A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 27

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

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On November 26, 1854, Dr. Whitford was married to Miss Mary Jane Tanner, of Indiana, and they had

three children: Charles S., born in 1856, a gradu- ate of the Chicago Eclectic College, and now a prac- ticing physician; Roseman Estella, born in 1859, at Arlington, Nebraska, who died December 15, 1909; and Mrs. Henrietta W. Comstock, now a resident of the state of Washington. Mrs. Whitford died at Deer Lodge, July 4, 1870, and the Doctor married (second), in 1873, Mrs. Susan Lavina (Sweeney) Hol- loway, daughter of John L. Sweeney, a pioneer of Montana, and whose social graces and her many talents have been of the greatest value to her able husband. To this union there was born one son, O'Dillon B., Jr., born in 1874 at Deer Lodge, Mon- tana, who died at Butte in February, 1891.

Dr. Whitford, as has been before stated, is still en- gaged in active practice, and is in the best of health. He reads and writes without the use of glasses, and his memory is wonderful, as is proven in his having committed to memory the following speech, his latest one, delivered during the summer of 1912. He has frequently spoken before large assemblages of pioneers and their children, and was president in 1908 of the Montana Pioneers Society. The speech, which fol- lows, not only discloses the sterling principles of Dr. Whitford's character, but also shows the genial, kindly philosophy of a man who, having lived among all kind and manner of men, has become a faithful judge of human nature and still has an abiding faith in mankind :

"While some of our old-timers have blazed diver- gent trails, at our annual reunions we meet to extend the glad hand of welcome to our unwrinkled-faced comrades who have for years and years delved into the bowels of these rock-ribbed mountains for the an- ticipated prize that has stimulated the prospector from vigorous manhood to declining age in hopes of a re- ward for his arduous labor in sinking shafts, cross- cutting, faults and seams, driving tunnels and follow- ing the trend of stringers to their barren confluent. Such has been the work of your humble servant since A. D. 1860, in Colorado and Montana. I have been within a few feet of my fortune several times, but never quite deep enough to reach it. So it has been with the majority of my old-time friends, whose cheer- ful faces now confront me with a satisfied look of contentment that their work has been well done, their mission performed, hence are ready at the first call of nature to leave this mundane sphere for an end- less home. Why should we not be? Have we not contributed to the wants of .the needy, clothed the naked and fed the hungry? Have we been found wanting? Have we left undone those things which we ought to have done? Have we done those things we ought not to have done? Let those who succeed us in the affairs of state pass judgment upon our conduct according to our deeds. The oft repeated saying is a true one that 'The pioneer is the van- guard of civilization.' I am a pioneer of Ohio, In- diana, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Colorado and Montana. No railroads were in any of the states mentioned where I lived when I left them; in fact, the first loco- motive and railroad track I ever saw were at Silver Bow Junction when the narrow-gauge was being con- structed from Ogden to Butte. During the month of April, 1856, I left my native and adopted states and with my first wife, who died in Deer Lodge, July 4, 1870, and a son (now living in Lewiston, Idaho), father, mother, five sisters and four brothers, equipped with ox-teams hitched to schooner wagons, the only mode of travel then, wended our weary way towards the setting sun. When within sixty miles of Council Bluffs, Cass county, Iowa, the hand of death snatched from our ever-watchful mother a faultless husband and father of her ten devoted children. We dug his grave on a little grassy knoll, improvised a crude cas- ket out of some rough lumber we could spare from

