A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 18

Author: Sanders, Helen Fitzgerald, 1883-
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1002

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MRS. MARY P. HOLTER. On December 5, 1912, OC- curred the death of Mrs. Mary P. Holter, wife of A. M. Holter, of Helena, at the family home on Benton avenue, after a lingering illness resultant from a fall she received some two years ago. It would be diffi- cult to say when the passing of a pioneer citizen of Helena has caused such widespread and suclı poignant sorrow in the community as has the death of Mrs. Holter. For almost half a century Mrs. Holter had made her home in this city, and her true worth has long been recognized among the people who have shared in her acquaintance and who have benefited by the many noble qualities which illumined her every- day life and made brighter the pathways of so many who were unfortunate and "acquainted with grief."

Born at Modum, Norway, on June 6, 1841, Mary P. (Loberg) Holter came to this country in young wom- anhood and in Chicago married A. M. Holter on April 5, 1867, he having come from Montana to meet his bride at that point. In that same year she accompanied her husband on his return to Montana, which state has ever since represented her home, and held her chiefest interests.

Her life in Helena was from the first a blessing to the new and rough mining country. Coming to the town as a bride, she took up her existence in a rough cabin, and all the hardships incident to pioneer life in the untaught west was her lot in those early years. Conditions existing then may better be imagined than described, but Mrs. Holter bore her lot cheerfully and without complaint, happy to share the humble home of her husband, which was one of the bright spots of the mining camp in the days when homes were the excep- tion, and not the rule. Few women, indeed. had the hardihood to attempt life in the new country, but those who did found in Mrs. Holter a friend in those times when only a woman could minister to their needs, and none knew her but to love her. As years went by, con- ditions in Helena changed vastly for the better. The mining camp gave way to a city which has experienced a wonderful growth and prosperity, but the good of- fices of Mrs. Holter have ever been in demand. None in need of sympathy or of material aid have ever gone out from her empty, and in unnumbered cases she has sought out those who were burdened with earth's cares and given unsolicited aid to those who would have gone on alone with the struggle. Her life has been a shining light in Helena for fifty years, and she will long be remembered by untold numbers who have every cause to bless her name.

In an editorial entitled "The Woman Pioneer," which

appeared in the Montana Daily Record just following the death of Mrs. Holter, the following tribute is paid to her memory, which is deemed worthy of perpetuat- ing in this manner: "The death of Mrs. A. M. Holter in this city yesterday brings forcibly to attention the part the woman pioneers played in the making of this state. In the case of Mrs. Holter, her life in Montana was spent in the Capital city, and among the earliest women in Last Chance camp she became through her charities, her womanly qualities, her unselfish services to the sick and unfortunate, more prominent than others. This prominence was not of her own volition, but simply because, while much of her work was un- known to any save herself and the recipient, in hun- dreds of instances those whom she assisted did not confine their expressions of gratitude to the one who had been a 'friend in need.'

"Mrs. Holter was a type of those good women whose presence in Montana in the early '60's made the permanent settlement of the territory possible. The men who came here in the early days arrived with the intention of 'making a stake and then going back home.' They underwent many hardships, they lived in a crude way, with that one object in view-winning a fortune and leaving. It required the presence of good women to make homes, and Mrs. Holter was one of those who did her part in the home making. Scat- tered over the territory, in mining camps, in out of the way places, were other women, some of them women of mature years who had pioneered in other sections, others who came as brides, as did Mrs. Holter, to a country in which were lacking all the finer things they had known in the east. These women, while they have not occupied the place in the public eye which the men pioneers have, nevertheless did as much and as great work in building the state as did their husbands.

"When Montana honors the memory of the pioneers by the erection of a monument, there must be two- one surmounted by the figure of a man, the other by that of a woman."

Mrs. Holter was a communicant of St. Peter's Prot- estant Episcopal church of Helena, and was active in all the good works of her parish for many years, but she never confined her benefactions to those with whom she was affiliated in a churchly way; rather were her greatest and best works done among those who knew no church life. Not only was she active in private charities and beneficences, but she did what she could in public affairs, and her example and influence was a potent force in the entire community during her life. She was one of the original members of the old Helena Improvement Society and one of its officers, and as long as her health permitted was an active participant in the work of the society.

