Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A S P R I N G | 2 0 1 5 2 4 Gal woman for miners, while Robert will depart this earth a year later in Salt Lake City. Martha is next glimpsed at Fort Bridger, built by the legendary fi gure who has taken such a prominent role in guiding emigrants to the new territory, in '64. She will later tell a reporter, Wal, we lived near a post, an' them soldiers took care of me. I didn't know nothing 'bout women ner how white folks lived; all I knowed was to rustle grub an' steal rides behind the stage- coaches an' camp with the Injuns. Thrown onto her own wits and devices by the age of eleven, Martha masters the street smarts of a Huck Finn to survive. She has to be protean, shape-shifting, playful, and harsh so that no one can see her fully, determine her strengths and weaknesses, take advantage of her softness. She is fond of telling tall tales about herself, creating a kind of mythical identity celebrated by popular fi ction and news- papers. She gains her initial fame through the overheated prose of a western dime novel, and she has the good sense to exploit her notoriety by selling photographs of herself and joining (briefl y and awkwardly) Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. In reality, young Martha, often dressed as a scout or mule skinner, becomes a "camp follower" for military and railroad crews, a polite term for a prostitute. She later befriends famous men such as Wild Bill Hickok, shot down in Deadwood, though apparently they are never intimate. Much of her adult- hood will consist of temporary partnerships, sometimes called marriages, and she gives birth to at least one child, a daughter named Jessie, though they do not see much of each other during Calamity's relatively short term on this earth. Her life alternates between stabs at respectability and episodes of outrageous public drunkenness. Her childhood experience on that cold December day in Virginia City hints at the demons that possessed her. The nickname "Calamity" sticks to her early in life, aided by the melodramatic popular media, yet it becomes both a curse and a blessing. It names her poor luck, her unfortunate ten- dency to fi nd herself in rotten circumstances: orphan, prosti- tute, alcoholic drifter, and lonely mother. But "Calamity" also tells of her willingness to go toward trouble to help people in need, to assuage their pain, such as a young man dying from smallpox, a cowboy kicked by a horse, or a woman suffering from ailments of the womb and the heart. Martha will so com- pletely defy Victorian convention that few will know how to classify her: Angel or whore, who could say for sure? Calamity Jane never wants to be reduced to a type. That's one reason she remains a powerful presence in the region's memory. Become a Commercial Pilot in only 2 years! Pancake Open House Dates: May 02, June 13, and July 25 at 8am-11am All you can eat pancakes and questions answered 406-388-8359 for details www.bigskyfl ying.com Come Fly With Us! * Award-winning Flight Instruction * Aviation Degree Think of the possibilities for your spare bedroom! We custom design, build and install! 2301 Palmer | Suite #1 | Missoula, MT 406-240-3927 www.MontanaMurphyBeds.com MontanaMurphyBeds@gmail.com Murphy Wall Bed Hardware dealer DO YOU KNOW YOUR GUEST ROOM IS TYPICALLY ONLY USED TWO WEEKS OUT OF THE YEAR?

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