Scenes From Montana - Days 3-6 and Bigfork History

 1st -   It's a quiet day in Woods Bay with just a trip to the grocery store on the agenda.  I tried to grab a few pictures of the cherry orchards along the way as they were FULL of golden color.  Mister is quietly working away as he didn't take many vacation days this trip.

My sister has this beautiful Smoke Bush in her yard and I LOVE it!

2nd -  A break in my sweethearts word day gives him the chance to get outside for just a bit.  We're still taking it slow around here.

3rd - Today, a doctor visit is on the schedule and while in town Mom is able to drop off a birthday gift to a dear friend of hers.

All goes well with the doctor and they have ordered a Holter Monitor to be placed.  It will give us more information as to what is going on with my sweet mother.  

Backyard friends peeking in on us.

4th -  Since Mister still is working and Mom is not up to a trip into town, I head in a bit early to check out an exhibit at the Cultural Center before my haircut.  As I arrive in Bigfork, the sky just looks crazy over the lake.  It is only 2:30 in the afternoon.  

Downtown Bigfork --- so many memories here.

The "old" bank.  It was already something else when I moved here in the 70's.  Now, it's an upscale restaurant called ShowThyme.

On the northwest corner of Electric Avenue in Bigfork stands the familiar masonry building that served as the community's commercial center for more than half a century, The Bigfork Mercantile.  The story began years before when E.L. Sliter (there were several Sliter girls in high school with me) founded Bigfork and built the first general mercantile store - a wooden building on this same location.  In 1908, Slier traded the store to Harry Horn for a house in Kalispell.  Horn and his partner, Paul Smith, added their store to an an area retail consortium called the Flathead Commercial Company.  In 1918, lighting struck the original wooden building, burning it to the ground.  So, Horn and Smith hired local stone mason Johnny Laux to build the structure that stands today.  This was the classic general mercantile selling everything from fishing tackle, hardware, hay and lumber, to groceries, drugs and remedies, and clothing.  In the 1940s the store was purchased by Walter Robbin, and during World War II he allowed the empty lot next to the store to be used to collect a huge mountain of scrap metal for the war effort - everything from wire and cans, to bicycles and car frames.  In 1949 the "merc" was purchased by Andy and June Anderson (another classmate was their daughter), and when Andy passed away, June ran the store alone while raising a family of five. It was the "merc" all through high school and today, the building is owned by Eric and Cyndy Thorsen, and instead of the canned goods and produce that once fill the space, you'll find Eric's sculpture studio and art gallery.  

So, my purpose in stopping for this exhibit is that it is all about the history of Bigfork - and I want to see how much is familiar to me.  The 1962 postcard holds true through the 70's as well.  I remember all of that.

Modern day view from the south end of town which is the same perspective as the postcards.

Information on the Holt Ferry - "It was 1885 when early pioneer Alvin Lee decided to build a ferry across the Flathead River, just upstream from where the river entered Flathead Lake.  Lee was joined in the endeavor by an enterprising 16-year-old boy from Ohio, who came to Montana to be a trapper and frontiersman.  His name was Frank Bird Linderman and he went on to become a legislator, entrepreneur, and celebrated author of western books.  Lee's ferry was essentially a wooden raft that used river current to propel the craft across the river on a cable to keep it from washing down into Flathead Lake.  This simple ferry crossing was the catalyst that opened up the northeast corner of Flathead Lake to settlement.  It was now possible for settlers to cross the river with wagons and livestock.  On the east bank of the Flathead River, the community of Holt sprung up with a general store, dance hall, school and saloon.  Not long afterward, just over the hill from Holt, Everit L. Sliver and his wife, Lizzie, founded a new town by the name of Bigfork.  Over the next 50 years the ferry changed from a current driven raft, to a gas-powered craft capable of carrying two automobiles or trucks, to an electric powered transport.  In 1940, the ferry was finally replaced with a stout timber bridge that stretched 864 feet, across the river.  However, that bridge was torn down a few years later, and replaced with the current steel and concrete bridge just up the river on MT Highway 82, leaving the community of Holt "off the beaten path."

