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Thompson Falls, MT, Thompson Falls, MT (2026)

05/25/2026

LOOKING BACK: Freight wagon at Northern Pacific depot, 1906

Presenting a scene from 1906: a freight wagon ready to leave the Northern Pacific Railroad depot in Thompson Falls, MT. A barn-type building existed on the property when the rails were laid through what was not yet a settlement in 1883. The railroad put the building to use as a warehouse. The NPRR initially established a depot on the Woodlin flats east of the falls, with plans for a locomotive roundhouse. (There are indications one was built, but no photo evidence exits). In early 1884 the NPRR relocated a depot to “downtown” Thompson which by then was booming with people waiting for the snow to melt for access into the newly-advertised placer mine diggings in North Idaho. The original barn converted into a depot/warehouse was used by the railroad until 1963.
Pictured here are (back row): Alden Bailey, Albert “Happy” Preston, Frank Hartman and Jack Tikler; (front row): Frank Preston and “Kentuck” Allen. The Preston family operated a livery business along what became Preston Avenue north of the tracks, so this is probably their wagon.

MORE ABOUT MEN IN THIS PHOTO
Mr. A. B. Bailey’s daughter was married to Frank Preston; Alden Bailey was Frank Preston’s brother-in-law. In February of 1907, with the temperature about zero degrees, Frank Preston saved the life of rancher A.B. Bailey and his son, Alden Bailey. The elder Bailey had arrived in town and went to the Clark Fork River’s edge to water his unhitched horses but miss-stepped on the ice and fell in. His son, Alden, tried to rescue him and also went into about 11 feet of water. Frank Preston saved them both.

MORE ABOUT FRANK HARTMAN
Frank Hartman, the son of a railroad worker, was employed by the Northern Pacific at Thompson Falls from 1905 to 1960. In the Ledger’s May 9, 1913 issue, it was reported that: “Frank Hartman, manager of the local office for the Western Union, went to Missoula Sunday evening, just to be riding on the varnished cars.” For railroad men of the time, the “varnished cars” is a dig at riding in passenger railcars instead of an employee’s usual trip in a locomotive or a caboose.
–Photo courtesy of Sanders County Historical Society

05/18/2026

Presenting a view of Thompson Falls, MT, from Clark Mountain (5,046 feet elevation) that one cannot acquire simply by standing on the ground. The town itself is at 2,419 feet above sea level. The Clark Fork River is flowing northwesterly alongside the Cabinet Mountains. —Photo courtesy of Clark Heater

05/13/2026

LOOKING BACK: New Chevrolet & Jeeps on display in Thompson Falls, 1965

The year 1965 in downtown Thompson Falls, MT, marked the full transition from “Gill-Adams, Inc., Chevrolet and Jeep” to “Westland Chevrolet” owned solely by Jim and Doris Taylor. Presenting here photos and a story from the May 13-14, 1965 “showcase” for new vehicles.

“I remember this like it was yesterday,” said Nick Taylor, Jim and Doris Taylor’s eldest son, TFHS Class of 1968. “Each year the new car announcement was an event for Thompson Falls. Heater and Heater [Ford dealers next door along Main Street] did their announcement simultaneously. There would be coffee and cookies, local businesses would send flowers, those plastic model cars would be handed out, and everyone would show up throughout the day to see the new cars.”

The new model year of vehicles arrived in town on a Northern Pacific train. The vehicles were unloaded and “we hid them in a warehouse by the middle rail crossing that Herschel Butte rented to us. It was important to keep them hidden so the debut would be exciting,” Nick recalled.

The new Chevrolet and Jeep models were backed in against the sidewalk along Main Street. Special models were inside on the showroom floor. Nick remembers that his mother was always “giddy” at these new model debuts.

GARAGE HISTORY
“This particular year [1965] was special because it was also the grand opening for my folks’ total ownership of Westland Chevrolet,” Nick recalled.

