HomeMy WebLinkAboutMT Cities & Towns Winter 2002MONTANA AND TOWNS
Published by Montana League of Cities and Towns Winter 2002 Issue No. 259
A Main Street Program for Montana
In a 1996 article in Governing Magazine, Alan
Ehrenhalt wrote, "Beyond The forces of
demographics and entrepreneurship....there is one
common presence in most recovering towns, and
that is the Main Street Program".
~ Back~round
The National Trust for Historic Preservation started
the Main Street Program in 1980, and since that
time this innovative restoration and development
strategy has produced phenomenal results. Up until
now, 40 states have worked Main Street into their
economic development plans. More than 1,500
cities and towns have taken advantage of the
historic preservation, marketing and economic
restructuring strategies to revitalize their central
business districts. These programs have generated
more than $12 billion in new investment. They
have added 51,000 businesses to local economies
and created 193,000 new jobs. The National Trust
estimates that Main Street leverages $38.34 in new
investment for every dollar spent, which makes it
one of the most successful economic development
strategies in America.
Montana is one of only 10 states that have not
established a Main Street Program.
Proposal
The League of Cities and Towns is proposing to
establish a statewide Main Street Program in
Montana. The intent is to fund the program with
grants and possibly public and private contributions.
The League of Cities would provide office space,
administrative and clerical services, equipment,
supplies and other support, which will significantly
reduce operating costs.
Cities and towns have understood the advantages of
the Main Street strategy for many years. They have
supported unsuccessful attempts in recent sessions
of the Legislature to establish a Main Street
Program in the Department of Commerce or
Historical Society. They realize that funding for a
new state program is not realistic in the context of
the current budget crisis, and they are determined to
br/ng Main Street to Montana without a Legislative
appropriation.
Funding will be limited, and in this situation, the
University System, state agencies, local
governments and businesses will be asked to
volunteer time and talent to meet some of these
technical assistance requirements. Main Street
programs in Montana cities and towns could
provide practical experience and challenges for
University students in a wide variety of fields,
including architecture, design, business
administration, finance, economics and even
history.
The need for volunteer assistance will depend on
the amount of grant funding that is available for this
program, but the members of the Advisory
Committee are also interested in building new
partnerships and involving a variety of interests in
the redevelopment of Montana's historic cities and
towns.
An advisory committee has been appointed to guide
the development and implementation of the
program in Montana. Representatives of state
agencies, the Legislature, University System and
business may be added to the Advisory Committee
as the program moves forward. (continued pg 9)
Missoula Mayor Elected League President
Mayor Mike Kadas of Missoula was elected
President of the Montana League of Cities and
Towns at the municipal association's 71st Annual
Conference October 11 in Butte. Mayor Kadas has
served three years as a vice president of the League.
He was also chairman of the Resolutions
Committee that worked over the past several
months to put together the policies and positions
cities and towns will support in the 2003
Legislature.
Kadas was reelected as Mayor of Missoula in 2001.
He served 14 years as a member of the Montana
House of Representatives, where he was recognized
for his understanding of economic of finance policy
and for his commitment to local government.
In remarks following his election, Kadas talked
about the changes that are occurring in the Montana
economy and emphasized the importance of local
governments in sustaining existing businesses and
promoting new development.
Delegates also elected the following slate of officers:
1 st Vice President, Mayor Larry Bondemd, Shelby
2nd Vice President, Mayor Chuck Tooley, Billings
3rd Vice President, Councilman Duane Larson, Kalispell
Secretary-Treasurer, Commission Clerk Robin Sullivan,
Bozeman.
