Let's visit on the Porch II (Billings, Bozeman: routes, landmarks, living)

[ericsvibe]

Originally Posted by Reziac

Anyone else overrun by skunks this year?

Last week I had no less than eight sprays waft past my door in a single evening... rare day when we don't smell two or three. Apparently they hate each other more than usual....

I drive allot between Great Falls and Fort Benton and have seen tons of porcupines and skunks dead on the side of the highway so far this year, much more than I usually see. I've also seen a ton of coyotes in broad daylight, something that's kinda unusual.


The mule deer population here is getting a bit high. I hope they increase the tag numbers. I don't know if it's been a good couple of years as far as births are concerned or what but there is literally herds of mulies all around the highwoods.

[Reziac]

Haven't caught 'em at it, but deer have been bedding down in my long grass... normally it stands til late winter, this year it's about half already tramped down. Maybe they're just anticipatin' that apple crop they're so fond of. This week one trampled all around the feral horseradish... for some reason they never step on that.

[Reziac]

Old cowboy photos and stories, including one from Montana:

https://www.desertusa.com/desert-peo...-a-cowboy.html

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by Reziac

Old cowboy photos and stories, including one from Montana:

https://www.desertusa.com/desert-peo...-a-cowboy.html

Thanks, Reziac! A great narrative. I've saved the website. At the roundup I was invited to attend in the 1970s as a guest of the rancher, everything was done the "old way" like it is described in the narrative, even down to the fried "mountain oysters," just because that's what they had always done at that ranch, and not for the sake of a young tourist. I've been to many other "Old West events" over the years, but nothing as authentic and memorable as that round-up. And afterwards we all went dancing at the local saloon.

[MTSilvertip]

While not a scholarly tome, one of the best "Cowboy" books I've ever read is Trails Plowed Under by Charlie Russel, Yes, that Charles M Russel the celebrated western artist.

He worked as a ranchhand in the Judith Basin when he first came west from Missouri. His first watercolor that made him famous came from the winter of 1886-87 sometimes called the Big Die Up or the Great Cattle Extinction. There were approximately 5 million cattle in Montana in September of that year, by May of the next year over 90% had died from cold and starvation.

When his boss asked him about the condition of the herd, Russel sent him a picture called the "Last of the 10,000 showing a starving steer surrounded by coyotes.

The book is a collection of his stories as he shared them with his friends. The forward is written by Will Rogers. It reads like you just walked into a bunkhouse, took your seat on a bunk, rolled a cigarette, and someone just passed a bottle of cheap tanglefoot. The flavor of the book is homey, comfortable and in a style that is just like hearing the story from Russel himself over by the stove.

There were still old cowhands around when I was a kid that had lived rough and ready all their lives just as described in the article. Never forget those grand old men.

Good Article Rez!

[Reziac]

I hadn't heard of Trails Plowed Under... I see it was first published in 1927 (should be out of copyright, but...)

Anyway, lots of cheap copies floating around all the way back to first editions, or you can buy a copy that supports the museum here:

https://cmrussell.org/product/trails-plowed-under/

[eyes stacks and lack of shelves] Yeah, I need more books.

[MTSilvertip]

Museums are a great source of books that aren't currently popular, but still excellent books. "The Bloody Bozeman" and "Tough Trip Through Paradise" are 2 examples, or for lovers of fiction, how about "Crow Killer"?

I've seen Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass", or unknown local authors whose books had limited release like "Devil Man With a Gun" by Art Watson who grew up in the mining camps around White Sulphur Springs. The book is about his father and family and the people they knew in the late 1800s-early 1900s. Excellent read, but was limited release as it was printed by the White Sulpher Springs newspaper.

I love shopping museum book stores. You never know what you'll find.

[Reziac]

I've found a few oddities at library book sales and the like. One was a complete Byron including all his letters published ca.1838 (signed by someone's son who gifted it to his father in 1845 in Boston... the family still lives there)... over 800 pages in 4 point type... the man never shut up....

An article about Tough Trip Through Paradise:
https://web.archive.org/web/20100706...er-search.html
linked from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tough_...rough_Paradise
Lots of copies on eBay for about 5 bucks.

[MTSilvertip]

Yeah, that book has been in print for a long time, and I had a class in high school where it was part of the reading list. Not rare, but a very good read for those that know the area and events in Montana history he talks about.

My Great-Great Grandfather was stationed at Fort Ellis at about the same time Andrew Garcia was there, and since I currently live very close to where the events recorded in the book happened, I have a very real connection to it.

Reading the book and figuring distances etc. I came to the conclusion of where his dugout trading post was, and I recently spoke to a gentleman who's grandfather had homesteaded in this area, and the trading post was on what became his claim. The gentleman I spoke to still has the land, and while the post is nothing more than a slight depression now, it's still there.

I read the book probably 30 years ago or more, but since moving to my new place, I re-read it and it really was cool knowing the places he spoke about 150 years ago.

[Reziac]

Well, there's one less copy floating around now... always cool to find the real place. I used to have a 1920 "Automobile Blue Book" (they're now on archive.org) that covered the route from Great Falls to Havre... in the '60s there were still fragments of the original route. Was definitely not for the faint of winch.