Small town newspapers are endlessly amusing to me.
(And when I say "small town", I'm talking 2000 subscribers or less.)
If I want world events, state headlines, sports scores or anything official, I read the major papers or watch the evening news; if I want to chuckle all day or get really worked up about an editorial, I read the little rags. 

I read The Jordan Tribune, The Lewistown News-Argus, and The Miles City Star, fairly regularly and can recommend all three for their entertainment value. 

The Argus recently did some hard-hitting reporting on the school levies this spring and the comments on-line with regards to these articles were so passionate that I got sucked in to the drama and would stomp around the house, kicking the cat and writing diatribes in my head as responses.  And it wasn't even my school system or taxes that were being impacted! June has been a slow "news" month, though, and the political hecklers on the forum are beside themselves with the lack of fodder.  The other thing I like about the Argus is that they include all the little area communities, with neighborly news on births, deaths and pancake suppers. 

The Tribune is by far the most fun to read, and not just because I know every single person mentioned or photographed. This morning, for instance, I read about two guys who are biking from Oregon to Maine and decided to spend the night in Jordan; they made the front page with a FOUR column article! You can imagine how exciting it was for our action news reporter to encounter news of this magnitude.  An excerpt of the article: 

"Then Van Donge (one of the cyclists) passionately recalled the one day, 100 mile jaunt from Fort Benton to Lewistown.  Leaving early in the morning he said they biked uphill on a windy, narrow road, with a continuously steep grade and were also buffeted by a stiff headwind.  They both described that episode as a treacherous challenge."

You don't get descriptive writing like THAT in the Billings Gazette or Denver Post, now.  (I don't know as they got that sort of coverage in Lewistown.  I doubt it.  I'm sure the Argus would've had the article on-line if they'd snagged this lead.) 

I also think the full page spread showcasing pictures of flower beds and fields was inspired.  They lose a little impact when printed in black and white, but still are very satisfying as a pictoral representation of the growth in our community.  Literally.

Our police blotter is published under the column headline "Naughty, Naughty!" and lists traffic violations for the most part.  There's no real crime to speak of in Jordan; at least none that will get published.  Occasionally, there will be a listing of an MIP (Minor In Possession of alcohol) or a disorderly conduct, but those are rare and noteworthy. 

There are invitations extended to the readership of the Tribune for weddings and baby showers, which is neighborly and eliminates hurt feelings over who got invited and who didn't.  Besides, we'll all show up anyway.  It's nice not to have to call all over creation to figure out the time and date. 

There are TEN churches whose schedules are listed in the Tribune.  Isn't that great?  I mean, in a town of 500, that's pretty impressive! 

School board and county commissioner meeting minutes are published, as well as those of the Blackfoot Home Demonstration Club.  I love the BHDC minutes!  They always call their club meetings to order and take roll with questions such as "What is your favorite rhubarb recipe?".  I'm so envious of the ladies of that club; partly because they have, without a doubt, the best refreshments of any club in a three county area and partly because they have so much fun opening a meeting.  I always wonder what the responses are and what luscious rhubarb dishes they brought to the meeting to back it up. 

I don't want you to think I'm making fun of the local papers or criticizing them in any way.  I cannot imagine how difficult it would be to put out any sort of paper, week after week, in these little towns.  I just enjoy the peculiar little ways they do it, the response of the people reading them and the comfortable feeling of knowing that no matter what is going on in Greece or Washington D.C., the little towns in Montana will be keeping their subscribers informed of the truly important things in life: Margie's rhubarb crunch recipe. 

Milk River Flooding

Pictures of the flooding near Glasgow....

Baseball field

Old truck on top of a levee...

And the houses...

 

There used to be a fence and field, here....

 This isn't flooding, of course; just Montana sky.

Lots of dam water (sic)

I know.
That's a horrible title for a blog post, but it's certainly appropriate for this one!

