Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • FA L L 2 0 1 6 70 SUZANNE WARING Russell Rowland gives a Commencement speech about the lessons he learned growing up in Montana. www.distinctlymontana.com/rowland164 DISTINCTLY MONTANA | DIGITAL A view of the city in Autumn Malmstrom Air Force Base control tower Paris Gibson major city in Montana to show a decline in economic growth since 1970. ere is no doubt, whether you go by every mea- sure of economic growth or by the eye test, that Great Falls has seen better days. But if you say this to someone from Great Falls, be prepared. "You must be living in the eighties," Ken Robison told me when I said Great Falls seemed to be on the decline. Robison is an historian. "Great Falls suffered two severe economic blows in the 1970s and early 1980s with the clo- sure of the Anaconda Smelting and Refining Company and the Great Northern Railroad repair yards. ousands of jobs were lost, and Great Falls declined eco- nomically," he said. "It took until the early 2000s to begin to rebound significantly." Robison says that the continuing growth of agriculture in the area, along with the strength of the air force base, has kept the economy strong. He goes on to list a string of businesses that have opened in the area, along with several new facilities, including the largest soccer complex in Montana. ere are some wonderful tourist attractions in Great Falls, including the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, with Giant Springs State Park just up the road. And finally there is the museum inspired by perhaps the most well known Mon- tanan of all time. Starting as a ranch hand, Charles Russell was one of the most prolific Western artists in history. After something of a misspent youth, he became famous for his vivid depictions of life on the range. He captured motion, especially when painting livestock; he also captured many of the more striking colors of the Western plains with his sunsets and paintings of the men at work. Each painting implies a story. Although there's no questioning his talent, a lot of Rus- sell's success was also a product of excellent timing. His first bit of exposure to the world came when he was working as a hand for a cattle ranch in the Judith Basin, and he painted a small, postcard-sized watercolor of a gaunt steer being stalked by some hungry wolves. He painted this sketch during the harshest winter in Montana history, 1886-1887, and the fore- man of the ranch included the painting in a letter to explain how badly things were going. e tiny sketch found its way to a store window in Helena, which led to Russell's eventual "discovery." He became famous in a short period of time due in large part to the world's fascination with the West. He was also fortunate to have married someone who was much better at marketing than he would have ever been on his own. His wife, Nancy, whom he married when he was thirty-two and she was eighteen, was known to be an astute businesswoman, as well as someone who was very protective of her husband's time. Among others who have a history in Great Falls are two of my literary heroes. Wallace Stegner lived in Great Falls as a boy, and for a time his father made a living running bootleg liquor from Canada. Stegner wrote A Big Rock Candy Mountain, one of my personal favorite Montana novels, based on this time in his life. Joseph Kinsey Howard also spent a good portion of his childhood in Great Falls,

• Cover