TRAILS OF THE PAST: Historical Overview of the Flathead ...

[Pages:373]TRAILS OF THE PAST: Historical Overview of the Flathead National Forest, Montana, 1800-1960

By Kathryn L. McKay

Historian

1994

Final report of a Historic Overview prepared under agreement with the United States, Flathead National Forest, Kalispell, Montana (Contract #43-0385-3-0363). Submitted in fulfillment of agreement by Kathryn L. McKay, Consulting Historian, 491 Eckelberry Dr., Columbia Falls, Montana, 59912.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Acknowledgements Previous Work Methodology Physical Environment Abbreviations Used in Text Introduction

The Fur Trade

Introduction The Fur Trade

Missionary Activity and Early Exploration

Introduction Missionary Activity Railroad Surveys International Boundary Surveys Other Early Explorations

Mining

Introduction Oil Fields Coal Deposits Placer and Lode Mining

General Prospector's Life Placer and Lode Mining in the Flathead

Settlement and Agriculture

Introduction Settlement Up to 1871 1871-1891 1891 to World War II World War II to Present

Forest Reserves

Introduction Forested Land on the Public Domain up to 1891 Creation of the Forest Reserves GLO Administration of the Forest Reserves, 1898-1905 Forest Supervisors and Rangers on the Flathead and Lewis & Clarke Forest Reserves, 1898-1905

Forest Service Administration, 1905-1960

Introduction Qualifications of Early Forest Service Workers Daily Work of Early Forest Service Employees Forest Service Food Winter Work Families Injuries Special-Use Permits Forestry Research and Education World Wars Administrative Sites Boundaries Northern Pacific Railroad Glacier National Park Glacier View and Other Proposed Dams Hungry Horse Dam

Transportation

Introduction Early Trails Wagon Roads Railroads Automobiles Forest Service Trails Forest Service Trail Construction and Maintenance Forest Service Use of Pack Animals Forest Service Roads

Communications

Introduction Telephone Radio

Fire Detection and Suppression

Introduction Fire Behavior and History Early GLO and Forest Service Fire Policy 1910 Fires in the Northern Rockies Fire Detection Fire Suppression Cooperative Fire Efforts

Timber Harvesting

Introduction 1800s to 1905 Timber Trespasses Logging on Private Lands, 1905-1942 Railroad Ties Forest Service Logging, 1905-1942

General Swan Valley Middle Fork South Fork North Fork and North of Columbia Falls Logging During and Shortly After World War II Insect, Disease, and Windstorm Damage to Timber Logging in the 1950s Logging Methods Timber Cruising and Scaling Harvesting Skidding and Hauling River Drives Mechanization of Logging Logging Camps The IWW Strikes Multiple Use-Sustained Yield Act of 1960

Forest Homesteads

Introduction Forest Homestead Act of 1906 Stillwater Area Homesteads North Fork Homesteads Middle Fork Homesteads South Fork Homesteads Swan Valley Homesteads

Grazing and Other Commodities

Introduction Grazing in the Flathead Valley General Forest Service Grazing Grazing on the Flathead National Forest Other Commodities

Hunting, Fishing, Trapping, and Wildlife Managment

Introduction Hunting Fishing Trapping Forest Service Wildlife Management

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Era

Introduction CCC Blister Rust

Recreation and Wilderness Areas

Introduction General Recreation Recreation in the Lake McDonald Area Flathead National Forest Recreation up to World War II Downhill Skiing Flathead National Forest Recreation after World War II Creation of Primitive and Wilderness Areas Bob Marshall Wilderness Mission Mountains Jewel Basin

Conclusion

Timeline

Glossary

Bibliography

Index (omitted from the online edition)

