A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 32

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

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that night. We women put on our best dresses and called on Bridger to ask his advice as to what we should do; whether we should go forward or turn back. We found a pleasant, grizzled old man, with a kind smile and pleasant blue eyes. He was dressed in a buckskin suit and on his head wore a bearskin cap, beneath which hung his long hair. He looked as if he had lived out of doors all his life, and I suppose he had. He very pleasantly told us that he thought the western country had a great future, and that it was only the young, strong and brave who would be able to make a great country out of it. He told us that if we had been brave enough to get this far, to just go on. The country, he said, needed such pioneer men and women, and he did not believe we would lose any- thing by going on. He said the mining camp was overdone, but the valleys were large and fertile and well watered. He thought the government would surely send out soldiers to protect the people, and the soldiers and miners, he said, would have to be fed. Then, in his pleasant voice he continued : 'Ladies, as you have been brave enough to get this far, I believe you will be brave enough to go on. I will go back with you and help you down Bridger Pass, a very treacher- ous part of the road to pass over. I have guided many people over it and it is named Bridger Canyon in my honor.'

"We came on and he came with us. Our wagons were let down by ropes and chains over this mountain pass, but this was our last bad place. We were soon in what is now called Gallatin Valley and where Boze- man now stands. But, my dear children, there was nothing here but the valley, and the beautiful river- absolutely nothing. That was the first of September, 1864. There were no kind friends to welcome us, no glad hand held out to us. We just had to stay and make those homes we had thought of, dreamed of and talked so much about. We had to prepare the way for those who would come after us, who did come, and are still coming. I think those pioneer years of isolation and privation helped to make us hospitable and willing to welcome the strangers who are coming among us and have been a great help to us.

"We went on with our disbanding until we came to Virginia City; then we broke up our camp and scat- tered to different places to do what our minds and willing hands could do. There are not many of us left any more. I have gone east many times since that big camping trip. I have gone on the Pullman cars, and in 1869 I went partly by stage and partly by com- mon cars, but nothing has ever compared to my camp- ing trip. In 1907 I went to Kansas City and kind friends were showing me around the city. They took me to Washington Park Cemetery, one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. While there I came across Bridger's monument, with his profile on it. The moment I saw it I knew who it was. I was so glad his remains were lying in such a beautiful place, although I heard afterwards that he died in poverty, like so many of our good men. Kind friends had erected the monu- ment to his memory. Now when any of you go to Bridger Canyon for an outing, you will know how it derived its name."

After remaining in Virginia City for three weeks, Mr. and Mrs. McDonnell took up some land about five miles from Gallatin City, on the Madison river, where until 1879 they were engaged in dairying and stock raising. The original tract of 160 acres, which had been secured at about $2.50 per acre, had been added to from time to time until there were 640 acres in the property. in addition to which Mr. McDonnell had accumulated three thousand acres on Elk creek, and a part of this latter was disposed of for $100 per acre in 1910. At this time Mr. McDonnell is the owner of 180 acres, but since 1905 has been living a retired life, satisfied that he has contributed his due share to his

adopted section's development. He has resided in Bozeman since 1879, having come to this city in order that his children might secure better educational ad- vantages. Here he and his wife are known as worthy representatives of that class of sturdy men and women, who in the early days had the courage to pave the way, and through whose efforts the prophecy of Bridger, as to the great future of the western country, has been fulfilled.

Mr. and Mrs. McDonnell have had four children, namely : Annie, born May 31, 1865, who died November 12, 1879; William L., engaged in farming in Gallatin county, who married Edith C. Waterman ; Edward, also an agriculturist of Gallatin county, who married Kath- erine Black; and Robert E., a well-known civil engi- neer of Kansas City, Missouri, who married Georgianna Howlett. Mr. and Mrs. McDonnell have two grand- daughters and five grandsons.

