Izaak Walton never slept at the Montana inn that bears his name.
Indeed, he never came within 5,000 miles of the place.
Nor did he work for the railroad, despite the fact that the Izaak Walton Inn is a veritable museum of train memorabilia.
"It's somewhat of a mystery to us," admits owner Larry Vielleux when asked how the inn got its name.
Walton, a 17th century English biographer, is best known as author of "The Compleat Angler" (which one piece of inn literature refers to as "The Complete Angular," perhaps having confused Walton with his contemporary, mathematician Isaac Newton).
Some locals speculate Great Northern Railway owner James J. Hill's Anglophilia contributed to the railroad boarding house and hotel being named after Walton. Another theory is the Walton reference added credibility to the area's once-legitimate claim as a fishing paradise.
But few guests today tote their fly rods to the inn, and even fewer know much about Izaak Walton.
"We're asked about him a million times," says Vielleux.
For the sake of the curious, Vielleux keeps several copies of "The Compleat Angler" behind the counter. But he doesn't recommend it.
"It takes a long night just to read the first paragraph," jokes Vielleux, "with all those therefores and thous."
