Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1936-10-17

I Labor was scarce and trucks were
scarce and the arena had to be put up
on time And mud Boy, there was
mud. Every street was filled with soup
other towns In the neighborhood
began to knock. They were all dead that
spring because the workers and the
sightseers and q lot Of the business and
al the loose change had moved up
here.
Great Falls began to send out no
tees that the money couldn't be raised,
that the arena couldn't be built, that
the fight wouldn't be held And no
doubt about it, that kept thousands OF
people away from here who might have
aThere are six first-cIass barber
shops and q dozen good filling sta
lions in Shelby" mentioned Mr. Kelly.
Everybody Happy Then
Everybody in Shelby felt that ne
was sitting on the top OF the world IN
April, May and June, 1928" resumed
Il Know one lad here-and he was
only about 20 years old-wh0 cleaned
up S65 600 net In a little trucking bust
ness. He got 5000 the day Of the fight
hauling people out TO the arena. Glib
hons came and trained In town, met
the people and showed he was willing
to cooperate. Dempsey came along
few hours before he had to step into
the ring, parked his private train near
the arena and dressed for the fight
in his car Jack KearnS Wouldn't com
promise for a cent. He wasn't popular
here"
'Shelby has four of the best garages
in the country" observed the statis-
tician. They are equipped with ma
chine shops and keep a staff OF expert
mechanics. If they had to they coulo
make any part for any automobile
right here in town.
Threw Away $4,000
well, they held the fight Six
thousand people who hadn't Sl5 Tor
seat offered to pay S.. KearnS turneo
them down He just threw away $aOsOOO
because they knocked down the fence
and went IN any way
.aThat great big building on the top
of the hill is the new courthouse" said
Mr. Kelly.
''Well. you hear a lot about how
much money was lost" said Mr.. Thom-
as. But I'm wondering about that. !
worked in the State bank at the time.
After the fight an affiliated bank IN
Great Falls began to bear down on the
state bank and the State bank just
closed its door. It paid out lOO Genus
on the dollar. ,...a
Naturally the banking puslI Iisss
moved To a bank across the tracks that
hadn't had anything much to do with
the financing of the fight. In couple
of weeks the boy who ran that bank
disappeared and he hasn't been founo
since. He took everything in sight with
him and the bank closed for good.
II don't see how you could blame
the fight for that.
aNGayor Jim johnson dumped lot
of money, but he wasn't broke. hes
still around here and doing Wen. Inc
people who lost were the SPECTATORS.
And that didn't hurt the town because
the money they put into permanent
improvements stayed here when they
went away"
halls. four churches and the best
school buildings In the northwest" said
the chamber Of commerce. And then
a visiting fireman broke into the con-
versation.
what happened to the town." be
inquired Surely all these people
aren't congregating around the streets
day and night because Dempsey fought
Gibbons in 1928"
Struck on Up North
They hit oil up north" recalled Mr..
Thomas. The field runs all the way
up to the Canadian border. This isn't
q COW town any more"
iThere are 10 producing companies
represented in Shelby" said Mr.. Kelly.
"There are six big refineries IN the
county and one of the biggest is now
projected"
what town are you talking about"
asked the visiting fireman, although
he already knew the answer.
Shelby" replied Mr. Kelly patient
". you know-the town where they
had the fight"