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Wisdom, Montana: 1942
April 1942. "Baker's Garage in Wisdom, Montana. Largest town, population 385, in the Big Hole Basin, a trading center ... inhabitants eventually changed the name to "Boredom, Montana." Towns like this Towns like this are a staple of western North ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/03/2023 - 1:14pm -

April 1942. "Baker's Garage in Wisdom, Montana. Largest town, population 385, in the Big Hole Basin, a trading center in ranching country." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by John Vachon for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Superb quality!The quality of this photograph is amazing. It looks like it was taken today. Do you have any more information on it?
Wisdom MTGoogle Maps link.
WisdomGreat photo. Thanks. The last remaining inhabitants eventually changed the name to "Boredom, Montana."
Towns like thisTowns like this are a staple of western North America. In western Canada, their existence was justified by the railway and farmers hauling grain to their local elevators. Later they survived when the highway became the big thing and people stopped for gas or a little food on the road. There's probably a bar that the locals go to. Town's got a school maybe even a high school, and probably more than one church. There's a ball field and, in just about every prairie town in Canada though of course not the USA, a curling rink. In Saskatchewan they used to say that if you lived in a town that lost the school and the curling rink you might as well start looking for a place in Saskatoon or Regina.
PennzoilThe Pennzoil logo hasn't changed much:

WidsomIt looks like it's on the edge of a river valley? The colors in this shot are indeed amazing. I love the punch of the red gas pumps.
[It's west of Butte. - Dave]

CalsoWhat does it say on the sign leaning against the wall, underneath "Calso Gasoline"?  Is that "Unsurcharged"?  No extra fees?
["Unsurpassed." - Dave]
Eternal WisdomUnderneath "Unsurpassed" on the Calso sign you have "The California Company"
I found a modern picture of this place online:
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4494303
Aside from the paved road, this place looks much the same. I don't think they sell Chevron or Mobil at those buildings anymore. Baker's Garage is now Conover's Trading Post. The painted Wisdom has long since faded from the old metal roof.
The GarageI was raised and went to school in wisdom and Bakers Garage is not next to Ed Glassey's garage (The building with Wisdom on the top). Baker's Garage was across the street from Glasseys Garage (Looks like maybe they used photoshop to alter the photo) ..
I moved to Wisdom in 1959 so if the photo is from 1942 maybe they moved the Building??
[The image, which is part of the Library of Congress photographic archive, has not been altered. It's one of more than 50 pictures of Wisdom taken by John Vachon in April 1942. Things can change a lot in 20 years.  - Dave]

Baker's Garage in WisdomI am a Wisdom native too.
In talking to my dad. Bruce Helming, who is the oldest native still living in Wisdom, it turns out that Anna Lee and Roy Baker did own a shop across the street from the garage that you know as Baker's, which is now the Wisdom Market. It was the Chet Bruns Union 76 Garage back in the old days.  Anna Lee was my dad's first cousin. Dad's folks adopted her when her parents died in the 1920s, and she was raised as Anna Lee Helming in Wisdom.  
My grandparents' (and later Dad's) business, Helming Brothers, bought out Chet Bruns' operation in the 1950s, which is when Anna Lee and Roy moved to the garage that you know now. The buildings shown in the photo were destroyed in the American Legion hall fire.  I would guess that was in the early 50s, which is when all of the cemetery records were destroyed.
Wisdom had no real fire department until 1961, so when a blaze was raging out of control, it was extinguished by placing dynamite in a loaf of bread and tossing it into the fire.  The night the Legion hall and all of these other buildings burned, Dad and his uncle, Clarence Helming, were bringing the fire pumper to the scene.  Just as they rounded the corner, "Boom," no more fire (and no more buildings).
Gary Helming
Helming@juno.com
Pictures of Wisdom, MontanaI enjoyed looking at the old pictures of Wisdom and reading the text about them. I grew up near a small town (Gladstone, VA) and have always been kind of partial to them. I love looking at old pictures like these. Thank you for posting them.
The Wisdom of YouthThis town holds a place in my heart. I spent most of my youth in Wisdom, from 1975 to 1990.  The town hasn't changed a lot since I left, but has gotten smaller.  When I started at Wisdom Elementary there were four classrooms. By the time I graduated to high school they were down to three. I hear there is only one class there now.  For high school we were bused 65 miles to the Dillon, one of only two high schools in the county.
It was an amazing place to grow up.  Though everyone knew your business, everyone kept an eye out for you.  We had two bars that all the kids hung out in and played pool.  There were street dances for the Fourth of July and any other occasion. There were two restaurants, one of which burned down last week.  
It is hard to describe the life that a kid in a town this small would lead.  The concept just doesn't make sense to city folk.   But it was an amazing carefree life of swimming under the bridge, ice skating at the pond, nights of kick the can in the Forest Service field, greetings from the town's pet deer and raccoons.  
If it were possible to have the kind of lifestyle I have now in the city, I would move back to raise my child there in a heartbeat.
Having lived near Wisdom for many yearsduring the summer-time, I can almost see the buildings.  We haven't lived in Jackson for 20 years but the previous 8 years were spent on the Hairpin Ranch in a line shack about 5 miles past the main ranch, in the middle of nowhere.  I loved EVERY minute of it.  We traveled to Wisdom for dinner some days or just when the kids wanted to take a ride.  It was a short 20 mile drive.  Would move back in a New York minute.
Early pioneers of the Big HoleI'm looking for any pictures or info of the early Wisdom families prior to 1930. I have an old school picture dated 1914/15 and would love to have someone help identify the children. Both sides of my family, the Elliott's and Scollicks were early settlers there. The old dilapidated log cabin on the south end of the Ruby near Butler Creek is the Scollick homestead and the Elliott log cabin is on Gibbonsville road. I believe my Aunt Eve Scollick might have married a Ferguson in the Wisdom area. There's a picture hanging at the Crossing/Fetties with several people on horses. Anyone that can help identify them as well would be great.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Gas Stations, John Vachon, Rural America, WW2)

Helena: 1942
March 1942. "Helena, Montana." Now playing at the Marlow: Sullivan's Travels and Paris Calling ... on how to pronounce Helena. Movie travels far from Montana "Sullivan's Travels" is Preston Sturges' highly literate 1941 take ... for an Academy Award. Merchants National and Montana National A colored postcard view, circa. 1900, of the Montana ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/20/2021 - 10:51am -

March 1942. "Helena, Montana." Now playing at the Marlow: Sullivan's Travels and Paris Calling. Acetate negative by John Vachon for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Join in the debate on how to pronounce Helena.
Movie travels far from Montana"Sullivan's Travels" is Preston Sturges' highly literate 1941 take on "Gulliver's Travels." The title sequence is designed like an opening book. I wonder how many viewers today would recognize the visual allusion to Jonathan Swift's Lilliput.
"Paris Calling" is a film noir involving the Nazi invasion of France. It was released just three days before Pearl Harbor led Americans into World War II.
The male stars of these two films, Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott, had a late-career pairing in the classic western, 'Ride the High Country' (1962). They were both so respected that director Sam Peckinpah flipped a coin to determine top billing; Scott won, which meant that his name is on the left in the titles and ads.
Starring Joel McCrea"Sullivan's Travels," of course. 
His natural style was years ahead of its time. He starred in three Best Picture nominees: Dead End (1937), Foreign Correspondent (1940), and The More the Merrier (1943). McCrea himself was never even nominated for an Academy Award. 
Merchants National and Montana NationalA colored postcard view, circa. 1900, of the Montana National Bank (yellowish) and the Merchants National Bank (white), later the Union Bank.  Then the aftermath of the January 9, 1944 fire at the Montana National Bank, in which two sisters-in-law died: the widow of the founding vice-president of the bank and the widow of the VP’s brother.  More here.
Before and after the showBased on the weather and their super-cute signage, I'll be visiting Corr Cafe for a cuppa and a substantial snack shortly after the end credits roll on Sullivan's Travels, in which "Veronica Lake's on the take."
All goneEverything you see here was destroyed and much of downtown completely rearranged in a 1970s "urban renewal" campaign.  Helenahistory.org describes the orgy of 'progress' as follows:
"Most of the Victorian-era structures in the area fell to the wrecking ball. In total, 228 buildings were demolished, over 140 businesses were displaced, and 430 families had to find somewhere else to live. In a city of Helena's small size, it was a major upheaval."
That's a Very Strange SignLooking at the photo on a large 4k monitor, it is easy to see that the sign is actually a neon sign! Neon has never been cheap relative to other forms of advertising. 
Why would they go to that one-time expense for these 2 films, made by completely different studios, with completely different stars, for one particular movie theatre, in an out of the way place such as Helena, Montana, and in the winter, to boot ?
The "Marlow Theatre" and the "arrow" pointer in neon makes sense, but the film names? 
[The letters in the sign can be rearranged to spell out whatever is playing. - Dave]
Behind the scenesAs GlenJay points out in his comment on "Paris Calling," there was an ominous background to these tranquil domestic scenes. Around the time this picture was taken, Roy Stryker wrote to John Vachon (March 18, 1942):
"If everything goes well, we will go on a 'partial security' basis, that is the FBI will investigate the field photographers very carefully. You will then carry proper identification as well as have a letter of specific authorization for each assignment."
As a former government photographer myself, I know full well that having an FBI background check really tells you that you're no longer taking holiday snapshots.
(The Gallery, John Vachon, Movies)

Copper Country: 1942
September 1942. Deer Lodge County, Montana. "Anaconda smelter. Ore cars and smokestack." Acetate negative by ... which bowl game -- if any -- Utah would compete against Montana, but they're definitely facing off in the most photogenic mining ... tests my loyalty, Answer: Right there at Anaconda, Montana Question: Where were the bricks made to build the smokestack? I ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/29/2023 - 3:08pm -

September 1942. Deer Lodge County, Montana. "Anaconda smelter. Ore cars and smokestack." Acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Copious copperIt's indeed a beautiful picture. And look at all the copper! It takes a lot of electricity to run an operation to mine the metal.
Sootpunk chicI'm not sure which bowl game -- if any -- Utah would compete against Montana, but they're definitely facing off in the most photogenic mining infrastructure contest. Carr Fork Canyon, also -- and probably not coincidentally -- 1942, won my heart first,  but this shot tests my loyalty,
Answer: Right there at Anaconda, MontanaQuestion: Where were the bricks made to build the smokestack?
I can't find a modern reference to support this September 1905 trade journal article.  But it seems in Deer Lodge County, Montana, "There is no clay in the world that produces such durable and heat-resisting bricks as those that are turned out at the Anaconda yards.  The silica brick made here surpasses the celebrated Swansea brick ..." Swansea brick is made in Wales.
Click to embiggen:

