MEMORIES OF WHITEPINE

(Excerpt from Crosscuts and Rails)

By Helen Haase

My mother, sister, and I arrived in White Pine late on the night of October 1, 1905. Notice the name – it was the original name given by the Northern Pacific Railroad and was on the depot and on early maps. Later the Post Office Department combined the words, and it has been Whitepine, Montana since.

My father had been here several months prior to our arrival, and I recall that that first winter we lived in the cookhouse of an abandoned sawmill located on Big Beaver Creek near the present Jimme Wilson ranch and the Ernie Cox home.

Our nearest neighbor lived on the Wilson place. I don’t remember their name, but the mother used to roam the little valley with a bucket and shovel gathering dried cow dung to use as fuel. She was always dressed in a long calico wrapping called a Mother Hubbard, and a bonnet.

My older sister attended school during the winter at the Little Beaver Creek school, and Judge Nippert of Thompson Falls was her teacher. I remember attending a school program at the school.

In 1906, my father, Christ Sand, and his cousin Andrew Sand filed adjoining homesteads. Ours was the present Robbins farm, and Andrew Sand’s is the present Michalson place.

Father built a two room house of hewn logs, and during the summer we moved in.

My older sister and I attended school in the east room of the railroad section house for two months. At that time Emma Ochsner was our teacher, but later Mrs. Walter McCurdy of Thompson Falls taught there.

Jim Adams operated the store and post office located just west of the present Lloyd Austin home. The next year we attended school in a one room bunkhouse west of his store. I recall that our seats were double. The student body was a mixture of small children and practically grown, young men who didn’t have much interest in school. They led the teachers a merry chase when they attended. Part of the time they would come in the morning, hang around the depot all day, and go home when four o’clock came. The following year we continued to attend school in the bunkhouse, but the large boys had quit coming. At this point I must mention John Eley, of all the big boys he was the kindest. He was always pulling us around on sleds in the winter and generally looking after us.

In 1909, the school building that later became the teacherage was built on the north side of the railroad in back of the section house. It was not quite ready by September 1 so that month classes were held in a log cabin on the Christ Sand homestead. Early teachers included Mildren Bunn, Amy Shelliday, Mary Helterline, Edna Harris, and Ruth Lundgren. I believe the last school with its three rooms was completed in 1919. At first, they held two years of high school in the room that was later converted to a kitchen and lunchroom. We have been proud of our schools, and several Whitepine students have been selected Valedictorian at the Thompson Falls High School.

In the 1890s there was a sawmill in the valley back of the old ball diamond north of the church. A spur line ran from the railroad to this mill and for many years the remnants of ties could be seen crossing the school yard and running west of the ball diamond. A Wye was built south of the main tracks in front of the section house and ran over to a tramway near the well. It was used for loading lumber.

In the 30’s the highway was constructed from Belknap to Trout Creek using the old railroad bed as a base. For quite a few years we had one of the best stretches of highway in the state.

In 1907, Mr. and Mrs. Pat Whalen purchased the general store, and Anna C. Whalen became postmaster. Around 1912, two bachelors, Laird and Dawson, built a grocery store where the present Grange building now stands. They were there a couple of years, and later the property was sold to Mrs. Frank Winn. She and her son, Elon, lived there but did not operate a store.

In 1914, Mr. and Mrs. John Wagner built and operated the store on the north side of the railroad. The building still stands. When Mr. Wagner died Anna Sand worked and cred for the store and children while Mrs. Wagner took a refresher course at college.

In 1926, Anna C. Sand and Ernest Brown purchased the store. After a couple of years, Brown left the business and Mrs. Sand became sole owner. In the mid-twenties the old store on the south burned in the early morning. Mrs. Whalen moved the post office and her family into the depot. She had been having difficulty with the Postal Department, and in 1928 an inspector visited Mrs. Sand’s store and said, “Would you like to have the post office?”

Mrs. Sand replied that she was not equipped to handle it, but he replied, “You’ve got it.”

Presently he came with all the books and supplies; dumping them on the floor in the rear of the store. The little office addition was hurriedly built on the side of the store and Anna Sand became the postmistress – a position she held until her death in January, 1944.

Continued next week