Week of May 2, 2024
Week of May 2, 2024
Sometime between April 12 and 13, the potholes off Highway 83 that a driver had to navigate before entering the Seeley Lake Post Office parking lot were filled in. According to a Letter to the Editor the Pathfinder received, published in the April 18 paper, the "minefield of deep holes" was "neatly filled in and graded." The writer of the letter learned that a Post Office employee had left work on Friday April 12 and came to work the next day to see the holes filled in, and didn't know who had...
Curiosity led the way for Ovando artist Andrea Morgan to learn new ways of expressing herself through mixed media artwork. Morgan's lifetime of creating led to making and selling paper mache roosters and other animals in 2009. She upcycles paper maps, old encyclopedias and recycled books for the paper mache. She became acquainted with selling her work at Montana Made fairs and displaying in a few local galleries. Through an online art class in 2020, Morgan found another outlet for her...
On April 28 the Seeley Lake Leos and Lions cleaned up about two miles of Highway 83. The clubs, in partnership with Montana's Department of Transportation, undertake this clean up every year. Pictured here are the 16 people - five Leos and 11 Lions - that showed up to help. Students included Jalen Kauffman, Rilyn Richardson, Regan Jones, Bailey Bartlett and Hattie Batchelder, along with their advisor, Mary...
Potomac School sixth through eighth grade students participated in the state National History Days competition in Bozeman in early April. Students presented their projects, all based around the theme of "Turning Points in History," to judges. Fourteen students qualified to advance to the national competition in Washington, D.C. June 9-14. Principal Sarah Schmill offered congratulations to all participations, who she said worked extremely hard on this year-long research project, and gave a shout...
The Seeley Lake Sewer Board authorized Water & Environmental Technologies, or WET, to move forward with a feasibility study for a wastewater treatment system, which will assess things like the project’s schedule, cost, technology requirements and overall viability. While the timeline is uncertain, this step is one towards defining what wastewater treatment will look like in Seeley Lake, which could include different types of treatment in different areas of town. The engineering company expects the first four phases of the study, which...
After making an offer to an applicant for Seeley Lake Elementary School’s principal and superintendent position, the school board had to reassess after the applicant declined the job. Stetson Spooner, current athletic director at the Mullan School District in Idaho, was the first candidate the school board offered the position to, and he declined due to some personal concerns about moving to Seeley Lake, School Board Chair Doc Welter said. Welter said Spooner didn’t bring up housing as a concern for the move, but did request a larger...
The Dolly Varden Fire was reported at 1:50 p.m. on April 23 southeast of Seeley Lake. Now 100% contained, the fire reached one and a half acres. It was caused by a wind-driven escaped debris burn in an area under Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation responsibility, according to an update from the department. Four structures were threatened but because of quick responses from USDA Forest Service Seeley Lake Ranger District firefighters and seven engines, no structures were harmed. “The quick response and initial command...
Thirty-five years ago... Thursday May 4, 1989 'Mock' school disaster, Emergency personnel cope with over 20 injured children "There's none better!" That's what the Red Cross official, Duane Hawk of Kalispell, had to say when the exercise ended Sunday, according to Joyce Himes of the Condon QRU. Emergency personnel from the Condon QRU, the Swan Valley Volunteer Fire Department, the Seeley Lake QRU, Swan Mission Search and Rescue, Black Paw Avalanche and Rescue Dogs and hospital helicopters from...
During the early to mid-twentieth century several upper Swan Valley dude ranches were at the height of operation, providing packing and guiding services to guests from around the world. Holland Lake Lodge and 33 Bar Ranch In 1924, Roria "Babe" Wilhelm, along with his sister, Ada, and her husband, Art White leased land from the Forest Service and built the Mountain View Hotel near Holland Lake. The hotel was built with lumber from Babe's steam-powered sawmill and sided with half-logs to give the...
For the past six months I have been talking to hundreds of Montanans about their concerns and hopes for the future, and the one issue that comes up every time is housing. Some of our neighbors and their kids are living on the streets. Young families who would like to live here can’t afford to. Businesses, like Pyramid Lumber in Seeley Lake, are closing down because the workers they need can’t afford to live in town. There’s no doubt about it: the housing crisis is severe and it’s doing real damage to communities throughout western...
Back when Ulysses Grant was President, my fiancé and I attended a - required by the church - weekend seminar called "Engagement Encounter." The idea was to improve the chances of marital success by having the couples engage in serious discussions about core issues - money, communication, in-laws, respect and so forth. We were posed questions that we answered in notebooks, then shared the answers with each other. Messages such as "please don't get fat," and "if you turn into a drunk my divorce...
Sometimes you just need to go fishing. You just need that time alone, time away from what doesn't give you peace. You might catch a trout or two but that doesn't really matter. The trout aren't what you're after. You need for your peace to return and know, when you fish, that you're connecting with something greater than yourself that will restore your peace. At other times it's about being with those rare people with whom you share a special bond - it's about strengthening the bond and...
We are learning a lot about how the timber industry has been such a key part of the Seeley-Swan Valley for over 100 years. Our forests provided logs for lumber, and our loggers and truckers have worked tirelessly to make these logs available for mills. Let’s take a look back and see what the timber industry was like during the boom years following the Second World War, and how our area was involved. Dr. Horace H. Koessler, owner of the Gordon Ranch, started a sawmill on the ranch in 1946, using local timber. The following year, along with...
The Blackhawks took on two consecutive rainy and cold meets last weekend. Friday was at Big Sky High School in Missoula and Saturday was at the East Helena Invitational. Coach Mike Haines said this was the first time the athletes ran in back-to-back events this season. But that's what the teams will be facing at District next weekend. This weekend the Seeley-Swan track and fielders will participate in the KLH Memorial Meet, the meet in memory of Coach Haines' father - former Seeley-Swan High...
