Canget - Red Lodge, Montana

DESTINATION RED LODGE | CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENTCalamity Jane among them.For an in-depth lookat Red Lodge’s colorful history, besure to check out the Carbon CountyHistorical Museum at 224 NorthBroadway, 406-446-3667. A widevariety of Red Lodge historical booksare also available at the museum, inmany stores throughout Red Lodge andonline at the museum’s websitewww.carboncountyhistory.comhere by the hundreds. Finns, Scots,Irish, Italians, Slavs and a few othernationalities settled in to a frontier wayof life. They brought civilization andcommon sense to an otherwisebleak landscape. Red Lodgeentered a period of economicwealth and questionablebehavior, boasting as manyas 20 saloons when populationnumbers peaked.All that money was bound to attractsome interest, so in 1897, members ofthe outlaw band the Wild Bunch rolledinto town bragging about how theywere going to rob one of the banks.Local lawmen got wind of theirplans, though, and ran themout of town before they sawa penny. Not that this wasanything new to some ofthe characters listed on thehotel’s historic guest register– Buffalo Bill Cody andMany good things come to an end atsome point, and so did the coal miningboom. The West Side Mine closedin 1924, followed by more closuresduring the Great Depression. Finallyan underground explosion at the SmithMine near Bearcreek killed 74 men in1943 and the era was over.Showing their entrepreneurial spirit,the local citizenry responded tocircumstances created by Prohibitionand developed their own brand ofbootleg liquor. Known as “coughsyrup,” the concoction replaced coalas the town’s economic mainstay,supplying “patients” from the Midwestto California.Just in time and at an appropriatejuncture, it became apparent that peoplewanted to come here to take a lookaround and have some fun. Tourism,recreation and ranching became thearea’s primary means of support, andthey still are today. The next chapter isup to you!WWW.REDLODGE.COM 41