Volume
THE
II IssueXI
NOVEME R 2013
Vol ume I I Is sue XI
Michael Joseph Mansfield was born March 16, 1903 in the Brooklyn section of New York City and was destined to become one an influential man in the state of Montana and in the United States. In February of this year the University of Montana - Missoula opened a digital library of his writings. 8
The events of 9/11 changed her life forever just like it did a lot of people but in a way that she would have never considered. Shannen Rossmiller was thirty four years old on September 11, 2001, a mother of three and the municipal judge in Conrad, Montana. 4
The West Old & New Published by Susan Faye Roberts P.O. Box 10 Hot Springs, Montana 59845 (406) 741-5210
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Montana Fare
Squash They come in all sizes, shapes and textures in the late fall headed for the table. 19
The New West Murray Hotel in Livingston, MT. -7 Originally named the Elite Hotel the two story hotel was built at the corner of Park and Second St. in 1904 by Josephine Kline to accommodate passengers from the Northern Pacific Railway.
Paddle Fish - 9 The American paddlefish, Polyodon spathula, also called the Mississippi paddlefish or spoonbill, lives in the slow-flowing waters of the Mississippi River drainage system.
The Havre Underground - 13 When fire destroyed Havre's business district in 1904, legitimate above-ground businesses joined the illicit businesses operating in the underground while the new brick buildings were built in the streets above.
Radon Health Mines 17 Numerous visitors come to these place for the radioactive radon gas and drink radioactive water to improve their health.
Photographer Lee Nye - 18 An American photographer best known for his series of photographs entitled Eddie's Club Collection that documents Missoula, Montana's working class inhabitants.
The Old West The Cramer Creek Timber War - 10 In 1886 logging was crude and rough during this time and men took timber wherever they found it, skinned the forest bare, and paid little regard to legal ownership.
The Sweet Grass Hills - 12 Located on the Montana Hi-Line these buttes have became the headquarters for cattle ranching in the state.
MADE IN MONTANA PRODUCTS 22
Shannen Rossmiller has been written about in the New York Times, Washington Post, the L.A. Times, the Philadelphia Inquire and by Evan Moore, Editor and Publisher of the Bosque county News of Meridian, Texas. Moore wrote one of the first stories about this Montana woman and met her when he was a reporter for the Houston Chronicle in July of 2004. Moore writes that at the time Rossmiller was an anomaly, an unknown quantity who might or might not have been lucky in catching one would-be terrorists. Today with more than 200 cases to her credit she has become an accomplished sleuth and an acknowledged American hero. Currently Shannen Rossmiller is an American lecturer and instructor in cyber counter-intelligence forensics. A former high school cheerleader, paralegal, and a mother of three, Rossmiller posed online as militant anti-American Muslim radicals to attract the eye of those with similar mindsets. In an article she wrote for an online newspaper she states, “In November 2001, I saw a news report about how terrorists and their sympathizers communicated on websites and Internet message boards and how limited government agencies were in their ability to monitor these web communications. This news report showed me how extensively Al-Qaeda used the Internet to orchestrate 9-11 and how out of touch our intelligence agencies were regarding this Internet activity. Apparently, there were not procedures in place for tracking communications and activity on the Al-Qaeda websites and Internet forums at the time. The Internet address named in the news report was "www.alneda.com." I wrote it down and proceeded to see for myself what all the fuss was about. I entered another world when I logged on to that site for the first time. I did not know Arabic, so I clicked away at random, looking at featured pictures depicting such things as dead bodies lying around in the aftermath of a car bombing and other atrocities.