Sanders County Ledger - Your Best Source For Sanders County News

70 YEARS AGO • JULY 29, 1953

NEW FLOOR POURED

The concrete was poured Saturday for the floor of the new 4-H Club building at the Sanders County Fair grounds at Plains. The building is 24 feet by 54 feet. 4-H Club members will serve complete meals and soft drinks. Tables are now being built for the building. The outside of the building will be white asbestos siding with green trimming. This is expected to be complete in a week. This building is commonly known as the Pavilion at the fairgrounds. The old 4-H kitchen and dining room was directly west of the current building.

40 YEARS AGO • AUGUST 4, 1983

PAINTER, SCULPTOR MOVING TO FALLS

A soon-to-be local sculptor and painter, Craig Phillips, has received acceptance for his work at the Ace Powell Gallery at the Outlaw Inn in Kalispell.

After a recent showing of wildlife bronzes, oil paintings and drawings at the home of friends Paul and Linda Alexander in Thompson Falls, Phillips took his exhibit to Kalispell.

Phillips creates his sculptures in limited editions of 10, each one signed and numbered. His paintings are for sale at the Ace Powell Gallery in Kalispell and prints are available in Thompson Falls and Kalispell. His bronzes will be cast by a foundry in Kalispell.

Phillips, 30, and his wife, Linda, and sons, Justin, 3, and Cody, 2, have rented a home in Thompson Falls and will move here permanently from northern California in mid August.

ANGLER FINDS BODY

The body of Joe Genta was found in Thompson River Saturday afternoon by a Missoula fisherman, Tim Baker.

Sheriff James Doxtater said Genta’s body was lodged under a log and that Baker saw it when he stepped on the log while fishing. The Sanders County Search and Rescue was called to help retrieve the body from the water.

Genta disappeared into the river above the Champion Timberlands bridge May 23, 1982 when his pickup went out of control and plunged into the river on the upstream side of the bridge.

The pickup was recovered later.

The body was found about a half mile below the Champion bridge and about a quarter mile upstream from the Highway 200 bridge.

EDDY LOOKOUT GETS

FINISHING TOUCHES

After three long summers of spotting from a pile of rocks, hauling materials by hand, helicopter and mule, and living in a trailer, Eddy Peak lookout is finished.

The lookout project was the brain-child of Thompson Falls-Plains district fire control officer Fred Cavill. He began the project in 1981 when the old lookout became obsolete and it was decided that Eddy Peak would become one of the lookouts to be kept in operation in the reduced fire lookout program. The past several years the lookout building has been a small trailer parked on the last switchback on the Eddy Peak road.

Kurt French and Harold Caswell ramrodded the actual construction which was divided into three phases. In 1981 the pad was prepared, concrete poured for the foundation, and cinder blocks added for the basement.

The summer of 1982 witnessed most of the major construction right through painting of the exterior of the building. Finally this summer all of the finishing work on the inside was completed.

All of the materials were transported to the lookout by pickup or helicopter and then carried by hand or pack mule the quarter mile from the helispot to the lookout pad.

Eddy was chosen as one of the lookouts to be kept in operation because of the vastness of the area it oversees. One can look into the Superior, Ninemile, Cabinet and Plains-Thompson Falls districts. Its view stretches from the Missions to the Bitterroots, and to the Cabinets near Noxon. The past two summers Eddy has been the top lookout on the Lolo Forest for spotting fires.

The most significant changes from the old lookout are a new propane refrigerator, stove and heater. Allen Rodgers, the current lookout, added that having the basement for extra storage helped keep the lookout from becoming cluttered.

Coincidentally, Craig Phillips mentioned in the previous article is currently the lookout on Eddy Peak. He has manned the peak for many years. Pat’s Knob, located southeast of Plains, is the other manned lookout in Sanders County. It currently is manned by Kenneth Richardson.