Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana

Articles written by Arlene Weber


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  • Our Town 125 and 100 Years Ago...March, Part I

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Mar 6, 2024

    125 YEARS AGO - MARCH, PART I: March 1899 came in like a lion in weather and news. There were troubled relations between the U.S. and Spain over events in Cuba. On March 8, 1899, the U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously to make $50 million available for national defense. Jury tampering was suspected in Wilkesbarre, PA when they acquitted Sheriff Martin and his deputies for the killing of strikers. Russia was threatening to move troops into Manchuria. At Anaconda, Montana, three...

  • Our Town 125 and 100 Years Ago: February, Part II

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Feb 21, 2024

    125 Years Ago - February, Part II: Depending on who you were, February 1898 was either a good or a terrible month. Things were getting tough for cotton mill owners and workers as the fourth week of a strike moved into the fifth. French Canadian workers from those mills were moving back to Canada causing a potential labor shortage. Heavy rains in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana caused many mudslides and negatively affected railroads, especially the Northern Pacific. Yale...

  • Whitehall Rotarians Help at District Basketball Tournament

    ARLENE WEBER, Whitehall Rotary Club|Feb 21, 2024

    Members of the Whitehall Rotary Club volunteered their time during the District Basketball tournament held at the Manhattan Christian Event Center in Churchill on February 14th through the 17th. More than 65 combined volunteer hours were worked staffing the tournament admission desk, helping with attendance count, and selling tournament programs. Joan Jones, Libby McBride, Karen Burtch, Arlene Weber, Pod Moriarty, and Terry Ross worked in pairs during the tournament putting in at least six...

  • Jefferson Valley Museum Offering 2nd Free Program

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Feb 14, 2024

    The Jefferson Valley Museum will host its second free winter program at the museum barn on Tuesday, February 20th at 7 PM. This will be an old-fashioned slide show of local historic photos. The slide show was assembled by Roy Millegan, Sr. sometime in the 1990s and will be presented in the same order as his original arrangement. Photos include many early mining operations, local people who worked the mines, and some of those who supported the miners. The museum's annual meeting is scheduled for...

  • Our Town 125 and 100 Years Ago - February, Part I

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Feb 7, 2024

    125 Years Ago - February, Part I: February 1898 was not starting well for many people. 600 ironworkers in Newcastle, Delaware were out of work and their families were facing starvation, several store owners were nearing bankruptcy and at least 1800 people were able to, left Newcastle due to the lack of food and fuel. Fire ravaged a warehouse in Pittsburg causing a $2,000,000 loss of property and in Aiken, South Carolina, the popular Highland Park Hotel burned to the ground. In Butte, Thomas F. Franey was facing death by hanging for a May 1897 m...

  • Whitehall Rotarians Volunteer at Home Games

    ARLENE WEBER, Whitehall Rotary Club|Feb 7, 2024

    Whitehall Rotarians have been staffing the admission table for Whitehall High School home games in basketball, wrestling, and sometimes volleyball, for many years. The club receives a donation from the school for club volunteer time. That money is then used by the Rotary club to help fund activities they support for students that have included dictionary/reference books for third graders, scholarships for graduating seniors, Rotary leadership camp, and Boys and Girls State. The club has...

  • Jefferson Valley Museum Winter Program January 23rd

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Jan 17, 2024

    The Jefferson Valley Museum will host its first of two free winter programs at the museum barn on Tuesday, January 23rd at 7 PM. This will be an old-fashioned slide show of local historic photos. The slide show was assembled by Roy Millegan, Sr. sometime in the 1990s and will be presented in the same order as his original arrangement. Photos include many early Whitehall buildings, railroad structures, and local people spanning from the 1890s to the 1950s....

  • Our Town 125 and 100 Years Ago...January, Part II

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Jan 17, 2024

    125 Years Ago - January Part II: Mine tragedies in Butte, Anaconda, and near Georgetown continued in the second half of January. Three men died at the Gold Coin mine at Gold Coin near Georgetown when two of them "were nearly hurled into eternity." A man known as George May or George Fisher was arrested in Malta, Montana on a charge of bigamy. He had wives in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, Grand Forks and Devils Lake, North Dakota, and Glasgow, Montana. Thousands of cotton mill workers in New England refused to work after a major dispute with mill...

  • Our Town 125 and 100 Years Ago...January 1898 and 1924, Part I

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Jan 3, 2024

    125 YEARS AGO - JANUARY, PART I: A new year has just begun and a new century is just around the corner in January 1898. Unfortunately, miner deaths in Butte and Anaconda were all too commonplace. In London, Ontario, 30 people were killed when the floor in the city hall collapsed under the weight of several thousand who had gathered after election polls had closed. The U.S. Congress was heading back to work with a focus on the Hawaiian annexation question, a contested senate seat for Oregon, and immigration and finances. In Arkansas, a horrific...

