All Aboard - Last Stop...

From Miles City to Helena, (the last research stop of my sabbatical year), I took as much of the more scenic route as possible along Highway 12 from Forsyth to the Martinsdale cut-off. I missed out on the famous beans of Ingomar, but caught a few more pictures of rural county courthouses to add to the collection I started two summers ago. I also fell in love with the views of the rolling hills and distant mountains of central Montana, near Two Dot.

Staying with friends just north of Boulder and south of the Wickes tunnel, I "commuted" for three days to the Montana State Historical Society research room. Tracing the various family brands was productive, and the historic Sanborn maps of Baker and Wibaux were illuminating; but I had little success with early Montana newspapers (other than getting eye strain from reading microfilm reels) and photo archives.

Now that I have been back in Missoula for a couple of weeks, getting settled back into a routine and reclaiming my house and yard, it's time for the writing to begin. My focus will be two journal articles; one each for the North Dakota and Montana Historical Society publications. Here's to a productive summer!