׉?4ׁB!בCט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://d1Ca-tKv89GoMXvPr3PbN0DgxTmzWSPrRrO5s-3TNOA~`׉ 7cassandra://k5AodtQJH_a8i6tG_6uDvvwaiiuNlZXzPjqdP4PrAWÉ`s׉ 7cassandra://DPqYe2If2fD8p5OoDPXCdnOCkEN_KDR7Af3QilydO14)`j p\^D^Dט(u׈Sנj p\^D^Ȉ 9ׁH#https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ׁ ׁ Ј׈Ej p\^D^2׉EAPRIL 2026 Ghost Towns and History of Montana Newsletter From The Hardin Tribune-Herald , Mar. 12, 1937 Train Trips to Paradise– Part 2 After all these nonmechanized years, three railroads in the 1880's! Montanans were, literally, transported. The railroads mark a fundamental turning point, the greatest historical watershed in Montana history. All but ending the captivating river and wagon trades, they linked Montana to vital national markets. They opened the territory (and soon the state) to outside investment and exploitation. They goosed economic growth and development. W. G. Conrad said it all: “The railroad … changed all the channels of business and many … were unable to adjust themselves to the new conditions it brought. The coming of the railroads annihilated time and distance … and annexed the country to the commercial territory of the great eastern merchant princes.” By 1909, a third transcontinental, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific (the “Milwaukee Road”) had cut through central Montana just in time to capitalize on the great homesteader boom. Railroads were absolutely essential to homesteading in central and eastern Montana – there’s almost a causal connection. Railroads brought farm families into the state with all Accessed via: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ and Seattle Ry #700 travels west of Drummond in October 2002. Photo by Jack Dykstra Train west of Drummond: The fully restored Spokane, Portland ׉ 7cassandra://DPqYe2If2fD8p5OoDPXCdnOCkEN_KDR7Af3QilydO14)`j p\^D^3j p\^D^2(בCט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://WPFRjHpjbnxpoHxJgdVVrtzXFPgj4WND4IQZESQYzXI~`׉ 7cassandra://c8HqG6tS0AXxDOpWscEAZB-Sz2m2OSIZrMAm0Ib1xEw͎`s׉ 7cassandra://FrmpAQInCVD3mPQptPumDea9nJs1RRWlbLR9zDAFWkA&C`j p\^D^Jט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://sp9WnL--wy74lbNFGkEjpPyGKQNCei3ujLBDIpdkO-4U`׉ 7cassandra://HmSi7nc449SWGyT9K4zXQ6qIemPyTYP8DafNGgEfxl0͆`s׉ 7cassandra://LVK9SxN1lqbaEL2o4Rc25yVFyOY2W1f0xctPXNWriuc&i`j p\^D^Kנj p\^D^Gā9׉H/https://www.umt.edu/this-is-montana/default.phpGׁ ׁ rנj p\^D^HLցK9׉H/https://www.umt.edu/this-is-montana/default.phpGׁ ׁ rנj p\^D^PLׁE 9ׁHhttp://default.phׁ ׁ Јנj p\^D^OŁ 9ׁHhttps://www.umt.edu/thisׁ ׁ Ј׉E "P a g e 2 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r their goods, livestock and equipment. They allowed grain growers and ranchers to ship their products to eastern markets. The Northern Pacific in 1900 was the largest landowner in Montana, and it had millions of acres to sell. The Great Northern and the Milwaukee Road depended for their very existence on filling up the plains – once home to widespread Indian nations and buffalo – with productive, Jeffersonian, agrarian yeomen. Their message to potential farmers all over America and Europe was simple: Come hither, and replenish the earth. Factors other than railroad promotion and cheap transportation drew settlers to Montana after 1890. Land was free – 160 acres under the Homestead Act of 1862. The acreage doubled in 1909, and the proof period dropped from five to three years. Governments at all levels sought to attract citizens. Rainfall seemed ample, and if not, scientific agriculture – or dryland farming –promised good crops anyway. Commodity prices were high. It all seemed so easy … free land, railroad competition, instant returns, endless markets, high profits. No wonder people poured into Montana – 103,000 in the 1890's, 133,000 in the 1990s, an incredible 173,000 in the 19-teens. From 1890 to 1920, Montana’s population exploded by nearly 300 percent. In 1910 on a single day in Havre, 250 homesteaders arrived. In 1913, each month, 700 people filed there. In March 1916, the number