Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
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6 YEARS AGO • MAY 8, 1919 IMPROVING LARGE RANCH The Clarks Fork Land and Cattle Co., of which H.A. White is manager, is preparing to do considerable development work on their large tract of land east of town on Woodlin flat. Mr. White has opened up a camp and has two tractor plowing outfits in operation at this time, a number of teams, and expects to have another tractor working by the end of the week, and seed at least 100 acres to alfalfa during the summer. It is the intention of the company to stock their ranch, which comprises some 5...
4 YEARS AGO • MAY 17, 1984 GOVERNOR PROPOSED SIX COUNTY WILD AREAS Six roadless areas in Sanders County national forest lands have been recommended by Governor Ted Schwinden to Congress for designation to the Federal Wilderness System. Of the six areas in Sanders County, four areas are additions to the established Cabinet Mountains Wilderness and two others - Scotchman Peaks and Cube Iron - would constitute new wilderness. Sanders County areas recommended for wilderness status in addition to the 45,115-acre Scotchman Peaks are: Lolo Forest -...
6 YEARS AGO FEBRUARY 27, 1919 SUCCESSFUL TELEPHONE MEETING AT WHITEPINE A great deal of interest was shown in the telephone meeting at Whitepine Saturday evening. Fred Foote reported that he had secured 17 signers for the telephone in the vicinity of Belknap and Big Beaver. Four people from across the river are also ready to put in telephones. The report of the committee was followed by a lively discussion in which various ideas were presented. A motion was made, seconded and carried that a co-operative phone company be organized. After more...
7 YEARS AGO • APRIL 29, 1954 FEASIBILITY OF NOXON RAPIDS DAM TO BE DETERMINED THIS SUMMER The Washington Water Power Co. expects to determine feasibility of the proposed Noxon Rapids dam sometime this summer according to a spokesman for the utility. He also declared that it was possible that another 350,000 kilowatts of new power could be developed at the site. Currently three diamond drilling rigs are drilling tests for possible wing locations and to check the clay blanket along the reservoir shoreline. Last week the churn drilling rigs h...
4 YEARS AGO • APRIL 26, 1984 FOREST SERVICE CHOOSES PLAINS Orville Daniels, Supervisor of the Lolo National Forest, announced the decision not to seek a new lease for office space in Thompson Falls. That decision came after four months of exploring possibilities of how best to operate the combined offices of the Plains-Thompson Falls Ranger district. Last November, the forest service announced that they were reconsidering an earlier decision made to move the district headquarters to Thompson Falls. They felt economics favored the move to P...
4 YEARS AGO • MARCH 29, 1984 EDNA HILL LEADS A RUGGED REWARDING LIFE by Linda Shaffer Continued from last week… During her childhood in Trout Creek mainly - a few years in Polson - Edna recalls all eight grades being housed in one room. “There were three of us in the eighth grade. I still have my report cards.” It was a frame building sawed out by her granddad, she says. High school for Edna was in Thompson Falls, boarding at the dorm during the week and riding the train home on Fridays. “We liked catching the #3 train back to Trout Creek on F...
4 YEARS AGO • MARCH 29, 1984 EDNA HILL LEADS A RUGGED REWARDING LIFE by Linda Shaffer Mainly, she is a mountain woman. And she has been all her “39 years.” Edna Hill at her ranch in Trout Creek smiles amidst trophies of elk and other wild game she has hunted and photographed over the years. And hunters she has guided have warned others about her. “Watch out for that woman in Montana…she’ll walk you to death,” they say. Hill has been guiding new hunters in Sanders County’s rough mountain country for over 40 years of her adult life. And if th...
7 YEARS AGO • MARCH 11, 1999 REALIZATION OF DREAM EVIDENT IN NEW CENTER The realization of a long-held dream was shared with over 140 people when the Thompson Falls Senior Citizens formally dedicated their new center east of town. Members of the group were understandingly beaming as they freely gave tours through the building for the many guests. Elthea Butcher, the secretary for the group, said the structure was financed primarily from their savings from years of fundraisers and dues and then the package was completed by a zero-interest l...
