One Nation, Under God
One Nation, Under God
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Summer is here, and the flowers are thriving. The herb garden at the H.G. Robinson House yard is healthy and beautiful. Thinking of plants brings me to the discussion of Lewista Redivia or as most of us call it our State Flower the Bitterroot. The sight of the small pink flowers brings enjoyment, but much value can be found in the root of the plant. When the root is dug, boiled, then dried and ground into powder it has many medicinal uses. The powder can help to relieve pain, calm nerves, purify the skin, help to regulate blood sugar, and...
Today, Phillips County is filled with uncrowded spaces, but that wasn’t necessarily the case when dinosaurs ruled the earth. In fact, Phillips County has yielded some of the world’s most significant dinosaur discoveries. The PC Museum invites you to visit Elvis one of the best-articulated skeletons ever found. Elvis was the first three-dimensional Hardasaur found and he is right in your backyard! Take a part of your summer and roam the Montana Dinosaur Trail of which the Phillips County Museum and Great Plains are apart. The Montana Din...
Memorial Day is fast approaching. What does that mean to the people of Phillips County? Perhaps decorating loved one’s graves, flags waving on businesses and private dwellings, and a time to be with friends and family. Memorial Day was first known as Decoration Day. For the first 50 years, it was a celebration honoring World War I vets only. Gradually it became a celebration honoring men and women who died serving our county, and in 1971 it became an official holiday. The PC Museum has many military archival items displayed. We are o...
Prehistoric Molar Found Near Malta in 1941 – “A molar belonging either to Paul Bunyan or some pre-historic monster” reads the PCN story. WPA crews had been working at the gravel pit three miles northeast of Malta when an extraordinary discovery was made. Working with picks, the work crew broke the object nearly in half before the workers recognized it as something extraordinary. The tooth was found in a 40-foot cut of the hill sandwiched between a layer of gumbo clay and gravel. The tooth is nearly a foot in length and eight inches in width...
Another school year is almost over. The familiar yellow buses will soon disappear until summer is over. I recently ran across a story about the Bowdoin bus route I thought was interesting. Prior to 1925, the bus service to Bowdoin School was supplied by a two-horse team driven by Oscar Anderson. In 1925 Mr. Habedank bid on the northern route and offered motorized transportation in the form of a one-ton Model F Truck. The local handyman built a cab and enclosed it with a canvas cover and a small coal-burning stove was added during the winter....
In the April 4th Phillips County News, there was a story about Lieutenant Commander Lee S. Pancake in the 75 years ago column. The Commander was the son of Mr. and Mrs. George Pancake of Malta. Commander Pancake was indeed a hero who showed extraordinary heroism fighting off the coast of the Santa Cruz Islands. The Phillips County Museum has a new display honoring Lieutenant Commander Pancake. The display contains a dress uniform, sword, picture, and the burial at sea commemoration picture. Please visit the PC Museum and join us in honoring...
The doors are open! New displays and artifacts are just a few of the treasures that await you at the PC Museum. Several items are fresh out of storage and others are from a new collection that was given to the museum. Are you having trouble using the stairs to the second floor? The museum is working on a new stair lift that will enable almost all to reach the second floor so keep your eyes and ears in tune for news. Thursday, April 5, the PC Museum welcomes the Malta Middle School sixth grade history students as they bring us their...
Dec 26 As the year draws to a close, the PC Museum would like to say thank-you to everyone near and far that has supported the museum. Without you there would be no collection of county artifacts or genealogy resources! The museum will be closed January through March (2018). The staff and volunteers will be working on new exhibits to surprise and awe everyone. By chance, you have family or visitors during the winter months and would like a tour of the museum please call 654-1037 and leave a voice mail and someone will return your call. Once...
It’s almost time: join us for an evening of fun at the PC Museum on Thursday, November 30 as the PC Museum is proud to once again host their Festival of Trees. The Christmas tree is a time-honored tradition that reaches back hundreds of years. Ancient people hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows and believed the boughs brought them good luck. The Vikings in Scandinavia thought evergreens were the special plant of Balder their Sun God. To stay in the good graces of the Sun God Balder the PC Museum has an evergreen wreath with S...
Do you know Edward Johnson? His invention will be in the majority of Phillips County homes throughout December. Edward was a partner of Thomas Edison in “Edison’s Illumination Company”. As partner he strung the first string of Christmas lights together in 1882. It would be 41 years later that President Coolidge began the Christmas celebration at the White House lighting the National Christmas tree with 3,000 lights. I hope that you had the opportunity to see the Capitol’s Christmas tree as it passed through Malta. The PC Museum is decorat...
Phillips County is very lucky to have a Theatre still operating in Malta. One hundred years ago a dedicated man by the name of R.M. Trafton worked to bring theatre to our town. I enjoyed this article that was in the newspaper and thought others might enjoy it. “A crowd which in a metropolitan city would have brought out the Standing Room Only sign was the condition that greeted the McPhee-Downie Co on the opening night of Trafton’s new Theatre. From pit to dome every seat was occupied, the attendance probably being double of that of any previou...
What looks like a spinning disk and flies in the night sky? Those that “believe” know that it is a UFO. Starting in the 1950’s reports in Montana of UFO’s began to increase. Who was the first Montanan to defy the skeptics and say “Yes, I’ve seen them too?" That distinction remains unknown. What is known is that in the 1960's, across Montana, armed and ready missiles were deactivated with no apparent reason. Today, we might worry about terrorists but a few decades ago many blamed UFO’s. The PC Museum played host to guests that were research...