reached 1,200 a month. The plains areas alone accounted for more than 70 percent – 220,000 – of Montana’s population increase in the first two decades of the century. Everything expanded – prosperity; population; land under cultivation; wheat production (both yield per acre and price per bushel); women, children, and families; the number of towns and counties; railroad trackage. The years 1900 to 1920 were years of frenzied railroad construction in Montana. The great transcontinentals sent feeder lines to the farthest hamlet, mine or forest. Steel rails crisscrossed the state. You could go anywhere, it seemed, on the iron horse. Every boom, unfortunately, produces a bust. The homestead era began gradually and collapsed abruptly. When the Great War ended in Europe in 1918, the bottom dropped out of the market. Commodity prices plummeted. A searing drought, for which even scientific agriculture had no remedy, scorched the plains. Crop yields imploded. Fire, wind, hail, plagues of locusts, a flu epidemic and dust storms of biblical proportions battered Montana’s grasslands. Paradise became hell overnight. The same trains that had carried thousands of settlers into Montana for 30 years carried thousands away after 1918. Montana was the only state in the nation to record negative population growth in the 1920's. ׉ 7cassandra://FrmpAQInCVD3mPQptPumDea9nJs1RRWlbLR9zDAFWkA&C`j p\^D^6׉E 1P a g e 3 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r Though no one realized it yet, the railroad era in American history was over. Trains built the country and made Montana. But when Henry Ford rolled a cheap Model T off the Dearborn assembly lines in 1915, the world changed. Automobiles, trucks and highway construction constitute the next, enduring chapter in Montana’s transportation history. It was a great ride for 15 or 20 years on either side of 1900. Railroads and homesteaders go together in Montana. Each had its glory days. We still have farmers in Montana, and trains, but the romantic connection is history. Provided Courtesy of: Harry W. Fritz | University of Montana | Department of History Originally published on THIS IS MONTANA, an uncommon website. By means of photography, essays, maps, and much more, the University of Montana presents a vivid portrait of the beauty and uniqueness of the Montana. Check out more at: https://www.umt.edu/this-is-montana/ default.php “KID” CURRY GANG For some 10 to 15 years the four Curry brothers, Henry, John, Loney and Harvey (The Kid), members of the ill-famed “Wild Bunch,” which included Harry Longabaugh (the Sundance Kid) and Butch Cassidy, made the Little Rocky Mountains their headquarters. The Curry Brothers’ real name was Logan. The fact that they had come to Montana under an assumed name is perhaps an indication that they had been in the business of bank robbery, train holdups and murder before their arrival in the early 1890s. No attempt will be made here to delve into their pasts or activities in Wyoming, Utah or Colorado during their careers of crime and violence. This tale is of their activities in the Little Rockies and Northern Montana. The stories have been told by old timers, long dead from pioneers who still remember them and from faded old newspaper files. Mrs. Edgar Williams of Malta recalls stories told by her mother, Mrs. Julius Wysoski, when she came to Montana in 1888. After Wysoski’s death, she married John Kolczak, and widowed when Kolczak was killed in a gun fight in Landusky. Mrs. Williams says her mother told her of her friendship with Kid Curry. The Kolczak ranch was a haven for cowboys riding the range. They were always welcome to a meal or a bed. Kid Curry was among the riders who frequently stopped at the ranch. He was a courteous, rather quiet young man who was always glad to give a hand at ranch chores or chop a supply of wood for the widow. Bill Kellerman, a long-time businessman and resident of Zortman, told another side of the man. Keller׉ 7cassandra://LVK9SxN1lqbaEL2o4Rc25yVFyOY2W1f0xctPXNWriuc&i`j p\^D^7j