IT’ SF RE E!
• Western dining with a twist • A trip to the Canyon Creek Store • Sock it to ’em for Christmas this year
[596] life in the helena area
CONDO CRAZE
LESS IS MORE
Potential homeowners turn to condominium living as an affordable way to get into the housing market
fall/winter 2010
Randy Rickman publisher Butch Larcombe editor Sheila Habeck art director Eliza Wiley photo editor Jim Rickman advertising manager Shawna Swanz special projects manager contributors Dylan Brown Eve Byron John Doran Marga Lincoln Alana Listoe Butch Larcombe Peggy O’Nei Sanjay Talwanill
[contents] editor’s note 6 gear A sock for every season 8 food & drink The Montanan serves up Western fare with a twist 10 features Helena’s busy condominum market 14 Old building gets new life as condominium complex 17 Keeping time at Helena’s historic train depot 20 East Helena’s historic hangout 24 Holiday gifts to give and to get 28 Canyon Creek’s town square 32 Nights of Knowledge: Teams try out pub’s trivia night 38 Seven feet under: Outfitter recalls harrowing trip 44 7 reasons why Mountain biking is even more fun at night 50 my office Lanny Hubbard likes life in his new digs 52 laughs chance gulch 53
cover photo The interior of one of the condos at the Dairy Lofts. by Eliza Wiley
life in the helena area
[596]
[editor’s note]
W
While Helena’s housing market has been relatively steady amidst the state and national economic tumult the last couple of years, one part of that market has been on a tear: The sales and prices of condominiums and townhomes are growing at double-digit pace. John Harrington, the Independent Record’s business editor, shares a look at the apparent zest for a lifestyle that combines the convenience of apartment living with the rewards of home ownership. As he explains, the local condo market is being driven by an interesting blend of economics and demographics. While condos and townhomes are being developed from one end of the city to the other, IR reporter Marga Lincoln takes us on a tour of the Dairy Lofts, four condos developed in a historic building in Helena’s midsection. The lofts on Logan Street represent an attempt by developers Bill Janecke and Sherrel Rhys to create stylish urban-style living spaces in a building that has had a colorful life for more than 100 years. From tall ceilings and stout wooden beams to exposed brick, the Dairy Lofts could offer a hint of what’s in store for a number of vintage buildings around Helena. Reporter Alana Listoe, joined by Eliza Wiley, the newspaper’s intrepid photo editor, offer up a trip to the Canyon Creek Store, a place where time seems to stand still. The store, home to a century-old post office, is a gathering spot for the rural community between Helena and Lincoln. Merchandise ranges from hot coffee and cold beer to ice cream, Christmas decorations and antiques. “You can pretty much find anything you want,” says Canyon Creek resident Peggy Justesen. “I think that’s why people stop.” East Helena often gets lost in the shadow of its larger next-door neighbor. But make no mistake, this once-lively little town has a colorful history all its own. Smith’s Place, a fixture on East Helena’s main street, has been around through much of the community’s history. From its start as the Prickly Pear Saloon, the bar, as IR reporter Eve Byron writes, is a place where residents and others “have lived, loved, danced, drank and dined for more than a century.” Along with all the human drama, Smith’s has endured fires, Prohibition, the Great Depression and the closure of the Asarco smelter, the town’s economic mainstay. These stories, and numerous others in this issue, paint a colorful portrait of the lives we lead, and have lived, in this wide region we call 596. [!]
photo by eliza wiley
By Butch Larcombe Editor
fall/winter 2010
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[gear]
story by ALANA LISTOE photos by Dylan Brown
sock it to [8]
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Having the right pair of socks for the right outdoor activity is key to fun in the cold-weather months
t
There’s something about slipping on a cozy pair of socks that just feels like home. A good pair of socks can put an extra bounce in your step on the way out the door in the morning. They can tempt you to curl up with a recent best-selling fiction story. And, for some, a good pair of socks is so important they can be what you assemble your entire outfit around. Socks have come a long way since the invention of cotton in the 1700s, and even further away from when Ancient Greeks used matted animal hair. Socks today can come close to a mobile massage. OK, well maybe not quite that, but many are serious about their socks. And they’ve got to be to pay nearly $20 a pair, which is the going rate these days. Take cycling enthusiast Dan Kobb, of Montana City, who treasures his socks so much he doesn’t wear them around the house without shoes. “That expands their life, and besides I don’t like my socks dirty and full of dog hair,” says Kopp, who has two yellow labs. Blaze by DeFeet are his favorite. The sock is touted to be ready for any outdoor challenge from hiking to soggy motor-biking, and Kopp loves them for their comfort and longevity.
’em
He found them in a sporting goods store while vacationing in Zion National Park in Utah and this time of year, Kopp wears a different pair every day. In the summer he goes with a cycling sock made by either Specialized or Trek. “Cycling socks are important part of the gear,” said the local engineer who got his first Schwinn Mini Scrambler when he was 4. Capital Sports carries about eight different brands of socks, but co-owner Bart Bratlien says Smartwool is his top-selling brand, and it’s a long way to second place. They come in all styles and colors. From black and yellow light cushion snowboard socks to graphite and red ultra light mini cycling socks; earthy striped crew socks to extra heavy cushion gray hunting socks, the Smartwool brand has become almost a staple for Big Sky families because they have a pair for every occasion. Although not as popular but worth the investment are Darn Tough socks that come with a lifetime warranty. Made in Vermont for the past 30 years, the company says their socks are all weather performance with fine gauge knitting, mid-foot support, and zero friction heels. They are made of a combination that’s mostly merino wool with nylon and lycra. The lifetime guarantee is unconditional and right on the packaging says if the socks aren’t the most comfortable and durable they can be returned for a complete refund. Socks are a critical part of apparel whether you are going to work, hitting the cross-trainer, or the slopes. In recent years, there’s been a bit of a sock frenzy, and Bratlien
says he assumes it’s because people are increasingly more health conscious and have an increased appreciation for good comfort. “Good footwear doesn’t work without the proper sock,” he said.
Skiing Skiing socks are very high and come just below the knee. They are available in various thicknesses to allow your foot to fit in the boot better. They’re padded for comfort while made with merino wool or other synthetics that wick moisture away.
Running Running socks are very thin, short with padding in key places. While light-weight, these socks are also superior at wicking moisture.
Outdoors Outdoor socks are used for hunting, fishing and hiking. They come about mid-calf, come in various thicknesses, and are built for function, not appearance.
Fashion It’s all about color, style and flair. For Dan Kopp, a local man who likes his socks almost as much as he does his mountain bike, it drives the rest of his daily attire. “I usually pick the color of my winter socks to go with my Keens, so they match the Neoprene,” he said while also admitting that he coordinates his socks with his biking jersey. [!]
