The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Bill Rossiter spent a day and two evenings in Blaine County sharing his program of songs and tales about the settling of the "Great American Desert." Rossiter used a series of songs, biographical sketches and collected tales to describe the travails of settlers who migrated west during a period from the late 1800's to about 1920. He presented his program titled "Home, Home on the Ranch: Farm and Ranch Life in Story and Song" before appreciative audiences at both the Blaine County Library in Chinook and the Harlem Library on two separate evenings.

Between those two performances, during the day, he presented "16 Tons and What Do You Get?" before selected classes at Chinook High. "16 Tons..." describes the development of the American labor movement using period songs and stories. Rossiter's appearances were a part of the Montana Humanities series that takes a variety of programs across the state. Val Frank, Library Director in Chinook, recalled that several years ago Rossiter did a presentation about the Great Depression in Blaine County.

"Home, Home on the Ranch..."

Bill Rossiter was a literature and folklore teacher at Flathead Valley Community College for about 25 years. His teaching background was obvious in his presentation as he used many illustrations, both songs, stories and jokes, to describe how homesteading was a difficult enterprise. He described how world events, local weather conditions and U.S. economic conditions drew homesteaders to the idea of 'free' land and how reversals in conditions, in about half the cases in Montana, also drove homesteaders from the land.

Rossiter said, "Conditions in Europe, especially Ireland, caused many people to immigrate to the U.S. Initially there was plenty of work as the country developed basic infrastructure, like building roads and canals. That building boom began to diminish about the same time the national government made land available in what was called at the time, "The Great American Desert." The great desert ran roughly from the Mississippi River and west to the continental divide. Folks, many who had no experience in agriculture, began to move west to seek their fortunes, and the songs of that period were often hopeful and full of descriptions of what a great adventure was about to happen.

Many of the homesteaders, especially in this part of Montana, arrived in the late 1800's and early 1900's, during a period of plentiful rain, and hopeful farmers assumed that adequate rain was normal. About the same time the railroad was using all sorts of "come-ons" to draw people west. The railroad companies realized, as one executive put it, "You could build a railroad into the Garden of Eden but if no one came to live there, the project would fail." Even the onset of World War I, in 1914, created robust markets for agricultural products.

Sometime in the 1910-20 period things began to change. Poor farming practices began to deplete the fragile prairie soils. The droughts came, for several years running. The war ended and those markets dried up. But one thing that endured, and there were many songs about this, was the mortgage on the farm. Rossiter said because of some or all of the conditions listed, in Montana between 1910 and 1920 half the homesteads failed. Banks took back the mortgaged land but without buyers for the land, many banks failed. Rossiter added, "In the late teens and early 1920's we got a head start on the great depression (1930's) in Montana."

Steve Edwards

Bill Rossiter, shown here playing the autoharp, gave presentations at both the Harlem and Chinook libraries last week. His topic was about the hardships of homesteading. He used period songs and recorded tales to help audiences understand the conditions and history that caused so many homesteaders to abandon the land.

One interesting set of stories Rossiter shared involved a researcher who visited failing farmers and asked why they were sticking around. He got a lot of answers but his favorite was this one, from a farmer who had to think about his response for a minute: "I guess I can't quit because farming is like a disease, I can't heal myself." The songs and stories from the presentation showed the harder side of life as a homesteader. There were good points, like the sense of community that existed because of such an isolated and harsh life. But overall, homesteading was tough. One audience member, after describing the experiences of his grandparents as homesteaders, summed up by saying, "Homesteading was not romantic. It was hard on women and horses."

Rossiter's wife, Sharon, travels with him, sometimes performing with him as a musician. Asked about life as a traveling presenter, she said, "We meet a lot of really nice people and see a lot of the country. From Harlem we head to Sidney for some performances out there. Then we go back home (Kalispell) for a few days, then begin a tour of Idaho and Wyoming." Likely she could sing some songs and tell some tales about the life of a wandering teacher.

Both library performances were well attended. Chinook librarian Val Frank said, "I think because of the history of homesteading in this area, his topic interested locals. That might explain why there was such a good turnout." At the end of his presentation, in Chinook, Rossiter asked how many in the audience had connections to homesteaders, and a large majority of hands went up. Later comments indicated that many in the audience lived on or had connections to a homestead still in the family.