STOC/T
7y/r
MONTANA
Its Story and Biography
A HISTORY OF ABORIGINAL AND TERRITORIAL MONTANA
AND THREE DECADES OF STATEHOOD
\\
\^
UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION
or
TOM STOUT
VOLUME I
THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK
I92I
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
7C6461A
ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
R 1934 L
Copyright, 1921 ,
BY
AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PREFACE
As the lives of the States go, Montana has had a short record, but,
like intense personalities, Montana and her people have condensed much
achievement into a brief span of activities. The "Land of the Shining
Mountains" and of Magnificent Distances commenced to be sprinkled
with a few adventuresome gold seekers during the early years of the
Civil War, albeit her diverse and wonderful territory lying along the
great range of northern travel between the Mississippi Valley and the
Pacific Coast had been traversed by such government agents as Lewis
and Clark and by faithful enthusiasts of the Catholic Church. The Jesuit
fathers and the pioneer trapjiers and fur traders had even planted the
seeds of industry in the valleys of the Missouri and Yellowstone before
the California of a previous generation was reproduced with all its excite-
ment and riot within the confines of what is now the State of Montana.
The old fur traders and giiides of the older days led the seeker of gold
to Bannack and Virginia cities, to Helena and the Hell Gate regions of
western Montana. Mining camps and towns, with their crude business
houses sprung into life, with small cattle ranches and farms ; but the
basis of the first period of progress was laid in the gold mines. Agricul-
ture and the raising of live stock were side issues.
Then came the time of the great ranges for cattle, horses and sheep,
with the mining of gold, silver and copper as still the powerful agents
(if advancement. At first such interests were removed from adequate
transportation, and the protecting forces of civil law and order were only
weakly organized. Uncle Sam attempted to tide over this critical period
with his military arm. then still weakened by the stress of the Civil war.
He did what he could, but until the railroads "got into their stride" the
potential riches of Montana were yet conjectural. To be fair to the great
commonwealth, the truth is that it is only within forty years that she
has been given a fair chance with her sisters of the West. At that.
Nature, in the forms of drought and "bad lands," has been most unkind,
.so that, althoujjh the territory of Montana is within a few thousand square
miles of that of California, the home areas which are naturally productive
are comparatively restricted. But the State and the Nation are working
together so strongly and persistently that both arid and swamp lands are
everywhere being reclaimed. The virile spirit of .Montana, coupled with
the engineering and scientific solutions of irrigation, draining and farming
which are being continuously put into practice, are bound to give the
state a high and permanent standing. The schools, the newspapers, the
iv PREFACE
commercial organizations, the libraries and the churches are all co-operat-
ing in the work of both advancing and uplifting those interests which,
as a whole, make the state what it is.
The History of Montana which is here presented has endeavored to
etch this record of struggles and real achievements in such a way that its
strong lines shall be preserved, and the story not be weighted and ob-
scured with details. With this end in view, countless authorities, private
and public, officials of the State and National governments, actors in
the events treated, historians and scientists, have all been consulted and,
ofttimes, their very words have been reproduced. In fact, such treat-
ment of the context has been in line with the well considered policy of
the editor and his associates. The story of Montana has been told, as
nearly as possible, through the contributions of those best qualified to
speak and write. In this connection, the supervising editor cannot but
express his profound regret that two of his most valuable associates
should have been cut off by death from rendering to him the full extent
of their suggestions, advice and co-operation. The venerable, able and
historic characters. General Charles S. Warren, late of Butte, and ex-
United States Senator Paris Gibson, the founder of Great Falls, fought
a good fight for Montana, although they could not live to see this record
in print which now goes forth with the usual feeling of misgivings as
to the perfection of anything human. These misgivings are natural,
despite the fact that no effort has been neglected to make the history
correct and complete in the essent-als. To the many who have co-operated
in this task, hearty thanks are offered ; and they are so numerous that
the mention of names would be superfluous and, it might be (by uninten-
tional omissions) unfair.
TOM STOUT.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Approaches to the "Land of the Shining Mountains" i
CHAPTER II
Expedition Through Trans-Mississippi Land 19
CHAPTER in
Minor Explorations of 1805-07 68
CHAPTER IV
Montana's Natural Features 88
CHAPTER V
Pathfinders of the Mining Camps 103
CHAPTER VI
The Fur Trade Era 135
CHAPTER VII
Steps Leading to Settled Conditions 142
CHAPTER VIII
Expeditions of a Decade 163
CHAPTER IX
First Gold Discoveries and Workings 184
V
vi CONTENTS
CHAPTER X
Pioneer Cixits and Towns 2is
CHAPTER XI
Mineral Geology and Earlv iNDUSTRrics 226
CHAPTER Xn
Days of Outlaws. Vigilantes and Miners' Courts 242
CHAPTER Xni
Dawn of Law and Order 278
CHAPTER XIV
Pioneers and Tiieik Society ^16
CHAPTER XV
Decade of Indian Warfare 340
CHAPTER XVI
Mining of Silver, Copper and Coal 371
CHAPTER XVII
The Great Live Stock Interests 391
CHAPTER XVIII
Last Epoch of Territorial Government 404
CHAPTER XIX
Bench and Bar of Montana , . . 414
CHAPTER XX
First Decade of Statehood ; 439
CONTENTS vii
CHAPTER XXI
Twenty Years More of Statehood 457
CHAPTER XXn
Montana's Educational System 493
CHAPTER XXHI
Modern Means of Com mi-nication 555
CHAPTER XXI\
Conservation of Lands 577
CHAPTER XXV
Military History of Montana 642
CHAPTER XXVI
Beaverhead, Big Horn, Blaine, Broadwater, Carbon and Car-
ter Counties 667
CHAPTER XXVII
Cascade County (Great Falls) 681
CHAPTER XXVIII
Chouteau, Custer, Daniels, Dawson, Deer Lx)dge, Fallon
Counties 700
CHAPTER XXIX
Fergus, Flathead and Gallatin Counties 715
CHAPTER XXX
Garfield, Glacier, Golden Valley, Granite, Hill, Jefferson,
Judith Basin 734
dii CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXXI
Lewis and Clark County (Helena) 747
CHAPTER XXXII
Liberty, Lincoln, Madison, McConk, Mkac.hkk, Mineral
Counties 767
CHAPTER XXXIII
Missoula County ( Missoula) 780
CHAPTER XXXIV
Musselshell, Park, Phillips, Pondera and Powder River
Counties 794
CHAPTER XXXV
Powell, Prairie, Ravalli and Richland Counties 806
CHAPTER XXXVI
Roosevelt, Rosebud, Sanders and Sheridan Counties 815
CHAPTER XXXVII
Silver Bow County ( Butte) 827
CHAPTER XXXVIII
Stillwater, Sweet Grass, Teton and Toole Counties 839
CHAPTER XXXIX
Yellowstone County (Billings) 850
CHAPTER XL
Bird's Eye View of the State 861
INDEX
Abbott, A. H., I, 752.
Abbott, P. M., II, 362.
Abel, William M., II, 179.
Abcr, William M., I, 544.
Abrahamson, Jobn C, II, 228.
Absaraka (Home of the Crows), I, 340.
Ab-sa-ra-ka (Mrs. Carrington), I, 341,
343-
Absarokee, I, 840.
Absarokee National Forest, I, 623, 778.
Acher, John W., Ill, 965.
Acquisition claim, I, .173.
Adami, Arthur E., II, 560.
Adams, Burton S., Ill, T2T.
Adams, Charles W., Ill, 1288.
Adams, E. M., II, 231.
Adams, John O., I, 65:1.
Adams, Sallie M., Ill, 1062.
Adams, Stephen J., Ill, 1201.
Adams, Thon as, I, 188.
Adams, Walter K., Ill, 1157.
Adams, William P., II, 36.
Adden. Herbert J., Ill, 1018.
"Affairs at Fort Benton" (Bradley), I,
124, 183, 215.
Afflerbaugh, I. R., Ill, 872.
Agawam, I, 843.
Agricultural College Hall, Bozeman
(illustration), I, S4S-
Agricultural Experiment Station at
Bozeman established, I, 478.
Agricultural Experiment Station
(Northern), I, 476.
Agricultural Experiment Stations, I,
529; (branch), 529.
Agricultural Extension service, I, 529.
•Agriculture: Indians wonder at sprout-
ing grain (1840), I, 149.
Aiken, Will, I, 869.
.Aitken, VN'alter, II. 407.
Akins, Jefferson H., II, 142.
-Alder (^reek, I, 23 1.
Alder Gulch, I, 192; discovery of, 200;
Edgar's account of discovery, 201-5;
named, 203 ; Peter Ronan's account of
discovery, 205; 2to; total output of,
216 ; 219, 220, 222 ; commemorate
monument at, 320; 329, 771.
Alderson, J. J., I, 851.
Alderson, William W., II, 359.
Alexander, James G., IT. 589.
Alexander, j. Newton, II, 509.
Alexander (Kalispeh'ms chief), 1, 157.
Alexander, Mary, III, 1247.
Alexander. Thomas, III, 12^6.
Alfalf.i, Second Crop of in Valley
County (illustration), I, 401.
Alfield, Ed., I, 223.
Alger, I, 824.
Algerian (Shriner) Temple, Helena, I,
755-
Alice Mine, I, m, 834.
Allen, Charles D., II, 300.
Allen, Clark W., II, 45-
.Mien, C, I, 252.
Allen, Elbert F., II, 31.
Allen, J. F., I, 237.
Allen, Paul, I, 20.
Allen, Robert T., Sr., II, 306.
Allen, William R., Ill, U58.
Allen, W. R., I, 471-
Allen & Millard, I, 285.
Alley, Roy S., Ill, 1205.
Allin, Charles W., II, 391.
Allin, William G., II, 605.
Allison, P., I, 213.
Allison, William, I, 222, 223.
Allison, William, Jr., I, 833.
Alma, I, 768.
.Alta Mine, I, 765.
Alton, Robert D., II, 423.
.Amalgamated Copper Company, I, 377.
American Fork, I, 190; (Hangtown),
191.
American Fur Company, I, 113, 121, 123,
126, 127, 129, 131, 140, 164.
"American Fur Trade of the Far West"
(Chittenden), I, 69.
American Horse (Indian Chief), I, 358.
American Horse (Sioux Chief). I. 345.
American Smelting and Refining Com-
pany, Helena, I, 381, 763.
Ames, James J., Ill, 858.
Amundson, Edon A., Ill, 1077.
Anaconda : state capital contestant, I,
441, 712.
Anaconda Copper Mining Company, I,
377, 370, 381. 713; saw mill at Bonner,
781 ; 790, 836.
Anaconda and Butte Copper and Zinc
Mines, I, 383.
Anaconda Hill, I, 836.
Anaconda Hill and vicinity, Butte (il-
lustration, I, 830.
Anaconda lead mines, I. '84.
Anaconda-Neversweat Mine, I, 375.
Anaconda Reduction Works, I, 713; (il-
lustration), 712.
Anarchism denounced (1019), I, 483.
Anderson, Andrew T., II, 591.
Anderson, Anton I., HI, 1223.
Anderson, Elmer J., II, (504.
Anderson, Emory A., Ill, 736.
Anderson, Glenn, II, 604.
IX
INDEX
Anderson, James W., Ill, 803.
Anderson, John A., Ill, 708.
Anderson, John C, III, 1084.
Anderson, Marius, III, 850.
Anderson, Orville L., I, 653.
Anderson, Peter. Ill, 732.
Anderson, Ray, II, 220.
Anderson, Recce, I, i£6, 192, 221.
Anderson, Robert B., Ill, 709.
Anderson, William W., I, 316.
Andretta, Fred C, III, 834.
Andrews, C. K., I, 868.
Andrews, J. W., Jr., I. 426.
Andrieux. Edgar M.. II, 476.
Andrus, Harry E., II, 375.
Angell, Earle P., II, 616.
.'Xngevine, Frank H.. I, 33s, 338.
Angevine, Fred R., II, 445.
Angslman. Jess L., II, 1438.
Annin, James T., II, 299.
Annin, Joseph B., II, 298.
Antelope, I, 826.
Apgar, H. D., Ill, 795.
."Xpgar. Jessie, III, 796.
Appleton, Fletcher W., II, 32.
Arbor Day, I, 465, 498.
Are these young .Americans being fairly
treated? (ilhistration), I, 520.
Arena, Peter, III, 954.
'Argenta, I, 237.
Argo, Neil D., II, 73.
Arick, R. E.. I, 41^.
Arkwright, Hartford D., Ill, 1257.
Arlee, I, 792.
Armington, I, 699.
.Armitage, Thomas C, II, 230.
Armstead, I, 783.
Armstrong, Francis K.. II. 6.
Armstrong, George, I, 703.
Armstrong, John, I, 15.
.Armstrong, Ory J., Ill, 999.
.Armstrong. Thomas G., II, 65.
.Arnet. Nick. Ill, loc;.
Arnette, Frank G.. Ill, 921.
Arnett. F. B.. Ill, 85J.
Arnold, George P. I., Jr., II, 285.
Arnold, Harry E., 11, 33.
Arnold, R.nlnh L., II, 453.
Arnold, William, I, 237.
.Arnntt. George, Jr., II, ''71.
Asbridge, Joseph L., I. 868; II, .S22.
.Ashlev. James M., I, 288; his residence
in He'ena (ilhistratinn"). 313; becomes
governor, 314; (portrait), 410; 868.
.Ashley. William. I. in8. in. 120.
.Ashley-Henry Discoveries of 1823, I,
109.
.As'a'-snn. riccir R \\ ^29.
Aslakson, Thomas E., Ill, 1308.
Aspling. Charles E., II, 336.
.Assaroka range, I, ot.
Asselsfine. George H.. II, 564.
Assiniboinps. I, ''i, i'6.
Asteroid claim, I. 371.
Astor, John Tacob, I, 113.
,Atr''i>:nn. Jn'-n S.. I. 28;.
Atkinson, Alfred. I. ='8, 731.
Atkinson. Tarnps T.., Ill, 925.
.Atfiv. Frederick F.. II, 45.
Andnbon, John J., I, 124.
Augusta, I, 241, 749.
.Auld, James C, II, 6)7.
Aune, George D., II, 87.
Austin. Claud, II, 474.
Austin, Harry H., II, 117.
Austin, James W., Sr., Ill, 877.
.Austin, William Charles, II, 474.
Australian ballot system introduced, I,
485. .
Autobiographical Notes (1791-1816) by
McDonald, I, 81.
A.xtell, John S., I, 725; III, 1195.
Ayers, Leonard P., I, 503.
Ayers, Roy E,, II, 422.
Ayres, D. E., II, 601.
Baatz, Nick, II, 575.
Babcock, Albert L., II. 241.
Babcock, Lewis C, II, 241.
Babcock, Paul, III, 801.
Babington, W. J., II, 446.
Baboon Gulch, I, 222. 1
Bach, Thomas C. (portrait), I, 428; 431.
Bachelors taxed, I, 489.
Bad Lands : General Sully describes, I,
2()i\ (illustrations), 295.
Badger Creek, I, 112.
Bagg, Charles S., I, 256, 257, 282, 283,
289.
Bailey, H. V., I, 869.
Bailey, James, I, 209.
Bainville, I, 817.
Bair, Frank B., II, 367.
Pair. John G., III. 746.
Baird, David E., II, 512.
Baird. Frank P., II, 583.
Baker, I. 714.
Baker, Arthur G., Ill, 1431.
Baker, David A . Ill, 1280.
Baker, Eugene M., I, 309, 345.
Baker, E. D., Ill, 1198.
Baker, George A.. III. 1319.
Baker, Paul, HI, 1373.
Baker Battle Fields memorial, I, 323.
"P-.l.-er's Bnttlc" of 1872, I, 309.
Baldwin, Gement J., II, 15.
Baldy Mountain, I. 771.
Ball, Allen M., Ill, 1269.
Ball. Tennie C, III, 838.
Ball, May. HI, 727.
Pa'1, Robert I.. Ill, 8,'7.
Ballantine, I, 8^6.
Ballard, William E., Ill, 843.
Ballon, F. H., IT. 1^0.
Bally, W. H., Ill, 086.
Bancroft, Hubert Howe. I, 159.
Bannack City: early diggings, I, 190;
191, 220, 230, 250, m, 783; of today,
67T.
Bannack Legislature. I. 281-288.
Bannack Mining and Milling Company,
I. 67?.
Bannack Statutes, I, 415.
Bannack Street of Today (illustration),
I, 191.
Banks, L. B.. II. 2nv
Banks and Banking: Helena Brand of
F^dern' Re«frve Bnnk opened, I,
489; Miles City Banks, 707: Lewis-
town Banks, 720; stntues of Montana's
state, private and national banks
(1920), 870; state banking laws, 871.
INDEX
Barclay, J. Arthur, III, 1400.
Barclay, R. Proctor, II, 300.
Barker, Bud, I, 213.
Barker, Samuel, II, 516.
Barnard, William E., Ill, 1 110.
Barnes, Antrim E., II, 98.
Barnes, Oscar O., Ill, 962.
Barren, Joseph, I, 14.
Barrett, Alexander H.. I, 493.
Barrett, William, I, 328.
Bartles, Frederick K., II, 4S2.
Bartley, Paris B., Ill, 682.
Bartz, George, II, 311.
Basin mining district, $6,635,000, I, 766.
Bateman, Howard W'., Ill, 747.
Batens, Francis X., Ill, 1226.
Battey, R. C, II, 258.
Battle of Kildeer Mountain (Sioux
Campaign), I, 292, 293.
Battle of the Big Hole, I, 643.
Baume, Tom, I, 255.
Baxter, Ernest C, II, 592.
Beall, William J., II. 76.
Beall, Mrs. W. J., II, 77-
Bean, Leo, II, 1302.
Bear Gulch, I, 213.
Bearmouth, I, 790.
Bear 1 aw Mountains, I, 91, 94, 229.
Bear Tooth Mountain in the Coal Region
(illustration), I, 101.
Beartooth National Forest, I, 624.
Beatty, James H., I, 378.
Beauharnois, Charles de, I, 5.
Beauty Spots for tourists, I, 634.
Beaver Hill, I, 848.
Beaverhead county : placer mines in
1862-68, I, 213; early silver mining in,
238 ; created, 281 ; number and value
of cattle (1884), 395; irrigation, 595;
natural features and industries of,
667.
Beaverhead National Forest, I, 624.
Beaverhead River, I, 230.
Beaverhead Rock, I, 50; (illustration),
•49-
Beckers, Hubert, III, 858.
Beckwith, James, I, 344.
Bedford, David J., Ill, 911.
Beebe, I, 703.
Beechey, Hill, I, 253.
Been, I, 848.
Bees, I, 403.
Behrendt, Paul, II, 130.
Beidler, J. X.. I, 2}^, 259, 273.
Beier, F. W., Jr., I, 869.
Beiseker, Chester J., Ill, 1065.
Belanski, Edgar E., Ill, 1133.
Belgrade, I, 729.
Belgum, Henry S., Ill, 803.
Belknap, I, 82J.
Bell, Francis, I, 282.
Bell, Frederick A., II, 130.
Bell. George H.. Ill, 1127.
Bell, Henry A., I, 192, 196.
Bell, John K., Ill, 971.
Bellefleur, Irene V., II, 631.
Bellefleur, W. M., II, 631.
Belt, I, 699.
Belt range, I, 91.
Relzer, William, I, 655.
Bench and Bar: Miners Courts estab-
lished, I, 218; Sidney Edgerton at
Miners Court, 279; sketch of Chief
Justice H. L. Hosmer, 288 ; opening
of first District Court, 289; Idaho
code of practice adopted, 290; com-
pletion of hrst term of court, 291 ;
Judiciary opposes Assembly as to con-
stitutional capital, 298; Territorial
practice act, 315, 414-438; bar at close
of territorial period, 431 ; Justices of
First Supreme Court retire, 416; be-
ginning of systematic judicature, 418;
crude legal and judicial surroundings,
420; placer mining and water rights,
421 ; Henry N. Blake ascends Supreme
Bench, 423; quartz mining litigation.
424 ; quartz lode litigation supreme,
427; railroad cases, 429; Montana Bar
Association formed, 433; under state-
hood, 434-438; U. S. District Judges.
437; State District Judiciary, 438;
Heinze overwhelms the courts. 439;
Fair Trial Law passed. 460; legisla-
tive elevation of bar. 477; justices of
the State Supreme Court increased
from three to five, 485 ; pending codi-
fication of laws, 489.
Bender, Frank, II, 42.
Benetsee Creek, I, 184.
Bennet. Howard G., Ill, 688.
Bennett, George C, III, 1439-
Bennett. Jack. Ill, 809.
Bennett, Sidney, II, 6.6.
Bennett, Walter E., II, 169.
Benoit, John A., Ill, 1144.
Benson, Theodore J., II. 237.
Benton, C. H.. I. 438.
Benton, Thomas A., I, 128.
Benton City, I, 215.
Benton group (geological), I, 95.
Berkin, John, II. 380.
Berkin. Thomas A., 11, 11.
Berkin, William, I, 2F6; II, 10.
Bernard Pratte & Company, I. III.
Berry, Albert C, III, 9I4-
Berthelote, Joseph T.. Ill, 1132.
Bertrand, Joseph, II, 286.
Bessette, Hypolite, III, 764.
Best, Herbert F., II, 344.
Best, Judson P., II, 345-
Best, Oly M.. II, 360.
Betz, John. III. 1098.
Bibee, S. C, III, 867.
Bickford, Walter M., II, 12.
Bickle, J. Hiram, III, 1370.
Biddle, Joseph W., I. 363-
Bielenberg, Howard Z., II, 182.
Big Bellies (Gros Ventres), I, 74.
Rig Belt Mountains, I, 91.
Big Blackfoot country, I, 754.
Big Blackfoot River I, 227.
Big Dry Creek, 1, 32.
Big Dry River, I, 91.
Big Fork, I, 724.
Big Hole River, I, 230.
Big Horn, I, 845.
Big Horn Canyon, I, 672.
Big Horn country. Government evacu-
ates, I, 345-
INDEX
Big Horn County, created, I, 281 ; 406,
474 ; irrigation, 59s ; description of,
672, 673, 674.
Big Horn Mountains, I, 91.
Big Horn River, I, 63, 81.
Big Horn town located, I, 195.
Big Knife kivcr, I, 2g.
Big Prickly Pear Creek, I, 190.
Big Sandy, I, 702.
Big Snowy Mountain, I, 91.
Big Timber, I, 841.
Big Timber irrigation project, I, 583.
Bigelow, Edward, II, 58.
Bigelow, Wilbur F., II, 200.
Billings, Frederick, I, 851.
Billings, incorporated, I, 409; irrigation
project, I, 581, 582; history of city, 851 ;
bubiueas iiouiua, industries and banks,
854; general evidences of its prosper-
ity, 859.
Billings airport, I, 853.
Billings Chamber of Commerce, I, 857,
859.
Billings-Cody Way, I, 851.
Billings Coliseum, I, 853.
Billings Commercial Club: home of
(illustration), I, 855; sketch of, 856.
Billings Polytechnic Institute, I, 552.
Billings Street Railway Company, I, 851.
Billings Iwenty-five vears ago (illustra-
tion), I, 852.
Billings and Central Montana Railroad.
I, 568.
Billmeyer, Daniel H., II, 71.
Biography of James Stuart (Granville
Stuart), I, 221.
Biological Station, Flathead Lake, I,
,529, 335. 536.
Bird Tail divide, I, 91.
Birkland. Andrew C., Ill, 1404.
Birum, Albert A., Ill, 1069.
Bishop, John F., I, 316.
Bissel, G. G., I, 217, 218.
Bitter Root Mountain, I, 227.
Bitter Root National Forest, I, 624, 811.
Bitter Root River, I, 90.
Bitter Root Valley (illustration), I,
93; (illustration), 143: 144, 223, 225,
227, 791; historic associations of, 811.
Biven's Gulch, I, 231.
Bjornchy, K. G., III. 861.
Bjorncbv, George, III, 861.
Black, Robert R., III. 951.
Black Bear (Indian chief), I, 173, 174.
Black Chief. I. 371.
P'ark Ch'pf lode. I. 222.
Black Eagle Power Plant, Great Falls,
I, 6Pn.
Black Hills (Cote Noire), I, 34.
Black Mountain Trail. I, 752.
Black Rork Zinc Mine, I, 382.
Black Tailed Deer Creek, I, 230, 231.
Blackfeet Indians (Piegans), I, 104;
fur traders attempt to win over. III;
again reconciled by Culbertson, 126;
tronh'e with the, I, 140; attempts to
convert the, I, 150; still warlike, I,
154; attack Hamilton-McKay party,
I, 172, 173, 174, 175. 176; reclamation
project. I, 587, 589.
Blackfeet country abandoned by fur
traders, I, 105.
BlacKteet Indian Reservation, I, 737.
Blackfeet National Forest, I, 624, 769.
Blackfeet Sun Dance (illustrations of),
I. 736.
Blackfoot Valley, I, 790.
Blackwell, George R., Ill, 958.
Blaere, Joseph, II, 269.
Blame County; created, I, 474; irriga-
tion in, 596 ; description of, 674.
Blaine County Fair, I, 675.
Blair, Harry B.. II, 196.
Blair, James F., II, 341.
Blair, John W., I, 316; III, 1296.
Blake, A. S., I, 189, 192.
Blake, Henry N., I, 216, 415, 422; sketch
of, 423; 434; defeated for chief jus-
tice, 449; 459.
Blake, S. R., I, 219.
Blakeslee, Glenn B., II, 172.
Blakeslee, Harry D., II, 172.
Blanchet, F. N.. I, 147.
Blankenhorn, Charles E., II, 141.
BlodgLtt, Francis E.. HI, 895.
Blodgett, Louis D., II, 3SI.
Blomrjuist, Walter C, IH, 826.
Blood, Indians, I, 140.
Bloom. Edward B.. II, 189.
Blose, J. T., Ill, 1034.
Blue Joint Hay (illustration), I, 846.
Board of Administration for Farmers'
Institutes. I, 530.
Board of Education, Billings, II, 236.
Board of Examination for Nurses, I,
476.
Board of Horticulture, I. 883.
Board of Railroad Commissioners estab-
lished, I, ^'64.
Boarton, L. W., I, 289.
Boatman. Robert T., II, 287.
Bodden. Jacob C, II, 199.
Boden, Henning R., II, 20.
Boden, James, HI, i-'43.
Bodley, Ralph E., II, 26.
Boggs, George S., Ill, 1183.
Bogue, lohn C, HI, 1249.
Bohart, William O., II, 420.
Bohm, Angevine & Merry, I, 338.
Bole, James P., II, 379.
Bole. William S.. II. 313.
Bollinger, John, II. 171.
Bond, John C, I, 643.
Bond, N. J., I, 282.
Bonin, I, 777.
Bonita, I, 790.
Ponner, I, 790.
Bonner, E. L., I, 500, .^32.
Bonneville. B. L. E. : his explorations,
I, 113-119; and the geysers, 116; last
years of, 119.
Boorman, Benjamin T., HI. 744.
Booth, Edwin S.. Ill, 1428.
Booth, John C, III. 1448.
Booth. Tohn H.. HI. 14J8.
Borough, John F., II, 3-?4.
Borreson, Henry E., HI, 1052.
Boschert. F-'rnest .^ ., II. 76.
Posshard, Flmer, II, 341.
Boston & Colorado Smelting Company,
I. 375-
INDEX
Boston & Montana Consolidated Com-
pany, I, 377, 378.
Boston & Montana mine, I, 375.
Boslwick, Epliriam, I, 192, 197.
Botkin, Alexander C, I, 405, 433.
Boulder, I, 745.
Bourquin, George M., I, 437, 438, 868.
Bouyer, Mitch, I, 349, 350.
Bowden, Malcolm, III, 1 176.
Bovvden, Marguerita, I, 760.
Bowdoin, I, 803.
Bower, G. C, II, 610.
Bower Brothers Ranch, II, 610.
Bowman, Alfred H., Ill, 1326.
Bowman, Carl, III, 1275.
Bowman, Charles H., I, 549.
Bowman, Dan H., Ill, T344.
Bowman, Thomas E., Ill, 1148.
Boyer, Mary L., Ill, 1300.
Boyes. Henry O., Ill, 1264.
Boyle, Neil, III, 1265.
Boynlon, C. H., I, 761.
Box Elder, I, 744.
Bozeman, J. M., I, 120, 189, 195, 221,
306; statue of (illustration), 307;
grave at Bozeman, 323, 555 ; sketch of,
730, 799, 840.
Bozeman: first house built in, I, 307;
state capitol contestant, 441 ; 529,
729. 732.
Bozeman Roundup, I, 732.
Brackenridge, Henry W., I, 69, 73.
Brackett, Ivory, III, 1394.
Brackett, Oscar, III, 1007.
Brackett, William S., I, 114, 118, 119,
120.
Bradbrook, L. G., II, 40.
Frndhnrv, John I, 69, 71, 73.
Bradford, Robert B., II, 233.
Bradford, VV. M., II, 233.
Bradley, Abram. L., II, 492.
Bradley, James H. (portrait), I, 214;
304, 343, 349; his account of the Custer
disaster, 350; death of, 360.
Bradley, Mrs. James H., I, 216.
Bradley's, J. H. Journal, I, 104, 121,
124, 128, 151, 159, 163, 164, 310, 348,
Bradshaw, William J., Ill, 1390.
Brady, I, 804.
Bramble, John K., Ill, 958.
Brandon, I, 231.
.Brandon, Roswell L., III. 1 118.
Brantly, Theodore, sketch of, I, 436;
869.
Brassey, Edward, II, 205.
Brattin, Carl L., Ill, 1120.
Bratton,' William, I, 28.
Braz'er, Charles R., Ill, 1059.
Breeders' Association. I, J03.
Preen, Maurice J., II, 247.
Breitenstein, Arthur J., Ill, 829.
Brenizer, I, 848.
Brennan, William H., II, 352.
P-frTPn, W. J.. III. 8^2.
Brewster, George W., III. 1376.
Bridge, John W., Ill, 1172.
BridfT. Inmes, I. ing, 11;;. 114; famous
explorer and guide, also portrait 115;
120, 306, 340, 343, 344, 798, 840.
Bridger range, I, 91.
Bridger's Canyon, Valley of the Galla-
tin (illustration), I, 232.
Briggs, Ansell, I, 282.
Bright, Haden H., Ill, 1281.
Brimacombe, John, II, 492.
Brink, H. P., II, 320.
Briscoe, Jack, II, 198.
Broadbrooks, Clarence E., Ill, 941.
Broaddus, John, III, 1088.
Broaddus, Oscar, III, 1087.
Broaddus, William M., Ill, 1401.
Broadview, I, 856.
Broadview school, Terry District (illus-
tration), I, 859.
Broadwater, Arthur J., Ill, 818.
Broadwater, Edward T., Ill, 690.
Broadwater county ; aS a copper pro-
ducer, I, 384; irrigation in, 597; de-
scription of, 675.
Broadwater County High School, II,
1096.
Broadwater Hotel, I, 751.
Brockton, I, 817.
Brock way, I, 776.
Brockway, Bert G., II, 230.
Brockway, Clarence J., Ill, 967.
Brooke, Ben C, II, 618.
Brooks, Clark A., Ill, 898.
Brooks, Joseph, III, 1120.
Brophy, John A., II, 424.
Brophy, John W., II, 427.
Brophy, Patrick J,, II, 424.
Brown, Arthur H., II, 563.
Brown, Bella, I, 698.
Brown, C. V., II, 276.
Brown, Frank D., I, 316, 320, 325.
Brown, Fred M., II, 407.
Brown, George, I, 256, 286,
Brown, G. W., Missouri, I, 247; hanging
of, 260.
Brown. Herbert W., III. 718,
Brown, James H., I, 419; II, 483.
Brown, Joseph T., I, 643; III, 1193.
Brown, Leonard A., Ill, 889.
Brown, Mary G., II, 1194.
Brown, Perry F., II, 152.
Brown, William A., HI, 1205.
Browne, David G., Ill, 954.
Brownfield, William, II, 503.
Browning, I, 739.
Bruce, James L., II, 511.
Bruce, John P., I, 415-
Bryan, Charles L., II, 75.
Pi'c'iholz, Antrnst D. F., Ill, 675.
Buck, Cyrus W., II, 608.
Buck, F. W., Ill, 853.
Buck. Horace R., I, 434; death of 435,
436.
Buck, Isaac N., I. 282.
Buck, John F., Ill, 1210.
Puck-, Marion E., II. 105.
Bucksen, F. W., II, 676.
Buergi, George J., Ill,- 1.340.
Buffalo, wholesple i^'aughter of, I, 36;
a surround, 138; 717.
Buffalo of the Plains (illustration), I,
?7-
Buffnlo robes replacing beaver skins, I,
12'.
Buffalo Trail H'ghway. I, 740.
Bull, Carlton B., II, 631.
INDEX
Bull mountain coal field, I, 240, 796.
Bullard, Oilman, I, 868.
Bullard, J. Oilman, II, 619.
Bullard, Massena, I, 419.
Bullfinch, Charles, I, 14.
Bullwhacker Mining Co., I, 836.
Bunker, Eugene F., II, 557.
Bunker, Park J., Ill, I3I7-
Bunney, William H., II, 376.
Buntin, John A., Ill, 1253.
Bunton, William, I, 249.
Burdick, Henry, I, 415-
Bitrdick, N. H., I, 760.
Bureau of Agriculture, Labor and In-
dustry: to advertise Montana, I, 468;
abolished, 476. .
Burger, Norris F., II, yz.
Burke, Daniel J., II, I47-
Burke, Edward F.. Ill, 692.
Burke, John J., II, I44-
Burke, Patrick E., Ill, 1075.
Burks, Fred C, III, 1437-
Burlington route, I, 568.
Burns, Harry, I, 289.
Burns, James P., HI. 834.
Burns. Lowell C, HI, 1299.
Burpee, L. J., I, 78.
Burris, N. W., I, 335. ii7-
Burton, W. C, I, 285.
Busch, Ernest C, II, 88.
Busche, William C, II, 272.
Busha. Charles T., II. 51.
Bussert, Edgar C. TTI, 1239.
Butler, James W., Ill, 1126.
Butler, John F., Ill, 920.
Bnller, lewis S., II, 99.
Butler, Vernon, HI, 884.
Butschy & Clark, I, 254.
Butte: founding of (Warren), I. 222;
fails as a gold district, 371 ; state cap-
ital contestant, 441 ; a world famed
mining center, 828; first? smelter and
ouartz worked. 829; as a city, 830;
king of copper, 834; copper production
in district, 835; mineral production of
district ( iffe'-ioi.-), 8,''6; its intervals
of mining inactivity, 837.
Butte-Alex Scott Mining Co. I. 836.
Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railroad, I,
376, 568.
Butte and surroundings (illustration), I,
.^85.
Butfe-Bullaklava Mining Co., I, 836.
Butte Daily Post. II, J71.
Butte-Dnluth Mining Co., I, 8,^6.
Butte-Milwaukee Copper Company, I,
383.
Butte Mines Company, II. 1380.
Butte-New York Copper Company, I,
383.
Butte pumping plant, I, 832.
Brttc town site natent. I, 427.
Butte Window Class Works. II, 492.
Butte & Orcat F-alls Mining Co., I, 836.
Butte & I nndon Mining Co., I, 836.
Butte & Superior Copper Company, I,
382, ?8i.
Butte & S'lncrinr Mining Co., I, 836.
Buzzetti, Charles J., II. 54.
Buzzetti and Emmett, II, 54.
Byam, Don D., I, 259.
Byam, Don L., I, 319, 320.
Bynum, I, 843.
Byrne, Frank P., II, 362.
Byrne, Fred M., II, 355.
Cabinet National Forest, I, 624, 769.
Cable, John S., II, 314.
Cain, Elmer L.. HI, 868.
Calabar, I, 703.
Caldcr, W. L. A., II, 17.
Calderhead, J. H., I, 463.
Calhoun, Henry J., II, 242.
Calhoun, William B., II, 318.
California Oulch, I, 231.
Callaway, James F., I, 404.
Callaway, Lew I., I, 459.
Calloway, James E., I, 419.
Calvert, George B., Ill, 672.
Cameahwait (Sacajawea's brother). I.
57.
Camp Baker, I, 311.
Camp Cooke, I, 311.
Camp Robert B. Smith, I, 645.
Campbell, A. J.. I, 4^3.
Campbell, Charles W.. II. 268.
Campbell, Frank B.. II, ,s66.
Campbell, Guy E., Ill, 814.
Campbell, Hugh B., II, 449.
Campbell, John L., II. 439.
Campbell, John S., Ill, 1155.
Campbell, Mabel L., II, 34.S.
Campbell, Ray L., Ill, 1056.
Campbell, Robert, I, 108, 120, 138.
Campbell, Samuel K., II, 653.
Campbell, Thomas F.. I, 494.
Campbell, Will A.. HI, 1177.
Canton, I, 676.
Canyon Ferry, I. 7-10.
Capitol: corner-stone laid, I, 454: (illus-
tration), 455; wings commenced, 468:
grand stairway of (illustration), 473;
as completed, 477 (illustration), 458.
Canlice, John. I, 316.
Carbon county: as a coal producer, I,
■7S6: cr-ated, 452; irrigation in, ,S97 ;
description of, 676; coal mines and
first oil well, 677.
Cardell, Robert C, 11, 249.
Carey, Frank. III. 842.
Carey, lohn I., III. 7^9.
Carey, Matt F., HI, 1183.
Carey Land Act: biennial report of
(1919-1920), I, 581; 590.
Carev Land Act Board: replaces State
Arid Land Grant Commission, I, 460;
584.
Carleton, E. A., I, ?oo.
Carlson, Alfred C, II. 259.
Carlson, Kaare O., III. 1018.
Carlson, O. A., I, 869.
Carlton, I, 702.
Carlyle, I, 818.
Carmony. Fred A., Ill, 1088.
Carnev. John, II, •'74.
Carpenter, A. M. S., T. 403, 404.
Carpenter, B. Piatt, sketch of, I, 409;
412, 4 ■'4, 868.
Carnenter, Harry C, IT. .•^03.
Carpenter. Mvron S., II, 357.
Carr, R. E., II, 257.
INDEX
Carrington, Henry B., I, 340, 342; ex-
pedition turned back by Fetterman
Massacre, I, 343; 345, 363.
Carroll, I, 306.
Carroll, John P., II, 458.
Carroll, John V., II, S78.
Carroll, J. T., I, 869. '
Carroll, William E., II, 511.
Carroll, Matthew, I, 215.
Carroll & Steele, I, 215.
Carruth, Edwin C, III, 705.
Carruthers, Emmet E., I, 653.
Carter, I, 702.
Carter, Alexander, I, 249.
Carter, Elizabeth, III, 785.
Carter, Thomas H., I, 433, 445 ; sketch
of, 447, 448; elected U. S. Senator,
451. 457-
Carter County: created, I, 482; irriga-
tion in, 599; description of, 679, 680.
Cartwright, Annie, III, 1203.
Cartwright, Evert, III, 1203.
Carver, Jonathan, proposes transconti-
nental waterway, I, 12.
Cascade, I. 699.
Cascade County: created, I, 411; irriga-
tion in, 598; natural features, 681;
livestock and dairy interests, 682; min-
ing of coal and silver. 683; Great
Falls, 684-690; origin of name, 686;
schools of, 687, 699.
Cascade County school children (illus-
tration), I, 507.
Cashmore, Alfred I, II, 555.
Caspers, H. J., Ill, 844.
Cassill, Scott K., Ill, 1222.
Castle Geyser, Yellowstone Park (illus-
tration), I, 117.
Castles, William, II, 83.
Castner, John K., Ill, 724.
Castner, Mattie, III, 725.
Casto, William H., Jr., II, 178.
Cat Creek anticline. I, 387^
Cat Creek field, i, 877.
Cat Creek oil field, I, 716.
Catholic Missions and Missionaries, I,
144-158.
Catlin, Edwin B., II, 415.
Catlin, George, I, 113, 144.
Catlin, John B., II, 467.
Cattle drives (i868-'83), I, 393, 394;
wealth by counties (1884), 394, 395;
Miles City center of range, 39s ; great
sales of, 396; progress of industry,
1885-1919, 3r6.
Cavanaugh, Miles J., II, 511.
Cave, Alfred. II. S55.
Cave, Will, II, 555.
Caven, I. B., I. 218.
Caven, Kate Virginia, I, 220.
Cayuse Hills, I, 91.
Centerville, I, 827, 834.
Centra!. I, 2'2.
Chaboillez, Charles J. B., I, 74.
Chadwick, Walter F., I, 415, 433.
Chalmers, Horace, I, 252.
Chalmers. Robert, I, 252.
Chamberlain, Arthur E., Ill, 762.
Chamberlain, D. D., I, 201.
Chambers, George T.. Ill, 979.
Champlin, James L., Ill, 773.
Chancellor of tlie University, I, 476,
. 528, 530.
Chapman, Charles P., II, 549.
Chapman, John W., II, 60.
Chapman, Robert H., I, 91.
Charbonneau, Toussaint, I, 28, 43, 55,
57, 61, 64, 65.
Chardon, F. A., I, 124, 126; death of,
127; 140.
Charlesworth, Arthur, III, 1294.
Charlesworth, George, III, 1150.
Charlevoix, I, 4.
Chauvin, Joseph, II, 102.
Cheadle, Edwin K., II, 197.
Cheese factories of Montana, I, 873.
Cheesman, Henry, II, 78.
Cheney, William H., II, 655.
Chessman, William A., II, 591.
Chester, I, 768.
Chestnut, Benjamin F., Ill, 819.
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy System :
joint purchase by Great Northern and
Northern Pacific, I, 566.
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Rail-
way, I, 566; electrification of, 567;
630, 689.
Chief Joseph, pursuit of, I, 359-369;
and the Cowan Party (portraits), 361 ;
his last stand, 362, 463.
Chief Paul (Salish), I, 157.
Child Welfare division established, I,
483-
Chniook. I, 588, 674, 675.
Chinook winds, I, 76.
Chittenden, H. M., I, 69.
Choate, Isaac W., I, 489; II, 617.
Choisser, Joe E., HI, 1003.
Chouteau, I, 843.
Chouteau, Auguste, I, 700.
Chouteau, Chas. (portrait), I, 214.
Chouteau, Pierre, I, 1 11, 113, 120, 700.
Chouteau brothers, I, 103.
Chouteau County, I, 241 ; created, 281 ;
number and value of cattle (1884),
395 ; irrigation in, 599 ; physical fea-
tures of and general industries, 700;
transportation facilities of, 701.
Chowcn, H. O., I, 698.
Chowning, Charles W., Ill, 811.
Christensen, Andrew, III, 917.
Christenson, Harris J., Ill, iioi.
Christianson, Charles G., HI, 1163.
Christinson. Otto M., HI, 1045.
Christler, Leonard J., II, 640.
Chronicle Publishing Company, II, 379.
Crysler, Walter B., II. 209.
Chumasero, William, I, 289, 291, 415,
433.
Church, Irving W., I, 696; III, 694.
Church, Ray, III, 760.
Churches of Missoula. I, 786.
Churchill, William, II, 48.
Circle. I. 776.
Clack. Philip D., Ill, 707.
Clagett, W. H., I, 419.
Claiborne. William C, C, I, 18.
Clancy, William, I, 377, 459.
Clapp, Charles H., I, 535 ; sketch ot,
534; 549; III, 991.
Clark, A. B., I, 706.
Clark, Charles E., Ill, 1351.
INDEX
Clark, George R., I, 27.
Clark, George W., Ill, 1092.
Clark, Helen P., I, 497-
Clark, John B., Ill, 1292.
Clark, John D., Ill, 1321.
Clark, John \V., II. 70.
Clark, Leon B., Ill, 1249.
Clark. Lewis C. II, 186.
Clark. William, I, 19; sketch of. 26, 40,
42; narrow escape of, and the Bird
Woman, 43 ; discovers the Three
Forks, 46, 54, 55, 58 ; honorable public
career, 67; his nine days' journey, 60,
61, 6g, 73, 103, 120, 798.
Clark. William A.: on Montana's Val-
leys, I, 92, 144, 190. 236, 237, 243, 316,
321: introduces himself, 326; arrives
at Bannack, July, 1863, 3iS; trip to
Salt Lake Citv (November, 1863),
332; (portrait). 372, 373, 375, 376, 377,
406, 409, 439, 440. 445. 4+7. 449, 451 ;
U. S. Senatorship again, 454, 457, 469,
648, 754, 833, 834.
Clark City (Livingston), I, 799.
Clark and Ulm, I, 395.
Clark's (Flathead) River, I. 57, 58, 60.
Clark's Fork coal field, I, 240.
Clark's fork of the Columbia, I, 90.
Clarke, Malcolm, I, 123, 126, 128, 282,
323.
Clarke. Melvin D., Ill, 11 1:9.
Clarke. Walter E.. Ill, 1316.
Classens. William, I, i-'7.
Claxton, John K., II. 487.
Clay, George W.. III. 968.
Clayberg. John B., I, 433, 459, 549.
Clearwater, I. 790.
Clemens. William J., Ill, 1171.
Clendennin, George. I. 304, 305, 306.
Clendcnnin, Richard. I. ^04.
Cleveland, George \V., Ill, 1301.
Cleveland. Jack, I, 251.
Clifford. John E., II. 372.
Cline. Frank C. II, 87.
Clinton, I. 790.
Clyde Park, I, 801.
Coal, I, loi ; Montana's output since
1901, 386.
Coal and lignites. I. 238.
Coates. John Q.. III. 877.
Cobleigh. William M.. II, 91.
Coburn, John, I, 427.
Cochran. Joseph, I, 851.
Code Commission. I. 411, 412.
Code of Laws (1879), I, 408; (1887),
411 ; (189s), 435, 451.
Codification of tlie Laws (1871-72), I, '
419-
Codified School Laws adopted. I, 474.
Codified Statutes, 7th Session 1871-2, I,
.Coffey, George M., Jr., Ill, 749.
Coffey. George M.. Sr.. Ill, 749.
Coffey. John H.. III. 774.
Coggswell, W. R,, I, 223.
Cogswell. Sherman T.. Ill, 904.
Co'iagen. Chandler C. II, 215.
Cole, Burton R.. II. 184.
Cole, F. W., I, 412, 434.
College of Agriculture and Mechanic
Arts, I, 529, .544, 731-
College of Liberal Arts and Science
formed, I, 535.
College of Montana, I, 496.
Collett, Samuel W., II, 389.
Collier, Albert F., Ill, 1207.
Collier, Joe, III, 1200.
Collins, I, 843.
Collins, Carlos P., Ill, 1 117.
Collins. John, I, 28.
Collins, John A., Ill, 1056.
Collins, John B., Ill, 1089.
Collins, Thomas M., II, 612.
Collins, Timothy E., I, 316.
Collins, W. L., II. 401.
Collins and Company, I, 223.
Colorado and Montana Smelting Com-
pany. I, 375-
Colorado smelter: first successful cop-
per plant. I, 835.
Colter. John, I, 28. 68; his remarkable
adventures. 71. 73.
Colter's "Hell Hole." I. 69.
Colton, O. C. I. 732.
Columbia Falls, I. 725.
Columbia Fur Company, I, ill.
Columbia Gardens, Butte, I. 833.
Columbia River. Discovery and ex-
ploration of, I, 14.
Columbus. I. 840.
Colwell. Henry. I, 851.
Comanche. I. 856.
Combes. William M., Ill, 820.
Comer. Cloyde E., II, 282.
Comet Mine. I. 765.
Comly. Harry B., I, 406.
Commission form of governinent :
adopted, I, 469; approved. 477.
Compulsory education in force (1921),
I. 526.
Comstock, Henry T. P., I, 322.
Comstock, Jay M., III. 1348.
Confederate Gulch. I. 212, 754.
Congdon, John H., II, 357.
Conger, Everton J.. I, 426, 427.
Conkey, J. C, II. 86.
Conley. Frank. II. 343.
Conley, J. V., II, 225.
Conlon, James. III. 1068.
Connelly, Frank B.. II, 0.
Conner. Jennie M.. I. 698.
Conner. Jesse. III. 7.=;'.
Conner. John T.. I. •>i6.
Connolly. Thomas, II, 318.
Conrad. I. 804.
Conrad. C. D., I. 727.
Conrad. George H., III. lo.'o.
Conrcy Placer Mining Company, I, 771.
Constitnt'onal rn"vcntinns : first (1866)
and second (18S4). I, .108, 409.
Continental D'vide, passage of the, by
Lewis and Clark, I. $2.
Conway, Daniel R., III. 992.
Conway. George B.. III. iroo.
Convnpham, Fdward F., II. 447.
Cook. Bvron H.. I. 61s.
Cook. Char'es W.. II. 619.
Cook. George W., II, 197.
Cook, James, I. 12.
Cook, Jerry, I, 289, 415.
INDEX
xvu
Cooke, P. St. George, I, 342-
Cooke city, I, 798-
Cooke City Mining district, I, 375-
Cooke (Jay) and Company: ruined by
1873 panic, I, 560.
Cooney, Frank H., II, 166.
Cooney, Howard C, III, 1174-
Cooney, Tom, III, 1033.
Cooper, Charles H., I, 436, 869.
Cooper, John, I, 249.
Cooper, Ransom, III, 835.
Cooper, Thomas E., I, 211.
Cooper, Walter (illustration of winter
quarters in 1865), I, 212, 316, 547;
II, SS6.
Copper mining : Rise of, I, 375 : produc-
tion in 1899-1919, 379; sampling ores
for commercial purposes, 380, 381 ;
production in Butte district (1891-95),
835.
Coppo, John B., II, 126.
Corbally, Thomas F., II, 586.
Corbett, Hal S., I, 4Si-
Corbin, Harvey A., II, 317.
Corley, Roy M., II, 531-
Cornwell, Edward A., Ill, I3-'I.
Cornwell, Harry, III, 1322.
Cornwell, John W., Ill, 1279.
Corrington, Glenwood H.. Ill, 684.
Corrupt Practice Act, I, 470.
Corvallis, I, 223, 7'^)2, 812.
Corwin, John W., II, 231.
Coryell, Charles E., Ill, 810.
Cosier, Howard M., Ill, 780.
Cosner, Harry, III, 1219.
Cotton, Wendell, III, 1314-
Cottonwood (Deer Lodge), I, 222.
Couch, Thomas, II, 498.
Couch, Thomas, Jr., II, 500.
Cones, Elliott, I, 39.
Coughlin, Richard J., Ill, 1080.
Coulson (Billings), I, 851.
Council Grove, I, 223.
Counties: (see separate counties), area
and population of. 1870-1920, I, 861,
862; changes in boundaries of, 862,
863, 864 ; county seats and assessed
valuation of, 864. 865 ; dates and facts
as to creation, 866, S67 ; business es-
tablishments of. 874, 875.
County boards of education created, I,
464.
County Legislation : bonded indebted-
ness regulated, I, 478 ; regulating for-
mation of new counties, 479.
County Organization (Leighton) bill
passed, I, 474.
County Poor Farm, I, 547.
County Superintendents, I, 497.
County L^nit law, I, 519.
Courtright, Milo, I, 282.
Cousins. Frank A., II. 213.
Cover, Thomas. I, 199, 206, 208, 219, 307,
308.
Covington, C. C. II. 488.
Cowan, Arthur J., Ill, 940.
Cowan, Elmer L., I, 6=;2.
Cowan, George W., Ill, 885.
Cowan, G. F., I. 360.
Cowan, John, I, 210.
Cowan, Thomas, I. 211.
Cowan, Winfield S., Ill, 896.
Cowles, Roy J., HI, 11 13.
Cowman, C. P., Ill, I075-
Cox, Z. T., Ill, 1 108.
Coy, Havelock G., II, 388.
Coy, Reuben E., II, 125.
Crab, John, I, 210.
Crabb, George M., II, 463.
Craig, I, 749-
Craig, James, II, 27.
Craig, James W., Ill, 1281.
Craig, Oscar J., I, 532, 534, 787-
Craig, Robert A., Ill, 1204.
Craig, William T., HI, 1413.
Craighead, Edwin B., I, 532, 535, 789;
III, 1255-
Cralle, Edward A., II, 435-
Cramer, Ben, III, 856.
Cramer, Clara, HI, 856.
Crase, Frank A., II, 548.
Craven, Arthur J., I, 215.
Craven, G. W., I, 549; II, 547-
Crawford, (Hank), I, 252.
Crazy Horse (Indian chief killed), I,
359- , ,. , ,
Creameries of Montana : established
1880-1919 (see towns and cities), I,
873:
Creel, George R., II, I9i-
Cremans, J. J., Ill, 870.
Crippen, Henry C, II, 254.
Cronk, John C, III, 1309.
Crook, George, I, 347; his Southern In-
dian campaign. 356, 357, 358.
Croonquist, Harold S., II, 189.
Crosby, John S., sketch of, I, 408.
Crosby, J. Schuyler, I. 868.
Cross, Sherwood S., HI, 999-
Crosson, Abe, HI, 697.
Crouch, Charles D., Ill, 724-
Crouch, Samuel J., II, 273.
Crouley, James P., II, S06.
Crow Agency, I, 673.
Crow Indian Reservation, first, I, 158;
public schools thrown open in, 526 ;
640, 799.
Crowley, Annie E,, II, 67.
Crowley, Daniel M., II, 67.
Crowley, Michael H., Ill, 994.
Crowley, Timothy E., Ill, 1442.
Crowley, William E., HI, 995.
Crows, I, 69 ; Larocque's account of
(1805), 78, 83; breaking camp and
smoking regulations (1805), 85; a na-
tion of horsemen (1805), 86; and the
fur trade, 127, 129 ; home of, 340.
Crows-Piegan horse race, I, 170.
Crum, Paul, III, 1081.
Crum. William R., Ill, 764.
Crutcher, Lee W., II, S.SO.
Crutchfield. Charles M., II, 599-
Cruzatte. Peter, I, 28.
Culbertson, I. 817.
Culbertson, Alexander. I, 121, 123. 124,
126, 127, 128; sketch and death of,
131; 132, 139, 141, 151, 158; as Indian
treaty-maker. 159; 164, 185, 186; (por-
trait), 214; 2T6.
Cullen, W. E., I. 419, 4^^. 43'. 434. 7S^.
760.
Culver, Boyd. Ill, 849.
XVI 11
INDEX
Ciimming, Bruce A., II, 103.
Cummings, H. L., II, 162.
Cummings, H. L. & Son, II, 162.
Cunningham, Arthur, III, 1192.
Cunningham, Harry R., Ill, 948.
Curley, only survivor of Curley Disaster,
I, 351.
Curley (portrait), I, 3s~-
Curran, John, III, 893.
Currie, Robert C, III, 686.
Currier, H. L., II, 171.
Curry, Thomas, I, 798, 799.
Curry, William E., II, 479.
Curry Mining District, I, 799.
Curtis, Helena E., II, 311.
Cusick, Helena, HI, 853.
Cusick, W. M., Ill, 8s2.
Cusker, Hank J., HI, 817.
Custer, I, 856.
Custer, George A., I. 349, 356, 4(j6.
Custer, J. VV., I, 346.
Custer Battlefield of Today (illustra-
tion), I, 672.
Custer Battlefield Highway, I. 850.
Custer County : Number and value of
cattle (1884), I, 305; 406; irrigation
in, 599; description of, 702; railroad
facilities of, 703; schools of, 704; an-
nual fair, 707.
Custer County Wool Growers Associa-
tion, I, 397.'
Custer Disaster, first tidings of, I, 350.
Custer Memorial Monument (illustra-
tion), I, 355.
Custer National Forest, I, 624, 805.
Custer's River, I, 406.
Cut Bank, I, 738.
Cut Bank Creek: glacial fragment at, I,
98.
Cuthbert, D. H., I, 404.
Dacotah lode. I, 237.
Dahl, Oscar A., HI, 1213.
Dahlgren, Halver, HI, 971.
Dahlgren, John, HI, 970.
Dailey, John, HI. 889.
Daily, John R., II, 468.
Dairying in Montana. I, 400, 401, 402.
Dakota group (geological), I, 95.
Dale, Owen, I, 363.
Daley, Freeman A., H, 640.
Dallin, Frank. II, 572.
Dalton. Patrick. Il", 155.
Daly, Cliarles, HI, 1372.
Daly, Marcus, comes to Butte, I, 373,
375 : develops Anaconda properties,
376, 377. 440, 4.S1, 834.
Dalv (Marcus) Estate, I, 791.
Daly, William B., II, 446.
Dance, Walter B., I, 283.
Dance, W. B., I. 189.
Daniel. George H., II, 399.
Daniels, Mabel B., HI,' 881.
Daniels, Mansfield A., HI, 881.
Daniels County: irrigation in, I, 600; de-
scription of, 708, 861.
Daiiley, Irving U., II, 353.
Darby, I, 791, 792, 812.
Darling. Mrs. D. T.. Ill, 1157.
Daugherty, George M., Ill, 1335.
Daugherty, John S., I. 376.
Daughters, Freeman, I, 511.
Daut, John, HI, 918.
d'Autremont, Arthur L., II, 161.
Davee, H. A., I, 502.
Davenport, .'\rthur J., II, 50.
Davey, Arthur J., HI, 794.'
Davey, Catherine A., HI, 794.
Davey, John, HI, 793.
Davidson, Andrew, HI, 980.
Davidson, A. M., HI, 1429.
Davies, Paul J., Ill, 1398.
Davies, William E,, I, 644.
Davis, Alexander, I, 282, 289.
Davis, Andrew J., I, 322, 395, 834.
Davis, Chester C, I, 869.
Davis, Hauser and Company, I, 395.
Davis, Irwin F., HI, 828.
Davis, John H., HI, 1167.
Davis, John R., II, 2io.
Davis, Nathaniel J., \. 218.
Davis, Selena R., HI, 828.
Davis, Sheldon E., I, 552.
Davis, William A. (Bozeman), H, 40^.
Davis, W. A., HI, 798.
Davis, William B., HI, io8i.
Davis-Daly Mining Co., I, 836.
Davison, Claud E., Ill, 1342.
Davitt (Michael), mine, I, 378.
Dawe, Lossie, HI. 730.
Dawes, Hugh R., HI. 1414.
Dawes, Willard C, II, 317.
Dawson. Andrew, I, 131, i:;2: (portrait).
I.i3. 214.
Dawson, John E., HI. 830.
Dawson county : created, I, 281 ; estab-
lished, 312: number and value of cattle
(1884), 395 ; irrigation in, 600; (Glen-
dive), description of, 709.
Day, Edward C, I, 464; II. 530.
Day, Frank, II, 207.
Day, George H., II. 207.
Day, G. W., II, 468.
Day, Jasper W., II, 283.
Dayton, I. 725.
Deacon, William, I, 669.
Dean, R. H.. II, 331.
Dean. Samuel, III, 824.
Dearborn, Henry. I, 45.
Dearborn. Mark D., II, 589.
Dearborn River. I, 45, 229.
Deborgia, I, 779.
Decker, Charles F., HI, 1260.
Decker, Frederick S.. Jr., II, 477.
Decker, Fred R.. HI, 1062.
Dedrick. Warren A., II, 244.
Dee, Martin, I, 459.
Deegan, James, HI, 1123.
Deer Lodge (town), I, 161, 222, 807; in
1869 (illustration). 808: division point
on Chicago. Milwaukee & St. Paul
Railroad. 809.
Deer Lodge County: placer mines in
1862-68, I. 213 ; early silver mining in,
237 ; created. 281 : number and value
of cattle (1884), 395, 408; irrigation
in, 600: description of. 711.
Deer Lodge lode, I, 222, 371.
Deer Lodge National Forest. I, 624, 741,
745-
INDEX
XIX
Deer Lodge Valley, I, i6i ; overland trip
to (1862), 180; placer and quartz
mines, 228, 807.
Deer Lodge Valley Mining Company, L
286.
de Grafifenreid, Charles, IH, 1242.
DeGroot, Arie W., 11, 238.
De Hart, Jacob L., IH, 1028.
Deibel, Randolph, IH, 1235.
DeKalb, H. Leonard, H, 90.
DeLacy, Walter W., I, 200, 215, 283,
316.
DeLacy's Lake, 1, 200.
Delaney, John, IH, 865.
Delaware Security Company, 1, 377.
De L'Isle, I. 3-
Demars, Joseph, IH, 757.
De Mers, Elzeor, IH, 888.
De Mers, Robert J., IH, 866.
Dempsey, Robert, I, 222.
Dempsey's Cottonwood Ranch, L 249.
Dennis, 1, 848.
Dennison, James A., IH, 952.
De Noielle, R. W., IH, 751.
Denton, 1, 717.
Department of Agriculture and Pub-
licity, L 468, 476.
Department of Banking created, L 479-
Department of Farm Loans created, L
478.
Department of Labor and Industry, L
476.
Deputee, George, IH, 1035.
Derrick, Walter J., IH, 843.
Desy, Irene, III, 1281.
De Smet, Peter J., I, 151 ; coming of,
146, 147, 148, 149, 150; (portrait), 214.
Devine, John H., Ill, 696.
Detwiler, George, I, 282.
De Velder, John Baptist, I, 147.
Devlin, Lawrence K., I, 869; III, 765.
De Voss, Peter, I, 150.
Dewey, James, I, 209.
DeWitt, William H., L 43i. 435-
DeWolfe, Stephen, I, 430.
De.xter, Wheeler O., Ill, 673.
Diamond City, I, 213, 676.
Dick, George K., Ill, 922.
Dickerman, A. E., I. 698.
Dignan, Thomas, III, 1013.
Dillon, I, 399; incorporated, I, 409, 669.
Dillon, Sidney, I, 407, 558.
Dills, Clinton, I, 851.
Dimmick, Bert W., II, 526.
Dimon, John, II, 361.
Dimsdale, Thomas, I, 243, 254, 256, 266.
Discovery of gold monument, I, 320,
321-
Dishno, Silas C, III, 1186.
Dittes, Ben R., I, 757, 760.
Dixon, I, 792, 824.
Dixon, Joseph M., I, 459, 461, 471 ;
sketch of and inaugural address
(1921), I, 485; 528, 868, 869; II, 2.
Dixon, William, I, 433.
Dixon. W. W., I, 419. 430; elected to
Congress (1890), I, 447; 448, 449, 548.
Dixon, Mrs. W. W., I, S40.
Dobell, J. L., Ill, 1387.
Docter, John C. II, 122.
Dodge, S. E., II, 427.
Dodson, I, 588, 893.
Dodson, Philip G., H, 316.
Doggett, Jefferson D., II, 652.
Doherty, John, III, 660.
Dolan, Aloysius, III, 830.
Dolin, John H., Ill, 1146.
Dolin, Joseph F., Ill, 1133.
Dominy, William, III, 1357.
Donahue, Dan J., I, 649.
Donaldson, Charles M., Ill, 1 154.
Donaldson, George, III, 890.
Donaldson, Mattie, III, 890.
Donlan, Edward, I, 469.
Donnell, R. W., I, 222.
Donnelly, Joseph P., Ill, 1085.
Donohue, Daniel J., Ill, 1434.
Donohue, M. J., II, 74.
Dooley, William D., Ill, 1136.
Dorniz, I, 841.
Dorothy, Sidney J., Ill, 891.
Dorr, Arthur C, III, 873.
Dorsett, Rudolph, I, 250.
Dorwin, O. G., I, 223.
Dousman, Charles J., Ill, 1388.
Douthett, Lorin F., II, 81.
Dove, Samuel E., II, 149.
Dow, James C, III, 1041.
Dowe, E. E., Ill, 860.
Dowlin, W. E., I, 856.
Downing, Walter O., II, 105.
Downs and Allen, I, 395.
Drainage basins, acreage by, I, 616.
Drainage enterprises, I, 618-621.
Drake, Ben F., II, 364.
Drake, C. H., Ill, 672.
Drake, James H., Ill, 1020.
Drake, James W., II, 308.
Draper, Charles H., 1, 678; II, 66.
Draper, Mark I., Ill, 1419.
Drennan, James W., I, 645.
Drewyer, George, I, 28, 50, Si, =52, 59,
68.
"Drowned Men's Rapids," I, 179.
Drumlummon Mine, I, 765.
Drummond, I, 741, 790.
Dryden, James S., I, 426.
Dry fork of Maria's River, I, 99.
Dublin, I, 222.
Duffy, John H., II, 338.
Duke of Orleans commences western
explorations, I, 3.
DuLuth, Sieur Greysolon, I, 3.
Duncan, A. J., II, 645.
Duncan, John, III, 831.
Duncan, Leslie, III, 867.
Duncan, O. R., II, 74.
Duncan, Tyson D., Ill, 1014.
Duniway. Clyde A., I, 532, 535, 788.
Dunn, John, II, 262.
Dunn, John C, II, 184.
Dupuyer, I, 804.
Durfee, David M., I, 438; II, 284.
Durston, John H., II, 471.
Dutch, Ralph E., Ill, 1600.
Dutro, David V., Ill, 978.
Dutton, I, 843.
Dwyer, John C. Ill, 910.
Dwyer, W. K., II, 396.
Eagle Nest Rock, Gardiner Canyon (il-
lustration), I. 33.
XX
INDEX
"Early History of Western Montana"
(Woody), I, 132; 224.
Early silver mills in Butte district, I,
83s.
East Butte Copper Mining Company,
I, 379, 381, 836.
East Ophir Town Company, I, 287.
East Rosebud Lake, I, 840.
Eastern Central Basin of Montana, I,
232.
Eastman, George W., II, 10.
Eastman, T. H., I, 301.
Eaton, Ashael K., I, 286.
Eaton, Ernest T., II, 266.
Eaton, Lewis T., Ill, 1079.
Eaton, Robert N., Ill, 1141.
Eberschweiler, Frederick H., Ill, 6g8.
Edgar, Henry, I, 199, 201, 205, 206, 208.
Edgar. Henry F,, I, 316.
Edgehill, I, 848.
Edgerton, Sidney, coming of, I, 279; in-
terviews Lincoln, I, 279; leaves Mon-
tana, 281, 298, 868.
Edmonds, Herbert D., Ill, 924.
Education: consolidation of higher insti-
tutions, I, 475 ; retirement salary fund
created, 479; free text books pro-
vided. 482; vocational training intro-
duced and Junior College courses
added to high scliool curriculum, 482;
first scliools and superintendents, 493 ;
University foundation laid, 496: foun-
dation of State system laid by en-
abling act, 498, 499; State Text Book
Commission established, 500; appor-
tionment of common school income
fund (1889-1920), 501; income from
leased lands, 502 ; Montana's rank
among the states, 503 ; enrollment and
attendance (1908-1920). 504-509; train-
ing of Montana teachers, 509; teacher
shortage, 510; county school admin-
istration, 511; high school normal
training departments, 513; salaries of
high-grade teachers, 514; health of
school children, 515; vocational work.
516; school dormitories, 517; rural
schools in city districts, 518; standard-
ization and consolidation, 519; state
school funds, 521 ; finances by coun-
ties, 524, 525, 526 ; school laws enacted
in 1921, 526; Montana's system of
higher, 528; schools of Custer county,
704; schools of Gallatin county, 729;
Bozeman schools, 731 ; schools of Lew-
is and Clark county, 750; Madison
county schools. 775 ; McCone county
schools, 777; Missoula county schools,
782; Missoula schools. 787; schools of
Silver Bow county, 831.
Edwards, Byrd H., Ill, 950.
Edwards. Caldwell. I, 459.
Edwards. David R.. III. 724.
Edwards, G. B., I. 503.
Edwards. John E., III. 1315.
Edwards, Thomas B., II. 180.
Edwards. Thomas R., I, 415.
Egan, James S.. Ill, 1231.
Egan. John. II, sii.
Ege. Ralph R.. II. 274.
Egerton, Sidney, I, 415.
Eggleston, Charles H., 11, 333.
Eggleston, Willis J., I, 868.
Eight-hour day for female labor, I, 482.
Eighteenth amendment : upheld by Uni-
ted States Supreme Court, I, 490.
Einsel, Charles S., Ill, 1304.
Eiselein, Alfred W., Ill, 991.
Ekalaka, I, 680.
Eliot, Charles D., II, 570.
Elk Basin Consolidated Petroleum Com-
pany, I, 877.
Elk in Montana forests (illustration),
I, 481.
Elkhorn mining district, $15,215,000, I,
766.
Elkins, William S., Ill, 1252.
Elling, Henry, I, 316.
EUing State Bank, I, 772.
Ellingson, Henry, II, 63.
Elliott, Edward C, I, 528, 869; III, Ii5i-
Elliott, James E., II, 61.
Elliott. John, II, 470.
Elliston, I, 809.
Elm Orlu Zinc and Copper mine, I, 383.
Elrod, M. J., I, 878.
Elwell, Charles B., Ill, 692.
Embrey, Austin M,. HI. 869.
Emerson, Charles I.. II, 23.
Emerson, Frank, III, 962.
Emerson, Lydia, III, 962.
Emigrant, I, 801.
Emigrant Gulch. I, 213, 233, 798, 799.
Emigrants attacked by Indians (illus-
tration), I, 182.
Emilie (Missouri river steamboat), I,
178, 179-
Emmett. Mackzy F., II, 55.
Enabling Act : provisions of the, I, 442.
Engebritson, Edward, III, 869.
Englet, Alfred O., HI, 1433.
£nnis, I. 775.
Ennis. Katherine S.. Ill, 1284.
Eplcr, George C, III, 1165.
Epler, John C. HI. 1391.
Ereaux, Adolph. HI, 984.
Ereaux, Ezra, III, 982.
Ereaux. Lazare, HI, 936.
Erickson, Erick A,, II, 124.
Erickson, Ole, HI, 929.
Erickson, S. Arne, II, 279.
Eschliman. John. HI, 1297.
Esgar. Charles C, II. 316.
Esselstyn. Elmer E., II, 506.
Eureka, I, 770.
Eureka Gold and Silver Mining Com-
pany, I, 286.
Evans, John M.. I. 459, 471, 480.
Evans, Lewis O., II, 5.
Evans, Nathaniel P., HI, 1161.
Evans, William C. Ill, 1286.
Evarts, T. C, I, 284.
Everett, T. M.. I. 471.
Ewalt. Hamilton W., HI, 1289.
Ewing. R. C, I, 282.
Expeditions of a decade (18S4-64), I,
163.
Faaborg, Simon C, HI, 1187.
Fabian. Anna. II. 127.
Fabian, Edward. II, 127.
Fabrick. J. P.. II. 309.
INDEX
XXI
Failures in State (1910-19), I, 875.
Fairfield, I, 843.
Fairview Milling Company, The, III,
1171.
Fairwcather, Bill, I, 329.
Fairvveather, William, I, 199, 206, 208.
Fallon, I, 810.
Fallon County: irrigation in, I, 600;
description of, 713.
Farlin, W. L., I, 371, 373, 829.
Farm Loans: delinquencies, I, 488; con-
dition of (1920), s8i.
Farmington, I, 843.
Farnuni, Abner R., Ill, 1421.
Farnum, Archie, I, 721.
Farr, Eli M., II, 53.
Father Ravalli meeting Indians at St.
Mary's (illustration), I, 155.
Faulds, James R., II, 510.
Faulds, William, I, 282.
Faulds, Winfield S., I, 654.
Faust, Henry J,, II, 131.
Featherman, H. A., II, 114.
Federal Farm Loan bonds, I, 482.
Fefferman, Sam, II, 245.
Felker, Preston R., II, 566.
Fellows, E. B., II, 297.
Felt, Stanley E., Ill, 1283.
Felton, Robert, III, 711.
Fenton, Edwin L., II, 90.
Fernald, Louise M., I, 698.
Fergus, Andrew, III, 1293.
Fergus, James, I, 200, 217, 316; and
wife (illustration), 318; 715; III
1293.
Fergus county: as an oil producer, I,
386; created, 409; irrigation in, 601;
description of, 715 ; development of
oil fields, 716, 717; United States Gov-
ernment experimental station, 717;
education and population, 718; water
powers and public ways, 719.
Fergus County Argus, I, 723.
Fergus County Democrat, I, 723.
Ferguson, William J., Ill, 1430.
Ferris, Arnold D., Ill, 688.
Ferris, Joseph A., Ill, 687.
Fetterman Massacre (1S66), I, 342, 344,
3-45-
Field, Charles, III, 1 109.
Field Brothers, I, 59.
Fields, Joseph, I, 28.
Fields, Reuben, I, 28, 50.
Fields Creek, I, 50.
Fifteen Mile Creek (Rattlesnake Creek),
I, 192.
Filcher, Joe D., Ill, 1140.
Finch, George P., II, 309.
Finlay, Francois : Montana's first gold
miner, I, 184, 186.
Firehole River, I, 118.
First bank in Montana, Virginia City
(illustration), I, 773.
First beef driven out of Montana, I, 393.
First Big Horn exploring party, I, 323.
First brewery in Montana, I, 775.
First discovery of oil in Montana, I, 387,
877.
First election, I, 219.
First gold miner of Montana, I, 184.
First postoffice in Montana, I, 219.
First railroad in Montana, I, 407.
First road law, I, 283.
First silver mining in Montana, I, 237.
First steamboat race on the upper Mis-
souri, I, 178.
First street railway in the territory, I,
851.
First Texas drive to Montana, I, 393.
First Montana Infantry: commended by
. Legislative Assembly, I, 454; United
States Volunteers, I, 644-48, again at
San Francisco (illustration), I, 647.
First National Bank, Dillon, I, 670.
First National Bank at Helena, I, 409.
First National Bank, Scobey, 11, 54.
First Regiment Infantry, Montana Na-
tional Guard, I, 644.
Fish and game law enacted, I, 483.
Fishbeck, Frank G., Ill, 813.
Fish Creek, I, 61.
Fish hatcheries, I, 636.
Fisher, Daniel R., II, 574.
Fisher, Harvey D., II, 529.
Fisher, John W., Ill, 856.
Fisk, Andrew J., I, 298, 316.
Fisk, George R., II, 533.
Fisk, James, I, 298.
Fisk, James L., I, 183.
Fiske, E. W., I, 761.
Fitton, Harry L., II, 136.
Fitzgerald, Thomas A., II, 441.
Flanagan, Merritt, II, 467.
Flaten, Ole, III, 665.
Flathead county, I, 241 ; created, I, 422 ;
450; irrigation in, 6oi ; description of,
723 ; population, I, 726.
Flathead county school children (illus-
tration), I, 517.
Flathead Indian Reservation, I, 161.
Flathead Indians, I, 87, 118, 142; friends
of the whites (1858), I, 167.
Flathead irrigation project: Assembly
asks Congress to aid, I, 480.
Flathead Lake (illustration), I, 160, 227,
635.
Flathead Lake Bird Reservation, I, 536.
Flathead National Forest, I, 624, 749.
Flathead (Indian) reclamation project,
I, 587, 589.
Flathead River, I, go, 226.
Flathead Valley, I, 792.
Flather, Mrs. Henry, I, 324.
Flatt, Neil B., Ill, 1395.
Flatwillow irrigation project, I, 584.
Flaxville, I, 708.
Fleenor, Isaac N., II, 767.
Fleming, Joseph B., II, 628.
Fletcher, Gayle M., II, 328.
Flinchpaugh, I. L., II, 633.
Flint, George H., Ill, 818.
Flint Creek Valley, I, 790.
Florence-Carlton Consolidated School
(illustration), I, 505.
Flower, Harold, III, 796.
Flowerree, I, 702.
Flowerree, Daniel A. G., II, 582.
Flowerree, William K., II, 583.
Floyd, Charles, I, 2r, 28.
Flovd, Harmon H., Ill, 1188.
Fluhr, William H., Ill, 1200.
Fluss, Alonzo, III, 1368.
INDEX
Flynn, Jerry, III, 942.
Foley, John E., II, 577.
Foley, John J., Ill, 1296.
Follensby, Edmund C, II, 622.
Foor, Arlie M., Ill, 873.
Foote, L. R., I, 549.
Forbes, Charley, I, 242, 249.
Forbes, James, I, 394.
Forbes, Jessee F., II, 173.
Forbes, Thomas R., Ill, 897.
Forbis, C. J., II, 448.
Forbis, H. T., II, 453.
Ford, Lee M„ II, 536.
Ford, Lewis C, II, 334.
Ford, Robert S., II, 535-
Ford, Samuel C, III, 1179.
Ford, Shirley S., II, 607.
Ford, William L., Ill, 1203.
Forde, Walter, III, 1266.
Forest fire: laws, I, 627; airplane patrol,
629.
Forest public lands, I, 621.
Forest service, I, 623 ; State and Federal
co-operation, 628.
Forestry: organization and legislation,
I, 626.
Forestry and lumbering, I, 621-30.
Forestry school established, I, 476.
Forman, Henry H., II, 190.
Forsyth, I, 821. <
Forsyth, Harold F., II, 16.
Forsythe, George, III, 1169.
Fort Alexander, I, 127, 128, 129, 141.
Fort Assiniboine, I, 743.
Fort Beauharnois, I, 4.
Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, I, 640.
Fort Benton, I, 128; ruins of old (illus-
tration), 130; 139; Presbyterian mis-
sion, 158; (old) (illustration), 214.
215; (igoo), 216; during ante-railroad
days, 557.
Fort Benton City, I, 701.
Fort Brule (Burnt Fort), I, 126, 139.
Fort Buford, I, 138.
Fort Cass, I, 113, 127, 141.
Fort Custer, I, 359.
Fort Ellis, I, 311.
Fort F. A. Chardon built, I, 125 ; burnt,
126; 140.
Fort Floyd (Fort Union) founded. I,
III.
Fort Harrison, I, 751.
Fort Philip Kearney, I, 307, 342, 343,
346.
Fort Keogh. I, 359; remount station,
702 ; 705, 706.
Fort LaBarge, I, 179; decline and fall
of, 181, 183.
Fort Laramie, futile Indian council at,
I, 340.
Fort Lewis, I, 126, 127; becomes Fort
Benton, 128, 139; missionary work at,
I, 151.
Fort Lisa, I, 69.
Fort Manuel, I, 69.
Fort McKenzie: built, I, 112, 113, 123;
burned, 125.
Fort Owen: established, I, 132 (old);
near Stevensville (illustration), 133;
167 (1858) ; 177, 227, 324.
Fort Peck (Indian) reclamation project,
I, 587; 589, 639, 815.
Fort Piegan : abandoned, I, 112.
Fort Reno, I, 307.
Fort Sarpy, I, 127, 128, 141.
Fort Shaw, I, 311.
Fort Sheridan, I, 305, 306.
Fort C. F. Smith, I, 307, 342.
Fort Tullock, I, 127.
Fort Union (Fort Floyd), I, III, 112;
120, 135; (second), 138; first steam-
boat arrives at, 138.
Fort Van Buren, I, 127, 140.
Fort William, I, 120.
Fortman, Clemens H., Ill, 1258.
Foss, Albert J., II, 462.
Foster, Luther, I, 500.
Foster, Rodney E., II, 334.
Fousek, Albert J., II, 588.
Fowell, Logan V., Ill, 734.
Fowler, I, 804.
Fovvlie, George, II, 648.
Fox, Clarence S., Ill, 1126.
Fo.x, Dominick, II, 600.
Fox, Harry, III, 1126.
Fox, John F., Ill, 719.
Fox, J. M., I, 270.
Fox, Magdalena S., II, 600.
Fox, Maggie, III, 1438.
Fox, S. B., in, 1 125.
Foy, John H., Ill, 854.
Foy, Nancy J., Ill, 855.
Franklin, Arad H., II. ■/■;.
Franklin, Ira D., I, 427.
Franks, Sumner St. C., Ill, 674.
Frantz Corporation, I, 388, 877.
Franzke. Arthur A., Ill, 1362.
Frazer, I, 846.
Frazier, Robert, I. 28, 50.
Frazier, William H., Ill, 974.
Frazier creek, I, 50.
Frederick, Ole G., Ill, 1076.
Frederick. Oliver, III, 1076.
Freeborn, Harrison J., Ill, 990.
Freeman, August J., Ill, 1318.
Freeman, Henry C, I, 833.
Freeman, J. M., II, 243.
Frenchtown, I, 225.
Frenchtown Valley, I, 790, 791.
Fresno, I. 744.
Friend, Franklin, I, 339.
Friend, George, I, 339.
Fringe (Indian warrior), I, 168, 172.
Froid, I, 817.
Frush, Charles W., I, 176.
Fulkcrson, Grover E., Ill, 1188.
Fuller. August, III, 970.
Fuller, George E., Ill, 882.
Fuller, Mary A.. Ill, 970.
Fuller, Samuel, III, 970.
Fulsher, F. R., II, 569.
Fulton. William, III, 1306.
Fur companies : pioneer, I, 103-134.
Fur trade era, I, 135-142.
Fur traders: pioneer, I, 103-134: their
Indian wives, I. 152.
Fur trading: methods of, I, 137.
Gabb, \N. W^, III, 794.
Gabriel, Fred C, III, 1228.
Gaddis, Charles G., 11, 597.
INDEX
Gaethke, Paul C, II, 478.
Gagnoii, George L., II, 536.
Gail, William W., II, 164.
Gaines, Edward E., Ill, 1300.
Gainor, Harold G., II, 5SI-
Galbraith, Thomas J., I, 438.
Galbraith, William J., I, 426 (portrait),
428; 430.
Galen, Albert J. : sketch of, I, 436, 86g.
Gallagher, Jack, I, 242, 249.
Gallatin City, I, 306, 336-
Gallatin county, number and value of
cattle (1884), I, 395; 411; finest rural
school (Illustration), 508; irrigation
in, 601 ; description of, y2T.
Gallatin County High School, II, 400.
Gallatin National Forest, I, 624, 778.
Gallatin range, I, 91.
Gallatin river, I, 48, 61, 89, 230.
Gallatin Valley, Scenes in the (Illus-
tration), I, 728.
Gallatin way, I, 730.
Gallwey, Harry A., II, S42.
Galpin, William, I, 177.
Gait, D. A., II, 338.
Game preserves, I, 483, 637.
Gannett, I, 92.
Gannon, John, I, 443, 499.
Gans, Edward M., Ill, 1231.
Garden, Olaf, II, 219.
Gardiner, I, 633, 801.
Gardner, Mary C, I, 760.
Garfield county : as an oil producer, I,
386; created, 483; irrigation in, 602;
description of, 734; rural flour mill
(Illustration), 735.
Garland, Richard W., Ill, 935.
Garlow, Charles R., I, 868.
Garniell, I, 717.
Garrison, I, 790.
Garver, Frank H., II, 331.
Gary, John P., II, 408.
Gary, Martin A., II, 408.
Gaskill, Daniel M., Ill, 1104.
Gass, Patrick, I, 20, 28, 46, 50, 143.
Gass Creek, I, 46.
Gass Journal, I, 21, 27.
Gate of the Mountains, I, 747.
Gates, Albert W., II, 176.
Gates, Christopher, I, 306.
Gates of the Rocky Mountains (Illus-
tration), I, 45; 46.
Gatiss, Harry, III, 853.
Gatton, Cyrus J., I, 654.
Gaucher, Peter, I, 145.
Gazette Printing Company, II, 161.
Geary, Michael, III, 1166.
Geery, Henry T., I, 192.
Gemmell, James, I, 219.
General election law passed (1888), I,
412.
General highway law passed, I, 479.
"Geological Notes on Northern and Cen-
tral Montana" (Mortson), I, 94.
Geology of Montana, I, 93.
George, A. G. P., I, 415.
George, W. H., Ill, 800.
Georgetown Lake, I, 713.
Geraldine, I, 702.
Gerer, Oswald M., II, 561.
German: teaching of, reinstated in Uni-
versity, I, 538.
German Gulch, I, 213, 223.
Gerondale, J. J., II, 190.
Geyser, I, 699.
Giant Geyser, Yellowstone Park (Illus-
tration), I, 117.
Giant Springs, Great Falls, I, 686.
Gibbon, John, I, 309, 347 (portrait), 348,
352, 356, 360.
Gibbon Battlefield, I, 784.
Gibbs, William B., Ill, 899.
Gibson, Fred L., II, 68.
Gibson, George, I, 28.
Gibson, Henry B., II, 133.
Gibson, James, II, 472.
Gibson, Jennie, II, 473.
Gibson, Paris: elected U. S. Senator, I,
4S7; coming of, to Great Falls, I, 688;
III, 657-
Gibson, Theodore, I, 698.
Gifford, Albert C, HI, 1208.
Gifford, Edgar, II, 539.
Gildford, I, 744.
Gilham, George W., HI, 1196.
Gilkerson, John O., HI, 1291.
Gillette, Clarence F., HI, 1331.
Gillette, Frederick B., 1009.
Gillette, Warren C, I, 316.
Gillie, John, I, 548.
Gillis, Malcolm, II, 599.
Gilman, I, 749.
Gilmore, Michael, III, 1345.
Gist, Duke, HI, 1170.
Glacial period of Montana, I, 98, 100.
Glacier: county created, I, 451; irriga-
tion in, 602 ; description of, 737, 738.
Glacier National Park, I, 633, 634; its
lakes, I, 637.
Glade Creek, I, 60.
Glasgow, I, 588, 846.
Glass, George W., Ill, 692.
Glendenning, William, HI, 739.
Glendive, sketch of, I, 710.
Glenn, Lewis D., HI, 1131.
Click, J. S., I, 218.
Gnose, James B., II, 602.
Goble, Wade, HI, 1352.
Goddard, O. Fletcher, II, 211.
Godfrey, E. S., I, 356.
Gohn, George E., HI, 713.
Gold Creek, I, 790.
Gold discoveries and workings (first), I,
184.
Gold mining: placer, I, 234; relation of
glaciers to, 235 ; development of
quartz, 237.
Gold, silver and copper deposits (Clark),
I. 236.
Golden Valley County : irrigation in, I,
606; description of, 739; population of,
740, 861.
Good, Henry, HI, 847.
Good, Thomas, HI, 1 106.
Goodale, Charles W.. I, 548; H, 514.
Goodall, Herbert, I. 868.
Goodfriend. Sig. II. 420.
Goodman, Edward H., HI, 997.
Goodrich, Silas, I, 28.
Good Roads Day founded, I. 478.
Good roads movement, I, 488.
XXIV
INDEX
Good roads in Western Montana (Illus-
tration), I, 573.
Goodsill, M. Max, I, 761.
Goodwin, Phillip C., II, 519.
Gordon, Louis E., II, 151.
Gordon, William R., Ill, 997.
Gore, St. George, I, 163, 164.
Gormley, A. C, I, 461.
Gosch, Michael J., II, 206.
Goss, James R., II, 435.
Gourley, James, I, 287.
Government fish hatchery, Billings, I,
853.
Government road through Jefferson Na-
tional forest (illustration), I, 571.
Governors of Montana, I, 868.
Gowrie, Elizabeth, III, 768.
Gowrie, Peter, III, 768.
Goza, Samuel D., Ill, 1424.
Graeter, Augustus F., I, 2S6; 11, 347.
Grafton, Francis M., II, 53.
Graham, Richard, III, 734.
Graham, William, I, 189, 209, 222, 282,
371.
Grain Grading, Inspection and Ware-
housing Commission, I, 484.
Grain inspection laboratory, I, 529.
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (Il-
lustration), I, 639. .
Granite Creek, I, 192.
Granite County : I, 241 ; created, 442,
451 ; irrigation in, 602.
Grant, Henry I., II, 290.
Grant, James J., Ill, 783.
Grant, Jesse W., Ill, 1215.
Grant, John, I, 181, 391.
Grant, John F., I, 161, 187, 188.
Grant, Richard, Sr., I, 187.
Grant, Ricliard, I, 225.
Grant, Robert, I, 222.
Grantville, I, 222.
Grasshopper Diggings (Baniiack City),
I, 230.
Grassi, Urbanus, I, t6i.
Grass Range, I, 717.
Grass Valley, I, 791.
Gravelly Range, I, 98,
Graves, Andrew C, III, 1038.
Graves. William, I, 249.
Gray, Frank M., II, 403.
Gray, Henry, II, 629.
Gray, John, I, 147.
Gray, Macomb B., II, 252.
Grav, Robert, I, 14, 15.
Gra'y, W. H„ I, I45-
Grayson, John, III, 876.
Grayson, Richard, III, 802.
Great Blackfoot Glacier, Glacier Park
(Illustration), I, 635.
Great Falls of the Missouri : Lewis finds,
I, 40 ; described by Captain Lewis, 41 ;
first white women to see the, 180.
Great Falls: state capital contestant, I,
441; power development at, 684; 686;
history of, 687; development of power
in its area, 688; 689, 690; city of, 690;
(Illustration) 691; population of, 691 ;
business and industries of, 692; trans-
portation facilities, 604; churches,
charities and fraternities, 696; city
public schools, 697; Y. M. C. A., 6q6;
Y. W. C. A., 697 ; public library, 698.
Great Falls coal field, I, 241.
Great Falls Commercial Club, I, 695.
Great Falls Packing Plant, I, 694.
Great Falls Reduction Works, I, 684.
Great Falls water power: development
of (also illustration), I, 630; 631.
Great Northern Railway, I, 560; electri-
fication of, 568, 588, 630.
Great St. Mary's Lakes, I, 638.
Great Western Sugar Company Plant,
Missoula, I, 784.
Greeley, Horace, I, 303.
Green, Andrew, III, 1299.
Green, Charles F., Ill, 1140.
Green, E. J., II, 637.
Green, George R., II, 291.
Green, James, III, 803.
Green, Jennie M., Ill, 1140.
Green, Melissa, III, 804.
Greenan, Philip, II, 643.
Greenback Mining Company, I, 771.
Greene, John J., II, =;75.
Greene, "W. H. C, III, 1206.
Greenfield, Charles D., I, 387, 468, 869,
878.
Greening, Charles W., Ill, 1303.
Greery, H. T., I, 196.
Gregg, W. A., Ill, 793.
Greig, Richard, III, 963.
Grein, Phil, II, 253. ,
Griffin, George N., II, 586.
Grifiin, James, III. S79.
Griffin, Lewis M., Ill, 1103.
Griffith. Joseph, I, 219.
Grigg, Elmer R., II, 394.
Grigg, Thomas A., II, 393.
Grigsby, Melvin, I, 643.
Grimes, Henry j., II, 158.
Grimstad, O. King, 11, 200.
Groene. Merle C, II, 430.
Groff, H. C, II, 531.
Groff, Lawrence S., II, 524.
Grover, George E., II, 612.
Gruber. Edward P., Ill, 994.
Gruwell, Hugh C, II, 411.
Guinn, Charles C, III, 1328.
Guinzy, V. F., II, 321.
Gunn, Milton S., I, 438; III, 1131.
Gunther, Joseph J., Ill, 1123.
Gussenhoven, Joseph, III, 779.
Gustafson, Richard E., Ill, 1063.
Guthard, Charles H., II. 201.
Guthrie, Andrew L., II, 237.
Guthrie, Lou, I. 7=;8, 760.
Gutz, Walter T., Ill, 1158.
Gwinn, Hubert H., II, 450.
Gwinn, James L., Ill, 1434.
Hackley, James F., Ill, 1.309.
Hadzor, James H., Ill, 717.
Hagan, D. J., I, 303.
Hagelie, Helmer. II, 354.
Hagen, Sever, III. 1412.
Hagge, Carl D., II, 153.
Hahn, George D., Ill, T036.
Hain, Volney J., Ill, 719.
Haley, John R., II, 404.
Haley, Josephine M., I, 760.
Half Century of Conflict (Francis Park-
man), I, 7, 8.
Ilalgren, Warner L., II, 104.
INDEX
XXV
Halgrims, C. O., II, 167.
Hall, I, 741-
Hall, Charles H., II, 458.
Hall, DeLoss T., Ill, 1214.
Hall, Henrv C, III, 1025.
Hall, Hugh, I, 28.
Hall, J. H., I, 468.
Hall & Simpson, I, 217.
Hall, W. A., II, 278.
Halloran, Patrick M., II, 304.
Halter, Charles, II, 121.
Hamblin, I, 777-
Hamilton, I, 792, 812.
Hamilton, Dick, I, 217.
Hamilton, James M., I, 548; H, 350.
Hamilton, Kosciusko, III, 977.
Hamilton, Leslie H., II, 610.
Hamilton, Robert J., Ill, 1206.
Hamilton, Robert S., Ill, 1362.
Hamilton, William T. : Scout "Sign-
Man" and investigator, I, 164-176.
Hamilton-McKav party : returns to Wal-
la Walla, I, 176.
Hamilton schools, II, 68..
Hamlin. Robert M., Ill, 1390.
Hample. John E.. II, 494-
Hamrick, C. P., II, 373-
Hancock, Charles, II, 150.
Handel. Fred W., II, 464.
Handley, Robert W., Ill, 759-
Hangman's Gulch, I, 783.
Hanley, Daniel, II, 558.
Hanley, Marcus R., II, 559.
Hanley, Robert J., II, 216.
Hanna, William, II, 118.
Hanover, I, 719.
Hansen, Al, III, 1338.
Hanson, Charles M., Ill, 1057-
Hanson, Philo C, I. 514.
Harader, John A., II, 64.
Hardin. I, 673.
Hardv, Frank E., Ill, 988.
Hardy. Henry W.. III. 661.
Hardy. Samuel J., Ill, 1143.
Hargadine. Edward C. II, S98. '
Harkness. James, I, 177.
Harkness. Margaret, I. 180.
Harlan, John M.. I, 411.
Harlem. I, 588. 674.
Harlowton. I, 847.
Harmon. W. E., I, 502, 504; II, 100.
Harney, Edward W., I, 459.
Harper, George. Ill, 833.
Harrington. Arthur J.. Ill, 1139.
Harrington, J. V., if, 609.
Harrington. Nellie. II, 610.
Harris. B. M., Ill, 1128.
Harris, William E., II, 56.
Harris Gulch, I. 231.
Harrison, I. 775.
Harrison. J. Scott. I, 869: HI, 664.
Hart, Harlon L., Ill, 669.
Hartley, Charles E., II, 59-
Hartman, C. S., I, 448, 451, 452, 465.
Hartman. J. L.. II. 571.
Hartzell, Lester J.. II. 537.
Harvat. John H.. II, 327.
Harvey, Alexander, I, 123, 124, 126;
death of, 127, 152.
Harvey, Charles L., II, 409.
Harwood, Benjamin P., I, 657.
Harwood, Edgar N., I, 43i, 435.
Haskell, Henri J., I, 431. 443.
Hastings, Parker W., II, 348.
Hastv, John H., Ill, 1237.
Hatch, Joseph A., Ill, 938.
Hauck, Lawrence, II, 141.
Hauser, Samuel T., I, 189, 192, 193, 196,
197, 221, 284, 286; sketch of, 409;
(portrait), 410; 412; resigns as gov-
ernor, 411, 868.
Hauswirth, Simon, I, 725 I IH, 831.
Hauxhurst, James, I, 192.
Haverfield, Orville S., Ill, 1032.
Haviland, David J., II, 438.
Havre. I. 743.
Hawk, Joseph V., Ill, 767.
Hawkesworth, Arthur L.. Ill, 1 173.
Hawley, Herbert C, II, 632.
Hawley, Swope, I, 222.
Hayes, Martin F., I, 120.
Haywood. Guy T., Ill, 1425.
Head, Clinton. II. 169.
Healy, John J., I, 287.
Healy. J. Peter P., Ill, 987.
Heaney, Arthur P., II, 614.
Heath, L. W., I, 761.
Hebb, Frank M., III. 1097.
Heber, George F, III, 1204.
Hedge & Company, I, 220.
Hedges, Cornelius, I, 211, 316, 404, 41S,
422 ; as superintendent of public in-
struction, 494; (portrait), 49S ; 497.
757, 760.
Hedges, Daniel J., III. I0I2.
Hedges. Harry H.. Ill, 1012.
Hedges, Judd P., HI, ion.
Hedges, Oliver G., Ill, 1012.
Hedges, Willys A., I, 757, 758, 760; II,
81.
Hedgesville, I, 848.
Hefferlin, Charles S., II, 236.
Heidel, A. W., I, 869.
Heidel, C. S., I, 581.
Heidel, E. L., 11, 353-
Heidelman. John H.. II, 406.
Heikkila, Emil, II, 29.
Heilbronner, Adolph H., II, 577.
Heinze, F. Augustus : enters Butte field,
I. 376, i77 ; suits against the Amalga-
mated Copper Company, I, 377, 378,
457-
Heldt, F. George, I, 164.
Helena (see also Last Chance Gulch) :
altitude of, I, 92; 209; named by John
Somerville, 211, 212; incorporated,
312: becomes territorial capital. 31S;
territorial capital contest. 422; capital
to remain at, 441 ; 751 ; sketch of, 755 ;
778.
Helena branch of the Federal Reserve
Bank of Minneapolis, I, 871.
Helena Catholic Cathedral, I, 755.
Helena Commercial Club. I. 761, 763.
Helena district : entered by Lewis and
Clark. I. 45; its mountains (illustra-
tions). 97.
Helena Free Public Library, I, 757.
Helena in 1870 (illustration). I, 756.
Helena Library Association. I. 757.
Helena National Forest. I, 624, 745, 749.
XXIV
INDEX
Good roads in Western Montana (Illus-
tration), I, 573.
Goodsill, M. Max, I, 761.
Goodwin, Pliillip C., II, 519.
Gordon, Louis E., II, 151.
Gordon, William R., Ill, 997.
Gore, St. George, I, 163, 164.
Gormley, A. C, I, 461.
Gosch, Michael J., II, 206.
Goss, James R., II, 435.
Gourley, James, I, 287.
Government fish hatchery, Billings, I,
853.
Government road through Jefferson Na-
tional forest (illustration), I, 571.
Governors of Montana, I, 868.
Gowrie, Elizabeth, III, 768.
Gowrie, Peter, III, 768.
Goza, Samuel D., Ill, 1424.
Graeter, Augustus F., I, 286; II, 347.
Grafton, Francis M., II, 53.
Graham, Richard, III, 734.
Graham, William, I, 189, 209, 222, 282,
371.
Grain Grading, Inspection and Ware-
housing Commission, I, 484.
Grain inspection laboratory, I, 529.
Grand Canyon of the Yellovv'stone (Il-
lustration), I, 639.
Granite Creek, I, 192.
Granite County: I, 241; created, 442,
451 ; irrigation in, 602.
Grant, Henry I., II, 290.
Grant, James J., Ill, 783.
Grant, Jesse W., Ill, 1215.
Grant, John, I, 181, 391.
Grant, John F., I, 161, 187, 188.
Grant, Richard, Sr., I, 187.
Grant, Richard, I, 225.
Grant, Robert, I, 222.
Grantville, I, 222.
Grasshopper Diggings (Bannack City),
I, 230.
Grassi, Urbanus, I, 161.
Grass Range, I, 717.
Grass Valley, I, 791.
Gravelly Range, I, 98.
Graves, .Andrew C, III, 1038.
Graves. William, I, 249.
Gray, Frank M., II, 403.
Gray, Henry, II, 629.
Gray, John, I, 147.
Gray, Macomb B., II, 252.
Gray, Robert, I, 14, 15.
Gray, W. H., I, 145.
Grayson, John, III, S76.
Grayson, Richard, III, 802.
Great Blackfoot Glacier, Glacier Park
(Illustration), I, 635.
Great Falls of the Missouri : Lewis finds,
I, 40; described by Captain Lewis, 41 ;
first white women to see the, 180.
Great Falls : state capital contestant, I,
441; power development at, 684; 686:
history of. 687 : development of power
in its area, 688; 689, 690; city of, 6go;
(Illustration) 691; population of, 691;
business and industries of, 692; trans-
portation facilities, 604; churches,
charities and fraternities, 696; city
public schools. 697; Y. M. C. A., 6g6;
Y. W. C. A., 697 ; public library, 698.
Great Falls coal field, I, 241.
Great Falls Commercial Club, I, 695.
Great Falls Packing Plant, I, 694.
Great Falls Reduction Works, I, 684.
Great Falls water power : development
of (also illustration), I, 630; 631.
Great Northern Railway, I, 560; electri-
fication of, 568, 588, 630.
Great St. Mary's Lakes, I, 638.
Great Western Sugar Company Plant,
Missoula, I, 784.
Greeley, Horace, I, 303.
Green, Andrew, III, 1299.
Green, Charles F., Ill, 1140.
Green, E. J., II, 637.
Green, George R., II, 291.
Green, James, III, 803.
Green, Jennie M., Ill, 1140.
Green, Melissa, III, 804.
Greenan, Philip, II, 643.
Greenback Mining Company, I, 771.
Greene, John J., II, ^75.
Greene, W. H. C, III, 1206.
Greenfield, Charles D., I, 387, 468, 869,
878.
Greening. Charles W., Ill, 1303.
Greery, H. T., I, 196.
Gregg, W. A., III. 793.
Greig, Richard. Ill, 963.
Grein, Phil, II, 2S3. •
Griffin, George N., II, 586.
Griffin, James, III. 879.
Griffin, Lewis M., Ill, 1103.
Griffith, Joseph, I, 219.
Grigg, Elmer R., II, 394.
Grigg, Thomas A., II, 393.
Grigsby, Melvin, I, 643.
Grimes, Henry J., II, 158.
Grimstad, O. King, II, 200.
Groene, Alerle C, II, 430.
Groff. H. C, n, 531.
Groff, Lawrence S., II, 524.
Grover, George E., II, 612.
Gruber. Edward P., Ill, 994.
Gruwell. Hugh C, II, 411.
Guinn, Charles C, III, 1328.
Guinzy. V. F., II, 321.
Gunn. Milton S., I, 43S ; III. 1131.
Gunther, Joseph J., III. 1123.
Gussenhoven, Joseph, III. 779.
Gustafson. Richard E., Ill, 1063.
Guthard, Charles H., II, 2or.
Guthrie, Andrew L., II, 237.
Guthrie, Lou, I. 7^8, 760.
Gutz, Walter T., III. 1158.
Gwinn, Hubert H., II, 450.
Gwinn, James L., Ill, 1434.
Hackley, James F., Ill, 1399.
Hadzor, James H., Ill, 717.
Hagan, D. J., I, 303.
Hagelie, Helmer. II, 354.
Hagen, Sever, III, 14 12.
Hagge, Carl D., II, 153.
Hahn, George D., Ill, 1036.
Hain, Volney J., Ill, 719.
Haley, John R., II. 404.
Haley, Josephine M., I, 76a.
Half Century of Conflict (Francis Park-
man), I, 7, 8.
Halgren, Warner L., II. 104.
INDEX
XXV
Halgrims, C. O., II, 167.
Hall, I, 741-
Hall, Charles H., II, 458.
Hall, DeLoss T., Ill, 1214.
Hall, Henrv C, III, 1025.
Hall, Hugh, I, 28.
Hall, J. H., I, 468.
Hall & Simpson, I, 217.
Hall, W. A., II, 278.
Halloran, Patrick M., II, 304.
Halter, Charles, II, 121.
Hamblin, I, 777-
Hamilton, I. 792, 812.
Hamilton, Dick, I, 217.
Hamilton, James M., I, 548; II, 350.
Hamilton, Kosciusko, HI, 977.
Hamilton, Leslie H., II, 610.
Hamilton, Robert J., HI, 1206.
Hamilton, Robert S., Ill, 1362.
Hamilton, William T. : Scout "Sign-
Man" and investigator, I, 164-176.
Hamilton-McKay party : returns to Wal-
la Walla, I, 176.
Hamilton schools, II, 68.
Hamlin, Robert M., Ill, 1390.
Hample, John E., II, 494.
Hamrick, C. P., II, 373.
Hancock, Charles, II, ISO.
Handel, Fred W., II, 464.
Handley, Robert W.. Ill, 759.
Hangman's Gulch. I, 783.
Hanley, Daniel, II, 558.
Hanley, Marcus R.. II, SS9-
Hanlev, Robert J., II, 216.
Hanna. William, II, 118.
Hanover, I, 719.
Hansen, Al, HI, 1338.
Hanson, Charles M., HI, 1057.
Hanson, Philo C, I. 514.
Harader, John A., II, 64.
Hardin. I, 673.
Hardy. Frank E., HI. 988.
Hardy, Henry W., Ill, 661.
Hardy. Samuel J., Ill, 1143.
Hargadine, Edward C, II, 598.
Harkness, James, I, 177.
Harkness. Margaret, I, 180.
Harlan, John M.. I, 411.
Harlem, I, 588, 674.
Harlowton, I, 847.
Harmon, W. E., I. 502, 504; II, 100.
Harney, Edward W., I, 4S9.
Harper. George, III, 833.
Harrington, Arthur J., HI, 1 139.
Harrington, J. V., 11, 609.
Harrington, Nellie, II, 610.
Harris, B. M., HI, 1128.
Harris, William E., II, 56.
Harris Gulch, I, 231.
Harrison, I, 77=^.
Harrison, J. Scott, I. 869: III, 664.
Hart, Harlon L., Ill, 669.
Hartley, Charles E., II, 59.
Hartman, C. S., I, 448, 451, 452, 465.
Hartman, J. L., II, 571.
Hartzell, Lester J., II, 537.
Harvat, John H., II, 327.
Harvey, Alexander, I, 123, 124, 126;
death of, 127, 152.
Harvey, Charles L., II, 409.
Harwood, Benjamin P., I, 657.
Harwood, Edgar N., I, 43i, 435-
Haskell, Henri J., I, 431, 443-
Hastings, Parker W., II, 348.
Hastv, John H., HI, 1237.
Hatch, Joseph A., Ill, 938.
Hauck, Lawrence, II, 141.
Hauser, Samuel T., I, 189, 192, 193, 196,
197, 221, 284, 286; sketch of, 409;
(portrait), 410; 412; resigns as gov-
ernor, 411, 868.
Hauswirth, Simon, I, 725 I HI. 831.
Hau.xhurst, James, I, 192.
Haverfield. Orville S., Ill, 1032.
Haviland, David J., II, 438.
Havre, I, 743.
Hawk, Joseph V., HI, 767.
Hawkesworth, Arthur L., Ill, 1 173.
Hawley, Herbert C, II, 632.
Hawley, Swope, I, 222.
Hayes, Martin F., I, 120.
Haywood, Guy T., HI, 1425.
Head, Clinton, II, 169.
Healy, John J., I, 287.
Healy, J. Peter P., HI, 987.
Heaney, Arthur P., II, 614.
Heath, L. W., I, 761.
Hebb, Frank M., HI, 1097.
Heber, George F , III, 1204.
Hedge & Company, I, 220.
Hedges, Cornelius, I, 211, 316, 404, 415,
422; as superintendent of public in-
struction, 494; (portrait), 49s; 497.
757, 760.
Hedges, Daniel J., Ill, 1012.
Hedges, Harry H., Ill, 1012.
Hedges, Judd P., Ill, ion.
Hedges, Oliver G., Ill, 1012.
Hedges, Willys A., I, 757, 758, 760; II,
81.
Hedgesville, I, 848.
Hefferlin, Charles S., II, 236.
Heidel, A. W., I, 869.
Heidel, C. S., I, 581.
Heidel, E. L., II, 353-
Heidelman. John H., II, 406.
Heikkila, Emil, II, 29.
Heilbronner, Adolph H., II, 577.
Heinze, F. Augustus : enters Butte field,
I. 376. 377 ; suits against the Amalga-
mated Copper Company, I, 377, 378,
457-
Heldt, F. George, I, 164.
Helena (see also Last Chance Gulch) :
altitude of, I, 92; 209; named by John
Somerville, 211, 212; incorporated,
312: becomes territorial capital, 315;
territorial capital contest, 422; capital
to remain at, 441 ; 751 ; sketch of, 755 ;
778.
Helena branch of the Federal Reserve
Bank of Minneapolis, I, 871.
Helena Catholic Cathedral, I, 755.
Helena Commercial Club, I, 761, 763.
Helena district : entered by Lewis and
Clark, I, 45; its mountains (illustra-
tions). 07.
Helena Free Public Library, I, 757.
Helena in 1870 (illustration), I, 756.
Helena Library Association. I, 757.
Helena National Forest, I, 624, 745, 749.
INDEX
Helena region, typical mines in the (il-
lustration), I, 76-', 764; mineral pro-
duction of the, 765, 766.
Helgeson, Henry C, HI, 1288.
Heller, August, H, 637.
Hell Gate (Missoula), I, 223.
Hell Gate canyon, I, 228.
Hell Gate River, I, 90, 227.
Hell Gate Ronde, I, 177, 223.
Helm, Boone, I, 249.
Helmville, I, 790, 809.
Helsing, John O., 11, 116.
Henderson, Charles S., H, 539.
Henderson, William C, HI, 1366.
Hendrickson, Otto, HI, 804.
Hennessy, John H., HI, 862.
Hennessy, John, HI, 1064.
Henry, Andrew, I, 103; abandons Three
Forks Trading Post, 104; 108.
Henry, Frank, I, 438.
Henry's Fork of Snake River, I, 105.
Henry's Lake, I, 105.
Henry's Post in 1870, I, 106.
Henter, Leo A., H, 145.
Hepner, H. Sol, H, 621.
Hepperle, Karl, lU, 1355.
Herd districts created, 1, 482.
Hereford, Robert, 1, 185.
Heron, I, 824.
Herren, William, I, 255
Herrick, Una B., H, 349.
Herring, Presley L., IIL 1026.
Hershey, Elmer E., H, 466.
Hevifett, Arthur L., H, 212.
Hexom, Peter, HL 1021.
Hickey, Edward, 1, 829; HI, 1205.
Hickman, R. O., I, 443.
Hickox, Willard, II, 82.
Hier, Albert S., Ill, 902.
Higgins, Christopher P., I, 223, 282, 784.
Higgins, Francis G., I, 532.
Higgins, Frank G., I, 643.
Higgins, F. G., I, 500.
Higham, John O., II, 21.
Higher education, I, 528-552.
Highland Park School, Lewiston (illus-
tration), I, 720.
Highway Law: passed, I, 474, 475.
Highways:' transcontinental, I, 570.
Highways and bridges : federal aid in
building, I, 572.
Highwood, I, 702.
Higlnvood Mountains, I, 91.
Hilburn, Samuel, III, 864.
Hilger, David, II, 18.
Hilger, Nicholas, describes Sioux battle
of Kildeer Mountain, I, 294-97.
Hill, Charley W., II, 192.
Hill, Harry D , HI, 1224.
Hill, James J., I, 552; gives history of
Great Northern Railway, 560-66; re-
signs presidency of Great Northern
system, 566 ; 688.
Hill County : created, I, 474 ; irrigation
in, 602; description of, 742.
Hill county potatoes (illustration), I,
742-
Hillman. J. R.. I, 725.
Himsl. Victor S.. III. 1354.
Hinchilwood. J. P.. Ill, 797.
Hind, Bert S., II, 38.
Hingham, I, 744.
Hinsdale, I, 588.
Hirst, John D., II, 276.
Hirst, Tom, II, 27.
History of Montana (Granville Stuart).
I, 226.
"History of Washington, Idaho and
Montana" (Bancroft), I, 159.
Hitzfeldt, Fred, HI, 1259.
Hoback, Richard, I, 298.
Hobbins, James R., II, 615.
Hobensack, Isaac M., II, 84
Hobson, Simeon S., II, 567.
Hodge, Pearl D., II, 410.
Hodgskiss, William, III, 999.
Hodgson, Arthur M., Ill, 1037.
Hodgson, George T., Ill, 864.
Hodson, Alvin, III, 722.
Hodson, Dale, II, 455.
Hoeken, Adrian, I, 150, 161.
Hoccken, I, 161.
Hoenck, Richard P., II, 487.
Hofer, Bert, III, 846.
Hoff, Norbert C, HI, 1138.
Hoffman, Charles W., I, 316.
Hogan, T. S., I, 453; H, 371.
Hogeland, Abraham, III, 1203.
Holladay, Ben, I, 556.
Holland, James, III, 707.
Holland, Robert W., II, 594-
Hollenbeck, Frank K., Ill, 1246.
Holliday, Dell H., II, 226.
Hollier, Lewis S., II, 184.
Holloway, William L., I, 436, 869; II,
644.
Holmes, Ernest S., II, 455.
Hoist, J. H„ II, 43.
Holt, Laurence A., II, 533.
Holt, Stephen A., HI, 1273.
Holter, Anton M., I, 285, 316; II, 5I7-
Holter, Norman B., I, 489, 761 ; II, 518.
Holter Gulch, I, 219.
Holy Family Mission, I, 162.
Hood, Samuel L., Ill, 683.
Hooks, Frank T., Ill, 661.
Hootenais, I, 173.
Hopkins, David R., II. 373.
Hopkins, Patrick A., II, 588.
Hori, M. M., Ill, 866.
Horkan, George, III, 1406.
Horkan, George A., I, 471; III, 1392.
Horn, J. H., HI, 860.
Horntvedt, Ludvig, III, 1075.
Horse Creek, I, 777.
Horse market at Miles City (illustra-
tion), I, 706.
Horse Plains, I, 177.
Horse Prairie Creek, I, 230, 231.
Horse raising: decline in, I, 399.
Horticulture : in Rattlesnake Valley, I,
785; in Bitter Root Valley, 791; S78;
present conditions of, 882; close in-
spection of fruit and orchards in Mon-
tana, 883, 884; prevalent fruit diseases
and pests in Montana, 884.
Hosmer, Hezekiah L., I, 64; 282;
reaches Virginia City, 288; sketch of,
288; first charge to grand jury, 289;
291, 298; leaves Montana, 299, 414.
Hosmer, James K., I, 27.
INDEX
XXVll
Hot Springs, Sanders County, I, 823, 824.
Hotchkiss, Arthur N., Ill, 1251.
Hotchkiss, Samuel A., Ill, 1380.
Hough, George E., Ill, 1349.
Houghlan, Samuel A., Ill, 1086.
House and Bivins, I, 219.
Houston, Elizabeth L. A., II, 360.
Hoven, Ole B., Ill, 806.
Hover, Herbert A., Ill, 1 127.
Hovey, Verne T., Ill, 659.
Howard, Doc, I, 252.
Howard, Harry H., II, 179.
Howard, O. H., 1, 359.
Howard, O. O., I, 360, 368.
Howard, Thomas P., I, 28.
Howe, Clarence D., II, 363.
Howe, John G., II, 567.
Howe, John S., HI, 1261.
Howe, J. K., Ill, 872.
Howell, Ethan A., Ill, 1329.
Howell, H. S., I, 725.
Howell, Richard C, II, 495-
Howey, R. W., I, 496, 497-
Howland, H. N., II, 295.
Howland, John M., II, 24.
Hoyt, Mark D., Ill, 1013.
Hruza, William, II, 271.
Hubbard, Paul E., Ill, 1336.
Huber, Philip H., II, 624.
Huckins, Charles F., Ill, 930.
Hudson, Clarence W., II, 344.
Hudson, John, I, 463.
Hudson, Samuel E., Ill, 1089.
Hudson Bay Company, I, 132, 134, 140.
Huet, Charles, I, 147.
Huffaker, Wila, I, 282.
Huffer, Arthur J., II, 239.
Hughes, Barney, I, 199, 200, 206, 207,
208.
Hughes, James H., Ill, 1059.
Hughes, Roy, III, 1054.
Hughes, Samuel, III, 1059.
Hughes Brothers, III, 1059.
Hull, W. T., I, 761.
Humphreys, G O., I, 222, 223, 833.
Hunsberger, John, III, 770.
Hunt, Williams H., I, 431, 434, 43s,
437, 438.
Hunter, A. J., I, 799.
Hunter, Bill, last of road agents to be
executed, I, 274, 275.
Hunter, Joseph C., Ill, 806.
Hunter, William, I, 249.
Hunters' Hot Springs, I, 801.
Hunting and fishing, I, 636 ; in Lewis
and Clark county, 754; in Missoula
county, 783.
Huntley, I, 856.
Huntley reclamation project, I, 587.
Huntoon, John C, II, 208.
Hurd, George E., Ill, 675.
Hurd, Walter L., II, 290.
Hurdy-Gurdy House, I, 245.
Hurley, Charles C, III, 943.
Hurly, John. II, !;o6.
Husband, William C, II, 653.
Huseth, S. O.. Ill, 832.
Hutchinson, Myron W., Ill, 70a.
Hutchinson, William O., II, 324.
Huxsol, Alfred W., III. 778.
Huyck, Claude C, II, 487.
Hydro-electric conservation, I, 630-33.
Hydro-electric plants : of Lewis and
Clark county, I, 751.
Hydro-electric water powers (illustra-
tion), I, 685.
Hymer, Elbert, II, 62.
Hysham, I, 845.
Iceberg Lake (illustration), I, 638.
Iliff, Thomas C, I, 786.
Imislund, Herbert P., II, 370.
Immaculate Conception Church, III,
742.
Imoda, C, I, 162.
In the Lumber Country (illustration),
I, 823.
Income tax bill passed, I, 489.
Independence Mining district, I, 223.
Indian Camping Ground (illustration),
I, 148.
Indian Ceremonial, Old-Time (illus-
tration), I, 819.
Indian Chiefs and Warriors (illustra-
tion), I, 56.
Indian picture of 1742 (Parkman), I, 7.
Indian reservations, I, 639.
Indian Sentinel : Flathead number of,
I, 142.
Indians: Crows, I, 85; 86, 87; Flatheads
(1805), 87; exploiting through whis-
key, 120, 140; name "Flatheads," 142;
Blackfeet still warlike, 154; Flathead
treaty of 1855, 223; Sioux battle of
Killdeer Mountain, 292; Sioux cam-
paign (1864), 292-98; Sioux again
checked (1872), 308-310; Sioux vs.
Crows, 340; 341, 342; council at Fort
Laramie (1866), 341; government pro-
nouncement against enemy (1866),
341; depredations of (1866), 342;
"agency" plan not a success, 345, 347;
united campaign against enemy, 347;
Drawing Rations (illustration), 346;
Crooks' southern campaign against,
356; warfare of 1876-77, 357-
Industrial Accident Board created, I,
482.
Ingham, Thomas C, II, 34.
Ingle, Chester R., II, 228.
Ingomar, I, 821.
Ingraham, Albert J., Ill, 972.
Ingraham, Philip A., Ill, 972.
Ingraham, Sarah C, III, 972.
Ingram, George F., Ill, 1000.
Initiative and Referendum bill popularly
approved, I, 470.
Initiative and Referendum law passed,
I, 46,^ : extended, 464.
Innes, Walter B., II, 244.
Irons, Ort, III, 1046.
Irrigated Orchard near Missoula (illus-
tration), I, 781.
Irrigation : under the Cary Act, I, 581 ;
state works and projects, S91-S; coun-
try surveys, 595-614; acreage by drain-
age basins, 615; farms irrigated in
state, 61S; works built since i860, 617;
irrigated lands as producers, 618;
projects in Rosebud county, 820.
Irrigation districts established, I, 464,
468.
xxvni
INDEX
Irvin, George W.. II, I, 316.
Irvine, Caleb E., I, 177. 829, 833.
Irvine, W. M., Ill, 859.
Irving, Washington, I, 116, 119.
Irwin, C. E., I, 283.
Isachsen, Albert J., Ill, 928.
Isch, John, III, 844-
ives, George, I, 192, 196, 198, 247, 253;
trial and execution of, 255.
Jaccard, Eugene, I, 177. '
Jackson, David E., I, 108, ill.
Jackson, George C., II, 422.
Jackson, Harvey P., III. 840.
Jackson, John W., II, 388.
Jackson, Robert G., Ill, 1363.
Jacobs, Henry. I, 406, 834.
Jacobs, John M., I, 188, 195, 306.
Jacobs, William F., Ill, 1047.
Jacobs and Bozeman cut-off, I, 195.
Jacobson. Paul, III, 671.
James, Edwin E.. Ill, 797.
Jameson, C. C., II, 35.
Janssen, John W., III. 1270.
Jaquette, 'Walter P.. Ill, 981.
Jeff Davis' Gulch, I, 329.
Jefferson, Thomas : checkmating Eng-
land in the West, I, 13; 15, 19, 48.
Jefferson county: placer mines in 1862-
68, I. 213 ; created, 281 ; as a copper
producer. 384; number and value of
cattle (1884). 305; irrigation in, 603;
description of, 744.
Jefferson County High School, II, 616.
Jefferson Forest. I, 777.
Jefferson National Forest, I, 624.
Jefferson (Beaverhead) River, Lewis
ascends the, I, 48, 50, 61, 89, 90, 230.
Jeffries, Garry J.. Ill, S20.
Jenkins, Leonard V., Ill, 1320.
Jennings, George M., II. 447.
Jennison. Warren J.. Ill, 1170.
Jensen, Chris, III, 782.
Jensen, Otto, III, 852.
Jensen, Peter C, III. 141 1.
Jerome. C. W., Ill, 786.
Jocko River, I, 227.
Jocko Valley, I, 227, 702.
Johannes. R. T.. II. 164.
Johns, Albert M., II, 386.
Johnson, Charles M., II, 562.
Johnson, E. B., I. 282.
Johnson, Edwin L„ 11. 41.
Johnson, Elmer, II. S29,
Johnson, Emil M.. III. 1378.
Jolmson. Francis G.. II, 626.
Johnson, Fred A.. III. 998.
Johnson, Harry M., II. 52.
Johnson, Henry H., Ill, 1056.
Johnson, J. Charles, II, 417.
Johnson, Mary C. II. 125.
Johnson, Ole C. III. 771.
Johnson, Pete, III, 715.
Johnson, Peter E., III. Ii8r.
Johnson. Richard E., Ill, 1446.
Johnson, Richard S.. Ill, 1.363.
Johnson, Roy H„ III, T446.
Johnson, Thomas S., Ill, 969.
Johnson, Wilford J., II, 3.
Johnson. The Abstract Man, III, 1445.
Johnston, A. P.. 11, 412.
Johnston, Charles C, III, 1445.
Johnston, James L., II, 641.
Johnston, Thomas Jr., Ill, 1396.
Johnstone, Thomas, III, 1285.
Jones, Arthur C, II, 491.
Jones, A. H., I, 771.
Jones, D. Augustus, III. 686.
Jones, Edward C, II, 19S.
Jones, L. E., I, 696.
Jones, Paul. Ill, 1247.
Jones, T. C, first probate judge, I, 290.
Jones, Thomas R.. Ill, 1022.
Jones, Robert N., Ill, 1038.
Jones, William E., Ill, 689.
Jones and Immell : killing of, by Black-
feet, I, 109, no.
Joplin, I. 768.
Jordan, I, 735.
Jordan, Arthur, II, 620.
Jordan, Erwin E., HI, 1381.
Jordan, James H., II, 127.
Joseph Peak. I. 362.
Josselyn, Horatio S., Ill, 1334.
"Journal of Larocque" (Burpee), I, 78,
81.
Judith Basin, I, 715.
Judith Basin County: irrigation in, I,
603; 723; description of, 746; S61.
Judith Gap, I, 848.
lulian, I, 708.
junod, Orla H., Ill, 1283.
Juttner, Charles F., II, 152.
Kaiserman. J. R., II, 281.
Kalispell. I, 724: sketch of. 726; bird's-
eye view of (illustration), 727.
Kampf. Ray L.. III. 1341.
Kane. Edward G., III. 1 167.
Kanouse. James E., Ill, 679.
Karnop, Jacob H., II, 654.
Kassner, O. G., II, 134.
Kastelitz, John, II, 181.
Kay, John M., HI, 772.
Kearns, W. L., II. 275.
Keene, Eliot W.. II, 227.
Kehoe, Thomas M., II, 306.
Keith, F. P., I. 786.
Keith, H. C. I, 727.
Keith, John M.. II. 469.
Kelch. Albert E..,III, 755.
Kelch, William D.. Ill, 741.
Kellev, Cornelius F., I. 459; HI, 987.
KelleV, E. L., HI. q66.
Kelley, Rufus B., II, 287.
Kellev, Thomas. III. 1053.
Kelley, Tom, III, 1180.
Kelly, Charlev, I. 2io.
Kellv, Dan M., II, 30.
Kelly, Harry J.. II, 385.
Kelly, Hugh, II, 457.
Kellv, James E.. II, 30.
Kellv, Peter J.. II, 437-
Kellv, R. A., II, 302.
Kelly, Robert B., I'l, ?40.
Kelsev. Arthur R., HI, iioi.
Kclsey, Frank T.. HI, 1343.
Kemmis. Walter D., III. 744.
Kemp, James S., Jr., II. 475.
Kempton, Berney E., HI, 1369.
Kempton. Henry N., HI, 1298.
Kendall, I, 717.
INDEX
Kendrick, John, I, 14.
Kenkel, J. E., II, 607.
Kennedy, John, III, 863.
Kenney, E. A., I, 443.
Kennon, R. T., I, 329.
Kenny, E. A., I, 445.
Kenyon, Daniel C, III, 912.
Kercheval, F. B., I, 284.
Kerchival City, I, 304.
Kerr, John W., II, 485.
Kerrigan, John H., Ill, 738.
Kessler, Harry C, I, 644; (portrait),
645.
Kessler, Nicholas, I, 316, 761.
Ketcliam, Gilbert A., II, 463.
Ketcham, Harry G., Ill, 729-
Kill-the-Dcer-Butte, I, 292.
Killorn, George L., II, 330.
Kimball, Edwin L., Ill, 657.
Kindschy, Emil O., II, no.
King, Charles P., Ill, 1298.
King, Irving G., HI, 1271.
King, James I, 757, 760.
King, Mary F., Ill, 1272.
King, Wiley, III, 1294.
King and Gilette, I, 288.
Kingmont, I, 714.
Kingsbury, Adkin W., HI, 82S.
Kinkel, George, I, 547.
Kinmonth, Charles F., II, 63.
Kinsella, John B., Ill, 712.
Kinsella, Lawrence I., Ill, 713.
Kinsey, I, 703.
Kinsman, (Mrs.) E. E., I, 786.
Kipp, James, I, 112.
Kirby, Charles N., II, 398.
Kirkwood, W. F., I, 419.
Kiskadden, J. H., I, 335.
Kittson, Norman W., I, 561.
Klein, George H., Ill, 1250.
Klein, Henry, I, 552.
Kleve, S. Lawrence, III, 903.
Kline, Charles F., HI, 1105.
Kline, Henry S., HI, 690.
Klinkhammer, Joseph H., HI, 874.
Knapp, Daniel, HI, 1332.
Knight, Albert B., I, 549.
Knight, Arthur C, II, 128.
Knight, E. W., I, 446.
Knowles, Hiram, I, 378, 420, 421 ; retires
from Supreme Bench, 426; sketch of,
4.37, 444-
Knott, E. B.. Ill, 863.
Knudsen, William P., II, 377.
Kobelin, George J., II, 22.
Koch, Edwin, III, 1195.
Koch, Peter, I, 306, 547.
Kohrs, Conrad, I, 316, 394, 395; III, 1061.
Kohrs and Bielenberg, I, ,S95.
Kommers, Louis H., Ill, 827.
Kootenai National Forest, I, 624, 769.
Kootenai mines, I, 225.
Kootenais (1858). I, 172.
Kopp, John J., II, 400.
Kopsland, T., Ill, 1034.
Kraft, I, 70S.
Kramer, Henry J., Ill, 1339.
Kranz, Mathias, II, S76-
Krauss, Andrew G., II, 314.
Kremer, J. Bruce, II, 419.
Kremlin, I, 744.
Kress, Ben, I, S78.
Kress, William J., II, 356.
Kroeger, Fred W., HI, 975.
Krohne, B. Thorwald, II, 235.
Krom, S. R., II, 3.S0.
Kronkright, Orret H., Ill, 1046.
Krueger, Karl P., HI, 1154.
Kutzner, C. M., II, 242.
Kuykendall, E. H., II, 242.
Kyle, Daniel C, III, 992.
Kyle, Mary A., HI, 993.
Kyle, William L., II, 292.
La Bar, Albert A., II, 130.
LaBarge, Harkness & Company: Busi-
ness expedition of, I, 177-183.
LaBarge, John, I, 177.
LaBarge, Joseph, I, 177.
LaBarge, Madam, I, 180.
LaBarge City (Deer Lodge), I, 222.
LaBeau, Henri, I, 471.
Labiche, Francis, I, 28.
Lacy, Francis M., Ill, 1192.
Ladd, George B., II, 395.
Ladd, Jessie S., I, 698.
Ladd, William P., II, 262.
Lafrance, J. B., I, 74.
Lagoni, Peter, II, 603.
Lagoni, Sylvia, II, 604.
La Hontan, I, i, 3.
Laird, I, 768.
Laist, Frederick, II, 337.
Lake McDonald, I, 637.
Lake Scenery near Helena (illustration),
I, 753.
Lake Yellowstone (illustration), I, 636.
Lamb, John A., HI, 852.
Lamb, Wm. A., I, 869.
Lambard, Irby, II, 530.
Lambert, John K., Ill, 1393.
Lamoureu.x, Edward, III, 863.
La Mousse, Charles, I, 148.
La Mousse, Francis, I, 148.
La Mousse, Ignace (Big Ignace), I, 144.
Land of the Shining Mountains, I, i.
Lands : conservation of, 577-641.
Lane, Charles H., II, 109.
Lane, George (Clubfoot George), I, 249.
Lane, James E„ II, 5;.
Lang, Edward H., Ill, 1399.
Lang, Gregor, HI, 1043.
Lang, Janet, III, 1044.
Lang, John, II, 606.
Lang, Margaret S., II, 606.
Lang, William G., HI, 1043.
Langford, Nathaniel P., I, 119, 243; (il-
lustration). 244, 253, 283.
Lanius, Charles H., II, 633.
Lanouetfe, Louis P., HI, nil.
Lanstrum, George W., I, 869 ; HI, 736.
Lanstrum, O. M., HI, 735.
Lantis, Horace G.. Ill, 1445.
Lapage, Baptiste, I, 28.
Laredo, I, 744.
Largest gold nugget in the world, I, 752.
Larocque, Francois A., I, 73, 74 ; meets
.Rocky Mountain Indians, 75, 80.
Larpenteur. Charles, I, 127.
Larrivee, Arthur, HI, 792.
Larson, .'\nne K., I, ,=103.
Larson. Thomas O., Ill, 748.
INDEX
Lassus, Don Carlos de Haut de, I, i8,
-7-
Last Chance Gulch, I, 209; named Hel-
ena, 210, 234, 288, 765.
Last Fallon County Sod School (illus-
tration), 1, 714.
Laswell, James Q., IN, 913.
Lathom, Ray A., U, 16.
Lathrop, A. G., I, 494.
Lathrop, Wm. T., I, 869.
Lauer, Charles M., II, 497.
Laurel, I, 856.
Laussat, Pierre Clement, I, 18.
Lausted, Emil R., II, 595.
Laux, Philipp, II, 158.
Lavelle, James P., 11, 31.
Law School established at Missoula, I,
469.
Lawrence, A. J., I, 359.
Lawrence, Robert, I, 282.
Lawson. William L., II, 19.
Leach, James R., Ill, 1202.
Lead, Output of, 1883-1918, I, 383.
Leard, Samuel E., II, 274.
Leary, Dennis, I, 222, 372, 833.
Leary, Grace M., Ill, 1230.
Lease, Newton T., Ill, 836.
Leavitt, Erasmus D., I, 282.
Leclerc, Narcisse, I, 120.
Ledger, I, 804.
Ledyard, John, I, 21, 22.
Lee, Albert, III, 856.
Lee, Edgar, III, 084.
Lee, Harold P., Ill, 696.
Lee, Otis, II, 505.
Legal holidays for schools, I, 527.
Leggat, Rod D., I, 316.
Lehfeldt, Hermann J., Ill, 883.
Lehmicke, O. E., Ill, 860.
Leighton bill ; passed, I. 475, 535.
Leinenweber, George P., Ill, 716.
Lemert, Rae J., HI, 956.
Lemire, Joseph A., II, 509.
Lemon, Allan C, III, 1154.
Lemon, Robert H., I. 183.
Lentz, Edward O.. Ill, 139S.
Lentz, Theodore, II, 461.
Lenz, Frank A., II, 160.
Leo, Willard A., HI, 1117. \
Leonard, R. A., II, 433.
Leonard, Charles R., II, 520.
Leonard, Nathan R., I, 549.
Leonard, William M., HI. 934.
Le Sage, Frank H., II, 132,
Leslie, J. B.. I, 698.
Leslie, H. P.
Leslie, Jere B., I, 411.
Leslie, Preston H. ; sketch and death
of, I, 411 ; 868.
"Letters and Sketches," by Father De
Smet, I, 146.
Leverenz. Carl C. Ill, 791.
Lewellen. F. M., II, 95.
Lewis, Charles A.. II, 397.
Lewis, Clyde E., HI, 1416.
Lewis, E. P., I, 335.
Lewis, Frank B., II, 13.
Lewis, John E., III. 1002.
Lewis, Mark E., Ill, 950.
Lewis, Meriwether, I, 18, 19; Jefferson's
sketch of, 21-23; Jefiferson's first in-
structions to, 23; 27; his romance, 39;
42, 46, 47, 50, 51, 54, 55; his home-
ward trip, 58; 59; severely wounded,
60; 64; death of, 65.
Lewis, Reuben, I, 103.
Lewis, Vernon E., Ill, 769.
Lewis and Clark county: placer mines
in 1862-68, I, 213 ; number and value
of cattle (1884), 395; irrigation in,
603; general description, 747; via the
LI. S. Census, 750 ; water powers and
public ways, 751 ; picturesque excur-
sions in, 752.
Lewis and Clark Expedition in Montana
(illustration), I, 2; 19-67; reach the
mouth of the Yellowstone, 29; return
trips eastward, 58.
Lewis-Clark Journal, I, 28, 29, 69.
Lewis and Clark, heroic bronze statutes
of. Great Falls, I, 320, 323, 482.
Lewis and Clark National Forest, I, 624,
749, 804.
Lewis and Clark Rod and Gun Club,
I, .754- .
Lewis River, I, 57.
Lewistown, I, 719-23.
Lewistown Chamber of Commerce, I, 720.
Lewistown Public Library, I, 721.
Lewistown of Today (illustration), I,
722.
Leyson, J. H., I, 548.
Lhotka, J. F., II, 482.
Liberty County: irrigation in, I, 604;
description of, 767.
Liberty Loan Campaigns in World's
War: Chairman and Chairwomen of,
I. 663-65.
Libby, I, 770.
Liddell, Moses J., I, 431.
"Life of James Stuart" (Granville
Stuart), I, 187, 209.
Lignites (coal), I, 238, 386.
Lincoln, I, 749, 790.
Lincoln, Fred T., I, 856.
Lincoln county: created, I, 451, 469; ir-
rigation in, 604; description of, 768;
scene in (illustration). 769.
Lindeberg, Charles A., HI, 1090.
Lindemann, Leo C, III, 1079.
Lindsay, F. S. P.. I, 761.
Lindsay, John, II, 515.
Linfield, F. W., I, 869.
Linn, Carl A., HI, 1278.
Lisa. Manuel, I, 68, 103, 104; last years
of, 107.
Lisa (Manuel) & Company, I, 107.
Listerud, John, III, 1067.
Literary sources of information, I, 20.
Little, Mose, II, 243.
Little Belt range, I, 91.
Little Big Horn Battle, casualties at,
L 354. 356.
Little Black Foot River, I, 167.
Little Creek Mountains, I, 32.
Little Dog (Piegan chief), I, 167, 168,
169, 170, 179.
Little Dry Creek, I, 32.
Little Face (Crow scout), I, .351, 352.
Little Missouri irrigation project, I, 584.
Little Missouri River, I, 29.
Little Rocky mountains, I, 91, 229.
INDEX
Little St. Mary's Lakes, 1, 638.
Littlewolf Mountains, 1, 63.
Live Stock Commission, I, 482.
Live Stock interests, I, 39I-403-
Livingston : state capital contestant, 1,
441; first house erected in (illustra-
tion, 800; history of, 799; of the pres-
ent, 800.
Livingston, Frank H., Ill, 939-
Livingston, Robert R., I, 16.
Livingston, Walter W., II, 395-
Livingston-Bozeman coal field, I, 240.
Livingston Marble and Granite Com-
pany, II, 601.
Livingston Publishing Company, II, 367.
Llafet, Joseph E., II, 442.
Llovd, Charles F., I, 643.
Lloyd, Walter E., II, 342.
Loble, Lester H., Ill, 1198.
Lockey, Richard, II, 526.
Lockhart, Charles, II, 363.
Lodge Grass, I, 673.
Lofgren, Everett E., II, 216.
Logan, Arthur C, I, 497-
Logan, Edgar W., II, 263.
Logan, Ernest A., II, 238.
Logan, James E., II, 178.
Logan, John, II, 289.
Logan, John T„ III, 1358.
Logan, Sidney M., Ill, 1145.
Logan, William, I, 354, 360.
Lohmiller, Charles B., Ill, 925.
Lolo, I, 792.
Lolo National Forest, I, 624, 811.
Loma, I, 702.
Lombard, I, 676.
Long, G. B., II, 406.
Long, J. B., I, 696.
Long, Thomas D., I, 465.
Long Drive (Cattle), I, 393. 394-
Longest bridge in the State, I, 824.
Longley, Thomas W., II, 1410.
Lorance, Clyde H., II, 67.
Loranger, Henry E., Ill, 703.
Lord, Reuben J., II, 61.
Losckamp, John D., I, 552.
Lothair, I, 768.
Lott, John S., I, 286.
Lott, Mortimer H., I, 286, 316.
Loucks, John T., Ill, 952.
Loughran, Michael J., II, 502.
Louisiana, United States acquires, I, 16.
Loveland, Russ A., Ill, 1361.
Lovell, William Y., I, 289, 4iS-
Lowe, Henry P., Ill, 787.
Lowe & Powers, I, 815.
Lower Yellowstone, reclamation project,
I, 587; (illustration), 588.
Lowery, Charles R., Ill, 1055.
Lowery, Robert W., Ill, 1055.
Lowry, Bill, I, 252.
Lowry, John A., Ill, 1441.
Lowry, Thomas J., I, 415, 422.
Lucas, Frederick D., II, 296.
Lucas lode, I, 220.
Luce, Sarah S., II, 503.
Luce, T. L., I, 218.
Luce, Thompson W., II, 503.
Lucke, Lou, III, 703.
Ludtke, P. E., Ill, 1 1 14.
Lumber Stand of Montana, I, 625.
Lumbering in Missoula County, I, 781.
Lump Gulch mining district, $2,500,000,
I, 766.
Lund, Hartwig, III, 1248.
Lundeen, Gustav A., Ill, 785.
Lundevall, Torjus, II, 355.
Lyle, Thomas L., Ill, II59-
Lyman, Elias F., Ill, 821.
Lynch, Neptune, III, 1300.
Lyndes, John C, III, 1392.
Lyon, Clyde M., II, 414.
Lyon, Frederick A., Ill, 1443.
Lyon, George D., II, 443.
Lyons, George R., II, 121.
Lyons, Haze, I, 249.
Lyons, John, I, 218.
Mabie, J. F., I, 471.
MacCallum, Charles A., II, 308.
Macdonald, John J., Ill, 1130.
MacDuffie, William J., Ill, 839-
Mace, George, III, 1405.
MacFarlane, William D., IH. 761.
Machemer, Frank W., II, 74.
Mack, Forest M., Ill, 677.
Mackenzie, Charles, I, 74.
MacLaren, Gilbert D., II, 528.
MacMillan, Hugh A., II, 322.
MacPherson, Harry A., II, 333.
Macrum, E. A., I, 761.
Madison, Bill, I, 185.
Madison, Ed., I, 222.
Madison, Frank, I, 222, 371.
Madison, James, I, 48.
Madison county; placer mines in 1862-
69, I, 213; created, 281; number and
value of cattle (1884), 395; irrigation
in, 604; description of, 771.
Madison National Forest, I, 624.
Madison range, I, 91.
Madison River, I, 48, 61, 89, 230.
Madison State Bank, I, 772.
Madoc, I, 708.
Madsen, Jacob P., II, 248.
Magee, George W., II, 478.
Maggie (Missouri River steamboat), I,
181.
Maginnis, Martin, I, 316; sketch of,
404 ; 445, 447.
Magraw, Henry S., II, 520.
Magruder, Lloyd, I, 252.
Maguire, John C, II, 129.
Maher, John C, III, 836.
Mahon, Archibald W., I, 581 ; III, 953-
Mail and telegraph lines, first, I, 556.
Maillet, Herbert A., Ill, 1222.
Main, Clara, I, 721.
Mains, Frank, III, 1347.
Mair, John F., II, 562.
Maior, Adolph A., Ill, 811.
Mailoy, Dan T., II, 471.
Malone, Francis M., II, 432.
Malonev, William H., II, 397-
Malta, I, 588, 803.
Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone
Park (illustration), I, 634.
Man Afraid of His Horses (Sioux
Chief), I. 341. 343, 344. 345-
Mandan Villages : Lewis and Clark
journey to. I, 27.
Mandans. I, 74.
xxxn
INDEX
Mangan, Louis A., Ill, 1135.
Manganese, properties suffer when war
ends, I, 382.
Manhattan, I, 729.
Manitou, I, 81.
Manix, J. Clarence, III, 693.
Manley, John E., II, 330.
Manson, I, 804.
Mantle, Lee: rejected from U. S. Senate,
I, 449; elected U. S. Senator, 451;
sketch of, 456.
Manuel's Fort, I, 69.
Marbois, Barbe, I, 16.
Margetts, Leslie R., II, 484.
Margry, Pierre, I, 4.
Maria's River, romance of, I, 39; 59,
229; post at the mouth of, 138.
M-aring. John C, II, 378.
Marks, Rufus, III, 1094.
Marks and Brands, I, 391.
Markuson, Nels K., Ill, 1097.
Marlow, Tliomas A., I, 489.
Marlowe, Thomas N., II, 418.
Marques, Oscar, III, 796.
Marques, Scott, III. 796.
Marron, Hugh N., Ill, 875.
Marrs, Charles B., Ill, 1375.
Marrs, Fred P., II, 593.
Marsh, Charles H., II, 445.
Marsh, Cromwell, III, 8^7.
Marshall, Charles L., Ill, 815.
Marshall, C. S., I, 438.
Marshall, Thomas C, I, 4S3.
Marshall, W. R., I, 243.
Marsland, Steven, I, 249.
Marston, William J. R., Ill, 1350.
Martin, Harry T., Ill, 926.
Martin, James L., II, 179.
Martin, Martin, III, 1278.
Martin, N. L., II, 222.
Martin, Roscoe G., II, 266.
Martine, Isaac S., Ill, 671.
Marvin. Ernest L., II, 49.
Marysville, I, 749.
Marysville mining district, $57,140,000, I,
766.
Mason, Dwight N., II, 456.
Mason, James, I, 319.
Masonry: cradle of, in Virginia City, I,
Masters, Harry S., II, 389.
Mathcwes, Barnard J., Ill, 1032.
Mathews, Ed, II, 552.
Mathews, O. C, I, 217.
Mathews. Thomas J.. III. 1443.
Matkin. Judson D., Ill, 808.
Matlock, S. W., II, 2^2.
Matney, J. H., Ill, 685.
Matson. Howard E.. II, =;8o.
Matteson. B. R., Ill, 13.S1.
Matthews, Charles A.. III. 835.
Matthews, John A., II, 642.
Matthews, Thomas, II, 565.
Maudru. Joseph, II, 417.
Maury, Henry L., Ill, 1075.
Maxey. Robert J., I, 659.
Maxham. Frank A,. Ill, 1420.
Maximilian, Prince. I, 122.
Maxson. Lewis L.. Ill, 11 14.
May, George, I, 410.
Mayer, Jacob A., III. 700.
Mayhcw, Alexander E., I, 282, 289.
McAboy. Charles D., II, 489.
McAdow, Perry W., I., 219, 851.
McAdow, P. S., I, 189.
McAdow, William, I, 198.
McAfee, Harry E., Ill, 1031.
McAlister, Glenn C, II, 210.
McArthur, Neil, I, 225.
McCabe, I, 817.
McCafferty, Richard, I, 192.
McCalman, James, II, 185.
McCarten, Robert E.. II, 616.
McCarthy, Eugene, III, 996,
McCarthy, P. H., II, 123.
McClammy, Quincy P., HI, 1019.
McClarty, James, II, 429.
McClelland, Robert P., II, 416.
McClellan's (Pacific City), I, 213.
McClurg, J. E., I, 217.
McCone County : created, I, 483 ; irri-
gation in, 605 ; description of, 775.
McConnell, N. W., I, 430, 431.
McConnell, Odell W., Ill, 659.
McConochie, Stewart, II, 303.
McConville, Edward. HI, 861.
McCormick, John E., HI, 1059.
McCormick, Paul, I, 316.
McCormick, W. H., II, 2.
McCormick, Washington J., I, 282, 286,
289, 868; II, 579.
McCormick of Montana, II, 2.
McCuiston, Joshua P., HI, 1409.
McDaniel, Myron, III, 944.
McDole, Edward I., II, 491.
McDonald, I, 134.
McDonald, Angus, I, 176, 184.
McDonald, Benjamin, III, 1404.
McDonald, E. H., I, 549.
McDonald, John D.. II, 572.
McDonnell, J. L., II, 222,
McDonough, Joseph A., HI, 685.
McDonough, Thomas J., HI, 1426.
McDowell, Wilkin C. HI. 1374.
McDowell. William W., II, 150.
McEnerv & Packard, I, ZTi.
McFatridge, Arthur E., HI. 668.
McGee, George T., HI, 1220.
McGee, L. E., HI. 848.
McGehee. Edward. III. 1254.
McGinley, Hugh S.. HI, 676.
McGinnis. James. I, 304.
McGrath, D. J.. HI. 1226.
McGrath. Leo J., HI, 1172.
McGrath. Thomas P., II, 297.
McGregor, Harry J.. II, 639.
McHatton, John J., I, 433, 438, 540.
Mclntire. Oliver V., II, 525.
Mcintosh, John H.. II, 115.
Mclntyre, James, HI. loio.
McKay. Charles J., HI, 1243.
McKay, Joseph R., HI, 1269.
McKay (Scout), I, 166, 167, 171; scalps
three Blackfeet, I. 172, 173.
McKee. John W., HI, 1310.
McKenna, Nina, I. 760.
McKenzie. Charles, I, T^-
McKenzie, George F., HI, 1260.
McKenzie, Kenneth, I, iii; inaugurates
steamboat navigation to the Yellow-
■Stone. 113: end of Montana career and
INDEX
death of, 121; 122, 135, 139, Mo; last
years and death of, 141, 152.
McKenzie, Roderick, I, J2-
McKenzie, Thomas J., II, 335-
McKenzie, Thomas W., Ill, 697.
McKnight, Roy E., II, 545-
McLain, Mathew, III, 766.
McLaren, John, III, 886.
McLaughhn, Angus L., II, 188.
McLean, Samuel, I, 207, 218, 219, 281,
282. 286.
McLeary, James H., I, 427; (portrait),
428; 430.
McLemore, Clyde, III, 1365.
McLeod, Charles H., II, 469.
McLure, A. K., I, 286.
McMahon, William J., II, 498.
McMannamy, William P., Ill, 1006.
McMath, William L., I, 282, 289, 415.
McMillan, John A., II, 99.
McMuUen. W. J., H, 104.
McNair, Benedict P., II, 539.
McNamara's Landing, I, 790.
McNamee, James F., Ill, 1060.
McNaughton, William W., II, 150.
M'Neal. Hugli, I, 28.
McPherson, Howard P., II, yj-
McTaggart, Archie, II, 473.
McVay, Oscar R., II, 587.
McVey, William C, III, 1102.
Mead, C. A., I, 761-
Meade, D. P., II, 117.
Meader, Charles T., I, 834.
Meaderville, I, 827, 834, 837.
Meagher, Thomas F., acting governor,
I, 280 ; 298, 299 ; death of, 300-303 ;
408, 416, 417; memorials to (illustra-
tion), 466.
Meagher County: placer mines in 1862-
68, I, 213; number and value of cattle
(1884), 395; irrigation in, 605; de-
scription of, 777.
Meagher County School, old box-car
type (illustration), I, 512.
Medicine Lake, I, 826.
Medicine River, I, 42, 59, 62.
Melchert, Bertram P., Ill, 1414.
Meldrum, Robert, I, 129; sketch of, 130;
(portrait), 214.
Melton, J. Thomas, II, 367.
Melstone, I, 707.
Mendenhall, Henry S., II, 168.
Menetry, Joseph, I, 786.
Mengarini, Gregory, I, 147, 150, 154.
Menzemer, H. J., Ill, 762.
Meredith, James E., II, 365.
Merkle, Arthur W., II. 472.
Merkle, George W., Ill, 708.
Merrick. Joseph, III, 11 74.
Merrill, Franklin T., III. 706.
Merrill, T. G., I, 287.
Merriman. Nathaniel. I, 282.
Metcalf. John. II. 635.
Metcalf. Margaret E., II. 635.
Methodist missionaries, I, 145.
Metropolitan Police law, I. 464.
Mettler, Edgar W., II, 28.
Mettler, J. M.. Ill, 1095.
Meyer, Carl R., II, 210.
Meyer, W. F.. I, 471.
Meyerhofif, Emmett F., Ill, 1245.
Michels, James J., Ill, 1121.
Alidland Empire Fair Association, I,
853.
Milburn, George R., I, 436, 438.
Miles, Arthur W., II, 260.
Miles, G. M., I, 704, 707-
Miles, Nelson A., attempted assassina-
tion of, I, 359 ; 362, 363, 364.
Miles City: great center of range cattle,
I. 395 ; 399 I municipal light and water
systems, 703 ; . public institutions at,
704 ; center of horse trade, 705 ;
churches and fraternities, 705 ; stage
lines and highways, 706.
Miles City Club, I, 705.
Miles City Hospital, I, 704.
Milk River: Lewis and Clark discover,
I, 33; 229.
Milk River reclamation project, I, 587,
588.
Milk River Valley, I, 801.
Mill Creek. I, 231.
Millar, Joseph H., \, 285.
Miller, Charles H., Ill, 1238.
Miller, Curtis M., Ill, 1168.
Miller, D. J., I, 210.
Miller, Henry A., Ill, 747.
Miller, Henry B., Ill, 1402.
Miller, Joaquin, on placer deposits, I,
234; 412; on quartz mining litigation,
424.
Miller, J. K.. II, I57-
Miller, John R., I, 645.
Miller, J. v.. Ill, 1168.
Miller, John W., II. 416.
Miller, Leslie F., II, 1146.
Miller, Lillian G., II, 568.
Miller, Marshall E.. II, 192.
Miller, Sidney, II, 620.
Miller. Thomas B., Ill, 763.
Miller, William D., Ill, 1153.
Miller, W. H. H., I, 430.
Milliken, Elizabeth D., Ill, 767.
Mills, C. C, II, 44-
Mills, Fred G., Ill, 1163.
Mills, James H,, I, 497.
Mills, James S., I, 213.
Mills, William S., Ill, 848.
Mineral County: as a copper producer,
I, 384; irrigation in, 606; description
of, 778.
Mineral output of Montana, value and
qualities of (1919), I, 384.
Mineral Range, I, 90.
Miners Courts established, I. 218.
Mining, smelting and ore testing, in Hel-
ena District, I. 761.
Minnesota 1 & Montana Improvement
Company, I, 851.
Minnick. Robert P., Ill, 972.
Minnie Healy mine, I, 377, 378.
Missoula: natural advantages (1858), I,
166; incorporated, 409; state capital
contestant. 441 ; (city of the five val-
levs). sketch of, 784; her parks, I,
785.
Missoula County: I. 190; created, 225;
281 ; number and value of cattle
(1884). 395; irrigation in, 606; of the
five valleys. 780 ; lumber, drainage and
water supply. 781; evolution of, 782;
XXXIV
INDEX
development of its valleys, 790;
dairying in, 792.
Missoula County High School, I, 787 ;
. n, 463.
Missoula Creamery, I, 785.
Missoula Free Public Library, I, 785.
Missoula Light and Power Company, I,
633.
Missoula lode, I, 222.
Missoula Mills, I, 225.
Missoula National Forest, I, 624, 741,
749-
Missoula River, I, 90, 226, 227.
Missoulian Publishing Company, II, 465.
Missouri Fur Company, I, 103, 104, 108;
its expedition wiped out, 109; no.
Missouri River: its true source, the Jef-
ferson, I, 88; geological origin of, 96;
229.
Mitchell, Alonzo L., Ill, 1383.
Mitchell, David D., I, 112, 121; death
of, 123; 139.
Mitchell, Robert M., II, 604.
Mitchell, Harry B., II, 608.
Mitchell, William, I, 251.
Mo, Elmer J., II, 163.
Modern Wolf Point Schools (illustra-
tion), I, 818.
Mohn, Mathis, II, 625.
Mohrherr, John, III, ins.
MoIIeur, L. F., Ill, 716.
Molt, I, 840.
Monarch, I, 699.
Monberg, Morris P., II, 270.
Mondak, I, 708, 817.
Monroe, Hugh, I, 638.
Monroe, James, I, 16.
Monroe, Joseph E., I, 551 ; II, 339.
Monroe, Mary, III, 1435.
Montague, I, 702.
Montana ("Land of the Shining Moun-
tains"), I, i; its natural features, 88-
102; comparative area and low altitude
as a Rocky Mountain State, 92; its
valleys (by William A. Clark), 93; its
geology, 94; post tertiary (glacial)
period, 96; variety and wealth of its
geological deposits, 100; its coal and
precious stones, 101 ; first election in,
190; bar, 212; its first post office and
election, 219, 220; its name and great
basins, 226-234; dawn of law and
order, I, 278-315; territory organized
and first Eannack Legislature. 281 ;
clash between assembly and judiciary,
298; memorials proposed, 324; last
epoch of territorial government, 404-
413; Supreme Court reports, 418, 425;
State Constitution of i88g, 439; appor-
tionment of state senators and repre-
sentatives (1889), 441; becomes a
state, 442 ; first state officers, 443 ; sec-
ond legislative assembly, 448 ; final
contest for location of state capital,
451; finances in 1920-21, 486, 488; her
system of higher education, 528; mili-
tary history of, 642-666; merchants:
increase in jiet work (1900-1920),
876.
Montana Bar Association, I, 433, 435.
Montana Bridge and Ferry Company, I,
286.
Montana buffalo still ranging (illustra-
tion), I, 783-.
Montana Building, Louisiana Exposition
(illustration), I, 461.
Montana Central Railway, I, 375.
Montana City, I, 190, 212 ; in early days
(illustration), 287; 288.
Montana Club, Helena, I, 761.
Montana coal mine (illustration), I, 240.
Montana Collegiate Institute, I, 4g6.
Montana Deaconess School, I, 553.
Mountain District, I, 342.
Aiontana Fish Hatchery, Anaconda, I,
712.
Montana Flour Mills Company (illustra-
tion), I, 693.
Montana Game and Fish Commission, I,
637-
Montana Hide and Fur Company, I, 304,
30s.
Montana Horticultural Society, I, 878-
82.
Montana Infantry, First Regiment, I,
643-
Montana Irrigation Commission: cre-
ated, I, 484 ; report of, for 1920, 586.
Montana Mercantile Company, II, 555.
Montana Mining Association, I, 765.
Montana Ore Purchasing Company, I,
376, 377. 378.
Montana Pioneers' Society, I, 483.
Montana Power Company, I, 630; its
hydro-electric plants, 632 ; 689, 719,
772 ; plant at Thompson Falls, 824.
Montana Quicksilver Company, I, 287.
Montana School for Deaf and Blind and
Backward Children, I, 553.
Montana State Bureau of Mines and
'Metallurgy ; established, I, 484 ; 831.
Montana State College, I, 500, 528.
Montana State Fair established, I, 460.
Montana State Humane Society created,
I, 460.
Montana State Industrial School, I, 479.
Montana State Normal School, I, 500,
528, 551.
Montana State Prison, Deer Lodge, I,
809.
Montana State Reform School : name
changed to Montana State Industrial
School, I, 479.
Montana State Tuberculosis Sanitarium
located, I, 470.
Montana Stock Growers' Association, I,
395-
Montana Trade Commission, I, 485.
Montana Union Railroad, I, 375.
Montana Volunteer Militia, I, 642.
Montana Wesleyan University, I, 552,
553; III, n53.
Montana Western Railroad, I, 568.
Montana, Wyoming and Southern Rail-
road. I, 568.
Mooney. Daniel F., II, 600.
Moore. I, 717.
Moore. Charley. I. 251.
Moore. Elanson C, I, 41.S.
Moore, George F., Ill, 1221.
Moore. Perry J. III. 1220.
INDEX
XXXV
Moorman, Edward H., II, 272.
Moran, John E., Ill, 834.
Morck, Fred D., Ill, 1005.
Morgan, Edward P., Ill, 1141-
Morgan, Heber G., II, 289.
Morier, Henry, I, 218.
Morony, Mary E., I, 322.
Morrell, Fred, I, 869.
Morrill Acts of Congress, I, 546.
Morrill, Almeron D,, III, 1141.
Morrill, Robert A., Ill, 720.
Morris, Claude F., Ill, 1004.
Morris, Jennie M., Ill, 1029.
Morrow, Bayard S., II, 402.
Morrow, Thomas M., Ill, 876.
Morse, Averill P., II, 281.
Morse, Elmer J., Ill, ^\^.
Morse, Frank M., II, 1 11.
Morse, George W., I, 316; II, 280.
Morse, Sherburne, III, 689.
Morton, C. D., Ill, 858.
Morton, John O., I, 725.
Mortson, O. C, I, 94.
Mosby, I, 735.
Mosby, O. P. J., Ill, 846.
Mosby Oil fields, I, 797.
Moser, Gust, II, 570.
Mosher, Esek R., II, 344.
Moss, Preston B., II. 218.
Mother St. Joseph, III, 872.
Motor Vehicles registered, I, 575-
Mouat, Thomas H., Ill, 1382.
Mount St. Charles College, Helena, I,
553; 755 ; HI, 1 138.
Mount Sentinel, Missoula, I, 788.
Mountain Crows, I, 141.
Movius, Arthur J., II, 193.
Movius, Rex M., Ill, 1065.
Movius, Walter R., II, 229.
Mowatt, Wilbert, III, 1067.
Moulton, Benjamin, F., II, 181.
Moyer, H. D., I, 249.
Moyle, John R,, II, 421.
Mueller, Oscar O., II, 89.
Muffley, Theo., I, 289.
Muffly, Thomas, I, 415.
MuIIan, John, I, 158, 159, 321, 324, 555,
687, 78s. ■
Mullan Government Road, I, 555.
Mullan Monuments, I, 320, 321.
Mullan's military road (1862), I, 180.
Mulroney, Edward C, II, 468.
Munger, Frederick R., II, 170.
Munson, Lyman E., I, 298, 414, 416,
417, 418.
Murn, Thomas M., Ill, 1343.
Murphey, John M., II, 541.
Murphy, Charles, I, 209, 222, 371.
Murphy, Charles F., II, 267.
Murphy, Franklin J., Ill, 1236.
Murphy, George J., Ill, 1241.
Murphy, James K.. II, 20.
Murphy, John L., I, 419.
Murphy, Joseph R., Ill, 945.
Murphy, Patrick B., Ill, 1078.
Murphy, William L., I, 320; II, 465.
Murray, James A., I, 334.
Murray, Mathieson, III, 932.
Murray, S. G., I, 459.
Murtry, James, t, 702.
Musselshell, I, 797.
Musselshell county: as a coal producer,
I, 386; as oil producer, 386; organ-
ized, 469; county irrigation in, 606;
settlement of, 794; agriculture and live
stock raising, 795 ; coal mines and rail-
roads, 796.
Musselshell River: Lewis and Clark dis-
cover, I, 33.
Mussigbrod, James, I, 406.
Muzzy, J. E., II, 175.
Myers, I, 845.
Myers, Adolphus D., II, 109.
Myers, George W., Ill, 1422.
Myers, Guy C, II, 156.
Myers, Henry L., sketch of, I, 492; 868.
Myers, Otto K., II, 109.
Nagues, George B., II, 649.
Napoleon, I, 16.
Napton, Thomas L., I, 419.
National Forests, Areas and locations of,
I, 623 ; funds to support, 624.
National Guard, nucleus of, I, 642.
National Park Bank, Livingston, II,
269.
National Park-to-Park Highway, I, 571.
Navajo, I, 708.
Nealy, E. B., I, 289.
Needles, Arthur S., II, 627.
Neese, John T., HI, 681.
Neihart, I, 699.
Neill, E. D., I, 4.
Neill, Henry, II, 204.
Nell, Henry H., II, 159-
Nelson, Clarence W., Ill, 1049.
Nelson, Cornelius S., II, 232.
Nelson, David, III, 1378.
Nelson, Franc C, HI. 694.
Nelson, H. F., Ill, 668.
Nelson, John A., HI, 694.
Nelson, N. L., HI, 792.
Nelson, Soren, II, 486.
Neubert, John, HI, 662.
Nevada, I, 232.
Nevin, Charles P., II, 386.
Nevin, John, HI, 1444.
Nevin, W. H.. HI, 1227.
Nevins, Joseph H., Ill, 901.
New Powell County High School (illus-
tration), I, 502.
New World mining district, I, 798.
New York-Montana Testing and Engi-
neering Company, Helena, I, 763.
Newcomb, Albert S., HI, 959.
Newell, John H., II, 151.
Newlon, Lewis E., HI, 897.
Newman, Louis, HI, 828.
Newstroni, Manning C, HI, 1289.
Nez Perces, I, 118.
Nichols, Alice, I, 497.
Nichols. Edmund, II, 48.
Nickwall, I, 777.
Nihill, I, 848.
Nims, William P., Ill, 1185.
Nina, I, -■77-
Ninth Federal Reserve District, I, 663.
Nissler, Carl C, II, 12.
Noble, Frank C, 11, 332.
Nohle, Andrew F., HI, 988.
Nolan, Cornelius B., HI, 664.
Nolan, J. M., HI, 1030.
XXXVl
INDEX
Nordtome, Clifford, III, 841.
Nordtome, Milford, III, 841.
Nordtome, Robert, III, 841.
Norelius, O., I, 285.
Normile, John, II, 250.
Norris, I, 771.
Norris, Edwin L., I, 464, 868; III, 674.
North, Austin, III, 1137.
North, J. A., II, 94.
North, Jo R., II, 145.
North, William P., Ill, 859.
North Butte Copper Company, I, 379.
North Butte Extension Development
Company, I, 383.
North Butte Mining Co., I, 836.
Northern Cheyenne (Tongue River) In-
dian Reservation, I, 640; 819.
Northern Idaho & Montana Power
Company, I, 632.
Northern Montana Agricultural and
Manual Training College and Agri-
cultural Experiment Station estab-
lished, I, 476.
Northern Pacific Railroad : surveys
(1853-54), I, 158; 375; its mineral
land in dispute, 429, 430; 559; crippled
by Jay Cooke failure, 560; electrifica-
tion of, 568; 630, 794; hospital, Glen-
dive, 710; hospital at Missoula. 786.
Northwest Fur Company of Canada, I,
73.
Northwest Tribune Publishing Co., Ste-
vensville. III, 1381.
Northwestern basin of Montana, I, 226,
228, 229.
Noxon, I, 824.
Noyes, James M., II, 426.
Nutt, Richard S.. Ill, 731.
Nutting, Lucius A., II, 257.
Nutting, W. B., II, 50.
Nye, Samuel M., II, 366.
Nye, Ward H., II, 236.
Oakwood, Jacob F., Ill, 842.
Obergfell, Albert R., Ill, 726.
O'Boyle, James, III, 976.
O'Brien, Alfred L., II, 605.
O'Brien, Edward, II, 46.
O'Brien, Edward P., Ill, 1347.
O'Brien, George T., Ill, 1364.
O'Brien, James D., Ill, 723.
O'Brien, Joseph P., Ill, 704.
O'Brien, Michael T., II, 541.
O'Connell, Margaret F., Ill, 1323.
O'Connell. Michael J., II, 434.
O'Connell, W. H., Ill, 1323.
O'Connor, James F., II, 368.
O'Connor, Thomas F.. II, 549.
O'Donnell, Charles, II, 3.
O'Donnell, Charles. II. 312.
O'Donnell. I. D.. II, 383.
O'Fallon, Benjamin, I, no.
O'Flvnn. Edward F.. II, 484.
Ogdcn, Earl, II, 638.
O'Hern, Daniel L., Ill, 1091.
Oie, Gustav, III, 1073.
Oil development. I, 386-390; Golden Val-
ley county, I, 739; in state, 876, 877,
878.
Oil, gas' and coal leases, I, 389.
Oil shales, I, 388.
Oka, I, 848.
O'Keefe, Davis C, I, 321.
O'Laughlin, William, III, 1336.
Old Ignace, I, 144; killed by Sioux, 145.
Old Lewistown School (illustration),
I, 501.
Oldest School in Montana, still in use
(illustration), I, 498.
O'Learv, Albert P., II, 265.
Oleson, J. P., I, 285.
Oliver, A. J., I, 557.
Oliver (A. J.) and Company, I, 219.
Oliver, John, III, 1212.
Oliver, Robert S., II, 602.
Olsen, June G., Ill, 1184.
Olson, Andrew J., Ill, 1229.
Olson, George N., II, 457.
Ol-son, Ole N., Ill, 1119.
O'Neil, C. D., Ill, 851.
O'Neil, Michael A., Ill, 751.
O'Neill, Charles E., II, 139.
O'Neill, Frank D., Ill, 1236.
O'Neill, John J., II, 513.
Ophir, I, 335-39; town ruined by Indian
massacre, 339.
Ophir Gulch, I, 213.
Ophir Town Company, I, 335.
Ordway, John, I, 28, 45, 58, 59.
Oregon Sliort Line, I, 405, 558, 559.
Oregon Steam Navigation Company, I,
556.
Oiiginal lode (Butte). I, 222.
O'Rourke, James S., II, 543.
O'Rourke, John K., II, 443.
» Orr, George, I, 199.
Orr, Sample, I, 282, 415.
Orville, I, 708.
Orvis, John M., II, 441.
Osborne, John N., II, 324.
Osburn, Roy, II, 412.
Osenbrug, Jacob, II, 451.
Osgood, Lattie 'M., Ill, 1256.
Oswego, I, 846.
Osweiler, Peter J., II, 207.
Often. Elise R., II, 121.
Otten. Herman, II, 120.
Outline of Indian Operations and con-
ferences (Carrington), I, 341; 358.
Ovando. I, 790, 809.
Owen, John, I, 132; last years of, 134;
159, 167, 176, 227, 282.
Oxford, I, 848.
Pablo herd of buffalo, I, 784.
Page, Billy, I, 252.
Page, Hugh D., II, 323.
Page, James M., I, 316.
Page, John M., I, 316.
Pagenkopf, Herman C. II, 17.
Pah-sam-cr-ri ( Stinkwater), I, 222.
Paige, Merritt C, I, 426.
Palmer, Allen B., Ill, 725.
Palmer. Wealthy E., Ill, 726.
Pampel, Byron L., II, 195.
Pappin, Isaac, III, 826.
Paradise, I, 824.
Parent. William, III, 960.
Paris, I. 777.
Parish, Frank, I, 249.
Parish of Lewistown, II, 25.
Park City. I, 840.
INDEX
xxxvu
Park County, I, 411; irrigation in, 607;
description of, 797 ; mining days in,
798; created, 799.
Parker, Hazen M., II, 301.
Parker, Perry M., II, 410.
Parker, Samuel, I, 145.
Parkin, Ernest J., II, 400.
Parkins, William E., II, 358.
Parmly Billings Memorial Library, I,
852.
Parrent, J. M., I, 721.
Parrot, R. R., I, 372.
Parrot Lead, I, 372.
Parrot mines, I, 829.
Parrott, R. B., I, 289, 415.
Parsons, John M. Ill, 766.
Part-time schools, I, 527.
Patch, Ralph E., Ill, 781.
Patten, Frank C, I, 758, 760.
Patten, Truman M., Ill, 1023.
Patterson, Ernest R., II, 113.
Patterson, George D., Ill, 740.
Patterson, John E., II, 464.
Patterson, Oliver B., Ill, 678.
Patton, Clyde, III, 775-
Patton, Ulysses C, III, 1267.
Patton, W. H., I, 256.
Pattonhill, I, ^^^.
Paul, George, III, 833.
Paul, Goodwin T., Ill, 1415.
Paul, Spurgeon E., Ill, 1020.
Pauly, Peter, II, 340.
Pauwelyn, Cyril, II, 214.
Pearce, Robert, III, 1029.
Pearson, Frank M., II, 439.
Pease, Fellows D., Ill, 1050.
Pease, Sarah W., Ill, 1052.
Peavs, Clara T., III. 948.
Peays, William H., Ill, 948.
Peck, Walter H. (Lewistown), II, 92.
Peck, Walter H., Ill, 1216.
Peckover, Frederick W., Ill, 1426.
Peeler, D. R., I, 727.
Peeso, F. E., Ill, 799.
Peet, Herbert M., II, SQO.
Peltier, Joseph, III, 816.
Peltier, Lottie A., Ill, 816.
Pemberton, Calvin W., Ill, 1319.
Pemberton, William Y., I, 256, 259, 282,
284, 289, 316, 324; sketch of, 435; II,
71-
Pence, Laverne K., II, 29.
Pender, Peter A., II, 160.
Pendroy, I, 843.
Penson, Thomas, III, 1417.
Penwell, M. W., II, 294.
Pepin, Exzelia J., Ill, 750.
Perham, Arthur, II, 576.
Perham, George B., Ill, 799.
Perham, Josiah, I, =;=i9.
Perier, Garfield B.. li, 493-
Perkins, Grover C, II, 633.
Perkins, Harry E., II, loi.
Perkins, James R., Ill, 1116.
Perma, I, 792, 824.
Perrine, Arnold M., Ill, 740.
Perrine, James W., HI, 740.
Perrine, Lillian M., HI, 740.
Peterson, Amos T., II, 616.
Peterson, Axel M., II, 46.
Peterson, John E., HI, 699.
Peterson, Peter M., HI, 845.
Peterson, S. L., I, 503.
Petit, Eloise, I, 698.
Petrashek. Mina, I, 503.
Petrie, Donald A., Ill, 993.
Pfaus, Mrs. A., I, 721.
Pfouts, Paris S., I, 260, 286.
Phelan, William P., Ill, 742.
Philbrick, Freeman, HI, 1263.
Philbrick, Newell G., HI, 1191.
Philipsburg. I, 237, 741.
Phillips, Albert L., H, no.
Phillips, Samuel, HI, 1063.
Phillips County, irrigation in, I, 607;
description of, 801.
Pickens, Joseph E., II, 374.
Pickett, H. G., I, 761.
Pickett-Journal, I, 678.
Picturesque Helena District (illustra-
tion), I, 748.
Piedalue, Joseph, II, 312.
Piegan Sun Dance (illustration), I, 169.
Piegans, I, 140.
Pierre group (geological), I, 96.
Pierre's Hole, I, 116.
Pierse, Allen, II, 558.
Pierson, George W., II, 32.
Pietila, John J.. H, 225.
Pigot, Creswell T., II, 585.
Pigott, W. T., I, 435. 436.
Pilot-Butte Mining Co., I, 836.
Piney Buttes, I, 91.
Piniele, I, 680.
Pinney, George M., I, 243.
Pioneer (village), I, 189.
Pioneer City, I, 220.
Pioneer Day, I, 460, 465.
Pioneer Gulch, I, 189, 220.
Pioneer Home, I, 319.
Pioneer lawyers of Montana, I, 415.
Pizanthia, Joe (The Greaser), I, 249,
267.
Place of Skulls (Bradley's "Journal"),
I, 310.
"Place of the Bitter Root," I, 142.
Placer mining and water rights, I, 421.
Placer production in Helena Region, I,
Plains, I, 824.
Plassman, Martha E., I, 278.
Platz, Albert E., II, 167.
Plentywood, I, 825.
Plevna, I, 714.
Plew, William R., II, 431.
Plume, D. J., HI, 1141.
Plummer, F. M., HI, 1069.
Plummer, Henry, I, 218, 242, 247, 249,
251, 252; execution of, 264, 266; 332.
Plummer, Stinson and Ray, execution of,
I. 263.
Plummer-Stinson-Ray Scaffold (illus-
tration), I, 265.
Poe, Clinton J., HI, 1 150.
Point, Nicholas, I, 147, 150, 151, 152,
161.
Polglase, Lester R., II, 476.
Pollard, Charles R., I, 427.
Polleys Lumber Company, I, 781.
PoUinger, Warren E., HI, 1287.
Poison, I, 724.
Polytechnic Institute, Billings, I, 855.
xxxviu
INDEX
Pompey's Pillar ; named by Clark, I, 63 ;
Larocque describes, 83; reached by
Stuart expedition, 194 ; 856.
Pond, Robert E., II, 479.
Pondera County : created, I, 483 ; irriga-
tion in, 608 ; description of, 803.
Pontiac, I, 848.
Pony, I, 771, 775-
Poore, James A., II, 513.
Poorman, W. H., I, 459-
Pope, Joseph, II, 97.
Poplar, I, 817.
Porcupine Creek, I, 31, 32.
Porter, Frank, III, 1428.
Porter, George P., I, 869; III, 1403.
Porter, Henry, I, 829.
Porter, H. H., I, 222, 833.
Post, Mark, I, 209.
Posts and Forts along the Yellowstone,
I, 127.
Potomac, I, 790.
Potter, Anson S., I, 282, 299.
Potter, John, I, 287; II, 651.
Potts, Benjamin F., becomes governor,
death of, I, 314; 404, 408; (portrait),
410; 868.
Potts, John, I, 28.
Poultry raising, I, 402.
Powder River County: irrigation in, I,
608; description of, 804.
Powell, Curtis W., Ill, 1027.
Powell, John W., I, 190.
Powell County: irrigation in, I, 608;
description of, 806.
Power, I, 843.
Power, T. C. : elected U. S. Senator
(1889), I, 446.
Power, Wilber I., II, 138.
Powers, Edward S., Ill, 1066.
Powers, T. C, I, 761.
Powers, William, III, 90S.
Prairie County: irrigation in, I, 608;
description of, 809; railroads and
trails in, 810.
Prairie Elk, I, 777.
Prairie of the Knobs, I, 59.
Prairie of the Mass, I, 146.
Pratte, Chouteau & Company, I, 123.
Pray, I, 801.
Pray, Charles L., I, 463.
Pray, Charles N., I, 465, 471.
Precious stones of Montana, I, loi.
Prehistoric Mammals of Montana, I, 100.
Prentice, George D., Ill, 769.
Presbyterian missionaries, I, 145.
Press: See Newspaper Directory of
Montana, arranged by counties, towns
and cities, and giving politics, date of
establishment, and names of editor and
publisher of each newspaper in the
state, I, 886-94.
N. B. — First item under Press, 25.
Prestbye, Christ, II, 628.
Prestbye, E. C, III, 962.
Prestbye, Martin, II, 628.
Prestbye, Matilda C, II, 628.
Preston, Jolm F., II, 436.
Preuitt, Isoni, III, 724.
Price, Benjamin L., II, 140.
Price, E. R., II, 265.
Price, Lewellyn, III, 1337.
Price, Oliver, I, 732.
Price, Pleas M., Ill, loio.
Prickly Pear Gold and Silver Mining
Company, I, 287, 288.
Prickly Pear Valley, near Helena (illus-
tration), I, 210; 749, (illustration),
759.
Pridham, Thomas H., II, 470.
Priess, Fred A., Ill, 1424.
Prindle, J. E., I, 707.
Probost, Etienne, I, 108.
Proctor, Israel O., Ill, 699.
Proctor, Louisa K., Ill, 699.
Proctor, Merton D., Ill, 699.
Prohibition: referendum on, I, 478;
liquor legislation, 483; in force, 489;
Federal Constitutional amendment
ratified by States, 490; State law to
conform to Volstead Act, 491.
Prosser, E. W., I, 761.
Prosser, Fred A., Ill, 917.
Prosser, John R., Ill, 916.
Prudhome, Gabriel, I, 148.
Pryor, I, 61, 63.
Pryor, John, I, 46.
Pryor, Nathaniel, I, 28.
Pryor Creek, I, 46, 63, 8r.
Public Highways: of Fergus county, I,
719.
Public Lands of Montana, I, 577-
Public road building: co-operation of
county, state and nation in, I, 576.
Public School at Bozeman (illustration),
L 731- ^ ^
Public Service Commission : created, ab-
sorbs Board of Railroad Commission-
ers, I, 472.
Puehler, Charles, I, 696, 732.
Pugsley, Robert D., II, 449.
Pulsifer, H. B., II, 560.
Pumpkin Creek, I, 82.
Purcell, Michael F., Ill, 1112.
Purdy, A. T., II, 581.
Pyper, William B., Ill, 695.
Radersburg, I, 676.
Radersburg mining district, $3,200,000,
I, 766.
Raffertv, Daniel, II, 136.
Ragland, O. T., II, 37-
Railroads : counties authorized to sub-
scribe for, I, 315; enter Butte copper
district, 375; Major Martin Maginnis
as a builder of, 405; Utah Northern
penetrates Montana, 407; regulated
(1912), 472; 558-68; over the Montana
mountains (illustration), 564; electri-
fication, of, 567; accommodating Great
Falls, 686 ; in Lewis and Clark county,
751 ; work of, in Missoula region, 789;
first Utah and Northern passenger
trains to arrive at Butte, 830; lines
accommodating Butte, 831.
Rainbow Falls at Great Falls, I, 630;
(illustration), i, 689.
Rainbow Lode, I, 372, 373.
Rainbow Mining Co., I, 836.
Rainbow Power Plant, Great Falls, I,
689.
Rains, Robert H., II, 135-
Rainy Lake Missoula National Forest
(illustration), I, 626.
INDEX
XXXIX
Ralston, Edward L., Ill, II7S-
Ramme, Chris, III, 1256.
Ramme, Louis T., Ill, 1185.
Ramsay, George L., I, 761.
Ramsdell, Joe, I, 829.
Ram's Horn Gulch, I, 231.
Ramstad, Otto, III, 946.
Rancher, I, 845.
Randall, John B., Ill, 776.
Rankin, Carl, III, 1329.
Rankin, Jeannette : first Congresswoman
elected in U. S.; sketch of, I, 480.
Rankin, Wellington D., I, 528, 869.
Rapelje, I, 840.
Rarus quartz lode, I, 377.
Rarey, Bert, III, 1279.
Rasch, Carl, I, 437. 438-
Rasmussen, James A., Ill, 919.
Rasmusson, Iden M., Ill, 1000.
Rathbone, Robert M., Ill, 879.
Rathert, Fred E., Ill, 930.
Rattlesnake Creek, I, 167, 230.
Ravalli, Anthony, I, 154; leaves St.
Mary's mission, I, 157, 161.
Ravalli, I, 792.
Ravalli County: I, 241; created, 442,
451; irrigation in, 608; description of,
810; young apple orchard (illustra-
tion), 813; resources of, 811.
Ray, Julian D., II, 293.
Ray, Ned, I, 242, 249; execution of, 264,
266.
Raymond, Winthrop, III, 1282.
Raynesford, I, 699.
Red Bluff, I, 771.
Red Cloud (Sioux Chief), I, 341, 343.
344, 345.
Red Lodge, I, 678-679; school (illustra-
tion), I, 679.
Red Rock Creek,. I, 230, 231.
Red Trail, 570, 575.
Redwater, I, T]T.
Redwing, Edward O., Ill, 710-
Reed, Clinton V., I, 654.
Reed, Frank S., Ill, 790.
Reed, Oliver L., Ill, 1407.
Reed Point, I, 840.
Reese, H. J., II, 34-
Reeves, I, 249, 251.
Reeves, A. I., Ill, yzT.
Reiche, G. I., I, 725.
Reichel, Frank J., Ill, 1233.
Reichle, August, II, 522.
Reid, Edmund W., Ill, 821.
Reid, Frank, III, 838.
Reid, James, I, 500, 548.
Reifenrath, Charles H., Ill, 670.
Reinbold, Theodore, II, 65.
Reinoehl, Charles M., I, 503.
Reisz, George S., I, 654.
Reiter, W. H., 11, 637.
Remains of Bannack's former mining
glory (illustration), I, 671.
Remington, Sumner A., Ill, 824.
Rennick, P. S., II, 528.
Reno, William E., Ill, 1379.
Resner, Andrew K., II, 508.
Revised Codes of Montana, 1907, I, 464.
Reynolds, I, 3S7.
Reynolds, F. B., I, 436, 696, 869; II,
217.
Reynolds, J. J., I, 356.
Reynolds, William P., II, 532.
Rhea, William F., II, 906.
Rheem, L. M., I, 761.
Rhoades, William B., Ill, 765.
Rhodes, William M., Ill, 1221.
Rice, Alonzo F., II, 454.
Rice, George C, II, 465.
Rice, Robert E., Ill, 960.
Richardon, C. F., II, 581.
Richards, David D., II, 436.
Richards, Warrington, II, 448.
Richardson, Pliney S., III. 1234.
Richardson, William B., II, 291.
Richie, Arthur C, II, 438.
Richland County: irrigation in, I, 609;
description of, 813.
Richmond, Hunter L., II, 6.
Rickard, Campbell G., Ill, 1214.
Rickards, John E., I, 443, 446, 447. 725.
868.
Riddel!, Arthur M., II, 546.
Riddick, Carl, I, 868.
Rider, T. T., I, 544-
Ridley, Charles F., II, 100.
Riedeman, Charles B., II, 593.
Rimini, I, 749.
Rimini mining district, $6,200,000, I, 766.
Ring, David A., Ill, 937.
Ringling, John, I, 778.
Rising, Margaret B., Ill, 825.
Rising, Martin, III, 825.
Ritch, John B., II, 127.
Riverside, I, "JTJ.
Rixon, Frederick P., II, 285.
Rixon, William P., II, 220,
Roach, Jeremiah, I, 406.
Roach, William, I, 192.
Road Agents' Band of Montana, I, 247;
personnel of, 249; 261, kill more than
one hundred people, 250; last to be
executed, 274.
Road Agents Rock (illustration), i, 248.
Roads and Ferries projected at Ophir, I,
336. •
Robb, Fleming W., II, 253.
Roberts, A. J., I, 511.
Roberts, Albert, III, 1241.
Roberts, Commodore B., Ill, 691.
Roberts, Milner, I, 687.
Roberts, Thomas P., I, 88, 687.
Robertson, R. H., I, 415.
Robertson, R. W., I, 289.
Robinson, Grant, I, 723 ; II, 140.
Robinson, John C, I, 415.
Robison, C. W., II, 383.
Roche. John F., Ill, 1427.
Rochester, I, 771.
Rocky Ford coal field, I, 240.
Rocky Mountains : discovery of by the
Chevalier de la Verendrye, I, 9; first
view of, by Captain Lewis, 36; seen by
Larocque, TJ.
Rock Mountain Fur Company, I, 108,
no.
Rocky Mountain Wagon Road Company,
L 304.
Rodgers, Henry, I, 206, 209.
Rodgers, John H., I, 282.
Rodgers, William B., II, 523.
Roe, J. A., Ill, 1033.
xl
INDEX
Roe, John J., I, 558.
Roebuck, Sarah E., Ill, 953-
Roecher, Albert C, II, 56.
Roehl, Edward R., II, MS-
Roke, Matthew J., Ill, 1367.
Rollins, I, 725-
Romaine, Jem, I, 252.
Romeyn, Henry, account of Chief
Joseph's Capture, I, 363-369-
Romney, Miles, II, 538.
Ronan, I, 792.
Ronan, Peter, I, 205; (portrait), 206;
493-
Rood, Guy L., Ill, 733-
Rood, William E., Ill, 1054.
Roosevelt (Theodore) Memorial High-
way, I, 802.
Roosevelt County: created, I, 483; Cul-
bertson school (illustration), 527; irri-
gation in, 611; description of, 815;
mineral resources, 816; tractor at work
in (illustration), 816.
Roosevelt Memorial Highway (Glacier
Park to St. Paul), I, 5/0, 575-
Root, Fred, I, 2S7.
Root & Davis, I, 217. .
Roper, Eglantine L., Ill, 764.
Ropes, L. S., I, 766.
Roscoe, William P., II, 221.
Rosebud, I, 821.
Rosebud County: irrigation in, I, 609;
description of, 817; formation of, 819;
natural wealth, 820.
Rosebud mountain, I, Oi-
Rosebud Valley (illustration), I, 233.
Rosedale schools, old and new (illus-
tration). I, 523-
Rosetta, Henry, II, 191-
Ross, Alexander, III, 784.
Ross, Carl B., II, 144-
Ross, John D., Ill, 736-
Ross, Robert P.. Ill, 1333-
Rothwell, Charles F-, II, 421.
Rotwitt, Louis, I, 443.
Roundup : center of coal fields and oil
fields, I, 795-
Roundup Public Schools, II, 583.
Roundup Record, III, 991-
Roundup of steers and horses, I, 392.
Rowe, James H., Ill, 993-
Rowe, J. P., I, 238, 239.
Rowe. William. Ill, 680.
Rowley, John II, 41.
Roy, I, 717.
Royal Milling Company, I, 693.
Ruby range, I, 91.
Rud'yard, I, 744-
Rue, Alfred W., Ill, 923-
Rue, Fred W., Ill, 1107.
Rue, Jasper S., III. 1105.
Rue. Leonard E., Ill, 1064.
Ruff, Frank, I, 223.
Rugg, Claude C, III, 1418-
Ruhle, Raymond L., II, 497.
Runner, F. E., II, 294-
Ruppel. John F., Ill, 841.
Ruppel, William, III. 840.
Russel. Edward C, III. 1.161.
Russell, Charles J., Ill, 1338.
Russell, C. M.. I. 320.
Russell, David H.. III. 1307-
Russell. Harry J., II. 205.
Russell, Lillian K., III. 1361.
Rutherford. H. W.. II, 466.
Rutter, John H., Ill, 1040.
Ryan, C. R-, II, 240.
Rvan, John D., Ill, 1055.
Ryan, Michael J., Ill, 658.
Rvan, Patrick, I, 282.
Ryan, William C, II, 57-
Rverson, Lloyd H., II, 229.
Ryniker. Walter E., II, 261.
Ryon, A. M., I, 544, 547, 548.
Sacajawea (the bird woman), I. 28. 48,
50; reunited to brother and girlhood
companion, 55; 62, 64; last vears of,
65-
Sacajawea memorial, I, 783.
Sacajawea monument, Armstead, I, 672.
Sacajawea Park, Missoula, I, 785.
Saco, I, 588, 803.
Sacred Heart Mission, I, 154.
St. Ignatius, I, 792.
St. Ignatius Mission, I, 151; (new),
157, 160.
St. John's Catholic Hospital, Helena, I,
757-
St. Labre Mission, I, 162.
St. Louis: center of fur trade, I, 137.
St. Mary Parish, Helena, III, 1030.
St. Mary's Mission: founding of, I, 148;
abandoned, 154.
St. Mary's River, I, 91 ; St. Paul's Mis-
sion, i, 162.
St. Peter's Episcopal Hospital, I, 757.
St. Peter's Mission, I, 161, 162.
St. Phillip. I, 848.
St. Regis. I. 779.
St. Vincent's Academy. Helena, I, 755.
St. Xavier Mission, I, 162.
Salesville, I, 729.
Salish tribe, I, 142; Christian Sioux
missionaries to the, I44-
Saltese. I. 779.
Samson, Jemima A.. III. 850.
Sampling Mills of Montana, I, 380.
Sampson. Horace. III. 846.
Samson, J. A., III. 850.
Sand Coulee, I, 241.
Sand Creek, I, 777.
Sandell, Tom, II, 364.
Sanden, Fred S., I, 760; III, i443-
Sanders, I. 845.
Sanders, James U., I, 283, 316.
Sanders, L. P., II, 957.
Sanders, Wilbur F., I. 243. 255, 257, 259,
260, 273; coming of, 278; 281, 282.
289, 291, 300, on death of General
Meagher, 301 ; 316. 335. 421. 4,W, 433.
434. 435. 444; elected U. S. Senator
(1889), 446; 452; death of. 462; me-
morial to. 469; 558. 757, 760; III. 056.
Sanders County: irrigation in. I. 611;
description of, 821 ; lumbering and
agriculture in, 822.
Sandles. H. P.. II, 391.
Sanner, Sydney. II. 550.
Sanvik. Ole, HI. 787-
Sappington. Henry H.. III. 807.
Sappington, Ruphema J.. III. 807.
Sargent. Charles C, III, 933-
INDEX
xli
Sargent, F. E, I, 548.
Sarles, Frederick H., II, 496.
Saunders, John, I, 185, 187.
Savage, M., II, 144.
Saw Mills of Montana : established
1898-1919 (see towns and cities) I,
871-872.
Schaefer, Frank M., Ill, nil.
Schaefer, Robert, II, 82.
Scheetz, George, III, 1324.
Scheuch, Frederick C, I, 533, 543.
Scheuch, Frederick G., I, 789.
Schierts, Peter, II, 623.
Schlechten, Albert, II, 308.
Schmidt, Jacob, II, 485.
Schmidt, Margaret, II, 486.
Schmit, John P., II, 173.
Schmitz, Fred W., Ill, 678.
Schmitz, Stephen A., II, 580.
Schneider, William G., Ill, 972.
Schoening, Harry A., Ill, 770.
Schotield, John W., II, 425-
Schofield, Thomas F., Ill, 1356.
School moneys apportioned (1921), I,
5^7-
School month defined, I, 527.
School of Forestry, I, 532, 789.
School of Journalism, I, 532, 789.
School of Law established, I, 789.
School of Mines: location and buildings,
I, 550.
School of Pharmacy, I, 532; reorgan-
ized, 789.
Schoppe, William F., II, 414.
Schrump, August, II, 585.
Schuch, J. Harry, II, 174.
Schwachheim, Aug.. III. 985.
Schwingel, Albert E., Ill, 832.
Science Hall, I, 534.
Scobey, I, 708.
Scott, F. P., Ill, 867.
Scott. James S., II, 625.
Scott, Percival D., II, 646.
Scott, Thomas C, III, 1414.
Scott, William J., Ill, 1325.
Scotty, Canadian trader, I, 175.
Scovil, John, II, S04.
Scovil, J. Ralph, II, 35-
Scovill, C. D.. II, 420.
Sears, Edward, II, 154.
Sears, Henry F., II, 59.
Sebree, Howard, I, 660.
Sprond Infantry Regiment, Montana
National Guard : in the miners'
trouble, I, 648; in border troubles,
649; at outbreak of World's war, 650.
Second Infantry Regiment, United
States Volunteers, I, 650; overseas at
last, 651.
Sederholm, Charles A., Ill, 823.
.Seed House of Montana, II, 2.
Seel, John, III, 894.
Selbv, Lloyd, I, 327, 329, 332.
Self. James M., II, 118.
Selters, J. B., II, 78.
Selway, Delos D., HI, 1401.
Selway, John L., Ill, 1017.
.Servis. Francis G., I, 423.
Sessions, H. G., I, 249.
Settergren, G. E.. II. 143.
Sevenich, John M., Ill, 1132.
Severson, Clarence J., HI, 774.
Sewell, Walter J., II, 573.
Shadoan, J. A., II, 40. •
Shafer, Gordon O., Ill, 827.
Shanley, Thomas J. B., II, 112.
Shannon, George, I, 28.
Shannon, John C, HI, 1199.
Sharp, Ralph A., II, 329.
Sharpe, L. G., I, 415.
Sliattuck, John E., II, 639.
Shaw, Leon, II, 161.
Shawmut. I, 848.
Shears, George, I, 249.
Sheehan, James, I, 208.
Sheep: raising of, I, 397, 399.
Sheep ranch (illustration), I, 683.
Sheffield. Edward, I, 415.
Shenefelt, Monroe P., Ill, 848.
Shephard, Harvey R., HI, 1277. •
Shepherd, I, 856.
Sheridan, I, 771, 775.
Sheridan. Ruth, II, 106.
Sheridan county: created, I, 474; irriga-
tion in, 611; description of, 824.
Sheridan, Charles L., I, 642, 650, 661,
869.
Sherman, Charles H., HI, 949.
Sherman, Frank L., HI, 1058.
Sherman, Nora K., HI, 819.
Sherman, Thomas C, HI, 1439.
Sherman, W. P., Ill, 8ig.
Sherrill, Albert, HI, 1216.
Sherwood, J. W., I, 696.
Sheuerman. A. A., II, 162.
Shiell, Robert G., HI, 1291.
Shields, John, I, 28, 51, 52.
Shipley, Whitfield. II, 181.
Shipley, William H.. II, 571.
.Shippam, John, HI, 1061.
Shippee, Irvin L,, HI, 1134.
Shirley, I, 703.
Shoaf. Harriet. HI, 871.
Shober, John H., I. 316; 11, 641.
Shoper, John H.. I, 415, 422.
Shore, Will B., II, 269.
Shorey, B. G., II, 394.
Short. George N., II, 502.
Shorthill. Robert D., II, 72.
Shoshones (Snake Indians), Lewis in
touch with, I, 53 ; 57.
Shreveport (Missouri river steamboat),
I. 178. 170.
Sibbits. William, HI, 891.
Sidney. I. 814.
Siegei, Victor, II, 553.
Sigafoos, Josiah J., HI, 1425.
Silver Bow City, I, 223, 372.
Silver Bow county : as a copper producer,
I. 384; number and value of cattle,
(1884), 395; created, 408; irrigation
in 611; county and city almost co-
extensive, 827; early history of min-
ing in, 828; created, 834.
Silver Bow Creek: mines along, I, 213;
223.
Silver issue of 1896, I, 452.
Silver Lake, I, 713.
Silver mining: first in Montana, I, 237;
rise of, I, 372-375-
Silverthorn, John, I, 185, 186.
Simineo, Joseph S., II, 208.
xlii
INDEX
Simmons, A. J., I, 311.
Simmons, Hubert A.. II, 69.
Simmons, Louis, I, igp.
Simmons, Otto J., II, 188.
Simms, Samuel, III, 885.
Simms, Susan, III, 886.
Simonson, Charles C, II, 277.
Simpkins, Justin C, III, 1008.
Simpson, Charles M., Ill, 1360.
Simpson, Joseph B., Ill, 1232.
Simpson, T. W., Ill, 1178.
Sioux, I, 308; checked at "The Palace
of Skulls," 308-310; 342.
Sioux National Forest, I, 624.
Sisson, Edward, II, 565.
Sisson, Edward O. : sketch of, I, 533!
789.
Sitting Bull (Sioux Chief), I, 34s, 346;
again troublesome, 347; 357, 358; in
British America, 359 ; 362, 366.
Skelton, William, III, 1295.
Skillen, William, III, 915.
Skillman, Charles N., II, 264.
Skinner, Cyrus, I, 249.
Skinner, Harry J., II, 495.
Sklower, Emanuel, III, 961.
Sklower, Max, III, 061.
Skyltead, Olaf G., HI, 752.
Slade, J. A., I, 269, 270, 271, 272; last
days of, Beidler's account, 2Ti.
Slater, Peter, I, 223.
Slattery, John L., I, 868; III, 1218.
Slayton, Daniel W., Ill, 1345.
Sleight, Frederick S., Ill, 909.
Sligh, James M., II, 300.
Sloan, Mrs. M. A., I, 721.
Smart, Forrest V., Ill, 1161.
Smart, Oscar G., Ill, 1160.
Small, Nellie B., II, 493.
Smelters, concentrators and cyanide
plants of Montana : established 1889-
1919 (see towns and cities), I, 872,
873.
Smiley, George E., II, 501.
Smith, Albert K., II, 369.
Smith, Andrew J., I, 282, 758, 760.
Smith, Donald A., I, 561.
Smith, F. E., I, 721.
Smith, George H., I, 192, 196.
Smith, Glen A.. II, 452.
Smith, Green Clay, succeeds Governor
Edgerton, I, 300 ; resigns governor-
ship, 314; 415, 868.
Smith, J. Gregory, I, 51^0.
Smith, Harry M., Ill, 788.
Smith, Henry E., II. 170.
Smith, Henry T., Ill, 1266.
Smith, H. P. A., I, 219.
Smith, I. C, I, 218.
Smith, James, II, 198.
Smith, James C, III, 1 160.
Smith, Jedediah S., I, loS, iii.
Smith, Lewis A., II, 516.
Smith, Napoleon B., Ill, 949.
Smith, N. B., II, 227.
Smith, Paul, III, 859.
Smith, Robert, I, 44.
Smith, Robert A., I, 454.
Smith. Robert B., I, 451 ; sketch of,
452; 457.
Smith, Robert E., I, 868.
Smith, Richard F., II, 1039.
Smith, Vard, II, 239.
Smith, Veva, III, 1093.
Smith, Wallace P., II, 458.
Smith, Walter S., II, 203.
Smith, William B., Jr., Ill, 1202.
Smith, William N., Ill, 666.
Smith, W. Egbert, I, 496.
Smith, W. P., II, 12.
Smith-Highes Act, I, 545.
Smith's River, I, 44.
Snake Indians, I, 28, 48, 50.
Snake (Lewis) River, I, =;8.
Snell, Charles H., I, 758, 760.
Snell. George E., II, 250.
Snellbacher, J. W., II, 203.
Snidow, Thomas A., II, 218.
Snow Creek Game Preserve, I, 735.
Snow Mountains, I, 42.
Snow Storm Mine, I, 375.
Snowden, J. C, I. 732.
Snyder, Clayton E., I, 661.
Snyder, Rudolph, I, 868.
Snyder, Willard F., Ill, 1099.
Society of Montana Pioneers, I, 316-
320.
Soden, Jack E., II, 646.
Soderlind. Will J., II, 43.
Soft drinks and cereal beverages manu-
factured : see towns and cities, I, 874.
Solberg, Inga, II, 415.
Solberg, J. S., II, 60.
Soldiers' Home, Columbia Falls: classes
of inmates in, I, 484, 725.
Somers, I, 725.
Somerville, John, I, 210; names Helena,
211, 212.
Sonstelie, Carl J., I, 661.
Souders, Samuel M., II, 234.
Southmayd, LeRoy, II, 532.
South Pass : Bonneville and Bridger go
through, I, 114.
Spanish-American War, Montana in the,
I, 643-48.
Spanish Creek, Gallatin county (illus-
tration), I, 106.
Spanish Fork (Deer Lodge), I, 222.
Sparks, Franklin F., Ill, 1096.
Spear, Charles, II, 303.
Spear, J. M., I, 433.
Specht, Joseph, I, 147.
Spectacular mine, I, 379.
Speer, James W., Ill, 833.
Speer, Owen D., II, 419.
Spencer, Almon C, II, 166.
Spencer, Gideon K., Ill, 947.
Spencer, John T., II, 378.
Spion Kop, I, 699.
Spivey, Henry, I, 257.
Spogen, Dominic, III, 712.
Spooner, Armon C, III, 1207.
Spooner, Henry R., Ill, 701.
Spotted Tail (Indian Sioux Chief), I,
345-
Spottswood, William C, II, 326.
Sprague, J. E., I, 725.
Spratt, James G., I, 289, 415, 422.
Spread Eagle (Missouri river steam-
boat), I, 178, 179.
Spring, L. H., II, 168.
Sproule, G. B., I, 459.
INDEX
xliii
Spurling, James E., II, 370.
Square Butte, I, 702.
Stafford, W. M., I, 289.
Stage Coach, early day (illustration), I,
557- , ^ ,
Stage lines: overland and state, I, 550.
Stager (George N.) and Company, I,
219.
Stagg, J. P., II, 398.
Stahl, John W., Ill, 789.
Stallion Registration Board, I, 530.
Staimann, Otto, I, 376.
Stanford, I, 723-
Stanley, David S., I, 309, 345, 346.
Stanley, Henry H., II, 607.
Stanley, Reginald, I, 210.
Stapleton, Arthur A., II, 114.
Stapleton, George W., I, 219, 336; II,
544-
Stapleton, Wash, I, 207.
Stark, Roy A., II, 409.
State Accident Insurance and Disability
Fund created, I, 465.
State Arid Land Grant Commission
created, I, 452, 453, 454.
State Athletic Commission created, I,
476.
State Board for Vocational Education,
co-operation with federal board, I,
527. , ^
State Board of Agriculture created, I,
453-
State Board of Commissioners for the
Insane created, I, 476.
State Board of Dairy Commission Ex-
aminers, I, 530.
State Board of Education, I, 468, 47s ;
first meeting at Bozeman, 544.
State Board of Educational Examin-
ers, first, I, 511, 530.
State Board of Entomology created, I,
476.
State Board of Hail Insurance created,
I, 483.
State Board of Health, I, 477. 484.
State Board of Land Commissioners
created, I, 469, 577.
State Board of Poultry Husbandry, I,
403, 530.
State Board of Veterinary Medical Ex-
aminers established, I, 476.
State Bureau Mines and Metallurgy,
paper on ore sampling, I, 371, 529,
549-
State Capitol Commission, I, 452, 453.
State Capitol contest, I, 441.
State Chemist, I, 530.
State College of Agriculture and Me-
chanic Arts, I, 532.
State Constitution of 1889, I, 439.
State Dairy Commission, I, 476.
State Department of Agriculture and
Publicity: report on dairying, I, 401.
State Entomologist, I, 530.
State Fire Warden created, I, 464.
State Fish Hatchery established, I, 482.
State Grain Inspector, I, 530.
State Grain Laboratory, I, 476.
State Highway Commission: created, I,
475 ; divides state into twelve districts,
483; biennial report of, 1919-1920, 571;
functions of, 569, 570, 572 ; revenues
and expenditures (1920), 575.
State Highway funds authorized, I, 484.
State Highway System, I, 574.
State Historical Library, I, 324, 760.
State Industrial School for Boys, I,
703, 704-
State Insane Asylum : ordered by State,
I, 479-
State Institutions, I, 869.
State Lands : State Board of Land Com-
missioners custodians of, I, 577; re-
ceipts from all sources (1889-1920),
578, 579. 580.
State Legislative Assemblies : first, I,
446; second, 448; third, 4S0; fourth,,
451; fifth and sixth, 453; seventh,
457 ; eighth, 459 ; ninth, 462 ; tenth,
463; eleventh, 465; twelfth, 469; thir-
teenth, 470; fourteenth, 477; fifteenth,
480 ; sixteenth, 483 ; seventeenth, 486 ;
Special Session of 1921, 491.
State Live Stock Commission, I, 477.
State Live Stock Sanitary Board, I,
464.
State Motor Vehicle Law, I, 475.
State Normal College, I, 529, 532, 669.
State Orphans' Home, I, 554, 775.
State Parole Commissioner, I, 475.
State Prison : Deer Lodge, I, 453.
State Reform School: established, I, *
500; 553-
State School for Deaf, Dumb and
Blind: established, I, 500, 745, 746.
State School Funds, I. 521.
State School Lands, I, 498, 499.
State School of Mines : established, I,
500, 528, 529, 532, 831.
State Tax Commission: created, I, 474;
act repealed, 478.
State Text Book Commission: estab-
lished, I, 500.
State Tuberculosis Sanitarium : ordered
by State, I, 479.
State University, Missoula, I, 528, 529,
532; (illustration), 533; history of,
534. 535. 536; buildings of, 536; Col-
lege of Arts and Sciences, 537; de-
partments of, 537-43; Reserve Officers'
Training Corps, 538; School of Busi-
ness Administration, 538; School of
Journalism, 539; School of Forestry,
539; Public School Music, 540; School
of Law, 540; School of Pharmacy,
541; Library and Museum, 542; Bu-
reau of Information, 543; Honor
Scholarships and Prizes, 543; College
buildings, 546; 787-789; (illustration),
788.
State Vocational School for Girls,
Helena: established, I, 484; 757.
Staunton, Michael D., II, 584.
Steamboat trip from Fort Union to
Fort Benton (1862), I, 178.
Steamboats in Western Montana, first,
I, 556.
Steele, George, I, 215.
Steele, Lawrence W., II, 282.
Steele, William L., I, 316.
Steer feeding in Beaverhead county
(illustration), I, 668.
xliv
INDEX
Steere, E. A., I, 500.
Stennes, Odin T., Ill, 778.
Stephan, Walter H., II, 348.
Stephen, George, I, 561.
Stephens, John H., II, 124,
Stephens, W. J., I, 422.
Stephenson, Andrew P., II, 14.
Stephenson, Sam, III, 1031.
Sterling, A. M., II, 508.
Sterling, Frederick T., II, 349.
Stevens, Benjamin F., Ill, 983.
Stevens, Benjamin T., II, 654.
Stevens, Harry A., II, 247.
Stevens, Isaac I.. I, 158, 159, 687.
Stevens, Jesse H., Ill, 871.
Stevens. Lawrence S.. II, 137.
Stevens, Melzer N., Ill, 1230.
Stevens Government expedition (1853-
54). I. 158.
Stevenson, Albert M., Ill, 1024.
Stevenson, Lon C., Ill, 1086.
Stevenson Co-operative Creamery, I,
403.
Stevensville, I, 225, 792, 811, 812.
Stewart, Charles T., I, 869.
Stewart, David, III, 721.
Stewart, John A., Ill, 721.
Stewart, Katherine L., II, 586.
Stewart, Lon S., II, 1086.
Stewart, Samuel S., Ill, 777.
Stewart, Samuel V., sketch of, I, 472;
868; III, 878.
Stickney, Ben, Jr., I, 757.
Stiefel, Edward A., II, 270.
Stiehl, Frank J., Ill, 1129.
Stierle, Charles, III, 753.
Stiles, John M. S.. II. 261.
Stillinger, C. A., Ill, 1277.
Stillwater county: created, I, 474; irri-
gation in, 611; description of, 839.
Stimpert, Adam, II, 611.
Stinkwater river, I, 222. 230, 231.
Stinson, Buck, I, 242, 249; execution of,
264, 332.
Stivers, Daniel Gay, I, 643 ; II, 594.
Stockett, I, 690.
Stocking, Margaret, II, =;86.
Stocking, Winfield S., II, 586.
Stoddard, Amos. I, 27.
Stoddard, Fred C, II, 23.
Stoddard, O. F., L 4S2.
Stodden, William T., II, 418.
Stoebe, Herman, III, 1262.
Stoebe, Samuel, HI, 1263.
Stoebe, William. Ill, 1263.
Stohr, August C, III. 1109.
Stoller, Jacob, III, 1389.
Stone, A. L., I. 321 ; II. 346.
Stone, Elbert H., Ill, 70'^.
Stone, Franklin L., II, 38.
Story, Nelson, Jr., I, 869; II, 85.
Story, Nelson, Sr., I, 322, 544, 547.
Story. N., I, 217.
Stout, Charles O., II, 79.
Stout. Tom: sketch of, I, 471.
Strasburger, Herman, II, 546.
Straszer, Walter C, II, 194.
Straw. I, 717.
Strevell, J. W., I, 433.
Strever. William J.. II. 196.
Strickland, O. F., I. 289.
Stringham, Harry C, II, 214.
Stripp. Albert E., II, 154.
Strobel, Roger L., III. 1122.
Strode, Thomas P., HI, 1233.
Strong, William G., I, 840.
Stroup. Charles E., II, 223.
Stryker. R. N.. II, 321.
Stryker, William, II, 40.
Stuart, Granville, I, S; 161, 186, 187, 199,
221. 222. 226, 282, 283, 316, 322, 395 ;
appointed State Historian; his death,
482.
Stuart, James, I, 135; (portrait), 136;
161, 186; commences to study medi-
cine, 189; 190, 192; saves party from
Crow Indians, 193; locates Big Horn
town, 195; 197, 199, 209, 221, 226, 282;
death of, 311 ; 312; 798.
Stuart, Thomas, I, 221.
Stuart and Anderson, I, 395.
Stuart Brothers: early years of, and
coming to Montana, I, 186, 188; mine
in the spring of 1862, 189; 200, 213,
224, 243.
Stuart expedition : attacked by Crows, I,
195-198.
Stuart's first Yellowstone expedition, I,
192-199.
Stuart's second Yellowstone expedition,
I, 209.
Stubban, Edward. HI, 887.
StufTt. W. F., III. 1304.
Sturgis, S. D., I, 362.
Sublette, Milton, I, 108, 120.
Sublette. William. I, 108, in, 120.
Sudar, Joseph, II, 390.
Sugar Beets for the Billings factory
(illustration), I, 857.
Sulgrove. Leslie, I, 758, 760.
Sulier. Alfred J., Ill, 1097.
Sullivan, Ambrose, III, 698.
Sullivan, .'\ndrew J., II, 615.
Sullivan. Fred D., HI. 758.
Sullivan, Jeremiah, III, 746.
Sullivan, Nellie C, H, 440.
Sully. Alfred, his Sioux campaign of
1864, I. 292-98.
Sumatra, I, 821.
Summer, Milton, I, 851.
Summer Schools, I, 515.
Summers. H. L., II, 92.
Summit Mountain Mining District. I.
223.
Summit Valley District, I, 222.
Sun Dance of the Piegans (illustration),
I. i6g.
Sun River, I, 229; reclamation project,
587, 589.
Sun River Valley, I, 749.
Sunset, I, 790.
Superior, I, 778.
Sutherland. Elizabeth, I, 511.
Sutter, Julian A., II, 95.
Sutton, Lucian H., II, 147.
Sutton. Roy E., HI, 1386.
Swain, Henry H., I, 528.
Swan. Lon T., II, 240.
Swan. William J., III. 957.
Swanberg, Hugo H.. II. 440.
Swandal. Austin, II, 375.
Swaney, A. W., HI, 1275.
Swaney, Mary A., HI. 1276.
INDEX
xlv
Swartz, John J., Ill, 1217.
Swearingen, John R., II, 202.
Sweat, John A., Ill, 750.
Sweat, Ruth, III, 750.
Swee, John P., II, 403.
Sweeney, Bill, I, 206, 209.
Sweet, Chester W., Ill, i433-
Sweet, S. C, II, 482.
Sweet, William T., II, 482.
Sweet, William T., St., II, 481.
Sweet Grass county: created, I, 452;
irrigation in, 612; description of, 840;
farming and stock raising, 841.
Sweetland, Levi H., Ill, 870.
Sweetman, Luke D.. Ill, 907.
Sweetman, Richard H,, III, 907.
Sweitzer, E. C, II, 204.
Swenson, Christian T., 11, 54.
Swindlehurst, W. J., I, 489-
Swine raising, I, 400.
Switzer, J. Bertram, III, 942.
Switzer, Lew, III, 964.
Sworder, William, II, 273.
Sybert, Edward M., II, 245.
Symes, George G., I, 418, 419, 422.
Symmes, Weymouth D., II, 209.
Taber, Charles B., Ill, 1314-
Taffner, Clarence, III, 1377-
Talcott, E. H., I, 547-
Talkington, Henry C, I, 321.
Tallman, William D., II, 79.
Tanner, Franklin D., Ill, 1330.
Tattan, John W., II, 461.
Taylor, Cecil E., Ill, 973.
Taylor, Don C, II, 68.
Taylor, George H., Ill, I039-
Taylor, Thomas T., II, 155-
Taylor, Thompson & Company, I, 219.
Taylor, William H., II, 578.
Tbalt, Nicholas, I, 254, 255.
Teachers' Institutes, I, 497-
Teachers' Retirement law, I, 511.
Telyea, Ned A., II, 199.
Tenipleman, John L., II, 400.
Templeton, H. A., I, 696.
Ten Haf, P. A., I, 732.
Tennis, Albert L., Ill, 1 182.
Terrace, I, 777.
Territorial capital fixed, I, 422.
Territorial Judges (illustration), I, 428.
Territorial Teachers' Association, I, 497.
Terry, I, 810.
Terry, Alfred H., I, 347, 353, 356, 358,
359-
Terwilliger, Lewis, II, 234.
Teton county: created, I, 442, 451; irri-
gation in, 612; description of, 842.
Teton irrigation project, I, 584.
Teton ridge, I, 91.
Teton River, I, 229.
Thaler, Joseph A., II, 43i-
Theade, August, III, II94-
Theodore Roosevelt International High-
way, I, 744-
Theony, I, 846.
Thex, Charles H., Ill, 1084.
Thien, Henry, III, 986.
Thomas, Alfred L., II, 39-
Thomas, Arthur, II, 507.
Thomas, Ernest W., Ill, 1190.
Thomas, John P., I, 316.
Thomas, M. T., I, 292.
Thomas, Owen J., II, 246.
Thomas, Robert E., Ill, 1176.
Thomas, Theodore H., II, 120.
Thompson, Carl N., Ill, 1240.
Thompson, Frank M., I, 282.
Thompson, Frederick W., Ill, 764.
Thompson, Harry M., II, 1322.
Thompson, John, III, 790.
Thompson, John B., I, 28.
Thompson, Peter, III, 1190.
Thompson, Rufus B., II, 137.
Thompson, T. A., Ill, 1 141.
Thompson, William, I, 219.
Thompson, William B., I, 773.
Thompson Falls, I, 824.
Thomson, George C III, 837.
Thorkelson, Jacob, 11, 365.
Thornton, Charles C, II, 342.
Thoroughman, Robt. P., Ill, 729-
Thoroughman, Thomas, I, 282, 289, 291,
41S.
Thorson, George, III, 660.
Three Buttes, I, 229.
Three Forks, I, 729.
Three Forks Consolidated School, II,
170.
Three Forks Mill & Elevator Company,
III, 1050.
Three Forks of the Missouri, Clark
reaches the, I, 46; (illustration), 47;
89.
Three Forks Portland Cement Company,
I, 719, 720.
Three Forks Post abandoned, I, 104.
Three-thousand-mile Island, I, 52.
Thurber, Charles D., II, 307.
Thurmond, J., I, 249.
Tiegen, I, 717.
Tilly, George H.. death of, I, 644-
Tilzey, Harold C, II, I39-
Timber on the State lands : regulation
of, I, 484.
Timmons, Jacob C, II, 630.
Tingley. Robert S., Ill, 667.
Tinklepaugh, Albert, II, 146.
Tinsley, Basil, III, 1197.
Tobacco Plains, I, 172; dispute as to
ownership, 175.
Tobacco Root, I, 91.
Tobinski, John J., I, 786; 11, 441.
Todd, Calvin, III, 1235.
Tolle, Arthur, II, 490.
Toole, Edwin W., I, 282.
Toole, E. W., I, 421.
Toole, E. Warren, I, 430, 433. 443-
Toole, Joseph K., I, 378, 409, 419, 422,
431, 441, 443; sketch of, 443; (por-
trait), 444; 457, 460, 858.
Toole county: irrigation in, I, 613;
description of, 843.
Tope, Joseph C, III. 131 1.
Torgrimson, Henry A., II, 295.
Toston, I, 676.
Totman, James E., 11, 534.
Tourists' Park, Billings, I, 853.
Tourtlotte, Ira B., II, 597-
Town Gulch, Butte, I, 223.
Town of Poison (illustration), I, 724.
Townsend, I, 676.
Tracht, Simon J., Ill, 695.
xlvi
INDEX
Tracy, John J., II, 1138.
Tracy, Mortimer O., Ill, 1357.
Trandum, Einar H., Ill, 1349.
Transportation : McKenzie inaugurates
steamboat navigation on the Yellow-
stone, I, 113; river, by mackinaw boat,
137; first steamboat arrives at Fort
Union, 138.
Travelers' Rest Creek, I, 58, 61.
"Travels in the Interior of America"
(Bradbury), I, 69.
Travis, James, III, 670.
Travis, Jane, III, 671.
Travona, I, 371, zy^.
Treasure county: irrigation in, I, 613;
description of, 844.
Tregloan, Thomas D., II, 404.
Trepp, Michael, III, 1359.
Trevillion, Samuel J., II, 537.
Trident, I, 729.
Trinder, Charles R., Ill, 784.
Trodick, Alfred J., Ill, 702.
Trott, Charlie T., II, 192.
Trout Creek. I, 824.
Trower, J. H., II, 119.
Troy, I, 770.
Truax, Charles S., II, 423.
Truitt, L. W, III, 1 178.
Truniper, May, I, 502; biennial report
for 1920, 503-528; 511, 528, 869; II,
622.
Truscott, John B., II, 157.
Trusler, Harvey S., Ill, 1268.
Tubbs, Charles C, III, 900.
Tucker, Frank F., II, 49.
Tucker, Roscoe V., Ill, 1042.
Tullock, A. J.. I, 127, 140, 141.
Tuohy, William M., II, 516.
Tuolumne Mining Co., I, 836.
Turk. John C, I, 415.
Turk, J. C, I, 289.
Turnbull, William N., II, 474.
Turner, Charles F., Ill, 1023.
Turner, Harry W., II, 542.
Tutt, G., I, 222.
Tuttle, Arthur, III, 663.
Tweedie, J. Andrew. Ill, 967.
Twin Bridges. I, 771, 775.
Twin Buttes Game Preserve, I, 749.
Twining, W. R., II, 636.
Two Dot, I, 848.
Tyler, Clayton H., HI, 1156.
Tyler, Reginald G.. Ill, 1164.
Tyner, Frank J., HI, 930.
Tyson, Harry B., HI, 946.
Ueland, Andrew, HI. 902.
Ueland, Justus L.. HI. 1180.
Ueland, Rasmus R., HI, 805.
Uehlinger. John E.. HI. 854.
Ulm. William M., HI, 684.
Ulmcr, I, 703.
Underground mines at Butte, I. 836.
Underwood. Drewyer, I, 192, 196, 197.
Union Central Pacific Railroad, I, 559.
Union Pacific System, I, 558, 559.
Unionville mining district, $4,110,000, I,
766.
United States Assay Office, Helena, I,
763.
United States Government Fish Hatch-
ery, Bridger Canyon, I, 732.
United States Gypsum Company, I, 720.
United States officials (June, 1921), I,
868.
Ignited States Reclamation enterprises
defined, I, 590.
United States Reclamation Service:
work of the, I, 585-90.
United States Senatorial election made
popular, I, 476.
United States Senatorship : contest over
(1889), I, 445-58.
United States Volunteer Cavalry
(Rough Riders), I, 643.
University Hall. I^ 534.
University of Montana: foundation laid,
I. 496, 500; under supervision of State
Board of Education, 528; origin and
scope, 529; results of unified adminis-
tration, 530; student enrollments, 532;
consolidation of, 544.
Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Park,
I, 118.
Upper Stillwater Lake, Blackfeet Na-
tional Forest (illustration), I, 622.
Upton, John, I, 209.
Utah & Northern (Union Pacific) Rail-
road, I. 375, 407; extends into Mon-
tana, 558.
Vagg, Harry A., II, 256.
Valencia, I, 848.
Valier irrigation project, I, 583.
Valiton, Ribot J., II, 149.
Valley county: alfalfa (illustration), I,
401 ; county created, 443, 451 ; irriga-
tion in. 613; description of, 845.
Valley of Sin-Y'al-niin, I, 157.
Van, John, HI, 1248.
Vananda, I, 821.
Vanatta. Frank C, III, 822.
van den Broeck, Victor J., II, 26.
Vanderbilt, John, I, 192, 209.
vander Pauwert, John, HI, 1384.
Van Duzen Company, I, 877.
Van Duzen Oil Company, I, 388.
Van Etten, Lee M., II, 519.
Van Laken, Peter J., II, 57.
Vannett, Alba M., HI. 1423.
Van Vorous, Benjamin. HI, 1147.
Varco, C. Earl, III, 1074.
Vaughan, A. J., I, 163, 167.
Vaughan, Patrick, I, 306.
Vaughn, L. H., II, 296.
Vaughn, Robert, I, 392.
Veach, F. I., HI, 1050.
Veblen. Thorkel A.. II. 433.
Verendrye, Pierre de La, I. father and
sons, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; discovers the Rocky
Mountains, 9, 10; last years of, I, 11.
Verona Town Company: records, site of
Virginia City, I, 217.
Veterans' Welfare Commission, I, 488.
Vezina. William R., HI, 1162.
Viall, John D., HI, 1408.
Vickers. Robert. I. 773; HI, 714.
Victor (Salish chief), I, 157.
Victor, I, 792, 812.
Vida. I, 77y.
Vigilante Trail. I, 771.
INDEX
xlvii
"Vigilantes in Montana" (Dimsdale), I,
217, 243, 247, 261, 275.
Vigilantes of Montana, I, 242-277; or-
ganization of, 260; last work of, 27s,
276, 277.
Vilas, J. C, II, 269.
Villard, Henry, I, 560.
Vincelette, Azarias G., Ill, 1385.
Virginia City: founding of (Blake), I,
216; incorporated, 220; 232, 298;
fourth and fifth Assemblies at, 312;
333 ; territorial capital contest, 422 ;
771 ; of today, 772-T^.
Virginia City Gas Company, I, 286.
Virginia City Water Company, I, 285,
Vivion county organized, 1, 409.
Vocational education, I, 545.
Vocational work, I, 516.
Vollum, Alfred T., Ill, 814.
Volstead, Andrew J., I, 490.
Volstead Act, I, 490.
Volunteer Signal Corps, Montana, I,
643, 644.
von Dachenhausen, A., II, 545.
Von Eschen, Frank, II, 228.
Waber, Julius, III, 1012.
Wachholz, John, III, 1440.
Wade, Decius S., I, 404, 412; service as
chief justice, 419; 421, 427; (portrait),
428; retires as chief justice, 430; 434-
Wade, D. S., I, 7S8, 760.
Wade, John, I, 581.
Wagenbreth, Charles J., Ill, 1396.
Wagnild, Otto, III, 751.
Wagoner, John (Dutch), I, 249, 263 1
execution of, 268; 334.
Wait, Mrs. Guy, I, 721.
Waite, Charles W., Ill, 928.
Waite, John D., II, 175.
Waite, William T., III. 1 108.
Wakefield, Lawrence, III, I435-
Walker, Annie P., Ill, 1160.
Walker, Frank C, II, 521.
Walker, Hugh C, III, 786.
Walker, I. N., II, 561.
Walker, James G., I, 322.
Walker, J. W., I, 869.
Walker, Leonard O., II, 183.
Walker, Nancy J., Ill, 8'^6.
Walker, Noble M., II, 107.
Walker, Samuel C, II, 643.
Walker, Thomas J., II, 521.
Walker Brothers, I, 373.
Walkerville, I, 827, 834, 836.
Wall, Frank M., II, 595-
Wall, Nicholas, I, 183, 287, 558.
Wallace, J. D., II, 476.
Wallace, Robert B.: death of, I, 454;
645 ; (portrait), 646.
Waller, Oliver P.. Ill, 1166.
Wallin, Charles C, II, 84.
Wallindcr, Peter, III, 693.
Walsh, J. A., I, 461, 868.
Walsh, Patrick J., Ill, 85?.
Walsh, Thomas J., I, 463, 471 ; sketch
of, 491 ; 760, 868.
Walters, N. P., II, 5iS-
Walton, Ernest L., Ill, 965.
Warner, William, III, 870.
Wandell, Alexander, III, 7S6.
Warfield, I, 770.
Warner, Alfred C, III, 749-
Warren, Charles S., I, 222, 316, 320,
834, 835; II, I.
Warren, Fred R., II, 93-
Warren, Henry L., I, 419, 422.
Washoe Copper Company, I, 377.
Washoe Sampler, I, 380.
Water of the Cottonwood Groves
(Stinkwater), I, 222.
Wate Rights legislation in Montana, I,
590.
Waters, Harry J., II, Si-
Watkins, I, 777.
Watkins, Charles F., Ill, 1048.
Watkins, Charles L., I, 654.
Watkins, Cyrus D., I, 192, 196, 197-
Watson, John P., II, 428.
Watson. Robert H., II, 108.
Wear, William E.. III. 1376.
Weaver, George H.. Ill, 1156.
Weaver, James A., II, 119.
Weaver, Samuel C, II, 133.
Webb. William H., II, 475-
Webster, C. M., I, 698.
Webster, Frederick C., II, 461.
Weed. Walter H., I. 374-
Weightman, John, III, 795.
Weil, Charles A., II. 185.
Weinrich, Frank A., Ill, II39-
Weinschrott, John, III, 1312.
Weir. Taylor B., Ill, 739.
Weitman, Lutie, I, 698.
Welch, W. W., I, 502.
Weld, Horace A., II, 148.
Weldon, I, 777.
Weldon," James M., II, 7.
Wellcome, George P., II, 379-
Welliver, Earl M., II, 568.
Wellman, William. II, 622.
Wells, Hugh R., Ill, 1346.
Wells, Willis C, II, 62.
Welsh, Thomas W., II, 596.
Wentworth, Charles L.. II, in.
Wentz, Michael R., Ill, 801.
Wernham. James I., II, 96.
Werner, William. I. 28.
Wesch. Philip, II. 85.
West, Belle H., III.. 1313.
West, Charles M., Ill, 1313-
West, Sterling C, III, I37l-
Western Central Basin of Montana, I,
230.
Western Lumber Company, I, 781.
"Western Missions and Missionaries"
(De Smet), I, 151.
Western Montana Fair Association, I,
786.
Western Montana Park-to-Park High-
way Route, I, 783.
Western Newspaper Union, Billings, I,
854-
Westmore, I, 714.
Weston, Charles J., II, 618.
Weston, D. H., I, 404-
Westover, George A., II, 375.
Westover, Robert L.. Ill, 1432.
Wharton, Jesse R., II, 519.
Wheat Basin, I, 840.
xlviii
INDEX
Wheat Harvest of Fergus county (illus-
tration, I, 716.
Wheatland county: created, I, 482; irri-
gation in, 614; description of, 846.
Wheatland County Wheat Farm (illus-
tration), I, 847.
Wheaton, Sherwood, I, 761.
Wheeler, Burton K., II, 7.
Wheeler, Frank O., II, 614.
Wheeler, W. F., I, 186.
Wliipps, William C, II, 187.
Whipps, William O., II, 182.
Whitcomb. Harry S., Ill, 1048.
White, Arthur, III, 943.
White, A. A., Ill, 1274.
White, Benjamin F., sketch of, I, 412,
413, 669, 868; II, 315.
White, John, I, 190, 191, 250.
White, Walter B., II, 279.
White Earth River, I, 29, 30.
White Slave .law passed, I, 469.
White Sulphur Springs, I, 778.
White Sulphur Springs and Yellowstone
Park Railroad, I, 568.
Whitebear Islands, I, 43, 59.
Whiteiish, I, 72s.
Whitehall, I, 746.
Whitehouse, Joseph, I, 28, 46.
Whitehouse Creek, I, 46.
Whitepine, I, 824.
Whiteside bill, I, 535.
Whitetail, I, 708.
Whitford, O. B., I, 316.
Whitlach, J. W., I, 757-
Whitlash, I, 768.
Whitlatch Mine, I, 765.
Whitlock, Albert N., II, 444- .
Whitman, Marcus, I, 145.
Whitney, Janet, III, 1209.
Whittinghill, J. N., II, 221.
Whitty, Patrick J., II, S72.
Whyte, Frederick W. C.. II, 425.
Whyte, Jeffrey P., II, 89.
Wibaux, I,^ 848.
Wibaux, Pierre, I, 703.
Wibaux county: irrigation in, I, 614;
description of, 848.
Wickes-Corbin mining district, $57,915,-
000, I, 766.
W;iddifield, Cecil J., I, 662.
Wiggins, Frank, II, 310.
Wilcox, Clyde, III, 763.
Wilcox, Paul D., II, 450.
Wilcox, Philip B., Ill, 1124.
Wild, Levi S., Ill, 1223.
Wilder, Davis E., II, 500.
Wilev, A. S., I, 307-
Wiley, Bert E., II, 621.
Wiley, H. B., I, 707.
Wilhelm, Albert C, II, 480.
Wilhelm, Charles C, II, 255.
Wilkinson, Herbert T., II, 464.
Wilkinson, James, I, 18.
Willard, Alexander, I, 28.
Willard's Creek, I, 230.
Williams, I. 804.
Williams, Captain, I, 273, 274.
Williams, Charles H. (Deer Lodge), II,
339-
Williams. Charles H. (Lewistown), III,
1290.
Williams, Daniel S., Ill, 1227.
Williams, Frank E., II, 157.
Williams, Griffith A., II, 46.
Williams, Henry, I, 343.
Williams, Henry F., I, 419.
Williams, H. J.^ I, 732.
Williams, James, I, 260, 286.
Williams, Joseph J., I, 415.
Williams, Julius, II, 165.
Williams, J. W., I, 511.
Williams, Robert S., I, 698.
Williams Creek, I, 230.
Williamson, Albert E., Ill, 1339.
Willis, Charles C, II, 80.
Williston, L. P., I, 298, 414, 416.
Willow Creek, I, 729.
Wills, Maude B., Ill, 1397.
Willson, Fred F., II, 319.
Willson, L. S., I, 547-
Wilsall, I, 801.
Wilson, Charles, II. 72.
Wilson, Harry L., II, 47.
Wilson, Henry H,, II, 22.
Wilson, John R., I, 316.
Wilson, Justice, L., Ill, 1082.
Wilson, M. L., I, 707.
Wilson, Robert H., I, 760.
Wilson, Roy O., II, 94.
Wiltner, William E., Ill, 710.
Wines, Josiah L., II, 538.
Winifred, I, 717.
Wininger, McClellan, II, 634.
Winkelniann. William F., Ill, 964.
Winnecook, I, 848.
Winnett, I, 717.
Winsor, Richard, I, 28.
Winston mining district, $3,560,000, I,
766.
Winter, Al G.. II, 212.
Winter, Christian F., Ill, 1 148.
Winter, Harold H., II, 212.
Wiper, Charles, II, 15.
Wisconsin Gulch, I, 231.
Wisdom river, I, 60, 61.
Wise, John S., Ill, 1002.
Wiser, Peter, I, 28.
Witherspoon, Thomas C, III, 121 1.
Withington, Hal S., Ill, 1244.
Witt, William. II, 33.
Wogan, Ole C, II, 376.
Wolcott, J. Herman, II, 248.
Wolf Creek, I, 749.
Wolf mountains, I, 91.
Wolf Point, I, 817.
Wolfskin, Joseph M., II, 177.
Wolwin, A. B., I, 836.
Women in the State University, I, 541.
Women's Self-Governing Association:
State University, I, 542.
Wood, Charles L., Ill, 1210.
Wood, George J., I, 211, 212.
Wood, J. C, I, 878, 885; HI, 1152.
Wood, J. M., I, 219, 257.
Woodbridge, J. T., I, 380.
Woodburn, Burl, III, 1387.
Woodburn, William W., III. 1386.
Woodbury, Frederick E., HI, 1071.
Woodbury, L. S., HI, 1070.
Woodbury, M. Cerula. Ill, 1072.
Woodman, Martin L., III. 1415.
Woods, George M., I, 758, 760.
INDEX
xlix
Woods, Louis B., Ill, 1004.
Woods, Patrick W., Ill, 738.
Woodworth, Charles, II, 75.
Woody, Frank H., I, 132, i6i, 223, 225,
316, 426, 431; (portrait), 432.
Woolfolk, Alex M., I, 415.
Woolston, Ernest, III, 1318.
Word, R. Lee, I, 436.
Word, Samuel, I, 2S2, 284, 289, 316, 422.
Worden, I, 856.
Worden, Frank L., I, 223; (portrait),
224 ; 282, 784.
Worden and Company, I, 223.
Worden & Company (Missoula), I, 225.
Work, Lester P., II, 88.
Working, S. S., II, 325.
Workman's Compensation act, I, 488.
World's War: (jovernor Dixon on, I,
486; Montana in, 650-663; total man
power raised, 631 ; first Montana man
to fall, 652; lienor men from Montana,
653-663 ; Distinguished Service Cross
men, 654-663 ; Liberty Loan campaigns
in, 663 ; Montana's subscription to
loans and funds, 663-665 ; Montana's
allotments and subscriptions, 666.
Worthington, Lenord L., II, 229.
Worrell, Stephen, I, 18.
Wright, I, 848.
Wright, Al, III, 1441.
Wright, Clark, I, 496.
Wright, Edmund, II, 117.
Wright, Frank A., Ill, 1412.
Wright, Frank E., II, 299.
Wright, George, I, 302.
Wright, George A., II, 223.
Wright, George F., Ill, 1292.
Wyeth, I, 121.
Wyeth, Nathaniel J., I, 120.
Wylie, W. W., I, 497-
Wyman, Cyrus K., II, 263.
Wyola, I, 674.
Yager, Erastus (Red), I, 247; hanging
of, 260-63.
Yankee Flat, I, 328.
Yates, I, 848.
Yegen, Christian, II, 327.
Yegen, Peter, II, 327.
Yellow Pine Forests in Lincoln county
(illustration), I, 628.
Yellowstone county : number and value
of cattle (1884), I, 395; irrigation in,
614; description of, 850; irrigated and
non-irrigated lands of, 857; live stock
raising in, 858; dairy farming in, 859.
Yellowstone Lake, I, 69.
Yellowstone National Park, geysers, I,
118: 633.
Yellowstone Park memorials, I, 481.
Yellowstone River : falls and rapids of
(illustration), I, 70; naming of, 78;
geological origin of, 96.
Yellowstone Trail, I, 570, 575, 730, 783,
850.
Y-G-Bee Line, I, 778.
York (Negro), I, 28, 44.
York, James N., I, 192, 196, 198.
Young, Cleveland M., II, 361.
Young, George T., Ill, 1439.
Young, George W., II, 135.
Young, Ignace, I, 144, 145.
Young, John F., Ill, 1274.
Young, William H., Ill, 1353.
Young, William L., Ill, 927.
Young, Winfield S., Ill, 776.
Young, W. E., Ill, 1439.
Young Men's Christian Association of
Miles City, I, 704.
Young Men's Christian Association,
Bozeman, I, 732.
Young Women's Christian Association,
Missoula, I, 786.
Zachary, Robert, I, 249.
Zebinatti, Peter : death of, I, 154.
Zeidler, Leo G., II, 4.
Zeman, Joseph P., Ill, 1447.
Ziebarth, Albert W., Ill, 886.
Zimmerman, Ami, III, 1271.
Zinc, mining of, I, 382; output 190S
1918, 383.
History of Montana
CHAPTER I
APPROACHES TO THE "LAND OF THE SHINING
MOUNTAINS"
In the days of ancient classic lore when Rome was sending her legions
into the rocky mountains of Western Europe, the Latin authors spoke
of the strange and unexplored land as Montana— the land of the moun-
tains. Thus the name became attached to the American Land of the
Mountains, although her lovers of several generations have chosen to
think of her in the translated poetry of the Indian christening bestowed
upon the Rocky Mountains — -the Land of the Shining Mountains. Vague
rumors reached the whites of the New World that such poetic and grand
christening was based upon the prosaic but enticing fact of reflected
light from precious minerals and stones. The magnet was one with
that which drew the Spaniards into the interior of southern United States.
Besides the lust for precious substance, the French especially were
possessed with a religious ardor for the conversion of the natives and
an unquenchable spirit of adventure in the discovery and exploration
of unknown rivers and lands. America discovered as a continent, the
second great quest for the adventurers, geographers and royalists of
France was to trace the grand waterways at which the Indians had per-
sistently hinted, winding their splendid courses from The Mississippi
Valley to the coast of the Pacific.
La Hontan's "Long River"
In 1690-1703, La Hontan. a French baron, adventurer and somewhat
romancer, explored the country around the headwaters of the Mississippi
and wrote a purported account of his travels and "adventures." In the
maps which he published, Long River appeared as a distinguishing
feature. It was outside of his immediate field of investigation and
probably drawn from rather vague information which he had obtained
from the Sioux of the upper Mississippi valley. From the fact that he
was a proven prevaricator, in many respects, most historians put down
Long River as a figment of his imagination. Others more charitable, like
Vol. I— 1 2
w
H -4 mm.,
\1 h. . - -^^f
*i
I
K
Lewis and Clark Expedition in Montana
HISTORY OF MONTANA 3
the late Joaquin Miller, who wrote a history of Montana in 1894, give
him this credit: "This is unjust to La Hontan, for there is good reason
to believe that the information concerning Long river which he obtained
from the Indians referred to the Missouri, but in passing through the
many intervening tribes, it became greatly exaggerated. For instance,
the many lakes on Long River do exist in the vicinity of the headwaters
of the Missouri — such as Flathead lake, Henry's lake, Jackson lake,
Yellowstone lake, Lake Pahkokee, Great Salt lake, etc., but by the
time the knowledge of them reached the Indians with whom he came
in contact, it is very natural they should locate them all on and along the
upper Missouri, and it may also be that La Hontan could but very im-
perfectly understand them, and therefore may have made these mis-
takes himself."
Enter the Catholic Priests
Among those who severely criticised La Hontan was Father Bobe, a
learned priest of Versailles, who, nevertheless, held that the Mississippi
swerved toward the west and south and was constantly urging the
French government to search for a northern interior route to the
Pacific. On the 15th of March, 1716, he wrote to De LTsle, geographer
of the Academy of Science, at Paris: "They tell me that among the
Sioux of the Mississippi there are always Frenchmen trading; that the
course of the Mississippi is from north to west and from west to south ;
that it is known that toward the source there is in the highlands a river
that leads to the western ocean. * * * For the last two years I tor-
mented exceedingly the governor-general, M. Raudot, and M. Duche, to
endeavor to discover this ocean. If I succeed, as I hope, we shall have
tidings before three years, and I shall have the pleasure and the consola-
tion of having rendered a good service to geography, to religion and to the
state."
Duke of Orleans Commences Western Explorations
At this period, France was being ruled by the Duke of Orleans, as
regent, who decided to launch the great adventure in a practical way by
establishing three bases of supply for the western explorations. The
first of these was at the head of Lake Superior near the mouth of the
Kaministiguia River, where Sieur Greysolon DuLuth had founded a post
as early as 1678; a second was ordered to be built at Lac des Cristineaux
(Lake of the Woods) and a third at Lake Winnipeg. The work of
construction was under the supervision of Lieut. Robertel de la
Noue. These posts were not to be a charge on the French government.
Parkman says, in his "Half Century of Conflict," that "by a device
common in such cases, those who built and maintained them were to be
paid by a monopoly of the fur trade in the adjacent countries." Once
the posts were established, however, it would be incumbent upon the
government to equip, pay and direct the future explorations.*
* Historical Magazine, New York, 1859.
4 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Charlevoix Investigates
During the first year, little more was accomplished than the building
of a stockade at the mouth of the Kaministiguia. Then passed three
years, when the Duke of Orleans sent Charlevoix, the learned Jesuit, to
Canada to investigate these rumors of a great western waterway to
a great Western Sea, and in this work he spent a year among the
Indians and whites of the upper lake region, making full records of
his travels and conclusions for the benefit of the French archives and
posterity.
Pierre Margry, keeper of the French archives in Paris, says of
Charlevoix's plans, formed as a result of his visit to the country of the
upper Mississippi : "The Regent, in choosing between the two plans
that Father Charlevoix presented to him at the close of his journey
for the attainment of a knowledge of the Western Sea, through an
unfortunate prudence, rejected the suggestion which, it is true, was the
most expensive and uncertain, viz., an expedition up the Missouri to its
source and beyond, and decided to establish a post among the Sioux.
The post of the Sioux was consequently established in 1727. Father
Gronor, a Jesuit missionary who had gone upon the expedition, we are
told, was, however, obliged to return without being able to discover
anything that would satisfy the expectations of the Court about the
Western Sea."
The decade of attempts to establish the post at Lake Pepin, named
Fort Beauharnois (after the governor of Canada), and the mission,
St. Michael, was surcharged with disaster of flood and Indian assault, and
in 1737 its commander, Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, abandoned all attempts
to get in touch with the Sioux and advised his superiors that they should
be exterminated.
The Verendryes, Father and Sons
In the meantime, Pierre Gaulthier de Varenne (known afterward as
Sieur de La Verendrye), a native of a worthy French Canadian family
of Three Rivers, who had served as a brave soldier of fortune in the
War of the Spanish Succession, returned to Canada and become a
coureur de bois, had his mind full of these tales of Western rivers and a
Western Sea. Furthermore, the Indians stories were being repeatedly
enforced by testimony presented by the priests with whom he came
in contact.
In his middle age, Verendrye was so well established as a fur trader
that in 1728 he was in command of the post at Lake Nepigon, Canada,
whose waters flow into Lake Superior from the north. The most complete
account of his endeavors to explore the great western interior in search
of a transcontinental waterway, for which historic event he laid the
foundation and two of his sons enjoyed the realization, was prepared
forty-five years ago by Rev. E. D. Neill, historian and president of
Macalester College, Minneapolis, Minnesota ; and to his paper were
HISTORY OF MONTANA 5
added valuable notes by Granville Stuart, the gold pioneer and long a
leader in the up-building of the Historical Society of Montana.
While stationed at Lake Nepigon, Verendrye received from the
Indians such positive assurances as to a river which flowed toward the
Sea of the West that he resolved to make an exploration. At Mackinaw,
while on his way to confer with the government of Canada upon the
subject. Father de Conor arrived from the post which had been estab-
lished among the Sioux nearly opposite Maiden Rock, Wisconsin, on
the shores of Lake Pepin. The latter is an expansion of the Mississippi
River, about midway between Minnesota and Wisconsin. "After an
interchange of views," says Dr. Neill's narrative, "the priest promised
to assist him as far as he could in obtaining a permit and outfit for the
establishment of a post among the Knisteneaux, or the Assiniboels,
from which to go farther west.
"Charles de Beauharnois, then governor of Canada, gave him a
respectful hearing, and carefully examined the map of the region west
of the great lakes, which had been drawn by Otchaga, the Indian guide of
Verendrye. Orders were soon given to fit out an expedition of fifty men.
It left Montreal in 173 1, under the conduct of his sons and nephew, he
not joining the party until 1733, in consequence of the detention of
business. After establishing several posts and forts between Rainy
Lake and Lake Winnipeg, their advance was stopped in the Winnipeg
region by the exhaustion of supplies. In April, 173S, arrangements were
made for a second equipment and a fourth son joined the exf)edition.
"In June, 1736, while twenty-one of the expedition were camped
upon an isle in the Lake of the Woods, they were surprised by a band
of Sioux hostile to the French allies, the Knisteneaux, and all killed.
The island, upon this account, is called in the early maps Massacre Island.
A few days after, a party of five Canadian voyagers discovered their
dead bodies and scalped heads. Father Ouneau, the missionary, was
found upon one knee, an arrow in his head, his breast bare, his left hand
touching the ground and the right hand raised.
"Among the slaughtered was also a son of Verendrye, who had a
tomahawk in his back, and his body was adorned with garters and brace-
lets of porcupine. The father was at the fort at the Lake of the Woods
when he received the news of his son's murder, and about the same time
heard of the death of his enterprising nephew. * * * Qn the 3rd of
October, 1738, they built an advance post, Fort Le Reine, on the River
Assiniboine, which they called St. Charles, and beyond was a branch
called St. Pierre. These two rivers received the baptismal name of
Verendrye, which was Pierre, and Governor Beauharnois (governor of
Canada), which was Charles. This post (Fort La Reine) became the
center of trade, and point of departure for explorations either north
or south."
At this newly established post, La Verendrye received news from
the Assiniboines (a friendly offshot of the Sioux) of the existence of
the strange Mantanes (Mandans), or White Beards, of the Dakota
family, whose villages were along the Missouri. They received that name
6 HISTORY OF MONTANA
from the fact that they became gray haired so young. The Assiniboines
also assured the leader of the expedition, which was more to his mind,
that the Mandans knew the way to the Western Sea and would furnish
him guides thither. On the i8th of October, 1738, La Verendrye, with
three of his sons and a mixed company of Indians and French Canadians,
to the number of fifty-two, started for the land of the Mandans. The
succeeding ten days took them, as is believed, to Turtle Mountain, thence
along the Assiniboine and the Mouse rivers toward their destination,
gathering friendly and helpful Indian guides on the way. On the 28th
of October, the first Mandans were seen, and La Verendrye's journal
contains their first description by white men. At the time of his visit
during the first days of December, they occupied six villages on the
banks of the Missouri, in what is now the northwestern part of North
Dakota; and La Verendrye called the Missouri "the Great River of the
Couhatchatte Nation." While thus engaged in friendly intercourse, the
leader was robbed of all the presents which he had brought with which
to propitiate the Indians along the route of his western journey, and
was therefore obliged to retrace his way to Fort La Reine to replace
his stock of gifts which was, perhaps, the most necessary part of his
outfit. Leaving two of his men among the Mandans to learn their
language and collect information which might be of benefit to him, La
Verendrye retraced his way to Fort La Reine. It was a terrible journey,
in the dead of a bitter northern winter, and was not completed until
near the middle of February.
It was not until September, 1739, that the two men who had been
living with the Mandans returned to Fort La Reine to report to their
leader. They brought tidings of strange western tribes who had visited
the Mandans in the conduct of trade and told of a Great Salt Lake
and the Great Salt Water. La Verendrye therefore dispatched to the
Mandan villages as large a company as he could gather under his oldest
son, Pierre, with instructions to secure guides and push on to the
Western Ocean. But when La Verendrye, the younger, reached his
destination, the Indians of the farther west who professed to know of
the existence of that Western Ocean had departed from the Mandan
villages and left no trace behind them. In the summer of 1740, he
therefore did no more than to bring to Fort La Reine another bitter
disappointment to the elder man, already nearly crushed with bodily and
mental struggles.
In the year named. La Verendrye went to Montreal for the third
time to solicit aid in support of his futile attempts to open up a western
way. In.stead of proffered assistance, he found hungry creditors awaiting
him. In his journal, published in Margry's collections, he further
describes the pitiful state of his affairs: "In spite of the derangement of
my affairs, the envy and jealousy of various persons impelled them to
write letters to the court insinuating that I thought of nothing but
making my fortune. If more than forty thousand livres of debt which
I have on my shoulders are an advantage, then I can flatter myself that
I am very rich. In all my misfortunes I have the consolation of seeing
HISTORY OF MONTANA 7
that M. de Beauharnois enters into my views, recognizes the uprightness
of my intentions, and does me justice in spite of opposition."
Francis Parkman, in his "Half Century of Conflict," Vol. H, p. 34,
says : "Beauharnois twice appealed to the court to give La Verendrye
some little aid, urging that he was at the end of his resources, and that
a grant of 30,000 francs, or 6,000 dollars, would enable him to find a
way to the Pacific. All help was refused, but La Verendrye was told
that he might let out his forts to other traders and so raise means to
pursue the discovery."
The Verendrye Brothers Start Westward
Now broken in health and subdued in spirit, the father turned over
his dear enterprise to his more vigorous sons, Pierre de La Verendrye
and the Chevalier, who, with two fellow Frenchmen, again headed for the
Mandans on the Missouri, in the spring of 1742. They left the Lake of
the Woods on the 29th of April and reached the Missouri after about
three weeks of travel. After impatiently waiting for the coming of
some western Indians, called Horse Indians by the Mandans, and passing
the spring and summer in tiresome inaction, the young Frenchmen
induced two of their red friends to guide them to the camping grounds
of the Horse tribe. These were found to be deserted. Parkman believes
the site of this camp to be west of the Little Missouri "and perhaps a
part of the Powder River Range." The locality would seem, at least,
to have been in Southeastern Montana. The time was in August, 1742,
and it was not until nearly a month later, after one of the Mandan
guides had deserted the party, that the four Frenchmen met a band of
Indians whom they called Les Beaux Hommes, or Handsome Men —
believed to be the Crows. They were enemies of the Mandans, and
the remaining guide of that tribe hastily deserted. The expedition
remained some three weeks with the Handsome Men, and on October
9th continued its explorations in a southwesterly direction, still looking
for the Horse Indians.
When the four reached the village of these evident nomads, they
were told that the tribe Bows, still to the southwest, would enlighten
them as to the Western Ocean. As was customary, each tribe referred
the whites to a more distant tribe. This seemed to have been the settled
policy of the red man — to lure the white farther and farther from his
own, and by the attrition of hard travel and slaughter attempt to wear
away his strength and life.
Indian Picture of 1742
When, in October, 1742, the Frenchmen at last reached the lodges
of the long-sought Horse Indians (as stated by Parkman, who adapts
his narrative from the Chevalier's journal), they found them in the
extremity of distress and terror. Their camp resounded with howls
and wailings, and not without cause, for the Snakes or Shoshones — a
8 HISTORY OF MONTANA
formidable people living farther westward — had lately destroyed most
of their tribe. The Snakes were the terror of that country. The
brothers were told that the year before they had destroyed seventeen
villages, killing warriors and old women, and carrying off the young
women and children as slaves.
Parkman, who, as he observes in a footnote, draws the particulars
of his description from "repeated observations of similar scenes," draws
a graphic picture ("Half Century of Conflict," Vol. H, p. 48) of this
breaking-up of the camp. "The squaws," he says, "took down the lodges
and the march began over prairies dreary and brown with the withering
touch of autumn. The spectacle was such as men still young have seen
in these western lands, but which no man will see again. The vast plain
swarmed with the moving multitude. The tribes of the Missouri and
Yellowstone had by this time abundance of horses, the best of which
were used for war and hunting, and the others as beasts of burden.
These last were equipped in a peculiar manner. Several of the long
poles used to frame the tepees or lodges were secured by one end to
each side of a rude saddle, while the other end trailed on the ground.
Crossbars lashed to the poles just behind the horse kept them three or
four feet apart, and formed a firm support, on which was laid compactly
folded the buffalo-skin covering of the lodge. On this again sat a
mother with her young family, sometimes stowed for safety in a large
open willow basket, with the occasional addition of some domestic pet —
such as a tame raven, a puppy or even a small bear cub. Other horses
were laden in the same manner with wooden bowls, stone hammers and
other utensils, along with stores of dried buffalo-meat packed in cases
of rawhide whitened and painted. Many of the innumerable dogs —
whose manners and appearance strongly suggested their relatives, the
wolves, to whom, however, they bore a mortal grudge — were equipped
in a similar manner, with shorter poles and lighter loads. Bands of
naked boys, noisy and restless, roamed the prairie, practicing their bows
and arrows on any small animal they might find. Gay young squaws
adorned on each cheek with a spot of ochre or red clay, and arrayed in
tunic of fringed buckskin embroidered with porcupine quills — were
mounted on ponies, astride like men ; while lean and tattered hags —
the drudges of the tribe, unkempt and hideous — scolded the lagging
horses, or screeched at the disorderly dogs, with voices not unlike the
yell of the great horned owl. Most of the warriors were on horseback,
armed with round, white shields of bull-hide, feathered lances, war-
clubs, bows and quivers filled with stone headed arrows; while a few of
the elders, wrapped in robes of buffalo hide, stalked along in groups
with a stately air, chatting, laughing and exchanging unseemly jokes."
Reach the Friendly Bow Indi.^ns
Finally the Verendryes reached the land of the Bow Indians (Gene
de I'Arc) and found them preparing to take the warpath against the
powerful Snake Indians, who had already nearly exterminated the Horses.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 9
The Bow Indians, through their chief, were very courteous. They knew
nothing personally of the Western Sea, although they had heard of
the Great Water from certain Snake prisoners. Parkman quotes from
the Chevalier's Journal as follows : "Thus far we had been well received
in all the villages we had passed; but this was nothing compared with
the courteous manners of the great chief of the Bow Indians, who,
unlike the others, was not self-interested in the least, and who took
excellent care of everything belonging to us."
Trip of Vengeance and Discovery
Further, according to Parkman's "Half Century of Conflict," the
courteous and honorable chief of the Bows extended this invitation, so
vital to the definite course of this narrative and which meant so much
to the fame of the sons of La Verendrye : "Come with us. We are going
towards the mountains, where you can see the Great Water that you
are looking for."
The Great Water was not to be seen, but the vast shining piles of
the Rocky Mountains were to be first spread before the eyes of white
travellers and recorders.
The camp of the Bows was broke up, its warriors poured across the
prairie eager to attack their Snake enemies, the Frenchmen riding along
with the red warriors. Pierre and his younger brother, the Chevalier, were
near the great chief. When, on the first of January, 1743, they came
in sight of the vast mountain range, capped and shining with snow,"
a council of the chiefs and warriors was held to determine what course
to pursue. The decision of the council was that the women and children
and infirm be left behind in a place of comparative safety, while the
warriors sallied forth in a body to strike the hated Snakes.
The Chevalier Discovers the Rockies
"Pierre and the Chevalier were invited to accompany the advancing
army. After deliberation, the elder Pierre determined to remain with
the camp, to watch over and protect the belongings of the party, and the
young Chevalier chose to proceed with the warriors, though he prudently
declined to engage in any possible combat with the foe."
The war party started on its advance January 21, 1743, and, according
to the Chevalier, who kept a journal of the expedition, reached the base
of the mountains (probably the Big Horn Range), twelve days later.
The young French leader was anxious to ascend some peak of the range
and look for the Western Sea. But although the Bows conveyed the
idea that everything must give place to vengeance upon the Snakes when
some of their scouts returned to the main body of the warriors with the
information that they had discovered a camp of the enemy, hastily
abandoned, the Bows were panic-stricken over the possibility that the
Snakes had circumvented them and wiped out their own camp of women,
children and infirm. The Indian war party was completely demoralized
10 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and even the chief abandoned the Chevalier, temporarily, to endeavor
to rally his men and keep them intact. Finally, they had all gathered
at the camp, only to find it unmolested. The chief and a few of his
faithful warriors were the last to return, as they had been searching
the desolate and storm-driven plain for their guest, the Chevalier, whom
they feared had perished. At length, the Indian chief appeared in camp,
exhausted and grief-stricken, but, the Chevalier writes, "his sorrow
turned to joy, and he could not give us attention and caresses enough."
The Homeward Journey
The Frenchmen remained with the chief of the Bows during January
and February, 1743, traveling with the Indians through deep snow-drifts
in a southea.sterly direction. About the first of March, they approached
the winter grounds of the Little Cherry, or Choke Cherry Indians in
what is now Western South Dakota. The Verendrye brothers at once
sent one of their men ahead to gain from that tribe any information
which might be of benefit to them in their discouraging search for the
Western Sea by an overland route. The Choke Cherries were kind to
the courier and through him invited the white men to visit them, but
conveyed no information along the line of their investigations.
On the 15th of March, having bidden farewell to the friendly chief of
the Bows and his immediate followers, the Yerendryes, according to
their journal, arrived "among the band of the Little Cherry, who, where
we found them, were two days' march from their camp on the Missouri."
It is believed that this locality was about where Cherry Creek empties
into the Cheyenne, some fifty miles from the Missouri, and about eighty
miles West of the present capital of South Dakota, Pierre. Still travelling
East and not far from the banks of the Missouri River, the Frenchmen
erected a pile of stone, taking the precaution not to reveal to the Indians
the significance of the leaden plate which accompanied it. According
to the Chevalier's journal: "On an eminence near the fort (camp), I
placed a leaden plate engraved with the arms and inscription of the King
and some stones in shape of a pyramid in honor of the General (Beau-
harnois)."
Death of Sieur de la Verendrye
On the 2nd of April, Pierre and the Chevalier commenced their
travels toward the Northwest, which brought them to the Mandan
villages on the i8th of May. The return of the sons to the Sieur de
La Verendrye not only lightened the anxiety and depression of the
father, but appears to have improved his fortunes. The latter was
made captain of the Order of St. Louis, and the two sons were promoted
in the royal service. In 1749 the new governor, Monsieur the Marquis
de la Jonquiere, a hard man and master, had, nevertheless, commissioned
the Sieur to "look after the posts and explorations in the west," and
he had already prepared maps and memoranda of his future explorations.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 11
when death called him from his unrealized ambitions, on December 6th
of the year named (1749).
About a year after the death of his father, Chevalier de la Verendrye
wrote to La Jonquiere appealing for service in the field of western ex-
plorations on the score of the sacrifices made by his father and brothers.
Instead, the governor appointed one M. de Saint Pierre to head one of
the expeditions, and, by various misrepresentations to La Jonquiere, the
La Verendryes were made decidedly "persona non gratis" and rejected
from all participation in it.
Last Years of the Chevalier
The condition of the family whose various members had blazed the
way to the Rocky Mountains is thus described in the Chevalier's petition
to the governor: "My returns this year amount to half, and in con-
sequence of a thousand harassments my ruin is accomplished. For
accounts contracted by father and myself I find I am indebted for more
than 20,000 francs. I remain without money or patrimony; I am
simply ensign of second grade, my elder brother has only the same rank
as myself, and my younger brother is only cadet; and this is the actual
result of all that my father, my brothers and I have done. That brother
of mine who was murdered, some years since, by the Indians, victim that
he was by the Western Sea, was not the most unfortunate one; his blood
is to us nothing worth, the sweat of our father and ourselves has availed
us naught; we are compelled to yield that which has cost us so much,
if M. de St. Pierre does not entertain a better feeling and communicate
same to M. le Mqs. de la Jonquiere."
Both expeditions sent out by La Jonquiere were failures. In 1753,
about the time that the St. Pierre fiasco was reporting to the authorities,
the Chevalier was made ensign of the first grade and four years later
became a lieutenant. In November, 1761, after Quebec had fallen to
the English, the Chevalier with other fellow officers sailed for France
in the "Auguste." One hundred persons were on board. Not far from
the North Cape of Isle Royal, on the coast of Cape Breton, at the mouth
of the St. Lawrence, the ship was wrecked and all perished (including
the Chevalier), except the captain, a colonial officer and five soldiers.
Thus died the actual white discoverer of the Rocky Mountains, although
it is still a matter of conjecture as to how far West he penetrated, or
the specific location of the leaden plate and the rough stone monument
erected somewhere in the region of the Cheyenne and Missouri rivers
to commemorate the exploration and international claim of France to
some little portion of what afterward was known as Louisiana.
The Approach from the Pacific
Verendrye and his sons had been approaching the "Land of the
Shining Mountains" through the interior of the East, and the next prog-
ress in tracing the transcontinental waterway was to be from the Pacific-
Columbia River route of the West. The Spaniards and Portuguese pushed
12 HISTORY OF MONTANA
up the Pacific coast in early historic times, and le£t such names on the
maps as Cape Blanco, Straits of Fuca and Oregon, but in their rush for
gold and booty found little time to record their voyages in the interest
of cartography.
Then came the more reliable northern navigators, Behring, the Dane,
and Drake, the Englishman, to approach the latitude of Montana on the
Pacific coast, "but it was left for Captain James Cook, so far as we can
say positively, to point his ships prow toward the mountains of Montana,
and break the hush of ice-bound seas as nearly under the beetling banks
of Montana as ocean ships have ever sailed or ever shall sail." In 1778,
while the Revolution was raging along the fringes of the Atlantic Coast,
Captain Cook was exploring the Behring region and sailing up the Oregon
(Columbia) River as far as his ocean craft would take him, and in the
following year was killed by cannibals on the island (now Hawaii)
which he had discovered among a group (the old Sandwich islands).
Jonathan Carver Proposes Transcontinental Waterway
It is said that Jonathan Carver, of Connecticut, a captain in the war
waged with England by which France lost Canada, was the first to
definitely propose the transcontinental journey by way of the Missouri
and the Oregon (Columbia) rivers. Three years after the peace of 1763,
he left Boston to visit the sources of the Mississippi and the adjacent
regions for purposes of trade, exploration and investigation as to the
country of the far West. He applied himself to the study of the Indian
languages that he might pursue all these objects, and in this work he spent
two years and seven months. After his return to Boston, in 1768, he
published an account of his travels and experiences, and he tells us:
"From the intelligence I gained from the Nandowessie Indians, whose
langnage I perfectly obtained during a residence of five months ; and
also from the accounts I afterwards obtained from the Assinipoils, who
speak the Chippeway language and inhabit the heads of the river Bourbon
— I say from these nations, together with my own observations, I have
learned that the four most capital rivers on the continent of North
America, the St. Lawrence, the river Bourbon (Mississippi) and the
Oregon, or the River of the West, have their sources in the same
neighborhood. The waters of the three former are within thirty miles
of each other, the latter, however, is rather farther west."
The want of means prevented Carver from prosecuting his design
with the government, which was to prevail upon its authorities to estab-
lish a post near the Straits of Anian, after a journey had been effected
to the Pacific coast. In 1774, he obtained the support and cooperation
of Richard Whitworth, member of the British Parliament for the town
of Stafford, of whom the projector of the enterprise says: "He (Mr.
Whitworth) designed to have pursued nearly the same route that I did;
and after having built a fort at Lake Pepin to have proceeded up a
branch of the river Messorie, till, having discovered the source of the
Oregon, or River of the W^est, on the other side of the lands that divide
HISTORY OF MONTANA 13
the waters which run into the Gulf of Mexico from those that fall into
the Pacific Ocean, he would have sailed down that river to the place where
it is said to empty itself, near the Straits of Anian. * * * That
the completion of this scheme," concludes Carver, "which I have had
the honor of first planning and attempting, will some time or other be
effected, I have no doubt. Those who are so fortunate in it will reap
(exclusive of the national advantages that must ensue) emoluments
beyond their most sanguine expectations. And while their spirits are
elated by their success, perhaps they may bestow some commendations
and blessings on the person that first pointed out to them the way.
These, though but a shadowy recompense for all my toil, I shall receive
with pleasure."
So that although Jonathan Carver was wild in his geographical as-
sertion that the sources of the great Canadian and American river
systems were only thirty miles apart, he was among the first, if not the
first, to urge the sending of an expedition from the Mississippi valley to
the Pacific coast by way of the Missouri and Oregon (Columbia) rivers.
But the prosecution of such a design by the government was to be
deferred until the country had secured independent right to the territory
from the Atlantic coa.st to the Mississippi valley, as well as that vast
western domain through which poured the grand waterways to the
Pacific.
Jefferson Checkmating England in the West
In 1783, the year of the treaty of peace with England, John Ledyard,
a Connecticut adventurer, an educated man and a British corporal of
marines under Captain Cook — also a deserter from the British army
before the war closed — published an account of the romantic voyages
of that world navigator. The mercurial author also incorporated not
a little practical information, quoting Captain Cook's glowing account of
the quantity of sea otter and the superior quality of their fur, in the
regions of the northwestern Pacific. And although England had lost
the war, her agents were already preparing to explore the country between
the Mississippi valley and the Pacific coast. Thomas Jefferson was then
governor of Virginia, as he had been during the Revolution, and in the
year of the Peace he suggested to Gen. George Rogers Clark, the
elder brother of Capt. William Clark, a way to checkmate this obvious
intention of English policy. Jefferson's words to Clark were : "I find
they have subscribed a very large sum of money in England for exploring
the country from the Mississippi to California. * * * They pretend
it is only to promote knowledge. I am afraid they have thoughts of colon-
izing into that quarter. * * * Some of us have been talking here in a
feeble way of making an attempt to search that country, but I doubt
whether we have enough of that kind of spirit to raise the money. How
would you like to lead such a party? * * * tho' I am afraid our
prospect is not worth asking the question."
Albeit a master mind was pondering the scheme of a Mississippi-
14 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Pacific expedition, the time was not yet ripe to bring it to fruition.
In the year following his proposition to General (not Captain) Clark,
while serving as minister to France, Jefferson met Ledyard in Paris.
The restless adventurer was then out of employment, and Jefferson,
through the influence of the Empress Catherine's representatives in
Europe, enabled Ledyard to travel through Russia to within two hundred
miles of Kamschatka, where he was turned back and dismissed (1788).
Their design was to reach the Pacific coast of America by way of the
Russian dominions, and pass up the Oregon Missouri to the Mississippi
valley. The proposed agent of that journey died in Africa in the follow-
ing year.
Discovery and Exploration of Columbia Waters
Ledyard's account of the voyages of Captain Cook, with its suggestions
to thrifty Yankee merchants, was enthusiastically discussed by Doctor
Bullfinch, his son Charles, and Joseph Barrell, the last a business man of
considerable wealth. The result was that two vessels were equipped
and an expedition fitted out to sail to the Pacific coast. They were
called the Columbia and the Washington, commanded respectively by
John Kendrick and Robert Gray. The ships sailed from Boston on
September 30, 1787, and in January, 1788, while rounding Cape Horn,
a storm separated them. In August, the Washington reached the north-
west coast near the forty-sixth degree of latitude, or about the latitude
of the Three Forks of the upper Missouri River and the Oregon
(Columbia).
At that point Captain Gray believed that he saw the mouth of a
river, but his vessel grounded, his party were attacked by the Indians, one
of them killed and another wounded; so he had no opportunity to verify
his conclusions. On the 17th of September, 1788, the Washington
sailed into Nootka Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island — the
rendezvous agreed upon in the event of separation, and she was joined
there a few days later by the Columbia.
Both ships wintered in the Sound and the Columbia continued there
during the summer gathering pelts. Captain Gray, on the Washington,
sailed the waters near by making explorations. He returned to Nootka,
and he and Captain Kendrick agreed that Kendrick should command
the Washington, remaining on the coast to pursue his discoveries, while
Captain Gray, on board the Columbia, should proceed to Canton, China,
with a cargo of furs representing the entire catch of both ships. This
plan was carried into effect. Gray reached Canton, disposed of his
furs, purchased a shipload of tea and returned to Boston in August,
1790. He had carried the United States flag on its first voyage around
the world.
While Captain Gray was on his voyage, Kendrick sailed to the Straits
of Fuca, traversing their entire length to the Pacific, at latitude 51 degrees.
He discovered that the neighboring lands formed an island which, how-
ever, took the name of the British commander, \'ancouver, who did not
HISTORY OF MONTANA 15
make the discovery until the following year. Captain Kendrick was
killed by an accident, while the "Washington" was exchanging a salute
with a Spanish ship off the Sandwich islands.
The "Columbia," under Gray, after discharging her cargo at Boston,
was refitted by her owners and sent on a second voyage, leaving her
home port in September, 1790. She reached a point near the entrance
to the Straits of Fuca on June 5, 1791. After remaining in these waters
until the following spring, trading and exploring, Captain Gray sailed
southward in search of the river which he believed he had seen debouch-
ing into the ocean at about the forty-sixth degree of latitude. On this
cruise he met the Vancouver expedition, and notwithstanding the dis-
couraging views of the British commander as to the existence of "any
safe navigable opening, harbor or place of security for shipping, from
Cape Mendocinus to Fuca's Strait," the American captain proceeded on
his way southward.
On May 11, 1792, according to the log-book of the ship, penned by
Captain Gray himself, he saw "an entrance which had a very good
appearance of a harbor." Entering, he found a bay which he named
Bulfinch's harbor, for Doctor Bulfinch, one of the sip's owners. It is now
known as Gray's harbor.
The actual discovery of the mouth of the Columbia is thus recorded :
"May II (1792), at eight p. m., the entrance of Bulfinch's harbor bore
north, distance four miles. Sent up the main-top-gallant yard and set
all sail. At four a. m. saw the entrance of our desired port, bearing
east-south-east, distance six leagues. * * * Aj eight a. m., being a
little windward to the entrance of the harbor, bore away and ran in east-
north-east between the breakers, having from five to seven fathoms of
water. When we were over the bar, we found this to be a large river of
fresh water, up which we steered. Many canoes came alongside. At one
p. m. came to, with the small bower in ten fathoms black and white sand.
The entrance between the bars bore west-south-west, distance ten miles;
the north side of the river a half mile distant from the ship, the south
side of .the same two and a half miles distant; a village on the north
side of the river, west by north, distant three-quarters of a mile. Vast
numbers of natives came alongside. People employed in pumping the salt
water out of water-casks, in order to fill with fresh, while the ship
floats in. So ends."
Jefferson Sends Two More Ineffective Agents
The discovery of the mouth of the Columbia by Captain Gray laid a
firm international basis for the American claim to the vast extent of
country watered by it. For a dozen years afterward, until the United
States acquired the vast extent of country known as Louisiana from
France, the government, and Jefferson in particular, made no real headway
in exploring the Missouri and the newly discovered Columbia. Capt.
John Armstrong, one of those who accepted the mission, got as far as
St. Louis and turned back because of disquieting stories of hostile Indians
16 HISTORY. OF MONTANA
told to him by French traders, and one of Jefferson's men/a famous
F"rench botanist, Michaux, who had traveled in many lands of the Old
World in search of strange plants and trees, had commenced his scientific
investigations in the New World. The Frenchman started from Phila-
delphia under the auspices of the American Philosophical Society, and the
support of Washington's cabinet, of which Jefferson was then secretary of
state, on the 15th of July, 1794, but when he reached Kentucky got en-
tangled in the machinations of Citizen Genet against Spain and England in
their dealings with the United States, and the two fell together. Michaux
returned to France in 1796.
The United States Acquires Louisiana
In 1800, after having been shuffled back and forth between France
and Spain, for several years, Louisiana became French territory, and
Napoleon's threatened occupation of New Orleans menaced the free
navigation of the Mississippi, as had been the case when it was under
Spanish ownership. In March, 1803, President Jefferson sent James Mon-
roe as a special envoy to France that the complications between the two
countries might be disentangled without a resort to war. Monroe was even
authorized to guarantee to France her holdings beyond the Mississippi, if
the United States could be assured an outlet to the Gulf of Mexico for the
ever-increasing products of the Mississippi valley.
While Monroe was on his way to France, Napoleon's plans had all
centered on his ambition to crush England in Europe. No outside cam-
paigns were to be considered, and a vast expenditure of money was re-
quired to carry out his consuming desire. Robert R. Livingston was the
American minister at the French Court, and while he was in no sense
superseded by Monroe, President Jefferson and his cabinet realized that
the issues involved were so momentous that they justified the addition of
Monroe's long experience in diplomatic matters to the abilities of Livings-
ton. When Monroe arrived Livingston had only asked of France, " a bit
of marsh and sand off the extreme end of West Florida, and the margin
of delta land that lies east of the main channel of the Mississippi between
Lake Pontchartrain and the river's mouth." These modest sites were to
serve for the founding of a town, or gateway, through which might pass
the American trade of the Mississippi valley.
Monroe arrived with the authorization to offer France $2,000,000
for New Orleans and the Floridas. After discussions and negotiations,
in which the chief figures were Livingston, Monroe and their friend,
Barbe Marbois, minister of the public treasury, Tallyrand, the tool of
Napoleon, threw a bomb into the proceedings by suddenly asking what the
United States would pay for the entire province of Louisiana. To cut
many corners of explanation, which are hardly apropos to a clear-cut-his-
tory of Montana, the brilliant dictator of France offered Louisiana — if
taken quick — to Livingston and Monroe for $15,000,000. There were no
cables by which they could consult their government, and like brave men
HISTORY OF MONTANA 17
they assumed the heavy responsibility of signing the treaty of session, in
behalf of the United States, on the 30th of April, 1803.