� The events of 9/11 changed her life forever just like it did a lot of people but in a way that she would have never considered. Shannen Rossmiller was thirty four years old on September 11, 2001, a mother of three and the municipal judge in Conrad, Montana. The evening of 9/11 Rossmiller fell in the shower of her bathroom and broke her pelvis. Confined to bed for the next six weeks she watched the consequences of the 9/11 events. Rossmiller began the web. Unable to decipher the language on these sites she began studying Arabic, taking two courses and immersing herself in the language until she felt fluent enough to write it. She studied the Koran and searched the web for addresses of mosques and clerics to make her references authentic, for the profile she created for herself as a Muslim man who was intent on killing Americans. Her online presence was to search for assistance from others who were sympathetic to his cause. Rossmiller visited chat rooms on the internet between 4 and 7 a.m. in the morning, when it was afternoon in the Middle East. She started conversations and in August of 2002 she began chatting with a man from Pakistan, who claimed he was an arms dealer. She called him "rocket man." Rocket man allegedly had missiles and missile parts for sale. Eventually Rossmiller turned over all the information she had to the FBI after he sent her a picture of himself and his address. Rossmiller learned of a possible roadside bombing targeting a motorcade route as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was preparing to visit Iraq. She had no sooner given the information over when she learned of plans to bomb a Western housing complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In June of 2003 Rossmiller posing as an insurgent web messenger online was asked to scan and forward a scribbled note allegedly from Saddam Hussein. She forwarded it to the Montana FBI office. In October 2003 Rossmiller began conversing with a man calling himself Amir Abdul Rahid, who his new found friend on the internet Army battle plans, weapons secrets and tank designs. Rashid was actually a man named Ryan Anderson, a 26 year-old Army National Guard Specialist E-4, and Muslim sympathizer. Rossmiller contacted the FBI and in September of 2004 she testified in a case against him. Anderson was given five life sentences for treason. Testifying at the trial exposed Rossmiller's identity and it had immediate consequences with a man with a Middle-Eastern accent calling her judge's chambers attempting to learn her schedule. Undeterred Rossmiller continued her online activities making contact in January of 2004 with a broadcast journalist in Afghanistan who was working as a "sleeper-terrorist." The journalist believed Rossmiller to be a messenger for Al-Qaeda and asked if she would forward a 17-page "Special Clarification," to its leadership. The battle plan contained the exact location of more than 20 terrorist cells preparing to attack American troops on the Afghan border. After Rossmiller forwarded the information Special Forces attacked the cells. In 2005 Rossmiller had a new persona that of a terrorist banker and she came into contact with a disgruntled American oil engineer who had plans to attack and destroy the Transcontinental and Alaskan pipelines. The man, later identified as Michael Curtis Reynolds told her he needed forty-thousand dollars for trucks to use as bombs in the missions. In December of 2005 the FBI acting on Rossmiller's information arrested Reynolds at a highway rest stop in Idaho. At his trial in July of 2006 Rossmiller was the prosecution's primary witness. Reynolds was formally charged with a firearms offence for possessing a hand grenade, though a sealed statement from the FBI. On October 2, 2006, Reynolds was additionally charged with "providing assistance to Al-Qaeda", in addition to "seeking to destroy property used in interstate or foreign commerce". In 2007 FBI agents evacuated Rossmiller and her family after four Muslim extremists equip with GPS tacking equipment, a lap top and weapons were taken into custody. The men had cross the Canadian border along the hi-line of Montana. They lost control of their rental truck on a logging road twenty miles from Rossmillers home. Rossmiller was honored in a private ceremony by a group of Middle East experts where Philadel- The West Old & New Page 5
phia author and historian Daniel Pipes cited her as an "American Hero. The book she wrote with Sue Carswell can be found on Amazon. If you would like more information on this amazing woman visit these websites: http://www.meforum.org/1711/my-cyber-counter-jihad http://www.shannenrossmiller.com/ http://www.shannenrossmiller.com/News.htm http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&field-author=Darlene%20Olson&page=1&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3ADarlene% 20Olson
If you haven’t read the blog, here is your chance to read some of the stories of life in contemporary Montana published this year. S.F. Roberts has written essays about wakes, happy hour, animals, bull riders, life in general and the people of a small town on a western Indian reservation.
A lot of entertainment for $4.99.
