Chapter 1
An encounter at the end of the world
Trego is one of those places that feels like the end of the world. To get to this small community in north-west Montana, you drive an hour north up US Highway 93 from Kalispell, the closest town of any note, turn left before the Canadian border, and head through a thick forest. Where the side road hits train tracks there’s a clearing with spectacular views of green-covered mountains.
The last US Census reported that Trego is home to 855 people, most of whom live up in these mountains, in houses, homesteads and cabins carved out of the Kootenai National Forest.
If you’re unlucky, like I was when our small crew visited one afternoon in October 2022, the Trego general store, pub and post office will all be closed. We snapped a few pictures: the train tracks, the buildings, an American flag flapping away on a pole attached to a rusting tractor.
It was quiet and, except for an occasional autumn gust rolling down the Rockies, it was peaceful and still. It’s hard to believe that anything in Trego could be more dramatic than the scenery looked. But we had been drawn to this stretch of wilderness by a dark, compelling story.
Trego was once the headquarters of the militia which spearheaded the most organized attempt to halt the transfer of presidential power on January 6, 2021. High in the hills was the former home of Stewart Rhodes, founder and president of the Oath Keepers, a house that had once been surrounded by trenches and booby traps.
None of Trego’s 855 residents were around. Even if we did happen to encounter one, we’d been warned that not everyone in the area would be particularly chatty.
Fortunately, there was one former resident who was ready to talk to us.