The building housing Westland Chevrolet was erected in 1917, the second building in town designed for an automobile-business with storage for 12 vehicles, starting with Ford then shifting to Chevrolet. Jim Adams became involved in 1929 later operating as Adams Garage. The business became Gill-Adams, Inc. in 1946 with Henry “Hank” Gill.

In 1956, James L. Taylor purchased Adams’ half of Gill-Adams, Inc. By year’s end, contractor Art Turk had the garage enlarged with concrete floors throughout, improved repair shop with hydraulic hoist, a new rear entrance, heating system and a new roof.

GRAND OPENING
The Taylors completed a buy-out of Hank Gill in June of 1964. The “grand opening” of Westland Chevrolet took place in May 1965, when a new line of vehicles was introduced.

The idea was to have at least one model of every new vehicle. Pictured here in one photo are (from left) a red El Camino light-duty pickup, a Chevy II station wagon, Jeep Wagoneer, a Biscayne sedan, Bel-Air sedan, a Suburban, a half-ton pickup and then a three-quarter ton pickup.

“I know the half-ton looks like a Suburban but if you zoom in you will see the back window of the pickup,” Nick Taylor observed. The photo shows other vehicles parked in the dealership’s lot.

According to advertisements in the Sanders County Ledger, the dealership in May of 1965 had 20 new cars and trucks and 30 used vehicles for sale.

Specifically for this 1965 model year was presented a red Malibu Super Sport, which Nick said, “Snitz Dufresne went ga-ga over.” The 1965 TFHS yearbook features a Westland Chevrolet sponsorship photo of Doris Taylor standing by that same car.

Photos from the 1965 Grand Opening line-up show a pair of Union 76 gas pumps out front. “One of dad's first moves was to lock up the gas pumps; he hated then,” Nick Taylor said.

A Taylor family photo of the dealership’s refreshment table includes, through the window, is Rich Wollaston next door at the Heater & Heater Ford garage pumping gas into his 1962 Chevy Impala Super Sport. Heater & Heater kept its front-door fuel pumps through the 1970s. This photo also shows the western access from Main Street to the railroad’s “middle crossing,” which was removed in the 1990s.

The Westland brand lasted into early 1980s, and a used auto dealer remained at the location through the 1990s. Here in 2026, the garage has been remodeled several times over and is now home to Limberlost Brewing Co.

--Photos courtesy of Sanders County Historical Society, and Nick Taylor. Research by Patrick J. Sullivan, TFHS Class of 1977.

05/05/2026

The Old Jail Museum opens for the season on Sunday, May 10, noon to 4 p.m. Along with the fur trade room, the revamped domestic/kitchen area, revamped Sheriff's Office and the second story cell block the featured exhibit this year is "The Automobile Age. "
The museum is located on South Madison Street in Thompson Falls and is open noon to 4 p.m. 7 days a week from May 10 through September 30.

05/05/2026

LOOKING BACK: ‘A veritable bird land’ led to naming of Birdland Tourist Camp

The Old Jail Museum in Thompson Falls, home to the Sanders County Historical Society, has a Main Room Exhibit this year titled “The Automobile Age.” In support, today, May 5, 2026, we present the third story of a three-part historical series with a look at the Birdland Tourist Camp/Birdland Bay Resort property.

Birdland Bay Park and Dance Hall operated 1929-1938 at Birdland Bay, along the Clark Fork River about six miles west of downtown Thompson Falls. The business became possible when the Birdland Bay Bridge opened in 1928 on what was then Highway 10A, ending reliance on small bridges across Prospect Creek and Dry Creek, and the “high” and “low” bridges built in 1911 prior to the Montana Power Co. hydroelectric project.

Birdland got its start as a recreation center in the Fall of 1929 when Mr. and Mrs. A.G. McAllister leased 10 acres from the state to establish a tourist and amusement park. Later they purchased the ground. During the summer of 1929, four cabins were built from logs on the property. On Thanksgiving they opened the Birdland dance pavilion with what “Mrs. Mac” described as “probably the biggest dance ever held in Sanders County,” with about 400 dinner attendees.

