Just Like Snakes: Settlers of Sanders County Montana: Vignette Vol.3 No.4

Vignette Vol.3 No.4
[Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS

Anthony Wayne Saint
Noxon. 1920. Excerpt-Anthony Wayne Saint sold his ranch on Pilgrim Creek for $6,000.00 to H.J. Beal, who came with his two sons, Tom and Johnny.19. Beal worked as a smoke chaser for the forest service. Tom Beal had a little old Ford Roadster. He put a top on it, and squeezed his girlfriend into the car.

The log house north of Katie and Earl Engle was Mrs. Saint's house. Mr. Fulk lived there with her in their old age.

Clifford Weare said, "Old John Fulk, the eighty-year-old ferry operator said, 'You know, Cliff, I've always been pretty good. I never had many bad habits. And what I did have, prohibition's got one, and old age got the other one.'"

"Old lady Fulk, she always thought I was just right," Clifford said. "I was nice to her, you know. She was old. One day I said to her, 'Why don't you and the old man get together?'"

"'He's a livin' down there with that old woman,"' she said. '"And he never comes near me!"'

"Mr. Fulk was living across town with Grandma Saint. Mrs. Fulks lived next door to the Noxon school. "'Oh'," I said, "'You're just jealous. Just forget it. He's got to have a place to stay and why don't you get together?'"

"'Ahhh," she said, "I know you damned men! You're just like snakes! The last thing dies about you is your tail!"' 

Weare laughed heartily as he said, "I never forgot that! You'd have to know the old lady to appreciate the joke, you know. Hahaha."

Bob Saint said, "The last few years that Grandmother (Saint) lived there Grandpa Fulk lived with her. He and Grandma Fulks never could get along so when Grandma Saint moved in to the west end of town he just simply moved down and lived with her. And Grandma Fulk stayed on her own place up there next to the school.

"Yeah, Grandpa Fulk told me that he was extremely well educated as a country gentleman in Missouri. He'd also been given a course in child delivery.

"He always told me, 'It's [Noxon] the hardest place to make a living but the nicest place to live that anybody ever saw.' That was his sentiments on Noxon. They knew it wasn't any place to make a living. Unless you worked for the forest service or the railroad you just didn't have any money to pay your taxes. You could probably grow a living on the place. What you could eat. But you couldn't grow enough to sell to pay taxes.

"Nobody ever went hungry in Noxon, to the best of my knowledge. It's just a nice, friendly, comfortable town to live in. We were fortunate, I suppose. My dad was employed as the Ranger. Year 'round. In those days it would have been good money. So, theoretically, I suppose we were almost wealthy, at that time, as compared to the rest of the people in Noxon," Bob Saint said.

Ira Bartholomew?

"In fact, most people never knew that he had any other name but Strawberry," Bob Saint said. "And Ethel for years had been known as Mrs. Strawberry. If you spoke about Bartholomew, people would look at you blank. Nobody knew any Bartholomews, they were all Strawberrys, Ben Saint said.

"Ethel Bartholomew was very secretive. She didn't want to tell anybody anything! She was very close mouthed. Strawberry would talk.

"My sister, Ethel," Golda Fulk said, "was the one everyone called whenever they got sick. I thought she was the only doctor in Noxon. She was good at it. She was good at everything she did. My sister, Jude (Julia) and Ethel lived at Noxon at the same time. Julia married Bert Johnson and then LeGault, then Christianson.

"Strawberry sang with the San Francisco Philharmonic previous to coming to Noxon," Bob Saint said. (San Francisco Sympony History.)

"He had a wonderful voice. You'd hear him singing. My God you could hear him for miles. He had a fantastic voice. When he was working you'd always hear him singing. And he had this ST Vitus dance, or whatever it was.

"Paul Nanny worked for the railroad. He ate at Ethel's, in the Cafe. Paul Nanny put every cent he could get into slot machines. Ethel always had one at the counter in her cafe. That's no doubt why Marion [Larson] took care of Paul Nanny's check after Nanny retired."

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[Resource is also available free online @ Behind These Mountains, Volume III

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 private albums.

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Montana Farm Bureau Activities: Settlers of Sanders County Montana: Vignette Vol.2 No.4

Vignette Vol.2 No.4
Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS ]

Noxon. 1918. Excerpt-With all the forces at work in a nation at war, and the dissentions over them, keeping community unity functioning was almost miraculous. That the little Montana hamlets, by and large, accomplished it is a strong testament to how desperately the settlers had to depend on each other.

