In 1886 the U.S. Cavalry was assigned the protection of the park, and they took the assignment very seriously, patrolling the park throughout the year.

To see all of the grain elevators in Blaine Hadfield's gorgeously photographed and researched coffee table book, you'd have to travel thousands of miles. And even if you did see them with your own eyes, it probably wouldn't be as pretty as the photos Hadfield has included here.

What was this world, where men's shirts could never keep their pecs in check, and women’s heaving bosoms were always in danger of exploding from their bodices like a stop-valve under too much pressure?

I’ve worked for more than 20 years as a newspaper reporter, and the last seven years as a television news reporter for KXLF in Butte. It’s important to note that it takes a dedicated and talented team to put together the daily broadcasts. Each day we start from zero to produce what, at times, seems like a daily miracle. 

The debut collection from author Michael Carter marks him as a Montana writer to watch, someone so good at mixing genre elements that he might just be unfairly overlooked in a field that too often confuses realism with seriousness. 

I asked him, "how many antlers are there in here?" "No clue," he shrugged, but after a chuckle, he specified, "16,304, but I add some every year."

Erik Ole Nelson, Ole to his friends, creates one-of-a-kind sculptures and signs all over Montana. And if you've been to Bozeman or Missoula recently, chances are you've seen and admired his work. 

Yet become citizens many of them did, including some whose descendants still live and prosper in Montana to this day. Johnson's book tells the story of the Chinese immigrant experience in Montana in the late 19th century, drawn from a cache of recently translated material from the Montana Historical Society.

The mine’s employees were often paid in “shin-plasters” and “brass checks.” A shin plaster was a derogatory name for paper scrip. Often of absurdly low denominations, they had the reputation of being as worthless as any slip of paper the men used as padding in their socks to keep their boots from rubbing on their shins.

Never mind that Frank James Burke — most often referred to as “Brownie and best known for standing just four feet, seven inches — started out as a mascot. Despite his small stature, the Marysville native ended up making a big impact on the national pastime.

"When they first started entertaining the thought of the TV show Longmire, the executives floated the idea of taking the Walt from my books and making him younger, but rapidly came to the conclusion that the world-weary twenty-six-year-old might be more than viewers could bear."

I grew up reading every book I could set in the Mountain West, specifically Montana and Wyoming settings. Although often beautifully written, I found many of those books to have an outsider’s point of view. (There are plenty of books written today that have the same problem.)

If you're in Helena on a Thursday night, you might hear music and a roar of applause. The State Capital Band is in its 120th consecutive year of playing for the Helena area. The band plays in Memorial Park at 8 pm on Thursday nights - weather permitting.

For all that, they're still very much a Montana company which means that buying a piece of furniture from Black Timber Furniture is buying local. There are obvious benefits to buying local, like keeping money in the state and helping to support Montana's working families.

Distinctly Montana and the Montana Memory Project are proud to feature the winners of the second annual Montana Memory Project Short Story Contest!

I’m old enough to remember the golden age of TV Westerns, when shows like The Rifleman, Have Gun, Will Travel, and Gunsmoke filled the few channels we did get. Hell, I’m old enough to remember getting our first television, an enormous humming Philco...

Burke has lived in Missoula for decades now, and both Robicheaux and the Hollands have found themselves in the Treasure State. His most recent novel, Another Kind of Eden, tells a searing story of violence and mysticism among the changing times of the 1960s.

The thing I love most about Montana is: the warmth and friendliness of the people no matter if they live in a small town like where I live (Superior) or Missoula (where we lived for four years)