(crickets chirping) - [Host] Coming up on "Backroads of Montana."

Follow the undisputed most recognized resident of Glasgow.

- Well, I'm literally the coolest guy in town.

Nobody can really argue with me on that.

- [Host] Peek inside a Montana homesteaders cabin that stands frozen in time.

- [Speaker] I think it's kind of neat just to have like a time capsule.

- [Host] Hit the road, searching for bargains at a Montana sized garage sale.

- [Speaker 2] Yes, I had to buy it!

- [Host] And meet a rancher who understood the value of a long lost controversial opera.

- [Speaker 3] He was progressive that way.

- Ice cream, ice cream!

- [Host] I scream, you scream, we all scream for "Backroads."

- [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 ♪ ♪ The 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 ♪ (gentle guitar music) - [Host] Welcome to Back Roads of Montana, where we focus on the people and places across our state.

I'm John Twiggs, and on this episode we're thinking big, as in one of the biggest collections you'll ever see.

(cheerful music) The Miracle of America Museum sits by the south end of Flathead Lake in the town of Polson.

During the show we'll get a glimpse of this massive array of memorabilia.

From the tiniest artifacts to the biggest boat.

We'll learn about the history, the humor, and the love of collecting that started the place.

Our first story also features a shared love of nostalgia.

There's no shortage of history in Glasgow, but one resident recognized the town had lost its most cherished summertime service.

So that got his wheels turning.

At 49, Kevin Taylor can't stop stacking his resume.

He's an auctioneer, owns a storage facility, and the local ice delivery business.

- Well, I'm literally the coolest guy in town, and nobody can really argue with me on that.

- [Host] Kevin likes to wear a lot of hats.

- I mean, I'm recognized more than anybody else between the hat or the shirts.

- [Host] And the mismatched socks.

- They're not mismatched socks.

I got a pair at the house just like 'em.

- [Host] None of these titles resonate with residents quite like his other gig.

- Ice cream truck!

- Ice cream, ice cream!

- They come running outta the house, they come running down alleys.

They chase you down the street.

- Kevin!

- Nobody is upset to see the ice cream man.

Ever.

- [Host] A few are patient, but most can't wait.

- Nobody's like ice cream man's here.

- Boy, this is our lucky day, isn't it?

- Can I get you?

- I just think it's so nice that we can have such a thing in Glasgow as this little old ice cream truck.

- Here is the best part.

- And the kids look forward to it.

- My 7-year-old heard the ice cream man's music, so we booked it on over here.

And sometimes I think they're just out looking for the ice cream man.

- [Host] He has something for just about everyone.

- Well Hello!

What can we get ya?

- I need a- - Huckleberry sandwich.

- What's that?

- Ice cream bars.

Ice cream sandwiches.

- I got a fudgcicle and he got some kind of sandwich one.

- Frosty malts, popsicles.

There you go.

- Give me five fudgcicles.

- You want one, two, a box to take home?

- Which one do you want?

- Is that what you want?

- [Host] He turns away no one.

- There's six kids standing there, and I ask every kid, you know, what do you want, this?

What do you want, this?

Well, I don't have any money.

That's not what I asked.

I said, what do you want?

You know, they're gonna get something.

There you go.

That is actually what I'm proudest of.

The fact nobody's ever walked away from this thing without something.

You want a popsicle too?

- [Host] But Glasgow went empty handed for two decades before Kevin brought this business back.

Most of his customers are too young to remember the old truck, but some of them do.

- It just was deja vu.

It was so exciting for me when I was younger, and it, well, I am 37, and I'm still excited to hear the ice cream truck.

- [Host] Today's truck is different, but residents are surprised to learn that the ice cream man is the same.

- There's actually a lot of people saying, "oh, this is so neat.

When I was a kid, there was one like this."

Yeah, I know, it was mine.

(upbeat music) - [Host] Kevin and his brother Shane ran Glasgow's vintage ice cream truck as a high school summer job in the late eighties and early nineties.

- Well, it's better than getting in trouble.

They learned how to deal with people, and handle money, and buy and sell, and it was a good education.