Download it today! https:// www.smashwords.com/ books/view/362785
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The Murray Hotel A première hotel in Livingston, MT. Originally named the Elite Hotel the Murray Hotel is an historic hotel in Livingston, Montana. The two story hotel was built at the corner of Park and Second St. in 1904 by Josephine Kline to accommodate passengers from the Northern Pacific Railway. The Elite was only one of thirteen hotels built in downtown Livingston between 1884 and 1914 to service railroad travelers. Its construction was financed by the family of a future U.S. Senator from Montana, James E. Murray. The hotel's location opposite the Northern Pacific Railway depot made it a prime destination for railroad travelers. The hotel is located within the Livingston Commercial District, a registered National Historic District. In the 1920s, the hotel expanded to four floors and 66 rooms. In the mid-1920s, the Murray family foreclosed on Josephine Kline, took over the operation of the hotel and renamed it The Murray. Although Kline contested the foreclosure all the way to Washington D.C. as late as 1934, she failed to recover ownership from the Murray’s. One of the unique aspects of the Murray was the installation of a 1905 hand-cranked Otis Elevator, at the time the only elevator in Livingston. The Murray has always hosted a café or restaurant and a bar. The Murray Bar is well known for its celebrity visitors during filming of movies in the Paradise Valley. The 2nd Street Bistro, opened in 2004 and preceded in years prior by the Peterson and the Winchester Cafe, is the current hotel restaurant. The Bistro was featured in Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations 2009 episode on Montana where he dined with author Jim Harrison and artist Russell Chatham. The Murray experienced a serious reduction in business during the 1960s, mostly due to the decline in rail travel and growth of the Interstate Highway System. In 1978, local Montana ranchers Cliff and Pat Miller purchased the hotel from the Murray family and made modest renovations. The hotel was purchased by Dan and Kathleen Kaul, formerly from Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1991. They undertook major renovations and reduced the number of hotel suites to 29. In 2001 the Kaul’s changed the business model of the hotel allowing individual investors to own individual suites, much like a condominium. Today, 30 rooms and suites are available to the public. The following notable individuals have lived or stayed at the Murray Hotel:Whoopi Goldberg, comedian, actress, Walter Jerome Hill, youngest son of James Jerome Hill, builder of the Great Northern Railway, Margot Kidder, actress, activist, Queen of Denmark, Jack Palance, actor, Sam Peckinpah, director, lived in a three room suite at the Murray from 1979 to 1984, Robert Redford, actor, director, Will Rogers, humorist , Rip Torn, actor and Robert Wadlow, the tallest man in the world, stayed in 1937.
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Mike Mansfield Montana Statesman & Ambassador “This gentleman went from snuffy to national and international prominence. And when he died in 2001, he was rightly buried in Arlington. If you want to visit his grave, don’t look for him near the “Kennedy Eternal Flame,” where so many politicians are laid to rest. Look for a small, common marker shared by the majority of our heroes. Look for the marker that says, “Michael J. Mansfield, PVT. U.S. Marine Corps.” Col. James Michael Lowe
Michael Joseph Mansfield was born March 16, 1903 in the Brooklyn section of New York City to Patrick J. Mansfield and Josephine (née O'Brien) Mansfield, who were both Irish Catholic immigrants. His mother died from pneumonia in 1906, and his father sent Michael and his two sisters to live with an aunt and uncle in Great Falls, Montana. He attended local public schools, and worked in his relatives' grocery store. He turned into a habitual runaway, even living at the state orphanage in Twin Bridges for half a year At 14, Mansfield dropped out of school and lied about his age in order to enlist in the U.S. Navy during World War I. He went on several overseas convoys on the USS Minneapolis, until his real age was discovered. After his Navy discharge, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving as a private from 1919 to 1920. Mansfield was a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1920 to 1922. He served in the Western Recruiting Division at San Francisco until January 1921, when he was transferred to the Marine Barracks at Puget Sound, Washington. The following month, he was detached to the Guard Company, Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Mare Island, California. In April, he boarded the USAT Sherman, bound for the Philippines. After a brief stopover at the Marine Barracks at Cavite, he arrived at his duty station on May 5, 1921, the Marine Barracks, Naval Station, Olongapo, Philippine Islands. One year later, Mansfield was assigned to Company A, Marine Battery, Asiatic