p\^D^6(בCט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://RwnQsXhfHBspjSnStlbyVxRq3pYms9_MEbPIVDYEUh0`׉ 7cassandra://y-ER9uQydRLU-EvG0KAjFHw062_lgBuGtAhm0QGVlAI͇i`s׉ 7cassandra://ISk4KThfX2elnhoaPeLeX3QspotYTNlFD5EKJbF_-ug%`j p\^D^Nט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://SwiSZcbEMCkEFTm092cFoa524EcGp59WYnts-VcSnTI|`׉ 7cassandra://uPzDP0iIGzLHA1Pp6psEvgmdEFR0UOhphVIkSOiHg3wͅ`s׉ 7cassandra://Gn4TsLcq-47dMxzlS1bjjCVYR4vknd5bYfg5thdciJY$`j p\^D^Q׉E P a g e 4 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r man, a 15-year old orphan, had been befriended and brought to the Little Rockies by Pike Landusky from Missouri in 1894. In Kellerman’s words, “A Christmas dance was being held in Landusky. That night the Curry Gang shot up the town, including the dance hall. They shot the piano to splinters, broke guitars over the musicians’ heads and generally wrecked the place. The Curry boys were pretty active around the old mining camp the first few months after I arrived. One time three or four of them rode into a pool hall and played a game on horseback. One of the horses broke through the floor and horse and rider dropped into the dirt cellar. They were always coming into town, getting liquored up and shooting up the camp.” This same Christmas season of 1894, Kid Curry shot and killed Pike Landusky in Jew Jake’s saloon. Kellerman had just left the saloon where he heard shots and someone shouting that Pike Landusky had been killed. He learned later that Jim Thornhill, Kid Curry, Loney Curry and Harry Longabaugh (The Sundance Kid) had entered the saloon “roughhousing and mean.” The kid who bore Landusky a grudge over a previous arrest and what he claimed a mistreatment, made a grab for Pike, knocked him down and shot him as Landusky reached for his gun. The Curry Gang rode out of town after the killing. They went into hiding on the ranch they had established south of the mountains where they had a few cattle. The ranch made a good headquarters for meetings of the “Wild Bunch” and was strategically located for a quick get-away. Sheriff’s officers from Fort Benton, county seat of old Chouteau County, were scouring the county for them and following up every lead. Kellerman said that sometime towards the spring of 1895, he walked to the Curry ranch. The Kid, Longabaugh and the cook were in the house. They greeted him cordially and invited him in. The Kid was watching a team and buckboard headed towards the ranch through a powerful field glass. Figuring it was the “law, “ he and Longabaugh slipped out the back door, mounted saddle horses and road towards the Missouri River. They were out of sight immediately and would be for 10 miles or so. “I was fooling with the Curry’s pet gopher when the buckboard stopped at the ranch. A man wearing a star stepped down and asked me if anyone was at home. I said, “no.” Figured the less I said the better off I’d be. I’d learned a lot in the short time I had been in Montana.” Henry Curry figured in a shooting episode at the Jim Winters’ ranch south of the mountains, which not only resulted in his death, but the death of Jim Winters. ׉ 7cassandra://ISk4KThfX2elnhoaPeLeX3QspotYTNlFD5EKJbF_-ug%`j p\^D^8׉E fP a g e 5 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r The Winters’ ranch had been squatted on by Dan Tressler about 1890. He and his wife separated and she was taken to a friend’s ranch on the Missouri River by John Curry, whom she planned to marry. Tressler sold the ranch to Jim Winters and his half-brother, Abram Gill. Mrs. Tressler thought she was entitled to the property and persuaded John Curry to get it for her. He sent Winters a noticed to vacate within a certain period or face the consequences. Winters, knowing full well what the consequences would be, kept a loaded rifle behind the back door of his house. On the date specified, John Curry was seen approaching the Winters’ place on horseback. Winters fired and Curry lay dead with a bullet between his eyes. Within six months, Winters was in his grave a short