Despite the special needs of supporting WWI efforts Sanders County residents kept working together even while they disagreed.

Interest in farm bureau activities was high throughout the west end of the county. It seemed that the government was at last helping the farmer in a constructive way, as Sanders County Independent Ledger's editor was happy to report. He devoted space to the topic two weeks in a row.

January 10, 1918

"A special meeting of the Noxon Community Club was held Saturday evening to discuss the matter of co-operative marketing of fence posts. At a previous meeting County Agent Hillman had been requested to secure data on this subject, and his report was made at this time.

"The advisability of forming an association for the purpose of selling direct to farmers was considered, but for the present it was decided to handle it through the club, the county agent agreeing to take care of the correspondence. In the future, if the plan proves a success and the volume of business warrants it, an association will be formed.

"It is contemplated to deal through similar clubs and through other county agents organizing co-operative buyers, as it is seldom that individual farmers require carload quantities. The purpose is, of course, to eliminate the middleman and to divert the money he would collect for expenses and profits to the pockets of the buyers and sellers."

January 17, 1918

"A telephone message today from F. M. Hillman, who in company with Sam T. Hampton and E. H. Lott, from the agricultural department, is holding a series of meetings in the interest of the farm bureau organization ...

"Successful meetings at Heron, Noxon and Trout Creek ... attendance surprisingly good and practically all favored the plan when once the objects of it were made clear. 17 members were secured at Heron, 32 at Noxon and 22 at Trout Creek ...

"Chosen to represent the communities were: Heron - F.A. Bump, Fred Smith and M.H. Larson; Noxon - J.W. Hammons, Marion Larson and Marion Cotton; Trout Creek - Elihu Wilson, John Larson and A. N. Brooks... "

These quickly became an organization of local County Extension Clubs to aid farmers.

When Montana became a state, certain lands were reserved as land grant colleges with income from them pledged to aid the people of the state in all manner of educational endeavors. The county extension agent literally meant extension of the college to the people.

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[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.

.

Order here:

Mona Leeson Vanek

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Spokane Valley, WA 99216

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Disaster for Ferries: Settlers of Sanders County Montana: Vignette Vol.1 No. 9

Vignette Vol.1 No.9
[Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS ]

Fulk, John

1915. Noxon. Excerpt-Sander's County history of spring-time high water spelled disaster for ferries. For many years John Fulk had operated a ferry at Noxon until one spring when high water tore it loose and it was gone, and probably smashed to bits going through the Cabinet Gorge, miles downstream.

John Fulk, Noxon ferryman, ca.

1920. Courtesy Benjamin F.

Saint collection.

Then a boat that had broken loose from the Green ferry upstream a year earlier was purchased from Riley Eldridge and others one December "to be installed at Noxon for a ferry." A bridge had been built at Thompson Falls so the ferry was no longer needed there. The US Forest Service at Noxon purchased "the big cable and other paraphernalia on the Thompson Falls ferry from E. Preston and moved it to Noxon "where it will be used by the government for ferry service across the Clark's Fork." Ed Hampton was to take charge of the ferry business.

 

Marion Larson gave a Valentine dance in Peek's hall in 1915, giving settlers an opportunity to gather, dance, laugh and exchange the latest news:

• Jesse Gage, Noxon's only barber, was turning his business over to his brother, William.
• A teacher's training and bible study class was organized to meet on Wednesday evenings.
• Jess Beason's house burned down, bringing to town the insurance agent who inspected the ruins.
• Charlie Ellis had had a narrow escape while coming down the bank to the ferry on the north side of the river with a load of ties. His brakes failed and he nearly ran into the river where the road turns to the ferry.
• Reverend Lang preached twice a month at Tuscor. Prohibition, or the Booze Bill, was to be voted on in November 1916. However, not many believed it would pass.

According to Don Maynard the usual number of fights began on the upper landing of the outside staircase ascending to Peek's Hall and more than one tipsy fellow took a rude tumble down them, ending up fighting in the street before the night was over.
 

