Sorted by date Results 3122 - 3146 of 3590
Dave Louvar, owner of The Grocery Store has seen many changes in buying habits since he has owned the store in Big Sandy. Whether those changes are good or bad depends on your point of view according to Louvar. "You used to need a great meat department and that has changed drastically. Now you need only a small meat department but with choice cuts of meat in it," Louvar said. Louvar continued, "Roast beef was on the table three days a week. Now days a lot of people don't even know how to cook...
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Bowhunter Education course dates have been set for the first courses in the Havre area for this year. There will be a regular youth classroom course starting April 24, and an adult online “field day” course on April 29. Starting in 2017, the purchase of a Montana bow and arrow license will be required prior to applying for any archery-only permit. To purchase a bow and arrow license, an individual must meet one of the following requirements: • show completion of a bowhunter education course • show proof of purch...
A permitting system is now available through Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to allow people to train hunting dogs in open fields and in proximity to wild nesting birds. Montana law prohibits the training of hunting dogs within one mile of nesting birds, wildlife management areas or game preserve without a permit. However, until now no clear permitting process was in place. “Hopefully this permitting process will provide clarity for people looking to train their bird dogs around wild birds,” said Ken McDonald, FWP wildlife division adm...
Warmer temperatures and melted ice mean the annual walleye spawning operation on Fort Peck Reservoir getting into full swing. According to Heath Headley, Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ Fort Peck biologist, agency staff and volunteers are again trapping fish and taking eggs from areas in the upper Big Dry Arm of the reservoir. “The reservoir is about 2.5 feet higher than last year,” Headley said, “but we will continue to focus the operation near Nelson Creek.” FWP staff have been working on setting up spawning barges, holding p...
Erik Sietsema was in "The Mountaineer" last week sharing a wonderful Easter story. Sietsema is the sky pilot of the Big Sandy Church of God and for the past few years he and his great team have taken over the Food Bank. They are serving more than ever and are in need of help as well as groceries to help people around here who need help. The Big Sandy Food Bank is serving a huge number of people. They are helping 77 people and that is 18 families. "We are doing more than we ever have," said...
Great Falls, MT (April 3, 2017) Montana Farmers Union was pleased to join Governor Steve Bullock in Helena on Friday for the signing of HB342. The bill, sponsored by Ross Fitzgerald(R) of House District 17 and championed by MFU, adds agritourism to the list of Montana recreational activities in which participants assume liability for the inherent risk of those activities. The bill passed the house 78-18 on February 10, passed the senate 43-6 on March 16 and signed into law by the governor on March 31. MFU has tried in previous legislative...
"The Mountaineer" has featured stories before about Tina Rodewald and her Prairie Blossoms Floral. Those stories come out around Easter and are about the only time we think about Tina, her daughter-in-law Traci and their flowers. It is easy to forget about Prairie Blossoms because they don't have a store front. However, they are a full service flower shop and are just another business in our town that makes Big Sandy great! Tina's fresh flowers can always be found in a flower case in The...
“There is a balm in Gilead To heal the sin sick soul.” That old American spiritual was most important to early day ranchers and homesteaders alike coming into this new place now called North Central Montana. With Easter just around the corner, it is a fitting time to see why those old timers named the lowly cottonwood trees “Balm of Gilead Trees”. It is their perfume and perfect for Easter although it is too early to really get a good whiff of them Easter Week. Those old timers travelled up Beaver Creek,. Clear Creek and Big Sandy Creek on picn...
SHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! The Easter Bunny is coming to the Big Sandy Airport on Saturday, April 15, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. The Easter Bunny has been coming to Big Sandy for over 50 years. Those first years the Easter Bunny hid actual hardboiled colored eggs, candy and fruit. Now the Easter Bunny hides special prizes and candy around the fields of the airport in Big Sandy. When all the children arrive they are divided into 5 age groups from infant through 5th grade. Once the children are in their respective groups they are taken by a Rotarian to an...
Big Sandy High School and the F.E. Miley School will be holding Emergency Evacuation Drills on Wednesday, April 12. Local and County Law Enforcement will be assisting with these drills. The high school evacuation will take place in the morning followed by the elementary in the afternoon. Community members are being made aware of these events so no one will be alarmed by the use of fire department equipment, law enforce vehicles, and special tactics uniforms and dress. The students at both buildings met with Law Enforcement in the fall, so they...
By Robert Lucke Whoa partners and sashay yourselves down to the new Big Sandy Library on April 11 to celebrate with an open house from 2 to 5 on that day. If you have not had a chance to view this beautiful addition to our main street, now is a good time to do it and be served refreshments at the same time. Head librarian Stephanie Overbay said that the open house is a great time to visit the new library but it is open and perfect for all sorts of activities during the week as well. There are...
On April 11, 2017 at 7:00 PM the Big Sandy Board of Trustees will meet to make a final decision whether or not to run a special bond election for the purpose of building a new swimming pool. The potential of this project has been a joint effort between the Town of Big Sandy and Big Sandy schools. There have been many public meetings over the course of the past year soliciting input from the community and the time has come for the trustees to make a final decision. Below is the information on how a $2,300,000 bond would affect taxpayers in our...
Included in this week's "Mountaineer" is a story about bears coming out of hibernation. We front paged this story for two reasons. First, it has a dandy picture of some grizzly bears coming out of hibernation that we wanted to share with you. But even more important there are many grizzlies especially, who are denning up along the Front Range and some even out on the prairie so those of us who live along rivers that have their sources in those areas should be on the lookout for grizzly bears in...
