Friday Photo: Elk-tooth Dresses

Happy Friday! Our celebration of Women's History Month ends today, but remember that you can look back any time at the posts labeled "women."

From Montana Views. Original in Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, ST 001.338

These young Crow women modeled their elk-tooth dresses circa 1906-1908. Elk-tooth dresses may be embellished with hundreds of teeth and are treasured by their owners. The photo was taken by N. A. Forsyth.

P.S. On the topic of fashion history, remember this fancy outfit? Or these bathing costumes?

Mother Berry

One of Montana’s most colorful characters was a woman known as Mother Berry. Her real name was Elizabeth Williams Berry, but Mother suited her just fine. Born in Australia in 1854, the feisty Elizabeth began a long career racing horses at age six. She became a jockey of great renown, racing all over the world under the name Jack Williams. Women jockeys were rare back then, and she disguised herself by wearing racing silks, a derby hat, and smoking cigars. At the age of fifty-four, Elizabeth married veterinarian Dr. J. B. Berry, and they eventually moved to Helena. Here Dr. Berry had charge of the Kessler Brewery horses and the show stock of wealthy Yellowstone Park concessionaire Harry Child. After Dr. Berry died in 1927, Mother continued to own racehorses and made her home in a cottage near the fairgrounds at the back of the Lewis and Clark County Racetrack. In 1937, fire claimed her home and the last of the oldest stables built before 1900. Her own prize thoroughbred, Rosa Lockwood, was saved from the fire as were ten other valuable racehorses. Mother once told a reporter that she didn’t like to have women around her because she was afraid she would say something bad. She learned to cuss from the jockeys she hung around with and she was good at it too. When she turned one hundred, Mother said “I’m not fit for the chopping block yet.” She wasn’t. When Mother turned 113, she was still doing all her own housework and cooking. She died in 1969, a month short of her 115th birthday.

Friday Photo: Evelyn Cameron

In celebration of Women's History Month, here's a famous photo of a famous Montanan.


From Montana Views. Original in Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 90-87.273


Evelyn Cameron posed on her horse, Jim, for this self portrait. Cameron is known for the wonderful photos she took documenting ranch and homestead life in eastern Montana around the turn of the century. I'm hoping to follow her lead and spend some time on horseback this weekend. I intend to stay seated, though.

P.S. Check out Cameron's album of personal photos, including pictures of herself as a young lady in England and on her honeymoon in Montana with her husband Ewen.
P.P.S. Remember these daring riders?

Maggie Hathaway

Acclaimed for translating ethics into action, Maggie Hathaway blazed a long and noteworthy trail as one of the first two women elected to the Montana Legislature in 1917. Hathaway campaigned vigorously for woman suffrage before the 1914 election, traveling just as many thousands of miles as Jeannette Rankin. She did the same for Prohibition in 1916, speaking in every neighborhood in Ravalli County. During her two legislative terms, Hathaway’s fellow male legislators affectionately called her “Mrs. Has-Her-Way.” Hathaway drafted the Montana’s Mother’s Pension Bill, allowing women compensation when their spouses failed to support their children. She fought to create the Child Welfare Division and made the impassioned speech that won the eight-hour workday for women. In 1918, with nearly 10 percent of Montana’s men serving in World War I, Hathaway spoke on behalf of grain farmers, offering women’s services to harvest their crops. She employed women only on her “manless” ranch so more men could join the armed services.

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives

She gathered apples as well as ballots, hitched up her own plow, and turned furrows as straight as any man. A male legislator said of the diminutive redhead, “She is the biggest man in the House.” Hathaway served three terms in the legislature and, like her colleague Emma Ingalls, earned the respect of, and courtesy from, her male colleagues.

From Montana Moments: History on the Go

Emma Ingalls

The newspaper Emma Ingalls and her husband founded, the Kalispell Inter Lake, allowed her to editorialize for civic reform. A rival editor said she was a “clever and interesting writer who occasionally wielded a caustic pen.” Ingalls was also a pioneer homesteader, the first to irrigate in the Flathead Valley, and managed by herself when her husband’s health failed. One of the first two women elected to the Montana Legislature in 1917, Ingalls introduced the national suffrage amendment when it came before the Montana House for ratification.

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives

Returning for a second term, Ingalls sponsored the bill establishing Mountain View Vocational School for Girls. Until that time, courts remanded both boys and girls to the state reform school at Miles City. Separation of boys and girls was an important step in the care of delinquent juveniles. Ingalls was the first woman to work with the Bureau of Child and Animal Protection, chairing the northwest district under Governor Joseph Dixon. Despite her accomplishments, Ingalls believed her life was unremarkable. “God put me on his anvil and hammered me into shape,” she once said. “The things that seemed so hard to bear at the time have proven to be the stepping stones to a larger, richer life.”

From Montana Moments: History on the Go

Friday Photo: Jeannette Rankin

Celebration of Women's History Month continues...


Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 88-29

This Missoula women's basketball game includes player Jeannette Rankin (third player from left), who later represented Montana in the U.S. Congress. Click the photo for a bigger version.

P.S. Remember these athletes?

