The town of Columbia Falls was laid out in March, 1891, in anticipation of the arrival of the railroad. However, James Hill, founder of the Great Northern Railway…bought up land in the center of the valley for the section point, land that became Kalispell. The spirit of Columbia Falls remained undaunted, and farming and logging attracted newcomers to the town. (Carle F. O’Neil, Muscle, Grit & Big Dreams, Kalispell, Montana, 1996)
C. O. Ingalls, editor of the Daily Inter Lake in Demersville, visited Columbia Falls in September of 1891 and filed this report.
“It has been several months since the editor of this paper has had the pleasure of a visit to Columbia Falls…. The people of the Flathead Valley of course are aware that two years ago there was hardly a dozen ranches located five miles this side of Bad Rock Canyon. Today, not only is every foot of valuable mother earth claimed by someone, but at the south of the canyon is located one of the liveliest, energetic and thrifty towns to be found anywhere in the canyon or Northwest.
The place is well supplied with water mains and hydrants for fire protection, the water being pumped by the sawmill engine from the river.
A handsomer location for a city could not have been found anywhere along the line of the Great Northern railroad, neither could a spot have been selected which has the natural resources of Columbia Falls. With the timber, coal, agricultural and mineral wealth at her door she will at no distant day become one of the wealthy and bustling cities of the Great Flathead Valley.”
The new hotel, “The Gaylord,” is a handsome three-story brick structure 80 x 100 feet, with 40 good large sleeping rooms. That material in this house is all home production, the brick, lumber, lime, etc., being manufactured almost within the city limits.
A large sawmill and a shingle mill is turning out fine lumber and shingles at a rapid rate every day.
Bridge carpenters are at work on the new wagon bridge which will soon connect the east and west side upper valleys.
The Columbian, edited by J. W. Pace, is a good live paper [in 1891] and is working vigorously for the interests of its patrons and Columbia Falls.”
History courtesy of Northwest Montana Historical Society in Kalispell, MT. Text and photos are from a newly installed History of the Flathead Valley exhibition at the Museum at Central School, 124 2nd Ave E, Kalispell, MT
The early history of Columbia Falls brims with real estate speculators playing loose with the facts while hands on pioneering families dealt firsthand with the harsh realities of frontier living and built a community. By 1883, settlers were moving into Flathead Valley in larger numbers, squatting in the wilderness, staking out homesteads and carving farms out fo the timber lands. That year the Missoula Gazette promoted the Half Moon Prairie area, five miles west of Bad Rock Canyon. By then, Travel through the western Montana wilderness was much easier, with settlers arriving in Missoula by Northern Pacific train and then traveling by coach and steamboat to the head of Flathead Lake. Post offices were soon established at Half Moon and Monaco, a community located at the base of Columbia Mountain. On Nov 8, 1889, when Montana became the 41st state, a group of pioneers established a village on the banks of the Flathead River called Columbia, at the foot of today's Nucleus Avenue. Among the early homesteaders in 1886 was Gaspard Martin, for whom Martin City was named 60 years later. That same year, Lawrence Feirstein arrived from Austria nd Homesteaded 160 acres near Columbia Falls. His neighbors were Frank and Bertha Opalka, who also spoke German. Five years later, the Loefflers arrived from Germany and began farming land across the Flathead River from today's Colombia Falls. In 1935 the Loeffler farm was bisected by Highway 40 (today's Highway 2) when a new "silver"bridge was built across the river. Robert Saurey Sr and his family were also early Columbia Falls settlers. Saurey, a horse logger who later helped build the wooden railway trestle at Coram, pitche his tent at 1233 Second Avenue West. Horse loggers in the early days included Frank Mateka and brothers Oscar and Eddie Tetrault. The pioneer community slowly carved a niche in the wilderness. Farming and logging were the mainstays of the economy with steamboats linking them to the rest of the nation. Coal, discovered in 1887 by a trapper in the Coal Creek drainage up the North Fork, was brought down on barges and flat-boats to power Flathead Lake Steamers. In April 1890, a Flathead newspaper reported that "several notables"were on their way up the North Fork to check out the coal deposits. At the same time, Prospectors were searching for oil near the Canada border. But it was a new northern rail line that turned Columbia Falls into a boom town.