HON. ROBERT S. FORD. While Robert S. Ford has been a resident of Great Falls for more than twenty years, and among its most enterprising and substantial citizens, his business and financial interests have been so extensive and wide spread as to entitle him to claim identity with the great Northwest. His career has been marked by successful achievement in every avenue of business activity in which he has been engaged since leaving home at the age of nineteen years, and among the manv enterprising men whose vigor and activity have added to the material importance of Montana he holds a deservedly high place. Mr. Ford was born January 14, 1842, in Simpson county, Kentucky, and is a son of John C. and Henrietta (Simpson) Ford. His father died when Robert S. was a lad of five years, in 1847, and in 1855 the family made removal to West- port, Missouri, where his education was completed in the common schools.

Mr. Ford was but nineteen years of age when he decided to seek his fortune in the unsettled West, enter- ing the freighting business with ox-teams, between Nebraska City and Fort Laramie, a government post on the Laramie river, and was advanced in the following year to the post of assistant wagon master. In 1863 he was placed in charge of a wagon train, and in 1864 came to Montana in charge of an ox-train of sixteen wagons of merchandise. Continuing here, Mr. Ford freighted from Benton, Cow Island and the Milk river country to the mining camps of Helena, Virginia City, Bannack and Deer Lodge until 1868, in which year he visited his mother in Kentucky, she having returned to the South during the Civil war. In the spring of 1869, Mr. Ford went to Colorado, where he purchased three hundred head of Texas cattle, which were driven to Beaver Head valley and sold at a good profit. Thus encouraged, he again went to Colorado, and in Denver purchased seven hundred head of stock, which were wintered in 1871 at the mouth of the Sun river and disposed of them in the spring. His winter cabin was located about two iniles from Great Falls and was erected by Mr. Ford himself. His next trip to Denver resulted in the purchase of a herd of twelve hundred head of cattle, which arrived at the mouth of the Sun river in November, 1872. In the spring of 1873, Mr. Ford located near Sun River Crossing, and here he settled down to the devolopment of one of the most lucrative ranching projects ever seen in the valley. He soon came to be one of the really big stock men of Montana, and carried on an enormous business in con- tracting with the government for meat. In 1891 Mr. Ford brought his family to Great Falls, and here estab- lished the Great Falls National Bank, of which he has been president ever since, and office which he has filled with the utmost integrity and carefulness, manifesting in his capacity as chief executive of the institution a large measure of native shrewdness and business acumen. Like all of his other enterprises in which he has been

P. S. And

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engaged during more than half a century, this has been a decided success and is an illustration of his versatile talents. His property interests in Great Falls are wide spread, and he is one of the most public-spirited and altogether valuable citizens that the community knows.

In 1878 Mr. Ford was married in Kentucky to Miss Sue McClanahan, daughter of James Wesley and Lydia A. McClanahan, prominent people of Simpson county, where Mrs. Ford was born July 1, 1859. The family is one of the oldest in the state, having settled in Kentucky in its earlier days. Mrs. Ford's girlhood was spent principally at her home until the time of her marriage, September 10, 1878, when she became the wife of Robert Simpson Ford of this review. Within a few weeks after their wedding they took up their residence at the home of Mr. Ford, near Sun River Crossing, and there resided until coming to Great Falls, and here they have since resided. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ford, of whom two sons, Lee M. and Shirley S., survive, the other three having died in in- fancy, while the family were still residents of Sun River. Mrs. Ford died October 25, 1906.

A stalwart Democrat in his political views, Mr. Ford in 1876 was the representative from Chouteau county to the state legislature. In 1877 he represented Chou- teau and Meagher counties in the state senate, and in 1880 was chosen to represent his district in the Four- teenth legislative assembly. He has manifested an inclination and ability to perform all the duties of good citizenship, and has been alive to the demands which a growing community casts upon its leading men. He has taken an active part in bringing about reforms in municipal affairs, and has actively and efficiently aided in whatever has been undertaken to raise the tone of morality among the people.

