Montana history

My good friend Jack Puckett turned 98 years old last month. He is such a great storyteller.

About one hundred years ago (Sunday, April 26, 1925 to be exact) Arthur L. Stone, the famed newspaper man and founding father of UM’s journalism school, penned a love letter to a pine tree. “High on the hip of Mount Jumbo stands ‘Sentinel Pine.’ Remote from its kind, this yellow pine overlooks the Hell Gate and the Missoula valley with a view unobstructed.”

It’s Spring! It’s finally arrived! I have the fever! These are the days when one should feel as lighthearted as a Shakespearean quote: “The cuckoo-buds of yellow hue do paint the meadows with delight.”

An editorial in the Missoulian newspaper on January 11, 1894, asserted that President Grover “Cleveland has managed, by willpower, cajolery, and patronage, to absolutely control the Democratic majority.” Still, a personal income tax won the day.

It is the bane of historians and researchers: the centuries-old practice of using initials rather than full names. The system was used by journalists and writers through the mid-20th century - even by radio newscasters like J. Paul Huddleston at KHJ, Los Angeles, in the 1960s.

1947 was a significant year. It was the year of the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan and the Taft-Hartley Act. The transistor was invented, more than a million veterans used the G.I. Bill to attend college, Henry Ford died, a loaf of bread cost 13 cents, and flying saucers were a hot topic. Closer to home, the St. Ignatius Post newspaper advertised a 20-foot cabin cruiser (sleeps four) with a steel hull and overhauled motor for $2,000.

I’d like to extend a personal invitation to readers of this column to sign up for a special University of Montana MOLLI presentation on April 24, 2025. MOLLI is short for Montana Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

Gen. Wilson's name is still well known in Bozeman today, even to newcomers, since a well-traveled city street still bears his name.

Jim Harmon writes, "Today’s column seems more like a “Meanwhile” segment on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert than my usual fodder of old newspaper stories."

Consider this response from a Bitterroot Valley editor to the 1894 presidential election: “I look upon the result of the election as a forerunner of Republican success in the future. I regard it as an endorsement by the people both of the declared policy of the Republican Party and in its ability to do some thing in the line of its policy when in power."