Remember When

50 YEARS AGO • NOVEMBER 30, 1967

HOW BLUE HAWKS GOT THEIR NAME

How did the Blue Hawks get their name?

W.C. (Slim) Moore of Spokane, former Thompson Falls basketball player, offers a solution to the “mystery of the Thompson Falls Blue Hawks.”

“In the fall of 1928 the basketball squad was to get new uniforms and it was decided that we should have some kind of an emblem. One afternoon after practice, our principal and also coach, E.S. Ostergon, had several emblems pinned on the wall of the locker room, such as a bear, cougar, etc. and among them was an eagle and a hawk. We discussed this at length and finally a hawk was suggested and since blue was one of the school colors, why not the ‘Blue Hawks?’ The squad voted for it and the Blue Hawks were born.

“In those days all schools had girl teams and when we had a game, it was a double-header – girls first and boys last. Mission, Plains and Thompson Falls had real fine girl’s teams.

“I might add that this season was fair for Thompson Falls and also that Ronan and Plains had two of the finest teams in the state. Ronan was the better.

“When Thompson Falls and Plains played in those days, it was really something. It was rough and tough! Some of the players of the Plains team who I can remember well were Bill Johnson, Earl Cramer, Jack Doering, Bodley Vacura, Firmer Walkley and Stanton. After high school, we had town teams and the feud continued. “I hope this will give you and the students of the school an answer to the Blue Hawk name mystery.”

Another mystery I would like cleared up is why are the words Blue Hawk run together as one word now. It is two words and should not be run together as one word. A lot of Thompson Falls alumni are upset about it.

COUNTY ONCE HAD 40 SCHOOLS

Excerpt from Looking Back, Reflections of Orin P. Kendall

It is almost beyond comprehension that at one time there were at least 40 one-room public schools in Sanders County and that today only one school has survived the trend of consolidation.

When the reservation was opened to homesteading in the Camas Prairie area there were at least four operating one-room schools with each school pretty well filled with the children of the young homesteaders. Many of the people who drew allotments were not farmers and moved away taking their children with them and for various other reasons the population dwindled to a point to where only one school was needed.

The present Camas Prairie school is located near where a general merchandise store and post office were located. The store and post office were destroyed by fire as was the central school which was close by.

The two-room school at Whitepine which was also destroyed by fire, indirectly brought about the close of the Belknap school, which was in the same school district. This area is now a part of the Thompson Falls district as the result of an annexation election held several years ago.

Many schools particularly in the eastern part of the county, had short school terms due to lack of money. Most of the teachers had little better than a high school education but what they lacked in education they certainly made up by application. Their pay averaged about $50 a month. A law on the Montana books provided for setting up normal training courses in certain high schools. The completion of these courses entitled a student to be certified to teach in Montana for two years. Original members taking the normal training course, still residing in Thompson Falls are Veanna Kumpu Previs, Helen Cluzen Muster and Ivy Reeder Kendall.

The names of the schools were assigned for various reasons. Quite often they were named for the person who donated a parcel of land for the building site. Space will not permit the listing of all the one-room schools, but a few that I recall are: Belknap, my first school; River Echos, near Cabinet Gorge; Antelope, near Niarada; Oliver Gulch and Big Bend, both located in the far eastern part of the county; Austin school on the Blue Slide.

Other one-room schools were at Heron, Noxon, Beaver Creek, Trout Creek, Swamp Creek, Poverty Flat, Eddy, Woodlin, Carter, Ess (Swamp Creek)

DAM HELPED BUILD SCHOOL

It was in late August 1926 when I first saw Noxon, Montana. I was on my way to teach school in Belknap. At that time there was little about Noxon to interest to me except that the date on the school was 1922 which happened to be the year that I was graduated from high school. Little history is available about the Noxon school but I was informed by an old timer that some basketball was played in the rear of a saloon.

The building built in 1922 provided for a small gym which no doubt was a part of the study hall. The CCC’s camp up Thompson River was abandoned in the 1940s. Noxon received the gym that had been constructed there. As far as the gym was concerned, it left a lot to be desired but at least it was an improvement over the others.

With the construction of the two dams – Cabinet Gorge and Noxon Rapids – came a big change. The dams increased the taxable valuation of the district to a point where they could build a suitable school plant. The Noxon school building was built and a spacious gym was added.

Because of the construction of the dams, the population increased and school grew in attendance and Noxon is no longer at the bottom of the pile when it comes to basketball.