Dillon, Montana, USA

Defining Main Street: The Bookstore. There was a time when only big cities had bookstores. Then, shopping malls multiplied their numbers. And then, big-box stores shot onto the scene, and some of them were devoted to books. Recently, Amazon deliveries and digital purchases have come to dominate. Meanwhile, the Main Street book store chugs along. [2020]

Ennis, Montana, USA

Defining Main Street: The Bank. The frontier bank was immortalized by Louis L'Amour: "The bank was opposite the store, and the building next to the store was the express office. A man placed there could cover the door of the bank and the side door as well." All banks needed to be defended, the one in this quote appeared in his novel Son of a Wanted Man. [2003]

Dillon, Montana, USA

Different geography, same adaptation to the frontier. Thousands of miles away from the East Coast (Rocky Mountains), and centuries later in time (1800s), pioneer settlers continued to make single-pen log cabins their starter homes. This one was moved into town from a nearby ranch. Imagine surviving a winter here. Single pen = single room. [2020]

Helena, Montana, USA

In the background: Helena's history. In the foreground: Helena's future. The former: motionless and without life. The latter: high energy and on the move. Yet, the past as portrayed on the wall seems to offer many windows and platforms from which to watch the future take form. [2020]

Helena, Montana, USA

The rules for escaping the Corona virus were not as clear as the rules for checkmating your opponent's king in a chess match. One of the rules we tried to follow, however, was avoiding inside parties in favor of outside frivolities. Here's just one example, complete with masks, in Helena's Last Chance Gulch. [2020]

Elkhorn, Montana, USA

No one his age or driving a new FWD lives in Elkhorn today. He seems to be someone, however, who wants to spend a little time exploring one secluded corner of his home state. (Either that, or he's a ghost who haunts the road to the cemetery!) [2020]

Elkhorn, Montana, USA

The ghost town of Elkhorn is easily segmented into three zones: (1) the surrounding forest, which provided timbers essential to the mines, (2) the mining zone itself, with its mine shafts and tailings, (3) the town proper, which sprawls along a main street and periodically jabs into the mining zone. [2020]

Elkhorn, Montana, USA

Surrounding the town of Elkhorn are mine shafts galore, and the ore bins that serve them. Although the mining era was largely over by 1900, a new mining venture staked out its ambition to re-exploit some of the old mines in 2006. Gold was their target mineral, and its price was on the rise. [2020]

Elkhorn, Montana, USA

The railroad was far more important to Elkhorn than all-weather roads. In fact, the road into town has never been macadamized. Judging from the artifact seen here, though, at least one early 20th century denizen got a car up the mountain to a resting place where its spirit of early automobility co-mingles with the spirit of place. [2020] 

Elkhorn, Montana, USA

The two largest buildings in Elkhorn are Fraternity Hall and Gilliam Hall, perfect examples of frontier architecture from the late 1800s, when the silver, lead, and gold mines gave the mining camp an economic base large enough that it grew into a proper, family-oriented town with a post office of its own. [2020] 

Elkhorn, Montana, USA

With a population little more than 10, Elkhorn is little more than a ghost town. In its heyday, however, it had about 2,500 residents, constituting miners and their families, plus the business owners that supported them. By 1900, the mining era had passed, people were leaving, and buildings eventually began to collapse. [2020] 

Helena, Montana, USA

On this date in 1889, Montana became the 41st state to join the United States of America. The capitol opened in 1902. Lady Liberty stands atop the dome. On the day this picture was taken, the air was charged with smoke from the massive Pacific coast wildfires. [2020]

Helena, Montana, USA

Maybe nobody loves downtown Helena as much as this kid. With him are his two favorite treats: grandpa and ice cream. [2020]

Helena, Montana, USA

Not too many families have a talking horse in their front yard. Could that be Mr. Ed telling us to "pray for those who have experienced Covid19 and/or have lost someone"? Never heard of Mr. Ed? Take a course on the black-and-white 1960s. [2020]

Clancy, Montana, USA

 

You might think of Country Coffee as a private business, but it is also a public service: a filling station of sorts, a place where you can fill up on caffeine before the daily commute to Helena begins. [2020]

Dillon, Montana, USA

 

It is time to elect a President who will make us proud to be Americans again. The one we have now is an embarrassment. He lies, humiliates, bullies, blabs, and bullshits. That became even clearer after this week's painful-to-watch debate. Please: Make America Proud Again. Elect Democrats up and down the ticket. [2020]

Helena, Montana, USA

Helena's old downtown stretches along Last Chance Gulch, the very stream where gold was discovered in 1864. The initial surge of wealth was enormous, and it took only eleven years for the mining camp to become Montana's capital. [2020]

Baker, Montana, USA

Montana's state map – the outline alone – says it all: mountains and natural boundaries in the west vs. plains and geometric boundaries in the east. Don't be confused, though. Even when you are here on the Great Plains, you are still 3000 feet above sea level. Mountainous topography doesn't have a monopoly on high elevation. [2019]

Baker, Montana, USA

Although nature has provided an exclamation point or two, few punctuation marks interrupt the cultural flatscapes that are the Great Plains. Here is one that does, however. Think of it as a comma used to break-up the run-on sentences which make up the Plains. Pumpjacks as commas? They invite only a short pause, not a full stop, or an appreciative exclamation. [2019]

Alzada, Montana, USA

The sign you can't read says "Cheap Drinks Lousy Food." With a motto like that, the Stoneville Saloon might compete well in the suburbs of any American city, all of which feature bars with Expensive Drinks Lousy Food. [2019]