3000 Miles From Home – County Highway

Report

The Miracle of America

Bittersweet Nostalgia Meets Post-Apocalyptic Dread in Polson, Montana

Yards and yards of battered old junk

By Walter Kirn

The Miracle of America Museum in Polson, Montana is a maze of hallways, niches, nooks, barns, garages, sheds, and open yards packed with an array of objects, from lunch boxes to fighter jets. Hallucinatory in its variety but simple in its mission, it is less a museum than a sermon in junk, the result of decades of collecting by a local fellow named Gil Mangels who prayed to God in 1983 about what to do with his mountains of old stuff. One night at 3 AM his answer came, spoken by a disembodied voice: “Use your antiques to teach.” He established the museum two years later and since then, such is Mangels’ zeal and stamina, it has been open every day, seven days a week. MOAM contains, by some accounts (which seem accurate once you step inside it), 38,000 items. Just ten paces into the main hall on a recent visit, I was already overwhelmed, having beheld a horse collar, several scales and balances, numerous rodent traps, a bugle, multiple machine guns, a stuffed ram, a hooded black …

When Animals Attack

Bobcat Mystery Deepens

Unusual fearlessness displayed in the vicinity of Martensdale

Victimizes Bippy, a Shih Tzu

County Fair should not be affected

By Walter Kirn

For tourists and residents alike, fair week in Warren County is always thrilling, a chance to celebrate the bounty of the central Iowa countryside, but this year an unexpected air of drama hangs over the annual festivities. The mystery of the bold, aggressive bobcat which has been haunting our area since spring, spreading concern among parents of young children and owners of small pets, remains unsolved. Visitors unfamiliar with the story should know the facts about the bobcat, lest they fall prey to exaggerated rumors which could spoil their enjoyment of the fair. It is also important that Warren County locals, who may find themselves being asked about the bobcat, possess a clear understanding of the matter. Idle gossip on any topic is unhelpful, but particularly when it risks alarming our guests at this very special time of year. The bobcat first appeared last March or April in and around the town of Martensdale. The wild creature showed unusual fearlessness, and even a curious …