New Year’s Folklore and Traditions

On New Year’s Eve in 1921, the Columbus News published a list of superstitions and customs pertaining to this holiday. Montana is such a melting pot that customs, superstitions, and traditions came from all over the world. Here is a synopsis of some of those. Quiet clear weather on New Year’s Eve means the year will be prosperous. But if the wind blows, it is a sign of pestilence. It is lucky to rise early on New Year’s Day, but if you wash clothes on the first day of the New Year, you will wash away a friend. If the ice melts on January first, it will freeze on April first.  While the clock is striking midnight on New Year’s Eve, say this poem three times: “St. Anne St. Anne, send me a man as fast as you can” and you will be engaged within the year. Calling on friends is a longtime tradition on New Year’s Day. But in even earlier times, caroling was the custom. Bring the first carol singer who comes to your door on New Year’s into your house through the front door, take the caroler throughout the house, and let him out the back door, it will bring luck to your household for the coming year. If the first person you meet on New Year’s Day is a man, you’ll have good luck. If it’ a woman, bad luck. If it’s a priest, you’ll die within the year; if it’s a policeman, you will have a lawsuit. Good luck will come to you if you place coins on your windowsill on New Year’s Eve.

Whatever your superstitions or traditions, party safely and have a prosperous New Year.

New Year’s in 1913

One of the greatest New Year’s celebrations Montana has ever seen took place at Luther Hall in Great Falls in 1913. Nearly 1,000 people ushered in the New Year at the Electricians Ball hosted by the Electricians Union. The party went on for two nights on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s night. There was a matinee of silent films sandwiched in between for those who did not care for dancing, but wanted to experience the most lavish decorations Great Falls had ever seen. Following a “rose garden” theme, it took 40 people to decorate. More than 10,000 roses in white, red, pink, and yellow festooned the hall. 13,000 feet of vines and rose garlands fastened above draped to a musicians’ pedestal in the center of the hall. Sixty pots of live palms and ferns hung below the balcony, camouflaging it in a veritable wall of greenery interspersed with huge pots of American Beauty roses. There were so many roses that the lovely smell even perfumed the wintery outdoors all the way down the block. The Great Falls Electricians Union accomplished what other groups could not, installing a huge searchlight that played in various colors over the dancing couples while electric signs and several large tungsten lights cast a brilliant glow. The decorating committee spent a whopping $1200 on their efforts, which was a huge sum for 1913. The Tribune commented that the decorating committee reached the uttermost heights. It was indeed a fitting celebration for the town famous as the Electric City. On one further note, at the door each lady received a beautiful rosebud, but alas, these were artificial.

Books

Exciting announcement: Montana Moments is now available as an e-book from most major retailers! (Kindle users can download it here. Nook users here.) Isn't is amazing how easy it is to get books? We've come a long way, as today's post goes to show.

Early Montana pioneer Granville Stuart tells a story that proves his insatiable love of reading. Granville and his brother James were among the first residents of the Deer Lodge Valley.

 James (l.) and Granville Stuart. Photos from A Tenderfoot in Montana.

The Montana Historical Society has the originals.

In late winter of 1861, word came to the Stuart brothers that a man by the name of Neil McArthur had left a trunk of books in the care of a Hudson’s Bay trader in the Bitterroot valley. The brothers were so starved for reading material they immediately packed dried meat and blankets, saddled their horses, and started the hazardous 150 mile trip to the Bitterroot valley. It was nearing spring, and the Big Blackfoot, Hellgate, and Bitterroot rivers were very dangerous and difficult to cross. Once at their destination, the brothers feasted their eyes on the books, but the trader insisted that he had no authority to sell them. The Stuarts pleaded until finally he agreed to sell them five books at five dollars each. They promised to pay McArthur when he returned to claim them. The Stuarts could hardly make up their minds which books to choose. They finally settled on illustrated editions of Shakespeare and Byron, a French Bible, Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, and Headley’s Napoleon and his Marshalls. McArthur never returned to the Bitterroot Valley, but the Stuart brothers wore the books to tatters and never regretted the dangerous trip to obtain them.