During an initial tour of the property, there were many birds in the trees. “Why this is a veritable bird land,” Mrs. Mac remarked. Her sister replied, “That’s an ideal name – Birdland.” And that’s how it came to be called Birdland.

The dance hall boomed in the 1930s but apparently closed in the early 1940s, probably due to travel constraints during the Second World War.

In 1937, Birdland Bay Resort owners opened a small gasoline service station near the bridge’s eastern approach. In 1954 the “Birdland Park” service station distributed Standard Oil products from Bud Moore of Thompson Falls. There was considerably less highway traffic when the new “Highway 10A” bridge opened nearby in 1960, and the business closed in the early 1960s. The building was removed in the late 1960s.

Originally, Birdland had four small structures built of logs harvested on the property, complete with deer antler door handles. These structures were located on a peninsula near the highway bridge (opened in 1928) between the Clark Fork River and the pond that became Birdland “Bay.” Three were used as guest cabins and one as a wash house. The structures were relocated to the hill east of the bay when the Noxon Rapids Dam (1956) was creating a reservoir that raised the river level. The rustic cabins were modernized over the years and today are still onsite, but unoccupied.

In late 1939, the McAllister’s sold Birdland to Conrad “Con” Bentley, Sr.. The property was first operated by his son, Jack Bentley. The family came west from Chicago, fell in love with the area, and decided to go into the “Dude” business.

The Bentley family sold the “Birdland Park” property in August of 1967 to Joe and Jeanne Sol, and Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Christensen of Missoula. The Sols and their three children were living in a cabin at Birdland, while Mr. Christenson, father of Mrs. Sol, was in another cabin. A Montana Highway Patrolman, Sol had been reassigned from Ravalli to Thompson Falls to replace the retired L.A. Wilkes.

After acquiring the property, the Sol family put in seven trailer sites near the pond in an area that Joe Sol had described as “all cat tails and weeds.” The pond itself is spring-fed with a steady year-round temperature of 42 degrees. Scott Sol, who lives on the property his parents acquired in 1967 when he was 10, has only seen the pond freeze over once. During high water one year the river flooded into the pond, which led Washington Water Power to allow creation of a small dam to deter river water. The pond water flows through a culvert into the river. Later, more trailer pads were built on the hill closer to the Blue Slide Road.

The original Birdland dance hall was on a flat spot near the pond’s south end. The building had apparently burned by the 1950s (date uncertain), because when the Sol family decided to put in a garden, their rototilling uncovered silverware and glassware. Scott Sol recalls an old-timer’s story about the dance hall days, that “everyone had a scab on their nose drinking from mason jars.”

The business name evolved by 1970 into the Birdland Bay Trailer Court and by 1971 to Birdland Bay Mobile Home Resort with “mobile home park and housekeeping cabins.” It remained a popular place for locals and visitors, especially for people seeking Clark Fork River fishing access.

The property has since been divided into three parcels under different ownership. The Birdland Bay RV Resort, on the upper section, offers 16 full hookup sites.

HISTORICAL NEIGHBORHOOD NOTES: The Birdland Bay area carries a lot of history. When the Northern Pacific Railroad was being built west-to-east through the area in 1880-1881, a shanty town known as “Shannonville” developed along the river westerly of Birdland Bay, as the furthest point upriver that steamboats could reach. In the late 1950s, the Noxon Rapids Dam project created recreation opportunities, and in 1960 the State of Montana opened Birdland Bay State Park (now Thompson Falls State Park). The River’s Bend Golf Course just west of Birdland Bay opened in 1962 on 53 acres donated by Washington Water Power Co. In 1964, Richard and Tricia Vinson purchased a 160-acre ranch from Mr. and Mrs. Fred Gettmann located on the river below the golf course, which became home to the famed Vinson Ranch Rodeo (1965-1988).

--This story compiled and prepared by Patrick J. Sullivan, TFHS Class of 1977 and a Sanders County Historical Society volunteer.

