THOMPSON FALLS

(County seat of Sanders County)

Taken from Cry of the Homestead

by Wavie Charlton, 1976

Thompson Falls is a small town but a most important one. It is the “helm and the hub” of Sanders County, being the location of the county seat.

The town is located in a rather small valley in the west end of the county. It is beautified by the nearness of the Clark Fork River flowing serenely by. On either side the little community is somewhat walled in by rather high, forested mountains. It is perhaps one of the most scenic small towns in western Montana.

In some respects, her citizens are to be envied. Thompson Falls can never become a city with a large populace. It can never enlarge to any great degree due to the size of the valley floor and the steep, high-rising mountain walls. The town can always be assured of retaining its privacy.

When Sanders County was formed (1905), there was quite a hassle as to where the county seat should be located. Both Plains and Thompson Falls considered their respective town to be the ideal site for this most important seat. After many heated arguments, debates, meetings and maneuverings, Thompson Falls came out the victor.

After the heat of the battle was over and the decision made, the citizens of the county apparently accepted the outcome in good spirit.

Today, Thompson Falls indeed seems the proper and fitting place for the county seat. One has the feeling it belongs in this sedate and dignified little town, nor can one conceive of it being located elsewhere in the county.

Thompson Falls and surrounding areas are rich in early day history. Some historical facts pertinent to that particular locale are known. However, there is still much research necessary in order to fill in missing data; pieces of information to make the picture complete, much as one might fit together a jigsaw puzzle which is not complete if even one piece is missing.

It is a well-known, historical fact that English born (1770) David Thompson; adventurer, fur trapper, trader, explorer and surveyor, traveled throughout the northwest. Leaving for posterity a plain trail here; a hazy one there. Historians do know that in 1809 he built his Saleesh House, a fur trading post, in the vicinity of Thompson Falls.

Thus it is, that a visitor to the Falls, can sometimes feel the shadow of the past linked to the present, as ever it must be. For without the past there would be no present.

David Thompson left his mark upon the northwest; time has not obliterated it, only masked some of the facts. Thompson Falls is all the richer for him having left his stamp upon that area.

The Falls people are friendly, industrious; a closely interwoven community; a place where a man knows his neighbors – and is a neighbor. Perhaps the residents live by the old adage of, “To have a good neighbor, you must first be one.”

If one wishes to see a most scenic residential area as well as obtaining an overlooking view of the town and surrounding country, then tour the benchland to the right and above the town as you enter from the east. Much of it is a natural, wooded beauty with homes tucked in, here and there.

Many visitors drive right through Thompson Falls, neither seeing nor realizing what they are missing in the beauty of the country to either side. A power dam in the river creates an added attraction for the town and also supplies needed energy.

There are excellent accommodations to be had in the Falls, and something else – something which a visitor finds most refreshing, a relaxed atmosphere, a bit slower pace, an almost priceless characteristic of the small town, a quality which the big city, with it’s ever increasing tempo, no longer possesses.