Life on the Plains: The Museum of the Northern Great Plains

My favorite thing to do in fort Benton is to stroll along the levee eating ice cream from the Freeze. Unfortunately, weather doesn’t always cooperate. The weekend we went was muggy, windless and clinging on the verge of 90 degrees. On such days, the best policy is to visit one of the town’s five museums. … Read more

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Bannack Days

One of Montana’s premier events, Bannack Days is here again. Click here for a schedule of the packed full weekend. Click here, for SouthWest Montana’s video of Bannack Days from a few years ago (you may have to scroll down a bit).  With exhibits, performances, meals, tours, demonstrations and music, Bannack days is one of … Read more

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Helena’s Hectic Houses

Helena’s architecture defies classification. To begin with it was a gold rush town—filled with saloons and brothels and dirt covered prospectors. Some of this remains in the tangled skein of roads that follow old footpaths, and in many buildings’ false-fronted western flair. In just a few short years, however, the town had become the epicenter … Read more

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A Tourist Region by any Other Name (would smell as sweet): What’s in a Name?

N.B. Our apologies for the title, it was to easy a reference to pass up. We thought about using “Wherefore art thou SouthWest Montana” but, frankly, have never been entirely sure of the meaning of “wherefore.”   Imagine this scenario: you’re sitting in a bar with a few friends and friends-of-friends. You say you blog … Read more

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Carter Ferry Dialogue

abandoned farmhouse in a wheat field near Carter, Montana

  “You folks know where you’re going?” “Highwood” “Good” “How many people use the ferry?” “Not very many any more” “What sort of people?” “What sort? Mostly good folks, like yourselves” “…”  “Tourists, a few locals still, mostly fishermen”                        

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Bewitched by the Bray: the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts

art work at the Archie Bray

Before it became one of the foremost ceramics studios in the world, the site of the Archie Bray Foundation was the Western Clay Manufacturing Company. It took very little for Archie Bray to begin transforming the place into an arts center in 1951. Bray envisioned creating a place for “all who are interested in the … Read more

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