A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 2

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

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been given: "She was a descendant of the Cathcart family, who were originally Huguenots, and the name was changed to Kithcart by an error made by a Reg- istrar in the transfer of a tract of land. The Cathcart family removed from France to Scotland to escape the religious persecutions incidental to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and religious difficulties later prompted their removal to the North of Ireland. Subsequently, representatives of this ancient family immigrated to America, where different branches settled in New York, and Pennsylvania." Both the Clark and Andrews far- ilies had their origin in Scotland in the thirteenth cen- tury and members of both families moved to the North of Ireland during the seventeenth century, and from there came to the United States in the latter part of the eighteenth century. In all lines the ancestors of Senator Clark have been of the staunchest Protestant Faith, and his parents were most zealous members of the Presby- terian Church, in which his father was an Elder for forty years prior to his death. John and Mary (An- drews) Clark were reared and educated in Western Pennsylvania, where their marriage was solemnized and where they continued to reside until the year 1856, when they moved to the West, and numbered themselves among the pioneers of Van Buren county, Iowa, where they procured a considerable tract of land and developed a productive farm. John Clark was a man of superior intellectual power and impregnable integrity, so that he naturally became an influence in the pioneer com- munity, the while he contributed his quota to the civic and material development of the Hawkeye State. He continued to reside in Van Buren county, Iowa, until his death, which occurred in the year 1873, at the age of seventy-six years, and his noble wife passed the closing years of her life at Los Angeles, California, where she was summoned to her eternal rest in 1904, at the venerable age of a little over ninety years.

Most gracious are the memories which Senator Clark associates with his honored parents, and the filial rever- ence in which he holds their names shows his apprecia- tion of the finer ideals of life, even as the same has been significantly manifested in many other ways during the long years of his really wonderful career of activ- ity in connection with affairs of the broadest scope and importance. Concerning the earlier days of the life history of Senator Clark, the present writer has pre- viously written an estimate, and from the same may thus be consistently drawn data here presented, without formal indications of quotation, and with such para- phrase as may seem appropriate.

The old homestead farm of his parents, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, gave the environment and influ- ences under which the future United States Senator from Montana was reared as a boy and a youth. He early learned the lessons of practical and consecutive industry, through the assistance which he rendered in connection with the work on the farm, and his rudi- mentary education was secured in the common schools of his native state, his attendance in the same having been during the winter terms only, when his services were not in requisition on the farm.

With characteristic prescience of the value of educa- tion, the ambitious youth was not to be satisfied with merely rudimentary training, and thus it may be re- corded that when fourteen years of age he entered Laurel Hill Academy, in which he laid the foundation for a really liberal education along academic lines.

William A. Clark was seventeen years of age at the time of accompanying his parents on their emigration to Iowa in the year 1856, and during the first years he gave effective aid in improving and tilling the raw prairie farm. During the winter of the first and second years he resided in Van Buren county, Iowa, he taught two terms of district school and thus gained honors as one of the pioneers of the pedagogic profession in the Hawkeye State. Thereafter, he attended an academy

Mc.A Bank

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

at Birmingham, Iowa, for one term, and later he was for two years a student in the academic and also the law department of the Iowa Weslyan University at Mount Pleasant. To the fact that he did not find it expedient to engage in the practice of law it is due that the broad and masterful career of a man of affairs in the Western World was not subverted. In 1859-60, Mr. Clark was engaged in teaching in the public schools of Cooper and Pettis counties in the state of Missouri, and in 1862, he drove a team of cattle across the plains to South Park, Colorado, in which state he gained his initial experience in connection with the great industry of which he was destined to become one of the leading and most success- ful exponents in America. During the first winter, he worked in the quartz mines at Central City, where he gained knowledge and experience that afterwards served him to good purpose in his extensive mining operations in Montana, where he was one of the pioneers in-this line, as well as elsewhere in the Western States. In 1863, the news of gold discoveries at Bannack, then in the Eastern part of the territory of Idaho, which was afterwards an- nexed to the state of Montana, reached Colorado, and Mr. Clark was among the first to set forth for this new El Dorado. After sixty-five days' travel with an ox- team in company with three others, he arrived at Ban- nack, just in time to join a stampede to a new district on Horse Prairie Creek. There, he secured a placer gold claim, which he worked during that summer and also the following season. He netted about $2,000 from his oper- ations the first summer, and thus formed the nucleus of the immense fortune which he later accumulated in connection with mining operations in Montana.

