Driving tour features Bigfork, lower Valley

Astute residents may have noticed a recent addition near Sliter Park in Bigfork — a metal American bison on top of a post with the words "A HIP project."

HIP, an acronym for the local non-profit organization History is Posh, scattered these markers throughout the lower Flathead Valley to mark its recently released self-guided driving tour of the area's historical places and original townsites.

The Village's marker is one of 12 on the 62-mile tour, and it symbolizes the original 150-acre tract homesteaded by Everit L. Sliter which would later become Bigfork.

Aside from the markers, HIP also created a 29-page guide book for the Lower Valley Driving Tour, providing two pages of details on each location.

"It's a great investment for a lot of history, tourism and education, even for anyone who has lived here quite awhile," said Jerry Murphy, Bigfork resident and HIP organizer.

The tour took more than a year to complete and highlights some of the "forgotten memories' of the area.

Murphy finds local history fascinating. One of Murphy's favorite highlights is the old Demersville townsite that took quite a bit of digging to uncover and actually got him interested in the project in the first place. Murphy, who was originally from the state and graduated from Great Falls High School and the University of Montana, spent most of his career in Minneapolis before he and his wife moved to Bigfork. He visited the Central School Museum and was intrigued by all the history of the Valley, including Demersville. But, when he tried to find out where it was, no one could tell him.

"No one knew where it was," Murphy said.

It took the help of maps from the Flathead County GIS department and overlaying old and new maps of the area. The area is now a ghost town, mostly fields, along Lower Valley Road. The town developed in 1880s and was thriving with 1,500 citizens, but didn't last. It was later torn down and moved into Kalispell, according to the guide book.

Other places in the tour include Kalispell Depot, the Old Fort Steele Trail, Ashley, Somers and Jessup.

Murphy wasn't alone in this effort. The History is Posh group has a mailing list of 60 people, but a core team of three worked on the tour including Murphy, David Dutro and Kim Moss.

The guides are available at a variety of locations throughout the lower Valley, including Roma's, Bigfork Drug, Donna Shanahan Interior Design and the Bigfork Area Chamber of Commerce. They cost a few dollars each to help the organization re-coup its printing costs.

For more information, visit www.historyisposh.org.