P a g e 8 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r Granite County, Montana. In a few cases our topics will lap over into adjacent counties as mining districts especially do not respect the later boundaries imposed by politicians! It is a project of members of the Granite County Historical Society, an organization founded in 1978 by the late Barry Engrav of Philipsburg and now comprised of 8 members dedicated to preserving and interpreting historical documents, artifacts, and sites in the greater Philipsburg area. Our goal is to interest current residents, folks with family roots, and those with an academic interest in the area to add their knowledge to this blog as an ongoing project to deepen and in some cases correct the narrative of the people and events that shaped history in this part of Montana. The recent explosion of scanned historical documents onto the internet is making it possible to greatly speed up historical research, refine historical chronology, and deepen historical interpretation. Perhaps we are entering into a "golden age" of research into our past! Anyone with an interest in the Philipsburg area or Montana history is invited to discuss the topics of our posts, as well as their own data and sources, which we hope will create an ongoing dialogue about the area now known as Granite County. A Monument to Convict Labor Upon Statehood in 1889, the federal penitentiary at Deer Lodge, Montana, became a state institution. The prison housed 198 inmates in a cell block built to hold no more than 140. Prisoners spilled over into the outbuildings in the yard, the wash house, and the prison’s carpenter shop. Warden Frank Conley foresaw the deterioration of the prison if nothing were done to repair and expand it. But the state had no money. Conley was convinced, like other penal administrators of the time, that idle convicts bred trouble. The prison had no funds, but it did have untapped manpower. The Board of Prison Commissioners gave Conley permission to use convict labor to build a stone wall around the prison. The Commissioners hired James McCalman, a skilled stone and brick mason, to serve as architect, builder, and teacher. McCalman never drew a plan. He designed his projects entirely in his head, and then, with the help of his construction foreman, he taught the unskilled and inexperienced prisoners how to build what he envisioned. Construction began in the spring of 1893 and it was a huge undertaking. Inmate crews first rerouted a Northern Pacific sidetrack to transport the buff-colored sandstone from a local quarry. The rail cars brought the raw chunks of stone directly through the prison’s main entrance and into the yard where inmates cut them. James McCalman ably taught the men and directed them in the construction of the elaborate wall. He designed the Romanesque-style enclosure, twenty feet high, with four massive round corner towers and two central square towers to resemble a medieval fortress. The walls extend four feet below ground to foil inmates who considered escape by tunneling beneath. The overall appearance not only brings to mind the medieval castle, but also the inevitable dungeon such places contain: a dark and dank place no one wants to visit. When the imposing wall reached completion just one year later, incredulous officials pronounced it an architectural marvel and a “monument to convict skill and labor” unsurpassed in the United States. It was the beginning of James McCalman’s long career designing and constructing buildings at the Montana State Prison.-Ellen Baumler Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives James McCalman building the wall at Deer Lodge State Prison. Ellen Baumler is an award-winning author and Montana historian. A master at linking history with modern-day supernatural events, Ellen's true stories have delighted audiences across the state. She lives in Helena in a century-old house with her husband, Mark, and its resident spirits. To view and purchase Ellen’s books, visit: http://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html My/Donor Information: SUBSCRIBE TO THE GHOST TOWNS AND HISTORY OF MONTANA NEWSLETTER! Renewal? Y/N Send a Gift to: NAME____________________________________ NAME___________________________________ ADDRESS__________________________________ ADDRESS_________________________________ CITY______________________________________ CITY_____________________________________ STATE__________________ZIP________________STATE_________________ ZIP________________ Yearly subscriptions are $19.95 (published monthly). Please make checks payable to Ghost Towns & History of MT, LLC and send with this clipping to P.O. Box 932 Anaconda, MT 59711
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