HON. JAMES E. MARTIN. Prominently connected with the public interests of Gallatin county, Montana, a leader in its progressive citizenship for more than . thirty years, Hon. James E. Martin, president of the National Bank of Gallatin Valley at Bozeman, has been also closely identified with the business enter- prises which have served as foundation stones on which the stable prosperity of this section has been built. As a financier he is widely known, having been for four- teen years cashier of the Gallatin Valley National Bank at Bozeman, and later, in 1904, was one of the organizers of the National Bank of the Gallatin Valley and was elected the first president of this, institution, the policy of which he has directed ever since. James E. Martin is a native of Howard county, Missouri, and was born August 16, 1840, one of the six children of Thomas L. and Julia (Elliott) Martin. His paternal grandparents were David G. and Elizabeth (Lamb) Martin, the former one of the pioneers of Missouri, who removed to Howard county, Missouri, and there died when about eighty years of age. His wife died in Kansas a few years prior to her husband's death. Thomas L. Martin was born in Kentucky in 1810, and was about two years of age when he accompanied his parents to the west. He there engaged quite ex- tensively in farming and stock raising, and died in March 1867, when he had reached the age of fifty-seven years, while his wife, a native of Missouri, passed away when James E. was but nine years of age.

The education of James E. Martin was secured in the district schools of the vicinity of his father's farm and he was reared to agricultural pursuits. When about sixteen years of age he accompanied his father to Kansas, where he studied for a few months in High- land University, at Highland, but his education has largely been acquired through self-discipline and he is distinctly a man of broad general information and mature judgment, having gained much through his association with men and affairs. When about thirteen years of age he earned his first dollar and assumed his

first individual responsibility by engaging to drive cattle, receiving forty cents per day. Within two years he was receiving fifteen dollars per month as a farm hand, working for neighbors near the old homestead in Missouri. In Kansas he remained until the spring of 1864, when he started on the long trip to Montana, by ox-team, the journey being uneventful and the party having no serious trouble with the Indians. He arrived in the Gallatin valley in September, and took up a homestead claim of 160 acres of land, which he im- proved and put under effective cultivation. He here continued his residence for about three years, when the death of his father called him to Kansas to assist in settling the estate. He remained there until 1876 when he returned to Bozeman, where, in 1892, he erected a handsome residence of modern architectural design and conveniences, and here he has since maintained his home, having resigned the management of his farm to his eldest son. For fourteen years Mr. Martin served as cashier of the Gallatin Valley National Bank at Bozeman, having been one of the organizers of that institution, and in 1904, as before stated, became one of those who organized the National Bank of Gallatin Valley, of which solid and substantial institution he has since served as president. In his political preferment Mr. Martin has ever been a stanch and ardent Democrat and unwavering in the support of his party's principles, while his first presidential vote was cast for General Hancock. He was elected as a representative of Galla- tin county in the lower house of the legislature in 1893, and was a working member and one whose able services were appreciated both by his colleagues and his constituency. The second legislative assembly was attended by no little internal dissention and turbulence, as specific historical records only too plainly indicate, but Mr. Martin showed by his actions that they were those of a strong man and a wise and just legislator. In 1896 he was again elected to the legislature from his county, and in 1898 was chosen as his own succes- sor, having thus been a member of the assembly of 1900-01. In his legislative career he was assigned to membership on many important committees, and his every effort in the house was directed to the enactment of wise laws and for effective legislation along all lines. Mr. Martin has also been called upon to fill various county offices, and was the incumbent of the important office of county commissioner for one term. In all the relations of life, both public and private, he has retained the confidence and respect of his fellowmen. Fraternally he is known as a prominent Mason, having held mem- bership in that body for many years and filled various chairs.

After his return to Kansas, Mr. Martin was there married, July 27, 1871, to Miss Sallie Armstrong, a sister of Judge F. K. Armstrong. Mr. and Mrs. Martin became the parents of five children, of whom two died in infancy, while the survivors are: Roy E., who mar- ried Miss Avilla Hill, and has the management of his father's farm; and James E., Jr .; and Julia E., living with their parents.

