The Yaak Historical Society

The Yaak Historical Society The Yaak Historical Society is active in the research & preservation of the rich and colorful history of The Yaak, Montana.

Follow us to learn more about this wild and wonderful place, and help us build a museum for all to enjoy for years to come!

Very nice article by Brian Baxter about our Yaak Historical Society, thanks Brian.
03/06/2026

Very nice article by Brian Baxter about our Yaak Historical Society, thanks Brian.

Those that came before. Boyd CemeteryThe year was 1917 and Yaak homesteader and miner Adam Boyd was in failing health wh...
02/28/2026

Those that came before. Boyd Cemetery
The year was 1917 and Yaak homesteader and miner Adam Boyd was in failing health when his neighbors decided to take him to town for care. In the process of moving him they managed to drop him in the Yaak river. In the middle of winter, he didn’t live long. With a frozen Adam and the ground being frozen it was decided to stick him in the woodshed till spring.
Come spring, a shallow grave. A pile of stones. A stick topped off with a whiskey bottle for a headstone. Adam Boyd had his final resting place.
About that same time the founders of Lincoln County Montana were trying to get their new county figured out. One thing they were missing was a free cemetery where the poor and transient types could be buried. Can’t be burying poor folks next to town folks it seems.
Boyd Cemetery was born.
It is as far away as you can get from any town. Located in the far northwest corner of the state and in the far northwest corner of Lincoln County. A few air miles from both Idaho and the Canadian border, this place is out there. You must want to go there. The Cemetery is on 2.1 acres and surrounded by Forest Service land with towering Western Larch trees. The ground has been left in its natural state with flowering wildflowers throughout.
It was a free cemetery for many years which means it is a place of free expression. A place of basic remembrance and family love. All the grave sites are done by and cared for by the individual families.
The people who chose this place as their final stop are not the affluent crowd. Early homesteaders, miners, loggers and babies who passed to soon have found peace under the towering larch trees.
Everyone is unique with different expressions of family love. There are an estimated ninety graves in the historic section. The oldest ones can barely be seen. A simple line of native stone to outline a long dead homesteader or miner.
A simple rock with a date carved on it, no name carved. A pile of flat stones with a pair of glasses and a baseball cap from a friend who remembered they couldn’t see without them. The important things in life might be needed in the afterlife.
The love of families which have erected small ornate fences with favorite plastic flowers and stuffed animals from loved ones and grandchildren.
You can’t bury a lifelong logger without a small toy chainsaw for a head stone. The love from a grandchild to their grandpa.
A small homemade round cement headstone for a young child who passed too soon. Made with marbles and a cross made from plastic pipe carries as much love and compassion as any marble head stone would. The heart felt pain is very real in pieces like this.
Boyd Cemetery is the history of the Yaak and more importantly it shows the love and emotions of the people who live, work, and die here. It shows there is no other place to be for some of us.
In life and death.
Special thanks to Lori Chubb for her cemetery work and knowledge of the old history.

A heartfelt thank you note. I just wanted to thank everyone for their overwhelming likes, comments and just plain incred...
02/22/2026

A heartfelt thank you note.
I just wanted to thank everyone for their overwhelming likes, comments and just plain incredible support of our Yaak history. The history of the Yaak is a history of extraction. From mining to logging, everything was been taken away to some where else or burned up. Our only town burned down. Historic buildings have been demolished or moved. A Forest Service office and Air Base has been erased. Artifacts have been scattered to the wind. Even our unique sign has been taken. It almost like the Yaak isn’t supposed to exist. In searching for our history I have learned one thing. It does exist, in it’s people. From those who came before to we who live here now. In the world of things, the Yaak family is a small but a connected one, by one thing, this place called the Yaak and all it gives us. This place has affected us all throughout time. One major plus is the reconnection of old family friends. Really heart warming. Thank you.
We are a small group with high hopes. With your positive feedback I hope one day we just might get a museum to put your stories. So keep your photos coming and your stories. You are the history of the Yaak, let’s keep it alive.
Edd Kuropat
Yaak Historical Society

The Radar dome and Air Base located in the remote Yaak Montana. 1950 to 1959. It was home to over two hundred Air Force ...
02/21/2026

The Radar dome and Air Base located in the remote Yaak Montana. 1950 to 1959. It was home to over two hundred Air Force personnel to man the radar and support base. It brought the modern world to this remote land for a short period. Friday night dancing, Saturday baseball games, and Sunday barbecues. It even brought pay checks to those locals hired to work at the base. It became the center of life in the Yaak. Then it was gone. Not a board or bit of foundation remained. Like most of the history of the Yaak, it was erased. One thing that was not erased, the Dirty Shame Saloon. Opened to give a place for the average airmen to get a beer. Still in operation today.
Photo of radar dome courtesy of the Boundary County Historical Society.

