Powder River Examiner -

With 2019 in the books, we looked back through a year of newspapers to find the memorable moments from the year gone by.

2019 marked the 100 year anniversary of Powder River County becoming a Montana County, breaking away from Custer County in 1919. Over the 4th of July this year, a 100-year celebration was held which drew a large number of folks to the community.

When visitors arrived, many commented on the lush conditions of the area – green grass and standing water dotted the landscape, and a deluge soaked the Freedom Run on the morning of July 4th. Such weather is often not the norm for Southeastern Montana, but this year wet and cool weather were one of the big stories.

The precipitation for the year was a sight to be seen. As of December 30th, an all-time record of 24.09” for the year was recorded in Broadus. That compares to a normal average precip of 13.94”, and a record low in 1988 of 7.72”.

How that precipitation record came to be was not all a tale of warm peaceful spring showers.

A mild January turned to a frigid February, with zero degree or below zero temps recorded on 21 of February’s 28 days. March came in like a lion, with a record low of -36 recorded in Broadus on March 3rd. Heavy snows and cold temps continued through the spring, causing extensive spring stock losses for the second year in a row.

The heavy early spring snowpack made for extensive spring floods, with areas along Mizpah Creek seeing some of the heaviest runoff conditions in memory. The runoff caused extensive road damage throughout the area, with county roads washing out, along with stock dams and many, many fence water gaps.

Additional flooding from rains and snowpack coming out of the mountains caused flooding along the Tongue and Powder Rivers in late May.

Rainfall came down hard and heavy throughout the summer. Over 6” of rain was recorded in Powderville on a single day in June, with many other locally heavy amounts coming down in different locales throughout June and July.

Haying season was initially looking to be one of the best on record, and indeed the hay-yards are quite full this winter…but getting that hay put up was a trial. The incessant rainstorms of summer made only brief windows of time to get the hay baled, and thus many ranchers were a month behind on haying season. One comment heard by a local rancher, as haying was still ongoing despite the late date and cool weather: “Looks like we’re going to be baling hay in one end and feeding it to cows out the other end.”

The relatively cool temperatures prevented drying, but they also made life pleasant – Broadus did not record a 100 degree temperature for the entire year.

Broadus saw its first snowfall of the Fall on October 1st, and several storms throughout the month made October fairly unpleasant. The cool and cold continued through early November, before shaping up later in November. Though December was fairly mild, leftover snows from earlier storms had a tough time melting off due to the lack of sunlight, thus we go into the New Year with snow in the shadier areas and north slopes.

Jess Lockwood won his second World PBR Championship, repeating a 2017 performance this fall at the PBR World Finals in Las Vegas. In 2019, Lockwood recorded PBR Wins in New York, Chicago, Tulsa, and Houston, winning over 1.8 million dollars on the year. Jess will try for a three-peat as the 2020 season begins on January 3-5, in Madison Square Garden.

Jake Lockwood also recorded his first PBR win of the season in Nipawin, Saskatchewan, Canada.

In other sports news, the Broadus Boys Basketball team went 7-7 in conference play during the 2019 season, finishing 4th at the District Tournament and finishing their season at Divisionals.

The Girls Basketball Team finished their 2019 season at the District Tournament, after a hard fought season.

The Boys Golf Team finished 9th at State, while the lone Lady Hawk Golfer, Callie Williams, finished 27th at State.

The Track team had a great season, with the entire team qualifying and competing at State.

The High School Rodeo Team excelled in their performances – Chalee Harms won the State All-Around Girls Rookie of The Year, as well as the Girls State All-Around Title.

The Broadus Cross Country Team won 13th at State, while Rolling Hills Golf Course hosted the first ever Broadus Cross Country Meet.

In Lady Hawk Volleyball action, the Broadus team won 5th in the conference, and the football team went 1-6, in a hard-fought season.

In other news, the extensive flooding and general age of infrastructure caused the closure of the Moorhead Bridge, crippling commerce and transportation for those in the southern reaches of Powder River County along Powder River. Plans are in action to replace the bridge, as well as several others around the county, in coming years.

In early October, the State Highway Department dropped the speed limit along Highway 212 from 70 mph for passenger traffic to 65, with little warning to the public. This generally pissed off most everyone.

As we roll into a new year, we wish all our readers a happy, healthy, and productive start to 2020. The year will be what you make of it, so if you’re going to make a New Years Resolution, make it practical, and stick to it.