From, The Daily Interlake- 23 Jul 2014
C. O. Ingalls, editor of the Daily Inter Lake in Demersville, visited Columbia Falls in September of 1891 and filed this report.
“It has been several months since the editor of this paper has had the pleasure of a visit to Columbia Falls…. The people of the Flathead Valley of course are aware that two years ago there was hardly a dozen ranches located five miles this side of Bad Rock Canyon. Today, not only is every foot of valuable mother earth claimed by someone, but at the south of the canyon is located one of the liveliest, energetic and thrifty towns to be found anywhere in the canyon or Northwest.
The place is well supplied with water mains and hydrants for fire protection, the water being pumped by the sawmill engine from the river.
A handsomer location for a city could not have been found anywhere along the line of the Great Northern railroad, neither could a spot have been selected which has the natural resources of Columbia Falls. With the timber, coal, agricultural and mineral wealth at her door she will at no distant day become one of the wealthy and bustling cities of the Great Flathead Valley.”
The new hotel, “The Gaylord,” is a handsome three-story brick structure 80 x 100 feet, with 40 good large sleeping rooms. That material in this house is all home production, the brick, lumber, lime, etc., being manufactured almost within the city limits.
A large sawmill and a shingle mill is turning out fine lumber and shingles at a rapid rate every day.
Bridge carpenters are at work on the new wagon bridge which will soon connect the east and west side upper valleys.
The Columbian, edited by J. W. Pace, is a good live paper [in 1891] and is working vigorously for the interests of its patrons and Columbia Falls.”
History courtesy of Northwest Montana Historical Society in Kalispell, MT. Text and photos are from a newly installed History of the Flathead Valley exhibition at the Museum at Central School, 124 2nd Ave E, Kalispell, MT
The early history of Columbia Falls brims with real estate speculators playing loose with the facts while hands on pioneering families dealt firsthand with the harsh realities of frontier living and built a community. By 1883, settlers were moving into Flathead Valley in larger numbers, squatting in the wilderness, staking out homesteads and carving farms out fo the timber lands. That year the Missoula Gazette promoted the Half Moon Prairie area, five miles west of Bad Rock Canyon. By then, Travel through the western Montana wilderness was much easier, with settlers arriving in Missoula by Northern Pacific train and then traveling by coach and steamboat to the head of Flathead Lake. Post offices were soon established at Half Moon and Monaco, a community located at the base of Columbia Mountain. On Nov 8, 1889, when Montana became the 41st state, a group of pioneers established a village on the banks of the Flathead River called Columbia, at the foot of today's Nucleus Avenue. Among the early homesteaders in 1886 was Gaspard Martin, for whom Martin City was named 60 years later. That same year, Lawrence Feirstein arrived from Austria nd Homesteaded 160 acres near Columbia Falls. His neighbors were Frank and Bertha Opalka, who also spoke German. Five years later, the Loefflers arrived from Germany and began farming land across the Flathead River from today's Colombia Falls. In 1935 the Loeffler farm was bisected by Highway 40 (today's Highway 2) when a new "silver"bridge was built across the river. Robert Saurey Sr and his family were also early Columbia Falls settlers. Saurey, a horse logger who later helped build the wooden railway trestle at Coram, pitche his tent at 1233 Second Avenue West. Horse loggers in the early days included Frank Mateka and brothers Oscar and Eddie Tetrault. The pioneer community slowly carved a niche in the wilderness. Farming and logging were the mainstays of the economy with steamboats linking them to the rest of the nation. Coal, discovered in 1887 by a trapper in the Coal Creek drainage up the North Fork, was brought down on barges and flat-boats to power Flathead Lake Steamers. In April 1890, a Flathead newspaper reported that "several notables"were on their way up the North Fork to check out the coal deposits. At the same time, Prospectors were searching for oil near the Canada border. But it was a new northern rail line that turned Columbia Falls into a boom town.
From, The Daily Interlake- 23 Jul 2014