The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

It's been more than a quarter of a century since the Blaine County Museum created a single post card picturing downtown Chinook. Blaine County Museum Director Jude Sheppard said, "The post card was so dated that I was embarrassed that one old card was all I had to offer visitors who were looking for post cards of the town." She got Steve Helmbrecht, of Helmbrecht Studios in Havre, to take five new shots of recognizable points around Chinook. The photo on the prior post card was taken downtown, on Indiana looking north, sometime in the early 1990's.

The five new scenes feature the Utah and Idaho Sugar factory and its iconic smokestack, the Chinook High School, a photo of downtown looking north on Indiana, the restored "Lady in the Glass" neon sign that graced the Elk Bar for many years and a view of the century old water tower that has the Sugarbeeter logo on it. The new post cards are fifty cents each and a few of the old post cards are still available, all at the museum.

Speaking of the old post cards, when I stopped the members of a coffee club who were picking up their mail, a group discussion set the date of the photo on the old post card as 1991 "or thereabouts." Russ Skones said "There's my old pickup in the picture." From that he was able to date the photo. Other locals recognized certain vehicles, both as to owners and model year. When shown the old post card, Maryanne Skoyen gasped and said, "That old station wagon belonged to my parents." Funny, I hadn't thought about station wagons in several years.

For a newcomer, like myself, the business signs displayed in the 1991 photo are of interest. On the west side of Indiana was Montana Power, which still existed as a utility company and had an office downtown where I believe the Chamber of Commerce is now located. On the east side of Indiana a drug store was in the same location as the current pharmacy. Hidden in the shadows to the near right is the sign for the Cozy Corner Café, a local hangout that burned sometime shortly after this photo was taken. The café was in the lot where Shore's Florist now has a sales area for outdoor plants.

Looking at the new post cards, one has to wonder, "What will this aspect of our town look like in another 25 years." There likely will be changes, as that is inevitable. But it's also likely that many of these landmarks, that distinguish Chinook, will still be standing and of interest to locals and tourists alike. I bought a couple of sets of the cards to have on hand because our visitors always ask, "Where can I get a t-shirt and some post cards to show I was in Chinook." (just so you can meet all the requests of your visitors, t-shirts are available at the Wildlife Museum and Shore's Floral).