John Neihardt & Ol’ Muddy

Posted By admin on February 2, 2010

Here’s how John Neihardt described his visit to the highest of the Great Falls of the Missouri in late July, 1908:

“I caught myself tightly gripping the ledge and shrinking with a shuddering instinctive fear. Then suddenly the thunders seemed to stifle all memory of sound – and left only the silent universe with myself and this terribly beautiful thing in the midst of utter emptiness.

“And I loved it with a strange, desperate, tigerish love. It expressed itself so magnificently; and that is really all a man, or a waterfall, or a mountain, or a flower, or a grasshopper, or a meadow lark, or an ocean, or a thunderstorm has to do in this world.”

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Why we’re here

Posted By admin on January 29, 2010

When you think about it, Butte and Helena were started by miners, Billings as a transportation hub for steamboats and railroads, Great Falls for its water power, coal mining and agriculture. Kalispell was a railroad and agriculture town.

Missoula was attractive for its lumber and agricultural possibilities, and eventually the railroads. But its roots are in commerce. When someone asks you why Missoula is here, it’s because of its location as a hub of trade from all directions, starting way back with Indian trails. Five valleys (for my money the Bitterroot, Frenchtown, Evaro/Mission, Hellgate and Blackfoot) funnel everything into Missoula.

That’s why Frank Worden and Christopher Higgins came here on the new Mullan Road in the summer of 1860 in the first place, to start a store at Hell Gate. It’s why the Missoula Merc and its progenitors blossomed into the mercantile giant of the Northwest. It’s not as sexy a history as some, but it’s where we came from. It’s no wonder the loss of Macy’s strikes so deep a chord for so many folks.

Silver Anniversary of the Missoula Merc

Posted By admin on January 29, 2010

Thanks to Minie Smith for pointing this out. She’s been researching the Fires of 1910 for the Fort Missoula museum and came across a large ad in the Aug. 20, 1910, Missoulian (the day the fires took off).

There’s a photo of the Merc in the middle top with “1885″ on one side and “1910″ on the other.

The copy above the photo reads, in part: “The Missoula Mercantile Company rounds out a Quarter-Century of Successful Merchandising in Missoula. A concern nearly forty years old — Always Foremost and Best — and grown as from acorn to oak.”

Under the photo: “Twenty-five years ago today the MIssoula Mercantile Company made its initial bow to the good people of Missoula and Western Montana. It was, however, a new concern in name only, succeeding to the business of Eddy, Hammond & Co., founded some ten to fifteen years earlier and which first occupied the site of the present store thirty-three years ago, just following the memorable raid of the Nez Perce Indian Chief, Joseph, during which the unoccupied building was the haven of safe retreat for women and children fearing for their lives — a frontier expression of the regard held always for this store’s safety, whether in a physical or commercial sense.”

Next in the ad come two letters to the public, each dated Aug. 20, 1885. The first is signed “Eddy, Hammond & Co.” and the second by “Missoula Mercantile Co.” with the Merc’s first officers on the letterhead: A.B. Hammond, Pres.; R.A. Eddy, Vice-Pres.; J.M. Keith, Sec. and Treas.; C.H. McLeod, Manager.

From what I’ve read, the “Co.” in Eddy, Hammond & Co., was Edward L. Bonner, who with Hammond and a few others was in the process of launching the lumber mill in Bonner in 1885. He had started as a merchant in Missoula, Deer Lodge and Butte (after building a ferry business across the Kootenai River in northern Idaho in the 1860s), and Bonner had a large stake in the Northern Pacific Railroad that had been completed in 1883.

The Eddy, Hammond & Co. letter read: “We give notice to our patrons and the trade that we have this day sold our business, stores, goods, book accounts, notes and good will to the MISSOULA MERCANTILE COMPANY, who are authorized to collect all accounts due us and who will pay all debts we owe for merchandise.

“Before severing our business relations with our patrons, we desire to thank them all for the very liberal patronage and kind treatment always extended our house, which has enabled us to make our business a success. We commend to their good will our successors, the Missoula Mercantile Co.”

The Merc’s letter: “Having purchased the business, book accounts, notes and good will of Eddy, Hammond & Co. we take pleasure in announcing to the public that we are prepared to offer the same terms as have heretofore been extended by them. With the past experience of the late firm before us — the members of which are directors in our company — and with ample capital to do our business so as to reach manufacturers and to buy for cash, we solicit from the public a continuance of that liberal patronage and confidence so generously extended to the firm we succeed.”

I’m guessing the two letters were written by the same hand.

Montana place names: This is cool

Posted By admin on January 27, 2010

Why, for instance, is the Burnt Fork of the Bitterroot called that?

Here’s the answer, thanks to a new Internet offering, mtplacenames.org, from the Montana Historical Society and the Montana State Library.

