The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1922-09-08

OOW UUVO6tluv
WESTERN
Over in the Clark's Fork valley Of
western Montana group Of modern
pioneers are conQuering wilderness
and building new miniature Ameri-
can commonwealth, and the commune
ity IN an interesting one. both be-
cause Of the work in hand and of the
character Of the men and women who
are doing It. II visitor entering
the valley wishes to get the why's and
wherefores Of the matter, he will be
told something like this:
Twelve years ago virgin forests
Of fat yellow pine covered this re-
gion. In 1910 q disastrous forest
fire swept through it. Then the Ana
conda company sent the lumberjacks
In to salvage what was left Of the
timber, after which it threw fifty or
sixty thousand acres open to settle
ment.
Settlers began coming in eight
years ago. Since then about $50
families have settled in the valley.
They have established homes and
cleared large areas. Working toge-
Their they have achieved recognition
as producers of the best seed pota-
toes for the spud barons of the va
kima valley of Washington. Almost
from the first they have been mar
keting dairy and other products un-
der the cooperative system evolved
by the orange growers of Southern
California. Their strawberry beds,
vegetable gardens and fields of clo-
YER and alfalfa flourish where there
were only stumps less than a decade
ago. Roads have replaced deer
trails and graded and graveled
highway equal to any other in the
state has been constructed, with
bridges, at a cost of $4,000, as a fed
eral aid project. There are tele-
phones, automobiles, bathtubs and
other appurtenances of civilization.
such as our grandfathers never knew.
"More than that, these people have
developed q community spirit. They
help one another. Theirs is the only
pioneer community in the country
probably with access to high school
to which boy or girl can 60 carry
ing q couple of hams or bag of po-
tatoes to exchange for board and
lodging at the rate Of $11 per month.
Certainly It is the only one in Amer
lea with Russian bath establish
ment.
Th~ vxyn~ar - M. o~.a ns~<,,
1.-THE people have their boy and
girl Scout organizations and three
years ago, at their community house
at Alger, they entertained the return
ing soldiers three days straight at
cost of $1,000. It produced deficit
for the first time in the treasury of
the marketing association, which
financed the notable affair. But
what did anybody care! The boys.
the Grand Army and the Spanish war
veterans all had good time.
''Now did the old pioneers have a
tougher job than this, or get better
results?"
It is a purely hypothetical question
unless one sees the thing for him
self. Hence the suggestion, spend
two days there, between little rail-
road station called Belknap, beyond
the county seat. Thompson Falls, and
Noxon, just east of Idaho line. The
tourist passing through catches only
fleeing glimpses of a logged-off
landscape, dotted with dwellings and
barns grouped about evergreen sap
lings or a;ders and willows that es-
capped the flames Of 1910 and were
spared by the woodsmen. Stumps
still abound in the meadows, while
tho SCARED skeletons Of burned for
houetted starkly against the sky.
The more intimate, interesting
things, which reveal the heart of a
man or Of q community, escape him
entirely. He misses, for instance. q
meeting with Harry Cullom. q form
or division field chief Of the United
States land office, who holds the hon
or Of having been Pioneer No. I, and
IL busy now with the affairs of the
newly formed seed potato association.
He can not see the water wheel with
which Edward Gage expects to lift
water from the Clark's Fork to irri-
gate a river bank field of alfalfa.
There is no chance Of him personally
to estimate the qualities Of Mrs.
Wano Laney's ice cream which IL ia
nous as far as Spokane. Nor does
he hear Of Dan and Dinty, or of Miss
Gladys Brown, who quit her job as
county school superintendent to go
into war work, and returned to live
on a homestead far up on Swamp
creek. or Of the girl who contracted
to raise 100 bags Of spuds this sum-
mer to pay her board at the high
school next year.
But he can not tarry more than a
day without coming into contact with
TWO BRAIN MAN