[food & drink]
This page: The Montanan Steakhouse at night. Facing page: Chef Stephanie Leonard, a Culinary Institute of America graduate, is a Lincoln native, top. Owner Barbara Solvie greets all of her customers at the Montanan. The Howdy carving is a keepsake from the previous tennant.
b bite a little of big sky
country Steakhouse serves traditional Western cuisine with a twist
Barbara Solvie is in her element. Dressed in an animal print jacket and stylish pants, Solvie flits about The Montanan Steakhouse in Lincoln visiting with diners, encouraging the wait staff and occasionally expediting a bowl of soup or a salad from the kitchen to her customers. She picks up a bowl full of a buttery wine sauce that had minutes before contained a heaping amount of mussels. “You have to take this home and pour it over some pasta. It’s too good to waste.” She whisks away before hearing the customers voice their wholehearted agreement and then returns with a foam coffee cup into which she’s poured the sauce. “Did you order a salad or the soup?” she asks, each entrée comes with a choice. “You have to try the clam chowder.” The diners do. It is fantastic. Then she’s off to another table explaining to them that the chicken comes from a Hutterite colony and the beef is 100 percent certified Angus. After that, she moves on to another table to exclaim over the bounty of freshly made desserts. u
story By PEGGY O’NEILL • photos by Eliza Wiley
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‘We offer different dishes that you wouldn’t normally get in Lincoln, Montana. But we’re also staying true to the people here. They’re meat-and-potato kind of people. So we give them that, with a little bit of a twist.’ Barbara Solvie, owner of The Montanan Steakhouse
Customers hang on each of her mouth-watering words. It’s hard to say no, so they don’t. A slice of red velvet cheesecake disappears soon after it’s set down. Solvie does this seven days a week. After owning building, a spot that was home to Garlands’s Town and Country for more than 50 years until it closed several years ago, the 80-year-old decided a building makeover and a career in food was in order. As you walk in The Montanan, the first thing you see—if Solvie isn’t there to greet you with a warm smile if you’re a stranger, with a hug if she knows you—is a mural painted by Sioux Tynes, a local artist. It’s of a weary-looking cowboy astride a horse. The horse dips his head to drink from a creek with mountains in the background. The creek is Alice Creek—familiar to anyone who has spent time in Lincoln—the cowboy is “The Montanan�—an image Solvie thinks captures the romantic essence of the state’s past. The cowboy also happens to resemble Solvie’s grandson, whose picture she gave to Tynes for inspiration. On the wall, a quote from John Steinbeck is scrawled in gold paint: “I’m in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection. But with Montana it is love. And it’s difficult to analyze love when you’re in it...� If you’re still not convinced you’re in the heart of Montana, further evidence is found at the bar, which is made out of copper, and on the menu, which features several items either made with Montana ingredients or created with a Montana influence. Clockwise from top: The restaurant’s pork chop with potato and baked apple slices. Halibut baked in a cornhusk. Locals gather for an evening meal.
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“We offer different dishes that you wouldn’t normally get in Lincoln, Montana,” Solvie says. “But we’re also staying true to the people here. They’re meat-and-potato kind of people. So we give them that, with a little bit of a twist.” Providing that twist is Chef Stephanie Leonard, a Lincoln native. The 26-year-old is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York. After working at restaurants in Las Vegas and Arizona, she took a break a little over a year ago and spent some time in her hometown. One night Leonard and her family ate dinner at the restaurant. A couple nights later, she was offered a job at the restaurant. “We didn’t give her much of a chance to say no,” Solvie says. Leonard retooled the menu and introduced some specialties of her own. The Montanan’s menu, indeed, includes items you’d expect— a buffalo burger, filet of beef, prime rib, wings and nachos, but also some surprises—those tasty mussels, a java-rubbed pork chop with sautéed apples and a nice, flaky, baked halibut served in a corn husk with a lemon cream sauce. Each entrée is supported by a colorful cast of side dishes, including sweet potato fries, homemade potato chips and a smoked Gouda potato au gratin that’s worth the risk of heart failure. Leonard can also take credit for that luscious red velvet cheesecake and the rest of the ridiculously tempting desserts, which on one night included chocolate cream pie, key lime pie, peanut butter pie, an angel food cake concoction with dark chocolate, fresh fruit parfait, carrot cake and a lemon cake trifle. Solvie stops by a few times during dinner to make sure her customers are enjoying their dining experience. She has a vested interest in this new endeavor, but she’s not too worried about her future. “People always ask me, ‘Barb, why don’t you retire?’ ” she says. “I
figure I can work until I’m 90 and live until I’m 125. That gives me 35 years of retirement.” Solvie’s charm and attentiveness aside, the dinner as prepared by Leonard is worth the trip over Flesher Pass from Helena and a good excuse to return to Lincoln frequently. “Here we are in a little town, in a lovely building,” Solvie says. “If we’re going to be successful, we have to be good. We have to be the best. We’re going for number one.” Solvie stops at the table one last time to make sure the containers of leftovers aren’t left behind accidently. She thanks the diners for coming and then, with a shake of her index finger, warns them to drive home safely. The diners will be back—a second visit to The Montanan ensures a hug from Solvie and a second chance at dessert. [!]
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These pages: Several new condos have cropped up on Helenaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eastside.
Helena-area homebuyers embracing condo living
More
Less is
A
As the men’s basketball coach at Carroll College, and a bachelor at that, Brandon Veltri doesn’t have a lot of time to work around the house. He works long hours and a lot of nights, he’s on the recruiting trail a lot, and road games mean more time away from home. So as he looked to purchase property a few years ago, Veltri knew what he didn’t want. “I lived with my brother for a couple of years, and it seemed that as the seasons changed, so did the yard work,” Veltri says. “It seemed like every weekend there was another project that needed doing. And in the winter it was snow removal, and I just wanted no part of that.” But Veltri didn’t want to give up the possibility of owning his home and building up equity as he made payments each month. So two-and-ahalf years ago, when the Colwell Building at the south end of Last Chance Gulch was being turned into condominiums, Veltri jumped. He bought one of nine units in the building, a one-bedroom, two-level condo measuring about 850 square feet. Now Veltri finds himself close to parks, to several restaurants and to all the events that fill the downtown Helena calendar. And he gets it all without having to shovel. “Just being downtown, there’s so much going on down here that maybe I realized prior to living down here,” he says. “Condo life seemed to be a perfect fit for my lifestyle.” For two years, Veltri traded the lawnmower for a paint brush, but he just finished work on a complete remodel of his living space, including a new bathroom, fresh paint and a number of energy efficiency upgrades. It’s those kinds of improvements that can help condos appreciate in value, especially when your neighbors are doing their part as well.
