(animals braying) - [William] Coming up on this edition of Backroads, a north central Montana family has developed a special relationship with a different breed of horse.

- [Tom Brown] Super animal, athletic, very athletic.

- [William] Eureka women create and repair quilts to preserve local history.

- Keep making those stitches and trying to make them smaller.

- [William] Learn about those who labored creating Montana's first highways.

A young family slides onto a frozen Smith Lake for an ice fishing derby.

- [Child] We got some great fish!

- [William] Don't let this episode of Backroads get away.

- [Announcer] Backroads of Montana is made possible with production support from the Greater Montana Foundation, encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans, the Big Sky Film Grant, and the University of Montana.

♪ Home is where Montana is, Montana is my home ♪ ♪ From mountain peaks to prairie lands, places I have known ♪ ♪ And I'm bound to ramble, yes I'm bound to roam ♪ ♪ And when I'm in off the road now, boys, Montana is my home ♪ - Hello, and welcome to the Backroads of Montana.

I'm William Marcus.

Our program travels the state, looking for unique places, interesting people, and lesser-known Montana history.

Our location today is a combination of all three.

This mansion was built in 1903 by P.B.

Moss, an entrepreneur and developer with a special relationship with the city of Billings.

We'll tour this elaborate family home later, but our first story explores the long-standing relationship between Montanans and their horses.

We traveled to the beautiful Bear Paw Mountains in north central Montana to meet a family and their unusual breed of horse.

(rooster crowing) (horse neighing) (guitar music) - [Rene] This particular breed, it seems like we speak the same language.

- [William] These are unique horses.

They're bringing in a problem cow as they prepare for a busy day of tagging and branding.

- [Kodi] Hey little baby, hey little baby.

- [William] Over to the east, Kodi is riding a rare mixed breed, driving in the rest of the herd.

- [Kodi] Yeah, we'll just follow these tracks and cut up the hill, I think.

- [William] At the corral, Tom Brown is getting ready for his crew.

- [Tom] My crew is my girls, I mean, they rope, they brand, they do it all.

- My dad didn't get boys, he got girls, but we were taught to do all the jobs and the things.

- When the girls were in high school and teenagers, Tom taught them all how to castrate a calf, because he figured that was a skill, castration was a skill that every teenage girl needed to know.

- [William] In addition to that wisdom, Tom and his wife Rene passed along their passion for horses that can be filled with love and heartache.

(guitar music) Rene's family goes back multiple generations on this land, and the same is true for Tom, whose family settled five generations ago on this very spot in the Bear Paw Mountains.

Ever since he was a boy, Tom's been on a horse.

His mother told him tales of a beautiful breed that worked the ranch, and later Tom told Rene.

- He always, from the beginning, talked about someday he'd like to own a Cleveland bay, and you know, I had the same blank look on my face as most people.

A what?

- [William] The Cleveland bay is one of England's oldest breeds originating during the 17th century, and named after a region near Yorkshire.

They were a versatile horse, and beloved by the royal family.

Unfortunately, the military also loved them, and the Cleveland bay numbers were decimated during World War I.

When even fewer horses were needed for farm work, the breed almost became extinct, until the 1960s, when horse-loving Queen Elizabeth II took an interest, and helped revive their numbers.

Today as Tom and Rene take hay to some of their five purebred mares, it's amazing they're here.

The horses remain a critically rare breed, with fewer than 300 purebreds in North America.

Most are used for equestrian and eventing, which makes the Brown family even more unique.

These are working ranch horses, complete with an overnight trip to the burr patch.

- Yeah, stay out of them.

- [William] The family bought their first Cleveland bay online in 2011.

Despite their rarity, they're only slightly more expensive than a quarter horse.

While the Browns have done some crossbreeding, they felt a strong responsibility to maintain the purebred bloodlines.

- [Rene] We knew they were rare.

They could be extinct in, in such a short amount of time.

- It's kind of turned into wanting to help save the breed.

(cow mooing) - [William] With a 3,000-acre spread, and a couple hundred head of cattle, these horses can't just be for show.

To help them adjust to living in Montana, the Browns turn them out into the rugged hills of the Bear Paws with their older horses.

(guitar music) - [Rene] In order to be a successful ranch horse, they have to first learn to be a horse, [Kodi] and they are so, so, so kind and trusting, and once you build that, you're not gonna break it.

