In The News

The old log building that stands at the corner of Highway 83 and Glacier Creek Road has been Swan Valley’s Community Hall for the past 84 years. Built from 1938-39, this treasured building is widely used as a central gathering place and is the cornerstone of our community. The Swan Valley Community Hall is located on land that once had...

Whether by natural lightning or by human hands, the landscape in Swan Valley has been shaped by fire. Only in the past hundred years or so have there been organized, concentrated efforts to suppress forest fires. During the historic forest fire of 1910, over three million acres burned in the course of a few days...

 If you were to look at a map of the Mission Mountains 100 years ago, you would see a lot of blank space. Except for verbal descriptions and sketches shared by the early-day Native people, priests, trappers, hunters, and prospectors, the Mission Mountains were, for the most part, uncharted at that time. McDonald Peak was was one of the few mountains named on the early maps...

 On Aug. 19, the Missoula County Commissioners and Missoula County Parks, Trails and Open Lands honored Swan Valley residents Barb and Joe Raible as the recipients of the 2022 Land Stewardship Award and toured their property...

 A dream became reality when the Upper Swan Valley Historical Society (USVHS) celebrated the grand opening of the Swan Valley Museum on July 4, 2013. Longtime residents Neil and Dixie Meyer cut the ribbon that officially opened the museum...

 Although the upper Swan Valley was primarily settled by homesteaders staking claims on United States Forest Service (USFS) lands, some settlers purchased Northern Pacific (NP) lands for as low as $1.25 an acre...

Many people are not aware that the Northern Pacific Railway Company (NP) had a significant influence on the settlement, economy and timber industry of the upper Swan Valley. Looking at a current map of the upper Swan Valley, you might ask...

 It had been a long day on the trail in 1996 as I slowly worked my way toward the top of the ridge clearing downfall from the trail. When I reached the top of the ridge, the land opened up and the views were especially beautiful as the late evening...

 The story of the first homesteaders and the first working ranch in the upper Swan Valley begins in the 1880s with the arrival of Benjamin B. Holland and his son, Charles. According to family accounts, Ben Holland, his wife, and children...

This is the second USVHS article about Henry Thomason, an early-day Upper Swan Valley settler who wrote a series of letters to his family...

 Beginning with a trip out west to Polson in 1913 to later homesteading in the Upper Swan Valley, early-day settler Henry Thomason wrote a series of...

 If the early history of Seeley Lake is intertwined with the lumber industry, the rise of the United States Forest Service is incontrovertibly intertwined...

 I had brought the pack string out of the Little Salmon just before the start of hunting season in about 1971 or so and had stopped at what was called...

 Many unforeseen changes have unfolded in our local communities since the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services announced...

The Stark House, built by hand along with its furniture by John Stark, will be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places...

 The Montana History Foundation (MHF) announced its 2020 grant cycle will put $164,800 into 29 historic preservation projects in 27 communities...

  Many of us will gather with extended family or friends over the Christmas holiday to share gifts and good will. It seems the way we celebrate Christmas is rooted in Christmas past. A review of the yuletide traditions and events...

The story of the first homesteaders and the first working ranch in the upper Swan Valley begins in the 1880s with the arrival of Benjamin B. Holland and his son, Charles. According to family accounts, Ben Holland, his wife, and children...

  Beginning in 1933, the Forest Service began an intensive winter game study in the South Fork of the Flathead to determine the number of big game, forage use, snow depth, temperature, migrations, etc...

 In upper Swan Valley the first schools were built in 1918 when a group of residents petitioned the Missoula County Superintendent of Schools requesting that the district be split...

In 1979, Len Kobylenski purchased the Buckhorn Camp and changed the name to the Mission Mountains Mercantile. To prove that fact is stranger than fiction – the only document to survive the devastating fire...

 The Mission Mountains Mercantile, one of the upper Swan Valley's landmarks, was destroyed by a devastating fire nearly two years ago. Owner Len Kobylenski decided to rebuild...

Fifth through eighth-grade students from Swan Valley School, Salmon Prairie School, and area home schools came together at the Upper Swan Valley Historical Society (USVHS) Museum... 

Alvin Eugene “Gene” Miller “made his appearance into the world” in 1936 during an, “… early November blizzard that blew into the Flathead Valley.” His parents were Joe Miller and Mabel Kauffman Miller. “In the spring of 1939 grandfather Kauffman...

Margaret MacDonald visited her Aunt Isabelle and Uncle Dr. Robert Gordon in August 1905 at the Gordon Ranch. In a letter to her mother, Margaret eloquently... 

Gifford Pinchot, who later became chief of the U.S. Forest Service, was working for the National Forest Commission in 1896...  In the previous installment of  the series, they had arrived at Skunk Prairie...

 In the previous installment of the series, they had prepared to cross the Swan River after realizing they may have been presumed drowned. "I kept the forward end of the raft upstream...

 In the previous installment of the series, they had used deer carcasses for bait and shot a bear. "I was using the .30 caliber...

 In the previous installment of the series, they had finally located the deserted cabin, baked biscuits from the flour they found, and killed two deer.,,

 In the previous installment of the series, they had failed to reach a deserted cabin where they could find flour, and they had been unlucky hunting bear...

 In this installment of the series, they had arrived at a cabin inhabited by a trapper named Wood, who sent them on their way with venison and a sketch map to a deserted cabin where they could find flour...

 Neil Meyer, longtime Salmon Prairie resident, said that making a living as a logger in the early days was hard work in the Swan Valley. He shared stories about...

"In the course of work on the National Forest Commission, I camped last summer, on the shore of Swan Lake, through which passes on the tributaries of the Flat Head River...

In 1896, Gifford Pinchot, who later became the first Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, traveled through the Swan Valley inspecting this region of Montana...

 Neil and Dixie Meyer of the Swan Valley received the Montana Good Neighbor Award presented by the Governor's Office. The Meyers posing with Montana Governor Steve Bullock and their award.