By JOHN HARRINGTON
fall/winter 2010
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Brandon Veltri has given his downtown condo a facelift. He added a new staircase, tiled his shower with a pebble-like design and added a new vanity . Photos by Eliza Wiley
“I think everyone who has bought one of these condos has renovated over the past few years, and now people are starting to put in balconies,” Veltri says. nnn With Helena’s residential real estate market trending flat for a third straight year, one segment of the market is quietly showing some strength. Condominium sales have shown a decent spike in Helena in 2010. With many condos flourishing in redeveloped buildings downtown, and more being built on the city’s Upper East Side, people happy with apartment-style living but who still want to build up some equity are making the market move. In 2009, the Helena Multiple Listing Service recorded 78 condo sales, with a median price of $137,950. Through nine months of this year, total sales of 87 condos represents an 11 percent increase over all of last year, and the 2010 median sales price, $151,900, marks a bump of 10 percent over last year. This in a market where the number of single-family home sales is trending downward and the median price has been flat to slightly down since 2008. The first-time homebuyer credit that expired earlier this year may have played a part in the condo boom. The market saw 33 sales in May and June, and only 25 since, after the credit had run its course. Ryan Swinney, a broker with Bruce Swinney and Associates, noted that a third of this year’s condo sales so far have been on Helena’s Upper East Side, and more than half of the condos sold this year (47 of 87) were built in 2002 or later. For some buyers, if location is important enough, a condo may be just the fit. “You can’t buy a new (stand-alone) home on the Upper East Side in that $150,000 to $175,000 price range, so if you want to buy something new, condos are pretty much what’s available,” Swinney says. In larger urban areas, condo redevelopment has spurred a renaissance in many downtown areas, as young professionals take over loft space and turn it into living space. “The advantage of condo ownership is you can own a smaller piece of a more expensive property,” says broker Randall Green of Green [16]
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& Green Realty Associates. “You can experience private ownership without having to own an entire building, and you can live in a more multi-family community if you like that kind of thing, without having to rent.” Green notes that a zoning change in the city of Helena a few years ago, allowing condominiums by right (as opposed to requiring a variance) in certain business districts, helped spur redevelopment in some of Helena’s historic downtown structures, including the Placer on the Walking Mall as well as the Colwell Building. And from the standpoint of a developer or landlord, Green says, turning a building into condos may be worth the effort. A four-plex that could be sold whole as a rental property for $300,000, Green says, might be broken into four condos selling for $95,000 apiece. And as Veltri notes, pride of ownership can be contagious, and one person’s home improvements can spur others while at the same time lifting the tide for the entire development. Builders like condos for similar reasons—for the price of one lot, one foundation and one roof, they get an opportunity for multiple sales. While condos make sense for young professionals who may not want to maintain property, or those who may not be able to afford a stand-alone house, they’re also a good fit for people nearing retirement who want to scale back their homeowner responsibilities but don’t necessarily want to skimp on the luxuries. Veteran builder Bill Pierce sees increased demand for condos on the horizon, as baby boomers grow older and their children move away from home. Pierce hasn’t historically built a lot of condos, but he has finished two and has two more under construction in the Westridge Heights development above Le Grande Cannon Boulevard on Helena’s Upper West Side. Pierce calls them “upper end products” and said he’s angling for the retiree market. “We have thought for years there would be a rollout of boomers from single-family houses into condos that are much smaller, but are very smartly designed and high-quality, and that’s what we’re catering to there,” Pierce says. [!]
Got Condos? By MARGA LINCOLN
Sherrel Rhys and Bill Janecke are the developers of the Logan Street Dairy Lofts. An exterior shot of the lofts, top. Photos by Dylan Brown
Couple turns historic dairy building into chic urban lofts
In its first 100 years, the stucco building at 636 Logan Street led a working-class life, housing among other things a creamery and a trade school. But following a recent remodel, it ventures forth into its next century as the Logan Street Dairy Lofts, home to four chic condos. They’re among the first historic loft condos in Helena, say building owners and developers Bill Janecke and Sherrel Rhys. Loft living has been charming urban dwellers since the 1960s, when artists began taking over abandoned warehouses and factories in New York City’s SoHo district. Since then, lofts have proven a creative re-use for many an abandoned warehouse or factory in urban areas across the country. Within walking distance from the downtown farmers’ market and coffee shops, the Dairy Lofts couldn’t be more convenient for a Helena urban dweller. Designed by Helena architect Susan Bjerke, the lofts retain traces of the building’s old-fashioned character, yet gracefully incorporate many new, stylish amenities. While many a loft started its life in a gritty industrial neighborhood, this historic building at the corner of Logan and 12th Avenue led a
more pastoral life. A photo from 1898 shows it as a three-story building standing in a field of its own. Helena had a sparse, raw look at the time, with wide dirt streets and nary a tree for block after block. Lone buildings, many of them beautiful brick homes, anchored street corners, while their yards—a rutted, hodgepodge of grass and mud—stretched the length and width of the block. Views vary about when the building was constructed. Kennon Baird, a history buff who created the website helenahistory.org, says that it was apparently constructed in 1889. However, it’s still listed as an empty lot on the 1890 Sanborn Fire Map. By 1892, the Sanborn map pegs the location as the site of the New Helena Club Stable. The building would later serve as home to the U.S. Veterans’ Bureau Subdistrict Office and Trade School. On March 23, 1923, the Helena Independent reported a turnout of 1,000 visitors at the trade school’s open house. “Drafting rooms, shoe repair shop, automobile mechanics and machine department—all were working at full speed and the pupils were at their desks and machines demonstrating exactly what the government is doing to rehabilitate them as u fall/winter 2010
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productive citizens,” wrote an enthusiastic reporter. The top floor was a “physiotherapy” department. Here veterans received “electrical treatments for the curing of rheumatism and kindred ailments.” And in the basement was “an up-to-the-minute machine shop” that is “splendidly equipped.” By 1929, this once-vibrant hub of industry stood vacant, and the top floor became a temporary typhoid hospital. Later, the T.C. Power Motor Car Company used the building as a warehouse, and the stone basement, which remains one of the structure’s endearing historic features, served as auto storage. The top two floors of the building were removed in 1936, following the 1935 earthquake, according to Baird. By 1938, it was home to the Helena Creamery, producing Meadow Gold products, and later became the Community Creamery. A Feb. 27, 1964, fire heavily damaged the building, but it survived and went on to house offices for The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Selective Service. According to Janecke, it also held a Knights of Columbus bar at one time and was used as vehicle storage space by Hagler- Anderson Mortuary. Because of the earthquake and fire damage over the decades, the building wasn’t a candidate for historic preservation, says Janecke. “We had to gut it to the bones—down to the bare minimum. But we tried to keep the flavor.” The rooms retain their original 16-feet-high ceilings, ceiling beams, thick walls, generous windows and exposed brick walls. “Our goal was to be super insulated and energy efficient,” adds Rhys. Each space is designed to best utilize the abundant natural light. “We kept all the original windows,” but they’ve been made highly energy efficient.
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Each two-bedroom, two-bath unit has its own personality, from its unique floor design to the wood cabinetry, ceramic tiling and appliances. “There’s been a lot of labor and love put into this,” says Rhys. New pine floors stretch throughout three of the units, while the fourth has Montana grown-and-milled western larch. Kitchen cabinets vary—from maple in one unit, to alder or cherry in the others. Each bathroom has distinctive ceramic tile, tubs and sinks. All the entrances and units are handicapped accessible and open onto a common slatetiled entrance lobby. Unit sizes vary from 1,226 to 1,477 square feet, with sale prices ranging from $299,900 to $323,900. Underground stretches an expansive, stone-walled basement, providing heated garage and storage space. “This is where the horses came in with raw milk to be pasteurized,” says Janecke. In its early days, it must have held a huge coal furnace. Still penciled on the wall are records of coal deliver-
This page: A sitting area in the model condo of the Logan Street Dairy Lofts. Facing page: A model kitchen in the condos.
ies—39 tons in March of 1928, 59 ½ tons in January of that year. Nearby is an intriguing door—now
blocked—which once led to another part of Helena’s history, tunnels beneath the streets. [!]
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â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I like coming up here. I kind of always liked climbing mountains.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Rich Labbe
A Step Back in Time Railroad electrician steps away from the digital age once each week to wind the train depot’s clock
This page: The historic train depot is in Helena’s Sixth Ward. Facing page: Rich Labbe Winds the depot’s clock once a week.
