Missoula Smokejumper Center

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Today we visited the Missoula Smokejumper Center here in Missoula which is one of seven smokejumper bases located in the United States.  It is also a training facility for smokejumpers who must already have 5 to 10 years of fire fighting experience before they may apply. 

Picture showing the training center in Missoula

At the Visitor Center we toured the museum which had lots of displays, dioramas, artifacts and photographs relating to the U.S. Forest Service firefighting.  This Center is the largest one in the United States with about 85 smokejumpers.  Russia has thousands of smokejumpers compared to our U.S. number of around 400.   Of that 400 about 40 are women.

Our tour began with a visit to the sewing room, yes the sewing room.  Firefighters make their own garb including backpacks, parachute harnesses and all the other fabric based equipment except the parachutes.  Jumpsuits are made from padded Kevlar, the same material used in bulletproof vests.  Because there are so few Smokejumpers in the U.S, it is not cost effective for a commercial manufacturer to make the garb.

Helmets worn are like the ones used by skiers and snowboarders except the smokejumper helmet has a steel mesh face cage to protect them when they land near brush and trees.  Once on the ground, the smokejumper wears the normal firefighting attire.  Their jump gear and parachute are stowed in fire resistant bags until they are ready to leave the burn area.

Our next stop was to the parachute loading room.  Again smokejumpers pack their own parachutes.  Today they use round parachutes and square ones with the round ones being phased out.  A chute that has been sitting for six months, must be unpacked and packed again.  Parachutes are only allowed to be used for 100 jumps in the U.S. and are then sent to Canada for further use.

Parachutes are hung from this huge ceiling and lowered and inspected after each jump.  Any tears or repairs are then made by the smokejumper before they are once again packed up.

Parachutes hanging from ceiling waiting to be inspected.

Smokejmpers inspecting a parachute

Our visit then was to the locker room where jumpers suit up when called to a fire.  It takes each jumper 2 minutes to suit up with another firefighter (not on call) standing by to assist and check that everything is fastened properly.  Smokejumpers carry 85 – 100 lbs. of equipment.  From the time the alarm rings until take off in the plane is 10 minutes.  Pretty impressive.  All other cargo (food, water, equipment, etc.) needed by the smokejumpers at the site are already loaded on the plane so no time is lost at alarm time.  This cargo is then dropped to the jumpers once they have landed.  

A Smokejumper ready to leave for the plane

A Smokejumper ready to begin work
Note the foil tent on the right that is used if
a jumper must protect his/herself from fire.
We were told this seldom happens.

Cargo boxes dropped down

Packed food included in cargo boxes

A plane carries between 8 and 10 jumpers (depending on the size of the plane), two spotters and two pilots.

During down time, smokejumpers are packing cargo boxes for fires, equipment, sewing new equipment, checking parachutes and maintaining equipment. 

On our return to the Visitor Center we passed this memorial to lost firefighters.

 A very interesting and informative tour.  Do you recognize this Smokejumper?

Missoula, MT

Thursday, July 21, 2016

A travel day with us leaving behind Idaho and arriving in Montana and back in Mountain Daylight Time.  The majority of our travel today took us through the mountains filled with very straight pine trees and the beautiful St. Regis River which flowed along side the highway and wove from right to left as we crossed many bridges.  We encountered a number of small towns along the way, some nestled in valley areas.  There were also a number of construction sites, one several miles long with Ron having to drive between two sets of barricade some rather windy.  Glad he is the good driver he is.  We will remain here in Missoula until Monday seeing the local sites before heading to Kalispell and Glacier National Park.

 Friday, July 22, 2016

Missoula, MT is located along the Clark Fort River where it meets the Bitterroot and Blackfoot Rivers in Western Montana and where five mountain ranges merge in what is called the “hub of five valleys” with the metropolitan population at around 114,000.  The green and light brown mountain ranges that surround the city are filled with large homes surrounded by acres of land and mountains filled with tall pine trees.  A beautiful view.

The city was founded in 1860 as Hellgate Trading Post and was part of the Washington Territory.  By 1866 the settlement had been renamed Missoula Mills and later shortened to just Missoula.  The establishment of Fort Missoula in 1877 helped to protect the western settlers, the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1833 brought rapid growth and the maturity of the lumber industry and in 1908 Missoula was chosen as the headquarters of the U.S. Forest Service all helping with the growth of the city.

Downtown isfilled with some old buildings, the University of Montana and an area of lovely old homes on tree lined streets.  This beautiful large old home is now a fraternity house.