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[Resource is also available free online @ Behind These Mountains, Volume I 

 

 

"Behind These Mountains, Vols. I, II & III"

 

PDF copies of 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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Spokane Valley, WA 99216

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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

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Lumberjacks' Social Status: Settlers of Sanders County Montana: Vignette Vol.2 No.4

Vignette Vol.2 No.4
Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS ]

Families joined through marriage
1920s. Noxon. Excerpt-The population, the majority being homesteaders who'd settled in the area scarcely a dozen or more years earlier, eagerly cooperated in any endeavor to benefit their community. They also gathered frequently to dance and socialize. However, there was no comparison between lumberjacks' social status and that of the settlers.

Acceptance into family circles resulted from suitable behavior. Unless personally invited by a stump rancher\logger or businessman to attend, temporary residents didn't set foot in social gatherings.

Some families joined ties through marriage, including inter-related groups around Noxon like the Bauers, Greers and Gordons, and the Saints, Fulks, Bartholomews, Higgins and Berrays, and the Huffmans, Hammons, Bucks and Ellis families. The Baxters and Weares united through marriage, too, as did the Evans and Raynors.

This group of young mothers and children are an example of family relationships, at Noxon, and includes [L-R] Freeman, Mable and Ruby Fulks, and sister, Golda [holding baby], Mary Hampton [holding baby], Fern Saint [with towel] and daughter, Montana 'Tana' standing between her and Mary, plus children, Bob, Dan, and Maude Saint, circa early 1920s, courtesy Ben F. Saint collection.

Families without a lot of interconnections were more numerous, and included the Hamptons, Browns, Engles, Lyons, and numerous other early settlers. Many young people, now grown to young adults with babies and youngsters, worked hard to stay and prosper. Most had lived through the devastating 1910 fires and found the courage, or the desperation, to remain.

The majority lived in log homes, used kerosene lamps, outhouses, and icehouses. And, year in and year out, consumed enormous woodpiles. Families grew sizeable gardens, and carefully preserved the produce, shot and ate venison, caught fish, and gathered and preserved large quantities of wild berries from surrounding mountains.

Visit: Five Star Review

 [Resource is also available free online @ Behind These Mountains, Volume II ]

PDF copies of 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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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

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Speakeasies and Moonshine: Settlers of Sanders County Montana: Vignette Vol.3 No.3

Vignette Vol.3 No.3
[Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS ]

Doneita Pringle
1924. Noxon Tittle-Tattle. Excerpt-After the Eighteenth Amendment ushered in Prohibition, Noxon had a lady beauty operator and barber for a little while. During the era of flappers, speakeasies and moonshine, young people in the Clark's Fork Valley were as susceptible as anywhere else to its changes. After finishing school at Noxon, Doneita Pringle attended the Schultz Beauty School in Spokane, Washington. Then she returned and did beauty work in her hometown. There was no such thing as a beauty shop in Noxon then. No electricity for permanents and such.

Doneita wrote Beauty Parlor Notes for The Sanders County Independent Ledger, telling readers about hair care and waves. She visited often with her parents, Mr and Mrs. Burnie Winter. Donieta had her barber chair in the barbershop in a front room of the Lena Baxter building, downtown on Main Street in Noxon. George Jamison and his kids, Laura, Loren 'Lanky', and Walter 'Tag' were among Doneita's many customers. 

Charlie Knutson fell in love with Doneita, and built a snug little house on the hill between the schoolhouse and the businesses 'downtown.'24 Shortly thereafter, the sweethearts married.

Lanky said, "But, Charlie's folks, Andrew and Mary Knutson, wouldn't have anything to do with Doneita. And wouldn't attend the wedding, either. Mrs. S.S. Brown's group met one afternoon. Mrs. Knutson, and Katie Engle and the whole group. They knew Mary had no use for Doneita so Grandma [Mrs. Brown] asked Mary if she'd been up to see the bride.

"Mary said, 'Why no!' "Fanny Hampton was there, and she said, 'Well shame on you.'

"Mary Knutson took her glasses off and wiped them on her apron. They wore aprons when they come to visit," Lanky said.

"After she [Donieta] and Charlie married, the barbershop was also a moonshine place. It was a short-lived marriage. Well under those circumstances, it couldn't last. Doneita left Noxon."

Sheldon S. Brown bought the barbershop building from Lena Baxter after Doneita left. George Jamison helped Don Maynard move the barber chair out, taking it to Clarks Fork [Idaho] where Maynard opened up a barbershop.

