August 14, 2025 at 4:30 PM
This is a Speaker Series & a Field Trip! Please wear good footwear and protective clothing. Bottled water strongly encouraged.

*FREE for Members *$5 for General Admission *Personal Transportation Required

Join author Robert Schalla as he delves into the fascinating story of Frank Avery Hall; an entrepreneur from Wisconsin who arrived in Montana in 1898 with the dream of building a tourist railroad to Yellowstone National Park. He later joined forces with Billings civil engineer Phillip M. Gallaher to build a rail line to Cooke City, following the Clarks Fork River.
The line reached the newly created town of Belfry in July 1906 and, soon after, the coal mines along Bear Creek. Despite years of setbacks and hostile interference from the Northern Pacific Railway, Hall and his successors persevered, and the railroad Frank Hall built served as a critical link in the development of the Bear Creek Coalfield and the creation of three towns in Carbon County.