Remember When?

105 YEARS AGO

SEPTEMBER 22, 1916

NEW POST OFFIICE OPENED

The post office was moved Sunday from Weber’s Store (now the laundromat) to the rooms formerly occupied by A.S. Ainsworth, which have been fitted up especially for the office. Being more centrally located and nearer to the railway station, the new office is an improvement.

Mr. Moser, who was recently appointed postmaster by President Wilson, has been a resident of Sanders County for 24 years and of Thompson Falls for six years. He was sheriff of the county for two terms. Since his retirement from this office he has been employed part of the time at the power plant. He is taking hold of his new duties in good shape and will doubtless make a good official.

While not begrudging Mr. Moser the office, the retirement of Chas. Weber is regretted by many. Mr. Weber was appointed postmaster in February 1901 and performed the duties of his office most faithfully for nearly 15 years. He has lived in Sanders County for almost 30 years. When he was appointed postmaster, he moved the store he was then conducting into the building he now occupies and which had then just been completed. His release from office is no reflection upon his conduct of its affairs during the many years they were in his charge.

Note: The Thomson Falls post office was first called Thompson and was established October 1882 and then the mail was ordered to Horse Plains in May 1883. The Thompson office was reestablished in 1885, and in 1912 the name was changed to Thompson Falls to conform with the railway station. In 1883, 10,000 people on their way to the Idaho gold fields wintered at Thompson; twenty saloons opened to accommodate them, and all operated at a profit. Weber Gulch north of town was named for Charles’ brother Joe Weber. The Weber’s came to Thompson Falls in 1888.

The Post Office was then moved in the late 1950s to the building that now houses Little Bitterroot Thrift Store. In the early 1970s it moved into the building that is now Thompson Falls Family Pharmacy. Finally, it moved to its present location in 2000.

80 YEARS AGO • OCTOBER 1, 1941

SALMON COMING UP

The annual Salmon spawning run has started. By the millions, up from the Pend Oreille, the salmon are now coming. They have just reached the Heron rapids. It will be a couple weeks yet before the Silver Horde reaches the falls at Thompson and there they are blocked by this insurmountable barrier, trying futilely to break over.

Hundreds of fishermen from a hundred miles around were at the Heron rapids last Sunday and the catch reported was enormous. The fish are exceptionally delicious now before they start spawning below the dam later on. The run is about three weeks earlier than normal this year.

My father, Jack Hagerman, said you could almost walk across the backs of the salmon at the mouth of Prospect Creek just below the dam. He said the water looked red, there were so many of them. One must remember, at this time neither the Noxon dam or Cabinet dam had been built yet.

In freshwater spawning Coho are dark with a reddish color on the sides. They hatch in freshwater and spend a year in streams and rivers then migrate to a saltwater environment in the ocean to feed and grow. They spend 1½ years feeding in the ocean then return to their natal streams or rivers to spawn, generally in the fall or early winter. They have been introduced in the Great Lakes as well as many other landlocked reservoirs.

70 YEARS AGO • SEPTEMBER, 1951

Clark’s Fork Valley Furniture Co.

R.A. Wollaston, Owner

In the IO.O.F. Hall at Thompson Falls, Montana

HUGE FURNITURE SALE!

Come Early – Don’t be Disappointed

Sale Starts Friday and continues daily including Sunday

Platform Rockers – Regular $69.50, slashed to just $34.00

Sofa Bed Love Seat and matching de-luxe chair, upholstered in a high piled 100% mohair. Originally $249,00, priced at only $149.

Chrome Dinette Sets – drop leaf, oval or rectangular – slashed more than 40%.

Davenos – regular $89.50, now sacrificed at only $44.00.

Remember – These are but a few of the hundreds of items slashed to the bone.