Walsh saga continues up North Fork

Very few of the original homesteader families still have ties to the North Fork, let alone still own land here. Ones that easily come to mind are Huck, Newton, Glover and Holcomb. There is one family with North Fork property that was actually on the North Fork before there was much, if any, homestead activity.

In the mid-1880s, copper magnate Marcus Daly paid for an exploration expedition of the North Fork. The expedition was led by Patrick Walsh, and their assigned task was to lay claim to any coal deposits that were found.

Walsh sold his unpatented coal claims to a Butte holding company in 1890 at what was described at the time "for a considerable profit." Although this first Patrick Walsh did not homestead on the North Fork, he was certainly one of the earliest pioneers. He did homestead just west of Columbia Falls, and his grandson Patrick lives there today.

Although the original Patrick Walsh did not homestead on the North Fork, his oldest son John did. He and his wife Harriet were among the earliest North Fork homesteaders obtaining title to their land in Big Prairie before establishment of Glacier National Park.

In fact, the building long known as the Kintla Post Office, which burned in the Red Bench Fire was the original Walsh homestead cabin, and Harriet was the first North Fork postmaster.

In 1947, John and his wife subdivided a portion of their homestead, creating what was known locally as Havreville because most of the buyers were railroaders from Havre, Montana.

After John's death in 1961, Harriet sold what remained of the homestead to Glacier Park, but there were still Walshes on the North Fork.

John's younger brother, Richard P. (Dick) Walsh, owned one of the lots in Havreville, and he moved John and Harriet's two-story, second-generation log house onto the lot where it remains today.

When Dick Walsh died in 2001, what remained of the two Walsh homesteads passed to his children, who still own them today.

At the end of 2011, Dick's son Pat retired from the Flathead County Sheriff's Office with more than 30 years of service to the citizens of Flathead County. Now he has more time to spend on the North Fork, and in between kayak trips on the river, he will be able to spend more time working to finish the upstairs in the original John Walsh homestead house that his uncle and father did not quite complete.

Even if he doesn't finish it, no doubt his son Richard will take on the job - in another 20 or 30 years. In any event, there have been North Fork Walshes for more than 100 years, and the succession seems to be secure, especially with the current Pat's wife, Trish, to keep him on task. Many thanks to her for finally getting him to copy the picture with this column so we could share it with everyone.

P.S. The original cabin may be gone, but Pat and Trish still have the washtub and scrub board you can see hanging on the wall. I don't know if Trish still uses it.