Trego's Mountain Ear

"Serving North Lincoln County"

Tag: Books

  • Sick as Christmas Approaches

    It’s an unpleasant lung and sinus infection. It goes well with asthma to cut down what I can do – yet this time, the disease vector was my grandson. Somehow, the sickness is kind of mitigated by that – it didn’t come from some anonymous student passing through the hallway in an unseen cloud of microbes.

    This time, I got Remi while I was working on the old service station – and despite the illness, I had the joy of giving him the rolling magnet to pick up nails. I may feel a bit crummy – hell, I do feel crummy – but I have the memory of the toddler rolling the magnet, and smiling with every click as a nail was pulled up and magnetism overpowered gravity. He doesn’t have the words yet – but in another ten or twelve years, there’s going to be a discussion about physics with his mother. I may or may not be there to see the interest in physics develop – but I was there when he discovered that magnetism can overpower gravity. It is enough to make the illness an insignificant cost.

    As my daughter took an interest in physics, and moved into quantum, I checked out books on the topic – studying to stay along with her for the next conversation, often in the car as we would drive home. It brought home thoughts to me – the realization that the power of probability combined with chemistry to make elegant experiments, while some atoms manage to stay out of the reaction. 99.9% purity is close enough for what we need – and things happen consistently.

    So I look forward to the next lessons, as the little guy discovers that pieces of copper, aluminum and lead are immune to the power of his magnet. I look forward to his learning of the special aspects of ferrous metals – and possibly moving on to the relationship of a compass to the planet he inhabits. A stuffy nose, sore throat, and congested lungs are a small price to pay for being the grandfather that sets the lessons in motion.

  • Second-hand Information

    Most of my information, my knowledge, is second hand. I know Venezuela exists because I have been there – but my knowledge of Viet Nam comes from other people, their spoken stories and written ones. The world is too big to have a preponderance of experience.

    I’m looking at the photographs and videos posted on the internet about the flooding in south Lincoln County. My first-hand information is from floods down Libby way in the 70’s and 80’s when I worked for the Soil Conservation Service. My second-hand information is from people taking pictures with cell phones and drones yesterday and today. It’s a lot more relevant than my first-hand information. The change in technology though – that is impressive. I recall driving down to Libby with my 35mm camera, and vividly recall calling Oly Euland at the state, to fund a flight to get photos of the flood before it receded, the weather turned cold again, and snow covered all the damage.

    My first-hand knowledge won’t do anyone any good. Although there may be a chuckle at the expense of a landowner on Callahan Creek, who saw my government truck as I was photographing the flood, came up to me, said something nice about the government doing well to get there so quickly, then cursed me when I responded to his question of “You have a check for me, right?” with “No.” It was interesting to meet a man who went so quickly from compliments to curses.

    For the folks who are looking at Lincoln County being declared an emergency – up a Trego, we’re a little damp, but fine. Down Libby way, they’re at about 2,100 feet above sea level. Troy is about 1900 feet. We’re at 3,100 feet. The general rule is that you lose 5.2 degrees Fahrenheit for every 1000 feet of elevation increase. (That’s second-hand information, too – someone better than I did the calculations) Troy (well, actually where the Kootenai leaves Montana for Idaho) is the lowest point in Montana. That low elevation makes Libby and Troy very susceptible to flooding during winter thaws. On the other hand, there’s a big advantage in having Libby Dam, where the Corps of Engineers can crank the flow down and minimize the Kootenai’s impact on the flooding.

  • School District 53 — Older Than Lincoln County

    School District 53 – Trego School – started in September of 1905.  I finally understand why it’s District 53 – it started when the community was still in Flathead County.  Matter of fact, Flathead County had only split from Missoula County in 1904. Lincoln County began in 1909 – 5 years later.  The lower numbers – such as Troy’s District 1 – are Lincoln County numbers. A lot was happening in 1904 – and the map of School District 53 showed another thing I hadn’t realized.  In 1905, there was no Fortine Creek.  The map clearly reads Edna Creek.  The dam running logs down to Eureka Lumber was built in 1904, and 1904 was the year for the first railroad mainline relocation.  The first main line, running back of Marion to Libby was replaced by a line running from Stryker, through Trego, Fortine and Eureka, then dropping into the Kootenai valley to run down to Libby.  (The second mainline relocation occurred along with Libby Dam).The map shows that railroad – and the predecessor of highway 93 – both running to the west of Dickie Lake.  No road shows where the highway now is to the east of the lake. Thinking on it, School District 53 was there before either Fortine or Trego received the communities names. Trego was a nameless construction boom town for the first time.  1904 brought the railroad relocation,  a new dam being built (on Edna Creek, before it was named Fortine Creek) and a new Ranger station was under construction at Ant Flat.  Small wonder that Flathead County got news of a new community that needed a school district ASAP.  It would be over sixty more years before the second railroad relocation and new dam (this one on the Kootenai) would repeat the situation to build a new school for District 53. When we get the copies of those old maps ready, we’ll add them to an article – but for now, it’s kind of neat to realize that School District 53 means that Trego school was created before Lincoln County – and the higher district number means that it was a Flathead County district and got the number from Kalispell.