distance from the grave of John Curry. He was shot from ambush as he stood on a porch. It was regarded as a revenge killing on the part of the Curry gang. As for Curry, we are informed by a story appearing in a late 1899 issue of the Harlem Enterprise, which was to become the Malta Enterprise a year later, that Loney Curry had purchased a half interest in a saloon owned by a man by the name of Bowles. Within a few weeks he was joined by a man he introduced as Bob. The news story refers to him as Curry’s brother, but he was a cousin, Bob Lee, of Missouri. The two men bought the remaining half interest in the saloon known as the “Club Saloon, Curry Brothers, proprietors.” They remodeled and painted the building and appeared to be settling down as Harlem businessmen. The fact that the “Club Saloon” was closed and locked one early January morning caused little comment until it was learned that the business had been sold hurriedly the previous night to a George Ringling. The story related that a Pinkerton detective named Sayles had trailed Loney and Bob Lee to Harlem as suspects in the holdup and robbery of a Union Pacific train near Rock Springs, Wyo., on Jun 2, 1899. Six men were implicated, including Loney, Kid Curry and Bob Lee. A reward of $3,000 for the apprehension of the men was posted. The sudden departure of Curry and Lee from Harlem followed a tip-off by a fellow gang member that their whereabouts had been traced. The Harlem newspaper also revealed the fact that a substantial sum of money collected for a raffle, the proceeds of which were to go to a local charitable project, had, apparently, been appropriated by the fleeing recent saloon keepers. An Associated Press dispatch on March 7, 1900, carried the news that Loney Curry had been killed by law ׉ 7cassandra://Gn4TsLcq-47dMxzlS1bjjCVYR4vknd5bYfg5thdciJY$`j p\^D^9j p\^D^8(בCט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://aZs9t0lVokeUPM1hRHYQUTEcqJPZZ2t1RZPUqBLXDhcM`׉ 7cassandra://OBQvpUGvM7oukDxi-f4NDwLtEAr12lIAGm_PrWmyflg}`s׉ 7cassandra://cJprBw00JEXhH5I-PWfosBit3_9u49s9rVA4BD9qrSY#`j p\^D^Sט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://S7edG0s5DShkV1QvpIWX5bgseTKQxelbXGwuLkuP9Os`׉ 7cassandra://TbFIUNtoR3BOD6EL87yJl4D8aXyT-ct-AtQMEoVjFq8͌J`s׉ 7cassandra://tHy7JyyFMV65tpa4mt8wrQeaahIAzIUpo6F7rLUmrjg'z`j p\^D^T׉E P a g e 6 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r officers at the home of his Aunt Lee near Dodson, Montana. Detectives had caught up to him at that place. He was shot as he attempted to make his get-away from a back door of the house. Sheriff Clarey of old Chouteau County made a trip to Dodson to identify the body. Loney was 28 years old. The Curry (Logan) family had moved to Missouri from Virginia when he was 10 years old. “He seemed a good sort of boy. If he became a desperado it was after he went west,” family friends said of him. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, several holdups and robberies took place, which were credited to the Curry Gang, whether rightly or wrongly. The Chick Whitcomb-Lusk Saloon At Ruby Gulch, above Zortman, was robbed several thousand dollars by two masked men who escaped without a shot being fired. The R. M. Trafton and Chambers Hardware stores in Malta were robbed of a large amount of ammunition. Checks taken in the robbery of the Ruby Gulch Saloon bore forged endorsements with the words, “It’s a shame to take the money,” written below the signatures. The Rock Creek train holdup and robbery apparently set the pattern for the holdup of the Great Northern “Flyer,” 5 miles west of Malta at Exeter Creek on July 3, 1901. The Exeter holdup was the last train robbery credited to the Wild Bunch– John, Henry and Loney were dead. The Kid was the only member of the family of brothers alive. The holdup is believed to have been planned by the Kid and Butch Cassidy. As the “Flyer” stopped at Malta for water on July 3, 1901, Kid Curry and another man boarded the blinds. They made their way to the engine and, sticking a gun in the engineer’s