 After several stops and starts and a detour, we arrived at the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula where we listened to a video about the establishment of the city and then walked through the museum filled with local artifacts, historical information, posters from World War II and information on how this Fort was used during its early years and during World War II. 

An old Block Pattern Quilt

  The Museum is housed in what was the Quartermaster’s storehouse built in 1911.  The 32 acre complex is dotted with both original and historic structures from the surrounding area.  

Did you know that in 1896 a Lieutenant organized the 25th Infantry Bicycle Corp which undertook several short journeys before making a 1,900 miles bicycle trip from Fort Missoula to St. Louis, MO?  The Army concluded that the bicycle would never replace the horse.

The Fort has been used as a military training center during World War I, the Northwest Regional Headquarters for the CCC, an Alien Detention Center for nonmilitary Italian men in 1941 and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor it housed 1,000 Japanese men (predominately middle aged and older successful business men) who were first generation immigrants who were prevented from becoming U.S. citizens due to the Alien and Sedition Act.  Following WWII, the Fort was a prison for American personnel accused of military crimes who were awaiting court martial.  Today the Fort is in the hands of several nonmilitary agencies.  Lovely grounds with lots of information.

Pictures from the grounds of the complex below.

Non Commissioned Officers Quarters

Alien Detention Center Barracks 1941

1900 Cabin
Note the outhouse in the back - It's a 2 holer

1907 School House

Forest Service Lookout Tower

Wallace, ID, The Center of the Universe

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Our last stop in Idaho is Wallace which proclaims itself as the Center of the Universe.  The Center, you say?  Yes.   Per an article on the internet,  “Wallace, Idaho is one of a handful of town in Idaho’s Silver Valley region, famous for not only its silver mining but also for other chemicals and compounds that no one has been able to satisfactorily prove to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are harmless. Since the EPA has said that if things can’t be satisfactorily disproved then they must be, in fact, proved, Wallace has declared itself the Center of the Universe. It’s never been disproved that it’s not the center, so therefore . . . it is.”  If you are curious to learn more about this interesting piece of information, go on the internet and look it up Center of the Universe, Wallace, Idaho.

 In addition to being at the center of the universe, Wallace is also a historic town where all the downtown buildings are on the National Historic Register.  Unusual since in most cases it is only a few selected places.  In 1970 when the federal and state highway departments were getting ready to complete I-90 through this area, they wanted to completely demolish the town.  The city fought back by delaying action in court and then quietly getting the whole downtown district on the National Register of Historic Places.  Sneaky!  By 1986 the town had won and the highway was built around and above the city. 

I-90 passing above the city

Wallace began with the purchase of 80 acres of largely cedar forest and swampland. As gold mining petered out, silver was discovered and a boom began.  By 1900 and throughout the 20th century Wallace became the hub of one of the world’s largest mining districts and merited a visit from campaigning President Teddy Roosevelt in 1903.  He gave a speech from the back of a train car at the station. 

Our first stop in downtown is at the Northern Pacific Railroad Depot Museum which was relocated 200 feet across the Coeur d’Alene River when they were building I-90.  This old building is built in chateau style and the inside has been recreated like an early working railroad depot with a ladies waiting room.  This room gave the ladies of the day a place to wait away from some of the scruffy miners who might be awaiting a train.  There is a restored station masters office with an old working phone (see picture) which to the surprise of visitors you are expected to answer and tell the person at the other end when the next train arrives.  Cute. 

The last train to come through here was in July 1992. 

The Women's Waiting Room

Bathroom on the second floor
Note the water tank high on the wall

Station Masters Office

Note the telephone mentioned above

Luggage awaiting the train

Old Dresden Dish Pattern Quilt hanging on the wall

Walking further into downtown, we are struck by all the old buildings, many with names and dates on them as was the custom at the time.  There is an old Masonic Temple, Elks and Eagles Lodges, old banks, an insurance building, lots of hotels and bars, post office, County Court House and yes a couple of brothels.  There were very few vacant store fronts.  A nice brochure explains each of the buildings and gives you some insight into the town of the early 1900’s.

Old Masonic Temple

Two corner buildings with turrets.

Bordello Sign

Oasis Bordello

Elks Lodge

 I have a rather unique encounter with one store owner.  The building was shown as having been an old J.C. Penney store and now was perhaps an antique store though I really never found out what was for sale.  As I walked in the door, I encountered a grumpy old man lounging in an old time barber chair who inquired, “Are you just looking for some place to kill time or are you going to buy something?”  to which I said, I would be happy to vacate the premises and he waved me goodbye.   He’ll never know if I would have found something I could not live without. 

