Essex, MT

Three days before William “Bill” Anderson was set to marry his high school sweetheart in the summer of 1960, he lined up at the starting line of a race in Missoula. This wasn’t just any race — Anderson, who had just wrapped up a college track career, was lined up next to a horse and planned on running from Missoula to Polson, ideally covering the distance faster on two legs than his equine competitors would on four.

After a relatively quiet year last year, the Montana tradition of summer theater on Flathead Lake is back in full swing for 2021. At the southern end, the Port Polson Players have resumed shows in their historic 1938 log playhouse on the golf course, with a line-up of comedies, dramas and musicals. Farther upshore, things will be relatively normal at the Bigfork Summer Playhouse, which last year was one of the few theaters to have a season — which they pulled off by quarantining their casts.

Named after the Kootenai people, once referred to as “water people” by French fur traders, Water People Tours is on a mission to preserve the region’s ancient Kootenai culture and history and share it with a broader audience. As members of the Kootenai Tribe, owners Keya Birdsbill-Camel and Louis Camel feel incredibly connected to their Kootenai, or Ktunaxa, heritage and spread their love for their culture through educational and historical tours of the Flathead Reservation, the Flathead Valley and Glacier National Park.

A kayaker who sustained a head injury and nearly drowned while paddling on the Swan River May 28 has died. Lindsay Ashton, of Missoula, passed away the afternoon of Monday, June 14, her friend, Autumn Barnes-Fraser, told the Bigfork Eagle Wednesday. Ashton was life-flighted to Logan Health Medical Center following the accident and was placed in a medically induced coma for multiple days, according to posts on CaringBridge.org, a website used to share updates on an individual’s medical status.

A law enforcement official said a human skull found in Flathead Lake is being sent to the Montana State Forensic Lab for examination. Lake County Sheriff Donald Bell said that on Wednesday, June 23, Lake County 911 took a report that operators of a gill netting boat had found the skull inside their net. Lake County Sheriff’s Office personnel went to the scene and secured the skull.

On the morning of April 26, as I was sipping coffee and going through the events of the. weekend, something felt different. The local roadside cleanup, Clean Your Fork, had been a success. The inaugural Kids Bike Swap had gone off without a hitch. And Taste of Bigfork sold out...

Bigfork native Makena Morley will run in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon this weekend in the women’s 10,000 meters. If Morley finishes in the top three, she will represent the United States at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo next month. Viewers can watch Morley in action on Saturday, June 26 at 7:44 p.m. on NBC. The U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials began June 18 and will run through June 27 at Hayward Field.

Whitefish Credit Union recently named Erin Shappell of Columbia Falls the first Unsung Hero of its eight week campaign to show gratitude and appreciation for outstanding individuals throughout northwest Montana. Shappell, an assistant night-shift manager at Super 1 Foods in Columbia Falls, earned the recognition in part through her prudent...

The U.S. Attorney’s office of Montana has declined to press criminal charges against a dive instructor who was involved in a incident where a Missoula woman drowned in Glacier National Park’s Lake McDonald. On Nov. 1, 2020, Linnea Rose Mills, 18, was diving with a group near the dock at...

The U.S. Department of the Interior announced Wednesday it has finalized the transfer of the 18,800-acre National Bison Range to the trust ownership of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The federal wildlife refuge carved from the center of the Flathead Reservation more than a century ago was returned to...

A human skull was discovered in Flathead Lake on Wednesday. The Lake County Sheriff's Office said operators of a gill-netting boat discovered the skull in a net while pulling it from the water around 1:30 p.m. The sheriff's office said it sent personnel to secure the remains and planned to...

Daniel Weston Morton was first arrested and jailed in early May after local authorities said he exposed himself to a number of people and assaulted others at a local hotel. But less than two weeks later, Morton found trouble again and was back in the Flathead County Detention Center on June 20.

The Glacier National Park summer season was in full swing. Glacier estimated that late June travel would be about 2,600 visitors a day and would ramp up to 4,800 a day in July and August. 60 years ago. June 16, 1961. The Columbia Falls Chamber of Commerce had secured a...

Arne Boveng remembers the hoopla surrounding the sheer size of a 2012 donation to Northwest Montana History Museum that included 1,309 century-old photos shot by Flathead Valley homesteader Matt Eccles. The collection that today occupies Boveng’s time and fascination, however, is so vast in scope and diversity that it not...

The Columbia Falls summer swim team couldn’t ask for a better start to the season — three meets in it’s taken three first-place trophies, with wins in Shelby, Chester and Cut Bank. The squad has 94 swimmers signed up, said head coach Harry Bagley — the highest number in years.

Homes are listed for sale, and remain available (active) until they are sold, or the contract expires, or the contract gets overtly canceled, or the listing is withdrawn. Let’s look at the market activity of Flathead County single-family residences, two-plus beds and one-plus baths, 900 to 5,000 square feet, originally listed for $200,000 to $799,999 ($100,000 ranges per chart). I charted, by month, the number of homes active (blue), sold (green), canceled (orange) and expired (red). The print version has space for one chart, so I chose the $300-399k chart. The online version has an additional rotating GIF, with each of the sequential price ranges charted.

The Bigfork Piecemakers’ Quilt Guild hosts its annual quilt show June 25 and 26 at Bigfork Elementary School, 600 Commerce St. in Bigfork. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 pm. Friday, June 25, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 26. Admission is free. Quilts will be on display,...

MISSOULA, Mont. — Montana Highway Patrol troopers say a 51-year-old Columbia Falls man died after hitting a deer with his motorcycle. The crash happened just before 11 p.m. Sunday near Kalispell. The motorcyclist was northbound on Columbia Falls Stage Road when a deer ran in front of him. The motorcycle...