Why was Eureka called the Christmas Tree Capitol of the World and what happened to the Industry?

The Tobacco Valley is surrounded by a Doug Fir and Larch forest which was logged in the first decades of the 20th century. Replacement Doug Fir trees then grew like carrots in a garden and required constant thinning. No one paid much attention when the first railroad car of Christmas Trees was shipped in 1923. When the lumber mill, the town’s largest employer closed the next year, Eureka residents discovered how important the Christmas tree industry would be to their survival during the Great Depression. By 1931 the first tree yard opened and by 1948 three hundred railroad freight carloads totaling 1,800,000 trees were shipped from Eureka. Eureka was the Christmas Tree Capitol of the World!

Ken Egan, executive director of Humanities Montana, came to Eureka recently to give a presentation on his latest book Montana 1864, to talk with some classes at the middle school about Montana history and to meet with the Eureka Book Club. The club members had read the book and always look forward to having a discussion with the author. It's hard to say what Ken thought before arriving in the Tobacco Valley as he had never been to this part of Montana before.

Bernice Ende calls Eureka "a blue ribbon town". Bernice has been the Lady Long Rider since 2005 when she set out on her first trip from Trego, Montana to Edgewood, New Mexico. She did the trip with a horse and a dog and a whole lot of courage. And she liked it. I mean there aren't many of us who could imagine riding a horse thousands of miles, not knowing where you might be spending the night or what the next day would bring.