Ed Kemmick

Ed Kemmick has been a newspaper reporter, editor and columnist since 1980. Except for four years in his home state of Minnesota, he has spent his entire journalism career in Montana, working in Missoula, Anaconda, Butte and Billings. "The Big Sky, By and By," a collection of some of his newspaper stories and columns, plus a few essays and one short story, was published in 2011.

Recent Posts

On the Musselshell, working together pays big dividends

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Flood

As the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gathers public comment this week on a huge study of the Yellowstone River, this is a good time to be reminded of the impressive progress that has been made in cooperatively managing another Montana river. That would be the Musselshell, which rises near Martinsdale and flows about 350 miles before joining the Missouri River north of Mosby. Like so many other high plains rivers, the Musselshell seems perpetually to have been either rampaging in times of flood or barely trickling along in times of drought. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Montana, News, Bill Milton, Deadman's Basin, DNRC, Karin Boyd, Laura Nowlin, Michael Downey

Beartooth rockslide may be the biggest in North America

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Slide

It doesn’t have quite the immediate appeal of Old Faithful, but there is a notable geological feature in the Beartooth Mountains that Auzie Blevins and John Boehmke believe more people should know about. The feature is an immense heap of rock, the result of a gigantic rockslide that formed a natural dam and created Deep Lake, one of the largest bodies of water in the Beartooths. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Diversions, Auzie Blevins, Beartooth Mountains, Bureau of Reclamation, Dan Siefert, Deep Lake, Deep Lake Slide, John Boehmke

Prairie Lights: Clawson’s big heart, brilliant pen live on

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Clawson

When the Billings Gazette hired me as a night editor in 1989, I was thrilled at the prospect of working alongside Roger Clawson. I had known of him since the mid-1970s, when I first started visiting Billings in the company of the Missoula Flying Mules, a gang of bar hounds masquerading as a hockey team. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Prairie Lights, Billings Gazette, Billings Outpost, David Crisp, Mark Twain, Mike Royko, Missoula Flying Mules, Roger Clawson

In this contest, hard to root for the home team

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Tank

A lot of goofy stuff crosses my desk, and this week nothing was goofier than a press release from Tnemec Company Inc., which describes itself as a “leading provider of high-performance coatings.” The release went on: “This is the 10th year that Tnemec has recognized the aesthetic, creative and innovative uses of its coatings on water storage tanks, including one from Brady, Montana.” That’s what it says. But look at the Brady (between Great Falls and Conrad) water tank. Innovative? Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Brady, Tanks, Tnemec

Red Lodge officials, residents vent over sidewalk ‘hazards’

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Mayor

RED LODGE—Main street merchants in this mountain town, already steamed over a seemingly endless state construction project in the heart of downtown, got more bad news Thursday meeting. At a community meeting called by Mayor Ed Williams, they were told that the Montana Department of Transportation, responding to complaints over how sidewalks were rebuilt, would like all “obstructions” removed from downtown sidewalks. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Montana, News, Americans with Disabilities Act, Ed Williams, Montana Department of Transportation, Red Lodge, Stefan Streeter, Tom Kuntz

Family’s devotion to rarely used church spans a century

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Altar

On the high plains of Eastern Montana, abandoned churches are nearly as plentiful as abandoned schoolhouses. From a distance, the little white church sitting on a rise nine miles west and a little south of Broadview looks as if it might be one of those forlorn, forgotten structures. But step inside and it is immediately clear that this is a church still under someone’s loving care. The ornate altar, with its prominent statue of the Virgin Mary and a front panel featuring a relief sculpture of the Last Supper, is bright and beautifully preserved. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Culture, Diversions, Broadview, Darren Eultgen, Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, Jean Downey, Karen Schott, Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church

On the road to Roundup, a new restaurant with a flair

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DOA

Let’s say you live in Billings and you’re in the mood for some substantial food that is also imaginative, even a little edgy. And maybe you’d like to wash it down with some fun cocktails containing ingredients you’d never thought to mix with booze. Where to go? How about 30 miles north of Billings on Highway 87, to a roadside tavern on the outskirts of hell-and-gone? (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Culture, Diversions, Aaron Grissom, Alex Henderson, Branding Iron Saloon, Coila Evans, Dirty Oscar's Annex, First Security Bank of Roundup

At Your Service: Reflections, regrets at the end of a series

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Holy card

It was with a pang of regret that I published the 24th and last chapter in my At Your Service series last Monday. I began thinking of such a series something like 20 years ago, figuring it would be fascinating to visit some of the many churches in Billings and hoping that my “reviews” of the services might be of interest to others. At the time, though, and for many years after, I couldn’t imagine where I might publish such a series. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: At Your Service, Billings Gazette, Facebook, Iris Dement, Montana Folk Festival, nondiscrimination ordinance