• Knifesmith is a Cut Above the Rest • 12 West is Worth the Wait • Golf Gone Wild!
[596] life in the helena area
spring 2012
Beautiful Beginnings Tomatoes 101: Take a few tips from an expert
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Randy Rickman publisher Butch Larcombe editor Sheila Habeck art director Eliza Wiley photo editor Tonda Meyer advertising manager Shawna Swanz special projects manager contributors Dylan Brown Eve Byron Marga Lincoln Alana Listoe Peggy O’Neill Sanjay Talwani
[contents] editor’s note 6 gear Headphones and earbuds for all 8 food & drink 12 West Supper Club is worth the wait 12 features Grow delicious tomatoes this year with tips from a local expert 16 Locals find a new way to have fun in the forest with disc golf 22 Lincoln knifesmith is known worldwide 28 my office Helena police chief and his many family treasures 42
cover photo Valley Farms grows some of the area’s most spectacular tomatoes.
last call 44 by Eliza Wiley
life in the helena area
[596]
[editor’s note]
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Reader warning: We are getting down and dirty in this issue of 596. Reporter and gardener Marga Lincoln goes out to Valley Farms to get some tips on growing tomatoes, a climatic challenge in Helena. Dennis Flynn, the head tomato guy at Valley Farms, has nurtured a reputation for a super-hybrid tomato known as the Big Dena. But he also has plenty of insight into other tomatoes suitable for local gardens. He is also loaded with growing tips, including this gem: “Tomatoes have no sense of humor about frost.” Learn about the juicy art of tomatoes on page 16. Let’s face it, disc golf has a tie-dye reputation. But the sport is catching on in Helena. In “Golf Gone Wild,” starting on page 22, writer Sanjay Talwani and photographer Dylan Brown, take a whack at explaining the appeal of disc golf and the devotion of the sport’s aficionados. As Travis Brower notes, a lot of work is devoted to maintaining a disc golf layout. But the rewards are the pay-off. “To see someone throw a piece of plastic 400 feet is relatively impressive,” says Brower. Near Lincoln, knifesmith Rick Dunkerley operates in two worlds. One is gritty, involving steel, a hot forge, heavy hammers and the sweat of a blacksmith. The other realm is art. Dunkerley has crafted an international reputation for knives with intricate detail in Damascus steel. “I make about 40 a year and work on them almost every day,” Dunkerley tells reporter Eve Byron. “Simple knives I can make in a day. Complicated ones take me weeks.” Get more of the story of one man described as one of the top knife makers in the world on page 28. You’ve seen the scenes as you whip by Basin on Interstate 15 and can’t help but wonder why people would pay to sit underground soaking up radon, a gas the Environmental Protection Agency says is a significant threat to human health. Helena freelance writer Jennifer McKee went deep underground in search of the answer. In essence, radon-mine patrons believe in that a small amount of radon gas has health benefits. Some of the visitors to the former uranium mines are optimistic, others are desperate for help with chronic pain. Don’t miss McKee’s story, “Health Found Underground,” and images from freelance photographer Kenton Rowe, on page 34. Colorful vegetables, artsy knives borne of flame and grit, free spirits flinging discs through the trees and folks going deep underground for relief. It’s all part of life in the area we call 596. [!]
