Green Valley School District No. 50

 

The name Green Valley was rarely used. Usually the combined district was referred to by number, District No. 50, with occasional records using either Green Valley or Radio. People in the area called their district by its school house names. The communities elected trustees from both areas. All three districts, Spring Hill, Green Mountain and Spring Valley, were now one and still there were only enough students to hold school in one building so they alternated school at one site one year and switched the next. Bessie Standiford taught four students at Green Mountain followed by Mary Knoble in 1933-34 with Lilly Nelson, Helga, George, and Robert Myrhe, and Joe Holman. The grades were second, third, fourth, and eighth. The school year of 1934-35 was at the White School with Louise Kemp as the teacher. Her students were Helga, George, and Robert Myrhe, Joe Holman, Floyd Smith and Edsil Trusty. The grades were one through five.

In 1935-36 three students were enrolled at Green Mountain School with Louise Kemp teaching. The students were Floyd and Victor Smith and Joe Holman. In November the Smiths moved leaving Joe as the only student for the rest of the year at the Green Mountain School.

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Julia Poole taught the next year with five students. Joe Holman says they were at the Green Mountain School and yet Irene Lake Anderson wrote:

It was the school year of 1936-37. My parents, Bill and Delma Lake, had moved across Buffalo Bridge, west of Valley View, onto the Harry and Amy Owens property. This was about one mile south of the old C.D. Small Sheep Camp. The closest school was six miles north of us into Irvine Flats. About two miles further north of the school was a little post office and grocery store called, Radio. After negotiations, the White School was reopened. For us, it was the closer of the two school houses in the district. The other school was called the Brown School. Neither school had been used for several years. School was opened under one condition, that our father sign a contract with the stipulation that we children would attend the school the full year. There were five pupils in the school that year, the four of us Lake children, Orral, Irene, Eldon and Lillian and Joe Holman, Lenore Merritts’ son. Lillian was 4th grade, Eldon 5th grade and Orral, Joe and myself 6th grade. Our teacher was Mrs. Julia Poole. We children rode in a one horse cart to school with big brother, Orral, always doing the driving of the horse. There was a stable on the school grounds where the horse was watered and fed for the day. When winter weather set in and the snow became too deep for the cart, we two girls stayed at the teacherage with Mrs. Poole and the two boys rode horseback to school. Each had his own saddle horse. We stayed at the school for about 2 months. Joe always walked to school. The school district furnished the wood and Mrs. Poole kept the pot-bellied stove in the one room filled. I never remember being cold during school hours. When we stayed with her, she always went over to the school house about 6:30 AM to build the fire and have the room warm by the time school began at 9:00 AM.

Mrs. Poole was a good teacher. She kept good discipline but was a lot of fun when it was play time. She helped us to want to learn. We had fun learning our recitations for the Christmas Program. Mrs. Poole turned one hundred and one years old January 4, 1997 and lives in Missoula. Orral Lake lived in Missoula but passed away one year ago. He had Parkinson’s Disease. Eldon Lake lives in Eugene, Oregon. He was blinded during World War II. He taught the school for the blind for the State of Oregon for 20 years. Lillian (Lake) Kostelecky lives in Frenchtown and I (Irene) live in St. Ignatius.
 

After that summer the Lake family moved. There was no school on Irvine Flats for the next three years.

School started again in1940-41when three students were in Etta Gebo’s class. The next year she had five students. Only six more years of school on Irvine Flats were left. School was held at the White School until Christmas holiday when they packed up the supplies and moved to Green Mountain School.

Maggie Lannon taught the 1942-43 school year. Living alone in the teacherage could not have been easy. Teachers had to pump their water from the well and try to keep the wood stove for heating the house. Long hours alone made teachers eager to visit with the parents that came to pick up students. Beulah Wigfield says that Maggie Lannon often tempted her with a cup of coffee and visits. Maggie would run from the school, build a fire in the cold wood stove, and put the pot on for hospitality and conversation. Meanwhile Joyce and Joan were getting hungry and John Wigfield waited at home for supper. One time Beulah’s car froze down and got stuck while the two women were visiting. Luckily Howard Burton came along and gave her a push. She had to refrain from her "after school visits."
 