This all-important treaty was between the United States of America
and the French Republic, or more personally, as stated in the preamble,
between the president of the United States of America, and the first
consul of the French republic, "in the name of the French people." It
also specified that the treaty was made by "the president of the United
States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United
States ;" consequently Messrs. Livingston and Monroe were assuming con-
siderable responsibility.
The treaty traced the title of the very indefinite province through
the agreements between France and Spain, and stated that "the inhabitants
of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United
States, and be admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles
of the Federal Constitution," etc. Provision was made by the government
of France to send a commissary to Louisiana to take over that country
from Spain and transmit it to the agent of the United States. Special
mention was made of the military posts of New Orleans, all troops, either
of France or Spain, to embark from occupied territory within three
months from the ratification of the treaty. The rights of Indians, secured
by previous treaties, were secured. Equal duties were accorded Spanish,
French and American ships passing through the port of New Orleans for
a period of twelve years from the exchange of ratification of the treaty.
"It is. however, well understood," continues the article dealing with this
subject, "that the object of the above article is to favor the manufacture,
commerce, freight and navigation of France and Spain, so far as relates to
the importations that the French and Spanish shall make into the said
ports of the United States, without in any sort affecting the regulations
that the United States may make concerning the exportation of the
produce and merchandise of the United States, or any right that may have
to make such regulations."
Article 8 reads: "In future and forever, after the expiration of the
twelve years, the ships of France shall be treated upon the footing of
the most favored nations in the ports above mentioned."
When news of the daring transactions reached Washington in June,
1803, there was a storm of dissenting opinions, mostly caused by poHti-
cal heats. The Republicans (Democrats) applauded it and the Federalists
(Republicans) vigorously opposed it, but it was ratified by Congress in
October. In November and December, 1803, the transfer from Spain
to France and from France to the United States was formally made at
New Orleans, and in the early part of March, 1804, similar ceremonies
occurred in St. Louis. The American transfer commissioner at St. Louis
was Capt. Amos Stoddard, an officer of the United States army there
stationed and accompanied, the greater part of the winter, by Capt.
Meriwether Lewis, who was then about to start on the history-making
expedition to the Pacific coast, via the Missouri and Columbia rivers.
The entire province had been transferred by the Spanish commission-
18 HISTORY OF MONTANA
ers to Pierre Clement Laussat, the French representative, and by him
to the American commissioners, WilHam C. C. Claiborne, who had been
appointed governor of the new province, and Gen. James Wilkinson,
military commander. The French flag was then hauled down and Laussat
proceeded to perform the same offices at St. Louis. He ordered De
Lassus, lieutenant governor of Upper Louisiana, with headquarters in that
place, to turn his district over to Captain Stoddard.
On March g, 1804, the American troops under command of Captain
Stoddard's adjutant, Lieut. Stephen Worrell, crossed the river and
escorted Captains Stoddard and Lewis and other prominent Americans
to the government house. From that mansion De Lassus read a pro-
clamation releasing all French inhabitants in the district from allegiance
to their mother country. After this the transfer was formally signed
by Lassus for France and Stoddard for the United States, and among
the witnesses who affixed their signatures thereto was Capt. Meri-
wether Lewis. As had been done in New Orleans, the tri-color of France
was then lowered, the Stars and Stripes were raised, and artillery salutes
and martial music proclaimed that all of Louisiana was territory of the
United States.
CHAPTER II
EXPEDITION THROUGH TRANS-MISSISSIPPI LAND
The United States having acquired a good color of title to the Oregon
country through Captain Gray's discovery of the mouth of the great
Western River and Jefferson, evidently convinced that Louisiana would
eventually become an American possession, continued his efforts to obtain
some definite knowledge of the geography and possibilities of the Trans-
Mississippi land. Previous failures in no wise dampened his ardor to
delve into the grand mysteries of that unknown country which loomed
just beyond the States. Mature men, adventurers and scientists had
failed him, and he now turned to young, eager, educated, practical and
brave young men for the consummation of the grand adventure. He
selected for this purpose, Capt. Meriwether Lewis, his private secretary
for two years and whom he greatly admired and loved, and Capt. Will-
iam Qark, a younger brother of Gen. George Rogers Clark and an
intimate friend of Lewis. When Captain Lewis was present in St. Louis,
as one of the prominent figures in the official transfer of Louisiana to the
United States, he was deep in the work, under the authority and instruc-
tions of President Jefferson, of preparing the expedition for its advance
up the Missouri to the Rockies and the great beyond.
Initial Steps of the Lewis-Clark Expedition
More than three months before Louisiana had been sold to the United
States — that is, January i8, 1803 — President Jefferson sent a confiden-
tial communication to Congress asking that $2,500 be appropriated for an
exploring party to establish friendly relations with the Indians along the
route and secure the fur-trade to the United States rather than leave
it in the hands of the English companies. He recommended the estab-
lishment of government trading posts, by which he hoped to "place
within their (the Indians') reach those things which will contribute
more to their domestic comfort than the possession of extensive and
uncultivated wilds." Jefferson doubtless felt the grandeur of the pro-
ject, but, with the wisdom of a statesman who knew he was dealing with
a practical nation and Congress, placed the material benefits of such
an expedition and exploration foremost. Elsewhere in his message of
the date given, he adds : "An intelligent officer, with ten or twelve chosen
men, fit for the enterprise and willing to undertake it, taken from our
posts where they may be spared without inconvenience, might explore
the whole line even to the Western ocean, have conference with the natives
on the subject of commercial intercourse, get admission among them for
19
20 HISTORY OF MONTANA
our traders as others are admitted, agree on convenient deposits for an
interchange of articles, and return with the information acquired in the
course of two summers. Their arms and accoutrements, some instru-
ments of observation and light and cheap presents for the Indians would
be all the apparatus they could carry, and with the expectation of a
soldier's portion of land on their return would constitute the whole ex-
pense. Their pay would be going on whether here or there. While other
civilized nations have encountered great expense to enlarge the boundaries
of knowledge by undertaking voyages of discovery, and for other lit-
erary purposes, in various parts and directions, our nation seems to owe
to the same object, as well as to its own interests, to explore this, the
only line of easy communication across the continent, and so directly
traversing our own part of it. The interests of commerce place the
principal object within the constitutional powers and care of Congress,
and that it should incidentally advance the geographical knowledge of our
own continent cannot but be an additional gratification."
In April, 1803, while negotiations were still pending with France,
Captain Lewis was collecting his equipment at Lancaster, Harpers Ferry
and other places ; in May, before news of the treaty had reached America,
he received his first set of instructions from the President, and on the
5th of July, after the tidings had been received in Washington, the young
leader of the historic expedition — then in his twenty-eight year — bade
his great patron farewell.
Literary Sources of Information
The most authentic source of information regarding the famous ex-
pedition was its history prepared, by order of the Government of the
United States, in 1814, by Paul Allen. In the preface to that edi-
tion the editor states : "It was the original design of Captain Lewis to
have been himself the editor of his own travels, and he was on his
way towards Philadelphia for that purpose when his sudden death frus-
trated these intentions. After a considerable and unavoidable delay,
the papers connected with the expedition were deposited with another
gentleman, who, in order to render the lapse of time as little injurious
as possible, proceeded immediately to collect and investigate all the
materials within his reach.
"Of the incidents of each day during the expedition a minute jour-
nal was kept by Captain Lewis or Captain Clark, and sometimes by
both, which was afterward revised and enlarged at the different periods
of leisure which occurred on the route. These were carefully perused
in conjunction wtth Captain Clark himself, who was able from his own
recollection of the journey, as well as from a constant residence in
Louisiana since his return, to supply a great mass of explanations, and
much additional information with regard to part of the route which has
been more recently explored. Besides these, recourse was had to the
manuscript journals kept by two of the sergeants (Patrick Gass and
HISTORY OF MONTANA 21
Charles Floyd), one of which, the least minute and valuable,* has already
been published. That nothing might be wanting to the accuracy of
these details, a very intelligent and active member of the party, Mr.
George Shannon, was sent to contribute whatever his memory might
add to this accumulated fund of information. * * *
"To give still further interest to the work, the editor addressed
a letter to Mr. Jefferson, requesting some authentic memoirs of Captain
Lewis. For the very curious and valuable information contained in his
answer, the public, as well as the editor himself, owe great obligations
to the politeness and knowledge of that distinguished gentleman."
Jefferson's Sketch of Meriwether Lewis
Jefferson's article is not only of deep personal interest as furnishing
the best biography of Captain Lewis, of limited compass, which has been
published, but is weighted with valuable historic matter to form a rich
background to the great expedition itself. After noting the birth of
Meriwether Lewis, "late Governor of Louisiana," near the town of
Charlotteville, Virginia, August i8, 1778, the distinguished statesman,
who writes from Monticello, sketches the distinguished Lewis family
of Virginia. His great-uncle married a sister of George Washington, and
several of his relatives were prominent in the Revolutionary war, one of
whom (his uncle and guardian, Nicholas) fought bravely as commander
of a regiment sent against the Cherokee Indians.
Meriwether Lewis lost his father at an early age and this brave,
honest, courteous and tender uncle and his widowed mother cared for
the bold, out-of-doors boy, huntsman and student. At thirteen he was
put to Latin school and after five years of schooling returned to the
home farm, but his instinct for adventure induced him to volunteer
as a militiaman in the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion of West-
ern Pennsylvania. Soon afterward he was transferred to the regular
service as a lieutenant in the line and at the age of twenty-three was
promoted to a captaincy; "and," adds Jefferson, "always attracting the
first attention where punctuality and fidelity were- requisite, he was
appointed paymaster to his regiment.
John Ledyard's Misadventure
"About this time a circumstance occurred which, leading to the transac-
tion which is the subject of this book, will justify a recurrence to its
original idea. While residing in Paris (as minister to France), John
Ledyard, of Connecticut, arrived there, well known in the United States
* This low estimate of the value of the Gass Journal, made in 1814, has not
been sustained hy estimates of historians subsequently made. His first edition,
published in 1807, was for seven years the only source from which any authentic
knowledge of the enterprise could be obtained, and ever since (with the issue of
1814) it has been recognized as an important supplement to the work based upon
the diaries of the great captains.
22 HISTORY OF MONTANA
for energy of body and mind. He had accompanied Captain Cook on
his voyage to the Pacific Ocean and distinguished himself on that voy-
age by his intepidity. Being of a roaming disposition, he was now
panting for some new enterprise. His immediate object at Paris was
to engage a mercantile company in the fur trade of the western coast
of America, in which, however, he failed. I then proposed to him to go
by land to Kamchatka, cross in some of the Russian vessels to Nootka
Sound, fall down into the latitude of the Missouri, and penetrate to,
and through that, to the United States. He eagerly seized the idea,
and only asked to be assured of the permission of the Russian Govern-
ment. I interested in obtaining that, M. de Simoulin, minister plenipo-
tentiary of the empress at Paris, but more especially the Baron de Grimm,
minister plenipotentiary of Saxe-Gotha, her more special agent and cor-
respondent there in matters not immediately diplomatic. Her permis-
sion was obtained, and an assurance of protection while the course of the
voyage should be through her territories.
"Ledyard set out from Paris and arrived at St. Petersburgh after the
empress had left that place to pass the winter, I think, at Moscow. His
finances not permitting him to make unnecessary stay at St. Petersburgh,
he left it with a passport from one of the ministers, and at two hundred
miles from Kamschatka, was obliged to take up his winter quarters. He
was preparing, in the spring, to resume his journey, when he was arrested
by an officer of the empress, who by this time had changed her mind
and forbidden his proceeding. He was put into a closed carriage and con-
veyed day and night, without even stopping, till they reached Poland,
where he was set down and left to himself. The fatigue of this journey
broke down his constitution, and when he returned to Paris, his bodily
strength was much impaired. His mind, however, remained firm, and he
after this undertook the journey to Egypt. I received a letter from him,
full of sanguine hopes, dated at Cairo, the fifteenth of November, 1788,
the day before he was to set out for the head of the Nile ; on which day,
however, he ended his career and life — and thus failed the first attempt
to explore the western part of our northern continent."
Botanist Fails as Explorer
"In 1792 I proposed to the American Philosophical Society that we
should set on foot a subscription to engage some competent person to
explore that region in the opposite direction ; that is, by ascending the
Missouri, crossing the Stony mountains and descending the nearest river
to the Pacific. Captain Lewis, being then stationed at Charlottesville
on the recruiting service, warmly solicitated me to obtain for him the
execution of that object. I told him it was proposed that the person en-
gaged should be attended by a single companion only, to avoid exciting
alarm among the Indians. This did not deter him ; but Mr. Andre Michaux,
a professed botanist, author of the 'Flora Boreali-Americana,' and of the
'Histoire des Chesnes d' Amerique,' offering his services, they were ac-
cepted. He received his instructions, and when he had reached Kentucky
HISTORY OF MONTANA 23
in the prosecution of his journey he was overtaken by an order from
the minister of France, then at Philadelphia, to relinquish the expedition,
and to pursue elsewhere the botanical inquiries on which he was employed
by that government — and thus failed the second attempt for exploring that
region.
Captain Lewis' Remarkable Qualifications
"In 1803, the act for establishing trading houses with the Indian
tribes being about to expire, some modifications of it were recommended
to Congress by a confidential message of January iSth, and an exten-
sion of its views to the Indians on the Missouri. In order to prepare
the way, the message proposed the sending an exploring party to trace
the Missouri to its source, to cross the Highlands and follow the best
water communication which offered itself thence to the Pacific ocean.
Congress approved the proposition and voted a sum of money for carry-
ing it into execution. Captain Lewis, who had then been near two years
with me as private secretary, immediately renewed his solicitations to
have the direction of the party. I had now had opportunities of know-
ing him intimately. Of courage undaunted ; possessing a firmness and
perseverance of purpose which nothing but impossibilities could divert
from its direction ; careful as a father of those committed to his charge,
yet steady in the maintenance of order and discipline ; intimate with the
Indian character, customs and principles; habituated to the hunting life;
guarded, by exact observation of the vegetables and animals of his own
country, against losing time in the description of objects already pos-
sessed ; honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding, and a fidelity
to truth so scrupulous that whatever he should report would be as cer-
tain as if seen by ourselves — with all these qualifications, as if selected
and implanted in one body for his express purpose, I could have no
hesitation in confiding the enterprise to him. To fill up the measure
desired, he wanted nothing but a greater familiarity with the technical
language of the natural sciences, and readiness in the astronomical
observations necessary for the geography of his route. To acquire these,
he repaired immediately to Philadelphia and placed himself under the
tutorage of the distinguished professors of that place, who, with a
zeal and emulation enkindled by an ardent devotion to science, communi-
cated to him freely the information requisite for the purposes of the jour-
ney. While attending, too, at Lancaster, the fabrication of the arms
with which he chose that his men should be provided, he had the benefit
of daily communication with Mr. Andrew Ellicot, whose experience in
astronomical observation and practice of it in the woods, enabled him
to apprise Captain Lewis of the wants and difficulties he would en-
counter, and of the substitutes and resources offered by a woodland and
uninhabited country."
Jefferson's First Instructions to Lewis
In April, 1803, a draft of his instructions was sent to Captain
Lewis, and President Jefferson signed them on the following 20th of
24 HISTORY OF MONTANA
June. These included a list of accouterments, instruments, etc., to be
taken by the expedition of from ten to twelve men, and assurances of
safe conduct from the ministers of France, Spain and Great Britain.
Louisiana had been ceded by Spain to France, and the protection of
Great Britain entitled Lewis and Clark, with their men, to the friendly
aid of any British traders whom they might encounter. After stating
the main object of the mission was to ascertain "the most direct and
practicable water communication across the continent for the purposes
of commerce," Jefferson entered more into details : "Beginning at the
mouth of the Missouri, you will take observations of latitude and lon-
gitude at all remarkable points on the river, and especially at the
mouths of rivers, at rapids, at islands and other places, and objects
distinguished by such natural marks and characters, of a durable kind
as that they may with certainty be recognized hereafter. The courses
of the river between these points of obsevation may be supplied by the
compass, the log-line and by time, corrected by the observations them-
selves. The variations of the needle, too, in different places should be
noted.
"The interesting points of the portage between the heads of the
Missouri and of the water offering the best communication with the
Pacific ocean, should also be fixed by observation ; and the course of the
water to the ocean, in the same manner as that of the Missouri."
The president cautioned the leader of the expedition to take great
pains in recording his observations ; to make several copies of them, and,
as a special safeguard against their destruction make one of them "on the
cuticular membrane of the paper-birch, as less liable to injury from
damp than common paper," He defined the special objects of research
among the different Indian tribes, and the examination of the physical
features of the country was to be conducted with a view of ascertaining
the existence of vegetable products and animals not known to the "United
States ;" also, mineral productions of any kind, especially "metals, lime
stone, pit-coal and saltpetre; salines and mineral waters, noting the tem-
perature of the last," and "volcanic appearances."
"Although your route will be along the channel of the Missouri,"
the instructions continue, "yet you will endeavor to inform yourself,
by inquiry, of the character and extent of the country watered by its
branches, and especially on its southern side. The North river, or Rio
Bravo, which runs into the Gulf of Mexico, and the Rio Colorado, which
runs into the Gulf of California, are understood to be the principal
streams heading opposite to the waters of the Missouri and running
southwardly. Whether the dividing grounds between the Missouri and
them are mountains or flat lands, what are their distances from the
Missouri, the character of the intermediate country and the people in-
habiting it, are worthy of particular inquiry. The northern waters of
the Missouri are less to be inquired after, because they have been ascer-
tained to a considerable degree, and are still in a course of ascertain-
ment by English traders and travelers; but if you can learn anything
certain of the most northern source of the Mississippi, and of its position
HISTORY OF MONTANA 25
relatively to the Lake of the Woods, it will be interesting to us. Some
account, too, of the path of the Canadian traders from the Mississippi,
at the mouth of the Ouisconsing, to where it strikes the Missouri, and
of the soil and rivers in its course, is desirable."
Kind treatment of the natives was urged, even to the length of
offering to receive some of their young people and educating them at
government expense. Kine-pox (vaccine) matter was to be taken, and
endeavors made to introduce it as a preventive against small-pox, the
scourge of the red race. As it was impossible to foresee how the ex-
pedition would be received by the natives, it was instructed to turn
back, if it met with extended and dangerous opposition.
"Should you reach the Pacific Ocean," instructs President Jeffer-
son, "inform yourself of the circumstances which may decide whether
the furs of those parts may not be collected as advantageously at the
head of the Missouri (convenient, as is supposed, to the waters of the
Colorado and Oregon or Columbia) as at Nootka sound, or any other
point of that coast ; and that trade be consequently conducted through the
Missouri and United States more beneficially than by the circumnaviga-
tion now practiced."
That last part of the instructions includes advice to return to the
United States by way of Cape Horn or Cape of Good Hope, if the
overland trip should be deemed too hazardous ; instructions as to meet-
ing expeditionary expenses and the appointment of a successor to head
the expedition, in the event of Captain Lewis's death.
"While these things were going on here," continues Jefferson, "the
country of Louisiana, lately ceded by Spain to France, had been the sub-
ject of negotiation at Paris between us and this last power, and had
actually been transferred to us by treaties executed at Paris on the
thirtieth of April (1803). This information, received about the first of
July, increased infinitely the interest we felt in the expedition and
lessened the apprehension of interruption from other powers. Every-
thing in this quarter being now prepared, Captain Lewis left Washington
on the fifth of July, 1803, and proceeded to Pittsburg, where other articles
had been ordered to be provided for him. The men, too, were to be
selected from the military stations on the Ohio. Delays of preparation,
difficulties of navigation down the Ohio and other untoward obstruc-
tions, retarded his arrival at Cahokia until the season was so far
advanced as to render it prudent to suspend his entering the Missouri
before the ice should break up in the succeeding spring.
"From this time his journal, now published, will give the history
of his journey to and from the Pacific ocean, until his return to St.
Louis on the 23rd of September, 1806. Never did a similar event excite
more joy through the United States. The humblest of its citizens had
taken a lively interest in the issue of this journey, and looked forward
with impatience for the information it would furnish. Their anxieties,
too, for the safety of the corps had been kept in a state of excitement
by lugubrious rumours, circulated from time to time on uncertain
authorities, and uncontradiction by letters or other direct information,
26 HISTORY OF MONTANA
from the time they had left the Mandan towns on their ascent up the
river in April of the preceding year (1805) until their actual return
to St. Louis."
Estimated Cost of the Expedition
The president requested Captain Lewis to estimate the cost of the
expedition, which the latter did as follows :
Mathematical instruments $ 217
Arms and accoutrements 81
Camp equipage 255
Medicine and packing 55
Means of transportation 430
Indian presents 696
Provisions 224
Materials for making up the various articles into
portable packs 55
For the pay of hunters, guides and interpreters 300
In silver coin, to defray the expenses of the party
from Nashville to the last white settlement on the
Missouri 100
Contingencies ■ 87
Total $2,500
These were but preliminary estimates and, as the importance of
the expedition increased during the period of delay which resulted in
Louisiana becoming American territory, it is evident that they were not
adhered to.
Captain William Clark
The personnel of the expedition was of prime importance, however,
Capt. William Clark,* who shared the honors of leadership with Captain
Lewis, was four years the senior of the latter, and was also a Virginian.
During his boyhood, the family moved to Louisville, Kentucky, and in
1796, after serving for eight years in the United States army he re-
signed his lieutenancy in the service on account of ill health. At one
time, Meriwether Lewis served under him. In March. 1804, after he had
been selected as Captain Lewis' assistant, he received a commission as
second lieutenant of artillery and not as captain of engineers, as he had
hoped. So that the title of "captain" is generally applied to him ; officially
he was not entitled to it. He was also Lewis' subordinate, although
* In three editions of the Lewis and Clark journals, the latter name is spelled
with an "e" ; Washington Irving' also gives it that spelling. On the contrary, Cap-
tain Clark himself omits the "e" in the inscription left by him on Pompey's pillar;
his brother, the general, always signed himself, Clark, as did his son, Jefferson
Clark of St. Louis, .^s the bearer of the name himself, as well as his near relatives,
invariably omitted the "e", it should be the duty of the historian to follow their
preferences.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 27
his official superior made him his practical equal in every way and evi-
dently they were both harmoniously working for the common cause — the
laudable success of a great American expedition.
"The selection of the men for the expedition," says a modern ac-
count of the fine venture, "was a matter of importance secondary only
to the choice of the chiefs themselves. There were in all — that is,
including Lewis and Clark— forty-five souls. Among them were frontier
soldiers of the regular army, who volunteered to go. They had seen
service at the posts of the west. There were, besides, nine young Ken-
tuckians. two French watermen, a hunter, who also served as interpreter,
and York, the negro valet of Captain Lewis. Of these men, all but
the last named, were enlisted as privates, their services to endure through
the active life of the expedition. Three of them, namely, Floyd, Pryor
and Ordway, were promoted by the leaders to the rank of sergeant.
Besides the party designed for the complete journey of exploration a
corporal, six soldiers and nine watermen were taken as an escort as
far as the Mandan villages on the Missouri, to aid in transporting
stores and also to give their military aid in case of attack by hostile
savages, those most feared dwelling between the Wood River and the
Missouri."
The Journey to the Mandan Villages
It is far beyond the scope of this story to trace the real com-
mencement of the expedition at Pittsburg, in the summer of 1803, when
Captain Lewis was there recruiting for members and arranging for
transportation down the Ohio to the mouth of the Missouri. Dr. James
K. Hosmer, in his introduction to the "Gass Journal" (edition of 1904)
goes into many interesting details regarding this phase of the enter-
prise and the care taken by Captain Lewis in the selection of his men.
The Falls of the Ohio, Louisville, were at last reached, and at the
Point of Rock, the home of George Rogers Clark, Lewis met his yoke-
fellow, William Clark, who added to the company nine young men from
Kentucky, carefully selected from a throng of volunteers. Among them
was John Colter, whose adventures were to be the most thrilling of all
the members of the expedition. Delaying as little as possible, Clark
taking charge of the boat with its important freight, worked his way
down stream, then up to St. Louis; while Lewis, following the "Vin-
cennes trace," proceeded across country to Kaskaskia. Recruits were
picked from various frontier posts, among others John Ordway and Pat-
rick Gass, who both contributed materially to the literature of the ex-
pedition.
"During the winter of 1803-04," writes Doctor Hosmer, "the company
was well disciplined and instructed in the camp at Wood River, and on
the 9th of May took part in a memorable ceremony. Major Amos Stod-
dard crossing from Cahokia, received from Don Carlos de Haut de Lassus,
the Spanish governor, the surrender of St. Louis, the last post in the pur-
chased Louisiana. It was an occasion of solemnity. The flag of Spain
28 HISTORY OF MONTANA
being lowered, the flag of France took its place for a brief season.
Then arose the flag of the stars and stripes, its dominion henceforth
unchallenged. Confronting the Spanish infantry stood, at present, the
American line, among them the picked soldiers of Lewis and Clark, a
fine array of manhood. The new land was now completely possessed,
and the next week the Captains set forth to see what it contained."
The chief incidents developed by the voyage from St. Louis, up the
Missouri River, to Fort Mandan — near the present site of Bismarck,
North Dakota — a trip of sixteen hundred miles — was the death of Ser-
geant Floyd, at the present site of Sioux City, Iowa, on August 20, 1804;
the desertion of two of the men, and the severe punishment (seventy-five
lashes with the "ramrod") and discharge of the one recaptured.
The Bird Wom.an and Her Husband, Charbonneau
Th« start from St. Louis was made May 14, 1804, and the Mandan
villages and the fort were reached on the 2nd of November, of that
year. There the party were joined by Charbonneau, the French-Cana-
dian trapper and former employe of the Hudson's Bay Company, and his -
wife, Sacajawea, the Bird Woman, a native of the Shoshone, or Snake
nation, and whose services as guide and advisor gave her a standing in
the expedition next to the leaders themselves. Charbonneau, who was
engaged as interpreter, was quarrelsome and unreliable; his wife, the
Bird Woman, was brave, faithful, familiar with every detail of her na-
tive land, through which the expedition was to pass, and absolutely re-
liable. On February ii, 1804, she had been delivered of a son, so that
when the expedition of thirty-two members left Fort Mandan, on April 7,
1805, Sacajawea carried with her a baby of fourteen months.
The Lewis-Clark Journal launches the expedition thus: "Having
made all our arrangements, we left the fort about five o'clock in the
afternoon. The party now consisted of thirty-two persons. Besides
ourselves were Sergeants John Ordway, Nathaniel Pryor and Patrick
Gass; the privates .were William Bratton, John Colter, John Collins,
Peter Cruzatte, Robert Frazier, Reuben Fields, Joseph Fields, George
Gibson, Silas Goodrich, Hugh Hall, Thomas P. Howard, Baptiste Lapage,
Francis Labiche, Hugh M'Neal, John Potts, John Shields, George Shannon,
John B. Thompson, William Werner, Alexander Willard, Richard Winsor,
Joseph Whitehouse, Peter Wiser and Captain Clark's black servant, York.
The two interpreters were George Drewyer and Toussaint Charbonneau.
The wife of Charbonneau also accompanied us with her young child, and
we hope may be useful as an interpreter among the Snake Indians. She
was herself one of that tribe, but having been taken in war by the Min-
netarees, by whom she was sold as a slave to Charbonneau, who brought
her up and afterwards married her. One of the Mandans also embarked
with us, in order to go to the Snake Indians and obtain a peace with them
for his countrymen. All this party with the baggage was stowed in six
small canoes and two large pirogues. We left the fort with fair,
pleasant weather, though the northwest wind was high, and after making
HISTORY OF MONTANy^ 29
about four miles encamped on the north side of the Missouri, nearly
opposite the first Mandan village. At the same time that we took our
departure our barge, manned with seven soldiers, two Frenchmen and Mr.
Gravelines as pilot, sailed for the United States loaded with our pres-
ents and despatches."
Reach the Mouth of the Yellowstone *
The party proceeded up the Missouri, past the mouths of the Big
Knife, Little Missouri, White Earth and other tributaries to the mouth
of the Yellowstone, through a pleasant land of elk, deer, beaver, and
Mandans and Assiniboines. The disagreeable features of this part of
the expedition were evidently the high winds, which caused the men's'
eyes to be sore, and the cold weather. On April 25th, as the Yellow-
stone was approached, near the present boundary between North Dakota
and Montana, the temperature fell so low that the water froze on the
oars as the men rowed, which, with the high wind, forced a halt. "This
detention from the wind," notes the Journal, under that date, "and the
reports from our hunters of the crookedness of the river, induced us
to believe that we were at no great distance from the Yellowstone River.
In order, therefore, to prevent delay as much as possible, Captain Lewis
determined to go on by land in search of that river and make the neces-
sary observations, so as to be enabled to proceed on immediately after the
boats should join him; he therefore landed about eleven o'clock on the
south side, accompanied by four men ; the boats were prevented from
going until five in the afternoon, when they went on a few miles far-
ther, and encamped for the night at the distance of Tourteen and a
half miles."
Captain Clark evidently writes the journal at this point, as he
says, under date of April 26, 1805 : "We continued our voyage in the
morning and by twelve o'clock encamped, at eight miles distance, at the
junction of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, where we were soon
joined by Captain Lewis.
"On leaving us yesterday, he pursued his route along the foot of
the hills, which he ascended at the distance of eight miles ; from these
the wide plains watered by the Missouri and the Yellowstone spread
themselves before the eye, occasionally varied with the wood of the banks,
enlivened by the irregular windings of the two rivers and animated
by vast herds of buffalo, deer, elk and antelope.
"The confluence of the two rivers was concealed by the wood, but
the Yellowstone itself was only two miles distant to the south. He
therefore descended the hills and encamped on the bank of the river,
having killed as he crossed the plain four buffaloes ; the deer alone
are shy and retire to the woods, but the elk, antelope and buffalo suf-
fered him to approach without alarm and often followed him quietly for
some distance. This morning he sent a man up the river to examine
it, while he proceeded down to the juncture.
"The ground on the lower side of the Yellowstone near its mouth
30 HISTORY OF MONTANA
is flat and for about a mile seems to be subject to inundation, while
that at the point of juncture, as well as that on the opposite side of
the Missouri, is at the usual height of ten or eighteen feet above the
water and therefore not overflown. There is more timber in the neigh-
borhood of this place and on the Missouri as far below as the White Earth
river, than on any other part of the Missouri on this side of the Cheyenne ;
the timber consists principally of Cottonwood, with some small elm, ash
and box elder. On the sandbars and along the margin of the river grows
the small-leafed willow ; in the low grounds adjoining are scattered rose-
bushes three or four feet high, the redberry, serviceberry and redwood.
The higher plains are either immediately on the river, in which case they
are generally timbered and have an undergrowth like that of the low-
grounds, with the addition of the broad-leafed willow, gooseberry, choke
cherry, purple currant and honeysuckle ; or they are between the low
grounds and the hills, and for the most part without wood or anything
except large quantities of wild hysop ; this plant rises about two feet
high and, like the willow of the sandbars, is a favorite food of the buffalo,
elk. deer, grouse, porcupine, hare and rabbit. * * *
"The man who was sent up the river reported in the evening that he
had gone about eight miles, that during that distance the river winds
on both sides of a plain four or five miles wide, that the current was
gentle and much obstructed by sandbars, that at five miles he had
met with a large timbered island, three miles beyond which a creek
falls in on the southeast above a high bluff in which are several strata
of coal. The country, as far as he could discern, resembled that of
the Missouri, and in the plain he met several of the bighorn animals
but they were too shy to be obtained.
"The bed of the Yellowstone, as we observed it near the mouth,
is composed of sand and mud, without a stone of any kind. Just above
the confluence we measured the two rivers, and found the bed of the
Missouri five hundred and twenty yards wide, the water occupying only
three hundred and thirty, and the channel deep; while the Yellowstone,
including its sandbar, occupied eight hundred and fifty-eight yards with
two hundred and ninety-seven yards of water; the deepest part of the
channel is twelve feet, but the water is now falling and seems to be
nearly at summer height.
"We left the mouth of the Yellowstone (April 27th). From the
point of juncture a wood occupies the space between the two rivers,
which at the distance of a mile came within two hundred and fifty yards
of each other. There a beautiful low plain commences and widening,
as the rivers recede, extends along each of them for several miles, rising
about half a mile from the Missouri into a plain twelve feet higher
than itself. The low plain is a few inches above high water mark,
and where it joins the higher plain there is a channel of sixty or seventy
yards in width, through which a part of the Missouri, when at its
greatest height, passes into the Yellowstone. At two and a half miles
above the juncture and between the high and low plain, is a small
HISTORY OF MONTANA 31
lake two hundred yards wide, extending for a mile parallel with the
Missouri, along the edge of the upper plain.
"At the lower extremity of this lake, about four hundred yards
from the Missouri and twice that distance from the Yellowstone, is a
small lake highly eligible for a trading station; it is in the high plain
which extends back three miles in width and seven or eight miles in
length, along the Yellowstone, where it is bordered by an extensive
body of woodland and along the Missouri with less breadth, till three
miles above it is circumscribed by the hills within a space of four
yards in width. A sufficient quantity of limestone for building may
easily be procured near the junction of the rivers; it does not lie in
regular stratas, but is in large irregular masses, of a light color and
apparently of an excellent quality. Game, too, is very abundant and as
yet quite gentle. Above all, its elevation recommends it as preferable
to the land at the confluence of the rivers, which their variable channels
may render very insecure."
For several days, or until about the ist of May, 1805, wind and
weather were favorable for sailing, and the Eastern Missouri valley was
traversed until the Porcupine Creek was reached. This is a northern
tributary of the Whitewater River, which, with the Milk River, drains
quite a section of Northern Montana, and joins the Missouri River in
the southern part of what is now Valley County. All along the route,
game was very abundant, such as the black tailed deer, elk, buffalo,
antelope, brown bear and geese. At places, the beaver had committed
great ravages among the trees, "one of which, nearly three feet in
diameter, had been gnawed through by them." Captain Lewis had a
narrow escape from a wounded white bear (a grizzly, evidently, as it
is described as yellowish brown in color). In the vicinity of Martha's
River, east of Porcupine Creek, it was noted that "there are greater
appearances of coal than we have hitherto seen, the stratas of it being
in some places six feet thick, and there are stratas of burnt earth, which
are always on the same level with those of coal."
Speaking of the antelope, the journal observes: "This fleet and
quick-sighted animal is generally the victim of its own curiosity: when
they first see the hunters, they run with great velocity ; if he lies down
on the ground and lifts up his arm, his hat or his foot, the antelope
returns on a light trot to look at the object and sometimes goes and
returns two or three times, till they approach within reach of the rifle ;
so, too, they sometimes leave their flock to go and look at the wolves,
who crouch down, and if the antelope be frightened at first, repeat
the same manoeuvre, and sometimes relieve each other till they decoy it
from the party, when they seize it. But generally the wolves take them
as they are crossing the rivers, for, although swift of foot, they are
not good swimmers."
On May 2nd, while nearing Porcupine Creek "one of the hunters,
in passing an old Indian camp, found several yards of scarlet cloth
suspended on the bough of a tree, as a sacrifice to the deity by the Assini-
boines, the custom of making these offerings being common among that
32 HISTORY OF MONTANA
people, as indeed among all the Indians on the Missouri." On the
following day, near their encampment, was passed "a curious collection
of bushes, about thirty feet high and ten or twelve in diameter, tied
in the form of a fascine (a faggot used in fortifications) and standing
on end in the middle of the low ground." It, also, was supposed to have
been left by the Indians as a religious offering.
Fourteen miles farther up the river the expedition reached the
mouth of the Porcupine named from the unusual number of the animal
named found near it. In the journal of the explorers, it may be con-
founded with Whitewater River, as it is described as "a bold and
beautiful stream one hundred and twelve yards wide, though the water
is only forty yards at its entrance. Captain Clark, who ascended it
several miles and passed it above where it enters the highlands, found it
continued nearly of the same width and about knee deep, and as far
as he could distinguish for twenty miles from the hills its course was
a little to the east of north. There was much timber on the low grounds;
he found some limestone, also, on the surface of the earth in the course
of his walk, and saw a range of low mountains at a distance to the
west of north (Little Creek Mountains) whose direction was northwest,
the adjoining country being everywhere level, fertile, open and ex-
ceedingly beautiful.
"The water of this river is transparent, and is the only one that
is so of all those that fall into the Missouri ; before entering a large
sandbar through which it discharges itself, its low grounds are formed
of a stiff blue and black clay, and its banks, which are from eight to
ten feet high and seldom, if ever, overflow, are composed of the same
materials.
"From the quantity of water which this river contains, its direction
and the nature of the country through which it passes, it is not im-
probable that its sources may be near the main, body of the Saskaskawan
(Saskatchewan), and as in high water it can be no doubt navigated to a
considerable distance, it may be rendered the means of intercourse with
the Athabasky country, from which the northwest company derive so
many of their valuable furs.
"A quarter of a mile beyond this river, a creek falls in on the
south, to which, on account of its distance from the mouth of the
Missouri, we gave it the name of Two-thousand Mile creek ; it is a
bold stream, thirty yards wide."
Game, both small and large, was very abundant in this region, where
members of the party encountered and killed the largest brown bear they
had yet seen. Although pierced with five rifle balls through his lungs and
five others in other portions of his body, he swam half way across
the river to a sandbar and then survived twenty minutes. The animal
weighed about six hundred pounds and measured over eight and a half
feet from the nose to the extremity of the hind foot, five feet and ten
inches around the breast and three feet eleven inches around the neck.
On May 6th, the expedition crossed and named Big Dry and Little
Dry creeks, in the present county of Garfield, which still appear on the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 33
map under those designations. The origin of the name is given in the
Lewis-Clark journal, thus : "We passed three streams on the south :
the first, at the distance of one mile and a half from our camp, was
about twenty-five yards wide, but although it contained some water in
standing pools, it discharges none. This we called Little Dry Creek,
about eight miles beyond which is Big Dry creek, fifty yards wide, without
any water; the third is six miles further, and has the bed of a large
river two hundred yards wide, yet without a drop of water; like the
other two, this stream, which we called Big Dry river, continues its
width undiminished as far as we can discern."
Discover and Name the Milk River
Two days afterward, a light breeze from the east carried their boat,
sixteen miles, to the mouth of a river which came in from the north.
Captain Clark, on ascending a high point opposite to its entrance, dis-
covered a level and beautiful country which it watered; that its course
for twelve or fifteen miles was northwest, when it divided into two
nearly equal branches, one pursuing a direction nearly north, the other to
the west of north. Its width at the entrance to the Missouri, in the
southern part of what is now Valley County, was one hundred and fifty
yards. A few miles up stream, it was found to be of the same breadth —
deep, gentle and carrying a large volume of water. Its bed was formed
of a dark, rich loam and blue clay ; banks some twelve feet in height ;
the low grounds near it wide and fertile and bearing much cottonwood
and willow. The river had to be named, and the expeditionary journal
of May 8, 1805, makes record : "It seems to be navigable for boats and
canoes, and this circumstance, joined to its course and the quantity of
water, which indicates that it passes through a large extent of country,
we are led to presume that it may approach the Saskashawan and afiford
a communication with that river. The water has peculiar whiteness,
such as might be produced by a table spoon full of milk in a dish of tea,
and this circumstance induced us to call it Milk River."
The Musselshell River
The next river of any consequence reached by the expedition was
the Muscleshell, or Musselshell. Progress to this point had been ac-
complished by a twelve-days' journey from the Milk River district. On
May 20th, the camp was pitched at the upper point of the river's juncture
with the Missouri, from the south. "This stream," says the record,
"which we suppose to be that called by the Minnetarees the Muscleshell
river, empties into the Missouri two thousand two hundred and seventy
miles above the mouth of the latter river, and in latitude 47° o' 24"6
north. It is one hundred and ten yards wide and contains more water
than streams of that size usually do in this country ; its current is by
no means rapid and there is every appearance of its being navigable by
canoes for a considerable distance ; its bed is chiefly formed of coarse
Vol. 1— s
34 HISTORY OF MONTANA
sand and gravel, with an occasional mixture of black mud ; the banks
abrupt and nearly twelve feet high, so that they are secure from being
overflowed ; the water is of a greenish yellow cast and much more trans-
parent than that of the Missouri, which itself, though clearer than below,
still retains it's whitish hue and a portion of its sediment. Opposite to
the point of juncture the current of the Missouri is gentle and two
hundred and twenty-two yards in width, the bed principally of mud
(the little sand remaining being wholly confined to the points) and still
too deep to use the setting pole. If this be, as we suppose, the Muscle-
shell, our Indian information is that it rises in the first chain of the
Rocky Mountains not far from the sources of the Yellowstone, whence,
in its course to this place, it waters a high, broken country, well
timbered, particularly on its borders, and interspersed with handsome
fertile plains and meadows. * * * They also reported that the
country is broken and irregular like that near our camp; that about five
miles up a handsome river about fifty yards wide, which we named after
Charbonneau's wife, Sahcajahweah, or Birdwoman's river, discharges
itself into the Muscleshell on the north or upper side.
"Another party found at the foot of the southern hills, about four
miles from the Missouri, a fine bold spring, which in this country is
so rare that since we left the IMandans we have found only one of a
similar kind, and that was imder the bluffs on the south side of the
Missouri, at some distance from it and about five miles below the
Yellowstone ; with this exception, all the small fountains, of which we
have met a number, are impregnated with the salts which are so abundant
here, and with which the Missouri is itself most probably tainted though
to us who have been so much accustomed to it, the taste is not per-
ceptible."
Continuing up the Missouri River, the game became scarcer and the
country more broken, and the leaders commenced to speculate whether or
not they were not approaching the outposts of the great Rockies, or
continental divide, which was the immediate object of their voyage.
On May 25th, they record : "The high country through which we have
passed for some days, and where we now are, we suppose to be a
continuation of what the French traders called the Cote Noire or Black
Hills. The country thus denominated consists -of high, broken, irregular
hills and short chains of mountains, sometimes one hundred and twenty
miles in width, sometimes narrower, but always much higher than the
country on either side. They commence about the head of the Kansasa,
where they diverge, the first ridge going westward along the northern
shore of the Arkansaw ; the second approaches the Rocky Motmtains
obliquely in a course a little to the west of northwest, and after passing
the Platte above its forks and intersecting the Yellowstone near the
Bigbend, crosses the Missouri at this place, and probably swell the
country as far as the Saskashawan, though as they are represented much
smaller here than to the south they may not reach that river."
What are now known as the Black Hills are much more circum-
scribed than the supposititious range noted in the Lewis-Clark journal.
o
c
H
o
H
X
M
SO
o
n
71
36 HISTORY OF MONTANA
First View of the Rocky Mountains
On the day after noting the broken appearance of the country through
which they were passing, the first view was obtained of the Rocky
Mountains. From the description, they were probably some portions
of the Belt Range of Central Montana. "It was here," says the journal,
"that, after ascending the highest summits of the hills on the north
side of the river, Captain Lewis first caught a distant view of the Rocky
Mountains, the object of all our hopes and the reward of all our
ambition. On both sides of the river and at no great distance from it,
the mountains followed its course; above these, at the distance of fifty
miles from us, an irregular range of mountains spread themselves from
west to northwest from his position. To the north of these a few elevated
points, the most remarkable of which bore north 65° west, appeared
above the horizon, and as the sun shone on the snows of their summits
he obtained a clear and satisfactory view of those mountains which
close on the Missouri the passage of the Pacific."
It is probable that the hills from which Captain Lewis thus obtained
his first ravishing view of the outskirts of the Rockies were what are
now known as Little Creek Mountains, as shortly afterward the members
of the party congratulated themselves "as having escaped from the last
ridges of the Black Mountains," and discovered and named "Bull creek."
"To further fix the locality, on the following day they came to a handsome
river, which discharges itself on the south and which we ascended to
the distance of a mile and a half. We called it Judith river; it rises
in the Rocky Mountains, in about the same place with the Muscleshell
and near the Yellowstone river."
Wholesale Slaughter of Buffalo
"On the north," reads the journal of May 29, 1805, "we passed a
precipice about one hundred and twenty feet high, under which lay
scattered the fragments of at least one hundred carcasses of buffaloes,
although the water, which had washed away the lower part of the hill,
must have carried ofif many of the dead. These buffaloes had been
chased down the precipice in a way very common on the Missouri, and
by which vast herds are destroyed in a moment. The mode of hunting
is to select one of the most active and fleet young men, who is disguised
by a bufifalo skin round his body, the skin of the head, with the ears and
horns, fastened on his own head in such a way as to deceive the
buffalo ; thus dressed he fixes himself at a convenient distance between a
herd of buffalo and any of the river precipices, which sometimes extend
for some miles. His companions, in the meantime, get in the rear and
side of the herd, and at a given signal show themselves and advance
toward the bufifalo ; they instantly take the alarm and finding the hunters
beside them, they run toward the disguised Indian or decoy, who leads
them on at full speed toward the river, when suddenly securing himself
in some crevice of the cliff which he had previously fixed on, the herd
HISTORY OF MONTANA
37
is left on the brink of the precipice. It is then in vain for the foremost to
retreat or even stop. They are pressed on by the hindmost rank, who,
seeing no danger but from the hunters, goad on those before them
till the whole are precipitated and the shore is strewn with their dead
bodies.
"Sometimes in this perilous seduction, the Indian is himself either
trodden under foot by the rapid movements of the buffalo, or missing
his footing in the cliff is urged down the precipice by the falling herd.
The Indians then select as much meat as they wish, and the rest is
abandoned to the wolves, and creates a most dreadful stench. The
wolves who had been feasting on these carcasses were very fat, and so
gentle that one of them was killed with an esponton. Above this place
Early Inhaiutants uf xiiii PYains
we came to for dinner at the distance of seventeen miles, opposite to a
bold running river of twenty yards wide, and falling in on the south.
From the objects we had just passed we called this stream Slaughter
river."
For several days, the party passed through a region of fantastic
sandstone chffs and hills of freestone, and obtained another distant
view of the Rockies from some of the most considerable eminences. On
the 2nd of June a string of islands drew their attention, and at night
of that day they encamped "in a handsome low cottonwood plain on the
south," where they remained "for the purpose of making some celestial
observations during the night, and of examining in the morning a large
river" which flowed into the Missouri opposite their encampment, from
the north.
At an early hour of the following day (June 3rd), the expedition
pitched its camp in the point formed by the junction of Maria's River
with the Missouri. "It now became an interesting question," continues
38 Pi I STORY OF MONTANA
the journal of the perplexed explorers, "which of these two streams
is what the Minnetarees call Ahniateahza, or the Missouri, which they
described as approaching very near to the Columbia. On our right
decision much of the fate of the expedition depends; since if, after
ascending to the Rocky Mountains or beyond them, we should find that
the river we were following did not come near the Columbia, and be
obliged to return, we should not only lose the traveling season, two
months of which had already elapsed, but probably dishearten the men
so much as to induce them either to abandon the enterprise, or yield
us a cold obedience instead of the warm and zealous support which they
have hitherto afforded us.
"We determined, therefore, to examine well before we decided on
our future course ; and for this purpose dispatched two canoes with three
men up each of the streams, with orders to ascertain the width, depth
and rapidity of the current, so as to judge of their comparative bodies
of water. At the same time parties were sent out by land to penetrate
the country and discover from the rising grounds, if possible, the distant
bearings of the two rivers ; and all were directed to return towards
evening. While they were gone we ascended together the high grounds
in the forks of these two rivers, whence we had a very extensive prospect
of the surrounding country.
"On every side it was spread into one vast plain covered with verdure,
in which innumerable herds of buffaloes were roaming, attended by
their enemies, the wolves ; some flocks of elks were seen, and the solitary
antelopes were scattered with their young over the face of the plain. To
the south was a range of lofty mountains, which we supposed to be a
continuation of the South Mountain, stretching themselves from southeast
to northwest (probably the Belt Range), and terminating abruptly about
southwest from us. These were partially covered with snow ; but at
a great distance behind them was a more lofty ridge completely covered
with snow, which seemed to follow the same direction as the first, reaching
from west to the north of northwest (perhaps the Big Belt Mountains),
where their snowy tops were blended with the horizon.
"The direction of the rivers could not. however, be long dis-
tinguished, as they were soon lost in the extent of the plain. On our
return we continued our examination; the width of the north branch
is two hundred yards, that of the south is three hundred and seventy-two.
The north, although narrower and with a gentler current, is deeper than
the south ; its waters, too, are of the same whitish brown color, thickness
and turbidness ; they run in the same boiling and rolling manner which
has uniformly characterized the Missouri; and its bed is composed of
some gravel, but principally mud. The south fork is deeper, but its
waters are perfectly transparent ; its current is rapid, but the surface
smooth and unruffled ; and its bed, too, is composed of round and flat
smooth stones like those of rivers issuing from a mountainous country.
The air and character of the north fork so much resemble those of the
Missouri that almost all the party believe that to be the true course to
be pursued. We, however, although we have given no decided opinion
HISTORY OF MONTANA 39
are inclined to think otherwise, because, although this branch does give
the colour and character to the Missouri, yet these very circumstances
induce an opinion that it rises in and runs through an open plain country,
since if it came from the mountains it would be clearer, unless, which
from the position of the country is improbable, it passed through a vast
extent of low ground after leaving them. We thought it probable that
it did not even penetrate the Rocky Mountains, but drew its sources
from the open country towards the lower and middle parts of the
Saskashawan, in a direction north of this place.
"What embarrasses us most is, that the Indians, who appeared to be
well acquainted with the geography of the country, have not mentioned
this northern river; for 'the river which scolds at all others,' as it is
termed, jnust be, according to their account, one of the rivers which we
have passed ; and if this north fork be the Missouri, why have they not
designated the south branch, which they must also have passed in order
to reach the great falls which they mention on the Missouri ?"
Romance of Maria's River
The foregoing extracts are taken from the journal to show the care
with which the leaders examined all the evidences and the wisdom of
their general conclusion that their way to the mountains lay along the
south rather than the north fork. After examining the streams and
the neighboring country several days more, Captain Lewis became con-
vinced that the northern stream pursued a direction too far north for
their desired route to the Pacific, by way of the Columbia. On the 8th
of June, 1805, as his party came down the river, all its members, except
he himself, "were of opinion that this river was the true Missouri; but
Captain Lewis, being fully persuaded that it was neither the main stream
nor that which it would be advisable to ascend, gave it the name of
Maria's River. After travelling all day they reached the camp at five
o'clock in the afternoon, and found Captain Clark and the party very
anxious for their safety, as they had staid two days longer than had
been expected."
Elsewhere Captain Lewis states : "I determined to give it a name, and
in honour of Miss Maria W d called it Maria's River. It is true that
the hue of the waters of this turbulent and troubled stream but illy
comport with the pure celestial virtues and amiable qualifications of that
lovely fair one : but on the other hand it is a noble river ; one destined
to become in my opinion an object of contention between the two great
powers of America and Great Britain, with respect to the adjustment of
the North-westwardly boundary of the former, and that it will become one
of the most interesting branches of the Missouri."
Dr. Elliott Coues, the learned editor of the 1893 edition of the journal,
adds this enlightening bit of information : "The Ulyssean young captain
is not successful in concealing the name of 'that lovely fair one'; for
'W — d' spells 'Wood' without any vowels. This lady was Miss Maria
Wood, a cousin of his, afterward Mrs. M. Clarkson. There were a
40 HISTORY OF MONTANA
number of intermarriages between the Virginia Merivvethers, Lewises
and Woods; but one such, the prospect of which Captain Lewis may have
cherished in his heart of hearts, was destined never to be."
Captain Clark's independent explorations up the valley of Maria's
River had also reconfirmed his belief that the stream mentioned was
not the one to be pursued. Furthermore, as he states in his contribution
to the journal, "the Indians had assured us, also, that the water of
the Missouri was nearly transparent at the falls ; this is the case with the
southern branch; that the falls lay a little to the south of sunset from
them ; this, too, is in favor of the southern fork, for it bears considerably
to the south of this place ; that the falls are below the Rocky Mountains,
and near the northern termination of one range of those mountains.
Now, there is a ridge of mountains which appear behind the South
mountains and terminates to the southwest of us (Little Belt Mountains),
at a sufficient distance from the unbroken chain of the Rocky Mountains
to allow spaces for several falls, indeed, we fear, for too many of them."
The observations and conclusions of Captains Lewis and Clark were
communicated to the reunited party. But every one of them were of a
contrary opinion, and much of their belief depended on Crusatte, an
experienced waterman on the Missouri, who gave it as his decided judg-
ment that the north fork was the genuine Missouri. The men therefore
said that although they would cheerfully follow their leaders wherever
they should direct, they were afraid that the south fork would soon
terminate in the Rocky Mountains and leave the expedition at a great
distance from the Columbia. That no radical error might be committed,
the leaders agreed that one of them should ascend the southern branch
by land until either the falls or the mountains should be reached, and
that the main camp should be pitched on the north side of the Missouri
near the entrance of Maria's River and await the return of the in-
vestigators.
Lewis Finds the Great Falls of the Mis.souri
On June nth. Captain Lewis, with four men, set out on this ex-
pedition up the south branch. Two days afterward, while traveling
southwardly through a country of alternate plains and river hills, from
the latter of which he could obtain views of the Rocky Mountains,
"fearful of passing the falls before reaching the mountains," the Lewis
party left the hills and proceeded across the plain. "In this direction,"
continues his narrative. "Captain Lewis had gone about two miles when
his ears were saluted with the agreeable sound of a fall of water and
as he advanced a spray, which seemed driven by a high southwest wind,
arose above the plain like a column of smoke and vanished in an instant.
Towards this point he directed his steps and the noise, increasing as he
approached, soon became too tremendous to be mistaken for anything
but the great falls of the Missouri. Having travelled seven miles after
first hearing the sound, he reached tlie falls about twelve o'clock. The
hills, as he approached, were difficult of access and two hundred feet
HISTORY OF MONTANA 41
high. Down these he hurried with impatience and seating himself on
some rocks under the center of the falls, enjoyed the sublime spectacle
of this stupendous object which since the creation had been lavishing its
magnificence upon the desert, unknown to civilization."
Succession of Wonderful Rapids and Falls
Captain Lewis gives some wonderful descriptions of the Great Falls
and the succession of smaller falls and rapids farther up the river
and to fully enjoy them, the reader must consult the text of the Journal,
especially the edition of 1902, edited by Dr. James K. Hosmer. At this
point in the story, it reads: "The river immediately at its cascade is
three hundred yards wide and is pressed in by a perpendicular cliff
on the left, which rises to about one hundred feet and extends up the
stream for a mile ; on the right the bluflf is also perpendicular for three
hundred yards above the falls. For ninety or a hundred yards from the
left cHff, the water falls in one smooth, even sheet over a precipice of
at least eighty feet. The remaining part of the river precipitates itself
with a more rapid current, but being received, as it falls, by the irregu-
lar and somewhat projecting rocks below, forms a splendid prospect
of perfectly white foam, two hundred yards in length and eighty in
perpendicular elevation. This spray is dissipated into a thou.sand shapes,
sometimes flying up in columns of fifteen or twenty feet, which are
then oppressed by larger masses of the white foam, on all which the
sun impresses the brightest colours of the rainbow. As it rises from
the fall, it beats with fury against a ledge of rocks which extend across
the river at one hundred and fifty yards from the precipice * * *
At the distance of three hundred yards from the same ridge is a second
abutment of solid perpendicular rock about sixty feet high, projecting
at right angles from the small plain on the north for one hundred and
thirty-four yards into the river."
Captain Lewis encamped for the night under a tree near the falls
and walked along the river to find a place beyond where the canoes
might be again launched, but for three miles below found a succession
of rapids and cascades. On the following morning he sent one of his
men to Captain Qark with an account of the discovery of the falls and
resumed his course along the river toward the southwest. Five miles
above, he found a second fall. Here the river was about four hundred
yards wide, and for the distance of three hundred throws itself so
irregularly that the captain called this succession of pitches Crooked Falls.
"Above this fall," continues the narratice, "the river bends suddenly
to the northward; while viewing this place Captain Lewis heard a loud
roar above him and crossing the point of a hill for a hundred yards,
he saw one of the most beautiful objects in nature: the whole Missouri
is suddenly stopped by one shelving rock, which, without a single niche,
and with an edge as straight and regular as if formed by art, stretches
itself from one side of the river to the other for at least a quarter of
a mile. Over this it precipitates itself in an even uninterrupted sheet
42 HISTORY OF MONTANA
to the perpendicular depth of fifty feet, whence dashing against the rocky
bottom it rushes rapidly down, leaving behind it a spray of the purest
foam across the river. The scene which it presented was indeed
singularly beautiful, since, without any of the wild, irregular sublimity
of the lower falls, it combined all the regular elegances which the fancy
of a painter would select to form a beautiful waterfall."
For several miles above, rapids and cascades, or smaller waterfalls,
break the course of the river. During the day Lewis ascended a high
hill, whence he could trace the course of the Missouri to the base of the
Snow Mountains (Big Belt range) toward the southwest, as well as
note a large river flowing from the northwest and joining it about four
miles above his point of observation. After descending the hill and
wounding a buffalo, while preparing to see him fall and provide meat
for himself and men, he was attacked by a large brown bear. His rifle
was unloaded and he only escaped death by fleeing to the river, plunging
in and facing boldly about. He then continued his course toward the
western river, found that it "was a handsome stream about two hundred
yards wide, apparently deep, with a gentle current, its waters clear, and
its banks, which were formed principally of dark brown and blue clay
were about the same height as the Missouri, that is, from three to five
feet. * * * This river is no doubt that which the Indians call
Medicine River, which they mentioned as emptying into the Missouri
just above the falls." Before he returned to camp. Captain Levi^is was
all but attacked by three bull buffaloes, and on the following morning,
when awaking, found a large rattlesnake on the trunk of the tree under
which he had been sleeping. All of which were taken as the usual risks
of such an adventure as his. The messenger sent to Captain Clark
returned with the information that the latter had arrived five miles
below at a rapid, which he did not think it prudent to ascend, and would
wait until Captain Lewis and his party rejoined him.
M.'^KING THE PORT.\GE ArOUND GRE.\T F.M.LS
On June i6th, the two parties were reunited by Captain Lewis joining
the main body, under Captain Clark, about five miles below the falls.
Captain Clark spent a number of days in examining the surrounding
country for some feasible portage around Great Falls and the succession
of rapids and cascades beyond. Portage Creek, so called, was finally
selected for that purpose, and to facilitate the transportation of the
canoes and the goods, rough carriages or wagons were made. "We were
very fortunate," notes the journal, "in finding, just below Portage Creek,
a Cottonwood tree about twenty-two inches in diameter, and large enough
to make the carriage wheels ; it was perhaps the only one of the same
size within twenty miles ; and the cottonwood, which we were obliged
to employ in the other parts of the work, is extremely soft and brittle.
The mast of the white periogue, which we mean to leave behind, supplied
us with two axletrees."
The hunters were sent out to kill buffaloes and other game, in order
HISTORY OF MONTANA 43
to collect meat to last while the transportation over the portage was being
made. He carefully examined the route and fixed stakes to mark the
definite line of the portage, having decided upon a locality about a mile
beyond the juncture of the Medicine with the Missouri as the best point
for the farther extremity of the portage. The three islands at that place
were named Whitebear Islands, from the fact that a number of the
animals were observed upon them. The portage was made with some
difficulty, as various parts of the carriage broke under the weight of
the goods and provisions, but finally the camp was selected in a small
grove of timber opposite the Whitebear Islands and various scattered
hunters were there collected before a general forward movement was
attempted. Captain Lewis was in charge of the camp near the Medicine
River and Captain Clark, the one at Portage Creek.
Narrow Escape of Captain Ci-ark, the Bird Woman, et al.
On June 28th. Captain Clark started for the other end of the portage
with a portion of the baggage, but was overtaken by a cloudburst and
was obliged to leave the heaviest articles behind. On the following day
"finding it impossible to reach the end of the portage with their present
load, in consequence of the state of the road after the rain, he sent back
nearly all his party to bring on the articles which had been left yesterday.
Having lost some notes and remarks which he had made on first
ascending the river, he determined to go up to the Whitebear Island
along its banks, in order to supply the deficiency. He left one man to
guard the baggage and went on to the falls, accompanied by his servant,
York, Charbonneau and his wife with her young child. On his arrival
there, he observed a very dark cloud rising in the west which threatened
rain, and looked around for some shelter, but could find no place
where they would be secure from being blown into the river if the wind
should prove as violent as it sometimes does in the plains. At length,
about a quarter of a mile above the falls, he found a deep ravine where
there were some shelving rocks under which he took refuge. They were
on the upper side of the ravine near the river, perfectly safe from the
rain, and therefore laid down their guns, compass and other articles
which they carried with them. The shower was at first moderate, it
then increased to a heavy rain, the efifects of which they did not feel ;
soon after a torrent of rain and hail descended; the rain seemed to fall
in a solid mass, and instantly collecting in the ravine came rolling down
in a dreadful current, carrying the mud and rocks and everything
that opposed it. Captain Clark fortunately saw it a moment before
it reached them, and springing up with his gun and shotpouch in his
left hand, with his right clambered up the steep blulT, pushing on the
Indian woman with her child in her arms ; her husband, too had seized
her hand, and was pulling her up the hill, but he was so terrified at the
danger that, but for Captain Clark, himself and his wife and child would
have been lost.
"So instantaneous was the rise of the water that before Captain
44 HISTORY OF AIONTANA
Clark had reached his gun and begain to ascend the bank the water was
up to his waist, and he could scarce get up faster than it rose, till it
reached the height of fifteen feet with a furious current, which, had
they waited a moment longer, would have swept them into the river just
above the great falls, down which they must inevitably have been pre-
cipitated. They reached the plain in safety and found York, who had
been separated from them just before the storm to hunt some buffalo,
and was now returning to find his master. They had been obliged to
escape so rapidly that Captain Clark lost his compass and umbrella,
Charbonneau left his gun. shotpouch and tomahawk, and the Indian
woman had just time to grasp her child before the net in which it lay at
her feet was carried down the current."
Voyage up the Missouri Resumed
It was not until July 15, 1805, that the expedition was ready to proceed
up the Missouri. Much time was spent in attempting to complete a
large boat of skins, which had been prepared for the purpose at Harper's
Ferry. Its frame was of iron, thirty-six feet long, four feet and a half
beam and twenty-six inches wide at the bottom. The design was to
complete its construction with timber, but the native supply of cotton-
wood, willow and box-alder was found ill adapted for the purpose.
Neither were the builders able to obtain the necessary tar to properly
close the seams. As a substitute they formed a composition of pounded
charcoal, beeswax and bufifalo tallow, and sewed the skins together with
sharp-edged, instead of pointed needle. On the 9th of July, the boat
was launched, but a heavy wind prevented its departure and on the
following morning it was found that the composition had separated
from the skins, leaving the seams exposed, and the boat and the venture
along this line had to be abandoned. To make a long, trying experience
short in the telling, the boat was taken to pieces and its various parts
worked into canoes, and at ten o'clock in the morning of July 15th they
were loaded with the expeditionary baggage, and the voyage up the
Missouri was resumed.
Smith's and Dearborn Rivers
Smith's River, which comes into the Missouri from the south, rising
in the Little Belt Mountains and flowing through the west-central por-
tions of Cascade County, was named after Robert Smith, who was then
secretary of the navy. "At six miles" (from camp), the journal notes,
"we came to an island opposite to a bend toward the north side, and
reached, at seven and a half miles, the lower point of a woodland at the
entrance of a beautiful river, which, in honour of the Secretary of
the Navy, we called Smith's river. This stream falls into a bend on the
south side of the Missouri and is eighty yards wide. As far as we could
discern its course wound through a charming valley towards the
southeast, in which many herds of buffalo were feeding, till at the distance
of twenty-five miles, it entered the Rocky Mountains and was lost from
our view."
HISTORY OF MONTANA
45
Three days after striking and naming Smith's River, the secretary
of war, Henry Dearborn, was honored by the explorers in the naming
of the "handsome, bold and clear stream" emptying itself from the north
and coming, as we would now describe it, from vast masses of the Con-
tinental Divide, through the Montana county of Lewis and Clark. Soon
after leaving Dearborn's river, the expedition reached a creek which was
named after Sergeant John Ordway, and on the following day, July
19th, were entering the rocky wilds of the present Helena district.
The Gates of the Rocky Mountains
For a dozen miles, or more, the flotilla of canoes had been following
the numerous bends of the Missouri, through a hot and confined valley.
At the Gates of the Rocky Mount.-\ins
with the mountains in the near distance covered with patches of pine,
cedar and fir and capped with snow, when the ranges on either side
suddenly approached the river, "forming a most sublime and extraor-
dinary spectacle. For five and three quarters miles these rocks rise
perpendicularly from the water's edge to the height of nearly twelve
hundred feet. They are composed of a black granite near its base, but
from its lighter colour above, and from the fragments, we suppose the
upper part to be flint of a yellowish brown and cream colour. Nothing
can be imagined more tremendous than the frowning darkness of these
rocks, which project over the river and menace us with destruction. The
river, of one hundred and fifty yards, in width, seems to have forced its
channel down this solid mass, but so reluctantly has it given way that
during the whole distance the water is very deep, even at the edges, and
for the first three miles there is not a spot, except one of a few
yards, in which a man could stand between the water and the towering
perpendicular of the mountain. The convulsion of the passage must
46 HISTORY OF MONTANA
have been terrible, since at its outlet there are vast columns of rock
torn from the mountain which are strewed on both sides of the river,
the trophies, as it vi-ere, of the victory. Several fine springs burst out
from the chasms of the rock, and contribute to increase the water, which
has now a strong current, but very fortunately we are able to overcome
it with our oars, since it would be impossible to use either the cord or the
pole. We were obliged to go on some time after dark, not being able to
find a spot large enough to encamp on ; but at length, about two miles
above a small island in the middle of the river, we met with a spojt on the
left side where we procured plenty of lightwood and pitch pine. This
extraordinary range of rocks we called the Gates of the Rocky Moun-
tains."
A short distance from the Gates, the perpendicular rocks ceased
and the hills retired from the valley of the Missouri which again broad-
ened, bounded by parallel chains of mountains. Captain Clark lead a
party along the valley lands, hunting and investigating as he went.
Before encamping for the night, the boats stopped and took aboard the
meat which his men had collected during the day's hunt, and Captain
Lewis received from his coworker an account of his investigations by
land. The bed of the river was now diversified by many islands which
were much frequented by otter and beaver. Pryor, Whitehouse and Gass
creeks were named after John Pryor, Joseph Whitehouse and Patrick
Gass, members of the expedition.
Clark Re.^ches the Three Forks
In the meantime, Captain Clark had continued his land travel along
the Indian road, and on July 25, 1805, "arrived at the three forks of the
Missouri. Here he found that the plains had been recently burnt on
the north side, and saw the track of a horse which seemed to have passed
about four or five days since. After breakfast he examined the rivers,
and finding that the north branch (the Jefferson) although not larger,
contained more water than the middle branch, and bore more to the
westward, he determined to ascend it. He therefore left a note informing
Captain Lewis of his intention, and then went up that stream on the
north side for about twenty-five miles. Here Charbonneau was unable
to proceed any further, and the party therefore encamped, all of them
much fatigued, their feet blistered and wounded by the prickly pear."
Lewis at the Three Forks
Captain Lewis and his party were ascending the Missouri, while his
companion, who had been taken sick in the midst of his explorations,
was endeavoring to join him. The former reached the three forks on
the 27th. He says: "A range of high mountains partially covered with
snow is seen at a considerable distance, running from south to west,
and nearly all around us are broken ridges of country like that below
through which those united streams appear to have forced their passage.
HISTORY OF MONTANA
47
After observing the country (from a high limestone cHff, which he had
ascended), Captain Lewis descended to breakfast. We then left the
mouth of the southeast fork, which, in honour of the secretary of the
treasury we called Gallatin's River, and at the distance of half a mile
reached the confluence of the southwest and middle branches of the
Missouri. Here we found the letter from Captain Clark, and as agreed
with him that the direction of the southwest fork (the Jefferson) gave
it a decided preference over the others, we ascended that branch of the
river for a mile, and eticamped in a level handsome plain on the left, hav-
ing advanced only seven miles. Here we resolved to wait the return of
Three Forks ue the Missouri
Captain Clark, and in the meantime make the necessary celestial observa-
tions, as this seemed an essential point in the geography of the western
world, and also to recruit men and air the baggage. It was accordingly
all unloaded and stowed away on shore.
"Near the three forks we saw many collections of the mud-nests of
the small martin attached to the smooth faces of the limestone rock,
where they were sheltered by projections of the rock above it; and in
the meadows were numbers of the duck or mallard, with their young,
who are now nearly grown. The hunters returned towards evening
with six deer, three otter and a muskrat, and had seen great numbers of
antelopes, and much sign of the beaver and elk.
"During all last night Captain Clark had a high fever and chills,
accompanied with great pain. He, however, pursued his route eight
miles to the middle branch, where not finding any fresh Indian tracks,
he came down it and joined us about three o'clock, very much exhausted
48 HISTORY OF MONTANA
with fatigue and the violence of his fever. Believing himself bilious
he took a dose of Rush's pills, which vi'e have always found sovereign
in such cases, and bathing the lower extremities in warm water.
"We are now very anxious to see the Snake Indians. After advanc-
ing for several hundred miles into this wild and mountainous country,
we may soon expect that the game will abandon us. With no information
of the route, we may be unable to find a passage across the mountains
when we reach the head of the river, at least such a one as will lead
us to the Columbia, and even were we so fortunate as to find a branch
of that river, the timber which we have hitherto seen in these mountains
does not promise us any fit to make canoes, so that our chief dependence
is on meeting some tribe from whom we may procure horses. Our
consolation is that this southwest branch can scarcely head with any
other river than the Columbia, and that if any nation of Indians can
live in the mountains we are able to endure as much as they, and have
even better means of procuring subsistence."
Jefferson and Madison Rivers Named and Described
The entries in the journal under date of July 28. 1805, are even
of greater interest — historical, geographical and personal — and are given
without further comment: "On examining the two streams, it became
difficult to decide which was the larger or the real Missouri ; they are
each ninety yards wide, and so perfectly similar in character and ap-
pearance that they seem to have been formed in the same mould. We
were therefore induced to discontinue the name of Missouri and gave
to the southwest branch the name of Jeflierson, in honor of the president
of the United States and the projector of the enterprise, and called the
middle branch Madison, after James Madison, secretary of state. These
two, as well as Gallatin River, run with great velocity and throw out
large bodies of water. Gallatin River is, however, the most rapid of the
three and, though not quite as deep, yet navigable for a considerable
distance. Madison River, though much less rapid than the Gallatin, is
somewhat more rapid than the Jefiferson ; the beds of all of them are
formed of smooth pebble and gravel, and the waters are perfectly
transparent. * * * *
The Bird Woman in Her Home Land
"Sacajawea, our Indian woman, informs us that we are encamped
on the precise spot where her countrymen, the Snake Indians, had their
huts five years ago, when the Minnetarees of Knife River first came in
sight of them, and from which they hastily retreated three miles up the
Jefiferson and concealed themselves in the woods. The Minnetarees,
however, pursued and attacked them, killed four men, as many women,
and a number of boys, and made prisoners of four other boys and all the
females, of whom Sacajawea was one; she does not, however, show any
distress at these recollections, nor any joy at being restored to her
>
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Vol. 1
50 HISTORY OF MONTANA
country ; for she seems to possess the folly or the philosophy of not
suffering her feelings to extend beyond the anxiety of having plenty
to eat and a few trinkets to wear."
Two days afterward, Captain Clark, feeling much better, and
observations having been made to fix the longitude of this important
geographical point on the western continent, the men reloaded the canoes
and the expedition moved up the Jefiferson River. The Indian Bird
Woman was now on home ground and the leaders figuratively placed
themselves in her hands. For some time, she was the most important
member of the party. Soon after the start she pointed out to Captain
Lewis the place where she had been made prisoner. Her fellow country-
men, being too few to contend with the Minnetarees, had mounted their
horses and fled as soon as the attack began. The women and children
dispersed, and Sacajawea, as she was crossing the river at a shoal place,
was overtaken by her pursuers and captured.
Lewis Ascends the Jefferson (Beaverhead)
Captain Lewis, with the Indian woman as guide and Charbonneau
as interpreter, now assumed the land travel in search of the Snake
Indians. He found and named Philosophy River. His companions were
also Sergeant Gass and Drewyer. Frazier and Fields creeks (named after
Robert Frazier and Reuben Fields) were also placed on the map of the
present Montana, along this route. Both leaders floundered around,
either along various streams or over the surrounding country, endeavor-
ing to find, beyond mistake, the true continuation of the Jefiferson, and
finally decided oij the middle branch. Finally, after nine days from the
commencement of its ascent, or August 8th, Sacajawea recognized a
curious projection into the river of an elevated plain as the point which
her people called Beaver Head, from a supposed resemblance to that
object. She said it was not far from the summer retreat of her country-
men, which was on a river beyond the mountains and running to the
west. She was therefore certain that the Shoshonees would be either
on the Jefiferson River, or immediately west of its source, which from
the size of the stream was judged to be not far distant.
Search for the Snake Indians
Captain Lewis, with three of his men, therefore set out to search for
the Snake Indians, or any other nation which could supply horses with
which to transport the baggage of the expedition across the mountains
opposite the source of the Missouri. Some twenty or twenty-five miles
from Beaver Head, on the following day (August loth) he had traced
the Jefferson to a high clifif, which he christened Rattlesnake, from the
number of that reptile which he saw there. Beyond the stream forked,
and choosing the road along the one which showed the freshest tracks
of horses, he fixed a dry willow pole at that point bearing a note to
Captain Clark, recommending him to await his return at that place. On
the day mentioned. Captain Lewis and his men had travelled thirty
HISTORY OF MONTANA 51
miles, and on the following day (August nth) the former "had the
mortification to find the track which he followed yesterday soon dis-
appeared."
While he and his companions (Drewyer and Shields) were searching
for the lost trail, "Captain Lewis perceived with the greatest delight,
a man on horseback at the distance of two miles coming down the plain
toward them. On examining him with the glass, Captain Lewis saw that
he was of a different nation from any Indians we had hitherto met ;
he was armed with a bow and a quiver of arrows ; mounted on an elegant
horse without a saddle, and a small string attached to the under jaw
answered as a bridle. Convinced that he was a Shoshonee, and knowing
how much of our success depended on the friendly offices of that nation.
Captain Lewis was full of anxiety to approach without alarming him,
and endeavor to convince him that he was a white man. He therefore
proceeded on towards the Indian at his usual pace. When they were
within a mile of each other, the Indian suddenly stopped — Captain Lewis
immediately followed his example, took his blanket from his knapsack
and holding it with both hands at two corners threw it above his head
and unfolded it as he brought it to the ground as if in the act of spreading
it. This signal, which originates in the practice of spreading a robe or
a skin, as a seat for guests to whom they wi.sh to show a distinguished
kindness, is the universal sign of friendship among the Indians on the
Missouri and the Rocky Mountains. As usual. Captain Lewis re-
peated this signal three times ; still the Indian kept his position, and
looked with an air of suspicion on Drewyer and Shields who were now
advancing on each side. Captain Lewis was afraid to make any signal
for them to halt, lest he should increase the suspicion of the Indian,
who began to be uneasy, and they were too distant to hear his voice.
He therefore took from his pack some beads, a looking glass and a few
trinkets, which he had brought for the purpose and, leaving his gun,
advanced unarmed towards the Indian. The latter remained in the same
position till Captain Lewis came within two hundred yards of him, when
he turned his horse and began to move of? slowly.
"Captain Lewis then called out to him in as loud a voice as he could,
repeating the words tabba bone ! which in the Shoshonee language means
'white man'; but looking over his shoulder the Indian kept his eyes on
Drewyer and Shields, who were still advancing, without recollecting the
impropriety of doing so at such a moment, till Captain Lewis made a
signal to them to halt ; this Drewyer obeyed, but Shields did not observe
it, and still went forward. Seeing Drewyer halt, the Indian turned his
horse about as if to wait for Captain Lewis, who now reached within
150 paces, repeating the words, tabba bone! and holding up the trinkets
in his hand, at the .same time stripping up the sleeve of his shirt to show
the colour of his skin. The Indian sufifered him to advance within 100
paces, then suddenly turned his horse and. giving him the whip, leaped
across the creek and disappeared in an instant among the willow bushes ;
with him vanished all the hopes which the sight of him had inspired of
a friendly introduction to his countrymen."
52 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Unfortunately a rain obliterated all traces of the Indian or his
red companions. Captain Lewis and his men making every endeavor
to run them down. While thus engaged, they passed a large island
which they called Three-thousand-mile Island, "on account of its being
that distance from the mouth of the Missouri."
Passage of the Continental Divide
The lost trail and the persistent search for it resulted, on the following
day (August 12, 1805), in one of the great events of history and
geography— the discovery and passage of the great continental watershed
of the United States of America. In view of the significance of the
event, its details, as recorded in the Lewis-Clark journal are of absorbing
interest. The morning of the day mentioned saw Captain Lewis and
his two comrades still endeavoring to trace the tracks of the horse
which they had lost in the mountains, on the previous day. The waters
of the Jefferson were now shallow and rapid and flowed from a cove in
the mountains, winding across a low plain which was further inter-
sected by bayous.
The story is thus told in the journal: "Captain Lewis now decided
on making the circuit along the foot of the mountains which formed the
cove, expecting by that means to find a road across them, and accordingly
sent Drewyer on one side and Shields on the other. In this way they
crossed four small rivulets near each other, on which were some bowers
or conical lodges of vvillow brush, which seemed to have been made
recently. From the manner in which the ground in the neighborhood
was torn up, the Indians appeared to have been gathering roots, but
Captain Lewis could not discover what particular plant they were search-
ing for, nor could he find any fresh track, till at the distance of four miles
from his camp he met a large plain Indian road which came into the
cove from the northwest, and wound along the foot of the mountains
to the southwest, approaching obliquely the main stream he had left
yesterday. Down this road he now went toward the southwest ; at the
distance of five miles it crossed a large run or creek, which is a principal
branch of the main stream into which it falls, just above the high cliffs
or gates observed yesterday, and which they now saw before them. Here
they halted and breakfasted on the last of the deer, keeping a small piece
of pork in reserve against accident. They then continued through the
low bottom along the main stream, near the foot of the mountains on
the right.
"For the first five miles the valley continues towards the southwest
from two to three miles in width ; then the main stream, which had
received two small branches from the left in the valley, turns abruptly
to the west through a narrow bottom between the mountains. The road
was still plain, and as it led them directly on towards the moimtain the
stream gradually became smaller, till after going two miles it had so
greatly diminished in width that one of the men in a fit of enthusiasm,
with one foot on each side of the river, thanked God that he had lived
to bestride the Missouri !
HISTORY OF MONTANA 53
"As they went along, their hopes of soon seeing the waters of the
Columbia arose ahnost to painful anxiety ; when, after four miles from
the last abrupt turn of the river, they reached a small gap formed by
the high mountains which recede on each side, leaving room for the
Indian road. From the foot of one of the lowest of these mountains,
which rises with a gentle ascent of about half a mile, issues the remotest
water of the Missouri. They had now reached the hidden sources of
that river, which had never yet been seen by civilized man ; and as
they quenched their thirst at the chaste and icy fountain — as they sat
down by the brink of that little rivulet, which yielded its distant and
modest tribute to the parent ocean — they felt themselves rewarded for
all their labours and all their difficulties.
"They left reluctantly this interesting spot and, pursuing the Indian
road through the intervals of the hills, arrived at the top of a ridge,
from which they saw high mountains covered with snow, still to the west
of them. The ridge on which they stood formed the dividing line
between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They followed a
descent much steeper than on the eastern side, and at the distance of three
quarters of a mile reached a handsome bold creek of cold clear water
running to the westward. They stopped to taste for the first time the
waters of the Columbia."
The expedition had achieved one of its chief objects — that is, to
find the gateway through the Rocky Mountains by which communication
might be obtained between the headwaters of the Missouri and the
Columbia, and a virtually continuous waterway be opened from the
Mississippi Valley to the Pacific Coast. The secondary step in the
venture was to get into touch with the Shoshonee Indians or other
interior tribe who could supply information, or guidance, which should
enable further progress toward the far western destination.
In Touch with Friendly Shoshones
So Captain Lewis and his two companions resumed the Indian road
which had led them through the mountains and to the headwaters of
the Salmon River, or the commencement of the Columbia River Valley.
They soon met a number of female Shoshones, whom they propitiated
with trinkets and whose cheeks were painted with bright vermillion by
the whites as an even more effective peace offering. The Indian women
conducted Captain Lewis and his men toward the camp of their nation
down the river, and after going about two miles "met a troop of nearly
sixty warriors, mounted on excellent horses riding at full speed toward
them. As they advanced Captain Lewis put down his gun, and went with
the flag about fifty paces in advance. The chief, who, with two men,
was riding in front of the main body, spoke to the women, who now
explained that the party was composed of white men. and showed
exultingly the presents they had received. The three men immediately
leaped from their horses, came up to Captain Lewis and embraced him
with great cordiality, putting their left arm over his right shoulder
54 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and clasping his back; applying, at the same time, their left cheek to
his, and frequently vociferating ah hi e! ah hi e! 'I am much pleased,
I am much rejoiced !' The whole body of warriors now came forward,
and our men received the caresses, and no small share of the grease and
paint, of their new friends. After this fraternal embrace of which the
motive was much more agreeable than the manner, Captain Lewis lighted
a pipe and offered it to the Indians, who had now seated themselves
in a circle around the party. But before they would receive this mark
of friendship they pulled off their moccasins, a custom, as we afterwards
learned, which indicates the sacred sincerity of their professions when
they smoke with a stranger, and which imprecates upon themselves the
misery of going barefoot forever if they are faithless to their words,
a penalty by no means light to those who rove over the thorny plains
of their country."
More presents were distributed — this time, among the warriors —
and about four miles distant Captain Lewis and his men were introduced
to their quarters in the Indian camp, which was on a level meadow on
the bank of the river. After formally smoking a pipe of peace with the
chief and his warriors. Captain Lewis explained the purposes of his
visit and distributed the remainder of the small articles he had brought
with him. The chief informed him that the stream discharged itself,
at the distance of half a day's march into another of twice its size coming
from the southwest. There were a great number of horses feeding
in every direction around the camp, which encouraged the captain to
believe that the expeditionary stores and goods could be transported
across the mountains, if necessary. On his way from the river to his
lodge. Captain Lewis met an Indian who "invited him into his bower
and gave him a small morsel of boiled antelope and a piece of fresh
salmon. This was the first salmon he had seen and perfectly satisfied
him that he was now on the waters of the Pacific.''
Lewis .\nd Shoshones Join Cl.vrk
After some persuasion, the chief of the Shoshones, Cameahwait,
with eight of his warriors, was induced to accompany Captain Lewis
and his men on the return trip to the forks of the JefTerson, where
Captain Clark and the remainder of the expedition were to meet them.
Captain Lewis was obliged to resort to all sorts of stratagems in order
to allay the suspicions of the Indians that they were being led into
some kind of a trap, various articles of clothing being exchanged so
that it would be difficult for an enemy to distinguish a white from a
red man.
The 17th of August, 1805, marked the day when final preparations
were made to enter the second stage of the journey to the Pacific;
therefore, the interesting events of that day are quoted at length from
the official journal, and thereafter the main events of the expedition
must be condensed. Under date of Saturday, August 17th, the story runs:
"Captain Lewis rose very early and despatched Drewyer and the Indian
HISTORY OF MONTANA 55
down the river in quest of the boats. Shields was sent out at the same
time to hunt, while M'Neal prepared a breakfast out of the remainder
of the meat. Drewyer had been gone about two hours, and the Indians
were all anxiously waiting for some news, when an Indian who had
straggled a short distance down the river returned with a report that
he had seen the white men, who were only a short distance below, and
were coming on. The Indians were all transported with joy and the
chief, in the warmth of his satisfaction renewed his embrace to Captain
Lewis, who was quite as much delighted as the Indians themselves.
"The report proved most agreeably true. On setting out at seven
o'clock, Captain Clark, with Charbonneau and his wife, walked on shore ;
but they had not gone more than a mile before Captain Clark saw
Sacajawea, who was with her husband loo yards ahead, begin to dance
and show every mark of the most extravagant joy, turning round him and
pointing to several Indians, whom he now saw advancing on horseback,
sucking her fingers at the same time to indicate that they were of her
native tribe. As they advanced, Captain Clark discovered among them
Drewyer dressed like an Indian, from whom he learned the situation of
the party. While the boats were performing the circuit he went toward
the forks with the Indians, who, as they went along, sang aloud with
the greatest appearance of delight.
Sacaj.xwea Reunited to Girlhood Companion
"We soon drew near to the camp, and just as we approached it, a
woman made her way through the crowd towards Sacajawea, and, recog-
nizing each other, they embraced with the most tender effection. The
meeting of these two young women had in it something peculiarly touching^
not only in the ardent manner in which their feelings were expressed but
from the real interest of their situation. They had been companions
in childhood; in the war with the Minnetarees they had both been taken
prisoners in the same battle, they had shared and softened the rigours
of their captivity, till one of them had escaped from the Minnetarees,
with scarce a hope of ever seeing her friend relieved from the hands of
her enemies.
Brother and Sister Also Reunited
"While Sacajawea was renewing among the women the friendships of
former days, Captain Clark went on and was received by Captain Lewis
and the chief, who, after the first embraces and salutations were over,
conducted him to a sort of circular tent or shade of willow. Here he
was seated on a white robe, and the chief immediately tied in his hair
six small shells resembling pearls, an ornament highly valued by these
people, who procured them in the course of trade from the seacoast. The
moccasins of the whole party were then taken ofif, and after much
ceremony the smoking began. After this, the conference was to be
opened, and glad of an opportunity of being able to converse more in-
Indian Chiefs and Warriors
HISTORY OF MONTANA 57
telligibly, Sacajawea was sent for; she came into the tent, sat down and
was beginning to interpret, when in the person of Cameahwait she
recognized her brother; she instantly jumped up, and ran and embraced
him, throwing over him her blanket and weeping profusely ; the chief
was himself moved, though not in the same degree. After some con-
versation between them she resumed her seat and attempted to inter-
pret for us, but her new situation seemed to overpower her, and she
was frequently interrupted by her tears. After the council was finished,
the unfortunate woman learnt that all her family were dead except two
brothers, one of whom was absent, and a son of her eldest sister, a small
boy, who was immediately adopted by her.
"The canoes arriving soon after, we formed a camp in a meadow on
the left side, a little below the forks, took out our baggage, and by
means of our sails and willow poles formed a canopy for our Indian
visitors. About four o'clock the chiefs and warriors were collected,
and after the customary ceremony of taking ofif the moccasins and smok-
ing a pipe, we explained to them in a long harangue the purposes of our
visit, making themselves one conspicuous object of the good wishes of
our government, on whose strength as well as its friendly disposition
we expatiated. We told them of their dependence on the will of our gov-
ernment for all future supplies of whatever was necessary either for
their comfort or defence: that as we were soon to discover the best
route by which merchandise could be conveyed to them, and no trade
would be begun before our return, it was mutually advantageous that we
should proceed with as little delay as possible ; that we were under
the necessity of requesting them to furnish us with horses to transport
our baggage across the mountains, and a guide to show us the route, but
that they should be amply remunerated for their horses, as well as for
every other service they should render us. In the meantime our first
wish was that they should immediately collect as many horses as were
necessary to transport our baggage to their village, where, at our leisure,
we could trade with them for as many horses as they could spare."
It was finally agreed that Captain Clark should set off in the morn-
ing with eleven men, furnished, besides their arms, with tools for mak-
ing canoes; that he should take Charbonneau and his wife to the camp
of the Shoshones, where he was to leave them in order to hasten the
collection of the horses ; that he was then to lead his men down the
Columbia, and if he found it navigable and the timber in sufficient quan-
tity, begin to build canoes. As soon as he had decided as to the pro-
priety of proceeding down the Columbia or across the mountains, he
was to send back one of the men with information of it to Captain
Lewis, who by that time would have brought up the whole party and the-
rest of the baggage as far as the Shoshonee village.
It is impossible to give the details of the journey of the expedi-
tion, now divided under the two leaders, now reunited, but always harmo-
nious ; the discovery and naming of Lewis River by Captain Clark and
Clark River, by Captain Lewis, and the terrible sufferings of the party,
which caused all their Shoshone friends to desert them except one old'
58 HISTORY OF MONTANA
man, the final entrance into the Snake ( Lewis) River, the joyful arrival
at the mouth of the Snake, where it joins the Columbia, and their cheering
sight of the Pacific Ocean, on November i6, 1805. A winter camp was
built close to the ocean, on the south bank of the Columbia.
The Return Trips Eastward
On March 23, 1806, camp was broken and the loaded flotilla of
canoes started up the Columbia on the long return trip eastward. If re-
membered, the toils and hardships of the western trip were ignored.
On June 30th, the party had arrived at what was noted as Travelers'
Rest Creek, wdiere it empties into Clark's (Flathead) River. There,
the leaders decided upon a separation, the party under Captain Lewis
to pursue a northerly route through Montana and that under Captain
Clark, a southerly. Specifically, as recorded in the journal entry of
July I. 1S06, the plan agreed upon was as follows: "Captain Lewis, with
nine men, was to pursue the most direct route to the falls of the Mis-
souri, where three of his party were to be left to prepare carriages for
transporting baggage and canoes across the portage of eighteen miles
from Portage Creek to Whitebear Island. With the remaining six
he was to ascend Maria's River, to explore the country and ascertain
whether any branch of it reaches as far north as the latitude of fifty
degrees, after which he was to descend that river to its mouth.
"The rest of the men were to accompany Captain Oark to the head of
Jefferson river, which Sergeant Ordway and a party of nine men would
descend with the canoes and other articles deposited there. Captain
Clark's party, which would thereby be reduced to ten, would then pro-
ceed to the Yellowstone at its nearest approach to the three forks of
the Missouri. There, he was to build canoes and descend that river
with seven of his party and wait at its mouth till the rest of the
party should join him. Sergeant Pryor, with two other, was then to
take the horses by land to the Mandans. From that nation he was to go
to the British posts on the Assiniboine with a letter to Mr. Henry, to
procure his endeavors to prevail on some of the Sioux chiefs to accom-
pany him to the city of Washington."
Captain Lewis's Homeward Trip
All preparations being completed, "the two parties who had been
long companions now separated, with an anxious hope of soon meeting
after each had accomplished the purpose of its destination." The plan
as arranged by Lewis and Clark was carried out in all its essentials.
Captain Lewis, directed by the Indians, follow-ed the eastern branch of
Clark's River. They also told him of a river (Cokalahishkit), "the river
of the road to buffalo," which would guide him to the dividing ground
between the headwaters of the Columbia and the Missouri along the
northern route. Pursuing this route, in about three days a rather flat
country was reached, on the western side of the mountains, which Cap-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 59
tain Lewis called "Prairie of the Knobs." Along this he traveled for a
few miles and reached a ridge, passed over the divide, and after thirty
or forty miles reached the headwaters of Medicine River, which flows
into the Missouri near the great falls. The captain then cut across
country to Whitebear Island, while his hunters were sent out for
game. On opening the cache, it was found that a number of bearskins
there deposited had been destroyed by the river flood as well as valuable
specimens of plants ; "but the chart of the Missouri River still remained
unhurt." Preparations were continued for transporting the preserved
articles, as the carriage wheels were in good order and the iron frame
of the boat had not materially suffered. On the i6th of July, 1806,
started with Drewyer and the two Fields, with six horses, to seek the
sources of Maria's River. He again slept under the Great Falls, which
he sketched. Two days out, the party reached the river, and traveled
up its northern side, ascending its northern branch until it entered the
mountains. On the 22nd, his journal makes the record: "And as we
have ceased to hope that any branches of Maria's river e.ctend as far
north as the fiftieth degree of north latitude, we deem it useless to pro-
ceed farther, and rely chiefly on Milk and White Earth rivers for the
desired boundary."
While preparing to return down the river. Captain Lewis and his
party fell in with a band of thieving Gros Ventres, or Minnetarees, who,
after smoking a peace pipe and accepting the warmth of the white men's
camp fire, attempted to steal the rifles of Captain Lewis and the Field
brothers. One of the Fields, in attempting to regain them, fatally stabbed
one of the Indian thieves. The Indians afterward attempted to run off
the horses of the party, and, in the pursuit, one of the ungrateful savages
was fatally shot by Captain Lewis, who was using his pistol. The white
leader himself had a narrow escape from death as the wounded Indian
returned his fire just before expiring. In the melee, the whites captured
four of the Indians' horses and lost only one of their own. "Besides
which," continues the captain's account of the affair, "we found in the
camp four shields, two bows with quivers, and also the flag which we had
presented to them, but left the medal around the neck of the dead man, in
order that they might be informed who we were."
Captain Lewis and his men now made a dash for the mouth of
Maria's River, fearful not only for their own safety and the valuable
papers and instruments which he carried, but for Sergeant Gass and
Willard who had been left at the falls. By good fortune they met, as
well as Sergeant Ordway's party, which had spent six days in descending
the river from the mouth of the Madison to White Bear Island, and
spending another week there at the falls, in collecting the baggage, trans-
porting it over the portage and starting it down the river in the periogue
of five canoes. Gass and W^illard had set out from the falls at the same
time with the horses of the main expedition.
It was more than two weeks, however, before the two leaders re-
joined their forces below the mouth of the Yellowstone, on the Mis-
souri. On the 7th of August Captain Lewis made a run of eighty-three
60 HISTORY OF MONTANA
miles down the Missouri, in order to reach the mouth of the Yellowstone.
"At four o'clock," it was noted in the journal of that date, "we reached
the mouth of the Yellowstone, where we found a note from Captain Clark
informing us of his intention of waiting for us a few miles below. We
therefore left a memorandum for our two huntsmen, whom we now sup-
posed must be behind us, and then pursued our course till night came on,
and not being able to overtake Captain Clark, we encamped."
Captain Lewis and most of his men were now over what is now the
North Dakota boundary, and it was not until the 1 2th of August, 1806,
at I :cio o'clock in the afternoon, at a point in the Missouri River, be-
yond the mouth of the White Earth River, in the region of the Bumt
Hills, that Lewis especiallv desired to "make the observation of the lati-
tude of the Burnt Hills, which is chiefly desirable," he notes, "as
being the most northern parts of the Missouri." As he did not reach
the locality until twenty minutes after noon it was too late to take
the meridian altitude, and while waiting over until the following day
to do so he was severely wounded in the thigh by one of his huntsmen
who had mistaken his hidden movements on the bank of the river for
those of elk which had been sighted. The wound was very painful and
brought on a high fever, but the journey was continued and on the fol-
lowing day, August 12th, he and his men came up with Captain Clark.
Captain Clark's Nine Days' Journey
During the nine days of their separation, the journey of the Cap-
tain Clark contingent had been of interest, although not so stirring as
that of Captain Lewis. On taking leave of Lewis, July 3. 1806, with
fifteen men and fifty horses, Clark had set out through the valley of
Clark's River, along the western side of which they rode in a south-
erly direction. "Having made sixteen miles (in the morning of July
4th), we halted at an early hour for the purpose of doing honor to the
birthday of our country's independence. The festival w^as not very splen-
did, for it consisted of a mush made of cows and a saddle of venison, nor
had we anything to tempt us to prolong it."
On the 6th of July the watershed was reached which separates the
middle fork of Qark's River from the waters of Wisdom and Lewis
rivers. Reaching the other side of the mountain, they came to Glade
Creek. They found "appearances of old buffalo paths, and some old
heads of buffaloes ; and as these animals have wonderful sagacity in the
choice of their routes, the coincidence of a buffalo with an Indian road
was the strongest assurance that it was the best. In the afternoon we
passed along the hillside north of the creek till in the course of six miles
we entered an extensive level plain. Here the tracks of the Indians
scattered so much that we could no longer pursue it, but Sacajawea
recognized the plain immediately. She had traveled it often during her
childhood, and informed us that it was the great resort of the Shoshones,
who came for the purpose of gathering quamash and cows, and of taking
beaver, with which the plain abounded ; and that Glade Creek was a
HISTORY OF MONTANA 61
branch of Wisdom River, and that on reaching the highest part of the
plain we should see a gap in the mountain, on the course to our canoes,
and from that gap a high point of mountain covered with snow.
"At the distance of a mile we crossed a large creek from the right
rising, as well as Fish creek, in a snowy mountain over which there is
a gap. Soon after, on ascending a rising ground, the country spreads
itself into a beautiful plain extending north and south, about fifteen
miles wide and thirty in length, and surrounded on all sides by high
points of mountains covered with snow, among which was the gap pointed
out by the squaw, bearing S. 56 E."
On the 7th, Captain Clark's party reached Wisdom River, following
it to a gap in the mountains, which led him to the west branch of the
JefTerson River. Down this the men went to the "forks," where they
had deposited their merchandise in the previous August. The lack of
tobacco had been their greatest deprivation, "and such was their eager-
ness to procure it after so long a deprivation that they scarcely took
their saddles from their horses before they ran to the cave, and were
delighted at being able to resume this fastidious indulgence." Some of
the men whose tomahawks were so constructed as to answer the purpose
of pipes, broke the handles of these instruments, and after cutting them
into small fragments, chewed them, the wood having by frequent smok-
ing become strongly impregnated with the taste of that plant.
The party led by Captain Clark had now traveled from Traveler's
Rest Creek to the head of Jefferson River, about 160 miles, and the
journal records : "It is a very excellent, and by cutting a few trees
might be rendered a good route for wagons, with the exception of about
four miles over one of the mountains which would require some levelling.
On July loth, with a white frost covering the ground and ice forming
the boats were loaded and the men divided into two bands, one to de-
scend the river with the baggage, while Clark, with the other party,
proceeded on horseback to the Roche jaume (Yellowstone). After travel-
ing about fifteen miles down the eastern side of Jefferson river, through
Service valley and over the Rattlesnake mountain into Beaverhead val-
ley. Captain Clark discovered that the canoes could advance more rapidly
than the horses; he therefore left the horses with Sergeant Pryor and
himself continued by water. Three Thousand Mile Island, Beaver Head,
Philanthrophy river. Wisdom river, Panther and Field creeks, and
other features made familiar by the outward voyage of the previous
year. The entrance of Madison river into the Missouri was reached
by Clark and the boats about an hour after Sergeant Ordway had arrived
with the horses, on Sunday, July 13th. .The horses were then driven
across Madison and Gallatin rivers, and the whole party halted to dine and
unload the canoes below the mouth of the latter. Here the two parties
again separated, Ordway with nine men setting out in six canoes to de-
scend the river, while Captain Clark, with the remaining twenty and the
wife and child of Charbonneau, and fifty horses, started by land for
the Yellowstone. This was according to programme, but had Clark not
taken the precaution to take with him the faithful, astute and thoroughly
62 HISTORY OF MONTANA
posted Bird Woman, the prompt performance of his part of the pre-
arranged plan is problematical."
Late in the afternoon of the 13th, the land party set out from the
forks of the Missouri, but because of the sore feet of the horses were
obliged to travel slowly and halted for the night, after going only
four miles, on the bank of Gallatin's River. The plain beyond led to a
gap in the mountains, twenty miles distant, which the captain would
have taken, had not the Indian woman recommended one farther to the
south. Under her guidance, the main channel of the Medicine River
was reached, and finally, on the 14th, the gap in the mountains was
Ne.\r the Source of the Missouri
reached through the three branches of the Gallatin Pass, as well as the
great bufifalo road described by the invaluable squaw.
From Missouri's He.\d\vaters to the Yellowstone
The journal entry of Tuesday, 15th (July, 1806), is of special sig-
nificance : "After an early breakfast they pursued the buiTalo road
over a low gap in the mountain to the heads of the eastern fork of Gal-
latin's river near which they had encamped last evening, and at the
distance of six miles reached the top of the dividing ridge (Bozeman
pass) which separates the waters of the Missouri and the Yellowstone;
and on descending the ridge they struck one of the streams of the latter
river. They followed its course through an open country, with high
mountains on each side, partially covered with pine and watered by sev-
eral streams, crowded as usual by beaver dams. Nine miles from the
top of the ridge they reached the Yellowstone itself, about a mile and a
half below where it issues from the Rocky mountains.
"It now appeared that the communication between the two rivers
was short and easy. From the head of the Missouri at its three forks
I0 this place is a distance of forty-eight miles, the greater part of which
is through a level plain; indeed, from the forks of the eastern branch
HISTORY OF MONTANA 63
of Gallatin's river, which is here navigable for small canoes to this part
of the Yellowstone, the distance is no more than eighteen miles, with
an excellent road over a high, dry country, with hills of inconsiderable
height and no difficulty in passing. * * *
"At the distance of nine miles from the mountain a river discharges
itself into the Yellowstone from the northwest, under a high rocky
cliflf. It rises from the snowy mountains in that direction; is about
thirty-five yards wide; has a bold, deep current; is skirted by some
Cottonwood and willow trees; and, like the Yellowstone itself, seems to
abound in beaver. They gave it the name of Shield's river, after one
of the party."
As many of the horses in the Clark party were either lamed by the
hard travel or stolen by the Indians, two canoes were built, twenty-
eight feet in length, lashed together, and on the 23rd of July all but three
of its members continued the trip down the Yellowstone. Sergeant Pryor,
with two other men, was directed to take the remaining horses to the
Mandans, and (still according to programme) "if he found that Mr.
Henry (Indian agent) was on the Assiniboin river, to go thither and de-
liver him a letter, the object of which was to prevail on the most dis-
tinguished chiefs of the Sioux to accompany him to Washington."
Last View of the Rockies
Sergeant Pryor was to join Clark where the Big Horn River entered
the Yellowstone. A wide river coming in from the south was at first
thought to be the Big Horn ; "but afterwards when the Big Horn was
found the name of Clark's fork was given to this stream." Pryor's
Creek was also named along the route. Littlewolf Mountains were
passed on the way, and one of the cliffs which juts into the Yellow-
stone in that region was named by Captain Clark, Pompey's Pillar.
Just before reaching the Big Horn River, on the 26th, he shot two of
the animals from his boat which gave their name to that stream. He
states that "there are no permanent settlements near it, but the whole
country which it waters is occasionally visited by roving bands of hunt-
ers from the Crow tribe, the Paunch, a band of Crows, and the Castahana,
a small band of Snake Indians." On the morning of July 27, 1806,
"they again set out very early, and on leaving the Big Horn took a last
look at the Rocky mountains, which had been constantly in view from
the first of May."
Their course down the Yellowstone brought them through a country
crowded with buffalo, elk and wolves, and on Tuesday, August 3, 1806,
eight miles below Field's Creek, reached its junction with the Missouri.
He had traveled down its valley for a distance of more than eight hun-
dred miles. At the confluence of the two rivers he wrote the note to Cap-
tain Lewis which the latter found four days afterward. On the 8th,
Clark was joined by Sergeant Pryor and his two companions but minus
the horses which had been stolen by the Indians.
'64 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Happily Reunited Expedition
Under date of August 12, 1806, Clark's journal says: "The party
continued to slowly descend the river. One of the skin canoes was by
accident pierced with a small hole, and they halted for the purpose of
mending it with a piece of elk-skin and also to wait for two of the
party who were behind. Whilst there they were overjoyed at seeing
Captain Lewis's boats heave in sight about noon. But this feeling was
changed into alarm on seeing the boats reach the shore without Captain
Lewis, w-ho they then learned had been wounded the day before, and was
then lying in the periogue. After giving to his wound all the atten-
tion in our power we remained here some time, during which we were
overtaken by our two men, accompanied by Dickson and Hancock, who
wished to go with us as far as the Mandans. The whole party being now
happily reunited, we left the two skin canoes, and all embarked together
about three o'clock in the boats."
The Invalu.\ble Sacajawe.-^
The "happily reunited" expedition arrived at the Mandan \'illage
August 14, 1806. Three days afterward Lewis and Clark parted from
Sacajawea, the faithful Indian "squaw'' and guide, and Charbonneau,
her unreliable, cowardly and unworthy husband, who, however, had been
of considerable service. The wife, however, had been of far greater
service, but both preferred to remain with the Indians. Sacajawea is
thus noted in the journal : "Indeed, she has borne with a patience truly
admirable the fatigues of a long route, encumbered with the charge
of an infant, who is even now only nineteen months old. We therefore
paid Charbonneau his wages, amounting to $500.33, including the price of
a horse and a lodge purchased of him ; and soon afterward dropped down
to the village of Big White, attended on shore by all the Indian chiefs
who went to take leave of him."
Unselfish Co-operation of Leaders and Men
In sketching the leading characters of the most famous land expedi-
tion recorded in American history. Doctor Hosmer writes : "Though the
closing weeks of summer the boats drifted rapidly down, and one day in
September, 1806, saluting the flag they had carried so far with a part-
ing volley, the Captains and their men stepped ashore at St. Louis.
Never was success more complete. From first to last all went smoothly,
not at all because the dangers and difficulties were small, but because
the skill and courage with which they were confronted were consummate.
Lewis and Clark were never found wanting, and in all the efifort they
co-operated without a touch of jealousy. From first to last among the
men there was scarcely a trace of insubordination ; each worked to his
full capacity, yielding to the guidance of the leaders, whose natural
ascendency they thoroughly recognized. The student of Lewis and Clark
HISTORY OF MONTANA 65
learns to respect them all — the stout sergeants, Pryor, Ordvvay and
Patrick Gass, the latter of whom in his quaint diary supplements nobly
the record of the chiefs ; — the blacksmith Shields, York the negro slave
whom the Indians thought great 'medicine', the half-breed Drewyer,
past-master of woodcraft, the Frenchman, Cruzat, whose fiddle re-
sounded night after night in the desolate camps while the men danced
off their pains and fears.
Last Years of the Faithful Bird Woman
'"But most of all the lone woman, Sacajawea, is an object of inter-
est. Her figure in the story of Lewis and Clark is very pathetic and
engaging, and in Indian story few characters appear whose desert was
greater. A captive and a slave, she followed the trail or worked with
the men in forcing on the canoes. Her husband, Charbonneau, soon
proved to be inefficient and cowardly ; but as dangers and hardships
gathered, the heart and head of the squaw showed ever new resources. It
is doubtful if the expedition could have pushed its way through without
her."
In after years, Charbonneau's name appears in the record of various
American explorers as an interpreter, and as one of small character he
fades away. His noble wife was tenderly cared for by her son, Baptiste,
and her adopted son, Bazil — the orphaned son of her eldest sister, whom
she adopted in the Shoshone country, while about to return to civilization.
The latter especially thoughtful of the welfare of his mother, by adoption,
cared for her in her declining years, and was buried with the medal around
his neck which Lewis and Clark had presented to Charbonneau. Saca-
jawea lived to be one hundred years of age, and died and was buried in
18S4, on the Shoshone, or Wind River reservation, in Fremont County,
Wyoming. Over her grave is a tablet which reads : "Sacajawea, guide to
Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1805-1807. Identified by Rev. John Roberts,
who officiated at her burial, April 21, 1884."
The Sad End of Captain Lewis
Captains Lewis and. Clark started for Washington about five months
after they arrived in St. Louis. The sad sequel of the former's brilliant
and brief public career is thus sketched by his great patron and warm
friend, Jefiferson : "It was the middle of February, 1807, before Captain
Lewis and his companion, Captain Clark, reached the city of Washing-
ton, where Congress was then in session. That body granted to the
two chiefs and their followers the donation of lands which they had
been encouraged to expect in reward of their toils and dangers. Cap-
tain Lewis was soon after appointed governor of Louisiana, and Cap-
tain Clark a general of militia, and agent of the United States for Indian
affairs in that department. A considerable time intervened before the
governor's arrival at St. Louis. He found the territory distracted by
feuds and contentions among the officers of the government and the
66 HISTORY OF MONTANA
people themselves divided by these into factions and parties. He de-
termined at once to take no sides with either ; but to use every endeavor
to conciliate and harmonize them. The even-handed justice he adminis-
tered to all soon established a respect for his person and authority ; and
perseverance and time wore down animosities and reunited the citizens
again into one family.
"Governor Lewis had, from early life, been subject to hypochon-
driac affections. It was a constitutional disposition in all the nearer
branches of the family of his name, and was more immediately inher-
ited by him from his father. They had not, however, been so strong as
to give uneasiness to his family. While he lived with me in Washing-
ton I observed at times sensible depressions of mind ; but knowing their
constitutional source, I estimated their course by what I had seen in
the family. During his western expedition, the constant exertion wfiich
that required of all the faculties of body and mind, suspended these
distressing affections ; but after his establishment in St. Louis in
sedentary occupations they returned upon him with redoubled vigor and
began seriously to alarm his friends. He was in a paroxysm of one of
these when his aifairs rendered it necessary for him to go to Washington.
He proceeded to Chickasaw Bluffs, where he arrived on the i6th of
September, 1809, with a view of continuing his journey thence by water.
"Mr. Neely, agent of the United States with the Chickasaw Indians,
arriving there two days after, found him extremely indisposed, and be-
traying at times some symptoms of a derangement of mind. The rumors
of a war with England, and apprehensions that he might lose the papers
he was bringing on, among which were the vouchers of his public accounts
and the journals and papers of his western expedition, induced him here
to change his mind, and to take his course by land through the Chick-
asaw country. Although he appeared somewhat relieved, Mr. Neely
kindly determined to accompany and watch over him. Unfortunately,
at their encampment, after having passed the Tennessee one day's jour-
ney, they lost two horses, which obliging Mr. Neely to halt for their
recovery, the governor proceeded, under a promise to wait for him at
the house of the first white inhabitant on his road. He stopped at the
house of a Mr. Grinder, who, not being at home, his wife alarmed at
the symptoms of derangement she discovered, gave him up the house
and retired to rest herself in an out-house, the governor's and Neely's
servants lodging in another. About three o'clock in the night he did
the deed* which plunged his friends into afifiiction and deprived his
country of one of her most valued citizens, whose valor and intelli-
gence would now have been employed in avenging the wrongs of his coun-
try, and in emulating by land the splendid deeds which have honored
her arms on the ocean. It lost, too, to the nation the benefit of receiv-
* The facts accompanying the death of Meriwether Lewis have never been
consistently stated, and his death by pistol shot at a public house of questionable
reputation — Grinder's Stand, on the Natchez Trace (military road) — is still open
to discussion as to whether it was through suicide or murder. Jefferson, obviously,
favors the former explanation. A monument of Tennessee marble stands at the
locality where his death occurred.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 67
ing from his own hand the narrative now offered them of his suffer-
ings and successes, in endeavoring to extend for them the boundaries of
science, and to present to their knowledge that vast and fertile country,
which their sons are destined to fill with arts, with science, with free-
dom and happiness."
General Clark's Honorable Public Career
After serving for six years as brigadier general of militia and
Indian agent for the territory of Louisiana, in 1813 General Clark was
made governor of Missouri. He honored that position until Missouri
became a state in 1820, and afterward became superintendent of Indian
affairs, which he held at the time of his death. Clark held other re-
sponsible public positions and died in St. Louis, generally respected and
loved, in 1838. There was probably no character better known or loved
by the Indians in the West than General Clark, who affectionately spoke
of him as the "Red-Head," and St. Louis was known by his red friends
as "Red-Head's town."
CHAPTER III
MINOR EXPLORATIONS OF 1805-07
Two days after Lewis and Clark had joined each other, with their
parties, below the mouth of the Yellowstone and started for the Man-
dan country, on their way to St. Louis, John Colter, a member of the
expedition, obtained an honorable discharge from the leaders and, again
answered tli€ call of the wilds. The journal narrates the incident, thus,
under date of August 14, 1806: "In the evening we were applied to by
one of our men, Colter, who was desirous of joining the two trappers who
had accompanied us and who now proposed an expedition up the river
(Missouri), in which they were to find traps and give him a share of
the profits. The offer was a very advantageous one, and as he had always
performed his duty and his services might be dispensed with, we agreed
that he might go, provided none of the rest would ask or expect a similar
indulgence. To this they cheerfully answered that they wished Colter
every success and would not apply for liberty to separate before we
reached St. Louis. We therefore supplied him, as did his comrades also,
with powder and lead, and a variety of articles which might be useful
tt) him and he left us the ne.xt day.
John Colter Ag.mn C.-^lled to the Wilds
"The example of this man shows how easily men may be weaned from
the habits of a civilized life to the ruder but scarcely less fascinating
manners of the woods. This hunter has been now absent for many years
from the frontiers, and might naturally be presumed to have some anxiety,
or some curiosity at least, to return to his friends and his country ; yet
just at the moment when he is approaching the frontiers he is tempted,
by a hunting scheme, to give up those delightful prospects and go back
without the least reluctance to the solitude of the woods."
Before Colter was to return to American civilization, he was to
have adventures and wide wanderings among the grandeurs and wonders
of the Rockies which would thrill even a hardened boy of scout and
Indian literature. Where he spent the winter of 1806-07 's not recorded,
but in the spring of the latter year he built a canoe of logs and started
down the Missouri river for St. Louis. Even now he was not to lead the
quiet life of a settler; for at the mouth of the Platte, he met a party
winding up the river from Missouri, under the leadership of the keen and
fearless Spanish fur trader, Manuel Lisa, and under the immediate guid-
ance of George Drewyer, Lewis and Clark's old hunter and interpreter
68
HISTORY OF MONTANA 69
and one of the mainstays of the expedition. Lisa was headed for the great
beaver country, through which the expedition had passed ; Colter had
since investigated the trapping grounds at the headwaters of the Missouri
and was the man most needed to insure success to the commercial venture
of the Spanish fur trader.
Fort Lisa Established
Colter was therefore again turned back toward the western wilds and
the re-enforced party proceeded up the Missouri to the mouth of the Yel-
lowstone, thence up that river to the mouth of the Big Horn. There
(in the spring or early summer of 1807) Lisa established the post known
variously as Fort Lisa, Fort Manuel and Manuel's Fort. He then sent
out Colter alone as a herald to announce to the neighboring Indians the
fact and object of his coming. The exact route of his wanderings in 1807
is not known, although Capt. William Clark, whom he met in 1810 and
who obtained from him a narrative of his travels, marked upon one of
the maps of the expedition "Colter's route in 1807." From this and other
reports gathered from others whom Colter met in St. Louis,* it is prob-
able that he traveled from the mouth of the Big Horn to the forks of the
Shoshone or Snake River, where he found a great tar spring, which came
to bear the name of Colter's "Hell Hole." Then journeying, in a north-
westerly direction, through what is now the Yellowstone National Park,
he reached Yellowstone Lake, forded the Yellowstone River near Twin
Falls and followed the Indian trail that led to the Valley of Clark's Fork.
Thence he returned to the forks of the Shoshone and up the Big Horn
Valley to Lisa's Fort.
The difficulties encountered in this journey and so bravely over-
come by Colter place him in the front rank of the heroic explorers of
interior America. It is believed that he met the Crows somewhere in
the Wind River region and, with a small band of them, crossed the great
Wind River Mountains by way of Union Pass and the Teton Range
through the pass by that name. The Crows were attacked by a war party
of Blackfeet and Colter was badly wounded in the leg. The Indians, with
whom he was traveling and with whom he had fought, turned back in
alarm and left the white man, wounded as he was, to shift for himself.
It was now impossible for him to think of treating with the Blackfeet
at the three forks of the Missouri, as had been the original intention,
for he had been seen by their warriors in the mountain encounter. He
therefore started for Lisa's Fort, and. wounded as he was, struck bravely
down the wooded northern slope of the Teton Mountains and across the
southern part of the present Yellowstone Park. In the words of Chit-
tenden:! "It may, with difficulty, be imagined what must have been his
astonishment when, emerging from the forests upon the shores of that
surpassingly beautiful mountain lake near the source of the Yellowstone
* John Bradbury, English botanist, .and author of "Travels in tlie Interior of
America" ; Henry W. Brackenridge, explorer and writer.
t Captain H. M. Chittenden : "American Fur Trade of the Far West."
z
o
o
o
HISTORY OF MONTANA 71
river, he found its shores steaming with innumerable boihng springs and
geysers."
Colter's Remarkable Adventures
Exactly where he met with the most remarkable adventure of his
stirring carreer is not known. Neither is it known when or where he met
the Potts, who figures in the story and who incidentally appears as a
member of the Lewis and Clark party. The main facts, as related to
Bradbury, after Colter's return to St. Louis, are these: Colter and Potts
were examining their traps early one morning in a creek which they were
ascending in a canoe, when they suddenly heard a great noise resembling
the tramping of animals ; but they could not ascertain the fact, as the high,
perpendicular banks on each side of the river impeded their view. Colter
immediately pronounced it to be occasioned by Indians and advised an in-
stant retreat, but was accused of cowardice by Potts, who insisted the
noise was occasioned by buffaloes, and they proceeded on. In a few
minutes afterward, their doubts were removed by the appearance of five
or six hundred Indians on both sides of the creek, who beckoned them
to come ashore. As retreat was now impossible. Colter turned the head
of the canoe to the shore ; and at the moment of its touching an Indian
seized the rifle belonging to Potts. But Colter, who was a remarkably
strong man, immediately retook it and handed it to Potts, who remained
in the canoe and, upon receiving it, pushed off into the river. He
had scarcely quitted the shore, when an arrow was shot at him and he
cried out 'Colter, I am wounded !' Colter remonstrated with him on the
folly of attempting to escape and urged him to come ashore. Instead of
complying, he instantly leveled his rifle at an Indian and shot him dead
on the spot.
This conduct may appear to have been an act of madness, but it was
doubtless the effect of sudden, but sound enough reasoning; for if
taken alive, he must have expected to have been tortured to death, ac-
cording to the Indian custom. And, in this respect, the Indians of
that region excelled all others in the ingenuity they displayed in tor-
turing their prisoners. He was instantly pierced with arrows, so numer-
ous that, to use the language of Colter, "he was made a riddle of."
They now seized Colter, stripped him entirely naked, and began to
consult on the manner in which he should be put to death. They were
first inclined to set him up as a mark to be shot at; but the chief
interfered and, seizing him by the shoulder, asked him if he could run
fast. Colter, who had been some time among the Kee Katsa, or Crow In-
dians, had, in a considerable degree, acquired the Blackfoot language,
and was also well acquainted with Indian customs. He knew that he had
now run for his life, with the dreadful odds of five or six hundred against
him, and these armed Indians. He therefore cunningly replied that he
was a very bad runner, although, in truth, he was considered by the
hunters as remarkably swift.
The chief now commanded the party to remain stationary, and led
Colter out on the prairie three or four hundred yards, and released him,
72 HISTORY OF MONTANA
to save himself if he could. At that instant, the war-vvhoop sounded
in the ears of poor Colter who, urged with the hope of preserving life,
ran with a speed at which he himself was surprised. He proceeded to-
ward Jefferson's Fork, having to traverse a plain six miles in breadth,
abounding with the prickly pear, on which he every instant was tread-
ing with his naked feet. He ran nearly half way across the plain before he
ventured to look over his shoulder, when he perceived that the Indians
were very much scattered, and that he had gained ground to a considerable
distance from the main body ; but one Indian, who carried a spear, was
much before all the rest, and not more than a hundred yards from him.
A faint gleam of hope now cheered the heart of Colter. He derived
confidence from the belief that escape was within the bounds of pos-
sibility. But that confidence was nearly fatal to him; for he exerted
himself to such a degree that the blood gushed from his nostrils and
soon almost covered the fore part of his body. He had now arrived
within a mile of the river, when he distinctly heard the appalling sound
of footsteps behind him, and every instant expected to feel the spear
of his pursuer. He again turned his head and saw the savage not twenty
yards from him.
Determined, if possible, to avoid the expected blow, he suddenly
stopped, turned around and spread out his arms. The Indian, surprised
at the suddenness of the action and perhaps at the bloody appearance of
Colter, also attempted to stop ; but, exhausted with running, he fell
while attempting to throw his spear, which stuck in the ground and
broke in his hand. Colter instantly snatched up the pointed part, with
which he pinned him to the earth, and then continued his flight.
The foremost of the Indians, on arriving at the place, stopped
until others came up to join them, and then gave a hideous yell. Every
moment of this time was improved by Colter who, although fainting and
exhausted, succeeded in gaining the skirting of cottonwood trees on the
borders of the fork to which he ran and plunged into the river. For-
tunately for him, a little below this place was an island, against the
upper point of which a raft of drift timber had lodged. He dived
under the raft and, after several efforts, got his head above water,
among the trunks of trees covered over with smaller wood to the depth
of several feet. Scarcely had he secured himself when the Indians
arrived on the river, screeching and yelling, as Colter expressed it, "like
so many devils."
They were frequently on the raft during the day and were seen
through the chinks by Colter, who was congratulating himself on his
escape, until the idea arose that they might set the raft on fire. In
horrible suspense, he remained until night, when, hearing no more from
the Indians, he dived under the raft and swam down the river to a con-
siderable distance, when he landed and traveled all night. Although
happy in having escaped from the Indians, his situation was still dread-
ful. He was completely naked, under a burning sun ; the soles of his
feet were filled with the thorns of the prickly pear; he was hungry, and
had no means of killing game, although he saw abundance around him ;
HISTORY OF MONTANA 73
and was at a great distance from the nearest settlement. Almost any man
but an American hunter would have despaired under such circumstances.
The fortitude of Colter remained unshaken. After seven days of sore
travel, during which he had no other sustenance than the root known by
naturalists under the name of 'psoralen esculenta, he at length arrived
in safety at Lisa's Fort, on the Big Horn branch of the Roche Jaune,
or Yellowstone River.
In May, 1810, Colter returned alone to St. Louis, where, for the
first time, he met Bradbury, the botanist, and Brackenridge, the exploror,
and renewed his friendship with Capt. (then General) William Clark,
who was brigadier general and Indian agent of Louisiana Territory. To
them he narrated his remarkable adventures, and it is from their pens
that history is mainly indebted for the narrative. The last view of
Colter recorded in the annals of those times was his meeting with Brad-
bury on March 18, 181 1, and the final decision of the frontiersman to join
the naturalist and his party, members of the Astoria Company, in a
journey up the Missouri River. At last he yielded to the love of a
newly-wedded wife and remained with civilization, forever divorced from
the wilderness.
Larocque's Expedition to the Crows
While the Lewis and Qark explorations were being conducted by the
Government, in 1805-06, the Northwest Fur Company of Canada was
sending its agents into the furthermost limits of the great domain covered
by its operations, and it was but natural that Government and Trade
should cross lines. Among the prominent agents of the fur company were
the McKenzies and Francois Antoine Larocque. Charles McKenzie and
Larocque, clerks, were particularly intimate and made three expeditions
together, in 1804-06, at least two of which were in charge of the latter.
It is the second journey which is of most interest to readers of Montana
history, as it included a visit of about three months to the Crow Indians
of what is now our state — with the exception of the La Verendrye ex-
plorers, the first whites to leave a record of the habits and peculiarities
of that tribe. A daily journal, written by Larocque, and which had been
obtained by Roderick McKenzie, of the Northwest Fur Company, for a'
projected work never realized, has never been recovered; "but what
purports to be an exact copy is now in the library of Laval University,
Montreal, with a number of other manuscripts bequeathed to that institu-
tion by the late Judge Baby of that city. This 'Journal of a Voyage to the
Rocky Mountains from my leaving the Assinibois River on the 2d June,
1805,' as it is entitled, is now (1910) printed for the first time, being,
so far as can be ascertained at present, a verbatim translation of the
original."
From the best information obtainable, it would appear that La-
rocque was a man of intellectual abilities and great courage, well read
in French and English. He had a brother who became even more prom-
inent in the fur trade than he himself. The author of the Journal soon
74 HISTORY OF MONTANA
left the employ of the Northwest Fur Company and located in Montreal,
where he failed as a merchant. He passed the last years of his life in
close retirement and arduous study and died, much advanced in years,
in the Grey Nunnery of St. Hyacinthe. Whatever his ambitions, the
Journal of his trip to the Rocky Mountains and the Crow Indians is the
only piece of his work which has survived, and even Lewis and Clark
anticipated his first view of the great continental divide by some six weeks.
Larocque was sent by Charles J. B. Chaboillez, a partner of the
Northwest Company in charge of the Upper Red River (Assiniboine)
Department, to ascertain whether there were any beaver in the Crow
country and, if so, to open up a fur trade with the Indians. He had en-
tered the service of the company in 1801 and for about three years was
in its employ in the region of the Saskatchewan and Red rivers, Canada.
In the autumn of 1804, he was stationed at Fort Assiniboine and, with
Charles Mackenzie, J. B. Lafrance and four voyageurs, took a trip to
the Mandans of the Missouri. Both his Journal and the first part of
Charles Mackenzie's "Missouri Indians" cover the journey to the Man-
dan country. There Mackenzie left the expedition and the recovered
Larocque Journal (or the well authenticated copy of it) is relied upon to
convey the graphic details of the trip through Southeastern Montana,
along the valley of the Yellowstone to the regions of the Big Horn River
and mountains and the land of the Crows.
Larocque's expedition started from Fort a la Bosse, on the Assini-
boine, Canada, on June 2, 1805. As he states, he there "prepared for
going on a voyage of discovery to the Rocky Mountains, and set of (sic)
on 2nd June with two men having each of us two horses, one of which
was laden with goods to facilitate an intercourse with the Indians we
might happen to see on our road. Mr. Charles MacKenzie and Mr. Las-
sana set out with me to go and pass the summer at the Missouri, and hav-
ing to pursue (sic) the same road we kept company as far as the
B. B.*
Larocque and his men crossed what is now the international bound-
ary at a branch of the Souris, or Mouse River, in the northwestern part
of Botineau County. North Dakota, just west of Turtle Mountain. Strik-
ing toward the southwest, the party crossed the Souris River. On ac-
count of the high water, the goods were loaded on a raft and the horses
swam over. On the loth of June, about a week out, they slept in the
Mandan plain — the Coteau du Missouri, or tableland separating the
waters of the Missouri from those of the Assiniboine. The banks of the
Missouri were sighted on the following day, and the expedition arrived in
the Mandan territory on the 12th.
Mandans and Big Bei-lies Obstructive
The Mandans seem to have been disagreeably insistent to sell their
horses to the white travelers, but Larocque set them right on that point.
"I told them," he said, "that the purpose of our coming was not to pur-
♦ Big Bellies, called by the French Gros Ventres. The name has been applied
to tribes of both Algonquin and Sioux stock.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 75
chase horses either from them or the Rocky Mountains, that we came for
Skins and Robes, and that for that purpose one of us was to pass the
summer with them and one at the Mandans ; that I and two men were
sent by the white people's Chief to smoke a pipe of peace and amity with
the Rocky Mountain Indians and to accompany them to their lands to
examine them and see if there were Beavers as is reported, and to engage
them to hunt it, that we would not purchase a horse from none, therefore
that their best plan would be to dress buffalo robes, so as to have ammuni-
tion to trade with the Rocky Mountain Indians.
"They pretend to be in fear of the surrounding nations, that is,
Assineboines, Sioux, Chetenne and Ricaras (Pawnees), so as to have
an excuse for not trading with their guns with the Rocky Mountain
Indians and likewise to prevent us. Some of those Rocky Mountain
Indians have been here already, and are gone back, but more are expected,
with whom I intend to go."
On the following day, Larocque was sent for by one of the chiefs
of the Big Bellies who, says the leader, "asked me what I intended to
do with the pipe stem I had brought. Upon my telling him that it was for
the Rocky Mountain Indians he made a long harangue to dissuade
me from going there, saying that I would be obliged to winter there
on account of the length of the way, that the Cayennes and the Ricaras
were enemies and constantly on the road and that it was probable that
we should be killed by them." Various other alarming stories were told
to discourage the further progress of the expedition.
Meet Rocky Mountain Indians
Finally, a considerable band of Rocky Mountain Indians arrived.
"About one in the afternoon," says the leader, "the Rocky Mountain
Indians arrived. They encamped at a little distance from the village
with the warriors to the number of 645; passed through the village on
horseback with their shields and other warlike implements." When the
chiefs of the different bands had assembled, two days afterward,
Larocque made them the following presents: Two large and two small
axes; eight ivory combs, ten wampum shells, eight fire steels and flint,
four cassetete (combination of tomahawk and pipe), six masses B. C.
(Blue Canton), four f. tobacco, eight cock feathers, sixteen large knives,
twelve small knives, two pounds of vermillion, eight dozen rings, four
papers, co'd glasses, four dozen awls, one and a half pounds of blue
beads, two dozen blue beads and 1,000 balls and powder. He induced
the Crows to smoke a pipe of peace and told them the Chief of the
White People knew that "they were pitiful and had no arms to defend
themselves from their enemies, but that they should cease to be pitiful as
soon as they should make themselves brave hunters." He informed the
Crows that he and two men were going with them to see their lands and
that if they would behave well and "kill beavers, otters and bears, they
would have white people on the lands in a few years who would winter
with them and supply them with all their wants." They then exchanged
76 HISTORY OF MONTANA
presents and Larocque promised the chief who came to meet him that
if the Crows encouraged the white people "all their chiefs who would
behave well would get a Coat."
Camp was broken on the 29th of June and a fair start was made for
the Rocky Mountain country of the southwest, along the north bank
of the Big Knife River, which enters the Missouri from the south. On
the fourth of July, the expedition had reached the Heart River, also a
little branch of the Missouri in Western North Dakota, and on the 13th
had reached the banks of the Little Missouri. Two days later, still
traveling in a generally southwestern direction, the men encamped on its
banks about fourteen miles higher up. There the Indians killed "a few
beaver, of which I got two dressed by my men to show them how to do
it. We remained the whole day here," continued the Journal. "The
Indians tried to dance the Bull dance in imitation of the B. Belley's, but
did it very ill."
As the party left the Little Missouri and, headed still toward the
southwest, its route took them over the present line between North
Dakota and Montana into a land of beaver and buffalo, on the 26th of
July it reached the Powder River mountains and, on the following day,
the river itself, as it took its northerly course toward the Yellowstone.
In that locality herds of elks were found in the woods and beaver dams
were seen all along the river. "When we arrived here," says Larocque,
"the plains on the western side of the river were covered with buffaloes
and the bottoms full of elk and jumping deer (antelope) and bears,
which last are mostly yellow and very fierce (grizzlies). It is amazing
how very barren the ground is between this and the lesser Missouri;
nothing can hardly be seen but those Corne de Raquettes.''' Our horses
were nearly starved. There is grass in the woods but none in the plains
which by the by might (sic) with more propriety be called hills, for
though there is very little wood it is impossible to find a level spot of one
or two miles in extent except close to the river. The current in that river
is very strong and the water so muddy as to be hardly drinkable. The
Indians say it is always so, and that is the reason they call it Powder
River, from the quantity of drifting fine sand set in motion by the
coast wind t which blinds people and dirtys the water. There are very
large sand shoals along the river for several acres breadth and length,
the bed of the river is likewise sand and its course north east."
Under date of July 30th it is recorded : "Early this morning we set
out ; the body of the people followed the river for about seventeen miles
S. W. while I with the chief and a few others went hunting. We wounded
cabrio, buffalo and the large horned animal (mountain sheep, or Big
Horn), but did not kill any, which made the chief say that some one had
thrown bad medicine on our gims and that if he could know him he would
surely die.
"The country is very hilly about the river, but it does not appear to
be so much so towards the north. About two miles above the encampment
* Probably the doRwood (Cornu.';).
t Probably refers to the well-known Chinook winds.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 77
a range of high hills begins on the west side of the river and continues
north for about twenty miles, when it appears to finish. The Tongu
River * is close on the other side of it. There is a parting ridge between
the two rivers.
"I ascended (sic) some very high hills on the side of which I found
plenty of shells of the Cornu amonys species f by some called snake shell,
likewise a kind of shining stone lying bare at the surface of the ground
having to all appearance been left there by the rain water washing away
the surrounding earth. They are of different size and form, of a clear
water colour and reflect with as much force as a looking glass of its size.
It is certainly those stones have given the name of shining to that
mountains. ij: The hills are high, rugged and barren, mostly rocks with
beds of loose red gravel on their tops or near it which being washed down
by the rain water give the hills a reddish appearance. On many hills
a heap of calomid stone (calumet or pipestone?) among which some-
times I find pumice stone.
"When we left the encampment this morning we were stopped by a
party of their soldiers who would not allow us to proceed, as they intended
to have a general hunt, for fear that we should rise the buffaloes, but
upon promises being made by the chief whom I accompanied that he
would not hunt in the way of the camp, and partly on my account, we
were suffered to go on. We were, however, under the necessity of gliding
away unperceived to prevent jealousy."
Larocque and his expedition continued up the Tongue River, and on
August 2nd, the leader reports : "Last night some children playing at
some distance from the Camp on the river were fired at. The Camp
was alarmed (sic) and watchers were set for the night, but nothing
appeared. * * * xj^e hills of the river are at a less distance from
one another than they were here before. The bottoms or points of the
river are not so large nor so well wooded and the grass entirely eaten up
by the Bufl^aloes and Elk.
"Saturday 3rd (August) — We sat out at sun rise and encamped at
one in the afternoon, having pursued a South Course with fare (fair)
weather and a south east wind. We followed the River (Tongue) as
usually ; its bends are very short not exceeding two miles and many not
one. The face of the country indicates our approach to the large Moun-
tains and to the heads of the River. A few Jumping (deer) or Chev-
reuils were killed today. It has been very Cold these few nights.
Saw the Rocky Mountains
"Sunday 4th. — We did not rise the Camp till late in the evening.
In the morning we ascended (sic) the hills of the River and saw the
* The Tongue River. Indian name, Lazeka.
t Ammonite ; a fossil shell related to the nautilus. Popularly known as snake
stone.
t Says the editor of the Journal : "Larocque's statement is scarcely probable.
It seems more reasonable to suppose that the name — which must have first reached
European ears through Indian report — had its origin in the brilliant, snow-capped
peaks of the Rockies. See Thwaites' 'Rocky Mountain Explorations,' Chapter II."
78 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Rocky Mountains not at a very great distance with Spy Glass, its cliffs
and hollows could be easily observed with the woods interspersed among
the Rocks."
L. J. Burpee, editor of the "Journal of Larocque," published (in
1910) "by authority of the minister of agriculture and under the direction
of the archivist" of the Canadian Government, has this commenting foot-
note: "Lewis and Clark anticipated Larocque by a few weeks in their
first view of the Rocky Mountains, but neither could claim the honor of
discovery, La Verendrye having achieved that distinction some sixty-two
years before. Larocque had, as a matter of fact, only reached the Big
Horn, an offshoot of the main range."
With the Ckows in the Big Horn Country
The generally southwesternly course of the expedition brought it to
the Montana streams of the Big Horn, the Indians killing many buffalo,
and quite a number of beaver, although in the supplies of the latter
Larocque was apparently disappointed. Under date of August nth,
while encamped at the foot of the Mountains, the Journal notes : "They
(the Indians) are undetermined in what course to proceed from this
place. They have sent a party of young men along the Mountains
Westerly and are to wait here until they return. They often enquire with
anxious expectation of our departure, when I intend to leave them, and
today they were more troublesome than usual. What I have seen of their
lands hitherto has not given me the satisfaction I look for (in) Beavers.
I told them that I would remain with them 20 or 30 days more. That
I wished very much to see the River aux Roches Jaunes* and the place
they usually inhabit, otherwise that I would be unable to return and
bring them their wants. They saw it was true, but to remove the ob-
jection of my not knowing their lands a few of them assembled and
draughted on a dressed skin I believe a very good map of their Country
and they showed me the place where at different season they were to be
found. The only reason I think they have in wishing my departure, is
their haste to get the goods I still have."
On the I2th of August, after a conference among the Indian leaders
and guides with the Larocque party, it was decided to proceed west along
the Tongue River and thence to the region of the Rosebud Mountains,
which separate the streams of that river from the Little Horn. On the
way, Larocque traded with the Indians, purchasing a horse, beavers, etc.,
saddle and bridle, for English flannels, powder, balls, etc. His Journal
makes note that : "The Indians Killed Buffaloes and a few Bears. The
latter they hunt for pleasure only, as they do not eat the flesh but in case
of absolute necessity. Perhaps the whole nation is employed about a
bear, whom they have caused to take refuge in a thicket. There they
plague him a long while and then Kill him ; he is seldom stripped of his
skin. * * * The Indians having hunted yesterday (August i6th),
* Yellowstone River. Riviere au.x Roches Jaunes was the original French name,
probably derived from some native equivalent.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 79
we did not rise the Camp but remained here all day. There were many
bears hereabout, who are attracted by the quantity of Choak Cherries and
other fruit there is here. The Woods along the Rivers are as thickly
covered with Bears Dung as a Barn floor of that of the cattle. Large
Cherry trees are broken down by them in Great number. The Indians
kill one or two almost every day. The Tongue River here is small, being
only about 20 feet broad with two feet water in the deepest part of
the rapids. It receives many additional small streams in its way to the
River Roches Jaunes. * * *
"Sunday i8th (August). At 7 o'clock we left our encampment and
proceeded Northward ; at noon we stopped on a branch of the small Horn
River and the greatest part of the Indians went on to the small Horn
River to hunt. At half past two in the afternoon we sat off again and
crossing the River we encamped on its Borders where we found the
hunting party with their horses loaded with fresh meat. We travelled
about 15 miles this day and are farther from the mountain than yes-
terday though still Close to it.
"Monday 19th. Since we are close to the mountain many women have
deserted with their lovers to their fine tents that are across the mountain.
There are no Cattle in the mountain nor on the other side, so that they
are loth to go that way, while the desertion of their wives strongly call
them there. Harangues were twice made to rise the Camp, and counter
orders were given before the tents were thrown down. The reason of
this is that the wife of the Spotted Crow who regulates our movements
has deserted. He is for going one way while the Chief of the other bands
are for following our old course. Horses have been killed and women
wounded since I am with them on the score of jealousy. Today a Snake
Indian shot his wife dead but it seems not without reason, for it is said
it was the third time he found her and the Gallant together. The Small
Horn River runs east from the Mountain to this place. Here it makes a
bend N. by East and passing round of the wolf teeth it falls into the
large Horn river. The bed of the River here is Rocks, a continual rapid,
the water clear and cold as ice, the ground barren on the banks of the
river thinly wooded with some kind of wood as heretofore."
The record indicates that on August 22nd, Larocque was called to
a council of the Indians, at which Spotted Crow resigned his "employ-
ment of regulating the marches," and that "another old man took the
office upon himself," announcing that "he intended to pursue their old
course to the River aux Roches Jaune." The march was then resumed
northerly toward the Big Horn River and, eventually the Yellowstone.
Horrors of Indian Warfare
At this point in the narrative, Larocque's "Journal" depicts an in-
cident illustrative of the horrors of Indian warfare. "This morning"
(August 24th), it says, "we were allarmed (sic) by the report that three
Indians had been seen on the first hill of the mountain and that three
Buffaloes were in motion and that two shots had been heard towards
80 HISTORY OF MONTANA
tlie large Horn River. Thirty men saddled their horses and immediately
went off to see what was the matter while all the other Kept in readiness
to follow if necessary. In a few hours some came back and told us that
they had seen 35 on foot walking on the banks of one of the branches
of the Large Horn River. In less time than the Courier Could well tell
his news no one remained in the Camp, but a few old men and women, all
Jhe rest scampered off in pursuit. 1 went along with them. We did not
all Set off together nor could we all Keep together as some horses were
slower than others, but the foremost stopped galloping on a hill and con-
tinued on with a small trot as people came up. They did the dance (war
dance) when the Chief arrived. He and his band, or part of it, galloped
twice before the main body of the people who still continued their trot
intersecting the line of their course while one of his friends, I suppose
his aide-de-camp, harangued. They were all dressed in their best Cloths.
Many of them were followed by their wives who carried their arms, and
who were to deliver them at the time of Battle. There were likewise
many children, but who could Keep their saddles. Ahead of us were
some young men on different hills making signs with their robes which
way we were to go. As soon as all the chiefs were come up and had
made their harangue everyone set off the way he liked best and pursued
according to his best judgment. The Country is very hilly and full of
large Creeks whose banks are Rocks, so that the pursued had the ad-
vantage of being able to get into places where it was impossible to go
with horses & hide themselves.
"All escaped but two of the foremost who being scouts of the party
had advanced nearer to us than the others and had not discovered us.
They were surrounded after a long race but Killed and scalped in a
twinkling. When I arrived at the dead bodies they had taken but his
scalp and the fingers of his right hand with which the otUor was off. They
borrowed my hanger with which they cut off his left hand and returned it
(the knife) to me bloody as a mark of honour. Men, women and children
were thronging to see the dead Bodies and taste the Blood. Everyone
was desirous of stabbing the bodies to show what he would have done
had he met them alive, and insulted and frotted at them in the worst
language they could give. In a short time the remains of a human body
was hardly distinguishable. Every young man had a piece of flesh tied to
his gun or lance with which he rode off to the Camp singing and ex-
ultingly showing it to every young woman in his way. Some women
had whole limbs dangling from their saddles. The sight made me shudder
with horror at such Cruelties and I returned home in quite different frame
from that in which I left it.
"Sunday 25th. The Scalp dance was danced all night and the scalps
carried in procession through the day."
En route, the camp was in constant expectation of attack from enemy
Indians, the young children being often tied to the saddles and the horses
loaded with valuables during the night and early morning. "The Indians
hunted and saw Strange Indians," continued Larocque. "There was a
continual harangue by different Chiefs the whole night which with the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 81
singing and dancing of the scalp prevented any Sleep being had. We
pitched the tents on a small creek running into the large Horn River
distant about 20 miles from our last encampment."
Farther along, a few miles, one of the famous canons of the Big Horn
River was described, and the additional information given : "There is a
fall in this River 30 or 40 miles above this where presides a Manitoin or
Devil.* These Indians say it is a Man Wolf who lives in the fall and
rises out of it to devour any person or beast that go too near. They say it
is impossible to Kill him for he is ball proof. * * * The Mountain
is here a solid Rock in most places bare and naked ,in other places
Cloathed with a few Red Pine. The sides of some Coule are as smooth
and perpendicular as any wall and of an amazing height ; and in some
places there are holes in those perpendicular Rocks resembling much those
niches in which statues are placed. Others like church doors & vaults,
the tout ensemble is grand and striking. Beautiful prospects are to be
had from some parts of those Rocks, but the higher places are inex-
cessible. The Large Horn River is seen winding through a level plain of
about 3 miles breadth for a great distance almost to its conflux with the
River aux Roches Jaunes."
This stage of the journey brings the time to September ist, and the
expedition was ascending the Big Horn Valley toward the Yellowstone.
Traveling in a generally northwesternly direction, it swerved from the
Big Horn Valley, in what would now be the northern part of the Crow
Indian Reservation, and at two o'clock, in the afternoon of September
loth, arrived at the Yellowstone, below what is known as Pryor's
Fork, Yellowstone County, a few miles northeast of Billings. There the
expedition camped on a large island, and three days afterward crossed
to the west side of the river and about nine miles farther up stream
encamped at a point where the Indians "usually make their fall medicine."
When the expedition arrived at the Yellowstone, a delegation of Big
Bellies arrived to see if they could trade horses. They were well re-
ceived by the other Indians and presents of different articles were made
to them. They told Larocque that they had traded during the previous
winter with Mr. McDonald (John), whom they called Crooked Arm,
because of his deformed arm. When McDonald was eighty-five years
of age, he wrote a series of interesting Autobiographical Notes (1791-
1816). Although graphically written, they are not always to be relied
upon.
Departure from the Crow Country
The arrangements made with his Indian comrades and co-traders and
his final departure from the Crow country, on Saturday, September 14,
1805, are thus described in the "Journal of Larocque," the original
spelling, capitalization, etc., being generally retained : "Having now full
* Foot Note by the editor of the Journal: "Manitou, or more properly,
Windego. Scores of waterfalls have been the reputed home of this picturesque
but rather bloodthirsty spirit. In one form or another, and under varying names,
the Windego ranged almost from the Atlantic to the Pacific."
Vol. 1—6
82 HISTORY OF MONTANA
filled the instructions I received from Mr. Chaboillez, which were to
examine the lands of the Crow Indians and see if there is Beaver as was
reported, and I to invite them to hunt it, I now prepared to depart. I
assembled the Chiefs in Council, and after having smoked a f»w pipes,
I informed them that I was setting off, that I was well pleased with them
and their behavior toward me, and that I would return to them next
fall. I desired them to kill Beavers and Bears all winter, for that I
would come and trade with them and bring them their wants. I added
many reasons to show them that it was their interest to hunt Beavers,
and then proceeded to settle the manners of Knowing one another next
fall, and how I am to find them which is as follows : Upon my arrival
at the Island if I do not find them I am to go to the Mountain called
Amanchabe Chije & then light 4 fires on 4 successive days, and they will
Come to us (for it is very high and the fire can be seen at a great dis-
tance) in number 4 & not more. If more than four come to us we are
to act upon the offensive, for it will be other Indians. If we light less
than 3 fires, they will not come to us, but think it is enemies. They told
me that in winter they were always to be found at a Park by the foot
of the Mountain a few miles from this or there abouts. In the spring
and fall, they are upon this River and in summer upon the Tongue and
Horses River.*"
"I have 122 Beavers 4 Bears and two otters which I traded, not so
much for their value (for they are all summer skins) as to show them
that I set some value on the Beavers and our property. The presents
I made them I thought were sufficient to gain their good will, in which
I think I succeeded.
"I never gave them anything without finding means to let them know
it was not for nothing. Had more been given, they would have thought
that goods were so common among us than to set no value upon them,
for Indians that have seen few white men will be more thankful for a
few articles given them than for a great many, as they think that little
or no value is attached to what is so liberally given. It was therefore I
purchased their Bears and likewise as a proof that there is Beaver in
those parts. Besides it saved to distribute the goods I had into the most
deserving hands, that is the less lazy.
"We departed about noon. 2 Chiefs accompanied us about 8 miles.
We stopped and smoked a parting pipe. They embrased (sic) us. We
shook hands and parted. They followed us about one mile, at a distance
gradually lessening their steps till we were almost out of sight and Crying
or pretending to Cry they then turned their backs and went home. At
parting they promised that none of their young men would follow us.
They took heaven and earth to witness to attest their sincerity in what
they told us, and they had opened their ears to my words and would do
as I desired them. They made me swear by the same that I would re-
turn ; and that I told them no false words (and I certainly had no in-
* Possibly, Pumpkin Creek, the chief branch of Tongue River.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 83
tention of breaking my oath nor have I still. If I do not keep them my
word it certainly is not my fault.)"
Larocque Describes Pompey's Pillar
On the next day (Sunday, September 15th), the Larocque party
crossed to the south side of the Yellowstone, and near what is now
Shannon's Creek mentions a "Whitish perpendicular Rock on which is
painted with Red earth a battle between three persons on horseback and
3 on foot." The editor of Larocque's Journal believes it to be the same
remarkable rock, visited by Captain Clark in July, 1806, while he was
descending the Yellowstone on his return from the Pacific Coast. Clark
describes it as "nearly four hundred paces in circumference, two hundred
feet high, and accessible only from the northeast, the other sides being a
perpendicular clifif of a light-coloured gritty rock. The Indians have
carved the figures of animals and other objects on the sides of the rock,
and on the top are raised two piles of stones." He named this remarkable
rock Pompey's Pillar, and it is so marked on his map.
Two days afterward, the Big Horn River was crossed. The ex-
pedition passed through some rough, rocky country, as it had no guides on
the return trip. At times, also, the weather was so cold that ice formed
on the Yellowstone and other streams. The Tongue River was reached
in about a week and the Powder a day afterward, about midway between
the forks and the mouth. By the first week in October, the party arrived
at the Little Missouri in southeastern Montana, and took substantially the
same course through western and northwestern Dakota to the region of
the Assiniboine River, as it had taken in the outward trip. The last week
was windy and cold. As stated. River la Sourie Fort, on the south side
of the Assiniboine, at the mouth of the Sourie River, was reached Octo-
ber 22, 1805, and thus was concluded a journey which made known to
the world a large portion of southeastern Montana which had not before
been explored or described.
The Crow Indians of 1805
Larocque's Journal also contains, as a section separate from the con-
tinuous narrative, "A Few Observations on the Rocky Mountain Indians
with Whom I Passed the Summer, 1805," in which the customs of the
Crow and Flathead tribes are so particularly described as to constitute
a real contribution to the aboriginal lore of that day. The author in-
troduces his dissertation by observing that: "This nation (the Rocky
Mountain Indians) known among the Sioux by the name of Crow In-
dians inhabit the eastern part of the Rocky Mountains at the head of the
River aux Roches Jaunes (which is known by the Kinistinaux and
Assiniboines by the name of the River a la Biche, from the great number
of elks with which all the country along it abounds) and its branches
and close to the head of the Missouri." On account of the ravages of
small pox for many successive years, which had continued up to about
84 HISTORY OF MONTANA
1802, the Crows of the Rocky Mountains had been reduced from 2,000
lodges or tents, to 300 tents, comprising some 2,400 persons. In 1805
they were "able to raise 600 warriors, like the Sioux and Assiniboines.
They wander about in leather tents and remain where there are buffaloes
and elks. After having remained a few days in one place so that game is
not so plentiful, as it was, they flit to another place where there are
buffaloes or deers and so on all the year around."
Continuing to adapt this account from Larocque, it was stated that
many of the Indians who did not expose themselves to the sun were
almost as fair as white people. One of their marked peculiarities was the
early age at which many of them became gray. They were so well
supplied with horses that they were able to transport their sick and
infirm, and the result was a noticeable prevalence of cripples and
decrepid old men. As the country abounded in buffaloes and deer, the
Crows found little difficulty in providing for a plurality of wives and
large families. Unlike the Assiniboines, the Crows were sociable and
upstanding. As noted in the Journal : "When a Sauteux or Assiniboine
enter a stranger's tent, they (sic) keep down their head, or muffle it so
in their robe or blanket that it can hardly be seen. These Indians never
do it. They are bold and keep up their heads in any place, and say it is
a sign of having bad designs when one is ashamed to show his face.
* * * It is not out of bash fulness that the Sautaux hide their face
when entering a strange tent, but they esteem it polite. When they begin
to smoke, or after they have smoked a few pipes, they uncover their
face, but the custume (sic) is in general with the young men than those
of a certain age."
Like all other Indian nations, the women did most of the work. The
men would kill the buffaloes and their wives would follow and skin
the animals and dress them, while the husbands sat calmly looking on.
The women even saddled the horses, and their lords, when they retired,
did not take the trouble to remove shoes or leggings. "In flitting," adds
Larocque, "the women ride and have no loads to carry on their backs,
as is common among other nations, though it is certain had they no
horses they would be in the same predicament as their less fortunate
neighbors, for though the men are fond of their wives and use them
well, yet it is not to be supposed that they would take a greater share of
work than other Indians. The women are indebted solely to their having
horses for the ease they enjoy more than their neighbours. They are
very fond of their children, but seldom or never reprimand them." In
short, the Crows were considered among the Indian aristocrats. They
squandered their food, it was so plentiful, killing an "amazing" number
of buff'aloes and deer, and taking with them only the choicest cuts. They
seldom ate bear or beaver flesh ; and fish, never. An old chief was
always chosen to conduct their hunts, and regulate their encampments
and feasts. The Conductor, as he was called, must consult the other
chiefs before doing anything of consequence.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 85
Breaking Camp
Correcting and adapting the spelling and punctuation to modern re-
quirements, Larocque's description of "Breaking Camp" under the di-
rection of the Conductor reads : "His tent is thrown down the first when
they rise the camp. He goes foremost all the way (except a few young
men who go far before as scouts) and pitches his tent the first. All the
others encamp about him. Previous to their flitting, he rides about the
camp and tells them to throw down their tents ; that they are going to
such a place and for such and such reason. Some of the soldiers go
far ahead and others remain far behind to watch and see if there be no
enemies. When bufifaloes are seen on the road and they wish to hunt
they cause the people to stop and the old man harangues from one end
to the other. When all are ready the huntsmen set off and the body of
the people follow slowly."
It would seem that the young male before marriage seldom hunted,
but spent most of his time in preening himself like a peacock, and was
far more vain than the young female. "A young man," says the narrative,
"rises late in the morning, about midday he begins to dress and has not
finished until late in the evening. He then mounts his horse, on which
he has spread red and blue blankets, and, in company with his associates
he rides about the camp, with the wing of a bustard or hawk before his
face, in lieu of a fan, to keep him from the burning sun. At night, he
dismounts, courts the women, or goes to the place of rendezvous, and
at daylight comes in to sleep."
The ceremonials and regulations attending the smoking of a pipe of
tobacco, would hardly be tolerated by the impatient white man. "A pipe
is never smoked," remarks Larocque, "without the first whiffs being
offered to the rising midday and setting sun, to the earth, to the heavens,
and to these the stem is pointed to the respective place they occupy, and
a whiff is blown to the same quarter. Then a few whiffs are blown to
diverse spirits which the smoker names and to whom he mutters a few
words; and then the pipe goes round, each person smoking four whiffs
and no more. The pipe must always go to your left hand man, as that
is the course that the sun takes. * * *
Smoking Regulations
"They are not superstitious with regard to the pipe, which is the
object of their most sacred regard. Numberless are the ceremonies at-
tended on smoking a pipe of tobacco. The regulations common to all
are these : The pipe and stem must be clean ; a coal must be drawn out
of the fire to light the pipe with ; care must be taken not to light the pipe
in the flames or ashes, and none must empty the ashes out of the pipe
but he that filled or lighted it. There being but little fire, I once lighted
the pipe in the ashes. My landlord told me a few days after that his
eyes were sore, and my lighting the pipe in the ashes was the occasion
thereof.
8G HISTORY OF MONTANA
"Some will not smoke if the pipe has touched grass; another if there
are women in the tent; if there are gtms ; if shoes are seen when smoking;
if a part ot wearing apparel be thrown over the pipe; if some one biows
in the pipe stem to clean it. Some will not allow the stem before the door.
Another must empty the ashes on cowdung brought in on purpose. An-
other, again, will not smoke unless every smoker be naked, and none but
smokers are allowed to remain in the tent. To one the pipe must be
given stem foremost, to another the reverse. Another will not take it
unless you push it as hard as you can ; to some it must be given quite
slowly. In short, every man has his particular way of smoking, from
which it seems he has vowed never to swerve. * * * Some who are
ceremonious in their smoking do not smoke but with their intimates and
those that are well acquainted with their mummery ; those that are less
so take care to sit next to a man that knows in what manner the pijje
is to be given to them. The women never smoke. Before the smoking
begins, he that has some peculiarity in his way of smoking tells in what
manner it is, and everyone attends to.''
A Nation of Horsemen
Larocque again refers to the Crows as an Indian nation of horses and
horsemen. They obtained most of their horses from the Flatheads and
traded them, at double the purchase price, to the Big Bellies and the
Mandans. "He is reckoned a poor man that has not ten horses in the
spring before the trade at the Missouri takes place, and many have thirty
or forty. Everybody rides — men, women and children. The females
ride astride as the men do. A child that is too young to keep his saddle
is tied to it, and a small whip is tied to his wrist. He whips away, and
gallops or trots the whole day, if occasion requires. Their saddles are
so made as to prevent falling either backwards or forward, the hind part
reaching as high as between the shoulders and the fore part of the breast.
The women saddles are especially so. Those of the men are not quite
so high, and many use saddles such as the Canadians make in the N. W.
Country."
Being thus trained from infancy, the Crows were naturally most
expert horsemen. As warriors on horseback they were unexcelled. De-
pending upon them as they do, these Indians were very fond and careful
of their horses. They were not warlike, but courageous and fierce when
attacked. Their arms were bows and arrows, lances and guns. When
they went to war they took their medicine bags, which they opened
before beginning the attack. Shortly afterward, the warriors smoked
and then went into action. They were pronounced excellent marksmen
with the bow and arrow, and, although "poor shots" with the gun, on
account of lack of ammunition, they were becoming expert with daily
practice of late years. They were getting their guns and ammunition from
the Mandans and the Big Bellies, in exchange for horses, robes, leggins
and shirts. They likewise purchased corn, pumpkins and tobacco from
the Big Bellies, as they did not cultivate the ground.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 87
Dressy and Cleanly
After describing in detail the elaborate dress of the men and the
more simple costume of the women, made of deer, elk, buffalo, wolf and
skunk skins, ornamented with porcupine quills, bear's claws, beads,
fringes, etc., variously colored, the author adds that "the boys go naked
till they are eight or ten years old, not for want of clothes, but to be
more at their ease ; but the girls never. Both sexes are very cleanly,
washing and bathing every morning in the river, and in winter in the
snow. They keep their clothes clean and as white as snow, with a kind
of white earth resembling chalk, with which they daily clean their clothes.
* * * A woman never sets the kettle on the fire in the morning
without first washing her hands, and the men do not eat without the
same precaution. * * *
"They make very expressive signs with their hands to a person that
does not understand their language. They often told me long stories
without hardly opening their lips and I understood very well. They
represent a Sioux by passing the edge of their hand across their neck,
a Panis by showing large ears, a Flathead by pressing with both hands on
each side the head."
The Flatheads
The Journal of Larocque has this to say (the text edited somewhat)
regarding the Flathead Indians, which then held the western slopes of
the Rocky Mountains : "The Flatheads inhabit the western side of the
Rocky Mountains at the heads of the rivers that have a southwesterly
course and flow into the western ocean. The ridge of mountains that
parts those waters from the Missouri can be crossed in two days and no
more mountains are found to the ocean. They come every fall to the
fort of the Missouri or thereabout to kill buffaloes, of which there are
none across that range of mountains, dress robes and dry meat with which
they returned as soon as the winter set in. They have deers of various
kinds on their lands and beaver with which they make themselves robes,
but they prefer buffaloes. They have a great many horses which they
sell for a trifle and give many for nothing."
CHAPTER IV
MONTANA'S NATURAL FEATURES
The explorations of the Lewis and Clark expedition discovered the
bold natural features of the "Land of the Shining Mountains," which
was not to be christened by the sonorous and characteristic name of the
present until more than half a century had elapsed since those able and
intrepid young men made history and geography for Jefferson and the
United States of America. They not only traced the main courses of the
mighty Missouri to their sources, but found that its great northern trib-
utary headed in the moimtain ranges of the Hudson Bay divide. After
careful investigation and the wise weighing of natural data — such as the
color, the volume and the current of the Milk River and its tributaries —
they decided, in opposition to the opinion of the old and experienced
boatmen of their party, that they must follow the southern branches of
the main stream to the clear waters rushing from the purifying rocks
and valleys of the mountains before they could hope to reach a position
on the eastern slopes of the continental divide which should be sub-
stantially opposite the sources of any streams which would lead to a
western waterway to the Pacific. The deduction and decision of Lewis
and Clark saved the expedition from defeat, if not disaster, the Missouri
was traced to its true southern source, and the real fountain of its might,
the Jefferson fork of the river, and a few miles over an easy pass in the
continental divide were found the equally limpid and lively waters of the
great southern branch of the Columbia.
The Great Missouri River System
The explorers of 1805 had decided from all their available data that
the Jefferson was the parent stream, and their conclusion was verified
.scientifically and accurately nearly seventy years afterward. In 1872,
Thomas P. Roberts, under the direction of the government, examined the
upper Missouri from the Three Forks to Fort Benton for the purpose
of ascertaining its capacity for navigation by light-draught steamers.
The part of his report which is pertinent is this : "The junction of the
Gallatin, Madison and Jefferson rivers — which streams from the Missouri
proper — is effected in a basin or valley some fifteen or twenty miles in
diameter, with mountains in full view west, south and east, varying in
altitude from two thousand to four thousand feet above the sea. Some
presented a denuded appearance, while others were well timbered, and
though it was late in July, their highest summits and gorges were still
streaked with silvery lines of snow.
88
HISTORY OF MONTANA 89
"It is difficult to determine from which points of the compass the
three rivers debouch, though from the top of the blufls at the exit pas-
sage of the united rivers, which almost deserves to be called a canyon,
there is a fine view of their meanderings. The courses of the streams,
with their numerous cut-offs and sloughs, are marked by graceful belts
and lines of cotton wood and black alder, by islands clothed with the
richest verdure and by groves and jungles of the wild currant, but by
far the greater portion of this immense park is open and covered with
varieties of the rich bunch-grass, for which Montana is celebrated. The
sheen of the sparkling waters seen through openings of timber among
the islands and channels, with the soft shadowy forms of the silvery
rimmed mountains in the distance surrounding the landscape, formed in
the long twilight, a beautiful and enchanting picture.
"While here we gauged the volume of the rivers, not only to discover
which of the three was the largest or parent stream, but also to ascer-
tain how much water there was to deal with at that season of the year,
for the purpose of navigation.
"When we began the reconnoissance, the streams were about four feet
below the high-water mark, and, according to the statement of the old
ferryman, only eight inches above the lowest water-mark. It is one of
the most striking characteristics of the Upper Missouri, and the same
may be said of nearly all the Montana streams, that they never overflow
their banks to any extent, and that they are more regu'ar and unfailing
in their discharge than streams of equal annual flowage in the United
States east of the Mississippi River. This equable flowage is due almost
entirely to the regularity of the melting of the snow in the highest regions
of the mountains, from which source their principal supply is drawn.
"We found that the Jefferson discharged 226.728 cubic feet per
minute, the Madison, 160,277, and the Gallatin, 125,480. There can.
therefore, be but little doubt that the Jefferson is the father of the
Missouri, which fact makes it, by fair inheritance, the grandfather of the
Mississippi, a distant but noble relative. Adding these figures together,
we have a total flowage of 512,408 cubic feet per minute for the Upper
Missouri at the Three Forks. Reducing their quantity to the lowest stage
known, there will remain over 300,000 cubic feet per minute in the
Missouri at this point, which is three times the volume of the Ohio at
Pittsburgh when at its lowest stage.
"The length of this wonderful watercourse, the Missouri, can be
best appreciated when it is considered that we were here camped two
hundred and fifty miles below the extreme heads of the Jefferson and
about the same distance above Fort Benton. Fort Benton is not less
than 2.900 miles above St. Louis, which city is still 1,200 miles above
the mouth of the river. The entire length of the river is not less than
4,600 miles, some geographies to the contrary notwithstanding, they var-
iously estimating its length to be from 4,000 to 4,300 miles.
"Returning to the Jefferson — a large island at its mouth divides the
stream and in exploring it a mile above our camp we discovered where
its waters first mingle with those of the Madison. I note this particular
90 HISTORY OF MONTANA
junction because I never before saw streams unite in the same manner.
They run with swift current live or six feet deep and some two hundred
feet wide directly toward each other, and thence, at a right angle, their
united volume, agitated with the rude contact, rushes northward. The
meeting of the currents created great swirls in the water, which nearly
swamped our boat when we attempted to shoot through. A basin seems
to have been scoured out in the gravelly bottom by the action of the
stream, the depth of which we were unable to ascertain with either pole
or line."
The Jefferson River, thus admitted to be the father of the Missouri,
does not rise in the exact locality described by Captain Lewis in the
journal of the expedition, but farther to the east in the rivulets which
feed Red Rock Lake, near the extreme southern point of Montana and
not far west of the National Park. Both the Gallatin and the Madison
have their fountain heads in the park, outside the bounds of Montana,
as well as the Yellowstone, the great southern tributary of the Missouri.
Yellowstone Lake, its source, is believed to have been discovered by
John Colter, the noted adventurer of the Lewis-Clark expedition. Cap-
tain Clark explored the Yellowstone within Montana on the return trip
(1806), while Captain Lewis was investigating Maria's River, the north-
ern tributary of the Missouri.
Clark's fork of the Columbia drains most of the western or Pacific
watershed of the Rocky Mountains in western and northwestern Montana.
What Captain Lewis named Clark's Fork is now known as the Bitter
Root River, rises in the triangle formed by the mountain range by that
name and the Continental Divide, and flows along the eastern bases of
the Bitter Root Mountains. It empties into the Hellgate River, in the,
vicinity of Missoula, and the two streams thus united take the name of
Missoula, which, in turn, flows into Lake Pend d'Oreille, Idaho, and
emerges as Clark's River, or the Clark's Fork of the Columbia, as now
recorded on the maps. From Montana it passes between the Bitter Root
and the Cabinet moimtains in the northwestern part of the state, through
the northern corner of Idaho anji joins the Columbia at 49° north, on
the boundary between the state of Washington and British Coluinbia.
Before leaving Montana, however, it receives a large and intricate system
of waters from the north. The backbone of this combination of rivers
and lakes is the Flathead River, the north fork of which rises just across
the international border and bounds Glacier National Park on the west.
Tlie south fork heads in the great north-and-south Continental Divide
in Powell and Lewis and Clark counties, fiows northwest between that
vast range and the Flathead Mountains, and unites with the north fork
and a smaller tributary stream near Columbia Falls, Fhthead County,
and thence enters Flathead Lake. The river emerges from the south-
western extremity of the lake, is reinforced by the Little Bitter Root,
the Jocko and other streams and finally reaches Clark's Fork near the
western boundary line of the state in the Mineral Range of mountains,
an outlying flank of the Bitter Root Range.
The more northerly branch of the Columbia, the Kootenai, takes a
HISTORY OF MONTANA 91
small loop out of Northwegtern Montana, rising in British Columbia and,
through its tributaries, the Stillwater and Yaak rivers, draining a small
portion of that part of the state. To the east of the drainage basin of
the Clark's Fork and the Kootenai is the St. Mary's River, which is a
tributary of the Saskatchewan and empties into Hudson Bay.
It is evident that Western Montana, the birthplace of the vast river
systems which mold the valleys and basins of the state, holds the key
to the topography of the country included in its bounds. That region
contains the fountain heads of the rushing waters and their commercial
powers. Mountains, valleys and basins comprise the grand natural fea-
tures of Montana.
Montana Systems
As to its mountains, the following is a fair summary, mainly drawn
from data furnished by Robert H. Chapman, the geologist and topog-
rapher: The main Rocky mountain mass is actually made up of two
principal ranges, generally parallel with axes in a northwesterly and
southwesterly direction, the easternmost of which is the Lewis range,
which extends but a short distance across the Canadian boundary. The
western or Livingston range, persists much farther northward. At a
point about eleven miles south of Canada it becomes the watershed of the
Continental divide, which has previously followed the ridge of the
Livingston range.
The range is rugged in contour and vast in extent, with many spurs,
buttresses and lesser ranges. Magnificent pinnacles and peaks, cloaked
with eternal snow, encrusted with glacial ice, mark its serrated outline.
Nevertheless the mountains of Montana, though equally noble in form are
not so lofty as those of Colorado. Immediately east of the Continental
divide, at the extreme north, is the Hudson Bay divide, and the Big
Belt Mountains, which commence in the center of the state and run
parallel with the main Rocky mountain range. To the east of the Big
Belt is Bird Tail divide, and to the south the Tobacco Root, the Ruby,
the Madison, the Gallatin and the Bridger ranges. East of the Big Belt
range and also in central Montana, are the Teton ridge, the Little Belt
and Belt ranges, and to the south, in southern Montana, are the Cayuse
Hills and the Assaroka range. East of the Little Beh range, in East-
central Montana, are the Big Snowy Mountains, and just northeast of the
northern extremity of the range lie the Highwood Mountains. Still
farther to the east, in North-eastern Montana, are other minor ranges or
groups of high hills dignified with such names as Bear Paw, Little Rocky
or Little Creek mountains. The easternmost hills of any considerable
magnitude are Piney Buttes, in the triangle formed by the Missouri and
its tributary. Big Dry River. In the far southeast, the Big Horn Moun-
tains protrude into the Crow Indian Reservation from Wyoming, and
the smaller independent range formed by the Wolf and Rosebud moun-
tains, a little farther east, is almost wholly within the state boundaries.
West of the Continental divide, in the northwestern corner of Mon-
92 HISTORY OF MONTANA
tana, is the Purcell range of the Kootenai system. Farther east, beyond
the Stillwater River, is the Whitefish range, a southeastern continuance
of which brings one to the Flathead range. Parallel to the latter and
west of it, are the majestic Mission Mountains, the northern portions of
which are massed along the eastern shores of Flathead Lake. The
Bitter Root Mountains stretch as a majestic barrier to form the western
bounds of Montana, from 48 degrees, east by south to about 46° 30',
where they meet the Continental divide, extending toward the northeast.
The Bitter Root Mountains form by far the larger portion ,of the
western side of the substantial rectangle formed by the 144,000 square
miles comprising the area of Montana. It is a grand domain — nearly
three times larger than the state of New York, and only exceeded by
Texas and California in territorial extent of the commonwealths in the
Union. California only exceeds it by 12,000 square miles.
Low Altitude .as a Rocky Mountain State
Although virtually half of Montana is mountainous, and it is
classified as a Rocky Mountain state, its general elevation is compar-
atively low. Professor Gannett of the United States Geological Survey
says: "The average elevation of Montana above sea level is 3,900 feet.
The average elevation of other states in this section are given as
follows: Nevada, 5,600 feet; Wyoming, 6,400; Colorado. 7,000 feet. Be-
low an elevation of 4,000 feet Utah has no square miles, Colorado has
only 9,000, while Montana has 51,600. Below 3,000 feet in altitude are
40,000 square miles in Montana."
"Taking the area of the state (Montana) as a whole," says a United
States Census Bulletin, "it has been ascertained that 49 per cent, is under
5,000 feet above sea level ; 21 per cent, from 5,000 to 6,000 feet ; 14 per
cent, from 6,000 to 7,000 ; 9 per cent, from 7,000 to 8,000, and 7 per cent.
over 8,000 feet."
Helena, at the base of the northwest and southeast Continental divide
in Montana, has an elevation of 4,110 feet above sea level ; Salt Lake City,
4,350; Denver, 5,300, and Santa Fe, 6,840 feet.
The fact of Montana's comparatively low altitude, with mountain
passes of low and easy access, has had a beneficial efifect upon her
climate and settlement. A very high altitude in a country or state limits
permanent settlement to the small class of people whose physical tem-
perament allows them to reside under such condition. The numerous
low passes in the mountains not only enabled the streams of emigrants
to pass into Montana's domains from either direction, many of them
becoming her substantial settlers, but also admits the mild currents from
the farther west and southwest, warming the valleys and modifying the
climate generally.
William A. Clark on Montana'.s \^alleys
After noting the Coeur d'Alene, Pointed Heart, or Bitter Root moun-
tains as "a white line in the zigzag of the mountains' crest in the regions
HISTORY OF MONTANA
93
of perpetual snow, William A. Clark, in his centennial address, adds,
apropos of the "valley" feature of Montana : "Farther eastward the
main range of the Rocky Mountains rising in colossal grandeur, tends
diagonally to the northwest across the territory, while between these two
distinct ranges and far eastward from the latter, the country is diversi-
fied by a system of subordinate, transverse and parallel ranges, enclosing
the most beautiful valleys.
"These valleys, varying from one to fifteen miles in width and from
ten to two hundred miles in length, are level or gently undulating, re-
sembling prairies covered with grasses and meadows, each drained by
a main stream running through the center which, at short intervals, re-
ceives tributaries from the enclosing mountains. These form lateral
Bitter Root Valley
valleys of smaller extent. A line of willow, or alder bushes, with here
and there a clump of cottonwood trees, marks the course of every
stream and beautifies the landscape. Lying between the large valleys
there are, in many places, passes in the mountains, many of them so
low and easily accessible as to form natural highways for all vehicles. On
some of these dividing elevations are presented views of surpassing
beauty and grandeur. Below you behold the picturesque valleys ; about
you, the terraced, or corrugated grassy plains ; on either side, the ever-
green woodlands with their parks and rippling brooklets, stretching down
from the mountain sides, and above all and beyond the limit of vegetable
growth, the towering rock-ribbed mountains. There, in communication
with the clouds, are the great fountains which form the sources of the
Missouri and the Columbia, in many places gathering their cold and
crystal waters from the same snow girdled peaks."
The Geological Story
Montana presents a problem and a picture of deep and varied interest
when viewed from a geological standpoint; when an attempt is made
94 HISTORY OF }>IONTANA
to analyze the vast mountain ranges which loom and stretch through her
central and western portions, and to account for the courses and grand
vagrancies of her mighty rivers, which attempted to lose themselves in
the fastnesses of the Rockies, but could not because of the persistency
and bravery of men ; to list her bewildering variety of minerals and
account for their composition and the strange forms of their deposits, and,
in general, to unseal the weird, silent lips of Nature and force her to
explain the methods by which she created a little section of what is
really but the skin of the earth.
To account for the mountain ranges of Montana and the precious
metals cast from their bowels, one must go back to the primary ages of
the fire rocks (igneous and metamorphic), and to explain the broken
and irregular strata of the vast rocky beds laid down by the waters of the
prehistoric oceans and seas, the student must imagine the outbreak of
immeasurable subterranean forces and the upheaval of the very founda-
tions of the earth.
Dr. F. V. Hayden, U. S. Geologist, did much to fix and record the
geology of Montana, in the '70s, and in 1876 the Historical Society of
Montana (Vol. I, p. 285) published an instructive and well written paper
entitled "Geological Notes on Northern and Central Montana," by O. C.
Mortson, which was of more general value than its title indicated. The
author traces the eastern boundary line of the great area of igneous rocks
as follows : Commencing at the British line, following southwardly
along the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains to the Dearborn River,
following that stream to the Missouri River, crossing which it follows the
Great Belt Mountains for a short distance and then strikes off to the
western peaks of the Little Belt Mountains, and from there, along the
eastern side, to the Judith Gap; it then strikes southwardly along the
eastern base of the Crazy Mountains across the Yellowstone River and
by the eastern base of the Snow Mountains. The Judith, Snowy and
Highwood mountains are surrounded by stratified rocks, though connected
with the same upheaval as the other mountains. All rocks east of the
above-mentioned line are pertaining to the cretaceous periods (later than
the igneous) and in places, tertiary (still later) deposits.
The upheaval of\all the mountains in Central Montana most probably
took place in the tertiary period, and attained a still higher altitude in
the post-tertiary; again being brought to nearly their present level in
the latter part of this period. The Bearpaw Mountains are ascribed to
a later period, their upheaval having distorted the strata in their vicinity,
and later tertiary rocks being found among and in them. The origin of
these mountains is undoubtedly volcanic, the center of action being the
western peaks. One peak, which is the highest in that vicinity, is an
extinct crater, lava, tufa and volcanic sand being plentiful. The Sandy
creeks rise near this peak, and it is owing to the volcanic sand in their
beds that they derive their names. The upheaval of these mountains is
ascribed to the post-tertiary period, probably the same disturbance that
occurred in the early part of the glacial period.
All the other ranges of mountains in central and northern Montana
HISTORY OF MONTANA 95
are thought to have been formed about the same time, both from the
similar character of the rocks comprising their peaks and foothills and
from the number of dikes connecting them. These connecting ridges
are sometimes trap, but generally of granite. The elevated and distorted
strata which thus protrudes have been variously metamorphized by the
action of the igneous rocks, while in a state of fusion limestone has been
turned into marble and laminated clays into slate. A large number of
these dikes branch from the east side of the Great Belt range, crossing
diagonally Deep Creek valley and connectiong with the Little Belt range
and the Highwood Mountains. The dikes mentioned are composed of
dark granite. Other series connect the different peaks of the district.
From the igneous, or fire rocks, the geologist passes upward toward
the earth's surface through the stratified rocks of five distinct periods.
The lowest stratum examined by Mr. Mortson, which cont9.ined fossils,
was the Jurassic. A belt of the latter rocks was found to stretch from
the neighborhood of the Black Hills, in the southeast, across the Yellow-
stone River, striking the Musselshell near the great bend, and reaching the
Missouri in the neighborhood of Little Rocky Mountain Creek and
Carroll, Deer Lodge County. Remains of the larger fossils are found in
this stratum in such quantities as to form masess of rocks in themselves.
In a later epoch of the same period, carrying sandstones and layers of
clay were found fresh water shells and abundant remains of insects,
fishes and reptiles.
The rocks of the cretaceous, or chalky period, occupy the largest area
of any stratified ones in Montana, being found even in the foothills of
the Rocky Mountains and occupying a large area north of the Missouri
River. They form a section of the great belt which stretches across the
continent from Mackenzie's River in the north to the Gulf of Mexico
in the south. Most of the rocks are of marine formation, although a few
are the results of fresh water deposits, and their composition is sandstone,
clay, marl, limestone and colored sands. The latter are exceedingly
friable, and the green variety has been profitably used as a fertilizer.
The lower beds of the cretaceous period are known as the Dakota
group, as they have been most extensively developed in the territory of
the Dakotas. In Montana, these beds may be found near the headwaters
of Sun River, in the vicinity of St. Peter and on the flanks of Highwood
and Little Belt mountains, in the present counties of Cascade and Teton.
The Dakota series is remarkable for the beds of lignite and numerous
vegetable remains found in it. The leaves of numerous genera of trees
are also found, some of which are allied to living species. Near Fort
Shaw the beds have yielded a fine building sandstone, which, though
soft when quarried, hardens by exposure to the atmosphere.
The Benton group of the cretaceous period lies over the Dakota and
is distinguishable by the character of the. fossils found in the strata, being
of the fresh-water rather than the marine variety. The greatest de-
velopment of the beds is in the vicinity of Fort Benton : hence the name,
given by Meek and Hayden, U. S. geologists. From that place to the
Great Falls the banks of the Missouri furnish splendid specimens of
96 HISTORY OF MONTANA
sections of the beds. They are also found on Highwood and Belt Moun-
tain creeks and Arrow, Teton and Maria's rivers. The thickness of the
Dakota and Benton groups may be roughly estimated at 1,200 feet.
The Pierre group, so called from the beds found at old Fort Pierre,
Dakota, are the first of the later Cretaceous beds. Outcrops of these
beds are found in the hills south of Square Butte, the reservation of Fort
Shaw on the Yellowstone, in the bad lands near Pryor's Creek and on
Milk River near the Three Buttes. On the Yellowstone, they are com-
posed of dark laminated clays, and are remarkable for the perfect preser-
vation of the fossils peculiar to the group. . Proceeding northward, it
gradually merges into the Jurassic rocks.
"The cretaceous and Jurassic rocks in Montana, by their conforma-
tion and dip of strata, would justify the assertion that during these
periods a large, shallow inland sea existed in this part of Montana. From
the nature of the marine fossil shells it might have been from two hun-
dred to four hundred feet deep, and had connection with the inland sea,
which then covered such a large portion of the North American con-
tinent. The Yellowstone and Missouri rivers were not yet in existence,
as there were not yet any mountains to form the watershed." The rocks
of the tertiary period are found on the flanks of the Rocky, Belt, Bear-
paw and Big Snowy mountains and on Milk River near the British line.
"It was during this period (continuing to quote Mr. Mortson) that
probably the two great rivers of Montana began their mighty courses.
This was owing to the elevation at that time of the neighboring ranges
of mountains (except the Bearpaw), though perhaps their height was
not equal to that of the present day. The tertiary deposits on their
summits would ascribe their elevation to be late in the period.
The Post-Tertiary (Glacial) Period
"To the traces of this period I have turned my principal attention.
Its (in my opinion) great influence on the deposition of placer gold, the
great denudations of the surface area, and the large deposits elsewhere,
render it an exceedingly interesting geological study. * * * The
glacial or drift period takes its name under the supposition that ice, in
the form of icebergs and glaciers, scraped ravines and canons on the
mountain sides, denuded hills and plateaus ; in some places making
valleys and in others filling them up and altering river beds.
"In the early part of this epoch, Montana must have presented the
appearance of a series of large fresh-water lakes, whose shores were
the summits of the present mountain ranges. These mountains had their
flanks covered by huge glaciers, whose descent by the usual river-like
flow of glaciers would bring down large quantities of rocks, pebbles and
mud. Reaching the edge of the lakes, they would, when advanced far
enough by the superincumbent weight, break off; having been pushed
by the pressure of the ice behind, it would float off as an iceberg, and
would elsewhere deposit its hundred of tons of gravel, mud and rocks,
the same manner as the glaciers of Greenland are at the present day send-
AluUMAINS IN THE IIeLENA DiSTKICT
98 HISTORY OF MONTANA
ing their icebergs down the eastern coast of North America. What was
the probable cause of this sub-arctic climate enveloping the land?
"Later back, we referred to the upheaval of the ranges of mountains
in the tertiary period. Now, another upheaval probably took place of
another five thousand feet or therabouts, and it would bring this icy
change quickly, and transform the smiling semi-tropical verdure of the
tertiary period into stern winter sterility. It was probably at this time
that the Bearpaw Mountains were thrown up. Now, by these terres-
trial changes, which were not confined to Montana alone, the flow of the
rivers would be stopped ; the lakes would rise silently, but sure ; and the
intense cold would speedily bring this arctic climate to which I am re-
ferring.
"The intense cold would, by its action, rend the rocks in the moun-
tains, which would then fall in avalanches upon the glaciers, to be by them
carried elsewhere. The glaciers, by their slow but constant motion, and
their stupendous weight, would, by erosion, plow for themselves a bed
through the hardest rock.
Gl.\cial Marks and Movements
"At the headwaters of Maria's river, especially at the head of Cut
Bank Creek, a fragment of one of these glaciers still exists, covering
each side of the range down to a certain height. The existence of this
glacier is known, and probably others exist in the Rocky range, which will
be found when the topography of the country is better known.
"The proof of the other glaciers having existed, lies in the drift
groovings or scratches which occur in the bed-rock of all the mountain
gulches that I have seen in this section ; also by the numerous moraines
and erratic bowlders which are found on the great northern plateau and
on other several smaller ones.
"In central Montana, there were two great centers of glacial action — •
one was the Rocky mountains and its connecting ranges ; the other was
the Belt ranges.
"In the Great Belt range a large 'glacier commenced on the western
side, near the head of Trout and Cottonwood creeks, cutting the range
diagonally, crossing Montana and Confederate gulches and emerging into
the Missouri valley a little south of the Confederate creek. Its course
is north-northeast to south-southwest and the present altitude of its old
bed is probably over five thousand feet. In the vicinity it is known as
the Gravelly range. This glacier must have existed prior to those that
cut out Bowlder, Confederate, Montana, White's and other gulches in the
vicinity, as wherever this ancient glacier has been cut by later ravines
it has yielded large deposits of gold. Its ancient bed is now filled up
with debris, which is easily accounted for by the deposits of neighboring
denudations. In the vicinity it is called an old river-bed, but its declina-
tion is too great for that, consistent with the gold deposits ; also, the debris
is identical with the rocks contained between its two extremities. If it had
been a river, its length ought to have been greater; there ought to have
HISTORY OF MONTANA 99
been a larger amount of foreign debris and a large water-shed, to account
for its present breadth.
"Now, assuming this to have been a glacier, we should find the ice,
by its motion, scraping and grooving the bed-rock of its course, con-
tinually widening its bed by its constant pressure and friction, and thereby
denuding the rocks and quartz lodes that it passed. Naturally, gold would
be left in the striae of the bed-rock. Its carrying large amounts of debris
on its surface in the form of moraines, wherever the contour of its bed
compelled the glacier to change its course, it would naturally deposit
large amounts of debris, which now form bars.
"I stated that this glacier existed prior to the formation of the
neighboring gulches. An intelligent observation of these gulches will
convince anyone that there must have been similar causes to produce
these effects. Bowlder, in the vicinity of Confederate, has innumerable
proofs of glacial drift. There are erratic bowlders there, which could
have only been brought to their present position by ice. Indian, Beaver
and Last Chance gulches, on the opposite side of the Missouri, have simi-
lar characteristics. I have observed personally, in these localities, the
striae on bowlders, and the parallel moraines of ancient glaciers. A per-
fect chart of these localities could be made, by minute observation, as they
existed in the glacial period. The course of the giacier would be known
by the direction of the stride on the bed-rock and bowlders; the angle of
declination would be known by the inclination of the striae on the bowlders
on the mountain sides ; and the depth would be the height between the bed-
rock and the line of bowlders left by the glaciers on the hill sides.
"The elevated valleys in Upper Deep creek, on the east side of the
Great Belt range, have over their whole surface the marks of glacial
action. On the low mountains north of Camp Baker bowlders are on
the sides, with the striae cut on them as plain as if done by a workman,
and their surfaces finely polished, showing the friction they have under-
gone. Along the northern side of the valley large numbers of bowlders
cover one side of the hills, the bowlders on each hill being on the same
side. This shows the deposition by icebergs, which, broken off by the
parent glacier and floating on the inland sea, deposited the detritus in this
manner. All the movmtains in the central and northern part of Montana
that I have seen show these indubitable signs.
"The large plateau in the north has large erratic bowlders scattered
here and there ; they are not very common, but their size is exceedingly
large. The most interesting one I have seen is in a small ravine which
runs into the Dry fork of Maria's river due north of Fort Shaw. It is
about nine feet long, six feet high and probably weighs about fifteen tons.
It is composed of red granite, with a smooth, polished surface, and has
evidently been brought a long distance, as no rocks of that kind are. to my
knowledge, closer than about ninety miles. Other bowlders exist, but this
one will serve as an example of the rest.
"How long this epoch lasted, there is no telling; but, by the great
denudation which took place, it must have been of considerable length.
It was during this epoch that the numerous buttes lying east of the
706461 A
100 HISTORY OF MONTANA '
Rocky mountains and nortli of the Belt range were denuded to their
present shape. Very probably Square and Crown Buttes formed once
a continuous range of high bluffs ; and the same may be said of those east
of the Highwoods. At the close of this period, a gradual subsidence
of level raised the temperature of the climate; the inland lakes dis-'
appeared ; the glaciers melted away and we arrive at what is called the
Champlain epoch."
The Great Montana Mammals
"At the beginning of this epoch, most probably the rush of the re-
tiring waters cut the terraces which bound so many of our Montana
streams. The great mammals then appeared, and the huge mastodon cov-
ered the plateaus and valleys in numbers almost equaling the modern
buffalo. The American elephant existed in this locality. A portion
of a tusk i)ertaining to one was found on Badger creek and is now in
possession of Mr. Drew, at Fort Shaw. It is possible that the great
pliocene deposits of Wyoming and Colorado extend northward into Mon-
tana, as I have been often told of the great bone deposits which exist
in several parts of these localities. Several deposits of so-called buf-
falo bones, in the neighborhood of Sun and Maria's rivers and Badger
creek, I am inclined to ascribe to other animals ; and it may be that
as Colorado and Wyoming have within the two years yielded such palaeon-
tological treasures, so Montana, by proper search and investigation, will
yield equally interesting organic remains."
Variety and Wealth of Geological Deposits
The wonderful diversity of Montana's geological formations accounts
for the variety of the precious deposits found within the state's limits.
The upheaval of the deep-seated fire rocks, with molten formations of
ore and precious stones ; the deposits and immeasurable pressure of
great inland seas, and the resistless passage of vast glacial fields laden
with gold scourings and gigantic boulders, all made Montana a rich and
varied treasury of minerals.
Along this line, a comparatively recent publication has this to say
of Montana as a mining state : "Of the many marvels of its mineral
wealth, perhaps the greatest is the wonderful extent of the deposits.
After this comes the diversity of metals, which cover a large portion
of the known catalogue, and lastly comes the fabulous richness of the
deposits of quartz and placer diggings. The ores of Montana are easily
worked. The rocks in which auriferous and argentiferous veins occur is
limestone or granite — often granite capped with slate. The presence of
lead and copper simplifies the reduction of silver. In general the char-
acter of Montana galena ores does not differ from those of Utah, Colo-
rado, Nevada and Idaho. There are lead mines in Montana but they
have not been extensively worked. The lead obtained from the silver ores
however, is considerable. Copper lodes are abundant and large and are
HISTORY OF MONTANA 101
found near Butte, at White Sulphur Springs and in the Musselshell coun-
try. Iron is found in a great number of places. Marble, building stone,
fire clay, zinc and all of the minerals of which men build the substan-
tial monuments of civilization are grouped together in Montana in a re-
markable manner.
"One" of the latest developed resources of the state is coal. The
presence of this product was known from the early days, but before the
country had been pierced by railroads it could not be profitably mined
and consequently there was no development of the coal fields. Now coal
mining is one of the permanent industries of the state. Along the east-
ern bases of the Rocky Mountains coal is found in almost inexhaustible
quantities. Park, Cascade, Choteau, Beaver Head and Gallatin counties
all have mines within their boundaries.*
Be.'\r Tooth Mountain in the Co.al Reg
ION
"In addition to the precious metals and other products mentioned
above, there have been found in Montana from time to time a great many
precious stones and gems. Sapphires were discovered in a number of
localities by the early placer miners. They were collected in great num-
bers in the sluice boxes with the gold and black sand. They were found
on the bars of the Missouri in Lewis and Clark county, at Montana City
and Jeflerson City on the Prickly Pear, and in other localities. These
gems were sent East and found their way into many cabinets. A few
were cut and worn by Montana miners. After many years they attracted
the attention of English experts and capitalists, and a company was
formed to work these old placers for the sapphires they contained. Some
of these gems are of the largest size and purest water, and the colors are
very brilliant. The varieties most common are the oriental emerald, the
oriental topaz, the oriental amethyst and the oriental ruby. No gem except
the diamond excels them in hardness and brilliancy. Nearly all vari-
* And now more than all, Carbon county.
102 HISTORY OF MONTANA
eties of garnets are also found in the placers and the rocks of the moun-
tains ; many very fine varieties have been taken from the places in various
parts of the state. The precious garnet, the topazolite, the melanite,
pyrenite, and others of yellow, brown, green and red, have all been found
in the placers and rocks. Small emeralds of medium quality have been
discovered in the gravel and rocks of the mountains. Tourmalines have
also appeared in the sluice boxes of the placer mines, as well as in the
metamorphic rocks of the Rockies."
CHAPTER V
PATHFINDERS OF THE MINING CAMPS
The kings of the fur traders and the traders themselves opened
Montana for the influx of the miners. Lewis and Clark, and lesser explor-
ers, revealed the riches of the fur trade to the practical Englishmen,
Scotchmen, Frenchmen, Spaniards and Americans, and at least served as
advance agents in the introduction of the business to its original and main
source of supply, the Indians. Soon after the red and white trappers and
hunters had perceptibly drained the land of its beaver, otter and bear, and
were making awful inroads into the buffalo herds, came the day of the
miners, whose guides were usually men who had become familiar with the
land of the mountains in the prosecution of their trapping and trading
enterprises. Although they had laid no such plans for the future, destiny
made the trappers the pathfinders of the miners, and in this connection
their leaders who built the posts and the forts and sent them into the
wilds shall be described, their main enterprises noted.
Commencement of Permanent Trade
The initial venture of that nature in Montana has already been re-
corded in the account of the expedition taken from St. Louis by Manuel
Lisa, formerly identified with the Spanish Fur Company who had cut
adrift from that organization as an independent trader. His fort, built
in 1807, at the mouth of the Big Horn, represented the first trading post,
the first commercial venture and the first building of a permanent char-
acter, to be planted within the bounds of what is now Montana.
The Missouri Fur Company
Not long after Lisa's return to St. Louis, in the summer of 1808,
and after a very successful season in the fur trade, was formed the
Missouri Fur Company. It was organized with a capital of $40,000,
headquarters in St. Louis, and its object was to establish a string of
trading posts along the headwaters of the Missouri. Among its twelve
members were Capt. William Clark, the agent and head of the organiza-
tion; Manuel Lisa, in some respects the leading spirit; Reuben Lewis,
only brother of Capt. Meriwether Lewis ; the Chouteau brothers, Andrew
Henry and other leaders in the fur trade, who were uncontrolled by the
Hudson Bay and North West companies, of Canada.
Lewis and Clark had called attention to the locality where the three
103
104 HISTORY OF MONTANA
forks of the Missouri converge as a strong trading point — the key to
the Blackfoot fur trade; and that meant much in those days. The Mis-
souri Fur Company were of the same opinion, and in 1809 Lisa, with
Henry and a party of trappers and boatsmen, ascended the Missouri and
the Yellowstone, and, through Bozeman Pass emerged at the three forks.
There they established a post as the headquarters of their proposed opera-
tions to develop a fur trade among the Indians of that region.* At that
time the Missouri Fur Company had in its employ 250 men — partly Ameri-
can hunters, but mainly Creoles and Canadian voyagers, who in various
flotillas, conducted by some of the partners, were put in motion, and be-
fore the close of the year 1809 posts had been established among the
Sioux, Arickarees and Mandans, and a principal one, whose garrison com-
prised the larger part of the company's employes, "at the Three Forks
of the Missouri."
This post was in the heart of the country then possessed by the
Piegan Tribe of the Blackfeet Indians whose hostility it was hoped might
be appeased, both for the sake of their trade and because the hundreds
of small streams which rise in the adjacent mountains and unite to form
the Missouri abounded with beaver, which the company's servants were
to be employed in trapping. But the Blackfeet were in communication
with the posts of the British traders upon the Saskatchewan, from which
they obtained arms, ammunition, and all the commodities of civilization
required in their wild life, so that they were wholly independent of this
fort. Besides, in consequence of the killing of one of their number by
Captain Lewis in 1806, they had conceived the most violent hatred of
the Americans, a feeling carefully fostered by the British traders to
prevent competition, and they had fiercely declared that they would
rather hang the scalp of an American to their girdle than kill a bufifalo
to keep from starving. Animated by such implacable and vindictive re-
sentment, they not only failed to become the customers of the fort, but set
themselves at work to efifect the destruction of its garrison. They lurked
incessantly in the vicinity of the post, sought to ambuscade the hunters,
attacked every party over whom they could gain any advantage, and
almost entirely frustrated the trapping system that had been inaugurated.
It became dangerous to go any distance from the fort except in large
parties, and in one case a party of twenty men were assailed by surprise"
and nine killed. Not less than twenty of the garrison lost their lives
in the various conflicts that took place, and it was estimated that double
that number of Indians were killed.
Henry Ab.\ndons Three Forks Post
It had been expected that three hundred packs of beaver would be
secured the first year, and but for the hostility of the Blackfeet the
expectation would probably have been realized. As it was, there were
scarcely twenty packs. With this meagre return the greater portion of
the party descended the river the next spring (1809), while the re-
* Lieut. Bradley's "Journal," Contributions Montana Historical Society, Vol. II.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 105
mainder continued to be cooped up in the fort not daring to hunt and
suffering for want of provisions. At last, finding the situation so irk-
some and unprofitable and fearing the destruction of his little band, Mr.
Henry,* the partner who had been left in charge, determined in the
fall to move over into the country of the more pacific Shoshonees and
winter upon one of the head branches of the Columbia. Crossing the
mountains with great difficulty and suffering — for winter overtook them
and game was scarce — he found a pleasant location, where timber was
plentiful, upon the North or Henry's Fork of Snake River, where he
established himself and built a new fort — the first American establish-
ment (except the wintering house of Lewis and Clark) west of the
Rocky Mountains.
Meanwhile no tidings of Henry were received at St. Louis, and the
company, ignorant of his movements, were apprehensive that he had been
massacred.' At length, no longer able to control their anxiety, early
in 1811 an expedition was set on foot to go in quest of him. It started
about the beginning of February, under the command of Mr. Lisa, in a
swift barge propelled by twenty oars and arnied with a swivel mounted
at the bow, the whole number of persons on board being twenty-six.
In the meantime his isolation and the poverty of his Snake customers in-
duced Mr. Henry to recross the mountains and return to the East. Ar-
riving at the Missouri he built boats, upon which his party embarked;
and thus it happened that Lisa, sweeping in his light barge easily and
pleasantly up stream, and Henry with his little fleet dropping down with
the current, met each other at the Arickaree Village, in the neighborhood
of the present City of Bismarck, about the middle of June.
Mr. Henry's stay beyond the mountains had not been unprofitable,
and he took down with him forty packs of beaver — a far better return
than could reasonably have been anticipated. "To render this account of
the operations of the company complete I will add," says Lieutenant
Bradley, "that the hostility of the Blackfeet and the consequent ruin
of their prospects in this quarter were not the only misfortune that had
been sustained by the company. The establishments among the Mandans
and Arickarees had proved unprofitable, and besides the Sioux factory
was accidentally burned, occasioning an estimated loss of fifteen thou-
sand dollars — almost half the original capital of the company.
Blackfeet Country Ab.\ndoned
"The term of the association expired in 181 1, but notwithstanding the
unforeseen difficulties and disasters that had beset its first efforts, it
was found on balancing accounts that the company had its capital of forty
thousand dollars yet intact, and, in addition, the three establishments
below the Yellowstone. A reorganization was effected, and though no
further attempt was made to trade in the Blackfeet country the busi-
ness of the company elsewhere was extensive and the profits large.
It enjoyed a deserved prosperity until the business prostration occasioned
* Henry's Lake and Henry's Fork of Snake River named after him.
106
HISTORY OF MONTANA
by the War of 1812, when it was forced to suspend operations and finally
dissolved.
"The fort built by this company at the Three Forks of the Missouri
is the establishment whose traces still remain near Gallatin City* and
which is popularly ascribed to Lewis and Clark. In 1870, the outlines of
the fort were still intact, from which it appears that it wa.s a double stock-
ade of logs set three feet deep, enclosing an area of about 300 feet
square, situated upon the tongue of land (at that point half a mile wide)
between the Jefferson and Madison Rivers, about two miles above their
Spanish Creek, Gall.\tin County
confluence, upon the south bank of a channel of the former stream now
called Jefferson slough. Since then the stream has made such inroads
upon the land that only a small portion of the fort — the south-west angle
— remains. It is probable that every vestige of this old relic will soon dis-
appear, except the few stumps of stockade logs that have been removed
by two or three gentlemen of antiquarian tastes. When Henry abandoned
the fort a blacksmith's anvil was left behind, which remained there for
thirty or forty years undisturbed, gazed upon only by the Indians who re-
garded it with superstition and awe. At last it disappeared and it is said
to have been found and removed by a party of white men."
* Written in 1876.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 107
Race of Rival Fur Agents
Not long after the Missouri Fur Company had been formed through
the energy and influence of Manuel Lisa, John Jacob Astor, who, for a
decade was to be his great rival in the fur trade, formed the Pacific Fur
Company. It was an offshoot of the North West Company and was for-
mally organized in June, 1810, all of Mr. Astor's partners, with the ex-
ception of Wilson Price Hunt, of New Jersey, being ex-members of that
organization. • The great organizer of the Pacific Fur Company sent two
expeditions West — one by sea and one by land. The overland expedition,
under Hunt, is the only one which concerns this history, and that only in-
cidentally. Before the articles of agreement forming the Pacific Fur
Company were signed, the expedition by land was well on its way toward
the western sea. Lisa had started out from St. Louis to seek Henry and,
having met him safe and sound, hurried up the Missouri to overtake the
Hunt party, tidings of whose destination — the headwaters of that river
and the coveted fur country of the Blackfeet — had reached him. Hunt's
party comprised, among others, Donald McKenzie, Pierre Dorion, a half-
breed interpreter indebted to Lisa, and the scientists, Nuttall and Brad-
bury. Lisa did not propose that Hunt should occupy "his" fur coun-
try without a fight, and Hunt was afraid that the able and wily Spaniard
would set the Sioux against him, the agent of the rival company, in case
he (Lisa) reached the land of the dreaded Indians first. The race for
Sioux-land was therefore exciting, and Lisa's river party overtook Hunt's
land expedition in what is now southern or central South Dakot^. From
this meeting until the Arikaree villages near the junction of the Grand and
Missouri rivers were reached (near the boundary line of the Dakotas)
the two rival parties traveled together, each eyeing the other suspiciously.
In one particular, Lisa outmanoeuvered Hunt. It had been the intention
of the leader of the Astor company to follow the route of Lewis and
Clark to the sources of the Missouri, and thence over the divide to the
Columbia; but Lisa managed that most deterrent rumors of Blackfeet
ferocities and attacks should be carried to the interlopers. Result : The
Hunt party swerved toward the Southwest, crossed the southeastern cor-
ner of Montana into Wyoming, traveled south to the Wind River, across
country to the Snake and Columbia and down the great western river to
where Astor's sea party had founded Astoria. This trip of Hunt's blazed
the famous Oregon Trail.
The Last Years of Lisa
The failure and destruction of the posts which the Missouri Fur
Company attempted to establish from the headwaters of the river to the
Mandan villages in Dakota, with the disturbances caused by the War of
1812, caused the final dissolution of the company. Lisa then operated
the Missouri fur trade under the name of Manuel Lisa & Company for
about six years, and during that period was a real monopolist. In 1819 he
reorganized the Missouri Fur Company, with an entirely new personnel
108 HISTORY OF MONTANA
except he himself. He died in St. Louis, which had been his home since
youth, in his forty-eighth year. Lisa was born in New Orleans of Span-
ish parents, and his commanding intrepidity in all his ventures gave him
the name of the Cortez of the Rocky Mountains. Of his moral character,
the least said the better for his memory.
General Ashley and the Rocky Mountain Fur Company
It was fully a decade after the War of 1812 before the fur trade
showed decided signs of improvement, and, as in the old times, the fur
companies doing business in Montana again turned their attention to the
opening up of the trade among the enterprising but fierce Blackfeet, who
still controlled the fur country at the headwaters of the Missouri. Not
only was the Missouri Fur Company revived, but Gen. William Ashley,
an able, forceful Virginian who had long resided in St. Louis, as a mer-
ciiant and prominent citizen, organized the Rocky Mountain Fur Com-
pany. Associated with him were Maj. Andrew Henry, William and Mil-
ton Sublette, Jedediah S. Smith, David E. Jackson, Robert Campbell,
Etienne Provost, James Bridger and others, nearly all of whom will
later appear as leading characters in the progress of this history.
The first expedition of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company had sev-
eral experiences not unlike those of the initial venture of the Lisa's Mis-
souri Fur Company. In both cases the brunt of the disasters fell upon
Maj. Andrew Henry. The first expedition of Ashley's company started
from St. 'Louis on April 15, 1822, for that portentous locality, the Three
Forks of the Missouri. On the way up the river one of the keel-
boats sank with $10,000 worth of goods, and above the Mandan vil-
lages a band of Assiniboines stole the horses of the party. These heavy
losses forced the expedition to establish the Ashley-Henry Fort near the
confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri, where winter quarters were
fixed. General Ashley then returned to St. Louis, leaving Henry in
charge of the post. In the spring of 1823, the latter continued his
journey up the Missouri, but near the Great Falls the Blackfeet attacked
his party, killed four of them and drove them away as a whole. So Henry
was again obliged to return, short of his goal.
In 1S23, Ashley fitted out a second expedition and leading it him-
self started up the Missouri. He intended to purchase horses of the
Aricarees and dispatch some of his force by land to the Yellowstone.
These Indians, distinguished for their fickleness, at first seemed friendly,
but before dawn on June 2nd, attacked Ashley's force. They killed
twelve of his men and wounded fourteen, the survivors escaping to some
sheltering timber. In this desperate strait, .Ashley accepted the services
of Jedediah Smith, a mere youth, to carry news of his predicament to
Henry and requesting immediate re-enforcements. After numerous es-
capes from capture and death, the boy reached Henry, and Ashley and
his men were saved. The combined parties moved to the mouth of White
River, where they built a fort and awaited the coming of troops to pro-
tect them on their journey. They also established a trading post at the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 109
mouth of the Big Horn and Yellowstone, near the site of old Fort
Manuel, and Etienne Provost, with a few men, was ordered from that
point southward to trap. On this journey, in 1823, he discovered the
South Pass.
Ashley-Henry Discoveries of 1823.
As remarked by a writer of these times, commenting on the remark-
able outcome of this unimportant expedition, measured by direct results :
"The members of the Ashley-Henry party proved to be explorers as well
as trappers, for not only did Provost discover the South Pass and thus
open up the trapping districts of the Green river country, but Jim Bridger,
in his quest of furs, came upon the Great Salt Lake. This is the first
recorded instance of a white man having beheld that body of water,
though it had been visited by the Piegans and many other tribes years
before. Young Jedediah Smith, possessed of the spirit of adventure,
pushed on to the Pacific, and was the first white man to cross the Sierra
Nevada mountains."
Missouri Fur Company's Expedition Wiped Out
As the Rocky Mountain Fur Company seemed at last to have obtained
momentum and overcome the obstacles of its young life, so the reorgan-
ized Missouri Fur Company, bereft of the strong sustaining hands of Lisa,
was overtaken with dire disaster, could not rally and suffered a steady
decline until its death in 1830. Its hardest blow which brought about
its eventual demise was the wiping out of the expedition sent out by the
company in the spring of 1823 to establish "friendly relations" with the
Blackfeet and secure their trade which centered at the Three Forks.
Under Messrs. Jones and Immell, it duly arrived at the site of Henry's
post and remained there until the middle of May. Meeting with no In-
dians friendly, commercially-inclined, or otherwise, they decided to re-
turn to the Yellowstone.
On the 17th of May, while following Jefferson Fork, the Jones-
Immell party fell in with a band of Blackfeet. One of the Indians
showed the leaders a note headed "Mountain Park, 1823," and at the bot-
tom it bore "1820." The paper introduced the holder as a friendly head
chief of the tribe and the owner of many furs. As it also showed the
inscription, "God save the King!" it was evidently of British manufac-
ture. Although the Blackfeet seemed kindly disposed and favorable to
the establishment of a post at Great Falls, Jones and Immell feared the
outcome of such friendly manifestations, and on the following day
gathered their men and started rapidly for the Yellowstone. Meanwhile
the Blackfeet, re-enforced to about four hundred, followed closely be-
hind.
On the last of May, 1823, the doomed party of twenty-nine, pass-
ing into a steep and narrow defile, were ambushed by the Indians and
furiously attacked. Seven of the party were killed, including the leaders.
The best account of the sad and unfortunate affair is from Ben-
ilO HISTORY OF MONTANA
jamin O'Fallon, a widely known Indian agent and army officer and a
nephew of Gen. William Clark. To the latter, as superintendent of Indian
affairs at St. Louis, Major O'Fallon made the report under date of Fort
Atkinson, July 3, 1823. The part relating to the slaughter of the Jones-
Immell party and the capture of the equipment is as follows: "The
defeat of General Ashley by the A'Ricarees and departure of the troops
to his relief had scarcely gone to you when an express arrived announcing
the defeat by the Blackfeet Indians near the Yellowstone river, of the
Missouri Fur Company's Yellowstone or mountain expedition, com-
manded by Messrs. Jones and Immell, both of whom, with five of the men,
are among the slain. All of their property, to the amount of $15,000,
fell into the hands of the enemy. * * * The express goes on to state
'that many circumstances (of which I will be apprised in a few days)
have transpired to induce the belief that the British traders (Hudson's
Bay Company) are exciting the Indians against us, either to drive us from
that quarter, or reap, with the Indians, the fruits of our labor.' They
furnish them with the instruments of hell and a passport to heaven —
the instruments of death and a passport to our bosoms.
"Immell had great experience of the Indian character, but, poor
fellow, with a British passport, at last they deceived him, and he fell a
victim to his own credulity, and his scalp, with those of his murdered
comrades, is now bleeding on its way to some of the Hudson establish-
ments. * * *
"I am at this moment interrupted by the arrival of an express from
the military expedition, with a letter from Doctor Pilcher, whom you
know is at the head of the Missouri Fur Company on this river, in which
he says : T have but a moment to write. I met an express from the
Mandans bringing me the very unpleasant news — the flower of my busi-
ness is gone. My mountaineers have been defeated, and the chiefs of the
party both slain ; the party were attacked by three or four hundred Black-
feet Indians in a position on the Yellowstone river where nothing but de-
feat could be expected. Jones and Immell and five men were killed. The
former, it is said, fought most desperately. Jones killed two Indians, and
in drawing a pistol to kill a third he received two spears in his breast.
Immell was in front ; he killed one Indian and was cut to pieces. I think
we lose at least $13,000. I will write you more fully between this and the
Sioux.'
"Jones was a gentleman of cleverness. He was for several years a
resident of St. Louis, where he has numerous friends to deplore his loss.
Immel! has been a long time on this river, first an officer in the United
States army, since an Indian trader of some distinction ; in some respects
he was an extraordinary man ; he was brave, uncommonly large, and of
great muscular strength ; when timely apprised of his danger, a host
within himself."
American Fur Comp.vny Establishes Western Department
The brilliant operations of General Ashley and the Rocky Mountain
Fur Company, both in the fur trade and the field of western explora-
tions, encouraged its great rival, the American Fur Company, now ab-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 111
sorbed, with several independent firms, by the personahty of John Jacob
Astor, of New York, to estabHsh a western department in St. Louis. The
strongest of the independent concerns thus absorbed was the Columbia
Fur Company, with which Kenneth McKenzie was associated as president
and vitalizing power. With the consolidation, or absorption, Mr. Mc-
Kenzie was placed in charge of the active affairs of the American Fur
Company in the field. As Ashley withdrew from the trade with a fortune,
McKenzie entered the field as its dominant figure.
The new manager assumed charge of the interests of the American
Fur Company at the height of Ashley's great success as the head of the
Rocky Mountain Fur Company, as within the four years previous to
1827 or 1828 he had brought into St. Louis over $250,000 worth of
beaver skins. The most phenomenal year in the history of the company
was after General Ashley had sold his interest in it to Jedediah Smith,
David E. Jackson and William L. Sublette.
Kenneth McKenzie Rises
The new manager assumed charge of the interests of the American
Fur Company at the height of the trade amassed by the Rocky Mountain
Company, as within the four years previous to 1828 it had sent into St.
Louis more than a quarter of a million dollars' worth of beaver skins.
In 1826 General Ashley had sold his interest in the Rocky Mountain
concern to Jedediah Smith, David E. Jackson and William L. Sublette,
and that year and the following, were phenomenal for catches. The pros-
pects were so alluring that McKenzie would have made the same mis-
take which had previously been disastrous to the fur traders — rush to the
headwaters of the Missouri after the cream of the trade without a sub-
stantial base of supplies and chain of communications behind. Pierre
Chouteau induced him to be more cautious, his long experience as a fur
trader and member of the firm of Bernard Pratte & Company, which
had been likewise absorbed by Mr. Astor's corporation, having taught
him the fine lesson of "safety first."
Fort Floyd, or Fort Union Founded
In the summer of 1828, McKenzie and his first constructive party
started up the Missouri, and in September of that year built Fort Floyd
above the Mandan villages in the North Dakota of today, as permanent
headquarters of the American Fur Company. Exactly when Fort Floyd
received the name of Fort Union (the first) is not known. At all events,
not long after the headquarters of the company were fixed at that local-
ity, McKenzie effected his first friendly union with Blackfeet trappers,
hunters and warriors, and made a real advance in pushing the interests of
his company. How this was brought about is a story in itself.
McKenzie Wooes the Bl.^ckfeet
Soon after the establishment of Fort Floyd, or Union (two hundred
miles farther up the river), a man named Burger, who spoke Piegan,
the language of the Blackfeet, came to headquarters and McKenzie in-
112 HISTORY OF AIONTANA
duced him to lead a party up the Missouri River, in quest of the elusive
Indians and the trade which they so nearly controlled. They set out from
the fort in dog sleds, reached the mouth of Alaria's River, which they
followed to its western head in the mountains, Badger Creek. Up to that
time and locality no trace of Blackfeet, or any other Indian, had been dis-
covered, and- one night the discouraged men encamped at the source of
that creek and threw the Stars and Stripes to the Rocky Mountain
breezes. As the next day dawned, a party of Piegan warriors rode
toward them, with the design (as was afterward learned) of attacking
the camp at once. The sight of the streaming flag induced one of the
old chiefs to plead with the hot-headed warriors to adopt friendly rela-
tions with the whites, and the result was that, through the spokesmanship
of Burger, a former employe of the Hudson's Bay Company, the Mc-
Kenzie men were taken to the Piegans' village and afterward to the
Indians' winter encampment on Sun River. There the white party
remained until spring, when Burger returned to old Fort Union with
lOo leading Piegans. The ensuing council ended in a friendly under-
standing between McKenzie and his Indian visitors, and in the summer of
183 1 McKenzie made a formal treaty of peace with the Blackfeet and the
Assiniboines, "a document," says a commentator, "more remarkable for
its rhetoric than its pacific results."
Old Fort Union was burned sometime in 1831 and its name applied to
the post built not long afterward at the mouth of the Yellowstone. Dur-
ing that autumn, McKenzie sent James Kipp, with twenty-five men and
a boat loaded with stores and Indian trading goods, up the Missouri to
take advantage of the friendly relations established with the Piegans.
Kipp then built Fort Piegan on a site between Maria's and Missouri
rivers, and it is said that within ten days from its completion he had
received the unprecedented stock of 2,400 beaver skins from the Piegan
trappers. The Bloods, attached to the British interests, soon after-
ward attacked Fort Piegan, and although Kipp and his men drove off
the besiegers, the post was abandoned, in the spring of 1832, and the
stock of furs taken to Fort Union at the mouth of the Yellowstone. Al-
though Fort Piegan was abandoned in March, 1832, the leader of the
party left three of his men behind, with tobacco and ammunition, that
the friendly Indians might not feel that they had been deserted by the
Americans.
Fort McKenzie BuTrr
During that year, IMcKenzie sent David D. Mitchell to the Fort
Piegan country to attempt a re-establishment of trade relations with the
Piegans, acknowledged to be the best trappers of the Blackfeet nation.
But the keel boat of the expedition with its costly cargo of supplies
and goods was wrecked, two men drowned, and all the articles destined
for the Indian trade were lost. Upon receipt of the news of the disaster,
McKenzie sent a second boat laden as the first, and Mitchell continued
his voyage to the site of Fort Piegan, only to find it charred ruins and
HISTORY OF MONTANA 113
ashes. But Mitchell was a brave, determined man after McKenzie's own
heart, and at once built another post and fort a few miles above the
mouth of Maria's and below the narrow ridge separating the Teton and
the Missouri Rivers. The structure, appropriately named Fort McKenzie,
was built of logs, two hundred feet square, and faced Maria's River.
The American Fur Company was now firmly established in the upper
Missouri country, with three principal bases of operation — Fort Union,
near the junction of the Yellowstone and the Missouri; Fort McKenzie,
near the mouth of Maria's River, and Fort Cass, at the confluence of the
Big Horn and the Yellowstone.
McKenzie Inaugurates Steami!Oat Navigation to the Yellowstone
If Astor represented the financial power of the American Fur Com-
pany, McKenzie now stood for its practical development in the most pro-
ductive beaver and fur regions of America. With the swelling of that
trade to mammoth proportions, the slow and cumbersome transportation
of the thousands of bales of furs from the trapping regions of the Upper
Missouri, along the vast stretches of the river system to the ultimate
market, St. Louis, was a problem which McKenzie first attempted to
solve through steamboat navigation. After laboring with his superiors
who controlled the finances of the company, he persuaded them to try the
doubtful experiment. Accordingly a boat was constructed for the pur-
pose in Louisville, Kentucky, and, as the "Yellowstone," made two trips
up the Missouri in 1831-32. Its last voyage was the momentous one, as
from March to June, 1832, it continued to breast the Missouri until it
reached Fort Union, near the mouth of the Yellowstone. That trip, which
demonstrated the utility of the river steamboat in the prosecution of the
spreading fur trade, caused comment on both sides of the Atlantic.
Pierre Chouteau, who was aboard the "Yellowstone" upon both occa-
sions to personally test the possibilities of steamboat navigation received
the following from John Jacob Astor, then in France : "Your voy-
age in the 'Yellowstone' attracted much attention in Europe, and has been
noted in all the papers here." A personal incident of this memorable
second trip of the "Yellowstone" was that one of its passengers was
George Catlin, the celebrated artist, author and student of Indian habits as
relates to North America.
Captain Bonneville and His E.xplorations
While McKenzie was opening steamboat navigation on the Missouri,
such men as Capt. B. L. E. Bonneville and James Bridger were penetrat-
ing the masses of the Rocky Mountains and ranging over large stretches
of virgin country to the coast. They trapped, scouted, hunted and ex-
plored, and their journeys and expeditions were too extensive in their
range to classify the principals as Montana characters, a'beit they touch
the territory and the state at many points The captain's greatest travels
as an explorer of the West beyond the mountains were pursued in the
114 HISTORY OF MONTANA
early "305 and are thus laid down by the principal himself to the Mon-
tana Historical Society, writing as an old man, long retired from the
strenuous activities of life : "One of my parties," he says, "was sent
through the Crow country and came round by the north and wintered
with me on Salmon river ; another party was sent south and wintered
on the shores of Salt Lake; another journeyed into the Utes country,
farther south, until it met the traders and trappers from New Mexico;
another went down Salmon river to Walla Walla, on the Columbia ;
another to coast around the Salt Lake ; being out of provisions, it turned
north upon Maria's (Humboldt) river, followed this river down west
to the eastern base of the California mountains, where it empties itself
into large flat lakes, thence westward, clambering for twenty-three days
among the difficult passes of this elevated range, before it reached its
western Pacific slope ; thence to Monterey on the coast, where it wintered.
In the spring, the party going south turned the southern point of these
mountains on its way to the Upper Rocky Mountains ; another party
going west down the waters of Snake river to the base of the California
range, turned southeast and on the way home kept the divide, as near
as practicable, between Maria's River and Snake ; another party going
north, round the Wind River mountains, followed the Po-po-az-ze-ah,
the Pig Horn, and the Yellowstone down the Missouri.
"The large clear stream in the valley immediately west of the South
Pass was called by the Indians and early trappers the Sis-ke-de-az-ze-ah,
afterward Green river. I was the first to take wagons through the
South Pass and first to recognize Green river as the Colorado of the
West". * * *
Famous Expedition Through South Pass
During these eventful years in the life of Captain Bonneville, 1832-34,
he spent some time among the Nez Perces Indians of the Far West,
and all but dropped out of the United States Army and civilization.
When he took his expedition through South Pass, in 1832, perhaps the
first to accomplish this since the days of the Ashley-Henry explorations
of the '20s, James Bridger was his scout, and thirty years afterward he
served in the same capacity for a government expedition which was con-
ducting two Supreme Court judges to their newly appointed posts in Utah.
The remarkable fact, also, that Jim Bridger, in 1862, led his party over
the same route pursued by him in 1832 is forcibly stated by William
S. Brackett, a member of the government party, who afterward became a
resident of Park County, Montana.* His words : "Looking back nearly
thirty-five years ago, I can recall the beauty and romance of eventful
days when I caiuped with James Bridger on the Sweetwater and with
him marched across the continent. I can see once more the muddy Platte,
the dark fantastic erosion of Scott's Blufifs, and I ride again with the
old scout through the broad expanse of the South Pass of the Rockies.
"It was to me a most interesting circumstance on our march to Utah
that we traveled along the trail where Captain Bonneville marched his
HISTORY OF MONTANA
115
famous expedition to the Rocky mountains in 1832. Our camp fires were
often lit in the same places where his own once burned. Certain it is
that at Chimney Rock we camped on the very ground where the old hero
had camped. This information was given by the scout, James Bridger,
who was with us. He had been with Bonneville in 1832-33."
An account more in detail of this famous expedition is given by Brack-
et!, who borrows largely from outside sources. Bonneville secured the
aid in New York of men of wealth interested in the fur trade in the West,
and was thus able to fit out his expedition, which started for the Rocky
Mountains from the frontier post of Fort Osage, on the Missouri River,
Jim Bridger, Famous Explorer and Guide
May I, 1832. He had with him one hundred and ten men, most of whom
had been in the Indian country, and some of whom were experienced
hunters and trappers. Up to that time all western expeditions had used
mules and pack horses for transportation. Bonneville was the first man
who substituted wagons for the old method, and is said to be the first man
who ever crossed the backbone, or Great Divide, of the American con-
tinent with wagons. His train consisted of twenty wagons, some drawn
by oxen, and some by mules and horses. His usual formation for the
march was to dispose his wagons in two columns, with a strong advance
and rear guard of mounted men to protect them in case of attack by In-
dians. If subsequent travelers and emigrants had crossed the plains in
this formation there would have been fewer Indian massacres to record.
Bonneville's customary method of forming camp is interesting. His
116 HISTORY OF MONTANA
twenty wagons were disposed in a square at the distance of thirty-three
feet from each other. In every interval a mess outfit was stationed;
and each mess had its own fire where the men cooked, ate, gossiped and
slept. The horses were placed at night in the center of the square and
were always under vigilant guard.
Washington Irving, in speaking of the start of Bonneville's expedi-
tion, beautifully says: "It is not easy to do justice to the exulting feel-
ings of the worthy captain at finding himself at the head of a stout band
of hunters, trappers and woodmen, fairly launched on the broad prairies
with his face to the boundless West. The tamest inhabitant of cities,
the veriest spoiled child of civilization, feels his heart dilate and his
pulse beat high on finding himself on horseback in the glorious wilderness.
What, then, must be the excitement of one whose imagination had been
stimulated by a long residence on the frontier, and to whom the wilder-
ness was a region of romance i * * * Their very appearance and
equipment exhibited a piebald mixture, half civilized and half savage.
Many of them looked more like Indians than white men in their garbs and
accouterments, and their, very horses were caparisoned in barbaric style
with fantastic trappings. Their march was animated and joyous. The
welkin rang with their shouts and yelps as they started from Fort Osage,
quite after the manner of savages; and with boisterous jokes and light-
hearted laughter. As they passed the straggling hamlets and solitary
cabins that fringed the .skirts of the frontier, they would startle their
inmates by Indian yells and war whoops, or regale them with grotesque
feats of horsemanship well suited to their half-savage appearance."
But all this hilarity disappeared as Bonneville's men entered upon the
real difficulties of their journey beyond the pale of civilization, and the
wagons were placed in double column with advance and rear guards,
as already mentioned.
The first objective point of Bonneville's expedition was Pierre's Hole,
which lies just west of the Three Tetons, in the heart of the Rocky Moun-
tains, and southwest of the Yellowstone National Park. It was in this
beautiful valley called Pierre's Hole that Bonneville proposed to pass
some weeks, for it was there the old trappers and hunters had been used
to assemble for many years, to pass the winter months. The expedition
reached Pierre's Hole and rested there for some time, and the life of his
men in that sheltered valley is well described in Bonneville's journal.
Pierre's Hole lies just west of Jackson's Hole. This old-time rendezvous
of the Rocky Mountain trappers is so near to the great geysers of Yel-
lowstone Park that it seems almost certain that Bonneville or some of his
men must have visited those wonders when they were resting there.
General Bonneville himself sets this question at rest in his most in-
teresting letter published in Volume I of the Contributions to the His-
torical Society of Montana. He says in that letter, written from Fort
Smith, Arkansas: "You ask me if I knew of the thermal springs and
geysers. Not personally, but my men knew about them and called their
location "The Fire Hole." I recollect the name of Alvarez as a trader.
ppMiMifetibJaMM^
The Giant Geyser
Castle Geyser
118 HISTORY OF MONTANA
I think he came to the mountains as I was leaving them. Half a century
is a long time to look back, and I do so doubting myself."
In an old Mormon newspaper "The Wasp," published at Nauvoo,
Illinois, in 1842, an unknown writer gives an accurate account of the
geysers of Yellowstone Park, which he visited with one Alvarez in 1833.
This makes the testimony of Bonneville of great value as tending to prove
that the geysers of Firehole River (or Upper Geyser Basin) in Yellow-
stone Park were visited by white men as early as the year 1833.
Almost Absorbed by the Nez Perces
Commenting on Captain Bonneville's narrow escape from absorption
by the Nez Perces, Mr. Brackett writes: "It must have been some great
fascination for life in those wild mountains that induced Captain Bonne-
ville to overstay his leave of absence and fail to return to civilization until
the autumn of 1835. His leave of absence expired in October, 1833.
His name was stricken from the rolls of the army as dead or lost, in
1834, and his return was not until the following year, when after a good
deal of trouble he was reinstated in the army with his former rank.
"I cannot but think he became so enamored of the joyous and free
life he and his men were leading among the friendly Nez Perces and
Flatheads, west of the mountains and on Salmon River, that he forgot
civilization with its fretful cares and silly conventionalities, and lived
only in the enjoyment of the present, hurrying back to the crowded
eastern world only when he awoke as if from a beautiful dream. He was
one of those rare men who thoroughly understood savage races and could
control them. All who know anything of the Nez Per,ces know that they
are a noble and generous race of Indians, and Bonneville thoroughly ap-
preciated them as such. * * *"
There should be no doubt as to the captain's sentiments on that point,
for he has described them in his own journal, thus : "Though the pros-
pect of once more tasting the blessings of peaceful society and passing
days and nights under the calm guardianship of the laws was not without
its attraction ; yet to those of us whose whole lives had been spent in the
stirring excitement and perpetual watchfulness of adventures in the
wilderness, tlie change was far from promising an increase of that con-
tentment and inward satisfaction most conducive to happiness. He who,
like myself, has roved almost from boyhood among the children of the
forest, and over the un furrowed plains and rugged heights of the western
wastes, will not be .startled to learn that notwithstanding all the fascina-
tions of the world on this civilized side of the mountains, I would fain
make my bow to the splendors and gayeties of the metropolis and plunge
again amid the hardships and perils of the wilderness."
"It is not to be inferred for an instant," continues Brackett, "from
what is here narrated of Bonneville's delightful sojourn among the Nez
Perces that he lived a life of inglorious ease in the Rocky Mountains.
On the contrary later he passed through great hardships and incurred
great dangers in exploring regions west of the Rocky Mountains, about
which he brousjht back to civilization the first definite accounts.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 119
"For example, he visited and explored the Great Salt Lake and gave
to the world the first definite account of that inland sea. Scientists at
this day have given the lake and its ancient water lines the name of Lake
Bonneville, and by his name it ought to be known and called. His
various parties sent out in diff^erent directions to trap and trade with the
Indians opened up vast fields of enterprise to various American fur com-
panies ; and he did more than any other man to retrieve for his country
some of the lost fur trade which centered at Astoria and up to that time
had been controlled by the Hudson Bay Company.
Irving Describes the Captain
"It was at the house of John Jacob Astor, in New York, that Wash-
ington Irving met Captain Bonneville after the return of the latter from
the wilderness, and the two remarkable men became fast friends. Bonne-
ville gave his journals to Irving to be revised and published. Irving gives
us an interesting picture of the great explorer as he then appeared :
'There was something in the whole appearance of the captain,' says he,
'that prepossessed me in his favor. He was of the middle size, well made
and well set ; and a military frock of foreign cut, that had seen service,
gave him a look of compactness. His countenance was frank, open and
engaging, well browned by the sun, and had something of a French ex-
pression. He had a pleasant black eye, a high forehead, and while he
kept his hat on, the look of a man in the jocund prime of his days ; but the
moment his head was uncovered a bald crown gained him credit for a
few more years than he was really entitled to. His manner was a ming-
ling of modesty and frankness. It was difficult to conceive the mild, quiet-
looking personage before us was the actual hero of the stirring scenes
he had passed through. He was a man of great bonhommie, with kind-
liness of spirit and susceptibility for the grand and beautiful'."
Captain, Colonel and General Bonneville
The after career of the good captain and general includes more than
a quarter of a century's continuous service in the United States army. He
was reinstated in 1835 and, by successive promotions, became colonel of
the Third United States Infantry twenty years thereafter. For a time,
he was stationed at Santa Fe, New Mexico, in command of the district
which centered there, and during the early years of the Civil war was
stationed at Jefiferson Barracks, Missouri. Colonel Bonneville had been
retired from active service in 1861 and in 1865 was brevetted brigadier-
general, United States army, for long and meritorious services. At the
time of his death in 1878, while engaged in farming at Fort Smith, Ar-
kansas, he was eighty-three years old.
A good portrait of him was presented to Mr. Brackett by Hon.
N. P. Langford, of St. Paul, for whom Captain Bonneville once acted
as guide, and represents him when he was seventy-eight years old, in the
fatigue uniform of a brigadier-general of the regular army.
120 HISTORY OF MONTANA
James Bridger, Famous, Quaint Scout
James Bridger, Captain Bonneville's scout of 1832, all-around western
pioneer, has a long and close identification with Montana. He passed
through all the experiences of beaver hunter, pioneer guide, buffalo
hunter, Indian trader, emigrant trader, founder of the first post and
refuge on the long Oregon trail (Fort Bridger), blaze of great trails into
Montana, leader of government expeditions against hostile Indians and,
with J. M. Bozeman, a kindred spirit, the stamper of his name upon the
history and geography of Montana. His friend and associate, William S.
Brackett, from whose sketch of his character extracts have already been
taken, has written this paragraph : "The testimony of scores of prom-
inent military commanders and civilians can be produced showing that
James Bridger was always to be trusted and believed in as a guide, scout,
trader and all-around pioneer. His idle tales were told only to idle
people in idle hours. At heart, he was as truthful as he was skillful and
brave. He never betrayed any man and was never untrue to any trust,
public or private. I am always glad to look at his everlasting monument
in Montana; that grand mountain peak (Bridger range) near the city
of Bozeman, overlooking the beautiful Gallatin valley and named in honor
of him."
Exploiting the Indians Through Whiskey
In 1832-33 occurred the disgraceful exploitation of the Indians by
rival fur companies in their struggles for trade, through the medium of
whiskey. Narcisse Leclerc, formerly with the American Fur Company ;
Pierre Chouteau, still a leading member of the company ; Milton Sub-
lette and Robert Campbell, supported by General Ashley and Nathaniel
J. Wyeth, a newly arrived Yankee, were all, more or less, implicated in
the degredation of the Indians for the purpose of securing their trade.
Even Gen. William Clark, superintendent of Indian affairs, became in-
volved, as he had granted to several agents of the fur companies per-
mission to export whiskey from St. Louis into the Indian country before
he had been oiificially notified of the passage of the congressional act
(July 9, 1832) forbidding the use of alcohol as a medium of trade with
the Indians.
Fort William vs. Fort Union
In 1833, McKenzie and the American Fur Company were called upon
to meet what promised to become a serious opposition in the combination
of Messrs. Sublette, Campbell and Wyeth, who established a post near
Fort Union which they called Fort William for William Sublette. Their
venture early met will ill fortune and as their capital was hmited they
were not able to compete with McKenzie, with ample means behind the
American Fur Company, who paid exhorbitant prices for his furs in order
to stamp out the trade of his rival. Whiskey, also, flowed more freely
from Fort Union than from Fort William, notwithstanding attempted
HISTORY OF MONTANA 121
government prohibition. A combined policy of "freeze-out" in the field
and absorption by the management at St. Louis finally crushed the oppo-
sition.
McKenzie's Undoing
Then McKenzie set out upon a policy which proved his undoing. He
claimed he could no longer do business with the Indians without the aid
of alcoholic spirit, and brought over to his way of thinking every member
of the American Fur Company save one. He went east in his endeavor
to obtain from the government authorities concessions by which he could
secure the "necessary" stock of liquors. As his errand proved futile,
he determined to make them on the ground. McKenzie purchased a still,
took it up the Missouri on the steamers Yellowstone and Assiniboine,
bought a quantity of corn and was soon turning out an effective brand
of "juice.'" In August, 1833, Wyeth and a friend arrived at Fort Union
and were nicely entertained by McKenzie, before he was aware that they
came as his commercial opponents. They were so pleased with his spirits
that, in an impulse of unwise confidence, he showed them the still of
which even his superiors in the company were ignorant. Contrariwise,
he bled his guests for some supplies which they were forced to buy, and
they straightway reported his secret still to the government authorities at
Leavenworth. The latter ordered him to dispose of his still at once and
the management of the American Fur Company so severely censured
him that he left Fort Union in 1834 and soon after went abroad.
EHiring his active operations as the manager of the American Fur
Company, Kenneth McKenzie was a power, and his popular title, the
King of the Missouri, he impressively upheld in his bearing and manner-
isms. His Style of dress, his aloofness, was quite royal. He was married
to an Indian woman and had by that union a son, Owen. After he left
the fur trade, he went into the wholesale liquor business in St. Louis,
where he died (having again married) on April 26, 1861.
Arrival of Major Alexander Culbertson
While Mr. McKenzie was bearing his ill-fated still to Fort Union, in
1833, he had as fellow passengers aboard the Assiniboine. Prince Maxi-
milian and Alexander Culbertson — the former a traveling scientist of
wealth and eccentric character, and the latter a strong man who was to
be a leader in the activities of the Upper Missouri country for thirty
years. Major Culbertson was then an employe of the American Fur
Company who had been assigned to duty at Fort McKenzie, whither he
repaired with David D. Mitchell, a clerk of the company, about August
10, 1833.
Expedition of Prince Maximilian
From Lieutenant Bradley's Journal, covering the year 1833, is the
following account of the enterprising and scientific Prince: "In this
122 HISTORY OF MONTANA
year an interesting character in the person of Prince Alaximihan, from
Coblentz on the Rhine, made his first appearance in the upper Missouri.
The Prince was at tliat time nearly seventy years of age, but well pre-
served and able to endure considerable fatigue. He was a man of medium
height, rather slender, sans teeth, passionately fond of his pipe, unos-
tentatious and speaking very broken English. His favorite dress was
a white slouch hat, a black velvet coat rather rusty from long service,
and probably the greasiest pair of trousers that ever encased princely
legs. The Prince was a bachelor and a man of science, and it was in
this latter capacity that he had roamed so far from his ancestral home
on the Rhine. He was accompanied by an artist named Boardman and
a servant whose name was, as nearly as the author has been able to
ascertain its spelling Tritripel, both of whom seemed gifted to a high
degree with the faculty of putting their princely employer into a frequent
passion, till there is hardly a blufif or a valley on the whole upper Mis-
souri that has not repeated in an angry tone, and with a strong Teutonic
accent, the names of Boardman and Tritripel.
"The Prince had ascended the Missouri from St. Louis to Fort Union
in the steamer Assiniboine, ranging the shore at every opportunity in
quest of new objects to add to his collections of small quadrupeds, birds,
botanical specimens and fossils ; keeping his artist as busy as his easy
nature allowed in making sketches of the scenery on the route. Arrived
at Fort Union, he requested permission to accompany Mitchell's keel-
boat to Fort McKenzie (a few miles above the mouth of Maria's River)
and was allowed to do so. During the voyage he improved the oppor-
tunities it afforded and made constant additions to his collections. He
remained at Fort McKenzie about a month, when he was furnished with
a small mackinac boat, in which, with his party he descended to the
Mandan village, leaving a hearty invitation to Mitchell and Culbertson to
visit him in Europe and the promise to send the former the present of
a double barreled rifle and the latter a fine meerschaum. He remained at
the Mandan village the following winter, when he had a severe attack
of the scurvy, but aided by the restorative qualities of wild onions was
enabled to recover and return home to write an account of his travels,
which was published in German, with illustrations, and afterwards trans-
lated into English.
"McKenzie subsequently visited him in his palace at Coblentz, where
he lived in a style befitting a prince, and was received with great cor-
diality and entertained with lavish hospitality. He inquired whether the
double barreled gun and the meerschaum had reached their destination,
as he had remembered his promise and forwarded them soon after his
return to Europe. They had not, and never were received, for it sub-
sequently appeared that the vessel in which they were shipped was lost,
so that they are probably now among the ill-gotten hoards of the Atlantic."
While Prince Maximilian was scouring the Upper Missouri for
botanic specimens, both white and red trappers were haunting its streams
and slowly draining them of the beaver kind which formerly swarmed
through its waters and over its dams. The white men, for gain; the red
HISTORY OF MONTANA 123
trappers to satisfy the thirst for whiskey which had been designedly
planted in their natures. The busy little fur-bearers were no longer
exempt from these incessant and fierce forays even during the breeding
season ; so that millions of their offspring were exterminated before
birth.
D.wiD D. Mitchell
The fur trade was doomed and John Jacob Astor, in 1834, shrewdly
retired from the American Fur Company. Its western branch thereupon
passed to Pratte, Chouteau & Company, and among their most trusted
employes and trappers were Messrs. Mitchell and Culbertson. The
former left for the States in 1834. but, being offered a partnership in
the company returned to Fort McKenzie in 1836. He remained at that
post until spring, and then was sent to Fort Union, where he directed
the company's affairs until 1839. Returning to St. Louis, he distinguished
himself in the Mexican War, and President Taylor afterward appointed
him superintendent of Indian affairs for "the whole region drained by
the Missouri and its tributaries." Mitchell was a Virginian and died
at St. Louis in his fifty-sixth year. He was married to an Indian woman,
by whom he had several children.
Major Alex.\nder Culbertson
When Mitchell departed from Fort McKenzie, in April, 1834, Maj.
Alexander Culbertson, then only twenty-five years of age, was left in
control of the little stronghold with its force of twenty men. In June,
it was besieged by a strong force of Crows, who, after ten days, had
reduced the garrison to almost starvation rations, but were decisively
scattered by one discharge of a little three-pound cannon. At this time,
Fort McKenzie was the storm center of inter-tribal warfare. Around
it, the Crows were fighting the Gros Ventres ; the Gros Ventres, the
Crees and the Northern Assiniboines ; and the Crows were also warring
against the Piegans.
•
M.ALCOM Clarke Arrives
In the spring of 1839 Major Culbertson visited St. Louis and his
services had been such that the company received him as a partner. In
the autumn of that year, he returned accompanied by Malcom Clarke,
a Hoosier twenty-two years of age, who was to intermarry with the royal
stock of the Piegans, attain a remarkable influence among them and with
men and women of his own race, and finally be treacherously murdered
by those of the adopted race.
One of the few instances of bloodshed in the history of the American
Fur Company, connected with any of its agents occurred in May, 1840.
A quarrel between Alexander Harvey, a lawless character, and Sandoval,
an employe of good reputation, resulted in the shooting and killing of
the latter. Respected descendants of the unfortunate man afterwards
124 HISTORY OF MONTANA
resided on the Blackfeet reservation, although the family speUing of
the name was changed to Sanderville.
Buffalo Robes Replacing Beaver Skins
By the later '30s, the beaver fur trade had reached a low ebb, but the
trade in buffalo skins was well under way. In 1841, Major Culbertson
took to Fort Union 2,200 packs of buffalo robes and only four packs of
beaver. He had become so commanding a factor in the affairs of the
company that, under protest, he was transferred to Fort Laramie, which
required a man of his energy and ability for the upbuilding of the trade
which was naturally tributary to it.
Audubon Calls on Culbertson
In 1841, not long before he left Fort McKenzie for Fort Laramie, the
intelligent, accommodating and forceful major was sought by the cel-
ebrated naturalist, John J. Audubon. With four assistants, the noted
scholar was engaged in making a collection of quadrupeds and gathering
various scientific data in the interesting Missouri country. Because of
his intimate knowledge of the region, Culbertson's cooperation was of
great service to Audubon. When the latter was ready to return in the
fall, he was provided with a mackinaw, in which Major Culbertson ac-
companied him as far as Fort Pierre. Major Culbertson subsequently
spoke of Mr. Audubon as a man devoted to scientific studies, "but fond
of occasional indulgence in the stimulating compound of the cup.*
Notwithstanding his age — then about sixty-one — he could range the wood
and prairies all day in the pursuit of objects for his collection, and
Major Culbertson, although a young and vigorous man, found it dif-
ficult to tire him."
An Indian Mass.\cre by Whites
Major Culbertson's place at Fort McKenzie was taken by a dis-
reputable named F. A. Chardon, in turn under control of the murderer,
Harvey. The result of this unfortunate appointment is thus described
in Lieutenant Bradley's journal: "In January, 1842, a war party of
twenty-odd Blackfeet passing by the fort requested admittance, but the
gates were closed against them. Incensed at the treatment, as they
moved off they killed a pig belonging to the fort. Harvey counseled
retaliation for the act, and Chardon himself with half a dozen men set out
in pursuit of the Indians, who, discovering that they were followed,
awaited in ambush in the Teton Valley. As the party approached, Reese,
a negro, who was in advance, crept to the brow of the bluffs to recon-
noiter, and received a shot in the forehead which was instantly fatal.
The remainder of the party, intimidated by this event from further
* Bradley's ".Affairs at Fort Benton," Contributions of the Montana Historical
Society, Vol. Ill, p. 234.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 125
pursuit, returned with the body of Reese to the fort, Chardon and Harvey
vowing a bloody revenge.
"Major Culbertson's policy of good-will toward the Indians had taken
root so deeply in the popular sentiment at the fort that Chardon and
Harvey feared to make their murderous designs generally known, and
therefore admitted only some half dozen to a participation in their plans.
The cannon commanding the approach of the main gate was secretly
loaded, being charged with about one hundred and fifty half -ounce lead
bullets, while, in lieu of the match ordinarily employed and which might
at the decisive moment attract attention and overthrow their plans,
Harvey's pistol was to be charged with powder and fired into the vent.
Circumstances were to determine the remaining dispositions ; and thus
prepared, Chardon and Harvey awaited the arrival of some unsuspecting
trading party of Blackfeet. Such arrivals were too frequent, thanks to
the thriving trade to permit of long waiting on the part of the con-
spirators.
"A numerous band of Blackfeet and squaws soon arrived at the fort
with a quantity of robes to trade. The three chiefs were admitted
without hesitation, while the rest were directed to gather at the gate,
which they were told would be opened as soon as they were all assembled;
Without a suspicion of the black treachery meditated against them, a
laughing crowd of warriors and squaws with their bundles and peltries
were soon gathered at the gate awaiting admittance. Harvey, from his
station in the bastion by the side of the cannon, pistol in hand, watched
through the port-hole the dense crowd assembled below ; imtil, satisfied
with the number of his contemplated victims, he discharged his pistol
in the vent. A sudden roar and the storm of bullets is hurled into the
unsuspecting throng. With a wail of terror, mingled with some notes of
agony from the wounded, the crowd disperses in flight. Twenty-one
corpses strew the ground, while some dozen or more are staggering
away with severe wounds.
"In an instant the gates are flung open and several of the garrison
rush forth in pursuit. Several of the wounded are overtaken and dis-
patched, but fleeing with the wings that terror gives the remainder make
good their escape. Three of the conspirators had been selected to
dispatch the three chiefs at the discharge of the cannon, but when its
thunder startled them, followed by the cries outside, they comprehended
the villainy that was being perpetrated, scaled the walls and leaped the
pickets with such celerity that the would-be assassins had no time to
perform the task allotted to them. Once outside they mounted their
horses and escaped.
Fort McKenzie Burned — F. A. C Built
"All the peltries and many of the horses of the Blackfeet were seized
by the victors ; but the most damnable part of the whole afifair remains
yet to be told. Removing the scalps of their thirty victims, they made
the night hideous with the cries and howls of the scalp dances ! Can
126 HISTORY OF MONTANA
any white man read such a story without feehng the hot blush of shame
— that tiiere can be assembled a score of his race, calling themselves
civilized and yet capable of such atrocity?
"War having been thus opened, Chardon prepared to abandon the
post, a post that for ten years had been one of the most profitable main-
tained by the American Fur Company. A detachment was sent secretly
to the mouth of the Judith, where on the north bank of the Missouri a
stockade was hurriedly constructed, the utmost care being taken to avoid
discovery by the Indians. In six weeks it was completed and named
after Chardon, Fort F.. A. C. As soon as the river broke up. which was
early after the completion of the new fort, Chardon and Harvey loaded
all the effects of their establishment into their boats and dropped down
the river, leaving Fort McKenzie wrapped in flames. The voyageurs
were afterward accustomed to speak of the place as Fort Brule, or
Burnt Fort, and it is by this term still generally designated."
Major Culgertson Recalled
In order to save the trade of the Blackfoot country from utter ruin
which these dastardly acts threatened, the American Fur Company in-
duced Major Culbertson to return from Fort Laramie and rebuild its
interests if they were not crushed beyond repair. Malcom Clarke ac-
companied the major, and it was w-ith difficulty that he was restrained
from inflicting physical punishment upon Harvey who had come from
Fort F. A. C. to meet the new manager at the site of the burned and
disgraced post. The vindictive, cold-blooded and fierce murderer fled
overnight, only to reappear as the enemy of the company which had em-
ployed him and which he had already foully betrayed.
First Fort Lewis Center of Peace
Major Culbertson at once abandoned Fort F. A. C. and commenced
the secret construction of Fort Lewis, at the head of the first rapids
above the present Fort Benton and about five miles below Pablo's Island.
Soon after it was completed and occupied, during the first days of the
year 1843, h*^ sent an invitation to the chiefs and warriors of the Black-
foot village on Belly River to confer with him in council at the fort. His
proffer was unhesitatingly accepted. Culbertson deplored the cruel and
unauthorized act of Harvey and Chardon, explaining that the criminal
had been sent out of the country in disgrace, while the Blackfeet. through
their leaders, that "the ground had been made good again by Major
Culbertson's return and the Blackfeet must not be the first to stain it
with blood." Presents were exchanged and the pipe of peace went
'round. Trade was at once resumed ; so much so that within the coming
four months 1,100 packs of buffalo robes, with quantities of .beaver, fox
and wolf pelts, were received from the reconciled Indians.
Culbertson Burns Fort F. A. C.
Major Culbertson took this fine treasure with him to Fort Union,
in May, 1843, and on his way burned Fort F. A. C. and thus blotted the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 127
evil name of Chardon from the geography of Montana. His handhng
of the difficult situation had been so wise and masterly that the company
appointed him agent of the Upper Missouri, at what was then considered
the munificent salary of $5,000 a year. The disgraced Chardon died
of scurvy in February, 1845. ^"d Major Culbertson buried him at Fort
Pierre, now South Dakota, on hi^ way to St. Louis. Harvey, his fellow
criminal, after vainly endeavoring to involve the American Fur Com-
pany— Pratte, Chouteau & Company — in the illegal sale of whiskey to
the Indians, and fearing to trade among the outraged Blackfeet, died in
1853, an outcast of both the white men and the red.
Posts and Forts Along the Yellowstone
The backbone of the fur-trade in Montana had developed along
Maria's River, instead of at the headwaters of the Missouri, as the
Piegans and Blackfeet of the north had proven more placable than the
southern tribes of the nation. The valley of the Yellowstone had not
proven especially productive, and the American Fur Company had not
considered it necessary to have more than one post at a time along that
river. In line with that policy. Fort Cass, on the Big Horn, was built
1832 and abandoned a few years thereafter. Fort Van Buren was
erected on the Rosebud, in 1838. It was also called Fort Tullock, after
A. J. Tullock. Charles Larpenteur afterward established Fort Alexander,
named after Major (Alexander) Culbertson, on the south bank of the
Yellowstone below the mouth of the Big Horn. It was abandoned in
1850 and Fort Sarpy — its name given in honor of one of the company's
prominent partners — replaced it, on the north bank of the Yellowstone
below the mouth of the Rosebud. Fort Sarpy was closed in 1855, and
was the last post of the American Fur Company on the Yellowstone.
The purpose of maintaining a post on the Yellowstone was to facil-
itate trade with the Crows, but, from the first, the Indians preferred to
bring their peltry to Fort Union, where they could obtain better sup-
plies, more abundant ammunition and more desirable presents. So that
the final abandonment of the Yellowstone posts had little bearing on the
development of the fur trade.
Greatest Fur Trade in Northwest Montana
It was the country northwest of the Missouri River which had become
vital to the trade, and it was a foregone conclusion by the late '40s that
the main central entrepot must be founded not far from the region of the
mouth of Maria's River. The site of the Fort Lewis built by Major
Culbertson in 1843 flid not meet the requirements of the trade. The drift
ice in the Missouri River during the spring and fall made it difficult for
the Indians to cross with their furs, and they requested that the post
be moved to a spot nearer the Teton where there was plenty of timber.
Accordingly, after careful consideration. Major Culbertson selected a
site for the new Fort Lewis on the north bank of the Missouri, seven
miles below the present town of Fort Benton. The selection was made
in the spring of 1846 and the first log fort was completed by fall.
128 HISTORY OF MONTANA
The following season was one of much prosperity in the fur trade.
Lieutenant Bradley states: "Not only was the stock of goods completely
exhausted, but even bedding, wearing apparel, everything that could be
spared from the fort, was bartered for the incessant flow of peltries."
The season of 1847 realized more than twenty thousand buffalo robes,
besides many other furs. In the following year three outposts on Maria's
and Milk rivers were established to facilitate their collection, Malcom
Clarke being in charge of one of them on the former stream. About this
time, the company increased both the duties and the territory of Major
Culbertson and gave him the privilege of selecting his headquarters at
any post desired. He evidently selected Fort Lewis, or as it afterward
became known. Fort Benton, and he was ambitious that the company
headquarters should do credit to the powerful corporation of which he
was the active head in such a grand territory.
Fort Lewis Becomes Fort Benton
Up to this time, all the posts of the American Fur Company upon the
Missouri and its tributaries had been built entirely of timber, rough or
hewn, according to the care taken in their construction.* But following
the style of architecture prevalent in the southern territories, after Fort
Laramie had passed into the hands of the American' Fur Company
the buildings of that post were reconstructed of adobe at an expense of
some $10,000. The result was the finest and best built post of the com-
pany. During his stay at Fort Laramie, Major Culbertson had become
impressed with the superiority of adobe buildings over those of logs,
and upon his return to the Missouri resolved ultimately to rebuild his
central post on the Laramie plan. The first adobe building of Fort Lewis
was completed and dedicated on Christmas night of 1850, and then and
there rechristened as Fort Benton, in honor of Thomas A. Benton, the
distinguished Missouri senator, who, for years, had been the legal ad-
viser, steadfast friend and, at times, savior of the American Fur Company.'
The immediate events in the career of Major Culbertson leading to
the founding of Fort Benton are well arrayed in Lieutenant Bradley's
journal comprising "Affairs at Fort Benton," as follows: "In March,
1850, Major Culbertson, with thirty horses, proceeded by steamer from
St. Louis to St. Joseph, then the highest village on the river, and thence
by land, accompanied by his brother and three men, to Fort Pierre. Here
he awaited the arrival of the company's steamboat. El Paso, by which he
continued to Fort Union. Remaining there until the boats were gone and
the summer's business dispatched, he ascended the Yellowstone with a
mackinaw laden with goods and eighteen men, including Meldrum, to
establish a new post on the river in lieu of Fort Alexander, that year
abandoned. He left Fort Union about the first of July and about the
fifteenth of the same month arrived at his destination, a point on the
north bank of the Yellowstone about five miles below the mouth of the
Rosebud River. Here the new post was built and called Fort Sarpy. It
* Bradley's Journal, Montana Historical Society's Collections, Vol. Ill, p. 256.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 129
was constructed of logs, about one hundred and twenty feet square, with
two bastions and the interior buildings in the stockade facing a square as
usual, standing some fifty yards from the river bank. Fort Alexander
had been abandoned and the new post built mainly to save a part of the
difficult river transportation. It continued in existence until 1855, when
it was abandoned and was the last post of the American Fur Company
on the Yellowstone. The Blackfeet were engaged in constant warlike
incursions into the Crow territory and, holding as enemies all whom they
encountered there, a number of the white employes of the Yellowstone
post had fallen at their hands. It became difficult finally to induce men
to go to such a dangerous locality, and this was one of the principal
causes of the withdrawal from the country. * * *
"The American Fur Company did not lose the trade of the Crows by
discontinuing posts in this country, for, having no other market for their
-peltries, they then brought them to Fort Union. In those days the Crows
made about five hundred packs of robes for trade yearly, never equalling
the Blackfeet, however. They were prudent purchasers, generally re-
ceiving nothing in return that did not serve them a useful purpose, as
arms, ammunition, blankets and beads. They would not drink whiskey
and it was therefore not carried among them.
"The Crow nation, probably owing to the extreme fascination of their
women, was the favorite resort of white renegades, and in early times
they were always to be found among the Crows, when there was not one
in the surrounding tribes. The Crows seemed pleased with the presence
of the white men among them and, if they were at all deserving, treated
them with consideration. The white employes of the Yellowstone post
always took naturally to the customs of the Crows and after a short
residence among them were scarcely to be distinguished in their long
hair, breech clouts and other articles of Indian attire, from the savages
themselves. It is perhaps to this fact that the frequent deaths at the
hands of the Blackfeet are partly attributable — the inability to distinguish
between a Crow warrior and a white man.
"Remaining on the Yellowstone only long enough to see the pickets
up and one warehouse completed. Major Culbertson left Meldrum with
his party to complete the fort, returning with one man, both mounted on
good horses, to Fort Union, arriving about the middle of August and
thence, after a brief delay to Fort Lewis. The fall was an unusually open
one, warm weather continuing until late in December, and Major Cul-
bertson resolved to improve it by the inauguration of his long contem-
plated plan of rebuilding his post in adobe. The soil of the bottom was
found excellently adapted to the manufacture of the brick, and the work
was pushed with vigor ; and day by day the walls of his two-story dwelling
rose higher and higher, on the site of a former log building taken down
to make room for it. Toward the last, the nights began to be cold and
the adobes froze ; but as the best that could be done they were laid in
the walls yet unhardened, where fortunately they dried without any
cracking or weakening of the walls; and just before Christmas the
building was completed. On Christmas night it was dedicated by a big
130 HISTORY OF MONTANA
ball ; and until a late hour the light-headed voyageurs and their squaw
wives, sweethearts and friends, danced and whirled to the music of several
fiddles. In the midst of the festivities. Major Culbertson proposed that
in consideration of the warm friendship of Thomas H. Benton for the
partners of the American Fur Company, and his services in saving the
company from ruin in 1844 by effecting a compromise of the suit brought
against it, that the post should be renamed in his honor.
"The proposition was received with acclamation by the joyous as-
sembly, and thus upon Christmas night, 1850, the post was first called by
the name it still bears and that will probably ever distinguish the locality
— Fort Benton."
Robert Meldrum
Robert Meldrum, noted as the companion of Major Culbertson on the
mission to establish Fort Sarpy, near the junction of the Yellowstone.
Ruins of Old Fort Benton
and the Rosebud rivers, had been in command of its predecessor. Fort
Alexander. As he was one of the most remarkable men in the employ
of the American Fur Company, his biography has been several times
written, but his personal characteristics have been vividly sketched by
Lieutenant Bradley, his friend and the historian of Fort Benton. "He
was born in Scotland about the year 1802," says Bradley, "but moved
with his parents to Kentucky at an early age. There he learned black-
smithing, but found his way into Bonneville's service and accompanied
him into the wilderness in his fur trading expedition in 1832. Upon
quitting his service, enamored of the savage life he had tasted for three
years, he remained upon the plains, making his home among the Crow
Indians. Adopting their dress, glueing long hair to his own to make it
conform to the savage fashion, 'having his squaw and lodge and living in
all resi>ects the life of an Indian, he was quickly enabled by his superior
intelligence and courage to acquire great influence with his savage asso-
ciates and soon became r^arded as a chief. He was a man of many
HISTORY OF MONTANA 131
adventures and was accustomed to complain bitterly that Beckwourth, in
the autobiography published by Harper Brothers, had arrogated to him-
self many of his own experiences. A representative of this firm en-
deavored subsequently to win from Meldrum a narrative of his life,
promising ample reparation for any misappropriation of his experiences
in Beckwourth's autobiography, but he proudly rejected all overtures, and
a fascinating record of strange experiences and hair-breadth adventures
is lost to the world. In person he was of medium height, strongly built,
weighed usually about one hundred and eighty pounds, had dark sandy
hair and keen grey eyes, and altogether an attractive countenance. He
possessed a mild disposition, shunned quarrels and contentions, but no
one ever ventured to call his courage into question. He subsequently
entered the service of the American Fur Company, in which he continued
till his death at Fort Union in 1865.
"Upon entering the service of the company, he left off the customs
and habits of Indian life and in his civilized dress was a man to attract
attention, from his evident superiority to the class of men generally en-
countered amid such surroundings. And upon engaging him in conver-
sation, the favorable impression was only deepened. He had never fallen
into the use of the slang and profanity of the border, but employed good
language and riveted the attention of his listener by the intelligent play
of his features and the fascination of his diction. In his later years he
was troubled with an affection of the kidneys, and was also subject to
goitre or swelled neck, a disease very prevalent upon the Yellowstone,
not only among the white men and Indians, but even among the dogs.
But up to the time of his death, he continued an active man, ready for
any exposure or hardship. He left no children, but has a married sister
living in Illinois, for whose benefit he was accustomed to devote a large
portion of the proceeds of his toil."
Major Culbertson was succeeded in command of Fort Benton by Maj.
Andrew Dawson, also a Scotchman, in 1854. He had been a resident of
the United States for about ten years and had spent most of that period
at Fort Clark, in the Mandan country of Dakota. He completed Cul-
bertson's plans of replacing the log buildings of Fort Benton with adobe
structures, the entire reformation being finished in i860. In 1864, when
the fort was sold to Carroll and Steele, he returned to Scotland.
Major Culbertson Retires, a Wealthy Man
In the meantime Major Culbertson had continued to operate as a
partner of the American Fur Company, and to such advantage that in
1861 he resigned and retired from business, a wealthy man for those
days, having amassed a fortune of $300,000. Culbertson was of Scotch-
Irish parentage and a Pennsylvanian, and had entered the service of the
company in 1829, when he was twenty years of age. He was able, genial,
popular, of large, handsome physique, and, after the retirement of
Kenneth McKenzie, was preeminent in the affairs of the American Fur
Company on the Upper Missouri for more than a quarter of a century.
132 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Major Culbertson married an Indian woman of the Blackfoot nation,
by whom he had several children. He remained true to her and pro-
vided lavishly for her and their family. His death occurred August 27,
1879, at Orleans, Missouri.
The Angus McDonald Post
While Forts Lewis and Benton were developing in the late '40s and
the early '50s, there were two fortified posts west of the Rocky Moun-
tains which had survived the competition of the American Fur Company.
One had been established by the Hudson Bay Company, in 1847, just west
of the southern extremity of Mission Range near St. Ignatius Mission
of the present, and was in charge of Angus McDonald, a leading em-
ploye of the company. He afterward became a noted character of the
country and his descendants have done him credit.
Fort Owen and Major John Owen
Fort Owen, in the center of the rich and beautiful Bitter Root
Valley, was founded in 1850, upon the improvements of old St. Mary's
Mission. In that year, Maj. John Owen, a sutler in the United States
Army, while en route with the "Mounted Rifles" for Oregon, decided to
remain in the northwest. In the summer of that year he traded with the
wagon trains on their way to the Pacific Coast, and in the autumn ar-
rived in the Bitter Root Valley which he selected as his future home.
Finding an opportunity to establish a trading post at the deserted mission
of St. Mary's, he purchased the property, with buildings, and trans-
formed it into Fort Owen. "After Major Owen purchased the property
since known as Fort Owen," says Frank H. Woody, the Montana pioneer,
in his contribution to the Montana Historical Society on "The Early
History of Western Montana," "he made many improvements. He en-
closed the land and commenced farming — rebuilt the grist and saw mills,
and in after years tore down the old stockade of logs, and built a large
and substantial fort of adobes, or sun-dried bricks. He opened and kept
a regular trading establishment, supplying the wants of both whites and
Indians. The stock of goods and supplies was kept up by making a trip
each summer to The Dalles in Oregon with pack horses, usually going
down in the spring to Clark's Fork and the Pend d'Oreille lake, and
returning the latter part of the summer by an Indian trail over the
Coeur d'Alene Mountains.
"Fort Owen was the nucleus around which the early settlers gathered,
obtained supplies and sought protection in the hour of danger. It was
known far and wide for the hospitality that its generous proprietor ex-
tended to the early settlers and adventurers in this distant — and at that
time — almost unknown wilderness."
The Selish (Flatheads) who inhabited the Bitter Root Valley were
always- friendly to the whites, but the Blackfeet made war upon both
Flatheads and whites. Fort Owen was threatened more than once, and
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134 HISTORY OF MONTANA
these raids into the valley did not cease until 1855. So that Fort Owen
was not only a trading and social center, but a place of refuge, and in
the '50s and '60s its able and genial proprietor was one of the popular
and widely known characters in Montana.
Messrs. McDonald and Owen had an especially close connection be-
tween the later days of the fur and emigrant trade and the opening
period of the mining era, which is not yet closed; for Finley, the itin-
erant trader, brought the first gold dust known to have been mined in
Montana to McDonald, in 1852, and tidings of these pioneer "finds" were
also brought to Owen. Such discoveries, however, led to nothing prac-
tical, as the Hudson Bay Company discouraged mining, as threatening to
detract from the interests of fur gathering and trading, and Major Owen
did not believe in the genuineness of the "colors" purported to have been
discovered. A decade was to pass before gold was to be mined from the
soil of Montana in commercial quantities."
"Major Owen on his annual visits to Oregon, and from other sources,"
continues Mr. Woody, "had accumulated an excellent library of sev-
eral hundred volumes, which he kept open for the use of his friends,
and being one of the most genial and companionable of men, it is not
surprising that Fort Owen was a favorite resort for the early settlers
and hardy mountaineers, or that the Major is oft and kindly remem-
bered by those who have reason to remember his kindness. Times
have wonderfully changed since the days of which we write. Maj.
John Owen has left Montana to spend his remaining days amidst the
scenes of his boyhood and Fort Owen, that contains a history within
itself, has passed into the hands of strangers and is fast falling into decay
and in a few more years will be numbered among the things of the past."
CHAPTER VI
THE FUR TRADE ERA
Twenty-five or thirty years of incessant trapping about eradicated
the beavers from the fur trade of Montana — at least, made such terrible
inroads into the living supply that Aster could see no object in con-
tinuing with the American Fur Company. Then the beaver gave way
to the buffalo, and his reign as a fur-supplier extended almost to the time
of the railroads, the coming of which spelled its extinction also.
James Stuart, one of the great pioneers of the trade and the western
country, prepared an article in the early '70s which is a pithy represen-
tation of the fur trade era. Having then been a western scout, trader
and miner for twenty years, half of that period as a leading citizen of
Montana, Stuart, then in the very prime of life, had a wide acquaintance
with guides, interpreters, traders and Indians themselves, and ample op-
portunity to collect the facts bearing on the subject so near to him, and
thoroughly verifying them. The facts, as he states them, and which are
also verified by other sources of information, are given below.
Fort Union Typical Missouri River Post
Fort Union was the first fort built on the Missouri River, above the
mouth of the Yellowstone. In the summer of 1829, Kenneth McKenzie,
a trader from the Upper Mississippi, near where St. Paul, Minnesota, is
now located, with a party of fifty men, came across to the Upi>er Missouri
River looking for a good place to establish a trading-post for the Amer-
ican Fur Company, (McKenzie was a member of said company.) They
selected a site a short distance above the mouth of the Yellowstone River,
on the north bank of the Missouri, and built a stockade, two hundred
feet square, of logs about twelve inches in diameter and twelve feet
long, set perpendicularly, putting the lower end two feet in the ground,
with two block-house bastions on diagonal corners of the stockade,
twelve feet square and twenty high, pierced with loop-holes. The dwell-
ing-houses, warehouses, and store were built inside, but not joining the
stockade, leaving a space of about four feet between the walls of the
buildings and the stockade. All the buildings were covered with earth,
as a protection against fire by incendiary Indians. There was only one
entrance to the stockade — a large double-leaved gate, about twelve feet
from post to post ; with a small gate, three and a half by five feet, in one
of the leaves of the main gate, which was the one mostly used, the large
gate being only opened occasionally when there were no Indians in the
135
136
HISTORY OF MONTANA
vicinity of the fort. The houses, warehouses, and store were all built
about the same height as the stockade. The above description, with the
exception of the area inclosed by the stockade, will describe nearly all the
forts built by traders on the Missouri River from St. Louis to the head-
waters. They are easily built, convenient, and good for defense.
The fort was built to trade with the Assiniboines, who were a large
tribe of Indians ranging from White Earth River, on the north side of the
Missouri to the mouth of the Milk River, and north into the British
James Stuart
possessions. They were a peaceable, inoffensive people, armed with bows
and arrows, living in lodges made of buffalo skins, and roving from place
to place, according to the seasons of the year, occupying certain portions
of their country in the summer, and during the winter remaining where
they could be protected from the cold with plenty of wood. For fear
of trouble with them the traders did not sell them guns; but when an
Indian proved to be a good hunter and a good friend to the traders by his
actions and talk, he could occasionally borrow a gun and a few loads of
ammunition to make a hunt.
The principal articles of trade were alcohol, blankets, blue and
scarlet cloth, sheeting (domestics), ticking, tobacco, knives, fire-steels,
HISTORY OF MONTANA 137
arrow-points, files, brass wire (different sizes), beads, brass tacks, leather
belts (from four to ten inches wide), silver ornaments for hair, shells,
axes, hatchets, etc. — alcohol being the principal article of trade, until
after the passing of an act of Congress (June 30, 1834) prohibiting it
under severe penalties. Prior to that time, there were no restrictions on
the traffic. But, notwithstanding the traders were often made to suffer
the penalty of the law, they continued to smuggle large quantities of
spirits into the Indian country, until within the last few years (i.e., 1873).
River Tr.^nsport.^tion by Mackin.\w Boat
St. Louis was the point from which the traders brought their goods.
They would start from there with Mackinaw boats, fifty feet long, ten
feet wide on the bottom and twelve feet on top, and four feet high, loaded
with about fourteen tons of merchandise to each boat, and a crew of about
twelve men, as soon as the ice went out of the river, usually about the
first of March, and would be six months in getting to Fort Union, the
boat having to be towed the greater part of the way by putting a line
ashore, and the men walking along the bank pulling the boat. Every
spring, as soon as the ice went out of the river, boats would start from
the fort for St. Louis, each boat loaded with three thousand robes, or
its equivalent in other peltries, with a crew of five men to each boat,
arriving at St. Louis in about thirty days. All the employes in the
Indian country lived entirely on meat — the outfit of provisions for from
fifty to seventy-five men being two barrels flour, one sack coffee, one
barrel sugar, one barrel salt, and a little soda and pepper. After the fort
was established, and proved to be a permanent trading point, large quan-
tities of potatoes, beets, onions, turnips, squashes, corn, etc., were raised,
sufficient for each year's consumption.
The wages for common laborers were two hundred and twenty dollars
for the round trip from St. Louis to Ft. Union, and back again to St.
Louis, taking from fifteen to sixteen months' time to make it. Carpen-
ters and blacksmiths were paid three hundred dollars per annum. The
traders (being their own interpreters) were paid five hundred dollars
per annum.
Methods of Trading
The store and warehouse, or two stores, were built on each side of
the gate, and on the side next to the interior of the fort the two buildings
were connected by a gate similar to the main gate, the space between
the buildings and stockade filled in with pickets, making a large, strong
room, without any roof or covering overhead. In each store, or stores,
about five feet from the ground, was a hole eighteen inches square, with
a strong shutter-fastening inside of the store, opening into the space or
room between the gates. When the Indians wanted to trade, the inner
gate was closed ; a man would stand at the outer gate until all the Indians
that wanted to trade, or as many as the space between the gate would
contain, had passed in ; then he would lock tlie outer gate, and go
138 HISTORY OF MONTANA
through the trading hole into the store. The Indians would then pass
whatever articles each one had to trade through the hole for whatever
the Indian wanted, to the value in trade of the article received. When
the party were done trading, they were turned out and another party
admitted. In that way of trading, the Indians were entirely at the mercy
of the traders, for they were penned up in a room, and could all be
killed through loop-holes in the store without any danger to the traders.
The articles brought by the Indians for trade were buffalo-robes, elk,
deer, antelope, bear, wolf, beaver, otter, fox, mink, martin, wild-cat,
skunk, and badger skins.
A Buffalo Surround
The country was literally covered with buffalo, and the Indians
killed them by making "surrounds." The Indians moved and camped
with from one to four hundred lodges together — averaging about seven
souls to the lodge; and when they needed meat, the chief gave orders to"
make a "surround," when the whole camp, men, women, and the largest of
the children, on foot and on horseback, would go under the direction of
the soldiers, and form a circle around as many buffalo as they wanted to
kill — from 300 to 1,000 buffalo. They would then all start slowly for
a common point, and as soon as the circle commenced to grow smaller,
the slaughter would begin, and in a short time all inside of the circle would
be killed. The buffalo do not, as a general rule, undertake to break
through unless the circle is very small, but run round and round the cir-
cumference next to the Indians until they are all killed.
Second Fort Union
Fort Union burned down in 183 1, and was rebuilt by McKenzie in the
same year. The new fort was 250 feet square, with stone foundation,
with similar buildings, but put up in a more workmanlike manner, inside
of the stockade. The fort stood until 1868, when it was pulled down
by order of the commanding officer at Fort Buford (five miles below
Union).
Robert Campbell and Sublette built a trading-post where Fort Buford
now stands, in 1833. They also, the same year, built a trading-post at
Frenchman's Point, sixty miles above Union, the next year (1834).
They sold out to the American Fur Company, who destroyed both posts
the same year. Campbell went to St. Louis and entered business on
Main Street. Sublette went to the Green River country in command
of a party of trappers.
In 1832, the first steamboat, named the Yellowstone, arrived at Fort
Union. From that time, every spring, the goods were brought up by
steamboats, but the robes, peltries, etc., were shipped from the fort every
spring by mackinaws to St. Louis.
Post .\t the Mouth of M.\ria's River
In the winter of 1830, McKenzie, desirous of establishing a trade
with the Blackfeet and Ventres, sent a party of four men — Berger, Daco-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 139
teau, Morceau, and one other man — in search of the Indians, and to see
if there was sufficient inducement to establish a trading-post. The party
started up the Missouri River with dog-sleds, to haul a few presents for
the Indians — bedding, ammunition, moccasins, etc. They followed the
Missouri to the mouth of Maria's River, thence up the Maria's to the
mouth of Badger Creek, without seeing an Indian; finding plenty of
game of all kinds, and plenty of beaver in all the streams running into
the Missouri. Every night when they camped they hoisted the American
flag, so that if they were seen by any Indians during the night they would
know it was a white man's camp ; and it was very fortunate for them
that they had a flag to use in that manner, for the night they camped
at the mouth of Badger Creek they were discovered by a war-party of
Blackfeet, who surrounded them during the night, and as they were about
firing on the camp, they saw the flag and did not fire, but took the
party prisoners.
A part of the Indians wanted to kill the whites and take what they
had, but through the exertions and influence of a chief named "Good-
woman," they were not molested in person or property, but went in safety
to the Blackfoot camp on Belly River, and stayed with the camp until
spring. During the winter they explained their business, and prevailed
upon about lOO Blackfeet to go with them to Union to see McKenzie.
They arrived at Union about the ist of April, 1831, and McKenzie got
their consent to build a trading-post at the mouth of Maria's. The
Indians stayed about one month, then started home to tell the news to
their people.
