Distinctly Montana Magazine

66 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 5 *** In 1899, Clark bought Columbia Gardens, a failed mining claim turned failed amusement park. He publicized that he made this purchase to offer families a refuge from the grunge and toxic smelter smoke of Butte. To give back to the community, he had a blank check to develop the land into a world-class resort for which he would charge no admission. Yes, he was running for office again and badly needed to endear himself to voters. In 1899, Clark had actually bribed his way to the Senate…for a few days. Daly, despite failing health, ensured Clark faced a Senate investigation, which found him guilty. He resigned in a fit before he could be removed. Amazingly, Clark ran again in 1900, the Gardens one ace in his sleeve. He set off on a "tour of the state seeking vindication." Clark toured with "his band," receiving "$6 a day and all expenses," according to one of the many press sto- ries quoted by C.B. Glascock in War of the Copper Kings. In its heyday, Columbia Gardens held manicured flower beds, greenhouses, an ice cream parlor and café, a baseball diamond and grandstand, a mechanical chute ride, and a roller coast- er. Its dance pavilion featured fountains, flower baskets, and a 62,000-foot dance floor, lit by incandescent lights and Japanese lanterns. Clark's management contracted the B&M Band, by this time a huge draw, to play at the Gardens three times a week: for Thursday Children's Days, Sunday afternoon sacred music con- certs, and Sunday evening dances. Treloar composed the "Co- lumbia Gardens March." Thousands, from all over the region, attended these performances. Clark hired the band to play for another DNC, too, in Kansas City. But this time Boston & Montana management forbade the band from going. The Boston & Montana considered F. Augustus Heinze, with whom Clark had aligned for his senatorial campaign, their arch-nemesis. The "Courthouse Miner" Heinze's latest offense against the Boston & Montana: he sued to shut the company down over a property boundary dispute. While his lawsuit rendered them in- ert, Heinze mined what they claimed was their ore. Heinze had made enemies of Daly and his business partners using similar tactics. Any enemy of Daly's was a friend of Clark's. Not all band members even worked for the Heinze-hating Boston & Montana in 1900. But the company would fire the 15 that did if they went to Kansas City for their support, however inadvertent, of Heinze. These band members cut their losses and went, creating a media blitz. The conflict even reached The New York Times. The newspapers Daly and associates controlled cast the band as tragically beholden to Clark and Heinze's crooked politics. Clark and Heinze's mouthpieces depicted the band as patriots resisting corporate tyranny. After the band told management they were going, the compa- ny cut the power to their rehearsal hall. The Kansas City DNC cost half the band members their jobs, but it gave terrific national exposure. While delegates head- quartered at the Midland Hotel, the band stayed next door in a BANDS, THOUGH, ONCE PURVEYED THE MOST POPULAR AMERICAN MUSIC. THE ADORATION NOW SEEN FOR POP STARS AMERICANS ONCE EXHIBITED FOR BRASS BANDS.

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