It’s
It’s quiet as Rich Labbe climbs the first ladder into the roof cavity of the historic train depot. He walks west in the upper guts of the building before ascending up another ladder through a tight entrance, but this time the sound of the ticking clock becomes clear. It’s steady and strong, a mechanical piece of history, but one that requires someone to manually wind it each week. “I like coming up here,” says Labbe, who is thin and agile. “I kind of always liked climbing mountains.” For the past 22 years, Labbe, 57, has reported to work at 7 a.m. He’s a locomotive electrician for Montana Rail Link, but long ago he acquired the added duty as the official clock winder. “It’s a very small part of what I do,” he says. It’s small, yet important since many Helena residents have relied on the clock, which has four faces, since the early 1900s. But few consider the details behind the hand and the numbers. u
Story by Alana Listoe • Photos by Eliza Wiley
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A steel cable runs from the hands to the inside of the clock tower where the cast iron 1903 Seth Thomas 1200 series tower clock does all the work. A teeter-totter gear clicks as the huge pendulum rocks steadily, swinging back and forth. “It’s the heart of the piece of equipment,” Labbe says. There’s a long crank that winds the steel cable into position, allowing for a week’s worth of ticking. The sturdy clock is made up of many moving parts, most of which have required little maintenance over the years. Labbe is not a clock expert by any means, but every once in a while he relies on his mechanical intuition to make repairs or adjustments. Sometimes, the snow will blow hard and sideways stopping the clock, but with a few twists, Labbe gets it clicking again without really hav-
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ing a clear explanation of what he did. A single sheet of worn, brown paper stapled to the wood inside the tower is the only instruction manual. While directions may be scant, the clock tower’s interior has attracted the interest and signatures of many railroad employees, and possibly visitors, through the years. The oldest, from 1912, reads, “J.W. Barry.” Labbe’s name is among the others. Recent upgrades and a $5,000 coat of fresh paint on the exterior of the clock tower beautified the historic landmark. Improvements inside, like a new platform and metal ladder, created a safer environment for Labbe. “I didn’t mind the old wooden ladder,” he admits. Labbe comes from a family of railroaders that goes back a couple generations to his grandparents. His father was the district general
This page: A view from the top of the train depot next to the clock. Several visitors to the clock tower have carved their names in the walls. Facing page: Labbe winds the 1903 Seth Thomas clock.
car foreman for the former Milwaukee Railroad, a transcontinental railroad built without public dollars. A Deer Lodge native, Labbe first worked for the railroad nearly four decades ago as an apprentice. He completed that apprenticeship in Tacoma, Wash. After becoming a journeyman, he worked for Burlington Northern in Livingston for eight years until it shut down. He was transferred to Iowa of which Labbe says with a laugh, “If you like corn and bugs, it’s a great place to be.” As a way to get back to the Treasure State, he took a job working at the state prison in the maintenance department. “The big city wasn’t something I wanted to do—I enjoy a small town better,” the outdoorsman says. He was happy to land a job with Montana Rail Link, and he feels fortunate to live in the Queen City. “Within an hour, I can be on the Missouri, the Madison, or the Clark Fork, and there are lots of mountains within reach too,” Labbe says. As he looks back at his long railroad career, he’s a little amazed. As an apprentice years ago, “it blew my mind that there were guys working in the shop that had been there 15 years,” he says. “But now I know that’s kind of the way railroading is—there’s longevity. The railroad gave me a job that allowed me to raise my children and I appreciate that.” As for the clock towering above the Sixth Ward, Labbe says he’s never heard stories of any ghouls or goblins. He’s never heard voices or seen a ghost. “As far as I know, the depot is not haunted,” he says. As Labbe climbs inside the clock tower each week, often the only sound is the ticking of the venerable clock, interrupted by the occasional train passing through the rail yard. [!]
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This page: Smith’s Place as it is today. Photo by Eliza Wiley. Below: Mary, left, and Charlotte Smith pose for a photo in the 1940s. Facing page: Bingo festivals on Labor Day in East Helena, circa 1957. Photo courtesy of Montana Historical Society Research Center Photo Archives
handed down from generation to generation, smith’s is still the place to be
east helena’s by eve byron
T
The history of Smith’s Bar is the story of East Helena, a family-oriented place where immigrants, smelter workers and only temporary strangers have lived, loved, danced, drank and dined for more than a century. Historically, Smith’s is remembered for the all-night dances, with Charlie Smith’s accordion thundering out polkas and waltzes, often accompanied by his sister, Mary, on the piano. Smith’s is where lead smelter workers from the nearby Asarco plant would relax after a long shift with a beer or boilermaker. Tourists and families often dropped by for the famed 25-cent burgers and milkshakes. Just like East Helena, Smith’s Bar has seen its share of tough times. The saloon was resurrected after the great fire of 1919 burned much of East Helena. It skirted Prohibition by changing from beer to ice cream in the 1920s and survived the Great Depression in the 1930s, the earthquakes of 1935 and the shuttering of the Asarco smelter in 2001. Yet while so many of East Helena’s businesses are but a distant memory, Smith’s continues to serve up strong drinks and its famous burgers to a loyal clientele. Its roots run as deep as the community in which it thrives, a business founded only a few years after the city of East Helena. Back then, Smith’s was called the Prickly Pear Saloon; the city was known as Prickly Pear Junction. John Smith came to the United States from Slovenia in u
hangout
‘People liked to come down and watch, if nothing else, the Slovenian dances. … For wedding dances, we could stay open all night, sometimes until 5 or 6 a.m.’ mary smith John Kovac Smith, left, tends bar at the Prickly Pear Saloon, now Smith’s Place, circa 1910. Photo courtesy of Montana Historical Society Research Center Photo Archives. Melissa Robinson, right, tends bar at Smith’s today.
1891 as John Kovac, and Americanized his name to reflect his blacksmith trade. He met Frances Starc, also from Slovenia, at a boarding house in East Helena where she worked. They married in 1898 and took over the saloon in 1905 from her brother when he moved to Salt Lake City. The bar’s original wooden structure was on Pacific Street, but was rebuilt out of brick at its current location, 3 East Main, after the 1919 fire. In a taped 1984 conversation archived at the Montana Historical Society, two of the 10 Smith siblings, Mary and Frances, recall how bucket brigades lined up on Aug. 9, 1919, in a hopeless effort to save structures. “The fire started at one side of the town and the wind was so strong it carried it into town,” say Mary Smith, her 79-year-old voice still strong when the conversation was recorded. “They used buckets of
East Helena Business Guide
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water from the creek to try to put it out.” The new brick saloon opened only three months after the fire, but with the implementation of Prohibition in 1920, John Smith had to reinvent his business. Mary and Francis said that while many people sold alcohol illegally, their father refused to become a bootlegger, saying he’d never seen the inside of a jail and wanted to keep it that way. He was known as Honest John Smith, Mary recalled, so they switched over to ice cream, serving about 40 gallons per day. Still, some say an occasional lard bucket of beer found its way out the back door. Prohibition was repealed in 1933, but by then the Great Depression was settling in and the Asarco smelter temporarily stopped production. Mary, who worked at the bar for 55 years, said they made about $2 or $3 per day, and that people would hang out, waiting for
the tobacco man to stop by and hand out free samples. The bar served as a community center, where people played solitaire to kill time between odd jobs. A back wall collapsed during the 1935 earthquake, but it was quickly rebuilt. With the start of World War II, the smelter was once again in full production and Smith’s was thriving. When the grocery store next door closed, the Smiths turned it into a dance hall. “A few men would get together and get a few girls, then go out and pick up young married couples and older ones who showed the young ones a good time,” Mary said. “People liked to come down and watch, if nothing else, the Slovenian dances. … For wedding dances, we could stay open all night, sometimes until 5 or 6 a.m.” Charley Pride, the budding country music star who worked at the lead smelter, played at Smith’s occasionally. “Busloads” of soldiers
with the First Special Services visited from Fort Harrison to dance with the local girls. “They especially liked the jitterbug dances,” Mary recalled. “There were always military police patrolling the streets to make sure things were under control.” John Smith worked at the bar until his death in 1952 at age 86; his wife passed away in 1966. Mary and her brother Charlie tended bar until he died in 1974. It remained in the Smith family until 1978, and has changed hands a few times since. It was purchased in 1997 by Virginia and Chuck Wieck, who have strived to retain the original ambiance. Mary died in 2003 at the age of 99. But while the Smith family no longer has a presence here, their legacy lasts with every burger served. So don’t be surprised, when bellying up to the original bar, if a sudden urge to dance, sing, or eat some ice cream arises. It’s only natural at Smith’s. [!]
