TIME TO THROW THE SWITCH

Last night (Tuesday), at the Marias Heritage Center, we completed the book on the Mann Gulch fire of 1949. It seems to me that often "good things" come "out of bad". The fire was an example, as following the fire that killed 13 smoke jumpers, there were public hearings where such issues as fire fighting safety were addressed and some of the fire fighting practices today came about because of the way the Mann Gulch was AND wasn't fought. Now it's time to SWITCH to a new book on Montana History and the one I have chosen is W.J. Yenne's "Switchback". Switchback is the story of Yenne's 50 years in the mountains of Montana and the West. Famous person George Ostrom wrote the foreword for W.J.'s book and I think the late Mel Ruder, Pulitzer Prize winning founder of the Hungry Horse News said it best, "W.J. Yenne was the man who best knew Glacier Park's thousand miles of trails." During his half-century career, Yenne (it rhymes with penny) came to be widely recognized as the most accomplished and knowledgeable outdoorsman who ever rode the back country of Glacier National Park's 1000 miles of trails. We only got to page 7 of the book last evening but I'm looking forward to going back next Tuesday evening to read more Montana history. Speaking of "going back", we're close to the Yaak in this book but we're not taking any side trips as we ride the trails with Yenne.