Butte, Anaconda and Pacific RailwayThis photo from the Butte - Silver Bow Public Archives shows the electric locomotives that brought the ore cars from Butte to the smelter in Anaconda. Electric power for the railway came from Great Falls, Montana. The power was converted from AC to 2,400 volts Direct Current at several substations along the line. 
How GreenAn absolutely amazing photograph.
I'm getting a 'How Green Was My Valley' (John Ford 1941) impression.
(The Gallery, Factories, Industry & Public Works, Mining, Railroads, Russell Lee)

Mudville, Montana: 1942
March 1942. "Wheeler, Montana. Boom town of the Fort Peck construction era, now nearly deserted." ... on Fort Peck: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Peck,_Montana Originally an Indian trading post, in the 1930s this was a WPA ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/24/2021 - 11:22am -

March 1942. "Wheeler, Montana. Boom town of the Fort Peck construction era, now nearly deserted." Photo by John Vachon for the Office of War Information. View full size.
WPA dambuilding projectWikipedia has a bit on Fort Peck:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Peck,_Montana
Originally an Indian trading post, in the 1930s this was a WPA project to build a dam, some structures remain.
[The dam was also on the cover of the first issue of Life magazine. - Dave]
Four Peck Dam photo by Margaret Bourke-WhitePerhaps the most recognizable photographs involving Bourke-White show her perched on a Chrysler Building gargoyle. Ironically, she is the subject, not the photographer, of those famous photos. Oscar Graubner, described online as Bourke-White's darkroom assistant, took the photos. 
Mud seasonThe dreaded springtime thaw!
With apologies to Ernest Lawrence ThayerThere is no joy in Mudville.
There's no joy… being in that parking area.
Hot shotOne of Margaret Bourke White's most famous photographs.
(The Gallery, Frontier Life, John Vachon)

Hotel Wisdom: 1942
August 1942. "Big Hole Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana. Buildings on the main street of Wisdom, Montana, trading center for the Big Hole Valley. This is cattle country." ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/03/2023 - 7:48pm -

August 1942. "Big Hole Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana. Buildings on the main street of Wisdom, Montana, trading center for the Big Hole Valley. This is cattle country." Acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Battle Of The Big HoleAs American settlers moved west and justified westward expansion as the nation's Manifest Destiny, the Nez Perce had no alternative except to share their ancestral lands.
Eventually, Americans' interest in the land's riches and cultural conflicts between the settlers and the Nez Perce led to a series of bloody battles. One of the many battles, the Battle of the Big Hole in Wisdom, Montana changed the outcome of the Nez Perce War of 1877.
Montana: Big Hole National Battlefield
Last Saturday night ...Paul Bunyan decided to play horseshoes on Main Street and missed.
Rooms to let, 50 centsNo phone no food no pets ... Hotel Wisdom
Phone line Horse sneakers!
Hotel wisdomDon't walk barefoot on the carpet, and sanitize the remote.
Russell Lee and John VachonBoth Russell Lee and John Vachon spent a lot of time in the region in the late 1930s and early '40s. In fall 1942, perhaps they were traveling together, as both have images of Wisdom in the archive.
Quoting Mary Murphy (Montana State professor): 
Vachon drove his Plymouth into Beaverhead County in the spring of 1942 with the assignment of photographing stock raising. After several days, he wrote to FSA Director Roy Stryker that he had found “the purest most undiluted West I've ever seen.” (Source: her presentation)
Another interesting tidbit about how Vachon described his drives through the county:
From Butte, Montana, in March 1942 he wrote [to his wife Penny] of “regretting a very abject and cowardly performance about 3:00 this afternoon.” Vachon is reproaching himself for fearing to drive the road from Wise River to Wisdom, which is “one lane bumpy full of puddles holes heavy snow and cliff hanging.” It really rankles when the attendant at the Wise River gas station tells him, 'The mail stage makes it every day'.” (Source: Big Sky Journal)
LIQWhen the boys leave the bar with snootful, it's forgotten that what goes up must come down.  And the nearest hospital is (probably at least) 50 miles away.
Measure twice.The carpenter placed the hotel windows symmetrically. The sign painter missed.
Wisdom = Having InsuranceIt seems almost unnecessary to ask, doesn't it?  (05/21/60)

Despite what might seem like daunting odds, Fetty's rebuilt,  and seems to still be in business. The hotel, however, seems to have checked out.
A tossupWhat's with the horseshoe up on the power lines?
The town that Coke forgotThere's a Chesterfield's ad at the liquor store (the largest of the four buildings shown); but I do not see a Drink Coca-Cola sign, usually a standard feature in 1940s main street photos.
The distances to the nearest towns in either direction reminds me of the saying -- it's not the end of the world ... but you can see it from there.
At some point that horseshoe is going to be an UN-lucky horseshoe for someone.
Lean on me1939 Chevrolet Master Deluxe 4-Door Sedan.
Makes me wonder how many times the Chevy completed
the aforementioned fearsome trek from Wise River to Wisdom.
(The Gallery, Russell Lee, Small Towns, Stores & Markets)

Archer Mercantile: 1937
... "Store building at Alger [i.e. Archer], Sheridan County, Montana." Medium format negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security ... County: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheridan_County,_Montana#Communities [ Au contraire. -Dave] I believe ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/23/2019 - 5:48pm -

November 1937. "Store building at Alger [i.e. Archer], Sheridan County, Montana." Medium format negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Modest, isolated livesMany of the photos to be found on this website show a rural America of modest means in isolated environments.  I suspect a Sear catalog was their only contact with the "outside" world.
Perhaps WWII was as much a cultural change as an economic or political force. And this was life not long before many of us were born.
Just wondering.
WhitmarshCall me crazy, but I read nightmarish.  And isn’t that Prince Albert in a can behind the door insulated with cardboard?
Gone but also forgottenNeither Alger nor Archer appears on Google Maps, nor on the list of towns and ghost towns for Sheridan County: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheridan_County,_Montana#Communities
[Au contraire. -Dave] 

I believe that the metropolis of Archer MontanaIs fresh out of mercantile. And maybe a while before another shipment arrives.
Gasoline PumpsThe early gasoline pump on the right being looked down upon by the modern version is classic.
Out of businessNot every small town that gets shut down can blame it on Walmart.
(The Gallery, Frontier Life, Gas Stations, Russell Lee, Small Towns, Stores & Markets)

Montana Cowboys: 1939
June 1939. Big Horn County, Montana. "Cowhands singing after day's work. Quarter Circle U Ranch roundup." ... for the excellent photos, Dave. Boone H Roundup, Montana (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Camping, Music, Rural America) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/09/2018 - 11:24am -

June 1939. Big Horn County, Montana. "Cowhands singing after day's work. Quarter Circle U Ranch roundup." Medium format acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Crew cutDid you notice how everybody just had his hair cut. Quite short.
Lighting effectNote also that the photo staged the light cans to give the appearance of campfire. Between the haircuts and the phony set up, this smacks a bit of propaganda.
[There's nothing phony about it. It's one of more than 300 photographs Arthur Rothstein took of cowhands at the Quarter Circle U in 1939. A few examples below. - Dave]

CowboysThis photo is fantastic!  Thanks, Dave!
CowboysIt really does look like a movie still.
Cowboy GuitarThat probably is a tenor guitar. These smaller guitars were popular because they're easy to pack along when out on the trail.  Nowadays backpackers sometimes carry them.  Martin makes a lot of these, and calls them "tenor size."  (Elderly Instruments link.)
Light in a canJust curious how these light cans were powered in 1931? 
Or are you suggesting it was shot in a studio? 
I guess the items that appear to be light cans couldn't be logs on the old campfire...or some other non-staged artifact?
[These were shot outdoors at the Quarter Circle U. The lights were probably powered off a car battery. And the year is 1939, not 1931. - Dave]
Marble Row CountrySmoke 'em if you got 'em.
Can anybody tell if that's a tenor guitar? It looks like it has six strings, but the body's rather small. 
Parlor guitarIt's definitely a six-stringer, probably a "parlor guitar" --- a small-bodied instrument made for small venues.
See here: http://tinyurl.com/39lunt
and here: http://tinyurl.com/2gxxt4
WowNothing else to add, just wow!
Home Sweet HomeBeing a native Montanan born on a large sheep spread, this looks very much like home. It really hasn't changed much either, thankfully. I'll certainly never live anywhere else. As my grandfather would have said: "Well, I'll be go to hell, savvy photo ya got there!"
Thanks for the excellent photos, Dave.
Boone H
Roundup, Montana
(The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Camping, Music, Rural America)

Battleship: 1940
... funnels. Bare Knuckle Bout Watch your step. Montana peak Note the campaign hats shown being worn by some of these Kiwi ... kind of hat with that crown configuration -- the so-called Montana peak. The US Army abandoned the hat shortly after we entered WWII, for ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/16/2013 - 11:06pm -

