Trader’s long-lost grave site marked

LOLO, Mont. – An early 19th century fur trader whose moniker graces the names of a western Montana town, trail, pass and national forest was honored in a memorial service 165 years after his death.

Locals have long known that Lawrence “Lolo” Rence was buried somewhere near a branch of Lolo Creek. On Sunday, his grave site was marked with a white cross in a small ceremony led by an area priest. Re-enactors dressed as explorers from the Lewis & Clark expedition shot off muzzleloader rifles, and promises for an engraved headstone were exchanged.

“It’s about time,” said Mike Wallace, president of the Travelers’ Rest chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. “With all of these significant things named after him, that’s not a bad record. He hasn’t gotten his dues in history – he’ll get them now.”

Rence was buried at the grassy spot after being mauled by a grizzly bear.

A Kootenai Indian companion is said to have chased the bear away with several well-placed arrows, but Rence later died at his cabin.

His grave was marked by a headstone, but years of logging, bulldozing and leveling in later years made it impossible to identify the spot.

Antiquities buff George Knapp, who instigated the hunt to locate Travelers’ Rest, the spot where Lewis and Clark camped in Lolo, became determined to find Rence’s grave after going through historical documents.

“I knew it was somewhere near Graves Creek, and I thought we should find it,” Knapp said. “The man is so important to this area – everything is named after him – I thought we should at least mark his grave.”

With the help of U.S. Forest Service pioneer Bud Moore, who saw the original headstone, searchers were led to a piece of private property near Graves Creek.

With the landowner’s permission, the team used ground-penetrating radar and dogs from the Institute of Canine Forensics to pinpoint the grave site.

Knapp and other searchers say they’re 99.9 percent sure the grave belongs to Rence.

“With the dogs’ response and findings, and with the other multiple lines of evidence indicating the grave was at that location, everyone felt confident that they had found the spot to place a formal grave marker,” University of Montana anthropology professor Kelly Dixon said.