Flathead County, Montana 1921
West of the main range of the Rocky
Mountains in almost the extreme northwestern corner of Montana,
and directly south of British Columbia, lies Flathead County. To
its northeast is the wild, beautiful and picturesque Glacier
National Park, with the Continental Divide forming its
southeastern border line, and in its southern central part are
found the Flathead and Mission ranges of mountains. Lincoln
County forms the greater part of its western border, its extreme
southwestern corner being flanked by Sanders County.
Magnificent, timbered mountain ranges, fine, fertile valleys,
over 300 lakes, several national forests and a part of the
former Flathead Indian reservation combine to make it one of the
most interesting of Montana's counties. Owing to its location
and its general topography, its early history is one of
absorbing interest, having been characterized by the labors of
the Catholic Missionaries among the mild and friendly Flathead
Indians; but that period of the history is covered in other
chapters of this work, and the present sketch will be confined
to more modern events.
Flathead is another one of the
counties of Montana decidedly irregular in shape. At its widest
point, east and west, it is sixty-five miles across, while its
greatest length, north and south, is approximately 101 miles,
and its land area is 6,109 square miles, making it one of the
larger counties of the state. The date of its creation was March
1, 1893, and its name is derived from the Flathead tribe of
Indians. Owing to the fact that a large part of the county is
mountainous, agriculture was somewhat slow in development and
the cultivable land is mostly rolling, the soil being a deep
sandy loam. There are about 150,000 acres of logged-off lands in
the county, which now raise all kinds of crops. It is estimated
that it costs $75 an acre to clear the lands, a large portion of
which is sub-irrigated. What is known as the Flathead project is
located in the counties of Flathead, Sanders and Missoula, and
is on the Pacific slope in the drainage area of the Flathead and
Jocko rivers on the former Flathead Indian reservation. The
irrigable area of the project is 134,500 acres, and of this
amount the Government Reclamation Service has works completed
for 98,000 acres.
The county is in the Flathead Basin,
drained by the Flathead River system, and domestic water is
obtained mostly from springs and wells, the latter being at an
average of forty feet. The principal crops are small grain,
wheat, oats, barley and rye. Alfalfa, clover and timothy do
exceptionally well and the acreage in these grasses is being
enlarged. Vegetables also thrive, and during the past year
potato growing has been launched on a large scale, there being
more than 2,000,000 acres devoted to the tuber. The hardier kind
of fruits and berries are successfully raised, although up to
the present apples have been the only fruit raised on a
commercial scale.
The mountains in Flathead County are
known to contain various kinds of minerals, but exploration and
development have not been carried far enough to determine their
possibilities. Aside from agriculture, horticulture and stock
raising, lumbering is the chief industry of the county, for
Flathead is one of the best timbered counties in the state.
There are 2,232,418 acres included in national forests, 200,000
acres in state timber land and more than 100,000 acres of timber
belonging to the Indians, in addition to which there are large
private holdings.
A number of flourishing and
progressive towns have been developed in the Flathead Basin. Big
Fork, on the shore of Flathead Lake, the largest fresh water
lake in the United States exclusive of the Great Lakes, is
twenty-three miles southeast of the county seat of Kalispell,
and is the location of the power plant of the Northern Idaho and
Montana Power Company. Another growing community, recently
established, is Chautauqua, four miles south of Somers, on the
west bank of the same lake. An important shipping point is
Poison, at the south end of Flathead Lake on the bank of the
Pend d'Oreille River. Under a project of the United States
Government Reclamation Service, this river is becoming a
decidedly important factor in the development of a great
agricultural region. Its falls are being developed by dam and
tunnel and water is being pumped from Flathead Lake over the
ridge south of the city where it is distributed over several
thousand acres. Naturally, Poison is able to secure adequate
power for its industries, which at present include flour and
sawmills, three grain elevators and a modern electric light and
water works. Steamboat service daily is maintained between that
point and Dayton, Somers and Big Fork. Poison also has three
banks, five hotels, a public library, a commercial club and four
churches. Somers, at the north end of Flathead Lake, is known
chiefly as a lumber shipping point. Whitefish, which was
incorporated in 1905, has a population of about 3,000, and is
chiefly noticeable as a division point and a lumber market.
Dayton and Rollins are also towns on Flathead Lake, with good
locations and fair prospects.
The Montana Soldiers' Home
Columbia Falls, at the junction of
the main line and the Flathead branch of the Great Northern
Railway, at the mouth of Bad Rock Canyon, and at the junction of
the north, south and middle forks of the Flathead River, fifteen
miles northeast of Kalispell, is a town of about 975 population.
It has considerable interests in lime, coal, lumber, farming and
grazing, and has two hotels, a commercial club, a weekly
newspaper and two churches.
Columbia Falls, however, is
principally of interest as the location of the Montana Soldiers'
Home. This home, which is a notable monument to the gratitude
and patriotism of the people of Montana, had its inception in
1895, and so rapidly were plans pushed through that on Memorial
Day, May 30, 1896, the cornerstone was laid by Governor J. E.