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nical brain storms. In an altercation between two gamblers, where one was killed, as was frequently the case, we meted out justice to the aggressor invaria- bly according to the evidence. Our laws were inde- feasible and we did nothing to impair the dignity, honor and fame of a people in placing Montana's bril- liant star on our national ensign, which has no fear on our star spangled banner in radiating effulgence in representing a state with natural inexhaustible re- sources brought into requisition and productiveness by the intrepid pioneer whose primitive laws protected every honorable individual in the pursuit of his labor. We were able and did meet the responsibilities thrust upon us. No one, however, was adjudged guilty and executed except upon positive evidence, but we drew a line of demarcation for the suspicious character with a warning not to cross it, which he politely obeyed. Thus have the pioneers of Montana played an important part in the nation's history, never los- ing interest in the events of the hour until age and re- sponsibility, ill-matched pair, reminds us that death comes to the worn and weary as the plucking and harvesting of the golden grain, as the falling of the autumn leaf, which forces us to realize that the rus- tling garments of time forever still the beating heart of the aged. Hence it is only a question of time with us all, and I here quote from the poet who said: 'We live in deeds, not years-in thoughts, not in breaths-in feelings, not in figures on the dial,' and, I say, his life is greatest who thinks the most, feels the noblest, acts the best and reasons the most pro- found- reasons with the intellectual philosopher, 'That nature (as far as we can discern) withont passion and without intention performs, transforms and retrans- forms forever. She neither weeps nor rejoices, she produces man without purpose and obliterates him without regret.' Nature is the governing power of the universe and 'She knows no distinction between the beneficial and the hurtful.' She knows no begin- ning and she knows no ending. She always was, she is, and always will be, in proof of which the eminent scientist tells me to draw a dark circle on a sheet of white paper and as in its orbit the end joins the be- ginning, so is the end one with the beginning through- out the universe. In the eternal cycle everything strives toward its commencement and every beginning yearns to be where the end joins it. Therefore, we should quarrel no longer as to whether we will ever be immortal spirits, for no power of death can break the imperishable chain of things. All that is has been in existence from eternity and not a tiniest speck of dust ever loses itself in the arms of death. Supersti- tion was my first thought, reason my second. Nar- row is the world and wide the brain.

daughters, as this may possibly (but not probably) be the last time allotted me to address you, my age indi- cating that my usefulness will soon be over, I trust you will indulge me in giving you the advice which I have conscientiously practiced during my mature years. I have always been a student of reciprocity, justifiable forgiveness and benevolence, and I ask you to let the sensation of humanity interest you for the condition of your associates and fellow creatures. Let your generous hands stretch forth to lend succor to the unfortunate citizen who is overwhelmed by his destiny. Always bear in your recollection that it falls as heavy upon you as it does upon him. Acknowledge, then, without guile that every unfortunate has an inalienable right to your kindness above all. Wipe from the eyes of oppressed innocence the trickling crystals of agonized feeling. Let the distressed virtues fall upon your sympathizing bosom; let the genial glow of sincere friendship animate your honest hearts; let the fond attachment of your wife, cherished by her warmest affections, make you forget the sorrows of life. Be faithful to her love, responseful to her ten- derness, that she may reward you by a reciprocity of feeling, that under the eyes of parents united in vir- tuous esteem your children may learn to set a proper value on practical virtue; that after thus occupying your riper years you may comfort your declining age and thus gild, with content, your setting sun.

"The strongest impression of my life is coupled with an infatuation to inculcate peace and harmony. Thus have I been deeply interested on my long journey so far through life to the ripe age of almost seventy- eight years, and thus will I continue to the end. Should any of you become derelict in your duties to your fellow men, rehearse with sentimental feel- ing the lines of the poet, that 'man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn,' which should appeal to the sympathies of any who values life as worth the living. When we profoundly contemplate the environment of man, his many duties in worldly affairs, his encroaching responsibilities if coupled with avarice, we should appeal to him in the language of a philosopher, in tones of eloquence, that 'reason is the supreme judge for a contented mind,' that avarice is the twin to a miser, whose greed for gold destroys him in every element of gratitude, rendering his ears deaf to the cries of the widows and orphans. The avaricious miser has no love for the beautiful, the good and the true, nor a sense of duty to family, friends or society. Therefore, let us cultivate and practice benevolence, which teaches us to consider the welfare of the human race, also extend a helping hand to the needy, if we are financially able so to do. Then we can be reconciled to the immutable order of things, when there will be no question unsolved as to our happiness here and forever. Every flower which un- folds its blossoms, every star which shines by night, will illuminate our voyage to our eternal restful sleep. The jealousies, bickerings, and quarrelings that en- thrall the ubiquitous mind are not known among pi- oneers; social conditions are perfect with us. The caste which bound us to the station in which we were born was broken when in early pioneer days we di- vided our bacon and beans with our honest com- rades. Here in this society the door of privilege is open to the meritorions only, to the person who is in search of honest opportunities. My young friendly pioneers' sons and daughters, in conclusion I ask you to look around and observe how many old-timers are here today, and in the not far-distant future, when they will be no more, when they will have passed into that unknown country, 'from whose bourne 110 traveler returns,' think not that they lived in vain, that their advice is ignored. Stay by and with it until your vision can no longer discern the daily rising and set-

