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Covering the Bitterroot Valley – “Where Montana Begins!”
‘The Established 1985 - Locally owned & independent
Volume XXXIV, Number 26
By Michael Howell
Bitterroot Stockgrowers president Brian Rouse presents a plaque to Lee and Lorena Erickson honoring them for their contributions to agriculture in the Bitterroot. Jean Schurman photo.
Bitterroot Stockgrowers honor Lee and Lorena Erickson
For many ranchers in the Bitterroot, the middle of January is about the end of what will be their winter’s ‘rest’. Sure, there’s feeding the livestock and the day-to-day chores but soon another element, calving, will be added to the list and a full night’s sleep will be a thing of the past. There’s not a lot of socializing done during this time so the Bitterroot Stockgrowers Expo and Banquet provides one last hurrah before the busy season. The banquet was held Saturday night at the fairgrounds in Hamilton. This year the association honored Lee and Lorena Erickson of Corvallis. The couple has lived on their place for over 60 years. Lee Erickson was born just up Popham Lane from their current location. He is the son of Ralph
and Florence Erickson. He, along with his sister Dorothy, played and worked on the dairy farm. In addition to raising the necessary crops for the dairy cattle, they had an apple orchard. Erickson became a mechanic during these years out of necessity as his father was said to have only a couple of hammers and screwdrivers and really wasn’t a mechanic. Erickson attended Corvallis schools and went to Montana Boys’ State in 1957. After graduation, Erickson was drafted and served two years in the U.S. Army. When he came home, he never left the Bitterroot again. Well, except for those two times in a Missoula hospital and the occasional trip to Missoula to get parts or something no store in the valley provides. Although their main place is on Popham Lane, over the years the Ericksons have leased
property from Groff Lane to Hamilton Heights to supplement their property. While farming, he practiced crop rotations and grew many different crops. One year he planted seed peas and at harvest time, he had the crop all cut and laid out in windrows. A huge wind came up and rolled all the windrows to the fence. Erickson then had to use a fork to toss the peas into the harvester. Erickson raised sugar beets for many years. He said the crop was a good crop but the cost of transporting the beets became too expensive when the sugar mill in Missoula shut down. Although they didn’t keep the dairy running, the Ericksons have always had cattle. They started out raising baby calves and ‘short term’ cattle, ones that See ERICKSONS, page 2
Local history
‘Strange story’ draws a crowd
By Michael Howell
Fort Owen State Park may not have much money, but it sure has a lot of friends. More than six dozen people packed the community room at the North Valley Public Library last week just to hear a strange story about the fort’s founder, Major John Owen, and the more wellknown Jesuit priest, Father Pierre DeSmet, who served at St. Mary’s Mission for a number of years. Anthropologist, historian and author Sally Thompson has interviewed over 200 elders and educators from 37 native American tribes and worked with Kootenai and Blackfeet elders on a book, about their seasonal rounds through Glacier National Park, called “People before the Park.” As Margaret Gorski, President of Friends of Fort Owen, noted in her introduction,
Sally Thompson
Thompson likes to look at things like history from the Native American point of view. In her talk, “A Strange Story of John Owen and Father DeSmet, Spring 1859,” she doesn’t hide her admiration for the mercantilist and trader John Owen over Father
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
County and City discuss joint projects for coming year
Agricultural legacy
By Jean Schurman
’ ! l a c o L Best at
DeSmet, who strikes her as more of a fame and celebrity seeker. “John Owen is a friendly, lovable guy,” said Thompson frankly to the audience. “He’s so happy you are here to support him because he’s almost lost to history, except for you. And yet, DeSmet is known worldwide, with statues built for him, and here is this [other] man, who really took care of this area and the people in it and had a wonderful heart.” She paints a picture of Father DeSmet as being a short timer in the area compared to Owen and far less travelled in the area as a result. Owen on the other hand spent decades in the area making extensive supply trips, becoming much more familiar with the terrain and the tribes. Although Jesuit priests are famous for being able to write and See STORY, page 3
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Relations between the County and the City of Hamilton have been strained over the last couple of years as the two entities crossed paths and sometimes butted heads over various projects. Last week, Hamilton Mayor Dominic Farrenkopf took the initiative by scheduling a meeting with the newly organized three-person Board of County Commissioners to set a new tone for future engagements. It was well received. The item was placed on the agenda as a “discussion/decision” concerning various projects that the county shares an interest in with the city. But Farrenkopf made it clear that he was not there looking for any decisions about anything. He said that he was simply reaching out to the County Commissioners at the beginning of a new year to just take a look at some of the projects that the city and the county were currently working on together and see what might possibly be completed in the coming year. He said he had picked out the top four projects from the city’s point of view,
