Hungry Horse news and Columbian. [volume] (Columbia Falls, Mont.) 1946-1948, 1947-01-17
.t.odsr Has Guest
fl. Ridenour Tells Of Ta|bot's
kramer Cakes Up North Fork
...,der Has Guest

Talbot to develop coa
n me- IN the North Fork at the
nc q The Great Northern railroad
ps a a into the Flathead
lley. s 90 II
a;storv is ]. H. Ridenour OF
= Five. His story of Mr.. Tai
and the steamer oake 5,
: appeared in the Kalispell
y, The following paragraphs
digestsd version.
netting away under the west
If the bridge below Glacier
tional parks southwest cor
i an old steam boiler. For
,ost half a century it has
there, abandoned, isolated,
almost forgotten. 1t is the
l of a romantic and advea-
ms enterprise, the ill-starred
noe of the steamer Cakes.
Coal Discovered
Drovious to 1890, coal deposits
been discovered up the Flat
as North Fork. About the
: time James A. Talbot, an
erprising character who had
spered in the rush days at
Ne. came into the Flathead
ntry. With others he acquired
Columbia Falls townsite, a.
4 of the railroad, and built
alatial home on the banks OF
river.
albot had learned of coal
osits up the North Fork. He
eyed coal would stimulate
WITH oil the area, interest the
road, and help his town OF
umbia Falls.
determined to interest the
at Northern, he decided on
parate measures to bring out
arload of coal as a sample.
rland transportation was i'm
rtical, so he had a steamboat |
i at a cost of $4,000.
Steamer Was Sternwheeler
he steamer, named the Oak.
was a stern wheeler about
feet long and fairly broad of |
m. She was captained and
tied by two experienced ri
nan, Steve Lareau and Chris
Prestbye, and had crew of
lozen. Operating the engine
a man by the name of Doyle;
boiler was fired by Claude
Inner. Riggers for handling
lines and shore gear inclu-
Mike Shannon, Bob Hunter,
Mcdonald and a tall young
remembered only as Slim.
old man of IS, probably a
fe crony of Talbot's earlier
in Butte, was one of the
and there was Talbot him
frly in May 1892, the Cakes
lned up the swollen Flat
Talbot's enthusiasm in
Ed the crew. Their whistle
IS echoed through Bad Rock ,,
'Oa, passed the mouth of the l
N Fork. They steamed be.
. the high Great Northern
&c near the present site of
pm, and onward without in :
NJ to the foot of Red Lick
s some three miles bey-
Troubles Start |,
efe was the first crisis of -
voyage. Slena:ner fired the T.
to the limit, and Doyle :
"a The engine. A small beat
line to shore, and a po- =
winch aboard helped save y
snip from going broadside -
! the rocky channel. y
icy passed the mouth of the "
'e Fork, and worked north {
INTO the narrowing and =
Aealng current of the North
/, II was good game country,
frequently deer and moose j.,
F&ed on the river banks. a
seven deer were seen SWIM u
I. across the river upstream. d
nelr right lay the rugged d
lness that was to become Is
ter National park 10 years W
ana on their left the foot u
|. VI the Whitefish mountains. 81
T. below the mouth of Cam :.
h lex = the Cakes was swept -
4 'ne main chanel and eau p'
L IL a broad whirling pool y
sne milled around, but i iis
. ,nally righted. Many days IN
p az and they were less St
-, :. miles from their start OF
p s,' up the North Fork.
', a@1ent was growing more ri
,osa at aAd the channel more fl,
|eIOuS mill