Dean Stone

“In no other section of Montana can there be found happier, healthier, more helpful or lovelier girls than in Ravalli County. Like all other products of the Bitter Root Valley, they are beyond compare!” The editor of the Ravalli Republican newspaper in Stevensville was on a roll, praising everything in sight, as the Western Montana Fruit Growers Association opened its first annual fall exhibit of fruits and vegetables.

About one hundred years ago (Sunday, April 26, 1925 to be exact) Arthur L. Stone, the famed newspaper man and founding father of UM’s journalism school, penned a love letter to a pine tree. “High on the hip of Mount Jumbo stands ‘Sentinel Pine.’ Remote from its kind, this yellow pine overlooks the Hell Gate and the Missoula valley with a view unobstructed.”

OK, it’s time to play: “Name That Place,” a game show testing your knowledge of local landmarks – but offering absolutely no cash, no prizes, no trips to exotic places, not a thing – except perhaps bragging rights. Here we go!