On The Road With Some of Townsend's History
Author: mt43news staff reporter
On the Road with Some of Townsend's History
MT43 News Staff Reporter
Joe Brancamp, owner of Montana Mobile Transport, heaved a sigh after he and his helper finally were able to winch the home at 310 No. Front Street onto his low-boy trailer. They were able to winch the cabin most of the way on the trailer with his Jeep winch. When the weight of the house became too much for the Jeep, Brancamp hooked the house to his semi tractor and winched the building the rest of the way onto the trailer – by hand!
Brancamp has lots of experience in moving houses, having bought the business from a Helena house mover 8 years ago. He mentioned that the grandson of the house’s owners had called him to truck the house to St. Regis, Montana, over 200 miles away. When the man learned it would cost around $70,000 to move the building, he acquiesced. “Matt Graham then bought the house and will use it on his farm near Toston for employee housing,” he explained.
The brown log house is one of the few iconic buildings on Front Street still standing. The log house was built by Brown Brothers Lumber Company for Willian Blakeley in 1937, according to the abstract of the property. It was later purchased by Willard and Rosella Whitehead, who operated the Texaco gas station next to the house. Whitehead sold the house to Wayne and Harlan Christopherson in October of 1972. Harlan and his wife, Larea, raised their family there. Harlan has recently moved to East Helena to be with family.
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Image 2 Caption: The log house at 310 No. Front Street will be moved to near Toston. Joe Brancamp, Montana Mobile Transport owner, stands in front of the iconic log home.
MT43 News Photo