back, ordered him to stop the train. The fireman was ordered to open the express car. The bandits blew the safe and loaded $40,000 in currency and some cash in a gunny sack. The three men made for the Milk River ford nearby, directing a few random shots at the train as they went. One of the bullets is said to have wounded a woman passenger in the arm. The bandits waded across the river where their saddle horses were tethered and made off in a southerly direction. News of the holdup was taken to Wagner by a man who had been riding a short distance to the north of the holdup scene. He saw the train stop and watched the three men making for the river. He rode on to Wagner where news was rushed over Western Union wires to Glasgow, county seat of old ׉ 7cassandra://cJprBw00JEXhH5I-PWfosBit3_9u49s9rVA4BD9qrSY#`j p\^D^:׉E P a g e 7 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r Valley County, and Fort Benton, county seat of old Chouteau County. The holdup had occurred practically on the county line with Glasgow some 75 miles to the east and Fort Benton, still farther to the west. Good planning, it would seem. There was some difficulty in forming a posse in Malta and several hours elapsed before men and horses were brought by train from Glasgow. Another posse started off from Fort Benton, but there was sufficient time for the holdup men to get safely out of the county. There were reports of horses being commandeered at various ranches, the exhausted steeds being left in place of fresh horses. Some people who have written books or magazines, and there have been thousands of words printed about the Curry boys and the “Wild Bunch,” maintain that Kid Curry never did return to the Little Rockies. But again, Bill Kellerman claimed that he had played poker with The Kid in a Landusky saloon in 1903. “The Kid was being hunted all over the west, but some of the time he was safely hidden in the Curry ‘hideout’ south of the mountains,” he said. “Several of us were in a game in Landusky, run by the school teacher whose name was Finch. The Kid came into the saloon and bought a drink. We all knew him, of course, but no one spoke his name. He strolled over to the poker table and asked Finch if he could join the game. He bought a $10 stack of chips, lost the pile and walked out saying we were too tough for him. The Kid always wore two guns with rings in the butts and everyone knew the guns. Sometimes he would wear a mustache and the next time you saw him he would be clean shaven.” After the disappearance of Abram Gill about 1905, the Pinkertons endeavored to link up his disappearance with the “Wild Bunch.” Gill had sold the ranch he had inherited from his half brother, Jim Winters, to the Coburn Cattle Company. He left the Coburn ranch with a $10,000 check. He and his white horse vanished somewhere between the ranch and Landusky. His wealthy family in the east spent a great deal of money trying to find some trace of him. The missing check was made good. Tales of Kid Curry’s death in widely separated areas, including South America, have appeared in newspapers and magazines over the years. Whether he actually did die in a gun fight in Bolivia or whether he returned to the United States and lived to a peaceful old age, is as much a mystery as the disappearance of Gill. The stories persist. The mining camps of Zortman and Landusky knew him well, some of the citizens of the camps knew him as a friend and some, as foe.... —Courtesy of the Eastern Montana Outlaw News in Cooperation with Missouri River Country. To learn more about all the adventures awaiting you in ׉ 7cassandra://tHy7JyyFMV65tpa4mt8wrQeaahIAzIUpo6F7rLUmrjg'z`j p\^D^;j p\^D^:(בCט(u׉׉ 7cassandra://ROQYIX9uKHzS-cRVYKuwqXhbdc9c6da3llxCLZ0cB78`׉ 7cassandra://VatCLmrTbTdYJulcSveymSGoPDC2elybxTBpKXDgO9U͓*`s׉ 7cassandra://tQAOZVjdTG_qRqTUiBwYq7mgazWlCNSCWgKc94mUVAg(`j p\^D^]נj p\^D^W{9׉Hhttps://missouririvermt.comGׁ ׁ rנj p\^D^X̣,9׉H7https://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-wctu.htmlGׁ ׁ rנj