It was two years ago this month when I wrote a lengthy column on the history of early Montana explorer Joseph Howse and the search for his connections to the Flathead Valley.

That column was written in conjunction with a Mountain Man Rendezvous held in Kalispell to celebrate the bicentennial of Howse’s most illustrious expedition, which began at Fort Edmonton in Canada and crossed the Rocky Mountains south into Montana.

It was known that Howse, in the employ of the Hudson Bay Co., established a trading post somewhere on his travels in the years 1810 to 1811, but the exact location has remained, like so much else from that era, obscure.

Nonetheless, based on the research of the late Mark White, a Forest Service archaeologist from Libby, a group of dedicated history enthusiasts from the Northwest Montana Historical Society has concluded that Howse House (as the trading post was known) almost certainly was built and briefly flourished somewhere near Flathead Lake south of Kalispell.

 The rivalry between Howse and David Thompson, a competing explorer affiliated with the North West Company, is a fascinating part of local history, and along with the expedition of Lewis & Clark marks the earliest recorded exploration of northwest Montana by white men.

“Howse House —1810-1811,” a new book by noted local historian Carl W. Haywood of Thompson Falls, sheds considerable light on that obscure piece of history, and anyone who is serious about getting to the bottom of the mystery of Joseph Howse cannot possibly miss it.

Haywood was a friend of Mark White, and by building upon White’s research, Haywood concludes with relative certainty that the Howse House trading post was built in 1810 just south of a bend in Ashley Creek on a piece of land later known as the Eugene McCarthy Homestead.

Interestingly, one of the key pieces of evidence comes from the hand of Emma Ingalls, the pioneer woman who in 1889 founded the Inter Lake newspaper with her husband Clayton “C.O.” Ingalls in the town of Demersville just a mile or so from Ashley Creek.

Ingalls wrote of her research in a 1945 history paper entitled “Over Trails of the Past,” explaining that Eugene McCarthy was a laborer on the Northern Pacific Railway who took over his property from Joe Ashley, the early settler who gave the creek and an early town in the vicinity his name.

According to Ingalls, “The remains of the old trading post established in about 1808 were still in evidence,” when McCarthy took possession, and that the farmer “Tore down the old chimneys and filled in the excavation, and where this historic building once stood Mr. Griffith has a grain field.”

It is certainly intriguing that Ingalls was able to place an old trading post on the banks of Ashley Creek in 1808. That is certainly some coincidence if it was not the Howse House. And though Ingalls was off by two years in her dating, there is absolutely no evidence that any earlier explorer than Howse had ever built a post in the Flathead.

Whether this is the exact site of the Howse House trading post or not is the subject of considerable debate in Mr. Haywood’s book. Significantly, Haywood includes the full text of the 1960s-era research by local amateur historians Thain White and A.B. Braunberger. White and Braunberger had pursued local legend, the scant documentation available, and lots of footwork to try to determine once and for all where the Howse House had been located.

Sadly, though they provided a massive amount of evidence that Howse had settled in the Flathead, they ultimately concluded that the trading post was actually at Lake Pend Oreille. Thus it was left to Mark White and now Carl Haywood to set the record straight.

As a result of their work, the Montana Department of Transportation has recently announced that it will be placing a new historical roadway marker for the Howse House along U.S. 93 south of Kalispell.

By the way, Haywood and two other local historians will be at Sykes (202 Second Ave. W.) on Tuesday from noon until 2 p.m. for a book signing. If you have an interest in the history of the early exploration by trappers and traders in Northwest Montana, you will want to attend.

Haywood’s new book will be available as will his earlier book on Howse’s rival, “David Thompson: The Saleesh House Period 1807-1812, Sometimes Only Horse to Eat.” That book traces the hardships faced by Thompson and his fellow explorers.

In addition, local co-authors Neal Van Sickle and Evelyn Rodewald will be available to discuss and sign their book, “The Indian Way: Indians and the North American Fur Trade.” Their book is a survey of the fur trade and how the trade succeeded by adapting to the lifestyles and traditions of the Native Americans.

All three books are available at The Bookshelf, the Bookworks, and the Museum at Central School in Kalispell.

The book-signing event is sponsored by the History Awareness Committee for the Museum at Central School, and if you want to get involved in pursuing the avenues and byways of local history, you will be sure to make some useful connections at this event, which is being organized by local history enthusiast Ron Beard, who also played a key role in putting together the Howse House Bicentennial Celebration in 2011.

 Beard also recommends that visitors to Sykes should take a few minutes and review the many historically accurate paintings by local artist and sculptor Frank Hagel of early American scenes.

2 CENTS MORE: The Inter Lake recently started a campaign on the general theme of “Your Life Covered,” which promotes the dedication of our newspaper in highlighting many aspects of Flathead Valley life.

One of those ads featured an outstanding photo of an outstanding local athlete, Kyle Griffith, who happened to be a standout football player at Glacier High School.

A few people wondered out loud why we had picked a Glacier student and seemed to be sure we were biased against Flathead High School. This despite the fact that our publisher is a proud FHS alumni!

Well, I just wanted you to know that both Flathead and Glacier are important to us, as are the high schools in Bigfork, Whitefish and Columbia Falls. Unfortunately we can’t feature ads about all of them at the same time.

But starting tomorrow, you will be seeing full-page ads featuring Austin Root, the Flathead running back who has signed to play with the Dickinson State University Blue Hawks this fall! Way to go, Austin.

And keep looking for more surprises, as we roll out ads featuring other schools and other players! We love excellence, no matter what uniform it wears.