By Robert Lucke Everyone going to Glacier National Park wants to see a grizzly bear or at least a moose or an elk. But few people know about the rare abundance of harlequin ducks that can be seen in the early spring on upper McDonald Creek from about the Lake McDonald Falls to Avalanche campground. These amazing small ducks get their name harlequin because they are brightly spotted and look for all the world like they are dressed in a clown costume. The Glacier National Park colony of...
Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks is seeking public comment on a draft management plan for the Fresno Reservoir Wildlife Management Area (WMA). The comment period will run from March 29, 2017 through April 27, 2017. The Fresno Reservoir WMA is located in Hill County just upstream of Fresno Reservoir. The WMA is on Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) property, but is managed by FWP under a joint management agreement between FWP and BOR. The management plan identifies the objectives for wildlife habitat, weed management, infrastructure, and public...
(StatePoint) For homeowners looking to create a more inviting outdoor living space, it all starts with a beautiful lawn. But without the right routines and tools, achieving and maintaining a top-quality yard can be time consuming. One of the best ways to save time and get the lawn you want is to invest in better lawn care tools. Now is a great time to take stock of the tools in your garage. “If you’re spending more time than you’d like maintaining your lawn, you might consider some key equipment upgrades,” says Jamie Briggs, product manager at...
"The Mountaineer" in the last several months has had front page stories by a number of people about the good and bad of National Heritage Areas. In reviewing the National Heritage Area being proposed for our part of Montana, we notice that the area has been made smaller. Towns that ought to be concerned yet include Belt, Ulm, Cascade, Sun River, Fort Shaw, Great Falls, Fort Benton, Monarch, Neihart and Vaughn. Those communities will be directly impacted by the National Heritage Area according...
Those bits of feather, flesh and bones that sing and call forth are among our first signs of spring, even in March’s moodiness. Doesn’t matter if you hunt them in the fall, look for them with longing in the spring, or don’t care to know a robin from a red-tail; they are here and doing their thing. Over-wintering birds are sitting on eggs or getting ready to mate even through this leonine month of wind, cold and snow. A friend on the prairie had seen her covey of Hungarian partridge dwindle in numbers recently until just a couple of birds flushe...
(BLAINE COUNTY, Mont.) – The Ervin Homestead/Gist Bottom Historic District lies within the vast and isolated, but breathtakingly beautiful Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. In 1997 Zane Fulbright was sent on a work detail from the U.S. Forest Service to record homesteads within the Bureau of Land Management Upper Missouri National Wild & Scenic River area. Twenty years later, on Jan. 20, 2017, he accepted the certificate recognizing the Ervin Homestead/Gist Bottom Historic District's listing in the National Register of Historic Pla...
New surprises are surfacing along with Fresno Walleye’s favorite games, raffles and drawings, which will again award hundreds of sponsored prizes worth thousands of dollars during the group’s annual Walleye Banquet docking at the Havre Ice Dome on April 22nd. The smoke-free banquet features all-you-can-eat secret batter walleye, baron of beef and all the baits to ready you for an evening of winning entertainment as guests play games for big screen TV’s, patio and dining room furniture, barbecue grills and home furnishings, guns, fine jewel...
FWP would like to remind folks to watch for deer (and other animals) on the road, especially during the early morning and early evening hours when both visibility is difficult and animals are sometimes more active. With the recent hour time change, many folks who are commuting are now an hour “forward” and may see more activity. As our deer numbers are continuing to make a comeback across the region, more and more animal-vehicle accidents are bound to occur. In addition, the spring “fawning” season is just around the corner, and deer are oft...
(FORT BENTON, Mont.) – With the summer recreation season drawing near, the Bureau of Land Management has reopened the James Kipp and Coal Banks Landing Recreation Areas. These popular recreational areas are available for the American public to enjoy throughout the prime outdoor recreation months. Coal Banks Landing Recreation Area is near Virgelle, Mont., 12 mi. southwest of Big Sandy. James Kipp Recreation Area is located where U.S. Highway 191 crosses the Missouri River on the Fred Robinson Bridge, approximately 20 miles north of Bohemian C...
The photograph of this painting by Charles Russell is called Deer Drinking at Lake McDonald. It comes from a wonderful book entitled "Artists in Glacier". For anyone interested in the people who have made Glacier National Park their backdrop for paintings, this is the book to have. As for Charlie Russell, most of his work in Glacier came from the fact that he had a cedar log cabin close to the mouth of where McDonald Creek dumps out of Lake McDonald. The cabin is just a half mile or so from...
The Big Sandy American Legion Post 50 celebrated a big birthday on March 17. They were charted on November 19, 1919 and this year the twenty-five members plus the Women's Auxiliary celebrated their 98th birthday. Fifteen men were charter members when the Post was founded. They were Clyde Eckhart, Ben Walden, Ralph Weidrope, Arthur Tucker, Hans Henniksen, Frank Lyons, Arthur Borg, A. F. Wall, L. F. Cormody, J. Bert Britenbucker, Will Bowman, Roy Arnold, K. D. Arnold, Morris Arnold and A. M....
When Charlie Russell met the lady who was to be his wife he was living in Cascade. He had given up the range and was painting full time to try and make a living. Nancy was a housekeeper for some friends of Charlie’s and they met over dinner one night. It seemed to be love at first sight so they got “hitched up” as Charlie often said, and lived in a tiny house in Cascade for a time until the two of them found they would have a much easier time selling his paintings if they moved to Great Falls. So, they moved to Great Falls. It was there that Na...