Butte Helena
Butte - St Patricks Day
100 miles west of Bozeman the biggest St Patricks Day Parade outside of Boston is held, in Butte. In the 1880s the copper mines here were worked predominantly by the Irish. The city boasts the highest percentage Irish population of any town in the US.
That day the booze flowed. Loud music, dancing and food. Given the amount of grog consumed, the huge crowd was extremely well behaved. No policing was evident. We met a heap of characters.
Joanne's Bloody Mary was more like a meal than a drink. She needed both hands to hold it, potent rocket fuel.
Norris Hot Springs
"Water of the Gods" as per the sign.
Basic and simple. The pool was made from wood with the hot water bubbling up between the boards. Inverted leaking, strange it didn't drain.
We have been to a number of shows, modern Scottish, traditional Irish and classical.
Being an old rugby player, I would have compared some of the music to a "tom cat" being desexed. Surprisingly, it was great entertainment. The Irish have their own kind of bagpipes, three instruments in one, Uilleann Pipes.
Bozeman is known as the gateway to Yellowstone, but being a university town, it has art and culture. It is not all rodeos, cowboys and hunting.
We have been to a number of screened documentaries, such as the re-introduction of bison to the American Indian Reservations, and wolves into Yellowstone. We are going to the Grizzly Bear 399# presentation later this month.
The Pow Wow event is held at MSU (University) each year.
The number one festival showcasing the American Indians of Montana. Dance, music and various competitions. It is similar to the Maori Kapa Haka in New Zealand. In the background, the Pow Wow provides the forum where inter tribal issues can be aired. A large proportion of the crowd was non-indian. It was friendly and festive, in stark contrast to the annual protest, bun fight on Waitangi Day, in NZ. In reviving the Indian heritage, together with the buffalo numbers, slowly but surely, the political and social landscape is changing. A sense of value and purpose for the next generation is clearly evident.
Photos......
Helena
Helena, the State Capital of Montana, has a population of 35k. The railway linked the state to the union around the same time as Statehood in 1889. It was the 41st State. Butte, an hour away, was at the time, the worlds biggest copper producer. Most of the high grade concentrate was shipped to Wales for processing, very little was smeltered locally. Copper funded the development of the State. The construction of the elaborate Capitol Buildings commenced in 1900. The per capita wealth to support that level of expenditure must have been staggering. Marble, gold, stained glass and wood panelling were incorporated into the buildings.
Helena is located in The Prickly Pear Valley (PPV) of the Missouri River. The valley connects to the Madison and Bozeman valleys to the south, all surrounded by snow capped mountains
Greg Gianforte (Rep) is the 25th governor.
At the Capitol, chatted with his staff. They gave us a tour around his personal offices and the cabinet caucus meeting rooms not generally open to the public. The inner sanctum. They liked our accents!
Lots of marble, wood panelling and history. Not too shabby at all, the place oozed of wealth and power.
The House of Representatives was closed due to maintenance.
No security scanners here, the 2nd ammendment applies. It was clear that most of the staff were packing.
The 2nd Ammendment reads:
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed".
Does this mean that to keep firearms one has to be part of a group designated for the security of the State? The original intent of the 1770s appears scrambled given the Supreme Court's interpretation in 2008. It all comes down to the punctuation commas emphasizing the text and meaning. It is definitely open to debate.
The conversation with the staff steered towards this year's election. I asked them about their job security if their guy got the boot. An emphatic no. If the regime changes so do the staff. What about superannuation? Nope. Pretty tough sort of a career!
The Gates of the Mountains, to the north of Helena, are the narrows of the Missouri River. These open, the up-stream valley of, the Prickly Pear Valley (The Helena Valley). This was the route, the explorers, Lewis and Clark took in 1805, on their way to the Pacific.
Visited the cathedral, Reeder's Alley and home of the first governor in 1889.
The Democrat HQ very nice.
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