About 13 years ago, I made a quick stop at the Mountain View Cemetery in Big Timber. Located south of the interstate exit, next to the local historical society museum, the cemetery’s well crafted stone gates, walls, and stone office dated to a Works Projects Administration undertaking in the late 1930s.
Thirteen years later, in the summer of 2026, I took the time to explore beyond the gates and found a quite fascinating place, full of interesting grave markers and stories.
On the north side of the cemetery is a tall concrete obelisk dedicated to Vivian Ogilvie, who died in 1967. A native of Sweet Grass County, she graduated from high school and then worked on ranches around Melville. In about 1935 she moved to California to train as a nurse and made her career there before returning with her husband George Ogilvie to Big Timber in 1964.
Adjacent to the Ogilvie markers is a large ornate granite marker for Santos Forsythe, who grew up in the Melville area. He died in 1918, at the age of 30. A member of the Elk lodge in Livingston, he received a heartfelt goodbye from his fellow Elk members at his funeral.
I next moved to the center of the cemetery to pay respects at the Hickman family, erected following the tragic and horrific death of Nellie Hickman and two children at their Sweetgrass County ranch.
But much to my surprise—you had to rub your eyes—there was a new piece of cemetery furniture installed at the Hickman marker. On the east side was a bench in the shape of a lion. I have never seen anything like it in a Montana cemetery.
The dedicated veterans section is near the west end of the cemetery. The local American Legion chapter established this humble, respectful section in 1950.
U.S. veterans from the Civil War era are also found in earlier sections of the cemetery. Peter McMartin served in a Colorado unit. James Woods served in. West Virginia unit.
McMaster worked as a sheep herder in the county. He died in 1909. Woods left the South after the war and farmed in Minnesota marrying his wife Elizabeth in 1873. They were still in Minnesota in 1880 but after the construction of the Northern pacific railroad they moved west. Woods died in 1901.
Nearby the two veterans is a beautifully carved child’s grave marker, Martin Habenicht who died only eight months old. Not far way, also in the cemetery’s west end, is a modern monument, to all of the children buried in the cemetery who did not have a tombstone.
What a commendable effort to identify all of these children! One side credits the hard work of three women and the support of the Big Timber Women’s Club. The children names are on the reverse side.
The cemetery is well maintained and watered. It is a restful place to visit although traffic noise from the nearby interstate interrupts quiet reflection.
Family plots are scattered throughout as subscriptions helped to pay for the cemetery’s creation. Many are adorned with beautiful markers.
Mabel Blakeslee died in 1901. She and her husband Grank operated the Blakeslee Hotel and were considered among the pioneers of Big Timber.
A stylish Art Deco style gravestone marks the plot of Abraham Grosfield’s family plot. He and his wife Alena emigrated to the United States in 1883. They were ranchers in the county. Alena died in 1940 and Abraham died in 1944. At his funeral at the Big Timber Lutheran Church, the minister sand a hymn in Norwegian.
Many more stories await exploration at this special place in Big Timber.
Then in October 2017, someone set a fire that almost totally destroyed the school building. When I pulled into Big Timber the following May, I expected to see a parking lot or at least an empty lot (the local Episcopal Church had purchased the property). The damaged building was still there, however, giving me one final chance to take an image, one that now represents dreams dashed, and yet another historic building gone from the Montana landscape.
chops away and the beer is still cold. That is what you need on the road.
In the 1984-1985 fieldwork for the state historic preservation plan, the impact of lodging chains in Montana was pretty limited to the larger towns, and gateways to the national parks. Many what I called “mom and pop” motels, largely from the pre-interstate highway era of the 1940s and 1950s, still operated. I was working with the state employee lodging rate of $24 a night (remember it was 1984!) and I found that the per diem eliminated the chains and I was left with the local establishments. During those months of intense travel I came to respect and really like the Moms and Pops. Several of the places I stayed in 1984-1985 are long gone–but ones like the Lazy J Motel in Big Timber remain. In this post I am merely sharing a range of historic motels from across Big Sky Country.
I began the fieldwork in February 1984 and the first stop was a public meeting at the Toole County Courthouse in Shelby. My first overnight was just as memorable–for good reasons–at the O’Haire Manor Motel. Its huge neon sign on the town’s main street, which was U.S. Highway 2, could not be missed, and actually the sign replaced a building that once stood along the commercial district, knocking it down so travelers would have a clear shot to the motel itself.
Cut Bank’s Glacier Gateway, on the other hand, reminded visitors that it was that “coldest place” in the United States that they had heard about in weather forecasts.
Another example from the old Yellowstone Trail and U.S. Highway 10 is the Shade Tree Inn Motel in Forsyth–although coal and railroad workers help somewhat to keep it going in the 21st century.
Just a block west of another historic section of U.S. Highway 10 in Deer Lodge is the Downtowner Motel, with its sloping roof and extended rafters representing the best in “contemporary” style from the 1960s. This place too was clean, cheap, and well located for a day of walking the town back in 1984.
Not only have the changes in traffic patterns been important, the present generation’s preference for chain motels–and the proliferation of chains across the state–have shaped the future of the mid-20th century motel. A good example is the challenges facing the continuation of the Cherry Hill Motel in Polson, located along U.S. Highway 93. Here was a favorite spot in 1984–near a killer drive-in–a bit out of the noise of the town, and sorta fun surroundings with a great view of Flathead Lake.
The place was up for sale in 2015–and the internet today tells me that it is “permanently closed.” I hope it can find a new owner and is still there when I next return to Polson but with the general boom in the Flathead Lake region, one assumes its days are numbered.
The bear might be hugging the tree but does anyone else care enough–or want this type of lodging, complete with the “picture window” of the 1950s and 1960s, in the comfort obsessed 21st century?
