Hidden History of Great Falls

Hidden History of Great Falls

​UNCOVERING UNIQUELY MONTANAN STORIES: More than steamboats and famous explorers, Great Falls's history is colored with compelling episodes nearly lost to the ages. Glacial Lake Great Falls changed the course of the Missouri River while carving fascinating geological features like Lost Lake, the Big Sag and Lewis and Clark's Slaughter River. 

Copper from Butte mines, Anaconda smelters, and Great Falls refineries wired the world and helped win the World Wars.

Landless Indigenous peoples sought refuge on a hill called 57.

A local crusading editor became 'Montana's Conscience' and authored the revered Montana, High, Wide, and Handsome.

A Civil War monument was raised to honor both the Blue and the Gray-the first in the nation to do so.

Pathbreaking preservationists Charley and Sue Bovey saved acclaimed gold rush-era Virginia City before historic preservation was cool.

​​​Award-winning historian Ken Robison brings to life little-known accounts from a storied past.

Robison, Ken. Historic Tales of Fort Benton

The History Press, 2023

​​

Robison, Ken. Cold War Montana: From Stolen Secrets to the Ace in the Hole

The History Press, Oct 2021

​​

Robison, Ken. Historic Tales of Whoop-Up Country: On the Trail from Montana's Fort Benton to Canada's Fort Macleod. Charleston: The History Press, September 2020

​

Robison, Ken. Montanans in the Great War: Open Warfare Over There

Charleston: The History Press, 2019

​​

Glasrud, Bruce A. and Cary D. Wintz, Eds. Black Americans and the Civil Rights Movement in the West. Ken Robison Chapter: “Chapter 5: The Mountain States (Montana/Wyoming): Breaking Racial Barriers.” Norman: University of Oklahoma Press: February 2019

​

Robison, Ken. World War I Montana: The Treasure State Prepares

Charleston: The History Press, 2018

​​

Robison, Ken. Yankees & Rebels on the Upper Missouri: Steamboats, Gold and Peace. Charleston: The History Press, 2016

​​

Kohl, Martha, ed. Beyond Schoolmarms and Madams: Montana Women’s Stories. Ken Robison Chapter “Martha Edgerton Rolfe Plassmann.: Helena: Montana Historical Society Press, 2016​

​

McDermott, Paul D., Ed. The Mullan Road: Carving a Passage through the Frontier Northwest, 1859 to 1862. Ken Robison Chapter: “Completing the Mullan Road from Mullan Pass to Fort Benton: A Harbinger of Change.” By Ken Robison. Missoula: Mountain Press Publishing, 2015. Pgs. 131-151, 2015​

Swarthout, Robert, Ed.  Montana  A Cultural Medley, Stories of Our Ethnic Diversity. Ken Robison Chapter: “Breaking Racial Barriers: ‘Everyone’s Welcome’ at the Ozark Club—Great Falls, Montana’s African American Nightclub” by Ken Robison. Far Country Press, 2015

Robison, Ken. Confederates in Montana Territory: In the Shadow of Price’s Army. Charleston: The History Press, 2014

Robison, Ken. Montana Territory and the Civil War: A Frontier Forged on the Battlefield. Charleston: The History Press, 2013

Healy, John J. Life and Death on the Upper Missouri: The Frontier Sketches of Johnny Healy. Edited by Ken Robison. Charleston: Ken Robison, 2013

Thomson, Janet D. et al, Ed. Early Settlers of Great Falls, Cascade County, Montana, 1884-1920. Vols. 1-2. Createspace, 2012. [Ken Robison wrote the History of Great Falls and the bios of more than 1,100 Black residents.]

Robison, Ken. Cascade County and Great Falls. Charleston: Arcadia, 2011

Robison, Ken. Fort Benton. Charleston: Arcadia, 2009.