Circa 1940, somewhere on the high seas. "Boxing match in progress on the deck of New Zealand troopship Dominion Monarch, carrying 2nd Echelon 4th Reinforcements to the United Kingdom. Probably Empress of Russia seen sailing in the background." View full size.
Distant ShipWhile similar, the distant ship  does not have the funnels rake of the Queen Mary.
Life of the "Dominion Monarch" at sea. Here's the sailing history of the "Dominion Monarch."
http://www.nzmaritime.co.nz/dm01.htm
Luxury liner, interruptedBuilt on the River Tyne in the late 1930's for the Shaw Savill Line, the Dominion Monarch was a rare example of a passenger liner that also could carry large amounts of cargo: to be specific, 525 passengers, 3,600 tons of dry cargo and 12,800 tons of frozen or refrigerated cargo.  It served the Britain-Australia/New Zealand route for only about a year until the outbreak of war.  Shortly thereafter, the British government requisitioned the ship and had it re-outfitted as a troopship, with its passenger capacity increased dramatically to over 3,500 ... clearly, the soldiers were packed in pretty tightly.
After the war, having regained ownership, Shaw Savill converted the Dominion Monarch back to passenger/cargo service and returned it to the Britain - Down Under route.  Over the years, however, that service began to make less and less economic sense.  Its last regular trip was in early 1962, at which point it went to Seattle to serve as a floating hotel during that city's World's Fair.  In late 1962 the Dominion Monarch was scrapped in Japan.
The RMS Empress of Russia began service in 1913 and served as a troopship in both world wars.  Between the wars it mainly served trans-Pacific routes.  Despite its age, plans were to return the ship to passenger service after World War II ended, but shortly after the end of the war it was destroyed by fire while docked in Britain.
Not Romanov but Windsor.The ship in the background is actually the Queen Mary. The Empress of Russia had a lower freeboard and more spindly funnels.
Bare Knuckle BoutWatch your step.
Montana peakNote the campaign hats shown being worn by some of these Kiwi troops (those ain't Boy Scouts, bub!).  New Zealand and the US were the only two nations to pair that kind of hat with that crown configuration -- the so-called Montana peak.  The US Army abandoned the hat shortly after we entered WWII, for obvious reasons, but I believe the New Zealand forces kept it on for a while.  I still have my father's US Army campaign hat, a Stetson for which he paid $100 in 1925.  Along with the saber, riding boots, and Sam Browne belt he was also required to purchase upon commissioning (which I also keep but rarely have occasion to use!), it took him a year to get his accounts back in the black.
It's worth mentioning that the Government-issue enlisted version of said hat, in the US at least, was an execrably cheap and shoddy affair, impossible to cram into a duffle bag without being permanently deformed, hard to keep on one's head during strenuous activity, and a lot less protective than a steel helmet in combat.  Nonetheless, many photos verify that it remained a favorite with General Vinegar Joe Stilwell long after it ceased to be part of the official uniform.  For keeping the sun and rain out of one's eyes, it was nonpareil.
More on Montana PeakThe hats may have been called that in the US, but in New Zealand they are affectionately called "lemon squeezers", for obvious reasons.
Date and number discrepanciesIf it's 1940, it's very late 1940, since according to this page she wasn't requisitioned until August of that year. 
An odd tidbit that I notice: it says she carried "over 29,000" troops, which at 3550 bunks implies only around 8 trips. Seems low, for 5 years of war. Perhaps it was in truth over 290,000? Or is that too high?
 Handsome Rakes : GroupMy wife insists that she has never seen a group of men with such sweet smiles, pleasing visages and so delicious masculiny (her adjective)fit. 
To keep peace in the family and my changing screensaver of Pretty Girls please include these gentleman in the Handsome Rakes category.
(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, New Zealand, WW2)

Mouat Mine, Montana: 1942
August 1942. Stillwater County, Montana. "Development at the site of the mill for the Mouat Chromite mine. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 6:38pm -

August 1942. Stillwater County, Montana. "Development at the site of the mill for the Mouat Chromite mine. Mouat was recently constructed at the foot of one of the higher peaks in Stillwater County." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information. Library of Congress. View full size.
Still there, still functioningNote text and picture at lower left, here:
http://www.stillwaterpalladium.com/stillwater2.html
Mouat Mine TodayIt looks like the buildings gave way to a holding pond over the years.

[Thanks thxdave for these great photos. Click to enlarge. - Dave]
Direct link?Dave, do you know if there's a way to create a direct link to the Google Earth "view" that you create on your own screen (elevation, angle, etc.) so people could go directly to the image?
[Hmm. Not that I can see. - Dave]
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, Mining)

Our Man in Montana: 1941
... Quarter Circle U, Brewster-Arnold Ranch Company. Birney, Montana." Medium format negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Resettlement ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/20/2017 - 10:56am -

August 1941. "Cowboy on a ranch horse in the corral at Quarter Circle U, Brewster-Arnold Ranch Company. Birney, Montana." Medium format negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Where's the bling?I'm a little disappointed he's not wearing a rhinestone suit. He'll never cut it in Nashville.
Not a CowboyGrowing up in the 50's and watching every western movie and TV series created I consider myself an expert on real cowboys. The facts are as follows: No Stetson (sorry, straw hats won't cut it). No six-gun, no Winchester in scabbard, no vest, no chaps and really, a sweater? I'm embarrassed for him. I can't see his feet but I bet he's wearing penny loafers instead of boots. I could go on but I think I've made my case. I just hope Hoppy and Roy never saw this pic.
Previously on ShorpyHave we seen him before? I seem to recall the incongruous cardigan sweater and straw hat. In any case, he seems perfectly at ease.
[He's also here and here. - Dave]
A Ward Cleaver-ish CowboyIf Beaver's dad had been a cowboy, he might have worn a cardigan. 
This guy should have gone to HollywoodBut he probably enlisted in the Marines instead.
Farmer vs CowboyIt's all about the hat.
(The Gallery, Horses, M.P. Wolcott)

Big Sky: 1942
Butte, Montana, in September 1942. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Russell Lee, Office ... and much of it is familiar. The closest I've ever been to Montana was the license plate on a rented car in California. I'm hoping our ... pictures of the area I am describing? Seeing Butte, Montana To see Butte you have to want to see it as the city is located, for ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/27/2014 - 9:49am -

Butte, Montana, in September 1942. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Russell Lee, Office of War Information. Anyone see their house here? View full size.
Recent?Does anyone have something recent from the same angle to compare? Just wow. I wish the LoC had Canadian stuff in it as well.
Here We Go AgainThis shot will keep me pretty busy for a while, especially in High Definition. This type of detail was available in the pictures of New York City, but that's my territory and much of it is familiar. The closest I've ever been to Montana was the license plate on a rented car in California. I'm hoping our Shorpy commenters (or is it commentators?) can identify the more interesting parts of the picture. 
Memories of ButteI am fascinated by the similarity of my last memory of Butte and this picture.  My father was a miner in Wallace, Idaho, and when the galena miners went on strike, we would pack up and head for Butte, where Dad would find work. One vivid memory is of the steps that went up the mountainside between houses, they seemed very steep back then (late 1950's). Does any one have any pictures of the area I am describing?
Seeing Butte, MontanaTo see Butte you have to want to see it as the city is located, for the most part, north of I-90. It was the same when U.S.10 was the main east-west road. There are times we do take old U.S. 10 (now state highway 2) west over the mountains for old times' sake. 
AmazingThis site is so brilliant!
I waste all my afternoon here seeing and appreciating these pearls!
Congrats and thank you so much for this wonderfull work.
Have you seen your Butte today?I believe this is the area in the photo on Google Maps today:
View Larger Map
The photo looks like it was taken from Big Butte Road (no, I did not make that up!) looking east. Antimony Street and West Woolman Street run away from the camera in the foreground toward that iron superstructure at left, which is the most easily identifiable feature.  Many of the houses appear to still be there.  Looks like the area that would become the gigantic Berkeley Pit copper mine is in the background.  It appears that some type of mining was already taking place, though the copper mine wouldn't open until 1955 according to Wikipedia.
I'm moving to Butte... in five weeks. I want to make an effort to re-create the angle and setting of the photo. 
We have a restored house in Uptown Butte on West Mercury. I'll see how many of the more distinctive buildings in this photo we can identify.
Thanks for a fun project idea!
From near the M on the hillThe picture looks like it was taken with a telephoto lens from near the M on the hill west of town looking pretty much east.  The Berkley pit was dug along the foothills of the ridge in the background.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Russell Lee)

Late for the Sky: 1941
August 1941. "Highway near Havre, Montana." Medium format acetate negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm ... this road is today's Highway 2, also called the Skyline. Montana and North Dakota roads like this remind me of the old joke: "My dog ran ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/14/2019 - 6:37pm -

August 1941. "Highway near Havre, Montana." Medium format acetate negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Miles and Milesof nothing but miles and miles.
Highway 2?I wonder if this road is today's Highway 2, also called the Skyline. Montana and North Dakota roads like this remind me of the old joke: "My dog ran away, and I watched him run away for three days."
1940 Ford1940 Ford V8, referred to today as a "Standard" vs "Deluxe", in 1940 sales literature the are called the "De Luxe" and the "V8" 
MontanaA great place to live for eight months of the year. The other four filter out the rest.
Possibly current U.S. 87Ms. Wolcott sometimes casts a wide net with her place name descriptions. But using a 1941 Montana road map (online here https://www.mdt.mt.gov/other/mdtexrepo/maps/HWYMAP_1941_FT.PDF), there seem to be two paved roads out of Havre. One is US 2 -- but it's a long way to the mountains on that road, so the hazy ones we see seem to rule that out.
This leaves US 87 (State Route 29 in 1940), which heads towards Great Falls. Since Wolcott has other pictures from the trip labelled as being taken on the road between Great Falls and Havre, this makes sense. My guess would be this was taken on the top of hill where US 87 starts descending towards the Missouri River valley, north of the town of Loma. Google streetview shows long views and hazy mountains.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Landscapes, M.P. Wolcott)

We Fix Flats: 1942
... April 1942. "Service station. Hamilton, Ravalli County, Montana." You want Coke with that? Medium format negative by John Vachon for ... View full size. That oil stove/furnace in Montana I imagine got a good workout in the winter months. Looks like a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/27/2021 - 2:13pm -

April 1942. "Service station. Hamilton, Ravalli County, Montana." You want Coke with that? Medium format negative by John Vachon for the Office of War Information. View full size.
That oil stove/furnace in MontanaI imagine got a good workout in the winter months. Looks like a great place to hang out and have a game of checkers and catch up on the local news. 
This is a service stationI notice John Vachon called this a service station, not a gas station.  I remember the days when you pulled your car up next to a gas pump and told the attendant who came out to greet you how much you wanted of which grade.  While you sat in your car or did whatever you needed to do the attendant put gas in your tank, cleaned your front and rear windshields, checked your oil and told you the results, maybe put water in your radiator or windshield wiper tank, and checked the pressure in all four of your tires.  As a norm attendants were not given tips; it was just part of going to a service station.  
The Plymouth was getting tiredOn March 18 Roy Stryker had written to Vachon that he was trying to get new tires for his old car. Even being a government employee was apparently not a free ticket during war rationing. I wonder if Vachon had eyed the tires in this station, but the approval wasn't expected until near the end of April.
What a Great Looking Gas StationThe only thing missing is the rubber hose to ring the bell to indicate that someone is waiting at the pumps. In reality it is probably hidden by the bushes and the car.
Open QuestionDo the garage doors slide or fold?  I think they slide.  Any ideas?
[Perhaps they pivot. - Dave]
Open Question - slide or fold?From the handle placement and orientation plus the state of the right hand door, my guess is that they are hinged vertical panels that slide sideways and bend at the side to travel back into the bay. Sort of like the modern vertical garage doors mounted sideways.
(The Gallery, Gas Stations, John Vachon, Small Towns)