Butch Larcombe/Editor
photo by Eliza Wiley
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[7]
[gear]
keep it
all
inside Need a little ‘me’ time? It’s easy to create your own private getaway with a new set of headphones or earbuds by alana listoe
[8]
www.helenair.com / 596magazine
The many uses for headphones and earbuds are as varied as the options available. An obvious use is in a gym setting as sweating, heavy-breathing men and women on treadmills, cross-trainers and stationary bikes to listen to music or watch TV to help motivate them through a tough workout. Or they’re used by families, who rely on a set of earbuds or headphones to change the experience on a long car or airplane trip. But at work, it’s a little less exact. At the Independent Record, some of us wear a pair of headphones or earbuds when working on a video for online viewers; some listen to favorite bands to drown out the office chatter; and others wear them just to be left alone. No matter what the reason, it’s likely there’s a pair or two in your home, desk drawer or toy box. If not, it’s time to take the plunge and get some. But there are a few things to keep in mind before you make your purchase. There are really three components to keep in mind when shopping for earbuds or headphones: comfort, sound and cost as these little bits of technology can cost anywhere from $10 to $500 and maybe more. Earbuds are great for people with space considerations, and those with a limited budget. Some of the higherend options come with a case to protect them from wear and tear while riding around in the bottom of your bag or backpack. Behind-the-neck headphones are great for people who frequently wear hats but can be bothersome for those with long hair. DJ-style headphones are big and bulky but tremendously popular and fashionable. Those concerned with sound quality tend to prefer this type of personal listening device. According to a list of technology reviewers, the rapper and music executive Dr. Dre makes a line of headphones called Beats but are often priced more than $100. Sony is probably one of the most recognizable brands and makes models priced at less than $20. Skullcandy is a trendy brand with a skateboard-theme, which is found at department stores like Target for a bit more. Ableplanet is well regarded, and the noise-canceling version was available at Costco earlier this year for $40. Locally-owned Barreta Audio has a decent selection ranging in price and style. Owner Roy Maxted says the most popular brands are Sony and Pioneer. Personally, he prefers headphones over earbuds. “They seem to compress a little bit, keep sound in, and have better bass, Maxted said. “They are actually very comfortable but it’s all personal preference.” Electronic publications say buyers should try earbuds and headphones before purchasing, but this isn’t always possible because of packaging and sanitary concerns. But Maxted said he’s happy to allow customers to try them on. “We’ll take them out (of the packaging) if someone comes in,” he said. “We are happy to do whatever is needed for the customer.” So if you’re in need of some listening gear for music or movies, first, determine use, then style preference, and finally your budget. There are endless options for happy listening. [!] spring 2012
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[food & drink]
This page: Sarah Goen prepares dinner at 12 West Supper Club that she opened with Mi Suk Hester. Facing page, top: Crème de Potiron is an autumn squash soup with slivered jambon de Bayonne and crouton. Bottom: Chocolate mousse is flavored with Grand Marnier.
12 West Supper Club is only open three nights a week, two weeks a month, but the food and dining experience is unmatched There’s a small window between the bar and the kitchen at 12 West Supper Club. Through it you can see the energy and passion chefs Sarah Goen and Mi Suk Hester infuse into every plate of food that leaves their hands. It’s also a window to world cuisine. One night’s menu might offer Korean dishes while another might feature French food. There have also been Spanish, Irish, Caribbean, Cajun and Indonesian menus, to name a few. Located in the red building that most recently housed Wok ’n’ Roll, 12 West Supper Club is probably the best Helena restaurant you’ve never heard of. There is no sign; there are no advertisements. There is just a wordof-mouth reputation that is starting to gain momentum. The restaurant is only open three nights a week, two weeks a month, and reservations are required. So to dine there takes a little pre-planning. It also takes a commitment to culinary adventure. u
the
Worth Wait Story by PEGGY O’NEILL Photos by Eliza Wiley
spring 2012
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This page, top: Entrecôte à La Bordelaise is made with a Montana Wagu beef stock. Bottom: Goen in her 12 West kitchen. Facing page: The supper club is in the old Wok ’n’ Roll building on Euclid Avenue.
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12 West only seats about 20 diners a night, and once you’re at the table, it’s time to relax. Because there is only one sitting at each table per night, no one will rush you. You don’t even need to make a decision until it’s time for dessert. The prix fixe menu, which is $32.25 per person, includes a starter, soup, salad, two entrees— usually one fish and one meat selection—and at least one side dish. Dessert is offered and well worth the extra $5.25. Each course is timed to allow a leisurely experience. “I wanted to bring back the idea of dining as a pleasurable experience,” Goen said. “It seems like people have forgotten how to sit down and have a meal.” Restaurant-goers might recognize Goen’s name. She worked
as the executive chef at the Montana Club before becoming the opening chef de cuisine at Lucca’s when it was located at the Carriage House. Goen has also worked in the food industry in the Napa and Sonoma valleys in California, and she has provided personal chef and catering services in Helena. After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Goen wanted to find a way to continue her passion for cooking, but at a slower and less demanding pace. She opened 12 West Supper Club, which is located at 2058 Euclid (also known as Highway 12 West), in October 2011 and soon after contacted her friend and former Montana Club coworker, Hester. “I always wanted to do some-
‘I wanted to bring back the idea of dining as a pleasurable experience. It seems like people have forgotten how to sit down and have a meal.’ sarah goen
thing like this,” Goen said. At the time, Hester was in Korea finishing up her culinary studies to receive a chef certificate from the Korean government. She finished with specialties in Korean, Chinese and Japanese cuisine. (Helenans might recognize Hester’s familiar face from her time at Jade Garden and Dillard’s.) “It’s good to be working together again,” Hester said. Hester is in charge of the Asian menus. And almost always, her menus are entirely gluten free. Hester said her husband has Celiac’s disease, so she’s learned to adjust many recipes to his diet. The supper club concept allows Goen to keep the overhead low. “We can control the food and labor costs,”
Goen said. “And we’re not sitting on a lot of inventory.” But most importantly, it allows the two chefs to focus on their strengths. “I can still do what I love without killing myself,” Goen said. “It makes me very, very happy,” Hester said. When diners walk in to 12 West, they are greeted by a quote by Warner LeRoy (who once owned New York’s Tavern on the Green and The Russian Tea Room) written on a mirror. It says: “A restaurant is a fantasy … a kind of living fantasy in which the diners are the most important members of the cast.” Goen and Hester have created a restaurant experience in Helena that makes their patrons feel like the stars of the show. [!]