"Now I have a few thoughts stored in my mind I desire to impart to our sons and daughters. That an- other year has come and gone since we last met in Butte, which finds my health so much improved that I can stand erect and address you without looking for a support to my back. Health, I consider, is superior to all possessions. The young apparently do not appre- ciate it, but the aged do. The glory and pomp of the world are naught when compared to health. If the wealth of Croesus were mine, and my body racked with pain and disease, I would give it all in exchange for health, for what worth is man without strength of body to vitalize the mind to do or not to do, to do that which is right. Then, my young friends, the good people of the whole world will emblazon the footprints of your time for the good you will have done, the grand precedent you will have established for generations unborn. I fancy I hear some of you asking yourselves the question : 'What is Right?' In answering that question I will recapitulate the oft- repeated axiom 'To do unto others as you would have others do unto you.' My young friends, sons and . ting of the sun, so that the grand precepts established

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by the Montana Pioneers will be scrupulously observed by their sons and daughters as a rule and guide to their conduct, always bearing in your recollection that your ancestors have won a name and achieved fame that will for all time cluster around Montana's his- toric reminiscences."

Dr. O'Dillon Whitford's life has justified that ova- tion which greeted its beginning, for it has been dedi- cated to the service of the public through the chan- nel of the lofty profession of medicine. In 1881 the Eclectic Medical College of Milwaukee bestowed an honorary degree upon Dr. Whitford in recognition of his important contribution to medical knowledge in the treatment of pneumonia and typhoid fever. The strides which have been made in the successful war against these diseases are among the triumphs of mod- ern therapeutics.

Dr. Whitford is an honored member of the Masonic fraternity, and also of the Old Timers' Association of Silver Bow county. In 1892 he was made president of the society. He is one of the most popular citi- zens of Butte, as he is one of the foremost in his pro- fession.

CHARLES H. GREEN, president of the Green Cattle Company, which was incorporated in 1893, has taken an active part in the development of the west during his lifetime. The industry in which he is now occupied is one of the most extensive enterprises of its kind in Montana, being devoted to the breeding of thorough- bred horses and cattle to a great extent. All his life Mr. Green has been interested in the stock business, that having been the business of his father, who was one of the big stockmen of the state.

Mr. Green was born in Virginia City on September 16, 1864, and is the son of John H. and Isabella ( Mor- row) Green. The father was born in Norwalk, Huron county, Ohio, on January 18, 1836, and was the son of Philip and Clarissa (Wood) Green, of New York state. They had eight children, of which number two reached years of maturity.

John H. Green, the third child of his parents, spent his young life in Ohio and Michigan, and attended school in Detroit. In 1859 he went to Colorado and engaged in the sale of merchandise until 1864, when he came to Virginia City, Montana, and engaged in the livestock business. In 1867 he went to Silver City and there dealt in miners' supplies for a number of years, and in 1880 went to Fort Benton and engaged in the livestock business on a large scale. He had as many as five thousand head of stock on his ranch at one time, and prospered steadily. He became the owner of a considerable amount of real estate in. Fort Benton and throughout the county, and became prominent in the financial activities of the city. He was one of the organizers of the Stockmen's National Bank and was a director of the bank for years. He died in Fort Benton November 23, 1903, survived by his widow and four children. Mrs. Green was born in Canada on October 10, 1847, a daughter of Malcolm Morrow, a pioneer of Montana of the year 1863. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Green, two of whom, Jannett and Eber W., died in childhood. The others are Charles H. of this review, Walter M., William J. and Frances E., all of whom are associated together in the enterprise of which Charles H. is the head.

When Charles H. Green was an infant the family moved to Helena and settled in the Prickly Pear valley, where the father was for a time engaged in dairy farming and other enterprises. In 1876 he moved to Rock Creek, and there was started the mammoth stock business which reached generous proportions during his lifetime and which has been expanded on a wide scale since his death by his sons. In 1887 Charles Green left home and settled in Great Falls, Montana. and formed a partnership with Charles Taylor, and

they were the first to operate a livery business in this section of the country. They continued in that busi- ness for three years, then traded the business for sev- eral hundred head of horses, which he drove to Chou- teau county, becoming sole owner and joining the cattle business. In 1903 the business had reached gen- erous proportions, and on the death of the elder Green, the business was incorporated under the state laws. Charles H. Green was made president, and has since continued in that position; Walter M. is secretary and treasurer, and resides in Lewistown, Montana ; William J. is vice-president, and Mrs. Isabelle Green, the mother, and Frances Green, sister of the subject, are also mem- bers of the firm. In this way the interests of John H. Green were in a measure perpetuated, and the two have united to form one of the really big stock breed- ing enterprises of the state. The company was incor- porated for $100,000, including cattle, horses, ranch property, etc., all located in Chouteau county.

