A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 22

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

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After these disastrous conclusions of the negotia- tions, and when the $50,000 had been applied to satisfy the boat company's creditors, Mr. Waters was left financially worth less than nothing, and had to wit- ness the accumulations of a lifetime swept away by what he considered a monumental act of injustice. He says: "I was not allowed to see any charges made against me or the boat company under Roosevelt's ad- ministration, and not until the Taft administration came was I permitted to see them. Mr. Taft made the statement in writing to Secretary Ballinger (so I was informed by Taft's personal friend) "that he wanted him to see that Mr. Waters had absolute jus- tice," and at that time, I believe, he meant what he said, but when he became informed of the powerful com- bination against me he stated to Mr. Nicholas Long- worth (so Mr. Waters was informed) "that $50,000 was enough for us to get for our plant."

To those who follow the remarkable vicissitudes of Mr. Waters in this fight, it will be interesting to know that one of the most eminent lawyers and public men in America took up the matter, unknown to Mr. Waters, and used his brilliant ability in an endeavor to secure what he believed was but simple justice for this old Montana veteran. The lawyer in question was Congressman W. Bourke Cochran of New York City. Mr. Cochran made a thorough study of all the docu- ments and evidences in the case, and wrote two letters to the then president, Mr. Roosevelt. These letters are of course too long to be included or quoted suffi- ciently to indicate the trend of the argument, but the following random paragraphs are inserted without fur- ther comment. The first reads: "Your love of a square

deal," Mr. Cochran thus opened his letter to the presi- dent, "which I have appreciated for nearly a genera- tion and which the whole world has learned to admire during the last decade, encourages me to bring before you what I regard as a grave injustice perpetrated-at least contemplated-by the government through its Interior Department against a deserving man and vet- eran of the Civil war." Then in a subsequent letter appears the following: "All the testimony shows that the transportation company and the officers of the United States army concurred in wishing to drive him (Mr. Waters) from the park. Whether their atti- tude in this respect was just or unjust, it is undeniable that for a long time he has stood alone, weak, poor and aged, defending his possessions and his prospects against what he concedes to be a combination of hos- tility among army officers and greed of the transpor- tation company. Where a man is condemned by the unanimous or overwhelming sentiments of his own neighborhood, I am always ready to accept the judg- ment of the community as infallible. But Waters is the object of sympathy, not condemnation, by his own neighborhood. The men who dislike him and con- demn him are not permanent, but temporary, residents of the park. Humbler folks who live and labor there, drivers of stages, subordinate porters of hotels, hos- tlers and hall-boys were unanimous, so far as I could discover, in expressing sympathy for Waters. Cap- tain Waters says: That it was publicly stated that Major Pitcher, superintendent of the park, or his wife, was interested in the hotel or transportation company or both. Thus, his hostility to the boat company."

Mr. Cochran further says: "This attitude of dislike apparently was passed on to his successors, each of whom seems to have regarded it as a feature of duty of his position.

"Thus, under date of August 16, 1909, Captain Pitcher, acting superintendent of the park, in an indorse- ment says of certain statements to Captain Waters, referred to him by the Interior Department, 'I will simply say that they are absolutely false, and Mr. Waters knew they were false when he made them.' (See Ex. J.)

"Captain Waters says he can prove the truth of any statement he ever made to the department or any superintendent of the park that Pitcher is not sup- ported by all his predecessors in his statement. I think he is not supported by any of them.

"On October 5, 1904, the same officer wrote :

"'I believe I have recommended to the department that the Yellowstone Park Transportation Company be required to put a steamboat on the lake, to be run in connection with their stages. I now strongly repeat this recommendation, as this is the simplest means by which the department can rid itself of Mr. Waters and his boat company.'

"June 6, 1903, he again recommends that competition be allowed in the boat service for the express purpose of driving Waters from the park. (See Ex. I.)

"On August 18, 1902, Major Pitcher addressed a letter to Waters formally prohibiting him from asking any person to take passage on his vessel, in these terms:

"'You are hereby directed to henceforth wholly desist from soliciting any patronage or in any manner pre- senting your business to any tourists upon the grounds or within the tents or buildings of the Yellowstone Park Association at the Thumb Station, or the Lake Hotel.' (See Ex. J.)