Edith Colby’s Mistake

Aspiring journalist Edith Colby came to Thompson Falls from Spokane in 1916 and took a job with the democratic Independent-Enterprise. Edith and others wrote some personal attacks on A. C. Thomas, chairman of the Republican County Central Committee, published in the paper. She and Thomas traded verbal insults and Thomas accused Edith of loose morals. Edith was enraged and stole a loaded revolver, which she showed to her boss, attorney A. S. Ainsworth, and her editor, John Manire. Manire showed her how to use the weapon and suggested that shooting Thomas would be good for the newspaper. The two men later testified that they had no idea Edith would actually pull the trigger. But she did. Edith met Thomas on the street and shot him three times. The coroner’s inquest found that both Ainsworth and Manire shared the blame with Edith. All three were arrested. Burton K. Wheeler of Butte, later a well-known political figure, was the relentless special prosecutor. However, the court dropped all charges against Ainsworth, and the judge directed the jury to find Manire not guilty. Edith pled not guilty by reason of insanity, and her mother testified that mental illness ran in the family.

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 85-91 5276

Newspapers across the Northwest covered the spectacular murder trial. Edith’s dramatic lapses into unconsciousness earned her no sympathy. Found guilty, she received ten to twelve years at Deer Lodge. Edith’s attorneys appealed, claiming that Wheeler maligned Edith Colby’s character during the trial and made public remarks that affected the verdict. The Supreme Court of Montana denied a new trial. Edith Colby served only two years at Deer Lodge, returned to newspaper work, and died in California in 1942.

P.S. Yesterday I realized that this blog's default settings were preventing some people from commenting. I adjusted the settings, so now anyone should be able to leave comments, regardless of whether or not you have a blogger account. Shoot me an email if it still gives you trouble!

Trail of Destruction

On this day in 1854, Irish nobleman Sir George Gore arrived in St. Louis to prepare for a hunting trip of astonishing destruction. An Oxford educated scholar and avid hunter, Sir George had thrilled to tales of the American west and organized a three-year hunting trip. His party soon set out from Westport, Missouri, under sanction of the American Fur Trading Company; famed mountain man Jim Bridger was guide. The caravan included 110 horses, 20 yoke of oxen, 50 hunting hounds, and 28 vehicles, 16 of them carrying Sir George’s luggage. When the party camped, a large green and white striped canvas wall tent provided Sir George’s shelter. French carpet, heating stoves, a brass bedstead, a steel bathtub, an oak dining set, and a commode with a fur-lined seat and removable pot promised Sir George all the comforts. For two years he passed the evenings enjoying sumptuous banquets, fine wine, and literary discussions with Bridger. By day Sir George pursued game on his gray thoroughbred named Steel Trap. Aside from trophy heads, he rarely retrieved the meat, instead leaving it to spoil. After he devastated the Yellowstone valley in 1856, Crow estimates of his terrible waste there included 105 bears, more than 2,000 bison, and 1,600 elk and deer. Sir George's reputation preceded him, however. In the Black Hills, en route to St. Louis, his party fell prey to a band of Sioux. Stripped naked and forced to abandon their goods, the arrogant hunter and his party experienced survival for real. During his stay in Montana, Sir George left one lasting legacy. He named the Yellowstone’s local tributary “Glendive” from which the town, some twenty-five years later, took its name.

Friday Photo

Happy Friday! I'm gearing up to give a talk about “Women Who Went Astray”—and who served time in Deer Lodge. Today's photo is a sneak peek. The talk will be Wednesday at 12:00 at the Historical Society. $5 admission. More details on the Society's event calendar here or call Katie at 444-9553.


From Montana The Magazine of Western History. Original from Powell County Museum & Arts Foundation

Mattie Lee was convicted of murder in 1904 in the death of a man she shot point-blank in a Philipsburg saloon over a small debt she claimed he owed. Her counsel was not able to convince the jury that she was insane and shouldn't be imprisoned.

Extra! Extra! Laugh Kills Lonesome

I just handed the manuscript of my next book to my editor. It's a collection of the radio scripts I've been writing for "History on the Go," some of which have appeared on this blog (like this post about the Placer Hotel). I figured that since the book won't be on shelves until August, you all deserve a sneak peek. Here's the first entry of More Montana Moments:

Artist C. M. Russell carefully chose the subjects of his art based on personal experience. He, more than any other western artist, painted what he knew with great longing and nostalgia for the cowboy way of life he lived and loved so well. In 1925, a year before his death, Russell painted Laugh Kills Lonesome, a tribute to this vanishing cowboy lifestyle. He depicts an evening campfire scene, one that he probably recalled from his youth. He painted himself into the picture as an old cowpoke stopping by the warm and friendly circle for a cup of coffee and a hearty laugh at the end of a long day in the saddle. The title has been hailed as fine as the painting and several contemporary artists have used it and further interpreted Russell’s famous scene. One of these is poet Mike Logan. Another is musician-songwriter Michael Nesmith of the 1960s pop rock group The Monkees who went on to a stellar career as a songwriter and musician. His insightful, lyrical song “Laugh Kills Lonesome” plays upon the camaraderie and the universal power of humor. His lyrics tell the story that Russell meant to convey. The lyrics read in part:
  
All around the campfire stood seven dusty men
The cook was drinking applejack, the cattle were all penned
Someone must have cracked a wise one because the men began to grin
Their smiles shot out like sunbeams and made the night give in
Because
Laugh kills lonesome every single time
That's why Charlie Russell painted it
And why it looks so fine
Laugh kills lonesome every single time. 

And Nesmith’s lyrics still ring as true as the subject of Russell’s painting.


Montana Historical Society Museum Collection x1955.01.01. Click on the image for a big version.