Lincoln county Landmark Names  D - I

DEADMAN CREEK (Yaak River Valley) 

An early 1887 name for Ross Creek.  Prospectors found a burned out campsite along the creek and assumed that the owner was dead.  For awhile, the stream was called Lightning creek, then later the name was changed to Ross Creek.

DEADMAN'S CURVE (Yaak River Valley) 

A local name given to the 23 mile corner on the Yaak River Road after people were killed in automobile accidents on this once sharp curve in the road.  In  1992, a new road was located and bypassed the old corner.  Also known as Duplus Curve.

DEEP CREEK (Yaak River Valley) 

A 1917 name for Prospect Creek located in the Arbo Creek Drainage of the lower Yaak River Valley.

DEVIL'S WASHBOARD (Yaak River Valley)     

A local name for the rock formation next to the Yaak River       Road just south of the 19 mile marker on the west side of the road.  This name was also used around the turn of the century for what is now called the Stonechest Grade.

DIRTY SHAME SALOON (Yaak River Valley)

First established in a metal hut just outside the main gate of the Yaak Air Force Base in 1951.  A log building was later built along the Yaak River Road which burned down.  The current building was built from a rumored “five small structures jammed together” following the fire.

DOOLEY MOUNTAIN (Yaak River Valley)     

Named for Lafayette Dooley, a 1917 prospector who moved into the Sylvanite area in 1916.  In 1919 he filed on a homestead which was patented to him.  The land eventually became the property of  the Leighty Brothers who constructed a sawmill on the land in 1950s.

DOONAN PEAK (Bull Lake Valley)

Named for William F. “Duffy” Doonan an early Troy merchant.  Duffy was born in Ontario, Canada in 1865.  Moved with parents to Michigan where he was raised.  He was a railroad master mechanic (1887-1909) leaving the Great Northern R.R. in Troy to enter the business world.  In 1914 he purchased the old Monio Hotel in Troy, changing its name to the Doonan Hotel.  Built the Doonan Hotel Annex in 1917 and part owner of a local pharmacy in 1919. Died following surgery in 1930. 

DORR SKEELS CAMPROUNDS (Bull Lake)   

A small piece of ground which was withdrawn from homesteading in 1909 became the site of the Bull Lake Ranger Station.  Became a Forest Service Campgrounds in 1963 and named after the first Kootenai National Forest Supervisor.

DRIFT CREEK (Bull Lake Valley)

What is now known as Drift Creek was called Spruce Creek in 1917.  Drift Creek, in 1917, was shown as entering Spruce Lake on its western shore.

DUPLUS CURVE      

A name used to describe the 23 mile corner on the Yaak River Road, later known as Deadman's Curve.  Named for Ed Duplus who lived in a cabin nearby, in the 1930s.

DUTCH CREEK (Yaak River Valley) 

Named for the Herbst Brothers, Erdman & Reinholdt who homesteaded in the Lake Rene area in 1919.

EAST SIDE ROAD (Yaak River Valley) 

The name now used for the old Yakt to Sylvanite Road (F. S. Road #176) which was begun in the 1890s but not finished until around 1915/1916.  It joined the Troy to Sylvanite Wagon Road (now F. S. Road # 2394) about three miles north of Kilbrennan Lake, in the Yaak Drainage.

EATON CREEK (Bull Lake Valley)

An early 1893 name for what is now Copper Creek.  Possibly named for W.W. Eaton, a prospector, who filed on a number of claims in the Lake Creek area between 1889 and 1891 and rumored to have once had a cabin on the creek.

EVERGREEN PLACER (Yaak River Valley) 

A 60 acre patented placer claim on the Yaak River, discovered in 1896.  Its place in history began when the gold  town of Sylvanite (1896-1910) was established on the claim.

FALL CREEK (Bull Lake Valley - Savage Lake)   

Named for the “big falls” on the creek above Savage Lake in 1887.

FALLS CREEK (Kootenai Falls)    

An early 1900 to 1924 name for Koot Creek. 

FALL CREEK SCHOOL (Bull Lake Valley - Schoolhouse Lake)

A school house was built on the bank of a small lake which now is called School House Lake in 1905.  Used as a school until the school district consolidated with Troy in 1937.

FAST CREEK  (Yaak River Valley)

Possibly named for Frank L. Fast who homesteaded, just over Dodge Summit, in the West Kootenai area in 1900.

FERREL CREEK (Yaak River Valley)

Named for an old placer prospector by the name of Ferrel.  He built the first cabin in the old Snipetown mining camp in c.1890.

FEDERAL BUILDING  (Yaak River Valley)

The name applied to a small log cabin located on the county road at the East Fork of the Yaak bridge.  Built in the 1920s by Gus Shultz.  Originally had a wood stove in it and served as a meeting place for the up river folks while waiting for the mail to be delivered.  It also served for a short period as a poling place during election years.  The cabin has never been used as a residence.