"As the Lake Hotel and the Thumb Station are the terminals of the boat service and therefore the only place at which Waters could secure any passengers, this order in effect was a direction that he abandon his busi- ness. Unless he accosted passengers personally, they would never be likely to hear of his service, or to know that a passage on the lake by boat was open to them.

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"As you are doubtless aware, nearly every visitor to the park travels on a single ticket embracing several coupons covering transportation between the different points of interest, together with hotel accommodation at the different stopping places. On none of these tickets is there any mention of the lake trip by way of Waters' boat. Passengers are never likely to learn of it, unless some agent of the steamboat meets them at Thumb and urges them to purchase tickets. I speak from personal knowledge. My own party would never have crossed the lake by boat-and the very best feat- ure of our trip to Yellowstone Park would have been missed completely-if it had not been for the personal meeting with Captain Waters.

"Under Major Pitcher's order, therefore, Captain Waters must either sacrifice his business by refraining from doing the one thing through which it could be kept alive, or it would be destroyed forcibly by his ejection from the park. Is it extraordinary that such an order should have been interpreted by Captain Waters as an attempt to paralyze his business, with a· view of having it fall into the hands of the transporta- tion company? Very likely he indulged in strong language and possibly he may have sought a motive for what he conceived to be persecution in some as- sumed understanding between the author of this notice and the corporation which would be enriched by the ruin which its enforcement must produce. This may all be a source of regret, but not of surprise.

"Moreover, it must be remembered that Waters, as we have seen, was not the only one among these war- ring elements to use heated or intemperate words. Whatever Waters may have been tempted to say or do under what he believed to be great provocation, he could scarcely have exceeded the vehemence of ex- pression which characterizes the language of army officers with respect to him, or the violence of Major Pitcher's course, at least in one respect.

"When I met Captain Waters in the Yellowstone, be- sides many stories of ill usage which I considered plausible, he told me one which I rejected as utterly improbable. I attributed it to misconstruction or ex- aggeration of some neglect, real or fancied, on the party of employes to give him at the hotel the service or attention he believed to be his due. He charged that the Yellowstone company in their warfare upon him, had actually refused to receive him or the members of his family at their hotels and this refusal had been approved by Major Pitcher. Not until these papers reached my hands and I found his statement confirmed in writing over Major Pitcher's own signature, could I realize that such a violation of 'elementary rights had been suffered by any citizen at the hands of an officer wearing the uniform of this government. (See endorsement on paper dated June 9, 1905-Ex. K.) I think you will agree that had Captain Waters been a discharged convict, this order excluding him from the right to be entertained at a hotel built upon public land and established under license of the government for the express purpose of accommodating every citizen willing to pay the regular charges (especially so far as it affected his guests or the members of his family) would have been without warrant, justification or excuse.

"Even if we assume every conclusion of fact which General Young has reached to be absolutely correct. the severity of the punishment he recommends is all out of proportion to the gravity of the delinquencies he imputes to Captain Waters. If everything he al- leges be taken as absolutely true, such grievious penalties as must follow the adoption of his recom- mendation would be excessive and therefore unjust.

"Conceive for a moment what this would involve, Waters' entire capital (including all the resources of his family) has been invested in boats and other prop- erty operating the lake transportation service which

the government authorized him to establish. One large steam vessel, which I saw myself, was built last year. Considering the service it is expected to render, it is commodious and well appointed. Evidently it has been constructed in the hope of increasing traffic by enlarg- ing the accommodation for passengers and promoting their comfort. Boats built expressly for service on the lake would be of little value anywhere else. It is doubtful whether they would realize on forced sale enough to pay the cost of transportation to another locality. During the long period in which he has operated this service he has established a business which must be of some value or he would not be so desperately anxious to retain it. To the good will of this, whatever it may be worth, he is undeniably en- titled in sound morals, if not in the strict letter of the law. All these his summary expulsion from the park would destroy at one blow. His ruin would be complete and it would probably be irrevocable. For he is an old man, and with such a cloud on his char- acter as expulsion under such conditions must cast, repair of his fortunes would be practically impossible. The ruin of all his prospects as well as of his whole possessions is therefore the punishment you are ad- vised to inflict on him. Surely nothing but offenses of the very gravest character could justify a penalty so severe.