ASSOCIATE MEMBER
Consulting Engineers
Structures---Airports, Dams & Bridges
Surveying~ Geotechnical
Highway, Roads~ Streets & Drainage
Sewers & Sewage Treatment
Solid & Hazardous Waste Disposal
Water Supply, Distribution & Treatment
Recreation Planning--Subdivisions
Great Falls, MT Bozeman, MT Kalispell, MT
, (406) 656~J399 (406) 586-0277 (406) 752-5245
Spokane, WA Lewiston, ID
(509) 622-2888 (208) 748-0938
(Left to right- Mayor Chuck Tooley, Mayor Larry Bonderud,
Commission Clerk Robin Sullivan, Mayor Mike Kadas, Councilman
Duane Larson)
Hometown Hospitality
Nearly 340 municipal leaders, spouses, exhibitors
and business associates from across Montana
attended the 71st Annual Conference of the League
of Cities and Towns October 10-11 in Butte.
The business program included a Keynote Address
by former Congressman Pat Williams and
presentations on a proposed municipal health
insurance pool, Montana economic trends, state
transfer payments, local government court
decisions, Legislative redistricting, local option
taxes, competitive bidding, downtown revitalization
and the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial.
2
The agenda also included special programs for
Clerks, Treasurers and Finance Officers, public
works staff, the Municipal Insurance Authority and
a continuing education seminar sponsored by the
City Attorney's Association.
The 2003 Conference will be held October 1-3 at
the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Billings. **
The $90 million Question
The Martz Administration has offered a budget to
the 2003 Legislature that is precariously balanced
on spending cuts and the risky business of
persuading three-fourths of the members of both the
House and Senate to approve the transfer of more
than $90 million from the hallowed Coal Tax Trust
Fund. Initial reaction to the proposal has been
polite. Republican and Democratic leaders have
agreed to consider the Governor's
recommendations, but they will also be looking at a
wide range of other possibilities, including tax
increases.
The budget makes recommendations on two issues
of particular interest to local govemments.
It provides full funding for the entitlement share
payments and growth adjustments the Legislature
committed to when it passed the "Big Bill" (HB-
124) in 2001. Payments to cities will be $43.07
million this fiscal year. In the executive budget,
they should be set at $44.53 million next year and
$45.99 million in FY-05. This is an increase of
6.7% for the two-year budget cycle. It was
calculated in accordance with the HB-124 formula,
that bases the growth rate on 70% of the four-year
average increase in gross state product and personal
income. The growth rate for next year will decline
from 3.38% to 3.30% because of the deteriorating
economic conditions. It may drop even lower as the
years in the current down cycle factor into the
formula.
The intent, from the beginning of the discussion of
the entitlement program, was to hook local
government transfers to the performance of the state
economy. In difficult times, like the current flat
patch, growth rates will decline. They will trend up
as conditions improve which means that local
governments have a clear stake and a compelling
interest in the good and bad times that cycle through
the Montana economy like the seasons of the year.
The executive budget also recommends moving
$8.48-million from the Treasure State Endowment
Program to a school facilities construction account
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in the general fund. If the Legislature accepts this
proposal, it will reduce grant funding and the
number of projects by more than half over the next
two years. The Department of Commerce estimated
that 40 of 55 grant applications would be approved.
This number could be cut to less than 20 if the
Governor's proposal is accepted. In this situation,
Treasure State grants for projects in Geraldine,
Wolf Point, Ryegate, Libby, Jordan and Ekalaka
could be lost for at least two years. Other projects
higher up on the list could also be threatened if the
Legislature monkeys with the ranking index.
At this time, the executive budget is not much more
than a set of plans to fill a $200 million hole in the
state general fund. This is just the beginning. It is
the place where the discussions and decisions will
start, but the numbers will not be final until the
Legislature finishes its business sometime in April.
The executive budget will be $93 million in the hole
if the Legislature does not approve the proposed
transfer of money from the Coal Tax Trust Fund. It
will be almost impossible to cover this deficit with
additional spending cuts, because the general fund
has been knocked down to nearly subsistence levels
by executive orders and a special session of the
Legislature. In this situation, the Legislature will
be forced to consider tax increases, and tobacco,
lodging and rental cars appear to be the most likely
target.
