Missoula

I see there’s a chance of rain in the forecast, so that calls for a big shout out to Mary Anderson, inventor (albeit uncredited) of the windshield wiper.

Today, I’m wrapping up a two-part series on K. Ross Toole. If you didn’t read last week’s column, it might be helpful to review it before enjoying part two, today. Ross Toole was deeply concerned about corporate greed vs. “the will of the people to protect the land they love.”

Missoula fire crews are battling a grass fire within city limits.

I see the Missoula City Council has approved selling the so-called “Riverfront Triangle” property to the development group, Averill Hospitality. It would be nice to finally see something happen at the old Fox Theater site - vacant since the 1980s.

Missoula's open space, its softball fields, broomball memories and youth camps, can all trace their roots to Gaukler's tenure at the helm of one of the city's biggest and most beloved departments.

It’s amazing how much you can discover about a community from a single page of a local newspaper. For example, I offer up the “local” page of the July 3rd Missoulian from 1896.

The loss of life and property, and the damage to natural resources caused by the Big Burn did help save the U.S. Forest Service. Until that time, many detractors in Washington D.C. had called for cancellation of the "experiment." The debate over how best to prevent these summertime natural disasters, however, has continued for more than 100 years, and counting

By Jim Harmon Now and then I find myself a brick short of a wagon load, a few keys shy of a piano, in the way of fodder for this column. I have a lot of old newspaper clippings, but none really worthy of a full story. So today I share some of those short, disconnected clippings in hopes you’ll find them interesting, while I clear my attic of clutter. T...

I notice the Montana Historical Society has put together a new photo-mechanical postcard collection of Montana places. It’s terrific!

What was it like, living in western Montana in its earliest days? That’s been the essence of my stories over the last decade. Sure, I do make occasional references to the kind of history you would find in a textbook, but mostly I’m interested in the people and their way of life, the good and the bad. So, let’s jump on the way-back train.