Flathead pioneer was a progressive mayor

Editor's note: The fact that current Columbia Falls Mayor Don Barnhart is the son of a former mayor, Ray Barnhart, has not gone unnoticed. An earlier father and son team of mayors were James and Dwight Grist. Coincidentally, all four mayors played important roles in the city's fire department. Here's the story of James Grist.

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James Monroe Grist, one of Columbia Falls' founding fathers, was born in Indiana in 1859, one of seven children in a family that had migrated from South Carolina in 1813. Continuing that westward march, Grist came to Montana Territory in 1888, one year before statehood was granted.

Grist traveled across Flathead Lake aboard the steamboat Tom Connolly and landed at Demersville, a booming little community on the Flathead River south of Kalispell. Built around T.J. Demers' general store, by 1890 the town had grown to 3,000 residents and 50 buildings.

A barber by trade, Grist went right to work. But three years after arriving, he headed north to a new community was emerging alongside the Flathead River below Teakettle Mountain. By 1891, Columbia Falls boasted a general store, a men's shop, a flour mill and 18 saloons. Seasonal high water eventually drove many of the residents up the hill, where a new bank was erected by a development company led by the city's "founding father," James Talbott.

Settlers were drawn to Columbia Falls by the promise of good farmland, rumors of coal up the North Fork and news of the approaching Great Northern Railroad line. The Columbian newspaper helped promote the new town, predicting in 1895 that it would become one of the three great cities of Montana - it even had 11 bicycles for regular evening amusement.

A grand ball was held at the opening of the 31-room Hotel Gaylord in June 1892. The hotel featured carpets, shades, billiard tables and mirrors. Grist opened up a business across the street, near where the Bandit Bar now stands. According to the Columbian in January 1893, Grist's barber shop and bathrooms were "the only first-class shop in the city" and Grist was "rapidly shaving his way to affluence."

"In every place of even metropolitan pretensions, there are barber shops which have gained a reputation for unequaled facilities and tonsorial artists. Such a place is the shaving parlor of J.M. Grist," the Columbian reported. "The celebrated Archer chairs afford a pleasant resting place for customers while being lulled to forgetfulness by the magic touch of the razor, which, in the hand of Prof. Grist, glides over the face as if propelled by an unseen power."

Social life in Columbia Falls at that time centered around lodges like the Royal Neighbors, Oddfellows, Masons, Eastern Star and Woodman. Businessmen met in the Gaylord to play pinochle, while working men hunted and fish by day and headed to the saloon or pool hall at night.

Local boosters, however, met with several setbacks. First, the railroad laid track right through Columbia Falls and set up its division point in Kalispell. Next came the near sinking of the Crescent during its second voyage from Demersville in April 1893, ending steamboat service up the Flathead River. Then the county seat of the newly created Flathead County went to Kalispell. Columbia Falls forged on, incorporating in 1909 and growing to 600 residents by 1916.

Grist quickly became an early community leader. He married Caroline Miller in February 1905, a widow who owned 160 acres near the present-day aluminum plant - adjacent to 40 acres he already owned. Their only child, James Dwight Grist, was born in 1906. The wedding announcement in the Columbian called Grist "one of the prosperous businessmen of our town."

"He is always ready to encourage any enterprise that pertains to the betterment of commercial and financial interests," the newspaper said. "As such, he has made many friends."

Grist was also a member of the Pioneer Club, of Kalispell. Membership was restricted to people who came to the Flathead before July 1891. Donning red bandannas, members gathered annually, with nine presidents representing districts from Polson to the Tobacco Valley.

Believing Columbia Falls city government was not getting things done, Grist ran for mayor in 1916. The city clerk that year had complained of the cost of holding council meetings without a quorum, and Mayor John Robinson had warned the aldermen about a hefty fine for collecting license fees from red light district businesses.

When the city's fire department was organized back in 1891, dances were held to raise money for a hose cart and fire bell. In October 1893, the city's first big fire claimed the Columbia Hotel at Nucleus Avenue and Seventh Street. Pumps at the nearby mill provided adequate water pressure to the city's hydrants, and citizens were able to prevent the fire from spreading to adjacent buildings, but the hotel burned to the ground.

Within days of the fire, a group of men gathered in the Columbian's newspaper office to form a new volunteer fire department. Sixteen men signed up, with William Vandermeer as chief and Grist as treasurer.

At his first city council meeting, in January 1917, Grist called for the purchase of an "auto truck" for the fire department. The city's finances were good, with a $2,392 surplus and $6,062 in cash, and a fire truck would help reduce fire insurance rates for property owners, the Columbian reported.

Grist told the aldermen that while the city had adequate water pressure and hydrants, the fire hall was nothing more than a shack. Several weeks later, a bid was accepted from Northwestern Fire Apparatus Co., of Spokane, Wash., for a ton-and-a-half Garford truck with electric lights, 1,000 feet of hose, ladders and hand rails for up to 10 men.

When the $2,275 truck arrived in late March, the city tested it by transporting 23 men through deep soft snow and drifts. In a reorganization effort, T.O. Elsathagen was appointed fire chief, and 36 volunteers signed up, including Grist.

A progressive mayor, Grist took on other community needs in his first months in office. He and the council went on the "war path" over dogs running loose, and with more and more automobiles coming to town, he called for raising the speed limit from 3 mph to 12 to comply with state law. Grist also went after "rubbish piles and flybreeding places" around town, but he had trouble getting the people and horses needed to clean up the city.

Eight months after he took office, Grist raised the possibility of increasing taxes from 17 mills to 25. The city's biggest expenses were the $1,500 annual rent on fire hydrants and the cost of lumber for sidewalks, which had doubled. He also called for an ordinance regulating hours and conduct at pool halls. The Columbian concluded that if the council followed through, "there will be a decided improvement in the moral conduct of the city from this time on."

Recognizing the growing importance of automobiles, Grist started a service station in the 1920s on Highway 40, now the U.S. 2 strip. It was located where Laurie's Deli is now, next to the former Tourist Park, where Pinewood Park and the city pool is now.

On July 13, 1934, Grist headed down to the Flathead County Courthouse in Kalispell to help identify a man who had robbed his service station. He climbed the stairs to the commissioners' offices on the top floor and then collapsed into a chair in a daze. A few minutes later, he passed away. Grist was 75.

Margaret Wright, of Everett, Wash., told the Hungry Horse News she was told her grandfather was reluctant to press charges on the hold-up men because they were young and circumstances were difficult during the Depression.

"It weighed heavily on him," she said.

Pall bearers at James Grist's funeral at the Methodist Church in Columbia Falls included many notable locals - Mike Berne, Frank Feenan, Ward Skyles, Frank Motichka, Bert Brinkerhoff and Joe Rodgers. The newspaper recognized his role in organizing the city fire department. He was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.