Remember When?

70 YEARS AGO • OCTOBER 31, 1951

LOGS TO GO THROUGH WEEKSVILLE RAPIDS

About 700,000 feet of sawlogs are to be put through the Weeksville Rapids on the Clark Fork River near Plains soon by Thompson Falls Lumber Co., it is reported by Arden Davis, superintendent.

The logs are to be floated through a few at a time to avoid jams on the jagged boulders in the river and then will be caught in booms below to be towed by Terry Payne down to the sawmill, a distance of about 20 miles. Tows of 10 to 15 miles on the river are not uncommon for the company, but its small boat is unable to negotiate the rapids.

About 600,000 feet of the logs, mostly Ponderosa pine, will be from a Cabinet national forest sale on Combpest Creek, where John Oliver has been logging for the past month. Woods Supt. Jim Martin said it was planned to have all logs out by the end of October so the downriver trip could be started. An additional 100,000 feet in the project represents the logs the firm has purchased from farmers in small logs.

THOMPSON FALLS WOMAN’S CLUB

Last week’s issue of The Ledger featured an article about the Thompson Falls’ Woman’s Club celebrating 100 years. This quiet group of women have done quite a bit for Thompson Falls and Sanders County over the past century.

They went to the county commissioners to fight for a levy for a county library and won; asked the commissioners to retain a county agent and to have a county health nurse who would cooperate with the schools. Members went to Helena to lobby for a good home for children with mental disabilities in Montana and fought for more women for jury duty. In the town of Thompson Falls, one of the projects of the club was the building and maintenance of bathhouses at Fessler Park in 1922, located where Little Bear is now. The park ceased to exist in the early 40s. In 1934 the dedication ceremony of the tennis courts was held with the cost of $30 for the courts being paid by the club. The tennis courts were located on Haley Avenue below the current elementary school campus and are now used as a basketball court.

Mrs. Ida Vas Binder, wife of the Sanders County Ledger editor and publisher in 1921 was the first president of the Thompson Falls Woman’s Club. Among the early projects was a program to register births in the county and to bring in a nurse from Missoula to examine more than 600 youngsters. From this examination it was determined that 10 of the youngsters needed to have tonsils removed. Members of the club assisted Dr. Fessler care for the children as the tonsils were removed on an assembly line basis.

In 1927-28 the Wild Rose Cemetery was supported by the club. Money was donated for 50 grave markers and members also cleaned up the cemetery.

1928: The Woman’s Club clubhouse was purchased for taxes due, $100. With an additional $180 for labor and materials, the clubhouse was put in good working order. It was available for rent for meetings and social gatherings. I remember taking tap dance lessons in the building from Marge Rohwer and Pat Heater in the 1960s.

1938-40: Yearly club sponsored events and projects included Christmas boxes and money for flowers at Easter for the Veterans hospital. Tuberculosis (TB) tests for school children and townspeople; hosting a dance for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) boys of Company 1998.

Each year the Club would hold a flower show in the fall and host a musical in the spring. In September, trays of cookies for all the teachers were provided. During winter months they sponsored bridge and pinochle marathon fundraisers. Historically the Woman’s Club has donated to the Red Cross, the Cancer Control drive, the community Christmas fund, the TB Christmas Seals sale and many other worthy charities.

A major undertaking by the club was to obtain a swimming pool for the community. The pool was completed in 1959 with two additional bath houses added in 1962. An annual spring “Roundup” was held by the community in the late 1950s and early 1960s to pay off this debt.

In 1962 The city council voted to build a city hall/library. This allowed the Woman’s Club library to move and to move the city offices.

In 1984 the club won the Sears Roebuck Community Achievement Award for Montana acknowledging their leadership in saving the former county jail which provided a museum.

To make a tax-deductible donation to the Thompson Falls Woman’s Club, mail to P.O. Box 442, Thompson Falls, MT 59873. The Woman’s Club is a 501c3 organization.