Wednesday 3 June 2009

Tuesday 2nd June 2009 – Gunfight at the Valley County Museum

The respectable ladies of the Pioneer Museum of Valley County invited me round for a viewing.  They have everything from an original Assiniboine war bonnet to a T33 jet trainer.  And a whole set of respectable ladies: what more could a man desire?  Well, how about the railroad going through Glasgow?  Yes, they could do that.  And some stuff about the telegraph?  Yes, that, too. 

But the piece-de-resistence for me was the western saloon they had hidden up the back: full sized.  "go on", I said, "you go up that end and slide the glass towards me.  Right: now come through the swing doors and call me out".

"You talkin' to me?"

I've got my Stetson.  I'm losing the battle in my head against buying boots.  Now I can see I need leather chaps and a waistcoat.  Perhaps before I leave Montana I will see the wisdom of a gun.

 

Actually, it was a very civilised museum.  To commemorate the Air Force Base, which was, originally, an Air Defence (fighter) base, they had a full-sized jet fighter trainer outside.  Strategic Air Command was not represented, but a dirty great B52 might have been a bit much.

They had a lot of stuff about the Railroad, and the naming of the town, but nothing that clarified the issue.  The truth, if it exists in documented form at all, will be found in the archives of the St Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad company records back in St Paul Minnesota.

The natural history section boasted an original Charles Russell watercolour (the wildlife park round the Fort Peck Lake is named for him).  It involved a complicated joke about Shakespeare plays, and had belonged lo a local lady involved in the original joke.

I was shown round by the President of the Museum, who had a great interest in, and knowledge of, the artefacts of the local native tribes.  It was she who told me the blood-thirsty history of the war bonnet.

I, myself, was much taken by the telegraph morse keys.  I wanted to listen to the President on her favourite subject: after all, she had been kind enough to play the Lady Known as Lou to my Dangerous Dan Magrew.  But I couldn't help the sidelong glances at the telegraph keys.  One, in particular, was not the 'press-release' type we all see in films, but the slick, fast, thumb-operated side-to-side kind used by the fastest operators.  I have been having a look on the internet, and it occurs to me that it might actually be an original vibroflex, which one website claimed would be quite valuable now.

Question is: should I go back and get them to check it out, or will that reveal that I wasn't paying the best of attention?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you do decide to become a saloon-bar, gun-toting, brawler-spoiler you will also need a tin star and will have to decide whether you want to emulate Marshall Will Kane (High Noon) or Marshall Kenneth Moore (The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw). The decision will depend on your taste in women: Grace Kelly or Jane Mansfield!

Anonymous said...

OOOOOOH I think he is much the Grace Kelly type! But that Stetson - Now squished out of shape - looks more like a ruffian, than a Marshall. Rain to drain - Bah! Use an umbrella! Don't ruin a fine hat.