BUCK HILL AND THE F.G.L. HUNTS

When Frederick George Lincoln Hunt met Mary Benoit she was only 16 years old, and he was 24 years her senior, but he knew from the start that this girl would be his wife one day. For years her answer was "no". Mr. Hunt knew all about patience, having spent a great deal of time as a "sour dough" in the Klondike region engineering the Alaskan Railroad tunnel in the early 1900's.

Finally, four years later, Mary Benoit surprised even herself and said, "Mr. Hunt, I've changed my mind! I will marry you."

This fact is very important to our history because Mary's decision caused him to stay in Minneapolis and look for a job instead of returning to Alaska. Mr. Hunt heard that M. W. Savage wanted to build the Dan Patch Line. Mr. Savage said to Hunt, who was an engineer, "If you can read these blue prints, you dam have the job."

The hunts married in 1907 and the Dan Patch Railroad was completed in 1909. The hunts built a home atop Buck Hill. The location was chosen as a haven for their daughter, Alice, to help her recover her ill-health.

About 1926, a fire destroyed the home and all that was recovered was a platter, a sauce dish, a plate, a few photographs and a poem.

For years we were reminded of that lovely era by a lovely stone fireplace chimney standing like a monument against the sky.

Now the west side of the hill is the property of the Martin Ottos.

June `Dille