MILW Central Montana & the Jawbone Railroad

A woman died in Helena, Montana, last week who was born in Loweth (Summit) Montana when the Loweth was a going town on the Milwaukee Road. Her life reminded me that a couple of books about railroading in Central Montana prior to the Milwaukee Road "taking over" the Montana (Jawbone) Railroad certainly worth reading this winter. First is a new book by Jim Moore titled "Riding the Jawbone." The book is historically accurate and puts the reader into large towns that no longer exist but were very important to the Jawbone and Milwaukee Railroads in Central Montana. Copperopolis is one of those towns. Copperopolis was founded to serve the miners of a large copper deposit which the Jawbone served by hauling the copper ore from the Copperopolis rail head at Martinsdale to the smelter in East Helena. Today Copperopolis is just a field a couple of miles west of today's Checkerboard, Montana. An older book titled "Ubet - A Greenhorn in Old Montana" (written in the 1930s) is about the days just prior to the railroads' entrance into Central Montana and sets the stage for the railroads' coming. Ubet, for example chronicles the founding of Martinsdale and Ubet, Montana - both were essentially founded by the author's Father. Both books are available on Amazon.com for very reasonable prices. I would suggest reading Ubet first then Riding the Jawbone second. The books tell about the economics of Central Montana which drove the coming of the railroads (agricultural, mining and logging) through very good stories. Enjoy!