James Running Crane Memorial Fishing Derby day 2

6-20-2009
We had a great turnout for Saturday. It was a beautiful day and great for fishing. We ended the day with a tie for 1st place. Lots of picnics, laughter, and fun around the lakes.
Horseshoe tournaments and card games.

A beautiful ending to the day.

4th Annual James Running Crane Memorial Fishing Derby

Adults: $35.00 for weekend or $20.00 per day

Kids: $20.00 for weekend or $10.00 per day

King & Queen of the lake: penny per vote

Card, Hand Games, Horseshoes, 50/50, Concessions, Hard luck fish each day for adults and drawings for prizes.

Format: Limit 3 Fish per day. Weight of all three fish will be calculated each evening at the close of fishing for that day. Winners will be determined by total weight for entire weekend. If you have any questions feel free to contact Merlin Running Crane @ 338-3511 9am – 6pm or William Kennedy @ 338-2678 8am-10am.

Derby will begin on Friday June 19^th, 2009 @ 12:00 pm. And run until dusk that evening. Saturday, June 20^th, 2009 6:00 am until dusk and Sunday, June 21 ^st, 2009 6:00 am until 6:00 pm.

All fish must be alive when weighed.

In honor of our late brother James Running Crane who died of the effects of alcoholism the Running Crane family has been sponsoring a fishing derby every year during fathers Day, this being the 4th year and next year being the last. We also sponsor an annual baseball tournament during Heart Butte Society Celebration.
After the passing of our brother we as a family wanted to do something in memory of James. He struggled with alcoholism for many years and it finally won. We wanted to encourage non alcohol activities. James' favorites were fishing and baseball.

Spring Storm April 2009

We have had an exciting time of it along the Rocky Mountain Front. We expected snow I think but not this much. Merlin called me Monday morning from work at 6am and said did you see it outside? I had barely opened my eyes yet so when I looked out I sure didn't expect to see what I did. It continually snowed until last night.

Yesterday people could only walk to the store, in some places up to their chests in snow. We all thought we had had enough of that in January but apparently not. When the FSA truck couldn't make it in Monday morning I thought oh no! It is continually reminding the residents of Heart Butte how isolated and alone we are at times. Now, you have to understand that Heart Butte is in a weird situation where we are located. We all love it here and wouldn't trade it for nothing but.....We live in an area on the southern side of the reservation in Pondera County. So when it comes to things like this we can be in a real situation. When it comes right down to it who do we call for help? We have a small fire department and search and rescue. Now these guys are always around if anyone needs help. They go out in the middle of the night and pull people out, break trail for people that can't get to their homes. They provide a service that is sometimes not acknowledged and appreciated to the fullest. Working on a very limited budget and basically what ever crumbs are left over from the Browning entities. Living on the western portion of Pondera County the entities there say they can't do anything much for us at all because we are on the Blackfeet Reservation and not a tax base. So we are in a tough spot. One of the search and rescue guys left their gloves at the store. I felt sad when I saw them. One old snowmobile type glove with holes and another John Deer thin glove. Our fire dept. currently doesn't have a phone turned on and no heat in the building.
The housing program chips in and will provide a tractor to plow some of the residents out. Today we saw a snow plow go through and did take a couple of swipes through a few of the streets. Not all of them though. People were shoveling and trying to get vehicles out of snow banks. Some couldn't even see their vehicles. People were stuck and stranded everywhere.

(I told her I would give her credit for this one!)

