The Montana State Prison is a men's correctional facility of the Montana Department of Corrections in unincorporated Powell County , Montana , about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) west of Deer Lodge . The current facility was constructed between 1974 and 1979 in response to the continued degeneration of the original facility located in downtown Deer Lodge.
192-653: The "Old Prison" ( 46°23′33″N 112°44′10″W / 46.39250°N 112.73611°W / 46.39250; -112.73611 ) served as the Montana Territorial Prison from its creation in 1871 until Montana achieved statehood in 1889, then continued as the primary penal institution for the State of Montana until 1979. Throughout the prison's history, the institution was plagued with constant overcrowding, insufficient funds, and antiquated facilities. The administration of Warden Frank Conley from 1890 to 1921 proved
384-425: A keystone species and the primary protein source that Native people had survived on for many centuries, were being destroyed. Experts estimate that around 13 million bison roamed Montana in 1870. In 1875, General Philip Sheridan pleaded to a joint session of Congress to authorize the slaughtering of bison herds to deprive Native people of their source of food. By 1884, commercial hunting had brought bison to
576-666: A renovated seaplane port . Additionally there resides the Washington Street Books Entertainment Museum. The city has four public schools and Harford Memorial Hospital, the first to be established in Harford County. A project not completely funded (as of 2022) is the restoration of the Havre de Grace Colored School Museum and Cultural Center . Havre de Grace has a Sister city relationship with Mumbles , [REDACTED] Wales . Havre de Grace also has
768-653: A Sister City relationship with [REDACTED] Sillamäe , Ida-Viru County , Estonia. A season four episode of the television show Boardwalk Empire was named for the city and partially took place there. The city stood in for Gaffney, South Carolina , Kevin Spacey 's character Frank Underwood's hometown in House of Cards . In July 2007, the movie From Within (2008) was filmed in Havre de Grace. In 2018, stand-up comedian Tom Myers recorded his CD "Make America Innate Again" in
960-594: A bus ticket to Butte, about 40 miles (64 km) from Deer Lodge, where he was arrested for burglary. He was sentenced to five years at the Montana State Prison and arrived in Deer Lodge in June 1958. Since the prison at that time was not in the habit of running background checks on incoming prisoners, his previous penal experience went unnoticed, and he was assigned to a cell in the general population. Myles quickly rose to
1152-534: A completed battleship being named for it. Alaska and Hawaii have both had nuclear submarines named after them. Montana is the only state in the union without a modern naval ship named in its honor. However, in August 2007, Senator Jon Tester asked that a submarine be christened USS Montana . Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced on September 3, 2015, that Virginia Class attack submarine SSN-794 will become
1344-509: A derisive manner at homesteaders, who were perceived as being "greenhorns", "new at his business", or "unprepared". However, most of these new settlers had farming experience, though many did not. Honyocker, scissorbill, nester ... He was the Joad of a [half] century ago, swarming into a hostile land: duped when he started, robbed when he arrived; hopeful, courageous, ambitious: he sought independence or adventure, comfort and security ... The honyocker
1536-554: A district court judge from Forsyth was impeached . Burnings of German-language books and several near-hangings occurred. The prohibition on speaking German remained in effect into the early 1920s. Complicating the wartime struggles, the 1918 influenza epidemic claimed the lives of more than 5,000 Montanans. The suppression of civil liberties that occurred led some historians to dub this period "Montana's Agony". An economic depression began in Montana after World War I and lasted through
1728-451: A fruit-packing factory in the S. J. Seneca Warehouse, with a tin can factory next to Havre de Grace Waterfront. Seneca made improvements to canning with his patents, such as the "Can-soldering machines" of 1889, and 1891. By 1899, Seneca had become a canned goods broker. The first railroad was constructed along St. Clair Street (now Pennington Ave.) to the river, so Seneca's factory was well-positioned for both water and rail shipping. Up until
1920-497: A genius intellect, scoring 125 and 147 on intelligence tests in Atlanta and Montana, respectively. Using suicide attempts, petty disturbances, and sexual deviancy, he strove to become the center of attention. He was an institutionalized career prisoner, often committing small acts of burglary to get sentenced to more prison time whenever he found himself free, and, once incarcerated, struggled to be noticed. On 4 December 1944, he organized
2112-410: A household in the city was $ 41,218, and the median income for a family was $ 53,838. Males had a median income of $ 37,985 versus $ 27,173 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 21,176. About 7.5% of families and 14.4% of the population were below the poverty line , including 10.8% of those under age 18 and 9.8% of those age 65 or over. The primary means of travel to and from Havre de Grace
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#17328525937342304-650: A joint U.S.-Canadian commando-style force that trained at Fort William Henry Harrison for experience in mountainous and winter conditions before deployment. Air bases were built in Great Falls, Lewistown, Cut Bank, and Glasgow , some of which were used as staging areas to prepare planes to be sent to allied forces in the Soviet Union . During the war, about 30 Japanese Fu-Go balloon bombs were documented to have landed in Montana, though no casualties nor major forest fires were attributed to them. In 1940, Jeannette Rankin
2496-541: A license to use a city park and arrested a Jehovah's Witnesses preacher. The resulting case reached the US Supreme Court ; in Niemotko v. Maryland (1951), the court ruled that Jehovah's Witnesses were protected by constitutional rights to the free exercise of religion, and the city should have granted them the permit to speak in the park. A few tenant farmhouses remain from the large Mitchel plantation that overlooked
2688-453: A longer stint in segregation. Walter Jones, the prison's newly graduated sociologist , recognized the danger Myles represented and suggested further segregation in Siberia in the base of the northern towers of Cellblock 1. The area known as Siberia was separated from the rest of the prison yard by a razor-wire topped chain-link fence and was used to keep known troublemakers apart from the rest of
2880-659: A major open-range cattle operation in Fergus County in 1879. The Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in Deer Lodge is maintained today as a link to the ranching style of the late 19th century. Operated by the National Park Service , it is a 1,900-acre (7.7 km ) working ranch. Tracks of the Northern Pacific Railroad (NPR) reached Montana from the west in 1882 and from the east in 1883. However,
3072-510: A male householder with no wife present, and 36.6% were non-families. 29.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.02. The median age in the city was 41.9 years. 21.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.6% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.1% were from 25 to 44; 31.4% were from 45 to 64; and 13.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of
3264-469: A museum. In response to rampant lawlessness and the vigilante -style form of justice present in the newly formed Montana Territory , in 1867 the US Congress allotted $ 40,000 to Montana for the express purpose of constructing a territorial prison. On 19 November 1867, the territorial government chose Deer Lodge as the site of the facility, and on 2 June 1870, the cornerstone was laid. The original plans for
3456-623: A mutiny at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia on the grounds of poor medical care, no church services, and having to wait in line in the mess hall with "the German intake and the Negro intake". After the mutiny, the administration at USP Atlanta declared Jerry Myles to be incorrigible and a danger to the security of their prison. They determined that their facilities were insufficient to fully monitor Myles' activities, so on 8 May 1945 they transferred him to
3648-478: A number of directors of the Anaconda Mining company. At these events, he commonly used prisoners as cooks, waiters, and servants. Warden of the Montana State Prison was not the only office Frank Conley held; he was voted Mayor of Deer Lodge from 1892–1893, 1895–1903, and again from 1907–1929, a position he held for eight years after being removed from his duties as warden. The man responsible for Conley's downfall
3840-552: A pair of inmates, Jerry Myles and Lee Smart, the riot would claim the lives of three people, wound several others, and maintain the facility under inmate control for thirty-six hours. It ended in the early hours of 18 April 1959 when a brace of National Guard troops stormed the facility. Then, in August of the same year, an earthquake structurally damaged Cellblock 2, leading to its destruction. Born in La Valle, Wisconsin , just before World War I, Floyd Powell came to Montana in response to
4032-579: A per capita basis. Montana's Remount station in Miles City provided 10,000 cavalry horses for the war, more than any other Army post in the country. The war created a boom for Montana mining, lumber, and farming interests, as demand for war materials and food increased. In June 1917, the U.S. Congress passed the Espionage Act of 1917 , which was extended by the Sedition Act of 1918 . In February 1918,
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#17328525937344224-426: A physician to keep the inmates somewhat healthy but provided no pharmaceuticals; any drugs required to administer to the inmates had to be purchased using his own salary. Between May and November 1873, the overworked doctor reported 67 illnesses in a population of 21 inmates, or about three maladies per prisoner during a span of six months. These sicknesses can be mostly attributed to the crowded, unsanitary conditions of
4416-573: A prison farm which produced vegetables for the inmates and feed for the animals on the ranches, and a slaughterhouse. He also built and operated a brickyard which could produce up to 60,000 bricks per day. His prisoners were also loggers, and they processed their lumber at a lumberyard and sawmill they had built. Conley also assisted the state by using inmate labor to build 11 buildings of the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs, 4 buildings for