"One thing is perfectly certain, Mr. President, if Waters be expelled from the park somebody else would be given the right to operate boats on the lake. The public cannot be excluded permanently from the right to traverse this magnificent sheet of water. Can you or anybody else doubt that the transportation com- pany will become the beneficiary of the decree that ruins Waters, should an order for his expulsion be issued ?"

Mr. Cochran concluded this long second communica- tion with these words: "I should not have felt inclined to undertake this labor and inflict such a lengthy com- munication on you, were it not for my humble but very firm conviction that the course I suggest is more consistent with that impartial and unbending justice of which the American people believe you to be the very embodiment."

For the last twenty-five years, and while active head of the Yellowstone Lake Boat Company's affairs, Mr. Waters continued in the live-stock business. At one time he was running twelve thousand head of sheep and for twelve or fifteen years has been raising horses, cattle and mules. His enterprise in the stock business has of course varied with different seasons and periods, but he has been practically identified with this industry during the most of his years of residence in Montana. He was also in the mining business in Cook City and Bear Creek, and was president of the Pacific Launch Company of Tacoma, Washington, whose plant was wrecked by a cloudburst that caused the Puyallup river to rise so rapidly that a large portion of the plant was carried into the bay and the company became bank- rupt.

A short time before the Boer war in South Africa Mr. Waters organized the American Land & Sheep Company under the contract with an English syndicate who agreed to furnish ten million dollars for purchase . of all the land lying along the streams in middle and eastern Montana. · together with the water-right con- trolled by these lands. The agreement also included the purchase by Mr. Waters of all the sheep which he could obtain. With such a plan in mind Mr. Waters put out two men in the field getting options on land. and thus secured options on property worth seven million dollars. No one then knew who were the real parties in the American Land & Sheep Company. As a result, in a short time, he obtained a large number of sheep at a little more than two dollars per head. and the best land in Montana at seventeen dollars

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and'a half an acre, including the first and best water- right. Then the whole deal was brought to an abrupt conclusion. The Boer war made money so tight in England that the syndicate was unable to control the funds which they had promised, and Mr. Waters is still in the courts with a litigation, endeavoring to obtain satisfactory remuneration for the damages to which he was put by carrying out his part of the contract.

Mr. Waters was formerly an active member of the Masons and the Knights of Pythias, the Elks, the Grand Army, and the Traveling Men's Association. Up to 1910 he was a Republican in politics, but at that time he became convinced that the party was largely under the control of its more corrupt and powerful members and therefore left its ranks. As to religion his ancestors were most of them Universalists, and that faith has his own preference.

At Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, March 4, 1878, he was married to Miss Martha Bustus Amory. Her grand- father left a will which granted certain tracts of land in New York City to his heirs, this land to come into their possession when the youngest grandchild was of age. This grandchild was Mrs. Waters' youngest brother. The immediate heirs contested and broke the will, and but for this the property at this time would have been worth $1,500,000,000. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Waters were as follows: Edna Alberti, Anna Amory, and Amory Oakes. The daughter, Edna, married A. F. Molina, and had one child, Amory Waters Molina. Mrs. Molina died January 15, 1913. Amory Oakes Waters married Miss Minnie Lee, and has one child, Martha Bustus Waters, named for her grandmother, Anna Amory Waters, the youngest daughter died January 6, 1905. Mrs. Waters, whose death occurred August 6, 1909, was a woman of splen- did education, a great reader and fine musician, and besides caring for her home and rearing her children was a delightful friend and companion and was a favorite in all social circles.

