Mrs. John Lannen (Bridget Calvin) – Bearmouth Pioneer – 7,000 Acres

Death of Mrs. Lannen (1897) An Old Pioneer Woman of Montana Passes Away To-Day at Bearmouth She Enjoyed A Large Acquaintance, Was Known and Loved by Many Will Be Buried at Deer Lodge Saturday Mrs. John Lannen (Bridget Calvin) of Bearmouth died at an early hour this morning after a Read More

Ruby Wong – The Golden Pheasant and Her Family of Patriots

Ruby Wong and A Family of Patriots The Ruby Wong family has a prominent history in Missoula and Helena. The iconic Golden Pheasant restaurant, started by Ruby and her partner at the beginning of WW2, lasted for over 50 years and is remembered by thousands of Missoulians, including this writer. Read More

Lois Owens – Pioneer Parachutist

‘Grandma Owens’ Adds a Year To Store of Borrowed Time By John A. Forssen Mrs. Lois Owens had her 84th birthday last week, thus adding another year to her store of borrowed time, probably one of the largest in this part of the country. Mrs. Owens can lay claim to Read More

Cyra McFadden – MCHS Graduate – Pulitzer Prize finalist

Cyra McFadden circles back to home base By Ginny Merriam for the Missoulian Crya McFadden grew up in the back seat of a midnight-blue Packard and honed her early reading skills on Burma-Shave signs posted on Western highways. The lure of the road is still with her. “I’m clearly still Read More

Winona Williams – Teacher of the Past

Winona Williams Montana’s Past Presented by John A. Forssen Writings on Montana history seem sometimes dedicated to quantity rather than quality; it is fortunate for Missoula County High School and the community, therefore, that a new collection acquired by the school is the cream of the crop. Purchased by the Read More

Plucky Montana Women – 1877

Plucky Montana Women – 1877 The article below appeared in the New Northwest (Deer Lodge) newspaper on July 27, 1877. Severe Indian hostilities were already reported in Idaho, and Joseph’s Nez Perce people were moving down the Bitter Root valley in Montana, heading for buffalo country. They had avoided soldiers Read More

Jeannette Rankin – Temporary California Girl – 1911

A Missoula Girl’s Stern Campaign The New York Sun prints a pretty story of the participation of Missoula girl in the strenuous California suffrage campaign, which resulted in the extension of the right to vote to the women of the Golden state. It is a story which will be read Read More

Joan Murphy Jonkel – Attorney – Women’s Advocate

Joan Murphy Jonkel Missoula I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade.[1] – Wm. Butler Yeats, 1890. On May Read More