River pigs and flames in the forest – part one

“The timber west of the divide must seek a more distant market, as there is not now, and probably never will be, any great local demand.” In 1899, H.B. Ayres, a surveyor for the US Geological Survey wrote these words in a report about much of the land on the western slope of the continental divide encompassing the entire Swan Valley. By 1913, however, the Flathead National Forest, sold over 9,000 acres of timber rights above Swan Lake to the Somers Lumber Company. Logging began almost immediately in October 1914 and continued for nearly five years until July 1919 producing 87 million board feet of sawlogs and 302,000 board feet of railroad ties. But wait, how did all those logs get from Swan Lake, all the way to the Somers sawmill at the northwest corner of Flathead Lake?