WILLIAM S. ERWIN. The visitor to the Gallatin val- ley, viewing for the first time its fertile fields, well- regulated farms and general air of prosperity, finds it difficult to believe that but comparatively a few years ago this section of the country was a wild waste of prairie and desert land, uncultivated and unprofitable. Such is the case, however, and the wonderful change that has been brought about is the direct result of years of persistent, untiring labor on the part of men of energy, industry, perseverance and ability, the greater part of whose lives have been devoted to developing their community's interests while achieving personal success. Prominent among this class stands William S. Erwin, who for many years carried on agricultural pursuits in Gallatin county, but who is now retired from active pursuits and living quietly in the city of Boze- man, where he has a comfortable modern residence at No. 624 West Olive street. Mr. Erwin was born in Schuyler county, Illinois, on his father's farm, May 21, 1864, and is a son of George W. and Agnes E. (Cor- rie) Erwin.

George W. Erwin was born in Plattsburg, Steuben county, New York, in 1818, and received his education in the public schools of that locality. On attaining his majority he removed to Schuyler county, Illinois, in which locality he was a pioneer, and for some time was engaged in driving the stage coach, his wages being nine dollars per month, a part of which were paid in merchandise. Subsequently he entered government land, which he first devoted to the raising of corn and later gave over to general farming and stock raising, and became one of the best-known raisers of Clydes- dale horses and full-blooded cattle in his county. He served as a soldier during the Mexican war, was a stanch Democrat in his political views, and was a rec-

ognized authority on matters agricultural by his fellow members in the grange. His death occurred in 1894, his wife having passed away in 1885, when fifty-six years of age. Of their seven children, four are still living : Ellen A., the wife of Richard Bosworth; Cor- nelius M., Frank C. and William S.

The early education of William S. Erwin was se- cured in the public schools of Schuyler county, and he later attended Chaddock College, Quincy, Illinois, and the Indiana State Normal school, now the Indiana State University, at Valparaiso. Mr. Erwin's advent in the Gallatin valley was in December, 1885, and on first ar- riving he secured employment as. a farm hand. As his father had done before him, Mr. Erwin next entered government land and engaged in raising wheat, barley and oats. He continued in business until I911, on Janu- ary Ist of which year he came to Bozeman in order that his children might secure better educational ad- vantages. Mr. Erwin is a Democrat in politics, and in 1907 was elected a county commissioner of Gallatin county, for a term of four years. Fraternally, he is connected with Bozeman Lodge No. 463, B. P. O. E., and Bridger Camp No. 62, W. O. W. During the many years of his residence in this section he has made numerous acquaintances, and his friends here are legion. All movements for the betterment of the locality have his hearty support, and he has always shown himself to be a friend of education, morality and good citizen- ship.

On April 19, 1894, Mr. Erwin was married to Miss Maisie M. Kent, who was born in Gallatin county, daughter of James and Martha (Hopkins) Kent, the former of whom died in 1886, while the latter still lives. Mrs. Erwin is the oldest of a family of six children. Her father came to the west with his parents from Pennsylvania, and his boyhood days were spent in Missouri. In 1864 he traveled overland to Montana, locating near Old Hamilton, where he engaged in stock raising and farming, and later removed to near Cot- tonwood creek, this being his location at the time of his death. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Erwin, namely: James Kent, Mae Agnes, Lewis George and William Howard.

CHARLES E. CARLSON. Among the young legal lights of whom Montana and Gallatin county have every rea- son to be proud is Charles E. Carlson. He possesses a splendid legal mind, quickly getting at the very heart of a question, discovering the underlying principles of law, and stating his conclusions in clear, terse English. In the few years since his admission to the bar he has been identified with a good deal of important litigation. Mr. Carlson is one of those valiant characters who have triumphed over adverse conditions and pressed forward to the goal of success. He is in the most significant sense self-made and integrity and honor characterize him in the relations of life.