From Montana Moments: History on the Go

Logging Camp Christmas

Logging camps sprang up in western Montana in the late nineteenth century to support a huge demand for timber to fuel Montana’s mines and smelters. Lumberjacks from Ireland, Germany, Sweden, France, and many other places made the camps international melting pots. In 1899, a reporter for the Anaconda Standard wrote a wonderful description of Christmas in the logging camps. He wrote that a cast off circular saw hung outside the door of every camp cookhouse. When dinner was ready, the cook banged the saw. Deep in the snow-covered forest, the cadence of the cook’s call to dinner was sweet music to the hungry men. Lumberjacks had no day off, no Christmas tree among all the green pine trees they cut. But when the cook’s call came on Christmas Day, the loggers came in at a faster pace than usual, for they have been anticipating this meal for weeks. The cook placed bowls of mashed potatoes and cranberries on the long tables. The men came in merry, red with cold. When all were seated, the cook would bring in the turkeys, big and brown and fragrant. As the savory smell wafted from the national bird, the feast began. This goes to show that the holiday spirit works its way into even the most remote places. May your holiday meal be just as wonderful as the loggers’ feasts of yesteryear.

From Montana Moments: History on the Go

Christmas at the Rio

In December of 1935, Helena was still suffering from the Great Depression and the devastation of the recent October earthquakes. The series of temblors left many families in dire need, camping out in their yards for weeks as winter cold set in. Thanksgiving passed with more earthquakes, more terror for the community. Children especially felt the uncertainty of these very bad times. But with the start of the holiday season, people got into the spirit, stores realized good profits, and things began to look better. Movies helped people cope. The Rio Theater on North Last Chance Gulch had opened the year before, in 1934, and was celebrating its first anniversary. Theatre manager Paul McAddams had an idea for a way to celebrate this special occasion. He teamed up with the Helena Kiwanis to throw a special Christmas party for all the children of Helena. There was a flurry of planning, and Christmas morning dawned cold, clear, and mercifully, the Helena valley was peaceful. As the sun came up, there was a steady procession of children streaming into the theater.  After a morning of free comedies, novelties, and cartoons, Santa Claus arrived on the stage and the Kiwanis Club helped distribute free candy from his pack. McAddams said at the time, “We consider children our best friends as they consistently advertise the shows. Their knowledge of pictures and stars is remarkable … It is our Christmas present to the children of Helena in celebration of our first anniversary, and we wish them a Merry Christmas.” Following the party, shows resumed with continuous showings of In Person starring Ginger Rogers.

First Montana Christmas

Granville Stuart and his brother James came from California to the Deer Lodge Valley in 1857, before the Montana gold rushes brought the first waves of miners. The Stuarts and their companions, Reece Anderson and Jacob Weeks, claim the honor of making Montana’s first recorded gold discovery in 1858. Many years later, Granville recalled their first Christmas in Montana. The four men were living in a skin lodge, camped on the Big Hole River, near the future site of the town of Melrose. That Christmas hardly felt like winter. There was no snow, and the weather was so warm, Granville recalled, that he took his gun on Christmas morning and went out minus his coat after a mountain sheep. Without much effort he shot a young sheep and carried it back to camp.  In the afternoon Granville followed the Big Hole River a short distance up from camp, where he and his companions had discovered a small hot springs. He banked up a pool of water and took a hot bath under the blue sky. Suddenly a sharp wind came up from the northwest, carrying a cold winter’s bite. He dressed quickly and arrived back at camp nearly frozen, but  cleaner than he had been in quite some time. The men enjoyed a hearty Christmas dinner of roast mountain mutton, black coffee, and sourdough bread. There were no vegetables that day, nor were there any all that winter. Soon after Christmas, the coffee ran out and so did the bread, and for the rest of the winter, the men had only an abundance of meat.

What are you having for Christmas dinner?

Shopping 1896

Christmas Eve is eight days away! Do you have your shopping done?

