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Biotech Growth
| GlaxoSmithKline unveils expanded efforts for innovative technology and vaccine development |
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| By Brian D’Ambrosio |
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The completion of GlaxoSmithKline’s $137 million dollar expanded Hamilton facility draws the Bitterroot Valley one step closer to becoming a premier focal point of biotechnology development.
On October 18, officials from the Belgium-headquartered pharmaceutical giant, along with Governor Brian Schweitzer and Hamilton Mayor Jessica Randazzo, came together to cut the official ribbon, and to tout the latest renovation of the Hamilton site as part of a global effort to grow one of the most robust vaccine pipelines in the industry.
Throughout the newly improved facility’s nippy, mid-afternoon press conference, myriad speakers stressed the positive economic impact the GSK’s enlargement is expected to have on the Bitterroot Valley, and its presumed augmentation of greater job growth, and the role the Hamilton site will play in GSK’s efforts to positively influence global public health.
“GSK plans to launch five new vaccines in the United States in the next two years,” said John Picken, Vice President of Industrial Operations, GSK North America. “In addition to others launched globally, the expansion of our site in Hamilton is vital to both the quantity and quality of vaccines that we produce. The improvements here are a testament to our commitment to providing an adequate supply of new and existing vaccines to the United States. Your backyard has made these efforts come alive.”
Kent Myers, acting site director and director of adjuvant development at the Hamilton facility, said the principle catalyst in the facility’s creation was research and manufacturing of a vaccine for human papillomavirus called Cervarix.
Schweitzer said that he was impressed with the facility’s improvements, and said that the GSK expansion, which will help increase adjuvant system production and vaccine development programs, provides just the right economic stimulus needed for the Bitterroot Valley, and for Montana, because it attracts and creates a better-paid, higher-skilled job force.
“Montana is a changing place,” said Schweitzer, “and the world is a changing place, and in order for Montana to be competitive, we are no longer just competing with Indiana or Colorado, we are competing with China and India and the places wanting growth facilities like this one. These are good-paying jobs that’ll keep the best and the brightest here in Montana.”
Governor Schweitzer and Mayor Randazzo both thanked GSK for choosing the Bitterroot Valley as a destination for their pharmaceutical production operation, and accentuated the bright economic benefits the company’s high-tech, high-wage presence will continue to bring to Hamilton and its surrounding areas.
“This means 130 new jobs to our community, and more are on the way,” said Randazzo. “This is an economic explosion to us. We’ve already seen the strong trickle down effect on our community. This type of expansion brings economic diversity to Hamilton and further opportunity. This isn’t about the expansion of just one site, but it’s about the expansion of our local economy. GSK’s presence is spread out through our entire valley.”
The growth in the Hamilton facility, said Picken, signals GSK’s deep commitment to providing biotechnology leadership in the valley, and has resulted in positive job growth for the area. The Hamilton facility has added 130 jobs in the last year, additional jobs, perhaps as many as 300 or even 800, will be created as the facility moves into full production early in 2008.
“Today, Hamilton should celebrate its crowning achievement in its community of research and development,” said Picken.
Randazzo said that increased economic growth combined with a boom in high-tech jobs requiring a talent pool with advanced degrees, fuels not only a new niche industry, but also a new Bitterroot culture – one not limited to narrow western Montana peripherals.
“The work being done here in Hamilton, and at GSK, is putting Hamilton on the map throughout the entire world as a place having a global impact.”
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The Advantages of Apples:
| Undeterred by obstacles and slowdowns, local growers still thrive in orchards |
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| By Rod Daniel |
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For a brief period, about a hundred years ago, the Bitter Root Valley staked a claim as being the apple capital of America. At the time, the parched, picturesque valley south of Missoula was just being quenched by the monstrous Bitter Root Irrigation Canal, and apples showed promise as a cash crop in a county that barely housed 15,000 people.
A number of hardworking men, including the Bass brothers of Stevensville and Ben Kress of Hamilton, had experienced several years of success producing prize-winning apples. In 1910, D.C. Bass boasted at having grown “44 years of apple crops and only losing part of one crop by frost,” and Kress bragged of his success at growing prize-winning apples by the boxcar.
Buoyed by the success of others and tempted by the promise of riches, developers and land speculators carved the relatively young valley into orchard tracts and used seductively sweet language to lure prospective buyers. Publisher Miles Romney, in a magazine supplement produced by The Western News in May 1910, wrote “the Bitter Root Valley, with an unexcelled combination of soil and climate, is destined to lead all the valleys of the golden Northwest in the production of fruits.”
The so-called apple boom never achieved the grandiose expectations of the promoters.
Orchardists in central and western Washington quickly took the lion’s share of the pie and established their area as the nation’s “apple capital.”