All Hat: 1939
June 1939. Birney, Montana. "Dude playing a slot machine." Medium format negative by Arthur ... meant dude as in a dude ranch, not as in "duuude." Montana Slim Our photo subject has a 31-inch waist. Levi's 501s ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/17/2017 - 10:35pm -

June 1939. Birney, Montana. "Dude playing a slot machine." Medium format negative by Arthur Rothstein, Farm Security Administration. View full size.
31x34Same as me!  But they're almost always just even sizes, so it's usually 32 and a belt.
No cattle?Maybe the livestock are gathered around the baccarat table?
Lebowski-esqueI thought the LoC was being very casual. It took a while to realize the caption meant dude as in a dude ranch, not as in "duuude."
Montana SlimOur photo subject has a 31-inch waist.
Levi's 501s I bought my first pair of Levi's button fly jeans at the Union Men's Shop in Windsor, Ontario, in 1965. They cost $5.15 in Canadian dollars then. The day this Shorpy picture was posted I bought a new pair near Seattle, as shown in this photograph, on sale for US $ 39.95. With the inflation calculator and current exchange rate, it works out to CDN $50.00. I have been fortunate to wear the same size 30 inch waist for fifty years. The "shrink-to-fit" 501s still use a heavy rigid denim.
Slot machineThis one, with a different handle unfortunately.
(The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein)

Junk, Food: 1942
October 1942. "Butte, Montana. Eating lunch at the scrap salvage campaign." Medium format acetate ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/07/2024 - 12:15pm -

October 1942. "Butte, Montana. Eating lunch at the scrap salvage campaign." Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Office of War Information. View full size.
ScrumptiousI'll bet those sandwiches tasted so good to the long-ago hungry, hard-working boys. I hope they got potato chips and a drink too, plus a giant oatmeal cookie.
Tasty"Golly, I sure am glad we were able to salvage these sandwiches from the trash!"
Wearing three hatsThe young man with facial hair is wearing what appears to be a chauffeur's cap.  There's a sort of name pin attached to the top, with a tiny bowler and top hat hanging down from it.  I can't read the pin.  Dave, can you please help?
Thanks Dave.  "Don't blow your top" is a phrase I haven't heard or thought of in a long time.  It's very Andy Hardy.
(The Gallery, Russell Lee, WW2)

To Herr With Love: 1942
October 1942. "Butte, Montana. Schoolchildren on a pile of scrap which they gathered during the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/03/2023 - 2:02pm -

October 1942. "Butte, Montana. Schoolchildren on a pile of scrap which they gathered during the salvage campaign." Photo by Russell Lee for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Home AloneI see Macaulay Culkin made an appearance at the bottom of the pile.
Too HeavyI'm sure those kids didn't pick up all the scrap metal on display.  That radiator, leaning on the stove over to the right, would be weighing several hundreds of pounds.  The stove wouldn't exactly be a lightweight either.
[That was nothing compared to the trouble they had driving the truck. - Dave]
The Spellingof Mussolini is a little off, but the sentiment is great.
Down with HitlerSome of the kids are giving the reverse peace sign as Churchill did in '41.
Wonder if they knew.
The Good Old Days*sigh* I pine for the old days when people knew how to be impromptu and unfettered by the burden of what could and what might happen. Look at all these kids perched upon a pile of unstabilized, sharp and jagged-edged junk. All flashing a patriotic V for Victory sign to boot. Here we are 81 years later and you'd never be able to recreate this photo. There would be barricades, orange cones and danger tape all around the perimeter. Anyone allowed near the junk would be wearing thick clothing, steal-toed boots, face & eye protection, hard hats, gloves and flashing the V for Victory symbol would be followed by a pink slip for offending someone. *sigh*
[Do "steal-toed" boots belong to someone else? - Dave] 
A bounty of bedspringsWhich, like box springs today, is not something I think people threw out that often.  Maybe these kids convinced their parents it was better on their backs to go without bedsprings?  And maybe they asked after the fact.
[Or they're from car seats, sofas, etc. - Dave]
Jog on!The reverse V-for-Victory sign actually would earn a few pink slips. But in this case I don't think anybody will complain about giving Hitler the middle finger. 
(The Gallery, Kids, Patriotic, Russell Lee, WW2)

Superstack: 1942
September 1942. Deer Lodge County, Montana. "Anaconda Smelter of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. The smokestack is ... smelter from 1916 until the 1960s. This photo from the Montana State Library shows the third rail locomotives used only at the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/28/2023 - 3:09pm -

September 1942. Deer Lodge County, Montana. "Anaconda Smelter of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. The smokestack is the largest in the world: 585 feet in height with a diameter at base of seventy-five feet and at top of sixty feet. Flue gases are discharged at the rate of three to four million cubic feet per minute. The arsenic plant and flue gas cleaning apparatus are seen at the base of the stack." Photo by Russell Lee, Office of War Information. View full size.
AnacondaTimely posting for me, because I’m currently reading a book titled Anaconda about the whole copper mining business there. Found it in my parents’ house while cleaning it out. My uncle lived there, and we visited the Butte Hole once. I still have some hunks of copper ore and cast copper from then.
Third Rail PowerBeside a number of the approach tracks to the smelter you can see covered third rails for electric power, similar to many subway systems. Electric trains using overhead wires hauled ore cars between Butte and the Anaconda smelter from 1916 until the 1960s. This photo from the Montana State Library shows the third rail locomotives used only at the smelter.
Re: AnacondaOne must be careful when spelling and pronouncing "Butte Hole."
Great-Granddad smelt that smelterHe worked there for a while and also used to own a "meat market" in the city. I used to tell people he owned a disco (you had to be there).
The stack stands aloneThe smelter and train tracks and hustle and bustle are gone. The impressive smokestack is left as a reference point. 
The world's tallest freestanding masonry structure.From this angle, it's not hard to believe. 
Mind your step.

Copper Hopper: 1942
September 1942. Deer Lodge County, Montana. "Anaconda smelter, Anaconda Copper Mining Company. Cars containing 50 ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/30/2023 - 2:29pm -

September 1942. Deer Lodge County, Montana. "Anaconda smelter, Anaconda Copper Mining Company. Cars containing 50 tons of copper ore are dumped by an unloading mechanism into a 200-ton hopper." Acetate negative by Russell Lee, Office of War Information. View full size.
Waste notI've never seen such sight. What happened to the cart that rolled into that chamber on those tracks? Did it just roll off the tracks down into oblivion along with its load of copper? And look at the flimsy housing they built around such a powerful impressive machine. Strange.
[That "cart" is a fifty-ton railcar. It goes back on the train tracks after being emptied. - Dave]
NOW I see the railcar still in there. I didn't realize I was looking at the back of the railcar. I thought it was just the back of the chamber. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
STAND BACK!That is one nasty pinch-point.
The car on the tracksis actually still on the rails. The mechanism which rolls the car over clamps the car and the tracks together, and as soon as the car is empty, it rolls on over so that the car can be rolled out of that area. This is same way that coal cars are emptied at electric power plants. In most cases the cars have couplers which can swivel so that a car still in a train can also be emptied, one car at a time.
Impressions ProgressFirst - What are we looking at?
Second - Ok, now we get what's going on.
Third - Still scary.
(The Gallery, Mining, Railroads, Russell Lee)

Junior Scrapper: 1942
October 1942. "Butte, Montana. 'Salvage for Victory.' Truck crew on scrap salvage day." Acetate ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/04/2023 - 7:57pm -

October 1942. "Butte, Montana. 'Salvage for Victory.' Truck crew on scrap salvage day." Acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Hooligan!The kid probably stole that boiler.
Jolly bunchLooks like they would have been a fun group to work and hang out with!
Fashion PlateThese dudes in these duds could be strutting down a Paris catwalk today.
Advanced StyleKid seems to be exactly 50 years from the future. I'm pretty sure that's what happened here.
(The Gallery, Kids, Russell Lee, WW2)

Christina Klunk: 1942
October 1942. "Butte, Montana. Boy Scouts with a truckload of scrap during the salvage campaign." ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/02/2023 - 7:50pm -

October 1942. "Butte, Montana. Boy Scouts with a truckload of scrap during the salvage campaign." Acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Family resemblanceThe driver and the boy on the fender.
SMILE!The dude driving is waaaay too happy.
Truck ID suggestionReo Speed Wagon circa 1927 followed by a 1939-1940 Chevrolet truck.
Who's Christina Klunk?Who's Christina Klunk?
[If you mean *what* is Christina Klunk, it's the name on the front of the truck. - Dave]
Who not WhatDoes anyone know WHO Christina Klunk was?
[Um, there is no "who." It's just a cute name for that clunker of a truck. - Dave]
(The Gallery, Boy Scouts, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Russell Lee, WW2)

Smelter Shelter: 1942
September 1942. Deer Lodge County, Montana. "Smelter of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. Reverberatory furnace ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/27/2023 - 1:05pm -

September 1942. Deer Lodge County, Montana. "Smelter of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. Reverberatory furnace buildings." Acetate negative by Russell Lee. View full size.
Or maybe ..Copper hoppers?
What what what a Word word wordAs a musician I am always aware of the acoustics in any given room, but I'm scratching my head about what the word 'reverberatory' has to do with a copper furnace.
[If only there was an easy way to look up unfamiliar terms ?!? - Dave]
Not just for Charles Sheeler fansDoes anyone else find this beautiful?
(The Gallery, Industry & Public Works, Mining, Russell Lee)

Roast Ducts: 1942
September 1942. Deer Lodge County, Montana. "Smelter of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. Flues atop the battery of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/28/2023 - 11:18am -

September 1942. Deer Lodge County, Montana. "Smelter of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. Flues atop the battery of roasting furnaces; sulphurous and arsenic gases are carried to the large smokestack." Acetate negative by Russell Lee, Office of War Information. View full size.
Sulfur and arsenicFoul odors from those roast ducts.
Super StackAt 585 feet, it's the tallest surviving masonry structure in the world.  The stack still stands today, and this was taken from nearly a mile away.

