Oct. 18 – On this day in Montana history in 1935 Helena was rocked by a major earthquake that struck at 9:52 p.m. and lasted for more than 10 seconds. One person was killed and many injured and millions of dollars of damage were left in its wake. In typical Montana resolve, a joke soon went around: “Helena was renamed Lena, not because the earthquake left it leaning, but because the earthquake had knocked the ‘hel’ out of it.”