The disagreement over fund transfers and tax
adjustments will be the line in the sand, and all the
budget issues, including the Entitlement and
Treasure State Programs, will hang on the answer to
the $90 million question.**
2,000 Things that People Didn't Know Were
Wrong in Montana
Those who should know estimate that nearly 2,000
bills and resolutions will be introduced in 2003
Legislature. Each of these bills is offered as the
solution to a real or perceived problem, which
suggests that there is a lot more wrong in Montana
than a stagnant economy and a state budget deficit.
Many of the bills that have been requested would
fall under the general category of taxes and finance.
There are measures that would cut, boost, shift,
equalize, disperse or otherwise modify the tax
obligations of individuals, corporations,
partnerships and any other economic units that are
not protected by time, distance and the Interstate
Commerce Clause. Other bills would transfer
money from one stash to another in an attempt to
balance the budget in the same way that people
move assets fi'om their savings to checking account
when they don't have "walking around money".
Numerous bills have been introduced to readjust
utility deregulation and state energy policy. These
are center ring issues for the fourth consecutive
session of the Legislature, and nothing that has been
suggested in all of this time is any better than the
regulated monopoly system that operated in
Montana for almost a century.
There are numerous proposals of particular interest
to cities and towns. They include three variations
on local option tax authority, restrictions on
annexation, a replay of the building code
controversy, preemption of local control of indoor
air quality, limits on eminent domain, new
requirements on competitive bidding and the usual
odd assortment of planning, zoning and land use
measures.
By the second week of December, 1,670 bills had
been requested, which is about 80% of the number
that will be introduced. The list, at this time, does
not look like a battle plan for the destruction of
local government authority, but it does include a lot
of worn out and persistently bad ideas that remm
from the dead every two years like zombies.
The soothsayers in Helena are predicting a winter of
bitter division and dispute. There are obvious
&sagreements over reapportionment, the coal tax
trust fund, revenue increases and budget cuts. At
the same time, there is an understanding that
cooperation across party lines and between the
branches of government will be required to write a
budget that is not a political document but a
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practical plan to maintain the necessary business of
government during a difficult economic cycle.
The general policy statement approved by League
members at the annual conference in Butte was
intended to account for all of the "there ought to be
a law" concepts that I50 Senators and
Representatives can come up with when they are
locked in a building for 90 days in the dead of
winter. This policy was broad for a reason, because
it provides clear direction on every bill dealing with
local government that has been requested for
introduction.
Resolution #1
General Policy
The Lbague has represented cities and towns in
Montana for more than 70 years. During this time
the municipal association has worked to promote
the following principles of effective local
government:
a. the financial stability of cities and towns
b. diversification of the local tax base
c. increased recognition of the importance ora
financial partnership between the state and
local governments
d. grant and loan assistance for capital projects
e. the authority of local voters and their elected
representatives to decide e/ty issues
f. protection from state imposed mandates
g. policies to promote community and
economic development
h. effective working agreements between the
state and local governments
i. understanding of the contributions of cities
and towns to the culture and history of
Montana and importance of local
government to the economic future of the
state
Be it resolved that the Officers, Directors and staff
will follow these general principles to determine the
position of the League on all measures affecting
municipal government that are introduced in the
2003 Legislature.
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Resolution #2
Entitlement Share Program
House Bill 124, approved by the 2001 Legislature,
completely revised the collection and distribution of
state and local government revenues. Under this
measure, gambling, beer, wine, liquor, motor
vehicle and financial institutions tax revenues were
transferred from local accounts to the state general
fund. The Legislature committed to replace these
revenues with Entitlement Share Payments that
covered actual losses and provided an annual
growth adjustment based on personal income and
gross state product. This adjustment, which will be
3% this fiscal year, was included because the
revenues that were transferred to the state were
projected to grow by similar rates over time. The
Legislature should also recognize that HB-124
boosted state revenues by nearly $10 million in the
last biennium, and that the positive margin between
general fund deposits and disbursements will
continue beyond 2005.
Entitlement payments were made on time and in the
correct amounts throughout FY-02, but installments
in subsequent years could be threatened by the state
budget crisis. Analysts estimate that the Legislature
could be dealing with a general fund deficit of $250
million or more when it convenes in January. In
this situation, no program is safe and no promise is
sacred.
