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Covering the Bitterroot Valley – “Where Montana Begins!”
Volume XXXIV, Number 52
Local history
Established 1985 - Locally owned & independent
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Wuerthner on wilderness – ‘Wild Places, Wild Times’
By Michael Howell
Bitterrooters got a chance to hear about how valuable wilderness areas are from one of their most ardent advocates last week when George Wuerthner gave a talk at the Bedford building in Hamilton at the invitation of Friends of the Bitterroot and other sponsors. Wuerthner is a professional photographer, writer and ecologist. He has written more than two dozen books on natural history and other environmental topics and is currently the ecological projects director for the Foundation for Deep Ecology. He grew up back east but came out west to go to Forestry School at the University of Montana. It was here that he got his first introduction to a wilderness area when he visited the SelwayBitterroot Wilderness. It set him on a course that would take him into hundreds of mountain ranges around the West, more than 380 wilderness areas, more than 180 national park units, and every national forest west of the Mississippi.
Wuerthner was asked to talk about wildfires and wilderness. He had a few points to make about wildfires. For one thing, no amount of fuels reduction and fire mitigation tactics can stop a raging fire if the conditions propelling it
are prime. “Wildfires just can’t be stopped when the right conditions exist,” he said. There are many factors involved in driving See WUERTHNER, page 4
George Wuerthner, professional photographer, writer and ecologist, gave a talk in Hamilton last week at an event sponsored by Friends of the Bitterroot. Michael Howell photo.
Court affirms ruling against Hughes Creek landowners By Michael Howell
New book on life of John Owen published by Stoneydale Press The publication of a new novel focusing on the life of one of Montana’s most influential citizens during its early territorial history – John Owen, founder of the famed Fort Owen trading post in the Bitterroot Valley – was announced this week by Stoneydale Press. Titled “Warm Side of Heaven: The Life and Times of John Owen,” the book, written in novel form, was authored by Bill Turner of Missoula who more than 40 years ago as a young Forest Service worker became enamored with the stories he heard about Owen and his historic trading post and, as a result, has since then spent thousands of hours studying Owen’s journals and other historic references regarding his “fort” that during its heyday when it was one of the most important frontier trading posts in the region. The premiere release of the new book will be made Aug. 2-3 at Stevensville’s Creamery Picnic where the author will be in the Stoneydale Press booth both days to sign his book and visit with those interested in the story of John Owen and his famous trading post. John Owen had been a suttler for the U.S. Army when, in 1850, he purchased the land and remnants of the St. Mary’s Mission, which Jesuit priests under famed Roman Catholic mission-
ary Father John Pierre DeSmet established in September of 1841 but closed in 1850 to pursue their work elsewhere in the region. The result was that Fort Owen became, for the next couple of decades, a centerpiece of commerce and trade involving early settlers in the Bitterroot and Native American tribes in the region. The Jesuits later re-established St. Mary’s Mission in Stevensville and the mission and Fort Owen have held historic significance ever since. Incidentally, the title for the book was taken from an entry in Owen’s journals made in reference to the Bitterroot Valley. “We are absolutely delighted at the opportunity to publish Mr. Turner’s novel about John Owen because this incredible man was not only one of the most influential people of his time in this part of the world, but a man of integrity, strong moral character and a person of great historic insight into his times and what was taking place across the continent in the wake of the westward expansion of the country and later the impact of the Civil War,” said Dale Burk, owner of Stoneydale Press. “We believe Mr. Turner has shown us the essence of an incredible man in the person of John Owen, a man vitally important to the early history of our community. It’s a story that, literally, has begged telling.” An early and outspoken