but that he was also interested in hearing from the commissioners if there were any projects they were looking at that they thought the city might be able to help them with. The four projects that the mayor brought up for discussion “from smallest to biggest,” he said, were the Fourth of July fireworks display, a potential trail along the railroad tracks through town, the latest addition to the city’s park system along the river, and the Targeted Economic Development District (TEDD) located north and east of Hamilton. Farrenkopf told the commissioners, “I love the Fourth of July.” He said he took on the annual 4th of July fireworks display, which the City has been sponsoring for some time, as sort of a pet project. He said the city was able, with a lot of donations, to put up $8,000 last year and he thanked the county for matching with $4,000. He said it is true that both city and county residents attend and it is a great thing for both. But his aim, he said, is to shift that cost away from the city and
the county to a point that it is totally supported by donations. He wasn’t sure that was going to be possible this year, so hoped the county would be open to chipping in again if needed. He said he would get back to them with the numbers. “Hopefully, one day it will be completely funded by the people who enjoy it,” said Farrenkopf. “The earlier the better,” said Commissioner Chris Hoffman, concerning any potential donation from the county. Farrenkopf said that he had been working with Bob Cron from the County Park Board and Montana Rail Link on a potential trail along the railroad tracks through town. He said he had placed a few applications and heard some concerns from MRL about the potential impact on entities that lease land from the railroad along the way. He said a fence was being considered and that MRL would like to have the trail not cross the tracks. The city is also adding land to its system of parks along the See PROJECTS, page 2
County Commissioners Chris Hoffman and Chairman Jeff Burrows listen intently as Hamilton Mayor Dominic Farrenkopf sets a positive tone for the new year, stressing the need for cooperation and communication between the municipal and county governments whose interests often overlap. Michael Howell photo.
Town of Stevensville hires water rights attorney By Michael Howell
The Stevensville Town Council, at its January 10 meeting, moved to sign a letter of engagement with water rights attorney Ross Miller. The town is facing some serious water problems with both the aging infrastructure of its water delivery system and its right to use the water that it is currently using. Public Works Director George Thomas told the council that over the past month the town pumped about 13 million gallons of water from its wells but only about 5 million gallons made it to its destined use by homes and businesses in the community. An estimated 8 million gallons disappeared due to leaks. The public works department has been working for years on trying to locate the leaks. They have had some success but, from the numbers, obviously there is still
a long way to go to resolve the problem. The town has also been facing problems over its right to use the water from its new well field located adjacent to the Twin Creeks subdivision on the southeast side of town. The well field is not located within the town limits. When the Town decided to quit using the gravity feed system located up the Burnt Fork and start using well water from its new wells near town, it ran into legal problems concerning the change in water rights from Burnt Fork surface water to the newly installed groundwater wells. One problem, it turned out, was that the Town failed to file for its historic water rights in a timely fashion. On top of that, state law mandated that a valid water right could only be issued for the amount of water being used at the time it was granted. This
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left every town in Montana in a difficult if not untenable position since they had all mostly grown in size and were using more water all the time. As a result, Stevensville’s new water right change application which was submitted in 2014 was denied and terminated the following year. The town has been operating 3 of the 4 new wells without a valid water right since then. Ross Miller, who worked as the town’s water rights attorney from 2007 to 2010, told the council that the Montana Supreme Court recently ruled for the first time ever, in what he called the “Helena case,” indicating that Montana would follow the Growing Community Doctrine, that is a recognition that a water right for a municipality inherently includes the right to “reasonable See STEVI, page 3
Westside Road in Hamilton
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