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SEELEY LAKE – Chris La Tray's website identifies him as a Métis writer and storyteller but publication of his "One-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays from the World at Large" projected him into the limelight as a poet. La Tray was the guest speaker for Alpine Artisans' third virtual Open Book Club April 10, attended by approximately 50-55 people. Along with reading from "One-Sentence Journal," he also read two as yet unpublished poems "Super Blue" and "Comet" and an essay entitled "B...
SEELEY LAKE – Approximately 34 people Zoomed in for Alpine Artisans' March 20 Open Book Club reading and discussion featuring Gwen Florio. Florio read from her latest book "Best Laid Plans," which begins a new crime mystery series. She also spoke about her other books and discussed her writing methods. Fellow writer Richard Fifield introduced Florio to the attendees, calling himself a huge fan of hers not only in her role of novelist but also as a journalist. Florio's 40-year journalism c...
SEELEY LAKE – One of the Alpine Artisans'(AAI) programs formerly on COVID-19 hiatus Zoom-ed back to life March 6. The first Zoom Open Book Club event featured critically acclaimed author Russell Rowland with his newest book "Cold Country." Pre-COVID, Grizzly Claw Trading Company provided the venue for area residents to gather and listen to authors read from their latest works and respond to audience questions. While the Zoom format may have dampened what many author guests have described as t...
SEELEY LAKE – In 1965 Jeff Wisehart moved from New Mexico to San Jose, California, where he lived with his sister while attending West Valley College. He said California at that time was beautiful, though he was a bit disappointed to discover there were not 10 girls for every guy, as his buddies had assured him. But it didn't matter whether he was happy with the move or not, the Vietnam draft caught up with him. At the induction center in Oakland, California, Wisehart was asked "Army or N...
It used to be said Eskimos had 100 different words for snow. Now the word "Eskimo" is largely considered a pejorative term and has been replaced by Alaskan Native. With that change comes the understanding that there is no one "Eskimo" language, so the claim of 100 different words in it is a non-issue. But there is no need to look to foreign languages to find multiple names for snow. According to the Farmers' Almanac, English itself has at least 40 different terms for that cold, white,...
SWAN VALLEY – Turning 18 in 1966, the height of the Vietnam War, Ray Haera figured he had the choice of getting drafted or voluntarily joining the military. He figured he had more options if he took the voluntary route. Though his father had served in the Navy in World War II and his older brother was also in the Navy, Haera was not sure he wanted to go that route. On the other hand, Haera said, "Everybody I knew was getting drafted. I had so many friends in the Army and the Marines who had a...
One of the devastating side effects of COVID-19 is that many people have been forced to rely on food banks to help them "make ends meet." But exactly what ends are supposed to meet? Where does that saying come from? The first recorded mention of the phrase dates to a 1662 book by Thomas Fuller called "The History of the Worthies of England" (i.e., worthy men). Published posthumously, the book was the first attempt at a dictionary of national biographies. Though Fuller was studious about...
Historical purists might claim the first Christmas card was the elaborately decorated, 33 inch by 24 inch three-panel manuscript given to King James I of England (aka King James IV of Scotland) in 1611. The center panel contained a rose with a Christmas and New Year greeting around it, while the side panels had four poems and a song. Among non-purists, Sir Henry Cole is more commonly accepted as the originator of the Christmas card in 1843. According to the standards of Victorian England, it...
CONDON – When Mike Williams was two years old, his family moved to Condon and his father went to work at the sawmill at Gordon Ranch. Mike attended grade school in Seeley Lake, high school in Missoula and two years of college at Bozeman. When he dropped out of Montana State University, things started moving fast. Williams said, "We had an early Thanksgiving dinner and somebody went out to get the mail. While I was eating Thanksgiving dinner, I opened my draft notice!" It was 1967, a time of m...
COVID-19 has cast its increasingly large shadow over Christmas. In many homes one or both parents are out of work and finances are crushingly tight. Yet children are still hoping for a mound of presents under the Christmas tree. Perhaps struggling parents can gain some insight from the National Toy Hall of Fame. Originally housed in Salem, Oregon and later moved to the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York (now simply called The Strong), the Toy Hall of Fame began honoring toys...
The connection between Christmas and toys is a long-standing one. At one time, toys were handmade rather than store-bought. As society evolved, and technology along with it, superior materials, new forms of media and innovative production technology have changed the type of toys available. Some of these playthings become a fad for a short time, others come back year after year though sometimes in a changed form. One of the most beloved toys, the Teddy Bear traces its origins to a hunting trip wh...
If the early history of Seeley Lake is intertwined with the lumber industry, the rise of the United States Forest Service is incontrovertibly intertwined with Seeley Lake and in particular with the Big Blackfoot Timber Sale of 1907-1910. Historian and member of the Camp Paxson Preservation Board Gary Williams has been researching that sale. The Seeley Swan Pathfinder will be bringing some of the interesting bits of information he has discovered about logging in the Seeley Lake area and also...
In defending himself before the Senate Hearing Committee on the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, former FEMA Director Michael Brown used a strange phrase: “I told the staff… the day before the hurricane struck, that I expected them to cut every piece of red tape, do everything they could; that it was balls to the wall…” The slang phrase Brown used derives its meaning neither from sports nor male anatomy but from aviation. The first written usage dates to Frank Harvey’s “Air War – Vietnam” which contains the sentence, “You kn...