  • Trego History – 1945 to 1965 Modernizing The Community

    Around 1945, the Edna Creek School closed. The period between 1945 and 1960 saw Trego reduced from four schools – Swamp Creek, Edna Creek and Stryker closed, leaving District 53 with only Trego School. The technologic transition that consolidated the bantam community’s schools was gravel. The original roads were dirt – but in the Forties the addition of gravel made the roads all season. By 1948, Lincoln Electric was moving and shaking – and, with the addition of gravel roads and electricity, it was no longer necessary to build schools close to the students. The era of school buses and electric lights had replaced the time of four one-room schools in a single school district.

    Again, it is a time of social changes rather than impressive individuals – the end of the Forties showed the cooperative effort of clearing land for the powerlines – and that cooperative effort moved into adding the Trego Community Hall to the new 3-classroom school that replaced the log school that had burned. Three classrooms, electricity, an electric stove, and running water that replaced the outhouses (though the school board kept the outhouses until 1965, probably making sure that electricity and pumped water wasn’t just a fad). The homes were electrified – sometimes just wires stapled to wall studs, supporting switches and light bulbs – but the time of kerosene lamps was past. Dances at the Trego Community Hall brought in folks from a wide area.

    The mid-thirties had brought in a new group of settlers – many from around Great Falls. This time saw an end to the logging camps as timber transportation moved to trucks – another change brought by the technology of gravel roads. Balers – wire tie – came to the small ranches, making them more able to cope with winters. The Trego Mercantile combined a general store with the contract post office – and electricity brought refrigeration and cold beer. A later influx of people brought in a World War II veteran population cohort – some immediately after the war, some showing up as military retirees in the early sixties. The Forest Service at Ant Flat grew – yet this classic time of cooperative community building was really just a pause before Trego’s second boom would occur.

  • School Community Library Proposal

    After a recent board meeting, Trego School sent the following to the County Commissioners:

    To the County Commissioners,

    Trego School is interested in meeting the broader educational needs of our community, provided that we can do so without compromising the safety and quality of education for our students. We have realized that we have a layout that would make hosting a community library relatively easy to do without compromising student safety.

    As such, the school board has requested that I pass along the attached proposed interlocal agreement, to open the Trego School Library as a school-community library. There’s a little remodeling needed for safety purposes: specifically, we need to add a set of doors and restore a receptionist window to our office. We are not asking the county to pay for that. 

    We anticipate minimal expenses to the county; we already have office staff present 9-5, who will be able to check out books to visitors, we have a volunteer who returns books to their shelves, and the school already maintains heat/light/internet/insurance for the space. We do not foresee the need for a librarian (we handle being too small to afford one via membership in Montana Small Schools Alliance). We would expect the county to cover adding our library materials to the existing county library catalog, and we would need at least some training for our staff to be able to do so. 

    As stated, we believe that a joint library can be created with minimal expense, which would serve the community as a whole for approximately 30 hours a week, decrease the commute to the nearest library and increase the availability of library resources to our community. 

    Thank you for your consideration,

    What is a school community library? A school community library is essentially both a school library and a public library. It effectively places a public library on school grounds, often within the school itself.

    For Trego, the library would be in a separate wing of the school, so that it can be accessed without allowing access to the classrooms.

    What safety considerations are there for school/community libraries? School Community Libraries essentially invite the unvetted public onto school grounds during the school day. As such, it’s essential that they not also have classroom access. Additionally, it may be reasonable to reserve times for the library to be used exclusively by students.

    What benefits does a school/community library offer to the students? It expands the potential library catalog, beyond what the school can afford. Furthermore, students with high reading levels will have access to books at greater difficulty levels. Additionally, it allows students to access interlibrary loan and additional public library resources. It also has the potential to host a summer reading program, which would be beneficial to students. Book clubs and other programing is also a beneficial option.

    How can the school afford this? Essentially, the school already is. The library exists and already has costs for heating and lighting. The school would not be hiring additional staff, but would be taking advantage of existing employees and volunteers to handle checkouts and returns. The school would share library costs with the county; it’s unlikely to result in much savings, but it won’t increase costs either.

  • Mobile Bookstore Donated Books to Trego School

    Trego Elementary school recently received a donation of books from Saint Rita’s Textual Apothecary. Trego School is continuing to expand its library- and its filing system.

    The school has been working to expand the library and replace the card catalog with a more modern system, in conjunction with the school’s reading program. They are still hoping to acquire more books for students of all ages.

    This week marks midterm of the fourth quarter- the last day of school (and end of the year picnic) will be on June 3rd.

    Our thanks to the mobile bookstore for helping to foster a love of reading in our community.