100 years young: Ronan reaches landmark leap-year birthday
Ronan reaches landmark leap-year birthday
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Few can say their birthday only comes around once every four years. The town of Ronan can.
Today, the City of Ronan reaches a milestone: turning 100 years old.
Originally called Spring Creek, the town was incorporated into Montana on Feb. 29, 1912, and renamed after Peter Ronan, a Flathead Reservation Indian Agent. Despite the dubious actions of the U.S. Government that led to the opening of the Reservation to white settlement in 1910, the town of Ronan was an exciting place to call home 100 years ago.
Agriculture was the big draw early on, with fertile soil producing heaping piles of grain and ideal grazing grounds for premium dairy products.
“They did everything dairy,” Debby Olsson McClenahan said. “It was very prevalent in the area (with) over 300 farms.”
In the 1920s, Ronan and much of Montana faced some of the toughest economic conditions in the United States, according to the Community Bank publication “The First 100 Years.”
“A lot of people left because they had no money and couldn’t pay for anything,” McClenahan noted. “The crops were bad, and people struggled to make things work.”
This required Ronan residents to rely completely on themselves, raising their own vegetable gardens, chickens and eggs to survive.
“They raised anything they could to make money,” McClenahan added.
Since travel to Kalispell or Missoula was too costly for most people, many small businesses selling common day goods and services were successful in town, primarily along Main Street. Highway 93 was originally routed through downtown Ronan on Main Street.
With the reroute of Hwy. 93 east of Main Street, many buildings became vacant on Main Street as businesses moved to increase vehicle traffic.
The first baby born in Ronan, Rex Cheff, was born in a house since no hospital existed at that time. Rex would grow up to become the uncle of Bud Cheff Jr., who along with his wife Laurel, has dedicated his life to preserving the history of early times, opening the Ninepipes Museum of Early Montana in the mid-90s.
A lifelong resident of the area, Cheff remembers a time when life was unlike today around Ronan.
“It was a lot different, especially for us southeast of Ronan,” Cheff said. “On Mollman Pass, there was no power, electricity or railroad. Only a few people lived there, and the Indians would go to town on wagons and horses.”
Out in the country, many ranchers and farmers lived without the most basic of modern luxuries until the late ‘40s. It wasn’t until 1946 that the Cheff family hooked up to the grid.
“Everything took more effort (back then),” he said.
Cheff recounts memories of his mother using a scrubbing board to wash clothing until the family purchased a gas-powered washing machine.
“It was kind of like a motorcycle,” Cheff laughed. “It was almost as much work as washing with a scrubbing board.”
Cheff remembers how important dairy cows were to everyone around Ronan, stating people had milk cows in city limits at one point. A creamery once sat at the present-day corner or Hwy. 93 and Main Street, where farmers would come to deliver cream and milk.
“Cream checks kept most of the people alive in the Valley,” Cheff said. “People would take the cream and sell it to buy groceries.”
Local resident and former Lake County Extension Agent Ed Bratton’s family also raised five to 15 cows, selling the cream to creameries in Polson and Ronan and giving the rest to the farm’s hogs.
“Practically all people in the area were farmers,” Bratton said. “A lot of people depended on cream sales.”
With the majority of Ronan residents working long days in the field, Cheff says people used to unwind by having picnic parties.
“They even had them out where I lived,” he said. “Nobody had money, but everyone had fun.”
People would entertain themselves by making their own music and dancing.
“It was a really special time to be around,” Cheff added.
“They had sham battles, where an early wagon would come into the area,” McDonald said. “Then Indians dressed in regalia would attack the wagon and shoot it out and carry the wounded away. It was fun.”
In 1924, Cheff’s father, Bud Cheff Sr., began traveling with Indians into the Bob Marshall Wilderness and the Mission Mountain range. The Cheffs befriended local Indians, including Eneas Conko’s family.
Since 1933, the Cheff family has operated the Cheff Guest Ranch, where they share Bud Sr.’s love and respect for the mountain wilderness.
When thinking of Ronan in the early days, Cheff recounts a special memory of an intriguing resident.
“One thing that was always special was Little Martin, who lived kitty-corner with Spring Creek,” Cheff said. “Every day he would walk into town; he was a pretty neat guy. As soon as you saw him, you knew who he was because he walked with both hands behind his back. Supposedly he was the fastest runner in the tribe.”
“Riding was very cold lots of days,” Bratton said. “When I froze my ears and teeth during the coldest winter months, I would quit riding to school and was home-taught.”
Bratton’s family later moved to Round Butte, where the majority of people lived on 80-acre farms, double the size of the farms in Irvine Flats.
At that time, Round Butte Road was gravel, and was sometimes rough enough to keep Model T and A vehicles from making a trip to town.
Even though a lot has changed throughout the past century, the small farming town continues to grow and thrive, while keeping its agricultural roots.
