Ferde Greene

Ferd Calvin Greene was born in 1882 and worked as a telegrapher for the Canadian Pacific Railroad on the western side of the Crow’s Nest Pass in British Columbia, in coal-mining country. There he met Elizabeth Gregory who would become his wife. His hobby was photography and he kept meticulous records of his camera experiments. He became a telegrapher for the Great Northern Railroad in Spokane and, about 1916, transferred to tiny Columbia Falls, Montana, where he and Elizabeth raised their family; many of their descendants still live there. He left a photographic legacy of lifestyles and events in Northwest Montana from the mid 19-teens to the 1940’s. This photo archive is permanently housed at the Northwest Montana History Museum in Kalispell. Ferd Greene passed away in 1947. His wife Elizabeth died in 1988.