Bonner, Montana, about 1945. The mill was founded in 1885 by the Montana Improvement Company to exploit the rich timber resources of the Blackfoot Valley. It includes the dam, planing mill, power house, sawmill, sorting table, store and office, and bunkhouse, all surrounded by company housing. The two-story building in the foreground was Bonner’s first school, built in 1889, and also served as the Masonic Lodge and public hall. Open space behind the houses was a community garden from 1918 to the mid-1940s. (57(IX):35, Anaconda Forest Products Company Records, K. Ross Toole Archives, The University of Montana—Missoula)

Bonner’s mill has grown physically and thrived economically through ownership by the Anaconda Company, Champion International, and Stimson Lumber Company. The public hall was torn down in the 1940s, as was the grand Hotel Margaret, but many of the company-built houses remain largely unchanged. Peering through the trees, thick after 100 years of fire suppression, the photographer took this image standing on a pile of boards as dogs barked at him. (Photo by Chris Autio, 2006)