Big Sky Blog

Randy’s Billings Free Press continues to improve — he’s done a great job with it. He’s got a great layout/design, fresh content, images, tags, the whole thing. If you live in Billings – or will be visiting – you owe it to yourself to both read the Billings Free Press AND add it to your blogroll (or bookmarks).

July 31, 1860 – (1911)

Ella Knowles, attorney and Populist political candidate, is born in Northwood, New Hampshire.

Knowles has the distinction of being the first woman lawyer in Montana, having passed the Montana bar in late 1889. At this time, there are probably fewer than a hundred women attorneys in the entire country. Knowles practices law in Butte, where she becomes influential in the promotion of women’s rights and suffrage. In 1892, Knowles is the first woman candidate in Montana for a public office other than county superintendent of schools when she runs unsuccessfully for attorney general as a Populist. Even with her defeat by the voters, Knowles is appointed to an assistant attorney general position. Knowles, an outstanding public speaker, is also regarded as an expert in mining law.

From Montana Dateline by Ellis Roberts Parry.

In 1892, Ella was surprised when the grass-roots Populist Party nominated her for state attorney general. She lost by a narrow margin despite a “remarkably plucky fight,” and the winning candidate, Henri J. Haskell, demonstrated his respect for her abilities by appointing her assistant attorney general in 1893. On May 23, 1895, he expressed his admiration even further by marrying her. The couple divorced a few years later.

More than Petticoats: Remarkable Montana Women by Gayle C. Shirley.

July 30, 1969

[Billings native] Dave McNally, ace southpaw for the Baltimore Orioles, wins his seventeenth consecutive game by defeating the Kansas City Royals 4-2 in Kansas City. McNally ties the American League record set by Johnny Allen of the Cleveland Indians during the 1937 season. The streak ends on August 3, largely due to Twins pinch hitter Rich Reese’s grand slam home run. McNally’s record will last until the 1999 season, when Roger Clemons establishes a new American League record of twenty consecutive wins.

From Montana Dateline by Ellis Roberts Parry.

From an e-mail: I’m heading to Gold Creek for a cancer retreat Sept. 4 and really want to come early or stay late to see your beautiful state. I’m on a cheap budget. What would you see or do? Any suggestions for clean cheap lodging? Small towns that you would not miss? So – any ideas or suggestions?

Today’s edition of The Billings Gazette has some good stories today which are worth reading.

The first is a story about the Japanese community in 20th century Harlowton and the second is of the last Japanese native in Harlowton. The story of Henry Muneta is especially poignant since he is the father-in-law of a Big Sky blogger.

I’ll let you figure out who the blogger is.

The next story is a nice one about the Billings Bluegrass music club which has weekly jam sessions at a local Hardee’s. The Gazette also has a nice photo album to go with the story.

I wonder if the Long Time Lonesome Dogs ever play at Hardee’s?

Glacier National Park’s “1 million acres contain more than 70 varieties of mammals, 260 of birds, at least 1,132 varieties of plants, 762 lakes, 750 miles of marked trails, 13 campgrounds, … six National Historic Landmarks … and a National Civil Engineering Landmark.”

Brian Schott has an excellent Boston Globe article about Glacier National Park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road. He covers three of my favorite subjects: religion, history and political bloviation.

Last Saturday, I stopped by the Farmer’s Market in downtown Great Falls and happened upon a booth operated by Brent and his family, where they were selling their Manly Man Candles, their home-based business located in Power, Montana. I loved the scents, bought a few, and asked Brent if I could promote his business on my site. Despite his modesty and shyness (ha!), he said sure. So I posted an entry the next day praising the manly goodness of his scented candles. And then a bolt of lightning struck…

…The crew at local CBS affiliate KRTV noticed my blog entry and figured it would be a neat story – local man with an unusual business. They did a brief feature on Brent and his biz. It was scheduled to air on Wednesday, but got bumped to Thursday.
Friday morning, the folks at CNN Headlines News picked up on the story. Then it spread to CNN and onto Fox Business News.
The result, as reported by Brent on his Manly Man blog:

I can’t even begin to tell you what the past 24 hours have been like. It’s been amazing. Last night I went to bed smiling, having just watched a two minute segment on my little candle company. I woke up to nine emails and a few orders, and I was quite pleased. My wife and I went off to work thrilled.
The news kept coming in as the day went on. Emails started pouring in. I learned that the segment aired on Headline News. Then went to CNN. Then went to Fox Business News. People from all over the country started emailing saying that they had seen us on their local news programs. People from other countries started emailing, saying they had seen it and wanted to sell them.

Excellent — couldn’t happen to a nicer guy!

And continuing with the blog angle to this lightning strike: earlier today, I noticed that my site visits were pretty high; I checked the referrals, and a large number of them were results of Google searches for “manly man candles,” presumably from people who had just seen the news clip on TV. Here’s a screen shot of what Google looked like around noon today:

Notice that my blog entry actually ranked higher (#3) than the actual Manly Man Candles site.

The other part of this is that I signed up to be an affiliate of Brent’s company, and look at the last 24 hours:

More than 360 people have clicked through to Manly Man Candles from GreaterFalls.com. Some of those clicks (double-digits) resulted in immediate sales; others may have bookmarked the site for later purchases.

So, what’s the lesson here? A few come to mind: first, free publicity is awesome – Brent didn’t have to spend a dime on this week’s free advertising. Second, you never know when lightning will strike; in this case, a chain of events cascaded into a modest avalanche. Third, every business needs a web presence. Brent is smart – he’s covered all his bases, with a business site, a blog, and profiles on social media sites.

The bottom line: everyone wins! I got some awesome candles and great traffic to my site, the KRTV team got a great story that was picked up by the networks, the Manly Man folks got worldwide publicity, and folks who buy Manly Man Candles for the first time are in for a treat!

(this entry was originally posted at GreaterFalls.com)

July 27, 1849-(1928)

Luther “Yellowstone” Kelly, scout for the military, is born in Geneva, New York. Following service late in the Civil War, Kelly comes west, eventually becoming chief of scouts for Colonel Nelson Miles. As chief scout, Kelly’s extensive knowledge about the Yellowstone and upper Missouri River basins proves to be invaluable to the military which is bringing the Sioux and Cheyenne under control. Following his service in Montana, Kelly spends time in western Colorado, Alaska, the Philippine Islands, and Arizona. Upon his death in California in 1928, Kelly’s remains are returned to Montana, where he is buried atop of the rimrocks above Billings.

July 27, 1941-

Chan Romero, rock-and-roll recording artist, is born in Billings. Romero is the author of “The Hippy Hippy Shake.” Romero originally records his song in 1959, hitting the national charts in the early part of 1960. A group called the Swinging Blue Jeans has a hit with the song during the British Invasion Year of 1964. The Beatles also record Romero’s song on two different occasions. In 1988, “The Hippy Hippy Shake,” performed by the Georgia Satellites, is featured in the Tom Cruise motion picture, Cocktail. Chan Romero is still active with his singing family, recording gospel music in the Billings area.

July 27, 1987

The Billings Mustangs of the Pioneer League defeat the Salt Lake Trappers 7 to 5 at Cobb Field in Billings. The Mustang victory ends the Trappers’ twenty-nine game winning streak, the longest streak in professional baseball history.

From Montana Dateline by Ellis Roberts Parry.

July 26, 1840

The first Catholic Mass in Montana is conducted by Father DeSmet near the Red Rock Lake area west of what is now the Yellowstone Park area.

July 26, 1979

Actress Raquel Welch arrives in Billings for on-location shooting of the television movie The Legend of Walks Far Woman. Portions of the film are also shot in the Red Lodge area.

From Montana Dateline by Ellis Roberts Parry.