Cheri Thompson said at their annual meetings the Historical Society always has food that might have been served by early settlers in the valley. For the 2021 meeting she made pink Jell-o mousse cups, mini apple and mincemeat pies and mini cream puffs and a spike-it-yourself wassail punch.
New Lifetime Members of the Seeley Lake Historical Society and Museum will receive plaques similar to those given to 2019 Lifetime Members Tom Browder and Tom Donich.
SEELEY LAKE – The Dec. 5 Seeley Lake Historical Society and Museum's annual meeting combined a little bit of business with a large portion of pleasure as the assembled members watched two brief films with relevance to the Seeley Lake area.
The business part included recognition of the society's new Lifetime Members, those who have donated $1,000 to the museum: Addrien Marx, Jack & Belinda Rich, Dave Anderson, Wally Mills, Warren and Laura Thieme, the Burgess family and the McLeod & Mulroney families. Among other membership benefits, they will have their names engraved on the wood slab mounted above the landing of the stairs leading to the second floor. They will also receive a plaque that resembles the Historical Society's logo.
Other business included the announcement of a grant the Historical Society received to produce an exhibit in conjunction with Seeley Lake Elementary third-grade teacher Kristy Pohlman and her students. The grant is sponsored by the Library of Congress and the Museums Association of Montana with the ultimate goal of promoting "a sense of place and understanding of Montana history, past and present."
While the details are not yet finalized, the project will relate to Norman Maclean's novella "A River Runs Through It" and John Maclean's new book "Home Waters." The finished project will be exhibited on the top floor of the Missoula County Library in connection with the Alpine Artisans sponsored "In the Footsteps of Norman Maclean Festival" June 24-26, 2022.
In connection with the announcement of the grant recognition, the members were treated to a replay of a July 24 CBS interview with John Maclean talking about "Home Waters."
For the really fun portion of the meeting, Tom Browder showed a film clip of the 1938 Missoula Ski Train. The clip was discovered by Steve Thompson among some discarded VHS tapes. It just said "Ski Train" on it. Thompson is Historian for the Northern Division of the National Ski Patrol. Browder was able to convert the VHS to DVD.
The clip shows a steam engine traveling along the Blackfoot River corridor from Missoula to Clearwater Junction. The Historical Society members speculated it might be carrying the Missoula Ski Club, which was started in the 1920s. Further speculation suggested the destination ski hill was on the southern end of the Blackfoot Clearwater Game Range since a railroad loading area once was located there. Shots inside the train show both men and women eating sandwiches prior to their outing. Subsequent shots show skis being unloaded from the baggage car and people milling around and putting their skis on.
Historical Society members began calling out observations among much laughter: "Look at how long the skis were – and they were made of wood. They must have weighed 30 pounds!" "Look at the guy in the suit and tie!" "The older ones wear suits and ties; the younger ones are more jaunty."
Comments flew even faster as the people in the film started skiing. "They all go straight down the hill; nobody knows how to turn!" "I love their stops-they just fall down!" "That was a full somersault!"
The comments calmed down as the skiers ended their trip and began reboarding the train, though a couple of Society members were delighted to spot a few quick shots of the old Seeley Stage Station Model A with snowmobile treads. Speculation about possible location identifications were thrown out as the train steamed its way back to Missoula.
Conversation about the film continued as members ended their meeting around the desserts provided by Cheri Thompson.
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