The ensuing five years in the career of Mr. Clark may be rapidly surveyed, although the period was made one of push and enterprise characteristic of the man. After two years' experience in placer mining, he took the advantage of the opportunities presented for trade and business, and in less than half a decade he was at the head of one of the largest wholesale mercantile estab- lishments in the territory, the same having been built up from the smallest of beginnings. His first venture was to bring a load of provisions which he purchased at Salt Lake City, in the winter of 1863-4, and for these necessaries he found a ready demand at amazing prices in the mining-camps in Montana. The next winter, after the close of the mining-season, this experiment was repeated on a larger scale, and at Virginia City, then the centre of mining activities, he found the best market. In the spring of 1865, he opened a general merchandise establishment at Blackfoot City, then a new and bustling mining-camp, on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. In the autumn of the same year he sold out his store at that place, and, having noticed that the markets were bare of tobacco, which was deemed then one of tl - necessities in a miner's life, he went on horseback to loise, Idaho, where he purchased several thousand poun 's of this commodity at a cost of a dollar and a half per und. He purchased a wagon and span of horses, and the future Senator drove, in the month of December wher the weather was extremely cold, with his precious cargo, to Helena, Montana, where he sold out his stock a' the rate of five and six dollars per pound to ready and appreciative purchasers. In Feb- ruary, 1866, Mr. 'lark joined a stampede to a new min- ing district on Elk Creek, some fifty miles west of Blackfoot, where .le established another store, and did a large and profitable business. In the autumn of that year, he disposed of his stock and business in Elk Creek, and made a trip to San Francisco, via Portland, Oregon. His route lay over the Mullan Pass, across the Coeur d'Alene Mountains; thence to Walla Walla, Washing- ton territory, and thence to Wallula, the head of navi- gation on the Columbia river, at which point he took passage on a small steam-boat to The Dalles, Oregon, where there was a transfer by rail a short distance below the rapids, when another boat was taken to the city of

Portland, then quite a small town, but now a city of large dimensions. From Portland he took passage on a steamship to San Francisco, where, after a sojourn of some days, he visited the principal towns in Central California, and at Marysville took passage on a stage- coach through Northern California and Oregon to Portland, at which point he purchased a stock of goods which were shipped to Montana and which he after- wards soon disposed of at a fair profit.

Few have more lived up to the full tension of the pioneer effort in the history of Montana, and few have shown greater initiative and versatility in progressive and various business enterprises.

In October, 1866, Mr. Clark made a trip to the East by way of old Fort Benton, the head of navigation on the Missouri river, going by "Mackinaw" boat to Sioux City, Iowa, the voyage occupying thirty-five days. After visiting his parents at his old home in Eastern Iowa, and the principal cities in the East and South, Mr. Clark returned to Montana in the Spring of 1867, and he is next heard of as a mail contractor on the star route between Missoula and Walla Walla, a distance of four hundred miles, and this venture was made successful as had been his prior undertakings. His next move was in the direction of a wider field of business activity.