4608-621: A railroad trestle, considered a lynching . Little's murder and the strikes that followed resulted in the National Guard being sent to Butte to restore order. Overall, anti-German and antilabor sentiment increased and created a movement that led to the passage of the Montana Sedition Act the following February. In addition, the Council of Defense was made a state agency with the power to prosecute and punish individuals deemed in violation of
4800-435: A region which often experienced temperatures below −30 °F (−34 °C) in the winter and above 100 °F (38 °C) in the summer, this made for very uncomfortable tenants. To alleviate the discomfort, the administration used wood stoves to heat the building and oil lamps to light it, the smoke from which combined with the stench of bucketed human waste and unwashed bodies to make the environment rank. The prison hired
4992-479: A separate building outside the walls for his female prisoners. It was a small, stuffy building with no plumbing and a tiny exercise yard, but it gave the women inmates a degree of separation and safety they had previously been denied. This building would eventually be converted into a maximum security facility in 1959 in response to the riot which happened in that year, and Montana's women prisoners would eventually be moved to their own prison. 1911 saw an extension of
5184-488: A severely classical facade and massive stone buttresses at the rear. Many patents followed the opening of the S. J. Seneca Cannery. 1901 The Baling-press. 1905 The Cooker 1905 The Tomato-scalder. 1917 Improved Tomato-scalder. 1917 The Can-opener. 1918 The Machine for peeling tomatoes. Havre de Grace was known as "The Graw" from 1912 through the 1950s. It prospered as a stop for north–south travelers. These included gangsters and gamblers en route to New York City from
5376-527: A tour of the prison by the Montana Council on Corrections, the inmates instigated a twenty-four-hour sit-down strike in which they refused to report to work, ignored orders from guards, and loitered about the cell house corridors. Warden Burrell ordered the lights and heat be turned off, which, in January, meant many hours of frigid darkness. The cold, hungry inmates returned to their cells and, for punishment, for
5568-612: A way to have the inmates build him an expensive warden's residence across Main Street from the prison, a hunting lodge on the shores of his private lake and another for Thomas McTague, and a racetrack where he ran his own thoroughbreds . He also used the produce of the prison ranch and farm to entertain guests like Theodore Roosevelt , Franklin D. Roosevelt , Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo , several Montana governors, and, of course, Copper King William Clark and
5760-461: A week were refused mail and access to the canteen where they could purchase cigarettes, candy, and other sundries. 1959 was a turbulent year in Montana State Prison history. Following Warden Burrell's resignation in February 1958, the Montana Council on Corrections decided that, in order to modernize the facility, the next warden of the prison would be selected from a nationwide search, putting an end to
5952-585: Is Helena , while the most populous city is Billings . The western half of the state contains numerous mountain ranges, while the eastern half is characterized by western prairie terrain and badlands , with smaller mountain ranges found throughout the state. Most of Montana first came under American sovereignty with the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803 and was explored by the Lewis and Clark Expedition shortly thereafter. Fur trappers followed and were
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6144-637: Is Montana was St. Mary's , established in 1841 near present-day Stevensville . In 1847, Fort Benton was built as the uppermost fur-trading post on the Missouri River. In the 1850s, settlers began moving into the Beaverhead and Big Hole valleys from the Oregon Trail and into the Clark's Fork valley. The first gold discovered in Montana was at Gold Creek near present-day Garrison in 1852. The Gold rush in
6336-547: Is a city in Harford County , Maryland , United States. It is situated at the mouth of the Susquehanna River and the head of Chesapeake Bay . It is named after the port city of Le Havre , France , which in full was once Le Havre de Grâce ( French , "Harbor of Grace"). The population was 12,952 at the 2010 U.S. census . In 2014, Smithsonian magazine called it one of the 20 best small U.S. towns to visit. During
6528-609: Is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States . It borders Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta , British Columbia , and Saskatchewan to the north. It is the fourth-largest state by area , but the eighth-least populous state and the third-least densely populated state . Its capital
6720-652: Is by road. The most prominent highway through the city is U.S. Route 40 , which runs east to Wilmington and west to Baltimore . US 40 also includes the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge , the road bridge that crosses the Susquehanna River directly from the city. Many travelers reach Havre de Grace via Maryland Route 155 , which connects to nearby Interstate 95 . State highways serving the city include Route 7 , Route 490 , and Route 763 . Two railroad mainlines pass through Havre de Grace. More than 80 daily passenger trains on Amtrak 's busy Northeast Corridor speed through
6912-598: Is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Havre de Grace has a humid subtropical climate , abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. As of the 2010 U.S. census , there were 12,952 people, 5,258 households, and 3,333 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,354.9 inhabitants per square mile (909.2/km ). There were 5,875 housing units at an average density of 1,068.2 per square mile (412.4/km ). The racial makeup of
7104-687: Is one of few geographic areas in the world whose rivers form parts of three major watersheds (i.e. where two continental divides intersect). Its rivers feed the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico , and Hudson Bay . The watersheds divide at Triple Divide Peak in Glacier National Park. If Hudson Bay is considered part of the Arctic Ocean, Triple Divide Peak is the only place on Earth with drainage to three different oceans. All waters in Montana west of
7296-776: Is the largest continuous land mass over 10,000 feet (3,000 m) high in the continental United States. It contains the state's highest point, Granite Peak , 12,799 feet (3,901 m) high. North of these ranges are the Big Belt Mountains , Bridger Mountains , Tobacco Roots , and several island ranges, including the Crazy Mountains and Little Belt Mountains . Between many mountain ranges are several rich river valleys. The Big Hole , Bitterroot , Gallatin , Flathead , and Paradise Valleys have extensive agricultural resources and multiple opportunities for tourism and recreation. East and north of this transition zone are
7488-460: Is to the west and southwest, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia , Alberta , and Saskatchewan are to the north, making it the only state to border three Canadian provinces. With an area of 147,040 square miles (380,800 km ), Montana is slightly larger than Japan or Germany . It is the fourth-largest state in the United States after Alaska , Texas , and California , and
7680-729: The Blackfeet . Indigenous peoples in the region were also decimated by diseases introduced by fur traders to which they had no immunity. The trading post Fort Raymond (1807–1811) was constructed in Crow Indian country in 1807. Until the Oregon Treaty of 1846, land west of the continental divide was disputed between the British and U.S. governments and was known as the Oregon Country . The first permanent settlement by Euro-Americans in what today
7872-572: The Fred Robinson Bridge at the western boundary of Fort Peck Reservoir was designated a National Wild and Scenic River in 1976. The Missouri enters North Dakota near Fort Union , having drained more than half the land area of Montana (82,000 square miles (210,000 km )). Nearly one-third of the Missouri River in Montana lies behind 10 dams: Toston , Canyon Ferry , Hauser , Holter , Black Eagle , Rainbow , Cochrane , Ryan , Morony , and Fort Peck. Other major Montana tributaries of
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8064-973: The Garnet Range , the Sapphire Mountains , and the Flint Creek Range . The divide's northern section, where the mountains rapidly give way to prairie, is part of the Rocky Mountain Front . The front is most pronounced in the Lewis Range , located primarily in Glacier National Park . Due to the configuration of mountain ranges in Glacier National Park, the Northern Divide (which begins in Alaska's Seward Peninsula ) crosses this region and turns east in Montana at Triple Divide Peak . It causes
8256-476: The Great Depression flooded the prison with new inmates, and Montana state further curtailed the use of inmate labor to provide jobs for civilians. In another blow to the prisoners, in 1934, the state prohibited the sale of convict-made goods to civilians. Prisoners now had almost no legitimate, worthwhile industries to keep themselves busy, and to exacerbate the situation further, most of the prison yard within
8448-440: The Great Depression until the beginning of World War II . This caused great hardship for farmers, ranchers, and miners. By the time the U.S. entered World War II on December 8, 1941, many Montanans had enlisted in the military to escape the poor national economy of the previous decade. Another 40,000-plus Montanans entered the armed forces in the first year following the declaration of war, and more than 57,000 joined up before
8640-652: The Great Northern Railroad (GNR) reached eastern Montana in 1887 and when they reached the northern Rocky Mountains in 1890, the GNR became a significant promoter of tourism to Glacier National Park region. The transcontinental GNR was completed on January 6, 1893, at Scenic, Washington and is known as the Hi Line , being the northernmost transcontinental rail line in the United States. EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D.C. November 7, 1889 To Hon. Joseph K. Toole, Governor of
8832-644: The Great Sioux War of 1876 . The transcontinental NPR was completed on September 8, 1883, at Gold Creek . In 1881, the Utah and Northern Railway , a branch line of the Union Pacific , completed a narrow-gauge line from northern Utah to Butte. A number of smaller spur lines operated in Montana from 1881 into the 20th century, including the Oregon Short Line , Montana Railroad , and Milwaukee Road . Tracks of
9024-699: The Marias Massacre (1870), Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876), Battle of the Big Hole (1877), and Battle of Bear Paw (1877). The last recorded conflict in Montana between the U.S. Army and Native Americans occurred in 1887 during the Battle of Crow Agency in the Big Horn country. Native survivors who had signed treaties were generally required to move onto reservations . Simultaneously with these conflicts, bison ,