The Bridges of Bigfork - "Bigfork was one of the last places to be permanently settled in Montana simply because it was 'such a hard place to get to.'  Boxed in between the mouths of two swift rivers - the Flathead and Swan - with Flathead Lake to the west and the Rocky Mountains to the east, access into that crescent of land around the northeast corner of Flathead Lake was challenging.  It wasn't until the 1880s that settler could bring their wagons across the Flathead River on a hand-pulled ferry near the river's mouth.  Once they made their way to Bigfork Bay, they were again blocked from accessing the east shore of flathead Lake by the Swan River.  That is until George Akin built a crude ferry across the Swan near the site of today's old steel bridge.  In 1906, Akin's ferry across the Swan River was replaced by a new wooden bridge constructed by brother Hank and Dan Collins for the sum of $2500.  Five years later, in 1911, that wooden bridge was replaced with a new steel bridge that we know today as the 'Old Steel Bridge,' an iconic landmark in continuous use nor for more than 100 years."

The Legend of the Mountain Lake Tavern (I remember it well) -"In the early morning hours of November 1984, an explosive fire consume one of Bigfork's most treasured institutions - The Mountain Lake Tavern.  Over the decades, it had become a welcoming place for all social strata of the community, from businesspeople and tradesmen, to farmers, ranchers, and laborers - a 'public house' in the truest sense.  The building was originally constructed about 1904, just a couple of years after Everit and Lizzie Sliter founded Bigfork.  According to historians it started off as a fraternal meeting hall for the Odd Fellows, with the upstairs providing storage for lodge paraphernalia and a large dance hall.  Later on, it also housed an ice cream parlor, a barbershop, a poolroom, and even a costume changing room for actors in Bigfork Summer Playhouse productions across the street.  During the 1920s the establishment was general known as Pop's Place, named for owner John Lawson's brother Audie 'Pops' Lawson.  With the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, they began to served beer and provide tables where folks gathered for friendly card games.  Around 1945 the building was sold, and the Mountain Lake Tavern was born.  It soon became the favorite haunt for some of Bigfork's most colorful characters.  Into the 1960s and 70s, a close-knit community of free-spirited, fun loving citizens were drawn to the Tavern.  With nicknames like Dobro Dick, Fiddlin' Red, Dancin' Peggy, and Dr. Runswell the mechanic, their spontaneous celebrations often spilled out onto Electric Avenue.

The Bigfork Hotel/Inn - "From the earliest days of Bigfork, the northwest corner of Electric Avenue and Grand Drive has been a focal point of hospitality, lodging and good food.  The original Bigfork Hotel was build on this location by Everit Slier not long after the town was founded.  During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the ten-room hotel and dance hall was owned by Ernie and Catherine O'Brien.  Ernie, an influential community leader and the 'unofficial mayor' of Bigfork, was a major factor in getting a high school build in Bigfork in the early 30s.  In 1937, the original wooden hotel structure succumbed to fire, and the O'Briens put the financial future on the line to rebuild the business.  Ernie's vision was a classic Swiss chalet-style inn resembling the classic lodges of Glacier Park.  His vision became reality an the Bigfork Inn remains an iconic Bigfork landmark to this day."

Eva Gates is still a location downtown specializing in jams and jellies - most famously for huckleberry goods.  "In 1948 Eva Gates turned a bumper crop of strawberries into a family business that has lasted for generation.  With her grandmother's recipes and a wood cookstove, she created a line of preserves and syrups that are now shipped to eager customers all over the world."

Well, that's all the history I have time for right now as it's time for the locks to be trimmed.  I am always amazed at how much comes off and how much there still is.  Goodness.

Gina, (family through my brother-in-law) is my hairdresser up here and she has a new corgi that I get to see up close and personal.

Back to the house and Mister is off work and wants to check out Sip of Montana, a new little pub in the old Woods Bay Grill.  While we are super sad that the grill is gone, they have done a nice job with this place.

And with that, it's time to make dinner and spend the evening with Mom.  

I've had a great time this afternoon and enjoyed all the reminiscing and learning that took place.  Plus, my hairs have been tamed and that is always good.

Onto week 2 up here in the Flathead Valley --- the place I still call home.