Sybyl Smith said, "Jamison [Lanky's dad], not generally a drinking man, couldn't drink much. When they brought him home he was really drunk. While moving the barber chair they'd found some moonshine."

  The "tittle-tattle" that circulated constantly among townsfolk and homesteaders alike was undoubtedly overheard and absorbed by some youngsters and surely young Charles and Ruth Thomson, who lived in the Bull River Valley far from Noxon and attended Pilik School, were nevertheless attuned to some tales whether they understood the gist of them or not. Essie Thomson Mercer 1924 photograph, courtesy of her daughter Ruth Mercer McBee collection.

   Laurence "Larry" Cox, dressed up here in his Sunday best and possibly on his way to church or a Sunday school class, wasn't immune from rumors and truths because his mother was active in community betterment organizations where news circulated most unrestrainedly, June 1924 photograph, courtesy Laurence "Larry" Cox collection.

 Because Julia and Arthur LeGault's children, Blossom, Leonard and Bernice, were related to the Saints and Fulks families, lived in Noxon and attended school there most assuredly they heard all manner of "tittle tattle", ca. 1925-26, courtesy Ben F. Saint collection.

 Visit: Five Star Review
[Resource is also available free online @ Behind These Mountains, Volume III ] 

PDF copies of 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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Mona Leeson Vanek

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Spokane Valley, WA 99216

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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

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Forest Management Pollicies: Settlers of Sanders County Montana: Vignette Vol.1 No.8

Vignette Vol.1 No.8
[Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS ]
Weare, Clifford R.
1911. Noxon. Excerpt-Cliff Weare, Ed Donlan, Frank Lyons, and Joseph Moderie were the primary sawmill men in northwestern Sanders County in 1911, each struggling to survive a serious slump in lumber sales. Forest management policies that were irritating before the 1910 fire now infuriated them. They objected to the forest service pushing sales of timber upon a broken market. But the dictates of the government were explicit. Federal instructions dictated:

"All timber sale work is urgent; standpoint of economic utilization; increasing revenues of the service; without jeopardizing the fundamental principles of stumpage rates, advance payments, close utilization and proper silvical treatment of the timber stands.

Congress expects the service to make good its promise to bring up the total of its revenue to equal that of its gross expenditures. The USFS now furnishes only 1/50 of the total (timber) cut in the United States. It seems reasonable that cut might be increased sufficiently to supplement present revenue without seriously affecting general market conditions."

Ranger Granville "Granny" Gordon
Although the Forest Service was having almost more problems than they could handle, a sense of humor was evident on the Cabinet National Forest. While Ranger "Granny" Gordon poured grain into his horse's feed stall, which was nothing more than a wooden box attached to a tree a short distance from his tent in a forest campsite, he consider how to sum up his 1911 annual report.
  USFS Ranger Granville Gordon breaking camp with the horses packed with tents and gear ready to head for the Ranger Station, ca. 1911, Granville Gordon photograph, courtesy of his daughter Blanche Gordon Claxton collection.

When Gordon returned to his headquarters at the Bull River Ranger Station the report he penned said,

"All funds short due to 1910 fire. We who are left of the Cabinet force this winter (1910-11) are hardly more than a corporal's guard and from present state of finances, it looks as though we might have to live on salt char and hominy before grass grows.

We HAVEN'T HAD A RANGERS MEETING FOR THREE YEARS, and the outlook is not good for one in the near future. There have been two reasons for not having more rangers meetings - when we had money enough, we didn't have rangers enough; and when we had rangers enough, we didn't have money enough, and now we have neither one. However we are going to have one before next Christmas if we have to catch char for our meat, kill bear for the grease, shed tears for the salt, and assemble on foot."

Spring work at the Bull River station consisted of Ranger Gordon exerting some of his energies on the 'Jungle,' which in future years is to be called a clearing.

Also, during that first quarter of fiscal year 1911, 29 timber sales were made, valued at $5,550.21 (consisting mostly of fire-killed timber). 3,220,000 feet saw timber, 1,241 cedar poles, 70,152 cedar posts and 16,332 railroad ties. They were mostly small sales to local parties, except for the sale of 2,700,000 feet of fire-killed timber on Marten Creek, which was sold to G.S. Burrill of Sandpoint, Idaho. Burrill began with a large crew, also cutting a large private timber sale.