Nevertheless, a number of Bitterroot orchards did succeed, and still succeed at growing top quality fruits. Three such orchards are currently dealing with a fine fruit crop, and each has its own recipe for success.
Swanson’s Mountain View Orchards
Like a lot of folks in the early 1900s, Charlie Swanson came to the Bitter Root Valley in search of a better life. The Swedish immigrant had been working as a furniture lathesman in a piano factory in Rockford, Illinois, when, in 1907, he moved to the fertile but dry benchland east of Corvallis to start a farm.
Not far from Swanson’s new land, the Western Agriculture Research Center was just getting started on Quast Lane, and apple trees – mostly McIntosh --were the centerpiece of research there. The long days and cool nights of western Montana made Bitter Root Mac’s sweet and red and caught the attention of fruit lovers far and wide.
That year, along with scores of other budding orchardists, 29-year-old Charlie Swanson planted hundreds of apple trees on his land just below the Big Ditch, determined to make a living off the land. In the years since, Swanson’s Mountain View Orchard has provided income to four generations of Swansons.
Carl Swanson, 87, said the success of what his father Charlie started 100 years ago was its diversity. “We always had cattle and hay, and in those days my father had a little bit of everything – milk cows, chickens, vegetables,” he said. “Apples were always a little something extra. If you had a good year, you might buy a new car.”
It wasn’t until Carl’s son, Charlie, came back home from the military in the mid-1970s that apples became the dominant crop on the farm, he said.
“I always liked the cattle, but Charlie was more interested in apples,” Carl said. “So we changed the focus.”
In 1975, the younger Charlie, with his grandfather’s blessing, planted about 550 apple trees on four acres. Two years later, Charlie Sr. passed away at age 96. Since then, the Swanson family has worked hard to establish Mountain View Orchards as the biggest production orchard in the valley.
A few years ago, they finally took out the original trees planted in 1910, but in 2005, they planted 3,046 dwarf apple trees on 10 acres across the road from their home. Apples are clearly in the Swansons’ future.
Currently, the family markets fresh apples, cider and dried apples in grocery stores and other outlets throughout western Montana, always trying to stay ahead of the curve, according to Charlie’s wife Julie.
“We have a computerized machine that treats our cider with U.V. so we can sell it in stores,” Julie Swanson said. “It cost $27,000, so we’ve got to run a lot of cider through it for a lot of years to make it pay off.”
For their dried apple slices, they ship the fruits fresh to Omak, Wash., where they are sliced and dried at a commercial facility. Then they drive over and pick them up and market them throughout the winter and spring.
Every year is different, she said, and the key to success is dealing with what nature brings.
“One year we had hail damage so we had to make more cider and freeze it,” she said. “You’ve got to be creative with what your situation is. There’s always something new.”
This year, Charlie said, was an average year as far as production, but the intense heat made it challenging.
“The Macs didn’t turn red like they do when it’s cool,” he said. “But the long season varieties got big and were real nice. This climate change is a real thing. I can certainly see a difference in the temperatures.”
Frost Top Orchard
A few miles away on Quast Lane, Al and Mary Pernichele are up to their ears in apples. A retired geotechnical engineer, Al Pernichele said they bought their 10-acre orchard 10 years ago from Galen Frost as a retirement project. Now the couple, both in their 70s, have built a pretty good business.
“It started as more of a social thing than profit making,” he said between batches of cider. “Although this year we’re making good money.”
He estimates they harvested about 3,000 boxes of apples this year, and though they’ve had bigger crops, this year’s harvest boasted the biggest apples.
The Pernicheles sell 40 pound boxes of apples and half- and one-gallon-sized jugs of unpasteurized, fresh cider right from their cooler. And in the decade they’ve been in the orchard business, they’ve seen a big increase in demand.
“By the end of the month, we’ll be out of stock,” Al said. “We used to ship a lot of apples to Bozeman, Missoula and Helena, but we don’t have to do that anymore. People come to us now.”
A member of the Ravalli County Right to Farm and Ranch Board, Al Pernichele believes agriculture in general, and apple production in particular, have a solid future in the Bitterroot Valley.
“I think it’s because of the increase in people here, and probably the interest in local food,” he said, “but most of the farmers I know are selling everything they raise. That’s certainly true with us.”
Home Acres Orchard
On Groff Lane, southeast of Stevensville, Pam Clevenger and Kurt Welborne had their best harvest ever this year off their 3,000- tree, five-acre, organic orchard. Planted on bare ground in 1989, the young orchard features a diversity of fruits, but according to Clevenger, about 80 percent of it is apples.
“We have a number of different apple varieties,” she said, “and we also have pears, Asian pears, apricots, cherries and plums.”