In September, 1910, Mrs. Holter suffered a fall on the stairs in her home, from the effects of which she never fully recovered. The winter of 1911-12 she spent in California with her husband, and although she re- turned with renewed strength, she never regained her old-time vigor. During the summer and autumn she failed gradually, until death called her on the after- noon of December 5th.

Mrs. Holter was the mother of five children, who with her husband survive her. They are: Norman B., Albert L., Aubrey, and Mrs. H. P. Kennett, of this city, and Edwin O. Holter, of New York City.

GEORGE BOOKER. It is the lot of some men to be born great, while others have to achieve greatness. George Booker, of Helena, Montana, was clearly destined to be the architect of his own fortune. Beginning life on a low rung of the ladder of success, he has, by close ap- plication, untiring energy, and a diligent use of his faculties and opportunities, attained a good position in business circles and proved himself a useful and worthy citizen. A native of Missouri, he was born in St. Louis February 7, 1840. His father, George Booker, Sr., was

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born of English parents in this country, and spent the greater part of his early life in St. Louis, where he was engaged in business as a baker. In 1853 he moved with his family to Burlington, Iowa, where he opened a bak- ery for the purpose of supplying merchants and steam- boat companies with the productions of his establish- ment.

After the removal of his parents to Burlington, Iowa, George Booker, a self-reliant boy of thirteen years, left home, returning to St. Louis, where he remained until twenty years old, during those seven years losing all trace of the family. In 1860, having previously sup- ported himself by various occupations, he started for Leavenworth, Kansas, going by steamboat up the Mis- souri river. Shortly after his arrival at the point of destination, Mr. Booker became one of a party of seven venturesome youths who outfitted a wagon with two yoke of oxen, and traveled across the plains to Denver, en route for Pike's Peak leaving Leavenworth in April and arriving in Denver in the latter part of June. For four years he remained in Colorado prospecting for gold. In 1864 Mr. Booker made his way across the country to Alder Gulch, now Virginia City, Montana, where he embarked in the livery and transfer business, hauling freight by wagons from Fort Benson to Alder Gulch, a distance of three hundred miles and while in that place took up auctioneering. Coming to Ravilli county in 1866, Mr. Booker took up his residence in Helena, which was then a wide-open frontier town, and has since built up an extensive and highly remunerative business as an auctioneer at that point, being widely and favorably known in his professional capacity throughout the northwest. Possessing good business ability and foresight, he has accumulated a fair share of this world's goods, in addition to owning his own home hav- ing valuable business property on Main street, Helena, and mining interests in the valley.

A Democrat in politics, Mr. Booker has never been an aspirant for official honors, though he works hard, but quietly in the interests of his party, and for one year served as fire marshal. Fraternally, he belongs to Helena Lodge, No. 3, Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; is a Knight Templar; is identified with Algeria Temple, Mystic Shrine, of which he has been recorder since its formation in 1888; has taken the thirty-second degree in Masonry and is preparing for the thirty-third degree. For the past forty years he has been secretary of Helena Lodge, and is probably more familiar with lodge work than any other of its members. He is a charter member of the society of Montana Pioneers.

Mr. Booker married Miss Mattie Walton, of Trinity Gulch, Montana, and of the six children born of their union, three are living, namely: Ethel, wife of John D. Bartlett, of Galesburg, Illinois; Clinton T. of Helena, an electrician; and Lester H., a clerk in the First Na- tional Bank of Helena.

JOHN HARRIS. About fifty years ago John Harris came to the state of Montana, bringing with him only a good brain and a pair of capable, willing hands. From this foundation he erected a structure, as repre- sented by his fortune, that has given him prestige in the world of business and finance, and in public and social life. Montana has its full quota of self-made men, but probably none have been the architects of their own fortunes in a greater degree than he. In the days of the stampedes to Bannack and Alder Gulch he was only a poor boy, laboring for a pittance, but so well did he subsequently manage his affairs that he soon was independent, and now takes a prominent place among Fort Benton's foremost citizens. Mr. Har- ris was born in St. Louis, Missouri, November 20, 1849. son of William and Marguerite (Edwards) Harris. His father, a native of Virginia, removed to the state of Missouri during frontier days, and in 1849 joined the gold seekers, crossing the plains to California,

where he followed mining until his death at Sacra- mento in 1854. Mrs. Harris was born in Wales, and at a very early age came to the United States with her parents, settling in Missouri. After the death of Mr. Harris she was married to William H. Thomas, and her death occurred at Deer Lodge, Montana, in 1898, at the age of seventy-seven years. John Harris' only brother, Howell Harris, was born in 1846, in St. Louis, Missouri, and now resides at Lethbridge, Canada.

