Page 13 - April 2023

Did you know That t he f eel ing You Get
f r om Spor t sman's Gr il l e comes not
f r om Decor , It 's Act ual l y Real ?

The owners of the Sportsman's Lodge , the Chandler
Family, traveled extensively throughout the Pacific
Northwest of the United States and the Canadian Rocky
Mountain regions. When they built their restaurant, they
decided to share that beauty with the people who would
come to eat.

The logs used in the construction are Engleman Spruce
from northwest Montana. Spruce grows at higher
elevations; these trees were harvested from dead timber
that had been damaged by fires. The log walls are 12" in
diameter and are approximately 75 years old. Over in the
bar area, the three main timbers are over 24" in diamater
and are well over 200 years old. The logs were
handpeeled and handcrafted together to form the
structure.
The building hopes to capture the spirit of the Rocky
Mountain National Park Lodges built in the early 1900s.
Four of these old lodges still stand in Glacier Park,
Montana.

The two large antique antler chandaliers in the main
dining rooms won the Blue Ribbon in the lighting
exposition at the 1890 St. Louis World Fair. The other
chandaliers in the room were designed and built in Grand
Junction , Colorado. The other light fixtures in the building
are reproductions from the 1920s.

Old Hickory Furniture Company, the same company that
supplied the western lodges in the National Parks back in
1920s, supplied the furniture for the Sportsmn's Grille.
You can see Old Hickory furniture at the Old Faithful
Lodge in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, as well as
in the lodges of Glacier National Park in Montana and at
the Canadian Rocky Mountain National Parks.
Woodcarver Ralph Springfield hand crafted the fish
carvings seen in the boxes throughout the building. He
spends as much as 100 hours on each fish doing the
carving, then he handpaints the fish. He also handcrafts
the boxes that contain not only his fish but also include
antique lures and fishing memorabilia. Photos by John
Bader complete the picture and make a meal at
Sportsman's a vacation in itself.
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