“Burnt Fork of the Bitterroot River
The name Burnt Fork dates from as early as the 1850s, when Major John Owen filed the first water right in what would become Montana. The upper regions of the creek, in the Sapphire Mountains, had burned in earlier forest fires, hence the creek’s name. Samuel M. Caldwell did some placer mining along the creek in 1852, and other miners worked the area in the 1860s, but it never became an important district. At the creek’s headwaters is Burnt Fork Lake. ”

There are more than 1,200 of these babies in what the Historical Society calls “The Place Names Companion.” It’s the online application based on the book, “Montana Place Names from Alzada to Zortman,” which was recently published by the Montana Historical Society press.

Hmmm … Alzada?

“Alzada began as a telegraph station on the Little Missouri River between Fort Keogh in Montana Territory and Fort Meade in Dakota Territory in 1877. The community that grew there was named Stoneville in 1880 for Lewis M. Stone, the first settler and proprietor of the saloon. Stoneville officially became Alzada on July 16, 1885, to honor local pioneer Laura Alzada Shelden. Elevation: 3,444 ft.”

That elevation is interesting. Alzada’s near the Dakota border, as far east and southeast as you can get on pavement in Montana, what most of us in western Montana think of as the “lowlands.” It’s nearly 250 feet higher than Missoula, way up here in the Rockies.

And Zortman? “Zortman takes its name from Oliver Peter Zortman, who discovered gold in the Little Rocky Mountains in the late 1880s.”

But just as Alzada isn’t the first place name on the alphabetical list (that spot belongs to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, followed closely by the town of Absarokee), Zortman isn’t the last. The final spot belongs to Zurich, on the Hi-Line between Chinook and Harlem, and one of a number of towns the Great Northern named for European cities. The full account:

“Sometime around 1887, Great Northern Railway officials named one of their main line sidings Zurich, for the city in Switzerland. It took some time before a community developed at the site. In 1907, rancher John Acher established the first post office about 4 miles east of the present townsite, but it was not until 1913 that Charles Grass platted a townsite near the railroad. Grass established a general mercantile there, and by 1915 the population of Zurich stood at 40. Local businesses included a lumberyard, livery, restaurant and pool hall, grain elevator, and blacksmith shop. The community built the tiny Zurich chapel in 1916. It served several denominations, including Methodists, Mormons, Lutherans, and the American Sunday School Union. Elevation: 2,384

From Carl Haywood, David Thompson scholar from Thompson Falls

Posted By admin on January 25, 2010

Carl Haywood of Thompson Falls (”Sometimes Only Horses to Eat”) sent this note in last Thursday:
Wanted to share an exciting bit of information with friends and relatives I think might be interested.
An hour ago I received an e-mail inviting me to present a paper on Explorer David Thompson (the subject of my book) at the Rupert’s Land Colloquium to be held at the University of Winnipeg in May. The Colloquium is held every other year to promote and discuss the history of the fur trade in North America.
It is an honor to be selected to present a paper and our participation will provide Linda and me with an opportunity to meet and visit with authors and historians who share our passion for the early explorers and businessmen who were among the first Europeans to explore and settle the remote areas of North America beginning in the 1600’s.
Linda and I spent some time in Winnipeg and other parts of Manitoba on the way home from Fargo when my last job assignment was completed last November. That trip was primarily to do more on-the-ground research for a second book about Thompson’s travels through southern Manitoba and then south to the Mandan Villages on the Missouri River in 1797 – six years before Lewis and Clark arrived there.
Wish me luck. This might also be a major key to breaking into the Canadian book market!

Want to research some local history?

Posted By admin on January 20, 2010

This just in from the Montana Historical Society. Note applications are due by March 1:
The Montana Historical Society offers up to two DAVE WALTER RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS every summer to researchers pursuing local history topics in Montana history. The Dave Walter Research Fellowship is intended to help Montanans conduct research on their towns, counties, etc., at the Montana Historical Society.

Research can be for any project related to exploring local history; including exhibit development, walking tours, oral history projects, building history/preservation, county or town histories, archaeological research, etc. The Fellowship stipend is $1,250.

Each recipient of the award is expected to be in residence for one week between June 1 and October 31. Fellows are expected to make use of the MHS’s collections and to submit a written report or a copy of their final product upon completion of the research.

Award Criteria

1) suitability of research to the Society’s collections
2) applicant’s experience in conducting local history research
3) potential of the project to make a contribution to local history.

Applications must include a cover letter, a project proposal not to exceed three double-spaced pages, a resume, and a letter of recommendation. The proposal should indicate what material in the MHS collections the applicant intends to consult. Historical Society employees and previous Dave Walter Fellows are not eligible to apply.

Applications must be postmarked no later than March 1, 2010, and sent to the Dave Walter Research Fellowship Selection Committee, Montana Historical Society, PO Box 201201, Helena, MT 59620-1201. Email: mhslibrary@mt.gov or call (406) 444-2681.

Announcement of the award will be made in early April. For more information about the Montana Historical Society and its collections see: www.montanahistoricalsociety.org.

Missoula Merc history sought

Posted By admin on January 20, 2010

This from the folks at the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula:

“It’s the end of an era, the end of a Missoula landmark, the end of 143 years as the centerpiece of downtown Missoula. The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula joins the rest of Missoula in mourning the departure of Macy’s, still affectionately known to Missoulians as simply “The Merc.”

