November 2019
Kelly Hartman
When one digs back into the history of the “Wild West,” one too often finds that culture predominated and most places were not as “wild” as we would probably hope to find. Even Cooke City, located at the Northeast Entrance of…
October 2019
It was a somber winter Sunday in the burgeoning town of Bozeman. The date was February 2, 1873, and a small procession accompanied a tiny coffin along the muddy streets toward the graveyard on the hill.
If not for a crowd gathering outside…
October 2019
Kelly Hartman
There are many wonderful stories to be told with items at the Gallatin History Museum. For years now, two items in particular have been on display in the old Jailer’s Office/Gallows Room: a wooden potato masher identified as a murder weapon by…
September 2019
Gallatin County first organized horse races in the 1870s. In November 1871, the Bozeman Avant-Courier announced four days of racing. By 1878, the Eastern Montana Agricultural and Mechanical Association purchased land, possibly the site of the…
August 2019
Chris Marie Forest
My great-great-grandparents, Christopher Hilliard Waterman and Catherine Boyle Waterman, were two of the founding pioneers of Bozeman, Montana. Their amazing pioneer stories were preserved and told to their children and grandchildren. Much of the…
July 2019
Bozeman’s Boxing Brawl 1960 National Boxing Association Middleweight Championship
Cindy Shearer
On April 20, 1960, Bozeman Montana made national news when a young MSU Fieldhouse hosted what would later make headlines around the world when the National Boxing Association Middleweight Championship title match between Champion Gene Fullmer and…
July 2019
Montana Grant
Fish have always been abundant in Yellowstone Park. The watersheds have been healthy and perfect habitats for trout. Yellowstone Lake alone is 136 square miles of trout habitat. The average depth is 139 feet and as deep as 390 feet. That’s a…
June 2019
Kelly Hartman
On the morning of December 22, 1911, all were surprised to find that six prisoners had escaped from the brand new $35,000 jail, which had been believed to be “escape proof.” The individual cells holding the prisoners were not locked…
May 2019
The History of Quin Blackburn
Kelly Hartman
In August of 1923, three college students decided to climb the Grand Teton on a whim. Quin Blackburn, the leader of the party, would go on to lead the Byrd Antarctic Expedition in 1934. The other two, Andy DePirro and David DeLap were nearly lost…
April 2019
Cindy Shearer
To fully appreciate the new northside development now referred to as the Bozeman Cannery District, one needs to learn about the role that the pea industry played in the economic development of the Gallatin Valley in the early 1900s.
In 1911…