Be it resolved that the League will put together and
carry out a political and communications strategy to
assure that entitlement share payments are made in
accordance with the 2001 law. In addition, the
lobbying staff will work with members of the
Legislature, under the direction of the Executive
Committee, to identify and promote alternative
revenues if additional taxes or fund transfers are a
condition of maintaining the entitlement program.
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Resolution #3
Local Tax Options
The Governor has appointed adv/sory committees to
work on a tax reform package that includes the
following elements:
a. a general revision and 10% reduction in
state income capital gains taxes
b. a statewide 3% tax on goods and services
geared to the tourist economy to pay for
reduced income and capital gains
collections
c. voter approved local option authority of 2%
or 3% on the same goods and services
covered by the state tourist tax.
Cities and towns have worked for more than 20
years to develop and promote a local option tax
authority. The results have been generally
disappointing, but somehow the lights came on in
Helena, because there is a new appreciation of the
logic of shitSing some of the tax load to non-
residents.
Be it resolved that the League will support local
option authority as part of the administration's
reform package or as separate legislation based on
the 2001 bill that would have authorized voter
approval of a 4% city or county tourist tax and
reg/onal distribution of revenues collected in
designated trade centers.
As a final alternative, the League will support
measures to allow additional cities to take
advantage of the proven benefits of the resort tax.
Resolution #4
State Budget Deficit
The Legislature adjourned in April of 2001, with
the expectation of a $116-million state budget
surplus. Through the winter and into the summer
months, revenues, particularly income and capital
gains taxes, declined sharply, and the Governor was
forced to call a special session of the Legislature to
cover a $57-million deficit. The budget was
balanced through a combination of fund transfers
and spending reductions. The obvious and easiest
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adjustments have been made, and if the Legislature
is walking into a $250~million deficit, as projected,
the cuts will be broad and deep. Very few programs
and services will be exempt from the ax, and the
Legislature will be forced to consider tax increases
and fund transfers as an alternative to spending
reductions.
The list of possible revenue options includes but is
not limited to:
a. surcharges and other income tax adjustments
b. general and selective sales taxes
c. transfers from the coal tax trust fund and
other accounts
d. business equipment tax rates.
Be it resolved that the League will consult with the
Officers and Directors to determine the munic/pal
position on revenue options that may be offered
during the 2003 Legislature to balance the state
budget and fund local government programs.
Resolution #5
Land Use and Property
In recent sessions of the Legislature, there has been
a continuing conflict between public purposes and
private property rights on a broad index of issues
ranging from annexation to zoning. In 2001,
worked to defeat or amend bills that would have
limited their authority to annex unincorporated
areas, collect impact fees, regulate rental property,
or take any land use action without submitting a
complicated statement of legaI authority. Cities
also filed suit challenging the constitutionality of a
2001 bill that essentially eliminated the extended
jurisdiction of municipal building inspectors.
It is likely that similar measures to restrict local
government authority in the areas of land use and
property will be introduced in the 2003 Legislature.
Be it resolved that the League will oppose all
measures that impose unacceptable restrictions or
conditions on municipal authority to:
a. annex unincorporated areas
b. collect impact fees
c. conduct planning and zoning
d. regulate subdivisions and other development
e. enforce building codes.
In addition, the League will continue to work with
builders, developers and other interests to identify
mutually acceptable solutions to conflicts over land
use regulations.
Resolution #6
Operations and Management
In recent sessions of the Legislature, numerous bills
have been introduced that would have replaced
local authority with state control over decisions that
are the legitimate and necessary responsibility of
municipal government. These measures contradict
the intent of the Local Government Article of the
1972 Montana Constitution and add to the costs and
complications of operating and managing cities and
towns.
