Distinctly Montana Magazine

64 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 4 - 2 5 ment claimed to have sufficient resources for the education of workers' families, when they clearly did not have the capacity to house all these families. Parents, business owners, and social clubs were instrumental in raising funds for building schools in Wheeler, Midway, and Wilson. Valley County's school superintendent and Montana's state superintendent advocated for support of the boomtown schools, and the War Department eventually sold five govern- ment buildings to Valley County for use as schoolhouses. Valley County turned around and sold the buildings to Parkdale, Mid- way, New Deal, Wheeler, and Park Grove. THE WILD WEST OR PLEASANTVILLE, AMERICA? Perhaps the most interesting thing about the history of Fort Peck boomtowns are the competing narratives about what life was really like in these communities. In 1936, famed pho- tojournalist Margaret Bourke-White traveled to Fort Peck to document everyday scenes from the dam site; her story made the first cover of Life magazine that November. Bourke-White captured views of the dam itself, but also made her way into the boomtowns, where she photographed people going about their daily lives: going to work, doing house chores, hanging out at the bars. There were lots of photos of people in bars, including the infamous taxi dancers, women who rented out their time for dances and drinks. The Glasgow Courier and Fort Peck Press published several ed- itorials decrying the sensational nature of the article. Citizens criticized the photographer's focus on bars, hotels, and drinking culture, aptly pointing out that Bourke-White had dedicated al- most no space to portrayal of churches, schools, bridge clubs, and G-rated community dances. Bourke-White did not portray at all the communal support systems that developed in the boom- towns, especially when workers were laid off by the thousands each winter. People shared food with their neighbors when the latter couldn't afford it, and churches stepped in to help as well. The local papers dismissed Bourke-White's article as an unfair and opportunistic exposé. Some written histories of Fort Peck Dam continue to propagate this interpretation of the Life arti- cle, overlooking the historical value of what Bourke-White did capture for the sake of upholding a moral position. The truth, of course, is that life in the boomtowns was a mix of the wholesome FORT PECK DAM THE TRUTH, OF COURSE, IS THAT LIFE IN THE BOOMTOWNS WAS A MIX OF THE WHOLESOME AND OF THE RISQUÉ, OF FAMILIES BUILDING LIVES FOR THEMSELVES WHILE CRIMINALS MADE THEIR OWN LUCK HAPPEN JUST DOWN THE STREET. NATALIYA DICK

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