still be found in the Ruby Valley only 20 miles from Ennis.”



William Ennis, a freight hauler serving the gold fields founded the city named after him in this scenic location along the Madison. The fabled rubies, however, are really garnet a pretty semi-precious stone.



The town’s web site also has a great history section with pictures: 

    http://www.ennismontana.org/historic_points.htm



Next stop Virginia City just a short 20 mile ride west over Virginia City Pass to where gold was discovered in Alder Creek by William Fairweather who also founded the Fairweather hotel. The hotel is still open, and is being painted, somewhat haphazardly, by a crew from Ameri-Corps today. The dry climate has preserved the wooden structures in this town for more than 100 years, but they still need maintenance.



The grave of Fairweather is in the Virginia City cemetery on a bluff above town near Boothill cemetery where those hanged by the Vigilantes rest. There lilacs are in bloom. We left Virginia City to tour the gold dredging sites and visit Nevada City a few miles away.



The restored gold rush village of Nevada City sits on the site of the gold rush town by the same name. A foundation has rescued 17 of the original buildings and added another 30 from all over the West to create an authentic replica of a gold rush town. There is a music hall that came from Canyon Lodge in Yellowstone Park, a hotel (still functioning) that was once a stage station, a one-room school, post office and assorted other buildings. There is even a 2-story outhouse. Fun.



Returning to Virginia City, we purchased tickets to see the Virginia City Players production of Dracula’s Daughters: A Family Comedy. While waiting for show time we visited the local stores, went to the museum to see Club-foot Johnson’s mummified foot and the marker from his grave—history buffs will remember that Club-foot was hanged by the infamous Vigilantes. We learned a lot about this town’s history. The Vigilante calling card, 3-7-77, appears today on the Montana Highway Patrol badge. For more on that try wikipedia:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-7-77



The extraordinary cast of the Players put on a great show that the audience of young campers and tourists applauded with enthusiasm. On this second night of the summer season the actors were enthusiastic if not always sure of their lines; the set manager came on stage a couple of times to correct small problems. The play was followed by intermission and a variety show featuring the cast. The rousing finale was "Montana the Beautiful" with many of the audience joining in. Great show.



This is the 60th year of the Players. When we bought our tickets Katie the stage manager asked me if I had been here before. I answered yes, but said it was long ago. She asked if I know any players—the name Ben Tone popped into my head. He was a founding actor, later taught at Montana State, and is still living in Ennis. He is 85 years old. I was active in the Montana State College theater group while a student at MSC in the 50’s. A group of us went down to see Ben and friends who had joined the Players for the summer. Break a Leg, Players.



Return to Ennis in daylight, 9:30PM, to get ready for tomorrows travel through Bozeman to Billings.

###

The Reel Decoy

After Breakfast I had to do quick search for a housekeeper because I had left the room key locked in the room. The housekeeper was agreeable to opening the door for me so I could pack for the day’s trip. Nice start.

The old lodge was opening as we left Pahaska Tepee so we stopped for a quick tour. The original lodge named Pahaska Tepee was developed at the turn of the century by Bill Cody and used continuously up to the 50’s. It is now open only as a museum. There are many old artifacts collected over time, and the building itself is worthy of note. It was built of rough logs with the bark on, two stories,with the lodgings on the second floor opening onto the central hall, which has a big wood-burning fireplace. In back of the fireplace there is a large dinning hall. A kitchen on one side and a bar/lounge on the other complete the basics. Outside, the full porch overlooks the river. It must have been a special experience to stay here. The guests of long ago first arrived in Cody by stage from Billings, they stayed overnight in Cody at the Irma Hotel, then they continued to “half-way Lodge” for another overnight. Finally, after another full day on the stage, they arrived at Pahaska Tepee—where they could continue on to Yellowstone. Many stayed right here for hunting and fishing.

Next stop, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We took the road to Artist Point to get pictures of lower falls. We got there just before 3 tour buses loaded the viewing stand to overflow. We got out pictures, enjoyed watching the soaring Blue-green Swallows and returned down the road to Tom’s Lookout where we took photos of the upper falls. White Pelicans were swimming in the river between the two falls—every now and then their heads dipped into the water. Hope the fishing was good.

The road to Old Faithful Geyser Basin goes through meadows that are green with spring grass. We saw elk and deer and many buffalo. We passed through Madison Junction the headwaters of the Madison River, which will join the Jefferson and Gallatin to become the Missouri at Three Forks. It was there that we meet our first real traffic jam. About 30 minutes delay, because of drivers slowing and stopping to look at a large herd of buffalo on the route to Old Faithful. Finally, it was our turn to look, but the buffalo seemed to be sleeping.

We drove on—to arrive at Old Faithful, where we parked and joined the throng of people waiting for the 2:30 eruption. I sat on the edge near one end of the seating area, people are 6-8 deep for the 150 yards or so that are nearest to the geyser. Where I was sitting there were fewer people and the views are just as good. A Mountain Bluebird was flying back and forth in the trees near the spout of the geyser. The thousand or so people watching and waiting shushed and there was a strange silence as the geyser began to gurgle, then sighs as the eruption began in earnest. After the last gurgle everyone left just like they leave after a football game.

The real gems of Old Faithful Geyser Basis are the paint pots and sulphur pools; the colors are exquisite against the blue and yellow of the spring flowers.

We left the park, not stopping in West Yellowstone, to continue on to Ennis. On the way we stopped at the Quake Lake Visitor Center that commemorates those killed by the 1959 earthquake that was centered near West Yellowstone. We watched a video that described the geology and the effects of the quake. The video was shown in a hall with big windows that looked out on the dam caused by the debris. We could see the bare scar left on the mountain by the landslide. We could also see the large boulders now lying across the canyon from the mountainside where they originated. The slide happened quickly in the remote area and left 300 casualties and 28 dead buried under the slide debris. The visitor center is an impressive stop—makes you think about the forces of nature.

Driving towards some black clouds we soon found ourselves in a real mountain squall. It only lasted a few minutes, and it cleared the air and turned the fields brilliant green. How fortunate we have been with the weather. We arrived in Ennis about 5:30 ready to rest a bit and go out for dinner. We checked in and found ourselves in a double-wide trailer just in back of the motel. We have a big lawn, deer in the adjacent field and llamas across the street. We went to dinner at The Reel Decoy, recommended by the hotel owner, very good food—Chicken Picatta, Hamburger, Pulled Pork Sandwich were the main dishes, but we had deserts, of course.

Oh, in case you were wondering, Ennis has a 4th of July Rodeo—just like Red Lodge and Cody.

###