Mountain men draw crowd to Kalispell
Eric Schwartz | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 13 years, 3 months AGO
<p>Mike Cohan of Libby demonstrates traditional bullet making on Saturday afternoon at the Mountain Man Rendezvous in Lawrence Park in Kalispell.</p>
<p>From right, Judy Vander-Ploeg of Waxhaw, N.C., and Alana Darling of Columbia Falls, take a closer look at some hand-made hunting frocks on Saturday afternoon at the Mountain Man Rendezvous in Lawrence Park in Kalispell.</p>
<p>From left, Tom Rogers of Kalispell discusses his one-quarter scale canoes with Greg Holmes of Langely, B.C., on Saturday afternoon at the Mountain Man Rendezvous in Lawrence Park in Kalispell. Rogers said the pieces are based on information from the Smithsonian Museum.</p>
<p>Charlotte Morain of Libby, left, explains a few historic reproduction pieces to Jerry and Eloise Hill of Kalispell and their great grandson Luca Zoeller, 7, of Kalispell on Saturday afternoon at the Mountain Man Rendezvous in Lawrence Park in Kalispell.</p>
<p>Tyler Coppinger, 15, of Ocean City, Md., center, gets instructions from Randy Burns of Kalispell, a member of the Flathead Valley Muzzleloaders, before taking a turn at ax and knife throwing on Saturday afternoon at the Mountain Man Rendezvous in Lawrence Park in Kalispell.</p>
Twelve-year-old Jared Wicker and his family stopped by Lawrence Park in Kalispell Saturday afternoon with the goal of finding a picnic table to eat lunch.
Instead, the young North Carolina resident ended up trying his hand at throwing a hatchet and knife at a wood block lifted about 2 feet off the ground.
It was just one of several throwback attractions at the Bicentennial Celebration and Mountain Man Rendezvous.
“That was awesome,” Wicker said as he walked away. “I’m going to do that again.”
The event, hosted by the Northwest Montana Historical Society and the Flathead Valley Muzzleloaders, attracted hundreds of history enthusiasts, tourists and curious locals throughout the day.
It was timed to celebrate the 200th anniversary of what is believed to be the first established trading post in the Flathead Valley. The first Hudson Bay Company man to cross the Rocky Mountains, Joseph Howse, built a trading post in 1810 just south of present-day Kalispell along the Flathead River.
Visitors at Saturday’s event were treated to portrayals of life during that time.
Libby resident Mike Cohan, decked out in historically accurate clothing, hunched over a small, scorching pot containing melting chunks of lead.
After using a wood-fueled fire to heat the lead to 625 degrees, he poured the molten medal into a mold that gives it a round form.
“Dump it out, trim the excess up and I’m good to go,” he said.
The end result of the traditional exercise was dozens of bullets that would have been used by early traders and settlers in areas like the Flathead Valley.
“When I’m set up in ideal conditions I can do about 100 of these in an hour,” Cohan said.
Paul Strong, a member of the Flathead Tree Trappers, stood along a 30-foot canoe that weighs in at about 400 pounds.
The replica vessel represented a primary mode of transportation and shipping for Montana’s earliest non-native residents.
Strong told interested attendees about how the canoe would have been operated by about six people, providing a balance between propulsion and space for supplies, tools and, most importantly, furs.
“Even [going] upstream, they could do 40 to 50 miles a day,” he said.
Strong said the canoe is similar to what was used by famed explorer, trader and map-maker David Thompson in the early 1800s.
He described how Thompson brought such a canoe in February 1812 to the Flathead Valley, where he found Kootenai and Salish Indians.
Attendees were treated to numerous other displays, historical books, furs and artifacts throughout the day.
Trevor Waggar, 28, of Missoula, said he was drawn to the event by his love for history.
“It’s easy to look around at all the beauty in Montana and not think about some of the first people to come here,” he said. “This is a nice way of experiencing as much as you can of what they did.”