Kalispell, Montana

In the winter of 1882–1883, two young men met in Boulder Valley, Montana (30 miles southwest of Helena). Tyscon Duncan and Edgar Brook decided to head to the Bitter Root Valley near present-day Missoula, Montana. At the end of March 1883, they started with a four-horse team and covered wagon, traveling via Helena and crossing the Continental Divide over the Mullen Road. They reached Missoula in the year the Northern Pacific was completed, and it was a very “wide open” town at that time.

In Missoula they met Major Peter Ronan, the Indian agent at the Flathead Indian reservation. The major told them there was no more good land to be taken in the Bitterroot Valley and advised them to go to the Flathead.

Duncan and Brook journeyed along the Northern Pacific up the valley to Flathead Lake. Soon they came to the McGovern ranch, at the gateway of Flathead Valley, which is now the town of Somers. On April 25, 1883, Tyscon Duncan marked out his homestead, which is now Kalispell north, and together he and Brook built a log cabin. Next they built one for Brook three miles to the south. They then returned to Boulder, stopping in Helena to file their claims. In those early years of living in the Flathead Valley, pioneers endured plenty of hardships. Winters were long and severe. The Flathead Valley received generous amounts of snowfall, and temperatures in January and February could fall well below zero. However, these settlers found the soil rich in minerals and good for growing crops. Indian tribes also inhabited the fertile valley, and trade with the Indians became common.

Gold dust was found 60 miles to the west of the valley. News soon spread to all parts of the United States about the new gold strike, and the popularity of the Flathead began to rise.

In the fall of 1890, word was brought that the surveyors of the Great Northern Railroad had crossed the main range of the mountains and were coming down the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. People from beyond the valley heard about this and came by the score. Two men, C. A. Conrad and A. A. White, came with the railroad and, as they had many other cities in Montana, founded the town site of Kalispell. The town site was named after the Kalispel Indians who inhabited the Flathead Valley. Conrad and White began buying land and marking lots for sale. Pioneers and settlers came to Kalispell by the hundreds. In April 1891, Conrad and White began to sell lots faster than they could make out deeds. By 1891, Kalispell had 23 saloons, 12 gambling joints, 2 Chinese restaurants, 2 Chinese laundries, and 4 general stores.

On December 31, 1891, railroad graders and track layers reached the center of Main Street. The next day, New Year's Day 1892, the first locomotive officially arrived. A big celebration was held, at which time a silver spike was driven into the center tie.

The railroad brought in businessmen, tourists, and pioneers looking for a new start. Kalispell soon emerged as an industrial center, as sawmills, flour mills, merchants, and farmers rooted themselves in the area.

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