P a g e 4 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 staunch families of the community. Mr. Haugan has served us as postmaster during the last nine years, and has also filled other positions, among them Justice of the Peace and Notary Public. On account of his many attainments, Mr. Haugan has been one of the leading spirits in all our undertakings, and has served as instructor for our choirs, as well as director of our once flourishing brass band. In short, he has been one of the men that has made our community more pleasant to live in and is one of the men we least can afford to part with. It is the wish of the community that the Haugan family make the distance between their new and old homes as short as possible by means of many visits to our community.” Now, Lennep remains as a ghost of the days when it bustled with all those happy people. The mercantile and schoolhouse still stand in addition to that beautiful church shining proudly. Martin T. Grande, known locally as the “King of Little Norway”, passed away in 1930 but the memories of Lennep still remain and, a few new memories are still being made today. Early Aviation in Montana Eugene Ely and Cromwell Dixon celebrated aviation firsts in Montana in 1911, and ironically, both young pilots met tragic ends soon after. Twenty-five-year-old Ely was already famous as the first pilot to take off and land on a naval ship. The well-known aviator was also the first to fly an airplane in Missoula. On June 28, 1911, he took off and landed at the baseball field at Fort Missoula. He made three successful flights, the third with his mechanic as a passenger. It was the first dual flight in Montana. His Curtiss Pusher airplane arrived at the Missoula depot by train after similar flights in Butte, Great Falls, Kalispell, and Lewistown. To transport excited spectators to the fort for the event, both the railroad from the Bitterroot Valley and the Missoula streetcar line added extra cars. Over three thousand people witnessed the flight. On October 18, 1911, at the Georgia State Fair in Macon, Georgia, Ely died after jumping from his plane as it crashed. In Helena, Cromwell Dixon made headlines that same year. On September 30, spectators watched him take off from the fairgrounds and land on the west side of Mullan Pass, becoming the first aviator to cross the Continental Divide. Cromwell Dixon at the controls of his plane, the Hummingbird, after crossing the Continental Divide. Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, 941-849 Days later on October 2, Dixon died when his plane crashed at the state fair at Spokane, Washington. Both pilots died within two weeks of each other, having made aviation history in Montana. –Ellen Baumler 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
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