Trail History of Seeley Lake - First Generation Trails

SEELEY LAKE - This spot in God’s Country has always been a cross roads of trails. The Ancient Indian trail up the Blackfoot River (known as Cokahlarishkit, as Lewis rendered it, or “the River of the Road to Buffaloe,” better transcribed as Qoq’áax ‘í skit and translated as “buffalo road”) was the “Interstate Highway” serving travelers from today’s Idaho and Bitterroot/Clark Fork valleys. “Business” loops went to various hunting-gathering sites along the way.

Here in what is now Seeley Lake, ancient trails went four directions before being “discovered” by explorers. The Jocko Trail came from the west splitting towards Woodworth connecting to the Buffalo Road, Cottonwood Lakes and Pyramid Pass. Old Indian Trails went up the valley and Morrell Creek to the Swan Valley.

During Pioneer times, routes to Missoula, up Rice Ridge, to Morrell Mountain, Archibald/Mount Henry were added. Early day forest management and pioneer subsistence depended on trails as access to the back country (it was all pretty much back country then).

Wagon roads often used the old Indian routes. After WWII, the social and political environment turned to developing our wildlands. During the 1950s and 60s the government’s attitude was any place they could build a road negated any need for a trail. That was still pretty much the corporate attitude through the mid ‘70s.

But in the late ‘70s – early ‘80s it turned more toward regarding trails as a recreation resource rather than a transportation facility. One of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) trail priorities was to connect them to communities.

As one trammeled through the forest 30 years ago it would be noticed that several trails weren’t on the maps: e.g., Rice Ridge, Richmond Peak, upper Morrell Creek, Trail Creek, Morrell Mountain, Devil’s Basin (Crescent Lake), Boles Creek, Mt. Henry, Dinah to Reservation Divide, West Fork Clearwater, Blackfoot Divide, Nome Peak, Young’s Mountain, plus some in the wilderness. Since then several of them were added to the USFS trail inventory map to show what was there. A few of them were added to the Forest map on recent revisions.

In the late 1990s, the Seeley Lake Chamber of Commerce coerced the Missoula County Planning Department to make a map showing a trail around Seeley Lake. Their main interest was to show a connection between town and the campgrounds. Plans were on the drawing board to reconstruct Highway 83 through the village.

With a little cajoling, county surveyor Horace Brown, at a stroke of the pen, added a pathway along the highway, eventually planned to go to Double Arrow Road.

After that, several user-made and prominent game trails in the area were noticed that could easily be connected to offer some loops and side trail opportunities. The Community Council began expanding our town pathway and trail system. The USFS was kind enough to make a map and Lisa Blackburn added the “Connecting the Community” tag to the system. Now, about 25 miles of trails and pathways are available for enjoyment of our residents.