Ox and Son Towing & Recovery expanding their services to Lincoln

For the last month or so, the open lot just east of Stonewall Storage has been the site of some conspicuous activity as work got underway for a new branch location for Ox and Son Towing & Recovery.

With the Great Falls-based company doing plenty of business in the area, Ox and Son has been working toward developing a location in Lincoln for nearly four months.

"It looks like we'll be opening probably within the next month," said Jennifer Klinker, owner of Ox and Son, and wife of the eponymous Ox.

The new location will be home to a 45-by-100-foot green and tan shop that will house a 1400 square-foot office, a power sports showroom and a 1400 square-foot upstairs living area.

"The shed that's there right now is just a temporary office," Linker said. In the next couple weeks, they expect to have the well, power and septic lines all in, with work on concrete and construction of the shop to follow.

The new location will house a variety of towing and recovery services for everything from passenger vehicles to big rigs.

"We're bringing everything from four-wheel drive snatch truck wreckers all the way up to the 30-ton wreckers," she said. Additionally, they will be able to provide accident and recovery scenes with traffic control, truck-mounted reader boards, safety recovery trailers, hazmat recovery and fuel spill cleanup.

She said they want to work with the Montana Department of Transportation, law enforcement, Lincoln Volunteer fire rescue and the other volunteer fire departments in the region. She pointed out that one of the problems law enforcement and local volunteer firefighters often face is being posted along roads for up to 12 hours while they wait for a wrecker to arrive. "I don't know how much people want to admit it or not, but that area from Lincoln all the way over to Clearwater Junction to Missoula has a lot of traffic."

The Upper Blackfoot Valley has been without a towing company since February 2020, when mobility issues prompted Jed Hinkle to retire Pete's Towing.

Although towing and recovery will be their primary business, power sports sales – side-by-sides, ATVs, motorcycles and snowmobiles – will also play a role.

"We also own Ox and Son Auto Auction in Great Falls, so we have some car dealers out of Great Falls and Billings that sell a ton of power sports," Klinker explained. "Because we'll be in Lincoln and we have an auction and dealer license, we'll be bringing power sports up there. Whatever the need is."

Although they had originally planned for a location west of town, Klinker said that didn't work out as expected and, being pretty far along with their plans, they had to make some fast changes, ultimately working with Joetta Snow to buy the property at the corner of Highway 200 and Sucker Creek Road.

While the presence of a tow company compound along the highway in town has prompted some concern it will have a negative impact on Lincoln, Klinker said that shouldn't be an issue.

"I don't like junk and I don't like something that looks like a junkyard," she said, "so there will be an area that will be fenced off that people will not be able to see through. As far as the wrecks and stuff that don't need to be sitting up there, they will be hauled off the mountain, down to our location in Great Falls."

She explained that the area around the shop will all be open, while the area for temporary storage of towed or recovered vehicles will be fenced with matching corrugated tin in the back corner of the property, near the storage sheds. "I'm very particular on appearances. When someone drives by they don't want to pull into somewhere that looks creepy and scary."

She said they are applying for an approach off the highway to help keep traffic from the business off Sucker Creek Road.

Once the new shop is complete, they are hoping to rent out their existing temporary office building for use by another local business.

Klinker said they may look into buying more property in the area in the future, since they plan to bring workers up here. They already have husband-and-wife team Colton and Emily Kirby here to get things rolling.

"We're hoping to bring Ox's reputation and our services into the community and help in the community like we do here (in Great Falls)," she said.

Ox and Jennifer Klinker started Ox and Son in 2009 in Great Falls. They expanded in 2013 to include a transport division and in 2019 began their auto auction business. Ox, who is originally from New Zealand, has plans to eventually retire to Lincoln.