Fleet. A short tour of duty with the Asiatic Fleet took him along the coast of China, before he returned to Olongapo in late May 1922. His service with the Marines established a lifelong interest in Asia. August of 1922, Mansfield returned to Cavite in preparation for his return to the United States and eventual discharge. On November 9, 1922, Marine Private Michael J. Mansfield was released on the completion of his enlistment. He was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, his character being described as “excellent” during his two years as a Marine. He returned to Montana in 1922 to work shoveling ore and other waste, in the copper mines of Butte for eight years. Having never attended high school, he took entrance examinations to attend the Montana School of Mines (1927–1928), studying to become a mining engineer. He later met a local schoolteacher and his future wife, Maureen Hayes, who encouraged him to further his education. With her financial support, Mansfield studied at the University of Montana in Missoula, where he took both high school and college courses. He was also a member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1933, and was offered a graduate assistantship teaching two courses at the university; he also worked part-time in the registrar's office. He earned a Master of Arts degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University in 1934 with a thesis entitled: "United States-Korean Diplomatic Relations: 1866-1910". From 1934 to 1942, he taught classes in Far Eastern and Latin American history, and also lectured some years on Greek and Roman history. He also attended the University of California at Los Angeles (1936–1937). A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Representative (1943–1953) and a U.S. The West Old & New Page 8
Senator (1953–1977) from Montana. He was the longest-serving Senate Majority Leader, serving from 1961 to 1977. During his tenure, he shepherded Great Society programs through the Senate, but strongly opposed the Vietnam War. After retiring from the Senate, Mansfield served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan from 1977 to 1988, and upon retiring as ambassador, was awarded the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1989), in part for his role in the resignation of Republican President Richard Nixon. Mansfield is the longest serving American ambassador to Japan in history. After his ambassadorship, Mansfield served for a time as a senior adviser on East Asian affairs to Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street investment banking firm. Mansfield died from congestive heart failure at the age of 98 on October 5, 2001(He was the last known veteran of the war to die before reaching the age of 100.) The burial plot of Senator and Mrs. Mansfield can be found in section 2, marker 49-69F of Arlington National Cemetery. In February of 2013 a new online exhibit became available. The exhibit was created by staff from University of Montana organizations which bear his name, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library and the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center. This digital exhibit consists of speeches, statements and interviews of Mike Mansfield. They span his career with documents from 1939 to 1988 with the majority of the content from the 1940s to the 70s. It contains more than 1,500 documents which are searchable with keywords. The exhibit can be accessed at http://exhibits.lib.umt.edu/mansfield
Paddle Fish The American paddlefish, Polyodon spathula, also called the Mississippi paddlefish or spoonbill, is a paddlefish living in slow-flowing waters of the Mississippi River drainage system. It appears to have been extirpated from Lake Erie and its tributaries. They are closely related to the sturgeons. This large Chondrostean freshwater fish may grow to 220 cm (7 feet) and weigh up to 100 kg (220 pounds). The paddlefish takes its common and scientific names from its distinctive snout, which is greatly elongated and flattened into a paddle shape. The American paddlefish is believed to use sensitive electroreceptors on its paddle to detect prey, as well as to navigate while migrating to spawning sites. The American paddlefish feeds primarily on zooplankton but also feeds on crustaceans and bivalves. Though the American paddlefish was once common throughout the Midwest, overfishing and habitat changes have caused major population declines; both the meat and roe are desirable as food. Dams and other barriers can prevent the fish from recolonizing places where they once occurred and can deny them access to important critical habitats such as spawning areas. Until about 1900, the species was also found in Lake Erie and in river systems tributary thereto in the U.S. and Canada. Invasive species such as zebra mussels have reduced the number of zooplankton in the Great Lakes to such low levels that any hypothetical reintroduction program would seem likely to fail. Recently, paddlefish were spotted in the Danube river. It has not been determined whether these fished escaped from Romanian or Bulgarian fish farms during the 2006 European floods, or whether they were let into the Danube earlier and matured in the river. The West Old & New Page 9
