Archives West Finding Aid

In this interview Margaret Hoven discusses growing up in Sheridan County in the 1950s and 60s. Topics include attending school in Antelope, Montana; conflicts her grandfather had with the Communists during the Great Depression, her parent's political beliefs growing up; her perception of the region in terms of politics after spending 34 years away from home. She also signs Norwegian songs and Farmer Unions Songs. On disc 2 Dave Anderson, who is married to Hoven, discusses his perception of the community as an outsider. Topics include the viewpoints held by the pastor and congregation at the Nathaniel Lutheran Church in Dagmar, Montana and how the political beliefs of other religious congregations in the area compare.

In this interview Gerda Christensen discusses growing up in Westby outside Dagmar, Montana in the 1920s and 1930s, including school; church; the Great Depression years; WPA work; and working on a farm. What restrictions existed growing up in a predominately communist community; IWWs; her parents who emigrated out of Denmark; co-ops in Dagmar; the Producers News; her personal political beliefs as well as her husband's and her daughter's; and the Farmer's Union Camp and Pioneer Camp.

In this interview Vernon Christensen discusses growing up in Sheridan County beginning in the 1920s. Topics include growing up on the farm on Cottonwood Creek 10 miles out of Dagmar; the Communist camp on Brush Lake put on by the Farmer Labor Party; what her remembers about communists in Dagmar, Montana; farming equipment auction sales; Janis Salisbury's funeral; where his political beliefs came from; his parents' political and religious beliefs and how that impacted how they felt about communism; the Danish language at home and at church; his World War II experience.

In this interview James A. Hansen discusses growing up in Plentywood, Montana in the late 1920s and 1930s. Topics include his father's flour mill and farming around the Dagmar area; his parents' ethnic and political backgrounds; working at his father's mill in Wolf Point, MT; studying music at the University of Montana and UM Western and going on to teach music in Montana and Oregon; the foreclosure of the family farm; the Holiday Association; the Farm Labor Temple and Brush Lake. He also discusses his mother, Marie Hansen, and her relationship with Rodney Salisbury, his relationship with his half siblings, attending Janis Salisbury's funeral.

In this interview Norman Jensen discusses growing up in the Dagmar, Montana area during the 1930s. He discusses how the town of Dagmar got started, its Danish roots, co-ops, the St. Nathaniel Lutheran Church, the Happy Danes, and the Danish Brotherhood in Dagmar and Danish customs; what he remembers about communism (The Reds) in Dagmar; what was preached at church (briefly); how his family came to the area, their homesteads, his own wife and children; the Grit Newspaper; prohibition in the area; the political beliefs in the Dagmar area following the fall of the communist movement up to current times.

In this interview Verlaine Stoner McDonald discusses how she got interested in the history of Sheridan County, which ultimately led to her conducting research for her doctoral dissertation and book on the Bolshevik Revolution taking place & its impact, the transformation of the non-partisan league & the socialists & left wing socialists in Sheridan County during the 1920s; what she discovers while conducting research including why people came to this area in the early 20th century and from where they emigrated; the diversity of the county in regards to ethnicity, beliefs, and backgrounds; the Sioux Line; homesteading in the area; female homesteaders; social outlets in the region including the Farmer Movement & other movements in the state; the history of Charlie Taylor; opponents of the Farmer Labor Party including Burley Bowler, Dr. Storken, and Harry Polk; the bank robbery of 1926; Rodney Salisbury, his personal family life, the downfall of communism in the area through the fusion of the Democrats and Republicans into the Tax Payers Economy League in 1932; the rise of the Third Perdio Communist ideology at the end of the 1920s & the arrival of the Erik Bert and Ruth Bert to run the Producers News and the newspaper's demise. She ends with her family's own personal political beliefs during the Farm Labor Movement Era.

In this interview Joe Nistler discusses moving to Plentywood, Montana as a teenager in the 1960s, working as the editor of the Sheridan County News and the research he has done about the Red Era; the Young Pioneer camps at Brush Lake; bootlegging in the area; the 1926 bank robbery and his speculations on its link to communism; the Plentywood Herald and Producers News; the funeral for Janis Salisbury; Sherif Rodney Salisbury, Charlie Taylor, and his son Carl & their political beliefs during and after the Red movement; what ended communism in the county; Sheridan County politics today; how the decendants of the communists in the area have changed politically; the role religion in politics have affected the county; the National Socialist and Montana Socialist meeting in Plentywood in 1960; the history of the Farm Labor Temple and who has occupied the building over the years.

In this interview Debra Orozco discusses growing up outside Plentywood during the 1960s and 1970s; her family's history in the area; hearing stories about communism from the elders in the community; what impact she believes Franklin Roosevelt had on politics; she and her husband, Ricardo Orozco's personal political beliefs throughout their lives, living both in and out of Montana; how their political beliefs have shifted since the 1980s and how livign outside the states and traveling the globe as a part of their military careers has impacted their politics. They then analyze if the radical past had any lasting effects on modern political beliefs of Sheridan County residents.

