Montana The Magazine of Western History

11/26/2025

Yesterday we shared a letter home from Mary Edgerton, wife of Montana’s first Territorial Governor, written soon after she first arrived in the frontier mining town of Bannack in October of 1863. Mary sounded homesick, assuring her family she would be thinking of them as they gathered around the Thanksgiving table.

We learn from Mary’s next letter, dated November 29, 1863, that she nonetheless enjoyed a fine Thanksgiving dinner with her husband and niece.

“I tasted butter for the first time since we came here and it was a treat I can assure you, but as long as it is ten and twelve shillings a pound (and poor at that price) I think we shall do without it most of the time,” Mary reported.

Author James L. Thane, Jr., who shared excerpts of Mary’s writings in our Summer 1974 issue, notes that the Edgertons attended the feast at the invitation of Sheriff Henry Plummer.

It was to be the sheriff’s last Thanksgiving meal.

Mary reported in her next letter on January 17, 1864 that a "week ago last night, four of the vigilance committee came here from Virginia City and told some of the men here what they had learned and what they had done and wanted to have the people to form themselves into a vigilance committee and hang those that were known to belong to the band,” she wrote, referring to recent highway robberies. “They did so on Saturday night and on Sunday night they arrested three men, Henry Plummer, our sheriff being one of the number, and took them to the gallows, and hung them.”

Mary noted nothing more about her Thanksgiving dinner host.

A year later, Mary reported that the mining outpost was becoming a bit more refined. “The people here are building an office for Mr. Edgerton (the governor) joining our house,” she writes, in reference to her husband, on November 20, 1864. “This ‘City’ has improved very much during the past two months.”

Mary went on to say that the family’s minister would preach a Thanksgiving sermon.

Caption: “Sidney Edgerton (inset) brought his family to the raw mining camp, seen below, in 1863, and although he soon became Montana Territory’s first chief executive, the title made little difference in family living conditions. Bannack, pictured a few years later, experienced only a brief boom. In 1862, strikes along Grasshopper Creek attracted a population of several thousand and made the mining camp the logical choice to be Montana Territory’s first capital. However, the diggings proved shallow, the miners moved on. In 1864 the legislature voted to move to more prosperous Virginia City.”

Unidentified Photographer; Between 1865-1870; Montana Historical Society Library and Archives; Photographs from the Montana Historical Society; MHS Legacy Photograph Collection; p0003198



To order back issues of "Montana The Magazine of Western History" write us at [email protected] or call 406-444-4709.

11/25/2025

As she sat down to write her sister on October 18, 1863, Mary Edgerton felt a pang of pre-holiday homesickness.

Mary had enjoyed a comfortable life in Akron, Ohio, with her husband, US Congressman Sidney Edgerton. But President Abraham Lincoln had other plans for her young family.

Lincoln dispatched Representative Edgerton to Idaho Territory to serve as chief justice on the lawless frontier and would soon name him governor of the newly created Montana Territory. While the Edgertons were bound for Lewiston, they decided to winter in the rough mining town of Bannack as winter approached.

Mary arrived at her new home—a three-room log storehouse—with four young children in tow.

“Before you get this letter you will probably have had Thanksgiving,” she wrote to one of her sisters back home on that October day. “We would all like to be with you, but that cannot be. But we shall think of you all about that time, think of what good times you are having.”

Home sickness aside, Mary would enjoy a lovely Thanksgiving dinner that year, a meal she described as “equal to any that we ever had in Ohio.” As she would later learn, she partook in the feast alongside some dubious company. At least one guest at the table would be hanged within weeks.

Check back tomorrow for the rest of this Thanksgiving account from Mary’s letters home, which were featured in our Summer 1974 issue dedicated to women and the American West. Excerpts of Mary’s letters, taken from the total collection of the Montana Historical Society, were shared in an article by James L. Thane, Jr., who at that time served as chairman of the History Department at Black Hawk College in Moline, Illinois.

To order back copies of "Montana The Magazine of Western History" call 406-444-4708.

Photo:

Caption: “By the turn of the century, Bannack was almost a ghost town. A few visitors in 1908 found the ruins of the Edgerton’s three-room, log governor’s mansion and it became one of the town’s most interesting curiosities.”