Be it resolved that the League will oppose any bills
that limit the authority of cities and towns to:
a. manage construction projects and maintain
improvements
b. operate water, sewer and solid waste
systems and provide other municipal
services
c. conduct elections
d. maintain public health and safety and
general welfare
e. regulate indoor air quality
f. maintain local control of ail areas of
operations and management that are not
denied or subject to Legislative delegation
under Chapter 7 Title 1, Parts I 11 - 115
g. provide employee benefits.
Resolution #7
Statewide Main Street Program
The Main Street Program sponsored by the
National Trust for Historic Preservation has sparked
small town economic revivals in many states across
the country, and offers the same promise in
Montana.
Members of the League understand the potential of
this program and have expressed interest in
identifying a method of funding a program in
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Montana that does not rely solely on a Legislative
appropriation.
Be it resolved that the membership supports the
efforts of the officers, directors and staff to obtain
grant financing to operate a Main Street Program
through the League of Cities and Towns.
Resolution #8
Treasure State Endowment Program
More than $15 million will be available in the next
two years through the Treasure State Endowment
Program to fund water and sewer projects and other
capital !mprovements across the state. The trust
account currently holds about $125-million, and this
balance will grow by $12 million a year until it is
capped at $200-million. The investment earnings
on the trust will fund community improvements
indefinitely, and it is v/tally important that the
Legislature continue deposits to this account in
accordance with the law approved by public vote
more than 10 years ago.
Be it resolved that the League will oppose any bill
that would divert deposits of coal tax revenues from
the Treasure State Endowment. In addition, the
League will work to assure that the allocation of
hinds is made in accordance with the statute.
Resolution #9
Clarification and Cleanup
Be it resolved that the League will support
Legislation introduced at the request of member
cities and towns to accomplish the following
purposes:
a. eliminating the second mail notice and
protest provisions on resolutions for levying
S.I.D. assessments
b. cleanup of the law relating to S.I.D.
assessment resolutions
c. setting a statute of limitations for legal
challenges to the creations of S.I.D.s
d. eliminating the requirement that the results
of firefighter physical exams be filed with
the city clerk
e. capping the costs or requiring payment fi.om
the Victims of Crime Fund for medical
evidence
f. repealing the law (61-13-103) that bars the
failure to wear seatbelts as admissible
evidence in tort liability thais
g. (repealed)
h. allow governments to place liens on
insurance settlements to cover demolition,
cleanup and other costs.
Paying for the Privilege of Talking to Your
Representatives
In October, the Commissioner of Political Practices
issued a ruling that would have required elected and
appointed local government officers to register and
pay $150 for the privilege of discussing city and
town business with the members of the Legislature.
This ruling, based on a new interpretation of an old
law, would have applied to any local officer or
employee whose total lobbying expenses, including
travel and normal salary, were more than $1,000.
There was an angry reaction to this ruling fi.om
across the state, and the Commissioner has issued
new guidelines in anticipation of the passage of a
law intended to exempt elected local government
officers from lobbying requirements. Elected
officials who expect to have more than $1,000 in
lobbying expenses will be required to register, but
the $150 fee will not be due until March by which
time the exemption law should be in effect. City
employees will be required to register and pay the
fees but the League is hoping to persuade the
Legislature to approve a broader exemption that
would apply to Managers, Clerks, Public Works
Directors, Police Chiefs and other munic/pal
officers. If this law is approved, it is likely the
lobbying fees will be refunded.
Lobbyist Registration Forms are available on the
Intemet from the office of the Commissioner of
Political Practices, which is listed under Agencies
on the state website at discoveringmontana, com. **
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League Takes First Step Toward Health
Insurance Program
Greg Trout, an insurance consultant fi-om
Sacramento, will meet with the Board of Directors
of the League of Cities and Towns in January to
discuss the possibility of putting together a
municipal health insurance pool in Montana.
Trout was instrumental in the development of the
Montana Municipal Insurance Authority. He has
broad experience in most fields of insurance and is
currently working with public agencies in California
to develop health care programs.
The League has also talked to the Association of
Counties and some of the members of both
organizations about developing a joint health
insurance program.