9216-471: The Oregon Territory (1848–1859), Washington Territory (1853–1863), Idaho Territory (1863–1864), and Dakota Territory (1861–1864). Montana Territory became a territory of the United States on May 26, 1864. The first territorial capital was located at Bannack . Sidney Edgerton served as the first territorial governor. The capital moved to Virginia City in 1865 and to Helena in 1875. In 1870,
9408-677: The Reclamation Act was passed, allowing irrigation projects to be built in Montana's eastern river valleys. In 1909, Congress passed the Enlarged Homestead Act that expanded the amount of free land from 160 to 320 acres (0.6 to 1.3 km ) per family and in 1912 reduced the time to "prove up" on a claim to three years. In 1916, the Stock-Raising Homestead Act allowed homesteads of 640 acres in areas unsuitable for irrigation. This combination of advertising and changes in
9600-612: The Revolutionary War , the small hamlet known as Harmer's Town was visited several times by General Lafayette , who became considered a hero of the war. He commented that the area reminded him of the French seaport of Le Havre on the English Channel. It had originally been named Le Havre-de-Grâce . Inspired by Lafayette's comments, the residents incorporated the town as Havre de Grace in 1785. George Washington stayed overnight in
9792-470: The Susquehanna River makes it popular for recreation and tourism. There are marinas and service operators along the shore line. The city yacht basin and park sponsors various events each year. The restored promenade and boardwalk that runs along the shore from the Concord Point Lighthouse to the yacht basin is a favorite place for locals and tourists to walk and enjoy views of the bay. In 1987,
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#17328525937349984-626: The Waterton River , Belly , and Saint Mary rivers to flow north into Alberta , Canada. There they join the Saskatchewan River , which ultimately empties into Hudson Bay . East of the divide, several roughly parallel ranges cover the state's southern part, including the Gravelly Range , Madison Range , Gallatin Range , Absaroka Mountains , and Beartooth Mountains . The Beartooth Plateau
10176-421: The tidewater area of Harford County, which still had large plantations and slaveholders, the city's river and canals tied it to northern industry and trade in Pennsylvania and beyond. These provided urban jobs for free blacks, and the town had a strong proportion of Northern sympathizers among whites. In 1878, the town became a city and established its own government. Shortly after 1878, Stephen J. Seneca opened
10368-449: The 20 to 22 ft (6.7 m) high walls which extended underground for four feet and were 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 ft. thick underground and tapered to two feet thick at the top. The wall was constructed of locally quarried sandstone mined, shaped, mortared, and placed by prison labor. The walls had six towers, a sally port to admit vehicles, and a smaller portal to admit people. The imposing structure with its crenellated towers dominates
10560-434: The Act. The council also passed rules limiting public gatherings and prohibiting the speaking of German in public. In the wake of the legislative action in 1918, emotions rose. U.S. Attorney Burton K. Wheeler and several district court judges who hesitated to prosecute or convict people brought up on charges were strongly criticized. Wheeler was brought before the Council of Defense, though he avoided formal proceedings, and
10752-405: The Battle of Alcatraz. Myles was released from Leavenworth on 3 March 1952, after which he finished his sentence at the Georgia State Penitentiary and was released in May 1958. During his long prison tenure, Myles had learned of a prison in Montana where the convicts ran the industries, and Myles was interested in what he viewed was a place where he could have power. After his release, Myles bought
10944-437: The Central Montana Vigilance Committee and later became Deputy Sheriff of Custer County, Montana . In 1886, he supervised a prisoner transport to Deer Lodge, and, upon learning of a vacancy in the ranks of the guards, immediately took the post. In March 1890, he ascended to the position of Warden of the Montana State Prison, while McTague remained more-or-less aloof from the administration of the prison, focusing his attentions on
11136-423: The Columbia. East of the divide the Missouri River , which is formed by the confluence of the Jefferson , Madison , and Gallatin Rivers near Three Forks , flows due north through the west-central part of the state to Great Falls . From this point, it then flows generally east through fairly flat agricultural land and the Missouri Breaks to Fort Peck reservoir . The stretch of river between Fort Benton and
11328-465: The Decoy Museum of the city. By the 1860s, a large population of free African Americans had settled in the town. It had enough business to support independent artisans, and numerous jobs associated with shipping on the river and canal and, increasingly, with the railroads. During the American Civil War, this town was one of seven sites where the Army recruited for volunteers for the U.S. Colored Troops , composed of African-American men. Although located in
11520-480: The Great Falls land office alone had more than a thousand homestead filings per month, and at the peak of 1917–1918 it had 14,000 new homesteads each year. Significant drops occurred following the drought in 1919. As World War I broke out, Jeannette Rankin , representative of Montana and the first woman in the United States to be a member of Congress, voted against the United States' declaration of war. Her actions were widely criticized in Montana, where support for
11712-405: The Homestead Act drew tens of thousands of homesteaders, lured by free land, with World War I bringing particularly high wheat prices. In addition, Montana was going through a temporary period of higher-than-average precipitation. Homesteaders arriving in this period were known as "honyockers", or "scissorbills". The word honyocker possibly derived from the ethnic slur hunyak and was applied in
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#173285259373411904-451: The Midwest and western United States. Montana did not see a large influx of immigrants from this act because 160 acres were usually insufficient to support a family in the arid territory. The first homestead claim under the act in Montana was made by David Carpenter near Helena in 1868. The first claim by a woman was made near Warm Springs Creek by Gwenllian Evans, the daughter of Deer Lodge Montana pioneer, Morgan Evans. By 1880, farms were in
12096-453: The Missouri include the Smith , Milk , Marias , Judith , and Musselshell Rivers . Montana also claims the disputed title of possessing the world's shortest river, the Roe River , just outside Great Falls . Through the Missouri, these rivers ultimately join the Mississippi River and flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Havre de Grace, Maryland Havre de Grace ( / h æ v ər d ɪ ˈ ɡ r eɪ s / ), abbreviated HdG ,
12288-423: The Montana Sedition Act. The Montanans who opposed U.S. entry into the war included immigrant groups of German and Irish heritage, as well as pacifist Anabaptist people such as the Hutterites and Mennonites , many of whom were also of Germanic heritage. In turn, pro-War groups formed, such as the Montana Council of Defense, created by Governor Samuel V. Stewart and local "loyalty committees". War sentiment
12480-455: The Montana State Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Galen, and over 500 miles (800 km) of roads in the State. About road building, Conley stated: Perhaps in response to punishment like the hole, some prisoners strove to escape. In 1902, the inmate stable boss of a barn outside the walls named Thomas O'Brien drugged Conley's dogs, used for hunting and tracking down escaped convicts, stole Conley's prized racehorse, and escaped. O'Brien ended up leaving
12672-508: The Montana legislature had passed the Montana Sedition Act, which was a model for the federal version. In combination, these laws criminalized criticism of the U.S. government, military, or symbols through speech or other means. The Montana Act led to the arrest of more than 200 individuals and the conviction of 78, mostly of German or Austrian descent. More than 40 spent time in prison. In May 2006, then-Governor Brian Schweitzer posthumously issued full pardons for all those convicted of violating
12864-475: The Montana prairie for three years, did little to irrigate the land and then abandoned it without paying the final fees. Some farmers came with the arrival of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads throughout the 1880s and 1890s, though in relatively small numbers. In the early 1900s, James J. Hill of the Great Northern began to promote settlement in the Montana prairie to fill his trains with settlers and goods. Other railroads followed suit. In 1902,
13056-421: The Second World War, many farmers in Harford County brought their produce to the Seneca Factory (later run as Stockhams Cannery). S.J. Seneca lived at 200 North Union Ave., served as Mayor of Havre de Grace (1893-1894), and donated funds and land to build the Methodist Church. The Seneca cannery, now adapted for use as an antique shop, is a very good example of a late 19th-century brick industrial building. It has
13248-439: The Shining Mountains", and " The Last Best Place ". Its economy is primarily based on agriculture , including ranching and cereal grain farming. Other significant economic resources include oil , gas , coal , mining , and lumber . The health care, service, defense, and government sectors are also significant to the state's economy. Montana's fastest-growing sector is tourism, with 12.6 million tourists (as of 2019) visiting
13440-412: The South following the "pony routes". The Havre de Grace Racetrack operated from 1912 to 1950. Chicago gangster Al Capone was reported to have stayed at the former "Chesapeake Hotel" (now known as "Backfin Blues; Creole de Graw"). At the end of the 1950s, the state removed the horse track. Its race and betting rights were bought by the larger Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. In 1949, the city denied
13632-631: The State of Montana: The president signed and issued the proclamation declaring Montana a state of the union at 10:40 o'clock this morning. Under Territorial Governor Thomas Meagher , Montanans held a constitutional convention in 1866 in a failed bid for statehood. A second constitutional convention held in Helena in 1884 produced a constitution ratified 3:1 by Montana citizens in November 1884. For political reasons, Congress did not approve Montana statehood until February 1889 and President Grover Cleveland signed an omnibus bill granting statehood to Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington once
