July 31 -- On this day in Montana history in 1934 Robert Yellowtail was installed as superintendent of the Crow Reservation. What made the event unique was that Yellowtail was a member of the Crow Tribe, and it is believed that he was one of the first tribal members in the nation to become a superintendent of a reservation. 

July 30 – On this day in Montana history in 1931 the Hingham American carried a prayer from a local Hill County minister: “Oh, Lord, we pray thee in accordance with the request of this people that Thou send the rain to make their crops flourish, bring forth fruit abundantly; but, oh Lord, thou knowest as I know, as they ought to know, that what they need is good plowing, better cultivation and more summerfallowing, Amen.”  There was a minister using God and science to make the Montana land produce.

July 27 – On this day in Montana history in 1906 the Carbon County Joliet Journal reported that a “game of baseball between Joliet and Carbonado proved a sensational and spectacular event.”  Proving that taunting and “dissing” opponents is nothing new, the paper said “the Carbonado team was handicapped from the start on account of having became used to pitching hay and plowing beets.” It said the score “stood 2 to 24” when “the Joliet runners became so tired they could run no more.”

July 26 – On this day in Montana history in 1810 fur trapper Pierre Menard arrived in St. Louis after exploring the Montana wilderness less than five years after it had been traveled by Lewis and Clark. A letter written by Menard to his brother-in-law Pierre Choteau, which among other things discusses the dangers of trapping at Three Forks due to hostile Native American attacks, is the earliest documentation in the collections of the Montana Historical Society regarding the U.S. attempts to open the area to the fur trade. Ironically, it is written in French.

July 25 – On this day in Montana history in 1806 William Clark carved his name into the rock on Pompy’s Pillar on the Yellowstone River near what is now Billings. The inscription, “Wm Clark July 25 1806,” is the only permanent record left along the route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In his journal, Clark noted that the “Indians” had built two stone piles on the rock, which we now know is sacred to the Crow.

July 24 – On this day in Montana history in 1902 W.T. Hornaday of the New York Zoological Society and now famous Miles City photographer  L.A. Huffman found the fossil remains of a “gigantic lizard” on MacScriber’s ranch on Hell Creek near the Missouri River that measured 37 feet in length. Hornaday would later shoot and use taxidermy to record the last free-ranging buffalo in Montana.   

July 23 – On this day in Montana history in 1918 the Bozeman Weekly Courier had a big headline: High-Class Entertainment Is Object of Chautauqua.” Opening the next day it claimed to be one of the first held in Montana. “Every man, woman and child who misses the sessions will miss something that should be seen.” Lectures, band music, magicians and other attractions at the Chautauqua would “Replace the old-fashioned street carnival and its vulgarities,” the paper predicted.