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With fishing access sites overflowing in the summer, drought pressure on the rivers, more garbage, increased weeds along roadsides and packed eateries, it's obvious there's more traffic in the Blackfoot watershed. Over the past few years the Blackfoot Challenge, a local watershed stewardship nonprofit focused on the Blackfoot River drainage, has been hearing more concerns about and interest in growing recreational pressures in the Blackfoot Valley watershed. Meetings have been held in...
On Wednesday, Oct. 16 a new Seeley Lake business hosted a pumpkin painting event. While this was the first event hosted at the Seeley Station - including apple cider, hot cocoa and a piece of halloween-themed pottery to paint for $10 - it isn't going to be the last. There will be a Thanksgiving event on Wednesday, Nov. 13 from 5-7 p.m. and a Christmas-themed event in mid-December. The Seeley Station opened on Aug. 5 and since opening the station has made an effort to support locals and other...
The northern lights have been visible in the Seeley-Swan Valley many times this year, including multiple times this month. Meteorologist Dave Noble, who works with the National Weather Service in Missoula, explained why the northern lights occur. "Occasionally we can have these explosions off the sun that are spewing plasma at a million miles an hour towards space, and sometimes they can be directed towards the earth," Noble said. "If it is carrying the right magnetic field with it, or the...
Calling all conservatives to register and vote early avoiding possible Election Day problems that may inhibit voting. Some elections were determined by just a few hundred votes, so your vote definitely counts. We are morally obligated to vote as not voting can promote evil. Even if we despise our party system, distrust politicians and have better values than the candidates, we are morally obligated to vote for whoever best advances the good. No one is perfect, but we must persevere, however slowly, overcoming evil by advancing the good for the...
Folks who live in our Seeley-Swan Valley fall into several categories: old timers, newcomers, “medium timers” and people who returned after many years. One person who returned after many years was Mabel Stilwell. Born Mabel Lundberg in the Swan Valley in 1917, she may well have been the first baby of white settlers born in these parts. Let’s take a closer look at the Swan Valley during these years, and where Mabel’s life took her. During the years around Mabel’s birth, the Swan Valley had homesteaders moving in, drawn by the beauty and amaze...
It has all come full circle. For the past six years, through all types of weather and against all odds, the Seeley Lake ROCKS team repurposed a former baseball diamond at the elementary school into a weather dependent, night lit, fully functioning skating rink, complete with free skates, helmets, nets and changing benches. Given the fickle nature of Montana winters, maintaining and operating an outdoor rink is no small task, and we depended on hearty skaters to pick up a shovel or a broom to sweep the ice from time to time. Countless Seeley...
The Forest Service received notification of a purchase agreement regarding Holland Lake Lodge between Eric Jacobsen, Great Falls native and current Utah resident, and longtime owner of the lodge and holder of its special use permit, Christian Wohlfeil, and POWDR on Oct. 11. POWDR, a company that owns and operates ski resorts across the country, owns about 20% of the assets of Holland Lake Lodge. A controversial plan to expand the lodge was rejected by the Forest Service last fall after being met with forceful local opposition. Ivy Gehling,...
Our beloved, beautiful Ally, Alexis Irwin, passed suddenly on Oct. 6, 2024. Ally was born on Aug. 29, 1994 to Thomas and Jennifer Irwin. Ally grew up in Bonney Lake, Washington, but spent many years in Seeley Lake. Ally was special in so many ways. She made friends everywhere she went. Her contagious and infectious laugh, smile and personality could not be missed. Ally impacted the lives of so many from an early age and into adulthood. She enjoyed sports, was a proud member of the LGBTQ+...
Why do the people of the world stand in jeopardy? Because they cannot be saved without their families and their associates. They will continue to stand in jeopardy until the gospel is taken to them in such a way that they are willing either to receive it or reject it. These things of eternity pertaining to the spirit world and the hereafter were on the mind of the Savior when He was crucified. This is reflected in His statement to the repentant thief, which has puzzled many people: · And one of the malefactors, which were hanged, railed on him,...