13824-405: The U.S. were sent to Montana during the war as smokejumpers and for other forest fire-fighting duties. In 1942, the U.S. Army established Camp Rimini near Helena for the purpose of training sled dogs in winter weather. During World War II, the planned battleship USS Montana was named in honor of the state but it was never completed. Montana is the only one of the first 48 states lacking
14016-640: The appropriate state constitutions were crafted. In July 1889, Montanans convened their third constitutional convention and produced a constitution accepted by the people and the federal government. On November 8, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed Montana the union's 41st state. The first state governor was Joseph K. Toole . In the 1880s, Helena (the state capital) had more millionaires per capita than any other United States city. The Homestead Act of 1862 provided free land to settlers who could claim and "prove-up" 160 acres (0.65 km ) of federal land in
14208-574: The attention of the nation. Led by Jerry Myles and Lee Smart, the riot maintained the prison under inmate control for thirty-six hours before the Montana National Guard stormed the institution to restore order. The facility was retired in September 1979, and the inmates were moved to the current prison. The Old Prison was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and is now
14400-445: The average family size was 3.07. Over half (54%) of the housing units in the city are renter-occupied. In the city, the population was spread, with 26.4% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 13.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.6 males. The median income for
14592-402: The band members were used to being left alone, if not coddled, by the prison staff. One member flatly refused the order, which won him time in the hole. The other members decided to work, but after one member flicked a pea at another, the job quickly turned into a foliage-destroying free-for-all. The destructive attitude in the garden quickly infected the rest of the prison, and inmates rushed from
14784-468: The bucket system: one for fresh water, the other for human waste. Each door locked individually, which, when combined with the wood stoves which heated the building and the wooden roof, created a safety hazard in the case of a fire. Electricity didn't enter the building until after the start of the 20th century, but this building was a marked improvement from the antiquated Territorial building. In 1902, in response to concerns over women's rights, Conley built
14976-415: The building called for a structure which held three tiers of fourteen cells, but due to the difficulty of acquiring materials, the cost to ship those materials, and the expense of hiring labor, the new building would house only one of the three tiers. On 2 July 1871, US Marshal William Wheeler took possession of the first nine prisoners to be incarcerated in the facility. It only took a single month before
15168-568: The building sandwiched the old Territorial building between itself and the 1896 cellblock, now called "Cellblock 2". The building was made of cut granite and prison-made brick, could house 400 prisoners in 200 cells along two corridors of four tiers of 25 cells each, and came complete with a sink and self-flushing toilet in each cell, a ventilation system, and a door-locking system which could open any combination of doors simultaneously. In 1919, Warden Conley's personal friend William A. Clark , one of Butte, Montana 's Copper Kings , donated $ 10,000 for
15360-476: The cellblocks to take part in the destruction. The guards on duty were quickly overrun and locked into cells. A standoff between the prisoners and government officials, including Attorney General Forrest Anderson and about 200 National Guardsmen, lasted about 24 hours. The warden, Faye O. Burrell, was out of town, taking delivery of an inmate from Indiana who had escaped years earlier. The prisoners clamored for better conditions, better food, better mail service, and
15552-627: The central business district was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Havre de Grace Historic District , which recognizes its architecture and historic fabric. A variety of museums help explain and interpret the city's rich maritime past and present: the Decoy Museum , the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum , Concord Point Lighthouse , the Lockhouse Museum , and the Black Eyed Susan paddle steamer . Havre de Grace also claims
15744-403: The central section into administerial offices, one wing into a license plant and the other wing into the garment factory. In 1932, this building would come down in the second construction opportunity for inmates—the construction of a new administration building. The simple, rectangular concrete building bridged the gap between the older, Gothic -style cellblocks and housed administration offices on
15936-554: The city at 90 miles per hour (145 km/h) on an elevated line connected to the adjacent Amtrak Susquehanna River Bridge . The double-track bridge was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad between 1904 and 1906 for its New York City – Washington, D.C. line. (The bridge replaced a wooden single-track railroad bridge, completed in 1866 by the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad , whose piers can still be seen from
16128-414: The city of Helena now stands, Confederate Gulch , Silver Bow, Emigrant Gulch, and Cooke City . Gold output between 1862 and 1876 reached $ 144 million, after which silver became even more important. The largest mining operations were at Butte, with important silver deposits and expansive copper deposits. Before the creation of Montana Territory (1864–1889), areas within present-day Montana were part of
16320-582: The city was 48.4% male and 51.6% female. As of the 2000 U.S. census , there were 11,331 people, 4,557 households, and 2,870 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,815.1 inhabitants per square mile (1,086.9/km ). There were 4,904 housing units at an average density of 1,218.4 per square mile (470.4/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 79.24% White , 16.15% African American , 0.22% Native American , 1.29% Asian , 0.11% Pacific Islander , 0.80% from other races , and 2.18% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.13% of
16512-446: The city was 75.7% White , 16.8% African American , 0.3% Native American , 2.4% Asian , 0.1% Pacific Islander , 1.1% from other races , and 3.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.7% of the population. There were 5,258 households, of which 30.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.6% were married couples living together, 12.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.1% had
16704-632: The city's David R. Craig Park.) The Philadelphia Subdivision of CSX Transportation , originally built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad , carries a heavy volume of freight across the river on the CSX Susquehanna River Bridge , rebuilt between 1907 and 1910, about 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream of the Amtrak bridge. Havre de Grace's location at the head of the Chesapeake Bay and the mouth of
16896-567: The city. In the 1980s, Havre de Grace began to undergo extensive redevelopment as people were attracted to its unique character. Historic properties were renovated and sometimes adapted for new uses. In addition, former farmland was redeveloped for construction of new houses and, later, townhouse communities. It became a destination for people with "second homes" for vacations on the bay and retirees. Historic lands and older forests are being cleared, and expensive houses are now extending and growing along Chapel Road northwest toward Webster Village. Since
17088-591: The construction of a first in US Prison history—a prison theater. Dubbed the WA Clark Theatre, the pride of the Montana State Prison was completed in March 1920. It boasted seating for 1,000 people in leather-covered seats and catered to prisoners and members of the community alike. It hosted concerts, plays, prizefights, movies, and more. For Conley, it became an instant disciplinary tool; unruly inmates were denied access to
17280-545: The creation of Yellowstone National Park in 1872. As settlers began populating Montana from the 1850s through the 1870s, disputes with Native Americans ensued, primarily over land ownership and control. In 1855, Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens negotiated the Hellgate Treaty between the United States government and the Salish, Pend d'Oreille, and Kootenai people of western Montana, which established boundaries for
17472-404: The death sentence for the assault, Stevens won his acquittal and served his original sentence, and Young's was extended to a life sentence. Conley oversaw both of the executions (Rock on 16 June 1908 and Hayes on 2 April 1909). The men were hanged using the upright jerker method, which used a 300 lb (140 kg) weight to jerk the sentenced man from his feet. This method was supposed to snap
17664-441: The decades following the Lewis and Clark Expedition , European, Canadian and American traders operated a fur trade , trading with indigenous peoples in both western and eastern portions of the area. Though the increased interaction between fur traders and indigenous peoples frequently proved to be a profitable partnership, conflicts broke out when indigenous interests were threatened, such as the conflict between American trappers and
17856-739: The divide flow into the Columbia River . The Clark Fork of the Columbia (not to be confused with the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River) rises near Butte and flows northwest to Missoula , where it is joined by the Blackfoot River and Bitterroot River . Farther downstream, it is joined by the Flathead River before entering Idaho near Lake Pend Oreille . The Pend Oreille River forms
18048-690: The early 21st century by annexing land. Housing development is moderate but steady. Havre de Grace has been affected by the BRAC activities of the Department of Defense . DOD recently moved activities and personnel from various bases to the Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), a few miles away, which has added to the demand for housing and services. Havre de Grace is located at 39°32′54″N 76°5′51″W / 39.54833°N 76.09750°W / 39.54833; -76.09750 (39.548412, −76.097554) at
18240-486: The environment. Weather and agricultural conditions are much harsher and drier west of the 100th meridian. Then, the droughts of 1917–1921 proved devastating. Many people left, and half the banks in the state went bankrupt as a result of providing mortgages that could not be repaid. As a result, farm sizes increased while the number of farms decreased. By 1910, homesteaders filed claims on over five million acres, and by 1923, over 93 million acres were farmed. In 1910,
