I got a handful of documents from Darris Flanagan the other day – one was an ego booster . . . a copy of an article from 1980 in the Montana Farmer Stockman, telling about the gravity sprinkler systems we’d been setting up as we built new siphons for Glen Lake Irrigation District.  It had a picture of me, pointing out a gushing leak on the Sinclair Siphon.  I was younger then.  The quotes from Dick Brinton brought memories back of an old friend.  If I had an “I love me wall” I’d think about posting it.

Another was notes taken by Shirley Farley from a visit with my mother.  There was some information that was new to me, and some that was foggy.  The notes on Trego School might be a bit confusing, but they’re what we have:

“Herrig was the teacher in 1924 and for several other years.”  (I assume this was the wife of Ant Flat’s first Ranger, Fred Herrig)  Leola was an Ingram.  She married Phil Delager and then Walt Ritter. (Leola was Trego’s school clerk in the sixties)

Mr. Belmont taught in the new white school across the road from the present school ball field.

The lunch room cooks rotated shifts for 2 weeks.  They received no pay, but their children did not have to pay for their hot lunches.

There were 5 schools in Trego:

            First: Brown Log across from present ball field.

            Second:  White in same location.

            Third: White across the road from the first two – where present ball field is located.

            The first 3 schools burned.  The third one burned in 1945.

            Fourth: White school in the same location as the one that burned in 1945.  Abandoned when tunnel was built.

Fifth: Present school on top of hill behind teacherage.  Location selected by Loretta Johnson Todd.

She took notes on the old families:

Dexter Schemerhorn built a small cabin on a stream by the Fortine Place.  He was one of the first settlers.  (Now following that story might lead into Eureka’s politics)

Also the Homiers were among the first settlers.  There were 3 Homier brothers: Trifle, Eli and Frank.  It is believed they came from Quebec.  Eli married a girl named Anne who had previously been married to Isaac White.  Ann and Isaac had a son named George who lived in Trego until he moved his family to Helena in 1959 so he could be near the VA hospital at Fort Harrison for diabetic care. 

Trifley had a daughter named Lorraine.  She married Joe LaBelle.  Two brothers live in Libby.

(As we were getting the house built by the pond, in 2015, one of the drivers delivering material explained his family had been early residents of Trego.  He introduced himself as O’Mier, and since I’d met George Homier when I was really young, I knew the H was silent.  During the 20th century, the family appears to have gone from French-Canadian to Irish.)

Thanks, Darris – occasionally fragments of stories can provide more data

The first battery was developed slightly over 200 years ago; Electricity was poorly understood when Alessandro Volta created the voltaic pile from alternating disks of zinc and silver. A facsimile can be done at home, using coins and salt water, though the purity of the metal in the coins makes the experiment somewhat more difficult than it once was.

The first commercial batteries followed, mostly after Michael Faraday developed the laws of electrochemistry in the 1830’s. Some thirty years after that, the first rechargeable battery was developed, a lead-acid battery.

For context, the first battery preceded the light bulb by almost eighty years. It preceded the automobile by slightly more than eighty years.

History tells of the battle of Slim Buttes on September 9, 1876.  As battles went during the Indian Wars, it didn’t have a particularly high casualty rate . . . but it was the first time that the US Army caught up with the Indians they were chasing since June 25th, when Custer’s command caught up with the tribes in southeast Montana.

The battle wasn’t supposed to occur – Colonel Mills’ command had been sent out to get to Deadwood and come back with food.  Instead they encountered American Horse and the Brule . . . low on ammunition, Mills attacked, and sent word back to General Crook that he had bitten off more than he could handle.  A forced march by starving soldiers shifted the odds into the soldiers favor.

Only two soldiers died there – well, actually one soldier, Private John Wenzel, and scout Charles White . . . a friend of Buffalo Bill Cody, known by the derisive handle of “Buffalo Chips.”  The story, taken from Military History Fandom follows:

Crook’s scouts positioned themselves on the opposite side of the ravine just above the cave. The bank of the ravine was probably eight to ten feet high, and the scouts could converse with the Indians below without the danger of getting shot.^[108] After Lieutenant Clark’s unsuccessful assault, Scout Charles “Buffalo Chips” White attempted to get a shot in the cave and was immediately killed by the defenders. Frank Grouard witnessed the incident: “Buffalo Chips was standing opposite me. He was one of those long-haired scouts, and claimed to be a partner of Buffalo Bill’s. He thought it was a good place to make name for himself, I suppose, for he told Big Bat that he was going to have one of the Indians’ scalps. He had no more than got the words out of his mouth before he yelled, “My God, I am shot.” I heard this cry and looked around, Buffalo Chips was falling over into the hole where the Indians were hiding. Bat was looking into the cave where the Indians were, and about five seconds afterwards jumped out with an Indian’s scalp in his hand, telling me that he had scalped one of the redskins alive, which I found out to be true. He had seen the Indian that killed Buffalo Chips, and he jumped down onto him as the Indian was reaching to get White’s six-shooter. Bat had jumped right down on top of him and scalped him and got out of the cave before anybody knew what he was doing.”^[109] “Buffalo Chips” White was a boyhood friend of Col. Cody and also a scout. He wanted to be like Buffalo Bill and acquired the sobriquet “Buffalo Chips” when Gen. Phillip Sheridan said he was more like Buffalo Chips than Buffalo Bill. Major Bourke described him as a “good-natured liar who played Sancho Panza to Buffalo Bill’s Don Quixote.”^[110] Gen. Charles King said Buffalo Chips was a “good man.

