Published in the Missoulian Nov 28, 2013
By its very definition, Thanksgiving means that we should look back on the past as we gather together with family and friends.
The first recorded Thanksgiving in what became Montana took place in the isolated mining town of Bannack in 1863, shortly after President Abraham Lincoln had established it as a national observance.
In the rough and tumble mining community, what people wanted to be thankful for was gold, and most were too busy looking for it to take time out to have much more than a helping of beans.
But the territory was already growing up. Wilbur and Harriet Sanders had come west with Wilbur’s uncle, Henry Edgerton, who had just been appointed chief justice of Idaho Territory, which then included Montana.
They arrived in Bannack on their way to the territorial capital at Lewiston, when bad weather forced them to delay their journey and eventually spend Thanksgiving there.
One of the town’s leading citizens invited Wilbur and Harriet and the Edgerton’s to celebrate Thanksgiving at his home. He wanted to make a good impression on the politically powerful family. He had time to order a turkey — a real luxury for Bannack — that was delivered to him from Salt Lake at a cost of $40 in gold and much more for shipping.
Harriet wrote later that their Thanksgiving meal in that humble rustic cabin was as fine and beautifully prepared as any meal she ever enjoyed in New York City’s finest restaurants.
History takes strange twists, and those gathered around the table would become legends in Montana history.
Sanders went on to become a famous and courageous prosecutor in what became Montana Territory. He was a gifted orator, community builder and, most famously, a prominent organizer of the Montana Vigilance Committee in Virginia City, which soon overcame Bannack as the leading gold-boom town.
It seems that the host of that first Thanksgiving dinner in Montana, who also achieved historical fame, failed to make a lasting good impression on his guests. The host was Sheriff Henry Plummer.
Just a few weeks later, Sanders and the vigilantes tried Plummer in a miner’s court and hanged him for leading the gang of robbers and murderers that had been running roughshod over the territory.
So, as we look back on Thanksgivings in Montana, we should take time to reflect on both the good and the bad. History, after all, is a true and rich feast of stories.
