Montana Books

This Book is great, a fun read, if you want to know about life in Montana read it!It has hardships but wrote in a funny way, to keep you smiling. makes you appreciate what you have. Loved it.......

I'm usually not so fond of "Indian myths" and similar collections, as they are often written in a stilted language or are poorly translated. This book is a wonderful exception. Schultz writes it as a series of diary entries as his Blackfoot friends tell stories in the lodge or around the fire at the end of the day. He has managed to keep the compelling style of his original material, told by talented story tellers.

Schultz was born to a wealthy family in upstate New York in 1859, but his wanderlust took him west. He married a Blackfoot woman and stayed with the tribe for several decades until fleeing to California after a legal run-in with Montana game wardens. From the evidence in this book, he was accepted as a tribal member, and he always refers to the Blackfoot as "his people," while whites were not.

The stories run the gamut from tribal history to legend and myth. Most sound as if they are embellished stories of real events. Collectively they convey something of Blackfoot culture, daily life, and beliefs.

Underneath the stories lies a deep sadness. The Blackfoot tribe has lost two-thirds to three-fourths of its members. Though the tribe still hunts there surreptitiously, Glacier National Park has become a tourist destination instead of tribal hunting grounds. The old ways are dying with the storytellers.

In Bound For Montana: Diaries From The Bozeman Trail, western historian Susan Badger Doyle has compiled and annotated diaries and journals kept by men and women who traveled through the American west on the Bozeman Trail. The Bozeman Trail was a route from the Platte River Road to the goldfields of Montana; its experience through the eyes of seven different people, ranging from a new bride traveling with her husband to a prospector in search of wealth to a Civil War veteran, is all recounted in the travellers' own words. A fascinating primary source, as useful for historians and period piece writers as it is entertaining to lay readers.

The message of hope conveyed by the sensitive ethnic illustrations make this work poignant not only to the members of the American Indian culture but also to readers of many ethnic backgrounds. While the colors and tones strike an immediate association with the unique southwestern colors of that landscape, the universal message delivers an identifiable sentiment to persons from many cultures. The symbolism depicted within the illustrations provoke thought even to the young reader and questioning of one's own culture's use of symbols. Parallels are then easier to make about similar symbols in a particular culture. Although unfamiliar with the Peoples Series, marketing of this kind of work to early readers can only enhance the integration and feelings of universality that are so sorely needed in our youth's literature.

Originally published nearly ninety years ago, at the turn of the century, the reissue of this book will be welcomed by Montanans in particular and by all interested in the early days of Western townships in general.

Butte, Montana, in 1885, was a mining camp with a floating population estimated at around 14,000, yet within fifteen years the author of this work could boast that it had become quite a cosmopolitan metropolis of some 65,000, with twenty-eight schools, scores of fine buildings and churches.

This volume tells of the lawless days of Butte in 1865 and 1866; it deals extensively with mining magnates and mining activities and offers interesting sidelights on numerous Butte enterprises of a general nature.

Particularly valuable are the illustrations, of which there are more than two hundred, all historically significant, featuring old churches, schools, mines, business buildings, downtown and residential areas, from the days when Butte had only a few scattered huts, in 1875 to 1900 when the book originally went to press.

Railroad buffs will want to turn to the chapter on "The Greatest Trans-Continental Railroad," which celebrated the comfort and ease of rail travel to the old West, with illustratinos showing the palatial observation cars, dining cars, buffet cars, all "electric lighted," on the "North Coast Limited," the "most magnificent transcontinental express running between the East and West over any line.
--- from book's back ocver

So this is what the world has come to... Short stories that are so well crafted that they can take you where you have never been with just a few dozen pages. The story of the relationship that can never be has been told before. In this book that story sits inside another. It is the tragic tale of someone starting a family and then discovering that their true love is on the outside. That diffucult situation becomes impossible when that love is for someone of the same sex. Here in the United States, it is common for some to condemn what they cannot get their mind around. Those with a narrow view spout insults and swing tire irons. This is a story of impossible love and its tragic consequences. Annie Proulx wrote a marvelous story. It is a good, even great day when a writer can challenge us to reach beyond the hyperbole and see the story from a new perspective.

