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PAX stands for Pioneers Acting Excellent. It means acting respectful, responsible, peaceful, and positive. You get tootles by being kind and helping others. PAX is when you are respecting others. Remember to strive to be a PAX leader!...
January 1905, Big Sandy, Montana; Bertha Muzzy Bower signed her first writing contract with The Popular, a fledgling magazine whose circulation soared when Bower’s stories of Chip of the Flying U gave rise to life in the wild west as told by a woman. B.M. Bower began earning a living writing popular western novels and short stories from a cabin a few miles from Big Sandy. She was one of the many colorful people who brought recognition to the lifestyle of the American Cowboy. Whether it was because she was a woman, or because her writing d...
The MCSN in cooperation with the Montana Extension Service, local Conservation Districts and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, offers low-cost tree and shrub seedlings for use in conservation plantings. MCSN seedlings are for conservation practices and cannot be used for ornamental or landscape plantings. Landscape plants can be purchased at your local private retail nursery or garden center. The Montana Conservation Seedling Nursery (MCSN) will begin taking orders for shelterbelt trees at 8:00 a.m. on January 21, 2026. MSCN operates...
As autumn’s gold fades from the fields and the Bear Paws begin to wear their white caps, folks in Northern Montana know what’s coming. Winter doesn’t just arrive—it moves in, sets up camp, and stays awhile. For those who’ve spent a lifetime under these big skies, preparation isn’t a chore; it’s a tradition that keeps families, farms, and small towns running when the snow flies and the mercury drops. Home and Hearth Before the first real cold snap, it’s wise to take stock of the home front. Clean and inspect chimneys, replace furnace filters...
Junior and senior students from Big Sandy, Fort Benton, Geraldine, Highwood and Chouteau County home schools will participate in the 2025 Chouteau County Agricultural Business Day on December 17th. The event will take place from 9:00 a.m. – noon at the Ag Center (1205 20th Street). An estimated twenty businesses will be in attendance to educate juniors and seniors about agricultural career opportunities in Chouteau County. Businesses will specialize in a variety of fields including vet science, agronomy, grain elevator management, insurance, a...
Montana State University’s Homecoming weekend, September 25-28, included the fall meeting of the Montana Extension Advisory Council (MEAC.) The purpose of MEAC is to serve as a liaison to the director of the MSU Extension unit. The Council’s charge is to advocate and champion the mission of MSU Extension; identify and complete specific tasks to support Extension activities; provide input for areas of excellence, opportunity, deficiency, or improvement to MSU Extension; identify state pri...
1 Years ago November 12, 1925 The quiet of a Tuesday morning in Big Sandy was shattered around three o’clock when the town’s fire siren rang out. Flames had broken loose in the Owl Pool Hall and quickly spread through the block. Despite the swift arrival of the fire department, there was little hope of saving the Exchange, H.H. Lehfeldt’s building, or the Murtaugh block, which housed the Butler and Cushman barber shop, Pep’s cigar store, and the Owl Pool Hall itself. Though the post office and Bear Paw Café narrowly escaped destruct...
I found an interesting article from Canadian Cattlemen Magazine on stretching hay supply with straw (bit.ly/3w4HUBK). I asked Dr. Megan Van Emon, MSU Assistant Professor, Extension Beef Cattle Specialist, to review the article to see if it is a good fit for Chouteau County producers. I have included Megan’s comments. Travis Peardon, the regional livestock specialist in Outlook, Saskatchewan says straw has its limitations when used in beef cattle diets. Straw does not contain enough energy, protein, minerals or vitamins to be the sole source o...
1 Years ago November 5, 1925 Mrs. Ed Moes was confined to her bed with a severe case of flu. Miss Katheryn Nolan visited her sister, Mrs. Dr. MacKenzie. Locals were encouraged not to miss “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” Joe Heims of Butte arrived Tuesday night to spend a few days visiting friends. Miss Abbie Lund and Arthur Holst spent the weekend at their homes near Box Elder. Mr. and Mrs. Joe Farrell left Saturday for Kansas where they planned to make their home. Superintendent M.P. Moe was in Havre Saturday attending the Great Fal...
Sunday, October 26th a group of twelve players met at the Mint family room to compete in six rounds of pinochle. Dave Schwarzbach had the highest score of 6810 earning him $25. Second high of 6370 went to Nora Grubb giving her $15. Charlene Silvan-Moravec earned $10 for her third high score of 6010. Ending with 5980 for the day was Sue Knight for fourth and $5. Dan Leader had low of 4130 for $5! Dave and Nora had the highest round score of 1880. Lowest was 230 for Frank Moravec and Vance Butler. Next plays will be November 2nd & 16th, and...
Through his Over 80 Project, local fine art photographer, Craig Edwards is documenting Big Sandy’s elders. The series of portraits depicts pillars of the community, as well as Big Sandy’s related individuals, in black and white and holding portraits of their younger selves. The project is an ongoing effort to document community seniors and can be seen on display in his gallery, at the Elevated Grains Coffee Shop in town, on his website, as well as individual pieces proudly displayed in the homes...
MSU Extension Chouteau County will host an Initial Pesticide Applicator Training on December 4th, 2025 at The Ag Center in Fort Benton. The class will take place from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm. Lunch will be provided. If you have someone working with you on the farm or ranch who needs a license and is 18 years old or older, December 4th would be the time to get it done. Once they have passed the class they will be grandfathered in and will not have to earn three extra credits for non-soil fumigants. Private pesticide applicators who have not earned t...
