Jack Fisher was a mountain man, who came from Canada. Jack discovered the Placer Mine in British Columbia. The Placer Mine's trail in British Columbia, led to the Flathead valley. This is how the valley became known.
In 1887, Demersville (south of where Kalispell is now) sprang up. Old man Demers lived in French town (south of Missoula). Demers owned five different stores in five different locations. One of the locations was stationed at the head of Flathead Lake. Storeowners didn't want him to have a store there so they told him that parking lots were $5,000 each.
Kila was known as Sedan when people started to come and live here. Sedan (Kila) was a brand-new homestead. Three of the settlers were John Sinclair, William Herdsell, and James Booth in 1883.
The Great Northern Railroad, which was made in 1892 came to Sedan (Kila) in 1892 also more people moved here because there was a train station by Smith lake.
In 1899, EJ Schagel and a Klingensmth got the first sawmill down on Smith Lake.
Smith Valley was more of a wetland than it is now. Between Smith Lake and Ashley Creek, irrigation was not a problem.
There is even a passage to Foys Lake to Smith Lake road. There was also a sawmill at Foys Lake. Smith Lake was also known as lower Ashley Lake, Kila Lake, and Sedan Lake. The first mill burned, but they rebuilt it in 1908.
There was a general store, saloon, and 45 buildings when Kila began. The Kila school district was created in 1893. There was a school up in Coon Hallow for a while in the 1930's, and that's how Kila began.
This picture of the Kila mill it was taken around the year 1904
Kila School news paper staff in the year 1994
7th grade at Smith Lake in the year 2003
This is a picture of Kila School in 2003
This is the Old Kila School in 1922