The Seeley Lake Sewer District Board met last Thursday for a relatively short meeting to discuss ongoing fundraising efforts and the still vacant staff positions. Steve Anderson, engineer with Water & Environmental Technologies (WET), said the engineering firm’s staff continue to work on pursuing grants to help cover costs of creating the preliminary engineering report, which once completed opens the door for other grant opportunities for which the board could apply. WET staff are working through a reclamation and development planning grant a...
It's a curious sight - upwards of 120 mountain folks decked out in lobster bibs, trying to figure out how to operate stainless steel seafood crackers. And atop Potomac's Copper Cliff Road, it's become an annual early-fall phenomenon. A robust group of local bluegrass pickers, jamming in a circle, provided the soundscape for the Copper Cliff Cafe's capstone event of the season earlier this month - as they have at every dinner since the operation's 2019 inception. For this year's lobster feast,...
Convoys of cattle trucks will soon be trundling loads of cattle along Highway 141 and Highway 200, moving cattle from mountain pastures to home ranches and hauling weaned calves to feedlots across the Midwest. Selling calves marks the fall rotation of cattle ranching in the Blackfoot Valley and throughout ranching country in the United States. It's payday for ranchers as they ship off their main commodity - beef calves - to feedlots. Cattle receipts of $1.8 billion dollars in 2021 rank cattle...
Whoever wins the race for Montana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction in the general election on Nov. 5 — Republican Susie Hedalen or Democrat Shannon O’Brien — they will inherit an office in disarray. A recent legislative audit of the Office of Public Instruction, which the superintendent leads, found more than $67 million in questionable spending of federal education funds, including one school district that used the money to buy massage chairs for the teachers’ lounge. “OPI is kind of in shambles,” said Jessi Bennion, a professor of...
This weekend the Lady Blackhawks experienced triumph and defeat. They faced off against the Valley Christian Eagles and the Noxon Red Devils and both games were demanding. The first set against the Eagles on Oct. 17 started with the Blackhawks and Eagles going back and forth for points, but in the end the Eagles took the lead, winning 25-15. The second set was a rollercoaster and both teams took the lead multiple times. Ultimately, both the second and third set went to the Eagles. This week is t...
Author's note: Some of you have asked, at various times, whether I'd reprint some favorite columns from previous years. For those of you who asked, and for those who missed it the first time around, here's an updated version of a favorite. Enjoy! Sunday afternoon found me with an almost desperate need to go fishing. I felt winter closing in, and in some ways it seemed as if summer didn't really happen as I approached Jan about going fishing. "I'll be ready to go by 2:30," Jan announces. That...
Twenty years ago... Thursday Oct. 28, 2004 Who homesteaded here? Another reason to visit the Seeley Lake Museum Have you ever wondered who homesteaded the property where you live? Have you ever wondered if any of your family namesakes homesteaded in the valley? Now you can find out. The Seeley Lake Historical Society has a listing of all the people who successfully homesteaded in the Clearwater Valley. A project entitled “Who Homesteaded Here?” was completed with a grant from the Hansen Endowment Committee through the Wilderness Institute at...
Editor's note: Due to an unfortunate oversight, part of this article was missing from the printed paper. We will be reprinting the full article in the paper next week and the entirety is featured here. We deeply regret the error. The Seeley-Swan Hospital District Board is conducting a survey to get a more comprehensive idea of how the board and clinic can better respond to the needs of those in Seeley Lake. Board Chairwoman Terryl Bartlett said living in Seeley Lake, one can get used to running into Missoula for various medical needs that the c...
With political polarization strengthening across the country, even the races far down on Montana’s ballot are feeling the heat of identity politics. The state auditor is arguably the lowest-ballot race there is, but the position is responsible for supervising the state’s insurance and securities industries and investigating fraud. Two years ago, Republican Jim Brown mounted a campaign for the state Supreme Court, trying to secure a spot on the high court by stressing his support from Republicans. That race ended in Supreme Court justice Ingrid...
On a sunny September afternoon in Butte, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester stood in a small room in a brick building and rallied a group of volunteers by casting his opponent, Republican businessman and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, as a wealthy transplant out of touch with local values. “He doesn’t know Montana, and that’s the problem,” Tester told the crowd. “He doesn’t know Butte, America, and that’s the problem. He doesn’t know the labor movement started here, and that’s the problem. He doesn’t understand people had to work their butts off to...
