The writers of the American Guide Series book
Montana, A State Guide Book passed through Big Arm in the late '30s and noted that the "Indians" wore native dress and lived pretty much as they had for centuries. Unfortunately, such is no longer the case; the only "Indian" we encountered in the vicinity was a wooden
Cigar Store Indian 13 road miles north, near Rollins.
Big Arm today is predominately a lakeside summer town, with many summer houses along the lake, marinas and campgrounds. A mile north of Big Arm is the Big Arm State Park, a popular fishing and camping spot.
Big Arm has a post office, a bar & grill down by the lake shore, a fire station and a National Historic Place, the
Big Arm School, built in the mid-1910s. Restored beginning in 2008, the little one room school has had a large addition tacked on the back and is now used as a community centre. There is not much in the way of businesses in the community.
Prior to 1910, the major bay, or “arm,” on the southwest shore of Flathead Lake was home to the Kootenais, who referred to the area as “big arm.” After the opening of the Flathead Indian Reservation to non-Indian settlement in 1910, homesteaders came to the area to farm and log. Big Arm State Park, just north of town, is today a popular place for camping, fishing, sailing, and boating.
From the Montana Place Names Companion
The entry from the American Guide Series book
Montana, A State Guide Book follows.
BIG ARM, 40.2 m. (2,941 alt., 50 pop.), is a small Indian village on the lake shore. Indians here wear native dress and live somewhat as they did before the coming of the white man.
The road proceeds over a broad, rugged headland. There are several deceptively sharp curves.
From Montana, A State Guide Book, Page 296