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 was acting as nurse would haul out a big sled on which there was loaded a body wrapped in a blanket. Then he'd start off up the creek to perform the obsequies by digging a hole in the snow and rolling the corpse off the sled. After this had been going on for some time, my partner. Will Hardy, said to me, ‘I’m goin' to kill that Swede; he's gettin' on my nerves with his everlastin' funerals at daylight.' 'No,' I said, 'we don't want to get the Swede—the doctor's our man.” What was left of McCarthyville in the late 1890s. Photo courtesy of the Northwest Montana Historical Society DOCTOR QUITS HIS JOB "This doctor had come from Great Falls, where we understood, he had built up a fine reputation as a veterinarian. He had a contract with the construction company to look after the sick and injured men for a dollar per man per month. But these men who had just come in weren't on the payroll yet, so we figured it out the doctor wasn't doing much to bring them back to the full vigor of youth. Hardy agreed with me that the doctor probably was to blame for all these sudden demises, so we organized a committee of prominent citizens to go to the hospital that night. The hospital was right in town and at that time was one of the poorest buildings there. It was a low, log cabin, no floor, and the only window was a hole covered with a canvas flap.” DROPS “SWEDE” WITH A PISTOL "We went over in a body and I knocked at the door. The Swede opened it part way and then when he saw who it was he tried to shut it but Hardy reached over my shoulder and tapped him with the butt of a gun. He dropped like a beef. Then we cast a glance about for the doc, just in time to see his heels following him through the window. The canvas dropped and that was "curtains" for him. McCarthyville never saw him again. Then we had another doctor and the death rate was much decreased.” -Excerpt from The Bozeman Courier, April 23, 1926, Accessed via: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ Come Listen to our New Podcast! https://ghost-towns-and-history-of-montana.castos.com/ In 1886, a petition started circulating and was signed by many residents of Bannack and surrounding towns asking for an increase of mail service. The once tri-weekly service was upgraded to six times a week. The post office for Bannack was once located in the Turner House pictured. Bannack's post office closed its doors for good in 1938. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
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