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On July 30 at 9 p.m. Ovando and Helmville volunteer firefighters as well as Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation firefighters from Sperry Grade in Greenough responded to a structure fire on Woodworth Road. “The structure was completely engulfed when we arrived,” Monte McNally, Ovando Volunteer Fire Department Chief, said. “The strategy was to get the heat out of the fire and keep it from spreading.” DNRC crews sprayed down the perimeter of the property to prevent spread into nearby forest and fields while Ovando and Helmvil...
Yoann Destremau pulled into Ovando after cycling in the rain for hours. Soaked and exhausted he visited the Blackfoot Angler and found out about dry overnight lodging for bikers around Ovando. The morning of July 30 he was happy to have a cup of coffee in his hand and blue skies overhead for a chat outside the Stray Bullet. Currently Destremau is on his third international bike tour. He left Victoria B.C. on July 8 and plans to arrive in Patagonia in two years. He carries everything he owns on...
Potomac Valley 4-H members Cooper and Ella Hathaway have been feeding and training their sheep Buddy Alexander Lambilton and Fiona for the Missoula County Fair since purchasing them in April. For the past three years Cooper, age 12, has taken hogs to the fair. This year he moved into lambs in order to get more practice handling livestock in preparation for possibly taking a steer in the future. In addition to showing livestock Cooper participates in 4-H Shooting Sports/Shotgun. The shotgun...
Thirty-five years ago ... Thursday Aug. 10, 1989 Willy Bill's founder in retirement The kitchen smelled of homemade rolls, grandchildren were running in and out, chattering and laughing. Several adults stopped by for a short chat. This kind of day is becoming typical for Bill and Ardyce Gehrke, retired after 18 years at Willy Bill's ChainSaw Business. And the Gehrkes are enjoying their family and retirement. Twenty-one years ago the Gehrke's and their six children moved to Seeley Lake from...
At the last sewer district board meeting, there was conversation about how rumors and social media were spreading concerns that often were not based on facts. Everyone is encouraged to participate in the meetings either in person or through zoom. It is only through direct participation that we can move together to an informed collaborative resolution to our increasing nitrate problem. We do have nitrate issues in varying intensity within the boundary of the district. North of town it is nearly negligible. Near the corner of Juniper and Alder,...
A couple hours before a thunderstorm with hurricane level winds crashed through Missoula County on the evening of July 24, the Missoula National Weather Service posted an update on its Facebook page about a cluster of thunderstorms moving northeast through north-central Idaho with winds that have historically hit 50 to 60 miles per hour. The post instructed readers to secure outdoor items before the storms arrived, and was just about spot on with the time estimate - 9 p.m. Wind speeds of 81 mph...
Locals were surprised and angered to see a boatload of trash deposited at the transfer station outside Ovando on July 19. And on the morning of July 23 a load of trash was found spilling out of the dump and the large gates were broken. That trash had food-related components and was considered a bear attractant. Locals contacted Justin Williams, Ovando Rural Disposal District representative and president, and he arranged for cleanup that day. "We have a fairly good lead to who may have been...
Close to 15 years ago, Condon residents were ready to get out of Missoula County. A Missoulian article from 2009 highlighted the Swan Valley Preservation Group, then led by Ken Donovan, which hoped to join Lake County, looking for less regulation and less taxes paid for things the group felt were never realized an hour and a half away from the city of Missoula. Quite a bit earlier, during the first Constitutional Convention for the state of Montana in 1889, convention delegate Martin Maginnis from Lewis and Clark County yearned for a state of...
During the summer, it's important to keep yourself safe on hot days. It's also important to keep your furry friends safe, and there are a lot of ways to do that. The Pathfinder spoke with Holli Hargrove, animal control manager with Missoula County Animal Control to pick her brain on the best ways to take care of man's best friend when it's hot. This conversation has been edited for clarity. Pathfinder: What is the most important thing dog owners should keep in mind about protecting their dogs fr...
The Seeley Lake Community Foundation is proud to announce the recipients of the 2024 SLCF Scholarship. Ava Thornsberry and Walker McDonald each will receive $1,000 towards university expenses. Thornsberry graduated from Seeley Swan High School in 2023. Throughout her high school years, she received numerous awards both in academics and athletics. Some of her accomplishments include: Academic All-State selection for volleyball for three years, basketball for two years, and cross country and golf...
Trash is something we all have to deal with and living in the Seeley Lake area can be a bit challenging with hungry bears as neighbors. That's why Clearwater Valley Bear Smart has been trying to help local citizens better manage their garbage and avoid bear conflicts. Wrapping up a successful Bear Fair in June, Alan Davis, the Clearwater Valley Bear Smart Coordinator, and Jamie Jonkel, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Bear Management Specialist, delivered 24 bear resistant garbage containers to... Full story
The Montana Newspaper Foundation awarded $1,000 Kavanagh Family Scholarships to two graduating seniors who plan to pursue careers in journalism and education. William Eaton graduated from Helena High School and worked at his school's paper for three years, serving as editor his senior year. Eaton achieved a 3.8 grade point average and will attend the University of Montana in Missoula this fall, majoring in English and minoring in journalism. "Since I was young, reading and writing have always...
Thursday Aug. 3, 1989 Jack Mackie off critical list after logging accident Jack Mackie of Seeley Lake has gone from critical to stable condition after an early morning logging accident two weeks ago. A snag pierced through the seat of his D-6 cat and punctured his midsection on July 18 while working in the Fawn Creek area. "We almost lost him," Yvonne Mackie, Jack's wife said. Yvonee said Jack's midsection was crushed. When large bones are broken it is possible for bone marrow to enter the blood...
