Remember When?

80 YEARS AGO • APRIL 22, 1943

BRIDGES WASHED OUT

High water reports are coming in all the time now. A bridge washed out here, there and someplace else. The second Prospect Creek bridge was washed out and Commissioner Sutherland had a crew last week working on it. All over this section bridge washouts and flooding conditions are being experienced. There is worry over the cable on the St. Regis Ferry. Real high water isn’t here yet even though crews are guarding the boom even now. It is estimated that at crest this year the high waters will exceed that at Niagara. All indications are pointing to record high waters.

70 YEARS AGO • MAY 5, 1953

GAME VIOLATIONS

John Kelly, Plains was arrested Monday morning on a charge of perjury arising out of his trial in district court last week for a game violation. His bail was set at $3,000.

H.P. Van Pelt, Missoula, was found guilty in district court last Tuesday on a charge of unlawfully loaning his big game tag to others. The verdict, which assessed the penalty of a fine of $250 was returned after a little over 2 hours deliberation by the jury.

In the second case completed on the same day, a jury brought in a verdict of not guilty on another game violation. The defendants, Jak Hermiston and H.C. Becker, both of Paradise, had also been charged with unlawful use of big game tags.

The trial of W.A. Hermiston, Jr. and Sam Palmer, both of Paradise, was held last Wednesday. They were charged with unlawfully hunting and killing six elk. W.A. Hermiston, Jr. was found guilty by the jury, while a motion to dismiss Palmer’s case for lack of evidence was granted.

40 YEARS AGO • APRIL 21, 1983

FORMER JAIL RESIDENT NOTES 100TH BIRTHDAY

Isabella Mathers Anderson joined the list of the centurians April 5 when she celebrated the occasion with friends and family members at a party.

She was born in Ogden, Utah April 5, 1883 and was only a year old when she rode with her mother, brother and sister on one of the early trains to Thompson Falls, Montana in 1884.

Her father had arrived earlier by pack train. When Isabella’s younger sister was born, she reportedly became the first white child to be born in Missoula County.

Isabella Mathers and Andrew Anderson were married in 1902. They lived in what Isabella terms the “jail house” in Thompson Falls at a time when her husband was undersheriff there and she served as a cook. The old building has now been converted to a museum.

Andrew Anderson’s other duties involved working as a deputy game warden and as a justice of the peace who presided during wedding ceremonies.

Isbella moved to Missoula after she was widowed in 1940, and moved to the nursing home in 1980.

Andy Anderson was born March 18, 1874 in Wisconsin the son of immigrants from Norway. Andrew arrived here in Sanders County (then known as Missoula County) about 1897. The Sanders County Ledger, August 2, 1907 - Andy Aderson came down from Thompson River on Tuesday, where he and his brother-in-law, William Mathers are driving a tunnel on the Buckeye claims, to meet his wife and family upon their arrival from Missoula. They will remain for the remainder of the season and will live at the camp on Thompson River.

At one time, Isabelle noted, the Silver King in the late 1800s employed 25 to 30 men. The ore from the mine was placed in bags and then sent down a wooden chute where they were dumped and the bags sent back up to be filled once again. At every level there would be this chute for the ore to be taken out

The Sanders County Ledger, December 2, 1910 - The Ledger has it from a very reliable source that Andy Anderson of Thompson will succeed Len E. Smith as jailor on January 1 when the new sheriff takes possession of the office.

He moved his family into the county jail building in 1911 so that he was more convenient in his work as jailer. In 1913 the Polk Directory has him listed as Undersheriff. and the 1913 City minutes noted that Andy was Mayor of Thompson Falls. He also had several silver mines, one across from the Copper King up Thompson Falls.

The 1917-1918 Polk Directory has Andrew as a laborer for the Thompson Falls Power Co. He became a fish and game warden in 1919. Andy was noted again as Mayor of Thompson Falls August 6, 1928. May 16, 1934 A.L. Anderson was appointed Justice of the Peace of Thompson Township. On June 4, 1934 Anderson resigned as Mayor. Under the law he could not remain mayor and still hold his Justice of the Peace appointment.

Andy died at his home Sunday, September 3, 1939 and was buried in the Thompson Falls Fraternal cemetery.