Nothing's gonna break it.

- [William] Bigger than a quarter horse, and smaller than a draft horse, they're a perfect fit here.

(cows mooing) Tom is on Nietzsche, a Cleveland bay mix, sorting cattle.

It doesn't take long to see the breed's versatility, whether it's in the corral, or when the spring weather turns ugly, and cattle still need to be moved.

- [Kodi] Come on, girls.

- [Tom] They got a natural cow sense, but it's, they're not pushy with it.

They pretty much, out-think a cow.

- [William] Later that day, those same horses can be hitched as a team, and pull the cart to help feed the cattle.

- [Rene] They will step up and do the job that you ask them to do, and then they're like, "Okay, boss, what's next?"

- [William] All that work forms a strong bond between human and horse, but the Browns know they're always one step away from heartbreak.

On this day, Cornelia shows signs of cholic.

A quick shot of medicine, but it's clear the stakes are even higher.

- Cornelia is our link to, I'm going to cry.

(chuckling) Just worried about her still.

- [William] Rene's fears were warranted.

They immediately decide to trailer the horse, and take her to the vet, but a few days later he discovered she has a twisted colon, and they're left with almost no choice.

They decide to put Cornelia down.

- That is why it is so devastating when something happens to one, because they are irreplaceable.

- [William] Life at the ranch must go on.

As they finish the branding, in between cows, Tom has grandfather duty.

He knows just the trick to get granddaughter, Opal back to sleep.

Multiple generations, through the family and the horses, each touching the other.

There's an appreciation for working together to connect all the blood lines.

- [Tom] You gotta step back and take a breath once in a while when you see your kids doing what you've asked them to do.

It's a very humbling situation.

- The Brown family is optimistic for the future.

Their young purebred stallion, Waylon is ready to begin in the breeding program soon.

This is the library of the Moss Mansion in Billings.

It was here that P.B.

Moss ran his numerous enterprises, including banking, real estate, refrigeration, electric lights, a telephone exchange, and a newspaper, among others.

His wife, Martha, known as Maddie, didn't always take a back seat to her husband.

She was the first woman in Billings to drive a car.

Everyone wanted a ride.

They probably tossed a quilt across their lap to stay warm.

Our next story pulls some threads between history and warmth in the far northwestern town of Eureka.

A patchwork of Eureka women take over the historic Iowa Flat School each Friday to work, stitch after stitch.

For nearly 50 years they've worked together to repair and create beautiful quilts.

- '72, when we first moved here, there was a little article in the paper, inviting people to come quilt.

That was pretty much when it started.

- So I knew about the group.

I was interested in them, and really think of some of them is matriarchs of our community, and I wanted to come and hang out, and just hear their stories, and they told me I needed to quilt.

- Well, we start in September, and we usually get four to five quilts.

Well, we're one of the few groups that do hand quilting.

- [William] The women say that they all have different methods of quilting, and different thoughts on what makes a good quilter.

- Well, I'd say patience, but I'm not patient.

(chuckling) - Practice, some people are more adept.

- [Quilter] You just kind of keep making those stitches and trying to make them smaller.

- Everyone usually ends up quilting quite well, but there's a learning period too.

- [Quilter] A number of these women didn't grow up knowing how to quilt, they learned how to quilt as adults, I mean, people can learn.

- [Quilter] People get to know more about the village when they hear that we do quilts.

- [William] The village is the Tobacco Valley Historical Village, where the old school lives.

When the creation of the Libby Dam was going to flood buildings, homes, and communities, folks in the area created the Board of History.

- And you see when it was built.

- [William] Cathryn Schrader was there from the beginning.

- And we leased five acres from the county, and then we had the buildings moved in, and then of course everybody that had anything they would like saved, donated everything.

All of the things on exhibit are donated.

- [William] The village features cabins, a library, general store, railroad depot, church, and hundreds of memories from the past that wouldn't be on display without the quilters.

- [Quilter] And we have tried in our exhibits to explain the past, and the industries that were here before.

- [William] But they found that preserving local history came at a cost.

To help pay the bills, they stitched together an idea.

- One of our original group that were working with getting the buildings found an unfinished quilt at a rummage sale, and said, "Why don't we get together, and put it, quilt it, and put it together."