Bannack, Montana; Unidentified Photographer, Between 1908-1909, Montana Historical Society Library and Archives, Montana Places Photomechanical Postcard Collection, PC 001 BANN-bu.04c

11/19/2025

11/19/2025

Poetry Elevated: inviting students to take a leap—into confidence, creativity, and a community that grows through language. It’s a space where learning from poems naturally becomes learning through them.

The program is open to all Montana high school students, no POL participation required. Each student may submit one original poem. Deadline: February 5.

We’re also launching monthly workshops with poets and writers from across Montana. Students (and teachers who want to join in) are welcome. The first session is Wednesday, November 19, 4–5 PM featuring our Montana State Poet Laureate, Allen Morris Jones; professor, musician and all around artist, Aaron Parrett, and POL outreach coordinator, Kaisa Edy.

Know a student who likes words, art, expression, or just trying something new? Send them our way—there’s room for their voice here.

Find the Zoom link for the workshop here: https://art.mt.gov/instagram

11/13/2025

It’s been a gorgeous sunny afternoon in Montana, but only a day’s drive west, heavy clouds are pouring rain into dark, frothy seas.

“The Pacific Northwest stands in sharp contrast to other parts of the American West,” wrote the late Paul H. LeBlond in our Autumn 1993 issue. “There are no cactuses or parched deserts in this land of rain and fog, towering forests, and meandering fjords … Water plays an all-encompassing role in the Pacific Northwest, and it is not surprising to find that its coastal seas and wet forests continue to this day to hide unresolved mysteries.”

As a professor of oceanography and director of the Program of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C., LeBlond dedicated his career to the study of water—waves, tides, coastal currents and the influence of the ocean environment on fisheries.

He also collected eye-witness reports of marine cryptids—animals such as the Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster that are purported, but have never been proven, to exist.

LeBlond’s article shares some of these eyewitness accounts and notes Native American art depicting sea serpents dating as far back as A.D. 200.

“The mystery is not likely to be solved in the near future,” wrote LeBlond, with a hint of sadness. “The development and funding of a research program that embraces review of evidence, formulation of hypotheses, search strategy, and instrument design in what is, after all, a legitimate scientific question tends to be thwarted by the stigma of “frivolity” that mars the subject, as well as by the absence of any obvious practical application.”

Subscribe to "Montana The Magazine of Western History" today at https://loom.ly/GWS0Q7Q

To purchase back issues, call 406-444-4708 or email us at [email protected]

Photo Caption: Artist’s rendering of Mount Rainier over Puget Sound; Asahel Curtis Collection, Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, Washington.

11/11/2025

We are honored to have had our name in lights as sponsors of the 2025 Will Rogers Medallion Award in Tulsa, Oklahoma!

See titles by this year’s winners here! https://loom.ly/hH7Z0BE

For more than 20 years, the Will Rogers Medallion Award has recognized outstanding Western literature and film in the spirit of the legendary writer and cowboy entertainer for whom it is named. Submissions for the 2026 contest are now open! Visit this link to learn how to submit your book, article, poem, short story, song, screenplay, or film: https://loom.ly/GZaedVQ

Will Rogers Medallion Award

11/08/2025

In our autumn issue, recent University of Montana graduate and MTHS reference librarian Dylan Yonce addressed the Flathead Lake Biological Station's complicated history as a product of Indigenous land removal. We asked Dylan to share insights from her article, prompting her to share how her work reshaped her relationship with her home state. "It really was when I started asking critical questions about the place I love, because I love it, that I started to learn all of these things and it's fundamentally reshaped my relationship with Montana," Dylan said. "But it doesn't make me love the people or the place any less. In fact, I love it more."

11/05/2025

We’re THRILLED to announce the debut of The Story of Us: The Women Who Shaped Montana – EPISODE III, featuring three extraordinary women whose strength, creativity, and determination helped shape Montana’s history. Please share this with anyone you know who would like to attend or watch!

Join us for one of our free public screenings:

Helena: The Myrna Loy – November 5 at 5:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Butte: Butte-Silver Bow Archives – November 13 at 6:00 p.m.
Great Falls: Davidson Family Auditorium at Great Falls High – November 25 at 6:30 p.m.

