Distinctly Montana Magazine

56 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 2 3 ing men's clothes, and the articles included exaggerated claims of horsemanship, marksmanship, and of being an active partic- ipant as a scout in some of the Indian Wars. These fanned her persona to legendary levels amongst an Eastern populace hun- gry for the romanticized accounts of the "wild and free" West. Starting in 1878, the prolific dime novelist, Edward L. Wheeler, featured the character Calamity Jane as his heroine in his Dead- wood Dick stories of the time. In some stories, Calamity Jane is portrayed by Wheeler as Deadwood Dick's friend and lover, while in others they are adversaries. She is killed by the author at least twice and gives birth to a son. Her notoriety grew by leaps and bounds. By the time she returned to Montana, Martha had already become the legendary "Calamity Jane," virtually a household name by then. Martha was 40 when she returned to Montana semi-perma- nently in 1896, though she did make the occasional brief visit to the Treasure State. For example, while in Billings, she posed with soldiers called in to restore order during the Northern Pa- cific railroad strike of 1894. She had also spent a short time in Miles City. Whenever she showed up in Montana cities, the lo- cal newspaper was always keen to announce her presence and supposed past exploits. People knew when Calamity Jane was in town. She thrived on the attention and would often rely on her reputation to get free drinks in exchange for sharing color- ful stories about her past. Before returning to Deadwood in 1901, Calamity Jane split most of her Montana time between Billings and Livingston. However, she was never in one place for very long; in between her stints in those two cities, she bounced around many Mon- tana towns. The railroad had now matured, opening up easy ac- cess to many communities. From Billings, she, her husband at that time, Clinton Burke, and daughter, Jesse (born 1887), hopscotched through the Mon- tana towns of Livingston, Helena, Anaconda Deer Lodge, Castle City and Judith Basin. She would of- ten use her fame to solicit free passage. Castle City is now a ghost town, but in November of 1896 it was a bustling silver mining town of about 2,000. Martha and her husband opened up a restau- rant and Jesse attended school there. However, as was typical of Martha's entrepreneurial exploits, it wasn't long before there were problems and it was time to move on. In late November of that year, the local newspaper, the Castle Whole Truth, reported that Martha and her husband were arrested on the charge of "absconding debtors." They were soon re- leased and headed out of town (again). Most of the time, when Martha did secure work, it was usually in menial tasks: she worked as a washer- woman, and sometimes as a cook. These jobs provided but mea- ger wages. However, Martha's main source of income during SHE WAS DESCRIBED AS WEARING MEN'S CL OTHES, AND ARTICLES INCLUDED EXAGGERATED CLAIMS OF HORSEMANSHIP, MARKSMANSHIP, AND FANNED HER PERSONA TO LEGENDARY LEVELS AMONGST AN EASTERN POPULACE HUNGRY FOR THE ROMANTICIZED ACCOUNTS OF THE "WILD AND FREE" WEST. Cover of Martha's autobiography pamphlet that she sold to tourists as a source of income

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