GREAT FALLS — If there's one thing we know about Montana, it has a history that runs deep.
While we may be familiar with the broader aspects of the Big Sky State's past, there are specific events that helped shape the state.
A new book by a fourth-generation Montanan takes a deep dive into some of Big Sky Country’s darkest days and although Montana Disasters may sound morbid, author Butch Larcombe told MTN News it's about much more than just death and destruction.
From the flood of 1964 to the Custer Creek Train Wreck outside of Miles City in 1938, Larcombe’s original articles for Montana Quarterly Magazine ignited a passion for his latest book, Montana Disasters.
"Really it turned out to me that these are all interesting events in Montana history and ones that are worth remembering," Lacrombe explained. "I thought by doing the book and by trying to do some good research around them it would help people remember them you know down the road.
The book includes about 25 full accounts of disasters dating back to 1895 with references and short passages on others. Larcombe says it wasn’t easy to narrow down and it’s not a list of the worst disasters.
“There’s no yardstick to measure a disaster. Disaster is in the eye of the beholder. I looked for ones where I thought there was an interesting human story around the event, and tried to get in contact or at least recall the experiences of the people that were involved to put a human face on these stories.”
Larcombe says some of the state’s lesser-known events are his favorite stories. A 1932 fire west of Choteau on the Rocky Mountain Front killed five firefighters. In 1950, the Browning High School boys basketball team was staying overnight in Eureka after a game when in the middle of that cold winter night, the hotel boiler blew up, setting the hotel on fire.
“Many of the team members were able to escape by jumping out of second-story windows into snowbanks. They actually almost threw their coach out the window to get him out because he wanted to stay and look for other players," Larcombe said. "As it turned out two of their teammates were lost in the fire and three other people died in that fire. It’s just kind of a poignant small-town story that really sticks with me.”
The book’s subtitle is True Stories of Treasure State Tragedies and Triumphs. Larcombe says the triumph comes in some of the personal stories of people moving on as well as the changes brought about by some of the disasters in areas such as mine safety and wildland firefighting.
“I think the need for mine safety and awareness was improved dramatically after those events. Similarly, with some of the wildfire events. Fighting wildfires in the early days was a pretty hazardous occupation and people didn’t have much training. After people saw how dangerous it was, they slowly adopted better training and better standards for firefighters. We don’t see these firefighter fatalities nearly as often as we did.” - author Butch Larcombe
Montana Disasters is available in many Treasure State bookstores and online. Additionally, Larcombe will be giving a presentation at the Montana Historical Society on Jan. 13 which will also be available on the historical society’s YouTube channel.