Health insurance costs, driven by market conditions
and loss experience, have increased sharply in
recent years. The higher premiums are pressuring
municipal budgets and limiting coverage for
employees and their families. Under these
conditions, the Board of Directors believes it is
essential to look at alternatives to current insurance
programs to determine if a city-county pool or some
other arrangement will work to stabilize premium
rates. **
need for program services and the potential to
succeed.
Conclusion
This proposal is rooted in an appreciation of the
potential of a Main Street Program to preserve the
history of our state, to create jobs and investment
opportunities in cities and towns and to apply new
but proven ideas to economic development policy.
It is also motivated by the need to put this program
to work in Montana without having to wait for a
more positive state budget cycle and Legislative
approval no sooner than 2005. **
fiND T CNNOLOG
INNOVI TIV
fiND
SOLUTIONS
(main street continued fi.om pg 1)
~ Operations
This proposal will depend on grants and
contributions in the beginning, but cities will work
to identify a stable source of funding for future
operations. If financing can be secured, the
committee will retain a director with a background
in community development to manage the Program.
Once Main Street is established, the committee will
select cities and towns to begin the preservation and
redevelopment of their central business districts.
The selection will be based on competitive
proposals under guidelines established by the
National Trust. Applicants would be required to
demonstrate community support for Main Street, a
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Should your
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meaning of Initiative 105. This law made it
possible for cities, towns and counties to operate
under a ballot measure that was unworkable as
adopted by the voters.
He was elected Third Vice President of the League
of Cities and Towns in 1999, and has worked
diligently in the last two sessions of the Legislature
to support cities and towns across the state. Kadas
was also Chairman of the Electric and Gas Alliance,
the parmership of local governments and businesses
that attempted to acquire the transmission and
distribution assets that were offered for sale in 2000
by the Montana Power Company.**
President Mike Kadas - 20 Years of Service
The Missoula City Council appointed Mike Kadas
as Mayor in 1996 to replace Dan Kemmis who had
resigned to take a position with the University of
Montana. Kadas ran a successful campaign for
Mayor in 1997 and was reelected for another term
last year.
Kadas served 14 years in Legislature as a
representative of Missoula. During that time, he
was recognized for his understanding of tax policy,
educational funding and other finance issues. In
1987, he sponsored the bill that clarified the
Hometown Montana - Fort Benton
The story of the development, failure and recovery
of Fort Benton is really the journal of all of
Montana. The history of the city begins w/th the
Lewis and Clark Expedition and tums the pages
through the fur trade, gold rush, Indian wars,
coming of the railroad, land boom, dry years, Great
Depression and long wait for a new beginning. The
threads of a classic western adventure are also
woven into the story of Fort Benton. There are tales
of mystery, romance, bootleg whiskey, foolish luck
and disastrous misfortune.
The Lewis Clark Expedition opened the lands of the
Louisiana Purchase to settlement, but few whites
reached the Upper Missouri in the early days
because of the long and difficult journey and the
fierce resistance of the Blackfoot Confederation.
In 1833, the first steamboat arrived in the vicinity
of Fort Benton, after a long, difficult and dangerous
journey from St. Louis. A few years later, the
American Fur Company built a trading post on the
north side of the River, and named it after Senator
Thomas Hart Benton. It seems the Missouri
Senator had salvaged the company's license after
traders had been accused of smuggling whiskey in
violation of federal law.
Fort Benton, located more than 3,700 miles from
the Gulf of Mexico, was the innermost port in the
country, and it quickly became the commercial
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center of the fur trade on the Upper Missouri.
Steamers loaded with trade goods made the journey
up the river in the spring and summer months and
returned to St. Louis loaded with buffalo robes and
other furs.
River commerce was the principal method of
supplying the mining camps that came to life during
the Montana gold rush of the 1860's. Supplies
unloaded at Fort Benton were shipped to Helena
and other camps by wagon over the Mullan Road
that ran east to the Continental Divide and over the
mountains into Washington connecting the heads of
navigation on the Missouri and Columbia Rivers.