R.A. Lauderdale of Norman, Washington, bought a large sale on the East Fork and Upper Bull River; estimated at 1,271,000 feet of saw timber, 3,144 cedar poles, 175,000 cedar posts and 7,971 cords shingle bolts. The forester optimistically wrote in the journal, "He undoubtedly will put a large crew to work soon."
  It's unlikely any of this Noxon area group of friends and relatives worked for Lauderdale busy as they were establishing their homesteads. The group includes Harry Wilson, George Gardner, Granville Bauer, Chess Greer, Jess Beason and daughter, Nora, Clayton Bauer and Earl Lockman, ca. 1912-14, courtesy Clayton "Clate" Bauer collection.
 
The first ranger meeting on the Cabinet National Forest took place June 2l, 1911. Rangers Brown, Clark, Gordon, Scarlett, Saint and Bushnell spent 4 days going over fire problems, tools caches, fighting, patrol and fire reports, office files and procedures.
 
   USFS Ranger Granville "Granny" Gordon (on the left) is the only identified man in this group of foresters at Thompson Falls Ranger Station, ca. 1912, courtesy Granville Gordon collection.

Visit: Five Star Review 
[Resource is also available free online @ Behind These Mountains, Volume I ]

 

"Behind These Mountains, Vols. I, II & III"

 

PDF copies of 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.

.

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

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Catastrophic Fire: Settlers of Sanders County Montana: Vignette Vol.3 No.2

Vignette Vol.3 No.1
[Resource: BEHIND THESE MOUNTAINS ]
Georgia Knott MacSpadden
1921. Heron. Excerpt--Throughout 1921, the Sanders County Independent Ledger continued to report mining news and local comings and goings, but for some unknown reason failed to report the worse wide-spread disaster in Sanders County, Montana, since 1910—the catastrophic fire that burned Heron, and surrounding areas that had not burned in the earlier conflagration. Georgia Knott MacSpadden wrote in her diary,

"In 1921, sparks got into a sawdust pile at the sawmill on Elk Creek. Fire got away and burned right up to the Heron Store. When the wind changed, firefighters were able to save the store by keeping the roof wet."

Georgia, a young girl at the time, had gone to get the mail in Heron. Returning to the Knott ranch near the mouth of Elk Creek she saw the fire begin growing up the mountain. By night, it had engulfed the entire hillside. Smoke hazed the sun for three months. The Knotts had gravity flow water from a spring, with little force to it, but it was the only place in Heron that had running water in the house.

Georgia's aunt Bessie had just purchased a new mattress, made in sections. The Knott family hurriedly took it out to the garden and spread green grass sod over it. Household dishes, silver, and everything they could bury were spaded under the garden soil.

"Heron stores and saloons burned," Georgia said. "The NPRR backfired at the wooden trestle to save it, and that kept the fire from reaching the Knott's ranch. On our front porch, at midnight, you could read a newspaper with the light from the fire."

Ruth Dettwiler said, "Our cousins were visiting from Plains. We saw the big black smoke from the fire across the river. There were coal storage buildings in Heron and they blackened the sky as they burned. Our parents weren't home, but they'd instructed us what to do in case of fire. Take all the furniture into the cellar. Put wet towels over our heads and get out into the fields away from any buildings that might burn."

The 1921 fire destroyed more than one sawmill, and thousands of acres of the finest timber standing. Flave and Jesse Lee lost 40,000 cedar posts. By the time the flames died in 1921, very little was left of Heron.

Sawmills were never rebuilt. The timber was destroyed, and many families left the area. However, the greater loss to 32-year-old Patrick Duffy was his wife.

Duffy's daughter, Katie, then a 3-year-old, clearly remembered;

"My mother was crying and screaming in the back bedroom when the last baby was born in 1921. It was when there'd been a forest fire. When I asked where the baby come from, he [Dad] said the poor little thing was out watching that fire. For years and years I believed him! Dad raised us nine kids but never remarried again. He had a wonderful sense of humor."

Due to the fires' havoc, the timber industry underwent drastic changes which in turn impacted young and old alike.

Visit: Five Star Review

[Resource is also available free online @ Behind These Mountains, Volume III ]

PDF copies of 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.

.

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!