Bizarre Phenomenon Stumps Experts and Park Historian BY PAT HILL It's been referred to as music, a hum, or a whisper, but an explanation of a mysterious noise that has been heard by some people over Yellowstone Lake has never been found. “There are only guesses [as to] its origin,” Yellowstone Park Historian Lee Whittlesey told the Pioneer recently. “I've never heard the … [Read more...]
Bozeman’s Charles Hartman
Man of Many Hats, Many Parties BY GARY R. FORNEY As we enter another national election year, one already providing its share of controversy and rancor, it may be an appropriate time to look back upon one of Montana’s most bitter and divisive political contests. Charles S. Hartman was a prominent attorney during Bozeman’s early years and played a leading role in the 1896 … [Read more...]
State Government Still Hiding Payroll Records
What Do They Have to Hide? BY CARL GRAHAM Are taxpayers entitled to know how their money is spent, and to whom it is paid? You'd think so. And so do a lot of judges. But in Montana results don't always follow findings, and converting this modest proposition into a practical reality is not as simple as it might seem. You may have read that Montana Policy Institute … [Read more...]
Animal Spirits
More Than Instinct BY DAVID S. LEWIS A man who chases mountain lions for sport (see Montana Pio-neer February issue), and then captures them on video, recently told me that he happened to chase the same lion a few times, twice for several miles up a mountainside, and the lion returned to the exact same tree where it had taken refuge months earlier on a previous chase—the … [Read more...]
Saving Whitebark Pines, a Tree Climber’s Tale
Fear, Danger, and Joy Harvesting High-Altitude Cones BY HAL HERRING You wipe the sweat from your eyes with a sap-stiffened glove, clinging tightly with your other hand to the one live branch, thick as a hammer handle, that is keeping you alive 30 feet above the rocky earth, while your boots struggle to balance on twigs and your knees try to grip the tree's little … [Read more...]
Native Stars
The Spears Brothers—Rising Stars Call Bozeman Home BY PAT HILL Bozeman may seem an unlikely home for working film actors, but that's precisely the draw for brothers Eddie and Michael Spears, Native American actors who say they prefer the mountains of Montana to the Hollywood Hills. Eddie Spears currently plays Joseph Black Moon in AMC’s popular new TV series Hell on … [Read more...]