The going rate on freight coming up the river from
St. Louis was 12 cents a pound. It was another 6
cents to move it overland to the mining camps.
These were boom times in Fort Benton. The Sioux
under Chief Red Cloud had closed the Bozeman
Trail, which was the only other route into Montana
from the East. The Great Northern had reached
Bismarck and freight could be moved upriver from
the railhead to Fort Benton in two to three weeks.
The demand for trade goods in the mining camps
and other Montana settlements stretched the
primitive transportation system to the limit and high
profits were returned on everything that was
delivered.
In the 1860's, 10,000 miners came to Montana
through Fort Benton and as many as 150 steamboats
made the trip up the river in the good years. The
Indian wars ended in 1876, and business continued
to boom, as Fort Benton was firmly established as
the commercial center of Montana and a vast and
rapidly developing region that stretched north into
Alberta.
In 1882, the Grand Union Hotel was built in Fort
Benton. It was a perfect sign of the times. It was
modem, extravagant and blindly ambitious. It
confirmed Fort Benton's position as the mercantile
capital of Montana.
Then came the railroads. In 1887, the Great
Northern reached across the prairies from North
Dakota into Montana. In this final drive up the
Missouri, crews laid 570 miles of track between
Minot and Great Falls in less than 6 months. The
driving of the golden spike, generously celebrated
in Fort Benton, was the nail in the coffin of the river
trade. The last steamboat, as much beyond its time
as a fire-breathing dragon, docked at Fort Benton in
1890.
Fort Benton and Chouteau County boomed up again
during the Homestead Days as thousands of hopeful
farmers flooded into the northern prairies on the
guarantee of free land and the promise that "things
really would grow in Montana". The good times
were sustained by high grain prices and favorable
weather through the years of the First World War.
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Dry land farmers throughout the prairie states
suffered devastating during the 1920s. The markets
and the weather went the wrong way at the same
time. Prices collapsed, crops dried up, families
were driven off the land, banks failed and other
businesses shutdown. The tough times in the
agricultural economy lasted through the depression,
but slowly and persistently Fort Benton started back
on a new road to a more secure and predictable
future.
New dry land fanning methods and price
stabilization policies took some of the jagged edges
out of the cycles in the agricultural economy. The
dreams of many of the homesteaders blew away in
the dry wind, but agriculture is still the fulcrum of
the local economy and Chouteau County is one of
the most productive grain growing regions in the
entire country.
Fort Benton has tamed back again toward the fiver
by recognizing the unlimited tourism and
recreational potential of the Upper Missouri and a
vast region that has not changed much since Lewis
and Clark passed this way.
Civic groups are working to rebuild old Fort
Benton, returning the historic post to the way it was
when the fiver trade flourished. As a sure sign of
the new times -- careful realistic but still hopeful --
the Grand Union Hotel has been restored, which
may be Fort Benton's way of saying better times are
out there, just beyond the bend in the river.
Fort Benton is recognized as the "Birth Place of
Montana". It is a National Historic Landmark and
will be one of the featured attractions for the Lewis
and Clark Bicentennial Celebration. In the glory
days, Front Street along the Fort Benton levee was
known as the "Toughest Mile in the West", and this
is a designation that means something in Montana.
It all came together - economics, geography and
circumstance - a long time ago in Fort Benton.
There is no reason that this combination cannot
dick again, probably sooner than later.**
A Real Montana Winter
The winter of 1887-88 was probably the deadliest
and most destructive in Montana history. An early
snow was followed by a thaw} and then bitter cold
and heavy snow. Cattle couldn't break through the
snow and ice to get to grass. Entire herds were
wiped out, and Charlie Russell's drawing of an
emaciated steer, "The Last of Ten Thousand" is a
graphically haunting memory of that terrible year.
A sense of humor, particularly about the weather, is
a condition of survival in Montana. Old timers
around Fort Benton remembered that it was "so cold
that winter, the saloons sold whiskey by the square
foot".
Montana League of Cities & Towns
PO Box 1704
Helena, MT 59624
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