West Valley Pioneer: Edmond Levi Kelley

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.

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West Valley Pioneers: Frank and Ida Stiles

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.  

Frank and Ida Stiles
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West Valley Pioneer: Walter Jaquette

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.

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The Kuhns Homestead

by Skip Via, with Jeanine Buettner
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org

General Information

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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