Tales from Choteau Montana is a collection of original short stories created from writings dating back to the 1880s in old newspapers including the Choteau Acantha that will entertain and inform both Montana residents and visitors alike. Learn about the people, climate and cityscape of Choteau, Montana, from true yarns spun about its memorable events, tragedies, crimes, businesses, government officials, veterans, heroes and villains.
A collection of original short stories created from writings in old newspapers dating back to the 1880s including the Choteau Acantha that will entertain and inform both Montana residents and visitors alike. Learn about the people, climate and landscape from the city of Choteau north to the Blackfeet Reservation and Glacier National Park, from true yarns spun about the region's memorable events, tragedies, crimes, businesses, government officials, veterans, heroes and villains.
Withdrawal of the mighty Hudson Bay Company from present-day Alberta and Saskatchewan created a lawless environment with new economic opportunities. A cross-border trading bond arose with growing steamboat mercantile center Fort Benton in Montana Territory. In 1870, Montana traders Johnny Healy and Al Hamilton moved across the Medicine Line and built Fort Whoop-Up. It established the two-hundred-mile Whoop-Up Trail from Fort Benton, through Blackfoot lands, to the Belly River near today's Lethbridge. Over the next decade, the buffalo robe trade flourished with the Blackfoot, as did violence. The turmoil forced the creation of Canada's North West Mounted Police, tasked with closing down the whiskey trade and evicting the Montana traders. Award-winning historian Ken Robison brings to life this dramatic story.
Montana history at its wildest and most intriguing. These 15 stories--illustrated with historical photographs--flash with humor, action, indignation, amazement, and admiration for what some Montanans (and visitors) added to the state's story.
This volume offers a rich archaeological portrait of the human-canine connection. Contributors investigate the ways people have viewed and valued dogs in different cultures around the world and across the ages. Case studies from North and South America, the Arctic, Australia, and Eurasia present evidence for dogs in roles including pets, guards, hunters, and herders. In these chapters, faunal analysis from the Ancient Near East suggests that dogs contributed to public health by scavenging garbage, and remains from a Roman temple indicate that dogs were offered as sacrifices in purification rites. Essays also chronicle the complex partnership between Aboriginal peoples and the dingo and describe how the hunting abilities of dogs made them valuable assets for Indigenous groups in the Amazon rainforest. The volume draws on multidisciplinary methods that include zooarchaeological analysis; scientific techniques such as dental microwear, isotopic, and DNA analyses; and the integration of history, ethnography, multispecies scholarship, and traditional cultural knowledge to provide an in-depth account of dogs’ lives. Showing that dogs have been a critical ally for humankind through cooperation and companionship over thousands of years, this volume broadens discussions about how relationships between people and animals have shaped our world. Contributors: Brandi Bethke | Kate Britton | Amanda Burtt | Larisa R.G. DeSantis | Melanie Fillios | Emily Lena Jones | Loukas Koungoulos | Robert Losey | Edouard Masson-Maclean | Ellen McManus-Fry | Victoria Monagle | Victoria Moses | Angela R. Perri | Nerissa Russell | Peter W. Stahl
Writers, historians, and public intellectuals from James Welch and Mary Clearman Blew to Dan Flores, William W. Bevis and Daniel Kemmis explore A. B. Guthrie's life and legacy in Fifty Years after The Big Sky: New Perspectives on the Fiction and Films of A. B. Guthrie, Jr. Best known for his novels, The Big Sky and The Way West and as the author of the screenplay for the movie classic Shane, A. B. Guthrie is a much-loved but under-studied Montana author. There has been almost no serious study of Guthrie's work, until now. This wide-ranging anthology examines this beloved western author in multiple contexts. Essays examine Guthrie's relationship with the movie industry; how the Cold War influenced Guthrie's work; how people in his hometown of Choteau, Montana, and others close to him remember the man; and how the myths that lie at the core of Guthrie's fiction haunt today's Montanans.
"...more romance, tragedy and vigorous life than many a city a hundred times its size and ten times its age." - Historian Hiram M. Chittenden Deep in the heart of Blackfoot country on the Upper Missouri River, trade relations opened cautiously in 1831. A series of trading posts and clashes followed. By 1846, Fort Benton had become the center of commerce with Indigenous tribes, including the Blackfoot who dubbed it "many houses to the South." Drawing settlers from eastern states, the head of steamboat navigation became known as "the world's innermost port." As a result, the fort became a multicultural melting pot and home to the "Bloodiest Block in the West." Award-winning historian Ken Robison brings to life dramatic sagas of a rapidly developing frontier, from vigilante X. Beidler to the Marias and Ophir Massacres.