Good ol days?Send it up the chimney and it's gone! Life was so clean back then ... NOT!
(The Gallery, Industry & Public Works, Mining, Russell Lee)

Mineral Electric: 1942
September 1942. Deer Lodge County, Montana. "Anaconda smelter, Anaconda Copper Mining Company. Individual ore cars ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/30/2023 - 2:18pm -

September 1942. Deer Lodge County, Montana. "Anaconda smelter, Anaconda Copper Mining Company. Individual ore cars are pushed to the ore dump by an electric locomotive." Acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Office of War Information. View full size.
(The Gallery, Mining, Railroads, Russell Lee)

Vacation Wagon: 1964
... ago. Everyone buckled in? Let's go! "Great Falls, Montana. Return after 3 weeks Vacation. June 27, 1964." This Kodachrome of a ... other. Memories of summer trips We also lived in Montana back then, and our family truckster in the 1960s was a 1963 Rambler ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/31/2022 - 1:09am -

        Our annual salute to the start of vacation road-trip season, first posted here 15 years ago. Everyone buckled in? Let's go!
"Great Falls, Montana. Return after 3 weeks Vacation. June 27, 1964." This Kodachrome of a 1960 Chevrolet Parkwood station wagon is from a box of slides found on eBay. View full size.
family trips in those carsI also spent some hot days in a car like that on the way to the grandparents. My mother flattened the second seat, put a mattress on the floor and loaded three of us and the stuff in on top of it, us and the stuff equally loose and not tied down. We whined and fought and slept our way to Cape Cod from southern NJ. My father always "had to work" (they were her parents), so she did the drive alone, I think maybe 12 or 16 hours? Seemed like forever. 
NostalgicThese people still had a bright future ahead of them, full of great hopes for the days to come. They hadn't gone to the Moon yet, and to them, by 2007 we'd have personal helicopters and robots would run everything. The possibility of the President being indicted for a crime was unthinkable. My job as a web designer hadn't even been invented yet.
The lawn looks like it's literally astroturf. Were the colors really like that, or is it an effect of the kodachrome?
Holy cow! We had a 59 chevyHoly cow! We had a 59 chevy stationwagon back in the day. Does this bring back memories. We would drive to Florida from Virginia a two day trip usually in the heat of the summer to visit grandparents. Five children two parents no ac. Damn!
[This is a 1960 Chevrolet. - Dave]
DeflectorsDoes anybody know/remember what the deflectors left and right of the rear window were for? These may have been an aftermarket item.
It is amazing how well the colors in this slide are preserved after almost 50 years. It looks like Kodachrome all right, including the telltale blue cast in the shadows
The Astroturf look......to my eye, seems to come from the little flowers (or toadstools?) that are in the lawn. At the smaller image size, they look like specular reflections, making it seem like the grass is shiny.
[The white flowers are clover. - Dave]
1964As I remember it, this was less than a year after the assassination of JFK, there were race riots in the south and we (I was 14) were all starting to question attitudes towards women, blacks, hispanics, homosexuals and the culture we had grown up with. One of the more minor cultural things was the importance of your front lawn.
50 years?I was born in 1964, and trust me, it hasn't been 50 years since then, yet.... ;)
Re:DeflectorsThe deflectors on either side of the rear window were intended to blow air across the rear window to prevent snow from accumulating.  A similar deflector is often fitted along the roof on station wagons from the 60s on.  I think they were usually a factory or dealer option in later years, but I really don't know specifically about this model or when they might have first been used.
OK, 40 years.Sorry, I was too vexed on the year of manufacture of the car.
I remember that someone in our street had the sedan version of this Chevy. Like any 8 year old, I was fascinated by the winged tail and the panorama windshield. You didn't see many of these in Europe around 1960; everbody, including my father, was driving Volkswagen Beetles. (He later had a new Ford Mustang 1964 1/2 , with a 289 ci V8 and a four speed box, rally pack and (optional) front discs, which I found very impressive at the time. A real gas guzzler by European standards.
Family TrucksterThis is probably what Clark Griswold's dad took the family on vacation in. It's a 1960 Chevy, and I'm guessing it's a Kingswood model. The Brookwood was the more stripped down model and I think the "full dresser" was called a Nomad. This one isn't completely chromed-out and it has the small, dog-dish hubcaps so I'm thinking it's the middle of the line model.
I think the rear air deflectors also helped keep exhaust gas from entering the rear passenger compartment when the vehicle was moving with the tailgate window was lowered. Though it doesn't look like there's room for anybody in the third row of seats for this trip. With the window up they also helped keep the rear glass clear of snow and dust.  
These are Parents of the Year......in my book. Can you imagine going across country now without all of the luxuries and Wendy's and portable DVD players and Nintendo and cell phones and credit cards?
These parents did it all the HARD way...and I'll bet they made a lot of memories that summer!
My jaw droppedOnce again the red stationwagon family blows me away.  The color composition here is perfect.  
Chevy ParkwoodThis is a 1960 Chevrolet Parkwood.  Parkwoods and Kingswoods both use Bel Air trim (mid-level). The Kingswood, a nine-passenger wagon, has the third-row rear-facing seat, and two steps on the rear bumper (one on each end just outside of where the tailgate would come down). Less obvious is that all Kingswoods have power tailgate windows, an option on the other Chevrolet wagons.
I still drive a '59 ChevyI recommend owning one. In 2000 We took the ultimate road trip with mine from near the Canadian border in Washington State through the desert to Las Vegas and back up through California and Oregon. There really is nothing like seeing the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet. Cruising the Strip in Vegas was a blast. We might as well have been driving a space ship with the reactions we got. Sadly, these Chevrolets were mostly scrapped and very few survive.
60 ChevySadly, the third row seat had not been invented as of yet and the deflectors were used to deflect air into the rear of the stationwagon at slower speeds. I may not be an expert but I'm old enough to have ridden and slept in the back section of a folded down stationwagon.  We didn't know about SUV's yet.
Chevy WagonChevy's Parkwood and Kingswood wagons could both be had with a third-row seat.  And back then, for the record - wagons WERE the "SUVs" of the day!
[According to the 1960 Chevrolet sales brochure, only the Kingswood was available with third-row seating. The International Travelall and Chevy Suburban Carryall were two of the SUVs of the day.  - Dave]
The luggage rackis something you don't see anymore. It hung on the wall of the garage when not in use. Once my dad, who was in a big hurry, didn't secure the tarp on top properly...
We played car games, like Alphabet, Road Bingo, and License Plates, read books, colored,sang songs and squabbled. You took your chances with local restaurants. We hadn't got used to entertainment on demand, so we didn't miss it.
And to Dave Faris: It's the film. I once assured my daughter that colors when I was a kid were the same as today. "The Fifties," she said, in her narrator's voice, "were an oddly-hued decade."
Slide ConversionHow does one convert slides to digital photos? Any website links or advice?
[You'd use a film scanner. I used a Nikon 4000 ED for this one. - Dave]

