Nestled between the Snowy Range and the Sierra Madre Mountains, the hamlet of Saratoga, Wyoming is full of historical nods. Hotel Wolf, which opened in 1893, anchors downtown. Guide shops, restaurants, and art galleries line Bridge Avenue. The North Platte River divides the town, whose......
We should bother with keeping sage grouse in the West because they are a measure of how the environment is doing,” says Martin Townsend, the conservation director for the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance. “If sage grouse go downhill, we have a large-scale problem.” Less than a......
John Colter [c. 1775–1812] is among Montana’s most legendary mountain men. His iconic status is predicated on extraordinary feats of fortitude that occurred between the summer of 1806 and the spring of 1810, marking the beginning and end of his career as a trapper in......
My angling career began when I was a kid in rural Upstate New York, catching pan-sized native brook trout. (As a measuring tool, the pan didn’t have to be very big.) Around the time I was 9 years old, I began transitioning from worms to......
Guardians on a hill Ever a watchful eye. Spraying branches to fill An ever-enveloping sky. What history have they seen with many a passers-by? Cruelness of the white sheen Finally releasing buds of spring. Industrious inhabitants of fur Stocking up in hidden holes. The giants......
Some themes may be too big for one story. Love, the overarching theme of Shann Ray’s Where Blackbirds Fly (University of Nebraska Press, $27.95), is explored throughout the five novellas that make this novel. This is because love, in Ray’s handling of it, contains much......
Let’s face it, Old Faithful, Great Fountain Geyser, Norris Geyser Basin, and the various Yellowstone fumaroles don’t get a lot of attention when they’re in the steam phase, which comes after all the “oohs” and “ahhs” and visual thrills of an eruption. Sitting by myself,......
Knife maker Will Hutchinson — known to most as “Hutch” — has spent a lot of time thinking about the marriage of form and function. With an undergraduate degree from the Art Academy of Cincinnati in Ohio and a Master of Fine Arts from the......
When Charles Fritz moved to Montana in the 1980s, he ran into a problem. Up until then, the Iowa-born artist had carved out a niche for himself in the watercolor market, painting sporting still lifes: wooden decoys, hanging mallards, shotguns. “But when I came out......
In the predawn black, I trek up to a saddle off Emigrant Peak’s west flank, nestling into a small thicket of young Douglas fir to watch the day arrive. My back leans against an old rampike, a once-grand whitebark, stripped and bald, but still standing......
ARCHITECTURE | 45 ARCHITECTURE & INTERIORS CONSTRUCTION | ALPENGLOW CUSTOM BUILDERS INTERIOR DESIGN | THISTLE & TWINE STUDIOS Location, location, location — that time-honored but repetitious maxim defining an ideal parcel of real estate — found perfect proof when a couple with an already established......
Editor’s Note: This column is adapted from When Montana Outraced the East: The Reign of Western Thoroughbreds, 1886-1900 by Catharine Melin-Moser (University of Oklahoma Press, April 2025). Nineteenth-century Montana folklore tells of a beautiful chestnut-colored Thoroughbred mare named Oriole. On April 10, 1894, the heavily......
This has never happened to me at a restaurant before. I’m seated at a picnic table. Before me, rows of vegetables and herbs unfurl themselves, pushing into the green foothills of the Gallatin Range. The light is golden and coming in slantwise between steel-gray storm......
In a world where outdoor adventuring often feels intimidating, Shyanne Orvis is redefining the narrative one cast at a time. As a guide, conservationist, and passionate advocate for women in fly fishing, Orvis has built a reputation defined not just by her skill on the......
The Montana 250th Commission, created in 2023 to coordinate statewide efforts to commemorate the United States’ semiquincentennial, recently launched Montana Reads: The Treasure State’s Book Club, a monthly online book discussion group that will cover topics related to United States, Montana, and Indigenous history. Each......
Each autumn, as cooler weather brings color to leaves and deposits dustings of snow in the mountains, a group of cowboys heads into central Montana’s Highwood Mountains on horseback to gather the area ranchers’ cows and bring them home. After spending the summer turned out,......
