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SEELEY LAKE – The phrase “bury the hatchet” means to cease hostilities and make amends. Not surprisingly, the origin of the phrase comes from Native Americans, who literally did bury hatchets. Doubtless such ceremonies were performed before Europeans landed on the North American continent but the earliest recorded account, dated 1680, comes from Samuel Sewell a judge, businessman and printer in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He documents how trouble between the colonials and the Native American tribes was settled by Major Pynchon and the c...
SEELEY LAKE – The red-roofed complex of buildings straddling both sides of the south end of Salmon Lake form a familiar landmark on entering the Seeley Valley. They've been there since 1915 and have accumulated a long history and generated a number of legendary stories. On Jan. 19, the Seeley Lake Historical Society sponsored a guided tour of the grounds, filling in some of the history and offering some stories for the approximately 20 attendees to ponder. Ron Cox from the Historical Society l...
SWAN VALLEY – Edward and Heidi Klassen met and began a relationship aboard the USS John Stennis. Both ended up serving 20 years in the U.S. Navy and ultimately getting married. But maintaining a relationship while both partners were in the service was not easy. It was even more complicated with children involved. Edward, who had three daughters from a first marriage and later one son and a daughter with Heidi said, "The hardest part about going on deployments is you have to find arrangements f...
GREENOUGH - The Reception Barn at Paws Up Resort was the site of Sunset School's Dec. 19 holiday play, "A Little Elfin Magic." Dressed in Christmassy reds and greens, all 13 students, from kindergarten to seventh grade, played elfin parts. The central dilemma of the play is that the toy-making elves have not awoken in time to make all the toys needed for Santa's delivery. Though blaming and complaining initially, eventually the elves all decide to give up the toys they hoped to get for...
Each holiday season the Pathfinder reports on a different holiday tradition. In conjunction with that, reporters ask a specific question of people who happen to be out engaging in holiday activities. This year's Holiday Traditions question is: Do you use special candles and/or decorate with lights at your house for the holidays? If so, why? The Posthumuses who live near Clearwater Junction have candles in the house windows all year round. The windowpanes facing Highway 83 form a large pyramid...
Part I, "Candles and Festivals of Light," recounted Christian, Jewish, Hindu and African-American winter festivals formulated around the theme of light conquering darkness. Those celebrations transcend national boundaries. Part II will look at celebrations involving light and candles but carried out on a smaller, more national or regional scale. One candle ceremony performed in churches, but also by many Christians in their homes, is the lighting of the Advent Wreath. Though the symbolism of Chr...
Candles brighten many occasions, but they are most prominent and most infused with meaning during the winter holidays. Among others, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism and Kwanzaa use candles and lamps in their holiday celebrations. Yule, deriving from old Norse "jól" and Old English "géohol" began as a celebration of the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year. Archeologists have discovered that the sun shining through the upright lentils of England's Stonehenge signaled a...
SEELEY LAKE – Sunday, Dec. 15 marked 25 years that Jack and Belinda Rich have shown their appreciation to the community by inviting everyone to their ranch for a day of winter fun. More than 125 people came this year. Rich is quick to point out that he is carrying on the tradition started 62 years ago by his father C.B. Rich, who strongly felt the need to thank the community for their support and friendship. In the early days, the community came together in downtown Seeley Lake to celebrate t...
SEELEY LAKE – School is well underway now and beginning readers are being initiated into the magic lying dormant in the 26 letters of the alphabet. They are learning the magic spells that reveal which letters when placed next to which other letters yield words and then sentences and eventually whole stories. But to young learners, there may seem to be twice as many letters as the teacher says there are. The teacher gives the same name to two very different squiggles and calls one upper case a...
SEELEY LAKE – A packed crowd assembled at the Double Arrow Lodge Dec. 8 to hear the Seeley-Swan Mountain Bells ring in the 2019 Christmas season. Under the title "Step Into A Christmas Card," the members of the bell choir presented a selection of familiar carols specially arranged for handbells. Again this year the ringers have added new skills to their repertoire allowing them to play increasingly complex arrangements. Using both chimes and bells, the ringers coaxed an astounding number of m...
Each holiday season the Pathfinder reports on a different holiday tradition. In conjunction with that, reporters ask a specific question of people who happen to be out engaging in holiday activities. This year's Holiday Traditions question is Do you use special candles and/or decorate with lights at your house for the holidays? If so, why? Betty Dustin of Condon said, "I use little white lights on my house all year long just because I like the ambiance of that. I do use candles inside, but...
SWAN VALLEY - An appreciative audience gave a standing ovation to the Chinook Winds Quintet at the conclusion of their Nov. 11 concert at Swan Valley School. But the quintet's mission was only half fulfilled. They spent the next two days giving performances and instructions to the children in the Seeley, Swan and Potomac schools. For the Quintet, bringing music to students in Montana's rural schools is equally as important as performing for the adult communities. All five members of the Chinook...
SEELEY LAKE – A random incident propelled Seeley Lake resident Lynne Jungers into the Women's Army Corps (WAC). She was still in high school in Eastern Kentucky when she happened to see a WAC walk by. Jungers stopped her to tell her how much she admired seeing her in uniform. Jungers said, "I didn't even know her name. I just knew she was from my hometown." And the woman said, "You know, you could do the same thing." Jungers decided that was exactly what she was going to do as soon as she got o...