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Florence Belknap was hired at $135 a month and the teacherage. She taught two years with 11 and 10 students from 1943 to 1945. Mrs. Belknap’s school-age daughter, Jane, lived with her on the flats but was sent in to Polson for schooling so she would not have her own child in class. These were war years and the schools did their part as October 25, 1943 minutes show: "It was decided to close school Wednesday the 27 so the teacher could register the people for ration books." Florence Belknap evidently held school in the teacherage at the White School for the start of school from September to Christmas in 1944:

After looking over the situation, it was decided to hold school in the teacherage of White School until Christmas and a date was to be set for moving furniture from Green Mountain school and for cleaning school.

School boards were conservative with limited funds and no sick leave was provided as March 20, 1945 minutes indicate:

As Mrs. Belknap missed two days this month on account of illness, clerk asked Board whether she should make out full warrant as usual and ask teacher to make up the time or whether she should subtract two days wages.

John Wigfield stated that Mrs. Belknap had asked him if she would get a vacation the Friday before Easter and Monday after Easter. If so, she would like to take Friday off but would teach Monday and that would make up one day. Also that she had taught Jan. 2nd and the schools in Polson were closed and that could make up her second day.

By August of 1945 the board decided to hold an advertised meeting to get community opinion on moving one school – the Green Mountain School – to a centralized position so the children would not have to move between buildings. The public meeting was held at the Green Mountain School on August 26. There were three different motions made and seconded proposing new sites for the school. The motion to move it near "Gottlieb’s mail box" carried:

Ballots were made out and passed to the eligible voters. The results – 18 ballots were voted thus – 9 in favor of Gottlieb’s mail box, 8 in favor of J. Rodgers. One ballot was marked as being against Gottlieb’s mail box.

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No action took place to carry out any move of the building. It appears they went on switching between buildings mid year. This had to be difficult. The Wigfield family lived three miles from the Green Mountain School so when school was there the girls rode horses. When they had to attend the White School seven miles away, John Wigfield took them in the tractor and trailer particularly in the winter.
 

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In 1944, Jim Burton, son of teacher Louise Kemp Burton, started his education at the White School. His mother drove him two miles in their ‘37 Ford pickup the first day and from then on Jim walked or rode his horse.

Most of the time I rode as there was a barn for our horses. Sometimes when I walked I might catch a ride with either the Wigfields, Vermedahls, or Merritts if there was room in their vehicle, usually after school was out. I was anxious to get into school as all of my neighbor friends, Rex and Alvin Merritt, George Halverson, Joan and Joyce Wigfield, and Ellen Vermedahl had already been attending.

Half of the year we would attend the White School and the other half we would go to the Green Mountain School in the southern end of the valley. I can remember my Dad, Howard Burton, moving all of the school supplies and our teacher’s belongings during Christmas vacation from one school to the other using a horse and sled. It was usually members of the school board that did the moving.

 

By the time I was in the third grade I had a bike and that was my transportation for part of the year. The horse I had in the first grade was 20 years old, but he was very durable and we would race each other either on the way to school or after school. Anyway he got too old to ride and my Dad bought a half Shetland and he was an ornery one. He would always try to buck me off when we got to racing. I would race a lot with Mickey Davis who was staying with Carl and Katherine Fehlberg. Mickey was Katherine’s nephew. So I rode my bike whenever the weather was nice.

In my the year the school trustees realized that education in the country school wasn’t what it should be as we were getting harder to handle in school and skipping out on the teacher to go hiking up the mountain and not return until it was almost time to be dismissed from school. We also pulled a lot of pranks which made learning difficult. So it was going to be hard to continue to get someone willing to come and teach us. That is when the trustees decided to see if they could send us into town. They met with the School Board of District #23 and arrangements were made for us to attend Polson schools in the fall of 1947.

The last year school was held was in 1946-47 with Ruth Stiles teaching 16 students. Jim Burton’s memories of bad behavior was verified by Walt Vermedahl who remembered a young kid swinging on the rope connected to the big bell on the White School house ringing it loud. Walt was only in the first grade.

