The Australians have Ned Kelly. The Scots have Rob Roy MacGregor. How come Americans haven’t elevated Thomas Meagher to the status of national folk hero?

Tim Egan recalled feeling flat-footed when asked the identity of the man on horseback rampant before the Montana Capitol in Helena. At the time, he was unaware that Montana’s first territorial governor had a backstory with more thrills than a “Die Hard” movie and better taste in sequels.

“What I’m trying to do is rescue Meagher from the mist of history,” Egan said during a break from a cross-country book tour celebrating publication of “The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero.” “At one point, he was easily the most prominent Irish-American in the United States. Not until John F. Kennedy came along was there a bigger one. But when he went to Montana, he kind of fell off the map.”

Or was pushed, both figuratively and literally. Meagher spent his entire adult life cheating death from authority figures, before falling off a riverboat stateroom balcony into the Missouri River at Fort Benton on July 1, 1867. His body was never found. Egan cites extensive research indicating Meagher was probably assassinated by an agent of the Vigilantes, whose secret-society power he threatened by convening a publicly elected Legislature.

“Most of Montana’s early history was written by the people who may have killed him,” Egan said of Meagher’s first biographers. “They described him as a drunk and a whoremonger, and did not give him his due at all. But the official history of Yellowstone gives Meagher credit as one of the first persons suggesting it might be a national park. The Legislature he convened got the road system going, got the ferry system going, and then enemies got his legislation removed by Congress in an unprecedented act. But everywhere Meagher went, he stood against injustice.”

And it got him into constant fights.

Meagher was the son of a wealthy merchant family in County Waterford, but became radicalized during the Great Hunger of the 1840s when a million Roman Catholic Irish starved to death while their Protestant English landlords exported shiploads of food to foreign markets. While his speaking and writing skills roused a huge popular protest against English rule, Meagher realized an emaciated nation of paupers stood no chance in battle with the British Army. Nevertheless, he was captured and sentenced to death for fomenting rebellion.

The sentence was commuted to “transportation,” the English euphemism for exile to the island of Tasmania for the rest of a prisoner’s life. Meagher was allowed to live there like a parolee, in his own cabin but with regular appearances before a local magistrate and a ban on any contact with other exiles in neighboring districts. Egan wrote that Meagher flouted that rule by meeting a fellow revolutionary across a table the two men placed in a small stream that bounded their territories.

MORE>>>The Missoulian

Kristen Berube lives a crazy, laugh-filled life with her outdoorsman husband Remi and their three camo-clad children in Missoula, Montana. A graduate of Montana State University and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, she loves being a mom and enjoys hiking, fishing, and camping. “Confessions of a Camo Queen: Living with an Outdoorsman” is her first book. -

It is available for purchase at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1560376287/ref=tsm_1_fb_lk

During this time of year, most families are planning summer camping trips and trips to grandma’s house. In our house, we skip summer, and plan for fall. God, help me. Just when I start to get concerned about why the outdoorsman is on the internet all night and making late night phone calls, he makes it all so clear.

Dinner in our home is a big deal. It is a time for the entire family to sit together, talk about the day, and relax as a family unit. I swear we are busier than ever these days, so this small fraction of time in our day to be with those I love the most is a big deal to me. To miss dinner is no small situation. All day long I look forward to seeing all four shiny faces sitting around my table. So this week when the outdoorsman was absent for 3, yes, 3 nights in a row, it was a pretty big deal. To say his presence was missed at the dinner table is an understatement. There was food flying, babies crying, and a mommy sighing. The kids were crazy and acting like starved barbarians. I was eye balling the bottle of wine chilled in the fridge because of said barbarians and the outdoorsman was nowhere to be found. It really is amazing how the dynamic changes with one parent missing in our house. Help!

By evening number 3, I had had it! Trying to juggle 3 small kids alone, 6 dogs, a mini pig and a washing machine explosion is not my idea of a party. Haha! Where o’ where you ask was my partner in crime during this time of crisis? Well... He, of course, was with his other wife- AKA- his hunting partner, discussing hunting tags and trips for the fall! Yes, the months and months away fall. Tags and trips must be thoroughly thought out to ensure a longgggggg, drawn out happy, happy hunting season for the outdoorsman. God forbid, he not put in for the right tag, for the right location, for the right time. This is seriously life altering business, I am told.

He says that this planning must be done this week because it simply must. Judging by the “emergency” in his frantic voice you would think that the deadline for submitting their tags was TONIGHT. I casually ask if the tag’s deadline is tonight…Nope…Perhaps this week? Nope…Next week? Nope…Oh, Lordy. So what is the rush? All I can guess is that for some reason the outdoorsman is having a hunting craving that he cannot resist and he must plot, plan and devise some sort of plan for hunting season before he spontaneously combusts. Poor fella, he just needs to talk about hunting. Who knew that hunting was such an addiction? He needs his fix and he needs it now, dammit!