McKenzie then started Kipp, with seventy-five men and an outfit of
Indian goods, to build a fort at the mouth of Maria's River, and he had
the fort completed before the winter of 1831. It was only a temporary
arrangement to winter in, in order to find out whether it would pay to
establish a permanent post. Next spring Colonel Mitchell (afterward
colonel in Doniphan's expedition to Mexico) built some cabins on Brule
bottom, to live in until a good fort could be built. The houses at the
mouth of Maria's were burned after the company moved to Brule bottom.
Alexander Culbertson was sent by McKenzie to relieve Mitchell, and to
build a picket-stockade fort 200 feet square on the north bank of the
Missouri River, which he completed during the summer and fall of 1832.
Forts Lewis and Benton
This fort was occupied for eleven years, until Fort Lewis was built
by Culbertson on the south side of the Missouri River, near Pablois'
Island, in the summer of 1844. Fort Brule was then abandoned and
burned.
In 1846, Fort Lewis was abandoned, and Fort Benton was built by
Culbertson, about seven miles below Fort Lewis, and on the north bank of
the Missouri River. It was 250 feet square, built of adobes laid upon the
ground without any foundation of stone, and is now standing (1875),
and occupied as a military post. The dwellings, warehouses, stores, etc.,
were all built of adobes.
140 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Trouble with the Blackfeet
The Piegans, Blackfeet, and Blood Indians, all talking the same
language, claimed and occupied the country from the Missouri River
to the Saskatchewan River. Prior to the building of the winter-quarters
at the mouth of Maria's, they had always traded with the Hudson Bay
Company at the Prairie Fort or Somerset House, both on the Saskatch-
ewan. There was a bitter rivalry between the Hudson Bay Company
and the American Fur Company. The Hudson Bay Company often
sent men to induce the confederated Blackfeet to go north and trade, and
the Indians said they were offered large rewards to kill all the traders
on the Missouri River, and destroy the trading-posts. McKenzie wrote
to Governor Bird, the head man of the Hudson Bay Company in the
north, in regard to the matter, and Bird wrote back to McKenzie, saying:
"When you know the Blackfeet as well as I do, you will know that they
do not need any inducements to commit depredations."
At the time the Blackfeet commenced to trade on the Missouri, they
did not have any robes to trade ; they only saved what they wanted for
their own use. The Hudson Bay Company only wanted furs of different
kinds. The first season the Americans did not get any robes, but traded
for a large quantity of beaver, otter, martin, etc. They told the Indians
they wanted robes, and from that time the Indians made them their prin-
cipal articles of trade. The company did not trade provisions of any
kind to the Indians, but when an Indian made a good trade, he would get
a spoonful of sugar, which he would put in his medicine-bag to use in
sickness, when all other remedies failed.
In 1842, F. A. Chardon, who was in charge of Ft. Brule, massacred
about thirty Blackfeet Indians. The Indians had stolen a few horses
and some little things out of the fort from time to time, and Chardon
concluded to punish them for it. He waited until a trading party came
in, and when they were assembled in front of the gate, he opened the
gate and fired upon them with a small cannon loaded with trade balls.
After firing the cannon, the men went out and killed all the wounded with
knives. The Blackfeet stopped trading, and moved into the British pos-
sessions, and made war on the post, and were so troublesome that
Chardon abandoned Brule in the spring, went to the mouth of the Judith
and built Fort F. A. Chardon on the north bank of the Missouri River,
a short distance above the mouth of Judith River, which was burnt up
when Culbertson built Fort Lewis and made peace with the Blackfeet.
Forts in the Crow Country
In 1832, McKenzie sent Tullock, with forty men. to build a fort at
the mouth of the Big Horn River. Tullock built the fort named Van
Buren, on the south side of the Yellowstone, about three miles below the
mouth of the Big Horn River. It was 150 feet square, picket stockade,
with two bastions on diagonal corners. In 1863, I saw the location. The
pickets showed plainly; they had been burned to the ground, and several
of the chimneys were not entirely fallen down. The fort was built to
HISTORY OF MONTANA 141
trade with the Mountain Crows, an insolent, treacherous tribe of Indians.
They wanted the location of their trading-post changed nearly every
year, consequently they had four trading-posts built from 1832 to 1850,
viz : Fort Cass, built by Tullock, on the Yellowstone, below Van Buren,
in 1836; Fort Alexander, built by Lawender, still lower down on the
Yellowstone River, in 1848, and Fort Sarpy, built by Alexander Cul-
bertson, in 1850, at the mouth of the Rose Bud. Fort Sarpy was aban-
doned in 1853, and there has not been any trading forts built on the
Yellowstone since, up to the present time (1875).
Kenneth McKenzie
Kenneth McKenzie, after Lewis and Clark, was the pioneer of the
Upper Missouri. He was a native of the highlands of Scotland. When
young he came, in the service of the Hudson Bay Company, to Hudson's
Bay. In 1820, he quit the Hudson Bay Company, and started to explore
the country from Hudson's Bay to Red River and Lake Winnipeg ; thence
to the Lake Superior country ; finally concluded to locate on the Upper
Mississippi. In 1822, he went to New York, and got an outfit of Indian
trade goods on credit, and established a trading-post on the Upper
Mississippi, and remained in that part of the country until 1829, when
he came to the Missouri and established Fort Union. He was in charge
of all the northwestern fur trade until 1839, when he resigned — Alex-
ander Culbertson taking his place — and went to St. Louis, where he went
into the wholesale liquor trade, and lived there until he died, in 1856
or 1857. He was a man of great courage, energy, good judgment, and
much executive ability.
CHAPTER VII
STEPS LEADING TO SETTLED CONDITIONS
From the Bitter Root Valley of Western Montana have issued not a
few influences which have tended to establish permanent or settled con-
ditions in the territory and state. Fortunately this sheltered garden-
valley was the old-time home of the friendly and intelligent Salish tribe
of Indians, who have always protested against the imposition of the
name "Flatheads" upon them. Why they should be thus designated,
neither ethnologists nor historians have ever been able to discover, for
their heads are as rounded and shapely as those of any red men ; and
there is no tradition that they have ever resorted to the barbarous custom
of flattening their heads, which is common to several of the tribes of the
Pacific Coast.
The "Place of the Bitter Root"
The ancient home of the Salish, which they still occupied when Lewis
and Clark passed through their country, was along the western slopes
of the main Rocky Mountain range, to the east of the Bitter Root Moun-
tains. The opposite slope of the Bitter Root range was held by the
Nez Perces, an equally superior tribe, with whom the Salish are often
confounded. The latter call their country Spe'tlemen, which means the
Place of the Bitter Root. The Indians lived principally on game, fish,
wild roots and berries — all very plentiful in their streams and land.
The principal roots were the bitter variety, which was like chicory in
shape, color and taste, and the camas, which resembles a small onion and
tastes like a smoked chestnut.*
The scourge of the Salish, as well as the Bitter Root Valley and other
sections of the Land of the Mountains, were the Blackfeet, whose fierce
and continuous warfare against them is largely responsible for their de-
crease in numbers, almost to the point of extermination.
Chaste, Hardy and Intelligent
Although the Lewis and Clark expedition came into contact with the
Flathead in passing through the Bitter Root Valley, it is strange that the
record of the expedition speaks of them as Hootlashoots, and ignores
' Flathead number of the Indian Sentinel, October, igig.
142
HISTORY OF MONTANA
143
the tribal name Salish. It is important to mention it, because it has a
bearing on the first expedition sent by the Flathead to St. Louis in 1831
for the Blackgowns, or Jesuit missionaries. Patrick Gass, of the Lewis
and Clark expedition, particularly notes the chastity among the Flathead,
and the absence of polygamy in their marital relations. Travelers and
visitors of a later period give them the same credit. They were also noted
Bitter Root Valley
as being a remarkably hardy tribe, with a power of endurance that could
scarcely be credited at the present day. In fact, it was remarked in the
journal published from the pens of Lewis and Clark that childbirth
hardly entailed on Salish mothers an hour's delay. Often at the ex-
piration of that time, an Indian squaw who had disappeared on a journey
to become a mother would remount her pony with her new offspring and
resume travel with the rest of the company.
144 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Christian Sioux Missionaries to the Salish
It was in the Bitter Root V'alley of this hardy, cleanly and intel-
ligent tribe that the Catholic missions had their birth, and introduced
not only religion but the white man's industry and settled life in the
wilds of this Rocky Mountain region. Sometime in the early portion
of the nineteenth century a band of twenty-four Iroquois left a Catholic
mission near Sault St. Louis, on the St. Lawrence, Canada, crossed the
Mississippi Valley, and wandered into the friendly protection of the
Bitter Root Valley where they decided to settle and spread their newly-
acquired gospel of peace. The leader of the Iroquois band was Ignace
La Mousse; Big Ignace, to distinguish his large stature, or Old Ignace,
to distinguish him from Young Ignace, a son who was also prominent in
the struggles and misfortunes of a decade to obtain a Catholic mission
in the Flathead country.
Indian "Braves" Journey to St. Louis for Priests
Ignace, the Big and Old, long labored among the peaceable and re-
ceptive Salish before they were converted to the necessity of having the
Blackrobes among them. Four of the converted Indian braves — two
adopted Nez Perces and two native Flathead — finally agreed to go to St.
Louis and bring back the missionaries ; to brave unknown mountains,
plains, deserts and fierce enemies of the human kind, such as the deadly
Blackfeet and savage Sioux. Starting from the mountains, in the spring
of 1831, they overcame all difficulties and after a fearful journey of six
months reached St. Louis in the early part of October. Soon after
meeting Gen. William Clark, the Indian agent, and explaining to him, in
some undetermined way, the object of their arduous trip, the four
messengers, truly "braves," were taken ill. Two of them, Narciss and
Paul, died after being baptized, and were solemnly interred in the Catholic
cemetery in St. Louis. General Clark was much pleased to explain the
object of their long journey to Bishop Rosati, as the famous expedition
of which he was one of the leaders, a quarter of a century previous, had
been materially aided by the Nez Perces and Salish tribes.
The two survivors of the journey from the Bitter Root Valley left
St. Louis for their home in the spring of 1832. General Clark secured
passage for them on the steamer "Yellowstone," which was about to
make her historic trip up the Missouri to Fort Union. As has been
noted, George Catlin, the author and artist of Indian life, was aboard,
and induced the two Indians to sit for their portraits, which still hang
on the walls of the Smithsonian Institution. In a report made to the
institution more than half a century afterward, Catlin writes of having
met the two Indians and traveling 2,000 miles with them. He
adds that he "became much pleased with their manners and dispositions,"
and that when he first heard the report of the object of their mission he
could scarcely believe it, but upon conversing with General Clark on a
future occasion was fully convinced of the fact.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 145
It is not known that either of the two Indians who started on their
return to the Bitter Root Valley reached their destination, but it ie
certain that no Catholic missionary was sent as a result of the sacrifices
of the brave four. Their visit to St. Louis had its ultimate effect, how-
ever, as all disinterested sacrifices do. The Methodist and Presbyterian
missionaries became interested in the Western Indians, and the Massachu-
setts Lees traveled into Oregon and laid the foundation of Willamette and
The Dallas missions and Indian school, while Dr. Samuel Parker and
Marcus Whitman, of New York, brought Protestantism to the Indians
of Washington and Idaho, as we know them now.
Old Ignace and Sons Go to St. Louis
But it was Catholicism which most appealed to the Salish of the
Bitter Root Valley, and in the summer of 1835 Old Ignace, with his two
young sons, started again on the perilous journey to St. Louis, in
quest of the priests and missionaries of their faith. After terrible
sufferings from cold and hunger, they reached St. Louis and returned with
promises of spiritual assistance. For eighteen months the patient and
faithful Indians awaited their priests in vain, and in the summer of 1837
Ignace, the elder, once more led the quest toward St. Louis, his com-
panions being three Salish and one Nez Perce. Near Fort Laramie they
joined a little party of whites, among whom was W. H. Gray who had
come West with Dr. Marcus Whitman. Thence they took up the march
together, but while passing through the country of the hostile Sioux, at
Ash Hollow on the South Platte, they encountered a large body of
enemy warriors.
Heroic Death of Old Ignace
The Sioux, who wished only the scalps of the Indians, ordered the
whites to stand aside before the attack commenced, and Old Ignace, who
was clad in white man's garments, was told to join them. He bravely
and loyally refused and in the desperate fight which ensued — four against
three hundred — the five emissaries from the Salish, including their heroic
leader, were left dead upon the field. A Catholic writer justly observes :
"Thus perished he who justly could be called the apostle of the Flat-
head and neighboring tribes."
In 1839, the fourth and successful pilgrimage to St. Louis was ac-
complished by Young Ignace and Peter Gaucher, both Christian Iroquois,
who joined a party of the Hudson Bay Company and made the trip in
canoes. They made the journey in three months, and Bishop Rosati "gave
them the hope to soon have a priest." "One of them," he continues,
"win carry the good news promptly to the Flathead, the other will spend
the winter at the mouth of the Bear River and, in the spring, continue
the journey with the missionary whom we will send them." It was de-
cided that Pierre (Peter) Gaucher was to bring the news to the Indians,
and Young Ignace was to accompany the missionary.
Vol. I— 1 0
146 HISTORY OF MONTANA
The Coming of Father .De Smet
That missionary was the renouned Father Peter J. De Smet, S. J.,
who, on March 27, 1840, set out from St. Louis under the guidance of
Young Ignace. Going by boat to Westport (now Kansas City), they joined
the annual expedition of the American Fur Company, and started with a
party of some thirty people for Green River, which was then the rendez-
vous for all western travel. The romantic series of events which led to
the establishment of St. Mary's mission, in the Bitter Root Valley, have
been mostly gleaned from the "Letters and Sketches," fortunately written
by Father De Smet and largely preserved through the industry and fore-
thought of the late Dr. Reuben G. Thwaites, secretary of the Wisconsin
Historical Society.
FiN.AL Meeting of Ixdi.\n -\nd Mission.\ry
About the time that Father De Smet and Young Ignace left St. Louis,
Gaucher, who had bravely plunged through the wilds of the western
wilderness during the awful months of winter, arrived, all but dead with
cold, starvation and sheer exhaustion, at the Flathead camp on Eight Mile
Creek, in the Bitter Root Valley. At the joyful reception of his news,
the chief detailed ten of his warriors to Green River to meet the mis-
sionary, in advance of the main body of the tribe. The meeting occurred
on June 30, 1840, the Flathead reception committee having reached
the rendezvous before the missionary. "The following Sunday, July 5th,
Father De Smet celebrated Mass before a motley but respectful crowd
of Indians, white fur traders, trappers and hunters. The altar was
erected on a little elevation and decorated with boughs and garlands of
wild flowers. The vault of the temple was God's azure sky and the floor,
the boundless expanse of the wilderness. The spot became known to In-
dian and white as The Prairie of the Mass."
Bidding farewell to his traveling companions the missionary and his
Indian escort proceeded toward the headwaters of the Snake River, and
some eight days journey through mountain defiles brought them to the
main body of the Flathead. The latter were encamped in Pierre Hole
Valley, on the line that divides Idaho from Wyoming, south of Pleasant
Valley, and had made the journey of about eight hundred miles from their
home to meet the Blackrobe. They had been joined by detached bands
of Nez Perces, Pend d'Oreilles, and Kalispel, and numbered in all about
1,600 souls. In their encampment a good lodge or tepee had been erected
for the missionary. A lively demonstration of joy, in which all, men,
women and children took part, made Father De Smet most heartily
welcome.
With marvelous eagerness the whole tribe set about learning their
religious duties. "The great chief," writes the missionary, "was the first
up at dawn of day, and mounted on his horse, he rode through the
camp to arouse his people crying out to them: 'Courage, my children;
open your eyes. Address your first thoughts and words to the Great
Spirit. Tell him that you love him and ask him to have pity on you.
■ HISTORY OF MONTANA 147
Courage, for the sun is about to appear. It is time that you go to the river
to wash yourselves. Be prompt at your Father's lodge at the first sound
of the little bell. Be quiet when you are there. Open your ears to hear
and your hearts to hold fast all the words that he says to you.' " A
few days afterward the whole camp moved up Henry's Fork on the Snake
River to Henry's Lake whence the river starts. Father De Smet ascended
one of the peaks rising from the summit of the main range, and, with a
pocket knife, engraved on the soft stone the following inscription :
Santus Ignatius Patronus Montium, die 23 Julii, 1840.
Eagerness of the Flathead to be Instructed
Father De Smet's missionary labor began with his arrival and con-
tinued till he parted from these good Indians to return to St. Louis.
"The few weeks I had the happiness to pass among them," he wrote
to Very Rev. F. N. Blanchet, "have been the happiest of my life and give
me firm hope with the grace of God to see soon, in this country so long
forsaken, the fervor of the first Christians. Since I am among them I
have given three, four and five instructions daily. They are anxious to
lose none of my words relating to these instructions, and if I had the
strength to speak to them, they would listen to me whole days and nights.
I have baptized about 200 of their children, and I expect in a short time to
baptize 150 adults."
"At the rendezvous at Green River, Father De Smet had picked
up a good Fleming, John Baptist de Velder, an old grenadier of Napoleon,
who had left his native country at the age of thirty and had passed as a
beaver hunter the last fourteen years in the wilds of the Rockies. He had
almost forgotten the Flemish tongue, declares Father De Smet, except
his prayers and a song that he had learnt on his mother's knee and re-
peated every day. This good man followed the missionary to the Flat-
head and accompanied him to St. Louis, where they arrived the last
day of the year, 1840.
"On leaving the tribe the missionary told the Indians that he would
return to them the following spring with other Blackrobes and establish
a permanent mission among them. His first visit had convinced him that
the Flathead presented a field of great promise. But, on his arrival at St.
Louis, Father De Smet ascertained to his great sorrow that financial
straits rendered it impossible to provide the funds for a second and
larger expedition. 'The thought that the undertaking would have to be
given up, that I would not be able to redeem my promise to the good
Indians, pierced my very heart and filled me with the deej>est sorrow,'
wrote Father De Smet, May i, 1841.' However, Providence came to
his help, and he was able to set out for the Rocky mountains accompanied
by two priests, Father Gregory Mengarini, a Roman, and Father Nicholas
Point, a Vendean, with three lay-Brothers, Joseph Specht, an Alsatian,
William Classens and Charles Huet, Belgians, all of whom were members
of the Society of Jesus. An Irishman, Fitzgerald by name, and two
Canadians, were in the party as drivers. John Gray, a noted moun-
taineer, accompanied them in the capacity of guide and hunter. Besides
148 HISTORY OF MONTANA •
the horses and pack animals, their traveHng outfit consisted of three carts
and one wagon harnessed to a yoke of oxen. These were the first oxen
and the first means of locomotion on wheels hrought into Montana.
"The Flathead had promised Father De Smet that some of their
people would meet him at a given spot, near the foot of the Wind River
mountains by the first of the following July. Faithful to their promise
ten Flathead lodges were on the spot at the stated time. But the mis-
sionaries could not reach the place till the middle of the month. The
Indians waited some twelve days, as long as they had anything to eat.
But, having fallen short of provisions, they had to go to the mountains
some distance off to hunt for their subsistence. This news reached the
Indian Camping Ground
missionaries near Fort Bridger, and they sent John Gray to notify the
hunters, who were not slow to answer the call.
"In this vanguard were the following: Gabriel Prudhome, a half-
breed member of the tribe, and the interpreter of Father De Smet the
year before; the two sons of Old Ignace, Charles and Francis, baptized in
St. Louis in 1835; and young Ignace, the guide and companion of Father
De Smet in the first trip. Brave Pilchimo, whose brother was one of
the five slain by the Sioux at Ash Hollow, and old Simon, baptized the
previous year, and the oldest man of the tribe, were also of the number.
All these ran ahead of the rest to forestall everybody else In greeting the
missionaries. Old Simon ran and raced as fast as any, looking, speaking
and acting as if the vivacity of youth had come back to him ; whilst young
Ignace traveled four whole days and nights without a bite to eat, that he
might be among the first to welcome the missionary band.
Founding of St. Mary's Mission
"After greeting the missionaries with exuberant joy they conducted
them in safety to the Bitter Root Valley, where the mission .was to be
HISTORY OF MONTANA 149
located, and where the Indians were to gather, according to their promise,
before the coming winter. The site selected was near the middle of the
valley, and the spot was reached by the missionary band September 24,
the Feast of Our Lady of Mercy, a most auspicious coincidence in the
mind of the Fathers. The Brothers felled some trees and constructed a
large cross which was erected on the spot to the chant of the Vexilla
Regis.
"Father De Smet named the mission St. Mary's, after Our Lady.
The beautiful and crystal-like stream flowing close by, the imposing moun-
tain just opposite and towering to the sky and the whole valley partici-
pated in the appellation and became St. Mary's River, St. Mary's Peak,
St. Mary's Valley, and have maintained these sweet names to the pres-
ent day. The formal inauguration of the mission took place on the first
Sunday of October, the feast of the Holy Rosary."
The news that the Blackrobe had come to the land of the Flathead
soon spread among the neighboring tribes, and one day in October, as
noted by Father De Smet, came representatives of twenty-four different
nations to the missionaries at St. Mary's. In November, at their return
from their hunting expedition, fully one-third of the Flathead were bap-
tized. Others were baptized on Christmas day, among whom were 115
Flathead, thirty Nez Perces with their chief, and one Blackfoot chief
with his entire family. "That first Christmas," says Father De Smet,
"was celebrated with all the solemnity that was possible in the wilder-
ness."
Indians Wonder at Sprouting Grain
The mission completed, Father De Smet traveled to Fort Colville in
Washington, a distance of more than three hundred miles, to procure
seeds and roots, and on his way he stopped among the Kalispehlms (Kalis-
pels) the Pend d'Oreilles and the Couer d'Alenes. He took back to his
Salish charges at St. Mary's " a few bushels of oats, wheat and potatoes,"
which he and his brethren sowed. "The Indians, like children, watched
with wonder, the planting, sprouting, ripening and reaping of the crop,
a thing hitherto unknown to them, though husbandry on a small scale
had been practiced at an earlier date by some of the eastern tribes."
The missionaries did not restrict their activity to religious instruction,
but zealously endeavored to inculcate the necessity and advantages of
work, a pursuit that was utterly foreign to the customs and traditions
of their converts. After the first lessons in manual labor, brought home
to the neophytes by building a chapel and the necessary winter quarters
for the community, they were taught to cut and split rails, to fence in a
plot of ground for cultivation in the coming spring. However, this kind
of missionary labor was a great surprise to the Indians, who did not
have the faintest notion of agricult^ure. They neither understood nor
would they believe Brother Claessens, who told them that the soil had
to be tilled and seeded to produce a rich harvest of grain. The good
Brother used to chuckle with pleasure when he saw the Indians perched
150 HISTORY OF MONTANA
for hours on the fence day after day to see whether the grain would
come up or not. Their incredulity began to weaken and finally gave way
when they saw the green blades and tender stalks crop out of the soil.
They took great pleasure in the growing wheat, and their expectancy grew
even feverish when it began to ripen. Happilly the yield was even larger
than the Brother had expected, and many of the Indians were privileged
to share in its abundance. This was the first farming and gardening done
in Montana.
Immediately after their arrival, the missionaries set about con-
structing the buildings of St. Mary's. Unfortunately, a description of the
mission as first constructed is not available, but in 1846 it consisted
of. twelve houses built of logs, a church, a saw-mill, a grist-mill and
buildings for farm use. Abundant crops of wheat, potatoes and various
vegetables were produced ; several head of cattle were raised and the
establishment had all the horses necessary for its use. These represented
the first agricultural operations in Montana. The burrs for the mill
were brought from Belgium, Father De Smet's home-land, to the Oregon
settlements, and thence to St. Mary's.
In 1843 the Jesuit College sent out two priests to assist Fathers
Point and Mengarini, while De Smet was dispatched on a mission to
Europe. These priests were Peter De Voss and Adrian Hoeken, and they
arrived in September at St. Mary's with three lay brethren.
Attempts to Convert the Blackfeet
Father De Smet's attempts to convert the Blackfeet were continuous
and persistent, but, on the whole, unsuccessful as compared with the
work of himself and his fellow missionaries among the Salish. The
Blackfoot chief who had been baptized on Christmas day of 1841 added
his endeavors to those of the Blackrobes, to bring his warlike people over
to the Gospel of Peace, but in the midst of his difficult labors met an
accidental death by falling from his horse. Father De Smet met with
some success in bringing the Flathead and Blackfeet into more friendly
relations; that is, certain members of the tribes, with representatives of
the Nez Perces, Piegans, Bloods and Gros Ventres, joined the Catholic
Church and worshipped in common. Upon one occasion, in 1846, the
good Father made note of "a solemn mass, sung in the open plain under
the canopy of green boughs, to beg for the blessings of God upon this
wilderness and its wandering tribes and unite them in the bond of peace,"
at which participated about 2,000 members of the tribes mentioned.
"It is a thing unheard of," concludes the missionary, ''that among so many
different savage nations, hitherto so inimical to one another, unanimity
and joy, such as we now witness, should exist — it appears as if their
ancient deadly feuds had been long since buried in oblivion, and this is
all the more remarkable in an Indian who, it is well known, cherishes
feelings of revenge for many years. How long will this last ?"
Father De Smet plainly saw that the greatest obstacles to the prog-
ress of the Catholic missions were personified in the Blackfeet, the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 151
most savage tribes of the region and the traditionary enemies of the
Sahsh tribe. For several years, therefore, before St. Mary's mission
was abandoned he bent his energies toward the estabhshment of a per-
manent mission among the Blackfeet.
Missionary Work at Fort Lewis
The old mission of St. Ignatius had been founded by Father Point,
on the banks of the Pend d'Oreille River among the Kalispehlms, in 1844.
It was placed in charge of Father Point, who acquitted himself so well
in this and other western missions that he was delegated by Father De
Smet to especially labor among the Blackfeet. He lived at Fort Lewis,
where, it would seem, there was work to be done among the whites as well
as the reds. Lieut. James H. Bradley, in his journal covering the year
1845 at the fort, has the following regarding the influence and discipline
of Fathers De Smet and Point upon the morals of the whites and In-
dians :
"Father Point, whom we have seen was left by Father De Smet at the
Fort, was furnished quarters and a room for a chapel and school. He
was a man of great austerity and severe in the practice of his religion.
He had daily service in his chapel, and the mass upon Sundays, attended
by all the squaws and most of the white employes of the fort, Major Cul-
bertson himself setting them the example. The Father was filled
with zeal for their conversion to the holy faith, sternly reproved every
exhibition of profanity and rebuked every immorality, and gradually
made himself feared but respected by every inmate of the fort; over
the squaws in particular gaining a complete ascendency. Even Major
Culbertson was not exempt from his denunciation when occasion arose.
"At one time when some packs of robes were lying on the landing
under cover, a storm and rain came up on Sunday, and the cover being
blown from the pile, Major Culbertson set to work with some of his men
to protect them from the shower. Learning what was going on. Father
De Smet ran out to expostulate. 'Major Culberston,'* said he, T am
amazed. I thought you were a Christian, a reverencer of religion and an
observer of the holy Sabbath ; but now I find you, not only violating
God's holy day, but exacting it of your men. How can my teachings
bear fruit, when you trample them thus ruthlessly in the dust?' Never-
theless, Major Culbertson continued his labor and the priest continued
his expostulations, till the former losing patience, and believing it to be a
Christian duty to protect his property from destruction told the priest
abruptly to go to his room and read his bible, when he wouldn't see what
was going on.
"At another time, when Major Culbertson's child was sick with
croup, and all efforts to afford it relief had failed, its Indian mother
requested to have an old Blood squaw, famous in the tribe for her success-
ful treatment of the diseases of children, summoned to try her art' upon
* See Father Point's letter, page 253, DeSmet's "Western Missions and Mis-
sionaries."
152 HISTORY OF MONTANA
the child. Knowing it to be the last hope and willing to satisfy his wife,
Major Culbertson consented and the squaw doctress came. Heating
stones and throwing water upon them she began to give the child a
steam bath, accompanying this treatment with the monotonous song
always employed on such occasions. Father Point was just sitting down
to breakfast with Major Culbertson in the room below, when the sounds
of the old woman's incantations reached his ears. Inquiring the cause
and being informed, without ceremony he rushed up to the room, seized
the old woman by the neck, pushed her precipitately down the stairs,
and then returning to the breakfast table reproached Major Culbertson
in strong language for thus lending his influence to perpetuate super-
stitions which he, the priest, was struggling with all the power of religion
to eradicate.
Improvement in Sexual Rel.\tions
"Father Point remained at Fort Lewis until the following May ( 1846),
when he returned to St. Louis. His influence at the fort had been de-
cidedly for good ; among the reforms that he accomplished was a change
of relations between the white employes of the fort and the squaws living
there. When the former were willing to become the lawful husbands of
their squaws, he solemnized marriage between them; and when they
would not consent to do this, he induced the squaws to leave them and re-
turn to their respective tribes.
"Major Culbertson states, in connection with this subject of Indian
wives, that even when marriage in the usual form had not taken place,
the head of the family felt himself bound to perform faithfully all the
duties of a husband and a father. He does not believe that there oc-
curred an instance of an employe of the American Fur Company, who
taking an Indian wife, failed in the parental obligations. Separated some-
times for life from civilized society, deprived of the opportunity to get
wives of their own color, it was natural that they should seek them
from the women of the people among whom they dwelt. When mar-
riage after the custom of their own race was practicable, they employed
its rites, but when this was impossible it satisfied them to observe the
Indian custom of purchase and public acknowledgement of their intended
relations. Some of the resident partners of the company and many of the
clerks, educated and intelligent men, took Indian wives, and carried
their families with them when removing from the country.
"McKenzie took his Cree wife and four children to Red river and
educated the latter in the missionary schools. Culbertson removed with
his Blood wife and six children to Illinois, educating his children, three
of his daughters being now well married and residing in the East. Denig
took his family of an Assiniboine squaw and three children to Red river
where he still resides. Morgan, with an Assiniboine wife and two chil-
dren removed to the same place. Mitchell sent his three children by his
Cree wife to the schools of Red River. Dawson took his only child
by a Cree Ventre wife to Scotland, his wife being dead. And Harvey
HISTORY OF MONTANA
153
provided for his two cliildren by a Piegan woman, somewhere in the
East. These were all prominent men of the fur trade and similar exam-
ples could be greatly multiplied. The poorer class of the employes, the
Andrew D.^wson
artisans and laborers, following their example, did the best the circum-
stances permitted. In some instances the father died, or was killed, leav-
ing infant children whose lot in early life was a hard one and whose
subsequent career was not admirable consequent upon this early orphange,
just as is the case with thousands of white children who grow up in the
154 HISTORY OF MONTANA
heart of civilized communities in the shadow of schools and churches.
But where children were left thus uncared for. the rough frontiersman
was often ready to assume the position of protector and provider."
Father Anthony Ravalli Arrives
Father De Smet had so pushed and expanded the activities of St.
Mary's Mission that he had sent Father Point and others to establish the
Sacred Heart Mission among the Coeur d'Alenes and St. Ignatius among
Kalispehlms, but was obliged to journey to Europe in order to secure
other recruits to assist him in his religious work. His trip was most
successful and he returned with a strong band of priests and sisters to
develop the missions in the Bitter Root Valley and elsewhere. The most
noted and helpful and who came to share with Father De Smet himself
the crown of unselfish Christian labors was Father Anthony Ravalli, also
a member of the Society of Jesus. He was the direct successor at St.
Mary's of Father Peter Zebinatti, who died suddenly in September, 1844.
Father Ravalli was an Italian, and not only learned in literature,
philosophy, the natural sciences and theology, but thoroughly versed in
medicine and in mechanics. In the forty years of his service as a mis-
sionary, he therefore was not only beloved as a religious teacher, but as a
physical healer and as a real helper in the practical affairs of pioneer
life. It was he who devised the first crude mill, by which the people,
white and red alike, obtained nourishing flour and bread. By many other
ingenious devices did Father Ravalli lighten the toil of those around
and add to their comforts. Although he traveled from the valley of the
Missouri to the Pacific Coast as a welcome visitor to the various Catholic
missions, he was most sacredly enshrined in the hearts of the western
people of his times as the Apostle of the Salish.
St. Mary's Mission Abandoned
Father Ravalli was in charge of St. Mary's Mission for about five
years previous to its abandonment in 1850. Little progress was made in
placating the Blackfeet. Numerous war parties of the nation continued to
visit the Bitter Root Valley in their marauding expeditions against the
Flathead and whites, and seldom failed to make a demonstration against
the mission. In 1849, upon an occasion when Father Ravalli had with him
only one lay brother and a few Christian Indians, the mission was attacked
by a war party of about fifty Blackfeet. During the assault, two bands
of horses belonging to the mission and Flathead Indians made their ap-
pearance, and the Blackfoot warriors preferring horses to scalps, with-
drew from the attack, drove off the horses and left the occupants of the
mission to meditate on their narrow escape. For the time being, the
Blackfeet made St. Mary's untenable, and in the fall of 1850 it was de-
cided to withdraw from St. Mary's, after the mission had been in opera-
tion for about a decade. Father Gregory Mengarini, who during all this
period had been a co-worker with Father De Smet, was in charge at the
156 HISTORY OF MONTANA
time of its temporary closing. Father Mengarini was the author of a
Salish grammar, published in 1861, and was the most thorough linguist
of the Flathead tongue among the missionaries. He subsequently went to
Santa Clara, California, where he died in the late '80s.
St. Mary's Mission was closed in October, 1850, and Major Owen
bought its improvements and established the fort which bore his name in
the following month. The mission had long been not only the center of
proselytism for the Catholic Church, but a refuge for travelers of what-
ever faith, or none at all. That fact, with the conviction of its insecurity
from Blackfeet attacks, seems to have been the eventual cause of its
undoing in the fall of 1850. This phase of the situation is thus de-
scribed by a writer of the period : "In those early days the missions being
the only habitations within many hundred miles became the refuge and
abiding place during bitter weather of French-Canadians and mixed-
breed trappers, who in milder seasons ranged over the mountains and
plains in pursuit of furs. These half-savage men were undoubtedly a
picturesque part of the old woodland life and their uncouth figures
lent animation and color to the quiet monotone of the religious com-
munities. In the first quarter of the last century we find mention of
French-Canadians employed by the Missouri Fur Company appearing on
New Year's Eve clad in bison robes, painted like Indians, dancing La
Gignolee to the music of tinkling bells fastened to their dress, for gifts
of meat and drink. The trappers were, in the days of St. Mary's Mission,
a licentious, roistering band with easy morals, consciences long since
gone to sleep, who did not hesitate to debauch the Indians, and who
feared neither man nor devil. They went to St. Mary's, as to other
shrines, and under the pretext of practicing their religion, lived on the
missionaries' scanty stores and filled the idle hours with illicit pastimes.
It is said that they became revengeful because of the coolness of their
reception by the priests, and malevolently set about to poison the Salish
against the beloved robes noires."
Another account gives a more specific instance of the way that un-
principled whites undermined the good work of St. Mary's. It is to the
effect that in the winter of 1849-50 eight white emigrants on their way
to Oregon stopped among the Flathead "and sought like drones to live ofif
the scanty subsistence of the Indians. Their ways were neither com-
mendable nor edifying. They were men of no religion, and resented the re-
monstrances of the Fathers for the scandal given to the Indians by their
licentiousness. They deemed themselves insulted by admonition and coun-
sel, and intepreted the refusal of the missionaries to grant their exorbitant
demands as an interference with their rights and freedom. Their grum-
bling soon developed into active hostility, especially against Father Man-
garini, who was in charge of the mission, and they made use of some
half-breeds whose conduct was little better than their own to destroy the
confidence and alienate the hearts of the Indians."
Whatever the cause, or causes, the Flathead became luke-warm in
their devotions, many of them refusing to sacrifice the buffalo hunt for
priestly offices, and the Blackfeet became more and more dangerous. So
HISTORY OF MONTANA 157
Mary's Mission was dismantled and leased to Major Owen, the trader,
and the missionaries went forth to other fields of religious labor. At
Hell Gate, the inferno of the Blackfeet, they parted, Father Ravalli
starting for the Sacred Heart Mission among the Coeur d'Alenes, and the
others headed for the Mission of St. Ignatius, on the banks of the Pend
d'Oreille River.
The Good Salish Chiefs, Paul and Victor
The missionaries from St. Mary's abandoned mission were escorted
to St. Ignatius by Victor, the good and able chief of the Salish Tribe.
He was also called Mitt'to', the Lodge Pole, and was the successor of
Chief Paul, or Long Face, who, as the first of the Flathead to be bap-
tized by Father De Smet, was then eighty years of age. The missionary
named him Paul, after the great Apostle of the Gentiles. Victor, who
was the chief and great man of his people, and the unwavering support
of the whites for nearly fifty years, led the missionaries to the old St.
Ignatius Mission in the autumn of 1850. There, for four or five years
it endured, when, location not being considered desirable, preparations
were made to move it to a site selected by Alexander, chief of the Kali-
spehlms, in the fruitful, flowery valley of Sin-Yal-min. From the great
range by that name which formed its eastern boundary "burst a water-
fall plunging from mighty altitudes into the emerald bowl of the valley,
and there was the favorite gathering place of the Kalispehlms, Upper
Kootenais, Pend d'Oreilles and Salish. Many of these Indians had
already commenced to till little tracts of land, and evinced a desire for a
settled and domestic life.
The New St. Ignatius Mission
The new St. Ignatius Mission seemed favored from its birth. During
the year following its establishment in the valley of Sin-Yal-Min, or
Mission Valley, the Hell Gate's treaty was signed by which Victor, in
behalf of the Salish, the Pend d'Oreilles and other allied tribes of his
nation, was to retain possession of the Bitter Root Valley above the
Lolo Fork, unless after a fair survey by the United States the president
should deem it best to move the tribe to Jocko, farther north and beyond
the valley. In either case, with St. Mary's abandoned, the new mission
of St. Ignatius was favored. Entire families of Salish soon commenced
to abandon the Bitter Root Valley in order to be near the Blackrobes of
St. Ignatius. The establishment of schools for both Indian boys and
girls added to the northern attraction. The girls' school, the pioneer of
its kind among the Indians of the territory, was first established by four
Sisters from Montreal. In the boys' school, which followed, were taught
not only French and English and the primary studies but such handicrafts
as leather work, especially saddle-making. "Thus, largely through its
practical industry, St. Ignatius grew into a powerful institution. Build-
ing after building was added to the group until a beautiful village sprang
158 HISTORY OF MONTANA
up, half hidden among clumps of trees and generous vines. On the out-
skirts of this community rows of tiny, low, thatch-roofed log cabins were
built by the Indians to shelter them when they assembled to celebrate
such feasts as Christmas, Good Friday and that of St. Ignatius, their
patron saint."
While St. Mary's was inactive and St. Ignatius was new, a spasmodic
effort was made by the Presbyterians, in 1857, to found a mission among
the Indians, with headquarters at Fort Benton. It is said that the In-
dians did not take kindly to the new Protestant pastor, because he had
a wife unlike the Blackrobes who were the only religious teachers with
whom they had come in contact.
While the Catholic missionaries were doing pioneer work in the
introduction of Christianity and settled conditions among the Indians of
Montana, the government was also endeavoring, with various degrees of
success, to arrange with the fiercer and more warlike tribes, such as
the Blackfeet and Crows, for the peaceful sessions of their lands and
permission to allow the railroad surveys to proceed unmolested. The
Oregon and the Salt Lake trails had been traced through the Rocky Moun-
tains and over the plains, enabling the pioneer missionaries and emigrants
to enter and, oftimes, to locate in the the Montana country.
First Crow Indian Reservation
In September, 1851, a part of the Yellowstone Valley was set aside
as a reservation for the Crow Indians. The boundary line of this
reservation commenced at the mouth of the Powder River and followed
that river to its source; thence along the main range of the Black Hill
and Wind River Mountains to the headwaters of the Yellowstone River,
thence down the Yellowstone River to the mouth of Twenty-five Yard
Creek, or Shields River, and across it to the headwaters of the Mussel-
shell, thence down the Musselshell, to its mouth, thence to the headwaters
of Dry Creek and down that creek to its mouth.
The Stex'ens Government Expedition
In 1853-54, Col. Isaac I. Stevens, governor of the newly created
territory of Washington, proved to be a strong and useful agent of the
United States in the assurance of more settled conditions within the
domain now known as Montana. He had been placed in charge of the
Northern Pacific Railroad surveys, an important section of which was to
pass through that portion of old Louisiana. In February. 1853, Governor
Stevens had reached St. Louis with the government surveying party from
St. Paul, and there met Major Culbertson, the commandant at Fort Ben-
ton. An arrangement was thereupon made by which the latter was to
accompany the government expedition to Fort Benton.
Upon Governor Steven's arrival at Fort L^nion, where his party
was joined by Lieutenant Mullan and others, the party proceeded to-
gether toward Fort Benton. At the Big Muddy (present Roosevelt
HISTORY OF MONTANA 159
County), a war party of Blackfeet came upon them while in camp, whom
Governor Stevens received kindly, dismissing them with presents. The
Gros Ventres, too, were encountered at the Milk River and similarly
treated. At that stream Lieutenant Lander was detached to proceed by
a more northern route and rejoin the main body at Fort Benton, where
Governor Stevens soon arrived without incident. Here he was joined
by Lieutenant Saxton with forty men, who had been sent by sea to Fort
Vancouver. Oregon, with supplies, which he had conducted thence to
Fort Owen, where he had left them and continued on to meet the gov-
ernor. As this party was to return to the East, Governor Stevens pur-
chased a keel boat from Major Culbertson for their transportation and
employed them to pilot them down the river to Fort Leavenworth ; while
the governor himself continued his journey to Puget Sound, having first
appointed Major Culbertson special Indian agent, and secured from him a
promise to pass the ensuing winter in Washington to assist in obtaining
an appropriation for making a treaty with the Blackfeet and Gros Ventres,
which the governor had been induced, by his encounter with these tribes,
to earnestly recommend.*
Leaving Fort Benton about the ist of October, 1853, with the keel-
boat bearing Lieutenant Saxton's command. Major Culbertson was so
fortunate as to get through to Fort Leavenworth (Kansas) without ice.
Proceeding thence to St. Louis, where he remained two weeks, he con-
tinued his journey to Washington in accordance with his promise to
Governor Stevens. There he passed the entire winter lobbying for the pro-
posed appropriation for the treaty, which he declared to have been the
most distasteful proceeding of his life. But he was untiring in his efforts;
not discouraged even when the bill failed in the House on its first pres-
entation ; and by his industry and straight-forward representations was
greatly instrumental in securing the final passage of the bill which re-
sulted in an understanding with the Blackfeet which temporarily modi-
fied their hostile attitude toward both the Salish and the white settlers.
Co-operation of Traders, Missionaries, Indians and Government _
In the meantime, John Owen, who had taken over St. Mary's improve-
ments and established his post and fort, was having the usual experience
with the Blackfeet ; so harassing and unfortunate had it been that he had
started with his herds for Oregon, when he fell in with a detachment of
Governor Stevens' soldiers under Lieutenant Alullan, who were then win-
tering in the Bitter Root Valley, and decided to turn back and re-establish
his interests under the protection of the soldiers. The missionaries also
adopted this policy of co-operation with Uncle Sam's Army, as is noted
in Hubert Howe Bancroft's "History of Washington, Idaho and Mon-
tana," as, follows: "In 1854, after the Stevens exploring expedition had
made the country more habitable by treaty talks with the Blackfeet and
other tribes, Hoeken, who seems nearly as indefatigable as De Smet,
♦Lieutenant Bradley's Journal, Historical Society's Contributions, Vol. Ill, pp.
269, 270.
160
HISTORY OF MONTANA
selected a site for a new mission 'not far from Flathead lake and about
fifty miles from the old Mission of St. Mary's.' Here he erected,
during the summer, several frame buildings, a chapel, shops and dwell-
ings, and gathered about him a camp of Kootenais, Flatbows, Pend
d'Oreilles, Flatheads and Kalispels. Rails and fencing were cut to the num-
ber of 18,000, a large field put under cultivation and the mission of St.
Ignatius in the Flathead country became the successor of St. Mary's.
K^^
_^M
S^HBB^P^^^B ■B'^^ft^
fli
t^^^^^^HH
- f^sU J .'it'*;'
jii
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: .:i
Pi*m„?^
-'li
laiy
•T"'
mV!^
5^-v|r,
-,:^mm.:'
■ .' '?
On the Shores of FLATHE.^D Lake
In the new 'reduction' the F"athers were assisted by the officers of the
exploring expedition and especially by Lieutenant MuUan, who wintered
in the Bitter Root valley in 1854-55. In return, the Fathers assisted
Governor Stevens at the treaty grounds and endeavored to control the
Coeur d'Alenes and Spokanes in the troubles that immediately followed
the treaties of 1855.
"Subsequently the mission in the Bitter Root valley was revived
(1866), and the Flatheads were taught there until the removal to the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 161
reservation at Flathead lake, which reserve included St. Ignatius mission,
where a school was first opened in 1863, by Father Urbanus Grassi. In
1858 the missionaries at the Flathead mission had 300 more barrels of
flour than they could consume, which they sold to the posts of the Ameri-
can Fur Company on the Missouri, and the Indians cultivated fifty farms
averaging five acres each. In their neighborhood were two sawmills."
Thus the missionaries, the United States Government and the fur
traders were co-operating, without any settled plan, to bring about more
settled conditions in the Land of the Mountains. Fort Benton and the
settlements founded by the missionaries at St. Mary's and St. Ignatius
were for years the only real evidences of permanent conditions in the
region. During the late '50s, that part of Montana lying west of the
Rocky Mountains received a few more settlers, and these scattered evi-
dences of permanency are noted by Judge Frank H. Woody, who was one
of the newcomers himself.
It may be added that the Deer Lodge Valley had also commenced
to show signs of occupancy by white settlers by the late '50s. In 1856,
John F. Grant built a home at the confluence of the Little Blackfoot
with the Deer Lodge River, the first building erected in that part of
the country. Two years later the first houses were built marking the site
of the present town of Deer Lodge, among the early settlers of which
were James and Granville Stuart.
St. Peter's Mission and Father Ravalli
The Blackfeet were still the great menace standing in the way of the
settlement of the fertile valleys of Western Montana, as well as the
extension of the Catholic faith among the Indians and the realization of
its concomitant, the establishment of peaceful relations with the whites.
The old aim of the church, temporarily abandoned, to establish a perma-
nent mission among the Blackfeet, was revived in 1858, eleven years after
Father Point had been recalled to Canada and taken from his labors along
that line of work. In that year Father Hoecken was chosen for the mis-
sion. He came West in the spring of 1859, and spent that summer travel-
ing over the country with a friendly band of the tribe in search of a suit-
able site for the proposed mission. The first location selected was on the
Teton River near the modern town of Chouteau. Various priests were
sent into the Blackfeet country to further the work, but four other at-
tempts were made before the site of the present St. Peter's Mission was
fixed upon. Locations on both the Sun and Maria's rivers were aban-
doned within the following four or five years.
In 1864, Father Ravalli joined the little missionary band at St. Peter's.
It was then established just above the mouth of Sun River, where Fort
Shaw now stands. The winter of 1865 was one of intense cold and raging
blizzards, and crowds of gold hunters and would-be settlers were strug-
gling toward the Sun River country and other promising sections of West-
ern Montana. Father Ravalli arrived at a most opportune period, for
St. Peter's was thrown open to all sufferers who applied for shelter there
162 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and the beloved apostle of the Salish, with his medical education and
training, was able to skillfully care for those suffering in body, as well
as for those who sought spiritual consolation.
The appalling winter was followed by a summer of drought and such
a withering of all the crops usually cultivated at and near the mission
that Indians and whites alike became discouraged. By comrnon consent
St. Peter's was then moved to its present location on the east side and at
the foot of the Bird Tail Divide, in the western part of Cascade County.
Although the mission was established, it accomplished little in the way
of converting the Blackfeet to the ways of peace, and was many times
in danger of its very existence. It was virtually abandoned in 1866 and
became a dependency of the newly established mission at Helena, Father
C. Imoda, who had been connected with the work among the Blackfeet
from the first, being assigned to the duty of visiting St. Peter's at in-
tervals.
Other Missions
In 1874, St. Peter's Mission was reopened, and afterward gave birth
to Holy Family Mission near the Blackfeet reservation of Northwestern
Montana and St. Paul's Mission, on People's Creek, a tributary of Milk
River and among the Little Creek or Little Rocky ^Mountains. St. Paul's
was a mission founded among the Assiniboines and the Gros Ventres of
the Plains.
Missions were established among the Cheyennes and Crows of South-
eastern Montana in the '80s — St. Labre on the Tongue River and St.
Xavier, with their schools for boys and girls. But the story of their
establishment and progress takes one through the period covering the
final struggles of the hostile Indians to retain their foothold upon Mon-
tana soil and the peaceful times of the past thirty years ; and there
are many epochs, episodes and developments to be depicted in the mean-
time.
The fur traders and missionaries were all laying the groundwork for
a stable civilization and a progressive commonwealth, and. both in co-
operation with them and as independent agents, the national government
and private individuals explored Montana for convenient gateways
through its mountain barriers and natural highways of travel between the
Missouri valleys and transmontane America.
CHAPTER VIII
EXPEDITIONS OF A DECADE
The early period of the decade prior to the discovery of Montana
gold in commercial quantities is dominated by the expeditions and explora-
tions and Indian negotiations conducted by Governor I. I. Stevens, of
Washington territory. He was also to cut a large figure in the southern
campaigns of the Civil War. In the later '50s, while the border states along
the Lower Missouri were in the throes of a sectional War of the Rebel-
lion, Business, Pleasure and Government were exploring and traveling the
regions of the Upper Missouri, developing their actual and potential riches
and endeavoring to make the land habitable for the strong and pro-
gressive men and women of the white race.
Sir St. George Gore's Expedition
The first of these expeditions which has cut a swarth in the historic
field of Montana was that conducted by the English pleasure hunter.
Sir St. George Gore. In 1854, according to Lieutenant Bradley's Jour-
nal, this wealthy English bachelor, equipped with a passport from the
Indian Bureau, ascended the Missouri River from St. Louis for a pro-
tracted hunt in the wilds of the West. He was accompanied by a party
of twenty-three men, with a long wagon-train loaded with provisions,
and had secured the services of the famous Jim Bridger as his guide. It
was probably the largest and best equipped pleasure outfit that ever
penetrated the western wilderness. Following up the valleys of the main
and North Platte rivers, hunting as he went. Sir St. George finally
crossed the mouth of the Tongue River, where it debouches into the
Yellowstone. There he built a fort for the protection of his party and
remained for nine months, trading with the Indians and pursuing his
hunting projects.
The Crows Protest the Wicked Animal Slaughter
The destruction of game by his party was so great as to excite indig-
nation of the Crow Indians and bring forth a remonstrance on their part.
They were willing, they said, that all that was needed for food should
be killed, but objected to the wholesale slaughter for mere sport, the
carcasses being left to rot upon the prairie. From a letter of Col. A. J.
Vaughan, then Indian agent of the Upper Missouri, to the superintendent
of Indian affairs at St. Louis, dated July, 1856, it appears that 105 bears
163
164 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and some 2,000 buffalo, elk and deer, had already fallen victims to the
British nimrod. At last the Indians, in retaliation, drove off a consider-
able part of his horses in one swoop, and subsequently, in the winter of
1856-57, while he was wintering between Forts Union and Berthold, made
a clean sweep of the remainder.
In the summer of 1856, the English hunter broke up his big camp
about eight miles above the mouth of Tongue River, and despatching
his wagons to Fort Union by land, he himself, with a portion of his com-
mand, descended the Yellowstone in boats prepared from the hides he
had taken.
Afraid of Being Swindled
Arriving * at Fort Union, the trading post of the American Fur Com-
pany still in charge of Major Culbertson, Sir St. George agreed with the
company for the construction of two mackinaw boats, with which to
descend the river, the company agreeing to take his stock, wagons, etc.,
at some stipulated price. When the boats were finished, there was a
misunderstanding as to the temis of the bargain, and he fancied that in
his remoteness from man the company was seeking to speculate upon
his necessities. He seems to have been mercurial, wrathful, effervescent
and reckless and, heedless of the consequences, he refused the terms
offered by the company. Accordingly, he burned his wagons and all the
Indian goods and supplies not needed, in front of the fort, guarding
the flames from the plunder of either whites or Indians. It is said, even
after such drastic action, he was apprehensive that the members of the
fur company might rescue from the flames the hot irons of his wagons
and carts. So, having guarded them until night came on, he threw them
all into the Missouri River. His cattle and horses,! according to the
Heldt narrative, he sold to the "vagabond hangers-on of the Indians there,
or gave them away, and, with two flat-boats he had built at the mouth of
Tongue River, proceeded with his party, now decimated by mutual con-
sent, to Fort Berthold." In the spring of 1857, Sir St. George left that
trading post so near to the western frontier of the United States and
returned to St. Louis by steamboat. ■
William T. Hamilton, Scout "Sign-Man" and Investigator
William T. Hamilton, a Scotch-Englishman from St. Louis, who had
long traded with the western Indians, been a gold miner of California
and afterward a Buckskin Ranger engaged in the protection of the
miners against the savages of the new country, had later been employed
by the Government as a scout in such campaigns as the Modoc and the
Spokane and Yakima wars. After the Indians had been subdued in the
latter series of engagements, in September, 1858, the Walla Walla coun-
*F. George Heldt in Contrihutions to the Historical Society of Montana, Vol.
I, p. 146.
tLieutenant Bradley's Journal states that the remainder of his horses were
stolen by the Indians in the winter of 1856-57.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 165
try was declared open to settlement, and the region was soon overrun
with white adventurers from Oregon and Washington. Then a rumor
was received from the Indians who had been east of the Rocky Moun-
tains that the tribes were inclined to be hostile, and as the Government
was becoming tired of continual Indian wars, it was determined to in-
vestigate that rumor. Mr. Hamilton was selected for the mission. More
than forty years afterward, after he had fought under General Crook
in the Sioux war and resided for many years at Fort Benton and the
Flathead country of Northwest Montana, as a fur trader and a guide —
this William Hamilton, then a grizzly old man of about seventy and
seven years, first told the story of his tour of investigation in 1858, to
sound the attitude of the Indians on the eastern side of the Rockies.
In 1858, Mr. Hamilton was stationed at Walla Walla, of which mili-
tary post Colonel Wright was in command. "Upon the conclusion of
the Spokane and Yakima war," runs his narrative, "an orderly informed
me that I was wanted at the officers' rooms. The meeting was held at
Captain Dent's quarters. (He was a relative of General Grant's wife.)
I accordingly reported and found some twenty officers present. It looked
like a council of war. They directed me to a chair in their midst, and
I soon learned that they were discussing the possibility or probability of
another Indian war east of the Rocky mountains, by reason of
the rumor received as above stated. They asked my opinion of the news
received. I had been interviewing many Indians who had lately arrived
from the buffalo country and learned that they were on friendly terms
with all the tribes through which they sojourned, except the Blood
Indians, and I had ascertained from them the section of country which
each tribe inhabited, and the disposition of the same, insofar as they were
able to give me information on this point. I accordingly imparted unto
the officers the information I had thus received and my opinion re-
garding the same.
"The officers asked me if I had ever been in that country and I replied
in the negative, but informed them that I had a great desire to visit and
explore those sections as far as the Missouri River. I was acquainted
with the country to the south of this river. Lieutenant Sheridan and
others thought it would be a foolhardy undertaking at the present state
of affairs. I replied, 'Yes for any person not acquainted with the Indians
and who could not converse with them'. I was then credited with being
the most expert sign talker among the Indians. This knowledge came
almost natural to me, and therefore I do not give myself any particular
credit for proficiency in that art. The knowledge of the sign language
is necessary to mountaineers and scouts. It assists them in extricating
themselves from many difficult dilemmas. All wild tribes of Indians
have great respect for a man who meets them boldly and can converse
with them by signs. It is the reverse with them when they meet a man
they cannot understand.
"I informed the officer I apprehended no great difficulty in making
the trip ; that the greatest danger was in passing through the late subdued
tribes, but if these chiefs were held prisoners until I returned I did not
166 HISTORY OF MONTANA
think there would be any great danger; the Indians being well aware
that I represented the government should the trip be finally determuied
upon. I informed the officers that I should visit the villages of the
subdued tribes and would want an official envelope with some reading
matter, and that I would interpret what would be necessary in order to
set them thinking of something else besides taking my scalp. The officers
all laughed at this mode of outwitting the Indians, and before the meeting
broke up shook hands with me, Phil. Sheridan, with others, expressing
great confidence in my ability to carry out the undertaking. They then
informed me to hold myself in readiness for a few days and they would
take the matter under advisement.
Starts for Blackfoot Nation East of the Rockies
"So about the 20th of September, 1858, I received an order from
Colonel Wright to report at headquarters at 2 P. M. I reported promptly
on time, the reception room being crowded with officers and their wives,
with most of whom I was acquainted, and was somewhat taken back
by their presence in the council. With an array of maps and writing
material spread out upon a large table, I surmised that some move was on
tap dififerent from what I anticipated, but in a moment was undeceived.
I then received an appointment as secret Indian detective with pay as
scout, and was ordered to proceed through the different tribes of Indians
to the Blackfoot nation east of the Rocky Mountains and report on the
condition and disposition of the different tribes visited, at the earliest
moment."
Hamilton received an ovation from both the ladies and officers at his
departure, promising the former "many nice Indian trinkets" and as-
suring the latter that he might be expected to return about the 15th of
November. His only companion, McKay, also a scout, carried his bows
and arrows, as he was an expert in their use. Their horses were said
to be the fleetest in the country, "thoroughly broken under fire and could
not be stampeded." They passed through the countries of the Spokanes
and thePalouse tribe— late enemies, using the official envelope, with
"interpretations," to good advantage, the name of Colonel Wright being
especially potent. Within a week, they had reached St. Mary's River,
where they met some Pend d'Oreille Indians, who warned them to beware
of the Blackfeet, Piegans and Snake Indians.
Missoula's Natural Advantages
A paragraph in Hamilton's journal, at this point in the narrative,
describes the primitive advantages of the country, at and around the
modern city of Missoula: "Next morning, by sun, we were packed up and
asking the chief the proper route to take, he pointed to a canyon some
fourteen miles distant, stating we should follow up that stream three
sleeps, then keep to the right of a certain butte, follow up a small stream
and cross the mountains. The stream they mentioned is now called the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 167
Little Black Foot. We crossed a rolling prairie, a beautiful country,
about II A. M., and arrived at a beautiful creek, now Rattlesnake, where
we camped. We saw no Indians, but signs in abundance. We laid over
one day and I explored this section for several miles, and informed
McKay I would at some time in the future open a trading post at this
place.* It was manifest by the convergence of the t^-ails that it would
be a splendid place for trade on account of its centrality. All these trails
showed signs of being constantly travelled by different bands of Indians.
The Flatheads Friends of the Whites
"We were aware of being in the Flathead country and thought we
could not be over thirty or forty miles from Fort Owen.f I was ac-
quainted with many of the Flatheads. They were always looked upon
by all mountaineers as being the bravest of Indians and mountain men's
friends in every circumstance. Flatheads never missed an opportunity
to render assistance to the mountaineer; hence the great friendship be-
tween the two. I had met Maj. John Owen at Walla Walla. He was
agent for the Flatheads. He invited me to pay him a visit at some time
and I promised to do so, but on this occasion had not time."
Hamilton and McKay then followed the trail up Hell Gate River,
crossed the Big Black Foot, guided and guarded by friendly Flatheads,
and on the i6th and 17th of October were encamped on the Dearborn
River and the south fork of the Sun, east of the Continental divide and
north of the Missouri River. From the latter camp, accompanied by a
band of Flatheads, Hamilton rode down the river some twenty-five miles
to visit the Piegan Indian agent, Colonel Vaughn, whom he described as
"a fine looking old man from the State of Mississippi." Upon applica-
tion, he gave Hamilton a statement as to the disposition of the Piegans
toward the .whites ; what tribes were actually hostile, or inclined to be
so. The colonel further informed him where Little Dog, the head chief
of the Piegans was camped, advising Hamilton to see the chief, as he
might render great assistance; also informing him that "the Piegans
had very many fine robes."
Meets Little Dog in Best Clothes
The white scouts then followed the base of the mountains, crossed the
north fork of the Sun River and some ten miles beyond that stream
found Little Dog's Indians and the proud, fine chief himself. Colonel
Vaughn had informed Hamilton that Little Dog was considered one of
the bravest and proudest Indians on the plains, and the two scouts there-
fore "dressed all up" in expectation of meeting him. "I just got through
(supper)," says Hamilton, "and was looking north expecting to see
Indians every moment, when sure enough about one mile distant, we dis-
*As he did, remaining there for several years.
tFounded eight years before by Maj. John Owen, former sutler in the United
States army, upon certain improvements^ of old St. Mary's mission.
168
HISTORY OF MONTANA
covered twenty-five Indians, splendidly mounted, coming rapidly. They
saw that we had discovered them and when within one-fourth of a mile
distant they pulled their guns and fired into the air, which is the sign
of friends. We returned the salute. At that they came with a whirl-
wind speed. It was a beautiful sight. When within fifty yards the chief
gave an order and they halted at a jump, as trappers say. Sure enough,
it was Little Dog, and he dismounted with a proud step and advanced.
I met him half way. He scrutinized me from head to foot, then reached
A By-Gone Chief
out his hand with the customary remark 'How.' He was a fine looking
specimen of an Indian chieftain. Many an artist would have been glad
to have had the opportunity of taking his picture, just as he stood before
me. He was over six feet in height, straight as an arrow, with his im-
plements of war on his person and a magnificent war bonnet upon his
head. Three years afterward I became the owner of this bonnet."
Fringe, Little Dog's Fine Son
Little Dog evidently approved of the completeness of the scouts'
outfits and was further impressed by the presentation of a handsome
blanket sent by Colonel Vaughn. Then came the chief's son. Fringe,
HISTORY OF MONTANA 169
who was to prove of such service. "Little Dog spoke to a splendid look-
ing Indian about nineteen years of age," says Hamilton, "to come and sit
down beside him and informed me that this was his eldest son. Well
the chief might be proud of this son, a young man as handsome as an
Apollo and as proud as Lucifer. I made him a present of the blanket,
which was a counterpart of the one his father had just received. No
sooner had he received the blanket than he jumped up and gave a ringing
war whoop which made all the horses prick up their ears, and then
stepping proudly up to me took me by the hand and made sign to me 'you
are my friend.' I observed his father's eyes sparkle with pleasure. Ever
after, father and son were as brothers to me and I to them, until their
death which occurred nine years after."
Other communications followed, by signs, and Hamilton from the
time of that conference was known among the Piegans as Sign-Talking
White Man. The Indians were loaded with provisions and presented
Sun Dance by the Piegans
with plug tobacco, when Little Dog departed with most of his warriors,
leaving his son and two other Indians to guard the white men's camp
during the night. Although Hamilton assured McKay that he had every
confidence in the reliability of Fringe, or Never Tire, each took turns in
sleeping. The former here writes : "Now these two Indians, Little Dog
and his son affected me as no other Indians ever had. An attachment
sprung up in my breast for them that I could not understand and account
for, since I was considered by all of my mountain friends to be very
bitter and anything but friendly with Indians. I had lost many friends
by them at different times."
Reception and Trading in Little Dog's Village
The next morning the journey was resumed toward Little Dog's
village, thirteen or fourteen miles away, the later portion of the trip being
taken with an escort of Piegan warriors whom the chief had sent for that
purpose. At the village Little Dog himself met them and the following
two days were passed in feasting, exchanging compliments and news,
and trading, for buffalo robes, dried tongues and ponies, revolvers, am-
170 HISTORY OF MONTANA
munition, scarlet cloth, calico, buttons, knives, etc., the scouts sometimes
using such articles in trade and at other times as presents. The robes of
the Piegans were of a very superior quality, many of them being gar-
nished bfeautifully and "would bring from twenty-five to fifty dollars in
any market in those days." While the trading was at its heigh', six Crow
chiefs were received into the lodge, with two of whom Hamilton was
acquainted. Afterward the scouts and traders, through the assistance of
the Piegans, secured over forty good robes from the Crows, who had
returned to Little Dog's village.
Famous Crows-Piegans Horse Race
Then the Crows and Piegans, who had been at peace since the pre-
vious spring, turned to pleasure, one of their favorite forms of sport being
horse-racing. Whereupon an event occurred in that line, which was
remembered and discussed long after it occurred ; and McKay's thorough-
bred was the hero of the occasion. As told by Hamilton, the story was :
"After feasting and smoking (for about two hours after the trading), it
was about 2 P. M. when the crier harangued the village to the effect
that the Crows wanted to run races with the Piegans. In a short time
there were fully five hundred assembled on the race grounds not over
half a mile from the village. I took Little Dog to one side, and told him to
let the Crows win the first two races ; that the Crows had one American
horse they wanted to run about half a mile, and not to race any of their
horses against this American horse, but for Piegans to bet all they could
get on McKay's horse, which could almost fly for almost half a mile.
"Little Dog secretly notified the Piegans of this programme, and the
Indians were quick to catch on. After three races had been run, all of
which the Crows got away with, they became wild, having won several
ponies and many robes. Fringe then led up McKay's horse, which was
not so tall as the Indian horse. Fringe signed to the Crows he would run
this horse against their American horse, and the Crows jumped at the
offer, bringing all the ponies and robes they had won and twice as many
more to bet on their horse, all of which bets were taken. I told Little
Dog to inform his people to get all the bets they could and they certainly
complied.
"After leading up fully twenty-five more ponies and piling up the
robes in abundance, the Crows commenced to look carefully at McKay's
horse, which they believed belonged to the Piegans, and they could see
nothing extraordinary about him, but were somewhat taken aback at the
amount the Piegans were anxious to stake on the race ; at all events
they would only take a few more bets. Little Dog's youngest son was
called up by Fringe and told to prepare to ride the race, McKay having
informed Fringe that any boy could ride the horse. The boy promptly
complied with the order of his older brother by stripping naked. A Crow
boy was also stripped, the track cleared and the horses led out to the
starting point. An Indian race is started by the signal Go ! The first
out wins the race, no difiference what may happen to either horse or
HISTORY OF MONTANA 171
rider. Little Dog and the Crow chief were judges. I had seen a great
many races, but never saw one in which the Indians took such an interest
as on this occasion. Neither myself nor McKay could tell certainly what
would be the result of this race, but one thing we were quite sure of:
The Indian horse had to be a world-beater to beat McKay's at that
distance.
"When the horses reached the starting place I turned round. Every-
thing was hushed, all the dogs being held by the squaws. I was looking
at Fringe with a glass and could see him address his younger brother on
the horse and then, both horses being turned, Fringe let go of McKay's
horse, which he was holding at the head, and the Crow let go of his horse
at the same time. When the race was fairly commenced, I could see
McKay's horse was being held, while the Crow was whipping. They ran
together neck and neck to within one hundred yards of the coming-out
place, when the boy on McKay's horse gave him the whip. The horse
■fairly flew from the Crow horse and won the race by about sixty feet.
An Indian yell went up from five hundred throats.
"The Crows were the worst non-plussed I ever beheld. They ap-
peared sullen and silent, having very little to say. In a short time they
departed for their own village. All the young Piegans had a great time
dancing and singing that night until a late hour. A great many may say
and think we played the Crows a mean trick by allowing McKay's horse
to be used as if he belonged to the Piegans, but not so. We looked upon
the Piegans as friends and the reverse with the Crows. I firmly believe
the Crows had stolen the American horse from some white man on the
emigrant road. I told the Crows as much and they did not deny it. At
all events our action made the Piegans our firm friends ever afterwards.
Depart for Blackfoot Camp
Little Dog's village, where Hamilton and McKay had been so warmly
received and through the friendship of the chief and his son had done such
profitable trading, was on Maria's River. They remained three days at
that place, and at their departure for the Blackfoot camp on the north
fork of the Milk River, the chief sent Fringe and five other Piegans to
accompany them thither. Arriving at one of the lodges of a Crow chief,
Hamilton produced both a mysteriously marked arrow given him by
Little Dog and the convenient official envelope representing the might and
dignity of the United States Government. Although outwardly im-
pressed, they indicated by the expression of their faces and signs made
behind the backs of the scouts that they had a contempt for the United
States, as they belonged to Red Jacket's band of Canadian Crows. The
white men obtained fifty-five garnished robes and two good packhorses
and saddles, in exchange for their stock — the design of the thieving
Crows being (as Hamilton learned by their signs) to induce them to re-
main in their village until the Piegans should depart and then rob them
of their entire outfit.
On the following morning, when the Crows were told of the intended
172 HISTORY OF MONTANA
departure of the whites and their Piegan escort, there was nearly a rup-
ture between the two parties, which was only averted by the boldness
and coolness of Fringe. When they separated, the Crows refused to
shake hands with the whites and many left the lodge without smoking
the pipe of peace. Fringe and his young Piegan warriors also agreed
to accompany the scouts for a safe distance from the threatening Crows,
as Hamilton and his friend had already gathered a valuable outfit — sev-
enteen head of stock, besides two mules they had received from Little
Dog and his son, and fourteen packs of goods.
McKay Scalps Three Blackfeet
The white-red party finally got safely out of the Crow village and
headed for a Kootenai village on St. Mary's lake, and when well out of
sight of the enemy Indians, Fringe and his Indian companions turned
in the direction of their own village ; not, however, before they had re-
ceived from Hamilton three revolvers, with plenty of ammunition and
other welcome presents. A few hours afterward the scouts and their
outfit were attacked by three mounted Blackfeet. The men had a narrow
escape, but their return attack was so decisive ttiat the Indians were
quickly shot from their horses and scalped by McKay. Not long after-
ward they reached the Kootenai village, and the bloody Blackfoot scalps
caused a furor among its warriors. They were tied to the ends of poles
and paraded through the village, followed by a procession of old and
young singing their war songs, which they kept up until about midnight.
The Kootenais Also Friends
Hamilton and McKay soon made friends with the Kootenais, who put
them down at once as great warriors, thus coolly bringing in Blackfoot
scalps and carrying such a ponderous outfit of goods and livestock. Like
the Flatheads, they had remained firm friends of the whites and had
refused to be drawn into the Spokane war, in the outcome of which they
showed much interest. The Kootenais inquired if the scouts had any
powder and lead, and when they were presented with a ten-pound keg
of powder, as a gift, their joy was such that "McKay remarked he had
never seen such pleased Indians in his life." That was the first step in
cementing the friendship of the Indians, as they "were not going to part
company with the Kootenais this side of Tobacco Plains*, provided we
ever go there. The chief, after being informed that the ammunition was
a present, made the sign 'wait until we cross the mountains to our
people.' "
Five Attacking Blackfeet "Made Good Indians"
The squaws built a strong corral for the livestock and brought in fully
a thousand pounds of bunch hay before night, the packs were brought in
and carefully secured, and at the conclusion of the scalp dance and a
* Tobacco plains, along Kootenai River, in the northern part of the present
county of Lincoln, far northwestern Montana.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 173
"very pleasant evening," the night guards took post. They comprised
Hamihon and McKay and two sons of the old chief, Black Bear. Nothing
eventful occurred during the first guard, held by Hamilton and the oldest
of the chief's sons. At about four o'clock Hamilton was awakened by
gun shots all around the village and he and young Black Bear ran to the
assistance of McKay and the other Kootenai guard. They reached them
just in time to see the other brother flash his knife and scalp a Blackfoot
whom he had thrown to the ground, and McKay also had his foot on
a six-foot enemy Indian, while he was reloading his shot-gun. Only
a few Indian ponies had stampeded and the corral built by the squaws
had kept the livestock secure. After the uproar in the camp had sub-
sided it was found that five Blackfeet had been made "good Indians, two
being credited to McKay." One young Blackfoot had been taken pris-
oner, and brought into the chief's lodge. After breakfast the next day,
many of the young Indians mounted upon their best ponies were scouring
the prairies and when they had brought in the few animals which had
escaped, turned their attention to the prisoner. They took him outside
the village, stripped him, cut his hair and gave him fully thirty lashes,
his yelling being heard all over the village. Afterward he was told to go,
which he did at a fifteen mile gait, until he passed over the ridge and
out of sight. A shot was heard and soon after a young Kootenai, a
brother to the one who had been killed in the recent fight with the Black-
feet, made his appearance from the direction the Blackfoot had taken.
He passed by near where Hamilton and McKay were standing, and the
former asked him by sign "Got Blackfoot?" He smiled, shook his head
and went on to his lodge. Hamilton afterwards found out that the
Kootenai had "got" the one that had been captured and released, but that
he reported his hair was too short for a scalp.
The Kootenais, with Hamilton and McKay on their mules, broke camp
October 27th, and, with the squaws keeping the pack animals in order,
the mixed party moved forward toward the northern home-land of the
Indians beyond the mountains. They had not gone far before a band of
two hundred Blackfeet warriors was discovered concealed in a draw,
and the moving village quickly closed up into a compact circle, Hamilton
and McKay exchanging their white mules for their war-horses.
A Battle Between Redskins
The advance of the two little armies of red warriors is well de-
scribed by Hamilton : "We then mounted our horses and rejoined the
advance and found the warriors stripped to the breech clouts. Whenever
you see that, be assured they are prepared to die in defense of their
women and children. They were a noble looking body of brown-skinned
warriors. They had no time for painting, for the Blackfeet had been
preparing for the attack by stripping themselves in the draw. Many of
them did not have a stitch upon them, except a belt and war bonnet and
implements of war. At this time they showed themselves upon a rise
about four hundred yards distant. They gave forth a thrilling yell and
174 HISTORY OF MONTANA
then divided into two wings, as if going to surround the Kootenai out-
fit. It was a very interesting sight to see them coming at whirlwind speed,
shouting forth yell after yell, and evidently expecting their yelling would
stampede some of the Kootenai outfit. In this they were disappointed,
as the Kootenais were up to all such manoeuvres and had placed all the
squaws and young ones on the outside of the pack animals. The squaws
were nervy, evidently realizing that everything they held dear was in
danger ; at all events they were rustlers on this occasion in keeping the
stock from being stampeded. When about one hundred of the Blackfeet,
who were charging on our side, got within 300 yards of us, they opened
fire with their Hudson Bay flint lock, muzzle-loading guns, but fortu-
nately they were of, short range. There was one Blackfoot in advance
riding on a fine pinto horse and I turned to McKay and said: 'Let us try
and stop that fellow.' As I have before stated, our ponies were thoroughly
broken under fire and would scarcely breathe when we took aim. We
both fired at the Indian at once and both horse and rider went to the
grass and remained there ; then the Kootenais sent forth their war yell of
defiance."
That seemed to give the Blackfoot warriors pause and, being also
outnumbered, they beat a retreat. Only a few Kootenais followed McKay,
whom Hamilton had been endeavoring to draw out of danger, as the
latter was far in advance charging after the fleeing Blackfeet. This was
not accomplished, although both man and horse were bleeding from
wounds, until the fiery Scotchman had "lifted some hair"- — taken some
Blackfeet scalps. The two whites and their small band of Kootenai
warriors were quite a distance from the main body of Indian warriors
before their chief called off his men.
The result of the battle was about thirty-five enemy scalps, as against
four killed and twenty wounded of the Kootenais. Their booty com-
prised a lot of Blackfoot blankets which had been left in the draw and
about fifty horses, the latter replacing the Kootenai animals which had
been shot and crippled in the fight.
As the Blackfeet warriors, in sign language on their retreat, had
threatened to renew the fight when the party were crossing the moun-
tains. Chief Black Bear sent ahead for reenforcements, and then camped
to bury the dead and care for the wounded. The advance then con-
tinued, in spite of Hamilton's advice to the chief to send scouts ahead,
the moving village was attacked as it emerged from a mountain pass and
a timbered stretch. Shots followed rapidly and the Blackfeet both
mounted and afoot came at the Kootenais with a yell. They also at-
tempted to stampede the pack animals, and Hamilton, even with the aid
of his famous horse Hickory, had much difficulty in saving his white mule
which a Blackfoot was riding off into the timber. A reenforcement of
Kootenais coming over the mountains threw the Blackfeet into a panic.
But, to the disgust of the scouts, the retreating Blackfeet were not fol-
lowed. Hamilton notes the bravery of the young boys in the fight : "One
of the young boys who was driving our pack animals was killed and two
HISTORY OF MONTANA 175
others were wounded. Those little boys fought more bravely than many
of the grown Indians."
Many were wounded, but few killed in this engagement. Both the
horses of Hamilton and McKay were -badly wounded by arrows and the
latter was also painfully injured in the same way. The former earned
as great a name as a "medicine man" as he did for his warlike achieve-
ments, but, if anything, the plucky and fearless ''Mc," with his wonderful
proficiencies as a bowman and his penchant for Indian scalps, seemed to
have been most admired as a white warrior. So great was Hamilton's
reputation as a healer, with the advance of the party, that several
wounded squaws insisted that he attend them, in preference to their own
medicine men.
On the 29th of October, the summit of the mountains was reached,
a scouting party of the newly arrived Kootenais now in the advance, as
well as on the sides and at the rear. At the base of the mountains, an
encampment was made, while two young men were dispatched with robes
to the Hudson Bay trading post, on the north side of Tobacco Plains, to
trade for powder and lead, the stock of which had become dangerously
low. The Kootenais expected another attack from the Blackfeet, as it
is in the Indian Code that to sufifer defeat and not retaliate — even if the
aggressor — is cowardly and inexcusable.
Dispute as to Ownership of Tobacco Plains
Black Bear and his people decided that they would move their village
to the Catholic mission, southwest side of Tobacco Plains, on the banks
of the Kootenai River. On the ist of November, accompanied by Young
Black Bear, and provided with three ponies by his Indian friends, Ham-
ilton set out for the Hudson Bay Company's trading post to get some
groceries. "The distance to the post," he says, "was about six miles,
it being situated about one-fourth mile north of the boundary line after-
wards established, which was disappointing to the Hudson Bay Company,
as they thought the whole Tobacco Plains was north of the line. I and
Linklighter, the trader, had a dispute about where the line -would be, he
claiming the whole country as Hudson Bay territory, and I claiming
the whole of Tobacco Plains for Uncle Sam. Neither of us at that time
knew what we were talking about, for the line as run divided the Plains
about equally. The trader, after all, was a good kind of a Scot, but had
been educated to think Mr. John Bull had a lease upon all of North
America."
Another Brush with the Blackfeet
Scotty, as the trader was called, returned to the Kootenai village with
Hamilton and Young Black Bear, adding to their outfit, on his own ac-
count, provisions for a feast. He looked over the wounded horses and
men and expressed his regret that he could not have been present at such
176 HISTORY OF MONTANA
"a glorious fight." Within the following few days, signs of the enemy
became more and more numerous, and on November 5th, with Hamilton
McKay (now recovered from his wounds) and Scotty (riding a tough
little pony), the scouts decked in warlike attire and horses painted, were
advancing with a hundred Kootenai warriors, to feel out the enemy
Blackfeet. About an equal number of their warriors soon appeared, set
up a war whoop and fired from a safe distance. They were driven into
a grove from which they had emerged, and the Kootenais circled around
the timber not knowing how many Blackfeet were hidden there. McKay
and Scotty were for an immediate charge, but after a council with the
main body of the Kootenais, Hamilton's plan was adopted of "smoking
out" the enemy, after which the squaws could put out the fire with wet
blankets. That plan proved a success and the fleeing Blackfeet were
pursued, McKay, as usual getting so far ahead of the native advance
that both he and his horse were wounded. Scotty, also, had an arrow
stuck through his thigh, and seemed quite proud of his wound. The
Kootenai lost three men and many were wounded. Not a few Blackfeet
were killed and some of them mutilated.
The Return to Walla Walla
This was the last real adventure of the trip, and the scouts, after
exchanging a shotgun and ammunition for a mule, saddle and twelve
robes (from Black Bear), said good-bye to their Kootenai friends, and
started for the lower end of Lake Fend d'Oreille, which occupied six
days. Thence they crossed Spokane River and plains, and to Walla Walla
had the escort of a band of friendly Nez Perces Indians. They arrived
at the post at seven o'clock P. M., of November 22, 1858, about a week
after the date fixed at their departure.
Major John Owen's Trip in 1858
Another trip, which tended still further to open up Western Mon-
tana, was that made in the spring of 1858. The government outfit, em-
bracing about sixty-five head of animals, was in charge of Maj. John
Owen, who had been appointed agent for the Flathead, Upper and Lower
Pend d'Oreille, and Kootenai Indians. Accompanying the expedition
from the Dalles of the Columbia to Fort Owen, Bitter Root Valley, was
Charles W. Frush, who describes himself as a "kind of brevet second
lieutenant in command of the mess box." From his pen is enjoyed a
sketch of the journey in that pioneer day. Also members of the party
were a colored boy as cook and four Flathead Indian packers.
The route was along the famous Buffalo Trail, through the Rocky
Mountains and over the divide until finally it struck Fort Colville, a post
of the Hudson's Bay Company in charge of Angus McDonald. The de-
feat of the government troops under Colonel Steptoe, in what was then
Washington territory (Whitman County of today) had emboldened many
of the Indians east of the Rockies, and when the party had reached the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 177
Little Spokane River some thirty miles south of the foot of the present
Flathead Lake, "a war party of Spokanes and Kalispels came to camp
and had a long talk and a smoke among themselves relative to the major ;
whether or not they should keep him or kill him, but after a lengthy
pow-wow they concluded to let him go, though they said (so the women
of our party interpreted to us) that Major Owen had big eyes and big
hands ; that he said and wrote bad things about them to the Great Father
at Washington, and it was better that such things should be stopped.
During the talk they took the major's saddle animal and tied her near
their camp, but afterwards an Indian brought the mule back and tied her
at our camp ; and we all drew another long breath and satisfied ourselves
(by feeling) that the hair was still on our heads, though the major would
have lost a few silver threads only."
The route then lay over the divide to the old Kalispel mission, then
abandoned, which was located some forty miles below Lake Pend d'Oreille.
on the east bank of the river by that name, now known as Clark's Fork
of the Columbia ; thence up that stream to where the Flathead and Mis-
soula rivers join, called Horse Plains, and thence to St. Ignatius Mission,
whose fathers heartily welcomed Major Owen and his party. After a
day's rest, the trail took a southerly course to the beautiful Valley of the
Jocko, thence to the bottom lands in the Hell Gate Ronde, which like
Horse Plains, offered wonderful grazing and a fine camping spot. "Our
last day's march," concludes the story, "brought us to the long-looked for
haven. Fort Owen; and after a lapse of twenty years I can see those old
adobe walls and buildings as distinctly as if it were but yesterday. When the
party reached the fort Mr. Caleb E. Irvine, who had been left in charge,
and a few attaches of the fort, ran out to welcome us, and general hand-
shaking and congratulations ensued.
"The names of the pioneers of this section and where they were lo-
cated, I will give as near as I can remember. There were camped in
the immediate vicinity of Fort Owen the following: Fred Burr, Thomas
Adams, Reece (Rezin) Anderson, Capt. Richard Grant and family, David
Petty and John Powell ; those living at Fort Owen were Maj. John Owen,
Thomas Harris and wife, Caleb E. Irvine and family, Henry M. Chase and
family, John Silverthorne and the writer. Old hunters who had located
farms and settled in the Bitter Root valley were Mr. Lumphrey. Al. Tal-
man, a Frenchman called Johnny Crappeaux, and an old Mexican named
Emanuel, and there was one settler in the Hell Gate ronde named Brooks.
In the fall of 1858 a couple of Frenchmen from Colville valley whose
names were Louis Brown and Crooked-Hand Shaw camped in the Jocko
valley and shortly afterward moved to what is now known as Frenchtown,
in Missoula county."
Business Expedition of LaBarge, Harkness & Company
The firm of LaBarge, Harkness & Company was formed in St. Louis,
in the spring of 1862, for the purpose of trading on the Upper Missouri
River. The members of the firm were Eugene Jaccard, James Harkness,
Captains Joseph and John LaBarge and William Galpin. Two steamboats
178 HISTORY OF MONTANA
were purchased — the "Shreveport," a small, light-draft boat for the upper
river, and the "Emilie," a fine, large boat. The LaBarges attended to the
steamboat interest, while Mr. Harkness went to Washington to obtain the
necessary permits from the Interior Department. On his return he bought
a large stock of goods for the Indian and mining trade, a saw and a
grist mill, and doors, windows, saws, axes, nails, etc., for building a
store for the sale of the goods. On the 30th of April, the "Shreveport"
started for Fort Benton with seventy-five passengers and all the freight
she could carry. On the 14th of May, the "Emilie" followed, loaded with
passengers and freight. Many were attracted by the novelty of the trip,
others by the reports of gold in Dakota and Washington territories,* and
others went as employes of the firm. Mr. Harkness preceded the "Emilie"
several days, going by railroad as far as St. Joseph, from which point he
kept a journal, which has been published by the Historical Society of
Montana (Vol. II), and bears many graphic, albeit homely details of
the trip up the Missouri to the Deer Lodge Valley of Far Western Mon-
tana, thus penetrating to the richest mineral district of the present.
First Steamboat Race on the Upper Missouri
Under date of May 18, 1862, Mr. Harkness noted, as the steamboat
left St. Joseph, 575 miles above St. Louis, that "about one-third of the
place has been burned and destroyed by the army." Twelve days up the
river, Omaha, Sioux City and Yankton had been passed and Fort Pierre
reached. At Fort Berthold, still further up the river in Dakota, another
steamer, "Spread Eagle," was met. It left at 10:30 A. M., June 5th, and
the "Emilie" half an hour later. A third boat, also going up the Missouri,
was overtaken in the afternoon of that day. It was the "Key West,"
which evidently was overhauled. Early the next day, Mr. Harkness en-
tered the region of the "bad lands," and notes : "The 'Spread Eagle' is
just alongside of us, and we are having a race, (probably) the first ever
run on the Upper Missouri. She passed us and then we passed her,
when she ran into us, breaking our guards and doing some other dam-
age. There was a good deal of angry talk." In the afternoon the steam-
boat was opposite the mouth of White Earth River, in what is now North
Dakota near the most northern point in the Missouri and was 2,235 miles
above St. Louis. Aside from the steamboat race, no excitement was re-
ported except the running down of a number of buffalo who were swim-
ming across the river. On the morning of the 8th of June, the mouth
of the Yellowstone was passed and Fort Union was reached in the after-
noon. From that point on, for some time, Mr. Harkness's diary is given
over to what we now speak of as Montana.
Trip from Fort Union to Fort Benton
"Landed at Fort LTnion 7:00 A. M., and fired a salute of four guns,"
notes the diary. "The fort is on a good site, but fast going to decay.
♦Montana, west of the Rocky Mountains was, in 1862, a portion of Washington
Territory ; that east of it was included within the bounds of Dakota.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 179
The Indians lost about five hundred head of horses in the winter from
the intense cold and have very poor robes. They do not go out of the
fort without being well armed through fear of the Sioux." Past Poplar
and Porcupine rivers, with herds of buffalo and antelopes, and packs of
wolves continually in sight, the "Emilie" steamed, breaking her tiller
rope, grounding and otherwise misbehaving, but on the whole pro-
gressing. Mr. Harkness was sick and Captain LaBarge had the rheu-
matism, as the weather was cold and wet. On the eleventh, the boat
reached the mouth of the Milk River, and on the following day passed
Round Butte, half way between Fort Union and Fort Benton, the latter
being the immediate objective. Rain had been falling much of the time,
and the river became so swollen and the current so rapid that in order to
get up sufficient steam for the "Emilie" to move, tar had to be burned. At
Dauphan's Rapids, above the mouth of the Judith River, the companion
boat, the "Shreveport," was passed, and about the same time a gov-
ernment boat was met going down the Missouri, having aboard a num-
ber of Lieut. John MuUan's men who had been engaged in building the
military road from Walla Walla to Fort Benton.
The "Shreveport," the smaller and less powerful boat, was taken on
wood just below the rapids (also called "Drowned Men's Rapids"). Note
from the diary, under date of Sunday, June 15th: "Passed Judith river
and overtook the 'Shreveport' just below ' Drowned Men's Rapids,' where
she was wooding. Procured some dry wood and passed the rapids with-
out much delay. Dropped a line to the 'Shreveport' and helped her over.
The rain fell in torrents, but the passengers walked over with cheers ; quite
a number were acquainted with each other on the boats. We had a very
agreeable time and I found my son and daughter in good health. Laid
up for the night at 8:30. Invited all the passengers of the 'Shreveport'
over to listen to a discourse by Rev. J. F. Bartlett."
Fort LaBarge Established
Taking the "Shreveport" in tow, the "Emilie" continued the journey,
past Maria's River and in view of the Little Rockies to the northwest
and the Judith Mountains to the southeast, "wooding" along the route.
At Fort Benton, two days afterward, both boats discharged their freight
"on a prairie devoid of timber." -Mr. Harkness therefore found his saw-
mill useless at that point. He says significantly that "some of the at-
taches are glad to see us." Little Dog, the chief of the Blackfeet,
who was at Fort Benton at the time, pledged his friendship, "and sent
out runners for his people to come in. Had a business meeting of
all the partners," he adds, "and decided to build our post a mile and a
half above Fort Benton, naming it Fort LaBarge." It was laid out in a
few days, 300 by 200 feet, Madam LaBarge driving the first stake.
On the i8th, "began the erection of a canvas store, and goods are
selling fast. Very warm, one hundred degrees in the shade." On the
following morning, the "Emilie" left for St. Louis, and on the day after,
the "Spread Eagle" arrived, also soon departing for St. Louis. The re-
180 HISTORY OF MONTANA
mainder of the trip up the Missouri was to be made in the "Shreveport."
At this period of the venture, the weather seemed to be "freakish." One
day it was "very warm — one hundred and four degrees in the store, but it
rained and turned so cold that we made a fire in the cabin of the 'Shreve-
port.' * * * Trade good until stopped by one of the most terrible
hail stomis I ever saw. The ground was covered to the depth of sev-
eral inches. The roof of the boat was cut so that she leaked in many
places."
First White Women to See the Great Falls
June 30th was a day of historic note, as witness this entry: " A party
was made up to visit the Great Falls of the Missouri. It consisted of Eu-
gene Jaccard, Father De Smet, Giles Filley and son Frank, Madam La-
Barge, Margaret Harkness (daughter of the proprietor), Mrs. Culbertson
and son Jack, W. G. Harkness, Tom LaBarge and Cadotte, the guide, the
last three being on horseback, and the others in an ambulance drawn by
four mules. They started at 4 P. M. and in the afternoon met some
Blood Indians, relatives of Mrs. Culbertson, who were friendly under the
influence of Father De Smet and Mrs. C. An antelope was killed and
cooked for supper and the party camped for the night. They started at
4 A. M. next morning, and reached the falls about 9 or 10 A. M. Madam
LaBarge and Margaret Harkness, leaving the ambulance, ran to the point
from which the first glimpse could be had, and are the first white women
to have seen the Great Falls of the Missouri. They found the way down
to the river with difficulty, and looking up saw the falls in all their beauty
and grandeur."
Overland Trip to Deer Lodge Valley
Below the Great Falls, the "Shreveport" was discharged of her freight,
oxen and horses were bought, as well as four small mules, and the steam-
boat returned to St. Louis, the balance of the trip to Deer Lodge Valley
and the mining country being made overland. After crossing the Sun
River, the mountain road was taken toward the South. At the Dear-
born, "lost best mule owing to flies and wild disposition," and in as-
cending the Prickly Pear found a bad wash-out in Mullan's military
road, which the men were endeavoring to repair. It is human nature to
criticise, and Harkness cannot refrain from commenting on Mullan's
work: If he had made the road on the hills it might have been per-
manent. They had twenty yoke of oxen to one wagon and could not take
it up. They have cut logs all day to place across the gullies, putting on
cross-pieces to make a road. It is now evening and they are going to'
try the new road. I hope there will be no accidents. A miss of six
inches would have sent them five hundred feet into the creek bottom."
Harkness found the road filled with trains, bound, like his own,
to the Montana mining country. He also met disappointed miners return-
ing to the States ; also some, on the way, who had struck "pay dirt."
HISTORY OF MONTANA 181
His trains left the Government — Mullan's Road — and took a short-cut to
Little Blackfoot River, which they crossed for the last time. They
had now crossed the divide to the western slopes of the Rockies, and
commenced the descent into Deer Lodge Valley. It was now July 23rd,
and the diary has this to say: "After a few miles we commenced the
descent to Deer Lodge Valley. From the top of the hill a fine view of the
valley, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, is presented. The dif-
ferent creeks, with their lining of willows, can be traced with a field glass
almost to their sources in the mountains and houses can be seen. After
descending the hill, which was fully three miles long, we crossed the
bottom and the Deer Lodge River, a wide and fine stream at this point.
Nooned at 11 A. M. in the most intense heat, and after dinner went down
to John Grant's house at the Forks, where N. Wall and the American
Mining Company are (located). Quite a number of our old acquaintances
are here, and I think I will remain.
"I saw several hundred cows and calves belonging to Grant, the
finest I have ever seen in America. Red clover is growing on the banks,
proof to me that grain can be raised here. Trout are plentiful and the
miners catch and dry them, and game birds are numerous. The hills roll
gently back towards the East, and in the West they rise abruptly, nearly
to perpetual snow. The Blackfoot and Deer Lodge rivers unite and
form the Hell Gate River, not far from the houses."
But Mr. Harkness did not remain. He prospected for gold on Flint
and Gold creeks and along Hell Gate River, but found the outlook either
for gold or trade far from his expectations. The weather also was
alternately fiery hot ancf intensely cold. Most of the miners who had
not given up hope, were also preparing to go to Oregon for the winter.
He, therefore, sold his ambulance, evidently a sort of an elephant on
his hands, to Mr. Grant, and on August 8, 1862, turned his face and his
party toward the Missouri, and just a month afterward reached Fort
Union on the return trip. At Fort LaBarge, Mr. Harkness built a boat
forty feet long called the "Maggie" (named after his daughter), which
he launched on the 26th, and started down the river accompanied by one
of Major Culbertson's boats. As the Sioux were again on the war
path, the two boats kept together for mutual protection. Two others
joined them, so that the fleet put out of Fort Union with confidence.
At Fort Pierre, Dakota, the danger zone was considered negotiated, and
the remainder of the trip to St. Louis was made without special anxiety
or incident. Mr. Harkness reached St. Louis (by railroad from Han-
nibal) October 7, 1862.
The immediate results of the expedition sent out by LaBarge, Hark-
ness & Company, or LaBarge, Harkness & Jallard, were not epoch-mak-
ing, but various unrelated incidents of that period indicated the creation
of new conditions in the development of Montana. Fort LaBarge, as a
rival of Fort Benton, proved a failure, although the conditions seemed
favorable to the growth of any trading post along the middle reaches of
the Missouri, which might serve as a depot of supplies for the Eastern
emigrants and others bound for the newly opened gold diggings of
HISTORY OF MONTANA 183
Southwestern Montana. In the summer of Mr. Harkness' venture, while
the '^Spread Eagle" and "Key West," owned by the American Fur Com-
pany, and the "Emilie" and "Shreveport," of his own firm, were speeding
up the Missouri with supplies for Fort Benton, a party — one of many —
of 130 men, women and children, with 52 wagons, under the direc-
tion of Capt. James L. Fisk, was proceeding overland from Minnesota
for Fort Benton and the gold fields of Bannaijk City. In September, 1862,
the great emigrant train reached Fort Benton, and continued west to
Gold Creek, where it arrived twenty days later and dispersed to the vari-
ous diggings then known.
But although the LaBarge concern had proven its enterprise by bring-
ing into Montana the first steam sawmill put in operation within the pres-
ent limits of the state, neither in capital nor influence was it able to
compete with the American Fur Company. Its stock of goods was much
inferior to that of the older and wealthier company and its freighting
capacities more limited. The great bulk of trade, therefore, continued
to go to Fort Benton.
The years 1863-64 saw the decline and fall of Fort LaBarge, then in
charge of Robert H. Lemon. Lieutenant Bradley, in his "Affairs at Fort
Benton," gives the following explanation of the decisive disaster:
"They had contracted this year (1863) to deliver at Fort Benton cer-
tain freight for Capt. Nicholas Wall, an old and well known steamboat
captain, and an influential man in charge at St. Louis. The low stage of
water compelled the discharge of the freight, with the goods of the com-
pany as well, above Cow Island, and Lemon was, therefore, compelled
to seek other transportation for his goods, and the freighting capacities
of the country being very limited. King and Gillette received twenty-
five cents a pound for carrying them from Snake Point to Bannack City, a
distance of about miles. Captain Wall at once instituted proceed-
ings against the finn and obtained judgment against them. Fort LaBarge
with all its appurtenances, including the sawmill and a considerable quan-
tity of peltries was attached and sold at sheriff's sale the following sum-
mer. The fort was purchased by the American Fur Company, while the
sawmill was knocked down to a bidder from the mining regions, whither
it was carried."
Lieutenant Bradley's footnotes, or comments, regarding this famous
pioneer lawsuit, which resulted in the discontinuance of Fort Benton's
rival, present some interesting facts, as follows : "Picotte was in charge.
Lemon came up as agent of Labarge. Lemon discharged Picotte on ac-
count of insufficiency and drunkenness, and put their business in the
hands of Dawson. Picotte had been instructed to remove the goods in
a flatboat from Cow Island, but he lay in the house drunk and neglected
the business. When the business was turned over to Dawson, he, na-
turally not being bound to the Labarges, moved his own goods first,
but during the winter hauled all the Labarges and Wall's also. The law-
suit was on account of this delay. * * *
"Labarge sued Wall and got damages for seizure of his fort and
injury to his business. The sawmills and buildings were sold in 1864,
but the goods and peltries, etc., not until 1866."
CHAPTER IX
FIRST GOLD DISCOVERIES AND WORKINGS
The post and the town of Fort Benton arose as a mart of trade, its
early prosperity as a fur center being subsequently accelerated and sus-
tained as a depot of supplies for the mining country, and the emigrants
en route thereto. The other large municipalities and towns of the pioneer
period were based directly on the gold discoveries and workings, the
story of which is a continuous tale of unrest and adventure.
Montana's First Gold Miner
The first "colors'' of the precious metal in Montana were found by
a peddler of Indian goods and trinkets, of mongrel Scotch and Indian
blood, whose route stretched from the Rocky Mountains of Western
Montana to the Pacific Coast. Francois Finlay, or Benetsee, after ex-
changing his colored clothes, beads, powder, lead, and what-not (perhaps
whiskey) with the red wanderers of the west, for furs and buffalo robes,
became so prosperous that he bought a large drove of horses in California
and brought them to Deer Lodge Valley. How many years passed in
such occupations, history recordeth not; but it is known that Benetsee
went to reside in that pleasant place in Montana sometime prior to 1850.
The stream upon which he located his retreat became known as Benetsee
Creek.
The wandering habits of a western peddler, or trader, cannot be ob-
literated, and the half-breed continued his trips to the Pacific Coast, with
his Montana ranch as his base of operations. After one of his journeys
to California, in 1852, he returned to his quiet home in Deer Lodge
Valley, hot with the gold fever of the far west. Examining, with critical
eye, the near country, especially the sand bars along his home creek, he
was impressed with its remarkable resemblance to the gold-bearing soil
of California. Finlay then obtained a pan and commenced to wash the
gravel, as he had seen the California miners do, and at length obtained
about a teaspoonful of yellow grains. This sample he took to Angus
McDonald, chief factor of the post controlled by the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, about twenty miles south of Flathead Lake. Although not a miner,
the fur trader had such f^ith in the "find" that he purchased it and then
sent it to be analyzed by an expert at one of the company's other posts.
His judgment was confirmed and he "grub-staked" Finlay to the extent
of a month's provisions and necessary miner's tools. After Finlay had
delivered to his backer about two ounces of the gold dust, they both tired
184
HISTORY OF MONTANA 185
of the venture and returned to the ways of trade, especially as the Hudson
Bay Company discouraged mining as likely to interfere with its legitimate
business.
Finlay's findings resulted in no further explorations for gold in
Montana fields until 1856. In that year, a party comprising Robert Here-
ford, late of Helena, John Saunders (Long John), and Bill Madison, on
their way to Salt Lake from the Bitter Root Valley, where they had spent
the winter trading with the Indians, prospected a little while passing
Benetsee Creek and found some gold dust. This they gave to old Captain
Grant, "who used to show it up to the time of his death in 1862 as the
first piece of gold found in the country."
SiLVERTHORN NO LONGER A MySTERY
Bradley's journal (Vol. Ill, Montana Historical Society's contribu-
tions, p. 277) has this to say about a gold find which, at that time, seemed
quite mysterious: Major Culbertson had arrived at Fort Benton from
a trip down the Missouri, in October, 1856, and not long afterward a
mountaineer "appeared at the fort with a quantity of gold dust which he
desired to exchange for goods. He had been prospecting, he said, in the
mountains to the southwest, but where there was plenty of gold, but
seemed averse to describing the exact locality. He demanded $1,000
worth of goods for the dust, but as nothing was known at the fort of
the presence of gold in the adjoining country, Major Culbertson had
doubts of the genuineness, or of its value of gold, and hesitated to accept
it. A young man named Ray, a relative of Culbertson's and an employe
at the fort, was sanguine the metal was gold and worth all that was asked
for it; and by his advice Major Culbertson finally received it as a private
venture, charging the goods to his own account. The mountaineer took in
exchange a supply of horses, arms, blankets, tobacco, etc., and went back
to the mountains. The next season the dust was sent to the mill and
realized to Major Culbertson the sum of $1,525, it having been proved
to be nearly pure gold. This was the earliest exchange of gold dust in
Montana, and no more was brought to Fort Benton till after the mining
excitement began in i860. It was undoubtedly collected within the limits
of the territory, and may be safely set down as the first important yield
from the mines that have since attained a place among the most im-
portant gold fields of the world."
As a footnote Lieutenant Bradley adds the following, after giving
Silverthorn as the name of the mountaineer who brought the gold dust to
Fort Benton : "He remained in the country for several years, retiring
alone for long periods to the mountains, and appearing at the forts or
settlements with plenty of gold to buy all his necessities. He could never
be induced to tell where he got his gold, but said it was a mine known only
to himself. According to his statement, it was not a very rich one, paying
him only four or five dollars a day, but the amount of gold he always had
seemed to belie his words."
Later historians of Montana than Lieutenant Bradley have unearthed
the personality of Silverthorn and claim that he never posed as a gold dis-
186 HISTORY OF MONTANA
coverer. The matter is thus clarified by W. F. Wheeler, former librarian
of the Montana Historical Society: "In 1858, John Silverthorn, an em-
ploye of Major Owen and who had charge of his pack trains, while on his
way from Fort Owen to Fort Benton, carrying with him fine furs, skins
and robes, purchased from the Indians which were to be shipped from
Fort Benton down the Missouri River to the eastern market, happened
to camp over night at Benesee's or Gold Creek. Silverthorn and Finlay
were old acquaintances. Finlay wanted tobacco and a few supplies which
he knew Silverthorn always carried, and, as he had no money, offered
in exchange for the articles a quantity of yellow dust which he said Mr.
McDonald had informed him was gold, and which Silverthorn hesitat-
ingly took in exchange for about ten dollars' worth of such supplies as
Finlay needed. Arrived at Fort Benton, Silverthorn showed the dust to
Major Culbertson, then the agent of the American Fur Company, and
finally sold it to him for twelve dollars in trade. Major Culbertson
shipped the yellow stuff to St. Louis, describing what he believed it to be,
whence it came and the sum he had paid for it. At St. Louis it was
properly assayed and pronounced to be worth fifteen dollars."
Stuart Brothers Bring Real Results
But despite all subsequent encouragement offered by Major Culbert-
son to his fur employes to be on the look-out for gold, there were no.
developments for several years outside of Finlay and Benetsee's Creek.
The discovery of the half-breed and the major's promotion of gold mining
were barren of results until the two Stuart brothers came along and com-
menced the practical development of the "colors" found. Coming of a
good Virginia family, transplanted to Illinois and Iowa, the two sons,
James and Granville, accompanied their father to California in the sum-
mer of 1852, and arrived in Sacramento Valley in the fall. The elder
man returned; the sons and brothers remained. They mined, herded
stock, helped defend the pioneer miners against the Indians, prospected
over a wide range of country, and in the summer of 1857 started for
the States. There were eleven in their party. On account of the bad
weather, they suffered greatly, and Granville was taken sick with moun-
tain fever in the valley of the Humboldt River, and the two brothers, with
Reece Anderson, remained at the camp of a trader for eight days, while
the remainder of the party continued the journey. When Granville had
recovered, after about two weeks, the Monnons had closed all the main
roads leading to the States, by way of the southern thoroughfare through
South Pass. As they could not proceed along the regular emigrant road,
the three men decided to accompany some mountaineers, who traded each
summer with the emigrants along the overland road, and who usually
moved north to winter in the Beaverhead and Deer Lodge Valleys.
The winter of 1857-58 was spent in Beaverhead Valley and on the
Big Hole River. The Stuart brothers and Anderson had as neighbors
at the latter camp Jacob Meeks, Robert Dempsey and family, Jackson
Antoine Leclaire and family, and Oliver and Michael Leclaire; and
HISTORY OF MONTANA 187
scattered around in a radius of twenty-five miles were the following per-
sons, who spent the same winter there : Richard Grant, Sr., and family,
John F. Grant and family, Thomas Pambrun and family, L. R. Maillet,
John M. Jacobs and family, Robert Hereford, John Morgan, John W.
Powell, John Saunders, Ross, Antoine Pourrier, Antoine Courtoi,
and a Delaware Indian named Jim Simonds, who had a considerable
quantity of goods for the Indian trade, as did also Hereford and the
Grants.* Most of the others had small lots of goods and trinkets with
which to buy horses, furs and dressed skins from the Indians. The price
of a common horse in those days was two blankets, one shirt, one pair
of cloth leggings, one small mirror, one knife, one paper of vermilion and
usually a few other trifles. A dressed deer-skin brought from fifteen
to twenty balls, with powder to carry them ; an elk, twenty to twenty-five
balls and powder ; an antelope, five to ten ; a beaver, twenty to twenty-
five, and a pair of good moccasins, ten. The Grants and the Hudson
Bay men generally complained bitterly of the American hunters and ad-
venturers, claiming that they had more than doubled the price of all those
articles among the Indians in the last ten years ; "which," says Granville
Stuart, "was doubtless so."
"Simonds and Hereford each had considerable whiskey in their outfits,
but it was only for the whites, as they did not trade it to the Indians,
who were scattered about, a few families in a place, engaged in hunting
and trapping. They were mostly Snakes and Bannocks, with a few Flat-
heads. They did not seem to crave liquor, as most Indians do, but were
quiet and unobtrusive, and as respectable as Indians ever get to be. But
the whites and half-breeds drank enough while it lasted (which, for-
tunately, was not long) for themselves and all the Indians in the country ;
and their extravagant antics were true copies of the pictures drawn by
Bonneville of a mountaineer and trapper rendezvous. At times it seemed
as though blood must be shed ; but that Providence that seems to watch
over the lives of drunken men stood by them, and the end of the liquor
was reached before anybody was killed."
While hunting and trading in that region, like other pioneers of that
period, the Stuarts and their companions were several times obliged to
eat their horses to keep from starving, as game was unusually scarce.
They were also under the constant menace of having the animals upon
which they must rely for transportation stolen by the Blackfeet. whose
deviltry was then confined to stealing rather than murder. In April, 1858,
while planning to go to Fort Bridger, from which there was a crying
demand for beef, James Stuart and his companions returned to Deer
Lodge, where game was more abundant, to kill and dry enough meat to
take them to the southern post. Before starting for Fort Bridger, the
Stuart brothers, and Anderson and Ross, made a little side trip to in-
vestigate the reported finding of gold by the Red River half-breed,
Benetsee, in the lower end of Deer Lodge, in 1852, and its subsequent
discovery, in 1856, by a party on its way to Salt Lake from the Bitter
* See Granville Stuart's "Life of James Stuart."
188 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Root Valley. They accordingly left the rest of the mountaineers on the
4th of April, 1858, and moved over to Deer Lodge and found John M.
Jacobs camped at the mouth of what is now Gold Creek (then known as
Benetsee Creek), with a band of cattle that he had taken from John F.
Grant on shares : and here they luxuriated on milk and wild game, after-
ward joining camp with Thomas Adams, who also had a band of cattle,
and with whom they prospected on Benetsee Creek and found fair pros-
pects near the surface. But as they had no tools and were living on meat
alone, and were much harassed by the Blackfeet, who stole four of their
horses and made nightly attempts to get the rest, they gave up pros-
pecting and moved up Flint Creek to a point three miles above where
the town of Phillipsburg now stands, where they built a corral strong
enough to bid defiance to the Blackfeet, into which they put all their
horses every night.
The Stuarts reached Fort Bridger June 28, 1858; a few weeks after-
ward were at Camp Floyd, forty miles south of Salt Lake City where
Johnston army was stationed to keep the Mormons in order, and there
sold their horses ; then went to Green River and began "buying and
trading in poor oxen with the supply trains," and subsequently doing bus-
iness with the emigrants, bound for "Pike's Peak or bust." The following
winter and spring saw them on Henry's Fork of the Green River and in
Salt River Valley, on Lander's cut-ofif of the emigrant road, engaged in
trading with the mountain men and the emigrants. In the fall of i860,
they moved north to the mouth of the Pah-Sammeri, or Stinking Water,
in Beaverhead Valley, intending to winter there ; but the Indians be-
coming insolent and semi-hostile and beginning to kill their cattle, they
moved over to Deer Lodge, and located at the mouth of Gold Creek, re-
solved to develop the gold mines in that vicinity. In the spring (1861),
they found good prospects in several places. James went to Fort Benton,
where a steamboat was expected, to buy supplies, leaving his brother alone
in charge of the ranch, Anderson having gone down the river from
Benton on a visit to the States. The steamboat burned near the mouth
of Milk River and consequently James failed to get any supplies, and,
as misfortunes seldom come single, during his absence four Bannack
Indians stole a band of horses from the Flatheads at Camas prairie (just
below what is now Bear Gulch), who pursued and overtook them at
Moose Creek, on the Big Hole River, and killed two of them and re-
captured all the horses. They spared the other two, telling them to go
and tell their people to quit stealing from the Flatheads, who wished to
be at peace with them. The Flatheads returned home rejoicing; but
their success was the whites' calamity, for the two they spared followed
them back to Gold Creek, where, on the night of June 22, 1861, they stole
all the horses there, except three that Granville kept tied every night at
the cabin door. They took twenty-three head of half and three-quarters
breed American mares and colts, none of which were ever recovered.
It was evident that at first these Indians did not want to steal from
the whites, for they had passed by the same horses twice before without
/
HISTORY OF MONTANA 189
molesting them, but after their misfortune at the hands of the Flatheads,
they ceased to be respecters of persons. And this is Indian ethics anyhow.
The Stuarts Mine in the Spring of 1862
There being neither tools nor lumber to be had, upon James's return
they hired two men to whipsaw sluice lumber at ten cents per foot, and
sent, by Worden & Company's pack train, to Walla Walla for picks and
shovels, that being the nearest place at which they could be procured,
but they did not arrive in time to commence mining that season. They
dug a ditch, however, and completed their arrangements for the following
spring. Late in the fall, a few others came in and began to prospect,
among whom were Maj. W. Graham, A. S. Blake, and P. S. McAdow,
who found good prospects in a dry gulch just below where the village of
Pioneer now stands, and determined to remain and mine at that place
in the spring.
In May, 1862, operations were commenced, but only paid from one
to three dollars per day by the old pick and shovel process, except one
claim in Pioneer Gulch, just above the mouth of French Gulch, which
paid from six to twenty dollars per day to the hand. While working in
the gulch, which only paid from $1.50 to $2 .a day, the Stuart company
kept their horses picketed on a grassy slope, now known as Bratton's bar,
which in 1866, was accidentally discovered to be rich in gold, and has paid
enormously ever since ; but in '62 nobody ever thought of looking on a
grassy hillside for gold, although subsequent developments proved that
there were many rich channels and deposits on the hills in that vicinity,
while the creeks and gulches were usually too poor to pay for working.
Such is mining, in which it is better to be lucky than to have the wisdom
of Solomon.
On the 24th of June, sixteen men arrived, being the first of quite a
large number who left Pike's Peak mines (now Colorado Territory) for
the Salmon River mines, but most of whom finally brought up in Deer
Lodge and vicinity. Among the first party was J. M. Bozeman, after
whom the flourishing county-seat of Gallatin County was subsequently
named, and who was murdered by the Indians on the Yellowstone in
1867. This party discovered a rich claim in a branch of Gold Creek,
which has since been known as "Pike's Peak Gulch."
A considerable number of men also came up the Missouri River on
steamboats to Fort Benton, bound for the Salmon River mines, but
many of whom stopped at Gold Creek and remained permanently. The
first of these reached Gold Creek on the 29th of June, and among them
were S. T. Hauser and W. B. Dance, both of whom became intimate
friends of James Stuart, and were associated with him most of his sub-
sequent life.
Mr. Stuart Commences to Study Medicine
During this summer he sent east and procured a number of medical
works and instruments and a small stock of drugs and medicines, and
applied himself assiduously to the study of medicine and surgery. He had
190 HISTORY OF MONTANA
read medicine under a physician in his youth, and also attended a course
or two of medical lectures. He continued his studies in this department
of science during the rest of his life, and, at the time of his death, was
possessed of a good medical library and the latest improved medical and
surgical instruments, and was probably one of the best read physicians
and surgeons in Alontana. He never practiced, however, except among
his friends and associates, many of whom owe their lives to his skill, for
he was very successful, and rarely failed to cure any case. But he would
never accept even the slightest compensation from any one, seeming to
think the pleasure he derived from having cured them reward enough.
First Election in Present Montana
On the 14th of July, 1862, an election was held at Pioneer Gulch,
Fort Owen and Hell Gate and James Stuart was elected sheriff of
Missoula County, Washington Territory, which embraced what is now
Missoula County and all of Deer Lodge west of the range. This was
the first election held in the Rocky Mountains, north of Colorado.
Bannack: City and Early Diggings
About this time (July, 1862) one Hurlbut discovered the diggings
on Big Prickly Bear Creek, where the town of Montana City (northern
part of Jefferson County) afterward sprang up; and a few days after,
John White, with a party on the way to Pioneer, struck the mines at
Bannack City, which proved very rich ; almost simultaneously Slack and
party found mines on the head of Big Hole River, and within a week
John W. Powell and party found the Old Bar mines on North Boulder
Creek. At this time quite a village, known as American Fork, had grown
up at Stuart's ranch, at the mouth of Gold Creek, but it soon lost its im-
portance because of the superior richness of the mines at Bannack City.
The first discovery in that locality had been made in August, and a little
city had grown up in a few months.
In the summer of 1862 the streams of immigration were setting
strongly toward both the Gold Creek country of Montana and the Salmon
River fields of Idaho — especially the Florence diggings. The Idaho at-
tractions led to the Bannack City discoveries. William A. Clark tells how
in his centennial address: "During this summer (1862) a small party
discovered some mines on Big Hole River of limited extent. A party
of Coloradians, among them Dr. Levitt, of Bannack, had attempted the
route to the Florence mines by way of Lemhi Valley, and were forced
to abandon it by reason of precipitous mountains, and were by favorable
reports led to the Deer Lodge Valley as a desirable wintering place. This
point they reached in July, 1862. While there, two horsemen came in
from Lemhi and reported the existence of favorable indications for gold
on Grasshopper Creek, near where Bannack now stands. They were
provided with supplies and urged to return and prospect the gulch and
report. This they proceeded to do, and returning with the news met the
HISTORY OF MONTANA
191
impatient party moving on toward the place. Augmented by other pros-
pectors joining them, they proceeded to the discovery which had been
made by John White on the i6th of August, 1862, and in honor of the
discoverer, named White's Bar. Soon afterward other bars were found
which were extremely rich. The gulch itself was then opened and mining
began in earnest. In the autumn a train was dispatched to Salt Lake
City for provisions, the town of Bannack was laid out, and by the first
of January, 1863, a population of 500 souls had gathered there, and
among them some of the wildest and most reckless adventurers whose
names and misdeeds figure conspicuously in the early history of the
Street in the Bannack of Touai
Territory. Thus began the first important mining operations in this
Territory."
First Execution at American Fork (Hangtown)
About the middle of August, 1862, three horse thieves and desperadoes
arrived at American Fork from the lower country, and were appre-
hended by their pursuers. One of them, who resisted, was shot to
death in a saloon where he was gambling; his companion was captured
there, and the third was taken in Worden & Company's store. One of
the other two was acquitted, while the third (C. W. Spillman) was hanged
at twenty-seven minutes past two o'clock, P. M., August 26, 1862. His
only claim to be noticed in this history is that his was the first execution
in what is now Montana, and that he was hanged in half an hour from
the time he was sentenced. The execution caused the town of American
Fork to be recorded as Hangtown on all the western maps for some
years after, although it was never known by that name in the locality.
It was not that undesirable name which induced the Stuart brothers
to abandon American Fork, at about this time, but as nearly everyone
had left Gold Creek and gone to booming Bannack City, they decided to
192 HISTORY OF MONTANA
locate there with the crowd and engage in the butchering business and
anything else which promised honest profit. They made the move, leaving
Anderson in charge of the ranch and stock at Gold Creek. As the spring
of 1863 drew near, James Stuart chaffed under the restraint and decided
to organize a company for the purpose of exploring and prospecting in
the valley of the Yellowstone, which had been almost abandoned since
the extermination of the beaver and the trade founded on its fur.
Stuart's Yellowstone Expedition
The men who were to form the famous Yellowstone expedition of
1863 started from Bannack City for the Fifteen Mile Creek, or Rattle-
snake Creek, on the 9th of April, 1863. They went in squads of two and
three and in the forenoon of the following day fourteen men, who were
to form the party, organized a company under the following form of
agreement : "Having determined to explore a portion of the country
drained by the Yellowstone for the purpose of discovering gold mines
and securing town sites, and believing the object could be better accom-
plished by forming ourselves into a regularly organized company,- we
hereby appoint James Stuart captain, agreeing upon our word of honor
to obey all orders given or issued by him or any subordinate officer ap-
pointed by him. In case of any member refusing to obey an order or
orders from said captain, he shall be forcibly expelled from our camp. It
is further understood and agreed that we all do our equal portions of
work, the captain being umpire in all cases, sharing equally the benefits
of said labor both as to the discovery of gold and securing town sites.
Signed: James Stuart, Cyrus D. Watkins, John Vanderbilt, James N.
York, Richard McCafferty, James Hauxhurst, Drewyer Underwood,
Samuel T. Hauser, Henry A. Bell, William Roach, A. Sterne Blake,
George H. Smith, Henry T. Geery, Ephraim Bostwick. The fifteenth
man, George Ives, did not sign the agreement, notes Granville (who
edited the journal of the expedition prepared by James), because he did
not overtake the party until next day, when it seems to have been for-
gotten. Six men, who had intended to join the expedition, were en-
deavoring to collect their horses which had been wintering in Deer
Lodge, and failed to overtake the main body. They were turned back
by hostile Crows and the discovery of Alder Gulch and the rise of Vir-
ginia City resulted. But that is another story.
Nearly Discovers Alder Gulch
On the divide between the Madison and Stinking Water, two of the
members of the Stuart expedition (Geery and McCafferty) "got a
splendid prospect on a high bar," and although the news was conveyed
to the captain the rest of the party were not informed "for fear of
breaking up the expedition." As it afterward developed, "this prospect
was on a fork of Alder Gulch, called Granite Creek," and if the rich
"strike" had not been made by one of the men left behind, it is certain
HISTORY OF MONTANA 193
that the honor would have fallen to the Stuart party. "As it was, when
they got back, Alder Gulch was full of miners and all the interest centered
there."
The Stuart outfit crossed the divide, over the old Bufifalo road and
through the low gap in the mountains described in the Lewis-Clark
journal, and at that point the captain of the expedition noted: "We are
following Lewis and Clark's trail. We are about thirty miles from the
three forks of the Missouri." The general direction of travel was north-
east to the divide between the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers and
thence to Shields River, a northern tributary of the Yellowstone in what
in now Park County. Here Stuart's journal stops to note: "We are
supposed to be on Shields River (as they were). Lewis and Clark have
played us out; if we had left the notes and map of their route at home
and followed the Indian trail, we would have saved four days' travel in
coming from Bannack City here."
Saved from the Treacherous Crows
The party traveled up the north bank of the Yellowstone, and some-
where in the present county of Yellowstone fell in with a band of Crow
Indians, who attempted to frighten the whites and steal their horses and
every other thing within reach. Stuart's men were, with difficulty, pre-
vented from attacking the red-skins at once. The party was undoubtedly
saved through the coolness, strategy and bravery of the leader. At his
direction, when the chief was caught apart from his thieving, insolent
warriors, the leader of the Crows was covered with Captain Stuart's rifle,
and the principal Indian warriors also looked into the rifles and pistols
of the whites, although the Indians out-numbered the whites two to
one. In the meantime, the Indians had thrown ofif their blankets and
stood naked with their muskets leveled at the whites. It was a contest
of eye-to-eye will power and, as was the rule, the whites won. Many
years afterward one of the men, Samuel T. Hauser, thus described the
dramatic scene : "The suspense and anxiety we endured for a few min-
utes, while we glared at each other, was fearful. To realize it, one has
only image himself surrounded by these savage fiends, hundreds of miles
from relief or reinforcements. They were two to one of us, equally as
well armed as we were, and several hundred more of them within a few
miles. But, fortunately, they all looked to their chief, and saw that he
was lost if a gun was fired.
"We, too, looked to our captain, and our danger was almost forgotten
in admiration. His whole features, face and person had changed ; he
seemed and was, taller; his usually calm face was all on fire; his quiet,
light blue eye was now flashing like an eagle's, and seemingly looking
directly through the fierce and, for a time, undaunted savage that stood be-
fore him. For several seconds it was doubtful whether the old warrior
chief would cower before his white brother, or meet his fate then and
there.
"Our captain, with his flashing eyes riveted upon him, was fiercely and
Vol.1— 13
194 HISTORY OF MONTANA
eloquently reproaching him with his bad faith to the pale faces and their
Great Father, winding up by saying, in a voice of stern determination,
'Signal your warriors off, or I'll send you to your last hunting ground!'
For an instant the suspense was beyond description; a death-like silence
reigned. The dark, fierce, snake-like eyes of the fiends about us were
enough to unnerve the most of men. To me the delay was awful, and I
could not decide from the defiant air of their chief whether he was going
to give the desired signal or die ; but finally a wave of his hand relieved
our doubts, and his braves all lowered their weapons of death and sul-
lenly sought their robes and ponies."
Hauser adds that the second chief, a tall, fine looking young warrior,
was so enraged both at the old chief's action and the hilarity of the
former, that "rushing up to me in a white heat, he placed his finger on
my nose and then on his own, and quickly touching his gun and then mine,
pointed to one side. All of which was a plain enough challenge to a single-
handed combat. And while I didn't 'see it,' the other fellows did, shouting
with laughter and saying 'Go in, Hauser. You can get away with him.'
But I couldn't 'see it' in that light, and the young brave had to retire
without satisfaction, which, I regret to say, he got afterward."
Pompey's Pill.\r Re.ached
Three or four davs after this rather disturbing adventure, the Stuart
party reached Pompey's Pillar, on the south side of the Yellowstone
about in the middle of the county by that name. Of course there is a
town there now. When Stuart was passing along in 1863, he says, under
date of May 3rd : "We camped three miles below Pompey's Pillar, on
which we found the names of Captain Clark and two of his men cut in
the rock, with the date of July 25, 1806. Fifty-seven years ago! And it
is probable that this landscape then looked precisely the same as it does
now. There are also two more names cut here which I never heard of
before. But I suppose they must have belonged to some of the bands
of trappers that, under old Jim Bridger, the Sublette and Bonneville,
made this their hunting ground. The names are Derick and Vancourt,
and the accompanying date is May 23, 1834. The pillar is a good land-
mark, but it is all stuff about the spring in the top of it.
"Bufifalo to be seen in every direction, and very tame. We can ride
within 300 yards of them, unless they smell us; and if they do, they
will run if they are a mile away. Small game is also abundant. No
wonder the Crows like their country- ; it is a perfect paradise for a hunter."
F.\voR-\BLE Prospects .■\nd a Town Loc.\ted
Two days afterward, when the expedition reached the mouth of the
Big Horn, it had traveled 401 miles, but the captain decided that he had
been so misled by the Lewis and Clark notes and maps that at least
seventy-five miles had been needlessly traveled; which left 326 miles
actual distance between Bannack City to that point, "and there can be a
HISTORY OF MONTANA 195
good wagon-road made over the route with but very little labor." Captain
Stuart's journal says that "In the evening, some of the party washed a
few pans of loose gravel from a bar on the Big Horn, and found from
ten to fifty very fine colors of gold in every pan. They also tried a gravel
bank about fifty feet above the river, and got several colors to the pan.
All the party think we will find good diggings up the river."
The prospects were so favorable that under the date of the following
day, May 6, 1863, the record reads: "Early in the morning, five men were
detailed to cross the Big Horn and survey a town-site and ranches. They
made a raft and crossed without any difficulty. Four men were sent out
to prospect, and the rest had to keep camp and guard the horses.
"The prospectors returned first. They found only a few colors or
specks of gold. The party that went across the Big Horn located a
town site of 320 acres and thirteen ranches of 160 acres each, while I
located two ranches in the bottom between the two rivers. The sub-
joined plat shows the shape of all the locations, as well as the general
topography of the vicinity. (Historical contributions, Vol. I, p. 182.)
I also engraved my name, with the date, on a sandstone about three
quarters of a mile above camp, on the Big Horn. It will stay there for
ages, and if I perish on this expedition, I have left my mark. In the
evening four of the party cut their names on a perpendicular sandstone
rock between the rivers."
Now traveling up the Big Horn River, the prospectors found "plenty
of colors to the pan ;" also a few signs of Indians. They also met, as
they thought, three white men going down the river, who fled in a panic
into some deep ravines leading to the stream, thinking the Stuart party
was a band of Indians.* The following day (May 12, 1863) the men
found so mruiy horse tracks and other Indian signs near their camp that
the captain concluded they "would have to look out for squalls," as there
was evidently a war party in the neighborhood. The threatening out-
look also reminded him of this : "It is eleven years today since I left the
home of my boyhood (in Iowa, with his father and brother, bound for
California ). Who knows how many more it will be before I see it again,
if ever?"
Horrors of an Indian Night Attack
The horrors of that very night made him even more doubtful of
coming through alive. "Last night," he says, in his record of May 13th,
"Smith and I had the first watch, and about eleven o'clock the horses at
my end were scared at something, but it was very dark and I could not
see anything. I thought it might be a wolf prowling around camp. A
few minutes before eleven o'clock I sat up and lit a match to see what
time it was, and also to light my pipe, but at once laid down again; we
were both lying flat on the ground to see what made the horses so uneasy,
*It was afterward learned that the three were J. M. Bozeman and John M.
Jacobs and the latter's little daughter, and that the men were exploring a route
for a wagon road from the Three Forks of the Missouri to the North Platte
River — afterward known as the Jacobs and Bozeman Cut-Off.
196 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and to this we both owe our hves. Just then I heard Smith whisper that
there was something around his part of the horses, and a few seconds
later the Crows fired a terrific volley into the camp.
"I was lying between two of my horses, and both were killed, and
very nearly fell on me. Four horses were killed and five more wounded,
while in the tents two men were mortally, two badly and three more
slightly wounded. Smith shouted, 'Oh, you scoundrels !' and fired both
barrels of his shot-gun at the flash of theirs, but, so far as we could tell
next morning, without effect ; he most probably fired too high. I could
not fire, for the horses were ,in the way. I shouted for someone to tear
down the tents, to prevent their affording a mark for the murderous
Indians a second time. York rushed out and tore them down in an
instant. I then ordered all who were able to take their arms and crawl
out from the tents a little way, and lie flat on the ground ; and thus we
lay until morning, expecting further attack each instant, and determined
to sell our lives as dearly as possible. When at last day dawned, we could
see a few Indians among the rocks and pines on a hill some five or six
hundred yards away, watching to see the effects of their bloody work.
"An examination of the wounded presented a dreadful sight. C. D.
Watkins was shot in the right temple, and the ball came out at the left
cheek-bone ; the poor fellow was still breathing but still insensible. E.
Bostwick was shot in five places — once in the back part of the shoulder,
shattering the shoulder blade, but the ball did not come out in front ; three
balls passed through the right thigh all shattering the bone, and one
ball passed through the left thigh, which did not break the bone ; he
was sensible, but suffering dreadful agony. H. A. Bell was shot twice —
one ball entered at the lowest rib on the left side and lodged just under
the skin on the right side ; the other ball entered near the kidneys on the
left side and came oift near the thigh joint. D. Underwood was shot
once, but the ball made six holes ; it first passed through the left arm
above the elbow just missing the bone, and then passed through both
breasts which were large and full and just grazing the breast-bone. H. T.
Geery was shot in the left shoulder blade with an arrow, but not danger-
ously hurt. George Ives was shot in the hip with a ball — a flesh wound.
S. T. Hauser in the left breast with a ball, which passed through memor-
andum book in his shirt pocket and stopped against a rib over his heart,
the book saving his life. Several others had one or more ball-holes
through their clothes.
"We held a council of war; concluded that it was impossible to return
through the Crow country now that they were openly hostile ; therefore
determined to strike for the emigrant road on Sweetwater River, throw-
ing away all our outfit except enough provisions to do us to the road.
Watkins was still breathing, but happily insensible. Poor Bostwick was
alive and sensible, but gradually failing, and in great agony. With noble
generosity he insisted on our leaving him to his fate, as it was impossible
to move him, and equally impossible for him to recover if we remained
with him, and which, he said, would only result in all of us falling vic-
tims of the fiendish savages. He asked us to hand him his trusty re-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 197
volver, saying he would get even with the red devils when they came into
camp. We gave it to him, and a few moments later were startled by the
report of his pistol, and filled with horror when we saw he had blown
out his brains."
Hauser gives a more detailed account of the attack than Captain
Stuart, as he insists that his leader only "briefly notices one of the most
fearful tragedies that ever occurred in the mountains, and in which his
nobleness of soul and heroic courage shone more brilliantly than ever
before." The picture which he gives of the sufferings and suspense of
that awful night following the Crows' attack is appalling. It seems that
the savages poured only one volley into the sleeping camp, as they knew
that the white men would respond by the flashes of their shot-guns.
Thereafter, in the pitchy darkness, they sent a continuous shower of hiss-
ing arrows among their white enemies.
"Instantly (after the attack) seizing our rifles," says Hauser, "we
(Drew, Underwood and Hauser) crawled out of the tent, but before we
got out the yelling and firing had ceased. It was pitch dark, dark as
Egypt, and what followed was even more trying to our nerves than what
had passed. We could distinctly hear the demon-like whisperings of the
murderous fiends in the ravine that we knew was not over ten paces from
us — yet so perfectly dark that we could not even see the outlines of the
bushes that bordered the ravine ; in fact, we could not see our hands be-
fore us. Add to this, that we did not know how many of our little band
were left alive. Some we knew were dying, from the moans we heard,
yet we could not see them or ofifer a word of consolation, for one audible
word would have brought a shower of arrows. As it was, they were
flying in all directions, and it seemed impossible to escape being pierced
by them. We could hear them whizzing through the air every second,
and so near that we often felt the wind; and so close were the Indians
that we could hear the twang of their bow-strings."
Before the day dawned, and passing upright through this storm of
arrows, Stuart calmly walked down to the river to get some water for
Bell and Bostwick, who were then believed to be the most severely
wounded. Almost miraculously, he brought it to them unscratched.
"Morning came at last," continues Hauser's graphic account, "and what
a sight it revealed ! There was poor Watkins, shot through the temple and
unconscious, but crawling around on his elbows and knees ; Bostwick
shot all to pieces, but still alive, and five others wounded ; the men scat-
tered all about the camp-ground, faces downward, with cocked rifles and
revolvers in hand, eagerly watching the bushes and ravine from which the
fatal fire had come. Five horses were dead and six or seven others had
arrows sticking into them. * * * Within a radius of thirty or forty
feet of where Underwood and I had been lying, I picked up forty-eight
arrows, and the tents were completely riddled. Probably three hundred
balls and arrows passed through them."
Watkins died before the party, after a conference, started to move
toward the emigrant road on Sweetwater River. Bostwick, who had been
so terribly wounded, shot himself while helping the badly wounded Bell
198 HISTORY OF MONTANA
on to one of the few uninjured horses. But a third Hfe was to be lost
as a result of this unfortunate venture into the Crow country. The
shattered expedition moved slowly, generally toward the southwest ; the
cowardly Indians, outnumbering them many-fold and having mounted
their ponies, paralleled their route, hovering over the unfortunate men
like so many vultures patiently awaiting their prey. On the day after the
attack, while unpacking the outfit for supper, Geery, who had only suf-
fered a slight shoulder wound, accidentally discharged his rifle. The ball
entered his breast, making a ghastly and mortal wound. Like Bostwick,
he realized the danger to the survivors of the party if they delayed to
care for him, and knowing his wound to be fatal, despite the repeated
protests of his comrades, headed by Stuart, he insisted upon shooting
himself. He was buried at his earnest request, in his soldier's overcoat.
Homeward M.^rch of Heroes
That march of the little party, by way of Sweetwater River (the
emigrant road). South Pass, and Fort Bridger to Bannack City, taking
a loop far into Wyoming, up the Big Horn and Wind Rivers, along the
Wind River Mountains, was the painful progress of a body of wounded
and determined heroes. On May 22nd, ten days travel from the scene of
the massacre, with the Big Horn Mountains in sight toward the north-
east and the Wind River Mountains to the west, Stuart remarks: "Our
route since the massacre has been through a part of the country too mean
for Indians to either live or hunt in, and I came through it to keep out
of the way. We are travehng for safety, not comfort." Notwithstanding,
sprinkled through the record are "fresh Indian signs," with now and then
discoveries of "colors" along the rivers. Six or seven days later, the
weary march had brought' the party to Sweetwater River, at the foot of
Rocky Ridge," then called Pacific City (Wyoming). The sight of "tel-
egraph poles" and an emigrant train was indeed cheering. When the
latter was overtaken at "Pacific City," which consisted of a trading house
only, the Stuart outfit found the emigrants drawn up in a square in front
of their stock which they were prepared to defend from what they be-
lieved to be hostile Indians. With the emigrants were four soldiers from
South Pass station, who gave Stuart information that they had been
pursuing some Indians, horse thieves, who had left some flour behind;
the latter fact proving that Stuart and his men had been followed for four
hundred miles by the vindictive and dogged Crows who had obtained the
flour from the ill-fated camp, the members of which had been obliged
to leave it behind as they had no ^neans of transporting it.
After spending a couple of days in eating and sleeping at the post,
the exjiedition continued the northward journey, along the old emigrant
or overland road to California and Oregon. They were now continually
meeting travelers, and, at times, acquaintances, on the way. One of the
party, York, concluded to go to Salt Lake with a train which had been
met, and William Mc.\dow was added to the outfit. So, as Stuart says,
"it is merelv an exchange." He adds : "I let York have Red Bear, the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 199
black horse the old chief gave me, so that if he did not get a situation to
suit him he would have the horse to ride to Bannack or Deer Lodge."
When this exchange was made, the party went on to Green River and
headed for Fort Bridger, which was reached in the afternoon of June
3, 1863. Then, along Bear and Snake Rivers, far Western Wyoming,
into Southwestern Montana, and finally, on June 22, 1863, the maimed,
tired and all but broken-down men of the Stuart expedition, were on the
road to Bannack City, which passed down through Red Rock Valley and
Horse Prairie.
The conclusion of the record, as made by James Stuart, is this :
"Started at five o'clock (June 22nd), and traveled until half past ten
A. M., when we halted for dinner above the point of rocks on Horse
Prairie Creek. Passed a lot of gamblers camped on Red Rock Creek.
They are en route for Denver, via Salt Lake and Fort Bridger. After
dinner, packed up and pushed on to Bannack City, which we reached late
in the evening. Everybody was glad to see us, and we were glad to see
everybody, although our hair and beards had grown so, and we were so
dilapidated generally that scarcely anyone knew us at first ; and no won-
der, for we had ridden sixteen hundred miles, and for the last twelve
hundred without tents or even a change of clothing." Of the original
fifteen members of the expedition, three had been buried in the land of
the Crows as a result of the dreadful massacre of the preceding May, and
Bell, who had been brought on horseback and partially recovered from
his wounds, had remained on the Sweetwater to have a ball extracted
from his side. They had been away from Bannack City two months and
a half and, despite their deaths and hardships, had accomplished but
little, although the expedition probably established the fact that the pros-
pects for gold along the main valley of the Yellowstone were a minus
quantity. "'Colors" had been found, now and then, and that was about all.
The Famous Men Left Behind
It was the men who had intended to accompany the Stuart party, and
who did not, that became noted in the history of gold mining in Montana.
In setting out for his calamitous trip, James Stuart noted in his journal :
"Louis Simmons and party were to have met us at the mouth of the
Stinking Water, but we can find no trace of them ; they have failed from
some cause to us unknown." A footnote to this, Granville Stuart ex-
plains : "This party consisted of Louis Simmons, William Fairweather,
George Orr, Thomas Cover, Barney Hughes and Henry 5<igar. They
were detained by not being able to find their horses, which had wintered
in Deer Lodge. They arrived at the appointed place of rendezvous some
three or four days after the main party had passed, and taking their trail
followed on, expecting to soon overtake them ; but before they did so
they were met on the upper Yellowstone by a large party of Crow In-
dians, who at once proceeded to plunder them, taking nearly all they had,
and giving them miserable sore-backed ponies in exchange for their
horses, ordered them to return on pain of death. Situated as they were
200 HISTORY OF MONTANA
they could only comply, and started on their way back, with many mis-
givings as to the fate of the main party and curses both loud and deep
against the Crows.
Discovery of Alder Gulch
And yet this vexatious outrage was the most fortunate thing that
could have occurred for their own interest and that of the territory, for
on their way back to Bannack City they went one day's travel up the
Madison River, above where they had struck it as they went out, and,
crossing through a low gap to the southwest, "they camped at noon on a
small creek. While his comrades were cooking a scanty meal. Fair-
weather, on going out to look after the few broken-down ponies the
Indians had given in exchange for their good horses, observed a point of
bare bed rock projecting from the side of the gulch and determined to
try a pan of dirt. He was astonished by obtaining thirty cents in beautiful
coarse gold, and in a few more trials he got one dollar and seventy-five
cents to the pan. This was at the point afterward famous as 'Fair-
weather's discovery claim' in Alder Gulch. Believing the locality would
prove rich, they proceeded to stake oft claims, and Hughes was sent to
Bannack for provisions and friends ; and on his arrival there, in spite of
his efforts to keep the matter a secret, it became known that rich diggings
had been struck somewhere. A close watch was kept on Hughes, and
when he started he was followed by some 200 men. About the present
site of Daley's ranch, on the Stinking Water, Hughes refused to go
farther until morning and the party encamped ; but during the night he
appointed a rendezvous for his particular friends whom he escorted into
the mines in the night. In the morning, the remainder of the party
followed his trail into camp, and Fairweather district, with Dr. Steele as
president and James Fergus as recorder, was organized on the 6th of
Tune, 1863. Further prospecting of the gulch developed an alluvial de-
posit of gold exceeding in richness and extent the most sanguine hopes of
the discoverers, and perhaps combining these two qualities in a greater
degree than any discovery ever made."
DeLacy's Expedition up Sn.-\ke River
Col. W. W. DeLacy, a Virginia West Pointer, a teacher of languages
and captain in the United States Navy, a wide traveler, a brave soldier
in the Mexican war and in the Indian campaigns of the West, and the
engineer in surveying the famous Mullan Road from Walla Walla to
Fort Benton — in the August following the return of the Stuart expedition
he led a party of explorers from Virginia City to prospect up the South
Snake River. The venture which was devoid of exciting or tragic events
resulted in the discovery of the source of the South Snake River, several
miles above Jackson's Lake, in the southern part of the present Yellow-
stone Park. For nearly ten years all the maps of that region gave the
name of this head of the river as DeLacy's Lake. Colonel DeLacy wrote
HISTORY OF MONTANA 201
an account of the expedition of 1863, and says: "In 1872, Professor
Hayden (the government geologist) visited this lake and renamed it
Shishone Lake, stating that the numerous and outrageous errors in my
map deprived me of any claim to the perpetuation of my name, and in-
sinuating that I claimed to have been, but had not been in the region."
From the fountain-head of the Snake, the colonel and his men passed
over to the head of the Madison and West Gallatin rivers, discovering
the Lower Geyser Basin of the Yellowstone Park. The 500 miles of
travel indicated were made in about fifty-one days. Its leader claims that
the wrong done to him by Professor Hayden was never rectified, publicly,
although he sent to that noted scientist his original note-book and map and
received from him a private explanation that the harsh and unjust crit-
icism and erasure of his name from the lake which he discovered were
made by an irresponsible assistant.
At the time of his trip, Colonel DeLacy was one of the most widely
known soldiers and engineers in the West, and for nearly thirty years
afterward was one of the leading figures in connection with the public
land survey and the surveyor general's office in Montana.
Edgar's Account of the Alder Gulch Discovery
The most detailed and graphic account of the discovery of Alder
Gulch was written by Henry Edgar, one of the party who vainly en-
deavored to overtake Stuart's expedition bound for the Yellowstone.
They waited for Stuart eight days at the rendezvous agreed upon, and
from March 23rd to May and cut across the headwaters of the Missouri
and along the north bank of the Yellowstone to Shields River. Some
distance beyond that stream and when close on the trail of the main party,
the dastardly Crows came upon them. That was May 2, 1863, and
Edgar's journal gives this picture of their coming: "All went well through
the night, but towards morning the horses became restless and required
a good deal of looking after. Just aS morning came, I took two of them
where the boys were sleeping and woke them up. I put the saddles on
and was just going out to Bill (Fairweather) when the hills were alive
with Indians. They were all around Bill and I got on the horse and
started for him, but an Indian grabbed him by the head ; I pulled my
revolver, Simmons was alongside of me and told me not to shoot. Well,
I got off and gave the rope of the other horse to my Indian. Here they
come with other horses and Bill mounted behind another Indian with hat
in one hand and rifle in the other, digging his heels in the "horse's flanks
and yelling like the very devil he is. 'How goes it boys?' he asked, as he
got off. Simmons was talking to the Indians and told us to keep quiet.
Quiet ! Everything we had they had got, but our arms ! A young buck
took hold of Cover's gun and tried to take it from him. Bill stuck his
revolver in the buck's ear ; he looked in Bill's face and let go of the gun.
We told Simmons to tell them that they had got everything but our
guns and that they could not get them without killing us first. We were
told to keep them. Everything we had was packed and of? to the village.
202 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Such a hubbub when we got there. Our traps were put in a pile and a
tent put over them. Simmons and the chief held a long powwow. The
women brought us some breakfast ; good of the kind and plenty. Sim-
mons told us we were prisoners, to keep still and not to be afraid. I went
through the village and counted the lodges ; there were i8o of them."
"We talked the matter over and agreed to keep together and if it
has to come to the worst to fight while life lasts. All the young ones are
around us and the women. What fun! We get plenty to eat. Indians
are putting up a great big lodge — medicine lodge at that. Night ; what
will tomorrow bring forth ? I write this — will anyone ever see it ? Quite
dark, and such a noise — dogs and drums!"
The two chiefs and the medicine man of the village conferred and
finally informed the men, through Simmons, that they would be killed if
they continued down the river; that if they turned back, their horses
would be returned. They decided to retrace their steps, but only a few
of their horses were returned ; their good animals were generally re-
placed by blind and halt ponies. The Indians did return their saddles, a
hundred pounds of flour, some cofifee and sugar, one plug of tobacco and
gave them two robes each for their clothes and blankets. The disap-
pointed and disgusted little party of eight then started to return the way
they had come. By the middle of May, they had reached Madison River,
at the foot of Tobacco Root Mountains, and a few days afterward, camped
at Big Bald Mountain. Two of the men climbed Old Baldy, as they called
the peak ; they had discovered good "color" for quartz gold and wanted
to find where it came from. From the top of the mountain they could see
the Stinking Water and Beaverhead rivers. Having moved their camp
around the foot of the mountain, they expected to be on the Stinking
Water in two days.
The Gre.\t, the Eventful D.ay
On the 26th of May, they find "fine grassy hills and lots of quartz,
some antelope in sight ; down a long ridge to a creek and camp ; had
dinner, and Rodgers, Sweeney, Barney (Hughes) and Cover go up, the
creek to prospect. It was Bill's and my turn to guard camp and look
after the horses. We washed and doctored the horse's leg. Bill went
across to a bar to see or look for a place to stake the horses. When he
come back to camp he said 'There is a piece of rimrock sticking out of
the bar over there. Get the tools and we will go and prospect it.' Bill
got the pick 'and shovel and I the pan and went over. Bill dug the dirt
and filled the pan. 'Now go,' he says, 'and wash that pan and see if we
can get enough to buy some tobacco when we get to town.' I had the pan
more than half panned down and had seen some gold as I ran the sand
around, when Bill sang out 'I have found a scad.' I returned for
answer, 'If you have one, I have a hundred.' He then came down to
where I was with his scad. It was a nice piece of gold. Well, I panned
the pan of dirt and it was a good prospect; weighed it and had two
dollars and forty cents; weighed Bill's scad and it weighed the same.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 203
Four dollars and eighty cents ! Pretty good for tobacco money. We went
and got another pan and Bill panned that and got more than I had ; I got
the third and panned that — best of the three ; that is good enough to
sleep on.
"We came to camp, dried and weighed our gold; altogether there was
twelve dollars and thirty cents. We saw the boys coming to camp and no
tools with them. 'Have you found anything?' 'We have started a hole
but didn't get to bedrock.' They began to growl about the horses not
being taken care of and to give Bill and me fits. When I pulled the pan
around Sweeney got hold of it and the next minute sang out 'Salted!' I
told Sweeney that if he 'would pipe Bill and me down and run us through
a sluice box he couldn't bet a color,' and 'the horses could go to the devil
or the Indians.' Well, we talked over the find and roasted venison till
late; and sought the brush, and spread our robes; and a more joyous lot
of men never went more contentedly to bed than we.
"May 27th: Up before the sun; horses all right; soon the frying pan
was on the fire. Sweeney was ofif with the pan and Barney telling him
'to take it aisy.' He panned his pan and beat both Bill and me. He had
five dollars and thirty cents. 'Well, you have got it good, by jove!' were
his greeting words. When we got filled up with elk, Hughes and Cover
went up the gulch, Sweeney and Rodgers down, Bill and I to the old
place. We panned turn about ten pans at a time, all day long, and it was
good dirt too. 'A grub stake is what we are after' was our watchward all
day, and it is one hundred and fifty dollars in good dust. 'God is good,'
as Rodgers said when we left the Indian camp. Sweeney and Rodgers
found a good prospect and have eighteen dollars of the gold to show
for it. Barney and Tom brought in four dollars and a half. As we quit.
Bill says 'there's our supper.' a large band of antelope on the hillside.
• "We had our guns with us. He took up one draw and I the other;
it was getting dark, but light enough to shoot ; got to a good place within
about seventy-five yards and shot ; the one I shot at never moved ; I
thought it missed ; I rolled over and loaded up my gun, then the antelope
was gone. Bill had shot by this time ; I went to where the one I shot at
was standing, and found some blood, and the antelope dead not ten steps
away ; Bill got one too ; ate our fill ; off to bed.
Alder Gulch N.\med
"May 28th : Staked the ground this morning ; claims one hundred
feet. Sweeney wanted a water — a notice written for a water right — and
asked me to write it for him. I wrote it for him ; then 'What name shall
we give the creek?' The boys said 'You name if.' So I wrote 'Alder.'
There was a large fringe of alder growing along the creek, looking nice
and green and the name was given. We staked twelve claims for our
friends and named the bars Cover, Fairweather and Rodgers when the dis-
coveries were made. We agree to say nothing of the discovery when we
get to Bannack and come back and prospect the gulch thoroughly and get
the best. It was midday when we left ; we came down the creek past the
204 HISTORY OF MONTANA
forks and to its mouth, made marks so we could find the same again and
on down the valley (Ram's Horn Gulch) to a small creek; the same we
camped on as we went out and made camp for the night ; a more happy lot
of boys would be hard to find, though covered with seedy clothes.
"May 29th : All well. Breakfast such as we have, bread and antelope
and cold water and good appetites. What better fare could a prince wish !
It might be worse and without the good seasoning given by our find.
Down and over the Stinking Water along a high level bench twelve
miles or more to the Beaverhead River, then up about six miles and camp.
We have come about twenty-five miles.
"May 30th: All well. Ate up the last of our meat for breakfast;
will have supper at Bannack, ham and eggs. Away we go and have no
cares. Crossed at the mouth of the Rattlesnake and up to the Bannack
trail, the last stage over the hill and down to the town, the raggedest lot
that was ever seen, but happy. Friends on every side. Dod Dempsey
grabbed our horses and cared for them. Frank Ruff got us to his cabin.
Salt Lake eggs, ham, potatoes, everything. Such a supper! One has to
be on short commons and then he will know. Too tired and too glad.
"May 31st: Such excitement! Everyone with a long story about
the 'new find.' After I got my store clothes on. I was sitting in a saloon
talking with some friends ; there were lots of men that were strangers to
me ; they were telling that we brought in a horse load of gold and not one
of the party had told that we had found a color. Such is life in the 'Far
West.' Well we have been feasted and cared for like princes.
"June 1st: Got what we wanted and were all ready for the return,
but it is impossible to move without a crowd. Left the horses in Demp-
sey's corral for the night and gave over till morning.
"June 2nd: Left Bannack this forenoon and came over to Rattle-
snake. A crowd awaits us; crowds follow after us; they camp right
around us, so we can't get away.
"June 3rd : Move on down to Beaverhead River and the crowd gets
more and more strong, on foot as well as on horseback.
"June 4th : Down the river we go over two hundred strong. Bill
says to me, 'If we had this crowd with us when the medicine man made
his medicine, wouldn't we have given him Hail Columbia?'
"We see it is no good to try to get away from the crowd, so we will
camp where we leave the river. Made a camp near the Beaverhead Rock.
'Miners' meeting called for this afternoon.' I was chosen to state to the
crowd what we had found. I did so and told them that we had panned
out one hundred and eighty-nine dollars altogether, showing them a sam-
ple of the gold, stating what the prospect was and the extent of the
gulch so far as we had prospected, what we know it to be ; told what
we had done; the claims we had staked, and said "If we are allowed to
have the claims as we have staked them, we will go on. if not, we will
go no farther.' Some talk and it was put to a vote ; the vote was in
. our favor ; only one vote against. At the meeting there was a set of laws
adopted to govern our claims. A provision of the law passed was that
the claims of our party should never be jumped nor taken from us and
HISTORY OF MONTANA 205
they are exempt from one day's work in seven required by law to hold
claims. Well and good. They wanted to know where the gulch was,
but as some were on foot and others on horseback with that advantage,
they were told 'when we get to the creek you will know and not till then.'
Everybody satisfied.
"June 5th : Off and away across the long flat between the two rivers
and camp at the same small creek the third time. We are fearful that
when the crowd gets in, they may pull up our stakes. So some of the
boys on the outside of the ring were told of the plan and Barney with
ten or twelve will get out ahead to make them secure.
"June 6th : This morning the crowd was told that we would be in
the gulch today and to prepare for it. When we came to the creek and
were going up I said to them, 'This is the creek.' Such a stampede !
"I never saw anything like it before. I was left alone with our
packs and took my time, for I know my claim is safe. After I crossed
the small creek that comes in from the left, as we go up. Colonel Wood
caught up with me. He asked me if I knew where he could get a claim.
I told him 'Yes, I'll show you where two bits was got, but only one pan
was panned.' I showed him the place and he stopped and located a
claim. Got back to camp at Discovery about 4 o'clock. The creek is all
staked.
"The foregoing are all the notes of the trip from the time the party
left Bannack, February 4, 1863, to the time the crowd came back with
them to their discovery of Alder gulch.
"At a meeting held on the 9th day of June, 1863, Dr. Steele was
elected judge and Henry Edgar was elected recorder, who refused to
serve and appointed James Fergus deputy recorder.
"The loth of June, Barney Hughes took two horses and went to
LaBarge (Deer Lodge) after George Orr, whom we left when we started
on the expedition, who was given a full and equal share in the Fair-
weather and Cover bar discoveries, and his being given this caused
Sweeney and Rodgers to separate from the rest of the party.
"The discovery party were as follows :
"Bill Fairweather, native of New Brunswick, St. John's River.
"Mike Sweeney, native of Frederickstown, St. John's River.
"Barney Hughes, native of Ireland.
"Harry Rodgers, native of St. John's, New Foundland.
"Tom Cover, native of Ohio.
"Henry Edgar, native of Scotland.
"The above is a true narration of the expedition."
Philipsburg, Montana, April 13, 1897.
Henry Edgar.
Peter Ronan's Account
Maj. Peter Ronan, an Iowa and a Montana newspaper man and long
Indian agent of the Flatheads, arrived at Bannack City in April, 1863,
during its first boom, and in the following month was one of the mad rush
206
HISTORY OF MONTANA
to the Alder openings, and has written an interesting account of the
coming of the Idaho miners to Montana and their historic "find." We
pass over the steps leading to the point where Barney Hughes, Tom
Cover, Henry Rodgers, Bill Fairweather, Henry Edgar and Bill Sweeney,
were turned back toward Bannack City by Indians hostile to the gold
prospectors, who were endeavoring to overtake the Stuart expedition.
"On the 22nd of May the wornout prospectors and fugitives from
Indians went into camj) in a flat on the creek, and on that same after-
Peteu Ro.v.an
noon the party struck thirty-three cents to the pan on the bar which rose
above the camp, right in the grass roots. This was the first discovery
of gold on the celebrated Alder Gulch — the richest continuous streak of
gold eTer struck on any gulch in the world.
"Of course there was rejoicing in the camp, and although now in pos-
session of a mine of glittering wealth our brave and persevering pros-
pectors could plainly see that another efifort must be made or they would
starve to death on their heaps of gold.
"After the discovery was made, Henry Edgar, with his trusty rifle
HISTORY OF MONTANA 207
which he managed to retain from the Crows, went above the discovery
on the mountain, and shot an antelope. There was then rejoicing in the
camp. After sinking below the surface a few feet at the spot where
the first pan was prospected, five dollars and ten cents was obtained
from the one pan of dirt. It was then concluded that the party should
return to Bannack, procure provisions and tools, and bring in their friends
to the new Eldorado.
"Upon arriving at Bannack, the secret of the new discovery was
divulged and quietly talked over by the discoverers and their friends, and
a certain day fixed upon to start for the discovery. Meanwhile, tempting
offers were made secretly to Barney Hughes, and to others of the party
of prospectors, to quietly slip out with two or three opulent claim owners
of Bannack, and guide them to the discovery ahead of the stampede.
But the discoverers were deaf to their importunities and could not be
tempted with gold to throw off their old mining friends, and determined
that all should start off together. The start was made and it was found
that three or four hundred men were following the discoverers on
horseback and with their tools and provisions for at least a short cam-
paign.
"Upon reaching the point of rocks on the Beaverhead river, Hughes
and his fellow discoverers, knowing the rapacity of the average gold
hunter, commenced to think that if their rights were not secured before
the party reached the gulch, very little respect would be shown them as
discoverers, and the stampeders would take the lion's share and leave
the poor and almost unknown prospectors and discoverers out in the
cold. A halt was called and the prospectors announced to the stampeders
that unless two hundred feet of ground was guaranteed to each one of
them, extending across the gulch from rim to riin, they would go no
farther, and would not divulge the locality of their discovery.
"Colonel Sam McLean, who was afterwards elected the first dele-
gate to represent Montana in the Congress of the United States, now gone
to his rest in his beloved and native state of Pennsylvania, and his mining
partner. Wash Stapleton — the latter an honored citizen of our Territory
today — were among the crowd of stampeders. Those generous minded
gentlemen saw at once the justice of the demand of the heroic prospectors,
and a code of laws governing the mining district, was then and there
drawn up which secured to Hughes and his comrades the ground they
demanded. After all the preliminaries were arranged, laws and regula-
tions which were to govern the new mining district were passed upon
and duly recorded, before any of the crowd, except the prospectors, knew
even the direction in which the new Eldorado lay. The crowd moved on,
led by Hughes and his party. Upon reaching the spot where the house
of Pete Daly now stands, on the old Daly ranch, the party went into
camp for the night. Hughes had several old mining acquaintances
among the vast crowd which followed his lead, whom he particularly
desired to locate on good claims, as they had had a continuous run of bad
luck in other localities and were flat broke, as indeed were nearly all
of the crowd who followed. I here recall the names of some of the men
208 HISTORY OF MONTANA
whom Hughes secretly requested to meet him under a certain tree near
the camp at 1 1 o'clock on the night of that encampment ; they were Paddy
Sky, Jim McNulty, Andy Brown, Tom Duffy, Jim Patten, and Charley
Keegan. Hughes here imparted to these friends that outside of the bar
prospected by him and companions, he knew nothing of the prospects, but
assured them it was his opinion if they got in ahead of the crowd and
located near the discoverers they would be likely to get some good ground,
and volunteered to lead them into the gulch that night on foot while the
camp was asleep.
"The proposition was gladly accepted, and the party stole out of the
camp in the silence of the night, and leaving their horses, food, and
camping outfit behind made a night march for the diggings, led by
Hughes. At daylight the discovery was reached and the party staked
their claims.
"It is needless here to dwell upon the rage of the stampeders and the
imprecations which they heaped upon Hughes and his companions when
the morning broke upon the vast camp, when they found out that the
party had struck out in the silence of the night. Nor is it necessary
to dwell upon the fact that nearly all the camp secured good claims, as
did thousands of others who followed for years afterwards.
"Among the toil' worn followers of that stampede, who staked their
claims on Alder Gulch, on that early June morning of 1863. was the
writer, and I may here add that some three days after his stake was
driven the first wagon that arrived in Alder gulch was owned and driven
in by James Sheehan. In the wagon was Sheehan's wife and family,
and one of that family was a little child who is now the wife of the
narrator, and the first white girl who came to Alder Gulch : and now
that she is raising a family, desired for their sake the privilege of mem-
bership in the Pioneer Association.
"But the six brave prospectors who paved the way to fortune for so
many of Montana citizens, where are they?* Tom Cover is a wealthy citi-
zen of San Bernardino County, California, and one of the original own-
ers of the beautiful town of Riverside, recently written up and illustrated
in Harper's Magazine.
"Henry Edgar makes brick in Missoula a few months in summer
and spends the remainder of the year and his earnings in trying to dis-
cover another gulch.
"Bill Fairweather sleeps in a lonely and unmarked grave.
"Barney Hughes was the guest of the writer a few days ago, returning
weary and worn, footsore and disheartened, from a trip to Bull river up
north and across the British line, where he had been prospecting without
success. His whole earthly possessions were two horses, a pick, pan and
shovel, his camping utensils, and provisions enough to last him to reach
Missoula, were he is now looking for work to earn enough money to
outfit him for another prospecting trip.
"Old timers — you who have been lifted from the log cabin and the
' Written in 1900.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 209
long-handled frying pan to blocks of brick and granite which adorn our
Montana cities, to Queen Anne cottages, palatial dwellings and happy
family surroundings — give a lift to these worthy prospectors, and when
they go into the mountains again, in search of diggings, let them go at
least comfortably provided for.
"Of the other two comprising the party of Alder Gulch discoverers
— Harry Rodgers and Bill Sweeney — I have no knowledge; but, what-
ever their lot in life, Montana and its early settlers owe each and every
one of that party a deep debt of gratitude."
Stuart's Second Yellowstone Expedition
* In the spring of 1864, James organized a second expedition to the
Yellowstone, with the double purpose of prospecting the country for
gold and avenging the murder of his comrades the previous year. The
party consisted of seventy-three men. James was elected captain ; W.
Graham, first lieutenant; John Vanderbilt, second lieutenant; Charles
Murphy, orderly sergeant ; John Upton and James Dewey, sergeants of
the guard ; and Mark Post and James Bailey, corporals. They crossed the
divide between the Gallatin and Yellowstone rivers on the 28th and 29th
of March, finding the snow bad, for it was a very late, stormy spring,
and it snowed upon them nearly all the way down the Yellowstone and
over to the Stinking River fork of the Big Horn. So severe was the
weather that they found it well nigh impossible to prospect, because of the
frozen ground; and the snow was so deep that they could not get back
among the mountains at all. Their horses grew very poor, and many
became exhausted and were left behind ; and as the devil usually takes
care of his own, it so happened that the Crows were all over on the
Musselshell and Missouri rivers, and the party did not find one in the
Yellowstone valley, where they had all been the year before. Had the ex-
pedition found them, it was their intention to have taken the village by
strategy, if practicable, and if not, to have stormed it and killed as many
as possible — a fate they well deserved then and now deserve still more,
for since that time they have killed many small parties and individuals
of whites, and stolen thousands of dollars of stock, all of which they lay
on the Sioux and Blackfeet.
James' business arrangements not admitting of his remaining out
longer, he and fourteen others left the main body on Stinking River and
returned to Virginia about the i8th of May.
Last Chance Gulch and Helena
The story of the gold discoveries and developments in Montana runs
parallel with that of the California record — in fact, with the tale of
every series of gold adventuring in the world ; it is ever some newer
and more distant field which is most alluring. Gold Creek, Bannack City,
♦Life of James Stuart, by Granville Stuart, Vol. I, p. 56, Contributions Mon-
tana Historical Society.
Vol. 1—14
no
HISTORY OF MONTANA
Virginia City and Helena is the Montana order. John Cowan, John Crab,
D. J. Miller and Reginald Stanley, camping in a Hell Gate River valley,
in the spring of 1864, fell in with a party headed by James Coleman, who
were returning from the Kootenai country with reports of fabulous dig-
gings in that region. But the Cowan party decided to prospect the Little
Blackfoot \'alley and, failing good prospects, to pass over to the eastern
slopes of the Rockies. They did so and emerged into the Prickly Pear
Valley of the Missouri, ranged farther north up the Dearborn to the
sources of the Teton and Maria's rivers. The farther north they went,
the less promising became the gold outlook, and finally, almost discour-
aged, they returned to the \^alley of the Prickly Pear, and in July, 1864,
Prickly Pear Valley
located Last Chance Gulch. They sank two holes to bed-rock on opposite
sides of the stream. One of these yielded flat nuggets that weighed about
half a dollar — proof of a rich "strike." By the end of July there were
many busy miners at Last Chance, some from Bannack City and Alder
Gulch, and others, like the birds of the fields, mysteriously scenting a
feast and appearing on the ground.
How the Last Chance Gulch was given the name Plelena is thus
succinctly told: "The mining camp at Last Chance Gulch was christened
Helena by John Somerville, one of the early miners in the gulch, and who
had been chosen chairman of a meeting called for the purpose of organiz-
ing that mining district and establishing laws and regulations to govern
HISTORY OF MONTANA 211
it. A letter written by Thomas E. Cooper, who was present on the occa-
sion, thus refers to it : 'Thomas Cowan, from Georgia, in 1864, had a
sluice and was mining in Last Chance. On September 24, 1864, the writer'
and a company of prospectors and Captain Wood built a cabin where the
heart of the city now is. A meeting was called to organize the mining
district, and John Somerville was chosen chairman and the writer
of this letter secretary. The question of naming the town came up and
there being a great diversity of opinion as to the name the town should
bear, and not being able to agree, the chairman, John Somerville, got up
and stated as follows: "I belong to the best country in the world; I live
in the best state (Minnesota) in that country and in the best county
(Scott) of that state, and in the best town (Helena) of that county —
and, by the eternal, this town shall bear that name !" ' This name proving
satisfactory to the majority of the miners present, the name Helena
was accepted."
Judge Cornelius Hedges, in his skfetch of Lewis and Clark county
(Montana Historical Society's contributions. Vol. H, p. 109), gives
October 30, 1864, as the date of holding the meeting, where, at the sug-
gestion of Mr. Somerville, Last Chance Gulch was christened Helena. He
also presents other pertinent facts, as to this mining venture which sprung
from the soil of desperation and prospered so abundantly. "It was in
July, 1864," he writes, "that gold was first discovered in this locality
by a party of Georgians, of which John Cowan, Robert Stanley and Gabe
Johnson were members. Not satisfied with the prospect, they left and
tried various localities as far north as Sun river, but, finding nothing
better, this party returned, and in September began regular mining opera-
tions on a bar not far from where the Masonic Temple now stands. The
lateness of the season and the failure of their undertakings up to that
time led them to christen their diggings Last Chance gulch, while the
abundance of snakes gave the name to the district of Rattlesnake.
"Captain George J. Wood, who came into the territory from Illi-
nois by way of Bridger's cut-off, reaching Alder gulch in July, 1864,
and not finding a claim in that section to suit him, started north
to test for himself the reported mines on the Prickly Pear. He
induced Mr. Mast, who, with his family, was returning to Alder gulch
from an unsuccessful exploration of Wisconsin gulch, to turn about and
accompany him. It so happened that a hunting expedition from Prickly
Pear brought Messrs. Wood and Mast into Last Chance about the time
that the Georgia party made their first successful clean-up. The sight of
this was enough to decide them to remove at once to this locality, and next
after the two cabins erected by John Cowan and Robert Stanley, were
those of Messrs. Wood and Mast. Notwithstanding the assurance of the
discovery party that there was no gold in the gulch above them, it was
found in promising quantities in many localities. By the personal solici-
tation of Mr. Wood, a portion of the Minnesota train, just then arrived
and camped in the valley of Ten Mile, were induced to stop and join in
prospecting the Last Chance mines. During the months of October and
November following, the extent and richness of the mines became well
212
HISTORY OF MONTANA
established and their fame began to draw miners from other camps.
Messrs. Constans and Jurgens, still our fellow citizens (1876), recently
arrived from Minnesota, and who had first established themselves at
Montana City, were the first to move their stock and open a store in
the new mines.
"It was at a public meeting held in Captain Wood's cabin October
30, 1864, the minutes of which meeting are still preserved, that the name
of Helena was selected, on motion and suggestion of Mr. John Somerville,
for the name of the rising city. If their selection of the name is to be
respected, why should not also the pronounciation of the name, He-le'-na,
as they universally called it, and not Hel'-e-na? Three commissioners.
Winter Quarters of Walter Cooper, Helena, in 1865
Messrs. Wood, Bruce and Cutler, were chosen and empowered to lay out
streets, fix the size of town lots and establish all necessary regulations
for obtaining and holding the same. Captain Wood was chosen recorder,
and virtually discharged the duties of all the commissioners in addition.
The size of lots, as fixed by the commissionrs, was 30 by 60 feet, and a
foundation would hold a lot for ten days, and, if recorded besides, for
ten days longer. Disputed titles were to be settled by the commissioners,
or by arbitration, until civil law was established. Capt. Wood's position
was a difficult and thankless one, and considering the surrounding diffi-
culties successfully filled."
Two Marvelously Rich Mines
In December, 1864, Confederate Gulch and Montana Bar were dis-
covered, about six miles from the Missouri River and some thirty-five
miles from Helena. Wonderful stories are told of the yield of both
HISTORY OF MONTANA 213
mines, Montana Bar, however, proving the richer of the two. It is said
that when bed-rock on the bar was reached, the enormous yield of $i8o
to the pan in Confederate Gulch was forgotten in astonishment at the
marvelous yield of over $1,000 to the pan taken from Montana. Dia-
mond City developed from these two rich openings of the Montana
gold field.
Naming of Silver Bow Creek
Emigrant Gulch, Gallatin County, was also discovered in 1864, and
before the close of 1867 had yielded about $180,000 in gold. The mines
along Silver Bow Creek, extending from the present city of Butte to the
town of Silver Bow, were opened in the fall of 1864, the gulch reaching
the height of its prosperity in 1866. Captain James S. Mills, explains
the naming of the creek: "Never prettier name was coined, and it came
about thus : On the evening of a cloudy day in January, 1864, Bud
Barker, P. Allison, Joe and Jim Ester, on a prospecting trip reached the
vicinity of the creek near Butte and a discussion arose as to its name. As
the argument went on, the clouds rolled from the sun, its bright glance
fell on the waters sweeping in a graceful curve around the base of the
mountains, burnishing them to brilliancy as they clasped the vale in a
bow like silver."
Deer Lodge County developed such gulches as German, in 1864, and
Ophir (very rich). Bear (productive, rough and tough) and McClellan's
(Pacific City), all in 1865. The placer diggings of JeiTerson County
with some unimportant exceptions, were not discovered until late in
that year and the early part of 1866.
Montana's Gold Bonanza Period
The years 1862-68 constitute the Bonanza period of Montana's produc-
tion of gold, and by counties the output was as follows :
Madison $40,000,000
Lewis and Clark 19,360,000
Deer Lodge 13,250,000
Meagher 6,949,200
Jefiferson ! 4,500,000
Beaverhead • • • • 2,245,000
Other sources 6,000,000
Total $92,304,200
CHAPTER X
PIONEER CITIES AND TOWNS
Even the veteran, Fort Benton, was no more than a fortified trad-
ing post until the 0}>ening and expansion of the gold fields attracted
immigrants from everywhere, many of whom survived the excitements
and uncertainties of the early mining days and remained to become
identified with the silver and the copper industries, and the even more last-
ing developments of agriculture and livestock.
In the spring and summer of 1864, when Bannack and Virginia
City were well under way and Helena was about to be founded, a number
of small buildings were sprinkled outside the fort as an irregular settle-
ment. The largest of them was the store built by Matthew Carroll and
George Steele. It was constructed of sawed logs, prepared at the Fort
LaBarge sawmill. These gentlemen were at the time clerks in the employ
of the American Fur Company, but soon after began business for them-
selves under the firm name of Carroll & Steele. During the same year
(1864) they bought a large stock of goods and their venture proved per-
manently successful. The settlement soon began to assume the appear-
ance of a town, although, as yet, the buildings were located at the fancy
of the owners, without regard to system. In the spring and summer of
1865, however, the town was regularly laid out according to the present
plan by Capt. W. W. DeLacy, the widely known western surveyor, and
called Benton City. Several new buildings were at once erected, with
their inclosures, and for the first time defined streets and squares were
outlined on the prairie bottom.
*"The name of Benton City took but a slender hold on the popular
opinion, and deservedly so, for every attempt to pervert a good name
already in current use should be met with severe reprobation. The name
of the local postofifice is Fort Benton, the business men use the same name
in their letter and bill heads, freight from the lower towns is consigned
to Fort Benton, and by that name the place is almost universally called
by its inhabitants and others. While the adobe walls of old Fort Benton
continue to stand, the new name offers some little advantage in distin-
guishing the town from the fort, but the walls must soon crumble and
the fort disappear, as has Campbell and LaBarge already, and then the
name of Benton City will have no advantage whatever, while it will have
the disadvantage of veiling to its coming inhabitants the glamor of con-
tiguity attaching to the old sonorous name of Fort Benton."
At the conclusion of "Affairs at Fort Benton,'' Vol. Ill, p. 287,
* Bradley's "Affairs at Fort Benton."
215
216 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Arthur J. Craven, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Historical
Society, in 1900, inserts this note : "Here this section of the journal
purchased by the Board from Mrs. Bradley in 1881, abruptly terminates,
an incomplete, succeeding paragraph indicating the intention of the
lamented author to fully conclude the period of time designated by him in
the title (1831-69). Upon what portion of his numerous chronicles he
was engaged when he was summoned with his command to his last cam-
paign, the one against the Nez Perces in 1S77, is unknown. Possibly the
rich romance clustering around this old fort, which, as shown by a re-
view of his manuscripts, was evidently a favorite theme, was the last
which engaged his literary effort, before passing from the quiet con-
templation of the annals of the frontier to the heroic martyrdom of the
soldier on the field of battle.
"Contemporaries and associates of Major Culbertson have fortunately
transcribed to print memoirs of their experience in the fur trade of the
Missouri and its tributaries. These serve only to increase the historic
value of the foregoing contribution, one which shows throughout the in-
valuable assistance of Major Culbertson, than whom no better authority
could be found on the events of the Upper Missouri, during the greater
portion of the period treated by the author.
"It may be of interest to add that the old fort is now owned (1900)
by the Hon. T. E. Collins, present state treasurer, and that the surround-
ing town, thronged with these historic associations, happily retains 'the
old sonorous name' of Fort Benton, in accordance with the preference
expressed by the author in his concluding paragraph."
Founding of Virginia City
But it was the mining camp which sprung up in Alder Gulch, which
became the magic city of the Montana gold fields. The stampede from
Eannack City, in June, 1863, brought several hundred to the new findings
and before the close of the following year the population of the place,
which was housed in every conceivable shelter and camped under the sky
in bearable weather, had reached ten or twelve thousand people ; a bed-
lam of a city with representatives of every description and clime, all
madly rushing for gold. The most complete description of the first two
years of lusty infancy in the life of Virginia City has been penned by
Judge Henry N. Blake, one of the ablest members of the Montana bench
and bar, and a public character of broad ability and worth.
Judge Blake, who settled in Virginia City, during 1866, says that
the first crowd of stampeders from Bannack comprised over three hun-
dred men. A public meeting of the original prospectors and discoverers
was held June 7th in a cottonwood grove upon the banks of the Beaver-
head River and about ten miles south of the Beaverhead Rock. Resolu-
tions were passed confirming the right of each discoverer to two claims in
Alder Gulch, with water privileges. The main body of the swarm arrived
in Alder Gulch on the 9th and Hughes, who had stealthily left them,
piloted his friends during the preceding night to the promised land.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 217
Some, who wished to steal a march on the others but were not famihar
with the country, wandered up the Stinkwater, Granite and other
streams and were distanced. On the 12th, the miners adopted the laws
of the Fairweather district.
"At this date," says Judge Blake, "there was not a dwelling house
within the boundaries of Madison county. This was not a municipal
body and was included with the largest fraction of Montana in Idaho
territory, which had been organized by an Act of Congress, approved
March 3, 1863.
"The throng was increased daily during the month of June by the
arrival of citizens, who represented every part of the Union and the na-
tions of both hemispheres. On the i6th the Verona Town Company
recorded its claim to 320 acres of land on which Virginia City stands.
The name of Verona was used in a number of legal papers which were
executed at this time, but this was soon exchanged for Virginia City,
which first appears upon the county records on the 17th."
The first name given to the present capital of Montana was in
honor of Jefif. Davis' wife, but, as stated, it was soon changed to Vir-
ginia. Dr. (Judge) G. G. Bissel was the first man that wrote it Virginia.
Being asked to head a legal document Verona, he bluntly said he would
see them d d first, for that was the name of Jeff. Davis' wife; and,
accordingly, as he wrote it. so it remained. From this little circumstance,
it will be seen that politics was anything but forgotten on the banks
of Alder creek ; but miners are sensible men, in the main, and out in the
mountains a good man makes good friends, even where political opinions
are widely different.
"Almost* immediately after the first freat rush from Bannack — in
addition to the tents, brush wakiups and extempore fixings for shelter
- — small log cabins were erected. The first of these was the Mechan-
ical bakery, now (1866) standing near the lower end of Wallace street.
Morier's saloon went up at about the same time and the first dwelling
house was built by John Lyons. After this beginning houses rose as if
by magic. Dick Hamilton, Root & Davis, J. E. McClurg, Hall & Simpson,
N. Story and O. C. Mathews, were among the first merchants. Dr.
Steele was first president of the Fairweather district. Dr. G. G. Bissel
was the first judge of the Miners' Court. The duty of the recorder's
office was, we believe, performed by James Fergus."
Continuing Judge Blake's account : "The extent of the pay streak be-
ing unknown, the object of every person was to secure mining ground in
the neighborhood of that which had been prospected by the pioneers. It
was generally believed that the bars were the golden safes of nature
and many parties neglected and walked over as worthless the richest
deposits in the creek in their eager search for what they considered the
valuable claims. Before the bedrock of the creek had been disturbed
by the pick, the camp was deserted by a number of intelligent miners
who informed their friends with confidence that there were no paying
* Professor Dimsdale's "Vigilantes in Montana."
218 HISTORY OF MONTANA
diggings in the gulch. But within thirty days tests were applied by
hundreds of industrious hands to every place which was accessible, and
revealed to the world the auriferous bed of an ancient river, which sur-
passed in magnitude and the uniform distribution of its golden treasures,
any placer which has been recorded upon this planet. New districts were
formed, embracing the creek, bar and hill claims, and designated High-
land, Pine Grove and Summit, which were above the Fairweather, and
Nevada and Junction, which were below it. A thousand claims were
located in the gulch.
"During the period when every doubt respecting the immense wealth
of Alder vanished, the people were living in houses not made with hands.
Some constructed temporary shelters of wakiups of alders and pine
boughs, or rocks and blankets, others excavated caves or "dug-outs," and
the palaces were tents and wagons. The mill on which they were de-
pendent for sawed lumber, was situated on the stream above Bannack
and about seventy miles from Virginia City. The axe was the most useful
tool and log cabins occupied every convenient space upon the banks
of the creek. If a stranger entered the gulch in the prosperous days of
1863 and 1864, and traveled from Junction to Summit, the brilliant lights,
illuminating the road and trail, would dazzle his eyes, and cause him to
imagine he was in a vast city."
Miners' Courts Established
The Legislative Assembly of Idaho did not convene until December,
1863. this county was not governed during the interim by the statutes of
any state, and a mining district was an independent republic. A judge
and sheriff were elected by the residents of the district, and although the
miners' courts were neither in law nor fact tribunals of record, their deci-
sions were final and the officers executed the judgment without opposition.
In Fairweather District Dr. G. G. Bissel was the first judge of the
Miner's Court, Richard Todd was the first sheriff and Henry Edgar was
the first recorder. They were elected on June 9th, the day on which the
mining claims were staked. J. B. Caven was chosen sheriff September
3, 1863, and resigned within a few weeks and Henry Plummer, then
sheriff of the Grasshopper District and chief of the road agents, was
elected.
First Buildings Erected
As stated, T. L. Luce erected the first building in Virginia City,
the "Mechanical Bakery," on the lot above the present store of J. F. Stoer,
Wallace Street, Frederick Root and Nathaniel J. Davis the first store,
John Lyons, the first dwelling house, Henry Morier, the first saloon, and
R. S. Hamilton received the first load of merchandise. Col. Samuel Mc-
Lean, the first delegate to Congress, drove the first wagon to Alder
Gulch. The physicians who arrived during the first week of the inva-
sion were Drs. I. C. Smith and J. S. Click, and the lawyers were repre-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 219
'sented by H. P. A. Smith, G. W. Stapleton and Samuel McLean. After
making diligent inquiries, I am satisfied that no clergyman preached within
the county in 1863. The first cobble-stone store was put up for Taylor,
Thompson and Company, whose sign can be read today. The first lumber
from Bannack was sold readily for $250, gold, per thousand feet, more
than twelve times the present price. The first sawmill in the county was
set in motion by Thomas W. Cover and Perry W. McAdow in February,
1864, on Granite Creek, about four miles above Junction. About the
same time the sawmill of George N. Stager & Company was running on
Alder Gulch, about one-fourth of a mile below Granite Creek, from which
the water was conveyed by a ditch. Other mills were built afterwards
by Holter Bros., on Ramshorn Gulch, House and Bivins of Meadow
Creek and James Gemmell on Mill Creek. The quarry within this town-
site, which has furnished porphytic stone for the largest buildings, was
opened by Joseph Griffith and William Thompson in July, 1864. The
first warehouse, constructed of this material, is now occupied by Ray-
mond Bros. The first sluice boxes were set up about June 25th, 1863,
by the discoverers on Fairweather Bar, S. R. Blake in the Fairweather
District, and J. M. Wood in the Nevada District. The construction of
ditches to work the claims consumed time and money, and eight months
passed away before some of the drains were completed.
Montana's First Postoffice
A line of coaches to Salt Lake and Bannack was started, immediately
after the settlement of Alder, by A. J. Oliver & Co. No mail route was
established by the general government until late in 1864, and letters
and newspapers were forwarded by the express to the recipients, who paid
with a grateful heart the charges, usually $1, gold, for each document.
The first postoffice was located at Virginia City, and George B. Parker
was the first postmaster. For a number of years Virginia City was the
distributing postoffice for the territory.
First Election
The first election was held under the proclamation of the Governor in
Idaho, 1863, for the choice of members of the Legislative Assembly.
The county was represented by Jack Edwards in the council, and James
Tufts, who became the speaker, in the house. Mark A. Moore, who re-
ceived the highest number of votes, was not eligible, and Doctor Smith,
who stood next upon the tally list, was not allowed to take the vacant
chair. The first officers of the county were commissioned by the gov-
ernor of Montana.
Output of Alder Gulch
The weather during the first two years was favorable to the busy
gold diggers, who pursued with slight interruptions their tasks upon the
220 HISTORY OF MONTANA
surface and underground. The miner, in opening the vaults of Alder
Gulch, realized the extravagant fancies of a miner's dream, and the pick
and shovel in his hands were as potent as the lamp and ring in the grasp
of Aladdin. Every effort was rewarded with gold. In 1864, miles of
drain ditches penetrated the mineral claims from Old Baldy to Granite,
and the product exceeded $30,000,000. It is to be regretted that the prec-
ious metal which has been wrested from Alder Gulch is an unknown
quantity, which cannot be determined. "After an examination of all the
facts, I am satisfied that Alder Gulch has increased the gold coin of the
world $60,000,000," says Judge Blake. Candor requires me to state
that this estimate is deemed too moderate by many pioneers of the
county, whose judgment merits grave consideration. More nuggets were
saved in the Summit than in all the other districts, and the largest was
found by Hedge & Company, in 1864, upon their claim near the hill on
which the Lucas lode had been staked. It was worth $715 in coin and
over $1,700 in currency.
"The population was multiplied until there were, in 1864, at least
10,000 and probably 15,000 persons who were nourished by the golden
current. Kate Virginia Caven, the daughter of J. B. Caven, the first
child of white parents within the county, was born in this city, February
20, 1864. At the first election, held October 24, 1864, after the territory
of Montana had been formed, Madison county cast 5,286 votes, Virginia
City having 2,310 and Nevada 1,806 of this number."
Virginia City was incorporated by the Legislature of Idaho Janu-
ary 30, 1864, and on December 30, 1864, by the Legislative Assembly of
Montana. Under the last act, officers were elected in the spring of 1865,
and this is the only place in Montana which has enjoyed the blessings of
a municipal government and possessed mayors and aldermen (written in
1896). During the two years succeeding the important discovery on May
27, 1S63, Alder Gulch was in reality the territory of Montana. The capi-
tal was removed from Bannack to Virginia City by the law approved
February 7, 1865, and remained until January, 1875. The conventions of
the republican and democratic parties assembled here in 1864 and 1865,
and nominated candidates for Congress and other offices.
"From these districts went forth the prospectors to every gulch, seek-
ing for another Alder, and many of the founders of villages in every part
of Montana. During the last ten years, the decline in the product of gold
has caused the loss of the people, and there are now in Alder gulch hun-
dreds in lieu of the thousands of 1863 and 1864. The manifold resources
of Madison county are a permanent foundation, and I am assured that
the wave of population will recede no further, and in the future must
advance."
Pioneer Gulch .^nd City
Pioneer City was such only in name, standing, as it did, for Pioneer
Gulch, or Pioneer Creek — the Benetsee, or Gold Creek, of an earlier day,
and the American Fork, the settlement fathered by the Stuarts. Although
HISTORY OF MONTANA 221
James and Granville Stuart are acknowledged to have been the first
really successful miners in Montana, they were always ready to give credit
to others, and the former mentions as a pioneer preceding them one
Henry Thomas who sank a shaft thirty feet deep, a mile west of where
"Pioneer City" afterward stood, in the summer of i860. He worked
alone with his little windlass and four sluice boxes, hewed out with an
axe, earning only about $1.50 per day — and soon dropped out of sight.
*"In the fall of i860 and spring of 1861 Anderson and the Stuarts
prospected in the dry gulches putting into Benetsee creek and found what
they considered good paying mines, but did little toward working them
that season for two reasons : First, they had very few and imper-
fect tools and no lumber until they could get it whipsawed ; and second,
all the party, except the writer, went to Fort Benton for the purpose
of purchasing supplies from the steamboats expected up the river that
year. The one boat (the Chippeway) that started up was burned near
the mouth of Milk River, and the summer was lost in waiting for her. On
this boat were the Hons. William Graham, of Phillipsburg, and Frank L.
Worden, of Missoula. Early in the spring of 1862, the Stuarts, Adams,
Burr and Powell began to mine, having had lumber sawed by hand at 10
cents a foot, and picks and shovels packed up from Walla Walla, 425
miles distant, by Worden and Higgin's train of 'cayuse' pack-horses that
brought their goods to Hell Gate, and on the 8th day of May they set the
first string of sluices ever used in Montana and began to mine by the old
pick and shovel process.
"In '61 the Stuarts had written to their brother Thomas, who was in
Colorado territory, to come out here, as they thought this a better and
richer country than that, which opinion, by the way, they have seen no
reason to change and still adhere to. Thomas showed the letters to
many friends of his and the result was that quite a number left there in
the spring of '62 for Deer Lodge. The first of these, a party of twelve,
arrived at Pioneer about the 20th of June, and among them was J. M.
Bozeman. The party found good prospects in a branch of Benetsee or
Gold creek as it now began to be called, which branch took the name
of Pike's Peak gulch from the fact of the discoverers being from Pike's
Peak, as Colorado was then generally called. Other parties also began to
straggle in from Pike's Peak and Utah, and about the 29th of June Sam'l
T. Hauser, Frank Louthan and Alt arrived, being the advance guard of a
number who came up on the steamer from St. Louis, and who were on
their way to Florence, in the Salmon River mines, not having heard of
the discoveries at Gold creek, where, however, many of them stopped and
are oldest and most respected citizens."
UNSUBST.\NTI,aiL SETTLEMENTS
Although James and Granville Stuart and Rezin Anderson, their part-
ner, prospected some in the Deer Lodge Valley, in 1857, it was not until
1862 that the new-found gold fields attracted much attention. A town
* Granville Stuart's biography of James Stuart.
222 HISTORY OF MONTANA
sprang up in the vicinity of the niities first called LaBarge City, but two
years later named Deer Lodge, followed soon by the rise of Bannack
City. Deer Lodge was sometimes called Cottonwood and sometimes
Spanish Fork. The Stuarts and Anderson founded a settlement at the
mouth of Gold Creek which they called American Fork; Robert Grant
started Grantville, at the mouth of Little Blackfoot Creek, and Robert
Dempsey "established" Dublin six miles below Gold Creek. The deser-
tion of these incipient towns is thus stated by Granville Stuart: "In the
summer of 1863, Grant moved up to Cottonwood and Grantville became
deserted; and after the discovery of Alder gulch the Stuarts and most
of the residents of American Fork moved to Virginia City; and that
village, too, lost prestige and finally became extinct. Dempsey and re-
tainers also raised camp and went to the Pah-sam-er-ri, or Water of
the Cottonwood Groves, as the Snake Indians called the Stinkwater
river, and Dublin, too, was left unto itself desolate,"
Founding of Old Butte
The discoveries which led to the founding of Old Butte, in the fall
of 1864, are told by Col. Charles S. Warren, the young Illinois man
who arrived upon the scene two years after and was long afterward a
leading figure in the mining enterprises and public affairs of the state.
In his centennial address, published in Vol. Ill, of the ^Montana
Historical Society's contributions, he says: "In May. 1864, G. O. Humph-
reys and William Allison came to Butte and camped above where Butt6
City now stands, on what is now known as Baboon Gulch, and pros-
pected for a month in the vicinity, when they returned to Virginia City
for provisions. Early in June they returned to Butte to permanently
reside, and located v^^hat is now known as the "Mi-^soula lode.'' During
the months of June and July they ran a tunnel upon the same, and
organized what was known as the "Missoula company. " consisting of
Frank and Ed Madison, Dent, G. Tutt. Col. R. W Donnell, Swope,
Hawley, Allison and Humphreys. Soon after, Dennis Leary and H. H.
Porter, who were fishing on the Big Hole River, followed the wagon
tracks of Humphreys and Allison into the camp, having been favorably
impressed by the appearance of the ore from the Missoula lode. Probably
the first lead staked in what is now known as Summ-'t Valley District
was the "Black Chief," formerly the old "Deer Lodge" lode, which was
discovered and staked early in 1864, by Charles Murphy, Maj. William
Graham and Frank Madison.
"At the time LIumphreys and .^Lllison first came into the valley, there
were no stakes struck, nor any signs of work having been dotje in the
camp, except upon what is now known as the Original lode, where there
was an old hole sunk to the depth of four or five feet. Near the hole
were some elk horns used for gads, and handspikes. From all appear-
ances the work had been performed years before ; by whom this work
was done, there is no telling, nor will it probablv ever be known. In the-
fall of 1864 rich placer discoveries were made in the vicinity of Butte,.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 223
and in August of the same year the first mining district was formed, with
William Allison as president, and G. O. Humphreys as recorder. In
the fall of 1864, the old town of Butte was located, on what is known
as Town Gulch, adjoining the present town site of Butte.
Mining Along Silver Bow Creek
"During the month of October, 1864, rich placer discoveries were
made on Silver Bow Creek, below where the town of Silver Bow now
stands, by Frank Ruff, Bud. Baker, Peter Slater and others, and people
began to gather from all parts of the territory. A new district was
formed in the lower end of the gulch, known as Summit Mountain Mining
District, with W. R. .Coggswell as recorder, and soon sprang up the
town of Silver Bow City, which was then made the county seat of Deer
Lodge County. During the winter of 1864-65 there were probably 150
men in Silver Bow and vicinity, and many lodes were recorded in the
two districts. In the spring of 1865, Summit Mountain district was
divided, and claims No. 75 to 310, above discovery on Silver Bow Creek,
were organized into what is known as Independence Mining District. In
the fall of 1864, German Gulch was discovered by Ed. Alfield and others.
In the spring of 1865. a big stampede took place for this new discovery,
and on the ist of April, 1865, there were nearly 1,000 men in German
Gulch and immediate vicinity. During the winter of 1864-65, Collins
& Company established a store at Silver Bow, and shortly after another
store was started by O. G. Dorwin."
Hell's G.\te and Missoula
In June, i860, Frank L. Worden and C. P. Higgins, under the firm
name of Worden & Company, started for Walla Walla with a stock of
general merchandise for the purpose of trading at the Indian agency, but,
upon their arrival at Hell's Gate, they determined to locate at that point,
and accordingly built a small log house and opened business. This was
the first building erected at that place, and formed the nucleus of a small
village that was known far and Vide as Hell's Gate, and which in later
years had the reputation of being one of the roughest places in Montana.
During this year 400 United States troops under the command of Major
Blake passed over the Mullan road from Fort Benton to Walla Walla
and Colville.
The historic Bitter Root Valley was the scene of much activity in
the late '50s, and, as far as town-building is concerned, Missoula was the
result. In 1855, the Confederated Flathead nation concluded the treaty
with the Government in the large pine grove on the river, about eight
miles below the present town of Missoula, and the circumstance gave
that locality the name of Council Grove. In the following year, a note-
worthy influx of settlers commenced to come into the so-called Hell's
Gate Ronde, in the upper part of Bitter Root Valley. Among them was
Frank H. Woody (Judge), who is therefore well qualified to explain
224
HISTORY OF MONTANA
the circumstances attending the birth of the town of Missoula. He says
in his "Early History of Western Montana," (Vol. H, p. 94) : "The
large round valley lying below and adjacent to the present town of
Missoula was called by the early Canadian trappers who visited this
country. Hell's Gate Ronde and the river, Hell's Gate River. The name
Frank L. Worden
Hell's Gate originated in this wise : In an early day, when the warlike
Blackfeet overran the whole of Montana, the romantic and picturesque
pass or canyon where the Hell's Gate River cuts through the mountain
above the town of Missoula, was a regular rendezvous for their war
parties, and so constantly did they infest this place that it was almost
certain death for an individual, or even small parties, to enter this pass,
and so great was the dread and fear entertained by the Indians of the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 225
western tribes and the Canadian voyageurs that it became a saying with
them that it was as safe to enter within the gates of hell, as to enter into
that pass; and it was called by the voyageurs, in their language. Port
d'enfer, Gate of Hell, or Hell's Gate, and from which the river and sub-
sequently a village took their names."
In the fall of 1856 quite a number of settlers located in the upper
part of Bitter Root Valley, and in December, Neil McArthur, one of the
most substantial of the new comers erected a trading post in Hell's Gate
Ronde. A number moved their stock to that locality and a number of
pieces of ground were broken for grain and garden produce. In the fall
of 1857, the 'first houses were built in the ronde, or valley. Other settlers
came in, within a few years, including the widely known trader, Capt.
Richard Grant, so prominently identified with the Hudson Bay Company.
"In December of that year (i860), the Territorial Assembly created
the county of Missoula, the polls, at which seventy-four votes were cast,
being opened at Fort Owen, Jocko Agency and Hell's Gate. In 1863-64,
Hell's Gate upheld its name as a favorite resort of the road agents and
horse thieves who infested Montana.
"The Kootenai mines having been discovered early in the spring of
1864, hundreds of men flocked to them, passing through the village of
Hell's Gate and buying generously of its goods and supplies, at 'war
prices.' " In this connection. Judge Woody, who had been in the Hell's
Gate country for a number of years, remarks : "Seed wheat sold as high
as $10.00, and potatoes at $6.00 per bushel; yeast powders were cheap
at $1.50 per box, and coffee at $1.00 per pound, and flour of the
poorest quality sold readily at $30.00 per hundred pounds, and every-
thing else in proportion. In the fall of 1864, the ruling price for wheat
was from $4.00 to $5.00 per bushel. Potatoes from the field sold readily
at $3.00 per bushel. The currency at this time was principally gold dust.
These high prices were caused by the immense number of people who
flocked to the mines of Alder and other gulches on the East Side, and by
the demand made by the settlers in the Gallatin, Jefferson and Madison
Valleys for seed grain and potatoes. * * *
"During the winter of 1864-65, Worden & Company erected a saw-
mill at the place where Missoula now stands, and in the spring of 1865
commenced the erection of a grist mill and business house, and in the
fall of that year moved their store from Hell's Gate to their new build-
ing. Other buildings were put up by other parties, and thus was the
town of Missoula established, and was at first called Missoula Mills, but
eventually the last part of the name was dropped by common consent.
"The town of Frenchtown was established in 1864, Stevensville the
same year and Corvallis about 1868. * * * in February, 1866, the
Board of County Commissioners, upon their own i-esponsibility, moved
the county seat from Hell's Gate to Missoula, where it was subsequently
established by the Legislature. In that year the first assessment of
property was made and the first taxes collected."
CHAPTER XI
MINERAL GEOLOGY AND EARLY INDUSTRIES
By the year 1865, the gold fields of Montana were in full bearing.
Not a few of the old guides, trappers and prospectors had then become
prosperous and stable citizens, and leaders in the social fabric which was
taking shape. Such were the Stuart brothers — James, perhaps more an
energetic man of action that his brother, and Granville, more a careful
observer and recorder of events. They both knew Montana, physically,
as few of its residents, and as their personal acquaintance was also very
wide, they spoke and wrote with authority regarding any of its features
or affairs. The history of Montana by Granville Stuart, completed in
1865, presents an interesting and instructive general picture of the distinct
natural basins into which its territory is divided, with the rivers which
outline the valleys and the known gold fields and centers of population
gathered therein. Neither does he fail to note the agricultural features
of the basins and river valleys of what had but lately been created, the
territory of Montana; and that fact was probably the excuse, if any were
needed, for the publication of the history.
Montana and its Basins
The portions of Granville Stuart's history of what was then the ter-
ritory of Montana which cover the topic mentioned follow :
"The name 'Montana' properly belongs to a certain part of Spain, and
means 'mountainour,' a name that is applicable to the country, for a
wonder. Still, I think that the Snake Indian name of 'Toyabe-Shockup,'
or 'The Country of the Mountains,' would have been more appropriate,
for some parts of Montana have been the home of these Indians from a
time far anterior to the discovery of America.
"Montana consists of a series of basins, five in number, of which
four lie on the east side of the Rocky Mountains and one on the west.
These basins are generally subdivided into a number of valleys by spurs
of mountains jutting down from the main chain of the Rocky Moun-
tains. These spurs are often of great height, frequently exceeding that
of the main chain, but there are many low passes among them, thus con-
necting the valleys with each other by low gaps that are passable at all
times of the year.
The Western Basin
"The basin west of the Rocky Mountains, in the northwestern corner
of the territory, is drained by the Missoula and Flathead Rivers and their
226
HISTORY OF MONTANA 227
branches, the last named being the outlet of the Flathead Lake, a beautiful
sheet of water about forty miles long by twenty wide, which lies at the
foot of the Rocky Mountains near the northern end of the basin, and
not far from the line of British Columbia.
"This lake is surrounded by some beautiful country, a portion of
which is valuable in an agricultural point of view. From the lake there
extends south along the foot of the Rock Mountains to the Pend d'Oreille
Mission, a distance of over fifty miles, a well-wooded, gently-rolling
country, clothed with a good growth of grass, a large proportion of it
being excellent farming land. Then leaving the mission and crossing
a range of hills to the south you enter the valley of the Jocko, which is
small, but in beauty and fertility it is unsurpassed. Here is located the
reserve of the Pend d'Oreille Indians. Then crossing by an easy pass,
over the lofty spur of mountains running down from the main chain
between the Jocko and Hellgate Rivers, you enter the lovely valley
of the Hellgate, which is about twenty-five miles long, with an average
breadth of about six miles. It is almost all good farming land, with a
good growth of bunch grass, and it is enough to make a man from the
prairies of Iowa or Illinois cry to see the good pine timber that is going
to waste here.
"Here comes in from the south the river and valley of the 'Bitter-
Root,' a lovely and fertile region extending south about sixty miles, with
an average breadth of seven or eight miles. In this valley is situated
Fort Owen, surrounded by a thriving settlement. This fort is not, nor
ever was, a government fort. It was established in 1851 or 1852 by the
untiring energy and perseverance of Mr. John Owen, for the purpose
of trading with the Indians, and it is at present the best building in
Montana.
"The valleys of the Bitter Root and Hell Gate contain many settlers,
whose number is rapidly increasing. The Missoula River is formed by
the junction of the Hell Gate and Bitter Root.
"These valleys are bounded on the west by the Bitter Root Moun-
tains, which are very lofty, snow lying on many of the peaks during the
entire year. These mountains cover an e.xtent of country about seventy-
five miles wide, reaching to the valley of Snake River in Idaho, and
about 200 miles in length, forming a howling wilderness of yawning
carious and huge mountains, covered with a heavy growth of pine and
fir timber, and affording a home to a few elks and a large number of
grouse, but of no earthly use for anything but the mineral wealth they
contain, which is very great, as is proven by Florence City, Elk City, Oro
Fino, and many other places of less note.
"Leaving the Hellgate valley, and going up the Hellgate River —
which comes from the southeast, we enter Hellgate Canyon — which I
have described elsewhere — and in a short distance we reach the mouth of
'Big Blackfoot River.' Coming in from the east, it runs through a canyon
for some fifteen miles above its mouth, above which it opens out into a
large and beautiful valley, well timbered and watered, forming a good
grazing region, and, most probably, farming also ; but it has been tried.
228 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Then, going up Hellgate canyon forty miles, we emerge into the rolhng
grassy hills which reach twelve miles to the valley of Flint Creek, a beauti-
ful place, well calculated for grazing and farming. Thence up the Hellgate
River, through much good farming land, bordered by rolling, grassy coun-
try, twenty miles to the lower end of Deer Lodge Valley, passing by 'Gold
Creek,' where are the first gold mines ever found and worked in what
is now 'Montana.'
Pl.\cer and OfARTZ MiNES OF Deer Lodce Valley
"But I am digressing from my description of the basins that con-
stitute Montana. I have described Deer Lodge elsewhere, with the
exception of the rich placer and quartz mines situated in a kind of sec-
ondary valley, situated at the head of the main one, and a slight
description of which will be proper here. They were discovered during
the summer of 1864; the large number of gold and silver-bearing quartz
leads first attracted the attention of some prospectors, who began to
examine the coimtry and found it to be of unexampled richness, there
having been discovered up to this time (January, 1865) over 150 leads
of gold and silver bearing quartz within a space of six by ten miles,
several of the silver leads assaying better than the Comstock lead in
Nevada Territory, and one in particular, the Original, producing seventy
per cent, of metal w'hen melted down in a common forge, the proportion
being $2,800 in silver to the ton of rock, $200 in gold and copper — enough
to pay all expenses of working. A great many of these leads project
above the surface of the grounds, and can be traced for hundreds of
yards by the eye while standing in one spot, there is no doubt but this
vicinity will prove as good, if not better, than the renowned Washoe
mines. Wood and water are plenty and easy of access, and it is besides
an excellent grass country. There are also several large leads of ar-
gentiferous galena, which furnish all the lead that may be wanted, and
which contain a sufficient quantity of silver to pay a handsome profit
to the workers.
"In addition to the quartz leads, which are known to form a network
over a large extent of country bordering Deer Lodge Valley, there is in-
terspersed among these leads a large extent of placer or surface diggings,
some of which were worked during the past fall and yielded largely,
and which will afford remunerative employment to a large number of
men for years to come.
"This ends the description of the northwestern basin, which con-
tains eight principal valleys, to wit: The valleys of the Flathead Lake,
of the Mission, of the Jocko, of Hellgate, of the Bitter Root, of Big
Blackfoot, of Flint Creek and of Deer Lodge, besides many other smaller
ones of great beauty and fertility. This basin drains toward the north-
west, and is about 250 miles long by an average of about seventy-five miles
wide. It is by far the best timbered part of the territory, owing to the
moist warm winds of the Pacific Ocean, which reach to the Rocky
Mountains along here, and cause a more luxuriant growth of vegetation
HISTORY OF MONTANA 229
than farther south, where their moisture is absorbed and rather dried up
in crossing the arid surface of the 'Great Basin,' which is destitute of
timber, except in a few places.
"Sickness is almost unknown in this basin, or indeed in any of the
others, for I can truly say that no healthier country can be found in
the world than that comprised within the limits of the Territory of
Montana.
Mont.\na's Northeastern Basin
"Next is the northeastern basin, lying on the east side of the Rocky
Mountains, and between them and the low dividing ridge that separates
the waters of the Saskatchewan, Red River of the North, and the Miss-
issippi River, from those of the Missouri. The basin extends in fact
from the Rocky Mountains to the eastern border of the territory, along
its north end, a distance of nearly 600 miles in length, by about 150 in
breadth, a small part of its northern edge lying in British possessions.
"The eastern portion of this vast basin is composed of clay table lands,
or 'mauvaise terres,' but there is a large amount of good land along the
streams. There are several spurs and bunches of mountains, as the
Bear's Paw, Little Rocky Mountains, Three Buttes. etc., scattered about
in it. It drains to the east by the Missouri River, Milk River, Maria's.
River, Teton River, Sun River, and Dearborn, the first "three putting
into the Missouri below Fort Benton, and the last two a .short distance
above the Great Falls. The western portion of this basin is but little
broken up by mountains, yet only about one-third of its surface is avail-
able for farming, consisting of a strip from ten to twenty miles in width
and about 150 long, running along the east foot of the Rock Mountains,
which afford a good supply of timber. This strip is clothed with bunch-
grass, but as you leave the mountains and go down into the plains, the
country becomes a succession of clay terraces or table lands, more com-
monly known as 'bad lands,' which are sterile, with but a scanty growth of
stunted grass. The streams have worn down through these table lands
until they now run in canyons several hundred feet below you, meandering
through the narrow bottoms that border it. These bottoms, though
narrow, are generally fertile and well supplied with grass. Timber, how-
ever, is not very plentiful, what there is being principally cottonwood. It is
possible that a lal-ge proportion of these table lands may Ije rendered
productive by a well-directed system of irrigation.
"The want of timber may also be supplied by coal, of which I have
reason to believe there are large deposits in this basin.
"There have not been any discoveries that would pay of precious
minerals in this basin as yet, but there has been a small amount of
superficial prospecting done. This has established the fact that gold
exists in unknown quantities in the canyons and streams that put into this
basin from the Rocky Mountains. I am, however, of the opinion that
when this region is thoroughly prospected it will be found equally as
rich as its sister basins.
230 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Western Central Basin
"Next comes the western central basin, drained to the east by the
Jefferson fork of the Missouri and its trilmtaries, of which the following
are the principal : Big Hole River, which conies in from the northeast,
and which, I think, affords more than the Beaverhead River, which has
generally been considered the main stream, and properly so, because it
runs through the center of the basin, and drains a much larger extent of
country than the Big Hole, which has along its course, and in a huge
semi-circle around its head, some of the loftiest peaks in this part of
the Rocky Mountains, and on which the snow falls to a great depth, and
as it melts in the spring and summer, causes the Big Hole, which has
a much steeper grade than the Beaverhead, to become a rushing torrent
of formidable dimensions. The Big Hole and the Beaverhead unite
near the eastern edge of the basin, and form the Jefferson fork of the
Missouri, which runs through a canyon into the 'eastern central basin,'
where it makes a junction at the 'Three Forks' with the Madison and
Gallatin Rivers.
"Rattlesnake Creek comes in from the northwest, as does Williams'
Creek a few miles farther west. Horse Prairie Creek, which is the head-
water of the Beaverhead, comes in from the west. Red Rock Creek comes
in from the south ; Black Tailed Deer Creek from the southeast, and
Stinking Water River from the southeast. These streams drain this
basin, which lies much in the shape of a spread fan, being about 150 miles
wide by 100 long.
"There have been no mines discovered on the Big Hole, except a small
patch at its head, of which I have spoken elsewhere.
"Rattlesnake Creek is crossed in the canyon above its valley by num-
erous ledges of the richest quartz silver that has yet been discovered in
Montana, some of them assaying as high as $5,000 to the ton of rock.
"The round smooth boulders and gravel commonly known as the
'wash,' that are always found in placer diggings, have evidently been
caused by the grinding, pulverizing action of glaciers, the country having
undergone great changes of upheaval and depression since that time ;
and in gold-bearing localities the action of the elements during countless
ages had collected the gold that was ground out of the ledges and rocks
by the action of the glaciers into the ravines, creeks and rivers of the
vicinity.
Bannack City and Vicinity
"Bannack City stands at the upper end of the canyon on Willard's
Creek, where it opens out into a small valley. The mines extend down
the creek seven or eight miles, and have paid big, but are now declining
somewhat.
"In this canyon are situated many leads of gold-bearing quartz of ex-
ceeding richness, among which is the famous 'Dacotah' lead which is now
being worked with great success. There is also the Waddam lead, the
California lead, and many others that assay quite rich. In fact, few
HISTORY OF MONTANA 231
places in the world possess greater mineral wealth than the vicinity of
Bannack City (1865).
"Passing by Horse Prairie, Red Rock, and Black Tailed Deer Creeks,
each of which has a valley of considerable extent which is admirably
adapted for grazing and probably for farming also, but on which no
mines have as yet been discovered, we come to Stinking Water River,
which has a valley of considerable size, but only a portion of which was
fertile and well grassed; but the spur of mountains that run down be-
tween it and the Madison River, and which are over fifty miles long,
running due north and south, are very rich. The first stream that comes
out of these mountains into the valley of the Stinking Water is the 'Wis-
consin Gulch,' so called because it was first worked by a party from that
state. This gulch had only been partially prospected, it being deep to the
bedrock, yet there has been found a considerable extent of placer dig-
gings in and adjacent to it. A few miles farther up the valley comes out
Mill Creek, so called because Gammell & Company built a mill on it last
year. There has been no placer mines discovered on this creek, but along
the base of the mountains in its vicinity is a large number of rich gold
and silver-bearing quartz leads, among which are the Rothschilds lode,
the Eclipse lode, the Antelope, the Mountain Queen, the Gilbraltar, and
many others that assay rich.
"This is the only place in this range where silver leads are found.
Some of them assay from one to two thousand dollars to the ton of rock,
and they are very easy of access. Here is also a thriving village called
Brandon, which bids fair to rival Virginia City.
"A few miles from Mill Creek comes out 'Ram's Horn Gulch,' so
called from the large number of mountain sheep horns lying along it,
it having once been a resort for them. This stream, like Mill Creek,
possesses no placer diggings, but it has not been thoroughly prospected.
It has, however, many rich leads of gold-bearing quartz, among which is
the famous 'Monitor,' which is very rich. A little farther up the valley
comes out 'Biven's Gulch' — named after the man who first 'struck it' —
in this creek, which has paid, and is still paying remarkably well, in 'coarse
gold,' pieces having been taken out of this gulch weighing as high as $320.
A short distance farther along the base of the mountain, and we come to
'Harris Gulch,' named after its discoverer, as usual, and which has paid
well in places, in beautiful coarse gold, but this gulch is what is called
'spotted,' in mining parlance ; that is, the gold is scattered about in ir-
regular spots. Only a small portion of this gulch has paid well.
"There is another ravine, called 'California Gulch,' which comes into
Harris Gulch on the south, before it enters the valley of the Stinking
Water. This gulch is similar to Harris', except that it is still more
'spotted,' and has not paid so well.
The Virginia City Region
"A few miles farther south comes out the famous Alder Creek — the
derivation of which name I have given elsewhere — on the banks of
which, a few miles above the first canyon, where it opens out into a kind
232 HISTORY OF MONTANA
of basin, are situated the cities of X'irginia, Central and Nevada, which
are fast being merged into one, with a population of about 10,000, and
rapidly increasing. Alder Creek is incredibly rich, from its head down
to near where it enters the valley of the Stinking Water, a distance of
about fifteen miles. Near its head, pieces have been found weighing from
$50 to as high as $720, the gold getting coarser as the head of the stream
is approached.
"In the hills bordering the stream, a large number of gold-bearing
quartz leads have been discovered. Those in Summit district being of
almost unexampled richness, while in the mountains at the head of the
creek, is a coal field of unknown extent, which is now being developed.
This is the second place in this basin where coal has been discovered.
i
pc'«V
^
r".
1
■ife
i
^
^
9>k
4
^^^^^^
i
j?^^^r.
Bridger's C.xnvgn, \'allev of the Gall.atin
and, in a country so s])arsely timbered as this, coal fields are of incal-
culable value. In fact, nature has placed within the limits of Montana
all the requisites to enable her to become the wealthiest part of the
United States. Abounding in all the minerals, precious and otherwise,
with coal and water power unlimited to work them, the future of Mon-
tana will equal in reality those gorgeous fictions of the Arabian Nights'
Entertainments.
"This basin contains eight valleys of considerable size, to wit : The
valley of the upper part of the Jefferson and Beaverhead, of Big Hole
River, of Big Hole Prairie, of Rattlesnake, of Horse Prairie, of Red
Rock, of Black Tailed Deer, of Stinking Water. This ends the descrip-
tion of the Western Central basin, which contains in itself all the es-
sentials necessary for the prosperity of a mighty nation.
E.^STERN CeNTR.\L B-\SIN
"Next comes the Eastern Central basin, which is drained by the
Missouri River, below the Three Forks, and above them by the JefTerson
HISTORY OF MONTANA
233
fork, into which empty the North Boulder Creek, South Boulder Creek
and Willow Creek, on the tirst and last of which are some placer diggings
of limited extent and richness, and many quartz leads that prospect rich.
This basin is further drained by the Madison and Gallatin forks, which
form a junctif)n with the Jefferson in a fertile plain of considerable
extent.
"The basin contains a large amount of arable lands, with a climate
fully as good as Utah. It is about 150 miles long north and south, by
about eighty east and west. It contains five principle valleys, to wit : The
valley of the Three Forks, of North Boulder, of the lower part of the
In the Rosebud V.\lley
Jeiiferson, of the Madison, of the Gallatin. It contains a greater amount
of farming lands than the basin of the Beaverhead and tributaries.
The Yellowstone B.-ksin
"Next and last comes the basin of the Yellowstone and its branches.
It drains toward the east, and is about 400 miles long, by about 150 wide.
But little is known about the mineral resources of this great valley, the
hostility of the Crow Indians rendering it very dangerous prospecting
within its limits. They have already killed several men who were ex-
ploring the country, and robbed and set on foot many others.
"The indefatigable miners have, however, succeeded in finding a
creek at the western edge of the basin, where it approaches nearest the
valley of the Gallatin, which they have called Emigrant Gulch, because
it was mostly taken up by the emigrants who arrived by the Bridger
and Jacobs road. There is a small village on this creek, which prospects
very well in places, and will probably prove very rich, but it is very hard
to work, because of the vast quantity of granite boulders scattered along
its bed and banks.
"There is every reason to believe, however, that the basin of the
Yellowstone will prove fully as rich in precious minerals as the others
234 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and it is known to contain large fields of coal, which are very accessible
and among which are numbers of petroleum or oil springs. In climate
and fertility this valley is a medium between the valleys of the mountains
and the prairies of the Western States. Corn, beans, pumpkins, etc.,
grow finely in it.
"This basin contains eight principal valleys, as follows: The main
valley of the Yellowstone, of Shield's River, of the Rosebud, of Clark's
Fork, of Pr>'or's Fork, of the Big Horn River, of Tongue River, and
of Powder River, and many smaller ones.
"Thus ends this slight description of 'the country of the mountains,'
which, it will be seen, contains five large basins, which inclose within their
limits thirty valleys, each of which is as large as three or four German
principalities, besides many smaller ones not much larger than Rhode
Island or Delaware."
Joaquin Miller on Placer Deposits
In general terms the modes and results of glacial action in the dep-
osition of placer gold have been described, but this chapter which is
intended to convey more definite explanations for the wide distribution
of the precious dust, cannot do better at this point than to borrow from
the characteristically expressed observations of the late Joaquin Miller,
who is said to have mined as well as he wrote. "Placer," he observed,
"is a Spanish word meaning pleasure and delight. When the uneasy pros-
pector discovered the shining dust in Last Chance, on which the business
part of Helena is built, they were certainly both pleased and delighted, and
very properly called it a 'placer.' The Spaniards called these deposits
'placers,' where native gold was found in loose sand and gravel, above
or upon the consolidated strata called 'bed-rock.' They are most com-
monly found in mountain gulches, in sands washed by rivers, and
sometimes in the gravels of the drift deposits. All gold, so far as known,
was originally deposited in veins imbedded in quartz or other minerals,
and that now found in placers has been worn out of these veins by the
action of the weather, water and glaciers, and deposited with the decom-
posed rocks in its present positions in gulches and river beds.
"During the countless ages since the gold was deposited in the veins
of the rocks, and these rocks were elevated into mountains, the agents
above named have worn away vast quantities of the rocks, and those
containing veins of gold, and carried the materials and the gold down into
the gulches and out into the valleys, forming the deposits of clay, sand,
gravel and gold. But the most efficient agents in this work were glaciers
or streams of ice, such as are now at work in the mountains of Alaska,
grinding out the precious metals.
"The evidence is absolutely conclusive that there were vast ages
when the temperature of the northern hemisphere was much colder than
now, and when all the gulches and gorges of the Rocky Mountains were
filled with glaciers or rivers of ice. There is nothing in the nature of
art so well calculated as glaciers to grind up the rocks and carry the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 235
sands, gravels, boulders and gold down into the gulches and deposit
them as we find them in our placers. These facts establish a good
knowledge of the action of glaciers and the manner in which they grind
up the rocks and carry down deposits of sands and clays, and boulders
thus produced will help the miner to understand where he should look
for the richer portions of the placers thus formed. The knowledge of
glaciers would explain many puzzling problems about 'bed-rocks,' 'bar,'
'cross channels' and 'ancient rivers.'
"On the supposition that the gold was brought down by streams of
water, it is difficult to explain how so much of it got upon high bars
and why the most of it was left on the north and east sides of gulches ;
but these are just the places where glaciers would melt most and leave
most of their freight. When we remember that a glacier is a river of ice
running very slowly, that speed is nothing when we have time enough,
that these rivers of ice have frozen into them the loose rocks along their
courses, that they were at times hundreds and thousands of feet deep,
that as they slid along they would break ofif projecting rocks and grind
all beneath them to powder, that they would carry along with them every-
thing ground and unground and deposit them wherever the ice of the
glacier melted, we have important facts to help in mining. Hence the
boulders, gravels, sands and gold are found on the bars and benches, and
in the gulches where they opened out into valleys ; for there the glaciers
would melt and drop their loads. The ice would melt most on the north
and east sides of the glaciers, where the sun strikes the warmest on the
mountain sides opposite ; and there they would drop the most gold, as
we find it in Montana. There are exceptions, easily accounted for by the
shape of the gulches.
"Glaciers were the mills of God which ground out the gold of most
of our placers. They ground slow but they ground on and on through
countless ages, and our placers are their tailings. We, however, have
some placers not produced by glaciers. The Nevada Creek placer mines
are a noted example of placers produced by the ordinary action of weather
and water. They extend along the base of the mountain for miles, and
were formed by the decomposition of the granite which forms the slopes
of the mountain. This granite is full of gold veins and is itself rich in
gold, and decomposes rapidly ; and the materials are washed down by
rains and snow. The gold is found in all parts of it from grass roots
to bed-rock. Gold is also found in the sands of streams which have been
washed away from the places where the glaciers deposited it. There are
golden sands and gravels thousands of miles away from all veins of gold.
Such deposits, so far away from the sources of the gold, are very limited
and never pay for working ; for the manner in which they were formed
precluded the possibility of extensive deposits. The glaciers of Alaska are
making just such deposits as these in the Northern Pacific Ocean. Gla-
ciers many miles wide and several hundred feet deep are flowing from the
mountains in Alaska and bearing to the ocean quantities of boulders,
gravels and sands — some of them containing gold. When these rivers of
ice with precious loads reach the sea, large masses break of? and float away
236 HISTORY OF MONTANA
as icebergs; and wherever they melt they drop their freight of golden
sands.
"Similar deposits are sometimes found in our wide valleys far
away from the mountains. These were formed by the glaciers flowing
out into the valley before they were melted, or were floated out as ice-
bergs when these valleys were lakes or bays of the ocean. Some of these
abnormal deposits of gold in gravels so far from their mountain sources
may have been carried by the great glacier that once covered nearly all
North America as far south as St. Louis or Cincinnati.
"Such were the modes in which our placers were formed. \^ast bodies
of moving ice frozen full of masses of rock, were the mills that ground
the gold out of the quartz and deposited it in the beds and at the mouths
of these ancient channels. These channels were plowed out by these
ice-rivers armed with teeth of flint. These teeth have left their marks,
deep scratches, on the surface of the rocks in our gulches and valleys.
. "With these facts in mind the prospector will find much aid in ex-
amining the form of the gulch, to determine where the glacier flowing
through it would pile up its freight of golden sands, where the sun would
strike it hottest and melt it most, and where it left most of the gravel;
for these places would be the richest parts of the placer. In gulches bor-
dered by high mountains, the north and east sides would have the most
sun; there the ice-river would spread out and melt and leave more or less
of its rich freights of golden sands. At the place where the gulch opens
into the valley, is the place where it would finally melt and leave what was
left of its precious freight."
Cl..\rk on Gold, Silver .nnd Copper Deposits
In 1863, while the first mining operations of Bannack and \'irginia
cities were in full swing, a young Pennsylvanian who had been working
for a time in the Colorado mines — one William A. Clark — appeared in the
Montana whirlpool and hurly-burly and remained as one of the great men
of the country. No one has been longer, or more vitally identified with
all its mineral interests, and he has studied them from bed-rock up, in all
their bearings.
Speaking in 1876 (his centennial address), Mr. Clark says: "The
pay streak in gulches is usually confined to a strip from ten to fifty feet
in width and near the solid formation under the alluvium, which is called
bed-rock, although in some places the gold is intimately diffused through-
out the alluvium from the surface down. The alluvium varying from
500 to 100 feet is washed off by hydraulic power. The water is brought
from its head, which is frequently 200 or 300 feet in height, through
canvas or rubber hose or iron pipes and forced through a small aperture
or nozzle, and is projected against the bank with great energy. The
gravel is washed by the water through a line of sluice boxes, and the
gold, on account of its great specific gravity sinks and lodges in riffles
placed in the sluices. The sluices or flumes are usually fifteen to thirty-
five inches in width, and from one hundred to several thousand feet in
HISTORY OF MONTANA 237
length. The length of ditches conveying water to the various mines will
aggregate about C>oo miles, and cost about $1,000,000 in their con-
struction. * * *
"The history of the development of the quartz mines of Montana is
almost contemporary with that of the placers. The Dacotah lode, bearing
gold quartz, was discovered near Bannack and located November 12,
1862. The decomposed quartz from the surface of the vein was packed
down from the hill on which it is situated to the creek and the gold panned
out. This is a process familiar to miners in which the gold, by dexterous
lateral movements in the pan immersed in water, is caused to sink, while
the lighter earthly matter is gradually carried away by the water. A
mill to crush the quartz from this lode was begun by William Arnold in
the winter of 1862 and finished by J. F. Allen the following spring.
The motive power was water. The stamp stems, four in number, were
made of wood, and the shoes and dies were made of old wagon tires cut
and welded together. This primitive affair was followed, in 1863, by
the erection of other mills, which had been transported from Colorado
and the east, and from that time to this, the gold quartz near Baimack
has given employment to several mills almost uninterruptedly. Gold
bearing quartz was sought for and found in nearly all the placer dis-
tricts."
At the time of Mr. Clark's centennial address (1876), there had
already been such a decrease in gold production — from $18,000,000, in
1865, to $4,500,000 in 1876 — that prospectors were already seeking to
develop other mineral deposits. WiUiam A. Clark, one of the greatest
figures produced by Montana in the development of its silver and copper
wealth, remarked significantly, that although the product of gold ''is im-
portant, yet it is evident that the greater wealth of the territory lies locked
up in silver ores. But little attention was directed to these in the early
years of our history owing to want^of knowledge as to their character
and the methods of their reduction. Most of the various combinations of
silver are: argentiferous galena, grey copper, argentite, stiphenite, ruby
silver, cerargerite, stetefeldite, etc. Of the real silver ores, argentite and
antimonial sulphite are the most abundant and are usually found in a
silicious or calcareous gangue (mineral crust) while in many places the
ores are associated with intractable bases, which render smelting neces-
sary for their beneficiation.
"Galena ores carrying silver were found at Argenta (Beaverhead
County, a few miles northwest of Dillon) in the summer of 1864, which
caused the first silver excitement in the territory. Since then furnaces
for smelting were built and operated there at intervals, but never with
any marked success, and they are, with one exception, now idle. The
silver mines at Philipsburg. in Deer Lodge County, were discovered in
1865, and a ten-stamp mill was built the year after by a St. Louis com-
pany, which is now working the ores used by them. Mr. Clark went on to
mention various stamp mills, which were then more or less successful,
and concluded this phase of his address by referring with evident en-
thusiasm and confidence to the great mineral district in the Helena and
238 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Butte neighborhoods, then only scratched. "A rich beh of argentiferous
lodes," he says, "outcrops west and south of Helena, on Ten Mile, Prickly
Pear and Boulder Creeks. The ores are galena, combined in some in-
stances with a small percentage of zinc blende and antimony, but they
readily yield to intelligent treatment in the blast furnace. This same belt
has another outcrop westward, beyond the Rocky Mountains at Butte, in
Deer Lodge County, and again still farther at Vipond and Bryant dis-
tricts in Beaverhead County. At Butte two dry crushing mills have been
built, one of them at a cost of about $70,000. The ores here receive a
chloridizing roasting and are treated successfully at a cost of about $25
per ton, and saving about 85 to 90 per cent, of the assay value of the raw
ore and producing bullion over 900 fine. Here is to be found the greatest
network of lodes in the west. They carry gold, silver, copper and lead,
and all of these combined to some extent, although the predominant
valuable mineral is either silver or copper. These mines, all within a
compass of a few miles, are located on a range of low hills near the
head of Silver Bow Creek and are easily accessible. The country rock
is granite, the dip south, the strike northeast and southwest, and at right
angles to the main range of the mountains at whose base they lie. The
copper ores are for a depth of about 100 feet oxydized. and principally
carbonates, carrying from ten to fifty per cent, metallis copper. Ex-
ploration below water level will, it is expected, reveal sulphides. Several
hundred of these ores are shipped annually to Baltimore for treatment.
"It is hoped that in the near future capitalists will be induced to erect
works for the reduction of these ores on the ground. Limestone and
iron, or manganese, for fluxes and refractory clay, and cheap fuel, are
abundant and near at hand, and the supply of ore apparently inex-
haustible."
These remarks and comments, extracted from Mr. Clark's centennial
address, are pertinent both as conveying practical information in con-
nection with the gold, silver and copper deposits of Montana, from a high
authority, and also as giving a general picture of the status of mining
operations at the period when gold had declined as a territorial industry
and silver and copper were arising in their might.
MoNTAN.\ Coal and Lignites
In 1906 Dr. J. P. Rowe, then professor of physics and geology in the
University of Montana, issued a booklet on "Montana Coal -and Lignite*
Deposits," which is both scientific and practical in the information which
it conveys. For example, this illuminating paragraph : "The geology
of the coal fields of the United States corresponds generally with the
variety of coal. The anthracite and high grade bituminous coals of the
Eastern United States belong to the Carboniferous — a small amount of
bituminous coal in Virginia and North Carolina is found in the Triassic.
The bituminous and lignitic bituminous coals are found mostly in the
Cretaceous of the Rocky Mountains ; while the lignite, lignitic bituminous,
*A variety of imperfect, woody coal.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 239
and bituminous coals are found in tRe Territory of the Rocky Mountains
and the west. * * * From the looth meridian west to the 115th
(which passes through far- Western Montana), the commercial coals
and lignites belong to the Cretaceous period almost entirely, and is known
as the Rocky Mountain fields ; some new fields with minor areas belong
to the Tertiary. These Tertiary fields, however, contain nothing but lig-
nite, and as yet are almost totally undeveloped. The Rocky Mountain
fields include the states of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, North
and South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. * * *
According to the estimates given by Storrs in the 22nd annual report
of the United States Geological Survey, Montana has an area of about
13,000 square miles of anthracite, bituminous and lignite-bituminous
coals. The lignite areas including the Cretaceous and Tertiary will prob-
ably aggregate more nearly 50,000 square miles than the area heretofore
given of 25,000 square miles. The bituminous area of Montana exceeds
the combined bituminous areas of North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyo-
ming, Utah and New Mexico; and is only exceeded in the Rocky Moun-
tain states by Colorado. Here lignite area is next to that of North,
Dakota, and exceeds the combined lignitic areas of all the other states
of the Rocky Mountains.
Abundant, Widely Distributed Natural Fuel
"All but three counties, Silverbow, Sanders and JeiTerson, have coal
of lignite deposits, as soon as developed, of commercial value. Few
states can boast of such a distribution of natural fuel. In the eastern
part of the state the ranchers, and towns-people as well, burn nothing
but lignite. Anyone living on the plains and desiring a load of fuel,
simply drives to his favorite, nearby lignite seam and procures it. This
is indeed a blessing. No timber to speak of within miles, and oftentimes
remote from a railroad, the people are permitted to live and develop this
great country without worry, and but little trouble in securing the much
needed article in the development of every country, fuel."
So that although Montana already produces between 3,000,000 and
4,000,000 tons of bituminous coal, her deposits have scarcely been
touched. Speaking more in detail, almost the entire eastern half of the
state is underlain by beds of good lignite, they being a continuation of the
large lignitic areas in the Dakotas. The beds vary from a few inches to
more than twenty feet in thickness. Lignite in varying amounts is found
in the plains region of Eastern Montana from Wibaux and Culbertson on
the east to Forsyth and Sanford on the west. From the southern part
of Custer and Rosebud to the northern part of Valley County, hardly a
township in Custer, Dawson and Valley counties that has not more or
less lignite.
Doctor Rowe significantly adds : "The semi-tropical past left a rich
heritage to the future, and these rich stores will soon be used. The coun-
try is fast being settled. Large sheep and cattle ranches are giving way to
tillers of the soil. Formerly one man owned or controlled several sec-
240
HISTORY OF MONTANA
tions, sometimes townships — soon one section will be owned by several
people. The settling of this portion (eastern) of Montana, when irri-
gation schemes are oerfected, will be far easier than it was in Nebraska
and other central states, where nothing but corn, cornstalk weeds and
hay could be had for fuel."
The Bull Mountain field of coal, of about fifty-five square miles in
area and located forty-five miles northeast of Billings in Yellowstone
County, is the most isolated coal area known in the state. It is little
developed.
The Clark's Fork field, which extends through parts of Meagher,
Sweetgrass, Yellowstone and Carbon counties and is an extension of
MoNT.\N.\ Co.vL Mine
the Big Horn Basin field of Wyoming, represents one of the largest
coal deposits in Montana. The chief developments have been in Carbon
County, and the coal is designated as lignitic-bituminous. Much of the
output is consumed by the Butte and Anaconda smelters.
In the south-central part of Carbon County is also the small but pro-
ductive Rocky Fork field. The coal is semi-bituminous. The field ex-
tends about six miles north and south and fixe miles eastward from the
limiting limestones of the westward border.
In Gallatin and Park counties is a rather extensive field from which
has been developed some good coal for steam and coking purposes. The
chief developments have been made in the Livingston-Bozeman district.
Considerable interest has centered in the field because of its proximity to
the Northern Pacific Railroad and consequent assurance of ample trans-
portation facilities should its output become commercially important.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 241
Directly south of Bozeman and in Park County, near tlie Yellowstone
National Park, as well as in Madison County, northeast of Virginia City,
are scattered fields, but the largest deposits in the state outside the east-
ern Plains portion, is the Great Falls field. Although it covers portions
of Teton, Lewis and Clark, Cascade and Fergus counties, in central
and west of the Central Montana, the thickest part of the field is in the
central part of Cascade County, in and around Sand Coulee, while it be-
comes thinner both to the east and the west. In that locality naturally
have occurred the most pronounced developments, the bulk of the output
going to stimulate the water powers and industries of Great Falls. There
has been considerable activity, also, at Augusta, Lewis and Clark County.
Geologically, the Belt or Great Falls field is of special interest as being
"the only considerable occurrence in the United States of the Canadian
coal fields."
Minor fields of coal and lignite are found in Chouteau and Flathead
counties, the latter deposits in the western third of the state, however,
being chiefly in the counties of Granite, Missoula and Ravalli. "Most of
the inter-mountain valleys of Western Montana," reports Doctor Rowe,
who spent five years in his geological investigations, "were formerly
Neocene lakes, and in these lake beds are found a fairly good quality of
lignite. This fuel is mined in many places and the seams range from a few
inches to several feet in thickness. It is as good as the Laramie lignites
of the plains but has never been found in such large areas or as thick.
However, these deposits are being sought after for local domestic fuel
and will probably be in good demand within less than a decade. The beds
in Ravalli County have so far shown the greatest promise."
CHAPTER XII
DAYS OF OUTLAWS, VIGILANTES AND MINERS' COURTS
While the Civil war was raging most violently from the Mississippi
Valley to the Atlantic Coast and the Federal Government was absorbing
all its powers in the stupendous task of "putting down the Rebellion,"
little could be accomplished in the way of organizing the western ter-
ritories of the national domain. It therefore happened that at the seeth-
ing period of the early gold discoveries in Montana, when adventurers
and desperate men and women were gathering at Bannack and Virginia
cities and gold centers of lesser fame ; at a time when the strong arm of
the law should have been most felt, there was absolutely nothing in the
form of constituted authority to protect the respectable and peacefully
inclined citizen in the possession of his property and the exercise of his
legitimate rights. What made the condition of affairs doubly worse and
more desperate for the decent citizen was that the weak organization of
public authority which was, for a time evinced, was in the hands of the
highwaymen themselves and was only used to protect criminals and hide
their crimes.
Enter the Arch Villain
Henry Plummer, an oily, scheming, cold-blooded desperado of good
address, who had passed a decade of murders and other crimes in Cal-
ifornia before he insinuated himself into the wild life of Bannack and
Virginia cities, induced the irresponsible men of these communities to
elect him sheriff. Thus Plummer was actually sheriff of both places at
once. This politic move threw the unfortunate citizens into his hands
completely, and by means of his robber deputies — whose legal functions
cloaked many a crime — he ruled with a rod of iron. The marvelous riches
of the great Alder Gulch attracted crowds from all the West, and after-
ward from the East also ; among whom were many diseased with crime
to such an extent that for their cure the only available prescription was
a stout cord and a good drop.
Although Plummer had appointed as his deputies, Jack Gallagher,
Buck Stinson and Ned Ray, the head deputy was a man of another stripe
entirely named Dillingham, who had accurate knowledge of the names
of the members of the Road Agent Band, and was also acquainted with
many of their plans, although he himself was innocent. For revealing
information which interfered with the road agents' plans, Dillingham
was killed by Charley Forbes and, of course, acquitted. After the failure
242
HISTORY OF MONTANA 243
of justice in the case of the murderers of DilHngham, the state of society,
bad as it was, rapidly deteriorated, until a man could hardly venture to
entertain the belief that he was safe for a single day.
Enter Strong Men of Law and Order
Those were days in Montana which were as decisive of its destiny
as those of the Civil War were for the entire nation, and fortunately the
stalwart men who were already on the ground, as well as many who came
at the height of the gold excitement, were made of metal which success-
fully resisted all the fires of evil and stamped them out. Among these
newcomers were such men as William A. Clark and Col. W. F. Sanders.
The latter was especially prominent in the days when law and order,
the protection of lives and property, rested in the keeping of that stern
organization of individuals known as the Vigilantes, which the bands of
road agents soon learned to dread as the sinner does the eternal hand of
Justice.
J. X. Beidler, a sturdy, broad-shouldered, fearless Pennsylvanian,
who had failed in his Colorado ventures, also arrived in Alder Gulch in
1863, and perhaps accomplished as much as any one man in the physical
work of running down the desperadoes of Hell's Hole, and Bannack and
Virginia cities and bringing them to the hangman's noose. During the
later days of his intrepid and efifective work he was serving as deputy
United States marshal under George M. Pinney.
Both Colonel Sanders, who was the leading prosecuting attorney
against the deviltries of the outlaw gang, and Mr. Beidler, its physical
Nemesis, have left their recollections and observation of the days in which
they were such stirring actors, and Montana writers have always gen-
erously drawn upon their contributions in dealing with this epoch. Na-
thaniel P. Langford and Prof. Thomas Dimsdale have also written
about the Vigilantes of Montana — about their "days and ways" — so that
the material for the expansion of the subject is profuse and readily avail-
able. Mr. Langford, as sheriff, who preceded Henry Plummer (the chief
of the Montana road agents) in that office, ofttimes reported the ex-
citements of 1863-64 from direct observation, although, on the whole,
the publication of Professor Dinsdale is considered the more authoritative.
Reliance is chiefly placed upon it in the preparation of this chapter.
In 1866 Prof. T. Dimsdale published his "Vigilantes of Montana."
probably the most reliable account of that period, his intention being,
as he says in the introduction to the work, "to furnish a correct history
of an organization administering justice without the sanction of consti-
tutional law ; and secondly, to prove not only the necessity for their action,
but the equity of their proceedings." The writer has evidence before him
that the work is reliable, in a note written on the cover of the copy which
he is now consulting by ex-Governor W. R. Marshall, of Minnesota.
It reads thus : "This most wonderful chapter in criminal history is
strictly true in every particular. I have personally conversed with Lang-
ford, Hauser, W. F. Sanders and others who had personal knowledge
of the events."
244
HISTORY OF MOx\'TANA
Society ix the Vigilantes' Days
In noting the condition of Montana ''society" in the days of vigilante
rule, he writes : "The absence of good female society, in any due propor-
tion to the numbers of the opposite sex, is likewise an evil of great mag-
\'ai'11A.\mi.;l I'. Lan(,iiii<1)
nitude ; for men become rough, stern and cruel, to a surprising degree,
under such a state of things.
"In every frequent street, public gambling houses with open doors
and loud music, are resorted to, in broad daylight, by hundreds — it might
almost be said — of all tribes and tongues, furnishing another fruitful
source of 'difficulties,' which are commonly decided on the spot, by an
appeal to l)rute force, the stab of a knife, or the discharge of a revolver.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 245
Women of easy virtue are to be seen promenading through the camp,
habited in the gayest and most costly apparel, and receiving fabulous
sums for their purchased favors. In fact, all the temptations to vice are
present in full display, with money in abundance to secure the gratifica-
tion of the desire for novelty and excitement, which is the ruling passion
of the mountaineer.
The IIukdv-Gurdy House
"One 'institution,' offering a shadowy and dangerous substitute for
more legitimate female association, deserves a more peculiar notice. This
is the 'Hurdy-Gurdy' house. As soon as the men have left off work, these
places are opened, and dancing commences. Let the reader picture to
himself a large room, furnished with a bar at one end — where champagne
at $12 (in gold) per bottle, and 'drinks' at twenty-five to fifty cents,
are wholesaled (correctly speaking) — and divided, at the end of this
bar, by a railing running from side to side. The outer enclosure is densely
crowded (and, on particular occasions, the inner one also) with men in
every variety of garb that can be seen on the continent. Beyond the
barrier, sit the dancing women, called 'hurdy-gurdies,' sometimes dressed
in uniform, but, more generally, habited according to the dictates of in-
dividual caprice, in the finest clothes that money can buy, and which are
fashioned in the most attractive styles that fancy can suggest. On one
side is a raised orchestra. The music suddenly strikes up, and the sum-
mons, 'Take your partners for the next dance,' is promptly answered
by some of the male spectators, who paying a dollar in gold for a ticket,
approach the ladies' bench, and — in style polite, or otherwise, according
to antecedants — invite one of the ladies to dance. The number being
complete, the parties take their places, as in any other dancing estab-
lishment, and pause for the performance of the introductory notes of
the air.
"Let us describe a first class dancer — 'sure of a partner every time' —
and her companion. There she stands at the head of the set. She is of
middle height, of rather full and rounded form ; her complexion as pure
as alabaster, a pair of dangerous looking hazel eyes, a slightly Roman
nose, and a small and prettily formed mouth. Her auburn hair is neatly
banded and gathered in a tasteful, ornament net, with a roll and gold
tassels at the side. How sedate she looks during the first figure, never
smiling till the termination of "promenade, eight," when she shows her
little white hands in fixing her handsome brooch in its place, and settling
her glistening ear-rings. See how nicely her scarlet dress, with its broad
black band round the skirt, and its black edging, set oft' her dainty figure.
No wonder that a wild mountaineer would be willing to pay — not one
dollar, but all that he has in his purse, for a dance and an approving
smile from so beautiful a woman.
"Her cavalier stands six feet in his boots, which come to the knee,
and are garnished with a pair of Spanish spurs, with rowels and bells like
young water wheels. His buckskin leggings are fringed at the seams.
246 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and gathered at the waist with a United States belt, from which hangs his
loaded revolver and his sheath knife. His neck is bare, muscular and
embrpwned by exposure, as is also his bearded face, whose sombre hue
is relieved by a pair of piercing dark eyes. His long, black hair hangs
down beneath his wide felt hat, and, in the corner of his mouth, is a
cigar, which rolls like the lever of an eccentric, as he chews the end in
his mouth. After an amazingly grave salute, 'all hands round' is shouted
by the prompter, and off bounds the buckskin hero, rising and falling to
the rhythm of the dance, with a clumsy agility and a growing enthusiasm,
testifying his huge delight. His fair partner, with practiced foot and
easy grace, keeps time to the music like a clock, and rounds to her place
as smoothly and gracefully as a swan. As the dance progresses, he of the
buckskins gets excited, and nothing but long practice prevents his partner
from being swept off her feet, as the conclusion of the miner's delight,
'set your partners,' or 'gents to the right,' and 'promenade to the bar,'
which last closes the dance. After a treat, the barkeeper mechanically
raps his blower as a hint to 'weigh out,' the ladies sit down, and with
scarcely an interval, a waltz, polka, shottische, mazurka, varsovienne, or
another quadrille commences.
"All varieties of costume, physique and demeanor can be noticed
among the dancers — from the gayest colors and 'loudest' styles of dress
and manner, to the snugly fitted black silk, and plain, white collar, which
sets off the neat figure of the blue-eyed, modest looking Anglo-Saxon.
Yonder, beside the tall and tastily clad German brunette, you see the short
curls, rounded tournure and smiling face of an Irish girl; indeed, repre-
sentatives of almost every dancing nation of white folks, may be seen
on the floor of the Hurdy-Gurdy house. The earnings of the dancers
are very different in amount. That dancer in the low necked dress, with
the scarlet 'waist,"* a great favorite and a really good dancer, counted
fifty tickets into her lap before 'the last dance, gentlemen,' followed by.
'Only this one before the girls go home,' which wound up the performance.
Twenty-six dollars is a great deal of money to earn in such a fashion ;
but fifty sets of quadrilles and four waltzes, two of them for the love
of the thing, is very hard work.
"As a rule, however, the professional 'hurdles' are Teutons, and,
though first rate dancers, they are, with some few exceptions, the re-
verse of good looking.
"The dance which is most attended, is one in which ladies to whom
pleasure is dearer than fame, represent the female element, and, as may
be supposed, the evil only commences at the Dance House. It is not
uncommon to see one of these sirens with an 'outfit' worth from seven
to eight himdred dollars, and many of them invest with merchants and
bankers thousands of dollars in gold, the rewards and presents they
receive, esipecially the more highly favored ones, being more in a
week, than a well educated girl would earn in two years in an Eastern
city. *-
"In the Dance House you can see judges, the legislative corps, and
every one but the minister. He never ventures further than to engage
HISTORY OF MONTANA 247
in conversation with a friend at the door, and while intently watching the
performance, lectures on the evil of such places with considerable force;
but his attention is evidently more fixed upon the dancers than on his
lecture. Sometimes may be seen gray haired men dancing, their wives
sitting at home in blissful ignorance of the proceeding. There never
was a dance house running, for any length of time, in the first days of a
mining town, in which 'shooting scrapes' do not occur; equal proportions
of jealousy, whiskey and revenge being the stimulants thereto. Billiard
saloons are everywhere visible, with a bar attached, and hundreds of
thousands of dollars are spent there. As might be anticipated, it is
impossible to prevent quarrels in these places, at all times, and, in the
mountains, whatever weapon is handiest — foot, fist, knife, revolver, or
deringer — it is instantly used."
Gathering of the Road Agents' Band
Among the emigrants diverted from the Snake River routes leading to
the new Salmon River gold diggings of Idaho, in the spring of 1862, was
a gang from Salt Lake City. It was sidetracked at the Beaver Head
diggings of Montana, at Bannack City, and included among its members
Henry Plummer, afterward sheriff and chief of the road agents, Charley
Reeves, Moore and Skinner, his comrades in every evil thing of the
West. *These ruffians served as a nucleus, around which the disloyal,
the desperate and the dishonest gathered, and quickly organizing them-
selves into a band, with captain, lieutenants, secretary, road agents, and
outsiders, became the terror of the country. The stampede to the Alder
Gulch, which occurred early in June, 1863, and the discovery of the
rich placer diggings there, attracted many more of the dangerous classes,
who scenting the prey from afar, flew like vultures to the battlefield.
Between Bannack and Virginia, a correspondence was constantly kept
up, and the roads throughout the territory were under the surveillance
of the "outsiders" before mentioned. To such a system were these things
brought, that horses, men and coaches were marked in some understood
manner, to designate them as fit objects for plunder, and thus the lyers-in-
wait had an opportunity of communicating the intelligence to the mem-
bers of the gang, in time to prevent the escape of the victims.
The confession of two of their number one of whom, named Erastus
Yager alias Red, was hung in the Stinking Water Valley, put the Vigilance
Committee in possession of the names of the prominent men in the gang,
and eventually secured their death or voluntary banishment. The most
noted of the road agents, with a few exceptions were hanged by the
Vigilance Committee, or banished. A list of the places and dates of execu-
tion of the principal members of the band is here presented.
Names, Places and Dates of Execution
George Ives, Nevada City, December 21, 1863; Erastus Yager (Red)
and G. W. Brown, Stinking Water Valley, January 4, 1864; Henry
* Professor Dimsdale's "Vigilantes of Montana.'
HISTORY OF MONTANA 249
Plummer, Ned Ray and Buck Stinson, Bannack City, January lo, 1864;
George Lane (Clubfoot George), Frank Parish, Haze Lyons, Jack Gal-
lagher and Boone Helm, Virginia City, January 14, 1864; Steven Mars-
land, Big Hole Ranche, January 16, 1864; William Bunton, Deer Lodge
Valley, January 19, 1864; Cyrus Skinner, Alexander Carter, and John
Cooper, Hell Gate, January 25, 1864; George Shears, Frenchtown, Janu-
ary 24, 1864; Robert Zachary, Hell Gate, January 25, 1864; William
Graves alias Whiskey Bill, Fort Owen, January 26, 1864; William Hunter,
Gallatin Valley, February 3, 1864; John Wagoner (Dutch John) and
Joe Pizanthia, Bannack City, January 11, 1864.
Banishment of Minor Criminals
Judge Smith and J. Thurmond, the counsel of the road agents, were
banished. Thurmond brought an action, at Salt Lake, against Mr. Fox,
charging him with aiding in procuring his banishment. After some pecu-
liar developments of justice in Utah, he judiciously withdrew all pro-
ceedings, and gave a receipt in full for all past and future claims on the
Vigilance Committee, in which instance he exhibited a wise discretion.
The Bannack branch of the Vigilantes also sent out of the country,
H. G. Sessions, convicted of circulating bogus dust, and one H. D. Moyer,
who furnished a room at midnight for them to work in, together with
material for their labor. A man named Kustar was also banished for
recklessly shooting through the windows of the hotel opposite his place
of abode.
Moore and Reeves were banished, as will afterwards appear, by a
miners' jury, at Bannack, in the winter of 1863, but came back in the
spring. They fled the country when the Vigilantes conmienced opera-
tions, and are thought to have fled to Mexico.
Charley Forbes was a member of the gang; but being wounded in a
scuffle, or a robbery, a doctor was found and taken to where he lay. Find-
ing that he was incurable, it is believed that Moore and Reeves shot him,
to prevent his divulging what he knew of the band ; but this is uncer-
tain. Some say he was killed by Moore and Reeves, in Red Rock
Canyon.
Gathering Places of the Ro.\d Agents
The headquarters of the marauders was Rattlesnake Ranch. Plummer
often visited it, and the robbers used to camp with their comrades, in
little wakiups above and below it, watching, and ready for fight, flight or
plunder. Two rods in front of this building was a sign post, at which they
used to practice with their revolvers. They were capital shots. Plummer
was the quickest hand with his revolver of any man in the mountains.
He could draw the pistol and discharge the five loads in three seconds.
The post was riddled with holes, and was looked upon as quite a curiosity,
until it was cut down, in the summer of 1863.
Another favorite resort of the gang was Dempsey's Cottonwood
Ranch. The owner knew the character of the robbers, but had no con-
250 HISTORY OF MONTANA
nection with them; and, in those days, a man's life would not have been
worth fifteen minutes' purchase, if the possessor had been foolish enough
even to hint at his knowledge of their doings. Daley's, at Ramshom
Gulch, and ranches or wakiups on the Madison, the Jefferson, Wisconsin
Creek, and Mill Creek, were also constantly occupied by members of the
band.
More Than One Hundred People Killed
By discoveries of the bodies of the victims, the confessions of the
murderers before execution, and reliable information sent to the com-
mittee, it was found that 102 people had been certainly killed by those
miscreants in various places, and it was believed, on the best informa-
tion, that scores of unfortunates had been murdered and buried, whose
remains were never discovered, nor their fate definitely ascertained. All
that was known, was that they started, with greater or less sums of
money, for various places, and were never heard of again.
Bannack City and Its Fe.\rful Wickedness
This town originated from the "Grasshopper Diggings," which were
first discovered in the month of July, by John White and a small party
of prospectors, on the Grasshopper Creek, a tributary of the Beaverhead.
The discoverer, together with Rudolph Dorsett, was murdered by Charley
Kelly, in the month of December, 1863, near the Milk Ranch, on the road
from Virginia City to Helena. Wash Stapleton and his party came in a
short time after, and were soon joined by others, among whom were
W. B. Dance, S. T. Hauser, James Morley, Drury Underwood, F. M.
Thomson, N. P. Langford. James Fergus. John Potter, Judge Hoyt and
Doctor Hoyt, Chas. St. Clair, David Thompson, Buz Caven, Messrs.
Burchett, Morelle, Harby, J. M. Castner, Pat Bray and brother, Sturges,
Colonel McLean, R. C. Knox, and other well known citizens of Mon-
tana. The name, "Bannack," was given to the settlement, from the Ban-
nack Indians, the lords of the soil. It was the first "mining camp" of any
importance, discovered on the eastern slope of the mountains, and as
the stories of its wonderful richness went abroad, hundreds of scattered
prospectors flocked in, and before the following spring, the inhabitants
numbered upwards of a thousand.
It is probable that there never was a mining town of the same size
that contained more desperadoes and lawless characters, than did Ban-
nack, during the winter of 1862-63. While a majority of the citizens
were of the sterling stock, which has ever furnished the true American
pioneers, there were great numbers of the most desperate class of roughs
and road agents, who had been roving through the mountains, exiles
from their former haunts in the mining settlements, from which they
had fled to avoid the penalties incurred by the commission of many
a fearful crime. These men no sooner heard of the rich mines of
Bannack, than thev at once made for the new settlement, where, among
HISTORY OF MONTANA -251
strangers, ignorant of their crimes, they would be secure from punish-
ment, at least until their true character should become known.
Sometime in March, 1863, — it is really immaterial exactly when —
Henry Plummer shot Jack Cleveland to death in Goodrich's Bannack City
saloon. Cleveland, who was a desperado who had come from farther
West, had struck town with the avowed purpose of supplanting Plum-
mer, in any way within his power, as head of the Montana outlaws.
The immigrant was shot to pieces by the outlaw whom he had intended
to kill or run out of the country. Moore and Reeves, of Plummer's
band, were both implicated in the brawl which ended in murder.
"In March, 1863, Reeves, a prominent clerk of St. Nicholas, bought
a Sheep-eater squaw ; but she refused to live with him, alleging that she
was ill treated, and went back to her tribe who were encamped on the rise
of the hill south of Yankee Flat, about fifty yards to the rear of the
street. Reeves went after her, and sought to force her to come back
with him, but on his attempting to use violence an old chief interfered.
The two grappled. Reeves with a sudden effort broke from him, strik-
ing him a blow with his pistol and, in the scuffle, one barrel was harm-
lessly discharged.
"The next morning, Moore and Reeves, in a state of intoxication,
entered Goodrich's saloon, laying down two double-barrelled shotguns
and four revolvers, on the counter, considerably to the discomfiture of the
barkeeper, who, we believe, would have sold his position very cheap,
for cash, at that precise moment, and it is just possible that he might
have accepted a good ofifer 'on time.' They declared, while drinking, that if
the cowardly white folks on Yankee Flat, were afraid of the Indians, they
were not, and that they would soon 'set the ball a rolling.' Taking their
weapons, they went off to the back of the houses, opposite the camp, and
levelling their pieces, they fired into the tepee, wounding one Indian. They
returned to the saloon and got three drinks more, boasting of what they
had done, and accompanied by William Mitchell, of Minnesota, and two
others, they went back, determined to complete their murderous work.
The three above named then deliberately poured a volley into the tepee,
with fatal effect. Mitchell, whose gun was loaded with an ounce ball
and a charge of buckshot, killed a Frenchman named Brissette, who had
run up to ascertain the cause of the first firing — the ball striking him in
the forehead, and the buckshot wounding him in ten different places.
The Indian chief, a lame Indian boy, and a pappoose, were also killed;
but the number of the parties who were wounded has never been ascer-
tained. John Burnes escaped with a broken thumb, and a man named
Woods was shot in the groin, of which wound he has not yet entirely re-
covered. This unfortunate pair, like Brissette, had come to see the cause
of the shooting, and of the yells of the savages.
"The indignation of the citizens being aroused by this atrocious and
unprovoked massacre, a mass meeting was held the following morning
to take some action in the premises. Charley Moore and Reeves hear-
ing of it, started early in the morning, on foot, towards Rattlesnake,
Henry Plummer preceding them on horseback. Sentries were then
252 HISTORY OF MONTANA
posted all around the town, to prevent egress, volunteers were called for,
to pursue the criminals, and Messrs. Lear, Higgins, O. J. Rockwell and
Davenport at once followed on their' track, coming up with them where
they had hidden, in a thicket of brush, near the creek. The daylight was
beginning to fade, and the cold was intense when a reinforcement arrived,
on which the fugitives came out, delivered themselves up, and were con-
ducted back to Bannack.
"Plummer was tried and 'honorably' acquitted, on account of Cleve-
land's threats. Alitchell was banished, but he hid around the town for
awhile, and never went away.
Reeves and Moore were also acquitted although eventually banished
from the territory. The pretext of the prisoners that the Indians had
killed some whites, friends of theirs, in '49, while going to California,
was accepted by the majority of the jurors as some sort of justification;
but the truth is they (the jurors) were afraid of their lives — and, it must
be confessed, not without reason.
'"To the delivery of this unfortunate verdict may be attributed the
ascendency of the roughs. They thought the people were afraid of them.
Had the f|uestion been left to old Californians or experienced miners,
Plummer, Reeves and Moore would have been hanged, and much blood-
shed and suffering would have been thereby prevented. No organization
of the Road Agents would have been possible. * * *
"(Hank) Craw-ford who had been appointed sheriff at the trial of
Moore and Reeves tendered his resignation on two or three different oc-
casions ; but was induced to continue in office by the strongest repre-
sentation of his friends. They promised to stand by him in the execution
of his duty, and to remunerate him for his loss of time and money. The
arms taken from Plummer, Reeves and Mitchell were sold by Crawford
to defray expenses."
PlumjMkr Sexds Out His Blood-Hounds
Plummer took as few chances as possible to endanger his neck. As
an illustration, he and his band held a council in Alder Gulch, in the sum-
mer of 1863, for the purpose of killing and robbing Lloyd Magruder. a
prosperous and popular merchant of Lewiston, Idaho, as well as a can-
didate for Congress. He had recently closed out a large stock of goods
in Virginia for $14,000 and was about to return to his home town with
four companions, all of whom were marked as victims. Plummer selected
five of his men to dispose of the Magruder party, but one of the road
agents decided to withdraw from the enterprise on the plea that he was
"on the rob. but not on the kill." Besides Magruder, the party consisted
of C. Allen, Horace and Robert Chalmers, and a Mr. Phillips, from the
neighborhood of Marysville, and the road agents numbered Jem Romaine,
Doc Howard, Billy Page and Bill Lowry.
Charley Allen, it seems, had strong misgivings about the character
of the ruffians, and told Magruder that the men would not harm him
(Allen), as they were under obligations to him; but they would, likely
HISTORY OF MONTANA 253
enough try to rob Magruder. His caution was ineffectual, and Mr. McK
Dennee, we believe, fixed up for the trip the gold belonging to Ma-
gruder.
It is a melancholy fact that information of the intention of the mur-
derers had reached the ears of more than one citizen ; but such was the
terror of the road agents that they dared not tell any of the party.
Having reached the mountain beyond Clearwater River, on their home-
ward journey, the stock was let out to graze on the slope, and Magruder,
in company with Bill Lowry, went up to watch it. Seizing his oppor-
tunity, the ruffian murdered Magruder, and his confederates assassinated
the four remaining in camp, while asleep. Romaine said to Phillips, when
shooting him down, "You — , I told you not to come." The villains
having possessed themselves of the treasure, rolled up the bodies, baggage
and arms, and threw them over a precipice. They then went on to Lewis-
ton, avoiding Elk City on their route, where the first intimation of foul
play was given by the sight of Magruder's mule, saddle, leggings, etc.,
in the possession of the robbers. Hill Beechey,* the deputy marshal at
Lewiston, and owner of the I^una House, noticed the cantinas filled with
gold, and suspected something wrong, when they left by the coach for
San Francisco. A man named Goodrich recognized Page, when he came
to ranch the animals with him.
The murderers were closely muffled and tried to avoid notice, but
Beechey followed them right through to California, and there arrested
them on the charge of murdering and robbing Magruder and his party.
He found that they had changed their names at many places. Every
possible obstacle was interposed that the forms oi law allowed; but the
gallant man fought through it all, and brought them back, on requisition
of the governor of Idaho, to Lewiston. Page turned state's evidence,
and the men, who were closely guarded by Beechey all the time, in his own
house, were convicted after a fair trial and hanged.
Romaine, who had been a barber, and afterwards a barkeeper, was a
desperate villain. At the gallows, he said that there was a note in his
pocket, which he did not wish to Le read until he was dead. On opening
it, it was found to contain a most beastly and insolent defiance of the
citizens of Lewiston. Before he was swung off. he bade them "Launch
their old boat," for it was "only a mud-scow, anyway."
A reconnoisance of the ground, in spring, discovered a few bones,
some buttons from Magruder's coat, some firearms, etc. The coyotes had
been too busy to leave much.
Execution of George Ives
The execution of the notorious George Ives, who lacked the calcula-
tion of Plummer. but wielded a great influence with his kind, and, in
the midst of danger, was a cool and dashing desperado — the just taking-
*HilI Beechey told N. P. Langford, the sheriff and author, of praying to the
Lord to help him catch these murderers. "If the Lord would help him he would
never ask another favor of him!"
254 HISTORY OF MONTANA
off of this murderer and robber was the first decisive check suffered by
the outlaws of Montana. He came of a highly respectable Wisconsin fam-
ily, but when quite young was swallowed in the maelstrom of wild western
life, and was about twenty-seven years of age when he appeared at Vir-
ginia City, or, as it was called for short, Virginia. His complexion and
hair were light, his eyes blue, was without whiskers, height nearly six feet,
and he wore a soldier's overcoat and a light felt hat. The carriage of
this renowned desperado was sprightly and his coolness was imperturb-
able. Long practice in confronting danger had made him absolutely fear-
less. He would face death with an indifference that had become con-
stitutional, and the spirit of reckless bravado with which he was animated
made him the terror of the citizens. He would levy blackmail under the
guise of a loan and as a matter of sport, and to show the training of his
horse, he would back the animal, into the windows of a store, and then
ride off laughing.
"In looking at Ives," says Professor Dimsdale, "a man would, at first
sight, be favorably impressed ; but a closer examination by anyone skilled
in physiognomy, would detect in the lines of the mouth and in the strange,
fierce and sinister gleam of the eye, the quick spirit which made him not
only the terror of the community, but the dread of the band of ruffians
with whom he associated. * * *"
Two Murders by Ives
"Perhaps the most daring and cold-blooded of all his crimes was
the murder which he committed near the Cold Spring Ranch. A man had
been whipped for larceny near Nevada, and to escape the sting of the lash
he offered to give information about the Road Agents. Ives heard of it
and meeting him purposely between Virginia and Dempsey's, he deliber-
taely fired at him with his double-barreled gun. The gun was so badly
loaded and the man's coat so thickly padded that the buckshot did not take
effect, upon which he coolly drew his revolver and, talking to him all
the time, shot him dead. This deed was perpetrated in broad daylight on
a highway — a very Bloomington road of the community — and yet there, in
plain view of Daley's and Cold Spring Ranch, with two or three other
teams in sight, he assassinated his victim in a cool and businesslike
manner, and when the murdered man had fallen from his horse he took
the animal by the bridle and led it off among the hills.
"Ives then went to George Hilderman and told him he should like to
stay at his wakiup for a few days, as he had killed a man near Cold
Spring ranch and there might be some stir and excitement about it.
In about half an hour after, some travelers arrived at the scene of
murder. The body was still warm, but lifeless, and some of the neighbors
from the surrounding ranches dug a lonely grave in the beautiful valley."
Cold-blooded though that murder was, the one for which he was exe-
cuted was that of another man, an honest, inoffensive German. Nicholas
Tbalt had sold a span of mules to his employers, Butschy & Clark, who
paid him the money. Taking the gold with him, he went to Dempsey's
HISTORY OF MONTANA 255
ranch to bring up the animals. Not returning for some time, they con-
cluded that he had run away with the mules, and were greatly grieved
that a person they had trusted so implicitly should deceive them. They
were, however, mistaken. Faithful to his trust, he had gone for the mules,
and met his death at the hands of George Ives, who shot him, robbed
him of his money and stole his mules.
Nicholas Tbalt was brought into Nevada on a wagon, after being
missed for ten days. William Herren came to Virginia and informed
Tom Baume, who at once went down to where the body lay. The head
had been pierced by a ball, which had entered just over the left eye.
The marks of a small lariat were on the dead man's wrist and neck. He
had been dragged through the brush, while living, after being shot, and
when found lay on his face, his right arm bent across his chest and his left
grasping the willows above him.
When captured by a posse of twenty-five citizens, raised principally
at Virginia City and Nevada, Ives protested his innocence of the das-
tardly crime, but evidence had been collected against him on the way,
through one Long John who had the mules of the murdered man. On the
way to Nevada, where Ives's trial was to be held, the defendant nearly
escaped by inducing his captors to have a race with his horse, which was
remarkably speedy. With Ives were arrested Long John (John Franck)
and George Hilderman, who had discovered the body of the murdered man
and kept the fact secret for several days.
The Trial and Execution
The forenoon of December 19, 1863, saw the swelling tide of miners,
merchants and artizans wending their- way to Nevada and the scene of
the trial and all the morning was spent in private examinations of the
prisoners, and private consultations as to the best method of procedure.
Friends of the accused were found in all classes of society ; many of
them were assiduously at work to create a sentiment in his favor, while
a large multitude were there, suspicious that the right man had been
caught; and resolved, if such should prove to be the case, that no loop-
hole of escape should be found for him, in any technical form of the
law.
Although on the eve of "Forefathers' Day," there was in the atmo-
sphere the mildness and the serenity of October. There was no snow,
and but little ice along the edges of sluggish streams; but the sun, bright
and genial, warmed the clear air, and even thawed out the congealed mud
in the middle of the streets. Little boys were at play in the streets, and
1,500 men stood in them, impatient for action, but waiting without mur-
mur, in order that everything might be done decently and in order.
Messrs. Smith, Richie, Thurmond and Colonel Wood were Ives's law-
yers, with whom was associated Mr. Alex. Davis, then a comparative
stranger in Montana.
Col. W. F. Sanders, at that time residing at Bannack City, but tem-
porarily sojourning at Virginia, was sent for to conduct the prosecution,
256 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and Hon. Charles S. Bagg was appointed his colleague, at the request
of Judge Wilson. Mr. Bagg being a miner, and then, little known.
In settling upon the mode of trial, much difference of opinion was
developed ; but the miners finally determined that it should be held in
presence of the whole body of citizens, and reserved to themselves the
ultimate decision of all questions ; but lest something should escape their
attention, and injustice thereby be done to the public, or to the prisoner, a
delegation composed of twelve men from each district (Nevada and Junc-
tion) was appointed to hear the proof, and to act as an advisory jury.
W. H. Patton, of Nevada, and W. Y. Pemberton, of Virginia, were ap-
pointed amanuenses. An attempt to get on the jury twelve men from Vir-
ginia was defeated, and late in the afternoon, the trial began and con-
tinued till nightfall. The three prisoners were chained with lightest logging
chain that could be found — this was wound round their legs, and the
links were secured with padlocks.
In introducing testimony for the people, on the morning of the 21st,
the miners informed all concerned that the trial must close at three P. M.
The announcement was received with great satisfaction.
It is unnecessary to describe the trial, or to recapitulate the evidence.
Suffice it to say that two alibis, based on the testimony of George Brown,
guide for Colonel Marshall in the Indian Campaign 1862, and honest
Whiskey Joe, failed altogether. Among the lawyers, there was, doubt-
less, the usual amount of brow-beating and technical insolence, inter-
mingled with display of eloquence and learning ; but not the rhetoric of
Blair, the learning of Coke, the metaphysics of Alexander, the wit of
Jerrold. or the ardor of Oberlin. could dull the perceptions of those hardy
mountaineers, or mislead them from the stern and righteous purpose of all
this labor, which was to secure immunity to the persons and property of
the community, and to guarantee a like protection to those who should
cast their lot in Montana in time to come.
The evidence was not confined to the charge of murder ; but showed,
also, that Ives had been acting in the character of a robber, as well as
that of a murderer; and it may well be doubted whether he would have
been convicted at all if developments damaging to the reputations and
dangerous to the existence of some of his friends had not been made dur-
ing the trial, on which they absented themselves mysteriously, and have
never been seen since. There was an instinctive and unerring conviction
that the worst man in the community was on trial ; but it was hard work,
after all the proof and all this feeling, to convict him.
"The crowd which gathered around that fire in front of the court, is
vividly before our eyes," reads Dimsdale's narrative. "We see the wagon
containing the judge, and an advocate pleading with all his earnestness
and eloquence for the dauntless robber, on whose unmoved features no
shade of despondency can be traced by the fitful glare of the blazing wood,
which lights up.' at the same time, the stern and impassive features of
the guard, who, in every kind of habiliments, stand in various attitudes,
in a circle surrounding the scene of justice. The attentive faces and com-
pressed lips of the jurors show their sense of the vast responsibility that
HISTORY OF MONTANA 257
rests upon them, and of their firm resolve to do their duty. Ever and
anon a brighter flash than ordinary reveals the expectant crowd of miners,
thoughtfully and steadily gazing on the scene, and listening intently to
the trial. Beyond this close phalan.x, fretting and shifting around its
outer edge, sways with quick and uncertain motion, the wavering line
of desperadoes and sympathizers with the criminal ; their haggard, wild
and alarmed countenances showing too plainly that they tremble at the
issue which is, when decided, to drive them in exile from Montana, or to
proclaim them as associate criminals, whose fate could neither be delayed
nor dubious. A sight like this will ne'er be seen again in Montana. It
was the crisis of the fate of the territory.
"Nor was the position of prosecutor, guard, juror, or judge, one that
any but a brave and law-abiding citizen would chose, or even accept.
Marked for slaughter by desperadoes, these men staked their lives for
the welfare of society. A mortal strife between Colonel Sanders and one
of the opposing lawyers was only prevented by the prompt action of wise
men, who corraled the combatants on their way to fight. The hero of
that hour of trial was avowedly W. F. Sanders. Not a desperado present
but would have felt honored by becoming his murderer, and yet, fear-
less as a lion, he stood there confronting and defying the malice of his
armed adversaries. The citizens of Montana, many of them his bitter
political opponents, recollect his actions with gratitude and kindly feeling.
Charles S. Bagg is also remembered as having been at his post when
the storm blew loudest.
"The argument of the case having terminated, the issue was, in the
first place, left to the decision of the twenty-four who had been selected
for that purpose, and they thereupon retired to consult.
"Judge Byam, who shouldered the responsibility of the whole pro-
ceeding, will never be forgotten by those in whose behalf he courted
certain, deadly peril, and probable death.
"The jury were absent, deliberating on their verdict, but little less
than an hour, and on their return, twenty-three made a report that Ives
was proven guilty ; but one member — Henry Spivey — declined to give in
any find, for unknown reasons.
"The crisis of the affair had now arrived. A motion was made 'That
the report of the committee be received, and it discharged from further
consideration of that case,' which Mr. Thurmond opposed ; but upon ex-
planation, deferred pressing his objections until the motion should be •
made to adopt the report, and to accept the verdict of the committee as
the judgment of the people there assembled; and thus the first formal
motion passed without opposition.
"Before this, some of the crowd were clamorous for an adjournment,
and now Ives' friends renewed the attempt ; but it met with signal failure.
"Another motion: 'That the assembly adopt as their verdict the
report of the committee,' was made, and called forth the irrepressible
and indefatigable Thurmond and Col. J- M. Wood ; but it carried, there
being probably not more than one hundred votes against it.
"Here it was supposed by many that the proceedings would end for
Vol. 1—17
258 HISTORY OF MONTANA
the present, and that the court would adjourn until the morrow, as it was
already dark. Col. Sanders, however, mounted the wagon, and having
recited that Ives had been declared a murderer and a robber by the
people there assembled, moved, "That George Ives be forthwith hung
by the neck until he is dead' — a bold and businesslike movement which
excited feeble opposition, was carried before the defendant seemed to
realize the situation ; but a friend or two and some old acquaintances hav-
ing gained admission to the circle within which Ives was guarded, to bid
him farewell, awakened him to a sense of the condition in which he was
placed, and culprit and counsel sought to defer the execution. Some of
his ardent counsel shed tears, of which lachrymose effusions it is well to
say no more than that they were copious. The vision of a long and scaly
creature, inhabiting the Nile, rises before us in connection with this
aqueous sympathy for an assassin. Quite a number of his old chums
were, as Petroleum V. Nasby says : 'Weeping profoosly.' Then came
moving efforts to have the matter postponed until the coming morning,
Ives giving assurances, upon his honor, that no attempt at rescue or escape
would be made; but already, Davis and Hereford were seeking a favor-
able spot for the execution.
"An unfinished house, having only the side-walls up, was chosen as the
best place, near at hand, for carrying into effect the sentence of death.
The preparations, though entirely sufficient, were both simple and brief.
The butt of a forty-foot pole was planted inside the house, at the foot
of one of the walls, and the stick leaned over a cross beam. Near the
point, was tied the fatal cord, with the open noose dangling fearfully
at its lower end. A large goods box was the platform. The night had
closed in, with a bright, full moon, and around that altar of vengeance,
the stern and resolute faces of the guard were visible, under all circum-
stances of light and shade conceivable. Unmistakable determination was
expressed in every line of their bronzed and weather-beaten countenances.
"George Ives was led to the scaffold in fifty-eight minutes from the
time that his doom was fixed. A perfect babble of voices saluted the move-
ment. Every roof was covered, and cries of 'Hang him !' 'Don't hang
him!' 'Banish him!' 'I'll shoot!' 'Let's hang Long John!' were heard all
around. The revolvers could be seen flashing in the moonlight. The
guard stood like a rock. They had heard the muttered threats of a rescue
from the crowd, and with grim firmness — the characteristic of the miners
when they mean 'business' — they stood ready to beat them back. Woe to
the mob that should surge against that living bulwark. They would have
fallen as grass before the scythe.