Fishermen who came before. Fred Fritz hitting those Yaak beaver ponds in the 1950s.Photo courtesy Bill Fritz
02/19/2026

Fishermen who came before. Fred Fritz hitting those Yaak beaver ponds in the 1950s.
Photo courtesy Bill Fritz

Those that came before.This has to be one of the biggest fish that I have seen coming from the Yaak River. Mildred Munya...
02/16/2026

Those that came before.
This has to be one of the biggest fish that I have seen coming from the Yaak River. Mildred Munyan where Spread Creek meets the Yaak, 1951 to 53.
Photo courtesy of the Leader Family

Those that came before.A day of fishing on the Yaak River. Everett Leader, Ray Barnes, and Charlie McDowell at the Black...
02/16/2026

Those that came before.
A day of fishing on the Yaak River. Everett Leader, Ray Barnes, and Charlie McDowell at the Black Diamond Mine with a day’s catch. 1946 or 1947. Whenever I see photos like this I have to wonder what fishing tackle they were using. Dry flies or worms?
Photo courtesy of the Leader Family

Those that came before.Everett Leader in the Yaak in 1950 taking advantage of our glorious cedar trees. Busting out ceda...
02/16/2026

Those that came before.
Everett Leader in the Yaak in 1950 taking advantage of our glorious cedar trees. Busting out cedar rails and post. Alot of folks made a living doing this over the years.
Photo courtesy of the Leader Family

That Yaak Economy Before there were tourists, before the timber cutters and loggers, before everything else, there were ...
02/14/2026

That Yaak Economy
Before there were tourists, before the timber cutters and loggers, before everything else, there were prospectors and miners. In 1864, a prospector named Bill Hall found the first gold flakes in the Yaak River, but it wasn’t till 1890 that the first mining camp was established along the lower Yaak River at Snipetown. The rush was on chasing that shiny metal. There are 3607 mining claims and 34 mines in the Sylvanite Mining District. Six of those are uranium claims. Only 19 are active claims. Mostly along the lower river. From the mouth of the Yaak River to the far reaches of Solo Joes claims on the East Fork of the Yaak, the miners spread. Most claims produced little gold but one stands out. The Keystone mine complex operated on and off from 1895 to 1937. Located near 4th of July creek near the town of Sylvanite it at one time employed up to 45 workers.
In the summertime, claim owners can still be found working their claims along the river scratching out that shining metal from between those Rocky Mountain boulders. There are even suction dredging operations currently permitted on the river. The fever for this precious metal is as strong today as it was in the 1800s. (calvi/renk)
Photo courtesy of the Boundary County Historical Society and Montana Mining History.

Log flume build by the Bonners Ferry Lumber Company dumping Yaak timber into the Kootenai River near where the Yaak Rive...
02/12/2026

Log flume build by the Bonners Ferry Lumber Company dumping Yaak timber into the Kootenai River near where the Yaak River joins the Kootenai River. They owned miles of timber land along the river. Date unknown.
Photo courtesy of Boundary County Historical Society and the Bonners Ferry Lumber Company

A simple bridge changed everything. First built in 1895 and rebuilt by the Forest Service after the 1910 fires to connec...
02/11/2026

A simple bridge changed everything. First built in 1895 and rebuilt by the Forest Service after the 1910 fires to connect the new Ranger Station at Sylvanite to the railway head in Troy Montana. This bridge did many things. It gave work to those who needed it most, the fire survivors. It was the first road connecting Bonners Ferry, Idaho to Troy Montana. It allowed the reopening mines to haul better equipment and supplies. It allowed for the continued homesteading in the upper Yaak. It made life better. You have to wonder how long the log abutments on the west side survived. A simple bridge. The stone abutments still exist. It was located near Yaak falls.
Photos courtesy of the Boundary County Historical Society.

Those that came before. The Kendall’s of the West Fork of the Yaak River. Rex, Ross, and Keith with cousins in 1945. Ros...
02/09/2026

Those that came before. The Kendall’s of the West Fork of the Yaak River. Rex, Ross, and Keith with cousins in 1945. Ross Kendall on horseback in 1954. Living that Yaak life since the 1940s.
Photo courtesy of Eric Kendall

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