Remember When

121 YEARS AGO

MARCH 30, 1900

THOMPSON STREET

BUSY IN 1900

From The Plainsman

NOTE: At the time this article was written there was no Sanders County, which was established in 1906. What we now know as Sanders County was part of Missoula County. In addition, The Sanders County Ledger newspaper hadn't been established yet. The Ledger began in 1905, one year before Sanders County was born. The Plainsman was established in 1895. Readers also will note that the editor of the Plainsman referred to the town as "Thompson" not Thompson Falls. The post office was first called Thompson and continued under that name October 1882-May 1883. The mail was then ordered to Horse Plains. The Thompson office was reestablished in 1885 and in 1912 the name was changed to Thompson Falls to conform with the railway station name. The Northern Pacific Railroad came through in 1883.

Monday of this week, the editor (Alex R. Rhone) made Thompson Falls a visit in order to get acquainted with her citizens and secure someone to send us the news from that busy town in western Missoula County. On both errands, we think we succeeded admirably, having met a number of her prominent businessmen and secured correspondents to represent us there. From this time on, Messengers Herriott and Adams will have charge of the news department and business at Thompson, will take job work, advertisements, and legal notices from that section.

Thompson is most fortunately situated in a country full of natural resources, many of which have never been touched. At the present time, the only natural resources which render a revenue is lumbering, mining and farming. The vast water power which is bound up in the falls has never been taken advantage of, and many valuable mining propositions are almost as undeveloped as they were when first discovered. Farming is making the longest strides and those who have chosen that occupation are the most prosperous of all. They find the mills most profitable buyers for all they raise.

The falls at Thompson will some time be utilized in some way or other in a few years, and several surveys have already been made by capitalists to ascertain their value. The main rapids have a fall of 40 feet, and by building a dam and carrying the water through the stone dyke, a fall of 80 or 100 feet can be obtained and the amount of power obtained would be regulated by the amount of water in the Clark Fork River.

The town of Thompson was laid out some time after the mining excitement in the Coeur d'Alenes in 1884, and was platted by the government and disposed of to the people. This site is situated about a quarter of a mile above the falls and is naturally a picturesque and fine townsite. The residence portion overlooks the business portion and the river and falls. Most of the lots are held by non-residents who believe in the future of the town and are holding them for speculation.

As a mineral country, Thompson Falls district certainly has a future, good prospects and mines existing almost within a stone's throw of the town. Thompson River and Prospect Creek seem to offer the greatest inducements to the prospector at the present time, while the mines around Vermilion are the ore producers at this time. Clean, crystal mountain streams rush down the abrupt mountain sides and furnish sporting grounds for the gamy mountain trout, while some of the finest timber in the Northwest covers much of the mountain sides. The chief industry now is lumbering and getting out railroad ties, while farming is gaining on the other industries very fast.

Thompson has a large school house and employs two teachers, and has an enrollment of 60 scholars, and has all the modern improvements in the way of desks, charts, maps, etc.

To be continued...