Half Interest In A Silver Dollar

The life of Charles E. Conrad and the history of Fort Benton, Montana Territory, are so intertwined that the story of one cannot be told independently of the other. At the time Conrad came to Fort Benton, the tiny settlement was in its infancy. Charles Conrad and his brother William soon developed the most extensive merchandising and supply transportation system in all the west. As river transportation died out with the coming of the railroad, Conrad moved from Fort Benton to Kalispell. It took him 34 years to build his fortune and his empire, yet in less than 20 years it was gone.

In July 1882, the steamboat Red Cloud hit a snag near Fort Peck, Montana, and settled into the bed of the Missouri River with a full cargo. The flagship of I. G. Baker & Company, which controlled much of the trade that flowed to Fort Benton and the upper reaches of the Missouri River, the Red Cloud had served as an agent of change in the West through which it traveled. Through the story of the boat and its owner, Annalies Corbin casts new light on the role of entrepreneurs and steamboats in the development of the West. The Red Cloud was a symbol--and a source--of the trading company's success. Bought for $25,000 in 1877, it was one of three boats that I. G. Baker employed on the Missouri. A stern-wheeled, wooden-hulled packet boat, the Red Cloud carried both cargo and passengers on a "floating palace." But for all its success, when the ship sank only five years later, the transcontinental railroad was already displacing the steamboat as the preferred way to transport both people and cargo. The era of transformation symbolized by the Red Cloud was drawing to a close. The first book to view the development of the Canadian Rockies from a maritime perspective, The Life and Times of the Steamboat Red Cloud ties the Missouri River's commercial development with the opening of the Canadian west and its most important communities, with the formation of the Canadian North-West Mounted Police and with the river by which they were supplied. Readers interested in western history, maritime history, and nautical archaeology will find this well-researched and engagingly written book an invaluable addition to their libraries.

Caring for Creation argues that progress has been made in areas such as protection of endangered species, the sustainable agriculture movement, and recycling. While much remains to be done in these and other areas, this progress is cause for optimism about the future. In substantial measure, the American experience is the story of environmental destruction and degradation: deforestation, annihilation of species, contamination of surface water and ground water, and much more. At the same time, the American experience is also the story of triumph: the preservation of threatened and endangered species such as American bison and bald eagles, new farming methods that reduce environmental impact, impressive gains in recycling. This volume documents those crises and successes. Today we face new challenges, among them climate change which, if not slowed down, will have devastating consequences. There is also more work to be done in areas in which progress has been made, including protection of endangered species and recycling. Yet, this volume argues, as we look at the progress that has been made, we may embrace the future with hope. The work contends that if we live our lives in ways conducive to the wellbeing of the biotic communities that sustain life and support candidates for public office and organizations committed to environmental protection, our children and grandchildren will have the opportunity to experience the goodness of a flourishing creation.

The Life of the Afterlife in the Big Sky State is a groundbreaking history of death in Montana. It offers a unique, reflective, and sensitive perspective on the evolution of customs and burial grounds. Beginning with Montana's first known burial site, Ellen Baumler considers the archaeological records of early interments in rock ledges, under cairns, in trees, and on open-air scaffolds. Contact with Europeans at trading posts and missions brought new burial practices. Later, crude "boot hills" and pioneer graveyards evolved into orderly cemeteries. Planned cemeteries became the hallmark of civilization and the measure of an educated community. Baumler explores this history, yet untold about Montana. She traces the pathway from primitive beginnings to park-like, architecturally planned burial grounds where people could recreate, educate their children, and honor the dead. The Life of the Afterlife in the Big Sky State is not a comprehensive listing of the many hundreds of cemeteries across Montana. Rather it discusses cultural identity evidenced through burial practices, changing methods of interments and why those came about, and the evolution of cemeteries as the "last great necessity" in organized communities. Through examples and anecdotes, the book examines how we remember those who have passed on.