John Harris was five years of age when he accom- panied his mother across the plains to California, going by mule team from Omaha to Salt Lake, Utah. At the latter point the party remained until the following spring, and there Mrs. Harris received word of her husband's death. The stampede to Bannack in June, 1863, saw Mr. Harris a member of a prospecting party, and he was located there when the discovery of gold was made in Alder Gulch, to which point he imme- diately went with his mother and brother. He fol- lowed mining there until 1867, his stepfather being the owner of a number of claims, but subsequently the family removed to the Deer Lodge valley, twenty miles from Deer Lodge, where they took up ranch land. In 1873 Mr. Harris came to Fort Benton, and with his brother embarked in a freighting business for two years between this city and Helena, but in 1875 retired from freighting and purchased a herd of cattle in Deer Lodge, becoming one of the first settlers at Highwood. Mr. Harris continued to engage in cattle raising alone until 1882, when he with W. G. and C. E. Conrad and I. G. Baker, of St. Louis, organized the Benton & St. Louis Cattle Company, this becoming one of the leading companies engaged in the cattle business in Chouteau county. He continued to be connected with this con- cern until 1911, in which year he disposed of his inter- ests to again enter business alone, and since that time has followed cattle raising on the Highwood range, although he makes his home in Fort Benton. Mr. Har- ris is and has been for several years a member of the state board of stock commissioners and is member of the executive committee. He is also a valued member of the Cattle Men's Association, of the Odd Fellows, and of the Episcopal church. A stanch Democrat in his political views, he served from 1878 to 1882 as chair- man of the board of county commissioners, was for a number of years a member of the school board, and also served for a long period as chairman of the Demo- cratic county committee. He has numerous business interests in and about Fort Benton, and is a director of the Stockmen's National Bank and the Benton Elec- tric Light Company, and has a wide acquaintance in business circles and in public life. Everywhere he is highly esteemed as one who has been an important factor in building up and developing his community's various interests.

Mr. Harris was married February 28, 1885, to Miss Addie Berry, and they have had seven children, as fol- lows: Nellie Margaret, born in 1889, and now the wife of John Patterson, a Chouteau county ranchman; Mary E., born in 1891; Barbara, born in 1894, and now at- tending college at Faribault, Minnesota; Howell, born in 1895, and Anna, born in 1898, who are attending the Fort Benton high school; and Edward W., born in 1900, and John, Jr., born in 1904, who are students in the graded schools.

DR. THOMAS JEFFERSON JAMES has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Kalispell since 1908. He is a native of the state, born on a farm near Bloom- field, Montana, on March 12, 1863, and up to the time of his taking up professional work, was engaged in ranching and in other business of a similar nature, with his father. Doctor James is a distinct western product, having from his infancy been accustomed to the various phases of western pioneer life. He is the son of Esau James and Melinda (Congill) James, the former being the son of Morris and Mary (Beasley) James.

0 She Harrin

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Morris James was born in Kentucky. He emigrated to Iowa in his early manhood, soon thereafter going to California during the days of the gold madness in that state, and he died there in 1850, still a young man. His wife was born in Tennessee, near Chattanooga and she died in Missouri in 1847. Their son, Esau, the father of Doctor James of this review, was born on May 24, 1838. He was but a lad when his parents moved to Iowa, settling on a farm in Davis county where they remained for some little time before they removed to Missouri. In that state they settled on farming lands in Lancaster, but their stay in Missouri was of the briefest. They returned to Iowa, making the trip overland by wagon train in the then popular prairie schooner, and from Iowa they went on to Nebraska, settling in the eastern part of the state, where Esan James was employed by land agents there, remaining through the winter. From there he moved to Kansas, and after a short time re- turned to Iowa once more, continuing there until 1860.

