56 Counties

In February of 1918, the Montana Legislature was the first in the nation to pass The Sedition Act, a law that carried fines of up to $20,000 and a jail sentence of up to 20 years if someone were to “print, utter, or publish . . . any false, scandalous or malicious writing’” about the U.S. government or the war effort.

Over the past 30 years, Aaron Pruitt has provided leadership in programming, production, and fundraising at Montana PBS, and in 2017 he was appointed General Manager.

On this month’s episode of 56 Counties, Russell Rowland reads from his recently released memoir, BE A MAN: Raised in the Shadow of Cowboys, which explores the unique challenges of growing up male in the West. This episode, he talks about raising a 4-H calf and experiencing the life-and-death moments of ranch life.

This month, Russell Rowland reads excerpts from his upcoming new memoir, BE A MAN: Raised in the Shadow of Cowboys. The book is a personal history of his family, but it also explores the complexity of what it means to grow up as a man in Montana.

Kevin Kicking Woman grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation as the youngest of fifteen children. After his mother left the family, he was shuttled around to various foster families, where he suffered horrific trauma.After a stint in the military and working hard to get his teaching degree in Missoula, Kevin moved back to the reservation about ten years ago for a teaching job, and last year he was the first Native American to be named Teacher of the Year in Montana.

Evelyn Cameron left behind an aristocratic life in England to homestead in Montana in the late 19th Century. Despite being married to a man who had some of the worst business sense imaginable, she embraced life in eastern Montana, starting three cattle ranches and becoming one of the most beloved members in the community of Terry.

When the Central Pacific Railway got the contract to complete the western leg of the transcontinental railroad in 1862, they faced the challenge of finding enough men to complete the enormous task. The gold rush was well underway, and the pressure to finish the job quickly forced them to look across the ocean to China for affordable labor.

In the fifteenth century, several popes issued a series of edicts, which came to be known as the Doctrine of Discovery. The basic tenet of this document was that it gave the church the moral authority to take over any land that was owned by people who were not Christian, or white.

Last month, 56 Counties told the story of how Chief Joseph's father, also named Joseph, instilled in his son the importance of never giving up the land where they had lived their entire lives. The government had other ideas, however, and when the Nez Perce Reservation was reduced by ninety percent, the Wallowa Valley, where Joseph tribe had settled decades before, was no longer part of the reservation. When Joseph was forced to leave, the results led to one of the most dramatic pursuits in American history.

Most people are familiar with Chief Joseph and his epic journey across much of the northwestern US to escape capture by the US government. But as with many Montana stories, what's even more fascinating are the events leading up to that moment in our history, as well as what happened to Joseph and his tribal members afterward.