Horseman, railroad man celebrates turning 100
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POLSON — “Colonel was the best horse I ever owned,” Jim Eichhorn said.
And Eichhorn might have ridden a few horses to compare to Colonel, an appaloosa, since he turned 100 years old March 21. He gave up training horses at age 97.
His granddaughter, Jackie Trujillo, invited friends of Eichhorn’s to visit him at his home on March 21. Visitors could have a slice of lemon layer cake, sip some coffee and visit with Eichhorn, who might play his harmonica. Trujillo also had a book printed with photos of Eichhorn and his family throughout his life so far.
As he paged through the book, Eichhorn, a full-blooded German, told stories about his life as a conductor for the Northern Pacific Railroad and then the Burlington Northern Railroad, when the two merged. The conductor was in charge of the train and everyone on it, including the engineers and the brakemen, Eichhorn said. At the end of his railroad career, he had the line to Polson and Paradise, and would stay overnight in Paradise. The train picked up 15 or 20 cars of plywood at Polson’s plywood mill and logs at the Dupuis mill.
Eichhorn and his family lived in Missoula but had a house on Flathead Lake for 35 years before they sold it and moved into Polson in 1995 or '96.
After he retired in 1975, Eichhorn volunteered to clear trails for the Forest Service and took packhorses and a saddle horse into the woods for the job. He has always been a horseman and a horse trainer.
Now Eichhorn plays killer cribbage, and he wishes the Polson Senior Citizen Center had some poker players, because he loves to play poker.
To keep in shape, Eichhorn works out at Curves three days a week in the afternoon, “when the women aren’t there.”
Outliving doctors’ expectations after he was diagnosed with late-stage prostate cancer and after surviving a car wreck 10 years ago, Eichhorn remains in his own home. He’s still going strong and said he doesn’t know what will be in the book about his next 100 years.
A question at the end of the Eichhorn’s book asks, “Jim, have you lived in Montana all your life?”
His answer: “Not yet.”