Clevenger attributes this year’s bumper crop to having a light crop last year, coupled with perfect conditions last spring.
“We had heavy blossom production followed by ideal conditions for pollination,” she said. “We had to thin the blossoms, and because we’re organic we had to do it by hand. In the end, we really should have thinned even more.”
Unlike the Swansons and Pernicheles, Welborne and Clevenger sell only fresh fruit, but like their fellow fruit growers, they’ve had no trouble selling their crop. Clevenger, who also works as grocery manager at the Good Food Store, said the demand for Bitterroot fruit throughout Montana is strong.
“Stores east of the divide are starved for fruit,” she said. “I can say that demand far exceeds supply. We sell direct to the public at the Missoula Farmers Market, and the Good Food Store has always been our biggest wholesale account.”
This year, she said, they sold their fruit in Bozeman and Helena, as well as in stores all over western Montana. They even sold to both the University of Montana Food Service and the Missoula public schools.
Despite having their best year ever, and in spite of the insatiable demand for their fruit, Clevenger said she’s not ready to quit her day job. Four years ago, they had their best crop to date wiped out in a seven-minute July hailstorm.
“One thing about this business is every year is different,” she said. “There’s no guarantee you’ll have a crop every year, you really need to have another job.”
And like the Swansons and Pernicheles, Clevenger learned this year that boom years take their toll in other ways.
“Our harvest this year is what we’ve been wanting all those years, but when it finally happened, it was kind of a nightmare,” she said with a laugh. “It was so much work. Kurt told me last month that he looks forward to a time when we can talk about something besides apples. It’s exhausting.”
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Meet Your Neighbors: Michael Gouse
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| Gun engraver’s embellishments are the persevering continuation of an art form steeped in antiquity |
By Brian D’Ambrosio, Editor
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Firearm engraving is a style of nuanced skillfulness that has been around as long as firearms have existed. In previous centuries, firearms were commonly garnished with engraving or with other finish methods strictly for aesthetic purposes.
Over the past twenty years mass-production firearms development has proliferated, causing most arms to take on a consistent and absolute practical presentation. The special skills necessary to transform an ordinary firearm into an extraordinary work of art, however, haven’t completely vanished from the robust consciousness of artistic awareness.
Indeed, the highly detailed impressions of Hamilton resident Michael Gouse pay respectful tribute to this slowly disappearing but adamantly everlasting form of art. Using replica and original designs, from carved oak leaves to more lavish ornamentation, he etches images that neatly ravish the eye and strongly impress the artistic sensibilities of the mind.
“As far as gun engraving goes,” says Gouse, “not too many people do it – maybe 50 or so people are doing it nationwide. There aren’t many kids getting out of high school today saying, ‘When I graduate I want to be a gun engraver.’ But I do believe that it really personalizes the gun for the owner, and I think it makes the gun look so much better – but I’m prejudiced.
“Some of the guns that I engraved are displayed and some are used in cowboy shoots. I’d say that well over half of the guns I do are used for their purpose and don’t just sit in a box afterwards.”
Gouse says there are a myriad of scroll styles that are based on the culture and history of where the firearm was developed and manufactured. He’s done Broomhandle Mausers in relief oak leaves, single actions with brands from the owner’s local area, retirement gifts for law enforcement officers with their names and badges, military themes for servicemen, and personalized mottoes in insets surrounded by engraving.
“With this type of work, you’re never working on the same piece twice. Like any other form of art, when you stop learning you’re finished.”
He says that a good gun engraver should have a profound appreciation of firearms and should possess a firm knowledge of the history and origin of the firearm being engraved. The true engraver should see, and be able to express, the essence of the bygone era when a gun was not only a piece of art but a functional tool as well.
“It’s good to have a huge library of materials,” says Gouse. “For example, I’ve done your typical American scroll and haven’t copied it after any particular design, but I can engrave it to look appropriate for the 1820 or 1870 period.
“If I have to do a flint lock that needs to be engraved to match a period, I’ll dig out the research books and see what was being done in the 1730s. Take a fox shotgun for another example; it’s probably got 50 or 60 variances of patterns.”
As an old-time student and modern practitioner of gun engraving, Gouse applies his art for both private individuals and for such notable traditional arms makers as the Ballard Rifle Co., Lone Star Rifle Co., The American Hunting Rifle Co. and Oglesby & Oglesby. While he practices in a wide scope of engraving styles, he says that the majority of his patrons favor American Scroll or a relief-cut oak-leaf and acorn contour.
“At the turn of the century, Nimschke, Helfricht and Young signified mastery in the art of firearms engraving. I engrave in the traditions of those American masters, and I offer Germanic Relief, Arabesque, English and American Scroll, and other unique custom designs.”
