So Long! Slot Machines – 1950

Olsen Orders County Attorneys To Confiscate All Slot Machines Helena, July 1 (AP) The attorney general Saturday night directed the state’s 56 county attorneys “to immediately order confiscation of all slot machines and the elimination of all gambling.” Arnold H. Olsen’s order was contained in telegrams sent to all Montana Read More

Missoula County History – Founding or Foundling

County to Observe Founding (December 14, 1860) Monday By Jane Byard In 1860 the 54 residents of the Missoula Valley, then part of the Washington Territory, proud of their new community and dissatisfied with being separated from the nearest county government office by a two-day ride, asked that a new Read More

History of Missoula County Representation – 1889 – 1959

The information below was compiled by The Missoulian for its Centennial Edition – E. J. Erlandson editor, July 27, 1960. The edition was 194 pages long. History of Missoula County Representation John L. Campbell Had Longest Senatorial Tenure for Missoula Missoula County has been represented by 10 men in the Read More

County Adopts A Child – 5 “Bugbear” Townships

County Adopts A Child – 5 Townships Missoula Gets Slice of Powell When Bill Is Passed Five Townships Included In Trade We Pay for Permanent Improvements But Give No Territory Missoula county has an adopted daughter this morning. Yesterday the bill providing for a change of boundary line between this Read More

Old County Books – Original Families – A Phantom Town

Old County Books Show Growth Here First County Commissioners Met in 1865; Survival of Family Names Missoula county isn’t such a youthful county after all. Not if venerable books on the shelves of the county clerk and recorder’s office, containing records of the days of ’65 and even of a Read More

City Back With Aldermanic Form After Trying Other Governments

This article appeared in the Missoulian Centennial issue.   The city of Missoula has made a complete circuit in forms of government since the 1880s. After trying the aldermanic, commission (council), and commission-manager forms of government, Missoula is finally where it began – with the aldermanic form.   Change Is Read More

Congressional Testimony of Contested Congressional Election – Montana Territory 1882 – BOTKINS vs. MAGINNIS

  BOTKINS vs. MAGINNIS – Contested Montana Congressional Election 1882 – House of Representatives Testimony   https://books.google.com/books?id=LaUZAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA4&lpg=RA2-PA4&dq=Botkin+vs.+MaGinnis&source=bl&ots=Hl4lDB-u7F&sig=jmZu-zKqIE67d2GSO31unopzV_c&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpjoyOv-LQAhUEymMKHQQUDfAQ6AEIJjAD#v=onepage&q=Botkin%20vs.%20MaGinnis&f=false E. A. Kreidler – Election Advisor Custer County –  “. . . at that time [I] did not deem it advisable to have a row . . .”    

Missoula Postmasters 1862 – 1972

The article below is from the Missoulian Sentinel Centennial Edition of 1960: Worden Named As First Postmaster Frank L. Worden was appointed to the office of postmaster of Hell Gate in Washington Territory when that office was created March 25, 1862. His successor, William Tipton who served from Jan. 12, Read More

Senate Testimony on Butte Mining Conditions 1914

Senate Documents – 64th Congress 1st Session – Dec. 6, 1915 – Sept. 8, 1916 – Vol. 22 Industrial Relations – Final Report and Testimony Submitted To Congress by the Commission on Industrial Relations – Created by the Act of Aug. 23, 1912 Vol. 4 Mining Conditions and Industrial Relations Read More

A Brief History of Missoula Police Department by Robert S. Reid

http://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/DocumentCenter/Home/View/507 A Brief History of the Police Department The Missoula City Police Department was formed on April 23, 1883 when the City Council hired William Keyes and Will P. Nugent. The pay was $60 per month. Keyes, Nugent and the other early officers bore little outward resemblance to the lone Read More