Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

richer men to increase their fortunes indefinitely. An effort is now being made to induce the govern

when he removed to Boulder valley and became an owner with S. B. Rice in the silver quartz mines Mono, Boulder Belle, Montana, Union, and Plymouth Rock. The Mono yielded 66 ounces to the ton, and was bonded for $50,000. Married Kate Hayward in 1852.

John Colburn, born in Sweden Feb. 4, 1855, immigrated to America in 1872, and went directly to Colorado, where he remained in the mines 6 years. He came to Montana in 1878, and worked at Wickes, where he purchased the Little Giant mine in 1882, in company with Roberts and Thurs

ton.

Charles Charlton, native of Ohio, born March 23, 1817, bred on a farm, and taught the trade of a butcher. Emigrated to Kansas in 1855, and 4 years after by horse-team to Colorado, where he mined until 1864, when he came to Montana. After a season at Alder gulch resorted to his trade of butcher, which he followed at Virginia City and Bivens gulch. In 1866 removed to Beaverhead Valley, and secured 160 acres of land, raising horses and cattle. Married Susannah Pritchard in 1844.

William Stodden, born in England Nov. 27, 1838, came to the U. S. in 1860, remaining 3 years in N. Y., and going to the copper mines on Lake Superior; and from there to Colorado, where he was 8 months in the mines; and then to Nevada, from which state he returned to Montana in 1865, when be settled near Dillon, with his brother Thomas Stodden, on 640 acres, raising stock.

Ross Degan, born in Albany, N. Y., March 24, 1830, enlisted for the Mexican war in 1848, but peace being declared, was not sent out. Next engaged to go whaling for Howland & Co., which service carried him to many Pacific and other ports for 4 years. After roaming about the world for several years more, he commanded a steamer on Lake Michigan 2 seasons. On the breaking out of the war enlisted in the 3d New York. Served several months in that regiment until commissioned in the 162d New York. Fought at Big Bethel, and in other battles. On returning to Albany went into the produce business, and migrated to Montana in 1866. Tried, first, mining, but settled down in Helena to keeping a livery and feed stable. Has been city marshal. He secured 320 acres of land, and raised horses and cattle. Married Rosamond Street in 1860.

George Breck, born in N. H. Oct. 8, 1852, was educated at Kimball Union and Dartmouth colleges, and migrated to Montana in 1870, engaging in merchandising and stock-raising. He had, in 1884, 320 horses, being compelled to sell 700 acres in Prickly Pear Valley to procure a larger range somewhere else for his stock. Kept fine stallions and brood mares, and

raised fast roadsters.

H. Gleason, born in N. Y. in 1824, removed to Michigan at the age of 20, and from there to Minnesota, soon after, where he resided 18 years, in hotelkeeping. Migrated to Wisconsin, and to Montana in 1872, by the river route. Has been a justice of the peace in Wisconsin, a constable, deputy sheriff, and superintendent of the county farm in Lewis and Clarke county. Owned 160 acres, and raised grain and stock. Married Sarah Ogden in 1844; Caroline Park in 1846; and Anna Payne in 1866.

James A. Smith, born in Kirkville, Bear co., Mo., in 1848, resided there until 1864, when he took employment on a steamboat transporting supplies to the federal forces at Memphis and other points above the blockade. In the winter of 1869 he was in the service of the military at Fort Belknap, In 1880 he came to Fort Benton, and from there returned to his early home, where he was persuaded to study law, which profession he practised at Missoula,

Emmerson Hill, born in Tenn., sent to school at Trenton, Tenn., and St Louis, Mo., living alternately on a farm and in the city, came to Montana

[blocks in formation]

ment to undertake water storage for the improvement of desert lands.

in 1881, and located himself at Red Rock, in the dairying business. He married Margaret Bess in 1879.

Joseph Haines, born in Mo. in 1844, was brought up on a farm, and educated at McGee college. At the age of 20 years he came to Montana, mining at Alder gulch and Helena, and working in a bakery at Blackfoot. From that he went to livery-keeping, and to stock-raising, first on Sun River and again on the Yellowstone. He accompanied Gen. Miles on his campaign against Lame Deer, being in the battle. He prospected over a great extent of country, but settled finally near Red Rock, in 1878, at stock-raising. He married Mrs Rose Hoovis in 1884.