My home opens broadly to the south with an oversized glass door leading to a covered patio from which a panorama unfolds. Beginning in the east, a distant ridgeline traces the division of our valley from a nearby chain of lakes while foreground hills sprawl......
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (MT FWP) biologists are collecting wings from hunter-harvested mountain grouse, including dusky/blue, spruce, and ruffed, across Region 3, which encompasses the southwest portion of the state. The biologists will use the wings to identify birds by species and determine whether......
Rocky Mountain Field Guide: A Trailside Natural History Written by Daniel Mathews In Rocky Mountain Field Guide: A Trailside Natural History, naturalist and writer Daniel Mathews offers a comprehensive guide to the far- ranging flora, fauna, topography, and habitats that define the Rockies, from Glacier National......
Like many of his grain-growing neighbors on northern Montana’s Hi-Line, Ryan Lankford has fully integrated computers and satellite connectivity into his farming operation. His John Deere tractors are guided by GPS waypoints, and his newest combine has forward-facing cameras that detect the amount of stubble......
When I was stationed as a medical officer on the Fort Peck Reservation 50 years ago, I fell in love with the prairie but missed trout fishing. I found a few farm ponds with stocked rainbows, but that didn’t satisfy my need for dry flies......
On a Thursday night in early May, there is hardly an empty seat at Bozeman, Montana’s Tune Up Bar. The bustling crowd is largely on the younger side — a snapshot of the growing city’s hipster population — and eagerly awaiting the night’s performers. The......
As a child, Benjamin Walter didn’t spend much time wondering whether he could be an artist when he grew up. He already knew he was one. “My family — we’re all artists or musicians. I have five siblings, and we all paint, make music, or......
Wyoming landscape painter Jennifer Hoffman watches the light shift across the Jackson Hole Valley each day, waiting for moments that spark her imagination. She moved to the area nearly three decades ago to pursue her interest in landscape painting, and ever since, the region has......
Painter Mike Piggott’s work, like poetry, demands a second look. And even a third. His compressed kinetic energy flattens out across the canvas, conveying calmness, like that before a storm. He kidnaps images, then reunites them like babies switched at birth. In his painting Silence,......
Anyone coming face to face with Charles Young, a recent portrait by Idaho-based artist Aaron Hazel, could not doubt that they’ve encountered a formidable man, painted in a bravura style that sets right the subject’s woefully unsung place in American history. Born a slave in......
Stacey Herries makes her art from a sunlit studio on the east side of downtown Bozeman, Montana. The space is large and airy, just steps from yoga studios, breweries, and restaurants. Simply put, it’s prime real estate. “Though I promise you, it wasn’t anything special......
You know, Josh is just different. He’s not painting things. He’s trying, in his own way, to create poetry,” says Bill Rey, owner of Claggett/Rey Gallery in Edwards, Colorado, who waxes poetic himself when describing the work and philosophy of Montana-based artist Josh Elliott. “In......
Intended or not, it’s often the simple moments that paint pictures on our hearts: a casual exchange between friends, the striking call of a loon across a lake, an old barn at dusk, flowers in a pot by the front door, swelling clouds before a......
Carving trenches from ageless grass is a lonely ordeal beneath the far gray. A careless horse will die in a ditch so digging them wide will spare us the grief. We toil in the earth in an aging machine, no less weathered by time than......
The utter largeness that is the legacy and artistic relevance of the late Jim Harrison seems impossible to contain. His novels, novellas, screenplays, and poetry collections have left a once-in-a-generation mark on the literary landscape. Perhaps equally celebrated (or condemned), his life was lived with......
In September, all the water in Montana is low. On the west side of the Continental Divide, there had been no rain since early June. Nikea and I left the creek and climbed the lifted palm of the drainage that held the lake. The basin......
DESIGN-BUILD | CLEAR CREEK DEVELOPING SPECIALTY CONTRACTING | MONTANA TIMBER TECH A Texas couple with family connections to, and a deep affinity for, Big Sky, Montana recently found property in the Spanish Peaks Mountain Club, where they planned to build a secondary home for themselves......