ALFRED W. ORTON. It is a safe presumption that Alf- red W. Orton, manager of the branch musical establish- ment of Norton Brothers, at 39 East Main street, is one of the most progressive and enterprising business men of his locality, as well as one of the most popular, and an example of self-made manhood that is worthy of the most persistent and conscientious emulation. He was born at Council Bluffs, Pottawatomie county, Iowa, July 8, 1855, and is a son of James C. and Pauline Orton. James C. Orton was born in the state of New York, and in 1846 removed as a young man to Iowa, where he worked at his trade of brick mason, although at various times he also secured employment as a musi- cian, being a skilled performer on the violin. In 1861 he removed to Springville, Utah, where for three years

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he worked at his trade, then removing to Virginia City, Montana territory, a trip which consumed two months, while the former journey, from Council Bluffs, had taken six months, with a bull team. For some time he was engaged in working as a mason and in playing odd engagements as a musician, but eventually traded one bull team for a log house without windows, situated in the city, and until his death, in 1879, when he was sixty- three years of age, was engaged in freighting between Helena, Virginia City, Fort Benton, Deer Lodge and Bannack. He was an active member of the Masonic fraternity, and an ardent Democrat in politics. His wife, born in Pennsylvania, passed away in 1882, when fifty-three years of age. Alfred W. was the oldest of their nine children, of whom five are now living.

Alfred W. Orton was nine years of age when he ac- companied his parents overland to Virginia City, and in 1867 began work in the printing office of the Mon- tana Democrat, at old Virginia City, and was later with the Madisonian. As early as 1873 he came to Bozeman and for about one and one-half years was employed on the Bozeman Times, but in 1873 returned to the Madi- sonian in Virginia City, where he was also connected with the Montanian for two years. He returned to Bozeman in the fall of 1877, but soon removed to Butte to engage in the liquor business, with which he was connected until 1880 and then became foreman of the pressroom of the Butte Miner. In the winter of 1880 he returned to the Madisonian, and in the following spring again came to Bozeman, where he engaged in the liquor business, but in the fall of 1883 went to Butte and with his five brothers organized a band and also opened a roller skating rink. Mr. Orton leased the Silver Bow Club up to the fall of 1888, when he en- gaged in the musical instrument business in Butte, and in 1890 he again came to Bozeman to engage in the liquor business. In 1895 he again returned to Butte and was employed by the City Railway Company until 1903. In that year he was appointed city inspector of weights and measures and licenses, and was license collector from 1905 to 1907, in which year he became identified with the musical instrument firm of Orton Brothers. Since 1909 he has been manager of the branch store at Bozeman. He is a member of Ridgely Lodge No. 12, I. O. O. F., at Butte, and in his political views is a Democrat.

On December 21, 1882, Mr. Orton was married to Miss Marie DeBooth, who was born at Salt Lake City, Utah, daughter of Joseph DeBooth, a native of Scot- land. Mr. and Mrs. Orton have had three children: Viola and Pearl, twins, and Wallace Alfred, an expert piano tuner, who inherits much of the musical talent of his father and grandfather. During his long resi- dence in this part of the state Mr. Orton has made nu- merous acquaintances and is popular with all classes. He takes a great interest in the welfare of his com- munity, and is at all times ready to support beneficial measures and to do his full duty as a good and public- spirited citizen.

ROBERT VAUGHN. It is not an empty distinction to have lived actively and usefully in any state for a period of nearly half a century. But ine Montana and other western states fifty years means dating back to the times when residence meant pioneering, when activity was synonymous with adventure, and when none but the strong and the daring could endure the struggle with the elemental forces of nature and barbarism in this region.

It lacks but little more than a year to complete the half century since Robert Vaughn first ventured into the country which has since become the state of Mon- tana. Of those he found here and of those who came about the same time, many went down before the stress of Indian warfare, of pioneer hardship, and the com- mon mortality of mankind. He is one of few survivors

from that era which accomplished the beginnings of civi- lization in Montana. Much that the symbols of history must preserve for future knowledge, he knows by per- sonal recollection. The scroll of progress was unrolled before his eyes, and he himself was no inconspicuous actor in those processes and events which became the vital annals of this state. One of the oldest residents, none is worthier by character and achievement of the permanent record than Robert Vaughn.

A great many people have become familiar with the story of this pioneer and his associates through the publication of which he is the author, entitled "Then and Now." This volume, which has had quite a large sale, recites the many trials and hardships endured by the early settlers of Montana.