Thomas T. Taylor, born in England in 1840, immigrated to Illinois in 1861, and came to Montana in 1866. He was forced to fight the Indians from Powder River to the Yellowstone on the Bozeman route. He settled at Sheridan, mining in the vicinity until 1873, when he began farming, having between 300 and 400 acres, well stocked.

Thomas Donegan was born in 1847, and came with his family to America. He came to Montana in 1865, and mined most of the time until 1878. He was elected assessor for Madison co. for 1871-2.

John Penaluna, born in England in 1843, came to the U. S. and Montana in 1864, where he was engaged in mining at Bannack until 1881, when he preempted 160 acres on Horse Prairie and began stock-raising. He was coroner of Beaverhead co. when the Nez Percés raid occurred.

Among the settlers of Yellowstone Valley was William Arthur Davis, who was born in Virginia in 1845, bred a farmer, and attended the common schools. He crossed the plains to California in 1856, and returned as far as Colorado 2 years later, mining in both countries. He owned some shares in the town of Auraria, which he sold for a few hundred dollars in 1862, engaging in business in Nevada, but coming to Montana in 1863, where he mined in all the principal camps. He became owner in the Davis lode in Madison

co., which carried 80 oz. of silver to the ton; but resided at Riverside in Custer co., where he had a stock rancho. He married Minnie Price Ferral in 1879. William H. Lee, born in Ohio in 1841, was brought up a farmer, with a common-school education. He immigrated to Montana in 1863, driving an ox-team, mined for 2 or 3 years, and settled on some land near Fort Ellis, where he lived during 1866-7. Being driven from here by the military authorities, he went lower down the Yellowstone, but when the Crow reservation was set off he was again forced to move, the Indians burning his barns and hay crop. Again he went to the Gallatin country, and took a claim 3 miles west of Bozeman, where he remained until 1871, when he returned to Riverside, Yellowstone Valley, and became engaged in the cattle business with Nelson Story. He was married in 1877 to Viola B. Swan. O. Bryan was born in Ohio in 1854, and immigrated with his father, Henry B. Bryan, to Colorado in 1860, where he remained until 1862, coming that year to Bannack. The elder Bryan mined until 1870 in Bannack and Alder gulch, after which he settled on some farming land in Gallatin Valley, and cultivated it until 1875. After that, father and son mined in Emigrant gulch for 5 years, when they removed to Riverside and engaged in merchandising, owning besides 160 acres of coal-land in Custer co.

CHAPTER VII.

GENERAL DEVELOPMENT.

1870-1888.

CONDITION OF MONTANA FROM 1870 TO 1880-COUNTIES COMPARED-TOTAL PRODUCTION IN 1888-PRICE OF LABOR-RAILROAD ERA—ÂGRICULTURE -LUMBERING-WAGES-TRANSPORTATION COMPANIES-COAL-LOSSES IN CATTLE MINING DEVELOPMENT-Butt”—PHILLIPSBURG-DEER LODGE -HELENA-GREAT FALLS-BENTON-EASTERN MONTANA-MORAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION.

THE progress of Montana in mining, as indicated in the previous chapter, had received a partial check from about 1870 to 1880. The reason of this was that surface mining had declined, the placers being exhausted, and deep mining had not yet been sufficiently developed to give equal returns. There were other causes operating at the same time, such as the great cost of transportation of machinery, and the financial crisis resultant upon the suspension of Jay Cooke & Co., with the consequent embarrassments of the Northern Pacific railroad company, to whose advent in the territory all eyes had been turned in hope.

