Name: The Beartooth Highway: A History of America’s Most Beautiful Drive
Brand: Jon Axline
SKU: 9781467135795
Price: 21.99 USD
Availability: InStock

The Beartooth Highway: A History of America’s Most Beautiful Drive

9781467135795

$21.99

Traversing the spectacular Beartooth Highway in Montana and Wyoming is an unforgettable experience. The unspoiled mountain scenery along the highway inspired famed news correspondent Charles Kuralt to label it "America's most beautiful drive," yet the story behind this engineering marvel is largely unknown. It is an epic account of man versus nature to construct a road through unforgiving wilderness. Built during the height of the Great Depression and rising 10,947 feet above sea level, the Beartooth Highway sparked an economic boom in Red Lodge, Cooke City and Yellowstone National Park. Understandably, it continues to leave a profound impression on people privileged to drive it. Historian Jon Axline tells the exciting and colorful narrative behind the origins and construction of the Beartooth Highway.

The Beartooth Highway: A History of America’s Most Beautiful Drive

Historic Underground Missoula

9781626199194

$21.99

Much of Missoula's history lies beneath the surface. As in many Old West cities, cavernous underground tunnel systems purportedly hid countless nefarious activities, from clandestine prostitution and Chinese opium dens to booze running during Prohibition. These sordid tales captivate today's residents and beg questions about the city's furtive past. Did local elite gentlemen mask their carnal habits there? Did John Wayne really use the passageways to run personal errands unnoticed? Author and urban archaeologist Nikki Manning ventures below to reconcile oral history with archaeological data in a fascinating exploration of Missoula's subterranean labyrinths.

Canyon Village in Yellowstone

9781467119559

$21.99

By 1955, the national parks were facing a crisis of dilapidation from heavy use and lack of funding. The answer was Mission 66. This visionary plan, implemented over the next decade, included installation of new facilities to accommodate the influx of visitors and enhance their experiences. The pilot development in Yellowstone, named Canyon Village, introduced a modern aesthetic to the parks and emphasized the concept of conservation. This man-made environment was purposefully sited away from the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, providing a natural buffer. Architect Lesley M. Gilmore presents the complexities of this historic, ambitious model for the movement that marked the continued evolution of the national parks into the destinations we flock to today.

Taming Big Sky Country:

9781626198524

$21.99

Drives this breathtaking did not come easy. Cruising down Montana's scenic highways, it's easy to forget that traveling from here to there once was a genuine adventure. The state's major routes evolved from ancient Native American trails into four-lane expressways in a little over a century. That story is one of difficult, groundbreaking and sometimes poor engineering decisions, as well as a desire to make a journey faster, safer and more comfortable. It all started in 1860, when John Mullan hacked a wagon road over the formidable Rocky Mountains to Fort Benton. It continued until the last section of interstate highway opened to traffic in 1988. Montana Department of Transportation historian Jon Axline charts a road trip through the colorful and inspiring history of trails, roads and superhighways in Big Sky Country.

Montana's Waldron Creek Fire:

9781467119269

$21.99

On August 25, 1931, five men died fighting the devastating Waldron Creek Fire west of Choteau, Montana. Lacking training and preparation, Herbert Novotny, Frank Williamson, Hjalmer G. Gunnarson, Ted Bierchen and Charles Allen dashed into the flames and never stood a chance. The Teton County coroner added insult to injury, noting that each had "no one to blame but himself." Three men were buried in unmarked graves. Records show that the body of the fifth was returned to his family, but no burial site is known. Only one has a headstone. National Smokejumper Association chief historian Dr. Charles Palmer shines a light on this important story, finally honoring the heroic sacrifice that led to critical changes in wildland firefighting.

An Antietam Veteran's Montana Journey

9781467139670

$23.99

In this recently unearthed memoir, Civil War veteran James Howard Lowell offers a firsthand account of his brutal journey west on a wagon train attacked by Indian Dog Soldiers. The Boston Yank staggers snow blind through a Laramie Plains blizzard to reach Salt Lake City, where he meets Brigham Young. In Montana, he joins an old forty-niner to work a mining claim, practices "tomahawk jurisprudence" in Fort Benton and builds a mackinaw to head downriver through Deadman Rapids to trade with the Crow and Gros Ventre tribes. Lowell's great-great-granddaughter edits this tale populated with colorful characters, narrow escapes and important historical events, such as the Baker Massacre. It features Lowell's letters to his sweetheart and Civil War correspondence.

Switchback

9781467142731

$21.99

His half-century career took him from the Idaho panhandle to the Grand Canyon, but William J. Yenne is best remembered for his decades in Montana's Glacier National Park. Widely recognized as the most accomplished and knowledgeable outdoorsman to ride the Glacier backcountry, Yenne knew each mile of the park's trails intimately and could identify every mountain peak at a glance. He was also a renowned storyteller. Many recall his amusing and fascinating yarns, spun around campfires or from his saddle on long trail rides. Those iconic tales and more are preserved in this expanded edition, updated with previously unpublished photos and stories transcribed from conversations and letters to friends.

