Ellen Baumler and J.M. Cooper | Dark Spaces

Published: February 4, 2009

Take a step back in time to the homesteading and mining era of Montana, and visit the fortress that incarcerated many of the renegades and rascals that were part of that colorful time in a book subtitled Montana’s Historic Penitentiary at Deer Lodge. Ellen Baumler, in tandem with photographer J.M. Cooper, recreates the dark and often eerie atmosphere that, to this day, permeates the Old Montana Prison in Deer Lodge.  

A booming population and consequent crimes caused the construction of the Montana State Prison in 1870. Tracing the timeline of the penitentiary, Baumler touches on a few of the many stories that arose during the century when it housed prisoners. The reign of the daunting warden Frank Conley, inmate Thomas O’Brien’s elaborate escape upon the warden’s very own racehorse, and the famous prison riot of 1959 all come to the surface in Dark Spaces.   

Baumler is a historian and writer who lives in Helena. Her other books include Spirit Tailings: Ghost Tales from Virginia City, Butte, and Helena and Beyond Spirit Tailings: Montana’s Mysteries, Ghosts, and Haunted Places.

J.M. Cooper has more than 30 years of experience as a documentary photographer. All of his pictures are shot in black and white analog film, and in Dark Places, bring to life the mystery and ominous qualities of the old prison.

The book was published 2008 by the University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM, and sells for $24.95 softcover.

– Spencer Shafter