The Lost Town of Cabinet? (Clark Fork: live, association, ferry)

[brokencrayola]

Sorry, I never heard about Thorton.

[Craigermags]

Originally Posted by Teresa M.

Hi all you history detectives! I am writing in response to Cabinet, Montana. My husband and I are interested in that old place as well. We are also trying to locate the old site of a town called Thornton. It too is on the old maps, somewhere between Hope and Clark Fork. It would be so great to find information on Thornton. I noticed in pacalady's post she lists The Thornton family with the familial history here. I have lived in the Northwest since 1968 and am truly interested in the history of Clark Fork and the surrounding areas. Any info anyone could give would be much appreciated!
Teresa

I have a lead on the Thornton Landing and will post in the near future where this was at. I can tell you it was between Hope and Clark Fork and near the drift yard at the edge of Lake Pend Oreille

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Teresa M.

Hi all you history detectives! I am writing in response to Cabinet, Montana. My husband and I are interested in that old place as well. We are also trying to locate the old site of a town called Thornton. It too is on the old maps, somewhere between Hope and Clark Fork. It would be so great to find information on Thornton. I noticed in pacalady's post she lists The Thornton family with the familial history here. I have lived in the Northwest since 1968 and am truly interested in the history of Clark Fork and the surrounding areas. Any info anyone could give would be much appreciated!
Teresa

There was another Thornton in S.E. Idaho. The town never really got off to a good start and it's long gone, but it left it's name to the surrounding area.

Good luck on finding info on the one in the north. I posted this so you wouldn't go wandering if you came across the one in the south.

[brokencrayola]

I remember one year when I lived at the hatchery, we took a walk towards the dam but off the road and close to the river side. We found some Iris plants that had bloomed which were probably outside of someones home at one time. There are some very old, barely alive apple trees here and there around there as well. One day I was taking a walk on the dirt road and heard this noise. I looked up just in time to see a black bear fall out of the apple tree and take a branch down with it. It is private property over there, but I know there are people that dig for remnants of the Chinese. There are a lot of broken pieces of their bowls.

[Craigermags]

Originally Posted by banjomike

There was another Thornton in S.E. Idaho. The town never really got off to a good start and it's long gone, but it left it's name to the surrounding area.

Good luck on finding info on the one in the north. I posted this so you wouldn't go wandering if you came across the one in the south.

If you are referring to the Thornton Siding site it is located between the towns of Hope and Clark Fork. From what I have gathered from some of the town folk who grew up as children in the area it is just off of Highway 200 between mile markers 49 and 50. Its actually about 1000 yards prior to mile marker 50 on the north side of the highway. There is a railroad track that runs parallel with the highway at that point as does the old Denton highway, which existed before Hwy 200 was built.

There is dirt road that leaves Hwy 200 and cross the track onto the Denton Hwy. Directly North of it lies a large field which is where the Thornton siding existed. There is currently one active home on this site now.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by Craigermags

If you are referring to the Thornton Siding site it is located between the towns of Hope and Clark Fork. From what I have gathered from some of the town folk who grew up as children in the area it is just off of Highway 200 between mile markers 49 and 50. Its actually about 1000 yards prior to mile marker 50 on the north side of the highway. There is a railroad track that runs parallel with the highway at that point as does the old Denton highway, which existed before Hwy 200 was built.

There is dirt road that leaves Hwy 200 and cross the track onto the Denton Hwy. Directly North of it lies a large field which is where the Thornton siding existed. There is currently one active home on this site now.

Would that be Cougar Creek Road? Right across from the Denton Slough? I'm going to have to look for the mile markers when we're back in Clark Fork this summer.

[LionFamily]

In our homeschool, we are about to embark on a two-year study of American history, and I am intending to study local history parallel to it. This thread has provided fantastic information! Keep it coming, folks; I'm bookmarking as fast as I can!

[Craigermags]

Originally Posted by Clark Fork Fantast

Would that be Cougar Creek Road? Right across from the Denton Slough? I'm going to have to look for the mile markers when we're back in Clark Fork this summer.

Not sure where Cougar Creek really is but the information with regard to the mile markers will lead you to the area.

[brokencrayola]

Originally Posted by Clark Fork Fantast

Thanks so much for telling this story! It breaks my heart to think that something could have been saved, and was neglected and/or destroyed. It could be that the owners were oblivious to the value of NID history--it could also be that they simply didn't have the means to follow through on good intentions. I prefer to think the latter. We probably weren't in the market for buying property at the time, and riverfront property would have been out of our price range, anyway, but I keep thinking that if that had been the piece of property we'd bought, we'd have done what we could to restore the structures. It's a moot point, of course, but I'm sorry a piece of history was lost. But we'll definitely take a walk along the river (we'll have to find out about privacy issues and right-of-way along the water) and look for pottery pieces, and we'll go look for the cemetery. Next summer, that is...sigh...

Too bad you're no longer at the hatchery--we'd have been practically neighbors!

What happened to the old brick schoolhouse was the property was bough by some guy. The year he bought it he spent the whole summer on the property trying to do what he could with the school. His dream was to restore it and live in it. He did bring electricity to it. There was a little light by the front door. He left at the end of summer and I think he came now and then to check things out, but he never stayed, and he was never able to restore the bldg. We had a very bad winter with a ton of snow. People's roofs were caving in all over. The weight on the roof became too much and it completely destroyed the school when the roof caved in. It was just a big pile of bricks left. People began coming onto the property without permission and taking the bricks. Likewise people sometime go to that area and dig around and see if they can find anything.

[tchambliss]

Such a great thread to read ......I lived in the little hose next to the tracks ewith the old brick school behind me in the late 1950"s. This was before the hatchery was built..Seen children in a tiny cabin...During the summer months we children would stop people who wanted to go fishing and charge them 25 cents !!! Later I found out most the fisherman new this was not a toll road but gave us our 25 cents knowing we were so poor...Later we moved up on the hill....and after that a hatchery was built...still go there once in a great moon...living so close to the tracks was thing not to forget...By the way..the little house was called a teacherage...a house for the teacher....sad to hear the old school collasped..At one time it was so full of oak desks and such...