People & Place

  • Get To Know A County: Rosebud

    By Bryan Spellman
    Roughly halfway between Lame Deer and Colstrip, the Deer Medicine Rocks are a National Historic Landmark, located on private property with no public access. The landmark memorializes the site where Lakota Chief Sitting Bull had a vision foretelling his success over the U.S. 7th Cavalry led by General George Armstrong Custer.
  • Get To Know Fergus County

    By Bryan Spellman, With Photos by the Author
    Located at the geographical center of the state of Montana, Fergus County was formed on March 12, 1885, with land taken from Meagher and Chouteau Counties. James Fergus, a territorial delegate from Meagher County, proposed the new county, and it was named for him.
  • Get To Know a County: Carbon County

    By Bryan Spellman, with Photos by the Author
    Carbon County has sixty-six listings on the National Register of Historic Places, including eleven in Red Lodge. The county courthouse and the former Carbon County Hospital and Sanitorium are both part of the Red Lodge Historic Commercial District.
  • Why I Believe in Bigfoot

    By Kelly Berdahl
    Highly unusual sounds recorded near Ennis (MT) have strikingly similar characteristics to those captured in the Sierra Nevada range (CA) in the early ’70s. Witnesses all describe the overwhelmingly magnitude and power of these sounds.
  • For the Birds: Passion and Happiness in the Mission Valley

    By Everett Headley, with photos by the author
    John has become a local celebrity after ushering nearly 10,000 students through his passion project. When walking into a bar recently a middle-aged man pointed a figure finger at him asking if he was the “bird guy.”
  • Haunted Hotels of Southwest Montana

    By Sherman Cahill
    Suddenly and without explanation, he discovered a solitary elk steak on the hallway floor. Then another here. Another couple there. It was 6 or 8 elk steaks all told, and Lee still can't figure out who, or what, is responsible for moving them.
  • Roadtrip to Dillon and the Andrus Hotel

    By Joseph Shelton, with photos by the author
    Our room was the Carnegie Suite, which, in addition to a handsome kitchen, living room, and two full bathrooms (one featuring a luxurious walk-in shower), also featured two bedrooms, each with its own television.
  • For the Love Of... Chinook Horses

    The great American writer Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick, proved he knew horses nearly as well as whales when he said, "No philosophers so thoroughly comprehend us as dogs and horses." That comprehension shows itself in remarkable ways—horses will sidle up close, nuzzle you, even lovingly nip at you.
  • Boomtown Saint

    By Christopher Muhlenfeld
    One could be forgiven for thinking that a city so drenched in decadence wouldn't have hosted one of North America's earliest saints. Yet in the midst of this hedonism and chaos, an Orthodox Christian priest named Sebastian Dabovich played a significant role in Butte, and the fruits of his labors have endured for generations.
  • Get to Know Daniels County

    By Bryan Spellman
    On August 30, 1920, the Montana Legislature took the western part of Sheridan County and the northeastern portion of Valley County to create Daniels County. Named for local rancher Mansfield Daniels, the County covers 1,426 square miles, almost all that land.
  • Dishing Up Community At Montana's Diners

    By Michael Ober
    Over in Glendive, GiGi’s Café makes the list. So does Shellie's Country Café in Helena, open 24 hours. Jordan has its Summit Corral. Even tiny Lima, Montana has Jan’s Café. And though there is not a tree anywhere nearby, Denton boasts its Shade Tree Café.
  • Montana's Road Ghosts and Phantom Hitchhikers

    By Renee Carlson, Illustrated by Rob Rath
    Also referred to as vanishing hitchhikers, these are ghosts that haunt our roadways. Some seek to hitch a ride with the living and others simply drift through the thin veil between worlds to appear briefly on the side of the road.
  • Charlie Chaplin’s Butte, America

    By Joseph Shelton
    Chaplin’s autobiography lingers on a particular stop along his tour, an American city which, even from the distance of a half a century on and a continent away, he was able to recall vividly: Butte, Montana.
  • Get To Know A County: Beaverhead

    By Bryan Spellman
    One of Montana’s nine original counties, Beaverhead is the state’s largest county in area. Excepting minor boundary changes with neighboring Madison County, Beaverhead is the same size and shape as when it was first created.
  • The Old Broke Rancher Invents the Lewis & Clark Diet

    By Gary Shelton
    Dr. Pisberg is our family doctor, and sometimes I wonder about him. Mostly, I wonder if he can account for his whereabouts from 1933-1945 or so. Like any true sadist, he also knows that words can hurt much worse than sticks and stones or reflex hammers and tongue depressors.
  • The Petrified Man of Livingston Goes East

    By Nick Mitchell
    So, amid the larger profusion of oddities like two-headed animals, conjoined piglets, Fiji mermaids, ancient Viking runestones found buried in midwestern fields, bearded ladies, pickled punks, "savages", and other bizarre traveling attractions, there emerged a very specific and surprisingly popular variety: the petrified man. 
  • Get to Know a County: Mineral County

    By Bryan Spellman
    On August 7th, 1914, the Montana Legislature created Mineral County, taking the western end of Missoula County and placing the seat at Superior.
  • How Bobby Became a Legend

    By Sherman Cahill
    Bobby's leg broke, and for the first time, but certainly not the last time, Bobby was lucky to be alive. Unrepentant, perversely obstinant in the way that only Butte can be, Bobby bought another bike as soon as he could and took to racing the police around the town, popping wheelies and raising hell.