Plan a night out Upcoming menus at 12 West Supper Club feature a Korean seafood celebration, French bistro selections and a taste extravaganza from the Greek Isles. For specific dates and to make a reservation, visit www. sylceinc.com or find 12 West Supper Club on Facebook.
spring 2012
[15]
Make this year’s crop the best ever with tips from Helena’s Valley Farms’ legendary tomato gardener
Beautiful Beginnings
Story by Marga Lincoln Photos by Eliza Wiley
This page: Valley Farms tomatoes. Facing page: Dennis Flynn imports tomato seeds and the bees to pollinate the plants from Holland.
V
Valley Farms’ tomatoes, which can grow as big as a cereal bowl, are the stuff legends are made of. The vines tower overhead in the North Valley greenhouse by mid-April and will typically grow up to 24 fruit clusters. Climbing at the rate of about a foot a week, the stems stretch 28 feet long by late summer, reaching the greenhouse ceiling and heading back down to trail along the floor . As rock ‘n’ roll blasts through the greenhouse, Valley Farms’ owner Dennis Flynn has perfected the art and science of growing tomatoes in Montana and he’s quite willing to share his recipe for success. While these off-the-charts, Jack-in-theBeanstalk, behemoth-like tomatoes aren’t
[18]
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going to grow in a Helena garden, or even in a Helena greenhouse, Flynn says there are plenty of tomatoes you can grow here that will give you a mouth-watering crop. And yours just might prove legendary–at least in your own neighborhood. Flynn’s famous tomatoes are a super hybrid, known as Big Dena, that costs $1 per seed. He not only imports the seeds from Holland, but also the bumble bees that pollinate them. “The queen is very docile and she controls the hive,” said Flynn. “Bees are crucial to getting the perfect shape. They know how much pollen is just right and each fruit is just perfect. We shoot for 6-10 ounce tomatoes.” Each Big Dena plant has its own pot with u
‘The queen is very docile and she controls the hive. Bees are crucial to getting the perfect shape. They know how much pollen is just right and each fruit is just perfect.’ Dennis Flynn
‘Tomatoes have no sense of humor about frost ... They can handle 30 and 40 degrees, but they need protection from frost.’ Dennis Flynn, Valley Farms
its own monitor that signals when it needs to be watered. Flynn uses a vapor-pressure, deficit-control water transpiration system for irrigation in the Valley Farms greenhouse, which is more sophisticated than what home gardeners, or even greenhouse enthusiasts, have at their fingertips. “The average person would have horrible luck growing these,” Flynn says. Even experienced greenhouse gardeners have admitted failure when trying to grow a Big Dena tomato plant. But don’t despair. You can still have a bumper tomato crop by early August. Flynn’s first bit of advice is to relax. Don’t rush your tomatoes into the garden. That is the most common gardening mistake made in Helena. He says gardeners are so anxious to start growing they put their tomato plants into the ground way before the soil is warm enough. “Tomatoes have no sense of humor about frost,” says Flynn, who adds that they also don’t like cold feet. If they go into cold soil, they just slow down to a halt. For those who like to grow their plants from seed, he advises not to start them until the first half of April. Mother’s Day is usually a good time to buy tomato plants, he says, and recommends putting the plants in a wagon and pulling them out during daytime and putting them in a garage at night. This gives them the optimum daylight and then hardens them off at night. Around Memorial Day, check the 10-day forecast and if no frost is predicted, it’s time to move them into the garden. By this time, Flynn says, the tomato plant should have a good-sized root ball. “They can handle 30 and 40 degrees, but they need protection
[20]
www.helenair.com / 596magazine
