Alberton celebrates its history at Railroad Days

At an elevation of 3,055 feet, Alberton sits on I-90 at the southern tip of Mineral County with a rich history of railroads. The town was named for Albert J. Earling, president of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad and has had post office in operation since 1909.

On the third Saturday of July every year, the residents celebrate Alberton Railroad Day which reflects its history but is a reminder of how people honor and enjoy each other’s company.

Linda Romano has lived in Alberton for 50 years and started the kindergarten program at Alberton when she first came.

“I had to talk them into it, but they needed a kindergarten program. I was Linda Riggs at the time. The school knew they needed it, so we got it going and I’ve been here since,” she said.

Romano is a member of the Catholic Church and was sad that this is the first year they were not selling pies at Railroad Day.

“Well, the Catholic Church is kind of shut down and we are going to Frenchtown church, now. But the Methodist Church is doing great and they are down there selling tacos, I think, “as she points north on Railroad Avenue.

As far as the history of this annual event, Romano said, “This started in 1985. Before that, it was called the Street Dance and the Street Dance got out of control, crazy. So now it’s Railroad Day and a nice family event.”

Her friend, Ron Mason, is originally from New York City but has lived in Alberton since 1983 and was a Timber Forester for the Superior Ranger District.

“I came out here to go to college and I stayed here.” Mason doesn’t remember missing this annual event either. “I just like walking around seeing people I know. Coming and visiting with people you haven’t seen since Railroad Day last year. I’ll be looking at the vendor booths to get something for lunch,” he grins.

Bess Baker who is 11 and a student at Alberton School, was helping her dad, Russ, in the Alberton Ridge Runners Saddle Club selling grilled hotdogs. The organization is all about helping young horse enthusiasts and the giving of community spirit so this event raises money to hold the Easter Egg hunt each year.

Her face turns into a huge smile when she talks about her horse.

“She’s a 15-year-old Paint and she likes doing barrels,” which is a good thing because Baker loves doing barrels! The bummer is that ‘Suki’ and Bess must do their practicing in Hamilton, but when home, “I walk her around and do other patterns with her and just hang out with her a lot,” she said they do when not practicing.

The huge movement to bring back passenger train rail service on the old southern route that was discontinued in the mid 70s is building momentum at a fast rate through the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority. With Alberton’s rich history of railroads, it was the perfect place and day to let people know the mission and status. Mineral County BSPRA Director, Diane Magone was sharing updates and answering questions.

“The proposed route will enter Montana near Glendive and hit the major cities, Billings, Bozeman, possibly Butte, possibly Helena, then Missoula and hopefully come through Mineral County with a suggested stop in Paradise,” she explained. “Twenty counties have signed on so far. The timing is very good with the RAISE grants bringing back certain (passenger) rail routes through the United States, and this is one of them,” she explained to those gathered around her booth.

A concerned visitor questioned the overall cost of the project.

“All of our public transportation is subsidized to some extent. Look at what it would cost to fly if airports and airlines weren’t subsidized,” Magone said. “The money has already been earmarked to restore passenger rail service, so if we ignore this short window of opportunity, another railroad authority in another state will receive it.”

Wind River Bear Institute had a demonstration of how their Karelian Bear dogs performed in cases involving nuisance or dangerous bears and mountain lions. The institute is world renown in wildlife conflict management and they raise and train their Karelian Bear dogs in Florence.

Jessica Reyes is the program biologist for the institute and explained their public outreach, dog training, response procedures, cooperation with Montana FWP and other wildlife agencies around the world when their phone rings requesting help.

“We have a program in Japan working with the Asiatic black bear, another in Alaska that works with polar bears and grizzly bears. One in Canada that does the same including black bears and also in the state of Washington. But we’ve responded to bear conflicts all over the world,” she said.

When asked if any dogs or handlers have ever been injured, Reyes said, “No. We have an impeccable safety record. So, we have done over 1,000 grizzly bear pushes in a year and no dog, human or bear has been injured or killed in the process. And this has been since 1996 since we have been doing this.”

She went onto say that if the situation does not look safe, then they set a trap instead in conjunction with the assisting wildlife agency. They test their puppies starting at 4 weeks old to determine if they would be better at being a companion (huggy/snuggly) pet, or protection that will stand at your side and bark at a bear without an encounter. And the last category is the conflict dog which are the dogs that want to engage and push the bears.

"The parade is so nice that you get to watch it twice" as it does an about-face at the skatepark. Live music was in The Trax Bar and Sporty’s with a shootout in the street. Kids activities behind the Senior Center where the vendors row was set up on the grass included a couple of wading pools, a bouncy house, croquet, corn hole, large size checkerboard with sliding chips along with all the foods parents only allow for special occasions.