Mona Leeson Vanek

In this trilogy of the lower Clarks Fork River area of Montana dauntless homesteaders and timbermen made a life for themselves by conquering the wilderness that was northwestern Montana.

Mona Leeson Vanek made it her life's work to meticulously set down their memories.

Behind These Mountains, Vols. I, II & III include approximately 1,000 photographs from private albums to enhance the stories and portray the era of the 1800s to early 1930s.

PDF copies on DVD, $50 prepaid, with permission to print a personal copy of each approximately 1,200 page book are available via email: mtscribbler@air-pipe.com.

Transplanted at age 13 from Spokane, Washington, Mona enjoyed four years of rugged ranch life on a 160-acre homestead/ranch on Bull River in Sanders County, Montana ~ 20 primitive miles from town. Living as the homesteaders did ~ without electricity or indoor plumbing ~ those years gave her the understanding to accurately portray the way-of-life of the distinctive men and women who, with the confidence of youth, courage and daring, created agreeable lifestyles in the mountainous land where they settled.

Fascinated with the history Mona discovered, that wasn't taught in any Montana schools, she spent years toting notebooks, recorder, microphone, and camera equipment to homesteads in the valleys surrounding the lower Clark Fork River, and to cities in Idaho, Oregon, California and Washington, to interview old timers who'd moved away.

She wrote dozens of letters to former Clark Fork River Valley residents. The budding author delved into courthouse records. She bought a micro-film reader at a Spokane Library sale and researched microfilmed newspapers, gleaning every mention of northwestern Montana her books would record. She found verification of settler's memories in courthouse documents and news stories.

Numerous editors rejected her manuscript. Nonetheless, Mona stubbornly clung to her idea of letting the people tell their history in their own words, verbatim.

When she met Patrick Graham, owner and publisher of The Statesman-Examiner, who loved and published small regional histories, Mona plunked the heavy box containing her huge manuscript on Patrick Graham's desk. And was rewarded with success!

In the fully documented trilogy, the stories related by the unique men and women who opened and settled the rugged mountainous region of the lower Clark's Fork River capture each character's distinguishing personality. Mona weaves their fascinating memories with documents that portray trapping and the fur trade, steamboats that plied Pend Oreille Lake on their way to the treacherous Clark's Fork River carrying prospectors on their rush to reach Montana's gold fields.

Witness the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad as it carved its pathway from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the narrow valley, the most expensive, dangerous and crime-ridden portion of the entire line, where fur trappers, prospectors, saloon keepers, swindlers, murderers, and lumberjacks rubbed shoulders on a daily basis.

Presidential proclamation took charge of 82% of the land. Arrival of the US Forest Service ended the timber baron's rape-and-run tactics--that previously flourished there. Homesteaders arrived by rail or covered-wagon, bringing Populists ideologies and Socialism that erupted into political conflicts.

Desperate but resolute people surmounted every adversity. They were as resilient as the seeds released in the soil, which within years reforested three million acres of timber, charred, or turned to ashes in the 1910 holocaust.

With settlement came schools and civic organizations, and World War I treason trials. Prohibition created bootlegging, which included Christians. Each challenge was charged with humor, spirit and the dedication of strong, determined people. Inevitably, churches were also eventually built, during the 1920s.

Several people in the Behind These Mountains volumes are also featured in "Aunt Lena, Cabinet National Forest's Unsung Heroine" a 28-minute documentary video that aired on PBS-TV, and on a private college TV channel for an entire summer. The video is available on DVD, $15 prepaid.

Copies of oral-tape recordings of numerous characters in the books are also available on CD ~ $10 each, prepaid. Photographs in the books are also available.

Mona Leeson Vanek:) mtscribbler@air-pipe.com

Montana Scribbler, http://montanascribbler.com

"Behind These Mountains, Vols. I, II & III" | http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KCEM56 & companion blog, Bygone Montanans, http://bygonemontanans.blogspot.com/