The 405 Aired Sept 22nd, 2026

OK Solberg: 00:00

I want to again welcome you to The 405 Coffee Break. Guys, get your cup of coffee, glass iced tea, tall cool glass of lemonade. Let's see what's happening.

OK Solberg: 00:08

Spring wheat $6.68 a bushel, 550lb steer calf, $4.70 on the top end, and a 100lb fat lamb in Billings. If they were real shiny, you might get $3.12 a pound. But guys, there's more, Much more.

OK Solberg: 00:27

Okay. Okay. It's September 22, and it's my mom's birthday. She would have been 94 years old today, yet she passed in 2020. Happy birthday, mom. Thanks for pointing me towards God.

OK Solberg: 00:45

So today, not baseball, not music, but today, it's local history time. Today, we get back into the book loaned to me by Dick Dale. Now it tells a story of B D Phillips, the man for whom this county was named.

OK Solberg: 01:03

And this book was written by his son, Walter Phillips, and Walter he was born in 1893 and wrote the book in 1968. Now before I crack the book open and since we are looking at Phillips County history, know this, that Walter Phillips, like I said, was born in 1893.

OK Solberg: 01:25

But also understand that the Sundance Kid robbed the great northern train in Malta, Montana the year before Walter was born. So that train robbery was in 1892, specifically 11/29/1892. Then also know that 9 years later in 1901 Kid Curry robbed the great northern train just west of Malta Montana.

OK Solberg: 01:55

So the Sundance Kid robbed the train in Malta in 1892. Walter Phillips was born in 1893 then Kid Curry robbed the train near Malta in July of 1901. It is safe to say Malta Montana was part of the Wild Wild West.

OK Solberg: 02:18

Now I tell you this for an important reason. When I open Walter's book here shortly, Walter himself is gonna be talking about the stagecoach.

OK Solberg: 02:28

The stagecoach right here in Phillips County, the Malta Zortman stage, and you can go down on Highway 2 and look at it. I want you to know that stage ran for approximately 14 years and never once got robbed. Think about that.

OK Solberg: 02:48

It's a Wild Wild West. We have documented happenings at the Sundance Kid and Kid Curry both robbed a train in Malta or near Malta yet yet the stagecoach that ran over the Phillips County Prairie for 14 years and never once got robbed.

OK Solberg: 03:06

If you think there is no code of honor among thieves, maybe you need to recalculate that assumption. Now from the book, and I quote, shortly after the turn of the century, interest in hard rock mining began picking up in the Little Rockies in the Zortman area.

OK Solberg: 03:27

This quickly generated the need for public transportation, which promoted Louis Gosselin of Zortman to start the Malta Zortman Stage line. The Malta Terminus was at the Malta Hotel. Now Orvin here, the Malta Hotel was the great northern hotel, the same location of the GN today.

OK Solberg: 03:51

Back to the quote. Horses were changed at the Hog Ranch on both southbound and northbound trips. The Hog Ranch was almost exactly halfway between Malta and Zortman. It was 26 miles each way.

OK Solberg: 04:05

Mail stops were made at Phillips post office at the Phillips Home Ranch and at Brookside post office at the Coburn Home Ranch. As I remember, the Concord Stage coaches could carry two passengers up next to the driver, six inside the cab, and several more on top of the cab.

OK Solberg: 04:28

Baggage was stowed on a platform in the rear. 4 horses were used when road conditions were good and 6 when the road was bad. Under good conditions, it took about 8 hours to make the trip from Malta to Zortman.

OK Solberg: 04:46

The stage drivers were all my friends of whom I can name Harry Keller, Sam Dodge, Harry Glover, and Rule Horner, all of whom worked for my father as teamsters. For me as a boy, it was a thrill to ride the stage if I could sit up with the driver, which I usually did. Now, guys, there I end the quote for today.

OK Solberg: 05:11

But as Walter mentioned, public transportation was necessary and you heard him say interest in hard rock mining, gold mining began picking up in the Little Rockies in the Zortman areas. Therefore, the stagecoach had another purpose other than hauling passengers. It was used to deliver the gold from the Zortman Landeski mines.

OK Solberg: 05:35

Yet, Yes, sir there's gold in them thar hills and there's a stagecoach delivering the gold and the Sundance Kid robbed the train in Malta right square in Malta when it stopped to fill with water, and Kid Curry robbed the train just West of Malta and here we have a stagecoach hauling Gold and guys remember this and don't ever forget it.

OK Solberg: 05:58

That stagecoach never got robbed one time in its nearly 14 year history. They could rob a train but they wouldn't rob their neighbors. It seems that was the code of the West.

OK Solberg: 06:11

Now here's a bible verse from Ephesians 4:28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hand so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Ephesians 4:28

OK Solberg: 06:30

Thou shall not steal, and they never did steal from the Malta Zortman Stagecoach that also went to Dodson.

OK Solberg: 06:39

So until next time, as you go out there, remember now, don't be bitter.