- [Host] It was all their dad's idea, Who bought the classic truck from another resident who'd run the service for a few years before stopping it.

- I'm not afraid to try stuff and that was the whole thing, so.

- First of all, I had the greatest parents in the world.

Always instilling a work ethic and get out and do something whether I follow it or not.

I always had great examples.

Dad has always been a forward thinker and entrepreneur.

"Hey, let's try this.

Let's try this, let's try this."

- [Host] In fact, his dad owned Glasgow's ice business first.

Kevin's a chip off the old block.

- He's a lot like me.

He's got a lot of irons in the fire.

(old timey music) - [Host] Kevin's energy couldn't be contained after high school.

He left Glasgow to become a professional saddle bronc rider.

Becoming a six time international qualifier and two time national champion.

But even in rodeo, he couldn't buck his instinct to juggle more than one ball.

In between rides, he worked the arena as a bullfighter and a rodeo clown.

- It beats the heck outta working for a living.

- [Host] When he took a break from rodeo and returned to Glasgow, he couldn't get one business out of his head.

- That was the end of it.

I still remember that sound.

- [Host] But time had taken a toll on the original truck.

- It was in storage for 20 years, and we took it out, and it's running again and, but the music box is not working.

So we're trying to get that going, so.

- Easier said than done there.

- [Host] Kevin was determined to make it a go.

So he rolled out in a new ride, and a new name with a nod to his rodeo days.

- Truck is called the Kevin's Jumping Buck Ice Cream Truck.

Perfect, thank you.

But it's "Buckin' Rite Ice Cream."

A lot less injuries.

There you go.

- [Host] But even in today's new era of ice cream, Kevin relies on one time tested tune.

- There's kids never heard this music.

Never, never knew this concept existed.

- Are you guys excited?

- Yeah.

- Now they enjoy it.

They love it.

You want ice cream?

- [Host] Kevin hopes one day- - $4.

- [Host] He can hand it off- - Close enough.

- [Host] to one of them.

- Hope someday when I decide I'm done, which might be 30 years from now, hopefully, if I'm lucky.

Anybody here like ice cream?

Some other kid wants to do this.

Some other kid sees the opportunity, or somebody learns if you wanna do something, go do it.

- [Host] So Glasgow doesn't go another summer without this sweet sound.

- It's ice cream, yeah.

- Beautiful.

- And it's starting to melt.

(customer laughs) - On your worst day, it's still a great day.

You're driving around, listen to music.

You don't have a bad day as the ice cream man.

You just, you truly don't.

- Kevin goes the extra mile to bring Montana made ice cream to Glasgow.

He usually gets it over in Haver about two and a half hours away.

But if they're out, he'll make the three hour drive to Mile City.

And if they're out, it's four and a half hours to Billings.

(gentle music) The Miracle of America Museum started in this location in 1985.

Founded by Gil Mangels and his late wife, Joanne.

Gil has been a collector since he was a young boy.

Today there are more than 300,000 pieces in this collection, spread across more than 40 outbuildings on the property.

Visitors can wander through 10 different galleries from almost every mode of transportation.

to the fuel that runs them.

Agriculture to the military.

Gil says about half of the overall collections items were donated.

Like these military pieces from local veterans' families.

Outside folks can stop at a dentist's office, swing by an old schoolhouse, or take a peek into a log cabin with a sod roof built near the turn of the 20th century.

Montana's largest population growth came during that time.

Some of the homesteaders settled in an area of North Central Montana known as the big flat.

That's where a 32-year-old Minnesota woman staked her claim in 1913, just 12 miles south of the Canadian border in a town called Turner.

- This is going back to how you would've been living in the 1900's up here at Homestead days.

And it's kind of cool to be able to show people how people lived back then, you know?

So the house has settled, and the floor has heaved up some, so it's kind of hard to get in here.

(gentle music) I think it's kind of neat just to have like a time capsule.

It's just sort of the way she left it, you know?

You don't see that very often anymore.

I just think it's important to have it.

This is just it.

This is how it was.

So we haven't done anything to it.

This would've been, you know, the day-to-day stuff.

You know, a mirror.