In the autumn of 1868, Mr. Clark made a trip to New York City, traveling by stage-coach to Green River, Wyoming, which at that time was the western terminus of the United Pacific Railroad, where he formed a co- partnership with Mr. Robert W. Donnell for the purpose of engaging in the wholesale mercantile trade and bank- ing business, in Montana territory, a connection that resulted in the founding of one of the strongest business firms of that period in the history of Montana. They shipped a large stock of general merchandise by way of the Missouri river to Fort Benton, and established in the Spring of 1869 a wholesale business at Helena. In 1870, the headquarters of the enterprise were trans- ferred to Deer Lodge, where the business was consoli- dated with that previously established at that point by Mr. Donnell. At this time, Mr. Samuel E. Larabie was admitted to partnership under the firm name of Donnell, Clark and Larabie, and the concern built up a gigantic and successful business. When this enterprise was sold, the firm gave its attention to the banking business, in which important line of enterprise it conducted suc- cessful operations, both at Deer Lodge and Butte, the latter place having at that time been known as Butte City. In May, 1884, Messrs. Clark and Larabie pur- chased the interests of Mr. Donnell in their Montana business, and subsequently Mr. Clark and his brother, James Ross Clark, assumed full ownership of the Butte Bank, after the former had disposed of his interests at Deer Lodge. The banking house of W. A. Clark & Brother is still in existence, and has become one of the strongest banking institutions of the West, with a busi- ness centered in the Montana metropolis.

It is, however, in his mining investments, and in the operation of vast mills and smelters for the treatment of basic ores that Mr. Clark has gained his phenomenal success and become known as one of the greatest mining men of the nation and of the world, the while he has contributed through his activities in these lines a greater quota to the development and progress of Montana than has any other one person of the period. The quartz mine prospects in the vicinity of Butte first attracted the attention of Senator Clark. In the years 1872-73, he purchased, in whole or in part, the Colusa, Original. Mountain Chief, Gambetta, and other mines, nearly all of which later proved to be exceedingly rich producers. A marked characteristic in the career of Mr. Clark is, that he has never entered upon a project without fortify- ing himself thoroughly by the fullest available informa- tion pertaining thereto. This wise policy has been an unmistakable power in furthering his success, and was significantly shown at the time when he initiated his

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mining operations, although his attitude and actions aroused not a little scepticism on the part of the pioneer and practical mining men of the territory when he de- cided to pass the winter of 1872-3 at the School of Mines at Columbia University in New York City. There, he took a course of practical assaying and analysis, with a general outline of mineralogy and metallurgy, and the information thus gained proved of inestimable value to him in his future and great mining operations. He has never been a "plunger," in any of his ventures, and his success in the domain of mining industry has been the result of careful investigation and consideration of every prospect and project with which he has identified him- self, and in connection with which he has made a repu- tation that extends beyond our national boundaries. Through the financial interposition of Mr. Clark, one of the first stamp mills of Butte, the "Old Dexter," was completed and placed in operation in the winter of 1876-7. The first smelter of importance in the city was erected by the Colorado and Montana Mining and Smelting Company, which was organized by Mr. Clark in connection with Senator Hill and Professor Pearce, of Denver, Colorado, and was one of the leading enter- prises of the kind in the Montana metropolis, Mr. Clark being Vice-President and one of the largest stock- holders of the corporation. In 1880, he organized the Moulton Mining Company, which forthwith erected the Moulton Mill, upon a mine by that name which he had located several years before. This company built a com- plete dry-crushing and chloridizing mill of forty stamps, a three-compartment shaft was sunk, and modern pump- ing and hoisting works were installed, the property having been thoroughly explored at a cost of about $500,- 000, including the mill. This mine and mill were in successful operation for many years, and until the de- cline in the price of silver rendered the business no longer profitable. Mr. Clark and his son, Charles W. Clark, owned the Butte Reduction Works, and were the inter- ested principals in the Colusa Parrot Mining and Smelt- ing Company, and controlled several other silver and copper mines in the Butte district. Besides his interests in these corporations, Mr. Clark has large individual holdings in the mines, which are being successfully ope- rated, affording employment to a large number of men. In connection with his son, W. A. Clark, Jr., they are now constructing a large concentrating plant for the treat- ment of ores from the Elm Orlu Mine, near Butte, which has proven to be one of the largest zinc and cop- per mines in the world, the ores containing, in addi- tion, considerable silver and a small quantity of gold. This mine they have been developing for several years, and have reached a depth of 1,500 feet, Mr. Clark also owns valuable mining properties in the States of Utah, Idaho, and Arizona, and amongst the most important of these is that of the United Verde Copper Company, in Arizona, of which he is virtually the sole owner, and which has been one of the wonders of the mining world. It is probably the richest and most extensive copper mine in the world. and the facilities for the treatment of its ores are of the best modern type, includ- ing immense smelting and refining plant. He is now constructing a new smelting-plant at the new town of Clarkdale on the Verde river, six miles from Jerome, where the mines are situated, at a cost of several million dollars, which when completed will be one of the largest and most up-to-date plants in the world. In connection with this mine he built the United Verde and Pacific Railroad, which, although only 26 miles in length, is a marvel of engineering skill. He also advanced the funds to build the new road from a point on the Santa Fe Railroad System, forty miles in length, extending to the new town of Clarkdale, where the new plant is being built.