"As the prisoner stepped on the fatal platform, the noise ceased, and
the stillness became painful. The rope was adjusted, and the usual re-
quest was made as to whether he had anything to say. With a firm voice
he replied, 'I am innocent of this crime; Aleck Carter killed the Dutch-
man.'
"The strong emphasis on the word 'this' convinced all around, that
he meant his words to convey the impression that he was guilty of other
HISTORY OF MONTANA 259
crimes. Up to this moment he had always accused Long John of the
murder.
"Ives expressed a wish to see Long John, and the crowd of sympathiz-
ers yelled in approbation ; but the request was denied, for an attempt at
a rescue was expected.
"All being ready, the word was given to the guard, 'Men do your duty.'
The click of the locks rang sharply and the pieces flashed in the moonlight,
as they came to the 'Aim' the box flew from under the murderer's feet,
with a crash, and George Ives swung in the night breeze, facing the pale
moon that lighted up the scene of retributive justice.
"As the vengeful click ! click ! of the locks sounded their note of deadly
warning to the intended rescuers, the crowd stampeded in wild affright,
rolling over one another in heaps, shrieking and howling with terror.
"When the drop fell, the judge, who was standing close beside Ives,
called out, 'His neck is broken ; he is dead.' This announcement, and the
certainty of its truth — for the prisoner never moved a limb — convinced
the few resolute desperadoes who knew not fear, that the case was hope-
less, and they retired with grinding teeth, and with muttered curses issuing
from their lips."
Colonel Sanders on the Trial and Execution
The trial in detail is described by Col. W. F. Sanders, who states
that Ives was tried by twenty-four miners as jurors and Hon. Don
D. Byam as presiding judge. Before the proceedings commenced about a
thousand armed miners had gathered from the gulches for several miles
around Nevada and Virginia to see "fair play." Two sheriffs were also
on hand. The courtroom was on the east side of the main street in
Nevada, "where a big Schuttler wagon had been drawn up in front of a
two-story building, some seats arranged for the court, counsel and prison-
ers in the same, and a fire had been built on the ground near the wagon
from cord wood which some unlucky woodman had the misfortune to
have placed there. William Y. Pemberton, Esq., then a genial young
lawyer living at Virginia City, was appointed amanuensis, and a table was
provided for him near the fire. A semi-circle of benches from an ad-
jacent hurfly-gurdy house had been placed around the fire for the accomo-
dation of the twenty-four jurors and behind that semi-circle a place was
reserved for a cordon of guards, who, with their shotguns or rifles, as the
case might be, marched hour by hour. Although Ives was charged with
a number of crimes and testimony introduced to sustain the charges, the
verdict of guilty voted by twenty-three of the twenty-four jurors was
founded on the murder of Tbalt. He was defended by able counsel.
When the verdict was announced. Colonel Sanders, as chief prosecutor,
made a motion that it be made the verdict of the miners' meeting there
assembled, and supplemented it by another — that Ives be hung — both of
which were put by Judge Byam and carried with a rush.
Ives endeavored to secure delay for the purpose of writing to his
mother and sisters, but X. Beidler, who was in the background watch-
260 HISTORY OF MONTANA
ing, shouted, "Sanders, ask him how long a time he gave the Dutchman!"
He was allowed to write a letter then and there, but not on the following
day, as he requested. He was interrupted by his friends, who were
allowed to bid him good-bye, some of them weeping bitterly ; for although
he was a scoundrel and a murderer he had the faculty of binding closely
to him men of his type.
Toward the last of his account of the trial and execution. Colonel
Sanders says : "It has been generally stated that Ives pulled off his
boots, saying that he had sworn that he would not die with his boots on.
I do not remember this and only think it probable because it was told
shortly thereafter, and I cannot say that I ever contradicted it, which I
think I should have done had it not been true. However, I have not
written the details of this prosecution, nor have I attempted to speak of
it in detail ; now, for the first time, putting down with pen the events
as I remember them, without consultation with any other authorities
whatever. In fact, the written authorities of Langford and Dinsdale are
hearsay, neither one of these gentlemen having been present, but their
information was gathered from actors in this stirring tragedy and I con-
sider them reliable."
Organiz.\tion of Vigilantes
About the time of the e.xecution of Ives and shortly following the
murder of Lloyd Magruder and his four companions, the citizens of Ban-
nack, Virginia City and its twin settlement, Nevada, decided that some or-
ganization must be effected to promptly punish the reckless criminals who
were carrying the communities with such a high hand. From the best evi-
dence at hand, the movement was started by five men in Virginia City,
four in Bannack and one in Nevada. A vigilance committee was fomied
with Paris S. Pfouts as president, Wilbur F. Sanders, official prosecu-
tor, and Capt. James Williams, executive officer. Then, in total darkness,
standing in a circle with hands uplifted, Colonel Sanders adminis-
tered the following oath : "We, the undersigned, uniting ourselves to-
gether for the laudable purpose of arresting thieves and murderers and
recovering stolen property, do pledge ourselves on our sacred honors, each
to all others, and solemnly swear that we will reveal no secrets, violate no
laws of right, and never desert each other or our standard of justice, so
help us God." One of the by-laws read : "The only punishment that shall
be inflicted by this committee is death." The vigilantes did not strictly
conform to this by-law, as it was thought advisable to banish some of
the minor criminals whose offenses did not warrant death, but whose
permanent absence was obviously conducive to the well-being of Mon-
tana.
Hanging of Red and Brown
On the 23rd of December, 1863, twenty-four members of the Vigil-
ance Committee, which had just been organized, started from Bannack
City to run down the criminals of the region. Each man carried gen-
f
HISTORY OF MONTANA 261
erally a pair of revolvers, a rifle or shotgun, blankets and some rope.
The cavalcade, mounted both on horse and mule back, went by way of
Stinking Water, on to the Big Hole and over the divide in the main range.
The weather was very cold and there was much snow upon the ground.
Fires could not be lighted when wanted at night, for fear of attracting
attention. The men leaving their horses under a guard lay down in their
blankets on the snow — "the wisest of them, in it." On Deer Lodge Creek
they commenced to come in contact with the desperadoes. Red (Erastus
Yager), the letter carrier of the band, was finally captured as well as
Brown, the secretary.
*The culprits were informed that they should be taken to Virginia, and
were given in charge to a trustworthy and gallant man, with a detachment
of seven, selected from the whole troop. This escort reached Lorraine's
in two hours. The rest of the men arrived at sundown. The prisoners
were given up, and the leader of the little party, who had not slept for
four or five nights, lay down to snatch a brief, but welcome repose. About
lo P. M., he was awakened, and the significant, "We want you," an-
nounced "business."
The tone and manner of the summons at once dispelled even his
profound and sorely needed slumber. He rose without further parley and
went from the parlor to the bar-room where Red and Brown were lying
in a comer, asleep. Red got up at the sound of his footsteps, and said,
"You have treated me like gentlemen, and I know I am going to die —
I am going to be hanged." "Indeed," said his quondom custodian, "that's
pretty rough." In spite of a sense of duty, he felt what he said deeply.
"It is pretty rough," continued Yager, "but I merited this, years- ago.
What I want to say is that I know all about the gang, and there are men
in it that deserve this more than I do; but I should die happy if I could
see them hanged, or know that it would be done. I don't say this to get
off. I don't want to get off." He was told that it would be better if he
should give all the information in his possession, if only for the sake of
his kind. Times had been very hard, and "you know. Red," said the
vigilante, "that men have been shot down in broad daylight — not for
money, or even for hatred, but for luck, and it must be put a stop to."
To this he assented, and the captain being called, all that had passed
was stated to him. He said that the prisoner had better begin at once,
and his words should be taken down. Red began by informing them that
Plummer was chief of the band ; Bill Bunton second in command and
stool pigeon; Sam Bunton, roadster, (sent away for being a drunkard) ;
Cyrus Skinner, roadster, fence and spy. At Virginia City, George Ives,
Steven Marshland, Dutch John (Wagner), Aleck Carter, Whiskey Bill
(Graves), were roadsters ; George Shears was a roadster and horse-thief ;
Johnny Cooper and Buck Stinson were also roadsters; Ned Ray was
council-room keeper at Bannack City ; Mexican Frank and Bob Zachary
were also roadsters; Frank Pari,sh was roadster and horse-thief; Boon
Helm and Club-Foot George were roadsters ; Haze Lyons and Bill Hunter
♦Dimsdale's "Vigilantes of Montana."
262 HISTORY OF MONTANA
were roadsters and telegraph men ; George Lowry, Billy Page, Doc
Howard, Jem Romaine, Billy Terwilliger and Gad Moore were roadsters.
The password was "Innocent." They wore a necktie fastened with a
"sailor's knot," and shaved down to moustache and chin whiskers. He
admitted that he was one of the gang; but denied — as they invariably
did — that he was a murderer. He also stated that Brown — his fellow
captive — acted in the capacity before mentioned.
He spoke of Bill Bunton with a fierce animosity quite unlike his
usual suave and courteous manner. To him, he said, he owed his pres-
ent miserable position. He it was that first seduced him to commit crime,
at Lewiston. He gave the particulars of the robberies of the coaches and
of many other crimes, naming perpetrators. As these details have been
already supplied or will appear in the course of the narrative, they are
omitted, in order to avoid a useless repetition.
After serious reflection, it had been decided that the two culprits
should be executed forthwith, and the dread preparations were imme-
diately made for carrying out the resolution.
The trial of George Ives had demonstrated most unquestionably that
no amount of certified guilt was sufficient to enlist popular sympathy ex-
clusively on the side of justice, or to render the just man other than a
mark for vengeance. The majority of men sympathize, in spite of the
voice of reason, with the murderers instead of the victims ; a course of
conduct which appears to us inexplicable, though we know it to be com-
mon. Every fibre of our frame vibrates with anger and disgust when we
meet a ruffian, a murderer or a marauder. Mawkish sentimentalism we
abhor. The thought of murdered victims, dishonored females, plundered
wayfarers, burning houses, and the rest of the sad evidences of villainy,
completely excludes mercy from our view. Honor, truth and the sacrifice
of self to consideration of justice and the good of mankind — these claim,
we had almost said our adoration ; but for the low, brutal, cruel, lazy,
ignorant, insolent, sensual and blasphemous miscreants that infest the
frontiers, we entertain but one sentiment — aversion — deep, strong, and
unchangeable. For such cases, the rope is the only prescription that
avails as a remedy. But tRough such feelings must be excited in the minds
of good citizens, when brought face to face with such monsters as Stin-
son. Helm, Gallagher, Ives, Skinner, or Graves, the calm courage and
penitent conduct of Erastus Yager have the opposite elifect, and loss of
the goodly vessel thus wrecked forever, must inspire sorrow, though it
may not and ought not to disarm justice.
Brief were the preparations needed. A lantern and some stools were
brought from the house, and the party, crossing the creek behind Lor-
raine's ranch, made for the trees that still bear the marks of the axe
which trimmed ofif the superfluous branches. On the road to the gallows.
Red was cool, calm and collected. Brown* sobbed and cried for mercy,
and prkyed God to take care of his wife and family in Alinnesota. He
* Brown was a scout and guide for Colonel Marshall in an expedition into
Dakota in pursuit of Indians in October, 1862. He had been a trader among the
Indians on the Missouri River. He was called "Missouri Brown."
HISTORY OF MONTANA 263
was married to a squaw. Red, overhearing him, said, sadly but firmly,
"Brown, if you had thought of this three years ago, you would not be
here now, or give these boys this trouble."
After arriving at the fatal trees, they were pinioned and stepped
on to the stools, which had been placed one on the other to form a drop.
Brown and the man who was adjusting the rope, tottered and fell into
the snow; but recovering himself quickly, the vigilanter said quietly,
"Brown we must do better than that."
Brown's last words were, "God Almighty save my soul."
The frail platform flew from under him, and his life passed away
almost with the twang of the rope.
Red saw his comrade drop; but no sign of trepidation was visible.
His voice was as calm and quiet as if he had been conversing with old
friends. He said he knew that he should be followed and hanged when
he met the party on the Divide. He wished that they would chain him
and carry him along to where the rest were, that he might see them
punished. Just before he was launched into eternity, he asked to shake
hands with them all, which having done, he begged of the man who had
escorted him to Lorraine's, that he would follow and punish the rest.
The answer was given in these words, "Red, we will do it, if there's any
such thing in the book." The pledge was kept.
His last words were, "Good-bye, boys; God bless you. You are on
a good undertaking." The frail footing on which he stood gave way,
and this dauntless and yet guilty criminal died without a struggle. It was
pitiful to see one whom nature intended for a hero, dying — and that
justly — like a dog.
A label was pinioned to his back bearing the legend:
"Red ! Road Agent and Messenger."
The inscription on the paper fastened on to Brown's clothes was :
"Brown ! Corresponding Secretary."
The fatal trees still smile as they don the green livery of spring, or
wave joyfully in the summer breeze ; but when the chill blast of winter
moans over the snow-clad prairie, the wind sighing, and creaking through
the swaying boughs seems, to the excited listener, to be still laden with the
sighs and sounds of that fatal night.
The bodies were left suspended, and remained so for some days before
they were buried. The ministers of justice expected a battle on their
arrival at Nevada ; but they found the Vigilantes organized in full force,
and each man, as he uncocked his gun and dismounted, heaved a deep
sigh of relief. The crisis was past.
Execution of Plummer, Stinson and Ray
When Dutch John Wagner was brought back to Bannack City, after
his attempted escape to Utah, the Vigilantes of Virginia sent a communi-
cation to his captors, containing an order for the execution of Henry
Plummer, Buck Stinson and Ned Ray — the first as captain, and the
others as members of the road agent band. That action was followed
264 HISTORY OF MONTANA
by the formal organization of tlie Bannack Vigilantes, and Dutch John
was taken by his captors to an empty cabin of Yankee Flat, where he
was held, pending the more important afifair in connection with the fate
of Messrs. Plummer, Stinson and Ray.
About dusk of the following day, the three horses of' the afore-
mentioned outlaws were brought into Bannack by the Vigilantes, and not
long afterward the principals were captured. The three details marched
their men to a given point, en route to the gallows. Here a halt was
made. The leader of the Vigilantes and some others, who wished to
save all unnecessary hard feeling, were sitting in a cabin, designing not
to speak to Plummer, with whom they were so well acquainted. A halt
was made, however, and, at the door, appeared Plummer. The light was
extinguished ; when the party moved on, but soon halted. The crisis had
come. Seeing that the circumstances were such as admitted of neither
vacillation nor delay, the citizen leader, summoning his friends, went up
to the party and gave the military command, "Company! forward —
march !" This was at once obeyed. A rope taken from a noted function-
ary's bed had been mislaid and could not be found. A nigger boy was
sent off for some of that highly necessary, but unpleasant remedy for
crime, and the bearer made such good time that some hundreds of feet
of hempen neck-tie were on the ground before the arrival of the party
at the gallows. On the road, Plummer heard the voice and recognized
the person of the leader. He came to him and begged for his life; but
was told, "It is useless for you to beg for your life ; that affair is settled
and cannot be altered. You are to be hanged. You cannot feel harder
about it than I do ! but I cannot help it, if I would." Ned Ray, clothed
with curses as with a garment, actually tried fighting, but found that he
was in the wrong company for such demonstrations ; and Buck Stinson
made the air ring with the blasphemous and filthy expletives which he
used in addressing his captors. Plummer exhausted every argument
and plea that his imagination could suggest, in order to induce his cap-
tors to spare his life. He begged to be chained down in the meanest
cabin ; offered to leave the country forever ; wanted a jury trial ; im-
plored time to settle his affairs ; asked to see his sister-in-law, and, falling
on his knees, with tears and sighs declared to God that he was too wicked
to die. He confessed his numerous murders and crimes, and seemed
almost frantic at the prospect of death.
The first rope being thrown over the crossbeam, and the noose being
rove, the order w&s given to "Bring up Ned Ray." This desperado was
run up with curses on his lips. Being loosely pinioned, he got his fingers
between the rope and his neck, and thus prolonged his misery.
Buck Stinson saw his comrade robber swinging in the death agony,
and blubbered out, "There goes poor Ed Ray." Scant mercy had he
shown to his numerous victims. By a sudden twist of his head at the
moment of his elevation the knot slipped under his chin, and he was
some minutes dying.
The order to "Bring up Plummer" was then passed and repeated ; but
no one stirred. The leader went over to this perfect gentleman, as his
Plummek-Stinson-Ray Scaffold
266 HISTORY OF MONTANA
friends called him, and was met by a request to "Give a man time to
pray." Well knowing that Plummer relied for a rescue upon other than
Divine aid, he said briefly and decidedly, "Certainly ; but let him say his
prayers up here." Finding all efforts to avoid death were useless, Plum-
mer rose and said no more prayers. Standing under the gallows which
he had erected for the execution of Horan, this second Haman slipped
off his neck-tie and threw it over his shoulder to a young 'friend who
had boarded at his house, and who believed him innocent of crime, saying
as he tossed it to him, "Here is something to remember me by." In the
extremity of his grief, the young man threw himself weeping and wailing
upon the ground. Plummer requested that the men would give him a
good drop, which was done, as far as circumstances permitted, by hoisting
him up as high as possible, in their arms, and letting him fall suddenly.
He died quickly and without much struggle.
It was necessary to seize Ned Ray's hand and by a violent effort to
draw his fingers from between the noose and his neck before he died.
Probably he was the last to expire, of the guilty trio.
The news of a man's being hanged flies faster than any other in-
telligence, in a Western country, and several had gathered round the
gallows on that fatal Sabbath evening — many of them friends of the
road agents. The spectators were allowed to come up to a certain point,
and were then halted by the guard, who refused permission either to
depart or to approach nearer than the "dead line," on pain of their being
instantly shot.
The weather was intensely cold ; but the party stood for a long time
round the bodies of the suspended malefactors, determined that rescue
should he impossible. Loud groans and cries, uttered in the vicinity, at-
tracted their attention, and a small quad started in the direction from
which the sound proceeded. The detachment soon met Madam Hall, a
noted courtezan — the mistress of Ned Ray — who was "making night
hideous" with her doleful wailings. Being at once stopped, she began
inquiring for her paramour, and was thus informed of his fate: "Well
if you must know, he is hung." A volcanic eruption of oaths and abuse
was her reply to this information ; but the men were on "short time," and
escorted her toward her dwelling without superfluous display of courtesy.
Having arrived at the brow of a short descent, at the foot of which stood
her cabin, stern necessity compelled a rapid and final progress in that
direction.
Soon after, the party formed and returned to town, leaving the
corpses stiffening in the icy blast. The bodies were eventually cut down
by the friends of the road agents and buried. The "Reign of Terror,"
in Bannack, was over.
The Gre.\ser .\nd Dutch John Hanged
Commenting on this triple execution. Professor Dimsdale says: "Men
breathed freely ; for Plummer and Stinson especially were dreaded by
almost every one. The latter was of the type of that brutal desperado
HISTORY OF MONTANA 267
whose formula of introduction to a Western bar-room is so well known in
the mountains : 'Whoop ! I'm from Pike County, Missouri. I'm ten feet
high. My abode is where lewd women and licentious men mingle. My
parlor is in the Rocky Mountains. I smell like a wolf. I drink water out
of a brook like a horse. Look out you ! I'm going to turn loose!'
A fit mate for such a God-forsaken outlaw was Stinson and he, with the
oily and snake-like demon, Plummer, the wily, red-handed and politely
merciless chief, and the murderer and robber, Ray, were no more. The
Vigilantes organized rapidly. Public opinion sustained them."
On the Monday morning following the hanging of these wholesale
criminals, the Vigilantes determined to arrest Joe Pizanthia, the Greaser,
to see precisely how his record stood in Montana. Outside of it, it
was known that he was a desperado, a murderer and a robber ; but any-
thing outside of the territory was not the business of the Vigilantes. Two
of the party sent to arrest him were shot from his cabin, one of them
fatally. The other, though wounded, shot the desperado, whose cabin
was finally bombarded with a mountain howitzer directed by some mil-
itary members of the assaulting party, now beside themselves with fury
and unsatisfied vengeance. After the house had been partially wrecked,
the wounded Greaser was dragged forth, again riddled with bullets, the
body hoisted and fastened to a pole and made the target for a hundred
shots. As if this were not enough, the crowd which had now become a
mob set the cabin afire and threw the corpse into the fierce blaze where it
was burned to ashes. And in the following morning, some women of
ill-fame panned out the ashes to see whether the desperado had any gold
in his purse. "We are glad to say," comments the professor, "that they
were not rewarded for their labors by striking any auriferous deposit."
The evening after the death of Pizanthia, the newly organized com-
mittee met, and, after some preliminary discussion, a vote was taken as
to the fate of Dutch John. The result was that his execution was unan-
imously adjudged, as the only penalty meeting the merits of the case. He
had been a murderer and a highway robber, for years.
One of the number present at the meeting was deputed to convey
the intelligence to Wagner ; and, accordingly, he went down to his place
of confinement and read to him his sentence of death, informing him that
he would be hanged in an hour from that time. Wagner was much
shocked by the news. He raised himself to his feet and walked with
agitated and tremulous steps across the floor, once or twice. He begged
hard for life, praying them to cut off his arms and legs, and then to let
him go. He said, "You know I could do nothing then." He was in-
formed that his request could not be complied with, and that he must
prepare to die.
Finding death to be inevitable, Wagner summoned his fortitude to his
aid and showed no more signs of weakness. It was a matter of regret that
he could not be saved for his courage, and (outside of his villainous
trade) his good behavior won upon his captors and judges to an extent
that they were unwilling to admit, even to themselves. Amiability and
bravery could not be taken as excuses for murder and robbery, and so
268 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Dutch John had to meet a felon's death and the judgment to come, with
but short space for repentance. He said that he wished to send a letter
to his mother, in New York, and inquired whether there was not a Dutch-
man in the house, who could write in his native language. A man being
procured qualified as desired, he communicated his wishes to him and his
amanuensis wrote as directed. Wagner's fingers were rolled up in rags
and he could not handle the pen without inconvenience and pain. He had
not recovered from the frost-bites which had moved the pity of X.
Beidler when he met John before his capture, below Red Rock. The
epistle being finished, it was read aloud by the scribe; but it did not
please Wagner. He pointed out several inaccuracies in the method of
carrying out his instructions, both as regarded the manner and the matter
of the communication; and at last, unrolling the rags from his fingers,
he sat down and wrote the missive himself. He told his mother that he
was condemned to die, and had but a few minutes to live; that when
coming over from the other side to deal in horses, he had been met by
bad men, who had forced him to adopt the line of life that had placed him
in his present miserable position; that the crime for which he was sen-
tenced to die was assisting in robbing a wagon, in which afifair he had been
wounded and taken prisoner, and that his companion had been killed.
(This latter assertion he probably believed.) He admitted the justice of
his sentence.
The letter, being concluded, was handed to the Vigilantes for trans-
mission to his mother. He then quietly replaced the bandages on his
wounded fingers. The style of the composition showed that he was
neither terrified nor even disturbed at the thought of the fast approaching
and disgraceful end of his guilty life. The statements were positively
untrue, in many particulars, and he seemed to write only as a matter of
routine duty ; though we may hope that his afifection for his mother was,
at least, genuine.
Dutch John was marched from the place of his confinement to an
unfinished building, where the bodies of Stinson and Plummer were laid
out— the one on the floor and the other on a work bench. Ray's corpse
had been handed over to his mistress, at her special request. The doomed
man gazed without shrinking on the remains of the malefactors, and
asked leave to pray. This was, of course, granted, and he knelt down.
His lips moved rapidly; but he uttered no word audibly. On rising to
his feet, he continued apparently to pray, looking round, however, upon
the assembled Vigilantes all the time. A rope being thrown over a
cross-beam, a barrel was placed ready for him to stand upon. While
the final preparations were made, the prisoner asked how long it would
take him to die, as he had never seen a man hanged. He was told that
it would be only a short time. The noose was adjusted ; a rope was tied
round the head of the barrel and the party took hold. At the word, "All
ready," the barrel was instantly jerked from beneath his feet, and he
swung in the death agony. His struggles were very powerful, for a
short time; so iron a frame could not quit hold on life as easily as a less
HISTORY OF MONTANA 269
muscular organization. After hanging till frozen stiff, the body was cut
down and buried decently.
Captain J. A. Slade's Taking-Off
The execution of Capt. J. A. Slade is in a class by itself; naturally,
an able, likable man, when sober, but a reckless rough and outlaw
when drunk. If ever there was a man of "two natures," under such con-
ditions, that unfortunate man was Slade. He came of a respectable
Illinois family and was for several years a law-abiding resident of CHnton
County. Subsequently he was a division manager on the Overland Stage
line and murdered and mutilated one of the station agents on the Platte
River, but under most aggravating circumstances. Far from committing
any bloody crime since coming to Virginia City, in the spring of 1863, he
had upheld the vigilantes, when sober; when drunk, he flouted all ev-
idences of law and order, and rode rough-shod over everything and
everybody. From the fact that his influence was so strong with the na-
turally lawless element, such manifestations formed a menace to the
entire region; and it was imperative that an example be made of him.
There has always been more or less of a dispute as to whether his hanging
was not beyond his deserts, as based upon his record in Montana. Mark
Twain, in his "Roughing It," and Professor Dimsdale, J. X. Beidler and
others have pictured Captain Slade in the foregoing Imes, and have graph-
ically described the events leading to his execution, as well as his last
moments on earth.
After the execution of the five men, on the 14th of January*, the
vigilantes considered that their work was nearly ended. They had freed
the country from highwaymen and murderers to a great extent, and they
determined that, in the absence of the regular civil authority, they would
establish a People's Court, where all offenders should be tried by judge
and jury. This was the nearest approach to social order that the cir-
cumstances permitted, and, though strict legal authority was wanting,
yet the people were firmly determined to maintain its efficiency, and to
enforce its decrees. It may here be mentioned that the overt act which
was the last round on the fatal ladder leading to the scaffold on which
Slade perished, was the tearing in pieces and stamping upon a writ of this
court, followed by the arrest of the judge, Alexander Davis, by authority
of a presented Derringer, and with his own hands.
On returning from Milk River, where he had been unsuccessfully
engaged as a freighter, he became more and more addicted to drinking;
until at last, it was a common feat for him and his friends to "take the
town." He and a couple of his dependants might often be seen on one
horse, galloping through the streets, shouting and yelling, firing revol-
vers, etc. On many occasions he would ride his horse into stores ; break
up bars ; toss the scales out of doors, and use most insulting language to
* George Lane CClub Foot George), Frank Parish, Haze Lyons, Jack Galla-
gher and Boone Helm. The last named was perhaps the most hardened of the
five. Lyons had confessed to the murder of Dillingham, one of Plummer's
deputy sheriffs.
270 HISTORY OF MONTANA
parties present. Just previous to the day of his arrest, he had given a
fearful beating to one of his followers; but such was his influence over
them that the man wept bitterly at the gallows, and begged for his life
with all his power. It had become quite common, when Slade was on a
spree, for the shop-keepers and citizens to close the stores and put out
all the lights : being fearful of some outrage at his hands. One store in
Nevada he never ventured to enter — that of the Lott brothers — as they
had taken care to let him know that any attempt of the kind would be
followed by his sudden death, and, though he often rode down there,
threatening to break in and raise , yet he never attempted to carry
his threat into execution. For his wanton destniction of goods and fur-
niture, he was always ready to pay, when sober if he had money ; but there
were not a few who regarded payment as small satisfaction for the out-
rage, and these men were his personal enemies.
From time to time, Slade received warnings from men that he well
knew would not deceive him, of the certain end of his conduct. There
was not a moment, for weeks previous to his arrest, in which the public
did not expect to hear of some bloody outrage. The dread of his very
name, and the presence of the armed band of hangers-on, who followed
him alone prevented a resistance, which must certainly have ended in the
instant murder or mutilation of the opposing party.
Slade was frequently arrested by order of the court whose organiza-
tion we have described, and had treated it with respect by paying one or
two fines, and promising to pay the rest when he had money ; but in the
transaction that occurred at this crisis, he forgot even this caution, and
goaded by passions and the hatred of restraint, he sprang into the em-
brace of death.
Slade had been drunk and "cutting up'' all night. He and his com-
panions had made the town a perfect hell. In the moming, J. M. Fox,
the sheriff, met him, arrested him, took him into court, and commenced
reading a warrant that he had for his arrest, by way of arraignment.
He became uncontrollably furious, and seizing the writ, he tore it up,
threw it on the ground and stamped upon it. The clicking of the locks
of his companions' revolvers was instantly heard and a crisis was ex-
pected. The sheriff did not attempt his capture : but being at least as
prudent as he was valiant, he succumbed, leaving Slade the master of the
situation and the conqueror and ruler of the courts, law and law-makers.
This was a declaration of war, and was so accepted. The \''igilance Com-
mittee now felt that the question of social order and the prep>onderance
of the law-abiding citizens had then and there to be decided. They knew
the character of Slade, and they were well aware that they must submit
to his rule without murmur, or else that he must be dealt with in such
fashion as would prevent his being able to wreck his vengeance on the
Committee, who could never have hoped to live in the territory secure
from outrage or death, and who could never leave it without encountering
his friends, whom his victory would have emboldened and stimulated to
a pitch that would have rendered them reckless of consequences. The
day previous, he had ridden into Dorris's store, and on being requested to
HISTORY OF MONTANA 271
leave, he drew his revolver and threatened to kill the gentleman who
spoke to him. Another saloon he had led his horse into, and buying a
bottle of wine, he tried to make the animal drink it. This was not con-
sidered an uncommon performance, as he had often entered saloons,
and commenced firing at the lamps, causing a wild stampede.
A leading member of the committee met Slade, and informed him in
the quiet earnest manner of one who feels the importance of what he is
saying: "Slade, get your horse at once, and go home, or there will be
to pay." Slade started and took a long look with his dark and pierc-
ing eyes, at the gentleman. "What do you mean?" said he. "You have
no right to ask me what I mean," was the quiet reply. "Get your horse
at once, and remember what I tell you." After a short pause he promised
to do so, and actually got into the saddle; but, being still intoxicated, he
began calling aloud to one after another of his friends, and, at last seemed
to have forgotten the warning he had received and became again up-
roarious, shouting the name of a well-known prostitute in company with
'two men whom he considered head of the Committee, as a sort of
challenge ; perhaps, however, as a simple act of bravado. It seems prob-
able that the intimation of personal danger he had received had not been
forgotten entirely ; though fatally for him, he took a foolish way of
showing his remembrance of it. He sought out Alexander Davis, the
judge of the court, and drawing a cocked Derringer, he presented it at
his head, and told him that he should hold him as a hostage for his own
safety. As the judge stood perfectly quiet, and offered no resistance to
his captor, no further outrage followed on this score. Previous to this,
on account of the critical state of affairs, the committee had met, and at
last resolved to arrest him. His execution had not been agreed upon, and,
at that time, would have been negatived, most assuredly. A messenger
rode down to Nevada to inform the leading men of what was on hand,
as it was desirable to show that there was a feeling of unanimity on the
subject, all along the gulch.
The miners turned out almost en masse, leaving their work and form-
ing in solid column, about 600 strong, armed to the teeth, they marched
up to Virginia. The leader of the body well knew the temper of his
men, on the subject. He spurred on ahead of them, and hastily calling a
meeting of the Executive, he told" them plainly that the miners meant
"business," and that if they came up, they would not stand in the street
to be shot down by Slade's friends; but that they would take him and
hang him. The meeting was small, as the Virginia men were loath to
act at all.
The committee were most unwilling to proceed to extremities. All
the duty they had ever performed seemed as nothing to the task before
them ; but they had to decide, and that quickly. It was finally agreed that
if the whole body of the miners were of the opinion that he should be
hanged, that the committee left it in their hands to deal with him. Off,
at hot speed, rode the leader of the Nevada men to join his command.
Slade had found out what was intended, and the news sobered him
272 HISTORY OF MONTANA
instantly. He went into P. S. Pfouts's store, where Davis was, and apol-
ogized for his conduct, saying that we would take it all back.
The head of the column now wheeled into Wallace Street and
marched up at quick time. Halting in front of the store, the executive
officer of the committee stepped forward and arrested Slade, who was at
once informed of his doom, and inquiry was made as to whether he had
any business to settle. Several parties spoke to him on the subject ; but
to all such inquiries he turned a deaf ear, being entirely absorbed in the
terrifying reflections on his own awful position. He never ceased his
entreaties for life, and to see his dear wife. The unfortunate lady re-
ferred to, between whom she and Slade there existed a warm affection,
was at this time living at their ranch on the Madison. She was possessed
of considerable personal attractions; tall, well-formed, of graceful car-
riage, pleasing manners, and was, withal, an accomplished horsewoman.
A messenger from Slade rode at full speed to infonn her of her hus-
band's arrest. In an instant she was in the saddle, and with all the
energy that love and despair could lend to an ardent temperament and
a strong physique, she urged her fleet charger over the twelve miles of
rough and rocky ground that intervened between her and the object of
her passionate devotion.
Meanwhile a party of volunteers had made the necessary preparations
for the execution, in the valley traversed by the branch. Beneath the site
of Pfouts's and Russell's stone building there was a corral, the gateposts
of which were strong and high. Across the top was laid a beam, to which
the rope was fastened, and a drygoods box served for the platform. To
this place Slade was marched, surrounded by a guard, composing the best
armed and most numerous force that has ever appeared in Montana
Territory. The doomed man had so exhausted himself by tears, prayers
and lamentations, that he had scarcely strength left to stand under the
fatal beam. He repeatedly exclaimed: "My God! My God! Must I die?
Oh, my dear wife !"
On the return of the fatigue party, they encountered some friends of
Slade, stanch and reliable citizens and members of the committee, but who
were personally attached to the condemned. On hearing of his sentence,
one of them, a stout-hearted man, pulled out his handkerchief and walked
away, weeping like a child. Slade still begged to see his wife, most
piteously, and it seemed hard to deny his request; but the bloody con-
sequences that were sure to follow the inevitable attempt at a rescue,
that her presence and entreaties would have certainly incited, forbade
the granting of his request. Several gentlemen were sent for to see him,
in his last moments, one of whom (Judge Davis) made a short address
to the people ; but in such low tones as to be inaudible, save to a few
in his immediate vicinity. One of his friends, after exhausting his
powers of entreaty, threw off his coat and declared that the prisoner could
not be hanged until he himself was killed. A hundred guns were in-
stantly leveled at him ; whereupon he turned and fled ; but, being brought
back, he was compelled to resume his coat, and to give a promise of future
peaceable demeanor.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 273
Scarcely a leading man in Virginia could be found, though numbers
of the citizens joined the ranks of the guard when the arrest was made.
All lamented the stern necessity which dictated the execution.
Everything being ready, the command was given, "Men, do your
duty," and the box being instantly slipped from beneath his feet, he died
almost instantaneously.
The body was cut down and carried to the Virginia Hotel, where,
in a darkened room, it was scarcely laid out, when the unfortunate and
bereaved companion of the deceased arrived, at headlong speed, to find
that all was over, and that she was a widow. Her grief and heart -piercing
cries were terrible evidences of the depth of her attachment for her lost
husband, and ■ a considerable perfod elapsed before she could regain
the command of her excited feelings.
Beidler's Account of Slade's End
While stirring up Virginia City in his last drunken spree, Slade had
come across Beidler (X. he was called for short), who had done all in his
power, both individually and through friends, to induce the whiskey-
crazed man to "go home and behave himself." Kiscadden, a friend, who
afterward married Slade's widow, was among the most earnest in making
these requests. They had no efifect, and while Slade was grossly in-
sulting, a local storekeeper, at the latter's place of business, "over two
hundred honest, determined miners (says Beidler), headed by Captain
Williams (the executive of the Vigilance Committee), were just turning
the corner. They came up to Pfouts's store and Captain Williams stepped
up and arrested Slade while he was holding up Pfouts, Fox and Davis
with a Derringer in each hand. Captain Williams was backed up by
two hundred miners, each of whom could have shaken two or three dollars
worth of pay dust out of the rims of their hats and who had rifles and
revolvers in abundance.
"Slade looked around and said 'My God !' He was informed that
he had one hour to live and if he had any business to attend to, he had
better do it. I was well aware of the approach of the committee, and was
informed long before that the boys' rifles and revolvers were being
cleaned and loaded fresh, which meant business, and I had begged Slade
to go home, but I knew when he got ofif his horse and I made the remark
to Kiscadden (asking him to coax Slade homeward) that it was his
last ride. If Slade had gone off when he was told, the committee would
not have hung him at that time.
"Slade was taken into the back room of the store to settle up his
business and begged all the time most piteously for his life. A party was
sent to arrange a place for the execution. They went down the gulch
and found an empty beef scaffold, made the noose and fixed everything
for the hanging. * * * While Slade was standing on the boxes
under the scaffold, with the rope around his neck, he asked for Col. W.
F. Sanders, and the boys around were afraid to do too much shouting,
and I said 'Pass the word along for Sanders,' which was done, but he
274 HISTORY OF MONTANA
could not be found, and Slade then asked for Alex Davis, who came up
and talked with the doomed man. Slade asked Davis to plead to the
crowd for his life and Davis said, 'Mr. Slade, I can only repeat your
words. I have no influence but would gladly do so, if I had.' The two
hundred miners were getting impatient and shouted "Time's up!'
"These men were running mines on their own account and wanted
to get back and clean up and attend to their business, as they did not
come on any child's play. A noble German by the name of Brigham ad-
justed the rope around Slade's neck and afterward left the territory,
being afraid of the Slade men. Dutch Charley selected the place for the
execution. Captain Williams, when he heard how impatient the miners
were getting, said: 'Men do your duty,' and Slade died!"
Justice, as backed by a preponderance of honest public sentiment, was
master of the situation.
The most notorious and dangerous of the road agents had met their
deserts through the Vigilantes and the miner's courts, but the champions
of law and order were not satisfied and would have nothing but a
thorough clean-up of infesting criminals. On the evening of January
13, 1864, the executive committee of the Vigilantes determined on hanging
six of the worst men still alive. The morning of January 15th came,
and the detachment of Vigilantes marched in from Nevada, Junction,
Summit, Pine Grove, Highland and Fairweather, and halted in a body
in Main Street of Bannack. Parties were immediately detailed for the
capture of the road agents, and all succeeded in their mission except the
one which went after Bill Hunter, who temporarily escaped. The other
five were "rounded up" the same day and executed in front of the
Virginia Hotel. It will serve no purpose to enter into details as to the
different attitudes assumed by the criminals at their arrest and execution.
Some were cool, some profane, some furious, some rebellious and some re-
signed almost to the point of repentance. But the men paid the just
penalty for their many crimes and the days of outlawry were doomed
in Montana.
The operations of the Vigilantes were, at this time, especially, planned
with a judgment, and executed with a vigor that has never been surpassed
by any body, deliberative or executive. On the 15th of January, 1864, a
party of twenty-one men left Nevada under the command of a citizen
whose name and actions remind us of lightning. He was prompt, brave,
irresistible (so widely did he lay his plans) and struck when least ex-
pected. Bill Hunter had temporarily escaped and was in hiding, but he
was rooted out of his nest about twenty miles above the mouth of the
Gallatin River, and started with his escort toward Virginia City. The
captors proceeded on their way in that direction for about two miles and
halted at the foot of a tree which seemed as if it had been fashioned
by nature for a gallows. A horizontal limb at a convenient height was
there for the rope, and on the trunk was a spur like a belaying pin, on
which to fasten the end. Scraping away about a foot of snow they
camped, lit a fire and prepared their breakfast. An onlooker would never
have conjectured for a moment, that anything of a serious nature was
HISTORY OF MONTANA 275
likely to occur, and even Hunter seemed to have forgotten his fears,
laughing and chatting gaily vv'ith the rest.
After breakfast, a consultation was held as to what should be done with
the road agent, and after hearing what was offered by the members of
the scouting party, individually, the leader put the matter to vote. It
was decided by the majority that the prisoner should not go to Virginia ;
but that he should be executed then and there. The man who had given
Hunter to understand that he would be taken to Virginia, voted for the
carrying out of this part of the programme ; but he was overruled.
The earnest manner of the Vigilantes, and his own sense of guilt,
overpowered Hunter; he turned deadly pale, and faintingly asked for
water. He knew, without being told that there was no hope for him.
A brief history of his crimes was related to him by one of the men, and
the necessity of the enforcement of the penalty was pointed out to him.
All was too true for denial. He merely requested that his friends should
know nothing of the manner of his death, and stated that he had no
property; hn^ he hoped they would give him a decent burial. He was
told that every reasonable request would be granted ; but that the ground
was to hard for them to attempt his interment without proper imple-
ments. They promised that his friends should be made acquainted with
his execution, and that they would see to that. Soon after, he shook hands
with each of the company, and said that he did not blame them for what
they were about to do.
His arms were pinioned at the elbows; the fatal noose was placed
round his neck, and the end of the rope being thrown over the limb,
the men took hold and with a quick, strong pull, ran him up off his feet.
He died almost without a struggle ; but, strange to say, he reached as if
for his pistol, and went through the pantomime of cocking and discharg-
ing his revolver six times. This is no effort of fancy. Every one present
saw it, and was equally convinced of the fact. It was a singular instance
of "the ruling passion, strong in death."
The place of the execution was a lone tree, in full view of the
travelers on the trail, about twenty miles above the mouth of the Gallatin.
The corpse of the malefactor was left hanging from the limb, and the
little knot of horsemen was soon but a speck in the distance.
Bill Hunter was the last of the old road agent band that met death at
the hands of the Committee. He was executed on the 3rd of February,
1864. There was now no openly organized force of robbers in the ter-
ritory, and the future acts of the Committee were confined to taking
measures for the maintenance of the public tranquility and the punishment
of those guilty of murder, robbery and other high crimes and mis-
demeanors against the welfare of the inhabitants of Montana.
Last Work of the Vigilantes
*On looking back at the dreadful state of society which necessitated
the organization of the Vigilantes, and on reading, these pages, many will
' Professor Dimsdale in "Vigilantes of Montana."
276 HISTORY OF MONTANA
learn for the first time the deep debt of gratitude which they owe to that
just and equitable body of self-denying and gallant men. It was a dread-
ful and disgusting duty that devolved upon them; but it was a duty, and
they did it. Far less worthy actions have been rewarded by the thanks
of Congress, and medals glitter on many a bosom, whose owner won
them, lying flat behind a hillock, out of range of the enemy's fire. The
Vigilantes, for the sake of their country encountered popular dislike,
the envenomed hatred of the bad, and the cold toleration of some of the
unwise good. Their lives they held in their hands. "All's well that ends
well." Montana is saved, and they saved it, earning the blessings of
future generations, whether they receive them or not. * * *
Very little action was necessary on the part of the Vigilance Com-
mittee, to prevent any combination of the enemies of law and order
from exerting a prejudicial influence on the peace and good order of the
capital ; in fact, the organization gradually ceased to exercise its func-
tions, and, though in existence, its name, more than its active exertions,
sufficed to preserve tranquility. When Chief Justice Hosmer arrived
in the territory, and organized the Territorial County Courts, he thought
it his duty to refer to the Vigilantes, in his charge to the Grand Jury,
and invited them to sustain the authorities as citizens. The old guardians
of the peace of the territory were greatly rejoiced at being released from
their onerous and responsible duties, and most cheerfully and heartily
complied with the request of the Judiciary.
For some months no action of any kind was taken by them ; but, in
the summer of 1865. news reached them of the burning and sacking of
Idaho City, and they were reliably informed that an attempt would be
made to burn Virginia, also, by desperadoes from the West. That this
was true was soon demonstrated by ocular proof ; for two attempts were
made though happily discovered and rendered abortive, to set fire to the
city. In both cases, the parties employed laid combustibles in such a
manner that, but for the vigilance and promptitude of some old Vig-
ilantes, a most destructive conflagration must have occurred in the most
crowded part of the town. In one case the heap of chips and whittled
wood a foot in diameter had burnt so far only as to leave a ring of the
outer ends of the pile visible. In the other attempt a collection of old
rags were placed against the wall of an out-building attached to the Wis-
consin House, situated within the angle formed by the junction of Idaho
and Jackson Streets. Had this latter attempt succeeded, it is impossible
to conjecture the amount of damage that must have been inflicted upon
the town, for frame buildings fifty feet high were in close proximity, and
had they once caught fire, the flames might have destroyed at least half of
the business houses on Wallace, Idaho and Jackson Streets.
At this time, too, it was a matter of every-day remark that Virginia
was full of lawless characters, and many of them thinking that the
Vigilantes were officially defunct, did not hesitate to threaten the lives
of prominent citizens, always including in their accusations, that they
were strangling. This state of things could not be permitted to last ; and,
as the authorities admitted that they were unable to meet the emergency.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 277
the Vigilantes reorganized at once, with the consent and approbation of
almost every good and order-loving citizen in the territory.
The effect of this movement was marvellous ; the roughs disappeared
rapidly from the town; but a most fearful tragedy, enacted in Portneuf
Canyon, Idaho, on the 13th of July, roused the citizens almost to frenzy.
The overland coach from Virginia to Salt Lake City, was driven into an
ambuscade by Frank Williams, and though the passengers were pre-
pared for road agents, and fired simultaneously with their assailants, who
were under cover and stationary, yet four of them, viz : A. S. Parker,
A. J. McCausland, David Dinan and W. L. Mers, were shot dead ; L. F.
Carpenter was slightly hurt in three places and Charles Parks was ap-
parently mortally wounded. The driver was untouched, and James
Brown, a passenger, jumped into the bushes and got off, unhurt. Car-
penter avoided death by feigning to be in the last extremity, when a
villain came to shoot him a second time. The gang of murderers, of
whom eight were present at the attack, secured a booty of $65,000 in
gold, and escaped undetected.
A party of Vigilantes started in pursuit, but eft'ected nothing at the
time; and it was not till after several months^patient work of a special
detective from Montana, that guilt was brought home to the driver, who
was executed by the Denver committee, on Cherry Creek.
The last offenders who were executed by the Vigilance committee of
Virginia City, where two horse thieves and confessed road agents, named,
according to their own account, John Morgan and John Jackson, alias
Jones. They were, however, of the "alias" tribe. The former was
caught in the act of appropriating a horse in one of the city corrals. He
was an old offender, and on his back were the marks of the whipping
he received in Colorado for committing an unnatural crime. He was
a low, vicious ruffian. His comrade was a much more intelligent man,
and acknowledged the justice of his sentence without any hesitation.
Morgan gave the names and signs of the gang they belonged to, of which
Rattlesnake Dick was the leader. Their lifeless bodies were found hang-
ing from a hay-frame, leaning over the corral fence at the slaughter
house, on the branch, about half a mile from the city. The printed man-
ifesto of the Vigilantes was affixed to Morgan's clothes with the warning
words written across it, "Road Agents, beware !"
CHAPTER XIII
DAWN OF LAW AND ORDER
The era of outlawry, miners' courts and vigilantes, with the summary
execution and exile of dangerous criminals, was closely followed by the
establishment of constitutional government and legal processes, with their
slower, more cumbersome, approved operations. During the worst of
the conflict between law and order, what is now Montana west of the
Rocky Mountains was under the jurisdiction of Idaho (organized as
a territory in March, 1863) and that portion east of the mountains was
a part of Dakota. So that the nearest constituted courts for the few
settlers in the Montana region were held at Salem, the capital of Oregon,
and at Yankton, Dakota's territorial seat of justice.
To attend the first session of the territorial Legislature of Idaho held
at Lewiston in the winter of i863-'64, members were compelled to travel
hundreds of miles, over unknown ranges and through trackless fields of
snow. The pioneers of what is now Southwestern Montana, who had
bravely fought and fairly subdued the criminal element in their midst,
demanded that legalized justice be brought within more convenient dis-
tance of them, and fortunately found an effective personal instrument
within their reach.
Coming of Sidney Edgerton and Wilbur F. S-'^nders
Sidney Edgerton, an able lawyer and republican congressman from
Ohio, at the conclusion of his two terms in the national house of rep-
resentatives had been appointed chief justice of the new territory of
Idaho by President Lincoln. In June, 1863, he had left Akron, Ohio,
for Idaho, accompanied by his family and his nephew, Wilbur F. San-
ders, who also took his family. They went to St. Joseph, Missouri, where
they outfittec>, and thence by ox-teams to Bannack, then on the eastern
borders of Idaho Territory, arriving September 17, 1863. Mr. Sanders
was soon engaged in the prosecution of the road agents, and established
his reputation as a fearless and versatile lawyer, earning the gratitude
of all supporters of law and order in the community. Mr. Edgerton was
destined for other work, which at once brought him into unusual prom-
inence.
The story of this portion of Sidney Edgerton's career is told so well
by his daughter, Martha Edgerton Plassman, that it is reproduced in her
words: "Shortly after arriving at Bannack, my father strolled up Main
Street to see the town. Coming to a building where miners' court was
278
HISTORY OF MONTANA 279
in progress, he went in. The judge, seeing that he was a stranger, in-
vited my father to sit beside him. The trial of the case proceeded, but
not for long, when it was interrupted by the suggestion of some one
present that it was time liquid refreshments should be served. The judge
and everyone present approving the suggestion, an old darkey was dis-
patched to a neighboring saloon for the whisky. On his return, the
court took a recess and a drink, several of them in fact. When the liquor
was exhausted and the court and those in attendance upon it sufficiently
stimulated, the trial went on, only to meet with a similar interruption
in the course of half an hour or so. This was the initiation of the new
Chief Justice into western methods of legal procedure.
"At a meeting of the citizens of Virginia City and Bannack, some
months later. Judge Edgerton was selected to go to Washington to
secure the division of the territory. About this time occurred the hang-
ing of Henry Plummer and other road agents. These events postponed
my father's journey to Washington until the middle of January, 1864.
It was a winter of great severity, and while he and those who went with
him knew they were not likely to be attacked by highwaymen between
Bannack and Salt Lake City, the intense cold was an enemy not to be
despised.
Montana Gold to Dazzle Congress
"The party traveled with pack horses to Salt Lake, crossing the rivers
on the ice and exposed to all the hardships of that bitter season. From
Salt Lake they went by stage to the railroad. What added to the dangers
of the journey was that most of the men took with them large quantities
of gold. Ingots were quilted into the lining of my father's overcoat
and he carried in his valise immense nuggets wherewith to dazzle the
eyes of congressmen and to impress upon their minds by means of an
object lesson some adequate idea of the great mineral wealth of this
section of the country. Arriving safely in Washington, the gold was
exhibited, congressmen interviewed, and at length the desired end was
accomplished. Idaho was divided, and the Territory of Montana created.
There was some discussion over the proposed western boundary line
but the combined eflforts of Governor Wallace of Idaho and Judge Edger-
ton saved to Montana all of her rich territory lying west of the summit of
the Rockies.
"My father was one of the numerous applicants for the governor-
ship of the new territory. Whether his ultimate appointment to the
position was the result of his last visit to Mr. Lincoln will never be
known, but this is his account of the visit he made and the story he
told:
Edgerton Interviews Lincoln
" 'When the division bill passed. I went to the White House to make
my farewell visit, as I had already been in Washington some time and
I was anxious to get home. On my way there, a gentleman told me
280 HISTORY OF MONTANA
that a senator had filed a protest against my appointment as governor.
On meeting Mr. Lincohi, I asked if this was true. He said it was.
I then inquired if any charges had been made against me. He said
none, but that I had called the gentleman a liar. I insisted that it was
the truth and if he (Mr. Lincoln) chose to appoint some of the other
applicants, it would be satisfactory.'
" 'As for me, I should return home and mine, as Dosheimer kept
tavern.' "Dosheimer!" exclaimed Mr. Lincoln; ''I knew Dosheimer.
What was the story?" The story was this: 'Dosheimer attended a con-
vention at Utica hoping to obtain the nomination as canal commissioner.
He was defeated, and rising from his seat, said: "Shentlemen, I goes
back to Pufifalo and keeps tavern like hell !" I left Mr. Lincoln laughing
heartily at the story. It was the last time I saw him. I did not know
of my appointment until I reached Salt Lake.'
The Governor's Difficult Position
"It was not an easy position which the new governor was called upon
to fill. He was chief executive in a portion of the country where, up to
the hanging of George Ives, every man had been a law to himself. He
represented the United States Government in a territory many of whose
citizens had renounced allegiance to the Union. Any signs of wavering
on the part of the governor, any concessions to those who were disloyal
to the United States would have been looked upon as marks of cowardice,
and he would have gained the contempt of the very men who were loud-
est in denouncing him for upholding the law of the land.
"Threats had been made that any one would be shot who dared to
raise the star spangled banner. My father heard of this, and out flew the
old flag from the staff above the house which sheltered his wife and
children. The threats proved to be mere bravado ; but drunken horsemen
galloping by at night often fired random shots at the red, white and
blue target while hurrahing lustily for Jefl Davis.
"A more serious trouble arose in the first legislature when John
Rogers, formerly of the Confederate army, sought to gain admission
to that body without taking the required oath. This caused a deadlock
which was only broken when a new oath had been framed which could
fit so delicate a case, and Mr. Rogers was admitted.
Gen. Thomas F. Meagher Acting Governor
"The following spring President Lincoln was assassinated, and during
the political upheaval which followed Andrew Johnson's accession to the
presidency, it became necessary for Governor Edgerton to go east in
the interest of Montana. General Thomas Francis Meagher had arrived
to assume the duties of the secretary of the territory ; but one of the
most important duties was to disburse money and there was no money
to disburse — my father and a few others having supplied the requisite
funds to keep the wheels of government in motion up to that time. In
order to obtain money for the territory, and also wishing to place his
HISTORY OF MONTANA 281
older children in school, my father once again set across the plains taking
his family with him. He left Bannack in the middle of September, 1865.
The return journey, made with mule teams and from Salt Lake City,
followed the old Bridget and South Platte trail to Nebraska City. As the
floating ice in the Missouri made it impossible to run the ferry, the river
at that place was crossed in a skiiT at the imminent peril of being
swamped, and the journey continued by stage through Iowa and Mis-
souri to Savannah in the latter state, which was then the terminal point
of the railroad."
Governor Edgerton thus severed his permanent connection with the
affairs of Montana. He twice revisited the state, the last time in 1891,
but his home continued in Akron, Ohio, for fifty-five years, or until his
death July 19, 1900. Almost to the last he practiced his profession and
was ever alive to the best things of the world.
Montana Territory Takes Form
The bill organizing the territory of Montana passed both houses of
Congress on May 24, 1864, and two days later was signed by President
Lincoln and the commonwealth admitted into the Union. Its boundaries
were fixed by the organic act, the president commissioned Judge Edger-
ton governor June 22, 1864, and on the following 12th of December
Governor Edgerton convened the first session of the Territorial Legisla-
ture, on January 16, 1864, were created the counties of Missoula, Deer
Lodge, Dawson, Beaverhead, Madison, Jefiferson, Chouteau and Big Horn.
The organic act creating the Territory of Montana, empowered the gov-
ernor to lay off necessary districts £or members of the Council and House
of Representatives and to provide for an election of such members. On
September 22, 1864, Governor Edgerton therefore called the first elec-
tion in Montana to be held on the 24th of October. In establishing the
districts, Governor Edgerton recognized the counties established by the
first Idaho Legislature, insofar as they had any population to be repre-
sented in the Montana Assembly, viz., Missoula, Deer Lodge, Beaver
Head, Madison, Jefferson and Chouteau. In the counties of Dawson and
Big Horn, there were so few qualified persons entitled to representation
that they were not recognized as distinct election districts by Governor
Edgerton, and were deemed part of Madison County for political pur-
poses.
The Bannack Legislature
The election was duly held, which resulted in the choice of what has
become known as the Bannack Legislature. A delegate to Congress was
also chosen. The republicans, or unionists, nominated Wilbur F. San-
ders, and the democrats, Samuel McLean. Partisanship over the issues of
the war were as intense in Montana as in the older territories and states,
although the new commonwealth was far removed from the immediate
theater of hostilities. The voters came from both North and South and
the campaign was waged with much rancor on both sides. Governor
282 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Edgerton coming from an Ohio hotbed of radical repubhcanism, was
the leader of the Montana unionists in every sense of the word, and
his young nephew, the Congressional candidate, was a brisk running
mate in that regard. Whatever the cause of the result, the democrats
won and Colonial Sanders was defeated. There is some question as
to the respective votes, although both sides agree upon the total of
6,864. The democrats themselves attributed their success to the dom-
inant method of the campaign pursued by the republicans in charging
their opponents with disloyalty.
The first session of the Legislative Assembly of the territory con-
vened at Bannack on December 12, 1864, and adjourned February 9, 1865.
The presiding officers of both sides were republicans, Robert Lawrence
being chosen president of the Council and George Detwiler, speaker of
the House.
The membership of the two houses, with the localities represented
was as follows :
Members of the Council : Frank M. Thompson and Erasmus D.
Leavitt, Beaverhead County; Frank L. Worden, Chouteau, Deer Lodge
and Missoula counties ; Nathaniel Merriman, Jefferson County ; Charles
S. Bagg, Robert Lawrence and Anson S. Potter, Madison County.
Members of the House : William Faulds and Andrew J. Smith, Bea-
verhead County ; James Stuart, Deer Lodge County ; Isaac N. Buck, Milo
Courtright and George Detwiler, Jeflferson County; John H. Rodgers,
Patrick Ryan, Wila Huffaker, Alexander E. Mayhew, Francis Bell and
Washington J. McCormick, Madison County; E. B. Johnson, Missoula
County.
At this time among the leaders of the democratic party were Sample
Orr ; Edwin W. Toole, a brilliant lawyer and brother of Joseph K. Toole,
the first governor of the state; William Y. Pemberton, afterward chief
justice of the State Supreme Court, altogether a distinguished member
of the bench and bar, and librarian of the State Historical Society;
Thomas Thoroughman, R. C. Ewing, Alexander Davis, Samuel Word,
N. J. Bond, W. L. McMath, Samuel McLean and Ansell Briggs.
. The laws passed at this first session were voluminous and important.
Not a few of them related to the judiciary. The act providing for the
organization of the territory vested the judicial power in a supreme court,
district courts, probate courts and in justices of the peace, and
divided the territory into three judicial districts. Pursuant to the au-
thority given, this session enacted a law establishing these courts and pre-
scribing the jurisdiction thereof. A Criminal Practice Act was passed, pro-
viding for the indictment and trial of offenders, defining offenses punish-
able thereunder and the penalties to be imposed. A Probate Act relating
to the estates of deceased persons, minors and incompetents, and an act
relating to executors and administrators and to guardians and wards were
passed. One of the most important laws enacted by this assembly was
that incorporating the Historical Society of Montana, the incorporators of
which were H. L. Hosmer, C. P. Higgins, John Owen, James Stuart,
W. F. Sanders, Malcolm Clarke, F. M. Thompson, William Graham, Gran-
• HISTORY OF MONTANA 283
ville Stuart, W. W. DeLacy, C. E. Irwin and C. S. Bagg. The seat of
government was, by an act approved February 7, 1865, located at the city
of Virginia, pursuant to the authority granted the legislative assembly
by the act of congress providing for the organization of the territory.
Besides general laws of the nature outlined, measures were adopted
to meet the special conditions of the people and the times. An act was
passed to prevent the counterfeiting of gold dust, as a spurious imita-
tion was in circulation. During the session, not less than nine special
acts were passed providing for marital separation, but no general divorce
law was enacted until near the adjournment of the assembly. Acts were
passed to reimburse those who had captured road agents when the miners'
courts were in authority. Without general legislation enabling indus-
trial and commercial enterprises to be incorporated, almost one hundred
private charters were granted to mining companies, ditch companies, town
site enterprises, and bridge, ferry and wagon road projects. This char-
acter of legislation called forth denunciation from the Congress of the
United States, which, in 1867 passed an act providing that the legisla-
tive assemblies of the territories should not grant private charters or
special privileges, but they might, by general incorporation acts, per-
mit persons to associate themselves together as bodies corporate for min-
ing, manufacturing and other industrial pursuits. Such a general incor-
porating act was passed by the third Legislative Assembly of the territory,
and at subsequent sessions most of the special privilege acts passed at
the first session were repealed.
In the light of events of a later period, this special legislation
enacted at the first session of the territorial assembly was of such an
interesting character as to warrant more detailed comment. The most
complete and satisfactory account of the doings of the Bannack Assembly
was contributed to the Anaconda Standard, of February 23, 1919, by
James U. Sanders, of Helena, secretary of the Society of Montana Pio-
neers, and one of the sons of Wilbur F. Sanders, the pioneer. After
noting the conscientious and industrious character of that legislature and
that, in addition to passing civil and criminal practice acts, it enacted
nearly one hundred special or private laws, Mr. Sanders continues : "These
charters were given to nearly 500 men, but a careful perusal 'of the names
discloses only eight survivors today. The full list includes men in Lon-
don, England, and many Eastern cities, including New York, St. Louis,
Philadelphia and Albion, N. Y.
"I will recall only a few companies in which the survivors mentioned
were interested with about ninety associates."
First Is Road Law
"The first law approved by Governor Edgerton on December 27, 1864,
was an act to incorporate the Missouri River & Rocky Mountain Wagon
Road and Telegraph Company. This was granted to Judge Pemberton
and fourteen associates, among whom are some familiar names, such as
Judge Walter B. Dance, a miners' judge of those days; N. P. Langford,
284 HISTORY OF MONTANA
elected to the Idaho legislature the year before and superintendent of the
Yellowstone National Park on its creation in 1872 and which from its
initials Mr. Langford used to say was named after him : S. T. Hauser,
afterward governor of the territory ; T. C. Evarts, whose 'Thirty-seven
Days of Peril,' being an account of experiences while lost from the Wash-
burne party in 1870, was read the world over; Razin Anderson, a member
of the Stuart party which discovered gold at Gold Creek ; Samuel Word
and F. B. Kercheval of St. Joseph, Missouri, who endeavored to found
Kercheval City at the mouth of the Judith River in 1866 and which was
made the county seat of Musselshell County on its creation by one of
the bogus legislatures of that year. Today the judge is the only survivor
of this list and an effort to pump Pem on the achievements of this com-
pany only disclosed the fact that his recollection of the enterprise is a
little vague, but he admitted that he probably wrote the law for a block
of the capital stock, stated to be $800,000, and that also some of the in-
corporators had a preliminary survey of the proposed road made."
It was to start from Virginia City and run to the head of naviga-
tion on the Yellowstone River and thence to the mouth of that river
or some other point on the Missouri River. They were to have the
privilege of establishing toll gates and collecting toll not oftener than a
gate to each forty miles of the road. They also had the privilege
of erecting tool gates at bridges and ferries, but not on streams fordable
at all seasons of the year. The charter also gave the privilege of erecting
an electro telegraph line along said road and also by way of Bannack to
the southern boundary of the territory toward Salt Lake City. The com-
pany was authorized to issue bonds for the raising of funds for con-
struction and to pay interest at not more than 15 per cent.
For Another Ro.\d
Judge Pemberton and Mr. Evarts promoted another enterprise under
a charter to the Bozeman City & Milk River Wagon Road Company,
with a capital stock of $200,000, for the purpose of locating and main-
taining a toll wagon road from Bozeman to the mouth of the Musselshell
River, and thence to the mouth of the Milk River. Some mean in-
dividual reading this charter might note that nothing is said as to con-
structing a road, although a survey is provided for and exclusive privi-
leges given with ten miles of its line, and also within the same distance
of all bridges and ferries established on streams crossed, said toll gates
not to exceed one for every forty miles of road. Authority to estab-
lish town-sites at the termini of said route and also at the crossing of
the Musselshell River and at other points, with authority to pre-empt
320 acres at each of said points and lay off into lots, blocks and streets
and hold or dispose of the same, is given.
Had the judge laid out this road on an air line, like the road
from St. Petersburg to Moscow, and should he go over it today, he
would traverse the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Meagher, Musselshell,
Fergus, the new county of Garfield, possibly Phillips, and, if we were
HISTORY OF MONTANA 285
more familiar with the geography of Montana while the present session
of the legislature is in session, we might add Dawson, and before they
adjourn we might add others. When laid out this road traversed only
Gallatin, Chouteau and Big Horn counties. With these enterprises the
judge satisfied himself for the time being in the mad rush for worldly
wealth, at the same time securing, and ever since maintaining, a warm
place in the regard and affections of the people of Montana.
Still Another Ro.^d
On January 27, 1865, a charter to the Virginia City & Summit City
Wagon Road Company was approved by Governor Edgerton. This
charter was granted to Joseph H. Millar, now of Omaha, and president
of the Omaha National Bank, and B. F. Allen of Des Moines, and in-
terested in a bank in Virginia City with Mr. Millard under the name of
Allen & Millard, and while the metropolis of Alder Gulch was still in the
territory of Idaho; also W. C. Burton of Des Moines and John S. Atchi-
son, many years later a banking associate of Governor Hauser in Helena,
and others.
A recent inquiry of Senator Millard discloses the facts of the en-
terprise. Mr. Burton conceived the idea of the road up Alder and
secured the backing of Allen and Millard shortly after the discovery
of gold in May, 1863. This occurred just a little above the foot of
Wallace Street as pointed out by Mr. Edgar, one of the discoverers, at
the meeting of the Pioneer Society twenty years ago. Mr. Burton built
the road in 1863, but the miners washing the bed of the gulch that fall and
next summer were continually washing it out and interfering with it as a
highway and the rights secured under the charter did not much improve
their authority. The road was eight miles in length from Virginia City
to Summit and they were authorized to establish a toll gate at the town
of Highland and one near Virginia City and crossing and recrossing
Alder Creek and bridging the same where necessary. The capital of the
company was to be $27,000, which perhaps is the amount of money spent
in building and maintaining the road. With the liberal charges allowed, $3
for a wagon drawn by a span of horses or yoke of oxen or a carriage
drawn by one animal, etc., the road never paid or reimbursed the build-
ers.
Water Charter
Also on January 27th a charter was granted to A. M. Holter, still
living in Helena, and associates under the name of the Virginia City
Water Company, with a capital stock of $25,000, with authority to in-
crease it to $100,000. The company had authority to convey the waters
rising or flowing from all springs in Daylight Gulch and distribute it
through hydrants and through the streets of the city. Mr. Holter made
a success of this enterprise, which was conceived the summer before and
work commenced by his associates, O. Norelius and J. P. Oleson.
Another charter was granted for the purpose of supplying Virginia
286 HISTORY OF MONTANA
City with gas to the Virginia City Gas Company, with a capital stock of
$10,000, with the authority to increase it to $200,000. All of the incor-
porators of this company are dead, but among the names we note those
of Governor S. T. Hauser and W. J. McCormick, a member of the Ban-
nack legislature and father of the representative from Missoula County.
A charter was granted to Mortimer H. Lott, still residing at Twin
Bridges, and his associates, among whom we note Paris S. Pfouts, for-
merly president of the vigilance committee, and James Williams, a
captain in that organization, and one of the executive officers. The
company was known as the Montana Bridge and Ferry Company, with
authority to construct bridges or ferries, one on the Big Hole River near
Twin Bridges and one on the JeiTerson River near Pat Carney's Ranch
at Waterloo. At the Big Hole crossing the toll charge for a vehicle
and two animals was $4 and at the Jefferson crossing the charge was $5.
On February 2d Mr. Lott and his brother, John S. Lott, were author-
ized to use the water of Wisconsin Gulch for irrigating and milling pur-
poses with right-of-way to the Beaverhead River.
In Deer Lodge Valley
Gus Graeter of Dillon, the bride-groom of 85 years, and his asso-
ciates were given a charter as the Deer Lodge Valley Mining Company,
with a capital of $200,000. The office of the company was established at
Silver Bow City, and the company was authorized to establish a branch
office in New York City if deemed proper.
Books were to be opened for subscriptions to the capital stock on
twenty days' notice published in a newspaper, if there was one published
in the territory, otherwise by posting notices at three public places in
Silver Bow City.
Mr. Graeter and his associates were also given a charter as the
Beaverhead Ditch Company, with authority to construct a ditch and divert
the waters of Rattlesnake Creek and supply water for mining, milling
and other purposes, evidently in the vicinity of Argenta, west of Dillon.
William Berkin of Meagher County, now over 90 years of age, and
hale and hearty, with associates, was given a charter as the Eureka Gold
and Silver Mining Company with a capital stock of $50,000 which might
be increased to $1,000,000, with offices at the town of Montana, an embryo
city at the Point of Rocks on Rattlesnake Creek, and also in the City
of New York. Among the other incorporators are to be noted Samuel
McLean, delegate in congress ; George Brown, member of the state senate
from Beaverhead County at the third and fourth sessions, and Ashael
K. Eaton, who was later interested with Col. A. K. McLure in mining
enterprises in Madison County.
In Mining Industry
Mr. Berkin was also interested in two other companies created by
this legislature, one the Boulder Town Company, located at the north
side of the crossing of the Boulder River about two miles from the pres-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 287
ent town. Capt. Nick Wall of St. Louis, and a member of the firm of
J. J. Roe & Co., and also an active member of the Virginia Vigilantes,
and John J. Healy of Northern Montana and later of Alaska were asso-
ciated in this enterprise. The other, the Kalida Gold and Silver Mining
Company, was granted the usual mining rights and among the other in-
corporators are to be noted the names of Matthew Carroll, George Steell
and Gad E. Upson, the successful candidate in 1865 against Colonel Mc-
Lean for delegate to congress.
James Gourley of Gallatin County and a pioneer of 1862, and asso-
ciates, were given a charter as the Prickly Pear Gold and Silver Mining
Company, with a capitalization limited to $1,000,000. T. G. Merrill, later
Montana City in Early Days
of Jefferson County, was one of the incorporators of this company. Both
Messrs. Gourley and Merrill were members of the first republican terri-
torial convention the summer before.
Fred Root of Grant, Montana, is the surviving incorporator of two
companies, one of the East Ophir Town Company, with townsite privi-
leges at the mouth of the Maria's River. Many familiar names were
associated with him in this enterprise as Ed. House, Alf Nichols, Buzz
Cavin, Caleb Irvine, John A. Creighton, Jesse Armitage, W. W. De Lacy,
A. J. Oliver, Robert Hereford and others.
The other company in which Mr. Root was interested was the Mon-
tana Quicksilver Company, and associated with him was John Potter, the
first postmaster at Helena.
Prickly Pear
Another company in which Mr. Gourley was an incorporator was
one changing the name of Montana City and incorporating the town of
288 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Prickly Pear. The tovra was situated eight miles southeast of Helena
and was a lively mining camp in 1862 as the result of rich gold discoveries
which paid for several years. Many of the early maps in the geographies
of the time gave Montana City without indicating the present capital
of Montana, Last Chance Gulch being discovered two years later. The
Great Northern Railroad on the line from Helena to Butte runs through
the main street of the "city," but the traveler would never know that it
was once a lively mining camp, the only building standing today being an
apparently abandoned section house formerly used by the railroad com-
pany. A close observation would disclose signs of extensive mining
operations and perhaps indications of former habitations.
In the Slimmer of 1862 King & Gilette, freighting a stock of goods
from Fort Benton which had been shipped up the river and consigned to
Bannnck, offered some for sale from their wagons, and before they knew
it had closed out their stock.
These are a few of the hundred companies organized by the First
(Bannack) Legislative Assembly of Montana Territory during the session
that winter, linked to the present by surviving incorporators.
Chief Justice Hosmer .\nd Hon. James M. Ashley
The variety and nature of the legislation enacted at the first session
are illuminating illustrations of the trend of public thought and in-
dividual endeavor; they illustrate what the people of territorial Montana
were thinking about and doing. In the meantime, the judicial ma-
chinery was generally getting into motion. On June 30, 1864, President
Lincoln had commissioned Hezekiah L. Hosmer as chief justice of the new
territory of Montana. Like Governor Edgerton, he was a New Yorker
who moved to Ohio and was educated and trained to the law in that state.
In the Buck Eye State, he also indulged in newspaper work and author-
ship. He was either a whig or republican. In 1861, he went to Washing-
ton hoping to secure the position of librarian. to Congress. Although
unsuccessful in that mission, he became secretary of the House Committee
on Territories, of which Hon. James M. Ashley, then member from the
Toledo District, was chairman. In that capacity, on February 11, 1863,
Mr. Ashley (afterward governor of Montana) reported the bill for the
organization of Montana as a territory. He had already proposed a bill
for the creation of what was eventually called Idaho, under the name
of Montana, and, although disappointed in his first effort at this christen-
ing, had the satisfaction of seeing his favorite name applied to the ter-
ritory of which he became governor.
Holding of First Legalized Courts
As stated, at the organization of the territory of Montana, President
Lincoln appointed Mr. Hosmer its chief justice, and the judge reached
Virginia City, after the vigilantes and the miners' courts had partially
pacified the country, in October, 1864. From a sketch of Judge Hosmer,
approved by his son, J. H. Hosmer, and published among the contribu-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 289
tions of the State Historical Society (Vol. HI), is taken the follow-
ing narrative, descriptive of political, legal and judicial conditions then
existing: The territory, then three months old, had no law but the
Organic Act of Congress creating it. Such United States laws as were
general in their operation and remembered by those who had read them,
for the books were not there, and the precedents of the common and civil
law likewise confided to the repositories of retentive memories, except
in a few noted instances, where the expectant practitioner had brought
a few text books with him, were the only guides. But it didn't take a
set of reports to make a library in those days, and a lawyer didn't look
for a case to hit the facts so much as he sought something to sustain
the reason and spirit of his contention.
No legislature had met and the Organic Act, hardly more than a right
to exist, made no provisions for the rule of procedure when courts should
be organized. There was no civil or criminal code, nor any practice act
or statute that authoritatively applied to the territory, which was then in
the Territory.
Municipal buildings had not been erected. But after canvassing the
matter for a time it was determined to open court in the dining room
of the Planters House, then at the corner of Idaho and Jackson streets
in Virginia City, which Mr. Shoot, the proprietor, proffered for the occa-
sion. And it was discovered immediately that while it might answer as
a courtroom, it seriously inconvenienced the guests of the hotel, as their
dinner and supper depended upon the adjournment of the court.
The time for the opening of the District Court of the First Judicial
District, having both federal and territorial nisi prius jurisdiction, arrived,
it being the first Monday of December, 1864. The Planters House
dining room was early cleared of breakfast dishes, a bench was improvised
by putting a number of tables close together and then placing another
table on top of them, behind which the judge sat. Another table was
arranged for Mr. A. M. Forbet, the clerk, another was for the lawyers,
while the usual dining room chair of the day, a stool made of four pieces
of wood inserted in a piece of board was placed around for lawyers and
spectators.
The lawyers who assembled on that first day of meeting were mostly
young men, and came from all parts of the United States. Many have
since become prominent in the history of the Territory. There were E. B.
Neally, United States district attorney ; \V. F. Sanders, J^rry Cook, Alex
Davis, Tom Th'oroughman, James G. Spratt, Sam Word, W. M. Stafford,
R. B. Parrott, L. W. Boarton, W. Y. Pemberton, W. L. McMath, W. Y.
Lovell, W. J. McCormick, Harry Burns, William Chumasero (district
attorney), J. C. Turk, O. F. Strickland, Theo. Mufifley, R. W. Robertson,
Alex E. Mayhew and Charles Baggs.
Upon the opening of the court a grand jury was impaneled, to
which Judge Hosmer gave a charge prepared upon the then existing
state of society. He, among other matters, reviewed the history of the
two preceding years, the establishment of order by the aid of the vigilance
committee, approved its action as a necessity, but counseled as the courts
290 HISTORY OF MONTANA
were established that summary proceedings should give way to the law.
The charge was met with approval, by the bar, and by requests it was
published.
Upon the first adjournment for the day, a citizen who had listened
to the charge remarked to the judge : "We are glad the Government has
sent you here. We have some civil matters to attend to, but you had better
let us take charge of the criminal affairs."
Immediately Judge Hosmer was met with questions, novel, important,
without precedent and debated with great skill and ability on both
sides.
The first important question submitted was what rule should govern
in regard to litigated rights and practice? As a sort of successor to the
Miners' Court, T. C. Jones had been appointed by the governor as a
Probate Judge. In that court a number of cases were commenced which
were transferred to the District Court when that court was organized
by Judge Hosmer. Discussion was requested by the judge. For several
evenings the dining room of the Planters House heard echoes from the
time of the Decemviri down to and including the last statutes of the
Territory of Idaho. While the civil law was the Louisiana rule, yet under
it there were no vested rights in the new territory, and the later states
and territories carved out of the original territory, to which the Mon-
tana Territory had from time to time belonged, had adopted the conmion
law. The common law, therefore, as the abstract rule, was approved
and consented to.
The question of practice then became important. Montana, as then
inhabited, had been a part of Idaho. The Idaho Legislature had the ■
preceding winter passed statutes including a practice act. Only one copy
had reached Montana. It was decided that as Montana had been a part
of Idaho when the statute was passed, and as no provision had been made
by the government, and that it was necessary before legislation could be had
to have a course of practice adopted for a guide, that the Idaho statutes
so far as they could be made applicable to Montana, should be the law
until legislature met and remedied the difficulty. The rule then approved
for the Territorial District Court was the Idaho statute so far as it could
be made applicable, and where it was deficient, the common law.
This seemed to work well until in the course of time prior appropria-
tion of water in connection with placer mining claims, and prior right
of discovery of quartz lodes occasioned an adoption of the California rule,
and the California reports later became the leading authority in the
territory.
Another question presented about this time was as to the construc-
tion of contracts. United States Treasury Notes were at the time accepted
in payment at fifty cents on the dollar in gold dust at least ; the merchant
after blowing out black sand and manipulating the scale weights as he
saw fit, usually got more. The question presented was whether the
creditor could demand payment in gold dust, or if payment was made
in greenbacks, should they be accepted at a figure different from the rated
value in the Virginia trade^their value in the markets of the world.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 291
The decision held that in the absence of a specific contract, treasury notes
were a legal tender, but if specific, payment should be made in gold
dust.
Another difficulty early presented, and which if not liberally construed
had a tendency to destroy the validity of every written contract in the
territory, was as to the necessity of internal revenue stamps upon written
contracts. Until the organization of the territory and the arrival of the
collector of internal revenue, there were no stamps in the territory. Dur-
ing all the time contracts involving large amounts of money had been
made, which some of the parties now sought to avoid as a violation of the
United States laws. Judge Hosmer held that as it had been impossible
to procure stamps and it was not the policy of the law to invalidate con-
tracts made in good faith, that such a liberal construction should be
given to the law as to authorize the stamping of the contracts when the
stamps were obtainable, with like effect as if stamped when made.
Questions of like character attributable to the unsettled condition of
the country and undefined condition of the laws were frequently arising
during the period prior to the going into effect of the laws enacted at
Bannack during the winter of 1864-65.
The Planters House dining room was not long utilized as a courtroom.
A change was made to the Union League Room. The floor was covered
with sawdust and made a very fair courtroom. But while the building
fronted on Wallace Street, there was no entrance from the street, and
in order to get to the courtroom it was necessary to go along a path on
a side hill at the back of the building for 200 feet or more, then ascend
a stairway which went up on the outside at the back of the house. Other
places were from time to time selected as courtrooms. During the four
years of Judge Hosmer's term of office nearly a dozen different places
were so used.
One of the first cases to be tried was old John Thorburn, for killing
D. D. Chamberlain at Central City. A great deal of interest was taken in
the case, which resulted in an acquittal. William Chumasero appeared
as district attorney, and Messrs. Sanders and Thoroughman appeared for
the defense. It was on the trial of this case that a party who had been
prominent as a vigilante was, on being called as a juror, asked if he had
conscientious opinions against the death penalty, and replied: "In all
cases where it is not done by a vigilance committee." And that this was
the sentiment of many is shown by the fact during the early years of
the territory there was no conviction of a capital offense in the courts,
but malefactors were occasionally found hanging in between three-sticks
or on a dry tree with the word "Vigilantes" pinned on their backs. When
Sam Perry, in 1870. was convicted of murder, with sentence at five years
in prison, he was hardly more than under sentence before he dug under the
logs of the jail and was never caught afterwards.
The court begun in December, 1864, was continuously in session for
over six months. During that time cases involving many new and novel
points were tried. With few exceptions the litigation was such as would
challenge close and technical study. Judge Hosmer received expressions
292 HISTORY OF MONTANA
of the highest commendation from the bar on the completion of the first
term.
It was while this term was in progress that the news of the assassina-
tion of President Lincoln reached Virginia City, ten days after it occurred.
The Olinghouse stone building was being erected at the time, and the pile
of rocks somewhere near twenty feet high was used for speaking pur-
poses, and here those who had recently borne arms for the South with
those who had done like service for the North uttered their eulogies for
the martyred President.
General Sully's Sioux Campaign (1864)
These movements of the Assembly, Bench and Bar, tending to estab-
lish law and order in the territory of Montana, found a salutary com-
plement, in the campaign waged by the War Department, through Gen.
Alfred Sully* against the dreaded Sioux of the Eastern country. They
were the great deterrent to settlement in Central and Eastern Montana.
The large, well equipped and conducted expedition led by General Sully
and sent against the hostile Sioux Indians in July and August, 1864,
resulted in a most effective campaign against the savage enemies, who
were supposed to be located in the Big Horn and Yellowstone valleys of
Eastern Montana. As it happened they were found in force in the Bad
Lands Region of the Little Missouri, which were explored during the
several days of fierce fighting experienced by the United States troops.
These comprised 4,000 cavalry, 800 mounted infantry, twelve pieces of
artillery, 300 Government teams and 300 beef steers, with fifteen steam-
boats to carry the supplies of the expedition along the courses of the
Missouri and Yellowstone. The troops were mostly drawn from Iowa and
Minnesota, although there was one regiment of Wisconsin infantrj'. The
general route' of the expedition was from Fort Ridgely, Minnesota, west-
ward, to the Bad Lands of the Missouri.
In the Eastern border of that desolate region, at the head of Big
Knife River, in July, a large Sioux Village was attacked at a place
called Kill-the-Deer-Butte, the resulting engagement being known in
Indian warfare as the Battle of Killdeer Mountain. Col. M. T. Thomas,
of the Second Minnesota Brigade, who was in active command of the
column, as General Sully was ill during much of the march, describes the
battle : "They had congregated this great force to clear out the white sol-
diers and appeared to believe that they could do it. We were about three
miles from the camp when they were first discovered by the scouts. There
was no excitement apparent on either side, and both deliberately pre-
pared for battle with equal confidence. The line was formed by dismount-
ing three men out of four, leaving the fourth man in charge of the horses
who followed the line in close columns. The dismounted men were
formed in line as skirmishers, about four paces apart, with a reserve
cavalry to cover the flanks, and the artillery within supporting distance
ernors o
* Served a.s superintenclcnt of Indian affairs for Montana, in 1869-70, the gov-
)rs of the territory having held that position up to the time of his incumbency.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 293
of the line of battle. It was a formidable looking force and when the
'Forward' was sounded there was a determined look on the faces of the
men which indicated that they now had a chance to get satisfaction from
the redskins.
Graphic Picture of Indian Battle
"The Indians gathered on their horses, stripped for battle, and be-
gan to leisurely ride out towards us; first a few fine looking fellows
rode up nearly within gun-shot to reconnoiter, and then little bands would
leave the camp and advance, but without any demonstration other than
wavmg their arms in the air or cantering across the plain. At last they
came within our reach, and a few rifle shots precipitated the conflict, but
not imtil we had passed half the distance to their camp. At the first
shot everything was changed. The bands concentrated and, uttering
their war cries, they dashed toward our lines. Riding at full speed, they
would fire their guns and wheel and disappear to load, and come again,
in front and flanks and rear. It was a continuous succession of charges
that were always repelled by the steady volleys of our men. We kept
steadily advancing, their camp our objective point. Their confidence
was such that they did not make an effort to save it until we were
within half a mile; then, for the first time, we set the artillery to work
and threw shells from eight guns with terrifying effect.
"It was a magnificent sight^ — i,6oo lodges filled with women and chil-
dren, dogs, horses and all the paraphernalia of their homes, and they
attempting to save them, with the shells bursting about them, carrying
destruction in their path. The lodges came down, but too late. The
warriors shot their guns, and arrows hissed through the air, but onward
went the blue-coated line and the camp was taken. The fighting was kept
up in a desultory way until the sun went down, but the Indians were
whipped and, what was worse, had lost their camp and all supplies, and
were fleeing, almost naked, into the mountains.
"The white soldiers camped upon the ground. General Sully ordered
Major Camp to follow the Indians through the deep-wooded ravines and
drive them off the high hills beyond the camp, which they accomplished,
with some loss to the Indians. From these hills a fine view of the
Indians and their families could be had as they swarmed away through
the ravines of the Bad Lands, mostly beyond reach. * * *
"Sully had 2,200 men (in the engagement) and he estimated the num-
ber of Indians at from 5,000 to 6,000, and that their loss was 100 to 150
killed. Half the next day was spent in destroying the camp and killing
the dogs that were left behind. The one supremely sad thing about a
battle is burying the dead, and in this case, although there were but few,
it was sad indeed. In the middle of the night the graves were prepared,
and, without a light or the sound of a drum or bugle, their bodies were
placed in the earth and carefully covered up, levelling the surface so
that the grave would not be noticed, and when the command marched over
them they would be hidden from the sight of the Indians, who would
mutilate and destroy them. * * *
294 HISTORY OF MONTANA
In "Hell With the Fires Put Out"
"In the afternoon of the 5th of August, we were marching leisurely
along, the Knife Mountains just visible in the north and the Black
Hills equally distant in the southward. In front there was no indication
of anything but an almost level plain, but suddenly the head of the column
halted and, riding to the front, I found the general and the advance
guard gazing down at the Bad Lands. As I halted beside the general he
said, 'This is hell with the fires put out.' The description was brief,
but to the point. Dante must have received his inspiration from such a
scene. For forty miles to the west, and as far as the eye could see to
the north and south, the body of the earth was rent and torn, leaving
gorges, buttes and yawning chasms, and everything showing the color of
burnt-out fires. It was an awe-inspiring sight. True, it had not come
without warning, for some knowledge of it was general, but rio description
could bring to the mind a comprehension of its magnitude.
"We had, among the scouts, a little Blackfoot Indian, who said that when
he was a boy he had crossed the Bad Lands with his father's band, and
that he could find the way again. This young Indian was now installed as
guide, and following him, the command, by turning devious ways, plunged
down into the abyss. We camped that night under the shadow of some
buttes whose towering heads threw shadows that hid us from the world.
The next day we toiled among the rocks, up and down and across a seem-
ingly endless mass of obstructions, and at last, as the sun was going down,
the heart of the Bad Lands was reached by striking the Little Missouri
river. It was Saturday night, and we went into camp to spend a Sunday
in the heart of the region that had never before been seen by white men's
eyes."
The advance into and through the Bad Lands involved a journey of
fearful suffering to men and horses ; water was so scarce and filthy, when
found, that at one time it seemed as if the animals could never survive.
The third day out — early in the morning of August 8, 1864 — after the
troops had left the headwaters of the Little Missouri and were headed
north, through the Bad Lands, for the Yellowstone Valley, the Sioux
attacked the column in greater numbers and more defiantly than ever.
"The firing began at the front," says a condensed paper from the diary
of Judge Nicholas Hilger, "but soon they charged us at all available
points. Our artillery was now distributed ; six pieces were placed in front,
two on each flank, and two in the rear. General Sully ordered shell to be
thrown into all the numerous hiding places (places of ambush) along the
route, and so effective were these means in dislodging the Indians that
by noon they feared to occupy such positions and thenceforth fought upon
open ground.
"The dead bodies of many Indians lay strewn along the route. Our
chief guide, the young man who had been shot through the body as be-
fore described, still rode with us in a carriage, but many of our men were
killed and wounded by the bullets of the hostiles. Owing to the inferiority
of their arms we could keep the savages at a tolerably safe distance with
The Bad Lands of Montana
■296 HISTORY OF MONTANA
our longer range guns and the artillery; otherwise there might not have
been a man of us left alive, so numerous were they and so persistent in
their attacks. * * *
"The next morning (August 9th), at daybreak, the command started
forward. The Indians came on stronger than ever and attacked us on all
sides. Close to the camp a high and rocky butte arose above the surround-
ing country. Many of us climbed to its summit, from which vantage-
ground we could overlook the whole field of battle. Indian chiefs and com-
manders could be seen in all directions, signalling and directing the
movements of their forces. It was a sight one may never forget. About
two miles west of us our front seemed to have been checked by the
hostiles, while the reports of firearms and artillery indicated a desperate
struggle. About this time the rear of the train got in motion and shortly
thereafter the firing ceased. Soon a great cloud of dust was seen rising
about two miles to the southwest of our advance, which, upon close in-
spection proved to be a living mass of warriors, with their families and
herds, stampeding in a southeasterly direction into the Bad Lands and
endeavoring to escape from their victorious and unconquerable enemies.
We did not pursue them, however.
"By noon our advance had reached the western boundary of the Bad
Lands, at a small creek on a rolling prairie that stretched to the west-
ward. Here had been the chosen spot of the Sioux for a safe camp and
a stronghold against all enemies. The camping ground was about three
miles long, from north to south, and three-fourths of a mile wide. Their
fires were yet burning; and many of their efifects, including the undis-
posed-of bodies of dead warriors, were left in the camp to tell of the hasty
and unexpected flight. About three miles farther west we camped for the
night, with water in plenty but with grass scant.
"The hostile warriors, as soon as their camp was in safety, climbed
up onto the highest elevations around us and there sat by thousands,
looking quietly on to see tis move forward at our leisure towards their
new Eldorado — the Yellowstone country.
"The next day (August loth) the command traveled northwest over
a rolling prairie that was intersected by broken ridges, without feed or
water for our animals until near midnight, when we found a little strong
alkali water and a little 'wire' grass. On this day our animals began to
give out by the hundreds, and the rear guard kept up a continuous fire
to kill them as they fell. Their carcasses and the abandoned wagons will
mark our route here for many years to come.
"Upon August nth, in order to recuperate, we did not start until late.
The citizens, now in the advance and feeling safe from Indian attack,
about ten o'clock in the morning heard the welcome sound of steam
whistles, which proved to be those of the steamboats on the Yellowstone
River about ten miles west of us. Immediately upon the receipt of this
news General Sully pushed forward his command through the Bad Lands
and by dark we had arrived upon the banks of the river, a short distance
below the site of the present town of Glendive. Here, in the wilderness, we
HISTORY OF MONTANA 297
once again beheld those splendid Government steamboats, two in number,*
which had been moving up and down the beautiful stream for two days
in their endeavors to find our expedition. Laden with supplies, they had
been sent on in advance early in the season to meet us here, thousands
of miles from civilization. They were the first that had ever ascended
the Yellowstone River to this point, we were informed. As there was no
grass for animals up the river, the country having been stripped of
vegetation by the drouth and grasshoppers, and the season being too
far advanced for further military operations, the command took its march
down the Yellowstone. It took the steamers three days to ferry across
our supplies and the baggage to the opposite bank. The wagons and
animals were necessarily compelled to ford the river ; in doing which many
Government teams and teamsters, and two citizens from Shakopee, Min-
nesota, were carried down the stream and drowned. The expedition
then moved across the country about thirty miles to opposite old Fort
Union, a mile or two above the present site of Fort Buford, and there
crossed the Missouri River in the same manner as we had crossed the
Yellowstone ; many Government horses and animals being drowned at
this crossing also.
"From this point, Fort Union, the military forces returned eastward
to the frontier posts of Minnesota and Iowa, there to go into winter
quarters. Many citizens, also, discouraged by the hardships they had
suffered, returned with the military command to the 'States.' The re-
mainder of the citizens, however, turned westward to Milk River and
moved up that stream to the Bear Paw Mountains, then across the country
to Fort Benton and from there south to Sun River, thence by the old
'Mullan road' along the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains to the
present site of the City of Helena,! where the travel-worn emigrants
finally located with their train and animals for the winter.
"Starting upon the journey from Fort Ridgely, Minnesota, we had
been four months on the road, and arrived at Helena on the 21st day of
September, 1864, after an experience the like of which few emigrants
have ever been called upon to pass through or compelled to endure.
Members of the E.xpedition Who Remained
"Many members of our expedition remained and are still living in the
vicinity of Helena, well known to our citizens, and, I believe, respected
by all for their true worth. Their names are :
"Nicholas Hilger, wife and daughters, cattle owner, Helena.
"David N. Hilger, cattle owner, Helena.
"Matthew Hilger, cattle owner, Helena.
"Henry Jurgens, merchant, Helena.
"Hon. Thos. J. Lowry, attorney-at-law, Helena.
"Hon. John H. Shober, attorney-at-law, Helena.
* Chippewa Falls and Alone.
tThis route is appro.ximately that of the present (1896) Great Northern and
Montana Central railways.
298 HISTORY OF MONTANA
"George B. Foote, civil engineer, Helena.
"Joseph W. Hartwell, lumberman, Helena.
"George White, builder, Helena.
"Gilbert Benedict, farmer, Helena.
"*Adam Grossman, wife and children, mason, Helena.
"*Anton Miller, Helena.
"Dr. S. Irwin Blake, dentist, Helena.
"Paul Weidert, wife and children, Lewiston.
"*M. Lemline and wife.
"*Nicholas Gromesh.
"Philip Constans, merchant, Unionville.
"Hon. Frank Welles, merchant, Radersburg.
"* Handsheidt, wife and children.
"*John Somerville and wife.
" Le Brash and wife.
" Hase and wife.
"P. Hopefield, wife and children.
"Paul Kratke and wife.
"Beside those mentioned above there were five ladies, whose names
are not remembered, who accompanied their husbands through with the
expedition.
"Andrew J. Fisk, quartermaster sergeant, now one of the proprietors
of the Helena Herald, and Richard Hoback, sergeant. Company H, 2nd
Minnesota Cavalry, returned with the Sully expedition from Fort Union
to Minnesota. Both returned to Montana with Captain James Fisk's
expedition in 1866 and yet remain here."
Clash Between Assembly and Judiciary
Upon the departure of Governor Edgerton to his Ohio home, in Sep-
tember, 1865, Thomas F. Meagher, secretary of the territory, became its
acting governor. As the Assembly which met in Bannack had adjourned
without making provisions for a second session, as required by the organic
act, the chief executive was confronted with a perplexing situation ; but
as legislation on a multitude of subjects was urgent, he called a session
in the winter of 1865-66. The judiciary at once protested on constitu-
tional grounds. Judge L. E. Munson, associate justice of the Supreme
Court, had arrived early in 1865 and settled at Helena, while Judge L. P.
Williston, the second associate, who arrived in the territory at a later
date in that year, had established himself and court at Bannack; but
while the Bannack Assembly had made no special provision for a second
session, had designated Virginia City as the capital of the territory
and Chief Justice Hosmer and his associates had there held the first
session of the Supreme Court, in the summer of 1865.
But when Governor Meagher called a second session, in the winter
of 1865-66, to meet at Virginia City, the chief justice and his associate.
Judge Munson, refused to recognize its constitutionality. Anson S.
* Deceased, 1896, date of publication of Judge Hilgers' "Diary."
HISTORY OF MONTANA 299
Potter had been elected president of the territorial Council and Alex-
ander E. Mayhevv, speaker of the House. A third session, held during the
winter of 1866-67, met with a like rejection by the judiciary of the
territory and their position was subsequently approved by Congress. In
1867, the national body passed an enabling act for the Legislature by
which the measures passed by the latter were legalized. This constitu-
tional opposition of Judges Hosmer and Munson made them unpopular
with the home government. Justice Hosmer completed his term in July,
1868, and never sought a reappointment. In 1872, he moved to San
Francisco, having served, for most of that period as postmaster at Vir-
ginia City. The last years of his life were largely devoted to literary
work, his best known production being the book in which he claimed that
Shakespeare's Sonnets was a cipher poem written by Bacon and claiming
to be the author of Shakespeare's plays. During his stay in Montana his
home was ever a place of reception, and he did as much as any citizen to
give Virginia, in the early days, the name of the Social City.
The unstable status of the territorial Assembly, when Acting Gov-
ernor Meagher assumed the chief executive's office caused so many legis-
lative complications that, as a solution of the problem, many citizens of
both parties were favoring and pressing statehood upon the national
authorities. Meagher himself at first favored a convention to secure
the early admission of the territory as a state, but within a few weeks
changed his mind and in January, 1866, issued a call for a constitutional
convention to be held at Helena on March 26th of that year.
Acting Governor Meagher
A native of Ireland, the acting governor was one of its typical
sons. In his young manhood he was a leader in the Young Ireland Party,
overseas, was captured by English troops and his death sentence having
been commuted to life imprisonment in Van Dieman's land, in 1853 he
escaped from his island prison and settled in New York to practice law.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, he raised a regiment in the Empire
State, which became a unit of the famous Irish Brigade with which his
dashing record as a northern commander is linked. General Meagher
left New York, in July, 1865, as secretary of the newly organized territory,
and his troubles as an official and a fiery democratic leader commenced
when, soon afterward, he succeeded Governor Edgerton as acting chief
executive of the territory and leader of the Democracy, which, for a
year, waged a bitter warfare against Justice Hosmer and Judge Munson,
of the State Supreme Court.
Declaring his authority to convene the legislative Assembly, the gov-
ernor issued a proclamation summoning the members of the Council
elected October 24, 1864, and the members of the House of Repre-
sentatives elected September 4, 1865, in the absence of legislative appor-
tionment to meet in extraordinary session at Virginia City, on March 5.
1866, "for the transaction of business as well, as to give legislative sane-
300 HISTORY OF MONTANA
tion and validity to the convention" which was about to assemble. This
second (extraordinary) session sat for forty days and adjourned April
14, 1866, simultaneously with the adjournment of the constitutional con-
vention, which had been sitting since the 9th of that month. A memorial
to Congress was prepared by the convention suggesting various matters
for appropriate congressional action, but so far as advancing the cause
of statehood or clarifying the legislative tangle, it accomplished nothing.
The time and vitality of the second and third assemblies were largely
absorbed in actions directed by the democratic legislators against the
judiciary of the territory, in the persons of Judges Hosmer and
Munson, solidly backed by the union party. At the convening of the
constitutional convention, on April 9, 1866, the Assembly passed a bill
recognizing the legality of that body, and Meagher publicly announced
that it was his intention to have the laws so framed that "no judge,
whatever his powers or consequence, should dispute or disobey them"
and that he would enforce the laws passed by the Assembly "with the
whole power of the County of Madison and, if need be, with the whole
power of the territory." As stated. Justice Hosmer served until the
conclusion of his term in 1868, refusing to vacate his office at the re-
quest of the democratic majority in the Assembly, but Judge Munson
resigned before his term had expired.
Arrival of Governor Clay* Smith
Green Clay Smith, who had been appointed to succeed Governor
Edgerton, reached Montana in October, 1866, but the third extraordinary
session of the Assembly had been convened by Acting Governor Meagher
and was held at Virginia City, in November-December of that year. As
noted, the laws passed by it, as well as those of the second session, were
nullified by the act of Congress passed March 2, 1867. The arrival
of Governor Smith was followed by a general investigation of the ter-
ritorial finances, which showed great laxity by the officials in the col-
lection of taxes and indicated that the public debt was more than
$80,000.
For the purpose of restoring the legislative functions of the terri-
tory, under the congressional act of March 2, 1S67, which was passed
largely through the representations of Col. W. F. Sanders, who was
sent to Washington for the purpose. Governor Smith was authorized
on or before July ist to divide Montana into legislative districts, in con-
formity with its organic act.
The Death of General Meagher
Before continuing the story of Montana's early legislation as a terri-
tory, the writer pauses to record an event which saddened thousands of
men and women, East and West — the death of General Meagher, about
which, for years, or until a comparatively recent period, investigations
and theories have thrown about it a veil of mystery. The weight of
evidence points to his death as accidental, or suicidal, and not the result
HISTORY OF MONTANA 301
of murder. The facts, as given by W. F. Sanders, his friend, who was
with him at Fort Benton, a short time before his death, are to this
effect: He (Colonel Sanders) was waiting at Fort Benton to meet the
boat which was bearing his family to Montana from the East, where the
different members had been on a visit. "About 12 :oo or i :00 o'clock
(July I, 1867), I discerned on the tableland, where the road descended
to the town, a number of horsemen in military apparel and upon their
arrival we (a steamboat captain and Colonel Sanders) greeted General
Thomas Francis Meagher and his military staff. He advised us he was
on his way to Camp Cooke after 130 muskets which the general govern-
ment had proffered to the territorial authorities for use in the Indian
war in which we were engaged. The day was intensely hot, and the
general and his staff had made a swift and dusty ride from Sun River,
where Messrs. Carroll and Steel had a camp, and were founding that
flourishing town, near which Major Clinton was marking out his site
of Fort Shaw, so named in honor of Colonel Robert Shaw, of the Fifty-
fourth Massachusetts Regiment. I do not recall all the members of the
general's staff, nor their number, but one of them was Captain William
Boyce, afterward a resident of Butte. The afternoon was delightfully
spent in social visits through the business portions of the town, and
General Meagher seemed at his best in a conversational way, but he
resolutely and undeviatingly declined that form of hospitality with which
Fort Benton then abounded. As he was my near neighbor at Virginia
City, and a most genial and interesting companion, I spent most of the
afternoon with him, introducing him to so many of the citizens and
sojourners in that unique and thrifty seaport (sic) as he had not there-
tofore known."
Mr. Sanders goes on to say that General Meagher dined with Maj.
T. H. Eastman, the fur company's agent at Fort Benton, a sociable and
hospitable man after his own heart. He also accepted the invitation of the
pilot of one of the old steamboats, an Irish-American who had ascer-
tained the general's identity, to take voyage on his craft down the river
as far as Camp Cooke. "General Meagher returned from the fort about
dusk," continues the narrator, "in company with some other gentlemen
whose names I do not recall. I was seated in front of the store of I. G.
Baker & Co., when my attention was arrested by abnormally loud con-
versation, and as the party came nearer I saw that it came from General
Meagher. As the party came to the place where I was, it was apparent
that he was deranged. He was loudly demanding a revolver to defend
himself against the citizens of Fort Benton, who, in his disturbed mental
condition, he declared were hostile to him, and several who then joined
us sought to allay his fears and by all the means in our power to restore
to sanity his disturbed mental condition. His nautical friend, whose host
he was to be the ensuing morning, suggested that he go to his state room
on the boat and three or four of us accompanied him. He was still
insistent that the people at Fort Benton were hostile to him and was im-
portunate for a revolver. He was induced to retire to his berth, which
was on the starboard side of the boat next the bank, and in the hope that
302 , HISTORY OF MONTANA
he would sleep we all went on shore, seeking to allay his anxiety by the
promise of getting him a revolver. As he had removed his outer gar-
ments and lam down in his berth, we did not apprehend that there would
be any further trouble, thinking the temporary aberration the result of
the hot and exhausting ride of the morning, which sleep would speedily
correct. It was a great shock to his friends, but we were confident of
his immediate recovery.
"I do stop here to speculate on the cause of his hallucination that
the people of Fort Benton were hostile to him, but I have always thought
that a contention between the Blackfeet Indian agent, George Wright, and
the general as superintendent of Indian affairs, wherein the general
directed the release of all the intoxicating liquors in the country which
the agent had assumed to seize, was in his mind. This controversy had
assumed an epistolary form in the newspapers, as General Meagher's
controversies were exceedingly wont to do. I only attributed it to this
for lack of other causes, but General Meagher had no more loyal friends
than those in Fort Benton, who solicitously surrounded him there in
his last hours.
"I cannot say that anyone remained in the state room with him, for
nothing was farther from our thoughts than the denouement then im-
pending. After a brief consultation on the lower deck, I went to the
office of the Indian agent, opposite the G. A. Thompson and perhaps
fifty yards distant, where I wrote a letter for the outgoing mail to Helena
which left at ii:oo o'clock. Perhaps I had been in the office thirty
minutes, when I heard Captain James Gorman, the stage agent of C. C:
Huntley, excitedly exclaim 'General Meagher is drowned!'
"I dropped my pen and hastened otit the door and rushed across the
gang plank and across the lower deck of the steamer. There was a col-
ored man, one of the men connected w-ith the boat — the barber, I believe
— who, replying to my interrogation, said a man had let himself down
from the upper to the lower deck and jumped into the river and gone
on down stream. I immediately returned to land and ran down the river
bank, repeating the alarm until I reached one of the lower steamers,
the Guidon, I believe, where I went across the boat to the river side to
watch for the general.
"Boats were instantly lowered and many anxious eyes were peering
in the darkness at the swift-rolling waters of the great river that never
seemed so wicked as then. It gave no wished-for sight or sound. The
search was kept up all night and for two or three days thereafter.
Loaves of bread were cast on the turbid waters in obedience to a
belief that they would cause a drowned body to rise to the surface of
the stream. A cannon was brought into requisition for the same pur-
pose, but the mighty river defied all our solicitudes and kept its treasure
well. I turned from the steamer, as I saw the boats go down the river
in the darkness, to fulfill the sad duty of advising Mrs. Meagher of the
overwhelming calamity which had befallen her and us all. She lived
on the same street near me in Virginia City, and it seemed to me to
be my duty to tell her the sad story. I inclosed my letter to Dr.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 303
James Gibson, the postmaster at Virginia City, an accomplished gentle-
man and a fast friend of Mrs. Meagher, confiding to his discretion the
manner in which he should break to her the melancholy news.
"As there was no telegraph, the news of the event went by mail that
night. No person, so far as I know, save the colored man, saw general
Meagher go into the river, and he related to me the circumstances as I
have told. The next day some members of the general staff said to me
that we must report that he fell from the boat accidentally, and must
not mention the mental aberration and not attribute it to that. I said
to them that I had written to Mrs. Meagher the exact facts as they
had been related to me, and could see no imputation upon the general nor
cause of humiliation to his friends, if eager devotion to his duties in
hand had brought upon them so great an affliction. Some of them
seemed to think otherwise, and in the proclamation of Governor Green
Clay Smith announcing his death it was, I believe, alleged to have been
caused 'by accident.'
"I can well appreciate the affection which General Meagher inspired
among his race and countrymen. His form was manly, his manners cor-
dial, his demeanor gracious, his conversation instructive, his wit kindly,
his impulses generous, and I agree with Horace Greeley, who once said
to me that General Meagher was one of the finest conversationalists and
extemporaneous speakers he had ever known.
'Tt is to be regretted that so much is said and written of General
Meagher and the manner of his death that is not so. Those who were
with him on the last day of his life will join me, I know, in denying
his death could be attributed to any convivial habit. I was with him
most of the afternoon, and he was resolutely abstemiously as the most
devout anchorite, and it is cruelly unjust to repeat such an accusation.
"The river was searched for his remains down to the mouth of the
Marias, but the search was in vain. Somewhere in the stream his manly
form sleeps in as serene repose as it would in classic Arlington, but
the jealous waters guard the secret well, and the rushing waves from
unfound springs seem destined forever to be his monument and his
grave."
Another Attempt to Found Great Centr.'\l Entrepot
The various attempts made by the early settlers to found a town at
the confluence of the Musselshell and the Missouri rivers were failures
because the advantages of such a location for a center of trade and
freighting transportation were all based on the elements of water navi-
gation and the topography of the country in its relations to overland
travel between the central plains and the more populous districts of
Southwestern Montana. The mouth of the Musselshell was considered
the limit of safe navigation for boats of considerable draft, numbers of
which had commenced to ply the Missouri after the mining districts had
brought a large influx of permanent settlers. The overland road from
the mouth of the Musselshell southwest toward the political and mining
304 HISTORY OF MONTANA
centers of Montana would also cut off miles of travel required to reach
Fort Benton, so long the entrepot of the growing districts of the terri-
tory. Such a thoroughfare and convenient cut-ofif, avoiding the great
northern bends of the Missouri, would also pass through such fertile
tributary valleys as that of the Judith River and possible mining dis-
tricts nearer than those of the far Southwestern Montana.
"Influenced by such considerations," says Lieutenant James H. Brad-
ley's account, "a number of gentlemen associated themselves as the
Rocky Mountain Wagon Road Company and in 1866 opened a route
across the mountains south of the Missouri River, from the mining
regions of Montana to the mouth of the Musselshell, at which point a
town site was selected. An old steamboat captain named Kerchival had
been among the first to advocate such a route and was one of the
partners in the company, and in his honor the place was given the
name of Kerchival City. The company put up a log cabin which was
occupied by its employes ; but two years passed, the town did not grow,
the freighting business did not flourish in consequence of powerful
opposition, and presently the encroaching waters of the river swept the
establishment of the Rocky Mountain Wagon Company into the stream,
and Kerchival City passed into the catalogue of towns that were, but
are not.
"In 1868, the attempt was renewed under the auspices of the Montana
Hide and Fur Company, of Helena, which dispatched a party of nine
men imder James Brewer to take post at the mouth of the Musselshell
and build a warehouse. They arrived in March, 1868. laid out a town on
the south bank of the Missouri and called it Musselshell. Soon after-
ward they were joined by Colonel George Clendennin, with his brother
Richard, and James McGinnis, from Grand Island, where this gentle-
man had opened a wood yard while awaiting the developments respect-
ing the new town. He at once began the construction of buildings for
the purpose of engaging in trade. In the course of the season a num-
ber of people flocked to the new town from the mountains and up and
down the river, and before the following winter eight buildings were
ranged in line fronting the river bank, while some fifty people were
gathered in the vicinity.
"A company of troops, commanded by Captain Nugent, of the Thir-
teenth Infantry, came down from Camp Cooke and took post there,
building a stockade with bastions just below the town within whose walls
they pitched their tents, giving to the place the name of Camp Reeve.
The friendly tribes of Gros Ventres and Crows resorted to the place in
large numbers to trade ; and thus during the summer of 1868 all was
bustle and activity at the mouth of the Musselshell."
That year appears to have been the zenith of its history, for not only
did the buffalo, formerly so numerous in the Musselshell region desert it
in the following winter, migrating to the north of Fort Benton, but the
warlike Sioux commenced to attack the wood cutters and others in the
neighborhood, killing a number in March, 1869. A force of about thirty
townsmen was raised and, under Colonel Clendennin, had a pitched bat-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 305
tie with a war party of about 200 Sioux and routed the Indians. The
savages fled, leaving in the hands of the whites thirteen of their num-
ber dead or wounded, and bearing with them a large number of wounded,
of whom twenty-one afterwards died, many of them immediately after
the battle. Colonel Qendennin's party lost one man killed and another
wounded. What followed at the hands of the whites might have been
retaliation for Sioux outrages. The wounded Indians left upon the
field were at once dispatched, and the bodies scalped, and otherwise
shamefully mutilated. The following day, Captain Andrews, a well
known miner of Montana, retaliated for the loss of his oxen, which had
been stolen by some Sioux in the previous March, by removing the heads
from ten of the bodies of the slain Indians, cutting off and preserving
the ears, and boiling the heads till the skulls could be cleaned, which he
then placed on exhibition and finally carried East.
The Musselshell neighborhood passed through the remainder of the
year 1869 without any episode of importance, but it began to appear that
as a freighting town it was a failure, most of the steamboats continuing
to pass through the new port to Fort Benton, where the conveniences for
unloading and storing were so superior. In 1870, the waning confi-
dence in the enterprise upon the part of the founders of Musselshell
induced the Montana Hide and Fur Company to close its affairs there
and abandon the place ; and throughout the season desertions occurred
one by one, until Colonel Clendennin found himself, about the close of
August, alone with his employes and establishment. Musselshell as a
town was no more.
This gentleman resolved to remain, for the purpose of carrying on
an Indian trade, and with this view took down the abandoned houses,
made considerable additions to his buildings and connected them with
a stockade, making a compact and handsome fort to which he gave the
name of Fort Sheridan. For four years he remained resolutely in this
dangerous region with a garrison of from five to eight men, trading
with the Indians and keeping a wood yard for the convenience of steam-
boats. His customers were the Sioux, who upon the abandonment of
the town ceased open hostilities against the place and agreed to remain
peaceable as they wished to make the fort a point to trade. Standing
Buffalo with a numerous band was the first to appear, in the spring of
187 1, but though similar bands visited the fort in succeeding years, the
trade was never extensive or profitable. The Crows and Gros Ventres
ceased their trading visits when the town was abandoned, but the sur-
rounding region was a standing battle ground between them and the
Sioux to which few but war parties resorted.
Although, during the existence of Fort Sheridan, the Sioux exhibited
no open hostility in that vicinity, they continued to steal horses when
opportunity offered, and upon two occasions added to the list of murders
perpetrated there. On the fifth of January, 1871, two employes of the
fort, Charles B. McKnight and John Ross, were surprised and killed by
the Santee Siou.x within a mile and a half of the fort while in the woods
looking for ash timber. The following year a white man named Hunter,
Vol. 1—20
306 HISTORY OF MONTANA
accompanied by three Assiniboine squaws, was attacked by the Uncpapas
while looking over the battle ground of May 9, 1869. The squaws were
all killed under the supposition that they were Crows, but Hunter es-
caped with a severe wound.
Upon the founding of Carroll in the spring of 1874, Colonel Clen-
dennin broke up his establishment at the mouth of the Mussellshell and
in May of that year removed to the new town. Fort Sheridan was
dismantled and the available material transferred to Carroll, the cannon
contributed by General Hancock being returned to Fort Buford. About
200 cords of wood valued at $4.50 per cord were left behind at the land-
ing and was burned by .the Sioux the June following. In July, Christo-
pher Gates and Patrick Vaughan wefe dispatched by Colonel Clendennin
to take down the remaining buildings at Fort Sheridan and cut up the
material into steamboat wood. While thus engaged they were surprised
by the Sioux, who seemed to haunt the place with relentless hatred. From
the indications it appeared that Gates was killed, while Vaughan had
sought refuge in one of the buildings, which was then fired by the Indians
and he perished in the flames.
BOZEMAN AND THE DeATH OF Its FOUNDER
John M. Bozeman stood with Captain Bonneville and James Bridger
among the great pathmakers of the rugged West and, more than either
of his pioneer friends, is identified with the foundation history of Mon-
tana. Peter Koch, one of the early settlers of Gallatin Valley, has writ-
ten much of the localities with which he was so familiar and thus narrates
some of the main events connected with the life and death of Bozeman:
"In the winter of 1862-3, two men, John M. Bozeman and John M.
Jacobs, left Bannack for the states with the idea of looking out a shorter
route for emigrants than the roundabout one, up the Platte. They were
set afoot by the Sioux on Powder River and nearly starved, being reduced
to a diet of grasshoppers, but made their way finally to Missouri. They
started back immediately to guide a train through by the new road.
Meeting hostile Indians, they were turned back and compelled to come
by way of Lander's cut-ofif and Snake River. Bozeman himself went
back to Missouri and succeeded in getting a large train to follow him in
1864. His route lay between the Black Hills and Wind River Moun-
tains, leaving the latter to the west and south. Bridger was also tak-
ing a train by his new road west of the Wind River Mountains and down
Clark's Fork and had denounced Bozeman's road as impracticable. But
although Bridger had several weeks start and reached Yellowstone first,
his road into Gallatin Valley up Shield's River and Brackett Creek and
down Bridger Creek was so circuitous that Bozeman reached the valley
ahead of him, but, lingering there, Bridger overtook him, and they
raced their trains from the West Gallatin into Virginia, reaching that
place within a few hours of each other.
"In 1863 Gallatin City was laid out by certain enterprising Missour-
ians who expected it to prove the head of navigation on the Missouri,
HISTORY OF MONTANA 307
forgetting that there was a slight obstruction below in the shape of tre-
mendous falls. After receiving a few lessons in geography most of them
abandoned the location.
"In 1864 the first house was built in Bozeman, occupying a part of
the site now covered by The Bozeman. During the two following years
the principal immigration into Montana was by the Bozeman road and
across the Bozeman pass, and many of our leading citizens came over the
road in those years and could doubtless tell many a moving tale of acci-
dent by flood and field during their long overland journey. Forts Reno,
Phil. Kearney and C. F. Smith were built by the Government to protect
the trains on this road; but on December 21, 1866, the Fort Philip Kear-
ney massacre took place, and with characteristic pusillanimity ( ?) the
St.vtue of John M. Bozeman, at Bozeman
Government ordered all the forts abandoned and the road closed to
travel.
"The next April, Bozeman and Tom Coover started across our pass
(Bozeman's) down the Yellowstone. They stopped at Story's cattle camp
near Benson's landing. While there, five Indians drove ofif a lot of
horses. Mitz Buoyer and another man followed them and recovered all
but one pony. The next morning Bozeman and Coover went on, crossed
the Yellowstone and camped for dinner on a little creek a few miles
below the old Crow agency. While cooking dinner, five Indians came
toward them, leading the very horses stolen at Story's camp the day
before. Mistaking them for Crows, they permitted them to come up
and gave them some dinner, but becoming suspicious Coover went to
saddle the horses, leaving his gun. Suddenly two of them shot Bozeman*
through the body and then ran off shooting at Coover, grazing his shoul-
der only. Coover rushed for his camp, seized his Henry rifle and hid
in a clump of chokecherry bushes near by. The Indians returned, took
* Bozeman's death occurred near the old Crow agency in April, 1867.
308 HISTORY OF MONTANA
the horses and blankets, but left the saddles and provisions and did not
scalp Bozeman. It was shown later that the Indians were Blackfeet,
fug-itives from their own tribe for killing a chief, and then living with
the Crows. Coover wandered around all night, half dazed with fright,
and finally reached Story's camp the next morning. A few days later
Story and others went down and buried Bozeman where he was killed.
In 1869, Major Camp brought his body to Bozeman and had it buried
in our graveyard on the bluff, where Nelson Story, some years ago, erect-
ed a handsome monument over his grave.
"There he rests, on the hill yonder, in sight of Bozeman, deservedly
named after him. He and Bridger were the pioneers in opening eastern
Montana to the white men, and it is fitting that our City of Bozeman,
and the peak and creek of Bridger should stand here as their monu-
ments."
The Sioux Ag.mn Checked at "The Place of Skulls"
The implacable Sioux were again checked by United States troops
from Forts Shaw and Ellis, at a fierce engagement fought near the mouth
of Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone, on August 14, 1872. The site of the
battlefield had been known to the Crows, for many generations, as the
Place of Skulls, and Bradley, in his "Journal," accounts for the fact in
this wise: "Something less than a hundred years ago, the Crows were
living in two bands, the greater portion making their home upon the
waters of the Powder river, while the smaller band of four hundred
lodges, or about four thousand souls, were camped in the lower extremity
of Clark's fork bottom, along the base of the bluiTs. Here a terrible
disease broke out among them, the victims being covered from head to
> foot with grievous sores. It proved very fatal and destroyed almost the
entire band. The plain was covered with the bodies of the dead, and
their horses ran wild because there was no one to take care of them.
The few who escaped the disease fled to the village on Powder river.
The skulls of the victims were subsequently deposited on a natural shelf
some two-thirds of the way up the rocky wall, from whence the name —
Place of Skulls. It is probable that this destructive malady was the
small-pox, as it is a matter of history that about that time it ravaged
the country occupied by the tribes along the upper Missouri and in the
southern part of British America, reducing their numbers in frightful
degree. It was not supposed that the contagion extended to the tribes
of this region, but from this tradition it is evident that it did.
"The tradition terminates with the following romantic incident: There
were in the diseased camp two young men who escaped the contagion,
and who did not join the few remaining survivors in their flight, but
staid with the sick doing for them what they could. At last they were
alone, and seeing the lodges desolate and their friends, relatives and
countrymen all motionless in death, one said to the other: 'It is better
to destroy ourselves than die in this manner. We cannot escape— the
Great Spirit is angry with the Crows and determined to remove them
HISTORY OF MONTANA 309
from the earth. Let us ascend the cHff and, throwing ourselves over,
die Hke brave men.' The other consented, and leaping over the precipice
they were dashed in pieces on the rocks below."
"B.^ker's Battle" of 1872
Although the site of "Baker's Battle" was traditionally known as
the Place of Skulls, its gruesomeness was little increased by the fatali-
ties of the modern engagement. The Indian loss was said to have been
forty killed and a number wounded; of the troops, one was killed, and
an employe of the surveying party which the soldiers were protecting
was so badly wounded that he died three days afterward. But the result
of the battle was a decisive defeat of the Sioux and had its effect in
bringing more settled conditions to Eastern Montana.
By the terms of the charter granted to the Northern Pacific Rail-
road, the United States Government bound itself to afford all necessary
protection against hostile Indians to the parties engaged in the survey of
the route and construction of the road. The company desiring in the
year 1872 to extend its surveys over the region stretching from the*
base of the Rocky Mountains to the Missouri River at Bismarck, which
was in complete possession of hostile Sioux, called upon the Government
for the protection it was pledged to provide. Two surveying parties were
to take the field — one to begin at the Missouri River and extend its ex-
plorations westward, the other on the upper Yellowstone and work down,
that stream till it should meet the eastern corps at the mouth of Powder
River. The former was provided with an escort of nearly 1,000 men
commanded by Col. David S. Stanley, Twenty-second Infantry, while tO'
Col. John Gibbon. Seventh Infantry, commanding the District of Mon-
tana was assigned the duty of providing from the troops of his command
a suitable force for the protection of the western corps.
For this purpose Companies C, E., G and I Seventh Infantry, were
drawn from Fort Shaw, and companies F., G., H. and L., Second Cav-
alry, from Fort Ellis, the whole force, which numbered about 400 men
being placed under command of Maj. Eugene M. Baker, Second Cavalry.
Having marched from their respective posts they were all assembled
at Shield's River on the thirtieth of July, 1872, and, being there joined
by Colonel Hayden with his corps of surveyors, began their march down
the Yellowstone the following day.
In the meantime a heavy force of Sioux warriors, variously estimated
at from 800 to 1,000 strong, were ascending the river upon a hostile
incursion against the Crows; and about the twelfth of August discovered
through their scouts that they were in the presence of Baker's com-
mand. This unexpected rencontre created a division in their coimcils,
many being anxious to give over their former design and measure forces
with the troops, while the more prudent minority were disposed to
avoid so hazardous an enterprise and continue their advance on the less
prepared and unsuspecting Crows. At length, however, tempted by the
large spoils in horses which they hoped by dexterous management to
310 HISTORY OF MONTANA
secure at little cost to themselves, they declared in favor of an attack
upon the troops, and fixed upon the morning of August 14th for carry-
ing the plan into effect.
The troops had now reached and were encamped upon the ground
that became the scene of the fight. A party of surveyors, escorted by a
force of cavalry commanded by Captain Ball, had the previous year car-
ried the survey down the Yellowstone Valley to the Place of Skulls, and
the command having by easy marches reached the field of the summer's
work were resting in camp while Colonel Hayden completed his arrange-
ments for taking up and continuing the survey. The presence in the
neighborhood of two or three Indian dogs had excited some apprehension
that there were Indians about, but the general feeling was of confidence
and security ; and not only were no special precautions taken by the
commander of the force to guard against an attack, but upon the very
night fixed for it he permittfd himself to become unfitted for the proper
performance of his duties by an over-indulgence in strong drink.*
The Sioux attacked the camp early in the morning of the 14th, as
vi'as their custom, but, notwithstanding the incapacity of Major Baker,
, Captain Rawn, commander of the infantry battalion, was equal to the
occasion, and handled his troops with such promptness, and so well
supported by his under officers, that, after about five hours of manoeuver-
ing and attacks and counter-attacks, the Indian warriors withdrew before
the disciplined forces of the whites. The result would have been even
more decisive, but Major Baker did not urge a pursuit of the retreating
Sioux, and his former reputation as an Indian fighter sufifered a great
decline in consequence of his conduct during and after the engagement
of August 14, 1872.
According to Lieutenant Bradley's account: "After this affair, the
troops continued their march slowly down the north bank of the Yellow-
stone, the engineers carrying forward their survey ; but Engineer Hay-
den's fears had got the better of him, and he sought an occasion to
return. He sounded the opinions of the officers, but found the major-
ity of them in favor of pushing on and satisfied of their ability to take
care of themselves. At last, on the twentieth of August, at a point about
six miles above Pompey's Pillar, he insisted upon returning or turning
off toward Musselshell, and the latter course was pursued. After sur-
veying across the country to that stream and up its south fork, the
expedition finally disbanded on the twenty-fifth 01 September, the troops
returning to their posts. Engineer Hayden, though wholly responsible
for the failure to prosecute the survey to Powder River as had been
originally designed, afterwards endeavored to shirk it upon the mili-
tary. Had it been his desire to proceed, there would have been no
hesitation on the part of the commander of the troops to accompany
him; and the great majority of the officers were eager to go on, to save
that command from any suspicion of having been frightened from its
purpose by Indian hostility."
* Lieutenant Bradley's Journal, Vol. II, "Contributions Montana State Historical
Society."
HISTORY OF MONTANA 311
New and Strengthened Military Posts
Shortly after the campaign of 1864 against the Sioux, which fol-
lowed upon the heels of the organization of the territory, the war
department took steps to establish new military posts and strengthen the
old camps that the white settlers and emigrants might be assured of pro-
tection against the uneasy and threatening Indians of Montana. In the
spring of 1866, the Thirteenth regular infantry was ordered upr the
Missouri River to take post in the new territory. Camp Cooke was
established on the Missouri, 120 miles below Fort Benton, and in the
following year Fort Shaw, on Sun River, and Fort Ellis, on East Galla-
tin, and, in 1869, Camp Baker on Smith's River, or Deep Creek, were
added to the defenses of the territory. In the latter year Camp Cooke
was abandoned, what remained of the garrison being removed to Fort
Benton. In December, 1869, four companies of the Second Cavalry
were added to the garrison at Fort Ellis, wher-e they have remained ever
since; and in June, 1870, seven companies of the Seventh Infantry ar-
rived in Montana, relieving the Thirteenth, to which were added the
other three companies in 1872.
Death of James Stuart
James Stuart, a human engine of force in control and a Montana pillar
of law and order, passed from a brave and useful life, at Fort Peck
Indian agency, on September 30, 1873. He had served in the first terri-
torial Assembly, held at Bannack, and when, in the spring of 1865, the'
North Blackfeet or Blood Indians threatened an uprising, Governor
Edgerton commissioned him lieutenant colonel to quell it, should it come
to a head ; but it did not. Then for three years, he was superintendent
of the St. Louis and Montana Mining Company's silver mines and
works at Philipsburg. In 1871, he was appointed post trader at Fort
Browning, the headquarters of the Assiniboine and Upper Sioux Indian
agency. Two years thereafter the Assiniboine agency was moved sixty
miles up Milk River to Fort Belknap, and the Sioux agency was con-
centrated at Fort Peck, on the Missouri River, in the extreme northeast
corner of Montana. Fort Browning was then dismantled and abandoned.
Mr. Stuart's brother, Granville, thus sketches the last year of the
life of the noted pioneer:
"James sold out his stock at this time, and accompanied the agent.
Major A. J. Simmons, to Ft. Peck, where his thorough knowledge of
Indian character, his courage, coolness, and excellent administrative
abilities were invaluable assistants in the control of the warlike Sioux.
He was eminently fitted by nature to deal with the Indian tribes, for he
easily and quickly acquired their languages, and had that peculiar tact so
necessary in dealing with them. He was a good judge of human nature,
either civilized or savage ; and while his kind and gentle manners won
their good will, he also had, when necessary, the high courage and iron
determination that nothing could shake, and which invariably secures
the respect of the savage. What he told them he would do, he always
312 HISTORY OF MONTANA
scrupulously performed; and when he said he would not do a thing,
neither entreaties, threats, nor danger could move him from his pur-
pose— and for these reasons, he soon stood high in their estimation.
Being a physician and surgeon, he always took pleasure in treating their
wounds and diseases, and this also gave him great influence among them.
"In June, he paid a visit to his brothers in Deer Lodge, who en-
treated him to remain, as they had a presentiment of evil, and were very
averse to his returning into the Indian country. But he had promised
to return and take charge of the agency, until Major Simmons, who had
resigned, could turn it over to his successor — and with him to promise
was' to perform. He therefore took leave of his brothers and friends,
expecting soon to return, but in this life they never saw him more.
"It is probable that his health was giving way at this time, for he
had had, early in the spring, a severe attack of what at that time was
supposed to be inflammation of the bowels, but which it afterward ap-
peared was organic disease of the liver. And after his return from Deer
Lodge, he wrote in his weather memorandum that, on the 8th of August,
he had another attack of the same character. And on the i8th of Sep-
tember he was taken very ill, and soon told the attendants that he now
knew his illness to be organic disease of the liver, as all the symptoms
were very marked, and that he thought he would not recover. He lin-
gered in great pain until death came to his relief. He died sitting in a
chair, with his elbows on a table, and his head resting in his hands, at
half-past five on the morning of September 30, 1873. He was in the
prime of life, being in his forty-second year; and it is sad to think what
possibilities the future might have had for him."
Fourth and Fifth Assembues
The fourth and fifth legislative assemblies were largely devoted to
the work of legalizing the measures of the second and third. The fourth
session was held at Virginia City from November 4 to December 24,
1867. As authorized by Congress, the territorial penitentiary was located
at Deer Lodge ; the creation of the County of Meagher was confirmed,
and the City of Helena was incorporated, provision being made for its
municipal organization.
At the fifth session, held also at Virginia and which covered the
period from December 7, 1868, to January 15, 1869, a homestead exemp-
tion law was enacted, and the general incorporation act of 1867 was
annulled. The first Monday of December, 1870, and biennially there-
after, was designated as the date for the convening of the Assembly, at
the seat of government. The temporary capital of the territory was
located at Helena, an election to be held on the first Monday of August,
1869. to determine the respective claims of that place and Virginia City
for the permanent seat of justice. The county of Dawson was estab-
lished by the act of January 15, 1869, and the boundaries of Deer Lodge,
Beaver Head and Madison counties were readjusted.
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314 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Governor James M. Ashley
Governor Smith resigned his office in the spring of 1869 (April 8th),
and James M. Ashley, who gave Montana its name, succeeded him in
the gubernatorial office. He was a Pennsylvanian by nativity, engaged
in various kinds of business, studied medicine and law, made an un-
profitable newspaper venture and was otherwise active in Ohio and
Virginia, and finally brought up as a bitter anti-slavery advocate. Poli-
tics finally absorbed him, and in 1858 he was elected to Congress as a
republican from the Toledo District. His determination to bring the
name Montana into the sisterhood of American territories or states,
with the success which attended his efforts in Congress, has been noted.
He was defeated for membership in the House of Representatives in
1868, but in the following year President Grant appointed him as Gov-
ernor Smith's successor. It was his intention to make Montana his
permanent home ; yet, when he was supplanted in the governorship by
General Benjamin F. Potts, a distinguished Ohio man — bom, bred and
trained in that state — Governor Ashley returned to that commonwealth,
where, after several other terms as a congressional representative, he
died.
Governor Ashley was a most radical republican — at least, in Mon-
tana— and raised up so many personal enemies that his administration
was seriously embarrassed. His expression of dissatisfaction with the
Grant administration also operated against him so effectually that the
Soldier President commissioned his successor, on July 13, 1870, about
fifteen months after he became chief executive. Governor Ashley had
gone over to the liberal wing of the republican party, and two years
afterward supported Horace Greeley for the presidency. United States
Senator Charles A. Sumner was his personal friend, also, and vainly
endeavored to prevent the confirmation of Governor Potts in the upper
house of Congress.
Governor Benjamin F. Potts
Governor Potts was a public man of such judgment and practical
ability that he served the large and varied interests of Montana for
twelve years and six months. He was a lawyer and originally a Doug-
las democrat, and during the entire period of the Civil war was a leading
Ohio officer. His military service was mostly identified with Sherman's
southwestern campaigns and the famous expedition of the union com-
mander to Atlanta and through the Carolinas. In December, 1864, he
was in command of the advance brigade of Sherman's army. During
the Nez Perce outbreak of 1877 his military training was invaluable
and he maintained field headquarters under his personal supervision.
After retiring from the governorship of the territory, he was elected
to the legislative Assembly. Finally, he retired to private life to devote
his attention to the raising of blooded stock, and died at Helena, on
June 17, 1889, about two weeks before the assembling of the state con-
stitutional convention.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 315
Helena Becomes Territorial Capital
At the general election of 1874, Helena was chosen as the seat of
the territorial government. Deer Lodge City, as well as Virginia, hav-
ing appeared as a candidate for the honor. The Assembly did not con-
vene at the new capital until January, 1876, at its ninth session, all the
previous meetings having been held at Virginia City.
Concluding Legislative Sessions at Virginia City
At the seventh session, the civil practice act then in force was re-
pealed, and a code framed after the California statutes. This formed
the nucleus of the territorial practice act, which was substantially in
force until the adoption of the state codes in 1895. At the same time,
the criminal laws of the territory were revised and a new criminal prac-
tice act was passed. This Assembly memorialized Congress to set apart
the Yellowstone Park, to be "devoted to public use, resort and recrea-
tion for all time to come." The public debt of the territory had reached
$500,000, one of the items of extravagance charged against its officials
and tending to bring about the deficit being the extra compensation
allowed United States officers and drawn from the territorial treasury.
This had amounted to $200,000 from 1866 to 1872, and to prevent these
expenditures in the future Congress passed an act prohibiting the
payment by the territory of any compensation to officers or legislators
other than that provided by that body.
At the eighth extraordinary session of the legislative Assembly,
April-May, 1873, the time for holding the regular sessions of that body
was fixed on the first Monday after the first day of January. An act
was passed over Governor Potts's veto providing for the formation of
railroad corporations, and authorizing any Montana County to subscribe
to the capital stock of any railroad proposing to construct a line in the
territory. The Union and Central Pacific roads and the Utah Northern
line were specifically mentioned. No county was to subscribe more than
20 per cent of its taxable property, and Madison, Jefferson, Gallatin
and Lewis and Clark counties were to take at least 45 per cent of the
stock.
The principal measure passed at the eight regular session in Janu-
ary-February, 1874, was the apportionment bill by which the Council
was allotted thirteen members and the House of Representatives, twenty-
six, and the counties rearranged to conform to the new apportionment.
Bozeman also entered the class of incorporated cities.
This closed the period during which the seat of territorial govern-
ment was at Virginia City, and, in accord with the will of the people ex-
pressed at the general election of 1874, in 1876 Helena became the per-
manent capital of Montana and adequately provided for the regular
biennial sessions of the Assembly, and any extraordinary which were
called by the governor.
CHAPTER XIV
PIONEERS AND THEIR SOCIETY
The Society of Montana Pioneers, a strong and active organization
of men and women of the state who settled within its bounds in, or be-
fore 1868, has co-operated with the State Historical Society, for thirty-'
seven years, in perpetuating tlie stirring record and solid progress of the
territory and state. It was organized at Helena on September 11, 1884,
and 400 members were enrolled at its first meeting. James Fergus,
of Meagher County, was its first president; Wilbur F. Sanders,
of Lewis and Clark County (Helena), corresponding secretary, and
George W. Irvin II, recording secretary.
Officers and Membership
The first fourteen meetings of the society were held at Helena (no
meeting in 1893). Up to that time, or 1898, the presidents, most of
whom served in the society for one year, were James Fergus, Walter W.
DeLacy, Granville Stuart, Frank H. Woody, Wilbur F. Sanders, Anton
M. Holter, William A. Clark, Samuel Word, Walter Cooper (two terms),
John T. Conner, Conrad Kohrs, William L. Steele and Nicholas Kessler.
In 1885-86 Cornelius Hedges, Lewis and Clark County, served as cor-
responding secretary, and John R. Wilson, of Beaverhead County, as
recording secretary. James U. Sanders was chosen recording secretary
in 1886, in the following year the two secretaryships were consolidated,
and Mr. Sanders has held the united office since 1898. The society cre-
ated a vice president at large in 1907.
The presidents since 1898, none of whom have held office more than
a year, have been Henry Elling, Madison County ; \\'illiam W. Anderson,
Gallatin County; Henry F. Edgar, ^Missoula County; Timothy E. Collins,
Cascade County; John Caplice, Silver Bow County; O. B. Whitford,
Silver Bow County; Cornelius Hedges, Lewis and Clark County; John
P. Thomas. Deer Lodge County; Paul McCormick, Yellowstone County;
Charles S. Warren, Silver Bow County ; Andrew J. Fisk, Lewis and Clark
County; Warren C. Gillette, Lewis and Clark County; W. Y. Peniberton,
Lewis and Clark County; Rod D. Leggat, Silver Bow County; Mortimer
H. Lott, Madison County; Martin Maginnis, Lewis and Clark County;
James M. Page, Madison County ; John M. Page, Madison County ; John
W. Blair. Powell County; George W. Morse. Granite County; Frank D.
Brown, Granite County; Charles W. Hoffman, Gallatin County; Wil-
liam A. Clark. Silver Bow County; John H. Shober, Lewis and Clark
County; John F. Bishop (1920-21), Beaverhead County.
316
HISTORY OF MONTANA 317
The vice presidents at large, since the office was created in 1907, have
been David Hilger, Fergus County ; W. Y. Pemberton, Lewis and Clark ;
Rod D. Leggat, Silver Bow; Martimer H. Lott, Madison; Robert
Vaughn, Cascade; Nelson Story, Sr., Gallatin; John W. Blair, Powell;
George W. Morse, Granite; Nelson Story, Sr., Gallatin; George A.
Bruffey, Park; Tom McTague, Powell.
The secretaries who were in office between James U. Sanders's first
term in i887-'88, and the commencement of his twenty-three years' serv-
ice in 1S98, were Cornelius Hedges, Lewis and Clark County, 1888- '92;
Charles D. Curtis, Lewis and Clark, i892-'95 ; and Theophilus Muffly, same
county, i895-'98.
Those who have served as treasurers since the organization of the
society in 1884 have been Samuel T. Hauser, T. H. Kleinschmidt, H. M.
Parchen, T. H. Kleinschmidt (second terms), Cornelius Hedges, T. H.
Kleinschmidt (third term), Anton M. Holter, Thomas C. Power, Rich-
ard Lockey, John C. Curtin and Joseph D. Conrad ; all of Lewis and
Clark County.
In 1908, Frank D. Brown, of Granite County, was elected the first
state historian of the society, and, with the exception of one term (1917-
'18), when Mrs. E. L. Houston, of Gallatin County, served, has been
the only incumbent of the office.
Places of Annual Meetings
Since 1898, the annual meetings of the Pioneers' Society have been
distributed throughout the state, usually in Western Montana, which
carries the bulk of the population. The gatherings, generally well at-
tended, and replete with interest and good cheer to the pioneers of ter-
ritory and state, whose earthly ranks are rapidly thinning, have been
held in August, September or October, as follows: Virginia City, 1899;
Bozeman, 1900; Missoula, 1901 ; Dillon, 1902; Great Falls, 1903; Fort
Benton, 1903; Butte, 1904; Anaconda, 1904; Helena, 1905; Anaconda,
1906; Billings, 1907; Lewistown, 1908; Helena, 1909; Deer Lodge, 1910;
Butte, 1911; Deer Lodge, 1912; Missoula and Stevensville, 1913; Boze-
man, 1914; Great Falls, 191 5; Helena, 1916; Livingston, 1917; Ana-
conda, 1918; Butte, 1919; Great Falls, 1920; Lewistown, 1921.
In 1899, the society first published a register of its members, 1,800
of whom were then recorded. About 1,150 have since joined the or-
ganization and 1,900 have "passed over" where time is not and therefore
there are no pioneers. The present membership strength of the Society
of Montana Pioneers is about 1,050. Because of the early date of set-
tlement fixed as the requisite for membership, many of those most
anxious for its growth and continued usefulness have suggested that
the year be advanced at least into the '70s.
The Society of Montana Pioneers has done much to foster the spirit
of historic pride within the limits of Montana, and the printed report
of its thirty-fourth annual meeting at Livingston, held September 5-7,
1917, is rich with material descriptive of the steps it had already taken
binding the present with the past. Secretary Sanders reports :
318
HISTORY OF MONTANA
"This society organized a generation ago at Helena during the Fif-
teenth Exhibition of the Montana Agricultural, Mineral and Mechanical
Association, with a membership of about four hundred grew rapidly for
Mr. and Mrs. J.ames Fergus
thirty years and since 1899 its annual meetings held from year to year
in the larger cities of the state have been the great conventions of the
period. In 1899, when we met in Alder Gulch, we tried the experiment
of holding the meetings outside of Last Chance Gulch and the move
HISTORY OF MONTANA 319
met with instant and ever increasing favor until today. Once before
we ventured into the land of the Sioux when we met at Billings ten
years ago and now we have come back to Benson's Landing on the Yel-
lowstone. During these eighteen years we have visited most of the
leading cities from Billings and Lewistown to Missoula and Stevensville
in the Bitter Root valley and from Great Falls and Fort Benton, the
head of navigation on the north, to Dillon and Virginia City on the
south, and our receptions in these centers of Pilgrims and Princes have
increased in warmth and enthusiasm to this hour, as it attested by this
gathering, frosted by more than fifty winters. Other cities visited in-
clude Anaconda, Butte, Bozeman, Deer Lodge and Helena.
"The roll of presidents since our organization comprises the names
of many but not all of the founders of this Commonwealth, many of
whom assisted in founding other states before coming to this corner of
the Louisiana purchase and of the Oregon country. Let us recall those
who have crossed the Great Divide: Fergus, DeLacy, Woody, San-
ders, Word, Conner. Steele, Kessler, Filing, Alderson, Edgar, Collins,
Caplice, Hedges, Thomas, Fisk, and Gillette. Truly honored names in
the history of Montana.
"Equally illustrious are the following survivors: *Stuart, Holter,
Clark, Cooper, * Kohrs, Graeter, Whit ford, * McCormick, * Warren,
Pemberton, Lott, * Leggat, * Maginnis, Page, Blair and Morse. If they
are not with us today they at least are here in spirit. Some of these men
have said that they would rather hold this position than that of governor
of the state and truly it is a higher honor, when the deeds of this day
are transcribed to the pages of history. Governors will be forgotten,
Pioneers never. * * *
"The subject of a Pioneer Home is one of long standing and the
need of such an institution is becoming acute. Every county hospital
in Montana probably is giving asylum to a worthy pioneer. In my own
county of Lewis and Clark today is a pioneer who has lived in Helena
for over fifty years and who is one of the very few survivors of Perry's
Expedition to Japan in 1853. The history of that trip, when our gov-
ernment knocked at the gates of the Hermit Nation of the centuries and
opened its ports to the commerce of the world is one of great interest
and James Mason t is entitled to a pension for the remainder of his
days. I endeavored for several years to secure one for him through
Senator Walsh and Representative Evans, but without success, and now
the world war has put the consideration of such a subject out of the
question. It was with a great deal of reluctance that we induced him
to leave his old home and go to the home for old soldiers and sailors
provided by a grateful country and state at Columbia Falls and it was
with greater reluctance that his friends recommended it. * * *
"The last legislature passed three laws commemorating the deeds
of pioneers which I will mention. One provided for the placing of a
tablet in the Rotunda of the Capitol in honor of Don L. Byam, the judge
* Deceased since 1917.
t Mr. Mason died in April, 1918, at the Soldiers' Home at Columbia Falls.
320 HISTORY OF MONTANA
who presided at the trial of George Ives at Nevada City, December 19-21,
1863. Judge Byam sleeps in hallowed ground at Emigrant City, op-
posite pld Yellowstone City, in Emigrant Gulch in this county. His
grandson, Senator Muffly of Broadwater county expects to visit his
grave during the recesses of this convention.
"Another provided for the erection of a monument at the point of
the discovery of gold in Alder Gulch, May 26, 1863, by the Fairweather-
Edgar party. The third law approved of the purpose of this society
to erect heroic bronze statutes of Lewis and Clark at the Great Falls
and at the Three Forks of the Missouri river and provided an appropri-
ation of five thousand ($5,000) dollars to be placed at the disposal of
a commission to be appointed by the president of this society and the
governor of the state when we and others desiring to materially assist
in the laudable undertaking shall raise the sum of fifteen thousand
($15,000) dollars. Such a statute is assured at Great Falls and Mr.
C. M, Russell, whom you know as the cowboy artist, has submitted a
very creditable design which it is intended to set up in Lewis and Clark
Park where that great expedition celebrated July 4th, 1805, near the
city of Great Falls. Equally worthy of such a memorial is the point
at the Three Forks, the scene of many historical incidents and the cen-
ter of the fur trade for a considerable time and within sight of two
transcontinental railroads and the Yellowstone Trail. We should see
that the matter is sufficiently supported to make available the appropri-
ation of the state which was so liberal."
Frank D. Brown, of Missoula, whose special office it is to throw the
light of present events and living personalities upon the past, acquitted
himself well in the society's report of 1917, and much of his paper is
here reproduced. First he mentions
The'Mullan Monuments
"The last of these beautiful memorials to the explorer and his men
within the state," he writes, "has been erected in Fort Benton, and will
be dedicated the ensuing fall. The sight of the same is in the handsome
City Park, and within sight of where MuUan and his expedition dis-
banded after their long and adventurous trip from Walla Walla.
"The William A. Clark, Jr., memorial was dedicated at St. Regis
July 4th last. The meeting was presided over by the Hon. Chas. S.
Warren, and oration made by that eloquent native son of Montana,
William L. Murphy, Esq., of Missoula. The placing of this monument
within the grounds of the new and most presentable school building at
St. Regis will be ever a reminder to the youth attending the same, of one
of the most important incidents connected with the settlement and de-
velopment of this great Commonwealth. It is placed directly upon the
road of Mullan, and occupies a commanding position within sight of the
Milwaukee and Northern Pacific Railroads.
"The dedication of the Hannaford monument at Missoula occurred
during the session of the County Fair and upon the evening of October
HISTORY OF MONTANA 321
5th last. A notable incident of the ceremony was the attendance upon
the platform of Mr. David C. O'Keefe, the last known survivor of the
Mullan Expedition. The old gentleman, well over eighty, is entirely
blind, but his memory remains excellent and his store of information
relating to the work of the explorer is most interesting, and of value
historically. The address was delivered by the Hon. W. J. McCormick,*
a native of Missoula and the son of one of the earliest settlers of the
Bitter Root.
" The William A. Clark monument is to be dedicated the 6th of the
present month (September 6, 1917). The Hon. A. L. Stone, Professor
of Journalism at the University of Montana will deliver the address. It
is highly probably that no one better qualified could have been selected.
Mr. Stone is a member of the State Historical Society, the author of
that fascinatingly interesting work on the earlier history of Western
Montana, entitled 'Old Trails,' and a speaker of rare ability. The site
of this monument is upon the west side of the road cut leading out of
the Blackfoot opposite the winter quarters of Capt. Mullan the winter of
1861-2, known as 'Cantonment Wright,' and at the western approach to
the bridge made by him over the Blackfoot river. Grounds surround-
ing the monument cover several acres of well kept lawn sloping gradu-
ally to both the Hellgate and Blackfoot. A more beautiful location it
would be difficult to conceive. As the property belongs to the Missoula
Light & Power Company, whose hydro-electric plant is within the same
enclosure the gratifying assurance is conveyed that this beautiful memo-
rial will long remain a lasting testimonial to. the men who opened up to
settlement the vast areas of fertile lands in northern Oregon, Idaho and
Washington territories. f
"The Mullan trail will be marked throughout Idaho during the en-
suing year. This gift to a great Western State, out of which was carved
Montana, evidences the love and patriotism of Montana men to the
Border Commonwealth who gave them birthplace and wealth. It is
the patriotic act of one of its citizens and the son of a member of this
society who determined that the work inaugurated to perpetuate the work
and memory of a daring explorer, and a national enterprise, should be
carried through to its western terminus, at Walla Walla. His contribu-
tion to the historical records of our neighboring State is not "a com-
mentary upon its indisposition to continue the line of memorial from
the Montana line through Idaho to the eastern border of Washington,
but a commendable instance of love for our great west of the Montanian
that recognizes neither section or "boundary lines in preserving from
oblivion any important historical fact relating to the opening up and
settlement of the Northwest Territories.
"The location of the sites of the Idaho monuments to Mullan was
left to the selection of Professor Henry C. Talkington, of the State Nor-
mal School at Lewiston, a member of the Geographical Society of Idaho,
"who has devoted much of his valuable time to the preservation of the
* Now deceased.
t Monuments marking tlie Mullan Trail erected at Lewistown, Great Falls, etc.
Vol. 1—21
322 HISTORY OF MONTANA
important incidents of its frontier past. After a thorough examination of
the work of Capt. Mullan, entitled 'On the construction of a mihtary
road from Fort Walla Walla to Fort Benton,' published by the War
Department of the United States in 1863, this containing carefully pre-
pared maps showing route of the completed highway, Mr. Talkington
selected the following places as being appropriate sites for the intended
memorials, viz. : Mullan, Wallace. Wardner, Kellogg, The Mission,
Coeur d'Alene City and Spokane crossing, and he is at this time arrang-
ing with the municipal authorities of the cities selected to care for and
appropriately dedicate the same. One is also to be erected at the Pine
Tree — upon which Mullan cut his name — in the 4th of July Canyon, and
a suitable fence will enclose both.
Discovery of Gold in Montana
"The important and beautiful monument given by Mrs. Mary E.
Morony to commemorate the gulch wherein gold was first discovered in
what is now the State of Montana, but formerly a part of Idaho, is now
in place between the tracks of the Northern Pacific and Milwaukee Roads,
on Gold Creek bar, near the Hellgate river. Here, in full view of the
continental traveller, and stranger within our gates, this costly and
beautifully wrought shaft of white marble will tell to the generations of
the future the story of Granville Stuart and his party of prospectors,
and of an event that laid the foundation for a great and mighty State,
Montana.
Discovery of Gold in Alder Gulch
"It is with the greatest pleasure that I announce to this body that
through the etiforts of Mr. James G. Walker, of Virginia City, a monu-
ment to be erected at the discovery of gold in Alder gulch, in Madison
County, by Fairweather and his associates, is assured. The design of
the same to be selected from sketches drawn by Messrs, Paxson and
Russell, both artists of wide reputation and high repute, is assured. Mr.
Walker found his work to such laudable end greatly lessened through
the prompt financial assistance of Mr. Andrew J. Davis, of Butte City,
whose uncle, Andrew J. Davis, Sr., was a pioneer of Montana. * * ♦
Graves of Comstock and Bozeman
"Many of you may not know that within the beautiful cemetery at
Bozeman lies the remains of Henry T. P. Comstock, the discoverer of
the famous silver lode that made Nevada famous. Over his remains Mr.
Nelson Story, Sr., of that city, placed a marble slab upon which is in-
scribed the following epitaph. 'In memory of Henry T. P. Comstock, dis-
coverer of the famous Comstock lode, Story county, Nevada. Died at
Bozeman, September 29th, 1870. Aged 50 years.'
"Comstock committed suicide by shooting himself through the head.
Before committing the fatal act he practiced for a while shooting at a
mark. He had come into the Gallatin Valley with about seventy other
HISTORY OF MONTANA 323
prospectors with the intention of prospecting the Yellowstone country,
and his expedition was known as the First Big Horn exploring party.
They disbanded in Bozeman, leaving there the cannon which they had
brought along. I have brought the fact of the interment at liozeman
to the attention of the Historical Society of Nevada. To Mr. Story this
Society, and State, is also indebted for the recovery of the remains of
Bozeman, who was murdered by a war party near the present site of
this City, and their interment in the Bozeman cemetery. Both of these
graves are kept in excellent condition by Mr. Story. The act of this
gentleman, and venerable pioneer, in both instances, is highly commend-
able, and an illuminating instance of what a public spirited man can do
in a quiet and unobtrusive way towards preserving mementoes of the
tragic past of this State. * * *
Lewis and Clark Statue
"Your approval is further requested of the design selected for the
large and costly monument to be erected at Great Falls in honor of
the memory and achievements of Lewis & Clark. The City of Great
Falls has donated a site of many acres of very valuable land within the
Park system of the city for the purpose intended, and the location is
where the expedition of these explorers camped in 1805, and where the
Declaration of the Independence of the United States was read for the
first time west of the Mississippi River. It is proposed by the Chamber
of Commerce of Great Falls, who inaugurated the movement, to make
the dedication of the monument a national affair, and to be a credit to
this State, as well as all of the States west of the river named, it should
be of a magnitude and artistic worth to command the admiration and
patriotic respect of all interested in great historical events. * * *
Baker Battle Fields
"I have secured the attention of the head of an important railroad
to the erection of a statue marking the Baker Battlefield below Billings.
The design of the same is here for the approval of your Honorable
Body, as it is under your auspices the memorial is to be erected.
"Your attention is further directed to the fact that suitable stones
are to be erected within a short period of time upon the battlefield of
Baker on the Marias river, and at a point near the mouth of the same
stream where ten men were killed — supposedly by the Blackfeet Indians
— in 1865. On January ist, 1870, in cold many degrees below zero,
Baker's cavalry command fell upon Heavy Runners band of Piegans
and — it is said — killed every man, woman and child in it. It was alleged
that these Indians killed Malcolm Qarke, a fellow classmate of General
Sherman at West Point, and whose remains are now buried at Mitchell,
on Little Prickly Pear Creek twenty-eight miles north of Helena, near
where he was murdered. Joe Kipp, scout under Baker, knew that the
Colonel was instructed to follow Black Weasel's band, the murderers
of Clark, but the first trail struck by the command was that of Heavy
324 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Runners, the result of the foray being that the latter's winter camp
was totally exterminated of its people. Baker viewed the matter in the
light of the frontier, that is to say, that a 'hostile' was a murderer, there-
fore entitled to death on general principles wherever found. * * *
Proposed Memorials
"For the consideration of this society, I have selected the following
places which should be marked during the ensuing year, as being fully
worthy of saving from utter forget fulness, viz.:
"The Old Fur Company post, at the confluence of the Yellowstone and
Missouri, known in all annals of the west as Fort Union.
"Fort Pease, trading post at the mouth of the Big Horn.
"Fort Copperopolis, at the head of i6-mile creek, upon, or near one
of the tributaries of the Musselshell.
"Fort Hawley, at the mouth of the Musselshell on the south bank of
the Missouri.
"Fort C. F. Smith, in the Big Horn valley.
"Emigrant gulch.
"Fort Owen, in the Bitter Root. The fort was a most important one
in the earlier history of Western Montana, and is still a substantial relic
of its former self. It was built of adobe, and reported upon by both
General Stevens and Calptain MuUan. It is upon the property of Mrs.
McCormick, the wife of one of the oldest pioneers of Missoula county.
* * *
"Mrs. Henry Flather, the daughter of Captain John Mullan, and
his only child, made a visit to Montana in June, visiting me at Missoula
the twenty-fourth of that month, the only stopover on her trip to the
Coast, this due to ill health. She visited two of the monuments erected
in honor of her father, and his men, expressing her warmest apprecia-
tion of the nobility and generosity of the members of this society who,
in such an appropriate manner, evidenced their regard and esteem for
the work he, and they, had so faithfully and intelligently performed.
Judge Pemiserton .and the State Historical Library*
"The recent discovery of the first charter granted to a municipality
in Montana was recently unearthed at Virginia City, and reported in the
Madisonian of March 7th, last. Others of like importance should be
looked up and preserved. In this connection I would suggest that all
such valued souvenirs of a half century ago be deposited with the state
librarian, at Helena. Under the careful guardianship of this officer they
will be well cared for, and made readily accessible to those interested in
the past of the State. Send your books, documents, old papers and relics
to him if you wish them to receive security and loving care. Every one
of our members should visit the library when in the Capital City. It
* Ngw June, 1921, absent in Missouri, on account of his precarious health.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 325
contains a vast amount of material that should prove of intense interest
to them, and hours can be most profitably spent in looking over the his-
toric treasures stored within it. I found the most courteous attention
paid to visitors by the attendants, all being earnestly anxious to make the
stay of the investigator delightfully pleasant and instructive. In a way
you all know Pemberton, but you must sit and chat with him to know
how earnestly his heart is centred in his work. And he is one of the
notable human landmarks of the early Montana. He assisted in organ-
izing the first court held in the Territory, and was counsel in some of
the most tragic and important cases tried in it, not the least memorable
of these being the Territory against Johnny Bull for the killing of
Farmer Peel, a desperado of wide repute in the West. I have a suspicion
that he was a member of the Vigilantes of Montana. You might secure
from him the definition of the cabalistic numerals, '3-7-77.' Yet you
might not. I have never found any member of that body disposed to be
communicative upon the subject."
Most of the projects — the memorials and minor historic markings —
mentioned by the state historian have materialized. Some of his comments
and suggestions relating intimately to society affairs have been eliminated
from the text. His concluding paragraph is retained. It is a pathetic
picture of the old optimistic miner of the past, still struggling and un-
subdued, lingering amid the surging events of the present. "Qifite re-
cently," writes Mr. Brown, "while traveling through a placer district in
the Clearwater country I rode up to the bank of an open cut in a narrow,
heavily timbered gulch, and looked down upon a string of well-worn, whip-
sawed sluice boxes. In the ground sluice at its head, a tall, powerfully
built old man stood, leaning upon his shovel. There, amid the sands and
boulders of the glacial epoch, with the sparkling waters swirling about his
patched gum boots, under shadows thrown by mighty spruce, he gazed
intently upon a bedrock littered with fine particles of gold dust. For
many minutes I watched this man of eighty years, yet he moved not.
As motionless as a statue he looked longingly, wistfully down upon the
smooth old archean floor where countless years ago nature's titanic forces
had waged a merciless warfare. 'What is he thinking of?' I asked myself,
'of kin?' He had none. For trouble and hardship he cared not. Through-
out the Western world he had traveled with saddle and pack horse, with
always the lure of brilliant, glittering gold urging him on. And now, at
the end of his trail, he had found pay gravel, and made a last camp. I left
him to his reveries. As I rode into the dense timber the musical sound
of swiftly flowing waters bade me a laughing goodbye. I halted and
looked back upon the silent man standing in the foreground of the old
whipsawed flume. The golden beams of the dying sun filtered through
the needles of the lofty trees to dance merrily with the shadows playing
upon the torrent surging about the bedrock at his feet. The cloud-pierc-
ing, shining mountains of the Clearwater range seemed to me to look
proudly, tenderly, down upon an Argonaut who had never quit ; whose
optimism and indomitable energy had won him fortune at the very
threshhold of the grave."
326 HISTORY OF MONTANA
William A. Clark Introduces Himself
There have been many stories written of how the Hon. WilHam A.
Clark introduced himself to the people of Bannack and Virginia City in
1862-63, but none have ever been told with more color than the narrative
from his own pen contributed to the pamphlet of the Pioneers' Societj',
published in 1917. With all his gigantic interests, East and West, Mr.
Clark has seldom failed to be on hand at these annual meetings, or to
contribute his full share to their historic interest and warm sociability. "In
1862 and 1863," as he commences his story, "I was engaged in mining in
Colorado, at that time also a territory, at a place known as Bob Tail hill,
near Central City, about forty miles west from Denver. I was working
there at $2.50 and $3.00 per day. With three others I helped sink a shaft
with a windlass, to a depth of 300 feet, on what was known as Field's
claim, on the Bob Tail. This man had a little quartz mill on Nevada
creek, just above the town of Blackhawk, where the ore was treated,
naturally in a very primitive manner, as it consisted chiefly of iron pyrites,
and without previous roasting the gold was not saved very closely. His
little claim was only 35 feet in length. It was a chimney of the great
Gregory lode on Bob Tail hill, and. I believe, owing to the richness of the
ore, notwithstanding the primitive character of the mill, yielded more gold
perhaps to the square yard than any other mine that was ever discovered
in Colorado.
"While working here, during the winter of 1862-3, I met a man by the
name of Jack Reynolds, whom probably some of you may have known in
the early days. He is now dead, but he lived here for a number of years
after I first met him in Colorado. He had been at what was called the
Grasshopper diggings in the fall of '62, soon after those diggings had
been discovered, and having urgent business, he returned during the winter
to Blackhawk, on horseback; naturally a very strenuous trip. He told
some marvelous stories about the new discoveries out there and of his
intentions to return in the early spring. Hearing of these rumors I went-
down to Blackhawk to see Jack and had a long talk with him. He gave me
a very rosy description of the marvelous riches of the country comprising
Grasshopper creek. The town of Bannack had then been founded, and
there are a few old-timers now living who spent the winter of 1862-3 at
the old town. I then made up my mind that I would endeavor to make the
trip as early as the weather would permit to the Grasshopper diggings.
There were three of us, besides myself, working in the mine, so I talked
the matter over with them. We had, all together, another meeting with
Reynolds, as I wanted them to hear his story and make up their own
minds, as all of us were imbued with the same ambition, to endeavor to
better our condition in the world if possible. So, after due consideration
of the matter, we all concluded to go together as soon as the weather
would permit. The name of my companions were as follows : John Hilde-
brand, who afterwards kept a store at Indian creek. William V. Myers,
who lived in Jefferson county until a few years ago, and was treasurer
of the county at the time of his death. I have no doubt that many of you
HISTORY OF MONTANA 327
knew this man. There was another man by the name of Lloyd Selby,'
who was working with us in the Colorado mine, and these, with myself,
.comprised the party. About the first of May, 1863, we went down to
Denver to look around for an outfit and to make preparations for the trip.
We finally picked up two yoke of cattle and a light Schuttler wagon, to-
gether with what we deemed as necessary supplies, comprising picks,
shovels, gold pans, etc. We left Denver on the 4th day of May, and were
about sixty days in making the trip from Denver to East Bannack. There
was another town in the Boise Basin in Idaho, also named Bannock, but
it was spelled with an 'o' in the last syllable, probably of Scotch origin,
while the Montana town was named after the Bannack tribe of Indians.
"When we arrived at Fort Bridger we learned that there had been,
just previous to that time, some trouble with the Shoshone Indians on
Bear river. Quite a number of emigrants had been killed, and afterwards,
in passing through that country, we saw the newly-made graves of a num-
ber. We were, on that account, obliged to wait nearly two weeks before
we could get a sufficient number of wagons and men to warrant us in
attempting to pass through that district. We were acting upon the advice
of the officers stationed at Fort Bridger. In waiting we amused ourselves
as best we could. I recall the Indian dances where some of the young
fellows were accepted as partners by the squaws, who would invariably
beg for either money or tobacco, of which they seemed to be very fond.
"Finally a sufficient number of emigrants arrived so that we were able
to get away, our force comprising about twenty-five wagons, with probably
about one hundred men and some women and a few children. We were
very vigilant and had double watches on our cattle at night, and we passed
through the region without any trouble. We saw some Indians in the
distance, but they showed no disposition to attack us.
"When we arrived at old Fort Hall, on Snake river, we met some people
coming from the Boise Basin, who advised us that very rich diggings had
been found in that district, and that they had come out for supplies and
expected to return very soon. These glowing accounts enticed most of
those comprising our caravan to change their minds about going to
the Grasshopper diggings, with the exception of four wagons, comprising
about fifteen people, who had started to go to Bannack, and who, being
impressed with the force of the idea, 'to Bannack or bust,' could not be
diverted, and so had made up their minds not to change their destination.
I was one of this number, so we parted friends with our associates of a few
days, and wended our way up the valley of the Snake river from Fort
Hall through a country then utterly desolate, which is now covered with
most remarkable farms and beautiful towns and comprising a vast area
which has excited the admiration of all who have passed through it.
Among those who left us and went to the Boise diggings were Ed. and
Sam. Jones, brothers of afterwards Senator Jones, of Nevada.
"We wended our way up along the Snake river, past the point where
Idaho Falls now stands, and up to the mouth of Beaver Canyon, thence
over the divide by the present site of Monida, which marks the boundary-
line between Montana and Idaho, to a point near the present site of
328 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Lima, where, close to a very large spring of water, we laid over to celebrate
the fourth of July. In our diminished forces there was one Peter Daly
with his wife and two little girls, my associates, myself and a man by the'
name of Dick Irons and his family, who, I think, is still living in Deer
Lodge valley. Mr. Daly had two cows, so that we had a supply of milk
along the way. We likewise had left of our original supplies part of a
small keg of pretty good Old Rye whisky, so that we planned a combination
which enabled us, with some enthusiasm, to celebrate the fourth of July.
This we began after supper time, with rattling our tin pans, blowing an
old horn, and singing occasionally a few strains of the Star Spangled
Banner, to which we had some very enthusiastic responses from the coyotes
in the surrounding hills.
"Resuming our journey the next day, we reached Horse Prairie Creek
on the 7th day of July, where we went into camp just below the crossing
on the way to Bannack. I saw a wagon and tent a short distance away
on the other side of the creek, so I went over and accosted the gentleman
in charge of the establishment. He was evidently preparing to build a
house, as a load of logs had been delivered near by. In seeking some
information I desired I was very cordially received by him and satis-
factorily answered. Afterwards, having located about twenty miles above
that point on Horse Prairie Creek, to engage in mining, I became very
well acquainted with this individual, whose name was Martin Barrett,
whom we have the honor of having present with us today. Martin beat
me into Montana by only a few days. He lived in that locality for a long
time, became engaged in the cattle business, and is now one of the wealthy
men of the State, highly honored by all who know him.
"Only a few miles before arriving at Horse Prairie Creek, and near
its junction with Red Rock, we passed over the trail of Lewis and Clark,
the great explorers, at a point where the expedition first encountered the
Bannack Indians, whose chief was recognized by his sister, the famous
Sacajawea, who was the guide of the expedition, and whose history is
familiar to all of you. Near this famous meeting ground the spot has
been appropriately marked by the patriotic ladies of Montana, comprising
the Daughters of the American Revolution, by a bronze plaque, erected
and dedicated with an appropriate ceremony about two years ago, over
which I had the honor to preside.
"The next morning we drove to Bannack, reaching there at noon, when
we turned our cattle out to graze while we prepared luncheon. Our camp
was on Yankee Flat, where there were a few cabins, one of which was
afterwards noted as the home of Ned Ray, one of the desperate 'road
agents,' or highwaymen.
"While we were eating our luncheon a rather old man by the name of
Baugh came over from the town and told us a story about an important
discovery of gold which had been made about a day's drive from Bannack.
He said the story of the discovery had leaked out and a stampede would
take place that night, and said: 'If you boys will take your wagon and
haul a barrel of whisky, a tent, some grub and a few boxes of cigars,
I will send a man along to show you the way.'
HISTORY OF MONTANA 329
"Alder Gulch had been discovered some weeks before that by Bill
Fairweather and others, and there was considerable excitement about it.
We heard rumors about it on the road, and two of our companions, Hilda-
brand and Myers, concluded to take their chances over there and declined
to take in the stampede. So they engaged passage on a wagon headed for
Alder gulch, taking their part of the mining tools and the few provisions
that were left, leaving the balance with us. We were to dispose of the
wagon and cattle when an opportunity should arise, and send them their
share, which we afterwards did.
"Shelby and I then accepted the offer of Baugh, and at ten o'clock that
evening I drove over to Baugh's saloon and loaded up the 'wet' goods,
cigars, etc., and started with Baugh's guide, whose name was R. T. Ken-
non. They called him Dick, and I knew him years afterwards when living
at Deer Lodge, where he died some years ago, an excellent and honored
citizen. We found, however, after starting, that Dick did not know any-
thing more about the direction we ought to go than we did ourselves, but
it turned out all right, as we found some stampeders already on the way ;
some of them afoot, others on horseback, and all we had to do was to follow
the crowd. Our route lay back to Horse Prairie creek and westward to
Red Butte, about ten miles from the crossing, where we stopped to prepare
breakfast. In the meantime hundreds of people had passed us and we
did not get into the camp we started for until late in the afternoon, when
we discovered that everything had been staked for miles up and down
Colorado gulch. A man by the name of Roe Dorsett and a party had dis-
covered gold on a bar, which they were working by the means of ground
sluices, but aside from this, I afterward found that there were no 'other
bars and that neither the main gulch or any of the side gulches, with one
exception, contained gold in paying quantities.
"Baugh, our benefactor, rode into camp just before we arrived and set
up his tent and dispensed to the hungry and thirsty crowd, in short order
and no doubt at satisfactory prices, the goods we had hauled for him.
Having found all the ground staked, Selby and I, the following day,
started out prospecting in the adjacent gulches, where we spent several
days, but could only get colors in dififerent places where we sank to bedrock.
Upon leaving camp we told Baugh that we were going out prospecting
for several days and would then return. He said, 'AH right. I am going
to do a little prospecting myself. If you boys find anything good stake
me in and I will do the same thing with you.' To which we agreed at is a
universal rule among prospectors.
"Upon our return, after several days in fruitless search, we found
nearly all of the stampeders had gone, but Baugh was still there. Sure
enough, only about a mile from the camp he had found a little dry gulch
that gave encouraging prospects, and as he was an ex-rebel, he named it
■Jefif Davis' gulch, and true to his promise, he had located us both in,
that is, with claims 200 feet in length from rim to rim, according to the
established rules prevailing in those days, and really we got the best
ground in the gulch, which we proceeded to develop. Not being inclined
to do much himself, he offered to sell his interest, agreeing to give some
330 HISTORY OF MONTANA
time for payment, at a very reasonable price, and we accepted. We were
obliged to strip off about four feet of waste before reaching the pay dirt
near the bed rock. As there was no water in the gulch we were obliged to
haul the dirt to the main creek, where we put in our sluice boxes. There
being no lumber in the camp, I had to go to Bannack to purchase some
lumber with which to make sluice boxes and to get some 'grub' also, as
we were running short at that time.
"We were not in very flush financial condition at that time. Upon my
arrival at Bannack I found five letters from home that anticipated me
and had been carried from Salt Lake by a private express which had been
established between that place and Bannack. The price of transportation
of a letter at that time was $i.oo each, and I had just $5.00 value in
Bob Tail dust (a term applied in Colorado to gold amalgam, the product
of the mills of that country, and at that time it was the sole currency in
circulation in Colorado). I had, besides, a fractional greenback currency
of the denomination of fifty cents. I gladly dispensed with the $5.00
for the letters, therefore. I was obliged to endeavor to get credit for the
lumber and some few other articles which we needed, and this I readily
obtained. During our prospecting trip I had found a very fine pair of elk
antlers, which I brought into Bannack, and for which Cy. Skinner, who
kept a saloon and who was afterward hung by the Vigilantes near Hell
Gate, offered to give me $10.00, and this I readily accepted.
"Returning to the gulch, I found that my companion had commenced
operations, and it was not long until we installed our equipment and began
our first experience in placer mining. We first got some logs and built a
cabin of about fifteen feet by twenty feet dimensions, which was covered
in the conventional style with a roof of split poles covered with dirt, and
which we found very satisfactory in absolutely dry weather. We took
the hind wheels of the wagon, which we converted into a cart for the pur-
pose of hauling dirt, one yoke of cattle only being used. We had about
a half mile to haul the dirt to Colorado creek, where we constructed three
sluice boxes of the lumber which I had brought from Bannack. The sum-
mer and fall months were very fine, and we worked almost uninterruptedly
until the beignning of November.
"We usually observed Sundays and refrained from working. My part-
ner, who was very fond of cards, usually passed the day and sometimes
}he night, at the Dorsett camp, a mile below. I usually spent Sundays
sauntering in the hills or mountains, looking for gold bearing quartz
ledges, of which there were very few indications, frequently taking a book
with me to amuse myself while reposing on some grassy plat under the
shade of the majestic pine trees. My library consisted of three books,
which I had brought along from Colorado and previously from the States,
comprising 'Poems of Robert Burns,' Hitchcock's 'Elements of Geology,'
and 'Parsons on Contracts,' one of the text books I had used when study-
ing law at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and afterwards in Missouri, one of which
I usually took with me on these Sunday saunterings.
"Occasionally I was obliged to go to Bannack for the mail or to pur-
chase something that we required. On these occasions I rode a cayuse
HISTORY OF MONTANA 331
across the trail, which was nearer than by the wagon road. On one of
these occasions while on the trail, which skirted the point of the mountain
overlooking Horse Prairie valley, and about ten miles distant, I saw an
Indian on horseback chasing another, they firing at each other quite
ra^pidly until they both disappeared in the timber skirting the creek. When
I reached that point, about an hour afterwards, I found a camp of Ban-
nacks, about twenty in number, including warriors, squaws and pappooses.
They had got their man, a Blackfoot Indian, who, perhaps on a horse-
stealing mission, had ventured too near. These two tribes, had long been
at war with each other. I rode up close to the camp where I found they
had placed their victim's head on a pole and were having a wild war
dance, chanting unearthly songs and gesticulating like demons, men, women
and papooses all participating. Occasionally one of the warriors would take
a revolver shot at the victim's head. I did not dismount, but watched them
for quite a while, as to Vne it was a very interesting exhibition. No one
paid any attention to me and I rode quietly away.
"At the close of the season, towards the last of October, we closed
mining operations and put everything in -order to leave the camp. We
had paid up all our obligations and had several thousand dollars each in
gold dust left. We then went to Bannack to determine where we should
spend the winter. So far, we were very well satisfied that we had shaken
the dust of Bob Tail hill from our feet. Upon arriving at Bannack we
looked about for a cabin, and met a man by the name of Sperry, whom
I had known in Colorado, and who was working for someone at Jimmie's
Bar, drifting under ground on a streak of pay dirt. This was carried on
during the winter season, and the dirt was washed in sluice boxes in the
spring time. He was kind enough to offer us the hospitality of his large
cabin at Marysville, situated one mile below Bannack, which we accepted
temporarily. We furnished and cooked our own 'grub.'
At Bannack
"I then looked around for something to do, and engaged with Bill
Goodrich, who owned a small hotel at Bannack, by the terms of which
I was to go up on the mountain with a span of horses and a wagon belong-
ing to him, and cut and haul down each day a load of dry logs for fire
wood, at $2.00 per day and board. In the meantime, however, I continued
my lodging at the Hotel Sperry, at Marysville. The third day I was
caught in a fearful blizzard on the mountain, where myself and the horses
lost our way, and came very nearly perishing in the storm. I concluded
that this was not a good winter's job, so I suggested to my partners and
Sperry that we each buy a team and wagon and go to Salt Lake and take
a look at the Mormons, concerning whom we had heard many interesting
stories, and to buy something appropriate to the mining camp, which we
might bring back, and thereby make expenses and possibly something
more. This proposal was favorably considered, and we each proceeded to
hunt up a suitable team and wagon, which we purchased, and started for
Salt Lake on the 7th day of November.
332 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Meets Plummer and Other Agents
"Upon my occasional visits to Bannack during the summer and fall,
I became well acquainted with some of the prominent road agents, of
which Plummer was the leader. It was said that he formerly came from
Marysville, California, where he had some family trouble, and in the
melee was shot by someone in the left arm, which disabled it, but he had
remarkable use of his right hand, and was an expert pistol shot. Plummer
had succeeded in getting himself elected as sheriff of the Beaverhead
country, as at that time there were no county organizations, and claimed
that his jurisdiction extended even to Alder gulch. He was most aiTable
to everyone in his demeanor and also in his business relations, and was
exceedingly polite and obliging to everyone. I frequently met him during
the season, and after our arrival in Marysville we* usually spent our
evenings up in Bannack to pass the time. There was only one billiard hall,
kept by a Frenchman by the name of Durand. In this I spent several
evenings as I was fond of the game, and there I first met Colonel C. A.
Broadwater, who afterwards became one of our most distinguished and
enterprising citizens. Selby preferred to play a game called 'old sledge,'
at which the stakes were $5.00 a corner, at Goodrich's saloon, and every
evening the game went on there, in which Plummer was invariably a party.
"When ready to start back to our cabin I always knew where to find
Selby, and sometimes in a very hilarious condition. On one occasion, just
as I was entering the saloon, he pulled out a large powder flask filled
with gold dust, which he carried in the leg of his gum boot, and laid it
on the table. Plummer reached over and as they say 'hefted' it to see if
it were real gold dust, and at the same moment Selby jerked out his six-
shooter, which everybody carried in those days, and, laying it down on the
table, he said, 'Here is a friend that never forsakes me.' I soon got him
out of the saloon, and, notwithstanding his condition, and although it was
a dark night, we were not molested on our way down to the cabin.
"Another of the bandits was Buck Stinson, a barber who had a chair
in the corner of Skinner's saloon. I had been in the habit of getting shaved
at his place for some time, and on the morning, of the day on which we
started out for Salt Lake, he shaved me and I thoughtlessly told him of
our intended departure for Salt Lake City and the purpose of our visit.
We drove through Bannack that afternoon with our teams and camped
on Horse Prairie creek, about twelve miles out. that night, yet were never
molested, notwithstanding quite a number of Plummer's gang were then
living in Bannack, who were known as tough characters, but had not been
actually identified as highwaymen. Indeed, it was not known at that time
that there was an organized band of 'road agents,' so adroitly was it
managed by its leader.
Trip to S.\lt L.^ke City
"Our trip to Salt Lake City, which occupied about twelve days, as we
traveled leisurely, was without important incidents. We met a great
number of wagons and some mule and bull trains loaded with provisions,
HISTORY OF MONTANA 333
headed principally for Alder gulch, as that was the most important min-
ing camp by far in the territory at that time. Virginia City had a popu-
lation of several thousand people, while the population of Bannack
did not exceed probably one thousand. We traveled on the same road to
old Fort Hall that we came in on a few months before, thence up the
Port Neuf canyon and over the range to Malad valley, thence to Brigham
City and Ogden, and reached our destination at the 'City of the Saints,'
which had been founded only sixteen years before by that master mind
and great organizer, Brigham Young, who prior to the discovery of gold
in California, had fled with an army of his followers from Nauvoo, Illinois,
to Council BlufTs, now in the State of Iowa, where the party wintered.
The next spring he, with about 140 of his leading followers, crossed the
plains to Great Salt Lake, where on the 24th day of July, 1847, he laid
out the foundation of the present Salt Lake City, and he and his followers
located and began the cultivation of farms in the vicinity. Afterwards his
followers at Council Bluffs followed in great numbers and endured many
vicissitudes in crossing the plains to the New Zion, which their leader had
established.
"At the time of my first visit there were probably not to exceed ten
thousand people in the city, but it was laid out on broad lihes, as you
who have visited it have undoubtedly observed. There was only one public
hotel, the Salt Lake House, and it was a very poor one, consisting of a
frame building with limited accommodations. They had a very commo-
dious theatre, however, and some of the local actors had remarkably good
talent. They had already begun the foundation of the Temple, and great
blocks of stone had been quarried and lay around it. We heard Brigham
Young preach in the Tabernacle and were struck with the force of his
mentality. The favorite beverage of the inhabitants, which they called
'Valley Tan,' was a colorless species of whisky, and the taste was abomin-
able. We observed that many of the Mormon girls were very pretty.
The Return to B.\nnack and Virginia
"After purchasing such articles as we deemed suitable to the wants
of the miners at Bannack, we loaded up and started on the return journey.
Upon arriving at Malad valley we found that heavy snows had fallen on
the range, and we were obliged to shovel snow and take our stock back
to the valley at night during a period of several days. When we reached
Port Neuf canyon we met a mule team train belonging to Forbes, and were
told that it had been attacked by 'road agents' and robbed of some of their
gold dust. One or two drivers had been shot. This attack occurred on
Snake river, above Fort Hall, and they believed they had wounded and
probably killed one or two of the highwaymen.
"We found no snow in the Snake River valley until we reached the
entrance to Beaver canyon, but the cold became so intense that we were
unable to travel for three days. At Camas creek we met Colonel Broad-
water with a train of about fifteen cayuses and jacks, who stated that
salt was selling at about $1.00 a pound in the mining camps, and he was
334 HISTORY OF MONTANA
going to Salt Lake to bring a load of it back. I afterwards met him about
the middle of March on Horse Prairie creek on his return with the salt,
but the price at that time had gone down very low in expectation of the
approach of spring, and hence his trip was probably not a very profitable
one.
"At the entrance to Beaver canyon, where we were obliged to stop
on account of the cold weather, we cut some brush in a thick grove, where
we sheltered our animals as best we could. Nearby there was a toll gate
and a large cabin about 30 feet by 50 feet in dimensions, in which there
was an immense fireplace, and here, during those terrible days there were
gathered all the travelers, who, like ourselves, were obliged to wait until
the storm was over, and most of them made their rendezvous at the toll
gate station, which was well heated and provided with some rough card
tables, improvised perhaps for the occasion, and there was an ample
provision of very poor whisky at the bar.
"Amongst the number who partook of the hospitality of the toll gate
were Neil Howie and John Fetherstun, officers from Alder Gulch, who,
having heard of the attack on the mule train, went down to capture, if
possible, the highwaymen who had made the attack. They had captured
'Dutch John' (Wagner) at Camas creek. He was wounded in the shoulder
and I heard his explanation of how it happened. He was sleeping at a
camp fire with his revolver near his head, and as the ground was bare of
snow, the fire had run into the grass and discharged his pistol, which
wounded him in the shoulder. Of course, no one believed his story.
"When the weather moderated somewhat all of these camps broke up
and the parties proceeded on their way, some going north, some south.
There was considerable snow on the divide, and it again turned very cold,
and on the day following our breaking camp at the toll gate, we met a
bull train, which, I believe, belonged to King and Gillette, crossing the
diyide. I witnessed there what I had never dreamed of before, several
cattle in the moving train freeze to death in the yoke and go right down
upon the ground.
"We succeeded in crossing the range that afternoon, and camped on
the Red Rock, near the scene of our fourth of July celebration. About
three days after that we reached Bannack, and in making some inquiries
about the fate of 'Dutch John,' we were conducted to an unfinished house
that was being built for a hotel before winter set in, by Judge Burchett,
who was afterwards the father-in-law of James A. Murray, who is well
known to most of you. Upon a cross-beam in this unfinished building
'Dutch John' was hanging, and had been for two or three days before our
arrival. The following day his body was cut down and dragged through
the streets to a place of burial. We were then informed as to the action
of the vigilantes of Bannack, assisted by a number who came from Vir-
ginia City, who had disposed of Plummer, Ned Ray and Buck Stinson
in a summary way, and as I recollect, in the same manner and in the same
place that witnessed the finish of 'Duluth John.' They had undoubted proof
of the criminal action of all of these men. Skinner, to whom I have
heretofore referred, was also implicated, and he had made his escape, but
was overtaken, as I have above stated, and hung in Hell Gate valley.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 335
"We proceeded in due course to dispose of our merchandise at very
good profits. I had taken the risk of shipping quite a lot of eggs, well
k-nowing they would freeze, yet they were admirably adapted for the
making of 'Tom and Jerry,' which was a favorite beverage in Bannack,
and I disposed of them at a price of $3.00 per dozen. We were all very
well satisfied with our excursion, and amply remunerated, and also had an
experience which was very gratifying as well as useful.
"The remainder of the winter rapidly passed, and in March we went
back to Jeff Davis gulch to prepare for spring operations.
"Upon some future occasion I may have the pleasure of relating some
further experiences in the wild life characteristic of those days. My
story relates to a period of small beginnings, yet those humble pioneers
builded 'better than they knew' and were actively laying the foundations
of a great State, whose development in mineral wealth, in agricultural and
various other resources has astounded the world."
Proposed Metropolis of the Northwest
Secretary Sanders sets forth with retrospective glee the efforts of
1864 to found a great city at the mouth of Maria's River, not unlike the
one which also failed, several years later, at the mouth of the Mussel-
shell. "Early in 1864," he observes, "James H. Kiskadden, Evan P.
Lewis, Franklin Moore, Moses Clark, N. W. Biirris, F. Davidson, George
B. Parker, George Hill and others apparently selected the mouth of the
Marias for the great city of the Northwest. My father, it appears, be-
came interested in the enterprise, I believe, for among his papers I found
a certificate of stock in an unnamed town company, reading as follows:
" 'This is to certify that W. F. Sanders, his heirs or assigns, is the
owner of one undivided one-ninth (1-9) interest in the town
company. In testimony of which witness the hands and seals of the pres-
ident and secretary of said company hereunto affixed this 12th day of
March, A. D. 1864.
"'J. H. Kiskadden, (Seal) President.
"'E. P. Lewis. (Seal) Secretary.'"
"Eleven months after the date of this certificate these eight associates
secured from the Bannack legislature a charter for the Ophir Town com-
pany, which was approved February 2, 1865. Of the many private laws
passed at that session this is the only town company in which Messrs.
Kiskadden and Lewis were associated, and the fact that no name appears
in the certificate dated March 12, 1864, only indicates to me that the
name of the future city had not been agreed on at that time.
"The law authorized them to plot a town site to be known as Ophir,
on land owned by them, described as follows : Commencing at the mouth
of the Marias River or junction of said river with the Missouri River;
thence running up and along the south bank of said Marias river to the
mouth of the Teton River ; thence south six hundred yards ; thence east
to the Missouri River; thence down the bank of said river to the place
of beginning, containing 320 acres. A charter for the North Ophir Town
company to Frank H. Angevine, N. W. Burris, and associates with sim-
336 HISTORY OF MONTANA
ilar privileges on the north bank of the Marias River above its junc-
tion with the Missouri, also containing 320 acres, the town to be known
as North Ophir, was secured at the same session. The law also provided
that the river front extending into the river as far as necessan,-, included
within the boundaries described was declared the property of said com-
pany for the purpose of erecting wharves, warehouses, etc, provided
that said company was not in any manner to obstruct the navigation
of said river. A charter for another company granted similar powers
for a town to be known as East Ophir on the east bank of the Missouri
and below the mouth of the Marias, apparently opposite North Ophir.
Mr. Burris was among the grantees of this charter and similar privi-
leges were granted to occupy the river front for wharves and ware-
house purposes, with restrictions as to obstructing the navigation of the
river.
"The three townsites described were to be a great metropolis, appar-
ently, and the countrj- in all directions developed. Messrs. Burris. Kis-
kadden and Lewis and associates were granted a charter for the Mis-
souri River Portage and Railroad Company for twenty years, and given
necessary corporate powers for the construction of a wagon road or rail-
road or both for the purpose of transporting passengers, freight and mails
around the great Missouri Falls. The original capital of the company
was to be $200,000 with authority to increase it to $500,000. Two years
were given for the construction of the wagon road and five years for
the construction of the railroad. Sidney Edgerton, who approved this
act as governor of the territor}-. was one of the grantees and associates
of Kiskadden and Lewis.
"The law is interesting in that it authorizes the company to borrow
money necessary to complete and stock the road at a rate of interest not
to exceed 60 per cent, per annum and secure the repayment by mortgage
or pledge of the property and issue the notes or bonds of the company
or both therefor. It was also authorized to establish offices in the terri-
tor\- and in the city of St. Louis and elsewhere as they deemed neces-
sary. Mr. Burris and other associates were also granted a charter as
the L'pper Missouri River Steamboat Navigation Company to open and
remove all obstructions and make navigable the upper Missouri River
from the falls to the Three Forks at Gallatin City and to have the ex-
clusive right to the na\-igation of said river between the points men-
tioned with steamboats and all kinds of water craft and to carry freight
and passengers over the same for fifty years. Had the whole enterprise
prospered and been carried through, this exclusive franchise would have
expired a few months ago.
Ro.\DS AXD Ferries Projected
"George W. Stapleton, for many years a resident of Butte, was among
the grantees of the last two charters. Gallatin town was adopted as the
head of navigation and a charter secured by Messrs. Burris, Lewis and
associates, with authoritj' to make additions to said town. A 'hitching
HISTORY OF MONTANA 337
post' for steamboats stood here for many years. Opposite Gallatin and
on the east side of the river a charter was secured by Mr. Burris and
associates for the town of East Gallatin, with authority to make any
desired additions to the same. Another charter was granted for the
Gallatin Ferry Company to establish and maintain a ferry on the Mis-
souri river at Gallatin City.
Roads
"Two ferry companies were organized at Ophir. One, the Marias
Ferry Company, was given the exclusive privilege of establishing and
maintaining a ferry across the Missouri River near the mouth of the
Marias. The other, the Ophir Ferry Company, was given the exclusive
privilege of establishing and maintaining a ferry across the Marias River
at any point desired within three miles of its junction with the Missouri.
Roads across the mountains were to be constructed. A charter to the
Ophir and Flathead River Wagon Road Company provided for the con-
struction of a road from Ophir and thence west via Lewis and Clark
Pass and evidently to connect with the Mullan road. Another charter
to Messrs. Burris and Lewis and associates to be known as the Fort Ben-
ton and Kootenai Wagon Road Company provided for the construction
and maintenance of a wagon road from Fort Benton through the Marias
Pass to connect with the Hell Gate and Kootenai wagon road.
"These twelve companies, all related, were organized for the rapid
development of a vast region of country from the Three Forks of the
Missouri to the Kootenai country, with the town of Ophir as the cen-
ter, and this, it apparently seems to have been determined to build first
and then develop the tributary country. Among the charter members
of these twelve companions were many men who were with us when we
organized this society. Their names are Matthew Carroll, John J. Healy
and George Steell of Chouteau County ; Caleb E. Irvine of Deer Lodge
County, Horace Annis of Gallatin County, Joshua Armitage and Walter
W. DeLacy of Lewis and Clark County and George W. Stapleton of
Silver Bow County.
Building of Ophir Commenced
"Mr. Burris, who seems to have been very busy in securing these com-
pany charters from the legislature at Bannack in February, 1865, also
seems to have been the active manager in the field of development and
in the spring went to the mouth of the Marias River and commenced
to build the City of Ophir. A large force of men was employed in the
enterprise and the steamer Cutter, which had plied the Missouri River
for two years, was chartered and made its trips up and down both rivers
as demands required and was moored at one of the wharves of the future
metropolis. Here Mr. Burris occupied a cabin, probably with some of the
men interested in the enterprise.
"A sawmill was set up. There were forests along the Marias River
and timber camps were established and the future city was the center
338 HISTORY OF MONTANA
of considerable activity. The Indians in small bands annoyed the work-
men, but did not attack them in any great numbers, although everyone
was always on the alert.
"Matters progressed satisfactorily until the latter part of May. On the
25th of that month Mr. Burris and Mr. Angevine, one of the incorpo-
rators of the town of North Ophir, had occasion to visit a timber camp
a few miles up the Marias. Captain Moore had let a contract for 300
house logs, which had been cut, and the contractors had gathered some
oxen to haul them to the river. The captain was one of the parties
interested in the enterprise, but just at this juncture was down the Mis-,
souri River on some errand.
Logging P.^rty M.ass.\cred
"The party was attacked by a band of 180 Blood Indians who employed
the usual tactics of circling around them as they endeavored to reach the
river and friends. They fought valiantly, using the bodies of the oxen
killed for breastworks as opportunity and necessity prompted, but it
was a losing fight and the party was exterminated. Their names were:
N. W. Burris, Frank H. Angevine, Franklin Friend, George Friend,
George Allen, Abraham Lott, Henry Martin, E. J. Martin, John Andrews
and James Perie, colored.
"Mr. Angevine was shot with bullets and arrows, and was scalped.
It was said that he killed one of the Indian chiefs. Mr. Andrews's body
was found behind a fallen tree. It was covered with wounds, his throat
was cut from ear to ear, and his head had been mashed, and everything
indicated that he had made a desperate fight for his life. All of the
bodies were stripped except that of Lott, in a pocket of whose shirt was
found forty ($40) dollars in greenbacks and gold nuggets which were
sent to his wife in Illinois by a friend. It was said that the Indians took
five hundred ($500) dollars from his person. Mr. Bums was a man of
powerful frame and evidently was the last to die as he made a running
fight nearly to Ophir. He was finally shot in the leg and a bullet pene-
trated his left lung, and there were several gashes made by a knife on his
left side, and there were arrow wounds on his body. His horse was
shot and his saddle taken.
"The direct cause of the massacre occurred during the previous winter
when Charlie Carson, a cousin of Kit Carson, was trapping with two
partners on the Missouri river. Three Blood Indians stole their horses.
Carson and party followed, caught them in camp, killed them and recov-
ered their stock. The Bloods determined to retaliate, and the tragedy
at Ophir was the result. After the murder the band fled precipitately,
abandoned their camp and went north. They left about two thousand
pounds of dried meat, a rifle, a brass camp kettle, many pairs of moccasins
and dresses heavily beaded for their squaws.
"Several of the party murdered were from Iowa. Mr. Burris had
founded a town in that state which was named for him. Mr. Angevine
was a member of the firm of Bohm, Angevine & Merry, at Virginia City,
HISTORY OF MONTANA 339
one of the leading firms of Alder Gulch in its palmy days. He was said
to be engaged to a young lady in the East who had a presentiment that
her lover would never return from the mountains. Andrews was from
Oregon and had spent the previous winter in a camp of Gros Ventres
Indians. Lott was from Gilson, Knox county, Illinois, where he left
his wife for the West in the previous January.
"The Friend brothers were also from Iowa, and a year or so ago
some of their relatives visited Judge Pemberton at the rooms of the
State Historical Society. The Martins were probably brothers, although
Henry was from Iowa and E. J. had an honorable discharge from the
i8th regiment of the Missouri Volunteers. Perie had been in the employ
of Philbrook and Carleton, freighters, and the Indians said afterwards
that he fought hard in his last battle. He was a colored man. The skin
of the black race has from the days of Lewis and Clark aroused much
curiosity in the red man. It is remembered that they frightened York,
stripping him and endeavoring to see how deep the color of his cuticle
was. The incident is the subject of a valuable painting in the possession of
the State Historical Society.
Town Killed by the Tragedy
"The next day a party from the Cutter went over the ground and
recovered the ten bodies and they were buried together near the site of
Ophir, and there they still rest unless the river has invaded their sepulcher.
The enterprise was never renewed. The steamer was released and the
workmen scattered, the wharves and warehouses never came. About
four hundred lots were laid out by Frank Foster, a surveyor, and a few
houses built. A few steamboat arrivals were noted but the town did not
long survive the tragedy of its birth. Fort Benton maintained its position
as the head of navigation for nearly twenty-five years and became our
most prominent, if not our only river port. This designation she per-
haps can still claim."
CHAPTER XV
DECADE OF INDIAN WARFARE
The decade preceding the Custer disaster of 1876 and the capture
of Chief Joseph, in the following year, was a period of great activity in
the Government campaigns against the Indians of Montana, many of
whom were hostile to the proposed railroad projects and all other evi-
dences of progressive white settlement. The discovery of gold both in
Montana and Idaho, and the immense amount of travel diverted to the
more northern country than could be conveniently reached over the old
emigrant road by way of South Pass and Salt Lake City, doubtless
presented to Indians an appalling prospect of white invasion.
Further, the Crows, whose home— in their language, Absaraka — lay
between the Powder, Tongue and Big Horn rivers of Northern Wyom-
ing and Southeastern Montana, and was being invaded by the Sioux and
the Cheyennes from the East and Northeast, were friendly to the white
settlers and prospectors, but had, at the same time, adopted a policy of
"watchful waiting." The Northern Sioux, who had not been bound by
any treaty, were openly hostile, and when the government proposed to
build a road from Fort Laramie, via Bridger's Ferry and the headquar-
ters of the Powder, Tongue and Big Horn rivers to Virginia City and
the gold districts of Montana, there were fierce threats by enemy tribes,
especially the Sioux, led by Red Cloud. Outside of the old and wonder-
ful hunting grounds of the Crows, to Fort Laramie, in what is now-
Southeastern Wyoming, was a wide stretch of country held by the Ogal-
lalla and Minneconjoux bands of Sioux and the northern Cheyenne and
Arrapahoe tribes.
Futile Indian Council at Fort Laramie
The general plan of the Government was that a council was to be
held at Fort Laramie with the Indian tribes which claimed possession of
the country through which the road was to pass to arrange for such
right-of-way and obtain assurances of the safe passage of emigrants.
Colonel Henry B. Carrington, commanding the Eighteenth United States
Infantry, was appointed commander of the Mountain District, military
department of the Platte, with headquarters at Fort Philip Kearney, on
the Powder River, Northern Wyoming, when the latter should be con-
structed. Colonel Carrington had under him about 700 officers and
men. As chief guide he had selected our old friend, Maj. James Bridger.
The expedition was formally organized at Fort Kearney, on the North
Platte River, central Nebraska, starting from that place May 19, 1866,
340
HISTORY OF MONTANA 341
with an outfit drawn by 226 mule-teams and keyed up by a military band
of thirty pieces until the column passed Kearney City.
Within a few days short of a month, the expedition reached Fort
Laramie. There was much trading and talking, but only irresponsible
Indians appeared in the Council chamber. Such influential Sioux chiefs
as "The Man Afraid of His Horses" and "Red Cloud" made no secret
of their opposition to the building of the proposed road, and the latter,
with ail his fighting men, withdrew from association with the treaty-
makers. Some of the chiefs, however, were seen by the officers, and
when they knew that the command was going to the Powder River
country in advance of any treaty agreement, they gave unequivocal dem-
onstrations of their dislike. One pleasant intimation was given that
"in two moons the command would not have a hoof left."* Several of
the officers were accompanied by their wives, among them Mrs. Carring-
ton, from whose "Ab-sa-ra-ka" (Home of the Crows), with her hus-
band's "Outline of Indian Operations and Conferences," most of the data
are extracted for this portion of the narrative.
The Cheyenne chiefs do not seem to have been so irreconcilable. It
was reported that the following question was put to Black Horse, one of
their leading chiefs: "Why do the Sioux and the Cheyenne claim the
land which belongs to the Crows?"
Black Horse, the Wolf that Lies Down, Red Arm and Dull Knife,
of that tribe, agreed upon the following answer: "The Sioux helped us.
We stole the hunting-grounds of the Crows because they were the best.
The white man is along the great waters, and we wanted more room.
We fight the Crows because they will not take half and give us peace
with the other half."
Colonel Carrington's expedition arrived at Fort Laramie, while nego-
tiations were progressing with Red Cloud and the leading chiefs of the
Sioux to induce them to yield to the Government the right to peaceably
establish military posts along the line of the road to Montana. This
right they had persistently refused to grant, saying that it was asking
too much of their people — asking all they had — for it would drive away
all the game.* The destination and purpose of Colonel Carrington and
his command were communicated to their chiefs. They seemed to con-
strue this as a determination on the part of the Government to occupy
their country by military posts, even without their consent or that of
their people, and as soon as practicable withdrew from the council with
their adherents, refusing to accept any presents from the commission,
returned to their country and with a strong force of warriors com-
menced a vigorous and relentless war against all whites who came into
it, both citizens and soldiers.
Government Pronouncement Against Enemy Indians
Quite a number of Indians who did not occupy the country along
this road were anxious to make a treaty of peace, especially those resid-
* See Senate Document No. i,'?. report of snecial commission to investigate the
"disposition and conduct of the Indians about Fort Philip Kearney."
342 HISTORY OF MONTANA
ing near Fort Laramie. The number of Sioux Indians who considered
themselves bound by the treaty of July, 1866, numbered about 2,000.
The northern Cheyennes and Arrapahoes and many of the northern
Sioux, numbering about 600 lodges, remained in their old country and
went to war under the auspices of their old chiefs.
"We therefore report," announces the committee, in 1867, "that all
the Sioux Indians occupying the country about Fort Phil Kearney have
been in a state of war against the whites since the 20th of June, 1866,
and that they have waged and carried on this war for the purpose of
defending their ancient possessions and possessions acquired by them
from the Crow Indians by conquest after bloody wars, from invasion
and occupation by the whites.
"This war has been carried on by the Indians with most extraordi-
nary vigor and unwonted success. During the time from July 26th,
the day on which Lieutenant Wand's train was attacked, to the 21st of
December, on which Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Fetterman, with his com-
mand of eighty officers and men, was overpowered and massacred, they
killed ninety-one enlisted men and five officers of our army, and killed
fifty-eight citizens and wounded twenty more, and captured and drove
away 306 oxen and cows, 304 mules and 161 horses. During this time
they appeared in front of Fort Philip Kearney, making hostile demon-
strations and committing hostile acts fifty-one different times, and at-
tacked every train and person that attempted to pass over the Montana
Road."
Preparations to Protect Mountain District
Following the military instructions of his superiors, Colonel Car-
rington had organized the Mountain district, assigned to him, in June,
established, had left two companies at Fort Reno on the Powder River,
had established Fort Philip Kearney, forty miles west of Fort Reno, on
the Tongue River, in July, and there posted another two companies, and
in the following month had founded Fort C. F. Smith, seventy miles be-
yond, at the crossing of the Big Horn River with the Montana Road, and
stationed at that post a third two companies. As stated, Fort Philip Kear-
ney, between the other posts and on the Tongue river, which was con-
sidered the center and backbone of the great hunting grounds through
which the road was to pass, was the headquarters of the Mountain District
commanded by Colonel Carrington.
As early as the 31st of July, Colonel Carrington had informed Gen-
eral P. St. George Cooke, the department commander, that the status
of the Indians in that country was one of war, requested reenforce-
ments sent to him, and two days previously had telegraphed the adjutant
general of the army for Indian auxiliaries and an additional force of
his own regiment. No auxiliaries were assigned and no reenforcements
came until November and December, and then only by about sixty cav-
alrymen and ninety recruits divided between Fort Philip Kearney and
the mountain district. Neither were requisitions for ammunition an-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 343
swered, according to the report of the special investigating commission
of the United States Senate. The result was that the garrisons of the
forts in Colonel Carrington's district were quite unprepared to withstand
the determined Indian attacks which extended over a period of six
months, and culminated in the massacre of Colonial Fetterman's men,
who were protecting the wood train which was engaged in drawing mate-
rials for the new forts. Despite the fact that* he went beyond his duties
and disobeyed Colonel Carrington's orders, the appalling loss of his entire
force was the means of turning back the expedition.
James Bridger Advance Governor Agent
In the meantime, the commander of the mountain district had sent
forward two most capable men to investigate conditions along and
in the country of the upper Missouri — the veteran scout Major Bridger,
accompanied by Henry Williams, assistant guide, and Lieutenant James
H. Bradley, then only in his twenty-third year, but who had fought
through the Civil war and had but lately been promoted to a first lieu-
tenancy in Colonel Carrington's regiment (the Eighteenth U. S. In-
fantry). As it was from Bridger and his companions that the most
valuable information came, the following is extracted from Mrs. Car-
rington's Ab-sa-ra-ka: "It was quite early after the establishment of
Fort Philip Kearney that measures were taken to hold communication
with the Crow Indians, to consult with the authorities of Montana and
determine the condition of the entire route to Virginia City. Major
Bridger was selected for the mission, accompanied by Henry Williams,
assistant guide, who proved himself valuable in almost every work he
undertook. They made the through trip with comparative expedition,
made complete notes of the journey, and besides their official reports,
were very courteous in contributing their information to those who were
desirous to keep a full record of all that transpired during our sojourn
on the frontier.
"They had first an interview with nearly 600 warriors, not far from
Clark's Fork (of the Yellowstone). On that occasion. White Mouth,
Black Foot and Rotten Tail declared their uniform and unanimous voice
for peace ; but said that in some instances the young men desired to join
the Sioux, and thus come to some accommodation as to their title to the
lands of which they had been robbed by both Sioux and Cheyennes.
"Red Cloud had made them a visit and they had returned the visit,
but would not join him against the whites. The Man Afraid of his
Horses told them that his young men were going on the war-path, and
that the Sissetons, Bad Faces, Agillallas from the Missouri, the Min-
necongous from the Black Hills, the Unkpapas, some Cheyennes and
Arrapahoes, as well as the Gros Ventres of the Prairie, were united to
drive away the whites, and would have big fights at the two new forts in
the fall. They also represented that Iron Shell, with some of the
young men of the Minnecongous and Brules, would go with Red Cloud,
notwithstanding the Laramie treaty ; that the Nez Perces and Flatheads
344 HISTORY OF MONTANA
were friendly, but the Pegans and Bloods were hostile, while the Black-
feet, Assiniboines and Crees were friendly with both parties and would
join no league against the whites.
"Besides the visits of Bridger along the route from Big Horn to the
Upper Yellowstone, James Beckwith, the famous mulatto of the plains,
who had also lived among the Crows as an adopted chief and had sev-
eral Crow wives, was employed as an assistant guide, and was sent to
their villages where he subsequently sickened and died. * * *
"Other parties of Crows came to Fort C. F. Smith to hunt and trade
in that vicinity, and not only showed uniform friendliness toward the
whites and the new road, but offered 250 young warriors to engage in
operations against the Sioux. Major Bridger had great confidence in
this proposition ; but the officers had, it would seem, no authority to em-
ploy so many, as well as no means of arming and equipping them when
employed.
"All the statements of the Crows were substantially confirmed by the
Cheyennes at a subsequent visit. They represented Red Cloud and the
Man Afraid of his Horses to be in Tongue river valley, and Buffalo
Tongue to be on Powder river; that the Big Bellies, the Bad Arrows,
Those that Wear a Bone in the Nose and Those that Put Meat in the
Pot, were near the Big Horn river, and though friendly to the Crows
were opposed to the road ; that Bob North, a white man with but one
thumb, with twenty-five lodges and the Big Medicine Man of the Arra-
pahoes, had also joined the aggressive party. Still later in the season,
there was renewed and cumulative evidence that the Crows were truly
friendly, but were unwilling to venture very far eastward for any pur-
pose, until the Sioux were out of the way or the white soldiers were
sufficiently numerous to guarantee their safety without sacrifice of life
or property.
"White Mouth and Rotten Tail told Mr. Bridger that they were half
a day riding through hostile villages in Tongue river valley, and that
1,500 lodges of war parties were preparing to attack the white man at
Fort Philip Kearney and Fort C. F. Smith.
"All these statements were believed, and it is known that they had
important influence in that vigorous prosecution of necessary work which
followed and rendered impossible any system of aggressive war on the
part of the troops of the garrison."
The last days of August brought General Hazen on a tour of inspec-
tion to Fort Philip Kearney. On the very last of the month, upon the
general understanding that reenforcements were close at hand, the gen-
eral, accompanied by Lieutenant Bradley and twenty-six picked men of
the garrison's mounted infantry, with Mr. Brannan as guide, started
overland for Fort Benton and other posts on the upper Missouri. This
same Brannan was scalped on his return from the Hazen expedition.
The journey States-ward, by way of Forts Reno and Caspar, to
Fort McPherson, from January 23rd to March 2, 1867, was a dreary trip
of intense suffering to the men, women and children comprising the
expedition. Without waiting for Colonel Carrington's report on the Fet-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 345
terman. massacre, that officer was removed by General Cooke, who, in
turn, was promptly relieved by Lieutenant General Sherman. The Gov-
ernment investigation which followed cleared Colonel Carrington of
culpability.
Government Evacuates Big Horn Country
All that the exj)edition under Colonel Carrington had accomplished,
with its sad loss of life, was to establish the claim of temporary occu-
pancy of the Big Horn country, but the repeated forays and detached
mufders of white settlers during the following year proved how barren
was such an outcome. But what soldiers and military measures and
treaties of peace could not accomplish, the Union Pacific Railroad was
bringing about, by making Montana and the great West safely accessible
to white settlers. That fact, coupled with the scarcity of troops and
other prudential reasons, induced the president, on the 2nd of March,
1868, to order the Big Horn country to be evacuated of Government
forces. For want of ready transportation — as wagons had first to be
sent out for removal of the stores — the movement could not be executed
until August. A Peace Commission was organized under a congres-
sional act of July 20, 1867, 1868 was a bad year, while 1869 and 1870
were fairly peaceable, and such chiefs as Red Cloud, Young Man Afraid
of his Horses, Spotted Tail, and American Horse, of the Sioux, visited
Washington and Fort Laramie to confer with the Peace Commission.
Red Cloud as late as 187 1, manifested quite a friendly disposition, but
could not bring over Sitting Bull, who was considered responsible for the
raids of the Teton Sioux into Gallatin Valley and along the line of the
proposed Northern Pacific Railroad, in the summer of that year. The
Union and Central Pacific railways had met two years ago. The steel
band and conductor of white civilization had been pushed through the
Indian lands of Central United States and preparations were then well
under way to lay another menace to primitive occupancy through the
northern regions.
"Agency" Plan Not A Success
Then came the several years of experiments with the recalcitrant
of herding them into "reservation;" shifting them about from place to
place ; peculations of Indian agents and contractors, of which the Indians
were naturally the victims — which finally drew from Sitting Bull the
voice of his race to General Miles : "God Almighty had made him an
Indian, not an Agency Indian."
The records of 1871-72 were, on the whole encouraging, though sev-
eral officers of the regular army were killed while protecting the sur-
veys of the Northern Pacific through Montana. Col. D. S. Stanley, of
the Twenty-second Infantry, from Fort Rice, and Maj. E. M. Baker,
Second Cavalry, from Fort Ellis, made expeditions to the Yellowstone
for that purpose, the latter advancing as far as Pompey's Pillar.
346
HISTORY OF MONTANA
Another Military Expedition to the Yellowstone
The year 1873 marks the demolition of old Fort Kearney, indicating a
purpose on the part of the Government to attempt the "agency plan,"
rather than the stern military policy. In August, of that year, how-
ever. Colonel Stanley conducted another military expedition to the Yel-
lowstone country in the interests of the railroad survey. His force was
1,500 strong, Lieut. -Col. J. W. Custer, with eight companies of
the Seventh Cavalry, forming part of the column. The cavalry moved
in advance of the infantry upon reaching Powder River and advanced
as far as Pompey's Pillar, the great landmark of the middle Yellowstone
Region. On the 4th of August, 1873, Colonel Stanley's troops were
Indi.\ns Drawing Rations
attacked near the mouth of Tongue River by a large force of Sioux
under Sitting Bull. The first of a series of engagements lasting for a
week continued from 10 o'clock A. M. until nearly 3 o'clock P. M., all
efforts to dislodge the white soldiers proving unsuccessful. From the
Army and Navy Journal of September 13, 1873, it was learned that the
fight was brought on by a decoy party of six who dashed into the skirt
of timber where Colonel Stanley's command had halted and unsaddled
and attempted to stampede the horses. These Indians were followed,
but they retired so leisurely as to excite suspicion and finally, as they
found that they were not pressed earnestly, over 300 well-mounted war-
riors dashed in perfect line from the woods and charged down upon one
of the companies, at the same time attempting to intercept a small party
under Lieutenant Custer.
After the engagements described, the Yellowstone expedition had
no trouble with the Indians, and both columns returned safely to their
post on the Missouri River. Sitting Bull evidently concluded that the
Custer cavalry were too much for his warriors.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 347
Until the last part of 1875, although there was no organized oppo-
sition__ manifest, a general and expressed sentiment of dissatisfaction
and unrest was evident among the Agency Indians. Much of the rations
sent to them by the Government never reached them, and in winter they
were, at times, reduced to the necessity of eating wolves and their own
dogs and ponies to keep from starvation. Both enemy Indians and
friendly Indians, from self-preservation, often, were forced to make
forays upon the livestock and provisions of the whites. The personal
center of disturbance was the northern, non-treaty Sioux, under Sitting
Bull, and the territorial danger-ground the Black Hills, into which the
miners were pouring despite the efforts of the government authorities to
keep them out.
Sitting Bull Again Troublesome
At the close of 1875, the Indian Commissioner announced signifi-
cantly : "It will probably be found necessary to compel the northern,
non-treaty Sioux, under the leadership of Sitting Bull, who have never
yet in any way acknowledged the United States Government, except by
snatching rations occasionally at an Agency, and such outlaws from the
several agencies as have attached themselves to these same hostiles, to
cease marauding."
The year 1876 had scarcely opened before the northern Sioux and
Cheyennes commenced to make inroads into the Yellowstone Valley
along the line of surveys of the Northern Pacific. They besieged Fort
Pease, opposite the mouth of the Big Horn, killing six and wounding
eight white persons. The remainder of the party at the post was
rescued by troops from Fort Ellis, near Bozeman.
United Campaign Against Enemy Indians
The troops which came from Fort Ellis, under Major Brisbin, were
identified with a column under Gen. John Gibbon, which had been organ-
ized there to carry out a concerted movement against the northern tribes
which were still in a state of warfare against the Government. The
Interior Department had issued a proclamation in the preceding Decem-
ber that all Indians who did not report at the reservations by December
31, 1876, would be compelled to do so by the military. At the expiration
of that period, therefore, three separate companies were organized,
with the understanding that they were to advance from the west, east
and south, and finally unite and co-operate, as they should sweep the
enemy Indians before them. The first line, commanded by General
Gibbon, advanced, as stated, from Fort Ellis ; the second, from the
south, was under Gen. George Crook, and the third, under Gen. Alfred
H. Terry, advanced from Fort Yankton, through the eastern field of
operations. With Terry's column was Custer's* cavalry from Fort
Abraham Lincoln.
* George A. Custer.
348
HISTORY OF MONTANA
The march from Fort Shaw, on the Sun River, in the present Cas-
cade County, is described in Lieut. James H. Bradley's Journal of the
campaign. That officer, who was to lose his life in the following year
General John Gibp.on
in the Indian operations of that period, commanded a mounted detach-
ment in the campaign under General Gibbon. The march from Fort
Shaw commenced on March 17, 1876. The route was by way of Helena,
Little Prickly Pear Canyon, the junction of the Jefferson and Madison
rivers, the West Gallatin, thence over the divide to the Yellowstone,
HISTORY OF MONTANA 349
down that stream to Shield's River and thence to the Valley of Rosebud
Creek, or Stillwater River. There the main body of the command was
joined by General Gibbon, Major Brisbin, who commanded the cavalry,
and other officers. The course led past Countryman's Ranch, "the last
occupied house on the Yellowstone."
The advance of General Perry's column was sighted aboard a steam-
boat coming up the river at 8 o'clock A. M., June 21st. The meeting
was near the mouth of the Rosebud. It carried the commandant, and
Captain Baker's company of the Sixth Infantry and General Gibbon,
and Major Brisbin joined them on the boat, the portion of his com-
mand accompanying him being ordered back to Fort Pease. Major
Reno, with six companies of the Seventh Cavalry, had already scouted
up Powder River, crossed to the Rosebud and moved down the latter
stream to its mouth without meeting with any Sioux. Well-defined
traces of them, however, had been found. Other scouting parties were
equally unsuccessful, in their efforts to come into direct contact with the
enemy. On the 27th of May, Lieutenant Bradley, while leading a scouting
party in the region of the Rosebud and Little Wolf Mountains, discovered
an immense Indian camp, traces of which he had found previously. Major
Reno's scouting trip along the Rosebud also discovered traces of it, and
Mitch Bouyer, a guide of the Gibbon command who had been detached
to accompany that officer, "counted 360 lodge fires, and estimated that
there were enough besides to make the number about 400.''' The lodges
had been arranged in nine circles within supporting distance of each
other, within which the Indians evidently secured their horses at night,
showing that they considered an attack not unlikely and were prepared
for it. A well-defined trail led from the site of the village across the
plain toward the Little Big Horn, and it is now thought that the Indians
will be found upon that stream."
Custer St.-\rts from Mouth of the Rosebud
When Custer appeared at the mouth of the Rosebud with the Seventh
Cavalry, the steamboat bearing General Terry and his staff met him, and
the cavalry commander drew rations for his command for sixteen days,
moving up the Rosebud with the design of following up the trail found
by Major Reno. "Prior to his departure," writes Lieutenant Bradley,
"a conference took place on the boat between Generals Terry, Gibbon
and himself, with a reference to a combined movement between the two
columns, and, though it is General Gibbon's expectation that we will
arrive in the neighborhood of the Sioux Village about the same time and
assist each other in the attack, it is understood that if Custer arrives first
he is at liberty to attack at once if he deems prudent. We have little
hope of being in at the death, as Custer will undoubtedly exert himself
to the utmost to get there first and win all the laurels for himself and his
regiment. He is provided with Indian scouts, but from the superior
♦Making the usual estimate of two or two and a half warriors to a lodge
would make the war party of this camp from 800 to 1,000.
350 HISTORY OF MOx^TANA
knowledge possessed by the Crows of the country he is to traverse it
was decided to furnish him with a part of ours, and I was directed to
make a detail for that purpose. I selected my six best men and they
joined him at the mouth of the Rosebud. Our guide, Mitch Bouyer,
accompanies him also. This leaves us wholly without a guide, while
Custer has one of the very best the country affords. Surely he is being
aiiforded every facility to make a successful pursuit."
The consolidated commands of General Terry and Gibbon were taken
over the Yellowstone River — cavalry, infantry and Catling battery of
three guns, with eight days' rations and a pack train — moved up the
Big Horn River, and after a day's march discovered "a smoke" in the
direction of the Little Big Horn, which was thought to indicate the
presence of the Sioux Village, and the cavalry and the Catling battery,
accompanied by General Terry, were pushing on with a view of getting
as near it as possible tonight. The infantry, which had already marched
twenty-three miles, were to remain in camp for the night and follow in
the morning." Without a white guide, the column lost its way and
in the dark hours of the night brought up "on the brink of a preci-
pice at whose foot swept the roaring waters of the Big Horn. The
water gleamed in front 150 feet below, and to the right hand and to the
left the ground broke off into a steep declivity down which nothing could
be seen but the forbidding gloom." One of the Crow scouts, Little Face,
led the command to a safe camp.
First Tidings of the Custer DIS.^sTER
Early on the following morning (June 26th), Lieutenant Bradley
was sent out, with his few men, to scout for Sioux traces. He sent six
Crows ahead of him half an hour before he started. All were instructed
to scout to the Little Horn, sending back word of any important dis-
coveries. What follows is tragic and historic, and is given at some
length in Lieutenant Bradley's words : "Having advanced about three
miles we entered a valley cut by a dry creek, and here came upon the
fresh tracks of four ponies. As we entered the ravine we had seen a
heavy smoke rising in our front, apparently fifteen or twenty miles away,
and I at once concluded we were approaching the Sioux Village and that
the trail had been made by a party of scouts therefrom.
"Sending back a written report of the discove/y, I took the trail of
the four supposed Sioux in the hope of catching them in the Big Horn
valley, toward which the trail led and where we thought they might
have camped, as there was no convenient way of leaving the valley into
which they had gone except that by which they had entered it.
"At the distance of less than two miles the trail struck the river,
and we found that they had there crossed leaving behind a horse and sev-
eral articles of personal equipment, indicating that they had fled in great
haste. An examination of the articles disclosed, to our great surprise,
that they belonged to some of the Crows whom I had furnished to Gen-
eral Custer at the mouth of the Rosebud, which rendered it probably
HISTORY OF MONTANA 351
that the supposed Sioux were some of our own scouts who had for some
reason left Custer's command and were returning to the Crow agency.
While speculating upon the circumstance three men were discovered on
the opposite side of the Big Horn about two miles away, apparently
watching our movements. We at once signaled to them with blankets
that we were friends, for a long time to no purpose, but when we were
about to give up and seek some other method of communicating with them,
they responded by kindling a fire that sent up a small column of smoke
indicating that they had seen signals and trusted our assurances. We
gathered wet sage brush and assured them with a similar smoke, and
soon afterwards they came down to the river and talked across the
stream with Little Face and one or two more of the scouts who went
down to meet them. While the interview went on I kept the remainder
of the detachment on the bluffs. Presently our Indians turned back, and,
as they came, shouted out at the top of their voices a doleful series of
cries and wails that the interpreter, Bravo, explained was a song of
mourning for the dead. That it boded some misfortune there was no
doubt ; and when they came up, shedding copious tears and appearing
pictures of misery, it was evident that the occasion was of no common
sort. Little Face in particular wept with a bitterness of anguish such
as I have rarely seen. For awhile he could not speak, but at last com-
posed himself and told his story in a choking voice, broken with frequent
sobs. As he proceeded, the Crows one by one broke off from the group
of listeners and going aside a little distance sat down alone, weeping
and chanting that dreadful mourning song, and rocking their bodies to
and fro. They were the first listeners to the horrid story of the Custer
massacre, and, outside of the relatives and personal friends o-f the
fallen, there were none in this whole horrified nation of forty millions
of people to whom the tidings brought greater grief. The three men
over the river were in truth a portion of the six scouts furnished to
General Custer from my detachment ; and this is the story they had
told to Little Face:
"After Custer left the mouth of the Rosebud he had followed the
Indian trail and yesterday struck the village on the Little Big Horn, the
Sioux warriors letting him get close to the village and then sallying forth
in overwhelming numbers to meet him, defeating his command, and
destroying all but a small portion who had been driven into the hills and
surrounded by the Sioux, where the Crows had left them fighting des-
perately. The corpses of Custer's men were strewm all over the country,
and it is probable before this that the last one was killed as it was im-
possible for the party who had taken refuge in the hills to hold out long,
for the Sioux immensely outnumbered them and were attacking them in
dense masses on all sides. Of the six Crows who had gone with Custer,
two — White Swan and Half Yellow Face — were killed, and another —
* Curley — was missing and probably also killed. The fighting had occurred
at a point where the smoke was then rising in our front. It was a ter-
' Only survivor of the massacre.
352
HISTORY OF MONTANA
rible, terrible story, so different from the outcome we had hoped for
this campaign, and I no longer wondered at the demonstrative sorrow of
the Crows. My men listened to it with eager interest, betraying none of
the emotion of the Crows, but looking at each other with white faces in
pained silence too full of the dreadful recital to utter a word. Did we
doubt the tale? I could not; there was an undefined vague something
about it, unlooked for though it was, that commanded assent, and the
most I could do was to hope that in the terror of the three fugitives
from the fatal field their account of the disaster was somewhat over-
CURLEY
drawn. But that there had been a disaster — a terrible disaster, I felt
assured.
"It was my duty to report it to General Terry, and being a matter of
such importance I resolved to make the report in person, as I now saw
the head of the column appearing over the ridge a couple of miles away.
I therefore rode back until I met the command, which was halted just
before I came up, and narrated to the general the ghastly details as I had
received them from Little Face.
"He was surrounded by his staff and accompanied by General Gibbon,
who had that morning joined, and for a moment there were blank faces
and silent tongues and no doubt heavy hearts in that group, just as there
had been among the auditors of Little Face at its rehearsal by him. But
HISTORY OF MONTANA 353
presently the voice of doubt and scorning was raised, the story was
sneered at, such a catastrophe it was asserted was wholly improbable,
nay impossible; if a battle had been fought, which was condescendingly
admitted might have happened, then Custer was victorious, and these
three Crows were dastards who had fled without awaiting the result and
told this story to excuse their cowardice. General Terry took no part
in these criticisms, but sat on his horse silent and thoughtful, biting his
lower lip and looking to me as though he by no means shared in the
wholesale skepticism of the flippant members of his staff. A-Iy imagina-
tion was busy supplying to my mind his train of thought, and it ran
like this : 'The story may not be true, when we have only to push on
according to the original plan. It may be true, and it then becomes our
duty to hasten to the rescue of the miserable remnant of Custer's com-
mand surrounded on the hills. If the savages have been able to destroy
Custer's noble six hundred, what can we hope to accomplish with our
paltry four? But we will do the best we can and rescue the wretched
survivors or ourselves perish in the attempt.' And as though it were
the seal of authenticity to this bold attempt to divine the workings of his
mind, he cried 'Forward !' and once more the column was in motion
toward the foe. My duty there was done and taking a rapid gait I soon
gained my proper distance in front as advance guard.
"The infantry had remained in camp last night twelve miles back
and at 5 A. M. resumed the march, coming up with the cavalry toward
noon, having been greatly delayed by the pack-train. The whole column
then advanced together and having crossed the dry creek, where I now
found the trail, and the rugged divide separating it from the Little Big
Horn, entered the valley of that stream. The heavy smoke was now
continually in view, and notwithstanding the stiffened limbs of the
infantry, in consequence of their hard march yesterday, the prospect of
an early arrival at the village and a brush with the Indians imparted a
wonderful animation to their movements and urged them on at a rapid
gait. After passing up the valley a few miles the column crossed to
the left bank and soon afterward halted to allow the men to rest and
make coffee.
"The three Crows who had escaped from Custer's battle-field promised
to recross the Big Horn and rejoin the command, provided some of their
comrades waited for them, and partly on this account and partly to allow
them time to recover from their grief I permitted all the Crows to remain
behind when the column passed the point where we had received news
of Custer's overthrow. Bravo, the interpreter, stayed with them, and
as he was frightened nearly out of his wits by the unfortunate tidings,
and anxious to avoid going on, he no sooner saw us fairly out of the
way than he exerted himself to induce the Crows to abandon the ex-
pedition ; representing to them that some of our officers had said we no
longer wanted their services. Several of the best Crows were opposed to
such a measure, but Bravo aided by some of the malcontents among them
carried the point against such, and the whole bodv were seen bv some of
354 HISTORY OF MONTANA
the officers at the rear of the column to mount and gallop away together.
They recrossed the river and proceeded straight to the Crow agency." *
Force Participating in the Little Big Horn Battle, Together
WITH THE Killed and Wounded*
Mr. Will. Logan, son of Capt. Wm. Logan who was killed at the
battle of the Big Hole, August, 1877, has in his possession a piece of
Indian parchment found on Custer's battle-field shortly after the fight.
Captain Logan's company clerk made out on this piece of parchment
a list of killed and wounded in this engagement together with a brief
statement relative thereto, and it is through the kindness of Mr. Logan,
now living at Elkhorn, Montana, that an exact copy is here given. It is
to be regretted that no date is given when the list was made out, but
it must have been soon after the battle.
Seventh Cavalry
"True account of killed and wounded in fight with Sioux Indians on
the 25th and 26th June, 1876, on Little Big Horn River, Montana Ter-
ritory.
"Present before action, as follows :
Field and Staf?, Commissioned 6
Line, Commissioned 25
Total Commissioned 31
Enlisted men 585
Citizens 8
Scouts, Indians Ries 6
Crow Indians 25
624
Total commissioned, enlisted, etc, etc 655
Missing after action 332
Total remaining after action 323
"Killed and wounded as follows :
"Killed with General Custer, as follows :
Officers 13
Enlisted men 191
Citizens 4
Total killed with General Custer 208
"Killed with Major Reno, as follows:
Officers 3
Enlisted men 48
Citizens, scouts, etc , 5
Total 56
* Bradley's Journal, Vol. II, State Historical Society's Contributions, pp. 225,
226.
Custer Memukial Munument
356 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Wounded with Major Reno , 59
Died of wounds since 8
Total killed 264
Total remaining woun .ed 51 *
"General Terry and Colonel Gibbon with six companies, 7th Infantry,
and four companies, 2nd Cavalry, crossed Yellowstone River, June 24,
1876, with intention to assist General Custer in attacking a large Sioux
village on Little Big Horn River, Montana Territory, but General Custer
did not wait for said command and attacked the village, five companies
charging, one company with pack-train and six companies with Major
Reno on the opposite end of the village. General Custer with his five
companies was cut down entirely ; the company with packs joined Reno,
who with the seven companies was obliged to retreat to the hills, where
the Indians held him and cut him ofi^ from water for thirty-six hours
until their scouts (Sioux) discovered the approach of General Terry's
command, when they abandoned their village and left during the night,
leaving considerable plunder after them, also some ponies. General
Terry's command arrived on the battle-ground, June 27th, at about
6 A. M. ; remained there and buried all dead and took care of wounded ;
started for steamer 'Far West,' June 29th, and met near mouth of Little
Big Horn, June 30th ; put wounded on board and started back for old
camp on Yellowstone near mouth of Big Horn where the command
arrived July 2, 1876."
General Crook's Southern Campaign
The operations conducted by General Crook from the south were more
fortunate than the northern campaign which culminated in the Custer
massacre. The cavalry of his command, under Col. J. J. Reynolds,
comprising ten companies of the Second and Third regiments, struck the
first blow of the year in the Tongue and Powder River region dominated
by Crazy Horse and his band. General Crook's column was organized
toward the last part of February at Fort Fetterman, on the North Platte,
and on the ist of March commenced the advance westward. After reach-
ing Crazy Woman's Fork, the wagons were sent back to Fort Reno, now
Fort McKinney, under escort of infantry, and pack-mules were used for
the transportation of ammunition and rations for fifteen days. Shortly
after passing Crazy Woman's Fork, March 7th, the troops moved nearly
north from the old Phil Kearney Road. On the i6th of March, the com-
mand was on Tongue River and after marching eastward reached Otter
Creek. Colonel Reynolds, with one day's rations and unencumbered with
blankets, was in the advance with his 300 cavalrymen and fifteen scouts,
following the trail of the Indians toward Powder River. General Crook
* According to Capt. E. S. Godfrey, Seventh Cavalry, the killed and wounded
of the entire command was respectively 255 and 52.
See Century Magazine, January, 1892.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 357
followed with four companies and the pack train, the total force being
883 men. Colonel Reynold's command gained the vicinity of Powder
River, near the mouth of the Little Powder, at about 4 o'clock in the
morning of March 17th. A heavy trail had been struck, after a march
of fifty miles through a rugged country, with snow a foot deep, ice in the
streams a foot or more thick and the temperature some thirty degrees
below zero ! The men suffered severely, especially Colonel Reynolds
himself. While the troops were secreted in a ravine, the scouts who
had been sent on ahead reported the discovery of an Indian camp of about
a hundred lodges in a basin of the river rimmed by steep bluffs. With-
out going into details as to the assault of Reynold's men, it may be
stated that it was such a complete surprise that the Indians abandoned
their village in a panic, retreating to neighboring timber and ravines,
from which they could annoy the troops and attempt to regain their camp
and the captured ponies and mules — the livestock estimated at about
700. In the midst of continuous attacks and skirmishes, the dismounted
cavalrymen regained their horses, after firing the village and continued
their march toward the northwest and Lodge Pole Creek, in the present
Garfield County, where Colonel Reynolds was to effect a juncture with
General Crook and his command. The destruction of Crazy Horse's
Village, with valuable supplies and livestock, was a serious blow to the
northern Sioux-Cheyenne coalition, although there was some discussion
among army officers as to whether Colonel Reynolds accomplished all
he could under the circumstances. His loss was four men killed and five
wounded. On the morning of the i8th, he joined his forces with those
of General Crook, as planned, and returned to Fort Fetterman.
In a telegram, dated Fort Reno, March 22, 1876, General Crook says :
"We scouted the Tongue and Rosebud rivers until satisfied that there
were no Indians upon them, then struck across the country toward Pow-
der river. General Reynolds, with part of the command, was pushed
forward on a trail leading to the village of Crazy Horse, near the mouth
of the Little Powder river. This he attacked and destroyed on the 17th
inst. finding it a perfect magazine of ammunition, war material and gen-
eral supplies. Crazy Horse had with him the Northern Cheyennes and
some of the Minneconjous — probably, in all, one-half the Indians off the
reservation. Every evidence was found to prove these Indians in part-
nership with those at the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies, and that
the proceeds of these raids upon the. settlements had been taken to those
settlements and supplies brought back in return. I am satisfied that if
Sitting Bull is on this side of the Yellowstone, he is camped at the
mouth of Powder river. We experienced severe weather during our
absence from the wagon-train, snow falling every day but one and the
mercurial thermometer on several occasions failing to register."
Warfare of 1876-77
After the battle of the Little Big Horn and the Custer disaster.
General Sheridan at once concentrated all the available force of his
358 HISTORY OF MONTANA
division. Lieutenant Colonel Carr and ten companies, Fifth Cavalry,
joined General Crook at Goose Creek, via Fort Laramie, and detachments
of infantry were sent to the same column. Colonel Miles moved from
the south of Kansas with the Fifth Infantry. Lieutenant Colonel Otis,
with six companies of the Twenty-second Infantry and four companies of
artillery from the Atlantic Coast, was sent to General Terry.
As early as July 26th, General Crook was in communication with
General Terry, each with a nominal command of about 2,000 men.*
General Sheridan thus reported, August 5th : "General Crook's total
strength is 1,774 and Terry's, 1,878; and to give this force to them I
have stripped every post from the line of Manitoba to Texas."
"Both columns," says General Sherman, "of about the same strength,
moved as agreed upon and made junction on the Rosebud, August loth,
at a point thirty-five miles above its mouth. The Indians had, as ex-
pected, slipped out, and neither column had a chance to strike a blow.
The Indians, in their retreat, left a broad trail leading toward Tongue
river. This was followed promptly and steadily, but it seems to be im-
possible to force Indians to fight at a disadvantage in their own country.
Their sagacity and skill surpass that of the white race."
In September, Capt. Anson Mills. Third Cavalry, struck a small vil-
lage and killed American Horse, the noted chief, and the Indians were
disarmed at all the agencies. In October, 1876, Colonel Miles pursued
and overtook Sitting Bull, and was met by the request for supplies,
peace and ammunition. Two days of conference were followed by hos-
tilities. The Indians were pursued forty-two miles across the Yellow-
stone, and on the 27th of October they sued for peace, giving Red Skirt,
White Bull, Black Eagle, Sun Rise and Foolish Thunder as hostages for
the others reporting at the posts named. Crazy Horse sought refuge
in the buffalo country and escaped up Powder River.
On the loth of November, General Crook again left Fort Fetterman
and crowded Crazy Horse toward the Black Hills. Colonel Mackenzie
destroyed a Cheyenne camp in November, on the west fork of Powder
River, and the country north of the Yellowstone was so thoroughly
scoured that the remaining Indians were driven out of the region lying
between the Musselshell and the Dry Fork of the Missouri River.
On the 17th of December, Bull Eagle. Tall Bull, Red Cloth and
another chief approached the Tongue River cantonment with a white
flag, but were shot by Crow Indians, whose antipathy to the old enemies
who had robbed them of the country, broke forth, before any effort could
be made to arrest the attack. The best satisfaction possible was given by
way of explanation and presents ; but General Crook, in referring to the
matter, says: "The affair was most unfortunate, as their coming in
would have secured the surrender of at least 1,000 fighting men."
"Already," says Colonel Carrington, "the supervision of the lower
Brule, Cheyenne River and Standing Rock agencies had been turned over
to the military authorities (as early as July), so that captured Indians
* "Outline of Indian Operations," by Col. Henry B. Carrington.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 359
could be brought together and the peaceable kept from roaming; and
army officers also discharged the duties of agents at Red Cloud and
Spotted Tail agencies. To all of them there came, for food and winter
shelter, bands of the very Indians who participated in the fights in the
Big Horn country."
The policy toward the Indians from 1876 on, was to be carried along
the lines of concentrating them into permanent agencies and treating
them as wards of the Government, rather than as legal possessors of the
country, the relinquishment of which must be obtained through formal
treaties. The pre-eminence of the military establishment was, at least,
temporarily recognized, and in the summer of 1876 the secretary of
war urged the establishment of two new posts — Fort Custer, on the Big
Horn below the old site of Fort C. F. Smith and only a few miles from the
disastrous battlefield, and Fort Keogh, at the confluence of the Tongue
and Yellowstone, just south of the present Miles City. Fort Keogh
was named after Custer's heroic captain.
In January, 1877, Colonel Miles drove Crazy Horse and his band
from Tongue River Valley to the Big Horn Mountains. During a sub-
sequent campaign against Lame Deer, in the Rosebud Valley, he narrowly
escaped assassination at the hands of one of the chiefs who had been cap-
tured— Iron Star. The treacherous savage shook hands with Colonel
Miles, then picking up his carbine fired, the ball missing its mark, but
killing a soldier behind him. This was after protection had been offered
to all who would surrender. On the 5th of September, 1877, Crazy Horse
made an attempt to escape from Camp Robinson, but was recaptured.
He afterward was killed in a needless encounter.
Sitting Bull Squatting in British America
On the 17th of October, Gen. A. H. Terry and Hon. A. J. Lawrence
had a conference with Sitting Bull at Fort Walsh, Canada, at which time
he refused all peace overtures and asserted that he purposed to con-
tinue under British rule. The year closed with comparative peace in
the three departments of the plains, broken, however, by the pursuit of
Chief Joseph and his heroic little band of Idaho Nez Perces through
Western, Southern and Northern Montana.
Pursuit of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perces
In May, 1877, councils were held with Chief Joseph, Looking Glass
and White Bird by representatives of the Interior Department and Gen.
O. H. Howard, commander of the military department of the Columbia,
and the representatives of the Indians had examined various localities
proposed for their reservation. The commission were satisfied that the
Nez Perces would remove to the reservation proposed in the Wallowa
Valley. The date fixed for their removal was June 14th, but prior to that
time the Indians commenced hostilities along White Bird Creek, near
Mount Idaho.
360 HISTORY OF MONTANA
The troops at the disposal of General Howard were few, but he made
the most of them and waged a vigorous offensive campaign, with the
assistance of local military organizations. The Nez Perces were finally
driven into the Bitter Root Mountains. They were endeavoring to
escape to the Buffalo country of Montana in the north, when, on August
9, 1877, they were attacked at Big Hole Pass, by Colonel Gibbon, of the
Seventh Infantry and commander of the Montana District. At that time,
General Sherman was at Bozeman, and had dispatched the command
post-haste, in an endeavor to throw the retreating Indians back upon
General Howard who was still in pursuit. His report of August nth
shows his loss in that furious engagement at seven officers and fifty-three
men killed and wounded. Among the killed were Capt. William Logan,
and Lieut. James H. Bradley, of the Seventh Infantry.
B.^TTLE .^T Big Hole P.as.s
Colonel Gibbon was himself wounded, and thus telegraphed to Gov-
ernor Potts :
"Big Hole Pass, August 9, 1877.
"Had a fight with the Nez Perces. We are here near the mouth of
Big Hole Pass, with a large number of wounded men in want of every-
thing; food, clothing, medicine and medical attendance. Send assistance
at once
"John Gibbon, Colonel Commanding."
While Colonel Gibbon was thus trying to head off the retreating
Nez Perces, with an original force of only 191 men, including thirty-
four citizens. General Howard, with a small escort pushing ahead of his
column, over a rough country, reached Colonel Gibbon on the 12th and
telegraphed to General McDowell's headquarters : "Gibbon's command
is in the best of spirits. The last of the Indians left last night. Shall
continue the pursuit as soon as my command is up." As the result of
this battle, eighty-nine bodies of Indians were found on the field, showing
that their loss was equal to half the number of whites engaged.
The retreat of the Nez Perces was southeast nearly to Bannack City,
thence southwest to Horse Prairie River and on to old Fort Limai. Their
only avenue of escape was to pass around Montana to the south, and
then strike north, east of Fort Ellis (near the present Bozeman), avoid-
ing settlements and posts as much as possible. Upon reaching Henry's
Fork of Snake River, they turned north toward Henry's Lake, which is
southeast of \'irginia City and nearly at the source of Henry's Fork, with
General Howard in close pursuit. At camp Meadow, near the lake, they
turned and attacked General Howard's column, killing one man, wound-
ing seven and capturing nearly a hundred horses.* On the 27th of August,
the ragged, hungry, defiant little band of Indians, protecting a far greater
number of women and children than they could muster as warriors.
* Near this locality in the upper basin of Yellowstone Park, Chief Joseph and
his hand met a party of tourists headed by G. F. Cowan and wife.
Chief Joseph and the Cowan Party
362 HISTORY OF MONTANA
crossed the Yellowstone above the falls, at the upper end of a canyon
in the National Park (Joseph Peak), just north of the Sulphur Moun-
tains, Northwestern Wyoming. They then took the Clark's Fork Trail.
Colonel Merritt, of the Fifth Cavalry, with six companies of that regi-
ment, and another company of the Third, and fifty Shoshone scouts,
moved from the Goose Creek Camp to occupy the line of the Stinking
River and cut ofT the movements of tSie Nez Perces from the south, and
Col. S. D. Sturgis, of the Seventh Cavalry, left the New Crow Agency
at the forks of the Big and Little Rosebud to block their escape to the
north.
General Sheridan, in ordering the recall of Colonel Merritt, "unless
his presence should be longer needed in that direction," says that ''instead
of going up Clark's Fork, as was expected. Colonel Sturgis also went
over to Stinking Water, and while he was doing so the Indians came
down Clark's Fork and passed him." Still, on the 13th of September,
he overtook and had a fight with them on Canyon Creek, Clark's Fork,
and pursued them closely on the 14th and 15th. On the latter date he
reported the Indian loss at sixty and that "nine hundred ponies had been
dropped by the hostiles." and adds "I am going ahead this morning, and
propose to push them until they drop their whole herd, and I think they
will abandon nearly their last horse. Today, Howard, with infantry
and artillery, was north of the Yellowstone, below Clark's Fork. The
Sixteenth Infantry is moving on Musselshell."
The remaining Nez Perces eluded further punishment, crossed the
Yellowstone, Musselshell and Missouri, and safely entered the Bear Paw
Mountains, south of Milk River in the country of the Blackfeet and
Bloods. On the i8th of September, Colonel Miles, having learned on
the evening of the 17th, from General Howard, then on Clark's Fork,
that the Nez Perces had evaded the commands to the north of them
and were pushing northward, at once organized all the available force
at his conmiand for a movement to intercept or pursue. The commission
sent to have an interview with Sitting Bull in the British possession had
already left with an escort from the Second and Seventh Cavalry regi-
ments. This was overtaken, and the combined force moved on without
delay.
Chief Joseph's Last St.'^nd
The march led directly to the north of Musselshell, nearly north-
west, thence around the eastern and northern bases of the Little Rocky
Mountains to Snake Creek, a fork of the Milk River, the distance of
265 miles being accomplished in ten days. On the evening of September
29th, Colonel Miles' troops reached the northern end of Bear Paw
Mountain, which the Nez Perces had approached from the south, and
he was between them and ]\Iilk River. From the official report of the
commander, it is learned that the expedition entered the mountain range
at 4 o'clock A. M. of the 30th. and the Indian trail was struck two
hours later near the head of Snake Creek. The village on Eagle Creek,
HISTORY OF MONTANA 363
a short distance farther west, was immediately charged in front by the
battalion of the Seventh Cavalry under Capt. Owen Hale, and the Fifth
Infantry, Capt. Simon Snyder. A battalion of the Second Cavalry,
Capt. George L. Tyler, attacked in the rear and secured the stock, to
the number of 700 horses, mules and ponies. The Indians took refuge
in some deep ravines, and the tiring was accurate and well kept up. To
avoid the loss of life, incident to storming these positions, from which
the Indians could not escape, the troops remained for four days on the
alert, shelling the ravines and exchanging shots, whenever it was found
efifective. White flags were displayed, and communications were had
with the Indians several times, but on the 5th of October, 1877, they sur-
rendered arms and ammunition, and the contest was at an end. Looking
Glass and several of the chiefs, including a brother of Joseph, and
twenty-five Indians had been killed, and forty-six Indians were wounded.
The casualties of the command were Capt. Owen Dale and 2nd Lieut.
Joseph W. Biddle, both of the Seventh Cavalry, killed ; Capt. Miles Moy-
lan and Edward S. Godfrey, Seventh Cavalry, ist Lieut. George W.
Baird and Lieut. Henry Romeyn, Fifth Infantry, wounded. Enlisted
men, nineteen killed and forty-two wounded.
It is stated by commissioner of Indian affairs in his report for
1877, "That Joseph observed the rules of civilized warfare, and did
not mutilate dead enemies," whereas Red Cloud and his bands, in 1866,
in their first resentment of the invasion of the Big Horn country,
committed atrocities upon living captives of a kind unrecorded else-
where in human history.
Colonel Carrington, commenting upon the wonderful retreat of Joseph
and his people from Idaho through such considerable portions of Mon-
tana, says : "The Nez Perces campaign grew out of wrongs inflicted
upon their people. It is the old story; and after all due resentment is
expended upon Joseph for murders committed by his band in the im-
mediate vicinity of their old home in Idaho, this war must be classed
among the inevitable results of violated treaties and original trespass
upon the red man's rights."
General Shanks commanded the Seventli Indiana Cavalry during the
Civil war, and states that "Joseph's party was thoroughly disciplined;
that they rode at full gallop along the mountain side in a steady forma-
tion by fours ; formed twos, at a given signal, with perfect precision,
to cross a narrow bridge ; then galloped into line, reigned in to a sudden
halt, and dismounted with as much system as if regulars."
Captain Romeyn's Account
Capt. Henry Romeyn, of the Fifth LTnited States Infantry, com-
manded by Col. Nelson A. Miles, has written a full account of the cap-
ture of Chief Joseph and his band, with the campaign leading to it (Vol.
II, Contributions of Historical Society of Montana). He says: "The
campaign of 1876 in the valley of the Yellowstone had been nearly
a fruitless one. The overwhelming disaster of the 7th United States
364 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Cavalry and the massacre of the greater part of its officers and enlisted
men had been followed by an abortive attempt of the commanders of the
departments of the Platte and Dakota to force the Indians to a fight,
as it had been preceded by a drawn battle on the headwaters of the
Rosebud. It fell to the lot of the 5th United States Infantry under its
indefatigable leader to strike about the only blow of the year which had
any lasting efifect, when late in October that command met the Sioux
north of the Yellowstone not far below the mouth of Powder river,
and forced them into a flight and most of them finally into a surrender
and return to the agencies on the Missouri river ; Sitting Bull with
most of his band, including several of the more prominent warriors
escaping across the Canadian line. This had been followed by the
winter campaign against Crazy Horse and his band up the valley of the
Tongue river, in which they were driven from their camps which were
destroyed, and this action by the surrender of most of the Northern
Cheyennes at Tongue River cantonment.
"Then in May the band of Lame Deer had been struck in its camp
on a tributary of the Rosebud and scattered over the country, with the
loss of some of its best warriors, all of its best horses and its camp.
"A month later, a column consisting of portions of the 2nd and 7th
Cavalry, and ist, 5th and 22nd Infantry, was sent into the field, the 5th
being mounted on Indian hor.ses captured as above stated. But no fight
took place, though the remnants of Lame Deer's camps were trailed over
four hundred miles, through eastern Montana, western Dakota and
northern Wyoming, to the end that the Indians finally abandoned the
field and sought shelter at the agencies in the Department of the
Platte.
"Late in the autumn of 1876 the troops located at the mouth of
Tongue river had constructed shelters made of logs placed on end
in a trench dug in the soil and 'capped' with a plate or log, on which
rested a roof of poles and earth ; not uncomfortable as far as warmth
was concerned in winter, but terribly damp and leaky in the heavy rains
of spring. But material and labor for constructing a new post were on
the way, and as soon as possible after the ice was out of the stream,
boats began to arrive, and at times the banks of the heretofore silent
river assumed the appearance of a 'levee' of a lower Mississippi town —
on one occasion all the steamers being tied at the landing at once.
"A large proportion of the army was represented at the new camp
during the summer. The ist, 5th, 6th, 7th, nth and 22d regiments of
infantry had each one or more companies there, with what was known
as the Montana Battalion of the 2d and most of what remained of the
7th Cavalry. Scouting was kept in all directions from the new camp,
but with little result.
"On the afternoon of September 17, 1877, news of the escape of the
Nez Perces from the various commands sent against him and the cross-
ing of the Indians to the northern bank of the Yellowstone in their
flight to the Canadian border, reached Colonel Miles and his troops in
their new camp at the mouth of the Tongue. An hour later, his 350
HISTORY OF MONTANA 365
men including a large scouting detachment of regulars, citizens and Chey-
ennes, with two small pieces of artillery, were also moving across the
Yellowstone and toward the Missouri, at the mouth of the Musselshell.
Four of the five infantry companies were mounted on horses captured
from Lame Deer's band the previous spring. As the remainder of the
command consisted of regular cavalry, Colonel Miles's men were vir-
tually all mounted, and well equipped for rapid pursuit of the fleeing
Nez Perces.
"While the expedition was gathering at the mouth of the Mussel-
shell preparing to march up its valley and cut off the Indians, a small
Mackinaw boat came floating around a bend of the Missouri and the
two men in it informed the colonel that the Nez Perces had crossed the
river at Cow island two days before and had gone north. The route
of the pursuing party was accordingly changed, and on the 29th of Sep-
tember when a point had been reached just northeast of the Bear Paw
mountains, the Cheyenne scouts found a broad and fresh trail of the
retreating Indians leading due north.
"When the cavalry finally reached the Nez Perces's camp, they found
it was located on a small stream called Snake creek. It proved in an
excellent position for defense, as it was in a kidney-shaped depression
covering about six acres of ground along the western side of which the
stream ran in a tortuous course, while through it, from the steep bluflfs
forming its eastern and southern sides, ran coulees from two to six
feet in depth and fringed with enough sage brush to hide the heads of
their occupants. Here the Nez Perce chieftain had pitched his camp
and here he now made his last stand for battle. From the point where
the camp could first be seen it appeared open to attack from all but
its eastern side, and even that was overlooked by bluffs too steep to be
readily ascended. At the south end of the valley, or camp ground,
there was an almost perpendicular bluff that afforded excellent cover
for a line firing toward the point from which the attacking party was
advancing. This point of vantage was instantly occupied by the Nez
Perces who, withholding their fire until the Seventh Cavalry were within
two hundred yards, then delivered it with murderous effect.
"Captain Hale and Lieutenant J. W. Biddle were killed at the first
fire, and Captains Moylan and Godfrey wounded immediately afterward,
thereby leaving but one officer with the three troops. All the first ser-
geants were killed. Wherever the Indians heard a voice raised in com-
mand, there they at once directed their fire with the evident design
of picking off the officers. As they came up, the other commands were
posted, one of them cutting off a herd of ponies and capturing the ani-
mals. When the camp was first discovered, a portion of the lodges had
been struck and about one hundred ponies packed for the day's march.
These, guided by women and children and accompanied by fifty or sixty
warriors, were at once rushed out and started northward. An attempt
was made to cut off their retreat by a troop of cavalry. The Indians
halted for fight after going about five miles from the main body, and,
finding a large portion of their pursuers encumbered by the care of the
366 HISTORY OF MONTANA
ponies which they had captured shortly before, boldly assumed the of-
fensive and forced the soldiers back, although they failed in their efforts
to retake the stock.
"Most of the Indians succeeding in getting back through the invest-
ing lines and joining their companions in the defense. So well had
these succeeded in covering themselves that scarcely one could be seen;
but from their concealment they sent shots with unerring aim at every
head exposed by the troops. When the cavalry occupied the bluffs east
of the camp, they forced the abandonment of the steep bluff' from which
the Indians had first fired upon them, and as the Fifth Infantry came
up it was halted at its crest. Here it was greeted by a hot fire from the
sheltered coulees, or draws, in low ground in front, some of them not
more than fifty yards away, and men and horses began to drop before
they could be dismounted. The Hotchkiss gun was brought up and an
attempt made to shell the Indians from their cover, but it could not
be depressed enough to be effective and was soon driven from the position
with severe loss to its gunners. Between fifty and sixty of the lodges
were still standing in the valley, and in them, and at any other place
where they could be protected from fire, the Indian women began to
sink pits for shelter. Many of the warriors worked their way up to
the edges of the bluff's, through the coulees which seamed their faces,
and, digging into the bank, through the soil thus obtained up over the
top, soon having very formidable rifle pits in use. From these they
picked off every man who rose to his feet on the level ground east of
their defenses. As the distance was so short every shot could be made
to tell. An officer had one shot through his belt, another carried away his
field-glass, while a third took off his hunting knife and cut the skin from
an ear. Creeping carefully up to the edge of the bluff to look over, a
bullet instantly lifted the hat and lock of hair for a sergeant, and
another went through the head of a comrade at his side. A company of
the Fifth Infantry charged the Indian camp, but were driven away with
considerable loss, and as soon as darkness closed the white troops were
posted around the valley to prevent, if possible, the escape of any of the
defenders. The line was necessarily a thin one and despite all precau-
tions a few, among them White Bird and some of his band who had been
responsible for outrages leading to the first outbreak, succeeded in escap-
ing and joining those already in Canadian territory. Aside from the
Nez Perces there was another possible, if not probable, element of dan-
ger and strife to be guarded against.
"Sitting Bull with a band reinforced by renegades from the agencies
was not far away, and should he and they decide to take part in the
fray there would be 'work cut out' for every man ; all that he could do.
Hearing of the battle and that 'Bear Coat' was in command of the troops
they not only did not come, but struck camp and did not halt in their
northward flight until more than a day's march had been placed between
them and the line.
"If to the men on duty that night was one of watchfulness; to the
wounded it was one of ceaseless agony. There was no fuel at hand,
HISTORY OF MONTANA 367
and none of the troops could be spared to obtain any from a distance.
The night was bitterly cold, the train with the tents had not arrived, and
the morning of October first dawned on a sad sight. Some had died
during the night, while others supposed to be dead now revived to a
sense of misery and suffering. Officers and enlisted men, white and
Indian allies, to the number of fifty or more, lay in that little hollow
place together. To add to the discomfort a snow storm set in and by
night four or five inches had fallen upon the combatants and disabled
alike. Up to that time the Indians had the advantage of the troops in
this respect for their shelters had not been destroyed and the wounded
in the pits beneath them were of course protected to a great extent from
the storm. During the night of September thirtieth, however, the troops
threw up such intrenchments as could be made with the few tools at
hand, and from that time the losses were very few. With the Indians
still in possession of the water, well supplied with provisions captured
on the Missouri, able to utilize the meat of animals killed by our fire
and with considerable ammunition, the siege promised to extend in-
definitely.
"On the evening of October first, the train under command of Capt.
Brotherton arrived. Tents were at once put up to shelter the wounded,
but in the darkness were so placed that they could be reached by the
rifles of the Indians and, upon being lighted up, drew the fire of the
enemy, whereby at least one man was wounded. The twelve-pounder
was also with the train, and scarcely had day dawned on the second
before its boom told the Indians that a new element had entered for
their destruction. Still it was almost impossible, owing to the shape
of the ground, to bring it to bear on the pits now occupied by the
hostiles, who, as soon as shells fell in their camp, abandoned it and
all took refuge in the banks of the crooked 'coulees' where no direct
fire could be made to reach and where the shells, if burst over them,
were likewise liable to injure our men on the high ground beyond. A
dropping or mortar fire was, however, obtained by sinking the trail of
the gun in a pit dug for it and using a high elevation with a small charge
of powder. This made the fire effective, and late in the afternoon of
the second Joseph raised a white flag. Cheers greeted its first appear-
ance and soon under it the Nez Perce Chief, his clothing pierced with
over a dozen bullets although he was still unharmed, stood face to face
with his opponent.
"While he was willing to treat he did not admit that his case was
desperate, and his first proposition was to be allowed to march out armed
and mounted, abandoning only the position to his foe. He was willing to
fight still, but wished to save his women and children. So did the op-
posing commander, though refusing to entertain this proposition, and
the Nez Perce went back to renew the battle.
"The storm still continued. The troops in the trenches, unable to
erect any shelters, were exposed to its inclemency for all that the arrival
of the wagon train with its guard had permitted the gathering of fuel
from some timber several miles away.
368
HISTORY OF MONTANA
"On the third another parley was held, the terms proposed being a
surrender of persons, all property and arms to be held by the Indians.
This was refused, but afterwards modified to the surrendering of the
property taken from the river, they to retain the stock and arms and to
return to their own country. This was all the chief would ofTer, and
he returned to his followers disappointed, but not defeated. While
Joseph was in conference with General Miles, Lieutenant Jerome, of the
2d Cavalry, taking advantage of the truce, made his way into the Indian
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camp where he remained during the night and from which he was al-
lowed to depart unharmed the next morning.
"On the morning of the fourth the position of the gun was changed
and the second shell fired dropped into what had been a safe position,
making sad havoc, killing and disabling about a dozen persons. Con-
vinced that the total destruction of his people was only a question of
time, Joseph again hosted the white flag and surrendered.
"General Howard had arrived on the ground the previous night and
was present at the surrender, which was, however, made to General
Miles.
"The four companies of the 5th Infantry present during the first two
days aggregated about ninety men and officers, and Captain Brother-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 369
ton brought up about forty with the wagon train. Of the latter, how-
ever, none were killed or wounded. The aggregate of the 7th Cavalry
battalion was one hundred and eight men and officers ; that of the 2d
Cavalry about one hundred and twenty-five. Total killed, two offi-
cers and twenty-two enlisted men ; wounded, four officers and thir-
ty-eight enlisted men. Two Indian scouts were also killed and a
number wounded. The heaviest loss fell upon the 7th Cavalry, and
was nearly all inflicted at the first attack. The 2d Cavalry suffered but
little, as they were principally in charge of the captured herd during the
first and no attempt was made by the owners to recapture it.
"The Nez Perces acknowledged a loss of seventeen killed and forty
wounded. Some of the latter died during the march back to the Mis-
souri. The total number of those who escaped to Canada was afterwards
ascertained to be one hundred and four. The captives numbered eighty-
seven men, one hundred and eighty-four women and one hundred and
forty-seven children, a total of four hundred and eighteen. The pro-
portion of the sexes and ages of those killed is not known.
"Two days were spent at the battle ground after the surrender, giving
necessary attention to the wounded, burying the dead, and arranging for
transportation of those unable to travel on horseback to the river. The
only ambulance with the command was given up to two enlisted men, one
of whom had a broken thigh, the other shot through the hips. They lived
to reach the river, but the latter died as he was carried on board the
steamer. Wagons, the beds of which were filled with small brush cov-
ered with grass, were utilized for the conveyance of such others as could
not bear transportation on horseback. Much of the country was rough
and broken in character, and, though all possible care was exercised, the
suffering of many of the injured was intense. The brush and grass soon
became unevenly packed down and every jolt of the wagon seemed to
open up fresh wounds.
"Two steamers had been ordered to the point where the column was
to reach the river, and on them the crossing to the south bank was made ;
those of the whites too badly wounded to bear further land transporta-
tion being sent down the river, the infantry to Fort Buford, the cavalry
to Fort Lincoln."
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In the Gold Mining Days
CHAPTER XVI
MINING OF SILVER, COPPER AND COAL
In the chapter (XI) on the "Mineral Geology of Montana" is told
Nature's story of the deposits of mineral wealth within the present
limits of the state. The glow of gold first encouraged its settlers to
develop them into commercial value, and for years that mineral wasi all
powerful. The industrial and commercial side of the reign of gold
has also been turned toward the reader. Now for silver, copper and
coal, as well as the still more recent candidate for popular favor — that
"liquid gold," which is so closely connected with the fields of coal.
Butte Fails .\s a Gold District
The rich gold deposits, both placer and quartz, were in the Bannack
and Virginia City districts ; at Butte, conditions were comparatively
unfavorable. Placer mining was most unprofitable. Not only were the
diggings shallow, but the gold was of low grade, was distributed in fine
particles and brought only $ii to $14 an ounce. Neither was there any
available stream for washing, and the gravel had to be hauled by ox-team
to Silver Bow Creek. This lack of running water led to the construc-
tion of a number of ditches, in 1865-66. They generally connected Sil-
ver Bow Creek with the Butte diggings ; but the fourth ditch constructed
was dug from Divide Creek to the placer diggings at Silver Bow, which
was the first recorded instance of the waters of the Missouri being car-
ried to the Pacific watershed and used for mining.
An account of these spasmodic attempts to found gold mining in the
Butte region on a paying basis, continues : "The completion of these
ditches, with the facilities they afforded for washing gold-bearing gravel
added much to the prospects of Butte, which burst for a time into the
spectacular prosperity of the typical 'boom' camp. Hurdy-gurdy houses
and the 'wide-open' gambling dens, besides innumerable saloons, were
in full blast. It is estimated that during the three years that placer
mining was carried on in Butte about $1,000,000 in gold was obtained.
"The quartz veins on the hills adjoining the placer mines were almost
immediately located by prospectors. The first vein-location was made
by W. L. Farlin in 1864, who staked the Asteroid claim on the great
blackstained quartz reef west of the present city. This location called
the Black Chief and afterward the Travona, was originally discovered
early in 1S64 by Charles Murphy, Maj. William Graham and Frank
Madison, who named it the Deer Lodge lode. During the following two
371
372
HISTORY OF MONTANA
years numbers of locations were made, but at that time only free milling
gold ores were sought ; the black manganese-stained outcrops of the sil-
ver veins were not considered especially valuable.
"Several claims on the Rainbow lode at Walkerville were staked dur-
ing the '60s, and ore from the Mountain Chief shaft was hauled by
wagon to Fort Benton, shipped down the Missouri and taken to Newark,
New Jersey. By the autumn of 1867 many of the smaller placer mines
were worked out. The ever restless and shifting population began to
disperse and Butte was well nigh deserted. In the winter of 1868
and 1869, the firm of Barnard & Company constructed a new ditch from
William A. Cl.\rk
Divide Creek to the placer mines at Pioneer Gulch near Silver Bow City.
That camp, which had shared the same depression as its neighbor, Butte,
received a new impetus. During the spring and summer, there was a
'stampede' to Silver Bow ; its population suddenly swelled to about one
thousand; the ditch company sold water for fifty cents an inch for
ten hours, wages were $6 a day, nearly a hundred claims were working
and many buildings from Butte were moved to its thriving rival."
Rise of Silver Mining
Interest in the Montana silver ores was reflected from the great
Comstock lode in Nevada, and in 1865 a rich vein of the mineral was
discovered in the Black Chief, or Travona claim, just west of Butte.
The Parrot lead, named in honor of R. R. Parrot, a leading attorney, by
Dennis Leary and others, was discovered and brought other improve-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 373
merits. Little arrastres and smelters commenced to appear for the treat-
ment of the silver ores, Mr. Leary and the Porter Brothers being espe-
cially prominent in these matters in connection with the Parrot lode.
Introducing Willi.xm A. Clark
"The first important stride in the development of Butte as a silver-
producing center was in 1875, when work began in earnest on the Tra-
vona and W. L. Farlin commenced the Dexter lo-stamp mill and fur-
nace close to the mine, treating the ores by chloridizing roasting and
amalgamation. In the following year William A. Clark completed the
mill, and started the first really successful treatment of the local silver
ores. From $25 to $30 per ton was charged for smelting, and the
wonderful career of the Butte district as a producer of silver and cop-
per was launched. In 1875, also, McEnery & Packard discovered the
Acquisition claim. Some rich silver ore was taken from it and shipped
to Walker Brothers of Salt Lake City. Naturally, they became inter-
ested in the district which produced such ore, and they sent Marcus Daly,
then in their employ, to examine the country, and if possible, secure a
promising claim. Thus were introduced to Montana two of the greatest
developers of its mining properties.
Marcus D-^ly
Mr. Daly obtained a bond on the Alice Mine, which commenced
operation in the summer of 1876 and opened the great Anaconda hill to
the mining world. Robert Walker and Prof. Joshua E. Clayton came
on to examine the ground closely and scientifically, and the latter
gave the name to the famous Rainbow lode which carried such claims
as the Alice, Magna Charta, Valdemere and Moulton. After the initial
shaft had been sunk to a depth of 200 feet, an old stamp mill was brought
from Utah, in the autumn of 1877, and commenced to dry-crush the
ores. A roaster was added within the following two years, and the enter-
prise "panned out" so well that the Alice Company constructed a 60-stamp
mill in 1880.
Similar improvements were introduced on the Moulton claim and by
the Silver Bow Mining and Milling Company, but the leading mine of
the region up to that time was the Alice, under the masterly management
of Marcus Daly and the ownership of Walker Brothers of Salt Lake
City. Mr. Daly had acquired a one-third interest in the Anaconda mine,
which property embraced a number of other claims, and in 1881 the
Anaconda Silver Mining Company leased the Dexter mill and treated 8,000
tons of oxidized silver ore from its properties. The ore was said to con-
tain "just enough copper to make it unnecessary to add bluestone in raw
amalgamation, but yielded a very base bullion, some of which ran only
400 fine." The outlook was so discouraging that Daly's partners might
have abandoned the Anaconda bonanza, had it not been for his insistence
and confidence. His belief that they would strike copper rich, instead of
374 HISTORY OF MONTANA
silver, was justified, when at a depth of 300 feet, a cut was run across the
main shaft and laid bare a copper glance five feet in thickness. Daly had
already spent a fortune in proving his judgment.
Prof. Walter H. Weed, the geologist, writes as follows regarding
the decline of Montana as a silver-producing country: "The climax of
what may be called the silver period of Butte's history was reached in
1887. when the Alice mill was dropping 80 stamps, the Moulton 40,
the Lexington 50, the Bluebird 9, and the Silver Bow 30 — a total of 290
stamps. The amount of ore worked in these mills aggregated nearly
440 tons a day, to which should be added the silver ores shipped to the
smelters, aggregating probably 100 tons a day. All this ore carried con-
siderable gold. The average yield was probably about $25 a ton in gold
and silver.
"The period of active silver mining continued until 1893, when, in
common with other silver producers, the Butte mines were almost pros-
trated by the decline in the price of silver. A few mines, notably the
Nettie and Lexington, continued to work up to 1896-97, and others have
worked at intervals since then, but none has been an active producer since
1893, save the Lexington, in which veins carrying copper are mined.
"In the history of Butte the metallurgical advance in the treatment of
the silver ores has been very steady, the free-milling process giving place
to chlorination and roasting, and these in turn to more improved methods,
so that ores lower and lower in grade could be treated. With the great
decline in silver in 1892-93 and the closing down of all the large silver
plants in 1896, the mining of silver ores became of relatively slight im-
portance and has since been carried on chiefly by lessees. The present
(1913) importance of Butte as a producer of silver and gold is due to
the fact that each pound of copper produced contains 0.0375 ounce of
silver and $0.0025 in gold, or approximately $o.02i/2 in precious metals.
According to this ratio the Butte copper mines yielded 8,550,000 ounces
of silver in 1891."
It should not be understood that the production of silver in Montana
decreased precipitately after 1896. Butte, as the great center, was most
hard pressed, but as a whole the decrease throughout the state was not
especially noticeable until 1906, when the production fell from $17,359,-
912 (1905) to $8,027,072 (1906).
During the World war, and since, there has been an upward tendency
in silver production, the improvement being noticeable outside the Butte
district. In Jefiferson County, silver properties which shut down a quarter
of a century ago and which had produced as high as $15,000,000 before
the bottom fell out of that metal, are being revived. Says the 1920 Year
Book of Montana : "Time has been required to pump them out, retimber
shafts and drifts and make them ready to produce, but already they are
producing a goodly tonnage of ore, which there is every reason to believe
will be largely increased in the next few months. The old silver mining
camp of Neihart, Cascade County, has experienced the same recrudes-
cence as the Jefferson County district. The same is true of the Philips-
burg district. Granite County, which has also benefited from its
HISTORY OF MONTANA 375
Manganese deposits. In Northwestern Montana, in Lincoln County, the
Snow Storm mine, a big silver and lead producer, has continued opera-
tions. The Boston & Montana, operating in the Elkhorn district of Beaver-
head County, this year completed the building of a 38-mile narrow-gauge
railroad to give it outside communication and it will soon be in a position
to operate. Development of the Cooke City mining district, at the north-
eastern corner of the Yellowstone park, has been hindered by lack of
transportation facilities. Various projects are being pushed to overcome
this obstacle."
The Rule of Copper
The rise of the copper period of mining overlaps the decline of silver
as a great Montana product. The decade from 1888 to 1898 shows the
output running almost neck-and-neck, ranging from $15,000,000 to more
than $26,000,000 yearly. In 1899, copper took an immense leap in pro-
duction to nearly $41,000,000, and since then it has reached nearly $100.-
000,000.
The late '70s brought a tremendous development to the copper min-
ing and related industries of Montana, largely through the broad and
wise operations of Mr. Daly and 'Mr. Clark. The former was develop-
ing the riches of the Anaconda-Neversweat mine and Mr. Clark was
manipulating such claims as the Original, Colusa, Mountain Chief and
Gambetta. Mr. Clark was the first person to ship copper in commercial
quantities from Butte ; but at that time transportation charges absorbed
all possible profits. The first charge — an appalling item — was for haul-
ing the ore a distance of 400 miles by wagon train to Corrine, the nearest
railway station. Much of the ore was shipped either to Baltimore, Mary-
land, or Black Hawk, Colorado, for smelting and reduction. The Boston
& Colorado Smelting Company had a plant at the latter place. In re-
sponse to a suggestion from Mr. Clark, that company sent a representa-
tive to the Butte district to examine the local claims that a smelter would
be supported there. The report was favorable, the Colorado and Mon-
tana Smelting Company was organized in 1879, a site for the new plant
purchased and the reduction works were built ; which made both the
mining and preparation of copper for the market a home industry.
In the '80s, the railroads furnished an outlet for the products of the
great copper country of Montana. On December 21, 1881, the Utah
Northern entered Butte, and gave the district access to the Union Pacific
system, and thus to the markets of the world. On July 12, 1888, the
Montana Central Railway, which for some months had been racing with
the Northern Pacific to reach Butte, was completed and thrown open to
traffic. The Northern Pacific did not complete its branch from Helena
to Butte, but a few years later built a line from Three Forks to Butte.
The Montana Union road, from Butte through the Deer Lodge Valley
to Garrison, on the Northern Pacific, built by the LInion Pacific interests,
was finished on September 8, 1883, and subsequently became a portion
of the Northern Pacific system.
376 HISTORY OF MONTANA
F. Augustus Heinze Comes
With the advent of the railroads to the copper country, there was
also introduced a stirring genius of the mining world who was to share
the Montana honors with William A. Clark and Marcus Daly. F. Augus-
tus Heinze had a small capital bequeathed to him by a German relative
and is said to have had rich connections also. He directed his studies
at Columbia College toward the western career which he had planned,
obtained a position as mine surveyor with the Boston & Montana Com-
pany and in 1889 arrived at Butte in the capacity named. In the careful
and scientific examination of its Montana properties, Mr. Heinze ob-
tained a fund of practical information, which he soon used in the devel-
opment of independent ventures. On March 11, 1893, he organized the
Montana Ore Purchasing Company and, having secured several leases,
began operations on the Ramsdell-Parrot, Estella, Rarus and Glengarry,
subsequently buying the last two mines outright, as well as the Corra-
Rock Island and Nipper mines. "With his advent as the head of a cor-
poration, Mr. Heinze took his place as the most picturesque and daring
figure in the whole great game," says a writer of the times, "where for-
tunes were fought for, made and lost through bitter struggle and acrid
hostility."
Daly Develops Anaconda Properties
About the time that the Heinze element was introduced to the mining
interests of Alontana, Marcus Daly was raising the Anaconda properties
to a condition of wonderful productiveness. In the late '80s the ore output
of 500 tons daily had outgrown the smelting capacity of the Upper
Works on the north banks of Warm Springs Creek; and their recon-
struction, in 1886, did not meet the increasing demands. The Lower
Works, a mile east of the older plant, having a capacity of 3,000 tons
daily, were put in operation in the fall of 1889, although the new plant
had been destroyed by fire. Within the following few years two con-
verter plants were erected and the great Anaconda properties grew into
mammoth proportions, even after 1890, when ill health compelled Mr.
Daly to withdraw from active management and promotion, and spend
his time outside the Butte district. During the succeeding decade, Otto
Stalmann and John S. Daugherty held the reins over Anaconda, the
creator of the great properties dying in New' York City on the 12th of
November, 1900.