Family TrucksterWe had a green Ford station wagon, not nearly as nice as this, and with our family of six, it was a masochistic experience to take family vacations. Every summer we said that's it, we will never do this again, until the following summer when we did it again. The best part was arriving home again, but I will say that NOT having DVD's and high tech electronic gadgets forced the kids to look out the window and they gained incredible geographic knowledge from seeing the U.S. I could truthfully call these annual trips "purgatory on wheels." 
Road TripMost all of my long-distance car trips were connected with moving as my father was in the USAF. In August 1954, after being in the UK 2½ years, we got in our in our '53 Chevy coupe and went from New York City to the SF Bay Area, mostly along US 40.  Entertainment consisted of looking at the scenery and checking off the towns on the free roadmaps that the service stations provided in each state. Iy being the pre-Interstate era, one did go thru many towns back then! (Excepting on the PA Turnpike) Burma-Shave signs relieved the boredom in the rural areas. We had a car radio (AM only, of course), but for some reason I can only recall it being used while crossing the salt flats west of Salt Lake City.
Westward HoIn 1951 our family, my wife, son and daughter, living in Detroit, started taking trips to Cheney, Washington, to visit my WW2 buddy. All on old state highways, no air conditioner, 4½ hours to get through Chicago and the kids loved it. Took these trips out west to the 1970s. We still go west to see my buddy and my daughter in Seattle and we enjoy crossing Nebraska on old U.S. 30. It is a treat to be off of I-80.
Nostalgia Ain't What it Used to BeDon't look at this picture and pine for the old days.
Change the car to a green Olds Vista Cruiser and that's us in 1969.  Back then, dads bought a new station wagon to kick off the summer vacation. Dads don't buy an SUV today for that reason.
Without repeating some of the horrors already mentioned below, there was the additional joy of Mom sending back a Coca Cola bottle for one of her sons to use in lieu of a loo.  If the girls had to go, we had to pull over.  Not so with the boys.  
Watching mom backhand-fling a Coke bottle out her window, filled with fluid far different that what was originally intended, and seeing it bounce and spill along the shoulder as we whizzed along at 75 mph (pun intended), that's about the fondest vacation memory at least from the car perspective. 
Today with the daughter hooked up to a video iPod and the sons enjoying their PSP, it's a pleasure to drive for distances.  Back then, we didn't play License Plates.  We played Punch Buggy and Slug Bug, etc.  Fistfight games.  
Let's go!I loved car trips, and I never had DVD players and Nintendo. I watched the scenery and kept a travel diary. those were some of the greatest times of my life.
Road TrripWe had to make do with pillows & blankets. A mattress would have made it actually comfortable. I don't know if Dad didn't have the imagination for that, or just not the money. I suspect the latter.
We'd sing sometimes. It was 12 hours from north Georgia near the North Carolina line to south Georgia, near the Florida line, where my grandmother lived.  
I see the moon; the moon sees me.
The moon sees the one that I want to see ...
Thanks for the memoriesMy folks had the four-door sedan version of this car, in sky blue & white. My mom  used to have a station wagon, don't remember what kind, but it was memorable for its pushbutton transmission on the dash instead of a gearshift! However my favorite "finned" car was our family's Buick Invicta. Now that was a car!
Third Row SeatsFords had third-row seats in 1955. I'm pretty sure Chevy had them by 1958 at least. Chevy didn't offer woodgrain sides until '65. 
Sunday ridesWe had that same car, only in light blue.
No seat belts or infant seats for us! We'd put my baby  sister in one of those deathtrap baby seats that hooked over the front seat and off we went!
What a picture!This picture takes me back almost 40 years to the road trips our family did during summer holidays when I was a little boy. It feels like I myself am stretching my legs after coming home. The colours, the moment -- one of my  favorite pictures in Shorpy. 
My Favorite Car was a 1960 Chevrolet Impala 2-dr hardtop. Bluish gray with white segment on the side, red and white interior. The first car my wife and I bought. Paid $1750 for it used in 1962. We made some wonderful trips in that car.
Re:  Family TrucksterJust saw this item on TV yesterday about a real family named Griswold that had their station wagon modded to look like the Family Truckster from National Lampoon's Vacation movie for their trip to Disney World.
http://tinyurl.com/plo5kub
See the USA in Your ChevroletFor our family, it was a 1962 Buick Invicta wagon.  Huge car designed for doing massive mileage on the interstates and that's what we did -- six or seven hundred miles a day from Indiana to the Rockies for our annual vacation.
Procedure for Accessing the Cargo AreaWe had one of these when I was a kid as well.  Ours was a silver gray color.  See the chrome disk on the trunk door?  Upon arriving at destination, here's what you had to do:
1) Put trunk key in center slot (separate keys for ignition and trunk back then)
2) Open flap (as seen in photo)
3) Rotate flap several times till rear window is fully down
4) Reach in and grab handle to drop tailgate
Simple, huh?
Looking at old red carsmakes my elbows hurt! Seemed like some of those old single stage paints, reds in particular, had to be waxed every two weeks to keep them looking decent. The widespread adoption of clearcoat finishes in the late 80's to mid 90's freed modern kids from the dreaded frequent waxing chore, thereby giving them the leisure time to start the video gaming revolution...
As Long AsThis isn't really the "End of the Road"! That's a scary title for all the Shorpy Faithful.
3 Adults + 7 Children =1000 mile round trip to see grandma. 
We kids didn't mind a bit. 
Seat belts?I don't think you heard "Everybody all buckled up?" all that much in '64. I'm not sure of the exact dates, but if you had seatbelts back then, you bought them at a discount store or an auto parts store like Western Auto or J. C. Whitney, and they were lap belts only. Three point seat belts didn't come along for several more years, if I recall correctly, and it wasn't until the government mandated new cars with ignition interlocks in the 1970's that "real men" started to actually use them.
Back then, we used to spend our vacations camping, so the car was packed to the gills, including the center of the back seat. My sister and I each got little cubbyholes next to the doors, with just room enough to sit for the trip to northern Wisconsin. My dad drove a two tone green '55 Oldsmobile Delta 88. I saw a picture of that car a few months ago, and as soon as I did, I started remembering a surprising amount of detail about the car's details. It was handed down to me when I went off to college in '64.
Seat beltsbobdog19006 is correct in that seat belts were not standard equipment in 1960.  However, they had been available as a dealer-installed option since the 50s.  By 1966, they were standard in all Chevys, and by 1968, they were federally mandated.
I spent many a happy hour on family roadtrips in our '68 Ford wagon, nestled in the narrow gap between the second row and the rear-facing third-row seat, no seat belt, of course.  Neither did my siblings in the third row.  
Service StickersI remember those stickers that service stations or car dealers put on the inside edge of the driver's door when you got your car serviced. This Chevrolet has two. 
Our road trip rigWe had a '76 Chevy Beauville van, a ho-hum light brown rather than red, which made up for the lack of chrome spears with its cavernous interior: two bucket seats in front for Mom and Dad, two bench seats, and a homemade plywood bed. Strangely, all that space wasn't enough to prevent sibling quarrels.
The best story of this van was the return trip of its maiden voyage, when my uncle, who owned a small niche-market manufacturing firm, talked my dad into towing a piece of equipment from South Texas to a parking lot near Chicago, where we would deliver it to his customer from Wisconsin. We quickly got used to being asked at every single hotel, gas station, and rest stop, exactly what was the three-wheeled contraption with the hydraulically-actuated vertical roller-chain conveyor with teeth.
The looks on everyone's faces when my dad told them it was a grave-digging machine: Priceless!
Curtains?Every August for years we travelled from Birmingham to Cincinnati for a week of visiting my parents' relatives. Before our last such trip in '69, we went through a black-and-white '57 Plymouth Savoy, a metallic-beige '63 Ford Country Sedan wagon (the one without wood on the sides) and a '67 Olds VistaCruiser. I'd love to have that VistaCruiser back today. Ours was burgundy red and my dad put red stripe Tiger Paw tires on it. Imagine a 442 station wagon.
As for Shorpy's '60 Chevy wagon, I only just noticed the homemade or aftermarket side curtains, with vertical stripes of brown, gold and red to compliment the bright red car.
Thanks, Dave, for showing us this photo again... and including all the original comments, too. Great to relive all the great summer vacation stories with everyone!
Re: deflectorsIn the days before the rear window wiper on a station wagon, some folks put these on and the deflected air current would help to clean off that window to a degree. Not having either, within a mile that rear hatch would be almost impossible to see through. Been there, done that and got the tee-shirt.
This does bring back memoriesWe had a similar station wagon, but it was salmon (or was it mauve, or ecru?) colored with a white top (I think).  It had a 460 a/c (four windows down while traveling sixty miles per hour, some times 560 with the rear tailgate window down).  I remember taking a trip from Mississippi to Six Flags over Texas on U.S. Highway 82 (two lane most of the way) in Summer, 1964.  The back seats were folded down, and the four of us kids had pillows, blankets, books, and board games to pass the time. It was replaced soon after with a 1965 Ford Country Squire Wagon with a/c, and fake wood paneling on the side.  Instead of a rear facing bench seat, it had two small seats on either side that faced each each other. 
Memories of summer tripsWe also lived in Montana back then, and our family truckster in the 1960s was a 1963 Rambler Classic station wagon. (Yes, I suffered greatly for it among my friends.) That's what I learned to drive, and we ranged all over the western US and Canada in it.
Before that, however, we traveled in a 1949 Studebaker Land Cruiser 4-door sedan, which my dad (both inventive and frugal) had outfitted with a set of three back seats that, when covered with the mattress from our roll-away bed, filled the back seat and trunk area with a very passable sleeping unit. That's where I spent most of my time on our travels. At other times, I would climb over the front seatback into the front bench seat between my parents. That's where I was on August 5, 1962, when we were preparing to leave Crescent City, CA, and heard on the radio that Marilyn Monroe had died. 
Deflector's actual purposeWas to break the "vacuum" the "wall" that was the rear of that wagon created which would suck exhaust into the car if that rear window was open even a little bit. The fresh air, the snowless/cleaner rear window were merely bonuses...
Buckle up?A 1960 Chevy wagon probably didn't have seat belts unless the owner installed them.  The kids in the back were pretty much free range as long as they didn't make too much noise.  Lots of people piled the stuff on the roof and put a mattress in the back for the kids.
It was a great way to go and most of us survived.
[Seat belts were optional on all 1960 Chevrolets. - Dave]
Car playgroundMy folks had a Ford wagon of that era.  No seatbelts.  Folks put a mattress in the back.  Became our playground on long trips.  We had no desire to "sit" in a seat.
Miss station wagonsI miss station wagons. I prefer them to the SUVs that replaced them.
I also miss the bold bright colors that cars use to come in. 
No SquattingLooking at all the stuff already loaded, I'm surprised the back of this wagon isn't dragging on the ground. In fact it's sitting pretty level. I wonder if dad had overload springs installed?
We've had one built for you.To BillyB: Station wagon suspensions were designed with the idea that they would have to haul some combination of eight people and their luggage, so they did OK when loaded down.  They *were* softer than contemporary pickup trucks, so the back end of the station wagon wouldn't bounce all over if there were only one or two people in it.  Especially at the time of this photo, gas was 25 cents a gallon and would be that price forever, so the factory didn't mind spending a little extra weight on a beefier suspension.
Also, most of the really heavy luggage went on the roof rack, which was fairly close to being in the middle of the wheelbase.  The back-back, behind the rear seat, tended to contain lighter things, like blankets, pillows, the picnic basket, and - as the trip progressed - bags of souvenirs.  If Dad wanted to use the inside rear-view mirror, you couldn't stack stuff much higher than the seats, anyway.
Source: I rode in the back of a '79 Oldsmobile wagon every summer from '79 to '87.  I think the longest trip we took in it was from Kansas City to Washington, DC and back.
WagonsWe had a 1956 Ford wagon, then '61 Mercury wagon, finally a (I think) 1964 Ford wagon. 
I remember one year with the Mercury, my mom ran low on gas.  We were up in the mountains in a resort town.  To get to the gas station, she had to reverse up hills, turn around for the downhills, turn around again for going up the next hill.  What a ride.
Another time, 1965, we were in a typhoon in the current wagon.  There were eleven of us in it.  Another wild ride driving on a road along the bay.  Waves washing over us, my mom hugging the middle of the road (there was an island we could not get across).
Wagons were great.
The 283 V-8with its 170 gross horsepower is not going to have much highway passing reserve with all that weight.  Cross-flags over the V on the tailgate would have indicated one of several 348's which would have given more than enough reserve.  That car is 58 years old but properly equipped could have kept pace with most cars on the road today in equal comfort.  A 58 year old car in 1960 by comparison was barely even recognizable as such it was so rudimentary by comparison to the 1960 version in its looks and capabilities.  The same comparisons held true in all other realms of life comparing 1960 to 1902--homes, conveniences, dress, you name it.  Virtually any of those later areas are not that significantly different from their 1960 versions.
Those deflectors... were supposed to keep dust off the back window
Nikon CoolscanI am having a problem with mine. Can you recommend a place that can repair them.
[There aren't any. Try buying them used on eBay. - Dave]
283 V8Although I agree that a 348 engine would have been a better choice for this station wagon. The 170hp 283 was the base V8 engine with just a single two barrel carburetor.  The next option up was also a 283 but with a four barrel which the above wagon may have had, which would have given it a little more passing power.
Koolscan softwareDave. What software program do you use with your 4000?  As it seems the program that came with it is only works for Microsoft VISTA.
[I use the NikonScan software that came with the scanner, on a Windows 10 workstation. To install the software on a modern operating system, you have to disable Driver Signature Enforcement. And it's Coolscan, with a C. - Dave]
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Kodachromes 1, Travel & Vacation)