Montana Americana Music

9781467135146

$21.99

Montana's relationship to Americana music is as wide and deep as the famed Missouri River that inspired countless musicians seated at its shores. From the fiddling of Pierre Cruzatte and George Gibson in the Corps of Discovery to the modern-day loner folk of Joey Running Crane and Cameron Boster, the Treasure State inspires the production of top-notch country music. In the 1950s, bands like the Snake River Outlaws fostered a long-standing love of hillbilly honky-tonk, and in the 1970s, the Mission Mountain Wood Band added a homegrown flavor of its own. Contemporary acts like the Lil' Smokies and songwriter Martha Scanlan promise a vibrant future for the local sound. Author and musician Aaron Parrett explores this history to show what it means to boot stomp in Big Sky Country.

Montana Women From the Ground Up

9781467137232

$21.99

Growing up on the family ranch, Linda Finley fought hard to gain the acceptance and respect as a ranch hand that her brothers took for granted. Arlene Pile barely remembers learning to ride a horse and run machinery—she was so young. She learned to drive on an 8N Ford tractor with a buck rake. Lee Jacobsen became the first woman in the state licensed to artificially inseminate cattle. Meet these and other Montana women passionate about caring for their land and determined to make the lifestyle their own. Many never doubted for a moment that they would spend their lives in agriculture, while others speak of their surprise and delight to find themselves living on the land. All agree that they wouldn't be happy doing anything else.

Cover image for Montana Women From the Ground Up, isbn: 9781467137232

Yankees & Rebels on the Upper Missouri

9781467135627

$24.99

During the 1860s, the Missouri River served as a natural highway, through snags and rapids, from St. Louis to Fort Benton for steamboats bringing Yankees and Rebels and their families to the remote Montana territory. The migration transformed the Upper Missouri region from the isolation of the fur trade era to the raucous gold rush days that would keep the region in turmoil for decades. The influx of newcomers involved its share of dramatic episodes, including the explosion of the Chippewa triggered by a drunken crew member, the mystery of the fugitive James-Younger gang and Colonel Everton Conger's journey from capturing John Wilkes Booth to the Montana Supreme Court. Acclaimed historian Ken Robison reveals the thrilling history behind this war-weary wave of migration seeking opportunity on Montana's wild and scenic frontier.

Cover image for Yankees & Rebels on the Upper Missouri, isbn: 9781467135627

The Big Sky Bounty Cookbook

9781467138734

$26.99

From mountain streams in the west to rolling prairies in the east, Montana's habitats and natural resources offer an abundance of culinary possibilities. The mountains provide the necessities for a delightful elk tenderloin with huckleberry demi-glace, while the prairie contributes to rattlesnake cakes with roasted red pepper remoulade. And gardens and farms statewide produce the makings of Aunt Lois O'Toole's rhubarb strawberry pie. Chef Barrie Boulds and author Jean Petersen present locally sourced epicurean dishes that exude Montanan charm. Historical context enhances seventy-five easy yet sophisticated recipes celebrating unique flavors and heritage—with forewords from Chef Eric Trager and Western Ag Reporter editor Linda Grosskopf.

Cover image for The Big Sky Bounty Cookbook, isbn: 9781467138734

Stories from Montana's Enduring Frontier

9781626190160

$21.99

At the turn of the twentieth century, Montana started emerging from its rugged past. Permanent towns and cities, powered by mining, tourism, and trade, replaced ramshackle outposts. Yet Montana's frontier endured, both in remote pockets and in the wider cultural imagination. The frontier thus played a continuing role in Montanans' lives, often in fascinating ways. Author John Clayton has written extensively on these shifts in Montana history, chronicling the breadth of the frontier's legacy with this diverse collection of stories. Explore the remnants of Montana's frontier through stories of the Little Bighorn Battlefield, the Beartooth Highway, and the lost mining camp of Swift Current--and through legendary characters such as Charlie Russell, Haydie Yates, and "Liver-eating" Johnston.

Stories from Montana's Enduring Frontier

Literary Butte

9781626198364

$21.99

Known worldwide as the "Richest Hill on Earth," Butte, Montana, lured immigrants from every part of the world to sweat in the copper mines that powered America in its Gilded Age. Dozens of writers celebrated this "wide-open town" with impassioned novels of the rugged souls who braved the western frontier at the edge of the Continental Divide. They wrote of the opulence of success and the agony of broken dreams. They catalogued the clash between labor and capital as Butte boomed from a crude village of mules and men to prestige as Montana's biggest city with towering buildings of brick and iron. In Literary Butte, award-winning author Aaron Parrett surveys the wealth of literature that has come from the town that calls itself "Butte, America."