Richard Ecke - Tribune Staff Writer (3-28-99)

In rural Montana in the 1920s, people mainly scraped by.

Russell Swaby's parents, who ranched midway between Hardin and Crow Agency in Southeast Montana along the Little Bighorn River, had to be self-sufficient, dining on potatoes from the garden and small game. "We had a lot of jackrabbits and sage hens in those days," he said.

In tough times, "we ate weeds from along the (drainage ditch) bank with some pork in it." Actually, wild mustard or dandelion greens "were just as good as spinach."

Catfish could be fished out of the river in spring, but carp and suckers were all that was left the rest of the year. The family ate them all.

"It was something to eat," said Swaby, now of Great Falls. They made some money from the milk of their 14 cows.

They dipped their water from the river and a spring, and used an outhouse. The family car was a used 1916 Dodge touring car.

Things were a bit more interesting in the big city. John Ogle was 8 in 1929 when his dad, Leo, a coal miner in Klein, near Roundup, gave it up and moved into a house at 2205 8th Ave N., at the edge of the city limits.

Ogle enjoyed the benefits of having a railroad line directly behind his house. When Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus came to town, the train would rumble to a stop between 3 and 6 a.m. behind his house. He would leap out of bed to catch the spectacle as ramps were lowered with a thud.

They'd unload all of the animals there, the whole works: elephants and lions and tigers and whatever.

"We didn't even think of asking our folks to pay our way in," he said. Kids worked for their tickets.

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