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food & wine
Adventurous Gourmet Choices abound, but here’s a few tantalizing treats to please the palate. Western Trails, a nonprofit out of Glendive, promotes food products made in Northeast Montana: Montana Rustler is a sweet and spicy barbecue sauce that’s the perfect complement with Montana Buckaroo BBQ Bean Mix. Cost: $6.99 sauce and $3.95 beans. Other options, Prairie Walker, a tasty Savory Bannock Bread mix with garlic and herb, made by Montana Grassland Mixes in Nashua. Cost: $3.99; or Montana Cattle Co. Mustard Marinade out of Lolo for $5.99.
Start here.
By Allison Maier & Marga Lincoln
art gifts
Music Makers Townsend luthier Daniel Roberts makes hand-crafted vintage style guitars tailored to each musician. (Cost: $3,000 and up)
Coffee
under $100
Wondering where to start your holiday shopping this year?
Looking for toast-shaped Band-Aids, a “Cat Lady” action figure or pens with fake—and irreverent—business names on them? Look no further than the General Mercantile on the 400 block of Last Chance Gulch. The infamous shop offers all that is quirky and clever. It’s the place to go if you’re not exactly sure what you’re looking for.
You really can’t go wrong when you’re caffeinating others. Pick up some beans or a gift card at the Fire Tower or treat someone to the espresso selections at the General Mercantile.
over $100
to give and to get
off beat
Anything from the General Mercantile
An Escape Send someone away for the day. Her Alibi salon, on Last Chance Gulch next to Starbucks, offers packages that combine services like massage, facials, manicures and pedicures. Prices range between $80 and $145.
And don’t forget • Personalized gift bag Choosing the acne products might not send the best message, but Nature’s Topicals & Teas on the ground floor of The Placer offers other items that customers can pick from to
fill a small tote, like locally-made lotions, candles, lip scrubs and herbal infusions to add in the bathtub. • Books Read something good lately? Share the love. Some popular picks over at the Montana Book and Toy Company these days: “The Sweetness at the Bottom of
Wine Lovers
Sweet Tooth
Ten Spoon Winery in Missoula offers an award-winning red wine, Range Rider, made from all Montana-grown grapes. Cost: $15.50. Pure Honey Mead, made from pure Montana honey by Hidden Legend Winery in Victor. Cost: $12.95 Both available at the Pan Handler.
Look no further than Helena’s Parrot Confectionary, Bequet Caramels of Bozeman ($4.95), or try chocolate sauces made by King’s Cupboard in Red Lodge ($6.99). Available at The Pan Handler. For the ice cream lover, The Big Dipper has packaged to-go products plus gift cards, scoops and other merchandise.
Fancy Napkins
Antiques Random, maybe. But also an opportunity to give something interesting, unique and, occasionally, useful. There are several antique stores in the Helena area, including the Golden Girls Antiques Mall and Tori’s Antiques downtown.
They dress up a dinner table, but it’s not something people are likely to buy for themselves unless they’re throwing a party. Places like cooking store Pan Handler Plus offer a range of options—from pretty prints to sassy sayings. Packs cost about $5 each.
Classes & Performances
Necklaces For those who love to wear art: These chic choices go with any outfit. Left: A Bonnie Lambert necklace made from recycled glass from Africa, opalized vintage glass and a vintage copper chain, strung on black string. Cost: $85. Right: A flashy Judy Kline necklace made from vintage beaded buttons. Cost: $125. Available at Queens of Arts and more at Holter Museum of Art.
Old World Ornaments
Unique Knits Buy a winter hat made out of recycled sweaters or gloves woven in Nepal. These, as well as scarves and holiday stockings, fill a wall at The Base Camp and range between $30 and $50. A short distance down the walking mall, Lasso the Moon Wonderful Toys offers stuffed animals also made from old sweaters—like a small cashmere dog.
Leather Whether suede or smooth, motorcycle-style or elegant, The Leather Store and More in downtown Helena offers leather jackets, pants, purses and wallets in all styles. Prices range, but jackets tend to cost between $150 and $300.
the Pie” by Alan Bradley, “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett, “The Grand Design” by Stephen Hawking, and, of course, Stieg Larsson’s “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” series. • Swag for the snow It’s an expensive hobby, but if someone on
For the creative heart: Time to go play with clay at the Archie Bray Foundation or paint at the Holter Art Museum. Visit www.archiebray.org or 443-3502 or www.442-6400 www.holtermuseum.org. Enjoy a great show and support your local artists with a ticket to Grandstreet Theatre, the Helena Symphony or the Myrna Loy Center. Grandstreet Theatre 447-1574 Helena Symphony 442-1860. Myrna Loy Center 443-0287.
your list has a snowboarding habit, stop by FourOSix. Look through boards with a range of designs, snow pants that attach to jackets, boots and goggles. • Bird lover? Birds & Beasley’s offers rustic bird houses made from old cedar fence posts by Jim Hill of Helena.
They’re sparkly, nostalgic and reasonably priced. The line of Christmas tree decorations can be found at Bird’s and Beasley’s on Park Avenue and come in just about any shape you could ask for. Choose between grasshoppers and cardinals, bears and maple leaves, or campfires and cowboy boots. Prices range between $10 and $18.
Sapphires Give something personalized, beautiful and locally-made. Saunders Jewelry and Design in the walking mall employs four goldsmiths who can craft Montana sapphires into individualized necklaces and rings. The price can go as high as you want, but trading sterling silver for gold can help save some cash. • Handmade treasures A zippy teeskirt made from a re-purposed T-shirt, created by Recreate Designs, Carollynn Lapotka, St. Ignatius. Cost: $40 Or how about a ruffled clutch by b. handmade designs, Becky Schreiner? Cost: $32. Available at Frayed Sew.
• Soak and stay the night A night at Boulder Hot Springs, bed and breakfast room for two, includes soaks. Cost (winter rate): $119-$129 or for regular guest rooms for two $85 to $90. Or perhaps just a pass for the pools: $7, adult; $5 senior, $4 children. fall/winter 2010
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Canyon Creekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
town square
Store is not only a place to shop, but is where locals connect
Story by Alana Listoe Photos by Eliza Wiley
Bob, left, and Terry Wing leave the Canyon Creek Store after a quick refreshment while Indy, the dog, takes in the late afternoon sun.
T Top: Myrna Whitelaw serves up an ice cream cone to Savannah Randolf while she waits for a ride home after school. Below: Whitelaw delivers the day’s mail from the 140-year-old post office where 85 Canyon Creek residents get their mail.
