The 405 Coffee Break with O.K. Solberg

The 3rd installment. B.D. Phillips, the man for whom this county is named.

What is The 405 Coffee Break with O.K. Solberg?

Greetings and Welcome to The 405 Coffee Break with O.K. Solberg

New episodes tend to air over the local KMMR radio station @ 5 minutes past 4PM each M-F. And have been doing so, nearly every week since Sept 2018.

I'm D.J. Rasmussen, O.K.s friend since junior high, possibly your neighbor & this websites maintainer, whom strives to get each episode's show notes written, the transcript proofed and the audio posted to the internet within a few hours of that days KMMR air time. NOTE: recently been publishing most new releases by 4:30PM.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy the time we can spend together.

OK Solberg:

I want to again welcome you to The 405 Coffee Break. Guys, beautiful day. Get your cup of coffee, glass iced tea, bottle of water. Let's see what's happening.

OK Solberg:

Spring wheat $6.41 a bushel. 550lb steer calf, fall delivery $5 to $5.15 a pound, and a 100lb fat lamb in Billings $3.25 a pound. But guys there's more much more.

OK Solberg:

Okay. If you've been tuning in, you know that the last couple of days I've been sharing about B.D. Phillips, the man for whom this county is named. Dick Dale loaned me the book which was written by B.D.'s son Walter, and Walter wrote the book in 1968.

OK Solberg:

So far we've heard of B.D. Phillips winning $10,000 in a foot race in Butte, Butte Montana, and yesterday we heard about him winning another foot race at Fort Assiniboine and a shooting contest in which he won.

OK Solberg:

It is very safe to say that Mr. Phillips was a fast runner and a great shot when it came came to guns, but he also liked practical jokes. You know, I think our friend Todd Smith would fit right in. It must have been the way of the Old West. Listen now as I quote from the book.

OK Solberg:

After hundreds of miles of traveling, my father decided on a location on Willow Creek in the Highwood Mountains about 40 miles south of Fort Benton. In 1879, when he was 22 years old, he took his cattle, horses and equipment from Deer Lodge and left for his new ranch.

OK Solberg:

In 1879, Fort Benton was a river capital of Montana. That year traffic on the Upper Missouri reached its all time high. Most of it going to the mining camps, 100 to 200 miles by freight wagon.

OK Solberg:

That year, about 50 river boats brought some 10,000 tons of freight upriver. Now as railroads reached further towards and into Montana, the river traffic rapidly receded. I've had people ask to what pleasure the pioneers had.

OK Solberg:

They didn't have radio, TV, telephone, automobiles, fine highways, daily newspapers, etcetera. But having listened to my father, they enjoyed life probably more fully than the present generation.

OK Solberg:

My father greatly enjoyed practical jokes both on him and by him. There was a great deal of target shooting, hunting of all kinds, horseshoe pitching, horse racing, foot racing, jumping, wrestling, and card games.

OK Solberg:

And as the country settled up, country dances, house parties, showers, etcetera, they had their place. At the dances, my father was a popular fiddler with all the above and plenty of hard work. Time did not hang heavy on the hands of the Montana pioneers.

OK Solberg:

As the cattle herd was growing, my father hired Alex Lavalli. Alex was a very unusual ranch hand and that he was well educated, didn't drink, didn't use tobacco in any of its forms, and didn't use foul language. But he was a gambler. He loved to gamble. He worked for my father off and on for 30 years, usually spending the winter in California.

OK Solberg:

Now, one day, my father noticed a rock near the house that hadn't been there before. He at once guessed that a trap had been set for him, so he knocked a chunk off the bottom of the rock, weighed it, and put it back in the same spot.

OK Solberg:

No mention of the rock was made for several days. Then after supper one evening when they were pitching horseshoes, Alex stumbled over the rock to attract attention to it and said, Ben, I wonder how much that rock weighs. My father thought for a while and said, I'd guess about 27 pounds.

OK Solberg:

Alex said, I'll bet you $50 cash. It weighs closer to 30 pounds. My father said, alright. I'll call you. Alex lost his $50, end of quote.

OK Solberg:

This book has so many good stories in it. I'll never get to share them all. Another time it's told that Alex and B.D. were traveling by wagon to Fort Benton with a 6 horse team. The conversation as they're riding led to horseshoe pitching in which both men were good. And Alex said to B.D., if we had horseshoes with us, I'd play you now and I'd win.

OK Solberg:

Ben or B.D. Phillips said, okay then. We'll do it right here. He stopped the team, removed some shoes from a couple of horses, and the game was on. It is told that Alex lost that game and was so disgusted that he wouldn't ride up front with B.D. anymore.

OK Solberg:

But I quote, however, on getting to Fort Benton, my father financed him for his trip to Butte. Just a lot of good stories in this book. And guys, you know what I say, it's fun to have fun and good is better than bad.

OK Solberg:

Let me close with a bible verse in the Old Testament book of Job in chapter 6 verse 27 It says, you would even cast lots over the fatherless and bargain over your friend. Again, Job 6:27 Some guys will bet on anything.

OK Solberg:

Anyway, another big thank you to Dick Dale for loaning me his historic book. I'll close with make sure you keep an eye on how Buckshot is doing over there in the Mongol Derby, widely known as the longest and toughest multistage horse race in the world across the rugged Mongolian countryside. Go Buckshot.

OK Solberg:

So until next time, as you go out there, remember now, don't be bitter.