David M. Emmons, in The Butte Irish, examines the development of Butte, Montana, as an Irish town, tracing the story from the Potato Famine to about 1925. He focuses on two major questions: (a) What made Butte such a popular destination for Irish immigrants, both directly from Ireland and from other Irish areas of the US? and, (b) How did the development of an Irish enclave in Butte affect the development of the city? He goes on to examine the evolution of class relations within the Irish in Butte. Emmons describes Butte as a unique location in America for the study of an ethnic community. He argues that the town developed in such a way and at such a time that it was one of the only towns in the country to have a strong working-class, immigrant community in a position of major influence and power. There were several keys that made this path of city evolution possible. The first was the switch from silver and gold mining to copper production in the 1870's. This is key for Butte's "Irishness" on several levels. First, because of the large capital investment required for copper mining, Butte was forced to industrialize to a much greater extent than other major gold and silver mining camps of the West. Thus, Butte was the only one of these mining camps to become a major city. Immigrants from many of these camps came to Butte in large numbers. The timing of the beginning of Butte's copper era is a second major factor. The Irish Potato Famine of the 1840's caused huge numbers of Irish to immigrate to America. In the years immediately following the famine, the Irish were nearly forty percent of those immigrating to the United States. Large numbers of Irish continued to immigrate in the next thirty years, supplying the US with many unskilled workers. Many of these Irish went to the mining camps of the west, the coal mines of Pennsylvania, or the copper mines of Michigan, because mining was one of the only industries they were familiar with. As many of the western mining camps became "played out," or ran out of viable ore, in the late nineteenth century, the Irish looked to the developing Butte. Because Butte was becoming an established city only when the Irish started going there, it did not have a previously existing community of entrenched middle class Americans, nor did it have a prior political structure. This is another key difference between Butte and other towns with sizable Irish populations such as Boston or San Francisco. In pre-existing towns and cities, the middle class often looked down on those of the working class, or at least had control of the political and social structure of the area. It is a well-known fact that Marcus Daly was one of the main reasons so many Irish came to Butte. Daly was the owner of the Anaconda Mining Company, and a strong Irish nationalist. His hiring policies were famous throughout the West, and even in Ireland, as being very generous to the Irish. Emmons lays out these reasons, detailing them extensively. His research was thorough, utilizing "two full carloads" of primary materials including records of Butte churches and Irish social organizations, letters, newspapers. Also cited in Emmons' bibliography are extensive interviews and secondary sources. Emmons is just as thorough in his treatment of the second question. He considers the miners of Butte on many levels. One of the more interesting themes of the book is the discussion of conflicting loyalties within the Irish enclave of the Mining City. The author frames this as the question of whether the people considered themselves "working Irish-Americans" or "Irish-American workers." He examines the politics of the struggling Ireland and its relationship with England, the structure of the Butte social organizations and the way their roles and importances, both absolute and relative to one another, changed and grew during this period, and changing demographics within the Irish and the rest of Butte-Silver Bow. The only complaint to be lodged against The Butte Irish is the author's occasional use of difficult sentence structure. I can't find the quote I was going to use here, but there were a few to choose from. The Butte Irish is a well-written and well-executed account of the development of a town and community, offering many insights into working class ethnography, labor relations, Montana history, and Irish history, among others. Emmons has managed to cover aspects of all these areas, even while maintaining a strong focus and cohesiveness throughout the book.

As a child growing up in Butte I loved the Columbia Gardens. Its no longer here, but this book brings back so many positive memories. Its a must read for anyone who was fortunate enough to visit the golden place on the hill called the Columbia Gardens

Rick Scott
San Diego, California

Funny stories along with the serious war accounts. Fascinating reading

Careless Creek

Mr. Lynde is an amazing author (not to mention artist!) Within a few seconds, you are "living" in his novels; You will "feel" the rain, "hear" the whinnies of the horses and "see" the villains.

His books are not just for men - I'm a woman and absolutely love the historical background he includes in each and every one.

I also enjoy the morals in each book, (if you choose to look for them): Good vs. Evil, Temptations faced daily, etc...

The only downside is, if you are like me, you won't want to put his books down once you have opened them! (Much to my Husband's dismay since we are self employed and I don't get as much work done when I've got a new book to read written by Mr. Lynde.)

Thank you Mr. Lynde for another excellent novel. I can't wait to receive the 3rd and 4th ones in this "series"!

Tara