Week of April 18, 2024
Week of April 18, 2024
At an April 5 meeting in Missoula, various parties interested in purchasing Pyramid Mountain Lumber — Seeley Lake’s largest employer, which announced its closure on March 14 — gathered to learn about potential funding mechanisms available for buying the mill and modernizing its operations. A couple of options emerged as paths forward: the mill could be purchased and modernized — costing somewhere upwards of $40 million, the low-end of the current estimate — or employees, loggers and various land owners could form a cooperative. Like...
Travelers on Highway 200 may have noticed the new cell tower near the Monture Creek Bridge, three miles west of Ovando. The tower was built in January by Bridger Corporation. "Construction will be completed around July," Jason Evans, Verizon site acquisition specialist said by email. "Service will be up soon after that depending on the fiber company's final install. The community should see service as early as this summer." A lease agreement for Verizon service on the tower has...
MISSOULA, Mont. - Hale Devins, a second grader at Seeley Lake Elementary School, took first place in this year's 63rd Keep Montana Green statewide art contest with his striking depiction of this year's theme: "Go the Extra Mile Each Time You Burn a Pile." Second and third place were awarded to Madysen Lines of Browning High School and Logan Kellom of Hobson, respectively. The top three winners were selected from over 800 entries submitted by participating educators on behalf of their art...
April showers bring May flowers, and also, quite likely, some mentally-earmarked spring projects. A handful of local businesses spoke to the Pathfinder about common spring improvement projects, things to keep in mind when embarking on a new project and the importance of septic tank maintenance. Tile and stonework Stan Davis and his wife Lacey, owners of Davis Tile, have been in the tile and stone industry for about 15 years. They started in California and brought their business to Seeley Lake when they moved a year ago. “We looked at the...
Springtime in the garden often starts with big dreams and memories of the beauty and abundance from the past season. Here in Montana we get a break from gardening as our season is short and hopefully sweet. Often our spring thoughts turn to questions like: Is the fence high enough to keep the deer out? Will cardboard really work to quench the quackgrass? Do I have enough row cover for that mid-season frost that nailed the garden last July? Deer that aren't used to fence jumping can usually be...
For the first time in 12 years, Swan Valley School in Condon is presenting voters with two levies to vote on. A combination of factors like rising costs, increased need for technology to support education, a drop in enrollment and the loss of ESSER funds — money provided during the covid-19 pandemic to support schools — led to a general fund and technology levy to be presented to voters in a special election on May 7. “Our school has navigated the difficulties of staffing needs, the rising costs associated with maintaining a high...
Thirty-five years ago ... Thursday April 20, 1989 Two wrestlers win state medals Seeley-Swan turned in a great performance at the State. A.A.U. Wrestling tournament, a performance that culminated in two first place state championships for Seeley-Swan. The tournament, held in Butte, featured 900 of the state's best wrestlers. Unlike basketball and football, small schools are placed at gradient levels and do not get to compete with the big schools and 'AA' competition. Seeley-Swan met head on...
Ever since Pyramid Lumber announced their upcoming closure, I have been asked one question by clients, friends and community members more often than any other: How will the mill closing affect real estate? Before I expound on that, there are many other things appropriately considered. First and foremost are the 100 employees that will be without a job. Behind each one of those employees are families that count on the wages brought home from the mill and without those wages, those families will be adversely impacted. Then there are the...
Greetings from Beaufort (Be-you-fert) South Carolina, where we are precariously tied to the very outside dock of a marina, which is perfectly aligned to allow us to fully experience the 1984 hit by the Scorpions entitled "Rock Me Like a Hurricane." It is not technically a hurricane, but when the toaster oven and the coffee maker become deadly projectiles, it seems that way. We have been cruising up the coast, from Key West now to Beaufort, soaking up the history and geography as well as soaking...
You see the same thing every year: on the Bitterroot, some anglers get so fixated on the skwala hatch that they forget everything else. Never mind, especially in a year like this one, that the hatch might sputter from day to day. The angler armed with the hot new skwala fly, or a proven old one, for that matter, might find himself out of luck. These big brown-olive stoneflies bring the big fish up when they're present. And when they're not, the fish might still come up for them. It's no wonder...
Saturday morning I went to the Seeley Lake Post Office. As I turned off Highway 83 into the parking lot of the post office I was pleasantly amazed that the minefield of deep holes into the parking lot off of the highway had been neatly filled in and graded. When I mentioned how safe, nice and welcoming the turn-in was to the postal employee on duty, the reply I received was that they did not know who had done it. In fact the employee further mentioned that "it was not that way when I left last night but was repaired by this morning". I would...
Cardiac health and management of cardiac disease has been and remains a key focus in our healthcare with more than 50% of all healthcare monies directed toward diagnosis and treatment of cardiac disease. With more and more investment directed toward innovation for disease management, mainstream science is also seeing the emergence of high-end toolkits directed toward early diagnosis and front-end prevention. We now have the ability to utilize innovative imaging, wearable and laboratory testing technology to screen for early markers of...
At last weekend's track and field meet in Polson, Sophomore Lillian Boyd won the women's varsity 200-meter dash. This was a personal record time for Boyd - 28.57 seconds - and it was one of many PRs for the Blackhawk track and field teams. Coach Mike Haines said there were 24 PRs total throughout the meet. Some of that number did include first-time times. But there were many improvements and it was a warmer meet day, which Haines thought helped. "The kids have been working hard and have pretty...
