The natural environment and history of Kalispell’s West Valley area
by Jeanine Buetttner
nammy@montanasky.com
The following is the text of an interview with Mabel Grosswiler (Mrs. Carl Grosswiler) published in the Daily Inter Lake in November, 1949.
In 1875 an immigrant boy from Switzerland landed in New York to join his brother. Their father had accidentally drowned when they were very young, and the widowed mother never saw her boys again after they came to America. Frank Xavier Grosswiler was just 18 years old when he came to America.
by Jeanine Buettner
nammy@montanasky.com
Myron Nicholson was born in Port Byron, Illinois on July 29, 1873. Mr. Nicholson spent his early years farming in Illinois. On November 25, 1900 he married Miss Emma Osborn. That same year he moved to Chicago and engaged in the manufacture of brooms. He then entered the Moody Bible Institute and became a Baptist minister. He served the church at Hubbard, Minnesota in 1903 and at Sherburn, Minnesota from 1904 until 1909 when he moved to Belt, Montana. A year later he moved to the Flathead and bought a farm five miles northwest of Kalispell. He retired from farming in 1937 and moved to Kalispell. He was a deacon of the local Baptist church and substituted as minister on many occasions.
Continue Reading →by Jeanine Buettner
nammy@montanasky.com
James O’Boyle was born to Charles and Margaret O’Boyle on March 15, 1848. His father was employed by the Earl of Antrim, Hugh Seymour McDonnell (1812-1844) at the Earl’s estate in Deerpark Glenarm, County Antrim, Ireland. In 1868, at the age of 21, James set sail for New York and finding his way to Missouri for a few years. A forty-two day trip up the Missouri River brought him to Fort Benton, Montana Territory.
Continue Reading →by Jeanine Buettner
nammy@montanasky.com
Edmond Kelley was born in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, on April 18, 1860 and was educated and lived in Pennsylvania until coming to Montana in 1885, first locating in Butte and then moving to the Flathead Valley in 1887. He spent his first night in Somers. He was told that the valley farther up had some value as a range for cattle but of no value for farming. The next day he walked to the site that would later become Demersville.
by Jeanine Buettner
nammy@montanasky.com
My great grandparents Frank and Ida Stiles moved to Kalispell in 1901, from Corona, South Dakota where Frank was a farmer, school teacher and a member of the House of Representatives. They packed everything they owned including farm machinery into a boxcar and made their way to the Flathead Valley, bringing with them their four children, my grandfather T. Milton being the youngest.
by Jeanine Buettner
nammy@montanasky.com
Walter Parke Jaquette was one of the Flathead’s early pioneers. He was born October 16, 1863 in Oxford, Pennsylvania to Peter and Eleanor Jaquette.
Walter was from a very prominent Pennsylvania family. His great great grandfather Maj. Peter Jaquette served under Washington during the Revolutionary war. His great grandfather Capt. Peter Jaquette organized and furnished a great extent of company horses for the military. His father Peter L. Jaquette was a veteran of the Civil War and was at the White House when President Lincoln was assassinated.
Continue Reading →by Jeanine Buettner
nammy@montanasky.com
Editor’s note: Did you know there was once a hotel where Rebecca Farm now stands? Read on…
Robert Chester Palmer
Born July 17, 1836 in Palmyra, Ohio. He was the son of Frederick (1809) and Jane (1814) Palmer.
by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
These photos are of a barn off of Clark Road. The barn is on a homestead that was settled by the Clark family in 1898. The barn itself was constructed in 1909, before there was a Farm to Market Road linking the nascent agricultural area of West Valley to markets in Kalispell.
Continue Reading →by Jeanine Buettner
nammy@montanasky.com
The Spring Creek Cemetery first opened in 1895 on the site of the Spring Creek Methodist Church. The church and cemetery were established by Mr. John Milton Eastland. Mr. Eastland was not an educated man, but old-timers here in the valley remember him as a good gospel singer and a talented speaker.
Continue Reading →by Jeanine Beuttner, with photos from Pat Jaquith
nammy@montanasky.com, pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
Editor’s note: Pat Jaquith came across a barn wood reclamation team dismantling an old pump house on Spring Creek Road. Pat contacted Jeanine Beuttner for more information and learned that this property was established by Jeanine’s great grandparents, Charles and Rosalia Keller. Jeanine graciously offered us this fascinating historical vignette.
Continue Reading →by Skip Via, with Jeanine Buettner
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
The Kuhns homestead consists of farmland and several original buildings erected along a small creek across Farm To Market Road from the Pig Farm state land area. It is managed by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks for the purpose of wildlife protection. The homestead is an important winter wildlife area because old growth Douglas fir provides food as well as tree wells for browsing on Oregon grape for deer and other wildlife. It is also at the perfect elevation–not too high and not in the creek bed, which is where the cold gathers in winter.
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