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Canyon Creek Schoolhouse Laboratory 100th Anniversary

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Two-story brick building with U.S. Public Health Service sign and cars from 1920s parked in front on winter's day

The sign on the Canyon Creek Schoolhouse was changed to proclaim the building’s new function as a laboratory under the U.S. Public Health Service, although the day-to-day running of the laboratory was done by Dr. Ralph Parker, a Montana State Board of Entomology employee at the time. Circa 1924.

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Image: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, 196

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Slanted winter evening light on back yard with large wood cage enclosure for animals.

The rear of the Canyon Creek Schoolhouse laboratory building on a snowy day. In addition to the animal housing shown here, there was a shed for the scientists’ vehicles and plenty of wood to keep the building warm. Circa 1924.

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Image: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, 172

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In August 1921, a month before the new Canyon Creek Schoolhouse laboratory would open, a Missoulian newspaper reporter wrote that the laboratory would be run by Dr. Ralph Parker, who would be “vested with unlimited authority by the government, the state and the county, and who will not be denied any and all assistance on the part of local people that it may be possible for them to give.”  The lab would also employ not just researchers but a stenographer, a bookkeeper, and a maintenance crew to see that all was kept safe. The laboratory was much more spacious and solid than any so far used for this research.

Quote from “Property Leased for Tick Fever Laboratory,” The Missoulian, Aug. 21, 1921.

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Dr. Ralph Parker peered into his dissecting microscope in his office/laboratory at the Canyon Creek Schoolhouse laboratory, circa 1921. A monocular microscope sat beside him. The laboratory had electricity and large windows for light. The sink was in an indentation in the wall behind him, under a shelf of chemical bottles, with the towels hung on the wall. A map of Rocky Mountain spotted fever’s occurrence sat on a table in the foreground on the right.

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Image: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, 471

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Large room with wood floor and wood counters down the middle and along walls

Dr. Ralph Parker’s laboratory/office, east side view, circa 1921. On the table built around the column was a scale encased in wood and glass to keep air movement from affecting the weighing of small amounts of material. To the left of his desk was the reference library, while to the right was some chemical storage. A candlestick telephone sat on the desk in front of the window. Boxes and card files of records were piled on the center map counter.

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Image: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, 162

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Other side of large room with wood counters and shelves and three large windows

The laboratory/office of Dr. Ralph Parker overlooking the car shed outside, circa 1921. The map counter in the foreground was a necessity; keeping track of where cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever occurred and where different kinds of ticks were found was an important part of the research. A microscope illuminator was set up just below the window on the left—it looked like a camera.

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Image: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, 163

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