Rare Demersville records loaned to county

Local historians are tickled pink over an extraordinary collection of original records from the historic Demersville townsite that have been placed on long-term loan to Flathead County by the Don Kaltschmidt family.

“It was an ‘Oh, my God’ moment,” gushed Richard Hardesty, president of the Flathead County Museum Board of Directors. “I had no idea these existed. These records are essentially priceless.”

Among the gems is an original town lot book showing the buildings and names of the original settlers of Demersville.

Founded in 1887 by cattle baron and freighter T.J. Demers, Demersville was built on the Flathead River south of Kalispell in the Lower Valley area and was the forerunner of Kalispell. After the railroad arrived in Kalispell instead of Demersville in late 1891, the river town dried up and most of its buildings were moved to Kalispell in 1891 and 1892, according to Henry Elwood’s history book about Kalispell.

Don Kaltschmidt, who owns the Don K auto dealership in Whitefish, said he was made aware of the Demersville records about six months ago by a friend who was helping heirs of Charles Henry Foot divest materials of the family estate. Foot opened the first law office in Kalispell in 1891.

“Growing up here, I knew about Demersville,” Kaltschmidt said. “When he showed [the original records] to me, I honed in on the plat book.”

Kaltschmidt said he recognized many of the old family names from the Flathead Valley and was enamored by the flawless penmanship of the handwritten archive.

The Kaltschmidt family will retain ownership of the Demersville records, but they will be on loan to the county for 10 years. Currently they’re part of a display of Demersville artifacts on the third floor of the recently restored Flathead County Courthouse. The display will be open for public perusal in the courthouse rotunda through December.

“We feel something this special must be shared with our friends and neighbors,” Kaltschmidt said.

He also presented county officials with a check for $500 to use as an endowment for the historic records.

Hardesty said the endowment will allow the county museum board to make quality copies of the maps and records to share with other museums and individuals for genealogical or research purposes. The records also will be digitized.

Jan Hardesty, the records manager for Flathead County and the wife of Richard Hardesty, said she already has had requests from local genealogists about getting details from the Demersville lot book. She encourages other area residents with historic records to consider allowing the county to tap into those archives.

All three county commissioners were on hand Thursday morning to officially accept the long-term loan from Kaltschmidt. Commissioner Dale Lauman thanked him on behalf of his colleagues.

“It’s great of Don and his family to share these records,” Lauman said, also encouraging other residents with “these kinds of records” to allow the county to document them.

Among the historic items Kaltschmidt purchased from the Foot estate were several Flathead County High School yearbooks from 1913 to 1917.

Those also will be on loan to the county.

“My picture is not in those yearbooks,” Lauman joked.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.