Montana Trivia & Tidbits - Page 3

Looking for Montana trivia? Try our list Montana little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

—The Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers are flowing freely again, following the demolition of the 100-year-old Milltown Dam near Missoula (pop. 57,053). The dam, which spanned the confluence of the two rivers, was built to power a lumber mill that provided timber for local copper mines.

first appeared: 8/10/2008

—Researchers at the University of Montana in Missoula (pop. 57,053) have developed a “howlbox,” a solar-powered electronic device that broadcasts howls that prompt wolves to respond. The device records the responses, which are analyzed to determine wolf populations. The system is less invasive and less expensive than trapping and radio collaring, researchers say.

first appeared: 7/27/2008

Researchers at Montana State University in Bozeman (pop. 27,509) are part of a scientific team that has discovered airborne bacteria that could be used to produce rain in drought-ravaged regions of the world. The “precipitation bacteria” encourage ice crystals to form around them and the crystals then shower rain below.

first appeared: 7/27/2008

—The sentence, “My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants,” won the National Geographic Children’s Books planetary mnemonic contest for Maryn Smith, a fourth-grader from Great Falls (pop. 56,690), in February. The sentence is a memory device that can be used to remember the eight planets and three dwarf planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Eris. Ceres, Pluto and Eris are dwarf planets.

first appeared: 7/13/2008

Singer and songwriter Lisa Loeb is recording a song with the winning sentence. During World War II, Camp Rimini in Lewis and Clark County (pop. 55,716) served as a War Dog Training and Reception Center, where sled and pack dogs were trained for possible military duties in Europe. The training center, near Helena (pop. 25,780), was closed in 1944.

first appeared: 7/13/2008

—Stephen Reeves, who was born in 1926 in Glasgow (pop. 3,253), turned his titles as Mr. America in 1947 and Mr. Universe in 1950 into an acting career with the 1950s blockbuster Hercules films. He died in Escondido, Calif., in 2000.

first appeared: 6/29/2008

Ringing Rocks, a pile of boulders located 18 miles east of Butte (pop. 33,892), sounds a chime when lightly tapped with a hammer. Exactly why the rocks ring is a mystery, but some believe it’s a result of the igneous rocks’ composition and the way they eroded.

first appeared: 6/29/2008

—The D.J. and Frances Maclay Ranch, homesteaded in 1880, is the only property between Missoula (pop. 57,053) and Hamilton (pop. 3,705) that spans the entire Bitterroot Valley, providing a corridor for wildlife between the Bitterroot and Sapphire mountains. The 3,082-acre ranch was sold last year and renamed the Sapphire Ranch.

first appeared: 6/15/2008

—The Bitterroot National Forest, headquartered in Hamilton (pop. 3,705), and the state have been asked to provide the Christmas tree to decorate the nation’s capitol in December. The tradition of asking a national forest to provide the Capitol Christmas Tree, also known as the “People’s Tree,” dates to 1970. Located about 25 miles south of Havre (pop. 9,621),

first appeared: 6/1/2008

Rocky Boy Reservation is the state’s smallest American Indian reservation, encompassing some 112,000 acres of tribal-owned land. Established in 1916 for the Chippewa Cree tribe, Rocky Boy also is the state’s youngest reservation. Communities on the reservation include Box Elder (pop. 794), Duck Creek and Haystack.

first appeared: 6/1/2008

—The Fishtail General Store in Stillwater County (pop. 8,195) has changed hands several times since it opened in 1900, but the business has remained in the same location and is believed to be the oldest continuously open general store in the state.

first appeared: 5/18/2008

—Eric Bergoust, known as the most successful aerial skier in U.S. history, was inducted into the U.S. National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame last year. Bergoust, of Missoula (pop. 57,053), is a four-time Olympian and retired from the sport in 2006.

first appeared: 5/4/2008

The town of Two Dot, built in 1900, gets its name from a local cattleman, “Two Dot” Wilson, who earned his nickname from his unusual cattle brand: a large dot on the shoulder and another on the thigh. The brand was a way to deter cattle thieves.

first appeared: 5/4/2008

—Granrud’s Lefse Shack in Opheim (pop. 111) has been rolling out lefse, a Norwegian flatbread, since 1977. Lefse, made with potatoes and flour, is sold nationwide and featured at Norsk Hostfest, a Scandinavian festival, in Minot, N.D.

first appeared: 3/9/2008

—Researchers at Montana State University in Bozeman (pop. 27,509) have found a new bacteria species in Octopus and Mushroom springs, and in Green Finger Pool of Yellowstone National Park. The bacterium, candidatus chloracidobacterium thermophilium, uses photosynthesis to produce energy from sunlight and could help researchers increase the production of biofuels such as ethanol.

first appeared: 2/24/2008

—Steve Running, an ecology and forestry professor at the University of Montana in Missoula (pop. 57,053), was the lead author of the North American chapter in a climate change report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panel of scientists worldwide shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore.

first appeared: 2/10/2008

––A lifelong pacifist, Jeannette Rankin, who in 1916 became the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress, cast the sole congressional vote, 388 to 1, against the U.S. declaration of war on Japan in 1941 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. She was born near Missoula in 1880.

first appeared: 1/27/2008

—Born in 1902 in Red Lodge (pop. 2,177), Alice Greenough is known as the first rodeo queen. She lassoed three national rodeo titles in the 1930s and 1940s, was the first inductee into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Texas in 1975, and was inducted in 1983 into the Rodeo Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. She died in 1995 at age 93.

first appeared: 1/13/2008

Carmen Espinoza, a sixth-grade teacher at Arlee (pop. 602) Elementary School, won the 2007 American Star of Teaching Award for Montana. The award is granted as part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act and one teacher from each state is selected each year.

first appeared: 1/13/2008

—Truman Everts’ harrowing 1870 account of being lost for 37 days in what became Yellowstone National Park gained national notoriety and even led to a job offer: first superintendent of the new park in 1872, an offer he declined. Nearsighted and “without experience in the wild,” Everts became separated from the Washburn Expedition while exploring the region, lost his glasses and his horse, but survived by eating roots of thistles, which today are called Everts thistle.

first appeared: 12/30/2007

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