We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
Sorted by date Results 276 - 300 of 970
Columnist's note: This past July the old Whitlash School was sold by sealed bid. That concluded more than a century of providing elementary education to students in the Whitlash area. Students now attend school in Chester. The history of the school is one of many examples how the pioneers and subsequent generations adapted to deal with the needs in rural communities. The Whitlash School hung on longer than most pioneer schools. Locals devised ways to acquire physical space for the school and...
Columnist's note: Alert readers may recall the June, 2016 "Journal" story about the Fred Robinson Bridge and its dedication in 1959. The giant celebration drew an estimated 10,00-15,000 celebrants. At the end of 2016 story I wrote, "Here's one interesting but somewhat mysterious connection between the bridge and Blaine County. Both the "Harlem News" and the "Chinook Opinion" reported, "The first person to walk across the bridge after the log was cut (like a ribbon cutting) and the bridge officia...
Columnist's note: In early July I looked out a bedroom window and saw an empty flatbed truck go by our house pulling a trailer with a machine I recognized as one used for moving beehives. A few days later, along Whitlash Road, I saw a couple of groups of beehives that I was sure were not there earlier. I asked some local ranch families about the hives and they assured me I was not confused, the hives had just arrived. I'd never wondered about beehives in the Sweet Grass Hills. I talked to some...
Columnist's note: About 30 miles east of Missoula on MT Highway 200, while taking a couple of my grandsons back to the Seattle area, I saw the sign for the turnoff to 'Garnet Ghost Town.' I'd passed the turnoff many times. I told the kids, "Today we're going to the ghost town." 'Ghost town' got a positive response from the ten and twelve year old boys. Established in 1895 Garnet became a ghost town in the late 1940's when it lost most of its population and businesses. Renovation and...
Columnist's note: Writing about Grandview Cemetery, south of the Hills and north of Galata, I learned that Agnethe Forseth donated the two acres that became, for 90 years, a children's cemetery. Toni Brown Dafoe, a great granddaughter of Mrs. Forseth, recently brought me a notebook with 71 letters written by Mrs. Forseth and her two daughters. Toni's mother, Mrs. Jeannette Brown, told me the letters were translated by "a friend of Mrs. Forseth in Norway who was an English teacher." Agnethe...
Columnist's note: I recently took my vehicle for a recall notice to a dealership, the nearest being in Cut Bank. Beforehand the shop manager said, "Be prepared to spend the day." Like most folks from this area, I've driven through Cut Bank on US Highway 2 several times heading over to Kalispell or on west. My wife and I rode Amtrak to Cut Bank from Libby to a church meeting several years ago and spent a weekend there. It was the dead of winter so not a good time to be walking around. The day I t...
South of the Border, Column No. 25 Columnist's note: A camper from Cut Bank staying in the campground just west of Whitlash, told me several weeks ago, "If you are looking for an interesting story about this area, check out the Grandview Cemetery. Everyone buried there was less than five years old." Asking around I was given the name of Sharon Lerum as a contact for information. She's a ranch wife who lives just south of the cemetery and is the volunteer caretaker for the two-acre plot. We met...
Column No. 23 Recently I went back to Chinook to help in the Lions Club's pronto pup stand during the 2019 Blaine County Fair. I'm still a member of the club and proceeds from sales of pronto pups and cheesy fries support the community work of the club. They always need help during the fair. Pronto pups are the Lions' variation of a corn dog. Someone asked, "Do you know about the hot dogs you are cooking?" I'm a relative newcomer to the area so didn't know the history of the iconic wiener so...
Column No. 22 Columnist's note: The Corps of Discovery never reached the Sweet Grass Hills. But Captain Meriwether Lewis explored much of the Marias River in southern Liberty County and recorded observations about the Sweet Grass Hills. During the expedition's westward trip in 1805 and the return trip in 1806, Captain Lewis' explorations along the river helped answer critical questions during the trip. Lewis himself named the river in June, 1805, in honor of a cousin, Maria Wood. Understanding...
Column No. 21 Columnist's note: My wife and I have been in Whitlash just over six months. After 20+ columns related to the Sweet Grass Hills I decided to write about a couple of interesting stops we've made in Montana outside the Hills during the same period. On my bucket list to visit for some time, we finally stopped in the town of Fort Shaw to see where the 1904 "world champion girls' basketball team" was launched. Since reading "Full-Court Quest...," a 2004 book about the school and the...
Column No. 20 Columnist's note: With the onset of spring in the Sweet Grass Hills there's a profusion of wildflowers along the roads and in the fields. I've always had an interest in wildflowers and decided to do a column about wildflowers in my adopted home around Whitlash. I equipped myself with a couple of well-respected wildflower guide books, did some looking on the internet for resources to help me identify wildflowers and hooked up with Bob Thompson, a third generation rancher in the...
By Steve Edwards BCJ News Columnist's comment: Before we moved to the Sweet Grass Hills several people told me, "Be sure and visit that park in southern Alberta. I think it's near Whitlash" There'd be some finger-snapping as they tried to recall the park's name, then, "It's something about 'words on rocks' and it's really fascinating." Turns out they were talking about Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, less than an hour's drive from Whitlash. With summer now on us, my wife and I decided to spend...