Mr. Carlson was born at Albert Lea, Minnesota, May 3, 1885, and there resided until about four years of age, when, with his parents, he removed to Independence, Iowa. He remained in that place for about six years, and the family went to Britt, Iowa, where they lived for a year. Following that they located in Humboldt of the Hawkeye state, where they lived eight years. It was in Humboldt that his father died and though a boy in years he found it necessary to face the world like a man. His father, Rev. Adolph Carlson, was a Baptist minister, and a native of Denmark. He severed home associations and came to America when a youth of nine- teen and like so many of his countrymen, located first in the state of Minnesota. He died in 1903, at the age of sixty-five years and is interred in that place. His wife's maiden name was Dorothy Anderson, and they were united in marriage in the state of Wisconsin. She died in 1887, when the subject was an infant, and is buried in Albert Lea. There were nine children in the

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

elder Carlson family, the subject being the youngest in order of birth.

Mr. Carlson graduated from the Humboldt high school and then matriculated in the University of Min- nesota at Minneapolis, where he pursued a four-year course in science, literature and arts, being graduated from that department and receiving his degree. He had an ambition to become a lawyer and took the neces- sary preparation in the same university. He worked his own way through college and as is usual in such circumstances, made the most of his hard-earned oppor- tunities. He had earned his first money doing chores for a doctor in Humboldt. He is also familiar with the life of a commercial traveler, for he engaged as such for a twelvemonth, and he followed various other occu- pations previous to entering the university.

After leaving college Mr. Carlson studied in. the office of the firm of Dunn & Carlson at Albert Lea, Minne- sota, and remained in this association for nearly one year. In April, 1911, he came to Three Forks, Gallatin county, where he hung out his professional shingle and here he has encountered the best of fortunes, in the short time intervening since his arrival having won the confidence of the community. He has a most .com- modions and pleasant office and an unusually compre- hensive law library, whose volumes have been collected for the most part since he came here. In addition to his ability in the profession to which he has already proven an ornament, Mr. Carlson is a gifted orator, con- vincing, forceful and eloquent, and he is in great de- mand upon occasions where eloquence is in order. At the recent Democratic convention he was selected to make the speech of nomination, He is a Democrat and is greatly interested in matters political, his striking personality making him an influential factor in public life. He has plenty of fighting blood and his support is an element greatly to be desired.

He is enthusiastic over outdoor life and amusements, and of fishing in particular. He is a member of the Baptist church. In college he belonged to the Greek letter fraternity, Delta Sigma Rho, this being an honorary fraternity to which are eligible all students in accredited colleges who have taken part in intelcollegiate forensic contests. While in the University of Minne- sota he took part in the contest with Wisconsin and won. Apropos of Montana, Mr. Carlson says: "I am here to stay; that expresses my view of the state. I have realized its possibilities and am fully convinced that this is the coming country." Mr. Carlson was married at Humboldt, Iowa, October 5, 1912, to Miss Carrie Mason.

CHARLES J. CARLSON. One of the leading contractors of Helena is Mr. Charles Carlson, who is known not only as a contractor, but who has a reputation as a designer, his designs being sought after because of their good taste and their excellent arrangement. Mr. Carlson was born in Sweden, on March 27, 1875. His father, Charles Gustafson, had died the month pre- cedine his birth, and although his mother, Clara, nee Nordling, remarried, it fell to the lot of Charles and his older brother, Gust A. Carlson, to begin early to take care of themselves. Mr. Gustafson had been a stone mason and after his death his widow became the wife of P. R. Berquist, to whom she bore two sons and two daughters. They are all still residents of Sweden.

Until he was fifteen years old Charles attended school in Sweden, and then as his older brother was coming to America, he accompanied him. They stopped first in Marshfield, Wisconsin, and Charles stayed a year and a half before going to Rockford, Illinois. In Wisconsin he had worked at the trade of cabinet making, and he supported himself by this means in Rockford until the panic of the early 'gos stopped the mills and factories and cut off his source of income. He was completely out of funds before he found work.

and he was obliged to walk to Harvard, Illinois, a distance of forty miles, to secure a chance to work. A kindly conductor in Rockford gave him a ride to Mad- ison, Wisconsin, and there he found work on a ranch five miles out of the city. The farm was owned by a Mr. McCoy, and Mr. Carlson remained in his employ for two years. During this time he saved his wages, and with a little capital in hand he felt he might ven- ture to take up some work for which he was better fitted, and which might be more profitable.

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 22

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