The Kevin review. [volume] (Kevin, Mont.) 1922-1929, 1923-04-12
Byron Coomey Writes His Impressions of Oil Field

EFF. .Ht HAt 81 f.H4-E
At midnight I,took a turn about
town., and found 18 men sleeping or
the floor at the Harrington hotel; %
at the Great Northern depot, and ]
understand the church had a big
group sleeping in pews. Many of the
residents, who have rooms, rent them
out and make good side money at a
dollar a night. The barber who
shaved me, told me he had managed
to make room for five a night, which
increased his income $150;a month.
Bob Stewart, I.think his name was,
who runs a cigar store, news stand
and employment agency, paid $50 a
month rent for the small frame build
ing he was located in I asked him if
he didn't think the rent was high.
mo" he replied, 81 don't think So;
I have a lease and I have refused
5000 a month for it.. You see, I rent
a part of this for a real estate office
"a part for a barber shop-another
section for a card room and down
stairs / sleep eight or ten persons
every night; besides what I make in
my business I think I am doing
very we'll"
IT saw a lot of fellows sleeping on
billiard tables and in the depot last
night" I said. "Were they sleeping
there because they were broke or be-
cause. there was no room"
For both reasons" he replied.
Some have money who come in here,
and some are just boomers"
Old-Timers' Hospitality
Down the street I met a Butte old
timer. His greeting was effusive.
here a minute or two" he de-
manded, and parked me in a little
shop. In two minutes he was back
with a soda pop bottle full of moon
which he assured me was the best
moon" I had ever Chopped my lip
over" He paid SO for it hate
moon-it was hard to scorn his hos
pitality, SO / went through the form
atty of taking a drink. He and his
friend finished it. But the spirit of
old Butte was there. He meant well.
Some of this may seem irrelevant,
but behind these small incidents the
reader should get at least side-lights
Shelby. The town is not fragrant
ly open The courthouse is IN the
main street. I understand they were /,
running very open for a while and
the sheriff went around and told
them to put on the soft pedal or cut
it out altogether.
I did not see any liquor sold over
the bar, and no real open gambling.
After midnight I found a poker game
hung up my coat and moved in.
There was a driller from the fields
! typical boomer who boosted of
he number of jails he had been in;
/ railroad man; a ~bootlegger; a man
who seemed to have unlimited money,
out who rarely spoke. 1t was quite
yentlemanly, typical Western game,
they were all good players. The
AXE wasn't exorbitant. Every hour
,r so we Clipped in a blue chip for a
hands and a bottle popped up
rom somewhere. I was travelling
'incognito"-the gang called me
Shorty" which was perfectly salts
actory. Nobody knew anybody else
t was a cash game; nobody wanted
0 cash any personal checks.
shorty No Tenderfoot
when someone referred toll
OuOILy DIS d tSuucl lOOI, L tOid ShSAh
# the first time I visited Shelby 70
ears ago, when there was only about
hree houses and two of them were
aloons, and there vas a ring of sad
le horses around both front doors. I
asked them if any knew Jack Con-
ELY, who used to run the hotel, or t
tuth, after whom the Guth building s
) still named in the center of town. S
'nly a little Swede remembered Con- /
ely, and / felt as proud as If mad t
ION a pot. AS the players went c
roke or got tired and left their seat, T
here was always someone to sit IN. t
quit a trifle worse than even, nav 4
had a perfectly good time. a
Nobody tried to "mooch" me on the c
of Shelby, and I was there +
bout 80 hours. a
Here are some facts about Shelby: b
as it may seem, it is not
reen paper camp. No one is DASH b
lg madly around trying to sell you c.
Il stocks. The game has got beyond a
lat. Some groups are being maoe'W