THOMPSON FALLS IN THE YEAR 1894 There was a newspaper published in Thompson Falls in 1894. It was called the Weekly Montanian. H.A. Hendricks was the publisher. The Montanian went out of business, and shortly after the new County of Sanders was established, the Sanders County Ledger appeared (1905). We make comments from its columns: Advertisements then appearing were: J.A. Allen, “Fine Kentucky and Monongahela Whiskies,” Joe Webber, “Boots and Shoes,” Preston’s Livery and Feed Stables, Barnes and Lutton, “Wines, Liquors and Cigarettes,...
8 YEARS AGO • APRIL 5, 1944 Obituary NELSON GRANDCHAMP, Pioneer Nelson Grandchamp, the son of Joseph and Petroniel Grandchamp, was born March 19, 1870 and died March 29, 1944. In 1884 the family traveled by an old narrow gauge railroad to Salt Lake City and came north to this region. They got off the train at the old Woodlin station (east of Thompson Falls) and remained on the Woodlin Flats for a number of years where they operated the first of several sawmills there in the midst of a stand of magnificent timber. Nelson helped his family in t...
13 YEARS AGO • MARCH 8, 1939 EDDY ASKS RURAL ELECTRIFICATION LINE TRANSMISSION The directors of the Clarks Fork Power Association met with heads of families living in the Eddy section last weekend to discuss the possibilities of extending the powerline from Thompson Falls to Eddy and vicinity. Eighteen potential electrification line customers were present at the meeting which took place. So far about forty have signed up asking for the power line extension. It is hoped that conditions will permit the extension of the line to service this l...
WHERE IS SWORD RIVER? There were established trails across this continent before the Europeans explored here. One of the greatest of these being the trail from Montreal to the mouth of the Columbia River. This trail ran through what is now Sanders County, this particular section of it known as the Kootenai Trail. This trail, near the present site of Dixon on the Jocko River, called “Sword River” by the Indians, and closely paralleled the Flathead River which it crossed near its junction with the Missoula (river). From that point, the trail cont...
5 YEARS AGO • FEBRUARY 7, 1974 GRADER OPERATOR UNHURT AFTER FIVE ROLLS DOWNHILL Harold (Dutch) Lentz rode a road grader down a mountainside as it rolled over five times Monday morning before daylight and he walked away with only a few scratches and bruises. His black dog survived the trip with him. Ben G. Cox, for whom Lentz works, said Lentz was backing his grader near a curve where a truck was parked when it went off the road and took the wild, tumbling ride down the mountain. The site was in Everson Gulch, near where James (Bronc) M...
8 YEARS AGO • FEBRUARY 2, 1944 HISTORICAL RECORD The article below is a recopy of a historical memorandum for the record transmitted to the local supervisor’s office by Regional Forester, Evan W. Kelley of Missoula. Contents may be of interest to many locally. MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD: “Ed Donlan was in my office on December 30, and as usual, he engaged in reminiscing about older times down in the Thompson Falls country. He alleges that he built the first sawmill below Thompson Falls near Belknap in 1904 (there were sawmills preceding this...
7 YEARS AGO • JANUARY 7, 1954 COUNCIL TO INSTALL TWO STREET LIGHTS Installation of two additional street lights - one at the corner of Ferry Street and Third Avenue and at the depot steps (these steps were located directly across from True Value Hardware and guided pedestrians down the steep slope from the train depot to Main Street) - was ordered by the Thompson Falls City Council in its regular session Monday night. The council issued two building permits - one to Claude Gray for a chicken house and the other to Leonard Kelly for an extensio...
4 YEARS AGO • JANUARY 12, 1994 HERON POST OFFICE MARKS 100th ANNIVERSARY January 7 marked the 100th anniversary of the U.S. Post Office in Heron. Eight postmasters and postmistresses have served behind the counter in the Heron post office. The first was William J. Quirk, appointed January 7, 1884. He distributed the mail until the post office was discontinued November 6, 1888. Mail was then picked up at Clark Fork. On July 30, 1891, Ed Clark became Heron’s second postmaster. May 22, 1895, well-known businessman Henry Schwindt became the pos...
8 YEARS AGO JANUARY 12, 1944 THE DAYS OF GOLD Golden Days Recounted Continued from last week… Mrs. Hattie Coleman who is still living was one of the first teachers in the schools here. Judge W.E. Nippert, who had been educated abroad, has a place of renown in the history of the town as one of our first teachers, who established education here on a firm foundation. His methods were simple. He first whaled hell out of the tough kids who were in school then who had a tendency to challenge authority and after he had them pacified he somehow m...
