Vignette Vol.2 No.7
Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS
1917 - Noxon. Excerpt--Former Montana Forest Service Ranger, Harry Tallmadge, a handsome, young progressive fellow, bought a 1914 Model T Ford from a forest ranger in Troy, Montana. Early one morning he started it with a couple of vigorous turns of the crank, climbed in, grasped the steering wheel firmly, and began his journey over the two-rut road through the Bull River valley to Noxon.
It was a long trip, and in many ways more difficult than traveling by horseback. Like Clifford Weare and other travelers before him, Harry crammed his felt hat down, jumped out several times, grabbed his axe from the T's toolbox, and, muscles bulged by well-directed axe cuts, cleared fallen trees, limbs and brush out of the road. The high-centered Ford straddled stumps that were low enough. To navigate around each yielding, muddy spot, he steered his car off the wagon trail and over faint tracks on burned-over forest slopes, the latter threatening to upset the narrow-tired vehicle. Where warm, spring temperatures dried the road, his tires swirled dust that coated the interior and dulled the shine on brass fittings and car body.
Before dusk, flushed with triumph, he waited impatiently at the Noxon ferry landing, hating to wait for the ferry to come from the far side. He'd planned to board the ferry much earlier, cross the Clark's Fork River, and let the resounding putt, putt of his four-cylinder car traversing the uphill half mile wagon road into town announce his arrival. It was close to pitch-black when loggers and miners from Jim Finnigan's Cottage Rooms, Gordon's hotel and Baxter's hotel flocked around the young man and admired his sputtering horseless carriage.
While in Noxon, Harry was able to read the latest bridge news in the Sanders County Independent Ledger. The April 5, 1917, issue headlined a many-columned article:
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Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS
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About the time Harry Tallmadge [L]
and George Kaufman [R] shared a
good laugh. Harry was an Assistant
US Forest Ranger and George was
the Ranger, ca. 1914, courtesy
Harry Tallmadge collection.
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It was a long trip, and in many ways more difficult than traveling by horseback. Like Clifford Weare and other travelers before him, Harry crammed his felt hat down, jumped out several times, grabbed his axe from the T's toolbox, and, muscles bulged by well-directed axe cuts, cleared fallen trees, limbs and brush out of the road. The high-centered Ford straddled stumps that were low enough. To navigate around each yielding, muddy spot, he steered his car off the wagon trail and over faint tracks on burned-over forest slopes, the latter threatening to upset the narrow-tired vehicle. Where warm, spring temperatures dried the road, his tires swirled dust that coated the interior and dulled the shine on brass fittings and car body.
Before dusk, flushed with triumph, he waited impatiently at the Noxon ferry landing, hating to wait for the ferry to come from the far side. He'd planned to board the ferry much earlier, cross the Clark's Fork River, and let the resounding putt, putt of his four-cylinder car traversing the uphill half mile wagon road into town announce his arrival. It was close to pitch-black when loggers and miners from Jim Finnigan's Cottage Rooms, Gordon's hotel and Baxter's hotel flocked around the young man and admired his sputtering horseless carriage.
While in Noxon, Harry was able to read the latest bridge news in the Sanders County Independent Ledger. The April 5, 1917, issue headlined a many-columned article:
"Will Sanders County build a bridge at Noxon this year? Will it build one at Dixon? Will it build none at all?Visit: Five Star Review [Resource is also available free online @ Behind These Mountains, Volume II
PDF copies of all Behind These Mountains, Vols. I, II & III are available on a DVD - $50 S&H included, plus author's permission to print or have printed buyers personal copy of each of the approximately 1200 page books which contain about 1,000 photographs from homesteaders personal albums.
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Order here:
Mona Leeson Vanek
13505 E Broadway Ave., Apt. 243
Spokane Valley, WA 99216
Email: mtscribbler@air-pipe.com
TO HAVE AN EXCERPT PUBLISHED IN BYGONE MONTANANS ABOUT A PERSON WHO MAY BE MENTIONED IN THIS REGIONAL MONTANA TRILOGY Email mtscribbler@air-pipe.com
Please visit often, and share with friends and acquaintances. If you find anyone with family ties, please leave a comment and contact information and share a memory to grow your family tree!