Shopping is an important part of the holiday season, and that was just as true in 1896. For the holiday meal, shoppers could buy 2 dozen oranges for 35 cents and a gallon of fancy cranberries for 35 cents. California wines were 25 to 40 cents a bottle and “very fine” brandy went for a whopping 85 cents. Meat department specials included fresh flounder at 10 cents a pound, Jack rabbits for 24 cents each, quart cans of New York select oysters at 35 cents and freshly skinned perch at 3 pounds for 25 cents. Whole opossums were 95 cents each. If holiday shopping brought on a headache, the local drug store could provide a 10 cent bottle of Bromo-Seltzer, and to promote “digestion, cheerfulness and rest” in children, mothers could count on Castoria; 35 doses sold for 35 cents. The nasty-tasting brown liquid was a longtime staple. Generations of taste buds—including my own—recoil at the memory of that abominable root-beerish flavored stuff. Advertisements for gifts in 1896 included a muff footstool for the elderly grandmother or aunt. It consisted of a round leather portable footstool, three inches off the ground. A Japanese stove concealed within allowed elderly toes to stay toasty. Another popular item at Christmastime in the 1890s provided a much safer alternative than a Japanese stove. This was the Hot Water Bag, advertised with this poem:
In winter when it’s snowing and the storms are wildly blowing,
And all the earth is covered o’er with robes of ice and sleet,
Oh, then our hearts are mellow with compassion for the fellow,
Who is tortured through the night with his wife’s cold feet.

Custer's Dogs

General George Custer had his faults, but one characteristic makes him more likable. Custer loved dogs. He owned as many as forty and took them with him everywhere. Historian Brian Dippie wrote that Custer’s dogs “accompanied him on hunts and campaigns; they arranged themselves at his feet, rested their heads on his lap, shared is bed and his food, got under foot, made nuisances of themselves, but never lost their special place in his affection. They were like people to him.” His dogs adored him, too. When Maida, one of his favorites, was killed during a buffalo hunt, Custer wrote a rather bad, but very heartfelt, poem to her. During the Black Hills expedition in 1874, Custer wrote to his wife that his dogs surrounded him and that his favorite, Tuck—a tall, light-colored deerhound—slept at the head of his bed. On June 12, 1876, two weeks before Little Bighorn, Custer again wrote: “Tuck regularly comes when I am writing, and lays her head on the desk, rooting up my hand with her long nose until I consent to stop and notice her.”

Photo from http://wyomingtalesandtrails.com/

Custer and Bloody Knife (pointing) in 1874. The dog in the foreground is Custer's favorite deerhound, Tuck.

Several dogs including Custer’s beloved Tuck broke away from the pack train and followed their master into the famous battle. Indian witnesses claimed that Custer was easy to spot among the fray because of the tall, light-colored dog that stayed at his side until the last moments. The Cheyenne warrior Wooden Leg recalled a dog on Custer Hill, and soldiers saw a dog on a distant rise, but none was seen again. Tuck was not listed among the casualties. We will never know for sure what became of her or her renegade companions.

Homer Thomas

Homer Thomas was eight years old when he came with his family to Montana Territory from Illinois. It was almost Christmas when Homer wrote a letter to his grandmother. “I am glad you didn’t come with us,” he wrote, “you could not have stood it; [the trip] was mighty hard.” Homer described Virginia City as a poor place where the miners dressed in old, dirty, and ragged clothes. He wished especially for apples and cider, something not found in Montana. Homer’s longing for Illinois comes through as he wrote, “I expect this will be a great country someday, but I don’t care for that, just as soon as I can get enough gold, I bet you I am coming back.” But Homer did not return to Illinois. He followed his father in the milling and feed business and later was a founder of the mining camp of Monarch. But that 1864 Christmas letter to his Grandma, preserved in the Montana Historical Society archives, has a nostalgia unusual for an eight-year-old. “Well, Grandmother,” he wrote toward the end of his letter, “ it is pretty near Christmas time and I do not expect to get many things this year, for it is not like home, because old Santa Claus does not come out here to give children things, because he thinks all the children too smart to come to this old place. Well I can do without any nice toys this year, but I want you to save me some nice things so I can have them when I come back home.” But the years passed and Homer Thomas stayed in Montana. Illinois faded to become a childhood memory.

P.S. Not all children were so skeptical about Christmastime in Montana.
P.P.S More letters home

Friday Photo

What are you up to this weekend, history buffs? Historian Jon Axline and I will be at the Montana Historical Society. We're commenting on the 1964 film Last Chance Gulch narrated by Chet Huntley (who was born in Cardwell 100 years ago on December 10) as part of the Society's "Second Saturday" event. Do you have any Chet Huntley memories?

Photo courtesy Museum of the Rockies

Chet Huntley (L) and David Brinkley (R) teamed up as the co-anchors of NBC’s nightly national news program, the Huntley-Brinkley Report, from 1956 to 1970.

