Tribute to ol' Montana

My view of early Montana... a painting by Charles M Russell,
"When White Men Turn Red"

I’ve had a love affair with Montana for over 70 years.

My first visit to ‘Big Sky Country’ was in 1950 when my folks went to visit mom’s aunt and uncle near Kalispell.

I have deep roots in Montana…

My 2nd great-grandparents, John Galway Brown and Lucy (Pinsonneau) Brown, settled their before 1900.

My great-grandparents, Abraham Lincoln Brown and Neva (Plympton) Brown homesteaded in Creston about 1905.

My grandparents, Frank and Lydia, married and homesteaded in Kalispell in 1912.

Mom was born in Kalispell in 1914.

My Montana Association

I’m a long time student of Montana history. For the past fifty years I’ve collected and read everything I could find by authors including: James Willard Schultz, Frank Bird Linderman, Charles Marion Russell, Will James, B.M. Bower, Con Price, Teddy Blue Abbott, Granville Stuart, Will James and Ivan Doig.

I’ve become a huge fan of Charles Marion Russell’s cowboy, Indian and mountain man art. It was his art that inspired me to spend more than a decade as a Western folk artist.

In addition, my study of family genealogy has led me to discover ancestors and relatives with a fur trade connection between Montana and French-Canada.

Finely, in 1995, I bought a Montana born and raised horse in Cody, Wyoming. I brought him to California in 1996, and ’Sunup’ lived with me until his death in 2013.

Montana Discoveries

For seven decades I’ve visited ‘Big Sky Country’ in an effort to learn more about its history. 

I’ve studied her cowboys, her Native Americans, her gold rush, and her fur trade.

I’ve visited her capitol, her museums, her monuments and Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks numerous times.

I even floated on a 150 mile solo canoe trip down the upper Missouri River.

My mare Kasidy moves to Montana (2019)

We are now in our late 70s, and change seems to be happening at warp-speed.

We’ve been an equestrian family for the past 30 years, but sadly my wife’s horse died in June, so I sent my horse to live with a friend in Missoula in August. Horses should not live alone and we were too old to buy another horse for a companion.

More Memories of Old Montana

Grandma at Cayuse Prairie school, 1907

Granddad's record elk, c. 1912

Aunt Stella and her class in a log cabin school, c. 1908

Granddad (left) and brother Len deer hunting, c. 1912

My grandparents Kalispell homestead #1, c. 1914

My grandparents Kalispell homestead #2, c. 1914

Granddad hauling firewood, c. 1915

Frank and Len in Montana Militia, c. 1908

Granddad (left) logging with a sled, c. 1916

Mom and sister Hazel in Creston, c. 1926

Yours truly with the biggest fish at Strawberry Lake, 1950

A stump ranch - the richest folks I ever knew

Hangin' out with Lon and Dale in Kalispell, 1950

Ridin' with mom and dad in Kalispell, 1950

Thanks for the memories

2024 Update...

I spend too much time thinking about the good ol' days, and that's okay 'cause I don't see a very good future for America. 

Trust in God and keep your powder dry.