When Mr. Daly arrived in Butte, there were no smelting plants in
the West, and the ores produced by the Anaconda Company were at first
shipped to Swansea, Wales, for treatment. Without adequate water sup-
ply at Butte, he noted the great natural advantages for the construction
of a smelter at a point about twenty-eight miles west of the city. There
he built a plant suitable for his purposes, and called the town Anaconda
after the name of his company. To connect mines and works, his com-
pany built a railroad known as the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific, to trans-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 377
port the ore to the smeher at a minimum cost. Marcus Daly may
truthfully be called the father of Montana's copper industry.
Heinze vs. the Amalg.-^m.ated Copper Company
In the meantime — in the spring of 189Q — the Amalgamated Copper
Company was formed by the consolidation of the Anaconda Copper Com-
pany, the Parrot Company, Trenton Mining and Development Company,
Butte & Boston Consolidated Mining Company and Boston & Montana
Consolidated Copper and Silver Mining Company. The Amalgamated
also purchased the capital stock of the Washoe Copper Company and the
Colorado Mining and Smelting Company, afterward called the Trenton.
In 1901, the capital of this vast monopoly was increased from $750,000,-
000 to $1,555,000,000. Mr. Heinze was not permitted to enter the
charmed circle of the Amalgamated Copper Company, and proceeded to
fight it in the courts, with \V. A. Clark as its strongest representative in
Montana. The young German engineer and copper promoter now planted
himself before the public and in the courts of Silver Bow County, as the
champion of the miners and the people waging deadly war against the
great Amalgamated trust ; and, after several years of legal meanderings
and court entanglements, gained his points or contentions. Lack of space
and vital historic value make it possible to give only a general picture of
this passing show in the development of the practical copper interests of
Montana.
The chief offensive weapons used by Heinze against the Amalgamated
were the Montana Ore Purchasing Company, the Minnie Healy mine,
and his claim known as the Rarus quartz lode. He contended that the
latter little triangle of ground carried the apex of the rich copper veins
which were being developed by the Anaconda, St. Lawrence, Neversweat
and other leading mines absorbed by the Amalgamated. According to
miners' law, the apex controlled the veins, and Heinze proceeded to obtain
a court injunction, granted December 20, 1899, by which the mines named
were shut down and 3,000 miners thrown out of employment. The
miners and the people commenced to have doubts as to the practical advan-
tages of his championship. The court (Judge William Clancy) soon
revoked his injunction and the men returned to work.
In one of the cases which he brought against the Boston & Montana
Consolidated Company, directed specially against its Pennsylvania mine,
Heinze was directed by the court to furnish bonds to the amount of $950,-
000. The defendant petitioned the Supreme Court to increase that amount,
on the ground that Heinze had already removed from that claim ores
valued at $1,250,000; and the higher court ordered his bond increased by
$350,000 within twelve days. Not to comply with this order meant dis-
aster to Heinze, and on the day before the additional bond was due the
Delaware Security Company, "qualified to do business in Montana," was
created. Securities covering the $350,000 were furnished, and, if the
new corporation was not perfectly solid at the time, everything was made
tight and legal-proof before the conclusion of the investigation of its
responsibility ordered by the Supreme Court.
378 HISTORY OF .MONTANA
Other actions of momentous import to Heinze were the Minnie Healy
and Michael Davitt cases. "During the pendency of the ]\Iichael Davitt
suit," says a contemporaneous account, "the contending forces of Heinze
and the Amalgamated carried on underground warfare, employing dyna-
mite, hot water, steam and slaked lime as weapons. In this terrific strug-
gle two miners named Oleson and Divel, while attempting to install a
door as an upraise to prevent the Pennsylvania miners from being smoked
out, were killed by a quantity of giant powder which came down upon
them. The jury at the coroner's inquest over their bodies found that
the blast had been fired with criminal carelessness, if not with criminal
intent. Later the widow of Oleson obtained a verdict of $25,000 against
the Montana Ore Purchasing Company, a Heinze corporation. Federal
Judge Tames H. Beatty, on March 30, 1904, fined Heinze $20,000 for
the violation of an order issued by Judge Hiram Knowles prohibiting min-
ing in the premises in controversy, and it was claimed by the witnesses
for the Amalgamated properties that Heinze or his companies had taken
over $1,000,000 worth of ore from the Michael Davitt veins.
"In litigation involving the ownership of immensely valuable ore
bodies lying between the Minnie Healy claim and adjoining properties
belonging to the Amalgamated, the same tactics were pursued and, with
Clancy's decision awarding this ground to Heinze, a series of giant pow-
der blasts fired almost simultaneously with the rendition of the court's
ruling, shattered the area in conflict beyond the hope of mining operations
therein until the underground workings could be repaired. The Supreme
Court of Montana finally decided that Heinze had no right to these ore
bodies in dispute. The Amalgamated had destroyed its own properties
to prevent their falling into the hands of its enemy."
The controversy over the Minnie Healy property, which Heinze
secured in 1900 and which he claimed comprised the apex of several valu-
able veins, or mines, worked by the Boston & Montana Consolidated,
wound through the courts for about three years. Twice the County Court
decided in Heinze's favor, in one of the decisions Judge Clancy deciding
that the Amalgamated Copper Company was existing in violation of the
laws of Montana prohibiting trusts from operating within its limits. The
Amalgamated then closed its plants in Butte and thousands of men were
thrown out of employment. The bankers of Butte, the Miners Union,
Heinze, Governor J. K. Toole and the Legislative Assembly participated
in the imbroglio. In 1903, the Governor called an extraordinary session
to consider the matter, and on November nth of that year, the date of
his call, work was resumed on the properties of the Amalgamated. But
Heinze's opposition was not quieted until February, 1906, when the Butte
Coalition Company and the Red Metal Alining Company, affiliated with
the Amalgamated Copper Company, purchased the Heinze interests, ex-
cepting the Lexington mine, for the sum of $10,500,000. In 1910, the
Amalgamated also secured all the important holdings of William A. Clark,
save the Black Rock.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 379
Renewed Expansion and Depression
Not long after the resumption of work in the Amalgamated prop-
erties in 1903, Pittsburg capital entered Butte and Montana, and erected
an enormous smelter at the center of the copper industries. The com-
pany which thus so heartened the local promoters and braced the home
market took the name of Pitts-mont, which is easily analyzed. The dis-
covery of a very large vein by the new company, afterward absorbed by
the East Butte Copper Mining Company, established the existence of rich
copper deposits in the "flat."
In 1904, the North Butte Copper Company, then recently organized,
purchased a controlling interest in the Spectacular mine for $5,000,000,
and added to its holdings by securing a number of adjoining claims. The
successful development of the combined holdings caused the formation,
in 1905, of the East Butte Copper Company. Various other companies
began operations to the east, on the upward slope of the continental divide,
and in nearly every instance where sufficient depth was attained, copper
was found, proving that the veins extended beyond the limits of the sup-
posed copper zone. The gold fever at its height did not exceed the craze
for copper mining which spread through all classes. In the Butte dis-
trict and along every approach to it, "gophering" was general. Little
greenish white dumps, like ant-hills, speckled the dun level, ribs of tiny
shaft houses appeared on the foot-hills, and there was a general upheaval
in quest of the metal which had superseded both gold and silver as really
"precious." The price of copper rose to unprecedented prices, awaiting
the era of an expanded production.
The statistics showing the copper production of Montana indicate the
retarding influence exerted by the continuous litigations in the courts and
the physical acts of violence, with actual discontinuance of mining opera-
tions, during the period of the Heinze activities. From $40,941,906, in
1899, the production fell as low as $24,606,038, in 1902. It rose to $56,-
105,288, in 1906; $51,106,914, in 1912; $60,000,000, in 1915; $97,461,-
000, in 1916; $81,142,377, in 1917, and $79,824,189, in 1918.
The drafting of an industrial, as well as a military army into the
World's war, seriously affected the copper industries and the production
of Montana, and the figures were not slow in illustrating the fact. The
continuous decrease in the price of copper has had the greater efliect.
which has resulted in closing most of the Butte plants, and bringing the
working force of those which are in operation to a small percentage of
what it was in prosperous, or even normal times. The output of Mon-
tana copper decreased from 323,174,850 pounds in 1918 to 180,246,000
pounds in 19 19; which represents a decrease of $45,884,000 in value.
The average monthly production of the smelting plants of the Anaconda
Copper Company, at Great Falls and Anaconda, was nearly 13,000,000
pounds of copper, as against 24,500,000 pounds in 1918. The Pittsmont
plant of the East Butte Company produced more than 1,500,000 pounds
a month instead of 2,000,000 pounds, as in 1918. In addition to the
mines of the Anaconda and East Butte companies, the North Butte, Davis
380 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Daly, Butte Reduction Works dump, Butte Ramsdall, Elm Orlu, Butte
Duluth, Butte and Superior, Tuolumne and Bullwhacker produced con-
siderable copper.
Sampling Ores for Commercial Purposes
One of the most recent and important advances made by Montana
mining experts is the authorized state system of sampling its mineral pro-
ductions as a basis for commercial dealings. It is under the jurisdiction
of the State Bureau of Mines and Metallurgy, which was created by the
Legislative Assembly of Montana in 1919. One of the duties of the new
bureau was "to study the mining, milling and smelting operations carried
on in the state with special reference to their improvement ;" also, "to
prepare and to publish bulletins and reports, with necessary illustrations
and maps, which shall embrace both a general and detailed description of
the natural resources and geology, mines, mills and reduction plants of
the state." In 1920, the bureau therefore presented, in pamphlet form,
a study of sampling and the sampling facilities of Montana. From this
report it appears that whoever now mines ore in the state sells it on the
results of the analysis of a sample ; ore is purchased on its value as
determined by sampling ; the plants are operated on a basis of results from
sampled materials ; efficiencies and losses are all based on results from
samplings. Sampling is therefore one of the most vital and necessary
operations of modern mining and metallurgical industry."
*Woodbridge in a recent paper published by the United States Bureau
of Mines defines sampling as follows: "The correct sampling of a lot of
ore is the process of obtaining from it a smaller quantity that contains,
in unchanged percentages, all the constituents of the original lot." He
further qualifies and defines the operations in his next paragraph; "The
commercial object of sampling is accomplished when the ultimate sample
obtained meets the above conditions within an allowable limit of error,
and has been obtained with reasonable speed and at a moderate cost.
The final sample should be dry and of such bulk and degree of fineness
as to be immediately available for the determination by the assayer or
chemist of one or more of its constituents."
Four wholly different, yet essential, sorts of work may be done to
accomplish the intended purpose of sampling. The four operations are:
1. Crushing, or grinding.
2. Selecting — dividing or cutting.
3. Mixing.
4. Drying.
Sampling is now carried on extensively in Montana in seven sampling
mills and in at least five large and important ore-dressing mills. The
largest is the $150,000 steel-concrete custom ore sampling plant of the
Anaconda Mining Company which is known as the Washoe sampler, and
is situated on the main line of the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railroad at
♦ Woodbridge, J. T. ; U. S. Bureau of Mines, Technical Paper 86 (1916).
HISTORY OF MONTANA 381
Butte. The main mill portion was put in operation in 191 1, after a fire
had destroyed the previous structure.
The American Smelting & Refining; Company provides extensive
sampling facilities for the custom ores which maintains its lead smeltery
at East Helena. The smeltery started operations thirty years ago, and
some of the sampling mill construction dates from about that time. The
plant maintains three distinct sampling mills and a steel sampling floor.
The East Butte Copper Mining Company samples all of its second-
class ore and custom ore in a mill adjacent to its smeltery at Butte.
The Anaconda Copper Mining Company maintains two sampling mills
in its great smeltery at Anaconda. The mills are almost exclusively used
for sampling ores from its own mines, since custom ores are sampled in
the Washoe sampler at Butte. The Southern Cross sampling mill is a
plant addition made to the smeltery some three years ago by the company.
The paper issued by the State Bureau of Mines and Metallurgy has
this additional information about the sampling facilities of Montana:
"A great deal of sampling is done as part of the daily routine in all
concentrating and cyaniding mills. In ore treatment plants conditions are
decidedly favorable for cheap and accurate work. The greatest difficulty
is unquestionably in the sampling of mill heads where hardly less than a
full observance of all the rules for crushing and dividing can be expected
to supply precise data.
"Every tenth car of ore for the great Anaconda ij.ooo-ton concen-
trator is sampled in the Anaconda sampling mill which has already been
described. All the ore going to the East Butte concentrator is sampled
in the East Butte sampling mill, also one of the mills described in this
paper. The Butte and Superior concentrator feed is hand sampled every
half hour ; 50 pounds are taken at each interval. The Timber Butte
concentrator is equipped with a hand operated device which cuts out sam-
ples from the crushed feed as the stock pours from one conveyor head to
another conveyor. The Shannon mine of the Barnes King Company is
equipped with mechanical contrivances which automatically cut out por-
tions of the ore at the tramway loading station; the sample is worked
down to final pulp in the customary way.
"The sampling of the dififerent streams of mill pulp is carried out in
different degrees by various means in the several mills. Usually hand
samples are taken at designated intervals. Swinging stream samplers are
built in a variety of models and frequently used. A complete automatic
stream sampling system is in use at the Butte and Superior mill ; an elec-
trical timing and operating installation swings samplers across a half-
dozen streams at exactly 8-minute intervals. Milling work inevitably
smooths out inequalities in the raw ore ; the material is abundantly crushed ;
mixings and dispersions occur throughout the line of pulp flow. The
required precision of the sampling operation is obtained with slight ex-
pense for installation, upkeep, or attendance.
"Mill products can be sampled as pulps while the concentrates are
flowing to collecting bins ; they can be pipe-sampled as lots in bins or in
382 HISTORY OF MONTANA
railroad cars, or they can be hand-sampled by shovel and cone and quarter
methods.
"As a rule, ordinary mill sampling, except for the sampling of the
heads, is far easier to accomplish than the sampling of lots of custom ore ;
mill heads require practically the same treatment that lots get in the best
of custom samplers."
Peace Brings Stagnation
In the quantity and value of its output, zinc is third of the mineral
products' of Montana. It closely follows silver and, like that precious
metal, is a by-product of copper. After the armistice was signed in
November, 1918, the price of copper, lead and zinc declined at such rail-
road speed that by the first of 1919 the output of the Butte district had
fallen to about sixty per cent of the normal. Production from the mines
was not seriously affected by strikes, although there was some labor trou-
ble in February. Manganese properties suffered with special severity,
as the various chemical developments of manganese (always associated
with iron) were used both medicinally and surgically, and when the great
war ended the chief demand was taken away. When the armistice was
signed, practically all the manganese properties closed down but, as in the
case of silver, there has since been a revival of the industries based on
that product.
The extensive search of the country for manganese to meet the war
demands led to the development of both the Philipsburg and Butte dis-
tricts, where large and paying quantities had been found. Of the high
grade ore produced, that containing thirty-five per cent or more of man-
ganese, the Philipsburg district produced 127,415 tons and the Butte dis-
trict 72,381 tons in 1918 — more than two-thirds of the total production of
the United States.
The Mining of Zinc
The mining of zinc is the latest development in the Montana field.
The industry was first placed on its feet in 1907, when the Butte &
Superior Copper Company, Limited, which had been organized* during the
previous year, began active operations. The field of its developments
embraced about ninety acres in the northern portion of the Butte district,
and included the Black Rock mine among the group of claims controlled
by the company. The Black Rock developments had been merely surface
workings, but the new company sunk its main shaft to a depth of 800
feet before any laterals were undertaken. It was then discovered that
instead of the upper deposits of silver ore being underlaid by copper-
bearing deposits, as had been presumed, the principal value of the veins
under development lay in the zinc contents. During the following four or
five years the workings were sunk deeper and deeper, with levels run
at 200-feet levels, until a depth of 1,600 feet was reached, and a mill
built at Basin, twenty-five miles northeast of Butte, for metallurgical in-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 383
vestigations. Additions to the original claims were also made, as the
company acquired ownership in the stock of the Butte-New York Copper
Company (controlling the Butte-Milwaukee Copper Company) and the
North Butte Extension Development Company. The additions thus made
to its working claims covered ninety-two acres, and by the end of 19 12
the total area owned and controlled by the Butte & Superior Copper Com-
pany amounted to 245 acres. The principal developments, however, were
on the Black Rock claim, although in 1912 considerable work was done
on the Butte-Milwaukee property.
The Elm Orlu, owned and operated by the company of that name, was
an early and a large producer. It is both a zinc and a copper mine. As
a rule, the zinc and copper occur in distinct lenses, lying side by side or
in segregated bunches, alternately copper and zinc. When the copper
predominates the percentage of zinc is small. While the average of the
ore is twenty per cent zinc, there are numerous localities where the values
run as high as thirty-five per cent. Owing to the destruction by fire of
the Butte Reduction Works in 1912, a concentrator was built at Timber
Butte for the testing of the Elm Orlu ores.
Besides the Butte & Superior and Elm Orlu, the principal zinc pro-
ducers of Montana have been the Anaconda and Butte Copper & Zinc
mines. Smaller producers were the Snow Storm mine, Lincoln County;
the Davis Daly, at Butte, and the Montana Consolidated, in Jefferson
County. Most of the zinc concentrate was melted in the East, but zinc
ores from the mines of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company were
concentrated at Anaconda, and the concentrates were leached at Great
Falls. The electrolytic plant was active during 1919, but the output was
less than that of 1918, when much custom material was treated.
The output of recoverable zinc in Montana decreased from 209,258,-
148 pounds, value of $19,042,491, in 1918, to about 176,432,000 pounds,
value of $12,915,000, in 1919. In 1908, the first year in which the metal
was produced in commercial quantities, the output of zinc was valued
at $77,080. It gradually increased to $5,690,000 in 1914, and in the fol-
lowing year leaped to $14,500,000 and in 1916, to $31,099,000. In 1917,
the year that the United States entered the World war, the value of the
zinc product of the Montana mines fell to $16,506,000.
The Output of Le.\d
Although lead is the least important in productive capacity of the
five minerals which have made Montana a great mining state, it is the
only one which shows a decided increase in the value of its output, within
very recent years — since 1916. Lead commenced to be shipped from the
Montana mines as early as 1883; in that year the product was valued at
$226,424. It gradually increased to $1,229,027, in 1891, suffering a gen-
eral decline, on the whole, until 1916, when the output increased to $1,-
151,000, as against $550,000 in the previous year. In 1917, it increased
to $1,545,568, and in 1918 to $2,636,649 — the banner year up to that
384 HISTORY OF MONTANA
time. A large part of the lead came from the lead-zinc ores of the
Anaconda properties at Butte, treated at Great Falls. The Butte &
Superior property at Butte, and the Snow Storm mine at Troy, Lincoln
County, were also contributors. Smaller quantities came from the Angel-
ica and Pilgrim mines, in Jefferson County, and the Davis Daly property.
at Butte. The usual increases in both lead and silver are due to the
marketing of by-products from the electrolytic plant at Great Falls.
Value and Quantities of Mineral Output
The latest accessible figures, furnished by the United States Geological
Survey for 1919, give the following as the value of the output of the five
principal sources of Montana's mineral wealth:
Copper g;33.940.i88
Silver 14,768,000
Zinc 12,915,000
Lead 2,411,787
Crt)ld 2,272,000
Total $66,307,975
By counties. Silver Bow is still far in the lead, notwithstanding the
depression in the Butte industries. Although there is no comparison be-
tween Silver Bow County, with its normal mineral production of more
than $100,000,000 and Jefiferson County, with its output of $1,000,000.
the latter leads the minor counties in this regard, and is usually followed
by Lincoln, Lewis & Clark, Granite and Madison, about in the order
named. In 1918, Silver Bow produced more than 321,000,000 pounds of
copper, as against the 323,000,000 pounds representing the entire output
of the state; 15,000,000 ounces of the 16,797,000 coming from the silver
mines; 204,963,000 of the 29,258,000 pounds of zinc mined; 22,746,000
pounds of lead, the entire state producing 37,135.000; and 43,638 ounces
of gold, compared with the 150,192 produced by all the gold deposits of
Montana. After Silver Bow, Broadwater, Mineral and Jefferson coun-
ties are the leading copper producing sections; Jefiferson, Granite and
Cascade, the silver counties; Jeffer.son and Lincoln, producers of zinc;
Lincoln, Jefferson, Cascade and Beaverhead, of lead, and Lewis & Clark,
Deer Lodge, and Madison, of gold.
Coal and Lignite
The coal fields of Montana, as traced by the geologist, have already
been described. Within the past twenty years, the mining of coal and
lignite (a sort of woody coal) for commercial, industrial and domestic
purposes, has become a leading source of wealth, comfort and prosperity.
Throughout the state, there are about fifteen large mines and forty smaller
ones. Some of them have been used on a commercial scale for years,
while others serve to supply the neighboring farmers. The latter are
Butte and SuRROUNDiNua
386 HISTORY OF MONTANA
the lignite deposits, which uiiderly a large ixirtion of the eastern section
of the state and have contributed much to its settlement.
In Carbon, Musselshell and Cascade counties there is a good grade
of coal. The mines in the southern and central portions of the state are
extensive and not only furnish employment for a large number of men
but provide markets for farm products. Aluch coal is being mined on
land which is leased from the state, the proceeds going into the public
school fund.
\\"ith few exceptions, there has been an increase in the amount of coal
mined in Montana, from year to year, since kjoi. In that year the output
was 1,442,569 tons. During the years when the country was pushing
the war industries, in which Montana largely ])articipated, the production
of Montana coal reached its maximum — 4,227,000 tons in 1917 and
4,276,000, in 1918. For the year ending December 31, 1919, the output
was 3,300,000 tons, valued at $10,725,000. Experts claim that fully
twenty per cent of Montana's area is underlain with either coal or lignite,
which, with the wise conservation of her forest wealth by the national
government, seems to make her fuel supply well assured.
The important position of Montana in the coal economy of the United
States is recognized by the United States Bureau of Mines, which, with
the Canadian Government, is making a special investigation to test the
feasibility of carbonizing lignite, so as to bring it in the class of com-
mercial coal. Sufficient progress has been tnade to warrant the belief
that it is feasible, which, if it should be the fact, would bring the vasi
deposits of lignite both in western Canada and the northwestern states
of the Union into the channels of commerce and trade.
It is an important economic consideration that these lignites are found
in those parts of the country that have no other solid fuel. But because
of the large content of moisture in lignite and its liability to spontaneous
combustion when stored, it is not a most desirable fuel, and millions of
tons of bituminous and anthracite coal are shipped annually into lignite-
bearing regions. The results are high prices for both industrial and
domestic fuel, the imposition of a great handicap on the industrial devel-
opment of these regions, the tying up of much transportation equipment
needed for other service, and other economic lost motion.
It is estimated that the nation's coal resources total 3, 553,637, loo.ocxa
mineral tons of 2,000 ])ounds. ( )f that amount, 1,051 ,2fX>,ooo ,000 tons,
or nearly one-third, is lignite, and 964,424,000,000, or more than ninetv
per cent, are contained in the Dakota and Montana deposits.
Development ok the On, Fields
.'^ince the fall of 1919, when Montana's first well to produce oil in
commercial quantities was struck, the cast-central part of the state has
been covered with a seething tide of pros])ectors, promoters and pro-
ducers. Musselshell, Fergus and (jarfield counties have shown the greatest
and the steadiest development. Their location is on the western border
HISTORY OF MONTANA 387
of the widely extended coal fields which are coextensive with those of
the Dakotas; and one of the geological explanations of the prevalence
of the remarkable flow of oil found in that section is that the seepage of
the liquid gold from the coal veins has been directed toward the rim of
the vast coal basin which underlies the Dakotas and east-central Montana.
In 1919 and 1920, the United States Geological Survey made a scientific
investigation of about 850 square miles in Central Montana, which in-
cludes the greater part of a plunging geanticline— a large sloping flexture
of the earth's crust— which is an eastern extension of the Big Snowy and
Tudith mountains uplift. Along the northern and southern flanks of this
;'eanticline there are two pronounced anticlinal folds, and along the axes
of these folds are several oval domes. The strata between these two folds
are flexed into a series of low-plunging anticlines or spurs, which extend
eastward from the mountain uplift. It was in these two folds, thus
described by the Government geologist, known as the Devil's Basin and
the Cat Creek anticline, that the most important developments were made
in 1919 and 1920.
The history of tlie oil and gas interests of the state was so well and
concisely written for the 1920 publication of the State Department of
Agriculture and Publicity, by Commissioner Charles D. Greenfield, that
it is here republished, as follows :
"After intermittent prospecting for more than thirty years, a pro-
ducing oil well was discovered in Montana in November of 1919. Three
more producing wells were struck within the next eight months and at
the present time scores of companies are busy drilling and testing out
various domes in Montana that appear favorable for the discovery of
oil. While apparently Montana has added another industry to its numer-
ous enterprises, its scope and value remain to he demonstrated. The oil
industry may assume big proportions but more drilling must be done
before this fact is determined. However, the prospects are most favor-
able. The extension into Montana of the Wyoming fields that have been
steady producers for years, the development of valuable gas fields in
southern Alberta, the drilling in of large gas wells near Havre, Glen-
dive and Baker, and finally the bringing in of high grade oil wells on
the Cat Creek anticline (Fergus and Garfield counties) in May, have
led petroleum engineers seriously to consider Montana as the next big
oil producing state.
"The first effort to find oil in Montana was made in 1890, it is said,
in Blaine county in the Chinook field. A hole was sunk 960 feet in
township 32 N., range 16 E. Only gas was encountered. A few years
later drilling was undertaken by a Helena syndicate in the Kintla Lakes
district of what is now the Glacier National Park, but without results.
In subsequent years drilling was done in Hill, Wheatland, Stillwater and
Yellowstone counties. In 191 5 the first discovery of oil in Montana was
made in the Elk Basin field. Carbon county, just over the Wyoming line,
at a depth of 1,245 feet. Oil was struck in commercial quantities at a
depth of T.490 feet. The same year several wells were drilled in Mus-
388 HISTORY OF MONTANA
selshell county. In 191 7 the Foster well was drilled in the west end of
the Crazy Woman's Pocket in Musselshell county. At a depth of 1,700
to 2,000 feet strong traces of oil and gas were encountered but heavy water
pressure and lack of funds caused an abandonment of the enterprise.
"In 1919 a well was drilled on section 29-8-21 in the Crazy Woman's
Pocket and at a depth of 1,870 feet oil was struck. Drilling was con-
tinued, however, to a depth of 2,370 feet when the well was abandoned
because of the heavy pressure of water. In November of 1919 the Van
Duzen company, drilling on section 24-11-24 in the Devil's Basin, twenty-
three miles northwest of Roundup, brought in what is considered the first
real Montana oil well, and the well that brought in capital and operators
on a big scale to test the Montana field. At a depth of 1,175 feet oil began
flowing over the top of the casing. The oil is reported to be of a heavy
grade. It is said to be the intention of the company to drill to the second
oil sands, believing that a larger flow and a higher grade of oil will
be obtained.
"The Frantz Corporation brought in the second well February 18,
in the Mosby field near the town of Winnett, Fergus county. At a depth
of 1,015 feet the bit cut into the oil-bearing sands, a second Kootenai
formation, and the well is reported to be producing about 400 barrels of
oil every twenty-four hours. The oil sands are said to be seventy feet in
thickness. The oil is of a paraffin base, 47 degrees Baume gravity, or
about 50 per cent in gasoline content and of high commercial value. In
May the same company brought in a second well in the same field, but
east of the Musselshell river in Garfield county. In August the Decker-
Collins Company brought in a well in the same field.
"Among other prospective fields where drilling is now under way or
contemplated in Montana are the various domes in Fergus, Garfield and
Musselshell counties, the Porcupine dome of Rosebud county, the Bow-
doin dome of Phillips and Valley counties, and domes in Teton, Lewis and
Clark, Park, Stillwater, Sheridan, Carbon and several eastern Montana
counties.
Oil From Shale
"Besides prospective oil fields, Montana has many deposits of oil
shales. Only one field, that in Smallhorn canyon, Beaverhead county, has
been developed. A plant producing 200 gallons of oil daily has been
erected and is in operation. Two grades of oil are produced, in addition
to a good grade of gasoline, and the burned shale is said to run so high
in phosphate that it is valuable as a fertilizer. The oil is said to be well
adapted for flotation purposes in the recovery of minerals, and, with
additional filtration, is an excellent lubricant.
"Several bulletins have been published by the United States Geological
Survey dealing with various potential oil domes and oil shale deposits in
Montana.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 389
Oil and Coal Leases
"For many years thousands of acres of land in Montana, believed
to be valuable for coal, oil or phosphate, were withdrawn from entry.
These have now been opened to entry and development under the terms
of the coal and oil leasing bill passed within the year by congress. The
bill provides that government owned coal land will be sub-divided into
leasing tracts of 40 acres each or multiple thereof. No one leasing tract
can contain more than 2,560 acres. Leases are to be awarded by com-
petitive bidding. Where prospecting is necessary to determine the exist-
ence or workability of coal deposits the secretary of the interior may
issue a prospecting permit for two years covering not to exceed 2,560
acres, and if within that time the permittee shows the land contains coal
in commercial quantities, he is to be entitled to a lease. No railroad will
be permitted to hold a lease to mine coal except for its own use, and no
railroad can receive more than one lease for each 200 miles of its rail-
road line within the state in which the coal land is situated.
"The bill provides that when the government decides to lease a tract
of coal land it shall announce in advance of the offering of the leases
the royalty that will be charged. This royalty is to be not less than five
cents a ton of 2,000 pounds, payable at the end of each third month suc-
ceeding that of extraction of the coal from the mine, and an annual
rental, payable at the date of the lease and annually thereafter on the
lands or coal deposits covered by the lease at such rate as may be fixed
by the secretary of the interior prior to offering the lease.
"The rental is to be not less than 25 cents an acre for the first year,
not less than 50 cents an acre for the second, third, fourth and fifth
years, and not less than $1 an acre for each year thereafter during the
continuance of the lease. Leases are to be for indeterminate periods on
condition of diligent development and continuous operation of the mine
except when operation shall be interrupted by strikes. At the end of
each 20-year period the secretary of the interior may require a readjust-
ment of terms and conditions.
Oil and Gas
"As to oil and gas, the legislation provides that the secretary of the
interior may grant to any qualified applicant the exclusive right for a
period not exceeding two years to prospect for oil and gas upon not to
exceed 2,560 acres of government land. On establishing to the satis-
faction of the Interior department that he has located valuable deposits
of oil or gas the permittee is to be entitled to a lease for one-fourth
of the land embraced in his prospecting permit. The lease is to be for
a term of 20 years upon a royalty of 5 per cent of the value of the pro-
duction and the annual payment in advance of a rental of $1 an acre,
the rental paid for any one year to be credited against the royalties as
they accrue for that year. The permittee is to be entitled to a preference
390 HISTORY OF AIONTANA
right to a lease for the remainder of the land in his prospecting permit
at a royalty of not less than 123^4 per cent of the value of the production.
"Phosphates, oil shale and sodium are to he taken from the public
domain in the same general terms that apply to coal, oil and gas. Each
lease is to be for not to exceed 2,560 acres and is to run for 20 years.
The person who takes a phosphate lease will pay not less than 25 cents
an acre for the first year, 50 cents an acre for the second, third, fourth
and fifth years, and $1 an acre for each year thereafter."
CHAPTER XVII
THE GREAT LIVE STOCK INTERESTS
The instinct of the buffalo to head for the most plentiful grazing
lands, the most permanent streams, the living springs or water holes, and
the lands protected from the cold winds by rolling contours and deep
depressions, drew the primitive cow and bull to the regions of the Yellow-
stone Valley and Eastern Montana long before any white man found
his way thither. Both Indian and buffalo shared these favored lands
of Montana when the white man invaded them and bore witness to the
wisdom of their selection. White man and Indian expelled the buffalo
from its original home and installed the domesticated cattle in the lands
which had been tested and proved by the aboriginal stock.
DoMESTic.\TED Cattle First Est.\rlishh;d
The industry of the raising of beef cattle and dairy cows is almost
as old as that of mining itself, but the pioneer attempts in that field were
of small caliber and confined to the valleys and gulches of Western Mon-
tana. John Grant, one of the pioneers of the Hitter Root Valley and
perhaps the first "professional landlord" of that section, established the
first herd of cattle in Montana during 1853, ''"'J 'en years later, when the
gold prospectors and miners swarmed into Western Montana, there were
several herds in the territory. The miners were hardy and hearty men
and had to have beef, if not milk; and their children were like those of
other men and women. The raising of live stock in Montana was almost
contemporaneous with the establishment of gold mining as a stable asset of
the region. So rapidly did the industry grow that one of the first bills
to be presented to the territorial assembly of 1864-65 (the first session)
was entitled "an act concerning Marks and Brands." It was approved
on January 31, 1865.
M.«lRKS .\nd Br.\nds
A record of the different brands, with the names of the owners, was
kept by the secretary of the Board of Stock Commissioners. Similar
brands used by different individuals were recjuired to be placed on differ-
ent parts of the beast and so designated in the recorder's book. A brand
book was published by the Live Stock Association and each member of that
body was furnished with a book. Tliis made the identification of animals
easy in the days when they were scattered o\er great stretches of territory
391
392 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and fenced ranges were unknown. The state law regulating marks and
brands also provided that if an animal were sold, "the person who sells
must vent, or counter-brand, such animal upon the same side as the
original brand, which vent or counter-brand must be a fac-simile of the
original brand, except that it may be reduced one-half in size; the venting
of the original brand is prima facie evidence of the sale or transfer of
the animal."
It was not long before the small stock owner was superseded by the
great cattle baron, with his company of cowboys and outfitters. Each of
the large ranches had its special brand, such as Bar Y, M-Bar, Two Dot
and Two Bar. There was intense rivalry between the ranches, and as the
animals roved abroad almost at will, sometimes summer and winter, if
there were no bad droughts or f reeze-ups, bloodshed was not unknown ;
often the only safeguard and peace-maker was the brand, which, however,
was sometimes either altered, counterfeited or ignored. So, despite the
brand and the law, quarrels and bloodshed over the ownership of live
stock would occur.
Round-Up of Steers and Horses
These disagreements, rivalries and quarrels were liable to come to a
climax at the time of tlie general round-ups, in April or May. Often
seventy-five cow-punchers with from six to ten horses to the man took
part in the spring round-up of one ranch. With the raising of cattle came
the raising of horses, so the "cow-puncher" and the "broncho-buster"
were one, and the round-up included not only beef steers but horses.
Robert Vaughn, the pioneer and ranchman of the '60s, who afterwards
moved to Great Falls, thus describes the round-up of the home ranges and
the subsequent branding of the animals : "One would at first think that
an army was crossing the country when these 'rough-riders' turn out in
the morning. It is a wonder the many miles they cover in a day ; on an
average they will ride seventy to eighty miles in one day during the round-
up. Many of the horses may have been but partly broken the previous
winter. To see these excellent horsemen, mounting their bronchos, and
see the bucking and capers of these untamed steeds, is a circus in
itself. * * *
"The riders will gather several thousand cattle in one bunch at a
given place on the open prairie where a camp is established. Here, where
they all meet, the cattle are driven into one bunch surrounded by the
riders, and this is the round-up proper. The bellowing of the cows and
calves is pitiful, for at first they are constantly in commotion and many of
them become separated from each other ; the noise they make is so awful
one can hardly hear his own voice, but it is not long before each cow
discovers her calf and then all is well. A fire is built near by and brand-
ing irons of all owners of cattle on the range are heated. Then the
ropers will ride into the ring, lassoo the young cattle by the hind feet
and pull them by the horn of the saddle to where the fire is. and each
calf is branded the same brand as the mother. An account of all calves.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 393
and of each brand separately, is kept, so that, at the end of the branding
season the owner can tell the number of calves branded. After getting
through in one place, the camp is moved to another part of the range
and so on, until the work is finished. It is hard work, but fascinating,
and many seek to go on the round-up. In the same way, the beef-cattle
are gathered in the fall and shipped East. The round-up, like the buffalo,
will soon be a thing of the past."
The Great Cattle Drives
The first beef driven out of Montana of which there is any record
was by D. J. Hagan, of Augusta (now Lewis and Clark County). In
October, 1868, he headed the animals for Salt Lake, the purchasers hav-
ing been Orenstein & Popper, of Salt Lake City. The cattle, as well as
others of a somewhat later period collected from the Beaverhead coun-
try, were used to supply the Union Pacific laborers with beef.
In the following year (1869) commenced the great movement of
cattle from the South, as the railroad builders and overland travelers
could no longer be supplied from the northern herds and markets. The
long drive from Texas, Mexico and California was "on," and so con-
tinued for twenty years, or until the coming of railroads. The instinctive
migration of the beef "critters" of the South, directed by its cattle kings
into Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana, the Dakotas
and even into the British possessions, and promoted by the urging of
the summer heats toward the fresher and cooler pastures of the North,
soon advertised the vast and unexcelled grazing lands of the thinning
buffalo herds.
Along this line are the following suggestions and statements: "It
has been suggested that the northern migration occurred for the same
reason that governed the movement of the buffalo. Spring comes earlier
in the warm South and the grass sprouts long before the snow is off the
Northland. Therefore at that season the herds grazed in these favorable
pastures. Later, as the heat became more intense and the grass withered,
they drifted north where the weather was cool and the grass was fresh.
Thus autumn found thousands upon thousands of cattle' ranging in
Wyoming and Montana. The migration was known as the Long Drive.
"The first Texas drive to Montana was made in 1869, and the last in
the late '80s ; and this Long Drive was over a well defined and estab-
lished trail. It lay across the tablelands of western Texas into Kansas and
crossed the Santa Fe trail at Dodge. Thence, it continued past the head-
waters of the Salmon, by Fort Hays and over the Republican river, and
onward to the South Platte, where there was an immense cow camp —
Ogalalla, the great rendezvous of the cowboys and the Texas rangers.
From that point, the Long Drive followed the Platte, over the Oregon
trail, to Fort Laramie, and onward along the Bozeman road. At times
it skirted the Black Hills and again it veered westward to the base of
the Big Horn range. The headwaters of the Powder and the Tongue,
the hunting grounds of the Crows and the Sioux, the home of the trapn
394 HISTORY OF AIOX TANA
pers and the scene of many a conflict with the Indians,, 'were now
marked by the trail of the cow' which followed close on the retreating
hoofs of the buffalo. The Long Drive coursed along the tributaries of
the Yellowstone to the Missouri, thence over the trail of Lewis and Clark
to Maria's river and the land of the Blackfeet, the ancient domain of the
buffalo.
"Here were multitudinous streams; here were rolling prairie lands
and pastures of succulent bunch grass. Here, also, were cool breezes and
snow-encrusted peaks shimmering against skies of burnished blue.
"Five months were consumed in the journey from Texas to Montana.
In 1871 more than half a million cattle came over the Long Drive.
Hough in the 'Story of the Cowboy,' says : 'It was a strong, tremendous
movement, this migration of the cowmen and their herds, undoubtedly
the greatest pastoral movement in the history of the world. It came with
a rush and a surge and in ten years it had subsided. That decade was
an epoch in the West.' "
With the inrush of foreign cattle added to the home herds, the sup-
ply of Montana cattle reached a great volume, and not only were various
"bunches" driven to Salt Lake City and Ogden for shipment, but minor
"long drives" were established to land the animals in Eastern railroad
points, on the way to Chicago. The first shipment of Montana cattle to
the East was made by James Forbes from Ogden in 1874. He pur-
chased a portion of Conrad Kohrs' Sun River herd, and the same year
a large band of steers was driven for shipment from Madison County
to Granger. In 1876 Mr. Kohrs dro\e from his Sun River range and
shipped from Cheyenne.
Before the coming of the Korthern Pacific in 1883, five routes or
drives were used by the cattlemen of Montana to reach railroad points
and ship to the Chicago live stock market : First, from the Sun River
ranches, via Snake River to Granger, on the Union Pacific railroad, 650
miles, and thence per rail to Chicago, 1,376 miles; second, from Sun
River, via Smith and Musselshell rivers, to Pine BlufT, on the Union
Pacific, 700 miles, and thence per rail to Chicago, 968 miles, a total of
1,668 miles; third (1878), from Sun River to Bismarck, on the Mis-
souri, via Blackfoot reservation, and thence per rail to Chicago, 1,579
miles; fourth, from Sun River across Maria's River to Fargo, 800 miles,
and thence by rail to Chicago, 744 miles; fifth, from Sun River to Bis-
marck, via Camp Lewis, the Great Bend of the Musselshell, down the
Porcupine, and across the Yellowstone and Tongue rivers to Bismarck,
via the main trail, 610 miles, and thence to Chicago, 879 miles, or a total
of 1,489 miles.
C-\TTr.F. WCIALTII RY CoUN'TIES (1884)
On January i, 1884, a few months after the eastern and western
sections of the Northern Pacific met in Western Montana, 100,000 cattle
were driven into the territory, which, with the natural increase of the
home herds, brought the total to 850,000, valued at $30,000,000. The
county division of this ini]X)sing source of wealth was as follows:
HISTORY OF MONTANA 395
County Number Value
Beaverhead 39.3°/ $1,375745
Chouteau 1 19.860 4.195,100
Custer 189,769 6,642,860
Dawson 5I-99-2 1,819.720
Deer Lodge 32,830 1. 149.050
Gallatin 59.125 2,069,375
Jefferson 26,554 829,390
Lewis and Clark 47.855 ' .674.925
Madison 24,050 841,750
Meagher 193.171 6,760,985
.Missoula 19.152 670,420
Silver Bow 4.214 I47.490
Yellowstone 53.084 i .857.940
Total 850.000 $30,000,000
Great Cattle Sales
When the Northern Pacific was made available as a receiving and ship-
ping medium for Montana live stock growers and dealers, the industry
and business enjoyed a strong impetus. In July, 1883, a month before
the golden spike was driven near Garrison, now Powell County, which
marked the juncture of the two sections, occurred one of the most import-
ant sales of cattle in Montana history. At the time mentioned, Conrad
Kohrs, for Kohrs & Bielenberg, and Granville Stuart, representing Stuart
& Anderson, bought of A. J. Davis, of Davis, Hauser & Company, 12,000
head of cattle for $400,000. It is said that "Stuart and Anderson were
former owners of the herd, the sale being in fact a purchase of the two-
thirds interest of Judge Davis by Mr. Kohrs for $226,667. This is the
heaviest transaction in cattle that has ever taken place in the territory
(written before the advent of statehood), the next highest being made a
few weeks previous, when the Montana Company bought of Downs &
Allen the old 7,000 head of Clark & Ulm for $235,000. By this trans-
action Conrad Kohrs placed himself at the head of the Montana cattle
business."
Miles City, Great Center of Range C.\ttle
The Montana Stock Growers' x\ssociation, of which Granville Stuart
was elected president in 1884. represented an ownership of 500,000 head
of cattle, and a strong second to it has been the Eastern Montana Stock
Growers' Association. The especial Elysium of the ranging cow and the
cowman has long been recognized as Eastern Montana and Miles City as
its urban center. As stated by Colonel Gorden, editor of the Yellowstone
Journal : "Miles City became the center for this new business, and in a
day almost, we began to talk knowingly of range prospects and conditions
and to be interested in the genus cowboy, simon-pure specimens of which
396 HISTORY OF MONTANA
began to drop in on us from Texas and the Southwest. The change
wrought was sudden and complete; all business interests now catered to
the new element, and well they might, for from 1881 to 1885 the wealth
that was dumped in Custer county in the shape of range cattle requires no
exaggeration to make it an interesting statement. It was not only the
experienced cowmen of the Southwest who had found and were eagerly
taking advantage of a rich, virgin range, but eastern capitalists of the
class who are always willing to take long chances for big returns, were
falling over each other in their rush to get into the business. They had
figured it out on a basis of one hundred per cent of calves each year, all
heifers, and reproduction on the same scope from these calves — not the
first year; they did give them one year of maidenhood, and a 'turn-ofif'
each year of 'threes' and 'fours' at fancy prices, of stock that had cost
nothing but the ranch expenses. It was the same principle of arithmetical
progression that the blacksmith proposed in his horse-shoeing operations
and was a 'cinch' from the beginning. So alluring was the 'prospectus'
that in the course of two or three years there must have been half a
million head of range stock in Custer county alone.
"As a majority of the companies and individuals knew nothing of the
business, it was essential that there should be at the head of each outfit
a manager or superintendent to take charge of the technical part of it.
These managers were usually cowboys who had become 'tophands' on the
southwestern ranges and were abundantly competent to run the herds,
but were rarely good financial managers. Then there were other outfits
that had for managers men who were interested in the ventures; men of
good business repute at home and fully competent to run a store or a
factory or an enterprise fitted to well established groves, but as much
out of place running a cow outfit as they would have been commanding
an army ; more so, probably. Looking backward, it is a hard guess which
method was most disastrous ; the manager with 'cow sense,' but no idea
of the value of money, or the thrifty financier who didn't know a brand-
ing iron from a poker."
The hard winter of 1886-87 played havoc with range cattle — it is esti-
mated that the loss was from 30 to 50 per cent. The large owners and
speculators suffered most and there was a general wiping-out and weed-
ing-out of the "foreign" element to the advantage of those who were set-
tlers and were making the live stock interests their regular business and
not a side line.
Progress of Cattle Industry
For the past twenty years, the number of head of cattle in Montana
has hovered around the 1,000,000 mark, although the valuation has greatly
varied, ranging from over $17,000,000 in 1907 to nearly $69,000,000 in
19 19. According to the census figures of 1920, the beef cattle of Mon-
tana numbered 1.057,418 and the dairy cattle, 211,098, valued respectively
at $60,118,952 and $13,819,301.
Since 1885, the beef cattle shipped to market from Montana have, on
HISTORY OF MONTANA 397
the whole steadily increased. That year the number of head was 70,089 ;
in 1895, 206,460; 1905, 267,966; 1915, 173,936; 1919, 449,964.
The Raising of Sheep
Sheep will live and often thrive in a country where cattle and horses
would die of thirst and starvation. There has always been a dispute as to
whether they injure the pasturage over which they move, or benefit it by
cropping weeds as well as grass. The side of the argument is largely
determined as to whether the participant has interests in the cattle or
sheep line. An old sheep man puts it thus : "It is often said by those
interested in the range cattle industry that sheep eat the grass so closely
that the ranges are destroyed or badly impaired. Now, if sheep were
confined to a comparatively small pasture this would be true, as eat they
must and. if necessary, they would eat the grass to the roots, but in the
manner that sheep are herded on these ranges the charge is without
foundation. They are not herded on the same range long. Indeed, it is
not easy to see by the appearance of the grass where they have fed. They
are dainty feeders, picking out just what they prefer, nipping the seeds off
the tips of the grasses, cropping the various weeds and then passing on to
new pastures. I have seen sheep leave rich pasturage to feed on sage
brush. The successful sheepman here is one who herds his sheep over
wide ranges, constantly moving them that they may select just what they
desire."
The raising of sheep is a later industry than the cattle and horse
business, and it attained no considerable importance until the advent of
the railroads in the '80s. Then, as in the farther West and Southwest,
commenced the bitter feud between the cow and the sheepmen — each party
to the controversy claiming that it was a war for self-preservation. But
the days of the great range, either for cattle or sheep, are of the past, and
the tariff and other causes have made the production of wool so uncertain
a business venture that there has been a steady decrease in the number of
sheep. For years raisers of sheep gave no attention to the "mutton end
of the proposition," but of late years it is the mutton breeds which have
been most cultivated.
"Ten years ago," writes A. S. Wiley, president of the Custer County
Wool Growers' Association, in 1900, "flocks in Montana were chiefly
composed of strong crosses of Spanish-merino blood, yielding a fine fleece
of very greasy wool. At that time every effort was directed to the pro-
duction of wool, wholly ignoring the mutton product, and the same was
true, in a measure, throughout the country. As a result the mutton pro-
duced was hardly fit to eat. Small wonder, then, that the American people
ate but little mutton.
"Great impetus was given to the culture of the mutton breeds by the
removal of the tariff on wool. It then became no longer profitable to keep
sheep for wool raising, many went out of the sheep business, while those
who remained began breeding the larger English strains, such as Cotswold,
Lincoln and various Downs, with the result that shortly mutton became a
A MocNTAiN Shi;i:i' Ranch
Rangk Horses
HISTORY OF MONTANA 399
palatable and satisfactory food ; whereupon the American people at once
discovered that they liked mutton, and the sales thereof mightily increased.
Some seven years ago a band of fine Vermont Spanish-merinos registered
bucks that had cost $30 or more each went begging and vainly sought a
market here at $5 each. Since that time, the mutton breeds with larger
bodies, but coarser fleeces of lighter wool, have found acceptance. Each
of these breeds has its advocates. Some will have Cotswold and no other;
others prefer Lincolns ; some breed Oxford Downs, while some would
just as soon breed coyotes as sheep with black face and legs ; but nearly
all have been breeding to these mutton sheep, and this trend has become
so strongly that in some cases the fleeces have become too light and open,
and a tendency to hark back to some form of merino is in evidence ; not,
however, to the wrinkly type.
"The improved merinos, Kamboullet or Delaine, nearly without
wrinkles, are the strains which now find favor. This turning again to
merino types is the result to some extent of the present higher prices of
wool. The loss (estimated) of sixty million sheep in Australia during
the past two years, a number one-half larger than all the sheep in the
United States, with other causes — the tariff undoubtedly among them —
has raised the price of wool to a paying basis, and it is hard to see what
can prevent this advance from continuing for some years to come. Pure
blooded sheep are not to be desired on the range."
Besides the tendency of flockmasters to favor the mutton breeds and
convert their lambs into meat, the winter fattening of lambs is becoming
an important industry in the state. Billings is quite a center for this, as
the region furnishes for feed an abundance of sugar beet pulp, alfalfa
and small grains.
For the past twenty years, the number of sheep and the wool product
have been steadily declining. During that period, the most productive year
was 1904. when the 5.576,000 sheep of Montana yielded 37,700,000 pounds
of washed and unwashed wool and 12,818,000 pounds of scoured wool.
In 1919, there were 2,790,000 sheep of shearing age, which produced 22,-
878,000 pounds of washed and unwashed wool and 8,465,042 pounds of
scoured wool. The census figures for 1920 indicate that the state has now
2,082,919 sheep valued at $25,775,607.
Decline in Horse Raising
During the World's war, Montana, in common witii all the other horse-
producing states reaped a harvest of profits. For the past year or two, an
effort has been made to rid the ranges of light weight stuff and inferior
grades ; a desire for good quality has replaced an ambition for large num-
bers; which accounts chiefly for the decline in the number of head. Miles
City is the largest horse market in the state, and a number of years ago
was the largest primary horse market in the world. Sales were held at
regular intervals throughout the year and buyers from all parts of the
country attended. Dillon, in Southern Montana, is the only other place
in the state that has featured horse auctions.
400 HISTORY OF MONTANA
According to the figures published by the State Board of Agriculture,
there has been a decline in both the number and value of the horses raised
on Montana farms and ranges, in 1919 as compared with 1920, as follows:
575,000 valued at $48,300,000, against 518,000 valued at $3-1,180,000.
The banner year for high priced horses was 1918, when the 506,000
animals of the state were valued at $49,588,000.
Montana farmers have never become much interested in raising mules
although within the past two years a considerable number of farmers have
disposed of stallions and replaced them with jacks. The result of this
policy will not be apparent for several years. The 1920 census indicates
that there are more than 9,000 mules in the state valued at nearly
$1,120,000.
Montana Favors Swine
On the whole, there is no variety of live stock which has a more stable
promise than the hogs of Montana. Although the drought of several late
seasons have delayed the development of the industry, the extension of the
irrigated alfalfa pastures, supplemented by natural feeding fields well
watered, are making the state lands ideal for the fattening of hardy pork-
ers. With the addition of peas or barley and a little grain, the swine
become thrifty and fast-growing. Barley and skim milk, in the dairy
sections, are also used as feed and produce the same finely flavored
pork for which Denmark is famous, the hog raisers of which country
largely use this combination. In Eastern Montana, where more and more
attention is being given to corn growing, the crop is harvested by the
hogs, which bring financial returns more quickly than by any other plan.
Feeders in the corn belt assert that the irrigated districts of the West can
raise pigs to a feeder age far more quickly than in their country. Many
of them therefore buy feeder pigs by the carload in the West and ship
them East to be finished for market in the corn belt.
The swine in Montana have been growing in numbers and value of
product. In 1902, the 21,745 head of swine on the farms were valued at
$560,916; in 1911, 124,000 head and $1,290,000; in 1916 (the star year
in numbers) 298,000 and $2,682,000 respectively, and 1919 (the leading
year in valuation), 200.000 head valued at $4,400,000. According to the
latest census statistics the Montana swine, in 1920, numbered 167,000 and
were valued at $2,888,694.
Dairying in Montana
Dairying is a comparatively new industry in Montana, but the climatic
and topographic conditions are so favorable for its prosecution that it
has rapidly developed within the past five years. The agricultural depart-
ment sets forth these conditions and other advantages. In its 1920 year
book is the following: "A more favorable climate for dairying could
hardly be found than that of Montana. The cool nights make the keeping
and handling of dairy products possible and afi"ord fine conditions for pas-
HISTORY OF MONTANA
401
turage. The long days for grazing in summer are almost ideal. The in-
dustry is a paying one in the winter if adequate shelter is provided and
winter feeding is properly carried on. In the more favored sections in the
southern and western districts the winter weather does not affect the
dairyman to any extent. The higher price of the products in the winter
months compensates for the increased cost of production at that time.
"Montana has long been noted as a hay producing state. Vast quan-
tities of clover, alfalfa and other grasses are grown. The State Dairy
Commission is encouraging the growing of the legumes, including cow
peas, soy beans and vetches in increased amount. With water for irriga-
tion, pastures — one of the most essential items for the successful dairy-
<. -'?%^;^^"^-.'^
Second Crop of Alfalfa in Valley Countv
man — are kept in good condition through the summer months and late in
the fall. Alfalfa is now being raised in practically all sections of the state
and dairymen have found that this is a most valuable roughage feed. The
number of flour and grist mills is rapidly increasing and the by-product
of these, together with the by-products of the sugar factories, such as are
used for the dairy cow, are much easier to obtain than formerly."
The dairy industry is under the supervision of the State Dairy Com-
mission, and under the law, dairies and creameries are inspected for
sanitary purposes and both farmer and consumer are protected in the
marketing of the products. The commission also conducts an educational
campaign, directed both to the child and the adult. The boys' and girls'
calf clubs have proven quite influential.
The last report of the State Department of Agriculture and Publicity
conveys the further information : "While dairying has been longer estab-
lished and has made greater strides in western and central Montana than
402 HISTORY OF MONTANA
in the eastern portion, the last year or two has witnessed a change in the
non-irrigated farming areas of the state. Farmers have begun to reahze
that in years of sub-normal rainfall a small herd of milch cows is the best
kind of drouth insurance, the weekly or monthly cream checks furnishing
a living for the family. Forage for live stock on the non-irrigated farms
has been a problem in dry years, but the remarkable success had with
Russian sunflowers, yielding from eight to ten tons of forage in dry years
and upwards of 20 to 30 tons in wet years, has solved this difficulty.
The Montana Agricultural College has determined that sunflower silage
has practically the same feeding value as corn silage. Many silos have
been built in the state in the past two years, and there is every reason
to believe that it will not be many years before they will be regarded as
essential as is a plow. The pit silo is the most inexpensive form and they
have given good results wherever tried.
"Dairying is further advanced in the irrigated districts, and substantial
improvement is being made in the class of stock. The non-irrigated
farmer is more likely to keep a dual purpose animal, the steer calves
being turned out on the ranges to mature as beef, but in the irrigated
districts farmers- incline more to the straight dairy type. Campaigns
are being waged in parts of Montana to induce men on irrigated farms
to maintain irrigated pastures, in the past most farmers considering
irrigated land too good to be used for pasture. Experts contend, how-
ever, that the carrying capacity of an irrigated pasture is so much greater
than the capacity of the ordinary pasture, that under the proper care
the irrigated pasture will return as large if not larger returns than would
the same ground in crop.
"That part of Montana west of the main range is especially adapted
to dairying. The grass is more lush than east of the range, and clovers
do especially well on the logged-ofT lands. Dairy cows in these districts
will furnish a living income while the farm is being cleared. Stevens-
ville, in the irrigated district of the Bitter Root valley, boasts one of the
largest and most successful co-operative creameries in the Northwest."
Montana had four times as many milch cows in 1920 as in 1902. In
the former year the number was 52,380, in 1914 it passed the 100,000
mark and. as reported by the United States census, in 1920, the number
of dairy cattle was 2ii,of)8. In 1902. they were valued at $2,101,486; in
1920, $13,819,301.
PofLTRY .WD Bees
Many farmers of Montana have turned to the raising of poultry not
only as a means of lowering the high cost of living, but as a most profit-
able side industry. The Bitter Root \'alley, the Flathead and the coun-
try farther west, are ideal for poultry raising. The natural protection
of the country in Western Montana, with its numerous streams, is a
decided advantage over most of the open sections of Eastern Montana;
but even in the more exposed regions, poultry is raised to advantage
when properly housed in cold weather. Chickens and turkeys, both
producers of eggs and meat and fancy breeds, have brought Montana
HISTORY OF MONTANA
403
to the front at not a few poultry shows held in New York, Chicago and
other large cities. Much encouragement is given to the development
of the industry hy the state. The State College at Bozeman has a
[joultry deiKirtnicnt. the exhibits of poultry have been a leading feature
for a number of years, and, since 191 1, the State Board of Poultry
Husbandry has been active in promotional work. The State Poultry
Breeders' Association is a strong organization largely concerned in raising
the breeds of the Montana birds.
With the growth of transportation facilities throughout the state,
especially in Wtstcrn Montana, the conditions of the poultry market are
rapidly improving, .\nother factor which is making the prospects of
poultrv raisers brighter is the handling of ])Oultry and eggs by the cream-
TuRKl■:^■s .\t the Exrinn.MicxT .Stajion, I;ozem.\n
eries. Perhaps the best example of this co-operation is found in the
-Stevenson Co-operati%e Creamery in the Bitter Root \'alley.
The United States census for 1920 gives the following figures illus-
trative of the present-day importance of the poultry industry: Eggs
produced. 11,238,236 dozens; eggs sold, 4.387,077 dozens; chickens
raised, 2,659,630; chickens sold, 604.435; value of chickens and eggs pro-
duced, $46,260,526; receipts from sale of chickens and eggs, $42,160,209.
The keeping of bees has grown rapidly in favor within the past few
years. The portions of the state which have made most advancement in
the industry are Stillwater. Yellowstone and l!ig Horn counties, in the
Yellowstone \'altey. and in the Bitter Root and Flathead valleys of West-
ern Montana. In Eastern Montana, the chief honey crops are clover and
alfalfa, and in Western Montana, alfalfa and fruit blossoms. In 1920.
the bees of the stfite produced 630,608 pounds of honey and 7,682 pounds
of wax, valued at $160,270.
CHAPTER XVIII
LAST EPOCH OF TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT
The ninth session of the legislative Assembly of the territory con-
vened at Helena, which the people had pronounced its permanent capital,
on the 3rd of January, 1876, and the thirteen years which followed con-
cluded the last epoch of territorial government. Benjamin F. Potts was
still chief executive; James E. Callaway was secretary of the territory;
Solomon Star was just concluding his term as auditor, and D. H. Cuth-
bert about to assume office; D. H. Weston had served about six months
of his long term as treasurer ; Cornelius Hedges was superintendent of
public instruction, and Decius S. Wade was chief justice of the State
Supreme Court. Maj. Martin Maginnis was the delegate in Congress and
the United States attorney was Merritt C. Page.
Maj. Martin Maginnis
Major Maginnis, who had been a delegate to Congress since 1872,
was one of the coming public men of Montana. Still only in his thirty-
fifth year, he had made a military record as a Union soldier from New
York and a newspaper man of Helena. In 1874, he had succeeded him-
self by defeating Cornelius Hedges, a leading republican, lawyer and
United States attorney, and was not displaced in his congressional seat
until March, 1885. As congressional delegate, Major Maginnis made a
reputation for successful and practical legislation which has not been sur-
passed in the history of that office. Through his efforts many of the
Indian reservations which covered a large portion of the territory were
either abolished or reduced in area, and such frontier army posts were
established at Forts Logan, Keogh, Custer, Maginnis, Assiniboine and
Missoula. Through him were also founded the assay office at Helena and
the United States penitentiary at Deer Lodge, afterward turned over to
the state. Major Maginnis was active in the passage of land and timber
laws particularly affecting the interests of Montana. One of the laws
especially contributory to the development of the West was that giving
railroads the right-of-way across the public lands. The bill granting
that great privilege was drafted by Major Maginnis and carried through
Congress, and under it all the railways in the West, except the three
chartered by Congress, have been constructed. He procured the grant of
lands for the University of Montana and other state institutions, and was
active in the state constitutional convention of 1889. Subsequently as
land commissioner of the state he stoutly defended the interests of his
commonwealth against the aggressions of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
404
HISTORY OF MONTANA 405
Major Maginnis's last election to Congress, in November, 1882, was
contested by his republican opponent Alexander C. Botkin, a popular Wis-
consin lawyer and editor, who had served as United States marshal for
Montana, and was afterward lieutenant governor and a leading member
of the commission for the revision of the criminal laws of the United
States. But Major Maginnis retained his seat as Montana's territorial
delegate and continued his fine record in that office. What he accom-
plished for the railroads of Montana cannot be overestimated. His work
and accomplishment in that regard has been well reviewed in these words:
"He believed that Montana was the natural highway through the moun-
tains to the northwestern coast; that every railroad in the Mississippi
Valley would have to find its way across it, and it was his conception that
finally led Congress to pass a bill drafted by him granting all railroads a
general right-of-way over the public lands of the United States without
special charter, land grant or other subsidy, except a perpetual easement.'
The committee of territorial delegates gave the bill their united support.
Major Maginnis was the chairman of this association of delegates or-
ganized for the purpose of procuring legislation beneficial to the terri-
tories. They were able men who afterward, as their territories came into
the Union as states, became nationally prominent. Among them were
Chafee, Elkins, McCormick, Cannon, McFadden and Armstrong.
"The bill was opposed by the chartered roads on the ground that it
destroyed their privileges, but the delegates fought it through both houses,
and it was signed on the 5th of March, 1873. Under this law all the
railroads of the new West have been built, except those previously char-
tered by Congress. In our own state, the Great Northern, the Milwaukee,
and all their branches, as well as all the branch roads of the Northern
Pacific, outside of the main line, have been constructed pursuant to the
provisions of this act.
"Major Maginnis had a large part in the building of railroads. He
drafted the charter and right-of-way of the Oregon Short Line, which
took over and now operates the old Utah Northern. It was under the
provisions of this act that Harrinian consolidated the Southern Pacific
system, a consummation never anticipated by the author of the bill, who
was opposed to such consolidations. An effort was made in Congress
to repeal the charter of the Northern Pacific, and the speeches and letters
of Major Maginnis had much influence in overcoming the hostile clamor
over Jay Cooke's failure. General Hazen, then commanding the district,
had made a drastic report to the war department, condemning the coun-
try and the entire project as an imposition and a fraud on the public,
which had a great efifect at that time and which was successfully answered
by Major Maginnis in public addresses and in the press. He cham-
pioned the entrance of the Great Northern and carried through Congress
a bill for its right-of-way through the Indian reservations. H!e opposed
the claims of the Northern Pacific to mineral lands within its land grant
and Congress sustained his position, as did also the Supreme Court in
an action which he had brought before it on behalf of the prospectors
and miners of Montana."
406 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Ninth, Tknth and Eleventh Sessions
Much of the home legislation of the ninth session of the territorial
Assembly had to do with the encouragement of the railroads, especially
the Northern Pacitic. It was proposed to construct a line from Franklin,
Idaho, into Montana, by way of the mouth of the Big Hole River. To
aid that project, an act was passed to issue territorial bonds in the sum
of $1,500,000 and another authorizing the different counties which would
be benefited thereby to issue additional bonds. The Legislative Assem-
]i!y adjourned February 11, 1876.
The tenth session convened January 8th and adjourned February 16.
1S77. and more railroad legislation was enacted indicative of the public
favor. By the new apportionment bill, the Council membership of thir-
teen and the House membership of twenty-six were redistributed among
the several counties. A new code of Civil Procedure was enacted, al-
though it differed little from that of 1872 which it purported to repeal.
The Probate Practice act of 559 sections, which was passed into law,
was far more radical, and the entire subject of probate laws was ar-
ranged, revised and codified.
An historic resolution, in memory of Custer, was passed by the As-
sembly to the effect that "in commemoration of the dauntless courage,
the disciplined valor and the heroic death of Col. George A. Custer and
his men of the Seventh Regiment of the United States Cavalry who fell
with him in the battle with the Sioux Indians, on the Little Big Horn
River, in the territory of Montana, on the 35th day of June, A. D., 1876,
the name of said Little Dig Horn River be changed to Custer's River,
and the same shall be forever hereafter known as Custer's River."
This impressively worded resolution did not change the name of the
river and it still appears upon all the maps at Little Big Horn River.
In commemoration of the event, however, the Assembly, by act of Feb-
ruary 16, 1877, did change the name of Big Horn County* to that of
Custer; and that legislation accomplished its purpose.
At the eleventh regular session of the Montana Assembly — sitting
from January 13th to February 21, 1879, an act was passed exempting
from taxation, for a period of six years, all improvements designed
to forward the manufacture of sugar from beets, such as factories or
refineries. This, in the way of protection for an infant industry, which,
in portions of Eastern Montana, has since become quite lusty. An act
was passed providing for the recodification of the general laws of the
territory and Harry B. Comly was appointed to conduct the work. A
bill was passed to enable Butte to be incorporated, and until its Board
of Aldermen could be elected Messrs. W. A. Clark, Jeremiah Roach,
Henry Jacobs and James Mussigbrod were to act in that capacity. A
House joint memorial was addressed to Congress to pass an enabling
act permitting the people of the territory to take the necessary prelimi-
nary steps to enter the Union as a state — a forecast of the actual event
which occurred a decade later.
* Present Big Horn County organized from parts of Rosebud and Yellowstone
in IQI3.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 407
The extraordinary session of 1879 lasted July 1-22 and was largely
devoted to the finances of the territory. Its indebtedness was funded
and outstanding bonds redeemed. A law was passed defining the con-
ditions under which foreign corporations could do business in Montana.
Authority had repeatedly been given the people of Helena, on petition,
to incorporate as a city, jjut they had taken no steps to assume a municipal
form of government. At this extraordinary session, the Assembly
passed a bill to enforce the existing act of incorporation, and providing
that if certain designated commissioners did not proceed to comply there-
with within a specified time, the probate judge of Lewis and Clark County
should carry out its provisions.
THii Utah Northern Penetrates Montana
A great event for Montana was about to come to a head. The
railroads were gradually pushing into its territory. Such commissioners
from the East as Oliver Ames and Jay Gould had been pushing along the
Northern Pacific, and, as noted by Joaquin Miller in his early history
of Montana, "the hearts of the people went out to the road that was com-
ing up the path trodden by Lewis and Clark in their search for the
overland commercial way to India lured by the old Northwest Passage
idea, and the credit of the territory to the extent of $300,000 was pledged
toward its support. There was also the other road coming in from
Corinne on the Central Pacific.
"The president of the Utah Northern (Sidney Dillon) now pro-
posed to Governor Potts to extend his railroad lines to the Montana
line in the year 1879, and to pierce Montana to the extent of 125 miles
in the year following, conditioned only by the stipulation that his road
should not be taxed for fifteen years. The governor called an extra
session in July (noted in the foregoing paragraph) and in a lengthy
message laid the proposition before his Legislature. It was not accepted.
It was not entertained because it was clear that the small consideration
asked by President Sidney Dillon, of the Utah Northern, would have
very little weight, whether given by Montana or withheld. If it was to
be built, it would be done nearly as well without this little exemption
from taxation as with it. The only possible advantage to the territory
attainable would be brevity of time. But as the Northern Pacific was
pushing its way across the plains of Dakota with incredible speed, the
Utah Northern must, and would, and did push on for the heart of Mon-
tana as well. This, the first railroad in Montana, crossed the line in
1880, and in 1881 entered the capital.
"At the meeting of the twelfth Legislature, there seems to have
been a sort of 'taking of stock,' if the expression may be allowed. It
was a cause of great rejoicing all over the land, this railroad to the
capital. Old men had long waited for it, young men were made glad.
Now and for the first time too, they could see The States. The popula-
tion was tipping the beam at 50,000. The Northern Pacific road was
almost within hearing; the schools were prosperous, having the California
408 HISTORY OF MONTANA
school system and laws, and coming to be second only to that great
state, so celebrated for its schools. The counties were still in debt, it
is true, some of them heavily, but the credit of the Territory was almost
at par; the debt had almost entirely disappeared."
Code of Laws Adopted
Perhaps the most important development of the Twelfth Assembly
was the report of Commissioner Comly, who had been appointed to.
codify the territorial laws. He presented a code comprising 1,239 sec-
tions and covering Civil Procedure, Probate and Criminal Practice and
General Laws. The code became a law without the governor's approval.
Additional legislation was enacted authorizing the funding of the in-
debtedness of counties. Silver Bow was created from Deer Lodge
County, and the boundaries of a number of counties more specifically
defined.
Governor John S. Crosby
Governor Potts was removed, or resigned from office, on January 14,
1883, and John Schuyler Crosby, succeeded him in the governorship.
He was a native of New York, of liberal education; when a young man
was one of the pioneers in the transcontinental trip from Valparaiso,
Chile, to Montevideo, Uurguay. During the Civil war he received re-
peated promotion to the grade of brevet lieutenant-colonel, and after-
ward served on the staff of General Sheridan and Custer in the West.
In 1876-82 he was consul to Florence, Italy, and while there was deco-
rated by the king for capturing a band of criminals in Tuscany. His
service as governor of Montana extended from January 14, 1883, to
December 15, 1884, and for a number of years afterward was assistant
postmaster-general and New York school commissioner.
Another Fruitless Constitution.al Convention (1884)
Governor Crosby assumed office a week after the meeting of the
thirteenth session of the Legislative Assembly, which lasted sixty days.
A general law was passed during that period empowering school trus-
tees to issue bonds to build or provide schoolhouses, and the members
of the Assembly were again reapportioned. On February 26, 1883,
the county of Yellowstone was created, and the boundaries of Gallatin
and Custer counties were altered to conform to the limits of the new
county. Additional legislation was provided permitting counties to
fund their debts, and acts were passed for the incorporation of the city
of Bozeman, of Fort Renton and Missoula. A House joint resolution
was passed providing for the election of delegates by counties, in No-
vember, 1883, for a convention to form a state constitution which should
assemble on the second Monday in January, 1884.
This was the second constitutional convention which failed to bear
fruit. The first called by Governor Meagher, had met at Helena, April
9, 1866, and its six days session, now recognized to be illegal (as was
HISTORY OF MONTANA 409
generally held at the time), accomplished nothing; for although a consti-
tution was hastily thrown together by an incompetent gathering of dele-
gates, the document dropped out of sight after being taken to St. Louis
for publication. The second constitution created at the convention of
January 14-February 9, 1884, held at Helena, under the presidency of
William A. Clark, was never put in operation. It was presented to
Congress by Hon. Joseph K. Toole, then a delegate to the national House
of Representatives, but the admittance of the territory under its pro-
visions was never secured. During the four years of his service in that
body, however, Mr. Toole kept the subject constantly before it, and his
labors were rewarded during the closing days of his term by the passage
of the congressional act enabling Montana to become a state.
Governor B. Platt Carpenter
B. Platt Carpenter, another New York gentleman of thorough edu-
cation and legal training, was appointed governor of the territory to
succeed Mr. Crosby, and went into office December 16, 1884, although
he did not arrive in Montana until January, 1885. He was a prominent
Grant republican and President Arthur appointed him to the governor-
ship. Unlike his predecessor, Governor Carpenter remained in Montana
after his term as chief executive was concluded, and was a leader in
founding the state. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention
of 1889, and ably served as one of the commissioners who prepared
the code of state laws which became effective July i, 1895. His recog-
nized legal learning and long familiarity with the codes of the state of
New York were eminently valuable in the codification of the laws of
Montana.
The Fourteenth Assembly which was in session sixty days from
January 12, 1885, created the county of Fergus and passed laws incorpo-
rating the cities of Billings, Dillon and Missoula, amending the act incor-
porating Helena (July 14, 1885).
Governor Hauser, of Montana Breed
Samuel T. Hauser, who succeeded Mr. Carpenter as governor of
Montana, on July 14, 1885, was a great contrast in experience and char-
acter, to his two predecessors. In a sense, they were "foreigners," or,
as such appointees from outside states were often called, "carpet bag-
gers," a term borrowed from the post-war period of the South, during
which politicians from the North were sent into the states "lately in re-
bellion." Mr. Hauser, on the contrary, although a native Kentuckian,
was in his early manhood a Missouri railroad man, and in the early
'60s was one of the roving, hardy and brave pioneers of Montana, who
traveled its historic trails and fought its Indians. For years he had
been one of its democratic leaders, and received his appointment from
President Cleveland.
As early as 1865, Mr. Hauser organized a bank in the city of Vir-
ginia and in the following year established the First National Bank at
(ioNEKXoKs Potts, Hauser and Asiii.i-
HISTORY OF xMOXTANA 411
Helena. He also assisted in the founding of other banks in Butte and
Missoula ; organized the Helena and Livingston Smelting and Reduction
Company, and applied his industry, ability and money to the construction
of railroads within the state. After his retirement from the active man-
agement of the First National Bank of Helena, with other capitalists
he began the development of the vast water power of the Missouri
River north of Helena and was thus engaged during the later years of
his life.
The Code of 1887
(jovernor Hauser's administration therefore had the advantage of
being headed by an old-time Montanian, thoroughly understanding the
people and their institutions. During his term the only assembly which
performed its legislative functions was the fifteenth, which sat at Helena
in January lo-iMarch 10, 1887. It was during that period that the com-
piled statutes of 1887 were put forth, which replaced a chaotic "code,"
or "hodge-podge,"- inherited from several preceding assemblies. The
code of 1887 was passed at the last day of the session and, although a
creditable piece of legal revision and collaboration, was further improved
by the state codes of 1895. The only other law of importance enacted
at the fifteenth session was that creating the County of Park, which was
carved out of Gallatin County.
Governor Preston H. Leslie
About the middle of the session, February 7, 1887, Governor Hauser
resigned, being succeeded the following day by Preston H. Leslie, also
a Kentuckian. He had already served as governor of Kentucky, first
by death and resignation of intervening state officials, and then by elec-
tion, the popular verdict spelling the defeat of the distinguished jurist,
John M. Harlan. Afterward, he served as a circuit judge in Ken-
tucky and in 1887. on the recommendation of his old political opponent,
Justice Harlan, President Cleveland appointed him governor of Mon-
tana. Governor Leslie was accompanied to iMontana by his family, and
at the end of his term as governor resumed the practice of law at Helena.
Later, he was United States district attorney four years, and died at the
state capital on February 7. 1907. One of his sons, Hon. Jere B. Leslie,
at one time served as judge of the District Court, residing at Great
Falls.
Although there was an extraordinary session of the Fifteenth Legis-
lative Assembly, extending from August 29th to September 14, 1887, no
laws of moment appear to have been enacted e.xcept the creation of the
County nf Cascade from Meagher. Chouteau, Fergus and Lewis and
Clark.
Creation of a Code Commission
The last territorial legislative Assembly (the sixteenth), covered the
period from January 14th to March 14, i88g — sixty day.s— -and its great
412 HISTORY OF MONTANA
work was to lay the foundation for a thorough, systematic and profes-
sional codification of the territorial laws pending Montana's statehood.
The stupendous task was no longer left to legislators or politicians, but
to men learned and experienced in the law. Backed by a solid public
sentiment, Governor Leslie, under the law, appointed a commission "to
codify the criminal and civil law and procedure and to revise, compile
and arrange the statute laws of Montana." He selected for that work
Decius S. Wade, who had been chief justice of the state Supreme Court
from 1871 to 1887; B. Pratt Carpenter, formerly governor and then
a distinguished lawyer of New York state, and F. W. Cole, another
learned lawyer who had long resided in the territory. Under the act,
approved March 14, 1889 (the last day of the session), the commission
was directed to prepare civil, penal and civil procedure codes and to
present them to the first session of the state Legislature and a political
code to its second session.
Besides the creation of the code commission, the sixteenth session
enacted a number of important measures. A general election law was
passed, and a board of medical inspectors, as well as the office of in-
spector -of mines, was established, and an act was made law by which
the National Guard of Montana was fairly placed on its feet.
On February 22, 1889, Congress had passed the act enabling the
Dakotas, Washington and Montana to assemble constitutional conventions
and lay the foundations of new states, preparatory to their reception
into the Union.
Passing from Territory to State
The last territorial governor of Montana was Benjamin Franklin
White, a Massachusetts Yankee early transplanted to California and
Idaho. While still a young man, he was engaged in the salt business
in the latter territory, and a few years afterwards, when the Utah
Northern came into Montana he founded a freight forwarding com-
pany, with headquarters at Dillon, which became the largest concern of
the kind in the West. He was especially identified with the growth of
that place in many ways. His term as territorial governor, under
appointment of President Harrison, dates from April 9, 1889, and he
served until November 8th of that year, or until the organization of
the state government.
As the holding of the State Constitutional Convention at Helena,
in July and August of that year, was an event which ushered in the
life of the commonwealth, the consideration of it is reserved for another
chapter. A few touches of this transition period have been given by
Joaquin Miller, for many years a gifted writer of the West, and are
reproduced: "S. T. Hauser, the first Montana governor of Montana,
resigned from office in 1887, H. P. Leslie, of Kentucky, succeeding.
But it is idle to dwell on a list of officers when peace and prosperity
attended the growing commonwealth. It would be wrong, however,
even by inference, to say that these imported men at the head of aft'airs.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 413
as a rule, failed in duty when on the ground. They may be likened to
officers of the army, only wanting opportunity. The next Montana gov-
ernor was B. F. White, of Dillon, appointed by Harrison.
"Meanwhile, population, of a solid, cultured class, from the maple
woods of the Miami Reserve, largely; Yankees, who had lodged a gen-
eration or so in Ohio and Indiana on their way West, came pouring in
by way of the Northern Pacific. The Indian troubles had entirely
passed into history, so far as the daily massacre went at least, and so
the remote little nooks and crooks along the mountain creeks soon be-
gan to blossom with happy homes as never before. There was talk of a
state. A convention was held, a constitution was framed, a vote taken ;
the constitution adopted and a state formed, and without the least
friction, in brief space. This constitution is replete with cold caution
and jealous guard over the liberties of Montana, and is severely econom-
ical for a state that has mountains of gold for its corner-stones and
silver ways and gateways."
CHAPTER XIX
BENCH AND BAR OF MOXTAXA
During the few years prior to the creation of Montana as an inde-
pendent territory, law and order and stern justice were represented
by the preponderance of physical force, directed by the rugged and un-
deviating honesty of the vigilantes and their tribunals — the miners'
courts. When the territorial courts were organized, under the organic
act of it%4, the rules and regulations of the miners" courts were en-
forced and most of the lawyers who practiced during that seething
period continued their professional labors with honor under the consti-
tutional bodies. As has been fitly observed: "Xever were any courts
organized by Congress, or by any state government, that had so extensive
jurisdiction as the territorial courts. They possessed at once the juris-
diction of the State and United States courts."
Bask- Ori;.\xtz.\tion oi- tiik Ji-dhiah^-
Under the organic act, the judicial power of the territory was
vested in a Supreme Court, consisting of a chief justice and two asso-
ciate justices; in District and Probate courts and justices of the peace.
It also provided that the territory should be divided into three judicial
districts, in which District Court should be held, at stated times, by
one of the justices of the Supreme Court. These District courts w'ere
of general jurisdiction and their functions were coextensive with the
Circuit and District courts of the United States. Appeals were taken
from the District courts to the Supreme Court of the territory, and
thence to the Supreme Court of the United States in all cases involving
the sum of $5,000. Although the criticism was made that the territorial
-Supreme Court could thus confirm its ow-n errors as rendered by the
District Court, the Reports showed that the decisions of the lower
court were often reversed, and that the judgments of the Supreme
Court of the territory were usually affinned on appeal to tlie Supreme
Court of the United States.
As already stated. President Lincoln appointed H. L. Hosmer chief
justice, his associates being L. P. W'illiston, of Pennsyhania, and Eyman
E. IMunson. of Connecticut. Justice Hosmer lived in Virginia City
and pre.sided in the District Coiirt of the First. Williston at Deer Eodge,
as district judge of the Second, and ^lunson at Helena had jurisdiction
over the Third judicial district. Probate courts were established in each
countv and every settlement and mining camp was jirovided with a
justice of the peace and a constaljlc.
4U
HISTORY OF MONTANA 415
Pioneer Lawyers of Montana
William Chumasero, Thomas Thorougliman, James G. Spratt, R. B.
Tarrott, William Y. Lovell. Thomas Muffly, Cornelius Hedges, Sidney
Egerton, Elanson C. Moore. John P. Bruce. R. H. Robertson, Edward
Sheffield. Jerry Cook, John C. Turk and William L. McMath are among
the lawyers who arri\ed in Montana about the time of its organization
as a territory and commenced practice. "And so," comnfents an appre-
ciative author of those times, "Montana came to be well suppHed with
judges, courts and lawyers; the miners' courts gradually fade away and
disappear, their thrilling scenes and incidents pass into history, their
rules and regulations enter into the structure and body of the law, their
judges and presidents lose their authority and jurisdiction, but retain
their titles ; the period of government without law has passed away. It
has been a period of peril and liardship, of unconquerable energy and
courage, but during its existence the seeds of an imperishable common-
wealth had taken root.
Reigx of Bench and Bar Begins
"The organic act did not do nnich more than to furnish the frame-
work for a territorial government, and from its date until the enact-
ment of what are known as the Hannack Statutes in January, 1865, by
the first Legislative Assembly, though there were judges and courts,
there was no law to set the machinery in motion. Upon the enactment
of the Bannack Statutes the legitimate reign of the Bench and Bar
begins."
The so-called Bannack Statutes, with a congressional act passed in
the following year, extended the old pre-territorial doctrine (rigidly
enforced by the miners' courts) by which the first to discover ruiming
water for placer mining was entitled to its control ; the Assembly and
Congress extended that doctrine so as to apply it to water used for
agricultural purposes. The older principle of riparian rights, as known
to the common law, was thereby overturned, and the early justices of
Montana were soon crowded with cases growing out of this conflict.
Among the lawyers who handled such cases and others of this period
were Henry N. Blake, Alex M. Woolfolk, Thomas R. Edwards, Green
Clay Smith, L. G. Sharpe, John H. Shoper, John C. Robinson, R. E.
.Arick, Henry Burdick, Joseph J. Williams. Thomas J. Lowry, Walter F.
Chadwick, Sample Orr and A. G. P. George.
The Bannack Statutes, however, were crude and obscure, and in
1867 the Legislative Assem'bly enacted what has been known as the
California Practice act. as well as other statutes. But none of them
were publi.shed until some time after they were enacted, and everything
legal was still in such confusion and the permanency of the territory
was so uncertain that there are few records of either the Supreme or
the lower courts which are of any value. The dearth of statutes during
the first judicial period, the lack of court houses and places for keeping
416 • HISTORY OF MONTANA
records, the widely scattered population and the distances for the judges,
litigants, lawyers, jurors and witnesses to travel to the county seats
and to the capital, made the courts expensive and surrounded the ad-
ministration of justice with great difficulties and delays. Perhaps the
justices of the first period, as most of the people of that time did, thought
that the occupation of Montana by white people would only continue
while the placers were being worked out, and that records and decisions
were hardly worth preserving in a country so soon to again be a wilder-
ness. At that time, the stock and agricultural industries had not been
considered as valuable assets to the country and gold only was viewed in
the light of a precious metal.
Justices of First Supreme Court Retire
The first justices of the Supreme Court were now near the end of
their terms. Soon after he retired in July, 1868, the chief justice moved
with his family to California. Of Judge Hosmer's associates, Willis-
ton retired with his chief and resumed the practice of his profession in
Pennsylvania, while Munson continued to serve until April, 1869, when
he returned to his native Connecticut.
. JtTDGE AND GOVERNOR ClASH
It was Judge Munson who stood so firmly for law under the con-
stitution as opposed to law by force, albeit wielded by honest men ; and
in taking his judicial stand he was obliged to clash with Acting Governor
Meagher. During the absence of Chief Justice Hosmer and Associate
Justice Williston for nearly a year after the arrival of Judge Munson,
judicial supervision of the territory devolved upon the latter. A typical
New England lawyer and judge, he opened court in August, 1865, and
in his charge to the grand jury, at Helena, significantly announced that
courts had been organized "for the trial of both civil and criminal causes,
with ample facilities to secure the ends of justice — especially with such
auxiliary help as they have reason to believe will be tendered in time of
need, and which it is the duty of every good citizen at all times to ren-
der." Citizens of the territory were ready to admit that the courts
could handle, but were in doubt as to its criminal afifairs. Judge Mun-
son asserted that criminal causes could no longer be tried outside the
courts established under the constitution. The first criminal case
brought before him and the first trial for murder in any Montana court
was that of James B. Daniels for the killing of one Gartley. The details
of the crime are immaterial, but Daniels was convicted of manslaughter
at the December term of the District Court, in 1865, and in the follow-
ing February reprieved by Acting Governor Meagher.
On being released from the Madison county jail (then the terri-
torial prison) under this reprieve, Daniels immediately returned to
Helena and swore revenge upon the witnesses who had testified against
him. He arrived there about g o'clock in the evening and was almost
HISTORY OF MONTANA 417
immediately surrounded by a mob, which hanged him about an hour
afterward. At the time he was executed, Daniels had in his pocket
the reprieve, or pardon, which had been issued a few days before by
General Meagher.
The incident drew from Judge Munson the following letter to the
acting governor, which is characteristic of the writer, and refers bluntly,
if not bravely, to the controversy then blazing between the judiciary and
the Legislative Assembly, headed by the chief executive of the territory :
"Virginia City, M. T., March i, 1866.
"Gen. T. F. Meagher, Secretary and Acting Governor of Montana: —
Dear Sir: Noticing in the paper (the Montana Radiator) your proclam-
ation setting at liberty James Daniels, convicted of manslaughter and
serving out his sentence in Madison county jail, I came from Helena on
the return coach to respectfully ask that you revoke that order and have
the sheriff remand him to prison until the will of the President could be
made known concerning him.* This you declined to do. I therefore
desire to state that you have assumed the exercise of a power not dele-
gated to the executive, unwarranted by law, and the sheriff should have
disregarded the order until further advised. Had Daniels been con-
victed of murder and sentenced to be hanged, you then could have re-
prieved him from the execution of the sentence until the will of the Presi-
dent could be known ; but not even then could you have set him at lib-
erty. I have therefore ordered the marshal to rearrest him, if he be
found (the sheriff says he has escaped out of his precinct), and confine
him in the jail and hold him at all hazards until otherwise ordered by
the President, and I am happy to assure you that he will obey the order
and defend his action. I hope you will render him all needed assistance
in the discharge of his duty, in maintaining the supremacy of the law.
"One word further: I notice in the city papers a published speech
said to have been delivered by you in a democratic convention, recently
held in this city, in which you say that you shall compel the judges of
the territory to recognize the legality of the legislature .soon to assem-
ble under your call, and the validity of the laws it may pass. Had you
spoken simply as a politician I should take no notice of the speech —
probably never should have read it ; but you gave to it significance by
adding weight of your official position, which brings it to notice. That
there may be no misunderstanding between us, or misapprehension in
the minds of those who heard or have read it, I deem it proper as one of
the judges alluded to (the others being absent) to state that the judges of
Montana will pursue a straightforward, honest, independent course in the
discharge of their official duties, regardless of fear or favor. They will not
be bought by promises of reward, nor bullied or intimidated by threats
from any source. They claim the right and will exerci.se the duty of
not only construing, but of passing upon the validity of any law the legis-
* Daniels had lieen sentenced to three years' imprisonment and $1,000 tine, and,
notwithstanding the light sentence, which the community generally accepted, be-
fore he had served three months of his term thirty-two persons had applied to the
governor for his reprieve and to the President for his pardon.
Vol. I— 27
418 HISTORY OF MONTANA
lature may pass, or even the legality of the session itself, whenever they
may come legitimately before them, in the discharge of their official
duties, and their judgments, orders and decrees will be observed and
enforced until overruled and set aside by a higher tribunal than the edict
of an executive. The judiciary will aim to do their whole duty and it
is hoped their decisions will be just, equitable and satisfactory. May
peace, order and prosperity be the happy lot of us all, and the law, with
its protective shield, at all times be over these mountain homes of ours.
"I have the honor to subscribe myself
"Yours, etc., L. E. Munson
"U. S. Judge, Montana Territory."
The records show no opinion in writing delivered by any of the
judges of the Supreme Court of the territory as it was first constituted.
Several of their opinions and charges to the juries were printed by the
newspapers of Virginia City and Helena, at the time they were delivered,
but the first printed volume of Reports begins with the December term,
1868, and ends with the January term, 1873.
Beginning of Systematic Judicature
The coming of Henry L. Warren as chief justice, appointed from
the State of Illinois, in July, 1868, to succeed Judge Hosmer, and of
Hiram Knowles, of Iowa, as associate justice, successor to Judge Willis-
ton, at the same time, was the beginning of a new era in the judicial
history of the territory. They were experienced lawyers of unusual
ability, in the prime of life, energetic and ambitious, and of high charac-
ter, at once commanding the respect and confidence of the people and the
bar. Judge Knowles had known something of life in the mining camps
of the far West, having previously lived in Nevada, where he had prac-
ticed law and been prosecuting attorney. They organized order out of
the chaos of the courts. By an amendment to the organic act, the justices
of the Supreme Court were clothed with authority to define the judicial
districts of the territory, to assign the justices to their respective districts
and to fix the time and place for holding the courts. They adopted
rules for the Territorial Supreme Court similar to those of the Supreme
courts of the States, pointed out how transcripts on appeal should be
made, provided for the filing and service of briefs, and required every
decision of the court to be in writing and filed with the clerk.
The first vokune of the Montana Supreme Court Reports therefore
begins with the first term of that court after the advent of Justices
Warren and Knowles, which convened in December, 1868. Eighteen
decisions rendered in important cases and reduced to writing by them
at that term bespeak their learning and energy.
In April, 1869, George G. Symes, of Kentucky, and formerly of
Iowa, succeeded Lyman E. Munson as associate justice. Symes had
served with distinction in the Union army and though not a lawyer of
large experience was a thorough student and very ambitious. He resided
at Helena, Knowles at Deer Lodge, and Warren, at Virginia City.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 419
New Codification of the Laws
The Legislative Assembly of 1869 named the judges of the Supreme
Court as a commission to codify the territorial statutes. The work, as
arranged among themselves, assigned the Civil Practice act to Chief
Justice Warren, who substantially followed the California act and made
few amendments to the Montana codification of 1867. The Assembly of
1871-72 attempted such radical changes in Judge Symes's codification of
the Genera] laws as to throw it into confusion, from which it has not
entirely recovered. On the whole, Judge Knowles's work on the Crim-
inal Laws and Procedure seemed to give the most general satisfaction,
and his codification remained substantially unchanged for many years.
The entire work of the commission, after having been passed upon by
the Legislative Assembly of 1871-72, was published in the volume of laws
entitled "Codified Statutes, 7th Session, 1871-2."
At this period (the early '70s), the leading lawyers of the territory,
besides those already named, were W. E. Cullen, George May, W. W.
Dixon, W. H. Clagett, James H. Brown, Joseph K. Toole, Thomas L.
Napton, James E. Calloway, W. F. Kirkwood, Massena Bullard and
Henry F. Williams.
After the adjournment of the Supreme Court in January. 1871, Chief
Justice Warren and Associate Justice Symes resigned, and on March
17th of that year President Grant appointed Decius S. Wade of Ohio as
Judge Warren's successor, John L. Murphy of Tennessee having suc-
ceeded Judge Symes soon after his resignation in January. Warren re-
sumed the practice at Virginia City and Symes at Helena. Subsequently
they both left Montana, Warren to practice at St. Louis, Missouri, and
later in New Mexico, where he was successful, and Symes at Denver,
Colorado, where he amassed a fortune, was elected to Congress and
was otherwise honored.
Chief Justice Wade's Service
Decius S. Wade was in his thirty-sixth year when President Grant
appointed him chief justice of the Supreme Court. He was a nephew
of the widely known statesman from Ohio, Benjamin F. Wade, under
whom he pursued his legal studies. Before ascending the Montana
bench, he had held judicial position in Ashtabula County, Ohio, and was
a member of the State Senate from that district when appointed to the
chief justiceship. Through his service for four consecutive terms as
head of the territorial Supreme Court and his great work in the early
'90s, as chairman of the commission which re-codified the laws of Mon-
tana into a closely-knit and consistent system. Judge Wade, without
disparagement to any other great brother of the bench, has been justly
named the Father of Montana jurisprudence. Further, his work on the
"Bench and Bar" of Montana is a rich mine of information, from which
much has been gleaned by every writer on the topic who desires to be
well posted regarding it.
The most important developments in territorial jurisprudence oc-
420 HISTORY OF MONTANA
curred during the periods of Justice Wade's service, from March, 1871,
to May, 1887, and of his able associate, Hiram Knowles, from July, 1868,
to July, 1879. In his reminiscences of that period. Judge Wade writes:
"The business of holding District courts in the counties of the three
judicial districts of the territory, besides two terms per year in each
district for the trial of causes arising under the constitution and laws
of the United States, and two terms of the Supreme Court at the capi-
tal, had become laborious and exacting. The -only means of travel was
by stage coach, the counties were larger than many of the states and the
distances to places for holding court were very great. It is estimated
that Judge Wade, before the advent of railroads in 1883, traveled 25,000
miles by stage coach in attending to the holding of courts in Montana,
and it is probable that Judge Knowles in his eleven years' service as
associate justice accomplished an equal task. The centers of population
and business at the time were Virginia City, the capital of the terri-
tory; Bozeman, in Gallatin County; Helena and Diamond City, in Lewis
and Clark County; Deer Lodge City, in Deer Lodge County, and Mis-
soula, in Missoula County. These places were county seats, and the
lawyers traveled from court to court, many of them having cases in
every court in the territory.
I Crude Legal and Judicial Surroundings
"The court houses, like those of most new countries, were not im-
posing temples of justice. Many important cases, involving large sums
of money or valuable property, or perhaps pioneer cases without prece-
dents for guides, and whose decision would become foundations in the
systems of law for this Western world, were fought out in log cabins,
or in crude wooden structures whose walls and ceilings were lined with
cheese capping for plaster, whose carpets were sawdust or sand, whose
chairs were backless boards and whose jury seats were bare benches.
"The accommodations at the hotels, if the stopping places could be
so dignified, for jurors, witnesses, lawyers and judges, were of like
character ; but for many the dance houses, the saloons and the gambling
places running all night with music in full blast, rendered sleeping
apartments quite unnecessary. To these isolated places, the coming of
court was the event of the year, the harvest time ; and with beer or whisky
at twenty-five cents per drink, and other things in proportion, the ex-
pectations were never disappointed. Everything was carried on at high
pressure and with lavish hand. Perhaps this resulted from the ease with
which gold was washed from the ground, or it may have been the isola-
tion of the country and the difficulties in reaching it, and the absence of
other diversions and pleasure ; but whatever the cause, it is certain never
was there a more generous or hospitable people of Montana at that
period. The latchstring hung on the outside, and there was nothing too
good to be shared, even with strangers. Every place of business had
its scales for weighing out gold dust, and every lawyer carried a buck-
skin pouch for the reception of fees — which, in amount, would have
HISTORY OF MONTANA 421
astonished an Eastern lawyer and dazed an Eastern client — in the same
material. But though the fees were large, the lawyers, like the other
people, seemed to think the supply inexhaustible, and like them, were
reckless and extravagant. This characteristic, however, did not dis-
qualify them as lawyers. For the number of people in the territory the
litigation was very large, owing to the disputes and conflicts concerning
mining claims and the appropriation of water ; and it is not too much to
say that the bar of this period was equal to that of any other country.
Notwithstanding the expense and difficulties of transportation, they had
fine libraries, and when occasion required would ship large numbers of
books at the rate of twenty-five cents per pound to remote countries,
to be used there in the trial of cases."
Placer Mining and Water Rights
At the August term (1871) of the Supreme Court, which was the
first over which Chief Justice Wade presided, an opinion was handed
down by Justice Knowles which became a precedent for all the mining
regions of the West. It was entitled Robertson et al. vs. Smith et al. and
involved questions entirely foreign to the learning or experience of such
an "Eastern lawyer" as the chief justice then considered himself. The
case had been tried at the July term of the Meagher County District
Court, and, in affirming its judgment, Judge Knowles held that under
the act of July 26, 1866, where a citizen or a person who had declared his
intention to become a citizen, takes up and holds a placer mining claim,
in pursuance of the local rules and regulations of the miners of the dis-
trict in which the claim is situated, the act aforesaid confers upon such
person a title equivalent to a patent from the United States, so long
as such rules and regulations are complied with ; and so, that the appel-
lants, who were the county commissioners of Meagher County and a
road supervisor, who were attempting to construct a road over and
across the placer claims of respondent, as over and across the public
domain, which they were authorized to do by said act of Congress,
should be perpetually enjoined and restrained from so doing. This deci-
sion, giving, as it did to the local rules and regulations of miners the full
force and effect of law, did much to strengthen and uphold the title to
mining claims, and placed that kind of property on a solid foundation.
At the Augtist, 1872, term important cases were decided involving
water rights for mining and agriculture, defining the rights of married
women to their separate property, and pronouncing Montana to be "In-
dian country under the laws of the United States regulating intercourse
with the Indian tribes."
It is said that "the briefs and arguments of counsel at that term,
for learning and ability, have never been surpassed in the territory or
State of Montana, and would have added dignity and strength to any
bar in the country: and if the opinions and decisions of the judges were
not sound and able, the fault was not with such lawyers as E. W. Toole,
W. F. Sanders. Claggett and Dixon, Sharpe and Napton, Chumasero and
422 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Chadwick, Joseph K. Toole, Shoper and Lowry, Henry N. Blake, Sam-
uel Word, James G. Spratt, Henry L. Warren, George G. Symes, W. E.
Cullen, W. J. Stephens and United States District Attorney Cornelius
Hedges."
Another case belonging to the early '70s attracted much attention.
Not a few Chinamen had acquired placer diggings and some were be-
coming rich. Fan Lee had come into possession of 3,000 feet of placer
mining ground, and to cover his case and others of like nature the Legis-
lative Assembly had passed an act "to provide for the forfeiture to the
territory of placer mines held by aliens." The District Court therefore
declared Lee's claims forfeited to the territory. On appeal to the Su-
preme Court Chief Justice Wade reversed the decision. He discussed
the general powers of a territorial legislature and held that alienage is
a disability that can only be taken advantage of by the sovereign power,
the United States Government ; in other words, that the territory by its
legislature could not forfeit the property of an alien and thereby become
the owner of property, which, if forfeited at all, must belong to the
United States.
In September, 1872. John L. Murphy, associate justice of the Su-
preme Court, resigned from the bench, and Francis G. Servis, of Ohio,
succeeded him. Judge Murphy opened a law office at Bozeman, but
afterward moved to San Francisco.
On "Fixing" the Territorial Capital
The year 1875 is important in the annals of the territorial judiciary.
The most interest is perhaps attached to the proceedings in the Supreme
Court which fixed the permanent capital of the territory at Helena. The
Helena lawyers and citizens claimed that the popular vote taken in 1869
upon the removal of the seat of government from Virginia City to the
former place showed a majority in favor of the present capital ; but as
the returns were burned after reaching Virginia City, and before they
had been canvassed, there was no means of determining officially how
the vote stood. So Virginia City retained the capital.
The act of February 11, 1874, authorized another election upon the
question ; which election took place the following August. The canvass
of the ballots by the commissioners and clerks of the several counties
indicated a majority in favor of Helena of 912. These officials of
Meagher County had certified that 561 votes had been cast for Helena
as the capital and 29 ballots for Virginia City. Thirty days after th^
election as required by law, the abstract of returns from that county,
when laid before the governor by the secretary of the territory and
United States marshal, was found to contain a transposition by which
it appeared that Virginia City had been favored with 561 ballots for the
capital and Helena with the 29, originally certified as fhe vote for Vir-
ginia City.
On the face of the abstracts, therefore, Helena had lost the contest.
The Virginia City contingent claimed that the only power possessed by
HISTORY OF MONTANA 423
the territorial canvassing board was to count tlie votes as shown by the
abstracts, even though they were known to be faulty or false. A num-
ber of citizens therefore commenced suit in the Supreme Court, under
a statute of the territory giving to that body jurisdiction in mandamus
proceedings, to determine whether or not the Canvassing Board could be
required to ascertain the correct vote at the election, or whether the
court, ascertaining from the proof the correct vote, could require the
governor to declare the result by proclamation. The cases were there-
fore directed against the governor, the auditor and the treasurer, the
official canvassing board, who had their offices in Virginia City.
W. F. Sanders, Johnston & Toole and Chumasero & Chadwick repre-
sented Helena, and Samuel Word, J. G. Spratt, H. F. Williams, H. N.
Blake and C. W. Turner, Virginia City. It is unfortunate that the briefs
and arguments of these able lawyers do not appear in the Reports ;
"for," asserts Judge Wade, "not in the judicial history of Montana is
there anything more learned or able. Every authority within reach or
that could be obtained on either side was presented." After hearing the
learned arguments, pro and con, and consulting a day, the Supreme Court
delivered its opinion. It was written by Chief Justice Wade, with the
concurrence of Judge Knowles and the dissent of Judge Servis, and
held that the Supreme Court, under legislative enactment, had original
jurisdiction in mandamus, and authority to compel the chief executive to
"perform a ministerial act, and that the Legislative Assembly had author-
ity to require the secretary and marshal, in the presence of the governor,
to canvass the returns of a general election."
Thereupon, the causes came on for trial before the court upon the
evidence, and having ascertained therefrom the correct vote of the people
upon the question of the removal of the seat of government, rendered
a decree accordingly and required the governor to issue a proclamation
removing the capital of the territory from Virginia City to the town of
Helena ; which was done. And thus ended one of the most important
and ably-conducted legal contests of either territory or state.
Henry N. Blake Ascends Supreme Bench
In the fall of 1875, Francis G. Servis resigned as associate justice,
and returned to Ohio, subsequently adorning the bench and bar of
Mahoning County. He was succeeded on the Montana bench by Hon.
Henry N. Blake, of Virginia City, a Boston and Harvard University
man, who had successfully practiced in the territory since 1866, and
was for about forty-five years thereafter one of the most conspicuous
figures in the legal and judicial life of Montana. He passed the last
years of his life in his native state. Before ascending the bench of the
Supreme Court as associate justice, Judge Blake had served as United
States attorney and district attorney for the First Judicial District, con-
sisting of Madison, Beaverhead and Yellowstone counties. In the early
'70s he prepared the first volume of Montana Reports and assisted in
the collaboration of the second and third volumes. He was a member of
424 HISTORY OF MONTANA
the Legislative Assembly when appointed associate justice, which office
he held until March, 1880. Judge Blake served as the last chief justice
of the territorial Supreme Court and the first chief justice of the State
Supreme Court. He also held the judgeship of the First District (Lewis
and Clark County) in 1895-96. Consequently, there were few of his
profession in Montana who enjoyed such a varied and honorable judi-
cial career as Judge Blake.
A Strong Supreme Bench
The addition of Judge Blake's learning. and practical knowledge of
Montana's laws made the Supreme bench remarkably strong. It is
questionable whether it was ever stronger, either in territorial or state
times, than when Chief Justice Wade presided, with Judge Knowles
and Blake as associates.
Qu.\RTz Mining Litigation
Up to 1870, the litigations over placer claims occupied a large share
of its attention, with legal complications over the discovery and location
of quartz-lode claims holding a secondary position. Quartz mining re-
quired more cumbersome and expensive operations and machinery than
those required in the development of the placer diggings but with the
realization of the far greater possibilities of quartz mining and the intro-
duction of capital, the courts were invaded with disputes over the loca-
tions of lodes and veins and demands for the legal pronouncement of
individual rights. But though the conditions for the practical develop-
ment of quartz mining continued unfavorable in Montana for some
years, the new system concerning the location, representation and patent-
ing of quartz-lode mining claims, inaugurated by the act of Congress of
May 10, 1872. gave an impetus to that kind of mining before unknown.
It was an untried system and the lawyers and judges of the mining
regions, in the very center of which was Montana, had to interpret
and expound an act which was entirely experimental, keeping only one
end before them — to carry out the stimulating intent of Congress. But
within a few years, the mining laws of the territory expanded into a
system, and this complicated underground mining was, with the deci-
sion of case after case, regulated, in a way, and brought within the un-
derstanding of those really engaged in it.
Joaquin Miller, himself a miner as well as an author, sets forth some
of the legal difficulties, in that field, partially overcome by the courts of
Montana. "On a mountain side," he writes, "or in a tract of country
filled with quartz veins and lodes, running parallel, crossing, intersecting,
how are the rights of adjoining owners of these mining claims to be
adjusted and determined, when there is nothing on the surface to indi-
cate the apex of the vein or its pitch or course? There is nothing more
difficult or requiring more skill and knowledge of law, geology and en-
gineering to properly determine and adjudicate than these underground
suits.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 425
"There is no such thing as learning the habits of quartz veins, lodes
or ledges. Their language admits of no absolute interpretations ; they
exist only where they can be actually seen ; each one has its own dip
and angle, its own foot and hanging walls ; some are true fissure veins
and some pinch out and disappear ; some are rich in places without
cause or provocation, and in other places barren and worthless, with
as little reason; and with none of them can anything be granted.
"This is the kind of property, having the same elements of doubt
and uncertainty as a game of chance, upon which and for the adjudica-
tion of rights concerning which, the system of mining law was con-
structed.
"It is sufficiently difficult to settle rights on top of the earth and in
broad daylight, but when we go down into the earth, into shafts, tunnels
and slopes, and one set of skilled experts and engineers make beautiful
and elaborate maps and diagrams of the underground workings and
geography, and testify that the apex of a vein is in the claim of the
plaintiff ; and another set of engineers and geologists, equally expert and
skilled, testify exactly the contrary, and that the apex is in the claim of
the defendant, is it any wonder that the jury, after groping in the dark
for perhaps a month, following the witnesses through the tunnels, down
shafts and into slopes, and listening to learned contradictory theories
concerning geology, fissures, the various kinds of rocks, their ages and
what they are supposed to signify, is utterly bewildered and still in the
dark?
"This kind of cases involves only questions of fact ; but the perplex-
ing, difficult thing is to get at the real truth. Other cases involve ques-
tions of law arising upon the mining statute ; and these at least have the
benefit of daylight."
Until the late '70s. it may be said that the cases brought before the
Supreme Court established such principles in mining law as these : That
unpatented mining claims does not exempt the product of the mine from
taxation; that a verbal contract of copartnership entered into "for the
purpose of prospecting for, locating, recording, preempting, developing
and mining quartz lodes and other mining property" is valid ; that the
valid location of a mining claim under the act of May, 1872, carried
with it a grant of the claim located from the Government to the person
making the location, together with exclusive possession of the same;
that if there is a failure to represent the claim, the title is gone, and the
claim again becomes subject to location ; that a person making a loca-
tion has one whole year in which to do the representation work and that
there can be no forfeiture until the full time has expired ; that a party
in possession of mining ground under a title subsequently determined in
court to be invalid, might, without fraud, relocate such ground and there-
after perfect such title in accordance with law ; that the valid location
of a quartz-lode mining claim could not be made until the claimant had
marked the boundaries so that they could be readily traced by means
of stakes, natural objects, or other certain means.
The first three volumes of the Montana Supreme Court Reports con-
426 HISTORY OF MONTANA
tain many important decisions aside from those relating to mining claims
and water rights ; and they are of great interest and importance, because
they cover the period of the foundation and the first growth of Montana
jurisprudence. By 1880 many precedents had been established espe-
cially in the new field of quartz mining litigation, and the bewilderment
of novel questions in a new country was disappearing.
Retirement of Justice Knowles
In July, 1879, Justice Knowles, whose leadership in such statutory
developments had been marked, resigned from the bench of the Supreme
Court for the purpose of resuming the practice of his profession. Eleven
years in that high office had brought him continuous and increasing
honor, and after practicing at the bar for a decade he completed his
judicial career on the bench of the Federal Court during the first of
four years of statehood. Judge Knowles was succeeded as associate
justice by William J. Galbraith, of Iowa.
There was another change among Chief Justice Wade's associates,
in March, 1880, when Justice Blake was succeeded by Everton J. Conger,
of Illinois, who held office for nearly four years.
Lawyers of 1879-80
At the date of the succession of Justices Galbraith and Conger in
1879-80, the population of the territory had greatly increased, and with
it the number of the lawyers and the business of the courts. Besides
those already named, the lawyers in active practice at this time were
Robert P. Vivion, George F. Cowan, J. A. Kanouse, H. M. Porter, I. R.
Porter, Benjamin T. Porter, H. R. Comly ; Merritt C. Paige. United
States attorney, from 1872 to 1877, being drowned in the Madison
River in May of the latter year ; Thomas M. Pomeroy, Frank H. Woody,
John J. Donnelly, Patrick Talent, John F. Forbis, H. P. Rolfe, Ira H.
Pierce, W. H. DeWitt, Stephen DeWolf, Hiram Blaisdell, Arthur S.
Higgins. F. K. Armstrong, James H. Garlock; J. W. Andrews, Jr.,
United States attorney; J. W. Tattan, William H. Hunt. Horace R.
Buck, F. J. McBride, George C. Randolph; James S. Dryden, United
States attorney ; J. W. Strevell, John T. Baldwin, William O. Speer and
W. T. Piggott.
After the retirement of Justices Knowles and Blake, as for several
years before, mining litigation continued to occupy a large share of the
attention of the courts, and little by little the system of the mining law
developed. The Supreme Court decided about this time that "posses-
sion of the surface of a lode claim is possession of all veins, lodes and
ledges whose tops or apexes are within the surface lines," which, with
its logical and detailed applications straightened out many a legal tangle.
It was also decided that actual possession of mining ground could not
hold the claim against a valid location. The purchase and title to min-
eral lands were again barred to Chinamen or other aliens. Chief Justice
HISTORY OF MONTANA 427
Wade opined that possessory title to a placer claim was made the prop-
erty real estate and must be conveyed by deed ; that a mere verbal trans-
fer would not hold as against a valid quartz-claim location.
In February, 1884, Justice Conger retired from the bench on account
of ill health, as a result both of old wounds received in the Civil war
and of his strenuous labors on the bench. He resumed the practice at
Dillon, Beaverhead County, and was succeeded as associate justice by
John Coburn, of Indiana.
Quartz Claims-Overshadow Placer
But changes of judges did not alter the character of litigation. One
of the most noted decisions rendered was in a contest between the
owners of a patent to placer mining groimd and the claimants of a
quartz-lode mining claim within the same bounds, and it was a judicial
demonstration of the preeminence which the quartz claims and mining
had attained over the placer. The court, by Chief Justice Wade, held
that a patent to a placer claim issued under the congressional act of
May, 1872, passes no title to a previously located quartz vein or lode
claim included within its boundaries, and whether or not the placer ap-
plicant knew of the existence of such lode or quartz claim was immaterial ;
and this upon the theory that the valid location of a quartz-lode mining
claim carries with it a grant from the government to the locator.
Town Site Patents Displaced by Quartz Lode Claims
Of great interest, legally, and of far-reaching consequences as in-
volving title to valuable mining properties, was the contest waged in
the Supreme Court between the claimants of a quartz lode location
(Silver Bow Mining Company) and parties who claimed the same
ground under the Butte town site patent. The mining claim patent won
over the town site patent.
In the autumn of 1885, Charles R. Pollard of Indiana, was appointed
associate justice to succeed Justice Coburn, who returned to Indianapolis
to continue practice. Pollard failed to be confirmed by the Senate, and
on August 6, 1886, James H. McLeary of Texas, came into office. On the
same day, under an act of Congress giving an additional judge to Mon-
tana, Thomas C. Bach, of Butte City, Montana, was appointed associate
justice.
Litigation over mining claims still crowded the docket of the Supreme
Court. Thirty-two cases involving contentions between lot claimants
under the Butte town site patent and those under the Smokehouse lode
location, and involving property in the city of great value, were covered
by one opinion rendered by the chief justice, who reaffirmed the doc-
trines laid down in the Silver Bow case and concluded that "there is
no law authorizing the L^nited States Land Office to exclude from a
mining claim patent 'the right to surface ground, and a reservation in
such a patent excluding therefrom the right to all lots, blocks, streets,
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HISTORY OF MONTANA 429
alleys, houses and municipal improvements on the surface of the claim,
is void ; and that the issuance of a patent to a quartz-lode mining claim
is conclusive, in an action at law, as to the title to the land within its
limits."
Chief Justice Wade's decisions were upheld by the United States
Supreme Court, which, however, made an exception to an opinion handed
down by Judge Bach, in the case of Weibold vs. Davis. The United
States Court, by Justice Field, held that the facts in the case upon which
Judge Bach passed were not identical with those in the suits decided by
Chief Justice Wade and to meet the dissimilarity held that "a town site
patent of an earlier date covering the same premises embraced in a junior
mining patent carries the title in absence of proof establishing the known
existence of the mine at the date of such town site patent."
The foregoing are .some of the leading cases that found their way
to the Supreme Court of Montana during the territorial period, arising
under the rules and regulations of the miners and under the acts of
Congress. After the admission of the territory as a state, the litigation
concerning mines and mining claims was mostly transferred to the
United States courts, and thereby the State Supreme and District courts
were relieved of much labor.
Railroad Cases
Not long after the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad in the
territory, in 1883, a fertile source of litigation was also introduced to
the courts of Montana. The land grant obtained by the company from
Congress was equivalent to a tract of land forty miles wide by 800
miles long, being every alternate section of the public lands, not mineral,
designated by odd numbers, to the extent of forty miles on either side of
said company's road. Without specifying the particular cases which
drew forth the opinions and decisions of the various members of the
Supreme Court of Montana Territory, that tribunal adjudicated that
the title of the Northern Pacific to the lands included within its great
grant took effect at the date of the approval of the act of Congress in-
corporating the company ; that as Congress chartered the company and
granted it public lands, it is competent to e.xempt the right-of-way of
the railroad from taxation. The question as to what, if any, mineral
lands the Northern Pacific Railroad Company might hold under the
Government's land grant, became a serious problem soon after the ad-
vent of the line to Montana, and finally, in consequence of the quantity
of the mineral land included in the grant, an issue of almost national
importance. If the company could hold, and if the grant covered all
lands not known to be mineral at the date of the grant, or at the time of
the location of the route of the road, it would give to the Northern Pacific
some of the richest mines in the world. Cases more or less involving
this question were tried in Montana and decisions rendered in favor of
operators who had demonstrated the existence of ore on lands falling
within the land grant of the railroad company. But the decisive case
430 HISTORY OF MONTANA
grew out of the suit brought by the Xorthem Pacific against Barden,
who had located a quartz-lode mining claim in August, 1888. The deci-
sion of the case by the Supreme Court of the United States in May,
1894, settled forever the contentions of the railroad company that it
was entitled to the mineral lands included within its grant; so that al-
though the narrative is somewhat projected, the final disposition of the
question is noted here. It was a case which attracted wide attention
even among the great issues brought before the supreme judiciary of
the nation, and was presented and argued by eminent counsel. James
McNaught and James C. Carter represented the plaintiff (the Northern
Pacific) and W. W. Dixon and Warren Toole, employed by the State of
Montana, W. H. H. Miller, attorney general of the United States. George
H. Shields and Martin F. Morris, the individual defendant, the com-
monwealth and the national Government.
It is said that the argument of Mr. Dixon and the written brief and
contention of Mr. Toole have not been surpassed by such procedures in
the annals of the United States Supreme Court. Attorney General Mil-
ler incorporated the speech of Senator Wilbur F. Sanders delivered in
the upper house of Congress, on the same subject, which attracted the
attention of the nation, in his brief and argument on behalf of the de-
fendant.
The opinion of the court, by Justice Field, held that the Northern
Railroad Company could not recover under the grant to it by the act of
Congress, any mineral lands from the persons in possession thereof who
had made locations, although the mineral character of the land was not
known until the year 1888, no patent having been issued to said com-
pany : that there was no merit in any of the positions advanced by the
plaintifif in support of its claim to the mineral lands in controversy.
The language of the land grant to the plaintiff was free from ambiguity.
The exclusion from its operation of all mineral lands was entirely clear,
and whether the mineral character of the lands was known at the date
of the grant or afterward was of no importance.
Chief Justice Wade Retires
The fourth term of Chief Justice Wade expired on May 2, 1887, and
he was succeeded by N. W. McConnell, of Tennessee. The second term
of William J. Galbraith as associate justice expired in January, 18S8, and
Judge Galbraith gave place to Stephen DeWolfe, the third citizen of
■ Montana to be appointed to its Supreme bench. When Justice Galbraith
retired from the bench, after eight and a half years of fine service, his
Scotch aggressiveness, honesty and learning, had contributed much to the
already high standing of the court. He resumed the practice of his pro-
fession in the territory of Washington.
Justice DeWolfe was an old and tried practitioner before the courts
of Montana, and continued his good services to the Supreme Court until
the territory became a state. He then retired to the practice of his pro-
fession in Butte. The services of Justice McLeary, although only extend-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 431
ing from August, 1886, to April, 1888, were of fine quality, and when
he resigned to resume his Texas practice he cut short a promising career
in Montana. Moses J. Liddell, who succeeded Justice McLeary, was
from Louisiana, creditably served on the Supreme bench so long as Mon-
tana was a territory and when statehood came commenced practice at
Bozeman, but lived only two years afterward.
Chief Justice McConnell retired from the bench in March, 1889, after
having served less than two years. He made a good judge, but pre-
ferred the more active work of a lawyer, and left the bench to practice
in Helena.
Associate Justice Bach reached the Supreme bench while yet a young
man and before he had had much experience at the bar, but his three
years of judicial labors, which concluded with the territorial era, were
most creditable to his abilities and an addition to the character of the
court.
The Bar at Close of Territorial Period
This period and phase of territorial life cannot be better closed from
a literary and historic point of view than by a mention of some of the
leading members of the bar who were then in the public eye and mind.
Massena Bullard had a. large and important practice. Joseph K. Toole,
who was prosecuting attorney, and delegate in Congress and governor
of the state, was a leader at the bar and was to earn a broader reputation
as a public man of the state to-be. Then there were John J. Donnelly,
pioneer lawyer and member of the legislative Assembly, of Choteau
County; John W. Tattan, clerk of the court and prosecuting attorney of
the same county ; J. C. Robinson, of Deer Lodge, member of the legis-
lative Assembly and constitutional convention; William H. Hunt, who
was prosecuting attorney, attorney general of the territory and after-
ward judge of the First Judicial District ; W. E. Cullen, vvho was a mem-
ber of the Assembly, attorney general of the territory and subsequently
attorney for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company in Montana ; W. H.
Claggett, the "silver tongued orator," a delegate in Congress ; W. H.
DeWitt, prosecuting attorney and afterward associate justice of the
State Supreme Court ; E. N. Harwood, who was also to be elevated to
the bench of the Supreme Court of the state ; Thomas J. I^owry and
John H. Shober, both of whom were prosecuting attorneys for the Third
Judicial District of the territory, and for a long time partners in prac-
tice; R. P. Vivion, lately prosecuting attorney and member of the legis-
lative assembly for Gallatin County ; Thomas C. Bach, associate justice
of the territorial Supreme Court ; Henri J. Haskell, later, attorney gen-
eral of the state ; Elbert D. Weed and Robert B. Smith, both United
States attorneys for Montana ; I. D. McCutcheon, late secretary of
Montana territory; Frank H. Woody, judge of the Fourth Judicial
District Court ; Thomas C. Marshall, late member of the legislative As-
sembly and leading lawyer of Missoula ; John F. Forbis, member of
the legislative Assembly and leader of the Butte bar; N. B. Smith, prose-
Frank H. Woody, Judge and Pioneer Lawyer
HISTORY OF MONTANA 433
cuting attorney of Meagher County ; Frank K. Armstrong, judge of the
Ninth Judicial District, late prosecuting attorney and member of the
legislative Assembly; John J. McHatton and J. M. Spear, judges of
the Second Judicial District; Max Waterman, a leading lawyer of
Meagher County; Thomas H. Carter, late delegate in Congress for
Montana and commissioner of the General Land Office at Washington;
Alex. C. Botkin, for several years United States marshal for Montana
and afterward lieutenant governor of the state; John B..Clayberg, late
attorney general; R. E. Howey, probate judge of Lewis and Clark Coun-
ty ; O. F. Goddard, a leading lawyer of Yellowstone County ; A. R. Joy.
of Park County. All of the foregoing were admitted to practice for
the first time by the Supreme Court of Montana, or soon after their ad-
mission elsewhere, commenced practice before the territorial courts dur-
ing the official period of Chief Justice Wade. Even Warren Toole, Wil-
bur F. Sanders and William Dixon, the three foremost lawyers of the
great Northwest, earned their greatest reputation in the Montana Su-
preme Court while Chief Justice Wade presided over it. Of these, San-
ders was for ten years attorney for the Northern Pacific Railroad Com-
pany in Montana, and upon the admission of Montana as a state was
elected United States senator. Dixon was elected to the first state House
of Representatives and served as its second member of the national
House, but Toole "wedded to his profession, having no political ambi-
tion, with marvelous memory and profound judgment and reasoning with
mathematical precision," long stood peerless at the Montana bar.
Walter F. Chadwick, the learned code practitioner and great trial
lawyer ; J. W. Strevell, the father of law in Eastern Montana, and
William Chumasero, learned in the form and practice of the common
law and an eminent counselor, under the name of Chumasero & Chad-
wick, constituted one of the strong firms of Montana during the official
life of Judge Wade^as well as J. W. Strevell, the father of the law in
Eastern Montana ; L. A. Luce, member of the constitutional convention ;
Charles S. Hartman, subsequently member of Congress; J. J. Davis,
Bozeman, and F. W. Cole, Silver Bow County ; James A. Calloway, late
territorial secretary and member of the legislative Assembly from Mad-
ison County; George F. Cowan and M. PL Parker, of Jefferson County;
W. y. Stephens and Thomas M. Pomeroy, of Missoula County; James
H. Garlock, of Miles City ; Walter M. Bickford and George W. Reeves,
of Missoula ; William Scanlan, of Butte ; George F. Shelton, A. K.
Barbour, J. W. Kinsley, H. B. Smith, James U. Sanders, of Helena;
Thomas J. Galbraith, of Dillon; H. R. Whitehill, of Deer Lodge;
Thompson Campbell and J. H. Duffy, of Butte ; George W. Taylor, of
Great Falls ; George D. Greene, of Jefferson County, and C. B. Nolan,
prosecuting attorney of Lewis and Clark County.
Montana Bar Association Formed
The Montana Bar Association was organized at Helena, on January
8, 1885, and at the meeting held that day in the court house, Col. Wilbur
Vol. 1—28
434 HISTORY OF MONTANA
F. Sanders was chosen chairman and Horace R. Buck, secretary. Wil-
ham H. Hunt, afterward one of the circuit judges of the United States
Court, offered the resolution calHng for such an organization to pro-
mote better legislation and more efficiency in every department of the
territorial government. A constitution was adopted looking to these ends,
four days later, and Colonel Sanders was elected president of the asso-
ciation; W. H. Hunt, corresponding secretary; A. K. Barbour, record-
ino- secretarv: and W. E. Cullen, treasurer, with a vice president for
each of the thirteen counties. As these names, in addition to those given,
are representative of the profession at this time, they are reproduced,
as follows: Hiram Knowles, Silver Bow County; Thomas C. Marshall,
Missoula County; Robert B. Smith, Beaverhead County; Henry N.
Blake, Madison County ; Mack J. Learning, Choteau County ; J. C. Rob-
inson, Deer Lodge County; Fletcher N. Maddox, Meagher County;
George F. Cowan, Jefferson County; Andrew F. Burleigh, Custer Coun-
ty ; S. H. Wilde, Yellowstone County ; F. K. Armstrong, Gallatin Coun-
ty; W. E. Lonergin, Dawson County; and William Chumasero, Lewis
and Clark County. It was largely through the influence of this body
of strong lawyers that the codification of the common law was brought
about, or rather the adoption of the four codes of 1895. It has per-
formed other good offices, although of late years it has been rather in-
operative and has hardly lived up to its territorial constitution and
promises.
Bench and B.\r Under Statehood
Under the constitution of the state, Montana was provided with a
Supreme Court consisting of three members, whose duties were confined
to the highest judiciary of the commonwealth. The state was divided into
eight judicial districts and a federal district judge was also appointed.
When Montana became a state, also, under a territorial act passed in 1889,
a code commission had been authorized to prepare for submission to the
State Legislative Assembly four codes covering the civil, penal, political
and civil procedure statutes in force, and now embodied as a part of the
fundamental law of the state.
The code commission selected comprised Judge F. W. Cole, of Butte,
whose experience as a lawyer and a judge had made him familiar with
the civil codes of New York, Nevada, California and Montana; ex-Gov-
ernor B. Piatt Carpenter, of Helena, also a New York lawyer and judge,
who had settled in Montana five years previously as its territorial chief
executive, and ex-Chief Justice Decius S. Wade, also of Helena, whose
record is already known to the reader of these pages. Although the com-
mission expended two and a half years in the preparation of these codes,
they were not finally adopted by the Legislative Assembly until 1895. It
was largely through the persistency and influence of the Montana Bar
Association, organized a decade before, that this fine consolidation of the
statutes was made law by the legislators of the state.
Henry N. Blake, of Virginia City, who was the last chief justice of
HISTORY OF MONTANA 435
the territory (from March to November, 1889), was also elected as first
chief justice of the state, serving as such from November 8, 1889, to
January 2, 1893, inclusive.
Justice Blake's associates w^ere Edgar N. Harwood, of Billings, who
served from November 8, 1889, to January 7, 1895, when he was suc-
ceeded by William H. Hunt, and William H. DeWitt, of Butte City, who
served until January 4, 1897. The latter's successor, Horace R. Buck,
died on December 24th of that year, and was followed by W. T. Pigott.
Judge William T. Pemberton
Chief Justice Blake served until January 2, 1893, when William Young
Pemberton ascended the bench. Justice Pemberton is one of the most
widely known and honored of Montana's citizens. He was born in Ten-
nessee, largely educated in Missouri, and reached Virginia City in 1863,
two years after graduating from the Cumberland Law School at Lebanon,
Tennessee. In 1865 he moved to Helena, lived in Missouri and Texas
from 1868 to 1880, but returned to Montana in the latter year and located
at Butte. He served for two terms as district attorney of the western
district, in 1882-86; was judge of the second district in 1891-93, when, as
stated, he was elevated to the chief justiceship of the state supreme bench.
He completed his term of six years, and on January 3, 1899, was suc-
ceeded by the present incumbent, Theodore Brantly.
Judge Pemberton has always taken keen interest in the preservation
of all things and events historical relating to Montana. In view of this
pronounced trait, and in deference to his standing as a judge and a citizen,
in 1909 he was appointed librarian of the State Historical Society. He
has accomplished much to promote its interests, but because of his years
and impaired health has been absent from his duties for some time (July,
1921).
The Code of 1895
It was during Judge Pemberton's term, in 1895, that the judicial dis-
tricts of Montana were reapportioned so as to number eleven, and the new
Code was adopted. On January 14, 1896, the late Col. Wilbur F. San-
ders made the work of the Code Commission the subject of a learned
address which he delivered before the Montana Bar Association. Ex-
tracts from it are taken which bear intimately upon the Montana Code of
1895. "Had the Bar Association of Montana," he said, "accomplished
nothing else in all the years of its existence from that time (1885, the
year of its organization) until the present, it would still be entitled to the
lasting gratitude of the people of Montana for bringing about the codifica-
tion of the common law. The question was agitated by members of the
Bar Association at its meetings during several years. At an adjourned
meeting of the association held at Helena, January 6, 1887, the Com-
mittee on Jurisprudence and Law Reform presented the following resolu-
tions which were adopted: 'Resolved, that it is the sense of the Montana
436 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Bar Association that the principles and rules of the common law, so fat
as possible, should be reduced to the form of a statute, thereby settling
disputed principles, bringing the great body of the law into a smaller
compass, and placing it within the reach of all.
" 'Resolved, that, whereas the enactment of a code presupposes the
existence of one synthetic, current and logical system of laws, this asso-
ciation recommends the fusion of common law and equity into one single,
systematic and harmonious body of laws, both as to principles and prac-
tice, upon the following basis, to-wit : that in case of conflict the rules of
equity prevail ; that the remedies be made cumulative and concurrent ;
that the rules and spirit of interpretation and application of the new system
be the same as now prevail in equity ; and that this be done at the time
of the enactment of the general statutes recommended by the Committee
on Jurisprudence and Law Reform, or as a preliminary step thereto.' "
Different members of the Bar Association continued to keep the mat-
ter alive, even after the Code Commission had been appointed and made
its first report, and they never rested until the codes were finally adopted
in 1895.
During the long service of Theodore Brantly as chief justice of the
State Supreme Court, he has had a number of associates. W. T. Pigott
was appointed to succeed Horace R. Buck, who died December 24, 1897,
and he served until January 5, 1903. When Justice Hunt resigned in
1900 to accept the secretaryship of Porto Rico, R. Lee Word was ap-
pointed to the vacancy and continued on the bench until January 7, 1901.
He was followed by G. R. Milburn, who served the full term of six years.
W. L. Holloway, who succeeded Judge Pigott on January 5, 1903, is still
one of Justice Brantly's associates. Henry C. Smith was on the bench
from January 7, 1907, until January 6, 1913, and Sidney Sanner from the
latter date until January, 1919.
Chief Justice Theodore Brantly and Associates
Hon. Theodore Brantly has been chief justice of the Supreme Court
since January i, 1899. He was born and educated in Tennessee, receiving
his degree of LL. B. from Cumberland University, Lebanon, in 1881.
Judge Brantly settled in Montana in September, 1887, and was admitted
to the territorial bar in the following year. For several years he was
teacher of languages in the College of Montana, and in 1892 commenced
a service of six years as judge of the Third district. As stated, he became
chief justice on the first of the following year.
Justice Brantly's associates are W. L. Holloway, Charles H. Cooper,
Albert J. Galen and F. B. Reynolds. Of the foregoing, Judge Holloway
has been longest on the bench, having served since 1903. He is a Mis-
sourian, who received his professional degree from the University of
Michigan, in 1892, and soon after located in Montana. For several years
he served as county attorney of Gallatin County and as judge of the Ninth
district from 1900 to the time of his selection as associated justice in 1902.
Judge Albert J. Galen is the only native of Montana on the State
HISTORY OF MONTANA 437
Supreme bench. He was born on a ranch near Three Forks, and was
admitted to the state bar soon after his graduation from the law depart-
ment of the University of Michigan in 1897. He was attorney general
of Montana in 1905-12, and during that period served on the Montana
Capitol Commission until the new building was finished in 1912. Justice
Galen made a fine record in the World's war. In January, 1918, he was
commissioned major and judge advocate, U. S. A., and, as such, presided
over the Eighth Division, Camp Fremont, California. From August,
1918, to June, 1919, he served as judge advocate general of the American
Expeditionary Forces in Siberia. In March, 1919, he was advanced to
the military rank of lieutenant colonel and was honorably discharged from
the service July 25, 1919. His appointment to the Supreme bench fol-
lowed not long afterward.
U. S. District Judges
The successive judges of the Federal Court have been: Hiram
Knowles, February 23, 1890, to April 15, 1904; William H. Hunt, Sept-
ember I, 1904, to April 4, 1910; Carl Rasch from May 2, 1910, to his
resignation in October, 1911; and George M. Bourquin, from March 8,
1912, to the present time (July, 1921). Of these four federal judges, a
state historian of reliability has this to say : "Judge Knowles was ap-
pointed judge of the United States District Court for the district of Mon-
tana, February 21, 1890. He had previously served about eleven years on
the territorial Supreme bench. His services as judge of the Federal
Court continued about fifteen years, when he voluntarily retired because
of his advanced age. Altogether, his judicial service, on the territorial
and the federal bench, covered about twenty-six years. During that time,
Judge Knowles delivered some memorable opinions in mining law and
some of his decisions have become leading ones.
Judge Hiram Knowles
"Hiram Knowles was born at Hamden, Maine. He was educated at
Antioch College, Ohio, and afterward graduated from the law depart-
ment of Harvard University. Judge Knowles came to Montana from
Iowa in 1866, immediately after his appointrrient to the territorial Supreme
bench. He had previously crossed the plains to California and Nevada.
In the latter state he practiced law for about three years, then moved to
Idaho, where he remained another year. This was before he came to Mon-
tana, and he lived therein continuously after his arrival in 1866. After
his retirement from the territorial Supreme court bench, he practiced law
eleven years. The judicial services of Judge Knowles covered a longer
period than that of any other man in the territory or state of Montana,
and none of its judges commanded greater respect of the people.
"Upon the retirement of Judge Knowles from the Federal District
bench, in 1904, he was succeeded by William H. Hunt, whose judicial
services have been elsewhere noted.
438 HISTORY OF MONTANA
"In 1910, Judge Hunt was succeeded in office by Carl Rasch, whose
resignation took effect October 15, 191 1. Judge Rasch resigned because
he preferred the practice of law. After his retirement he formed a part-
nership with M. S. Gunn, at Helena, where he is now engaged in the
practice of his profession.
"Judge George M. Bourquin was appointed United States judge for
Montana in March, 1912, and is the present incumbent of that office. He
had previously (1905-09) served a term of four years as judge of the
district court of the second judicial district of the state of Montana.
Judge Bourquin possesses, in a very high degree, every qualification for
the judicial office."
State District Judiciary
The first eight district judges, under the state constitution, were: Wil-
liam H. Hunt, first district, consisting of Lewis and Clark counties ; John
J. McHatton, second district. Silver Bow County ; David M. Durfee, third
district. Deer Lodge County; C. S. Marshall, fourth district, Missoula
County; Thomas J. Galbraith, fifth district, Beaverhead, Jefferson and
Madison counties ; Frank Henry, sixth district, Gallatin, Park and Meagher
counties ; George R. Milburn, seventh district, Yellowstone, Custer and
Dawson; C. H. Benton, eighth district, Chouteau, Cascade and Fergus
counties. Judge Milburn, who had practiced his profession for a number
of years in Miles City after leaving the district bench served a term as
associate justice of the State Supreme Court. William H. Hunt suc-
ceeded Judge Harwood as associate justice in 1895, and resigned from the
bench in 1900 to accept the office of secretary of Porto Rico.
From time to time, with the creation of new counties, the judicial dis-
tricts have been changed, the thirteenth Legislative Assembly defining
them as follows: First, Lewis and Clark counties; second, Silver Bow
County; third. Deer Lodge, Granite and Powell counties; fourth, Mis-
soula, Ravalli and Sanders; fifth, Beaverhead, Jeft'erson and Madison;
sixth. Park, Sweet Grass and Stillwater; seventh. Custer and Dawson;
eighth, Cascade and Teton; ninth, Gallatin; tenth, Fergus; eleventh, Flat-
head and Lincoln; twelfth, Chouteau, Valley, Blaine, Hill and Sheridan;
thirteenth, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Carbon, Musselshell and Big Horn;
fourteenth, Broadwater and Meagher. The term of the district judge is
four years, beginning on the first Monday of January succeeding his elec-
tion.
CHAPTER XX
FIRST DECADE OF STATEHOOD
Like all other commonwealths of the Union, the three basic events
which constitutionally created Montana were the adoption of a state con-
stitution, her admission into the association of states by congressional
enactment and presidential sanction, and the election and installation of the
representatives of her legislative, executive and judicial functionaries.
The State Constitution of 1889
The adoption of the state constitution by the convention which delib-
erated and acted at Helena from July 4th to August 17, 1889, was the
realization of many years of thought and experimentation. Although the
territorial conventions of 1866 and 1884 accomplished nothing definite,
they demonstrated the importance of changes in the old constitution and
pointed the way to not a few necessary reforms in the fundamental in-
strument of government.
William A. Clark, that dominating personality in Montana's govern-
mental and industrial life, presided over the deliberations of the 1889 con-
vention, as he had over those of the preceding body. There were
seventy-five delegates in the convention elected from twenty-five districts
into which the sixteen counties of the territory were divided. The dele-
gates were so apportioned that the more populous counties — Lewis and
Clark, Silver Bow, Missoula and Deer Lodge — were represented, in total,
by about the same number as all the other counties combined sent to the
deliberative body. To the less populous counties (with the exception of
Dawson and Yellowstone counties, which combined their delegation), were
apportioned three delegates each, and to the more influential counties the
following: Silver Bow and Lewis and Clark, twelve each; Deer Lodge,
nine; and Missoula, six. Total, thirty-nine delegates for the more popu-
lous and influential counties, and thirty-six for the remainder of the ter-
ritory.
A fair general estimate of the personnel of the convention and its
results is this : The membership of the assembly was generally considered
as composed of able and patriotic citizens desirous of drafting an organic
act at once just and suitable to the needs of the new commonwealth.
Politically, it was divided about evenly, there being thirty-nine democrats
and thirty-six republicans in the convention. Many subjects of legislation
were introduced into the deliberations, and those who had an appreciation
of the high duties of the body, leaders and lawyers and members with
legislative experience who sought to confine the labors of the convention
439
440 HISTORY OF MONTANA
to essential constitutional provisions, were in many instances overridden,
while many members who believed that the interests of the people de-
manded that their ideas should be crystallized into the constitution of the
state, on occasions controlled the body. As result, there were incorpo-
rated in this state document, in adamantine form, many provisions, then
apparently proper, but which, with the development of the state, will
demand alteration through the cumbersome method of constitutional
amendment.
The delegates chosen, by name, were as follows: Fielding L. Graves,
Henry Knippenberg and Aaron C. Witter, Beaver Head County; David
G. Browne, Charles E. Conrad and Samuel Mitchell, Chouteau County;
Walter A. Burleigh, Charles H. Loud and Charles R. Middleton, Custer
County; Timothy E. Collins, Paris Gibson and Charles M. Webster, Cas-
cade County ; O. F. Goddard, Henri J. Haskell and Alfred Meyers, Daw-
son and Yellowstone counties ; John R. Toole, Henry R. Whitehill, George
B. Winston, J. F. Brazelton, David M. Durfee, George J. Reek, Edward
Burns, John C. Robinson and Conrad Kohrs, Deer Lodge County; S. S.
Hobson, Perry W. McAdow and William H. Watson, Fergus County;
William Cooper, Charles S. Hartman and Llewellyn A. Luce, Gallatin
County ; Edward Cardwell, Robert E. Hammond and Thomas Joyes, Jef-
ferson County; Andrew J. Burns, Warren C. Gillette, William Mayger,
B. Piatt Carpenter, William A. Chessman, William Muth, Lewis H. Hersh-
field, Martin Maginnis, Joseph K. Toole, Alexander F. Burns, Milton
Cauby and Arthur J. Craven, Lewis and Clark County; Simeon R.
Buford, James E. Callaway and Richard O. Hickman, Madison County;
J. E. Kanouse, William Parberry and Louis Rotwitt, Meagher County;
Walter M. Bickford, Charles S. Marshall, William R. Ramsdell, Luke D.
Hatch, William J. Kennedy, and Joseph E. Marion, Missoula County;
George O. Eaton, William T. Field and Allen R. Joy, Park County; Peter
Breen, William Mason Bullard and J. E. Gaylord, Jeflferson County;
Hiram Knowles, John E. Rickards, George W. Stapleton, Joseph Hogan,
Leopold F. Schmidt, Francis E. Sargeant, Edward D. Aiken, Thomas
Courtenay, William Dyer, William A. Clark, William W. Dixon and
Charles S. Warren, Silver Bow County. William H. Todd was chief
clerk of the convention and Rev. H. E. Clowes, chaplain.
With the organization of the convention, the rules adopted for its
guidance provided for the appointment of twenty-three standing com-
mittees to supervise the drafting of articles, sections, schedules and ordi-
nances on various subjects. These committees were announced by
President Clark on the fifth day of the session. Forms of the preamble to
the proposed constitution were submitted and, after considerable discus-
sion, the convention adopted therein the recognition of a Supreme Being.
Laws giving preference to any form of religion were prohibited. The
funds of the state institutions were properly safeguarded, but legislation
was later enacted authorizing the issuance of bonds against the various land
grants for the benefit of educational institutions. Abundant protection
against bribery and the trading in votes to secure legislation was provided
HISTORY OF MONTANA 441-
by the constitution. An effort was made to limit the right of franchise to
those who could read and write the English language ; but it failed, as
well as the proposal for equal suffrage, the latter being rejected by a vote
of forty-three to twenty-five. A resolution was also lost seeking to incor-
porate a prohibition against the employment of convict labor by the state.
The construction of an irrigating system under state ownership and con-
trol met with no favor. Largely through the decided opposition of Presi-
dent Clark, who took the floor to voice his views, a provision proposing
to abolish the grand jury as a part of the judicial system was killed as
first presented. In its stead, an amended provision was adopted providing
for the prosecution of offenses by information, but retaining the grand
jury at the discretion of the courts. Perhaps the resolution which aroused
the most discussion was that proposing to constitutionally exempt mines
from taxation. All recognized the importance of encouraging those in-
dustries so vital to the prosperity of the coming state — but how far should
they be protected? Some argued, to the limit. The more conservative
and, as time proved, the wiser course prevailed. The final provision taxed
mines at the price paid the United States, $5 per acre ; also the net pro-
ceeds of all mining properties were made subject to taxation and if the
surface ground was used for other purposes than those of mining, such
contingency was met.
Capital to Remain at Helena
Much of the later portion of the session was devoted to the permanent
location of the state capital and the division of legislative representation.
Butte, Missoula, Anaconda, Great Falls, Bozeman and even Livingston
were mentioned and championed by local and sectional representatives,
without any strong expectations of displacing Helena. On July 19th, the
chairman of the Committee on State Institutions and Public Buildings
made a report recommending that the capital remain at Helena until per-
manently located ; that a change of location should not be made except
upon a two-thirds vote of the people, and that there should be no expendi-
ture for buildings until the state capital be permanently determined. It
was finally agreed that Helena remain the state capital until the question
should be decided at the general election of 1892, and in case no city
received a majority of the votes, the location should be determined at the
succeeding election, between the two cities receiving the highest vote.
Apportionment of Senators and Representatives
It was also on July 19th that Joseph K. Toole, chairman of the Com-
mittee on the Legislative Department, reported a section providing that
the Senate should consist of sixteen members, one from each county, which
was to constitute a senatorial district regardless of population, and that
the House of Representatives should consist of fifty members from the
various counties, apportioned according to population. A motion that the
442 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Senate consist of twenty-six members was defeated. The division finally
adopted consisted of sixteen senators and fifty-five representatives.
It was provided that the senatorial district should be numbered and
that when new counties (senatorial districts) were created, the class to
which its members belonged should be determined by lot. "However,"
says a well known commentator on this feature of the state constitution,
"this has never been done, the exigencies of politics forbidding. The
first new counties created after the admission of the state were Flathead,
Valley, Teton, Ravalli and Granite, by the third Legislative Assembly in
1893, and at the succeeding session three democrats and two republicans
appeared to represent these counties in the Senate. The democrats claimed
to have been elected for the full senatorial term of four years, and as
three of the new members would have fallen into odd-numbered districts,
making their terms expire at the next election, they took no chances and
declined to draw lots to determine whether they belonged to the odd or the
even class. The newly elected republican members, with the refusal of
the others to join with them, apparently acquiesced in the situation. Dur-
ing the succeeding sixteen years ten new counties were created and repre-
sentatives sent to the Senate but no action has been taken to cure the
failure to divide them into classes, with the result that alternately about
two-thirds of the body are holdovers."
Montana Becomes a State
On the i6th of August, 1889, the final draft of the constitution was
prepared and on the next day it was adopted and signed by the members
of the convention, which then adjourned. The state constitutiun was rati-
fied at the election held October i, 1889, and the first state officers were
chosen, their terms to commence on the 8th of November, the date that
the president of the United States issued his proclamation announcing the
result of the election. Thereby, Montana automatically became a state of
the Union.
Provisions of the Enabling Act
The enabling act passed by Congress in February, 1889, contained a
number of provisions which were necessarily incorporated into her body
politic when Montana was admitted into the Union as a state. They had
especially to do with the establishment of her .systems of public education,
charities and reformatories. Sections 16 and 36, if remaining intact, were
granted to the state for the support of the common schools, with few
exceptions — such as being included in an Indian or military reservation-
provision being made for such exceptions. The proceeds of such sales of
public lands as had been donated by Congress to the territory, in 1881
(also for educational purposes), were to. be set aside as a permanent
school fund, the interest of which should be expended for the maintenance
of the educational system of the state. Fifty sections of the unappro-
priated public lands of Montana were also granted to the state for the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 443
erection of public buildings at the capital. Seventy-two sections of the
lands granted to the territory, in 1881, were also, by the enabling act,
passed over to the state for the -support of a university. They could not
be sold for less than $10 per acre. One hundred acres were granted for
the establishment and maintenance of a School of Mines ; a like quantity
for State Normal schools ; 50,000 acres each for the support of an Agri-
cultural College, a State Reform School, and a State Deaf and Dumb
Asylum. All mineral lands were excluded from these grants, but the
enabling act provided that if sections 16 and 36, or any portion thereof,,
should contain minerals, the state could select an equal quantity of other
unappropriated lands for the benefit of the common schools.
The enabling act not only authorized the assembling of the constitu-
tional convention and the election of officers for a full state government
and representatives in Congress, but two United States senators. It also
provided that all territorial laws in force at the time of the admittance of
Montana into the Union should remain in force, except as modified or
changed by the constitution finally ratified by the people of the state.
The enabling act further made provision for the establishment of Fed-
eral courts, Montana being attached to the Ninth Circuit for judicial pur-
poses, and, under the constitution, the state was divided into eight judicial
districts. The Supreme Court comprised the chief justice and two asso-
ciates, who had no other duties than those which attached to the highest
judiciary in the state. A great improvement over the territorial judicial
system, when the functions of the Supreme Court were so involved with
those of the District judiciary.
Thus, through the enabling act and the state constitution, the common-
wealth was well under way.
First St.\te Officers
The first state officers chosen at the election of October i, 1889, were
as follows : Joseph K. Toole, governor ; John E. Rickards, lieutenant
governor ; Louis Rotwitt, secretary of state ; E. A. Kenney, auditor ; R. O.
Hickman, treasurer; John Gannon, superintendent of public instruction;
Henri J. Haskell, attorney general.
Governor Joseph K. Toole
Joseph Kemp Toole, first governor of the state of Montana, is one of
the strongest men produced by the bar and public affairs of the common-
wealth. A Missourian by birth, he was educated mostly in Kentucky,
completing his legal training in the office of his brother, E. Warren Toole,
in 1870. The fourteen years which followed made the firm of Toole &
Toole famous in the later legal annals of Montana, its junior member,
Joseph K., also steadily advancing in the public affairs of the state. In
1872-76, he served as district attorney for the Third judicial district, and
in 1 881 was chosen to represent Lewis and Clark County in the Legisla-
444
HISTORY OF MONTANA
tive Assembly, being during that period president of the Council. Mr.
Toole was a member of the 1884 constitutional convention, and imme-
diately preceding his return to the convention of 1889 had ably served
two terms in Congress. His opponent at the first congressional contest
was the able judge, Hiram Knowles, and at the second, Wilbur F. Sanders,
one of the most popular pioneer lawyers and public men in Montana. As
Joseph K. Toole
perhaps the leading democrat in the territory he defeated those prominent
republicans, and was the only representative of his political party to be
chosen on the gubernatorial ticket. As he was in Congress when the
Enabling Act was in process of formulation and enactment he was closely
identified with each. After completing his second term as governor, he
partially retired from active professional practice and, although retaining
his residence in Montana, resided much of the time in California. Gov-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 445
ernor Toole has held a number of public positions other than those men-
tioned, but is best known for his stalwart services in Congress and as
Montana's chief executive.
The congressional election of 1889 resulted in the popular choice of
Thomas H. Carter over Martin Maginnis, democrat. As Mr. Carter had
been returned to the national House of Representatives in November,
1888, by defeating William A. Clark, he served as the last territorial dele-
gate to Congress and the first of the state representatives to that body.
Contest Over the United States Senatorship
In this election, however, the all-important issue was the choice of the
United States senator, and, unfortunately, there arose a complication
which, for a time, brought a dual government, and which eventually threw
the choice of the national senatorships into the Congress of the United
States. The complications of the entire situation centered in the returns
from Silver Bow County. On the 31st of October, 1889, when the State
Board of Canvassers met to examine the returns from the various coun-
ties in the state, it was found that there were none from Silver Bow. A
messenger was at once sent to Butte, the county seat, to obtain a certified
abstract of the votes cast in that county. Information from the county
clerk of Silver Bow to the special messenger sent by the state board was
to the efifect that the County Canvassing Board had met, as provided by
law, on the 14th of October, and that in making a canvass of the ballots
the vote of Precinct 34 had been rejected as fraudulent. Thereupon, the
State Board of Canvassers was obliged to declare the results of the elec-
tion, minus the vote of Precinct 34 which was in dispute.
The rejection of Precinct 34 gave the entire republican legislative
ticket of Silver Bow County a majority, whereas the counting of the alleged
returns would have given five members of the delegation to the democrats
by majorities ranging from nineteen to twenty-one votes, in addition to the
five democratic candidates whose election was not disputed, thus giving
that party the entire delegation from Silver Bow County and control of
the Legislative Assembly on joint ballot.
Without going into the merits of the political imbroglio, it is sufficient
to state the facts that the State Supreme Court, in the contest between
Lloyd and Sullivan for the office of sheriff of Silver Bow County, rejected
the vote of Precinct 34 for nineteen specified reasons, having to do with
various irregularities of judges and clerks of election and the voters them-
selves. But party spirit ran high and the democrats, led by Governor
Toole, proceeded to organize the House of Representatives after receiv-
ing into that body the five democratic members ruled out by the Supreme
Court, on the constitutional ground that the House was the judge as to
the qualification of its own members. On the 22d of November, the
governor issued a proclamation opening the House of Representatives in
its appointed chamber and, according to law. State Auditor E. A. Kenny
(republican) issued a call for that body to meet at Iron Hall, Helena,
446 HISTORY OF MONTANA
over which he was authorized to preside until a temporary organization
could be effected.
The day following the issuance of the governor's proclamation, Novem-
ber 23, 1889, the first Legislature of the state of Montana convened.
The Senate met at the place designated by the governor, which had been
rented from E. W. Knight, democratic chairman of the Board of County
Commissioners. There being no contested seats in that body, the mem-
bers of both parties came together physically although not harmonious in
spirit. Under the state auditor's call, the republican members of the
House met at Iron Hall and effected a temporary organization, while the
democratic members met at the hall in the courthouse designated by the
governor, admitted to their seats the five democratic claimants from Sil-
ver Bow County, and then efifected a temporary organization. Thus was
inaugurated the dead-lock which was maintained until the session of the
First Legislature expired by limitation and which extended into the second
session of that body in the following legislative year.
The Senate, with its sixteen members, was equally divided as to politics
and no seat was in dispute. Its presiding officer, who had a casting and
therefore a deciding vote, was the lieutenant governor, J. E. Rickards, a
republican. The eight democratic members refused to meet with the
republican senators, under these circumstances, and on the 19th day of the
session, the proceedings of which had been confined to roll calls and ad-
journments. Senator Cornelius Hedges introduced a resolution, which
was adopted by the republicans to compel the democratic senators to attend
the session. Three days afterward, the latter took the oath of office before
Chief Justice Henry N. Blake, and on December 19, 1889, the 27th day
of the session, an organization of the State Senate was finally efifected. The
democratic senators, however, refused to vote in such organization, and
in the regular legislative proceedings attempted by the Senate. Their
policy of absenteeism was at once adopted and steadfastly maintained, upon
the advice of various democratic leaders of national repute.
On the 31st of December, the thirty-ninth day of the session, com-
menced the i)roceedings in both houses of the Assembly for the election
of the two United States senators. Wilbur F. Sanders received the vote
of the eight state senators, and on the following day they proceeded in a
body to the House of Representatives to ballot in joint assembly. Mr.
Sanders received the votes of all those present, thirty-eight, and was duly
declared elected to represent the state of ]\fontana in the Senate of the
LTnited States. On the following day, January 2d, T. C. Power, late
republican candidate for governor, was elected the second -United States'
senator, the vote of the previous day having been much scattered and
divided between Lee Mantle, John E. Rickards (lieutenant governor) and
Doctor Leavitt, of Silver Bow County, and B. Piatt Carpenter, L. H.
Hershfield and INIr. Power, of Lewis and Clark County. As Colonel San-
ders was from the latter, Lewis and Clark County was to wield a specially
strong influence in the United States Senate.
On February 6, 1890, the seventy-sixth day of the session, every demo-
cratic senator was absent, and a resolution was adopted by the republicans
HISTORY OF MONTANA 447
to fine the absentees as follows : For the first day absent after the day
named, $50; second day, $100; third day, $200; fourth day, $400; fifth
day, $800; sixth day, $1,000. "Upon each succeeding day before the ad-
journment of the Senate for the day," concludes the resolution, "the roll
shall be called and a resolution levying and confirming the foregoing fines
against the absent members severally by name, v^^ho are not excused, shall
be passed and placed on record by the secretary of the Senate." A sup-
plementary resolution provided for the arrest of democratic absentees,
who scattered to Spokane, St. Paul and Canada. One only. Senator
Becker, was captured and brought into the Senate chamber, after several
attempts had been made to rescue him, and even he escaped to Idaho. With-
out further incident of interest, the session adjourned February 20, 1890.
RicKARDS Anticipates Speaker Reed
Lieutenant Governor Rickards was highly commended by the repub-
licans of the Senate for his rulings and general conduct in holding that
body together for purposes of legislation. He acquired the most fame by
his ruling that senators present and not voting should not be regarded as
absentees, whereby the organization of the Senate was efifected. In that
ruHng he anticipated the celebrated decision of Speaker Thomas B. Reed,
of the Federal House of Representatives. Mr. Rickards had been a suc-
cessful merchant in Pueblo, Colorado, San Francisco, California, and
Butte, Montana, had served in the territorial Assembly and the last con-
stitutional convention, and his record as lieutenant governor was such as
to make him a candidate for the United States Senate and at the end
of his term as presiding officer of the State Senate to place him in the
governor's chair.
Congress Seats Republican Candidates
In the meantime, W. A. Clark, of Butte, and Martin Maginnis, of
Plelena, had been named as United States senators, by the eight recal-
citrant democratic members of the State Senate and the democratic House,
including the five contested representatives from Silver Bow County, all
meeting in joint session. The contest over the United States senatorship
was now transferred to Congress and referred to its Committee on Priv-
ileges and Elections. On March 24, 1890, that body submitted its report
recommending that Wilbur F. Sanders and Thomas C. Power be admitted
to seats in the United States Senate from the state of Montana. Senator
Power drew the long term, expiring March 4, 1895, and Senator Sanders
that which expired March 4, 1893.
W. W. Dixon Elected to Congress
At the general election held November 4, 1890, the democrats elected
William W. Dixon to Congress and Thomas H. Carter was defeated. The
new congressman had practiced law in Iowa, Tennessee, Arkansas, Califor-
448 HISTORY OF MONTANA
nia and Nevada, before arriving at Helena in 1866. After practicing sev-
eral years vifith W. H. Claggett, a pioneer lawyer of Montana, he moved
to Deer Lodge, next to the Black Hills for a time and finally to Butte,
where he achieved fame and fortune as a mining attorney. He served in
the territorial Assembly and as a member of the constitutional conven-
tions of 1884 and 1889 before he entered Congress. When he retired from
practice at Butte, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he died on
November 13, 1910.
De.\dlock Broken
Now that the contest over the United States senatorship was at an end,
it was easier to break the deadlock which had barred legislation so long.
Furthermore, the state must have money, and necessary appropriations to
keep the government in motion cried aloud for recognition. So, notwith-
standing that the Supreme Court had decided that the republican House
was the legal one, the State Administration recognized the democratic
House. A compromise was finally effected by which three of the repub-
licans and two of the democrats whose seats had been contested were to
be recognized in the House of Representatives and the democrats were to
name the officers of the lower body. On January 28, 1891, pursuant to
that plan, the two houses assembled for business and the deadlock was
at an end.
The republicans were generally successful in the November election
of 1892, although Mr. Dixon was only defeated by C. S. Hartman by
less than 200 plurality.
Second Legislative Assembly
The reunited Assembly hastened to enact needed appropriation bills,
approximating $825,000 for the compensation of state officials, to pay
other indebtedness incurred by the state since the last territorial Assembly
of 1889, and to provide funds for like purposes until the third session
should convene. The next step of the legislators was to make provisions
for the raising of funds to cover such appropriations. A tax was voted
of two and a half mills on each dollar of property valuation throughout
the state, except such as was constitutionally exempt. A law was also
enacted providing for the election of presidential electors, and the neces-
sary measures were put through the Assembly to make effective the Fed-
eral donations of land, under the enabling act, for the development of the
educational system of the state and its higher institutions of learning, and
various charitable and reformatory institutions. The governor, superin-
tendent of public instruction, secretary of state and attorney-general, were
constituted the State Board of Land Commissioners to manage the public
lands granted by the Federal government to the state. Among other laws
enacted by the second session of the Legislative Assembly which closed
March 5, 1891, were those creating a State Board of Examiners, a State
Board of Pardons and the Historical Society of Montana (originally or-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 449
ganized under territorial laws in 1865). Some changes were made in the
judicial districts; a law against "blacklisting" was passed and the first
Monday of September designated Labor Day. Another measure of im-
portance enacted at this session was one regulating coal mining and pro-
viding for the protection of employees. The first proposed amendment
to the state constitution was embodied in an act approved February 23,
1891, prescribing that the number of county commissioners in each county
should be three and that one should be elected at each general election.
An act providing that a representative in Congress should be chosen at
the general election to be held every two years thereafter was approved
on March 4, 1891.
Chief Justice Blake Defeated
The republicans were generally successful in the November election of
1892, although Mr. Dixon was defeated by C. S. Hartman by less than
200 plurality. Former Lieutenant Governor Rickards, who headed the
state ticket, was elected governor. During this campaign the populist
party first appeared as a strong factor in Montana politics, and its com-
bination with the democratic organization resulted in the defeat of
Henry N. Blake for chief justice of the Supreme Court. Justice Blake
served as master in chancery in the United States Court for many years
after 1897, but, as stated elsewhere, passed the last period of his life in
his native Massachusetts.
^-JS:^ Another U. S. Senatorship Fight
The third Legislative Assembly comprised twenty-six democrats,
twenty-six republicans and three populists, and the Senate, nine democrats
and seven republicans. On joint ballot, with the aid of the populists, the
democrats might have controlled the situation and elected a successor to
Senator Sanders had not the old political feud between Marcus Daly and
and W. A. Clark broken out afresh. The republican caucus named
Colonel Sanders to succeed himself ; the democrats selected W. A. Clark,
and the populists, Samuel Mulville. Through the influence of Mr. Daly
ten of the democrats refused to abide by the decision of the party caucus
and support Mr. Qark. Two of the populists also joined the Daly forces,
who (twelve in number) persistently voted for W. W. Dixon. The
republicans transferred their votes before the end of the session to Lee
Mantle, but they rather lost than gained thereby, and the joint session
adjourned without electing a successor to Mr. Sanders.
This session, which convesed January 2nd and ended March 2, 1893,
accomplished much in the way of useful legislation. Numerous appropria-
tion bills were passed.
Lee Mantle Rejected from U. S. Senate
Two days after the adjournment of the Legislative Assembly, the
term of Senator Sanders expired, throwing upon Governor Rickards the
Vol. 1—29
450 HISTORY OF MONTANA
responsibility of appointing an ad-interim senator. In deference to the
will of the republican party, expressed in the final action of its members
in senatorial caucus, and in response to letters and petitions of similar
import from prominent republicans in all sections of the state, Governor
Rickards appointed Lee Mantle a senator to fill the vacancy caused by
the failure of the Legislative Assembly to name a successor to Colonel
Sanders. "Upon technical grounds," says a political writer of the
period, "which reversed the precedents established by the Senate of the
United States, Mr. Mantle was denied a seat in that body. Two causes
operated to bring about this rejection. First, his pronounced views in
favor of the free coinage of silver, which was distasteful to the reigning
influences in the Senate; and secondly, to the belief entertained by some
of the democratic members of that body that his rejection would impel
the governor of Montana to reconvene the Legislative Assembly of this
state to elect a senator, and that such action would eventuate in the selec-
tion of a democrat who would strengthen the party in the forthcoming
contest on the tariff." But Governor Rickards refused to convene the
Legislature in extraordinary session, although pressed to do so by the
democratic leaders.
The third session of the Legislative Assembly, which, was held from
January 2nd to March 2, 1893, accomplished far more than to wrangle
over the United States senatorship. Numerous appropriation bills were
passed, including $50,000 to provide for Montana's representation at the
World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, and minor amounts to be
applied to the properties of the Deaf and Dumb School, the Agricultural
College, School of Mines and the State University proper. All of these
were definitely located at this important session, with other state institu-
tions, as follows: Deaf and Dumb School, at Boulder, Jefferson County;
State Reform School, Miles City, Custer County ; State Orphans' Home,
Twin Bridges, Madison County; Eastern State Prison, BiUings, Yellow-
stone County ; old State Penitentiary at Deer Lodge, Powell County, to be
know^ as the Western State Prison,* University of Montana, Missoula ;
Agricultural College, with experiment station, Bozeman, Gallatin County ;
School of Mines, Butte, Silver Bow County; State Normal School, Dillon,
Beaverhead County. The distribution of the educational institutions of the
state among the places mentioned was one of the results of the contro-
versy then waging over the permanent location of the state capital. In
the political bartering incident to that conflict Montana sacrificed the oppor-
tunity of possessing a centralized state institution of learning.
Many New Counties Created
The third session was also noteworthy for the number of new counties
created. Flathead County was created from parts of Qiouteau and Mis-
soula counties, and since 1893 the following changes have occurred to
* Provisions of the law establishing Eastern and Western State prisons never
carried out. The State Prison afterward established at Deer Lodge.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 451
make it conform to its present bounds: Part of Deer Lodge annexed and
territory taken from it, in 1909, to form Lincoln. At the same session
Valley County was created from part of Dawson, and it was reduced to
its present area by yielding portions of its own territory to form Sheridan,
in 1913, and a part of Phillips in 1915. Teton County was organized
from part of Chouteau, and in 1914 and 1919 portions of it were annexed
to Toole and Pondera and used in the creation of Glacier. At this county-
creating session, Ravalli was organized from Missoula County and Granite
from a part of Deer Lodge. Provision was made for the government of
each of the new counties named ; so that the Montana map and its political
body underwent several radical changes.
In the general election of November, 1894, the republican nominee
for representative in Congress, C. S. Hartman, was elected by a decisive
majority over Hal S. Corbett, democrat ; in fact, the better statement may
be that Mr. Hartman was chosen over Robert B. Smith, the populist,
who polled more votes than the democratic nominee. The respective figures
were: Republican candidate, 23,140; populist, 15, 240; democratic, 10,369.
The prohibition vote was a negligible number, 519.
Final Contest for Location of State Capital
The excitement of the campaign of 1894, however, centered in the
final contest between Helena and Anaconda for the permanent location of
the state capital, and the respective interests were led by two of the ablest
managers who ever participated in Montana politics — Marcus Daly for
Anaconda and William A. Clark for Helena. The vote stood: Helena,
27,024; Anaconda, 25,118. So narrow was the margin in Helena's favor
that it was many days after the election before the result was known so
definitely as to be beyond the peradventure of a contest in the courts.
Lee Mantle and Thomas H. Carter, U. S. Senators
Politically, the Legislature of 1895 was overwhelmingly republican,
and its members polled more votes than the populists and democrats com-
bined, and Lee Mantle was an easy winner for the United States senator-
ship, to fill the existing vacancy, with four years to serve, March 4. 1895,
to March 3, 1899. For the full term to succeed Senator Power, Thomas
H. Carter was the leading candidate, although it required three caucuses
and twenty ballots to elect him. He was finally chosen to fill the six
years' term from March 4, 1895, to March 3, 1901.
Code of i8g^ Adopted
The fourth session of the Montana Legislature, which convened at
Helena, January 7th and adjourned March 7, 1895, is memorable as the
one adopting the political, penal and civil codes prepared by the com-
mission appointed to prepare them from all which had gone before. As
well stated : "As a result of the labors of this Assembly, Montana was
452 HISTORY OF MONTANA
furnished with a system of laws, transferred from decisions of courts into
statutory enactments, embodying the famiHar rules of human action and
rendering secure that which had theretofore had been uncertain. The in-
coherent and contradictory provisions of the. Compiled Statutes of 1887
were at last superseded by an orderly, perspicuous and systematical com-
pendium of law."
State Capitol and Arid Land Grant Commissions
Further: A State Capitol Commission was established to supervise
the erection of a State House not to exceed $1,000,000 in cost, and a Sol-
diers' Home was located at Columbia Falls, Flathead County. To enable
the state to accept the offer of the Government made under an act of
Congress in 1894 for the purpose of reclaiming the arid lands of the
United States, a State Arid Land Grant Commission was created. Two
new counties also came into political being — Carbon and Sweet Grass.
Carbon County was carved out of Park and Yellowstone counties ; in 1913
and 1919 parts of it were annexed to Stillwater and Yellowstone counties
and in the latter year Carbon County received an accession from Yellow-
stone. Sweet Grass was organized from parts of Meagher, Park and
Yellowstone ; in turn, parts of it were annexed to Stillwater and Wheat-
land in 1913 and 1917, respectively. In the matter of the creation of the
counties of Montana, as of every other state and territory in the Union,
it was a ceaseless process of "give and take." The fourth Assembly was
noted for both its positive and negative legislation, in the latter class being
its defeat of the first bill introduced to give the right of suffrage to women.
The Silver Issue
The free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to i was the great issue
of the campaign of November, 1896; an issue not only of national import,
but of practical interest to the State of Montana. Should the issue be
carried through Congress, it meant renewed and increased activity of the
silver mines of the state which had been almost abandoned on account of
the drop in the price of silver. The democrats, populists and many repub-
licans of Montana united in an organization called Silver-Republican, which
was headed by Charles S. Hartman, and they carried their ticket through
with an overwhelming vote of 33,942, while the regular republican candi-
date for Congress, O. F. Stoddard, received only 9,492 votes. W. F.
Sanders, who took such a determined stand against "free silver," lost
much prestige with his party thereby, although no one doubted for a
moment the honesty of his position. In fact, it required much moral
bravery to so oppose a public sentiment which was overwhelmingly
against his contentions.
Governor Robert B. Smith
The general election of 1896 placed Robert B. Smith in the governor's
chair. He was a Kentuck-y lawyer, who settled at Dillon in 1882 and at
HISTORY OF MONTANA 453
Helena in 1887, where he fonned a partnership with Samuel and Robert
L. Word, father and son. The firm had a large practice until the senior
member, as governor, appointed his partner associate justice of the State
Supreme Court. Governor Smith had served as a member of the Constitu-
tional Convention of 1884, as district attorney for Montana, and city
attorney of Helena before he was elevated to the gubernatorial chair. He
was in office, of course, at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war and
the Filipino insurrection, and refused to allow politics to play any part
in the selection of officers to command the First Montana Infantry, which
was so prominent in Philippine warfare.
Fifth Legislative Session
The fifth session of the Legislative Assembly commenced January 4,
1897, and ended sixty days thereafter, according to law. Measures were
taken to determine the boundary between Idaho and Montana, and the lines
of various counties were redefined and established. Several bills were
passed for the protection of underground miners ; a drastic gambling law
was enacted and the inheritance tax was incorporated into the statutes.
The State Capitol Commission was authorized to negotiate bonds to the
amount of $350,000 for the erection of a state building, and additional
authority was given the State Arid Land Grant Commission to enable
it to issue bonds and accept the benefits of the congressional act passed
June II, 1896. The existing legislative powers of cities were extended
so as to enable them to acquire by purchase, construction or condemna-
tion proceedings, water plants, water supplies, franchises, public buildings
and sewers. The Board of State Prison Commissioners was directed to
transfer the unused material designed for the Eastern Prison and apply
it to the pending enlargement of the penitentiary at Deer Lodge. A protest
was sent by the Assembly to Montana's senators in Congress against a
recent order of the President of the United States setting apart large
timber reserves in the state, on the ground that its enforcement would
seriously retard its development.
Congressional Election of i
The election for representative in Congress, held November 8, 1898,
resulted in the election of A. J. Campbell, democrat, over the republican
nominee, Thomas C. Marshall. T. S. Hogan, the populist, came within
about 3,000 votes of the number cast for the republican nominee.
Sixth Session of Legisl.\tive Assembly
A second attempt to enact a suflfrage bill for women failed at the sixth
session, in January-March, 1899. Among the important measures passed
was the creation of a State Board of Agriculture, comprising six members
representing as many districts and who served under appointment from the
governor. The special intent of the creative act was to prevent the spread
454 HISTORY OF MONTANA
of contagious diseases among fruit-bearing shrubs and trees and to ex-
tirpate fruit pests which infested fruits and orchards. The act creating the
State Arid Land Grant Commission was amended by which that body was
granted authority to issue bonds for the construction of irrigation systems.
Counties were empowered to estabhsh free high schools, and for their
maintenance any of them could issue bonds up to the $100,000 limit. Free
kindergartens were also authorized. An act was passed providing for the
organization and control of fire departments and the legal rate of interest
was reduced from 10 to 8 per cent, as at present. On February 4, 1899,
the Filipinos had attacked the United States Volunteers in the Philippines.
The First Montana Infantry was among the commands thus involved
in the insurrection, and the sixth Assembly, then in session, passed a reso-
lution commending its military actions. Col. Robert B. Wallace * was also
recommended to Congress for a brigadiership in the service.
Corner-Stone of Capitol Laid
The year 1899 '^ ^.Iso epochal as witnessing the laying of the corner-
stone of the capitol, which occurred on the Fourth of July with impres-
sive ceremonies. Addresses were delivered by Governor Toole, Wilbur
F. Sanders, and E. D. Peck and E. B. Kennedy, member and secretary,
respectively, of the Capitol Commission. Mr. Kennedy, especially, went
into the history of the building of the capitol in detail.
W. A. Clark and the U. S. Senatorship Again
On February 25, 1899, when the sixth session was nearing its close,
twenty-seven members of the Senate and House signed a memorial
addressed to the Senate of the United States, alleging corruption in the
election of W. A. Clark to the upper house of Congress and remonstrating
against his admission thereto. A later protest was signed by Robert A.
Smith, governor; T. E. Collins, state treasurer; Henry C. Stiff, speaker of
the House of Representatives; A. J. Campbell, member of Congress; and
C. S. Hartman, ex-representative. It was duly presented to the United
States Senate, and on December 4, 1899, the case was referred to the
Committee on Privileges and Elections. After a prolonged investigation,
during which many witnesses were examined, majority and minority re-
ports were presented to the Senate ; but both recommended the adoption
of a resolution that Mr. Clark was not legally elected to a seat in the Senate
of the United States by the Legislature of Montana, by reasons of unlaw-
ful acts "on the part of his agents and of violation of the laws of Montana
defining and punishing crimes against the elective franchise."
The details of the testimony are easily accessible to anyone who desires
them, but the tendency of the testimony of the witnesses and of Senator
Clark himself is to the effect that such large sums of money were spent
* Died in March, 1900, from effects of wound received in the Philippines in
February, 1899.
456 HISTORY OF MONTANA
by his friends and agents that the principal knew little or nothing about
their disposal. The majority report was to the effect that "if by bribery
or corrupt practices on the part of friends of a candidate who were con-
ducting his canvass, votes were obtained for him without which he would
not have had a majority, his election should be annulled although proof
was lacking that he knew of the bribery or corrupt practices. Hence,
regardless of his lack of knowledge of what his adherents had done to
secure his election, and of his belief that his campaign was lawfully con-
ducted, he was held to be disqualified to sit in the United States Senate.
The minority report agreed with that recommendation, but severely
criticised the agents and friends of Senator Clark, charging, from the evi-
dence, "that the friends of Senator Clark illegally and improperly used
large sums of money and thereby caused his election, and that this election
is not valid, but, under the law of the land, is void."
Before the formal consideration of the report of the Committee on
Privileges and Election by the United States Senate, Air. Clark addressed
that body, reviewing his political career in Montana, declaring that he had
in no way been a party to any action deserving censure, but announcing
that he had delivered the resignation of his seat in the Senate to the gov-
ernor of Montana. For this reason it was unnecessary to call up the
resolution for action. This was May ii, 1900, and on the following day,
in the absence of Governor Smith from the state, Lieutenant and Acting-
Governor A. E. Spriggs appointed him to fill the vacancy caused by his
own resignation. Governor Smith at once returned from California, de-
clared the action of Lieutenant Governor Spriggs invalid, and tendered
the appointment of the United States senatorship to Maj. Martin Maginnis,
who at once accepted the same and left for Washington with his credentials.
But neither sets of credentials were considered, and the seat in the United
States Senate for the State of Montana remained vacant for about a year.
U. S. Senatori Lee Mantle
Lee Mantle, whose term expired on March 3, 1899, was one of the
leading republicans and public men of the territory and state. A native
of England, his father died before he was born and his varied experience
in the West always enabled him to meet its people with, appreciation and
strong influence. He was a farmer in Utah, a telegraph operator in Idaho,
and an express agent ( for Wells, Fargo & Company) and a newspaper man
in Montana. He settled at Butte and there, for twenty years he con-
ducted the Daily Inter-Mountain, which he had established in 18S1. Mr.
Mantle had also been mayor of Butte and speaker of the territorial House
of Representatives before being appointed United States senator, in 1893.
As has been noted, he was denied a seat in the national Senate, but was
elected i.n 1895 for the term ending March 3, 1899. Mr. Mantle was chair-
man of the Republican State Central Committee in 1892, 1894 and 1904,
and served as president of the Montana Commission to the St. Louis Ex-
position in 1904 and of the State Commission to the Portland Exposition
in 1905. Such facts as these indicate what manner of man is ex-Senator
Lee Mantle.
CHAPTER XXI
TWENTY YEARS MORE OF STATEHOOD
Joseph K. Toole succeeded Robert B. Smith as governor of Montana
on January 7, 1901, and during the last few months of Smith's term and
the early period of Toole's administration was fought out one of the
exciting campaigns between two of the mining potentates of Montana.
Mines and politics became so mixed in the contentions between William A.
Clark and F. Augustus Heinze as to be at times indistinguishable. In the
campaign of 1900 for the United States senatorship continuing the full
term of Thomas H. Carter, Mr. Heinze manipulated a portion of the
Legislature in the interest of Mr. Clark, and the two had succeeded in
securing a fusion majority for the latter. But before the time came for
the assembling of the caucus which was to nominate Mr. Clark, Heinze
heard that his associate had made peace with the Amalgamated interests and
promptly turned his batteries against him politically. At first, he pre-
vented Clark from getting the necessary number of' votes in the caucus
and on the- first formal ballot prevented his election. , On the following
day, however, the members who had refused to vote for Clark, came to his
aid and he was elected to succeed Carter.
P.'VEis Gibson Elected U. S. Senator
The short term was settled in open session without the intervention
of a caucus, but it was not decided until the early morning hours following
midnight of the last day of the session, March 7, 1901. The result was
the election of Paris Gibson, the pioneer and founder of the City, of Great
Falls. Although not of the first generation of pioneers, Mr. Gibson was
a great force in the establishment of modern Montana. He was of Eng-
lish descent, a Maine man by birth, and aggressive by inheritance of an-
cestors who had fought in the Revolutionary and French and Indian wars.
But Mr. Gibson's bravery and triumphs were identified with the determined
assaults upon frontier conditions and the wrestling therefrom of splendid
industrial developments. A college graduate and a member of the Maine
Legislature before he went West, he was twenty-eight years of age when
he settled in Minneapolis, where, with William W. Eastman, he built the
first merchant flour mill at that place, and one of the pioneer woolen mills
of the Northwest, the North Star. He was active in all the developing
agencies of that city, where he continued to reside until 1879, when he
moved to Montana. With clear business and commercial vision, he found
his ideal center of industry, agriculture and trade at the great falls of the
Missouri. There he secured a town site and platted Great Falls, and
shortly afterward interested James J. Hill, the great railroad builder, in the
457
458
HISTORY OF MONTANA
enterprise which he had advanced thus far. Mr. Hill became associated
with Paris Gibson in the founding and growth of the infant city, and
while the railroad king continued through many years of continental
developments to support it from afar, it was Mr. Gibson who never left
its side and worked for it and nourished it with all his strength and means
like both father and mother in one.
Mr. Gibson, however, was too broad and active a man to even confine
himself to the province of the founding of a city. He served as a member
m'i ii3«.j
The Completed C.\pitol of Montan.\
of the Constitutional Convention of 1889, was elected to the State Senate
two years later, and his service in the United States Senate covered the
years 1901-5. He then resigned to devote himself to his real estate and
farming interests, and passed from his busy and productive life on Decem-
ber II, 1920.
Congressional Elections
The populistic element in politics created much party confusion in the
campaign and general election of 1900. That fact was well illustrated in
HISTORY OF MONTANA. 459
the election for representative to Congress, for which there were four
candidates. Caldwell Edwards, running on the democratic-populist ticket
was elected, having received 28,170 votes ; S. G. Murray, republican, 23,207 ;
C. F. Kelley, independent democratic, 9,443; socialistic democratic, 613.
The independent democrats were those who refused fusion with the
populists, and the socialists of the democratic party hardly influenced the
general result.
In the congressional election held November 4, 1902, the following
votes were cast for the respective candidates : Joseph M. Dixon, repub-
lican, 24,626; John M. Evans, democrat, 19,560; Martin Dee, labor party,
6,005; G. B. Sproule, socialist, 3,131.
Heinze Overwhelms the Courts
The eighth Legislative Assembly, in session from January 5th to March
5, 1903, endeavored to relieve the surging tide of litigation which threat-
ened to overwhelm the Supreme Court as a result of the numerous and
prodigious suits brought by Heinze against the Amalgamated interests
to determine the titles to vast mining properties in the Butte district. The
legal phases of this litigation have been fully explained, the suits having
been fought out before Judge William Qancy and Judge Edward W.
Harney, who presided in the court of the Second Judicial District of the
state for the County of Silver Bow. Judge Clancy served from 1896 to
1905 and was a populist supported by Heinze; while Judge Harney came
to the bench as a democrat in January, 1901, his term also expiring in 1905.
In June, 1901, he handed down a decision in favor of Heinze, an unsuccess-
ful effort was made to impeach him, and in October Judge Clancy opined
that the Amalgamated Copper Company was an "outlaw" in Montana.
Then came the historic shut-down and the efforts of Governor Toole to
relieve the situation which was bringing such poignant distress to the
mining interests and the miners of the state.
The measure which was passed by the eighth Legislative Assembly to
relieve the congestion of the Supreme Court, and probably to counteract
the public apprehension that the district judges of Silver Bow County were
unduly influenced by Mr. Heinze, provided for the appointment by the
Supreme Court of three commissioners to act as its assistants in the dis-
posal of the stress of business which crowded its dockets. Under the act,
Henry N. Blake, John B. Qayberg, Lew I. Callaway and W. H. Poorman,
at different times, acted in that capacity until the law ceased to be opera-
tive.
Measures of the Eighth Assembly
Other important legislation enacted during the regular session were
the passage of acts to enabl^ cities which had incurred an indebtedness
in excess of the constitutional limit, to levy a yearly tax not exceeding
three mills on the dollar until such indebtedness was paid ; a compulsory
educational bill applying to children between eight and sixteen years of age
460 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and a measure to establish industrial schools ; also provisions for the pro-
tection of miners (safety-cage law amended), prohibiting the location of
blacksmith shops or drying rooms within fifty feet of the mouth of a mine,
unless the buildings were fire-proof ; and making mining corporations and
railroad companies liable in damages for injuries sustained by their agents.
The Montana State Humane Society was created for the protection of
both children and dumb animals. Agricultural fair commissions were
provided for in every county of the state and $i,ooo appropriated annually
for the holding of the various fairs ; the Montana State Fair was established
at Helena and $10,000 appropriated to encourage it. The last Friday in
May of each year was set apart as Pioneer Day. The Arid Land Grant
Commission was replaced by the Carey Land Act Board, thereby con-
forming to the Federal law known as the Carey Act. Under its provisions
and this legislative action the state acquired title to 1,000,000 acres of arid
land, which irrigation is reclaiming to productiveness. The appropriations
made to support the state government and its institutions approximated
$2,000,000, and for the fifth time the Assembly memorialized Congress to
amend the Federal Constitution and provide for the election of United
States senators by the direct vote of the people.
Also at this session, an act was passed proposing to submit amendments
to the State Constitution, at the general election in November, 1904, with
respect to the employment of children under sixteen years of age in under-
ground mines, and making eight hours a day's labor on public works of city,
county or state, or in mills, smelters or underground mines. The proposed
amendments were ratified by the people,, as proclaimed by the governor
December 8, 1904.
The Fair Trial Law Passed
The extraordinary session of the eighth Legislative Assembly was
called by Governor Toole in December, 1903, to endeavor to provide means
through which litigants in the mining cases could be assured of impartial
trials. In his proclamation convening the Assembly, the governor deplored
the industrial conditions prevailing in Butte, Anaconda and Great Falls,
consequent upon the stagnation caused by the frequent issuance of injunc-
tions by the courts of Silver Bow County. He called attention to a popular
demand for the passage of general legislation by which the prejudice of
district judges might be made sufficient ground to disqualify them from act-
ing, and also the widespread sentiment in favor of a law conferring upon
the Supreme Court power on appeal to review the facts in equity cases.
Disclaiming reflection upon the integrity of the judiciary of the state, he
announced his belief that with the enactment of laws within the purview
of the call, the mines would be promptly reopened and the unemployed pro-
vided with work ; and he summoned the Assembly to consider the ad-
visability of passing laws to meet the exigencies of the hour.
The Fair Trial bill, which became law, was the result. The Assembly
promptly passed a measure granting to the Supreme Court the right of
review of facts in suits of an equitable nature, and the Code of Civil Pro-
HISTORY OF MONTANA
461
cedure was amended so as to change the place of trial in civil cases. It
was provided that when a judge was disqualified from acting, he must
change the place of trial in cases mentioned by the act, but if the parties
to the suit agreed in writing upon another judge, or a member of the bar as
judge pro tempore, or if a qualified district judge should be called in and
should within thirty days after such motion was made, assume jurisdiction
of the case, then no change of place of trial should be had. In addition to
the existing grounds of disqualification of district judges, the Assembly
passed an act providing that when either party to the suit should make an
„-,qWisit»|Sk'
Montana Building, Louisiana Exposition
affidavit that he had reason to believe that he could not have an impartial
trial before the judge sitting in such case, such judge should not have
authority to further act, except in such minor matters as transferring the
action to another court, or of calling in another district judge. Plaintifif or
defendant had the right to disqualify five judges. In substance, this law has
remained upon the statutes of Montana.
But the Fair Trial law did not terminate the mining war ; it did not
entirely cease until 1906, when by the purchase of the Heinze interests by
Amalgamated, the promoter of the litigation was removed from the field.
Congressional Election of 1904
Joseph M. Dixon was re-elected to Congress at the general election of
November, 1904, receiving 32,957 votes, as against 26,728 cast for A. C.
Gormley, the democratic candidate, and 4,025 for J. A. Walsh, the nominee
of the socialists.
462 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Legislation of theI Ninth Assembly
The ninth session of the Legislative Assembly, sitting from January
2nd to March 2, 1905, is marked by the passage of 150 laws of various
kinds, a number of which related to the liability of railroad and mining
companies, or individual operators, for damages sustained by any employee
in consequence of the neglect or mismanagement of any other employee. It
repealed the law of 1903 and called the principals to the strictest account-
ability for any acts committed by their servants which might cause damage
to said employees. The act also provided that in case of death of any
such employee, in consequence of injury so sustained, his heirs or repre-
sentatives might prosecute an action to recover damages.
The County of Sanders was created by an act approved February 7,
1905. It was carved from Missoula. The Assembly also placed its au-
thoritative stamp upon the spelling of Lewis and Clark County, for all
time eliminating the "e" from "Clarke." The flag borne in the Spanish-
American war by the First Montana Infantry (with the designation of
the regiment omitted) was adopted as the State Flag. The salaries of the
Supreme Court judges were increased from $4,000 to $6,000 and of the
district judges from $3,500 to $4,000. An act was passed to provide for
the nomination of candidates by direct vote at a primary election. An
automobile speed law was adopted ; outside corporate limits, twenty miles
per hour, and within, eight miles.
Death of Col. Wilbur F. Sanders
On July 7, 1905, five months after the County of Sanders had been
created by the Legislative Assembly, the able and fearless pioneer lawyer
and the law-giver of state and nation in whose honor it was named, rested
from his long and faithful labors. His special public services, as well as
his brave work as a lawyer when Montana had no regularly constituted
courts, have been noted, but his connection with the State Historical So-
ciety requires further mention at this point. "An Act to incorporate the
Historical Society of Montana" was approved February 2, 1865. The
first meeting of the corporators was held at Virginia City, on the 25th of
the month, and Mr. Sanders was elected president pro tern. On March 25,
1865, a permanent organization was effected. Mr. Sanders was then elected
president and held the office continuously until February i, 1890, or a period
of nearly thirty-five years, when he resigned. His interest in the society
and its objects never abated, and he cheerfully devoted much of his valu-
able time to the furthering of its interests, both by personal solicitations
and an extensive correspondence. He is considered the founder of the
State Historical Society, if any one man may be thus honored.
Colonel Sanders was far more than a keen lawyer and a useful public
man. As stated by one of his friends: "The favorite abode of Senator
Sanders was his library ; his reading embraced the best authors of Eng-
land and America; knowledge was his treasure house; his memory of
everything was wonderful ; and his vocabulary was unsurpassed by any
HISTORY OF MONTANA 463
person in the state. His style was unique, the meaning of every sentence
was clear, and his ideas and illustrations were clothed in felicitous phrases.
He handled the keen weapons of logic and satire with dexterity." The
latter traits of his character once drew from the noted Robert G. Ingersoll,
who once clashed with him in law, the remark "Sanders was the keenest
blade he had ever crossed."
The Initiative and Referendum Passed
But undoubtedly the most important law passed at the ninth session
was that which submitted to popular vote at the general election of 1906 the
proposed amendment to the State Constitution providing for the initiative
(or direct legislation by popular petition) and the referendum, or the refer-
ence of a measure passed by the Legislative Assembly to the people them-
selves for final judgment. Except in the case of certain laws, the people
were thereby made paramount to the Legislature and the governor. The
veto power of the chief executive did not extend to measures referred to the
people by the Legislative Assembly, or by initiative and referendum peti-
tions. The initiative and referendum amendment was submitted at the
general election of 1906, and by the proclamation of December 7th, of that
year. Governor Toole declared it to be in force. Specifically, the initiative
requires 8 per cent of the legal voters of the state to propose any measure
to the Assembly by petition, provided that two-fifths of the counties of the
state shall each furnish as signers of the petition 8 per cent of its legal
voters; such initiative petitions must be filed with the secretary of state
not less than four months before the election at which they were to, be
voted upon. The referendum may be exercised either by petition signed by
5 per cent of the legal voters of the state, with a similar provision as to
two-fifths of the counties ; or by the Legislative Assembly as other bills
are enacted. Referendum petitions were to be filed with the secretary of
state not later than six months after the final adjournment of the session
of the Legislative Assembly which passed the bill on which the referendum
was demanded.
Congressional Election of 1906
At the general election held in November, 1906, Charles L. Pray was
elected to Congress by the republicans, polling 28,268 votes, against 22,874
for T. J. Walsh, 4,638 for John Hudson, the socialist candidate, and 261
for J. H. Calderhead, the populist. Evidently the life of the populist move-
ment was flickering, as the issues upon which it was founded were virtu-
ally dead.
Tenth Legislative Session
The tenth session of the Legislative Assembly, holding from January
7th to March 7, 1907, was even more marked than the ninth, by the
large number of laws passed protecting the lives of those engaged in
464 HISTORY OF MONTANA
hazardous occupations and safeguarding the general heakh of the state.
Except in case of emergency, no railroad man was permitted to be on
duty more than sixteen hours daily. By the provisions of another law,
railroads were directed to equip cabooses with specified appliances for the
safety of employees, and corporations, or persons, operating street railways
were compelled to provide cars with enclosed vestibules to protect employees
from inclement weather. Those responsible for the care and support of
dependent children were placed under the jurisdiction of the district courts
which were authorized to punish them for neglect of their duties. Another
law was adopted at the same session forbidding the employment of chil-
dren under sixteen years of age in certain employments, and the eight-hour
law was extended to^ prison guards in the state penitentiary and others
employed in the coal mines. An act was promulgated into law governing
the manner of locating, recording and holding mining claims on the public
lands of the Unitedj States ; also for the location of mill sites. County
boards of education were created to co-operate with the county superin-
tendents of schools in conducting the examinations of teachers, and a
Board of Railroad Commissioners was established and its functions de-
fined. Irrigation districts were established under the supervision of boards
of directors, who were authorized to locate canals and irrigation works and
generally to co-operate with owners of arid lands for the purpose of bring-
ing them under cultivation. The districts were authorized to issue bonds
in order to construct the necessary irrigation works. The primary election
law of 1905 was repealed, and the initiative and referendum law was
extended to cities and towns. Incompatibility of temperament was added
to the statutory grounds of divorce. Measures were adopted establishing a
State Live Stock Sanitary Board, provdiing for special veterinary surgeons,
for the eradication of disease in domestic animals and to promote the sheep
industry. The Metropolitan Police Law was enacted and a State Fire
Warden created, who, with his deputies, was delegated to protect the forests
of Montana against destruction by fire, particularly those owned by the
state.
To redeem the state bonds previously issued for the benefit of the
various educational institutions, a law was passed at this (the tenth)
session, authorizing the state of Montana to become indebted in excess
of the constitutional limitation of $100,000, and the State Board of Ex-
aminers was authorized to issue bonds for such purpose not exceeding
$500,000. The act was to be submitted to the voters at the next general
election. An act was also passed for the appointment of a commissioner to
revise the codes of 1895 and embody the laws passed since that year. E. C.
Day, a lawyer of Helena, accomplished the work known to state history as
the Revised Codes of Montana of 1907.
Governor Edwin L. Norris
Edwin L. Norris commenced his service as governor of Montana,
April I, 1908, and thus continued until January i, 1913. Governor Norris,
a Kentuckian and a lawyer, had been in the State Senate and lieutenant
HISTORY OF MONTANA 465
governor previous to the commencement of his creditable record as chief
executive of the state.
Congressional Election of 1908
At the November election, 1908, Charles N. Pray, a Fort Benton law-
yer, who had been prosecuting attorney of the Twelfth Judicial District for
a number of years, and a leading republican, was re-elected to Congress
over Thomas D. Long, democrat, and Lewis J. Duncan, socialist, and in the
1910 election defeated C. S. Hartman, the democratic nominee. Mr. Pray
therefore served continuously from March 4, 1907, to March 3, 1913,
inclusive. He was defeated for Congress in the latter year and resumed
his practice at Fort Benton.
Laws Enacted by the Eleventh Assembly
The eleventh Legislative Assembly was in session from January 4th
to March 4, 1909, and politics cut little figure in it. The creation of a
State Accident Insurance and Disability Fund, by which injured coal miners
and coal washers were to receive the benefits of such fund, or in the case
of death, their relatives, was a rather radical measure. It taxed the em-
ployer I per cent per ton on the output of his mine and the employee i per
cent of his gross monthly earnings. But the Supreme Court declared the
act unconstitutional on the ground that it deprived the employer of the
equal protection of the laws, the act, as passed, permitting him to be sued
and thus compelled to pay twice for the same injury. A day's work for
telephone operators in cities and towns of at least 3,000 people was fixed
at a maximum of nine hours. Other acts were passed to protect the life
and limb of workmen. A railroad employee injured in pursuance of his
duties became lawfully entitled to the necessary services of a physician or
surgeon, and an act was passed compelling those in charge of the erection
or the remodeling of any building having more than three stories to place
protecting scaffolds on the outside of such structures to ensure the safety
both of the workers and persons employed and passing beneath. Safety
appliances in the equipment of trains were made obligatory, the Railroad
Commission being given authority to enforce the law in all particulars. A
law against trusts was enacted, and two legal holidays were created —
Lincoln's birthday, February I2th, and Columbus day, October 12th.
Pioneer day was changed from the last Friday in May to the last Friday in
November, and Arbor day from the third Tuesday in April to the second
Tuesday in May. Upon Arbor day were prescribed such exercises in the
public schools as should tend to encourage the planting and protection of
trees and shrubs and to stimulate the minds of the school children of the
state towards the preservation of forests and the growing of timber. All
marriages between a white person and a negro, Chinese or Japanese were
pronounced misdemeanors both on the part of those who contracted them
and those who solemnize4 them. Other changes were made in the law
governing the debt-contracting power of cities and towns by which their
The Meagher Monument Fronting the Capitol
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468 HISTORY OF MONTANA
indebtedness was not to exceed 3 per cent of the assessed valuation of their
taxable property.
Capitol Wings Commenced
The capitol at Helena had been recently completed, but the pressing
need of additional accommodations called forth the law, passed at the
eleventh session, by which the State Board of Examiners were to issue
bonds amounting to $500,000 for the erection of east and west wings of
the edifice already constructed. Work was soon commenced, the chief
constructive material used being native granite of grayish tint and attrac-
tive appearance.
Resources of Montana to be Set Forth
The eleventh session of the Legislative Assembly imposed upon the
Bureau of Agriculture, Labor and Industry the important duty of collating
for publication statistics and practical information relating to the resources
and growth of Montana for the enlightenment of both the home and the
foreign public. Such data was to be collected from the commercial bodies,
farmers' institutes and similar organizations of the state, and since 1912,
when the first publication was issued under the editorship of J. H. Hall,
no agency has been more potent in placing Montana justly before the
world than that wielded through the Bureau of Agriculture, Labor and
Industry and its successor, the Department of Agriculture and Publicity.
The literature issued by the latter, through Charles D. Greenfield, the
editorial commissioner, has not been exceeded in reliability, value and
literary excellence, by any of the official manuals issued by the older
states of the country-. The publication of each succeeding year has been
an improvement on the preceding.
Legislation of the Eleventh Assembly
The State Board of Education, in order to solidify, as much as possible,
the management of the charitable, reformatory and higher institutions of
learning, was authorized to appoint a president and faculty of the Uni-
versity of Montana, located at Missoula; the State Normal College at
Dillon ; the Agricultural College, at Bozeman ; State Orphans' Home at
Twin Bridges; the State School of Mines, at Butte; School for Deaf and
Blind, at Boulder, and the State Reform School, at Miles City. The act
of 1907 creating irrigation districts in the state was repealed and a new
measure passed by which the arid lands could more readily be placed under
irrigation. A bill was passed by which a state bank might become a
national and vice versa. The jurisdiction of notaries public was made
coextensive with the state, instead of the county wherein he resided.
Judicial nominations were taken from the primaries and were authorized
to be made by petition signed by a designated number of electors residing
in the state, and, when filed with the secretary of state had the effect of a
HISTORY OF MONTANA 469
certificate of nomination. The number of judges who could be disqualified
in any action was limited to two, instead of five. The office of road super-
visor was abolished in counties of the first class and his duties turned over
to the county surveyor. To carry out the constitutional amendment creat-
ing a State Depository Board, a law was enacted empowering such board to
designate the banks within the state in which public funds in the hands of
the state treasurer should be deposited. Interest on such deposits was re-
quired to be paid and they were to be secured by approved bonds. The
State Board of Examiners was authorized to issue bonds to the amount
of $542,000, the proceeds from the sale of which were to be applied to the
maintenance of the various state educational institutions. Further, the
eleventh session created the State Board of Land Commissioners, com-
prising the governor, superintendent of public instruction, secretary of
state and attorney general, who were to have control of the timber, coal,
oil and mineral lands of the state. The ad valorem tax for state purposes,
for the years 1909 and 1910, was fixed at two and a half mills per dollar
of taxable property, and the county of Lincoln was created from a portion
of Flathead.
Twelfth Session of Assembly
From January 2nd to March 2, 191 1, the twelfth session of the Legisla-
tive Assembly labored over a mountain of legislation and produced the
most abundant crop harvested up to that period. In this review, it is im-
possible to more than touch the "high places," and even some of them may
be missed, so that one especially interested in the work of the twelfth
session may have to dig among the details of the official records. The
White Slave law which passed was particularly championed by Edward
Donlan, of Missoula County. The commission form of government was
adopted. The most radical measure of the session, however, was that
upon which half a dozen successive assemblies had voiced its favorable
opinion — that by which the people voted directly for the United States
senatorship, the result of which acts as a substantial mandatory upon the
action of the Legislative Assembly. The Board of Directors of the Mon-
tana State Fair was empowered to acquire 135 acres of land adjoining the
existing grounds. The session also appropriated $5,000 toward the erection
of a monument within the capitol to perpetuate the memory of the late
Wilbur F. Sanders. Through the additional thought fulness and generosity
of William A. Clark, the memorial was finally finished and dedicated
September 24, 1913. The County of Musselshell was organized from
parts of Fergus, Meagher and Yellowstone, thus reviving the old territorial
County of Musselshell, created by the second territorial Assembly of 1866,
and afterward known, for a short time, as Vivion County. The law school
of Montana, at Missoula, was established, and all except civil jurisdiction
over Glacier National Park, created by Congress on May 11, 1910, was
granted by the Legislative Assembly to the Federal authorities. The state
was reapportioned and the new county bill was passed (March 6, 191 1) by
which one-half of the voters of a proposed new county were required to
470 HISTORY OF MONTANA
present a petition for such formation to the county commissioners of the
county from which it was to be carved. The proposal was to be pre-
sented to the voters of the territory in the proposed county and it required
sixty-five per cent of the vote cast to carry the proposition. No new
county could be established which would reduce any other county to an
assessed valuation of less than $5,000,000, nor could any be formed, the
assessed valuation of which was less than $4,000,000. The most vol-
uminous act passed by the twelfth session was one regulating the operation
of coal mines in Montana. It was, in effect, a codification of all pre-
existing laws relating to that subject. The Montana State Tuberculosis
Sanitarium was located at Warm Springs, Deer Lodge County, $20,000
being appropriated for a building site. In that connection. Congress was
also memorialized to donate 50,000 acres of public lands for the support
of the institution. Through legislative action, the state also acquired from
Messrs. Mitchell and Mussigbrod the property of the Insane Asylum at
Warm Springs, which had been privately owned since early territorial
days. To cover the purchase price, the State Board of Examiners were
authorized to issue bonds amounting to $650,000, the interest on which
was to be met by an annual tax levy of one-fourth of a mill on the dollar
on all taxable property in the state. The entire proposition was to be sub-
mitted to the people at the general election of 191 2 ; by which tlie question
was decided "Aye." The office of state fire marshal was created, and
chiefs of local departments were directed to render him every assistance
in the determination of the origin of fires occurring within the state. A
pure food law was passed, which extended over both adulterations and
diseased animal products. Tuberculin tests of all dairy cattle were re-
quired and all persons conducting any business in which food products
were handled were required to procure licenses from the State Board of
Health.
It was made compulsory that all school districts having a population
of more than 5,000 should maintain at least one manual training school.
Reduced or free transportation by common carriers (railroads, especially)
was made unlawful, with the exception of certain classes among whom
were those engaged in philanthropic or humanitarian enterprises.
Referendum Bills Become L.^ws
During the interval between the adjournment of the Twelfth and the
convening of the Thirteenth Assembly, there were initiated under the
provisions of the Initiative and Referendum four bills, upon which the
people passed favorably at the November election of 191 2. They all
became laws. The Corrupt Practice Act contained provisions guarding
the purity of the ballot whether cast for nominations or elections. Another
law provided for the nomination of presidential electors by direct vote;
another instructed the Legislative Assemblies to follow the will of the
people in selecting United States senators, and a fourth provided for party
nominations by the direct vote of the electors of the state.
The Legislative Assembly which convened January 6th, and adjourned
HISTORY OF MONTANA 471
March 7, 1913, occupied for the first time its new hall in the enlarged
capitol at Helena. It was also the last Legislature called upon to elect a
United States senator, as a body independent of the will of the people as
expressed by their formal vote. The Thirteenth Assembly ratified the
federal amendment, for which the public sentiment of Montana as ex-
pressed by the Legislative Assembly had long contended, but it was not
formally proclaimed as a law of the state until shortly after the session
had been completed. By the law of Montana all members of the Assembly
who had taken the oath upon their nomination, to vote for the candidate
receiving the highest vote were supposed to support Thomas J. Walsh.
Although the "hold-overs" were not bound by that pledge, they followed
the obvious bent of the new legislation and voted for Mr. Walsh, who was
declared the unanimous choice of the republicans, democrats, progressives
and socialist (one member) for United States senator from Montana.
He succeeded Joseph M. Dixon and his term covered March 4, 191 3, to
March 3, 1919. Mr. Dixon had become so prominent as a progressive
that he had been chosen by Theodore Roosevelt to lead the national cam-
paign of 1912. After the expiration of his term as a United States sen-
ator, he resumed his practice as a lawyer at, Missoula.
Congressional Election of 1910
By the census of 1910, Montana became entitled to another representa-
tive in Congress, and the two democratic candidates, Thomas Stout and
John M. Evans, were successful. The original republican nominees were
Charles N. Pray, who had already served three terms, and W. F. Meyer.
Mr. Meyer died during the campaign and was replaced by Lieutenant-
Governor W. R. Allen. The newly organized Progressive party placed
T. M. Everett and George A. Horkan on its ticket, and the socialists
nominated Henri LaBeau and J. F. Mabie. Mr. Stout received the highest
number of votes cast, 25,857, and his democratic associate, Mr. Evans,
24,582.
Hon. Tom Stout
Hon. Tom Stout, former member of Congress, widely known in news-
paper circles and the supervising editor of this history, is a Missourian
by birth, having been born in New London, May 20, 1879. -^^ pursued
courses in the Warrensburg State Normal School and the Missouri State
University, but instinctively turned to journalism as a preferred profes-
sion. In 1904 he assisted in the establishment of the Fergus County Demo-
crat, of Lewistown, and in the following year purchased his partner's
interest in the publication and the business. An incorporation was after-
ward effected as the Democrat Publishing Company and the Democrat-
News Publishing Company, of which Mr. Stout has remained president.
He is a lawyer, as. well as a newspaper man, having been admitted to the
Montana bar in 191 3. In November, 1910, Mr. Stout was elected to the
State Senate, and served in that body until his resignation in March, 1913.
472 HISTORY OF MONTANA
He then entered the Sixty-third Congress as a representative-at-large, and
was re-elected to the Sixty-fourth Congress, completing his two terms in
the national House of Representatives in 191 7. Since that period he has
been active in the conduct of his newspaper.
Governor Samuel V. Stewart
The term of Governor Edwin L. Norris expired on January 6, 1913,
and he was succeeded by Samuel V. Stewart, whose term expired with
the year 1920. Albeit an Ohioan, Governor Stewart was educated in Kan-
sas, taking courses both in the State Normal School, at Emporia, and the
law department of the University at Topeka. From the latter he received
his degree of LL. B. in 1898, and at once located in Virginia City, Mon-
tana, for the practice of his profession. He served for about a decade as
either city attorney of Virginia or county attorney of Madison County,
and in 1910-12 was chairman of the Democratic State' Central Committee,
a stepping stone to the governorship.
Attempts to Carry Out Party Fl.\tform
Governor Stewart was therefore at the head of the state administra-
tion when the Thirteenth Assembly assumed the task of attempting to
carry out the legislation projected by the democratic party platform. The
passage of a compulsory compensation measure was made difficult from
the fact that most of the bills presented placed the entire burden of any
negligence for which damages were claimed upon the employer and took
no account of such negligence of an employe whose death or injury might
be caused by his own carelessness. The state insurance feature was also
open to argument, and one bill was introduced to impose a penalty directly
upon the employer whose negligence had caused the injuries or death,
without compelling contribution from other employers free from negli-
gence. Some of the measures were supported by the labor unions ; others,
by employers ; but all efforts at compromise failed. A Public Service
Commission was created and approved by Governor Stewart. It absorbed
the Board of Railroad Commissioners, as extending its jurisdiction not
only over public carriers, but all other public utilities whether concerned
with heat, light, powet, water, telephone or telegraph. The regulation of
rates, investigation as to injury or death, and a general and a detailed
supervision over all the acts and functions of public corporations were
included in the scope of the power exercised by the Public Service Com-
mission. In effect, the body was a large expansion of the Board of Rail-
road Commissioners, and additional duties were imposed upon that ex-
officio body. The railroads were compelled to install and maintain safe
crossings at all places where their tracks crossed public highways, and to
maintain them at one place when one-half the business men of cities or
towns of more than 300 people petitioned for such. The roads were also
required to construct suitable platforms and depots, connections with
industrial plants and stock yards, and other means looking to the safety
474 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and convenience of the public. Through the new office of inspector of
navigation, the Railroad Commission was also granted control over marine
navigation. A State Tax Commission was created, to be composed of the
governor, the secretary of state, the state treasurer, the attorney-general
and a new official, known as the state tax commissioner. In the work of
appraisals the state official was empowered to appoint three citizens in each
county and who were to act with him as boards of appraisers, and all were
to cooperate with the county boards of equalization. The office of chief
grain inspector was created, who was not only to manipulate the grain and
establish rules for its inspection, weighing and storage, but to investigate
complaints of fraud or discriminations. He had under him local inspectors,
weight masters and other employes. A grain grading commission was
also created. The County Organization (Leighton) bill, passed in 191 1,
was so amended as to reduce the required vote for county division from
sixty-five to fifty-one per cent; the valuation of the parent county after
division ($5,000,000) remained the same, while that of the newly created
county was reduced from $4,000,000 to $3,000,000.
Four bills were introduced to create Wibaux, Wheatland, Richland
and Clay counties, but were vetoed by Governor Stewart on the ground
that since the passage of the County Organization bill it was unconstitu-
tional to create counties by special act. Under the general law, however.
Hill County was created out of Chouteau, with Havre as its seat of justice,
and acquired its present form by annexations from Toole and Liberty, in
1914 and 1919 respectively. Blaine County was also carved from Chou-
teau and yielded a portion of its area to Phillips in 1915. These new coun-
ties appeared in February and March, 1912, and in January, 1913, Big
Horn County of territorial times was revived, in miniature, from portions
of Yellowstone and Rosebud counties. In the following March, two other
counties were also created under the general law — Sheridan, from Dawson
and Valley (part taken to form Roosevelt in 1919). and Stillwater, organ-
ized from parts of Carbon, Sweet Grass and Yellowstone.
During this prolific thirteenth session, the Assembly passed a measure
to submit to popular vote at the succeeding general election a proposition
to fix the rate of taxation, for a period of ten years, on real and personal
property which should be levied for the support of state educational insti-
tutions. An investment commissioner was created from whom a permit
must be obtained by any person or body for the sale of securities, except
such as government, state or municipal and others approved by govern-
ment or secured by Montana real estate. An appeal from the decision of
the investment commissioner could be taken to the State Board of Ex-
aminers.
Other Measures Passed
Other measures passed not strictly designed to carry out the pledges
of the democratic party was the adoption (5f the codified school laws as
prepared by a special commission appointed for that purpose and the pas-
sage of a general Highway law. The public highways of the state were
HISTORY OF MONTANA 475
classified, and the county commissioners of the various counties were
directed to collect taxes of between two and five mills on the dollar and
$2 per annum on each male between twenty-one and fifty years of age, to
construct, maintain and improve such highways. The details of raising
the supporting and constructing revenue were left to the boards of county
commissioners, who, in turn, were to divide their respective counties into
road districts, placing over each, a road supervisor. The General High-
way law laid down the "laws of the road," with penalties for violating
them. The automobile speed limit was fixed at thirty miles an hour out-
side municipal limits, or thickly settled town districts, and twelve miles
within. To facilitate the operations of the act, there was created a State
Highway Commission, comprising the state engineer, a professor of civil
engineering of the State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, and
a civil engineer experienced in road building to be appointed by the gov-
ernor. The state board was to cooperate with the Boards of County
Commissioners, furnishing data for a general state road map, "to the end
that systematic and intelligent general road construction and improvement
could be made." To supply funds for such purposes, a State Highway
fund was created, and the Highway Commission was authorized to appor-
tion among the several counties such amounts of money as were estimated
necessary to carry on the work. Under the Largey Act, known as the
Montana State Motor Vehicle Law, and fashioned after the. New York
law, the moneys collected from licences (required to be obtained both by
owners and chaufifeurs of vehicles) were applied to the maintenance and
extension of the public roads of the state.
A law was passed providing that nine hours out of every twenty-four
should constitute a day's work for all females employed in manufactories,
. business houses, laundries, hotels and restaurants, and the employers of
labor in such establishments were compelled to furnish suitable seats for
such employes. The act by which the state parole commissioner was
created (appointed by the governor) made it the duty of the new official
to cooperate with the warden of the State Penitentiary and the super-
intendent of the State Reform School in recommending paroles and in
assisting such prisoners to secure employment. Important changes were
made in former laws by which, after a trial of one year, those cities which
had adopted the commission form of government might return to the old
municipal way, and the newly created fire marshal was vested with the
authority to remove dangerous structures which were a fire menace to
other buildings or property. The age of consent of females was raised
to eighteen years and the crime of rape newly defined.
In line with the gathering sentiment toward consolidation of the higher
educational institutions of the state, so widely distributed, was the Leighton
bill, which passed into law, providing that the State University at Mis-
soula, the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts at Bozeman, the
School of Mines at Butte, the State Normal School at Dillon, and such
departments as might thereafter be organized, should constitute the Uni-
versity of Montana. As such, the control and supervision thereof should
be under the State Board of Education, which was empowered to employ
476 HISTORY OF MONTANA
a chancellor of the university who should reside in Helena. A forestry
school was added to the departments of the State University at Missoula,
and the Northern Montana Agricultural and Manual Training College and
Agricultural Experiment Station were established upon the site of old
Fort Assinniboine, in the eastern part of Hill County. This was accom-
plished in pursuance with the agreement made with the general govern-
ment prior to the abandonment of the fort as aa army post. In connec-
tion with the Experiment Station, a State Grain Laboratory was estab-
lished for the purpose of scientifically studying the milling and baking
quality of wheat raised in the state, and of the germinating capacity, quality
and purity of field crop-seeds grown in Montana.
The thirteenth session is somewhat memorable because of the expansion
of the state government through the creation of various offices and de-
partments, other than those already mentioned. A State Board of Veter-
inary Medical Examiners was established, the title of which is a sufficient
explanation of its purposes ; also authorizing the governor to appoint a
Board of Examination for Nurses ; the Bureau of Agriculture, Labor and
Industry abolished, and two independent departments substituted for it,
known as the Department of Agriculture and Publicity and the Depart-
ment of Labor and Industry; State Board of Entomology created com-
posed of the state entomologist, secretary of the State Board of Health
and the state veterinarian, the special duties of which were to prevent the
introduction or spread of such diseases as were communicable by insects
as spotted fever and infantile paralysis ; creation of State Board of Com-
missioners for the Insane, consisting of the governor, secretary of state
and the attorney general, who were to appoint a superintendent and an
assistant superintendent of the asylum recently acquired by the state at
Deer Lodge ; the new State Dairy Commission was given a wide range of
duties in connection with the inspection of creameries and dairies and their
products, and in the regulation of their manipulation and sale ; the secre-
tary of state constituted the state sealer of weights and measures, and a
State Athletic Commission called into being, specially directed toward the
regulation of sparring matches and other athletic exhibitions held within
the state. Boxing exhibitions were limited to twelve rounds ; contestants
were required to undergo a physical examination to determine their fitness
to engage in the proposed encounter, and ten per cent of the gross re-
ceipts from each exhibition were payable into the office of the state
treasurer.
U. S. Senatorial Election Made Popular
Midway of the thirteenth session (February./, 1913), the Legislative
Assembly and the governor approved of the amendment to the federal
constitution authorizing the election of LTnited States senators by direct
vote of the people. In order to make the amendment constitutional, the
ratification of at least thirty-six states was necessary. Connecticut, the
last of the required states to thus act, ratified the proposed amendment on
April 8, 191 3.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 477
The Completed Capitol
As stated, the thirteenth Legislative Assembly of 1913 first occupied
its new hall in the enlarged capitol. As it stands, the capitol of Montana
is majestically located on a fine rise of ground in the southern outskirts
of the city, the; buildings of the State Live Stock Commission and the
State Board of Health, of a more recent date, being on the same grounds.
The interior decorations of the capitol walls and ceilings are artistic
and appropriate, while the accommodations provided for the various de-
partments and bureaus are modern but, with the growth of the state and
its governmental activities again threatening to become inadequate. The
State Historical Library, with its cabinets representative of the fauna,
birds, minerals, Indians and vigilantee curios ; with its fine galleries of
paintings and photos, placing before the visitor the pioneers and public men
of the territory and state, and its remarkably complete files of newspapers
and other material relating to Montana's history, occupies the larger sec-
tion of the basement of the capitol. The Agricultural Department, the
state engineer's office, and minor bureaus have also quarters in this por-
tion of the building. On the floor above are the governor's office, richly
furnished, the offices of the secretary of state and the superintendent of
public instruction, the adjutant general's office, and the headquarters of
other departments, while the second floor is given over to the courts, the
law library and the Assembly chambers. Altogether, Montana's capitol
is worthy of a progressive, energetic and cultured people.
Assembly Measures of the Fourteenth Session
The fourteenth Legislative Assembly convened January 4, 191 5, and
adjourned March 4th of that year — the constitutional sixty days. Gov-
ernor Stewart approved an act for a commission form of government un-
der the provisions of which a petition to the City Council signed by not
less than twenty-five" per cent of the voters of the municipality would
require the question to be submitted to the electors. If a majority voted
in favor of an election, then the City Council was to call a special election
to determine the will of the people for or against the commission form.
For the relief of numerous farmers of the state an act was approved in
February authorizing counties to issue bonds or warrants to procure seed
for needy farmers, and provision was made for such purchase by levying
a tax, to act as a lien, against the property of the persons to whom said
grain was to be distributed. Later, an act was passed to provide a lien
against growing crops and grains threshed to apply to the purchase price
of the seed furnished. Another important measure approved by Governor
Stewart during the month of February was the act to provide for the
indeterminate sentences of criminals. Another, which aimed at the eleva-
tion of the bar, provided that every applicant for admission must produce
satisfactory testimonials of good moral character and a certificate of one or
more reputable counselors of law that he has been engaged in the study
of law for two successive years prior to the making of such application
478 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and undergo a strict examination as to his qualifications by any one or
more of the justices of the Supreme Court; "provided, however, that a
diploma from the department of law of the University of Montana at
Missoula, or evidence of having completed the course in law of three years
in said department, shall entitle the holder to a license to practice law in
all the courts of the state, subject to the right of the chief justice of the
Supreme Court of the state to order an examination as in ordinary cases
of applicants without such diploma or evidence."
The state, through its assembly, accepted the terms of the congressional
act approved May 8, 191 4, relating to cooperative extension work, and
authorized the president of the State Agricultural College to cooperate to
that end with the secretary of agriculture of the United States. Good
Roads day was designated as the third Tuesday in June. The Department
of Farm Loans was created and the Agricultural Experiment Station at
Bozeman was established.
On the 26th of February, a financial act of far-reaching effects to coun-
ties was approved. It authorized any county to issue twenty-year bonds
"to an amount sufficient to redeem all legal outstanding bonds, warrants
or orders, or for the purchase of necessary public building sites, and for
the construction of necessary public buildings, public highways and bridges,
and for the ordinary and necessary expenses of the county authorized by
the general laws of the state, and also for the purpose of enabling any
county to liquidate its indebtedness to another county incident to the crea-
tion of a new county, or the change of any county boundary lines, not
exceeding in the aggregate, including outstanding bonded indebtedness,
. five (5) per cent of the value of the taxable property within such county,
to be ascertained by the last assessment for state and county taxes previous
to issuing such bonds."
A referendum on prohibition was called for the general election of
1916; should the vote be favorable for the measure, it was to go into effect
on December 31, 1918. At the same time an act was passed to prohibit the
sale or giving of liquor to habitual drunkards, minors or Indians. On the
same day (February 27, 1915), a law was enacted forcing adult children to
support indigent parents.
Legislation of a miscellaneous nature, but of general interest was en-
acted during the last month of the session (March), as follows: To pro-
hibit betting at horse races; entitling father and mother to the custody,
services and earnings of legitimate unmarried minor children; repealing
the State Tax Commission Act ; limiting the number of social clubs
wherein liquor could be distributed to one such organization per 3,000
inhabitants of any incorporated city or town ; providing financial aid to
dependent children in their own homes under control of mothers, who are
dependent upon deceased or delinquent fathers for support ; county seats
not to be moved to places which have not been incorporated as a city or
town for at least a year ; prohibiting the sale of liquor on Sundays on race
track, or in pool room, dance hall or other amusement place ; neither hus-
band nor wife was answerable for the acts of the other, or liable for
debts, provided that "the expenses for the necessaries of the family and
HISTORY OF MONTANA 479
the education of the children are chargeable upon the property of both
husband and wife, or either of them; in the protection of game, act passed
making it unlawful to use silencers or mufflers in hunting, or explosives
or poisons in fishing ; no new county to be formed if its assessed valuation
be less than $8,000,000, or the property of the county from which it is
taken be reduced to a valuation below that limit ; memorial tO( Congress
to throw the Crow Indian reservation open to settlement, the lands of
which are now mostly leased by large cattle owners and flock masters ; also
memorial to throw open the 1,500,000 acres of the Blackfeet reservation,
now occupied by less than 2,490 Indians, open to settlement, and to con-
struct an east and west public road through Glacier National Park, and
thereby complete the broken link of the great national highway between
the Great Lakes and the Pacific coast.
In the last days of the session, the Department of Banking was created,
its object being to regulate the business of banks and other financial cor-
porations.
An act of much concern to the public school teachers of the state was
that which established their Retirement Salary fund and Permanent fund.
The latter was formed by contributions from school teachers, investments
from fund moneys, donations, legacies and gifts and state appropriations.
In the formation of the Retirement fund, each public school teacher was
to pay $1 per month, and no teacher was entitled to its benefits who had
not regularly contributed to it. The funds named were established by act
of March 8, 191 5.
On the same day, a measure was passed to provide for the safety of
workmen engaged in hazardous occupations and providing a schedule
of compensation for death or injuries. Total disability comprised the loss of
both hands or arms, both feet or legs, or both eyes, and partial disability
ranged from the blindness of one eye to the loss of one arm near the
shoulder, and the amount of compensation (maximum, $10 per week) was
graduated according to the average wages drawn and the nature of the
injury sustained. The latter also determined the period over which the
compensation should extend, from 100 to 200 weeks.
Legislative action was taken authorizing the state to issue bonds in
the amount of $100,000 for the State Tuberculosis Sanitarium at Galen
and the State Insane Asylum at Warm Springs, and $30,000 appropriated
to establish a twine factory at the State Prison. About the same time, the
name of the Montana State Reform School was changed to the Montana
State Industrial School.
The General Highway law was passed at the last day of the session,
March 9, 191 5. It divided the highways into common, main and state.
All private highways and by-roads were to be at least twenty feet wide.
The general tax was not to exceed five mills on the dollar and the general
road tax $2 per annum for each male between twenty-one and sixty years
of age. A county could not issue bonds for road purposes in excess of
five per cent of its taxable property. The duties of the road supervisors
were particularly defined, as were the viewers of highways. Rules and
regulations were formulated for the information of drivers ; such as "turn
480 HISTORY OF MONTANA
to the right," "no drunkenness allowed,'' etc. Special rules were laid down
for the operators of threshers, steam engines and autos, and precautions
taken against the frightening of horses. In its entirety, the session of
1915 (the fourteenth) was busy and productive of much practical legis-
lation.
Congressman and Congress-Woman of 1917-19
The congressional elections, held in the fall of 1916, resulted in the
selection from Montana of John M. Evans, democrat, and Miss Jeannette
Rankin, republican, both residents of Missoula. As Miss Rankin was the
first woman to be elected to the Congress of the United States, the vigorous
and successful campaign which she conducted was a noteworthy event.
Miss Jeannette Rankin, who served her term (1917-19) in the Sixty-
fifth Congress, as a representative-at-large from Montana, had been active
and prominent in woman suffrage and social work in the West for a num-
ber of years. Born on a ranch near Missoula, she is a graduate of the
State University, and after studying at the School of Philanthropy, New
York, engaged in social work at Seattle, Washington, where she was also
prominent in the woman sufi^rage movement. California and Montana
then became the fields of her endeavors in these lines. She became field
secretary of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and in
1914 was chosen chairman of the Montana State Suffrage Committee.
In that capacity she accomplished much in bringing Montana into line as
the thirteenth state to ratify the nineteenth amendment to the federal con-
stitution conferring upon women equal suffrage with men. The Assembly
took this action on July 30, 1919, after Miss Rankin had completed her
term. Tennessee, the thirty-sixth and last state necessary to make the
amendment a part of the federal constitution, ratified it on August 18,
1920, nearly a year after Montana had taken similar action.
Previous to serving her term in Congress (in 1915), Miss Rankin
visited New Zealand and worked as a seamstress, in order to become
familiar with woman's industrial conditions in that progressive part of the
world. Since retiring from Congress, she has been engaged in a variety
of social and economic movements in the West, Chicago and New York.
The Fifteenth Legislative Assemisly
The fifteenth Assembly of January-March, 1917, early showed its in-
terest in the Indian reservations of Montana and its continuous sugges-
tions to Congress that they be not allowed to go to waste in the supine
hands of the red man. In January, the lower house asked the United
States Senate that steps be taken to develop the water powers within the
limits of the reservations and shortly afterward memorialized Congress
for $1,000,000 to forward the Flathead irrigation project, which promised
to move forward now that the lands proposing to be benefited were no
longer monopolized by the original owners. In February, also, a House
Joint memorial was presented which forcibly illustrates the close identi-
fication of the Yellowstone Park with the interests of Montana.
HISTORY OF MONTANA
481
A Plea for the Dumb Animals
The Yellowstone Park memorial read as follows : ''Resolved, that the
Congress of the United States is hereby petitioned to again police the Yel-
lowstone National Park with officers and soldiers of the regular army to
the end that it shall be well protected from fire, as well as from vandals
who would destroy its beauty and efficiency, so that our children's children
may have their birthright in the rivers that will flow undisturbed by
drought or freshet from the cloud-kissed peaks of Mount Washburn to
the sunny lands that border the Gulf of Mexico."
The Senate Joint memorial of March ist expands upon the House
document, thus : "Whereas, the elk, deer, Rocky Mountain sheep and
antelope have in past years found native pasture on the north and west
Elk in Montana Forests
sides of the Yellowstone National Park sufficient for their use at all times,
especially during the winter ; and
"Whereas, nearly all the; native pasture lands to the north and west
of the park are either owned by farmers, or pastured during the summer
season by live stock until there is but little left for wild animals; and
"Whereas, during the early autumn the park lines are diligently
patrolled until the hunting season is closed, and then the game, especially
elk, are allowed to depart in large numbers from the park upon the lands
north and west thereof, break down and destroy fences of the fields and
corrals of farmers, eat the hay and otherwise damage the farm lands ; for
instance, 1,500 elk at one time were counted inside a 200-acre field, there
eating the grass belonging to a farmer whose cattle needed same; and
"Whereas, after said elk have destroyed property as above cited, they
wander over the pasture lands of the Forest Preserve, where formerly
482 HISTORY OF MONTANA
grass was in great abundance, and die in large numbers for want of feed,
and when the warm days of the spring come a few of them wander back
to the green vales of the National Park and leave behind them, on the
hills and in the valleys of Montana, the bleaching bones of thousands of
their comrades that have actually starved to death.
"Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Congress of the United States
is hereby petitioned to make a full investigation of the game question about
the Yellowstone National Park and that the Federal Government shall
provide in some way to feed or otherwise care for the vast number of elk
that will surely starve each year upon the farms and pastures of Montana."
In February, 1917, the Legislative Assembly passed acts: To authorize
the investment of permanent funds of the state in Federal Farm Loan
bonds; to provide free text books for the public and high schools at the
expense of the district interested and, when desired by parents or guar-
dians, to be sold at cost ; establishing an eight-hour day for female labor,
with the exception of the week preceding Christmas when retail stores
could extend the day to ten hours; authorizing cities of the first, second
and third class to provide popular band concerts during June, July, August
and September ; to establish and operate public markets at county seats,
five per cent of their gross sales to be paid into the county treasury ; pro-
viding punishment for employes of the Montana State Industrial School
who shall assist escaped inmates ; to authorize towns and cities to establish
and maintain swimming pools, skating rinks and playgrounds from Park
funds ; Boards of Stock Commissioners and Sheep Commissioners con-
solidated as the Live Stock Commision ; the State Fish Hatchery estab-
lished at Anaconda; course of elementary agriculture established in the
elementary schools of the state ; Carter County organized from part of
Fallon, and Wheatland from parts of Meagher and Sweet Grass.
Granville Stuart Appointed State Historian
Granville Stuart was appointed historian of the state, and in February
the Assembly appropriated $9,000 to cover the expenses of his work and
the publication of the history. Unfortunately, Mr. Stuart was not destined
to complete his labors, which were well advanced at the time of his death,
on October 2, 1918.
The measures passed in March : Act to create herd districts of seventy-
two square miles or more for the better control of horses, mules, cattle,
sheep and goats ; compelling, by order of trial court, the husband to sup-
port the wife, child or children, in default of which, imprisonment and
work on the state highways; creation of Industrial Accident Board to
combine the duties of state inspector of boilers, inspectors of steamboats
and state inspector of mines ; establishment of vocational education in the
high and elementary schools of the state, the state treasurer to be the
custodian of the fund provided for such educational work by the federal
government; also, an act to add normal training and junior college courses
to the high school curriculum ; approval of the proposal of the Society of
Pioneers to erect a bronze statue of Lewis and Clark, appropriating $5,000
HISTORY OF MONTANA 483
contingent uf)on the raising of $15,000 by that society and the appointment
of a commission to forward the project, comprising five members, two to
be appointed by the governor and three by the president of the Montana
Pioneers' Society; Qiild Welfare division estabhshed under the auspices
of the State Board of Heahh; Department of Banking organized; pas-
sage of act of search and seizure, also providing for destruction of places
where liquor was sold; conferring police'' powers upon railway conductors;
in accord with the public sentiment, the Assembly enacted special legisla-
tion by which the licenses of all liquor dealers within the state were to
expire on December 31, 191 8, and calling upon county, town and city
officials to act accordingly; creation of the State Board of Hail Insurance.
Under the act creating the State Highway Commission, Montana was
divided into twelve districts: (i) Counties of Lincoln, Flathead and San-
ders; (2) Mineral, Missoula and Ravalli; (3) Beaverhead, Madison and
Gallatin; (4) Silver Bow, Deer Lodge and Granite; (5) Lewis and Clark,
Broadwater, Powell and Jefiferson ; (6) Cascade, Musselshell, Meagher
and Fergus; (7) Chouteau, Teton, Hill and Toole; (8) Blaine, Sheridan,
Valley and Phillips; (9) Carbon, Stillwater, Sweet Grass and Park; (10)
Rosebud, Yellowstone and Big Horn ; (11) Custer, Prairie and Fallon ;
(12) Wibaux, Dawson and Richland. As to the personnel of the com-
mission, the governor was to appoint one member from each district and
not more than six from the same political party, their term of service to
be four years and their first meeting on May i, 1917. Contracts for work
on the state highways were to be let by the executive committee of the
commission, comprising three of its members.
A general Fish and Game law was also enacted. Under its provisions
licenses to fish and hunt were regulated and orders promulgated for the
protection of birds and against the pollution of the waters of the state.
The following game preserves were also created : Snow Creek, Pryor
Mountain, Sun River, 'Gallatin, Snowy Mountain, Highwood National
Forest, Powder River, Flathead Lake Bird Preserve, Twin Buttes and
South Moccasin Mountain.
Laws of the Sixteenth Regular Session
During the early portion of the sixteenth regular session of the Legis-
lative Assembly (February, 191 9) six counties were created. Garfield
was carved from part of Dawson, Treasure from Rosebud, Glacier from
Teton, Pondera from parts of Chouteau and Teton, Roosevelt from Sheri-
dan, and McCone from Dawson and Richland. A Senate joint memorial
was presented to Congress asking legislation from that body for the pur-
f)ose of issuing patents to all homesteaders who had served in the World's
war and made certain improvements prior to enlistment. The state took
action, both as an independent body politic and by memorial to the federal
authorities, to crush anarchism in Montana. The Assembly passed a law
that "no red flag symbolic of social or industrial revolution" was to be
displayed within the bounds of Montana, and, a Senate joint memorial
was addressed to Hon. William B. Wilson, secretary of labor of the
484 HISTORY OF MONTANA
United States, "to take immediate action to punish and suppress the
anarchists and revolutionary elements in Montana."
Ih February of the sixteenth session were also passed the following:
An act by which all live timber on the state lands shall be appraised by
the state forester and approved by the State Board of Land Commis-
sioners, no timber be sold unless appraised since March, 1909, and said
timber to be cut subject to the regulation of the state forester ; relating
to the sanitary condition of hotels and providing for their inspection ;
admitting to the Soldiers' Home, at Columbia Falls, all honorably dis-
charged and invalided men who have participated in the Civil war, the
Mexican war or Mexican border troubles, the Spanish-American war or
the Filipino insurrection, the Boxer troubles in China, the Sioux war of
1876 or the Nez Perce war of 1877, and the World's war or other service
with the allies; prohibiting the employment of children under sixteen, un-
less wages are necessary to support the family, upon proof to the principal
of their school, or the city or county superintendent.
The Assembly enacted the following in March, 1919: That parties
may agree to pay more than the legal rate of interest (ten per cent) ;
defining the crime of sedition and providing as punishments for those who
commit it, fines of from $200 to $20,000 and terms of confinement in the
state prison, from one to twenty years ; establishing a State Vocational
School for Girls, "for the care, education, training and safe keeping of
girls between the ages of eight and twenty-one years, who are legally com-
mitted thereto," and barring those physically defective; providing for
part-time schools to enable those less than eighteen years of age, who are
employed, to obtain specified and needful instruction, such part-time schools
to be established upon petition of any district or county High School
Board to the State Board of Education ; the State Board of Health created,
as at present, comprising five experienced physicians for terms of five
years and to be selected from ten members of the profession submitted
by the Montana Medical Association; establishment of the Montana State
Bureau of Mines and Metallurgy under the jurisdiction of the State Board
of Education ; authorizing the state to become indebted in the sum of
$15,000,000 above the constitutional limit to acquire funds for the building
of state highways ; creation of rural school districts in each county com-
posed of third class districts and parts thereof ; creation of Grain Grading,
Inspection and Warehousing Commission providing for the appointment
of a code commissioner to revise the code of 1907, and the general statutes
passed by the regular and extraordinary session from the eleventh to the
sixteenth inclusive.
Upon call of Governor Stewart, the extraordinary session of the six-
teenth Legislative Assembly convened on July 29, 1919, and adjourned
on the nth of August. The Montana Irrigation Commission was created,
the Board of Railroad Commissioners taking its business in hand as an
ex-officio body. Its three members issued permits for the sale of water
and water rights and the contracting of water for irrigation. The attorney
general was the legal adviser of the new commission and the state engineer
its technical adviser and executive in all matters connected with his pro-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 485
fession. By another act, the Board of Railroad Commissioners was made,
ex-officio, the Montana Trade Commission, estabhshed to regulate the
prices of foodstuffs, merchandise, implements, etc. As a post-war measure
and in line with the governmental endeavor to aid a readjustment of prices,
large power was conferred upon the members of the new commission,
who were authorized to act as market investigator and to enter any prem-
ises for purposes of investigation. Any information thus obtained was
deemed as secret. The justices of the State Supreme Court were increased
in number, from three to five. But perhaps the most important piece of
legislation of the extraordinary session was the act by which the Aus-
tralian ballot system was introduced into Montana politics.
Of the numerous memorials presented to Congress, mention of a few
is here made. Appeals were made for the government to inaugurate
public works ; to regulate the monopoly in the production of farm imple-
ments ; for the general government to assume control over live stock and
dairy products; asking Congress to get rights-of-way over government
lands for the construction of dams, reservoirs, etc.; requesting appropria-
tions of $50,000,000 for western irrigation projects ; praying relief legis-
lation by which periods of residence for acquiring public lands might be
shortened and the amount of work decreased; request of the Montana
Council of Defense directed to the secretary of war that he send troops
to Montana to help fight the forest fires.
Among the measures of relief adopted at the extraordinary session
which was being held in the midst of a long-extended and serious drought,
was the extension of the interest payments due the state on its public lands
occupied by settlers.
Governor Joseph M. Dixon
As successor to Samuel V. Stewart, Joseph M. Dixon assumed the
governorship on January I, 1921. The present incumbent of the guber-
natorial chair is a native of North Carolina, having graduated from Guil-
ford College, of that state, in i88g and admitted to the bar in 1892. Since
that year his permanent home has been in Missoula. There he practiced
law, served as assistant prosecuting attorney of Missoula County in 1893-
95 and as state prosecuting attorney in 1895-97. The governor was a
member of the lower house of the state Assembly in 1900, and in the
Fifty-eighth and Fifty-ninth congresses, 1903-07, was Montana's repre-
sentative-at-large. His service as United States senator extended from
1907 to 1913. During that period he affiliated himself with the repub-
licanism of Theodore Roosevelt and in 1912 had charge of the progres-
sive campaign as chairman of the national committee of that organization.
His election and record as governor has well completed an eminent public
career.
Governor Dixon's Inaugural Address
The term of Joseph M. Dixon, the sixth governor of the state of Mon-
tana, commenced on January i, 192 1, and his inaugural message to the
486 HISTORY OF MONTANA
seventeenth Legislative Assembly was delivered on the 4th of that month.
Among the important subjects which he handled with force were those
arguing for adequate taxation and fair inheritance and income taxes ; ask-
ing for a state license fee on metal mines besides the "net proceeds tax;"
higher licenses on autos and a tax on gasoline sales ; a permanent tax
commission ; creation of a state sheriff through whom the entire police
system of the commonwealth could be utilized in case of disorder, riot or
rebellion; establishment of the commission form of government for coun-
ties; founding of a real Department of Agriculture, the head of which
should have the direction of all the work now being done by the commis-
sioner of Agriculture and Publicity, the live stock commissioners, the
Live Stock Sanitary Board, the dairy commissioner, the state veterinarian,
the Board of Poultry Husbandry, the recorder of marks and brands, the
Board of Horticulture, the State Fair, the Grain Grading Commission,
and the Stallion Registration Board ; changes in the primary law to make
the voter declare his party affiliations ; reapportionment of legislative and
congressional districts to make voting strength more equal, and the enforce-
ment of prohibition along the Federal lines of the Eighteenth Amendment.
Governor Dixon referred to the four years of trial through which the
state had passed as follows :
"Montana has just passed through four of the most trying years in
her history. During the great war her young men were drafted for the
national army upon a population basis of 940,000, while the census returns
gave us only 548,889. We sent overseas and into the training camps
about 40,000 men, nearly double the quota demanded from any other state,
as related to its actual man power. Our excess quota of war bonds was
allotted on the same fictitious basis of population. In contradistinction
to these things, our interior geographical location prevented us sharing
in the financial prosperity that came to communities more favorably sit-
uated to the great war industrial activities.
"In addition, during these four years we experienced the greatest
droughts in our whole history, which bore with heavy pressure on the
unirrigated sections of the state.
"Despite these handicaps, and with an area of territory approximating
three times that of either Ohio, Wisconsin, or Iowa, and with a population
approximating one-tenth of these states, in a commendable spirit of emula-
tion and desire to even excel the progressive legislation and accomplish-
ments of these older, richer, more densely populated states, Montana has
been pushing to the front in the matters of schools, roads, municipal im-
provements, the care of the physically defective, the insane, sanitation,
relief for the widows and orphans, and other humane movements for the
betterment of society. With the forward-looking, optimistic spirit of the
West, we have gone forward, sometimes, I fear, not heeding or counting
the ultimate financial cost."
Finances of the State
A review of the state's finances indicated that Montana's debt on
March i, 1921, the approximate end of the session, would be $2,044447
HISTORY OF MONTANA 487
witli practically no receipts coming in until taxpaying time in the follow-
ing December. But the burden of state government was small, indeed,
when compared with the cost of the county, municipal and school govern-
ments. The governor forcibly illustrates this statement by the diagram
of a dollar, divided into sections and indicated by the caption, "Where
the Montana Tax Payer's Dollar goes." The great sections are allotted
to the counties (39 cents), and to the public schools (44 cents), and the
pigmy sections, the cities (11 cents), and the state (6 cents).
In 1920 the totals of all taxes levied in Montana were: State, $1,601,-
005.95 ; county, $10,050,046.78; school, $11,073,950.02; municipal, $2,848,-
533.83. Total, $25,573,536.58. Since 1912, there has been an increase
of 125 per cent. In the year named, Montana's per capita tax of $26.83
was the largest of any state in the Union, and since then it had increased
to $46.70. This heavy taxation fell almost entirely on real estate, which
was almost threatened with confiscation.
In view of these alarming financial. conditions, the governor suggested
the opening of public means of revenue by efficiently applying the so-
called Inheritance Tax law in Montana, which, "in the light of modern
systems of taxation now in use in nearly all the states must have been
intended as a joke." He commended the Wisconsin law, which brought
over $1,000,000 to the coffers of that state, to the consideration of Mon-
tana legislators. Also, an income tax was recommended to them founded
on the Wisconsin law, which yielded $6,242,000 to the income of that
state. The governor believed that Montana should impose a tax of three
per cent on the gross returns from its oil fields, and that coal should pay
a license fee of ten cents per ton and that cement plants should be sim-
ilarly taxed. In 1920, the 2,741,113 tons of coal, valued at $7,757,103, on
the basis of two and a half mills levy for state purposes exclusive of sur-
face improvements, yielded only $682 in taxes. The further fact that
most of the coal mines in the state "are owned and operated as subsidiary
corporations of the Northern Pacific, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
and the Great Northern Railway companies, and as such subsidiary com-
panies show little 'net proceeds,' leads many people to believe that this
phase of our industrial life is not carrying its full proportionate share of
the burdens of government, as compared with other forms of wealth."
Taxation of the metalliferous mines of the state was based on a tax on
"net proceeds" plus the regular property tax on improvements, and in the
three years, 1917, 1918 and 1919, the six Silver Bow mining companies
contributed fifty-seven per cent of the total tax collected. In 1919, the
total tax collected by the state was $392,954, of which the Silver Bow
corporations contributed $181,389. Although Governor Dixon did not
believe that the "net proceeds" of the metalliferous mining industry bore
its rightful burden of taxation in Montana, he confessed that to adjust
the matter was a difficult problem. The revenue derived from the taxation
of the "net proceeds" totaled only $239,158 for the preceding five years,
or an average of only $47,831. In this connection, it was noted that al-
though over 56 per cent of the patients admitted to the Tuberculosis Sani-
tarium at Galen were from the mines of Silver Bow County, that section
488 HISTORY OF MONTANA
contributed to its support only $5 of the $12.95 P^'' week necessary for its
maintenance, leaving a loss of $161,546 to be borne by the state at large.
An additional license tax on metalliferous mines was therefore recom-
mended. The state bore one-half the cost of constructing the permanent
trunk roads of Montana and the entire cost of their maintenance. As,
primarily, the Good Roads movement was an automobile project, the
Assembly should raise the license fee on automobiles and trucks, which
was the lowest of any Northwestern state. The Oregon tax on gasoline
was also suggested.
The complex problem of taxation should be delegated to a permanent
Tax Commission of three experts, although for the succeeding two years
the body could only be advisory to the existing State Board of Equaliza-
tion, or until the constitutional amendment proposed in the report of the
Tax and License Commission in 1918 can be submitted and adopted.
The commission government for counties was recommended because of
the economy and efficiency obtained in the application of that form of
government to the municipal affairs of Missoula for a period of nine
years. The governor even went a step farther, it being his judgment "that
a very general application of this same plan to our state government in
Montana would be productive of great good and bring about tremendous
economy in the administration of state affairs."
As to the Workman's Compensation Act, its main criticism was directed
at the small allowances for medical and hospital services and funeral ex-
penses. Recommendation was made for the creation of a state purchasing
agent.
Governor Dixon called attention to a serious feature of the financial
status in the matter of "farm loan delinquencies." "On November 30,
1920," he says, "there was invested of the Common School Permanent
Fund, in farm loans, $4,267,470; school district bonds, $1,892,193.36;
United States Liberty bonds, $980,000. Total, $7,139,663.36. The records
show that on that date, of the total investment of $4,267,470 in farm loans,
the delinquent loans amounted to $1,334,650, or the equivalent of 31.29
per cent."
One of Governor Dixon's concluding paragraphs has to do with the
Veterans' Welfare Commission, and the outstanding promise of the repub-
lican party to carry out its aims. He commended its work in the matter
of vocational rehabilitation, war risk insurance and compensation, and
trusted that provision would be made for keeping the commission alive
until its work was completed.
Montana was still in the grip of "hard times," caused mainly by long-
continued droughts and consequent failure of the crops and deterioration of
live stock. Among other measures of relief was the "emergency" measure
passed by the State Senate remitting the penalty for delinquent taxes of
1920, if paid before April i, 1921, extending the right of redemption
from the tax sales of 191 7, and extending the time for the payment of the
1920 taxes. When four weeks of the session had passed Governor Dixon
had approved of fifty-six bills or resolutions. Of the business transacted
HISTORY OF MONTANA 489
much referred to the codification of the laws which was progressing under
the supervision of the code commissioner, I. W. Choate. Considerable
excitement was introduced to the Assembly and politics of the state by the
published notification of Attorney General Wellington D. Rankin to W. J.
Swindlehurst that his continuance in office as state commissioner of labor
and industry was unconstitutional. At the same time, the attorney general
notified the state auditor to cut off the salary of that official after January
31, 1921.
The public sentiment directed against disloyal utterances — or pro-
nouncements deemed as such promulgated from the platform and through
the press by educated men and women — had caused the introduction of a
bill requiring teachers, professors and school people generally to take the
oath of loyalty to the Government and Constitution of the United States.
As Governor Dixon considered this measure too sweeping to correct a
limited evil, he vetoed it.
Helena Branch of Federal Reserve Bank Opened
Although not connected with the legislation of the state, the formal
opening of the Helena branch of the Ninth District Federal Reserve Bank
at Minneapolis was an event of vital import to the financial stability of
Montana. The inauguration of the enterprise, on Tuesday, February i,
1921, was made the occasion of quite a celebration. Thomas A. Marlow,
chairman of the Helena board of directors, presided at the meeting and
was one of the speakers. Governor Dixon also spoke, as well as Norman
B. Holter, a director of the bank, who had had special charge of the
Liberty Loan "drives," which had proved so creditable to the state. The
Helena bank was the twenty-first branch to be established in the United
States under the Federal Reserve system, and its record has been that of
all other similar institutions — to inspire public confidence and stabilize the
finances of the state, giving a feeling of assurance both to interests already
established and projects about to be launched.
In February, 1921, the law was repealed creating state-owned terminal
elevators ; an income tax bill was passed, in accord with the governor's
recommendation ; a bill was introduced proposing another constitutional
convention, the question to be submitted to the voters at the succeeding
general election. The proposed Irrigation Commission was shelved by
the House. There was a lively discussion in the Senate over the bill to
assess a poll tax of $3 on all male bachelors, the proceeds to go into the
Widow's Pension Fund. In addition, the unmarried males of a certain
age and ability to assume marital relations, who still "shied," had a $2-road
tax levied upon them. The measure finally passed.
Prohibition in Force
The governor vetoed the bill giving special agents the general and
sweeping authority to search premises in the enforcement of prohibition
490 HISTORY OF MONTANA
measures, as giving them powers too extraordinars-. "The bill in ques-
tion," he says in his veto message, "covers not only the matter of illegal
traffic in intoxicating liquors, but the whole moral and criminal code. Not
only can special agents without limit be employed, liut any other person
or persons may be authorized and employed to 'make investigations for
the purpose of procuring evidence of the violations of all laws.' " Notwith-
standing this special veto, prohibition is in force in Montana.
There have been several distinct steps taken 1)\- Congress, the states
and the United States Supreme Court which have determined Montana's
legislation as a unit of the Union. All the states of the Union have pur-
sued similar courses, determined by the Constitution of the United States.
The first decisive step toward national prohil)ition was the joint resolution
adopted by the Senate and House of Representatives, on the 17th of
December, 1917, to this effect:
"Article — . Section i. After one year from the ratification of this
article the manufacture, sale or transportation f>f intoxicating liquors
within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the
United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for bever-
age purposes, is hereby prohibited.
"Section 2. The Congress and several states shall have concurrent
power to enforce this act by appropriate legislation.
"Section 3. This act shall be inoperative, unless it shall have been
ratified as an amendment to the constitution by the legislatures of the sev-
eral states as provided in the constitution, within seven years from the date
of the submission hereof to the states by Congress.
By January 16, 1919, more than thirty-six legislatures of the several
states had ratified the amendment (as required by the Federal Constitution).
Mississippi was the first to come into line; Montana was the seventh
(February 19, 1918), and Peimsylvania was the la.st (February 25, 1919).
It then became necessary to define "intoxicating liquors," especially as
the "warfare prohibition act" continued in force, pending the year which
was to elapse after the ratification of the amendment to the Federal Con-
stitution before it (the F:ighteenth Amendment) was to go into force.
Andrew J. Volstead, a Minnesota lawyer, therefore introduced a bill,
which was enacted in October, 1919, and has since been known by his
name. It defined "beer, wine, or other intoxicating malt and vinous
liquors in the warfare prohibition act as meaning any such beverages con-
taining one-half of one per cent or more of alcohol by volume." The
Volstead act, which also provided for the enforcement of the prohibition
law, was declared constitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States
on January 5, 1920.
On June 7, 1920, the Eighteenth amendment itself was declared con-
stitutional by the United States Supreme Court ; and all the legislation of
the Montana Assembly, as well as the official action taken by the other
states of the Union, was enacted to conform with the pronouncements of
the Congress of the United States and the decisions of the Supreme
Court of the land.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 491
Movie Censorship Bill Killed
In February, 1921, the Movie Censorship bill was killed. William A.
Brady, president of the National Motion Picture Association, was on the
way to the supposed field of action, and had telegraphed to Governor Dixon
from Bismarck, North Dakota, to hold the measure, pending his (Brady's)
arrival ; but, as stated, the bill was killed without his opposition.
The Special Session of 1921.
The seventeenth Assembly was physically unable to clear off the "un-
finished business," although bills not even enrolled were signed in open
session by the presiding officers of each house. Governor Dixon therefore
called an extra session, which held from March 8th to March 22, 1921.
On the last day of the session a bill was passed to have Montana's prohibi-
tion law conform to the Federal Volstead act, the vote being 48 to 36.
At the same time, the governor published an open letter to the Helena
Independent, Anaconda Standard, Billings Gazette, Butte Miner and the
Great Falls Tribune, which he had charged with making prejudiced reports
of the legislative proceedings. The letter, which reviews the extraordinary
session, had the authority of a gubernatorial message. It referred to the
republican "programme of a more equitable system of taxation that would
result in shifting some portion of the burden from the homes, farms and
business sections to forms of wealth" not carrying their just share. He
claimed that by the passage of the inheritance tax — the proceeds of which
would be derived from foreign decadents who hold stock in four great
railroad lines, the Montana Power Company and the Anaconda Copper
Mining Company — probably the state would realize $250,000 yearly, or
six times the cost of the extraordinary session. He had vetoed a bill passed
at the regular session making oil pipe lines common carriers. At the special
session, a real common carrier law for oil pipe lines had been passed by
which "the money that will be paid to the state next July (1921) by the
Federal Government as our share of oil royalties on public lands will bring
many thousands of dollars of relief each year to the public schools and
roads of Montana." Governor Dixon claimed (through legislative enact-
ment, to have saved the financial situation and to have secured more than
$1,000,000, which, without the calling of the extraordinary session, would
have been lost to the state.
Serving United States Senators from Montana
Thomas J. Walsh, who was re-elected to the United States Senate
without opposition in the fall of 1918 will serve (if he concludes his second
term) until 1925. He is a Wisconsin man by birth and education and in
1884 went to South Dakota, practicing law at Redfield with his brother,
Henry C. In 1890 he located at Helena, established a large practice and
soon became prominent in the activities of the state democracy. Mr.
492 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Walsh served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1906,
1912 and 1916; in 1910 was an unsuccessful candidate for the upper House
of Congress ; was elected to the United States Senate in 191 2 and again, as
stated, in 1918.
Henry L. Myers is also serving his second term in the Senate of the
United States, was born and educated in Missouri, and since 1893 has
resided at Hamilton, Ravalli County. For sixteen years previous to enter-
ing the national Senate, he served the people of his county and section as
prosecuting attorney, state senator and judge of the Fourth District. He
had been occupying the bench for four years when he commenced his first
term in the upper House of Congress in 191 1. His second term expires in
1923.
CHAPTER XXII
MONTANA'S EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
Glimpses of the early schools and indications of the birth and crude
development of a system of public education have appeared in the earlier
pages of this work ; also in the chapters devoted to the proceedings of the
Legislative Assembly and the gubernatorial administrations, has been
noted the establishment of the various departments, schools and colleges,
which have been consolidated into a working system of higher education
under the direct jurisdiction of a chancellor with headquarters at the state
capitol. The crude beginnings were accomplished in territorial times ; the
modern system, with its drawbacks of scattered units, varied managements
and unwieldy body, had its origin with the founding of the state govern-
ment.
Public School and Government Coextensive
It is a coincidence that the first public school in Montana opened on
the same day that the first session of the territorial Legislative Assembly
convened — on the 5th of March, 1866, at Virginia City. The first school
district was then and there organized, with Joseph Millard chairman, and
Samuel Word, and Captain Rodgers, members of the Board of Trustees.
A Mr. Thrasher ( ?) and Thomas J. Dimsdale appear to have been pioneer
school commissioners, or superintendents of public instruction, and then
(1866) the place was offered to Peter Ronan, the old miner and news-
paper man, who declined it. Alexander H. Barrett held it a few months
and then resigned in favor of A. M. S. Carpenter, who managed to retain
the office for about a year.
First Superintendent's Report
Mr. Carpenter seems to have made an effort to organize schools in
the districts which had enough population to warrant his efforts, and toward
the last of his term made the following report to Governor Smith :
"Virginia City, 20th October, 1867.
"To His Excellency, the Governor, Green Clay Smith :
"In compliance with your request and the intent of the law creating
the office, I beg leave respectfully to submit the following report of the
condition of the common schools of the territory, so far as I have been
able to obtain the statistics.
"I was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of the
late superintendent, A. H. Barrett, Esq., by the late General Thomas
493
494 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Francis Meagher, then acting governor, on the 4th of March, 1867. 1
found no reports from county superintendents in the office at that time,
nor have I since received any save a very commendably full one from
Superintendent Wilkinson, of Edgerton county, in response to my request
issued on the 28th of September last, to the county superintendents, for
the statistics in their possession. Through the kindness of Mr. R. N.
Farley, clerk of District No. i, Madison county, I am able to give you
some statistics concerning the schools in this city, which you will find
embodied in a tabular form accompanying this report.
"In Beaverhead county, I learn indirectly, no public schools have been
open during the year. No schools have ever been organized in Chouteau
county. In Edgerton County, there are three school districts organized
in which schools have been taught some portion of the year. Eight school
districts have been organized in Madison county ; but aside from District
No. I, of this city, I am uninformed of the fact of any school having been
taught in either, though I think it fair to assume that there have been in
each.
"I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,
"A. M. S. Carpenter."
This report is chiefly interesting as being the first of its kind in the
public records and because of its remarkable lack of definite information.
Fortunately for this sketch, Superintendent Carpenter's successors gradu-
ally improved. Thomas F. Campbell and A. G. Lathrop followed Mr.
Carpenter, serving about two years each.
Superintendent Cornelius Hedges
But it remained for Cornelius Hedges, whom Governor Benjamin F.
Potts appointed superintendent in 1872, to make the first regular and
complete report of his department. His five years of service added to his
reputation as one of the able men of the state. He was a leading lawyer,
had already served as United States district attorney and while superin-
tendent of schools was also sitting on the probate bench of Lewis and
Qark County. Judge Hedges was one of the founders of the Helena
Public Library and one of the fathers of the state and her systematized
laws.
In his school reports to Governor Potts, Superintendent Hedges covers
the nine counties of the territory then existing, Madison, Gallatin, Deer
Lodge, Lewis and Clark, Meagher, Jefferson, Chouteau, Missoula and
Beaverhead. He states that the average length of the school term each
year was eighty days, and that bookkeeping was a required subject in
the public school course of study. At first Deer Lodge had the only
frame schoolhouse in the territory, Missoula the only brick, and Helena
was holding school in the basement of a church, the desks and benches of
which were "a terror to behold." During his administration, however,
Judge Hedges had the pleasure of seeing good buildings erected at Helena
Virginia City, Bannack, Blackfoot and New Chicago. Even in those days
HISTORY OF MONTANA 495
the superintendency had its troubles, for the report says that there was
too much of a tendency for school districts to divide, county superinten-
dents were slow in making reports, and the law provided that the "super-
CoKNELius Hedges
intendent shall keep his office at some place where there is a postoffice"
and that "he shall receive a salary of only $1,200, with a $300 allowance for
travelling expenses." From all cotemporaneous accounts, this was a most
inadequate compensation, as "in his devotion to the duties pertaining to
496 HISTORY OF MONTANA
this position Judge Hedges traveled hundreds of miles, under trying cir-
cumstances, to gather the few teachers then in the territory, to the different
centers of population, instructing, providing and devising methods and
improvements only possible with a man of collegiate training and un-
selfish enthusiasm."
First Institution of Higher Learning
Superintendent Clark Wright, who succeeded Mr. Hedges, in 1877,
reported improvements in all the counties of the state and new school-
houses at Bozeman, Butte and Fort Benton. He gave Deer Lodge County
first place for interest shown in educational work and outlined the plans
for the opening of the Montana Collegiate Institute, at the county seat.
It was started that year (1877) in hired rooms with twenty-four students
in attendance, and was the first institution of higher learning to take root
in Montana.
The Montana Collegiate Institute was the predecessor of the College
of Montana, at Deer Lodge, which was chartered in 1884 and opened in
the following year. The latter was one of the leading pioneers in educa-
tional work in the Northwest, had a substantial plant of college buildings
and an endowment fund of $100,000.
W. Egbert Smith succeeded Mr. Wright as superintendent of public
instruction in 1879, and it is learned from his report that there were then
7,049 pupils in Montana, practically double the number shown by the
census of 1872. During his administration, twenty-three public school
buildings were constructed in the territory. At that time, Helena was
credited with the best graded schools in Montana. Among other reforms
in the system suggested by Superintendent Smith were uniform certificates,
a Board of Education and the consolidation of schools.
Not a few improvements were introduced to the system of public edu-
cation during the administration of R. W. Howey, as superintendent of
public instruction in 1881-82. In 1881, the average school year was
lengthened to 1 10 days, a course of study was prescribed, the county
superintendents sent in regular reports for the benefit of the state superin-
tendent, the Legislative Assembly adopted uniform text books, deaf and
dumb children were sent East at public expense, and Helena, Butte, Boze-
man, Deer Lodge and Virginia City introduced high school work.
University Foundation Laid
Under the congressional act of February 18, 1881, the foundation
was laid for the University of Montana. The measure was entitled "an
act to grant lands to Dakota, Montana, Arizona, Idaho and Wyoming for
University purposes," and under it the University of Montana received
seventy-two sections, or about 46,000 acres of land. That grant from
Congress was to form an endowment fund that could never be diminished,
and the income from which should be used exclusively for the support of
the university. Twelve years, however, were to elapse before the state
HISTORY OF MONTANA 497
could take practical advantage of this generous donation. But the initial
interests of Montana were well protected by Superintendent Howey, who
saw to it that the very best land available was allotted and set aside for the
purpose indicated in the congressional act.
In 1882, Superintendent Howey reported eleven new schools in Mon-
tana, one of them a fine ten-room building in Butte. He also noted the
first meeting of the Territorial Teachers' Association, the selection of
county superintendents solely for school purposes, and the election of Miss
Helen P. Clark, of Helena, and Miss Alice Nichols, of White Sulphur
Springs, to the office. The establishment of a reform school was recom-
mended.
Cornelius Hedges Again Superintendent
Cornelius Hedges was again called to the superintendency, in 1883,
and materially added to his former reputation in that capacity. Many
improvements were made, yet the obstacles against which these pioneers in
Montana education worked, even in the early '80s, were not realized by
the people of those days themselves. Teachers' institutes were held in
practically every county in the territory, many of the teachers paying a
full month's salary for stage fare to take them to the place of meeting.
Yet both men and women did good work and public sentiment and private
generosity were back of them; for instance, at an old-fashioned spelling
bee held at Billings, Mr. Billings gave $4,000 toward a new school build-
ing, which, when completed, was the only one in the territory supplied with
an up-to-date furnace.
James H. Mills, who had served for five years as secretary of the terri-
tory, was offered the superintendency of public instruction, but declined
the office, and W. W. Wylie succeeded Mr. Hedges. Early in his adminis-
tration he introduced the teaching of physiology into the public schools,
especially in regard to the effects of alcohol and narcotics on the human
system. As a means toward the equalization of the salaries of school execu-
tives, after showing that the county superintendent of Beaverhead County,
with its eighteen districts, received only $500 per annum while the Yellow-
stone County official with half the number of districts drew double the
salary of the former, Mr. Mills recommended that there be four district
superintendents instead of so many county superintendents. Superinten-
dent Wylie also caused the program of the Territorial Association of
Teachers, which had met at Butte that year (1885), to be printed, and
induced the railroads to give reduced fares to all who should attend the
meetings of the association. He encouraged the general holding of teach-
ers' institutes and authorized the county superintendents to use their
own judgment in the selection of examination questions and in marking
the answers to them.
When Arthur C. Logan succeeded Superintendent Wylie, in 1887, he
found that the territory was divided into 289 organized school districts
in which 394 teachers were employed. Meetings of the Territorial Teach-
ers' Association were held in 1887 and 1888, the latter being at Butte in
498
HISTORY OF MONTANA
connection with the Teachers' Institute of Silver Bow County. Under
the law, the superintendent of public instruction was obliged to travel three
months of each year. That provision enabled Superintendent Logan to
effectually assist in institute work and encourage the planting of trees for
Arbor day, which was established during his administration.
Inauguration of State System
By the presidential proclamation of November 8, 1889, Montana
automatically became a state. The enabling act of February 22nd of that
year firmly laid the basis of the common school system still in course of
development. It prescribed that upon her admission into the Union,
sections 16 and 36 in every township, or their equivalents if already granted
by Congress, should be donated to the state for the support of its com-
Oldest School in Montan.\ — Still in Use
mon schools. Indian, military or other reservations granted for national
purposes were exempt from the operations of the act, until such reserva-
tions should be restored to the public domain.
Under an act of Congress passed in 1881, lands within Montana and
other territories had been granted for educational purposes, and the en-
abling act provided that they should be sold at public auction for not less
than $10 per acre. The state was to place the proceeds of such sales in a
permanent school fund, the interest of which should be expended for the
support of the common schools. Congress, however, inserted a provision in
the enabling act whereby such lands could be leased, under state control,
for a period not exceeding five years, and in quantities not exceeding one
section to any one person or company, and such lands could not be sub-
ject to preemption, homestead or other entry, but should be reserved for
school purposes only.
Other provisions for the use of public lands were made by Congress.
Fifty sections of the unappropriated public lands within Montana, to be
HISTORY OF MONTANA 499
selected and located in legal subdivisions in the same manner as the school
lands, were granted to the state for the purpose of erecting public build-
ings at the capital for legislative, executive and judicial purposes. The
enabling act further provided that 5 per cent of the proceeds from the
sales of public lands within Montana which should be sold by the United
States subsequent to its admission into the Union, after deducting all
expenses incident thereto, should be paid over to the new state to be used
as a permanent fund, the interest of which only was to be expended for
the support of the common schools.
As intimated, the lands granted by Congress to the territory in 1881
were vested in the state, and, by the enabling act, seventy-two sections were
made the basis for the support of a university. These lands, likewise,
could not be sold for less than $10 per acre, and the proceeds derived from
such sales were to constitute a permanent fund to be safely invested, the
income to be employed exclusively for university purposes.
Other grants of public lands were made by the enabling act. One
hundred thousand acres were granted for the establishment and mainte-
nance of a school of mines. A like quantity was granted for state normal
schools. In addition to former grants, 50,000 acres were donated for
agricultural colleges. A state reform school was encouraged with 50,000
acres ; state deaf and dumb asylum, a like amount, and the public buildings
at the capital of the state received 150,000 acres, in addition to the grant
previously made.
All mineral lands were excluded from these grants, but the act pro-
vided that if sections 16 and 36, or any portion thereof, should contain
mineral, the state was authorized to select an equal quantity of other un-
appropriated lands in lieu thereof, for the use and benefit of the common
schools.
When Montana was admitted into the Union in November, 1889, all
the provisions of the enabling act went into effect. Under the head of
taxation, the state constitution provided that the state levy should not
exceed three mills on each dollar of valuation, and when the valuation of
property subject to taxation amounted to $100,000,000, it should not exceed
two and a half mills, and when such valuation reached $300,000,000, the
tax should not exceed one and a half mills on each dollar of valuation. In
1909, it became apparent that the taxable valuation of the state would go
beyond the $300,000,000 limit in that year, and that the constitutional levy
of one and a half mills would so materially reduce the revenue of the state
as to embarrass several of its departments, especially that which had to do
with public education. Consequently, a strong lobby came to the Legislative
Assembly in 1909, led by the friends of the state educational institutions,
and proposed a law to submit to the people at the following general elec-
tion providing for a constitutional amendment fixing the state tax levy at
two and a half mills on the dollar until the valuation should reach $600,000,-
000. The Assembly promptly passed the bill and the people duly ratified
the proposed amendment to the state constitution.
John Gannon was the first superintendent of public instruction for
the State of Montana, but the two years of his administration yield noth-
500 HISTORY OF MONTANA
ing in the way of a report throwing light on the initial steps taken in the
organization of the system of public education.
University System Established
E. A. Steere, who served the four years from 1893 to 1897, was
more considerate to the historian; and well he might be, as during the
first year of his administrations the state was enabled to take advantage
of the congressional land donations and found its university system. To
satisfy various sectional jealousies, mainly the result of contests over the
location of the capital, the following institutions were established :
The University of Montana was located at Missoula and a site of
forty acres was donated by Messrs. F. G. Higgins and E. L. Bonner.
The Montana State College was founded at Bozeman, February 16, 1893,
and Professor Luther Foster and one assistant took charge of the work
until the following September, when President James Reid and a full
faculty were elected. The Montana State Normal School and College
was located at Dillon, May 23, 1893, Messrs. Poindexter and Orr donating
the site of ten acres. At Butte, the State School of Mines was established,
on February 17, 1893, and five trustees were appointed by the State
Board of Education to look after its interests. The State School for
Deaf, Dumb and Blind was established at Boulder, March i, 1893, and a
ten-acre site was selected for it shortly afterward. The State Reform
School, which had been recommended by Superintendent Howey, was
opened April 3, 1894, at Miles City.
Besides all of the before-mentioned state institutions noted in Profes-
sor Steere's report, the information is conveyed that during his adminis-
tration seventy-five new districts had been created in the state.
State Text Book Commission Established
Under Superintendent Logan, the last of the territorial officials at the
head of the educational department, a text book commission had been
appointed composed of Professors Howey, of Helena, and Meyers, of
Deer Lodge. The work was continued by E. A. Carleton, the state super-
intendent, who succeeded Professor Steere in 1897, and to Superintendent
Carleton is due the credit of organizing the State Text Book Commission,
substantially as it has since existed. He also gave a report on the work
of the rural schools and their consolidation, called the county superintend-
ents together for the first time, on August 27, 1897, and published the
first general course of study. Superintendent Carleton also held the first
state eighth-grade examinations. He reported six county high schools,
at Bozeman, Boulder, Dillon, Kalispell, Lewistown and Livingston, with a
total enrollment of 386 pupils.
The past twenty years has shown a remarkable expansion in all the
fields of public education — kindergartens, primary, intermediate and
grammar grades, high schools, colleges and university. Much stress has
been placed on the improvement of the country, or rural schools; their
HISTORY OF MONTANA
501
standard has been steadily raised, old buildings replaced by modern, the
curriculum expanded and conveniences provided by which pupils residing
at a distance may take advantage of all they offer. The schools at the
centers of population, in their turn, have been improved and maintained in
accord with the educational and mechanical advancement of the times.
Apportionment of Common School Income Fund
The following table, given in the biennial report of the state register
of lands for the biennium ending the year 1920, shows the annual distribu-
Old Lewistown School
tion of the school income fund to the several counties under section 819,
of the revised codes of 1907, since 1889, such distribution being made
in February of each year and based upon the income and school census of
the preceding year:
Number
of School Amount Rate per
Year Children Distributed Capita
1889 to i8g6 39,25^ $51,027.60 $1.30
1897 42,218 17,731-56 .42
1898 46.179 28,630.98 .62
1899 49,478 41.561.52 .84
1900 53.619 80,428.50 1.50
1901 57,212 105,842.20 1.85
1902 61,736 138,906.00 2.25
1903 64,623 168,019.80 2.60
1904 66,583 169,786.65 2.55
1905 69,195 183,366.75 2.65
1906 70,814 205,360.60 2.90
1907 72,498 217,494.00 3.00
1908 73,249 227,071.90 3.10
1909 77,040 250,380.00 3.25
1910 81,545 305.793-75 3-75
1911 88,805 266,415.00 3.00
1912 98,687 345,404.50 3.50
1913 104,774 419,096.00 4.00
502
HISTORY OF MONTANA
Number
of School
Year Children
1914 114.032
191S 126,417
1916 135.865
1917 147.453
1918 159.552
1919 161,977
1920 161,625
Amount
Rate per
distributed
Capita
$513,144.00
$4.50
632,085.00
5.00
713.291-25
5.25
810,991.50
550
877,536.00
5-50
890,873.50
5.50
969,756.00
6.00
Income from Le.^sed L.\nds
The total income of the various institutions of an educational, charitable
and reformatory character derived from leased lands, rentals, interest on
New Powell County High School
deferred payments and income from investments is as follows : Common
schools, $1,122,593.57; Agricultural College, $43.51705; Deaf and Dumb
Asylum, $12,521.24; capitol building, $16,222.74; School of Mines, $36,-
042.72; State Normal School, $34,127.33; State Reform School, $14,-
741.22; State University, $28,575.92; Soldiers' Home, $531. 35'
Late Superintendents
In all of this development which has brought Montana's public system
of education to the favorable notice of students and experts throughout the
country. Superintendent W. W. Welch, W. E. Harmon, H. A. Davee and
the serving official of the department, Miss May Trumper, have con-
tributed their full share. Superintendent Davee served until January i,
1917, having been four years in office. He was succeeded by Miss Trump-
er, who is still superintendent.
The direct administration or management of the schools, conducted
from Helena, comprises the following executives : May Trumper, superin-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 503
tendent; Mina Petrashek, deputy; S. L. Peterson, high school supervisor;
Charles M. Reinoehl, rural school supervisor; G. B. Edwards, director of
vocational education ; Anne K. Larson, clerk.
Educational Rank Among the States
As a forcible indication of Montana's remarkable advancement in
educational efficiency among the sisterhood of states, the following is taken
from Superintendent Trumper's biennial report for 1920:
"During 1919 Dr. Leonard P. Ayers, one of the foremost statisticians
in America, and director of the Russell Sage Foundation, made a study of
state school systems. He applied to problems of education some of
the methods that have long been in use in the field of economics. Dr.
Ayers says :
" 'The result is what has been termed an 'index number' for state
school systems. This gives for every state a numerical rating which is a
combination of ten different measures of public school accomplishment.
The figures from which the index is computed tell what proportion of the
children of school age are in school, how long the school term is, how
many children go on to high school, what amounts of money are spent for
the support of the schools and the payment of teachers, and so on.
" 'The different sets of data are treated in exactly the same way for
each state, and we feel that in their final combination they reflect in a
somewhat reliable manner that status of public education within the
commonwealth. The figures of the report make it possible for each state
to compare its own conditions with those of the neighboring states, its
present status with that which existed in former years, and finally, to find
out which educational factors account for its present rating.'
"During the twenty-eight years from 1890 to 1918, Montana moved
from eighth place among the states to first. This represents a gain of
seven points since 1890 and six points since 1910.
"Although Montana gained in six factors that make up the final report,
she lost and still takes a relatively low place in length of school term,
proportion of children in high school, per cent of boys to girls in high
school, and average salary per teacher employed.
"In lengjth of school term only two northern and western states rank
lower than Montana. While Montana ranks thirty-third in this factor
alone, our neighboring states of South Dakota and Oregon rank third
and fifth respectively. Montana's schools were open only 152 days in
1917-18, while Rhode Island, ranking first, had her schools open 193 days,
and the average for all the states was 160.7 days.