Cramer Creek - Timber War In 1886 two logging companies fought over a valuable resource. An extract from Darlene Olson's book Up the Creek. Clinton, Montana Valley Publishing: 1990
It was this gulch that was the scene of a timber war in 1886 between Hammond’s Big Blackfoot Logging Company and Bill Thompson’s French Canadians. Logging was crude and rough during this time and men took timber wherever they found it, skinned the forest bare, and paid little regard to legal ownership. Hammond owned a mill at Bonner and one at Bonita. His loggers had cleared most of the timber close to Bonner and he had to close that mill. In order to keep the Bonita mill supplied, he had to move his men and equipment closer and find a supply of timber within easy reach of Bonita. A worker was sent up Cramer Gulch in the fall of 1885 to put up a logging camp about two and a half miles from the Bonita sawmill in preparation for Hammond’s loggers who would soon arrive. Bill Thompson ran his lumber business out of Silver Bow County. He also wanted more timber and had his sights on Cramer. In the fall of 1886, he told his gang of fifty French-Canadians to invade the gulch and take all the timber they could. Thompson hired a man to ride herd on the men and see that their double-bitted axes slashed rapidly. His crew started up the gulch, placing the Thompson brand on logs as fast as they could. Hammond’s people had already graded a road for the log haul and were building a bridge over a long slough to connect the camp with the Bonita mill when Thompson’s men arrived. The Frenchmen began cutting, and word was sent to Robert Coombs, Hammond’s supervisor at Bonita, who hurried up Cramer with his own gang to drive out the Canadians. The Frenchmen didn’t take kindly to the invitation to leave and several hand-to-hand fights broke out with Coombs and his men retreating to Bonita. Coombs was a big, blustery man from New Brunswick who was angry and swearing when he got back to the mill. Not one to take defeat graciously, he sent for Bill Harris, a fighting lumberjack working up Rock Creek, who had a run-in or two himself with Thompson’s loggers. Harris took over command of Hammond’s men at Cramer and tried to keep contact with Thompson’s forces to a minimum, all the while both camps taking out what timber they could. Thompson’s foreman had offered to fight any man in the Hammond crowd to decide ownership of the timber. Harris was now on the scene and said he would fight anyone in the Thompson crowd, with the winner to have all the logs. There were no takers, so Harris upped the odds and offered to fight any three men. Harris was considered so tough that no one would accept his challenge. The timber war developed into a bushwhacking contest. It soon became a case of get all the logs possible and get them fast. As soon as a tree was felled, it was branded either with the Hammond or the Thompson brand and became the property of the outfit which had branded it. Sometimes this theory didn’t work. If a tree was not branded as soon as it crashed to the earth, someone from the opposing camp would be there to lay claim to it. There would be some shoving about and blows would be struck. All sorts of tricks were played. Chains were loosened and loads dumped. It became a contest of petty annoyances. In the mix-up of some fights, excited men tried to cut log chains with their axes! Meanwhile, all through the Cramer timber war, Coombs would make trips up the gulch, wearing a big gun on his hip. The men laughed, because as far as anyone knew, guns were never drawn. The real fighting and the real working were done by Harris. He had good equipment, the men respected him, and he was getting two logs to Thompson’s one. To those watching these skirmishes, it seemed that all the timber in Montana was growing in Cramer Gulch and that everybody was fighting for it. The men were getting nervous and conditions were becoming critical. No one wanted to fight over something which seemed hardly worth a battle, but each camp was so loyal to its boss that there was the likelihood that something serious could happen. The two logging headquarters finally reached a compromise whereby each outfit was allowed to get out what logs it could, undisturbed by its competitor, and the Cramer Gulch war ended.
Beavertail Hill State Park is the historic site of the Cramer Timber War, located 26 miles east of Missoula, Montana and just off Interstate 90. The park is 65 acres in size and has an elevation of 3,615 feet. Fishing, rafting, and swimming in the Clark Fork River are possible. The park offers frontage on the Clark Fork River, tipi rentals, a short interpretive trail, an amphitheatre, and campsites and picnic areas. The amphitheatre hosts interpretive programs on Friday evenings in the summer. About 26 camping sites are available for tents or RVs up to 26 feet long.