FEEDER CREEK (Yaak River Valley - Kilbrennan Lake)   

The name for the creek which drains or “feeds” into Kilbrennan Lake but was known as Lake Creek in 1917.

FELIX CREEK (Bull Lake Valley - Savage Lake Area)    

Found on an old 1897 Montana map.  Probably named Felix Tully, a prospector, who moved into the area in 1887.

FIX CREEK (Yaak River Valley) 

Named for Edison Fix, a homesteader in the South Fork of the Yaak in 1914.  He worked many years for the Forest Service.

FOURTH OF JULY CREEK (Yaak River Valley) 

Named for Independence Day in 1895 by early miners in the Yahk Mining District.  The creek once ran through the gold town of Sylvanite, Montana.  First shows up in print in August, 1895 in the Kootenai Herald (Bonners Ferry, Idaho).

FREEMAN RIDGE (Bull Lake Valley - Lake Creek)

Named for James Freeman who moved into the area in 1888.  He was an early prospector and homesteader on Falls Creek.  He received his patent to his homestead in 1896.  Sold out shortly afterwards and moved down to the mouth of the Bull River.

FRENCHMAN'S MEADOW AND FRENCHMAN'S FLAT (Yaak River Valley)

An early name for the meadow  and pasture which is located across the county road at the old Upper Ford Ranger Station.  A log trappers cabin once existed in the meadow which the Forest Service eventually used in 1908 as a smoke chasers cabin.  So called because a Frenchman by the name of Martell was the trapper who built the cabin, rumored to have been the first structure built in the upper Yaak Valley.

FRIDAY HILL (Yaak River Valley)     

Named for the day of the week in which gold was first discovered in 1895 on the mountain. This discovery began a gold rush into the Yaak Valley which resulted in the mining town of Sylvanite, Montana (1896-1910).

FRY'S CABIN (Yaak River Valley)

Rumored to have been the first cabin built in the Yaak Valley.  Built as a trapper's cabin by Martin Fry and his son in 1887.  The cabin was built on the banks of the Yaak River in the large meadow south of the Hellroaring Saloon, or south of the 19 mile marker on the Yaak Road.  Their trap line extended from the cabin northward to the East Fork of the Yaak River.

FLORENCE CREEK (Yaak River Valley) 

A name used in 1917 for Kilbrennan Creek.

LAKE FLORENCE (Yaak River Valley)     

Named by Sam Billings, Ranger at Sylvanite (1929-1930), for his fiancée, later his wife Florence Sturgeon.

FOWLER CREEK (Yaak River Valley) 

Named for George Fowler, a homesteader on the South Fork of the Yaak River in 1915.

FLATBOW RIVER (Kootenai River)  

An early name (c.1808) for the Kootenai River.  The name occasionally shows up on some early maps.  Probably named from a reported band of “Flat Bow Indians?” which were camped along the river near present day Bonners Ferry.

GOLD LAKE and GOLD CREEK (Yaak River Valley)

Placer gold was found in the creek, which drained from a small lake located just inside the United States/Canadian border.  Name shows up as early as 1896 on old maps.

GOLDFLINT MINE (Yaak River Valley) 

A patented gold claim located above the old town of Sylvanite, discovered in 1896.  In 1898, the Goldflint Mining Company consolidated with the Keystone Mining Company - becoming the Consolidated Keystone Mining Company.

GORDON CREEK (General Troy Area - Callahan Creek) 

Named in or about 1896 for an old prospector John H. Gordon.  Gordon Creek was also called the North Fork of Callahan Creek around the turn of the century.

GORDON MOUNTAIN (Bull Lake Valley)

Probably named for Major S. James “Jim” Gordon, early Bull Lake promoter and developer in about 1916.  Lived just north of the lake at his Leaning Pine Ranch.

GRAMBAUER MOUNTAIN      (Bull Lake Valley - Cabinets)

Named for William Grambauer, an old prospector, around 1900.

GRANITE CREEK (Bull Lake Valley)

A name sometimes used for Dry Creek.  Found on 1914 and 1915 Kootenai National Forest maps.     

GREAT NORTHERN LODE CLAIM (Yaak River Valley)

A patented gold claim, discovered in 1897, and located above the old town of Sylvanite. 

GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY  

The Great Northern constructed a railroad grade through Lincoln County in 1891, with trains running by 1892.  The town of Troy was a freight division point on the line from 1892 to 1926.

GREIG SCHOOL HOUSE (Yaak River Valley)

In 1910, Robert Greig homesteaded the land at the Seventeen Mile Creek Bridge.  In 1927, the Sylvanite School was moved into a log buildings constructed on the Greig homestead.  The school operated at this location until the 1950s when the school was moved to its current location.  The old school building remains and was remodeled as a residence in 1999.

GRIZZLY POINT and GRIZZLY CREEK (Yaak River Valley)

Named after the many grizzly bears seen in the area.   

