At one point in my life I did post-graduate work at the University of Montana in Missoula. I decided to do a research project on the History of Music in Missoula, 1865-1890. I spent one summer reading microfilm of Montana newspapers to find not only the occasions that mentioned music, but also to determine what was being performed and by whom. After the Civil War, there was an influx of southern men to Montana Territory looking for gold. Mining camps sprang up all along the rivers that flowed out of the Rocky Mountains and these migrants brought with them the culture of their Appalachian heritage. An article in the newspaper, whether from Virginia City, Missoula or Anaconda, might read, "We were entertained on Saturday last by music performed by the sheriff, the barber and other members of our community, playing on their fiddles, banjo and mandolins. Community inhabitants filled the saloon and expressed their delight." A few inches down the page, there might be another articl...