Gouse began his career as a pen-and-ink artist and as an illustrator of books. As a college student he sold his paintings to make extra money. His experiences with firearms include stints designing numerous varieties of guns and rifles and ammunition cartridges. This persevering interest in firearms eventually led him to apply his artistic propensity to gun engraving (as an artistic art form, engraving actually predates the invention of firearms), and he has been a full time engraver for more than ten years. He’s even helped teach his younger brother Brian, living in Hinsdale, MT, how to infix the markings, ornamentations and incisions of the trade.
“I starting shooting a gun when I was four,” says Gouse. “I’ve always done art work, including fly fishing book illustrations. With gun engraving, I found that it was mostly a matter of sitting down and puzzling it out. I started out engraving junk guns from gun shows.”
Miniature jackhammers have replaced hand-held hammers and chisels as preferred working tools of the gun engraver, making quicker cuts and allowing the artist to move at a brisker pace. The air-powered machine even frees a hand so the engraver can turn the action of the gun being etched toward his attention in a manner that’s more comfortable and less awkward, thus saving time. Something that Gouse doesn’t have much of because he generally works 8-10 hours a day, seven days a week.
On average, from start to finish, it takes him about one week per gun engraving; more complicated etchings, offering gold inlays or more complex amenities, ordinarily take longer.
Gouse sees his own gun engravings as family heirlooms to be handed down from generation to generation. Indeed, as long as there are guns, he says, there will be gun engravers.
“If done right, generations later, the engraving isn’t going to be worn off and should still look good. I’m doing something that’s going to well outlast me.”
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| Bitterroot Art Beat: John Well-Off-Man |
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| Originative artist’s multi-media work the products of memory as well as feeling |
| By Brian D' Ambrosio |
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John Well-Off-Man’s artistic principles are rooted in two doctrines: learning is the foundation of existence and true aesthetic perfection is a disagreeable abstraction. Though advanced in multiple multi-media endeavors, from photography and woodcutting, to oil and pastel painting, learning, and keeping an open mind to being taught, is imperative to Well-Off-Man’s imaginative ideology. Art is his search for knowledge.
“I’ve always felt that one can say that they are good or that they like what they are doing,” says Well-Off-Man. “But to say you’ve mastered something is to say that you’ve quit learning. Art and life are daily learning processes.”
Well-Off-Man’s artistic efforts run the innovatory range of rendition: fine art editions of contemporary Native American Art, silk-screens, etchings, linocuts, woodcuts, monoprints, custom black and white photography prints, and original oil paintings and drawings.
“The toughest part of doing art work for me is not only finding the right place to sell it but figuring out what direction to proceed. No matter what medium you’re working in, though, your work needs to be clean, presentable, and of professional quality.”
Similar to his stark sketches and photography, Well-Off-Man’s paintings are the products of memory as well as feeling. His intensely hued paintings emerge from a process of long rumination. The visual experience of all his work, early and late, is of immediacy, directness, vividness. The paintings bear the truthfulness of the involuntary pictorial utterance. He’s always investigating new ways to stimulate the eye, painting with touches and patches of color in carefully calculated juxtaposition to one another.
At once firmly melancholic and caringly tenderhearted, Well-Off-Man’s black and white photography likewise scrapes a raw, unexposed nerve.
“Black and white connects with the eye better. With color, people don’t look past the color and see the framing, nor do they see beyond the colorful prettiness. They get overtaken by the color, but if you examine the photo, often you’ll see that there’s nothing of substance beyond the prettiness of the colors. A good strong black and white image stays in the mind longer than a color image, and makes a longer, more indelible impression.”
Another one of Well-Off-Man’s favorite forms of artistic enunciation comes through monoprinting – a form of printmaking that has carbons and lines that cannot be reproduced exactly the same way twice. Monoprints are either hand-painted or traced using thick layers of ink.
“Most people don’t really know what a true custom print is. I really enjoy press shop work and full-color monoprinting. It’s a work of art itself because you’ve really got to be alert to cleanliness and sharpness. The ink is something that’s hard to control the consistency of.”
Well-Off-Man’s monoprints are made unique due to his altering of the color and pressure of the ink. Examples of common printmaking techniques he makes monoprints with include lithography, woodcutting, and linocutting.
A slight variant of woodcutting, a linocut uses a sheet of linoleum, often mounted on a wooden block that’s set down as the bottom surface. Well-Off-Man cuts his designs into the linoleum surface with a sharp knife, leaving the untouched areas to represent a reversal of the parts to show the printing. He then pulls the cut areas from the backing and inks the linoleum sheet with a roller, and completes the linocut by impressing the design onto paper or fabric.
