Montana Trivia & Tidbits - Page 5

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

—The Granite Mountain Memorial in Walkerville (pop. 714) commemorates one of the worst mining disasters in American history. More than 160 miners were killed when a fire broke out at the North Butte copper mine on June 8, 1917. The memorial, with interpretive plaques that tell the story surrounding the catastrophe, overlooks the 10,000-foot Highland Mountains, the Continental Divide and remnants of a once booming mining industry.

first appeared: 3/25/2007

—Born a slave in 1832, Mary Fields became the first African-American woman to serve as a U.S. mail carrier. She drove the mail coach in the Cascade County region and never missed a delivery day in 10 years, earning the nickname “Stagecoach Mary.”

first appeared: 3/11/2007

—Nevada City’s Music Hall rings with one of the world’s largest collections of band organs and music machines on public display. The collection includes Wurlitzer band organs, piano-based machines, nickelodeons, violin players and an ornate 90-key military band organ that is 27 feet wide, 12 feet high and 4 feet deep.

first appeared: 2/27/2007

Virginia City (pop. 130) and nearby Nevada City are former gold-mining towns that became ghost towns when the mines played out. In the early 1940s, Charles and Sue Bovey began reviving the two towns by scouring the countryside for historical artifacts and buildings and reconstructing them in Virginia City and Nevada City. The Montana Legislature bought much of the two towns in 1997 to preserve them as tourist attractions.

first appeared: 2/27/2007

—Although Nelson Story did not bring the first cattle herd to Montana, he is credited with launching the state’s cattle industry when, in 1866, he drove a herd of Longhorns from Texas to a valley near Bozeman (pop. 27,509).

first appeared: 2/11/2007

—In August, Alexa Audet, 16, of Townsend (pop. 1,867), won a $13,000 grand prize for her mural against drug abuse. She was one of 660 teens who entered the Paint the State competition, which challenged Montana teenagers to fight methamphetamine abuse by creating public art illustrating the dangers of the drug. Audet painted her anti-drug mural on the Townsend City Pool building, where she was a lifeguard.

first appeared: 1/28/2007

Two mechanical engineering students at Montana State University in Bozeman (pop. 27,509) received second place in a prestigious NASA design competition in September. John Nelsen, a senior from Great Falls (pop. 56,690), and Isaiah Helm, a sophomore from Jordan (pop. 364), designed a system for reducing commercial aircraft noise. After watching jets take off and land at Gallatin Field west of Bozeman, the two determined a landing aircraft is louder than one taking off, so they developed a “speed brake” to help slow the aircraft during landing.

first appeared: 1/14/2007

—The Museum of the Beartooths in Columbus (pop. 1,748) chronicles Stillwater County (pop. 8,195) history from the 1870s to the present and exhibits vintage furniture, historic washing machines and old pharmaceuticals. Also featured is a tribute to Donald J. Ruhl, one of Montana’s seven Medal of Honor recipients, who died on Iwo Jima. A new building displays farm machinery, a forge from a blacksmith shop, a flour sacker from a once thriving flour mill, and a retired 1960s Northern Pacific Railroad caboose.

first appeared: 12/17/2006

—Clay Tryan of Billings became the first cowboy from Montana to win the team roping world title at the 2005 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Tryan and his partner, Patrick Smith of Midland, Texas, won the event with a time of 3.5 seconds.

first appeared: 12/3/2006

—The mysterious story of a stray, dreadlock-haired mutt touched so many people in the Butte (pop. 33,892) area that residents established a foundation in his name. The Auditor, so named because the dog would appear when least expected, roamed the contaminated barrens of the Berkeley Pit federal Superfund site and Montana Resources active mine site for 17 years. Miners adopted him as their mascot and fed and watered him, but the dog shied away from human contact. After he died in 2003, The Auditor Foundation commissioned a granite sculpture memorial in the Butte Plaza Mall as a symbol of the resilient spirit of both The Auditor and Butte.

first appeared: 11/19/2006

—The largest snowflake ever recorded in the United States fell in 1887 at Fort Keogh in Miles City (pop. 8,487), according to Guinness World Records. Rancher Matt Coleman, who described the flake as “larger than milk pans,” measured it at 15 inches wide and 8 inches thick.

first appeared: 11/5/2006

—Want to get married, but neither you nor your betrothed can make it to the ceremony? Not a problem in Montana, the only state to allow double proxy weddings. Both the bride and groom can have stand-ins exchange matrimonial vows. The arrangement is especially convenient for military personnel stationed overseas.

first appeared: 10/22/2006

—Tucked between two snow-covered mountain ranges, Seeley Lake (pop. 1,436) is among western Montana’s premier snowmobiling areas with more than 300 miles of groomed trails.

first appeared: 10/8/2006

Riverside Railyard in Great Falls (pop. 56,690) ranks among the nation’s largest skate parks. Encompassing 27,000 square feet, the park features 5-, 8- and 9-foot concrete bowls with sides that enhance the thrills for skateboarders and in-line skaters.

first appeared: 10/8/2006

Lloyd Harkins’ acreage in Silver Star in Madison County (pop. 6,851) is a treasure chest of mining history. Curious motorists gawk at the humongous iron wheels, ore cars and ore buckets, steam engines, elevator-like cages, piles of heavy gears and massive spools of cable and chain. Visitors can even find a steam shovel that helped dig the Panama Canal. The retired miner salvages the relics as a hobby and has sold semi-truckloads to The Walt Disney Co. for exhibits at EuroDisney in Paris.

first appeared: 9/24/2006

The People's Center in Pablo (pop. 1,814) offers visitors a glimpse of the history and culture of the Kootenai, Salish and Pend d'Oreille tribes on the Flathead Indian Reservation. On display are photographs, artifacts, stone tools and tribal dance outfits.

first appeared: 9/10/2006

When Nicholas Schwaderer, 17, of Superior (pop. 893), learned that his school had old radio equipment in storage and a Federal Communications Commission permit about to expire, he put his interest in broadcasting to work and established an FM radio station at St. Regis High School. The station has become an important source of news and entertainment for residents of St. Regis (pop. 315). As a result, Nicholas was named one of America's top 10 youth volunteers for 2006 and received a Prudential Spirit of Community Award in May.

first appeared: 9/10/2006

The Jefferson Valley Museum, housed in a restored 1914 milking barn in Whitehall (pop. 1,044), depicts the area's rural life, as well as its mining, railroad and agricultural heritage. Visitors can step into "grandma's kitchen" and see "grandpa's tools."

first appeared: 8/27/2006

"From out of the clear blue of the western sky" of Butte (pop. 33,892) came . . . Kirby Grant. That was the familiar opening to TV's popular series Sky King, about an Arizona rancher-pilot who fought bad guys and used his airplane to rescue people in trouble. The series with reruns ran from the early 1950s into the 1960s. Sky King's real name was Kirby Grant Hoon Jr., born in 1911 in Butte. Surprisingly, he started his career at age 12 as a violinist.

first appeared: 8/27/2006

David Lynch, the edgy filmmaker who directed movies such as Mulholland Drive, Dune and The Elephant Man, was born in Missoula (pop. 57,053). TV viewers may know him as the co-executive producer of the offbeat mystery series Twin Peaks, which aired from 1990 to 1991.

first appeared: 8/13/2006

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