The US of A’s only Dream Island lies in Flathead Lake, Montana, a 197 square mile body of water divided, appropriately enough, between the counties of Flathead to the north and Lake to its south, making the interesting equation Flathead + Lake = Flathead Lake. Dream Island, not much more than a football field in breadth, is found clinging to its southwestern coast near Big Arm.
The only really clear angle we have of the island in Google Street View is from Highway 93 as pictured below. From this 2011 screen capture, we see what appears to be several manmade structures and a glint in the trees indicating something else.
But by the time Google gets around to photographing the island again from the same spot in 2018, all of these objects are gone and the island seems to be totally bereft of human traces. Queer.
So in digging a little deeper, found this tiny Dream Island in a remote section of Montana had an interesting history. There was indeed a legitimate residence on the island at one time, owned by Juanita Daly whose well known family made their fortune from the state’s lucrative copper mining industry. When the property was sold after Juanita passed away in 2011 — the year of the first snapshot of Dream Island above — the new owners decided to clear the island of buildings, which also included a guest house and a boat house. Juanita was also known to entertain rich and famous personalities at her small slice of paradise, like legendary comedian Phyllis Diller photographed here in 1981 on the island with her.
But Ms. Diller is not the only famous person photographed on the island, at least according to some Google Earth photos I uncovered pinned to the same location. Remember the object-character Firey from a couple of posts back? Well here he is in what appears to be either the main house of the island or the guest house! Was he also a celebrity friend of Juanita’s? If so, this would have to be at the very end of her life, since the “Battle for Dream Island” web series where he was showcased only started in January 2010. Let’s come back to this.
Sunklands 