Well-Off-Man’s vast interests in printing, photography, and drawing stem from his childhood.
“Growing up on north side of Havre as young kid, I remember taking my family’s old camera downtown and being curious as to how it worked. A lot of my artistic impulses came from me watching the women in my family and community doing bead work. Many early experiences in my family came from seeing patient, tedious, and self-disciplined bead work being done.”
Well-Off-Man’s roots are sinewy and thick and can be traced to Rocky Boy’s Reservation, south of Havre. Rocky Boy’s Reservation was named after its Ojibwe leader, Chief Asiniweyin, whose name was translated as Rocky Boy. Around A.D. 1400 the Ojibwe migrated from their original homeland on the eastern shores of North America to the Great Lakes region.
For many years, small tribes of Rocky Boy’s people moved among Montana cities such as Butte, Helena, Great Falls, Havre, Choteau, and Chinook. In 1916, the 64th Congress designated a tract of land, once part of the abandoned Fort Assiniboine Military Reserve, as home to the Ojibwe Indians. This reservation at first consisted of approximately 55,000 acres, a number increased throughout the years to its current size of more than 226,000 acres, of which nearly half is tribal owned.
In fact, he grew up listening to and speaking Ojibwe, the beloved language of his ancestors that today is nearly extinct. As an artist and as an individual, he tends to shy away from prejudicial labels, magnificent illusions, and sweeping generalizations, which often attempt to frivolously explain away or narrowly pigeonhole underrepresented artists.
“To be labeled a ‘Native American Indian’ artist is a problem. ‘American Indian’ or ‘Indian’ sounds to me like somebody from India. I’m an Ojibwe. I’m not somebody from India. I consider myself an artist first – which to me is somebody who has a vision in their mind and is able to put it down, express it and can connect and communicate an idea.”
One of Well-Off-Man’s most prolific subject materials is the bison – a shaggy, massive, and mythical mammal greatly lionized by the Ojibwe’s as well as many other tribes of indigenous peoples. Often he tries to capture his own deep attachment to and reverence for the buffalo in his artwork.
“The buffalo is considered sacred. A lot of people’s survival was based on what the buffalo gave and provided them: food, clothing, shelter. When I see a buffalo herd, I take images in a respectful way, without offending the beauty of the animal.”
Well-Off-Man honed his art skills and knowledge at the Institute of American Indian Arts, in Sante Fe, and at the University of Montana, where he is now enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts creative, independent studies program. He’s only weeks away from completing a documentary about the life of Chief Rocky Boy; once he makes a few editing adjustments and sound effects improvements the film should be ready for distribution.
The spiritual and artistic world of John Well-Off-Man brings together and draws upon an atypical intersection of ancient and modernistic influences. These unconventional amalgamations wield a driving and compelling force and give an impulse and a hunger to his sensitive actions. Indeed, he is always looking for a new visual logic, as if to say that art lies, as he puts it, “in the beauty of what our eyes believe.”
“There’s some incredible scenery out in the field across the street from my house that’s only present certain times of the year. I’ve got the urge today to want to concentrate on it. A lot of people don’t see the beauty in that field, but I do.”
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Part 3 of Climbing Denali
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| By Jim Wilson |
This is the third part in a series of articles that describe three expeditions that culminated in climbing a new route on the east side of Denali, the highest mountain in North America. Previous articles can be read on The Clark Fork Journal’s web site: www.clarkforkjournal.com.
I had learned a lot from my trip to the Ruth Glacier. I felt that one of the biggest reasons for failure rested in the idea that every member in our party would have the same philosophy. My goals were much different in retrospect and so was my climbing experience.
Another thing that made the trip difficult was managing different personalities and abilities. On this matter I realized that the more people you bring on an expedition, the more likely you will encounter problems. The least complicated trip would be two people with equal ability, good attitudes, a vision for achieving the goal and a good sense of humor.
After getting back from Alaska I spent the next six months consumed with the idea that I would have to go back and try again. I had really bonded well with Scott on the Ruth Glacier trip.
We both had positive attitudes, a good sense of humor and were willing to work hard for the goal. Scott had been really disappointed in the trip and wanted to go back as well, so we began talking about what we would do different on the next trip.
It was apparent that we had taken the wrong approach to the mountain and that any new trip would have to start from the north side of the mountain. The big issue was the amount of gear we would need to get to the base of the climb which was enormous. On the last trip we could distribute much of the gear between six climbers as well as share much of the group gear.
Now we had to figure out how to go lighter and avoid the labor of heavy loads. To solve this problem we decided to hire a dog sledder to haul our loads to the base of the mountain. The dog team required wooden boxes with specific dimensions to be shipped to Alaska in March of 1993.