Topper in the Beets: 1915
... How to Top a Beet Montana State College wanted you to know how , in English, Spanish, and ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/03/2016 - 7:26pm -

Oct. 30, 1915. "12-year-old Lahnert boy, near Fort Collins, Colorado, topping beets. The father, mother and two boys (9 and 12) expect to make $700 in two months' time in the beet work. 'The boys can keep up with me all right, and all day long,' the father said. Begin at 6 a.m. and work until 6 p.m. with hour off at noon. Several smaller children do not work. See Hine Report for studies of work done by these and other children." Glass negative by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.
Beet FarmSchrute Farms has nothing on this place.
Topper In The Beets This is Joe Manning, of the Lewis Hine Project. My research indicates that this boy was Alexander Lahnert. He was born in Missouri in 1903, and died in Colorado in 1985. In 1916, Lewis Hine took many photos of families that were working on beet farms in and around Fort Collins and Greeley, Colorado. Most of these families did not own the farms they were working on, and lived in temporary housing for the harvest season, and then lived in rented housing in Greeley and Fort Collins the rest of the year. The Lahnerts were natives of Missouri. It is interesting that many of the beet farm workers at that time were native Germans that had been living in Russia. I wrote a story about the Rommel family, of Fort Collins, also photographed by Hine in 1916. They were German natives from Russia also. The story includes considerable information about the history of Germans from Russia who settled in the US.
http://morningsonmaplestreet.com/2014/11/26/jacob-rommel-family-page-one...
How to Top a BeetMontana State College wanted you to know how, in English, Spanish, and German.
The bad old daysThank heavens this awful, muddy, hard work is mechanized now.  The order is changed a little, though, the beets are now topped before they are plucked from the ground.  Still it's an all hands, 24 hour as long as the weather is cool, job that happens every year.
How it's done today, at least in Minnesota:
https://youtu.be/ksN7h-ZpFWc
(The Gallery, Agriculture, Kids, Lewis Hine)

No Kōrt: 1939
June 1939. Custer County, Montana. "Cattle thief hanged in effigy along U.S. Highway 10 to provide ... sign painter missed a number, but 3-7-77 is everywhere in Montana, including on the Highway Patrol uniform and Big Sky Brewing products. ... for the numbers, which seem to have first appeared in Montana in 1879. A widely accepted theory is the dimensions of a grave, 3' x 7' ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/06/2022 - 8:15pm -

June 1939. Custer County, Montana. "Cattle thief hanged in effigy along U.S. Highway 10 to provide Western atmosphere for tourists. '777' refers to secret password of vigilantes in 1864." Acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
And not too far up the roadis the Kuster Kounty Kafe.  It doesn't matter what you order, one way or another, you're gonna get calf fries.  It's just another offering of western atmosphere for the tourists.
3-7-77: Vigilantism everywhereThe 1939 sign painter missed a number, but 3-7-77 is everywhere in Montana, including on the Highway Patrol uniform and Big Sky Brewing products.
There are various explanations for the numbers, which seem to have first appeared in Montana in 1879. A widely accepted theory is the dimensions of a grave, 3' x 7' x 77". Another is the date March 7, 1877, when one of several things relating to vigilantes or Masons may or may not have happened. A third explanation is that 3+7+7+7=24, the number of hours you were given to get out of town. A fourth is that a $3 ticket got you a 7-hour, 77 mile stagecoach ride from Helena to Butte.
The Montana Highway Patrol doesn't try to explain the numbers, but says that they were adopted to honor "the first men in the Montana Territory who organized for the safety and welfare of the people."
Standard SpellingThe spelling and typography remind me of the Ozark atmosphere that was displayed for us tourists along old Route 66 in southern Missouri. 
$500 in 1864Is close to nine and a half thousand bucks today.  Cattle rustling is serious business.  As a kid, I recall being surprised that you could be put to death for stealing a cow.
(The Gallery, Bizarre, Arthur Rothstein, Frontier Life)

Modern Beauty: 1942
April 1942. "Missoula, Montana. Tourist apartments." The "Strictly Modern" Beauty Ress Court . ... me begin to wonder why this, why that. [Carports: Montana winters. - Dave] Dave: I come from Manitoba winters where ... be doing a lot of wind-related shoveling, whether in Montana or Manitoba. JennyPennifer: I figure those bedsprings are to keep ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/12/2022 - 11:08pm -

April 1942. "Missoula, Montana. Tourist apartments." The "Strictly Modern" Beauty Ress Court. Acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Hmmm.My idea of beauty lies elsewhere.
For sureBeautiful photograph of an ugly building. 
Modern mysteriesSome of the things in this picture I understand, others I don’t.  Stuff I get:  The benches under the windows are for sitting outside your motel room, to observe and  smoke and ponder.  The gravel courtyard is for making that crunchy sound under the car tires.  The wooden screen door is for the slamming-shut sound.  But why waste good interior space for a carport?  Motel parking is always outdoors – you pull up in front of your door, there’s no garage.  And why so many arched pass-throughs to the other side – one per room?  And what is the function of those punctuation marks after the word Modern?  I am content to stare at this image with passive enjoyment (I find it calming), but then these issues disturb the peace and make me begin to wonder why this, why that.
[Carports: Montana winters. - Dave]
Dave: I come from Manitoba winters where carports aren’t a thing – you need a garage with a garage door or you park outside.
[These are garages without doors. And not in Manitoba, either. - Dave]
Just my point: if you want a garage for the winter part of car ownership, a carport won’t do in places like this.  If the garage doesn’t have a door, you’ll be doing a lot of wind-related shoveling, whether in Montana or Manitoba.
JennyPennifer: I figure those bedsprings are to keep the front bumper of the car away from the wall.
DittoTo everything davidk said (I pondered for several minutes on the characters after the word MODERN), but one final question (tongue firmly in cheek): Why the bedsprings at the back of two of the garages (and, for all I know, the third one)? Surely too cold to sleep out there in a Montana winter -- especially without a mattress and at least one blanket. 
Bed frames and carportsIt was common to get a room and for a fee, add on an extra twin bed for the kiddies (or maybe Aunt Edna).
The carports seemed to me to be mainly a luxury feature they could tout on billboards.
I remember both things from our family vacations as a tyke.
(The Gallery, John Vachon, Small Towns)

Cocktail Cowboys: 1939
June 1939. "Dudes in town. Billings, Montana." 35mm nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Resettlement ... seriously by hard-working, clod-busting, cattle-driving Montana cowboys. Incidentally, when I was a kid growing up in industrial Connecticut, a friend of mine had a theory that Montana was a fictional place, like Atlantis or Brigadoon, since NONE of our ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2010 - 4:11pm -

June 1939. "Dudes in town. Billings, Montana." 35mm nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. 
Too CostumeyThe reason these guys look like dudes instead of real cowboys is because real cowboys would never wear these adult versions of the old Sears catalog Boys' Playwear that emulated genuine western wear.  Looks like their moms and aunts bought Simplicity Patterns and fashioned these get-ups on their Singer teadle sewing machines by buying a full bolt of fake leather material and concho decor.  At least they were allowed to personalize them through their own scarf and belt choices but unfortunately, not their cheesey hats.  These fellows might fit in to a performance at Branson, Mo. or some Disney-type venue, but the truth is they probably were not taken seriously by hard-working, clod-busting, cattle-driving Montana cowboys.  Incidentally, when I was a kid growing up in industrial Connecticut, a friend of mine had a theory that Montana was a fictional place, like Atlantis or Brigadoon, since NONE of our many acquaintances had ever even known anyone from Montana, never went to Montana and never even saw a license plate from Montana.  Whenever I hear anything regarding Montana, I think of him and hope he finally believed it does exist.  Sorry I'm rambling again.
[They look costumey because they're costumes. They're at (or in) a parade. - Dave]
Cocktail PlayboysSo, was Bob Wills playing Billings that night?
P.S.I bet they are wearing their pants tucked into their boots too, which is rarely actually done.
All snazzed upPretty nice outfits, almost a complete match. Nicely ironed, all cleaned up.  These gents are a far cry from some of the scraggly-looking Depression-era cowpokes we see sometimes.  Of course, this is the tail end of the Depression. I haven't heard Bob Wills in years!
Yeehaw!These fellows were taking part in the Go Western Day parade in Billings, maybe as part of a band. Or just spectating.
Tom Mix had a lot to answer forPrior to the early 1920s, professional cowboys and other horse and cattle ranch workers regarded their gear -- the boots, chaps, wide brimmed hats and other accessories -- as specialized work clothes, not unlike the way an electrician regards the crawl suit that he wears to go under houses. 
Until Tom Mix and other Hollywood stars inspired a craze for "Western Wear" in the early 1920s, "real" cowboys who could afford them wore three-piece tailored suits and normal street shoes when they went into town to socialize or do business. My dad, born in 1909, was raised on Charles Hersig's Wyoming Hereford Ranch. He often mentioned that the older ranchers he knew in Wyoming in the 1920s were shocked and not a little disgusted when they started seeing "office workers and drugstore clerks" parading around on city streets and showing up at dances in silly and purely ornamental versions of the ranchers' battered work clothes.  
"Dudes" still in original useI go hiking in areas where there's a lot of guide/outfitters who use horses.  They still use the word "dude" to refer to horse-riding newbies.
An appropriate term may beLounge Lizards.
Smothers Brothers Reminiscence"I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy.
You see by my outfit that I'm a cowboy too.
We see by our outfits that we are both cowboys.
If you get an outfit you can be a cowboy too."
My daughter loves to hear me sing this to the tune of "Streets of Laredo." 
Spot the slightly different costumeThe man on the left doesn't have any fancy lacing around the edges of his hat. I have no way of knowing for certain, but my instincts tell me that if this were in color, both that lacing, as well as the shirts, would probably all be bright fire-engine red.
(The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein)

