Remember When?

80 YEARS AGO • FEBRUARY 2, 1944

HISTORICAL RECORD

The article below is a recopy of a historical memorandum for the record transmitted to the local supervisor’s office by Regional Forester, Evan W. Kelley of Missoula. Contents may be of interest to many locally.

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD:

“Ed Donlan was in my office on December 30, and as usual, he engaged in reminiscing about older times down in the Thompson Falls country. He alleges that he built the first sawmill below Thompson Falls near Belknap in 1904 (there were sawmills preceding this in the late 1800s) and sawed material which he sold to the A.C.M. During 1906 he moved the mill to Cedar Spur west of Heron. In 1909 he bought a mill from Pat Hayes which had been operated in Hayes Creek a few miles out of Missoula on the Bitterroot Road. He rebuilt that mill at White Pine. The 1910 fires in the Heron country and around Cedar Spur destroyed cedar poles, fence posts and logs having a total appraised value of $46,000.

A man named Russell built a mill at Eddy in 1894. Donlan bought him out in 1904, moved that mill to Thompson Falls in 1906, cut out the flats east of Thompson Falls by 1907, and moved the mill to a point across the river from Belknap.

In speaking of the high water of 1908, Donlan remarked that in the Clark’s Fork River the flood stage of 1908 was a mere trickle as compared to that of 1894. During the peak of high water then he and Russell put a boat in the river at the mouth of Thompson River, and rowed and poled their way along the margins of the stream, which was above the railroad track, and found no track out of water until they reached Eddy.

The first cuttings of the A.C.M. west of Thompson Falls were between the Blue Slide and a point opposite Belknap. Cutting started during 1907 or 1908 when the mill at Hope was first operating.

The floods of 1894 caused such high water in Pend Oreille Lake that during a high wind when the lake water was at its peak elevation, waves as high as a two-storied house beat down a chimney on the old Kootenai House (David Thompson’s station) on Pend Oreille Lake. This information was given to me by Mr. Reed of Clarks Fork, Idaho.”

30 YEARS AGO • FEBRUARY 3, 1994

CAROL BROOKER EYES COMMISSION CHAIR

Carol Brooker told the Ledger today that she will be a candidate for county commissioner for the Plains seat.

“My vision for Sanders County is that it should always be a great place to live and raise our families,” she said. “We can do that by working together on common goals, improving the business environment, and determining how Sanders County should grow in the future.

“This has been a tough decision for me and my family, but I believe in making a contribution to society. People here have been wonderful to us personally and in our business, so I care a lot about Sanders County and the folks who live here. As county commissioner, I would be able to devote a lot of energy working for the people of this county.”

As president of the Plains/Paradise Chamber of Commerce, Brooker is concerned about the local economy, and has done her part to help create good jobs in Sanders County.

“Economic development is an important issue, but I would like to see more time and energy devoted to helping existing businesses grow and enable them to employ more people,” Brooker says.

“People always have different opinions and different solutions to problems. What’s most important is to listen to other people’s opinions, and work together with them to find a fair solution to an issue. I believe you can accomplish more by working together and that’s the attitude I’ll take with me into the office of county commissioner,” Carol says.

“People want and expect that their tax dollars will be spent wisely and efficiently, in a businesslike manner. Businesses plan for the future, and I believe county government should too,” she says. “Growth is good, but not at the expense of our way of life: our clean air and water, our hunting and fishing, and our independence.

Note: Carol Brooker won this election in the fall and served as our county commissioner very capably for 27 years. Thanks Carol!