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Photograph by Jake Wallis
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The Sweetgrass Hills Along Montana’s Hi-Line they mark the International Boundary between the U.S. and Canada Officially designated on government maps as the Sweetgrass Hills or Three Buttes, the tallest, East Butte is eight thousand feet above sea level. There are actually four buttes, east, middle and west and a smaller one called Hay Stack Butte. The Sweetgrass Hills were chronicled by Lewis & Clark. In June 1805, Captain Lewis was following the Missouri River and noted a lofty single mountain in the distance. He called it Tower Mountain. In 1853 Major Isaac Stevens, en route to the Washington Territory sent members of his party to the summit of the East Butte to survey a possible railroad route to the West Coast. In 1874, Captain W. J. Twining, Commissioner Archibald Campbell with infantry and cavalry engaged in surveying the International Boundary between the U.S. and Canada. The land around the hills had been designated Indian land. By 1883 cattle ranchers began allowing their herds into the virgin grasslands. In 1885 four miners in open defiance of an Interior Department ban against mining on the Indian reservation struck a rich deposit of placer fold in a gulch near Gold Butte, which is south west of the main butte. A few months later approximately one hundred miners were working the ground. In the 1930s gold dredging was conducted at the site of the original mining efforts. In 1888 Congress withdrew the reservation barriers and the hills became official cattle country. Settlers came into this section of land and it became the headquarters for some of the largest ranchers with sheep and cattle. The grazing of the abundant grass was approximately one hundred miles east, west and south of the hills. In 1904 Charlie Russell owned a ranch near West Butte called the Lazy KY Ranch with cowboy writer Con Price. He also painted them. The West Old & New Page 12
Bahåsaba Havre, Montana The city of Havre, Montana Assiniboine name is Bahåsaba. Located in Hill County it is said to be named the city of Le Havre in France. The population was 9,310 at the 2010 census. Havre was incorporated in 1893. It was founded primarily to serve as a major railroad service center for the Great Northern Railway. Originally named Bullhook Bottoms, the town met in a series of meetings to determine a new name. The original settlers were given the final decision, and due to a strong French influence, the town was renamed Havre. Simon Pepin (1840–1914), the "Father of Havre," was a typical Montana entrepreneur. Born in Quebec, Canada, he emigrated to Montana in 1863, and became a contractor, furnishing supplies for the construction of Forts Custer, Assiniboine, and Maginnis. Pepin purchased ranch lands near Fort Assiniboine. When James J. Hill built the Great Northern Railway across northern Montana, Pepin convinced him to build his locomotive shops at Havre, on property owned by Pepin. In the ensuing years, Pepin was a major contributor to Havre's economic growth through his cattle, real estate, and banking enterprises. Havre is the eighth-largest city in Montana, and the largest city in the Montana section of the Hi-Line. The nearest major city is Great Falls,120 miles to the south, Havre serves as a medical and business center for the Montana section of the Hi-Line. The Milk River runs through the town, and the Bear's Paw Mountains can be seen to the south. Small grids of purple colored squares can be seen in some of the sidewalks in the downtown area (on the north side of the city). These are skylights for a sort of underground "mall" built in the city at least a hundred years ago. Throughout its history, this underground area has been host to a brothel, a Chinese laundromat, a saloon, a drugstore, at least three opium dens, and rooms used for smuggling alcohol during Prohibition. When fire destroyed Havre's business district in 1904, legitimate above-ground businesses joined the illicit businesses operating in the underground while the new brick buildings were built in the streets above. The underground area, now designated "Havre Beneath the Streets", currently operates as a small tourist attraction. The Wahkpa Chu'gn buffalo jump, or bison kill, is located behind the Holiday Village Shopping Center near the northwest corner of Havre. Over 2,000 years old, it is one of the largest and best preserved buffalo jumps anywhere. The buffalo jump is located at the southern edge of the Havre Badlands, a badlands formation that runs alongside the Milk River to the west of the city. Small fossils, including seashells and petrified wood, can be found in the limestone sediment in this area. Six miles southwest of Havre is Fort Assinniboine, which served as one of Montana's principal military posts from 1879 through the Prohibition era. The fort was one of many used by the United States to protect against potential attacks from Native Americans and to block incursions from Canada. At its peak, the fort housed and employed 489 soldiers in 104 buildings. Also near Havre is the Bear's Paw Battlefield site of the Battle of Bear Paw, where the Nez Perce were attacked and defeated by the U.S. Cavalry. Chief Joseph surrendered to the Cavalry and making a famous speech ending with the line, "From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." The West Old & New Page 13
Feathers - Canvas - Stones Canvas Prints - Oils - Acrylic Award winning artist Marla Brown-Robbins has captured the western essence in oil and canvas for more than 30 years. Marla “Ma Brown” Robbins has always lived in the northwest, working on her art career since the 80’s. Her work includes wildlife, animal portrait, western, landscape and children in oil, acrylic, and pastel. She enjoys the challenge of commission pieces and competes in juried and open shows. Ma Brown’s has been in several one-person exhibitions and has had work published in several magazines. Some of the most recent juried shows accepting her work have been in Montana and throughout the northwest. She was also awarded acceptance in the 108th showing of the CLWAC in New York, NY at the National Arts Club. Her work has received many awards such as Grand Champion, People’s Choice, Artist’s Choice and Best in Show! She strives to grow as a teacher and artist.