Neither had agriculture advanced materially; for no other market than the mines could be reached by wagons, the only means of transporting farm products to consumers. Besides, a few years were needed in which to build more comfortable houses, erect saw and grist mills, fence farms, lay out roads, start schools and churches, and set in motion all the wheels within wheels which move the complicated machinery of society. Perhaps from having so long observed the processes of state building, I have come to render more willingly than others the meed of praise to these

[blocks in formation]

men of sturdy frames, intelligent brains, and deft hands who robbed the secret treasury of nature to spread over the mountains and plains thriving cities and happy homes. In how little have they failed! Great is an army with banners, but greater is a host with ploughs and picks. One destroys, while the other creates.

Time enough had elapsed between 1870 and 1880 to establish the comparative capabilities of the several counties when the railroad era dawned, which solved

1

1 Beginning with Missoula, the first settled and organized, and the most western, it contained about 30,000 square miles, distributed in forest-crowned mountains and sunny valleys, affording a charming variety of scenery, and a fortunate arrangement of mineral, agricultural, and grazing lands. About 36,000 acres were occupied, and 5,196 cultivated. Its principal valley, the Bitterroot, contained 500 farmers, and would support four times as many. It had 8,000 horses, 19,000 cattle, and 13,000 sheep. It produced in 1884 124,226 bushels of wheat, and 281,312 bushels of oats; made 30,000 pounds of butter, and raised large quantities of all the choicest garden vegetables, and 800 pounds of tobacco, besides making 40,000,000 feet of lumber. Its population in 1880 was 2,537, and its taxable property was valued at $647,189. Its valuation in 1885 was over $1,000,000. Missoula, the county seat, situated on the Northern Pacific railroad, near the junction of the Missoula and Bitterroot rivers, had 2,000 inhabitants. Its public buildings were a substantial court-hourse, a union church for the use of several congregations, a catholic convent, a large flouring and saw mill, a good public school-house, 2 newspaper offices, and a national bank building. The mill belonged to Worden & Co., and was erected in 1866, 40 by 40 feet, 3 stories high, with 2 run of stones, and cost $30,000. It ground the crop of 1866, 10,000 bushels; of 1867, 15,000 bushels; of 1868, 20.000 bushels; of 1869, 20,000 bushels. Its capacity was 400 sacks in 24 hours. The saw-mill cut 2,000 feet of lumber daily. Deer Lodge New Northwest, Oct. 8, 1869. At Frenchtown, 18 miles distant, was another flouring-mill and saw-mill for the convenience of its 200 inhabitants and the farming community of the lower valley. Strahorn's Montana, 64.

The lesser settlements were Andrum, Arlie, Ashley, Belknap, Bigcut, Bitterroot Creek, Camas Prairie, Cantonment Stevens, Cedar Junction, Cedar Mouth, Clarke Fork, Como, Corvallis, Dayton Creek, De Smet, Duncan, Eddy, Ellisport, Ewartsville, Flathead, Flathead Agency, Flathead Lake, Forest City, Fort Missoula, Fort Owen, Gird Creek, Grant Creek, Grass Valley, Heron Siding, Hope, Horse Plains, Hudson Bay Post, Indian Agency, Jocko, Kayuse, Kitchens, Kootenai, Koriaka, Lavoy, Louisville, Loulou's Grave, Mayville, Missoula River, Paradise, Pen d'Oreille, Pineland, Quartz, Quartz Creek, Ravallia, Rock Island, Ross Hole, Selish, Skalkaho, St Ignatius, Stephens' Mill, Stevensville, Superior, Superior City, Seventy-Mile Siding, Thompson Falls, Thompson River, Tobacco Plains, Trading Post, Trout Creek, White Pine, and Windfall.

Deer Lodge county, also west of the Rocky Mauntains, and the second settled, was much less in size than Missoula, containing 6,500 square miles, but fully equal in attractions and natural wealth. It had 25,000 acres under im

provement, and raised 130,000 bushels of grain in 1878, made 150,000 pounds of butter, produced 50,000 bushels of potatoes, 1,200,000 pounds of garden vegetables, 75,000 of wool, and manufactured 1,000,000 feet of lumber. Its population was 9,000, and taxable wealth $2,341,268. In 1884 its live-stock alone was valued at $1,000,000. Deer Lodge City, the county seat, sit