In 1860 Esau James went to Missouri and there mar- ried Melinda Congill at Lancaster, the marriage taking place in the month of September. Her parents were early Iowa pioneers who moved into Missouri in middle life. After his marriage Mr. James returned to Iowa where he was owner of a fine farm and there he fol- lowed the farming business until 1864. In that year he became attracted by the western country and decided to move to Montana. He accordingly sold his farm and joined a small party going overland to Montana, some fifteen hundred miles distant from his Iowa home, and for the most part, through a country invaded by bands of hostile Indians. These early pioneers were never lacking in pluck and determination, whatever their con- ditions might be from a material aspect, and the pros- pect of a trip of such magnitude presented no dis- couraging features to their hardy natures. Their trip was unattended by untoward experience until they reached the Platte river at Laramie, where they were attacked by a small band of Indians. They were suc- cessful in their efforts to resist the savages, and at Laramie were detained by the soldiers stationed there until a larger party had been gathered to complete the trip. After leaving Laramie they were unmolested until they reached Big Sandy, Wyoming, where a large body of hostile Sioux attacked them. The party formed a breastworks of their wagons in a corral, and for four days withstood the constant annoyances to which the incessant attentions of the Indians subjected them. At the end of that time, when they were just about to give up in despair, the savages became discouraged at the continued resistance of the party and took their de- parture. From that point they continued on very cau- tiously until they reached the Green Mountains, when they found themselves in the forest. En route through that part of the country they encountered fierce forest fires, and narrowly escaped death in the flames. When they finally reached a clearing they were much the worse for wear, having lost the canvases off their wagons, but without other loss. Entering a valley, they found their passage most pleasant until they suffered the loss of a part of their stock as a result of eating poison weeds in the valley. In the valley, they rested after their severe and trying trip and enjoyed hunting and fishing in the lakes and rivers, which abounded in the choicest of Montana tront, and other game was equally plentiful. Continuing on from there to Snake river crossing, they encountered new difficulties at the Platt river crossing where they found the river much swollen. In order to make the passage over they had to elevate their wagon boxes to a considerable height, and it required four days of strennous labor to safely convey the party across the rushing torrent. No sooner were they safely across the river than the Indians again made their appearance, this time stampeding their cattle. They were not so persistent as other bands which they had encountered, and the travelers were able to repulse them with but little effort. At this point,

however, Mr. James narrowly escaped with his life while trying to rescue the cattle which the Indians had made off with and were guarding on a nearby island. The waters of the river were almost too much for him, sturdy as he was, and after sinking twice to the bottom of the river, he finally managed to reach the shore. Here he found his cattle in charge of a small Indian guard, and it was with great difficulty that he was able to make terms with them, and finally induced them to release the cattle. By holding to the tails of the oxen as they swam across, he made his way safely back to his party with all the missing cattle. Once more ready for the road, they set out and proceeded unmolested until they reached Big Blackfoot in Utah. From there they went to Bannack, Helena and latterly to Virginia City, where the party disbanded. Thus ended the pilgrimage of Esau James and his family from their quiet, Iowa home into the wilderness of the West, as yet unclaimed by any but the hardiest pioneer spirits of the nation.

In the winter of 1864-5 Mr. James mined at Alder Gulch, and in the spring of 1865 went to Last Chance in quest of riches in that much touted gold camp. From there he went to Montana, and engaged in ranching until 1867, his location being on the Missouri river, some eighteen miles from the city of Helena. In the spring of 1867 he again became enthusiastic over the mining situation and went to Idaho, but his mining operations were never of a wide scope, or more than ordinarily successful. Very shortly he gave up that business there and moved on to Boise, Idaho, where he opened a hotel, and was very successful in that business. In 1868 he sold out and went to Helena, sending his wife back to Iowa on a visit to her old home and family, and during her absence Mr. James took a string of racing horses and trained them for the Travis Brothers. In the following year he followed a similar business for Hugh Kirkendell, traveling through- out the West with them and racing in various places. He continued in that work until 1870, then going to Cedar Creek where he again interested himself in mining ventures. Not meeting with encouraging success, he started a stage station at Eagle Creek on the Missoula river, and also ran the hotel at that place, in which he continued until 1873. From there he went to Missoula and started up in the freighting business, later being engaged similarly at Fort Benton, Butte, Deer Lodge and Helena, and continuing until 1883. He then went to Calfornia and spent a winter. Returning, he bought a ranch two miles west of Missoula, which he con- ducted up until 1900, at which time his son took charge, and Mr. James went to Fort Steel on another mining exploit. Disappointed in that venture, he returned to Montana and came to Kalispell where he secured a steam wood-saw and engaged in wood sawing. His was the first steam wood-saw to be operated in Kalis- pell, and he did a thriving business there with it until 1904, when he sold out and bought the steam ferry boat "Iowa" in operation on the lake at Polson, a busi- ness which he has conducted since that time. In 1908 Mr. James leased his boat and made a trip through the western states, visiting in Seattle, Washington, thence to Los Angeles, California, and coming back through Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa to Salt Lake City, and from that point back to Montana, the trip covering a period of four years of travel.

