Author unearths mystery while penning book

By CHRIS PETERSON / Hungry Horse News

In 2006 John Fraley and Pete Darling started poking around the Woodlawn Cemetery, looking for what amounted to a needle in a haystack.

Fraley was working on a book of historic stories centered around the Middle Fork of the Flathead.

One of those stories was the brutal murder of Lena Cunningham, who was bludgeoned to death with an iron pin on April 27, 1894.

Cunningham lived near what is now the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. plant. She was the city's first murder victim, as far as anyone can tell.

Fraley had written her story already — the murder, the arrest and subsequent hanging of the alleged perpetrator, Charles J. Black, were well documented in the pages of the Columbian, the newspaper of the time.

But there was something nagging Fraley, something that nags many historians — where was Cunningham buried?

Fraley called Darling, who oversees Woodlawn Cemetery, to see if there were any records of Cunningham's burial.

Lo and behold, there were. But Cunningham had no headstone. At the time she was buried, Woodlawn wasn't even a cemetery, at least not officially.

But she may have had a metal grave marker, and the records indicated she may have been buried near one of the largest Ponderosa pines in the cemetery.

So Darling got out his metal detector and started looking.

The machine found something, and the two started digging, clawing at the soil with their bare hands. Fraley expected to find a nail or some other inconsequential piece of metal.

But what they found was Lena Cunningham's grave marker.

Fraley had the end of his story. Darling later had a proper headstone and plaque made, and last week, Fraley and Darling placed the old grave marker underneath Lena Cunningham's headstone.

AND SO goes John Fraley's newest book, "Wild River Pioneers —Adventures in the Middle Fork of the Flathead, Great Bear Wilderness and Glacier National Park." Fraley doesn't just tell historic stories, he tracks them down, busting through brush to find old cabins, climbing mountains in search of caves and old camps. Fraley loves the Middle Fork and he brings its stories and early people to life in this new book.

For example, did you know there was a boomtown called McCarthyville where Bear Creek Ranch is now?

Did you know that a fair number of Glacier Park's early rangers also hunted and trapped in the Park they were supposed to protect? And that homesteaders living in Glacier did the same?

The Middle Fork's early history was peppered with interesting (and sometimes shady) characters, poachers, rangers, prostitutes and um, businessmen, who weren't exactly pillars of the community, if you get the drift.

There are tales of George Snyder, who built the "Glacier House," which would eventually become the Lake McDonald Lodge; there's stories about early settlers, like the Robertson family of Nyack, trapper Slippery Bill Morrison, moonshiner Josephine Doody and many others. You can still see the remains of Doody's old homestead — a tractor and old buildings still exist at the junction of the south boundary trail in Glacier National Park and the Harrison Lake Trail.

BUT FRALEY doesn't just write a book here, he lives it. As a the communication and education program manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, he spent countless hours in the creeks, valleys and draws the early pioneers called home. Fraley is also a trapper, fisherman and avid hiker — so he's always been attracted to the Middle Fork, he notes.

He's been working on this book for 20 years, he said, writing and rewriting chapters on the weekends and weeknights when he had time.

Many of the stories were inspired by his wife's great aunt, Doris Huffine. Doris was also an early settler in the area and when she was alive, Fraley would spend countless hours listening to her tell stories about early pioneers. Fraley's first book, "A Woman's Way West," chronicles her life experiences.

Researching the book also took support from local historians — Glacier Park staffers Deirdre Shaw, Lon Johnson and Anne Fagre were incredibly helpful, Fraley said.

But what shines the most about Fraley's book is its history that's readable — he doesn't just put facts on a page, he brings the stories to life.

"Wild River Pioneers" is softcover and available at local bookstores.