Traveling to Demersville

Boom towns have come and gone in Montana. Most are forgotten and do not exist except in the annals of time and history and a few old photos. Ever been to Demersville, Montana??

The town of Demersville emerged 130 years ago and quickly developed into a vibrant boomtown that laid the roots for the modern Flathead Valley. It was the first incorporated town in Northwest Montana. The once vibrant boomtown has long been reassigned to the history books. It was located near what’s now the city of Kalispell.

Dillon Tabish wrote in a 2021 story for “Flathead Living,” that at its peak in 1891, Demersville “was home to hotels, shops, dining halls, 73 licensed liquor dispensers and numerous brothels.” But who or what was Demersville?

Demersville was named for Telesphore Jacques “Jack” DeMers, who was born around 1834 near Montreal. Jack demonstrated an adventurous spirit at an early age. He explains his sudden departure in his late teens as an answer to the call of “Go West, young man.” He followed the gold rush to California and homesteaded in the vicinity of today’s Spokane.

When the Mullan Road was completed, it created the perfect opportunity for Jack and his family to explore better and more entrepreneurial prospects. By 1866, he and his wife, Clara Rivet - a member of the Pend d’Oreille tribe - had moved near Missoula.

They began buying property and Jack became a Missoula County commissioner from 1875-79. He opened stores, operated a sheep and cattle ranch, as well as lumber and flour mills, plus saloons and hotels.

He had a dream of starting a general store to the north. So in 1887 the DeMers filled a tent with merchandise on a favorable location at the head of navigation on the Flathead River. Within two years, the tent turned into a log building, and the town was booming. The community was unofficially known as Demersville.

DeMers began investing heavily in other businesses than his new mercantile, including a large hotel that he named “Cliff House” in honor of Clifford, his new son-in-law. Interesting about the Cliff House – if you left town without returning the key, you could have a clean conscience by mailing back the key for 3 cents.

“The 80-acre village blossomed into the region’s largest trading center and a boomtown dubbed the “new Chicago” with more than 1,500 residents. It wasn’t the first community in this corner of Montana — Ashley and other small outposts had already cropped up — but it quickly became the most successful and influential.”

What began as a small community of settlers and entrepreneurs arriving on steamboats eager to build new lives grew into a “destination ripe for lumber barons and railroad tycoons.” The community’s impressive growth included a town hall, jail, several stores and hotels, a race track, and two churches — Methodist and Catholic.

Demersville had 73 licensed saloons and liquor dispensers at its peak in 1891. An 1888 photograph shows the W.O. Lung Laundry; an unidentified two-story building; a Blacksmith building with circular sign (possibly Caseys Blacksmith); an unidentified false front building; the Bodega Saloon; three unknown buildings; and the Pioneer Restaurant. It is speculated that the “unidentified false front building” is the livery stable associated with the blacksmith.

Ranching and farming were the primary lifestyles of choice, but logging developed into an exceptionally lucrative enterprise along with mining. Demersville’s rough-and-tumble boomtown included trappers, prospectors, lumberjacks, freighters, and traders who arrived in droves.

“The July 4, 1890 edition of the upstart newspaper, founded by Demersville Clayton and Emma Ingalls and named the Inter Lake, applauded “the grandest celebration in the history of the Flathead Valley” as the town observed Independence Day with fireworks, music, baseball and “glass ball shooting,” as well as a dance.”

The wild, isolated setting created its share of problems. Homesteaders and local Native American tribes struggled to live peacefully together. The 25th Regiment of the U.S. Army, the Buffalo Soldiers, traveled from Fort Missoula in February of 1890 and were stationed at Demersville to quell unrest among residents who were fearful of raiding tribes. At the same time, 45 men were deputized as members of a posse that patrolled the community, sometimes infamously.

Unfortunately, Jack’s health began declining, and he died of kidney disease in 1889, a mere 2 years after starting his dream. Then the Great Northern Railway began its expansion into the west. In 1891 railroad magnate James Hill decided to route his trains through what would eventually become Kalispell. This helped spell a death toll for Demersville.

Demersville collapsed for a variety of reasons. Jack’s son-in-law, Clifford, was ill-equipped to oversee a suite of businesses as diligently as his father-in-law. Jack and his out-sized personality were absent as Hill was deciding where to build his rail line in the Flathead Valley.

It is often speculated that had Jack lived, his influence might have been great enough with James Hill to have the Great Northern routed through Demersville. But another, likely more significant factor came into play. “Money talks, and there was more land available in Kalispell than there was in Demersville.”

Frequent fights, robberies and murders plagued the wild community. Without a fire department, blazes were a frequent problem, with one incident leveling more than 12 buildings in 1891. This wild and turbulent lawlessness convinced investors and businesses that Kalispell’s prospects were better suited for success and safety.

By the winter of 1892-93, most of the town had literally packed up the buildings and moved them to Kalispell, or the structures were torn down. The only remaining trace today is the cemetery.

“The bank, the indomitable newspaper, stores, bars, cafes, the Methodist church (the Catholic church was torn down, the bricks salvaged) and countless houses were jacked up, set on skids or rollers and tugged away. And like a dream or a leaf in the river, Demersville was gone.”

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