05/02/2026

LOOKING BACK: ‘West End Tourist Camp’ from 1930s has been Town Pump property since 1970

The Old Jail Museum in Thompson Falls, home to the Sanders County Historical Society, has a Main Room Exhibit this year titled “The Automobile Age.” In support, today, May 2, 2026, we present the second of a three-part historical series with a look at the West End Tourist Camp property.

A Sanders County Ledger story from April 23, 1930 described the West End, Birdland Bay and Big Pine as “modern in every way. Beds, individual heating and hot and cold water and shower baths. No doubt all three places will do a good business as this is right in the heart of Western Montana’s playground.”

The West End Tourist Camp on what was then the western edge of downtown and which today is recognizable as the Town Pump, corner of Gallatin Street and Highway 200 (Main Street). This camp was operating in 1931, owned by H.O. Ekern and initially known as the Thompson Falls Tourist Park. In 1934 it was the West End Tourist Park when sold to Chester Libby, who worked for the Northern Pacific Railroad. Initially advertised as the Libby Tourist Camp, it was soon renamed West End Tourist Camp, being on the west end of downtown Thompson Falls. It was managed by Mrs. Lou Wolfe, Mrs. Libby’s mother. Wolfe upgraded the “charming cabins” in 1934.

In October 1938, after converting garages into extra cabins and adding a three-room apartment, Libby sold the camp to Mrs. T.O. (Agnes) Mann, who had been helping at Big Pine Tourist Camp.

In 1948, the property sold to the newly married Ben G. and Viola Cox. Ben. G and his father, A. Ben Cox, built the main house.

Meanwhile, in 1948, the Bud Moore family opened the Falls Motel on the river side of the West End Tourist Camp. The motel opened with eight double-bed motel units, expanded to 12 units in 1953 and to 20 rooms in 1977. The Falls Motel closed in 2022 and in 2023 the property was sold to Town Pump, Inc.

By 1957 the West End Tourist Camp property (and other such businesses) transitioned from tourist cabins to trailer spaces, being advertised as “Cox Trailer Park” and then as “Cox’s Trailer Court.” Older cabins along the highway frontage were removed and a big yard created. Next to the main house, a garage was built along with a building with washer/dryer services. The Cox family built and rented-out a duplex on the property’s Ainsworth Field side. Parking slots for trailers were created.

In 1964, Ben and Viola Cox had to make a decision to keep their town property or a ranch at Belknap. Both properties were put up for sale and the trailer court sold first ¬ to Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Vaught ¬ so the Cox family relocated to the ranch and soon after, son Tony was born. Cox family members still reside on that ranch today.

Another big change was announced Dec. 31, 1970 when Vaught’s Trailer Court was sold to Town Pump, Inc., of Butte and would open its 40th retail fueling station in Montana. The new Town Pump would add a “a supervised self-service installation with manual operation and the operator living on the premises.”

The ownership transition promptly included the felling of large pine trees to make way for the self-service gasoline pumps near the corner of Gallatin Street and the highway

Joe and Pat Pellant became Town Pump’s first on-site resident managers. In 1975, Joyce and Stu Kilgore take over management from Mrs. Corky Judson. In 1976, Town Pump Trailer Court spaces are rented at $35 monthly, includes water and sewer.

Town Pump expanded several times, most recently in 2024-2025 with an expansion that absorbed the property that had been home to the Falls Motel.

--This story compiled and prepared by Patrick J. Sullivan, TFHS Class of 1977 and a Sanders County Historical Society volunteer. Big thanks to members of the Cox / Shear families for the great photos.

04/24/2026

LOOKING BACK: ‘Tourist Camps’ in Thompson Falls, 1920s-1960s: Big Pine, West End, Birdland Bay

The American public’s penchant for exploring evolved into a “road trip” culture developed along with the automobile industry. Sanders County, MT., was home to a variety of “tourist camps” or “tourist parks” catering specifically to people traveling cross-country by automobile. Here’s the back story:

In 1908, Henry Ford began mass production of his Model T, making automobiles affordable for more Americans. Ownership rates accelerated: by 1920, about 30% of American families had a car. By 1929, 60% were car owners.

In 1912, Walter Morkert drove the first automobile to Thompson Falls that stayed in Thompson Falls. He had his 1910 Overland roadster shipped by Northern Pacific Railroad from North Dakota to Dixon, MT, and drove 60 miles on the old wagon road to T-Falls. Morkert moved here from Dakota to work on the hydroelectric dam project, then became an auto mechanic and finally worked at Thompson Falls Lumber Co., where he retired in 1951.

The year 1913 was big for automobile traffic in Sanders County. It’s the year automobiles were allowed into Yellowstone National Park, and by 1916 there was a campaign to attract traveling tourists through Sanders County, as a direct route between Spokane, Wash., and Yellowstone Park. Also, a new Sanders County bridge opened across the Flathead River at Perma, replacing a ferry, and the highway “wagon bridge” at Paradise was completed, the last necessary span on a Missoula-Thompson Falls-Spokane auto route. An American Automobile Association delegation placed Thompson Falls on the official route to be used by the government.

By 1921, Glacier National Park (created in 1910) developed tourist infrastructure and also became a tourist destination. Construction of Going-to-the-Sun Road started in 1925. The route’s west side opened to Logan Pass in 1929 and became a major tourism draw; road completed in 1933.

Many Sanders County businesses attempted to capitalize on the traveling public, from automobile garages and gas filling stations to hotels, restaurants and, of course, tourist camps or tourist parks. Thompson Falls’ first automobile repair/sales garage opened in 1915 in a former blacksmith shop; construction of the first dedicated auto repair/sales garage happened in 1916.

The Old Jail Museum in Thompson Falls, home to the Sanders County Historical Society, has a Main Room Exhibit this year titled “The Automobile Age” with many artifacts on display. In support of SCHS, today, April 24, 2026, we launch a three-part historical series with a look at the Big Pine Tourist Camp. Stories and photos on the West End and Birdland Bay camps to follow.

THE BIG PINE TOURIST CAMP

The Big Pine Hotel on the town’s east end was purchased in 1924 by Dr. Elmer and Kathryn Fessler. In 1930 they purchased adjacent lots from H.O. Ekern, local druggist, to open what became the Big Pine Tourist Camp. It was nestled among tall pine trees along the riverfront on downtown Thompson Falls’ east end. Expanded by 1931 to five cabins and by 1935 to 10 cabins; a “store” was added. The business also featured café service and one gasoline pump; a second pump came later.

An April 23, 1930 story in the Sanders County Ledger was headlined, ‘Thompson Falls Supplied Well With Tourist Parks’ described as: “Tourist camps here are modern in every way. Beds, individual heating and hot and cold water and shower baths. No doubt all three places will do a good business as this is right in the heart of Western Montana’s playground.” These Tourist Camps were: The Big Pine, West End and Birdland Bay.

In 1931 the Big Pine Tourist Camp was “open all year” on what tourism promoters dubbed the National Parks Highway, attempting to capitalize on visitors to Glacier and Yellowstone. Big Pine offered laundry, hot and cold showers, rooms and bath, furnished cabins, gas and oil, “new, clean cabins” and winter cabins for hunters. It’s estimated that a typical “tourist” spends $7 a day town. “Mrs. Fessler’s enterprise is helping put Thompson Falls on the map as a playground location. That is something that we have all dreamed of and are now commencing to realize in a limited way,” the Sanders County Ledger reported Aug. 26, 1931.

Mrs. Fessler in 1937 bought the Black Bear Hotel (original Ward Hotel). In 1948 she was responsible for the evergreen trees being replanted from the courthouse block to the hillside strip between Main Street and railroad.

