by Travis Mateer
Since I’ve been working on a meta-timeline, and talking about the timing of things happening in a few of the cases I’ve been tracking, it was timely to find a copy of MONTANA, The Magazine of Western History, from the Spring of 2019.
I’ll get to why this magazine is now curious to me in a moment, but first recall a time before THE FEAR was rolled out in March of 2020. What were some of the LOCAL things going on?
I did some scrolling back in the archive and found articles I wrote, like this one about how ignoring the Reserve Street encampment won’t make it go away, and this one about the McResistance of Russiagaters like Montana’s Josh Manning.
While I was writing about these topics, the woman who would be become instrumental in directing PANDEMIC policies, Ellen Leahy, was writing in the above mag about the INFLUENZA pandemic.
Here’s some of the content from this precursor to Leahy’s time to shine:
Within a week of that news, the disease arrived full force in Montana. “Dread Influenza Invades State” announced the Daily Missoulian, noting that Sheridan County reported over 100 cases on September 30 and an alarming 350 cases in Scobey in neighboring Daniels County. Likely aided by troop movement and rail travel, the disease spread quickly and was reported “raging at Libby” just before its arrival in Missoula, where the first wave of cases occurred among soldiers training for combat.
In keeping with the fine customs of a Sunday, enlisted men at Fort Missoula enjoyed their day off on October 6, 1918, which they “passed in the city,” mingling with civilians. Upon their return to the fort that evening, many of them were showing signs of illness and were placed in quarantine at the fort hospital, but by then it was too late.
Later that year, in 2019, the Repo markets started going nuts in September. Then, in October, this happened:
I’m sure this is all just coincidental, and anyone who says otherwise is a raving lunatic in need of reeducation.
Thanks for reading!