I am not really sure why he asks me my opinion on where to hunt. I have no idea what he is talking about as he is spewing out tag area numbers like a deranged auctioneer. Area 134? Area 315? Area 412? Huh? I really don’t know what that means, nor do I really care. I’ll take the area that is closest to home and free of man-eating bears please. Then he starts ranting about preference points. What? Then he goes on to fume about how he has all these preference points and has been waiting 13 YEARRRRRS for some tag…Blah…Blah…I don’t know what because my eyes glazed over and I didn’t hear a thing. I guess that’s how he feels when I talk about the awesome sales going on at the mall.

He tells me that he is looking for areas that are for the family man. Oh, please. I just got nauseated. I love how he tries to trick me into thinking that he secretly wants to be home, when really he is positively salivating to get out and chase around any wild beast he can fix his bull’s-eye upon. I am tempted to tell him that he doesn’t have to pretend he would rather be home than hunt, but I let him pretend because it makes me feel better and it is a little entertaining to hear him weave these tall tales. What- does he think I married a hunter yesterday? After 15 years together, I am pretty sure I know what I am up against and thats just fine with me. I suppose he does get an “A” for effort though.

And just when I thought he couldn’t get any crazier…In his extreme hunting plotting extravaganza he tries to insist that I put in for tags too. I am a fisherwoman…not a hunter. Sorry honey, call your other wife for this business! No thanks! Doesn’t he understand all those times he is hunting I am eating cereal for dinner, wearing jammies for days and shoe shopping? Leave me in peace you crazy camo man!

Good luck girls, you thought it started in the fall…Nope, it starts in MARCH.

Jenna Caplette migrated from California to Montana in the early 1970s, first living on the Crow Indian reservation. A Healing Arts Practitioner, she owns Bozeman BodyTalk & Integrative Healthcare. She says, " Health is resiliency, a zest for the journey. It’s about coming awake to the joy of being alive. As a practitioner, its a privilege to facilitate that healing process, to help weave new patterns of health & well-being. “ And by the way, healthier, happier people help create a healthier, happier world.

Did you know that about 20% of digital images that have been taken have been lost because they were not properly saved, backed-up and printed? Don't lose your Spring Break images!

To prevent that, get them off your camera onto your computer, an external hard drive, or both.

The best way to transfer your images is to use a card reader, It’s healthiest for your camera, memory card and your computer. If your camera uses an SD card, check to see if your computer has a built in SD card reader — many newer computers do. If not, or if your camera takes a CF or another type of memory card, you can purchase a card reader that connects via USB.

If you prefer to transfer images directly from your camera, just be sure its battery is fully charged or use an AC adapter. You can drag and drop the image folder from the SD card to the drive in which you'd like to save. Or, use programs like Photos, Windows Live Gallery, or Adobe Lightroom to import, save, and organize your photos.

To do all of this in a way that extends the life of your camera’s memory card, follow these tips:

Turn the camera off before inserting or removing the card.

Never remove a card from the camera or turn the camera off while it is attempting to access images for you to view on the LCD, or while saving them to the card.

Don’t force things. A card should smoothly fit into the slot. If you manage to load your CF card backward it can bend pins, a costly repair.

Protect your cards from dirt, static, and moisture. Explore the many options for storing your memory cards to help keep them safe.

Only use your camera to delete images after you’ve loaded them onto your computer or external hard drive. Make sure they are saved in more than one spot, then you are safe to FORMAT the card. Do not delete them one by one. Formatting can be done by going into the tools or setup menu on your camera. This deletes everything and that’s good for the card. Think of it like removing the liner and garbage from a garbage can rather than just smashing the garbage down so that it takes up less space, and putting a new liner over it.

Remember where we started? Too many digital images are lost because they were not properly saved, backed-up and/or printed. To prevent that happening with yours, you should have THREE copies of every image you take: one on the computer; one on archival media, like a CD or a USB drive, stored in a dark dry place; and a third stored far enough away from your home that in case of a natural disaster like a flood your images will still be safe.

One of the easiest ways to take care of the off-site storage is to use an online service or “The Cloud.” Some companies charge a fee for storage. The online storage through f11photo.com offers some for free with upgrade options for more storage. In order to preserve image quality, make sure that you can upload it in full size.

In the days of film, getting images printed was what people did. With digital, it’s easy to forget the wonder and beauty, the ease of sharing printed photographs. Choose your best images and print them. Don’t wait until you have time to edit them. Write descriptions in a photo album while all the detail of who, what, when and where is fresh.

Getting organized can be intimidating if you have thousands of images. Start with those you take now, then work your way through the backlog as you can.

Create a system for naming folders for saved images so you can easily access them after the fact. For example, if you took a trip to Yellowstone National Park in July of 2015, you might name that folder: Yellowstone0715. Having a system in place assures that when you add more photos, you’ll be able to find them. Also “tag” and name the images themselves. It’s easier to start out with good organization than to go back and retro-fit. Whatever system you use in your computer, label your CDs or USBs with the same name.

Recap:

• Take care of your memory card. Organize your image files. Download them immediately and make sure they are backed up in at least 3 different locations and different forms of media.

• When it comes to digital, stuff happens. Having safe back-ups and physical copies of your image makes all the difference.