(406)-741– 2059 www.western-art.com The West Old & New Page 14
Tough Ram painted on rock by “Ma” Marla Brown
Multimedia Artisan LoriAnne Hancock works in leather, clay, fabric and paint.
Custom order a leather handbag to your liking. (406) 741– 5177
To the left detail leather work on red shoulder purse.
Below small handcrafted pouches.
To the right is a custom made leather purse with long straps.
Defunct Mines Attract Health Seekers We have all heard how radon gas can be bad for you if it comes up from the earth under your house. This radioactive gas, a natural byproduct from the earth, plagues real estate sales in most parts of the US. But there is a clear divergence of opinion about radon in the mountainous mine country between the towns of Boulder and Basin, Montana. Where a half a dozen gold and uranium mines south of Helena, Montana, attract ailing tourists. Numerous visitors come to these place for the radioactive radon gas and drink radioactive water to improve their health. They come to relax and treat arthritis, lupus, asthma and other chronic cripplers. The mines named, the Sunshine Health Mine, Earth Angel, Radon Tunnel, the Merry Widow and Sunshine Health mine, are shafts inside the mines which have levels of radon as high as 175 times the federal safety standard for houses. Time has revealed claims of miraculous recoveries and remissions from hanging out in these damp passage ways. The health mines opened in the early 1950's when little was understood about the health and hazard aspects of atomic radiation. One claim is that the gas stimulates the nerves and helps the human body heal itself. A typical vacation at a radon health mine can last a week or two. Recommendations are that visitors to these earth passages sit in them for a period of time two or three times a day, until they hit the maximum annual exposure level designated by the state. The permitted total visit is determined by the radiation level of the particular mine. The average visitor is 72 years old. The mines appeal to people interested in natural healing. s. The visitors to these passages entertain themselves with card playing, games, paperback novels and jigsaw puzzles. Inside the passages have areas with chairs and beds for resting. Owners of the mines bar pregnant women and children. The West Old & New Page 14
Lee Nye (1926 – November 11, 1999) An American photographer best known for his series of photographs entitled Eddie's Club Collection that documents Missoula, Montana's working class inhabitants. Nye was born in Hysham, Montana, in 1926. He attended high school in Butte where his father worked for the Northern Pacific Railway. Nye quit high school at 17 and worked as a cowboy until he later joined the United States Navy. In 1950 he moved to California and studied photography at the Brooks Institute of Photography. In the following years, Nye worked as a photographer in Los Angeles and New Orleans covering theater, movie still photography, news, fashion and portraiture. He was awarded two prizes in 1953 by Photography Magazine for his photographs "Sunday Morning" and "The Bath." His work has been exhibited throughout the US and Europe. His photographs have appeared in Photography, Dance Magazine, Playboy, Art News, American Craft, and Montana Magazine. http://www.nyeimage.com/tag/eddies
Western Gal Speak Weekly essays on Contemporary & Historic Montana
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Montana Fare The Humble Squash All sizes and shapes and delicious ! These fabulous eats become prolific in the fall, ripening on the vine and soon in the oven. Versatile they can be made into soups, eaten hot from the oven with butter, or used in stir-fry recipes. Archaeological evidence suggests squash may have been first cultivated in Mesoamerica some 8,000 to 10,000 years ago, and may have been independently cultivated elsewhere at a later date. Squash was one of the "Three Sisters" planted by Native Americans. The Three Sisters were the three main native crop plants: maize (corn), beans, and squash. These were usually planted together, with the cornstalk providing support for the climbing beans, and shade for the squash. The squash vines provided ground cover to limit weeds. Weeds can be detrimental to the growing conditions of the