Polson: Gateway to Flathead Lake

Polson sits at the southern end of Flathead Lake, one of the largest natural freshwater lakes in the western United States, on land that belongs to the Flathead Indian Reservation established by the Hellgate Treaty of eighteen fifty-five. The Salish, Pend d'Oreilles, and Kootenai peoples have lived along this lakeshore for thousands of years. The town was named in eighteen ninety-eight for the pioneer rancher David Polson, and it incorporated in nineteen ten.

It became the Lake County seat in nineteen twenty-three. The lake itself draws visitors for its glacial depth, its osprey and eagle nesting, and cherries grown on the warm hillsides above the water.