An Historic Saga of Boom & Bust

By Darris Flanagan

The story of the meteoric rise of Montana's Christmas tree industry from the 1920s onward through the era that saw the town of Eureka designated in the 1950s as “The Christmas Tree Capital of the World”followed by the down side of a “boom and bust” cycle in the latter part of the Twentieth Century.

Written by author-historian Darris Flanagan of Fortine, who grew up in a family that has seen three generations work in the Christmas tree industry in the Eureka area, the book was issued under the title of “The Montana Christmas Tree Story” and it literally chronicles the development of the industry in detailed text, photographs and illustrations.

“What an industry while it lasted,” author Flanagan writes. In some 34 chapters and with numerous historic photographs, many from the prized collection of the late Winton Weydemeyer of Eureka, he tells the story of how the industry worked, the people who were involved, what it took to produce trees and get them to the market, plus the technicalities of keeping the trees growing and the industry functioning for as long as it did.

In setting the context for his story, Flanagan explains that in the early 1920s a national shortage of Christmas trees brought national tree companies to northwest Montana where conditions existed to produce even more ideal Christmas trees. “The area was prime to furnish trees,” Flanagan writes. “The logging industry that drove the economy of Northwest Montana during the first quarter of the century created conditions ideally suited to Christmas trees ... in Northwest Montana a recipe of natural factors created conditions ideal for a Larch-Douglas fir type forest.” Added to these factors were two other critical elements: First, a drier climate and shorter frost-free season in western Montana slowed growth, which resulted in a more dense foliage and a bushier tree. Second, the hard frosts in the fall “set” the needles on the trees so that they did not shed or fall off as quickly as trees from other parts of the country.

During the Montana Christmas tree industry's hey-day era, more than four million trees a year were shipped from northwest Montana with Eureka being the main hub of the treeing activity and the industry provided hundreds of jobs for local people. Author Flanagan, who experienced the issue firsthand, also details the reasons that brought about the decline of the industry in Montana – though he hastens to point out that, while diminished, the Christmas tree industry in the state is still functioning.

The book is Flanagan's fourth. Since retiring from a career in education, he has published three other books: “Skid Trails: The Glory Days of Montana Logging”, “Indian Trails of The Northern Rockies” and “Adventure Along the Fort Steele Trail”.

“Montana's Christmas Tree Story” was issued in softcover format. It contains 34 chapters, 124 pages, 62 black and white photographs and a dozen illustrations. The book retails at $12.95.

ISBN 1-931291-22-5 The Montana Christmas Tree Story – $12.95