Harmon’s Histories: 100 years ago, Missoula was dapper, dry and ready to fight flies

Jim Harmon

As we approach the end of April, let’s check in on what life was like 100 years ago, based on newspapers of the era – specifically through the advertising of the day.

I was surprised to learn that April was actually the time to act, if I wished to prevent those pesky house flies of late summer!

The advertisement by the Missoula Drug Company in the April 29, 1926 Missoula Sentinel newspaper declared, “Figures don’t lie, but liars figure. Quite so, and it would keep a lot of liars figuring a long time to compute the number of August flies you ward off when you kill a pair in April.”

To do the job properly, they recommended long-handled fly swatters – the “kind that will reach the most elusive fly,” at the value price of 15 cents.

Then there was “El Vampiro,” the fly powder “in a handy bellows box,” in either the 10¢ or 20¢ size box.

Vampiro? I’m not sure I want to know what was in that powder. Well, actually I did, so I looked it up. Turns out – nothing bad at all.

The active ingredient was Pyrethrum, a natural insecticide made from dried, ground up Chrysanthemum flower heads. Imagine that – an all-natural fly powder – developed a century before the modern “all natural” culture of today.

Interestingly, similar products are still in use today. Oregon State University says, “Currently, pyrethrins are found in over 2,000 registered pesticide products. Many of these are used in and around buildings and on crops and ornamental plants.”

Of course, life 100 years ago was also quite different. Want a beer or cocktail? Forget about it! America was DRY. Prohibition was the law of the land.

But you could still go to the Stone-Ordean-Wells company in Missoula to buy Anheuser-Busch’s “Budweiser Real Hop Malt Syrup,” in a 2 ½ pound can.

Of course, this syrup was sold solely as a “food ingredient” for use on your morning flapjacks. And you would need at least 2 ½ pounds of it for a hungry family!

More likely the syrup was used for another purpose, as reflected in a poem written by a member of the New York state Rotary Club during prohibition.

“Mother’s in the kitchen Washing out the jugs; Sister’s in the pantry Bottling the suds; Father’s in the cellar Mixing up the hops; Johnny’s on the front porch Watching for the cops.”

Then there was the clothing. Oh, the clothing of the twenties! Hats were a must, for both men and women.

I’m tiring of all this shopping. Time for a break at the Sentinel Creamery.

See you next week!