PART III-C

by Sherry Farwell, Ned Summers & Marguerite Goeders Rozelle

ENTERTAINMENT

Prior to any central human-made facilities in Sykes-Belltower, socialization within the community was restricted primarily to those events that could be held at individual homes or outdoor locations during the summer. An invitation to someone's home was highly regarded as an important opportunity to dress up for both the sharing of meals and conversations, known collectively as "visiting" your neighbors.

Once a few ranch homes had radios, those lucky families were often joined in their living rooms by neighbors for an evening of listening to popular comedy, music and news programs. The concept of being able to listen to radio programs being broadcast from distant locations was breathtaking in the early 1920's. During the warmer months, people occasionally gathered at special picnic spots that offered shade, water and relaxation, e.g., Lantis Spring and Catamount Creek. Sometimes dancing, horse racing, and friendly games were part of the summer festivities.

The establishment of a community store with a familiar name was a catalyst for additional social events. For example, the relatively new game of baseball was rapidly increasing in popularity and on its way to becoming the National Pastime. Developing a simple baseball field with a chicken-wire backstop on a piece of level ground near a community store was a natural development. The Gross family had a keen interest in competitive baseball and they built the first community baseball field near the B. B. Gross store along Sandcreek Road.

Figure 1 shows this initial Belltower baseball "park" and some of the players and fans. This was the home field for the Belltower Nine from 1917 until approximately 1940. Upon the closure of the Gross/Arnold store and the transfer of the post office to the other Belltower store, the site of the official Belltower baseball field also moved to a different location. This second Belltower baseball "park" was located 0.9 mile north of the last Belltower store & post office. This field was used between about 1942-53. The final Belltower baseball "park" was established in 1963 on Farwell ranch property directly across the road from the iconic Belltower Hall. This Belltower baseball diamond was used for the next few years of the Community Sagebrush League. The league teams in this last memorable summer of rural community baseball in Montana were Boyes, Alzada, Camp Crook, Ridgeway, Mill Iron and Belltower. The player/manager of this final legendary Belltower baseball team was Sherrill Farwell and some of its regular players were Ralph Curry, Darrel Curry, Bobby Curry, Frank Loehding, Bill Loehding, David Rutledge, Walter Anderson, Don Gundlach, Billy Kennedy, Larry Coffman and Sherry Farwell.

One of the community landmarks, Belltower Hall, was constructed by the Belltower Community Club during the late 1950's on Farwell ranch property courtesy of a long term, no cost lease agreement. This ideally-located Hall quickly became a popular focal point for well-attended country dances, various meetings, community events, family celebrations, and numerous other significant occasions. Belltower Hall also served in later years as the home basketball court for the infamous Belltower Bobcats coached by Dave Gross and Ray Gentry. Whereas "The Hall's" glory days have regretfully passed, as shown in Figure 2, Belltower Hall still sits there silently at the crossroads as a vivid reminder of past times, happy days/nights, shared experiences, and friendly spirits that defined a great community called Sykes-Belltower. We are forever honored and blessed to have been a part of it.

The authors wish to acknowledge the valuable information received from Charles Sykes, Bill Lavell, Sally Speelmon Young, Minnie Kingsley McDonald, Gabe Carroll and Cathy Carlisle (of the BLM Office in Billings, MT) in addition to the remarkable foresightedness of the Carter County Geological Society for publishing four volumes of "Shifting Scenes."