By March of 1947 the Polson clerk’s minutes record a petition by a very large majority of the parents and guardians having children of school age to have their children attend school in Polson next year and asked our school board to arrange for same and to furnish transportation for them. Green Valley trustee Howard Burton moved and John Vermedahl seconded "that our school board meet with the School Board of District #23 and ask them if they could take our children. . The school boards of Green Valley No 50 and Polson District #23 met jointly on June 6, 1947. District #50 agreed to pay tuition amounting to $125 per pupil and to furnish the transportation if Polson would educate the students. On July 7, 1947 a Special meeting was held at Green Mountain school house for the purpose of opening bids for transporting our children to the Polson School next school term.

So when Walt Vermedahl was in the second grade the school was closed, and the children rode a bus to Polson, where Walt graduated in 1959. Joan Wigfield was in the seventh grade and Joyce in the fifth. Joyce did well in all subjects except she was weak in spelling and arithmetic. Her mother, Beulah worked with her every night on her lessons.

 

 

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Even though Joyce was young for her grade as she started at five, she still graduated from Polson in the upper third of her class at seventeen.On March 15, 1948, ". . . After a discussion, the school board expressed themselves as unanimously in favor of consolidating with the Polson school district. A letter was written to Lake County Superintendent of Schools, J. B. Kiracofe and signed by the different members of school board advising him that the trustees of District #50 were unanimously in favor of consolidating with District #23. County Superintendent Kiracofe appeared at Polson’s July 9, 1948 Board Meeting to explain the process of annexing Green Valley School District No. 50.

 

 

 

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At some time after 1948, the Spring Valley White School building was moved to Polson. Paul Smith thought the school was first moved to Valley View and used temporarily as a gym. Jim Burton thinks it was The White School that was moved to Polson by the old Lincoln Elementary School and was used as a classroom. Then it was moved to Valley View. There is no such building at Valley View, but there is a cement slab about the approximate size that is currently used as an outdoor basketball court. Polson minutes help:

September 10, 1948 - Polson has need for a two-room addition.

September 21, 1948 - The Polson board inspected the "building being remodeled for two first grade classes." T. Parsons offers to buy two lavatories from an Irvine Flats schoolhouse for five dollars each. Accepted. Mrs. Ethel Terry bought the school bell for $25.

February 11, 1949 - Jerry Oie seeks to rent an Irvine Flats teacherage for ten dollars a month. Accepted.

September 23, 1949 - Steve DeMers from the Flathead Tribal Council requested to buy either Sunny Slope School House or the Spring Valley School House to be moved to Elmo to alleviate classroom shortage there. The board voted no.

January 9, 1951 - The Polson board resolved that thetwo-room building located east of the high school gym "formerly used as a grade school building is unsuitable for school purposes of the district." It will be sold to the highest bidder for cash.

February 17, 1951 - Bids were opened on the two room grade school building. Valley View School District No. 35 got the bid for $1,501.15 which included all the fixtures except the unit heaters. The desks not needed by Polson were included as well.

 

 

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The question that remains is was this the Brown School that Polson bought from the Methodist Church and used as a hot lunch room that was east of the gym, or was it the White School that Polson may have also moved in from the country? No board minutes from January of 1945 to December 7, 1951 shed further light on the issue. Did Polson have both schools and locate them both east of the gym? And what did Valley View do with the building they bought? Is it the teacherage addition? Was it a gymnasium? Where is it now?

The Green Valley board voted to lease the Green Mountain school house to the Woman’s Club for 99 years. There was no electricity in the school house until 1950. Beulah Wigfield tells that Katherine Fehlsberg was a classmate of Mike Mansfield so she wrote a letter to him seeking help to get the building wired for the community. Mike arranged for $6,500 for electricity through the "Indian Department" at St. Ignatius and "they installed used wire for free." The little Green Mountain School house was used for 4H meetings and elections until it was moved into The Miracle of America Museum in Polson on May 31, 1995. At the 1993 Reunion on site, the students signed their names on the blackboard. Community members distributed the school books to those wishing the souvenirs. Some had names and district numbers from the three districts of Green Mountain, Spring Hill, and Spring Valley that had consolidated into Green Valley School District #50. Several books were donated to the museum with the building. The moving costs were $3690, mostly all donations. None of the four schools of Irvine Flats remains on its original site. No homes are in sight. The land is barren with only a few foundation rocks and rusty desk parts scattered in the grass.