There's an old postcard under the mirror.

And actually there's a, there's a picture there, of Anna in front of her shack.

Now that's probably a pretty old picture.

I think she probably liked the lifestyle, the solitude.

I mean it's like, almost like camping out, I suppose.

And maybe the fact that she owned land too, you know, that was kind of a big deal.

It would've been just pretty much barren prairie when she came.

There would've been a lot of shacks around.

Little, like, little shacks like hers.

(gentle music) This picture just is a picture of Anna Scherlie.

Most of the pictures we can find are just of her.

She was kind of a quiet woman, I guess you could say eccentric, a little eccentric, but.

Her ironing board, and her dress, and her nightgown, and coat.

She was a hard worker.

She, you know, hauled water to her garden with a bucket out of her well.

Sears and Roebuck catalog.

Anything she had to do was hard work.

My dad farmed her place.

He started farming it when he was about 14 years old.

So that would've been in the early forties.

And Anna was, we just kind of watched after her.

We, my dad stopped and visited her quite often, you know, so we'd have coffee there.

And she'd always give us kids some hard candy and stuff.

So there's some old sugar cookies in there.

And she must've been happy with my dad's work.

And so in 1968, she decided to sell it.

And so she sold it to my parents.

I just think she must've enjoyed it.

She did it for a lot of years.

So this is Anna's headstone.

And this is where her ashes are spread.

This is where she wanted to be spread.

That was her wishes.

That's how Montana was developed, and come to be populated is by people like Anna that just came out here and persevered through the tough weather and everything else that were throwed at 'em, you know, to make a living and have a farm.

It's definitely part of the heritage of Montana.

The homesteaders.

It would be to the point where if she came back this spring, she could move in and live here.

Turnkey.

Turnkey homesteaders shack.

(guitar strums) - The Cederbergs listed Anna Shirley's Homestead Shack on the National Register of Historic Places.

Many admire its exterior, but if you ask the owners, they'll unlock it for a tour inside.

You just need to schedule it with them between May and September.

(gentle guitar music) The Miracle of America Museum reflects the owner's love for his country.

Gil says the name for the place was inspired by the gathering to write the US Constitution, sometimes referred to as "the miracle at Philadelphia."

While touring the exhibits, these signs encourage visitors to interact with the displays.

The hands-on approach is one of several ways this museum is unique.

- Well, here people say, "you know, I really like this 'cause you can stand in one spot and you can see so much."

You know?

I pride ourselves on the intergenerational bonding that takes place here.

You know, it's really a joy to me to see parents or grandparents going through and explaining to the children how something works.

- Gil says he gets regular offers to buy pieces from the collection, but he's adamant that they're absolutely not for sale.

That's understandable, but Montanans do love a good bargain.

And there's nothing like finding one at a garage sale.

We took a trip to the Bitterroot Valley to experience the thrill of shopping and selling at a sale so big one neighborhood can't handle it.

(upbeat music) - Woo!

- This is me and my mom's favorite thing to do every year.

(upbeat music continues) - Hoping to find stuff that I don't need, but that I really, really want.

- How we lookin?

- This is the Bitterroot 50 mile garage sale.

(upbeat music) - Woo!

- Get it out there, sell it to somebody, that way you don't have to haul it to the dump.

- People have all sorts of different philosophies.

- From her garage to yours.

- I like to hit 'em early 'cause that's when the good stuff is available.

- When I see it, I like it, I buy it.

- We were gonna get a map, but we decided not to because we're just hunting.

It's like we get a feel like, "oh my gosh, that looks great."

Err!

- It's just a treasure hunt.

- Got too many good things to be having 'em hidden.

Oh, that's cute.

- There you go, surfers.

Good deal on these.

Come on by.

- Well, the curious items that you see.

Look at this thing.

- You get to sit outside in the shade all day long.

Hi there, how are you today?

- It was the brainchild of Gary Garthweight, but during 2020 he retired and decided that he didn't wanna do it any longer.

And so I took it over.

Well, I didn't want it to die.

And I think, I think it's good for the businesses.

I think it's good for the valley.

(cheerful music) On the website there is a map.