from frost,” he says. He recommends patience rather than using season extenders like Wall-O-Water plant protectors, which he says don’t work here. They might protect a plant from getting frost bite, but they don‘t provide warm soil temperatures that tomatoes need. They can also attract mold and aphid larvae. Tomatoes are also picky about their soil. They like it acidic, with a pH around 6.5. Due to Helena’s alkaline soils, Flynn recommends adding a 30- to 40-percent mix of pine bark compost into the soil to get the right mix. Before planting, Flynn says by adding Mycorrhizae or Espoma Bio-Tone, the plant’s roots will develop and take in more nutrients. Space the tomato plants 2.5 to 3 feet apart to allow for adequate circulation and place a peony cage over the plant to help support its growth. As far as the best varieties, “Early Girl is hard to beat,” says Flynn because it offers medium-sized fruit, good disease resistance and ripens early. Grape tomatoes and yellow pear tomatoes are also good growers and orange and pink varieties are another option for those who find regular tomatoes too acidic. Some heirloom varieties, like Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter and Money Maker are also popular, but these are slower-growing and less disease resistant than hybrids, he says. Correct watering is also crucial to the process. Flynn advises gardeners to only water in the morning or early afternoon when the plant can take up water. When it’s really hot in the afternoon, you can lightly mist your plants to keep them cool. Plants can’t take up water at night, so late watering just sets up an environment for fungus and mold, he says. At least once a week get down on your hands and knees and
check your plants for pests, especially under the leaves. But “don’t’ get excited about the insects,” says Flynn. It’s better to wash them off by hand or use a mild insecticidal soap, rather than using a chemical insecticide. About the second or third week of August, Flynn says gardeners should pinch off the plant’s growing tip, which will re-direct the plant’s energy into the fruit. Follow these tips from Helena’s best tomato farmer, and by August you should be sinking your teeth into tasty, juicy tomatoes fresh from the vine. [!] Valley Farms is located at 250 Mill Road.
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Golf Gone This isn’t your grandfather’s game. Locals find a new way to have fun in the forest with disc golf
Story by Sanjay Talwani Photos by Dylan Brown
Jason Schmidt fires at the 9th basket at the South Hills disc golf course.
Golf may be, as Mark Twain said, a walk in the country ruined. But people for who golf by throwing a plastic disc toward a metal chain-link basket or an aluminum tube hanging from a tree, golfing around Helena is more like a walk in the forest, made awesome. And all the curious need to do to enjoy the sport, enthusiasts say, is buy a disc for about $8, head to the course, find the first tee pad or similar launching area, and throw. This summer, local disc golfers have something new, an improved course in the South Hills. The Sleeping Giant Disc Golf Association, with the blessing of the city, drummed up private funds and last fall mounted 19 baskets in concrete and built smooth rubberized tee pads, greatly reducing the possibility of a sprained ankle during a full-strength drive. “We put a lot of work into it,” said Travis Brower, who was planning to introduce about 30 people from his church to the sport. The course, on city land off Cabernet Drive, just south [24]
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of Saddle Drive near the South Helena exit of Interstate 15, is a big switch for the Helena golfers, who a year ago, lamented living in the largest Montana town without a tournament-grade course. Now, Helena boasts a course that’s inside city limits and closer to a downtown than just about any other course in the state. Plus, it has a great view of most of the Helena valley and the mountains beyond, including the Sleeping Giant. The new digs reflect a change in the sport as a whole, emerging from the fringes of recreation, with players organized in leagues and tourneys, and working—at least in the case of the South Hills course—with public land managers to ensure compatibility with neighbors and other users. At South Hills, players say there’s been plenty of use, even when it was covered in snow. (Serious disc golfers rise to winter challenges, annually holding a major charity event, the Ice Bowl, in the dead of January.) Newcomers to the sport range from little kids to those in their 70s.