Montana’s Naval Namesakes

At least nine naval ships have been christened with names related to the Treasure State, and one of them suffered damage during the attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. There were three ships named Montana, one named Montanan, two named Missoula, and four named Helena. The first USS Montana, launched in 1906, provided escort service during WWI. In 1920 it was rechristened the USS Missoula after Missoula County. A second USS Missoula provided transport service during WWI. Two other ships in the planning stages bore the name Montana, but neither was built.  The USS Montanan, a cargo ship launched in 1913, was sunk by a torpedo during WWI. Three of the four USS Helenas, named for Montana’s capital city, saw wartime action. The first USS Helena was a light gunboat launched in 1896. It saw long service during the Philippine Insurrection and WWI, and was decommissioned in 1932.  The second USS Helena, launched in 1938, took a torpedo at Pearl Harbor in 1941 and returned to service to participate in thirteen major naval engagements. It was sunk at the Battle of Kula Gulf in 1943 by Japanese torpedoes, taking 168 of its 900 crew members with it. It was first naval ship awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for heroic action. The third USS Helena took hits during the Korean War, and as the Seventh Fleet’s flagship, it hosted President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952. This ship served until its decommission in 1972.  Its propeller, anchor, chain, and bell are displayed in Helena’s Anchor Park at the south end of Last Chance Gulch. The fourth USS Helena, still in service, is a nuclear powered submarine.

Ella Knowles Haskell

Ella Knowles faced formidable obstacles in pursuing a career in law. Upon statehood in 1889, a statute prohibited women from passing the bar. After much debate, Montana lawmakers amended the statute, thinking a woman could never pass anyhow. Knowles astounded them and passed with flying colors.

Ella Knowles Haskell, engraving from Progressive Men of the State of Montana, 1902

She became the first woman licensed to practice law in Montana. But acquiring clients was another matter. She tried in vain to convince Helena merchants to hire her as their bill collector. Finally, one merchant challenged her to retrieve all the umbrellas his rich customers had borrowed on rainy days. She returned every one. The merchant paid her two quarters, her first fee; she kept them for the rest of her life. Knowles practiced law until 1892, and then she ran on the Populist ticket for attorney general, the second woman in the nation to run for that office. She didn’t win—likely because women couldn’t vote. But her opponent, Henri Haskell, appointed her assistant attorney general after he won the election. Later they married and then divorced. Knowles practiced law in Butte until she died in 1911. In 1997, Ella Knowles Haskell was inducted into the Capitol’s Gallery of Outstanding Montanans.

From Montana Moments: History on the Go

Not in Our Town

Do you remember this bit of recent history? It happened just eighteen years ago today.

On December 2, 1993, a brick came hurling through 5-year-old Isaac Schnitzer’s bedroom window, landing on his bed in a hailstorm of glass. Isaac was fortunately uninjured. Because his bedroom window displayed a menorah, a symbol of the family’s celebration of Hanukkah, the Schnitzers became a target of religious bigotry and vandalism. Montana’s early settlement history included a large Jewish population. But lack of economic opportunity prompted most second generation Jews to move elsewhere. Butte, Great Falls, Billings, and Helena’s historic Jewish cemeteries recall these pioneers who helped lay Montana’s very cornerstones. But in 1993, the Schnitzers were among the few Jewish families in Billings. Supremacist groups that settled in the Northwest in the 1980s had begun to commit brutal hate crimes against various minorities. Billings suffered desecration of a Jewish cemetery, telephone threats to its Jewish citizens, and swastikas painted on the home of an interracial couple. The Schnitzers were advised to remove the religious symbols from public view. This infringed upon their First Amendment right to religious freedom. News reports left Christians wondering what it would be like if a Christmas tree in the windows of their own homes invited violence. An idea quickly took root. Menorahs began to appear in thousands of homes in Billings, sending a powerful message of community solidarity. Harassment continued, and some non-Jewish citizens suffered vandalism, but gradually the perpetrators withdrew. The next December, 1994, families in Billings again displayed menorahs, reaffirming their commitment to peace and tolerance. This quiet, courageous message spread and came to be known as the “Not in Our Town” movement. It is a message that continues to reverberate.