The Homestead Act of 1862 opened-up land to any adult who had never taken up arms against the United States government. Women and immigrants were eligible along with the male population. Nearly 10 % of the total area of the United States was given away to over one million homesteaders. Phillips County was settled with Homesteaders and today some of those families are still farming and ranching. The Phillips County Proud celebration was joined by the 4th, 5th and 6th grade classes In Phillips County to present an evening of fun for the...
Operation Skywatch. Do those words ring a bell? Did you take part in Operation Skywatch? Were you a member of the Montana Ground Observer Corps? The volunteers that took part in GOC were an integral part of our nation’s defense plan. The idea that the open spaces of Montana might interest the Soviets in a surprise attack was a viable concern for the Air Force. To combat this problem volunteers across Montana were trained to identify silhouettes of all military planes and armed with telephones and binoculars. When an aircraft was sighted volunte...
A recent article in the Society Star made me stop and think about our Museum volunteers. Our volunteers are the beat that keeps the PC Museum going. The real value of our volunteers can never be measured as they bring such diverse talents to the museum. A rough estimate of our volunteer hours since the beginning of January 2017 is approximately 2,000 hours. In monetary value those hours are equal to a full-time employee for 6 months. Thank-you volunteers you are so valuable. Our volunteers wear many hats including flower garden care, help to...
While doing a search for genealogy I came cross a story I thought would be interesting to tell. Thunder and lightning are common place events during the month of July in Phillips County as they were also in 1934. So, let’s travel back to the Phillips Ranch in south Phillips County. Taking cover in a camp wagon during a thunderstorm were Pat Barrow, Bert Jarvis, Frank Baker, and two unidentified men. Suddenly the men became victims of a stray lightning bolt. The bolt struck Barrow burning the metal ring from his watch and melting the glass c...
What makes a “collector” and who are “collectors”. A dictionary response tells us that they are individuals who locate, acquire, display, store and maintain specific items. Ask a collector why they collect and you might receive answers like “I have a love of these items”, or they hope “for financial gain”, or maybe just to “preserve a piece of the past for future generations.” Now if you ask a spouse of a collector they may use words like “genetic defect”. I believe it is a basic human instinct to collect and save. The PC Museum displays are...
Happy Fourth of July. Again, Cole, Mont., is the topic for this week. In 1935, the town of Cole celebrated our nation’s birth with a rodeo. Frank Martin reported news on the rodeo and he remembers it being clear and hot. (Some things never change!) Events were similar to today, saddle bronc, bareback, bull riding, and calf roping. Although Frank reported that the cattle never showed up for the calf roping so his entry money was returned. Other noteworthy events were a bad bronc that went over backwards, a bronc that bucked along a fence and r...
Happy Summer! Does anyone know the story behind Cole, Mont.? Cole was located in Phillips County approximately 20 miles northwest of Saco. At one time, it was a flourishing city of 1,000 people. What brought that many people to that area? Fort Peck Dam was a great site for building a dam. Suitable soils were available nearby, rock and gravel were found in the immediate vicinity also. But “toe gravel” was not available at the dam site. It was determined that 4,000,000 cubic yards was needed. Survey’s determined an extensive glacial depos...
Summer has arrived in Phillips County. The PC Museum has had visitors from 24 states and several countries. It is so exciting to hear the compliments on our displays and awe over the dinosaurs the Malta museums have on their premises. When the door swings open at the museum we never know who will walk in. In 1959 the town of Malta had a set of unique visitors. Let’s go back to August of 1959. Forty gypsies arrived in eight trailers. The women were dressed in bright colors and full skirted costumes and much to the news reporters shock several o...
17 found the women of Malta fighting to bring the arts to Phillips County. The Carnegie Corporation had indicated the possibility of building a library in Malta. Total cost of the library was the astronomical amount of $15,000.00. Now the club would need to find a free site to be donated before an application to the Carnegie Corporation could begin. Mr. Trafton donated a beautiful site which included four lots. These lots were close to the business area of the city and the women felt it would be perfect and…. it was the only site offered t...
Hello Phillips County. Many know the story of how several towns in northern Montana were named by a spinning globe and a finger being placed at random on the globe. How many know the name of the station agent that became tired of being only a number? His name was Harry Vagg and he was the station agent at the siding which was later designated with the name Saco. Mr. Vagg and several agents traveled to St. Paul to plead their case asking for names not numbers to identify their stations. After arriving there was discussion on what to name the...
Phillips County was once home to many communities and towns that no longer exist. Today, a few old buildings may still grace the townsites or stone foundations giving evidence of the families that once lived there. West of Malta, Wagner Montana, still has buildings and homes that indicate a once bustling community. Wagner town site was platted by Andrew Davidson in 1910. At the height of its existence Wagner boasted a general store, a 10-room hotel, a bar, lumber yard, livery stable, barber shop, blacksmith, post office and school. The...
Next Monday marks the beginning of May. Many of us remember taking part in fun May Day activities. Does anyone remember the Mayday Pole celebration at St. Mary’s? Some of us remember making baskets and filling them with flowers, candy, or special treats and leaving them on the doorsteps of family and friends. Now if you are a young man with a romantic notion legend says you are to hang a basket on your sweetheart’s door and she would give chase. If the boy was caught it was a big disgrace and would guarantee teasing from his friends. My que...
What a treat the Malta Middle School sixth grade class brought to the PC Museum last Tuesday. Farmers, tough men, gentle ladies, and past teachers are just some of the characters that passed through our doors. Students took on the persona of a person of their choice and became wax museum figures. Breaking from their frozen stance only when one stepped on a button in front of them at which time the figure came to life and gave a brief biography. If you were unable to attend last Tuesday’s event never fear the wax museum will be back next year i...