The WPA Guide to 1930s Montana

First published in 1939, this nostalgic guide includes chapters on Montana's natural setting, history, economy, and cultural life as of half a century ago, plus separate entries for Billings, Butte, Great Falls, Helena, and Missoula—which at the time boasted four hotels and five-cent bus fares. There then follow, in the WPA Guide tradition, 18 tours that crisscross the state and point out not only natural splendors along the way but also such noteworthy historic sites as Custer Battlefield, the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Boothill Cemetery in Virginia City, and the site of the "holing-up" shanty of Calamity Jane. Fourteen additional tours—four for roads, ten for trails—guide readers through Glacier National Park.

First published in 1939, this nostalgic guide includes chapters on Montana's natural setting, history, economy, and cultural life as of half a century ago, plus separate entries for Billings, Butte, Great Falls, Helena, and Missoula--which at the time boasted four hotels and five-cent bus fares. There then follow, in the WPA Guide tradition, 18 tours that crisscross the state and point out not only natural splendors along the way but also such noteworthy historic sites as Custer Battlefield, the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Boothill Cemetery in Virginia City, and the site of the "holing-up" shanty of Calamity Jane. Fourteen additional tours--four for roads, ten for trails--guide readers through Glacier National Park.

Booknews

**** Originally published in 1939, by the Montana Department of Agriculture, Labor and Industry, as Montana: A State Guide Book, under which title it appears in BCL3. Chapters on the state's natural setting, history, economy, and cultural life of half a century ago are accompanied by descriptions of 18 tours crisscrossing the state and 14 road and trail tours of Glacier National Park. This reprint is graced by writer William Kittredge's fine foreword. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)