In 1948, the Big Pine property sold to A. Ben and Tynne Cox, who moved into the main house (built in 1900 for the Walter Angst family). Not long after, a fire destroyed one cabin and Mr. Cox reported that if not for the quick response of the town’s volunteer fire department, more cabins and even the house may have burned. The fire started in the house’s kitchen and a pet dog awakened the family.

In May of 1952 the Big Pine Tourist Camp sold to Kenny Miller of Noxon, who had owned a tourist court on Highway 10A along the river near Noxon but had to vacate when the Cabinet Gorge Dam raised the water level.

The property’s “tourist camp” terminology eventually disappeared; it became Big Pine Court in the mid-1950s, and was the Big Pine Motel & Store by mid-1970s. However, the business name of “Big Pine” remained into the 1980s, with riverside cabins, rooms to rent, a small store and gasoline pumps. Big Pine owners included Sterling and Arvilla Larsen in the early 1970s, and Herman and Nancy Kruiswyk in the late 1970s into the 1980s.

The main building and some of the original cabins remain today. The original store (many times remodeled) in 2026 is home to Little Bear Cannabis Boutique.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The riverfront area slightly east of the Big Pine property was home to the concrete “boom pier” connecting floating booms linked to the Thompson Falls dam. In 1916, the public supported creation of “Riverside Park” between the highway and the river, east of downtown, to provide a vehicle pull-out for motorists plus a boat launch and swimming dock. This developed into a popular swimming area and boat launch that predates what is now Wild Goose Landing Park.

--This story compiled and prepared by Patrick J. Sullivan, TFHS Class of 1977 & a Sanders County Historical Society volunteer

04/20/2026

‘Homerun” Torgrimson bids farewell to Thompson Falls

Darrel “Torgy” Torgrimson and his lovely bride of nearly 63 years, Penny, have moved from Thompson Falls to live closer to relatives in Idaho. A recent gathering gave people a chance to wish the couple well. In that light, we’re sharing photos of Torgy from his days at Noxon High School, Western Montana College, and as a coach/teacher at Thompson Falls High School.

Torgy has been a larger than life character around Sanders County since the 1950s. He was a stellar athlete, earning the nickname of “Homerun” Torgrimson for his baseball skills, as both a youth and adult. He became an accomplished high school coach, and later, served youth athletics in roles such as game announcer. Outside his school duties, he was a worthy duffer and conversationalist at River’s Bend Golf Course.

Darrel Adolph “Torgy” Torgrimson is Noxon High School Class of 1956 (his parents moved to the Noxon area in 1938) and Lorraine Libby “Penny” Miller is Thompson Falls High School Class of 1963. They were married in July of 1963 at the Community Congregational Church in T-Falls.

During his senior year at Noxon, the Red Devils won the District C basketball championship with Torgy as a leading scorer.

In 1968, as a senior at Western Montana College in Dillion, Torgy was selected as an all-star for intramural teams, one of 12 out of more than 125 candidates. In 1987, he was inducted into the Bulldog Hall of Fame for baseball.

At Western, Torgy majored in business and physical education. According to a Sanders County Ledger story from 1968, Penny “will receive a certificate at [commencement] exercises as a wife who assisted her husband in attaining his degree.”

Torgrimson followed up a student teacher assignment at Twin Bridges with being hired there as a teacher and coach. He worked at Twin Bridges for six years; in 1974 he was selected as one of the top five high school business education teachers in Montana.

In summer of 1975, he was hired at Thompson Falls High School as business teacher, and assistant coach in football and basketball. He was later assigned as track and field head coach, with R.J. Trevithick stepping back to be assistant coach, due to his increased work load with the new high school shop and driver’s education programs, the Ledger reported at the time.

There are certainly more accolades that could be shared about Torgy and Penny; if you have one, please post it.

---Patrick J. Sullivan, TFHS Class of 1977

04/12/2026

Thompson Falls, Montana - “Best Little Town by a Dam Site.” This photo was made April 5, 2026 so there’s even less snow on Eddy Mountain (and the valley’s other peaks) today. —Photo by John Hamilton

Thompson Falls, MT

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