What a Dump: 1942
October 1942. "Scrap and salvage depot in Butte, Montana." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Russell Lee for the Office of War ... cemetary, and Trevillion (memorials) is still there across Montana. This lot would be along the old tracks, probably where the fire ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/30/2012 - 4:49pm -

October 1942. "Scrap and salvage depot in Butte, Montana." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Russell Lee for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Dare I say it?That was one heck of an accident!
Josette, West of IdahoThe stone wall at the top right is the northwest corner of Mount Moriah cemetary, and Trevillion (memorials) is still there across Montana.  This lot would be along the old tracks, probably where the fire station is today.
Structural chicken wire?They just don't make car roofs like they used to, and that's probably a good thing!
Poles, poles!Is that the old Milwaukie Road electric mainline in the upper right?
I bet it didn't sit around too longLotsa scrap metal for the war effort
Pretty New Scrap!Cannot actually ID any of them, but the grey colored coupe and sedan to the right of center cannot be more than 10 years old and the white roof at left rear has to be less than 5 years old!
Parts wonderland  If this was today, this would be a gold mine for rare parts! Even the old sign would be worth something to a picker! Since this was 1942 it is a good bet much of this was recycled for the war effort.... A nearby town to me lost two cannons for the war effort now there are just two empty cement foundations in the square.
Good eye MrKA review of several YouTube clips reveal pole arrangements for the hot wire consistent with what we see in the posted image. Would have been a real treat to see a Milwaukee Road boxcab electric in the picture. The Little Joe’s (one on display at the Illinois Railroad museum.)were still 4/5 years into the future.  
Good Ol' Kodachrome!It even makes a junkyard look beautiful.
Ford PickupThe pickup bed in the center of the picture is from a Ford Model T.  Part of the chassis and a wheel can be seen below the bed, and the "Ford" script is visible on the tailgate.
Amazingly, Ford did not produce a light duty pickup truck until 1925.  The all-steel pickup box was 56 inches long, 40.75 inches wide, and 13 inches deep.  The pickup body cost $25 when sold separately.  A total of 33,795 were sold in 1925, 75,406 in 1926, and 28,142 during 1927.
Note the square holes on the beveled sides visible on the left side of the pickup bed for adding taller sides or securing a canopy, express body, or other specialized cargo carrying purposes.
What Car?The car in the left foreground seems to be an inline 6 cylinder with the unusual configuration of front and rear cylinder heads and a distributor in the middle of the block. Can anyone identify this car?
Re: What CarIt is a Pontiac. The two individual cylinder heads is a dead giveaway
RE: What Car  Yes, it is a Pontiac.... designed by Oakland this engine was in use from about 1928 through 1932. Also used in GMC trucks. Packard had a similar design with the distributor in the center of the head.
The big 4 door in the middleThe big car with the Chicken Wire roof seems to have been burned, possibly why it's in the scrap pile, or possibly burned after it arrived there.
RolloverAlthough the damage could have occurred after it got to the dump, the dents in the roof of the relatively new white two-seater make me think it might have been in a rollover accident.  That would at least explain its short time on the road.
License PlateAmong the treasures is a Silver Box County, Montana license plate from 1941 (picture below).
The number before the dash symbol indicates the county on license plates in Montana starting in 1934.  The county numbers have remained unchanged since they were introduced.
Silver Bow County, in southwest Montana, was the most populous county at the time with the largest city being Butte, Montana.
1931 PontiacI believe the car in the foreground is one of 84,708 Pontiacs made in 1931.
Since 1930 and earlier Pontiacs did not have fender mounted parking/running lights and 1932 and later Pontiacs did not have tie bars attaching the headlights this must be a 1931 model.  Note also the position of the parking lights behind the headlights where 1933 and later years had them more forward on the fender so they were next to or in front of the headlights.
For 1929 the Pontiac Six engine was increased to 200 cubic inches (up from 186) and horepower was increased to 60 hp @3000 rpm (up from 40 @2400 rpm).  This engine was offered through 1932.  Pontiacs were only available with a straight eight in 1933 and 1934.
In 1931 the Federal government mandated that automakers introduce all of their new vehicles at the same time, in the fall, to create a new-car buying season and boost the poor Great Depression economy.  
The year 1931 was also the last full year for the sales of General Motors' Oakland automobiles which was Pontiac's parent company.  Just 13,408 Oakland's were made in 1931.  Oakland was phased out in 1932 and in 1933 the company name was changed to the Pontiac Motor Company.
Mid 1920s DodgeThe big car that looks like it may have been in a fire is a 1925 or 1926 Dodge.  A photo of a similar car, in slightly better condition, is shown below.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Russell Lee)

On the Range: 1942
... with his horse and dog on Gravelly Range, Madison County, Montana." Kodachrome transparency by Russell Lee. View full size. ... Tipster: have you ever been in the high country of Montana early in the day? You'd best have a pretty good coat available; ... Shepherd or Sheep Herder Don't ask me why but out Montana/Idaho way, all the locals call them "sheep herders" not "shepherds." ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/07/2017 - 11:17am -

August 1942. "Shepherd with his horse and dog on Gravelly Range, Madison County, Montana." Kodachrome transparency by Russell Lee. View full size.
beautiful dog. Really!beautiful dog. Really!
Woof.My sister had a dog, Shannon, that looked just like this one. Memories ...
What a wonderful photo, lookWhat a wonderful photo, look at the depth of field, just a beautiful portrait.
Going back to filmWhat you said the other day is right- digital still can't touch an image like that. I'm getting my 35mm back out and buying some good transparency film.
Looking at this you can feel the starchy stiffness of those jeans, the soft suede of that lambskin coat, and you can hear that dog just whining a little bit. Incredible.
Hey, why's he wearing a big heavy coat in August anyway?
baaaaaahhhwhat is digital?  The photo is a masterpiece.  A digital camera is a paint by number. This is art.  
Shepherd, Horse and ManThe dog appears to be an English Shepherd--a common farm dog in the US through the 50's. This one is a Sable. The Black and Whites look like Border Collies and they are a sort of Collie, but vastly different in temperament. They are a very intelligent dog, often noted to be able to work on their own. They sort of take you over so you can't work without them too.
Many of us have English Shepherds today as all purpose farm dogs, but the numbers are small and this breed is going the way of farms. . . .
The picture really needs to read: Shepherd, his horse and man. Clint Eastwood will play the Man in an upcoming documentary. . . .
Film?!?!  I don't think so!!!!!Hey guys - You can stop your glotting over the "wonderful film" photo.  Get real!  This isn't a film photo!  It's digital.  The film print has been scanned in order to even show it on this website.  All the photos you see on the web are "digital" images.
Shazam!
"Glotting"Sometimes a person just can't help but glot.
Anonymous Tipster: have youAnonymous Tipster: have you ever been in the high country of Montana early in the day? You'd best have a pretty good coat available; because, my friend: it gets a little chilly there. Those people that live, farm, and ranch out there are nobody's fools.
A thousand wordsAwesome photo .. Sad to know it was so long ago.
Probably Shot With a 4 X 5The lack of grain in the original at such a huge size shows this picture wasn't shot even with anything as "small" as the old Kodak 620 film size, a bit larger than 120.  It probably was shot with a 4-inch by 5-inch camera — maybe even an 8 X 10 because the shot looks like it might be commercial. It could be a glass transparency. 
In 1942, the best (fastest) ASA (ISO) rating of color film would have been about 20, maybe 25, which would contribute to the photo's lack of grain.
Supporting this is the relatively short depth of field seen with the soft background focus. It wasn't shot at ƒ16, 11 or 8. Probably ƒ4.5 because of the slow film. ƒ2.8, if the lens could open that wide — which I doubt — likely would have thrown the background more out of focus.
But the foreground depth of field remains sharp. Because of that I think the print, even as it stands, is an enlargement, furthering my 4 X 5 lack-of-grain contention. The foreground is really hardly any further back than the subjects are. It's too sharp. The camera, I'd bet, is a Graflex.
No evidence of fill flash, which makes sense because the flashbulbs would have been white. Blue bulbs for proper color balance (if it was considered) would have been rare, if they existed.
A few large-format photography sites are on the web, so the era isn't dead yet.
Kodachrome 4x5Yes, this was a 4x5 Kodachrome transparency, scanned at 1800 dpi and then way downsized. I believe they also made 5x7 and 8x10 sizes at the time.

4 X 5Thanks for that info, Dave! It's full-frame, not enlarged. Love it!
The scan is digital, of course, as a previous poster said. But no 35mm negative, even a digital image, could be enlarged so beautifully. I dunno what the pixel count would have to be on a 4 X 5 studio camera to equal this. It might not be possible. 
4x5For what it's worth they say either EASTMAN -- SAFETY -- KODAK 62 or EASTMAN -- SAFETY -- KODAK 3 along one edge.
Horse, Dog and ManThe character in the man's face is so deep and quiet. He has seen hard life and probably served in WW1 but returned to finish his life in solitude with his solid horse and faithful dog.  Look how the dog is waiting for his master to move.
What an incredible photo! Thank you so much.
English ShepherdThey are great dogs.  I am a big fan.  There is one in the True Blood series.  It's the one who the shape-shifter (bar-owner) character turns into. 
Shepherd or Sheep HerderDon't ask me why but out Montana/Idaho way, all the locals call them "sheep herders" not "shepherds."  Many of them are of Basque heritage as this gent looks to be.
Late eighties I worked in the Forest Service and would run into these gents all the time, many spoke barely a word of English.  Alone out in the middle of nowhere for months at a time, looked pretty rough.
Short Range?Speaking of ranges, the rifle-in-scabbard is visible. I wonder if he was carrying a handgun as well.
To honor 3 noble creaturesSaw this some time ago in an earlier post and, for numerous reasons, this is likely the most beautiful picture you've ever published.  All 3 creatures had names - wish we knew those. They all moved on to greener pastures long ago.
Thank You AllOnly the Shorpy community could have responded with the range of inputs to this fabulous photo. I'm proud to think of myself as one of you.
Go west, old man...I haven't wanted to be a cowboy since I was 8, but now I do again.
It's Curly!This guy looks like Curly from City Slickers.
(The Gallery, Kodachromes, Dogs, Horses, Russell Lee)
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