Montana Historian

08/31/2024

I've been thinking. If you were driving down the road and got pulled over in certain parts of the country and were asked to provide proof of citizenship, how would you do it? From what I've seen, driver license or Social Security card are not acceptable. You would need your birth certificate or passport. Even an old passport will do. But of course you don't carry those to go to the store. Oh, and copies or hospital generated birth certificate's are not acceptable. I'm also sure lots of people have never had a passport.
Of course that would never happen to you. Right?

08/24/2024

I bet you are a little fed up with politics and politicians with tons of money along with ranches and farms of their own telling you what to do. Well, here is a little story about when we rented a little blue trailer house at the foot of the Crazies and scratched out a living because of decent people.

Its like the Scooby Doo Mysteries only without a van and those meddlesome kids.

08/17/2024

Not as foggy as I was which can only mean its story time!

Be sure to bring sunscreen, mosquito repellent, a hat, long sleeve shirts, sunglasses and drink lots of water and that's just for the dog!

06/21/2024

Are we going to have a memorial service for irony or just pretend it never really existed?

06/14/2024

If you want to drink raw milk go ahead but don't use the image of a steer on your promotional t-shirts. Its a touch ignorant.
Next week boys and girls I will talk about chickens, roosters and eggs and where baby chicks come from. From previous experience I can assure you hilarity will abound.

05/26/2024

https://johnjoconnell.substack.com/p/mud-season
Here is one for all you fans of rainy days, mud and those quicksand scenes in Tarzan movies.

At least it wasn't snowing.

05/06/2024

https://open.substack.com/pub/johnjoconnell/p/on-with-the-show?r=1avnb2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Hi Everyone. Sorry this is late but I had a bit of a reversal with my back and leg nerve pain. I was watching television with the dogs, they love duck hunting shows, when I became wracked with pain that was equal to the levels I was at back in March. To say I’m disappointed would be an understatem...

04/28/2024

Back in business!

Yes, I'm back

04/08/2024

I just don't understand why the government cant reschedule the eclipse for those who have cloudy skies. It means so much to them.

04/07/2024

E. C. Teddy Blue Abbott witnessed the last years of the open range, working some of the largest Texas-to-Montana cattle drives of the 1880s. His 1939 memoir, “We Pointed Them North,” is an authentic coming-of-age story of a cowpuncher and Montana alike. Abbott was able to review and approve the book proofs and even received four advance copies in late March. Unfortunately, he didn’t see his book in general circulation because he died suddenly following a short illness on April 7, 1939. If you want to know more, Vic Reiman gave a presentation on Teddy Blue Abbott, available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1johQKi2En4 and he also wrote an article for the magazine that was published in Summer 2018.
[MTHS , Helena, ca. 1930s, 940-049]

03/30/2024

03/24/2024

Like and subscribe! You know you want to. Besides, I need the encouragement.

or, What the Heck Is That Thing?

03/17/2024

We still laugh about the day Molly came home with us.

Its not sad. Its one of my funniest stories about Molly.

03/09/2024

I wrote this one on muscle relaxers. What could possibly go wrong?

https://johnjoconnell.substack.com/p/a-tale-of-two-clinics

Well, technically four clinics.

03/02/2024

https://open.substack.com/pub/johnjoconnell/p/another-day-another-cookie?r=1avnb2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
We could use some more of these kinds of storms this winter!

Authors note: I may have a cookie addiction

02/25/2024

If you enjoy this audio clip you can click on the link and read the whole story. https://johnjoconnell.substack.com/p/whats-in-a-name

02/18/2024

I cant believe I had forgotten about this horse.

No. Not me.

01/26/2024

https://www.hcn.org/articles/indigenous-affairs-politics-montanas-anti-indigenous-politics-arent-going-away

The now-dead proposal to ‘investigate’ reservations was neither the beginning or the end of combative attitudes towards tribal nations in the state.

01/20/2024

Cutest thing you will see today.

01/08/2024

01/07/2024

Winter was a perilous time for the Steamboats that plied the Upper Missouri River to Fort Benton. The Steamboats were taken as far down the river as possible, with the hope that they would be safe from the ravages of the ice. This photo of the Helena, caught in ice was taken in Yankton, South Dakota. The Helena survived this ice crush and served several more years before it was was snagged and destroyed at Bonhomme Island, Missouri, Oct. 23, 1891. The Helena was owned by T.C. Power and Brothers, J.W. Knight, and John C. Barr. She made over 50 trips to Montana between 1878 and 1891.

12/24/2023

A Canine Christmas Carol! Read, Like and Share. You might be moved to subscribe for free or even pay for one and keep me from being like Tiny Tim.

A Canine Carol

11/29/2023

Future movie star Gary Cooper (right) is seen here with friends on the lawn in front of Gallatin County High School in Bozeman, circa 1922. Cooper grew up on a ranch on the Missouri River north of Helena, Montana and graduated from Gallatin County High School in 1922. To learn more about Cooper, and countless others, visit the Gallatin History Museum!

Please consider supporting the Gallatin History Museum this Giving Tuesday, so that we can continue to preserve and share Gallatin County's unique history. The museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and is not funded by tax dollars. We are asking for your help to keep Gallatin County's history alive so we can continue our legacy and provide school students, residents, and visitors with the history of our beautiful corner of Montana. Thank you for your support this Giving Tuesday!

https://www.gallatinhistorymuseum.org/take-action