Category: 🏋️ 406 Legends
In the early 1920s, deep in the timber country of western Montana, something rather unusual began making its way along the logging railroads. It wasn’t carrying lumber, mining equipment, or supplies for the men working in the remote camps. Instead, this particular railroad car was filled with books, newspapers, magazines, comfortable chairs, and a warm…
At just 19 years old, he conquered Montana’s Continental Divide in a fragile airplane, won $10,000, and became an aviation legend. Two days later, he was gone. On September 30, 1911, a 19-year-old pilot climbed into an airplane made largely of wood, bamboo, wire, and fabric at the Montana State Fairgrounds in Helena. His destination…
By Montana Max | The 406 Life Look closely at the old team photograph. Ten young women, a basketball, and uniforms from a time when athletic clothing apparently required considerably more laundry. It was taken during their visit to St. Louis in 1904, and the women looking back at us are the Fort Shaw Indian…
In 1908, Montana’s original Hauser Dam failed and sent a major flood down the Missouri River. The dam’s collapse is only half the story. Telephone calls, telegrams and even a locomotive helped carry warnings downstream.
In the summer of 1897, twenty United States soldiers rolled out of Fort Missoula headed for St. Louis. On bicycles. Not motorcycles. Not modern touring bikes with lightweight frames, twenty-seven gears and seats engineered by somebody with strong feelings about lower-back support. Bicycles. And because this was the United States Army, naturally they weren’t allowed…
Mattie Castner arrived in Montana Territory in 1876 and built a life few people could have imagined: entrepreneur, hotelier, rancher, major landowner and beloved “Mother of Belt.”
The Tobacco Roots and What the Mountains Won’t Tell The Tobacco Roots and What the Mountains Won’t Tell It’s late September. High country. A guy named Derek is heading up Mill Creek trail in the Tobacco Roots around three in the afternoon. Elevation’s climbing. Light’s getting weird—that particular kind of slant you only get in…
Montana’s Fossil Secrets: What Dinosaurs Really Revealed Montana’s Fossil Secrets: What Dinosaurs Really Revealed Montana Max, The 406 Life Now I didn’t exactly walk these lands when the T-rex roamed, but I’ve spent enough time in these mountains to understand somethin’ that most folks miss: Montana’s history don’t start with fur trappers or gold rushes.…
The Vanishing of Acting Governor Meagher: Montana’s Greatest Cold Case The 406 Life · Montana, Told Straight Montana Max · Montana History The Vanishing of Acting Governor Meagher: Montana’s Greatest Cold Case Irish rebel. Union general. Acting governor. Then a scream, a splash, and 157 years of silence. By Montana Max · The 406 Life…
Now I’ve seen a lot of things from the treeline over the years. Storms roll in. Towns grow up. And every so often, somebody comes along and does something that changes the way folks think about what’s possible. Fanny Sperry Steele and Alice Greenough Orr were two of those somebodies. Both of ’em came out…
