P a g e 3 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 Montana lost a true legend, Ellen Baumler to cancer last month. She was unsurpassed in her skills as a historian and storyteller and her work will never be forgotten. She was not only an incredible mentor to me but also a true friend. We will miss her greatly but I will honor her by continuing to share her work and continuing to write and tell the stories that make us Big Sky proud. Here is Ellen’s piece on children in Montana’s mining camps. Children in Montana’s Mining Camps– by Ellen Baumler Montana’s mining camps provided children with unique childhood experiences and memories. Although they went to school like children elsewhere, they also witnessed the vices and violence of everyday life in Montana’s rough-and-tumble mining communities. Many were seasoned travelers who had crossed the plains in covered wagons or spent days in cramped quarters aboard steamboats en route to the gold fields. In a preface to the reminiscence of Frances Gilbert Albright—whose father, Henry Gilbert, established one of the first breweries in Alder Gulch in 1864—University of Montana professor H. G. Merriam wrote: “It is interesting to learn what a child’s mind seizes upon and later recalls, especially if the childhood has been spent in a raw and rough community.”1 Children are the same no matter where they live, but because of their hardships and material deprivations, mining camp children experienced life more intensely. They also learned to make the most of their extraordinary circumstances. The author’s interest in this subject began with the preparation and publication of Mary “Mollie” Sheehan Ronan’s pioneer reminiscence, Girl From the Gulches: The Story of Mary Ronan, in 2003.2 Portions of Mary’s story so engaged and delighted students of all ages that it precipitated the author’s wider search for more recollections from pioneer children. Archival records, published accounts, and oral histories at the Montana Historical Society Research Center yielded numerous colorful and lively stories of Montana’s mining camps from a child’s perspective. Those reminiscences add an important and overlooked element to our understanding of mining culture. This article will discuss children’s impressions of their surroundings, the amusements they enjoyed, and the hardships and dangers they faced in some of Montana’s mining communities. On the Move Many families traveled by wagon to Montana’s gold fields in the mid-1860s. The Jonas Butts family left Independence, Missouri, wintered in Denver, and arrived at Virginia City, Montana, in the summer of 1864. Derinda Jane Butts was eight years old. The three Butts daughters were not used to luxuries anyway and were unaware of the deprivations others complained about. The family had no mishaps crossing the plains. Without the heavy responsibilities and worries that burdened their parents, Derinda Jane and her two sisters regarded the trip as a lark. Derinda Jane’s most vivid recollection was that of a lesson learned. The children had been repeatedly told to stay close by the wagons. One evening, heedless of the warnings, some of them ran up a hill away from camp. Suddenly they saw the dark form of an Indian moving stealthily from bush to bush. The children ran all the way back to camp and breathlessly described what
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