In addition to his ranching interests, Mr. Green has identified himself in a prominent way with numerous other industries, among which are the Benton Sana- tarium, of which he is president, and the Benton Drug Company, in which he holds the position of treasurer. He served as mayor of Fort Benton from 1906 to 1908, and is now a candidate for re-election. He is a mem- ber of the Commercial Club of Fort Benton, and is inclined to an independent view in matters of a political nature.

On November 14, 1892, Mr. Green was married in Fort Benton to Miss Lottie E. Smith, the daughter of John R. Smith. Three children have been born to them: Mary C., born in Fort Benton in August, 1893; Helen H., born April 21, 1897, and John H. Green, also born in Fort Benton, October 20, 1899, being his natal day.

ALFRED M. ESLER was a pioneer of Montana and one who, during the thirty-six years that marked the period of his residence in the state, was engaged in min- ing, and few men did more than he in the development of that portion of the vast resources of the state.

Mr. Esler was a native of Carthage, Jefferson county, New York, where he was born on October 5, 1837, of French Ancestry. His parents, Moses and Sophia (Wemott) Esler, were both natives of New York. They had seven children,-four sons and three daugh- ters, of which Alfred M. was the eldest. The father was a carriage manufacturer. He led a useful and worthy life and died in his sixty-second year. The mother survived her husband a number of years and died in New York.

Alfred M. Esler was educated in the public schools of his native state and there learned the trade of a house painter and decorator. He engaged as a merchant at Boonville, carrying a line of wall paper, books, station- ery, etc., and was so engaged when the reports of the rich gold mines in Montana induced him to leave a profitable business and come west and seek a fortune. Accordingly he sold out in 1864 and made the journey across the plains and mountains with ox teams, the trip being accomplished after long and tedious months of travel. He and his brother-in-law made the jour- ney together, both being accompanied by their wives. At the end of five months they reached their destination, -Bannack, and there they divided their effects. Mr. Esler getting two yoke of oxen for his share. He traded his oxen for a placer claim and engaged in mining, but soon afterward discovered that his claim was valueless. Later in the season Governor Edgerton gave him the ap- pointment of justice of the peace. With this office and by keeping boarders, they managed to live. The follow- ing spring, in 1865, he met with a great bereavement in the loss of his wife. In that year he engaged in gold prospecting and was fortunate enough to locate a good silver mine near Argenta, which he named the Legal

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Tender, and which was the first quartz claim worked in the state. That fall he started with a six-horse wagon load of ore and took it back across the plains to the east, and thence to Europe to a smelter. His showing of it to the people of the east resulted in the formation of a company, to which he sold a three-fourths interest in the mine. In the spring of 1866 he returned to engage in a St. Louis company and Mr. Esler gave him $20,000 in gold to put up a smelter and smelt two hundred tons of the ore. It proved a success, and Mr. Esler after- ward put up two smelters and a refiner. After they had taken out a ton and a half of silver the mine gave out, and the freights were so high it was impossible to make it pay with the ore the mine was producing, so they discontinued work there. Subsequently, Mr. Esler, with his brother Frank, leased a smelter at Jefferson City, Montana, and six months later it was burned. Mr. Esler located various mines in Montana, with varied success, and at one time was interested in the Parrot mine in Butte ; in fact, it was during his connection with this property that the facilities for mining the ore were greatly increased. For a period he was interested in developing mining property at Wickes and also had holdings in the Rimini district. He became interested in several rich mining prospects in the Coeur d'Alene district, including the Badger, Emma and Last Chance mines, and became interested in a deal looking to the development of property purchased by the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Company. Mr. Esler engineered that deal which had more to do with the development of the great silver and lead district than any other enter- prise. He helped to organize the Helena & Frisco Com- pany, composed largely of Helena capitalists, who made a great amount of money from the mine, the controlling interest being later sold to an English syndicate.

