Let's build an arch
Tom Hess / Hungry Horse News
No sooner did I arrive in town last week than some scary news broke: The Columbia Falls Aluminum Company (CFAC) announced it would close its doors on Halloween, putting about 90 people out of work. Our long-time photojournalist and the paper's former managing editor, Chris Peterson, got the call just in time for an A1 story in last week's Hungry Horse News, and he's followed up with an excellent update on this week's front page.
Having fallen in love with this town and its "boney pony" newspaper from afar (Colorado), I've been thinking about what I could do to help this town and newspaper regain its mojo. That job just became more urgent with the silencing of CFAC. I have heard it said that Kalispell is the Flathead's commercial center (especially when the new Walmart Supercenter opens next year), Whitefish the recreation center, and C-Falls the manufacturing center. But with the rising cost of power, the city may be losing its manufacturing base (though CFAC may yet decide to reopen), so it's time to remind people what makes our town truly unique.
Think "Gateway to Glacier."
As a newcomer to the area, all I've done so far is the simple basics. I have established a checking account at a C-Falls bank, signed up for coupons at C-Falls grocery stores, and checked C-Falls cleaning services. New friends advise me to buy a truck, and a good sleeping bag and tent, and pick up a mutt or water dog at the Humane Society or simply feed one that shows up outside my door. To see up close how C-Falls lives and does business, I've also put on my Ray-Ban Wayfarers and Denver Broncos throwback lid and walked from the Old Red Bridge, within view of my Fourth Avenue apartment, to the Black Train (the Shay Engine to oldtimers' — the finest piece of iron I've ever seen.
Here at the Hungry Horse News, I have leafed through years and years of back editions, where I saw references to all kinds of proposals that would encourage visitors to stop in C-Falls and stay awhile.
And that's when it occurred to me that C-Falls should build an arch, similar in grand scale to another Montana gateway monument — The Arch at Golden Gate Canyon in Yellowstone Park at Gardiner.
One foot of the arch would be set on Glacier Bank property, and the other foot on the Bothe & Lauridsen Law Firm property. The whole thing would span three lanes of traffic where Nucleus Ave. (State Highway 486) intersects U.S. Highway 2.
One of the many downtown businesses I hope the arch would benefit is The Whistle Stop Cafe, 420 Nucleus Ave.
The Whistle Stop is owned and operated by Tai and Spring Foley, graduates of Columbia Falls High School. They express a thoroughly Montanan way of thinking. They like being self-employed, and they married three years ago on a beach in Cozumel, Mexico, because "we were tired of everybody planning our wedding." The Foleys, ages 30 and 27, live near the aluminum plant, and on weekends they hunt for elk, fish for trout and paddle their kayak. They're concerned about the effect of the CFAC closure on their business, but they have an idea for the way out of our doldrums. Building an arch would remind people that "the way to all the area lakes, all the hiking trails, all the parks, is on Highway 2 or through downtown," Tai said.
(While we're at it, Tai said, let's add some attraction to the Black Train site that will further captivate families headed for North Fork Road.)
Well, as I began to talk to people about this idea, I learned that the city's best and brightest had already been thinking and talking about an arch long before I got here. I met a few of them at the First Best Place Task Force's Harvest Celebration on Oct. 24 at the old Citizens Bank building, future home of the Flathead County Library. Some of the ideas I heard: A low-maintenance wood arch with stone pediments, perhaps with the addition of a recirculating waterfall on one peidment and mountain goat sculptures on the other, or CFAC aluminum water cannons on either side that would create a liquid arch in summer and ice arch in winter.
The city is also overdue in erecting a "Welcome" sign at the city limits.
No doubt there will be a dozen designs for a Gateway to Glacier arch, and other projects worthy of civic involvement. But I have faith that the First Best Place Task Force, the C-Falls Chamber of Commerce and some of the city's more energetic citizens can make something happen. Call me at 892-2151 or e-mail me at thess@hungryhorsenews.com and let me know your thoughts.
Tom Hess is the managing editor of the Hungry Horse News.