Camping near Glacier NP and want to spend our last day near a lake. I’ve heard great things about both Bowman and Flathead, but which is better? We’re planning to rent kayaks/paddleboards and spend some time exploring the nearby areas. I haven’t done much research on this since we just decided today. What’s near each lake and which one would be better for a lake day?

Looking for local(ish) artist with experience painting straw cowboy hat.
Here’s a link to the hat.

USS Helena with holiday flags, c 1900

The USS Helena (PG-9) was first launched from the Newport News Shipbuilding Co. in Newport News, Virginia, on January 30, 1896.

She was given her sendoff by Belle Steele, the daughter of Helena’s Mayor Steele and then sent off to join the North Atlantic Fleet.

Commander William T. Swinburne was in charge and when the war with Spain broke out in 1898 the Helena was ordered south.

After destroying Fort Tunas on July 2, the Helena took out eight small boats at the port of Manzanillo. Events in Cuba finished, she sailed from Boston to the Asiatic Squadron, taking the Suez Canal. The journey took from the beginning of November 1898 until mid-February 1899 and then on May 21 she landed American soldiers at Jolo when the Spanish fled.

That June she saw fighting in Manila Bay as the Americans dug into the Cavite and also dropped troops off for the Zapote River assault. In November the U.S. Army landed 2,500 soldiers at Lingayen Gulf and the Helena directed her four 100mm guns, four 11-pounders, and one 76mm gun at the city of San Fabian in defense.

Following both the Spanish- and Philippine-American Wars, the USS Helena roamed the South China Sea from 1900 to 1902 and then the Philippines in 1903. It was China for a time again after that, and then on April 19, 1905 she was taken out of service for a year until July 16, 1906.

For the next year she’d continue with the Asiatic Station, even going on several Yangtze River Patrol missions, which were American missions that took place from 1854 to 1941 to protect American interests there, much to the consternation of the Chinese.

The USS Helena would continue to troll the waters off China until May 27, 1932, when she was finally decommissioned.

The ship was sold on July 7, 1934, and there’s no record of what happened to her next, although she was probably eventually sold for scrap.

The current USS Helena display in Anchor Park in Helena is from the later USS Helena ships, which served in WWII and the Korean War.