Distinctly Montana Magazine

50 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 4 E VER SINCE HE WAS A CHILD, Dennis Borud was dif- ferent. One of six children raised near Williston, North Dakota, most of his siblings grew up to be realtors and insurance agents. But not him. From the very beginning, Dennis was what you'd consider an "old soul," entranced by a bygone era, one of the fur trade and military forts along the Missouri River. "My sister would ask, 'What's wrong with Dennis?'" he said. "I'd sleep in a teepee on a buffalo robe and shoot a flintlock rifle. They'd insist I was adopted, and my mom would say, 'No, he's one of us.'" As unusual as Dennis appeared to his siblings, it hasn't been hard for him to find kindred spirits along his journey, including some in the film industry. In 2021, as film productions began easing off some of the challenging COVID-19 restrictions, Dennis was hired by his friend and colleague Mark Brown to work as an armorer for the first season of Warm Springs Productions' Into the Wild Frontier, a docudrama directed by Paul Epstein. The show was filmed in several different locations along the Madison River here in Montana, mainly Waterloo, Ennis, and south of Norris. Each episode of the series focuses on a different notable fron- tiersman, including John Colter, Jim Bridger, Lewis and Clark, Kit Carson and Jedidiah Smith, among others. Dennis and the crew worked five days a week for six and a half weeks. It was constant, and meticulous. "Some days would be overwhelming," Dennis said, "espe- cially if I had a rifle that wouldn't ignite, usually because the Arming by CHARLIE DENISON • photos courtesy of DENNIS BORUD Dennis at his home in Lewistown with one of his own flintlocks that was used during Into the Wild Frontier

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