St. Ignatius business to preserve local history
<p>A Burlington Northern caboose sits at Allard’s Stage Stop, a renovated business in St. Ignatius that pays homage to the stagecoach history of the Mission Valley.</p>
Ken Scott is in the business of bringing St. Ignatius back to life.
“St. Ignatius really hasn’t changed in 30 years,” the longtime Mission resident said.
Scott is hoping to change that with the revitalization of Allard’s Stage Stop on the west side of Highway 93 in St. Ignatius.
The stopover already boasts the Allard’s Stage Stop 24-hour convenience store and the Altitude Bar and Grill, and Scott has other plans for the property.
“I’m trying to capture as much as I can in eight acres,” he said.
The gas station features a lot of Sinclair Oil memorabilia and an outdoor recreation section, and the railroad caboose out front will be converted into an Internet café. The third building on the property will become a restaurant. He also mentioned the possibility of an RV campground behind the facility.
The stage stop name, Scott said, refers to Charles and Joseph Allard, whose family owned the property and operated the stagecoach line between Ravalli and Polson for years in the pre-homestead years of the Flathead Reservation.
“My plan was from the very beginning to always include the history of this place,” Scott said. “I think it’s important to maintain the history, the culture, I guess, of being Native American around here.”
Much of that history revolves around the Allards.
Charles Allard established the stagecoach line in the 1880s, according to Joseph’s obituary, and he and Joseph ran the line through 1909. The route left Ravalli at 6:30 a.m. each day, arrived in Polson around 12:30 p.m. and returned south in the late afternoon.
The Allards were much more than stage line operators, though. The Missoulian referred to Charles as “Montana’s Buffalo King” in his 1896 obituary, as he and partner Michael Pablo operated the state’s largest buffalo herd near St. Ignatius for years. A portion of that herd became the herd that now roams the National Bison Range.
Joseph Allard served on the first tribal council and was a tribal judge in his later years. He died in 1964 at the age of 77.
Keeping in mind the stage stop theme, Scott said he’s hoping to make it a stop on Flathead Transit’s daily Missoula-to-Whitefish bus route.
He also stressed the importance of the 24-hour convenience store in St. Ignatius.
“After 9 p.m. here, you can’t get a Coke anywhere,” Scott said.
For Scott, it’s all about bringing something new to his town.
“I want to be able to give back to the community,” he said. “I didn’t buy this hoping to get rich. This whole complex has been sitting here dead for a couple of years, and I wanted to bring it to life.”