The dog team wood drop the boxes at a big rock on the Muldrow Glacier just below McGonigal Pass. This would save us over thirty miles of traveling with heavy loads. We also avoided crossing the McKinley River and the Clearwater River twice with the loads. These rivers were both notorious for many near drownings and mishaps with other expeditions.
In February, we dried most of our food and prepared our meals in day pouches. Our climbing gear was sorted and packed up as well. We had spent several days building the wooden boxes for the dog sled team and figuring out what we would store in them for the long trip to Alaska. The wooden boxes were designed to be dismantled and burned on the glacier.
The fire would be a pleasant comfort on the glacier and eliminate packing the wooden boxes out of the park. When the boxes were completed we packed in our meals for 21 days, all of our climbing gear and ropes. We filled four boxes weighing 25 lbs each, sealed them with sheet rock screws, made lists of the contents and shipped them to the dog sledder in Alaska. It would be another month and a half before we would see them again.
Our plan was to fly to Anchorage, Alaska on May 14th, 1993 and once again have my cousin Jim Klasen drive us to Talkeetna. From Talkeetna we would have K-2 Aviation fly us to a small mining settlement on the north end of the park called Kantishna. Kantishna was approximately 30 miles from the Muldrow Glacier. From Kantishna we would hike 8 miles to Wonder Lake then descend down to the McKinley River bar then cross the Mckinley River. We were a little anxious about the river crossing because of the horror stories we had heard about from other expedition crossings. There had been numerous expedition members that had nearly lost their lives or stumbled in the fast currents of the river.
After crossing the river we would then ascend Turtle Hill, an infamous hill that was notorious for being a long haul with heavy loads. From Turtle Hill we would descend to the Clear Water River, cross it and then head up Cache Creek to the top of McGonigal Pass and then down to the big rock on the Muldrow Glacier and find our wooden boxes.
On May 14, we said our good byes to our respective families and boarded the plan to Anchorage. My cousin Jim met us at the airport and we loaded our gear into his four cylinder Mitsubishi SUV. I was glad that Jim could take us to Talkeetna even though I was surprised that his wife would let him. We had a great time telling jokes and long tails during the two-hour drive, but I could tell that Jim had something preoccupying his mind.
As we came to the big hill overlooking the town of Talkeetna we were once again presented with a beautiful view of Denali in the distance. As we descended the hill the Mitsubishi gave a few quick jerks and the engine ceased up.
Our loads plus the three people had been too much for the truck’s four cylinders and Jim may have been traveling too fast. I was now feeling real bad for my cousin Jim because I knew that his wife would blame me for the bad luck, but take it out on Jim.
I could tell from the worried look on his face that this engine problem was more than just an engine problem, but another wife problem. I hitched a ride into Talkeetna to K-2 Aviation and borrowed Jim Okenok’s old red Ford half ton truck to haul our gear into town. My cousin Jim hired a tow truck to haul his Mitsubishi back to Anchorage and left with a worried look on his face.
Scott and I began to load our gear into the old Ford, but had difficulty maneuvering around an old piece of plywood with nails sticking out of it. After loading the gear we went to the K-2 bunkhouse to eat and get a good night’s sleep before our flight in the morning.
The next day we went down to Park Headquarters and went through the orientation the park requires to climb Denali. Once the orientation was done we met up with Jim Okenok from K-2 Aviation and drove the old Ford truck out to load the plane. Jim Okenok owned K-2 Aviation, but today he was going to have one of his pilots fly us to Kantishna. As we began to load our gear out of the truck Jim came over to help us.
When he grabbed one of the packs, a nail from the old piece of plywood kept him from pulling it off the truck. Infuriated by the nail and plywood Jim started to cuss and swear asking his pilot, “Where the hell did this piece of #### come from? It should be in the dump. His pilot replied, “I got it from the dump.”
Upon his reply we all burst into laughter at the sheepish response from the pilot. Jim Okenok wasn’t as impressed with the situation as we were, but kept his thoughts to himself.
Within minutes we were loaded and ready for the flight. The pilot did his preflight check and was taxing down the runway when I looked back at the old red Ford and Jim fighting with that piece of plywood.
Part 4 To be continued the December Edition.
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| The Legend of Sleeping Child |
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| Interestingly, the area has alternately been known as Weeping Child and Sleeping Child through the years, with perhaps both names originating from the same gruesome tale. |
| By Wm. W. Whitfield |
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While vacationing in Thermopolis, Wyoming this summer I found myself wondering why the great state of Montana couldn’t do something to insure public access to one or two small mineral hot springs located here in the Bitter Root Valley. The springs at Thermopolis are reportedly the world’s largest, and were presented to the state of Wyoming by the wise and far-seeing Chief Washaki of the Shoshoni Tribe, and Chief Sharp Nose of the Arapaho Nation.