8 YEARS AGO • JANUARY 12, 1944 THE DAYS OF GOLD Golden Days Recounted There was a large attendance of the regular meeting of the Lions Club held at the Bentley ranch dining room last Thursday (Birdland Bay). The entertainment for the evening was sponsored by Jim Adams. Mr. Adams invited Fred Haines, one of our oldest known residents in this area to give a discussion on old time days in Thompson Falls. Mr. Haines’ talk was most interesting. Although Jim Adams himself came to Thompson Falls in 1891, still Fred Haines arrived here in 1882, when t...
4 YEARS AGO • DECEMBER 29, 1983 LEDGER LINES by K.A.E. The arrival of the New Year is traditionally a time for resolutions and a reflection on the past 12 months. Here at The Ledger, we’ve enjoyed a good year despite the complications that accompany any economic downturn as experienced by Sanders County. We have a lot to say thanks for and a lot of wishes to extend for the year ahead. Thanks to Leona Veach for her calls about the Bighorn being down and available for pictures. Thanks to all of the courthouse staff for the help they provide in...
9 YEARS AGO DECEMBER 27, 1918 DISASTROUS FLOODS OCCUR Highways Are Impassable in Many Sections The heavy rains of November and December have resulted in unprecedented damage to railroads, bridges, telephone lines, power lines and roads. The heavy rains resulted in slides, washing out the Dry Creek road, blocking the Blue Slide, washing out a dozen major bridges in the county, and an uncountable number of smaller bridges. Only three bridges on the main highway were washed out. The Thompson River Bridge was saved. At Trout Creek the county...
6 YEARS AGO • DECEMBER 19, 1918 SKATING POND IN THOMPSON FALLS Under the supervision of County Surveyor, John Brauer, the Town of Thompson Falls will have a skating pond that is not only safe but also very convenient. The new pond is being graded up across the street from the Thompson Falls Mercantile building (across the street from The Sanders County Ledger where Ron Turk used to have a service station).It is large enough to insure plenty of room, being 160 feet long by 63 feet wide. This is one of the best moves that we have seen the T...
8 YEARS AGO DECEMBER 22, 1988 67 YEAR LODGE MEMBER RECALLS EARLY DAYS When Chuck Duffield attempted to contact Franklyn Rutherford to invite him to attend his installation as Grand Master of the Thompson Falls Lodge Masons, he had a hard time getting through to him. Chuck reasoned that Franklyn may not be around anymore. The address and phone number were old and after all Rutherford had been retired for several years. Later he found out why he was so difficult to contact. In the summer Frank spends his time rockhounding on Rock Creek and in...
9 YEARS AGO NOVEMBER 29, 1933 DEER ARE ENTERED IN BIG BUCK CONTEST The big buck contest, sponsored this hunting season by the Marshall Wells company of Spokane with the Union Market at Thompson Falls acting as local contest board, terminated with the close of the hunting season on November 15. This contest, sponsored to encourage the sale of Peters ammunition, offered $50 for the heaviest white tail buck and $50 for the heaviest mule deer buck killed in northern Idaho, western Montana or eastern Washington. There were several people who weighe...
4 YEARS AGO NOVEMBER 10, 1983 NONHUNTER BUSIEST IN HUNTING SEASON He favors tending his garden and yard over hunting and fishing, but he sure knows what to do with the game bagged by those who do hunt for meat for the table. Longtime Thompson Falls resident Norm Knudson is an especially busy man right now in the fall of the year. He has already processed 8,000 lbs. this season and averages over 20,000 pounds of wild meat a season! A recently retired meat cutter with Stobie’s IGA, Norm affirms he has not retired completely from meat cutting. ...
SANDERS COUNTY C.C.C. by Fredi Pargeter and Glenn T. Garrison Note: The Civilian Conservation Corps was developed as a relief agency during the Great Depression years. President Roosevelt convinced Congress to create the C.C.C. which provided conservation jobs for unemployed men, ages 18 to 25. Milton Butte Milton Roy Butte was born behind the store in Belknap on July 21, 1918, the grandson of German settlers Fritz and Mina Butte who purchased 160 acres after settling in 1904. The property is still in the Butte family. His grandfather and...
