New history shown at old Double Arrow ski hill

Almost 100 years ago, hoards of out-of-state visitors climbed on trains to visit Seeley Lake for its downhill skiing along the Double Arrow Ranch.

The hill, one of the first in Montana's history, recently got a touch up with new signs showing the past adventurers who once came to Seeley Lake just for the rope tow. Children of ski hill creator Bob Manchester joined to see the legacy their family has brought to the area.

"It was the thing to do before World War II," said Kenny Manchester, son of Bob Manchester.

The Double Arrow Ski Hill opened in the winter of 1938, just behind the Showdown, the first ski hill that opened in 1936. Bob Manchester, who started as a cowboy at the Double Arrow Ranch, wanted to start a ski hill in the area and got clearance to put something together at the ranch.

The hill sits just to the right of the main Double Arrow entrance. Bob Manchester picked out the hill and set up the rope tow, according to Kenny Manchester. Within a year, it became a huge attraction for the growing number of recreationalists in America.

People from around the country would take the train to the Blackfoot-Clearwater Junction, and then trekked up to the ranch and other lodging. The rope tow, just 1,000 feet long, took skiers to a hill overlooking Seeley Lake, boxed in by the Mission and Swan fronts.

While the site could be attributed to the boom of new European settlers used to skiing in their home countries, some accounts said the hill was a last-ditch effort by owner Jan Boissevain to get more revenue during the great depression.

"By 1938 Boissevain had tried just about everything to ward off hard times. He even tried starting a ski resort," Mildred Chaffin wrote in "Cabin Fever." "Bob Manchester, a college student and skier, helped him clear the hillside behind the ranch buildings and the two men lay on the ground with crosscut saws to cut the stumps low enough to ski over."

The path where people recreated almost a century ago is now used as a trail dotted with old skis to show the way. The occasional piece of rope from old tows litters the ground.

Skiing became a way of life in the Seeley-Swan Valley, but its downhill days were cut short by World War II. Bob Manchester and much of the youthful ski crowd joined the war. Manchester, being an avid skier, joined the 10th Mountain Division Ski Division.

The U.S. Army made the ski division to fight in the most remote and steep areas of Europe. The 10th Mountain Division did battle in Italy, eventually meeting U.S. troops driving towards the south from France. The Mountain Division was reincarnated in the 1980s and is still active today.

After the War, Kenny Manchester said his father and many other 10th Mountain Division members couldn't shake the ski bug, but they didn't come back to Seeley for it. Instead, they founded their own larger ski hills, like Whitefish up the road and Vail in Colorado.

Kenny Manchester said his father bought property in Whitefish, but the family often returned to Seeley Lake in the summers.

"He had a soft spot in his heart for Seeley," Kenny Manchester said, adding that the family had a timeshare before he eventually bought his own Forest Service cabin in 2014.

While the Manchester family went elsewhere with their skiing adventures, little is known about the Double Arrow Hill. Patt Donich, one of the current lodge owners, recalled finding the tow and other ski equipment mostly intact when she bought the lodge in 1989.

"It seemed like someone was still using it recently when we bought it," Donich said, adding that they sold the rope tow. Donich said the land is now privately-owned and is a shared common space, so it's unclear if a ski area could ever return to the spot.

"There's some pretty good sledding though," Donich said.