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Our drive around town today shows us many, many old houses some beautifully restored and some in need of attention.  There are many Queen Anne bungalows and other historical and architectural styles in evidence.  We are drawn to the extensive stair system which allowed people years ago and even today to get from one residential street to the next on the steep hills.  Most of the stairways are 100 feet long and have 76 to 84 steps.  Whew!  What a climb.

Looking up

Looking down

 We drive one of the steep, narrow streets which is a two way street with cars parked close to the hill below the houses and only enough room for a car to pass beyond the parked car.  Seems like it should be a one way street.    Fortunately, we do not encounter a car coming the other direction.  Most of these homes had long stairways up to their homes as well.  I would hate to have to carry groceries up those stairs.

Interesting mural on the side of a building.

Tonight we are attending a melodrama, “The Diligent Daughter or Lips That Touch Wine” at the Sixth Street Theater which is housed in the old Kelly Building (1891) which in past years was part of the Lux Rooms Bordello and the only wood building remaining in downtown that wasn’t destroyed by the 1890 fire.   

The play was a hoot with local high school students making up the cast of six.  After the play they put on a revue consisting of "bad" jokes and songs and dances, etc.  Really cute.  Glad we attended.  

Signing off until we get to Missoula.

Sandpoint, ID

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Today we drive further north through numerous small communities on Highway 95 (A State Highway we have been traveling north on since we left McCall.) to see what there is in the community of Sandpoint about 50 miles from Coeur d’Alene.  This highway is mostly two lane with good size shoulder and sometimes divided four lanes.  It is a good road for the most part to drive an RV on and affords you the opportunity to see the countryside or detour off as the mood strikes you.   Logging is still a big industry here and we have seen many trucks loaded with logs along our drives and passed several sawmills.

Sandpoint is on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille, pronounced pond-ah-RAY, (how do they arrive at that ?) which is said to be the 5th deepest lake in North America, 43 miles long, one of the largest freshwater lakes in the Pacific Northwest and stocked with Kamloops rainbow trout.  It was formed by glaciers and encircled by the Selkirk and Cabinet Mountains.  Passing across the car bridge to town, you get a good view of the railroad bridge across the way and the hills in the distance.

The town is identified as one of the West’s great railroad towns where the Burlington Northern, Montana Rail Link and Spokane International rail systems all converge making this town known as “The Funnel.”  More than 40 trains a day come through. We want a picture of the historic train station, but apparently you can only access it by foot so we get a quick picture of the end of the station as we drive by on the major highway below the station level. 

We did observe a couple of trains going through town, one of which you will note is on a train bridge going across the Lake.    To us it did not seem that many trains came through after spending time in Gallup, NM where trains come and go all day and night.

We take a stroll around the historic area of town just off the Lake.  The Cedar Avenue Bridge Public Market is housed in an old enclosed bridge which once went across the Sand Creek Slough to the railroad station.  Today it is sad to note so many of the stores are now empty.  We find out that Coldwater Creek once had their first store located across the street from the Bridge but unfortunately went into bankruptcy.

This is unique archway leads to the Creek running behind the buildings and many barrels filled with flowers line the streets of the historic downtown.

 The restored Panida Theater built in 1927 is a landmark along this main street.   

Passing an ice cream and candy shop, we stop in to purchase our second Huckleberry Ice Cream cones on this trip.  Huckleberries grow here in old logging areas and other places with products produced from them available everywhere including jam, syrup, pancakes, scones, candy, etc.  I think they taste a lot like blueberries and are almost the same color but smaller.  Delicious.

We had also hoped to go through the local Museum but found it is only open the first Saturday of every month.   Oh, these small towns.  Before leaving town we find this lovely old home and Ron stops at this antique store for me to poke around.  The store was three levels and also had a nice cafe.

As we drive around to the highway we encounter this back street and are reminded of our trip to Canada with these many Canadian geese making their way to the water behind a nearby home.

Our plan was to return to CDA (as it is identified in many places) on a different road, but since it was late in the day and it would have been a slow two hour drive back, we returned the way we came getting on I-90 once in town and heading for Post Falls which is located along the Spokane River near the state line.  It was founded in the 1800’s by Frederick Post when he harnessed the falls to generate power for his sawmill. 

At the Park in town we are able to view the Falls and the gorge.  Not a great deal of water flowing through here now, but it was a pretty park with covered picnic tables, playground, pond for fishing and a lot of families and others having evening picnics or taking in the view.   The dam does control the water levels of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

An old photo of the Falls

A view of the Spokane River beyond the Falls

Plan to relax tomorrow in preparation for leaving for Wallace, ID on Monday.  Signing off until then.