  • Our Town 125 and 100 Years Ago - December, Part II

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Dec 20, 2023

    125 YEARS AGO - December, Part II: Another year is closing and a new century is only a couple of years away. 1897 was, for many, thankfully coming to an end. In Seattle, 2.74 inches of rain in twelve hours left rivers swollen. In the Yukon, men have been leaving in droves due to a lack of food and impending winter weather. At Mammoth up the South Boulder, Ed Kennedy, a crippled man, had enough of William Barclay’s abuse and threw a pick at Barclay, striking him in the head. Mr. Barclay would survive the skull fracture. Marriage became easier...

  • Our Town 125 and 100 Years Ago...December, Part I

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Dec 6, 2023

    125 YEARS AGO - December, Part I: December 1897 was proving to have a typical Montana winter. More horrific deaths were reported in the Butte mines. At Dunham, Montana, on the Blackfoot reservation, a wreck on the Great Northern railway resulted in two deaths and two injuries with the eastbound passenger train engines a tangled mass after derailing from heavy snow. The University of Montana and the Bozeman Agricultural College (now MSU) played a Thanksgiving Day football game with U of M winning 18 to 6. In Butte, their football team defeated...

  • Our Town 125 and 100 Years Ago - November, Part II

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Nov 22, 2023

    125 Years Ago - November, Part II: In late 1897, the fledging State of Montana was becoming a little more civilized every day but also facing some of the same problems found in large eastern cities. The Woman Suffrage Association of Montana elected 1898 officers, with Jefferson County well represented by Mrs. Sherlock of Boulder as the vice president. A young druggist in Butte (who has recently come from New York) committed suicide by prussic acid due to unrequited love for a young woman who...

  • Our Town 125 and 100 Years Ago...

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Nov 8, 2023

    125 YEARS AGO: NOVEMBER, PART I: In early November 1897, there was plenty of Montana and national news. It was reported that Butte counted 52 deaths during October, a number of them miners who experienced horrible deaths and some ladies of questionable morals in the shady parts of town. A young man dropped dead in Marysville while dancing a waltz; Louis Desberges of Great Falls had been of unsound mind for some time, attempted suicide by jumping in the Missouri River; four men escaped from prison at Deer Lodge with two captured in Pocatello, Id...

  • Our Town 125 and 100 Years Ago...October, Part II

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Oct 25, 2023

    125+ Years Ago: October Part II - October 1897 was ending much as it began. More miners died in Butte, a woman overdosed on drugs in her room on the Galena alley, Veno the Healer was arrested for bilking Butte citizens out of at least $7000 and the well-known John A. Baker shot himself in his home on North Crystal Street. Outside of Montana, a mayoral election was being held in the huge three-million-strong metropolis of New York City with the yearly pay for the mayor set at $15,000. In Japan, Americans were not at all welcome. Yellow fever...

  • Rotary Gifts Food Pantry

    ARLENE WEBER, Whitehall Rotary Club|Oct 25, 2023

    The Whitehall Rotary Club recently gifted the Whitehall Food Pantry with a variety of case goods to help replenish their supply of canned food items. All were purchased locally at Jefferson Fresh Foods. Whitehall Rotarians are long-time supporters of the local food bank through monetary donations and helping deliver food baskets....

  • Our Town 125 and 100 Years Ago...October, Part I

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Oct 11, 2023

    125 Years Ago, October Part I: The Jefferson Valley Zephyr reported plenty of area news in early October 1897. Livingston suffered its worst fire when an abandoned building on Second Street caught fire. A new $40,000 theater opened in Anaconda called The Margaret. A sawmill 27 miles west of Missoula was burned to the ground at a loss of $15,000 not counting the production of 65,000 board feet of lumber per day and the jobs of 55 men. Miles City lost the MacQueen house to fire with a loss of $50,000. Many guests narrowly escaped the flames. In...

  • Our Town 125 and 100 Years Ago...September, Part II

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Sep 27, 2023

    125 YEARS AGO, SEPTEMBER - PART II: There were plenty of headlines in the Jefferson Valley Zephyr for the second half of September 1897. Dozens were killed and at least 185 injured in a Colorado train wreak; tensions were high between police and strikers at a mine near Latimer, Pennsylvania; the entire state of Mississippi was quarantined due to an outbreak of yellow fever; a tornado struck Port Arthur, Texas resulting in at least six deaths; and the Never Sweat mine in Butte was the scene of multiple fatalities. The following articles are...