- [William] Today, each new or repaired quilt helps pay the bills, and keeps the village open.

- [Quilter] It's almost all word of mouth.

Very seldom do we not have a list.

So there's a base fee, and then how much thread, because it's hard to calculate time.

Even with eight to 10 women quilting, it'll take us a couple months, two to three months to do a quilt.

Everybody that's putting in stitches, you're adding some energy to that quilt, so.

- [William] Through all the years of work, there's one quilt that stands out for Schrader.

- It was a bicentennial quilt, 1976.

Each artist chose something in the area.

Members of the art group designed those blocks that you see there, and then members of the quilting group did the quilting on them.

- [William] Love of community and local history keeps bringing the Tobacco Valley Village quilters together each week.

- My husband knows not to schedule anything on Fridays for me.

- [Quilter] They're maintaining the heritage.

They know the stories.

I feel like to be part of this community is to be connected with this group.

- [Quilter] Respect the community, respect the history, and the friendship, the sociability, the knowledge.

We've learned a lot of things down here.

- The Eureka Quilt Show has become a go-to destination for quilters across the Northwest, Canada, and other countries.

It decks out the downtown and the historic village in bright colors.

(guitar music) We're in the conservatory of the Moss Mansion.

Billings entrepreneur P.B.

Moss wanted a cosmopolitan home for his family, so he hired a renowned architect who designed the Plaza Hotel and the Dakota in New York City.

By comparison, the Moss Mansion is a more modest red sandstone structure, with a spacious formal entry hall, dining room, parlor, and a modern kitchen.

On a larger civic scale, Moss envisioned a futuristic garden city called Mossmain, and commissioned a well-known city planner to design it.

The first world war brought his plans to a halt, but the name lingers on a road sign out between Billings and Laurel, and on GPS maps.

We often say that Backroads takes us to some unique Montana places.

In our next story, near the small town of Springdale, we concentrate on the road that got us there.

You couldn't find a prettier little road.

Nicely sandwiched between Sandstone Bluffs, and the Yellowstone River, or one with so much history.

It's been a corridor for Native American tribes, then settlers traveling the Bozeman Trail, and tourists motoring along the early Yellowstone Automobile Trail.

But it's not this tranquil setting, or a long past that makes this road significant.

(guitar music) It's the men who built it.

- Convict Grade was built by prison labor, men who were trying to work off portions of their sentences by doing hard work.

- [William] By 1910, it was clear that county roads meant for wagon travel were not going to suit automobiles, narrow and bumpy year round, and in wet weather bottomless quagmires.

Roads needed to be widened and leveled, self-draining, with sturdier bridges, or maybe a bridge.

Everyone pushed for better roads, from area farmers to bicycle enthusiasts, especially newspapers that could profit by selling advertising space to local car dealerships.

But most rural counties didn't have the money for road improvement and the high cost of labor.

Enter Frank Conley.

- Frank Conley was an enigmatic figure.

He was regarded kind of as a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde kind of character.

- [William] Conley had been a fixture at the prison since its early days, and quickly became its warden, insisting upon his own improvements: new cell blocks, women's quarters, a hospital, a library, and a prison theater, the very first of its kind in the United States.

- I would never judge him.

The only thing I would judge him on would be his accomplishments, and he had many of them.

- [William] Conley believed that idol convicts bred trouble.

Those he deemed trustworthy got to venture beyond his new stone wall to build Montana's first highways.

(harmonica playing) He hand-selected his road crews, mostly thieves and burglars, men convicted of non-capital offenses.

One man was there for stealing a suit.

Work began July, 1912, and right away there was an escape.

For five hours, James English roamed the countryside.

Authorities caught up with English at 1:00 AM hiding in a schoolhouse.

For fear of alarming the public, newspapers downplayed the escape, crediting the capture to Warden Conley's bloodhounds.

Conley was convinced that the special privileges he afforded his road crews were an incentive not to escape.

There were no chains or shackles, or the demeaning stripes, and the men were allowed to grow their hair.

They lived in tent camps, averaging 75 men, supervised by just three unarmed guards.

There were three meals a day, and regular showers.

In the evening they read or joined in singalongs.

One camp near Drummond had a radio.

