The Great Falls

The entire two-month journey from the Mandan villages where the Corps of Discovery wintered was easy compared to the portage around the Great Falls of the Missouri. From fifteen miles away Captain Meriwether Lewis, traveling overland with a small advance party on June 13, 1805, saw telltale spray and soon heard “a roaring too tremendious to be mistaken.” Approaching the sound, Lewis saw “spray arise above the plain like a collumn of smoke.”

The Great Falls circa 1901. Stereograph by N. A. Forsyth
Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, ST 001.292

Humbled by the magnificence of the falls, Lewis felt his written description impossibly inadequate. The grueling eighteen-mile portage around the natural wonder, however, was a month-long ordeal with many days spent in preparation and eleven days in transit. Grizzly bears, rattlesnakes, and “muskquetoes” kept the men vigilant while, scorched by the summer sun, they dragged crude wagons filled with supplies across gullies and around ravines. Today the great rock cliffs over which the water tumbled lie exposed, the falls long since harnessed for hydroelectric power. Although the town of Great Falls has grown up around the area and the portage itself is not discernible, the visitor can still locate the route, identified through documentary and cartographic research. Sites include several campsites, the sulfur spring that saved a critically ill Sacagawea, and Giant Springs. The portage, a National Historic Landmark, is under varied ownership and ranges from highly developed to near pristine.

Friday Photo: Columbia Gardens Roller Coaster

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archvies, ST 001.135

Columbia Gardens in Butte boasted one of the nation’s first Ferris wheels as well as this spectacular roller coaster, built in 1906. Photo by N. A. Forsythe, circa 1906-1911.

Friday Photo: High Ore Mine

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, ST 001.144

N.A. Forsyth captured this stereoview of workers coming off shift at Butte's High Ore Mine circa 1909. Click the photo for a bigger version.

P.S. The same photographer snapped this humorous photo of "miners."

Friday Photo: Columbia Gardens

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, ST 001.113

A balloon floats above Butte's Columbia Gardens, circa 1900-1910. N.A. Forsyth took this stereoview along with lots of other photos of Butte. Do you remember the gardens?

P.S. Copper King William A. Clark built the gardens for his miners.

Friday Photo: Grass Dance

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, ST 001.308

N. A. Forsyth called this photo "The Grass Dance of the Blackfeet." He probably snapped it between 1900 and 1911.

Friday Photo: Miner's Union Day

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives

N.A. Forsyth captured this stereograph view of the Miners' Union Day festivities in Butte circa 1910 and called it "A Great Day in Butte, Miners' Union Day."

Friday Photo: Growing Up in Butte

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of hearing UM professor Janet Finn speak about children in Butte in the early 1900s, and she inspired me to share this photo.


N.A. Forsyth, photographer. Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, ST 001.108

The "Young Prospectors" in this c. 1909 photo are digging their own mine. Janet argues that grown-ups braved the dangers of Butte's copper mines so that their children could have a better life. In her words, "Children were, quite simply, Butte's reason to be."

What do you think? You can read more in Janet's book, Mining Childhood: Growing Up in Butte, 1900-1960.

Friday Photo: Speculator Mine

Happy weekend! It's going to be a busy one for me. I'm signing books at Barnes and Noble in Bozeman on Saturday, and that evening I'm leading a ghost tour in Nevada City starting at 6:30. Get in touch with the Montana Heritage Commission if you'd like to join me. In the mean time, here's a stark stereograph of Butte and another ghost story:

There was always work in the mines at Butte. In fact, there was such demand for miners that immigrants who spoke no English, upon arriving at Ellis Island in New York, were herded onto trains bound for Butte, Montana. But it was dangerous work. In the miles of interconnected tunnels, miners worked their shifts. Above ground, soot blocked the sunshine, sulfur choked the air, and cyanide let nothing grow. Butte surely lured her men with promises of the American Dream, then crushed them in her metal, suffocated them in her tunnels, and killed them with her dust.  The steel headframes that loom against the horizon earned their own nickname: gallows frames, or widow makers. They supported the hoists above the mineshafts where waiting cages carried the men deep into the hill.

This stereo view by N.A. Forsyth shows Butte c. 1910
Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, ST 001.100

It’s no surprise that Butte is a haunted place. On June 8, 1917, a carbide lamp at the North Butte Mining Company’s Speculator Mine ignited frayed electrical insulation in the Granite Mountain Shaft. Fire spread, and carbon monoxide and other deadly gasses swept through the tunnels, killing more than 160 men. Some died instantly, but others had time to scrawl poignant goodbye letters to their families, in the darkness, as the oxygen ran out.  Facsimiles of their final words fringe the monument overlooking the mine. The mine reopened in 1940, and for three miners who worked a first shift, it was a chilling experience. Once underground, the men heard the sounds of heavy breathing. And why wouldn’t they? A tragedy like that in the Granite Mountain shaft—sealed for more than twenty years—left an indelible imprint of men in their final hours, deep in the earth, gasping for air as the oxygen ran out.


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?