We’re not sure of much more about Buffalo Chips.  Charles King’s report identifies him as James White.  His gravestone at the battle site identifies him as Johnathon White.  It seems certain that his body was dug up and further mutilated by hostiles after the soldiers had moved on to the Black Hills.

Buffalo Chips didn’t get a particularly respectful nickname.  He didn’t fall heroically in a decisive battle.  His grave doesn’t receive the many visitors that show up at the Little Bighorn site.  He seems to have been a decent man who died at the end of the Summer that took Custer and Hickock, unphotographed and forgotten.  Sancho Panza never got much respect.

I’ve been looking at Congressional districts on Nate Silver’s page.  The title is 270 to win, referring to the electoral college – yet I see that they expect 203 democrat wins and 219 republicans.  With a total of 435 congresscritters, that translates to 13 competitive seats.  RealClearPolitics shows 34 competitive seats.  Either way, most Congressional seats are decided in the primary.  34 of 435 means voters have a real choice in almost 8% of Congressional elections . . . Eldridge Gerry would be ever so proud.

We have an election coming up in November.  There are no democrat candidates at the county level.  Nate Silver sees the congressional race going to Zinke – and he is usually correct.  Since Trump took 53.5% in our new district back in 2020, I can’t argue with Silver. In the absolutely unopposed races, I can cast a conflicting ballot, but the election judge handbook has given our unelected election administrator the power to refuse to count write-in votes. 

If my vote has no chance of making a difference – not even an infinitesimal chance – what difference does voting make?  I mean, they’ve left me the privilege of filling out a ballot, but I have no choices.   

President Biden made a speech Thursday night and in part he spoke on the need for elections so that “We, the people” can choose those who would govern us.  There are occasional spots where Slow Joe and I agree . . . but Joe sees the MAGA republicans as the entire problem, while I see the entire political establishment as having worked for years to take away my ability to influence which official is elected.

Woody Jenkins, a Louisiana representative, said (in 1976): “There are four great protections for our liberties: the soap box, the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.”

The Ear still provides me with the soap box.  The election administrator and secretary of state have chosen to ignore subsection 7 and left only a sham ballot box in my county elections.  I want the ballot box back.  Elections without choices do not support representative democracy. 

We shouldn’t have to sue the state to force the bastards to quit ignoring subsection 7.

There were two surgeons available for my first arthroscopic knee surgery.  One was abrasive, obnoxious and in many years had a record of no post-op infections.  The other was a pleasant fellow who had several post-op infections on the record.  I try to vote in a similar fashion to that surgeon selection – I want the candidate who is most likely to provide a satisfactory outcome.

When Donald Trump was elected President, I had low expectations.  He exceeded those low expectations.  Having watched Joe Biden for most of my adult life, I again had low expectations when he was inaugurated.  I have to admit, they weren’t low enough to be accurate.  Still, Joe reached a new level about 10 days back with this statement:

“If we elect two more senators, we keep the House and Democrats, we’re going to get a lot of unfinished business we’re going to get done. Folks, look, we’ll codify Roe v. Wade. We’ll ban, we’ll ban assault weapons. We’ll protect Social Security and Medicare. We’ll pass universal pre-K. We’ll restore the Childcare Tax Credit. We’ll protect voting rights. We’ll pass election reform and make sure no one, no one, ever has the opportunity to steal an election again.”

Still, this was about the same time that he announced the Republican opposition as “semi-fascist.” 

We’re careless with the creatures we accept as leaders. 

Last week I read (and listened to) another Biden quote: “Do you realize the bullet out of an AR-15 travels 5 times as rapidly as a bullet shot out of any other gun.”

Well, Mr. President, I’ll fact check you on that one.  Back in the late seventies, I bought a 223 rifle – there was some appeal to cheap military surplus ammo.  It’s a bolt gun.  With a longer barrel, it’s 223 bullet goes a little faster than the AR-15.  The bolt action doesn’t tap into the gas to work the action – so the bullet is a little faster than one from the AR-15.  We have a lot of ignorance in the oval office.  It isn’t the first time.

We have a system that provides little choice.  Trump ran against Hillary Clinton.  I recall a friend explaining, “I’ll hold my nose and vote for Trump.”  That still strikes me as a rational decision – his primary criteria was how the 2nd amendment would be interpreted.  Another friend, a long-term republican politician, went for Hillary . . . and that, too, was a rational decision.  Can’t say I agreed with the basis, but it was not my decision, and not my basis.

Both continue to be friends.  Each made a choice for his own reasons.  I do wish my friends had had more options to pick between in 2016 and 2020.  I fear that I won’t have great choices for the top spot in 2024.  I know that the system has left me without a viable choice in 2022.