Butte and copper
Butte sat on what was called the richest hill on earth, with hundreds of mines and headframes crowding the city. Its copper mines made the Anaconda Company one of the most powerful corporations in the country, and the smelter at nearby Anaconda had one of the tallest smokestacks in the world. Real photos of Butte's mines, miners, headframes and crowded streets are among the most sought-after Montana cards. The Speculator Mine disaster of 1917 is a historically significant subject.
Ranches and cowboys
Cattle and sheep ranching spread across Montana in the late 1800s. Real photo postcards of roundups, branding, cowboys, chuck wagons, ranch houses and sheep camps are popular with Western collectors. Photographers such as L. A. Huffman, who worked in Miles City, documented the open range, and his images appeared on cards.
The homestead boom
Between about 1909 and 1918, an enlarged homestead act and railroad promotion brought a flood of settlers to eastern and central Montana. New towns sprang up along the railroad lines, and families posed in front of tar-paper shacks and sod houses. Drought in the late 1910s and early 1920s drove many of them out, and some towns nearly disappeared. Real photos of homesteads and new towns record this short, intense chapter.
Railroads
The Northern Pacific, the Great Northern and the Milwaukee Road crossed Montana, and the Milwaukee electrified its line across the mountains. Depots, bridges, roundhouses and electric locomotives appear on cards popular with railroad collectors.
Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park was established in 1910, and the Great Northern built lodges and chalets there to attract tourists. Early cards of the lodges, chalets, Going-to-the-Sun Road construction and Blackfeet people photographed for promotions are collected. See national park postcards.
Places and subjects to look for
- Butte and Anaconda: mines, headframes, the smelter and city streets.
- Helena: the capitol, Last Chance Gulch and early streets.
- Eastern Montana: Miles City, homestead towns and ranch country.
- The Hi-Line: railroad towns along the Great Northern.
- Western Montana: Missoula, logging and the Bitterroot Valley.
- Glacier: the park's lodges, chalets and early roads.
- Yellowstone gateways: Livingston, Gardiner and the park entrance.
Native American subjects
Montana is home to several reservations, and early postcards show people, encampments, celebrations and agency towns. Cards with identified people, places and photographers are historically important; some printed cards of the era reflect stereotypes and are studied as records of how Native people were portrayed.
Real photos versus printed views
Glacier Park scenery and later chrome tourist cards were printed in quantity. Real photos of mining, ranching, homesteads and small towns were made in small numbers and carry most of the value in a Montana collection.
What is common
Printed Glacier and Yellowstone scenery, the capitol and later chrome highway cards are plentiful.
Why early Montana cards are scarce
Montana had fewer than 400,000 people in 1910 and covered an enormous area. Photographers working in homestead towns, ranch country and mining camps often made only a few dozen copies of any view. Many of those towns have since faded, and their cards were scattered across the country as homesteaders moved on. A real photo of a Montana homestead town or ranch can be the only surviving image of that place.
Logging and the western valleys
Western Montana's forests supported logging camps and sawmills around Missoula, Bonner, Libby and the Flathead Valley, and the Big Burn of 1910 swept through the region. Real photos of logging crews, flumes and burned-over towns are collected, along with views of the orchards and small towns of the Bitterroot Valley, which were heavily promoted to settlers in the early 1900s.
Questions about Montana postcards
Are Butte mining postcards valuable? Real photos of mines, miners and streets are among the most collectible Montana cards.
Are Montana homestead postcards collectible? Yes, real photos of homesteads and new towns record a short and important era.
Are early Glacier Park postcards worth anything? Early views of the lodges, chalets and road construction are collected.
Do you buy collections with Montana cards? Yes, complete collections, by mail.