May 31 – On this day in Montana history in 1921 statistics for service in World War One were released. Montana had provided 11,709 volunteers for WWI.  That put it at the top of the list of states for the proportion of volunteers being 100.4% above the national average. Montana lost 821 men killed in action, and 2,437 were injured.  That put it 2% for casualties above any other state per population. Montanans have always answered their nation’s call in time of war.

May 30 – On this day in Montana history in 1917 Cpl. H.H. Huss wrote a letter back to his friends in Miles City. World War One was raging in Europe but Huss and his fellow soldiers in Company E Were assigned duty in Montana. Huss noted that one of his buddies had shot his finger off while cleaning his rifle. It was excitement that their duty didn’t always provide. They were assigned to guard two train tunnels against saboteurs near Bonita. “This is sure a fine job we’ve got this year, guarding a couple of holes in the mountains to see that nobody blows them out of the way so the trains can’t get through.” 

May 29 – On this day in Montana history in 1916 railroad and Northwest U.S. empire builder James J. Hill died in St. Paul, Minn., at age 78. Montana was shaped by his Great Northern Railroad, and especially his efforts to promote Glacier National Park. Train traffic on his Montana and other railroad lines was stopped for five minutes in tribute to Hill.  

May 28 – On this day in Montana history in 1903 The Helena Independent was celebrating the visit of President Teddy Roosevelt, who was the first sitting president to come to the Capital of Montana. The people of Helena and others from across the state greeted Roosevelt in style. “Roosevelt Received Such a Welcome as Only a Patriotic People Are Capable of Extending” the headline read.      

May 27 – On this day in Montana history in 1953 The Daily Inter Lake reported the deaths of two park employees and injuries to two others who were working on a snow removal crew on the Going-to-the-Sun  Highway in Glacier Park. The accident was blamed on a snow avalanche.

May 26 – On this day in Montana history in 1864 President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill that created Montana Territory. The first Territorial Capital was in the mining town of Bannack. Montanans were soon clamoring for statehood, and newspapers at the time often characterized nonresident appointees to territorial office as “pilgrims and carpetbaggers, political convicts, and party-hangers-on.” Montanans have long been at least a little skeptical of the folks in Washington.

May 25 –On this day in Montana history in 1964 what was called the Montana Centennial Cake that measured 8 feet wide by 16 feet long was baked as a fund raiser for the Centennial Bell project. It took 120 pounds flour and 100 pounds of sugar plus other ingredients to create. It took 74 hours to make the cake that was valued at $700. The recipe is in the Jean Baucus Centennial Bell Scrapbook at the Montana Historical Society.