Land Grab - Chapter Five: The Missoula Octopus

In the cumulative chapter of the first half of our season, we find Andrew Hammond at the peak of his powers in Missoula in the 1890’s. The Bitterroot Salish have left the valley and Marcus Daly’s Anaconda Company fills the vacuum. 

Statewide, the Capital and the University are up for grabs, and Hammond makes a number of under the table deals to try and secure Missoula the University, and Helena the Capital. But a growing local resentment and the reappearance of the federal investigations into illegal timber poaching in Hammond’s operations eventually drive him out of Montana to avoid the scrutiny. 

After Hammond leaves, he puts his nephew, C.H. McLeod in charge, and McLeod sets about softening the brand of the Missoula Mercantile and obscuring its real ownership. 

We’re taking a break until the new year after this chapter, so be sure to like and subscribe to the show, and tell your friends and family about it so they can catch up on the episodes we have out. And we’ll see you in 2022. 

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