"In the proportion of children in high school only seven northern
states have as low a rank as given in Montana. With California receiving
first rank, Washington second, and Nevada eleventh in this factor, it is
embarrassing for Montana to have so few children in high school as to
rank twenty-third. About twice as large a proportion of pupils go to
high school in California as in Montana.
"Normally there should be as many boys as girls in the high schools of
504 HISTORY OF MONTANA
a state. In Montana there are less tlian two-thirds as many boys as girls
in high school, while in New York, the state ranking first on this point,
there are nine-tenths as many boys as girls. Only three northern and
western states have such a small proportion of boys in high school as are
found in Montana. Montana ranked fortieth on this point.
"In average salary of teachers, Alontana's rank of fifteenth probably
explains the serious shortage of teachers within the past few years. The
average monthly salary of teachers in California was $88.06, in Washing-
ton $78.02, in Utah $64.12 and in Colorado $60.49, but in Montana it
was $57.42.
"The combined efforts of all friends of education are needed to raise
our standards particularly in
"Length of term,
"Proportion of children in high school,
"Per cent of boys to girls in high school, and
"Salary of teachers."
Advancement in Detail
The general advancement of the public schools is indicated by the
statistics presented by the superintendents of public instruction at inter-
vals of five or six years. According to the report of State Superintendent
W. E. Hannon for 1908, the school census for 1907 showed 73,269 chil-
dren of school age, of whom 36,895 were boys and 36,374 girls. The
whole number enrolled during the year was 50,516 and the average daily
attendance, 34,699. In 1906, the children of school age numbered 72,498,
the enrollment being 48,744 and the daily attendance, 34,738. The value
of schoolhouses and sites was given at $3,645,343, and 501 normal gradu-
ates and 154 college graduates were employed in the schools. The expenses
for all school purposes amounted to $1,702,425. In 1912, there were
104,774 children of school age, with an enrollment of 68,335 and a daily
attendance of 49,330- I" that year, the expenditures had increased to
$4,889,070.
In 1919-20, as shown by Superintendent Trumper's last biennial report,
the number of children of school age, the actual enrollment and daily at-
tendance of pupils in the Montana schools of all grades, with the entire
cost of maintaining the system of public instruction, are given in the
facts and figures which follow.
Enrollment and Attendance
According to the school census for September, 1919, there were 161,626
children of school age in the state. This includes all those at least six
but less than twenty-one years old. During the year there were enrolled
in the public elementary and high schools 126,238 pupils. The children
of school age not in school, therefore, number 35,388. Since the number
attending parochial and private schools is not known, the exact number
not attending any school cannot be definitely ascertained.
HISTORY OF MONTANA
505
At the close of the school year 1919-20 a survey of the schools was
taken. The children included in this survey number 116,669. If to
these w^ere added i,6og children in the Lewistown elementary schools and
the high schools of Jefferson County, from which places survey data were
not available, there would be 118,278 children accounted for in the survey.
This leaves 7,960 children enrolled in the public schools, as given in the
annual statistical reports of county superintendents which are not included
in the survey. The difference is due to the difficulty experienced in secur-
ing reports for the survey from every school in every county in the
state.
There were 2,606 one-teacher schools in Montana reported in the
survey for last year. Of these schools 99.9 per cent had from six to forty
liliiHl
iliiil p
Florence-Carlton Consolid-\ted School — Largest in the Open
Country
pupils enrolled. Twenty-four of these schools had more than forty pupils
each, while each of 215 schools (8.2 per cent) had fewer than six pupils.
The average one-teacher school has approximately seventeen pupils.
One of the most difficult problems for solution in many rural districts
has been that of providing schools for a few children in sparsely settled
sections.
Maintaining school with a small enrollment is partly an economic
problem. It costs approximately as much to maintain a school for four
children as for twenty-four. If only a teacher's salary of $1,200 a year be
considered, it will be seen that the one school would cost $300 per pupil,
while the other would cost but $50 per pupil. It is also a problem in a small
school to maintain the interest necessary for profitable work.
Various means have been used for solving this problem of very small
schools. The number of such schools has been materially decreased within
the biennium. Provisions for schooling a few children living in isolated
sections have been made in neighboring or other schools. Where such
provisions are not possible or advisable the small school must continue to
506
HISTORY OF MONTANA
exist even at large per capita cost, if all children are to have educational
opportunities.
Transportation of pupils in many parts of the state has not been found
feasible. In some localities where it has been found possible, consolida-
tion of schools has been effected. In several sparsely settled sections where
children live a considerable distance from the school the dormitory plan ■
has been provided. The one-teacher school of the dormitory type first to
develop is located at Ivanell, Rosebud County. A dormitory building was
provided at a cost of $i,ioo.
There is probably no greater cause of retardation in our public schools
than that of irregular attendance. There are far more children attending
relatively few days each year than are enrolled in short term schools.
There are more than three times as many children attending less than
eight months as are enrolled in schools in session less than eight months.
Eighty-two per cent of the school children are enrolled in relatively long
term schools (more than i6o days), but only 42 per cent of them are in
attendance as many days. Because of this failure to attend school the full
session on the part of a majority of the school children, retardation be-
comes most appalling.
The following table shows the relation of enrollment and attendance to
length of term:
Days of
Schools
Enrollment
Atten
dance
School
Number
Per Cent
Number
Per Cent
Number
Per Cent
80 or less
228
7.1
3,217
2.6
23,603
20.5
81 to 100
127
4.0
1,420
1.2
6,966
6 1
101 to 120. .
2li
6.6
2,565
2.1
7,025
6.1
121 to 140. .. .
311
9.6
3,985
3.1
10,235
8.9
141 to 160. . .
713
22.1
9,550
7.6
18,373
16.0
161 to 180.
1,547
47.9
92,374
73.6
48,881
42.4
181 or more.. .
88
2.7
12,389
9.8
*
Total
3,227
100.0
125,500
100.0
tl 15,083
100.0
•Inrludfd in 161 to 180 days.
fNot all children enrolled were reported in survey on attendance. The difference
is 1,586. Data for Lewistown elementary schools not available.
The fact that one-fifth (23,603) of Montana's school children are in
attendance less than four months a year .should not be overlooked. It re-
quires a full year for a normal child to complete a year's work. When a
child is in school only three, four or six months a year he cannot be
expected to advance a grade a year. Large numbers of children whose
days of school are cut short are denied an opportunity to advance with
their classmates, and the result represents an immeasurable loss to the
future citizenship of our country.
Irregular attendance is far more common in the grades than in the
high schools and more common in third class districts than in districts
of the first and second class. Forty-three per cent of the elementary
children in third class districts attend less than six months, while 26 per
cent of those in first and second class districts attend no longer. Children
HISTORY OF MONTANA
507
have been withdrawn for work on the farm in the fall and again in the
spring, just at the time of year when the weather is fairest and the roads
most easily traveled. While there is a certain amount of non-attendance
due to circumstances that cannot easily be avoided, such as illness and too
great distance from schoolhouse, it is evident that there is a very large
amount of avoidable non-attendance at schools.
In spite of the fact that Montana stands at the head of the list of
states in the percentage of school children of school age enrolled in the
schools, the survey for 1919-20 showed that there were 1,847 children of
school age whose homes were not within reach of a school. Of these
children 1,011 could not attend school because of the distance, and 836
were obliged to leave home at great expense to their parents to have even
a few months of school. The only large county in the state which pro-
vided schooling for all its children last year was Cascade County because
Gathering of Cascade County School Children
of the adoption of county unit. In any county having large numbers of
rural children it has never been possible with the district system to send
every child to school.
In 1918-19 there were in Montana 1,366 school districts without one
child completing the eighth grade. These were all third class districts.
Only one district in three had pupils completing the eighth grade this year.
In one-teacher schools there was only one to every forty-five pupils en-
rolled. In the larger schools of third class districts there was one to every
nineteen enrolled, and in districts of the first and second class there was
one to every seventeen enrolled. A few city schools did even better than
this, having one to every twelve pupils enrolled.
The record for 1919-20 was not much better. Of 2,246 third class
districts in the state that year there were 1,371, or 61 per cent, which did
not have one pupil finishing the eighth grade. In third class districts one
pupil in every twenty-four enrolled completed the eighth grade, but in
first and second class districts one in every fifteen enrolled satisfactorily
508
HISTORY OF MONTANA
completed his work. In third class districts of Sanders County and in
second class districts of Teton County last year one eighth grade pupil to
every eight enrolled completed his work. This record is the best in the
state.
Can Montana afford to permit large numbers of her children to get
no farther than the lower grades in school ? Can she afford to let thousands
of her children drop out of school in the intermediate and upper grades?
Will she continue to permit seven-eighths of her children to enter life's
activities without a high school education?
There are many factors responsible for such conditions. Children enter
school at various ages and make different rates of progress. Some take
two or even three years to complete the work of one grade, while it is
reasonable to expect, under favorable conditions, normal children to com-
FiNEST RuR.'XL School House in Gall.\tin County
plete a grade each year. When many children repeat grades and when
many others are provided with only short terms of school or attend irregu-
larly the membership of the lowest grades becomes greatly increased.
When such children spend several years in repeating lower grades they
reach and pass the compulsory attendance age and drop out of school.
The result is that almost one-half (48 per cent) of pupils who enter school
never reach the seventh grade and more than one-fourth (28 per cent)
of them never reach the high school.
Boys drop out of school earlier and in larger numbers than girls. Less
than one-tenth (9.8 per cent) of the boys enrolled are in high school,
while 13.2 per cent of the girls attend high school. Over one-half (53.7
per cent) of the boys enrolled are in the first four grades, while less than
one-half (49.8 per cent) of the girls are in these grades. By the end of
the sixth grade three-fourths (73.8 per cent) of the boys and seven-tenths
(69.7 per cent) of the girls have left school. This difference has limited
significance inasmuch as it does not disclose the underlying causes for a
HISTORY OF MONTANA 509
large proportion of the boys dropping out of school in grades earlier than
do the girls.
A number of reasons suggest themselves for the earlier withdrawal
from school of boys than girls. The opportunities for securing employ-
ment have been especially attractive to boys. There is also an indication
of the weakness of many schools in failing to offer the work which holds
the interest of both boys and girls and impresses them and their parents
as worth while.
"When the age of adolescence approaches, boys and girls alike rebel
against the maternalistic atmosphere of the elementary schools and are
filled with the longing to get out among men and women where they can
take their place in the work of the world. To the boy this longing is a
more keen and compelling force than it is to the girl. The result is that
the work of the schools is not in itself interesting, if it lacks in vitality,
if it does not appeal to the young people as being real, both boys and girls
drop out, but the boy goes first."— Springfield Illinois Survey, p. 55.
The Training of Mont.\na Teachers
The question of efficiency of Montana's schools is very closely related
to the training of her teachers. The training of 5,010 elementary and
1,060 high school teachers in the state was reported in the survey of last
year.
Most of the northern and western states have for years required that
their teachers shall be at least high school graduates. Although the require-
ments in Montana were raised July i, 1920, to two years of high school
and twelve weeks of normal training, the requirements are still several
years behind practically every northern and western state. It is because
of her low requirements that Montana certificates are not recognized in
neighboring states. It is also for the same reason that Montana has at
present among her teachers those who cannot qualify as teachers in the
neighboring states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho. There is today no
larger percentage of teachers in Montana well trained for their work than
there was ten years ago. There are more than three times as many nor-
mal school graduates in the state today as there were in 1910, but the
number of such graduates proportional to the number of teachers in the
state has remained practically the same throughout the decade. So also
has the proportional number of college or university graduates remained
almost the same for ten years. In fact it appears that since about 1916
or 1917 the percentage of well trained teachers is slightly decreasing. Of
1,060 high school teachers reported, all but fifteen have had normal or col-
lege training beyond a four-year high school course. Almost seven teachers
out of every eight (86 per cent) are normal or college graduates. Nearly
two-thirds (65 per cent) are college or university graduates. The pro-
portion of high school teachers who are graduates of higher educational
institutions is 91 per cent for county high schools and high schools for
districts of the first and second class, but for high schools in the third class
districts the proportion is ']'] per cent.
olO
HISTORY OF MONTANA
Teacher Shortage
During the past two years the people in all parts of the United States
have been brought face to face with a serious crisis in our public schools,
so serious that the very future of our civilization has been threatened.
In the United States last year 39,000 schools were vacant, 65,000 teachers
were below standard and normal school enrollment in four years decreased
30 per cent. During 1919-20 Montana was short 227 teachers. A survey
taken when schools opened in Septem1)er of this year ( 1920) showed that
Montana was short 513 teachers in thirty-five counties. This shortage
was found almost exclusively in rural sections. During the beautiful fall
months when country children can reach the school building without trudg-
ing through deep snows or mud, many schools have had to remain closed
for want of teachers.
Normal Traininc. of Teachers
Numerous factors give rise to this alarming teacher .shortage. Unsat-
isfactory living conditions and lack of social life are two important ones.
But the most serious factor in keeping many schools open is the economic
problem. The demand for higher salaries for teachers which has slowly
but universally been taken up by the general public has been promoted
more by sympathy for the teacher's struggle for a comfortable living, re-
gardless of preparation and experience, than by a regard for the welfare
of future generations. The policy of parading before the public the finan-
cial woes of poorly paid teachers tends to give the salary phase of our
present difficulties the importance which should be attached only to the
paramount problem in the educational crisis. The poor and unprepared
teacher instead of being underpaid is now being paid more than she is
worth. Thousands of children are attending no school at all or are receiv-
ing instruction, if such it might be termed, from teachers who can be
so called only because they hold emergency licenses which enable them to
draw pay.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 511
Teacher shortage has caused homesteaders and others who were teach-
ing some years ago to return to the schoolroom during the period of emer-
gency. They have increased the teacher supply for the time, but many
of them have brought into the classroom old methods of instruction and
useless teaching materials that make for anything but a modern school.
The law requiring normal training for the issuance of certificates follow-
ing June, 1920, has had the efifect of increasing the number of teachers
with some recent training. There are, however, still a large number of
rural teachers below standard.
It is not at all strange that the teacher shortage is greatest in rural
districts when one teacher in every ten in these districts received last year
a salary of less than $600. When seven out of every eight rural teachers
received less than $900, why should young people be expected to go to
school several years and pay out many dollars to meet the unusually low
legal requirements for Montana teachers? Only 100 rural teachers re-
ceived more than $1,000 salary last year.
The Teachers' Retirement Law
The law providing for the retirement of Montana teachers after twenty-
five years of service, at least fifteen of which have been in this state un-
less the teacher was engaged in teaching in Montana when the law was
passed, in which event only ten years of service in Montana is required,
is operating satisfactorily for the present.
Forty-three teachers have retired under the provisions of the act. The
funds on November i, 1920, amounted to $140,087.79, of which $I37,05()
has been invested at 6 per cent interest. The fund has increased $34,-
309.58 the past year.
Certification of Teachers
In June, 1919, the first teachers' examination was held under the new
law providing for state examination of all teachers under the direction of
the State Board of Educational Examiners. The first board has been
composed of Miss Elizabeth Sutherland, county superintendent of schools,
Dillon, Montana; Professor Freeman Daughters, State University, Mis-
soula; A. J. Roberts, principal of high school, Helena, Montana; J. U.
Williams, superintendent of schools, Harlowton, Montana, and the super-
intendent of public instruction, who is ex-officio chairman of the board.
County School Admini.str.\tion
In 1919-20 there was in Montana, on the average, one schoolhouse to
every forty-six square miles. The variation by counties was from twenty
square miles per schoolhouse in Stillwater County to 122 square miles per
schoolhouse in Beaverhead County. There are not so many schoolhouses
in the mountainous and stock-raising sections of the state as in sections
devoted largely to the raising of grain. This may be seen from the con-
512
fflSTORY OF MONTANA
trasting number of square miles per schoolhouse in each of the following
counties :
Meagher 1 18 \\'ibaux 22
Lincoln 107 Fallon 25
Glacier loi Musselshell 25
Mineral 94 Dawson 25
Flathead 92 Richland 25
Lewis and Clark 91 Sheridan 26
The great distances county superintendents or their deputies have to
travel to visit schools represent one of the chief difficulties in securing
adequate supervision for rural schools of the state. The number of square
miles per schoolhouse is an indication of the range of such distances.
Schoolhouses are, on the average, approximately ten miles apart in coun-
AL\RTiNSDALE, AIeagiier Couxtv School — Old Bux-C.\r Type
ties with one schoolhouse to every ICX3 square miles, but only five miles
apart in counties with one schoolhouse to every twenty-five square miles.
The cost of supervision and the number of yearly visits easily possible to
schools vary with the supervisory areas, the number of miles of travel
required to reach all the schools and whether this travel is by railroad or
automobile.
County superintendents' and deputies' salaries have been entirely in-
adequate. In one county the superintendent has been receiving $25 less
per month than her clerk. Two deputy county superintendents resigned
to become ward principals at a salary of $1,896 each. One county super-
intendent with nearly 200 teachers scattered over an area of over 4,000
square miles received $1,500 for twelve months of work. In the same
county a city superintendent received $3,000 for supervising seven teachers
all in one building. In a second class district an inexperienced superin-
tendent received $250 a month to supervise twenty-seven rural teachers,
while in the same county the experienced and efficient county superin-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 513
tendent received $ioo a month to supervise fifty-six rural teachers. The
law taking effect January i, 1921, increases the salary of the superin-
tendent in this county to $125 a month, or to as much as a stenographer
in her office or a rural teacher she supervises can easily command.
For many years leading citizens throughout the nation have advocated
the removal of the county superintendent's office from political influence.
This has been done in ten of the thirty-nine states that have county super-
intendents. In eight of the ten states county superintendents are now
appointed by a county board of education or its equivalent. In Delaware
the governor, and in New Jersey the State Commissioner of Education
appoint the county superintendent.
Montana has been particularly fortunate in the qualifications of its
county superintendents, in spite of the unattractive salaries that have been
provided and the fact that any voter is eligible to the county superin-
tendent's office. With no further qualifications than this it has happened,
and it will continue to happen occasionally, that those who are elected to
supervise and administer schools for the children have never taught school,
do not at the time of election hold a certificate to teach, or have not taught
for many years. Yet in our neighboring states of Washington, Oregon,
South Dakota, Idaho and Utah several years of experience as well as a
high grade of certificate are required of the candidate for the office. There
is perhaps no more vital point for improvement in our school system than
in the expert supervision and efficient administration of our schools.
High School Normal Tr.mning Departments
Within the past three years twenty high schools have taken advantage
of the law providing for normal training departments. Seven of these
have been established three years ; five, two years ; and eight, one year.
During the current year five additional schools are organizing departments.
The wisdom of this temporary expedient may be seen in the number of
students in training and the number of graduates teaching in rural schools.
It is to be hoped that it will be only a few years before it will be possible
to require courses beyond high school graduation for teachers of rural
schools as well as of city schools.
It will be necessary for Montana to equip herself with several state
normal schools before she is ready even to contemplate abandoning the
training of rural teachers in high schools. Minnesota, though increasing
the number of her state normal schools from five to six in 191 5, still con-
tinues her high school training courses. Wisconsin has ten normal schools,
thirty county training schools in addition to her high school and normal
training courses. Nebraska and other states pursue the same policy.
The twenty departments in Montana in 1919-20 were training or had
previously trained a total of 627 students for the teaching profession.
Of these 298 were in the first and second year of high school, 135 were
in the third year and eighty-seven in the fourth. Four were graduate
students. Eighty-six had been granted normal training second grade cer-
514 HISTORY OF MONTANA
tificates upon graduation and were teaching. Eighty-seven per cent of
these graduates came from departments estabHshed three years ago. Seven-
teen high school graduates received only one year of normal training, the
departments having been established at the time they were in the fourth
year. The graduating class of 1920 was large enough to supply all the
rural schools in any one of forty-one counties. At the present rate of
progress there should soon be several hundred graduates a year, making
a substantial increase in the number of rural teachers with some special
preparation for their work.
Students enrolled in normal training departments are seventeen years
of age, on the average, during the third year of high school and eighteen
years of age during the fourth year. A majority of the students graduate
at eighteen.
Salaries of High-Gr.\de Teachers
The salaries of high school teachers for 1919-20 ranged from $800
to more than $1,700. Cities paid higher salaries to a larger percentage of
their teachers. Less than one-half (45 per cent) of the high school teachers
in third class districts received more than $1,200, while in the first and
second class districts four-fifths (80 per cent) of the teachers received
more than $1,200. Third class districts have had greater difficulty in
raising funds for their high school teachers than have the districts of a
higher class.
No large difference existed in the salaries of teachers in high schools
and the salaries of principals in such schools, except in a few cases. In
third class districts 197 high school teachers received last year an average
salary of $1,223, while 158 principals in such districts received an average
of $1,491.
There were last year sixteen times as many women (4,218) as men
(264) teaching in elementary schools. The differences in the average
yearly salaries of men and women with equal training were not great.
College women received $100 more than college men teaching in the
grades. Men who are normal school graduates received $84.26 a year
more than women with the same training. For teachers with less training
the salary differences between men and women teaching in elementary
schools were slight, but with the larger salaries generally in favor of
women.
In the high schools, however, differences in average salaries of men
and of women of equal training were most marked. Among college grad-
uates teaching in high schools men received an average of $358.14 more
last year than women. Among normal school graduates men received
an average of $394.82 more than women. This wide range in salaries
between men and women of equal training teaching in high schools stands
in striking contrast to the national slogan of professionally minded teachers
as stated by President Coffman of the University of Minnesota — "Equal
pay for equal work of equal worth."
HISTORY OF MONTANA * 515
Summer Schools
No agency has been of greater help to ]\lontana teachers during the
past two years in their improvement in service than the summer schools
maintained at the several institutions of the University of Montana and
also at several other points.
The past summer the enrollment of teachers exclusive of other students
at the several schools was as follows :
State University, Missoula 7^
State College, Bozeman 30
State Normal College, Dillon 361
Rosebud Lake, Alpine 27
Eastern Montana, Glendive 96
Central Montana, Lewistown 238
The previous summer session was held at the same institutions with
the exception that the Eastern Alontana school was held at Terry instead
of Glendive. These schools have made it possible during the last few
years for teachers to meet the requirements which went into effect the
first of last July requiring twelve weeks of normal training of all teachers
to whom certificates are issued and also have assisted many others who
hold certificates in improving their methods and getting in touch with most
progressive ideas in education.
Fifteen practice schools were provided in connection with ten training
departments. Arrangements are made for practice teaching during the
latter part of the senior year. Flathead County High School provided
four practice schools ; Fergus County High School provided three.
In a few counties two or more four-year high schools enroll a suffi-
cient number of students to warrant the organization of normal training
departments. The present law allows reimbursement for normal training
work to only one high school in a county. For this reason some higli
schools, where this work could be well done, have had their applications
refused. A change in the law to permit two high schools in a county to
take advantage of reimbursement for training work would open the way
to preparation of an increasingly larger number of high school graduates
as teachers for rural schools.
He.\ltii of School Children
The report of Superintendent Trumper is so replete with the informa-
tion which presents a fair picture of the system which she is best adapted
to survey that the following salient extracts are taken from her report ;
The biennium has seen marked progress in health education in elemen-
tary schools. Class instruction in hygiene and health problems and in the
formation of health habits has received emphasis and encouragement
through state publications, health talks and health supervision.
Two years ago a law was passed providing for the physical examina-
tion of school children. Local and county physicians and school nurses
/ 516 HISTORY OF MONTANA
have been employed in various parts of the state to do this work. No
definite data regarding the extent of such work are available. But it is
known that in practically every county some physical examinations have
been made and in some counties there has been very general compliance
with the provisions of this law. While in fifteen counties there are re-
ported no expenditures for the promotion of health during 1919-20, the
remaining thirty-six counties expended a total of $31,873.44 for such work,
89 per cent of which was expended in elementary schools. In each of the
following counties these expenditures amounted to more than $2,000:
Cascade, Gallatin, Lewis and Clark, Powell, Silver Bow, and Yellowstone.
A good beginning in the supervision of health work has been made
through the employment of school nurses. In the fall of 1920 there were
forty-one nurses in the state devoting a part (nineteen) or all (twenty-
two) of their time to the schools. Some of these have been employed by
the Red Cross or the State Anti-Tuberculosis Association as demonstra-
tion nurses. Most school nurses are now employed by boards of education
or by county commissioners. Cities have been first to employ nurses for
school work, there being only five nurses engaged in 1919-20 by county
commissioners for work throughout rural sections, where the need is
doubtless greatest.
Vocational Work
The vocational work in agriculture in the high schools throughout the
state, under the Smith-Hughes Act, has grown from a mere handful of
schools to as high as thirty-four schools which have been recognized as
eligible for reimbursement. Although these schools are carrying on work
under the standards set up by the Federal Board for Vocational Educa-
tion and the State Board of Education, only nine of them received any
reimbursement, due to the fact that only a limited amount of funds could
b^ spent for this work. It is hoped, in the coming year, that with an
increase in federal allotment, which will be met by state appropriations,
more aid can be given to schools which are carrying on one of the most
excellent pieces of agricultural education in the country.
Requests for visits from thirty-five schools in the state giving home
economics instruction demonstrates the fact that interest in this type of
work is steadily increasing. Out of thirty-five schools making requests
for visits from the superior of home economics, more than thirty were
called on and help given in improving courses of study and methods used
in these various schools. A number of these schools were assisted in
qualifying for recognition under the Smith-Hughes Act. Four schools
were recognized and given reimbursement for the fiscal year ending June
30, 1920, which, although a small number, demonstrates that even with a
limited amount of funds it has been found that these schools have been
willing to put up a course of study in compliance with the needs of a
practical vocational course. The results throughout the state accomplished
by classes in vocational home economics were gratifying and the interest
HISTORY OF MONTANA
517
in home making for girls is on the increase. This is especially true in
rural communities.
The work in trade and industrial education throughout Montana has
been gaining headway during the past year and the following types of
schools and courses have been established : Two all day unit trade schools ;
three compulsory part-time schools ; thirteen evening trade extension
classes. Both of the day unit trade schools gave instruction in automobile
and gas engine repairs, while the compulsory part-time schools, for the
most part, took up general continuation work for those boys and girls
between the ages of fourteen and eighteen who were compelled to leave
school and go to work. In one of the part-time schools one class was
operated in trade extension work in the printing industry. The evening
classes, for the most part, throughout the state were confined to trade
Contented School Children of Flathe.xd County
extension and the subjects taken up were as follows: Blueprint reading,
sketching, shop mathematics and electricity for miners.
School Dormitories
The practicability of dormitories for housing public school children
who live far from school was first demonstrated in 1914-15 at the Flat-
head County high school in Kalispell. The first dormitory was for girls.
It was maintained in a commodious residence leased by the county high
school board and proved so satisfactory that in 1915-16, a building which
had formerly been used for business college purposes was remodeled for
a boys' dormitory. Since that time the growth of dormitories has been
rapid, until by the close of the year 1919-20, twenty-two of them were in
operation in various parts of the state.
There are twenty-four dormitories now in use. Five of them are for
girls only and accommodate 171 girls. Four are for boys with sixty-eight
boys housed. Six are for both boys and girls and accommodate fifty-seven
518 HISTORY OF MONTANA
girls and sixty boys. In fifteen dormitories, which are all that have re-
ported this year, there are housed 356 boys and girls, most of whom would
not be in school today were it not for dormitory privileges. In eight of
these dormitories the average distance from which the pupils come is
twenty-two and one-half miles. Distances range from three miles for
one pupil at Browning to ninety-five for one in the Fergus County high
school. In the latter dormitory several pupils come from outside of the
county, one from a distance of 300 miles.
The majority of these dormitories are for high school students only.
A few grade pupils are accommodated at Whitehall, Jordan, Roy, and
Dawson County high school at Glendive. The youngest child housed in
the dormitories reporting is eight years old and attends school in Glendive.
In nearly all cases matrons are employed for nine or ten months, and
in the majority of cases their salaries are paid by the pupils housed. The
management on the whole is efficient and practical economy is the policy.
Sufficient and wholesome food is furnished at low cost -to pupils whose
entire expenses vary from 50 cents a day at Geraldine, where rent and
matron's salary are paid by the school, to $26 a month at the Dawson
County high school where pupils bear all the expenses. There are several
small dormitories for younger children in strictly rural coirununities. The
one at Ivanell was the first of this kind to be established.
Rural Schools in City Districts
There are sevent3'-two first and second class districts in Montana.
There are no rural teachers in thirty of these districts. In the remaining
forty-two there are 238 rural teachers and in the schools taught by these
teachers there are over 3.000 pupils.
The amount of attention and school support accorded the children in
these rural sections varies greatly. There are second class districts which
place rural children on an equality with city children in the educational
facilities and opportunities provided. There are other districts that have
almost entirely neglected their rural children in the past, granting to them
only such limited facilities for an education as the parents of these children
by force and persuasion could secure. A study of a few districts has
been made to make concrete these contrasting conditions.
A large second class district has twelve rural schools within its boun-
daries. The twelve rural teachers in these schools last year had less than
one year of normal training on the average, and less than seventeen
months of teaching experience. The average rural teacher taught ten
children 121 days on no higher than a second grade certificate at a salary
of $510 a year. The rural children were schooled in ranch houses, log
cabins or old-type frame buildings, heated with unjacketed stoves, and
inadequately equipped with maps, primary materials, library books, and
even textbooks. The rural schools have been made the dumping ground
for old desks, old books and other materials no longer useful in the city
schools. The superintendent, by direction of the board, has not been
HISTORY OF MONTANA 519
granted the opportunity to supervise these schools, although such super-
vision is provided for by law.
Standardization and Consolidation
Standardization is one method for improving rural school conditions.
It is but a natural result of the spirit of the times, which seeks to apply
the principle of science to education. A rating card published by the state
department contains minimal requirements necessary to maintain a good
school. A school that meets these requirements is approved as a standard
school, rewarded by honorable mention and granted a plate for the school
building. "Superior School" name plates are granted to schools taught by
teachers of superior qualifications and with the highest efficiency, in a
house that is as nearly perfect in all the essentials as possible, and that is
furnished with everything needed and located in a community that shows
the interest the claim of such a school implies.
Montana is one of twenty-seven states that have some plan for stand-
ardizing schools. In eight states the authority is statutory. In eighteen
standardization is promoted as a policy of the State Department of Public
Instruction. Six states provide a money bonus. In this Minnesota leads
with 6,571 schools standardized. A school that meets the requirements
in Iowa is given $6.00 per capita for each child who has an average at-
tendance of six months for the preceding year. Illinois leads the states
promoting the plan as a policy of the State Department of Public Instruc-
tion, with 2,965 standard schools. Improvements have been most rapid
irj states providing aid to schools maintaining the requirements.
Standardization began in Montana six years ago. Within the period
446 schools were standardized. During 1919-20, 349 of these were still
standard schools and twenty-three were rated as superior schools.
The County Unit law makes it possible for all third class districts of
a county to form one district for purposes of equalizing taxation, for im-
proving one-teacher schools generally and for providing schools for all
children with equalized educational opportunities. The consolidation of
schools is not necessarily a part of the plan of consolidation of districts.
Where consolidation of schools is impracticable, consolidation of districts
may bring about many advantages, such as closer supervision, equal oppor-
tunities for all children, special teachers for special subjects, better busi-
ness management and greater economy in purchasing.
There can be no good reason for this general neglect of rural children.
The claim that rural people have not proved up on their lands is no longer
tenable. If districts by reason of poverty cannot support good schools
for all their children, including those that may be located in remoter sec-
tions, then provisions should be made by which aid might be extended to
them. The state cannot afford to allow any of its children to be neglected
in their educational opportunities. The time has come when every child
should be accounted for and when opportunities for a good eighth grade
education should be offered to all children everywhere.
Some of the larger districts have achieved this equalization of educa-
520 HISTORY OF MONTANA
tional opportunities. Modern school buildings adequately equipped are
found throughout the rural sections of the Terry, Hardin, Worden and
Ronan districts. Supervision has also been extended to the rural schools
of these districts. Poplar, Schobey, Wolf Point, Augusta, Conrad and
Opheim districts are known to have arranged this year for supervision of
their rural schools by their school superintendents, and at Lewistown
special teachers also visit rural schools.
The consolidated buildings are, on the whole, modern, convenient and
well equipped, the average cost of building and equipment being $i8,-
041.46. Eighteen of the buildings have auditoriums for community meet-
ings, fourteen contain agricultural laboratories, seventeen have home
Are These Young Americ.\ns Being F.mrly Treated?
economics laboratories and twenty-two have manual workshops. Five con-
solidated schools have teacherages.
The area of the school grounds varies from five-tenths acres to twelve
acres; the average is three and eight-tenths acres. None of the schools
has a school farm, though several have school gardens and experimental
plots.
Teachers of these consolidated schools are usually better trained than
are teachers of small rural schools. Forty per cent of the teachers in
consolidated schools in 1917-18 were normal graduates and 31 per cent
were college graduates, in contrast with 32 per cent of all teachers in the
state that year who were normal school graduates and 6 per cent of all
teachers who were college graduates.
Thirty of the consolidated schools have an eight year elementary school
course and six are working toward the "six and six" plan. Twenty-seven
of the schools maintain high school courses, sixteen of which are accredited
HISTORY OF MONTANA 521
for the entire four years. In the grades there is an average enrollment
of 138 children per school, and in high schools an average enrollment of
thirty-three pupils.
There has been too strong a tendency in the majority of the consol-
idated schools to make imitation city schools of these schools which are
attended almost entirely by farm boys and girls.
The consolidated movement appears to have advanced about as rapidly
as practicable. There are relatively very few places where consolidation
of schools has been found feasible. Nearly all county superintendents,
when they first take office, are enthusiastic for consolidation, but, by the
end of their first year, after they have traveled the tremendous distances
required to visit the schools, they realize that there are too many barriers
to urge consolidation with its attending transportation problems. Until
these transportation problems become more satisfactorily solved than at
present, Montana's greatest educational task is the improvement of the
one-teacher schools and schools in rural villages.
The problem of transportation is by far the greatest hindrance to suc-
cess of consolidation of schools in Montana. In the survey taken in
1919 the average distance for pupils to ride was found to be three and four-
tenths miles one way, although there were many instances among the 1,810
pupils conveyed in which children left home at seven or even at six o'clock
in the morning and reached home at six or seven o'clock at night.
School Funds
•
Montana's state school funds are derived entirely from the income
from funds received from the sale of school lands and from the leasing
of school lands. Montana has never provided a state tax for public schools.
State school funds are slowly increasing. The amount apportioned by
the state during 1919-20 was nearly a million dollars ($969,756). The
apportionment was $6 to every census child, or 50 cents per child more
than it was a few years ago. In time the state funds, by wise and safe
investments, should prove a great heritage to the children of Montana.
The constitutional amendment, secured at the last general election by
a large majority, shows that the people of the state desire to protect their
state school funds. Under this amendment the interest from all funds,
whether invested or uninvested, shall go to the schools, 95 per cent to be
distributed annually, and 5 per cent to the permanent funds. Under this
amendment the compulsory school term is lengthened also from three to
six months. This amendment lays the foundation for a new policy in the
handling of the state school funds.
Montana's second source of revenue for her schools is from the county
six mill tax which is distributed to the schools on the census basis.
This method of apportioning school funds has been proven unfair to
children, since it does not equalize educational opportunities for them.
Under the present provisions of the laws for apportioning state and county
school funds, money does not go to schools where the need is greatest.
522 HISTORY OF MONTANA
The reason for this is the unequal wealth and school population in the
various counties and school districts of the state.
A method should be sought by which financial support, and, therefore,
educational opportunities, would be equalized. County unit in three coun-
ties affords a large measure of relief to the poorer districts within the
counties. In some states state aid is given to the poorer districts for long
terms, for buildings and equipment, or for the employment of trained
teachers.
Utah has just voted an amendment to its constitution providing for
the state's contribution of $25 per child in the schools of the state. Sim-
ilarly California has just amended its constitution so as to provide $30
per pupil in average daily attendance in the elementary and high schools
of the state. These states recognize the unfairness of providing the largest
part of the support of the schools from district funds and the smallest
from the state.
The per capita cost (maintenance) of elementary education in Mon-
tana was $78.33 in 1919-20. The per capita cost varies greatly in different
counties. It ranges from $45.89 in Ravalli, $50.64 in Carbon, and $52.93
in Sheridan, to $190.58 in Mineral, $138.23 in Wheatland and $134.86 in
Meagher.
The third source of school funds is the special tax levied on the dis-
trict. Montana has made a beginning within the biennium toward a saner
system of school taxation for its third class districts. The district system
has been replaced by the county unit system in three counties. But this
is only a beginning, as forty-nine counties still have the district plan of
taxation. The district tax for schools continues to yield more than one-
half of the money raised to support public elementary and high schools.
The earlier practice common in Montana of providing school build-
ings from the general school funds of a district is fast disappearing except
in extremely wealthy districts which can easily meet their building require-
ments by a special levy of a mill or two.
"It was not uncommon a few years ago," says Superintendent Trum-
per's report, "for the school term to be shortened in many districts by
the use of school funds for building purposes. Occasionally shortsighted
trustees still pursue this policy, but most of them have discovered that a
very small levy extending over a period of ten, fifteen or twenty years,
as valuation requires, will meet payments of both principal and interest
on bonds and will permit those who move into the district later, and whose
children receive the benefits of the school, to assist in meeting the pay-
ments on bonds.
"In this way there is no necessity of shortening the school term and
the indebtedness incurred by bonding is frequently paid off without the
consciousness of the taxpayers that payments on bonds were being made
annually. This is particularly true in case the bonds have been sold to
the State Land Board, as this board permits a district to pay ofif one or
more of its bonds at any interest-paying period by giving thirty days'
notice of its intention to do so.
"Recently many school districts have been unable to dispose of their
bonds owing to the fact that bonding companies were not interested and
Old Rosedale School
New Rosedale School
524 HISTORY OF MONTANA
the State Land Board was placing most of its money in farm loans. It
is hoped, however, that it will not be necessary to continue this policy
indefinitely and that the school districts of the state may eventually be
able to receive needed assistance from the State Land Board in the dis-
posal of their bonds.
"The same difficulty obtains in connection with raising funds for build-
ing purposes by bonding as for raising funds for maintenance by the
special district levy. Hundreds of districts, even if they were to bond to
the legal limit of 3 per cent of their assessed valuation, would not be
able to secure more than a few hundred dollars, an amount entirely in-
adequate for erecting anything but a shell of a building.
"Under the county unit plan comfortable buildings can be provided
for all districts by bonding the entire county unit, if the public will only
learn to think of the welfare of all children regardless of where they live
and will consider an education as a right to which every man's child is
entitled.
"If counties could learn to take care of the building program and a
moderate share of the maintenance cost of all the schools within the
county, possibly to the extent of a five or six mill special tax, and the
state could assume the responsibility of providing the largest share of the
tax for maintenance, we might then hope to equalize the opportunities of
children for an education at the same time that we equalize the burdens
upon taxpayers. No system could be more unfair than the one we have
at present except in the three counties that have adopted county unit."
Finances of the System by Counties
Superintendent Trumper's financial report of the school districts of
Montana, by counties, for the year ending June 30, 1920, indicates that
their total receipts amounted to $16,908,606.54, and their disbursements,
$7,273,139.62. The receipts include the balances carried over from the
previous year, and those realized from such sources as the apportionments
from state and county (six mill levy) ; special taxes for high schools,
general fund, free text book fund and interest and sinking fund ; and re-
ceipts from sale of bonds, sale of property and proceeds from insurance
adjustments, premium on bonds, income from forest preserves and from
rents, tuition, interest and other items.
The disbursements covered the expenses of the school boards and busi-
ness offices, the superintendents and third-class principals, compulsory at-
tendance and school census ; salaries and expenses of sujjervisors of
instruction and supervising principals, with salaries of under-teachers ;
text books, stationery, supplies, etc. — all covering the kindergarten, ele-
mentary and high school grades.
Condensed, the figures were as follows :
Balances Carried
Over and
COUNTY Yearly Receipts Disbursements
Beaverhead $315,899.76 $114,186.87
Big Horn 277,836.96 84,721.78
Blaine 244,730.63 94,35572
HISTORY OF MONTANA 525
Balances Carried
Over and
COUNTY Yearly Receipts Disbursements
Broadwater $111,185.87 $50,740.14
Carbon 287,754.04 182,850.53
Carter 1 16,885.70 54,908.03
Cascade 967,582.14 522,931.39
Chouteau 436,354-53 189,475.39
Custer ■ 340,733.44 153,256.49
Dawson 314,038.34 130,435.98
Deer Lodge 252,977.52 133,638.14
Fallon 173.438.53 74.638.16
Fergus 1,485,994.28 459,207.18
Flathead 433,175.46 243,334.19-
Gallatin 573.365-03 227,235.12
Garfield 151,825.84 69,090.46
Glacier 172,997.65 48,035.71
Granite 1 17,616.43 55.413-39
Hill 450,584.04 184,458.79
Jefferson 246,990.13 69,037.70
Lewis and Clark 485,024.60 243,758.25
Liberty 96,102.86 45,388.08
Lincoln ' 221,774.84 108,149.98
McCone 158,430.53 67,979.06
Madison 209,471.75 97.377-31
Meagher 134,509.18 41,542.87
Mineral 195,035.50 49,936.14
Missoula 794,126.58 307,752.67
Musselshell 381,280.60 200,693.63
Park 282,945.20 140,108.71
Phillips 280,944.61 95,749.90
Pondera 178,434.56 95,074.24
Powder River 131,563.82 47,906.36
Powell 142,010.72 79.705.96
Prairie 146,401.24 63,584.68
Ravalli 231,177.04 119,141.62
Richland 399,i 13.72 128,592.96
Roosevelt 426,446.41 125,399.20
Rosebud 388,682.84 113,516.03
Sanders 230,892.53 92,549-55
Sheridan 410,623.66 171,249.22
Silver Bow 1,039,506.50 677,697.51
Stillwater 304,269.82 1 18,042.04
Sweet Grass 182,714.84 74,434.01
Teton 336,868.08 91,479.09
Toole 212,294.37 70,047.13
Treasure 52,204.22 37,126.07
Valley 251,423.03 131,410.34
526 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Balances Carried
Over and
COUNTY Yearly Receipts Disbursements
Wheatland $274,532.89 $92,346.74
VVilbaux 1 19,323.01 56,888.34
Yellowstone 638,510.67 346,560.77
Totals $16,908,606.54 $ 7,273,139.62
School L.\ws En.vcted in 1921
To complete the literary survey of Montana's system of public schools,
it is necessary to note the school laws enacted by the Legislature during
the regular and extraordinary sessions of 192 1. Their titles are usually
a sufficient index of their purport. For instance, acts were passed in
February and March "requiring a petition of 20 per cent of the qualified
electors who are taxpayers to authorize the voting upon the issuance of any
school, town, city or county bonds, and providing who are entitled to vote
thereon," and relating to free text books — an amendment to a former act
authorizing a Board of County Commissioners to levy a special tax to
meet any deficiency in the general fund of the district provided for their
jiurchase as shown by the report of the school trustees. One of the inost
important measures enacted, which was approved February 8, 192 1, was
that "relating to compulsory education and the duties of truant officers."
It provided for the punishment of parents, guardians or other persons who
have the care of children, between the ages of eight and sixteen, and who
fail to have them instructed in the common branches, either at a public,
private or parochial school, for a yearly period of at least sixteen weeks.
Provisions were also incorporated to fine employes of children under six-
teen years of age if such employment was exacted while school is in
session, exception being made in the case of a child over fourteen years of
age whose wages are necessary for the support of the family ; also, de-
fining the duties of the truant officers, appointed by the school boards or
county superintendents to enforce the act, such officers having full powers
of police both over the child and the one being responsible for his at-
tendance at school.
Other acts passed at the sessions of 1921 were to the following efifect:
Relating to the consolidation of the offices of superintendent of city
schools and the principal of county high schools ; accepting the provisions
of an act of the Sixty-sixth Congress by which the state accepts sections
16 and 36 in the Crow Indian Reservation, or such parts as are non-
mineral or nontimbered, in return for which the United States was to pay
the Indians $5 per acre, and the state was to throw open its public schools
to the Crow children residing within the bounds of Montana; relating to
the submission of a bond issue for county high schools, such issue being
liinited to $400,000 in a first-class county, to $300,000 in a second or third
class county and $200,000 in any other county; providing for the vocational
rehabilitation of persons disabled in industry or otherwise and their return
to civil employment, in the furtherance of this object the newly created
HISTORY OF .MONTANA
527
State Board for Vocational Education to co-operate with the Federal
Board for \'ocational Education in the distribution of moneys contributed
for that purpose by either state or nation under the Vocational Education
Act apjjroved February 23, 1917; requiring publication by county super-
intendents of schools of an annual report of the financial conditions and
transactions of school districts ; an emergency act authorizing the L!oard
of County Commissioners of any county to fund outstanding indebtedness
against a county high school by the issuance of bonds ; defining a school
month as twenty school days, or four weeks of five days each, naming New
Year's day, Memorial day (May 30th), Independence day. Labor day (first
^Monday in September), Thanksgiving day and Christmas day and in dis-
tricts where the schoolhouse must be used for election purposes, state and
national election days, as legal holidays, and Lincoln's birthday (February
I2th), Washington's birthday (February 22nd), Arbor day (second
CULBERTSON ScHOOL, RoOSEVELT CoUNTY
Tuesday of May), Flag day (June 14th), Columbus day (October I2thj,
Pioneer day (November ist) and Armistice day (November iith), as days
to be observed by appropriate exercises in the public schools ; relating to
part-time schools established for the benefit of children who are employed,
holding sessions of not less than four hours a week and offering a mental
training "which shall be supplementary to the work in which they are en-
gaged, continue their general education, or promote their civic or vocational
intelligence." The establishment of such a school or class is, under the
act, dependent on the residence in the school district of not fewer than
fifteen children over fourteen and less than eighteen years of age who
have entered upon employment. The hours of attendance fixed by the
State Board of Education are "counted as a part of the number of hours
fixed for legal employment by federal or state laws." The funds for the
support of the part-time schools are appropriated from the Vocational
Education Fund.
An act was approved March 11, 192 1, apportioning all school moneys
controlled by the county superintendent of common schools according to
.^
,V
528 HISTORY OF MONTANA
the number of school children as shown by the returns of the district
clerk for the preceding school census; the act also covering Indian children
whose parents are citizens of the United States, or have been allotted
lands or been accorded public school privileges under various measures of
Congress.
Montana's System of Higher Education
In the foregoing pages of this chapter has been briefly described the
founding of the State University, at Missoula ; the Montana State College,
at Bozeman; the Montana State Normal School and College, at Dillon,
and the State School of Mines, at Butte. Subsequently, by legislative en-
actment, all of which has been chronologically noted, the Law and Forestry
schools were founded as departments of the State University, and other
departments of the various schools and colleges were added from time to
time.
As the lands granted for higher educational purposes, together with
timber or stone thereon, have been sold, the proceeds have gone into per-
manent funds invested for the various institutions, and the interest on
such funds, together with the rental of unsold lands, has been used for the
support of the respective institutions. These maintenance resources have
been supplemented with appropriations made each biennium by the Legis-
lative Assembly, which also has provided for the erection of the buildings
at the expense of the state.
These institutions were administered independently by the local execu-
tive boards for some years under the general supervision of the State Board
of Education. By a law of 1909 the powers of the local boards were more
closely defined and the direction of the State Board of Education made
more effective.
As finally organized under the provisions of Chapter 92 of the laws
of the thirteenth Legislative Assembly, approved March 14, 1913, and
effective July ist following, the University of Montana, as constituted, was
placed under the control and supervision of the State Board of Education.
The chancellor of the University was thereby made the chief executive
officer of the entire system. Each of the component institutions was pro-
vided with an executive board with president and faculty. Under that
law, in October, 1915, the State Board of Education appointed Dr. Edward
C. Elliott, then of the University of Wisconsin, as the first chancellor of
the University of Montana. He assumed his duties February i, 1916,
and is still at its head. The executive secretary of the chancellor's office,
Dr. Henry H. Swain, is also a University of Wisconsin man.
Under the provisions of the law making the Board of Education the
general supervisory body of the University of Montana, the system is
under the control of the governor, Joseph M. Dixon; Wellington D. Ran-
kin, attorney general, and May Trumper, superintendent of public instruc-
tion and ex-officio, secretary of the State Board of Education, with the
eight regular members of that body.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 529
The Origin and Scope of the University
The last bulletin of the University of Montana, issued from the ofifice
of the chancellor, is for the year ending September, 1920, and supple-
ments the foregoing, as an authoritative statement of the organization and
scope of the system. The portion of it dealing with basic facts and figures
is reproduced, and other invaluable data found in it are used in the sketches
of the four great schools or colleges of the university.
The foundation of the plan, by which the University of Montana is now
organized and administered, is to be found in the provisions of Chapter 92
of the laws of the thirteenth Legislative Assembly (approved March 14,
1913). By the provisions of this law of 1913, known as the Leighton
Law, the several higher educational institutions of the state were con-
stituted as integral units of a greater university system. These institutions
were the State University at Missoula (established 1893, opened 1895),
the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts at Bozeman (established
1893, opened 1895), the State Normal College at Dillon (established 1893,
opened 1897), and the State School of Mines at Butte (established 1893,
opened 1900). The distinctive feature of the law of 1913 was the creation
of the ofifice of chancellor of the university.
In addition to the four component institutions, the principal activities
of which are the instruction of resident students, the university through
these institutions is directly responsible for other important educational,
scientific and service undertakings. The principal of these are :
(a) The main Agricultural Experiment Station at Bozeman conducted
in close connection with the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.
(b) Four branch Agricultural Experiment stations: at Huntley in the
Yellowstone Valley, at Moccasin in the Judith Basin, at Corvallis in the
Bitter Root Valley, and at Fort Assiniboine, near Havre ;
(c) The Grain Inspection Laboratory maintained under the direction
of the Agricultural Experiment Station at Bozeman;
(d) The Agricultural Extension Service, representing the co-operative
efforts of the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, the United
States Department of Agriculture and the several agricultural counties of
the state. Operating directly through the Farm Bureau organizations and
by means of county agricultural agents, home demonstration agents, and
leaders of Boys' and Girls' clubs, this service constantly reaches thou-
sands of people throughout the state ;
(e) The Biological Station maintained by the State University on
Flathead Lake;
(f ) The State Bureau of Mines and Metallurgy created by the sixteenth
Legislative Assembly, as the service and research department of the State
School of Mines.
In addition to these definitely organized activities the university, by
statute, performs important functions for other agencies of the state
government.
(i) The State University is charged with the administration of the
law regulating Certified Public Accountancv.
530 HISTORY OF MONTANA
(2) A member of the faculty of one of the component institutions
of the university is a member of the State Board of Educational Exam-
iners.
(3) The chancellor of the university establishes the requirements for
junior college courses maintaine<l in high schools.
(4) The president of the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts
and the director of the Agricultural Experiment Station, together with the
governor, constitute the Board of Administration for Farmers' Institutes.
(5) The professor of chemistry at the College of Agriculture and
Mechanic Arts is the state chemist, and chemist for the State Board of
Health and for the State Oil Inspector.
(6) The professor of entomology at the College of Agriculture and
Mechanic Arts is state entomologist and secretary of the State Board of
Entomologists.
(7) The professor of poultry husbandry at the College of Agriculture
and Mechanic Arts is the secretary of the State Board of Poultry Hus-
bandry.
(8) The professor of animal husbandry at the College of Agriculture
and Mechanic Arts is the secretary and executive officer of the Stallion
Registration Board.
(9) The director of the Grain Inspection Laboratory is the state grain
inspector of Montana.
(10) The dean of the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts is
a member of the Board of Dairy Commission Examiners.
(11) The director of the Agricultural Experiment Station is responsible
for the purchase and sale of anti-hog cholera serum.
Results of Unified Administration
The existing plan for the unified administration of the higher educa-
tional system of the state has now been in effect for four years. Through-
out practically the whole of this period the ways of adjustment and
development have been obstructed by the war — first, the mobilization of
troops for service on the Mexican border in 1916, and then the world
struggle in Europe. In spite of the many emergency problems that de-
manded instant action, and in the face of distracting obstacles, certain
concrete accomplishments may be fairly claimed. Without specific details,
the following may be indicated as major constructive results:
(i) The creation of harmony, and the development of concert of
action among the several institutions, thereby making possible a co-
ordinated and economical program of higher educational work for the
state. Thus, much wasteful competition and duplication have been elimi-
nated ; and the institutions largely removed from the dangerous field of
legislative controversy in the matter of appropriations.
(2) The establishment of the budget system of financial control with
its resulting economies.
(3) The contriving of a system of foundation records and reports of
the educational, scientific, financial and service operation of all of the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 531
institutions and activities of the university ; and the adoption of a simpler
and more systematic procedure whereby the State Board of Education, the
State Board of Examiners, and the legislative committees might more
readily understand and exercise a more intelligent supervision of the
aflfairs of the institutions.
(4) The designing of a comprehensive future building program for
the university institutions. The general plans presented by one of
America's foremost architects for the State University and for the State
College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, provide a secure basis for the
effective educational and artistic development of these institutions during
the coming decades when expansion is bound to be rapid.
(5) The equalization of the educational opportunities of the university
institutions to the youth of the state by the refunding of the cost of rail-
way fare.
(6) The adoption of regulations governing the permanency of tenure
of members of the teaching and scientific staffs, thereby removing one of
the principal hazards to effective educational service.
(7) The establishment of new points of contact with the other parts
of the educational system, and the recognition of the fundamental principle
that the university institutions are integral parts of the public school sys-
tem and under obligations to contribute toward its development. An annual
professional school for county superintendents, an annual conference of
high school principals and teachers, the systematic visitation of high schools
by representatives of the university institutions, and the co-operation with
the State Department of Public Instruction in the development of voca-
tional education are typical illustrations of these new contacts.
(8) The establishment of the Bureau of Mines and Metallurgy to
serve one of Montana's leading industries.
(9) The organization of the Teachers' Service Division of the Normal
College which, through correspondence study and other forms of exten-
sion teaching, will promote the professional improvement of many hun-
dreds of teachers while actually in service in the schools of the state.
( 10) The introduction of the quarter-calendar for the State Uni-
versity, and the State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, thereby
greatly enlarging the use of the facilities of these institutions, especially
for the public school teachers of the state.
(11) The production of a positive public sentiment among the people
of the state in favor of the development of first rank higher educational
opportunities through the university system.
(12) The formulation and presentation to the people of the state of
a far-reaching program for the larger and more secure financial support of
the university enterprise.
While the above results are concerned for the most part with the
mechanism of administration, they are nevertheless fundamental for the
economical and successful functioning of the university as the state's prin-
cipal instrumentality for the advance of culture and of citizenship and for
increased productive ability through trained leadership.
Numerous other examples of recent significant progress of the univer-
532 HISTORY OF MONTANA
sity institutions are to be found in the revision of programs of study and
the reorganization of those processes directed to the more effective teach-
ing of students. The records contain abundant evidence of the constant
and watchful endeavor on the part of officers and faculty to cause each
institution more effectively to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world.
Student Enrollment
The combined tables of enrollment of students in the several institu-
tions of the university, for the year ending July i, 1920, show a total of
3,197 as compared with 2,633 ^o^ 1917-18, and 2,682 for 1918-19. The
actual increase of the load of teaching was far greater than these figures.
The totals for 1918-19 included the Students' Army Training Corps en-
listments— at the State University, 585, and at the State College of Agricul-
ture and Mechanic Arts, 310. The best index of the growth of the institu-
tions is to be found in the increase of regular collegiate students. This
was approximately 50 per cent over 1918-19. The following is the sum-
mary of the enrollment of regular collegiate students at the several institu-
tions :
1915-16 1916-17 1917-18 1918-19 1919-20
State University 622 635 604 524 818
State College of Agriculture and
• Mechanic Arts 306 359 371 330 519
State Normal College 386 438 408 423 551
State School of Mines 75 88 52 92 125
Totals 1,389 1,520 1,435 1.369 2,013
State University
The State University, located in Missoula, was formally opened in
1895. For four years the institution occupied temporary quarters. Oscar
J. Craig was the first president. The local executive board, named by the
governor, was made up of J. H. T. Ryman, Hiram Knowles and Thomas
C. Marshall. The first faculty consisted of the president and four asso-
ciates.
In 1897, the Legislature authorized the issuance of bonds, in amount
of $100,000, for the construction of two buildings. The campus site was
donated to the state by Edward L. Bonner and Francis G. Higgins of
Missoula. In 1899 the university occupied its permanent quarters.
President Craig remained at the head of the university until 1908,
when failing health compelled his resignation. He was succeeded by
Clyde A. Duniway, who came to Montana from Stanford University.
During the administration of President Duniway, the summer session was
inaugurated and the School of Law established. In 1912, Edwin Boone
Craighead, of Tulane University, succeeded President Duniway. He con-
tinued in office until 191 5. Under his presidency the Schools of Forestry
and of Journalism were established; the School of Pharmacy reorganized;
the departments of Business Administration and of Domestic Science were
added to the College of Arts and Sciences.
HISTORY OF MONTANA
533
In 191 5, Professor Frederick C. Scheuch was appointed acting presi-
dent and continued in that capacity until the summer of 1917.
Edward O. Sisson was appointed president of the university in 1917,
coming to Montana from Idaho, where he had held the office of State
Commissioner of Education. His resignation in the spring of 1921 took
effect in July of that year and he was succeeded by Dr. Charles H. Oapp,
at the time president of the Montana State School of Mines and director
and geologist of the Montana Bureau of Mines and Metallurgy.
Dr. Edward O. Sisson and Dr. Charles H. Clapp
The retiring and the incoming presidents of the State University, Dr.
Edward O. Sisson and Dr. Charles H. Clapp, are widely and closely identi-
State University Buildings, Missoula
fied with the development of higher education in Montana, and both have
demonstrated by their achievements that they are not only deep students
and thorough scholars, but executives of marked ability.
Dr. Edward O. Sisson, former president of the College of Montana,
was born in England, but came to the United States in his early youth
and spent a number of the succeeding years in Kansas. In 1886, he
graduated from the Kansas State Agricultural College and in 1892 entered
the University of Chicago as a member of its first class of graduate?. From
that institution he obtained his A. B. degree and afterward pursued post-
graduate courses at the University of Berlin and Harvard University, the
latter conferring upon him the Ph. D. honor. For five ye?irs he was
connected in a prominent way with the public school system of Chicago
534 HISTORY OF MONTANA
(prior to entering the University of Chicago), and while still pursuing
his studies there founded the South Side Academy in that city, of which
he was principal from 1892 to 1897. During the succeeding decade he
served as director of the Bradley Polytechnic Institute, Peoria, Illinois, and
as assistant professor of education in the University of Illinois. In 1906,
Doctor Sisson became identified with the development of higher education
in the far Northwest, by becoming professor of pedagogy and director of
the department of education in the University of Washington. After hold-
ing that position for six years, he assumed similar duties in connection
with Reed College, Portland, Oregon, for more than a year, and from
1913 to 1917, inclusive, was commissioner of education for the State of
Idaho. From the latter year until his resignation (which took effect in
July, 1921) he served as president of the Montana State University, when
he departed from Missoula for the field of his future labors.
Dr. Charles H. Clapp, Doctor Sisson's successor as president of
the State University, is a Bostonian with a New England education, and a
high reputation as a western geologist and educator. In 1905 he received
the degree of B. S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and
soon afterward became instructor in geology and mining in the University
of North Dakota, which, with the office of assistant state geologist, he held
for two years. Professor Clapp then rejoined his alma mater, as instructor
in geology of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, holding that posi-
tion until 1 910. In the meantime he had become connected with the
geological survey of Canada and remained thus until 1913. The institute
had conferred the degree of Ph. D. upon him in 1910 and in the following
year he had pursued a post-graduate course at Harvard University. In
1 91 3, Doctor Clapp again came into the educational field of the West as a
geologist and assumed the professorship of geology at the University of
Arizona, leaving that position to assume the same chair in the Montana
State School of Mines, in 1916. Two years afterward, he was elected
president of the school, and in 1919 was appointed director and geologist of
the Montana Bureau of Mines and Metallurgy. Since 1914, he had been
assistant geologist of the United States Geological Survey. Doctor Clapp
was thus recognized as a national authority on geology and as an executive
educator of high standing in Montana, when he succeeded Doctor Sisson
as president of the State University in July, 1921.
A Bit of History
As stated, it was not until 1895 ^^'^''■^ t'^^ university was formally
opened under the presidency of Doctor Craig, with four associate members
of the faculty. In addition to a preparatory course, four college curricula
were offered — classical, philosophical, general science and applied science.
After the Legislature had appropriated $100,000 for the construction of
buildings, in 1897, the university erected University Hall (containing class
rooms, library and museum) and Science Hall (embracing the departments
of Science and Engineering). In 1901, the Legislature authorized a bond
issue of $70,000 for the construction of a women's dormitory and a
HISTORY OF MONTANA 535
gymnasium, and in 1907 appropriated $50,000 for a library building.
Four years afterward, the biological station at Flathead Lake was
established.
Under the long and useful presidency of Professor Craig, the faculty
of the university increased from five to thirty members and the enrollment
of students proportionately. The philosophical, the classical and science
courses were combined into the College of Liberal Arts and Science, the
course in applied science was developed into a department of engineering,
and the Department of Education began the work of preparing Montana
students to fill positions in her high schools.
At his retirement in 1908, President Craig was succeeded by Professor
Clyde A. Duniway, of Leland Stanford Junior University. In his admin-
istration a law school was established under the direction of Judge Clay-
berg. Doctor Craighead of Tulane University, who became president in
1912, saw that the first step in the real progress of the cause of higher
education was to consolidate or unify the institutions already existing.
His appeal for assistance to the State Board of Education met with a
hearty and prompt response.
The bill for consolidation was introduced by Senator Whiteside of
Flathead County. It provided for the formation of a great university by
combining the four state schools. It was to have a permanent endowment,
guaranteed by a mill tax and the site of the institution was to be chosen
by a commission of disinterested men. It was planned that the greater
university should have a campus of at least 10,000 acres, where could be
conducted experiments in forestry and agriculture, and where students
might work in order to pay their way through college. The Whiteside
bill, however, was defeated by a combination of the Dillon, Bozeman and
Missoula interests which naturally protested against the removal of the
institutions already established in their communities.
The unification bill introduced by Senator Leighton, which recognized
the force of those interests and yet consolidated and systematized the
various courses so that there was no repetition or overlapping in the cur-
ricula, replaced the Whiteside measure, which was also open to the
objection that it would throw a great burden of expenditure upon the
state. At the meeting of the Board of Education in June, 1913, it was
decided that the new university should become operative in the following
month, and that a committee should be appointed to avoid all duplication
in the courses of the schools at Missoula, Dillon and Bozeman.
The University of Today
The university campus comprises sixty acres. It lies southeast of
Missoula at the head of the Missoula Valley. The entrance to the campus
is on the west side, from University Avenue. Trees, lawns, shrubbery and
flowers, interspersed among the walks and drives, make an attractive
setting for the buildings. Directly east of the campus is Mount Sentinel,
2,000 feet high, upon whose slope the university owns 520 acres, extending
to the summit.
536 HISTORY OF MONTANA
The buildings of the State University are : University Hall, Science
Hall, Natural Science Hall, Craig Hall, Library Hall, the Gymnasium,
Forestry Building, Music Building, the Hospital, Simpkins Hall, Cook Hall,
and Y. W. C. A. Building.
University Hall is the administration building. Here also are the
assembly hall of the university and class rooms, lecture rooms and labora-
tories.
Science Hall is occupied by the School of Pharmacy and the Depart-
ment of Chemistry.
Natural Science Hall, completed January, 1919, is a modern, three-
story laboratory building. It contains the classrooms and laboratories
of the departments of Biology, Botany, Home Economics and Physics. It
has also a large lecture room, equipped with stereopticon and motion-
picture apparatus.
Craig Hall is the women's dormitory, entirely used as a domicile for
the women students of the institution.
The gymnasium is equipped for the physical education of all students.
Adjoining it is Dornblaser field, the athletic ground, with its bleachers and
tracks.
Library Hall contains the university library, the law library, the class-
rooms of the School of Law and other lecture and classrooms.
The Forestry and Music buildings are frame structures, affording tem-
porary quarters for these schools.
The hospital is designed for the isolation of students who may be
suffering from contagious or infectious diseases and for their treatment.
Simpkins Hall and Cook Hall are the buildings erected for barracks.
They have been remodeled so that Simpkins Hall serves as a men's dormi-
tory and Cook Hall is the armory of the R. O. T. C. and temporary
quarters of the School of Journalism.
Biological Station
A station for instruction and research, located at Yellow Bay on the
east shore of Flathead Lake. The university owns eighty-nine acres
here with nearly a mile and a half of shore line; the institution is
owner also of forty acres on Wild Horse Island and forty acres on Bull
Island. The Flathead Lake Bird Reservation consists of two islands
donated to the state as a bird reserve. These islands are under the con-
trol of the station, protected by state law. All of this land is for biological
use. The station is accessible by a good automobile road or by boat from
either end of the lake, connecting with both Great Northern and Northern
Pacific trains.
The building equipment of the station consists of a substantial brick
laboratory, a log dining building, a kitchen and a group of sleeping tents.
The station has, also, a good equipment of boats and launches, with the
collecting apparatus and laboratory instruments necessary for research
work.
The station is located in virgin forest between the lake and the Mis-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 537
sion Mountains, which rise to an altitude of 8,500 feet at this point.
Forest, lake and mountains afford an attractive and, to a great extent, an
unexplored field for biological research.
It is the purpose of the biological station to provide opportunity for
field vi^ork of a sort which cannot be done in the routine of a university
program. Instruction is limited to prescribed work for beginners but
qualified students may select their own lines of research.
Administration and Organization ,
The local administrative officers of the university are as follows :
Charles H. Clapp, Ph. D., president ; Frederick C. Scheuch, M. E., A. C,
vice president; Richard H. Jesse, Jr., Ph. D., dean of men; Mrs. H. R.
Sedman, B. S., dean of women; Arthur L. Stone, B. S., university editor
and dean of the School of Journalism ; Shirley J. Coon, M. A., dean of the
School of Business Administration; Dorr Skeels, B. S., dean of the School
of Forestry ; Charles W. Leaphart, A. B., M. A., LL. B., dean of the School
of Law; DeLoss Smith, dean of the School of Music; Charles E. F.
Mollet, Ph. C, B. A., dean of the School of Pharmacy; James B. Speer,
B. A., LL. B., registrar and business manager, and Gertrude M. Buckhous,
B. S., librarian. The faculty comprises thirty full professors, one as-
sociate, twenty-four assistant professors, twenty instructors and assistants,
with special lecturers on law, forestry and journalism.
The departments of the State University are the College of Arts and
Sciences, and schools of Business Administration, Forestry, Journalism,
Law, Music and Pharmacy. The College of Arts and Sciences aims
primarily to give the student a liberal education, while at the same time
giving him special training in some chosen field of work. For this purpose
it has adopted a flexible curriculum. The student must select a major
department in which he must obtain from forty to fifty-five credits, and he
must also get acquainted wtih the other fields of liberal education. The
required courses are classed under biology, botany, chemistry, economics,
education,* English, fine arts, geology, history and political science, home
economics, Latin and Greek, library science, mathematics, military science,
modern languages, physical education, physics and psychology and phil-
osophy. The details as to entrance and graduation are beyond the scope of
this article.
It may also be noted that students who desire to prepare for educational
administration as principals and superintendents are required to do major
work in the department or school oi education. Those wishing to be teach-
ers of special subjects are advised to do major work in the departments
oiifering such special subjects.
The department of home economics is of special value to women, its
aim being threefold : to train teachers for secondary and normal schools
and colleges; to train dietitians and managers for such institutions as hos-
* The organization of this department as a school has been authorized by the
State Board of Education.
538 HISTORY OF MONTANA
pitals, dormatories, tea and lunch rooms and cafeterias; and to liberalize
the woman's education by giving her an appreciation of her greatest profes-
sion, that of home making. The curriculum includes courses in foods,
clothing and shelter, adapted to the different seasons of the year.
The courses on hbrary economy are of great practical worth in these
times of the general utilization of library privileges. They teach one how
to get the greatest good from the libraries which crowd the land, and often
are under-appreciated from lack of the very information conveyed in the
courses indicated. Library Economy is open to all university students and
covers, in lectures, reading and reference work, the following: The
arrangement of the library and the privileges granted students, the use and
value of the card catalogue, dictionaries and encyclopedias, Poole's index
and periodical literature, classification, cataloging, atlases and gazetteers,
note taking, book binding and care of books, government publications
and reference books on English and American literature, history and
science.
The R. O. T. C.
The State University maintains an infantry unit of the Reserve Officers'
Training Corps, organized under authority of the National Defense Act
and under the supervision of a captain and sergeant of the United States
Army. Certain classes of students are barred from entrance to the
R. O. T. C, such as those who have reached the age of twenty-seven years
at the beginning of the quarter ; because of physical disability ; those who
have completed two years' training under P. M. S. and T. at some
other institution for which credit has been given ; those who have served
in any branch of the army or navy, including the Students' Army Training
Corps, during the World war ; students who are not citizens of the United
States, and no member of the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United
States, of the National Guard, Naval Militia, or Naval Reserve or reserve
officers of the military or naval forces of the United States.
Germ.*\n
In the Department of Modern languages are French and Spanish, but
announcement is made: "Instruction in German was suspended durmg
the war by order of the State Council of Defense. The State Board of
Education has authorized the reinstatement of this subject as soon as the
force of the order legally expires."
School of Business Administration
The School of Business Administration gives training in its elementary
courses for expert clerical work, and in its advanced courses for executive
and administrative positions in industrial and commercial organizations
and in the public service. Its various courses embrace instruction and
practice in business management, commercial law, corporation finance,
HISTORY OF MONTANA 539
foreign trade, accounting, advertising and selling and secretarial work, and
commercial teaching.
The work of the Montana School of Forestry is along two distinct
lines — an undergraduate course of four years which provides for specializa-
tion in all the various branches of forestry and forestry engineering, and a
course of twelve weeks for forest rangers.
School of Forestry
The purpose of the Ranger School is to improve the training of forest
rangers and other forest officers. Men who have either a high school train-
ing or some practical experience in forestry work are prepared in this
course to pass the civil service examination for forest ranger. During the
course opportunity is also offered for specialization or short course train-
ing in lumbering and logging, scaling and cruising, surveying and mapping,
stream gauging, highway and bridge construction and grazing. The work
of the school is carried on in close co-operation with the United States
Forest Service. Experts in various branches of forest service work are
detailed under authorization of the secretary of agriculture as special
lecturers in the school. Other state and government officials and experts
in the employ of lumber companies assist in the training. Special lectures
in grazing are given by the state veterinarian.
School of Journ-'Xlism
Practical training in the work of newspaper making is the purpose of
the School of Journalism. Technical training is combined with courses in
the College of Arts and Sciences, that the graduates of the school may
obtain preparation as broad and comprehensive as possible. The vocational
work of the school is thoroughly practical. Its purpose throughout is to
develop reporters — to ground its students thoroughly in the fundamentals
of newspaper endeavor and practice. No student leaves the school with the
idea that he is ready to assume at once editorial or managerial duties.
The school's course is four years ; these years are arranged to present
the features of newspaper work under conditions which parallel those
which exist in a newspaper office. This plan of instruction makes the
journalism building veritably a workshop. The reporters' room resembles
the news room of a newspaper office ; the work done here is identical with
that required of the reporter on a daily newspaper.
Following the work in newsgathering and newswriting and the study
of news values, the student is given experience in editing copy, in editorial
writing and in the makeup of a newspaper. The problems of the business
office — circulation, the writing and selling of advertising and the general
organization of a newspaper — are taken up.
There are no textbooks used in the course; the student studies the
newspaper. The school receives the leading daily newspapers of the
country and these are given careful and thorough study. In the junior
and senior years, the student studies foreign newspapers. The school has
the nucleus of a reference library, which is used intensively.
540 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Publications devoted to the craft are on file and the study of these
is a part of the student's assigned work. The school maintains a fine
newspaper "morgue" which is developing into a valuable reference file.
Special emphasis is placed upon the study of current events.
The Associated Press, the United Press and the International News
Service donate a daily copy of their "flimsy," which is used as the basis
of instruction in editing and head-writing. The relationship between the
School of Journalism and the Montana State Press Association is close
and pleasant. The members of the association are contributing material
which is the beginning of the school's much-desired laboratorj'. The school
furnishes to the newspapers of the state a weekly news service from the
State University.
School of Law
The School of Law was established as a department of the University
of Montana in 191 1. Prior to that time there had been no similar institu-
tion in the state. The school occupies quarters in the library building,
and has a professional library of 9,000 volumes. The collection is known
as the William Wirt Dixon Law Library. A recent gift to the School of
Law under the will of Mrs. W. W. Dixon will make possible the endowment
of a professorship and the addition of about 1,500 volumes to the library.
The school has also received a gift from Judge John J. McHatton, of Butte,
consisting of his entire library of 1,400 volumes, with book cases to hold
them.
The case system of instruction is generally employed.
Special attention is given to practice court work, in which the students
are required not only to argue legal questions, but to try cases, prepare
appeals and go through all the steps incident to the trial of a law suit.
Students who have successfully completed the regular law course and
received the certificate or degree, may in the discretion of the Supreme
Court of Montana be admitted to practice in the courts of Montana with-
out further examination.
Public School Music
Graduation from the School of Music entitles the student to twenty-
seven credits toward the B. A. degree of the College of Arts and Science.
Pupils are accepted for private lessons without limitation as to age or
academic entrance requirements.
This course is for supervisors and teachers of music in the public
schools. It covers a period of two years. Those who desire may add
two more years from the Bachelor of Music course and receive a degree.
Those completing the two-years course will receive a Supervisor of Music
certificate and will be recommended by the State Superintendent of In-
struction to receive a special certificate to teach music in the schools of
the state. Students will do their observation work in the city schools
of Missoula.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 541
School of Pharmacy
Applicants for admission to the School of Pharmacy must be at least
sixteen years of age, of good moral character and have completed a high
school course or a preparatory course of four years. The pharmacists of
Montana have endorsed it, and it has received favorable recognition else-
where. The school is registered by the Department of Education of the
New York State University, and it is a member of the Conference of
Faculties of the American Pharmaceutical Association. The society main-
tained by the school is a branch of the Montana Pliarmaceutical Associa-
tion. Graduates of the school are eligible to compete for the Samuel W.
Fairchild scholarship of $300 in cash, the examination for which is held at
the university on June 2Sth.
All standard medical schools in the United States now require for
admission at least two years of college work ; some of the leading schools
demand college graduation. The State University therefore oflfers a course
preparing students for entrance to any medical school in the United States.
The summer quarter of the university is an extension to the people of
the state of its privileges and curricula for the entire year instead of
three-fourths of the year. The executives of the University of Montana
and the State Board of Educational Examiners, in January, 1920, adopted
standards of credits on teachers' certificates for the summer schools which
went into effect on June 7th of that year. Thus the completion of the
courses pursued in the summer quarters is a practical means not only
along the line of university extension but of hastening the time when the
student may commence to teach.
Women in the University
The academic and social welfare of the women students is under direct
supervision of the dean of women. All young women whose homes are
outside of Missoula live in the university hall of residence, in the Eloise
Knowles Co-operative Cottage, in the chapter houses or in approved resi-
dences. Exceptions are made only by permission of the dean of women.
The university maintains one large hall of residence, Craig Hall, which
accommodates about seventy-two students. The women who live in this
hall have adopted a form of self-government with officers chosen from the
members. These officers, together with the director, form a house commit-
tee to whom all matters of importance are referred. The Eloise Knowles
Co-operative Cottage accommodates ten women.
For the benefit of those women who are not accommodated in Craig
Hall, or the Knowles Cottage, the dean of women has prepared a list of
addresses where rooms for young women may be obtained which will be
sent upon request. All houses have been inspected by her, and although
responsibility cannot be assumed by the university, they are believed to
be suitable homes for women students. The discipline of such houses is
controlled by the students themselves under the supervision of the Women's
Self-Governing Association and the dean of women.
542 HISTORY OF MONTANA
The Women's Self -Governing Association is an organization for the
women of tlie university only. Every woman student is a member of this
organization, the object of which is to regulate all matters pertaining to
the student life of its members which do not fall under the jurisdiction of
the faculty ; to further in every way the spirit of women of the university,
to increase their sense of responsibility toward each other and to be a
medium by which the social standard of the university can be made and
kept high. The executive board of the W. S. G. A. is composed of
representatives from Craig Hall, each sorority house, each lodging house
where six or more girls reside and from the girls who live in Missoula.
The Town Girls' Association is an organization composed of girls who do
not live in Craig Hall or in chapter houses. Mortar Board is an organ-
ization of senior girls. The Young Women's Christian Association is an
organization open to all women of the university.
Pliysical Education Promoters, commonly known as P. E. P., is an
organization to promote the interest of physical education in this institution.
Home Economics Club is an organization to develop friendliness by
bringing all the members of the club together on a common plane, and to
give every woman a clearer conception of the duties and responsibilities of
the homemaker.
The Library and Museum
The general library of the State .University comprises about 45,000
volumes and 19,000 pamphlets. It occupies the main floor of the library
building. The library is the designated depository of documents issued by
the United States Government. It is also a depository for the publication
of the National Organization for Public Health Nursing and similar organ-
izations. These publications may be borrowed by any one in the state
who is interested in public health work. It is the state center for distribu-
tion of American Library Association, Library War Service books to ex-
service men.
A large and well lighted room in the new Natural Science Building is
set apart for housing the scientific collections of the university. Since the
first establishment of a small museum in i8g8 to the present, material has
been accumulating from various sources. Most of it pertains to the fauna
and flora of the state and to the state's industries. Owing to the lack of
room for teaching purposes, which demanded every spare comer in the
various buildings on the camjius, the cases and collections have stood in the
halls of the main building for several years, without attenlinn. The im-
proved quarters make possible extensive class use of material which has
heretofore been impossible, will afiford com])lete fire protection, and will
make possible display for public exhibition and the education of the visit-
ing public which is so needful and desiralile. It is now possible to organize
a museum that will be of great service to the university and to the state.
The museum as it is planned is not only a place where scientific treasures
may be safely stored, but a place where visitors may derive information,
where the public may see something of the state's scientific and material
HISTORY OF MONTANA 543
resources, and where university students may find material for study. The
scientific and historic sections are now much used in instructional work.
The new plans and excellent quarters will make this important jjhase of
study much more valuable through its enlargement.
Bureau of Information
Outside of its province as an educator in the definite sense of the
word, the State University established its Bureau of Information in Oc-
tober, 19 1 3. It is open to all classes of citizens and no restriction is placed
upon the subjects upon which they may request information. There is only
one requirement — that each letter of inquiry must be accompanied by
return postage in case an answer by mail is desired. Citizens of Montana
are even urged to use this Bureau of Information so that it may become
a wide-spread medium of public usefulness and service.
Honor Scholarships and Prizes
The State University provides a number of honor scholarships and
prizes. The awards are made by the Scholarship Committee in conference
with the president. The High School Honor Scholarship, awarded to the
graduate of an accredited high school of the state who belongs to the
highest one-fourth of his class in scholarship, or the highest of the gradu-
ating class desiring to attend the university, exempts the holder from the
payment of all customary fees except the student activity fees and the
special fees in the School of Music. The Student Army Training Corps
Scholarships are granted to students who had taken up work in one of
the university corps, but were prevented from continuing by the signing
of the armistice. In awarding the Bonner scholarship to the student at
the end of his freshman year, the committee considers scholarship, moral
qualities, conditions and probabilities of future usefulness. Its purpose is
to aid a student of fine mental and moral qualities to obtain a university
education who might otherwise find it difficult, if not impossible, to obtain
one. The Straughn Scheuch scholarship was founded by Professor and
Mrs. Frederick C. Scheuch in memory of their son, who died during his
freshman year in the State University on February 2, 1920. It is awarded
to a self-supporting male student in the College of Arts and Science for his
support during his junior and senior years.
Annual scholarships have also been donated to the various institutions
of the university by the State Federation of Women's Clubs. Their hold-
ers are exempt from the payment of the customary fees, and their expenses
for board, room-rent and books are paid also by the Federation.
The Butte College Club has established three scholarships open to girl
graduates of the Butte High School, $300 being allowed each year to each
recipient. To be eligible, the student must have made high grades in the
high school and must receive the vote of two thirds of the club's active
membership.
Among the four prizes open to competition are the Annie Lewis Joyce
544 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Memorial prize of $200 for students of the English department ; the Ben-
nett Essay prize of $400 offered by the Department of History and Political
Science; the 1904 class prize of $20 to be awarded annually to the student
holding highest rank in a department to be named from year to year by
members of that class in rotation, and the Rider Art prize to be given
annually by Dr. T. T. Rider of Missoula to the student in the Department
of Fine Arts who shows the greatest advancement in art during the year.
A fund of $1,000 was set aside by the late Professor William M.
Aber for the establishment of the Aber Memorial Oratorical prizes. A
first prize of $35 and second prize of $15 are awarded annually to the win-
ners in an oratorical contest.
College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts
By an act of the third Legislative Assembly of Montana, signed
by Governor J. E. Rickards, February 16, 1893, the Agricultural College
of the State of Montana was located at Bozeman. This act provided
for an executive board which should have the immediate control and
direction of the affairs of the college, subject only to the general super-
vision of the State Board of Education. The executive board was author-
ized to appoint a secretary and treasurer and to choose a president and
faculty.
On March 21, 1893, the State Board of Education held its first meet-
ing at Bozeman. A site of forty acres for campus was donated by Nelson
Story, Sr. An adjoining 160 acres of land, owned by Gallatin County, was
donated, one-half by the county and one-half by the citizens of Bozeman.
An executive board was appointed. The executive board chose Luther
Foster for acting president. On April 17, with the president and an assist-
ant, instruction was begun. September 15, the college opened for its first
full year's work. A. M. Ryon was president and the faculty numbered
six. Courses were offered in agriculture, domestic economy, and applied
science, the last being chiefly engineering and chemistry. There was also
established a one-year preparatory course, a two-years business course,
modeled after the usual private business college, and a music department.
Nelson Story, Sr., donated the use of a frame building which had
been occupied as a Presbyterian Academy. The public school board al-
lowed the use of some rooms in a nearby school building. During the
summer of 1894 the brick veneer building now used for biology was
erected out of the Hatch Experiment Station Fund.
The Legislative Assembly in 1895 authorized bond issue of $100,000
to provide funds to erect and furnish buildings for the college.
By the enactment of Chapter 92 of the laws of the Thirteenth Legis-
lative Assembly in 1913, the State University at Missoula, the State School
of Mines at Butte, the State Normal College at Dillon, and the State
Agricultural College at Bozeman were combined into the University of
Montana, under the executive control of an officer whose title is chan-
cellor.
The Enabling Act, providing for the admission of Montana into the
HISTORY OF MONTANA
545
Union, approved February 22, 1889, Section 16 grants 90,000 acres of land
to Montana for the use and support of an agricultural college according
to the terms of the Act of Congress, July 2, 1862, and Section 17 grants
an additional 50,000 for the same purpose and subject to the same con-
ditions and limitations as the other grant. The 140,000 acres of land
cannot be sold for a price less than $10 per acre and the principal, to-
gether with all money received from the sale of timber, is to be invested
as a permanent endowment. The unsold land may be leased, and the
rental, together with the interest on the permanent endowment, shall be
used for the maintenance of the college.
Agricultural College H.all, Bozeman
The Act of Congress of August 30, 1890, appropriates $25,000 an-
nually out of the treasury of the United States. By the Nelson Bill passed
March 3, 1907, this amount was increased annually by $5,000 each
year beginning in 1907 until now the total annual appropriation has reached
$50,000, at which figure it is to remain.
The Smith-Hughes Act of Congress, February, 1917, provides a plan
for Vocational Education in Agriculture, Home Economics and the Trades
and Industry. The training of teachers under the federal plan for Voca-
tional Education as authorized by the Smith-Hughes Act is the work of
the College. The federal government makes an annual appropriation of
$5,000 and the State Legislature a like amount.
The purpose of the college of agriculture and mechanic arts is chiefly
to provide collegiate education in agriculture, engineering, home economics.
546 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and applied science, for the young men and women of the respective states
in which they are located. The scope of the Montana State College is set
forth in the two so-called Morrill Acts of Congress, which authorized
this class of institutions and supplied in part endowment and funds for
maintenance ; and in the act of the Montana Legislature accepting the land
and money grants from the national government.
The first Morrill Act of Congress of July 2, 1862, making a land grant
for the partial endowment of the agricultural and mechanical colleges,
states that the income from these lands shall be used to maintain colleges
"where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and
classical studies and including military tactics, to teach such branches of
learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such man-
ner as the legislatures of the states may respectively prescribe in order to
promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the
several pursuits and professions of life."
The second Morrill Act of Congress, August 30, 1890, making an
annual appropriation out of the treasury of the United States for the
further support and endowment of these colleges, provides that this fund
is "to be applied only to instruction in agriculture and mechanic arts, the
English language, and the various branches of mathematical, physical,
natural and economic sciences, with special reference to their application
to the industries of life; and to the facilities for such instruction."
The act appropriates $25,000 annually out of the treasury of the
United States to further its objects. By the Nelson Bill, passed March
3, 1907, this amount was increased annually by $5,000 each year beginning
in '1907, until the total annual appropriation has reached $50,000, at which
figure it is to remain.
The College Buildings
The college campus and farm at Bozeman comprise 400 acres. The
forty acres in the immediate vicinity of the buildings constitute the campus
and recreation grounds, which are in lawn, interspersed with flower beds,
shrubbery, trees and driveways. On the campus are a quarter-mile track,
a baseball diamond, a football field and three cement tennis courts. The
remainder is used for farming and experimental purposes.
Montana Hall, a three story structure, is in the center of the campus,
and contains the administration offices, the library, department of art and
mathematics, the assembly hall and numerous class rooms. Hamilton
Hall, with its three floors, is the dormitory for women, and Agricultural
Hall contains within its four stories offices, store rooms, classrooms and
laboratories connected with .the study, experiments and practical opera-
tions of dairying, agriculture, horticulture, agronomy and home economics.
It also has a large assembly room.
Adjoining Agricultural Hall is the greenhouse and on either side flower
and vegetable rooms. Through the center is a plant breeding room and
near by a propagating room.
The Chemistry building is a modern fireproof structure of reinforced
HISTORY OF MONTANA 547
concrete. Several of the laboratories are provided with electric circuits
for both heat and power. Those located in the basement are for agricul-
tural, organic and food chemistry. The basement also furnishes quarters
for a food and drug laboratory and for a water and sewage laboratory
where the work required by the State Board of Health in enforcing the
State Food Law and some- of the state sanitary laws is carried on.
The building of the Experiment Station contains research laboratories,
store rooms and a large lecture room. Geological collections and a min-
eralogical laboratory, as well as a distilling apparatus the water of which
is distributed to all laboratories, are in the attic of the building.
The Biology building is three stories with basement and contains the
zoological collection, with laboratories for bacteriology, botany and general
biology. The entomologist has his special quarters, and there is also an
insectary for the study of living insects.
There are also an engineering laboratory, with all kinds of machinery
for experimental work in connection with electrical and hydraulic opera-
tions. Then there are the shops ; the barracks, built for the Students'
Army Training Corps, which have been converted into dormitories for
men ; a good gymnasium and the eight College Farm buildings adjacent
to the campus.
The campus of sixty acres was the gift of citizens of Bozeman, and
largely that of Nelson Story, Sr. The county poor farm of i6o acres
was donated for an experimental farm, one-half by Gallatin County and
one-half by its citizens. The first executive board consisted of L. S. Will-
son, Peter Koch, Walter Cooper, of Bozeman, E. H. Talcott, of Livingston,
and George Kinkel, of Manhattan. Instruction began April 17, 1893,
and continued ten weeks, during which period Luther Foster was acting
head and eight students were enrolled. The first year of regular work
opened September 15th, with the following faculty: A. M. Ryon, presi-
dent and head of the department of engineering; S. M. Emery, director
of the experiment station and horticulturist; Luther Foster, agriculture
and botany; F. W. Traphagen, chemistry; R. E. Chandler, mathematics
and engineering; B. F. Maiden, English'; H. G. Phelps, commercial sub-
jects. College courses were offered in engineering, agriculture and domes-
tic science. There were also a preparatory school, a business bourse and
a music department.
At first, the college had no buildings and the instruction was carried on
in a public school building and the old academy building on Main Street.
In 1895, the Legislative Assembly passed an act to bond the 50,000 acre
land grant made in the Enabling Act for $100,000 to construct buildings.
College Hall, the chemistry building and the first shop were erected out
of the proceeds of this bond issue. These bonds were afterward declared
void by the State Supreme Court and by act of Legislative Assembly of
1907 state bonds were issued in lieu thereof.
The cornerstone of the main building was laid October 21, 1896, under
Masonic auspices, and Governor Rickards delivered the principal address.
The original buildings were completed and occupied in 1897. A dairy
barn was built in 1904. In 1907, an appropriation of $80,000 was made
548 HISTORY OF MONTANA
for an agricultural and domestic science building and in 1908 the state
turned over to the college the buildings and grounds belonging to old Fort.
Ellis. The dormitory for girls was erected in 191 2.
Administration of the College
In 1897, President Ryon was superceded by James Reid, who remained
at the head of the institution until 1904, when Prof. James M. Ham-
ilton became its president. He resigned in 1915, but was prevailed upon
to continue in charge until a satisfactory successor could be secured, and
in July, 1919, Prof. Alfred Atkinson, who had been connected with
the college throughout Professor Hamilton's administration — for much of
the period as professor of agronomy and experiment station agronomist —
became head of the college. President Hamilton, who thereby closed
fifteen years of service in the presidency, at once concentrated his work
upon the professorship of economics and the newly created position of
dean of men.
President Atkinson retained the chair of agronomy. For some years
he has also been director of the State Grain Laboratory, and during the
World's war devoted a great part of his time to the exacting duties of
federal food administrator for Montana.
The other administrative officers of the College of Agriculture and
Mechanics Arts are: Frederick B. Linfield, B. S. A., director of the
experiment station; Fred S. Cooley, B. S., director of extension service;
James B. Hamilton, dean of men ; Una B. Herrick, dean of women ; John
H. Hoist, M. A., principal of secondary schools and director of summer
session; Roy Orvis Wilson, B. S., house director at Hamilton Hall; Anker
Christenson, acting superintendent of buildings ; Adele McCray, college
nurse ; Ray B. Bowden, editorial director. On the faculty are thirty-one
full professors, one associate, and twenty-two assistants, as well as seven-
teen instructors and five assistants.
The enrollment of students is a fair index of the advancement of the
College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts since it was put in operation.
The showing is presented in periods of five years. In 1893-94, the first
school yearfthe enrollment was 139; in 1897-98, 201 ; 1902-03, 305 ; 1907-
08, 419; 1912-13, 557; 1917-18, 1,105. In 1918-19 the enrollment was
only 887, 310 students being in the Students' Army Training Corps.
State School of Mines
The establishment of the State School of Mines, in Butte, was super-
vised by a commission appointed in 1895, consisting of F. E. Sargent,
John Gillie, W. W. Dixon, J. H. Leyson, and C. W. Goodale. The lands
of the School of Mines were used as a basis for the issue of bonds amount-
ing to $120,000, and in 1896 the erection of the main building was begun.
An additional appropriation of $26,300 was made in 1899 for equipment
and maintenance. The school actually opened September 11, 1900, and
the first class graduated in June, 1903.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 549
The proceeds from the sale of the lands of the School of Mines have
gone into permanent fund, the interest from which, together with the
rentals from unsold lands, has provided the school in recent years with
most of its ordinary operating and capital expenditures. In 1907, $50,-
000 was appropriated for a new heating plant and mill building, and in
1910, $15,000 was appropriated for a gymnasium.
Nathan R. Leonard, professor of mathematics, was the first president
of the institution. He was succeeded in 1906 by Charles H. Bowman,
professor of mathematics, who had been connected with the school since
its beginning. In 1918 President Bowman was granted a year's leave of
absence, and Charles H. Clapp, professor of geology and mineralogy, was
appointed acting president. Upon President Bowman's resignation in
1919, Professor Clapp became president. When President Clapp became
head of the State University in July, 1921, he was succeeded by Professor
G. W. Craven, former vice president of the school. Included by the
faculty are eight full professors, one associate and two assistants, two
instructors and two assistants.
The Legislative Assembly of 1919 established in the School of Mines
a State Bureau of Mines and Metallurgy, to aid in the development of
the mineral resources of Montana. In much the same way that the Agri-
cultural Experiment Station at Bozeraan has furthered the agricultural
Industry of the state, the Bureau of Mines and Metallurgy has promoted
the mineral industry. Its work, which is considered auxiliary to that of
the School of Mines, has been fully described in the chapter on mining.
When the State School of Mines opened on September 11, 1900, the
faculty consisted of Nathan R. Leonard, president and professor of mathe-
matics; William G. King, professor of chemistry and metallurgy; Alex-
ander N. Winchell, professor of geology and mineralogy; and Charles H.
Bowman, professor of mechanics and mining engineering. In January,
1902, a preparatory department was opened in charge of Prof. L. R.
Foote. The second year there was added to the teaching corps a lecturer
on mining law in the person of Hon. John B. Clayberg. Albert B. Knight
and Prof. E. H. McDonald held the first professorships of mining en-
gineering. At the close of the school year 1904-05, the preparatory depart-
ment was abolished. In 1907, during the second year of President
Bowman's administration, the second building of the School of Mines was
completed. It contained plants for the cyanidation and reduction of ores,
and its completion was a great event in the history of the institution.
The enrollment of the school has increased from thirty-nine in the
first year 1900-01 ; sixty-one in 1904-05; seventy-five in 1915-16, and 126
in 1919-20. The last figures are exclusive of sixty-five extension corre-
spondence students.
Purpose .'\nd Scope
The School of Mines has strictly confined itself to the preparation of
young men for the mining profession, and by so doing has maintained a
very high standard in this field. Before the war 90 per cent of its grad-
550 HISTORY OF MONTANA
uates were engaged in engineering work, very largely in mining engineer-
ing, and moreover many of its graduates hold positions of great respon-
sibility. Although the distinction between a purely vocational school and
an engineering college has always been clearly in mind, the school has
given its students a practical knowledge of mining subjects, as well as a
thorough education in theoretical principles. The fundamental subjects
for all forms of engineering are given and special emphasis is laid upon
the three main branches of mining-geology, mining and milling, and metal-
lurgy.
Location and Buildings
The State School of Mines is located just inside the western city limits
of Butte. The site, on the southern bench of Big Butte, the extinct vol-
cano which dominated the city, and from which the city takes its name,
was donated by certain public-spirited citizens. It is easily accessible, since
the street cars run within two blocks. The location is most commanding,
and the view from the grounds overlooks the city, mines and smelters ;
as well as the mountains which form the Continental divide, and which
surround the valley in which the city is situated on the east and south.
In Butte are to be found, not only some of the largest copper and
zinc mines of the world, but great mills and reduction plants. These are
being continually enlarged and improved to meet the demands of greater
industry. In addition, Butte is the site of other great engineering enter-
prises, and in few other places is there such an assemblage of machine
shops, factories, and power plants as are to be found in the vicinity of
the school. The city is, therefore, especially well fitted to meet the needs
of a mining school.
In a very important sense all of these plants are a part of the sub-
stantial equipment of the school, because its pupils are brought into daily
contact with the men who are personally engaged in the various depart-
ments of the mining and engineering industry and are thoroughly con-
versant with the details of the work. The main building erected during
1895 to 1897, is a four-story pressed brick building. It measures 118
by 94 feet, and contains 37,000 square feet of floor space. In the base-
ment are the chemical, metallurgical, and mechanical testing laboratories.
The next two floors contain the recitation rooms, drafting rooms, min-
eralogy laboratory, and library. The fourth floor is devoted chiefly to
museums, which contain extensive collections of minerals, ores, and mine
models. In addition, there is also on this floor a petrograph laboratory
and a blue print room.
In the rear of the main building is the mill building, completed in
1908. This building measures 70 by 1 10 feet. It contains the steam and
electric power plant which heats the buildings and supplies power to the
mill and laboratories. The mill is equipped to handle large quantities of
ore conveniently, and affords treatment of ores by most of the standard
processes now in practice.
The gymnasium building, to the north of the main building, was
HISTORY OF MONTANA 551
erected in 1910. It measures 87 by 50 feet and contains a large gymna-
sium hall 70 by 45 feet.
The new chemistry and metallurgical building cost $200,000 and is
thoroughly equipped for its purposes.
The Montana State Normal College, Dillon
The institution named was established February 17, 1893, but it did
not get into practical operation until 1897. Prof. Joseph E. Monroe,
former president of the college, has described its fundamental aims and
plans to realize such objects, in the following paragraphs: "The Normal
College has held steadfastly to the ideal that successful teaching requires
professional training and effective training can be based only on sound
scholarship. For this reason, an amount of academic and collegiate work
has been required in connection with the course in training, greater in
subjects which they thought they had finished in high schools.
"From the very nature of the situation, that high school students are
generally immature in age, and not generally inclined to be careful,
thoughtful reasoners upon the problems which confront them, and that,
as yet, a large part of the faculties of our high schools have not been
trained for teaching, it follows as a matter of course that many of our
high school students have never been 'taught' but have simply 'learned'
subject matter. This made it appear necessary to maintain courses in
connection with the Normal College, and require students to pursue
subjects which they thought they had finished in high schools.
"The scholastic year has been divided into four quarters of twelve
weeks each during the past year (1912), instead of semesters of twenty
weeks, as formerly. The fourth quarter has become available to a class
of teachers who desire to advance along both scholastic and professional
lines. That there is a real demand for such work on the part of the
teachers themselves is evidenced by an increase in attendance of 34 per
cent in the summer of 1912, over that of the summer of 191 1, at the Nor-
mal College."
The recognized value of the summer quarter in the college curriculum
was not over-emphasized by Professor Monroe in 1912. It has continued
to grow in the esteem of the teachers and the public, especially since the
period of the World war, which so thinned the ranks of the profession,
both men and women. The college also provides a two-years' course and
a three-years' course and a "teachers' service division."
The enrollment of students for the regular courses since the college
opened has been: 1897-98, 82; 1901-02, 99; 1906-07, 197; 1911-12, 117;
1916-17, 250. The war year, 1918, reduced the enrollment to 129 and in
1919-20 it had reached 163 — not a complete recovery of the years since
1914-15. During the opening year, there was an enrollment of fifty for
the summer session, the century mark being first passed in 1912-13, when
the enrollment was no, and the highest enrollment was in 1919-20, 429.
Including both regular and summer courses, the total enrollment for the
last named year was 551.
552 HISTORY OF MONTANA
The training school of the college is thoroughly organized and unique.
Instead of being a "model school," it is a city system of education, pre-
senting every phase of organization and instruction that is to be found in
its practical operation. Pupil teachers thus trained have actual experience
and problems are required to be solved which would naturally come to
them when they are fully accredited members of the profession. The
college not only has a complete faculty but a corps of critic teachers of
the training school. The buildings and equipment at Dillon are modern,
but capable of ready expansion with the growth of the college.
Dr. Sheldon E. Davis assumed the presidency of the State Normal
College in Tnly, 1919. having enjoyed a long scholastic training and valu-
able experience in normal work in Missouri. He has also studied abroad.
Two years before the State Board of Education appointed him president,
Columbia University conferred upon him the degree of Ph. D.
Besides Doctor Davis, the local administrative officers comprise: E.
Ray Mosher, A. M., vice president ; Margaret Craig Curran, A. B., director
of teachers' service division; Grant E. Finch, Sc. D., director of train-
ing; Katherine J. MacGregor, college nurse; Velma Phillips, M. A., dean
of women; Tessie M. Degan, B. S., registrar, and M. Eva Dull, house
director of residence halls. Altogether, the faculty consists of ten full
professors, one associate and eight assistants; eleven instructors and as-
sistants, including eight instructors for the summer quarter, and twenty-
two critics.
Other Institutions of Higher Learning
Montana Wesleyan College, at Helena, was founded in 1888, under
the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, opened for students in
1890, and has been in continuous operation ever since. Its first location
was five miles north of the city in the Prickly Pear Valley, but after about
ten years, on account of the discontinuance of street car service, the school
was transferred to the heart of Helena. Henry Klein then made a dona-
tion of $10,000 to the college, the trustees of which used that fund and
purchased the twenty-two acres in the vicinity of the capitol grounds as a
site for the new institution. It was called Klein campus in honor of the
donor of the original fund. There are dormitories for both boys and
giris, the latter being completed in 1919. The Montana Wesleyan College
is a standard institution, granting degrees in the Liberal Arts course, with
schools of education, music and commerce affiliated.
The Billings Polytechnic Institute was founded in 1908 through the
generosity and wisdom of John D. Losekamp and other citizens of Bil-
lings. Mr. Losekamp, who was the author of the present high school
law of Montana had long felt that there was great need in the state for
an institution of learning which should supplement the education furnished
by the state and give boys and girls a training which would fit them for
useful citizenship. The Polytechnic was therefore instituted to control
the environment of its students outside of the class room. Its buildmgs
were erected on a large irrigated farm, the gift of James J. Hill, three
HISTORY OF MONTANA 553
miles from Billings. "Here on this farm," says a reliable description of
the institute, "with its gardens, orchards, dairy and fine farm crops, is
built a little community which has been organized into a complete self-
governing state. The officers, which consist of governor, lieutenant gov-
ernor, secretary of state, chief justice, trial judge, state marshal and legis-
lators, are elected by the citizens of the state. It is doubtful if there is
a better governed community in the world than this little student republic.
Its laws are just and conscientiously enforced. The young man who spends
a few years in this community is trained to become a statesman and is
ready to take a leading part in public affairs of his community.
"The industries which are connected with the school include the rais-
ing of all kinds of farm crops on irrigated and dry land, the caring for
fruit, the canning of vegetables, caring for stock, making of butter, the
care of poultry and bees, the construction of the various buildings, car-
pentry, blacksmithing, plumbing and furniture making. These various
industries give the student an opportunity of working his way through
school. Practical courses are offered in commerce, normal training for
rural and graded teachers, preparatory engineering, practical agriculture,
domestic science and music. There are no entrance requirements. Students
in any stage of advancement are received and their school work is adapted
to their individual needs. The students maintain a non-sectarian church,
literary societies and an athletic association." Emphasis is placed on
musical instruction, a conservatory having been built at a comparatively
recent date. The aim of the managers of the Polytechnic is not only to
surround the students with occupations of a practical value, but to place
before them agencies of culture and elevation.
'Mount St. Charles College, at Helena, is under the control of the
Catholic Church. In both academic and collegiate courses, it is exclu-
sively for boys. Its college course is in the Liberal Arts. The buildings
recently erected on the campus, in the northern outskirts of the city, in-
clude a gymnasium and a dormitory.
There is also a Deaconess School five miles north of Helena in the
Prickly Pear Valley. There younger children are given a home and an
elementary education. It was opened in September, 1909, in the aban-
doned building of the old Montana Wesleyan University, which has been
much improved. While under the direction of the Methodist Church, the
Montana Deaconess School is in no sense sectarian, but is designed to
provide a home and a school for children who find it necessary to be
educated away from their natural homes.
The Catholic Church has also academies for girls at Helena, Mis-
soula and Great Falls, and high schools for boys at Helena and Butte.
Three institutions of a mixed character — charitable, reformatory and
educational — may be noted as completions of the educational system of
Montana. The Montana School for Deaf and Blind and Backward Chil-
dren at Boulder, Jefl^erson County, represents an extensive plant of build-
ings, more than 400 acres of grounds and farm lands and a corps of
teachers adapted to the purposes of the institution.
At Miles City, Custer County, is the State Reform School, the in-
554 HISTORY OF MONTANA
mates of which pursue the studies of the public schools from the first
to the eighth grades under the supervision of the State Board of Educa-
tion. School continues throughout the year.
The State Orphans' Home at Twin Bridges is a charitable institution,
the inmates of which receive their education as wards of the common-
wealth.
Thus the entire educational survey of Montana has been made, rang-
ing through the public schools of city and country, the pupils of which
pass certain hours in the class room, to special institutions provided for
those who are homeless through misfortune or crime, and finally to the
institutions of higher learning which cap the system of the state with
such honor.
CHAPTER XXIII
MODERN MEANS OF COMMUNICATION
For many years Montana was far to the north of the great overland
trails — the California, the Salt Lake and the Oregon — but with the rush
of the gold seekers and traders to the new country, the Federal Govern-
ment commenced to push the building of the military road, already author-
ized by Congress, under Lieut. John Mullan, from Fort Walla Walla to
Fort Benton.
The Mullan Government Road
Writing of Mullan's work, Judge Frank H. Woody says: "He organ-
ized his expedition at the Dalles, Oregon, in the spring of 1858, but was
forced to disband it on account of Indian hostilities. He again organized
in the spring of 1859, and constructed the road over the Coeur d'Alene
mountains as far as Cantonment Jordan on the St. Regis Borgia, where
he went into winter quarters, sending his stock to the Bitter Root Valley.
During the winter the greater portion of the heavy grades between French-
town and the mouth of Cedar Creek was constructed. In the spring of
i860, he resumed his march and took his expedition through to Fort
Benton, doing but little work, however, between Hell Gate and Fort
Benton.
"In the spring of 1861 Lieutenant Mullan organized another party and
started for Fort Benton to finish up the road that he had merely opened
the year before. His expedition was accompanied by an escort of 100
men under command of Lieutenant Marsh. The expedition came as far
as the crossing of the Big Blackfoot River, where they erected winter
quarters and named them Cantonment Wright, in honor of Colonel, after-
ward General Wright who quelled the Indian war of 1858 so effectively;
During that winter the heavy grades in the Hell Gate canyon were con-
structed. In the spring of 1862, Cantonment Wright was broken up,
Mullan with his party going to Benton and the escort under Lieutenant
Marsh returning to Walla Walla and Colville."
The Bozeman Cut-off
In 1862-64, John M. Bozeman opened the famous cut-off, branching
from the old Platte route on the south and running between the Black
Hills and Wind River mountains to Gallatin Valley and Virginia City.
In 1865, the gold discoveries on the Little Blackfoot and its tributaries,
and along the affluents of the Big Blackfoot River, brought a great influx
of emigrants from California, Oregon, Idaho and Washington. Nearly
555
556 HISTDRY OF .MONTANA
all of them came over the Coeur d'Alene mountains by way of the Mul-
lan Road.
First Steamboats in Western Montana
The trail across the Coeur d'Alene mountains was impassable until
July. It was therefore necessary to find another route whereby the gold
seekers, merchants and travelers could reach Montana at an earlier sea-
son. The spring travel came by way of Pend d'Oreilles Lake and up
Clark's Fork of the Columbia. The heavy travel over this route and the
prevailing belief that the Northern Pacific railroad would soon be a reality,
induced the Oregon Steam Navigation Company of Portland, Oregon,
to establish steamboat transportation on the lake and river, thus consid-
erably shortening the distance to Montana. In the fall of 1865, a little
steamboat about a hundred feet in length was launched from the western
shores of Lake Pend d'Oreilles, Idaho— Mary Moody, by name. In the
spring of 1866, she steamed across the lake and up Oark's Fork, about
fifteen miles, to the Cabinet landing. This was the first steamboat that
ever navigated the waters of Western Montana, and two others followed
within the following two or three years. Owing to lack of water in the
mining camps in 1869, travel fell oflf so rapidly that the boats were taken
out of service in the summer of 1870 and transferred to the lower Colum-
bia route.
The overland stage and mail lines had their feverish period south of
Montana, until the completion of the Union and Central Pacific railroads
in 1869; and Montana had its local lines and experiences. Upon the com-
pletion of the telegraph in the autumn of 1861, the pony express waned
and finally disappeared as a western means of communication, but the
stage endured for some time after, for the "accommodation" of pas-
sengers and the mails.
First Mail and Telegraph Lines
No mail route was established by the government into Montana until
the later portion of 1864. Letters and newspapers were sent by express
and the recipients cheerfully paid $1 in gold for each piece of mail coming
or going, at intervals unknown either to the public or the service.
The telegraph line from the Union Pacific at Corrine to Virginia City
was completed on November 2, 1866, and extended to Helena on the 14th
of October, 1867. Judge Cornelius Hedges states that the first dispatch
over the Montana wires announced the election of Allen G. Thurman for
governor of Ohio — a mistake, by the way.
Overland and State Stage Lines
During this period, which heralded the close of the old-time overland
stage line, Ben Holladay was the outstanding figure. He directed not only
the Central overland, but spur lines with government contracts, to Upper
HISTORY OF MONTANA
557
California, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Toward the close of 1866, Holla-
day sold out to Wells, Fargo & Company.
As to local lines: Immediately after the settlement of Alder Gulch
a stage line was established by A. J. Oliver between Bannack and Salt
Lake City, and not long thereafter a stage line service was introduced
connecting the leading mining camps of the territory. The Montana
Post, of Virginia City, in its issue of January 20, 1866, announces that
Smith's stage leaves for Gallatin every Monday ; Oliver's to Helena, Mon-
day, Wednesday and Friday, fare $25 ; the Overland stage for the East,
Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday ; fare to Salt Lake, $75 in
bankable dust.
The stage coach travel in Montana differed little from the Overland
traffic. It was precarious and dangerous, especially during its last days.
The drivers were often drunken and reckless, the roads over mountain
grades were unsafe, Indians lurked in the hills and canyons, and far
Early-Day Stage Coach
worse than the Indians were the road agents. The stage stations were
chiefly conspicuous for their lack of accommodations. A speaking illus-
tration of this feature of stage travel was the current title of one of the
stopping places in Montana — "Dirty Woman's Ranch."
Indian troubles consequent upon the building of the railroads made
travel on the stage lines more and more dangerous, and criticism of their
crude accommodations became severe. Capt. James L. Fiske, with his
famous emigrant train, had blazed a new way from Minnesota to Mon-
tana, and, upon his return to the East over HoUaday's stage line, de-
nounced it in unequivocal terms. Henry Villard, the railroad magnate,
was also a hostile critic. Its enemies were powerful and its days were
numbered.
Fort Benton During Ante-Railroad Days
Before 1869, when the Union and Central Pacific railroads met at
Ogden, Utah, the Missouri River was the main channel of transportation
558 HISTORY OF MONTANA
for Montana gold shipments and Fort Benton the natural and actual
gateway. Lieutenant Bradley presents the following picture of the "boom"
which thus overtook the river port: "Some of it (gold) was borne upon
the persons of the returning miners — again shipped in large quantities
as freight. In one instance the sum of $1,500,000 was forwarded from
Helena to Fort Benton in one shipment by private conveyance. * * *
Gold was to be seen trundled along the streets in wheelbarrows. Packages
of great value were sometimes dropped carelessly in an obscure corner and
left for hours before their trustful owneis again laid claim to them. Mr.
I. G. Baker shows a dent in his office floor made by a package dropped
through the window in this careless manner. It was so large that it re-
quired several men to handle it, and it remained two or three days before
he learned to whom it belonged. But there were others more careful of
the fortunes which had come to them. There were constant applications
to owners of safes for permission to make temporary deposits in them.
As fast as sacks were drawn out, others were waiting to fill their places,
and the most capacious safes were taxed to their utmost limits. Trade
assumed extensive proportions and business was lively. From four steam-
boat arrivals in 1862 the number increased to forty-two boats in 1S69."
In order to bind the gold camps with Fort Benton, John J. Roe, Capt.
Nick Wall and others organized a wagon transportation service, the lines
of which were from 150 to 250 miles. These land freighters, who trans-
ported gold to Fort Benton and supplies to the mining camps, at first
received as high as 10 cents a pound, but later, with the increase of com-
petition, were obliged to be reasonable in their freight charges.
Utah & Northern (Union P.\cific) Extends Into Mont.\n.\
Although the Northern Pacific railway surveys had been under way
since 1853, and they had been fathered and protected by the Government,
the first line to be built into Montana was an offshoot of the Union Pacific
from the south. The extension was Brigham Young's plan and the canny
Mormon leader aimed to extend the Utah & Northern into Montana over
the Oregon and Montana trails of the old days. When construction coin-
menced in the late '70s, the Utah & Northern had passed from a receiver's
hands into the Union Pacific system and was for a number of years oper-
ated as a narrow-gauge railroad. Congress granted it various rights-of-
way and the Montana Legislative Assembly also suggested a route or
two ; but the salient fact is that while governmental maneuvers, by nation
and state, were occurring, the Utah & Northern was steadily approaching
the Montana line, via Idaho. In April, 1877, when it had reached the
Snake River Valley, its president, Sidney Dillon, made a proposition to
Governor Potts for its extension into Moiltana. "A special session of the
Legislature was therefore convened to consider the proposition," says
a writer describing the final establishment of the Oregon Short Line, the
pioneer of Montana railroads, "and the leader of the upper House, Wil-
bur F. Sanders, as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, strongly advo-
cated, in the face of much misdirected opposition, the advantages of the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 559
railway. As a matter of fact, approaching from the south it had already
crossed the southern boundary of Montana and advanced ten miles north-
erly. Moreover, on July i, 1878, it had gained stability by placing a
thirty-year bond issue for $4,991,000, covering among other properties,
389.59 miles of roadbed from Ogden, Utah, to Silver Bow, Montana, and
56.59 miles from Butte to Garrison."
During 1880, the road reached Silver Bow, approximately 125 miles
northward from the Idaho line. In 1881, a branch was completed from
Butte to Garrison ; this, however, was presently handed over to the North-
ern Pacific by a ninety-nine year lease. The operation of the main line
was under what was known as the Union Pacific system, remaining until
1889, a narrow gauge.
The Oregon Short Line
On August I, 1889, the Utah & Northern was consolidated with the
Oregon Short Line Railway Company and in 1897 the two were merged
into the Oregon Short Line Railroad Company. It is generally known as
the Oregon Short Line, its Montana terminus being Butte. Dillon is the
only other town of considerable size having a station on the line within
the state.
Northern Pacific Finally Built
The Northern Pacific line in Montana was the first to be projected and
the last to be completed. Repeated mention has been made of the gov-
ernment expedition and Northern Pacific survey, under Governor I. I.
Stevens, of Washington territory, in 1853. The leader made a compre-
hensive report of both, including observations of the fauna, flora and
topography of the country traversed from the Pacific coast to the Mis-
sissippi Valley ; but the northern transcontinental route languished, and
received a further set-back with the completion of the Union Central
Pacific in May, 1869.
The Northern Pacific, however, had its unwavering supporters, among
whom was Josiah Perham, who transferred his organization and influence
originally designed to promote a line from the Missouri River to San
Francisco Bay, to the route contemplated, from the head of Lake Superior
to the shores of Puget Sound. He gained the friendship and support of
the powerful Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania, and on July 2. 1864,
President Lincoln signed the Northern Pacific bill. It provided for a
land grant of twenty sections per mile of track in the states of Minnesota
and Oregon and forty in the territories. But it was expressly stated that
"no money should be drawn from the treasury of the United States to
aid in the construction of said Northern Pacific railroad." The bill also
provided that after 10 per cent of the required $2,000,000 in subscriptions
should be paid in, an organization of the company should be eflfected.
Mr. Perham, who was elected its first president, died in 1868, and was
followed as chief executive by J. Gregory Smith. Largely through him.
560 HISTORY OF MONTANA
the famous Jay Cooke & Company, of New York, were induced to finance
the enterprise and actual construction was begun in 1870, near Duluth,
Minnesota. It had proceeded as far westward as Bismarck, North Dakota,
and as far eastward as New Tacoma, a small town on the Pacific coast,
when the panic of 1873 ruined Jay Cooke & Company.
In 1875, the Northern Pacific Railroad Company went into the hands
of a receiver and was quiescent for six years. It was reorganized on
June 24, 1881, under the leadership of Henry Villard, who became its
president. The interrupted work of construction was resumed and pushed
to completion. Finally, on September 8, 1883, the golden spike, which
marked the meeting of the eastern and western units, near Garrison, was
driven by President Villard himself. It was also near the locality where
had met the advance parties of Governor Stevens's exploring and sur-
veying expedition of 1853 — one having come from St. Paul, Minnesota,
and the other from Puget Sound and the Columbia River.
The central administrative and executive offices of the Northern Pacific
Railway, as it is now incorporated, are in St. Paul. Tacoma is its western
terminus. With the Great Northern Railway Company, it also owns a
half interest in the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road in Montana, which
projects for a few miles into the state from the south.
The Northern Pacific follows the valley of the Yellowstone and the
headwaters of the Missouri and the Columbia to the mountain ranges and
valleys of Western Montana. It throws out spurs north, south and west,
accommodating all the larger towns of the state, and it emerges into Idaho
through the valleys of Clark's Fork of the Columbia.
The Great Northern Railway
The trunk line of this system may be said to pass through more north-
ern and less developed sections of Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana,
Idaho, Washington and Oregon than the Northern Pacific. It sends down
spurs into both Dakotas, and into the central and western parts of Mon-
tana to Great Falls, Lewistown, Billings and Butte. Among the stations
and large towns along the trunk line in Northern Montana are Glasgow
and Havre and the railroad bounds the Glacier National Park on the
south. Branches from the Great Northern also run to Winnipeg, Por-
tage, Brandon and other points in Manitoba, Canada. In fact, the system
is a development of various roads projected from St. Paul, Duluth and
Manitoba to the Pacific coast by men whose vision was broader than their
means, and which were assumed by those who had both the vision and the
means. At the head and front of these practical seers was the late James
J. Hill, the railroad king of northern United States and of the dominion
of Canada.
Fortunately for this history, Mr. Hill told the story of the origin and
growth of the Great Northern in July, 1912, at the time of his resignation
from the chairmanship of the board of directors of that road. The por-
tions of his address which are so succinct and apropos that for purposes
of conveying the desired information it would be impossible to improve
upon them are as follows :
HISTORY OF MONTANA 561
"Nearly forty years ago the thought of a possible railway enterprise
in the Northwest began to occupy my mind. It was born of experience
in Northwestern transportation problems that had occupied most of my
early business life, of faith in the productive powers and material re-
sources of this part of the country, and of railroad conditions at that time.
The feverish activity in securing railroad concessions in land and cash
that marked the sixth decade of the last century had been followed by
collapse. Doomed as these enterprises were to ultimate failure by their
lack of commercial foundation and financial soundness, they were sud-
denly wrecked by the panic of 1873. Aside from the Northern Pacific
property, the lines in the State of Minnesota most important and available
if converted into real assets for the development of the Northwest were
the fragments of the old St. Paul & Pacific Company. Following the
panic of 1873 these were in the hands of a receiver. The holders of their
securities in Holland were more anxious to recover what they could from
the wreck than to put more money into its completion and improvements
that must be made if the properties were to continue to be operated at all.
Their value lay to some extent in what was left of a land grant, which
would be valuable as soon as the country should be opened, but chiefly in
the possibilities of traffic from the millions of productive acres in the
Northwest to be opened to settlement by transportation facilities. Yet so
great seemed the task and so uncertain the reward, in the general opinion,
that any plan of acquiring and reorganizing the property was regarded as
visionary in those days by most holders of capital and most men of affairs.
"After long and close study of the situation the slender beginning was
made on which we risked our all. Failure would be immediate and final
disaster. My associates were George Stephen, now Lord Mount Stephen,
Donald A. Smith, now Lord Strathcona, and Norman W. Kittson. We
bought the defaulted' bonds of these properties from the Dutch holders.
The agreement with the Dutch committee was executed March 13, 1878,
and practically all outstanding indebtedness was subsequently secured. The
mortgages were afterwards foreclosed and the property was bought in.
For those days it seemed a formidable financial undertaking. The stock of
these companies aggregated $6,500,000, and their bonded indebtedness
with past due interest nearly $33,000,000, aside from floating obligations.
These had to be purchased at prices above those for which they had pre-
viously been offered in the open market. The total capitalization and in-
debtedness at that time of the companies taken over was approximately
$44,000,000.
"The property secured consisted of completed lines from St. Paul,
via St. Anthony to Melrose, a distance of 104 miles, and from Minneapolis
to Breckenridge, a distance of 207 miles ; and of two projected lines, one
from Sauk Rapids to Brainerd and one from Melrose to the Red River at
St. Vincent on the international boundary line. On these latter some
grading had been done, and about seventy-five miles of track had been laid.
There were gaps between Melrose and Barnesville, Crookston and St. Vin-
cent, that must be filled quickly. In themselves, had it not been for the
promise of the future, these were scattered tracks in a country just
562 HISTORY OF MONTANA
being settled, out of which to construct a railway system and on which
to base the financing of their purchase and development.
"We advanced the money to build the Red River Valley Railroad,
fourteen miles of track from Crookston to Fisher's Landing, on the Red
River, making a through route by steamboat from that point to Winnipeg.
While negotiations were pending and also after they were concluded but
before possession could be secured through the foreclosure of mortgages,
an immense amount of work had been done. The extension from Melrose
to Barnesville must be pushed, and was carried thirty-three miles as far as
Alexandria ; and ninety miles were built in the Red River Valley to reach
the Canadian boundary. The former was necessary to save the land grant,
whose time limit, already extended, was about to expire.- The latter was
in addition to connect with a railroad projected by the Canadian govern-
ment from Winnipeg south. As the properties were still in the hands of
a receiver, an order had to be obtained from the court for the completion
of the work in Minnesota with funds furnished us. IMoney had to be
raised to build these lines and to furnish equipment necessary for their
operation.
"In May, 1879, the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Com-
pany was organized to take over all these properties, whose bonds had
been largely purchased, whose stocks had been secured and whose assets
were to be bought in under foreclosure. It had an authorized capital
stock of $15,000,000, limited by its charter to $20,000,000, and made two
mortgages of $8,000,000 each. George Stephen was made first President
of the Company, Richard B. Angus, Vice President, and I was chosen
General Manager. This placed upon me the practical conduct of the
enterprise from its formal inception.
"The lines of the new system turned over to our possession on June
23, 1879, comprised a mileage of 667 miles, of which 565 were completed
and 102 under construction. From the beginning its business fulfilled the
expectations of its founders. The annual report for 1880 showed an in-
crease in earning of 54 per cent, and land sales amounting to $1,200,000.
And now began the long task of building up the country. No sooner was
a mile of road finished than the need of building other miles became appar-
ent. Before Minnesota had filled up the tide of immigration was passing
even the famous Red River Valley country and flowing into Dakota. By
1880 it had become necessary to add a line down the Dakota side of the
Red River, to plan for many extensions and branches, and two local
companies", building lines in western Minnesota were purchased.
"Only a detailed history of the railroad could follow step by step the
progress of track extension and the financial arrangements by which
capital was furnished for these constant and always growing demands
from this time on. In a brief review such as this, I can call attention only
to what may fairly be called points of historic interest in the growth of
what is now the Great Northern System. One of these was the provision
of an eastern outlet by way of the Great Lakes. An interest was obtained
in the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Company in 1881. This, with the build-
ing of the link from St. Cloud to Hinckley, gave the necessary access to
HISTORY OF MONTANA 563
the Great Lakes, until the organization of the Eastern Minnesota in
1887 as a subsidiary company furnished a permanent outlet and terminale.
I was made Vice President of the Company, November i, 1881, and on
August 21, 1882, succeeded to the Presidency, a position whose duties I
was to discharge for a quarter of a century. Mr. John S. Kennedy, who
had joined our part after the organization of the Company, was elected
Vice President. At no time have I accepted any salary for my services as
President or Chairman of the Board of Directors, since I have felt that I
was sufficiently compensated by the increase in the value of the property
in which my interest has always been large.
"Business now grew more and more rapidly, the Northern Pacific was
about completed and the Canadian Pacific was building toward the Coast.
The St. Paul and Pacific Railroad was originally, as its name implied,
intended as a transcontinental line. The route to be traversed was rich
in fertile soils and abundance of mineral and forest resources. Quite as
important, perhaps, was the fact that it admitted of the construction of
a line with grades so low and curves so moderate as to make possible
cheaper overland carriage than had ever been previously considered. Mon-
tana was beginning a large development of her own ; while the active growth
of the North Pacific Coast, though only in embryo, could be foreseen. In
1887 the lines of the Manitoba were extended to a connection with the
Montana Central. This latter company had been incorporated early in
January, 1886. Realizing the importance of occupying a field in Montana
which was essential to the future transcontinental line, valuable in itself
and one which others were already preparing to secure, we had, with some
friends, organized the company under the laws of Montana. Work was
begun at once, the surveys being made in the coldest winter weather.
Construction was rushed. The track was completed to Helena in 1887 and
to Butte by the middle of 1888. A branch to Sand Coulee opened up the
coal mines of that region, furnishing fuel for use on the Montana and
Dakota divisions of the line, and for the development of the mining inter-
ests in Montana which had been obliged up to that time to bring in their
coal from Wyoming. The work of extending the Manitoba line to connect
with the Montana Central launched this Company upon the most active
period of construction ever known in this country.
"Five hundred continuous miles were graded between April and Sep-
tember, 1887, and by November 18, 643 miles of track had been laid, an
average rate of construction of 3J4 miles for each working day. The
annual report for that year said : The new mileage under construction
within the period covered by the fiscal year ending June 30 and the residue
of the calendar year 1887 * * * amounts to the relatively large quan-
tity of 1,443.97 miles, or 95.5 per cent of the mileage under operation at
the beginning of the same fiscal year. But this activity on the main line
to the West was only one item in the extension program. In the years be-
tween 1882 and 1888 the stone arch bridge and terminals in Minneapolis
were completed ; the Dakota line down the Red River was finished to a
connection with the Canadian Pacific ; the Casselton branch was purchased ;
a line was built from Willmar to Sioux Falls ; and afterwards extended
Railroads Over the Montana Mountains
HISTORY OF MONTANA " 565
to Yankton ; some railroads in South Dakota were bought ; the Montana
was taken over at cost, and an elevator and large terminals at West Su-
perior were arranged for. In 1889 the line to Diiluth and West Superior
was completed, giving terminals and dock accommodations which today are
not surpassed anywhere in the country. The total mileage operated had
now increased to 3,030 miles. The Company had also begun to operate its
own steamships, through the Northern Steamship Company, on the Great
Lakes. These boats, which began to run in 1888 and 1890, not only
afforded greater dispatch in the carriage of grain and flour from the head
of the lakes to Buffalo and other lake ports, but they made the railroad
independent of other lake lines. It was thus enabled to protect its patrons,
and to prevent its reduction in rates from being absorbed by increase made
by lines east of its lake terminals.
"In 1889 the Great Northern Railway Company was organized, to
bind into a compact whole the various properties that had grown too large
for the charter limitations of the old Manitoba. It leased all the property
of the latter company, and was prepared to finance the undertakings about
to be completed or in contemplation. By 1893 the line was opened
through to Puget Sound. In the next five or six years many improve-
ments were made by relaying track with heavier rails and by changes in
equipment and large additions thereto. Branches and feeders were built
to round out the system. In 1897 a more direct line from the head of the
lakes to the West was created by purchase and construction that com-
pleted a road across northern Minnesota to a connection with the main
line. The taking over of the Seattle & Montana which, like the Montana
Central, had been built by us to assure adequate terminals on the Pacific
Coast and to enable construction to go forward from both ends of the
line at once, extended the system from both Seattle to Vancouver, British
Columbia. In 1889 it had entered the ore producing regions of northern
Minnesota that was to give it a large addition to its traffic.
"Just as in the building of the Montana Central and the Seattle &
Montana, it was necessary to know thoroughly the country in advance
of railroad construction and to act upon that knowledge, so these ore lands
in northern Minnesota had to be examined; and some of them it seemed
desirable to acquire, with a view of the effect upon the future of the Com-
pany's business. In January, 1899, I purchased the Wright & Davis prop-
erty, consisting of a line of railroad, some logging road and a large
quantity of ore lands. The purchase for $4,050,000 was made by me in-
dividually. My purpose was to secure the shipments of ore from these
properties for the Great Northern; and the profits from the mines, if there
were any profits, for the stockholders of the Company. The railroad was
turned over to the Great Northern at cost. The ore property was trans-
ferred at cost to the Lake Superior Company, Limited, organized October
20, 1900. to hold in trust, together with other ore interests acquired later.
A trust to administer the Great Northern ore properties was formed
December 7, igo6, under resolutions adopted by the Great Northern Com-
pany. This trust took over the ore interests acquired by me, additional ore
lands subsequently secured and other properties. It issued against them
566 HISTORY OF MONTANA
1,500,000 shares of certificates of beneficial interest, which were distributed,'
share for share, to holders of Great Northern stock at the time. The
stockholders were thus put in possession of all the benefits accruing from
the whole transaction. At the end of the last fiscal year the trustees had
distributed a total of $7,500,000 to the certificate holders ; while the future
value of the properties so covered, owing to the quality and accessibility of
the ore and the demand of the iron industry for new supplies of raw
material, must be very large.
"In 1901 the Company decided to open negotiations for the joint
purchase of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy System by the Great North-
ern and the Northern Pacific. These were carried to a successful com-
pletion by the issue of joint collateral trust bonds to the amount of $214,-
154,000, secured by the stock of the company acquired. Time has con-
firmed the wisdom of this act, by which through traffic arrangements have
been simplified, and the public has gained much by the drawing together
of markets and the quick and cheap distribution of products between
Chicago, St. Louis and the Pacific Coast.
"It was planned through the formation of the Northern Securities
Company, to form a holding concern for the control of these three great
properties. The purpose was to prevent a dispersion of securities that
might follow where large amounts were held by men well advanced in
years and so to secure the properties against speculative raids by interests
at best not directly concerned in the progress of the country served by
these lines. This was declared illegal, under the Sherman anti-trust law by
a divided court, upon suit by the United States government, and the
Northern Securities Company was dissolved.
"In 1907 the subsidiary companies controlled by the Great Northern
including fourteen railway companies operated as a part of it, were pur-
chased and incorporated into the Great Northern System, making of these
related parts one homogeneous whole. In the same year I resigned the
Presidency of the System and became Chairman of the Board of Directors,
— the office that I lay down today. The work of extension and improve-
ment has gone forward steadily. By the construction of the Spokane,
Portland & Seattle line, along the north bank of the Columbia River, the
Great Northern and the Northern Pacific obtained jointly entry over their
own tracks into Portland. Lines are now being constructed through
eastern Oregon that will open up a large productive country. In 1909 the
Burlington obtained control of the Colorado & Southern ; so that the
Great Northern covers directly from Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis,
Duluth and Superior in the east, of Puget Sound and Portland on the west,
and from Galveston to Vancouver, British Columbia. The Great Northern
System has grown from less than 400 miles of the original purchase
to 7,407 miles."
The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway
The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul was the last of the transcontinental
lines to traverse Montana. It was built through the state under the cor-
HISTORY OF MONTANA
567
porate name of the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound Railway Com-
pany, a Montana corporation, and upon its virtual completion transferred
the road and corporate property to the parent company. Amply financed
and with the advantage of transportation facilities furnished by the older
railroads of the state, its construction was rendered easy.
The "St. Paul" is naturally a competitor of the Northern Pacific and
the Great Northern, and passes substantially east and west through the
central part of the state on a line with Miles City and Missoula. It takes
a loop in the western part of the state in order to accommodate Butte and
Anaconda, and has branches in northern Montana which include Lewis-
town, Great Falls and lesser places.
Electrification of Railroads
The great feature of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway is
electrification of its line in the mountainous country of central and western
Railkuad Electrification in Western Montana
Montana, which has been progressing for the past seven or eight years and
now embraces 440 continuous miles from Harlowton, Wheathead County,
to Avery, Idaho, just over the Montana line. Beginning at Harlowton,
over 4,000 feet above sea level, where the mountain grades begin, the
line gradually rises to Summit, Gallatin County, the ridge of the Belt
Mountains, at an altitude of 5,700 feet. Then downward the line takes
its course to Barron, Broadwater County, 3,900 feet above sea level, only
to begin another climb up the main range of the Rocky Mountains to
Donald, Silver Bow County, with its altitude of 6,300 feet. Thence the
course of the road is down to St. Regis, Mineral County, only 2,700 feet
in altitude. From that point the ascent over the Bitter Root Mountains
begins, through what is known as East Portal, and at Roland, just within
the state line, the elevation above sea level is about 4,100 feet. Thence,
the railroad descends to Avery, Idaho, a short distance beyond, and there.
568 HISTORY OF MONTANA
at an elevation of 2,500 feet the continuous electrification of the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul terminates.
The power productive of the electricity is generated from plants at
Great Falls, near Helena, on the Madison River, at Big Hole (near Butte)
and at Thompson Falls, near the western border of the state.
The pronounced success in the electrification of the Chicago, Milwaukee
& St. Paul line, spurred the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific to
activity, and in January, 1921, the daily press made announcement of some
of their plans in this regard. It was said that these two systems would
obtain power from Flathead Lake and Kootenai River, and that the
Great Northern would commence electrification in a few months. It was
planned that the Northern Pacific would obtain power by buildin| a dam
at the outlet of Flathead Lake, which was to be constructed by the Rocky
Mountain Power Company, a subsidiary of the Montana Power Company,
which had secured that privilege of the Government under the water power
leasing bill. The Rocky Mountain Power Company had filed its applica-
tion for the lease, June 18, 1920. Another application was also on file
from the Alontana Water Power and Electric Company, of Portland,
Oregon.
The plan is further, that the Flathead Lake dam shall supply water for
an enterprise known as the Columbia River basin project. The level of
the lake is to be raised about ten feet and the water stored and released
to the Flathead River through a canal and finally stored in Pend d'Oreille
Lake, Idaho, directly west of Flathead Lake. Ultimately the Columbia
River project is expected to irrigate 1,750,000 acres of land.
The Flathead dam is planned to generate about 250,000 horse power
and the Great Falls plant about the same, for the electrification of the
Great Northern and the Northern Pacific lines. The latter also has avail-
able power from a Missouri River dam, with Helena as the most con-
venient point from which to draw. The Great Northern has a number of
available sites for power plants along its main line in the Kootenai River
Valley. In fact, it seems probable that within a few years, all the rail-
roads of Western Montana will be using electricity as their motive power,
its rivers with their sources in the mountain heights being particularly
favored for such purposes.
Minor Railroads
The Burlington route, in Montana, which since about 1902 has been
jointly controlled by the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific, loops
into the state from the south, having Billings as its northern and central
point. Just west of Billings is the junction of the roads.
The Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railway Company has been organized
within recent years and a line constructed between Butte and Anaconda to
transport the ores from the Butte mines to the Washoe smelter at Ana-
conda, and. in turn, to haul timber and mining supplies to the mines.
Other short lines in operation are the Montana Western, Billings & Central
Montana, Montana, Wyoming & Southern and the White Sulphur Springs
& Yellowstone Park.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 569
Development of Public Highways
For a number of years Montana has held the record of having the
best natural earth roads in the West, and for a decade or more the older
counties in the central and western portions of the state have been prose-
cuting systematic road programs. Specially excellent, as a result of this
work in the interest of good roads, are the public highways of Silver Bow,
Lewis and Clark, Deer Lodge, Powell, Cascade and Fergus counties. It is
only since 191 3, however, that this work has been co-ordinated, and that
the state has participated as a unit in highway improvement in co-operation
with the Federal Government.
The State Highway Commission
In that year was established Montana's first State Highway Commis-
sion, and in 1917-18 that body assumed, by legislative enactment, its present
form. The commission consists of twelve men appointed from different
districts throughout the state, the counties embraced in each district hav-
ing been segregated in the original act creating the commission. The
commissioners are appointed by the governor for a four-year term. The
terms of three commissioners expire each year and not more than six
commissioners may belong to the same political party. This commission
is required to meet semi-annually on the first Mondays of May and Novem-
ber. The members of the commission acting solely as such receive no
compensation for their services but receive only actual expenses incurred
in the performance of their duties.
The State Highway Commission is required by law to elect from its
membership an executive committee of three, one of whom shall be
designated as president of the commission and of the executive committee.
The committee is empowered to make regulations for the actual conduct
of its work and business and all contracts are executed by the executive
committee. For slightly less than one year after the organization of this
commission in 1917 the activities of the department were divided between
a highway engineer and a bridge engineer, both reporting to the executive
committee as a whole. The lack of centralized authority in a single execu-
tive officer led to confusion and uncertainty; so that in the spring of 1918
the committee created the office of chief engineer and designated such in-
dividual as the responsible executive officer of the department. Briefly then
the plan of organization of the present commission is as follows : ( i ) a
representative and advisory body of twelve men, which selects from its
membership (2) an executive committee or board of directors of three
men, which in turn selects (3) an executive officer or manager known as
the chief engineer who is responsible to the committee for all the operations
of the department and to whom all employes report.
The general or broad policies are determined by the entire commission
at the semi-annual meetings and by the executive committee to meet con-
tingencies during the interim.
The operations of the department are conducted under the general
570 HISTORY OF MONTANA
direction of the chief engineer acting as executive officer for the com-
mission and assisted by the headquarters staff at Helena. Immediate
responsibihty for all highway construction, however, is imposed in district
engineers located at Helena, Great Falls and Billings.
The handling of work through district offices was decided upon during
the 1919 construction season in order that representatives of the depart-
ment might be brought into closer touch with local officials and conditions
and to avoid excessive travel expense which in a state as large as Montana
represents an annual expenditure of considerable proportions. The execu-
tive committee originally divided the state into four construction districts
only three of which — those at Helena, Great Falls and Billings — have
been operative. The district office designated for location at Glasgow has
never been opened because of the temporary inability of certain counties
to finance contemplated projects and the consequent inactivity in that imme-
diate vicinity. The work of the Glasgow district has been conducted
from the Great Falls office.
The plan of conducting the operations of the department through
district offices is a practice common to the organization of state highway
departments in those states which have most successfully participated in
the highway development of the state. Particularly is such a plan applicable
to Montana where large areas and diversified conditions render it particu-
larly desirable that the department be localized as much as possible.
Under the new scheme of county and state co-ordination, and close
co-operation between the state and federal governments, the state will look
after the main highways and the counties will devote most of their atten-
tion to the branch highways. Although three transcontinental highways
traverse Montana and the state highways are all substantially constructed,
the commission has steadfastly kept in mind that the development of the
public road system of Montana should be pursued, primarily, in the inter-
ests of the farmer, the tradesman, the resident citizen and his family,
rather than for the benefit of the tourist.
Transcontinental Highways
The transcontinental highways which enable the traveler to enjoy the
grandeurs and beauties of the state, and to take advantage of the lawful
privileges of the sportsman, are ( i ) the Roosevelt Memorial, or Glacier
Park to St. Paul Highway, which follows the main line of the Great
Northern Railroad and is painted red; (2) the Yellowstone Trail, from
Aberdeen, South Dakota, which enters the state along the line of the
Qiicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, and (3) the Red Trail from
Fargo, North Dakota, which comes into Montana near the line of the
Northern Pacific. Yellow and red are their respective colors. They
unite in Montana at Terry, Prairie County, whence they follow these
railroads to Forsyth, Rosebud County; then follow the Northern Pacific
to Livingston, Park County, where they intersect the Eastern Park to
Park Highway leading to Yellowstone Park. The Yellowstone Trail con-
tinues westward from Livingston to Butte and Missoula, and on into
HISTORY OF MONTANA
571
Idaho, to Spokane and the Pacific coast. It is often called the National
Parks Highway.
Another automobile road enters Montana from the southeast, from
Deadwood, South Dakota, and connects with the Yellowstone Trail at Miles
City. One also enters from Wyoming, along the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy, and intersects the Yellowstone Trail at Billings. Branches of the
National Park-to-Park Highway enter the state from the southwest
through Idaho, one from Pocatello and the other from Salt Lake City.
Both intersect the central route of the Park-to-Park Highway leading to
Government Ro.ad Through Jefferson National Forest
Yellowstone Park, to points east and west, and with branches northward
to Glacier Park.
Last Report of State Highway Commission
The biennial report of the State Highway Commission for 1919-20
is well charged with information enlightening to an understanding of the
close relations between the federal and state governments along the line
of the good roads movements which have swept the country within the
past decade. At times. Uncle Sam seems to have furnished most of the
funds used in such enterprises. Under the provisions of federal laws
enacted in 1919 and 1920 the national Government allotted to the state
various road building equipment which amounted to $1,973,054.57. It
included trucks to the value of over $1,400,000, and touring cars, Ford
ambulances, "caterpillars," wagons and spare parts of wagons, trucks, etc.
To place this equipment in working order and to provide for the handling
of like equipment which might be received in the future, a repair shop
was built on the state ranch at Deer Lodge, which also served as a receiv-
ing and distributing station.
572 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Function of Highway Department
The function of a state highway department, as generally interpreted,
includes among other things the actual construction of highways and
bridge improvements. Such improvement projects as have been undertaken
by the State Highway Commission fall into three separate classifications,
namely: (i) Federal Aid Projects or those constructed with the aid of
funds made available under the provisions of the Federal Aid Road Act ;
(2) state aid projects or those built with state and local funds and (3)
county co-operative projects or those for which funds are provided entirely
by the county or other local interest but for which plans and supervision
are furnished by the state.
During the year 1919 some state aid work initiated in 1918 was com-
pleted. Since that time, however, the efforts of this department have
been confined almost exclusively to the prosecution of Federal Aid Projects.
One noteworthy exception should be mentioned, namely, the Great Falls
bridge projects, involving construction of two reinforced concrete arch
bridges across the Missouri River at Great Falls. Funds for these projects
were provided through the sale of Cascade County bridge bonds and the
improvements were designed and constructed under the direction and
supervision of this department. These structures not only represent the
most extensive county co-operative project undertaken by this department
but they represent also two of the largest, most expensive and most mag-
nificent concrete highway structures to be found in the Northwest.
Federal Aid
As has been intimated, practically all of the highway and bridge im-
provements accomplished by the department during the past two years
have been made possible by virtue of the operation of the Federal Aid
Road Act previously referred to. This act contemplates the financial
participation of the federal government in worthy road and bridge projects
to the extent of the total allotment to the state. The co-operation in each
project may not exceed 50 per cent of the cost of the improvement nor
$20,000 per mile of highway. All Federal Aid Projects are constructed
under the direct supervision of the State Highway Department but are
also subject to inspection and approval by the secretary of agriculture
or his duly authorized representative.
The original Federal Aid Road Act as approved July 11, 1916, pro-
vided a federal allotment of $1,494,916.85 for Montana highways. This
act was amended in 1919 and an additional appropriation made whereby
Montana was allotted an additional sum of $4,003,910.46. The total amount
of federal aid available for Montana road and bridge projects is therefore
$5,498,827.31. This money is available for expenditure and must be
obligated by the state by years.
Work Contracted During 1920
During the single year of 1920, and until November 30th, the commis-
sion placed under construction agreement seventy-two Federal Aid Projects
Good Roaus in Westekn AIontana
574 HISTORY OF MONTANA
in thirty-four counties, representing 563.39 miles of road and twenty-
seven bridges at a total contract price, exclusive of the usual allowance
of 10 per cent for contingencies, of $5,315,371.68. The road improve-
ments include the following: Earth or roadside material grading projects,
177.66 miles; gravel and niacadam surfacing projects, 354.98 miles;
bituminous concrete pavement (concrete base), 1.37 miles; Portland cement
concrete pavement, 29.38 miles.
Of the above, forty in twenty-three counties were let by contract to
road and bridge contractors; thirty-two projects in twenty counties were
let to counties by agreement whereby the counties undertook to build the
improvement by day labor for the state at the estimated cost. All con-
tracts were awarded with the approval of the interested Board of County
Commissioners, both as to type and price.
Prior to 1920 the department had contracted twenty projects in fifteen
counties, representing 98.05 miles of road and four bridges at a total con-
tract price of $907,317.14, exclusive of the 10 per cent item. These road
improvements include the following: Earth or roadside material grading
projects, 16.06 miles; gravel and macadam surfacing projects, 81.99 miles.
The total mileage of Federal Aid highways contracted to date is 661.44,
and the total contract price is $6,222,688.82.
Federal aid projects are under construction at present in thirty Mon-
tana counties. The counties, the number of projects, the total mileage, and
the total cost, are as follows.
Big Horn, one, 2.02 miles, $12,532.46. Blaine, five road and bridge,
27.44 miles, $250,019.27. Broadwater, two road and bridge, 3.4 miles,
$116,222.77. Carbon, three, 20.28 miles, $216,522.64. Cascade, four,
51.25 miles, $475,527.70. Custer, one, 3.99 miles, $22,015.47. Dawson,
two, 16.5 miles, $45,991. Deer Lodge, one, 9.4 miles, $333,465-28. Fer-
gus, three, 15.84 miles, $220,019.14. Flathead, two, 6.59 miles, $51,569.83.
Gallatin, four, 13.59 miles, $354,241.86. Granite, one, 7.8 miles, $147.-
160.99. Hill, one, 7.96 miles, $100,381.65. Jefferson, one, .7 of a mile,
$31,962.68. Lewis and Clark, one, 9.08 miles, $126,001.38. Madison, one,
5.52 miles, $22,984.18. Meagher, three, 44.15 miles, $289,945.95. Mis-
soula, two, 20.8S6 miles, $190,607.38. Musselshell, two, 4.21 miles, $96,-
118.46. Park, two, 4.25 miles, $81,156.35. Ravalli, two, 4.67 miles, $45,-
966.70. Rosebud, two, 8.18 miles, $62,419.21. Silver Bow, one, 9.1 1
miles, $335,877.10. Stillwater, one, 5.22 miles, $108,595.95. Sweet Grass,
one, 105 feet, $16,586. Teton, one, 21.72 miles, $195,258.45. Toole, one,
27.7 miles, $136,458.17. Valley, one, 1.89 miles, $16,717.71. Wibaux,
four, 26.18 miles, $129,523.06. Yellowstone, four, 34.7 miles, $535,267.67.
Total mileage, 431.28. Aggregate contracts, $4,776,117.45.
St.\te Highw.w System
Under the administrative policy of the federal government federal
funds for highway improvement are restricted to those highways designated
as state highways. The state highway map indicates the inter-county
seat system of state highways adopted by the State Highway Commission
HISTORY OF AIONTANA 575
in May, 1920. This system comprises approximately 7,700 miles and pro-
vides for connecting all county seats within the state. It will readily be
seen that these inter-county highways serve not only the thickly populated
and industrial districts of the state but the agricultural areas as well.
A study of the inter-county system of highways referred to above will
disclose the fact that, from the standpoint of the state as a unit, some of
these routes are of more importance than others. The federal government
has asked that federal aid projects in Montana be confined to a primary
system of approximately 3,500 miles. This primary system will include
such routes as the Roosevelt Highway, traversing the state from east to
west along the line of the Great Northern Railway on the north ; the Yel-
lowstone Trail and the Red Trail, crossing the state along the south; the
main route connecting Yellowstone and Glacier Parks ; and a few other
roads of equal importance to the state. The state and federal government
have not reached an agreement relative to this matter but it is believed
that federal aid projects initiated in the future must be restricted to a
smaller mileage of state highways than that included in the inter-county
system referred to.
Value of Construction
The total value of construction accomplished during 1920, to Novem-
ber 30, segregated as to kind of work, is as follows: (a) Grading and
gravel projects, $2,003,418.80; (b) paving projects, $789,467.59; (c)
bridge projects, $147,804.43; (d) total all projects, $2,940,690.82. Total
construction engineering charges were, respectively, (a) $129,428.83; (b)
$27,865.09; (c) $6,809.77; and (d) $164,103.69.
Motor Vehicles Registered
The total number of motor vehicles registered in Montana during 1920
to date of December 27th is 60,646. The total receipts from motor vehicle
license fees for the same period amounts to $415,358.50. The average
license fee, therefore, is slightly less than $6.85. The committee recom-
mends that this fee be increased to provide for the use of this department
a revolving fund of not less than $500,000, together with a maintenance
fund of $100,000 for 1921 and $200,000 for 1922.
Revenues and Expenditures
The total revenues of the State Highway Commission for the year
1920 amounted to $2,259,290.69, the sources of which were: auto licenses,
$351,395.50; federal aid construction work, $1,637,810.30; federal equip-
ment rentals and miscellaneous, $1,129.10. The expenditures were as
follows : Administrative and general overhead, $97,007.05 ; highways and
bridges, $1,910,173.45; outlay, including federal equipment, $226,167.62;
equipment maintenance and supplies, $10,436.88; handling federal equip-
ment, $22,937.98; stores, $26,541.39. Total expenditures, $2,293,264.37.
576 HISTORY OF MONTANA
The bridge division of the highway commission accounts for a large
proportion of the funds expended. Estimates for the structures designed
by the division for the year December, 1919, to November, 1920, inclusive,
amounted to $800,000. The most important of these projects were the
Kootenai River bridge near Leonia, Idaho, which is designed to open up
a national timber forest of 30,000 acres and greatly improve the prospects
of homesteaders in Lincoln County, Montana, and two bridges over the
Missouri River at Great Falls, which involve an expenditure of nearly
$500,000, and were completed in 1920. The Tenth Street bridge was
1,130 feet long, and consisted of eight spans. The north approach was
built by Cascade County as a part of the. federal aid project between Gre^t
Falls and Havre, and the south approach was built by the city.
Cooperation in Ro.\d Building
Illustrations are plentiful showing the desire of the county, state and
federal officials to cooperate in the work of public road building in Mon-
tana. For instance, in March, 19 19, there was held in Helena a Road
School of Instruction for selected employes of the commission and in-
terested county officials. The school, which continued in session for three
days, was conducted for the purpose of familiarizing the employes with
the specifications under which construction operations are carried on and
to acquaint them with the requirements of the Federal Bureau of Public
Roads. The subjects discussed and explained related exclusively to those
practical problems which are daily encountered in the construction of
serviceable highways. It is planned to conduct a similar school each year.
The executive committee of the State Highway Commission also estab-
lished the principle that state and county officials and contractors engaged
in prosecuting the road program of the state should meet in annual con-
ference. The first of such conferences was held in Helena, March i,
1920, and the second, at the same place, in December following. "At these
meetings," says the report, "the state's specifications are freely and frankly
discussed by the officials charged with the supervision of construction, on
the one hand, and by the contractors and others engaged in the actual
building of the improvements, on the other. The purpose is to keep the
specifications practical and workable and free from unnecessary and in-
consequential refinements and impractical features. It is agreed that this
practice is certain to be beneficial to all interests involved and most cer-
tainly will result in ultimate economy to the state."
CHAPTER XXIV
CONSERVATION OF LANDS
The lands in Montana are in the ownership of individuals, the Northern
Pacific Railroad, the state and the government of the United States. Their
protection from short-sighted practices and policies of abuse and waste,
by the setting aside of forest preserves and the enactment of appropriate
legislation, the extension of the agricultural area of the state through
the drainage of lowlands and the reclamation of arid tracts by means of
irrigation, are all wise steps which have been taken by Montana, in co-
operation with the federal government, to conserve the treasure of her
lands which shall eventually prove of more value to her and her people
than the precious and the useful metals which for many years were at
the base of her prosperity.
The Public Lands of Montana
*Of the 30,000,000 acres of land in Montana classed as agricultural
approximately 7,000,000 acres of public lands are open to filing, most of
which are grazing lands ; and of the total "agricultural" acreage only
4,328,000 acres are actually devoted to farm crops. Most of the best lands
have been taken up by private owners, although millions of acres hitherto
considered poor or worthless are being reclaimed and made productive
through irrigation or drainage.
The State of Montana is the largest land owner in the commonwealth,
possessing as it does 4,349,570 acres, of which 3,228,308 were leased at
the rate of 31 cents per acre for agricultural purposes and 12^ cents
(average) for grazing. Much of the state land is included in the school
sections, 16 and 36, or their equivalents. The state has also some land
in the federal reclamation projects, which can be bought or leased.
The State Board of Land Commissioners is custodian of all state lands,
and, although there is usually an auction sale in each county every year,
the fixing of the dates of such sales is discretionary with that body. The
minimum purchase price is $10 per acre. Sales are made upon the basis
of 15 per cent cash, the remainder of the purchase price to be paid in
twenty annual installments with interest at 6 per cent. The limit of the
acreage purchased by any individual or corporation is 160 acres classified
as "agricultural and susceptible of irrigation," 320 acres of "agricultural
land not susceptible of irrigation," and 640 acres of grazing land. Lessees,
of state lands are obliged to pay annually $50 to $120 per section for graz-
ing, and from $200 to $400 for agricultural purposes, the state land agent
fixing the price.
*See Year Book of United States Department of Agriculture for 1920 and "Re-
sources of Montana," official state publication for the same year.
577
Vol. 1—37
578 HISTORY OF AlONTANA
Nearly every year also there are sales of land on the Indian reserva-
tions, belonging to deceased or non-competent Indians, the appraised price
of the tract being the minimum bid accepted. Many of these tracts are
irrigated and desirable.
The State Lands
The register of state lands, who records the fiscal transactions of the
Department of State Lands and Farm Loans, reports for the biennium
ending December i, 1920, a falling ofif in the cash receipts from 1920, as
compared with 1919, of $493,658; the totals were $1,770,070 and $2,263,-
728, respectively. He adds that the decrease "is entirely due to following
the wise instructions of the State Land Board not to make any extensive
offerings of state lands for sale during this year of uncertainty as to the
financial position of stockman and farmer. All the income accounts show
increases over last year totaling $81,993, while receipts from land sales
show a decrease of $575,651, the net decrease as compared with 1919
being $493,658."
For the biennial period 1919-20, the land sales totaled 182,319 acres
for the sum of $2,850,303, or an average of over $15.50 per acre. For
the same period, the receipts from timber stumpage amounted to $166,100
(about $38,000 more in 1920 than in 1919) ; all of which goes to swell
the permanent land grant funds.
Rentals of state lands, in 1919, amounted to $456,188 on 3,228,308
acres, as compared with $460,679 collected on 3,109,402, in 1920, or an
average of 14.8 cents per acre, which is the highest average rental yet ob-
tained. Part of this high average is due to the surface rental on oil and
gas leases issued during 1920. At the end of that year, 551 oil leases were
in force, covering 300,406 acres.
As to oil and gas leases, the register comments : "In the absence of
any legislation relating specially thereto, and the lack of any exclusive
renewal privilege under existing laws, these state oil and gas leases are
generally considered of questionable value, and consequently little if any
actual prosf)ecting or drilling upon state lands has occurred. If any ma-
terial income is to accrue from the state's oil and gas rights, legislation
should be had which will assure to the successful driller the extension of
his lease necessary to reap the benefits of the risk taken and money spent
in prospecting. Up to date (December i, 1920) no income has been de-
rived from oil royalties."
There were 1,121,261 acres of state land vacant and not leased at the
end of 1919. This number had increased to 1,303,528 acres at the close
of 1920, due partly to the prevailing poor agricultural conditions and
partly to the large area of timber lands recently selected in Flathead County
and not subject to lease under existing laws.
Status of Land Grant Funds
One of the most valuable tables presented by the register is that show-
ing the condition of the permanent land grant funds and how they are
HISTORY OF MONTANA 579
invested. They now total $21,245,094, or an increase of $2,980,292 during
the biennium. Of that amount $6,699,631 is invested in bonds and war-
rants, $4,226,380 in farm loans (common school bonds), and $10,129,950
includes deferred payments on land contracts. To the total amounts in-
vested is added $189,131 cash in the hands of the state treasurer to cover
the item in the table, "total fund." With these comments, the table follows :
Invested in
Fund Bonds and Total Total
Warrants Invested Fund
Common School — Warrants $ 7i7,772.yg
Common School — Bonds 3.847,393.36 $17,779,258.07 $17,907,662.39
Agricultural College — Morrill 92,001.39 219,326.89 227,664.40
Agricultural College — Bond 420,893.00 490,738.46 494,091.18
Deaf and Dumb Asylum 161,537.36 231,681.82 233,267.00
Capitol Building Interest and Sinking
Fund 265,364.71 296,794.65
School of Mines 449,050.97 695,491.18 701,074.67
State Normal School 455.7350o 576,237.76 580,098.22
State Reform School i39,779-8i 223,089.24 227,018.92
State University 413,768.00 571,115.62 573,226.24
U. S. Aid Soldiers' Home 1,700.00 3,658.40 4,196.38
Totals $6,699,631.68 $21,055,962.15 $21,245,094.05
Receipts from State Lands (1896-1920)
Following shows the receipts from state lands for the past twenty-
five years, as given by the state register :
Prior to 1896 .....$ 172,190.71
During 1896 38,185.23
During 1897 101,755.98
During 1898 126,833.71
During 1899 200,195.20
During 1900 200,275.25
During 1901 293,335.75
During 1902 363,584.63
During 1903 388,279.13
During 1904 389,812.60
During 1905 357.790.52
During 1906 651,352.62
During 1907 829,480.06
During 1908 805,105.35
During 1909 434,420.96
During 1910 826,836.01
During 191 1 695,771.74
During 1912 1,306,892.75
During 1913 1,223,857.96
During 1914 1,122,205.27
580 HISTORY OF MONTANA
During 1915 $1,219,602.97
During 1916 1,657,639.21
During 1917 1,812,812.29
During 1918 1,828,712.43
During 1919 2,263,728.95
During 1920 1,770,070.57
Total $21,080,727.85
Rentals of State Lands
The following table shows the amounts received from rentals of state
lands — by years since 1896:
Prior to 1896 $ 47,240.04
During 1896 27,134.77
During 1897 . . . . , 47,618.26
During 1898 75,063.06
During 1899 109,306.10
During 1900 144,383.76
During 1901 171,668.88
During 1902 194,639.36
During 1903 197,494.73
During 1904 190,623.77
During 1905 206,224.12
During 1906 209,956.66
During 1907 224,321.45
During 1908 234,933.71
During 1909 250,715.01
During 1910 259,837.06
During 191 1 263,036.48
During 1912 282,894.26
During 1913 281,633.12
During 1914 302,681.47
• During 1915 325,105.56
During 1916 391,897.70
During 1917 454,373.43
During 1918 439,169.24
During 1919 456,188.59
During 1920 460,679.29
Total , $6,248,819.88
At the close of the fiscal year 1920, the following amount of acres was
under lease in each grant, producing a total rental of $460,679.29: Com-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 581
mon school, 2,857,069.09 acres ; Agricultural College, 64,786.96 ; Deaf and
Dumb Asylum, 27,067.76; capitol building, 44,442.67 ; School of Mines,
27,894.81; State Normal School, 44,515.29; State Reform School,
29,661.21; State University, 12,828.45; Soldiers Home, 1,115.61; general,
20.
Condition of Farm Loans
At the close of the year 1920, 2,131 farm loans were in force, amount-
ing to $4,264,470. The funds available for investment now amount to only
$112,230.06.
Irrigation Under the Carey Act
As irrigation is the mother of the modern agricultural development of
Montana, that subject calls for first mention. Individual farmers and
scattered canal companies dug ditches here and there and demonstrated
the advantages of dependable water until there was a general demand for
widespread state movements and the establishment of a system of irri-
gation for the benefit of lands already cultivated and for the reclamation
of those which might be made productive. Not only Montana, but other
states lying wholly or in part within the "arid land" area, called upon the
general government for assistance. The result was the passage of the
congressional measure, approved August 18, 1894, and known as the Carey
Act. It provided that Montana and other states affected by the act should
be given 1,000,000 acres from the public domain, if the state would re-
claim this land by irrigation. Saving accepted the conditions of the
Carey Act in 1895, a board was appointed to carry out its provisions.
It has since been known as the Carey Land Act Board and consists of the
governor, secretary of state, attorney general and state engineer. At
first the board undertook construction of irrigation work by direct state
action, but from time to time the law has been amended so that state
construction has been abandoned for the contract system common to the
western states.
The biennial report of the Carey Land Act Board for the years
1919-20, shows that up to November of the latter year the lands segre-
gated by the general government in the thirteen different projects under
way in Montana amounted to 172,486.22 acres. The approved sales
under the Billings, Big Timber and Valier projects totaled 81,256.94
acres; United States patents to the state under the same, 56,162.30 acres,
and the patents issued to settlers covered 45,276.78 acres.
The office of the state engineer to supervise the work of the Carey
Land Act Board was created in 1903 and has been successively filled by
John Wade, A. W. Mahon and C. S. Heidel.
Under the Carey Act, the Billings project, at first under the supervi-
sion of the Billings Land and Irrigation Company, was the first project
completed. In its biennial report of 1919-20, the board states: "The
closing of the biennial period of 1919 and 1920 marks the successful
completion of the Billings Bench project, both the reclamation and settle-
58'J
HISTORY OF MONTANA
ment of the lands segregated to the state in lists i and 7 having been
practically consummated. The operation and maintenance of the project
has been under the direction and management of the farmers themselves
for the past two years, and a movement is now under way to make a
sufficient showing and petition the Carey Land Act Board to relinquish
control to the Water Users' Association."
Since the commencement of the Billings project, the board has taken
over the Big Timber, Valier, Teton, Flatwillow and Little Missouri
projects.
The Billings Bench (or plain Billings) project includes 13,223.54
acres lying northeast of the city, and 12,264.62 of that amount have been
MoNT.\NA Irrigation Ditch
sold— 9,876.39 having been patented by the state to settlers. The Billings
Land and Irrigation Company, which first assumed the work, went into
the hands of the Merchants Loan Company as trustee, which formed the
Billings Bench Water Association to complete the enterprise. .Lands
within the scope of the project produce wheat, alfalfa, oats and sugar
beets, and now bring as high as $300 per acre. The water supply is from
the Yellowstone River. The irrigation system includes Rattlesnake
Butte reservoir, 300 acres in area, and Rolling Lake reservoir, 85 acres
in area, with a main canal 45 miles long and main laterals of 103 miles.
Within the bounds of the project are 39,010 acres, of which 23,591 are
actually to be irrigated. Up to its completion, October 31, 1920, $504,000
had been expended on the project.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 583
The Big Timber project embraces 11,299.16 acres of lands lying near
the town by that name in Sweet Grass County, also in the Yellowstone
Valley. It draws its water supply directly from Sweet Grass, Big Tim-
ber and Otter creeks. The works of the project include an upper reser-
voir 585 acres in area and a lower one of 768 acres, with five canals
more than 53 miles long and main laterals of 52 miles. Within the bound-
aries of the project, not yet completed, is an area of 30,599.16 acres, of
which the Carey lands amount to 11,299.16, the remainder being acreage
deeded by the construction organization, the Glass-Lindsay Land Com-
pany. The total sales up to November 30, 1920, comprise 6,174.94 acres,
while the total area patented to the state by the Department of the In-
terior is 8,229.84 acres and the area patented by the settlers, 3,619.32.
About 17,000 acres will be actually irrigated by the Big Timber project,
the total expenditures of which up to November, 1920, amount to
$1,000,000.
The Valier project in Pondera County, near the town by that name
in Northwestern Montana, derives its water supply from Birch Creek,
a mountain stream flowing the year round from the eastern slope of the
Rock-y Mountains into Maria's River. Wheat, oats, barley and alfalfa
are raised within its scope. As the flow of the stream is not sufficient
to take care of the project by direct flow, a dam and a reservoir were
built to supplement the normal flow from both Birch and Dupuyer creeks.
The Valier project embodies a total segregation of 85,380.14 acres of
Carey Act land, of which 56,782 are irrigable. More than 62,000 acres
of this amount have been sold, of which 43.443 acres are irrigable.
During the past two years much work has been done toward the
ultimate completion of the project. Many temporary structures have
been replaced by more permanent ones of concrete. In 1919, the old
outlet from Lake Francis into Canal C, which had been constructed some
time in 1910, was partially torn out and a new outlet installed which
has an increased capacity. The work of construction has been done by
the Valier-Montana Land and Water Company. Besides the Birch Creek
and Lake Francis reservoirs, the irrigating works comprise 474 miles of
canals and laterals, and the Swift dam and affiliated structures. The
latter has been built across Birch Creek canyon and is about 470 feet
long and 160 feet high and 15 feet thick. The concrete lined spillway
is 762 feet long. The total acreage within the boundaries of the proj-
ect is 178,598.25, of which 85,258 acres are to be irrigated. The esti-
mated cost of the project is $4,350,843.57, and the expenditures to No-
vember 30, 1920, amounted to $4,275,843.57.
The crop reports for the irrigated lands within the Valier project
for the year 1919 show that of their cultivated area of 55,701 acres, the
crops of which yielded $1,394,910 in value, the following were the larg-
est items: The 32,128 acres of wheat which produced 306,016 bushels
brought $841,544; 4,470 acres of alfalfa yielded 6,045 tons and sold for
$181,350; flax, 4,612 acres, 24,040 bushels, $120,200; oats, 4,079 acres,
65,779 bushels, $65,779.
584 HISTORY OF MONTANA
The Teton project situated in Pondera County lies between the VaHer
Carey project and the United States Reclamation Service Sun River
project. It comprises an area of 34-206 acres, of which 17,725 acres
of the segregation are still pending. The water supply is from the Teton
River and Muddy and Blackleaf creeks. The Teton Co-operative Reser-
voir Company has the work in hand, which involves an expenditure of
$950,000; total expenditures up to June 30, 1920, $410,000. Ultimately,
the works will comprise two reservoirs and the usual complement of m-
take canal and main canals and laterals. Actual delivery of water to
the Carey lands has not commenced (October, 1920). The concrete
diversion dam and gates in the Teton River have been completed, while
the intake canal from the Teton River diversion dam to the Bynum
reservoir is delivering water but is not completed to its full capacity.
The Bynum reservoir (much the larger of the two reservoirs) is com-
pleted to an elevation 4,165 feet above sea level: elevation of 4,170 feet
above sea level being the ultimate height of the completed structure. The
reservoir is now delivering water to the full capacity of the canals for the
irrigation of several thousand acres of land near Brady.
The Flatwillow project, which embraces 7,768 acres of Carey Act
lands and about 11,000 acres held by private parties, lies southeast of
Lewistown, in Eastern Fergus County. The Fergus County Land and
Irrigation Company contracted with the state for the reclamation of these
lands, but its work was seriously handicapped by the financial and indus-
trial disturbances caused by the World's war. However, investigation by
the United States Reclamation Service reached the conclusion that the
project is thoroughly practicable and in 1920 construction on the main
distributing canal was resumed. The water for irrigation is drawn from
Flatwillow Creek, a tributary of Musselshell River, which rises in the Big
Snowy Mountains and flows eastwardly toward the parent stream through
the southeast portions of Fergus County. When completed, the works
will embrace two small reservoirs and about thirty miles of canals and
laterals; a main dam, spilway, outlet and diversion dam. About 18,000
acres are embraced within the project, of which it is planned that 15,000
will be irrigated; estimated cost, $350,000, and expenditures to October
31, 1920, about $81,000.
The Little Missouri project, embracing a total segregation of some
20,607 acres lying in the valley of the Little Missouri River, is situated
in Carter County, southeastern corner of the state. The company con-
tracting with the state for the reclamation of the lands under this proj-
ect was unable to proceed during the past two years owing to the string-
ency of the money market. Within its boundaries are 20,000 acres of
Carey Act lands, and 6,000 owned by the state and individuals. Alto-
gether, only $32,000 of the estimated cost of the project, $250,000, has
been expended. About ten miles of canals and laterals have been completed.
In short, the foregoing statements represent the status of the work
accomplished under the supervision of the Carey Land Act Board as
HISTORY OF MONTANA 585
ascertained from the latest accessible reports (not yet in print — July,
1921).
Work of the United States Reclamation Service
The date of the approval of the Reclamation Act, June 17, 1902, marks
the beginning of the irrigation work on the part of the Federal Govern-
ment. During the eighteen years which have elapsed since that time
twenty- four so-called primary projects and four Indian projects have
been constructed in whole or in part, and scores of secondary projects
have been examined to determine their feasibility with a view to their
possible development later as funds become available. On June 30, 1920,
the net cost of construction of the reclamation projects amounted to a
little less than $125,000,000. The value of crops grown in 1919 on lands
served either in whole or in part from the works of the Service amounted
to nearly $153,000,000, about $89,000,000 of which represents the value
of crops grown on the 1,113,469 acres of cropped land on the projects
proper, from which definite crop statistics are secured, or $79.88 per
acre, and the balance an estimated amount from approximately 1,000,000
acres of land served with water under the Warren Act of February, 191 1,
from the works of the Service. The projects already completed or under
way will ultimately comprise an area of over 3,300,000 acres.
The works built under the Federal reclamation law may for statistical
purposes be conveniently considered as of two classes. The first class
comprises lands for which the United States under the Reclamation
Act of June 17, 1902, has in general built a complete system of irriga-
tion works from the point of storage to that of delivery to each farm
or group of farms. These are the lands commonly referred to as the
Government projects, and include those tracts that under Government
aid have been converted from sagebrush desert to productive farms.
Here the Government works are the sole source of irrigation water, and
the control of the Reclamation Service commonly extends throughout
the system of lateral canals that deliver the water to each farmer. Thus
the Service has a force of ditch riders in frequent touch with the irriga-
tors.
The other class of lands benefited by the Government works includes
those served under the Warren Act. This important supplement of the
reclamation act provides a connecting link between the Government works
and private canal systems built in the same vicinity or drainage basin.
The latter commonly lack storage, depending originally on the unregulated
flow of the streams alone. This natural flow often dwindles in the irri-
gation season to a point far below the needs of all the constructed canals,
and the typical case of service to such canals and lands from the Govern-
ment works involves furnishing stored water at such times from the
reservoirs built by the Reclamation Service. This may be simply deliv-
ered in bulk in the river channel or the Service may include carriage
586 HISTORY OF MONTANA
through other Government works and delivery at various stages of the
process of distributing water to the individual farms. Similarly, the
quantities of water made available by the Government works in such
cases vary from a complete supply to a small percentage of the total water
used by the irrigators. Even where only a portion of the total water used
is furnished, it may be a vital part and may double the crop yield that
would otherwise be secured.
At the extraordinary session of the Legislative Assembly of August,
191 9, an act was passed designating the Montana Railroad Commission
as ex-officio the Montana Irrigation Commission, and since that time the
state and the nation (through the United States Reclamation Service)
have closely co-operated in the furtherance of the various reclamation
projects in hand and those required by the agricultural needs of the
future. The report of the Irrigation Commission for the year ending
December, 1920, briefly reviews the Government work in Montana to the
following effect:
A large acreage in Montana has been reclaimed under the provisions
of the Reclamation Act passed by Congress in 1902. This law provides
that funds from the sale of public lands be devoted to the reclamation
of arid lands in the several western states, and under this law Montana
has a larger number of projects than any other western state. Four
projects under direct charge of the United States Reclamation Service
and three projects constructed by the Reclamation Service in conjunc-
tion with the United States Indian Department constitute Montana's
quota under this act. On these seven projects over $20,000,000 have
already been spent ; and the total estimated cost amounts to nearly
$39,000,000. The total acreage to be irrigated under these projects is
864,000 acres. To date, construction is completed for 344,000 and of
this amount 145,000 acres are actually irrigated. For lack of sufficient
funds, construction of these projects has been very much delayed and
the delay has been a source of disappointment and heavy loss to the
early settlers under the projects. Default in the annual payments on most
of the projects caused the passage in 1914 of the Reclamation Extension
Act, allowing a twenty year period in which to repay construction costs
to the Government. This further limited the available funds and for the
past several years the projects have been greatly handicapped in carry-
ing out their plans for reclamation. Some of the projects which were
completed at an earlier date have met with considerable success and all
will in time be fairly successful if the construction can be completed with-
out further delay.
Under some projects, completed units have recently organized as
irrigation districts in order to gain control of the administration of the
project, and this method promises very successful operation and assures
a possibility of financing the settlers through Federal loans which would
not be possible while the Government held prior lien on the lands. The
following table shows the acreage and cost of the various projects:
HISTORY OF MONTANA 587
United States Reclamation Projects
Acreage Acreage for Acreage Now Estimated
Project Irrigable Which Works Irrigated Cost of
Completed Project
Huntley 33,ooo 31,000 20,000 $1,912,000
Lower Yellowstone 60,000 42,000 22,000 3,154,000
Milk River 192,000 68,000 46,000 9,427,000
Sun River 175,000 40,000 12,000 8,443,000
Ft. Peck (Indian) 152,000 17,000 1,000 5,630,000
Blackfeet (Indian) 118,000 48,000 10,000 3,600,000
Flathead (Indian) 134,000 98,000 34,000 6,620,000
Total 864,000 344,000 145,000 $38,786,000
The Huntley project was the first reclamation project in the United
States to be started and also the first to be opened for settlement, and
is classed as one of the successful projects of the Reclamation Service.
It is located in Yellowstone County not far from the city of Billings at
an average elevation of 3,000 feet above sea level. The land lies along
the south side of Yellowstone River and is mostly a clay silt of consider-
able fertility. Water is diverted from Yellowstone River and distributed
through a very substantially built system of canals, covering a total of
33,000 acres irrigable. The system has been completed for nearly all of
the lands since 1907 and has been successfully farmed since that date.
Alfalfa, sugar beets and grains are the chief products. Excellent market
and transportation facilities are furnished and returns from the land are
very satisfactory. Seepage and alkali troubles have, however, developed
and the Reclamation Service found it necessary to install a complete drain-
age system over the greater part of the area. Twenty-two thousand acres
have been successfully drained and still further extension of the system
is planned. The average farm unit is about 50 acres and intensive cultiva-
tion is practiced. Twenty thousand acres are actually irrigated under the
project, during the present year. The cost of the project to date amounts
to $1,420,000, while the total estimated cost of the project is $1,912,000.
The Lower Yellowstone project lies along the west bank of the Yellow-
stone River in Richland and Dawson Counties in the extreme eastern end
of the state and a small part of the project also extends into North Dakota.
There are at present 600 farm units on the project and eight towns are
located within the area, the largest being Sidney with a population of
1,400. The Great Northern Railway runs the full length of the project,
furnishing ample transportation. The total irrigable area is 60,000 acres.
Works are already completed for 42,000 acres and of this amount 22,000
are now actually irrigated. The average elevation of the land is 1,900
feet above sea level. The temperature ranges from 46 below to 1 10
above. The annual precipitation is 16 inches and in normal years fair
crops are grown without irrigation. This feature has delayed the de-
velopment of the project since many of the settlers are not thoroughly
converted to the necessity of irrigation. The estimated duty of water
under this project is 15^ acre feet per acre delivered at the land. The total
cost to date is $2,894,000 and the estimated cost for the complete project
will be $3,154,000.
588
HISTORY Ox^ MONTANA
The Milk River project embraces a total acreage of 192,000 irrigable
acres extending for 160 miles along the valley of the Milk River in Blaine,
Phillips and Valley counties. The direct flow of Milk River supplemented
by storage in St. Marys Lake furnishes the water supply for this project.
At St. Marys Lake 218,000 acre feet are to be stored and later diverted
into the head of Milk River by a canal 29 miles long. Diversion dams
on Milk River at Dodson and Vandalia carry the water onto the lands
along the river. A secondary storage reservoir is provided at Nelson
Lake near Malta with a capacity of 142,000 acre feet. Work was begun
on this project in 1902 and has been carried on continuously since that
time and 68,000 acres are now served by completed works. Of this
^#*'
Hft^-tr^-Yi^'- ' '
Lower Yellowstone Recl.^m.xtion Project
amount, 46,000 acres are actually irrigated. The project to date has cost
$6,000,000 and the completed plans call for an expenditure of $9,427,000.
The Great Northern Railroad runs the full length of the project, fur-
nishing ample transportation for all crops. The principal towns within the
project are Chinook, Harlem, Dodson, Malta, Saco, Hinsdale and Glas-
gow. The average elevation of the irrigable land is 2,200 feet above sea
level. The mean annual precipitation is 14 inches. The soils under this
project vary from light sandy loams to heavy clay and gumbo. Wheat
and alfalfa are the principal crops and the yields are quite heavy. Ninety-
five thousand acres are to be irrigated under canals diverting from the
river at Dodson, 28,000 acres by diversion near Vandalia and 97,000 acres
by diversion near Chinook. In this latter acreage are included 28,000 acres
served by company ditches constructed independently of the Reclamation
Service, but having contracts with the Service for use of water stored in
St. Marys reservoir. This area of 28,000 acres is not included in the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 589
figures of the project given above, but is reported under district organiza-
tions in the Blaine County report.
The Sun River project contemplates the irrigation of 175,000 acres
in Chouteau, Cascade and Lewis and Clark counties by diversion from Sun
River and its tributaries. The natural flow of these streams is to be
supplemented by storage in three reservoirs, Warm Springs reservoir to
have a capacity of 269,000 acre feet. Willow Creek reservoir with 86,000
acre feet and Piskhun reservoir with a capacity of 45,700 acre feet. The
Fort Shaw unit of this project, with an area of 16,000 acres, was com-
pleted about ten years ago and has been in successful operation since
that date. Under this unit, 10,000 acres are now irrigated. Works are
now completed to serve a total of 40,000 acres and of this amount 12,000
are now actually irrigated. The cost to date has been $3,736,000 and the
estimated cost of the entire project is $8,443,000. The lands under this
project include both bench and valley lands and are quite productive.
In the valley lands, however, necessity for drainage has arisen and the
plans include a drainage system for part of the acreage. The total precipi-
tation in this section is only eleven inches and irrigation is necessary for
the production of crops. Two railroads through the project furnish ample
transportation. Fairfield, Ft. Shaw, Sun River and Simms are the princi-
pal towns.
The Fort Peck project is being constructed by the Reclamation Service
in co-operation with the United States Indian Department. The total
irrigable acreage is 152,000 acres. Water supply is derived from Poplar
River and Porcupine and Big Muddy creeks. Only a small part of this
project is thus far completed and a thousand acres are now irrigated.
The total cost to date has been $740,000 and the complete project calls
for the expenditure of $5,630,000. Most of the lands to be reclaimed are
Indian allotments under the former Fort Peck Indian Reservation. No
lands are now open to entry.
The Blackfeet (Indian) project is in Glacier County, mostly included
within the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. The total irrigable acreage
is 118,000 acres, of which 11,000 acres lie outside of the reservation.
Several separate units are included within this project, diverting water
from Cut Bank and Two Medicine rivers and from Birch and Badger
creeks. Works are already completed for the irrigation of 48,000 acres,
but of this amount only 10,000 are now actually irrigated. The lands now
irrigated are mostly Indian allotments, although some of them are farmed
by white tenants. The total expenditure to date is $1,080,000 and the total
estimated cost of the project is $3,600,000. Browning and Cut Bank are
the principal towns included within the area served by this project. The
lands are mostly rolling and more or less broken bench lands of consider-
able fertility and with favorable climate conditions for the production of
ordinary farm crops. The mean annual precipitation is 15 inches and the
average elevation above sea level is 4,000 feet.
The Flathead (Indian) project is being constructed by the Recla-
mation Service in conjunction with the Indian Department to serve
134,000 acres of land within the former Flathead Reservation. In
590 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Missoula and Flathead counties, works are now completed to cover 98,000
acres and of this amount 34,000 acres are actually being irrigated. The
average elevation above sea level is 3,000 feet and the mean annual precipi-
tation is 18 inches. Seven hundred farms are included within the project.
Hay, grain and potatoes are the principal crops, although some fruit and
vegetables are raised. The total expenditure to date is a little over
$4,000,000, while the estimated cost of the complete project is $6,620,000.
Poison, Ronan and St. Ignatius are the principal towns within the area.
United States Reclamation Enterprises Defined
The special bulletin on irrigation in Montana issued by the United
States Census of 1920 has the following explanation of the scope of the
enterprises under the jurisdiction of the National Reclamation Service :
United States Reclamation Service enterprises, which operate under
the federal law of June 17, 1902, providing for the construction of irriga-
tion works with the receipts from the sale of public lands. In addition to
serving land within its own projects, the United States Reclamation Serv-
ice supplies stored %vater to land within other enterprises.
United States Indian Service enterprises, which operate under various
acts of Congress providing for the construction by that service of works
for the irrigation of land in Indian reservations.
Carey Act enterprises, which operate under the federal law of August
18, 1894, granting to each of the states in the arid region 1,000,000 acres
of land on condition that the state provide for its irrigation, and under
amendments to that law granting additional areas to Idaho and Wyoming.
Irrigation districts, which are public corporations that operate under
state laws providing for their organization and management, and empow-
ering them to issue bonds and levy and collect taxes, with the object of
obtaining funds for the purchase or construction and for the operation and
maintenance of irrigation works.
Co-operative enterprises, which are controlled by the water users under
some organized form of co-operation. The most common form of organi-
zation is the stock company, the stock of which is owned by the water users.
Commercial enterprises, which supply water for compensation to parties
who may own no interest in the works.
Individual and partnership enterprises, which belong to individual
farmers or to neighboring farmers, who control them without formal
organization. •
Water Rights Legislation in Montana
The water rights current in Montana, as fixed by legislation going back
to early territorial times, is a subject closely related to irrigation. The
pertinent laws along this line may be thus summarized :
In 1865 the Territory of Montana enacted a law recognizing the right
of any person holding land bordering on or in the neighborhood of a
stream to take water from the stream for irrigation, and providing for
obtaining the right of way for ditches over the land of others.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 591
This law was repealed in 1870 by one extending the right to take water
for irrigation to the holder of land anywhere in the territory and recogniz-
ing priority among users.
In 1885 a more comprehensive law was enacted. This provided that
rights might be acquired by "appropriation ;" that the appropriation must
be for a useful or beneficial purpose; that the place of use might be
changed ; and that "among appropriations the first in time is the first in
right." This law provided also that persons desiring to appropriate water
must post notices stating their claims, and must file copies of these claims
with the county recorders ; and, further, that persons who had acquired
rights prior to the passage of the act should file with the proper county
recorders declarations of their claims. The law provided also that con-
troversies regarding water rights should be settled in the courts.
This law is still in effect, the state never having provided for applica-
tions for permits to appropriate water, as has been done in most of the
western states.
The constitution of the state, ratified in 1889, contains the following
section relating to irrigation :
"The use of all water now appropriated, or that may hereafter be
appropriated for sale, rental, distribution or other beneficial use and
right of way over the lands of others for all ditches, drains, flumes,
canals and aqueducts, necessarily used in connection therewith, as well as
the sites for reservoirs necessary for collecting and storing the same, shall
be held to be a public use." (Art. 3, sec. 15.)
Under the rulings of the courts riparian rights are recognized in Mon-
tana to a limited extent.
State Works and Projects • «
The extension and organization of the irrigation fragments scattered
throughout the state into anything approaching a system were first made
possible through the passage of the original irrigation district law by the
Legislative Assembly of 1907. The measure was similar in nature to the
law relating to municipal improvement districts. The supervision and
control over the issuing of bonds by the districts were placed with the
boards of county commissioners. As this feature proved to be unsatis-
factory, particularly in the marketing of the bonds, the law was amended
in 1909, so as to place the control of bond issues with the district courts.
Under this law several districts have been organized, but it is estimated
that with the advantage of a single regulating board, working with the
advice and assistance of the state engineer, as provided by the law, oppor-
tunities for development under the irrigation district plan will be greatly
extended.
The new law enables the owners of land under an irrigation system
owned by other parties to purchase the property, using the district bonds
for payment, and thus secure direct and co-operative control at once.
By the use of the serially maturing bonds the expense of the purchase
or the new construction can be distributed over the years when the benefits
592 HISTORY OF MONTANA
are being derived, the expense for both the interest and principal for tak-
ing up the bonds at maturity being levied in the form of a tax against the
land and paid in annual installments. This method also enables the
owners of land with direct-flow rights which are not sufficient in all sea-
sons, to form their lands into a district for the purpose of constructing
storage works to provide a supplemental water supply. In these cases
the expense per acre is usually small, and as the security is in the lands
already improved the bonds may become a first lien on property several
times its value.
It is in these two ways that the law has been applied in the past. Under
the Irrigation Commission it is expected that in the future it may be
used for the development of water supplies for sections that have hereto-
fore been cultivated under the dry farming system where the need for
supplemental irrigation systems has been particularly felt during the past
dry years. A higher duty than is used at present is probable and such lands
will have their improved dry-farming values as security for the bonds.
Irrigation beyond a doubt is the best crop insurance and it has been
found to pay even though water is used only once in five years. The
unusual number of homestead entries in Montana has been breaking up
the areas which might ultimately be developed under the Carey Act and
it is expected that to a certain extent the district method may take the
place of the Carey Act system.
So many requests were made for preliminary investigations as to the
feasibility of obtaining water supplies, reservoir sites and irrigable areas,
that the commission made a survey of the state, by counties, in the sum-
mer of 1920. The survey revealed the fact that many small pumping
plants were being operated under low lifts for the irrigation of small
areas. As to the development of larger plants, its feasibility depends
on the correct answer to the question, "How high can water be pumped
profitably?" The commission answered the question thus: "The irrigated
land must produce a net yearly income of $18.15 per acre to pay interest
on the investment and the maintenance. Depending upon the locality, the
markets, crops, etc., it is a matter of figures to compute the net return
on irrigated land to determine whether or not the project will pay."
Projects Petitioned For
The survey of the fifteen projects for which petitions had been filed
with the commission is briefly covered by the following facts :
Project No. i — Cooper's Lake Irrigation District, Powell County.
Location, Blackfoot Valley. Elevation, 4,300 feet. Total area, 20,000
acres. Petition filed, October 18, 1919. Deposit requested, $300. Esti-
mated cost, $40 per acre.
Project No. 2 — Nine Mile Prairie Irrigation District, Missoula
County. Location, Blackfoot Valley. Elevation, 3,600 feet. Area, 9,000
acres. Petition filed August 10, 1919. Deposit requested, $300. Cost,
$25 to $30 per acre.
Project No. 3 — Frenchtown Valley Irrigation District, Missoula
HISTORY OF MONTANA
593
County. Location, Frenchtown Valley. Elevation, 3,100 feet. Area,
8,000 acres. Petition filed October 11, 1919. Deposit requested, $450.
Cost, $24.61 per acre.
Project No. 4 — DeSmet Irrigation District, Missoula County. Loca-
tion, Missoula Valley. Elevation, 3,200 feet. Irrigable area, 4,927 acres.
System, pumping by electric power. Lifts, 131 and 70.8 feet. District
created, January 3, 1920. Cost of investigation, $209.11. Total cost of
project, $197,004.50. Cost per acre, $39.98. Yearly maintenance cost,
$447-
Project No. 5 — Glendive-Fallon Irrigation District, Prairie and Daw-
son counties. Location, Yellowstone Valley. Construction cost, $26.87
An Unirrigated Whe.\t Field
to $46.89 per acre. Maintenance cost $6.38 to $12.81 per acre. Irrigable
area, 4,255 to 22,475 acres. Coal consumption, 7,240 to i^7,7Z7 short
tons. Deposit required, $1,400. Cost of report, $1,309.95. Elevation,
2,150 feet. Land owners in district, 125. Gross area of district, 34,440
acres.
Project No. 6 — Brockway Irrigation District. Location, Red Water
River Valley. Irrigable area, 2,470 acres. System, flood water storage.
Water supply, Duck and Ash creeks and Redwater River. Elevation,
2,500 feet. Cost, $76.95 to $105.91 per acre. Cost of storage, $27.06 to
$35.84 per acre foot. Cost of report, $276.35.
Project No. 7 — Valley View Irrigation District, Broadwater County.
Location, four miles west of Three Forks. Elevation, 4,200 feet. Irrigable
area, 3,037 acres. System, pumping electric power. Water supply, Jeffer-
son River. Lifts, 89.5, 136.5 and 185 feet net. Total connected power,
594 HISTORY OF MONTANA
962 H. P. Yearly power used, 1,368,244 K. W. H. Cost of construction,
$21.09 P^'' acre. Yearly maintenance cost, $6.03 per acre. Cost of report,
$286.64.
Project No. 8 — East Bench Irrigation District, Beaverhead County.
Location, near Dillon. Elevation, 5,000 to 5,200 feet. Irrigable area,
13,900 acres. System, gravity and storage. Source, Beaverhead River
and Grasshopper Creek. Reservoir, 554 acres. Dam, concrete arch, 105
feet high. Tunnel, solid rock, 675 feet long. Syphon, 560 feet. Total
estimated cost, $753,102, or $54.18 per acre. Deposit, $400. Petition
filed, March 6, 1920.
Project No. 9 — Harlowton-DuRand Irrigation District, Wheatland
County. Location, bench north of Harlowton. Elevation, 4,100 feet.
Net irrigable area, 16,304 acres. Source water supply, Musselshell River.
System, .storage of flood water. Total reservoir capacities, 27,204 acre
feet. Construction cost, $915,778, or $56.17 per acre. Cost of making
report, $401.19.
Project No. 10 — Red Lodge-Rosebud Irrigation District, Carbon
County. Location, 20 miles northwest of Red Lodge. Elevation, 4,700
feet. Source of water, East Rosebud River. System, gravity. Weast
Canal, paid $27,000, ten miles long. Irrigable area, 12,510 acres. Esti-
mated cost, $324,800, or $25.98 per acre.
Project No. 11 — Joliet and White Horse Bench Irrigation District,
Carbon County. Location, near Joliet. Irrigable area, 7,200 acres. Ele-
vation, 3,500 feet. System, storage to supplement direct flow. Water
supply. Rock Creek. Cost, not determined.
Project No. 12 — Newlan Creek Irrigation District, Meagher County.
Location, nine miles northwest of White Sulphur Springs. Gross area,
1,290 acres. System, flood water storage and gravity. Source of water
supply. Sheep and Newlan creeks.
Project No. 13 — Wood's Gulch Irrigation District, Meagher County.
Location, six miles west of Sulphur Springs. Gross area, 1,100 acres.
System, storage and gravity. Source of water supply, Wood's Gulch and
Little Birch creeks.
Project No. 14 — Meadow Farm Irrigation District, Gallatin County.
Location, two miles southwest of Three Forks. Elevation, 4,060 feet.
Gross area, 1,037 acres. System, gravity. Water supply, Jefferson River.
Project No. 15 — Upper Glendive-Fallon Irrigation District, Prairie
and Dawson counties. Location, Yellowtsone Valley. Elevation, 2,150
feet. System, pumping, steam power, lignite coal. Lifts, 400 feet and
75 feet net. Water supply, Yellowstone River. Irrigable area, 4,210
acres. Coal consumption, 6,713 short tons. Estimated cost, $152,394, or
$36.20 per acre.
Besides the foregoing fifteen projects which have come under the juris-
diction of the Montana Irrigation Commission, many requests have been
made for the inspection of projects contemplating the formation of dis-
tricts. The following, which total approximately 650,000 acres, come under
this head: The Dearborn project, of which some work has been done
under the Carey Act and the contracts cancelled several years ago, located
HISTORY OF MONTANA 595
in Lewis and Clark and Cascade counties and proposed to irrigate 30,000
acres on the bench between the Dearborn and Sun Rivers west of the
Missouri ; the Brinkman and Lonesome Lake projects, to irrigate about
350,000 acres along Maria's River in Chouteau and Hill counties; the
South Bench project in the northeastern corner of Madison County and
the western part of Gallatin County, which would irrigate two crescent
shaped benches south of the town of Three Forks, each of about 25,000
acres, from the Madison River or its branches ; the Silver Flat project,
in Lewis and Clark County northwest of Helena, covering from 8,000 to
10,000 acres, and drawing its supply from Silver, Little Prickly Pear and
Canyon creeks ; the Flint Creek project, which proposes to irrigate from
20,000 to 30,000 acres of bench land near the towns of Hall and New
Chicago, Granite County ; the Crow Creek irrigation project adjoining
the town of Radersburg, Broadwater County, which plans to divert
water from the Jefferson River near Twin Bridges, as well as construct
a reservoir on Crow Creek, and irrigate some 50,000 acres ; and the Judith
Basin project, in the new county by that name, which aims to irrigate
two benches of land, of 60,000 acres each, on both sides of the Judith
River, immediately below the canyon and adjacent to the towns of Hobson
and Moccasin.
Country Irrigation Surveys
From the reports made by the State Irrigation Commission covering its
surveys of the dififerent counties, the following facts closely relating to the
subject are taken :
Beaverhead County — The East Branch Irrigation District was organ-
ized in 1920 to reclaim 13,900 acres of bench land east of Dillon. This is
being handled by the Montana Irrigation Commission and is treated in
another section of this report.
On the Red Rock River twelve miles above Lima a reservoir has
been developed by constructing a fifty foot earth dam. Its capacity is
60,000 acre feet. It was built in connection with a Carey project of
20,000 acres near Lima. The Carey project failed to materialize and the
Red Rock Reservoir and Irrigation Company was organized to take it
over for $250,000, of which $50,000 has actually been paid. The corpora-
tion is open, a share corresponding to an acre foot of water, it being
the intention to increase the reservoir's capacity to 100,000 acre feet.
In connection with this the Red Rock Lake Company is a corporation
now constructing a canal from the river just below the dam to irrigate
6,000 acres. Water will be purchased from the reservoir company.
This project is expected to operate in 1921.
Big Horn County — The irrigated lands of the county are mostly
along the valleys of the Big Horn and Little Big Horn rivers. These
streams have more than ample water supply. Some of the tributaries
also furnish irrigation for a few hundred acres. None of the streams
are adjudicated.
596 HISTORY OF MONTANA
The U. S. Indian Service is constructing a system to serve Indian
lands to the amount of 74,000 acres. Half of this acreage vfus actually
irrigated in 1920. The system consists of several separate canals, the
largest of which is the Big Horn Canal, irrigating 33,000 acres on the
east side of the river near St. Xavier. The Agency Ditch near Crow
Agency on the Little Big Horn covers 7,000 acres. Ditches from Prior
Creek cover 5,500 acres.
Outside of the reservation the largest ditch is the Two Leggin Canal
which irrigates 20,000 acres near Hardin. This ditch is 30 miles long
and was built in 19a), at a cost of $13 per acre. Annual maintenance
cost is $1 per acre, and crop yields are very heavy. At the lower end of
the land, seepage troubles are developing.
Average land values are $10 per acre for grazing land, $30 for dry
farm lands and $100 per acre for irrigated land. The assessed valua-
tion of the county is $22,000,000.
Blaine County — Assessed land valuations in this county are $30 to
$60 for irrigated land, $12 to $14 for non-irrigated tillable land, and from
$8 to $10 for grazing land. According to the assessment rolls there are
24,000 acres of irrigated land, 440,000 acres of non-irrigated tillable
land, and 713,000 acres of grazing land. The total assessed land value
of the county is $18,000,000, while the grand total of all propertv in the
county is $28,000,000.
Irrigation has been practiced in this county for many years, and
with good success, the principal areas being along Milk River near
Chinook. Milk River is the only stream in the county flowing the year
round and is, therefore, practically the only source of water supply for
irrigation, both present and future. A few acres are irrigated by storage
on the intermittent streams, and a further extension of irrigation by this
means is possible.
Along Milk River several important projects are under way, most of
them being under contract with the United States Reclamation Service
for use of water stored in St. Mary's reservoir, in addition to early water
rights on Milk River.
The Fort Belknap Irrigation District is being formed to take over and
reconstnict the old system of the Fort Belknap Ditch Company, divert-
ing from the north side of the river eight miles above Chinook, and
to cover 9,000 acres of land, three-fourths of which has already been
irrigated with fair success for twenty-five years. A rlew high line canal
is now being constructed by the ditch company. L. V. Bogy, of Chinook,
is secretary of the companay.
Zurich Irrigation District was created June 19, 1920. They propose
to extend the Alfalfa Ditch to cover 12,217 acres on the north side of
Milk River extending from North Fork to Harlem. Part of this land
has been irrigated for some time under an old system. Present land
values range from $20 to $60.
Petitions are being circulated for the formation of the Savoy-Coburg
Irrigation District. It is proposed to take over, enlarge and extend the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 597
present ditch of the Harlem water users' association. Twelve thousand
acres are to be included in the district, over half of which has been
irrigated for many years by the old Harlem ditch. Vernon Butler of
Chinook is promoting the project. The land lies on the north side of
Milk River, extending from Harlem to Coburg.
The Paradise Irrigation District was created April i, 1920, with
W. B. Sands, J. L. Sprinkle, and W. W. Bilger, commissioners. A. W.
Ziebarth, of Chinook, is secretary. Eleven thousand five hundred acres
are included in the district lying on the south side of Milk River between
Chinook and the Indian Reservation. Part of the land has been irri-
gated for the past 25 years. A new canal system is now being con-
structed at a cost of $15 per acre. Present land values are around $50
per acre.
All of the above districts have some early water rights from Milk
River, and are also entering into contract with the U. S. R. S. for addi-
tional water from St. Mary's reservoir.
The U. S. Indian Department has constructed a system to irrigate
38,000 acres on the Fort Belknap Reservation. About half of this acreage
is to be watered from Milk River and the balance from Whitebear,
Peoples, Lodge Pole and Big Warm creeks. Only half of this irrigable
acreage has been actually irrigated thus far.
The North Chinook Irrigation Association irrigates about 10,000
acres of land lying several miles north of Chinook, from a reservoir con-
structed in 1901 to impound the flood waters of West Fork.
Broadwater — About 40,000 acres are now irrigated from the Missouri
River and its tributaries, with good results. One hundred and twenty thou-
sand acres are classified as non-irrigated agricultural lands. Most of this
has been dry farmed, but for the past four years crop failures have been
common, except at the higher elevations.
Several large projects are now being promoted in this county. The
Valley View Irrigation District near Three Forks is being developed under
supervision of the Montana Irrigation Commission and is mentioned else-
where.
The Toston Irrigation District was recently organized to irrigate
5,000 acres near Toston by pumping water from the Missouri River
with a lift of 100 feet and at a construction cost of $30 per acre.
The Broadwater Irrigation District has been organized to irrigate
10,000 acres by gravity from a diversion dam on the Missouri River above
Toston.
Carbon — Irrigation has been practiced in this county for many years,
with very good success. About 150,000 acres are now irrigated in the
county, of this amount 70,000 acres are watered from Rock Creek, 60,000
acres from Clark Fork River, and 10,000 acres from Red Lodge Creek.
The greater part of this acreage is irrigated by private ditches, though
there are several incorporated ditch companies operating in each of these
valleys. . Rock and Red Lodge creeks have been fully appropriated and
the rights therein determined by court.
598 HISTORY OF MONTANA
There are three organized irrigation districts in this county. The
Red Lodge-Rosebud Irrigation District was created in August, 1920, to
irrigate 12,500 acres of land near Luther by a canal diverting from East
Rosebud River. This project is under supervision of the Montana Irriga-
tion Commission.
The East Side Irrigation District was created in August, 1920, to
irrigate 9,500 acres near Belfry by diverting water from Clark Fork
River, through the old Wills Ditch, which is to be enlarged and extended.
Final surveys are now being made.
The Joliet and White Horse Bench Irrigation District proposes to
irrigate 7,200 acres of land near Joliet by storage of the flood waters of
Rock Creek. This district was first created under the old irrigation
district law, but recently petitioned the State Irrigation Commission to
assume supervision.
Cascade — Most of the irrigated land in this country lies along the
Sun River west of Great Falls. Near Cascade is also a considerable
irrigated area. The Sun River has been adjudicated. Other streams of
the county have not been decreed and in some the water supply is ample
for a still further extension of irrigation. Several large projects are now
being promoted.
Chestnut Valley Irrigation District was created in June, 1920, to
irrigate 4,460 acres on the east side of Missouri River near Cascade.
This project has an early water right and most of the land has been irri-
gated under an old system. Construction of the new system is now under
way. Bonds to the amount of $140,000 are to be issued.
The Fort Shaw Irrigation District was created March 2, 1920, to
irrigate 13,745 acres near Forst Shaw. Construction was practically
completed before the district was organized, this being the Fort Shaw
unit of the U. S. R. S. Sun River project, now organized as a district
for operation purposes and under contract with the Government to con-
struct a drainage system.
The Ulm Irrigation District was created in January, 1920, to irrigate
about 12,000 acres near Ulm by pumping from Missouri River with an
average lift of 78 feet. A complete engineering report has been made
by the district's engineers. Estimated construction cost, including partial
drainage, is $60.48 per acre.
The Sun River Bench project has recently been investigated. It
contemplates the irrigation of 50,000 acres southwest of Great Falls by
water from the Dearborn River to be conveyed through Flat Creek and
Sims Creek and a series of canals including 15 miles of siphons and
30 miles of open canal. Reservoirs are also to be built on Dearborn
River and Sims Creek. Estimated cost is $Sy per acre.
The Sunnyside Project is being promoted to organize as a district
the Sunnyside vniit of the Sun River Project diverting from the river
near Sun River Station and irrigating about 8,000 acres, on both sides
of the river. Some of these lands have been irrigated by private ditches
and it is proposed to acquire old water rights and cover all lands with
HISTORY OF MONTANA 599
a new canal system. Surveys have been made by the U. S. R. S. and
it is proposed to co-operate with the Government in the construction
and operation of this project.
The Benton Lake project is also being promoted to irrigate 70,000
acres in this county and a nnich larger area in Chouteau County by
diverting water from Sun River through a long series of canals and
coulees to Benton Lake, 8 miles north of Great Falls, where it is to be
stored. Additional storage on Sun River is also required. Surveys
have been made by the U. S. R. S. and it is proposed to co-operate with
the Government on this project.
The Sand Coulee Project just south of Great Falls has been favor-
ably reported by engineers. It contemplates irrigation of 3,600 acres by
pumping from Missouri River with a lift of 60 feet. The estimated cost
is $75 per acre for construction and $6.55 per acre yearly for operation
and maintenance.
At present about 40,000 acres in the county are actually irrigated.
Sixteen thousand acres additional are to be irrigated by districts already
organized and 128,000 acres are included in contemplated projects.
Carter — Irrigation is just beginning to get a start in this county.
Lack of an adequate supply during the irrigation season has retarded
any development along this line. The Little Missouri Carey project in
the southeastern part is now being constructed and will ultimately irri-
gate 20,000 acres.
Similar development might be carried on along other water courses
of the county. Several thousand acres are irrigable in the same manner.
To facilitate this future development, gauging stations could profitably
be placed on Box Elder and Little Beaver creeks. The state engineer's
office is now keeping records of the flow of the Little Missouri River.
With the completion of the project now under construction, the
county's valuation will be increased by $600,000 to $1,000,000 through
the rise in value of the acreage under the project, and a railroad exten-
sion is almost a certainty.
Chouteau — For many years, a small amount of irrigation has been
done by direct flow from Highwood and Shonkin creeks in the south end
of the county. The total area so irrigated is about 800 acres on each of
these streams. A small acreage has also been irrigated from Little
Muddy, Eagle, and Birch creeks, in the northeastern part of the county.
Within the past year several hundred acres of river bottom lands have
been brought under irrigation along the Missouri and Teton rivers by
pumping with electric power.
Custer — The Tongue River Ditch, which diverts water out of Tongue
River, covers an area of 9,705 acres along the Yellowstone Valley below
Miles City.
There is one irrigation district filed, the Buffalo Rapids District, estab-
lished in April, 1919. They proposed to divert water out of Yellowstone
600 HISTORY OF MONTANA
River by gravity and irrigate 3,700 acres along the west side of the river
below Miles City.
Daniels — Some partial irrigation has been carried on in recent years
along the Poplar and its forks. The systems are of the direct diversion
typye depending upon the summer flow of the river. Temporary structures
have generally been built and the high cost of maintenance together with
complete loss in some instances has resulted in inefificient irrigation. A
system of this type is installed two miles west of Scobey on the Poplar
River. About 1,800 acres along the bottom have a complete system of
canals and laterals, but there has never been a good dam. Three dams
have been constructed during the history of the project, the first an earth
dam, the second a loose stone dam, and the third a timber dam. All have
been taken out by ice in the spring freshets. Steps are now being taken
with a view of organizing an irrigation district to construct a permanent
concrete dam. The structure will be 100 feet long and from four to six
feet high of the weir type. It will divert water throughout the entire
season and in addition divert enough water into a coulee, which is used
as a reservoir to insure against a shortage during the gowing season.
There are in Daniels Covmty 10,000 acres of irrigable land. Water can
only be supplied, however, by construction of dams for storage of spring
floods. Many of the tracts irrigated in this way would be as small as
forty acres.
Dawson — The only irrigation being done in the county is along the
few benches where dams have been placed in small coulees and flood water
collected. These are small scattering areas.
The United States Reclamation Lower Yellowstone Project diverts
water out of the Yellowstone River in this county, but the irrigable area
is in Richland County.
The only gauging station in Yellowstone County is at Intake. There
have been no water rights adjudicated. The only irrigation districts which
have been filed in the county are the Glendive-Fallon Irrigation Project
and the Upper Glendive-Fallon Project. Both are described elsewhere in
this report.
Deer Lodge — Irrigation along the Big Hole has been carried on for
many years. Direct diversions from the river were employed. There is
very little irrigated land in the county.
Fallon — Very little irrigation has been done in the county. There is
no regular supply except by storage. Since none of the streams have ever
been measured the amount of water that goes to waste every spring is
unknown. There are several thousand acres of irrigable land in the
county. Gauging stations should be established as soon as possible on
Fallon Creek and Little Beaver Creek that the extent of water available
for this land be known and steps taken for its beneficial use.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 601
Fergus — Fergus County was first settled along the streams, and irriga-
tion ditches were built to irrigate small areas. In the Flatwillow drainage,
including Box Elder Creek, about 15,000 acres are irrigated. Warm
Springs and Big Springs creeks irrigate about 9,000 acres. Flatwillow
Creek is the only adjudicated stream in the county. It also has a gauging
station in connection with the Carey project.
The Judith Basin Irrigation Di.strict is the only district in the county.
Organized in 1919, under the district court, it proposes to enlarge an old
canal from Warm Springs Creek and carry the water by gravity to land
a few miles north of Danvers. Relocation of the canal and construction of
several flumes are the chief features. The canal is about ten miles long
and 4,200 acres are included in the project. This will be completed in 1921.
South of Winnett on Flatwillow Creek is the Carey project known as
the Flatwillow project.
This county offers great possibilities for irrigation. Wolf Creek,
upper Flatwillow Spring Creek, Lower Judith River all have storage
possibilities. Twenty-five thousand acres of irrigable land could be irri-
gated with their waters. In addition, in other parts of the county the
numerous small streams and coulees furnish possibilities for- 15,000 acres
of irrigable land.
In addition to storing irrigation water, Fergus County streams offer
good opportunities for development of electric power in their lower chan-
nels. At least, 40,000 acres are irrigable in this county.
Flathead — Very little irrigation has been done in Flathead County.
The possibilities are many ; the water supply is abundant and the soil is
very productive. The streams which have been gauged are Flathead
River near Columbia Falls, Flathead River below Poison, the Middle
Fork at Belton, the South Fork at Columbia Falls, the Little Bitter Root
River at Marion and Hubbard and the Swan River at Big Fork.
The Ashley Lake Irrigation District was organized in July, 1909.
They took over the works previously started by the Ashley Lake Irriga-
tion Company, paying $50,000 for the old works. The total area being
irrigated is 1,638 acres. The project when completed will cover 25,000
acres. Flood waters are being reservoired in both Ashley Lake and
Sedan Lake.
The Tally Lake Irrigation District has been recently organized to irri-
gate 9,347 acres. It is proposed to build a dam and reservoir at Tally
Lake. The United States Reclamation Service developed a portion of the
southwestern part of the county.
Gallatin — Gallatin Valley was among the very first areas irrigated in
Montana. Water was first diverted for irrigation in 1864 and the devel-
opment of irrigation in this valley has steadily increased until there are
now about 140,000 acres irrigated, besides 180,000 acres of non-irrigated
agricultural land and 525,000 acres of grazing land. The average
assessed valuations in this county are $105 per acre for irrigated land,
$49 per acre for dry farming land and $8 per acre for grazing land.
602 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Practically all of the irrigated land is within Gallatin Valley and
derives its water supply from the direct flow of the several tributaries
of Gallatin River. All of these streams are fully appropriated and most
of them have been adjudicated after much trouble and expense.
About 1,200 acres of land south of Bozeman are irrigated by water
stored in Mystic Lake Reservoir located at the head of Sour Dough
Canyon.
Garfield — Garfield County has no irrigation works with the exception
of small wells which supply a garden or small truck patch. The streams
in the county are dry during the summer months and no direct irrigation
from them is possible. Only by constructing dams and creating reservoirs
to hold the flood waters of the spring freshets can the water be put on the
land during the growing season. While there are numerous streams flowing
a considerable amount of water in the spring, good reservoir sites along
these streams are scarce ; the land susceptible does not always lie close
by, making a long, complex distribution system necessary, and the topo-
graphy of the land makes it unsuited for irrigation.
Glacier — On the Indian reservation the Government is constructing an
irrigation system to eventually include 111,000 acres. The canals divert
from Badger, Two Medicine, and Cut Bank creeks. Only 5,300 acres are
thus far irrigated, although construction is completed for a much larger
area.
Granite — Most of the irrigation in this county is being done along the
Flint Creek Valley. There is a small acreage along the upper part of Rock
Creek Valley and a few small areas along the Hell Gate River. In all
there are about 38,000 acres under irrigation. Georgetown Lake at the
head of the valley has been reservoired for power purposes; also Fred
Burr Lake.
The streams which have been adjudicated in the county are Fred Burr
Creek, Willow Creek, Flint Creek and tributaries, and Trout Creek. The
oldest water rights date back to 1865. There are no irrigation districts
within the county. There is one ditch out of Rock Creek called Munger
Ditch, which diverts water into the Flint Creek Valley. The ditch was
built in 1915.
Hill — Irrigation on a very small scale has been practiced in this county
for many years, with satisfactory success. A total of a little over 3,000
acres is now irrigated by private ditches, using direct flow of the river or
storage of the flood waters of intermittent streams. These areas are along
Milk River or in the hills south of Havre or scattered elsewhere through-
out the county.
The Maria's River project contemplates the irrigation of 250,000 acres,
most of which is in Hill County, and lies southwest of Havre. A dam is
proposed on Maria's River near Brinkman, both for storage and diversion,
and additional storage is to be provided in Lonesome Lake. This project
HISTORY OF MONTANA 603
was investigated by the U. S. Reclamation Service in 1902 and 1904. Last
year the Maria's River Development Association revived the project and
now plans to develop it as an irrigation district. The estimated cost is
$10,700,000.
The lands of this county lie well for irrigation, but since the water
supply is limited, most of the county must forever remain unwatered. A
considerable irrigation development is possible by storage in small units
along the many coulees and in the dry lake beds.
Jefiferson — Irrigation has been practiced for many years, principally in
small units, and only recently including projects of any importance. Most
of the available water supply is now appropriated and further irrigation
development must depend principally upon storage of the flood waters.
The Jefiferson Canal Company, with 2,500 acres and the Pipestone
Ditch Company, with 1,200 acres, have the largest units under direct
flow. The Pipestone Canal and Reservoir Company irrigates 3,000 acres
by storing the flood waters of Pipestone Creek.
There is now under construction on west fork of Whitetail Creek
a reservoir to irrigate 4,000 acres at a cost of $50 per acre. This
project was organized as an irrigation district in March, 1919, but failed
to sell bonds for construction and is now being developed with private
capital.
Judith Basin — Irrigation practiced along the Judith River and Wolf
Creek covers 25,000 acres. Three gauging stations on the tributaries of
the Judith River have recently been established in order that definite data
regarding these streams can be collected. In the vicinity of Stanford
there are 5,000 acres of fine irrigable land. The waters of Wolf Creek
will have to be reservoired and conveyed by gravity to these lands.
Along the Judith River in the vicinity of Hobson and south of that
city there is a large area of irrigable land. About 122,000 acres are
irrigable. The general scheme calls for reservoiring Judith River and
its tributaries and conveying the water onto the land by gravity through
two main canals.
Lewis and Clark — Irrigation has been practiced in this county for
many years, and most of the low water flow of the streams is utilized, but
a great increase in irrigation is possible by storing the flood waters and by
pumping from Missouri River. Water rights have been adjudicated on
most of the streams of the county.
In Helena Valley about 10,000 acres are irrigated from Prickly Pear
Creek and a few thousand acres more from Ten Mile and Seven Mile
creeks. On the north side of the valley 6,600 acres are irrigated by
pumping from Lake Helena with an average lift of no feet. Southeast
of Lake Helena, 3,500 acres are irrigated by pumping to a height of
160 feet.
Near Canyon Creek 5,000 acres are irrigated from Prickly Pear
Creek, and in the north end of the county an equal amount is irrigated
604 HISTORY OF MONTANA
from Sun River. About 3,000 acres are irrigated from Dearborn River.
The Helena Irrigation District was created in August, 1920, to irrigate
16,000 acres near East Helena by pumping from Lake Helena with an
average lift of 180 feet.
A large project was started about fifteen years ago to irrigate 36,000
acres south of Oilman by storing and diverting the waters of the Dearborn
River. After constructing twenty miles of ditch at a cost of $200,000
the project was dropped. A movement is now under way to revive this
project and complete it as an irrigation district.
Many areas of excellent irrigable land are found in the county, much
of which can be irrigated by storage of flood waters on the different
streams. Several feasible reservoirs are available for this purpose.
Liberty — The irrigation on Maria's River is in small patches along
the river bottoms. On Eagle Creek the limited area irrigated is scattered
among ranches on the headwaters of the stream. On Cottonwood Creek
part of the irrigation is from storage of the flood waters. Prescott's
ranch has a reservoir for irrigation purposes.
Prospects for extension of irrigation are not very encouraging. Maria's
River has but little fall, while the lands are high above the river. The
other streams are dry most of the year. Some flood waters of Cotton-
wood and other smaller streams may be stored for a small acreage irrigated
in that way.
Lincoln — From the United States census of irrigation, there are 13,114
acres susceptible of irrigation by new works being completed or just com-
pleted. Eight thousand seven hundred and thirty acres can be irrigated
by works already constructed and 5,349 acres are actually being irrigated.
The streams which have been measured are the Kootenai River near
Libby, Callahan Creek near Troy and the Yaak River near Troy. There
are no streams in the county which have been adjudicated.
It is estimated that 190,000 acres within the county are susceptible of
irrigation.
Madison — Large areas are now under irrigation along the streams
and rivers of the county. The ALidison Valley has about 35,000 acres of
irrigated lands while the Ruby, Jefferson and Beaverhead have, with their
branches, about 50,000 acres. The northern end of the county, includ-
ing the South Boulder country, has about 15,000 acres under irrigation.
Most of this acreage is irrigated by private ditches, there being no large
districts or projects in use.
One irrigation district has been formed in Madison County. This
one, known as the Madison Valley Irrigation District, was organized in
1916, to water 1,909 acres of bench land on the west side of the Madison
River, near Ennis.
In 1919 the land owners co-operated and completed the project as
a company. The water is diverted directly from the Madison River at a
point about four miles south of Ennis and is carried by canals and
HISTORY OF MONTANA 605
flumes to a point near McAllister. This year, 1920, saw the first full
season's operation, which is considered very successful. It will be en-
larged to serve the 3,200 acres later. The chief crop is hay. The cost of
the project approximated $18 per acre.
A similar project on the bench lands, just above the Madison Valley
Irrigation District, can be utilized to water from 5,000 to 7,000 acres of
good bench land.
The soil is a silty loam and abounds in lime. The altitude is about
5,200 feet above sea level. The canal would be about twenty miles in
length, diverting directly from the Madison River. No serious engineering
obstacles would be encountered.
The Madison Irrigation Project is the name given to a system proposed
on the east side of the Madison River, embracing some 30,000 acres of
good land. The general topography is smooth bench land sloping about
twenty-five feet to the mile. The soil is a silty loam with considerable lime
ingredients. The average elevation of the lands is 5,500 feet above sea
level.
The engineering work consists of a forty-mile canal diverting directly
from the Madison River at a point about a mile above Lyon. Several
stream crossings are encountered in bringing the canal to Jack Creek
northeast of Jeffers, where it terminates, but none is extremely difficult.
This project is expected to develop within a short time, a preliminary
survey having been made several years ago. Construction of this project
will have some influence, tending to the extension of the railroad from
Norris into the upper Madison Valley.
Madison County abounds in water power sites, owing to the great fall
in most of its streams. The Montana Power Company has developed
a large power site and reservoir and a huge storage reservoir on the
Madison River. This county has great possibilities for irrigation, as
its numerous streams and acres of dry land are generally situated to
combine ease of construction and low cost of development. At least
60,000 acres of land, valued at $10 to $25 an acre now, can be irrigated
and be valued at $30 to $60 an acre, a net increase to the county of
upward of a million and a half dollars.
McCone — The Brockway Irrigation District was formed under the
Montana Irrigation Commission in 1919 to irrigate 2,740 acres.
The only irrigation system in the county is located in the north-
eastern part along Wolf Creek. This project was privately built ten
years ago by constructing an earth dam in Wolf Creek and creating a
storage of 3,588 acre feet. Additional work has been done from time to
time and the present dam and reservoir are very substantial. About 600
acres are successfully irrigated and the full capacity of the reservoir
has never been needed.
Meagher — The history of irrigation in the county is similar to that
of the other older sections of the state. Canals and works were con-
structed by individuals or partnerships to water the most accessible areas
606 HISTORY OF MONTANA
along streams and rivers. Most of the 35,000 acres of irrigated lands lie
in the Smith River Valley and its tributaries, although the north and
south forks of the Musselshell River bottoms are also watered. Many
of the streams have been adjudicated.
Two proposed projects below White Sulphur Springs in the river
valley, Wood's Gulch and Newlan Creek, respectively, are now under
consideration by the Montana Irrigation Commission. A direct diversion
from Smith River, near the mouth of Birch Creek, contemplates watering
600 to 1,000 acres, and while this project requires some heavy con-
struction work, including considerable fluming, its feasibility is assured.
Mineral — There are no irrigation districts in the county nor any large
irrigation companies. Nearly all the land that is being irrigated consists
of small patches irrigated from individual ditches. There are about
1,000 acres in the county under irrigation.
Missoula — From the county assessor's records, there are 155,159 acres
of land irrigated assessed at $4,726,475 ; 168,270 acres of agricultural land
non-irrigated assessed at $3,168,015 ; 134,645 acres of grazing land assessed
at $947,070 and 515,016 acres of timber land assessed at $4,614,354,
making a total assessed valuation of $20,500,144.
There are approximately 100,000 acres of land under irrigation in
the county; the U. S. census returns show that 344.033 acres will be
irrigated by new works either completed or under construction and
that 219,476 acres are susceptible of irrigation by works already con-
structed and that 101,026 acres are being irrigated.
There have been only two irrigation districts filed in the county, the
Clinton Irrigation District and the DeSmet Irrigation District. The
Clinton district was created in September, 1919, but did not come under
the jurisdiction of the Montana Irrigation Commission. They proposed
to divert water out of Hell Gate River two miles east of Clinton covering
land nearly down to Bonner. The DeSmet Irrigation District elected to
come under the jurisdiction of the Montana Irrigation Commission.
The United States Reclamation Service has put the major part of
the Flathead Valley under irrigation. There are no Carey Act projects
in the county. Land that might still be put under irrigation is a tract of
3,000 or 4,000 acres near the mouth of Qearwater River, 3,000 acres on
Nine Mile Prairie, 10,000 acres in Missoula Valley, 10,000 acres on the
DeSmet bench and 8,000 acres around Frenchtown, making a total of
35,000 acres. This would increase the assessed valuation of the county
at the present rate of assessment $1,000,064.
Musselshell and Golden \'aney— Irrigation dates back to the early
settlers in the county along the Musselshell River Valley. Small diver-
sion dams and canals were constructed to divert water from the river on
to the low lying bottom lands. No very extensive works were ever con-
structed. There are at present about 7,500 acres of land irrigated in both
counties; about 1,500 acres of this lie along the Musselshell bottom; the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 607
rest is situated in the bottom of the tributaries of the river, quite widely
scattered throughout both counties. The nature of the flow of the river
has made construction of works such as small diversion dams, etc., an
extremely hazardous investment. In the spring the river, swollen by the
water from the melting snows in the headwaters, is a raging torrent
and sweeps out everything in its path. Some attempts to use low lift
pumps along the river instead of dams have been tried and have proven
fairly successful. These are on a small scale only. In a few instances
small storage reservoirs have been created on some of the smaller tribu-
taries by constructing earth dams. Some of these have resulted in failure,
but near Lake Mason, a short distance north of Roundup, about i,ooo
acres have been irrigated in this manner. In most cases where it is possible
to construct a dam, there is no land available that could be benefited
thereby. The Musselshell River offers the best possibility to reclaim land
in both counties, through the development of the Deadman's Basin, a
natural reservoir lying just northwest of the town of Barber in the
western part of Golden Valley County.
Park^A few thousand acres are irrigated from the Yellowstone
River, and in this stream there is a great abundance of water and no
question as to water rights but on the many tributaries of the Yellowstone
the full supply is utilized and nearly all of these streams have been
adjudicated.
Shields River and its sixty tributaries were covered in one decree
entered in 191 1, awarding 1,989 second feet of water among some 600
appropriators. Several small tributaries of the Yellowstone near Living-
ston are also adjudicated.
In the upper Yellowstone Valley, the Armstrong Ditch and the Liv-
ingston Ditch are among the largest now constructed.
In Shields Valley the principal canals are Clyde Park Canal, irrigating
1,500 acres. Lower Shields River Canal, with 2,500 acres and Jordan and
Robinson Ditch, watering about 7,000 acres. But the great bulk of the
irrigation both in Shields Valley and elsewhere in the county is done by
small private or partnership ditches.
For the further extension of irrigation, water supply is available
from the Yellowstone by direct flow, and from many smaller streams
by storage of the flood waters.
The upper Yellowstone Irrigation District was created September 25,
1920, to irrigate 3,680 acres between Chickory and Brisbin at a cost of $20
per acre.
Phillips — The Reclamation Service is doing the most in developing
irrigation in the county. As part of the Milk River project about 100,000
acres along the Milk River will be irrigated. A diversion dam in that
stream at Dodson and a north and south canal paralleling the river are
the salient features. About 12,000 acres are now being irrigated from that
source.
Beaver Creek, flowing into the Milk River from the south, has
608 HISTORY OF MONTANA
furnished water for irrigation along its bottom lands for several years.
It is an adjudicated stream, the amount decreed being 8,187 miner's inches.
The water is diverted directly upon the lands from the natural flow.
About 10,000 acres of irrigable land in the county can be developed
through construction of storage reservoirs. Phillips County thus has
approximately 100,000 acres of irrigable land which when developed
will increase in value, according to present differences between dry and
irrigated land, at least $30 per acre, or a total increased valuation of the
county of $3,000,000.
Pondera — About 120,000 acres are irrigated in the county, 80,000 of
which are in the Valier Carey Act project, described elsewhere in this
report. The other irrigated lands of the county are mostly in small
units along the streams of the county.
Practically all of the direct flow of the streams is now utilized and
the Carey Act project depends largely upon storage in two large reservoirs.
A still further irrigation development is possible in this county and feasible
reservoir sites are available.
Powder River — Irrigation is only practiced along the bottom lands of
the streams where the summer flow furnishes a sufficient supply. Most
of it is along the Powder River.
Powell — Irrigation has been practiced for many years along the
Clark's fork of the Columbia, but no irrigation companies have been
formed and no irrigation district has been organized.
Prairie — The only irrigation that is being done in the county is a
small area along Powder River. It contains no irrigation district, although
work is being done to create one to irrigate about 30,000 acres around
Terry.
Ravalli — The first irrigation ever done in the state was in the Bitter
Root Valley when Father DeSmet planted a small patch of grain at St.
Mary's Mission in 1841.
The stream gauging stations located in the county are the Bitter
Root River near Conio, the Bitter Root River near Grantsdale, the
East Fork near Darby and the West Fork near Darby. The irrigation
districts which have been formed and are in operation in the county include
(i) Canyon Creek Irrigation District, established in July, 1909; diverted
water out of Canyon Creek. Canyon Creek Lake has been reservoired.
The projected (2) Blodgett Creek Irrigation District was organized
October, 1910, and has 19,110 acres under irrigation. They purchased
the rights of the Blodgett Creek Reservoir Company and completed a
reservoir at the head of the creek.
(3) Mill Creek Irrigation District was established in June, 1910, and a
reservoir has been built at the head of Mill Creek and water is diverted
HISTORY OF AlONTANA 609
out for irrigation some distance below the reservoir. There are 2.224
acres under irrigation.
(4) Charlos Irrigation District was established in June, 1918. Water
is diverted from Lost Horse Creek to irrigate 847 acres around Charlos
Heights.
(5) Sunset Irrigation District was established in November, 1917, and
the water of the project is diverted from Burnt Fork Creek to irrigate
land locally known as the south bench. There are 3,025 acres under
irrigation.
The Bitter Root Valley Irrigation Company built a reservoir at Lake
Como on the west side of the Bitter Root River and diverted water
across the valley through a syphon and down along the bench lands on
the east side of the valley as far as Eight Mile Creek. The canal is some
seventy miles long and proposed the irrigation of 40,000 acres. Several
large syphons and flumes were built as part of the system. This canal
has been poorly managed and is not a success. The company has recently
been reorganized and called the Ravalli Water Company. An application
has been filed to come under the jurisdiction of the Public Service Com-
mission.
The Marcus Daly estate has also constructed several large ditches
out of the Bitter Root River to irrigate lands extending from Hamilton
to Corvallis. The lands from Corvallis to Stevensville are irrigated
from Supply Ditch, Union Ditch, Web Foot Ditch and Surprise Ditch.
There are no Carey Act or Reclamation projects within the county.
Some years ago a canal line was surveyed from Rock Creek in Granite
County over the summit and into the Bitter Root Valley, near the
head of Three Mile Creek. It was proposed to irrigate the bench lands
between Burnt Fork Creek and Eight Mile Creek and also to develop
power for the operation of an electric line through the valley. This
scheme was never developed, although perhaps feasible.
The irrigation possibilities of the valley are pretty well developed.
The water rights in most of the streams have been adjudicated. Through-
out the valley there are perhaps 10,000 acres of land that could still be
under irrigation.
Richland — Early irrigation was practiced along the lowest levels of the
Yellowstone bottom, but with no great success. High water ditches were
the type in general use and wild hay was the main crop. Few attempts
were made elsewhere to irrigate. A gauging station on the Yellowstone
at Intake in Dawson County gives an annual minimum flow at that point
of 8,900,000 acre feet. The largest amount yet diverted by the Reclama-
tion Project has been slightly more than 60,000 acre feet. The balance is
allowed to flow from the state. Twenty thousand acres are irrigated along
the Yellowstone River by the Reclamation Service Canal. The Lower
Yellowstone Reclamation project furnishes the bulk of irrigation land.
Rosebud — The early irrigation in the county was done along the
Yellowstone River bottoms and in Tongue River bottoms, on the Tongue
610 HISTORY OF MONTANA
River and on Rosebud Creek. Gravity systems, diverting directly from
the rivers, were employed. Along the Yellowstone the constantly chang-
ing channel of the river caused the abandonment of many of these or
their enlargement and location farther back from the river by means of
heavy ruts, or pumping installations. At present there are under irriga-
tion along the Yellowstone approximately 20,000 acres, along the Tongue
River about 7,000 acres and in Rosebud and Arnell's creeks about 7,000
acres. However, in the latter two creeks the irrigation is only in the
spring during high water, or by sub-irrigation during the summer months,
as these streams flow very little water during the growing season. There
are several pumping or gravity irrigation systems in operation at present
along the Yellowstone on both sides of the river.
The Hammond Irrigation Company was organized in 191 2. The
land covered by the project is on the north side of the river, the intake
being opposite Howard on the Northern Pacific and the canal extending
east to Forsyth being about ten miles in length. At the time it was con-
structed many temporary structures were built and as a result the project
was never wholly a success because of a high maintenance cost; but
water has always been delivered and good crops have always been grown.
In 1920 a district was organized under the district court to include the
same land, for the purpose of making permanent improvements.
The Carterville Irrigation District was organized in 1909. It is a
gravity system taking water from a slough of the Yellowstone River on
the north side of the river five miles northeast of Forsyth. The canal
parallels the river and is about 25 miles long. The area in the district
embraces a strip of land from Forsyth to Thurlow on the Milwaukee
and varies from one-half to one and one-half miles in width, the irrigated
land amounting to 12,600 acres. The Milwaukee Railroad traverses the
entire district.
The Yellowstone Irrigation District lies partly in Rosebud County
and partly in Treasure County. It was organized in 1909 and at that
time took over the Sanders Co-operative Ditch Company and enlarged
and extended that company's holdings. It is a gravity system and the
intake is located just west of Hysham on the south side of the Yellow-
stone. The canal then skirts the foothills east of Hysham and continues
easterly to Arnell's Creek west of Forsyth. It is 29 miles in length and
embraces in all about 10,000 acres, the area being a strip from one-half
to two miles wide between the river and the foothills to the south. The
Northern Pacific Railroad traverses the district, and the Great Western
Sugar Company is co-operating with the federal and county governments
in constructing a first class gravel highway through the area.
There are two more irrigation districts now organized under the
district court, but no construction work has as yet been started. The
first, the Highland Park Irrigation District, is a pumping system and
will water a high bench just east of Forsyth and extending east south
of the Yellowstone River. The second, the Hathaway Bottom District,
is a contemplated pumping project in the eastern end of the county near
HISTORY OF MONTANA 611
the town of Hathaway and extending into Custer County. It will reclaim
3,ocx3 acres of fine bottom land.
Roosevelt — The Fort Peck Indian Reservation lies partly in the
county and the Fort Peck Indian Reclamation Project is developing
94,000 acres of irrigated land of that area.
Since the Poplar River, which flows south through the county, will
be utilized in full by the federal project, private irrigation along it is
impossible. The Big Muddy creek is also appropriated by the Reclama-
tion Service, but several tributaries on its east bank will develop storage
for considerable irrigation. The largest field for irrigation lies in the
Missouri bottom from the mouth of the Big Muddy to Mondak. A strip
of land averaging a mile wide and 25 miles long is largely irrigable here.
Twelve thousand acres are irrigable along the river.
A small amount of private development has been done recently on
some of the coulees in the eastern part of the county. Five thousand
acres can be irrigated by utilizing the flood waters of these channels.
In all, Roosevelt County has 111,000 acres of irrigable land. The
increase in assessed valuation of about forty dollars an acre will total
$4,440,000. Roosevelt County bids fair to rank as one of the greatest
producers in the state.
Sanders — From the United States census reports there are 25,363
acres that will be irrigated by works either under construction or com-
pleted ; 8,022 acres are susceptible of irrigation from works constructed
and 5.749 acres are actually being irrigated. There are 2,110 acres either
irrigated or susceptible of irrigation that are available for settlement.
Sheridan — Irrigation has never been practiced extensively in the
county. Not to exceed 500 acres are partially irrigated along the Big
Muddy, during the period of high water in the spring. The Reclamation
Service claims the flow of the Big Muddy and its tributaries on the west.
Silver Bow — There are no companies operating exclusively as irriga-
tion companies in the county. Most of the 15,000 acres irrigated lie
adjacent to the Big Hole River. The irrigation here is carried on by
ranches operating individually or in gorups. The main crop raised is
hay.
Near Butte are several truck and dairy ranches irrigating but a few
acres. Only about 90 acres are irrigated in this manner. Little addi-
tional irrigation is possible in the county.
Stillwater — Irrigation has been practiced in this county for 30 years
with good results. Most of the irrigation is by small private ditches.
About 30,000 acres are irrigated along the river valleys of the Stillwater
and its tributaries and 10,000 acres along the Yellowstone River. There
is ample water in these streams and no water rights have been decreed.
The Columbus Irrigation District was created in 1919 to irrigate
612 HISTORY OF MONTANA
i,Soo acres adjoining the Town of Columbus by a i6-mile canal diverting
from Yellowstone River. The land has been irrigated since 1910 by
water from Stillwater River, carried by pipe across the Yellowstone.
This pipe was washed out in the high water of 1918 and the land has
since been without water. Construction on the ditch has been under way
for the past year and the cost has greatly exceeded the original estimates.
Stillwater is one of the best watered counties in the state and has
ample opportunities for a much greater extension of irrigation. Fifty
thousand acres of good bench land between the Stillwater and Yellow-
stone are irrigable by a high line canal from the Stillwater. Large tracts
east of the Rosebud and Stillwater rivers could also be irrigated at rea-
sonable cost.
Sweet Grass — Irrigation has been practiced in this county for over
thirty years. Gravity systems are used and storage is not necessary ex-
cept on the Big Timber Carey Act Project. Most of the irrigation is by
small private ditches.
From Sweetgrass and Big Timber creeks about 25,000 acres are now
irrigated, about half of this amount being included in the Glass-Lindsay
Carey Act.
From Boulder River about 20,000 acres are irrigated mostly by small
private ditches constructed at low cost. The largest ditch diverting
from the Boulder is the Dry Creek canal built in 1900 at a cost of $25,000.
It is 15 miles long and serves 3,000 acres of land lying southeast of Big
Timber.
The Greycliff Irrigation District was created in March, 1920, to irri-
gate 2,000 acres near Greycliff by enlarging and extending the old Bailey
Ditch diverting from Boulder River.
Many thousand acres additional can be watered by direct flow from
Boulder River. A considerable area can also be irrigated from Yellow-
stone River. The total irrigable acreage that could be developed at rea-
sonable cost is estimated at from 25,000 to 40,000 acres.
Teton — Of the irrigated lands in the coimty, about 3,000 acres near
Fairfield are included in the U. S. R. S. Sun River project. Three
thousand acres are irrigated on Deep Creek and 1,000 acres on Willow
Creek. Three thousand acres are irrigated on the Teton River above
Chouteau. Northeast of Chouteau a large expanse of excellent bench
land is irrigated under the Burton, the Farmers, and the Eldorado
ditches, all diverting from Teton River. About 40,000 acres are served
by these three ditches.
A large Carey Act project was planned several years ago to irrigate
40,000 acres near Brady, being partly in Teton and partly in Pondera
County. After construction of the Bynum Reservoir /the project was
dropped. The reservoir rights have now been acquired by the Bynum
Irrigation District, which was created in March, 1920, and is now pre-
paring to irrigate other lands near Bynum, amounting to 25,000 acres,
besides furnishing water to 5,000 acres near Brady.
Under the U. S. R. S. Sun River project it is planned to eventually
irrigate an additional area of about 70,000 acres northeast of Fairfield ;
HISTORY OF MONTANA 613
with all the contemplated irrigation completed, this will be one of the
best watered counties in the state.
Toole — About 500 acres have been irrigated from private ditches
along Maria's River and about half that amount from small streams
among the Sweetgrass Hills. Much of the irrigation, however, has
been abandoned, and the actual area properly irrigated is negligible.
The Toole County Irrigation District was organized in September,
1919, to irrigate over 200,000 acres of land in the county.
Treasure — Early irrigation was practiced along the lower river bot-
toms by individual or partnership ditches, generally carrying water dur-
ing high flood stages. The only crop sought was hay sufficient for the
need of stock ranches. Later came the era of alfalfa, sugar beets and
vegetables, and these early ditches were improved or taken over by larger
companies or districts and enlarged. The Echetah Ditch was one of
the early ditches, although it was later incorporated and still later taken
over by the Rancher Ditch Company. The Rancher Ditch Company
was organized in 1904 to irrigate lands lying on the north side of the
river north and west of Hysham. The source is the Yellowstone River,
the water being conducted by gravity from a point almost opposite the
mouth of the Big Horn River to a point north of Hysham.
The chief crops are be6ts and alfalfa. Since the railroad is on the
south side of the river, the produce must be hauled across to ship it.
Lack of a bridge causes the farmers near Hysham to resort to a ferry,
which tends to diminish the amount of beets grown. The system has
always given satisfaction and is very successful.
On the same side of the river extending east from Hysham to about
north of the Town of Sanders is a project known as the North Sanders
Irrigation District. It was organized under the district court to take
over the North Sanders Co-operative Ditch Company's work and extend
and enlarge the same. It is part gravity and part pumping. The gravity
canal diverts from the Yellowstone and covers some 3,700 acres.
The Box Elder Irrigation District organized in 1919 irrigates 1,485
acres above the canal of the Yellowstone Irrigation District by pumping
from that canal. The land lies east of Hysham about two miles.
The Big Horn Tulloc Company built a project near the mouth of
the Big Horn River, taking water from that river and irrigating lands
near the town of Big Horn. It is a gravity system, but in cases of ex-
treme low water expects to be prepared to pump to its canal, for which
contingency it is now installing pumping machinery. It covers 2,000
acres and was installed in 1910 at a cost of $18 per acre. The Hysham
Irrigation District, organized in 1919, proposed to irrigate some 6,000
acres of bottom land immediately adjacent to Hysham. The source of
water is the Yellowstone, from which it will have to be pumped. The
canal will be about five miles in length.
Valley — Irrigation on a small scale only has been possible in Valley
County. Along Rock Creek in the western end of the county a few direct
diversion works were built prior to 1902.
614 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Wheatland — The earliest irrigation was practiced in the bottom lands
along such streams that gave a sufficient flow through the irrigation
season. In most cases the works required consisted only of a canal,
with perhaps a diversion dam at its head. The lands along the Mussel-
shell River are the most extensive of the irrigated lands in the county.
Approximately 10,000 acres lying along the Musselshell are irrigated,
which includes the smaller tributaries.
The Harlowton-DuRand Irrigation District, now being handled
through the Montana Irrigation Commission, contemplates the irrigation
of 16,600 acres.
Wibaux — Irrigation has never been practiced extensively. Several
years ago a dam to divert water from Beaver Creek, a few miles north
of the City of Wibaux, was utilized to irrigate 150 to 200 acres during
the high water period when water was available. However, this was
never very successful because of lack of water at the proper time and
has fallen into disuse. No irrigation is done with the exception of a
flooding on some small tracts in the Beaver Creek bottom during the
spring floods. On account of scarcity of reservoir sites, where storage
water is available, nothing has been done to develop irrigation. Numerous
small dams have been built to form water holes for stock, but none are
large enough to store irrigation water.
Yellowstone — About 125,000 acres are irrigated in the county and
the average value thereof is about $150 per acre, while the average value
of dry farm land is about $25. The total assessed valuation of the
county is $84,500,000.
Irrigation has been practiced in this county for 40 years, with very
satisfactory results, except for the development of seepage troubles,
which have necessitated the drainage of a considerable acreage. A much
larger area now needs drainage and plans are under way to drain most
of the irrigated lands above Billings. Considerable drainage has been
done by the U. S. Reclamation Service on the Huntley project below
Billings.
The Yellowstone River is the main source of supply for irrigation,
though some of the tributaries are also used for a small acreage. In
the river no water rights have been adjudicated, as the supply is ample
for all needs. A few of the minor streams have been decreed.
The principal canals diverting from Yellowstone River and the acreage
served by each are as follows:
Cove Ditch 5.500 acres
Big Ditch 37.500 acrps
Billings Ditch (Carey Act Project) 25,000 acres
Canyon Creek Ditch S.ooo acres
Suburban Ditch 2,000 acres
Lockwood Irrigation District 2,500 acres
HISTORY OF MONTANA 615
Coulson Ditch 3.000 acres
Huntley Project (U. S. R. S.) 33.ooo acres
The first five of these ditches irrigate laands on the north side of the
river and the last three lands on the south side. Cove Ditch has its diver-
sion above Park City in Stillwater County, but most of the lands irrigated
are in Yellowstone.
The Big Ditch is 60 miles long and has been in operation with good
success for over 20 years. The Canyon Creek Ditch was built 35 years
ago. The Suburban Ditch is also an old one and irrigates lands adjoining
the city of Billings.
Lockwood Irrigation District is a pumping project operating under
three diflferent lifts ranging from 65 to 165 feet. Because of heavy
operation cost it is less profitable than the gravity systems.
The Billings Carey Act Project and the Huntley U. S. Reclamation
Project are described elsewhere in this report.
The Waco-Custer Irrigation District was created in August, 1920, to
irrigate 4,5CX3 acres along Yellowstone River in the east end of the county.
Most of the lands have been irrigated under an old system for many
years.
The Danford Irrigation District was created in September, 1920, to
irrigate 1,200 acres near Laurel, by diversion from Clark Fork River.
About half of the lands are in this county and half in Carbon County.
The lands have been mostly irrigated for 20 years under an old system
and are very high priced lands.
The Victory Irrigation District was created in September, 1920, to
irrigate 2,800 acres near Custer by diversion from the Big Horn River.
Irrigation Statistically Considered
The bulletin of the United States census for 1920, on irrigation in
Montana, contains all the data necessary for a complete exposition of
the subject, from the standpoint of facts and figures. Comparisons are
usually presented by decades and the record goes back to a period ante-
dating the formation of Montana as a territory. What follows com-
prises condensations and extracts from the Government's rich mine of
information.
In 1920 the number of farms irrigated in the state was 10,807, as
compared with 8,970 in 1910, and the area irrigated 1,679,084 acres
and 1,687,031, respectively. Ten years ago, however, the enterprises
were comparatively small, as is evident from the reports of ''capital
invested," $53,457,663 being devoted to irrigation works in 1920, com-
pared with $22,970,958 so applied in 1910. The figures showing the
area irrigated in the decadal years preceding 1910 indicate an imposing
increase; in 1890, 350,582 acres of land were irrigated in Montana, and
in 1900 the area had increased to 951,154. The returns of capital in-
vested in irrigation enterprises are even more striking. In 1890 the
amount was $623,195; in 1900, $4,683,073. and, as stated, in 1910, nearly
$23,000,000.
616
HISTORY OF MONTANA
ACRE.^GE BY Dr.MNAGE B,\SINS
The report of a special census taken in 1902 presented all data by
drainag? basins rather than by counties. The results of the census of
1920 were tabulated on the same basis, and the data for 1902 presented
for purposes of comparison. For no other census have the results been
tabulated in this form. The acreage reported for each drainage basin
in 1919 comprises all the irrigated land in that drainage basin, including
that watered from springs and wells. In the 1902 results the acreages
irrigated from springs and wells were not reported for the smaller
tributary streams, but the acreages for the tributaries were included in
those reported for the main streams. This area is so small, however,
that the comparison of the areas reported for the tributary streams is
not seriously aflfected.
AREA I
RRIGATED (a
CRES)
Area
included
in enter-
prises, 1920
(acres)'
DRAINAGE BASIN
1919
1902
Per cent
of
increase'
enterprises
were
capable
ofirrigating
in 1920
(acres)'
Total .
2.639.082
1,140.694
131.4
4.358.148
2,639,082
2,341,814
908.243
157.8
3.713.068
2.223.494
Missouri River direct
Jefferson River and tributaries
Jefferson River direct
15,635
425.685
21,275
145.673
184.655
7.265
34.474
32,342
34.425
95.063
16.861
31.785
44.945
63,758
15.173
45,559
108,555
19,766
11.390
231.788
15.721
99.014
67.422
9.333
21.101
> 19.197
20.338
58.004
18.677
32.927
34.961
22.188
44.600
87.000
56.507
24,305
4.947
2,135
• 25.210
209.137
40.015
19.836
13,572
64,628
1,645
13,618
1*2,622
2,390
> 40,811
2.865
> 77.466
, 232.451
37.3
83.7
35.3
47.1
173.9
-22.2
63.4
68.5
69.3
63.9
-9.7
—2.8
28.6
187.4
-66.0
-47.8
91.8
-18.7
34.194
831.898
40.347
296,079
305.885
40.677
76.107
71.803
88,524
228,056
38.369
244.071
146.468
308.158
40.993
141.363
349.715
26.358
2.850
3.130
317.378
858.817
279.211
94.238
34,278
125,357
92.036
1,365
31.396
5.871
195.055
3.205
399,235
545.080
28.174
574.672
34.894
199.797
227.920
13.297
48.036
Other tributaries of Jefferson River. . . .
.SO. 728
62.065
152.515
29.691
77.465
82.241
122.431
35.459
113.954
Milk River and tributaries
158.391
23.443
1.750
910
87.879
440.354
189.453
25.940
23.561
68.830
51.103
365
11,170
728
69.195
380
51.585
297.268
-57.4
248.6
110.6
373.5
30.8
73.6
6.5
2.275
Other tributaries of Milk River
Yellowstone River and tributaries
130.923
645.588
240.034
53.062
29.664
Clark Fork
116,506
66.206
-97.3
-11.5
-69.5
69.5
-86.7
-33.4
27.9
1.305
21.403
4.841
Other tributaries of Yellowstone River .
112.567
1.480
Other tributaries of Missouri River
Tributaries of Columbia River
139.358
539.288
291.286
2,882
238.769
2.550
77.381
40,604
112,622
5,612
49,635
5,982
229.851
< 8.808
221.043
1.181
78.139
36.622
98.965
> 6,136
(')
2.600
26.7
-67.3
8.0
115.9
-1.0
10.9
13.8
-8.5
630.657
14.403
433.021
8.322
155.391
83.716
158.241
17.351
183,233
14.423
529.564
4.722
Missoula River and tributaries
325.992
5.777
108,161
Big Blackfoot River.
61.476
139.481
Other tributaries of Missoula River. .
11.097
75.150
130.1
9,724
» A minus sign (— ) denotes decrease. Per cent not shown when more than I.OOO.
' Not reported in 1902.
* Includes springs and wells.
* Includes springs and wells and all sources in the Columbia River drainage basin, exclusive of the
Missoula and Kootenai Rivers.
' Not reported separately in 1902.
HISTORY OF MONTANA
Irrigation Works Built Since i860
617
A clear idea of the irrigation works constructed in Montana since
i860, classified by dams, main and lateral ditches, and reservoirs, may
be obtained from the following- statistics :
DATE OF
BEGINNING
Number
of
diverting
dams
Number
of
storage
dams
MAIN DITCHES
LATERAL
DITCHES
RESERVOIRS
Number
Length
(miles)
Length
(miles)
Number
Capacity
lacre-feet)*
Total
3.548
524
8.820
16,445
6.285
469
1,583,720
Before 1860
5
238
373
1,064
763
339
275
197
163
131
1
22
10
58
91
95
98
87
38
24
15
798
876
2.222
1.861
870
616
484
407
671
10
1,259
1,516
3.995
3.429
1,596
2.002
896
808
934
3
146
370
865
1,554
421
2,087
245
402
192
1860-1869
21
7
43
79
88
82
84
43
22
6.209
40
1870-1879
1880-1889
55,430
52,572
43.666
567,349
758,984
95,791
3.679
1890-1899
1900-1904
1905-1909
1910-1914
1915-1919
*An acre-foot is the quantity of water tliat will cover one acre to a depth of one foot — viz., 43.560
cubic feet.
Status of Enterprises in 1920
The following table indicates the capital invested in 1920, and cost of
operation and maintenance, classified by character of enterprise:
Total
Individual and partnership
Cooperative
Irrigation district
Carey Act
Commercial
U. S. Reclamation Service
U. S. Indian Service
State
City
Other
■ Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent.
CAPIT.VL INVESTED
Amount
$53,457,663
15,543,287
6,692,877
1,708,851
4,834,407
676,535
19,183,271
4,705,737
100
105,538
7,060
Per cent
of total
100.0
29.1
12.5
3.2
9.0
1.3
35.9
8.8
(•)
0.2
(1)
OPERATION .\ND
MAINTENANCE
Area for
which cost
is reported
(acres)
1,369,651
747,131
349,499
34,983
54,748
34,115
81,306
67,789
20
60
Average
cost
per acre
$1.26
1.07
0.86
0.98
1.76
2.14
2.86
2.71
0.75
2^67
618
HISTORY OF MONTANA
Irrigated Lands as Producers
An instructive table demonstrating the per cent of land irrigated as
compared with the total acreage of the state and the quantities of the
various crops harvested from the land.
area harvested
quantity harvested
CROP
1919
1909
1919
1909
Acres
Per
cent of
total
for
state
Acres
Per
cent of
total
for
state
Amount
Per
cent of
total
for
state
Amount
Per
cent of
tbtal
for
state
.Cereals:
Corn. . .
2.436
45,153
39,396
121,804
10,286
1,370
35,781
91,912
5,576
220,281
39,254
770
25,349
117,385
620
4,903
7,686
761,904
47,600
3,330
1,022
12,070
3,740
965
13 0
23.6
7.3
10.5
35.1
1.8
44.3
65.3
42.4
58.9
52.0
12 1
5.4
26 0
32.3
22.1
89.4
71.9
72.5
34 6
44.5
81.2
2.9
56.3
. 1,640
159,658
1 45.568
9,271
867
48,868
60,437
8,433
183.264
22,195
17.2
47.9
17.6
34.0
14 4
41.5
66.8
72,9
81.7
37.5
34,132 bu.
1,183,068 bu.
331,668 bu.
1,551.685 bu.
185.866 bu.
6,826 bu.
35,613 tons
105,845 tons
6,967 tons
408,993 tons
39.523 tons
1.184 tons
18.194 tons
131,652 tons
3,357 tons
568,008 bu.
67,297 tons
477.796 bu.
9,595 bu.
8,824 bu.
14.576 bu.
143.042 bu.
22,534 bu.
508,385 lbs.
21.4
45.8
11.9
31.0
53.6
3.0
56.8
70.4
51.0
69.7
61.6
25.4
10.6
46.8
43.2
34.2
91.2
70.9
65.0
37.8
55.8
85.9
6.9
52.0
51,488
6,965,254
}l, 236,137
273,827
15,438
76,230
102,660
17.350
514.803
37.424
10418
339,821
Oats
Winter wheat. . . .
19.8
Barley
36.4
13.9
44.6
65.8
72.0
85.8
47.6
Rye ■
Hay and Forage:
Timothy and clover mixed
Clover alone
Alfalfa
Other tame grasses
Annual legumes cut for hay
Grains cut green
Wild, salt or prairie grasses
Silage crops
5,988
329,579
13 0
56.4
14.8
57.6
Vegetables;
Potatoes
11,137
7,551
53.8
86.7
1,938,677
91,509
59.8
84.1
Sugar beets
Fri;its:
Apples
Cherries
Miscellaneous:
Clover and alfalfa seed. . .
Dry beans
1,527
41.3
4.817
46.4
Dry peas
951
80.3
19,966
92.1
Flaxseed
Sugar-beet seed
Drainage Enterprises
Secondary to the irrigation of lands in Montana, but yet of great
importance in the conservation of its productive area, is the drainage of
farms and other land that will eventually be used for agricultural purposes.
No census relating to the subject was taken prior to that of 1920, and the
facts here given extracted from a special bulletin issued by the Govern-
ment bureau relate substantially to conditions as of January i, 1920.
The organized drainage enterprises include considerable areas of un-
improved lands not yet in farms. The statistics for drainage on farms were
collected in the general census of agriculture, while the figures for outside
drainage enterprises were obtained in a special canvass for that purpose.
Such drainage on farms may be either inside or outside an organized
enterprise, and the drains that an individual owner constructs on his own
farm may be either supplemental to, or be independent of the works
installed by an enterprise. '
With this introductory explanation, the following table will be com-
prehended :
HISTORY OF MONTANA
G19
DRAINAGE ON FARMS
Number of all farms in the state.
Farms reporting land having drainage. .
Farms reporting land needing drainage.
All land in farms acres . .
Improved land in farms acres. .
Farm land reported as provided with drainage acres . .
Farm land reported as needing drainage acres. .
DRAINAGE ENTERPRISES
Approximate land area of the state acres. .
All land in operating drainage enterprises acres. .
Improved land acres.
Unimproved land acres. .
Total capital invested in and required for completion of oper
ating enterprises
Capital invested in these enterprises to Dec. 31, 1919..
Additional capital required to complete these enterprises
Amount
57,677
756
1,728
.35,070,656
11,007,278
51,146
113,293
93,523,840
116,082
101,924
14,158
$846,466
664,990
181,476
Per cent
of total
100.0
1.3
3.0
100 0
31.4
0.1
0.3
100.0
0.1
0.1
100 0
78,6
21.4-
Character of Enterprises
Most of the drainage enterprises organized under the state laws were
estaWished in accordance with the law of March 7, 1905, (ch. 106). That
provided for a county drain commissioner with duties generally the same
as provided in the law of March 18, 1915 (ch. 147), and for a very similar
method of organizing drainage districts. Amendments made in 1907 and
1909 did not afifect the form of organization.
The drainage law of 191 5 provides for the appointment of a county
drain commissioner by the board of county commissioners, to have juris-
diction over all established drains in his county. A petition for a drain
must be signed by not less than ten freeholders of the county, including
at least five (or at least half when the whole number is five or less) who
own lands liable for assessment for the proposed improvement. The
tracts of land and the cities, towns, comities, railways, and irrigation
ditches assessed for the construction of a drain comprise the drainage dis-
trict. Land liable to become waterlogged may be included. Damages
and inconvenience caused by seepage and waste water from irrigation
ditches and higher land are to be considered in apportioning the cost,
which is borne by the various parts of the district in proportion to the bene-
fits that will be conferred.
A first order of determination for the drainage district is issued by
the drain commissioner if his preliminary examination indicates that the
enterprise is practicable; the final order of determination is issued when
right-of-way for the drain has been secured. The plan of drainage is
determined by the drain commissioner, who lets contract for construction.
Damages for right of way are awarded l>y a board of special commission-
ers appointed by the district court. If this board decides that the drain
is unnecessary, proceedings for establishing the drain are dismissed at the
cost of the applicants. Appeal from this board's awards may be taken
620 HISTORY OF MONTANA
to the district court for jury trial. Apportionment of the cost is made
by the drain commissioner, subject to review by a board appointed by the
District Court and to further appeal for jury trial. This board of review
may add to the district, or eliminate any part of it. Public hearings are
held upon the petition for commissioners to determine damages and upon
the drain commissioner's apportionment of cost. Damages awarded each
individual are deducted from the assessment of cost made against him.
The number of installments for collecting the drainage taxes, which must
not extend more than ten years, is determined by the drain commissioner.
Payments for damages, services, and materials are made by warrants
drawn upon the funds of the district, but those for land and for damages
in excess of benefits will be paid from general county funds, which will
be reimbursed by the district.
Petition for a drain to be located or to confer benefits in more than
one county may be filed in either county affected. The drain commission-
ers act jointly, but after they apportion the total cost between the counties
each makes the apportionment within his own county.
Drainage and protection against seepage and alkali for land in pro-
jects of the United States Reclamation Service may be provided by that
service as such improvement works are deemed necessary.
Drainage Works
The total works completed by drainage enterprises to December 31.
1919, comprised 102. i miles of open ditches and 50.7 miles of tile drains;
the additional lengths under construction were 1.3 miles of open ditches
and 36.2 miles of tile drains. These figures do not include drains installed
by individual farm owners supplemental to the works of the enterprises.
There are no pumping districts for land drainage in the state.
Throughout the state, 116,082 acres of land are covered by organized
enterprises, of which 44,682 acres are embraced by completed works and the
remainder of the area by works under construction. The total amount
invested in these enterprises on December 31, 1919, was $664,990, of
which $393,969 had been invested in completed works. To complete the
drainage enterprises projected, it was estimated that $181,476 would be
required. Most of the projects are situated in the south central part of
the state, in Yellowstone County; they cover 96,732 acres of the total of
116,082 which have been drained, or are in process of drainage.
Condition of L.\nd in Enterprises
With one exception, all the enterprises in the drainage basin of the
Missouri River and its branches are for the drainage and protection
of land damaged or threatened with water-logging and the con-
centration of salts, commonly called alkali, in the surface soil as a result
of irrigation. The enterprises on the Pacific slope are reported as all for
the drainage and protection of land that was swampy or subject to over-
flow by stream floods.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 621
For the state, 3,930 acres in drainage districts and 61,831 acres in
United States Reclamation Service projects are reported as not having
needed drainage, or as not having been expected to receive drainage or
protection from the improvement works authorized, but as having been
assessed merely as being responsible for damage to the other lands.
The usual purpose of an organized enterprise is merely to provide
adequate outlets into which the landowners of the district may drain their
farms, and to afford relief from overflows for the district as a unit.
Therefore, the fact that an enterprise which has completed the construc-
tion of the drainage works authorized contains land still swampy, subject
to overflow, seeped, or alkali, or land that sufifers damage to crops, does
not show that the improvement works are inadequate.
Forestry and Lumbering
The forests and mountainous tracts of Montana cover 26,ooo,CX50 acres
of the 90,000,000 acres within its limits. Of the former splendid and
useful domain, nearly 16.000,000 acres are included in the national forests,
the state owns 500,000 acres, about 5,000,000 acres are in ])rivate hands
and the remaining 5,000,000 acres still belong to the public domain or in-
clude the Indian reservations. The national and state governments and
private owners co-operate to conserve these lands and avoid waste, chiefly
from fires and the indiscriminate burning of slashings which in the past
has destroyed thousands of acres of young forest growth.
It is only within recent years that there has filtered into the general
consciousness a realization of the vital relation between the preservation
and expansion of mountain forests and the development of agricultural
prosperity. It is within the timbered areas of the mountains that the
winter snows are conserved which feed the innumerable streams netting
Montana, and furnish water for domestic, irrigating and power purposes.
Of the 15,957,196 acres in national forests 13,147,153 are classified as
timber lands, 1,665,113 as grass or grazing, and 1,144,930 as barren.
The Forest Public Lands
Under what is called the Forest Homestead Law passed June 11, 1906,
399,781 acres of national forest land have been listed and opened to settle-
ment and entry. This acreage embraces 3,169 distinct tracts, averaging
126.15 acres in extent. Only a few of the listed areas have not been
entered. In 1912, the secretary of agriculture was directed to examine and
classify all the national forest lands with a view to ascertaining what areas
were suitable for agricultural use. The classification authorized has now
been completed and all areas, except a very few which are now heavily
timbered and which have been left for re-examination and classification
when the timber is removed, which are chiefly valuable for agriculture, the
occupation of which for agricultural purposes will not interfere with the
administration of the national forests, and which are not needed for public
purposes, have been opened to settlement and entry.
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HISTORY OF MONTANA 623
Grazing on the national forests is not a right given to anyone by law,
but is a privilege which rests with the secretary of agriculture under the
regulations of his department, who is to simply keep in mind, with the
general aim of land conservation, the permanent good of the livestock
industry and the protection of bona fide settlers and homebuilders.
The Forest Service, to which is confided the administration of the
grazing regulations, endeavors to promote and stabilize the livestock indus-
try. "The success that has attended its efforts," says one of the public
officials of Montana, "is attested by the practically unanimous endorse-
ment of its methods by stockmen's organizations throughout the West
and the widespread movement for the extension of Forest Service man-
agement to the public range outside the national forests. Grazing permits
are issued by the forest supervisor, the fees for which depend on the
length of the grazing season, the location of the forest, quality of forage
and other factors.
"It is expected of the permittees that their stock should be handled while
on the forests in such a way as to prevent damage to the range or to the
timber growth, and so that destructive erosion or washing of the soil will
be prevented. To this end, cattle should be salted properly, both as to
quantity and distribution of salt ; and where large numbers graze on one
range in common they should be herded. Herders are often employed
by a livestock association made up of permittees who assess a small charge
per head of the permitted stock to defray the expense. Sheep should be
herded in a quiet manner avoiding all unnecessary trailing, and bedding
not more than three nights in one place.
"If the stock are not handled in such a way as to prevent damage to the
range and timber growth, the number of stock is reduced and, in extreme
cases, grazing is entirely prohibited until injury done is remedied."
Under the Federal laws governing the forests, 25 per cent of the
revenues received by the Government on account of each national forest
is paid into the state treasury and from there distributed among the various
counties in which the forest is situated in the proportion which the forest
acreage in each county bears to the total acreage of the forest. This 25
per cent fund is devoted to school and road purposes and applied in such
manner as the State Legislature may direct. In addition to the 25 per
cent fund, 10 per cent of all forest revenues from each state is set aside
for the construction of roads and trails within the forests in the state
under the direction of the secretary of agriculture. The total net receipts
of the Government from all national forests in Montana for the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1919, amounted to $385,525.72.
Areas and Locations of National Forests
The national forests in Montana, with the areas and approximate
county locations, are as follows :
Absarokee — Qniefly in Park and Sweet Grass counties. Total area,
987,710 acres.
624 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Beartooth — Chiefly in Carbon and Sweet Grass counties. Total area,
681,930 acres.
Beaverhead— Chiefly in Beaverhead County. Total area, 1,365,000
acres.
Bitter Root — Chiefly in Ravalli County. Total area, 1,155,868 acres.
Blackfeet — In Flathead and Lincoln counties. Total area, 1,128,615
acres.
Cabinet — Chiefly in Sanders County. Total area, 1,043,224 acres.
Custer — Chiefly in Powder River County. Total area, 499,508 acres.
Deer Lodge — Chiefly in Jefferson, Deer Lodge and Silver Bow coun-
ties. Total area, 964,000 acres.
Flathead — Chiefly in Flathead County. Total area, 2,004,579 acres.
Gallatin — Chiefly in Gallatin County. Total area, 909,430 acres.
Helena — Chiefly in Lewis and Clark and Broadwater counties. Total
area, 888,631 acres.
Jefferson — Chiefly in Cascade and Meagher counties. Total area,
1,175,685 acres.
Kootenai — In Lincoln County. Total area, 1,617,140 acres.
Lewis and Clark — Chiefly in Lewis and Clark and Teton counties.
Total area, 826,360 acres.
Lolo — Chiefly in Mineral and Missoula counties. Total area, 1,181,-
018 acres.
Madison — Chiefly in Madison County. Total area, 1,035,860 acres.
Missoula — Chiefly in Granite and Missoula counties. Total area,
1,368,191 acres.
Sioux — In Carter County. Total area, 114,541 acres.
Grand total of national forest area in Montana, 18,947,290 acres.
Alienations, 2,990,094 acres.
Net area, 15,957,156 acres.
The National Forest Funds
Twenty-five per cent of the receipts of the national forests is devoted
to the support of the common schools of Montana, and 10 per cent is
applied to road and trail building, within and adjacent to the preserves in
the counties from which the receipts are derived. The expenditure of
these funds is under the jurisdiction of the National Forest Service. For
the year 1920, the total thus distributed to the several counties interested
was $88,017. Ifi that list, the following were most favored: Lincoln, to
the extent of $11,167; Beaverhead, $8,947; Madison, $8,533; Ravalli,
$5,800; Flathead, $4,960; Powder River, $4,797; Jefferson, $4,055.
The different forests yielded the following revenues in 1919 and 1920:
National Forests 1919 1920
Absaroka $ 2,603.27 $ 2,635.65
Beartooth 3,687.14 3,441.89
Beaverhead 10,765.59 7,989.81
HISTORY OF MONTANA . 625
National Forests 1919 1920
Bitter Root $5,939-65 $5,842.12
Blackfeet i,854-i2 4.314-89
Cabinet - • 909-77 i.3i5-92
Custer 6,704.89 6,222.60
Deer Lodge 10,566.82 8,010.25
Flathead 10,254.20 2,861.76
Gallatin 2,973.50 2,712.85
Helena 5.753.21 5.i77-i6
Jefiferson 6,585.76 7,200.06
Kootenai 3.53.1-65 9.546.19
Lewis and Clark 1,995.76 1,506.26
Lolo 5,849.42 4.856.81
Madison 10,997.94 11,158.53
Missoula 2,351.08 i,943-84
Sioux 1,719.04 1,280.60
Totals $95,042.81 $88,017.19
MoNTAN.\'s Lumber Stand
The stand on the permanent productive timber land for the state is esti-
mated by the United States Forest Service to be about fifty-eight billion
feet. The total productive commercial timbered area is 13,374,000 acres,
half of which is covered with mature timber, and half with reproduction
and young growth. In addition to the productive commercial timber land
there are 3,577,000 acres of protective forest. The current annual growth
for all species on the productive commercial timber land (exclusive of
park land and protection forest) for the whole state, as determined very
roughly, is 790,000,000 feet. Since the lumber cut for 1919 has been
given at about 335,000,000, and the entire cut for the state, including round
timbers for the mines, cordwood, hewn ties, posts, poles, pilings, shingles
and lath, does not exceed 600,000,000, no deduction need be made from
the following estimated total stand :
Forest Service 33,812 million feet
National Park 2,006 million feet
Public Domain 27 million feet
Indian 2,425 million feet
Total Federal 38,270 million feet
State 2,300 million feet
Private 17.501 million feet
Total 58,071 million feet
Reports of the lumber production by species show that the great bulk
of the output is from the forests of yellow pine and larch. Montana's
Vol. 1—4 0
626
HISTORY OF MONTANA
lOO mills supply about half of the lumber consumed in the state, and the
home market takes four-fifths of the lumber cut.
Forestry Organization and Legislation
The direction and control of state owned lands is vested by the con-
stitution in the State Board of Land Commissioners. A state forester
R.\iNY Lake, Missoula National Forest
is appointed by the governor by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, to serve a term of four years. It is specified in the act that he
shall be skilled in the science of forestry. The state forester, under
the direction and control of the Land Board, is charged with the duty
of handling all the field work in selection, location, examination and
appraisement of state timber lands, and under the direction of the board
has general charge of the timber lands of the state. He executes all
HISTORY OF MONTANA 627
matters pertaining to forestry in the state, has charge of all fire war-
dens, and enforces the fire laws of the state.
Provision is also made by law for a Forestry Board, composed of
the register of state lands (chairman), the state forester (secretary),
and the state land agent. The duties of the State Forestry Board are
"to ascertain the method of reforesting the denuded lands of the state,
to prevent forestry waste and the destruction of forests by fire, to man-
age the forests of the state on forestry principles, to encourage private
owners in preserving and growing timber," etc.
The salary and expense of the state forester, as well as all other
members of the state land office are paid out of the moneys in the sev-
eral land grant income funds, and apportioned among the several funds
in proportion to the amount of land in each of the land grants from
which the several funds are derived.
Under existing state laws the state forester has general charge of
fire protection work in the state. He may appoint in such locations as
he deems wise, public spirited citizens to act as volunteer fire wardens.
Sheriffs, deputy sherififs, game wardens and deputy game wardens are
ex-officio fire wardens, as are also duly appointed officers of the U. S.
Forest Service, the Northern Montana Forestry Association and the
U. S. Indian Service. Such wardens may arrest without warrant for
violation in their presence of any state or federal forest laws.
The law provides a closed season from June i to September 30, dur-
ing which it is unlawful to burn forest material without a permit from
a warden. An exception is made, "Providing that the provision of this
section shall not apply to any actual settler engaged in clearing land for
agricultural purposes, nor shall not apply where the brush is piled up
and there is a clear space thirty (30) feet around such pile, but shall
apply to all burning of slashings."
The law also compels burning of brush and slashings resulting from
logging operations within a year after such cutting. This section of the
law covering slash disposal is adequate for the purpose, but it has been
enforced only to a very limited extent, chiefly owing to lack of an
effective organization to inspect logging operations and compel com-
pliance with the law.
Forest Fire L.\ws
"The principal lack in the Montana forest fire laws is failure to pro-
vide any form of compulsory fire protection on privately owned forest
lands," says the state forester in his biennial report for 1917-20. "It is
a well recognized principle that a state has the authority to legislate for
the purpose of preventing any condition on any privately owned prop-
erty, which may be a menace to life or property of other citizens of the
state. All forest land in this region is inflammable and fire starting in
any forest land is a menace to adjoining property.
"Many forest owners of the state have recognized the need of organ-
ized fire protection. The Northern Montana Forestry Association, which
628
HISTORY OF MONTANA
is composed principally of private owners in the northwestern part of
the state, with a membership representing 927,000 acres, has success-
fully maintained an organized fire protection for some years. The North-
ern Pacific Railway Company lands within the national forest, amount-
ing to 990,000 acres in Montana, are protected by co-operative agree-
ment with the Forest Service. The state forest lands, amounting to
Yellow Pine Forests in Lincoln County
about 500,000 acres, are protected either through co-operative agree-
ment with the Forest Service or by the organization maintained by the
state forester. The total of private and state lands under organized
protection then amount to 2,417,000 acres.
"There are in the State of Montana, based on the county records,
3,468,000 acres of timber land, and 951,000 acres of cut-over land, or a
total of 4,419,000 acres in private ownership which may be classed as
forest land requiring fire protection. Adding 500,000 acres of state
forest land, makes a total of 4,919,000 acres of state and private forest
HISTORY OF MONTANA 629
lands requiring protection. Since only 2,417,000 acres are under organ-
ized protection, there remain 2,502,000 acres which are either not pro-
tected, or are receiving incidental protection in which they do not share
the cost from the Forest Service, the Northern Montana Forestry Asso-
ciation and the state." * * *
State and Federal Co-Operation
"The Forest Service has for some years co-operated with the various
states in fire protection, under the provisions of the so-called 'Weeks Law,'
which provides for financial co-operation by the Federal Government
not to exceed the amount appropriated by any state for fire protection
of the headwaters of any navigable stream. Federal contributions from
this source in Montana have amounted to $3,000 to $3,500 a year.
"Recognizing the interest and responsibility of the nation in safe-
guarding its future timber supply it is now proposed to greatly extend
this co-operation as an encouragement to the practice of forestry in the
several states, providing necessary legislation can be secured in Congress.
The approval of the secretary of agriculture has been obtained for in-
corporating in the next Forest Service appropriation bill a large sum
for co-operation with the states in fire protection and forestry.
"If such appropriation is made it is the plan of the Forest Service
that such co-operation should combine three essential features:
"(i) The Forest Service, in co-operation with state officers or other
agencies as far as practicable, should determine and recommend the
essential and standard requirements for keeping forest lands in con-
tinuous production in each region.
"(2) The Forest Service should be enabled to offer liberal financial
co-operation to the several states, not only in fire prevention, the prin-
cipal and most important co-operative activity, but in any phase of
forestry or forest research, including planting.
"(3) The Forest Service should be empowered to withhold co-
operation in whole or in part from states which do not comply in legis-
lation or administration practice with the standard requirements deter-
mined upon.
"Such co-operation contemplates eventually such control and finan-
cial assistance by the states of cutting on privately owned lands as will
be necessary to keep forest lands in continuous productive condition."
Airplane Forest Fire Patrol
"This department has been investigating the question of airplanes
for forest patrol as a means of quickly discovering forest fires and
securing information that will enable protective agencies to reach and
suppress such fires at the earliest possible moment, thereby minimizing
the devastation and expense.
"The method has been given a trial the two past seasons in the states
630 HISTORY OF MONTANA
of California and Oregon, and from the best information obtainable it
has proved very satisfactory.