A treaty signed in 1896 provided that the Wind River Reservation receive $60,000 worth of cattle and food supplies in return for the valuable tract of land. An area of approximately ten square miles surrounding the springs was deeded to the state, with the only stipulation being that a portion remain open and free to the public.
I was instantly reminded of how similar resources here in the valley were wrested from the hands of the natives, with only minimal restitution and no binding contract to keep the waters open and free to the indigenous people.
For quite some time now two of the most popular resorts here in the valley have been under new ownership and are no longer open and available to the “aching masses.” The waters at Sleeping Child and Medicine Hot Springs had been enjoyed by the public for generations, and their long histories were rich and deeply ingrained in local tradition.
My own memories of the springs at Sleeping Child go back thirty years, and form an integral part of my first impression of the place I now call home. Regrettably, the state of Montana did nothing to ensure public access to these natural treasures, and as a result, the chance to give something back to the people of Montana was lost.
It seems unnatural to me that something so wonderful should become the private paradise of only a few wealthy Americans, while leaving the rest of us average citizens out in the cold.
Stories passed down by early Bitter Root pioneers tell us that a number of Salish Indians were known to camp in the narrow valley near Sleeping Child Hot Springs, and that they were always considered friendly and accommodating to the settlers who came to visit the site.
According to these early accounts the natives had built rock dams below the springs, which caused the mineral water to pool up and form hot baths. The strange tale that these Indians told as to how the place got its name is one of sublime human compassion, and ultimate betrayal. It seems that one day a lone Indian was wandering up the creek when he found a child crying beside the stream. The man bent down and picked the infant up and cradled it in his arms, offering the weeping child his finger to suckle on. The child stopped its weeping immediately and took the finger hungrily, at the same time mesmerizing the man, who offered one finger after another, until the child had consumed his rescuer bone by bone, leaving absolutely nothing behind. After becoming completely pacified, the child once again fell asleep by the stream and patiently awaited the next victim.
Interestingly, the area has alternately been known as Weeping Child and Sleeping Child through the years, with perhaps both names originating from the same gruesome tale.
One variation of the fable has the child consuming only the flesh of the man and leaving a pile of bones behind as evidence of its hunger.
Another story tells of an Indian mother who wept because her child had drowned in the creek before she could reach it and drag it to shore. This version is perhaps the least fanciful of the lot, but far less interesting in a purely legendary sense.
One last report states that an early settler found a sleeping or weeping Indian child in the vicinity and gave the place that name as a result.
At any rate, some time in the late1880’s a settler acquired the land surrounding the spring, and consequently the site was expanded and improved upon in order to allow a larger crowd to assemble and enjoy the healing waters. According to an early account the original owner “traded some horses to the Indians for the springs.”
In the early 1890’s a partnership was formed, and the new owners began building a wagon road to the springs through the Sleeping Child Valley. When finally completed the trail crossed the creek fifty-two times as it wound its way up the crooked canyon.
The first bathtub was taken up by the old Indian trail before the road was built, and the original cabin constructed on the property ingeniously employed used beer bottles which were grouted into the window openings to let in light. Eventually the beer bottles were replaced with panes of glass and a door was hinged to the gaping hole that had served as an entrance to the dirt-floor cabin.
Within a short period of time a front porch was added to the hewn-log structure and extra window openings appeared where rough log walls had been before. Visitors could either rent a room or sleep in tents or smaller cabins surrounding the springs. By the turn of the century a large bathhouse had been built on the property where visitors could take a plunge in the privacy of their own rooms.
The spring water seeps out below the towering rock formations in two separate places and is too hot to touch until it has run downhill in the open air for a while. The hotter of the two springs is reported to be 140 degrees Fahrenheit, and both streams are high in mineral counts.
An early visitor to the springs said that with a little salt and pepper and a dab of butter the water tasted just like chicken broth! Most of us would probably opt to take his word on that, however most mineral springs are considered by many to be healthy “inside and out.”
One of the owners of the springs even attempted to change the name to Eureka in honor of having found such a medicinally useful site, but the name never caught on, and before too long the ever-beguiling Sleeping Child had reclaimed her original moniker.
A stage line ran to the springs from Hamilton twice a week in the early days, delivering mail, supplies and guests on a regular basis. At one point around the turn of the century the Northern Pacific Railroad held the deed to the property, though it’s somewhat unclear to me just what their intentions might have been.
It was also reported that Marcus Daly was interested in piping the steaming hot water to his thriving new city of Hamilton, but apparently the project came to an abrupt halt when he died suddenly in 1900.
