Fall 2025
September 15, 2025Colonel John B. Driscoll takes Montana’s 163rd Infantry into the jungle hell of New Guinea at Sanananda, and Russell Rowland tells how The Deer Hunter, filmed in Montana, almost destroyed Hollywood. Douglas A. Schmittou recovers the ice busters, the only sortie American military aircraft flew against a target on American soil in the Second World War, Justin Franz goes full steam ahead, and Joseph Shelton follows the Sage Wall as it goes viral. Hallie Zolynski spends a summer in the Taylor-Hilgard, Nick Mitchell finds miniature magic at the Western Montana Railroad Historical Association, and the 2025 Best of Montana section runs from page 22.
Summer 2025
June 15, 2025Amy Grisak walks 1,700 miles of the Montana Trail, and Tom Vandel remembers the Red Lodge Fourth of July brouhaha of 1975 with illustrations by Robert Rath. Douglas A. Schmittou visits Rosebud Battlefield State Park, where the girl saved her brother, Ross Peterson introduces the band boys of Butte, and Joseph Shelton asks who the hell Montana Frank was. Susie Wall reports from the Teller Wildlife Refuge in the Bitterroot, Sherman Cahill tours the state in pork chop sandwiches, and James Grady talks with Russell Rowland about Condor.
Spring 2025
March 15, 2025Michael Ober walks the snowsheds of Glacier National Park, and Joseph Shelton charts early aviation conquering the Divide with illustrations by Robert Rath. Nick Mitchell collects the fossil legends of the Plains tribes, buffalo calling stones and medicine bundles among them, Hallie Zolynski hauls a ski pulk 900 miles through the backcountry, and Douglas A. Schmittou traces the Little Ice Age in Montana. Also inside: the Montana Hope Project, Fairmont Hot Springs, remembering David Lynch, J.K. Ralston’s legacy, Ednor Therriault on Montana rest stops, and Gallatin County.
Winter 2024-25
December 15, 2024Ross Peterson reports on Missoula in the stormy sixties, when the hippies were coming, and Nick Mitchell tells the last ride of Long George Francis with illustrations by Robert Rath. Russell Rowland remembers the photographer Evelyn Cameron, Douglas A. Schmittou catalogues the extreme weather behind Montana’s legendary winters, and Sherman Cahill traces identity and reinvention in The Big Trail, starring John Wayne. Lindsay Tran visits the boomtowns of Fort Peck Dam, Ednor Therriault crosses the Snowden Bridge, and Bryan Spellman gets to know Flathead County.
Fall 2024
September 15, 2024Doug Stevens rides with the Buffalo Soldier Wheelmen of the 25th Infantry Regiment at Fort Missoula, and Michael J. Ober uncovers Lewistown’s forgotten air base. Douglas A. Schmittou makes the case for Tyrannosaurus rex as Montana’s most legendary apex predator, Sherman Cahill checks into the haunted hotels of southwest Montana, Nick Mitchell binds the Freemasons to the vigilantes, and Holly Matkin follows the Irish sport of hurling as it takes root. Joseph Shelton road trips to Dillon, James Grady remembers Richard Hugo, and the 2024 Best of Montana section runs from page 30.
Summer 2024
June 15, 2024Sherman Cahill follows Charley Pride from the Helena smelter to country-western stardom, and Joseph Shelton checks in at the Grabow and her sisters, Livingston’s historic hotels. Hallie Zolynski photographs bronc riding, Douglas A. Schmittou writes on Woman Chief and Running Eagle, nineteenth-century women warriors of the Apsáalooke and Piikáni, and Nick Mitchell covers the Sheep Wars and what James Lumley found crashed in Cadotte Pass. Also inside: the kidnap and ransom of Froggy Doo, Dorothy Johnson, the Marlboro Ranch, and Fallon County.
Spring 2024
March 15, 2024Nick Mitchell brings the Devil’s Brigade to Helena, Christopher Muhlenfeld covers Montana’s Serb Fest, and Joseph Shelton follows Buffalo Bill’s last tour of the state and the secret life of Butte’s pigeons. Ednor Therriault tells the story of paving Montana, Brenda Wahler sets Mark Twain against Clark of Montana, and Sherman Cahill makes the case for Anaconda as the prettiest little town in southwest Montana. Also inside: Lee Steen and the Tree People, the Powder River Kid, the American Legion’s highway fatality markers, and Deer Lodge County.
Winter 2023-24
December 15, 2023Joseph Shelton remembers Frontier Town, and Robert Rath introduces and illustrates Montana’s bison-lizard. Sherman Cahill tells the day Jack Dempsey cheated Shelby, Nick Mitchell follows the petrified man of Livingston east, and Douglas A. Schmittou marks the bicentennial of Hugh Glass’s odyssey. Lindsay Tran covers the race for the capital, Michael J. Ober dishes up community at Montana’s diners, Doug Stevens credits the Jackson and Moran partnership that saved Yellowstone, and Bryan Spellman gets to know Chouteau County.
Fall 2023
September 15, 2023Christopher Muhlenfeld tells the story of the Boomtown Saint, and Nick Mitchell recounts how Bobby became a legend and when flying saucers first came to Great Falls. Joseph Shelton hunts the Shunka Warak’in, hyena of the Rockies, Doug Stevens collects trappers’ tales from early Yellowstone, and Sherman Cahill reports on Butte as J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI Siberia and lists seven Montana towns that never existed. Dr. Shane Doyle celebrates the gift of a Blackfoot map, Todd Klassy photographs the Cremer Ranch rodeo dynasty, and the 2023 Best of Montana section runs from page 32.
Summer 2023
June 15, 2023Sherman Cahill wonders whether some tourists have a deathwish, and Nick Mitchell tells the story of Stuart’s Stranglers. Douglas A. Schmittou writes on Chief Mountain as landmark and sacred site, Doug Stevens visits Fort Benton and follows Calamity Jane’s life in Montana, and Joseph Shelton calls on Charlie Russell at Bull Head Lodge. Frank Vargo meets the Montana marksman Tom Frye, James Lee Burke talks with Russell Rowland about Bud Guthrie, and Hallie Zolynski photographs the Anaconda Pintler Wilderness.