Looking Back: A Pictorial History of the Flathead Valley by Kathryn L. Mckay Chapter 1 1800-1891 The Early Years — Kootenai Indians      and Other Tribes — Fur Trade and      Establishment of the      Flathead Indian      Reservation — Railroad and      International      Boundary Surveys — Settlement and      Agriculture — Transportation — Hunting and Trapping — Logging

South side of Gregg Street, Demersville, 1891. The long-gone town at the head of steamboat navigation on the Flathead River boomed in 1890 and 1891 when people, materials, and machinery flowed into the community while the Great Northern Railway was being constructed through the Flathead Valley. Tom Carter on the Flathead River near Demersville, circa 1891. The first passenger vessel on Flathead Lake was a sailboat built in 1881. The Tom Carter, launched in 1889, was built to handle increased freight and passenger traffic due to incoming settlers and railroad construction. Nick Moon, circa 1895. A  former placer miner, Moon arrived in the Flathead Valley in 1879 and joined other stockmen raising cattle at the head of Flathead Lake. Moon was the first to use irrigation in the valley, and in the 1880s he provided vegetables to newcomers from his homestead along today's Appleway Road west of Kalispell. Chief Aneas Paul (also known as Big Knife or Ignace). Aneas was born in 1828 and served as chief of the Elmo-Dayton band of Kootenai from 1870 to 1900. His Iriquois father had been hired by David Thompson of the Northwest Company in 1811 to help Thompson explore Kootenai country.

Only $27.00 plus $5.00 Shipping & Handling  —  Bookstores & Non-Profits: Ask about bulk discounts This 224-page hardcover volume features more than 320 historic photographs of the Flathead Valley, many of which have never before been published. The accompanying text, by Columbia Falls historian Kathryn L. McKay, outlines Flathead Valley history from the 1880's to the 1950's. Looking Back is fully indexed and includes an extensive bibliography.

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Updated 2 May 2006

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