The Official Author SIte of Shane Dunning
HISTORY JOURNAL ARTICLES
The Right Man to Do the Wrong Thing: Charlie Thex, the Bear Creek Sheep Raid
On December 28, 1900, eleven masked men surrounded a lone sheepherder near the confluence of Otter, Tooley, and Bear Creeks in southeastern Montana, then in Custer County. A gunman pointed a Colt revolver at the herder while his co-conspirators clubbed to death 2,200 head of prize ewe lambs. The Yellowstone Journal published a worrying lament under the headline “Another Range War” as fears of further violence spread throughout the Powder River country. “For the first time in its history of Custer County since it became identified with the range stock interests, there comes this morning the news of a clash between opposing or antagonistic range interests,”the Journal reported, “the first blow struck—if reports be true—a stagger. From the best information gathered within a few miles of the scene of operations, a band of 2,000 sheep have been killed by masked marauders.”
READ MORE IN THE SUMMER 2021 ISSUE!
Montana, The Magazine of Western History
Published since 1951, Montana The Magazine of Western History showcases the people, places, and events that shaped the state and the western region. In addition to fascinating articles, the magazine features book and movie reviews, commentaries, Montana episodes, and advertising confined to rare and new books, art objects, and other products and events related to American—especially Western—history.
The quarterly magazine is lavishly illustrated with historical maps, drawings, and photographs from the Society's own collections and from other public and private sources. The larger 7⅞" x 10¾" size, along with full-color art on the cover and occasionally inside, sets the magazine apart from most of its genre.
Winner of the 2022 Spur Award for Best Short Non-Fiction!
2022 Spur Award Winning Article
The Western Writers of America awarded their prestigious 2022 Spur Award for Best Short Non-Fiction to "the Right Man to Do the Wrong Thing" available in the Summer 2021 Edition of Montana, the Magazine of Western History.