  • JVM Ghost Walk Scheduled for October 5 & 12

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Sep 27, 2023

    The Jefferson Valley Museum is sponsoring its first Ghost Walk History Tour on October 5th and 12th. The walking tour will start and end at the Star Theater and cover six city blocks. Starting time will be 6:30 PM for both dates. Tour tickets can be purchased at the Whitehall Coffee Co. and must be presented at the start of the tour. The per-person cost is $10 which includes the tour and a coupon for a small drink and popcorn at the Star Theater. There is a limit of 20 people per tour. The movie is open to the public and there is no limitation...

  • Rotary and JVM Sponsoring Family Movie Nights

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Sep 27, 2023

    The Whitehall Rotary Club and the Jefferson Valley Museum are sponsoring two family movie nights in October that follow the Museum’s Ghost Walk History Tour. On October 5th, the Rotary Club is hosting Night at the Museum, a 2006 PG film starring Ben Stiller. On October 12th, the Museum is hosting the 2009 film Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian. Both movies will start at 7:30 PM at the Star Theater and are free to the public. Both films have plenty of action and comedy as the plot unfolds around a magic golden tablet belonging to...

  • JVM Ghost Walk Scheduled for October 5 & 12

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Sep 20, 2023

    The Jefferson Valley Museum is sponsoring its first Ghost Walk History Tour on October 5th and 12th. The walking tour will start and end at the Star Theater and cover six city blocks. Starting time will be 6:30 PM for both dates. Tour tickets can be purchased at the Whitehall Coffee Co. and must be presented at the start of the tour. The per-person cost is $10 which includes the tour and a coupon for a small drink and popcorn at the Star Theater. There is a limit of 20 people per tour. The movie is open to the public and there is no limitation...

  • Rotary and Jefferson Valley Museum Sponsoring Family Movie Nights

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Sep 20, 2023

    The Whitehall Rotary Club and the Jefferson Valley Museum are sponsoring two family movie nights in October that follow the Museum’s Ghost Walk History Tour. On October 5th, the Rotary Club is hosting Night at the Museum, a 2006 PG film starring Ben Stiller. On October 12th, the Museum is hosting the 2009 film Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian. Both movies will start at 7:30 PM at the Star Theater and are free to the public. Both films have plenty of action and comedy as the plot unfolds around a magic golden tablet belonging to...

  • Our Town 125 and 100 Years Ago... September, Part I

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Sep 13, 2023

    125 YEARS AGO - SEPTEMBER: Back in 1897, natural disasters, politics, crime, and illness were on the front page of the paper and there was plenty of satire on the inside. At least 400 people lost their lives on the Lucon island of the Philippines from a major volcanic eruption. Typhoid fever was a serious threat in Belt, Montana with 44 cases reported. In Alaska, typhoid and scurvy were attacking the miners – it was reported that many men had teeth dropping out of their mouths from the scurvy. An uproar was created when the government...

  • Antique Appraisals Bring a Few Surprises

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Sep 13, 2023

    Antique appraiser Timothy Gordon was able to provide some pleasant surprises to several people who brought in their items. Information was provided on a variety of items including a sword, a train engine bell, U.S. Southwest, Russian, and Middle Eastern jewelry, toys, clothing, and art. The museum welcomed valuable information on a number of their artifacts, one being the Indoor Baseball championship award in the school sports display. Mr. Gordon called a friend who is an expert on sports...

  • Celebrity Appraiser Coming to Jefferson Valley Museum September 9th

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Sep 6, 2023

    The Jefferson Valley Museum will be graced with the expertise of Timothy Gordon, owner of Gordon Appraisals in Missoula, on Saturday, September 9, 2023. Gordon is known internationally for his expertise in appraising fine art and the sale of rare objects. The Jefferson Valley Museum is extremely fortunate to have Mr. Gordon offering informational appraisals for area people who would like to know more about their antique items. Timothy Gordon will be at the museum on Saturday, September 9th from...

  • Celebrity Appraiser Coming to Jefferson Valley Museum September 9th

    ARLENE WEBER, Jefferson Valley Museum|Aug 30, 2023

    The Jefferson Valley Museum will be graced with the expertise of Timothy Gordon, owner of Gordon Appraisals in Missoula, on Saturday, September 9, 2023. Gordon is known internationally for his expertise in appraising fine art and the sale of rare objects. The Jefferson Valley Museum is extremely fortunate to have Mr. Gordon offering informational appraisals for area people who would like to know more about their antique items. Timothy Gordon will be at the museum on Saturday, September 9th from...

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