Lincoln County Landmark Names U-Z
UPHAM CREEK (Bull lake Valley)
Named for Jesse U. Upham an early 1912 homesteader.
UPPER FORD (Yaak River Valley)
Named by early homesteaders to distinguish between two fords in the Yaak River. The Upper Ford was located at the Frenchman's Meadows and where later the Upper Ford Ranger Station was established.
UPPER FORD RANGER STATION (Yaak River Valley)
Headquarters compound for the Upper Ford Ranger District. Operated from 1924 to 1942 when it was consolidated with the Yaak Ranger District. Most of the early buildings were sold in 1970s.
U.S. HIGHWAY 2
Also known as the Glacier Park Auto Highway and the Teddy Roosevelt Highway. The road was completed through the area in 1915, and designated U.S. Highway No. 2 in 1926.
VAN DYKE LAKE (Bull Lake Valley)
Early name for Savage Lake, named for John G. Van Dyke who first homesteaded the lake in 1891. In 1897 he relinquished the land to William Savage. John George Van Dyke was born in 1857 in Illinois. Was a veteran of the Indian War (1876) and part in the detail who buried Custer and his troopers at the Little Big Horn. He was a buffalo hunter and miner before he turned towards gardening. Planted gardens and sold vegetables in Lewiston and Castle, Montana before settling in the Bull Lake Valley. John continued gardening and selling vegetables in the Troy area until his death in 1935.
MOUNT VERNON ((Bull lake Valley)
Name found on early 1897 Montana Maps.
VINAL CREEK and VINAL LAKE (Yaak River Valley)
Named for Leslie E. Vinal, an 1895 Yaak miner, 1896 Pine Creek homesteader and Forest Service employee. Began Forest Service career in 1910 on the Kootenai National Forest, later becoming the Kootenai National Forest Supervisor (1920 to 1922).
VINAL CREEK SCHOOL (Yaak River Valley)
In 1915, a school house was built and operated on the west side of the Yaak River at Lower Ford. The classes in the Yaak School House, as it was officially called, were held until 1919 when a new school house was built on the South Fork of the Yaak River. The building was used as a community hall but was too small for large social events. Abandoned in 1925 after current community hall was built.
WALLACE HILL (General Troy Area)
One of the names for the steep grade on the Kilbrennan Road, heading north from the old steel bridge across the Kootenai River at Troy. Named for the homesteader living at the base of the grade.
WAMPOO CREEK (Yaak River Valley)
Named by early miners in the middle 1890s. A small tent camp of miners known as Paisley Camp was located along the creek near its mouth. The name Wampoo may be connected to an old nautical expression or phrase.
WATSON CREEK (Yaak River Valley)
A local name for a live creek flowing off Friday Hill into 4th of July Creek, not on Forest Service maps. Named for Jerry Watson, a prospector and California 49er‘. Jerry Watson was one of the first prospectors through the Yaak River Valley in 1864 on his way to the Wildhorse Gold strike in Canada. Prospected heavily in Northern Idaho, Grouse Mountain and the Yaak between 1889 and 1895 before trying his luck in the Yukon in 1898. By 1908, he was back in northern Idaho.
WAPER CREEK and WAPER RIDGE (Yaak River Valley)
Named for Leo Waper in 1920, an early homesteader.
WEST TROY (1892 - to Present)
West Troy townsite was filed on in 1892. The town was laid out in 1895. When the G.N.R.R. constructed a division point on its land in 1892, the people of Troy (old Lake City) moved to the new townsite. What we call Troy today is really West Troy, Montana.
WHEELER HILL (Yaak River Valley)
An early name used by homesteaders for the hill located between Wampoo Creek north to the top of the hill on the old Yaak River Road. Named for the 1910 homesteader William “Bill” Wheeler.
WILLIAMSBURG CAMP (Yaak River Valley)
An early 1895 to 1897 tent mining camp established at the mouth of Red Top Creek. Prospectors from this camp confined their efforts from Red Top Mountain to Baldy Mountain.
WILSON'S HILL (Kootenai River - Yaak River)
Now known as Yaak Hill on Highway 2 north of the Yaak River Campgrounds. Named for Wilson's logging camp which was located near the top of the hill in the 1920s. Wilson was a contract logger for the Bonners Ferry Lumber Company.