A native of Wales, in 1858, at the age of twenty-four, Robert Vaughn came to America, and from New York finally drifted out to Illinois. It is important to know how the pioneers came to Montana, and the story of Mr. Vaughn's coming may be told largely in his own words. He left Fairbury, Livingston county, Illinois, on the 4th of March, 1864, in company with James Gibb, John Jackson, James Martin and Sam Dempster and wife, destined for the new gold fields in Idaho, for at that time the territory of Montana had not been created. The mode of travel was with a four-horse team and a farm wagon. A great part of Illinois and Iowa at that time was sparsely settled, and the party would travel for hours without seeing signs of any habitation. They crossed the Missouri river by ferry-boat to Omaha, which had but twelve hundred inhabitants. There was made up a train of sixty-five wagons, some of them being drawn by oxen. It was a mixed train; some were going to California, Oregon, Washington and Salt Lake, but most of them were bound for the new gold diggings in Idaho. They all followed a com- mon route as far as Fort Laramie, the trail to the post being on the north side of the North Platte river. On the way a great many Indians of the Pawnee tribe were encountered, but all of them were friendly. At . Fort Laramie they met the noted frontiersman, John Bozeman, after whom the city of Bozeman is named. He sought to organize a train to take a cut-off route, east of the Big Horn mountains. There was also a man by the name of Joe Knight, who was a trader at this place. He had two wagons, four mules each, with supplies for Alder Gulch, and he was getting up a train tò go west of the Big Horn mountains and through the Wind River country. Mr. Vaughn joined this party of Knight's. They made up a train of about one hun- dred wagons and about three hundred good resolute men. Each man during the hazardous trip had to take his turn standing guard at night as a precaution against attack by marauding Indians, and after a tedious trip, with many hardships, they reached Alder Gulch on the 13th of July, 1864. This was one of the first out- fits to enter Montana over that trail. The most of the time they followed the trail of Jim Bridger, who was about three days ahead with a train for Alder Gulch.

Such was the introduction of Robert Vaughn to Mon- tana. In the history of the state's development as re- counted on other pages of this work the reader might properly read the name of Robert Vaughn into many of the events and scenes there portrayed. His expe- rience comprised all phases of the varied life of pioneer times. He came to know all the notable personalities of both the territorial and the state era, and was in turn known and esteemed by them. For many years he was one of the big ranchers of the state, and made a specialty of horse raising, producing some of the best in Montana. About two years after the death of his wife he sold his ranch to his old friend, Captain Couch, and then moved to Great Falls, which then had about 3,000 inhabitants. As his home for over twenty years Mr. Vaughn has taken much pride in Great Falls and has heen a factor in its upbuilding. The finest business

Holt Vaughn Wales in 1836 Alder Gulch 1864 Great Falls 1913

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structure in the city is the Vaughn Block. Such im- provenients are always as valuable to the community in which they are placed as to the builder and owner. This substantial enterprise indicates Mr. Vaughn's high appreciation of Great Falls as a commercial center, and he affirms this to be the best city in the state.

Robert Vaughn was married on the 25th of August, 1886, to Miss Elizabeth Donahue, daughter of Matthew and Jane Donahue, of Toronto, Canada. Mrs. Vaughn died on January 13, 1888, at the age of thirty-three years. Arvonia Elizabeth Vaughn, her only child, was born January 1, 1888. She was reared with all the care and advantages that a devoted father could give. On Octo- ber 4, 1911, she married Mr. H. M. Sprague, formerly a resident of New York state and now of Great Falls. Mr. Vaughn now has his home with his daughter and her husband.

It has been the purpose of this sketch to set forth in its essential outlines the career of one of Montana's notable pioneers. The bald facts have been stated, and . as is the custom in many occasions the best has been reserved for the last. Not least among the causes which will identify Robert Vaughn with Montana are his writings on many subjects connected with the people and history of this state. He has the gift of straight- forward statement, characteristic of western frontier character. In a work of this kind it would not be amiss to quote voluminously from such writings, but here it is deemed sufficient to repeat his simple narrative of his own early life, that to be followed with a quotation of his tribute to the Montana pioneers.

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 32

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