Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
Dupuyer, MT
The word "beaverslide" often appears in the early history of this region and our small town. From the year 1898 to 1910, many businesses bore the name "Beaver Slide", in reference to the slick, muddy trails that beaver made along the banks of Dupuyer Creek. Main street hosted a series of businesses, The Beaver Slide Restaurant, The Beaver Slide Saloon and The Beaver Slide Sample House. Local lore explains that the Beaver Slide Saloon went so far as to have a man-made "beaver slide" that extended from the back door to the creek. When the locals had a wee bit too much to drink, they were tossed down the slide and into the creek for a "sobering" experience. French fur trappers, English and Scottish sheep ranchers, and Native Americans from the Blackfeet Nation were some of the earliest inhabitants of Dupuyer. The settlement was typically wild and unruly, as were most early western towns. A beaverslide (one word), on the other hand, is something entirely unrelated to Dupuyer before the turn of the last century. This devise for stacking loose hay was supposedly developed in Beaverhead County, Montana in 1910, though there is some controversy over this among local historians. Some feel that it was dubbed "beaverslide" because the hay had to "slide" down a ramp in the stacking process. Most ranches in this area had one of these labor saving devises, as they were fairly simple to make. Early homesteaders soon realized, though, that the relentless wind, that swept down the east slopes of the mountain front, raised havoc with loose hay. They slowly switched over to baling equipment and large, square haystacks replaced the loose piles on the landscape. Only a few beaverslides remain on the Rocky Mountain Front today. The old one in the photo is located on a nearby ranch. Many industrious beaver still inhabit Dupuyer Creek, Sheep Creek and Horseshoe Lake, which are all located on our ranch. The Beaver Slide Saloon burned on Dec. 19, 1901. The old days departed and the name faded into memory. We thought that it was about time that a business in our little ranch community carried the name into the new millenium.
http://www.beaverslide.com/Merchant2/bvslide.html
This is called a Beaver Slide Hay Stacker, and not because cowgirls slid down it. If you have ever seen a large mound of hay, this is one of the ways they did it. A team of horses pushed hay up it using a "T" assembly. Hardly anyone uses them anymore. This one's in better shape than most.
The word "beaverslide" often appears in the early history of this region and our small town. From the year 1898 to 1910, many businesses bore the name "Beaver Slide", in reference to the slick, muddy trails that beaver made along the banks of Dupuyer Creek. Main street hosted a series of businesses, The Beaver Slide Restaurant, The Beaver Slide Saloon and The Beaver Slide Sample House. Local lore explains that the Beaver Slide Saloon went so far as to have a man-made "beaver slide" that extended from the back door to the creek. When the locals had a wee bit too much to drink, they were tossed down the slide and into the creek for a "sobering" experience. French fur trappers, English and Scottish sheep ranchers, and Native Americans from the Blackfeet Nation were some of the earliest inhabitants of Dupuyer. The settlement was typically wild and unruly, as were most early western towns. A beaverslide (one word), on the other hand, is something entirely unrelated to Dupuyer before the turn of the last century. This devise for stacking loose hay was supposedly developed in Beaverhead County, Montana in 1910, though there is some controversy over this among local historians. Some feel that it was dubbed "beaverslide" because the hay had to "slide" down a ramp in the stacking process. Most ranches in this area had one of these labor saving devises, as they were fairly simple to make. Early homesteaders soon realized, though, that the relentless wind, that swept down the east slopes of the mountain front, raised havoc with loose hay. They slowly switched over to baling equipment and large, square haystacks replaced the loose piles on the landscape. Only a few beaverslides remain on the Rocky Mountain Front today. The old one in the photo is located on a nearby ranch. Many industrious beaver still inhabit Dupuyer Creek, Sheep Creek and Horseshoe Lake, which are all located on our ranch. The Beaver Slide Saloon burned on Dec. 19, 1901. The old days departed and the name faded into memory. We thought that it was about time that a business in our little ranch community carried the name into the new millenium.
http://www.beaverslide.com/Merchant2/bvslide.html
This is called a Beaver Slide Hay Stacker, and not because cowgirls slid down it. If you have ever seen a large mound of hay, this is one of the ways they did it. A team of horses pushed hay up it using a "T" assembly. Hardly anyone uses them anymore. This one's in better shape than most.
