Remember When

70 YEARS AGO • JUNE 27, 1951

OLD-TIMERS FETED ON FATHER’S DAY

Father’s Day was celebrated in Thompson Falls with a potluck dinner honoring all of those who had passed their 75th birthday. Eleven men and two ladies were the guests of honor of a large group of townspeople who came with hot dishes to pay their respects to these pioneers.

Orin P. Kendall, acting as emcee for this occasion, introduced each guest beginning in the order of their ages, with the oldest, Charley Frint. He always had a fondness for horses and during his bachelor life he rode as a jockey for Lucky Baldwin in California. Afterward he trained and raced horses on the race circuit for many years. He met and married Ida Peterson in Deer Lodge in 1885, where they lived until buying the old Foster ranch on Prospect Creek, operating a dairy until they moved to Thompson Falls in 1934.

Next is Andy Helman, born in Oslo, Norway, in 1860. He came to the U.S. in 1884 locating in Minnesota, where he received his naturalization. In 1888 he went to South Dakota and later to the Bitterroot in 1893. In 1900 he bought a ranch up Prospect and lived there until coming to town to make his home with his son and wife in 1945. Andy still makes his two trips to town each day, first to get a glass of beer and enjoy some of his friends.

Another of these fine people to be introduced, but who in fact needed no introduction as he has been part and parcel of this part of the state’s development, was J.W. Miller, who was born in Ontario providence of Canada in 1862. When 14 years of age, he came to the U.S. with his parents who located in Minnesota. On Dec. 3, 1881, he stepped from a stage about 15 miles east of Missoula on what was known as the old Marshall grade and helped clear seven miles of the Northern Pacific right-of-way. Brick making was his next job is in Missoula, but he came out west with the railroad landing at Woodlin, about five miles east of Thompson Falls. What was the depot at Woodlin on that date is now the home of section foreman Arthur Hoyt. Being a millwright, he built several sawmills, one of which was immediately below where the Space home now sets. The unprecedented high water of 1892 washed it out, but when the water in the river is quite low, the logging track rails are still to be seen. He was the first to buy a lot in the government townsite of Thompson Falls, and holds the No. 1 receipt for the place, where he built his first home. It is now occupied by “Red” Sheridan. He was county commissioner for several years. He still drives his car and does his own cooking in his home one block north of the depot.

Perry Heater, Sr., still makes his daily trips to town from his home on Preston Avenue even though he was born April 16, 1867, putting him in the four score plus, class. He was born in Ohio, but later went to Iowa for a spell and then on to South Dakota and also Nebraska. He said he knew all the time he wanted to come to Montana so in 1910 he came and has lived in and near Thompson Falls ever since. He has served Sanders County as county commissioner and as sheriff, and was for a while in the auto and gas business, which his two sons, Perry Jr. and Orrie now conduct (Heater & Heater was located on the corner of Main and Fulton streets and is now a parking lot). Perry still does his own shopping and cooking, and is doing a pretty good job of it all.

Another one of the boys to be introduced by Mr. Kendall was J.H. Brauer, our present county surveyor. Mr. Brauer was born in Germany on Feb. 5, 1870, and came to this country when quite a young lad, 1876. He cruised timber through this part of the country for some time, going back to Minnesota where he was married to Mary Ames in 1901. They located in Missoula for a few years, coming to Thompson Falls in 1905, where they have lived ever since (their home is now the Sunflower Gallery on Main Street). Mr. Brauer is still acting as surveyor and is found in the field many days each month.

Soon to top the four-score year age, is W.A. Barto, who was born in Minnesota in 1871. In 1899 he married Miss Lucy Reid, and together they went to Long Prairie, Minnesota, where Mr. Barto engaged in the hardware business. He soon decided that was not his type of business and sold out and came to Thompson Falls in 1906. He soon organized the First State Bank and was its first president, which position he still holds. He has given 45 years of continuous banking service to this community and doubtless will do so for many more.

Mr. Barto and a partner H. Reed started the financial institution with a capital of $20,000. The first transaction over the counter was to change a $1,000 bill which the holder had won in a poker game the night before; the next was to accept a deposit which remained untouched for more than 20 years.

The Sanders County Ledger, January 8, 1909 – Fire starts in restaurant adjoining Florin’s Silver Dollar saloon, burning out nine businesses until checked by the use of dynamite applied to the building belonging to Mrs. Scott Barnes and occupied by the First State Bank, Attorney A.S. Ainsworth and lodging apartments. The ground floor occupied by the First State Bank, the fixtures, books and valuables not locked in the safe were all manually saved. The vault, which is enclosed in a brick vault built around it, is still intact, but it is impossible at this time to find out how much the safe has suffered from the terrific heat surrounding it. It took the vault three days to cool before it could be opened. All of the contents were safe.