Throughout the years many improvements had been made, including a large hotel built in 1911, which featured such modern conveniences as electricity, and hot spring-water running through the radiators. Unfortunately, the hotel burned down several years later under mysterious circumstances.
In the 1950’s the Forest Service helped the problem of accessibility when it improved the last section of road through the canyon, and even more recently the entire length of road to the springs was paved to make travel conditions safer and more reliable.
But then, after all the improvements, and all the history, and all the memories, we somehow lost our precious Sleeping Child.
We were quietly lulled into a sense of complacency by her mystical charms, while she consumed us one last time before returning to her timeless sleep beside the healing waters.
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Bitterroot Business Beat: Hamilton's Partyware Plus
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| ...puts the pizzazz in your party |
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| By Shannon Selway |
When Randy and Anita Herbie left Oregon behind them - just a short few years ago - they reclaimed their Montana heritage. Randy is a 1986 alumnus from Missoula’s Big Sky High School; Anita might be recognized to some as a former employee of Southgate Mall’s Higgins Hallmark.
Both yearned to come home to a gentler place more fitting to raise their two children, and a place that offers less chaos and so much beauty. They would find their desired “country vibe” in Stevensville, where their kids attend the area’s ultimate country school, Lone Rock.
When they decided to relocate back to Montana, they narrowed in on the Bitterroot, and they looked into various business ideas. They wanted to open a business or service that was unavailable to Bitterrooters – a one-of-a-kind thing. That was where the party supply business concept sprouted from. It certainly was a far cry from what Randy did for a living in Oregon (where he worked for the phone company). Randy also holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science. However, that arena is something Anita definitely knew about.
Partyware Plus opened its doors to Bitterrooters on April 3, and finally provided an exclusive, quality place to shop for party supplies in the Root. It offers up quite a colorful show when entering the well-stocked store. One just can’t help but feel uplifted in the place – after all – everything in there is directed to enhancing a party’s fun! It’s such a cool and joyful environment!
The place is definitely set up in a specific and thoughtful order. The first isle begins with cards, gift wrapping supplies, bows and ribbons. Next are the displays of bridal shower items, then bachelor/bachelorette items, and then on to the wedding-related inventory.
Around the corner is the baby shower section, kids’ first birthday, and so on to the “over-the-hill” area. As you might surmise, they are the steps most of us take in the progression of life.
“We spend quite a bit of time thinking about how to set up the store,” Anita said. “It took a while to set up the tableware section, let alone everything else.”
The tableware section offers all kinds of matching items (in oodles of vivid colors) including plastic tablecloths, paper plates, cups, and utensils.
When the store deviates from color, it is at the “over-the-hill” section for the big 30s, 40s, 50s, etc. birthday and anniversaries items, where the products are predominately black.
Imagine the look one one’s face when unwrapping such gag gifts as Geezer Tweezers, Daily Dice Decision Maker, Instant Facelift (duct tape), Hot Flash Thermometer, and more! But, again, it’s all for fun.
They have special sections for football, basketball, baseball and soccer – with all kinds of paraphernalia for each sport.
Their inventory rotates depending on what’s happening. They will be rotating Christmas and New Year’s inventory as soon as Halloween is done. Graduation, patriotic and other stock appear when timely.
Partyware Plus recognizes that folks love to know that they can obtain the necessities for their favorite themes, which includes features of the luau, fiesta and western themes. Those items are always available.
Naturally, there are traditional products you’d expect from a party supply store. One primary product customers seek is balloons. The store sells balloon bouquets at a competitive rate of $8/dozen and mylars at $2.50 - $3.00. There are literally hundreds to choose from, and some available are huge to humongous. You can even purchase singing balloons!
But, Randy does abundantly more than inflate balloon bouquets with helium. He has mastered balloon art and can custom create masterpieces by integrating balloon products into 3-D objects such as animals, flower blossoms and even pacifiers.
“We can do all kinds of stuff with balloons,” Randy said. “As for delivery of balloons, it is – for now- limited. I’m usually the only one tending the store, and making deliveries is not always an option.”
Another party staple are piñatas, which are in abundant supply there. They carry ones that are made to be bashed up, but also ones that require no violence to get to the loot inside. Those kinds of piñatas are designed where there are various strings to pull and one special string releases the piñatas’ inners.
Naturally you can find other traditional products at the store, including “pin the tail on the donkey,” horns, blowers, party hats, and everything associated with throwing a child’s party.
You can find Partyware Plus’ colorful store at 400West Main, Suite 101, in Hamilton, next to the post office, in the Creamery Building.
They are open Monday through Saturday, 9 – 6. Special orders can be taken by calling 363-4272.
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