50 YEARS AGO • MARCH 7, 1968

LUMBER $5.5 MILLION INDUSTRY IN SANDERS COUNTY

During 1967 nearly $5.5 million was contributed to the economy of Sanders County by the forest industry represented by the Flodin Lumber and Manufacturing Co., the Thompson Falls Lumber Co., the Diehl Lumber Co. and the Clark Fork Logging Co., Forrest Dobson, CFL general manager, reported this week.

The three mills have 275 permanent employees and a total annual payroll of $1,873,515. They have operated continuously on a 12-month basis for many years now and are continually expanding and modernizing their operations.

The Clark Fork Logging Co. is jointly owned by the three sawmills. Personnel involved in the direct operation of CFL are Eric Bryce, president; Arden Davis, vice president; Edwin L. Diehl, secretary-treasurer; Dobson, general manager; Walter Shear, logging manager and K.C. Zimmerman, accountant.

CFL logged 59.7 million board feet of logs from Forest Service lands during 1967, a decrease of about seven million feet from the previous year’s cut. Dobson said this drop in volume can be attributed to the restricted logging during the severe fire season last summer.

The U.S. Forest Service was paid $864,594 for the stumpage purchased by CFL. In addition, $258,000 worth of main roads were constructed by logging contractors on various sales as required by the F.S. contracts. These roads add to the recreation and other multiple uses of national forest lands, Dobson pointed out.

Logging contractors employed by CFL in 1967 included Oliver and Oliver, Thompson Falls; Hulquist Brothers, Clifford Terry, M. & I. Timber Co., all of Plains; Stobie, Inc., Thompson Falls; S & S Logging Co., Kalispell; Sverdsten Logging Co., Cataldo, Ida .; Russell Oliver, Sandpoint. The logging payroll for CFL amounted to $1,621,211, the major portion of which was paid to Sanders County logging contractors employing local men.

In addition to the logs purchased from and through the Clark Fork Logging Co., the three mills also purchased logs from other sources to complete their requirements. These sources included farmer logs, small F.S. sales, Indian Agency sales and private timber company sales. The value of these logs amounted to $795,292.

Supplies and services amounting to thousands of dollars are purchased annually in the operation of the three mills, by logging contractors and the independent truck haulers. No estimate of these amounts has been made, Dobson said.

35-MINUTE BATTLE

It took Wally Talsma 35 minutes to land a bull trout at the mouth of Thompson River last week. The lunker weighed 8½ pounds and measured 27 inches. Wally caught the trout on a flatfish and was using a five-pound test line.

WILD HORSES OF THE TOONACHGHAES

Told by: Duncan McDonald to Will Cave

“My authority for the following story was Duncan McDonald, whose fund of Indian lore was inexhaustible.

“Before the white man set foot on land that was to become the state of Montana, a powerful tribe of Indians known as the Toonachghaes had their headquarters at the mouth of Rebate (Revais) Creek, about three or four miles west of Dixon. I won’t vouch for the correctness of the spelling of the name, as I had it only by word of mouth, but it was pronounced To nak is.

“Late in the 18thh century, possibly about 1782, an epidemic spread rapidly through the tribe. The disease was so deadly that at its cessation the Toonachghaes, once 3,000 strong, were practically wiped out. The few survivors scattered among the neighboring tribes, the Blackfeet, Kootenais, Crows, Nez Perces, and Selish, the greatest number with the last named.

“Before the epidemic laid low the tribe, they had accumulated many horses. But while the masters were ill and dying, these horses wandered without curb, and became wild. The bands increased in number, and when the white man came to western Montana, he found many of them as wild and swift as deer. Prairie du Chevaux, or Horse Plains, was named for them.”