I taught school there back in another life time , School year of 68-69 . I was one of the "shop" teachers. Taught drafting , welding , machine shop , wood shop . It was my last full time job . I became a "Ward of the Government" the spring of 69 . Back then Farmers were too dumb to know what to plant . It was not until the "Freedom to Farm" act that we were allowed to make our own decisions on what to plant and how many acres , Till then we were tied to the tit of the USDA . You want government money you march to their cadence drum. We still do but at least planting decisions are ours to make now.
Eureka back then was just starting to boom . The Libby dam project , The buying out of the Town of Rexford made real estate prices sky rocket . It was difficult to find a place to rent , shacks were selling (and I mean shacks ) for the unheard of price of $8000 , As a school teacher on a $6666.00 salary no one wanted to lend any money on a house. Particularly a shack made of cull 2x4's cribbed like a grain elevator . I found 90 acres on the edge of town had a nice house , unfinished basement , 15 lots zoned in to the city , out buildings , 15 acres cleared with a nice hay meadow . 2 small lakes , good stand of second growth timber but not market sized yet all for only $10,000.00 . Could not find a lender who would lend me the money , Tried local banks , Banks in Kalispell , Fm HA , none thought it was Worth more than $6000.00
To day 1 Million would not buy that property . I knew it was going that way but could not convince local banks it was . It was an estate with two older sisters . One would have sold it to me on time but the other wanted CASH . Too young and too dumb to know how to finance property then . No family help and no savings , just a 4 year old car (paid for) a wife and 3 kids .
That place would have kept me in the Tobacco Valley for ever.
Now a new car cost's 4 times of what that property sold for .
And one can buy the car with no money down , 120 months financing ..... stupid world we live in now days .
No wonder the economy is upside down .
