Clark Lake

  Clark Lake is still the center of a small community around, above and below it.  There is an airfield on a bench below the lake and old homesteads up the valley.  It had a school starting before 1889.  The "town" of Bissell - meaning mostly the post office - was moved in 1901 by Minnie Gleason, the postmistress, who already had two small daughters attending the school.  Around 1922 there were 22 families living in the community.
   It is said that an Indian trail ran up the ridge to the south of the lake and connected with the Kalispell Trail that went all the way to Montana and the Great Plains.
  The road up to Clark Lake and down again to Hwy 25 is not paved, but it is perfectly passable with 2 wheel drive.  Getting off the pavement for a few miles will give you an idea of how most of the homesteaders in the area lived all of their lives.