Mr. Clark now holds monetary and industrial inter- ests across the entire continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, and he has large interests in addi-

tion to those already mentioned, including properties in Colorado and New Mexico, comprising coal-mines, and also owns a large granite quarry at North Jay, in the State of Maine. He owns and controls the Butte Miner, which has one of the largest and best equipped offices in the entire West. In California, he has, in connection with his brother, J. Ross Clark, a large sugar-planta- tion with one of the largest sugar manufactories in the West, this enterprise being conducted under the title of the Los Alamitos Sugar Company. At Elizabethport, New Jersey, he is the principal owner of the Waclark Wire Works, one of the most extensive industrial enter- prises of the kind in the United States, and at Mt. Vernon, near New York, he owns and operates what is probably the largest and most artistic manufactory of bronze in the country, the same being conducted under the title of the Henry Bonnard Bronze Company. He has large and valuable real-estate investments in Mon- tana, New York, and the District of Columbia, notable among which is his magnificent mansion in New York City, one of the finest private residences in the entire world, which was completed by him in 1910. In this splendid home is installed one of the largest and most admirably-selected art collections in the world, and the entire building, superb in all appointments, with its un- excelled artistic wood-carving and marble-work, and other artistic decorations, with its superb collection of pictures, tapestries, Persian carpets of the sixteenth century, statues, faience, antique and priceless stained- glass windows, and other objects, indicate the cultivated tastes of the owner and of his gracious wife. Neverthe- less, Mr. Clark claims Butte, Montana, where he has lived the greater part of his life, as his permanent home. Another of the really great projects of Senator Clark was the construction of the railroad from San Pedro harbor and Los Angeles, California, to Salt Lake City, Utah, of which he is president. This great railroad in- volving a mileage, including branch lines of over 1,000 miles, was built by Mr. Clark in connection with the Union Pacific Railroad Company jointly, and without the sale of a single bond or of a single share of stock, which is unprecedented in the history of railroad con- struction. Soon after its construction, it suffered a wash-out of about eighty miles in extent, in what is called the Rainbow Cañon, which necessitated an addi- tional outlay of about $5,000,000, which was promptly furnished, and a high and safe line was completed with- in a few months. This was a calamity probably without parallel in the world's record of railway construction. This railway is now doing a large and profitable busi- ness. Mr. Clark also owns a great amount of stock, bonds and other securities of some of the leading East- ern and Trans-Continental Railroad lines, and has con- cerned himself with all manner of industrial and finan- cial enterprises, which have felt the impetus of his con- structive and executive power, as well as of his immense capitalistic resources.

Long maintaining his home in the city of Butte, where he began mining operations in 1872, and where he established his residence in 1878, Senator Clark has ever shown the deepest sympathy in all that has touched the general well-being of the Montana metropolis, as well as the State at large. Public-spirited in the highest degree, he has given generously of his time, ability and means, to the furtherance of enterprises and measures which have signally concerned the development and up- building of the "Treasure State." The first water-works system, and the first electric lighting plant, in Butte, were established by him, and he is now the sole owner of the electric street-railway lines in the city, as well as those extending to the neighboring suburbs. Many other local and state industrial enterprises have received his earnest and liberal cooperation, and it may be said, without fear of legitimate contradiction, that no one citizen of Montana has done as much as he in 'the for-

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warding of civic and material progress within the borders of this great Commonwealth.