Can’t make a screening? Tune in for the Montana PBS premiere on November 13th at 7:30 p.m. on your local Montana PBS channel.

Episode III continues the series’ exploration of the remarkable women who shaped our state’s identity:

Ella Knowles Haskell, Montana’s first female lawyer and a political trailblazer who fought for women’s voices to be heard in the late 1800s. Fannie Sperry Steele, a fearless bronc rider from the Prickly Pear Valley who broke barriers for women in sports and western culture. Nancy Cooper Russell, wife and business partner of artist Charles M. Russell, who preserved his legacy while forging her own place in Montana’s cultural history. Through powerful storytelling, archival materials, and expert insights, Episode III shines a light on the depth and diversity of Montana women’s contributions to law, art, and western heritage.

We hope you’ll join us to celebrate these incredible stories and honor the women who helped shape Montana. Thank you again!

11/04/2025

The shelves are loaded again at the Montana Historical Society, and they're ready for company.

After years of construction, the archives are coming back to life in 2026. That means millions of photographs, letters, and documents—Montana's actual story, in fragments—will be accessible again to researchers.

Since 1983, these fellowships have funded 91 scholars digging through the state's past. The result? More than 30 articles and over 10 books. Real scholarship that turns archival fragments into narratives people actually read.

Three fellowships will be available: the James H. Bradley Fellowship ($4,000), the Montana History Network Fellowship ($2,000), and the Dave Walter Fellowship ($1,250). Applications open in February.

The new Montana Heritage Center opens to the public this spring.
📖 Read the full story: https://www.distinctlymontana.com/research-fellowships-return-montana-archives-prepare-reopen

📬 Subscribe for more Montana stories: https://dmt.magserv.com/fb

11/03/2025

Thank you, Visit Helena Montana. We can't wait to welcome everyone!

10/31/2025

"Ghost stories have existed as long as humans have contemplated mortality and the afterlife, but they are particular to the time and culture in which they arise," writes author Daniel Hanson, as he explores the roots of the American "ghost rush."

In our Autumn issue, Hanson takes us to the Bannack State Park ghost town near Dillon, Montana, for an exploration of ghost tourism and its uneasy station at the crossroads of morality, morbidity, and a basic human desire to experience history—from a safe distance, of course.

Know Your Montana: Subscribe today to the "Montana Magazine of Western History"! https://loom.ly/GWS0Q7Q

Caption: A ghostly "Girl in Blue" stares out the window of the Hotel Meade during the October 2023 Ghost Walk at Bannack State Park. This eldritch skit recounts the tragic tale of young Dorothy Dunn, who drowned near Bannack in 1916. The story has been part of the Ghost Walk since the event's 1993 inception. Photo credit: Brittany Phelan, photographer, October 28, 2023. Courtesy of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

10/31/2025

It’s Throwback Thursday and today we’re time traveling to our autumn 1973 issue, featuring a painting by Peter Rindisbacher. Titled “Indian Women in Tent,” the painting is one of the earliest known depictions of the inside of a tipi. Rindisbacher, a Swiss immigrant, is believed to have painted the piece in the St. Louis, Missouri, area shortly before his death at the age of 28 in 1834.

The issue also featured a humorous reminiscence by renowned western writer Dorothy M. Johnson, author of The Hanging Tree, A Man Called Horse and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, all three of which were made into motion pictures.

In “Number Please!,” Dorothy recounts her years as a relief switchboard operator, a job she started at the age of 14. Demand for the well-paid operator positions was intense, writes Dorothy in her tongue-in-cheek style: “There were usually two or three girls hopefully waiting for a chance to learn. The relief operator (unless she was me, not intending to make a career of it) hoped that one of the steady girls would get married, move away, or drop dead.”

To find back issues of "Montana The Magazine of Western History," visit https://loom.ly/XOrYztI To purchase, call 406-444-4708 or write [email protected].

Magazine Cover Art: "Indian Women in Tent" by Peter Rindisbacher, West Point Museum Collections, U.S. Military Academy.