Facts & Science

Name: Historic Tales of Flathead Lake
Brand: Butch Larcombe
SKU: 9781467154741
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

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Historic Tales of Flathead Lake

Butch Larcombe

$24.99

Fire Lookouts of Glacier National Park

Marcus Daly's Montana Empires

Brenda Wahler

$24.99

The Anaconda Copper Mining Company of Great Falls

Megan Sanford

$24.99

Butch Larcombe

Historic Tales of Flathead Lake

9781467154741

$24.99

When asked about the greatest accomplishment of his 34-year congressional career, Mike Mansfield, one of America’s revered political figures, offered a simple reply— “Saving Flathead Lake.”

The largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River has centuries of oral and written history. Much like the towns dotting the shore, even the islands of Flathead Lake, such as Wild Horse Island and Melita Island, harbor rich histories. Expectedly, contentious battles over projects arose, including the construction of the Kerr Dam and “The Flathead Lake Fight of 1943.” From the sinking of the Big Fork to the still visible remains of the Helena, the lake has been site to numerous nautical disasters. And unexplained plane crashes, creatures and occurrences have confounded locals throughout the years. Author Butch Larcombe presents factual, well-researched stories that paint a picture of the lake’s colorful people, historic events and lingering mysteries.

David R. Butler

Fire Lookouts of Glacier National Park

9781467131148

$24.99

The first fire lookouts in the Glacier National Park region were simply high points atop mountain peaks with unimpeded views of the surrounding terrain. Widespread fires in the 1910s and 1920s led to the construction of more permanent lookouts, first as wooden pole structures and subsequently as a variety of one- and two-story cabin designs. Cooperating lookouts in Glacier Park, the Flathead National Forest, and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation provided coverage of forests throughout Glacier National Park. Beginning in the 1950s, many of the lookouts were decommissioned and eventually destroyed. This volume tells the story of the rise and fall of the extensive fire lookout network that protected Glacier National Park during times of high fire danger, including lookouts still operating today.

Ryan Wade Newhouse

Brewing in Montana

9781467109086

$23.99

Montana can trace its brewing roots back more than 150 years to when a barrel of beer was brewed in Virginia City and carried to the town saloon. Since then, Montana has seen breweries large and small erupt along cattle trails and at train stations and riverside trading posts. Some of the brewers and breweries set in Montana were the foundations of future, national-brand breweries, having unique ties to Olympia Brewing and Pabst Brewing Company. And like many other states across the country, Montana was not immune to Prohibition, though not every brewer laid down without a fight. The breweries in the Big Sky state showed resilience when needed, but more so, they were reflections of the diverse communities and economies the state fostered. Fortunately, when Montana’s mines began to dry up, agriculture took over, and even in the early 20th century, state officials documented in the Seventh Annual Report 1900–1901 that Montana could be “one the chief beer producing states in the nation” because of the amount of barley growing on the land.

Brenda Wahler

Marcus Daly's Montana Empires

9781467148252

$24.99

“Prince of the American Turf and Mining King of the World”—P.A. O’Farrell

With business savvy honed in the West’s rowdy mining camps, Marcus Daly rose from poor Irish immigrant to Gilded Age magnate. From the mines of Butte, Montana, to America’s largest smelter in a town he also named Anaconda, Daly’s Anaconda Copper Company made a fortune. He used it to build his dream—a Bitterroot Valley ranch and a horse racing empire that stretched from California to New York. Meanwhile, his gregarious and generous façade hid a sly manipulator, one locked in a battle for political dominance with rival copper king W.A. Clark.

With detailed research and more than one hundred photographs, historian Brenda Wahler peels back the layers of a complex industrialist, revealing his historic influence and legacy.

Megan Sanford

The Anaconda Copper Mining Company of Great Falls

9781467163330

$24.99

Along the north bank of the Missouri River, in Great Falls, Montana, there was once an industrial complex: the Great Falls Reduction Department of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. From 1892 to 1982, it was a definitive silhouette on the skyline, used as a sign that travelers were close to home.

At its peak, one-third of the world’s copper was smelted, refined, and molded here for direct consumption in line with the Anaconda Copper Mining Company’s slogan, “From Mine to Consumer.” Today, its existence has been wiped from the landscape, leaving a Superfund site that will take several decades to restore. Though the buildings, machinery, and workers are now gone, the memory is still imprinted heavily on the community.

The archives and operations manager of The History Museum & Research Center/Cascade County Historical Society, Megan Sanford, has created a specialized pictorial tour of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company Collection. Having collected objects, photographs, testimonies, and memories over the last half century, The History Museum & Research Center stewards the story of the Great Falls Reduction Department Plant and endeavors to share the tales of its workers and the work they did for the world.