‘To see someone throw a piece of plastic 400 feet is relatively impressive.’ Travis Brower. Golf courses now dot the state from Glasgow to the Libby Dam—where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built and maintains a course. Players are finding some creative new locations for tourneys, such as one set for May on an old disc golf course at Camas Hot Springs. The care given to the South Hills site highlights the difference with the courses in the Scratchgravel Hills and the evolution of the sport and its enthusiasts. At the course on the Scratchgravel’s south entrance, a major tree-thinning and fuels reduction project has changed the course significantly. Instead of weaving through a gantlet of large ponderosa pines, players now have mostly straight shots at the battered aluminum targets (called “tones”) that hang from trees surrounded by the stubble of the salvaged timber. Even this spring, fresh targets have appeared in the form of spray-painted rocks in another corner of the Scratchgravel Hills. Trash, including plenty of beer cans, frequently overflows the cans at the trailhead—a different look than in the South Hills, where players pick up cigarette butts off the paths and the terrain doesn’t double as a good party hideout for underage drinkers. That shouldn’t be a problem in the South Hills, where the next upgrade will include numbered signs at each tee pad, plus hole numbers painted right on the tee pads themselves in case the signs get stolen. Golfers dream of building an informational kiosk, stocked with score cards.
The care taken should help visitors and new players with one of the toughest challenges of the more haphazard courses—navigation.
Still it’s a never-ending battle to maintain the course. Already this spring, a pair of the new baskets in the South Hills were loosened my force, bringing a crew of players in with pickaxes and cement for re-installation. And, even more infuriatingly, someone chopped down a healthy fir tree, 15 or 20 feet tall, that stood, by design, in the middle of a long fairway. “They basically ruined the hole,” said Jason Schmidt, president of the Sleeping Giant Disc Golf Association. The golfers plan on fighting back, replacing the felled tree with a new one, and enclosing the tree in a metal wrap to protect it from future hatchets. There were not all that many trees in that area that dodged the recent years of pine-bark beetle infestation, and u
This page: Jason Schmidt shows off his frisbee golf badges. Facing page: Christian Murray throws his driver disc on the 9th basket in the South Hills course.
spring 2012
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THE HELENA SYMPHONY 2012-2013 SEASON!
SATURDAY, 21 JULY 2012
SYMPHONY UNDER THE STARS
The Wild, Wild West
Pack your blankets and picnics as HSO and Carroll College present world renowned violinist and fiddler Mark O’Connor and one of Montana’s best fireworks shows!
SATURDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2012
EXERGY MASTERWORKS CONCERT I
Opening Night: Tchaikovsky & Bolero
Featuring Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto performed by HSO Concertmaster Stephen Cepeda, and Ravel’s sensually hypnotic Bolero.
Jeff Schmidt takes a shot at the 9th basket at the South Hills disc golf course.
SATURDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2012
EXERGY MASTERWORKS CONCERT II
Beethoven’s Piano & Brahms’ Requiem
Brahms’ popular Requiem, and Beethoven’s fiery Piano Concerto No. 3 featuring renowned Pianist Alexandra Costin. The first of three powerful Requiems this season!
SUNDAY, 2 DECEMBER 2012
NON-SUBSCRIPTION CONCERT I
Handel’s Messiah
Kick off your holiday season in the beautiful Cathedral of Saint Helena
this was one of them. Players considered it not just an affront to nature and city code, but also to their carefully honed skills at making long and accurate shots, perfectly straight or finding their way to the target with a precision that seems almost impossible to the unpracticed. “To see someone throw a piece of plastic 400 feet is relatively impressive,” said Brower. [!]
SATURDAY, 8 DECEMBER 2012
NON-SUBSCRIPTION CONCERT II
Holiday Concert with Kid Konductors!
SATURDAY, 26 JANUARY 2013
EXERGY MASTERWORKS CONCERT III
Bang a Drum!
Featuring nationally acclaimed Percussionist Lynn Vartan, and a stunning performance of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra
MONDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2013
EXERGY MASTERWORKS CONCERT IV
Fauré’s Requiem in the Cathedral
The serene and reassuring Requiem by French master Gabriel Fauré, and the mesmerizing and reflective music of Henryk Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.
THURSDAY, 28 FEBRUARY 2013
STUDENT ASSISTANCE FOUNDATION
YOUTH CONCERT
SATURDAY, 23 MARCH 2013
EXERGY MASTERWORKS CONCERT V
Violin Virtuosity & Debussy’s La Mer
Philadelphia Orchestra Violinist Richard Amoroso performs a Violin Concerto by Shostakovich, along with a performance of Debussy’s masterpiece, La Mer.