South of the Border, Column No. 17 Columnist's note: Several weeks ago someone asked if I'd heard of the Sweet Grass Hills Family Camp. They explained several local people were involved and that two members of Whitlash Presbyterian Church, Jeanette and the late Irvin Brown, were the folks who initiated the family camp. The camp was a four-day event that brought families together to worship, recreate and fellowship in a casual setting. My wife and I attended a similar event in the mountains...
South of the Border, Column No. 16 Columnist's note: The topic for this week's column is from nearby Chester, a town my wife and I visit regularly for shopping. In Chester I noticed a large, brown building with a tiny sign over the door that reads "RNA Hall." I flashed back to childhood when my mom, grandma and aunt were all involved in a group called Royal Neighbors of America (RNA). I recalled being dragged to RNA meetings as a preschooler to watch the goings on at the "hall" above Hobson's...
South of the Border, Column No. 15 Columnist's note: My wife and I have lived in Whitlash since mid-December, 2018. Living only six miles from Canada our intent was to visit our northern neighbors as soon as practical. During the winter, still thinking about going to Canada, I decided I would walk there in the spring. In early May the weather finally cooperated and I "walked from Whitlash to a foreign country." Here's some of what I saw and learned about the area north of our new home and the...
Column No. 14 Columnist's note: A tractor sitting by a shed near the Whitlash Post Office drew my attention when we first moved to town. It was a Belarus, which sure sounded Russian to me. Some stickers and name plates on the tractor stated the tractor was built at a factory in Minsk, the capital city for Belarus. Belarus is an eastern European country once part of the old Soviet Union. Turns out the tractor is owned by Urban Kultgen and his son Dan. Between the two of them they own three of...
South of the Border, Column No. 13 Columnist's note: This was our first Easter in Whitlash and sunrise on this past Easter Sunday was pretty exciting. That got me thinking about a number of other interesting and stimulating Easter mornings that my wife and I have shared in the 23 prior places we've lived and celebrated the holy day. Before I share the story of Easter sunrise in Whitlash, here's brief account of a couple of other memorable Easter mornings. A freezing Easter morning on Bald Knob...
South of the Border, Column No. 12 Columnist's note: Recently Betty Ann Wolery, secretary for the Liberty County Cemetery Board, stopped me in the library in Chester and asked if I knew about the "English Boy" grave in the Whitlash Cemetery. I'd heard one story that told the English Boy was a sheepherder from England who died in a blizzard. I had never seen the grave. Betty Ann showed me the county cemetery register and a plat map of the grave sites in the Whitlash Cemetery. The first entry for...
South of the Border, Column No. 11 Columnist's note: I've had the privilege to live in many diverse locations over the years. A newcomer to an area has a unique opportunity to see a place with a 'new set of eyes.' Things and situations longtime residents may take for granted often stand out to the new arrival. Here are a few things I've found curious during the four months my wife and I have lived in Whitlash. In its basement the Whitlash Church has a cabinet full of sewing patterns During a...
Column No. 7 Columnist's note: Travelers headed north from Shelby on I-5 may have seen the 'standing elk' on the east side of the interstate just before the exit to Oilmont. The elk is in a slight depression on the edge of a grove of small trees (really the only trees next to the interstate for several miles). If travelers see the elk, the view is brief, especially at 80 mph. I first saw the elk when my wife and I were headed north to Whitlash from Shelby. About a 100 yards past the site of the...
South of the Border, Column No. 7 Columnist's note: Liberty Hall, the century-old community hall in Whitlash sitting atop a small rise, is one of the first buildings a traveler sees when approaching Whitlash in the Sweet Grass Hills. I've read several accounts of the history and role of the building in the community since the hall was completed in 1916. Nearly every version of the history of Liberty Hall recounts the many community events held there over the years and, particularly, the dances h...
Columnist's note: My wife and I moved to Whitlash in mid-December. Despite a mild start to winter, we saw little wildlife except a few sharp-tailed grouse wandering through the yard and occasional deer across the pasture. Then February hit and there was virtually no wildlife to be seen around our yard, basically we were surrounded by snow piles, drifts and blowing snow. I was really curious to see what sorts of wildlife I would see in the Sweet Grass Hills come spring. In mid March we...
Whitlash, Montana. Columnist’s note: In the narthex (entrance) of the Whitlash Presbyterian Church there is a ‘centennial quilt’ on display. The quilt commemorates the church’s hundredth anniversary celebrated in 2013 and is made of quilt blocks highlighting major milestones of the church—when the church was organized, when the present building was completed and other significant highpoints. One of the blocks (see accompanying photo) is a drawing of the church building with the year 1945 along the bottom and the “E Hanging M” brand at a to...
From Whitlash. For readers who missed it, Ground Hog Day was Saturday (February 2). That's the day the furry weather prognosticator gives an insight as to how much longer winter will last. Growing up in southern Illinois, where the woodchucks are widespread, my family made kind of a deal about the day. As kids we anticipated the day, hoping, "The ground hog doesn't see its shadow so spring will come soon." In our fifty plus years of marriage my wife and I have lived in seven different states,...
Dateline: Whitlash, Montana. In my first "South of the Border" column I wrote generally about the location of the Sweet Grass Hills (visible most days looking north from US Highway 2 from the Joplin/Chester area). More specifically the Hills are set in a line extending for about 50 miles east to west in a 10-15 mile wide band from north to south and adjacent to the national border. The various buttes/mountains/hills that make up the Sweet Grass Hills stand 3,000 feet above the surrounding...