In this interview Roald Selvig discusses how his family came to this area from Norway; growing up in Outlook, Montana during the 1930s; what he remembers about the communist movement in the area; IWW workers on his father's farm; his personal political beliefs & how he got them.

In this interview Ed Smith explains how religion kept his family from joining the communist movement; how divided the town of Dagmar was (community activies of non-communists vs. communists); communists baseball team; the funeral of Janis Salisbury; his personal memories of the communists in the 1930s; the Young Pioneers; the joining fo the Democrats and Republicans to kick the communists out of the region after the Salisbury funeral; the Farmers Union; the Jim Ostby family; the outside influence on communism in the area including Mother Bloor; the impact of the press; his own political career (running for state representative in the 1960s, for governor in 1972, and for senate in the 1970s); his modern day political beliefs & national politics impact on Sheridan County; how farming in the area has evolved since the 1930s.

In this interview Emanual States discusses growing up in the Redstone, Montana area during the 1920s and 1930s; how communism wasn't prevalent in the Redstone area; prohibition, alcohol runners & the brothel know as the Chicken House; Sherif Rodney Salisbury; why certain areas like Dagmar, Montana had more communists than Redstone; Charlie Taylor & the Producers News; his parents' political beliefs; his own political view; how Republicans and Democrats have evolved since the communist movement; his time as an election board member in Redstone beginning in the late 1960s; what he knows about the IWW workers in when his father came to the region in 1910.

In this interview Shorty Timmerman discusses growing up outside Plentywood, Montana during the 1920s and 1930s; what he remembers about prohibition, stills, bootlegging; Jim Pobescue, his restaurant, and the controversy with a mouse allegedly being found in a bowl of soup served at the restaurant; farm equipment and reposessions; Charlie Taylor and his son Carl (whom he was friends with); the Producers News vs. the Plentywood Herald; tension between communists and non-communists in the neighborhood; the Salisbury family; coal mining in the area; IWW workers; the Great Depression and his experience in the Civil Conservation Corps; the concentration of communists close to the Sioux Line (near Dagmar); his personal political beliefs throughout the years (running non-partisan for mayor); the political beliefs of others in the area over the years; the family farm & house; the Marie Hansen, her husband, Andy, and their children; the DeSilva family.

In this interview Jo Anne Troxel discusses her parent, Marie hansen and Rodney Salisbury; what she remembers about her father before his death; the relationship between Marie and Rodney; her parents' belief in politics & marriage; her siblings and half-siblings; her memories from living in the Montana towns of Billings, Arless, Missoula, and Wolf Point; family dynamics throughout her life. On disc 2 she covers the early years of her parents' relationship & their beliefs about communism; her relationship with her half-siblings later in life; her schooling from elementary on; working as a live-in nanny/maid as a young teenager in the Missoula area; living with her sister's fmaily with her younger brother in Wolf Point; her political beliefs throughout her life; her college experience & teaching English in White Sulpher Springs, Montana and Bozeman, Montana; her mother later in life.

In this interview Chester Wirtz discusses growing up and farming in Plentywood, Montana during the 1930s and 1940s; religion and politics in his family; his understanding of communism in the area based on what he has read in books; outlaws in the area including Dutch Henry; Franklin Roosevelt's influence on politics; his modern day political beliefs.

In this interview discusses growing up in the Outlook, Montana, her grandfather ranching around the Judith Basin at the turn of the 20th century; her parents and their political beliefs; what she remembers about the Young Pioneers and what she heard from others about the funeral for Janis Salisbury. What she remembers about Sherif Rodney Salisbury from Plentywood, Montana and his possible linkage to the court house robberies; her thoughts on the Producer News and its editor, Charlie Taylor; how political actions of leaders have affected the stance of ranchers and farmers differently. She ends with discussing her current political beliefs and how cap and trade has impacted her.

In this interview Orville Nash discusses growing up outside Delview, Montana; the "Red Years" in the Outlook, Montana area, including the arrival of Mrs. Bill Hass and Mother Bloor; farm equipment auctions put on by the Holiday Association; communist conventions in Plentywood, Montana; communist cells in the area, including the communities of Chewlex, Raymond, and Dagmar, Montana; the funeral of Janis Salisbury; what he thinks pushes people to communism; bootlegging out of Canada and Scobey, Montana; the IWW's; the downfall of communism in the area and people's political beliefs/tendencies immediately following & throughout the decades including modern times; modern day communists in the area; the community during the Great Depression and the farming and ranching families' experiences during it; the non-partisan league; Elmer "Homing" Thompson; the John Birch Society; Mr. Nash's personal political beliefs & how he got them.

In this interview Bill Wagner discusses growing up in the Plentywood area during the 1920s and 1930s; the animosity between the communists & everyone else; offers a direct account of the funeral for Janis Salisbury (stood outside the Farmer Labor Temple); Sherif Rodney Salisbury; the IWW workers; the cases his father took as a lawyer; religion in the region; Dutch Henry; Charlie Taylor; why he believes people turned to communism; teacher Bernadine Logan; coal mining & mines in the area; experiences with Native Americans in the area & leasing reservation land.