The Decennial DonTigny Voyage
Once every ten years or so, the extended DonTigny family has gotten together for a trip down the Missouri River, in honor of my grandfather, Emil DonTigny, who
was an avid guide in the 1950s, taking down the river such luminaries as Chet Huntley and Ted Yates, newsmen of that era. In part because of Emil's efforts, the move to damn the Missouri and
flood the Breaks area, was abandoned.
Grandpa died in 1969 and since then, we have made three trips down the river, the last one in the year 2000. There were about 50 of us making the trip in canoes and a pontoon boat. I've included
here a journal of our trip, along with lots of
pictures.
Richard DonTigny (aka "My Dad") wrote an article for the Missoulian way back in 1963, describing a float trip down the "Big Muddy." He also wrote a story about the contributions of Emil to help save the area from damming. And here is a short biography on Emil's early life written for the Havre Daily News in 1962.
As you look through this website, you might think that we DonTignys look like a fun, loving (and fun-loving!) crowd and might be thinking "Wow! I'd love to be a part of that family! What can I do?" Well, short of marrying in, you can take this handy-dandy test to see if you meet our qualifications.