Distinctly Montana Magazine

51 w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m on the Blackfoot River. Popular local bands performed on one shore. Crowds listened from the other. Of the thousands of at- tendants, half or more were swimming, nude, or both. The free event entailed three rules: "Leave your troubles at home. Bring as much fun as you can. Remember where your clothes are." Of the people on county attorney Pinsoneault's list, two pre- sumed entries are Cynthia and Daniel Eggink. The Egginks were no weekend hippies. They came directly from Haight-Ash- bury to Missoula County to "take back the land." Cynthia Eggink was an independently wealthy artist, dying of a brain tumor when she, with her husband Daniel, purchased a huge rural parcel on Donovan Creek, 15 miles from Missoula. Daniel had stuck out in Haight-Ashbury as one of the first hippies to shave his head like a Zen monk. His spiritual beliefs combined Buddhism and Christianity, and he reportedly endorsed a "mac- robiotic" diet consisting of nothing but brown rice. He came to Montana on California probation after a marijuana possession charge. He obtained permission to move under the condition that he report to the Missoula probation office and could not leave the county. At the Egginks' Donovan Creek commune, the "Native American Academy," everyone was, sup- posedly, naked and armed to the teeth with guns. The neighbors grew concerned—especial- ly when reports circulated that the Egginks planned to invite hundreds of other hippies to live at their colony. They were rumored to have a television deal and planned to book a Woodstock-style festival on their proper- ty. Shown on TV, it would attract legions of new denizens. Less than a month after the deputy coun- ty attorney met with 20 or so neighbors to hear their perturbations about the com- mune, 30 officers raided the Academy and arrested eight dwellers, aged 18 to 25, for possession of mari- juana. The sheriff's department confiscated guns as well as pot. Daniel and Cynthia had been arrested the day before. Dan- iel got caught violating his probation, traveling to Bozeman to inquire about growing pot legally. He had to appear at the Mis- soula courthouse to face probation officers. Cynthia accompa- nied him. Before they could place Daniel under arrest, he ran, escaping onto Broadway Street. Mid-chase, Cynthia ripped a .22 pistol from her purse and threatened the officers. As often happened in '60s Missoula, hip people stood up for other hip people when they ran afoul of the law. Paul Melvin, a leader in the college's Campus Reform Action Movement (CRAM) and radical candidate for president of the Associated Students of the University of Montana, decried the treatment of hippies in Missoula. He cited the Donovan Creek raid as an example of the city's "hate campaign." Melvin said he feared for his and other hippies' safety. Two days after the raid, CRAM hosted a campus ral- ly, with impassioned speech- es and live music by Three Farthing Stone. CRAM also organized the Donovan Creek Rock Festival at the University Field House to raise money to pay the bail of those arrested in the commune raid. Local press from the era is packed with further reports of other young hip- pies hauled to jail. For every letter to the editor denouncing unfair treatment and po- lice profiling, there are those accusing draft dodging and cowardice, calling their appear- ances disrespectful, or bemoaning the ways they impacted property values. For frustrated people living in frustrating times, the rebelling y o u t h became scapegoats for any ill. Missoula hip- pies faced verbal abuse and beatings. Local high schools never banned men's long hair, unlike other towns in Montana, but the look could still land you in the hospital or jail. As the culturally turbulent '60s turned into the '70s and '80s, Missoula blossomed into a true hippie haven, even as the move- ment ceased to exist under its original terms. Every countercul- tural figure from Hunter S. Thompson to Abbie Hoffman spoke at UM. Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder showed up at a pig roast put on by Missoula's four commune houses. Penny and Dave Bowland, whose cooking experience came from living in a commune, opened a health food restaurant called the High Mountain Café. Torrey's offered vegetarian cuisine. Jekyll and Hyde's and the Top Hat joined Monk's Cave as live music hippie bars. For nearly twenty years, a billboard with a hand-painted peace sign stood prominent on Waterworks Hill. In 1974, The

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