Browning Newspaper Notes 1950 - 1951

MAY 26, 2005

Recognizing the importance of historical records in newspapers, an anonymous donor has paid $20,000 to secure for the Blackfeet Tribe a set of ancient copies of the “Glacier County Chief,” the “Browning Chief,” and the Glacier Reporter. These papers will be kept at the library of the Blackfeet Community College where the newer, more durable copies will be available for reading and the older fragile copies will be stored in an acid-free environment. Money will be sought to digitize the material, as well as preserving them in microfiche. If the newspapers are digitized, they can be put online for international use for research by scholars. The papers record the largely unstudied century from 1900 to 2000. Blackfeet Councilwoman Betty N. Cooper has taken a special interest in these materials and personally drove to collect them from storage at the Shelby Promoter.

The Golden Triangle newspapers (online at www.glacierreporter.com) retain another set of the papers. The Montana Association of Newspapers in Helena has another set. The notes below come from microfilm at the Montana Historical Society in Helena, which will sell copies of the microfilm.



Jan 27, 1950
No relief money for Crees -- Joe Hameline is chopping up his floor and burning it to keep from freezing.
Percy Bullchild dies. [Author of “The Sun Comes Down,” which was also his Indian name.]

Feb 3, 1950
30 inches of snow -- 20-30 foot drifts.

March 24
Todd’s Steak House opens.

April 7, 1950
Paper by Claude Schaffer
“Ethnology -- Bird Nomenclature and Principles of Avian Taxonomy of the Blackfeet Indians” published Feb ‘50, Journal of the Washington Academy of Science. List of names of 80 species with interpretive words and expressions. Earlier work listed less than a dozen items --- that short list was by Alexander Henry, fur trader on the upper Sask. River before 1871.


May 19, 1950
“Band Makes fine Showing at Havre” (by Lila Beny)
A group of tired but happy band members arrived home early Sunday morning from the Havre Music Festival which they participated in very successfully. Browining was given the highest rating. The contest numbers were “Largo” from the New World Symphony by Dvorack and “Vistas” by Gillette. After the contest numbers were played, the band played Mr. Scriver’s arrangement of “St Louis Blues March” for entertainment. It was so well received that the band was asked to do a repeat performance at the downtown concert at 2:30 in the afternoon. An outstanding attraction of the downtown concert was five year old Joey Peterson and his rope spinning act. All in all, the Browning band was quite a success.

June 30, 1960
Harold Boyd arrived home from Vandercook.

July 7, 1950
Mayor and entire council QUIT!! Frank Sherburne is the mayor. Jack Moyer, Henry Parsons, Wm. Wright, and Gus Hunsberger.
1674 people in town. More than half are Indians. There are 4,000 Indians on the reservation which is self-supporting with its income from resources. One quarter of a million dollars was spent on various levels of welfare. There is one policeman. When, over 4th of July, he arrested 20 drunks, they broke out of all sides of the flimsy jail -- pushed out or dug under the walls, broke out the ceiling, etc. Drunkenness and violence rampant.

July 14, 1950
Browning Merc. Co. burgled. Two expensive saddles stolen. Box of cigs, beer, etc. left behind.

July 21, 1950
Cloke is the new superintendent of schools.

August 25, 1950
Agent F.C. Campbell’s daughter married LeRoy DeRosier.

Sept. 8, 1950
Eloise, 4, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Polite Pepion, suffered a fracture of the right forearm Tuesday when she fell from a riding pony. With other playmates, she was enjoying a ride at the Pepion ranch. The accident occurred when she fell from her position behind the saddle. She was taken to the local hospital for treatment. [Eloise married Turk Cobell.]

Sept. 15, 1950
Rurals schools: Wren, Starr (2 rooms), Reevis, Pontrasina

October 6, 1950
Glaciers of the Park have been in recession since 1890.

Nov. 17, 1950
Parent struck teacher.

Dec. 8, 1950
Calvin Boy lost 3 year old son.
Rankin Brown police magistrate and US Commissioner.

1951

Jan 5, 1951
Elevation of Browning changed from 4,400 to 4,360.

January 12, 1951
Korean war letters from Webber, Brown and Kuka. Very graphic.

January 19, 1951
Imelda Tucker is marrying Gene Ground.
Filming “The Thing” by Cut Bank.

February 9, 1951
Mrs. Louise Paul is 97 in Anacortes.

February 23, 1951
Roy Buffalo was married to Myrtle McKnight

March 2, 1951
The dramatic story of Calvin Last Star’s braids. He joined the service and went to boot camp knowing that his 2 foot long braids would be cut. They were cut intact and sent home.
Dick Sanderville’s death.

March 30, 1951
Last Star assisting in the filming of Sun Dance.
Etumoe begs for new high school.

April 6, 1951
Iliff McKay appointed to succeed James Welch who resigned as treasurer of Tribal Council. [This is James Welch the father of the novelist.]

April 27, 1951
Indian men urged to practice for the big buffalo hunt in the movie to be made and to improve their suntans, since the old-timers would not have had tan lines.

May 18, 1951
Huge Mountain Lion Killed by Louis Night Gun
Believed to be the largest mountain lion ever taken in this area -- in the memory of older hunters -- a huge male was killed by Louis Night Gun in a coulee of his ranch home four miles west of Browning last Saturday night. The scene was three-fourths of a mile from the Night Gun dewlling. Having missed a cow and newly born calf for several days, he had gone to the coulee horseback in search of them and gotten within a few feet of the animal before he noticed it concealed in a heavy undergrowth. It’s glaring, glistening eyes appeared to Night Gun to offer a deadly challenge. He rode back to his house and returned with his team and wagon and a .30-.30 rifle. The animal had continued in the same place of hiding while he was gone. He drew a bead on the animal, emptying six bullets into its head and body. Later Bob Scriver took the animal to his taxidermy shop and he estimates that at least 500 visited his place in the two days to view it. Scriver removed the fur from the carcass, the firm healthy meat revealing that the animal had been used to living upon “the fat of the land” -- apparently livestock. Scriver judged that the animal was in full maturity and weighed 200 pounds. The fur will be made into a rug by Scriver. However it was impossible to preserve the head, owing to the damage caused by NightGuns’ rifle bullets. It has not been established that the animal had devoured Night Gun’s cow and calf, Scriver said. Theory is that the coulee on Night Gun’s ranch was the lair of the animal and it’s male and that the surviving female is still there. The coulee is a deep winding hollow extending a half-mile or more into the hills. The heavy undergrowth provides an ideal recluse for wild animals. Night Gun has warned Browning children against trespassing in that area, fearful that if a female is there, it might make a deadly attack upon them. A combined reward of $275, it was understood, goes to Louis Night Gun for killing the mountain lion last Saturday. $25 is paid by the state and $250 by the Tribal Council.

June 15, 1951
Herbert Sherburne graduates from the School of Mines.
Betty Wright engaged to Roland H. Hull of Hamilton.

July 13, 1951
Very wet. June: 5.62 in 48 -- 10.14 in 51. 64 iniches of snow.

November 23, 1951
Death Claims Green Grass Bull. Green Grass Bull in youth was a famous warrior. In old age he earned his living by delivering water from barrels on a rickety old wagon followed by a devoted but assorted pack of dogs.