In the counties of Missoula and Ravalli, in Western Montana, he purchased, years ago, large tracts of tim- ber-land on both sides of the big Blackfoot river, for forty miles, as well as Nine Mile creek, at Milltown, six miles from Missoula, he built a dam in the Missoula river, and installed a large water-power plant, and con- structed a saw-mill of very large capacity, as well as a finishing-plant. At Missoula, he built a flour-mill and a street railway eighteen miles in extent, and also owns the water-system and electric-light system at that place. He also extended an electric pole-line to Hamilton, sixty miles from Missoula, at which point he also owns the electric-light and water systems, and now furnishes elec- tric light and power to all the intervening towns in the Bitter Root Valley.

One of the noble contributions made to Butte by Senator Clark is the Paul Clark Home, named in honor of his son, who died at sixteen years of age while pre- paring to enter Yale University. This institution was built by him, and endowed in perpetuity, and furnishes a home for orphan and half-orphan children, where they enjoy all the comforts and advantages of home life. It has a capacity for one hundred children. It is incorporated with a Board consisting of five Directors, three of whom are women, and Mrs. J. M. White, a lady who has been noted for giving her attention for many years to charitable work, is President of the Home. Two other ladies, Mrs. Burton and Mrs. Moore, very magnanimously devote a large portion of their time to the interest and welfare of the institution. The male members of the Board are business men who look after the financial and business interests of the Home, and altogether it constitutes a very happy family, that is productive of much good in the great mining metropolis.

As a perpetual memorial in honor of his mother, who was noted for her acts of charity during her life, Mr. Clark conceived the project of erecting a home for girls who are obliged to work for a living, in order that they might be provided with all the substantial comforts and advantages of a quiet home at actual cost for food and attendance, without considering the outlays of the in- vestments for the building and its equipment, or for the management thereof. A large structure in the style of the French Renaissance was planned about two years ago, and was completed and furnished in February last at a cost of about $400,000. The building is prominently located on Loma Drive, in Los Angeles, California, one of the highest points in the city. It is four stories high, with a basement, and was built absolutely fire-proof. The building is remarkable for its completeness in every par- ticular. It contains about two hundred rooms, and ample dimensions, with additional room for closets and ward- robes, and ample baths were established on every floor. It is furnished throughout with elegant and durable equipment. There is a large dining room, with a seating- capacity for two hundred, on the first floor. Also, on this floor, are reception-rooms, two large parlors, a com- modious library, and an auditorium, with a seating- capacity for four hundred people. In the basement, there is a large bowling-alley and gymnasium. The surround- ing grounds are beautifully planted, and equipped with basket-ball and tennis courts. The total cost of living for each girl ranges from $4 to $6.50 per week, every- thing included, and the establishment is admirably man- aged by a special executive committee of the Young Women's Christian Association. In February, 1913, at which time there was a large assembly of the people of Los Angeles, Mr. Clark delivered an address, and also a deed conveying the entire property to the Young Women's Association, with the condition expressed that it should be maintained in perpetuity by said Association, to carry out the purposes of the donor, and should bear the name of "The Mary Andrews Clark Home." Within a few days thereafter, the entire capacity of the building

was occupied by 200 girls, and there were a large num- ber of applicants that could not be, for the time being, accommodated.

To Senator Clark, Butte owes the creation of the beautiful neighbouring park and pleasure-ground known as Columbia Gardens, which were established by him about twelve years ago, and which he has continually enlarged and improved, at great expense. With zealous personal care, he transformed this idyllic mountain fastness into a magnificent pleasure resort for all classes and conditions of citizens, and particularly for children, and the same constitutes an enduring monument to his generosity and civic pride. It is but due to him that a brief description of this resort be entered in this con- nection, and the following data are taken from an article previously published, with slight elimination and para- phrase :-

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 2

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