I figured there's probably a good 400 sales out there.

(cheerful music) I mean, the bargain is the cool thing.

- Hey guys, how's it going?

- Four bucks.

- Four bucks?

How about five?

- Sure.

Wow, I like you!

You guys should shop here more often.

(cheerful music) - Well, you see a price and they go, "it's 40 bucks."

And I said, "no, it's 20."

And they go, "no, it's not 20, it's 30."

30 works.

- Okay, how about four bucks for this?

- Okay.

- Everything?

- First sale of the day.

- Yes, I had to buy it.

- The big kid toy section.

- You push the button right here?

Coming and finding toys for the little ones.

Is that Elmo?

- Elmo.

- It is Elmo.

What's he do?

What's he holding?

- I bought this beautiful coat.

And it's fake, which I really like, because if it was real I wouldn't have bought it.

It's $22.

- Can I spend a dollar on these?

And I got a book, and a hat, and I stopped at the liquor store, but I won't go there.

(cheerful music) - We brought the small car today, so we can't fit the big stuff.

(cheerful music) - There are people that come from all over, all over to come to this sale.

- A bunch of other people wanted to come and see it too.

So we all just made the trip down and we're here.

The experience and the people that you meet.

I mean, I think that's one of the interesting things when we go to these houses, how friendly they are.

- You guys are, you guys are rushing it too much.

Take your time.

- I love being in Montana.

It's a beautiful place.

- Oh wow.

- We're from Sacramento, California.

So we've planned our vacation around this event.

I mean, it's exciting.

I've already picked up a few things.

I noticed like there are some things that you're not gonna see anywhere else.

- Sell everything at a good price so they can enjoy it, seeing as how we're done with it.

- For $5.

It's really fun and you find lots of cool things here.

- Just the place itself, the atmosphere, the people.

If I didn't buy anything down here, I would still come here the next time they have it.

- Thank you.

Have a good day.

- The Bitterroot Valley 50 mile garage sale happens every year the last full weekend in June.

Be ready to shop rain or shine.

(old timey music) The Miracle of America Museum stirs memories with music and art.

There's a blend of humor mixed in with the artistic expressions.

For music, there's a great collection of instruments, inventions, and even sheet music and titles from previous Montana songs and productions.

Many of these titles are forgotten, but you can bet they all had a grand finale.

For our finale, we'll introduce you to a man who appreciated the value of an obscure, long forgotten production.

We're off to the Rocky Mountain front to learn how he brought this story back into the spotlight.

What do one popular Blackfeet legend, one 12,000 year old trail and two operas all have in common?

(cows mooing) (gentle music) This man, Sherm Ewing.

- If I sum up dad, he was a man who knew his own mind.

He seemed like on any issue, he immediately knew where he stood.

- [Host] Sherm Ewing fell in love with the west at 14.

The young Easterner was heading to California to attend high school.

After that, a hitch in the Air Force, then a degree from Yale.

And then Sherm fell in love again, this time with Claire Clement.

They met while working at a dude ranch in Shoto.

Sherm and Claire married, started a family, and went everywhere together.

Usually in Sherm's Piper Super Cup.

Sherm learned to cowboy in Browning, and managed several large cattle operations, scraping together enough money until he and Claire could afford a ranch of their own.

- And they moved to a pretty rustic place that was kind of a eye opener for her, but she was game, and was a partner, and hung in there with him.

- [Host] And no matter where Sherm settled, he was never far from the Old North Trail.

- The Old North Trail again was that route for accessing buffalo.

The land and the water would provide them with their medicine, their food, and their happiness.

- [Host] For 12,000 years, the Old North Trail stretched from the Yukon to Mexico, running along the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains.

It was North America's first highway, serving early man, then Native Americans, and finally settlers.

In spots, what they left behind is clearly visible.

Retired back country Ranger Dave Shea points out eagle traps, buffalo drive lanes, rock cairns, directional markers, and a boulder worn smooth from thousands of bison scratching an itch over thousands of years.

- This country has been used for a long time by a lot of folks.

And I think that that's very important to be able to reconnect with what went on here before we were here.

- [Host] The same glacial activity that formed this country in a way helped preserve it, by depositing so much gravel and rock it's almost impossible to be plowed under.

- And that's really unique to have this much country that's never been badly disturbed by humans.

But we're working on it.

- Like Sherm Ewing, Walter McClintock also fell in love with the West.

Only it was 1896 while surveying an area that would eventually become Glacier National Park, McClintock settled in with the Blackfeet and immersed himself in tribal life so completely he was soon adopted into the tribe by its leader, Mad Wolf.

Trusted and with unlimited access to many sacred rituals, McClintock recorded the sounds of ceremonies and took over 2000 photographs.

He transcribed Blackfeet customs and Legends into an oral history he titled, "The Old North Trail."

And he saved his favorite chapter for last.

Poia, the Legend of Scarface and his journey to Meet the Sun God.

- These stories are very much part of our present day life, and they're teachings that we still teach today.

- [Host] By 1985, Sherm Ewing was working on his own oral history.

A three volume series, beginning with "The Range," a collection highlighting the lives of people who lived up and down the Old North Trail.

Old timers, indigenous people, neighbors and friends, characters all.

And all characters shaped by a rugged land.

While researching Sherm stumbled across a footnote buried in the appendix of McClintok's "Old North Trail."

It briefly mentioned an opera.

(gentle music) In an effort to preserve Blackfeet music, and cast a light on a people impacted by white civilization, Walter McClintock had written an opera loosely based on his favorite Blackfeet story, the Legend of Poia.

Acting as lyricist, He hired a composer, Arthur Nevin, although writing credit would also include Mad Wolf.

In two years, they presented an excerpt at the White House for President and Mrs. Roosevelt, but no American company would pick up the opera.

Germany did.

Thanks to funding provided by the Kaiser, Poia premiered in April, 1910 at Berlin's Royal Opera House, complete with elaborate sets, a full orchestra and popular tenor, Voltaire Kirov, in the lead role.

- It got booed, it got hissed, and the critics tore it apart.

And the fact that there was American singers, an American composer usurping German territory just wasn't tolerated at all.

- Poia had become politicized.

McClintock and Nevin blamed each other for the failure and never spoke together again.

After just two performances, Poia was reduced to a mere footnote.

But that's exactly what stirred Sherm Ewing's curiosity.

So he started digging at the Library of Congress.

- And so Sherm came to me one day with this mound of paper.

It was a full score of the opera Poia.

For him to actually get that score was the catalyst.

- And with that spark, Gordon Johnson began turning the Great Falls Symphony into an opera company.

Sherm, through several sources, rounded up $80,000.

The University of Montana School of Music provided a stage director and a librettist who rewrote the old text, upgrading the language for a contemporary audience.

And they made sure the costumes were as historically correct as possible.

Finally, after 95 years, the curtain again opened on Poia, this time at the Mansfield Theater in Great Falls.

For two performances only.

Two nights very different than those in 1910.

- The crowd went wild.

They loved it.

And a lot of people who went the first night came back the second night.

- The story of Poia is a journey of self-discovery about an outcast who brings salvation back to his people.

For Sherm, it was also about people, and land, and history.

And the opera he saved tied all of that together.

- He was very much a man of the people and he wanted to understand where he came from so that he could connect with where we are as a people today in the American West.

And I think that's one of the elements that made him extra special.

- There are four hiking destinations within Glacier National Park related to our story.

They include two Alpine Lakes, Poia and Morningstar, along with McClintock Peak in the Two Medicine area, and Scarface, the rock outcropping on the popular Highline Trail.

Well, that's all the time we have for this episode.

We'd like to thank the staff at the Miracle of America Museum in Polson.

There is so much to see here.

They're open year round every day from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

We're always looking every day for great story ideas.

If you've got one, drop us a message on our Facebook page, or you can write to us at Back Roads of Montana, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, 5 9 8 1 2.

We've got more great stories to share and two lanes to travel.

I'm John Twiggs and we hope to see you out on the back roads of Montana.

- [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 my peaks to prairie lands ♪ ♪ The 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 ♪ (gentle music)