Wow, Time to get with this blog stuff. I was checking and the last time I was on here was 2007? Whoops.
We have had an interesting winter to say the least. We haven't made it home much since Christmas. Our road is terrible. When the snow drifts off the hills it lands right on the road and stays. We need to take the scenic route most of the time which takes a whole lot longer, and more gates. In our younger years we did a lot of shoveling & walking even sliding down the hill. Not so much now days. Yesterday we had a really good old fashioned snow storm. The kind I remember as a kid. It was the kind that a kid hopes for so there isn't school the next day. Although it was highly unlikely that the bus couldn't make it on the heights in Valier. It might be late but it usually showed up. We were at the beginning of the route so we had all the adventures one could want. I remember the bus getting stuck in the field behind my cousins place. Yes, back then a bus didn't necessarily stay right on the road. The bus driver actually got out and shoveled too if need be. Luckily Jim came with his tractor and pulled us out. It was such a relief sometimes to just have that delay in getting to school. You got to miss your worst class or had a little extra time to finish homework that you had sworn to your parents that you had finished.
It was like that growing up here too as Merlin can tell stories of their bus drivers taking detours and always getting them to school. You know the stories that our Grandparents or parents told of having to walk 7 miles to school uphill both ways. True! That is the way it was here on the reservation too for a lot of years. If they couldn't get through with cars, there was a wagon or horse to get to the road. They had an awesome bus driver. Teddy was very dedicated and a very good friend/relative.
During the snow storm early this year I realized that those survival skills from the old days have escaped us. The first week in 2009 was totally like the days of yore. Our delivery trucks couldn't
make it into Heart Butte because of closed roads and hazardous conditions. When the shelves and freezers were almost empty people were at a loss as to how to make due. Out of milk, pop, candy, warm up sandwiches, all the necessities of modern day conveniences, people just couldn't survive! I suggested canned milk for regular milk, boil sugar and water with a little mapleine (even spell check doesn't know what that is!) for syrup and even boil sugar and water for candy. People would look at me so strangely. I wonder why? I had all kinds of suggestions. Water instead of pop? Who would have thought? Food Service of America came to our rescue by Tues that week. Larry met us in Cut Bank and brought us our food. They also delivered another order on Thurs. that week when the roads were a little better. Our Frito Lay never gets intimidated by weather so at least we had that. The Pepsi truck had a lot of fun getting here and our milkman showed up by Friday. Sunday people were walking to the store and Merlin would give them rides as far as he could home with groceries. Finally he came back in and said I can't go out there anymore. Visibility was zero and all the streets had huge drifts in them. Pretty interesting week that was. We have spent a lot of time in our office/apartment that is for sure since Christmas. We need the moisture but Gees I would love some rain! No complaints.....!

Round Hall and Doctors house

The Round Hall is an important and historic landmark in Heart Butte. Construction began in 1929. Completion of the round hall was early 1931 with a grand opening celebration in May 1931. This was a huge celebration for the community. Children remember a large tub of toys that were given out. There were also dedication speeches, a pow-wow, and also a 2 day conference of the many chapters of the Five Year Industrial Program. The FYIP is how Heart Butte came to be. It was originally an industrial farm project headed by FC Campbell who was the Superintendent in the early 1920’s.
The Round Hall was used for dances, handgame, and other community events of the time. During this time there was a committee formed for each community like Paul Running Crane and George Duck Head. The ladies would all gather together to cook for the dances.

Ref: Joe “Mice” Crawford
Ref: Adolf Hungry Wolf
Picture: courtesy of MSU Missoula

Heart Butte Station 1921

Left-Right:
-Flour Mill,
-Partly built Round Hall,
-School
-Mountain Chief’s house (in the background),
-The Blacksmith’s shop was located where the Senior Citizen’s is today. Joe Calf Boss Ribs worked there.

The Tribal Store was located north of the flour mill. Clarence Miller owned the store. There was a pool hall on the side and that was where they gambled. Chickens were raised on the north side.

Inside the flour mill there were steam engines and coffins were kept in one room. Children would go in and hide in there.


Ref: Joe “Mice” Crawford

Heart Butte Trading Post 2007

Welcome to our small community along the Rocky Mountain front once known as Heart Butte Station. We are small but we still host the small town hospitality. We are located on the south side of the Blackfeet Reservation hence we are known by many as the Southsiders.

This summer of 2007 we were blanketed in smoke from the nearby Skyland and Fools Creek fires. In this picture you can see the Fools Creek fire in the background. Heart Butte Trading Post became an information center for our area. The Forestry department would keep us updated daily with maps and their plan of action. This was very helpful for the visitors to our area along with the area residents. We have allot of firefighters in our area so we were never too worried about it all.

The Running Crane horse herd was located above Dog Gun lake along the Heart Butte/ East Glacier cut across road. God is so good and awesome, he protected those horses from harm. The fire burned around the fence line and you can see charred tree tops on the lease. The corral and fence line remained unburned or harmed in anyway. One of the older horses died probably from eating algae from a lake. One horse had burns but is fine. Life is good!