In many small towns across Montana, the local bar is also the only restaurant and is an important part of community life. In larger towns and cities, gems from Montana’s Wild West past are still found. This book celebrates the quirky, unusual, and downright fun and entertaining saloons across the state. Montana Watering Holes features more than fifty of the best spots to stop for a drink (or a burger) scattered across Montana. From big-city spots like the Rhino in Missoula (with its 150 beers on tap) to the famous cheeseburgers at the bar in Pony (pop. 50), community spirit and tradition abound in the nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century buildings that have served as saloons, restaurants, and gathering places throughout the Treasure State. This book describes the best of the best, offering geographic diversity, anecdotes, and sidebars on local characters from the past. It is illustrated with archival and contemporary black-and-white photographs.

As a young child, author Paul Snyder became intrigued with his local establishment’s large ornate backbar. This led him to delve further into researching backbars, the backbone of Montana’s historic watering holes, their history, artistic woodwork, and the bars they graced. He felt compelled to capture as much history—and many photographs—as possible of the backbars remaining. These backbars influenced and are part of the development of Montana even before it became a state. They remain a combination of mystery and history in the transformation of Montana into statehood. This book takes a close look at these beautiful, often overlooked, silent witnesses to Montana’s history.

Montana Watering Holes features more than fifty of the best spots to stop for a drink (or a burger) scattered across Montana. A celebration of the quirky, classic, and downright fun bars and saloons across Big Sky Country, from the Yaak to Ekalaka.

Now, nearly 50 years after the first book, Mountain Press is releasing this completely revised full-color second edition that, like so many things in Montana, is big. But consider this: no other place in the world has such amazingly diverse and well-exposed rocks with such dramatic stories.

From world famous waters like the Madison, Missouri, and Yellowstone Rivers to local favorites like the Beaverhead, Big Hole, and Gallatin Rivers, these incredibly comprehensive maps will lead you to the best fishing Montana has to offer. Official access sites are clearly marked including GPS coordinants, along with boat ramps, campgrounds, and roads and trails that allow additional access to every stream. River miles, public and private land, and a wealth of other useful information for anglers is also included. Book jacket.

Men flooded to the Montana frontier for gold, furs, rich land, and jobs. Women followed, but their options were more limited. Here are stories of women who made a desperate choice, turning the law of supply and demand to their advantage. Many eked out a meager but independent existience; grit and business acumen brought remarkable wealth and influence—even respectability—to a few. From Alzada to Yaak, these enterprising women shaped Montana communities, in some cases helping to fund social programs and public education.