Ghost Children in Elkhorn, Montana
by Colleen Clancy Hansen
photography by Colleen Clancy Hansen
published by Colleen Clancy Hansen
produced by Sweetgrass Books
- Frozen in time: the slanting buildings, the wagon wheels, and the children's birth-death dates on headstones instill a chill for the visitor to Elkhorn, Montana. This is one of the most haunting places in Montana due to the number of children who died here during a diphtheria epidemic.
Colleen Clancy Hansen's story Ghost Children transports you to Montana's Elkhorn of the past, when it was a thriving mining town. Through the eyes of Pansy, a young girl who escaped the fate of so many other Elkhorn children, we experience the tragedy that devastated the once prosperous town in the harsh year of 1889.
While Pansy and her mother left Elkhorn for Boston to care for her grandmother, young Pansy's friends are struck by diphtheria, and the grief-stricken town reels in the wake of their children dying so quickly. Even sisters are taken within days.
Hansen illustrates the tragic story with haunting photos of what is left of Elkhorn today—a ghost town.
Ebook only! - $3.99
, 2 b/w photos, 16 color photos
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| Ghost Children in Elkhorn, Montana |
| A six-year-old girl dressed in blue peeks behind a lacy white curtain. Her blond hair is braided with flowers. She is eager to see who is coming up their hill in the wagon.
This is Elkhorn, Montana, named for the many herds of elk. Silver is mined inside mountains that look purple especially in winter. Pansy, named for her mother’s favorite flower, does not have brothers or sisters, so she is always hoping someone will move here to play with her. |
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Colleen Clancy Hansen holds a bachelor's degree in Secondary Education with an English major and a speech/drama minor, and a Master's Degree in the Art of Teaching. She retired after teaching secondary English for twenty-five years. She is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI).
In addition to Ghost Children, Hansen published Destination: Butte, Montana through Sweetgrass Books in August 2014. It is the story of the Johns and Davises from Wales and the Clancys from Ireland seeking a better life in the 1800s in Butte, Montana. The War of the Copper Kings, Tong Wars, Granite Mountain Mine Disaster and World War II letters from Danny Clancy to his sister, Dot, bring the mining city's early years to life. |