GROUSE CREEK (Bull Lake Valley - Keeler Creek) 

An early 1917 name used for the North Fork of Keeler Creek.

GROUSE MOUNTAIN (Bull Lake Valley)

Named by early prospectors for the many Blue Grouse found there.  Early prospecting on the mountain dates back to the late 1880s.

GRUBSTAKE MOUNTAIN (Yaak River Valley)

Named by Joe Pierce.  Fires provided jobs for Yaak residents during the summer months, providing their $50 grubstake which was needed to get them through the winter.  Local legend has it that during hard times, fires would “somehow” start on the mountain and the Forest Service would hire local men to put them out, providing them with a grubstake for the coming winter.

GRUSH GULCH (Yaak River Valley) 

Named for Eugene “Gene” R. Grush, a homesteader, miner and Forest Service employee for 40 years.  Gene came into the Yaak in 1910 to fight the fire which destroyed the town of Sylvanite.  As Gene often said, “liked it and stayed.” 

GUS CREEK (Yaak River Valley) 

Named for Gus Witte, a homesteader in 1912. Gus was a prospector and miner who eventually sold out and moved to richer ground in Nevada. 

HALAHAR CREEK      

(see Bob Creek)

HALE CREEK (General Troy Area - Callahan Creek)

Named after Louis Hale a turn of the century prospector who filed a homestead application in Callahan Creek in 1911.

HALF WAY HOUSE (Bull Lake)  

The first half way house, which was called “The 25 Mile House,” was built on the Great Northern Railway Tote Road of 1891 by O. F. Payne.  The combination saloon, eating and boarding house was located on Payne Creek. The current Half Way House was built in 1936 by Harry Tallmadge as a small store, later expanded to accommodate a bar in 1946.

HALVERSON CREEK (Bull Lake Valley) 

Named for Andrew “Andy” Halverson the first section foreman on the Great Northern R.R. in Troy in 1892.  In 1901 he settled on 150 acres of land which he filed on in 1907.  He later worked out of Troy with the Forest Service.

HARTMAN CREEK (Yaak River Valley) 

Named for Charlie Hartman, a homesteader in the South Fork in 1910.

HAUGAN CREEK (Bull Lake Valley - Keeler Creek) 

A now unnamed intermittent creek located in Section 10, T30N, R34W. which drains into the North Fork of Keeler Creek.  Named for E. J. Haugan, one of the owners in the Grouse Mountain Mining Company who operated a mill in the drainage in 1937.

HAYSTACK MOUNTAIN       (Bull Lake Valley - Iron Creek)

A name used in the 1920s for a now unnamed mountain located in Section 27, T31N, R34W.  Used to describe the location of the Federal Silver Mine later called the American Eagle Mine.

HERYAKAHA CREEK (Bull Lake Valley - Lake Creek)

An early Kootenai Indian name for Lake Creek.  First shown by that name on 1874 map of the Washington and Idaho Territory.

MOUNT  HENRY and MOUNT HENRY LAKE (Yaak River Valley)        

Named for Henry Wegner, an early 1906 homesteader in the East Fork of the Yaak River. His homestead is now known as Lake Okaga.

HELMER LAKE (Yaak River Valley) 

Named for Simon Helmer a homesteader in 1915.  He died in 1925 and is buried close to his old house and near the lake.  The lake was later renamed Vinal Lake.

HENSLEY HILL and HENSLEY CREEK (Yaak River Valley) 

Named for Judge Jim Hensley, a homesteader in 1907.  Hensley Hill once supported a temporary F. S. lookout, later taken over by the U.S. Air Force as a part of the Yaak Air Force Base.

HIATT CREEK (Bull Lake Valley) 

Named for Roy Hiatt a homesteader on Dry Creek in 1902, and lookout on Keeler Mountain for the Forest Service.

HOSKIN LAKE (Yaak River Valley) 

Named for Billy Hoskin in 1913, an early homesteader, who discovered the lakes.

HUBBARD CREEK (Yaak River Valley) 

Named for Jim Hubbard, an early trapper in the East Fork of the Yaak River, who died in 1942 at the age of 95.  Reported to have constructed over 20 line cabins in the Upper Yaak over the years that he trapped.

HUDSON CREEK (Yaak River Valley) 

Named for Charlie Hudson in 1918.  Charlie Hudson was an early 1917 trapper and homesteader in the East Fork of the Yaak River.

INDEPENDENCE MTN. and INDEPENDENCE CK. (Yaak River Valley)     

Named by early miners at Sylvanite in or around 1895.   

IRON CREEK (Bull Lake Valley - Iron Creek)

A name it has gone by since the 1890s.  Named for the surface deposits which left an orange residue in the creek bed.

IRON MOUNTAIN (Bull Lake Valley - Iron Creek) 

An early turn of the century to about 1917 name for Copper Mountain.

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