SATURDAY, 20 APRIL 2013
EXERGY MASTERWORKS CONCERT VI
Mozart’s Requiem & Wagner’s Ring
Mozart’s Requiem and orchestral highlights from Wagner’s famous Ring Cycle
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This page: One of Rick Dunkerley’s knives. Facing page: Dunkerley at work in his Lincoln shop.
A Cut Above
World-class knifesmith perfects his craft in his Lincoln workshop
Rick Dunkerley pulls the glowing red-hot brick of layered steel out of the 2,300-degree forge and sticks this billet into his hydraulic press, slowly flattening the metal and drawing it out. The bar goes back into the forge, then is removed again and Dunkerley, one of only 117 master knifesmiths in the country, repeats the process. He’s a world renowned craftsman who is paid thousands of dollars for his wares, but the former outfitter, logger and rancher, clad in jeans and a sweat shirt, keeps a low profile. Dunkerley jokes that he never considered himself an artist when growing up in Pennsylvania, but the intricate patterns he creates on his knives speak clearly of his skills. u
Story by Eve Byron • Photos by Dylan Brown
spring 2012
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These pages: Dunkerley’s meticulous craftsmanship has led to worldwide attention for his knives.
Later, as Dunkerley fills the easy chair in front of his living room window, he recalls how he first became interested in making knives while in the Air Force. “I made one and a guy I was with in the service bought
‘A lot of us struggle with whether our knives are art or a working tool, and in Montana many of us believe that first and foremost it is a tool and it needs to function in that capacity. Rick’s knives do that.’ Ed Caffery it. Then somebody said ‘Make me one’ and it was pretty exciting for me that somebody wanted to buy what I made,” Dunkerley said. His initial knives in the mid 1980s weren’t too fancy, but that changed once he moved to Montana in 1985 and started forging his
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own blades in the 1990s. “He pioneered a lot of the patterns in damascus,” said Dan Westlind, president of the Montana Knifemakers Association. “There was a group over there that the industry called the Montana knife mafia, who were all extremely talented and worked together to come up with off-the-wall creative stuff and blew everybody out of the water.” Damascus steel is a term from the medieval period, often used to describe distinctive patterns in swords that historically resembled flowing water. Along with steel, Dunkerley’s favorite metal carries traces of nickel, carbon and manganese. The blades are capable of being honed to a sharp edge, and were legendary for being able to cut through a rifle barrel or split a single hair falling across it. Dunkerley and others have taken that u
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legend to another level. He notes that the blade he used to test for the American Bladesmith Society master smith stamp had to cut a 1-inch rope in one swing, chop a 2-by-4 in half twice and still shave hair. It also flexed to 90 degrees without breaking. His knives have unusual patterns hammered right into the metal, created in a variety of ways. First, he might pound the blades and stocks with hammers that can weigh anywhere from 25 to 500 pounds. Another initial maneuver is to twist them into coils before flattening them in the 20-ton press. Sometimes the bar is cut in half and folded back on top of itself before finishing. Once he completes the basics, more options are available. Pressing or grinding grooves can create ladder-like marks. Drilling dimples into the damascus bar creates raindrop or pool-and-eye forms. More advanced patterns include accordions or even spider webs. Another technique involves etching, and Dunkerley engraved one with spurs, cowboy hats and boots onto the metal blade and handle. Some of the knives are blue, others are black or even brown. Some fold, others are Bowie or Persian style straight knives. Some have metal handles, others are wood or ivory. The one thing they all have in common is that each is unique. “They’re all one of a kind. I would never reproduce a knife because it’s not fair to the guy who got the first one,”
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Dunkerley said. “But I could make one so close that you have a hard time telling it’s the same knife if I’m doing a set for you. “I make about 40 a year and work on them almost every day. Simple knives I can make in a day. Complicated ones take me weeks.” His knives have earned more than 20 awards including best hunter, best folder, best art knife and best of show. At a 2007 Italian knife makers show he was awarded the rating of “Maestro.” He’s been featured in numerous magazines, and teaches classes in the art of forging damascus steel throughout the nation. Fellow master knifesmith Ed Caffery of Great Falls said Dunkerley is one of the top knife makers in the world. “There were these things we were laying on the table (at knife shows) and other knife makers wondered how we were doing it,” Caffery said. “A lot of us struggle with whether our knives are art or a working tool, and in Montana many of us believe that first and foremost it is a tool and it needs to function in that capacity. Rick’s knives do that.” Dunkerley recalls seeing one of his put to the test. “It was a knife I sold for $1,200 or $1,400 to a guy who was a horseshoer, and he used it to scrape the horses’ hooves,” Dunkerley said, laughing. “It didn’t look like it used to, but I thought that was kind of cool.” But while Dunkerley sometimes refers to his knives as