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Map of Flathead National Forest and vicinity Figure 2. Fur trading posts in northwestern Montana and vicinity Figure 3. Locations of Native American tribes, ca. 1853 Figure 4. Fort Connah on the Flathead Indian Reservation, 1865 Figure 5. John Palliser Figure 6. Placing an international boundary marker Figure 7. Historic mining districts in northwestern Montana and vicinity Figure 8. Kintla oil well, 1904 Figure 9. Star Meadow mining district, showing locations of mines Figure 10. Nick Moon, ca. 1895 Figure 11. Post offices in the Flathead Valley area Figure 12. Towns that have had post offices in the Flathead Valley area Figure 13. Counties in western Montana: 1889, 1904, 1918, 1925 Figure 14. Street scene in Kalispell, ca. 1895 Figure 15. McCarthysville, 1918 Figure 16. Lewis & Clarke Forest Reserve boundaries in 1898 Figure 17. Flathead Forest Reserve boundaries in 1898 Figure 18. Supervisors of Flathead and Blackfeet National Forests, 1898 to present Figure 19. William Brennen, first supervisor of the Blackfeet National Forest Figure 20. Frank Liebig standing on rock cairn at Swiftcurrent Pass, 1906

Figure 21. Frank Geduhn at foot of Logging Lake, ca. 1907 Figure 22. Flathead and Blackfeet National Forest ranger districts ca. 1954 Figure 23. Cartoon drawn in 1930 Figure 24. Jack Clack wearing the packframe that he designed Figure 25. Winter camp near Calbick Creek, 1936 Figure 26. Echo Ranger Station, 1924 Figure 27. Flathead National Forest cartographic survey, 1960 Figure 28. Administrative sites on the Flathead National Forest Figure 29. Big Prairie Ranger Station, 1913 Figure 30. Elk Park packers' camp, ca. 1924 Figure 31. Drawing of Moran Ranger Station, ca. 1918 Figure 32. Construction at Spotted Bear Ranger Station, 1925 Figure 33. Big Prairie Ranger Station complex, ca. 1917 Figure 34. Big Prairie Ranger Station complex, 1990 Figure 35. Location of proposed Glacier View dam and reservoir Figure 36. Location of proposed Spruce Park dam, reservoir, and tunnel Figure 37. Map of reported Native American trails in Flathead Valley area Figure 38. Major roads and trails in Montana after 1850 Figure 39. Freighter on Fort Steele-Kalispell trail Figure 40. Mary Ann and State of Montana at Demersville, 1891 Figure 41. Map of Flathead County ca. 1905 Figure 42. Railroad routes in Montana, 1887, 1898, 1910 Figure 43. Primary roads and trails in Flathead National Forest area, 1898

Figure 44. Primary roads and trails in Flathead National Forest area, 1908 and 1912 Figure 45. Primary roads and trails in Flathead National Forest, 1928 and 1927 Figure 46. Fitting the abutment timbers on the Big Prairie bridge, 1922 Figure 47. Equipment for a five-man Forest Service trail crew in 1935 Figure 48. The Beatty trail grader Figure 49. Theodore W. (Toad) Paullin and a "short string," 1967 Figure 50. Toussaint Jones packing a hot water heater Figure 51. South Fork road near Upper Twin Creek, 1926 Figure 52. Trails and roads in the Trail Creek area, 1912 Figure 53. Trails and roads in the Trail Creek area, 1928 Figure 54. Trails and roads in the Trail Creek area, 1948 Figure 55. Trails and roads in the Trail Creek area, 1963 Figure 56. Fool Hen Bridge on North Fork Road (west side), 1953 Figure 57. Bulldozer working on Martin Creek access road, 1946 Figure 58. Harry Gisborne using a heliograph, 1915 Figure 59. Forest Service worker in the Spotted Bear Lookout Figure 60. Alidade stand and iron mine phone on Six Mile lookout, ca. 1920 Figure 61. Forest Service worker repairing telephone line, 1926 Figure 62. South Fork Road near Wounded Buck Creek, 1926 Figure 63. List of some of the major fires in the Flathead National Forest area Figure 64. Areas burned on the Blackfeet and Flathead National Forests, 1910 Figure 65. Areas burned by major fires on the Flathead National Forest, 1889-1949 Figure 66. Railroad speeder, 1921

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