Print the Legend

Monument Valley - a favorite place of film director John Ford.

Paraphrasing here, but I think it was famed Hollywood Director John Ford that once said, “When fact becomes legend, print the legend.”

No offense to Mr. Ford, and with apologies to fellow Whitefish-ian and legendary writer Dorothy M. Johnson who wrote ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence’ directed by John Ford, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) - Plot Summary - IMDb it’s been my experience that the richer stories are those that lie in between what we know, and the facts.

Everyone has stories that they are sure of.

Here’s one of mine: A phone call led to my parents becoming caretakers of a rambling summer resort on the shores of Whitefish Lake.

The property had come into the hands of the owner—Norman—in a non-conventional way.

The Catholic Church had not paid the back taxes on the property during the Depression, and a keen-eyed woman named Mabel seized upon the opportunity, buying up a mile of the shoreline, and over one-hundred acres of forested land stretching toward what would become—fifteen years later—a ski resort.

Fast forward to the mid-1950’s. Mabel died, and Norman bought the property. Then, needing a caretaker, Norman hired my parents. The lesson taught to me by my parents was clear: always have money to take advantage of opportunities that could come your way.

Like Mabel. And Norman.

I have a background in oil and gas. More specifically, a large part of my job lies in finding money for mineral owners. It’s an interesting job, and one that calls upon skills like finding heirs, following the trail of ownership, and determining the worth of the acreage.

There is one statement in what I just wrote that might have you thinking “Wait a minute. What?”

So, getting back to what I knew. Back taxes. The Catholic Church. Debt. Opportunity.

What I unearthed was a story of dances on the resort’s lawn in the 1920’s, of The Butte, a large boat that left the town of Whitefish, ferrying passengers to at least three dance halls along the shores of Whitefish Lake.

I discovered one important detail—The Catholic Church never owned the property. When have you ever heard of a church defaulting for non-payment of taxes?

And while Mabel did buy the property, it was because the former owner had defaulted on his payments.

And the story behind that owner is a humdinger. One that beats the legend told to me by a mile. Look for that story to be detailed in my upcoming novel “No Good Deed.”