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“pocket jewelry for men,” he still humbly mentions that when world-famous silversmith Kevin O’Dwyer visits Lincoln in May, Dunkerley hopes to learn about his design influences and learn “what real artists see.” “It’s intimidating to me because I get around all these people who are educated in art,” Dunkerley says. But those who know his work think otherwise. Westlind says that Dunkerley and the other “Montana mafia” bladesmiths were pivotal in getting West Coast knife makers noticed. “They changed the whole perspective of what people, especially in the knife world, thought about people out West. They blazed a trail and showed the world that we have as much talent here as anywhere. His work is very meticulous, and everything that goes in his knifes is flawless. “A couple years ago he was invited to Milan, Italy, to join the Italian knife makers guild; he was one of only two from the United States invited to that show. He’s very, very well known in the knife world but doesn’t go around bragging about it. I know a lot of people go to Rick when they need some help, and he always makes time for them.” [!]
Dunkerley says he makes about 40 knives a year and no two are the same.
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Health Found Underground The Boulder radon mines have an alternative solution for those who have exhausted conventional medical remedies Story by Jennifer McKee • Photos by Kenton Rowe
Sandy Waddell of Washington, left, and Julie McNabb of Basin enjoy a game of cards in the Merry Widow Mine.
spring 2012
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T
The Merry Widow mine shaft is a simple affair: 450 cool, damp feet of blasted rock. Along the walls, devotees have scratched messages. Their names, usually. The dates of their visits, along with many, many “thank-yous.” One visitor has left behind a totem of all that might be possible for the hundreds of other health seekers who will come here to the Merry Widow and the smattering of other health mines between Boulder and Butte: a pair of crutches. They hang at the end of the shaft, near the benches, the heat lamps and the ice cold, radon-infused water people soak their arthritic hands and feet in. “They think we’re crazy,” says Sally Matyjanka of Redwater, Alberta, talking about her adult children back home as she sits on a bench in the Merry Widow Health Mine near Basin.
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Intentionally exposing yourself to radon? A tasteless, odorless, colorless gas best known for the thousands of people the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it kills every year? But Matyjanka’s husband Clarence says proof of the mine’s benefits are written all over his ankle. Years back, he broke it and the ankle has bothered him ever since. One go-round of radon therapy at the mine “and I’m good for six or seven months,” Clarence says. “It doesn’t bother me.” The Matyjankas drive more than 500 miles one-way to sit here—chatting with strangers, now friends, under a heat lamp deep in the Boulder Batholith, a unique band of southwest Montana granite that is home to the only radon health mines in the United States. Radon spas and their devotees are
This page: One of the mines keeps track of where their visitors come from with this map. Facing page: The entrance to the Earth Angel Mine.
not especially unusual in other parts of the world. Centuries-old spas, like the Gasteiner Heilstollen in Austria and the simply named Radium Palace in the Czech Republic, are well-established venues for medical treatment and relaxation. Some European health plans even pay for radon therapy. Radon therapy is similarly embraced in Japan, where a radon spa in the town of Misasa has been operating in one form or another for almost 800 years. That comes as no surprise to Elizabeth Kelly, general manager of the Merry Widow. Kelly doesn’t dismiss the EPA’s radon aversion but she says
human experience has shown that radon is beneficial and, if nothing else, natural and ordinary. Radon is a byproduct of decaying uranium, a relatively common element. Radon gas is also common and the ionizing radiation it gives off is a natural part of life on Earth, Kelly says. In her own, non-scientific terms, Kelly explains that too much radon is bad for you. But a small amount is good. “It stimulates the immune system, the nervous system,” she says. The fancy phrase for all that is “radiation hormesis.” The hormesis theory holds that small amounts of things u spring 2012
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This page: Many radon mine patrons have left messages on the walls. Facing page: Tubes emerging from the cave walls drain radonfilled water where visitors drink and soak their hands and feet.
