Anything could be found at the Bigfork general store

Preface: This collection of vignettes is a chapter from my childhood memoir that spans 1950 to 1964 when my parents, Bill and Anne Haug, owned a bar on Bigfork’s Electric Avenue.

Bigfork Mercantile

Bigfork Mercantile, a general store, was at the north end of the main street, on the corner, across Grand from the hotel. The building, which dated back to the early years of Bigfork, was built of concrete blocks, and had a pressed-tin ceiling and oiled-wood floor typical of that time.  

The locals called it ‘The Merc.’ You could get just about anything there: groceries, over-the-counter medicines, swimsuits for men and women, casual clothing, shoes, sewing thread and buttons, school and office supplies, magazines, greeting cards, fishing rods and tackle, bullets, fireworks (only near July 4), housewares, paint, lawn mowers, shovels, plumbing and electrical items, propane, lumber and building supplies. 

Andy Anderson and his wife, June, moved to town not long after my parents arrived, and bought the store from Walter Robbin.

When you walked through the front door, you were greeted with a stuffed and mounted wolf snarling at you from a shelf about six feet above your head. It had been found dead on the ice at Swan Lake a few years before. There were also several mounted deer and elk heads, and bear skins along the walls.

A one-bedroom apartment and store office shared the mezzanine above the back room. Mrs. Moore stayed in the apartment when she came to visit.

Mom and I went to the Merc to buy my school supplies for first grade. When I handed the clerk the money that Mom had given me, that reminded Mom of a story. 

“Back in the 1930s, stores like this didn’t have cash registers on the main floor.”

“But Mom, how did you get your change?”

“Well, the clerk put your payment in a basket that hung from a wire. The other end of that wire was in the mezzanine, up there,” she said, pointing at Andy’s office above the back room. “Then the clerk sent the basket along the wire to the office where the manager would put any change in the basket and send it back down to the clerk.”

“Wow, Mom. How come they did it that way?”

“I guess it was easier for the bookkeeper,” she said, laughing (Mom kept the books in our bar).

Ak’s Fishing Tackle

Bigfork was well-known as a tourist hub for fishing on Flathead and Swan lakes. The favorite, kokanee salmon, lived most of their lives in the lakes, then migrated up rivers and streams to spawn. Those migrating up the Swan River encountered a major obstacle at Bigfork’s small dam, making that popular for snagging the salmon in the fall. Several varieties of trout were also a popular sport fish in our lakes and streams.

Arnie (Ak) and Yosuko Aklestad owned a tackle shop in the space between the Merc and the Bank building. Yosuko was from Japan, and those first years, she spoke only a little bit of English. Despite that drawback, she took over the shop when Ak was busy with the Forest Service. Yasuko was a good listener and quick learner, and became a favorite with the fishermen, as she offered excellent advice on what were biting on any given day, and which lures were most effective.  

She was also popular with all of the town kids. The boys dug worms for her to sell, and we girls brought her cookies and lemonade, then listened to her stories of growing up in Japan.

Bank Building

The bank had closed in the 1930s, and was empty when Mom and Dad bought the building after coming to Bigfork in 1946. They moved into a small apartment in the back room, which was my first home as an infant, and they operated a liquor store in the building’s front room.

The brick building was built in Bigfork’s early years, when pressed-tin ceilings were popular. The bricks were formed from local clay and fired in a kiln up the Swan River. The damp basement walls were made from river rock, and the basement floor was dirt. There were two brick vaults, one on the main floor and one in the basement. 

One day Sam Stevens came to town, looking for a place to set up his watch and jewelry repair business. We had just moved to the old shack on our new property, so Sam moved into the apartment and set up his shop in the building’s entryway. It wasn’t long before Dad thought of Sam as the son he’d never had, and Sam treated me like his little sister. When Dad bought a partnership in the bar, Sam took over the liquor store. He did so well there, that after several years he bought Toysen’s building for his business, leaving the bank building vacant.

Soon Andy moved the clothing part of the Merc’s business to the bank building, but when that didn’t do as well as anticipated, the building was again vacant. 

To be continued.