Friday, January 21, 1921
This was a fine day. I & Zell got up & went to the train. I went down to Poplar on the 8 O’C. train. called at Blairs & ate dinner with Mrs. Harry McDonald. & I and her called on Mrs. Will Bawden. ate supper at Toolys & I and her called on Mrs. C. N. Smith got home at 10-30. P. M.
MMM – As I pointed out in an earlier post, there was no inauguration on January 20 in 1921. There was a new president, Warren G. Harding, but he would not take office officially until March 4. Newspapers reported Harding building his cabinet. as he announced Charles Evans Hughes as Secretary of State. Oil exploration seemed to be the big news of the day, but the Montana legislature debated a bill that would force school teachers to take a “loyalty” test. See Montana Newspapers
Mrs. Steele lived at what she called the Hillside Ranch along Red Water, a tributary flowing into the Missouri River south of Poplar, Montana, which is the agency headquarters of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Leaving the farm on January 15, she took a ferry across the river to Poplar where she boarded a train to visit her daughter, Zell, in Wolf Point, twenty-one miles further west. Winters were long, cold, and dark. It must have been a special treat to spend time in a town where it was possible to visit friends and family easily and to take in some modern conveniences.
