The East Helena Branch Library hosts “Iron Dreams: Montana and the Pacific Railroad Surveys of 1853” with Austin Haney. The program is in the EHB Library Community Room. The presentation is free and open to the public. 

Austin Haney has had a passion for sharing stories of his home since he was little, fostered by a history-loving grandfather who took him to every historical site they could visit. He has since worked in public history interpretation for a career; working for a variety of private, state, and federal institutions like the Blaine County Museum, Lewis and Clark Foundation, US Forest Service, or the US National Park Service.

This program will follow the story and immediate aftermath of the Stevens surveys through Montana in 1853-1854 as well as treaty negotiations in 1855; going forward into some of the aftermath and legacies of the expedition as a whole. It can apply to most of Montana, as portions of the expedition explored most major areas of Montana aside from the southeastern portion in the Yellowstone drainage.