- These are Frank Conley's words about how he really felt about the convict road crews.

"There is freedom in the mountains.

The petty criminal develops brain and brawn.

They get time to reflect upon the futility of their past life.

Their muscles are developed by steady labor, and well-cooked, nourishing food in abundance.

The horse thief and the cattle rustler wield the pick, the ax, and the shovel.

From the brow of the burglar and the bank robber drops the sweat of honest toil."

- [William] And sweat they did.

Convict road crews were repeatedly used for difficult rock excavation.

Conley felt that hard work was a sure-fire path to redemption, and few people were willing to question his word.

- He was not somebody you'd want to cross, even if you're a convict.

- [William] In 1908, two prisoners, William Hayes and George Rock forced their way into Conley's office, killing Deputy Warden John Robinson, and stabbing Conley over 50 times.

In the ruckus, Conley emptied this 41-caliber pistol into the attackers.

Both men and Conley survived.

Conley nursed Hayes and Rock back to health, solely for the purpose of hanging them.

Invitations were sent out, and the press invited to witness the first and only execution ever held at the prison.

- This is a very dramatic photograph.

Just before the person flew into the air, Conley whispered to him, "Vengeance is mine."

- [William] Frank Conley made a tidy fortune off his road crews.

Even his chief engineer was a savings.

James Curl showed the men how to use cut for fill, how to slope and drain road surfaces.

This sturdy culvert is made from a hollowed-out boiler.

- By 1920, these prison laborers were really the only experienced road builders in Montana.

- [William] By 1925, it was all over, and a new governor saw the end of Warden Conley's long tenure.

Frank Conley became mayor of the town he loved.

- And he wanted his ashes spread over Mount Powell outside Deer Lodge, and I think that he wanted to remain, to be a part of the valley.

- [William] In 2015, Convict Grade was added to the National Register of Historic Places, a fitting tribute to the men who built it, their debt to society now paid in full, and today along Convict Grade, society is paying a little back.

- There's no record of the men who served on the Convict Road Crews.

Ironically, the only names known to us are the men who attempted to escape.

They made the paper.

- Whether it's a road or a home, upkeep is a constant, even here at the Moss Mansion, where an extensive preservation project is almost complete.

P.B.

and Maddie Moss raised five children in their Billings home.

With bicycles, horses, and a grand house to explore, theirs must have been a pampered life.

The day's events would be shared around the table in this stately dining room, with its coffered ceiling and stained glass.

All the furnishings in the Moss mansion are authentic, and steeped in family stories and traditions.

And tradition anchors our final story.

We meet some Montana youngsters who are getting hooked on a Montana sport for all seasons at Smith Lake, West of Kalispell.

It may be hours before daybreak, but for the Andersons, it's never too early to teach the next generation a skill that will last a lifetime, and in Montana, it's one that will carry them through all seasons.

Someday the Anderson boys will realize they couldn't be in better hands, but right now there are more immediate things to consider, like where to drill.

(ice drill whirring) - [Clay] Let go.

Pick it up, you got it.

Oh, that's heavy.

There you go.

- [William] There are lessons with every step of the setup.

- [Kayla] No putting your boots in the hole.

- [Clay] Okay, another thing, boys, don't reach your hands in there and grab it, because your gloves will get wet, and your hands are cold all day long.

- [Kayla] I wouldn't eat that snow.

- [William] Daylight is already on the horizon, but it's hard to tell.

- [Child] It's dark.

- [Kayla] It is dark.

- [Child] Yeah.

- [Clay] But if you want to catch the big perch, that's what you gotta do.

You gotta be out here early in the morning.

- [William] Ice fishing essentials include a comfortable chair, hot chocolate, and plenty of patience.

(indistinct) While the others supervise the holes, six year old Chelson tries a trick of his own, filing out a greeting for the fish below.

Before long, eight old Fritz reels in a big one.

- [Clay] Okay reel, reel.

(fishing reel clicks) Oh, it's a big perch, bud.

Whoa!

(chuckling) That's yours, bud.

- [Child] Money.

- [Clay] Money, yeah, money.

- [Kayla] I almost don't know if we've gone fishing once and he hasn't caught a fish yet, but I think he's pretty much caught a fish every time that we've gone.

- [Clay] That's a Smith Lake perch right there.

