Nestled beneath the boughs of ancient larch trees a few miles outside Yaak, a one-room log hall serves as a talisman for days gone by.

Hewn from the surrounding woods by early homesteaders in 1925, the Yaak Community Hall has served as the area’s premiere dance hall, theater, polling center and clubhouse for more than a century. In the process, the building has sunk itself deep into the heart of northwestern Montana — both literally and figuratively.

The building was constructed without a foundation, and many of the larch logs at the base have now rotted or burrowed deep into the soil, causing the hall’s floor to buckle and bow.

“It was more than a ripple. It was hills and valleys,” said Larry Miller, one of the community members who first recognized the issue in 2019.

Since then, the

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