Shelby

Just before the I-15 overpass, on the hill to our right, you can see the 100 foot tall 30 by 50 foot Flag. The flag pole and its flag are Shelby’s memorial for remembering the contributions made by veterans in protecting our nation’s freedom. Because of the strong winds, the flag has to be replaced three times every year. Shelby was originally known as “Rattlesnake Gulch.” In the 1890s, the Great Northern Railway made Shelby a water stop for steam engines.  In 1921, a geologist discovered oil nearby and the result was that Shelby turned into one of the biggest boomtowns of the “Roaring Twenties,” billing itself as the “Tulsa of the West.” Today there are approximately 2,000 oil wells between Shelby and the Canadian border. Shelby is one of the busiest towns on the Montana Hi Line. It is located just 35 miles south of the Port of Sweetgrass, a major entry point to Canada. Every day 2,500 trucks pass through town on Interstate 15, many headed north to Calgary, Edmonton and Anchorage Alaska.

I want to take you back in time almost 100 years. It’s 1923 – World War I is over, the Great Depression has not yet begun. It was the Roaring 20s. Jack Dempsey was the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion.  Oil had recently been discovered in the Shelby area. This discovery created a real estate boom. During a lull in the frenzy in the winter of 1923, two real estate agents decided they wanted to attract national attention to further the sales of Toole County property. Shelby had been marketed nationally as the “Tulsa of the West.”  Real estate salesman James “Body” Johnson read that Montreal, Canada had offered $100,000 to World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Jack Dempsey to hold a championship fight. Initially unbeknownst to local officials, Johnson offered $200,000 for Dempsey to fight in Shelby. National press soon focused on the town, even though the real estate agents had no intention of actually holding the fight – simply stretching out attention on Shelby as long as possible. Town elders had no idea that the offer was simply a publicity stunt and endorsed the proposal for Dempsey to fight challenger Tommy Gibbons. The publicity stunt soon became reality.  Unfortunately for the town, Dempsey’s manager, “Doc” Kearns, would accept the offer, but only after allegedly getting Shelby’s representative inebriated, upping his fighter’s guaranteed take to $300,000 and later thwarting Shelby’s opportunity to so much as break even. In short order, the town of 2,000 constructed temporary hotels, concessions and the world’s largest outdoor arena, seating over 40,000. Kearns created a world of controversy as he postponed the fight three times out of concern that the town couldn’t come up with the purse. Having heard that Kearns had cancelled the fight, 26 special trains from around the country with thousands of spectators failed to rendezvous in Shelby. At the last minute, Dempsey decided he wouldn’t have an arena specially built for him sit empty on Independence Day. Thus, the fight was back on, but not in time to recall the previously cancelled trains and out-of-town spectators. As of fight day, July 4, 1923, only about 8,000 tickets had been sold. Reserved seats originally cost $25 (over $500 by today’s standards). It’s estimated that upwards of 13,000 spectators crashed the gates. Dempsey prevailed in and out of the ring. After winning a 15 round decision, he and Doc Kearns rushed to a private train and left town with the balance of their $300,000 purse. Four Montana banks went bankrupt as a result of the fight. The lumber to build the stands was repossessed. To this day, seat numbers can be seen on the attic boards of homes around Shelby. Ironically, the real estate boom fizzled out – from the time the fight contract was signed in Chicago to that autumn, the Johnson family real estate business failed to sell even a dollar’s worth of real estate. The site of the 40,000 seat arena, which took two months to construct and two weeks to tear down, is on our left about a half mile west of the depot, near Pizza Hut.

Empire Builder Master Resource Guide 20170702, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park – Seattle Unit, National Park Service/Department of the Interior