Logging & Mining

1910 Fire

David Thompson

Thompson Falls is named for famed Northwest fur Company explorer, David Thompson, who traded in this area in 1809, and for the natural falls in the Clark Fork River. (The falls have subsequently been covered over by a power dam). The Northern Pacific Railroad came through in 1883, and the towns of Thompson Falls and Belknap were bitter rivals as train stops. At one time the Northern Pacific Railroad refused to stop the trains at Thompson Falls, so the local citizens put huge logs on the tracks, and while the crew was removing the obstructions, people from Thompson Falls boarded the trains and tried to persuade immigrants to settle there instead of going on to Belknap. In 1883, 10,000 people on their way to the Idaho gold fields wintered at Thompson Falls. Twenty saloons opened to accommodate them. Eventually the town grew, becoming the Sanders County Seat.

P.O. Box 493 - 1213 Main Street Thompson Falls, MT 59873

(406) 827-4930