SEELEY LAKE – "When it first started, I thought it would be just a little Seeley Lake and Condon thing," Chris Jewett said about Alpine Artisans' Tour of the Arts, which took place Oct. 12-13. "I never thought it would grow as big as it has. Every year more and more people come. It's an exciting thing." Jewett said the idea of having a fundraiser that consisted of visiting artist Open Houses was conceived 16 years ago by then AAI president Joyce Bissell. Bissell promptly delegated Jewett to t...
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake resident Norman Sindelar joined the U.S. Navy in 1962. Though he never actually served aboard a naval vessel, he sees his four years of service as a series of great opportunities. When Sindelar reported to the Military Entrance Processing Station in Butte on Jan. 2, the temperature was minus 42 degrees, without factoring in windchill. During the next two days he passed beyond the Montana state line for the first time, took his first train ride and reported for boot c...
SWAN VALLEY – Kathy Kinzfogl, better known as Littlebird, thinks of it as eco-homesteading. Her partner Brian Parks thinks more in terms of permaculture. By whatever name, it means a style of living which endeavors not to dominate its surroundings but rather to let the area itself guide the way. Meeting as many of their needs as possible by utilizing the resources available close to their home in the Swan Valley is a lifestyle Littlebird and Parks choose to follow. Parks said, "We're h...
SWAN VALLEY – Tom Parker was the final speaker at the Aug. 3 Upper Swan Valley Historical Society (USVHS) program Guides and Outfitters of the Swan Valley. His talk was punctuated by comments from old-time outfitter Leonard Moore. Parker said he was 21 years old when he decided he wanted to be an outfitter. He was living in the Bitterroot area at the time. A hunting trip into the Bob Marshall Wilderness with his own horses and mules confirmed his career decision. He moved to the Swan Valley t...
MISSOULA – Annick Smith was the featured speaker for the Alpine Artisans fundraiser dinner that formed part of the 2019 three-day "In the Footsteps of Norman Maclean" festival. In introducing Smith, Michael Cropper referred to her as "the girl next door." For although writer-filmmaker Smith has gained a national reputation and garnered numerous accolades for her various projects and publications, those who live in the wider Missoula area admit to a certain possessiveness toward the woman who l...
OVANDO – For 15 years, the Blackfoot Challenge and its partners have released fledgling trumpeter swans into the Blackfoot Watershed in a program aimed at restoring the swans to their native habitat. Next year could be the last year that happens. The goal was to get seven pairs of released trumpeter swans to return to the area, create a nest, produce eggs, raise their young and repeat the cycle for two consecutive years. According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Montana State Coordinator G...
SWAN VALLEY – Though he is not an outfitter himself (he works for Tom Parker's Buck Creek Guide Service), Rod Boothby was invited to be one of the speakers at the Aug. 3 Upper Swan Valley Historical Society program heralding the Guides and Outfitters of the Swan Valley. Boothby said, "I've been packin' horses and mules for about 35 years. Really, the only reason we do this, we really do it for the fun. We don't do it for the money, that's for sure." Boothby told two stories about mules and, s...
SEELEY LAKE – Lloyd Hahn was not present at the Aug. 3 Upper Swan Valley Historical Society (USVHS) program, Outfitters and Guides in the Swan Valley. Nevertheless, his reputation as a long-time outfitter earned him a place. Ellie Greenough, who had previously conducted an extensive interview with him for USVHS, recounted a few of his stories. Greenough related how Hahn wound up in Montana. She said he was living in Wisconsin but had done some hunting in Idaho. In 1975 he decided he wanted to m...
SEELEY LAKE – Jim Goudzwaard was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1969. Though he only served a year-and-a-half, and things never went quite the way he expected, he packed a lot of sights and experiences into that short time. Prior to being drafted, Goudzwaard worked in a hospital, first as an orderly, then in the emergency room. It seemed logical then that after basic training he was sent to Ft. Sam Houston for medical training. He was assigned to the 32nd Surgical unit, one of the last Medical A...
SWAN VALLEY – At the Aug. 3 Upper Swan Valley Historical Society (USVHS) program "Outfitters and Guides" in the Swan Valley, Pat Tabor told about his outfitting days. He almost got side-tracked on cook stories. Tabor said, "I could write a book just on cooks alone, because cooks are a very special breed of individuals." Rich Nelson, another of the program's speakers, told the cook's side of the story. The 88-year-old Nelson said he used to cook for General Warren Aken. As Nelson tells it, "...
SWAN VALLEY – Pat Tabor called himself "the new kid on the block" when he took his turn to talk at the Outfitters and Guides in Swan Valley program at the Upper Swan Valley Historical Society (USVHS) Aug. 3. Unlike some of the old timers who spoke, Tabor didn't start outfitting until 2004 and then he took over an already existing operation called Lion Creek Outfitters from Cecil Noble. Tabor told the story of how Noble got started in 1973: "Cecil did something no one had ever done before. He w...
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake resident Sam Arroyo has been chosen as the new 2 Valleys Stage (2VS) Director after Kirsten McGlynn accepted a position with the Missoula Symphony Orchestra. Arroyo looks forward to continuing the 2VS tradition of bringing quality performers to the area communities and schools. The daughter of Cheryl and Gary Lewis, Arroyo grew up in Seeley Lake. She learned community commitment from her parents who have been actively involved in Lion's Club and other Seeley Lake o...
