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The Sanders County Ledger – January 9, 1992

From 30 Years Ago

Jobless Rate Posts Higher

The jobless rate for Sanders County mirrored the typical seasonal increase as weather and tourism saw reduced activity. For the month of November, the latest month of available statistics, the jobless rate increased to 14.1%, up from 12.4% in October. An additional 53 workers were seeking work while the number of employed workers dropped from 2,640 to 2,594.

Statewide, the jobless rate increased 1.2%, up from 6.2% in October to 7.4% in November. Neighboring Lincoln and Mineral counties also saw increases, with Lincoln rising from 12.2% to 13.4% while Mineral County climbed from 10.0% to 13.2%.

Sanders County improved in its ranking among the five highest counties, climbing from third highest to fourth while two new players, Park and Petroleum counties, entered the top five. Bighorn County led the state with a 15.1% jobless rate followed by Park (14.6%), Petroleum (14.4%), Sanders and Lincoln.

Lowest county jobless rates were found in Daniels (2.1%), Sheridan (2.4%), Liberty (2.6%), Garfield (3.1%), and Powder River (3.9%).

Statistically, Sanders County reported 3,021 workers in the labor force for November, with 2,594 workers employed and 427 seeking work.

Elk Meat Goes High

More than $3 a pound was paid for one lot of elk meat Saturday, at the annual sale of confiscated big game animals staged by the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Game Warden Mark Soderlind said the price compared favorably with prices paid in other areas such as Missoula and Kalispell.

While he didn’t divulge the name of the purchaser, he said the buyer bought one lot of elk meat, roughly one third of an animal for $190. He estimated the lot contained 60 pounds of meat.

All together the sale grossed $2,176.50, with buyers coming to Plains for the sale as far away as Ronan and Heron. Soderlind estimated 50 buyers were present and labeled the event a “real good turn-out.”

Twenty-four lots of meat were sold, with each lot comprising all of the meat that fit in a box from the butcher shop. He explained that as confiscated animals were butchered, cut and wrapped, the meat bundles were thrown into boxes and then each box constituted a “lot” at the sale.

The sale consisted of 7 elk, 4.5 deer and two rainbow trout. Soderlind said the two trout were confiscated Saturday morning between Plains and St. Regis by a warden traveling to the sale and each brought about $1.50.

The least expensive lot of big game meat was a box of deer meat that sold for $45, Soderlind said.

State Sets ‘Ready Date’ for TF-East Project

A highway improvement project to upgrade Montana Highway 200 from Thompson Falls to the bridge over Thompson River, about five miles east, could be completed late next fall according to Dan Bartsch, information officer with the Montana Department of Highways in Helena.

“Most likely,” said Bartsch, “the project will begin in the fall of 1992. But the reality of the situation is that the project must also be accompanied by an availability of funds.”

Bartsch indicated that funding should be adequate and he didn’t anticipate any undue delays in the project. He added that from the reports he has read, the federal funding bill that was supposed to have released money for highway projects all across the United States, may result in more money for Montana than expected.

He noted that because the ready date is near, an effort has already been initiated to arrange for funding of the project.

The project was originally scheduled for late 1991, a timeline which was announced about the time the Thompson Falls-West project was being completed. That project involved the reconstruction of Main Street in Thompson Falls, with new sidewalks, curb, gutter, street lights and pavement. Additionally, about five miles of Highway 200 were overlaid west of Thompson Falls.

That project was completed in the spring of 1992.