Before
the railroad arrived the lower Clark Fork River valley was very quiet,
traveled seasonally by the local Salish and Kootenai peoples and then
by the occasional fur trapper and adventurer following on the heels of
David Thompson. Steep mountains, rain, snow, and river rapids made
travel challenging. Camps were temporary, used only for berry picking,
camas digging, fishing and hunting. They then moved on.
Originally
a railroad town on the Northern Pacific, the community of Heron has
survived 125 years of booms and busts. The railroad reached Heron in
1882. Within a year Heron had about 400 residents, 3 stores, 6 saloons,
2 hotels, 2 restaurants and a town water system. In January 1884
Heron’s first post office was opened. In September the first school
district was created. By October 1888 the water source for the steam
engines dried up and the railroad terminal moved to Hope, ID. The post
office closed before Thanksgiving and Heron was almost wiped from the
map. People left in droves.
A few stubborn folks hung in here and eventually a new wave of in
migrants arrived, lured by out of region promoters. This cycle repeated
itself many times over the decades. Heron has been rebuilt and
reinvented numerous times. Lured by the promise of something better,
homesteaders, farmers, trappers, miners, loggers, business owners
continued to arrive. Some endured. Many moved on when the extolled
riches never materialized or were burnt up in the frequent fires or
lost to the spring floods.
The
first few decades were the years of timber. Vast stands of cedar, white
pine and larch succumbed to crosscut saws to provide ties, poles, cedar
shakes for a growing nation. The 1910 fire destroyed mills and millions
of board feet of timber. The timber industry moved on.
Ferry in early 1900's
The
1930's brought in families fleeing the dust bowl east of the mountains.
Farm equipment, livestock, and household goods were loaded into freight
cars for the westward journey. Heron's green trees and grass were a
welcome change from the prairie drought. Fires had cleared thousands of
acres and there was enough grass for small dairy herds.
The
construction of the huge hydro projects at Cabinet Gorge and Noxon
Rapids after World War II brought hundreds of workers to the valley.
Most moved on to other construction projects, but some bought land and
stayed.
The 1970's saw military retirees and back to the
landers arrive. They were searching for a quiet place off the beaten
track. The 1980's witnessed hard times and many folks, tired of Heron's
grey skies, lack of culture and social opportunities, packed up and
moved on.
In the past decade a surge of urban/suburban refugees
has discovered the Heron area. A new boom is underway. Recreation
property is now the big draw. Beautiful scenery, mountains and lakes
are the current natural resources utilized by newcomers. Real estate
prices are reaching speculative levels and out of region promoters are
once again luring new folks into the lower Clark Fork selling the
current version of their dream.
Life along the lower Clark Fork
has never been easy, but with a little bit of luck and lots of hard
work families thrived and the community survived. Only time will tell
if the newest wave of incomers will lose interest in a few years and
move on leaving behind a community that will once again have to regroup
to survive.
Heron-CRD
Heron Citizens for Responsible Development Heron, Montana
