Distinctly Montana Magazine

65 w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m and Helena's Afro-American Capital Club. The festival culminat- ed at Helena's Auditorium, where the band played to accompany Clark's speech. He compared Daly to Napoleon and Anaconda's loss to Waterloo. Clark came calling again in 1896, as America recovered from economic depression. With the Panic of 1893, silver was federal- ly demonetized. This devastated the West, dependent on silver mining. A new political coalition formed. Western Democrats, "Silver Republicans," and a new party, the Populists, fought for silver's return to currency. Their hope lay with presidential can- didate William Jennings Bryan. Clark, the owner of many silver mines, led the Montana Delegation to the Democratic Nation- al Convention in Chicago. For good P.R., he invited the B&M Band along. The B&M Band rode with Clark and delegates on the Northern Pacific's "Silver Special." Heading east, the train stopped at ev- ery Montana depot, where crowds gathered to hear a tune. After the four-day journey, the band stepped from the train into a Chicago summer's thick, moist heat—grueling in their black wool coats. Buildings that made Butte's Hoffman Ho- tel seem like a country mercantile cast shadows that stretched blocks. A throng of Democrats gathered to meet the Montana en- voy. Treloar struck up the band for Sousa's "King Cotton" march, and they paraded delegates to their headquarters at the seven- teen-story Auditorium Hotel. As the convention proceeded, they performed in various hotel lobbies. They rubbed shoulders with esteemed Chicago bands. They impressed audiences, at one concert honoring a request for "The William Tell Overture." They entertained prominent politi- cians, even William Jennings Bryan. Anywhere they went, Clark made sure to introduce them as miners. At DNC headquarters, the Coliseum, this "Montana Miners' Band was blowing all the power of its lungs into its brass horns," wrote The Baltimore Sun, after the announcement came that Bryan would run against Wil- liam McKinley. The band boarded the Silver Special home as heroes to their state — and the silver movement. Minneapolis' pro-silver Pen- ny Press, enamored with the "Boston & Montana Silver Band," wined and dined them when they stopped in Minneapolis to give a concert at a lakeside park for a lemonade-sipping crowd of hundreds. 2022-24 o f BEST M O N TA N A A S V O T E D B Y R E A D E R S O F W I N N E R ! Y E A R S WO N OPEN APRIL rough OCTOBER (OPEN IN NOVEMBER WEATHER PERMITTING) VOTE FOR US! FOR A CHANCE TO WIN $500 PURCHASE TICKETS AT WWW.MININGMUSEUM.ORG 155 MUSEUM WAY BUTTE, MT 59701 406-723-7211 TAKE AN UNDERGROUND TOUR IN THE ORPHAN GIRL MINE AND EXPLORE THE STREETS OF HELL ROARIN' GULCH Serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, cocktails & a fun time! Welcome! jordiscantina.com (406) 563-0134 627 East Park Ave Anaconda, MT Check out our new bar! VOTE FOR US WIN $500 FOR YOUR CHANCE TO 2022-24 o f BEST M O N TA N A A S V O T E D B Y R E A D E R S O F W I N N E R ! Y E A R S WO N

• Cover