Chinook, MT

Warm Winds, Warm Town

Montanans call the warm wind that blows in after a siege of frigid weather a “chinook,” and the town of Chinook, Mont., is just as welcoming.

One cozy gathering spot is Jean’s Old-Fashioned Bakery on Indiana Street, where residents gather to catch up on the latest news while they enjoy the soups and stews or the rolls, cream puffs, and pies that owner Jean Kokkeler bakes daily. Kokkeler, a native who returned to Chinook last year, was welcomed home in a big way. “I’ve been amazed at the support—for myself and the bakery,” she says.

Set on the rolling prairie of north-central Montana, Chinook sprang up as a processing center for acres of surrounding sugar beets. Although the sugar beet factory closed years ago, the high school team is still the Sugar Beeters. Now, however, the ranches outside this town of neatly kept homes and lawns grow wheat, peas, lentils, hay, and barley—with national beer brands competing for the barley.

Ranching and tourism keep the town of 1,386 going. As many as 9,000 people every year visit the Bear Paw Battlefield, which marks the end of the Nez Perce Trail, 16 miles south of town. With the jagged Bear Paw Mountains in the distance, the battlefield’s trails offer a chance to retrace the last days of freedom for Chief Joseph and his tribe of beleaguered Nez Perce.

“Just today, I had three people following the Nez Perce Trail. I always promote the battlefield and the museum,” says Edith Foster, owner of the Bear Paw Motel. “The museum is fabulous.”

Jim Magera, seasonal ranger for the National Park Service, gives tours of the battlefield. He says the Battle of Bear Paw is important because of the circle it completes. “In 1805, Lewis and Clark befriended the Nez Perce. By 1877, this is the end of the trail.”

The Blaine County Museum, also on Indiana Street, serves as the battlefield’s interpretive center. A video called Forty Miles to Freedom recounts Joseph’s defeat, ending with his poignant words: “From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”

Jude Sheppard, museum curator, says she often returns to find people wiping their eyes.

“There’s more understanding and sympathy, especially with the younger generation, for the Nez Perce and all Native Americans,” she says. “People are realizing that there should have been a better way of dealing with them.”

The museum also features an interior of a homesteader’s cabin, a large collection of American Indian beadwork, a fossil collection, and other items recalling the region’s ranching and pioneering past.

Down the street, a wildlife museum scheduled to open in 2005 will feature life-size models of Montana’s many wild species in three-dimensional displays. One exhibit already completed is of a buffalo pishkun, with buffalo tumbling over a cliff as buckskin-clad American Indians crouch below with knives. Designed to appeal especially to schoolchildren, the museum has already acquired an impressive array of animals, ranging from a tiny weasel to a huge Alaskan moose.

Chinook’s young people have always had a special place in its heart. Even today, a scholarship program started in 1971 by Lloyd Sweet—a Chinook man who built a fortune in the stock market while in the auto parts business in California—helps them get a start in life.

Scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $3,500 are given out each year to graduating seniors. As of 1986, more than a million dollars had been given away.

As a young woman, Jean Kokkeler received one of the scholarships. “The money gave me wings, but it also brought me back after 25 years away, “ she says. “I hope I’m giving something back to the community.”

Chris McGonigle writes regularly for Woman’s World, Woman’s Day, and Family Circle.

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