Wild Trails & Tall Tales

- by Roland Cheek

SHORT TAKES ON TALL SUBJECTS

Do you know a prominent television news anchorman originated in a sister state to the east? He's NBC Tom Brokaw, who hails from Yankton, South Dakota. Brokaw continues a tradition of news journalists rising from the rural West who makes it big time in the Big Apple. For the newcomers among us, Chet Huntley, who had a hand in shaping modern television news from NBC's New York studio, first saw the light of day in Springdale, Montana, a tiny community between Livingston and Big Timber. Huntley, of course, eventually returned to his roots before passing on to be judged under those great klieg lights in the sky. Before leaving, however, Huntley helped found Montana's best known ski and vacation resort at Big Sky.

Another Montanan with a modicum of notoriety beyond the Treasure State was Gary Cooper, a Great Falls-ite who went on to become the top Hollywood leading man at portraying what he had always been: a handsome, strong, silent, resourceful type. "Coop" must have taken especial delight in portraying that role in "The Hanging Tree"--a book written by yet another Montanan of note, Dorothy Johnson.

Dorothy originated in Whitefish when it was still a struggling railroad division point being carved from northwest Montana woods and still undreamed of as the stump town turned ski town. Miss Johnson wrote other works that turned into popular movies: "A Man Called Horse" and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" immediately coming to mind.

Speaking of books by Montanans, there's one that should be of interest to folks wanting more details on Treasure State history. "More Than Petticoats" briefly outlines the lives of 14 remarkable Montana women from Crow healer Pretty Shield to Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin. Rankin was the single Congressperson who voted against United States entry into two World Wars. "More Than Petticoats" is 144 pages, sells for $8.95 and can be read in one evening or in 14 short-paced sittings. My only criticism of the book is I wanted more. Where it only scratched the surface of the woman sketched in each chapter, one cannot escape a feeling each deserved an entire book.

Shirley also wrote an excellent guide to Montana wildlife. Its title can hardly be confusing: "Montana Wildlife."

Are book reviews common in an outdoors column? As long as the books reviewed aren't common, I think so. Consider this letter recently received from retired former schoolteacher, Bill Johnson of Cameron, Wisconsin. Johnson discusses a last February column in which I passed along the titles of a few of my all-time favorite outdoor books:

"I taught elementary school in San Diego for nearly twenty years. A very favorite book the class enjoyed many times over was 'Three Against The Wilderness' by Eric Collier. That book made such an impression on me and my family we took a special vacation [to visit its location]. My class carried on a correspondence for some time with Mrs. Collier, after the death of her husband.

"Thank you for bringing back those impressive memories."

click here to visit Roland's column archives