Letters from a Swan Valley homesteader

Beginning with a trip out west to Polson in 1913 to later homesteading in the Upper Swan Valley, early-day settler Henry Thomason wrote a series of hand-written letters to his family in the Midwest documenting life as a homesteader in the early part of the 20th century. He also provided detailed accounts of his experiences as a fire lookout high in the Swan Range.

In 1919 Thomason filed to homestead 160 acres between Rumble and Buck Creeks. He built a two-room log house, a log barn, a log chicken house and six and half chains of fencing (429 feet). At the age of 60, he proved up and gained the deed to his land in 1924.

To make ends meet through the years, Thomason worked at various jobs including the Somers Lumber Company and the U.S. Forest Service. He worked seasonally at the Holland Lookout from approximately 1917-1923, and later in 1931.

Several members of Thomason's family also settled in the upper Swan Valley. Henry's son Maurice W. Thomason homesteaded the adjoining 160-acre parcel north of Henry's land. Henry's daughter Lyda Thomason frequently stayed with her father for extended periods of time. Henry's sister-in-law Mary Harris homesteaded near the old Condon Ranger Station.

In 1913 Henry traveled to Polson and spent some time sightseeing and camping in the area. In a letter to his brother dated May 26, 1913, Thomason wrote:

"We will start on a trip to the Swan Valley soon, may start tomorrow. If we start tomorrow we will cross the mts., follow an old Indian path. But as that will only let us see what is on the west side of river, we will go as soon as we get back around via Bigfork and cross the river there on ferry and take in the east side of river. We expect to put in about 3 weeks on the east side. Howard [Henry's son] and I started on this trip about a month ago, but only got to the head of Swan Lake and was stopped by high water."

Perhaps Thomason's trip to the untamed Swan Valley convinced him to lay claim to 160 acres of government land in 1919. Like several other Swan Valley homesteaders, Thomason was employed by the Somers Lumber Company on the largest timber sale ever conducted on the Flathead National Forest. Camp One, located near the southeast corner of Swan Lake, served as the main headquarters for the logging operation. The timber sale encompassed more than 9,000 acres and employed up to approximately 300 people. The work started in 1914 but abruptly ended in 1919 with only 5,700 acres harvested when a lunch fire escaped and burned through the entire timber sale area. The remaining uncut timber was destroyed by the fire.

Thomason described the Somers Lumber Company logging operation at Swan Lake in a letter to his sister dated April 30, 1919:

"From now on I expect to be very busy as the company is moving out and there will be lots of freight to look after. They have quite a camp here now, cook house and dining room, bunk house...blacksmith shop...also have put up a tent for 20 horses. The buildings they brought down on a barge from Camp One."

Many of Thomason's letters reflect the isolation and loneliness homesteaders endured. In a letter circa 1922, Thomason tried to persuade his brother to visit:

"All I have done since the snow came is tend to the bronks (sic) and keep the fire going. Am alone most of the time...How about it? Are you folks coming out next May?... All you have to do is to go up to St. Paul and tell them you want a ticket to Missoula via the Northern Pacific, then a stage from there to 1 ½ miles of my cabin."

Along with Charlie Anderson, Robert Hartwick and Matt Hill, Thomason was one of the first early-day homesteaders to work at the Holland Lookout. Located on a ridge high above Holland Lake, there were 61 switchbacks from the Holland Lake area to the lookout site in the early 20th century. In a letter written from the Holland Lookout dated July 28, 1931, Thomason wrote:

"I came up here the last days of June, have things nicer than the years I used to be here when it was tent and candles. Now I have a oil stove and gas light, and an electric light above the map for night use, its (sic) from a battery. It snowed the evening and night of June 29, then July 2nd a regular blizzard, and snow again July 5. More snow than while I was in Iowa last winter, but since then its (sic) been real warm, and not much hard wind. A few nights ago we had 3 storms pass over, had to be up most of night to check on them. Had quite a lot of lightning, but so far not a fire in our district...I have been quite busy since coming up, getting things in shape. Got the lightning protection wires on, then had the four ground wires, one from each corner to bury. They are about 75 feet long and dug a trench the full length, which was some job in the rocks. Now for some time have been painting the inside of cabin, 19 windows and glass in door. Sure some job on the windows, but all through now. Just finished painting overhead this fornoon (sic). Will paint outside sometime but won't be in a hurry about it.

Later in the same letter, Henry mentioned his son Maurice who worked for the Mountain View Hotel as a wrangler guiding horse pack trips through the South Fork country. The Keywaydin Youth Camps offered six-week vacations for young women from wealthy east coast families that included a stay at the hotel at Holland Lake.

"Maurice started herding the New York girls thro (sic) the mountains, 28 people and 40 horses. They passed here at 11:30 a.m. to go to the Kelly dude ranch east of Ovando. They started from the hotel on Holland Lake, will have to camp out several nights."