Sanders County Ledger - Your Best Source For Sanders County News

50 YEARS AGO • NOVEMBER 23, 1967

AWAKENED BEAR SURPRISES LOGGER

Rousing a big, hibernating black bear from its winter’s sleep was not exactly what Walt Dudley was expecting when he started to cut down a large spruce tree up the West Fork of Thompson River last week.

According to Jack Nichols, who was sawing nearby, Dudley reported he thought he saw something black at the bottom of the tree as he began sawing. And then when a big paw reached out within inches of his hand and touched the chainsaw, Walt knew he had seen something.

Dudley dropped his saw and ran as the bear came lumbering out of its den underneath the base of the tree.

Nichols said Dudley took off in one direction and the bear in the opposite – both running about as fast as they could.

FIRST DRIVER LICENSES COST 50¢

Excerpt from Looking Back, Reflections of Orin P. Kendall

Up until the middle 1930s Montana car license plates were numbered at one and continued on to the total number of plates issued in the state.

The prefix number on the license plates today was determined according to the population in each of the 56 counties as shown by the 1930 census and as a result Silver Bow County was assigned number one and Lincoln County drew 56.

The cost of the operation of the Highway Patrol was to be financed from the sale of driver licenses. At that time the head of the household could purchase a driver license good for a year for the sum of 50 cents and all other members of the family could obtain a license for 25 cents. This too has under gone a considerable change. No test of any kind was required. (My father, Jack Hagerman told me he went down to the courthouse with his father when he was 14 and got his driver license. He didn’t have to take a test, during his life he never let his license expire and consequently never took a driver test in his lifetime.)

I am sure that there is no record as to who made the first trip through Sanders County by automobile but I can imagine that the person who made it didn’t forget it for a long time.

What is now Highway 200 was at one time Montana 3 and later Alternate 10 but for many years it was just a series of roads connecting the towns. The highway roughly parallels the old Kootenai Trail used by the Salish Indians and the early trappers and traders for many years.

There is a very little of old Montana 3 that is a part of 200 today. At the risk of being tiresome I will describe the road as I remember it 55 years ago. Entering Montana and Sanders County from the north and west the road was on the south side of the Clark Fork River passing through Cabinet and Heron and on to Noxon. Prior to the construction of the Noxon bridge, the road went over the Tuscor hill to Tuscor, Larchwood and Trout Creek. There was a good graded and gravel road between Trout Creek and Whitepine.

Between Whitepine and Belknap much of the area was unfenced and roads generally just ran across country, but as fences were built roads pretty much followed straight lines. Leaving Whitepine the road went south for several miles before turning eastward to Belknap. When the N.P. Railway abandoned the highline the roadbed became a part of the highway. This was about 1930.

Prior to the building of the bridge at Birdland it was necessary to cross Prospect Creek and the two red bridges adjacent to Thompson Falls. Leaving Thompson Falls the road went through Woodlin Flat to a railway crossing about where the present crossing is today. One must remember that the highway bridge by the Rimrock Lodge wasn’t built until the 1950s. Highway 10A went toward Birdland Bay. If you look closely on the north side of the highway by the Blue Slide turnoff of Highway 200 you can still see the old pavement of Highway 10A.

It crossed Thompson River about a mile upstream from the present highway bridge and from there it went over a hill to the Eddy Flat. The road through Eddy Flat played tag with the railroad crossing and recrossing it many times.

Near Lynch Creek, the highway crossed the railroad tracks and entered Plains on the south side of the railroad. On entering Plains there was quite a surprise. Plains could boast of the only piece of concrete paving between Missoula and Sandpoint. Somebody must have had quite a pull with the higher ups. Many years ago the Portland Cement Co. in an effort to promote the use of cement for road construction built what they called the “Concrete Mile” in several parts of the country and it could be that this was how Plains got its paved street. After all these many years the pavement is in good condition. There was no highway bridge at Paradise so it was necessary to cross the river on the bridge near the Fairgrounds. A unique part of this road is the number of right angle turns in it. One of the hazards on the road to Dixon was the Perma curves. This section of the road was built with convict labor. Men were hung by ropes and chiseled the roadway out of a sheer rock cliff. Although the Perma curves were very crooked and narrow there never has been a serious accident on it but on the new improved road there was a fatal accident that claimed two lives.

Prior to the building of the Perma curves the only way to get to Plains from the east was to cross the river at Perma where a ferry was operated for many years. At low water it was possible to ford the river at that point.

Travel in the spring was difficult. Mud holes were a hazard to the tourist but sometimes profitable to those who lived nearby getting paid for pulling cars out of the mud.

One party complained about being tired all the time because he was busy during the day pulling cars out of the mud and at night he was busy putting water in the mud holes.