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There’s a stop half way between Helena and Lincoln where the coffee is always hot, the beer is always cold, and mail is distributed in post office boxes by 2 p.m. every day. The Canyon Creek Store is a place where its neighbors gather to discuss weather, local happenings and field work and tend to avoid conversations that end in political debates. Historic aromas of days gone by are pungent and comforting as customers browse the aisles with the wooden floor creaking underfoot. The seemingly never-ending inventory might be surprising. The store has all the typical convenience store items like candy, soda and snacks. But there’s also fishing tackle, hunting and camping gear, Christmas decorations and office supplies, as well as a back room and an upstairs filled with antique treasures. Myrna Whitelaw has owned the store and the small trailer court nestled in back and has expanded the merchandise over the past few years. The Canyon Creek Store is the place to grab a few items for dinner, like canned beans, or prepare for the next morning’s breakfast with butter and bacon. It’s a favorite after-school stop for a hand-scooped ice cream cone or root beer float for area children. There are movies to rent, cleaning and auto supplies, light bulbs, propane and gasoline. “I have a little bit of everything,” Whitelaw says. With no fancy scanning system for the goods, she prices everything by hand. The store, which sits on five acres, houses the 140-year-old, full-service post office where 85 residents get their mail, send packages, or purchase stamps. Whitelaw’s home is attached to the back of the store, so in a way, she’s always at work. But for the most part, that doesn’t bother the hard-working, friendly store owner. “It never ends—I always have a project going on,” she says. “It’s a lot of work, but I like to be busy and enjoy the challenge.” There are two well-kept outhouses—one for girls and another for boys—which can come in handy when traveling on the mostly lonesome Highway 279. Historic documents say that English immigrants John and Caroline Barrett filed for a 160-acre homestead on the land in 1881, but their entry was canceled in 1884. Miner John
Items of all kinds can be found at the Canyon Creek Store, left. Earl Wohlfrom, one of the store’s regulars, eats from a double scoop as he trades stories with other locals.
Carbis filed for the property in 1885, but his claim also was canceled. Moses Root, a rancher, filed a 160-acre homestead entry in June of 1891 and patented the claim in March of 1898. It’s unclear when the Canyon Creek Store was constructed, but documents indicate that the building was likely constructed after Root’s acquisition. At the same time, the post office was moved from the Negus farmstead to
inside the store. In the early days, mail arrived daily from the railroad station in Silver City. Just as back then, the store serves as a social gathering spot. Earl Wohlfrom has lived in Canyon Creek all of his 80 years. He stops in every afternoon to get his mail and have a cup of coffee. As a little boy, Wohlfrom says his parents would buy him a candy bar u
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once in a while but one of his fondest memories of the store involves bananas. It was hard as a little boy to pick between candy and fruit, but nowadays he’ll just get both when available. He’s also a big fan of the store’s huckleberry ice cream and is happy to sit and visit while eating a double scoop. Wohlfrom has a lot of stories to tell, but he claims that’s just what they are: stories without necessarily any historic proof. One story from the early 1940s involves some locals who prevented a robbery at the store. There are plenty of others, although Wohlfrom is pretty darn tight-lipped about some of them. Canyon Creek was formerly called Georgetown. Beyond the store, there’s a fire station and a one-room school house. It takes its present name from the creek that flows through the canyon to the Missouri River. The Canyon Creek Store is open every day: Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday noon to 5 p.m. through hunting season. Whitelaw doesn’t have any employees, but she has some help from friends to run the register if she needs to leave, and her fiancé, Ron Crawford, is the official handyman. With Crawford’s help, Whitelaw has been gradually improving the store. They put in grass for the renters out back, painted much of the building inside and out, and built a greenhouse filled with vegetables and flowers. “It takes a certain amount of insanity to take on a project like this,” Whitelaw admits. Crawford, a 1970 Helena High School graduate, has memories of the store dating back to when he was about 2 or 3. His folks own a cabin on Stemple Pass so the store was a regular stop on trips to and from town. “I’ve been coming here as far back as I can remember,” he says. Whitelaw knows all of the folks in Canyon Creek, and even some from far away. Nearby rancher Rick Grady has friends from Iowa who come to Canyon Creek to hunt each year and visiting Whitelaw is always one of their first stops. Grady says she is just as friendly to those just passing through as she is with the regulars. Peggy Justesen moved to the Canyon Creek area more than two years ago and stops in at the store about once a week. On a recent visit, she picked up a half-gallon of milk and a can of Mountain Dew, but it’s the antiques that intrigue her. “I love antiques,” she says. “I like looking for something unique and even got a couple gifts for my nieces.” For a store off the beaten the path, Justesen is impressed with its inventory. “She’s got such a variety of stuff here,” she says. “You can pretty much find anything you want. I think that’s why people stop.” [!]
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‘I know a lot of garbage, but they never ask questions about the right garbage.’ a member of the trivia team ’To Poker
nights of
knowledge Trivia-night teams find that age diversity is the the key to success [38]
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This page: Trivia-night scorer Joe Stewart, right, peeks at the answer as pub master, Tricia Hernacki, repeats a question for the teams. Facing page: From left Shanaugh McGoldrick, Rachel Cahoon, Carson Warstler, Kayla Parker and Shannon Mykins ponder a question during a recent trivia night at Riley’s Irish Pub.
Story by Sanjay Talwani Photos by Eliza Wiley
w
What nation is the only one where you might find a Venus fly-trap in its native habitat? In what year was Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” released? OK, maybe you’re up on pop culture, current events, history, philosophy, science and geography and still have time to watch some football. Maybe you play along at home with “Jeopardy” and think Alex Trebek is a lightweight. But can you hear the theme music from a sports program and remember whether it’s from “NFL on FOX” or the Sunday night game on NBC? If you think you’re smarter than the guy on the next barstool and you like showing off, Helena has an outing for you. Every Tuesday night for a couple of years now, Riley’s Irish Pub has packed in as many as 15 teams, fuming over how they could possibly have forgotten whether Canada has more lakes than Russia, or griping why anyone would be able to remember who recorded “The Locomotion.” u
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And, participants get to think of wacky and even off-color names for their teams. “It’s fun, but it’s not the typical bar scene,” said Tricia Hernacki, the pub’s quizmaster. And you can trust your quizmaster. She graduated from Carroll College in the spring with a degree in biology. So did the scorekeeper, charged with checking and tallying nearly 1,000 answers each week. So how do you win the contest, and with it, the bragging rights and a $50 gift certificate for your next visit to Riley’s? I joined in the competition this spring, invited by the team Fourth Estate, comprised mostly of members of the local press corps and some state government workers. It’s a smart crew brandishing advanced degrees, worldwide travel experience and a long record of close involvement with worldly affairs. But for all our knowledge of politics, classic rock and world history, we’re flummoxed again and again, grateful when we place in the top three, where A table of friends meet each Tuesday for trivia night.
