Remember When?

40 YEARS AGO • JUNE 23, 1983

TC GETTING NEW MARKET, CAFE

Two new additions are being made to the Trout Creek business community.

The Trout Creek Market will be owned and operated by Robert Studwell, presently of Vancouver, Wash., and Sam Ross of Trout Creek and their families. The 3200-square-foot market will be a full-service store, selling groceries, produce, meat and other items. There will also be lockers available for beef and wild meat storage.

Studwell said they hope to eventually install gas pumps, but not at first. He hopes to be open by the third week in July.

The old Grandma’s Corner store is being remodeled into a fast food drive-in and restaurant by Trout Creek residents Evan and Linda Burnham. Called the Wagon Wheel, the establishment will feature a fast-food-style menu during the day. They will also be open for breakfast in the mornings and open after dances at night for late-night diners.

There will be picnic tables as well as a play area for children in the rear, and there will be some inside seating.

Linda Burnham said it will be at least a month before the Wagon Wheel opens. She said construction was sort of a community project, with her husband, Evan, Roger Schopp, Doy Morkert, Von Thomas and Charlotte Reeves involved in the work.

SANDERS COUNTY WAREHOUSE FOODS

Now Sanders County Harvest Foods

The store is pleased to announce that some time during July we will be on the site to interview and hire approximately 16 people. The exact dates will be advertised in the Ledger several weeks in advance. If anyone would like to be on file in advance of the interviews, applications can be obtained from: Moody’s Market, Inc. 608 Highway 93S, Ronan, MT 59864.

The tentative positions are as follows: Assistant store manager, person in charge, produce manager, produce person, meat person. 2 full-time checkers, 2 part-time checkers, night crew, secretary, 2 bakery persons, 2 bakery helpers.

BLANCHE BOSTON REMINISCENCES

Blanche Boston, daughter of Silas and Opal Boston, is known locally as Bee Williams. Bee donated a brand new corset in a box labeled “The People’s Store” to the Old Jail Museum. Our mannequins are too fat for the corset. The People’s Store was owned and operated by the Wollaston family.

One of my oldest memories of my mother was seeing her early in the mornings with a fresh dress and apron, and her hair and make-up done. In fact, I don’t ever remember seeing my mother any way but immaculately groomed. She was always up and ready for the day before awakening my father and my brother and I. The house was always neat and clean, and the meals were always well prepared and on time. My mother very happily devoted her life to the care of her husband and children.

When my parents moved to Trout Creek in 1932, mother raised chickens and a vegetable garden. Washing was done by hand. It wasn’t until we lived on Swamp Creek that I remember having a washing machine. It was gas powered and sat on a wooden platform outside the kitchen door. She heated water in a large oval boiler. It was referred to as the copper boiler. She packed the water from that out to the washing machine in buckets and as it was very hot, we were always told to stay back out of the way.

Mother enjoyed cooking, canning and picking huckleberries. She used the huckleberries to make pies and jellies. She picked chokecherries and made jellies and syrup from them. She loved flowers and had a few of them to care for on the ranch.

Mother had her timing down perfectly. Fifteen minutes before my father walked in the door, she would tell me to set the dining room table and my brother to put the chairs around it. She would remove the meat from the fry pan and place it in the warming oven and begin to make gravy. My father would walk in the door, place his lunch pail on the kitchen counter and go to the bathroom to wash up. As he came out and went to the table, she was pouring gravy into the gravy boat and I was putting food on the table.

Mother never went to PTA meetings or belonged to any clubs, believing that being home when the children came home from school was the most important thing. She had many interests and many friends, but they never were allowed to interfere with the time she spent caring for her family.