This year has been exceptionally wet for Montana, to understate the situation.  Our annual yearly average rainfall is generally around 12 inches; our actual rainfall for JUST the month of May this year was a little over 8 inches!  And that doesn't even count the moisture from the snow...that's straight rainfall.  The ground is saturated (something we almost never say, in Eastern Montana) and water is running off into all the little coullees and potholes, reservoirs are brimming. 

If you look at a map of Montana, you'll see a large, seemingly out-of-place body of water across the center of her...the Fort Peck Lake.  It was created by damming up the Missouri River in the 1930s; I won't get into all the history, here, because a.) I'd get it wrong and my family would call and email me to correct it, and b.) not everyone is into history and would groan, leave the Chronicles disillusioned and never read to the end of this post.  If you want to read about the making of the dam (which really is fascinating) you can go to http://www.fortpeckdam.com/ and get the info.

Even if you don't like history, there are some things you should know about the dam and lake in order to appreciate the rest of my story.  Excerpted from the Billings Gazette, June 11, 2011:

By the numbers

Fort Peck Dam is the second-largest dam in the United States and the eighth-largest in the world.
The earthen dam was built in the 1930s by pumping a mud slurry from below into forms. The slurry was then allowed to dry.
The reservoir behind the dam is 134 miles long and boasts 1,520 miles of shoreline when the reservoir is at an elevation of 2,234 feet. Right now, the dam's elevation is more than 2,250 feet, its maximum pool. At its deepest, the reservoir is 220 feet deep.
The spillway is located three miles east of the dam and has been used four times -- in 1975, 1976, 1979 and 1997.

This year is only the fifth time since it was built that the Corps of Engineers has opened the spillway, and they're releasing record amounts of water (37,000 cubic feet EVERY SECOND) into the Milk River and on down to the Missouri.

I had to see it.  I had to take my kids to see it.  Everyone else in Eastern Montana had to see it too, it would appear.  It's history in the making!

Big, big water...

 This is the side of the dam toward the water; all those green bushes you see are trees underwater.

This is a shot from the back side of the dam.  That's a car, circled in red....it's hard to give a good idea of how big this dam is, without proportional examples.

Cars driving on the top of the dam,  toward Glasgow.  (Don't we have incredible skies?)

And here it is: the spillway, where all the action is!

The lines of this structure....I couldn't stop looking at the symmetry....

Scared of heights?  Then you'd probably better not walk the top of the spillway...

I'm a wee bit nervous about heights....and terrified of my kids leaning over to look! 

 This is where the water explodes into the river....

One of the sixteen gates, where the water is being released. If all the gates were opened fully, 2 million gallons per second would blow out of there! 

It's hard to show, but the gates are raised by these huge chains.

This is the back of the gate, holding the water.

You can't imagine how loud it is! 

Looking at more water than he's ever seen in his little life...

See the beautiful light posts?  They're big metal poles with beautiful detailing. (Close ups to follow for Rosie.)

One thing we noticed and discussed was how beautiful the design of all the buildings is....they're not only practical and functional, but they have art deco lines.  I wish that much attention was paid to structures designed these days.

The kids HATE having their picture taken.  Someday they'll regret their grumpy reluctance to smile...

We went to a little cove to splash around for a little bit before heading home.

It was a leetle cold....

...but that didn't deter anyone from splashing in!

Happy smiles, through chattering teeth!

Angus would go down to the water then run back when a little wave splashed up against the shore...
Maggie found this hilarious, and teased him about being scared of the water.

Time to go!  Wet toesies in dirty socks...

The country around the reservoir is rough, with hills that just scream "Dinosaur bones hidden here!"

Welcome to the Hell Creek Formation, one of the dinosaur capitols of the world. I took these pictures on the way home, from the car, so they're a bit blurry.

 

Who can resist little Hereford calves, with their sparkling white faces? Not the Farmer's Wife!

*We also went to the Fort Peck Interpretive Center, but this post had to have boundaries.  I think the Farmer is going to post pictures from that little jaunt.  If he does, I'll link to it so you can see the kids' favorite part of our little field trip.