What does the West mean to you? Is it a place, a lifestyle, a feeling, a philosophy? In the centuries since Euro-Americans first explored the country’s interior, the West has changed beyond the imaginations of those who first mapped it. In that relatively short time,......
On a visit last spring to the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana, I was surprised by two insights. First, Russell’s visual storytelling is astounding. Second, some of those stories involved automobiles. The first insight shouldn’t have been a surprise. “Russell was a wonderful......
Mike Morelli leads a tour of wide-eyed adults through the inner workings of Missoula Children’s Theatre (MCT) prior to the opening of one of five performances the theater puts on as part of its Community Series. An expressive and exuberant speaker with dancing eyes behind......
If there were only one moment to capture a dining experience, let it be this one: My date and I had just finished the Smoked Mangalitsa Pork Tostada, which we had smelled the moment it hit open flame, the air so smoky and sweet. From......
Museums, galleries, and curated art events celebrating the artists of the Northern Rockies offer an intimate glimpse at life in the American West. Upcoming calendar highlights include: Ongoing Through August 17 Patchworking: Big Sky Domestic Cast-Offs Aunt Dofe’s Gallery | Willow Creek, MT auntdofegallery.com Rebecca......
Great Women Sculptors Written by Phaidon Editors, with an introduction by Lisa Le Feuvre A celebration of more than 300 female sculptors from around the world, this book surveys the past 500 years, recognizing trailblazing artists from the Renaissance to the present day. The alphabetically......
Alara Jewelry — founded in 2004 in Bozeman, Montana — is set to appear on the nationally broadcast television series Empowered with Meg Ryan. The mini-documentary spotlights Alara’s efforts in ethical sourcing, sustainability, and environmental responsibility within the fine jewelry industry. According to founder and......
This spring, longtime Great Falls, Montana resident and former C.M. Russell Museum Director of Art and Philanthropy Duane Braaten was appointed as the museum’s new executive director. Over the past two decades, he helped establish the museum as a nationally recognized leader in Western art......
After 30 years in Jackson, Wyoming, the annual Western Design Conference (WDC) is moving locations. Beginning in 2026, the celebrated show and sale will take place in Bozeman, Montana at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse on the Montana State University campus. Known for featuring quality craftsmanship......
Edna Mae Berkey has joined Montana Ballet Company as its general manager, taking on a newly created position that the organization hopes will enhance operations and support continued growth across its performance, training, and community engagement programs. Founded in 1984, Montana Ballet Company is a......
Common ground: It’s a phrase that elicits a sense of togetherness, people sharing in an idea or belief despite their diverse experiences and backgrounds. And that’s just what a documentary film crew found in Meagher County in central Montana. Small Town, Big Sky, a short......
Marty Bannon is perpetually in a hurry. He’s eager to get his words out, his work accomplished, and his point across. His nickname “Race” describes his personality as well as his background as a pilot, runner, and long-distance hiker. Now “retired,” Bannon has a new......
Thundering hooves, clouds of dust, whipping manes and tails, and breathtaking skill — Indian relay is one of the earliest extreme sports. Born from Great Plains tribal traditions, these relays test courage, athleticism, teamwork, and horsemanship. From the stands, Indigenous spectators speak a variety of......
From 1920 to 1943, hundreds of children experienced the sights and backwoods of Yellowstone National Park from a saddle. The excursions were organized by Valley Ranch, a popular dude ranch east of the park in Wyoming. Intended to provide access to many attractions around Yellowstone,......
The World-Famous Miles City Bucking Horse Sale is the social event of the year for the small town of Miles City, Montana. For over seven decades, this one-of-a-kind sale weekend has showcased horse races, professional saddle-bronc riding, calcuttas, mutton bustin’ for the kids, live music......
Hardcore cutthroat bums roaming Western backroads with their fly rods, waders, and extra gas tanks know the marquee water, like teenagers with nose rings and spiky hair eagerly touting their favorite punk bands. Vagabonds chasing westslope cutts often head for Montana’s upper Flathead, Clark Fork,......
For more than four decades, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) has actively worked to support hunting and conservation efforts throughout Montana and beyond. Protecting habitat and improving access for wide-ranging species — humans included — RMEF is a homeostatic ecosystem in its own right,......