In 1892 the Badger mill was blown up by the miners who had struck for higher wages,-a demand which the owners of the mine deemed unreasonable and with which they could not comply. They shut down the works, and later, upon opening again, they employed new men. While sixty men were at work in the mill it was blown up with giant powder, and the miners attacked the workmen, five being killed and fifteen in- jured. Two of Mr. Esler's brothers were in the mill at the time. One was taken prisoner and the other es- caped by hiding in an excavation. Mr. Esler had been firm and resolute during all the trouble; and at the time of the attack one hundred men went in search of "Old Esler" as they called him. Some of the men who participated in the outrage were later tried and sent to the penitentiary.

Mr. Esler's last mining operations were on the Black- foot ceded strip of Altyn, Teton county, Montana, where the A. M. Esler Mining & Milling Company had under bond the Cracker and Bullhead copper proposi- tions. They had practically completed a concentrator and were soon to begin operations, when Mr. Esler was stricken and died very suddenly on September 10, 1900.

Mr. Esler was a member of the Masonic fraternity, being made a Master Mason at Brookville, New York, soon after he had attained his majority, and he ever retained his active membership in that order. He was a Republican and always took a deep interest in po- litical matters, serving his party well. He was elected a member of the territorial legislature of Montana in 1866. In that year there were only two Re- publicans in the house, and the laws passed by the legislature were so noxious that through the efforts of Senator Sanders, the whole action was an- nulled by the United States congress. In those ex- citing times a man ran no little risk in being a Re- publican, and it required a deal of courage for Mr. Esler to maintain his position and act and vote accord- ing to his convictions, but he proved himself in every way equal to the occasion. In 1896 he became a Sil- ver Republican and so remained until his death.

Mr. Esler was a member of the Episcopal church and was a trustee of St. Peters Hospital, in the af- fairs of which he took a deep interest. On January 29, 1874, he was married to Ophelia B. Johnston, eldest daughter of Colonel Johnston, who was a well-known pioneer of Montana, coming first to the territory in 1862, and bringing his family in 1864, that year marking the advent of Mrs. Esler in the state. Col. Johnson died in 1891.

Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Esler, as follows: Amy died in infancy; Frances M. is the wife of Harry E. Woodman, a business man of Helena, and they have two children,-Richard E., who died young, and Elizabeth Kathryn; Alfred M., Jr., died May 25, 1894, in the eighth year of his life.

Mrs. Esler continues her residence in Helena on Harrison avenue, where the family of her daughter also resides. Mr. Esler was a man of quiet tastes, retiring in manner, but yet possessed of a strong and forceful character. He had a wide acquaintance throughout this section of the country and well merited the high es- teem and regard in which he was held. He was particu- larly fond of his adopted state, Montana, and had great faith in its future. Any movement for the advancement and good of the state received his heartiest support, and Montana owes much to him, as he was a pioneer in a number of important districts in the state.

MALCOLM MORROW. The entire career of Malcolm Morrow, one of the prominent citizens of Fort Benton, is illustrative of the many trying experiences with which the pioneers of Montana had to contend, and an item- ized record of the various hardships through which he has passed and the numerous narrow escapes which characterized his early life would fill many pages in this volume. A somewhat brief record of his career, however, will be of interest to those of the younger generation, in that it will show of what hardy stuff these pioneers of the commonwealth were made, and how through their courage, persistence and fortitude one of the greatest states in the Union has been de- veloped from the wilderness. Mr. Morrow is a native of Perth, Canada, and was born February 8, 1850, a son of Malcomb and Jennett (Mathewson) Morrow. His father, also a native of Canada, came to the United States as a young man, locating first in Colorado, where he was for some time engaged in mining in Georgia Gulch. In 1863 he removed to Alder Gulch, Montana, but subsequently moved on to McClellan Gulch, and after locating a claim returned to Denver for his family. He continued mining there and at Last Chance and Canyon creek, Georgetown, Montana, until he retired from mining, when he took up his residence in Helena. He later went to Seven Mile, and in 1879 located in Fort Benton, where his death occurred May 18, 1891, when he was sixty-five years of age. He was well known in his day and locality, and had numerous friends throughout the state. Mr. Morrow married Jennett Mathewson, who was born in Glasgow, Scot- land, and came to America as a child, her parents settling first in Canada and later removing to Colorado and Montana. She died in Helena, June 16, 1878, when fifty-three years of age. Malcolm was the eldest son of their ten children.

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 27

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