advocate of the Native Americans in the region, Owen in fact was married to a Shoshone woman and to facilitate his business ventures traveled extensively throughout the West in those perilous times to acquire supplies for his trading post. He also served for a short period as Indian Agent for the U.S. government. During all that time, Owen kept a detailed journal of the places he went and the people he encountered, which just happened to include such luminaries as a U.S. Army officer named Ulysses S. Grant; Isaac Stevens, the governor of the Territory of Washington (of which the landscape now known as Montana was a part) and namesake of the small town adjacent to the fort, Stevensville; famed road builder John Mullan, and Chief Charlo of the Salish (Flathead) Indians. Owen also enjoyed close friendships with the founders of a nearby settlement first called Hell’s Gate – and later Missoula – but which, because of its more accessible location in regard to travel corridors at the time, ultimately overshadowed the vitality of Owen’s trading post “up the Bitterroot.” Owen’s journals and Turner’s novel also provide insight into a trip late in Owen’s life that he made to Washington, D.C., where he met with President Abraham Lincoln See BOOK, page 3
When the local District Court ruled against the landowners along Hughes Creek who want to keep the gate up that blocks Hughes Creek Road at about the nine-mile mark, they took their case to the Montana Supreme Court. On July 9, the Supreme Court issued an order denying that appeal and supporting the lower court’s order. The landowners petitioned the County Commissioners to abandon the road above the gate passing through their properties in 2016, but the Commis-
sided with the commissioners on sioners denied the petition. The this fact. landowners sued but the District The landowners, members Court upheld the commissioners’ of the Bugli and Cox families, actions. argued that the Board of County The gate was erected in Commissioners exceeded its the 1970’s and has remained in jurisdiction when it denied their place since then. According to the request to abandon the top of ruling, the dispute hinged on the Hughes Creek Road where it length of the road. The landowntraverses their properties. ers based their claim that the road stops at the gate about nine miles The commissioners up on a single map that was made disagreed, finding that the road in 1965 showing the road was only was almost 12 miles long and about eight miles long. The Comprovides access to public lands missioners found in their invesbeyond. The law prohibits the tigation plenty of evidence that county from closing roads that the road was about 12 miles long See HUGHES CREEK, page 11 when it was adopted. The Court
Stevi Council backtracks on approval of legal services contract, confirms new attorney
By Michael Howell
At its July 11 meeting, the Town Council voted unanimously to suspend council rules in order to skip consideration of the mayor’s appointment of Scott Owens as a new town attorney and instead consider awarding the contract to its current attorney, Brian West. With the rules suspended, they unanimously awarded the town’s legal services contract for the coming year to West. But following a telephone call between the Mayor and West concerning the decision, Mayor Brandon Dewey told the council that the Town’s attorney advised them to immediately review their decision and invalidate it because it wasn’t legal. The council did invalidate the contract award to West and subsequently confirmed the Mayor’s appointment of Owens. Details of the contract with Owens will be presented to the Council at its next meeting on August 5 for approval. As soon as council president Bob Michalson moved to suspend
the rules and consider awarding the contract without confirming the mayor’s appointment, Dewey stated that he had consulted with West about the issue of whether it was an appointment or a contract. “In this case it’s both,” said Dewey. “It’s an appointment and a contract. The council needs to approve the appointment and then approve the contract that goes with it.” Michalson went ahead with the motion to suspend the rules and do the contract first and council member Jim Crews seconded it. Crews said it all began with a request for services and the bids had been opened. He said tonight they could either award the bid or reject them all. He said he thought that West made the better candidate. Mayor Dewey asked, “What happens if you make a contract with an individual that I am not willing to appoint?” He said that’s why the appointment was listed first on the agenda. He said the law was clear that the mayor appoints the attorney.
Crews asked what would happen if the council awarded the contract and the mayor didn’t appoint him. “The council would have its own attorney, but not the town,” said Dewey. In the public comment period, Bitterroot Star publisher Victoria Howell said that approving a contract with West would be illegal since the law states that the mayor appoints the attorney. Howell stated that the council had said they wanted to meet Mr. Owens and question him before approving the appointment, but then didn’t ask him a single question when they had the opportunity earlier in the meeting. Jaime Williams commented that the council was in turmoil and lacked leadership. She said the current attorney has let the turmoil continue. “You say you want change. If you want a change here’s an opportunity,” she said. Lori Luporini suggested that See COUNCIL, page 3