During the years of Mr. James' residence in this section of the country he was deputy sheriff of Mis- soula county for a number of years, and proved his efficiency in many an encounter with offenders during that time. He is a Democrat of the Progressive type, and has always been a strong partisan of the cause of the Democracy. His life has been one of ad- venture, but in that respect similar to the experience of many another spirited man who has helped to make of Montana the great and glowing treasure spot which

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she is today in her further development. Mr. James is a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of Kalispell, and is a member of the Christian church. Although well advanced in years, he is still strong and rugged, and takes vast enjoyment in the pleasures of out door life. He is the owner of considerable property in this section of the state, two valuable ranches being a part of the holdings. In addition to the Missoula ranch which his son operated for him for some time, he has a valuable cattle ranch at Ross' Hole, which he at one time conducted himself, but though he does not longer operate them himself, he continues to be the owner.

Mr. and Mrs. James became the parents of one son. Thomas Jefferson, who is the subject of this review. His early education was received in the common schools of Montana, after which he was sent to Davenport, Iowa, where he attended the high school. After his graduation therefrom he attended college in Iowa, Colorado and California. Doctor James is a graduate of a number of schools of osteopathy, among them being the Barber College of Osteopathy of Missouri, Palmer College of Davenport, Iowa, from which he was grad- uated in 1900. In 1903 he was graduated from the Medical Electric College of Chicago, and in 1907 from the Los Angeles (Calif.) College of Ophthalmology. In that same year he took a course of instruction under Doctor Davis at Los Angeles, in neuropathy as a further aid to his profession. Following his graduation in 1907 Doctor James spent the winter in southern Arizona and New Mexico, after which he took a course of study in ophthalmology in Denver, finishing in 1908. Im- mediately thereafter Doctor James came to Kalispell, where he has since conducted a very successful practice, aided therein by his wife, who is a graduate of the same school in California from which he received his degree. She was, Mrs. Oza L. Minnick, and they were married at Cranbrook, British Columbia, on June 5, 1908. Both are popular in their profession and have won a wide patronage in and about Kalispell in the comparatively brief time in which they have been here established. Both are especially able physicians, and have the confidence of all who know them professionally or otherwise.

Before Doctor James became identified with his present profession, he was employed in the operation and management of his father's ranching interests for a number of years, as suggested in another portion of this sketch, and he has had a large and varied experi- ence in the years devoted to these more strenuous pur- suits. He was for some time a well-known stage driver of the overland stage between Helena and Jefferson, and many exciting experiences came his way during that time. Those were the days when the "hold-up' man was well known to the traveling public, and he was on numerous occasions held up enroute. Doctor James is a noted hunter in' Montana, big game being his usual quest. On one occasion he came near to for- feiting his life as the result of an encounter with a monster silver tip grizzly bear. He fired five shots into the infuriated animal before he succeeded in reaching a vulnerable spot, and the bear was within a few feet of him when the last shot brought him down. He still owns the skin, which he had tanned, and it was pronounced at that time the largest bear that had ever been killed in the state. This handsome skin is but one of a large number of trophies of the hunt which he has to show for his life in the West. Doctor James still takes an active interest in the ranching business which he conducted before taking up osteopathy, and he is the owner of other valuable Montana property, in addition to a handsome home in Kalispell. Doctor James is most obviously one of those more progressive and enterprising men who have sufficient wide-minded- ness to he able to grasp more than one idea at a time. and which makes it possible for him to entertain .a variety of interests. He is one of the valuable citizens

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 18

Author: Sanders, Helen Fitzgerald, 1883- Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1002

Author: Sanders, Helen Fitzgerald, 1883-
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1002