As newly born Kalispell bustled around them in 1900, the Conrads decided a public cemetery was needed to complement the rest of the development taking shape at the turn of the century.

Charles took the lead in the project, but he and his wife together selected a hillside east of Kalispell that offered panoramic views of the Flathead Valley. History books say it was a special place where the couple would go horseback riding on summer evenings. After his untimely death from tuberculosis, according to cemetery records, Charles Conrad was the first person buried there, on Nov. 30, 1902.

Behind the mausoleum, the land drops steeply to the Stillwater River, and can be descended by using the "fairy steps," a winding stone staircase that's become entwined with myth and fantasy through the years. As legend has it, the steps have a magical quality to them.

"There's a lot of fantasy about the fairy steps," he said. "They say if you count the steps going down, it's a different number than when you count them going up. There's a lot of intrigue there."