WINDY CREEK (Yaak River Valley)
The name of a creek in the East Fork of the Yaak, draining from Lake Okaga, originally known as Keeler Creek. Windy Creek first shows up on the 1924 Kootenai National Forest map.
WINDY PASS (Yaak River Valley)
Named in 1897 when a road was proposed through the pass connecting Bonners Ferry with the boom town of Sylvanite.
WHITETAIL CAMPGROUNDS (Yaak River Valley)
Originally known as Long Meadow Administration Site, the campgrounds was constructed by the Forest Service in 1964.
WINKUM CREEK (Yaak River Valley)
In 1910 the Forest Service had a timber crew in the West Fork of the Yaak River. One of the crew went out for fresh meat but came back to camp empty handed. He said he had shot a caribou but could not find it. The rest of the crew ribbed him about his story but he maintained he had been so near the caribou that he could see it wink. Hence the creek was named. The next day they found the caribou under the roots of a down tree.
YAAK
Also spelled Yahk, Yak, Yakt, Yahkt and Yack. Original spelling included Yakt and Yahk. However, by the 1920s, Yaak became the accepted spelling for the word. The first white men to walk through the valley were prospectors in 1865 on their way to the Wild Horse Creek Gold Rush in Canada. The first mention of “Yak River Valley” appeared in a Deer Lodge Newspaper in 1868.
YAAK AIR FORCE BASE (Yaak River Valley)
A radar station was located on the top of Hensley Hill from the 1951 to 1959, as a part of the “Pine Tree Line,” (a part of DEW). A living compound was also located on the flat behind today's Dirty Shame Saloon.
YAAK, MONTANA (Yaak River Valley)
Name for a small settlement located near the upper end of the Yaak Valley now marked by the Dirty Shame Saloon, and Yaak Mercantile Store and Bar.
YAAK POST OFFICE (Yaak River Valley)
Commissioned in 1914 and used until 1917. Charles B. Weber was postmaster and the post office was located in his home (H. E. S. 482) which was located just above the Upper Ford Ranger Station on the county road. Re-commissioned in 1920 with Icie Betzer as postmistress. The second post office was maintained in the Betzer Home, a log cabin near the Yaak Mercantile Store. The post office persisted until 1957 when it closed.
YAAK RIVER (Yaak River Valley)
Kootenai Indian word generally meaning “arrow or straight.” Originally spelled Yahk. Earliest known record of the river was in a 1868 newspaper article on prospecting.
YAAK SCHOOL HOUSE (Yaak River Valley)
The current home of the Yaak School District. Constructed in 1932 is probably one of the last remaining log schools in operation in the State of Montana.
YAHK MINING DISTRICT (Yaak River Valley)
An unorganized mining district generally describing mining claims and land around the old town of Sylvanite. Formed in 1895 and today known as the Sylvanite Mining District.
YAHK-WILDHORSE TRAIL (Yaak River Valley)
When gold was discovered on Wildhorse Creek near present day Fort Steele in 1864, prospectors headed for the area. Most of them traveled over the Wildhorse Trail located in northern Idaho, but some followed the Kootenai River, Moyie River as well as the Yahk River into Canada. The year 1864 represents the earliest known date for white intrusion into the Yaak River Valley.
YAKT SIDING (Kootenai River)
A railroad siding which was built in 1892 by the Great Northern Railroad Company. Originally a small railroad settlement existed around a depot located along the side track. During the 1920s a small ferry provided access across the Kootenai River to U.S. Highway 2. The Yakt Post Office was commissioned in 1920 and used until 1947.
YAKT-SYLVANITE ROAD (Yaak River Valley)
A road that proceeded from the Yakt Siding, through Sears Flat and on up the south side of the Yaak River. It tied in with the Kilbrennan Road which went on up to Sylvanite by way of the bridge across Yaak Falls. Pioneered in 1896. Was finally completed in about 1915.
ZIMMERMAN HILL (Yaak River Valley)
Named for Carl Zimmerman in 1914, a homesteader. Also known as “Zimm Hill.”
ZIMMERMAN SCHOOL HOUSE (Yahk River Valley)
Upper Yaak Valley School used between 1920 and when the current Yaak School building was built in 1932. Located on the Zimmerman Homestead, was operated for only a half a school year then the school was conducted down river in the South Fork School house the other half of the year