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Children have been receiving a good education at Benton Lake School for a long time. Located in the very southwest township of Chouteau County, Benton Lake School, along with Pleasant View School, had students aending during the first and into the second decade of the twentieth century. e Benton Lake School building was first located on Bootlegger Trail about one-and-half miles north of the county line. en the building was moved one and half miles north and a mile east to Darby Road in 1914, and a teacherage was added. A good percent of the students who aended school in that building had the last name of Good, McKerrow, or Whitehorn. e present brick-constructed school was built in 1960 on Bootlegger Trail four miles north of the county line on land where the Pleasant View School had been located. At the time Benton Lake and Hinderager Schools had enrollments, but Pleasant View was closed. e three schools consolidated, and the name for the new school became Benton Lake. e November 30, 1960 River Press reported that 21 children were enrolled, with grades 1-4 in one room and 5-8 in the second classroom. Today the school continues to enroll students from kindergarten through the eighth grade, and a pre-kindergarten program has been added. An insufficient enrollment to hire a teacher has occurred twice during the last century when the school had to be closed for the school term. To avoid closing the school, the school board has run ads to aract more students. Unlike some years ago when an ad brought two children from a Great Falls family, the ad placed last summer in the Great Falls Tribune brought no additional students. e nearby farms where Benton Lake School children live are in the Fort Benton High School district, but Fort Benton is 40 miles away while the distance to C.M. Russell High School is a lile over 20 miles, so most parents take their ninth through twelh graders into Great Falls. Presently Dawn Dawson, who has been the school's ongoing teacher for 23 years, has seven students who aend Monday through Friday, one who is a pre-school student and aends on Monday and Wednesday, and two siblings who are presently aending at a distance. e last names of Whitehorn and Good continue to be represented at the school. "One year I had 18 students, and that was too many for an elementary teacher with all grade levels," said Dawson. SiG MT 46 Julia Hibl is one of the older girls this year. All of the students have a project going at the Lego table. The Benton Lake School was built in 1960 and has a teacherage built into the school building.

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