There have been many interesting and influential Seeley Lakers since our community began.
Jasper Seely, from whom our town got its name, is among the more fascinating, and a look at his life is also a look at America during a period of robust growth and change.
Born in Niles, Michigan, in 1857, Jasper Seely would be 166 years old today. The town of Niles was settled in the early 19th century, although nearby Fort St. Joseph dates back to 1691. Niles has been called the City of Four Flags since it was governed at various times by the Spanish, French, British and the United States. Perhaps the most famous person to come out of Niles around this same time was Aaron Montgomery Ward, founder of the mail order and retail chain.
Jasper Seely would have been a youngster during the Civil War. In the mid-1870’s we know he taught school and helped his father in milling and lumber work. When he set out for the Pacific Northwest, the US was well into what we call the “Second Industrial Revolution.” With transcontinental railways completed and entrepreneurs like Andrew Carnegie building new industrial fortunes, there must have been a real feeling of opportunity for a young and educated man like Seely.
We know that Jasper arrived in our area from Washington State around 1881. As was common at the time, he worked at a number of jobs. These included delivering freight and cruising timber for the Bonner Mill. The Bonner Mill was also known as the Hammond Mill, the Blackfoot Milling Company, and the Big Blackfoot Milling Company. In 1910 the name was changed to the Anaconda Copper Mining Company - Lumber Department, and this is the ACM we see on our area ownership maps prior to 1970.
Jasper ‘s brother Elmer joined him in the area, and they built a cabin on the west side of Seeley Lake. The location of this is almost certainly near today’s Camp Paxson, but there is no record in the General Land Office files of a homestead patent being issued for that site. We do find a homestead issued to Jasper Seely in 1900, on what is now Double Arrow Ranch, and a second homestead issued in 1904. This second one became his new home, following his marriage to Leonora Torrell of Ovando. Clearly the Seelys were well known enough in our area that what was Clearwater Lake was renamed by a survey crew as Seeley Lake. (The addition of the third “e” will always be a mystery!)
Being in our area in the 1890’s meant being at the crossroads of several major trends: electrification created a huge demand for copper which in turn created a huge demand for timber for the Butte mines. The railroad came to Missoula in 1883, resulting in a growing town just 60 miles away, (although back then a couple of days on horseback.) Finally, in 1905, Theodore Roosevelt transferred what were called Forest Reserves to the Department of Agriculture and its newly created US Forest Service. This young agency was to provide Jasper Seely’s employment for the rest of his career, working in what were the renamed National Forests. Gifford Pinchot was selected to head the new organization, and it is said Jasper Seely knew him personally.
Given Jasper Seely’s experience and personal drive, it’s not surprising he did well in the new organization, moving up in the organization to what we know as a Forest Supervisor. Upon his 1927 retirement he received a letter from a colleague in Helena (where he had retired) stating that:
“If as a man nears the end of life’s work he can feel that however the fortunes of battle ran he kept flying always his own flag of courage and independence and stood for his own beliefs, he has to my mind a great record of accomplishment. Great because it is only by such men that progress is made. You have done that and have reason to be proud of it. “
Jasper Seely is a reflection of how America was rapidly becoming the world’s pre-eminent economic power. Our internal differences were behind us, the Homestead Act of 1862 was providing a motivation to settle the vast western areas of the country, and the importance of timber for a growing nation was being realized. Jasper Seely put our community on the map as a key location where timber, and later recreation, became the foundation of the community we know today.
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