18432-430: The exception to this rule, as Warden Conley instituted extensive inmate labor projects that kept many inmates at work constructing the prison buildings and walls as well as providing various state and community services like road building, logging, and ranching. After Conley left office, the prison experienced almost forty years of degeneration, mismanagement, and monetary restraints until an explosive riot in 1959 captured
18624-637: The expansive and sparsely populated Northern Plains , with tableland prairies, smaller island mountain ranges, and badlands . The isolated island ranges east of the Divide include the Bear Paw Mountains, Bull Mountains , Castle Mountains , Crazy Mountains , Highwood Mountains , Judith Mountains , Little Belt Mountains , Little Rocky Mountains , the Pryor Mountains , Little Snowy Mountains , Big Snowy Mountains , Sweet Grass Hills , and—in
18816-409: The facility. The prisoners were now faced with a heavily crowded living space that was not well suited to house them. Only three construction projects happened at the prison between 1921 and 1959. The first, funded in 1927 by a $ 40,000 grant from the state for use in constructing a license plate and garment factory inside the walls, instead went toward remodeling the old Territorial building, converting
19008-471: The factory. When Warden Powell abolished the con-boss system in October 1958, Myles was stripped of his favor in the prison community and started acting out, which earned him time in segregation. He had a short, heated interview with Deputy Warden Rothe in which Myles took an intense dislike to Rothe and threatened his life. Rothe sentenced Myles to isolation, or the hole, for an indefinite amount of time followed by
19200-468: The federal penitentiary at Alcatraz . Jerry Myles would spend about seven years at Alcatraz between 1945 and 1952, after which he was transferred to Leavenworth . While Jerry was at The Rock, the legendary " Battle of Alcatraz " occurred on 2 May 1946, and Myles, while he did not take part in the escape attempt, learned much from the methods of Bernard Coy , who initiated the riot. The disturbance Myles would later start in Montana shared many elements with
19392-413: The financial backing of the institution. Conley oversaw everything else and launched a series of projects which made the Montana State Prison function. Possibly the most important, or at least longest lasting, contribution Warden Conley made to the Montana State Prison are the plethora of buildings he left in his wake. He believed that idleness bred insurrection, so he set about using prison labor to build
19584-489: The firing of Benjamin W. Wright, the man in charge of Montana's relatively new parole system. Anderson offered an eight-point program which sated the prisoners, and they retreated to their cells without bloodshed. Upon Burrell's return, however, he revoked the program drawn up by Anderson, claiming that he had not, and would not, negotiate with convicts. The second riot, in response to Warden Burrell having ignored Anderson's eight-point program, happened on 27 January 1958. During
19776-462: The first 100, and $ 1.00 per day for each inmate over. These men were the warden of the facility since 1885, Thomas McTague, and his partner, Guard Frank Conley. Born on 28 February 1864 in Havre de Grace, Maryland , Frank Conley set off for the American West at the age of sixteen and landed in Montana, working to create what would later become Yellowstone National Park . By 1884, he was a member of
19968-526: The first in a long string of gubernatorial appointees, Warden M.W. Potter, strove to keep the prison functioning on a cost-effective basis. He pardoned a significant number of prisoners incarcerated during World War I and the early years of the Prohibition to keep overcrowding to a minimum and costs down. However, without Conley and his series of contacts to keep the prisoners busy, the number of extramural work programs dwindled, forcing more inmates to return to
20160-497: The guard towers. In April of that same year, Myles would incite the riot. Lee Smart was born in 1940 in Washington State and lived 17 years before being sentenced to thirty years confinement to the Montana State Prison for the second-degree murder of traveling salesman Charles Ward outside of Browning, Montana on 28 April 1956. Smart had bludgeoned Ward to death with a pair of lineman's pliers and robbed him of $ 100 cash. Smart
20352-408: The hiring and firing of guards, requests for new building permits from the state, and most of the parole functions of the institution. In fact, a parole board was not instituted until 1955. Many of the wardens, like A.B. Middleton, tried to better the facility, but those who did often failed. Middleton, who held the position from 1925 to 1937, oversaw all the new construction, but he did little to ease
20544-500: The hole", referring directly to the Minuteman missiles in Montana. Montana eventually became home to the largest ICBM field in the U.S. covering 23,500 square miles (61,000 km ). Montana is one of the eight Mountain States , located in the north of the region known as the Western United States . It borders North Dakota and South Dakota to the east. Wyoming is to the south, Idaho
20736-427: The horse, bridle, and saddle in a nearby pasture and disappeared for 18 days, after which he turned himself in. He was paroled in 1903 and quickly published a controversial book, Infamy Immortal , describing his treatment at the hands of Conley. The book caused a minor stir, but nothing came of it. A more serious escape attempt happened in 1908 that left Deputy Warden Robinson dead and Warden Conley severely wounded. It
20928-450: The inmates who was highly impressed by Smart's haughty, impulsive nature was Jerry Myles, who befriended the boy. Smart got in trouble a few times, once for being in possession of a weapon, once over his haircut (which led him to receive a buzz cut by an inmate barber), and again over having an illicit weapon (which earned him time in isolation). Montana Montana ( / m ɒ n ˈ t æ n ə / mon- TAN -ə )
21120-599: The land that is now Montana. Historic tribes encountered by Europeans and settlers from the United States included the Crow in the south-central area, the Cheyenne and Lakota in the southeast, the Blackfeet , Assiniboine , and Gros Ventres in the central and north-central area, and the Kootenai and Salish the ( Séliš or “Flathead” ) in the west. The ( Ql̓ispé or Pend d'Oreilles ) and Kalispel tribes lived near Flathead Lake and
21312-461: The largest landlocked state. The state's topography is roughly defined by the Continental Divide , which splits much of the state into distinct eastern and western regions. Most of Montana's hundred or more named mountain ranges are in the state's western half, most of which is geologically and geographically part of the northern Rocky Mountains . The Absaroka and Beartooth ranges in
21504-430: The late 20th century, the city has benefited through development of new properties, antique stores, and other retail venues. Per capita income doubled in the city from 1990 to 2000, with the arrival of wealthier residents to the newer suburban projects around and in the city. Some commute to jobs elsewhere; others are retirees. New suburban developments since the 1990s brought thousands of middle-to-upper-class residents to
21696-788: The longest continuous ranges in the Rocky Mountain chain from Alaska to Mexico —along with smaller ranges, including the Coeur d'Alene Mountains and the Cabinet Mountains , divide the state from Idaho. The southern third of the Bitterroot range blends into the Continental Divide. Other major mountain ranges west of the divide include the Cabinet Mountains , the Anaconda Range , the Missions ,
21888-457: The low morale of both guards and prisoners. Appointed by the Governor of Montana for their pliability, ease of placement, and political stature, the wardens of the prison rarely had law enforcement experience, and none had penal institution experience. Unfortunately, due to Conley's aggressive control of the facility, most of the administration of the prison rested in the hands of the warden, including
22080-604: The main economic activity in the area until gold was discovered in 1852. The ensuing gold rush, along with the passage of the Homestead Acts in 1862, brought large numbers of American settlers to Montana. Rapid population growth and development culminated in statehood on November 8, 1889. Mining, particularly around Butte and Helena , would remain the state's main economic engine through the mid-20th century. Montana has no official nickname but several unofficial ones, most notably "Big Sky Country", "The Treasure State", "Land of
22272-492: The more verdant valleys of central and western Montana, but few were on the eastern plains. The Desert Land Act of 1877 was passed to allow settlement of arid lands in the west and allotted 640 acres (2.6 km ) to settlers for a fee of $ .25 per acre and a promise to irrigate the land. After three years, a fee of one dollar per acre would be paid and the settler would own the land. This act brought mostly cattle and sheep ranchers into Montana, many of whom grazed their herds on
22464-778: The most scenic badlands regions in the state. The Hell Creek Formation in Northeast Montana is a major source of dinosaur fossils . Paleontologist Jack Horner of the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman brought this formation to the world's attention with several major finds. Montana has thousands of named rivers and creeks, 450 miles (720 km) of which are known for "blue-ribbon" trout fishing. Montana's water resources provide for recreation, hydropower , crop and forage irrigation, mining, and water for human consumption. Montana
22656-559: The mouth of the Susquehanna River . According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 6.89 square miles (17.85 km ), of which 5.50 square miles (14.24 km ) is land and 1.39 square miles (3.60 km ) is water. Havre de Grace is 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Baltimore , 40 miles (64 km) west of Wilmington, Delaware , 68 miles (109 km) southwest of Philadelphia , 75 miles (121 km) northeast of Washington, D.C. , and 154 miles (248 km) southwest of New York City . The climate in this area
22848-497: The name. Cox complained that the name was a misnomer given that most of the territory was not mountainous, and thought a Native American name would be more appropriate than a Spanish one. Other names, such as Shoshone , were suggested, but the Committee on Territories decided that they had discretion to choose the name, so the original name of Montana was adopted. For thousands of years, various indigenous peoples have inhabited