Rickards with appropriate ceremonies. A large crowd gathered
from the surrounding country, and the occasion was patriotic and
impressive. On August 4, 1896, Capt. J. R. Hillman was the
unanimous choice for commandant of the home, a post which he
retained until the fall of 1902 when he tendered his
resignation. Capt. H. S. Howell, who was elected in his stead,
died at the home September 11, 1911, and Capt. J. E. Sprague was
chosen to succeed him. He died May 14, 1920, and was succeeded
by Col. G. I. Reiche and John S. Axtell. The present officers
are: Simon Hauswirth, commandant; A. D. Thomas, adjutant; W. C.
Allison, M. D., surgeon; R. W. Nelson, chaplain. The board of
managers include: John O. Morton, president; Dr. A. T. Munro,
Judge James R. Goss and James M. Page, Grand Army of the
Republic members. The late secretary, Hon. Charles S. Warren, of
Butte, died April 13, 1921. At the time of the last report,
December 1, 1920, the home had 102 members, with thirty inmates.
The first application for membership in the Montana Soldiers'
Home was approved June 17, 1897, and since then over 500 members
have been enrolled, of whom forty served in the Spanish-American
War and three were Indian fighters during the years 1876-77 in
the Territory of Montana. Not only are old soldiers and sailors
admitted to membership, but their wives and widows as well. The
buildings now in use are the Main Building, already referred to;
the Administration Building, originally constructed for a
hospital; the Women's Building; the Hospital, and the Service
and Headquarters Building, which has been constructed recently
at a cost of nearly $20,000. These buildings are substantially
constructed of brick, stone and concrete, and are two stories in
height, with basement.
Flathead County is well supplied with
educational institutions and facilities, reflecting in this
direction the progressiveness of its people. All schools in the
county are graded, and there are county high schools at
Kalispell, Columbia Falls, Whitefish and Poison.
In the matter of population, the 1920
census figures show 21,705, against 18,785 for 19 10. Kalispell,
the county seat and largest town, dropped from 5,549 in 1910, to
5,147 in 1920.
First-class farm land in the county,
well improved, sells at $100 to $125 per acre, although
considerable farm land can be bought at $75 to $80 an acre, and
100,000 acres of cut over or stump land at $5 to $25 per acre.
Irrigated land, according to its location, is worth $200 to $300
an acre.
The main line of the Great Northern
traverses the county east and west and furnishes the only
transportation out of the county except over Flathead Lake to
the south, connecting with the Northern Pacific at Poison.
Steamboats operate between Somers, at the north end of Flathead
Lake, and Poison, at the southern end, which is the terminus of
a branch from the south of the Northern Pacific. The county has
more than 3,000 miles of highway. It is crossed by the National
Parks Highway, the Yellowstone-Glacier Park Bee Line Highway,
and has an automobile boulevard out of Kalispell around Flathead
Lake, 115 miles long, one of the most scenic roads in the
Northwest. There are automobile roads to the Glacier National
Park, Swan Lake, Whitefish Lake, Mc-Gregor Lake, Bitter Root
Lake, Stillwater Lake, Lake Ronan, Camas Hot Springs and
Thompson Lake, and hard-surfaced roads to Whitefish, Somers and
Big Fork. Magnificent scenery, excellent hunting and fishing and
boating are some of the attractions for tourists. More summer
homes have been erected on the shores of the various lakes in
Flathead County than in all other Montana counties combined.
Many wealthy people from the East have been so charmed by the
scenery that they have built permanent summer homes. The winters
of the county are milder than those of Iowa or Kansas, while the
annual rainfall is approximately eighteen inches, and the annual
wind velocity is only 4.8 miles per hour, the lowest of any
place in the United States except one.
Kalispell
Kalispell, the county seat of
Flathead County, is a city of three wards, and was incorporated
in April, 1902. It is a thriving community, with three banking
institutions, the oldest of which is the First National Bank,
which was founded in 1891. It maintains four newspapers and
eleven churches, and its industries are of sufficient importance
to warrant the presence of four labor unions. Its Chamber of
Commerce, of which P. N. Bernard is secretary, is a live
organization which has done much to promote the city's welfare.
Among other public buildings is a well-equipped Carnegie
library. In its connection with the outside world, Kalispell has
the facilities of the Great Northern Railway, as well as four
stage lines, including the Kalispell, Kila & Pleasant Valley,
the Kalispell & Somers, the Kalispell, Holt & Big Fork and the
Kalispell & Whitefish. Motor bus service is maintained to Big
Fork and Swan Lake, and there are several automobile and boat
lines. Its special delivery service to all points in the country
was established in October, 1886. That its people are sociable
by inclination is shown in the fact that there are twenty-two
secret and benevolent lodges having membership at the county
seat. In the way of educational advantages, the youth of the
city are granted excellent advantages, there being a free county
high school with an enrollment of 700 pupils, as well as the
Central, North Side and West Side graded schools.
The oldest residents of Kalispell
include: D. R. Peeler, president of the Bank of Commerce; H. C.
Keith, president of the First National Bank; C. D. Conrad,
president of the Conrad National Bank; James Ford, Andrew Swaney,
John Foy, Mrs. J. A. Kimerley, C. O. Ingals, George F. Stannard,
August Lagoni and Richard Greig, all of Kalispell; and J. E.
Lewis, now of Columbia Falls.
Montana Counties 1921
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Montana AHGP

Source: Montana its Story and Biography,
by Tom Strout, Volume 1, The American Historical Society, 1921
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