Interviewer
Gladys Peterson
Files
Description
Dorotha Buck Smola discusses her family’s history in the Bitterroot Valley as well as her own life story, beginning in the mid-1800s up to the 1980s. She talks about the stories she heard as a child about her grandma and grandpa making their way out west to Montana, her grandpa, Fred Buck, for gold and to reunite with his brothers, her grandma, Rosa Victoria Knapp for teaching. She discusses her grandfather Buck’s mercantile store that her father kept running until the 1950s and the connections their family made through that business. Smola also talks about the Native Americans, including the Nez Perce and Flathead, who passed through Stevensville. She describes her grandparents’ orchards that used to be quite vast, but dwindled after the apple boom to only a few trees kept for personal use. Smola recalls attending the University of Montana during the Great Depression and suffering from tuberculosis most of her adult life. She concludes by saying how much she loves the Stevensville community.
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Document Type
Oral History
Subjects
Stevensville, Montana; Bitterroot Valley; University of Montana; Homesteading; Gold rush; Battle of the Big Hole; Tuberculosis; Orchard farms; Apple orchards; Great Depression, 1929-1939; Montana towns, growth
Original Date
8-3-1988
Time Period
Twentieth century
Geographic Coverage
Montana
Language
eng
Original Collection
Stevensville Oral History Project, OH 207, Archives and Special Collections, Mansfield Library, University of Montana-Missoula
Digital Publisher
University of Montana--Missoula. Mansfield Library
Rights
Copyright to this collection is held by the interview participants and by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, University of Montana-Missoula. Permission may be required for use. For further information please contact Archives and Special Collections: (406) 243-2053 / library.archives@umontana.edu
Oral History Number
OH 207-001
Media Type
Sound; Text
Original Format
1 sound cassette (01:00:00 min.) analog + 1 transcript (25 p.: 28 cm.)
Digital Format
audio/mp3; application/pdf
Run Time
00:59:13 minutes
Local Filename
OH_207_001.mp3; OH_207_001.pdf
Citation
Smola, Dorotha, "Dorotha Smola Interview, August 3, 1988" (1988). Stevensville Oral History Project. 1.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/stevensville_oralhistory/1