23040-546: The nationwide search for a warden who would update the Montana State Prison into a modern facility. With more than eighteen years of penal experience at the Wisconsin State Prison in Waupun , Powell arrived in Deer Lodge knowing the only way to truly modernize the prison rested in building a whole new facility; what existed in downtown Deer Lodge was far too antiquated to be worth revitalizing. Within weeks of taking charge of
23232-407: The neck, but it failed in both instances. Rock and Hayes were the only two men to be executed within the prison walls. In addition to the problems Conley had with prisoners, the community began to complain of his use of prisoners and the office of warden for personal gain. When he arrived in Deer Lodge, he had been a lowly deputy, but within twenty years had risen to be one of the most powerful men in
23424-558: The new State of Montana in March 1890. The system of managing inmates at the Montana Territorial Prison was intended to follow the Auburn system of penal reform , a method pioneered at Auburn Prison in New York state in the 1820s. The Auburn system, or the silent system, hinged on prisoners working in groups during the day, maintaining solitary confinement at night, and adhering to a strict code of silence at all times. This rehabilitation method
23616-621: The newly formed Metal Mine Workers' Union, opposed the war on grounds it mostly profited large lumber and mining interests. In the wake of ramped-up mine production and the Speculator Mine disaster in June 1917, Industrial Workers of the World organizer Frank Little arrived in Butte to organize miners. He gave some speeches with inflammatory antiwar rhetoric. On August 1, 1917, he was dragged from his boarding house by masked vigilantes , and hanged from
23808-837: The non-Indian population of the Montana Territory was 20,595. The Montana Historical Society , founded on February 2, 1865, in Virginia City, is the oldest such institution west of the Mississippi (excluding Louisiana). In 1869 and 1870 respectively, the Cook–Folsom–Peterson and the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expeditions were launched from Helena into the Upper Yellowstone region. The extraordinary discoveries and reports from these expeditions led to
24000-454: The office. Hayes got back to his feet, and Conley shot him again and threw him into the hall after Rock. Conley then went to help Robinson, who was on the ground under Rock. Rock had already slashed the Deputy's throat and was stabbing him when Conley threw a chair at the assailant, who turned on Conley. The warden fended the armed man off with the butt of his now empty pistol, and the escape attempt
24192-425: The original walls by 48,000 sq ft (4,500 m). Tower Seven, in the middle of the eastern wall which bordered Main Street, became the main entrance to the prison and would remain so until the facility closed. To respond to the ever-increasing number of inmates flooding the Montana correctional system, in 1912 Conley supervised the building of another cellblock. Called "Cellblock 1" by guards and prisoners,
24384-451: The outdated facilities, the guard staff was underpaid, undertrained, and insufficient to manage the ever-increasing number of inmates. Guards at the Montana State Prison during this period were some of the lowest paid correctional officers in the United States, ranked 115 out of 120 state and local institutions. Their median salary was $ 1200 per year, where the national average was $ 2000. There were no benefits and no pension plan. Few wardens of
24576-595: The outflow of Lake Pend Oreille. The Pend Oreille River joined the Columbia River, which flows to the Pacific Ocean—making the 579-mile (932 km) long Clark Fork/Pend Oreille (considered a single river system) the longest river in the Rocky Mountains. The Clark Fork discharges the greatest volume of water of any river exiting the state. The Kootenai River in northwest Montana is another major tributary of
24768-409: The population. There were 4,557 households, out of which 31.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.3% were married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.0% were non-families. 31.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and
24960-402: The population. The cells were cramped, cold, and isolated. Rothe rejected this treatment of Myles, claiming that he wanted to gain inmate trust by showing equal rights to all prisoners regardless of their past activities. On 27 February 1959, Rothe released Myles back into the general population and assigned him to the water crew—the group of inmates who emptied toilet buckets from Cellblock 2 and
25152-462: The position of con-boss of the garment shop, due to his experience in similar places in other penitentiaries around the country and the notoriety of his experience in USP Atlanta, Leavenworth, and, of course, Alcatraz. He used the position to his advantage, decorating his apartment-like cell in the garment shop with niceties and manipulating young inmates into providing him with sexual favors for work in
25344-497: The previously lax security, as well as from the population of Montana who viewed any improvement in the quality of life of an inmate nothing more than coddling convicts. In his own words in a report to the Board of Prison commissioners, Powell stated: Although Powell and Rothe meant well with their reforms, their alteration of the power structures within the facility led to a bloody riot which started on 16 April 1959. The primary leader of
25536-470: The prison grounds, but it wasn't until the completion of the 1886 cell block with its 42 double-occupancy cells and a round of generous paroles that the prison felt relief. Although the completion of the cell block meant a roof over a prisoner's head, the amenities of the facility were sparse. The cells measured 6 × 8 ft (2.4 m), were constructed of soft brick, and had no plumbing or artificial lights. The building had no heating or ventilation, and, in
25728-460: The prison itself and to the poor quality of food provided to the inmates. Since the prison was operating on a shoestring budget, it had to feed the inmates with what the territory could provide. Therefore, few fruits and vegetables found their way into the diet, and the inmates made do with a menu heavy in proteins and starch. Montana became a state in November 1889, but the fledgling state had neither
25920-412: The prison ranch in 1960, and eight cells, which were sometimes used as Death Row . Meanwhile, the institution's existing buildings continued to degrade. The 1896 Cellblock still had no individual plumbing in the cells; a flush toilet had been installed on the ground level, but inmates had no access to it after lights out. The lighting in the cells was insufficient even for reading; the wiring installed at
26112-415: The prison was overcrowded; by August, six more prisoners had arrived. The burgeoning population was quelled somewhat when, in June 1874, another tier of fourteen cells was constructed, and the civilians of Deer Lodge were calmed when a twelve foot board fence went up in 1875. The prison's population continued to grow, so Congress allocated an additional $ 15,000 for the construction of another tier of cells, but
26304-464: The prison weathered two riots, and he resigned under heavy controversy. Since Conley's theory of reform was based so heavily on manual labor, he had spent little time and money on things like education and vocational training. In the 1920s, the prison library was the only means of inmate education; the only classes being taught boiled down to English-speaking instruction for immigrant inmates. The library itself, donated mostly by William Clark before 1920,
26496-438: The prison, Powell summoned his friend and subordinate, Ted Rothe, from Wisconsin to be his deputy warden. Between the two of them, Powell and Rothe began a series of reforms which were targeted at updating the facility. They began to abolish the "con-boss" system, improved inmate food quality by instilling a "Take all you want, but eat all you take" policy and by supplying condiments on the tables. They also sought to crack down on
26688-498: The prison. At first, Conley focused on bettering the prison facility. Immediately after taking the position of warden, he put the inmates to work to build a log cell-house to alleviate the rampant overcrowding. The building housed 150 inmates in one large room in two tiers of wooden bunks, and was used on and off over the course of the next decade. Conley waited for a few years before starting one of his biggest projects—the prison walls. In 1893, he put his prisoners to work to construct
26880-400: The prison. This left the prisoners with only industries relating to the upkeep of the prison: laundry, garment construction, maintenance, a toy shop (which made toys for children in state institutions) and the prison band. In the '20s, the warden of the prison took on the role of Registrar of Motor Vehicles and obtained permission for inmates to manufacture license plates. The jobs available to
27072-455: The prisoners were few; between 1930 and 1960, about 200 inmates out of a population averaging 550 had something to do. In the 1940s and '50s, most prisoners spent twenty-two hours a day in their cells. The industries that were available were managed not by civilians or guards, but, due to the shortage of staff at the prison, by a system of inmate overseers. Called "con-bosses," these privileged inmates had complete control over their areas, reserving
27264-658: The railroad played a major role in sparking tensions with Native American tribes in the 1870s. Jay Cooke , the NPR president, launched major surveys into the Yellowstone valley in 1871, 1872, and 1873, which were challenged forcefully by the Sioux under chief Sitting Bull . These clashes, in part, contributed to the Panic of 1873 , a financial crisis that delayed the construction of the railroad into Montana. Surveys in 1874, 1875, and 1876 helped spark
27456-407: The rampant drug use and black market inside the walls and began performing exhaustive background checks on the prisoners, a practice that was not standard operating procedure until Powell's tenure. A training regimen for the guards was also instilled, which bettered communication between shifts and cut back on guard contributions to the black market. Something they were unable to initiate until too late
27648-424: The region commenced in earnest starting in 1862. A series of major mineral discoveries in the western part of the state found gold, silver, copper, lead, and coal (and later oil) which attracted tens of thousands of miners to the area. The richest of all gold placer diggings was discovered at Alder Gulch, where the town of Virginia City was established. Other rich placer deposits were found at Last Chance Gulch, where