the transportation problem for Montana. The Utah Northern branch of the Union Pacific railroad reached

uated on the east side of Deer Lodge River, contained 1,200 inhabitants. It is the commercial and educational centre of a large area of mining and farming country. It had a fire in 1872 which destroyed a large amount of property, and caused the organization of a fire department. Its educational facilities were a collegiate institute, erected in 1878 at a cost of $22,000, a graded public school, and a catholic boarding-school, conducted by the sisters of charity. The New Northwest newspaper, not excelled by any in Montana, was published here. The penitentiary was located here. The catholic, episcopal, and presbyterian churches were tasteful and creditable structures, and the general style of architecture was pleasing. Seen at a proper distance for perspective, Deer Lodge presents an inviting picture, with a mountain background contributing to its scenic effect; nor does it disappoint the beholder on a nearer view. Phillipsburg, Pioneer, Silver Bow, Blackfoot, New Chicago, McClellan, and Lincoln all became towns of some consequence. The other settlements in Deer Lodge county are Baker's Mill, Bear gulch, Bear's Mouth, Beartown, Black Tail, Boulder Creek, Boulder House, Brown gulch, Cable, Cariboo gulch, Casmark, Clark Station, Coberly's Station, Cottonwood City, Deep gulch, First Chance, Flint Creek Valley, Frederickson, Georgetown, Gold Creek, Got-'Em-Sure, Greenwood, Gwendale, Harrisburg, Helmville, Henderson, Henderson gulch, Hope Mine, Humbug, Jefferson gulch, Levengood, Lincolnville, McClellan gulch, Morristown, Pike's Peak, Race Track, Reynolds, Rocker, Saw Pit, Scratch Awl, Silver Lake, Snatch 'Em, Stone Station, Stonewall gulch, Stuart, Sunset, Sweetland, Trarona, Tower, Vestal, Warm Springs, Washington gulch, Williams, Willow Creek, Willow Glen, Yamhill, and Yreka.

Silver Bow county, cut off from Deer Lodge in 1881, had a mall area, but a po pulation of 14,000, and is richer, in proportion to its size, ha ny county in Montana, its assessed valuation in 1884 being $7,240,000. It was first settled in June 1864 by placer miners. Ten years of digging anu washing exhausted the deposits, or so nearly that only 300 inhabitants remained. Quartmining was begun in 1875. The county contained in 1885 19 mills, concentrato 8, and furnaces, which give employment to 3,000 miners.

Butte, the county seat, was the second town in Montana. It had an altitude of 5,800 feet, and is the center of one of the richest silver and copper districts in the world. Population in 1885 10,000, with 3 banks, the eldest being that of Clarke & Larabie, the others Hoge, Brownlee & Co., and the First National, their deposits aggregating $3,000,000. It had school property valued at $40,000, supporting a corps of 21 teachers; besides 7 churches, 4 hospitals, 2 fire companies, 2 newspapers, a court-house which cost $150,000, an operahouse costing $50,000, water, gas, and electric-light companies, and the usual number of secret societies. The receipts on freights, incoming and outgoing, were over $6,000,000 per annum, consisting chiefly of outgoing ore. Buxton, Divide, Feely, French gulch, Grace, Gunderson, Lavell, Melrose, Mount Horeb, Norwood, Red Mountain, Walkerville, and Silver Bow are the other settlements in the county.

Choteau county, containing 27,380 square miles, the first inhabited on the east side of the Rocky Mountains, having their sumirits for its boundary on the west, and the vast, unorganized area of Dawson county on the east, the British possessions on the north, and Lewis and Clarke and Meagher counties on the south, was a grazing country, with a few agricultural valleys of considerable extent, the stock-raisers usually cultivating farms also. In 1884 its live-stock was valued at $2,000,000, and 50,000 pounds of wool sent to market. The population of the county was 3,058.

Fort Benton, the county seat, was the head of navigation on the Missouri, and consequently a place of importance. To this point, for twenty years, came freight worth millions of dollars annually, and from it departed the treasure of the mines. It was also the depot of the fur trade after the origi

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »