Land Grab Podcast John Hooks and Matt Neuman

In the last episode of Land Grab, we try- as best we can- to unravel the twisted up tentacles of the Missoula Octopus. As the Great Depression washes over Montana, one organization seems remarkably immune: the Missoula Mercantile Company, which imbedded within every industry in the county, and floats the entire region throughout the turmoil. 

Throughout the run of this show, we’ve seen the Merc spread across Western Montana, ruling Missoula county and pulling  in a constant, steady stream of cash from everyone in the area. But, starting at the turn of the 20th Century, that vast majority of that wealth, generated in Montana, began flowing upward and outward to the West Coast. This chapter, we follow the money and catch up with an old friend in San Francisco: Andrew B. Hammond.   

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In the penultimate episode of Land Grab, we conclude our narrative on the ground on the Flathead Reservation with the story of the Flathead Irrigation Project and the construction of Kerr Dam. After tracing the path of multinational corporations like Standard Oil and Amalgamated as they took over Montana in the early 1900’s, we are going to see in this chapter how those multinationals imposed themselves on the Reservation, and confiscated the tribes’ most valuable remaining resource: the power site on the Flathead River Falls. 

Find out more about Land Grab, and consider making a contribution at www.landgrabpodcast.com and find us on social media @landgrabpod

Duration:

01:13:45

In Chapter Eight of Land Grab, we take a deep dive into the  takeover of the Anaconda Company by Standard Oil, and  the vicious decades of hegemonic corporate rule  that followed in the 20th century. We look at how this reviled villain in “The Company”, and the devastating bust that brought an end to the homestead boom we covered in the  last two chapters, conspired to bring Joseph M. Dixon out of the political wilderness to run for Governor in 1920, finding himself right at the heart of a conflict with Anaconda that would define a decade of Montana history.  

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The Flathead Allotment Act was passed in 1904, but the reservation was not opened until 1910. But those 6 years were far from idle. This chapter of Land Grab looks at how the white community of Missoula circled around the reservation, smelling a profit, while the native Salish, Pend D'Oreille, and Kootenai people fought to hold on to the last vestiges of their homeland.



This chapter also examines the massive homestead boom into Montana in the 1910’s, that brought tens of thousands of honyockers onto the Flathead and the whole state, inspired by railroad propaganda to claim as much government homestead land as possible and plow Montana’s arid prairies into vast wheat farms.



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Land Grab is back with the first episode of the second part of our series on the history of the Missoula Mercantile Company, corporate control of Montana, and the allotment of the Flathead Indian Reservation at the turn of the 20th century in Western Montna. In this chapter, we look at the rise of Montana politician Joseph Dixon, a young North Carolinian who moved to Missoula and ascended rapidly to national office with the support of the Missoula Mercantile’s political machine.



In Congress, Dixon worked to find a legislative means to force the Flathead Reservation open to white settlement over the vehement opposition of the Salish, Kootenai, and Pend D'Oreille tribes. At the same time, his employers- the Missoula Merc- were moving their enterprise onto the reservation, and getting in prime position to clean up once the Flathead goes on sale.



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In the cumulative chapter of the first half of our season, we find Andrew Hammond at the peak of his powers in Missoula in the 1890’s. The Bitterroot Salish have left the valley and Marcus Daly’s Anaconda Company fills the vacuum.



Statewide, the Capital and the University are up for grabs, and Hammond makes a number of under the table deals to try and secure Missoula the University, and Helena the Capital. But a growing local resentment and the reappearance of the federal investigations into illegal timber poaching in Hammond’s operations eventually drive him out of Montana to avoid the scrutiny.



After Hammond leaves, he puts his nephew, C.H. McLeod in charge, and McLeod sets about softening the brand of the Missoula Mercantile and obscuring its real ownership.



We’re taking a break until the new year after this chapter, so be sure to like and subscribe to the show, and tell your friends and family about it so they can catch up on the episodes we have out. And we’ll see you in 2022.



Find out more about Land Grab, and consider making a contribution at www.landgrabpodcast.com and find us on social media @landgrabpod