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we can win a 20 percent discount on the table’s tab (second place) or, better yet, a free pitcher of beer (third place.) We ace some categories. But when the topic is hip-hop music or television programs from the last two decades or so, we may as well be competing in Greek. “The secret to winning is having a good balance,” said Allan Payne, a Helena lawyer, just after his team, Bipolar Express, won on a night in September. “You can’t just be a bunch of newspaper guys.” And even the winner sees room to grow. “We could use a couple of 20-somethings,” he said. And so could we. The game consists of seven rounds of 10 questions each. The first and last rounds are “general knowledge,” with the questions in the last round counting double. Each night also has a music round—we hear about 30 seconds of a song, tied to some theme (girls; summertime; sex) and have to identify the artist. The questions come from a subscription trivia service, except for the music round, which has been compiled at different times by a few different people who also happen to be competitors. Although they’re barred from participating in that round or sharing details with their team, it clearly gives that team an advantage. Also, Hernacki adds some categories of her own: biology, children’s literature and Harry Potter, so far. There’s also a picture round, when each team gets a sheet with 10 pictures. One challenge, identifying states by their outline, was easy. Identifying news anchors? Our team of reporters nailed most of those. Hairy NFL players, from Franco Harris to Troy Polamalu, gave most of the bar a tough time. And when we got the sheet of “floozies,” — nine women plus Charlie Sheen—we failed, but were proud to have preserved our brain space for better things. But with different personnel, we might have triumphed. During August, when many participants are eschewing the bar for beautiful evenings elsewhere, our team dwindled to almost nothing. A few of us, competing incognito as the Southside Destroyers, recruited a young law student, the nephew of one of our regulars. He ran the table on pop music questions and an entire category on video games, which would have normally shut out the Fourth Estate. Diversity, trivia winners agree, is the answer. “We started with a small core of guys who were all the same age,” says Scott Blum, a biologist with the Montana Natural Heritage Program, who, along with some teammates on Tiny Tanks, works for or closely with the Montana State Library. That age was 40s and 50s, so Blum recruited some younger people and some women. Now the team is among the top contenders almost every week. Tiny Tots has in its stables a baseball guy and a Bible guy, and competitors one recent Tuesday included a planner for the state, an actual master of Library Sciences and a geographer. That covers a lot of topics, but they still get stumped by country music questions. On the other hand, when the picture round came along with strange animals as the theme, Blum, aced it. Some teams labor in the middle or bottom of the pack. A group boasting present and recent Carroll College students changes its name each week to avoid being recognized. They lament that they’re narrowly focused on their courses of study. “None of us bother to pay attention to the news,” says one woman, refusing to give her name. They say that except for one teammate, they don’t do too well. Their advice: Get a smart person. Jason Kopp deals live poker at the Rialto, up the Walking Mall fall/winter 2010
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from Riley’s and likes to recruit players to come over when the trivia competition ends, usually around 9:30. His team, ’To Poker (short for Rialto Poker), came close to winning once, but was robbed, he said, when a discrepancy in the last round was uncovered, vaulting another team to victory. “We went so far as to celebrate,” he says. This night, the team grows and grows, with maybe a dozen people crowding in a booth, increasing the chances of having a ringer on a given topic, but also raising the possibility of conflicting geniuses. A man with one watch knows what time it is, but a man with two
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watches is never sure. Kopp says he’s still waiting for a round about the Miami Dolphins. Some of the questions are just ridiculously far-fetched. You might recall that John Valentin played the infield for the Mets and Red Sox in the 1990s, hitting .298 one year. But could you identify him in a photo lineup? And as the night goes on, sobriety becomes an advantage. “I have to check how many brain cells I have,” said one woman on ’To Poker, who wouldn’t give her name. “I know a lot of garbage, but they never ask questions about the right garbage.” [!]
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Outfitter tells harrowing story of how he and others dug their way out of the Bob Marshall Wilderness
Seven Feet By EVE BYRON
Under
This page: Dave Hovde tells his harrowing tale to a group of hunters from Wisconsin. Photo by Eliza Wiley. Facing page: A photo from the night of the storm in 1994. Photo courtesy of Dave Hovde
‘The snow is 6, 7 feet deep; I mean I can’t reach the top of the snow.…’ Dave Hovde
Hovdee tells how he and others dug out of 7 feet of snow on a hunting trip in 1994. Photo by Eliza Wiley
A
Anyone who spends enough time hunting in the woods has a good story to share around the campfire. Longtime guide Dave Hovde has one that’s legendary. It’s been 16 years since the hunting trip into the Bob Marshall Wilderness got cut short, but to Dave it remains as clear as a bull elk in his crosshairs. He and the outfitting crew were 14 miles into the wilderness, guiding three guys from Virginia. Snow had fallen for three days and about 2 feet covered the ground. As Dave shoveled the roofs of the wall tents, he contemplated breaking camp for the season, even though the hunters paid to stay in a few more days. Dave had a bad feeling about the thick clouds covering the gray sky and the fat flakes that were falling intermittently. At 4 a.m. on Nov. 2, 1994, they started packing. Quickly. That began an epic tale of strong backs and stronger hearts, of perseverance and faith, of man and beast working together to dig their way out of the deep wilderness. nnn Dave is quiet, with a ready smile, a strong handshake and an air of seriousness about him. Without cell phones or weather stations, he reads subtle signs in the wilderness like a book. They tell him where the elk are, what will spook a horse and what’s whispering in on the wind. On a recent autumn evening, he was just out of the woods after guiding six men from Wisconsin during the early 2010 wilderness elk season. Four got their elk, the other two shot and missed. After dinner at the 7 Lazy P guest ranch, where Dave has worked for Chuck and Sharon Blixrud for the past few decades, Dave took a seat on the fireplace hearth as others settled into overstuffed couches. His black cowboy hat bowed above his plaid shirt, as Dave recalled the crisp smell of winter in the air and the bite of the breeze in the early-morning hours so many years ago. He looks up, and he’s back at hunting camp. nnn “When we went into Wrong Creek, it had a little snow on the ground, nothing big,” Dave says. “It’s cold when you go in. It always is.” But with the snow accumulating, he ends the hunt early. As they pack the mules and horses, he realizes the shortest way out, up Route Creek Pass, is too steep and dangerous for the weather conditions. Instead, he decides to follow the Olney/Nesbit Trail. It’s longer but holds less elevation. It’s usually a five-hour ride to the trailhead.