p\^D^Y;Q9׉H>http://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/2013/01/scarred-trees_21.htmlGׁ ׁ rנj p\^D^ZL)9׉H>http://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/2013/01/scarred-trees_21.htmlGׁ ׁ rנj p\^D^[KQ*9׉H0http://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/p/my-books.htmlGׁ ׁ rנj p\^D^\L`9׉H0http://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/p/my-books.htmlGׁ ׁ rנj p\^D^`La 9ׁH%http://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/p/myׁ ׁ Јנj p\^D^_̀9ׁHhttps://missouririvermt.comׁ ׁ Ј׉E P a g e 8 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r northeast Montana, visit: https://missouririvermt.com The Story of Sack Woman Beloved Salish elder Louis Adams recently shared the story of Sack Woman with a group of high school students at Fales Flat in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Centuries-old Ponderosa pines surrounded the group. These trees bore scars that Sack Woman herself had made more than a century ago in teaching her people how to gather nourishment. Louis told the students that when he was a boy, Sack Woman was very old. But she was a powerful person. He and the other kids were afraid of her because it was her job to punish children. When a child misbehaved, parents would say, “I am going to tell Sack Woman.” If a child stole something or talked back to a parent or disobeyed, Sack Woman would come looking for the guilty child. She would catch him, put him in a gunny sack, and dunk him in the river. One day Louis did something that got him into big trouble. His mother told Sack Woman, and Louis was scared. Sometime later, the family was at a gathering and Sack Woman came after him. But she was elderly, and Louis moved much faster than she could. Although she chased him, Louis got away. And he thought he had escaped. Sometime later, Louis had forgotten all about his misdeed and figured Sack Woman had forgotten too. He was at a family gathering, and Sack Woman was there. She came up quietly behind him and threw the sack over his head. She had him, and Louis was so scared! Sack Woman dragged him screaming down to the water and dunked him. Later on, Sack Woman called Louis over to her side, invited him to sit down beside her, and talked with him for a long time. She gently explained why she had dunked him. Children have to learn to be good, she told him, and it was her job to make sure that children grew up to be good people. And to be a good person, you have to learn from your mistakes. After that, Louis greatly respected Sack Woman, and loved her for what she had taught him.–Ellen Baumler Ellen Baumler was an award-winning author and Montana historian. A master at linking history with modern-day supernatural events, Ellen's true stories have delighted audiences across the state. The legacy she left behind will be felt for generations to come and we are in debt to her for sharing her extensive knowledge of Montana history in such an entertaining manner. To view and purchase Ellen’s books, visit: http:// ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html My/Donor Information: SUBSCRIBE TO THE GHOST TOWNS AND HISTORY OF MONTANA NEWSLETTER! Renewal? Y/N Send a Gift to: NAME____________________________________ NAME___________________________________ ADDRESS__________________________________ ADDRESS_________________________________ CITY______________________________________ CITY_____________________________________ STATE__________________ZIP________________STATE_________________ ZIP________________ Yearly subscriptions are $19.95 (published monthly). Please make checks payable to Ghost Towns & History of MT, LLC and send with this clipping to 701 Cedar ST, Anaconda, MT 59711 ©2026 Ghost Towns and History of Montana, LLC. All rights reserved. Louis Adams tells stories in the SellwayBitterroot Wilderness ׉ 7cassandra://tQAOZVjdTG_qRqTUiBwYq7mgazWlCNSCWgKc94mUVAg(`j p\^D^B׈Ej p\^D^Cj p\^D^B(,'Ghost Towns & History of MT- April 2026QJoin us as we look back at stories and photos from the big sky country, Montana! j pSf