Smith Mine Disaster

Thirty-nine corrugated metal structures mark the site of the Smith Mine, a ghostly reminder of a once vibrant mining district near Bearcreek in Carbon County. The Montana Coal and Iron Company began developing the Smith Mine after the Montana, Wyoming and Southern Railroad arrived in 1906. By 1907, it produced 8,000 tons of high-grade coal. The company mechanized the mine, and throughout the 1930s, it continued to invest in new equipment, building a new crushing plant, elevator, cleaning plant, coal sheds and scales, electrical substation, and other above-ground structures to support the underground operation. By 1943, miners working three shifts a day, six days a week produced almost 500,000 tons of coal annually to meet coal needs for the nation during World War II.  But investments in safety lagged behind other improvements, and in the 1940s, many Smith miners still used open-flame carbide headlamps (as opposed to safer electric lamps). The highly gaseous mine also lacked good ventilation or rock-dusting equipment to control coal dust. On February 27, 1943, this proved a deadly combination when a methane gas explosion in Smith Mine #3 killed seventy-four miners and, later, one rescuer in the worst coal mining disaster in Montana history. There were only three survivors. Although the company closed the #3 adit after the explosion, it continued to work its other mines, raking in record profits through 1945. Declining demand, lower quality coal, competition from diesel and natural gas, and bad management led to the operation’s closure in 1953. Sometimes visitors to the lonely site, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, report anguished cries. They seem to come from deep within the earth and carry on the breeze.

The Smith Mine #3 site in 1968. Library of Congress, HAER MONT,5-RELO.V,2--1

Octavia Bridgewater

The Army Nurse Corps formed in 1901, and African American nurses served throughout all wars. However, they served as contract nurses and not in the military. At the end of World War I, when the Spanish flu epidemic caused a severe shortage of nurses, the Army Nurse Corps accepted eighteen African American women after Armistice to care for German prisoners of war and African American soldiers stateside.  In 1941, the Army Nurse Corps began accepting a few African American nurses. In 1942, there were 8,000 black nurses in the United States. The Army’s strict quota, however, allowed only 160 to enlist. One of the first black nurses accepted for active duty was Octavia Bridgewater of Helena. She served from January 11, 1943, until November 29, 1945.

Octavia Bridgewater is standing on the far right in this 1926 photo, probably taken in Colorado Gulch near Helena.
Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 2002-36 11

Octavia received her nurses training at the Lincoln Hospital School of Nursing in the Bronx in the late 1920s.  At that time, the Lincoln School and the Harlem School of Nursing were the only two schools exclusively for African Americans. Even so, both were under white administration. When Octavia returned to Montana after graduation in 1930, her only option was private duty nursing. After her enlistment in the Army, Octavia and her colleagues realized that if the military quota situation was not lifted, black nurses could never be integrated into the mainstream medical community after the war. Nationally through the black press, these women mobilized for their cause. Slowly, African American nurses pierced the barriers within the military system. The Army and Navy lifted the boycott in 1945. Octavia returned to civilian life to give many years of service to the Helena community as a maternity nurse at St. Peters Hospital. She was also very involved in Montana’s vibrant black community. Octavia was especially proud to have been part of the national movement that helped pave the way for her own civilian nursing career and for the careers of many other black nurses.

Rimini

John Caplice discovered a rich vein in 1864 and soon local mines drew a solid population to this area. The early settlement, first known as Young Ireland, lay nestled in the shadow of Red Mountain’s soaring 8,800-foot peak. In 1884, citizens petitioned for a post office, requesting the name of the town as Lee Mountain after the town’s most important mine. But Territorial Governor Schuyler Crosby informed the delegation that the post office was not inclined to approve names of towns that had more than one word. The governor had just seen a production of the play Francesca da Rimini at Helena’s Ming Opera House and loved it. He suggested the name Rimini, pronounced RIM-i-nee, after the Italian town of that name. But Irish miners assumed the name was Irish because Irishman Richard Barrett played the lead role. The post office was approved, but miners changed the pronunciation to RIM-in-eye and it stuck.

Rimini, c. 1924
Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, 950-606

Rimini boomed as the Northern Pacific Railroad’s Rimini–Red Mountain branch line hauled gold, silver, lead, and zinc ore to the smelter at East Helena. Local mines generated some 7 million dollars. The Hotel Rimini served delectable meals, and visitors from far-away places strolled along the main street. But mining waned, the post office closed in 1916, and train traffic ended in 1925. Mining remnants lie scattered everywhere. From 1942 to 1944 during World War II, remote Rimini was the U.S. Army’s War Dog Reception and Training Center where dogsled teams trained for search and rescue. Then the town became quiet. Today picturesque Rimini is a patchwork of time periods and home to a handful of residents.

From More Montana Moments
P.S. Remember how this mining town got its curious name?

Moss Mansion

The beautiful Moss Mansion in Billings—now a house museum—is a twenty-five-room residence built in 1903. It was the longtime home of the Preston Moss family. New York architect R. J. Hardenbergh, whose work includes New York City’s Waldorf Astoria, designed the elegant mansion. Mahogany and walnut woodwork, an onyx fireplace, rose silk and gold leaf wall coverings, and stained glass windows are among the luxurious details.
 

Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 2004-17

Preston Moss arrived in Billings in 1892 on his way to Butte from Missouri and saw Billings’ financial promise. He became a prominent banker; helped develop the sugar beet industry, the Billings Light and Water Company, and the Billings Polytechnic Institute (now Rocky Mountain College); and with a partner ran eighty thousand head of sheep and several thousand head of cattle. He also pioneered the Billings Gazette and was instrumental in the creation of the Huntley Irrigation Project. He even started a toothpaste factory and a meat packing plant. Moss also promoted an idea he called Mossmain. This was a futuristic city he planned to build ten miles west of Billings. World War II intervened, and Preston Moss died in 1947, never realizing this dream. Melville, the Mosses’ middle daughter, was seven when her family moved into the mansion. She was a talented musician and played the harp, piano, and bass from an early age. Melville traveled the world and never married, but the mansion was her home throughout her life. She died in 1984 at eighty-two. Because of Melville’s good stewardship, the grand interiors remain unchanged today.

