Darby, Montana

Episode 193 / 15 October 2020 / 161 min / full

A Stalking From Within

"Darby, Montana, on the western border of Montana, in Ravalli County, about an hour and fifteen minutes from Missoula" about 0:05:01

The case: Murder of Bill Stout (June 2007). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2020

Population

653

Median age

48.1

Median household income

$28,203

Median home value

$146,100

Two-bedroom rent

$769

Religious

29.3%

Property crime

right at average

Violent crime

right at average

History, in brief

• First settled in 1882; the valley's southernmost town. about 0:12:24
• Originally called Doolittle. about 0:12:32
• Then renamed Harrison, but there was already a Harrison in Montana, which caused confusion with the mail. about 0:12:53
• The local postmaster, James Darby, sent his own name in and the town was named Darby. about 0:13:08
• At the time the town had a general store, a saloon, a stable and a boarding house. about 0:13:49
• The town later gained a bank, a drug store, a newspaper and a theater. about 0:14:01
• A fire in 1910 destroyed everything; a newspaper account called it a holocaust of wildfire that destroyed more than three million acres of forest and burned four towns. about 0:14:13
• On August 20th, 1910, hurricane force winds swept out of the Snake River plains and fcovered nameed an estimated 1,730 smouldering fires in Montana, northern Idaho and eastern Washington. about 0:14:46
• Eighty five people died in the 1910 fires. about 0:15:04
• Wallace in Idaho and Haugan, Taft and other Montana towns were totally destroyed. about 0:15:18
• The town moved to logging, cattle ranching and agriculture. about 0:15:28
• Darby had the first all women council in the state in 1930. about 0:15:35
• Darby became incorporated in 1917 and elected a blacksmith as its first mayor. about 0:15:46
• The town got electricity in 1932. about 0:15:51
• It got a water system in 1959. about 0:16:30
• It got sewage and a sanitary lagoon in 1963. about 0:16:33
• The 1989 comedy Disorganized Crime was filmed in Darby. about 0:17:17
• The television series Yellowstone is filmed in the area. about 0:18:53

The reviews read out

Open the episode file