"The following letter, nnder date of December 3, 1920, was received
from H. H. Arnold, Major, A. S., War Department, Headquarters
Ninth Corps Area, Office of the Air Officer, San Francisco, California :
'In view of the fact that there is a strong probability that aerial forest
fire patrol will be extended to cover the State of Montana during the
coming year, it is requested that you furnish this office a map of the
State of Montana, showing the forested and recent burned area.'
"The department has complied with this request by preparing and
forwarding a map of Montana, showing the requested information, as
well as base and landing fields, distances, etc. The War Department
has granted j>eiTnission to use the grounds at Fort Harrison for a land-
ing field. As the demonstration of this method of forest patrol, with
little expense to the state, is possible under present plans, it is hoped
the service will be extended to Montana during the coming fire season."
Hydro-Electric Conservation
The conservation of the forest lands of Montana means the retention
and development of one of the greatest resources of the state — its vast
natural water power, the source of electrical energy. Conservative
authorities estimate that 1,000,000 horse power, in electrical form, can be
developed from the streams of Montana. The most valuable develop-
ment of hydro-electric power is at Great Falls, where the Missouri River
drops 400 feet in a distance of eight miles. This is the greatest natural
power site in Montana, and one of the finest in the United States, but
there are many others.
Already the Montana Power Company has thirteen large plants in-
stalled at various points in the state, generating a total of 211,000 kilo-
watts. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway has successfully
electrified its line for 440 miles, between Harlowton, Montana, and Avery,
Idaho, and over some of the most rugged country of Western Montana,
the power for its operation being generated from the plants at Great
Falls and those near Helena, on the Madison River, at Big Hole, near
Butte, and at Thompson Falls, not far from the western border of the
state. The Great Northern and the Northern Pacific system are making
great efforts to meet that competition by electrifying their own lines
through the moutainous country of the state, jilanning to obtain their
power from the Koontenai River and Flathead Lake and River.
Development of Gre.\t Falls Water Power
The first abrupt descents in the Great Falls area are called Black
Eagle Falls, two miles from the center of the city, where the first develop-
ment of power commenced in iSfp with the construction of a low crib
dam. About 10,000 horse power was developed, mostly used by shaft or
rope drive. A small amount of electric power was taken by the Great
Falls Electric Properties power station.
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632 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Three and a half miles below Black Eagle Falls are Coulter's, Rain-
bow and Crooked Falls. The most important development was at Rain-
bow, which was commenced in October, 1908, and completed in July,
1910. No excavation was required for the diverting dam of more than
1,100 feet, as solid bed rock was naturally exposed across the entire site.
At the south end of the dam the sluiceway was constructed, and at the
north end two main lines of riveted steel, 2,350 feet in length, were con-
structed to feed the reservoir near the plant. The balancing reservoir,
into which the main pipes discharge, regulates the flow of water, an over-
flow weir at its lower end being provided to take care of any unusual rise
in the water level. The power house is a three story brick building with
steel frame and concrete floors and roof, and from the station power is
transmitted to Butte, Anaconda and more distant points.
The power to Butte, 130 miles, is transmitted over two separate lines
running parallel on the same right-of-way. At the center of these lines is
a switching station, equipped with oil switches and lightning arresters, by
means of which a cross-over connection can be made and one half of
either line cut out while the remainder is in operation. From Butte a
single line is extended to Anaconda, twenty-two miles distant. The chief
consumers of the electric power in this part of the state are the Butte,
Anaconda & Pacific Railway Company, which operates ninety miles of
tracks and the great Washoe smelter, at Anaconda.
But electricity from water power, which depends for its constancy
upon the conservation of its fountain heads in the protecting forests of
the mountains, is used in Montana to operate mines, to light cities and
to furnish cheap power for all varieties of city and country use, even to
the pumping of water for irrigation projects. A total development of
about 300,000 horse power has already been made in the state — hardly a
beginning of the potentialities in hydro-electric expansion.
The developed hydro-electric plants of the Montana Power Company,
with its 2,000 miles of transmission lines and 75 substations, are as fol-
lows.
Installed
Capacity
(Kw.)
Rainbow Falls, on Missouri River, completed 1910, enlarged 1916 3S,ooo
Black Eagle Falls, on Missouri River, reconstructed 1913 3,ooo
Hauser Lake, on Missouri River, completed 1911, enlarged 1914 18,000
Canyon Ferry, on Missouri River, completed 1898, enlarged 1901 7,S00
Madison No. i, on Madison River, completed 1901, remodeled 1907 2,000
Madison No. 2, on Madison River, completed 1906 10,000
Big Hole, on Big Hole River, completed 1898 3,ooo
Livingston, on Yellowstone River, completed 1906, enlarged 1908 1,500
Billings No. I, on Yellowstone River, completed 1907 l,o8o
Lewistown, on Spring Creek, completed 1906, remodeled 1913 450
Great Falls, on Missouri River, at the Great Falls, completed igi6 60,000
Thompson Falls, on Clark's Fork of Columbia River, completed 1916 30,000
Holter, on Missouri River, completed 1918 40,000
Total Kilowatts 211,530
HISTORY OF MONTANA 633
The reservoirs of the system include : Hebgen and Madison reser-
voirs, on Madison River, with areas of 13,400 and 4,030 acres, respec-
tively ; Canyon Ferry and Hauser Lake reservoirs, on Missouri River,
4,570 and 5,470 acres ; Holter Reservoir, also on the Missouri, 5,005
acres; as well as reservoirs of smaller capacities (below 1,000 acres) on
that river and the Big Hole.
Besides the Montana Power Company, which controls 282,000 of the
293,000 horse power produced by the waterways of the state, and
211,000 of the 220,000 kilowatts of electricity generated thereby, there
are such minor corporations as the Missoula Light and Power Company
and the Northern Idaho & Montana Power Company.
The National Parks
Yellowstone National Park, the greatest continuous public domain
in the United States and the most superb collection of various and nat-
ural beauties within an equal area in the world, contains 2,142,720 acres,
or 3,348 square miles within its limits. Its area is about that of Porto
Rico, or 1,000 square miles larger than Delaware. Only narrow. strips
of it overlap the boundaries of Montana and Idaho, so that a detailed
description of its spouting geysers, hot springs, great mountains, rugged
canyons, beautiful lakes, petrified forests and broad game preserve ranged
by fearless herds of bufifalo, elk, antelope and deer, would be beyond the
scope of this history — the State of Montana. Since the park was estab-
lished in March, 1872, hunting has been strictly prohibited, so that sev-
eral generations of this naturally wild game have not known the sensation
of fear.
Thousands of tourists annually pour into Yellowstone Park along the
fine trails and highways of Montana, many of them direct from the
Glacier National Park, in the northwestern corner of the state, which is
entirely within its limits. The official entrance to the park, an imposing
arch, was dedicated by President Roosevelt in 1903. It is located at
Gardiner, Montana, five miles from Mammoth Hot Springs, the admin-
istrative headquarters of the great reserve. The western entrance to the
park is at Yellowstone, on the Madison River, in Gallatin County. The
locality is a few miles from the ultimate source of the Missouri River.
Glacier National Park, which was established May 11, 1910, has an
area of 981,681 acres, or 1,533 square miles — somewhat larger than
Rhode Island. The Continental divide is enclosed by the park ; in fact,
from one locality, known as the Triple Divide, waters flow into the
Pacific Ocean, Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
As a sketchy, yet precise and practical, description of the park and
other beauty spots in Montana, as well as the promising grounds for
sportsmen, nothing better has been produced than the following from the
"Resources of Montana" (edition of 1920), issued by Charles D. Green-
field, commissioner of the State Department of Agriculture and Pub-
licity :
634
HISTORY OF MONTANA
Glacier National Park is remarkable for its picturesquely modeled
peaks, the unique quality of its mountain passes, its gigantic precipices, the
romantic loveliness of its 250 lakes and the sixty glaciers from which it
derives its name. It is individual in its make-up, having rugged moun-
tain tops, bounded by vertical walls, sometimes 4,000 feet high, glaciers
perched upon lofty rocky shelves, unexpected waterfalls of peculiar
charm, rivers of milky glacier water, and lakes unexcelled for sheer
beauty by the most celebrated of sunny Italy and snow-topped Switzer-
land.
The supreme glory of the park is its lakes. The world has none to
surpass, perhaps few to equal them. Some are cradled among the
Mammoth Hot Springs
precipices, some float ice-fields in midsummer, while some are valley
gems, grown to the water's edge with dense forests. All kinds of wild
animals, fish, birds and plants are found within the park. Firearms are
not allowed. Fishing is permitted, however, as in the Yellowstone.
There are ten hotels in the park, two of them, Glacier Park Hotel and
Many Glacier Hotel, being large hotels and the other eight are Swiss
chalets. The park is reached only by the main line of the Great Northern
Railroad or by automobile. Trips through the park cost from $1 to $10
a day, depending upon the accommodations desired. Besides the hotels
there are permanent camps ample to accommodate the tourist, and guides
and packtrains are available for those who desire to explore the park,
glaciers and mountain fastnesses. The season is from June ist to October
1st each year.
Other Beauty Spots
In addition to the two national parks there are many other places
which have equal attraction. The great rolling prairies of Eastern Mon-
HISTORY OF MONTANA
635
tana, formerly the greatest "cow country," are a never ending place of
fascination to the visitor. There are also many spots of beauty and ex-
cellent camping grounds in the bad lands and along the rivers.
The western part of the state has much fascination for the tourist
because of its mountains and lakes. Flathead Lake, the largest fresh
water lake in the country, aside from the Great Lakes, is rapidly becoming
famous as a home for summer colonies. It is considered one of the most
beautiful in the world. The lake has a shore line of 300 miles and large
steamers operate on its waters.
The Kootenai country through Lincoln County is unexcelled for beau-
tiful, peaceful valleys and towering picturesque mountains, covered with
dense pine forests. The Blackfoot Valley, which follows the canyon of
the Big Blackfoot River in Missoula County, between towering wooded
mountains of great beauty, is exceedingly attractive as a vacation spot.
Many people camp out here in the forest reserve.
Of equal beauty and fascination is the Missouri River Canyon in
Lewis and Clark County from Canyon Ferry power dam to the Holter
Great Blackfoot Glacier
power dam and the "Gates of the Mountains." For scenic splendor this
is unexcelled. The famous Gallatin Valley is rich in natural scenery also.
The "Gallatin Way," leading to Yellowstone Park, is one of the most
beautiful of drives.
Sanders County is noted for its wonderful trout fishing streams, great
areas of virgin forests and its wealth of wild animal life. Camp sites are
available at beautiful mountain lakes. The Belt and High wood canyons,
in Cascade County, the beauties of Madison County, the Lewis and
Clark Cavern, the mountain drives of Jefiferson County, the Bitter Root
and Hell Gate valleys, the Columbia Gardens at Butte, the state fish
hatcheries, the big smelters, the gigantic power dams, the lumber mills,
the State Fair Gounds at Helena, and other numerous places, give con-
stant delight to the visitor.
Situated next to Yellowstone National Park on the north and con-
taining much wonderful scenery are Carbon and Park counties. The
Beartooth Mountains and Glaciers are principally in Carbon County.
Granite Peak, the summit of which is 12,950 feet, is the highest point in
636 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Montana. There are a number of live glaciers in these mountains. Park
County, containing the .official entrance to Yellowstone Park, is full of
majestic mountains, trout streams, and unexcelled vacation spots. It
also has several hot springs and health resorts of importance.
Montana is well supplied with medicinal springs and health resorts.
Hundreds are treated annually or spend time at these resorts for rest
and recuperation.
Hunting .-vnd Fishing
Montana is one of the few big game regions in the United States and
every fall hunters from all parts of the country come to the state to hunt
Lake Yellowstone
elk, bear, dear, mountain lions, wolves and coyotes. The best elk hunting
is found in those counties adjacent to the Yellowstone National Park,
while Western and Northwestern Montana are the best localities for deer
and bear.
Trout fishing is good in almost all of the mountain streams and Mon-
tana is doing its utmost to keep the streams well stocked. There are four
state fish hatcheries, one at Anaconda on Georgetown Lake, one at the
Hebgen Reservoir on the Madison River, one at Somers, near Flat-
head Lake, and one near Livingston on the Yellowstone River.
The Federal Government maintains a hatchery at Bozeman in Gallatin
County. Upwards of 20,000,000 fry of eastern brook, black spotted, rain-
bow and grayling are annually sent out to restock the streams and lakes.
Good bird shooting is to be found in Montana. In the eastern part of
the state are many prairie chickens and sage hens, while in the mountain-
ous districts are grouse, fool hens and pheasants.
Wildfowl hunting is perhaps the most popular sport in Montana. In
Madison County, not far from the Idaho boundary', are the Red Rock
HISTORY OF MONTANA 637
Lakes and in Phillips County, in Northern Montana, is Lake Bowdoin.
Both of these places are breeding grounds for ducks and besides the
"natives," which afford sport early in the season, these regions are tarry-
ing places when the "northerners" are winging their way southward.
These are the best wildfowl grounds in the state, but there are many
lakes and sloughs in practically every part of the state that furnish good
shooting. Canadian geese, the Snow goose and the common swan are
found in Montana. The following ducks are abundant in places during
the duck shooting season, viz.: the Mallard, Gadwell, Widgeon, Green-
winged Teal, Blue-winged Teal, Spoonbill, Canvas-back, Redhead, Golden-
eye, Rufflehead, American Scooter and the Pin-tail.
There is no closed season on bear, wolves, coyotes and mountain lions,
which are listed as predatory animals. Bear are much sought during the
months of April, May and June when their fur is prime. They are native
to all the mountainous regions of the state, but the greatest number are
found in the counties adjacent to Yellowstone Park and in the north-
western portion of Montana.
Mountain lion, the natural destructive enemy of deer and young stock.
are much sought by professional hunters employed by the Government.
These hunters also roam the forests during the winter, trapping and
killing wolves and coyotes which prey upon stock. Bounties are paid for
the destruction of these predatory animals. Coyotes, coyote pups and
wolf pups each carry a bounty of $2.50, mountain lions $10 and full-
grown wolves $15.
There are nine preserves in Montana which furnish a refuge to the
wild game and serve as breeding grounds to replenish the game in the
adjacent hunting areas. The preserves and their areas are as follows :
Snow Creek preserve, 300 square miles; Prior Mountain preserve, 130
square miles ; Sun River preserve, 303 square miles ; Gallatin preserve, loi
square miles; Snowy Mountain preserve, 170 square miles; Highwood
National forest, 72 square miles; Powder River Game preserve, 1,120
square miles ; Twin Buttes Game preserve, 35 square miles ; Flathead Lake
Bird preserve, 6.82 acres.
Discharge of firearms within the limits of these preserves is prohibited,
as is also the making of any unusual noises. Besides these preserves,
hunting of certain kind of game has been prohibited in certain counties
and parts of counties.
The Montana Game and Fish Commission, established in 191 3. has
in hand the protection and replenishment of the game and fish of within
the state, through the enforcement of proper laws and regulations: and
it has done its work well.
Gl.'iCier Park L.\kes Ag.\in
It may be added to the brief description of Glacier National Park,
given in the State Manual, that its largest and most picturesque lake is
McDonald, named after Sir John McDonald, a famous Canadian states-
man and traveler. It lives on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains
638
HISTORY OF :\IONTANA
and is a closely wooded body of water twelve miles in length with an
average width of a mile and a half. The reflections in its clear waters are
exquisite. Farther up the mountains are the Little St. Mary's lakes, a fine
view of which may be obtained from Mount Lincoln. The most frequented
trail from McDonald Lake leads to Piegan (Sperry) glacier, the waters
from which discharge into six falls which leap, from rock to rock, into
Avalanche Lake. The vast body of ice lies over a rock barrier, or gate-
way, and below are Gem, Nansen and Peary's lakes, real arctic pools,
joined by foaming falls.
The eastern slope of the divide is not so heavily timbered, or so rugged,
as the western, but is deeply scooped out in the form of basins. The larg-
IcEBERG Lake
est bodies of water in this section of the park are Great St. Mary's lakes, so
named by Hugh Monroe, an early fur trader and a faithful Catholic.
The lakes are rich in Piegan Indian lore also, and in their upper reaches
also carry exquisite glaciers, which in places overhang their waters and
continuously break ofT as miniature icebergs and float away with the
current. The lakes in this region are McDermott, Grinnell and Iceberg.
Farther north the country becomes more rugged and magnificent. The
highest peak in the park is Cleveland, in the northeast corner, which
attains an altitude of 10,438 feet. The largest of the glaciers is the
Blackfoot.
On Lake McDonald are several excellent hotels. There is automobile
service between Pelton, at the foot of the lake in Flathead County and lakes
McDonald, St. Mary's and McDermott. Other trips are made on horse-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 639
back, a number of licensed companies furnishing both animals and guides,
the more hardy preferring to make the delightful, if strenuous, trips, afoot.
Indian Reservations
There are now in Montana, the Blackfeet, Fort Belknap, Fort Peck,
Crow and Northern Cheyenne Indian reservations. Altogether, they em-
brace more than 5,500,000 acres of the public domain, and, for a number
of years the people, through their legislators, national and state, have been
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
making energetic and persistent efforts to open the reservations to the
railroads and other highways of travel, as well as to the conserving forces
of irrigation and drainage of the lands. These efforts have been more
or less successful, especially in the matter of irrigating the Indian lands.
As already stated, these projects have been undertaken by the United
States Reclamation Service in co-operation with the Indian Service of the
National Government.
The three Indian projects now under way are known as the Fort Peck,
the Flathead and the Blackfeet. The largest of them is the Fort Peck
Indian project, located in the northeastern part of the state on the reserva-
tion by that name, and embraces an area of 152,000 acres in the valleys
of the main Missouri, Poplar River, and Big Porcupine, Little Porcu-
640 HISTORY OF MONTANA
pine and Big Muddy creeks. Only a small part of the project is com-
pleted, and until the irrigation works are finished the irrigable land is
withdrawn from entry. The Fort Peck, or Poplar River, reservation was
opened to settlement on September i, 1913. It is occupied I)y Sioux and
Assiniboines.
The Flathead project is located in. the counties of Flathead, Sanders
and Missoula, and embraces about 134,000 acres on the Pacific slope, within
the drainage areas of the Flathead and Jocko rivers, on the former Flat-
head Indian reservation. All homestead land has been entered, and state
lands and certain Indian lands may be leased.
The Blackfeet project is located in the southeastern part of the reserva-
tion by that name, south of the town of Cut Bank and near the eastern
boundary of Clacier National Park, in Glacier County. About a half of
the project, which covers 1 18,000 acres, has been completed, and state lands
and certain Indian lands may be leased. The reservation was opened May
2, 1910.
The Fort Belknap Indian reservation is in Central Montana, between
the Milk River on the north and the Little Rocky Mountains on the
south and is occupied by Gros Ventres of the Prairie and Assiniboines.
The northern portion is bleak and naturally arid, but on the slopes of the
Rocky Mountains is good bottom land. It is an old reservation, or
agency, and until about 1895, when the Indians commenced to raise hay,
grain and vegetables, the occupants were in a deplorable condition.
The Crow reservation, the first to be established in Montana, is more
favored than the other lands set apart for the Indians of Montana. It
lies to the south of the Yellowstone, in the valley of the Big Horn, and
the lands are generally well watered and good. The Crows are fair
farmers and live stock raisers, they have been friendly to the Govern-
ment and the white settlers generally and have sold their lands to such
advantage that they are more prosperous than any other tribe of Mon-
tana Indians. If their physical condition was as creditable as their intelli-
gence and thrift, their future might be bright, but as it is not, tliey are
not holding their own in numbers. From the earliest times of Montana's
history, the Catholics have been established among the Crows and now
have a mission school on the reservation. There is also a day school at
agency headquarters.
Immediately to the east of the Crow reservation, is the Tongue River
or Northern Cheyenne reservation. Its eastern boundary is Tongue River
and its western, Rosebud Creek, while the agency headquarters is at
Lame Deer, on the creek by that name, sixty-five miles south of Rose-
bud on the Yellowstone. The lands of the reservation are said to be
favorable for stock. The Indians are willing to work and generally
strong, but find little to do, aside from hauling stock and freight to and
from the Burlington route and the Crow agency to the west (thirty or
thirty-five miles), or to Rosebud and the Northern Pacific line to the
north, twice that distance. Occasionally they secure wood and hay con-
tracts from the Government. On the whole, they are well-meaning, but
HISTORY OF MONTANA 641
their environments are poor and ill adapted to develop habits of thrift
and industry.
Of all the agencies applied to the conservation of lands in Montana,
with consequent development of its resources, those brought to bear on
the Indian reservations of the state have proven to be most inefficient and
unsatisfactory. And it has been always thus in the administrative and
executive experience of every state in the Union.
CHAPTER XXV
MILITARY HISTORY OF MONTANA*
Since early territorial days, the citizens of Montana have stood ready
at all times to defend the state and the nation, and whenever they have been
called upon to do battle have acquitted themselves with credit. From the
Nez Perce war, through the Spanish-American struggle, during local dis-
turbances connected with labor troubles, and in the border clashes with the
Mexicans, Montana had been quick in response and capable and valorous in
action. It was, therefore, not surprising that the men who went forth from
this state to do battle in the World's war should have made such a splendid
record. When, February 3, 1917, President Wilson ordered that Am-
bassador Count von Bernstoriif be handed his passports and directed the
withdrawal of Ambassador James W. Gerard and all American consuls
from Germany, it was realized that war with Germany was inevitable,
and the quiet preparations that commenced at that time resulted in Mon-
tana's being ready for the call to duty when the United States formally
entered the great conflict April 6th of the same year, when war was
declared by this country upon Germany. From that time forward until
the signing of the armistice, November 11. 191S, at "the eleventh hour,
of the eleventh day of the eleventh month," both military and civilians of
Montana displayed the greatest bravery, patriotism and unswerving loyalty.
Nucleus of the N.\tional Gu.\rd
The first militia organization in Montana that could be compared to
the present day National Guard was organized in the fall of 1877, during
the Nez Perce war. Practically every community in the territory organ-
ized a home guard company and some of them were incorporated into
what was known as the Montana Volunteer Militia, the members of which
subscribed to the following oath : "We and each of us do solemnly swear
that we will bear true faith and allegiance to the territory of Montana ;
that we will serve honestly and faithfully against all its enemies whom-
soever ; that we will obey the orders of the Governor of Montana Terri-
tory and the orders of the officers appointed over us according to the
rules and regulations prescribed by the Commander-in-Chief." The
organization consisted of the following: First Battalion, W. A. Clark,
major ; Charles S. Warren, adjutant. Company A, Joseph A. Talbot,
captain; A. J. Clark, first lieutenant. Company B, John Noyes, captain.
Company C, William Wilson, captain. Deer Lodge Company, Thomas
Stuart, captain. Bitter Root Company, John B. Cottin, captain.
* The basis of this chapter and most of its actual composition represent the
good work of Charles L. Sheridan, adjutant general of the state.
642
HISTORY OF MONTANA 643
The Bitter Root Company participated in the battle of the Big Hole,
August II, 1877, and lost five men killed and five wounded out of a total
of thirty-two. There was another battalion raised at Virginia City in
July, consisting of about 100 men, and this force marched under the
command of Colonel Caloway to the vicinity of Henry's Lake in the hope
of intercepting Chief Joseph there. Some of this force co-operated with
General Howard at Horse Prairie, where one man was lost. Some
of these companies were mustered out after Chief Joseph had
been captured, but some remained in existence, and, as the population of the
state grew, others were organized. In the spring of 1887 a number of these
organizations were incorporated with the First Regiment of Infantry and
became recognized as the National Guard. An encampment was held at
old Fort Ellis that summer and during several succeeding years.
Montana in the Spanish-American War
In the spring of 1898, at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war,
the First Regiment was called out by the governor and was quickly raised
to war strength of fifty officers and 1,019 men by voluntary enlistment.
This regiment went to the Philippines and served there througliout the
entire insurrection, being eighteen months in the service. The regiment
lost two officers and twenty-one men, killed and died of wounds ; one
officer and thirteen men, died of disease; and ten officers and 121 men
wounded. In addition to this regiment, Montana furnished one squad-
ron of the Third United States Volunteer Cavalry (Rough Riders),
consisting of 346 officers and men. These troops were sent to Chicka-
mauga, but were not called upon for service outside of this country. A
section of the Volunteer Signal Corps, consisting of two officers and fif-
teen men, was also raised in Montana and served in the Philippines, and
of this detachment one officer was killed in action.
"Rough Riders" First to Organize
The cavalry of Montana were the first branch of the state military
service to be organized. By a congressional act of April 22, 1898, three
regiments of trained horsemen and marksmen, known popularly as Rough
Riders, were authorized to be raised in the West. The Third Regiment,
placed in command of Melvin Grigsby, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota,
was composed of three squadrons of cavalry — the Black Hills, the Inter-
Dakota and the Montana. To each squadron were assigned four troops,
the Montana Rough Riders comprising F, L, M and I.
At the outbreak of the war, there were various cavalry organizations
in Montana. The Billings troop became M, under command of Capt.
John C. Bond ; the Miles City cavalrymen. Troop I, under Capt. Joseph
T. Brown; the Missoula horsemen, Troop F, with Frank G. Higgins as
captain, and Butte organized the fourth troop, L, of which D. Gay Stivers
was commissioned captain. On June i, 1898, Charles F. Lloyd, of Butte,
lieutenant colonel of the Third Cavalry succeeded Colonel Grisby in com-
644 HISTORY OF MONTANA
mand of the regiment, the latter having been promoted to the command
of the First Cavalry Brigade. Colonel Lloyd commanded the regiment
until he was mustered out of the service September 8, 1898, a few days
later his entire command doing likewise.
Service of the Volunteer Signal Corps
Montana's quota of the National \'olunteer Signal Corps, raised by
Gen. A. W. Greely, chief of that branch of the service, included two
lieutenants and lifteen enlisted men. The officers were William E. Davies,
an expert telegrapher of Butte, and George H. Tilly, connected with the
Western Union Telegraph office at Helena. Lieutenant Davies was
ordered to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for duty, which took him to Cuba
and eventually to the Philippines. Lieutenant Tilly acted as mustering
officer at Fort William Henry Harrison, Helena, and commanded the
Montana company (the Eighteenth) which left the state capital for San
Francisco, via Rio de Janeiro, July 12, 1898. It reached Manila on August
24th, and for more than a year — until ordered home September 7, 1899 —
was engaged in active and dangerous service in the Manila zone. The
Montana detachment assisted in building a complete police telegraph
system in the city and closely connecting it with the army operating against
Aguinaldo. By means of a signal station on the dome of La Loma
church one of the Montana detachments also established communication
between the land forces and Admiral Dewey. Sergs. E. R. Fisher and
A. M. Mazeiner and Corp. E. T. Brooks were especially prominent in
these movements. The Montana detachment of the Signal Corps came
through the campaign with credit, but suffered the loss of Captain Tilly
(who had been promoted). He was killed on May 27, 1899, by insur-
gents while engaged in signal service at Ho Ilo, on the Island of Panay.
First Montana Infantry Regiment
The First Regiment of Infantry, National Guard of Montana, had
been organized in 1887, and at the outbreak of the Spanish- American
war had a membership of about 500 officers and enlisted men. This
organization formed the nucleus of the First Montana Infantry, United
States Volunteers. Enrollment commenced April 18, 1898, three days
after war had been formally proclaimed. Col. Harry C. Kessler ordered
the various companies to report for duty at the regimental headquarters,
Helena, and from May 4th to May 9th there arrived at the state capital
organizations from Virginia City, Butte, Dillon, Anaconda, Great Falls,
Bozeman, Kalispell and Lewiston, which, with the troops enrolled at
Helena, were mustered into the service by Lieut. George P. Ahern, of the
regular army. At the outbreak of the war, Lieutenant Ahern was on
detailed duty as military instructor at the Montana Agricultural College,
Bozeman. On May 9, 1898, Colonel Kessler took formal command of
the regiment.
During the early part of May, the regiment was encamped about a
mile north of the Broadwater Hotel, the site being named Camp Robert
HISTORY OF MONTANA
645
B. Smith in honor of the governor. Unsanitary conditions _ forced an
abandonment of that locahty, and the camp was moved to the northern
slope of Mount Helena near the western suburbs of the city. There
the regiment remained until its departure for San Francisco on the 25th
of May. The first battalion was commanded by Maj. James W. Drennan,
the second by Maj. Byron H. Cook and the third by Maj. John R. Mil-
ler. Although inadequately equipped, the regiment was thoroughly drilled
by Lieut. Col. Robert B. Wallace.
General Henry C. Kessler
The regiment reached Camp Merritt, San Francisco, on May 28, 1898,
in June it was incorporated into the Third Brigade, Independent Division,
Philippine Islands Expeditionary Forces, with Brig. Gen. H. G. Otis
as commander, and on the 18th of July embarked for the Philippines on
the transport Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania, accompanied by the
transport Rio de Janeiro (carrying South Dakota and Utah troops),
anchored off Cavite, the Spanish naval station at Manila Bay, on the
24th of August. In October and November the three battalions of the
regiment were ordered to various districts in Manila to guard the city
against threatening insurgents. The regiment was assigned to the Second
Division of the Expeditionary Forces commanded by Gen. Arthur Mac-
Arthur. Under the wily and able Aguinaldo hostilities commenced in
64fi
HISTORY OF MONTANA
February, 1899, the preliminary fighting, in which the First Montana
bore a leading part being in the vicinity of La Loma church and the
Qiinese hospital. In the skirmishes of the 4th and 5th the regiment sus-
tained a number of casualties in wounded, but the insurgents were de-
moralized at the American mode of warfare but as they had possession of
the railway prepared for the crushing blow which they expected to deal.
On the loth eight companies of the First Montana, under Colonel Kessler,
earned military honor in the combined assault of artillery and infantry
on the town of Caloocan, the Filipinos being forced to abandon the burn-
LlEUTENANT CoLONEL ROBERT BrUCE WALLACE
ing town. In this engagement, which lasted nearly half a day, the First
Montana suffered serious loss, the greatest being the eventual death of
Lieut. Col. Robert Bruce Wallace. He was a West Pointer from Mon-
tana, was detailed as a military instructor at the outbreak of the war
and at the battle of Caloocan was shot through the left lung. Leaving
the hospital the ninth day after receiving his wound, in July, 1899, he
was commissioned colonel of the Thirty-seventh Infantry, the youngest
officer of that grade in the army. He was ordered home to recuperate,
however, but died in Arizona as a result of cold contracted in his wounded
and weakened lung and died March 13, 1900. In compliance with his
wishes he was taken to Montana, and March 25th was buried with military
honors at Forestvale Cemetery, Helena.
HISTORY OF MONTANA
647
Upon the capture of Caloocan, the Montana regiment entrenched
themselves north of town and on the right of the railroad track. Here
they remained until the advance, having for its ultimate object the cap-
ture of Malolos, was begun. The regiment, with Pennsylvania, Kansas,
and Oregon troops, was active in the battle and capture of Malolos, in
which it lost five killed and sixteen wounded. Engagements at Maycaua-
yan, the crossing of the Bagbag and Calumpit rivers, along the Rio Grande
and at San Fernando, the Montanans participated in the American pur-
suit of the Filipino army. This was the most northerly point reached by
the Montana regiment, and their progress was marked by continuous
decimation of the ranks by wounds, exhaustion and sickness. The later
portion of its stay was occupied in garrison duty at Manila and Cavite
and guarding the approaches to Malolos and San Fernando. The insur-
FiRST Montana Infantry Again at San Francisco
gent attack on the latter place was the last spirited action in which the
Montana regiment engaged, and, with the assistance of their faithful
brothers in arms, the Kansans, Aguinaldo's men were badly beaten. The
corps commander, General MacArthur, was appealed to regarding the
decimated and exhausted condition of the First Montana, as a regiment,
and in August, 1899, after the tropical rains had subsided, its companies
boarded two transports, and a month later reached San Francisco. The
formal muster-out of the regiment occurred October 17th. Six days later
the soldiers were welcomed in the City of Butte, "and, for the last time,
drawn up in regimental formation ; each officer and enlisted man in recog-
nition of his unselfish services was presented with a medal bestowed by
a grateful state."
Out of the original number of officers and men who were mustered
into the service, forty-eight commissioned officers and 676 enlisted men
returned. During the intervening eighteen months of service, nineteen
non-commissioned officers and enlisted men had received commissions, two
648 HISTORY OF MONTANA
officers had resigned, seventeen had been discharged, one had been killed,
one had died of disease and ten had been wounded in battle. Of the orig-
inal enrollment of enlisted men, 277 had been discharged on account of
sickness and for other reasons, twenty-one had been killed in battle or had
died of wounds received in action, thirteen had died of disease, one had
been drowned, and 121 had received wounds.
At the time, the foregoing seemed a large casualty list, but the sol-
diers of Montana and the people of the state, were to suffer far more
in a much greater field of operations and for a far greater cause than
that which precipitated the Spanish-American war.
The Second Regiment in the Miners' Trouble
For a time after the Spanish-American war there was no National
Guard in Montana, but in June, 1900, Company A of the Second Regiment
was mustered into the service at Bozeman, and this was followed by the
mustering in of other companies in various cities and towns, until regi-
mental organization was perfected.
During the summer of 1914 a situation had arisen in Butte that was
fraught with danger. A number of very radical labor leaders, of the
Industrial Workers of the World or "Wobbly" revolutionary type, had
arrived at Butte, and in order to gain control of the labor element at-
tempted to wreck the Western Federation of Miners' local at that point.
A new body was formed, known as the Metal Mine Workers Union,
and a campaign of forcible deportation of all those in opposition was
started. For some time there was a threat of serious trouble and this
eventually culminated in the wrecking of the Miners Union Hall by dyna-
mite on the night of June 13. There was much excitement and a good
deal of shooting, during which one man was killed. As it appeared that
the civil authorities had lost control of the situation, the National Guard
was ordered mobilized and held in readiness at their home stations June
14, but as the situation quieted down and things became normal on the
day following the riot, the Guard was released from duty on the 15th
During the latter part of August, however, the labor troubles again be-
came critical and on the 30th the governor ordered the mobilization of the
Guard at Helena with all possible dispatch. The result was that, regard-
less of the fact that the call was issued on a Sunday and that because of
the fine weather many of the members were out of town, 409 officers and
men reported at Helena by 12 o'clock the next day, and went into a shel-
ter tent camp near the state armory.
When it is considered that these troops were drawn from a terri-
tory as large as the old German empire it speaks very well for the organi-
zation of the Second Regiment that so large a number of men should
reach the place of mobilization within twenty-four hours. At i :30 o'clock
the troops left Helena for Butte, via the Northern Pacific Railway, en-
training in steel ore cars, with a flat car at the front and rear of the train
on which machine guns were mounted. There was grave apprehension
HISTORY OF MONTANA 649
entertained by many of the prominent men of the state as to what the
reception of the troops would be at Butte, and most everyone felt that
they would meet with resistance when they reached the seat of trouble.
The troops, on arriving at Butte, detrained on the hills west of the city
at 6:30 p. m., and went into camp near the School of Mines. The next
morning they marched into the city and took up quarters in the court-
house. Here a large number of men, who had been unable to reach their
companies before they left, joined the regiment and brought its strength
up to 730 officers and men. Martial law was proclaimed and with the aid
of th'e soldiers the ring-leaders in the trouble were rounded up and lodged
in jail. Through the prompt action of Maj. Dan J. Donahue, who com-
manded the troops, the situation was gotten well in hand and order was
preserved without the necessity of firing a single shot or using a bayonet.
From the date of the arrival until November 12, when the troops left the
city, there was no disorder. During this operation the National Guard
proved itself to be a very well-disciplined body of men. They undertook
a difficult task and one that was fraught with danger, one that could
easily have developed into strife and bloodshed had not the cool, business-
like and gentlemanly manner in which the troops conducted themselves
convinced the lawless element that they were dealing with a force that was
fully able to cope with any situation. Thus, through the ability of Major
Donahue and the splendid discipline of the soldiers of the Second Infantry,
an incident came to a peaceful close that many of the leading citizens had
feared would be a repetition of the horrors of Cripple Creek and Ludlow,
Colorado.
The Border Troubles
The next two years passed uneventfully for the Guard, but June 18,
191 6, came the call of the President for the National Guard to aid in the
Border troubles. Again the mobilization was effected in a remarkably
short space of time, although owing to the flood conditions at the time
and the fact that many bridges were out, some of the companies in the
northern part of the state had to make long marches. The regiment
was mobilized at Fort Harrison by June 23. On July i the regiment
passed in review before the governor and on the following day entrained
for Douglas, Arizona, with fifty-six officers and 913 men. On the Border
the regiment made an excellent record. It was complimented again and
again, by regular officers and civilians, as well as by the Border news-
papers, for its model camp and for the physical and soldierly appearance
of the men.
On October 16 the regiment left its camp near Douglas en route for
Fort Harrison, where it was mustered out November 3 after four and
one-half months of the hardest kind of service in the deserts of Arizona.
Helena gave the troops a grand reception and feast after it had paraded
down its main streets, and it was a day of celebration for those who
returned ; but all had not come back. Pvt. Kenneth Piggot, of Head-
650 HISTORY OF MONTANA
quarters Company, and Corp. Donald A. Smith, of D Company, died
on the Border; and Pvt. Ernest McMahan, of Company A, died soon
after his muster out. In addition to the Second Regiment of Infantry,
a troop of cavalry was authorized by the War Department, and was
mustered into the Federal service at Fort Harrison, August 7, depart-
ing the next day for the Border with three officers and eighty-three men,
Capt. Paul McCormick of Billings commanding. These troops remained
on the Border when the Second Regiment came home and were not mus-
tered out until February ig, 1917.
Introductory to the World's W.\r
The members of the Second Infantry were just beginning to feel
at home in their civilian clothes when again the bugle sounded. On March
25, 1917, the President called out a jxjrtion of the National Guard, in-
cluding the Montana Regiment, as a precautionary measure prior to the
declaration of war with Germany. Orders were issued that each com-
pany assemble at its company station and recruit its personnel up to
150 men as expeditiously as possible. Soon companies began arriving at
Fort Harrison, and by April 5 all organizations were present and April 7
were sworn into the Federal service, with 1,539 officers and men.
The necessity of keeping the transcontinental lines open during the
period of mobilization was apparent, so, with this in view, the greater
part of the regiment was assigned to the duty of guarding bridges, tun-
nels and other objects that might be easily damaged and would interrupt
traffic. Two companies were stationed at Butte during the greater part
of the summer, while two or three remained at Fort Harrison.
Early in the fall, one battalion was ordered to Camp Green, South
Carolina, where the Forty-first Division was mobilizing, the other two
battalions remaining on duty in Montana until the first week in October,
when they entrained for Camp Mills, Long Island, and were joined there
by the other battalion. Here full equipment was issued, sailing lists
made out, and everything put in readiness for the trip overseas. On
December i the regiment moved to Camp Merritt, New Jersey, and
December 14 marched aboard the U. S. S. Leviathan and departed for
the "great adventure." All was suppressed and eager excitement. The
march from Camp Merritt to the trains was through two feet of fresh
snow, and at the station the troops had to wait three hours for the
trains that were all but blockaded by the snow, but there was no com-
plaining. The remark was often heard: "Oh, well, we hired out for
tough guys." At the dock as Adjt.-Gen. Charles L. Sheridan's old com-
pany was going up the gang-plank, two men put in an appearance who
had been in the hospital, and were broken-hearted when they were
turned over to the medical officers at the dock. On the great ship
there were, in addition to the old Second Regiment (now 163rd), which
numbered over 3,000 men, the 164th Infantry, the Eighty-second In-
fantry Brigade Headquarters, a detachment of medical troops, and 500
nurses, in all about 10,000 souls, including the crew.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 651
Overseas at Last
The voyage was uneventful and the troops landed at Liverpool,
England, December 24; 1917, marching from the ship to the trains
which were waiting. They were rushed across England to the great
camp at Winchester, where they spent Christmas Day, but on the fol-
lowing day began departing on the last leg of their journey. After
the stormy trip across the Channel, they landed at Le Havre and
marched to British Rest Camp No. 2 (so-called) and December 29
began their first box-car journey to the French garrison town of La
Courtine. This was the last time the regiment was all together, one
battalion under Major Williams being sent to Bordeaux, one under
Major Hodson to Langres, and the other to St. Aignan. About this
time the men learned with heavy hearts that the division was to be
broken up and most of its personnel used as replacements. In Febru-
ary the dissembling started, and nearly 3,000 men were transferred
from the regiment to the First, Twenty-sixth, Thirty-second and Forty-
second Divisions, leaving what was known as a training coterie of fifty
non-commissioned officers to each company.
In March the remnants of the regiment were reassembled in St.
Aignan district and their duties as a replacement and training unit
began. Here replacements were received from the United States,
equipped, drilled in the use of gas masks, bayonet fighting, etc., and
sent up to the front. During the summer of 1918, 290,000 men passed
through the camp of the Forty-first Division, and although the men of
that division longed to get to the front and away from the heart-break-
ing work that they were called upon to perform, they realized that this
duty was necessary and performed it in a manner that brought them
many compliments from high officers.
The old Second Regiment was never privileged to meet the enemy
in battle as an organization, but the individual officers and men who
did battle with other units wrote a record in the history of the war of
which Montana may well be proud. Their losses were as follows : three
officers and eighty-eight men killed in action, thirty-five men died of
wounds, twenty-eight men died of disease and nineteen officers and 289
men were wounded. Individuals of the old regiment won eighteen of
the fifty-three Distinguished Service Cross awards that went to Mon-
tana. This was a loss and achievement equal to most of the regiments
that won glory in battle, but it was the lot of this regiment to suffer
without the reward of having those at home know of their deeds.
Total Man Power Raised
During the spring and summer of 1917 thousands of Montanans
offered their services to the Government in other organizations than
the Second Infantry, until a total of 11,709 had voluntarily entered the
army and 1,862 the Navy and Marine Corps. On May 18, 1917, Con-
gress passed the Selective Service Act and June 5 all men between the
652 HISTORY OF MONTANA
ages of twenty-one and thirty-five were required to register. It was
feared that there might be some trouble on this day. but with the ex-
ception of an anti-draft parade at Butte, which promptly disbanded
upon the appearance of troops from Company F, Second Montana
Infantry, then stationed there, there was no disturbance in the state.
The estimated population of Montana was put at 952,474, when, in
reality, there was a population of but 496,131. The state, therefore,
raised troops on a basis of a population twice as great as that which
it really had. Even then, Montana reached more than its quota, with
its grand total of 39,271 in the Army and 1,862 in the Navy, exceed-
ing by 25 per cent all other States in the Union. Montana furnished
796 soldiers out of every 10,000 population, as compared with 296 for
Georgia, which state stood at the foot of the list. Out of these troops,
Montana lost 681 killed or died of wounds, 253 died from other causes,
or a total of 934 dead ; 2,469 wounded, and one missing, or a total of
3,443 casualties, again establishing a record above all other states with
a like population. As before noted, its soldiers were awarded fifty-three
Distinguished Service Crosses for acts of heroism on the field of battle,
a record of which all Montana may well be proud. Montana had troops
in practically all the combat divisions and it is safe to say that there
was not a part of the front where Americans participated that did not
feel Montana's effort. There were a number of the old Second In-
fantry with the First Division at Cantigny when America struck her
first offensive blow and it was here that Montana suffered her first losses
in this sector, when John J. White, of Miles City, serving as private of
Company A, Sixteenth Infantry, and formerly private of Company E,
Second Montana Infantry, was killed in action, February 9. Others
who fell in this sector between the ist of February and the end of
the battle of Cantigny were: George E. Mooney. of Glasgow, formerly
private of Company G, .Second Montana Infantry, but serving as pri-
vate of Headquarters Company, Sixteenth Infantry, killed May 4;
Ray Brent, of Helena, Pvt. First Class Machine Gun Company, Sec-
ond Montana Infantry, serving as private First Class. Second Brigade
Machine Gun Battalion, killed May 27 ; Loraine York, Mareo, Com-
pany G, Second Montana Infantry, serving as private First Class, Com-
pany H, Sixteenth Infantry, killed May 31 ; Harry Barrich, Company G,
Second Montana Infantry, serving as private Company I, Sixteenth In-
fantry, killed June 3 ; and Hasso A. Briese, sergeant First Field Signal
Battalion, killed June 4.
First Mont.^n.\ Man to Fall
Perhaps the first Montana man to fall was Elmer L. Cowan, of
Victor, Montana, Company D, Twentieth Engineers, who was killed Feb-
ruary 5 in the sinking of the Tuscania. In the fighting between February
I and June 5, three officers and thirty-eight enlisted men from Montana
were wounded.
In June, when the German advance began to threaten Paris, the Amer-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 653
ican First and Second Divisions threw themselves into the fray along the
west face of the Marne salient and the Forty-second to the east of St.
Quentin. There were hundreds of Montana men with these units and
scores of them fell in the desperate fighting which followed. On July
15, when the Third Machine Gun Battalion blocked the Paris road at
Chateau Thierry, a large number of the old Second Montana Infantry
Machine Gun Company was with them, and here two Montana men were
decorated for bravery. When the Thirty-second Division went into the
drive July 30, and through five days of terrific fighting pressed the enemy
back from the Ourcq River to the Vesle, there were perhaps more Mon-
tana men engaged than with any other division, and the newspaper ac-
counts gave Montana the credit of taking Hill 230 and Belleveau Farm,
August I. Many Montana men were also with the Fourth and Twenty-
sixth Divisions in the drive to the Vesle. But by far the greatest number
of Montana soldiers to go into a fight together were with the Ninety-first
Division when it made history in the Argonne Forest, starting September
26. This division fought its way northward through Very and Epion-
ville until relieved by the Thirty-second Division in front of Germens,
October 3. One brigade of the Ninety-first Division went in again be-
tween the First and Thirty-second, October 8, and fought its way over
Hill 255 and through the Bois Mikicy until relieved by the Forty-second
Division October 11.
From this front the Ninety-first Division was moved to Belgium,
where it went in with the Thirty-seventh Division to aid the Sixth French
Army, October 31, reaching the Lys River November 3 and then being
relieved by the French. They went in again November 10, and were
advancing steadily when the armistice was signed, November 1 1 . The
victory was won and Montana had done its full share, while suffering
more than its due measure of losses.
The Honor Men from Montana
The officers of the American Expeditionary Forces who entered the
service from the state of Montana, and who were killed in action were as
follows: Orville L. Anderson, captain Company C, 128th Infantry,
killed August i, 1918; Lee S. Cassell, first lieutenant One Hundred and
Thirtieth Field Ambulance, Medical Corps, killed November 14, 1918;
Harold H. Joyce, first lieutenant Company I, One Hundred and Twenty-
eighth Infantry, killed August 30, 1918; Raymond J. Saunders, first lieu-
tenant Ninety-fourth Aero Squadron, killed October 23, 1918; George
Ahlquist, second lieutenant Three Hundred and Twenty-seventh Infantry,
killed October 20, 1918; James C. Simpkins, second lieutenant Two Hun-
dred and Fifty-fifth Aero Squadron, killed September 18, 1918; and
Randolph C. Stocker, second lieutenant Company D, Thirty-ninth In-
fantry, killed September 28, 1918.
One officer, Emmet E. Carruthers, first lieutenant of Company A,
Three Hundred and Sixteenth Engineers, died of wounds, November 2,
1918.
654 HISTORY OF MONTANA
The following officers died of disease or other causes: Winfield S.
Faulds, first lieutenant Thirty-fifth Sanitary Squad, died October lo,
1918; Cyrus J. Gatton, first lieutenant First Aero Squadron, died Novem-
ber 4, 1918; Clinton V. Reed, first lieutenant Medical Corps, Base Hos-
pital No. 40, died October 7, 1918; Charles L. Watkins, first lieutenant
Headquarters Detachment, Signal Reserve Corps, died June 23, 1918;
George S. Reisz, second lieutenant. Headquarters Detail, Aviation In-
structor, died September 19, 1918.
Montana's soldiers who won the Distinguished Service Cross were
fifty-three in number. The award of the Distinguished Service Cross
is confined to any one who may distinguish himself or herself by ex-
traordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an
armed enemy of the United States under circumstances which do not
justify the award of the Medal of Honor, and may be awarded to any
person who while serving in any capacity with the army distinguishes
himself or herself. Following is given the names of the heroes who re-
ceived these awards and details of the deeds for which they were thus
honored.
Arthur Aamot, sergeant. Company D, One Hundred and Twenty-
sixth Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near Juvigny,
France, August 29, 1918. Sergeant Aamot had sought cover in a shell
hole, after a difficult advance in the face of heavy machine-gun fire, when
he observed distress signals from a tank nearby on which concentrated
artillery and machine-gun fire was being directed by the enemy. Leav-
ing his shelter. Sergeant Aamot proceeded through the fire to the tank
where he found a wounded man, whom he courageously carried to safety.
Residence at enlistment : Saco, Montana.
John Ora Adams, second lieutenant. Ninth Infantry. For extraordi-
nary heroism in action near Medeah Farm, France, October 3, 1918. He
remained on duty after receiving two shrapnel wounds in the arm, and
continued to lead his platoon to its objective. He directed the consolida-
tion of his position and the reorganization of his platoon before finally
reporting to the aid station, eight hours after being wounded. Resi-
dence at appointment: Kalispell, Montana.
Ernest H. Anderson, private first class. Company F, First Gas Regi-
ment. For extraordinary heroism in action near Moulin de Guenoville,
France, September 26, 1918. Private Anderson, with three other sol-
diers, advanced nearly 200 yards over an open hillside exposed to ma-
chine-gun fire and carried two wounded men to the protection of a near-
by trench. Private Anderson was later killed in action. Emergency
address: Mrs. Christine Anderson, mother, 706 Chestnut Street, Ana-
conda, Montana. Residence at enlistment: 706 Chestnut Street. Ana-
conda.
Oliver Anderson, sergeant, Company L, Three Hundred and Sixty-
.second Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near Steenbrugge,
Belgium, October 31, 191 8. Sergeant Anderson, with two other soldiers,
attacked a strong machine-gun position from which destructive fire had
been poured into his platoon and the platoon of the flank company,
HISTORY OF MONTANA 655
wounding his lieutenant, the platoon sergeant and many others. They
drove the machine-gunners from the position, thereby enabling the line
to continue the advance. Residence at enlistment : Sand Creek, Montana.
Harold B. Anthony (army serial No. 22601 12), supply sergeant,
Company D, Three Hundred and Sixty-second Infantry. For extraordi-
nary heroism in action at Bois de Very, France, September 26, 1918.
Sergeant Anthony, while leading a small detachment opertaing on the
flank of his company, suddenly came under heavy machine-gun fire.
Alone he crawled up close to the machine-gun, killed the gunner and cap-
tured four prisoners. Again, at Eclisfontaine, France, September 29,
1918. the company was held up by machine-gun fire from front and
flank. Sergeant Anthony spotted the machine-gun nest. While attempting
to reach an automatic squad to point out the hostile gun he was killed
by the machine-gun lire. Emergency address : Alex H. Anthony, father,
1 122 Sharp Avenue, East, Nashville, Tennessee. Residence at enlist-
ment: Y. M. C. A., Miles City, Montana.
Ivan Y. Bailey, private, Intelligence Section, First Battalion, Three
Hundred and Sixty-first Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action
near Gesnes, France, October 10, 1918. While on a liaison patrol Pri-
vate Bailey and Corp. Carl G. Theobald attacked and captured a hostile
machine-gun nest and its entire crew. Private Bailey then took the pris-
oners across "No Man's Land" to the American lines under machine-
gun fire. Residence at enlistment : Fort Shaw, Montana.
William Belzer, second lieutenant, Air Service, observer. Observa-
tion Group, attached to Fourth Army Corps. For extraordinary hero-
ism in action near Jaulny, France, September 12-13, 1918. On Septem-
ber 12, Lieutenant Belzer, observer, and First Lieut. Wallace Coleman,
pilot, while on an artillery surveillance mission, were attacked by an
enemy plane. They waited until the enemy was at close range and then
fired fifty rounds directly into the vital parts of the enemy machine,
which was seen to disappear out of control. The next day. Lieutenants
Belzer and Coleman, while on a reconnoissance mission, were attacked by
seven enemy aircraft. They unhesitatingly opened fire, but owing to
their guns being jammed were forced to withdraw to the American
lines, where, clearing the jam, they returned to finish the mission. Their
guns again jammed and they were driven back by a large patrol of enemy
planes. After skillful maneuvering, they succeeded in putting one gun
into use and returning a third time, only to be driven back. Undaunted,
they returned the fourth time and accomplished their mission, transmit-
ting valuable information to the Infantry headquarters. Residence at
appointment : Glasgow, Montana.
Henry N. Benoit (Army serial No. 2293659), private, first class.
Company D, Three Hundred and Sixty-first Infantry. For extraordi-
nary heroism in action near Gesnes, France, September 26 to October 4,
1918. During eight days while acting in the capacity of runner between
his company and battalion headquarters, Private Benoit was constantly
subjected to heavy shell fire, but perfomied his mission without thought
656 HISTORY OF MONTANA
of personal danger, carrying the many messages promptly and success-
fully. Residence at enlistment : Ekalaka, Montana.
Arthur I. Clark (Army serial No. 2258790), sergeant, Company C,
Thirty-ninth Infantry, Fourth Division. For extraordinary heroism in
action near Esnes, France, September 26, 1918. Sergeant Clark was in
command of one platoon of his company, which was being held up by
intense enemy machine-gun fire. Accompanied by two other soldiers,
he voluntarily made an attack on one of the nests under heavy fire, firing
a rifle grenade into it and forcing its surrender. He then advanced on
another machine-gun nest and captured it, taking seven prisoners from
both nests. His platoon having been forced to fall back by machine-
gun fire from the rear, he reorganized it and led it in a successful attack
on seventy-five of the enemy whom he discovered near by. Residence at
enlistment: Helena, Montana.
Oscar Clauson, private, Company F, Three Hundred and Si.xty-second
Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near the Scheldt River,
Belgium, October 31, 1918. When the advance of the front fine was
held up by the fire from a machine-gun nest 300 yards to the front. Pri-
vate Clauson, with two others, crossed the open field in the face of fire
from enemy artillery, machine guns and snipers. Charging the nest they
killed two of the crew, wounded two others and captured five, together
with the machine-gun. Residence at enlistment: Havre, Montana.
Milan Debney (Army serial 2293685), private. Company B, Three
Hundred and Forty-eighth Machine Gun Battalion, Ninety-first Division.
For extraordinary heroism in action near Eclisfontaine and Tronsol
Farm, France, September 27-October i, 19 18. Throughout five days
of action Private Debney maintained liaison between company and bat-
talion posts of command, repeatedly passing through enemy barrages and
constantly subjected to enemy sniping. Residence at enlistment : Care
of the Baltimore Hotel, Butte, Montana.
Louis C. Dolce, corporal. Company C, Second Field Signal Battalion.
For ertraordinary heroism in action near Exermont, France, October 8,
1918. He volunteered and laid a telephone line to an advanced observa-
tion post under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire, working his way
the entire distance of nearly i kilometer through dense undergrowth and
barbed-wire entanglements. Residence at enlistment : 632 Maryland
Avenue, Butte, Montana.
Charles H. Evans (Army serial No. 574149), private. Company B,
Fourth Division. For extraordinary heroism in action near the Bois
de-Brieulles, France, September 27, 1918. When his company was held
up by heavy enemy machine-gun fire, Private Evans and two other sol-
diers advanced in the face of intense fire and captured the enemy ma-
chine-gun nest, from which the fire had been coming, killing two of the
enemy and capturing three prisoners with their machine gun. Resi-
dence at enlistment: Lewistown, Montana.
Austin Gates (Army serial No. 14556), private, Company M., Six-
teenth Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near Charpentry,
France, October 3, 1918. He went forward with three other soldiers,
HISTORY OF MONTANA « 657
and, though subjected to intense enemy fire, rescued a wounded soldier
who had fallen in advance of the American lines. Residence at enlist-
ment : Drummond, Montana.
Leonard E. Guy (Army serial No. 572657), sergeant, Company C,
Fifty-eighth Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near Nantil-
lois, France, September 27, 1918. Sergeant Guy displayed exceptional
courage in attacking single-handed a machine-gun emplacement, captur-
ing the gun and taking as prisoners three machine-gunners. Residence
at enlistment: Great Falls, Montana.
Benjamin P. Harwood, second lieutenant, Field Artillery, observer.
Twelfth Aero Squadron, Air Service. For extraordinary heroism in
action near Chateau Thierry, France, July 5, 1918. He volunteered, with
another plane, to -protect a photographic plane. In the course of their
mission they were attacked by seven enemy planes of the Fokker type.
He accepted the combat and kept the enemy engaged while the photo-
graphic plane completed its mission, but his guns jammed and he himself
was seriously wounded. After skillfully clearing his guns, with his plane
badly damaged he fought off the hostile planes and enabled the photo-
graphic plane to return to the American lines with valuable information.
Residence at appointment : Billings, Montana.
Rudolph P. Hassler, sergeant, Company K, Three Hundred and
Sixty-second Infantry. For extraordinary heroism at Gesnes, France,
September 29, 1918. Although he was seriously wounded, he remained
in command of his platoon until he was relieved next morning, display-
ing exceptional devotion to duty. Residence at enlistment: Sumatra,
Montana.
Harry Hildebrand, sergeant, Company C, Third Machine Gun Bat-
talion. For extraordinary heroism in action near Soissons, France, July
18-24, 1918. He went forward beyond the front line, exposed to fire of
snipers, and repaired and put into action an abandoned enemy machine-
gun. Later, his platoon commander being wounded and the platoon be-
coming disorganized through direct artillery fire, he took command,
gathered reinforcements, and protected a dangerously exposed flank of
the infantry. He also voluntarily led his machine guns with the attack-
ing battalion, rendering most efficient service until wounded. Residence
at enlistment: Butte, Montana.
Melvin B. Johnson (Army serial No. 84054), corporal, Company M,
One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Infantry. For extraordinary hero-
ism in action near Gesnes, France, October 14, 1918. When his bat-
talion was held up after suffering heavy casualties from flanking machine-
gun fire, he went out alone with an automatic rifle to a position 250 yards
in advance of the American lines, and, although subjected to intense fire
from three directions, operated his gun and so neutralized the enemy fire
while his battalion reformed. He was killed on this mission, undertaken
on his own initiative. Emergency address: Mrs. Oliva Johnson, mother,
Clear Brook, Minnesota. Residence at enlistment : Greve, Montana.
Clififord M. Jordan, private. Company L, Sixteenth Infantry. For
extraordinary heroism in action near Cantigny, France, June 2, igi8.
658 HISTORY OF :\IONTANA
He went forward under intense machine-gun and artillery fire and as-
sisted in the removal of a wounded soldier over a distance of i kilometer.
Now deceased. Emergency address : J. I. B. Hanson, friend, Malta,
Montana. Residence at enlistment : Malta, Montana.
Emanuel Karch, private. Company B, Sixteenth Infantry. Display-
ing exceptional initiative and bravery throughout the oi>erations south
of Soissons, France, July 18-22, 1918; he with extraordinary heroism,
July 21, with two companions captured two machine guns that were
causing heavy losses to his company. Residence at enlistment: Angela,
Montana.
Eugene F. Knoke, private. Company M, Three Hundred and Sixty-
second Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near Gesnes,
France, September 29, 1918. He performed his duties-as company run-
ner with the utmost fearlessness, crossing fire-swept fields on two occa-
sions to carry important messages to neighboring units. Residence at en-
listment: Glasston, Montana.
Christian Kurle, private. Company H, Three Hundred and Seventh
Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near Oches, France,
November 4, 1918. Exposing himself to heavy machine-gun fire, Pri-
vate Kurle crossed an open field 300 yards wide and rescued a severely
wounded comrade. Residence at enlistment: Angela, Montana.
Arthur S. Long (Army serial No. 44521), private, Company D, Six-
teenth Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near Hill 272,
France, October 9, 1918. Facing direct fire from a 77-millimeter gun
which was enfilading his company, he advanced against the gun with an
automatic rifle. Attacking the German gun position, he captured the
crew, making it possible for his company to hold the ground it had gained.
Residence at enlistment : Box No. 57, Roberts, Montana.
Luzius Luzi, private. Company M, Twenty-third Infantry. For
extraordinary heroism. He fearlessly and frequently passed through
heavy machine-gun fire while performing his duty as runner near Cha-
teau Thierry, France, June 6, 1918, after being twice wounded. Resi-
dence at enlistment : Salesville, Montana.
Daniel McAuliffe, corporal, Company M, Sixteenth Infantry. For
extraordinary heroism in action in the Argonne Forest, France, October
4, 1918. Leading his squad on enemy machine-gun nests which had been
inflicting severe casualties on his platoon. Corporal McAuliffe opened an
effective bombing attack on the nests, and, although severely wounded,
remained in command until the strong point was reduced. Residence
at enlistment: 939 Hornet Street, Butte, Monana.
William McLoughlin, private. Company A, Third Machine Gun Bat-
talion. For extraordinary heroism in action near Berzy-le-Sec, France,
July 21, 1918. He advanced against a machine g^n, and, single-handed,
killed or captured the entire crew. Residence at enlistment: Anaconda,
Montana.
Duncan A. McRae, sergeant, Company M, Three Hundred and Sixty-
second Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near Gesnes,
France, October 11, 1918. He took out a patrol for the purpose of ascer-
HISTORY OF AIONTANA 659
taining the position of the enemy and the location of machine guns.
Three of his men were killed but he continued on over a difficult terrain
and returned with information of the highest value in subsequent opera-
tions. Residence at enlistment: 902 Ninth Avenue, Helena, Montana.
Carl J. Maier, private, first class. Company I, Three Hundred and
Sixty-second Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action at Bois de
Cheppy, near Meuse, France, September 26, 191 8. Working with a
patrol in an attack on an enemy machine gun, he crawled upon the em-
placement and without assistance killed three enemy gunners and cap-
tured their machine gun. Residence at enlistment: Glendive, Montana.
Jesse Marlin, corporal, Company B, One Hundred and Twenty-sev-
enth Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action at Juvigny, France,
August 31, 1918. He was one of a party of three officers and two men
who, armed with one German machine gun and three German rifles,
attacked a machine-gun nest held by seventy Germans. Under terrific
fire from the enemy, who laid down an artillery barrage upon their posi-
tion, they concentrated their rifle fire so etifectively that thirty-two Ger-
mans surrendered within an hour. After the prisoners had been brought
in, Corporal Marlin, with a private, established another machine gun in
an advanced position and kept up a concentrated fire on the Germans
until he was wounded in the body five times by machine-gim fire.
Emergency address : L. C. Hall, friend, General Delivery, Billings, Mon-
tana. Residence at enlistment, same.
Robert J. Maxey, lieutenant-colonel, Eighteenth Infantry. On May
28, 1918, at Cantigny, France, he advanced with the first wave and, in
the face of heavy shell and machine-gun fire, located the objective of
his battalion. He was a cool, dependable and heroic leader. Although
fatally wounded, he gave detailed instructions to his second in command
and caused himself to be carried to his regimental commander and deliv-
ered important information before he died. Emergency address : Mrs.
Lu Knowles Maxey, wife, 900 First Street, Missoula, Montana. Resi-
dence at appointment : same.
Frank D. Miller (army serial No. 2706), private, Medical Detach-
ment, Twenty-eighth Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near
Exermont, France, October 1-12, 1918. His detachment having been re-
duced to but three men. Private Miller displayed conspicuous courage and
devotion to duty in caring for and evacuating wounded across an area
swept by shell and machine-gun fire to the regimental aid station and
returning with badly-needed medical supplies to the forward aid station.
His conduct was an inspiration to his associates, their commanding officer
being absent and the sergeant in charge having been killed. Residence at
enlistment : Great Falls, Montana.
James H. Moore, Jr. (army serial No. 3137555), corporal, Company E,
Two Hundred and Seventh Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action
in the Argonne Forest, France, October 2, 1918. During an attack, when
his platoon encountered enemy wire. Corporal Moore calmly went forward
and alone proceeded to cut a passage through the wire. While perform-
ing his work he was subjected to the fiercest fire of enemy machine guns
660 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and grenades, which wounded over half the platoon. He continued in this
work until he accomplished his purpose. Residence at enlistment : Ridg-
way, Montana.
John J. Murphy, private, first class. Battery F, One Hundred and
Forty-eighth Field Artillery. For extraordinary heroism in action near
Nantillois, France, October 31, 1918. Private Murphy displayed a remark-
able example of heroism by carrying two wounded men from the gun pit
after being seriously wounded himself, when a German shell exploded
within a few feet of the piece which was being loaded, setting fire to
several boxes of powder and to the camouflage cover of the pit. After
carrying the wounded men to safety, he returned to the pit, closed the
breech of the piece, verified its laying, and fired it, preventing what prob-
ably would have been a very serious explosion. He was quickly carried
to the aid station, where it was found that he had suffered serious burns
from the terrific heat, besides being wounded in several places by shell
fragments. Residence at enlistment : Butte, Montana.
Vincent A. Nolan (army serial No. 303736), pharmacist's mate, third
class. United States Navy, attached to Company E, Fifth Regiment,
United States Marine Corps, Second Division. For extraordinary hero-
ism in action near St. Etienne, France, October 5-9, 1918. During the
operations at Blanc Mont Ridge he repeatedly went through intense ma-
chine-gun fire and shell fire to administer first aid to officers and soldiers
who were wounded and lying in exposed positions. Residence at enlist-
ment : Livingston, Montana.
Cornelius J. O'Brien, sergeant, Company E, Second Engineers. For
extraordinary heroism in action near Ville-Savoye, France, August 11,
1918. While engaged on the construction of a bridge over the Valle River,
he voluntarily left shelter during intense fire and carried one of his
wounded officers through a heavy machine-gun and artillery fire to a dress-
ing station. Emergency address : Mrs. MoUie Prine, sister, 2 Ridgely
Avenue, Butte, Montana. Address at enlistment: same. .
Solomon Peterson, sergeant, Company I, Three Hundred and Sixty-
second Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action during the Argonne
offensive, France, September 26-29, 1918. He repeatedly led patrols in
successful attacks on enemy machine-gun emplacements, displaying calm-
ness and keen judgment. After being wounded he insisted in remaining
in command of his platoon. Residence at enlistment : Mosley, Montana.
Philip W. Prevost (army serial No. 2284906), private first class,
Company D, Three Hundred and Sixty-fourth Infantry. For extraordi-
nary heroism in action near Eclisfontaine, France, September 28, 1918.
A combat group had worked its way far ahead when the remainder of the
line was held up by heavy bursts of machine-gun fire, and the order to
dig in and hold the position was given. Private Prevost volunteered to
carry the message through heavy machine-gun fire to the combat group,
which was still advancing. He delivered the order and returned with
information which enabled the battalion to make dispositions for the cap-
ture of the line of enemy machine-gun nests and the saving of the combat
group. Residence at enlistment : Geyser, Montana.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 661
John E. Reese, sergeant, Company F, Three Hundred and Sixteenth
Engineers. For extraordinary heroism in action at Audenarde, Belgium,
November i, 1918. He volunteered to accompany an officer and three
other soldiers on a reconnaissance patrol of the City of Audenarde. En-
tering the city under heavy shell fire, the party reconnoitered for seven
hours, while it was still being patrolled by the enemy, advancing two kilo-
meters ahead of the American outposts and beyond those of the enemy.
Residence at enlistment: 415 South Colorado Street, Butte, Montana.
Charles L. Sheridan, captain. Company A, One Hundred and Sixty-third
Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action on Hill 230, near Cierges,
France, July 31 and August i, 1918. He demonstrated notable courage
and leadership by taking command of the remnants of two companies and
leading them up the hill and into the woods against violent fire from the
enemy. He personally shot and killed three of the enemy and under his
direction six machine guns were put out of action and the hill captured.
Residence at appointment: 1022 West Curtis Street, Bozeman, Montana.
Robert A. Simpson (army serial No. 41804), private. Company A,
Sixteenth Infantry, First Division. For extraordinary heroism in action
near Soissons, France, July 22, 1918. After being wounded. Private Simp-
son returned to the line and continued to carry messages with absolute
disregard of his own safety until he was wounded a second time. Resi-
dence at enlistment: Shelby, Montana.
Sidney Smith, private, Company H, Three Hundred and Eighth In-
fantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near Bainarville, France,
October 2-8, 1918. When his company had been cut off from communi-
ciation he, though seriously wounded, refused to seek shelter. He partici-
pated in several attacks with courage and aggressiveness, using his rifle
very effectively and encouraging his comrades. When relief came he
walked back to the dressing station so that medical attention could first
be given to the more seriously wounded. Residence at enlistment : Blaine,
Montana.
Clayton Evans Snyder, second lieutenant. Ninth Machine Gun Bat-
talion. For extraordinary heroism in action near Cunel, France, October
13, 1918. Although wounded by machine-gun fire, he refused to be evacu-
ated, and, going out into No Man's Land, located several enemy machine
^une which were endangering his platoon, and directed the fire of his men
Ivith such accuracy that the guns were silenced. Residence at appointment :
Malta. Montana.
Carl J. Sonstelie, first lieutenant, Third Brigade, Tank Corps. For
extraordinary heroism in action near Montfaucon, France, September 26,
1918. He displayed bravery and leadership of a high order in the advance
toward Montfaucon by going out ahead of the engineers, reconnoitering
a tank route under fire, and urging the tanks forward. He located the
resistance in the Bois de Cuisy in advance, later rallying disorganized sol-
diers and enabling them to hold that point. Residence at appointment: 628
Third Avenue, West, Kalispell, Montana.
Gilbert Straabe, private, Company D, Three Hundred and Sixty-first
Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near Gesnes, France, Octo-
662 HISTORY OF MONTANA
ber 3, 1918. He voluntarily and unhesitatingly left shelter under heavy
shell fire and without thought of personal danger rendered first aid and
carried a wounded comrade to a place of safety. Residence at enlistment :
Devon, Montana.
Joseph J. Sullivan, corporal, Company M, Three Hundred and Sixty-
second Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action near Gesnes,
France. Observing that the left flank of the regimental line was un-
protected, he voluntarily took out a combat patrol, and, while so doing,
encountered three machine guns, which were employing effective enfilade
fire. Boldly advancing to this position, he silenced the guns. Residence
at enlistment : Jordan, Montana.
Clarence W. Thompson (army serial No. 1039036), sergeant. Battery
F, Tenth Field Artillery, Third Division. For extraordinary heroism in
action near Greves Farm, France, July 15, 1918. Responding to a call for
volunteers, Sergeant Thompson, with eight other soldiers, manned two
guns of a French battery which had been deserted by the French during
the unprecedented fire, after many casualties had been inflicted upon their
forces. For two hours he remained at his post and poured an elifective
fire into the ranks of the enemy. Residence at enlistment: Van Norman,
Montana.
Waldo Thompson, corporal, Company C, Second Field Signal Bat-
talion. For extraordinary heroism in action near Exermont, France,
October 5, 1918. He voluntarily went forward in the face of a most
destructive bombardment and kept in repair the telephone line connecting
the infantry and artillery, thereby assuring the close co-operation between
these two elements. Residence at enlistment: 1108 East Sixth Street,
Anaconda, Montana.
Hans L. Tveten, private, Company K, Three Hundred and Sixty-third
Infantry. For extraordinary heroism in action at Gesnes, France, Sep-
tember 29, 1918. When his company was under fire from two German
machine guns, he crept forward alone and put the guns out of action
with rifle grenades, capturing, single-handed, four Germans and both
machine guns. Residence at enlistment : Sandcreek, Montana.
Herman Wallenmaier, private, Company D, Sixtenth Infantry. For
extraordinary heroism in action near the Argonne Forest, France, Octo-
ber 9, 1918. Although sufi^ering painfully from wounds, he remained
with his company during the entire action, and then was evacuated only
when ordered to leave by his commanding officer, being unable to pro-
ceed further because of the loss of blood. Residence at enlistment : Valley-
town, Montana.
George Whitcomb, private. Company B, Ninth Machine Gun Bat-
talion. For extraordinary heroism in action near Gunel, France, October
12, 1918. Although seriously wounded, he refused to be evacuated until
he had gone under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire to four other gun
crews, requesting that men be sent to his gun, thereby enabling an im-
portant gun to remain in action. Residence at enlistment: Bonnerville
Apartments, Helena, Montana.
Cecil J. Widdifield, second lieutenant, Sixth Regiment, United States
HISTORY OF MONTANA 663
Marine Corps. For extraordinary heroism in action near St. Etienne,
France, October 5, 1918. He voluntarily went forward for a distance
of 800 meters under heavy shell fire and rescued a wounded soldier who
had been left there the night before when the advance patrols had been
withdrawn. Residence at appointment : Troy, Montana.
Frank Zilkey, corporal. Company D, Sixteenth Infantry. For extraor-
dinary heroism in action near the Forest of Argonne, France, October 9,
1918. After all the other members of his squad had been killed or
wounded in advancing on a hostile machine gun, he pressed forward alone
in the face of direct fire from the gun, and by remarkable courage cap-
tured both the gun and its crew. Upon his own initiative, he then started
out alone to attack another gun and was killed. Emergency address, Mrs.
J. J. Carr, mother, May, Idaho. Residence at enlistment : Butte, Montana.
Montana's Sinews of the War
While the fighting forces were thus writing Montana's name large on
history's page in France, the people at home were waging a no less val-
iant campaign in furnishing the sinews of war through Liberty Bond
sales and contributions to other war activities. With the exception of
four cases, Montana's counties went "over the top" in their total allot-
ments of Liberty Loans. Montana was included in the Ninth Federal
Reserve District, and a record of the various counties, their chairmen,
women's chairmen, allotments and subscriptions are herewith given.
Unless otherwise noted, the chairmen served during the Second, Third,
Fourth and Fifth campaigns, and the chairwomen during the Third,
Fourth and Fifth drives.
Beaverhead : Frank S. Hazelbaker, Dillon, chairman ; Miss Carolyn
White, chairwoman; Allotment, $1,319,100; Subscription, $1,640,100.
Big Horn: G. F. Burla, Hardin, chairman; Mrs. G. F. Burla, Hardin,
chairwoman; Allotment, $460,000; Subscription, $739,050. Blaine:
Thomas Everett, Harlem (Second) and John McLaren, Chinook, chair-
men; Mrs. L. N. Beaulieu, Chinook, chairwoman; Allotment, $392,450;
Subscription, $502,650. Broadwater: J. B. Kearns, Townsend, chairman;
Mrs. C. B. Fairchild, Townsend, chairwoman; Allotment, $404,350; Sub-
scription, $441,400. Carbon: John Romersa, Red Lodge (Second) and
Albert Budas, Red Lodge, chairmen ; Mrs. S. Mott Soupers, Red Lodge,
chairwoman; Allotment, $1,273,800; Subscription, $1,785,300. Carter:
L. M. Elliott, Ekalaka, chairman; Mrs. John Oliver, Ekalaka, chairwoman;
Allotment, $99,550; Subscription, $134,700; Cascade: Harry Yaeger,
Great Falls, chairman; Mrs. W. K. Floweree, Great Falls, chairwoman;
Allotment, $5,960,800; Subscription, $7,896,250. Chouteau: David G.
Browne, Fort Benton, chairman; Mrs. David G. Browne, chairwoman,
Fort Benton; Allotment, $854,100; Subscription, $2,441,450. Custer:
C. W. Butler and H. B. Wiley, Miles City (Second) H. B. Wiley (Third
and Fourth) and P. I. Wedge (Fifth), chairmen; Mrs. Minnie M. Ser-
ruys, Miles City, chairwoman; Allotment, $1,318,600; Subscription,
$1,620,500. Dawson: Frank G. Hughes (Second and Third), Glendive,
664 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and G. D. Hollecker, Glendive, chairman; Mrs. C. A. Rasmusson, Glen-
dive, chairwoman; Allotment, $858,500; Subscription, $985,100. Deer
Lodge: J. B. Gnose, Anaconda (Second), and T. P. Stewart, Anaconda,
chairmen ; Mrs. Frederick Laist, Anaconda, chairwoman ; Allotment,
$3,919,350; Subscription, $5,105,550. Fallon: R. F. Smith, Baker, chair-
man; Mrs. C. J. Dousman, Baker, chairwoman; Allotment, $137,000;
Sub.scription, $211,900. Fergus: O. W. Beldon, Lewistown, chairman;
Mrs. Noble M. Walker, Lewistown, chairwoman; Allotment, $2,368,100;
Subscription, $2,953,700. Flathead: H. C. Keith, Kalispell, and Dr.
Morris W. Bottorf, Kalispell (Fourth), chairmen; Mrs. J. R. Listle,
Kalispell (Fourth) and Mrs. E. E. Ingalls, Kalispell (Fifth), chairwomen;
Allotment, $1,343,050; Subscription, $2,100,900. Gallatin: Justin M.
Smith, chairman; Allotment, $2,151,550; Subscription, $2,831,506. Gar-
field (formed after Fourth drive) : A. C. Attix, Jordan, chairman; Allot-
ment, $20,000; Subscription, $24,150. Glacier (formed after Fourth
drive): R. L. Taft, Cutbank, chairman: Allotment, $30,000; Subscrip-
tion, $42,500. Granite: Charles Anderson, Philipsburg (Second), Thomas
M. Brogan, Philipsburg (Third and Fourth) and A. J. Murray, Philips-
burg, chairmen ; Mrs. M. E. H. Gannon, Philipsburg, chairwoman ; Allot-
ment, $389,350; Subscription, $517,850. Hill: A. L. Ritt, Havre, chair-
man; Mrs. W. B. Rhoades, Havre, chairwoman; Allotment, $758,500;
Subscription, $1,123,400. Jefferson: L. Q. Skelton, Boulder (Second)
and Dr. L A. Leighton, Boulder, chairmen; Mrs. Ike E. O. Pace, chair-
woman; Allotment, $433,900; Subscription, $616,700. Lewis and Clark:
T. A. Marlow, Helena (Second) and Harry Cunningham, Helena, chair-
men: Mrs. G. S. M. Neill, chairwoman; Allotment, $5,207,750; Sub-
scription, $7,406,500. Lincoln: John Lewis, Libby (Second), C. A. Weil,
Eureka (Third and Fourth) and J. G. Masek, Eureka, chairmen; Mrs.
J. M. Kennedy, chairwoman; Allotment, $426,350; Subscription,
^7i2>'77^\ McCone (formed after Fourth drive) : O. A. Maxness, Brock-
way, chairman; Allotment, $20,000; .Subscription, $41,550. Madison:
O. H. Junod, Sheridan (Second) and R. G. Willson, Sheridan, chair-
men; Mrs. M. M. Duncan, Virginia City, chairwoman; Allotment, $873,-
100; Subscription, $1,012,900. Meagher: James T. Wood, White Sulphur
Springs, chairman; Mrs. E. J. Anderson, White Sulphur Springs, chair-
woman; Allotment, $510,100; Subscription, $634,700. Mineral: Sam
Boyd, Henderson, chairman ; Mrs. Charles A. Searles, Alberton, chair-
woman; Allotment, $150,700; Subscription, $280,300. Missoula: H. H.
Parsons, Missoula, chairman ; Mrs. F. S. Lusk, Missoula, chairwoman ;
Allotment, $2,380,700; Subscription, $3,549,350. Musselshell : F. M. Wall,
Roundup, chairman; Mrs. C. Fairchild, Roundup, chairwoman; Allot-
ment, $932,500; Subscription, $1,121,600. Park: J. C. Vilas (Second),
D. J. Fitzgerald (Third), A. P. Stark (Fourth) and Charles Angus, all
of Livingston, chairman; Mrs. Anna M. Sax, Livingston, chairwoman;
Allotment, $1,453,400; Subscription, $2,034,150. Phillips: B. D. Phillips,
Phillips (Second) and F. W. Hall, Malta, chairmen; Mrs. John A. Tress-
ler, Malta, chairwoman; Allotment, $334,750; Subscription, $417,450.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 665
Ponderay (formed after Fourth drive) : B. T. Moore, Brady, chairman;
Allotment, $40,000; Subscription, $41,200. Powder River (formed after
Fourth drive); H. R. Straiton, Broadus, chairman; Allotment, $50,000;
Subscription, $60,550. Powell : R. D. Larabie, Deer Lodge, chairman ; Mrs.
A. D. Hoss, Deed Lodge, chairwoman; Allotment, $741,050; Subscrip-
tion, $1,088,100. Prairie: W. A. Brubaker, Terry, chairman; Allotment,
$339,000; Subscription, $277,850. Ravalli: W. O. Fisk, Hamilton (Sec-
ond) and M. A. White, Hamilton, chairmen ; Mrs. C. L. Hoffman, Ham-
ilton, chairwoman; Allotment, $639,850; Subscription, $820,300. Rich-
land: Sam Donaldson, Sidney, chairman; Mrs. J. P. Meadprs, Sidney,-
chairwoman; Allotment, $596,350; Subscription^ $595,100. Roosevelt
(formed after Fourth drive): A. S. Newcombe, Mondak, chairman;
Allotment, $85,000; Subscription, $119,850. Rosebud: E. A. Cornwall,
For.syth, chairman ; Mrs. E. A. Richardson, Forsyth, chairwoman ; Allot-
ment, $879,000; Subscription, $974,500. Sanders: E. L. Johnson, Plains
(Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth) and A. M. Johnson, Plains (Fifth
only), chairmen; Mrs. F. M. Lewellen, chairwoman; Allotment, $321,500;
Subscription, $513,650. Sheridan: N. L. Nelson, Plentywood, chairman;
Mrs. F. G. Fishbeck, chairwoman; Allotment, $1,021,850; Subscription,
$1,198,650. Silver Bow: A. R. Currie, Butte (Second, Third and Fourth)
and W. W. McDowell, Butte, chairmen ; Mrs. J. K. Hesley, chairwoman ;
Allotment, $20,451,750; Subscription, $24,434,300. Stillwater: George A.
Westover, Columbus, chairman; Mrs. J. D. Ray, chairwoman; Allotment,
$609,400; Subscription, $598,150. Sweetgrass : T. C. Busha, Big Timber
(Second, Third and Fourth) and E. J. Mo, Big Timber, chairmen; Miss
Inga Solberg, Big Timber, chairwoman: Allotment, $516,000; Subscrip-
tion, $572,800. Teton: T. O. Larson, Chouteau, chairman; Mrs. T. O.
Larson, Chouteau, chairwoman; Allotment, $937,700; Subscription,
$1,156,950. Toole: W. H. Schoregge, Shelby, chairman; Mrs. T. L.
Clark, Sweet Grass (Fifth only), chairwoman; Allotment, $283,900;
Subscription, $308,700. Treasure (formed after Fourth drive): J. G.
Weldon, Hysham, chairman; Allotment, $30,000; Subscription, $41,400.
Valley: J. E. Arnott, Glasgow (Second), S. J. Bundle, Glasgow (Third)
and R. J. Moore, Glasgow, chairmen; Mrs. Thomas Dignan, Glasgow
(Third and Fourth) and Mrs. J. M. Lewis, Glasgow, chairwomen; Allot-
ment, $721,350; Subscription, $822,100. Wheatland: W. M. Smith, Har-
lowton, chairman ; Mrs. Harriet W. Tooley, Harlowton, chairwoman ;
Allotment, $463,400; Subscription, $664,150. Wibaux: L. C. Faltermeyer,
Wibaux, chairman ; Mrs. Ed. F. Fisher, Wibaux, chairwoman ; Allotment,
$235,400; Subscription, $195,900. Yellowstone: W. Lee Mains, BilHngs,
chairman ; Mrs. H. R. Smith, chairwoman, Billings ; Allotment, $2,683,750;
Subscription, $3,525,300.
The state had an average over-subscription of about seventy-five per
cent, and led the nation in the First Liberty Loan in the percentage of over-
subscription, much more than doubling its allotment. The five subscrip-
tions were as follows :
G66 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Loan Allotted Subscribed
First $ 6,768,000 $15,165,000
Second 15,000,000 19,126,350
Third 9,000,000 17.635,500
Fourth 16,000,000 22,489,050
Fifth 11,000,000 12,100,000
Total $57,768,000 $86,515,900
The state chairman was Norman B. Holier, of Helena, and the women's
chairman was Mrs. W. W. McDowell, of Butte.
The only campaign in the state that did not reach its full allotment
was the Thrift Stamp drive, in which Montana raised $6,794,698.41. In
the different drives for the Red Cross, Y. M. C. A., Knights of Columbus,
Salvation Army, Y. W. C. A., Armenian Relief and others, in the separate
campaigns and in the United War Work campaign. Montana was a gener-
ous contributor, as will be seen from the following figures :
Red Cross $1,110,000
Y. M. C. A. (First Drive) 179,000
K. of C. (First Drive) 100,000
Salvation Army (First Drive) 45,0OO
Other Organizations (Estimated) 100,000
United War Work Campaign 643,913
Armenian Relief 90,000
Total $2,267,913
In the matter of war materials, Montana played a leading part in
furnishing vast stores of goods, as the products of this state were those
that were greatly sought after by the Government. The production of
these different materials in 1918 was as follows: Wheat, 25,434,000
bushels; beef cattle, 406,415 head; sheep, 3,000,000 head; hogs, 200,000
head ; wool, 22,878,000 pounds ; copper, 323,174,850 pounds ; zinc, 209,258,-
148 pounds; lead, 37,135,875 pounds; manganese, 199,796 tons; and lum-
ber, 400,000,000 feet.
CHAPTER XXVI
BEAVERHEAD, BIG HORN, BLAINE, BROADWATER, CARBON
AND CARTER COUNTIES
If for no other reason, there would be much of interest attaching
to Beaverhead County, because it was here that much of the early history
of the State of Montana was enacted. Within its borders, on Grass-
hopper Creek, in 1862, there occurred the first important discovery of
gold which resulted in the settlement of the rich Treasure State and
the unfolding of its vast resources, agricultural as well as mineral. Like-
wise Bannack, the first mining camp in Montana, was the first territorial
capital of the state, although today, shorn of its former glory and ro-
mance, it bears little resemblance to the prosperous and vivid little com-
munity of the days of its prosperity. Today, while mining still is an
industry, as well as farming and lumbering, Beaverhead occupies a
leading position among the counties of the state principally because of its
stock-growing interests, in this connection being one of the most im-
portant centers in Montana.
N.\TUR.\L Fe.\TURES .XND INDUSTRIES OF BeAVERHEAD
Beaverhead County, which derives its name from the river of the
same title, was created February 2, 1865, and lies in the southwestern
part of the state. Since 1890, it has shown a slow but steady increase
in population at the rate of about 1,000 every decade, as follows: 1890,
4,655; 1900, 5,615; 1910, 6,446; 1920, 7,369.
With a land area of 5,632 square miles, Beaverhead County is bounded
on the south and west by the Idaho-Montana state line, and the Continental
Divide of the Rocky Mountains marks the northwestern boundary, while
on the southwest it is flanked by the Beaverheads. In the interior of
the county smaller ranges are found, and between these are extensive
valleys and basins, including the Big Hole Basin, Horse Prairie, and
the Centennial and the Alaska basins, which are devoted to stockgrowing
and farming. For the greater part, the soil of the tillable areas is of
a clay-loam type, and there are approximately 30,000 acres of first-class
irrigated land in the county, 130,000 acres of second-class irrigated land
and 175,000 acres of non-irrigated farming land, the balance being graz-
ing, mineral and timber country. While in recent years much grain,
chiefly wheat and oats of high quality, has been produced on the benches,
the favorite crop with the agriculturists is hay, and the Big Hole Basin,
which is twelve miles in width and about thirty miles in lengfth, presents
the appearance of one great hay meadow. The product of this basin
is so high in nutritive value that for years cattle have been fattened
667
668
HISTORY OF MONTANA
in the winter on hay alone and shipped to markets throughout the county,
where they have commanded the highest prices. The altitude of Beaver-
head County, 5,098 feet, is comparatively high, and experience has taught
the agriculturists that the hardier crops are the ones which produce the
best results. In this county irrigated land sells for from $50 to $125
per acre, non-irrigated land from $15 to $50 an acre, and grazing land
from $6 to $15 an acre.
In addition to the Beaverhead River, the county has the Wise and
Big Hole rivers, which, with the numerous tributaries that rise in the
high mountains to the south and west, make Beaverhead one of the
best watered counties in the state. Because of its excellent irrigation
and large and bountiful forage, cattle raising and cattle feeding as an
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Steer Feeding in Beaverhead County
industry has taken the leading place, with farming, mining and lumber-
ing in the order named. As to its mineral resources, the county is be-
lieved to have large deposits of copper, lead, graphite, manganese, silver
and gold, but the proper exploitation of these metals has been under-
taken on a comprehensive scale only during recent years. Large stands
of commercial timber are found in the Beaverhead and Madison national
forests, and of these 1,325,000 acres of the former and 99,600 of the
latter are in Beaverhead County.
Tkanspgrtation and Points of Interest
Traversing the county from the north to the south is a branch of
the Oregon Short Line Railroad from Pocatello to Butte, while the Gil-
more & Pittsburgh Railroad, in the southern part of the comity, furnishes
HISTORY OF MONTANA 669
transportation from Armstead to Salmon, Idaho. A narrow gauge line
runs west and then south from Divide to Elkhorn, and a good highway,
running parallel to the Oregon Short Line, runs through the county,
making possible a connection with Salt Lake and points west and with
Montana points to the north. For the visitors to this region there are
to be found excellent hunting and fishing in the mountainous districts.
The points of interest are not lacking, as there are numerous evidences
of the early days of Montana when the desperadoes of the mining camps
fought it out with the vigilantes, and the gulches awarded the hardy
and adventurous miners with streams of golden treasure. In the Big
Hole Basin, also, there are brought back scenes of earlier days, when
the cowboys were in their glory, on some of the big ranches which have
not totally laid aside old-time customs.
Dillon, the County Seat
Dillon, the county seat of Beaverhead County, was founded in i88o
by the late Gov. B. F. White, who, with Howard Sebree, purchased
the ranch of William Deacon, comprising 400 acres, and platted the
town. There are a few of the old-time buildings still standing, one of
the oldest being the former Opera House, which recently has been re-
modeled and made into a rooming-house. The cabin of William Deacon
stood until 1920 when it was torn down and the logs used in the building
of a barn, and practically all of the old landmarks of this thriving city
have disappeared, no effort having been made to preserve them. At
Dillon is located the State Normal College, a part of the University of
Montana ; the Beaverhead County High School, and two large public
schools. These latter are conducted under the auspices of the normal
college and are known as training schools. The condition is considered
unique, it being as far as is known the only case in the United States
where an entire public school system is conducted in connection with
a normal college.
The State Normal College
The act of Congress under which the State of Montana was ad-
mitted to the Union set aside 100,000 acres of the public domain for
the establishment and support of a State Normal School. In pursuance
of the same plan the Legislative Assembly of Montana established the
State Normal College in 1893. ^'^^ committee having in charge the
election of a building began work in that year. The Legislature of
1897 created an executive board which selected a president and faculty,
the first session of the school opening September 7, 1897. By an act
of the eighth Legislative Assembly, which became a law February 25,
1903, the name of the institution was changed to the Montana State
Normal College.
The State Normal College prepares teachers for the public schools
of Montana. It accomplishes its work through professional courses,
670 HISTORY OF MONTANA
directed observation of expert teaching, and actual teaching under expert
supervision in a pubHc school. The two years curricula permit speciali-
zation in kindergarten, primary, intermediate, grammar grade or rural
work. The Normal College diploma authorizes its holder to teach in
any public school in the state for six years without examination. After
twenty-seven months of successful experience in Montana, graduates
are granted life certificates by the State Board of Education. A student
who completes a third year of Normal College work has opportunity
for greater specialization and is better prepared for junior high school
teaching.
Graduates of the two years curriculum are granted junior standing
in the State University. Students who earn credit after receiving the
diploma are granted hour for hour credit up to a maximum of one year
in subjects of college or university character. Graduates of either the
two or three years curricula who transfer to the State University must
satisfy restricted elective and major department requirements; they are
exempt from the required work in English composition and physical
education.
The Normal College offers no certificate at the close of the first
year, but students who find it necessary to teach before earning a diploma
are able to secure a second grade certificate valid in the state for two
years by completing courses in the required subjects. According to
law, Normal College (University of Montana) grades in such subjects
are accepted upon certificates in lieu of grades earned by examination.
Certificates acquired in this way represent no loss of time since all
work done is credited toward a diploma. ^
The Normal College buildings are well constructed and arranged.
The main building with its class rooms, library, laboratories, gymnasium
and audrtorium, is situated less than lOO yards from the Residence Halls
in which nearly all out-of-town students live. These halls, three in num-
ber, provide comfortable home life for women students and excellent
accommodations at cost. The campus, upon a slight elevation at the
edge of Dillon, is of ample size and well supplied with shade trees.
Dillon is well supplied with churches, maintaining congregations of
the Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Latter-day
Saints and Christian Science denominations, and there being a move-
ment on foot in 192 1 to organize a Danish Lutheran Church.
There are four banks at Dillon, the First National, State Bank of
Dillon, Security State Bank and the Beaverhead State Bank. The first-
named is the richest institution in the United States in comparison will
the population of the town, its deposits being over $4,000,000. There
are two weekly newspapers, the Examiner and the Tribune, and four
hotels. Every line of business industry made necessary by the needs of
a growing city is represented, and Dillon's stores are conducted in a modern
way. As the county seat of Beaverhead County, Dillon is the site of the
court house, and also has a large city hall and a Carnegie library. It is an
incorporated city, with a mayor and eight aldermen. The main streets
HISTORY OF MONTANA 671
of the city are paved and lighted, a municipal gravity water system is
in operation and a private electric system is used.
Bannack of Today
Bannack, located about twenty-five miles southwest of Dillon, has
little left to remind one of the early days. The old Peabody Hotel,
with Skinner's Saloon adjoining, still stands and is used as a hotel al-
though the saloon room is vacant. This old hostelry has the distinction
of being the first in Montana, and was erected when the discovery of
gold brought the prospectors in an eager rush to this region. It was
not far from this hotel that Henry Plummer, Buck Stinson and Ned
Remains of Bannack's Former Mining Glory
Ray, noted road agents, were executed by the vigilantes January 8,
1864, after a trial in the court of Judge Lynch. Mrs. Durgan's Dance
Hall, a popular resort of the old free-and-easy days, has been removed
from its former location, and is now used as a billiard hall. The old
log jail, on the very rare occasions when Bannack now needs a jail, is
pressed into service ; and the house where Henry Plummer lived, sur-
rounded by trees set out about forty years ago, still stands and is used
as a residence. These are the only historic buildings remaining. Some
were torn down and removed elsewhere, while others have been destroyed
in two big conflagations which have swept the little town. Bannack
still consists of one street in the center of a narrow gulch, but most of
its houses are vacant. Instead of a population of 5,000, as in the days
of the gold rush, Bannack's population in the winter of 1920-21 num-
bered fifty-nine men, women and children. Placer mining is still carried
on in a small way by individuals, with gold pan, rocker and sluice box,
but the dredge boats have been dismantled. The old mill and flume
of the Bannack Gold Company still stands, and the Dunn Development
672 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Company in 1921 was engaged in quartz mining, employing eighteen
men. The Bannack Mining and Milling Company was still operating
a cyanide mill in 192 1. for reducing their ore by the Dorr process, and
gave employment to eight men.
The S.'\cajawea Monument
Another point of interest in Beaverhead County is the Sacajawea
Monument, located at Armstead, on the upper Beaverhead River, the
northern point at which Lewis and Clark landed in navigating the head-
water of the Missouri. The Town of Armstead is the opening of the
Horse Prairie Valley, the route taken by gold miners .going to Bannack
in the early days, and where one of the bloody Indian battles was fought.
Custer Battlefield of Today
Near this point are the Indian Painted Rocks. A few years ago a big
celebration was held at Armstead dedicating the Sacajawea Monument.
Big Horn County
On June 25, 1876, Gen. George A. Custer, with his force of some
1,100 men attacked a body of Sioux Indians, afterward found to number
about 9,000, encamped on the Little Big Horn River, and he and his
entire command were destroyed. Today, the Custer battlefield, located
on the Custer Battlefield Highway, is the shrine visited by thousands
of tourists annually. The field is dotted by little white crosses, each
marking w'here a soldier died, and these culminate in the monument
at the highest point of the ridge overlooking the Little Big Horn River,
where the final stand was made by the whites. This battlefield lies in
the eastern center of Big Horn County, and its presence is only one
of the reasons for tourists making, this part of Montana the object of
their interest.
The Big Horn Canyon, formed by the Big Horn River after which
the county is named, is an exceptional bit of scenery, and while most
HISTORY OF MONTANA 673
of the surface of the county is level or rolling, with broad bench up-
lands, isolated mountain ranges rise near the eastern and western sides,
including the Wolf and Rosebud ranges. The county lies in South-
eastern Montana, its southern boundary being defined by the Wyoming
state line, and, irregular in shape, has a maximum length east and west
of 1 20 miles and a maximum width north and south of seventy miles.
Lying in the county is the Crow Indian Reservation, recently thrown
open to settlement, and the Tongue River Northern Cheyenne Reser-
vation, or a part thereof.
Possessing a rich clay loam soil, which is mixed with considerable
sand in some places and in others is somewhat heavy and of the gumbo
type, Big Horn is distinctively an agricultural and stock growing county.
It is estimated that more than 100,000 acres are under cultivation, while
projects are contemplated for the reclamation of 125,000 acres more.
and there are approximately 500,000 acres of non-irrigated grain land,
the remainder of the county being used for grazing. Irrigated land
prices range from $40 to $200 an acre, non-irrigated farming land from
$10 to $75 an acre, and grazing land from $6 to $12 an acre. The
principal farming crops are alfalfa and sugar beets, confined to the irri-
gated districts along the streams; wheat, oats, potatoes and corn, the
last named raised both for grain and silage, on the non-irrigated lands,
and garden stufif. The farmers on the non-irrigated lands generally
keep some stock. Much pork is produced in the irrigated districts, the
animals being brought to maturity chiefly on alfalfa pasture and then
fattened on corn, wheat or barley. Dairying as an industry has made
some headway during recent years, and several large and prosperous
apiaries have been established. While coal has been found in com-
mercial quantities in Big Horn County, it is not being mined. In wells
around Hardin natural gas has been found, and, as in other parts of
the state, drilling for oil has been carried on lately. Along the rivers
and stream there is an abundant growth of cottonwood timber, and
in the north end and mountain ranges on the eastern and western sides
of the county small pine timber of slight commercial value exists.
For its drainage, Big Horn County looks principally to the Big Horn
and Little Horn rivers, the former the third largest river in the state,
which rise in the high mountains of Wyoming, are fed by numerous
tributaries in Big Horn County, and enter the county from the south-
west and south respectively, and, running north, unite near Hardin.
Rosebud Creek traverses the eastern portions of the county, springs are
frequent in the uplands, making a good pasture region, and water is
encountered at depths of from 15 to 100 feet. Running northward
tlirough the county to connections with the Northern Pacific and Great
Northern railways, is the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and a branch
to the east has been provided to serve the southeastern part of the county,
as well as counties adjoining. The state highway is the Custer Battle-
field Highway, of which there are seventy-five miles in Big Horn County.
Big Horn County has a number of thriving trade centers, principal
among which are Hardin, the county seat, Crow Agency, Lodge Grass
674 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and Wyola. There are fifty-seven schools in the county, of whicli all
but seven are public schools^ including a modern high school. In addi-
tion to two schools conducted by the Federal Government for the Indians,
there are three Baptist and two Congregational 'schools.
Bl.mne County
Among the counties of Montana and one which is distinctively di-
vided into two different sections, plains and mountainous, is Blaine County.
The former, which comprises about two-thirds of the land area of 4,219
square miles, lies in the northern part of the county, from the northern
boundary, formed by the Canadian line, down to about township 30.
This region is almost wholly devoted to grain growing and farming,
and the crops include wheat, flax, rye, oats, corn and blue-joint hay.
Root crops and vegetables do well, and alfalfa seed raised in Blaine
County has always commanded a premium on the market. The Milk
River Valley which crosses the county east and west, is included in the
Milk River project of the reclamation service and when developed will
probably be one of the best agricultural districts in the state. This will
offer an excellent opportunity to farmers of some means.
^The agricultural district referred to is a matter of modern develop-
ment for the greater part. The soil, varying from a sandy loam to a
gumbo in the valleys, and a chocolate loam on the benches, has responde<l
spendidly to the treatment of the up-to-date agriculturists. On the other
hand, the southern part of the county, extending down to the Missouri
River, with its outlying ridges of the Little Rocky Mountains in the
southeastern corner, at the lower end of the Fort Belknap Indian Res-
ervation, and the Bear Paw Mountains in the southwestern part, are
best adapted to the older industry of the region, that of stock raising.
This part of the county also offers the chief attractions to tourists, for
there 'is much excellent scenery, good hunting and fishing and the Fort
Belknap Indian Reservation, as a reminder of the old West, remains to
attract and hold the interest of the visitors.
Blaine County, named in honor of James Blaine, the American states-
man and political historian, was created February 29, 1912. Its chief,
source of water supply is the Milk River, which crosses the county east
and west, although several large tributaries flow into this stream from
the north and from the Bear Paw Mountains on the south. It is not
noted as a mining county, although this industry has been engaged in
to some extent. Nor has its timber been of a sufficient quantity or
quality to make lumbering a leading occupation, although some timber
is found in the mountainous districts, and, as is the case with many
Montana counties, quite a large amount of cottonwood grows along the
streams. Its chief means of transportation is found in the main line
of the Great Northern Railway, which runs through the heart of the
county, and this is paralleled by the Roosevelt Memorial Highway.
Graded schools have been established in all communities, the rural schools
are of a superior order, and there are two high schools, accredited for
the four-year course, located at Chinook and Harlem.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 675
The Town of Chinook
Chinook, the county seat of Blaine County, is also the largest town
in size and the one of chief importance. A town of 1,200 population,
it lies on the main line of the Great Northern, which runs from Minne-
apolis to Seattle, and is the center of a productive irrigated district,
being situated on a slight elevation overlooking the Milk River. Also,
it is the trading point for the Bear Paw Mountain stock raising district,
of about fifty miles in length, and maintains a large live stock yards,
a thriving wool market and facilities for the handling of such coal as
in mined in the locality. Many of the farmers of the outlying districts
bring their families to Chinook during the winter months in order that
their children may enjoy the educational advantages offered by its schools.
The Blaine County Fair, an event of some importance in Northern
Montana, is held at Chinook each year. This was incorporated in 1901
and has been increasingly successful each year. Chinook has two na-
tional banks, two newspapers, four churches, a creamery and two grain
elevators. It derives its name from the warm, dry wind which descends
from the mountains and in winter removes the snow with remarkable
rapidity.
Broadwater County
One of the smaller counties in size, but not in importance, in Mon-
tana, is that which bears the suggestive name of Broadwater, this doubt-
less having been derived from the Missouri River, the largest stream
of the county, which enters in the southeast end and pursues an irregular
course northeasterly into Lewis and Qark counties. While the land
area of Broadwater is only 1,248 square miles, the county, which lies in
the west central part of the state, is one of the richest agriculhural sec-
tions of Montana, and within its borders are raised cattle, sheep and
hogs of prize-winning quality. Bounded by Lewis and Clark, Meagher,
Jefferson and Gallatin counties, the county is so situated that it offers
opportunities in several fields of industry. The crest of the Big Belt
range of mountains marks the eastern border and the Elkhorn range
is found on the western side. Here, in the upland mountain country,
are found numerous springs and abundant feed, and during the summer
months large herds of sheep, cattle and horses are pastured. Between
these two ranges flows the Missouri River, the valley of which is rich and
fertile, and between the mountains and the valley are benches. The
soil in the valleys is a black loam and on the benches a clay loam. In
addition the Crow Creek Valley furnishes fertile lands for agriculture,
and Crow Creek, Dry Creek, Deep Creek, Grayson Creek, Ray Creek,
Gurnett Creek, Duck Creek, Confederate Creek and Indian Creek serve
to furnish water for irrigation purposes and are used on the farm lands
in the valleys and upper bench lands.
In the lower regions of the county there are found large tracts of
irrigated land, where crops of hay, grains and other feeds are grown.
676 HISTORY OF MONTANA
The upper benchlands are devoted in the main to dry farming, principally
wheat and barley. In addition, dairying is rapidly becoming an im-
portant industry and the county possesses one of the best equipped and
most modern creameries in the state, as well as an up-to-date flour mill.
The mining industry is also a leading one and gold, silver and lead are
taken in large quantities from the mines at Radersburg, the Iron Mask
and Silver King mines near Townsend, and the Diamond mines, near
Diamond. In the mountainous region, pine, fir and cedar timber are
found, and there is an abundant growth of cottonwood along the num-
erous streams.
Broadwater County has two transcontinental railways, the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway crossing its southern end, while the
Northern Pacific runs east and west across the county. Likewise good
service is securable through interurban lines which connect various points,
and the Park-to-Park and Montana Electric highways run in an east
and west direction across the county. To tourists the county offers
some of the most beautiful scenery to be found in the state, the trip
down the Deep Creek Canyon being an exceptionally attractive one.
Convenient camping sites are to be found on all the leading creeks here-
tofore mentioned, where good hunting and fishing may be had.
A number of enterprising communities serve to act as trading centers
for this rich agricultural county, among the leaders being Toston. Win-
ston, Lombard, Canton, Diamond,- Radersburg and Townsend. The last
three-named are also mining centers of some importance, while Town-
send is also the county seat and a growing and prosperous little city.
The county liigh school and graded school are located at Townsend, the
other fiftv-two schools of the county being of a rural nature.
Carbon County
Towering mountain ranges and broad, fertile valleys serve to make
Carbon one of the scenic counties of Montana. One of the best watered
counties, likewise, with 150,000 to 200,000 acres under irrigation, it is
naturally largely devoted to agriculture and stock raising, but that coal
mining is likewise a leading industry will be suggested at once by
the county's appellation. It lies in Southern Montana, being bounded
on the south by Wyoming, and is about midway between the eastern
and western borders of Montana, with Park and Stillwater counties
to its west, Stillwater and Yellowstone to its north, and Yellowstone
and Big Horn to its east.
In the southern part of the county, which is chiefly of a mountainous
character, the principal industry is stock raising, and this has been de-
veloped into an important enterprise. In the northern part of the county,
however, the valleys, running north and south, widen out, and the moun-
tains are succeeded by rolling benchlands, where there is a soil of chocolate
colored loam, the valley soil being chiefly a deep alluvial loam. In the
northeastern part of the county, and chiefly along the Clark's Fork,
some of the finest sugar beet farms in the state are found. Carbon
HISTORY OF MONTANA 677
County agriculturists, however, do not find it necessary to confine their
activities to any one special line of product, for wheat, oats and barley,
among the grains, grow equally well, and potatoes and other vegetables
are raised in large quantities, while considerable fruit, chiefly apples and
berries, find their way to the market. Much hay is also raised, and in
the northern and eastern portions of the county conditions are favorable
for the growing of good corn.
Large Coal Mines and First Oil Well
What are reputed to be the largest bituminous coal mines in the
Northwest are found at Red Lodge, Washoe and Bear Creek, and in
addition to the large enterprises already developed, promising deposits
await further unfolding and promotion. In the southern part of the
county minerals of various kinds have been found, but lack of trans-
portation facilities thus far has acted detrimentally to their development,
which has not been brought to a commercial scale of activity. Carbon
County has the distinction of having been the site of the first producing
oil well in Montana, this having been brought into action in the Elk
Basin field, November ii, 1915. Several other producing wells were
brought in later. A great deal of commercial timber has been found
in the Beartooth National Forest, of which 315,056 acres lie in Carbon
County, but logging operations have been carried on only in a small
way and will continue to be so, in all likelihood, until better transporta-
tion facilities are forthcoming.
Carbon County need have no fears as to its continued water supply.
Numerous streams arising from the glaciers and snow packed drifts in
the Bear Tooth Mountains furnish clear, pure water, the principal streams
being the Clark's Ford, Rock Creek, Willow Creek and Red Lodge Creek.
Water is found in depths ranging from ten to thirty feet when wells are
sunk. The county is not as well supplied with railways as some of its
more progressive citizens could hope for. A branch line of the Northern
Pacific runs from Laurel, on the main line, to Red Lodge, and another
to Bridger. The latter branch, at Bridger, connects with a local railroad
that serves the Bear Creek field, and the Burlington, Cody-Denver line
runs through the county and from Fromberg north uses the Northern
Pacific tracks. A main north and south highway runs through the county,
one branch going to Cody, Wyoming, and another to Denver, Colorado,
and there are also a number oi good local roads.
Created March 4, 1895, Carbon County has a land area of 2,060
square miles, and possesses a somewhat high altitude, that at Red Lodge
being 5.537 feet- It has a growing season of from 84 to 123 days, and
its mean temperature is about 40.4, while its precipitation is 19.51. Well
improved irrigated farms sell for from $125 up to $250 per acre, while
non-irrigated lands secure from $10 to $50 an acre.
There are good graded schools in the county, a county high school
at Red Lodge and other high schools at Bridger, Joliet and Bear Creek.
The Bear Creek school is accredited for the three-year term and the other
678 HISTORY OF MONTANA
three for four years. liear Creek is a coal mining town, as is Washoe,
while Fromberg is in the heart of the agricultural region and other good
towns are Edgar, Bridger, Boyd, Silesia, Luther, Roberts, Roscoe and
Belfry.
Carbon County stands fourth among the counties of Montana as to
density of population per square mile — 7.4 — being exceeded only by Deer
I^odge, Cascade and Missoula. Its advance in population, by decades, is
thus noted in the 1920 census: 1900, 7,533; 1910, 13,962; 1920, 15,279.
Town of Red Lodge
Red Lodge, the county seat of Carbon County, and the largest town
therein, is headquarters for the coal mining industry, and was founded as
a postoflfice in 1886, although the town did not really begin to attract
attention until the following year when coal was discovered by a local
character known as "Yankee Jim," whose real name has been forgotten
during the years of development. The discovery of coal was sufficient
to warrant the railroad building its line to the camp which was com-
pleted in June, 1889, and the mining of coal has been the industry which
has caused the growth and advancement of this community. .•\t the
present time, the Northwest Improvment Company operates the two
largest mines, and in the Bear Creek workings of the same field there are
several companies in operation, including the Smokeless and Sootless Coal
Company of Red Lodge; the Fulton Coal Company, Red Lodge, which is
just preparing to open mines on a 1,300-acre tract; the Montana Coal and
Iron Company, Washoe; the Anaconda Copper Mining Company's coal
department, Washoe; the Anaconda Creek Coal Company, Bear Creek;
the International Coal Company, Bear Creek; and die Eagle Coal Com-
pany, Red Lodge. In 191 5 a new industry was opened up, when the first
well was brought in in the Elk Basin oil field, and this has been a steady
producer. Drilling is in progress in a number of other supposed oil
structures in the vicinity of the county seat and is contemplated in several
others, the Hoosier Company, just below Joliet, being the most advanced
aside from the Elk Basin.
Among the old buildings still standing at Red Lodge, the Pollard
Hotel is the one which has precedence in the present location of the
town, the depot being another. Store buildings which are now in the
"old town," far outside of the present business district, were occupied
during the late '80s by O. E. Millis and Babcock & Miles, while the Weaver
& Bell livery barn is another landmark. Early residents, who are still
living, include P. C. Hicox, A. A. Ellis. Louis Gruel, Maurice Powers,
Thomas Hogan, C. C. Bowlen, Charles Wilson, John Weaver, W. B.
Nutting, John W. Chapman, Dan Southerland and Thomas Early; and
Mrs. F. W. Draper, who has grown .sons, one of whom is Qiarles H.
Draper, editor and publisher of the Picket-Journal, the official newspaper
of Carbon County and of the City of Red Lodge. This paper was
established as the Red Lodge Picket, in 1888, and consolidated with the
Carbon County Journal, which was established in 1909. Today Red
HISTORY OF MONTANA
679
Lodge boasts of three banks, eight grocery stores, five men's furnishing
stores, four ladies' furnishing stores, one exclusive shoe store, two gen-
eral stores and a large number of smaller miscellaneous establishments.
In addition to the county high school, the city has six schools, including
the one erected in 1921, and churches of the Congregational, Catholic,
Methodist, Episcopal and Finnish Lutheran denominations. Two hos-
pitals are located at Red Lodge, a Masonic Temple, a Labor Temple, an
Odd Fellows' Home, an Elks' Club House and a Carnegie Library, as
well as a new modern theater.
Red Lodge is the gateway of Beartooth National Forest, a wonderful
natural playground, with scenic splendors and vast natural resources.
This national forest adjoins the Yellowstone National Park on the north-
east corner, and from Red Lodge good roads lead many miles up the
Public School, Red Lodge
principal streams, the county seat maintaining a camp for the tourists.
Camp Senia and Richel Lodge, the former fifteen miles and the latter
twelve miles from Red Lodge, are favorite spots with the tourists, par-
ticularly those in search of hunting and fishing. In its Chamber of Com-
merce Red Lodge has an organization which has done much to encourage
visitors as well as permanent residents. Its present officers are : G. A.
Jeflfrey, president ; Elbert Hymer, vice president ; R. J. Fleming, treasurer ;
and L. E. Hathaway, general secretary.
Carter County
Owing to the fact that Carter County cannot boast of a mile of rail-
road within its entire area of 3,318 square miles, this county, which lies
in the southeastern corner of the state, the South Dakota-Montana boun-
dary marking its eastern and the Wyoming-Montana state line its south-
em side, has made little progress since the date of its creation, February
22, 1917. The oounty, which was named in honor of Thomas Henry
680 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Carter, Montana's first representative in Congress (1891) and subse-
quently a member of the United States Senate, has a maximum length
north and south of seventy-eight miles and a maximum width east and
west of forty-eight miles, in all of which there has been little irrigation
development, although a feasible project exists along the Little Missouri
River. Also, a railroad has been projected through the county from
Belle Fourche, South Dakota, to Miles City. Until this is built the trade
from the southern end of the county will probably continue to go to
Belle Fourche, and from the northern end to Baker, Montana.
Carter County, when fully developed, will be one of the prosperous
sections of the state, for there are numerous industries and resources
ready for promoters. Farming and stockraising are the chief industries,
the latter principally in the southern end. Grain, particularly corn, and
forage crops can be raised in abundance, and the Oialkes Bnttes country,
southwest of Ekalaka, the Beaver Flats and the Box Elder Valley are
considered as teeming with opportunities. The modern creamery at
Ekalaka has served as a stimulus to dairying, in which considerable
progress has been made. , The county also abounds in minerals, large beds
of lignite coal underlying most of its territory, building stone being
found in a number of places and geologists believing that the county
contains oil and gas prospects that warrant development. Timber is also
readily available, as the Sioux National Forest occupies 114,541 acres
in the eastern part of the county. With the exception of this tract, and
the Blue Mud Hills near the center of the county, most of the surface
of Carter County is rolling prairie and tillable, the soil varying from a
sandy loam to a heavy gumbo. Opportunities are to be found in this
county for those who have the patience to wait for the coming of the
railroad, as land prices range in value from $5 to $25 an acre. Carter
County has a good educational system, considering its lack of develop-
ment, there being seventy-six rural schools, as well as a high school at
Ekalaka, which is accredited for the four-year term. In drainage and
water supply, the county is also well supplied, the Little Missouri River
passing through the southeastern part of the county, with the Box Elder
and Beaver creeks flowing northeasterly and a number of tributaries.
Lying forty-two miles south of the Milwaukee Railway is Ekalaka,
the county seat of Carter County and it is the largest town. It has two
banks, three garages, two newspapers, two general stores, two drug
stores, two hardware stores, two lumber yards, good hotels, a creamery
and a flour mill. Piniele, in the southwestern part of the county, the
second largest community, has two general stores, a flour mill, a drug
store, a bank, a garage and a hotel, maintains a newspaper, and is equipped
with an electric lighting system.
Special attractions are held out to visiting tourists. In "Hunting
Trips of a Ranchman," Col. Theodore Roosevelt dealt with the Little
Missouri River region, just across the state line in South Dakota, where
he ranched during the '80s. Much beautiful scenery is to be found in
the Sioux National Forest, and in the northern part of Carter County
are located Medicine Rocks, sandstone formations likened to Colorado's
"Garden of the Gods," because of the fantastic shapes which they present.
CHAPTER XXVII
CASCADE COUNTY (GREAT FALLS)
The second county in the State of Montana from the standpoint of
size and population, Cascade County's land area of 3,411 square miles
lies between a rich mining and stockraising district and the great agricul-
tural basin of North Central Montana, where the plains meet the moun-
tains. Not only in these directions does the county hold a prominent
place, but as well in the matter of variety and prodigality of its resources,
for agriculture, stockraising and mining are extensively followed within
the county's confines and practically every ramification of these three im-
portant industries are to be found. The county also ranks first of all
counties in Montana in the number of coal mines operated.
River Valleys and Streams
The rich agricultural district of Cascade County is found in the
northern part, where the loamy soil, lying over a good clay subsoil makes
possible good dry-land yields in normal years. Much of the farm land
is susceptible of irrigation, being located below the watershed of moun-
tains on two sides, and specially fertile are the valleys along the Missouri
River, which runs diagonally through the county, with a sudden descent
over a series of falls and rapids, from the mountains to the southwest, and
with a more gradual flow toward the northeastern boundary, below the
Great Falls. The Sun River has its conflux with the Missouri at the
city of Great Falls ; the Smith and Dearborn rivers traverse the county
and flow into the Missouri ; and Belt Creek, a stream which heads in the
Little Belt Mountains and flows north 100 miles, empties into the Mis-
souri near Great Falls. While hundreds of thousands of acres in this
district have never been irrigated and have nevertheless produced large
crops, there are at present 75,000 acres of irrigated land and projects are
now pending for an additional irrigation of 120,000 acres, a matter which
is covered in another chapter in this work.
Crops and Lands
The chief crops of the county are oats, wheat, flax, barley, rye and
potatoes, and this section of the state has taken hundreds of prizes for
the best and hardiest grains, biggest and best crops of hay and most
profitable returns from truck gardens. The soil, composed of nitrogen,
phosphorus, lime and potash, has advantageous elements, as shown in the
abundance of grass to be found on uncultivated fields, and the fact that
there are farms in this district which have been under continuous culti-
681
682 HISTORY OF MONTANA
vation for forty years without fertilization and are still yielding bumper
crops. Cascade County is forging to the front as a producer of alfalfa,
and owing to its adaptability this forage crop lends itself admirably to
diversified farming, being used for horses, cattle, hogs, sheep and poultry,
and having the additional advantage of being a soil builder. Averages
show that it is possible in Cascade County to raise from three to five tons
of alfalfa to the acre on irrigated land and from one to three tons by drj'
farming. Corn is raised in Cascade County for grain in some instances,
but for the most part is cultivated for silage, and for this latter purpose
many farmers raise sunflowers in large quantities. Practically every farm
has its own truck garden, and this has proven a successful undertaking.
While fruit is not raised in extensive commercial quantities, excellent fruit
and berries are raised in the valleys, particularly strawberries and currants,
for home consumption and there are many small orchards in the county
which are doing well.
Of recent years the farmers have shown a marked co-operative spirit
and have worked together in an endeavor to raise the best possible crops and
to dispose of them at advantageous prices, with the result that elevators, co-
operative stores and growers' associations of various kinds are to be found
all through this district.
According to the i()20 assessment, Cascade County had 524,000 acres of
grain land and 937,000 acres of grazing land, total of 1461,000 acres sub-
ject to the assessed value of $115,909,716. Government land in the county
includes 26,665 unsurveyed and 30,916 surveyed acres, and there are 100,-
240 acres of state land and 421,242 acres in national forests. Non-irrigated
and grazing land is valued at from $15 to $30 an acre and improved land at
from $20 to $50 an acre, while unimproved irrigated land is selling at from
$35 to $50 an acre and improved irrigated farms range in value from $50
to $150 an acre.
Livestock and Dairy Interests
Toward the mountains, where there is to be found the more open range
country of Cascade County, the li-vestock industry flourishes and scores of
prosperous stockmen are to be fosnd. The dairy cow, each day considered
of more importance to the modern farm, thrives in Cascade County. Dairy-
ing, in fact, has long passed the experimental stage and is rapidly becoming
one of the state's leading industries. The silo, modern landmark of agri-
cultural prosperity, can be found in ever-increasing numbers, and every
season finds an abundance of good forage crops stored for the use of the
dairy cow, alfalfa, corn and cereals being among the leading crops used for
ensilage. Many good dairies are located around the City of Great Falls,
and one of these, electrically operated in every particular, is accounted one
of the most modern in the world. There are six prosperous creameries
and two cheese factories located in the county, two at Great Falls, and one
each at Eden, Cascade, Belt, and Red Butte. Pure-bred cattle raising is
greatly stabilizing the cattle industry of the county, and the recent com-
pletion of a $30,000 livestock pavilion and sales arena at Great Falls has
been an incentive to stock growers of this region.
HISTORY OF MONTANA
683
Although drought years have reduced the number of livestock in the
county, in 1920 there were 27,367 head of cattle, 61,956 head of sheep and
13,088 head of horses in Cascade County, proximity to the grazing lands
of the national forest making this an excellent cattle raising country. The
breed of livestock is rapidly reaching a higher standard and the old range
steer is being replaced by the better-bred and more carefully handled
animal which is now commanding a top-notch price in the stock markets.
Fine pure-bred herds are to be found in Cascade County and while the
farmer is forcing the large stockman to seek his range in the national forests
and on the hills rather than running his stock over the fertile prairies, this
does not seem to have handicapped the beef-raising industry to any consider-
able extent. The large increase in the amount of hay raised helps to account
A SuLi,!' i\./w.i_a
for the fact that although the so-called "open range" may be considered a
thing of the past the livestock industry maintains its high standard, and Cas-
cade County continues to contribute its full share to the average of 200,000
head of beef cattle .shipped each year to the packing plants of the big
cities.
Mining of Coal and Silver
Under the head of mining in Cascade County are to be mentioned lead,
copper, silver, gold, zinc, coal and large gypsum deposits. Of all the coun-
ties of Montana, Cascade ranks first in the number of coal mines operated.
The larger producing companies are located in the Belt and Sand Coulee
fields, a short distance from Great Falls, making fuel readily available to
industries in the city. Throughout the county, coal outcroppings provide
fuel for farming purposes. The county is also one of the large producers
of silver, and in the Neihart district there are rich silver mines which are
being developed on a large scale, the most productive being the Ripple
group, Florence, Moulton, Broadwater, Snow Drift, Big Seven and Queen
684 HISTORY OF MONTANA
of the Hills. The opening of three oil fields, two to the north and one to
the east, has recently proven a matter of the greatest interest to the people
of Great Falls, the fields being close in on the territory directly tributary
to that city.
Great Falls Reduction Works
The Great Falls reduction department of the Anaconda Copper ]\Iining
Company is one if the important concomitants of the mining industry of
the county, and a brief history of this enterprise may not be inapropos.
Ground was broken early in i8gi by the Boston & Montana Consolidated
Copper & Silver Mining Company for a copper reduction works on the
north bank of the Missouri river, across the river from the east end of the
city of Great Falls, where are located Black Eagle Falls, the purpose of
the works being to treat ore from the company's mines at Butte yielding
copper and reletively small amounts of silver and gold. About a year later
a concentrator was in condition to begin operations, and this was followed
by roasting furnaces and reverberatory smelting furnaces, Bessemer con-
verters and a blast furnace plant for the retreatment of converter slag,
the last-named installed in 1893. An electrolytic copper refinery and fur-
nace refinery were built in 1892, at which time it was made possible to
carry the treatment from ore to finished commercial shapes of refined cop-
per. During the year 1910 the properties of the Boston & Montana Con-
solidated Copper & Silver Mining Company were taken over by the Ana-
conda Copper Mining Company, and since then the works at Great Falls
have been known first as the Boston & Montana Reduction Department
and more recently as the Great Falls Reduction Department of the Ana-
conda Copper Mining Company. In 1916 a plant was completed for
the production of electrolytic zinc from ore mined at Butte and con-
centrated at Anaconda. Also, in 191 8, a ferro-manganese plant was com-
pleted for the production of ferro-manganese from Butte ore, and in the
same year a mill was finished for the manufacture of copper rods, wire
and cable, which are made from the refined copper produced by the
furnace refinery. The completion of this mill brings the copper industry
at Great Falls to the point of a product ready for the consumer.
During a few years prior to 1918 the work of copper concentrating and
smelting, for which the original works were built, was gradually reduced,
until, in 1918. this work was discontinued entirely, so that now the operation
is changed from copper concentrating and smelting to that of copper refin-
ing, copper rod, wire and cable manufacture, electrolytic zinc production and
ferro-manganese production. The copper smelting equipment remains in
place and may be used when there is occasion to do so. The concern re-
ferred to has 3,000 men in this institution, and an annual payroll of
$3,300,000 in Cascade County — that is, during normal times.
Power Development at Great Falls
Apart from agriculture, stockraising and mining, the industries or
manufacturing, milling, packing and wholesaling, augmented by large
Hydro-Electric Water Powers
686 HISTORY OF MONTANA
power development on the falls of the Missouri have made Great Falls and
Cascade County a leading commercial, financial, industrial, jobbing, manu-
facturing and distributing center. Water power made available through a
drop of 365 feet in the Missouri River in a series of four falls near the city
which derives its name therefrom has been developed to the extent of
165, 000 horse-power, with 200,000 additional horsepower in reserve. Cur-
rent produced at Great Falls plants is used in operating a transcontinental
railroad across the state, as well as mines and numerous industrial plants
throughout Montana. Among the larger industries which have taken ad-
vantage of the cheap power and commercial opportunities are two flour
mills with a daily capacity of 1,500 barrels; the largest packing plant
between Minneapolis and Spokane, a tire factory and numerous smaller
industries. In the matter of the lumber industry. Cascade has some com-
mercial timber, heavy wooded areas being found in the Little Belt moun-
tains, in the southern part of the county, with timber in adjoining moun-
tain ranges, all within the Jeflferson National forest, and along the
principal streets of the county.
In spite of the great development work that has already been carried
through to a successful conclusion, there are numerous undeveloped re-
sources in Cascade County, chief among them being in the rich area trib-
utary to the city of Great Falls. An important industry which should be
successful is the woolen manufacturing business, for the wool here is of
high grade. There is likewise an opportunity for flax fibre mills, with
related manufactures, and Montana grain is of such quality that cracker
and oatmeal factories should prosper. Other industries capable of devel-
opment have to do with the manufacture of agricultural implements, twine,
stock food, barbed wire, clothing and other articles required by the farmers
residing on the great agricultural domain of 5,000.000 acres tributary tn
the city of Great Falls.
Interestinc, Points .\nd Tr.\nsport.\tion
The derivation of the name of Cascade County should not be hard
to understand, especially by those who have seen the wonderful cas-
cades of the Missouri River in the vicinity of Great Falls, the name hav-
ing suggested itself long before the creation of the county, September 12,
1887. The county is a center of tourist travel, being located within
a few hours' drive of any one of four moimtain ranges, each of a dif-
ferent type of scenery. A particularly interesting setting for the many
tourist attractions is given by the fact that the historic Lewis and Clark
expedition followed up the Missouri River past the present site of Great
Falls, discovering Giant Springs, one of the largest fresh water springs
in the world, the cold water sulphur springs near Big Falls, and other
points of interest in and about Great Falls vicinity. Visitors from
other localities have no trouble in reaching this region, as three trans-
continental railroads operate through Great Falls and Cascade County,
the Chicago, Buriington & Quincy, the Great Northern and the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul. These railroads have nine branches invading the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 687
rich mining and agricultural regions in every direction, making Great
Falls the hub of a wheel from which radiate a number of spokes, and
when the projected "Missouri cut-off" is completed there may be through
service by way of Great Falls. The Soo railway has established a perma-
nent survey through this city, passing through Valier and the Blackfeet
Indian reservation to Canada. Great Falls is situated on the Yellowstone-
Glacier-Beeline Highway, the short route between the Glacier National
and Yellowstone parks, and this highway forms a part of the National
Park-to-Park Highway. The city is likewise on the Custer Battlefield
Highway and the Buffalo Trail, and large sums of money are being ex-
pended in the county in permanent road construction in building a system
of trunk roads.
Schools of the Countv
In the matter of education. Cascade County is a leader, as befits one
of the largest and wealthiest counties of the state, and has 143 schools,
six high schools, one junior high school, three parochial schools, an
Ursuline academy, a commercial college and a girls' school. The schools
in the county are operated under the unit system, with a uniform nine-
months school term for every child in the county, and with an attractive
salary scale for the instructors.
- Great Falls Historically Considered
Practically in the geographical center of the state, is located the city
of Great Falls, the county seat of Cascade County, and, because of its posi-
tion, as well as its natural resources for development and transporta-
tion, one of the most important centers of trade and distribution in Mon-
tana. There are those who claim that the falls of the Missouri River in
this locality were first seen by the Chevalier Verendrye, a French ex-
plorer, in 1743, but careful investigations have proven that the most
northwesterly point reached by the intrepid Frenchman was in Western
South Dakota. Therefore it may be assumed that the first to scan the
wonderful waters of this region were the members of the Lewis and
Clark expedition, who reached this point in June, 1805. In 1846, Capt.
John Mullan, of the United States Army, established the trading post
of the American Fur Company at a point on the upper Missouri which
he named Fort Benton in honor of Senator Benton of Missouri, and
nine years later, in 1855, in company with Gen. Isaac I. Stevens, also
of the United States Army, investigated this region by order of the
Government, to whom they made an intelligent and comprehensive re-
port. The army officers were followed in about 1862 by an engineer,
Milner Roberts, and his son, Thomas P. Roberts, who named the two
falls, known at this time as Rainbow and Black Eagle, and who also gave
the name of The Long Pool to the deep quiet water that extends ten
or fifteen miles above the head of the rapids, where the present Great
688 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Northern Railway bridge now spans the river, and in which the group
of islands, known as the White Bear Islands, is situated.
The Coming of Paris Gibson
It was in May, 1882, about ten years after the visit of Milner Roberts,
that there came to this locality the Hon. Paris Gibson, who became the
founder of Great Falls and later was sent to the United States Senate. In
an article in a special edition of the Great Falls Leader, published in 19 13,
from which many of the attendant facts and figures regarding Great Falls
have been secured, Senator Gibson said, in part : "When I first saw the
beautiful tract of land at the head of the upper, or Black Eagle, falls, I
at once decided to found a city there. The advantages for establishing a
great industrial and commercial center at that point appealed to me so
forcibly that I decided at once to drop the business in which I was engaged
and devote all my time and such energy as I possessed to laying the founda-
tion for what I believed would, with the development of the Northwest.
become a great city. Having succeeded in enlisting the powerful aid of
James J. Hill in this work, a thriving town soon sprang up, which in a
comparatively short time contained a population of 4,000. I will not dwell
upon the early history of Great Falls and the period of comparative stagna-
tion that prevailed in this young city from 1892 to 1908, when John D.
Ryan, head of the Amalgamated Copper Company, and his associates ac-
quired control of the affairs of the Great Falls Water Power Company
and Townsite Company." * * * It would be difficult to find another
spot in all the great Northwestern empire as advantageously situated as
Great Falls for the centralization of commerce and industry, and, at the
same time, for the creation of a beautiful residential city. Great Falls
was laid out at the head of the falls with ample reservations for diversi-
fied activities, both large and small, which can in no way interfere with its
residence districts, which are so situated as to command an impressive
landscape view."
Development of Power in the Great Falls Area
Since the arrival of Captain Lewis and his band of devoted followers,
and, indeed, since the arrival of Senator Gibson, numerous changes have
taken place. One of the greatest of these, naturally, is that which has
to do with the development and transmission of high voltage current over
the state, derived from the falls. The power developed at Great Falls, in its
home city is utilized in street and avenue lighting, electric railways, flour
milling, water supply, ore smelting, coal mining and in a hundred other
ways. At Butte, Great Falls power is daily hoisting vast quantities of
copper ore and pumping water from the mines, furnishing the power for
Butte city water and assisting in driving its street railway and lighting its
streets. It also drives a portion of the smelter at Anaconda ; operates the
flour mill at Cascade, lights the town ; furnishes light and power to Fort
Benton, Havre, Belt, Stanford, Hobson, Moccasin and Lewistown, as well
HISTORY OF MONTANA • 689
as numerous other communities ; and operates the Butte, Anaconda &
Pacific Railway between Butte and Anaconda. It is now known as one of
the greatest water power sites in the United States, and fully developed
will yield an estimated 350,000 horse power.
Within eight miles of the city of Great Falls the Missouri drops a total
distance of 365 feet ; 96 feet at the Great Falls, 47 at Rainbow, 41 at Black-
Eagle Falls, 29 feet at the Crooked Falls, 12 feet at Colter's Falls and a
fall of 140 feet in the canyon below the Great Falls. The development
of these power sites has been gradual. The dam for the Black Eagle
power plant was completed in 1891 and developed 14,000 horse power
This plant furnishes power for the operation of the smelter, the lighting
of the city of Great Falls and the operation of its street railway system.
Since that time as the market for the power has developed, two new and
Rainbow Falls at Great Falls
larger plants have come into being, one at Rainbow and the other at
Great Falls.
The installation of the Rainbow plant occurred in igio and it was
made necessary by the need for electrical power to make more economical
the operation of the extensive mines at Butte and the large reduction works
at Anaconda. This plant was enlarged in 1917 and now produces 50,000
horse power, a great part of this current being sent to Butte over a steel
tower transmission line. That power not used at Anaconda and Butte is
distributed to nearby cities and towns by means of smaller transmission
lines. When the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad conceived the
idea of electrifying its road from Harlowton, Montana, to Avery, Idaho,
it turned to Great Falls for aid in supplying the vast amount of electrical
energy necessary for this giant undertaking. The response of the Montana
Power Company was the immediate commencement, in 1913, of the con-
struction of the Great Falls plant, which was completed in 191 5 after an
expenditure of $5,000,000. When completed, this plant produced 90,000
690 HISTORY OF MONTANA
horsepower, nearly twice the combined horsepower of the two plants already
built. The huge dam of this engineering enterprise is 1,340 feet in length
and has a total height of 155 feet. Its construction required 3,000 tons of
steel, 1,000,000 sacks of cement, 1,200,000 bricks, 210,000 cubic yards of
concrete, and 3,000,000 board feet of lumber, a total of 11,000 cars of
material. A private railway was constructed to convey this enormous
amount of material requirements to the site of the dam, and an army of
workmen was employed during the two-year period required for its con-
struction.
Thus it is that the water power of Great Falls has been developed
until the energy produced is driving the wheels of industry in all parts of
Central and Northern Montana. It is a peculiar and interesting fact that
the people of this region have never been treated to the spectacle of a
freeze in the Missouri River close enough to the dam sites to interfere with
the amount of power generated there. The mighty Niagara Falls may
cease its flow because of winter's cold, but such a happening at Great Falls
would be unheard of because the river at this point is heated to prevent the
occurrence. The heat comes from the Giant Spring, which flows into the
river about a mile above the Rainbow dam, this being considered the largest
fresh water spring in the world, with an estimated capacity of 36,300 cubic
feet a minute. The fact that its temperature is constantly at 52 degrees
Fahrenheit, winter or summer, has the effect of preventing the formation
of anchor or frazil ice and relieves the electrical engineers from worry
of this nature.
Naturally the development of this great water power has proven a
boon not only to Great Falls but to all the smaller communities of this
region as well, for in addition to being utilized for Great F"alls' many indus-
tries and municipal needs, the mines at Butte, the smelter at Anaconda
and the mighty electric engines of the Milwaukee Railroad, it supphes
power and light to many smaller cities, and twenty towns within a radius
of 175 miles are benefited by the current generated. In addition it is a
great factor in conserving the district's supply of coal, and the thousands
of tons saved daily by the use of electrical power are available for itse by
those industries which must have coal with which to operate their plants.
A large part of the city's progress and prosperity may thus be traced to
the falls of the Missouri. .'X further exposition of this subject will be
found in Chapter XXIV.
The City of Great Falls
The City of Great Falls is located on the banks of the Missouri River
and its name is derived from the drop in the stream already referred to.
Naturally, the fact that its location gives it such great power would bring
around the idea that it is merely an industrial center, but this is not so in
the degree that commerce has outstripped the residential features or that
many of the factors of refined existence have been neglected. Thanks to
the foresight of the citizens of the community the city is one of great
beauty, there being something like 640 acres of municipal parks distributed
HISTORY OF MONTANA
691
where they will be of the greatest service to the people, in addition to boule-
varded streets and avenues, beautiful lawns, attractive residences and
numerous flower gardens. The founders of the city made it a point to
lay out the city with the idea of beauty and convenience, and wide, well-
paved, handsome thoroughfares are the outstanding feature of the design,
while laying out the city "on the square" has had the effect of obliterating
at the outset troublous municipal features with which have been forced
to contend the city fathers of other communities whose founders were not
so far-sighted. Within the limits of the city there are approximately four-
Great Falls City of Today
teen miles of paved streets and a frontage of 284,710 lineal feet, or equal
to 122 acres of boulevarding, or 32 miles in length with boulevard and
trees on both sides.
The growth of the City of Great Falls is one which can be pointed
to with pride by its citizens. In 1910 the city's population was 13,948.
The census of 1920 gave the city a population of 24,121, making it the
second largest city in the state. The reason for much of this growth can
be directly traced to the industrial development of the city, which has
rapidly approached the position where it can lay reasonable claim to being
the principal manufacturing community of Montana. Its public utilities
have kept pace with its industrial growth, and a feature to be noted is its
692 HISTORY OF MONTANA
splendid lighting system, secured through the immense amount of electric
power at its disposal. With the approach of nightfall numerous handsome
electric signs mark its big business establishments. Its five-light cluster
ornamental poles furnish a brilliant setting for its business district, and
this system is maintained as well in the residence sections, where its long
boulevards are marked by ample facilities in this direction and even the
alleys are furnished with electric lights, a feature to be found in but few
cities anywhere in the country. Alany committees from other large munici-
palities have visited Great Falls for the purpose of studying its lighting
system for the benefit of their home communities and the lead of "The
Electric City," as it has been named, has been followed already by numerous
big cities and towns.
The same great power that furnishes the city with its light enables
Great Falls to support one of the most modern and up-to-date street rail-
way systems in the Northwest, the rails of which have been laid to cover
the city to the very best possible advantage, and the frequency of the
service of which cannot be surpassed by any city of the same size.
The impression gained by the visitor to Great Falls as to the city's
modernity and metropolitan features is strengthened by its modern build-
ings. The public buildings, both of county and city, have been constructed
from the viewpoint of permanency and the needs of the future, and the
school buildings are all handsome, well equipped structures which would
do credit to any of the large metropolises. The course of instruction given
in the grade schools and high schools are the equal of any in the country,
and the Montana free text book system is in force. Among the substantial
and modern buildings erected in recent years may be mentioned the fol-
lowing : First National Bank Building, eight stories ; Ford Building, five
stories ; Hotel Rainbow, five stories; Park Hotel, five stories ; two large and
attractive passenger stations for the accommodation of the traveling public ;
the distributing branch of Swift & Company; the Roberts, Northwestern
Auto Supply Company, Great Falls Dairy Products Company, Great Falls
Wholesale Grocery Company, Federal and Rocky Mountain Fire Insurance
Company buildings ; the Masonic Temple, the Elks Temple, the Tribune
Publishing Company's Building, the Odd Fellows' Building, the Ursuline
Academy, the Brown-Dunn Building, the $150,000 Young Men's Christian
Association Building, the annex to the Great Falls High School, the Junior
High School, two handsome public schools, a large wholesale drug house,
several large apartment houses and automobile sales buildings, and many
other commercial structures.
Development at Great Falls along the line of manufacturing has been
extremely rapid during the past decade, a fact that can be substantiated
by the figures of the 1914 report of the Government Bureau of Census.
The report quoted stated that at the time Great Falls possessed fifty-four
factories in which there was invested a capital of $9,804,000, and that its
products for one year were valued at $9,192,000, in the production of
which finished articles a total of $5,430,000 worth of raw materials were
consumed. Since that time there has been a healthy and consistent increase
both in the number of factories and the size of those which were in exist-
HISTORY OF MONTANA
693
ence at the time the report was made, and industries which three or four
years ago were strugghng along have substituted substantial brick buildings
for their former frame structures and the number of men employed therein
has greatly increased, the payrolls of these concerns having now reached
a point where they form a substantial basis for the city's prosperity.
Heading the list of the industrial plants of Great Falls is the smelter
operated by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, details of which have
been given already in this chapter. Next in importance to the smelting
industry is that of wheat milling, the manufacture of flour having rapidly
approached the status of one of the state's leading industries and Great
MoNT.'VN.v F'lour Mill.s Comp.xny Pl.\nt
Falls being the chief wheat grinding center between Minneapolis and the
Pacific coast. Two of the largest mills in the Northwest are operating
here, the plant of the Royal Milling Company having a capacity of 3,600
barrels a day and the mill operated by the Montana Flour Mills Company
having a rated capacity of 2,500 barrels daily. Lying as it does in the
center of a vast wheat producing area, and with the added advantages of
economical power and convenient distributing facilities, it is logical that
Great Falls should assume a foremost place in the industry and become
the wheat center of the Northwest. In the spring of 1919 there was
commenced the construction of the present commodious state terminal ele-
vator, for which bonds amounting to $250,000 were voted by the citizens
of Montana in the previous November.
694 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Much of the wheat produced in this district is being used by the
large, modern macaroni factory, which was built in 1917 and which has
secured excellent results. Another large plant is the sugar beet factory,
which is utilizing in its product the beets grown on a large acreage ad-
jacent to the city. Great Falls has the largest packing plant between
the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis and the Pacific coast, and
the most modem creamery and milk station west of the Mississippi River,
this latter representing an investment of $250,000, while two smaller
creameries are also busily at work. Other business enterprises which
may be mentioned as being in a flourishing condition are: several sash
and door factories, an ice plant, mining and milling machinery factory,
iron works, brass and babbitt metal factory, cornice works, brick and tile
plant, gypsum mill, a large blank book and publishing house, a monu-
mental stone works, two bottling works, a soda water factory, three
nurseries and greenhouses, an engraving plant, a fur manufacturing
house, an optical supplies firm, several cigar factories, an ammonia, bluing
and polish factory, numerous bakeries and laundries and other semi-
manufacturing plants, and a number of branch establishments of manu-
facturers of national reputation, among the products represented being
automobiles, rubber goods, agricultural machinery and implements, lum-
ber, coal, woodenware, drugs, groceries and stationery.
Located in the Belt Mountains, about fifty miles from Great Falls,
are stored commercial quantities of iron ore which analysis has shown
to be of high grade. These deposits are found in great veins which lie
within the Little and ^ig Belt Mountains partly in Fergus County,
but for the most part in Cascade County which they traverse from one
end to the other and are easily reached by railroad. Great Falls' altitude is
3,350 feet and that of Belt Mountain iron ore is 5,300 feet, thus furnishing
a descending grade for its transportation to the Electric City. Manganese,
essential to Bessemer steel making, is found in large quantities in the
Corbin hills, on the line of the Great Northern Railway, about 125 miles
distant from Great Falls.
Another raw material which in combination with the other advan-
tages of Great Falls should lead to the establishment of plants to reduce
it from its raw state to the finished product, is wool, and that of this
section of Montana is of the highest grade.
Tr.xnsportation Facilities
In the handling of all oi the products which can be manufactured and
produced at Great Falls, the city has the added advantage of good rail-
road facilities. The Great Northern, Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul,
and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy lines, with their branches, make the
city the center of a network of rails which reach out in every direction
into the best districts of the state. The "Missoula cut-off" has been
mentioned before. Another branch which will greatly facilitate the
handling of freight will be the new Rockford-Lewistown-Great Falls
cut-off. The Great Northern Railway runs numerous trains daily out
HISTORY OF MONTANA 695
of Great Falls, this city being midway on the Havre-Butte main Hne of
the road and trains from here connecting with the "highHne" main line
of the Great Northern. Here may be secured all transcontinental trains
for the Twin Cities and Chicago, good service being given also to Butte,
with connections to Salt Lake and California points. Daily train service
is maintained directly to Canadian points, while double through service
is maintained on the Lewistown branch and that city is connected with
the larger city by lines that traverse a prosperous agricultural country
in which are many flourishing little communities. Among the branch
lines to the smaller towns about Great Falls are : a branch to the big coal
camps of Sand Coulee, thirteen miles ; to Stockett, eighteen miles west and
south; to Belt, seventeen miles; to Armington, nineteen miles; and to
Monarch and Neihart, through a splendid mining and agricultural coun-
try, sixty-seven miles. West to Gilman a branch line extends fifty-two
miles through the Sun River district, and to the northwest a line extends
seventy-seven miles to Chouteau and Pendroy, passing through the
fertile Montana benchlands. To the north, at Conrad, connections are
made with the Montana Western Railway, which runs to Valier. On a
line which connects Shelby at the north with Billings on the distant
southeast, are operated the through trains of the Burlington route.
Daily trains over this route give excellent service to Glacier National
Park and its wonderful array of scenic beauties. From Enid in the
extreme northwestern portion of the state to Lewistown in Central Mon-
tana, the Great Northern cut-oflf is planned, and this will traverse the
large areas of Dawson and Fergus counties. When completed it will form
the main line of this railroad from the Twin Cities to the Pacific coast,
and will give Great Falls added prestige as a railroad point. From Great
Falls the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul operates daily trains to Harlow-
ton, where connections can be made with the main line from Chicago
to Seattle. The same line operates a branch line seventy-two miles from
Great Falls to Agawam, through Chouteau and one of the most prosper-
ous farming and stockraising sections of the state. When the Soo Line's
plans are culminated. Great Falls will have another big railroad.
Great Falls Commercial Club
An organization which has done much to build up Great Falls indus-
tries and interests at home and to laud its virtues abroad is the Great
Falls Commercial Club, which has been in existence for about ten years.
This operates under a board of directors of representatives selected by
the Wholesalers' and Jobbers' Association, the Real Estate Association,
the Merchants' Association, the Retail Merchants, Hotel and Restaurant
Association, the Bar Association, Lumber Dealers' Association, the Bank-
ers' Association, the Doctors and Dentists' Association, the Implement
Dealers' Association and the Builders' Association, three directors at large
appointed by the president, and the president, vice president, treasurer
and secretary of the association. The organization represents every busi-
ness, industry and profession in the city, thus making the achievements
696 HISTORY OF AIONTANA
of the body effective and broad in scope. The present secretary of the
association is L. E. Jones.
Churches, Charities and Fraternities
While Great Falls has made strides along material lines, its religious,
civic, social and charitable activities have been constant. Of the twenty-
six religious denominations represented in the city, all have comfortable
and appropriate places of worship, while fourteen are provided with
handsome church edifices. Nearly all of these denominations have large
congregations and are contributors to the welfare and advancement of
the city, for the percentage of churchgoers at Great Falls is large. A
list of the churches follows: Adventist, First Baptist, Swedish Baptist,
Catholic, St. Ann's Cathedral, Sacred Heart Chapel, St. Joseph's, St.
Peter and Paul's, First Christian, First Church of Christ Scientist, First
Congregational, Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, Our Saviour's
Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran, Swedish Lutheran Bethlehem, United
Norwegian Lutheran, Trinity German Evangelical Lutheran, African
Methodist Episcopal, First Methodist Episcopal, Immanuel Scandinavian
Methodist Episcopal, Warren Methodist Episcopal, First Presbyterian,
Grace Presbyterian, Zion Church, Unitarian and Salvation Army. Two
of the denominations referred to conduct large, well-equipped hospitals
at Great Falls, and these are modern institutions in every respect.
Great Falls Y. M. C. A and Y. W. C. A.
A contributing factor to the moral welfare of the city is the Young
Men's Christian Association. The Great Falls Y. M. C. A. building was
dedicated February 20, 1916, the men in charge of the state work of
the association at that time being : Charles Puehler, state secretary ; and
F. B. Reynolds, Billings, state committee chairman. The movement was
started by J. B. Long, who made a standing oiTer of $25,000 to "start
the ball rolling," and his contribution to the building fund was followed
by those of other generous and public-spirited citizens. The building
committee consisted of the following: Dr. A. F. Longeway, chairman;
C. E. Hubbard, Thomas Couch, K. B. Mclver, J. W. Sherwood and Lee
M. Ford. The officers of the board at the time of the building's open-
ing were: I. W. Church, president; A. M. Hart, vice president; F. C.
Bauer, secretary; L. W. Suhr, treasurer; and H. A. Templeton, first
president of the board of directors. The present board of trustees are :
J. W. Sherwood, chairman ; L. H. Hamilton, I. W. Church, Sam Stephen-
son, Dr. A. F. Longeway and Fred Long. The first general secretary
was Lynn H. Fox, who was succeeded by A. E. Yount, the latter in turn
being succeeded by the present secretary, Ralph R. Wolf. E. E. Holde-
man is the present physical director.
The building, which cost $150,000 to complete and equip, is one of
the handsome structures of the city, and offers an ideal home for the
young men of the city, as well as affording a place where both
HISTORY OF MONTANA 697
young and older men find healthful recreation and amusement. The
present membership of the Y. M. C. A. is 813 members.
The Young Women's Christian Association of Great Falls is also a
helpful influence in the life of the city, and the organization, a flourishing
one, is housed in a building devoted exclusively to this work.
Practically every fraternal order of any importance has representa-
tion at Great Falls, the fraternal life of the city being one of its impor-
tant features and several of the lodges having handsome homes of their
own, the Masons, Elks and Odd Fellows, particularly, having erected
structures which contribute to the architectural beauty of the city. The
city has numerous unions, likewise, and a number of these hold their
meetings in Carpenters' Hall which is owned by that branch of the city's
artisans.
Public Recre.\tion Grounds and Buildings
Great Falls has seven modern theatres and is visited by all the good
road shows, as well as stock companies and headline vaudeville acts.
It likewise has 725 acres of public parks and playgrounds and these are
located in such a manner that there is not a district in the city which
is more than a ten-minute walk removed from some park. The board
is appointed by the governor and has absolute control over these public
meeting-places. Public band concerts and community singing are features
of these recreation grounds and large crowds of the citizens of Great
Falls enjoy these summer evening concerts to the utmost. Many of the
75.000 trees under the care of the board have been planted and raised in the
nurseries maintained in connection with the park system, and there are now
about 20,000 trees planted in the parks of the city, these not including
the thousands of elm, maple, ash, poplar and other shade trees planted
along the boulevards or in the residence lawns. Another popular place
of public amusement and recreation is the city natatorium, a handsome
structure, as well as commodious in size and complete in all its appoint-
ments.
City Public Schools
In 1886 the public school system of Great Falls consisted of a one-
room frame building with eighteen pupils. Today it consists of ten sub-
stantial brick and stone buildings of modern design and equipment, with
an enrollment of 4,778 pupils, and a faculty of 141 instructors and prin-
cipals to superintend the 147 class rooms of the city schools. In the
high school alone there are enrolled 639 pupils. Twenty large play rooms
are provided for the purpose of looking after the physical welfare of
the children, and playgrounds are adjuncts of every school. Practically
every subject offered by any of the public schools of the country is in-
cluded in the curriculum of the Great Falls schools, and in the course of
study, extending from the kindergarten through high school, every effort
is made to offer the students a choice of subjects according to the voca-
698 HISTORY OF MONTANA
tions which they desire to follow. Courses in music, drawing, home
science, art, physical culture, manual training and commercial and bank-
ing trainings, in addition to the regular subjects, are given, and particu-
larly practical are the home science and business courses and the manual
training department. The first named of these three trains children along
practical lines and equips the girls better for the duties which will devolve
upon them later in life, while the courses in commercial work fit the
student for a career in the business world should his inclinations be so
directed, and the manual training department is also intensely practical
and is intended to develop the mechanical ability with which many chil-
dren are endowed. In the grades this course includes the care and use of
tools and the making of simple articles, while in the high school it is
extended to mechanical and architectural drawing, cabinet work, wood
turning, pattern making, forge work and machine shop practice. A course
in automobile repairing has been recently added with the intention of
preparing students for this industry. The home science and art courses
give the girls a thorough training in the economics of the home. In the
grades plain sewing and cutting and plain cooking come under the head
of this course, but in the high school it is extended to cover dressmak-
ing, cooking, serving, millinery, home economy and home decoration.
An illustration of the practical work done in this department is the
senior class which makes its own graduating dresses and thereby gains
practical experience as well as bringing about greater democracy among
the girls.
Great Falls Punnc Library
The Great Falls Public Library, located at Great Falls, was founded
June 28, 1889, as the Valeria Library and Art Association. On May i,
1903, an appropriation was received from Andrew Carnegie, from which
funds the present handsome structure was erected, and at the same time
the name was changed to its present style. Those most prominent in
the establishment of the library in 1889 were Jessie S. Ladd, H. O.
Chowen, A. E. Dickerman, Theodore Gibson, J. B. Leslie and C. M. Web-
ster. The successive librarians have been : Robert S. Williams, Miss
Eloise Petit, Miss Lutie Weitman, Miss Bella Brown and Miss Jennie
M. Conner, and the present incumbent of the position. Miss Louise M.
Femald. The library at this time has 26,325 volumes, and the total cir-
culation for the year past was 159,030 volumes.
Great Falls Newspapers
Great Falls' newspapers are the Tribune and the Leader. The latter
is the older of the two, having been established June 16, 1888, when the
city was still in its infancy, and has always been recognized as the lead-
ing republican newspaper of Northern Montana. It has an extensive
circulation, takes the full daily report of the Associated Press, and em-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 699
ploys a large force of news-gatherers in supplying the matter for two
editions, daily and weekly.
Education Outside of Great Falls
Excellent educational advantages are found in Cascade County out-
side of the county seat, for every effort has been made to provide for
the best possible education for the children, and there are 125 rural
schools in the county under the supervision of a county superintendent.
These compare favorably with the rural schools anywhere and offer a
thorough course of instruction. Some of the smaller towns also offer
high school training, which is exceptional, considering the size of the
communities in which they are located, and the rural school inspector
of the state department of education gives suggestions and aids in the
supervision of these schools.
Cascade County, in conjunction with the federal government, employs
an agent whose duties include advising with the farmers and studying the
best systems of farming, stock raising and farm management in this dis-
trict, giving the farmers the result of his investigations and the benefit of
his experience. Recently, the State Legislature provided for a free cir-
culating library that is rapidly being popularized among the rural com-
munities, books being distributed free of charge. This is a county insti-
tution and the county agent aids in handling the distribution of the read-
ing matter.
Towns of Cascade County
Among the thriving and flourishing towns of Cascade County, aside
from Great Falls, may be mentioned: Cascade, a progressive farming
and shipping center ; Stockett, a large coal mining town ; Belt, which is
surrounded by an excellent farming community; Geyser, an important
grain shipping point ; Neihart, where are located important silver inter-
ests; and Monarch, Armington, Raynesford, Spion Kop and others.
CHAPTER XXVIII
CHOUTEAU, CUSTER, DANIELS, DAWSOX, DEER LODGE,
FALLON
One of the oldest counties in Montana is that which bears the name
of the Chouteau brothers, Auguste and Pierre, American pioneers, fur
traders and founders of the city of St. Louis. As the head of naviga-
tion on the Missouri River, its associations of former years make it an
exceedingly interesting subject of study to the student of history, and
from the time of its creation, February 21, 1865, until something like a
decade ago it remained as an important stockraising center, in its evolu-
tion passing through all the stages that have marked the gradual develop-
ment of this section from a range country into an agricultural domain.
In its early days Chouteau County experienced much Indian fighting, and
dunng the period in which river na\igation was almost entirely depended
upon, this locality held a prominent place in the fur trade. Fort Benton,
one of the oldest towns in Montana, having been the chief fur trading
point in the American northwest. This community is still one of great
interest, a part of the old fort still remaining to mark what was at one
time the frontier of pale-face settlement, and is rich in its Indian lore
and pioneer traditions.
Physical P-eatures of Chouteau County
Chouteau County is situated in the north central part of Montana,
and is bounded on the north by Hill and Toole counties, on the west by
Teton County, on the south by Cascade and Fergus counties and on the
east by Blaine County. Along the southern boundary are the Highwood
Mountains, while in the northeastern corner are the Bear Paws, and
right at the western border is the eastern end of the Teton Ridge. For
the most part, the county consists of broad, rolling prairies, although
along the streams the country presents a broken surface. The Missouri
River enters Chouteau County from the south, Maria's from the north
and the Teton from the west, and the confluence of these waterways
is at Loma, near the center of the county, where they join the Missouri. .
The southeastern boundary of the county is formed by the Arrow River,
and there are a number of other streams of lesser importance, such as
Shonkin, Birch and Eagle creeks.
Rural Industries
For many years Chouteau county's 4,432 square miles of land area
ivas devoted almost entirely to stockraising, and it is still one of the
700
HISTORY OF MONTANA 701
important industries, there being numerous large sheep and cattle ranches
still in flourishing operation. However, during recent years, agricul-
ture has been coming more and more into favor, and gradually the farmer
is displacing the cattleman, finding the chocolate loam soil excellent for
the raising of wheat, rye, oats, barley and flax. Corn has also been
raised with success, as well as sunflowers for silage. The prairies have
produced good crops without irrigation, and it has been only in recent
years that this has been engaged in. Private pumping plants, electrically
driven, now irrigate about 5,000 acres, and a large part of this territory
is being devoted to alfalfa. Land values have advanced in this county
during recent years, and irrigated land is now held at from $75 to $125
per acre and non-irrigated land from $15 to $50 an acre, depending
upon the location and the improvements which have been made thereon.
As to its other resources, they are of a secondary character, although
good lignite coal has been found in appreciable quantities, and prospect-
ing for gas and oil has gotten under way. Cottonwood timber abounds
along the streams, and there are 32,602 acres of the Jefferson National
forest in the county.
Transportation Facilities
For its transportation facilities Chouteau County has the Havre-Butte
branch of the Great Northern Railroad, which suppHes the area from
the northeast to the southwest ; and the Lewistown-Great Falls branch
of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, which makes a loop
through the southern part. The highway, which connects Great Falls
with Havre, runs parallel to the Great Northern Railroad, and there are
also good secondary roads. The matter of education has not been neglected
by the people of this county, there being, in addition to a good rural
school system and common schools in all the community centers, a county
high school at Fort Benton and another high school at Big Sandy, both
accredited for four-year terms. This county also has the distinction of
being the first in the state to establish a county library, which is located
at Fort Benton, and has upwards of 12,000 volumes, maintaining
branches in a number of the leading towns.
Fort Benton
During the earlier history of the county. Fort Benton, the county seat,
was considered a community of much importance. Situated as it is on
the Missouri River, and being the head of navigation thereof, it was a
trading point for all the surrounding country. When river navigation
passed it lost much of its prestige, but this it is regaining today with
the continued growth and development of agriculture, it being in the
center of a large and prosperous farming, live stock and wool growing
country. Incorporated in 1884, the city secured special delivery service
two years later, and in its government, business and general improve-
ments is now rated as a modern community in every respect. It has a
702 HISTORY OF MONTANA
live Commercial Club, of which James Murtry is secretary, and main-
tains two newspapers, four hotels, two banks, three churches, two hos-
pitals, a graded and high school and a flour mill, in addition to other
modern industries and mercantile establishments. Located on the Great
Northern Railroad, forty-four miles northeast of Great Falls, it is in
close touch with the outside world, and being conveniently reached, at-
tracts numerous tourists every year who come to view the historic old
fort, located in the heart of the city. Another city which has enjoyed
a steady and rapid growth i.s Big Sandy, midway between Fort Benton
and Havre, which is the trading center for a wide and growing agricul-
tural district. The trading center for the southern part of the county
is Geraldine, and other worth-while communities arc Loma, Carter, High-
wood, Floweree, Montague and Square Butte.
Custer County
Created February 2, 1865, as one of the original counties of Mon-
tana, Custer County was for many years known as the -center of the
stockgrowing industry in the Northwest. As has been the case in almost
air the other counties of the state, much of the prestige which it pos-
sessed because of its cattle and sheep has passed away, but in the case
of Custer what it has lost in one direction it has gained in another, for
of recent years agriculture has developed and is becoming more and
more important yearly, and, with numerous favorable conditions, includ-
ing the longest growing season of any county in the state (from 126 to
148 days), it will in all probability continue its advancement in this
direction.
While old-time western cattle ranges are still operating in the county,
in the southern end, and while the largest remount station operated by the
federal government is situated at Fort Keogh, prominent in the early his-
tory of Montana, the resistless drive of the agriculturist is gradually
sweeping away other industries, and the deep loam soil, with a clay sub-
soil that produces abundant crops, is causing the rolling, broken country,
with its pronounced brakes along the Tongue and Yellowstone rivers, to
blossom like the proverbial rose. In the 3,930 square miles included in
the county, there are 25,000 acres under irrigation and plans at present
are being made to utilize the waters of the rivers to a much greater extent.
The county is a well-watered one, as the Yellowstone River flows north-
easterly through the county and the Tongue and Powder rivers northerly
into the Yellowstone, in addition to which there are numerous tributaries.
A considerable portion of the land is tillable, and corn has proven an
especially good crop, with more acres being devoted thereto, primarily to
make silage for stock. Also, wheat, oats, alfalfa, millet and all kinds
of root crops and vegetables grow well.
Aside from agriculture and stockraising, the industries are few, al-
though some manufacturing is done at Miles City and large railroad
shops are located there. Custer County possesses no commercial tim-
ber, although Cottonwood is foinid along the streams, while about all tlic
HISTORY OF MONTANA 703
mineral resources which the county boasts are confined to lignite coal
lying under many districts, furnishing an economical and easily accessible
fuel. Irrigated land is held at $ioo an acre up; improved non-irrigated
land from $40 to $60 an acre; non-improved, non-irrigated land from $15
to $35, and grazing land from $5 to $12 an acre.
Custer County, which is named in honor of Gen. George Armstrong
Custer, the famous Indian fighter and hero of the Little Big Horn, lies
in the southeastern part of the state, and has excellent railroad facilities,
as the Northern Pacific and Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railways
parallel the Yellowstone River through the county, and the Yellowstone
Trail, from Plymouth Rock to the Puget Sound, also crosses the county.
In all communities, good rural schools are found, while Miles City has
a good graded school and the Custer County High School, accredited for
a four-year term, which in addition to the regular courses gives com-
mercial, home economics and manual training work. The State Indus-
trial School for Boys is also located at Miles City, and what may be
regarded also as an educational institution is the Snow Creek Game Pre-
serve, which was created through the efforts of W. T. Hornaday of the
New York Zoological Society, and which, although lying in Garfield
County, is best reached from Miles City. Among the live and growing
communities in Custer County may be mentioned Ulmer, Calabar, Beebe.
Shirley, Kinsey and Miles City, the last named being the county seat and
the principal town in either Custer County or Southeastern Montana.
Sketch of Miles City
Miles City is situated at the junction of the Tongue and Yellowstone
rivers, and is a division point for the Northern Pacific and Chicago, Mil-
waukee & St. Paul railroads, the latter maintaining large shops at this
place. One of the old cowtowns of the state, many wealthy ranchmen
make it their home, and it is a range center for the horse, cattle and
sheep country of the heart of the Yellowstone Valley, and maintains an
important wool market. Situated 2,370 feet above the sea level, it pos-
sesses a fine climate, and its citizens have added to this attractive feature
that of providing numerous parks and public playgrounds. Riverside
Park, located at the foot of Main Street, is one of the finest public parks
in Montana, combining natural beauty of ancient cottonwoods and arti-
ficial embellishment of winding walks and floral beds. Wibaux Park,
the bequest to the city of the late Pierre Wibaux, is located in an attrac-
tive residence neighborhood. A small playground known as Triangle
Park occupies a fractional block on Montana Avenue, and another natural
grove of forty acres, bordering the Yellowstone, is being preserved for
future development as a public park.
Municipal Light and Water Systems
The light and water systems of Miles City are municipal institutions
and are profitable features of its civic affairs. The city is famous for
704 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Its artesian wells. There are two strata under the city, one at a depth
of loo feet, from which the water rises to within eight feet of the sur-
face, whence it is pumped by city water service; while the other is at a
depth of 400 feet, from which come flowing wells. The water is im-
pregnated with soda, is known as fine boiler water, and requires hardly
any cleaning. Miles City maintains five newspapers, of which two are
dailies.
The Public Library
The Carnegie Library is a public institution which is supported by the
city, the building occupying a central location on Main Street. The
City Hall, a modest but attractive building of brick and stone, occupies
a corner at Bridge and Eighth streets, and in addition to housing the city
offices and council rooms, furnishes accommodations for the modern fire
department and the city jail. Other public buildings include the United
States Land Office and the United States Observatorv.
The Miles City Hospital was established and built by Custer County,
but after about a year of operation it was leased to the Sisters of Charity,
who have since been its sponsors. The original building cost ?35.ooo,
but the increase of its patronage has made it necessary that it be enlarged.
Other Public Buildings and Institutions
Miles City contains some most attractive buildings. The new county
high school is a credit to the community, and the Washintgon and Gar-
field public schools are likewise handsome and commodious structures,
while the gymnasium and manual training building was erected at a cost
of $13,000, and is a yellow brick and concrete building which houses the
latest gymnasium apparatus and equipment for manual training.
The Ursuline Sisters Convent was founded in 1884 by Mother Mary
Amadeus of the Sacred Heart and occupies a handsome brick structure
just west of the county high school.
The State Industrial School, formerly known as the Reform School,
is one mile east of Miles City, and has eight large buildings. The wards
of this institution are all given schooling, the lOO-acre farm supplies the
table, and the older pupils are given half of each day to learn whatever
trade they are interested in ; the manual training department teaching car-
pentry, blacksmithing, painting, tailoring, printing, shoemaking, launder-
ing, etc., while the girls are taught cooking, housework, sewing and music.
The boys have their own l^and, baseball and football teams, and their
own newspaper, The Boy's Messenger, and the school is run on the
merit system, whereby the pupils, by good behavior and reasonable dili-
gence in school work, are eligible for parole within a year.
The Y. M. C. A. of Miles City
The Young Men's Christian Association at Allies City was organized
in 1909, some of the principal factors in its founding being G. M. Miles,
HISTORY OF MONTANA 705
S. Fred Cale, H. B. Wiley, C. W. Butler, J. B. Collins, J. E. Farnum
and Jack Evans. The two-story-and-basement brick building was erected
in 1910 at a cost of approximately $35,000, and there are twenty-nine
dormitory rooms, a good-sized lobby, a gymnasium, a swimming pool
and locker and banquet rooms. The successive secretaries of the associa-
tion have been Messrs. Fox, Percy, Rouse, S. L. Hedrick and H. L.
Ankeny, the last-named being the present incumbent of the office. At
the present time there are approximately 450 senior and sustaining mem-
berships and about 250 junior memberships, the leader membership being
on the service basis. At the present time the association is entirely free
from debt, is paying its responsibilities promptly and is growing every day.
An interesting feature of the association is the Boys' Camp, which
is one of the best in the Northwest. It is located on a 360-acre island
in the Yellowstone River, owned by the Government, and the Young
Men's Christian Association has exclusive use of it through the courtesy
of the military authorities. The need for a large public meeting and recre-
ation hall was met by the erection of the Auditorium, which adjoins the
Young Men's Christian Association building and is a substantial and digni-
fied structure.
Churches and Fraternities
There are seven churches at Miles City, including those of the Catho-
lic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian denominations.
Thirteen fraternal organizations are represented at Miles City, and
several of these have their own homes. The Elks Club building, erected
in 1914, is one of the handsomest in the city, costing $68,000 and is located
opposite the Federal building one block from Main Street. It is used
exclusively for lodge and club purposes, and, as there are numerous mem-
bers of this fraternity at Miles City, is the scene of many social gather-
ings. The Masonic order occupies an imposing building on Main Street,
a structure of buff sandstone and reinforced concrete. The lower floors
are utilized for business purposes, and the upper for the lodge rooms and
hall. The Knights of Columbus council occupies comfortable clubrooms
in the basement of the postoffice building, and the Fraternal Order of
Eagles also has its own home. The Miles City Club, organized in the
early '80s, the oldest club in [Montana, occupies the second floor of the
Wibaux Block. Once a year the club holds open house in honor of the
visiting stockmen who attend the annual conventions of the Montana
Stock Growers' Association. This body has entertained many distin-
guished visitors during its many years of existence and has a well-merited
reputation for open-handed hospitality. The various industries carried on
in the limits of the municipality may be estimated when it is known that
twenty-eight unions have members employed in various trades.
Center of Horse Trade
Tourists from the East who are seeking the real western atmosphere
will find it at Miles City in the Remount Depot, situated at Fort Keogh.
Vol. 1— «5
706
HISTORY OF MONTANA
Conducted by the War Department, the Military Reservation, which is
now used as a range for the horses, is ten miles square, being the largest
depot, or concentration horse camp, in the United States. There are
only two other depots of the kind in the country, neither of which approach
the size of the Fort Keogh station. Here western horses are brought
direct from the range and broken and trained according to the United
States Army regulations, although the only soldiers are the commanding
officer and several orderlies, the employes being civilians and the wranglers
all cowboys and expert riders. Many visitors will also find much of
interest in the annual Miles City Round Up, a frontier exhibition held
each year as a great outdoor pageant, in which contestants from all over
Horse Market at Miles City
the state compete in feats of skill and daring. Miles City maintains a
large and well-patronized horse market. The original sales yards were
erected by the late A. B. Clark, just south of the Northern Pacific Rail-
way tracks and occupied some eighteen acres of land. The business even-
tually passed into other hands and the size of the yards was doubled by
the construction of new and more substantial yards and buildings north
of the tracks. During the World's war Miles City furnished thousands of
mounts to the French, Italian and English governments, as well as to the
United States, and the animals from the Miles City Horse Market proved
their worth in the severe test of war.
Stage Lines and Highways
Three stage lines operate out of Miles City. The Jordan line, ninety-
nine miles in length, leaves Miles City every Monday morning and arrives
HISTORY OF MONTANA 707
at Jordan Tuesday, at 8 P. M. The Brandenberg line is eighty-eight miles
in length, and the Mizpah line eighty-two miles long.
The horse, in many ways, has been succeeded by the automobile, and
in this connection the matter of tlie automobile highway comes to atten-
tion. This was projected as an association at Miles City in 1912, the idea
being originally conceived by Judge J. E. Prindle, of Ismay. It started
at the Twin Cities and the original project took it to Yellowstone National
Park, but the men behind the movement took up as their slogan: "A*
Good Road' from Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound," and this has since
been realized. The road was originally called the Twin City-Aberdeen-
Yellowstone Park Highway, but Miles City's suggestion that it be called
the Yellowstone Trail, while originally rejected, was finally adopted,
although it is also known as the Electric Highway. Thousands of tour-
ing parties pass annually over this highway and appreciate the huge sums
of money that Custer County has spent in developing and improving it.
Banks
As a wealthy city, this community has three banks, the oldest of which
is the First National Bank, which was organized in 1882, and of which
G. M. Miles is president. The present cashier, H. B. Wiley, has occupied
this post for many years. The State National and Commercial National
Banks were consolidated January 21, 192 1, and form a strong institution
operating under the latter name.
Annual County Fair
Custer County holds its annual County Fair at Miles City, and this
is becoming an increasingly popular annual event. It is thought that
Custer County was the first, and perhaps the only, county in the state
to have full control of its own fair. The fair is conducted and managed
by a board of county fair commissioners who are appointed each year,
and the annual appropriation and gate receipts afford a good margin for
prizes, purses and special events. Miles City likewise holds an annual
corn show, now known as the Montana State Corn Show. This was
inaugurated in 1914 by M. L. Wilson, identified with the United States
Experiment Station at Bozeman, whose hobby had always been corn and
whose belief it was that this crop could be successfully grown in Mon-
tana. He was given his choice of locations, and selected Miles City, pardy
because he felt that this city was in the center of his theoretical corn belt
and partly because there were many skeptics in this city whom he wished
to bring about to his way of thinking. Through his labors this event
became a decided success and did much to promote the growing of a
crop that is proving annually of more and more value to the county and
its agriculturists. Another result of his work at Miles City was the
establishment of the office known as the County Agricultural Agent, with
headquarters in the courthouse. This department is maintained jointly by
708 HISTORY OF MONTANA
the county, state and federal governments and is playing an important part
in the prosperity of the county.
Daniels County
The history of Daniels County, under its present name, is a short one,
inasmuch as it was created recently, the date being August 28, 1920. In
its formation there was removed the western half of Sheridan County
and a small portion of Valley County, and the land area of 1,422 square
miles is now included in a territory that has a maximum length of forty-
eight miles east and west and a maximum width of thirty miles wide
north and south. During a long period of time the country that is now
included within the boundary lines of Daniels County was a big cattle
range, the heavy and nutritious grass furnishing excellent forage for live-
stock, but in recent years there has been a great influx of settlers of the
farming class and as a result a large part of the range has been broken
up into farms. There is still some livestock, but the old days of the big
ranches have passed here as well as in other portions of the state, and
the soil, for the most part a fertile chocolate loam, tillable practically
throughout the county, is producing big crops of flax, .wheat, oats, corn
and wild hay, with some sunflowers for silage.
Practically none of the land in Daniels County is irrigated, although
this could be easily accomplished as the water supply is plentiful, the
Poplar River, rising in Canada, flowing southerly through the middle of
the county, Wolf Creek angling through the southwestern corner of the
county in a southeasterly direction and there being a number of smaller
streams. Along these waterways are found willow and cottonwood, but
the county possesses no commercial stand of timber, and its mineral re-
sources are few, for while lignite coal is found, it is of no commercial
importance. Land in this county sells from $10 to $60 an acre, depend-
ing upon its location and the improvements which have been made.
While growing rapidly as to population, Daniels County still has room
for many more settlers, who will find opportunities in the development of
the agricultural industry in its various branches. Wherever the branch
lines of the railroads are extended west there will be increased activity
in this direction. At the present time a branch line of the Great North-
ern Railway, leaving the main line at Mondak, runs through Roosevelt and
Sheridan counties and then turns westerly, its present terminus being at
Scobey. Whitetail, north of Scobey. is the terminus of a branch of the
Soo Line, which enters the county from the east.
Educational facilities in Daniels County are ample, and in addition to
a good rural system county there are graded schools and a high school,
accredited for the four-year term, at Scobey, the county seat. This is
the largest and most important community in the county and is the main
distributing point for the surrounding country. The next largest town is
Whitetail, and Madoc, Navajo, Julian, Orville, Kraft and Flaxville, are
other prosperous and growing towns.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 709
Dawson County (Glendive)
Irregular in form, with a maximum length of fifty miles east and west
and a maximum breadth of sixty miles north and south, Dawson County
covers 2,430 square miles of land area in the extreme eastern portion
of Montana, being from fifteen to twenty miles west of the Dakota line.
This is one of the older counties of the state, having been created Janu-
ary 15, 1869, and from early days has been a splendid stock county,
because of the native cover of a heavy and nutritious grass. Unlike some
other parts of the state, the livestock industry has not died out here. On
the contrary, pure-bred stock raising is being carried on in industrious
manner, dairying is growing rapidly, the county having the finest dairy
farm in the state, and the production of hogs and poultry has become a
factor in adding to the county's wealth and prestige. Agriculture, how-
ever, in spite of the tenacity of the stockgrowing industry, cannot be
denied, and its history here is much the same as in other parts of the
state, in regard to its steady and continuous growth. While there is
some broken land around the Sheep BluiTs, in the northwestern part of
the county, and east of the Yellowstone, smooth prairies and rolling land
predominate in the county, making conditions excellent for farming pur-
poses, and the dark sandy loam soil, with a heavy clay subsoil, is a big
producer.
The principal crops produced by the agriculturists consist of barley,
oats and wheat. During recent years as high as 900,000 bushels have
been shipped in a single season from the county seat, Glendive, with
other communities likewise contributing large shipments. Sixty per
cent of the land is tillable and the remainder afifords good grazing. At
Intake, Dawson County, are situated the headgates of the Lower Yellow-
stone irrigation project, which irrigates approximately 90,000 acres, some
of which forms a part of Dawson County, and another project soon to
be realized, which will cover about 30,000 acres, lies north of the Yellow-
stone River between Fallon and Glendive. Unirrigated land, however,
has produced excellent crops, and as high as 400 bushels of potatoes have
been raised in one acre of unirrigated land. This product has become
one of the leading sources of profit for the agriculturists who have not
irrigated their farms. Another crop which is rapidly increasing in acre-
age is corn, and it is estimated that the 1920 acreage in this staple product
in Dawson County alone was as great as the acreage for the entire state
in 1910. This is a commentary upon the advance of agriculture and
the fact that the farmers are coming to a realization of the possibilities
of the state in the way of corn growing. This is not exactly an inno-
vation in Dawson County as in 1915 this county won first and second
prizes on Northwestern Dent corn at the St. Paul Corn Show, and in
December of the following year, at the First National Corn Show, held
at the same city, took first and second prizes and three third prizes.
Lying in the heart of the western third of the Fort Union region,
Dawson County is so plentifully supplied with lignite coal, and it is so
readily mined, that the settlers have no difficulty in securing fuel, in addi-
710 HISTORY OF MONTANA
tion to which this product is used quite extensively in the towns. For
some years past natural gas secured in the home locality has supplied
Glendive, and the region gives promising evidence of being a good oil
field, although it is probable that deep-well drilling will have to be re-
sorted to. Excellent clays for pottery and brick-making are found in
the county.
The principal sources of the water supply in Dawson County are the
Yellowstone River, which bisects the southeastern half of the county,
and the Redwater River, which flows through its extreme northwest
townships. Numerous large and small creeks are tributary to these
streams, furnishing abimdant and accessible facilities not only for water-
ing livestock, but also for small individual irrigation enterprises, and
water conservation projects. In the upper bench lands, the matter of
artesian well irrigation has received considerable attention.
The main line of the Northern Pacific Railway runs about half way
across Dawson County, and the Sidney branch of the same road covers
about twenty-five miles of the county northwesterly from Glendive.
While at present the Great Northern terminates at Richey, entering the
county from the extreme northern portion, when extended westward this
road may become a main line of the system. Dawson County is trav-
ersed by the National Parks Highway or Red Trail, the Black Trail, the
Green Trail and the Blue Trail, all of which pass through Glendive.
Glendive
Among the thriving communities of Dawson County are Richey, Sti-
pek. Intake, Bloomfield, Union and Lindsay. In all of these communi-
ties tliere are good educational facilities, and in Dawson County there
are more than loo public grade schools. The largest city in the county,
and in the extreme eastern portion of the state, is Glendive, the county
seat, an important distributing point and the center of 500 miles of rail-
road. It is the headquarters of the Yellowstone division of the North-
ern Pacific, and 300 men are employed here in the various departments
of the company, the annual payroll being about $800,000. The company
has erected a new railroad depot, costing approximately $100,000, and
the Northern Pacific Railway Hospital, which cost $125,000, is located
at this point. Glendive, which was incorporated in 1903, has enjoyed
a steady growth in population, and is a modern, hustling city. Situated
on the Yellowstone, it has a large river traffic, and water from that river
is pumped into settling tanks on the side of a high hill known locally as
"Hungry Joe." The city maintains a prosperous wool and grain mar-
ket, and has four sound financial institutions, a good hotel and three
newspapers. Its chamber of commerce is an energetic organization which
has contributed much to the city's welfare.
Five churches are located at Glendive, and three public schools which
furnish not only the usual grade education but manual training as well.
Glendive is the scene of the annual Dawson County Fair. It has sub-
stantial business blocks, beautiful homes and paved and graveled streets
HISTORY OF MONTANA 711
and is lighted by electricity and natural gas, the latter being piped to the
city from wells situated about twelve miles distant in the vicinity of Cedar
Creek. It also owns and operates an excellent municipal water system
and has two hospitals, four grain elevators, a modern flour mill, a cream
ery and four department stores, in addition to dry goods, men's furnish-
ing and clothing stores, a number of jobbing and distributing houses and
mercantile establishments of various kinds.
Deer Lodge County (Anaconda)
Copper has been known since prehistoric times, and there are many
who believe that there may have been a copper age before that of bronze.
The word copper occurs once in the Old Testament (Ezra viii:27), the
metal was in use in ancient Assyria, and the classical nations were familiar
with it, the Greeks bringing it from Cyprus, where the mines were located
at Tamassus, near Famagosta. It was left for the New World and a new
nation to rise to the peak in the production of this valuable metal, and
since the census year 1880 the United States has become the largest copper
producer in the world, outstripping by far any other country. Likewise,
the State of Montana leads, by a large margin, any other section of the
country, and it is in connection with this great industry that Deer Lodge
County, while one of the smallest in the state, is at the same time one of
the richest, because of the presence at Anaconda of the Washoe smelter,
the largest and most modern ore reducing plant in the world.
One of the original nine Montana counties, Deer Lodge was created
February 2, 1865, and is situated on the western edge of the Continental
divide, in the mid-western portion of the state. Originally of consider-
able size, as new counties have been formed and lopped from its terri-
tory, it has dwindled down to a land area of but 746 square miles, this
being largely a mountainous region, agriculture and truck gardening being
confined to the Deer I^dge Valley, along Warm Springs Creek and the
Big Hole River. The tillable portions of the county, as noted, are in the
northern end and southwestern portion of the county, where hay, grain and
vegetables are the chief crops, Butte and Anaconda furnishing a ready
market for the last named. The remainder of the county is either graz-
ing, mineral or timber land. Considerable timber is cut each year, and
there are 305,140 acres of the county included within the Deer Lodge Na-
tional Forest. Among the smaller industries, a good start has been made
in establishing pure herds of slieep and dairy cattle, and the Deer Lodge
County assessor's report for 1919 brought out the fact that there were
152,507 acres of patented grazing and farming land. Prices for irrigated
land range from $50 to $100 an acre, non-irrigated farms bring from $15
to $50 an acre, and grazing land is valued at from $6 to $10 an acre.
For its water supply. Deer Lodge County depends upon the Big Hole
River, forming a portion of the southern boundary of the county, and the
Deed Lodge River, through the northern part, and numerous tributaries
rising in the high mountains which feed these streams. The county is
traversed by the Northern Pacific and Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
712
HISTORY OF MONTANA
Railways, whose main lines pass through the northern part of the county,
making connections with the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific that serves Ana-
conda. Many trains are operated daily both ways between Anaconda and
Butte and give the former city connection with the Oregon Short Line,
Great Northern, Northern Pacific and Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul.
Deer Lodge County boasts among the finest highways in the state, includ-
ing a highway paved with concrete between Anaconda and Butte, the only
hard-surfaced road in Montana connecting two cities.
An.aconda
Anaconda, the county seat of Deer Lodge County, which lies at the
mouth of a canyon where plain and mountain meet, is indebted for its
^
An.-\cond.\ Riant 1 uin \\(jkks
existence to the late Marcus Daly, founder of the copper industry in Mon-
tana, who was attracted to this region by the presence, so near Butte, of a
plentiful supply of water. This community has grown into a handsome
city, with one of the most costly hotel edifices in the state, many large
business blocks, handsome dwellings, a daily newspaper and a plant for the
manufacture of fire and building brick. The county courthouse, the Hearst
Library and the Margaret Theatre would do credit to a city of much larger
size. From the Montana Fish Hatchery, located at Anaconda, are sent
HISTORY OF MONTANA 713
each year thousands of fry to repopulate the lakes and streams of Mon-
tana. Naturally, however, the enterprise which gives the city its chief
importance is the Anaconda Reduction Works, where about one-fourth
of the copper ore treated in the United States is smelted. At Butte, the
first mining shafts were sunk in silver ore, but silver became of secondary
importance when deeper deposits were found to be rich in copper, and
from that time forward the Anaconda Copper Mining Company has been
the chief producer in the district. From 1882 to 1884, 37,000 tons of ore
averaging forty-five per cent copper was shipped to Swansea, Wales,
which was then the world's principal center of copper smelting. In Sep-
tember, 1884, the Anaconda Copper Mining Company began treatment of
its ore locally, and in 1892 a full installation of converters was provided,
and since then the size and the capacity of the plant have steadily increased.
During the past five years the output of this plant has been sixteen per
cent of the copper produced in the United States and more than nine per
cent of the world's production. The first plant at Anaconda was built
on the north side of Warm Springs Valley, while the present site, where
operations were commenced in February, 1902, was chosen on the south
side of the valley, and is situated a mile east of the residential limits, on
a hill-slope. The ores are brought from the mines at Butte, twenty-eight
miles distant, directly to the smelter, by the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific
Railway, which was built for this traffic and is operated by electricity.
An extensive sulphuric acid plant is operated in connection with the smel-
ter, and a plant was erected in 1920 for the manufacture of super-phos-
phate fertilizer, which is being developed into a big enterprise. A feature
of the Anaconda plant always noted by tourists and visitors, is the 585-
foot smokestack, the highest in the world.
In the vicinity of Anaconda the scenery is of a character to bring
forth expressions of the warmest admiration. Thirteen miles away, up
the canyon, lies Silver Lake, a beautiful body of mountain water, from
which the city, as well as the big smelting plant, derives its water supply.
Georgetown Lake, two miles further on, is seven miles in circumference,
and, like Silver Lake, is surrounded by snow-capped mountains whose
peaks are reflected in the crystal waters. Georgetown Lake is also noted
as a fishing center and in season is the mecca of duck-hunters. The tourist
who goes over the hill to the west, passes within sight of the old Cable
mine, one of the richest gold mines of the early days, and by the roadside
there still remain a number of old arrastres, or waterpower mills of former
days, for reducing free milling gold ore to a commercial product.
Fallon County
The county has for its eastern boundary, the South Dakota line, and
covers the southern extremity of the Cedar Creek Anticline. At the north-
ern end is the Glendive gas field and at the lower extremity that which has
been developed at and around Baker, the county seat of Fallon. Both the
oil and gas resources of the county are considered among its greatest
assets. Good flows of gas have been encountered in wells near Baker,
714 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and it has been piped into the town for heating, Hghting and power pur-
poses.
Fallon Coimty, with its area of 1,685 square miles and its population
of 4,548, is just south of the center of the eastern tier of counties in
Montana, and was legislatively created on December 9, 1913. There are
no rivers of importance in the county, but Fallon and Pennel creeks flow
through it into the Yellowstone. In the broad valleys of these and other
streams is much good land, as well as in stretches of bench land back of
them. There is little irrigated land in the county, fully ninety-five per
cent of that which can be cultivated being farmed by non-irrigated inethods.
Most of the loamy land, which was for years given over to grazing, has
Last Fallon County Sod School
been reclaimed to agriculture, and produces good crops of wheat, oats, flax,
corn and alfalfa.
There are special opportunities in the county for diversified farming,
dairying and manufactories that can utilize the flow of the natural gas
wells. Land prices vary from $15 to $75 an acre, depending upon location
and improvements.
The main line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway traverses
the county east and west, and the Yellowstone trail also enters the <;ounty
from South Dakota. The regular county highways add to these transpor-
tation facilities.
Baker, the county seat, is the most important town in Fallon County,
and is the distributing point for a large territory. Kingmont, Westmore
and Plevna are other towns on the line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St.
Paul Railway. Besides the rural schools in the country districts, com-
mon schools are found in the towns. Baker itself has not only good graded
schools, but a high school accredited for the four year term.
CHAPTER XXIX
FERGUS, FLATHEAD AND GALLATIN COUNTIES
Fergus, the largest county in the state of Montana, is situated geo-
graphically and agriculturally in the very heart of the commonwealth, and
more counties border on Fergus than on any other in the state. Its east-
ern boundary is the Musselshell River, its northern boundary is formed
by Crooked Creek and the Arrow River, on the west it reaches nearly to
Baldy Ridge and on the south are found the Big Snowy Mountains and
Flatwillow Creek. Judith Basin, so attractive for its varied scenery and
noted for productiveness as a wheat country, lies in the center of Fergus
County, extending sixty miles north and south and over eighty miles
east and west, and having 2,000,000 acres of fertile land. The Basin is
surrounded by mountain ranges which protect it from severe winter con-
ditions, to the north being the Little Rockies, to the west the Highwood
and Belts, to the east the Big Snowies and to the south the Great Belt
range of mountains. The eastern portion of the county is more broken
and rolling, this section being the western border of the Great Western
Plains area. The watershed and drainage system of Western Fergus is
carried by the Judith River and branch streams. In the eastern part
the Musselshell River and Flatwillow Creek with their tributaries carry
the drainage waters into the Missouri.
Judith Basin
Judith Basin is not the only attractive section of the county for tour-
ists. Fergus County's varied scenery makes it a picturesque visiting place
for discriminating travelers, and the different mountain groups, with their
excellent visibility throughout the country, are very impressive. Caves,
sinks, arches and natural bridges abound to delight the seeker of sights.
There are ice caves in the Snowies west of Half Moon Pass where ice is
formed throughout the summer. Crystal Lake, a beautiful tourist camp-
ing ground, lies in the Snowies, in the west fork of Rock Creek Canyon.
The County in General
Fergus County has a length of 122 miles at its longest point and a
maximum width of seventy miles, its land area being 7,146 square miles.
It was named after James Fergus, the widely known pioneer, late of
Meagher County and first president of the Montana Society of Pioneers.
The county was created December i, 1886.
715
716
HISTORY OF MONTANA
Fergus has always been known as a good agricultural country, the
soil being a dark brown loam underlaid with clay formation, mixed with
lime gravel subsoil. Six hundred thousand acres are under cultivation,
while 1,755,750 acres are potential farm land. One hundred thousand I
acres are now or will be under irrigation, mostly for hay crops. Projects
on Judith River, and Flatwillow and Box Elder creeks in Eastern Fergus,
are now under way, and a large project is in course of construction on
Warm Springs. The Flatwillow project will eventually irrigate 25,000
acres. These matters are more fully described in the chapter devoted
to the irrigation enterprises of the state. In addition to agriculture, the
main industries of the county are stock raising, manufacturing and min-
ing. Good grade coal is mined in Central Fergus ; gold mining is carried
on at Kendall, and silver and gold are found in the Judith Mountains.
The large sapphire mines in the Little Belts of Western Fergus supply
Wheat Harvest of Fergus County
a large portion of the world markets. There are eighty-seven elevators
in the county, which in number and business compare favorably with any
other part of the country of similar size.
Development of Oil Fields
The latest industry is oil, which promises to exceed the total of all
others in the magnitude of its potential production. It is being developed
on a great scale in all directions from Lewistown, particularly in the
Eastern part of the county. Large tracts in the Snowies and on the
slopes of the Judith Mountains are covered with suitable lumber timber.
The Cat Creek oil field, east of Lewistown, had, in April, 192 1, thirty
producing wells, of the highest grade of oil known to any oil fields. Its
extraordinarily high gasoline content, in the opinion of some geologists,
indicates that the oil is migrant from a mother pool, which when found
will beyond peradventure establish the Lewistown fields among the im-
portant oil fields of the country. The Cat Creek .structure is but one of
HISTORY OF MONTANA 717
many, there being, among others, the Dog Creek, Arrow Creek, Sager
Canyon, Garneill, Gih Edge, Box Elder, Brush Creek, Button Butte,
Devil's Basin, Howard Coulee, Big Wall, Willow Creek, Square Butte,
Blood Coulee, Bauley, Woodhawk, Valentine, Piper, Black Butte and
Flatwillow, as being considered prospecting ground by competent
geologists.
The oil industry of Fergus County has brought into prominence the
little town of Winnett and other towns have shown marked growth and
development in recent years. Moore, Garniell and Straw on the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, south of Lewistown, are m the center of a
rich farming section. Denton, the largest town in Northwestern Fergus,
has a flour mill, elevator and up to date stores and hotels. Buffalo, on the
Great Northern Railroad, is surrounded by splendid farms and ranches.
Hanover has a large cement factory, and north of Lewistown lie Roy
and Winifred, adjacent to which are immense grain growing and stock-
raising sections. Kendall, a gold mining camp five miles from Hilger,
has produced over $5,000,000 in gold. Grass Range and Teigen lie in
Eastern Fergus and are surrounded by agricultural and stockraising
country.
Government Experiment Station
A point of great interest to visiting tourists to the county, and par-
ticularly those who are interested in agricultural matters, is the United
States Government experimental station, a tract of 640 acres in the
Judith Basin, which was established in 1908. This is located two miles
west of the town of Moccasin in the Western part of the county, and the
work is under the supervision of agricultural experts who are employed
by the Government. Experiments are carried on in the different methods
of tilling the soil and in growing the different kinds of hay and grain
crops. The records thus far show that the average yield of Turkey
Red winter wheat grown at the station for a period of seven consecutive
years is 34.1 bushels per acre; they also show that the average rainfall
for a period of eight years was 18.53 inches, and more than fifty per cent
of each year's precipitation was received in the growing season from
April 1st to July 31st. Each summer a farmer's picnic is held at the
station and farmers gather from all parts of the Basin to inspect the
farming methods as conducted at the station, and to listen to instructive
talks by the Government experts in charge and other agricultural experts
from different parts of the country.
Fergus County has become a point of great attraction to hunters
and fishermen, being amply supplied with game, both large and small.
Prairie chickens, pheasants, sage hens, blue grouse, jackrabbits and
other small game abound in the foothills in countless numbers, while in
the mountains are found the larger species of game, principally deer and
bear. In 1914, Fergus County shipped two carloads of elk from the
Yellowstone National Park and put them in the Belt Mountains, where
they have been and will be protected until the time when they are more
numerous. The many mountain streams furnish excellent sport for the
718 HISTORY OF MONTANA
fisherman, as they are well stocked with trout and whitefish, and it is not
an uncommon occurrence to catch speckled trout in Big Spring Creek that
weigh from ten to twelve pounds.
Education and Population
Indicative of the intelligence, good judgment and public spirit of
its people, who have accomplished so much in the comparatively short
time that Fergus County has been in being, are its excellent schools. In
addition to good graded and high schools at Lewistown, there are graded
schools in the towns and rural districts, in which the best standards are
required and maintained and only competent teachers are employed. The
187 school districts of the county have a total of over 280 school build-
ings, in which over 400 teachers are employed. Church privileges are
general in the towns and in many parts of the rural districts high moral
standards prevail generally.
The population figures given in the United States census for 1920
show 28,344 souls living within its borders; 17,385 for i9iO- It is be-
lieved that the newly-developed oil industry will contribute greatly to the"
population of the county and that other industries which will naturally
follow will also add thereto. Land values in Fergus County are difficult
of standardization. They run, however, from $20 to $80 per acre for
unirrigated and up to $100 for irrigated bottom lands, while grazing lands
bring from $10 to $20 per acre. The percentage of grain and hay land
largely accounts for the variation in price.
The census also furnishes some interesting figures as to the compara-
tive urban and rural population since and including 1910. In the latter
year the rural population amounted to 14-393 ^"'^1 '•"'^ urban to 2,992 ; or
17.2 per cent of urban in the total population. In 1920, the percentage had
increased to 21.6 — that is, 22,224 rural population as compared with 6,120
urban, which goes to show that notwithstanding the business and industrial
opportunities afforded by Lewistown and other urban centers, the call to
the farms and rural occupations was gathering strength. As noted, the
development of the oil industries is bringing a noteworthy increase of
population to the county, and as the promising fields are in the rural dis-
tricts, this transfer of the population of the county from the larger centers
to the country districts will probably be more pronounced in 1921-22 than
it was in 1920.
In the 1920 census the population of Lewistown City is given as 6,120,
divided by wards as follows: Ward I, 2,402; Ward II, 1,717; Ward III,
2,001. With the improvement of both the urban and rural schools, the
educational advantages enjoyed by town and country pupils are being con-
stantly equalized ; which fact may also account for the good showing in
population increase made by the out-of-town districts.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 719
Water Powers and Public Ways
In the matter of water powers and public ways, Fergus County is
well supplied. Among the largest of the hydro-electric plants are the
two belonging to the Montana Power Company, one within the city limits
of Lewistown and the other six miles east of Lewistown on Pig Spring
Creek, which runs through Lewistown and is one of the finest and largest
mountain streams in Montana. This company, incidentally, furnishes
the electric power for the new plant of the Three Forks Portland Cement
Company, at Hanover, this plant, together with the town, having been
erected at a cost of approximately $1,000,000. Hanover has its own water
system, the water being piped to all parts of the plant and city.
From a transportation standpoint, Fergus County is well located strate-
gically, six railroad lines traversing 'the Basin in all directions, these
including the Great Northern and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul.
Fergus has an aggregate of 6,500 miles of highway bringing the various
communities into perfect touch with one another. Lewistown is on the
Red Trail from Chicago and Minneapolis, and on the Custer Battlefield
Highway from Omaha to Glacier Park. Of the 6,500 miles of open high-
ways, more than possessed by any other Montana County ; 920 miles con-
sist of crowned roads. The Central Montana Highway, the Park-to-
Park Highway and the Wheat Line Highway are more or less local thor-
oughfares, but the Custer Battlefield Highway, which was recently brought
through Lewistown through the untiring efforts of the president of the
Chamber of Commerce of that city and his fellow-members, is becom-
ing one of the most traveled highways in the state and is bringing tourists
from all over the world. This trail starts at Omaha and ends at Glacier
Central Park. Another great thoroughfare is the National Parks High-
way from Chicago to Seattle. This crosses the Yellowstone at Glendive
and goes through Central Montana via Lewistown to Helena and all
the parks, and, in time, is expected to be Montana's gateway to the
Pacific Coast.
The City of Lewistown
Lewistown, the county seat of Fergus County, located in the heart
of the famous Judith Basin, is situated in practically the geographical
center of the state of Montana, admirably located on two transcontinental
lines of railway, with several branch lines leading in and out to all parts
of the county. The city's substantial growth within recent years has
been largely due to the development of the natural resources of the trib-
utary country, but a great share of the credit for the growth lies with the
people, whose enterprise and public spirit have been commendable and
unfailing. Incorporated August, 1899, although it had secured special
delivery service to all parts of the Union in October 1886, it has grown
from a small and struggling village into a city of importance and beauty,
with over seven and one-half miles of boulevard, twenty-five miles of
720
HISTORY OF MONTANA
cement sidewalk, large schools and other buildings, including a library,
and consisting of three wards and thirteen additions.
While situated in the heart of a rich farming country, Lewistown may
be said to be a business city. It has four prosperous banking institutions,
the First National Bank, the Empire Bank and Trust Company, the Bank
of Fergus County and the Lewistown State Bank. These banking con-
cerns represent combined deposits of $6,000,000 and enjoy an excellent
reputation in the county and in banking circles generally throughout the
state. One of the leading industries of more recent date, as before noted,
is the Three Forks Portland Cement Company, which is employing about
300 men, with a large pay-roll and a modern plant in the outlying dis-
tricts of Lewistown. The United States Gypsum Company is another
concern which is well represented, and others which are in a flourishing
condition are a flour mill, brick and tile works, bottling works and two
The Highland Park School
creameries, in addition to which there is conducted a wool market and
sugar beet raising has been found profitable.
The city is continuing to grow apace, and its citizens, strongly backed
by the Chamber of Commerce, have worked effectively with the city offi-
cials in securing numerous public improvements. Several which are now
in prospect are a water service extension to cost $65,000; two bridges in
the city, one to cost $24,000 and the other $15,000; and a new school
building to be erected, which will contain an auditorium seating 1,200
persons. The city water is to be secured from a large spring in a con-
creted cave, which will be operated upon the gravity system, with lOO
pounds pressure, the water never seeing the daylight and thus being free
from polluting influences.
Like other enlightened communities whose citizens are possessed of
modern tendencies, Lewistown has given much attention to the matter of
HISTORY OF MONTANA 721
education. At the present time the school enrollment is 1,375 pupils. Six
rural schools are located in the remote parts of the Levvistown District,
and these schools are visited by the superintendent, the school nurse and
the special supervisors in music, etc. Four transportation wagons bring
the rural children from the nearby farms to the city schools. In the
city there are five buildings including the South Lewistown School. The
Hawthorne School, one of the first constructed, recently has been wrecked
to make way for a first-class modern one-story grade and kindergarten
building, and this leaves the Garfield as the oldest building in use. This
building, while presenting an excellent exterior appearance, is not a
modern fire-proof building. The Highland Park building is the latest and
most modern school, a one-story building, modern in heating, ventilating,
arrangements, location and construction.
For administrative and instructional purposes, the Lewistown School
system has three departments, the primary, intermediate and junior high.
Aside from the regular curriculum having to do with the usual subjects,
special supervisors in music, art, domestic art, industrial arts, health and
physical education are employed. Increasing emphasis will be placed in
the future upon the health and physical education.
The new building program, for which an appropriation has been voted,
calls for the construction of two new buildings. The new grade building
for the Hawthorne site will be modern in every respect. The new
junior high school structure will also represent the latest in that type.
It will be a two-story fire-proof building, and the class rooms will be
grouped around the auditorium and gymnasium, the latter being so ar-
ranged that it can be made a part of the stage. For a mass meeting or
other public gathering, the gymnasium and auditorium will seat 1,200
people.
Directly in line with the fine work being accomplished by the schools
is what is being done by the Public Library. The first step toward secur-
ing free reading matter for the citizens of Lewistown was taken by the
Sunset Club, an organization formed in the winter of 1893-94, for the
purpose of social enjoyment and intellectual advancement. In January,
1897, F. E. Smith was elected chairman and J. M. Parrent secretary
of a committee to commence the work of organizing a Public Library.
They started modestly with 329 books and a cash capital of $126.50, and
at the start the trustees were : F. E. Smith, chairman ; E. K. Cheadle,
secretary; Halsey Watson, treasurer; Rev. Albert Pfaus, Rev. Vigus,
Mrs. E. E. Wright, Mrs. G. J. Wiedeman and Mrs. F. C. Stiles. On
April 24, 1901, the city council passed an ordinance to establish and main-
tain a Free Public Library, and in the following September Mrs. M. A.
Sloan was elected librarian. In the same year she was succeeded by Mrs.
A. Pfaus, who served until October, 1906, when Archie Farnum was
elected librarian. In 1908, Mr. Farnum resigned and was succeeded
by Mrs. A. Pfaus, who acted in that capacity until 1913, when she re-
signed and Mrs. Guy Wait was elected in her place. The latter resigned
in 1913, at which time the present librarian. Miss Clara Main, was elected.
She has served ably and acceptably. At the present time the Lewistown
Lewistcjwn of Today
HISTORY OF MONTANA 723
Public Library has over 8,000 books, and on its lists of subscribers are
1,600 adults and 1,000 children. The present Board of Trustees consists
of the following: Grant Robinson, chairman; Mrs. Helen L. Warr, sec-
retary ; Mrs. C. R. McLave, Mrs. Bert d'Autremont, Mrs. Anna Crowley,
Judge Von Tobel and E. O. Kindschy.
That Lewistown is a moral city may be seen in the fact that its
citizens support no less than eight churches, all of which are engaged
in movements making for still higher standards and better citizenship.
The city has two up-to-date newspapers, the Fergus County Argus, estab-
lished in 1883, and the Fergus County Democrat. Since April, 1905, the
Judith Club has been a factor in the upbuilding and development not alone
of the city of Lewistown, but also of Fergus County and its industries and
institutions, and another factor is the Lewistown Woman's Club. There
are also twenty-nine secret and benevolent lodges in the city, all of which
are in a prosperous condition. In fact, Lewistown is a thoroughly
modern city.*
Flathead County (Kalispell)
West of the main range of the Rocky Mountains in almost the extreme
northwestern corner of Montana, and directly south of British Columbia,
lies Flathead County. To its northeast is the wild, beautiful and pictur-
esque Glacier National Park, with the Continental Divide forming its
southeastern border line, and in its southern central part are found the
Flathead and Mission ranges of mountains. Lincoln County forms the
greater part of its western border, its extreme southwestern corner be-
ing flanked by Sanders County. Magnificent, timbered mountain ranges,
fine, fertile valleys, over 300 lakes, several national forests and a part of the
former Flathead Indian reservation combine to make it one of the most
interesting of Montana's counties. Owing to its location and its general
topography, its early history is one of absorbing interest, having been char-
acterized by the labors of the Catholic Missionaries among the mild and
friendly Flathead Indians ; but that period of the history is covered in
other chapters of this work, and the present sketch will be confined to
more modern events.
Flathead is another one of the counties of Montana decidedly irregular
in shape. At its widest point, east and west, it is sixty-five miles across,
while its greatest length, north and south, is approximately loi miles,
and its land area is 6,109 square miles, making it one of the larger
counties of the state. The date of its creation was March i, 1893, and its
name is derived from the Flathead tribe of Indians. Owing to the fact
that a large part of the county is mountainous, agriculture was somewhat
slow in development and the cultivable land is mostly rolling, the soil be-
ing a deep sandy loam. There are about 150,000 acres of logged-ofif
* Since the above was written, Jurlith Basin County has been created from the
western part of Fergus and the southeastern part of Cascade counties. The new
county comprises more than one-half of the Judith Basin and is probably the most
highly developed agricultural county in Montana, Stanford is the county seat.
724 HISTORY OF MONTANA
lands in the county, which now raise all kinds of crops. It is estimated
that it costs $75 an acre to clear the lands, a large portion of which is
sub-irrigated. What is known as the Flathead project is located in the
counties of Flathead, Sanders and Missoula, and is on the Pacific slope
in the drainage area of the Flathead and Jocko rivers on the former
Flathead Indian reservation. The irrigable area of the project is 134,500
acres, and of this amount the Government Reclamation Service has works
completed for 98,000 acres.
The county is in the Flathead Basin, drained by the Flathead River
system, and domestic water is obtained mostly from springs and wells,
the latter being at an average of forty feet. The principal crops are
small grain, wheat, oats, barley and rye. Alfalfa, clover and timothy do
exceptionally well and the acreage in these grasses is being enlarged.
Vegetables also thrive, and during the past year potato growing has been
launched on a large scale, there being more than 2,000,000 acres de-
TOWN OF POLSON
voted to the tuber. The hardier kind of fruits and berries are successfully
raised, although up to the present apples have been the only fruit raised
on a commercial scale.
The mountains in Flathead County are known to contain various kinds
of minerals, but exploration and development have not been carried far
enough to determine their possibilities. Aside from agriculture, horti-
culture and stockraising, lumbering is the chief industry of the county,
for Flathead is one of the best timbered counties in the state. There are
2,232,418 acres included in national forests, 200,000 acres in state timber
land and more than 100.000 acres of timber belonging to the Indians, in
addition to which there are large private holdings.
A number of flourishing and progressive towns have been developed
in the Flathead Basin. Big Fork, (jn the shore of Flathead Lake, the
largest fresh water lake in the United States exclusive of the Great Lakes,
is twenty-three miles southeast of the county seat of Kalispell, and is the
location of the power plant of the Northern Idaho and Montana Power
Company. Another growing community, recently established, is Chau-
tauqua, four miles south of Somers, on the west bank of the same lake.
An important shipping point is Poison, at the south end of Flathead Lake,
on the bank of the Pcnd d'Oreille Ri\er. Under a project of the United
HISTORY OF MONTANA 725
States Government Reclamation Service, this river is becoming a decided-
ly important factor in the development of a great agricultural region. Its
falls are being developed by dam and tunnel and water is being pumped
from Flathead Lake over the ridge south of the city where it is distribut-
ed over several thousand acres. Naturally, Poison is able to secure ade-
quate power for its industries, which at present include flour and sawmills,
three grain elevators and a modern electric light and water works. Steam-
boat service daily is maintaned between that point and Dayton, Somers
and Big Fork. Poison also has three banks, five hotels, a public library, a
commercial club and four churches. Somers, at the north end of Flathead
Lake, is known chiefly as a lumber shipping point. Whitefish, which
was incorporated in 1905, has a population of about 3,000, and is chiefly
noticeable as a division point and a lumber market. Dayton and Rollins
are also towns on Flathead Lake, with good locations and fair pros-
pects.
The Montana Soldiers' Home
Columbia Falls, at the junction of the main line and the Flathead
branch of the Great Northern Railway, at the mouth of Bad Rock Canyon,
and at the junction of the north, south and middle forks of the Flathead
River, fifteen miles northeast of Kalispell, is a town of about 975 popula-
tion. It has considerable interests in lime, coal, lumber, farming and
grazing, and has two hotels, a commercial club, a weekly newspaper and
two churches.
Columbia Falls, however, is principally of interest as the location of
the Montana Soldiers' Home. This home, which is a notable monument
to the gratitude and patriotism of the people of Montana, had its in-
ception in 1895, and so rapidly were plans pushed through that on
Memorial Day, May 30, 1896, the cornerstone was laid by Governor
J. E. Rickards with appropriate ceremonies. A large crowd gathered
from the surrounding country, and the occasion was patriotic and im-
pressive. On August 4, 1896, Capt. J. R. Hillman was the unanimous
choice for commandant of the home, a post which he retained until the fall
of 1902 when he tendered his resignation. Capt. H. S. Howell, who was
elected in his stead, died at the home September 11, 191 1, and Capt. J. E.
Sprague was chosen to succeed him. He died May 14, 1920, and was
succeeded by Col. G. I. Reiche and John S. Axtell. The present officers
are: Simon Hauswirth, commandant; A. D. Thomas, adjutant; W. C.
Allison, M. D., surgeon : R. W. Nelson, chaplain. The board of man-
agers include : John O. Morton, president ; Dr. A. T. Munro, Judge
James R. Goss and James M. Page, Grand Army of the Republic mem-
bers. The late secretary, Hon. Charles S. Warren, of Butte, died April
13, 192 1. At the time of the last report, December i, 1920, the home
had 102 members, with thirty inmates. The first application for mem-
bership in the Montana Soldiers' Home was approved June 17, 1897, and
since then over 500 members have been enrolled, of whom forty served
in the Spanish-American War and three were Indian fighters during the
years 1876-77 in the Territory of Montana. Not only are old soldier's
726 HISTORY OF MONTANA
and sailors admitted to membership, but their wives and widows as well.
The buildings now in use are the Main Building, already referred to ; the
Administration Building, orginally constructed for a hospital ; the
Women's Building; the Hospital, and the Service and Headquarters
Building, which has been constructed recently at a cost of nearly $20,000.
These buildings are substantially constructed of brick, stone and con-
crete, and are two stories in height, with basement.
Flathead County is well supplied with educational institutions and
facilities, reflecting in this direction the progressiveness of its people. All
schools in the county are graded, and there are county high schools at
Kalispell, Columbia Falls, Whitefish and Poison.
In the matter of population, the 1920 census figures show 21,705,
against 18,785 for 1910. Kalispell, the county seat and largest town,
dropped from 5,549 in 1910, to 5,147 in 1920.
First-class farm land in the county, well improved, sells at $100 to
$125 per acre, although considerable farm land can be bought at $75 to
$80 an acre, and 100,000 acres of cut over or stump land at $5 to $25 per
acre. Irrigated land, according to its location, is worth $200 to $300
an acre.
The main line of the Great Northern traverses the county east and
west and furnishes the only transportation out of the county except
over Flathead Lake to the south, connecting with the Northern Pacific
at Poison. Steamboats operate between Somers, at the north end of Flat-
head Lake, and Poison, at the southern end, which is the terminus of
a branch from the south of the Northern Pacific. The county has more
than 3,000 miles of highway. It is cros.sed by the National Parks High-
way, the Yellowstone-Glacier Park Bee Line Highway, and has an auto-
mobile boulevard out of Kalispell around Flathead Lake, 115 miles long,
one of the most scenic roads in the Northwest. There are automobile
roads to the Glacier National Park, Swan Lake, Whitefish Lake, Mc-
Gregor Lake, Bitter Root Lake, Stillwater Lake, Lake Ronan, Camas
Hot Springs and Thompson Lake, and hard-surfaced roads to White-
fish, Somers and Big Fork. Magnificent scenery, excellent hunting and
fishing and boating are some of the attractions for tourists. More sum-
mer homes have been erected on the shores of the various lakes in Flat-
head County than in all other Montana counties combined. ]\Iany wealthy
people from the East have been so charmed by the scenery that they have
built permanent summer homes. The winters of the county are milder
than those of Iowa or Kansas, while the annual rainfall is approximately
eighteen inches, and the annual wind velocity is only 4.8 miles per hour,
the lowest of any place in the United States except one.
I Kalispell
Kalispell, the county seat of Flathead County, is a city of three wards,
and was incorporated in April, 1902. It is a thriving community, with
three banking institutions, the oldest of which is the Fir.st National Bank,
which was founded in 1891. It maintains four newspapers and eleven
churches, and its industries are of sufficient importance to warrant the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 727
presence of four labor unions, its Chamber of Commerce, of which
P. N. Bernard is secretary, is a live organization which has done much to
promote the city's welfare. Among other public buildings is a well-
equipped Carnegie library. In its connection with the outside world,
Kalispell has the facilities of the Great Northern Railway, as well as four
stage lines, including the Kalispell, Kila & Pleasant Valley, the Kalispell
& Somers, the Kalispell, Holt cS: Big Fork and the Kalispell & White-
fish. Motor bus service is maintained to Big Fork and Swan Lake, and
there are several automobile and boat lines.. Its special delivery service
to all points in the country was established in October, 1886. That its
people are sociable by inclination is shown in the fact that there are
twenty-two secret and benevolent lodges having membership at the county
seat. In the way of educational advantages, the youth of the city are
Bird's Eye View of Kalispell
granted excellent advantages, there being a free county high school with
an enrollment of 700 pupils, as well as the Central, North Side and West
Side graded schools.
The oldest residents of Kahspell include : D. R. Peeler, president of
the Bank of Commerce; H. C. Keith, president of the First National
Bank ; C. D. Conrad, president of the Conrad National Bank ; James
Ford, Andrew Swaney, John Foy, Mrs. J. A. Kimerley, C. O. Ingals,
George F. Stannard, August Lagoni and Richard Greig, all of Kalispell ;
and J. E. Lewis, now of Columbia Falls.
Gall.\tix County (Bozeman)
Gallatin is one of the oldest of Montana's counties, having been created
February 2, 1865. Located just west of the Bridger range of mountains,
in south central Montana, its southern boundary extends to the Yellow-
stone National Park and the State of Idaho, and its 2,507 square miles
are included in an area about 100 miles in length and approximately twenty-
Scenes in the Gallatin Valley
HISTORY OF MONTANA 729
five miles in width. Included in the county is the Gallatin Valley, a
garden spot of the state, located among the headwaters of the Missouri
River at the northwestern corner of the Yellowstone National Park.
More than half a million acres, the larger portion under cultivation, lie
in this fertile region, which on every side is walled in by snow-capped
mountains. Down the sides of the Rockies, the Gallatin, the Bridger and
the Madison, course many streams which irrigate the soil and serve to
develop the agriculture of the county.
Like other Montana counties, Gallatin depended largely for its early
settlement upon the ranchmen, but these were soon succeeded by the farm-
ers, who found the rich and fertile soil productive of large and unfailing
crops. Thus it is that the Gallatin Valley has come to be termed the
"Egypt of America." About half the total area of the farming land is
under irrigation, while the remainder is dry farmed, a method that has
been in vogue for thirty years, having originated in this region.
The Gallatin Valley, in spite of being primarily an agricultural country,
boasts of a number of thriving and growing cities, principal among which
are Bozeman, Three Forks, Belgrade, Manhattan, Willow Creek and
Salesville. Three Forks, with two railroads, has a population of 2,000
and is a little city with its own water plant and electric lighting system.
Manhattan is a milling and shipping point, its malting works being its
leading industry. Belgrade has flour mills and elevators. Willow Creek
is in the heart of a prosperous agricultural district. At Trident is a large
cement factory. Beautiful mountain scenery, many streams and lakes,
good hunting and fishing, and proximity to the Yellowstone Park, have
made Gallatin County headquarters for summer tourists for many years;
a not inconsiderable source of revenue for residents.
Much timber of commercial value is to be fovmd on the Gallatin and
Bridger ranges of mountains, but lumbering has never been conducted on a
large scale, although there are several small mills in the timbered region.
Agriculture, stock growing and the manufacture of flour and cereal
products are the chief industries. Large herds of cattle and bands of
sheep range the southern part of the county, flour mills are operated in
practically all of the towns and the raising of peas for seed and canning
purposes is an important industry, as is also the manufacture of dairy
products; but Gallatin County is most widely noted for its production of
grains and grasses. Spring and winter wheat, oats, barley, peas, clover
and alfalfa, are the principal crops raised. In 1919 (census of 1920) the
76,071 acres in the county which raised cereals produced 968,644 bushels,
of which 640,466 were wheat and 259,204, oats. Under the head "hay
and forage," 70,124 tons were raised from 51,046 acres.
Gallatin County, as a whole, has a splendid school system. In addition
to high schools in the smaller towns, the county high school is located at
Bozeman, the county seat, and that city, is likewise the seat of the State
College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts and the United States Ex-
periment Station. In fact, the matter of good schools has always
been a question of prime consideration by the people of this county.
Modern school buildings, well furnished with the necessary equipment for
\
730 HISTORY OF MONTANA
school work, well lighted, heated and with good water, have been provided
rapidly and with a lavish hand. The requirements for teachers are high.
The state course of study which provides for work along all academic
lines and in addition thereto, courses in agriculture and suggestive work in
morals and manners, nature study, etc., forms the basis for the work in
the rural schools.
As to population, Gallatin County has 15,864 inhabitants — 14,079 in
1910. Bozeman, its largest town, has a population of 6,183.
Good irrigated land in Gallatin County may be purchased for from
$100 to $300 per acre, while non-irrigated land sells for from $50 to $100
per acre, the wide diflference in price being due to location and improve-
ments.
Gallatin County places great value upon its drainage and water
supply. The valley lands are irrigated from the waters of the West
Gallatin River and its tributaries. The Missouri River finds its source
in the Gallatin Valley, at the confluence of the Jefferson, Madison and
Gallatin rivers near Three Forks. As to transportation facilities, the
main line of the Northern Pacific traverses the entire length of the Galla-
tin Valley. The main line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & Pugent Sound
crosses the northern end of the county and is fed by a branch line origi-
nating at Bozeman. Other lines are the Gallatin Valley Railway, Yellow-
stone Park Railway, Oregon Short Line and Camp Creek Railway, and
an electric railway is operated between Bozeman and Salesville.
The Yellowstone Trail traverses the Gallatin Valley, and Gallatin
County was one of the first to build hard-surfaced roads. A scenic
highway is being constructed from Bozeman to Yellowstone, up the
West Gallatin Canyon to the western entrance of the Yellowstone National
Park. This is known as the Gallatin way and is considered one of the
most attractive scenic drives of the West. Gallatin County has a road-
building program involving an expenditure of $1,000,000.
Probably few farming districts have more natural attractions on their
borders. The Bridger mountains, the highest peaks of which reach an
elevation of 10,000 feet, lie along the eastern side of the valley, and at
the foot of these mountains and within three or four miles of the sum-
mits are cultivated fields. To the southwest a few miles are the Spanish
Needles, more lofty and more rugged, and everywhere on the lower
slopes of these mountains are large areas of timber. A drive along the
foot of the mountains in any direction will bring the tourist to dozens
of beautiful, shady canyons, each with its overhanging crags and cliffs,
sparkling springs and streams of clear, pure water. Most of these streams
are stocked with mountain, rainbow and eastern brook trout.
The City of Bozeman
The metropolis of the Gallatin Valley, the city of Bozeman, which
is also the county seat, is located in the heart of the Rocky mountains and
in the midst of one of the most picturesque spots in Montana. Known
locally as the "city of homes," it is also becoming popular as a summer
HISTORY OF MONTANA
731
home for the tourist and sportsman. On the main hne of the Northern
Pacific and a branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, it is the
seat of the State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, which has
an attendance of from 500 to 600 students. In addition to having several
most attractive residence streets, the city possesses a well-equipped Young
Men's Christian Association, an Elks' Home, a handsome Federal building,
good schools and many churches. The municipal water works draw the
city's supply from a mountain lake six miles distant. The Bozeman
Chamber of Commerce is a useful and industrious body, with neat and
really artistic headquarters, which serve as exhibit and rest rooms and a
place for society and public meetings. The city has an unusual number of
well paved and lighted streets for a place of its size.
In respect to educational advantages, Bozeman ranks high. Its pub-
lic schools ofifer special courses in writing, drawing, music, domestic
Public School at Bozeman
science and manual training, and pupils going from the Bozeman schools
into other states find themselves well equipped for taking up the work
in the institutions which they enter. Pupils who finish the eighth grade
in the public schools are entitled to enter the Gallatin County High School
where tuition is free. This is a first-class educational institution of sec-
ondary grade, its course of study being modern and full credit being
granted to it by all of the higher institutions of learning in the state and
by many of the leading colleges and universities of the country.
In addition to these advantages, Bozeman has the distinction of being
the home of an institution of higher learning which maintains the largest
faculty and has a greater number of students than any other educational
institution of the state, the State College of Agriculture and Mechanic
Arts. This offers to its students all of the advantages that may be
secured in any similar institution in the United States. The State College
of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, of which Alfred Atkinson is president,
was established February 16, 1893, and consist of the Colleges of Agricul-
732 HISTORY OF MONTANA
ture, Engineering, Applied Science and Household and Industrial Arts ;
Courses for Vocational Teachers, the School of Music, the Summer Quar-
ter, the Secondary Schools of Agriculture, Home Economics and Mechanic
Arts, the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Agricultural Exten-
sion service. A more extended notice of the State College of Agricul-
ture appears in the educational chapter.
Among the factors which have made for higher morals and better citi-
zenship at Bozeman, the Young Men's Christian Association is vi^orthy of
mention. The Bozeman local was organized in November, 1913, the
first directors being W. E. Harmon, H. S. Buell, F. M. Brown, R. J.
Cunningham, A. E. Westlake and P. C. Waite, and the first trustees E.
B. Martin, George P. Dier, A. C. Roecher, A. J. Walrath and W. S.
Davidson. The site was purchased in December of the same year, plans
were ordered drawn, a campaign for funds was inaugurated and $65,000
raised for the erection of the structure. Later, an additional sum of
$7,500 was raised for the furnishing of the building. Qiarles Puehler
was state secretary and O. C. Colton building secretary. After the
completion of the building, Mr. Colton was retained as the first local
secretary, and he was succeeded in turn by Oliver Price, J. C. Snowden,
P. A. Ten Haf and H. J. Williams, the last named being the present
secretary. The present board of directors consists of G. L. Martin, E.
J. Parkin, O. A. Lynn, C. S. Kenyon, R. E. Esgar, G. R. Powers, F. M.
Brown, W. M. Cobleigh, J. R. Parker, William Hollingsworth, W. F.
Day and R. J. Cunningham, while the present trustees are A. C. Roecher,
E. B. Martin, Nelson Story, Jr., W. S. Davidson, F. O. Wilton and
Walter Aitken. The present membership consists of 353 men, 174 boys,
eighty-four women and thirty-eight girls, a total of 649, in addition to
which there are ninety-three subscribers who make donations toward the
support of the Association, making a total list of 742 subscribers.
Bozeman is a well-to-do city which maintains four banks with deposits
of over $4,000,000. As a business center it is a distributing point for the
entire Gallatin Valley. Large cereal and flouring mill interests are cen-
tered at the county seat, in addition to which there is a pea canning factory,
many elevators and warehouses and several wholesale and jobbing houses.
The city holds out numerous attractions to the tourist. Only four
miles from the city, in Bridger Canyon, is to be seen a most interesting
institution, the United States Government Fish Hatchery. There are
many mountain canyons within a short distance of the city, with good
roads leading to almost all of them. Splendid trout fishing may be had
in each of these canyons, and there are also numerous mountain streams
and mountain lakes within a short distance of the city. The city maintains
camping grounds for auto tourists, and supplies free wood, water, light
and other conveniences for those who would tarry there. The grounds are
located two blocks south of Main Street and are entered from Church
Avenue.
One of the city's amusement features each year is the event known
as the Bozeman Roundup, the largest and most spectacular entertainment
of its kind staged. It is a reproduction of the frontier days of Montana,
HISTORY OF MONTANA 733
and spectators come, year after year, from all parts of the country ; while
contestants, not only from the state but from other sections of the West,
enter the lists to test their skill, daring, strength and endurance in such
contests as "broncho-busting," "steer-roping" and "bull-dogging."
CHAPTER XXX
GARFIELD, GLACIER, GOLDEN VALLEY, GRANITE, HILL,
JEFFERSON, JUDITH BASIN
Garfield County, situated in the east central part of Montana, with
the Missouri River for its northern boundary and the Musselshell River
for its western, was created April i, 19 19. Though one of the infant
counties of the state, it has already given evidence of lusty growth and
the promise of a well rounded maturity. The surface of the county is
generally rolling, with breaks along the Missouri River and some rougher
country in the northern part in the neighborhood of Piney Buttes. The
most fertile spots are found on the bottom lands, but there are also good
agricultural possibilities on the benches, where the soil is for the most
part a chocolate loam.
Natur.\l and Acquired Features of Garfield County
The central part of the county is elevated, and there many small
streams take their source, flowing to all points of the compass and empty-
ing into the Musselshell and Missouri rivers and into Dry Creek. In
most places good well water may be obtained at depths varying from ten
to fifty feet. In some districts artesian wells have been bored to depths
of 150 to 175 feet, tapping a supply of clear pure water. There is little
commercial timber in the county, such as there is consisting of the small
pine along the Missouri and Musselshell rivers. The small creeks are
generally fringed with cottonwood.
Garfield County being yet in the pioneer stage, stockraising has hither-
to been the chief industry, though other spheres of industrial activity are
being actively developed with good promise for the future. Scenes char-
acteristic of the Old West with its picturesque cowboys and extensive
cattle ranges, may still be seen here. Agriculture is undergoing a slow
development, owing to the lack of transportation facilities, there being
as yet no railroad in the county. This handicap is certain to be removed
at no distant date, as the Great Northern has surveyed a new main line
that will cross the county east and west, and which has been completed
in the adjoining counties of Richland and Ferguson. A gap of 150 miles
remains to be filled up, and the work will doubtless be undertaken as soon
as financial conditions permit. Still another transcontinental line has been
surveyed through the county, but its construction as yet is uncertain.
Should it materialize it would place the county in an especially favor-
able condition as to rail communication. The motorist traveling east or
west through the county can avail himself of the Green Trail, and a good
highway is also maintained from Miles City, Custer County, to Jordan.
734
HISTORY OF MONTANA 735
The present lack of rail facilities, while a handicap to those already
on the ground, is an advantage to new settlers, as it gives them the oppor-
tunity of buying land at lower prices than could be easily secured nearer
a railroad line. Irrigated lands sell from $40 to $100 an acre, non-
irrigated farm lands from $10 to $20, and grazing lands from $5 to $10
an acre. Alfalfa, wheat, oats, corn and rye are the principal crops, which,
owing to the inaccessibility of markets, are raised in quantities merely
sufficient to satisfy local needs.
Though not pre-eminently a mining county, Garfield is not devoid of
mineral wealth. Coal has been found in all parts, but is chiefly of the
lignite variety. Chalk has also been found in commercial quantities, and
potash deposits have been reported. The operations of oil prospectors
have recently opened up a new and dazzling field of opportunity, having
resulted in some producing wells, with good prospects for a wider de-
velopment of this industry, and, with each new well brought in, scenes of
J
- \
Rural Flour JVIill, G.\rfield County
excitement have been witnessed like those characteristic of the oil fields
of Pennsylvania and Texas.
The tourist seeking the beauties of nature can find them in abundance
in Garfield County. The romantic scenery of Hell Creek Canyon has
become widely known, and is fully matched by the Snow Creek Game
Preserve along the Missouri in the northern part of the county. This
preserve was created through the efforts of W. T. Hornaday of the New
York Zoological Society, and in addition to its wild natural scenery, it is
well stocked with wild game, including some species now nearly extinct.
In 1920 Garfield County had a population of 5,368. The county seat
is Jordan, which has an estimated altitude of 2,800 feet and a population
(1920) of 813. It is the largest community in the county and the prin-
cipal trading center. From here an auto stage runs to and from Miles
City carrying daily mail, and telephone and wireless communication with
the same point are also maintained. Among local institutions are a high
school accredited for the four years course. Altogether the county has
ninety-five schools, well organized and superintended in a state of satis-
factory efficiency. Among the other towns of the county, Mosby in the
western part is enjoying a rapid growth, chiefly owing to the oil develop-
■•■ji-41-"fct.'att.'','--
Scl^NES Al THE liLACKlEliT SUN DAiNCE
HISTORY OF MONTANA
737
ments in that vicinity. Edwards and Sand Springs are good trading
points in the same end of the county.. The chief trading center south of
Jordan is Cohagen. With the coming of the railroad, and the further
development of agriculture, mining and the oil industry, Garfield County
is due to enjoy a long period of prosperity and substantial growth.
Glacier Countv
Glacier County acquired its political entity as a county of Montana
on April I, 1919. It has a land area of 1,309 square miles, cut out of
Scene in Glacier County
the northwestern part of the state, with the Canadian line for its north-
ern boundary, and for its western and eastern edge of the Glacier Na-
tional Park. Most of the county forms a part of the old Blackfeet
Indian reservation, and the aborigines still own the greater part of the
land. As the terms of their ownership preclude prospecting by whites,
738 HISTORY OF MONTANA
little is known of the county's mineral resources, beyond the fact that
it contains coal and that its geological formation indicates the possibility
of oil.
Glacier County is one of the best watered counties in the state. The
northern part consists of broad rolling prairies, with low lying hills on
the horizon, the rich and abundant grasses making it an ideal region for
stockraising, which occupation has been extensively followed there for
many years. The western part of the county is somewhat rougher, owing
to the outlying spurs of the Glacier Mountains. In the southern part the
surface is level, and for the most part is favored with a good soil and a
longer growing season, extending to about 102 days. In this part of the
county is found the Blackfeet irrigation project, comprising the greater
part of its total area of 122,000 acres. Indian ownership has caused slow
agricultural development, though much of the land is leased to white
settlers. In those parts of the county where land can be purchased, it
ranges from $15 to $50 an acre, according to whether it is improved or
irrigated or suitable only for grazing purposes. The prijicipal crops raised
are wheat, oats, barley, flax and alfalfa. Flax in particular has proved a
successful crop, and the claim is made that the county has produced the
largest yield per acre that has been recorded of any laiid in the world.
Glacier County forms part of a great continental watershed. In gen-
eral the streams flow to the north and east, the waters of St. Mary's
River eventually finding their way into Hudson's Bay and those of Milk
River into the Gulf of Mexico. About one hundred square miles, or one-
thirteenth of the total surface of the county is covered with timber.
This includes 32,256 acres, or about fifty square miles, of the Lewis and
Clark National Forest. But a small proportion of the timber on the other
fifty square miles is of commercial value.
Glacier County has rail communication east and west by means of the
Great Northern railway, by which it is traversed, while the Roosevelt
Memorial Trail, running in the same general direction, is available for
motor cars and other road vehicles. Another fine highway runs along
the eastern side of the Glacier National Park, connecting it with the local
Glacier roads. At the main entrance to the park is located the small and
picturesque village of Glacier Park, containing the largest hotel in the
park.
Cut Bank and Other Towns
The principal town or city in Glacier County is Cut Bank, which is
also the temjXDrary county seat. It has an altitude of 3,698 feet above
sea level, and a population of about fifteen hundred. In municipal im-
provements it is well up to date, having good water, sewer and electric
light systems and well cared for streets and walks. Its business interests
include two banks and a newspaper, besides a number of flourishing mer-
cantile establishments, operated by enterprising business men who under-
stand local needs and maintain a high standard of business efficiency and
integrity conducing to their own prosperity and that of the town. Cut
HISTORY OF MONTANA 739
Bank has two churches, a Catholic and a Protestant, and its school system
is particularly well organized and efficient. It includes a high school
accredited for the four year term.
In the center of the reservation and about two miles from the railroad
is the town of Browning, which is the headquarters of the Indian agency
and contains about six hundred people. It was recently incorporated,
the government having thrown open the townsite, and a number of im-
portant improvements are now under way. On the reservation the tour-
ist may find interesting scenes and study the habits and manners of the
original owners of the soil, while good hunting and fishing may be found
in various parts of the county. In the principal communities there are
good common schools, while an adequate number of rural schools con-
veniently located throughout the country districts provide educational
facilities for the youth of the county.
Golden Valley County
Golden Valley County is one of the most happily named counties in
Montana, by reason both of its natural and artificial advantages. It was
created October 4, 1920, from the western part of Musselshell County
and the northern part of Sweet Grass County, and is comparatively small
in area, containing 1,1 11 square miles. On the north stretch the Snowy
Mountains, two townships of which are included within the limits of the
county. East and west it is traversed by the Musselshell River, which
is fed by a number of small streams coming both from north and south.
Among the largest of them are Careless Creek and Currant Creek from
the north, and Fish Creek and Big Coulee Creek from the south.
These streams furnish abundant water for irrigating throughout the
season, and, with a growing season of 100 to 130 days, both irrigated and
non-irrigated farming have been carried on successfully for the past ten
years. About eighty-five per cent of the land is suited to agricultural
purposes, and a large part of this area is already under the plow. The
soil is mostly a rich clay loam, that on the benches being already mixed
with sand, while along the creeks and in the valleys it partakes of the
nature of gumbo, a name given by geologists to the stratified portion of
the till of the Mississippi Valley.
Coal of excellent quality, both for domestic and steam use, has been
found in various parts of the county, and there are now five small coal
mines operated for commercial purposes. A considerable start has also
been made in oil development, the local exploitation of this industry dat-
ing back to the first discovery of oil in the state, which was made at what
is known as Woman's Pocket in September, 1919. Drilling operations
are proceeding in five distinct structures within the county's borders,
known respectively as the Pole Field Creek, the Woman's Pocket Anti-
cline, the Dead Man's Basin Dome, the Fish Creek Structure and the
Big Coulee Dome.
The activities above mentioned form but a part of the county's general
740 ■ HISTORY OF MONTANA
commercial interests. Within its limits may he found fourteen grain
elevators and a flour mill, while the town of Ryegate has a very successful
creamery, which last year turned out $75,000.00 worth of butter. The
county assessor's report for 1920 shows land values ranging from $20 to
$200 per acre, though grazing land can be purchased for $6 to $10 per
acre.
Golden \'alley County is also fortunate in its road and rail communi-
cation. From east to west it is crossed by the main line of the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, while the Great Northern road crosses
it from north to south. It also enjoys the tourist travel of two impor-
tant highways. The Buffalo Trail Highway from Cody. Wyoming, to
Billings, Great Falls and the Glacier National Park, is a park-to-park
highway, crossing the Shoshone Irrigation Project, the Yellowstone \'al-
ley, the Musselshell Valley, the oil fields, the Great Judith Basin, the Great
Falls of the Missouri and the High Line, thus affording the tourist many
notable attractions indicative of the wealth and importance of the state.
The Electric Highway, which crosses the county east and west, affords
a short cut from Forsyth to Helena and Missoula. .Abundant possi-
bilities exist for the further development of agriculture, dairying, mining
and the oil industry. The tourist traffic is gradually expanding and al-
ready calls for additional hotels.
The population of Golden Valley County was estimated in 1920 at
5,000. Ryegate, with a population of 405, is the county seat. Other
important community centers are Lavina, Belmont and Barber. Each of
these towns can boast of a line new high school, and educational necessi-
ties are promptly recognized and provided for by the citizens.
GR.vNiTii County
Like most of the counties of Montana first opened up through the
mining industry Granite County has had a longer political existence than
the majority of those devoted chiefly to agriculture. It was created
March 2, 1893, and has an area of 1,728 square miles ; yet it is not thickly
settled, its population, according to the recent census, being 4,167.
(iranite County is situated in the middle western part of the state,
with the Continental Divide crossing its southeastern border, its western
boundary line being marked by a spur of the Rocky Mountains. The high
mountains in the southern end of the county give rise to two consider-
able streams. Rock Creek and Flint Creek, which, fed liy numerous small
tributaries, emptv into the Hell Gate River, a stream Tunning westerly
through the northern end of the county. The valleys of these three i)rin-
cipal streams are protected by high mountains and favored with a rich and
deep allu\ial soil, which places them among the most fertile parts of the
state. The abundant supply of water aft'ords admirable opportunities for
irrigation, which is widely practiced throughout the farming districts of
the county. Improved irrigated land brings from $50 to $100 an acre,
unimproved irrigated land from $20 to $40, and unimproved non-irri-
HISTORY OF ]\IONTANA 741
gated land from ^lo to $20 an acre. Wheat, oats, barley, flax, vegetables,
alfalfa, timothy and clover are the principal crops.
Though agriculture, stockraising and dairying have made considerable
progress within recent years, mining was the industry to which the county
owes its start, and which is still in full and successful operation, the most
important mineral products being silver and manganese. Gold, lead and
zinc have been produced in lesser quantities. The Granite Bi-metaliic
Mine at Philipsburg is credited with a jjroduction of over fifty million
dollars to date, chiefly of silver. A large amount of manganese was
mined during the war. Lignite coal has been found in Granite County
and large phosphate beds have also been discovered, but the commercial
value of the latter product has not yet been ascertained. The West Park
district is specially noted for a large deposit of sapphires, larger, it is
claimed, than even the famous source of supply of that gem in Burmah.
Another source of wealth in Granite County is its large area of com-
mercial timber. Some of this is under private ownership, but 677,236
acres are contained in the Missoula National Forest and 54.760 acres in
the Deer Lodge National Forest. Hunting and fishing are tourist attrac-
tions which may be found to perfection in many parts of the county.
Granite county is crossed in its northern part by two great railways,
the Chicago. Milwaukee & St. Paul and the Northern Pacific, the latter
of which has a branch line running southerly from Drummond on the
main line to Philipsburg. A highway has also been projected which will
cross the county westerly from Anaconda to Hamilton in the Bitter Root
Valley.
PlIILIPSr.URG
Philipsburg, the county seat and principal town, is, as already inti-
mated, the terminus of a branch line of the Northern Pacific. It enjoys
a commanding position on a terrace of Flint Creek Valley and has a
population of about fifteen hundred. Its altitude is 5,175 feet. Among
its advantages are a good system of public utilities, including drainage,
waterworks and electric lights. Its court house, business blocks and resi-
dences are well constructed and attractive, and its two banks can boast
aggregate deposits of over one million dollars. Here also is the county
high school, with an accredited four years course and additional courses in
agriculture and teachers' training. Drummond, at the other end of the
branch line, where it connects with the main tracks of the Northern
Pacific, is the trading center for the northern part of the county. Among
its local institutions are a newspaper, and a high school accredited for the
two years course. It has a number of good stores representing the most
important branches of mercantile enterprise, and has recently advanced
to the dignity of a manufacturing town by the erection of a large saw
mill with up to date equipment.
The town of Hall is located in the Flint Creek Valley, in the center
of a populous farming section, and but a short distance from lignite coal
mines. It enjoys a growing trade from the surrounding district.
742 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Hill County
Hill County, pre-eminently noted for its stock-raising interests and
extensive ranches, is a section of Montana abounding in beautiful scenery
and replete with historical associations. It occupies a north central posi-
tion, with Canada just across the northern border, and in shape is almost
square, its length and width being equally sixty miles, though the regu-
larity of the square is broken in the southeast corner where it extends into
the Bearpaw Mountains. It is in this southeast portion that the Rocky
Bay Indian Agency is located.
Hill County was created February 28, 1912, by the division of Chou-
teau County, and the recent census showed a population of 13,958. With
the exception of the mountain region above noted, the county is a rolling
prairie, interspersed with bench lands and with coulees in those parts
Hill County Potatoes
adjacent to streams. A rich and fertile sandy loam is the characteristic
soil, producing various crops, the most extensive acreage being devoted
to wheat and flax. Aside from these, oats, barley, rye and speltz are
grown successfully, and potatoes do particularly well both as to yield and
quality. The growing of corn and sunflowers for silage is receiving more
attention than formerly.
From northwest to southeast the county is traversed by the Milk
River, one of the largest streams in Montana, which receives a number
of small tributaries. Sage, Box Elder and Beaver creeks are also streams
of importance, furnishing water for irrigation. The amount of land thus
artificially watered for the year ending July 12, 1920, was 3,025 acres,
ranging in value from $30 to $100 an acre. At the same time the county
assessor's report showed a total of i,oi6,i8g acres of non-irrigated farm
land and 16,705 acres of state land, most of the latter under sale con-
tract. The dry land is worth from $8 to $50 an acre. Dry land farming
has been carried on since the early settlement of the county, but still
affords ample opportunity for expansion, especially with the aid of
modern methods. Irrigation is being introduced more widely where per-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 743
mitted by the nature of the surface and contiguity to a water supply, two
large projects having recently been planned. Stockraising is followed
with profitable results, and dairying and market gardening are making
good progress, but are capable of much further development. At Fort
Assiniboine, near the county seat, is located the Northern Montana Agri-
cultural Experiment Station, which is maintained by the state. The
growing season is from loi to 126 days.
The deposits of coal in Hill County are large enough to encourage its
commercial exploitation, especially in view of its good quality, and mining
is carried on profitably, some of the mines operating all the year round,
and others being worked only in the winter when the labor from the
farms can be utilized. In drilling for oil, natural gas has been found
and oil prospecting is still proceeding vigorously with unknown possi-
bilities for the future.
The tourist visiting Hill County can find many objects of interest,
both natural and historical. Among the most peculiar and picturesque
are the "Bad Lands" along the Milk River, which occupy a large region
in the vicinity of Havre. Though not so well known as the correspond-
ing formations in Dakota and Eastern Montana, they are fully as inter-
esting and as well worthy of inspection. The beautiful scenery in the
Bearpaw Mountains is one of attractions possessing historical associations,
for it was there that General Howard's troops finally captured Sitting
Bull after a long and hazardous campaign.
Old Fort Assiniboine
The agricultural station at Fort Assiniboine has many features of
interest to dry land farmers, and the old fort itself, many buildings of
which are still in repair, recalls memories of frontier days in the North-
west, of Indian raids and military expeditions, when life was a romance
tinged with danger and only the strong and brave were likely to survive.
The United States troops stationed here, and those at Forts Missoula and
Helena, co-operated with the Canadian mounted police to render the Mon-
tana and Canadian border safe for the pioneers and early settlers of the
state, some of whom, still surviving, retain vivid memories of those event-
ful days. Now Hill County is traversed east and west by the main line
of the Great Northern Railway, the Great Falls-Butte branch running
southwest from Havre to Glacier Park.
Havre
Havre, the county seat, is an incorporated city with three wards and
a population, according to the last census, of 5,429. It was until recently
a railway division point on the Great Northern, having the largest round-
house and railway machine shop in the state, but a re-arrangement of
divisions on that road has diminished its importance as a railroad center.
It is, however, a busy commercial town with modern improvements, in-
cluding ten miles of boulevard illuminated with clustered tungsten lights.
744 HISTORY OF .MONTANA
Havre has three banks, three graded schools — one for each ward —
and high school, giving employment altogether to more than sixty teach-
ers. Another important educational establishment is the large parochial
school connected with St. Jude Thaddeus Church. Prominent among
local institutions is a tasteful and well constructed Carnegie Library con-
taining 3,500 volumes. Three newspapers are published in Havre, there
are twelve societies represented, and the Masons have erected a commodi-
ous temple. The United States land office also has quarters here. Four
miles northwest of the city is the county hospital, near which are found
cement deposits of commercial value. Of the five churches in Havre,
three — the Catholic, Methodist Episcopal and I're.sbyterian — are of early
origin, having been established between 1891 and 1893. Local interests
are watched over and assiduously promoted by a well organized com-
mercial club, with T. E. McCroskey as secretary. The Roosevelt High-
way runs through Havre on its way to Glacier Park.
The report of the county superintendent shows that there are 104
public schools in Hill County, and at Rocky Bay Indian .Agency there is
a school with 120 pupils.
Along the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway in Hill County
there are a number of prosperous towns, including Hingham, Kremlin,
Gildford, Rudyard and Fresno. Laredo and Box Elder are towns on the
Great Falls branch of the Great Northern. Other towns and villages are
■springing up in various parts of the county, some of which may be des-
tined to future importance.
Jefferson County
Jefferson County, having a population, according to the last census, of
5.203, has enjoyed a political existence of fifty-six years, having been
created February 2, 1865, just as the Civil war was approaching its ter-
mination and about nine months after Montana had been separated from
Idaho and made a separate territory. At that time it was to the dwellers
in the eastern, .southern and middle states a practically unknown region,
occupied by Indian tribes generally hostile, and full of danger for the
solitary exjjlorer or adventurous pioneer. But the discovery of gold at
Alder Gulch, in what is now Madison County, worked a transforiuation.
and the greed for wealth, or what would now be called the "'get-rich-
quick" craze, became an agency for good in the settlement and final civili-
zation of a vast territory which, thirty-four years later, was admitted into
the sisterhood of states comprising the American Union.
In this new territory, now a state, Jefferson County occupies geographi-
cally a west central position. Sixty miles long north and south by forty
wide, it has an area of 1,642 square miles. For the most part the surface
is rugged and mountainous, the elevation above sea level ranging from
4,100 feet in the Jefferson \ alley at the southern end, to 7,000 feet or
more in the mountain ranges. The climate, though sometimes .severe in
winter, is sufficiently warm and mild in summer to permit of a growing
season of 82 to 121 days, and agriculture, stock raising and dairying are
HISTORY OF MONTANA 745
followed successfully with due regard to local conditions of soil, surface
and water facilities.
The Continental divide forms the western boundary, several of its
small spurs jutting into the county. The Jefiferson River, flowing along
the southeastern boundary, is the largest stream. The second in impor-
tance is Boulder River, which has its source in the northern part and
flows south, emptying into the Jefiferson at Cardwell. These rivers, to-
gether with Prickly Pear Creek and a number of smaller streams, furnish
good drainage and water supply, and their valleys, having for the most
part a rich alluvial soil, yield satisfactory returns to the enterprising
farmer. The southern part of the county is more adapted to agriculture
than the northern. Wheat, oats, rye and potatoes are the chief crops, and
Butte and Helena the principal markets. Irrigation is practiced where
needed, the price of irrigated lands ranging from $50 to $150 an acre.
Non-irrigated lands bring from $10 to $35 an acre and grazing lands $7
to $12 an acre. Of commercial timber the county contains more than
500,000 acres, of which 354.720 are contained in the Deer Lodge National
Forest, and 147,835 acres in the Helena National Forest.
Mining was the first industry in Jefiferson County and for many years
continued to be the most important. Silver, lead and gold have been the
chief mineral products, and the output of the silver mines at Corbin,
Wickes, Elkhorn and other camps has amounted to millions of dollars.
Some zinc has also been mined and granite used in the state capitol at
Helena was obtained in Jefiferson County. In course of time, after the
shallower or more easily worked deposits had been exploited, mining activi-
ties waned and there was a period of depression, but more recently interest
has revived, new prospects have been discovered and are now in course of
development, with favorable opportunities for the further production of
metals and an extension of the building stone industry.
The southern end of Jefiferson County is traversed by the main line
of the Northern Pacific and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railways.
The former is paralleled by the Yellowstone Trail, while the Banft'-Grand
Canyon road parallels the Great Northern. Branches of the Northern
Pacific leave the main line at Sappington and Whitehall and run south
into Madison County. The Havre-Bunte branch of the Great Northern
runs north and south through the county.
The peculiar geological formation of this region finds expression here
and there in thermal springs, of therepeutic value, which have led to the
establishment of three well-patronized health and pleasure resorts — the
Boulder Hot Springs at Boulder, the Pipestone Hot Springs near White-
hall, and the Alhambra Hot Springs at Alhamlira.
Boulder ..\nd Whiteh.xll
The chief towns in Jeft'erson County are Boulder and Whitehall.
Boulder, located near the center of the county, is the county seat, and,
though small as to population, is a good market town with important live-
stock and mining interests. Here is located the State School for the Deaf
74G HISTORY OF MONTANA
and Blind, and the county high school accredited for the four years course,
which also provides a course in agriculture under the provisions of the
Smith-Hughes Act.
Whitehall is the center of the irrigated agricultural district and draws
considerable trade from Madison County. Like Boulder it has a high
school accredited for the four year term. Good rural schools have been
established throughout the country districts, the pupils in which are show-
ing satisfactory progress.
Judith Basin County
Judith Basin County, politically created December lo, 1920, lies in
Central Montana and contains within its area the great Judith Basin
from which it derives its name, and which is recognized as the best non-
irrigated farming district in the state.
Stretched out in the northwest part of the county are the Highwood
Mountains, which, with the Little Belt Range along the southern border,
form areas of rough and broken land. The eastern half of the county is
drained by the Judith River flowing northward, a direction followed by all
the numerous mountain streams which traverse the county. In many dis-
tricts are found springs of pure water, and an additional supply can usu-
ally be obtained from wells at a depth of 15 to 75 feet.
Judith Basin County is pre-eminent in its opportunities for non-irri-
gated farming, the eastern two-thirds being the richest agricultural district.
The top soil is a brown or chocolate colored loam, with a subsoil of clay,
both intermixed with lime. Wheat, oats, barley and hay are the principal
crops. These are distributed according to location and the character of
the land, hay and root crops being grown along the streams, grain on the
bench lands and timothy and native grasses in the foothills. Stockraising
is carried on successfully and is one of the chief industries. Grain lands
range in price from $50 to $125 an acre; stock ranches and diversified
farms bring $25 to $50 an acre. In some parts of the county coal is found
and has been commercially exploited. About one-fifth the area of the
county is included within natural forests.
Judith Basin County is dotted wtih many small towns and villages,
most of which by their big grain elevators and scenes of business activity
give practical indication of the agrarian wealtli held in the bosom of the
surrounding covmtry. Crop failures are few, and the farmer who knows
his business has success within his grasp. Stanford and Hobson are the
principal community centers, the former being the temporary county seat.
In each of these two villages is a high school accredited for the two year
course. A third high school, accredited for the two year course, is located
at Moccasin. At Lehigh is a coal camp. Other towns are Mendon, Wind-
ham, Spion Kop, Benchland and Utica.
The Great Northern line from Billings, used by the Burlington for
its transcontinental trains, enters the county near the southeast corner and
runs north to Junction, whence a branch line runs east to Lewistown, the
main line continuing across the continent in a northeast direction. High-
ways connect the county with Lewistown, Great Falls and points south.
CHAPTER XXXI
LEWIS AND CLARK COUNTY (HELENA)
Lewis and Clark County lies in the great Missouri Valley of Western
Montana, its chief natural drainage being through the Prickly Pear in
the Helena district of the south, the Dearborn River which flows through
the central part and the Sun River Valley of the north. As the main range
of the Rocky Mountains passes through the county somewhat west of
its center there is also a drainage down their western slopes into Clark's
fork of the Columbia, directly through the Blackfoot River and the Mis-
soula. The main body of the Missouri River, which forms a portion of the
southeastern boundary of Lewis and Clark County, breaks through the
massive Big Range belt, running parallel with the Continental Divide,
and forms a gloomy and magnificent exit known as the Gate of the
Mountains. It is located a few miles below the junction of the Prickly
Pear Creek with the Missouri and just within the county boundaries.
The Gate of the Mountains
The Gate of the Mountains has drawn thousands of photographers
and artists to its grandeurs and beauties, which have impressed them-
selves upon every beholder with the same vividness as upon the first
white men to fittingly record them, Lewis and Clark, the godfathers of
the county itself. That feature of the story, as it relates to this section
of the county, and the discoveries of the famous expedition hereabouts,
are covered in other chapters of this work. In fact, the pioneer times
and characters are necessarily excluded from this sketch, which treats of
modern events woven into a narrative aiming to etch a picture of the
present.
The County and the Capital
Lewis and Clark County is more than a hundred miles from north
to south and some sixty miles from east to west — these being its max-
imum dimensions. It is so irregular in shape, however, running to
sharp points both north and south, that its area is 3,476 square miles, or
slightly more than the average of the fifty-four Montana counties. It
is one of the oldest counties in the state, being originally Edgerton
County, and named after the first territorial governor, Sidney Edgerton.
At first, the county depended on mining, although not to such an extent
as the districts centering in Bannack and Virginia cities and Butte. But
the beautiful and fertile valleys of the Sun, Dearborn, Blackfoot and
Prickly Pear, suggested other and more permanent riches. Stock growing
747
HELENA
£Parad79Q for nouri9t9
In the Picturesque Helena Di.sikk
HISTORY OF MONTANA 749
soon developed; Helena became the permanent capital of the territory
and the chief trade and commercial center for the mining districts to the
southwest, and even before irrigation was attempted the uplands of
Prickly Pear Valley were covered with productive farms. With its trade
advantages and political and social attractions as the territorial and state
capital, Helena developed into a substantial and handsome city. The Sun
Ri\er Valley, in the northern part of Lewis and Clark County, was set-
tled by ranchmen at an early day. Afterward, the farmers took up the
good work of developing its great agricultural possibilities, and the
State and the United States Governments instituted several large irri-
gation projects. At the present time, upwards of 75,000 of the 3,000.000
acres of tillable land in the county are irrigated, chiefly in the Sun River
Valley and in the Prickly Pear Valley at Helena. The so-called Sun
River Project, the scope of which embraces several counties interlaced
by the Missouri and its tributaries, has already been described in the
chapter devoted to the irrigation enterprises of the state.
Towns and Coxserv.xtion of Natur.\l Wealth
Several prosperou.-^ and growing towns have developed in the Sun
River Valley, the largest being Augusta and Oilman. Augusta, especially,
is both old and stable. Other communities are Marysville, Rimini, Wolf
Creek, Craig, Canyon Ferry and Lincoln. The last named, on the Big
Blackfoot River, is becoming quite a summer resort. There are many
attractions in the county for tourists, including not only grand scenery,
but health-giving springs and fishing and hunting grounds. In the north-
em part of the county, along Sun River, is one of the nine game preserves
established in Montana to protect its game from ruthless and thoughtless
slaughter. I'^arther east is the smaller preserve on Willow Creek for the
special protection of birds. In the central part of the county is the Twin
Buttes game preserve, on the eastern slopes of the Rockies, and in the
southern part of the county is the Helena National forest. So that
Lewis and Clark County, with Helena as the center of the State Govern-
ment, is really typical of the commonwealth, in the stability and diversity
of its interests, and its striking evidences of artificial and mechanical
aids to the natural advantages of soil and drainage, as well as the wise
conservation of its vegetable and animal life, originally poured out with
such prodigality.
Largely on account of this forethought, which so many of the older
states and counties in other commonwealths have neglected to put in force,
although much timber of commercial value is found in Lewis and Clark
County, logging and lumbering operations have never been conducted on
a large scale. Besides the Helena National forest of 243,418 acres there
are 49,000 acres of the Flathead National forest in the county, 422.152
acres of the Lewis and Clark National forest and 162,905 acres of the
Missoula National forest. In the past many mining districts within the
county have produced abundantly, and may again. Gold mining has vir-
tually been at a standstill for many years, although there is some activity
750 HISTORY OF MONTANA
in the silver districts. Lead, zinc or copper are usually found with the
"precious" metals. Many sapphires have been found on the Missouri
River, but the deposits have not been developed commercially.
Lewis and Clark County, the center of so much activity and intel-
ligence, is naturally well supplied with educational institutions, public
and sectarian. Besides good graded schools at Helena and in other parts
of the county, there are consolidated high schools at the state capital and
at Augusta, the leading town in the Sun River Valley. At Helena, there
are also the Montana Wesleyan College, Methodist; Mount St. Charles
College, Catholic; the Deaconess School for children, a Catholic high
school and St. Vincent's academy, a girls' boarding school.
Wh.at the Census Figures Show
The population figures given in the L^nited States census for 1920
indicate that Lewis and Clark County, like most of the districts in Mon-
tana which are not supported by a country productive of either good
crops or live stock, has been almost stationary for the past ten years or
has even deteriorated ; and, throughout the state, the rural population has
been gaining on the urban. Of the larger cities, the only one which shows
a notable increase for the decade 1910-20 is Great Falls, with its
fine water-power. Lewis and Clark County has decreased in population
during that period, from 21,853, to 18,660 — while Helena herself has
fallen ofif a few hundred, having 12,515 people in 1910, against 12,037
in 1920.
The land area of Lewis and Clark County amounts to 2,206,080 acres,
of which 754,135 acres are included in farm lands and 132,576 acres
improved. The average acreage per farm, in 1920, was 882, and the
average acreage of the improved farms, 155.1. The property represented
by each farm averaged $20,887, and the land, per acre, $16.30. Of the
855 farms in the county, 698 were operated by their owners, the remain-
der being operated by managers or tenants.
All the domestic animals, or live stock, in Lewis and Clark County,
were valued at $5.455,672 ; of which there were 7,607 horses, valued at
$499,078; 33.422 cattle, worth $1,840,957; 72,874 sheep, valued at $753,-
593; 3'378 swine, $54,778; poultry 35,750, $38,141 ; dairy products, value
$227,315; eggs and chickens, $113,224; wool produced, 725,508 pounds,
valued at $357,902.
The principal crops of the county were cereals, other grains and
seeds, hay and forage, vegetables and fruits and nuts, and their total
value was $1,391,325. Of this amount, the value of the cereals was
$170,759; hay and forage, $957,502; vegetables, $261,651. Alfalfa is a
good crop in the county, 14,616 acres being devoted to it and the product,
21,614 tons, while the 9,074 acres growing prairie or wild grasses raise
6,495 tons of that forage. Montana potatoes have a reputation through-
out the United States for their size and "mealiness," minus the "core."
Ravalli is the banner county in their production, and Lewis and Clark
comes second, with its 1919-20 crop of 88.391 bushels.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 751
As to the prevailing prices of farm lands and those particularly
adapted to the raising of live stock, the State Department of Publicity
(and Agriculture) estimates irrigated lands as varying from $75 to $200
an acre, non-irrigated farming lands from $15 to $50 an acre, and graz-
ing lands from $7 to $12.
Water Powers and Public Ways
Montana, in common with all the advanced states of the Union looks
upon her water-powers as most tangible sources of wealth, and engineers
claim that the Missouri River in Lewis and Clark County furnishes about
one fourth of the electrical energy generated in the entire state. The
hydro-electric plants within the limits of the county — the Holter, Hauser
Lake and Canyon Ferry — generate about 65,500 kilowatts of electrical
power. This electrical energy, generated from great dams on the Mis-
souri Rivers, three of which are located near Helena, supplies power
not only to the mining region but to the cities and towns of the county,
and especially to the diverse forms of manufactures found in the capital.
Helena is the center of a fine system of railroads and highways,
radiating to the Yellowstone Park, via Bozeman and Livingston ; to
Glacier Park, on the far northwestern border of the state; and to Butte,
Missoula and Great Falls, representing shorter spokes of the wheel of
conveniences and attractions which pivots on the state capital.
The main line of the Northern Pacific traverses the southern portion
of the county, the Havre-Butte branch of the Great Northern runs
through it north and south, and the latter has also a spur from Great
Falls which taps the Sun River Valley. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St.
Paul railroad has projected a line through the county from Great Falls
to Missoula, which will add to the facilities furnished by the Northern
Pacific and Great Northern, which are now chiefly relied upon by res-
idents of Lewis and Clark for outside connections by rail. On the other
hand, a number of automobile lines are in operation. In summer, a
400-mile auto stage is crowded with tourists enjoying the wonderful
scenery from the Yellowstone to Glacier park, with the hospitality of the
half-way station on the Geysers-to-Glacier Motor Trail, at Helena. The
season of sight-seeing usually commences June 20th. On the outskirts of
Helena is one of the finest tourists' hotels in America, known as the
Broadwater. One of its unique attractions is the largest covered hot
water plunge in the world, the contents of which are renewed by ever-
flowing hot springs. Near by is Fort Harrison, recently converted into
a United States Public Health Service hospital.
To be precise, Helena is 187 miles from Gardiner, the entrance to
Yellowstone Park, and 197 miles from the southern limits of Glacier
National Park, at Highgate, and the Geysers-to-Glaciers trail, or motor
highway, which connects these wonderful public grounds of the nation,
is believed to represent the most wonderful and varied scenic highway
in America. In May, 1919, the late Franklin K. Lane, secretary of the
interior, designated this trail as the approved government road binding
752 HISTORY OF MONTANA
the two great national parks, one of which is entirely within the limits
of Montana, and the other, although overlapping its territory but a few
miles, identified with it by many historic associations.
There are fully 1,200 miles of good auto roads in Lewis and Clark
County, and many excellent trails or bridle paths for those intent on more
intimate explorations of the picturesque surrounding country than are
afforded by the highways, or for those who prefer to wander afield in
search of game. For the benefit of such A. H. Abbott, supervisor of the
Helena National Forest, has issued a map and descriptive guide showing
saddle horse and fishing trips within and near that preserve; and the
excursions of that nature most desirable are in the region indicated,
southwest of Helena.
Picturesque Excursions
Many of the trails, away from the auto highways now taken by
pleasure seekers in the Helena region, were laid out years ago by prospec-
tors and miners, which fact makes them interesting of themselves, irre-
spective of the charming, historical and picturesque country through which
they lead. A large mileage of the trails is maintained by the United
States Forest Service for use in the administration of the forests and in
their protection from fire.
One of the most popular trips is that which leads vi'est and south of
Helena to Nelson gulch, where the largest gold nugget in the world
was found, and thence beyond Ten J^Iile Creek to Grizzly and Oro Fino
Gulches. This excursion of seventeen miles takes one along the placer
diggings of the Helena district. A longer trip, farther to the south, is
up the famous Colorado gulch and over the divide to the head of Travis
Creek, and thence to the great Chessman reservoir, the source of the
city's water supply, and return. There is also a trail north of the res-
ervoir which leads to Colorado Mountain, from the top of which is
obtained a splendid view of the Elkhorn and the lleg Belt Mountains and
the Valley of the Prickly Pear north of Helena. The scenery along the
route to and from Colorado Mountain is beautiful, and as there is an
excellent spring near the sunmiit of the elevation it is a favorite locality
for large parties of excursionists. An interesting and charming western
excursion is through McDonald pass, over the continental divide to the
Little Blackfoot River, the waters of which mingle with the Columbia
River system — the return being by way of Whiskey Creek.
One of the longest trips in the county, and one of the most fascinat-
ing, is that taken along the Black Mountain trail. One can go to Marys-
vilJe, northwest of Helena on the Northern Pacific railway, and thence
take saddle horses southwesterly to Spring Gulch Ranger station, almost
on top of the continental divide, where the trail properly begins. To
reach the top of Black Mountain, which has an elevation of between
8,000 and 9,000 feet, the tourist follows the old stake road westerly for
a distance of six and a half miles and thence northwesterly about half
that distance. From the top of the mountain one can see the Anaconda
Lake Scenery Near Helena
754 HISTORY OF MONTANA
smelter nearly fifty miles to the southwest and, on a clear day, it is said
that the outlines of the Canadian mountains may be traced some 150 miles
due north. On the south side of the mountain about half way down,
there is a crystal cave, the bottom of which has never been fully explored.
Three miles below Black Mountain in a southwesterly direction is the
remainder of what was, in the early days, one of the richest placer
veins in Montana, now called the Ophir. The schoolhouse still stands
where William A. Clark taught school in 1S62. The old stage road, now a
section of the Black Mountain trail, is a portion of the early-day stage
route which ran from Salt Lake City to Fort Benton.
Another trip which carries one back to the days when the Helena
district was rich in gold production may be taken by auto in a comfort-
able day's journey. It bears toward the southeast up the valley of the
Missouri and ends at the little hamlet of Canton, standing upon the site
of the old mining town of Diamond City. The famous Confederate gulch
made the city, which once boasted some 800 people and was the county
seat of Meagher County. The gulch w-as first prospected in the early
'60s, and a conservative estimate places its production at $75,000,000.
If one is interested in fishing, a number of streams around Helena
afford excellent sport. The headwaters of the Little Blackfoot River
offer brook trout and white fish, largely through the forethought of the
good sportsmen of Elliston who have put new stock into the stream. On
the eastern side of the divide, there is good fishing in the Little Prickly
Pear, in Ten Mile, Trout and Beaver Creeks, and other streams within
auto distance of Helena. An evidence of the interest taken in hunting
and fishing is the status of the Lewis and Clark Rod and Gun Club,
which has a membership of 600.
A Wonderful Trip Suggested
For the benefit of those who would enjoy the wonderful Montana out-
of-doors to the limit, the Rod and Gun Club suggests a motor and fishing
trip of a hundred miles, outside the area of the Helena National Forest,
which embraces imposing stretches of country south and southwest of
the capital, and a great tract east of the Missouri River to the Big Belt
Mountains. The suggestion for a full day's trip has the Big Blackfoot
country as the objective, and is this : Leaving Helena, take the Silver
road to 14-mile post, thence due west up Canyon to Virginia Creek, with
its remains of the old placer diggings and its present-day good fishing
grounds. The next point of interest is the old mining camp of Stemple,
situated almost on the ridge of the continental divide, and then you drop
down into McClellan Gulch, on the western slope, to Poorman's Creek and
the big trees of the Blackfoot. You are now in the heart of the best
fishing country in the West. Native trout, bull trout and white fish
especially abound in the Big Blackfoot River and Keep Cool, Beaver and
Little Spring Creeks. Lincoln, in the far western part of the county and
on the south fork of the Big Blackfoot, has a hotel, a store, supplies and
other accommodations. The return is usually by way of Flesher and
HISTORY OF MONTANA 755
Canyon Creek. The spokesman for the Rod and Gun Club says: "The
roads are perfect. So is the fishing, if you are a fisherman."
City of Helena Itself
The main body of the city of Helena Hes at the foot of an imposing
mount to which its name is given, and, with its growth, its outlying dis-
tricts have straggled along the foothills of the Rockies in the near back-
ground. Although a city of little more than 12,000 people, it presents
an elegant appearance, which, added to its picturesque site near the many-
hued masses of the Rocky Mountains, endows it with such unexaggerated
christenings as the "Queen City of the Rockies" and the "City of the
Golden Glow." The latter title is fairly earned in the early glow of the
setting sun, during early spring or late fall, before the verdure of the
summer months has invaded the yellow grass lands of the valley of the
Prickly Pear, or the early snows have mottled its golder. stubble. Then
the golden glow not only spreads over the tops of the Rockies and is
reflected over the gemlike city, but turns the valley lands stretching to its
feet into sheets of light silvery yellow. In the southern fringe of the
city, beyond the peak of Mount Helena, is the massive yet elegant cap-
itol, and farther east the two substantial red brick buildings of the Mon-
tana Wesleyan College and the imposing depot of the Northern Pacific
railroad.
At the summit of one of the foothills, over which climbs one of the
city's streets, is the large building which stands for the St. Vincent's
academy (Catholic), and several blocks to the east on lower ground, but
still overlooking the business section of Helena, is the Helena Cathe-
dral, a majestic structure with two spires which represents the Catholic
diocese of Helena having a membership of 3,000. On an opposite height of
the valley in which rest most of the business houses of the city rises the
Algerian Temple, a splendid structure of ornate oriental architecture,
characterized by its delicate and graceful minaret bearing aloft the
Crescent. The Temple, one of the most noteworthy pieces of architec-
ture in Montana, also evinces the strength of the 'Shriners in Helena. A
stranger remarked not long ago when first viewing the beautiful city from
one of the surrounding heights : "Helena is unique in several ways, and
in none more strikingly than in the physical opposition, on these noble
city heights, of the Cross and the Crescent."
Within a city block is the handsome depot of the Great Northern
railroad, and on its line, not far distant to the north, is Mount St. Charles
college for boys, which was opened as late as 191 1.
These are but a few of the many institutions of a religious and an
educational, as well as of a charitable and benevolent nature, which
makes Helena a powerful center for higher activities. Its twenty
churches represent all the strong religious beliefs. A dozen well managed
public schools enroll more than 2,000 pupils, and, besides the colleges and
academies mentioned, are several Catholic and Lutheran parochial schools
and two training schools for nurses. The latter are connected with St.
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HISTORY OF MONTANA 757
John's Catholic hospital and St. Peter's hospital (Episcopal). The
Coimty hospital is two and a half miles north of the city. Both the Odd
Fellows and the Masons have homes — the former, four miles northwest
and the latter, seven miles north. The Florence Crittenden Home and the
House of the Good Shepherd are located at Kenwood, one of Helena's
suburbs. The latest of the public institutions of an educational and re-
formatory character to become located in the Helena district is the
State Vocational School for Girls. Dr. Maria L. Dean, backed by the
Federated Women's clubs of Montana, originated the movement which
is designed to provide both a school and a home for delinquent girls.
Dr. Dean died before the Legislature passed the bill establishing it in
April, 1919. The site of the institution is seven and a half miles north
of Helena, on a two hundred and forty acre ranch, and one unit (a cot-
tage) of the proposed buildings has been built, capable of accommodating
thirty girls.
Hn;LENA Public Lihrarv
Among the uplifting forces which have been operating for many years
are the Helena Public library and the State Historical library. The
Helena Public library is the oldest of its kind in Montana, founded four
years after the close of the Civil war — in 1868. In addition to its age it
is. perhaps, the most important library in the state, in many respects,
having a splendid Montana collection, second only to that of the State
Historical Society library ; a large reference library of valuable bound
magazines and government documents of very early date.
The history of the library may be divided into three periods, namely —
its foundation as a library association in 1868, next the change to a free
public library in 1886, and lastly, the time of expansion to its present quar-
ters, from 1892 to the present.
In the autumn of 1868, Judge Cornelius Hedges, Col. Wilbur F. San-
ders, J. W. Whitlach and Ben Stickney, Jr., composed a committee to
solicit subscriptions during which time Judge Hedges, who was chairman
of another committee to draft a constitution, worked up the organization
side of what was later to be known as the Helena Library Association.
James King was elected first president, Judge Hedges, vice president and
J. L. Douglas, secretary. The library was installed in the first floor of the
Whitlach Building and Ben R. Dittes was appointed first librarian.
In 1870 Judge Hedges was chosen president and the Library Asso-
ciation moved to new quarters, in a stone and brick building owned by
Holter and Hedges, on upper Main Street. West Side, second and third
lots above Wall Street, and reopened January i, 1870. This year also
marked a change of librarians, W. A. Hedges being appointed to this
position. On his resignation a year later, Robert H. Wilson was given
this position which he held until the disastrous fire of 1874.