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The three hunters are on the trail by 9 a.m., and Dave’s crew and their pack string follow an hour later. They rendezvous four miles up the road, and run into a couple who are trying to break trail but got turned back. Dave thinks they can make it. It’s 10 miles to the West Fork of the Teton trailhead. By now, the snow is waist deep. The couple pulls in behind Dave’s queue, as does another party. Eventually the pack string stretches to 49 animals and 17 people. Two miles below the pass, the snow is chest deep on the horses. The lead horse, Blaze, is in front but he keeps lunging forward, trying to get above the snow, and plays himself out. They rotate in another horse, but she does the same. By 2 p.m. the snow is 5 to 7 feet deep. They break out the lone shovel from the wrangler’s saddlebag, six mules back. It takes him 15 minutes to dig his way to the head of the pack string. They can’t camp overnight because there’s no food for the stock and Dave knows the snow isn’t going to melt until spring. Three men shovel for four hours, maybe six. Time plays tricks on a weary mind. It’s dark when they reach the pass. He hasn’t seen his hunters, 14 animals back in the string, for hours, and he’s worried they’re freezing but there’s nothing he can do. Dave says to wait while he shovels a path straight down, instead of following switchbacks, to save time. He’s “cutting a fat hog,” not sure what’s underneath. Something feels funny, and he slips through a log jam. “The snow is 6, 7 feet deep; I mean I can’t reach the top of the snow. … I have to shovel my way out because I have the only shovel.” He shouts to the others to take a different route, but is surprised by a mule running across the trail, right where he came down. She’s buried in the snow. He digs her out. Dave shines a flashlight up the trail, and sees the heads of two horses sticking out of the snow. “You can’t see their packs or their bodies in this log jam in the snow. And I’m thinking ‘Oh my God. This is getting serious quick,’ ” Dave says. He grabs one of the horses’ lead ropes and slowly backs up, then gives it a slight tug. They fly out of the snow and lunge at him. “I’m back peddling through all this snow trying to stay out of their way. I jump behind a tree and one horse buries itself on one side of the tree and the other buries itself on the other side of the tree, back again, up to their shoulders in the snow.” He ties them to the tree, then struggles back up the mountain to find out what’s going on. A mule, Rosie, is down and can’t get up even after they remove her packs. They’re not sure if a leg is broken;
the snow is too deep for them to check. Heavy hearted, they leave her behind. As they make their way down the pass, Dave decides to go back to having the horses break trail, even if it means burning them up. He’s dog tired. They’ve been shoveling for 10 hours. “I figured we’d get a fresh one until he played out, keep doing that until the next plays out and keep doing this leapfrogging ’em until we can get down to where the snow is manageable.” Comanche, a narrow-chested, tall Appaloosa, comes forward. The snow is up to the gelding’s chin, but he’s calm. The horse starts to push, like a snow plow, never lunging once. They reach a fork in the trail that goes up to Teton Pass. Comanche goes left, but Dave’s mare,
Duchess, wants to go right. “I just let her have her head and she went to the right,” Dave says. She leads them to the trailhead under starry skies. It’s well past midnight and the temperatures are below zero. Miraculously, someone has plowed the narrow county road, even though no one expected them out of the wilderness this early. They ride to the corrals, unpack the stock, and throw hay to the ravenous mules and horses. They only have one standard-cab pickup truck, so the cook and two guests—one on the verge of hypothermia— get inside while the other four hunker down in the truck bed. It’s close to 3 a.m. when they pound on the Blixrud’s door, hungry, cold and exhausted after 17 hours on the trail. As Sharon fills the table with food, stories pour out of everyone’s mouth, as they air their u
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different perspectives on that long day. “There was just a lot of stuff going on, all through the night, up there on the mountainside,” Dave recalls, choking up. Dave says the severity of the situation didn’t hit him until two days later, as he drove past Helena on his way to National Guard training in Bozeman. “I never felt nervous or scared or concerned about anything until I came off the Helena hill. “I just started thinking about all the stuff that could have happened and I started shaking. It finally hit me.” A backcountry ranger found Rosie the mule a week later back at the Wrong Creek camp, standing at the hitching rail. Comanche remained a favored horse for years. Dave’s horse, Duchess, a big bay
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mare, died that winter. “That was the last night I rode her. … She was 22. I had ridden her for about 16 years. That was tough, but she brought us out.” He wipes away a tear. “That’s the way she was.” nnn The remarkable story made the rounds. Dave was at a wheat grower’s convention in San Antonio, Texas, a few months later, talking to a guy from North Dakota who had hunted in the Bob, when the guy launches into a story about a group that dug themselves out of a blizzard in the mountains. He tells the whole story, from how long it took to get out to how many people and animals were in the pack string. “He gets done and I said ‘That was us. That was us that dug our way out of the mountains,’ ” Dave says with a grin. [!]
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[7 reasons why]
1. If you haven’t been playing outside in the dark recently, you have no idea what you’re missing. Darkness heightens your senses, sharpens your nerves and makes you feel more alive. Everything becomes slightly more difficult and slightly more fun. Mountain biking with a headlight offers that extra measure of joy and adrenaline you can only get when darkness obscures your vision and your other senses pick up the slack. 2. It gives an old trail a new vibe. With only a torch light illuminating the trail, even trails you’re familiar with will take on a whole new life. 3. It’s born of necessity. In the high summer temperatures, riding in early mornings or at night is cooler, literally. When summer gives way to autumn and winter, and mornings and evenings turn to darkness, it becomes hard to find time to ride. Riding with headlights changes that. If you want to continue riding during the “off season,” headlights are the way to go. 4. It will give you a leg up if you ever plan to compete in endurance racing. You can’t race a 12- or 24-hour race (solo, anyway) without competing in the dark. 5. It’s more in line with mountain biking’s counter culture. Riding over supposedly impassable roots, rocks and inclines is an act of defiance to mother nature, and riding at night is further rebellion.
Joining the Dark Side of mountain biking will elevate your game By John Doran
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6. Night riding will make you faster, more agile and more confident. You won’t tense up, brake or diverge your focus on every little trail obstacle in front of you, because you won’t see them all. Unexpected bumps and chatter will improve your core balance. And if you can conquer a trail in the dark, just think of what you can do in daylight! 7. It gives you another excuse to buy more cool gear, like the MagicShine 1400 — a threebeam, LED system that produces an unparalleled 1,400 lumens for a fraction of the cost ($130) as other, more expensive systems. Available at geomangear.com, the MagicShine product is becoming more popular among committed night riders who otherwise can’t afford $500 lighting systems. [!]
fall/winter 2010
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[my office] Lanny Hubbard
Montana State Fund CEO
Lanny Hubbard in his new office at the Montana State Fund building. Photo by Eliza Wiley
When it comes to his office, Laurence “Lanny” Hubbard has no room for complaint. After all, he helped design the office space in the Montana State Fund building. Hubbard, the State Fund’s president and CEO, occupies a top-floor corner office in the new $27.6 million building in the Great Northern Town Center. But the style of the office is a continuation of a theme that runs throughout the building. “Frankly, my office was the last thing on my mind,” says Hubbard. “It was the overall feeling of the building that was our focus.” Five years from start to finish, the State Fund building includes all sorts of environmentally friendly features that range from floors made from Montana larch and native stone and bamboo cabinets to countertops made from recycled paper, sidewalks warmed by heat from computer equipment and cisterns that capture rainwater used to water outdoor shrubs. Skylights and abundant windows bring natural light to many work areas and there is space set aside for meetings and collaboration among the building’s 285 occupants. By design, there are few offices, all the better to foster a sense of customerfocused teamwork, the boss says. “I wanted my office to reflect that philosophy,” Hubbard says. Indeed, there is no sign of a door when you walk into his work space. But a pocket door, with panes made from recycled plastic, can provide privacy when necessary. A similar hidden door can separate Hubbard’s office from an adjoining conference room. “I often work all day long with the doors wide open,” he says. “I want employees to feel comfortable when they come in.” The office features tall windows facing west and north. The Carroll College campus is in clear view, with the north end of the Helena valley as a backdrop. The most distinctive feature of Hubbard’s workspace is a private terrace, a space that allows him to catch some fresh air and have a unique spot to meet with visitors, if the weather is favorable. The office interior features rust-colored wallpaper and wood-covered walls. While there are some work-related items to be found, there is also plenty of empty space. “My office is a little stark,” Hubbard admits, noting that he is still searching for the best way to attach art and other items to the walls. One morning he came to work to a find that a painting, a gift from the staff, had come crashing down. Hubbard says he is working on getting updated photos of his children for the office. Eventually, other photos might hint at his hobbies: fly-fishing and sailing on Canyon Ferry Reservoir. The office décor is unlikely to be dominated by family and fun. “This is where I do business,” says Hubbard, who joined the State Fund as an attorney 21 years ago and has been CEO since 2003. “I surround myself with a lot of stuff related to Montana State Fund.” [!] By Butch Larcombe
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[laughs chance gulch]
fall/winter 2010
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Townsend Business Guide