20/35 Year Look Back

In celebration of 36 years of the Seeley Swan Pathfinder, each week we will run parts of articles that appeared in the issue 35 years ago and 20 years ago. The entire issue will be uploaded to our website seeleylake.com for you to enjoy. We hope you will enjoy the journey with us as we follow our community through the past 36 years as documented by the Pathfinder.

35 years ago: August 27, 1987 issue

Warren Skillicorn: Homespun musician and fireside entertainer

By Will Kats

Warren Skillicorn has been many things in his life - a life that has spanned 79 years, so far, and almost all of it in the Woodworth area east of Seeley Lake. Among other things, he has been a road builder, vegetable farmer, trapper, sawmill employee, craftsman and, most importantly, a musician.

His music has entertained people from all over the world, and his stories of growing up in this wild, mountain land, often hold people spellbound.

In 1910, Warren and his folks homesteaded a tract of ground near Upsata Lake. Nine years later, they "lost it to grocery bills" and moved to Billings. The country had a hold on them, though, and they returned in 1927 to purchase the 40 acres near Woodworth (Kozy Korner) locally known today as "Skillyville."

"There weren't no jobs, then, so we sawed railroad ties for 25 cents apiece, grew potatoes, and ate a lot of wild meat," Warren recalled recently. That wherewithal has seen him through good times and bad, and is reflected in the casual way he talks, and the down-to-earth stories he enjoys sharing....

To read the rest of this article more from this issue, visit https://www.seeleylake.com/home/customer_files/article_documents/1987-08-27.pdf

20 years ago: August 29, 2002 issue

To read this issue visit https://www.seeleylake.com/home/customer_files/article_documents/2002-08-22.pdf

 

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