- [William] The Anderson boys are learning from the best.

Their parents run a fishing guide service.

They like to say, when they're not fishing, they're fishing.

- Clay and I both have been able to really pursue things that we're passionate about, and enjoy what we do for work.

Oh, that was a bite.

- As a father, your favorite thing to do is to teach your kids so they're better than you, you know?

- [William] Parenthood is a dream that began early on in Clay and Kayla's marriage.

They filled out paperwork for a match in Haiti.

The process took years before they were connected with Fritz and Chelson.

Two years ago, they finally got to meet.

- We spent two weeks with them there, and that was a really wonderful time, but you actually have to complete the adoption process.

- [William] It was another year and a half before the Andersons could bring them home.

- [Kayla] Definitely a long process, but we could not be more thankful to be a family and be together.

- [William] The boys have been Montanans for nine months, and they've fished all nine of them, but this is the first time they're sharing the ice with so many other families.

It's the Annual Smith Lake Family Ice Fishing Derby.

The Kalispell Sunriser Lion's Club has hosted the event for more than 45 years.

- Too big for this wallet.

- [William] Warren Illi has been here for more than half of them.

- I see people here every year.

I see them once a year.

I see them on the ice at Smith Lake - [William] Unlike other fishing competitions in the state, it's not cutthroat.

- Part of hunting and fishing is to recruit the next generation, so this ice fishing contest is a family fishing contest.

So you've got to accommodate all the members of the family, even Mom, Pa, and the kids especially.

- [William] Prizes are awarded for the biggest perch and pike, as well as the smallest.

That means every catch could be a contender.

- They like to know how big their fish is, you know, even though it's not a winner, but it's just, it's their fish and they're proud of it.

- [William] But Fritz's first catch of the day feels big enough to be a winner.

- That's a dandy.

- [William] And there's only one way to find out, its weight in grams translates to 1.4 pounds, but a plumper perch had just come in, so Fritz's fish takes second place on the official leader board.

- Good job.

- [William] But it's still early, and there are lots of tight lines in lots of holes.

- There are people fishing out there that are really good fishermen, and they don't bring their fish in until just before we weigh in at one o'clock, so it could be a slug of bigger ones coming in.

- [William] The Andersons pull up a few more perch.

- [Clay] Woo, four point five!

- [William] None as big as the first, and time is slipping away.

- [Clay] Are you ready to go and see if you got a prize or not?

You're not ready?

You want to keep fishing?

- [Warren] So we're going to start right off.

- [William] A crowd in camouflage signals it's time to gather, to celebrate the big and the small accomplishments.

The Andersons find out that Fitz's fish came in fourth.

- He got bumped out, and just the way it goes, you know?

It's good.

Darn it.

- [William] But after all, this tournament isn't about the money, it's supposed to be about the fishing.

- Safety picks.

- Thank you.

- Don't fall through the ice.

- [William] But it turns out, it's not really about that either.

- [Kayla] It's mostly just about enjoying the outdoors, and spending time together.

Yeah, it's been a true joy just to see them pick it up and enjoy it as much as we do.

- Smith Lake is shallow, so it freezes early.

The Family Ice Fishing Derby is one of the first competitions held in the state each year, usually between the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

Well, that's the recipe for our show.

We'd like to thank Jenna Pete and the staff at the Moss Mansion for their hospitality.

The mansion is open for tours and special events year round.

We'd love to hear from you, like we heard from Pam Burke of Havre, who wrote us about the Brown family in the Bear Paw Mountains.

If you have an idea for Backroads, contact us at our Facebook page, or send a letter to Backroads of Montana, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, 59812 Our show is always available online@= at montanapbs.org, or on DVD at your local library.

As long as you keep watching, we'll keep covering the Backroads of Montana.

I'm William Marcus.

See you next time.

- [Announcer] Backroads of Montana is made possible with production support from the Greater Montana Foundation, encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans, the Big Sky Film Grant, and the University of Montana.

♪ Montana is my home ♪ From mountain peaks to prairie lands, places I have known ♪ ♪ And I'm bound to ramble, yes I'm bound to roam ♪ ♪ And when I'm in off the road now, boys, Montana is my home ♪ ♪ Coming in off the road now, boys ♪ ♪ You know I'm heading home