To preserve this tremendously important part of Missoula history, the Historical Museum is working with Macy’s to save many of the artifacts, some dating to the 19th century. But beyond that, the Historical Museum is asking the community for its memories, its photographs, its memorabilia, and its stories of The Merc.

Anyone who has been a longtime resident of Missoula either worked at The Merc, The Bon, The Bon-Macy’s, or Macy’s, or had a family member or friend work there – it was virtually a rite of passage for many Missoulians.  If you’d like to share your memories, the Historical Museum will preserve them for generations of Missoulians to come. Please contact Curator of Collections Jason Bain at 728-3476, Ext. 2.

Message from Carl Beebe about the Merc

Posted By admin on January 6, 2010

My name is Carl Beebe and I started working at the Missoula Mercantile in 1961 in the basement of the china department while still in high school, and after the military and a degree from the University of Montana, I would leave “The Merc” as the assistant store manager a year after it was absorbed by The Bon, then I was transfered to the SeattleBon to buy for them.
I had worked as department manager, buyer over all women’s sportswear, and believe that I am the oldest executive to still be alive who was once part of that organization.  I worked there over a ten year period, but know of many that worked there all there lives.  I met the woman to whom I’m married as a high school student who worked in the gift wrap department.
I also possess over 12 6×8 glass negatives from 1906,and many acetate black and white negative from over the era, along with brass plates used in printing flyers from early times.  All these help chronicle the store.
I believe you are trying to put together information to do a historical piece, and I am
currently looking for grant money to write a book on the history of the store.  It is much
more intriguing than you can possibly imagine.  Just a teaser:
In the early 1900, there we’re approximately 20 or thirty plus outlets of this
store that dotted the valley from Polson to Hamilton.  When Helena was thought to be the seat of legislative power, more dealings about state policy came from the executive office of the president of “The Merc”, than would ever be written about.
There is also a story about those that have long since retired, who hold various snippets in their memories of that store.  Finding them is part of the odyssey of making a more complete story.
Carl Beebe
Seattle, WA

Memories of the Merc?

Posted By admin on January 6, 2010

Ty Robinson remembers the impression the Missoula Mercantile made on him the first day he went to work for the downtown store in 1948. (See story in today’s Missoulian on the history of the Merc.)

“I was taken downstairs and they must have had 2,000 or 3,000 pairs of horseshoes,” Robinson told me yesterday. He was the Merc’s lawyer from 1948 until he retired in 1970, although he joined what’s now the law firm of Garlington, Lohn and Robinson in the mid-1950s.

That trip downstairs emphasized the magnitude of the Merc’s influence back then.

“They had everything in the world in that basement. It didn’t seem to matter what you needed in the way of hardware,” Robinson said. ” Of course, they ran the clothing operation too. People would come here from Spokane, believe it or not, to shop in the Missoula Mercantile’s women’s department — and they had some great stores in Spokane.”

Robinson pointed out the stone wall downstairs is the same one that was built in 1877.

I have my own memories of Merc, mostly from the cool record store on the second floor in the late ’60s/early 1970s. A couple of colleagues here at the paper who grew up in Missoula, Bill Schwanke and Jamie Kelly, mentioned their own stories from the old Merc. Bill’s father, Kermit, worked his way up to department manager in the 1950s and Bill has his own stories about the basement (though he never saw a ghost down there, as others reportedly have). Both Jamie and I remember, erroneously as it turns out, an escalator in the Merc. I’m sure we have it confused with the one at J.C. Penney’s downtown, which made a splash when it unveiled Missoula’s first (and still one of its only) escalators back in, what?, the 1950s or ’60s.

I’m interested in hearing other Merc memories, before Macy’s closes the building down in March. There must be a bunch. Let me know, either by commenting here or at my e-mail, kbriggeman@missoulian.com.

Another family Christmas ride with Stubby

Posted By admin on December 22, 2009

(We ran this in the Christmas Day newspaper a couple of years ago, but things have changed only a bit at my house. Niki and Molly are home for the holidays from college, Kara just finished helping stage her first Christmas play as the K-4 teacher in Ovando, and — best of all — Marli Jean, Kaci’s 7 1/2-month-old daughter and our first grand child, is here for her first lope with Stubby Pringle. Note: The whole Stubby Pringle story can be found on-line at a couple of sites. Just do a Google search).


It’s that Stubby time of year at our house.

Don’t know what it is, but every December the story of “Stubby Pringle’s Christmas” gets me where it counts.

I take that back. I do know what it is.

It’s sitting with my wife, Linda, on the living room floor in 1989, lights doused except those twinkling on the tree, our three little girls in their bunny-foot pajamas as Stubby swings into the saddle.

“He is Stubby Pringle, cowhand of the Triple X, and this is his night to howl,” Jack Schaefer wrote in 1964, and I read in my best pseudo-cowboy drawl.

“He is Stubby Pringle, son of the wild jackass, and he is heading for the Christmas dance at the schoolhouse in the valley.”

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