squash. The beans provided nitrogen fixing for all three crops. Summer squashes, including zucchini (courgette), pattypan, and yellow crookneck, are harvested during the growing season, while the skin is still soft and the fruit rather small; they are eaten almost immediately and require little to no cooking. Winter squashes (such as butternut, Hubbard, buttercup, ambercup, acorn, spaghetti squash and pumpkin) are harvested at maturity, generally the end of summer, cured to further harden the skin, and stored in a cool place for eating later. They generally require longer cooking time than summer squashes. In addition to the fruit, other parts of the plant are edible. Squash seeds can be eaten directly, ground into paste, meal, "nut" butter, even a fine flour, or (particularly for hulless pumpkins) pressed for vegetable oil. The blossoms are an important part of native American cooking, and are also used in many other parts of the world. Both the male and female blossoms can be harvested pre- or midflower. The West Old & New Page 19
There is a joke in Montana that there are two seasons: Winter and Road Work. The east side of the Continental Divide is commonly a deep freeze with zero temperatures. West of the Continental Divide the temperatures can be fifty degrees warmer. However, sometimes the cold mass of air gets through the passes and then western Montana can be even colder than the east side. Western Montana generally has more snow. Eastern Montana suffers from blowing snow and can have some great drifts. The mountains of Montana generally have substantial snow fall accumulations, well over a 100 inches which requires 250 inches of snow. In January of 2007 West Yellowstone was minus 42 degrees at 10 a.m. in the morning. Residents of the state are always warned about severe weather conditions in the winter months. A wise traveler carries: bottled water, blankets, matches, and snacks. It is often a good idea to have chains which can be put on your tires especially if you have to cross over a mountain pass, of which Montana has quite a few. Photograph and sculpture by Alan Howes
SHOP MONTANA Made - in - Montana A program for artisans and crafters in the State of Montana The Made-in-Montana Marketplace is a wholesale trade show produced by the City of Great Falls and is a premier marketplace for Montana buyers and sellers to meet. The Made in Montana program provides sponsorship in terms of consultation on financing. The show is normally held in the early spring. For more information go to Made in Montana Marketplace. Use the comprehensive Products Directory to find authentic Montana goods.
Sandra Sitzmann GIA Wellness, Director www.giawellness.com/sandra starlinesandra@gmail.com
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Ida Hawkins, P.I. EIGHT DAYS by S.F. Roberts A brilliant job of bringing our Native American characters to life. Masterfully done...when Montana and New York meet. A story you can’t put down. Diane Griffith
Ida Hawkins has a great life as a private investigator in New York City. On a Monday in May everything is suddenly changed by circumstances and events. A few days later Ida finds herself on the way to Montana and ultimately to the discovery of a secret that changes her life forever. The consummate detective she finds herself knee deep in one mystery after another and all of it around a handsome Tribal cop and a father she has never met. Buy a copy for $4.99 on Smashwords.com Also available on Amazon and Kindle
Other Ebooks by S.F. Roberts available on Smashwords.com, Amazon and Kindle
Anthology of short stories written around the Montana landscape. $4.99
In 1910 the Flathead Indian Reservation was opened to homesteaders. Read real stories about life on the high mountain prairie. $1.99
An eclectic collection of short stories written over the period of twenty years. $4.99
The best of The West Old & New. Stories from the first year of publication of the magazine. $1.99
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Visit the Western Gal Speak blog on contemporary and historic life in Montana http://thewestoldandnew.wordpress.com The West Old & New online magazine at Issuu.com or Joomag.com Follow publisher Susan F. Roberts on Twitter Visit The West Old & New on FB
Photograph by S.F. Roberts