Spa here is a generous term. While visitors of Austria’s Heilstollen are photographed lounging about on cushy little mats, semi-nude because it’s Europe after all, visitors to Montana’s radon spas are invariably bundled up, perusing a lot of old Reader’s Digests, spending their nights in a campertrailer, a rented single-wide or other homespun accommodations in the area. generally thought to be bad for us, like poisons or radiation or stress, are actually beneficial. The notion of hormesis has been around for decades, but was widely discredited and had fallen out of favor until 2003. That’s when Edward Calabrese, a University of Massachusetts professor, published an article examining reams of toxicology data that seemed to support hormesis. In 2005, the French Academy of Sciences reported that laboratory studies have observed radiation hormesis. Most American institutions, however, continue to hold out that insufficient data exists to support the theory. Hormesis represents a radical change in radiation thought. For decades, the rule of thumb was if X amount of radiation kills X amount of people, then half as much radiation will kill half as many people. Dead bodies were always part of the equation. [38]
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People were coming to Montana’s health mines long before hormesis came along. In one particularly dramatic bit of radon spa lore, a potential investor in the Free Enterprise Mine, which was then operating as a uranium mine, came from Los Angeles to survey his holdings. His wife went down into the mine shaft with him. After several trips, her shoulder bursitis went away. At one point, there were more than a dozen radon spas operating in the valley. Today, there are only four. That the mines would be located in the Boulder Batholith is not an accident. Although there are other former uranium mines in the United States, the granite here has a secret. Supporters say it puts out just enough radon for safe exposure and not enough radiation to harm—especially in the small exposures the health mines here allow. The mines, including the Merry Widow, allow visitors to spend no more u
than an hour at a time in the tunnel spa. Spa here is a generous term. While visitors of Austria’s Heilstollen are photographed lounging about on cushy little mats, semi-nude because it’s Europe after all, visitors to Montana’s radon spas are invariably bundled up, perusing a lot of old Reader’s Digests, spending their nights in a campertrailer, a rented single-wide or other homespun accommodations in the area. The Boulder Batholith, it would seem, is not catering to A-list celebrities. Business has ebbed and flowed. In the 1950s, when many of the mines were new and radiation had just helped end a world war, the mines flourished. Later, in the 1980s, before joint replacements and fancy arthritis drugs hit the market, radon mines were again hot. They seem to be making a comeback today, Kelly says. They
are already popular among certain segments of the population: the Amish, Mennonites, people already well-versed in alternative healing and, curiously enough, Canadians. Jack and Laraine Haslip, of Kellogg, Idaho, don’t fit in any of those categories. But they seem to represent a new kind of radon mine clientele: People who no longer believe that mainstream medicine is always the best medicine, people who say they may have been lied to by drug companies, people who have taken a lot of drugs and haven’t gotten a lot of relief. “We heard about it from word of mouth,” Jack Haslip says. “A preacher fellow back home.” The good man couldn’t walk at all. “He came down here for three days and after three days he could walk three miles,” the Idaho man says. “And he’s a preacher.” [!]
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Story by Angela Brandt Photo by Eliza Wiley
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Helena Police Chief Troy McGee’s office has a few mainstays. Some were of his choosing, others are necessities and at least one was bequeathed to him with the order that it must hang in his office in Helena’s Law Enforcement Center. “One thing you always need in an administrator’s office—a box of Kleenex. People don’t always leave happy,” McGee said, perched behind the same desk he has had for the past 16 years. One of the more unusual items among the multitude of police memorabilia and other trinkets, is a poster celebrating the centennial of North Dakota. McGee, raised in Helena, has never lived in that state, but his mother-in-law did. “I would always harass her about North Dakota and how flat it is. Just to harass her. It’s a mother-in-law thing,” he explained. Before she died, McGee’s mother-in-law bequeathed the poster to him with the direction that it must be displayed in his office. McGee complied. It hangs next to an original painting by Bob Morgan depicting the Guardian of the Gulch fire tower. The painting belongs to the city but is proudly displayed directly behind McGee’s desk between United States, Montana, Helena and Irish flags. The department’s color guard needed a place to store their flags and McGee obliged. The adjacent wall is dedicated to the history of the department, the oldest photo being from 1891. A framed letter from 1894 details the only Helena officer killed in the line of duty and his funeral expenses. “I have a lot in here for such a small space,” he said, gazing at the collection of police memorabilia. [!]
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