27840-645: The region during the Oligocene 33 to 23 million years ago. Tablelands are often topped with argillite gravel and weathered quartzite, occasionally underlain by shale. The glaciated plains are generally covered in clay, gravel, sand, and silt left by the proglacial Lake Great Falls or by moraines or gravel-covered former lake basins left by the Wisconsin glaciation 85,000 to 11,000 years ago. Farther east, areas such as Makoshika State Park near Glendive and Medicine Rocks State Park near Ekalaka contain some of
28032-489: The region. Through the years, he had become personal friends with William A. Clark, and through him the Anaconda Copper Mining Company , a subsidiary of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil . Conley moved up the social stratus with his marriage to a Missoula, Montana socialite. While using prison labor to construct the prison itself, roads for the state, and buildings for state institutions, he had also found
28224-428: The relationship the state of Montana shared with Frank Conley, and so could find no laws Conley had broken. In the words of the judge, "every act of Conely…was in the interest of the state of Montana". Although stripped of the influential office of warden, Conley continued as Mayor of Deer Lodge until 1929, and lived in the city until his death in Butte on 5 March 1939. Immediately after the retirement of Warden Conley,
28416-438: The right to choose which inmates worked under them, how much work they received, and what they had to do to receive work at all. Since work meant not only something to do other than sit in a cell but also time earned off a sentence, this system led to rampant corruption, favoritism, and ill-feelings among the prisoners, since the con-bosses often sold positions or used them as leverage for any number of illicit favors. The onset of
28608-535: The riot, Jerry Myles was born in Sioux City, Iowa , on 15 January 1915 under the name Donald Groat. His mother was an unmarried transient who quickly put her son up for adoption. By the time he was sixteen, he was in reform school, and for the rest of his life he would spend more time inside correctional facilities than outside them. Described as having an "emotionally unstable, psychopathic personality" by psychiatrist Romney Ritchey at Alcatraz, Jerry Myles nonetheless had
28800-478: The river, refugees were often successful in making their way to the North. In the 19th century, Havre de Grace became known for duck hunting , and was a seasonal destination for hunters. They stayed at the town hotels and hired local guides to escort them hunting on the river and along the bay. Local artisans became known for making high quality decoys , which they carved and painted. Prime examples are displayed today at
28992-535: The second commissioned warship to bear the name. In the post-World War II Cold War era, Montana became host to U.S. Air Force Military Air Transport Service (1947) for airlift training in C-54 Skymasters and eventually, in 1953 Strategic Air Command air and missile forces were based at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls. The base also hosted the 29th Fighter Interceptor Squadron , Air Defense Command from 1953 to 1968. In December 1959, Malmstrom AFB
29184-565: The sedimentary rock. The underlying surface consists of sandstone and shale . Surface soils in the area are highly diverse, and greatly affected by the local geology, whether glaciated plain, intermountain basin, mountain foothills, or tableland. Foothill regions are often covered in weathered stone or broken slate , or consist of uncovered bare rock (usually igneous, quartzite , sandstone, or shale). The soil of intermountain basins usually consists of clay , gravel , sand , silt , and volcanic ash , much of it laid down by lakes which covered
29376-447: The soft brick of the building could not support any more weight. Instead, the money went into an administration building with guard barracks, a warden's office, and a visitor's reception. Finally, in 1885, $ 25,000 served to provide the prison with a three-story cellblock with 42 double-occupancy cells which was completed in 1886. The Montana Territorial Prison was finally completed to original specifications, just in time to be handed over to
29568-675: The southern end of Main Street Deer Lodge and resembles a medieval castle. In 1896, Conley deemed the old Territorial Penitentiary insufficient, even after remodeling it to house 164 inmates, so he constructed the first of two cellblocks. The 1896 Cellblock bordered the Territorial building on its southern side and could house 256 inmates in four tiers of thirty-two cells, each measuring 6 ft (1.8 m) long, 8 ft (2.4 m) deep, and 7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) tall. None of these cells had plumbing, however, and inmates again used
29760-426: The start of the 20th century could barely power a 25 watt bulb. There was no ventilation, the wooden roof had not been replaced, and the cell doors still unlocked individually. A state investigation in 1931 found this cellblock to be "a disgrace to civilization". The 1912 Cellblock was in better shape, though it was still substandard. It was stifling in the summer, when inmates on the top tiers would throw items through
29952-615: The state each year. The name Montana comes from the Spanish word montaña , which in turn comes from the Latin word montanea , meaning "mountain" or more broadly "mountainous country". Montaña del Norte ('Northern Mountain') was the name given by early Spanish explorers to the entire mountainous region of the west. The name Montana was added in 1863 to a bill by the United States House Committee on Territories (chaired at
30144-528: The state's south-central part are technically part of the Central Rocky Mountains. The Rocky Mountain Front is a significant feature in the state's north-central portion, and isolated island ranges that interrupt the prairie landscape common in the central and eastern parts of the state. About 60 percent of the state is prairie, part of the northern Great Plains . The Bitterroot Mountains —one of
30336-680: The state's southeastern corner near Ekalaka —the Long Pines . Many of these isolated eastern ranges were created about 120 to 66 million years ago when magma welling up from the interior cracked and bowed the earth's surface here. The area east of the divide in the state's north-central portion is known for the Missouri Breaks and other significant rock formations . Three buttes south of Great Falls are major landmarks: Cascade, Crown, Square, Shaw, and Buttes. Known as laccoliths , they formed when igneous rock protruded through cracks in
30528-488: The strain of overpopulation and low morale. Possibly the least effective warden to hold the office was Faye O. Burrell, who was warden from 1953 to 1958. Burrell had been a Ravalli County sheriff before his tenure, and was a man who prided himself on his frugality. The state actually increased funding to the prison during his time, but Burrell decreased his implementation of funds, allowing money slated for updating facilities to go back into general state funds. His wardenship of
30720-399: The theater. The theater was a mainstay of prison life until its destruction by an unknown arsonist on 3 December 1975. Though the buildings inside the prison grounds were extensive and labor and time consuming, Warden Conley did not stop there. During his tenure as warden, he used prison labor to run eleven separate ranches which produced beef, pork, poultry, and dairy products for prison use,
30912-472: The time by James Ashley of Ohio ) for the territory that would become Idaho Territory . The name was changed by representatives Henry Wilson (Massachusetts) and Benjamin F. Harding (Oregon), who complained that Montana had "no meaning". When Ashley presented a bill to establish a temporary government in 1864 for a new territory to be carved out of Idaho, he again chose Montana Territory . This time, representative Samuel Cox , also of Ohio, objected to
31104-463: The time ran background checks on potential guards, and there was no formal training after hire. By the mid-1950s, 80% of the guard staff were retirees over the age of 55, and in 1957, there was a 75% turnover of guards. In order for this staff to keep order in the prison, a re-institution of the Auburn system came into play, keeping inmates quiet, obedient, and segregated. The succession of wardens added to
31296-438: The top floor and a dining hall, shoe shop, and laundry in the lower floor. 1935 saw the last new construction in the prison with an industrial shop complex that went up parallel to the north wall, perpendicular to the 1912 Cellblock. This building housed the prison's new hospital, including an infirmary, surgery, dentist's office, psych ward, and doctor's office. Also in this building was the new license plate factory, which moved to
31488-567: The town in 1789 on the journey to New York City for his first inauguration . During the First Congress in 1789 , Havre de Grace missed by only one vote being named the capital of the fledgling United States . On May 3, 1813, during the War of 1812 , British forces led by Sir George Cockburn executed a raid on Havre de Grace , routing the American militiamen defending it and burning large parts of
31680-533: The town. Many working-class citizens who used to live in the city have been displaced by rising property values and gentrification. In September 2003, Hurricane Isabel flooded the city about two blocks into downtown, destroying the promenade. It was rebuilt in 2004, with help from Americorps NCCC . Today, it serves as a waterfront boardwalk and nature walk from Tydings Park to the Maritime Museum, and on to Concord Point Lighthouse. Havre de Grace expanded in
31872-680: The town. Products were shipped to markets along the East Coast and upriver. The town was the southern terminus for the Proprietors of the Susquehanna Canal and later the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal . This was built to bypass difficult navigational areas of the lower Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Wrightsville, Pennsylvania , where it connected to the Pennsylvania Canal . It
32064-400: The tradition of gubernatorial appointees. Floyd Powell, of Wisconsin, was chosen from the candidates who applied, and he took control of the prison in August 1958. He managed to instill some reforms before, in 1959, a riot kept the prison and the town of Deer Lodge on edge for thirty-six hours. The riot started on 16 April 1959 and was the longest and bloodiest riot at the facility. Instigated by
32256-435: The tribal nations. The treaty was ratified in 1859. While the treaty established what later became the Flathead Indian Reservation , trouble with interpreters and confusion over the terms of the treaty led Whites to believe the Bitterroot Valley was opened to settlement, but the tribal nations disputed those provisions. The Salish remained in the Bitterroot Valley until 1891. The first U.S. Army post established in Montana
