Remember When?

105 YEARS AGO • MAY 7, 1916

BREAKING THROUGH THE THOMPSON RIVER CANYON BARRIER SOON

Thompson River Road Will Open

About July 1

This is news, paramount news. The Thompson River road will be completed, A.H. Abbott, supervisor of the Cabinet announced officially, July 1. A write-up by Mr. Abbott concerning roads built in this district appears in this issue.

For the past 6 years the Thompson River CCC camp has been blasting against the great rock barrier which blocks access to the Thompson River country. For miles and miles tremendous rock cliffs had to be blasted away to permit passage.

Huge gravel stockpiles are being accumulated and put on the road as fast as the blasting is completed. There is only about two miles left to be done and only a small fraction of this distance is hard rock.

The road has been driven up the canyon almost 15 miles during the six years. All this time a full-sized CCC crew with forest officials and supervisors and technicians managing has been working on the road with the exception of fire season and the worst part of the winter. The camp enrollment has been mostly around two hundred men.

The road now taps the rich, virgin upper Thompson timber belt, comprising one of the richest bodies of timber in the United States. Billions of feet of yellow pine stand awaiting the exploitation of man. The timber towers to the sky and is of tremendous size, reaching diameters of five feet. The largest saw mill in the U.S. could operate night and day for fifty years and still not exhaust the supply.

Prior to the penetration of this road, the upper Thompson country was a remote wilderness, not accessible to the north. The only way the country could be entered was from Kalispell or over the high hump from Plains. The completion of this road will open up one of the finest virgin timber and primitive areas in the northwest to general tourist traffic.

Years ago, before the road was started and the camps established, Thompson River was the finest trout stream in western Montana. Of course easy access will destroy that advantage as it is now largely destroyed.

Ever since anyone can remember the great “barrier to the north” has prevented the exploitation of the Thompson River timber and travel. Years ago the ACM planned to run a railroad up Thompson River, but the cost involved millions and the project was dropped. The completion of the road does not mean that the ACM will go after its timber, because the railroad will still be necessary for heavy logging operations, but it will facilitate that future step.

Forestry officials are planning on having a celebration on the occasion of the completion of the road. Speakers will be present. Nothing definite has yet been planned but it might be a good policy for the town to help the Forest Service make this a commendable occasion. Kalispell, in view of the fact that a new rich trading area is now open to it, might conceivably join us in dedicating the completion of this vast, memorial undertaking.

A road up through the Thompson River canyon has been the dream of many people around Thompson Falls for a number of years. Years ago the Sanders County commissioners obtained a right-of-way through a portion of the route. The heavy rock construction prohibited the work being done by the county.

This road construction has been made possible through the fact of the CCC camp being placed on Thompson River. The project has furnished winter work when it would have been impractical to do work elsewhere. Construction has therefore been held chiefly to those months when it was less practical to use the men elsewhere.

The road starts at alternate Route No. 10, west of Thompson River and follows up Thompson river entirely on the west and north side, joining with the road between Plains and Highway No. 2 at Big Spring. This makes the distance from Thompson Falls to Big Spring approximately 22 miles as against almost 50, following the present route from Thompson to Plains to Big Spring over the Buffalo Bill hill.

To be continued next week.