Hard work came before Fourth events in early days

Flathead Valley seniors remember when Fourth of July celebrations followed the usual daily work on the farm. And when it came time for fun, picnics, parades and homemade ice cream were plentiful.

While enjoying lunch recently at the Agency on Aging in Kalispell, some long-time residents shared recollections of celebrations in their early days.

Mary (Carr) Leighty, 87, grew up in Creston as one of a six-daughter farm family. It was far from today's mechanized agriculture, which meant work had to get done before anyone went to parades or picnics.

"We had to stack hay," she said. "That was before bales."

The hay was for dairy cattle that she and her sisters had to milk morning and night every single day. Her father raised high-quality Jersey cows.

"Daddy delivered cream in Kalispell," Leighty recalled.

When the girls finished their chores, the family headed to nearby Lake Blaine for a community picnic. It was too far to go to Kalispell for the parade.

"I remember at Lake Blaine there were political speeches," she said.

Leighty remembered some local twins provided entertainment in the form of tumbling demonstrations.

RITA MCDOWELL also attended the Lake Blaine picnics, but a few years later than Leighty. She moved to the valley with her family in 1948, just in time to experience the major flood of that year.

"We lived in a tent," she said with a laugh. "It was where Midway Rental is now."

The rising water floated their house, but the telephone and electrical wiring kept it from going far. Eventually, things dried out and the family moved back into their house.

Like Leighty, McDowell still remembers Fourth of July festivities held at Lake Blaine. She recalled youngsters firing off "small, really small" firecrackers strung together.

One year, the noise caused quite a commotion and some unexpected reactions.

"I remember there was a guy there who was in World War II," she said. "They set off some fireworks and they had to take him home right away."

Elsie Cooper, a resident of the Flathead for 70 years, moved to Columbia Falls with her family about 18 years earlier than McDowell. It was 1930, just as The Great Depression brought economic hardship across the nation.

"You were lucky to have something to eat in those days," she said. "I had four brothers and six sisters."

Even in hard times, her family would make Fourth of July special by having lunch out in the backyard or by making a trip to a lake.

"The Fourth was picnics and swimming," Cooper said. "We would go swimming in Lakeside."

ESTHER (LEIGHTY) Ingram, 80, also grew up the Flathead in the 1930s. But, as a farm child, she recalls hard work but not a bad childhood even with The Depression.

"We grew up in the best of times compared to what it is now," she said.

Her father operated a strawberry-growing operation in Deer Park a few miles outside of Columbia Falls. He had a large crew with a family of 18 children, including 12 girls and six boys.

With a family that size, traveling anywhere posed an interesting problem.

"You don't take 18 kids in a car," Ingram said with a laugh. "It was difficult."

She did recall one Fourth when the family got to go to a fireworks show in Kalispell.

"We all had to pick strawberries before we could go to the fairgrounds," Ingram said.

On Independence Days when they didn't get to go to town, the Leightys made their own fun on the farm. She recalled firing simple pop guns and little firecrackers that came in two rows hooked together.

Food made for some of the sweetest memories of home-grown celebrations.

"I remember homemade ice-cream on the Fourth," Ingram said with a smile.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com