32448-477: The verge of extinction; only about 325 bison remained in the entire United States. Cattle ranching has been central to Montana's history and economy since Johnny Grant began wintering cattle in the Deer Lodge Valley in the 1850s and traded cattle fattened in fertile Montana valleys with emigrants on the Oregon Trail. Nelson Story brought the first Texas Longhorn cattle into the territory in 1866. Granville Stuart , Samuel Hauser , and Andrew J. Davis started
32640-469: The village. American Lieutenant John O'Neill single-handedly manned a cannon to help defend the town. He was wounded, captured by the British, and quickly released. In gratitude, Havre de Grace made O'Neill and his descendants the hereditary keepers of the Concord Point lighthouse , which marks the mouth of the Susquehanna River. The early industry of Havre de Grace included oyster and crab harvesting. Extensive fruit orchards were cultivated in and near
32832-400: The walls had been converted into a vegetable garden, eliminating exercise as a pastime. The mismanagement, insufficient guard staff, and intolerable living conditions led to three riots in the late 1950s. The first riot, called the "pea riot," took place on 30 July 1957 when the members of the prison band refused to pick peas in the garden which was the prison yard. The temperature was hot, and
33024-444: The walls of the Montana State Prison, Smart eventually found his place playing drums for the prison band. Though one of the youngest convicts in Montana, he had fallen in with a relatively powerful group of convicts—the "band gang" was the largest trafficker of narcotics in the prison. Lee became a regular member of the cadre, and his crime of murder gave him standing among the inmates, most of whom were incarcerated for larceny . One of
33216-438: The war and patriotism was strong. In 1917–1918, due to a miscalculation of Montana's population, about 40,000 Montanans, 10% of the state's population, volunteered or were drafted into the armed forces. This represented a manpower contribution to the war that was 25% higher than any other state on a per capita basis. Around 1,500 Montanans died as a result of the war and 2,437 were wounded, also higher than any other state on
33408-437: The war ended. These numbers constituted about ten percent of the state's population, and Montana again contributed one of the highest numbers of soldiers per capita of any state. Many Native Americans were among those who served, including soldiers from the Crow Nation who became Code Talkers . At least 1,500 Montanans died in the war. Montana also was the training ground for the First Special Service Force or "Devil's Brigade",
33600-424: The western mountains, respectively. A part of southeastern Montana was used as a corridor between the Crows and the related Hidatsas in North Dakota. As part of the Missouri River watershed, all of the land in Montana east of the Continental Divide was part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, except for a tiny portion in the northeast that is part of the Hudson Bay drainage . Subsequent to and particularly in
33792-418: The western shore of the Chesapeake Bay came to Havre de Grace and often took the ferry across the Susquehanna River to safe sites in Lancaster and Chester counties in Pennsylvania. When "vigilance increased at the ferry", the African-American refugees were guided upriver to cross to Columbia, Pennsylvania , a town established by abolitionist Quakers. Because Havre de Grace had varied transportation across
33984-401: The will nor the money to assume possession of the prison until March 1890. The facility was a money-sink, costing over $ 2 per day per inmate to run, an eyesore, and an administerial nightmare. Montana decided to do what many other states at the time were doing; they contracted the running of the prison to a pair of men who offered to care for the inmates at the rate of $ .70 per day per inmate for
34176-409: The windows to create a breeze, and freezing in the winter, when inmates on the bottom tiers would drape the bottom half of their cell doors with blankets to keep out the chill. There was one shower facility for the 400 inmates with three shower heads; one for a rinse, one for a soap, and the third for a final rinse. The prisoners would step under these one at a time in a single-file line. In addition to
34368-480: Was Camp Cooke in 1866, on the Missouri River, to protect steamboat traffic to Fort Benton. More than a dozen additional military outposts were established in the state. Pressure over land ownership and control increased due to discoveries of gold in various parts of Montana and surrounding states. Major battles occurred in Montana during Red Cloud's War , the Great Sioux War of 1876 , and the Nez Perce War and in conflicts with Piegan Blackfeet . The most notable were
34560-413: Was Conley's habit to hold what he called a "warden's court" each morning where inmates could air their grievances. At 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) tall and weighing roughly 300 lb (140 kg), Warden Frank Conley was an imposing man, and he considered himself more than a match for the men he maintained. What his physical bulk could not handle, the .41 caliber pistol he habitually carried would. He
34752-548: Was Governor Joseph M. Dixon . Dixon took office under the promise to remove the powerful Ananconda Mining company from state politics, and, upon hearing that the warden of the state prison was heavily involved with the Company, he launched a series of investigations and audits which laid bare the extent of Warden Conley's corruption between 1908 and 1921. Some points Dixon's auditor found were: Dixon wasted no time in bringing Conley to trial on charges of corruption. The judge, however, could find no written statute which fully defined
34944-452: Was again elected to Congress. In 1941, as she had in 1917, she voted against the United States' declaration of war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . Hers was the only vote against the war, and in the wake of public outcry over her vote, Rankin required police protection for a time. Other pacifists tended to be those from "peace churches" who generally opposed war. Many individuals claiming conscientious objector status from throughout
35136-434: Was almost 6 ft (1.8 m) tall and weighed 147 pounds, wore a ducktail haircut, a black leather jacket, and had tattooed arms and chest. He and a friend had escaped from a reformatory camp in Cedar Creek, Washington, on 14 April 1956. The two then went on a two-week criminal binge which ended in Great Falls, Montana . Lee Smart left his friend in Great Falls and went north, where he ended up killing Ward. Once inside
35328-520: Was built between 1836 and 1840. Operations on the canal declined after 1855 because of competition from railroads , which could carry freight more quickly. The Lock Keeper's house and remnants of the canal exist today as a museum. Havre de Grace was a primary town on the Eastern route of the Underground Railroad in Maryland, as refugee slaves could cross the Susquehanna to havens in the free state of Pennsylvania, traveling on to Philadelphia and New York. Prior to 1840, escaped slaves from communities along
35520-399: Was complicated by labor issues. The Anaconda Copper Company , which was at its historic peak of copper production, was an extremely powerful force in Montana, but it also faced criticism and opposition from socialist newspapers and unions struggling to make gains for their members. In Butte, a multiethnic community with a significant European immigrant population, labor unions, particularly
35712-423: Was doomed to fail in Montana, primarily due to the severe overcrowding which plagued the facility from the start. Within a month of the prison opening its doors, the building was overcrowded. This state of affairs persisted throughout the territorial years, reaching its peak in 1885. In that year, 120 inmates were incarcerated at the institution which claimed only 28 cells, or four inmates per cell. Inmates camped on
35904-526: Was ended at the end of a billy-club wielded by Guard E.H. Carver, who had had to break through the locked door to the hallway. Deputy Robinson had been killed, and it took 103 stitches to stabilize Warden Conley. One of the slashes from Rock's blade had come a mere eighth of an inch from severing the warden's jugular, and he carried the scar from that wound to his deathbed. None of the rioters had died, and Conley made sure they were all fully healed before bringing them up on charges. Rock and Hayes were both given
36096-496: Was farmer, spinster, deep-sea diver; fiddler, physician, bartender, cook. He lived in Minnesota or Wisconsin, Massachusetts or Maine. There the news sought him out—Jim Hill's news of free land in the Treasure State ... However, farmers faced a number of problems. Massive debt was one. Also, most settlers were from wetter regions, unprepared for the dry climate, lack of trees, and scarce water resources. In addition, small homesteads of fewer than 320 acres (130 ha) were unsuited to
36288-463: Was outdated, contained mainly light fiction, and had been stringently censored by prison officials. As far as vocational training was concerned, Conley had dealt the prison another blow by removing all his personal equipment from the warehouse, garage, and machine shop; since his contract specified that the buildings, grounds, and land belonged to the state, he had populated these important industries with his own materials to further entrench himself within
36480-422: Was selected as the home of the new Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile . The first operational missiles were in place and ready in early 1962. In late 1962, missiles assigned to the 341st Strategic Missile Wing played a major role in the Cuban Missile Crisis . When the Soviets removed their missiles from Cuba, President John F. Kennedy said the Soviets backed down because they knew he had an "ace in
36672-506: Was shown just how vulnerable he was when, on the morning of 8 March, Deputy John A. Robinson admitted the men lined up to speak with the warden and was rushed by four men, W.A. Hayes, C.B. Young, Oram Stevens, and George Rock. Hayes managed to get past Robinson and burst into Conley's office, waving a knife and threatening the warden. Conley drew his pistol and fired twice, hitting Hayes in the ear. The remaining three inmates rushed in and Conley fired again, hitting George Rock, who retreated from
36864-468: Was the removal of firearms from the cellblocks; Powell and Rothe wanted to completely sweep both cellblocks of the rifles the guards carried on the catwalks. They saw the .30-30 Winchester rifles ' presence as an instigator for inmate uprising, but the guards refused to surrender the guns. Though the pair from Wisconsin were doing their best to better the conditions in the prison, they felt heavy resistance from both inmates and guards who had flourished under
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