From More Montana Moments
P.S. Remember this Montana mansion?

Friday Photo: Copper Commando



Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, Robert I. Nesmith collection

Anaconda worker Gus Sbragia selects a gear pattern from the forty thousand stored in four stories of the Pattern Shop at the Foundry Department of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. The photo appeared in the October 23, 1942, Copper Commando, a tabloid-format newspaper intended to spur production of Montana metals during World War II. Pattern-makers created models that engineers used to manufacture and repair equipment for the company's mining, smelting, and refining operations.

P.S. Find more Copper Commando photos at the Montana Memory Project.

Japanese Balloons

Historian Jon Axline tells a story about Oscar Hill and his son, who in 1944 were cutting firewood seventeen miles southwest of Kalispell. They found a strange parachute-like object with Japanese writing and a rising sun symbol stenciled on it. Sheriff Duncan McCarthy took the object to a Kalispell garage. Rumors flew and soon five hundred people crowded into the garage to take a look. It turned out to be a Japanese balloon rigged to carry a bomb. It was the beginning of an aerial attack on the United States by Imperial Japan as World War II wound down. In November of 1944, the Japanese began launching hydrogen-filled paper balloons believing the jet stream would carry them to North America. The attached incendiary and anti-personnel bombs would start forest fires and kill civilians. The Japanese also intended the balloon bombs as psychological weapons, designed to cause confusion and spread panic. The Japanese called them Fu-Go, “Windship Weapons.” They were the first intercontinental weapons, a low tech predecessor to the ballistic missiles of the late twentieth century.

Army Intelligence Captain W. Boyce Stanard (left) watches as FBI special agent W. G. Banister examines the balloon that fell in Kalispell. Army Air Force Major J. E. Bolgiano is holding the balloon's pressure relief valve. Photo from Project 1947.

By April 1945, the Japanese launched over nine thousand balloons. Only 277 reached the United States and Canada. Only one caused injuries, killing five Oregon picnickers when they inadvertently detonated one of the bombs. The project was a failure. A voluntary news blackout in the United States kept the Japanese from discovering if the balloons landed. At least thirty-two balloon bombs reached Montana between 1944 and 1945. A hiker discovered the last one hanging from a tree southwest of Basin in 1947. Axline points out that balloon bombs in Montana proved that the state was not as isolated and free from world events as the public thought.

Update: Here's a better photo of FBI agents examining the bomb. This one is an illustration in my new book, More Montana Moments.

Donald D. Cook, photographer, Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, PAc 93-1

Steve Reeves

I hope you all had a lovely weekend, history buffs! Did you celebrate Steve Reeves's birthday on Saturday? He was born here in Montana 86 years ago.

Steve Reeves, the famous body builder of the 1950s, was a native Montanan, born in Glasgow in the mid-1920s. He became famous, winning the titles of Mr. America, Mr. World, and Mr. Universe. His parents met and married in Scobey. When he was only months old, Reeves won Healthiest Baby of Valley County, the first title in a lifetime of awards. In 1927, when he was not yet two years old, Reeves’ father was killed in a threshing accident. His mother, Goldie, worked as a cook and soon took her son to live in Great Falls. When Reeves was ten, they moved to California. But the youngster spent his summers in Montana on his uncle’s ranch. He served in World War II and began body building. After winning the most prestigious body-building titles, Reeves took acting lessons and landed the leading role in Hercules. The movie skyrocketed him to fame. Reeves went on to star in other films. Despite his Hollywood connections, Reeves never forgot his eastern Montana roots. He returned to Scobey several times to visit his father’s grave and become acquainted with family friends. Reeves had a remarkable physique and many regarded his appearance as “godlike.” Although his fans believed the legendary Mr. Universe would live forever, he died at age seventy-four in 2000.

From Montana Moments: History on the Go

P.S. Thanks to The Film Archive, you can watch the movie that made Reeves famous.

Montana’s Naval Namesakes

At least nine naval ships have been christened with names related to the Treasure State, and one of them suffered damage during the attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. There were three ships named Montana, one named Montanan, two named Missoula, and four named Helena. The first USS Montana, launched in 1906, provided escort service during WWI. In 1920 it was rechristened the USS Missoula after Missoula County. A second USS Missoula provided transport service during WWI. Two other ships in the planning stages bore the name Montana, but neither was built.  The USS Montanan, a cargo ship launched in 1913, was sunk by a torpedo during WWI. Three of the four USS Helenas, named for Montana’s capital city, saw wartime action. The first USS Helena was a light gunboat launched in 1896. It saw long service during the Philippine Insurrection and WWI, and was decommissioned in 1932.  The second USS Helena, launched in 1938, took a torpedo at Pearl Harbor in 1941 and returned to service to participate in thirteen major naval engagements. It was sunk at the Battle of Kula Gulf in 1943 by Japanese torpedoes, taking 168 of its 900 crew members with it. It was first naval ship awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for heroic action. The third USS Helena took hits during the Korean War, and as the Seventh Fleet’s flagship, it hosted President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952. This ship served until its decommission in 1972.  Its propeller, anchor, chain, and bell are displayed in Helena’s Anchor Park at the south end of Last Chance Gulch. The fourth USS Helena, still in service, is a nuclear powered submarine.