Col. Wilbur F. Sanders had only succeeded Judge Hedges as pres-
ident, when on January 9, 1S74, that historic fire totally destroyed the
library, which had about 2.500 books, together with all its important
758 ' HISTORY OF MONTANA
record books containing its history for the first four years. The library
association had many friends besides those mentioned but, unfortunately,
the original list of subscribers is supposed to have shared the fate of
the other library records in the fire.
The pioneers, undaunted, called a meeting of the directors and some
few months later, August 24, 1874, the library association began anew,
with that ever stanch friend, Judge Hedges, again as president. The
pioneer figure of Judge Hedges was interwoven with the history of the
library from its inception to his death, April 29, 1907, thirty-eight years
later; furthermore, during all these years his hearty interest and services
increased in behalf of the library as an institution.
At the time of the reorganization of the library, George M. Woods
served as librarian until his resignation the following November 2, 1874,
when Miss Lou Guthrie succeeded him. Miss Guthrie was the last
librarian of the Helena Library Association. A. J. Smith became pres-
ident in 1877 and Hon. D. S. Wade in 1878.
The value of a library having been demonstrated, the people by
popular vote demanded and obtained a library maintained by the city
with one-half mill tax, and under city ordinance No. 79, organized a
Free Public Library May 8, 1886. The Helena Library Association
turned over 2,000 hooks to the newly organized Free Public Library,
which reopened August 7, 1886 in the Murphy Block with the first
trustees appointed May 8, 1886 — W. E. Cullen, president ; H. M. Parchen,
Cornelius Hedges, S. C. Ashby, S. H. Crounse and R. H. Howey.
Charles H. Snell was elected first librarian (1886), and in 1888 was
succeeded by Leslie Sulgrove, who held the position for several years ;
upon his resignation in 1892, Frank C. Patten, a graduate of the
New York State Library School at Albany and a librarian of many
years' e.xperience, became librarian. At this time the library occupied the
second floor of the Ashby Building, now known as the location of "Sanden
and Ferguson" store.
The third and present era was one of expansion, beginning in 1892
under the able librarianship of Mr. Patten, when the library moved into
a larger and better permanent home in the new building adjacent to the
auditorium. At this time there were less than 9,000 volumes, but so rapid
was the increase that there were 16,000 books in 1896. Because of the
increased usefulness and larger number of books, it became necessary
to remodel the basement floor and add extra space to the library build-
ing during April, 1897. On May 22, 1897, the library reopened for
business.
The library remains housed in the same building, at present writing
(1921), but there is a decided need for a new building that would more
adequately meet the present needs. There are now over 60,000 volumes
including the bound magazines and bound government documents, be-
sides the usual picture and clipping collection, bird and mineral museum.
In addition to serving the general public, the library is functioning some-
what, as an educational library, for Helena is forging ahead as an im-
portant educational center. The Helena Public Library serves the
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7«() HISTORY Ol- MONTANA
jniblic and high schools, Mount St. Charles College, ^lontana W'esleyan
University, Deaconess School, and other private schools. This January
(1921), the library received one and one-half mill tax, which was a three-
quarter mill increase voted at spring election, in April, 1920. As for the
previous seven years, the library had been greatly hampered by a lack
of funds and this crisis was passed only by the careful administration
of the present Board of Trustees whose names follow : Fred S. Sanden,
president; Judge A. J. Horsky, vice president; Mrs. F. J. Lange, treas-
urer; Rev. James F. McNamee, secretary; Dr. O. M. Lanstrum, Mrs.
C. B. Nolan, Mayor John Dryburgh (City Council member).
The following is a list of presidents of the Board of Trustees and
librarians, with the dates of their taking ofifice from establishment of
Library Association to the present writing in 1921 :
Presidents I.ii:r.\ri,ans
1868— James King. Elected Dec. 1868 — Ben R. Dittes.
5, 1868. 1870— W. A. Hedges.
1870 — Cornelius Hedges. Elected 1871 — Robert H. Wilson (until
Dec. 18, 1870. total destruction of library
1874 — Col. Wilbur F. Sanders. by tire in 1874).
(January, time of fire.) '874 — (Reorganized August 24.)
1874— (August) Cornelius Hedges. George M. Woods.
1877— A. J. Smith. (Col.) 1874— (Nov. 2.) Mi.ss Lou Guth-
1878— D. S. Wade. rie.
1878 — Miss Lou Guthrie.
Helen.^ Public Libr,arv 1886 ''^o — Miss Lou Guthrie.
„„, „, 1886— Charles H. Snell.
1886-W. E. Cullen. ,888-Leslie Sulgrove.
1887-D. S. Wade. 1892— Frank C. Patten.
1893— Cornehus Hedges. • 1899— Mary C. Gardner. •
1907— T. J. Walsh. 1903— Marguerita Bowden.
1913— Rev. N. H. Burdick. 1908— Nina McKenna.
1914- 1921— Fred S. Sanden. 1910- 1921— Josephine Al. Haley.
St,\te Historic.m. Collectio.n's
The State Historical Library has a large collection of books relating
to Montana, and a remarkably complete file of newspapers covering the
main publications of the state. Its classified collection of photographs,
bearing upon al! phases of Montana's history, is also noteworthy, and its
museum of Indian curios, natural history and minerals, with gallery of
paintings and other portraits of historical characters, makes the quarters
of the State Historical Society in the basement of the capitol an in-
valuable resort for everyone interested in any feature of Montana's de-
velopment, past, present or future. The State Bar Association also con-
trols a professional library which was developed into one of the best in
the new Western states.
The Young Men's Christian Association has a large building and
a growing body of workers in Helena, and the Young Women's Christian
Association is well provided with conveniences and comforts.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 761
The two organizations which have supplied the greatest impetus to
the progress of Helena, along the paths of material advancement, are
the Montana Club, one of the oldest, .richest and most influential bodies of
the kind in the Northwest and the Helena Commercial Club. The latter,
which is an outgrowth of the Helena Business Men's Association, was
organized in 1897, and during the twenty-four years of its life has had
seven presidents : N. Kessler, F. S. P. Lindsay, Sherwood Wheaton,
T. C. Powers, N. B. Holter, H. G. Pickett (1906-1918), and George L.
Ramsay. The secretary-treasurers have been E. W. Fiske, L. W. Heath,
E. A. Macrum, C. H. Boynton, W. T. Hull, and C. A. Mead. L. M.
Rheem and E. W. Prosser then served as secretary and treasurer, re-
spectively, for a number of years, and since 1919 M. Max Goodsill has
been secretary-manager and E. W. Prosser, treasurer. In May, 1921,
the membership of the club was divided as follows : Men's division,
1,147; Women's division, 133; Junior Commercial Club, 955. Total
membership, 2,235.
In every modern city, like Helena, its newspapers always stand in
the van of its promotional forces ; and the dailies of the capital, the
Record-Herald and the Independent, are "live wires" in that regard.
It is said that Helena is the richest city of its size in the United
States, and that its bank assets alone amount to more than $1,000 per
capita. Its people of means are public-spirited and patriotic. The
World's War proved that ; for Lewis and Clark county, with but two per
cent of the state's population, subscribed ten per cent of Montana's
Liberty bonds. Helena's five banks, the two transcontinental lines which
accommodate the city and the three great power dams near it make it a
natural industrial and distributing center. It is said to be one of the
most stable labor markets in the West. Helena is a distributing head-
quarters of such famous industries as the International Harvester Com-
pany, Studebaker Corporation and the American Tobacco Company, and
its factories include plants of the National Biscuit Company, Western
Clay Manufacturing Company, Caird Engineering Works, B. E. Mathews
Fixture Company, Reinig CoiTee Mills, Northwestern Milling Com-
pany and the C. T. Perry Soap Works. Helena is the division telephone
office for Montana and Northern Wyoming, with 150 employes. The
city is the home of the largest greenhouse and nursery between the
Twin Cities and the Pacific Coast (State Nursery and Seed Company)
and is the headquarters of the Montana State Fair. The annual fair,
which is an event of importance even outside the state, is held in Sep-
tember, the large grounds and substantial exhibition buildings being just
outside Helena. Further, the state capital is headquarters of internal
revenue for the district of Montana. Idaho and Utah, and United States
Government assay office is located at Helena, in a large separate building.
Mining, Smelting and Ore Testing
The exciting and productive days of gold mining in the Helena
mining region are probably a feature of the past, but with the prevailing
762
HISTORY OF MONTANA
high prices of silver many of the old silver-lead properties are being
profitably reopened and not a few new mines are being opened. Mineral
geologists and practical experts claim that the region comprises the
most varied deposits of gold, silver, lead, copper and zinc of any area
of equal extent in the West, and it is not beyond the scope of the prob-
able that silver and some of the other precious metals may revive the
productiveness of 1833-93. when the Helena mines produced nearly
$200,600,000, for their owners.
Typic.-\l Mines in the Helena Region
Conditions for the development of the mining industries of the
Helena district are now far more favorable than they were in the '80s,
or even the '90s. Electric transmission lines traverse it in all directions
and, as one experienced operator put it, "it is a difficult thing to get as far
as three miles away from a power line." Helena is also conveniently
located with respect to productive coal fields and lumber mills, where
quick service on mine necessities is readily available. Through the Nor-
thern Pacific and Great Northern, with their branches, and the good roads
of the district, not only railroad cars but motor trucks are readily avail-
able for the transportation of the ore or more finished products of the
mines.
Not only are these advantages to be advanced over those of an earlier
HISTORY OF MONTANA 763
period, but Helena lias become a smelting, milling and testing center
of prominence.
The Helena Commercial Club issued a booklet, in 1920, containing
a valuable fund of information which sets forth the strong points of this
phase of regional development, and upon that authority the writer bases
many of the statements which follow and which have already been made.
At East Helena is located the American Smelting and Refining Com-
pany, operating the only lead smelter in Montana and treating ores of all
kinds produced in the region tributary to the state capital. Under nor-
mal conditions, the plant employs between four and five hundred men,
with a payroll of $50,000 a month. The great smelter, which was started
in 1888, treats custom ores exclusively and purchases lead, silver and gold
ores. The plant is able to handle all the Montana lead ores, besides a
considerable tonnage from the Coeur d'Alene District in Idaho. Its elec-
tric power comes from the Canyon Ferry Dam, twelve miles east on the
Missouri River. The plant comprises four large blast furnaces for
smelting, with a total capacity of from 800 to 900 tons daily. Mines in
the Helena region also have convenient access to the copper smelter at
Anaconda, one hundred miles distant by rail from Helena.
Helena has the important advantage of possessing the New York-
Montana Testing and Engineering Company. It operates the only plant
of the kind in the Northwest, where ores are treated in carloads. The
company offers not only engineering and testing service to the mining men
of the Helena District, but treats complex ores and ores of low grade for
direct smelting. The plant has been in operation for three years, during
which it has treated and tested ores from all over the state. During a
portion of that period it has produced some of the highest grade man-
ganese in the country. The plant has a completely equipped laboratory
for the testing of small samples, both as to their feasibility for milling
and smelting and also as a guide for treatment. Ores are tested free
of charge for prospective shippers.
Another advantage Helena offers to the miner of today is her roster
of experienced assayers and mining engineers, both those operating in
a private capacity and those connected with the United States Assay
Office. The government office at Helena is one of five of a national
character, the other four being located at Deadwood, South Dakota ;
Seattle, Washington ; Boise, Idaho ; and Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1919
the business transacted at the Helena office ($835,644) was exceeded
only by the receipts of the Seattle office. These offices were established,
primarily, to afford the miner a ready market for his product, and as a
means whereby the Government could secure gold and silver for coin-
age purposes.
The Helena -office purchases bullion to the amount of about $1,000,000
annually. It may be deposited in any quantity and is usually paid for
the second day after receipt. This is of special advantage to the small
operator and to the concern trying out a plant or opening new ground,
where test runs are made upon which quick returns are desired. The
A Mining Camp Near Helena
One of Helena's Busy Mines
HISTORY OF MONTANA 765
saving in time and the cost of transportation to the nearest mint is in
some cases of vital importance.
When bulHon is deposited, it is melted and assayed, and a Govern-
ment check drawn to the depositor for the net proceeds. The gold con-
tained is paid for at the regular price of $20,671 per fine ounce, and
the silver at the market price. The Government makes only such charges
as are estimated to be necessary to fit the bullion for coinage. They are
the same at all federal mints and assay offices, as follows : $1 for melt-
ing, 2 1-2 cents per ounce for the amount of copper required for alloy,
and a refining charge depending upon the weight and fineness, averag-
ing 4 cents per ounce of bullion. In the case of refractory bullion, an
e.xtra charge may be made to cover the additional cost. Each check
in payment for a deposit is accompanied by a report showing the weight
received, weight after melting, gold or silver fineness and value, silver
price, charges and net value.
It is not necessary for Helena miners, as in some districts, to carry
large stocks of tools, machinery and other equipment, as there are exten-
sive hardware stores and distributing houses in the city to furnish all
needed supplies, as well as engineering works and foundries to manufac-
ture and repair all kinds of mining and milling machinery.
Helena is the headquarters of the Montana Mining Association, the
state organization of mining men formed to advance and protect the in-
dustry, and to furnish practical information relating to all the mineral
districts of the state for the benefit of investors and investigators.
Which is an additional fact tending to establish the Helena District as
pre-eminent in the mining development of Montana.
MixKR.M. Production- of the Hei.ena Region
\'arious estimates have Iicen made of the total production of the
Helena Mining Region, as the district is officially designated. The
latest figures to be prepared by the United States Geographical Survey
(Bulletin 527) are as follows:
Last Chance Gulch $33,000,000
Whitlatch Mi-ne 6,000,000
Big Indian 1 10,000
King Solomon 100 000
Little Nell 400.000
Aha 32,000,000
Blizzard 1 50,000
Blue Bird 250.000
Comet T 3,000.000
Gregorv 8,000,000
Minah 2 000.000
Ruby 1 ,250,000
Drumlunimon 15.000,000
766 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Later figures, compiled by L. S. Ropes, a well known inining engi-
neer of the region, shows the approximate production of the Helena min-
ing territory by districts. The estimates are substantially up to date,
and are as follows:
Unionville $ 4.i 10,000
Scratch Gravel 992,000
Grass Valley 495,000
Montana City 343.000
Rimini 6,200,000
Porphyry Dike 1,525,000
Marysville 57,140,000
Elliston 470,000
Clancy 655,000
Lump Gulch 2,500,000
Warm Spring Creek 805.000
Maupin 228,000
Wickes-Corbin 57,915.000
Basin 6,635,000
Elkhorn 15,215,000
Canyon Ferry 815,000
Winston 3,560,000
Indian Creek 265.000
Park 247,000
Radersburg 3,200,000
Placers in the Helena Region have recorded the following produc-
tions :
City of Helena $32,625,000
Marysville 3,200,000
Montana City 18,000.000
Maupin 50,000
Engineers have not been able to secure reliable data upon which to
base figures on the riches also removed from placers in the Blackfoot,
Elkhorn, Clancy, Basin and Boulder districts of the Helena Region.
Great fortunes have been taken from the mountains and streams of
Helena and vicinity, "and yet," as prophesied by a practical writer,
"the stores of wealth have been but slightly tapped." It seems probable
4hat the revival of the silver industry will start a swelling stream of
wealth toward the already prosperous "Queen City of the Rockies," or
"City of the Golden Glow."
CHAPTER XXXII
LIBERTY, LINCOLN, MADISON, McCONE, MEAGHER
MINERAL
Liberty County, politically created February ii, 1920, and therefore
one of the newest counties in Montana, is situated in the north central
portion of the state, and is a county possessing many attractions for the
ambitious farmer. Its land area of 1,458 square miles is contained within
a somewhat elongated parallelogram, having a length north and south of
sixty miles and a width east and west of twenty-four miles. Its northern
boundary is the Canadian Province of Alberta.
Status of Liberty County
The surface of Liberty County is in general level or slightly rolling,
the more elevated portion being included within the region of the Sweet
Grass Hills in the northern part, a region attractive to tourists by rea-
son of its pleasing scenery and its good natural facilities for hunting and
fishing. Even in that region fifty per cent of the land is tillable, while
the cultivable land in the county amounts to about ninety per cent of
its entire area, an exceptionally high aggregate. The drainage and water
supply of the county are especially good, and are furnished by a number
of streams the most important of which are Maria's River, Eagle Creek,
Willow Creek, Cottonwood Creek and Pondera Coulee.
Though there is some irrigated land in the county, most of it is non-
irrigated; yet under ordinary conditions it produces abundant and ex-
cellent crops without the additional expense attached to artificial water-
ing. Agriculture and stockraising are the chief industries, yet these are
still in their infancy, and 40,000 acres of tillable land, well supplied with
water, which is everywhere obtainable, can be purchased at prices vary-
ing from $15 to $25 an acre, or, in the case of grazing land, as low as $10
an acre. Improved irrigated lands sell from $25 to $75 an acre. Wheat,
oats and flax are raised successfully and in considerable quantities, as also
are garden vegetables, while sunflowers are raised for silage purposes. The
timber in the county is confined almost entirely to the cottonwood along the
streams.
Liberty County possesses other resources which may in time be de-
veloped into valuable commercial assets. Coal exists in considerable quan-
tities, while among the lesser mineral deposits are gold, silver, lead and
marble. The discovery of oil and gas are among the possibilities of the
future. No commercial development of the mineral deposits has yet taken
place, but their existence spells opportunity for those who are able to grasp
it. In the meanwhile the land, the climate, with its growing season of lOi
767
768 HISTORY OF MONTANA
days, and the convenient markets and shipping points found in neigh-
boring towns guarantee to the active and capable farmer the practical cer-
tainty of a good livelihood with gradually increasing wealth. Transpor-
tation facilities are supplied by the main line of the Great Northern Rail-
way, which crosses the county east and west, and the Roosevelt Memorial
Highway, running parallel with the railroad.
The rural dweller in any part of the county can find a town or village
at no great distance wherein to obtain supplies or market a part of his
produce. Chester, the county seat, which has an altitude of 3,132 feet
above the sea level, is the most important town in the county. It is situ-
ated on the Great Northern Railway and has good banking and mercantile
facilities. Among its more important institutions is a high school ac-
credited for the two years course. Its citizens are up-to-date and disposed
to aid one another in securing for the community a place in the vanguard
of progress. A first -class hotel would be a valuable addition to local
improvements and would doubtless be well patronized. Joplin and Lothair
are also growing communities on the railroad, while Whitlash, Alma and
Laird are important inland towns.
A good foundation has been laid for the education of youth in the
forty-six schools now established in the county, and the extension of school
facilities will take place in accordance with local needs. Such, in brief,
is Liberty County, an integral portion of the great Northwest — the land
of opportunity — a home for busy men and women with bright hopes and
abundant promise for the future.
Lincoln County
The varied resources of the great State of Montana are occasionally
illustrated within the limits of a single county, where we may find exten-
sive grazing lands, a rich agricultural soil, with timber and mineral wealth
sufficient to make many substantial fortunes. Such a description well
appUes to Lincoln County, a political division of the state created Tuly i,
1909, and containing the liberal land area of 3,660 square miles.
Lincoln County is found in the northwest corner of Montana, British
Columbia lying to the north and the State of Idaho on the west. It is
a mountainous and well timbered region, most of which still preserves the
original wildness of nature. A considerable amount of good agricultural
land may, however, be found in the valleys. The largest of these is the
Tobacco Plains Valley in the northeastern part, which is virtually the only
one clear of timber, and through which flows the Tobacco River, one of
the principal streams. The Kootenai River, carrying a larger volume of
water than the Missouri, traverses the county for a distance of 100 miles,
entering from Canada and flowing southwards for more than half the
length of the county and then taking a westerly direction until it passes
into Idaho. Its valley is the longest in the county, but is narrow. In some
places between the valleys and the mountains are found a series of benches
which, when cleared, are tillable farm lands. Smaller valleys are found
in connection with the numerous small creeks. In the valleys the soil is
HISTORY OF MONTANA
769
usually deep and black, while on many of the benches it is a light red
volcanic ash, frequently underlaid with gravel. A gray loam is found in
places, both in the valleys and on the benches. The larger portion of
Lincoln County is covered by the mountains, which are high and densely
wooded. Grand and picturesque scenery is spread out in almost every
Scene in Lincoln County
direction, and the opportunities for big game hunting and for fishing are
such as to make the region a paradise for tourists and sportsmen.
The wealth of timber is unusually great, and it is said that more of
the area of Lincoln County is included within national forests than that
of any other county. Within its limits is included the entire Kootenai
Forest of 1,617,140 acres, also 398,666 acres of the Blackfeet and 8,371
acres of the Cabinet National Forests. The lumbering industry is ex-
tensively carried on and here may be found some of the largest saw mills
in the state.
Vol. 1—49
770 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Mining is another important industry, the ores and formations being
similar to those of the Coeur d'Alene district of Idaho. Placer mining
has been carried on for many years and certain large areas are said to be
suitable for mining by hydraulic methods. The principal metals which
have been successfully mined so far are silver and lead, but gold, zinc
and copper are also found. Promising mining properties are now in process
of development by several large concerns.
The growing season for crops is estimated at from forty-six to ninety-
seven days. The county is excellent for grass, clover and timothy in par-
ticular, and many of the farmers give their chief attention to hay and
the hardier vegetables. Various kinds of fruit are also grown success-
fully, including apples, pears, plums, cherries, and in the Troy section
peaches. Land costs from $io to $ioo an acre, the price depending upon
the character of the ground, its location and the amount of clearing and
other improvements effected.
Railroad communication is furnished by the main line of the Northern
Pacific, and a branch line running from Rexford to the Fernie coal fields
in British Columbia. The National Park Highway runs through the
county east and west, supplying good road facilities in that direction,
while the Electric Highway, which begins in Southeastern Montana, has
its present terminus in Lincoln County.
LiBBY AND Other Towns
In 1920 Lincoln County had a population of 7,797- Its most impor-
tant town is Libby, the county seat, which has an altitude of 2,053 feet
above sea level. It is a modern community, with good sewer and light
systems, cement walks, graded streets, substantial business blocks and
handsome and commodious residences. It also has a good high school
accredited for the four year term. Next in importance to Libby is
Eureka, a city located in the Tobacco Plains section, which at present
is the chief agricultural district. It rivals the county seat in municipal
improvements and is the home of the comity high school, which, like that
at Libby, is accredited for the four years term and gives additional courses
in agriculture and normal training. Troy and Warfield are also busy
and prosperous centers of population.
Lincoln County possesses many attractions for the ambitious and in-
dustrious settler, especially to one having some ca]>ital. The falls of the
Kootenai River, between Libby and Troy, are capable of being develoj^ed
into a superb waterpower, there are great mining possibilities, and a
number of opportunities for establishing profitable tourist resorts. Log-
ging operations have left consideral^le areas of cut-over or stump lands
which, when cleared, will produce abundant crops. While the land is
being cleared expenses can be met and even a profit made by carrying on
stockraising and dairying, the abundance of grass and clover affording
excellent grazing. In such a country industry backed by intelligence
brings its due reward, and the pioneer of today is likely before many
HISTORY OF MONTANA 771
years have passed, to be numbered among its substantial and well to do
citizens.
Madison County
Madison County lies in Southwestern Montana and has a land area of
3,588 square miles. Its history dates back to the Civil War period, the
early settlement of the region being due to the discovery of the placer gold
at Alder Gulch, May 26, 1863. After that event the population increased
so rapidly that in a short, time county organization was found expedient
and accordingly, on February 2, 1865, Madison County was created.
The settlement established at the head of Alder Gulch, just below the
spot where gold was first discovered, was named Virginia City. It was
incorporated by a special act of the territorial legislature in the '60s
and became the territorial capital. It lies on the vilest bank of the gulch,
and about half way between its mouth and its source. The gulch is about
ten miles in length and has been placer mined from end to end. Silver,
copper and lead have been found in paying quantities, in addition to gold.
During the past twenty years the ground that was mined in the '60s, from
\'irginia City to Ruby Valley in Alder Gulch, has been worked over by big
dredges by the Conrey Placer Mining Company and a large amount of
additional wealth secured. This company has kept from one to five of
these dredges in operation, though only one is now in use, as nearly all
the ground that could be worked at a profit in this manner has been ex-
hausted. Two companies are engaged in quartz mining — the Greenback
Mining Company and the Barton Gilch Mining Company. These com-
panies, which are managed by Mr. A. H. Jones, employ approximately
sixty men, and each mill has a capacity of fifty tons a day.
This region is marked by the rough but impressive scenery characteris-
tic of the usual mining district. At the head of Alder Gulch stands Baldy
Mountain, a considerable elevation with an extended summit constituting
a geological ridge or backbone. Stretching away from it in a more or
less irregular course, may be seen the gulch or narrow valley, its steep
sides here and there forest-clad, but in many places devoid of vegetation
and possessing interest chiefly for the geologist or miner. Similar scenes
may be seen in other parts of the county, the chief mining districts, aside
from Virginia City, being found near Twin Bridges, Rochester, Sheridan,
Pony, Norris and Red Bluff.
The mountainous districts of Madison County occupy more than half
its surface, and between the mountain ranges are some very good valleys
in which agriculture and stock raising can be carried on successfully. North
and south through the middle of the county, between the watersheds of
the Madison and Jefiferson rivers, stretches the Tobacco Root Range.
Farther to the east is the Madison Range, while the Snow Crest, the
Ruby and the McCarty ranges are found near the western side. The
Madison and Jefferson rivers have cut out deep valleys connecting with
those of their numerous tributaries on either side. The other important
streams are the Beaverhead, Ruby, Big Hole and South Boulder rivers,
each with its tributaries issuing from mountain sources, and providing
772 HISTORY OF MONTANA
a water supply probably equal to that of any county in the state. Between
the mountain ranges and the valleys are benches and low lying foot hills,
where some non-irrigated farming is practiced, though they are chiefly
used for grazing purposes. On Madison River are two hydro-electric
plants operated by tlie Montana Power Company and having a combined
installed capacity of 12.000 kilowatts. The company has also two storage
reservoirs on this stream covering 17.430 acres, with a combined storage
capacity of 14,915,000,000 cubic feet.
The abundance of beautiful scenery in Madison County with the fine
hunting and fishing, make it an attractive region to sportsmen, who come
from all parts of the United States to fish on Madison River. Irrigated
land in the valleys is worth from $40 to $125 an acre; grazing and non-
irrigated land from $5 to $40 an acre. The Northern Pacific Railway has
two liranch lines in the county, one running from Whitehall to Alder
through the Jefi'erson and Ruby valleys and the other from Sappington
to Xorris and Pony through the Madison \'alley. The \"igilante Trail, a
highway of great historical interest, and now a state road, connects with
all transcontinental highways. It branches off from what is known as
the Yellowstone Trail at Cedar Point, about twenty miles east of Butte,
thence takes a general southerly direction through the old town of Silver
Star, Iron Rod, Twin Bridges, Sheridan, Ruby, \'irginia City, from which
place it passes over the range into the Madison \'alley to Ennis. and
thence up the valley to Yellowstone on the west boundary of the Yellow-
stone Park. This trail is being greatly improved for travel and todav
work is progressing on a hard surface road leading from Virginia City
over the mountains fourteen miks to Ennis. Along this road and in other
parts of the county are still standing log buildings of historical interest,
some of them associated with tragical occurrences of early days.
ViRGiNi.\ City of Tod.w
Virginia City, the county seat of Madison County, has an altitude above
sea level of 5,822 feet. Its present population is about 500. As pre-
viously mentioned, its incorporation dates back to the '60s. It is divided
into three wards and has a mayor and six councilmen. Business and
commercial enterprises are up-to-date and thriving. The Elling State
Bank has a capital of $50,000, a surplus of $50,000 and total deposits of
approximately $600,000. The Madison State Bank has a capital of
$50,000, a surplus of the same amount and total deposits of approximately
$300,000. The mercantile establishments are those of J. Albright, cloth-
ing; Buford Mercantile Co., groceries and hardware; R. Vickes, dry
goods, and C. W. Rank, druggist. The Anaconda Hotel and the \'irginia
City Hotel afl^ord good accommodations for the traveling public, and the
Virginia Garage is well established in its line of business. The medical
profession is worthily represented by Drs. L. F. Molleur and L. C.
LeClar, and the legal by M. M. Duncan, one of the old residents and
practicing lawyers of Montana, George R. Allen, L. H. Bennett, H. P.
Beckett and E. P. Reid.
HISTORY OF MONTANA
773
Virginia City is supplied with water by the Virginia City Water Com-
pany, owned by Mrs. Sallie Bickford, a colored lady who has resided
here for upward of fifty years. The water is derived from springs lying
immediately above the town. During the last two years or so Col. Wil-
liam Boyce Thompson of New York, who was born in Virginia City, has
had under process of construction here a fine library building to be known
as the Thompson-Hickman Library, which he proposes to turn over to
the town this summer (1921), and which will be an important addition
to local institutions. One room of the library building will be devoted to
First Bank in Montana, Virginia City
a collection of interesting relics connected with the history of this region,
which the citizens have collected during the last few years and which are
now on exhibition in a small building.
Virginia City was the cradle of Masonry in Montana, and there are
now two lodges located here, Virginia City Lodge No. i, and Montana
Lodge No. 2. It is also the home of Virginia City Chapter No. i, Vir-
ginia City Commandery No. i, and a chapter of the Eastern Star. Vir-
ginia City has the unique distinction of being the smallest town in the
United States to have an Elk lodge. It is known as Ore' y Plata Lodge,
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, No. 390.
The oldest resident of the town is Robert \'ickers, proprietor of
the clothing store previously mentioned, who came here in the spring
of 1865 and is now about ninety-two years old. There are few of the old
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HISTORY OF MONTANA 775
historic structures still standing. Among those which are may be men-
tioned the building in which the five road agents were hung on January
14, 1864; the Gilbert Brewery, which was, it is believed, the first brewery
'constructed in Montana ; the building in which the Montana Post was
published, and a portion of the building in which the territorial ofiicers
had their office when Virginia City was the capital.
Other Madison County Towns
Among the other important towns of Madison County are : Twin
Bridges, a busy commercial center and stock shipping point at the junction
of the Beaverhead and Jefferson valleys ; Sheridan, situated in the Ruby
Valley, surrounded by rich farm lands, and which is one the chief stock
shipping and mining centers ; Ennis, a distributing center in the midst of
a stock growing section in the Upper Madison Valley ; and Pony and
'Harrison in the Lower Madison Valley, which are trading points for a
wide area. The State Orphans' Home is located at Twin Bridges.
Schools and General Features
Madison County possesses an excellent school system, the result of
many years of careful supervision. Besides the rural schools of the
country districts, there are good graded schools in the chief community
centers, and five high schools, one each at Virginia City, Sheridan and
Pony, each accredited for the four years term ; one at Twin Bridges accred-
ited for three years, and one at Ennis, accredited for the one year term.
The county presents special opportunities for the development of the
tourist business, stock growing, farming and mining. The crops which
have been most successfully grown in Madison County are alfalfa, clover,
timothy, wheat, oats, barley, rye and potatoes. Potatoes raised in the
county have won numerous prizes at state and national expositions. The
JefTerson Valley in particular has become noted as a potato district.
McCone County
McCone County, situated in Northwestern Montana, with the Missouri
River for its northern boundary, is emphatically a land of present oppor-
tunity, due, paradoxical as it may seem, to the lack of that convenience
considered nowadays as most indispensable to progress — rail communica-
tion. There is at present not a mile of railroad within the county, though
it contains several good towns and a number of promising villages ; yet so
rich is the land and so suitable for farming and grazing that many settlers
have been already attracted and in 1920 the population was 4,747. Its
boundaries had been defined and county government established April,
1919. Its land area is 2,740 square miles.
The surface of McCone County is for the most part rolling and is
interspersed with many attractive and fertile valleys. The soil is a choco-
late loam richly clothed with native grasses. Though there are no com-
776 HISTORY OF MONTANA
mercial stands of timber, Cottonwood and ash are found along the streams.
The water supply is adequate and for the most part reliable. The eastern
part of the county is drained by the Redwater River, while a number of
smaller streams empty into the Missouri on the north and Dry Creek on
the west. Lignite coal has been discovered in various places and the dis-
covery of oil and gas is a possibility of the future.
The natural advantages of the region, modified by the lack of rail
communication, caused the first settlers to take up stock raising as the
most convenient and remunerative occupation, and it has since continued
to hold first place, though of late, with the favorable soil and a growing
season of in to 125 days, general farming has made good progress and
is likely to become the leading occupation in the future. All that is nec-
essary to stimulate the latter industry is the construction of a railroad
through the county giving access to profitable markets, and this improve-
ment will doubtless eventuate at no distant date, as the Great Northern
has surveyed a main line through the county, which has been completed '
save for a gap of about 150 miles, the temporary suspension of work
being due to the prevailing tightness of the money market. With im-
proved financial conditions the closing of the gap is a practical certainty
and will mark the beginning of a new era in this region. The long hauls
necessary to reach a railroad cause land to be cheaper in McCone County
than in most other parts of the state, and have at the same time delayed
heavy settlement, less than half of the tillable area of the county being
now under cultivation.
The average annual precipitation is greater in McCone than in most
of the Eastern Montana counties, and therefore non-irrigated farming is
the general rule, though there is a small quantity of irrigated land. Corn
of excellent quality is easily raised and the acreage devoted to it has been
for some time steadily expanding. Other profitable crops are wheat, oats,
barley, rye, alfalfa and garden produce. The county possesses good local
roads, and two highways, one running north and south and the other east
and west, have been projected through it.
Towns of McCone County
The county seat and largest town in McCone County is Circle, which
in 1920 had a population of 452. Its chief establishments include a large
flour mill, two banks, two newspapers, six stores, a hotel and theatre, two
livery barns, two garages, two restaurants, rooming houses, blacksmiths'
shops and other lines of business. It has three churches and a high
school, liie latter accredited for a one year term. The location of the
town on the proposed line of the Great Northern Railway gives it a
good prospect of becoming a division point.
The ne.xt largest town in McCone County is Brockway, which is also
a business center, having good general stores, a bank, fionr mill, news-
paper, garages, amusement hall and a creamery, the last mentioned being
the only enterprise of its kind in the county. Brockway has also a high
school accredited for the two vear term. Other towns in the countv
HISTORY OF MONTANA 777
are Vida, Nickwall, Sand Creek, Terrace, Riverside, Weldon, Prairie Elk,
Hamblin, Redwater, Paris, Watkins, Pattonhill, Nina, Bonin and Horse
Creek. The coming of the railroad is sure to open up opportunities in
some of these towns for successful business enterprises.
jMcCone County has about fifty school districts and seventy schools,
including the two high schools already mentioned. Its citizens as a class
are enterprising and law-abiding, with good neighborly characteristics,
hospitable to new arrivals and willing to pull together in all things calcu-
lated to promote local interests and the general prosperity of the county.
Meagher County
Meagher County, situated close to the central part of Montana, is one
of the oldest counties in the state, having been created November i6, 1867.
Its early settlement was due to the discovery of gold in Madison County
in 1863, an event which attracted miners and prospectors to the state and
resulted in the discovery of other various sources of mineral wealth
throughout the mountainous regions, including Meagher County. The
county has a land area of 2,369 square miles and a general elevation of
5,000 feet above sea level, more than half its surface being mountainous.
The principal ranges of mountains are found on the northern and southern
boundaries, the northern boundary being marked by the crest of the
Little belt range and the southern by that of the Big Belt range.
The drainage and water supply of Meagher County are exceptionally
good. The principal stream is the Smith River, which, rising in the
Castle mountains, flows through the county in a northwesterly direction
and is fed by numerous smaller streams having their sources in the
mountain ranges to north and south. Its valley, some fifty miles long by
twelve to fifteen wide, is the chief farming district and is practically all
irrigated, the land being chiefly in the possession of stockmen operating
on a large scale and here raising their forage for winter feed. The valley
soil is alluvial, while on the benches it is a chocolate loam. In the eastern
part of the county some non-irrigated farming is practiced. Another im-
portant stream is Sixteen Mile Creek, which, like Smith River, rises in
the Castle Mountains and flows west through a magnificent canyon, finally
joining the Missouri at Lombard.
The extensive stock industry includes the raising both of cattle and
sheep. Though hay is the chief crop raised, the soil produces heavy yields
of grain, samples of which have proved prize winners in state exhibitions.
Garden vegetables also thrive well.
As already intimated, mining was taken up at an early day, silver, lead,
copper and gold being the chief minerals found. For some years the
industry flourished, but after the surface deposits had been secured interest
declined and has been revived only recently. The application of modern
methods and improved machinery will doubtless result in additional profit.
In the northern end of the county are some undeveloped coal deposits.
Meagher county's wealth in timber is chiefly contained in the national
forests included within its borders, and aggregates 624,910 acres. Of this
778 HISTORY OF MONTANA
amount 77,722 acres are contained in the Absaroka Forest, 1,065 '" t'lc
Gallatin Forest, 133,489 in the Helena, and 413,634 in the Jefferson Forest.
Some himbering is carried on, but the industry has not yet reaUzed its
full possibilities. Like most mountainous regions, Meagher County can
boast of attractive scenery and there is excellent fishing in many of the
streams.
Meagher County is tapped by the main line of the Milwaukee Rail-
road, which crosses the southern part of the county east and west, a
branch line running from Ringling to White Sulphur Springs eighteen
miles north. The Y-G-Bee Line Trail between the Yellowstone and
Glacier parks also runs through the county, while the maintenance of
good roads and state highways has received careful attention.
White Sulphur Springs
White Sulphur Springs, the county seat, is the chief distributing point
in the county and the only town of importance. In 1920 it had a popula-
tion of 574. Though small in size it is one of the oldest towns in the
state and one of the richest per capita. It is well built and provided with
good modern improvements. Here are found thermal springs, owned by
John Ringling, the well known circus proprietor, which are said by physi-
cians to have high curative properties. The town also has a good high
school accredited for the four years course. Education is provided for
in Meagher County by an adequate number of rural and graded schools,
in addition to the high school above mentioned, and all are kept in a state of
satisfactory efficiency.
Mineral County
Mineral County, having a land area of 1,224 square miles, was created
August 7, 1914. It is situated in the extreme western part of the state,
its western boundary line following the crest of the Bitter Root range,
on the other side of which lies the State of Idaho. The northern boundary
is formed by the crest of the Coeur d'Alene Mountains. A large part of
the county's area, or 723,755 acres, is included within the Lolo National
Forest, which, with the large private holdings, makes it one of the most
heavily timbered counties in the state.
Mountains predominate throughout the county, but are relieved by
the valleys of the two principal streams, the Missoula and Clark's Fork
of the Columbia, which are fed by numerous tributaries. These valleys
are long, though in places narrow, and possess an extremely fertile soil,
and are, moreover, backed by productive bench lands, forming together
an agricultural region hardly to be excelled in the state. The growing
season is estimated from 63 to 1 10 days, and several kinds of grain, clover,
timothy, vegetables and small fruits and berries are profitably raised.
Agriculture, however, is yet in its infancy here, as also is dairying,
though the latter is making rapid ]irogress. The excellent pasturage
afforded by the cut-over lands, of which there are thousands of acres in
HISTORY OF MONTANA 779
the county, and a plentiful supply of the purest water, together with con-
venient and reliable markets, make this industry very remunerative along
the Missoula and Clark's Fork rivers. The abundance of hay for winter
feeding is another advantage not lost sight of by practical dairymen, and
more cows are being brought into' the county and creameries planned in
the smaller towns. It is not unlikely that these efforts will result in
elevating Mineral County to a place among the best dairying districts of
the state. Cut-over lands sell from $io to $25 an acre, while cleared and
well improved farms bring $50 to $icx) an acre.
At present, however, lumbering and mining are the chief industries.
The largest saw mills are located at St. Regis and Henderson, that at the
former place being one of the largest in the state. The supply of timber
is ample for many years' operations, and this industry, therefore, may
be expected to hold its own for an indefinite period.
Mining enterprise has resulted in profitable finds of silver, lead, gold
and copper. The mining districts are near Superior and in the western
part of the county near Saltese. Many tourists are attracted to this region
by the magnificent mountain scenery and the unusually good fishing and
big game hunting.
Mineral County is easily reached, being traversed by two important
railroads, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul and the Northern Pacific.
The latter road has also a branch line running west from St. Regis to
■Wallace, Idaho. The National Parks Highway and the Yellowstone Trail
also traverse the county.
Towns and Schools
The county seat of Mineral County is Superior, which is also the
principal town. It is located on the Clark's Fork, between mountain
ranges, and has an estimated population of 400. In addition to a number
of retail stores it contains a bank with deposits of more than $100,000, a
theatre, churches and excellent schools. Two weekly newspapers are also
published here.
The other important towns of the county are Deborgia, St. Regis and
Saltese, all having railroad communication.
Education has been provided for in an adequate number of rural and
graded schools, supplemented by two high schools, one at Superior, accred-
ited for the four years course, and the other at St. Regis, accredited for
the two years course.
CHAPTER XXXIII
MISSOULA COUNTY (MISSOULA)
Missoula, the name both of the county and its seat of government, is
one of the most musical words of the Salish tongue connected with the
Indian nomenclature of Montana. It is derived from the native In-mis-
sou-let-ka, the English translation of which is "The River of Awe." The
phrase especially refers to the River Missoula, the waters of which gath-
ered from five great valleys pour and dash through the beautiful city of
Missoula and might well strike awe into the sensibilities of the modern
human, to say nothing of the primitive Indian who had greater leisure
than the man of today to consider its grand and ever shifting movements.
COUNTV OF THE FiVE ValLEYS
Xot all of the counties of Montana are so favored as is Missoula, nor
have all of them the natural resources of this county, which allow its
people a choice of various occupations. Located midway between the
north and south boundaries of Western Montana, it has been known as
"the County of the Five Valleys," and of these five all are productive.
The Bitter Root Valley long has been known because of the fine quality
of its apples ; the Blackf oot \'alley is noted for its live stock and wheat ;
the Flathead Valley is one of the best farming districts in the state for
diversified agriculture; the Missoula \"alley raises thousands of tons of
hay and grains annually, and the Flint Creek Valley is a producer of
agricultural crops of all kinds.
Missoula Countv is practically square in size, being fifty-five miles
long from north to south and fifty miles wide from east to west, and all
of the county is in a mountainous region, with the Flathead Valley in the
northwest section, comprising about 210,000 acres of agricultural land,
mostly irrigated and rolling country. The Missoula and Grass valleys,
situated in the central part of the county, are irrigated and agricultural,
comprising 70,000 acres. The Bitter Root Valley, in the south central
part, and the Blackfoot \'alley in the ea.st central district are narrow and
fertile, that part of the former in Missoula County containing about 20,-
000 acres, and of the latter 25,000 acres.
Lumbering
Naturally Missoula County is largely agricultural and hay and grain
are among some of the principal crops, while much fruit is raised. Tim-
othy and clover are raised all over the county and in some parts of the
Flathead Valley alfalfa is a principal crop. But while agriculture has a
780
HISTORY OF MONTANA
781
leading place among the industries, another of perhaps equal importance
is lumbering, the total amount cut annually for the county being approxi-
mately 150,000,000 feet. The timber lands of the county are very exten-
sive, and the eastern half and southwest portion of the county are almost
solid timber land. Pine, fir and tamarack are the chief species. The
Anaconda Copper Mining Company has one of the largest and most up-
to-date mills in the Northwest, at Bonner, seven miles east of Missoula,
the annual capacity being 100,000,000 feet. The Western Lunhber Com-
pany also has a large mill at Milltown, with a capacity of 25,000,000 feet,
and Polleys Lumber Company has a plant at Missoula with a capacity of
20,000,000 feet. There are several other plants which have a combined
capacity of 5,000,000 feet, and logging camps are located in all parts of
the countv. Blooded stock raising is a growing industry, and other enter-
Irrigated Orchard Near Missoula
prises which are thriving are several woodworking plants, and a manu-
facturing plant at Missoula City the output of which consists of culverts
and flumes.
Drainage and Water Supply
Missoula County is splendidly provided for, as to drainage and water
supply. The sources of water supply for all irrigation purposes are
from the many mountain streams fed by snow and glaciers. The prin-
cipal stream is the Missoula (or Hell Gate) River, from which the county
derives its name, which enters the county at the extreme southeastern
corner and follows a northwesterly course for its entire width. The
Missoula River is fed by the Blackfoot River east and the Bitter Root
River which runs north and south, four miles west of Missoula. The
Tocko River, which runs westerly through the central part of the county,
supplies the United States reclamation projects for the lower part of the
782 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Flathead. The Clearwater River runs from the extreme north end of
the county in a southerly direction for about forty miles, where it empties
into the Blackfoot. and both the Blackfoot and Clearwater are noted as
fishing streams. The Rattlesnake Creek is the source of water supply for
Missoula City and is one of the finest streams in the Northwest for
domestic purposes. Government tests and analyses have shown the water
of this stream to be chemically pure. In rural districts the domestic water
supply is from wells and from natural springs developed into gravity
systems for community use.
Evolution of Missoula County
Missoula County antedated the territory several years. In December,
i860, the Legislature of Washington Territory divided the County of
Spokane and created the County of Missoula, with the county seat at or
near the trading post of Worden & Company, at Hell Gate Ronde It
then embraced all those portions of the present counties of Missoula and
Deer Lodge lying west of the main range of the Rocky Mountains. Mis-
soula County remained a portion of Washington Territory until Idaho
Territory was organized on the 3d day of March, 1863, when it became
a portion of the latter. On the 26th of May, 1864, Congress created
Montana Territory and the first Assembly, which met at Bannack, in
February, 1865, located the county seat at Hell Gate. To attain its
present form, parts were taken from Missoula County, in 1893, to form
Flathead and Ravalli counties and to add to Sanders, in 1906, and Min-
eral, in 1914; while a part of Powell County was annexed to Eastern
Missoula County in 1915.
Missoula County is well settled, being the fifth in population of the
Montana counties. The census of 1920 gives it 24,041, as compared with
23.596 in 1910. Of the county total, the city itself has 12,668. The
average value of improved irrigated land ranges from $65 to $125 per
acre, and improved non-irrigated land is valued at from $45 to $65 per
acre. Small improved tracts adjacent to towns sell at from $350 to $700
per acre. Non-improved cultivable lands, grazing lands, sell for approxi-
mately $25 per acre. There are three National Forests in the county,
Lolo, Lewis and Clark and Missoula.
Missoula County enjoys the benefits of a modern, up-to-date school
system. There are sixty-three public schools, three parochial and one
Americanization night school, and in the city of Missoula City alone there
are ten grammar schools and one county high school. Many of the rural
schools have been consolidated and numerous motor busses are used to
transport the children to and from the school buildings. In addition to
the University of Montana, Missoula City has a first class business
College.
Highways, Scenery and Tourists' Trips
Two transcontinental railroad lines, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St.
Paul, electrified, and the Northern Pacific, traverse the county, the latter
HISTORY OF MONTANA
783
having a divisional terminal here. Local daily trains are made up at
Missoula and operated to the Bitter Root Valley, to Hell Gate Valley,
Grass Valley, the Coeur d'Alene and the Flathead. There are also, in
summer, many automobile stages to each of these valleys. One electric
line runs from Missoula to Bonner, seven miles distant, and the principal
state highways are the Yellowstone Trail and the National Parks High-
way. Hunting and fishing are to be enjoyed all along the main traveled
highways, and ideal natural camping grounds along good streams are
available in all sections. The Mission range of mountains, in the Flat-
head Valley, with its glaciers and lakes, is unsurpassed for scenery. The
Bitter Root, Blackfoot and Flathead Valleys also possess wonderful
scenery, and visitors in this vicinity are generally directed to visit Lolo
Montana Buffalo Still Ranging
Hot Springs, and Salmon and Seely lakes. Automobile tourists who pass
through the county will find ideal camping grounds provided for them
by the Missoula Chamber of Commerce in the City of Missoula.
A trip that finds much favor among the tourists in this region is that
of the Western Montana Park-to- Park Highway Route. Leaving the
western gateway of the Yellowstone, the trail enters a scenic wilderness
where arise the extreme headwaters of the Missouri River. Deer and
elk are found in the hills, and the fisherman finds his labors well rewarded.
The road follows the Centennial \'alley along the Bitter Root Moun-
tains into Monida, where the Oregon Short Line and the principal road
to Salt Lake City are met. The line of the railroad is kept to Armstead,
where the beautiful memorial to Sacajawea, in honor of the squaw who
piloted Lewis and Clark, has been erected by Montana women. From
Armstead the way leads to Dillon, where is situated the State Normal
College. Bannack, the first capital of Montana and the scene of early
gold discoveries and of many of the most important events in the state's
history, lies just beyond. Hangman's Gulch, where the Vigilantes rid the
784 , HISTORY OF MONTANA
state of several bandits, is near Bannack and on the trail. Here begins
the fertile Big Hole \'alley, rich in soil and possessed of natural charms.
Near Wisdom, farther on, is the Gibljon battlefield, the scene of the
defeat and downfall of Chief Joseph and his hardy band of Nez Perces.
From Wisdom across the Continental Divide into the Bitter Root Valley,
the local governments and the United States Forest Service together
built a scenic road. It follows an easy grade through the mountains and
leads at last into the Bitter Root at Medicine Hot Springs. Thence the
highway runs straight down the valley to Missoula. From Missoula the
road runs across the former Flathead Indian Reservation, skirts the
bison reserve where bulifalo still range,* and penetrates the land of the
Salish, peace-lo\ing Indians who still live in their native picturesqueness.
The Flathead's wide prairies have been thrown open to settlement and
white farmers have made the land biosson beside the tepee villages of
the red man. The highway then runs along the banks of Flathead Lake
to Krdispell and thence through an attractive country to the gateway of
(ilacier Park.
The Citv of tup: Five \\\i.levs
Missoula, the county seat of Missoula County, is known both as
"Montana's Garden City," and as "The Fine Little City in a Fine Big
Country." likewise as "The City of the Five Valleys." It had its incep-
tion in 1865, when two traders, Frank L. Worden and Christopher P.
Higgins, who had built a post at "Old Hell Gate," five miles west of the
present city of Missoula, reached the conclusion that their business could
be transacted to better advantage at the meeting point of Rattlesnake
Creek and Hell Gate River, and accordingly laid the cornerstone for the
present city of more than 12,000 people. The city was incorporated in
1883, reincorporated in 1887 under the general laws, and in 1917 adopted
the commission form of government of three men, a mayor and two
commissioners.
Missoula lies at an altitude of 3,223 feet above the sea level, which,
while not too high, insures a cool, dry, health-giving climate. During
the summer the nights are cool, with breezes descending upon the valley
from the snow-capped mountain peaks. The winters, while seldom
severe, afford enjoyment to the cold-weather sportsman, permitting
sleighing and skating during a considerable season. The average annual
rainfall is 15.5 inches.
By reason of its location and natural advantages, Missoula is one of
the important mercantile and manufacturing centers of the Northwest
and is a leading financial, industrial, wholesale, commercial and railroad
distributing point for Western Montana. One of the factories of the
Great Western Sugar Company has made its home at Missoula, con-
structing a plant there which cost $1,500,000. From 400 to 600 employes
♦Remains of famous Pal)lo herd, started in 1880, at Ronan, Missoula County,
and sold, although not all delivered, to the Canadian government. The first lot
was shipped in 1907.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 785
work in the plant, which forms an incentive to the best sugar growers of
this region. The creamery at Missoula has a daily output of 2,000
pounds of butter, and other important industries include a flour mill, a
sash and door factory, a potato chip factory, vinegar and cider factories,
two brick and tile plants, book binding and book making plants, and a
lithographing establishment doing work for firms throughout the North-
west. There are three live and progressive newspapers. ,
Missoula is a well-governed and well-conducted modern city and its
conveniences and utilities compare favorably with large cities through-
out the country. For the most part, the residence streets are either
boulevarded or parked and there are several miles of paved streets, more
than 100 miles of cement walk and more than twenty miles of street
railway service track. Electricity for lighting and power is obtained from
a power plant seven miles east of the city, where approximately 25,000
horse-power can be produced. Practically all the buildings in the busi-
ness section of the city are heated by steam from a central plant, and a
gas plant furnishes that commodity to those who prefer its use. The
water supply has been chemically proven among the purest in Montana,
and is handled by a gravity system. The city maintains a strict sanitary
inspection, extending to all food-stuffs which are sold, and rigid dairy
inspection.
Architecturally, Missoula is one of the handsomest cities of the state.
The Montana Building was erected 'at a cost of $120,000, the Federal
Building $175,000, and the courthouse, one of the finest in Montana,
$250,000. Among the fraternal orders the Elks' Temple, Masonic Tem-
ple and the homes of the Knights of Pythias and the Odd Fellows are
handsome edifices. The Missoula Chamber of Commerce, a well-organ-
ized and energetic body of which D. D. Richards is secretary, owns its
own home, a structure valued at $30,000. The city likewise has four
strong banking institutions.
Greenough Park, lying in the northwestern part of the city, is a
natural playground in which Rattlesnake Creek takes its tumbling, crystal
course through the midst of virgin woodland which has been cultivated
only in so far as to remove the underbrush. Sacajawea Park, in the
southwestern part of the city, has become a pleasing reality through the
efforts of the Missoula Women's Club, and another park in Hammond
Division, presented to the city by the South Missoula Land Company,
has been developed and adds its attractions. The Milwaukee Railroad
has reclaimed the south bank of the river in the vicinity of its station,
making it a beautiful little park, approached by rustic bridges, and the
Northern Pacific Railroad, by parking arfd installing an artistic fountain
and statue of Capt. John Mullan, has made the vicinity of the station
extremely attractive. Missoula's theater-goers enjoy some of the best
productions staged.
Missoula offers to its residents the benefits of a Free Public Library,
which was founded in 1894 by the Library Association, and endowed in
1902 by Andrew Carnegie. In 1917 there was added the county library
786 HISTORY OF MONTANA
department, available to all residents of Missoula County, the second of
its kind to begin operations in Montana and the first to be operated in
connection with an old establishment. There are five branches, two
located in the public schools at Ronan and St. Ignatius, two in the stores
at Frenchtown and Potomac, and one in a private home at Carlton. In
addition to this branch system, the library serves its out-of-town patrons
through the parcel post, the sending charges for which the library pays.
The collection now contains 20,116 volumes, and Mrs. Grace M. Stod-
dard is librarian. The institution is under the supervision of a governing
board of trustees, appointed by the city council.
Missoula has three hospitals, the Northern Pacific and St. Patrick's,
and the hospital at the County Poor Farm, which is located three miles
northeast of the city. In the city is located a well-organized Young
Women's Christian Association, of which Mrs. E. E. Kinsman is secre-
tary; the executive office of the Missoula, Ravalli and Sanders Counties
Medical Society, of which Dr. J. J. Tobinski is secretary-treasurer; and-
the Western Montana Fair Association, of which F. P. Keith is presi-
dent. The office of the state orchard inspector is located at Missoula,
and from this office there is a rigid prohibition maintained against the
importation of infected fruit. This is necessary, as the region is an
excellent fruit country for the growing of pears, plums, cherries, crab-
apples and strawberries, particularly in the Rattlesnake Valley, which
begins to the northeast of Missoula, twenty-five miles distant, and which
was thrown open to settlement in 1909. The winter in this region is
moderated by the Chinook, or warm Pacific coast wind, which has a
salutary effect upon the growing fruit.
In the thirteen churches of Missoula, nearly every denomination is
represented. The credit for building the first church in the city is given
to Dr. Thomas Corwin Ilifif, who located at Missoula in 1871, and Sep-
tember 13. 1872, dedicated the Methodi.st Episcopal Church, which was
attended by people of all denominations. Prior to this, as early as 1863,
Father Grassi had built a log church about six miles below Missoula,
three-quarters of a mile beyond the old Town of Hell Gate, which later
became the Catholic Church of St. Francis Xavier, and a little later he
and Father Menetry erected another at Frenchtown. These two churches
were erected many years before a church was built at Missoula, but it
was not until December 11, 1881. that the first Catholic Church was
opened for service within the city limits, Rev. Joseph Menetry being the
pastor. St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church is now housed in an edifice
which was dedicated on October 9, 1892. A Presbyterian Church was
organized in 1877, and the Christian and Baptist (Immanuel) churches
followed in 1884. The first Methodist Episcopal was formed at an early
day, the Swedish Congregational and the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran
(Immanuel) were founded in the '90s, and the Protestant Episcopal,
Church of Christ (Scientist), Trinity Methodist Episcopal, African Meth-
odist Episcopal and others were established at a still later date. In 1916
the Presbyterian and the Congregational churches at Missoula united.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 787
Educational System
Missoula has reason to be proud of its educational system which
provides ten grammar schools and the Missoula County High School,
while the city is likewise the home of the State University, of Montana's
College of Arts and Sciences, and Schools of Business Administration,
Forestry, Journalism, Law, Music and Pharmacy. The Roman Catholic
denomination provides for St. Joseph's School, the Sacred Heart Acad-
emy and Loyola High School. The grammar schools are distributed in
various parts of the city so that every child is within easy walking dis-
tance of his place of educational training. Hawthorne, Franklin, Wil-
lard and Roosevelt schools are situated on the south side of the city, while
Central, Prescott, Lincoln and the City Manual Training buildings are
in the eastern part, and Whittier and Lowell on the north side. The
manual training building also provides for the city's domestic science
department and is well equipped for both subjects. Every one of the ten
schools has a commodious playground, and the schools are presided over
by the city superintendent. They also have a supervisor of music and
one of drawing, and a large corps of competent teachers is employed.
Within the county borders there are thirty-nine school districts and most
of the districts maintain standard schools.
The Catholic school system is an excellent one, in which St. Joseph's
School, for boys under the high school age, and Sacred Heart Academy,
for girls, are presided over by the Catholic Sisters. Some of the students
of these institutions are from Wyoming and Idaho, but 50 per cent are
residents of Missoula. The two schools have an excellent playground.
Loyola High School, the Catholic school for boys, is conducted by the
Fathers of the Society of Jesus.
The Missoula County High School is the best equipped secondary
school in Western Montana, and the present buildings represent an out-
lay of $150,000. For nearly ten years the high school has maintained
a manual training department in which the boys are taught mechanical
drawing, drafting, architecture, topographical drawing, etc.; and a
domestic science department, in which the girls are taught costume design-
ing, dressmaking, cooking, dietetics, household management and house-
hold decoration. The commercial department is well organized and has
been a regular part of the school curriculum for eight or nine years.
State University
While the first years in the life of the LTniversity of Montana, which
was created by an act of the State Legislature in 1893. were ones of hard-
ship, the institution today holds place among the best of the western
universities. For the four years of its infancy the institution held its
classes in the rooms of one of the city public schools, under Oscar J.
Craig, the first president, and his four associates, but in 1897 the Legisla-
ture issued bonds to the amount of $100,000 for two buildings, and two
Missoula residents donated the present campus site which includes forty
788
HISTORY OF MONTANA
acres at the foot of the mountains which enclose the eastern end of the
valley, and 520 acres on the slopes of Mount Sentinel. This mountain
rises abruptly 2,OCX3 feet above the plain. Today the university has five
large and well-equipped buildings, as well as other structures of a tem-
porary character which will be replaced in the future with larger and
more substantial buildings. University Hall is the administration building
in which are also located the assembly hall of the university and class-
rooms, lecture rooms and laboratories. Science Hall is occupied by the
School of P'harmacy and the Department of Chemistry. Natural Science
Hall, which was completed in January, 1919, is a modern, three-story
laboratory building, containing the classrooms and laboratories of the
departments of biology, botany, home economics and physics, as well as a
St.\tk University, MissorL.\
large lecture room, equipped with stereopticon and motion picture appara-
tus. Craig Hall is the women's dormitory, entirely used as a domicile for
the women students of the institution. The gymnasium is equipped for the
physical education of all students, and adjoining it is Dornblaser field, the
athletic ground, with its stands and tracks. Library Hall contains the
university library, the law library, the classrooms of the School of Law
and other lecture and classrooms. The Forestry and Music buildings are
frame structures, affording temporary quarters for these schools. The
hospital is designed for the isolation and treatment of students who may
be sufifering from contagious or infectious diseases. Sinipkins Hall and
Cook Hall are the buildings erected for barracks. They were remodeled
so that the former serves as a men's dormitory and the latter is the
armory of the R. O. T. C. and temporary quarters of the School of
Journalism.
President Craig rem^Tined at the head of the university until igOcS,
when failing health compelled his resignation. He was succeeded by
Clyde A. Duniway, who came to Montana from Stanford University.
During the administration of President Duniway, the summer session
HISTORY OF MONTANA 78^9
was inaugurated and the School of Law established. In 1912, Edwin
Boone Craighead, of Tulane University, succeeded President Duniway.
He continued in office until 1915, and under his presidency the schools of
Journalism and Forestry were established, the School of Pharmacy
reorganized, and the departments of Business Administration and of
Domestic Science were added to the College of Arts and Sciences. In
1915, Prof. Frederick G. Scheuch was appointed acting president and
continued in that capacity until the summer of 1917. Edward O. Sisson
was appointed president of the university in 1917, coming to Montana
from Idaho, where he had held the office of state commissioner of
education. In July, 1921, Doctor Sisson was succeeded by Dr. Charles H.
Clapp, former president of the Montana State School of Mines.
Missionary Work of the Railways
Missoula is situated in the midst of a rich tributary country, being
located in the one logical spot for a city where the five valleys came
together. In the '80s, during the construction of the Northern Pacific
Railway, the directors of that line sent out prospecting parties to examine
all the passes through the mountain ranges of Western Montana. It was
natural that they should wish as direct a route as possible from Butte
to the Pacific coast, but the preliminary surveyors were left no choice
in the matter. They found that there was but one way open to the rail-
road, that being to follow the lead of the Indian tribes, of the Lewis
and Clark expedition and of the MuUan Military Highway, and swing
north down the Hell Gate River and through Hell Gate Canyon, at the
mouth of which the little town of Missoula had been already estab-
lished. Later, several railroads endeavored to pierce the mountains in
some other place, but failed, and in 1907 the Chicago, Milwaukee & St.
Paul found its only course to pursue, that of paralleling the Northern
Pacific, Missoula thus securing its second transcontinental railway.
In traversing this region, the railways have found that they go through
a rich region. The Hell Gate River formed two valleys from which they
could draw upon the Hell Gate Valley above Missoula and the broad
Frenchtown plains below the city. A few miles to the east of Missoula,
the Black foot River joins the Hell Gate, making its immense drainage
basin tributary to the city and south from the city itself for ninety miles
lies the rich valley of the Bitter Root River. A few miles to the west of
Missoula, on the other side of a low pass which the Northern Pacific
crosses, the broad expanse of the Flathead Valley stretches northward
forty miles from the railway to Flathead Lake. The Bitter Root and
Frenchtown valleys were sparsely settled when the Northern Pacific
first came through Missoula, but it was not until the advent of railway
transportation that the development of this part of the state really had
its beginning. In those days, when Montana had just been granted state-
hood, nearly all of Western Montana was included in the one County of
Missoula. The rapid growth of this region can be demonstrated in no
better way than to make note of the fact that instead of one county, this
790 HISTORY OF MONTANA
territory now includes five counties within its borders. As the valleys
increased in wealth and population, they dropped away from the mother
county and set up governments of their own, but Missoula still remains
the richest and most populous of them all, for it contains the central point
from which they all radiate.
Development of the Valleys
Included in the Hell Gate Valley is the district along the Hell Gate
River from Garrison to Missoula, a distance of seventy miles. The
valley varies from a narrow canyon with hardly room for the railway
tracks to a width of six or eight miles. At Drummond, forty miles from*
Missoula, the Flint Creek Valley branches off to the south, and in it are
the rich farm lands and mines of Granite County. Agriculture, lumber-
ing and mining form the principal industries of Hell Gate Valley, and
primitive mountain scenery greets the eye on either side, a scenery made
more inviting by the fishing and big game hunting which are included
with it. The valley is provided well with railways and highways, both
the Northern Pacific and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railways
traversing its entire length, while at the present time automobile traffic is
prolific, coming over the National Parks Highway and the Yellowstone
Trail. Chief among the numerous small towns that dot the valley are
Garrison, Drummond, Bearmouth, Gold Creek, Bonita and Clinton.
The Blackfoot Valley, the development of which is a matter of com-
paratively recent date, comes into Missoula from the northeast. The
Anaconda Copper Mining Company built the first railway up the valley in
191 1 as a logging road to keep its Bonner sawmills supplied, and later
the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul took over the road and completed
it to Potomac. This has now been graded to Ovando, a distance of sixty
miles from Missoula, although the valley extends some thirty miles
beyond that point. While there had been some ranches in the valley
prior to the coming of the railway, that innovation held out a greater
inducement and was the means of attracting numerous homesteaders.
Grain ranches, stock farms and large grazing lands are the principal
assets of the country included in the valley, where there are also magnifi-
cent forests. The beautiful lake regions and the fishing of the Blackfoot
Valley attract many summer visitors, an increasing number of whom
have established regular camps, a regulation of the forest service pro-
viding that five-acre tracts may be taken over by an individual for this
purpose. In the autumn months hunters flock to this region. The larger
of the towns include Bonner, McNamara's Landing, Lincoln, Sunset,
Potomac, Clearwater, Ovando and Ilelmville. Bonner is a lumbering
center, seven miles east of Missoula.
Extending for thirty miles along the Hell Gate River, west of Mis-
soula, is the Frenchtown Valley, an old and established community which
dates its settlement from i860, when Jesuit priests set up a mission at
Frenchtown. The valley is naturally almost free from timber, the land
is gently rolling, and geologists explain the openness and flatness of the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 791
whole region by stating that it was once the bottom of a huge lake. As
is the case with other valleys around Missoula, the Frenchtown district
is well supplied with transportation facilities, both of Missoula's trans-
continental railways extending through it, the main branch of the Mil-
waukee, and the Coeur d'Alene branch of the Northern Pacific. Numer-
ous automobile roads extending through the valley are kept in the best
of condition. The name "Grass Valley" formerly applied to the French-
town district indicates the product it is especially adapted to, which makes
it an excellent livestock country. Hereford cattle from the Deschamps
ranch of this county have frequently topped the Chicago market. Grain
raising is also becoming an important industry, and most of the crops in
the valley proper are under irrigation, although dry land farmers are
getting good results from their methods of cultivating the more gentle
rolling foothills. Frenchtown. from which the valley takes its name, is
the chief town.
There has been in existence for some years the idea that the Bitter
Root Valley was settled by General Price's left wing, such an impression
having been founded on the remark of a veteran of the Civil war. In
fact, the date of its settlement goes even back of the war between the
states many years, for it was in 1841 that Father DeSmet invaded the
valley and founded St. Mary's Mission, near the present community of
Stevensville, and since then the sunny climate of the Bitter Root and the
fertility of its soil have led to its becoming one of the most populous
valleys of the state. The richness of the Bitter Root was early recog-
nized by the Northern Pacific Railway, and one of the branch "feeders"
of that system was built sixty miles up the valley to Darby, although some
of the best lands lie beyond the railway terminal, the valley extending
thirty miles farther south to the Ross' Hole country. An excellent high-
way goes the length of the Bitter Root, and the beauty of the high, rugged
ridge of the Bitter Root range, with its occasional Lolo or St. Mary's
reaching above the other peaks, brings much travel to both the highways
and railway. The hundred and one streams which pour down from the
mountain snow fields furnish the tourist with all the trout fishing that he
can desire. The valley extends directly south from Missoula. The
gently-rolling lowlands are practically all under cultivation, and great
irrigation projects, such as the big ditch of the Bitter Root Valley Irriga-
tion Company and that of the Marcus Daly Estate, in addition to numer-
ous smaller systems, furnish the water necessary for the crops. But,
as in the Frenchtown district, the dry land farmers have shown that the
cultivation of the foothills can be made to pay even without irrigation
ditches. Horticulture is an important industry of the valley and the
Mcintosh red apple and the Bing cherry have made the name of the
Bitter Root known throughout the country. Other fruits of the tem-
perate zone also thrive in the valley. The dairying business is another
important pursuit of the ranchers and grain and stockraising also come
in for their share of attention. While the lumber industry is not as
important as at one time, it still adds much to the wealth of the district.
The people of the Bitter Root have given much attention to the subject
792 HISTORY OF MONTANA
of education, and in addition to an excellent graded school system, high
schools are maintained at Hamilton. \'ictor and Stevensville. The first-
named is the county seat of Ravalli County and a thriving city of 3,000
population, situated fifty miles south of Missoula. Other leading com-
munities are Corvallis, Darby, Lolo and Carlton.
The Flathead Valley, lying northwest from Missoula, was one of the
last of the five valleys to develop, but when development was com-
menced it was carried on with a rush that has continued right up to the
present. F"ormerly the valley was held as a reservation for the Flathead
tribe of Indians, but in 1910 it was thrown open for settlement to the
homesteaders, and its rolling prairies have been transformed into broad
fields of wheat and oats. This valley includes the Jocko Valley and that
of the Flathead River from Poison, on Flathead Lake, down to Perma,
in addition to which there are the smaller side valleys of the Little Bitter
Root, the Moeise and Camas Prairie. In the lofty Mission Mountains
and in Flathead Lake, the valley has its scenery, which as is almost invari-
ably the case in Montana, is accompanied by good hunting and fishing.
Formerly the valley was not well equipped with transportation, but of
recent years the Northern Pacific has built a branch up from Dixon to
Poison, on Flathead Lake, which traverses the valley and thereby con-
nects up with the Great Northern at Kalispell, through Flathead Lake.
The main line of the Northern Pacific runs through the Jocko Valley.
During the earlier days of settlement in the valley, the lack of suitable
transportation facilities, as to railways, had a beneficial efifect upon the
highways, as good roads were a necessity and the movement thus started
has been continued uninterruptedly, the slogan of "good roads" ha\ing
been a popular one in the valley for a number of years. Several auto-
mobile stage lines, inaugurated before the advent of the railway, continue
in operation, and the entire region is covered with a network of high-
ways. Grain and stock are the chief source of prosperity on the Flat-
head, and both irrigated and dry farming are followed with success. The
United States reclamation service has placed much of the valley under
water from its lateral ditches. The leading town of the Flathead \'alley
is St. Ignatius, the home of the original mission for the Indians estab-
lished by the Jesuit Fathers, a community in which farming is the lead-
ing industry. Arlee and Ravalli are other more or less important points,
while Dixon and Perma are points on the railroad in the valley proper.
Ronan is devoted largely to lumbering and farming, and is a community
of about 600 population, located on the automobile roads in about the
center of the valley.
Opportunities for D.virying
While Missoula County is one of the well-developed and fairly
thickly settled counties of the state, there are still numerous opportuni-
ties for men of ambition and energy to be found in this region. Its
resources are so numerous and its advantages of such a superior nature
that it attracts permanent settlers in quest of a field of activitv that has
HISTORY OF MONTANA 793
not been worked out by over-development. One of the industries in
which opportunities are presented here is the dairying line. Forage for
cattle is of the best to be found in the western part of the state, and the
yield of milk from the cows fed on alfalfa, clover and timothy hay is of
excellent quality. In the Bitter Root Valley there are several creameries,
particularly at Hamilton and Stevensville, as well as the large industry
of this kind located at Missoula, which has done a splendid business in
the sale of butter, ice cream and milk. The poultry business is another
one which pays, this being especially true in the Bitter Root Valley.
The former Flathead Indian Reservation is likewise developing into a
dairying community. Irrigation in various sections of Missoula County
has progressed wonderfully during recent years, greatly enlarging the
area of productive land and thus providing a wonderful field for agri-
culture, and the quality of the products raised in this region has been
proven by the number of prizes which Missoula County vegetables,
grains and fruits have taken at state, sectional and national fairs and
expositions. Reliable and thorough transportation and climatological and
power resources have opened opportunities in a manufacturing way, as
well as for mining development and agricultural industry, and, all in all,
the county would seem to be one in which the man of ambition and in-
dustry should find the opportunity for the accomplishment of his desires.
CHAPTER XXXIV
MUSSELSHELL, PARK, PHILLIPS, PONDERA, AND POWDER
RIVER COUNTIES
While by no means one of the larger of Montana's counties, Mussel-
shell, with a land area of 2,903 miles is by no means one of the least
important. One of the best of the dry farming counties, it likewise pre-
sents conditions markedly favorable to stock raising and its coal produc-
tion, in proportion to its size, is of a nature that gives it a certain prestige
among other mining districts. Lately, also, the county has assumed
additional importance because of the discovery of an excellent grade of
oil, an industry which promises to make Musselshell County a point of
much interest to operators and investors in the near future.
Settlement of the Musselshell Country
The permanent settlement of this region began between 1880 and
1885, when a number of cattlemen located along the streams. Some
years before, horse-stealing had been carried on along the Musselshell,
and stock had ranged on the rich grazing land, which was formerly an
old-time haunt of the bufifalo, but no one ever attempted to get title to
property. Later, when the sheep and wool industry partially displaced
cattle raising, land was taken up along the streams in order to secure
control of the water rights and of the rich bottom lands which yielded
bountiful crops of blue joint and timothy hay. The value of the bench
lands for grain and other crops was then unknown. In 1908, the Puget
Sound and Billings and Northern Railroad were completed through Mus-
selshell Valley and the transition from a cattle and grazing to a farming
country began.
When the Northern Pacific Road first started on its long way to the
Pacific coast, great land grants were made to the corporation by Congress.
.Since that time, each odd-numbered section in the majority of townships
in Musselshell County has been owned by the Northern Pacific. By the
summer of igii most of the government land had been taken up and
developed into farms, and to further develop the country the commer-
cial organizations of the various towns began to make insistent demands
upon the Northern Pacific for the opening of its lands. Recognizing
the justice and previous benefit of that policy, the railway placed these
odd-numbered sections on the market. These lands were in all respects
equal to those which had been homesteaded and have produced banner
crops of wheat, oats, rye, barley, flax and vegetables. The movement
of settlers to the lands mentioned had its effect in bringing a demand for
794
HISTORY OF MONTANA 795
a new county, which was accordingly organized from parts of Fergus,
Meagher and Yellowstone.
Agriculture and Live Stock Raising
Musselshell County was created March i, 191 1, and was named after
the river which traverses it from east to west. It is located just south
of the geographical center of Montana, and is approximately sixty-five
miles from east to west, and forty-two miles from north to south. The
Musselshell River irrigates about 12,000 acres along its banks, and is
the principal source of water supply for the county, although Willow
Creek, Flatwillow Creek and Swimming Woman Creek serve to irrigate
several thousands of acres of farm lands lying in the north end of the
county. Water for domestic "use is obtained from the Musselshell for
several towns along that stream, while wells for domestic purposes fur-
nish an ample supply on farms, water being found at a depth of from
twenty to sixty feet in most sections of the county.
At the present time there are probably about 15,000 acres under ditch
and much of the remainder of the county can be irrigated, but for the
most part agriculture is carried on by the dry farming or non-irrigated
method, and this has produced excellent results. The soil varies in differ-
ent parts of the county, along the river being a heavy loam which pro-
duces high yields of all grains, corn, alfalfa and garden truck, while on
the benches a limestone gravel soil predominates which is easily culti-
vated and is particularly suited for wheat raising. In the extreme north-
ern and southern parts of the county and along the Bull Mountains, the
land is rolling and in some places mountainous, suited for grazing, and,
where open, produces good crops. All classes of soil in Musselshell
County are of good depth. The central portion of the county is for the
most part level, with frequent benches, which are particularly suited for
conserving moisture and usually produce splendid wheat crops. The
principal crops grown are wheat, oats, rye, barley, corn, flax, alfalfa,
timothy, clover, potatoes, beans and vegetables of all kinds. Much corn
and sunflowers are being planted for silage, and sweet clover is also prov-
ing a splendid forage crop. Lands in Musselshell County are reasonably
priced and the county offers opportunities to thrifty agriculturists who
possess sufficient capital to establish themselves. For raw agricultural
lands, $15 to $30 per acre is asked, and for improved land $20 to $75
per acre. Irrigated land brings from $40 to $75 per acre, and grazing
land, which here is more or less rough and unsuited for cultivation, sells
at from $5 to $10 per acre. In all communities, the price set on the
various kinds of land depends to a large extent upon how far they are
situated from towns and railroads, and what improvements have been
made by their former owners.
Aside from farming, the principal industries of the residents of Mus-
selshell County consist of cattle, hog and sheep raising and coal mining.
There is still much room for development in the stock raising industry
which has not attained its highest state of perfection in this region, but
796 HISTORY OF MONTANA
which has been followed with success by growers in several sections.
An excellent grade of semi-bituminous coal is obtained in the Bull Moun-
tain coal field, and the largest mine at Roundup produces approximately
3,000 tons daily, while the coal production of the five largest mines
reaches 6,000 tons daily, which is capable of increase to double that
amount. An industry which is now attracting much attention is oil de-
velopment, three wells sunk in 1919 and 1920 having produced oil of an
excellent quality and many more being drilled in various parts of the
county. Thus far, coal and petroleum have been the only minerals found
in appreciable quantities, although there is known to be a deposit of sap-
phires in the county, several hundred specimens having been gathered.
Timber of good quality is found in merchantable quantities in the Bull
and Snowy mountains.
Lines of Tr.ansport.ation
Musselshell County lacks nothing in the way of good transportation
facilities. It is traversed from east to west by the main line of the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, and from north to south by
the Great Northern Railway, running from Billings to Great Falls, and
several state and national highways intersect the county. The Custer
Battlefield Highway, extending from Omaha to Glacier P'ark, crosses the
county from south to north, passing through the county seat of Roundup.
The Montana Electric Trail follows the line of the Milwaukee Railway
from west to east across the county, passing through Lavina, Roundup,
Musselshell and Melstone, and the Glacier Cutoff, starting at Custer on
the Yellowstone Trail, passes through Musselshell and Roundup and
northward to Glacier Park. As attractions to tourists, the county offers
several fine fishing streams within -easy reach of the larger communities
and highways; in the Bull Mountains beautiful scenery is to be found; on
the beaches there are wide stretches of agricultural land; in season there
is to be secured good hunting for duck, prairie chicken, sage hens, wild
geese and even deer; the oil fields can be seen in operation from the
Custer Battlefield Highway, an hour's trip from Roundup, and one of the
largest shaft coal mines west of the Mississippi River is at the county
seat.
The advantages offered in the way of educational training in Mussel-
shell County include 145 schoolhouses, served by 180 instructors. Of
these, 125 are rural .schools, twelve are graded schools and eight are high
schools.
Roundup, the county seat of Musselshell County, was founded in
1909, and is the largest coal mining camp on the main line of the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway between Miles City and Butte. It is
the center of distribution for twelve oil fields within forty miles of the
city, as well as the hub of a large farming and stock raising di.strict, and
coal mines within four miles of the city have a pay roll of $150,000 per
month. This is a thriving and progressive community which maintains
four churches, and has paved streets, a cluster street lighting system.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 797
modern electric light, water and sewer systems and a new reservoir of
1,000,000 gallons capacity.
Musselshell, a community of 300 people, has farming and stock rais-
ing for its chief developers, although there are a number of active coal
mines in the neighborhood. It is the oldest town in the county and is
pleasantly situated on the south bank of the Musselshell River in the
Bull Mountain coal field. To the south the land is rolling prairie with
many beautiful and fertile valleys. A trading post, which planned to
become a great commercial center, was established on the north bank of
the river, about opposite the present town, in the year 1877. A store
and postoffice were opened on the town site of today. The old Fort
Custer-Fort Maginnis road crossed the river at that point and for a
long time the place was known simply as the Crossing. Melstone, with
a population of 400, is a railroad division point, and is the nearest rail
gateway to the Mosby oil fields, being likewise conveniently situated in a
community in which farming, stock raising and coal mining are prose-
cuted. These communities all ofifer inducements to those desiring to
make a permanent home, and opportunities are numerous. All maintain
good school systems, Roundup having a high school.
In 1907, the St. Paul Road was built into Musselshell County and the
event was followed by an even greater growth than it had previously en-
joyed. Its population in 1920 was 12,030.
Park County
The name of Park County, which is located in the south central por-
tion of Montana, is taken from its proximity to the Yellowstone National
Park, whose northern boundary is formed by the county's southern line,
and access to which from the north is had through this county. The
county is practically oblong in shape, being 100 miles in length, from
north to south, and fifty miles in width, east to west, and has a land
area of 2,671 miles. Gallatin County forms its western border, Meagher
County bounds it on the north and Sweet Grass County on the east,
with the exception of the extreme southeastern corner, where Carbon
County forms its boundary line. Two large fertile agricultural valleys
occupy the center of the county, one, the Shields valley, varying from
fifteen to thirty miles in width, and the other, the Yellowstone, from
two to twenty miles. Upwards of 100,000 acres are under irrigation and
most of it has been highly developed. The Yellowstone and Shields
rivers are the chief streams and both have numerous tributaries flowing
the year round.
Through the heart of Park County passes the transcontinental line
of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and a branch line from Livingston
taps the Shields River Valley, while another from the same city goes
to Gardiner, the official entrance to the Yellowstone Park. Many im-
portant highways cross the county, including the Yellowstone Trail and
National Parks Highway from east to west, and the Yellowstone-Glacier-
798 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Bee Line Highway and the Geyers-to-Glaciers Highway north and south.
The county has many improved roads.
The soil in the valleys of Park County is a rich black loam with a clay
subsoil. The Crazy Mountains appear in the northeastern part of the
county and most of the southern part is also mountainous. Outside of
the citv of Livingston, the main industries of the county are agricuUure,
dairying and stock raising, including the raising of registered stock, and
mining in the southern part of the county. The principal crops are hard
winter and spring wheat, oats, barley, rye, seed peas, alfalfa, timothy and
clover, and vegetables and sugar beets thrive. Much hay, chiefly timothy
and alfalfa, is grown, and the county has been noted as a prize-winner
in national as well as state competitions on practically all of its crops.
Park County stands high in mineral resources. Gold, silver, lead,
zinc, chrome, black manganese, red and brown hematite iron, tungsten.
scheelite, molybdenum and nickel are found in the southern half of the
county, and there are also deposits of coking and bituminous coal,
gypsum, limes and high grade polish granite. Much commercial timber
is found in the county, and nearly 1,000,000 acres are included in national
forests, there being 677,639 acres of Park County land in the Absarokee
Forest, 75,512 acres in the Beartooth Forest and 188,960 acres in the
Gallatin Forest. Improved irrigated land sells at $75 to $150 an acre,
improved non-irrigated bench land at $25 to $50 an acre, and grazing
land at $10 to $15 an acre.
Mining Days in Park County
As a country rich in mineral deposits. Park County has been promi-
nent in the history of Montana since the early days. One of the first
placer mining camps in the territory was at Yellowstone City, which was
situated near the modem site of Emigrant, in the western part of the
county. Although mining has lost the glamour of its early history', it is
still carried on there by individuals and a few minor corporations. At
various times, new mining districts have been developed — such as the
New World, with Cooke City in the southwestern part of the county as
its center; Crevasses, Sheep Eater, Independence. Natural Bridge, Jar-
dine, Boerum, and the coal fields at Electric. Shields River Valley. The
New World mining district contains some large ore deposits, the devel-
opment of which has been retarded by lack of transportation. Gold,
silver, lead, copper, iron, zinc and fire clay deposits are found in this
district, which covers about two hundred square miles.
Capt. William Clark, of the famous expedition, saw the country of
what is now Park County, in July. 1806, and Jim Bridger, the famous
scout and guide, spent the winter of 1844-45 in what became known
as Emigrant Gulch with a band of Crow Indians. Various government
expeditions crossed the county, going both east and west, and in 1863
the prospectors and town builders commenced to filter in. Among the
most famous of the latter incursions was the party led by James Stuart.
In the same vear. Thomas Curry found gold in Emigrant Gulch, but the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 799
richer prospects of Bannack and Virginia cities, diverted the settlers
farther west, aUhough after John Bozeman opened his new overland
route, via Bozeman pass, many of them passed through Park County,
by way of the present site of the city of Livingston.
Curry and his companions Iiaving found gold in Emigrant Gulch some
twenty-five miles above the point where the Bozeman trail left the Yel-
lowstone, and desiring to share their good fortune with the emigrants
from the east, met some of the first parties at that point and induced
some of the gold seekers to abandon the trip to Virginia City and try
the new diggings up the Yellowstone. These found good prospects and
at once went to work. A meeting was called and Curry mining district
was formed about the middle of August. It was not long before there
were two or three hundred people digging up the ground in Emigrant
Gulch. When coarse gold was found in paying quantities preparations
for founding a town at the mouth of the gulch were made. By March,
1865, seventy-five log houses had been built and the settlement had a
population of about 200. and a few miles down the valley a saw mill was
erected. In the fall of the year so many left Emigrant Gulch and Curry
District for the more promising .Shorthill's district that Yellowstone City
was almost abandoned. The years 1865-68 in Park County were
trouljlous ones, on account of Indian depredations, and in the latter year
the boundaries of the Crow Reservation were so changed as to throw
open to settlement the portion of the county east of the Shields River.
Dr. A. J. Hunter had developed the hot springs property which bears his
name, various parties were traversing what is now Park County on their
way to Yellowstone National Park, and by the treaty of 1880 all of the
territory in the present county was taken out of the Crow Reservation.
Livingston Founded and County Cre.vted
In 1882, the agitation was begun for the creation of a new county
from that part of Gallatin east of the Belt range mountains; in August
of that year the first business house was opened at Clark City, the present
site of Livingston. In November, the town site of Livingston was sur-
veyed by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, which had previously
selected the site upon which Clark City had commenced its life. The
nucleus of Livingston was fixed a little to the north of Clark City nearer
the railroad track (the National Park branch of the Northern Pacific)
in August, 1883. Livingston then quickly absorbed Clark City, and
that growing community led the movement of eastern Gallatin County
for the formation of a new county. Finally, after much political ma-
neuvering, Governor Preston H. Leslie approved the bill for the forma-
tion of Park County in February, 1887. Its provisions went into effect
m May. and during the intervening period the territory of the new county
was attached to Gallatin for judicial purposes. At that time the popula-
tion of Park County was 4,500.
Several unsuccessful attempts have been made to move the county
seat from Livingston and to take slices from the county. Livingston has
800
HISTORY OF MONTANA
had a rapid initial growth, as a division town of the Northern Pacihc,
and has since increased in a substantial way both in population and public
improvements. Livingston and Park County played an important part
in the great American Railway Union strike of 1894, which covered
the period from June 26th to July 19th. No lives were lost, but blood-
shed was narrowly averted upon several occasions.
Towns of the County
Livingston is a modern, growing community and one of the most
important cities in the state. The trading center for a rich agricultural
and stock growing territory, it is situated on ihe banks of the Yellow-
FiRST House Erected in Livingston
stone River, on a level plateau, 4,491 feet above sea level. Livingston
is a railroad division point, being on the main line of the Northern Pacific
and the junction of the main line with two branches. The city has large
local railroad shops and general railway offices, flour mills, cigar factory.
creamery, three granite cutting yards and brick yards, as well as four
banks, and is tributary to the Shields and Paradise Valleys, which are
rich in minerals and lumber. The city has three wards and is a well
governed and maintained community with paved streets and local im-
provements of modern character, among its principal buildings being a
Court House, City Hall and Federal building. It likewise maintains a
Carnegie Library, two newspapers and four banks, and has seven public
schools and a high school, as well as two hospitals. Its Commercial Club
is a live organization, and the city is also the home of a post of the Grand
Army of the Republic and of the United Spanish American War Vet-
erans. .V rifle range is maintained on the outskirts of the city. Nestled
close to the very heart of the Rockies. Livingston is surrounded by kalei-
doscopic mountain scenery, and is connected by an attractive automobile
HISTORY 01' MONTANA 801
drive up the beautiful Paradise Valley, one of the famed mountain
canyons of the slate, to the lava arch through which the tourist is ad-
mitted to the Yellowstone National Park. Livingston maintains a free
automobile camping resort, with well-kept grounds, bordered on two
sides by the Yellowstone River, shaded by large trees, and provided with
electric lights, city water and wood and sanitary conveniences. These
camping grounds are across the river from the business district of the
city.
Gardiner, second to Livingston among the urban centers of Park
County, is the gateway to the Yellowstone National Park. It contains
the official entrance to the grand public grounds of the nation in the
form of an impressive stone arch through which pass thousands of tour-
ists annually. Naturally, the town derives considerable profit from this
summer procession of pleasure seekers and finders; it is also the outfit-
ting point for a considerable mining district. Gardiner came into exist-
ence in 1883 with the completion of the Park branch of the Northern
Pacific Railroad, and takes its name from the Gardiner River which
empties into the Yellowstone near the place.
In addition to Livingston and Gardiner there are a number of smaller
towns in Park County which are progressive. Among these are Wilsall,
which maintains a creamery and ten miles northwest of which there is a
cheese factory ; Pray, which has a large lime kiln ; Emigrant, with a
flourishing stone quarry ; and Clyde Park, which is the trading center for
a prosperous agricultural district.
In addition to a modern high school and four large grade schools
at Livingston, there are high schools at Wilsall and Clyde Park and
sixty-five common schools in the rural districts. As tourist attractions,
Park County presents splendid big game hunting in season, and fine
fishing, and naturally many tourists are attracted by this county being
the gateway to the Yellowstone National Park. Hunters' Hot Springs
is one of the best known resorts in the state, and Chico and Corwin
Hot Springs are likewise well and favorably known to the traveling
arranged among themselves, assigned the Civil Practice act to Chief
public.
PiiiLLirs County
Among the counties of Montana which contribute of their soil to both
the agricultural and mineral wealth of the state, Phillips County has its
established place. With the exception of the Little Rocky Mountains in
the southwestern part, the county is nearly all prairie in character and is
practically all cultivable, and this fact serves to make agriculture the
chief industry, but the mountainous region referred to has produced a
large amount of gold and various parts of the county have produced
lignite coal, so that the mineral resources, while secondary, are by no
means unimportant. Like various other parts of the state, Phillips
County bears the tinge of romance. In the fastnesses of the Little
Rockies the notorious Kid Curry and his gang of outlaws lived and
Vol. 1—51
802 HISTORY OF MONTANA
defied the forces of law and order in the early days, and, surrounded by
the beautiful scenery to be found in the same region, are to be found
the headquarters of some of the old-time western cattle outfits, for
Phillips was originally a cattle county prior to the coming of the agri-
culturists.
Phillips County was created February 5, 1915, and was named in
honor of Wendell Phillips, the American orator and abolitionist. It
lies in the north central part of Montana, extending from the Canadian
boundary on the north to the Missouri River on the south. The broad
and fertile Milk River Valley cuts through the center of the county, east
and west. With a land area of 5,266 square miles, Phillips is one of the
larger counties of the state, and is loi miles north and south and sixty-
five miles east and west.
The soil of the county is mostly clay loam, although some giuubo is
found, and there are nearly 100,000 acres of irrigated land, chiefly in the
Milk River Valley, under the Government reclamation project. The
chief crops are wheat, oats, flax, alfalfa, corn and beans, and these are
being raised in goodly quantities, although agriculture along the Milk
River is still capable of much development. In fact, the region may be
said to be new. Settlers are only practically laying the foundations at
this time, and diversified farming and dairying are just beginning. Stock
raising is an industry which is growing, and this, likewise, is capable
of further development. Improved irrigated lands sell for around $75
per acre, improved non-irrigated for $25, non-improved lands for $15 and
grazing lands for $10.
Thus far, as noted, the chief mineral resources seem to be the gold
that is found in the Little Rockies, and the lignite coal in various parts
of the county. However, there are several structures thought to be favor-
able for the finding of oil, and if such proves to be the case, a new indus-
try will be opened up for operators and investors. In the southwestern
part of the county is the Jeflferson National F""orest, in which is found
timber of commercial value, and cottonwood is reasonably plentiful along
the Missouri and Milk rivers.
The Milk River is the principal stream of Phillips County, and
Beaver Creek and other tributaries rising in the Little Rockies flow into
it from the south, while a number of streams that rise near the interna-
tional boundary line flow into it from the north, notably Whitewater
and Frenchman creeks. Water for domestic purposes is found in wells
ranging from 12 to 300 feet, depending upon the locality. The main
line of the Great Northern Railway passes through the county east and
west, following the Milk River for the greater part of the way, and
this is the only railway system to connect with the county at this time.
However, the Canadian Trail, which extends across Montana in a south-
westerly direction, passes through the county and the mining districts of
the Little Rockies. The Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Highway
parallels the Great Northern Railway straight across the county. For the
tourist, there is much to be found of an attractive nature in this section
of the country. Lake Rowdein, which is situated a few miles east of
HISTORY OF iMONTANA 803
Malta, is one of the best duck hunting locahties in the west. Large num-
bers of native wild fowl nest there, and it is one of the stopping places
for the northern ducks when the flight is on in the fall. Visitors invari-
ably are drawn to the Little Rockies and to the Fort Belknap Indian
Reservation, located just to the west of the county line.
Phillips County has 112 graded schools and three accredited high
schools, and a total of 146 instructors are employed. Malta, the county
seat, is an up-to-date community and the chief trading center. Other
good towns tributary to large farming districts are Bowdoin, Dodson and
Saco.
Pondera County
While Pondera County is one of the youngest in the State of Mon-
tana, having been created April i, 1919, it is likewise one of the most
progressive, in several ways, and during its life as a separate county
this locality has made rapid strides. It is situated in the northwestern
part of Montana and was formed from several other counties, notably
Teton, and has a land area of 1,658 miles, being eighty-four miles long
east and west and from eighteen to thirty miles wide north and south.
The Continental Divide of the Rocky Mountains marks its western
boundary, and the Black feet Indian Reservation and Maria's River
its northern boundary part of the way. This is one of the regions which
still retains many of the old traditions of the West of the early days,
although the tendency of recent years has been toward development of all
the resources of the county along material lines, and twentieth century
progress has largely subjugated the free-and-easy, open-handed methods
of the past.
Pondera County takes its name from the Pondera River, which is
found in the eastern part of the county. The principal streams in the
western part, running north, are Birch Creek, Blacktail Creek and
Dupuyer Creek, emptying into Maria's River. W^ell water is found at
depths ranging from 20 to 200 feet, depending upon the locality. About
125,000 acres are under irrigation, the majority of this acreage being
included in a Carey project of the Valier Land and Irrigation Company.
The eastern two-thirds of the county is tillable, but the western portion
of the county is mountainous and is valuable chiefly for stock raising and
grazing. The soil is a black loam of considerable depth in most places.
At the present time wheat, flax, oats, barley, potatoes and alfalfa are the
chief crops, but the county is still in a state of early development, and as
settlers on the irrigated lands are becoming better established, more
diversification in crops is being noted. For one thing, more forage is
being raised and dairying and stock raising are being included in the
operations of the more progressive agriculturists.
These two vocations, farming and stock raising, are the chief occupa-
tions of the residents of Pondera County and will probably remain so, as
the county for the greater part is best adapted to the pursuits of the soil.
However, coal has been found in the western part of the county in sufii-
804 HISTORY OF MONTANA
cient quantities to make mining profitable, and wells are being drilled for
oil on several formations which look promising. Naturally, should the
latter mineral be discovered in sufficient quantities it may change the
entire aspect of the industrial situation in the county. As to timber in
Pondera County, some commercial wood is found in the western part of
the county, and there are 121,616 acres of Pondera County land included
in the Lewis and Clark National Forest.
Transportation facilities in Pondera County are highly acceptable.
Through Burlington trains from Chicago to the Pacific coast use the
Great Northern Railway through the eastern part of the county as a main
line, and the Montana Western Railway, connecting with the Great
Northern at Conrad, runs northwesterly to Valier, serving the irrigated
district. The Geysers-to-Glaciers Highway, the Y-G-Bee Line Highway
and the Banff-Grand Canyon Road traverse the county north and south,
and local roads are well maintained. Irrigated land in Pondera County
sells at $90 to $125 an acre. Non-irrigated farming lands range irom $15
to $50 an acre, and non-improved, non-irrigated lands sell at from $10 an
acre up.
For those who desire to settle permanently in the county, develop-
ment of the agricultural and stock raising industries will prove the most
interesting and profitable investment. For those who are visiting the com-
munity merely as tourists, good hunting and fishing are provided in the
western part of the county, while the Blackfeet Indian Reservation on the
north aiTords opportunity to study the western Indian in his native
environment.
Conrad, the county seat of Pondera County, is the most important
town in the county, and is the distributing center for a rich and growing
locality. It has all modern improvements, including a high school
accredited for four-year terms, in which, among other courses, are given
manual training, domestic science, commercial and normal training.
Valier, the second largest town, is a modern community and a growing
one, with an accredited four-year-term high school, and is in the heart
of the irrigated district. Other important community centers, all of
which have good graded schools, are Dupuyer, the oldest town in the
county; Brady, Williams, Manson, Ledger and Fowler. Williams is the
headquarters of the Community Club of the irrigation project, the first
organization of its kind in the county. The first Project Fair was held
under the auspices of this club, and the first Pondera County Fair in
connection with the second annual Project Fair. The county fair has
been made a permanent annual event and is doing much to stimulate
interest in modern methods of farming and stock growing.
Powder River County
Prosperity and development of the West have always followed the
railroad. Wherever the iron horse has made his way he has been trailed
by the forces which make for advancement and settlement, but until his
tracks have wended across a stretch of country that locality will never
HISTORY OF MONTANA 805
realize its fullest possibilities. Lying in Southeastern Montana, its south-
ern boundary marking the northern boundary of Wyoming, Powder
River County, so-called from the stream of that name, is remote from
any railroad, and stock raising is the chief industry, although practically
all the best homestead lands have been entered upon. Surveys have been
made for a railroad from Belle Fourche, South Dakota, to Miles City,
Montana, and whenever the line is built there will be a rapid development
of the agricultural industry in the county, and the communities, all small
at this time, will offer many opportunities in various business ways.
Powder River County has a land area of 3,337 square miles, and the
northern and eastern portions of the county consist of rolling prairies
with pine and cedar brakes. The western and southern portions are
rough and broken in places, with hills of considerable size, and this
locality will in all probability always be used for grazing purposes. The
soil in the districts adapted for agriculture is chiefly a deep, fertile loam,
and alfalfa and corn are the leading crops. Some small grain is raised,
there are a few old orchards in the county and those that have been prop-
erly cared for have done well, and small fruits, vegetables and melons are
successful.
Cattle raising is now the chief industry and there are many old-time
big cattle outfits operating in this region. Practically all the irrigated
land in the county belongs to these ranches, having been developed to
furnish winter forage. The Powder River flows northeasterly through
the county, and into it flows the Little Powder, which drains the southern
portion of the county. Otter Creek, Pumpkin Creek and Mizpah River
are other streams which flow more or less during the year, and a number
of artesian wells, developing a good flow, have been brought in.
There is considerable lignite coal in the county, but no prospecting has
been done to ascertain what other mineral resources, if any, the county
possesses. There are some commercial stands of timber, cottonwood,
wild plum, box elder and ash growing along the streams, while pine and
cedar are found in the hills. There are 395,000 acres of the county
included in the Custer National Forest.
CHAPTER XXX\'
POWELL, PRAIRIE, RAVALLI AND RICHLAND COUNTIES
Powell County lies on the western slope of the main range of the
Rocky mountains in Western Montana, about midway between the north-
ern and southern boundaries of the state. It was created January 31,
1901, and has an area of 2,329 square miles. Most of the surface is
mountainous, but there is quite an amount of good farming land in the
Deer Lodge Valley around Deer Lodge, and also in the Big Blackfoot
Valley around Ovando. Lesser agricultural areas are found all along
the streams. The soil in the Deer Lodge Valley varies from a rich black
loam to a light chocolate, and is underlaid by a gravelly sub-soil which in
places appears on the surface.
PowELT, County in General
The county is well watered by several important streams, which are
fed by numerous mountain tributaries. The Deer Lodge River flows
northerly and then westerly through the southern half, the Big Black-
foot River westerly, and the Little Blackfoot River and Nevada Creek
in a southerly direction through the northern half of the county. The
south fork of the Flathead River has its source among the high moun-
tains in the remote northern end of the county and flows northerly.
Of the 1,621,360 acres contained within the area of Powell County,
626,209 ^re included within national forests, divided as follows: 169,765
acres in the Missoula Forest, 70,930 acres in the Deer Lodge Forest,
271,000 in the Flathead Forest and 114,514 in the Helena Forest.
Agricultural land values are determined by the location, altitude, mar-
kets and crop ada])tability, and vary from $20 to $150 an acre. Alfalfa
and wild hay are the [jrincipal crops, but wheat, oats, barley and flax are
also raised, as well as dairy products, poultry, swine and vegetables, the
last four named products finding a ready market at Butte and Anaconda.
The valleys in the northern half of the county are chiefly devoted to hay
to furnish winter forage for the live stock.
Mining has been developed in the southern half of the county, the
principal mining districts lying near Elliston on the Little Blackfoot and
on Nevada Creek near Ophir. There has also been some mining near
Deer Lodge. Silver, lead and gold are the chief minerals developed.
The mineral possibilities of the northern half of the county have not yet
been ascertained, as little prospecting has been done there. That moun-
tainous region, with its good hunting and fishing, has strong attractions
for tourists, especially those of sporting proclivities, and at Ovando may
806
HISTORY OF MONTANA 807
be found experienced guides ready to take parties into the primitive
wilderness.
A Little History
Deer Lodge Valley, along the river by that name, Deer Lodge, the
county seat, and other names and features of the region, are forcible
reminders of the days of Indian occupancy and lore. It is said by Gran-
ville Stuart that the name Deer Lodge is derived from the Hot Spring
mound in the northern part of what is now Deer Lodge County — the
mother of Powell, Silver Bow and Granite counties. The Butte men-
tioned, in the upper part of the valley, was called by the Snake Indians
the Whitetailed Deer Lodge, from the fact that the variety of deer men-
tioned were very abundant in that region, and that the steam arising from
the mound resembled smoke issuing from a native lodge.
The settlement of what is now P^owell County was an outcome of the
discovery of gold at Gold Creek by a party led by the Stuarts, in 1858.
Though unable at the time to develop the placer, they returned and began
work in 1862. The news of their discovery led to the founding of Ban-
nack and Virginia City, and the eventual settlement of Western Montana.
City of Deer Lodge
Deer Lodge, the county seat, is in the center of the valley, and con-
tains about one-half of the total population of the county, which amounts
to 6,909 according to the 1920 census. It is a little city of beautiful
homes, substantial business houses and such modern municipal utilities
as a gravity water system, the source of which is in the mountains to
the east, electric lights and park improvements. In several sections of
the city, the "lodge" idea has been brought out in a way which is most
arti.stic and sylvan. In that respect, Deer Lodge town is among the unique
communities of Montana, if not of the states. Its setting is majestic
and charming, situated, as it is, between the main range of the Rocky
mountains in the east and a spur of the main range on the west, at the
foot of Mount Powell, one of the loftiest of Montana's peaks.
The altitude of the city is about 4.500 feet above sea level, and is
surrounded by mountains, with gentle valleys and broad benches rising
from the Deer Lodge River to 'the adjacent heights. When the town
was originally platted by the pioneers from the East, it was designed
that Deer Lodge should become a city of homes, and at an early day
trees were planted along the streets and in the surrounding districts.
That policy was also in line with the prevailing ambition of the earlier
days to bring the territorial capital to Deer Lodge. Albeit that ambition
was not realized, the result has been to make Deer Ix)dge one of the
most deliglitful shaded cities in Montana.
Surrounding Deer Lodge are some of the largest ranches in Montana,
as well as numerous farms productive of wheat, oats, barley and flax.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 809
It is within an hour's ride of Butte and Anaconda, and the great mining
district of the state, and, as its transportation facihties are good, is one
of the large shipping points of the state. The southern part of Powell
County is traversed by the main lines of the Northern Pacific and the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroads, and the Milwaukee road has
made surveys for another line through the northern part, between Great
Falls and Missoula. The principal automobile highways running east
and west also pass through the county and are kept in unusually good
condition. The main roads fork at Garrison, one branch going to Butte
and the other to Helena.
A few years ago Deer Lodge was made a division point on the Mil-
waukee road, since which time it has developed considerably. It has
become a railroad town of some importance, the company's shops furnish-
ing employment to a considerable number of men.
Montana State Prison
The Montana State Prison was located at Deer Lodge twenty-four
years ago, and is an imposing pile of buildings. The records show that
there are about 600 prisoners, but as the system of parole and employ-
ment on state buildings and public highways is in force, at times more
than a half have spent various periods in valuable labor outside the
prison walls. Among the buildings thus erected by prison labor have
been the office of the prison ; men's and women's dormitories at the
State Hospital for the Insane at Warm Springs, Deer Lodge County,
and the dairy barn and power house, the State Tuberculosis Sanitarium
at Galen, same county. As a very small percentage of those paroled
is reported as having violated their privileges, the system (in view of its
financial returns) appears to have been a success.
Deer Lodge furnishes good educational facilities in thoroughly or-
ganized graded schools and the county high school which, in addition
to the regular curriculum, provides a course in agriculture under the
provisions of the Smith-Hughes act; also, the St. Mary's (Catholic)
Academy is well conducted.
Other towns, besides those mentioned, are Elliston, on the Little
Blackfoot, a mining center, Ovando and Helmville. The last named is
the principal town in the northern part of the county.
Prairie County
Prairie County lies in Eastern Montana, midway between the northern
and southern boundaries. It was created February 5, 191 5 and has a
land area of 1,742 square miles. Its maximum length east and west
is seventy-two miles and its maximum breadth twenty-one miles. In
the northwestern part of the county are the Mountain Sheep BlufTs and
the surface is more or less broken. In the remainder of the county it
is rolling.
810 HISTORY OF MONTANA
The principal stream is the Yellowstone River, which flows in a
northeasterly direction, bisecting the county, and is fed by a number of
tributaries, the most important of which on the south, in Prairie County,
is Powder River. Stock raising and non-irrigated farming are the chief
industries. The prevailing type of soil is a chocolate loam and the prin-
cipal grain crops are raised including wheat, oats, rye, barley, corn
and flax. Alfalfa and considerable wild hay are also raised, and
some attention is being given to corn and sunflowers for silage pur-
poses. Considerable reclamation is projected, including the irrigation
of 30,000 acres from the Yellowstone and Powder rivers. Farmers
on the non-irrigated lands are devoting their chief attention to live stock.
Non-irrigated land can be purchased at from $10 to $75 an acre and graz-
ing land from $7 to $15 an acre. Cottonwood is found along the creeks,
but there are no commercial stands of timber. A considerable quantity
of lignite coal of good quality has been found in the county, and some
prospecting has been done in districts thought favorable for oil and gas.
The population of Prairie County in 1920 was 3,684.
The transcontinental line of the Northern Pacific traverses the county,
keeping close to the Yellowstone River. The main line of the Chicago,
Milwaukee and St. Paul enters the county from the southeast and from
Cato west follows the Yellowstone. The Yellowstone and Red trails
cross Prairie County from east to west, merging into one trail at Fallon.
At Terry they are joined by the Powder River Trail, extending from
Moose Jaw, Canada, to Denver, Colorado. The roads out of Terry,
Fallon and Mildred are graded.
The county seat of Prairie County, which is also the principal town,
is Terry. It is situated in a natural artesian basin along the Yellow-
stone River between the mouth of Powder River and Fallon Creek. Its
altitude is 2,250 feet. In 1920 it had a population of 794. Terry is
sei'ved by the Northern Pacific and Milwaukee railroads and is the chief
distributing center of the county. It is a modern, up-to-date town with
a community club and a community church, and is the headquarters
of the Farm Bureau, the County Fair Association and the Roundup.
Mildred and Fallon are growing towns ; Mildred on the Chicago, Mil-
waukee and St. Paul Railroad and the Yellowstone Trail, and Fallon
on the line of the Northern Pacific at tlie junction of the Yellowstone
and Red trails. Terry, Fallon and Mildred have good graded schools.
Terry also has a high school accredited for a four year course and at
Mildred there is a high school with a two years' course. Forty rural
schools are distributed throughout the country districts of the county.
The bench lands in the vicinity of the principal communities have been
well improved, but there are large areas of railroad and other lands avail-
able for purchase.
R.\v.\LLi County
Ravalli County, created by separation from Missoula County April
I, 1893, has a land area of 2,391 square miles. It lies in Western Mon-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 811
tana and comprises the greater portion of the Bitter Root Valley. It
is bounded on the west by the Idaho line, which follows along the jagged
range of the Bitter Root, on the east by the Granite County line, marked
out by a spur of the Rockies, and on the south by the Continental divide.
With a length north and south of approximately seventy miles. It has
a width of about eighteen miles, and is hemmed in by mountain ranges
on all sides save the north. The Bitter Root River, a large clear moun-
tain stream, is fed by numerous tributaries coming down from the
mountains on both sides of the valley, and the tourist may here find
beautiful scenery with splendid hunting and fishing.
Historic A.ssociations
Bitter Root Valley has its historic associations. In 1805 Lewis and
Clark, crossing over from the Big Hole, passed down the valley on
their route westward. Here also, in 1841, the Jesuit fathers established
the first church in Montana, St. Mary's Mission, which still stands in
what is the town of Stevensville. They also plowed, seeded and har-
vested the first acre of land in Montana. The Nez Perces in their out-
break of 1877 swept through the valley, and the Flathead Indians made
it their home until they were removed to the Flathead reservation in
1 89 1. It was here that Marcus Daly established his racing stud and
bred some of the most famous winners on the American turf.
Resources of Ravalli County
Up to the present time Ravalli County has developed no mineral
resources. Its pioneers were mostly lumbermen, who established what
was for a time the dominant industry, but which now holds a secondary
position. Though they cut over thousands of acres of land in the county,
large commercial stands of timber still remain. There are 1,129,567
acres included within the Bitter Root National Forest and 7,900 acres
within the Lolo National Forest.
Many of the early settlers who came here to cultivate the land en-
gaged extensively in fruit growing, which industry for a time put on
the aspect of a "boom." But too little regard was paid to location and
the character of the soil, and as a result some met with failure. Better
judginent, guided by experience, has served to stabilize the industry and
make it profitable, and there are now about 35,000 acres in the county
laid out in orchards. Many former orchard tracts have been planted
to hay and grain, for dairy herds and swine. General farming, dairying
and flour milling are also carried on successfully. Most of the farming
is done under irrigation. The greater part of the land surface is roll-
ing, with considerable slope near the foothills. Here and there the slope
is broken by bench lands some of which have been placed under the
ditch. The soil varies from a gravelly light soil to a deep loam. The
farm crops in general consist of hay, both wild and tame, wheat, oats,
812 HISTORY OF MONTANA
barley, potatoes and other vegetables, apples and cherries. The price of
irrigated land is from $ioo to $200 an acre; non-irrigated land about
$30 an acre, and grazing land from $7 to $15 an acre. The transporta-
tion facilities are adequate to present needs. A branch line of the North-
ern Pacific from Missoula runs practically the entire length of the valley,
which is also traversed by the Park-to-Park road link.
Ravalli County has made ample provision for education. Besides
the rural and graded schools there are high schools at Hamilton, Stevens-
ville, Corvallis and Victor, each accredited for the four year course.
The Hamilton High School also maintains a teachers' training depart-
ment.
Though having an elevation on over 3,000 feet on the Pacific side
of the divide, the climate of Ravalli County is in general mild, extremes
of temperature being comparatively infrequent. In the development of
the tourist trade, dairying, horticulture and the raising of blooded live
stock, new settlers may find abundant opportunities for industry with
the prospect of an adequate reward.
H.\MILTON AND ViCINITY
The largest city in Ravalli County is Hamilton, the county seat, which
is a town of modern conveniences, substantial business blocks and hand-
some residences. It has also good educational and religious facilities.
It is situated near the center of Bitter Root Valley in the midst of a
fine apple country, and with pine forests in the vicinity. Among its
industries are a large sawmill, a sash, door and box factory and a lath
mill. Adjoining the town is Bitter Root Stock Farm, founded by the
late Marcus Daly, now owned and managed by Mrs. Marcus Daly. This
estate contains 22,000 acres and is one of the finest, if not the finest, in
Montana. A picturesque locality near town is known as Forest Hill.
The City of Hamilton contains eight churches, among which the most
notable are the Methodist Episcopal and the Presbyterian. The former
was erected in 1893. Three substantial banks provide adequate financial
accommodations and three newspapers are here published. There are
two good hotels and an active Chamber of Commerce, with J. E. Shoudy
as secretary, is going good work in inaugurating local improvements and
keeping the citizens imbued with progressive ideas. Another important
local institution is the Hamilton Public Library. Three and a half miles
from the city the County Poor Farm is located.
The other community centers of Ravalli County are Stevensville,
Corvallis, Victor and Darby. Stevensville, with a population of 1,250,
is the second city in point of size, and has the distinction of being not
only the oldest town in the county but also in the state. It is situated
on the Bitter Root branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad, twenty-
eight miles south of Missoula and is the center of a fine fruit country.
Among its local institutions are two banks, two newspapers, a co-operative
creamery, flour mill and seven churches. The creamery is the only co-
HISTORY OF iMONTANA 813
operative institution of the kind in the state and is one of the most
successful enterprises of that character in the United States. It markets
all kinds of dairy products, including poultry.
Richland County
Richland County is situated in the northeastern part of Montana
and has the shape of an irregular right triangle, with the Missouri River,
flowing eastward, as its northern boundary, and North Dakota as its
eastern. It was created May 27, 19 14. Its land area is about 1,900
square miles. The greater part of the surface, indeed nearly all of it,
Young Apple Orchard in Ravalli County
is underlaid by lignite coal, which is to be had for the digging and is
sold commercially for local use.
The principal streams are the Yellowstone toward the east, flowing
in a northeasterly direction to join the Missouri near the state line ; the
Missouri on the north, and Redwater Creek on the west. They have
numerous tribtitaries, many of considerable size. The average depth of
wells is 40 feet. A range of hills runs northeasterly through the county,
marking the divide between the Missouri River and Yellowstone River
watersheds. Along the course of these streams, long before gold was
discovered in Montana, fur traders had built posts and lived adventurous
and almost solitary lives, their exploits and experiences adding many a
fascinating page to the history of the West.
The timber in Richland County consists mostly of cottonwood, which
is found along the streams, with some pine and cedar in the rough
portions, but there are no commercial stands of timber in the county.
Seventy-five per cent of the surface is suitable for cultivation. General
farming and stock raising are the chief industries, the latter carried
on chiefly in the northern part of the county. Dairying is also followed
814 HISTORY OF MONTANA
successfully and to a considerable extent in the irrigated districts. The
land in the Yellowstone Valley through the county is irrigated from
the Lower Yellowstone Project, constructed by the United States Rec-
lamation service in 1908. Along the tributaries of the Yellowstone more
land is irrigated from private ditches. The valley land is practically
level and is characterized by a rich soil, with no stones, gumbo or sage-
brush, except in spots. The Yellowstone Valley is from two to six
miles in width and smaller valleys are found along the tributary streams.
The bench lands for the most part are rolling and somewhat rough along
the creeks and rivers, but quite level in places. The soil here is a chocolate
loam, practically free from stones, and underlaid with a clay sub-soil.
On these lands wheat, corn, oats and flax are grown successfully. The
irrigated districts are devoted chiefly to alfalfa, sugar beets, potatoes
and other vegetables and some grain. The average value of improved
irrigated land is $150 an acre, improved non-irrigated farming land $40
an acre, non-improved bench lands $25, and grazing land $10 an acre.
Transportation facilities are furnished by two railway systems, the
Great Northern and the Northern Pacific, and other lines are in pro-
jection. The Great Northern has a branch running south from Mondak
to Sidney, while another branch of the same system enters the county
from Dakota at East Fairview and connects with the Mondak line. This
is part of a proposed new transcontinental cut-off which has been built
west in Richland County as far as Richey, Dawson County, but the
construction of which was interrupted by the war. A line westward
through Sidney has been projected by the Soo road, and the Northern
Pacific has projected a line from Sidney to Killdeer, North Dakota.
The county roads, which include several state highways, are kept in
good shape.
The county seat of Richland County is Sidney, which in 1920 had
a population of 1,400. It is a general milling and market town and .is
the only railroad center in the county. Among its industries are a creamery
and a flour mill. It has a modern system of public utilities, including
water works, sewerage and electric lights. Its altitude is 1,978 feet above
sea level. The other principal towns of the county are Fairview, Lam-
bert, Savage and Enid.
Education has been well provided for in Richland County and there
are seventy-four school districts under efficient superintendence. Sidney
had a good high school, with a department for the training of rural
teachers. The population of the county in 1920 was 8,989.
CHAPTER XXXVI
ROOSEVELT, ROSEBUD, SANDERS AND SHERIDAN
COUNTIES
The county which possesses the distinction of being named in honor
of the great American president, statesman, soldier and naturaHst, Col.
Theodore Roosevelt, is one of the youngest of Montana's counties, hav-
ing been created February i8, 1919. Its early history is that of Sheridan
County, of which it was formerly a part, and of North Dakota, which
state forms its eastern boundary line. Situated as it is in the north-
eastern part of the state, during the early days it was the scene of many
conflicts between the Indians and the white settlers, but this matter is
covered in another chapter of this work, dealing with the settlement of
the pioneers who pushed over the line of the territory from North Dakota
and points to the east and south.
Farming and Stock Raising
Roosevelt County has a land area of 2,355 square miles, and is eighty
miles long and thirty miles wide. Its altitude, 1,922 feet, is the lowest in
the state. It is exclusively an agricultural and stock raising county, and
while non-irrigated farming predominates over the irrigated method, when
the Fort Peck Indian Reservation Reclamation Project in the western
part of the county is completed by the United States Government, 152,-
000 acres will be irrigated in one body. All of the county is practically
a rolling prairie country, with a soil varying from a deep heavy chocolate
loam to a light sandy loam, well adapted for large scale operations, a fact
which was recognized by the Montana Farming Corporation (a Morgan
concern) which has leased several thousand acres on the Fort Peck
Reservation and is raising wheat and flax on a big scale. In addition to
these, corn and hay are the chief crops, although before the coming of
the agriculturally inclined settlers this region was noted among stockmen
for its growth of heavy, luxurious and nutritious grasses.
Aside from agriculture, stock raising is the chief industry, and much
progress has been made in establishing pure-bred cattle herds. A Tri-
County Stock Show for Sheridan, Roosevelt and Richland counties is
held annually at Culbertson and is considered to be one of the most com-
plete in the state. The Shorthorn herd owned by Lowe & Powers, at
this point, is accounted the best herd in Northeastern Montana and
Western North Dakota.
Aside from the Missouri River, which marks the county's southern
boundary, the principal stream in Roosevelt County is the Poplar River,
flowing southerly through the county and emptying into the Missouri,
815
816
HISTORY OF MONTANA
but there are also a number of smaller streams, notably Big Muddy Creek,
all tributaries of the Missouri. Non-irrigated farms in this county sell
from $25 to $50 an acre, irrigated farins considerably higher, and grazing
land considerably less. Some of the lands under the ditches of the Fort
Peck Indian Project are being sold by Indians who have received patent
in fee to their allotments, at prices ranging from $30 to $50 an acre, the
purchaser assuming the construction costs.
Mineral Resources
In the matter of timber, cottonvvood and ash are to be found along
the streams, but there are no commercial stands of marketable lumber.
Tr.\ctor at Work in Rooseveli County
The mineral resources are much more valuable, for fine beds of lignite
coal of good quality are found throughout the county, and there has been
considerable prospecting for oil and gas. The indications for the devel-
opment of these industries are considered promising. In case that such
industries develop, there will be no serious difficulties in the way of secur-
ing transportation facilities, as the main line of the Great Northern Rail-
road parallels the Missouri River throughout the county, and a branch
line runs north from Bainville into Sheridan County, while another
branch from Snowden runs south into Richland County. The Roose-
velt Memorial Highway follows the main line of the Great Northern.
While itself still a county in its infancy, prior to its creation Roose-
velt had the benefit of the work done in the way of development by
Sheridan County, and this included the establishment of a public school
system. In addition to rural and graded schools, there are four high
HISTORY OF MONTANA 817
schools in the county. Those at Poplar, Culbertson and Wolf Point are
accredited for the four-year term, and the school at Bainville for two
years. According to the United States Census of 1920, Roosevelt County
has a population of 10,347, and its assessed valuation is $20,060,127.
Wolf Point and Other Towns
The largest town in the county and one which seems to have a bright
future before it, not only on account of the railroad shops but also be-
cause of the large territory opening up around it in the Fort Peck Indian
Reservation Reclamation Project, is Wolf Point, situated in the south-
western portion of the county. This is a railroad division point on the
main line of the Great Northern Railroad, and according to the 1920
census report had a population of 2,098. In 191 6 this community was
only an Indian agency town, with a population of 300 inhabitants. Today
it has beautiful homes, fine churches, a good school system and progres-
sive business establishments. Poplar, also located on the main line of
the Great Northern Railroad, and on the Missouri River, is a town that
is growing rapidly and by the 1920 census had a population of 1,152.
This community is one that attracts interest because of the unique Indian
Fair held every year. It is situated on the river whose name it bears.
The little town of Mondak, in the extreme southeastern corner of the
county, was made the temporary county seat at the time of the county's
creation.
One of the oldest towns in the eastern portion of the state is Culbert-
son, which, with a population of only 347, has taken the lead in encourag-
ing the growing of pure-bred livestock, and holds an annual stock show
at which exhibitors come from various parts of Roosevelt and the ad-
joining counties of Sheridan and Richland. Bainville, another town in
the eastern part of the county, had a population of 396 at the last census
report, but is growing rapidly because of its good railroad facilities.
This town is also the site of a flour mill with a capacity of 550 barrels
daily, the largest in Northeastern Montana or Northwestern North Dakota,
which is supplied by grain due to its railroad facilities and is in constant
operation. The town is also becoming quite a shipping point and pre-
sents an opening for wholesale branch houses. Other thriving little
towns, owing their importance chiefly to the fact that they lie in the midst
of rich agricultural districts, are Froid, McCabe and Brockton.
Rosebud County
Correctly speaking, the Old West is of the past. There are some
still remaining who recall the days of Indian fighting, miles of cattle
ranges, daily privations and primitive conditions, but for the most part
the ever increasing influx of settlers from the more eastern communities,
has put the stamp of an advanced civilization upon even the most re-
motely situated sections and day by day the old customs are passing
further into the background of memory. However, in several isolated
Modern Wolf Point Schools
HISTORY OF ^MONTANA
819
cases there are to be found localities which have clung tenaciously to the
long past, who have refused to accept in full the refinements of the twen-
tieth century and who therefore retain some of the glamour of the Old
West. One of these localities lies in Rosebud County, where, in the
southern part, is situated the Tongue River Northern Cheyenne Indian
Reservation. Owing to the fact that this reservation is located far from
any railroad, the Government's wards on this reservation have not had
the opportunity of becoming spoiled by coming into contact with the
An Old-Time Indian Ceremonial
pleasures and vices of their white brothers of the cities, and are more like
the Indians of forty or more years ago than almost any other reservation
Indians. Also, in the southern end of the county are to be found a number
of typical old-time western cattle ranches, whose owners have fought
stubbornly to continue their operations along the old lines and who have
been successful in their determined stand because of their remoteness from
railroad connections.
N.^TURAL AND ACQUIRED Fe.MURES
Rosebud County, which is situated in the southeastern part of Mon-
tana, was created February ii, 1901, being formed from the western part
820 HISTORY OF MONTANA
of Custer County, and derives its name from Rosebud Creek, an im-
portant tributary of the Yellowstone River. The land area of the county
Js 4.993 square miles, making it the sixth largest county in the state, and
it also ranks well as to wealth, its assessed valuation in 1920 being $35,-
475.463, although its population, according to the 1920 census was only
8,002. Sixty miles of the fertile Yellowstone Valley extends through its
central part from east to west, and the county is irregular in shape, with
a maximum length from east to west of 1 14 miles and a maximum breadth
of eighty-four miles north and south.
Agricultural and Other Natural Wealth
Rosebud County is well watered by good-sized streams. In addition
to the Yellowstone River, there are the Tongue and Big Horn rivers and
Rosebud, Sunday, Sand, Horse, Little Porcupine, Froze to Death, Alkali,
TuUocks, Sarpy, Armells and Sweeney creeks. The geographical nomen-
clature will suggest much to the modernist who is endeavoring to visualize
the country as it was when the first settlers took up their abode in this
region. There are three important irrigation projects in the county. On
the south side of the Yellowstone River and just west of Forsyth, is the
Yellowstone Irrigation Project of 5,000 acres. East of Forsyth on the
north side of the Yellowstone is the Carterville Project of 10,000 acres,
and on the same side of the river west of Forsyth is the Hammond Pro-
ject of 5,000 acres. Many minor projects are found on smaller streams,
but the entire matter of irrigation is covered elsewhere in this work and
it is not necessary to go into it fully here. It may be stated, however,
that there are about 30,000 acres of irrigated land in the county and 60,000
acres that are irrigable, nearly 2,000,000 acres of tillable land and 1,200,-
000 acres of grazing land. Naturally, in a county in which conditions
are so favorable, agriculture and stock raising are the principal industries.
Wheat, rye, oats, barley, corn, alfalfa, alfalfa seed and sugar beets are
the chief crops. While the soil varies, the prevailing type is chocolate
loam with a clay sub-soil. In some of the northern parts of the county,
a heavy clay predominates but with proper cultivation gives good yields.
Rosebud is considered a big corn county, has yielded banner crops of
Turkey Red wheat, particularly in recent years, and also is a good county
for various vegetables.
Improved irrigated lands in Rosebud county will average $125 an
acre in value, improved non-irrigable lands $30 an acre, unimproved tilla-
ble lands $15, and grazing lands $7 an acre.
For the most part, the stock raising industry in Rosebud County cen-
ters about the Tongue and Big Horn rivers and on Rosebud Creek,
although this vocation is followed to some extent in almost all portions
of the county. Some timber of commercial value is found in the county,
there being 104,000 acres of the county included within the Custer National
Forest. Until recently, Rosebud County had not been considered as
possessing minerals of any great value, but it is reported that the Northern
Pacific Railway has completed a survey into the southern end of the
HISTORY OF MONTANA 821
county to tap a field that is estimated to contain 2,000,000 tons of bitum-
inous coal. Lignite is also plentiful. One of the largest potential oil
domes in the state is in the northern part of Rosebud County and develop-
ment work is now being conducted on it. Two transcontinental railways
traverse the county from east to west, the Northern Pacific and the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, and a fifty-mile stretch of the Yellow-
stone Highway is in Rosebud County.
Educational Matters
The educational advantages provided for the children of Rosebud
County include 100 schoolhouses, in which, in 1920, there were 1,938
pupils undergoing instruction. There are likewise five high schools, two
of them accredited for a four-year term, with 122 pupils enrolled.
Forsyth, Rosebud and Other Towns
The county seat of Rosebud County is Forsyth, a community ac-
credited with a population of 1,838, by the 1920 census report. Located
forty-five miles west of Miles City, Forsyth is on the Northern Pacific
and Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railways, and, as a Northern Pacific
freight division point, is a trade center for the Yellowstone, Porcupine
and Rosebud Valleys. It is a distributing point for an area 150 miles
north and south and forty miles east and west, and gains importance
through handling the product of a large wool country. Forsyth is a
modern little city with three banks, two large, up-to-date hotels, two
newspapers, three churches and thirty-two retail stores. Six miles to the
east of Forsyth is the local sub-station of the Montana Agricultural
Station, where recent experiments have proven that Turkey red wheat
can be produced in bountiful quantities in this county.
Rosebud, the second largest town in the county, is the commercial
center for the eastern part. Vananda, Sumatra and Ingomar are live
towns in the northwestern part, the last-named being the headquarters
of the sheep industry of Rosebud County and the site of a shearing plant
which has a capacity of 6,000 head daily.
Sanders County
For diversity of industries and for attractions offered to those who
have an inclination for an outdoor life, few counties in Montana excel
Sanders. Its varied topography serves to make the county a broad pan-
orama of beautiful scenery, in which are towering mountain ranges, broad
prairie basins, picturesque gorges and long stretches of timberland. Owing
to its conformation, the county favors the pursuits of agriculture, dairy-
ing, horticulture, mining and lumbering. Its great natural resources as
to fish and game make it a favorite camping-ground of sportsmen from
all over the country. Some of its industries have not been developed to
822 HISTORY OF MONTANA
a great extent, having been but recently recognized as opportunities, but
advancement is being made in various directions.
Sanders County was organized March i, 1906, being formed from a
part of Missoula County. It was named after the grand pioneer, first
president of the State Historical Society, United States Senator and
strong public character, Wilbur F. Sanders. Although the Assembly
passed the bill for the creation of the county on the 7th of February, 1905.
Colonel Sanders did not live to see it fairly organized, his death occurring
at his home in Helena, on July 7th, of the year named.
The County of Sanders lies in the northwestern part of Montana, the
Idaho state line marking its western boundary, and is on the western
slope of the Rockies, being skirted by the Coeur d'Alene mountains on
the south and the Cabinet range on the north in a general way. Between
these two ranges the Clark's Fork of the Columbia River flows westerly
the length of the county. In places, the valley along the river widens
out into broad prairie basins and in other places, becomes of a gorge-like
narrowness. The Clark's Fork of the Columbia carries a larger volume
of water than does the Missouri River in Montana, and is fed by numerous
tributaries rising in both the Coeur d'Alene and Cabinet mountains.
While agriculture, dairying and mining are making much progress,
lumbering is the chief industry. There are over a million acres of Sanders
County included within national forests, 37,815 acres in the Lolo Forest
and 965,963 acres in the Cabinet National Forest. Along the Thompson
River is one of the most valuable stands of white pine to be found in
the United States, and the mountains have valuable tracts of yellow pine,
fir, cedar and larch. Uumbering operations are carried on in various
localities throughout the county and numerous large lumber camps are
to be found throughout the timbered districts. Sawmills are found in
most of the bigger towns and the industry is one wliich has a firm hold
upon the county, being made additionally profitable by the excellent trans-
portation facilities available. In the latter connection it may be mentioned
that the main line of the Northern Pacific Railway follows the Clark's
Fork of the Columbia through the county. The National Parks High-
way and the Yellowstone Trail parallel the railway.
Agricultural pursuits are confined to the valley of the Clark's Fork
and along the tributary streams that flow into it, such as Thompson River
and Prospect and Vermilion creeks. The bottom lands are oi a deep
sandy loam, while a gravelly loam predominates on the bench lands. In
the western half of the county the land is either cut-over land or natural
meadow, and almost all of it is irrigable by private projects. Near
Thompson Falls, 3,000 acres in one trict are irrigated from the Thomp-
son River. This section of the county is admirably adapted to dairying,
clover and other forage crops growing in abundance, while the vast area
of national forest reserve furnishes cheap pasturage. Wheat, clover,
timothy, oats, potatoes, peas and barley are the principal crops, although
many experimenters have had success with fruit-growing, especially in
the main valley, where apples, plums, cherries, pears, strawberries and
HISTORY Ol' .MONTANA
823
some peaches have been raised in marketable quantities. While the de-
velopment of mining as an industry in Sanders County has not been
carried much beyond the prospcctin.t; stasje. it is known that there are
quantities of silver, lead, zinc, copper and gold, particularly in the mineral
districts of the Coeur d'Alenes.
The land area of Sanders County is 2,8^^^ acres, which brings it under
the general average of the fifty-four Montana counties, and it is about
tenth smallest in population, which, according to United States Census
report of 1920, is 3,949 souls. The mean temperature of the county is
In the Lumijek CuuNTR^•
in the neighlxirhood of 45.2, and the growing season is from 11 to 132
days. Lands in the cutover region sell at from $10 to $15 an acre, and
in the prairie sections the price ranges from $20 to $100 an acre.
The educational system of Sanders is well organized and of a high
order, and in addition to the rural and graded schools of the county,
there are three high schools, those at Thompson Falls and Plains being
accredited to the four-year term and that at Paradise for a two-year term.
Sanders County, as before noted, can compete with any section of
the country as an outdoor land. Numerous well-stocked trout streams,
wide areas of virgin forests inhabited by deer, elk, cougar, bear, wild-
cats, mountain lions, bighorn and mountain goats offer the best of hunt-
ing and fishing, and camp sites at beautiful mountain lakes are easily
accessible by national forest trails. Hot springs, twenty miles from
Perma. on the Northern Pacific, and located on the former h'lathead
824 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Indian reservation, is noted for its medicinal waters and mud baths. The
springs, located midway between the towns of Camas and Hot Springs,
have been leased by the Department of the Interior to a company which
is developing them as a health and pleasure resort, the lease including
more than lOO acres. Plans made by the leasing company included the
building of an electric line connecting the springs with the railroad and
extending beyond the springs about forty miles. The mud baths have
gained something more than a local reputation as a cure for rheumatism,
and unlike the great majority of baths of this kind throw out hot mud
which runs away with the water. The waters of Hot Springs, which
areu^vailable throughout the year, have been found beneficial in the treat-
ment of venereal diseases and intestinal troubles.
Towns in Sanders County
Thompson Falls, the county seat of Sanders County, is a town of 508
people, according to the 1920 United States Census report, and is advan-
tageously located on the Northern Pacific and Clark's Fork, 102 miles
northwest of Missoula, and in the geographical center of the county. It
is a thriving little community, with a good waterworks system, and is in
the heart of the mining and lumbering districts. It maintains two bank-
ing institutions, two weekly newspapers, a good hotel and a number of
retail establishments, in addition to having a graded and a high school
and several churches.
Four miles east of the Thompson River, on which Thompson Falls
is situated, is located an irrigation project. The Montana Power Com-
pany has made a big hydroelectric installation at Thompson Falls, the
power being used to supply the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad.
Plains, in the productive Plains Valley, is the outlet for a large portion
of the former Flathead reservation region, and the center of a big live-
stock country, in addition to which some of the finest farms of the county
are adjacent to this town. Plains is also noted as having the longest'
bridge in the state of Montana, crossing the Clark's Fork. Paradise,
situated southeast of Plains, is a division point of the Northern Pacific.
Perma and Dixon are agricultural centers in the eastern end of the
county, and Heron, Noxon, Trout Creek, Whitepine, Alger and Belknap
in the western end.
Sheridan County
While ranking thirty-seventh as to size among the counties of Mon-
tana, Sheridan County is third as to population. This is due to the fact
that, in proportion to its size, it probably has more small towns than any
other county in the state, and that its agricultural districts are also well
populated. This county, named in honor of the brilliant American mil-
itary officer. Gen. Philip Henry Sheridan, was formerly one of the larger
bodies of the state, including all of the territory now included in Roose-
HISTORY OF MONTANA 825
velt County, and a part of what is now Daniels County, but with the
formation of the latter county, in 1919, Sheridan's area was cut to 1.758
square miles. Its population in 1920, according to census reports, was
13.847-
Sheridan County occupies the extreme northeastern corner of Mon-
tana, and is bounded on the north by the Saskatchewan country of Can-
ada, on the east by the North Dakota line, on the south by Roosevelt
County and on the west by Daniels County. There are no mountains,
three-fourths of the county's area is cultivable, and there is very little
irrigated land, non-irrigated crops being raised almost exclusively. While
the county has other potential resources, the value of which has not as
yet been determined, it is exclusively an agricultural and stock raising
community. Flax, wheat, oats, rye, barley, corn and hay form the prin-
cipal crops, while some millet and buckwheat are raised, and potatoes and
other root crops and garden stuff generally do well. Natural soil irriga-
tion is secured from the Big Muddy River, which rises in Canada,
traverses the county and eventually empties into the Missouri, and into
which small creeks empty every few miles. Improved non-irrigated land
averages $40 an acre, unimproved non-irrigated from $15 to $25 an acre,
and grazing land about $10.
In every locality of Sheridan County lignite coal is found, furnishing
an easily securable and economical fuel. Several structures have been
reported as having oil possibilities, but these, to date, have not been de-
veloped. There is no commercial timber in the county, although cotton-
wood is to be found along the streams. Agriculturally, Sheridan County
is well developed, and also has plenty of elevators and flour mills, but
there are openings still to be found for other industries that are dependent
upon agriculture.
Sheridan County is served by both the Great Northern and Soo lines.
A Great Northern branch leaves the main line at Bainville and runs north
through Roosevelt County to Plentywood, and there swings west, its
present terminus being Scobey, the county seat of Daniels County. The
Soo line has a branch that enters Sheridan County from North Dakota,
a few miles south of the International boundary, and runs west to White-
tail. There are good graded highways in the county. Being purely an
agricultural region, without mountains to provide scenic beauty, Sher-
idan County does not offer the attractions to tourists that are to be found
in other sections of the state. Its people do not depend upon the tourists
for a livelihood, being for the main part content to devote themselves
to agriculture, an industry upon which is based the county's assessed
valuation of $30,900,064.
In the matter of education, Sheridan County is well equipped, having
good graded schools throughout its territory and also maintaining four
accredited high schools, the one at Plentywood being accredited for the
four-year term. There are approximately thirty churches in the county,
both Catholic and Protestant.
Plentywood, the county seat, is located on the Great Northern Rail-
826 HISTORY OF MONTANA
way, and is a flourishing community of 1,838 population. Medicine Lake
and Antelope are other leading communities, and the county is thickly
sprinkled with smaller towns which serve as trading centers for the sur-
rounding rural localities.
CHAPTER XXXVII
SILVER BOW COUNTY (BUTTE)
Within the borders of Silver Bow County has been developed one
of the greatest mining districts of the world, and its claims to major
importance are further reinforced by its possession of the City of Butte,
the metropolis of Montana. It is a county of topographical and geological
abruptness. Situated in what may be termed the south-central-western
portion of Montana, Silver Bow County has, along its eastern Boundary,
the main range of the Rocky Mountains ; the Highland Mountains and
the Big Hole River are at the southern boundary, and on the west its
irregular boundary is marked by hills and mountains that separate it
from Deer Lodge County. It was named for the principal creek in the
county, a few miles west of Butte, which takes its course in the gen-
eral conformation of a bow and is geographically notable as the ultimate
eastern source of the north fork of the Columbia River. The county is
of triangular shape, has an area of 698 square miles, and its altitude
varies from a minimum of 5,000 feet to approximately 10,000 feet
above sea level, as represented in Red Mountain and Table Mountain. The
high altitude of the county places limitations upon plant growth within
its confines, and while farming and truck gardening are conducted in
a restricted way and the cultivation of certain varieties of flowers has
been successful, the prominence of the county rests almost exclusively
upon its great mining enterprises.
County and City Almost Coextensive
Though Silver Bow County is the smallest and most compact of
the Montana counties and its population is almost confined to Butte,
it has the distinction of being the wealthiest and most populous in the
state. Walkerville, Meaderville and Centerville are attractive suburbs
of Butte and nearly the entire population of the county is found within
a radius of five miles from the business center of the city itself.
The census of 1920 gives to Silver Bow County a population of
to,3i3, and to Butte, the county seat, a population of 41,611. The
county, with its present boundaries, was created on the i6th of Feb-
ruary, 1881. The history of the county, as may be inferred, practically
coincides with and is largely confined to that of the City of Butte.
While the gold mining activities of the pioneer days were centered
at other points in Montana, Silver Bow County and Butte were destined
to eclipse all the sections of the state in this line of industrial enter-
prise. Other chapters of this publication give adequate data concerning
827
828 HISTORY OF MONTANA
the general development of mining enterprise in this county, but it may
consistently be said that the history of mines and mining in Silver Bow
differs materially from that of any other mining district in the world.
The hills of Silver Bow County have given gigantic tribute from their
caverned depths, and the world has known of and profited by the in-
dustrialism that has been effectively staged in the passing years.
Butte, a World Famed Mining Center
In the pioneer days gold alone had lure for the venturesome pros-
pectors and miners of Montana, and thus Butte first gained industrial
recognition when a placer gold-mining camp was there established. Later
the production of silver from the mines of the district held first rank,
and finally Butte gained foremost prestige in the production of copper.
In later years it has been found that commercial quantities of zinc and
manganese add to the noble mineral wealth of the county, in connection
with silver and copper. Fully justified are the following statements:
"Butte is in many ways the greatest single metal-producing city of the
world, and, according to the records of the United States Geological
Survey, the mines of Butte produce more silver, copper and zinc than
the mines of any other single mining district in the world. The approxi-
mate production of silver in 1919 was $13,290,000; of copper, $33,687,000;
and of zinc, $11,000,000. But 1919 was a sub-normal year, because of
labor difficulties and the low price of copper. Normally the mines of
Butte produce far over the hundred millon mark in these three metals,
and in addition a great deal of gold, manganese and lead is extracted
from the Butte ores. The normal underground forces and surface forces
of workmen in the Butte mines average between 15,000 and 20,000
men. Almost the entire copper, zinc and silver production of Montana
comes from the mines of Butte, as well as a great percentage of the
manganese and gold mined in the state. For years Butte has been known
as one of the most unique cities in the world from the sightseer's stand-
point, but its wonderful mines have also been the lodestone that has
drawn thousands of scientists to Montana. Some of the mines are now
approximately 4,000 feet deep, the mechanical equipment is the best money
can buy, and the scientific investigations and experiments that have been
successfully carried on by the mine operators have been copied the world
over."
Co-ordinated in every particular are the records of development and
progress in Silver Bow County and the City of Butte, and there can be
no possible way, nor is there need for, differentiating these records. The
county and city are one in an historical and industrial sense.
Early History of Mining
Into the early history of mining in Silver Bow County it is not neces-
sary to enter details in this connection, for earlier chapters than this have
HISTORY OF MONTANA 829
amply covered the field and the province of the present vv^ork is rather
to reveal the present than the past. A brief resume of initial activities,
however, may be ofifered. In the year 1856 Caleb E. Irvine, accompanied
by other prospectors, discovered signs of gold in Dublin Gulch, near the
present Montana metropolis. In the locality they found also a prospect
hole and other evidences of previous visitation, probably by hunters or
trappers, who mistook copper for gold. In 1864 gold placer camps were
to be found in the vicinity of Butte, but not a single house marked the
site of the future metropolis. The decline of placer mining began in
1869. In these years none had conception of the value and importance
of the silver, copper and other deposits that lay hidden in the hills of this
district. Joe Ramsdell sunk the first shaft, shipped the first copper ore,
and demonstrated the existence of copper in paying quantities, Henry
Porter having located the Parrot mine on the ist of October of that
year. Ramsdell named his shaft Parrot No. 2, and in 1866 he erected
a little smelter which was the first in the Butte district. Expediency
largely ruled in the early operations, gold, silver and copper each playing
a part in the progressive drama staged among the sullen hills of Silver
Bow County.
W. L. Farlin was among the first miners to work Butte quartz for
the gold and silver it contained ; this was in the year 1865 and the ore
was shipped down the Missouri River.
The Late Edward Hickey
Of a later period, but still early, was Edward Hickey, who, with a
brother, located a claim that developed into the great Anaconda prop-
erties. Mr. Hickey, who died at Butte, on April 25, 1921, was one of
the first of the old miners to believe in copper and the great future of his
home city. A New Yorker by birth, in 1867 he left the lumber camps
of Wisconsin for Butte, whither his brothers had preceded him. He
staked an unusual number of claims, such as the St. Lawrence (he was
born in St. Lawrence County, New York), the Anaconda, the Diamond,
the Rock Island and the Tuolumne. With one of his brothers, he sold
the Anaconda to Marcus Daly for a small amount, and it was some years
before he made material progress in his mining ventures. From the sale
of the Lizzie, he made $i50,ocx). Not only did he spend several fortunes
in furthering mining development, but he also invested in the banking
business. At the time of his death, he was president of the Tuolumne
Mining Company and had been president of the old State Savings Bank
of Butte. Mr. Hickey was one of the most prominent of the old-time
prospectors, was honest and popular, and during most of the half century
of his residence in Butte was considered a successful business man.
He was not in the class with Marcus Daly and William A. Clark, but
was among the few working citizens of tough fiber and strong character,
who, through the "ups and downs" of Butte, never lost faith in her
ultimate progress.
830
HISTORY OF :\IONTANA
Progress of Butte as a City
The period between 1869 and 1875 was one of depressing influences
in and about Butte. In 1870 the population of Butte was estimated at
350, the original town site having comprised 180 acres. In 1880 the
population had increased to nearly 5,000, but at that time the future
metropolis had not even one graded street.
The town site of Butte was laid out in 1867 and patented in 1876.
Following in the wake of placer mining, lode silver mining operations
began to assume importance and to attract foreign capital. Then came
the discovery of the great wealth of the copper deposits of this district,
and upon copper was based the permanent growth of the Montana metrop-
Anaconda Hill and Vicinity, Butte
oils. Progress was stimulated by the building of the L'tah & Northern
Railroad, over the line of which the first passenger train arrived in
.South Butte late in December, 1881, and in 1883 the Northern Pacific
Railroad was completed and began to function to the definite benefit of
Butte. Transitions and changes, every increasing industrial activity, de-
velopment and progress on every side — the elements of permanency con-
tinued to manifest themselves more and more as Butte pursued the
course of her industrial destiny.
The city is established on the western slope of the main range of
the Rocky Mountains and extends from the top of the celebrated Butte
hill, which gives the city its name, to the wide plain that stretches at
the base of this hill. The site is one of most picturesque aspects, with
far views of hills and mountain peaks and mighty distances. Silver
Bow Creek wends its way through the middle of the adjacent valley,
beautiful homes, business buildings of the most modern metropolitan
type, and normally the hum of productive indu.stry, mines and mills,
mark Butte as the leading center of a great commonwealth.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 831
The facilities afforded by four transcontinental railways have natur-
ally given Butte precedence as the leading jobbing and distributing center
of Montana, and the wholesale trade of the city is of most diversified
and important character. The main railway lines of the Chicago, Mil-
waukee & St. Paul, and the Northern Pacific, the Oregon Short Line
division of the Union Pacific Railway and the Havre division of the
Great Northern give Butte direct shipping connections with every part
of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, besides which the short line of the
Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railway, connecting Butte and Anaconda,
has a volume of freight tonnage that makes its service one of much
importance. Many leading Eastern concerns maintain offices and dis-
tributing headquarters in Butte, and a promise of the near future is
the construction here of the largest live-stock yards between St. Paul
and Spokane.
The educational system of Butte and Silver Bow County has been
maintained at the highest modern standard. The city has twenty public
schools, with fine buildings, with a corps of more than 300 teachers and
an enrollment of fully 10,000 pupils. Excellent parochial schools con-
tribute also to the educational precedence of Butte, and in the city also
are maintained well ordered business colleges, as well as several private
musical schools.
The State School of Mines
The crown of the educational system at Butte is represented in the
State School of Mines, which is a department of the University of
Montana. This admirable institution, the service and work of which
are of the highest technical standard, was founded in 1895, and in the
following year was initiated the erection of the main building. The
lands appropriated for the founding and maintaining of the school were
used as a basis for the issuing of bonds amounting to $120,000, and
in 1899 an additional appropriation of $26,300 was made for equip-
ment and maintenance. In connection with the State School of Mines
is maintained the Montana State Bureau of Mines & Metallurgy, which
was established in conformity with a legislative enactment in 1919, the
director of this department being appointed by the State Board of Edu-
cation, under whose direction the various reports of the bureau are dis-
tributed. A fund of $20,000 for the maintenance of the bureau was
appropriated for the biennium ending February 28, 192 1.
The State School of Mines functions exclusively in the preparation
of young men for the mining profession, and prior to the World war
90 per cent of its graduates were engaged in engineering work — many
in positions of major responsibility. An official bulletin gives the fol-
lowing statement : "Although the distinction between a purely vocational
school and an engineering college has always been kept clearly in mind,
the school has given its students a practical knowledge of mining sub-
jects, as well as a thorough education in theoretical principles. The
fundamental subjects for all forms of engineering are given, and special
832
HISTORY OF MONTANA
emphasis is laid upon the three main branches of mining — geology, min-
ing and milling, and metallurgy. The buildings and equipment of the
school are modern in every respect, and the institution is one of maximum
practical value in connection with educational work in the state. The
equipment at the present time represents an appropriated outlay of $75,000.
The departments of the school are as here designated: Mathematics,
mechanics, chemistry, metallurgy, geology and mineralogy."
Butte has its due complement of churches of all denominations. It
has a well organized Young Men's Christian Association and its full
quota of substantial fraternal and civic organizations. Its several hos-
BuTTE Pumping Pl.ant
])itals are metropolitan in equipment and service, and its seven bankmg
institutions have capital and surplus in excess of $2,000,000, with assets,
in 1920, aggregating nearly $30,000,000.
Butte is on the main Park-to-Park highway, the Yellowstone trail, and
the proposed international highway to connect Utah and Canada. Butte
has four hotels of the first rank, and theatrical, musical and other enter-
tainments are offered in buildings that were erected for the purpose and
represent the best standards of architecture and equipment.
In the vicinity of Butte are found thirty or more model dairy farms,
and the city is the distributing center of a widely extended farm area.
Public utilities in the city are giving effective service and are of metro-
politan standard. The local newspaper press has effectively represented
the interests of the city and state and the leading daily papers, with
HISTORY OF MONTANA 833
Associated Press service, challenge comparison with those issued in East-
ern cities of far greater population.
Columbia Gardens
Provisions for rest and recreation are not lacking in the Montana
metropolis, and the city takes special pride in its beautiful park and
playground known as Columbia Gardens. This is a tract of about fifty
acres, in a canyon a short distance east of the city, and for the develop-
ment of this idyllic resort the city and state are indebted mainly to the
generosity and loyal interest of Hon. William A. Clark. Competent
judges have pronounced Columbia Gardens among the world's great moun-
tain parks, and it is one of the few beauty spots on the continent to
which no admission fee is charged. Attractive summer homes have been
established by Butte citizens in the sloping country adjacent to the C' •
lumbia Gardens. The resort is easily accessible to Butte by street cars
and it has realized Senator Clark's ambition to afford a place of recrea-
tion and amusement for all classes of citizens.
Other Mining Details
Butte has been built on mines and mining, and the industry must
continue to set the city apart as a great industrial center for years to
come, notwithstanding the temporary depression which has come in the
train of the World's war. Because of the paramount importance of
mining development in the Butte district, data concerning comparatively
late activities may consistently be given in this connection. In 1864,
the year in which original discoveries were made at Silver Bow Village,
William Allison, Jr., and G. O. Humphreys had pushed on up the stream
and pitched their camp on the present site of Butte. This statement is
taken from an interesting historical narrative written by Henry C. Free-
man, of Butte, and published in 1900. From the same source is here
drawn further information. At the time of the arrival of Messrs. Alli-
son and Humphreys there were no evidences of mining having been pre-
viously carried on in the immediate vicinity of Butte, save that a hole
was found that probably represented the excavation made by Caleb E.
Irvine, as noted in an earlier paragraph of this chapter. Dennis Leary
and H. H. Porter soon afterward appeared on the scene, and as rich
placers began to be uncovered there came an influx of prospectors and
gold-seekers from the older camps of the state. At this time Butte the
village began and was given its name. Here, in 1864, was erected the
first wooden house, on what is now Quartz Street. In 1866-7 the first
school was established at Butte, with Colonel Wood in charge. Before
the close of 1866 placer mining gave out, and unsuccessful efforts to
flux ores were made. The law of compensation came to the fore at this
time, for it was through the medium of the discovery and development
of other metals than gold and silver that Butte was destined to rise to
greatness.
834 HISTORY OF MONTANA
In the year 1882 came the (hscovery of the great copper body of the
Anaconda mine, and the efifect was revolutionary. The following state-
ments are worthy of perpetuation in this connection : "It was this event
finally and completely established the permanency of the camp (Butte).
The advent of the railroad in the previous year had removed all obstacles
theretofore presented, and with the revelation that underlying all the
mines operating along the hill outside of the Walkerville district was an
enormous deposit of copper, came Butte's second transition to a camp of
a new character, which doubled and trebled the importance of the pre-
vious one, — and old scenes were re-enacted upon a larger scale. * * *
Both the western and eastern slopes of the hill (lying adjacent to the
Anaconda) were now subject to the most careful scrutiny, and many mines
sprang into existence. At the eastern extremity of the hill had sprung
up the town of Meaderville (named for Charles T. Meader, a California
Forty-niner who came here in 1876, purchased undeveloped claims and,
in 1881, erected the Bell smelter). Almost without exception it was
discovered that in the mines of the hill proper, or that part lying south
of Walkerville, the surface ones were richer in silver, but as depth was
gained and the water level passed, their character was changed over-
whelmingly to copper."
In 1880 the silver mines of Butte began to attract trans-Atlantic
capital, the Alice, the Lexington and one or two other mines being ap-
preciable producers of silver, the value of which increased with the re-
sumption of specie payments, incidental to the passing of the Bland-
Allison act, in 1878. The result was that Butte became the liveliest
mining camp in the world, "with more money per capita than any other
place of its population in the universe." At the beginning of 1880 the
Colorado and Meaderville smelters were in operation, and many silver
mills contributed to the industrial life of the locality. The year 1880
likewise marked the creating of Silver Bow County, formerly a part
of Deer Lodge County, and Butte became a full fledged city. Henry
Jacobs was the first mayor and Charles S. Warren the first police mag-
istrate.
Marcus Daly came to Butte in the summer of 1876, and it has fit-
tingly been said that his "memory must ever be associated with the rise,
the development and the fulfillment of the copper business of this state."
Mr. Daly was soon followed by William A. Clark, and the activities of
these industrial giants of Montana have become an integral part of the
history of the state and that of copper production. With the comple-
tion of the Utah & Northern Railroad, in 1881, and the Northern Pacific,
in 1883, the Butte district gained an undesirable class of citizens, and
criminal activities required drastic subduing measures, for Butte had no
intention of gaining reputation as a "bad town." In 1881-2 the Alice
mine was sunk to the 500-foot level, but as yet the great wealth of copper
in the district was but half suspected. The old Lexington mill was in
active operation, at the corner of Broadway and Arizona Street, with
Judge A. J. Davis as its owner. This eventually gave place to a larger
mill, located between Walkerville and Centerville. The late '80s were
HISTORY OF MONTANA 835
marked by the erection of the courthouse, a two-story and basement
structure, at Butte, and also the city hall, which was to cost $90,000,
but in the building of which, exclusive of the basement, the sum of
$160,000 was expended. The Free Public Library occupies the basement
and ground floor of the city hall building, and has been wisely developed
and managed. The late Charles S. Warren was one of the founders
of this uplifting institution.
Fourteen years prior to the building of the Anaconda smelter, Joe
Ramsdell and his associates built, near the Parrot mine, a small furnace
for the smelting of copper, and, in the face of general ridicule, smelted
about four tons of copper, which was sold in St. Louis for 28 cents a
pound. The little plant was then sold to Charles Hendrie, who soon
abandoned it. The Colorado smelter was the first successful copper
smelter in the district, with a capacity of 25 tons, and with ore furnished
by the Gagnon mine.
Eight silver mills were in operation prior to 1880. In 1875 W. L.
Farlin erected the second mill for the reduction of silver-bearing quartz,
this, known as the Dexter mill, having later come into possession of
W. A. Clark and having finally been dismantled. John Howe placed
the Centennial mill in operation in 1876, this having been the third silver
mill. The year 1878 brought overland from Salt Lake City the equip-
ment for the old Alice mill, which used ore from the Rainbow ledge.
The output of the eight silver mills for 1878 was about $1,000,000.
Butte at this time was the richest mining camp in the world, and growth
and development along all lines were vigorous. The Butte Miner, the
first newspaper of the future Montana metropolis, was founded in 1876,
with George B. Johnston as editor and H. T. Brown as manager. It
was a success.
Up to 1870 the placer mines of the Butte district yielded $9,000,000.
From 1870 to 1880 the quartz mines yielded $3,000,000 and the placer
mines $1,000,000. From 1880 to 1885 the quartz mines yielded $26,-
606,600. Thus the total for the period 1870-85 was $39,606,600.
With repeal of the silver-purchasing clause of the Sherman Act of
1890, there came, in 1893, a veritable slump in silver production in Silver
Bow County, and the Butte mines and mills closed down. Many of the
employes in the mines and mills were then engaged by owners of copper
properties, and the production of copper was materially increased. This
is shown in the following tabulation of copper production in the Butte
district :
1891 $ 23,435,000
1892 ■ 26,500,000
1893 24,819,000
1894 27,489,000
1895 30,880,000
Total • $133,123,000
836 HISTORY OF MONTANA
The output for 1896 was estimated at approximately $32,000,000.
The total product of the Butte placers and of the gold, silver and copper
bearing quartz of the district from 1865 to 1890 aggregated $135,502,287,
and from 1890 to December 31, 1896, the aggregate was $165,123,000.
Butte produced, in 1900, about one-forth of America's copper out-
put and one-seventh of the world's production. Butte has paid out in
freight more than $9,000,000 a year, and the railroads entering the city
have handled annually 17,300,000,000 pounds of freight furnished by
Butte alone.
Since the inception of copper production at Butte, Silver Bow County
has given, up to 1915, the following output: Copper, 5,868,515,042
pounds; silver, 275,118,138 ounces; and gold, 1,270,739 ounces, with re-
spective valuations as follows : Copper, $865,794,271 ; silver, $191,765,310 ;
gold, $26,268,516. This makes a grand total of $1,083,828,097. The
figures showing the production since 191 5 have been given in the general
chapter on copper mining.
While the great Anaconda Company and its subsidiaries represent the
dominant mining interest in Butte, a goodly number of independent
companies have successfully operated in this district, including the fol-
lowing: North Butte, Butte & Superior, East Butte, Davis-Daly, Butte-
Alex Scott; Butte-Ballaklava, Pilot-Butte, Tuolumne, Rainbow, Butte &
London, Butte & Great Falls, Bullwhacker and Butte-Duluth. Other
corporate and individual concerns of importance have operated success-
fully in this great copper field.
To Captain A. B. Wolwin is given the honor of being the pioneer in
the mining of the large lovy-grade ore deposits on and near the surface
southeast of Butte, and the treatment of such ore by the leaching process.
Under normal conditions Butte's mines have produced annually about
$1,000 for each man, woman and child of the city's population, and there
have been fully 12,000 men employed in the mines and mills, with a pay
roll represented in $1,500,000 a month. The underground mine work-
ings of Butte show the marvelous aggregate of more than 2,700 miles.
The Anaconda mine, on Anaconda Hill, has been the largest of the
Butte district, was the stage of the early activities of Marcus Daly and
the nucleus of all of the great Anaconda properties. Its workings have
been carried to a depth of 1,800 feet, in its operations employment has
been given to a force of 1,400 men, and the weekly output has attained
an aggregate of 9,000 tons.
Underground Systems and Mine Litigations
It is impossible to enter into details concerning the work on and
in the Butte mines, to describe the wonderful system of underground
workings, or to note the output of the various mines. All this must
be left to specific articles of more technical nature than the review here
presented. However, it is worthy of special note that the Butte district
has a provision that can be claimed by few if any other mining districts.
This is that one can pass from one mine to another on the different levels
HISTORY OF MONTANA 837
for great distances. It is possible to descend the shaft of a mine in
Walkerville and ascend through the shaft of another at Meaderville,
two or more miles distant, and that without coming to the surface. This
establishing of regular levels at given depths caused the entire abandon-
ment of many surface workings of large mines, "even the ore being
run into the levels of one mine centrally located, and all being hoisted
through one shaft."
The proximity and continuity of ore veins in the Butte district have
resulted in many litigations of tremendous proportions. On this subject
the following statements have been given: "The generally recognized
mining laws hold that the establishment of the fact that any given vein
'apexes' in any certain claim, gives the owner of that claim the right
to work the whole of said vein, wherever it takes him, if across the side
bounding lines of such claim, although estopping him from proceeding
beyond the end lines. With hundreds of claims, if not thousands, par-
alleling each other, some line of one serving as some line of another,
the opportunity for irreconcilable differences in many instances at once
suggests itself." The record of clashing interests resulting from such
differences is an interesting part of the history of the mining industry in
Silver Bow County.
Great has been the work of the gigantic smelters that have clouded
the atmosphere of Butte in past days, and every phase of mining industry
has found prodigious exemplification in this district, where has been
written one of the greatest chapters in the history of mining enterprise.
Description of methods of extraction and treatment of ores is not germane
to this review, but even the brief outline here presented will afford an
idea of the wonderful achievement that has been staged in Silver Bow
County in the past and serve as an earnest of the revitalizing influences
that shall work for the good of Butte after the period of world-war
depression has passed.
At Butte, there have been intervals of depression and inactivity,
as is inevitable in industrial centers. The repeal of the silver-purchasing
clause of the Sherman Act of 1890 brought a season of extreme de-
pression in the mining industries of the Butte district, and both mills
and mines closed down in 1893. The year 1921 also finds Butte endur-
ing a trying tension that has come as a sequel of the World's war. and
while the city's productive activities had fallen to low ebb, there is no
reason to doubt her recuperative powers. The two periods mentioned
are mentioned simply as instances of abnormal conditions which have
temporarily deflected the general course of progress and prosperity.
A brief, but appreciative estimate of the city is this: "Butte, from
a one-time mining camp and later a city of smoke, has emerged into a
city of beautiful homes, splendidly paved streets, fine public buildings,
dignified business blocks, and is generally accorded the distinction of
being one of the most metropolitan cities of its size on the continent."
The mountains and valleys readily accessible from Butte offer un-
rivaled attractions to the tourist, the lover of scenic beauties, and the
devotee of the rod or the gun. The city itself maintains a high stand-
838 HISTORY OF MONTANA
arcl of education and religious work and service, and its civic and social
advantages make it a most attractive place of residence, now that its
former pall of smoke from the great smelters has been lifted to reveal
a clean and beautiful city, with ideal climate and vitalizing atmosphere,
with modern accommodations and excellent medicinal waters. The re-
Within two hours ride of the city are four health and pleasure resorts,
sorts noted are at Boulder, Gregson, Pipestone and Alhambra.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
STILLWATER, SWEET GRASS, TETON AND TOOLE
COUNTIES
Among the political divisions of the State of Montana, Stillwater
County occupies a south central position. It was created March 24,
1913, and in 1920 had a population of 7,630. Its maximum length north
and south is sixty-six miles, being almost double its maximum width of
thirty-six miles. It contains much picturesque scenery and is a county
of varied natural resources, which are but partially developed. From
east to west the county is traversed by the Yellowstone River, the valley
of which is characterized by a good soil of chocolate brown loam. The
Stillwater and West Rosebud rivers are found in the southern portion
of the county, and also Fishtail Creek. In the northern part, where there
are several small streams, lies what is known as the Lake Basin country,
regarded as one of the best non-irrigated farming districts in Montana.
The southern part of Stillwater County is a region of high mountains,
sometimes of magnificent aspect, which taper off into rolling hills near the
Yellowstone Valley. The southern valleys are also favored with a good
soil, the fertility of which is increased by irrigation, while the bench
lands are devoted to non-irrigated farming and stock raising.
Agriculture, stock raising and dairying are at present the chief indus-
tries of the county. The usual farm crops are wheat, oats, barley, corn,
f)eas, alfalfa, potatoes, melons and garden truck. Some fruit is also
raised, strawberries doing particularly well. Large quantities of honey
are also produced, in which respect Stillwater takes a leading place
among the counties of the state. In the southern part of the county there
are 92,096 acres of timber included in the Beartooth National Forest.
Improved irrigated lands sell from $75 to $200 an acre, improved non-
irrigated lands from $40 to $100, and unimproved non-irrigated lands from
$15 an acre up.
Coal and other minerals have been found in the southern part of Still-
water County, but these mineral resources and the water power have not
yet been developed on a commercial scale. North of the Yellowstone
River much land has been leased for oil, and drilling has been under-
taken. These several lines of industry, together with those now carried
on, are susceptible of future development and make Stillwater County
a region of favorable opportunity. The mountains also may be made
an attractive resort for tourists when the locality is better known and
after suitable accommodations have been provided. The scenery near the
headwaters of the Stillwater and Rosebud rivers is as fine as can be
found on the continent, and the streams in that region are noted for the
fine trout fishing in spring and summer, while birds and game abound in
839
840 HISTORY OF MONTANA
the fall. The lakes in the Lake Basin region offer splendid opportunities
for waterfowl shooting.
The railroad facilities of Stillwater County are furnished by the
Northern Pacific Railway, the main line of which follows the Yellow-
stone River through the county. The Lake Basin region in the northern
part is traversed by a branch of the same road from Mossmain. The
Yellowstone Trail highway also passes through the county, and various
local roads, kept in good condition, connect the smaller valleys with the
railroad.
The only incorporated town in Stillwater County is Columbus, the
county seat, which is also the chief trading center. It is situated at the
junction of the Yellowstone and Stillwater rivers, and has an altitude of
3,698 feet. In 1820 its population was 897. It has a high school accred-
ited for the four-year term. On the main line of the Northern Pacific
are Park City and Reed Point, both good trading centers. The towns
along the Lake Basin branch are Molt, Rapelje and Wheat Basin. In the
southern part of the county the most important community is Absarokee,
an inland town in the Stillwater basin. There are high schools at Park
City and Reed Point, the former accredited for three years and the latter
for two years. The county is well provided with rural schools. At East
Rosebud Lake, in the heart of the mountains, there is a private summer
school for teachers. Credit for work done there is given by the state
department of education and also by the University of Montana.
Sweet Grass County
The County of Sweet Grass came into existence as a political division
of Montana early in the year 1895, having been organized from Meagher,
Park and Yellowstone counties. It was reduced to its present area and
boundaries by yielding portions of its original territory to Stillwater, in
1913, and to Wheatland County, in 1917.
The county derives its name from Sweet Grass Creek, which flows
from the eastern slope of the Crazy Mountains to the Yellowstone River,
and to the late Judge William G. Strong belongs the honor of naming the
county. The creek received its name from the abundant and fragrant
grass which grows in its valley and which gives forth a peculiar odor like
vanilla. Once enjoyed, the fragrance is never forgotten and brings a
full appreciation of the significance of the name.
The County Develops
As the Yellowstone Valley divides Sweet Grass County into two
nearly equal portions, that portion of the state is identified with many
of its great historic events, such as the Verendrye and Lewis and Clark
expeditions, the Crow Indian treaties and agencies, and the tradings of
the emigrants under such leaders as John Bozeman and James Bridger
toward Utah, Oregon and the California coast. The first settlements
were made along Sweet Grass Creek in the late '70s, the chief sources
HISTORY OF MONTANA 841
of supplies being then Bozeman and Miles City. With the completion of
the Northern Pacific late in 1882 came a new order of things — the
modern order. The old stage stations that had done duty so long along
the route from Bozeman to Miles City were replaced by railroad towns.
Dornix, later replaced by Big Timber, became a center of population and,
when Sweet Grass County was created, in 1895, the seat of its govern-
ment and courts.
The legislative act which created it provided that Big Timber should
be the county seat until after the general election of November, 1896,
when the matter of its location should be decided by the voters. In the
meantime Sweet Grass County was to form a part of the Sixth Judicial
District. The act also provided for the distribution of the indebtedness
of Park, Yellowstone and Meagher counties, from which Sweet Grass
was formed, the amounts of which were to be determined on certain
fixed dates in the succeeding March and June. Such indebtedness was
to be reckoned at the close of business March i, 1895. These matters
were accordingly adjusted ; Sweet Grass County commenced to function
on the 9th of March, 1895, and at the fall election of 1896 Big Timber
was voted the permanent seat of justice and government.
Sweet Grass County of Today
Sweet Grass County lies in the south central part of Montana. It
has the shape of an inverted right angle, the apex pointing south. The
county is divided naturally into two portions — a northern and a southern
— by the valley of the Yellowstone River, having a length through the
county of fifty-five miles and a width of from two to five miles. South
of the east-flowing river the land rises gradually to a high range of moun-
tains, in which the Boulder and Stillwater rivers have their source. The
rise north of the Yellowstone culminates in the Crazy Mountains, where
are found the head waters of Big Timber, Sweet Grass and Otter creeks.
Some timber is found in this region, in the northwestern part of the
county, but the chief timbered area is in the southern end, where 200,273
acres of the county are included in the Beartooth National Forest. Min-
erals of various kinds, including coal, have been found in the southern
portion, but have not yet been commercially developed to a sufficient
extent to determine their value.
At present the most important industries are cattle and sheep raising,
but dairying, swine raising and bee keeping have been started and are
making satisfactory progress. General farming is also followed to some
extent, the principal crops raised being wild hay and alfalfa, all kinds of
small grain, and garden produce, together with some fruit. The chief
agricultural districts lie in the valleys of the Yellowstone River and
Boulder, Big Timber, Sweet Grass, American Fork and Otter creeks.
There is a large Carey irrigation project in the county and much addi-
tional land in the valleys is irrigated from private ditches. The soil varies
from a deep black loam to a light soil with a gravel subsoil. There are
considerable areas of good grazing land in the county. The price of
842 HISTORY OF MONTANA
irrigated lands varies from $60 to $150 an acre, depending upon location
and degree of improvement; non-irrigated farming lands cost from $15 to
$30, and grazing land from $7 to $12 an acre. Tourists seeking rest and
diversion amid the beauties of nature may find magnificent scenery and
fine hunting and fishing in the southern part of the county.
Along the course of the Yellowstone River the county is traversed by
the main line of the Northern Pacific Railway, and also by all the main
transcontinental highways. Surveys have been made for branch railroad
lines through the northern part of the county, though construction work
has not yet been started. The county presents wide opportunities for the
further development of irrigated land, the water for which is now avail-
able.
In 1920 Sweet Grass County had a population of 4,926. More than
one-quarter of the inhabitants, or a total of 1,282, were residing in the
county seat, Big Timber, an attractive place with fine business establish-
ments and residences. It is situated at an altitude of 4,072 feet above sea
level and is the center of a rich region. It is supplied with adequate
water works and an efficient electric system and its business interests
include hotels, elevators, a creamery and a newspaper. There is esti-
mated to be about 20,000 horse-power available from the Yellowstone
River at this place. Besides the graded schools, the Sweet Grass County
High School, accredited for a four-year course, is located at Big Timber.
Other towns of importance in the county are Melville in the northern,
and McLeod in the southern part. The rural and other schools are in a
state of satisfactory efficiency.
Teton County
Lying northwest of the central part of Montana, on the eastern slope
of the Rocky Mountains, Teton County has a land area of 2,044 square
miles, and a population (1920) of 5,870. It was organized, originally,
from Chouteau County, March i, 1893, since which a part of its territory
was attached to Toole County in 1914, and other portions were added to
Pondera and to form Glacier (entire), in 1919. Originally, it extended
from the Dominion of Canada to the present southern limits of the
county, and was one of the largest political divisions in the state. The
Blackfeet Indian Reservation then occupied its northwestern corner.
It is estimated that about one-third the area of Teton County is
adapted to irrigation, which has been already applied to about 100.000
acres. All of the central and eastern portions of the county are tillable,
while the extreme western and southern portions are about equally
divided between arable and grazing lands. A small area of the grazing
land in the Rockies partakes of the mountainous nature of its surround-
ings. The soil on the lowlands is a sandy or clay loam, while on the
uplands or benches the subsoil is partly gravel and limestone formation.
The county is favored with an exceptionally good water supply. The
principal streams are the Teton, Spring Creek, Willow Creek and Sun
River, the last mentioned of which furnished water for the irrigation of
HISTORY OF MONTANA 843
30,000 acres in what is known as the Government Sun River Project, near
Fairfield, in the east central part of the county. A supply of good well
water may be obtained in most places at depths ranging from 60 to 100
feet. Indications of coal and oil have been found but as yet Httle has
been done to develop mineral resources. Agriculture and stock raising
are the chief industries. Most of the timber of commercial value is found
in the western part of the county, where 250,000 acres are contained in
the Lewis and Clark National Forest. Cottonwood and willows are
found along most of the streams.
Wheat is the principal farm crop, but barley, flax, alfalfa and sweet
clover are grown in considerable quantities. Silos are becoming more
common, corn and sunflowers being grown for forage. Irrigated land
may be purchased for $75 to $100 and acre, while improved non-irrigated
tracts bring from $20 to $100 an acre. The cost of grazing land is
from $8 to $15 an acre.
The mountainous sections of Teton County are replete with grand
and beautiful scenery and the tourist may there find excellent hunting
and fishing, especially if he is content to travel part of the way on foot
with a pack outfit and thus reach those places the least affected by the
settlement and development of the county. Railroad facilities are
afforded by branch lines of both the Milwaukee and Great Northern
railways. The main trunk highway of the county is the Park-to-Park
Highway, which passes through it from north to south, and is gravel
surfaced.
The demands of education are met by sixty schools, including the
county high school at Chouteau, accredited for a four-year course. This
latter institution is housed in a handsome new building, equipped in
modern style, which was erected at a cost of $100,000.
Chouteau, which also enjoys the distinction of being the county seat,
is an old established town, with modern improvements. Its commercial
interests are served by three banks, which have a combined capital and
surplus of $200,000. Its altitude is 3,810 feet. There are other good
towns and market centers in the county, those on the Great Northern
Railway being Bynum, Pendroy, Power, Button and Collins, while the
Milwaukee has Fairfield, Farmington and Agawam.
Toole County
Toole County, situated in the northern part of Montana, with the
Canadian line as its northern boundary, is an agricultural and live stock
county, having practically no other industries, aside from the mercantile
business in the towns. It was created from parts of Hill and Teton
counties on May 7, 1914, and has a land area of 1,958 square miles. A
part of its southern boundary is formed by Maria's River, which flows
through the southeastern portion. In the eastern part are several creeks,
the largest of which is Willow, which rises in the Sweet Grass hills and
follows a southerly course through the county. In the Sweet Grass hills
and elsewhere indications of oil and gas have been found which may
844 HISTORY OF MONTANA
result in future development. Save for these hills, which occupy the
northeastern corner of the county, and the brakes along Maria's River
near the southern border, Toole County is a rolling prairie. Land values
range from $iO to $50 an acre. A considerable advance in values is
probable in the near future, owing to an important irrigation system,
embracing between 200,000 and 300,000 acres, launched by the land own-
ers and which will soon be under construction. At present wheat, oats,
barley, flax and native hay are the chief crops, but irrigation will permit
the extensive raising of alfalfa. Tourists may find picturesque scenery
in the Sweet Grass hills.
In 1920 the population of Toole County was 3,724. The county seat
and principal town is Shelby, a railroad junction point, which is the trad-
ing center for a large and productive territory. Its altitude is 3,286 feet
and its population in 1920 was 537. Galata and Devon are farming
towns in the eastern part of the county, and Sweet Grass in the northern
part of the county is a port of entry from Canada. There is a high
school at Shelby accredited for the four-year term and the county in
general. is well supplied with good rural schools. The growing season
for crops is from 93 to 106 days.
Tre.xsure County
Treasure County, in the south central part of Montana, is devoted
industrially to agriculture and the raising of cattle and sheep. It has a
land area of 960 square miles and was created April i, 1919. Some coal
has been found in the county and there is some prospecting for oil and
gas. Cottonwood and ash are found along the streams, but there is no
commercial timber.
The county is divided by the valley of the Yellowstone River, the
soil in which is a deep loam, while on the bench lands the prevailing type
of soil is a chocolate loam. An area of about 15,000 acres in the Yellow-
stone Valley is under irrigation. Of the remainder of the county 114,-
788 acres are classified as suitable for non-irrigated farming, and 222,769
acres as adapted to grazing. The price of land varies greatly according
to location, character of the soil and water supply. Irrigated land brings
from $100 to $200 an acre, non-irrigated farming lands from $15 to $50
and grazing land from $5 to $12 an acre. The principal stream is the
Yellowstone River, which takes an easterly direction through the county
and is fed by a number of small creeks which flow into it both from the
north and the south.
The soil in general is well adapted to the production of small grains
and hay, which are raised in considerable quantities. Corn is a par-
ticularly good crop both in yield and quality and bears favorable com-
parison with the corn belt product. The farmers in the irrigated district
are giving special attention to the raising of alfalfa seed and are meeting
with gratifying success, finding a ready market at good prices for all they
can raise. Bee keeping is followed by some and the county produces a
considerable quantity of honey.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 845
Treasure County is crossed by the main line of the Northern Pacific
Railway, which is paralleled by the Yellowstone and Red trails. The
county seat, Hysham, is a small town of about 360 population. Its alti-
tude above sea level is 2,667 feet. Other population centers in the county
are Big Horn, Rancher, Myers and Sanders. The further development
of the present industries, including the raising of pure bred live stock
promises well for the future prosperity of the county, even should no
mineral development take place. Education is well provided for, there
being good rural schools, and at Hysham there are graded schools and a
high school accredited for the four-year course.
Valley County
Valley County, created March i, 1893, is one of the northeastern
counties of the state and is bounded on the north by the Canadian line
and on the south by the Missouri River. It is no miles long north and
south and "jt, miles wide east and west. Its land area is 5,447 square
miles. From west to east the county is traversed by the Milk River, the
valley of which will be almost entirely under irrigation when the Govern-
ment Milk River Reclamation Project is completed. Private irrigation
is also carried on. The farms on the rolling benches north and south of
the Milk River Valley are not irrigated. With the exception of the Milk
River Valley, several low spurs of hills and the brakes along the Mis-
souri River in the southern part, the surface of the county is a rolling
prairie. Practically all the land north of the Milk River Valley is suitable
for cultivation. The soil consists of light and dark loams with either a
gumbo or limestone base.
The principal stream is Milk River, which is fed by many smaller
streams flowing both from the north and the south. Many of these
streams have a large spring run-off, and when reservoirs are constructed
at available storage sites more land will be placed under irrigation. Cot-
tonwood is found along the streams, but there is no commercial timber
in the county. Lignite is plentiful in the county and the discovery of oil
is a possibility of the future.
At present the chief industries of the county are agriculture and stock
raising. The principal crops are wheat, barley, oats, corn, flax, speltz,
blue joint hay and alfalfa. Alfalfa seed is raised in considerable quan-
tity and excellent vegetables are grown in abundance. Milk River Valley
blue joint is rated one of the best forage feeds in Montana and even a
stronger feed than alfalfa. Improved irrigated lands can be bought for
$50 to $75 an acre, improved non-irrigated lands from $25 to $50 an acre,
non-improved cultivable lands from $20 to $40 an acre, and grazing lands
at $10 to $15 an acre. There are 40,000 acres under irrigation in the
Milk River Valley Project. These lands have been but little improved
but are capable of extensive development, and experienced farmers, espe-
cially those who understand irrigation, can purchase land at reasonable
rates. There are also good opportunities for farmers with capital on the
non-irrigated lands.
846
HISTORY OF MONTANA
Glasgow and Other Towns
Glasgow, the county seat, is an established town, the center of trade
and shipping for a large section of the rich Milk River Valley. It is the
seat of one of the ten United States land offices in Montana. The city
has electric lights, water works, a public library, a good modern high
school which gives a course in agriculture, two newspapers and substan-
tial business houses ; also, a 400-barrel flour mill, and other evidences of a
solid town. The 1920 census published its population as 2,059, making
it the leading urban center of Northeastern Montana.
Outside of Glasgow, the principal towns of the county are Hinsdale,
Crop of Blue Joint Hav
Frazer, Theony and Oswego. Both the rural schools and those in the
different towns number seventy-five throughout the county.
The Milk River Valley is traversed through the county by main line
of the Great Northern Railway. From Glasgow auto stage lines run
north to Glentana, Opheim and Baylor. The Theodore Roosevelt High-
way passes through the county, following the railroad and touching the
towns of Oswego, Frazer, Nashua, Glasgow, Tampico, Vandalia, Hins-
dale and Beaverton. In 1920 Valley County voted $200,000 worth of
bonds for the construction of highways under the federal aid act.
Wheatland County
Wheatland County is situated in the central part of Montana and is
almost square in shape, measuring thirty-six miles north and south by
forty miles east and we.st. Its land area is 1,411 square miles. It was
HISTORY OF MONTANA
847
created April i, 1917, from parts of Meagher and Sweet Grass counties,
and in 1920 its population was 5,619. Its northern boundary follows for
some distance the crest of the Little Belt range of mountains and the
Big Snowy Mountains jut over on the remainder of the boundary. The
land surface of that part of the county, therefore, is rough and broken, a
condition which is also present in the western part. These mountainous
districts are devoted chiefly to cattle and sheep raising. The soil in the
farming districts is for the most part a chocolate loam.
Wheatland County is one of the best in the state for non-irrigated
farming, the lands for that purpose selling from $20 to $70 an acre when
improved. Wheat, both winter and spring, is the chief crop raised,
though barley, oats and flax are also produced in considerable quantities.
b*;^;»*-'
Wheatland County Wheat Farm
The irrigated districts are located chiefly in the valley of the Musselshell
River, which flows through the county from west to east and is fed by
numerous tributaries from the mountains. These districts produce con-
siderable hay, both native and alfalfa. The irrigated lands fetch from
$75 to $125 an acre. There are 6,809 acres of the Absarokee National
Forest included within Wheatland County and 57,040 of the Jefferson
National Forest. As to mineral resources, lignite has been found and
prospecting for oil is now under way. The main line of the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway passes through Wheatland County east
and west, and has a branch running northward from Harlowton to Lewis-
town and Great Falls. The main line is paralleled by the Electric High-
way. The northeastern part of the county is traversed by the Great
Northern line from Billings to Great Falls that is used by the Burlington
to the coast.
Harlowton, above referred to, is both the county seat and the prin-
cipal town. It is a division point on the Milwaukee road and the terminus
on the east of the electrified portion of the road. Large flour mills are
located here which gives the town rank among the three largest milling
centers in the state. It is well provided with modern conveniences,
including electric lights, sewage and water systems. Its high school,
accredited for the four-year course, also provides a course in agriculture
848 HISTORY OF MONTANA
under the provisions of the Smith-Hughes Act. It has aso good graded
schools. Other towns on the main Hne of the Milwaukee are Two Dot,
Valencia, Winnecook, Shawmut and Pontiac; on the Milwaukee branch
northward, Oka and Wright, and on the Great Northern, Judith Gap,
Oxford, Nihill and Hedgesville. The last mentioned place has a high
school accredited for the two-year course. Good rural schools are found
throughout the county.
Wibaux County
Wibaux County is situated in the extreme eastern part of Montana,
midway between the northern and southern boundaries of the state, and
with the Montana-Dakota line as its eastern boundary. Its land area is
883 square miles and it is the smallest exclusively agricultural county
in Montana. Its political creation took place on August 17, 1914, from
parts of Dawson, Fallon and Richland, in 1914. It attained its present
bounds by relinquishing a part of its area to Carbon County in 1919
and receiving an addition from the county named. In 1920, the popula-
tion of Wibaux County was 3,113.
Practically the entire area of the county is tillable and that which is
not farmed is devoted to live stock. The principal crops are wheat, oats,
corn, barley, flax and potatoes. During the last two or three years par-
ticular attention has been given to corn and its acreage largely extended.
The soil in general is a deep loam. Improved non-irrigated lands bring
from $25 to $50 an acre, and unimproved from $10 to $25 an acre.
There are no commercial stands of timber. The only mineral resource
yet discovered is lignite coal.
The most important stream in Wibaux County is Beaver Creek, which
flows northerly and then easterly into North Dakota. The other creeks
in the county flow westerly into the Yellowstone River, the western part
of the county sloping in that direction. The best developed agricultural
section is in the Beaver Creek Valley. Transportation facilities are
afforded by the main line of the Northern Pacific, which crosses the
county east and west, and the Red Trail automobile road, which runs
])arallel to it.
The railroad towns in Wibaux County are Wibau.x, Yates and Beaver
Hill, while the smaller towns in the country districts are St. Phillip,
Edgehill, Dennis, Been, Brenizer and Carlyle. Wibaux is the county
seat, the largest town and the chief trading center of the county. It has
a good city water works and electric light plant, two banks, two news-
papers, a flour mill, five elevators, with a combined capacity of 250
bushels, two hotels and a creamery, besides about twenty retail stores.
It had a population in 1920 of 611. It is here that the county high school
is located, which, in addition to the ordinary studies has courses in agri-
culture and home economics under the provisions of the Smith-Hughes
Act, and a normal training department under the provisions of a state
law. There is also a good graded school, and the schools in general
HISTORY OF MONTANA 849
throughout Wibaux County are above the average in point of efficiency.
This county affords good opportunities for agricultural and stock raising
enterprise. Its growing season is from 107 to 116 days. The altitude
of the county seat above sea level is 2,635 ^^^^-
CHAPTER XXXIX
YELLOWSTONE COUNTY (BILLINGS)
Lying in the southeastern part of Montana, and bordered by the
counties of Musselshell, Stillwater, Carbon, Bighorn and Rosebud, is
Yellowstone County, which was created February 26, 1883 and which
is one of the best developed sections, agriculturally, in the state. The
county was named after the Yellowstone River, which enters the county
in its southwestern corner and traverses its entire width in a northeasterly
direction, forming the principal source of supply for the irrigation ditches
which contribute materially to the development that has brought about
the agricultural prestige of the county. The Yellowstone valley, in which
much stock is fed each year during the winter period ; is broad and level,
while sandstone bluffs are a characteristic of its boundaries and above
them begin rolling bench lands that extend for miles. In the southeastern
part of the county rise the Pryor mountains. Although Yellowstone is
primarily an agricultural and stock-growing county, within its boundaries
are to be found industries of a varied character which establish its title
as an important business center of the great Midland Empire, these for
the most part located at the county seat of Billings.
Population, Tr.\nsport.\tion and Farming
While Yellowstone County is not one of the larger counties as to
area, containing only 2,708 square miles, in point of population it ranks
fourth, according to the figures given by the 1920 United States census,
which placed the total at 29,600. For the most part this population is
native American, many being direct descendants of the sturdy pioneers
from the East who listed to the call of the West during the days of early
settlement and began ranching operations in a country which repaid them
well for their labors. The early settlers found the grazing lands of the
Yellowstone valley well adapted for the feeding of live stock and this
formed the principal industry for some years, the settlers who subse-
quently came leaning more and more toward agriculture as they realized
the fertility of the chocolate colored loam soil. With the settlement of
the county came the necessity of a central point of transportation, and this
brought into being the little community of Billings which has grown to
important proportions as the natural trade center of a wide territory in
Montana and Northern Wyoming. An important factor in the develop-
ment of the county is the intersection of the Great Northern, Northern
Pacific and Chicago, Burlington & Ouincy railroads. As to the high-
ways, the Yellowstone Trail, the Custer Battlefield Highway and the Bil-
850
HISTORY OF MONTANA 851
lings-Cody Way are among the important automobile roads in the county,
and considerable hard surfaced highway has been built.
Both irrigated and non-irrigated farming is followed, alfalfa, sugar
beets, beans, potatoes and grains being the chief crops on the irrigated
lands, and grains, flax, beans and alfalfa seed on the non-irrigated. The
county has no developed mineral resources ; some drilling for oil has
been done in the county, but thus far this is largely a matter of specu-
lation, although oil fields have been developed within lOO miles of
Billings. Yellowstone County does not abound in timber either, although
Cottonwood is found along the streams and there is some pine in the
Pryor mountains. There are upwards of 100,000 acres of irrigated
land in the county which sells at from $50 to $250 an acre, while unim-
proved and non-irrigated lands adapted to grazing and general farming
range in price from $15 to $50 an acre.
Progress and Present Status of Billings
The gently sloping plain, on the north side of the Yellowstone known
as Clark's fork bottom, was the site of Billings. The origin of the place
dates -from the winter of 1876-77. At that time P. W. McAdow, J. J.
Alderson, Joseph Cochran, Henry Colwell, Clinton Dills, Milton Summer
and others settled at a locality two miles down the Yellowstone, about
where the Northern Pacific bridge spans the river, and founded the little
village of Coulson around Mr. McAdow's store. A saw mill was built
in 1878 and the town entreprise looked so encouraging that the Minnesota
& Montana Improvement Company attempted to purchase the site for a
more ambitious project. As no satisfactory arrangement could be made
with the Coulson people, Billings was laid out a short distance up the
river. It soon outdistanced Coulson, although the older town was not
wiped out, but continued to somewhat more than exist for several years.
Billings was named after Frederick Billings, president of the Northern
Pacific Railroad Company, in 1879-81. The original townsite was platted
in March, 1882. On May ist, its first building was completed, a structure
to accommodate the locating engineers, and a few days afterward a store
for the townsite company; and other business houses and a number of
residences appeared. By June, Billings contained 500 people and was
enthusiastically called the Magic City. In 1882, was organized the Bil-
lings Street Railway Company, and the horse line was completed in the
summer of the following year — the first street railway in the territory.
The Improvement Company erected a depot for the Northern Pacific in
1883, which the railroad refused to accept. In the fall, the voters de-
feated the proposed incorporation of Billings, but did have the satisfac-
tion of seeing the completion of its first public school. The population
of the place was then 1,500, and it had reached the position of the
primary shipping point for live stock in Montana. In 1884, Billings had
a large fire entailing a loss of $50,000, and in the following year a more
destructive conflagration. In 1885 it was incorporated and John Tully
was elected its first mayor. Other events of prime importance: Estab-
852
HISTORY OF MONTANA
lishment of a system of water works, in 1886; introduction of electric
lights in 1887 and the organization of the first effective fire department ;
reincorporation as a city of the second class, in 1893, ^"d the construc-
tion of the Parmly Billings Memorial Library, in 1900.
The location of the City of Billings in the center of the so-called Mid-
land Empire, makes it the logical distributing point for practically 150
smaller communities. During the '80s, Billings was a trading post ; the
latest United States Census figures, 1920, credit the city with a population
of 15.000. Its growth has been the outcome of the needs of agriculture
and commerce in a district as large as three-fourths of New England, and
it forms the chief financial, commercial and manufacturing center for a
radius of more than 200 miles. Its strategic location as a railroad center
BiLLiNe;s TwEXTY-FivE Yi:.\us Ac.o
may be deduced when it is considered that the city is situated midway be-
tween the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Spo-
kane, Washington, at the intersection of the Great Northern, Northern
Pacific and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy lines, with railroads in seven
different directions. It is difficult for the visitor from the far East or
from other communities to realize that this is the same Billings which was
the scene of so much Indian fighting during the early days of its career
and the exploits of whose citizens during frontier times are still within
the memory of the oldest inhabitants.
While the war-whoop of the savage and the crack of the frontiers-
man's rifle are to be heard no more, there are many things still to be seen
by the tourist to visualize for him what conditions may have been in the
early days. The city is located less than a day's automobile ride, 150
miles, from Yellowstone National Park, where are to be found elk, deer
and grizzly bears in their natural surroundings. Much of the country is
still in its original condition. It is a land of green valleys, each with a
ribbon of shining river winding through it. Rolling prairies and green,
HISTORY OF MONTANA 853
pine-clad hills greet the tourist, and in the distance the blue mountains
with their snowy peaks lend a certain and definite charm. The mountain
streams of the locality abound in trout and the fisherman is always sure
of a good day's catch.
The city is famed for its climate. Situated on the Yellowstone River,
at an altitude of 3,117 feet, the mean annual temperature is 47.2 degrees,
the average summer temperature being 69 degrees and the average winter
temperature 29.2 degrees. The mountain ranges to the north, west and
south protect the city and country surrounding from severe winds and
moderate the temperature both in the summer and winter. These climatic
conditions make the locality a particularly attractive one to tourists, and
for their convenience the City of Billings maintains a park for the accom-
modation of the travelers, and during the season of 1920 15,000 tourists
were entertained. The Billings plan of conducting this park has been
commended by the management of leading trans-continental automobile
trails and cited as an example for other cities to emulate. The city is
the gateway to the Beartooth mountains in Carbon County, east of the
Yellowstone Park, where besides unusually good hunting and fishing the
scenery is unrivaled.
Modern Institutions of the City
In striking contrast to the natural beauties and primitive surround-
ings of the city are the modern structures and institutions of the twen-
tieth century, the creations of a progressive people always restless to
reach the pinnacle of achievement. Where, in the early days of the city's
history, the eagle was king of the air, the aeroplane now wings its way,
and progressive Billings has installed on the outskirts of the city an aerial
landing field, marked and laid ofif according to government regulations and
afifording flying pilots a safe landing and "jump-off" place. The Billings
airport is being favorably considered by the United States Government
as one of the federal landing fields of the Forestry service. The honk-
a-tonk and dance hall of the early days have given way to one of the
largest auditoriums in the Northwest, with a seating capacity of 10,000
people; the Billings Coliseum, second in seating capacity to that of the
Midland Empire Fair Auditorium, seating 2,500 people, having a perfect
dance floor and being equipped for large conventions and gatherings ; and
six modern theaters which present the best of entertainment furnished
by high-class road shows and traveling companies from the large eastern
cities. In the way of entertainment also, the city owns and maintains a
public swimming pool, tennis courts, shady parks and skating rinks. The
grounds and buildings of the Midland Empire Fair Association are recog-
nized as being second to none in the Northwest, and this exposition caters
to the education and entertainment of a population of 125,000 within the
Midland Empire territory. Where at one time the denizens of lake and
stream were allowed to follow their own ways of life undisturbed, a
Government fish hatchery is now in course of construction. Nature also,
as it pertains to growing things, is being assisted in its course by the
854 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Government irrigation projects, where, and on the irrigated lands near
Billings, truck gardening is growing to be quite an industry. Celery is
proving to be one of the best money crops and is being shipped to many
parts of the United States, and asparagus, tomatoes, cabbage, sweet corn,
cantaloupes, potatoes, squash, pumpkins, egg plant, onions and all garden
produce grow luxuriantly.
Business Houses and Industries
It is a far cry from the little frontier hamlet and trading post, with
its few ambitious but ramshackle stores, to the beautiful and prosperous
city of today with its sixty-eight manufacturing, wholesale and jobbing
houses. Four hundred retail stores in the city enjoy a substantial, steady
patronage and are recognized as on a sound financial basis. The Billings
market is credited with buying over $6,000,000 monthly. Among its big
industries is a $2,000,000 sugar factory, the plant of the Great Western
Sugar Company being the second largest in the world. The city has an
independent packing company, handling a large number of cattle, hogs
and sheep and turning out a product of high standard, the Billings Stock
Yards Company having in the past handled more livestock than any sim-
ilar organization in the Midland Empire. Another large industry is the
Midland Iron Works, a thoroughly equipped establishment, capable of
handling every kind of manufacturing and repair work. In addition,
the plants at Billings manufacture flour, cereals, pickles, alcohol, many
forms of galvanized iron products, sash and doors, gas, brick, mattresses,
foundry products, bakery and packing-house products, dairy products,
optical goods, candies, etc.
The city has four national banks, one state bank and one private
banking institution, and bank clearings have increased over 500 per cent
in the last ten years. The city supports, through its people as sub-
scribers and its merchants and professional men as advertisers, a large
newspaper, the Billings Gazette, which issues five editions daily and carries
the full Associated Press reports and special telegraphic news service.
In the Western Newspaper Union, the city has the only house north of
Denver, between the Twin Cities and Spokane, supplying paper, type,
presses, printed and plate newspaper service, dealing exclusively with
printers. The city affords excellent hotel accommodations. Two first-
class hotels are equipped to accommodate 500 guests and the daily average
of transients visiting the city is placed at 1,000 persons. There are sixty-
live hotels and rooming-houses in the city.
Like all well-governed communities, Billings has given much attention
to its appearance, its municipal conditions, its civic accommodations and
its public service. As to its streets, they are well-kept and several miles
are paved, and the thoroughfares are wide and straight and lined with
long rows of ornamental light posts, the street lighting service being of
municipal ownership and the system being second to none of a city of
this size in the Northwest. Cement walks have been installed throughout
the city, and Billings has the second piece of concrete highway outside
HISTORY OF MONTANA 855
a city limits in the state, known as the Polytechnic road, extending two
miles in a northwesterly direction from the city and completed at a cost
of $86,899.42. The city has a municipal band, several orchestras, high
school musical organizations and Polytechnic Glee Club. Its educational
facilities are of a high order, there being eleven school buildings, a high
school and a parochial school, as well as a manual-training school, all
equipped with every modern appliance for instruction of the most up-to-
date sort. Schoolhouses throughout this part of the country have been
given first consideration with the development of the section, and there
is no child either at Billings or in the Midland Empire who is not con-
veniently situated near a schoolhouse. In the Polytechnic Institute, the
city has a college catering to young men and women desirous of fitting
Home of Billings Commerci.vl Clui;
themselves for advanced college work. This institute occupies commo-
dious grounds, with modern and well-equipped buildings and a faculty
made up of well-qualified and earnest educators. Among other build-
ings, the city boasts of two modern hospitals, one under the direction of
the Sisters of Charity and the other under the direction of the Deaconess
Association, and there is another in the course of construction at this
time, in addition to which there are several institutions of a private char-
acter.
As a municipality, Billings is decidedly moral in tone. Perhaps some
of the stories that come down from the old days as to the lawlessness
of the little trading post have been embellished by the glamour which time
is apt to bring ; but it can be said beyond peradventure that conditions
have changed since the '80s, due to the excellent work of the forces which
have labored for higher standards of education, morality and good citi-
zenship. The city now supports churches of every denomination and the
houses of worship in the city are of modern architecture and construc-
tion, tastefully and reverently decorated and pointed to with pride by the
856 HISTORY OF MONTANA
people of the community. A modern Young Men's Christian Association
building testifies to the standing of that organization in the city, and
the community likewise has a well-conducted Young Women's Christian
Association, the interests of the young women being given careful atten-
tion by well-trained women in this line of community endeavor. Billings
is the headquarters of the state secretary of the Young Men's Christian
Association. For the younger lads of the city, there is a thrifty and ably-
conducted Boy Scout Patrol, which made plans to entertain in 1921 large
delegations of Boy Scouts from several large cities of the South. The
Billings Public Library contains over 25,000 volumes and is conducted
under the supervision of a paid librarian and staff.
One of the principal contributing factors to the prosperity and welfare
of Billings has been the Billings Commercial Club. This body, organized
some fifteen or sixteen years ago, has now a membership of approxi-
mately 400, including the leading merchants, bankers and business and
professional men of the city. In January, 1919, it purchased the fine
property known as the Elks' Club House, and is comfortably, even lux-
uriously, installed for its work. The officers are as follows : W. E.
Dowlin, president ; W. P. Hogarty, vice president ; Fred T. Lincoln,
secretary-manager ; H. W. Rowley, Roy J. Covert and Charles Spear,
honorary vice presidents ; E. L. Coleman, traffic director, and O. G.
Brown, financial secretary. The building and equipment of this strong
commercial organization represents an investment of $100,000, forming
one of the finest community centers in the Northwest. The organization
was successively known as the Billings Chamber of Commerce, and the
Midland Club, before adopting its present name. Through this body,
Billings cooperates with the farming interests of Yellowstone County and
the Midland Empire, and the club has successfully fathered practical
activities in the interest of the citizens of Billings and the farmers of the
section.
Billings is a city of substantial and attractive buildings. The Masonic
Temple, as well as the home of the Commercial Club, is a handsome struc-
ture. In the residential sections, there are numerous beautiful homes,
where reside the progressive citizens who have there found the oppor-
tunity to gain independence, and who have assisted the community to
reach a position upon which it bases its claim of being the "next great
city of the Northwest."
Towns Outside of Billings
Aside from Billings, the county seat, which is the most important
town in the county, as well as in Eastern Montana, the principal town in
Yellowstone County is Laurel, in the extreme southwestern corner, an
important railroad town because of the junction there of the Great North-
ern and Northern Pacific, as well as a good agricultural market for the
surrounding territory. Other good smaller towns are Huntley, Worden,
Ballantine, Comanche, Pompey's Pillar, Broadview, Custer and Shepherd.
All of these communities have good educational facilities, for Yellow-
HISTORY OF MONTANA
857
stone County has a modern public school system, with an accredited high
school at Billings and the Billings Polytechnic Institute, an institution of
higher learning which also offers inducements to pupils wishing a business
college course.
Irrigated and Non-Irrigated Lands
In 1917 the Billings Chamber of Commerce issued an interesting
booklet, containing much information regarding Billings and the sur-
rounding territory in Yellowstone County, and much of the data contained
has been used in the statements already made and form the basis for
others which follow. Two types of farming are carried on in the Bil-
lings country, these being the irrigated and non-irrigated methods. On
Sugar Beets for the Billings Factory
the highlands there are approximately 5,000,000 acres of productive lands
suitable for farming without irrigation, while along the streams, the
various creeks which form the tributaries of the Yellowstone, such as
Buffalo, Pompey's Pillar, Razor, Crooked, Butter, Canyon and Pryor,
there lie about 1,000,000 acres of fertile lands which are irrigated. On
the latter, farming is of an intensive nature, and all sorts of crops which
require large amounts of moisture are grown thereon. More than 250,-
000 tons of sugar beets are produced each year for the factory at Billings,
and the growing of seed beans and peas for eastern markets has become
an important industry. In the older parts of the Yellowstone Valley the
farms are of considerable size and the beet growers are proportionately
prosperous. While large amounts of labor are necessary the crops pay
commensurately.
Above the ditches, methods are entirely different, fields of many acres
being the ordinary custom and huge tractors and heavy farming machinery
being used on the rolling prairies to prepare the land for wheat or oats
or similar crops. Some thirteen years ago the Billings Chamber of Com-
858 HISTORY OF MONTANA
merce brought the Dry Farming Congress to BiUings, and after this body
had inculcated the idea that successful dry land farming could be con-
ducted in the Billings country, the movement gained headway, experi-
ments were made and the results were decidedly gratifying. When the
homesteaders began their influx into the county, the railroads began dis-
posing of their lands, and in every direction from Billings, the pivotal
point, the uplands are now being cultivated and are producing large re-
turns. Wheat yields from fifteen to fifty bushels per acre, oats under
favorable conditions sometimes as high as icx) bushels, corn from fifteen
to sixty bushels, and flax as a sod crop from eight to twenty-five bushels.
For some years past the people of the Yellowstone \'alley have profited
by the experience of older communities in the preservation of the soil,
which is a natural alfalfa producer. No inoculation or soil treatment is
necessary for the production of this crop, for the raw lands, plowed up
and planted to alfalfa, produce abundantly. This gives opportunity for
crop rotation, grain crops being first grown, followed by alfalfa, which
enriches the land with its deposits of nitrogen. After a period of two
or more years the alfalfa is turned under and the grain yields are in-
creased.
Live Stock oi- thk Region
At one time in its history, Billings was the largest inland wool market
in the world and was the metropolis of Montana's stock-raising country.
Sheep and cattle by the thousands were produced on the wide ranges and
shipped east to be marketed, but of recent years stockraising, in a large
measure, lias gone hand in hand with farming, either on the bench or
irrigated lands, and this has tended to make Billings a stock-feeding
center. The cattle and sheep of the sugar-beet raisers are fattened on
beet tops, alfalfa and grains, and many of these growers finish their
product on a combination of beet pulp from the big sugar factory at
Billings. As rapidly as possible, the agriculturists on the uplands have
acquired herds of livestock, and have combined grain farming with stock-
raising. Alfalfa, Soudan grass, millets, and sweet clover, and like forage,
furnishes winter jjrovender, and the farmers utilize the rougher sections
of their properties for siuiinier pasture.
In the foot-hills and near the mountains, there are still to be found
many old-time ranches, many of these running large bunches of cattle
and sheep, and a goodly majority pasturing their livestock on the forest
reserves in the summer time and bringing them down out of the moun-
tains for feed in the winter. Of more recent years, however, the en-
croachment of smaller stock growers, who have increased greatly since
the passage of the "640-acre homestead act," has had a tendency to do
away with the great ranches of the past and the stock industry has come
more and more into the hands of the smaller growers. The cattle and
sheep "barons" of the olden days are a thing of the past in this county.
F'ar from injuring the industry, it has been found that the net returns
to the county have greatly increased with the change, for the lands under
HISTORY OF MONTANA
859
the new system are producing a total of many more cattle and sheep than
formerly, and the combination of farming, stock growing and home finish-
ing is sending them to market in a much more valuable condition.
Dairy Farming
Another industry that in recent years has been one of growing im-
portance is that of dairy farming. It was some years before the old-time
ranchman, who raised his animals only for the beef, could be brought to
realize the profit to be derived from this department of farming, but the
newer arrivals, with modernized views, readily discerned the possibilities
and there are numerous farmers in the Yellowstone Valley who devote at
least a part of their efforts to this branch. There is no branch of farming
Broadview School, Tekrv Uistkut
for which this section is better ailapted, taking into consideration its cool
summers, excellent quality of alfalfa and a ready market at all times for
creamery products. Much importing of pure-bred milk cows from the
East has been done by the more progressive farmers, and the industry
has secured a firm and lasting hold.
Genkral Evidences oe City's PROsrERiTY
Necessarily, the city which forms the distributing point for this large
territory and these varied anil important industries, must be equipped not
only with capable men and organizations, but with large financial re-
sources, and public utilities of the most modern character. The individ-
uals and commercial and trade organizations of Billings are products of
the community's needs. They have realized the necessity of business-like
action and have grown into their opportunities. As to financial resources,
Billings is accounted a wealthy city, its property valuation, exclusive of
860 HISTORY OF MONTANA
moneys and credits, being estimated at $11,000,000. As to its public
utilities, aside from its comprehensive railroad system, the Western Union
Telegraph Company has sixteen trunk lines, capable of handling 16,000
messages daily if extended to the limit, and these have been known to
handle as many as 10,000 messages within twenty-four hours. Billings
is the district headquarters of the ^Mountain States Telephone and Tele-
graph Company, and has direct connections with every large center in
the state, smaller cities and rural districts. The receipts at the Billings
Post Office (which is graded with cities ranging from 30,000 to 35,000
population) for the year 1920 were $176,807.85, an increase of 243 per
cent for a ten-year period. The receipts of the postoffice exceed those of
many cities twice the size of Billings. At the Union depot during the
first nine months of 1920 there were 184,725 passenger tickets sold,
representing a cash expenditure of $1,049,871.43. The total freight and
passenger business during the same period amounted to $3,522,832.54.
Taking everything into consideration, one may appreciate the attitude
of the Billings writer who stated: "Many have been the prophets who
have said that some day Billings would be a city of 50,000 or 100,000
people. With this goal not so far in the distance, those who have had
the city's welfare at heart are bending every effort to see that Billings
becomes, not only a big city, but a good city as well."
CHAPTER XL
BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE STATE
As nearly as possible details have been given closely relating to the
development of Montana as a body politic, and the progress of its people,
individually and through their institutions. But, condensed as they are,
the facts evolved in the writing of the story may lack cohesion and co-or-
dination in the minds of some without the addition of various tables and
lists which finally bind the narrative together. In the pages which con-
clude this history, an attempt is made toward that end.
Area and Population of Counties — 1870 to 1920*
(In computing the increase from 1890 to 1900 for certain counties, the
population of Indian reservations in 1900 has been deducted from the total
population of the county in order to make it comparable with the total for
1890, which does not include the population of Indian reservations. The
deductions thus made for the several counties are as follows: Chouteau,
1,312; Custer, 1,454; Missoula, 2,129.)
Land area
in square
miles:
1920
POPULATIO
N
COUNTY
1920
1910
1900
1890
1880
1870
'146,131
548,889
376,053
'243.329
'142,924
39,159
20,595
5,657
4,966
4,229
1,206
2,060
3,375
3,411
4,213
3,741
2,359
745
l,t08
7,146
6,109
2,507
4,837
2,981
1,717
2.892
1,632
3,447
1,451
3,624
2,645
3,622
2,369
7,369
7,015
9,057
3.239
15.279
3,972
38,836
11,051
12,194
9,239
15,323
4,548
28,344
21,705
15.864
5,368
4,178
4,167
13,958
5.203
18,660
2,416
7,797
4,747
7,495
2.622
6,446
5.615
4,655
2,712
722
Rio Hnrn'
3,491
13,962
2.641
7,533
28,833
17,191
14,123
12,725
12,988
25,777
10,966
7,891
2,443
17,393
8,755
4,741
5,308
2,056
15,155
3,058
2,510
180
8,876
517
38
177
4,367
17,385
18,785
14,079
6,937
9,37S
9,553
3,514
6,246
3,643
1,578
Glacier'
2,942
4,328
HilP
5.601
21.853
5,330
19.171
6,026
19,145
2 464
6,521
1,531
5,040
Liberty'
3.638
7,229
4.190
7,695
2.526
4,692
4,749
3,915
2,743
2,684
Meagher'
1,387
' See changes in boundaries, etc.
♦ Since the completion of the United States census of 1920, three counties have
been created by the Legislative Assembly of Montana — Daniels, in the north-
eastern part, between Sheridan and Valley counties ; and Judith Basin and Golden
Valley, in the central part, separated by Wheatland county.
861
862
HISTORY OF MONTANA
Land area
in square
miles;
1920
POPULATION
COUNTY
1920
1910
1900
1890
1880
1870
1.230
3,173
2.903
2,661
5.178
1.658
3.337
2,329
1.742
2.391
2.103
2,353
4.903
2,861
2,686
726
1.777
1.969
2,044
1,958
960
5,447
1,411
883
2,611
2,327
24,041
12.030
11.330
9,311
5.741
3.357
6.009
3.684
10,008
8.089
10.347
8,002
4,903
13,847
60,31,?
7,630
4,926
5,870
3.724
1.900
11,542
5,619
3,113
20,600
23^596
13!964
14^427
2^537 '
Missoula'
2,554
Park*
10,731
7.341
6.881
Phi11in<l
Pondera".
Powell '
5,904
Ravalli 1
11,666
7,822
7,985
3,713
Shpririan>
56,848
4,020
9.546
47.635
3.086
5.080
23,744
Stillwater'
Toole'
Treasure'
Valley'
13^630
' 4.355
WheattnnH'
Wibaux'
Yellowstone"
22^944
6^212
2.065
' See changes in boundaries, etc.
Changes in Boundaries, Etc.
The State, — Total land area includes iq8 square miles in Yellowstone
National Park. (Total population of park returned as in Wyoming,)
Total population for 1900 includes population (2,660) of Crow Indian
Reservation, now located in Big Horn and Yellowstone counties, returned
independently in 1900, Total for i8go includes population (10,765) for
Indian reservations specially enumerated, not distributed by counties.
Beaverhead." — Part of Madison annexed in 191 1.
Big Horn. — Organized from parts of Rosebud and Yellowstone in
1913-
Blaine. — Organized from part of Chouteau in 1912; part taken to
form part of Phillips in 191 5.
Broadwater. — Organized from parts of Jefferson and Meagher in 1897.
Carbon. — Organized from parts of Park and Yellowstone in 1895;
part taken to form part of Stillwater in 1913; part annexed to Yellow-
stone and part of Yellowstone annexed in 1919.
Carter. — Organized from part of Fallon in 1917.
Cascade. — Organized from parts of Chouteau, Lewis and Clark, and
Meagher in 1887; part of Meagher annexed between 1890 and 1900.
Chouteau. — Parts taken to form part of Cascade in 1887, Teton in
1893, Blaine and Hill in 1912, and parts of Liberty and Pondera in 1919.
Custer. — Name changed from Bighorn in 1877; part taken to form
part of Yellowstone in 1881 ; part, including Northern Cheyenne Indian
Reservation and part of Crow Indian Reservation, taken to form Rose-
bud in 1901 ; parts taken to form Fallon in 1913, part of Prairie in 1915,
and Powder River in 1919.
Dawson. — Parts taken to form Valley in 1893, Richland and part of
Wibaux in 1914, part of Prairie in 191 5, and Garfield and part of McCone
in 1919.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 863
Deer Lodge. — Parts taken to form Silver Bow in 1881, Granite in
1893, and Powell in 1901 ; parts annexed to Flathead and Lewis and Clark
between 1890 and 1900; part of Silver Bow annexed in 1903; part an-
nexed to Silver Bow in 191 7.
Fallon. — Organized from part of Custer in 1913; parts taken to form
jmrt of Wibaux in 1914, part of Prairie in 1915, and Carter in 1917; part
annexed to Wibaux and part of Wibaux annexed in 1919.
Fergus. — Organized from part of Meagher in 1885 ; part annexed to
Meagher and part taken to form part of Musselshell in 191 1.
Flathead. — Organized from part of Missoula in 1893; part of Deer
Lodge annexed between 1890 and 1900; part taken to form Lincoln in
1909.
Gallatin. — Parts taken to form part of Yellowstone in 1881 and Park
in 1887.
Garfield.^Organized from part of Dawson in 1919.
Glacier. — Organized from part of Teton in 1919.
Granite. — Organized from part of Deer Lodge in 1893.
Hill. — Organized from part of Chouteau in 1912 ; parts taken to form
part of Toole in 1914 and part of Liberty in 1919.
Jefferson. — Part taken to form part of Broadwater in 1897.
Lewis and Clark. — Part taken to form part of Cascade in 1887; parts
of Deer Lodge and Meagher annexed between 1890 and 1900.
Liberty. — Organized from parts of Chouteau and Hill in 1919.
Lincoln. — Organized from part of Flathead in 1909.
McCone — Organized from parts of Dawson and Richland in 1919.
Madison. — Part annexed to Beaverhead in 191 1.
Meagher. — Parts taken to form Fergus in 1885, part of Cascade in
1887, part of Sweet Grass in 1895, and part of Broadwater in 1897; parts
annexed to Cascade and Lewis and Clark between 1890 and 1900; part of
Fergus annexed in 191 1 ; parts taken to form part of Musselshell in 191 1
and part of Wheatland in 191 7.
Mineral. — Organized from part of Missoula in 1914.
Missoula. — Parts taken to form Flathead and Ravilli in 1893, Sanders
in 1906, and Mineral in 1914; part of Powell annexed in 191 5.
Musselshell. — Organized from parts of Fergus, Meagher, and Yellow-
stone in 191 1.
Park. — Organized from part of Gallatin in 1887; parts taken to form
parts of Carbon and Sweet Grass in 1895.
Phillips — Organized from parts of Blaine and Valley in 191 5
Pondera. — Organized from parts of Chouteau and Teton in 1919.
Powder River. — Organized from part of Custer in 1919.
Powell.^ — Organized from part of Deer Lodge in 1901 ; part annexed
to Missoula in 1915.
Prairie. — Organized from parts of Custer, Dawson, and Fallon in
1915-
Ravalli. — Organized from part of Missoula in 1893.
864 HISTORY OF .MONTANA
Richland. — Organized from part of Dawson in 1914; parts taken to
form part of Wibaux in 1914 and jiart of McCone in 1919.
Roosevelt.' — Organized from part of Sheridan in 1919.
Rosebud. — Organized from part of Custer County, including Northern
Cheyenne Indian Reservation and part of Crow Indian Reservation, in
1901 ; parts taken to form part of Big Horn in 1913, and Treasure in 1919.
Sanders. — Organized from part of Missoula in 1905.
Sheridan. — Organized from partof Valley in 1913; part taken to form
Roosevelt in 1919.
Silver Bow. — Organized from part of Deer Lodge in 1881 ; part an-
nexed to Deer Lodge in 1903; part of Deer Lodge annexed in 1917.
Stillwater. — Organized from parts of Carbon, Sweet Grass, and Yel-
lowstone in 1913.
Sweet Grass. — Organized from parts of Meagher, Park, and Yellow-
stone in 1895 ; parts taken to form part of Stillwater in 1913 and part of
Wheatland in 191 7.
Teton. — Organized from part of Chouteau in 1893 ; part taken to form
part of Toole in 1914; parts taken to form Glacier and part of Pondera
in 1919.
Toole. — Organized from parts of Hill and Teton in 1914.
Treasure. — Organized from part of Rosebud in 1919.
Valley. — Organized from part of Dawson in 1893 ; parts taken to form
Sheridan in 1913 nnd part of Phillips in 1915.
Wheatland. — Organized from parts of Meagher and Sweet Grass in
1917.
Wibaux. — Organized from parts of Dawson, Fallon, and Richland in
1914; part annexed to Fallon and part of Fallon annexed in 1919.
Yellowstone. — Organized from parts of Custer and Gallatin in 1881 ;
parts taken to form parts of Carbon and Sweet Grass in 1895 ; parts taken
to form part of Musselshell in 191 1 and parts of Big Horn and Stillwater
in 1913 ; part annexed to Carbon and part of Carbon annexed in 1919.
Other F.\cts About Montana's Counties
Assessed
County and County Seat Valuation
Beaverhead^Dillon $ 29,843,639
Big Horn — Hardin 21,848,839
Blaine— Chinook 27,957,520
Broadwater — Townsend 14,681,274
Carbon — Red Lodge 27,680,837
Carter — Ekalaka 10,383,482
Cascade— Great Falls 126,497,581
Chouteau — Fort Benton 49,902,252
Custer — Miles City 27,421,886
Daniels — Scobey
Dawson — Glendive 23,937,495
Deer Lodge — Anaconda 35,546,143
HISTORY OF MONTANA
865
Assessed
County and County Seat Valuation
Fallon— Baker $ 16,388,475
Fergus — Levvistown 105,374,149
Flathead — Kalispell 49,860,167
Gallatin — Bozeman 56,221,327
Garfield — Jordan 14,850,957
Golden Valley — Ryegate
Glacier — Cut Bank 12,627,674
Granite — Philipsburg 12,055,739
Hill — Havre 35,650,825
Jefferson — Boulder 17,981,405
Judith Basin — Stanford
Lewis and Clark — Helena 62,699,832
Liberty — Chester 1 1 ,87 1 ,060
Lincoln — Libby 21,263,555
Madison — Virginia City 23,824,022
McCone — Circle 16,756,515
Meagher — White Sulphur Springs 18,414,780
Mineral — Superior 11 ,893,5 14
Missoula — Missoula 56,211,819
Musselshell — Roundup 49.377.oi3
Park — Livingston 35,707,462
Phillips — Malta 22,432469
Pondera — Conrad 24,563,000
Powder River — Broadus 9,892,657
Powell — Deer Lodge 23,828,662
Prairie — Terry 16,359,540
Ravalli — Hamilton 21,991,788
Richland — Sidney 23,993,882
Roosevelt — Mondak 20,060,127
Rosebud— Forsyth 35.475.463
Sanders — Thompson Falls 23,564,786
Sheridan — Plentywood 30,900,064
Silver Bow — Butte 128,411,371
Stillwater— Columbus 25,813,430
Sweet Grass — Big Timber 20,645,120
Teton — Chouteau 27,060,331
Toole— Shelby 18,504,672
Treasure — Hysham 8,068,238
Valley— Glasgow 31,857,796
Wheatland — Harlowton 28,786,026
Wibaux— Wibaux 1 1,640,730
Yellowstone — Billings 84,595,256
Total $1,663,176,666
Tol. 1—55
866 HISTORY OF MONTANA
County ORaxNizAxiox in a Nut-Siii:ll
When Montana was organized (May 26, 1864) it comprised the
counties of Missoula, Deer Lodge, Beaverhead, Madison, Jefferson, Chou-
teau, Dawson and Big Horn, as created by the Act of January 16, 1864,
of the First (Lewiston) Legislative Assembly of Idaho Territory. These
counties were recognized later in the creation of Legislative and Judicial
Districts until the First (Bannack) Legislature established the new coun-
ties of the territory of Montana, incorporating Dawson County into Big
Horn County and creating the new counties of Edgerton and Gallatin
and otherwise generally recognizing the old county boundaries: -
Counties Date Created
Missoula February 2, 1865
Deer Lodge February 2, 1865
Beaverhead February 2, 1865
Madison February 2, 1865
Jefferson February 2, 1965
Edgerton ^ February 2, 1865
Gallatin February 2, 1865
Chouteau February 2, 1865
Big Horn * February 2, 1865
Meagher March 26, 1866
Muscleshell ^ April 10, 1866
Vivion '' .November 21, 1866
Lewis and Clark December 20, 1867
Dawson January 15, 1869
Custer February 6, 1877
Silver Bow February (1, 18S1
Yellowstone February 20, 1883
^ Through the courtesy of the State Society of Pioneers.
^ The Organic Act of Montana properly recognized the meridian of Longitude
West from Washington while the Bannack (First) Legislature recognized the
meridian of Longitude West from Greenwich in estabhshing the county boundaries.
The difference is 77 degrees and 3 minutes.
^ Name changed to Lewis and Clarke by Act of December 20, 1867, to take effect
March i, 1868. Spelhng of Clark corrected by Act of February 10, 1905.
* One of the original nine counties created by Act of February 2, 1865, embrac-
ing a region from meridian 27 of Longitude West from Washington to the 108
meridian West from Greenwich and North of the 47 parallel of Latitude and to the
log meridian of Longitude and South of said 47 parallel of Latitude, embracing
appro.ximately 57,250 square miles. Attached to Gallatin County for Legislative and
Judicial purposes. That portion North of the 47 parallel of Latitude was made
Dawson County by Act of January 15, 1869, and Big Horn County South of that
parallel was attached to Gallatin County. Name was changed to Custer County by
.\ct of February 16, 1877.
' Created by Second (Extraordinary) Legislative Assembly, April 10, 1866.
County seat, Kercheval City. Name changed to Vivion County by Third (Extraor-
dinary) Legislative Assembly, November 21, 1866. County seat removed to Smith-
ton. Laws of both of said sessions were annulled by Act of Congress of March
2, 1867.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 867
Counties Date Created
Fergus March 12, 1885
Park February 23, 1887
Cascade September 19, 1887
Flathead February 6, 1893
Valley February 6, 1893
Teton February 7, 1893
Ravalli February 16, 1893
Granite March 2, 1893
Carbon March 4, 1895 '
Sweet Grass March 5, 1895
Broadwater February 9, 1897
Powell ^ January 31, 1901
Rosebud February 11, 1901
Daly " March 8, 1901
Sanders I-'ebruary 7, 1905
Lincoln March 9, 1909
Musselshell February 1 1 , 191 1
Hill February 28, 1912
Blaine March 2, 1912
Big Horn January 20, 1913
Stillwater March 25, 1913
Sheridan March 27, 1913
Fallon December 9, 191 3
Toole May 7, 1914
Richland June 3, 1914
Mineral August 10, 1914
Wibaux Av:gust 17, 1914
Prairie February 5, 191 5
Phillips February 8, 1915
Wheatland February 22, 1917
Carter February 22, 191 7
Garfield « February 7, 1919
Treasure *• February 7, 1919
McCone ^ February 12, 1919
Glacier "^ February 17, 1919
Pondera '^ February 17, 1919
Roosevelt February 18, 1919
Powder River '^ March 7, 1919
Liberty 1920
Daniels 1920
Judith Basin 1920
Golden Vallev 1920
6 Senate Bills Nos. 84 and 86, Acts of March 8, 1901, to change the name of
Deer Lxidge County to Daly County and change the name of Powell County to Deer
Lodge County held unconstitutional April 8th in the case of State ex rel. Sackett
vs. Thomas, by the State Supreme Court, 25 Mont. 226.
' Law to take effect April i, 1919.
868 HISTORY OF MONTANA
The Governors of Montana
Sidney Edgerton — First governor of the territory. June 22, 1864, to
July 12, 1866.
Green Clay Smith — Second territorial governor, July i.V i^^^, to
April 9, 1869.
James M. Ashley — Third territorial governor. April 9. 18^39, to July
12, 1870.
Pienjamin F. Potts — Fourth territorial governor. July 13. 1870, to Janu-
ary 14, 1883.
]. Schuyler Crosby — Fifth territorial governor, January 15, 1883, to
December 15, 1884.
B. Piatt Carpenter — Sixth territorial governor, December 16, 1884,
to July 13. 1885.
Samuel T. Mauser — Seventh territorial governor, July 14, 1885, to
February 7, 1887.
Preston H. Leslie — Eighth territorial governor, February 8, 1889, to
April 8, 1889.
Benjamin F. White — Ninth territorial governor, April 9, 1889, to
November 8, 1889.
Joseph K. Toole — First governor of the state, November 8, 1889, to
January 2, 1893; also two other terms, January 7, 1901, to April i, 1908.
John E. Rickards — Second governor of the state, January 2, 1893, to
January 4, 1897.
Robert E. Smith — Third governor of the state, January- 4, 1897, to
January 7, 1901.
Joseph K. Toole — Two terms. See above.
Edwin L. Norris — Fourth governor of the state, April i, 1908, to Janu-
ary I, 1913.
SamueF V. Stewart — Fifth governor of the state, January i. 1913. to
January i, 192 1.
Joseph M. Dixon — Sixth governor of the state. January i, 1921-
United States Officials, June, 1921
United States Senator — Thomas J. Walsh, Helena.
United States Senator — Henry L. Myers, Hamilton.
Representative, First District — W. J. McCormick, Missoula.
Representative. Second District — Carl Riddick, Lewistown.
District Attorney — John L. Slattery.
United States Marshal— Joseph L. Asbridge. Helena.
District Judge — George M. Bourquin, Butte.
District Court Clerk — Charles R. Garlow, Helena.
Surveyor General — Gilman Bullard, Helena.
Collector Internal Revenue — J. A. Walsh, Helena.
Bureau Animal Industry — Dr. Rudolph Snyder, Helena.
Reclamation Service — Willis J. Eggleston, Helena.
Immigration Service — C. K. Andrews, Helena.
United States .^ssav Office — Herbert Goodall, Helena.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 869
Federal Prohibition Director — L. K. Devlin, Helena.
United States Geological Survey — Wm. A. Lamb, Helena.
United States Supervisor of Surveys — J. Scott Harrison, Helena.
United States Weather Bureau — Wm. T. Lathrop, Helena.
United States Forest Service — District Forester — Fred Morrell, Mis-
soula.
United States Bureau of Crop Estimates — Agricultural Statistician —
F. W. Beier, Jr., Helena.
Agricultural Experiment Station — F. W. Linfield, Superintendent,
Bozeman.
Branch Federal Reserve Rank of Minneapolis — O. A. Carlson, man-
ager, Helena.
United States Land Offices, where applications for homestead, gas, oil
and coal entries are made, are located in Montana at Billings, Bozeman,
Glasgow, Great Falls, Havre, Helena, Kalispell, I^wistown, Miles City
and Missoula.
State Officials, June, 1921
Governor- — Joseph M. Dixon.
Private Secretary to Governor — Will Aiken.
Lieutenant Governor — Nelson .Story, Jr.
Secretary of State — Charles T. Stewart.
Attorney General — Wellington D. Rankin.
State Treasurer — J. W'. \\'alker.
State Auditor, Insurance and Investment Commissioner — George P.
Porter.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction — May Trumpet.
Chief Justice Supreme Court — Theodore Brantly.
Associate Justices Supreme Court — W. L. Holloway, Chas. H. Cooper,
Albert J. Galen, F. B. Reynolds.
Clerk Supreme Court — J. T. Carroll.
Adjutant General — Charles L. Sheridan.
State Engineer — A. W. Heidel.
Chief Commissioner Highway Commission — George W. Lanstrum.
Commissioner of Agriculture, Labor and Industry — Chester C. Davis.
Commissioner of Department of Agriculture and Publicity — Charles
D. Greemfield.
Chancellor State Educational Institutions — Edward C. EUiott.
Register State Lands — H. V. Bailey.
State Institutions
Deaf, Dumb, Blind Asylum. Boulder Tuberculosis Sanitarium Galen
Agricultural College Bozeman Girls Vocational School .... Helena
Experiment Station Bozeman Industrial School Miles City
School of Mines ." Butte University of Montana. . .Missoula
Soldiers Home Columbia Falls Orphans Home Twin Bridges
Penitentiary Deer Lodge Insane Asylum Warm Springs
Normal School Dillon
870
HISTORY OF MONTANA
Finances, Industries -and Business
Scattered through numerous pages of the history are facts and figures
relating to the banks, kiniber mills, the dairies and the mercantile estab-
lishments of the state, but the fourth biennial report of the Department
of Labor and Industry, as well as the 1920 jjublication of the Department
of Agriculture and Publicity, gives the very figures required to exhibit the
general status of these elements which go so far to form the stability of the
state.
The aggregate resources and liabilities of the state, private and national
banks of Montana on May 5, 1920, are compiled from figures furnished
by the state examiner :
RESOURCES
State
National
Total
$ 87,816,946.04
412,477.22
11,222,390.11
107,000.00
3,480,647.34
1,523,598.45
241,722.50
567,168.53
3,483,201.41
14,310,004.11
1,404,496.39
635,757.98
322,561.40
S 69,238,857.84
201,731.43
14,173,542.76
352,950,00
2,591,914.55
627,537.05
185,465.80
429,738.89
2,272,704,44
8,439,637.90
6,268,376.33
748,897.41
866,901.16
216,387.72
$157,055,803.88
614,208.65
Bonds ^^arrants etc
25,395,032.87
Stock in Federal Reserve Bank
Banking House, Fur. and Fix.. .
Other Real Estate
450,950.00
6,072,561.80
2,151,135.50
Gold
427,188.30
Silver and Minor Coin
Currency
906,007.42
5,755,995.85
Due from Approved Reserve . . .
Due from Other Banks
Checks and Other Cash Items. .
Other Resources
22,749,642.01
7,762,872.72
1,384,655.39
1,180,462.56
Redem Fund with U S Xreas
216,387.72
Totals
$125,618,061.48
8106,614,643.28
$232,232,704.76
LI.\BILITIES
Capital Stock
Surplus
Undivided Profits
Due to Banks
Demand Deposits
Time Deposits
Bills Payable . ,
Circulating Notes Outstanding
Other Liabilities
Totals .
$ 11,085,000.00
3,821,464.61
1,510,636.42
3,308,108.53
51,848,066.66
42,206,752.34
11,619,615.59
318,417.33
$125,618,061.48
7,995,000.00
3,966,822.00
2,005,425.91
4,393,140.76
46,965,648.39
31,772,084.51
3,214,056.41
3,869,174.15
2,433,282.15
8106,614,643.28
$ 19,980,000.00
7,788,286.61
3,516,062.33
7,701,258.29
98,813,715,05
73,978,836.85
13,833,672.00
3,869,174.15
2.751,609.48
8232,232.704.76
All of the banks under state supervision come under the department of
the state superintendent of banks and his assistants. One assistant superin-
tendent and four deputy bank examiners keep a close supervision on all of
these state institutions. The state inspectors visit the banks for inspection
twice each year. They verify the books and records of the business trans-
actions and otherwise see that the bank is living up to the letter of the law.
They have performed their duties so well that there has not been a single
HISTORY OF MONTANA
871
bank failure in Montana in the past five years, and there have only been five
bank failures in the state in the past twenty years.
The state banks are required to take out state charters before engag-
ing in business. The law requires that they keep on hand, as a reserve
fund, 15 per cent of their liabilities, which is made up of the demand de-
posits, time deposits, the amount due to other banks and cashier's checks.
The amount of reserve on hand in the state banks June 30, 1919, aver-
aged 20.5 per cent or $7,933,535 surplus over the required amount.
A feature of the state banking laws, which protects the depositors, is
the prohibition against the buying of the stocks of other corporations by
the banks of the state. The banks can purchase United States bonds,
state bonds, county bonds, city bonds and school bonds.
The establishment of the Helena branch of the Federal Reserve Bank
of Minneapolis, headquarters for the Ninth Reserve District, has been
noted. It is the only branch in the district. A large building was pur-
chased, which, with vaults and improvements represented an investment
of $150,000. The Helena branch carries at all times from $3,000,000 to
$5,000,000 to serve the financial needs of Montana.
On January i, 1920, there were 288 state and 142 national banks in
the state. All of the national banks belong to the Federal Reserve System,
and the state banks are rapidly joining it.
Thk Saw Mills of Montan.\
Although the lumber industry of Montana is only about twenty years
old, and most of the mills of the state have been established within the
past decade, it has reached a high plane in the economics of the common-
wealth, as is illustrated in the following table:
Post Office
Goods Manufactured
or Handled
Date
When
Established
Capital
Invested
Avon
Lumber and ties. ..... ...
1907
1898
1918
1919
1907
1912
1903
1919
1919
1917
1916
1911
1906
1918
1912
1910
1906
1900
1914
1919
1915
1905
$ 6,000
6,459,733
50,000
30,000
1 500
Bonner ....
Lumber and lath
Bozeman
Lumber and wood
Lumber
Lumber
Chalk Butte
Clancy
Clyde Park
5,000
350,000
2,000
10,000
3,000
3,500
5,000
Lumber
Limestone
Lumber ...
Drummond
Lumber
Lumber
Ekalaka
Ekalaka
Lumber
Lumber
Lumber and ties
Lumber. ...
Eureka
1,000,000
19,100
5,000
3 000
Grev Cliff
Hall
Lumber
Lumber
Lumber . .
84,000
5 000
Hoffman
Hot Springs
Lumber
Lumber. . . ._
Lumber.
25,000
1,000
1,500
50,000
Hysham
Jeffers
Kalispell
Lumber
872
HISTORY OF MONTANA
Post Office
Goods Manufactured
or Handled
Date
When
Established
Capital
Invested
Libby
Lumber
1919
1918
1910
1904
1916
1918
1910
1917
1917
1915
1917
1918
1909
1912
1916
1919
1911
1908
1912
1919
1900
1900
1907
1912
1916
1906
1919
1911
$1,500,000
3,000
3,000
5,000
2,000
850,000
343,000
16,000
18,000
3,000
70,000
12,000
100,000
4,000
10,000
2,000
2,500
4,000
4,000
2,000
100,000
1,000
3,000
10,000
370,000
30,000
20,000
1,000
Luther
Lumber
Lvon
Lumber
Marion
Lumber .....'
Melville
Lumber
Milltown
Lumber
Missoula
Lumber
Missoula
Lumber
Patrick ("reek
Lumber and ties. . .
Philipsburg
Plains
Lumber and ties
Plains
Poison
Lumber
Rema
Rexford
Lumber
Ronan
Roundup
Lumber
St. Ignatus
Sheridan
Somers
Lumber
Town send
Trout Creek
Varney
Warland
Whitefish
Whitehall
Lumber
White S. Springs
Total
$11,607,833
Note: Several firms have included planing mill and logging operations. Timbers
used in the mines of the state yearly, which include round timbers, stulls and poles,
probably aggregate considerably more than 100,000,000 feet board measure, and
are not included in the above figures.
Smelters, Concentrators and Cvanide Plants
Post Office
Anaconda .
Butte
Butte
Cooke
Butte
Deer Lodge
E. Helena .
Great Falls
(ireat Falls
Great Falls
Helena ....
Jardinell . .
Goods Manufactured
or Handled
Smelter, Copper, Zinc
Concentrator
Sampler
Copper
Copper
Zinc Concentrator. . . .
Gold Stamp Mill
Lead Smelt. & Cone. .
Copper Refinery
Reduction Plants
Electrolytic Zinc
Milling of Ores
Mill, Gold & Tungsten
Date
When
Estab-
lished
1902
1904
1906
1911
1912
1910
1889
1892
1916
1916
1916
1914
Capital
Invested
Yearly Outpul
Tons of Ore
SI 2,500,000
121,000
700,000
350,000
2,500,000
20,000
500,000
1 ,300,000
1,7.SO,000
3,500,000
100,000
100,000
•128,400
t243,300
261,740
354,338
4,500,000
10,000
50,000
173,244
f29,930
' 35,000
*128,400 tons of blister copper shipped to Great Falls refinery to be refined.
t243.400 tons of zinc shipped to company's electrolytic zinc plant. Great Falls, for treatment.
JMetals contained in electrolytic slimes shipped east for treatment. Tons of copper 993, ounces of
sdver 6,978.464. ounces of Eold 42,816.
§The only copper smelting carried on at this plant during the past year w-as the treatment of zinc
plant residue for recovery of copper, gold, silver and lead, the metal from the plants in operation beini;
dipped to other smelters for converting and refining.
fIZinc dross produced and shipped from plants, 2,571 tons.
HISTORY OF MONTANA
873
Post OfErc
Goods Manufactured
or Handled
Date
When
Estab-
lished
Capital
Invested
Yearly Output
Tons of Ore
Kendall
Kendall
Marysvillc
Marysville
Marysville
McAllister
Philipsburg. . . .
Gold Stamp Mill
Gold Stamp Mill
Gold, Sil. Stamp Mill ...
Gold, Sil. Stamp Mill
Gold, Sil. Stamp Mill
Cyanide Tailings
Sil. Mill & Cone
1908
1918
1912
1915
1912
1919
1900
1905
1907
1904
$150,000
100,000
100,000
100,000
250,000
50,000
500,000
200,000
375,000
100,000
24,435
17,805
11,919
32,960
8,000
Cyanide Mill
Butte
"20,518,510
Zortman
Cyanide Plant
185,000
Totals
$25,266,000
5,501,197
"Pounds of blister copper shipped to refineries to be refined.
Dairy Products
The dairj- products of Montana are largely devoted to the manufac-
ture of butter, the output of cheese being comparatively small. Fifty
creameries and nine cheese factories represent the establishments which turn
out this class of manufactures. The creameries, with their locations,
dates of establishment and amount of capital invested, are as follows:
Baker
Belt..
Big Timber.
Billings
Billings
Butte
Butte
Butte
Butte
Bozeman
Bozeman . . .
Bozeman . .
Bridger
Cascade ....
Chinook. . . .
Chouteau . . .
Culbcrtson. .
Ekalaka .. . ,
Forsyth ....
Froid
Gilman . .
(ilendivc . . .
Grass Range
Great Falls .
Great Falls.
1914
1915
1914
1911
1919
1916
1915
1889
1915
1919
1919
1919
1917
1909
1915
1915
1913
1918
1915
1916
1914
1919
1916
1916
1907
5 5,600
50,000
4,500
35,000
3,000
7,170
1,400
1 ,000,000
30,644
5,000
15,000
5,000
7,600
6,000
10,000
10,000
4,000
5,000
6,100
6,750
4,000
7,000
7,500
100,000
15,(KXI
Great Falls. .
Hamilton. . . .
Hardin
Havre
Helena
Helena
Judith Gap . .
Kalispell
Laurel
Lewistown . . .
Lewistown .
Livingston . . -
Melstone . . . .
Miles City.
Missoula . . . .
Philipsburg.
Poison
Red Lodge . . .
Roundup . .
Ryegate
Stevensvillc.
Townsend . . ,
Whitehall...
Willow Creek
Worden
1919
1917
1918
1914
1913
1917
1916
1916
1912
1917
1914
1914
1916
1917
1914
1912
1913
1906
1919
1917
1907
1904
1913
1911
1917
25,000
9,935
9,000
12,000
10,000
10,000
5,000
20,000
13,000
75,000
25,000
18,000
5,500
48,000
66,100
7,000
12,000
16,700
13,000
7,600
50,000
5,500
10,000
10,000
9,000
$1,843,.S9Q
The nine cheese factories which have all been established since igiS,
are located at Rallantine, Belgrade, Central Park. Corvallis, Creston, Elk
Park, Reese Creek. Salesville and Wilsall. All but the first named, which
is in Yellowstone County, are located in the valleys of Western Montana,
where also are the majority of the creameries. The cheese factories are
small, only $38,500 in capital being invested in the nine.
874 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Manufacture of Soft Drinks and Cereal Beverages
Since the coming, and substantial enforcement, of prohibition this hne
of manufactures has been given an impetus in Montana, as witness this
table taken from the report of the State Department of Labor and In-
dustry :
Post Office
Goods Manufactured
Date when
Established
Capital
Invested
Billings
1900
1906
1900
1895
1915
1900
1905
1888
1919
1916
1919
1919
1913
1919
1895
1894
1919
1908
1866
1914
1919
1904
1915
1907
1918
1919
1916
1915
•S 100,000
'0 000
Billings
Soft Drinks. . . .
Billings
100,000
6,000
3,000
150,000
10,000
10,000
5,000
19,500
3,000
3,000
15,000
'' 000
Bozeman
Soft Drinks. .
Bozeman
Soft Drinks
Butte
Butte
Soft Drinks
Butte
Butte
Soft Drinks
Butte
Soft Drinks
Dillon
Soft Drinks
Soft Drinks
Glasgow
Glendive.
Great Falls . .
Soft Drinks
Great Falls
Cereal Beverages . .'
300,000
335,000
1,500
6 000
Great Falls. . . .'
Hamilton
Soft Drinks
Havre
Helena
Soft Drinks
Soft Drinks
7,000
100,000
8,000
45,000
10,000
14,000
18,000
1 500
Kalispell
Kalispell
Cereal Beverages
Soft Drinks
I^wistown
Miles City
Missoula
Soft Drinks
Red Lodge
Red Lodge
Soft Drinks
11,000
2,000
Roundup
Total
$1,305,000
Business Eetablishments by Counties
The following is taken from the census of Diin's Commercial Agency
for July, 1920:
Beaverhead
Big Horn
Blaine '. . .
Broadwater
Carbon
Carter
Cascade
Chouteau
Custer
Daniels
Dawson
Deer Lodge
Fallon
Fergus
Flathead
Gallatin
Garfield
Glacier
Glacier National Park
General
Grocery.
Confec-
Grain
Lumber
Miscel-
Scores
Meat
tionery.
Etc.
Elev.
Yards
Garages
laneous
20
10
22
1
3
24
83
20
«
13
4
2
17
59
19
10
13
12
8
12
71
9
5
9
1
4
5
33
33
32
45
7
11
26
140
13
3
8
2
7
22
35
103
126
36
21
73
495
34
11
19
37
13
24
94
11
19
19
5
6
18
131
19
6
14
12
10
5
63
33
8
15
16
11
10
90
4
35
46
2
15
112
11
9
8
8
6
6
60
♦6
33
56
45
25
42
211
34
32
34
6
10
27
220
28
25
43
22
13
34
202
15
5
■»
1
I
3
18
10
1
4
12
1
3
?
9
1
41
3
Total
163
118
145
66
294
55
889
232
209
129
173
215
108
458
363
367
45
84
7
illSTURY OF .MONTANA
875
COUNTY
General
Stores
Grocery,
Meat
Confec-
tionery.
Etc.
Grain
Elev.
Lumber
Yards
Garages
Miscel-
laneous
Total
Golden Valley
16
7
31
12
19
21
10
17
12
20
9
11
30
20
14
39
19
13
12
9
17
24
28
21
24
30
17
20
8
29
25
5
30
14
3
34
3
8
24
7
8
44
2
13
3
10
3
4
36
15
20
14
4
2
6
4
12
10
12
12
4
10
239
12
4
6
3
7
13
9
7
79
6
13
22
16
25
58
6
16
4
23
10
8
57
20
30
14
13
1
16
6
18
18
21
16
16
17
208
14
1^
5
4
18
15
5
71
9
13
36
5
6
l' •
4
2
" 7'"
6
8
9
17
1
1
5
2
15
20
3
1
32
5
12
2
29
13
1
15
12
8
20
7
2
17
2
12
7
5
2
1
4
i
11
7
6
8
14
2
6
4
11
11
13
1
19
8
12
4
16
5
is
7
4
21
9
8
27
6
12
36
4
5
4
18
9
3
42
20
21
11
9
2
9
5
26
10
20
16
9
17
65
16
13
14
9
2
16
15
4
79
26
42
141
40
65
227
24
72
16
66
29
22
228
89
138
67
62
5
57
25
88
83
134
85
47
110
581
74
38
72
45
14
120
69
35
387
76
82
Hill
275
84
177
398
Liberty
57
125
41
145
64
49
411
177
Park
237
Phillips
162
138
Powder River
25
Powell
103
Prairie
60
Ravalli
167
Richland
171
246
166
102
235
1123
Stillwater
160
73
Teton
184
105
Treasure
28
Valley
227
Wheatland
141
Wibaux
66
Yellowstone
691
Total
1054
1023
1337
539
422
944
5571
10891
The special listings are of merchants engaged exclusively in the lines
mentioned ; and those whose businesses or combinations of various lines
of merchandise make it impossible to place them in any specific listing,
are grouped under the heading of miscellaneous. Thus, a man operating
a store and garage would appear in the miscellaneous column.
Few Failures in State
The financial stability of any particular group of merchants is always
plainly shown by the number of commercial failures occurring during any
given period, and Dun's figures show that the number of failures in Mon-
tana, in proportion to the total number of persons engaged in business,
has been very small. The following table tells its own story :
Year
Number of
Merchants
Number of
Failures
.iXssets
Liabilities
1910
6,476
6,796
7,274
8,272
9,359
10,363
10,971
11,303
11,871
10,899
129
115
32
53
91
64
80
90
95
65
S 632,414
747,801
159,120
137,052
687,142
1,240,174
561,386
448,791
868,714
316,928
S 744,294
1911
1912
897,031
249,706
1913
1914
283,015
886,756
1915
1,366,666
1916
603,700
1917
522,638
1918
880,397
1919
424,558
For the first six months of 1920 there were 40 failures with $274,611
liabilities, against 10,891 merchants engaged in business.
876
HISTORY OF MONTANA
The alKive fit,nires relate only to mercantile establishments and not to
banks and bank failures, but Montana has been happily fortunate in the
matter of having strong banks, and there have been only a few bank fail-
ures in the entire history of the state. Roth banking and mercantile insti-
tutions are sound.
Increase in Net Worth
Some further idea of the financial strength of Montana's merchants
is shown in the following table, showing the number of merchant> of the
various financial classifications :
Net worth $200,000 to 81,000,000
Net worth SSO.OOO to $200,000. . .
Net worth $20,000 to $50,000. . .
Net worth $5,000 to $20,000 ...
Net worth $500 to $5,000
Net worth indeterminate
1900
24
71
166
444
1011
1674
1910
78
264
369
925
2079
2861
1920
592
607
635
1758
2929
4370
As stated in "Resources of Montana" (Charles H. (ireenfield) ; "The
period of most rapid mercantile growth came shortly after the Chicago,
Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway finished its lines through Montana, when
it was demonstrated that Montana was destined to be a great farming as
well as stockraising and mining state. Thousands of settlers flocked to
Montana betwen 1910 and 1916, and immediately in their wake came
many merchants, hundreds of whom met with signal success in their new
fields. Many times stores were establi.shed in tents and tent houses and
the demands of the new settlers for provisions, farm implements, etc.,
created a wonderful new business throughout almost the entire state.
"The maximum number of merchants was reached in January, 1918,
when there were 11,871 persons engaged in business in the state. As a
result of war conditions, the number of merchants decreased rapidly dur-
ing 1918. Before December, 1918, when state prohibition became effective,
there were about T.200 saloons in Montana, and only about 40 or 50 per
cent of the saloon men engaged in other enterprises. During the last
twelve months, however, the tide has again turned, many new enterprises
have started, and many openings for other business enterjirises have be-
come apparent."
Oil DEVKLorMF.NT in Mont.\.\
>'.\
There are two i)ro(lucing oil fields in Montana at the jiresent time, and
from 70 to 100 rigs are either actually drilling or soon will be drilling.
In addition, hundreds of scouts are exploring the state and obtaining
leases in districts where no oil activity has been manifested. Drilling
operations at present extend from the northwest corner of the Jilackfeet
Indian Reservation, near the Canadian line, adjoining the Glacier National
Park on the east, to the southeastern corner of Carter Countv, in the most
HISTORY OF .NIONTANA 877
southeasterly part of the state. Conservative oil men helieve that by next
summer not less than 200 rigs will be in operation in Montana, but be-
cause of the vast scope of territory thought to possess oil indications, they
assert it will take at least three years to complete exploration work.
The State Bureau of Mines, a department of the State School of
Mines, made an oil survey in the summer of 1920 that covered approxi-
mately 80,000 square miles. This work was done in co-operation with
the United States Geological Survey and is the fir«t comprehensive under-
taking of the kind that has been attempted in Montana. The results of
the work will be embodied in a bulletin which it is expected to have ready
for distribution in February. When available, copies will be furnished
upon application to the Montana School of Mines, Butte, Montana.
The first discovery of oil in Montana was made in 191 5 in the Elk
Basin field in Carbon County, on the Wyoming line. This field has pro-
duced regularly since that time, but the production on the Montana side
has been coupled with the production on the Wyoming side, so in the
mind of the public it has been considered a Wyoming field.
What has been generally considered the first discovery of oil in the
state was made November 6, 191 9, by the Van Duzen Company in the
Devil's Basin field, north of Roundup, in Musselshell County. Oil was
struck at a depth of 1,175 ^^^t. It was of asphaltic base and for over a
year produced about twenty-five barrels a day. It was then cased off so
drilling to lower sands could be resumed. Water was struck when drilling
was resumed, and operations have been suspended for the present.
Discovery of oil by the Frantz Corporation February 18, 1920, in the
West Dome of the Cat Creek field. Eastern Fergus County, at a depth of
1,015 ^ce^' ^"^ subsequent developments in this field, are responsible
for the present oil activity in the state. While production from this field
has been considerably less than that indicated by newspaper reports, oil
men consider the showing, for the work done, to be remarkable. They
do not, however, consider the field fully proven. But they are confident
that Montana is certain to be an important oil state.
A two and a four inch pipe line have been laid from the West Dome
field to the railroad at Winnett. In November 346 tank cars were shipped.
Their capacity ranged from 144 barrels to 310 barrels. December 18,
1920, nine wells were under contract to deliver their oil to the pipe line.
One of these nine wells had a cave-in, and was not delivering any oil at
the time, though it had been producing, and is expected to produce again.
Another well in the field, not under contract to the pipe line, produced
some oil and then was capped. The producing wells in this field up to the
middle of December, 1920, covered an area of approximately ten square
miles. Drilling was proceeding in many places both within and without
this producing area.
There was a production in the Cat Creek field during November of
82,723.39 barrels, while shipments during November amounted to 8o,9.-l%.5
barrels. These figures were obtained from the Elk Basin Consolidated
Petroleum Company, which, besides owning the only pipe line and tanks
in this field, also took over the wells and acreage of the Frantz Corporation.
878 HISTORY OF MONTANA
Drilling for oil is actually under way, or rigs have been erected prepara-
tory to drilling at many places in Montana. The following summary of
these places, while incomplete, gives an idea of the vast region in the state
that is being prospected : One rig five miles south of Harlowton, Wheat-
land County; one rig north of Judith Gap, Judith Basin County; two
rigs near Shawmut, Wheatland County ; two rigs in P'allon County ; three
rigs in Carter County; one rig south of Lohman in Blaine County; one
rig on Blackfeet Reservation in Glacier County ; two rigs in Teton County ;
one rig at Winifred, Fergus County; two on Black I'.utte Dome, Fergus
County; twenty-four in Cat Creek District, Fergus County (this is ex-
clusive of the producing wells) ; from nine to sixteen rigs on Porcupine
Dome in Rosebud County ; one at Crow Rock, Prairie County ; one near
Jordan, Garfield Coimty ; three on Brush Creek, Fergus County ; approxi-
mately ten rigs in the Musselshell County field adjacent to Roundu]) ;
one on the Crow Reser\ation in Big Horn County.
Besides these operations, scores of companies and syndicates expect
to install rigs within the next four months in various parts of the state.
Scouts of some of the big oil concerns are touring practically all that part
of Montana east of the main range of the Rockies. Hundreds of thou-
sands of acres have been leased for oil purposes in the state. Many of
these leases have been obtained in districts where no drilling has ever been
undertaken. — By the Department of Agriculture and Publicity, Charles
D. Greenfield, Commissioner.
Horticulture and Its Representative Society
The horticultural interests of Montana, especially of the sections in
the western part of the state, are expanding into a pronounced industry.
Its growth is to the credit of its promoters, who, for twenty-four years
have been connected with the Montana Horticultural Society. The great
strength of its membership is drawn from Ravalli County, and especially
centers at Hamilton and Stevensville, in the fertile Bitter Root Valley.
A number also reside at Missoula, Kalispell, Big Fork, and other points
in Flathead and Gallatin counties. Western Montana is the only really
promising fruit-raising section of the state.
The Montana Horticultural Society held its twenty-fourth annual
session at Hamilton, from January i8 to 20, 1921, the following being
in office: Ben Kress, Hamilton, president; O. M. Gerer, of Hamilton,
Fred T. Parker, of Missoula, Earl Mauzey, of P.ig Fork, and W. J.
Cristmas, of Joliet, vice presidents; J. C. Wood (state horticulturist),
of Missoula, secretary-treasurer.
For the purposes of this article, the paper presented by Dr. M. J.
Elrod, of Missoula, one of the well-known fruit-raisers of the state, is
most adaptable, and it is given entire :
• "Mr. Wood asked me yesterday to give a little of the early history of
the State Horticultural Society. I have always had a very great interest
in this Society, because it was the first meeting of any kind that I attended
after I came to the state. The President of the University said: "You
HISTC^RY OF .MONTANA 879
will find some very bright minds there.' I don't know whether or not he
meant for me to keep my mouth shut until I saw where I was, but I
took the hint. At that meeting I was given an introduction to a consider-
able number of people, a large majority of whom are elsewhere; some
have died. From that day I have taken more pleasure in attending the
meetings of the Horticultural Society than any other organization or any
other affair which I have been called upon to attend in the state. At that
first meeting, which was held in Missoula, and which was the third meet-
ing of Horticulturists, the other meetings having been held before this
association was organized, I find on reading over the minutes and the
programs the names of these persons ; some of you know a few of them,
and some, perhaps, know all of them. At this meeting were Kemp, Ed-
wards, Evans, Harlan, Lehsou, Moss, Humble, Emery, Sutherlin, Bass,
Bandmann, Whiteside, Willis, Maclay, Wilson, Gilbert and my own name.
Of those whose names I read, Harlan is with us today. C. C. Willis was
also present at our meetings.
"The second meeting was held at Hamilton and I see added to the list
of names O'Donnell, Stone, McCrackin; at this time Emery was presi-
dent ; at the meeting at Missoula, Harlan was president, with Edwards
as secretary.
"The meetings in these years were held the last of February and for a
long time afterwards in February or late in January.
"At that time, twenty-three years ago, it was not certain that winter
apples could be raised. The idea of holding the meetings in the late
January and February was to prove to the people of the state that it
was possible to raise something else than fall apples. It was predicted
that only fall apples could be raised, and, therefore, it was a waste of
time to try winter varieties, and a great deal of attention was given to
the exhibit. The people of the region held back some of their best fruit
,so as to make a creditable exhibition. It is not now necessary so to do.
At that time it was very necessary, and they felt if an exhibition of nice,
salable fruit could be made as late as February 23rd, it was sufficient
proof to all that this was a fruit raising and fruit growing region.
"The third meeting was held at Plains. Perhaps I might run along with
a few of these meetings, to give an idea of where they were held and
to suggest when certain things were taken up. At the meeting at Plains,
luuery, who was then director of the Experiment Station, was president,
and these names appear upon the program: Tiedt, Clark, Cooley, Mrs.
Nichols, Fossum (our good friend who is with us tonight), Mrs. Baker
and Olney of Yellowstone. I note this comment, which will be of inter-
est to you, an authority quoted by Bandmann as showing that the codling
moth would not become a dangerous pest in the State of Montana. A
few years later the minutes show desperate efforts are being made to
exterminate the codling moth. At this meeting I notice that Harlan recom-
mended that the practice of growing bees be started in the state.
"The fourth meeting was held at Kalispell in 1901. Emery was again
president ; this, I think, was the meeting at which they had such a stun-
ning time as to whether they would elect him president or someone else.
880 HISTORY OF MONTANA
"Mr. W. B. Harlan: It was at Plains.
"Mr. J. A. Fossum : It was at Kalispell particularly they had a great
fight for the president.
"At this meeting I notice the first mention of prayer at the opening
meeting. I notice the following names appearing at this meeting on the
program: Wood, Reed, Heideman, Bernard, W'ooldridge from Hinsdale,
on the Great Northern. There were complaints mentioned in the min-
utes at that time of growers who said they had got summer varieties when
they had ordered winter varieties, and there was much discussion as to
the character and honesty of the tree dealers, because at that time there
were being enormous numbers of trees placed and men didn't wish to
buy a thousand or two thousand trees of winter varieties and wait five
years until they had fruit to find they were something else. That is what
many of them did. At this meeting local branches were provided for in the
organization.
"The fifth meeting, 1902, was held at Missoula; a good display of fruit
is mentioned ; Stone, who was chosen president, was ill, and Mr. Harlan
presided, with Mrs. Ingalls of Kalispell as secretary. I notice on the
program and in the minutes the following names: Pierce of Plains, Smith,
who was the ex-governor. Prof. Shaw, Brandegee, Fortier, Traphagen
and Allen of Lolo. The honey bee was again mentioned as an animal
that could be developed. In this program was mentioned a banquet. I
have some distinct recollections of helping to get up a banquet or two.
I don't know whether this is the one or not. The minutes report the box
adopted as the standard size was ioK>xii!jxi8 inches.
"The sixth meeting, 1903, was held at Stevensville, with Stone, who
was president, ill in the East. Harlan served as president. I notice among
the names that have not heretofore been mentioned Pace, former secretary
of the State Fair, Tucker, .\mos Buck, Nichol and Fisher. It was at
this meeting that Bandniann made his argument, defending the Mcintosh
as the apple that should be developed for the purpose of having one apple
in the valley which would be a standard. Some years after his death,
Mrs. Bandmann made a request of the Society that they confirm her
statement that he had taken that attitude, as taking the initiative in start-
ing the Mcintosh apple, which action the Society later took.
"The seventh meeting, 1904, was at (ireat Falls, with Harlan as presi-
dent ; the secretary's report is given complete in eleven lines. There was
a cooking demonstration given in one of the rooms of the Rainbow Hotel
and there was a large audience around the person who was making the
demonstration.
"The eighth meeting was held at Helena; Harlan was president and
Tucker was secretary pro tem. At this meeting Colonel Sanders made
an address, the first privilege I had of hearing the Colonel. Mr. Atkin-
son's name appears upon the program, as does that of Mr. Dinsmore,
who opened up the country that is now the Orchard Homes at Missoula.
At this meeting the Montana Stockman gave a silver cup for the best col-
lection of winter apples and the State Fair gave a silver cup for the best
display of fruit grown by one person. These cups given in the early
day were very helpful in stimulating activity.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 881
"The ninth meeting was in 1906. Dalhnan was president. This is
where I came into it. I was chosen as secretary and served as secretary
for several years. The pure food law and the creation of a state railway-
commission were endorsed. And here, 1906, the record shows the codlin';
moth was very bad and the members of the Society are calling upon the
public and mayors of cities to help in its eradication. At this time it was
recommended that the State Board of Horticulture print the proceedings
of the Society, and from that date to the present the State Board of Horti-
culture has made appropriations for the publication of the minutes and
proceedings of this organization.
"The tenth meeting was held at Kalispell. Dallman was president, anil
at this meeting they iiroposed the naming of farms. Eleven names were
given in the minutes. Much discussion about market development. There
were 80 paid and 13 life members.
"The eleventh meeting was held at Billings. Ex-Governor Smith was
president. This meeting was combined with the Dairymen's Association.
A cooking demonstration was given in the evening. A thousand were
present at the opera house meeting.
"The twelfth meeting was held in Hamilton. Smith was elected presi-
dent, but before the year was up he passed away and O'Donnell, as vice
])resident, served in his stead. There were 200 present at the opera house.
It was recommended that the legislature pass a constitutional amendment
permitting assessment for orchard protection.
"The thirteenth meeting, in 1910, was at Plains, with J. O. Reed, for-
merly of your town (Hamilton), as president. There was an exhibit of
50 bo.xes. TOO plates. At this time they had a woman's department, with
canned fruits and r)ther tilings on exhibit. Clark urged the Wealthy for
eastern Montana. First reference to blight. It was decided the town
having the meeting must raise 50 members.
"The fourteenth meeting was at Missoula with Fred Whiteside as presi-
dent. Elrod retired as secretary. M. L. Dean was elected.
"The fifteenth meeting was at Great Falls, in coimection with the
Country Life Commission. C. C. Willis was president.
"The sixteenth meeting was at Bozeman, 1916, with R. N. Sutherlin,
editor of the l^ocky Mountain Husbandman, as president.
"The seventeenth was at Missoula with J. C. Wood as president.
"The eighteenth was at Kalispell; your humble servant was president,
with M. L. Dean as secretary.
"The nineteenth meeting was at Billings with W. [. Tiedt as secretary.
"The twentieth meeting was at Plains, with M. L. Dean as presidetu.
Whipple as secretar}-.
"The twenty-first was at Hamilton, 1918, with Mrs. Johnson serving
in place of \\\ B. George, who was not present, and Whipple as secretary.
"The twenty-second, with Mrs. Johnson as president and Strausz as
secretary, was at Poison.
"The twenty-third meeting was held at Missoula in 1920, with our good
friend Piatt as president and Strausz as secretary.
"The twenty-fourth brings us down to this year, 192 1. as being held at
Hamilton.
882 HISTORY OF MON'TANA
"Two points of interest for you before I close. The first is that dur-
ing the early years they took a vote as to the most important apples for
the valley or for the country. The first record I have of this is in 1898.
These are the apples that are reported by the committee : The Gravenstein,
Spitzenberg, Delaware Red, Northern Spy and Salome. In 1899 they
took a vote on the five best varieties. Here is the vote: Mcintosh, 45;
Wealthy, 39; Alexander, 25; Duchess, 23; Northern Spy, 21, and Dela-
ware Red, 16. 1900 is blank. 1901 gives the four best, for which a cup
was awarded : kome Beauty, Ben Davis, Canada Red and an unknown.
In 1902 the vote was for the Delaware Red, Baldwin, Gano and Baltimore.
From then on until 1909 none are given. In 1909! read for the last time:
The Baldwin, Spy, Gano and Spitzenberg.
"The early days of the Horticultural Society, since they had no insect
pests, were devoted to the care of the orchard, how to prune, the best
varieties, experiments with the different varieties, the use of water, and
so on. The difi^erent varieties were thoroughly discussed and a good
many big prizes were offered for the best display. Several times they
had $150 in prizes which would encourage the growers to bring their
very best apples.
"I came home the other day and said to my wife: 'What do you think
has happened?' She said, T do not know.' I said, 'The inevitable has
arrived, I have been asked to give reminiscences.'
"I hope this little summary has been interesting to some of you. A
final plea, if I may make it, would be this: Those men whose names
I have read are nearly all gone. They are the men who have done the
things the young men now don't have to do. They know these things are
not necessary. The older men are most out of the harness. This organi-
zation has done more than all the organizations in the .state for the de-
velopment of the fruit industry. It is worthy of continuance. There
are enough young men and young women in this valley to make the
Society of far more importance than it ever was in its past history. My
plea is that all these young people take an interest and get their friends
to take a membership in the organization and keep the thing alive. The
fruit growing industry has had a little setback, but the country is as
good a fruit growing country as it ever was and can grov just as good
fruit and more fruit than it ever has grown. If there is trouble about
insects, or prices, and the like, it is certain the fruit growing industry
will continue. My earnest request is that these young people stay by th*
game."
Present Horticultural Conditions
The horticultural law divides the state iNto seven horticultural dis-
tricts as follows : The first district comprising the counties of Dawson,
Custer, Yellowstone, Sweetgrass, Park, Carbon, and Rosebud ; the second
district comprises the counties of Gallatin, Madison, Beaverhead, Silver
Bow, Lewis and Clark, Meagher, Wheatland, and Broadwater ; the third
district comprises the counties of Cascade, Fergus, Valley, Chouteau.
HISTORY OF MONTANA 883
Teton and Musselshell ; the fourth district comprises the counties of
Missoula, Mineral, Granite, Powell and Deer Lodge; the fifth district
comprises the County of Ravalli ; the sixth comprises the counties of
Flathead and Lincoln; and the seventh the county of Sanders. Counties
formed since the law was enacted all remain in the district which included
the original county.
The Board of Horticulture, which is charged with the administra-
tion of the horticultural law, is appointed by the governor, one member
from each district for a term of four years and all serving without pay.
The governor is ex-officio a member of the board. The members from
the various districts are chosen for their practical experience in fruit
growing and their interest and study in horticultural problems.
The regular meetings of the board are held on the third Monday in
February and September and special meetings may be called when matters
of importance are to be considered.
The executive work of the State Board of Horticulture is under the
direction of the state horticulturist who is selected by the board.
All fruit entering the state or produced within the state is subject to
inspection with the exception of blackberries, cranberries, currants, goose-
berries, loganberries, raspberries, strawberries, bananas and pineapples.
Melons, cantaloupes and tomatoes are also exempt from inspection. In so
far as it is possible to do so, fruit is inspected at the distributing cen-
ters and at point of production. Butte, Helena, Great Falls, Billings.
Havre, and Missoula are the points at which the greatest amount of
incoming fruit is inspected. At these places carloads are received from
the western states and distributed to nearby points. In the Bitter Root
Valley, the Missoula Valley, the Flathead Lake section and parts of
Carbon Coimty locally produced fruit is inspected for pests and diseases
before it is shipped. The railroads are forbidden by law to accept fruit
for shipment before it has been inspected and passed as reasonably free
from dangerously injurious pests and diseases. The inspection of fruit
should be maintained in Montana with such thoroughness that new pests
and diseases will be kept from the fruit sections just as long as possible and
in such manner that the consumers will be protected from inferior and
worthless fruit.
The setting of fruit trees has been very small with the exception of
home orchards. Very few commercial orchards have been planted within
the last ten years, consequently only the older and well established nur-
series are still operating. Nurseries within the state are inspected yearly
and if the stock is found to be free from pests and diseases certificates
of inspection are granted to the nurserymen. Very little stock is now
grown in Montana. ]\Iost of the danger lies in the nursery stock shipped
into Montana and too careful watch cannot be kept on these shipments.
The State of Montana at the present time is maintaining three quaran-
tines. They are directed against the spread of white pine blister rust,
wheat rust and the alfalfa weevil. All horticultural inspectors are charged
with the enforcement of the quarantine provisions. This work naturally
884 HISTORY OF MONTANA
tits in witli the fruit and nursery stock inspection and the insi>ectii)ii force
is well organized to accomplish results.
Orchard inspection is maintained throughout the fruit-growing sec-
tions, the purposes of which are as follows :
It enables the inspection service to keep track of the jiests and diseases
already present, to define the boundaries and to suggest methods of con-
trol. To enforce and sujjervise the spraying of all orchards where dan-
gerous insect pests or diseases are found.
The following report on diseases and pests mentions only those which
are of greatest importance:
Apple Scab : This disease is prevalent throughout all tiie western
portion of the state. It annually causes thousands of dollars' worth of
damage in misshapen and unsalable fruit. The past few years being dry
and unfavorable to the development of fungus diseases, but little damage
has occurred, but will return with wet seasons. .Scab can be controlled
by thorough spraying with lime-sulphur.
Bacterial Blight: This disease has done much damage in past years,
but like the scab, is more prevalent during wet seasons and for several
seasons has caused little damage. The more susceptible varieties, such
as the Ale.xander and Transcendent crab, have largely disappeared, and
for that reason the blight may never return with the same violence as in
the past. The only known remedy is by cutting out the diseased parts, or
removing entirely badly aiTected trees.
Blister Mite : .\pple and pear trees are attacked by this insect and
badly affected trees lose their leaves before summer is over. This insect
is a microscopic mite which feeds within the leaf, causing the character-
istic browning of the leaves. The injury caused is worse during dr)-
seasons than during rainy seasons.
Bud Moth : The damage by the bud moth is increasing each season
in unsprayed orchards. It can be easily controlled by arsenical sprays.
Codling Moth : The codling moth is present in most of the cities antl
has been allowed to gain a foothold in nearly all of the orchard districts,
except that of Flathead County. It can be controlled by spraying with
arsenic of lead and in a number of instances has been completely eradi-
cated. A campaign for eradication is planned for the coming spring.
Oyster -Shell .Scale : This is the worst scale insect in the state. It is
not of much importance in well cared for orchards, but it is present in
practically all old and neglected plantings. While it is almost everywhere
jiresent. it does not spread easily or rapidly from old to well cared for
orchards. It can be controlled by thorough and persistent spraying.
San Jose Scale : This is the most destructive of all scale insect pests,
hut has not as yet been found in Montana orchards. The opinion is
prevalent that it cannot exist in Montana climate but it is prevalent
in .states where the climate is more severe than ours and we should not
rely upon climate, and inspectors. are cautioned to jirevent its being ad-
mitted on nursery stock or fruit.
Leaf-Roller: The leaf-roller, which was first brought to the notice
of the fruit grower three years ago, has rapidly increased until the past
HISTORY OF MONTANA 885
season much damage was done and unless brought under control will
practically destroy the fruit industry of the Bitter Root Valley. It can
be controlled and steps are being taken to do so.
Aphids : These sucking insects occur in practically all the orchards
and are of many different si>ecies. The green aphids, which feed on the
leaves and growing twig tips, are the most common, but in some places
the woolly aphids, which feed both on the roots and upper parts of the
tree, are becoming established. The green aphids can be controlled by
spraying, but satisfactory results in combating the woolly aphids are hard
to secure. The total damage to the fruit crop is not alarming.
There are many other insect pests of minor importance not enumerated
in this article, but as they are doing little damage growers are not worried
about them. — r'"roni biennial report of J. C. Wood, .State Horticulturist,
fo*- 1919-20.
Hot Springs Resorts
The state is liberally supplied by nature with hot mineral springs of
many kinds. They are ]X)i)ular resorts for seekers after health, rest and
recreation. The following list gives the principal ones of the state, where
hotels and bathing acconmiodations are provided:
Alhambra Hot Springs, Jefferson County, near Helena.
Barkels Hot Springs, Madison County, at Silver Star.
Big Hole Hot Springs, Beaverhead County, at Jackson.
Boulder Hot Sj^rings, Jefferson County, near Boulder.
Broadwater Xatatorium, Lewis and Clark County, near Helena.
Camas Hot Springs, Sanders County, near Plains.
Chico, J'ark County, near Yellowstone Park.
Elkhorn Hot Springs, Beaverhead County, near Dillon.
Gregson Hot Springs. Silver Bow County, near Butte.
Hunter's Hot Springs. Park County, near Livingston.
Lo Lo Hot Springs, Missoula County, near Missoula.
Medicine Rock Hot Springs, Ravalli County, near Como.
Norris HrH Springs. Madison County, at Norris.
Pipestone Hot Springs, Jefferson County, near Butte.
Potosi Hot Springs, Madison County, near Pony.
Pullers Hot Springs, Madison County, near Alder.
Sleeping Child Hot Springs, near Missoula.
White Suljjhur Springs. Meagher County, at White Sulphur Springs.
Zeigler Hot .S])rings. Hcaverhcad County, near Ape.x.
NEWSPAPER DIRECTORY OF MONTANA
Scattered notices of Montana newspapers have appeared in various
pages of this history, but, as the [)ress has done so much for the territory
and the state, it is no more than just that a general view of its present
status should be given. For this purpose the table on the following pages
is published, compiled largely froiu facts given by the State Department
of Publicity and the standard newspaper directories of the country:
886
HISTORY OF MONTANA
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