Montana

YouTube star and wagon wheel enthusiast opens western transportation museum in Joliet

Published

9 months ago

May 24, 2025

YouTube star and wagon wheel enthusiast opens western transportation museum in Joliet

JOLIET — A new western transportation themed museum has opened in Downtown Joliet at 110 South Main Street.

Treasures Out West celebrated its grand opening on Friday. The museum features several western transportation displays including a replica of an original wagon wheel.

To honor Montana culture, the museum also has a gift shop featuring local crafters and artists with handmade items, along with Wilcoxson’s Ice Cream.

The museum is open all weekend, and the owners hope to eventually expand the business to be open everyday.

See the video for this story below:

YouTube star and wagon wheel enthusiast opens western transportation museum in Joliet

All of the transportation-themed items in the museum belong to Dave Engel’s personal collection.

Engel, a YouTube star, has been restoring and recreating antique wagons since the 1970s. Engel told MTN on Friday he loves history about the Wild West, and that he hopes to honor Montana with the museum.

“This is a part of the American West. It’s the roots of America, how all the settlers moved from eastern areas, St. Joe, Missouri, to this country, all happened with what I work with. All the pioneers came out here, the whole country was opened up on wagons. And that’s just part of who we are,” said Engel.

Mack Carmack, MTN News

Since last summer, Engel has worked on opening the museum.

“This isn’t near big enough. I’m beginning to realize that fairly quickly. We could easily triple, or quadruple this room here,” he said.

The center of the museum is taken up by an original restored manure spreader from Engel’s personal collection. But, Engel says his favorite item in the entire museum is a large wagon wheel, which he created from scratch based off an original antique.

“This is a project that I got involved with the beginning of 2014, and it is a project that has never been done before. These wagons were built in the early 1880s, and no one has ever rebuilt these since,” he said.

Just across the street from Engel’s museum is his workshop.

There, Engel restores and builds old wagons. It’s also where he films his YouTube videos.

Since 2015, Engel has been posting videos on his YouTube channel, Engel’s Coach Shop, where he demonstrates his craftsmanship.

RELATED| Joliet man bringing history back to life with his horse-drawn wagon restorations

“People watch this project and then they can come and actually see it hands on, first hand, of what they watched on their television,” said Engel.

For almost as long as Engel has been working on wagons, his brother-in-law, Rich Bischoff, has been restoring carriage and early automobile lamps, which are also featured in the museum.

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“Just the fact that, well, some of this machinery that I’ve used, it’s really cool to see here that Dave got a special spot for, honoring me by doing that… It’s just real exciting” Bischoff said Friday.

Around 40 years ago, Engel and Bischoff worked together reproducing carriage lamps, before separating into their own interests.

“The only thing that isn’t represented here is hearse lamps. But everything from buggies, to small carriages, to large carriages… to early automobiles (is represented),” said Bischoff.

Because of their former working relationship, Engel devoted a portion of the museum to Bischoff’s lamp collection, which includes lamps from the 1850s to the 1920s.

“I never dreamed that this would be in a display like that for people to come and look at it,” he said.

Treasures Out West, new western museum in Joliet

The museum is open on Saturday until 6:00 p.m. and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.

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Montana

Apparent AI Glitch in Filing by Montana Public Defender, Recent Congressional Candidate

Published

8 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Apparent AI Glitch in Filing by Montana Public Defender, Recent Congressional Candidate

Everyone makes mistakes, even experienced professionals; a good reminder for the rest of us to learn from those mistakes. The motion in State v. Stroup starts off well in its initial pages (no case law hallucinations), but is then followed by several pages of two other motions, which I don’t think the lawyer was planning to file, and which appear to have been AI-generated: It begins with the “Below is concise motion language you can drop into …” language quoted above.

Griffen Smith (Missoulian) reported on the story, and included the prosecutor’s motion to strike that filing, on the grounds that it violates a local rule (3(G)) requiring disclosure of the use of generative AI:

The document does not include a generative artificial intelligence disclosure as required. However, page 7 begins as follows: “Below is concise motion language you can drop into a ‘Motion to Admit Mental-Disease Evidence and for Related Instructions’ keyed to 45-6-204, 45-6-201, and 4614-102. Adjust headings/captions to your local practice.” Page 10 states “Below is a full motion you can paste into your pleading, then adjust names, dates, and styles to fit local practice.” These pages also include several apparent hyperlinks to “ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws,” “ppl-ai-fileupload.s3.amazonaws+1,” and others. The document includes what appears to be an attempt at a second case caption on page 12. It is not plausible on its face that any source other than generative AI would have created such language for a filed version of a brief….

There’s more in that filing, but here’s one passage:

While generative AI can be a useful tool for some purposes and may have greater application in the future, when used improperly, and without meaningful review, it can ultimately damage both the perception and the reality of the profession. One assumes that Mr. Stroup has had, or will at some point have, an opportunity to review the filing made on his behalf. What impression could a review of pgs. 12-19 leave upon a defendant who struggles with paranoia and delusional thinking? While AI could theoretically one day become a replacement for portions of staff of experienced attorneys, it is readily apparent that this day has not yet arrived.

The Missoulan article includes this response:

In a Wednesday interview, Office of Public Defender Division Administrator Brian Smith told the Missoulian the AI-generated language was inadvertently included in an unrelated filing. And he criticized the county attorney’s office for filing a “four-page diatribe about the dangers of AI” instead of working with the defense to correct her mistake.
“That’s not helping the client or the case,” Smith said, “and all you are doing is trying to throw a professional colleague under the bus.”

As I mentioned, the lawyer involved seems quite experienced, and ran for the Montana Public Service Commission in 2020 (getting nearly 48% of the vote) and for the House of Representatives in Montana’s first district in 2022 (getting over 46% of the vote) and in 2024 (getting over 44%). “Его пример другим наука,” Pushkin wrote in Eugene Onegin—”May his example profit others,” in the Falen translation.

Thanks to Matthew Monforton for the pointer.

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Montana

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

Published

20 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

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Montana

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.

“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.

It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.

(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”

But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.

“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.

Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.

“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.

The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.

The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.

“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.

While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.

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