The Chouteau County Livestock Protective Association annual meeting will take place on Thursday, November 13th at 3:00 p.m. at the Vets Hall in Geraldine. A social will follow the business meeting at 5:00 p.m. followed by dinner at 6:00. Please RSVP Buck Goldhahn at 622-5572 so the cooks can have notice on how many people will be attending. This year’s guest speaker is Montana Department of Agriculture Vertebrate Pest Specialist Stephen Vantassel. He will be speaking from 6:45-7:45. The presentation will be on prairie dog management. There w...
1 Years ago October 22, 1925 John Jenkins spent Saturday in Havre on business, while Jacob Brown of Colony Bay was a visitor in town that same day. Lester Slugget visited Fort Benton, and Mr. and Mrs. Richard O. Henderson of Warrick welcomed a baby boy on Sunday. Walter Oliver was confined to his home with illness over the weekend. Mr. and Mrs. Ted McCray of Eagleton moved to Big Sandy for the winter, and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Green relocated to the Rock Bryan Ranch east of town. Mrs. P.J. Boere left Saturday afternoon for Great Falls, where sh...
Watching the Clouds, No Matter Where You Farm Sitting in the grain truck waiting for my brother to offload the next combine tank of winter wheat, I looked up at the cotton ball cumulus clouds that dotted the Lonesome Prairie sky. I think of them as “summer clouds”, reminiscing back to being a little girl and enjoying the quietness of a simple summer day, kept company by my dolls and stuffed animals under the Russian olive trees planted by my grandparents. In the warm, no-breeze truck, I realized if I took a cat nap and woke to see them, I cou...
The Big Sandy Youth Group Halloween Food Drive is fast approaching and this year’s drive will see a number of changes. The annual event will still involve youth group kids trick-or-treating door-to-door for food donations and will take place on October 29th starting around 5:30 and running as late as 8. The major shift this year is the beneficiary of the donations. All collected items will go to the Angel Basket program, which has taken an increasingly active role over the last few years in cari...
The sign up for this year’s Angel Food program is open and will be open until November 1st. The program provides food for Christmas and Thanksgiving meals as well as Christmas gifts for the kids of needy Chouteau County families. Signing up for an Angel Basket is as easy as visiting the web page and filling out the appropriate forms. The form for signing up for an Angel Basket is a Google Doc that can be accessed by visiting the Chouteau County Angel Committee Facebook Page at w...
1 Years ago October 15, 1925 Montana’s love affair with the automobile showed no sign of slowing, with the state registering 93,500 vehicles by October 1—an increase of more than 16,000 over the prior year. On October 13, a daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Leo Gist. Attorney A.G. Waite returned from an extended trip to Illinois, while C.I. Jensen of Great Falls attended a railway telegrapher’s convention. Locals were also abuzz about the upcoming arrival of The Hunchback of Notre Dame at the Grand Opera House. Mrs. C.S. Jackson retur...
It’s that time of year again! The Pearson Pumpkin Patch will be open as many weekends in October as possible, weather permitting 11 am-5 pm. Admission is $5 per person, children 1 and under are free. This week I had the pleasure of visiting with Raynee Gullickson, daughter of Ron and Gay Pearson, to get to know more about the pumpkins and also the family who grows them. Sixteen years ago, the Pearson family planted their first patch. For the first several years, it was a special treat just f...
To me 4-H is community, a way for kids to get involved and learn the importance of service and teamwork. 4-H is a chance to practice leadership and be unafraid to volunteer your work; and do a good job. My favorite 4-H memory was this year during our chuckwagon shift at fair. We had so much fun dramatizing everything and proving that just because you are expected to work doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. And getting all the young club members out on the dance floor during the dance prior to the fair. 4-H taught me how to step confidently int...
A few weeks ago, the Mountaineer ran an article on the Cross that showed up on 8-Mile Bench sometime around 20 years ago. The goal of the article was to illicit from our reader community any information we could glean about the mysterious monument. In the same piece, I mentioned another curiosity associated with the monument: a steel pipe with a cap 6 or 7 feet from the cross. On the cap is emblazoned the words: Missouri River Commission. In the center is a triangle with U.S. on either side. The...
Citations come from Emily Glunk/Meccage (MSU Extension Forage Specialist) and Dennis Cash (Retired MSU Extension Forage Specialist). When is it safe to hay or graze my alfalfa in the fall? Harvest or graze the alfalfa after several days of consecutive killing frost, once the plant is dormant and will not be attempting to regrow before the winter (Glunk, 2017). What does it take for a killing frost in alfalfa? Usually it takes about 3 days of less than 24 degrees to get the plant to shut down. (Meccage, 2018) How do I minimize the chance of...
Yanci Anna Phillips turned 10 years old on Monday, September 15th. Little Yanci is Big Sandy's miracle girl, after doctor's told Victor & Karli Philips that the baby wouldn't survive more than an hour after her birth. After defying the odds and living for several days, Yanci repeatedly proved doctors wrong when they gave her days, then weeks, then months, and repeatedly predicted her passing. Now the sassy 10-year old is in school, is well liked by her peers, and is doted on by her family....
The 2025 Chouteau County Fair Demolition Derby went off with a bang. This year's car crunchers featured a lone Big Sandy representative. Jarret Jacobi kicked off his rookie season as a derby driver on August 16th behind the wheel of a 1976 Cadillac. The outing was a learning experience for Jarret, who already has made updates to his car based on his experience and is preparing for his second derby in Havre on the 20th of September. Jacobi described the experience: "It was an adrenaline rush,...
Kristie Rutledge is a certified LPA (Lay Pastoral Associate) and serves the Christ Lutheran Church. Kristie is one of those wonderfully blessed individuals who the Lord touched as a young child. She said, “I would say faithful family (is the reason she knows the Lord.) I was born and raised in a First Communion, confirmation, and youth group, attending multiple Lutheran churches, but my family never went to church. They made it available. I was to be baptized, and I don’t remember if they sai...