Born into slavery in Tennessee, the remarkable “Stagecoach Mary” Fields was a larger-than-life figure who cherished her independence, yet formed a deep bond with the Ursuline Sisters, traveling to their Montana mission in 1885 and spending the last thirty years of her life living there or in nearby Cascade. Mary is believed to have been the first Black woman in the country to drive a U.S. Postal Star Route, the source of her nickname. In All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories, Agatha Award-winning author Leslie Budewitz brings together three short stories, each originally published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, imagining the life of Stagecoach Mary in her first year in Montana, and a novella exploring her later life, including: All God’s Sparrows, winner of the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Short Story; Miss Starr’s Goodbye, a nominee for the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s Derringer Award; Coming Clean, a finalist for the Western Writers of America’s 2021 Spur Award for Best Short Story; and A Bitter Wind, a brand-new novella in which Mary helps a young woman newly arrived in the valley solve the mystery of her fiancé's death and his homesteading neighbors’ bitterness toward him. Includes an abbreviated bibliography and historical notes from the author. Praise for All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories: “Budewitz captures a complex and complicated Mary Fields and comes closer to the truth than the caricatures that have evolved around the remarkable life of this singular woman of the West.” —Quintard Taylor, PhD., Founder of BlackPast.org “Finely researched and richly detailed, All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories is a wonderful collection. I loved learning about this fascinating woman . . . and what a character she is! Kudos to Leslie Budewitz for bringing her to life so vividly.” —Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of Crow Mary “In All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection, Leslie Budewitz masterfully illuminates the life of ‘Stagecoach Mary’ Fields with a deft hand and empathetic eye. Budewitz vividly portrays the remarkable journey of this little-known woman of the West, shining a light on her courage, resilience, and unyielding commitment to justice. Budewitz’s exceptional storytelling prowess is evident throughout this captivating collection of short stories.” —Ann Parker, author of the award-winning Silver Rush mystery series “In this beautifully drawn portrait of Mary Fields and life in 1897 Montana, Leslie Budewitz weaves stories of hardship and dedication, mystery and love. From a half-Blackfeet child to a forthright lady of the night to active and former missionary nuns, you’ll read rich studies of human hearts, the tough life of the frontier, and the contemplative mind of Stagecoach Mary. All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories is a must-read by a master writer.” —Edith Maxwell/Maddie Day, Agatha Award-winning author of the historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries and A Case for the Ladies: A Dot and Amelia Mystery “Impeccably researched and written with clear fondness and respect for the once-living people who inspire the characters. Leslie Budewitz has crafted fiction that demystifies the American West while honoring the strength of individual spirit that resides as the region’s most enduring characteristic. Mary’s access to the people living in this sparse, enchanting landscape offers intimate knowledge of her neighbors’ lives, feeding our fascination with the history unearthed and the small mysteries that propel these stories.” —Mark Hummel, author of Man, Underground and In the Chameleon's Shadow “A suspenseful and riveting story cycle. Budewitz expertly balances established historical detail with a storyteller’s sense of possibility—and an uplifting compassion, too.” —Art Taylor, Edgar Award-winning author of The Adventures of the Castle Thief and Other Expeditions and Indiscretions “Leslie Budewitz pens a lyrical tribute to this tireless caretaker of all those infirm, young, fragile, or helpless. I love her portrayal of this iconic hero as motherly and bold as the West was wide. Even God needs her. As do we.” —Sidney Thompson, author of The Bass Reeves Trilogy
Withdrawal of the mighty Hudson Bay Company from present-day Alberta and Saskatchewan created a lawless environment with new economic opportunities. A cross-border trading bond arose with growing steamboat mercantile center Fort Benton in Montana Territory. In 1870, Montana traders Johnny Healy and Al Hamilton moved across the Medicine Line and built Fort Whoop-Up. It established the two-hundred-mile Whoop-Up Trail from Fort Benton, through Blackfoot lands, to the Belly River near today's Lethbridge. Over the next decade, the buffalo robe trade flourished with the Blackfoot, as did violence. The turmoil forced the creation of Canada's North West Mounted Police, tasked with closing down the whiskey trade and evicting the Montana traders. Award-winning historian Ken Robison brings to life this dramatic story.
