Distinctly Montana Magazine

arlee, montana a garden of a thousand buddhas grows at BY JO ANNE SALISBURY TROXEL Twenty-five miles north of Missoula on Highway 93 sits the small town of Arlee on the Flathead-Salish Kootenai reservation, where I grew up in the 40s and 50s. At that time the greatest attraction of Arlee was the July Powwow, which drew people from all over the Northwest. Although flanked by the magnificent Mission Range, Arlee was like other small western towns with its two churches, two bars, a farmer’s union, store, post office, and soda fountain. It was a village of 150 people, mostly farmers, ranchers, and displaced Indians. The nearest doctors and hospital were 12 miles away at St. Ignatius. On Easter we attended the famous Mission church, built by Fa- ther Hoecken and the Flatheads and Pend d’Orielles. It was a country that resonated with the aftermath of the Civil War and the immigration of white settlers. Now, my hometown is getting attention. About two miles from the Arlee post office going north on Highway 93, a small sign on White Coyote Road reads “Ewam.” Down that road is a surprise. In the middle “the shape of the hills is like a lotus petal blossoming,” he said. of a field stands Yum Chenmo, a 24- foot statue of the Tibetan Great Mother, painted in rainbow colors. Represent- ing wisdom and compassion, she will be the center of the eight-spoked wheel of the Garden of a Thousand Buddhas. It is astonishing to me that this Eastern religion is planning this exotic garden in the valley of my youth. The Arlee I knew as a young girl was typical of the Old West. We had a simple life and knew nothing of the outside world. People lived in small houses and ploughed with horses. Be- ginning in the fall, the school was the center of activity, and we were all avid basketball fans. DeMers Mercantile, a multi-purpose store, sold everything from baling wire to Bromo Seltzer. The store had shoes on a high wall of shelves, and once as the clerk opened a box I saw old-fashioned, button- topped shoes. Behind the store stood a dilapidated warehouse; peeking in there, we saw fancy carriages. Lore has it that folks came from California and offered a price to haul all this stuff away. The storeowners grinned to themselves, thinking how they were dumping this worthless stuff on these dudes, and the California folks smiled 92 DISTINCTLY MONTANA • SUMMER 2011

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