SWAN LAKE, MONT. — It’s that time of year again! For more than 40 years, the second Saturday of August has meant art, food and fun on the shores of Swan Lake. The original Swan Lake Huckleberry Festival will take place on Saturday, Aug. 10 at the Swan Lake Day Park near mile marker 72 on Montana Highway 83. Admission is free. The event will open with a huckleberry pancake breakfast served from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m. followed by a beer and wine garden in the afternoon. Most of the day’s activities will begin at 9 a.m. and continue until 4 p.m....
The Seeley Lake Water District will increase rates for water users as the anticipated closure of Pyramid Mountain Lumber looms this fall. Per information from a notice sent out by the water district this month, the mill consumed 20% of the water the district produced each month and used about two million gallons of water monthly. The loss of that production for the district is expected to amount between $50,000 and $60,000 in total. The notice stated the mill intends to shut off its water supply at the end of the year, which is likely when...
Editor's note: Weekly deadlines are tough for providing quick, current information as it relates to the fire season. The Pathfinder's Facebook page (Seeley Swan Pathfinder ~ Seeley Lake, MT) is a good resource for information on new starts, fire conditions, restrictions and evacuation notices, as is mtfireinfo.org and the Lolo National Forest's Facebook page. We will publish updates similar to these as often as is necessary and useful. Weeks of persistent hot and dry weather, with a bit of...
This story was updated on July 24 at 10:27 a.m. to make clarifications regarding senior and junior water rights, and to correct that the main stem of the Blackfoot River has been placed under a hoot owl restriction, not the north fork. Like many other people who make or have made their living working the land, Denny Iverson saw this year’s drought coming. The winter was drier than normal in Montana and the snowpack didn’t build up well. On top of that, it was an El Niño year, which from decades of experience Iverson knows to mean drought in the...
From the prairie potholes of northeastern North Dakota to the Blackfoot Valley, new Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife biologist Lee Tafelmeyer has already had a varied career in wildlife biology. "I grew on a cattle ranch, hunting and trapping and developing a passion for the outdoors, wildlife and ecosystems," Tafelmeyer said. "A family vacation trip to Yellowstone as a youngster played into my interest in the Rocky Mountains and wildlife." When college entrance forced the beginning of...
The Seeley Lake Sewer Board was presented with conceptual designs from engineering firm Water & Environmental Technologies, or WET, for an anticipated sewer project and heard an update on earmarked money for the project from the federal government on July 18. Bill Decker, Seeley Lake Sewer District manager, provided the update about the earmarked money from Representative Ryan Zinke’s office for a sewer project in Seeley Lake. The grant application is making its way through the approval process within the U.S. House Appropriations C...
Seeley Lake, Mont., July 18, 2024 —The Seeley Lake Ranger District is pleased to announce that Seeley Lake Campground’s water system is repaired, and the campground and day use area opened July 19 at 8 a.m. Campsites are currently open for reservations on www.recreation.gov. Opening of the campground was delayed for the partial replacement of the waterline. However, during construction it was discovered that the remaining part of the water system also needed to be replaced. The Forest Service was able to modify the contract to have the add...
The Loon and Fish Festival was back in Seeley Lake over the weekend with music, art and food all in an effort to support local artists and students. Alpine Artisans, a group that encourages the development of the arts in the Seeley-Swan valleys, puts on the festival. Raffle tickets to support its scholarship fund, which provides money to high school students, were on sale from the start of the festival on Friday to a half an hour before it closed on Sunday. Sera Benton was an Alpine Artisans...
Thirty-five years ago ... Thursday July 27, 1989 Five people escape serious injuries in head-on collision Early morning fog was a factor in a glancing head-on collision in Seeley Lake, where five people miraculously escaped serious injury. Three young Seeley Lake residents in a 1985 Ford Mustang collided with a 1975 Ford pick-up truck in the heavy fog around 8 a.m. last Friday. The vehicles collided halfway between the Valley Market and the One Stop Convenience Store. Joe Beatty, the driver of...
Christina Hartmann had teaching on the brain as a career path from a young age. She always played school with her three younger siblings, where she was the one in the role of the teacher and made sure her siblings were organized into various parts to conduct the role play. In high school, she was asked to be a teacher's aide in a kindergarten class. She worked with a non-verbal student for two years, and was inspired by how she was able to see this student's lightbulb moments from the gains they...
When water levels drop and stream temperatures rise, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks restricts fishing hours to protect the state's sport fisheries. Hoot owl restrictions prohibiting fishing between 2 p.m. and 12 a.m. began July 13 in the Clark Fork River Basin including the Blackfoot, North Fork of Blackfoot, Clark Fork and Bitterroot rivers. Additionally parts of the Big Hole, Gallatin, Jefferson, Madison, Ruby, Smith and Sun Rivers have restrictions. Yellowstone Park has closed the Madison,...
Mike Fowler brought a small temperature sensor with him from Seattle to a presentation he was a part of held at the Foundation Building in Seeley Lake. On that Wednesday, with outside temperatures in the nineties, Fowler said his sensor showed 78 degrees in the Foundation Building. Fowler is the sustainability integration leader for Mithun, an architectural firm in Seattle. He and other members of his team came to Montana in May to tour five schools to start thinking about potential design upgra...