United States Presidents receive numerous gifts during their time at the White House, including live animals. John Quincy Adams received an alligator; Richard Nixon, two giant pandas; Theodore Roosevelt a zebra and a lion; George H. W. Bush a Komodo dragon and Ronald Reagan a white horse. On a more mundane level, turkeys are popular gifts, especially during holidays. Originally, presidential gifted turkeys were intended, and accepted, as the showpiece main dish for a holiday meal. That is,...
If the early history of Seeley Lake is intertwined with the lumber industry, the rise of the United States Forest Service is incontrovertibly intertwined with Seeley Lake and in particular with the Big Blackfoot Timber Sale of 1907-1910. Historian and member of the Camp Paxson Preservation Board Gary Williams has been researching that sale. The Seeley Swan Pathfinder will be bringing some of the interesting bits of information he has discovered about logging in the Seeley Lake area and also...
SEELEY LAKE – Seaman Leon (Bud) Anderson was off duty and on liberty in San Francisco when World War II ended. "I was on Market Street when the news broke," he said. "Everybody was talking about it and Market Street in San Francisco was wild!" Born on a ranch near Havre in 1926, Anderson later moved with his family to Seeley Lake. When his eighteenth birthday approached, he knew he would be drafted. He chose to enlist in the Navy instead. Boot Camp was in Farragut, Idaho, at the south end of L...
If the early history of Seeley Lake is intertwined with the lumber industry, the rise of the United States Forest Service is incontrovertibly intertwined with Seeley Lake and in particular with the Big Blackfoot Timber Sale of 1907-1910. Historian and member of the Camp Paxson Preservation Board Gary Williams has been researching that sale. The Seeley Swan Pathfinder will be bringing some of the interesting bits of information he has discovered about logging in the Seeley Lake area and also abou...
If the early history of Seeley Lake is intertwined with the lumber industry, the rise of the United States Forest Service is incontrovertibly intertwined with Seeley Lake and in particular with the Big Blackfoot Timber Sale of 1907-1910. Historian and member of the Camp Paxson Preservation Board Gary Williams has been researching that sale. The Seeley Swan Pathfinder will be bringing some of the interesting bits of information he has discovered about logging in the Seeley Lake area and also abou...
If Mary slides into her seat just as the theater lights dim, she might think to herself, “Whew! I made it in the nick of time.” But why does time have a nick in it? The dictionary defines the noun “nick” as a small notch or groove. As a verb it means to cut into, – he nicked his chin shaving. Or the verb can describe a way of recording a score by means of making a notch in a stick or some other object. Apparently this last definition is the one most closely associated with time or precision. From ancient times, bones and sticks were notched t...
If the early history of Seeley Lake is intertwined with the lumber industry, the rise of the United States Forest Service is incontrovertibly intertwined with Seeley Lake and in particular with the Big Blackfoot Timber Sale of 1907-1910. Historian and member of the Camp Paxson Preservation Board Gary Williams has been researching that sale. The Seeley Swan Pathfinder will be bringing some of the interesting bits of information he has discovered about logging in the Seeley Lake area and also...
If the early history of Seeley Lake is intertwined with the lumber industry, the rise of the United States Forest Service is incontrovertibly intertwined with Seeley Lake and in particular with the Big Blackfoot Timber Sale of 1907-1910. Historian and member of the Camp Paxson Preservation Board Gary Williams has been researching that sale. The Seeley Swan Pathfinder will be bringing some of the interesting bits of information he has discovered about logging in the Seeley Lake area and also...
SEELEY LAKE – Two women from Hamilton, Montana, artists in their own right, came to Alpine Artisans' Tour of the Arts Saturday October 10. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" Barbara Liss exclaimed as she saw Will Kats' display of his woodcarvings at the Grizzly Claw Trading Co. "The detail is just amazing!" her companion said. "This is awesome!" she added as she moved to look at the bust – carved head, shoulders, and upper chest – of a Native American subject in full regalia. "I think they're just stunni...
If the early history of Seeley Lake is intertwined with the lumber industry, the rise of the United States Forest Service is incontrovertibly intertwined with Seeley Lake and in particular with the Big Blackfoot Timber Sale of 1907-1910. Historian and member of the Camp Paxson Preservation Board Gary Williams has been researching that sale. The Seeley Swan Pathfinder will be bringing some of the interesting bits of information he has discovered about logging in the Seeley Lake area and also...
SEELEY LAKE – A family from Missoula coming to enjoy a day on Seeley Lake might load up the car with a cooler, beach chairs, sand toys, blow-up floats, fishing gear, snorkels ... At which point dad will probably say, "My gosh, we're taking everything but the kitchen sink!" It's unknown just how that phrase, and its variant "...kitchen stove," "kitchen range" came about, but it has been in use since the early 1900s. A May 6, 1906 article in "Scribner's Magazine" carried the sentence, "She had o...
In the early history of Seeley Lake is intertwined with the lumber industry, the rise of the United States Forest Service is incontrovertibly intertwined with Seeley Lake and in particular with the Big Blackfoot Timber Sale of 1907-1910. Historian and member of the Camp Paxson Preservation Board Gary Williams has been researching that sale. The Seeley Swan Pathfinder will be bringing some of the interesting bits of information he has discovered about logging in the Seeley Lake area and also...
