A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 43

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

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

to whom the state of Montana owes its present great- ness.

HUGH F. GALEN. One of the founders and makers of Montana, whose death occurred May 30, 1899, at Los Angeles, California, his remains being buried in the city of Helena, Montana, where for a long time he had lived, Hugh F. Galen is at rest after arduous labors, in peace after many contests, in the place where he enjoyed in full measure the sincere regard, the high esteem, the full confidence of the community. Mr. Galen was born at the little town of Castle Derg, County Tyrone, Ireland, March 17, 1826. He remained in his native land attending school and working his way along until he was nineteen years of age. In 1845 he emigrated to the United States, locating at Bangor, Maine, where he engaged in the log and lumber business for a year, when he removed to New Orleans and was occupied in merchandising for another year. In the spring of 1847, even before the discovery of gold in California, the Pacific Coast wore to his awakened fancy a winning smile, and he began freighting to its distant regions, making a number of trips to Nevada and California; and later traveling by way of Salt Lake, Oregon and Washington, until he stopped near the site of the city of Seattle. There he sold his teams, built a sawmill, and engaged in lumbering and general trading until 1859, making in 1858 a short stay within the present limits of Montana during one of his trad- ing trips, at which time he visited the town of Bannack.

In 1859 he again passed through a portion of Mon- tana on his way from Utah to Washington. He did not, however, linger long, but took up his residence and engaged in business at The Dalles, Oregon. The next year he returned to California, and from San Francisco went to Dallas, Oregon, where he remained until 1861, trading with the Indians and conducting a hotel. In May, 1863, he removed to Salmon City, Idaho, where he did trading and conducted a hotel until the spring of 1866. That year he came to Mon- tana to stay, and located at Helena, or rather Last Chance gulch, as it was then called. He began freight- ing between the gulch, Fort Benton, and from Salt Lake. Afterwards, in 1869, he added to his other profit- able enterprises a stage route between Bozeman and Helena. This he continued until the completion of railroads in the territory in 1884 took away its best patronage. But while it was in operation he carried the United States mails and troops, and conducted the whole business, on a highly profitable basis. From 1884 to the time of his death he employed his capital and his energies in a number of well-paying industrial enterprises, being at one time president of the Capital City Lighting Company and a director of the Montana National Bank-always driving with his characteristic energy and clearness of vision some profitable mer- cantile or productive undertaking which gave employ- ment to others, kept the wheels of commercial activity in motion, and helped to build up and improve the community. In addition to his interests in Helena he owned a number of valuable ranches in Jefferson, Madison and Lewis and Clark counties, on which he raised large crops and vast flocks of sheep down to 1882. Then he sold his sheep, numbering more than 10,000, and substituted other stock, and had in 1894 400 head of cattle and 900 horses.

Until the cataclysm of 1896 Mr. Galen was an un- wavering Democrat in politics, and always manifested the liveliest interest in the success of his party, so far foregoing his own preferences and tastes in 1876 as to accept a seat in the territorial legislature as a representative from Jefferson county. But, in gerieral, he was averse to public life and official station.

His wife, whose maiden name was Matilda Gillogly, was like himself a native of Erin, and came to America

with her parents in infancy. Her family located in Bangor, Maine, where the two young people first met. She came west overland to meet her future husband and they were married in San Francisco, June 23, 1860. This admirable lady died December 2, 1891.

There were seven children born to the union of Hugh F. Galen and his wife,-Charles H., Frank and Minnie, now deceased and four of the number sur- viving. Ellen L., born April 15, 1861, at Dallas, Ore- gon, is the widow of ex-Senator Thomas H. Carter, resident of Helena; James L., born in Helena, March 28, 1871, until recently has been in Alaska, engaged in mining, but was appointed superintendent of the Glazier National Park a short time ago by President Taft and is at present residing at Belton, Montana; Charles F., born at Salmon City, Idaho, December 13, 1863, died in Helena, August 2, 1875; Hugh F., born in Helena, December 3, 1868, died December 27, 1897, in Wash- ington, D. C .; Mary Agnes, born December 11, 1873, at Helena, died February 22, 1875; Albert J., born January 16, 1876; and Matilda Margaret, born Feb- ruary 25, 1878, in Jefferson county, Montana, is the wife of Thomas J. Walker of Butte, Montana, county attorney of Silver Bow county.

MICHAEL GURNETT has spent all but four years of his life as a resident of Montana, and he is glad that those four were his first, as he would not like to waste any mature years out of the best state in the Union. Omaha was his birthplace, and the home of his infancy, but in 1864, the Gurnett family moved to Virginia City, and after two years there took up their abode in the Missouri valley, near Helena, where several of Mr. Gurnett's kinsmen still reside. His father, Patrick Gurnett, was born in Ireland and immigrated to Amer- ica when still a boy. He traversed a large part of the United States before settling in Montana, and in Ken- tucky he was married to Ellen Dowling, like himself a native of Ireland. When he settled in the Mis- souri valley Mr. Gurnett engaged in farming and in stock raising and he followed that line until 1890, when he retired from business and took up his residence in the pleasant little city of Townsend, where he still makes his home. This spot is the more desirable lo- cality to Mr. and Mrs. Gurnett because their daughter Mary, now Mrs. Ragen, also makes her home there. Her husband is a well-to-do rancher and stockman.

The ranch upon which Patrick Gurnett settled in 1866 was near the city of Helena and it was in the capital city that Michael went to school. Until 1882, he was with his father in the cattle business and in the sixteen years he gained a thorough knowledge of the vicissitudes of stock raising. When he came to Fergus county, he continued in the same business, and his father was interested in most of his ventures. Not until 1907 did Mr. Gurnett branch out alone in the cattle trade.

Mr. Gurnett has the taste for politics which is so dominant a characteristic of his race, and ever since he was old enough to vote he has taken active part in the councils of the Democratic party. For four years before coming to Lewistown he was treasurer of Broadwater county, and he was the first assessor of Fergus county. He still holds that office, and that in itself is sufficient comment upon his efficiency as a public officer. and his popularity in the county.

A member of the Catholic church, Mr. Gurnett has no lodge affiliations except with the Woodmen of the World. Of course he is fond of hunting and fishing. These might be termed the state amusements of Mon- tana. for every able-bodied member of the common- wealth shoulders his rod or his gun with that same zeal with which the Chicagoan, for instance, hies him to the baseball field. Another of Mr. Gurnett's favorite ways of employing his spare time is in reading. He has

Hugh, F alen

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

a discriminating taste in books, as is proper to one who makes friends of them.

Mr. Gurnett was married at Helena on May 6, 1890, to Miss Margaret McRae, the daughter of Donald and Margaret McRae of Wisconsin. They have four chil- dren, one son and three daughters. Miss Gertrude, the eldest, was born in Townsend, and is now deputy in her father's office. Floyd E. is attending high school in Lewistown, and his two younger sisters, Nel- lie and Bertha, are both in the grades. All were born in Townsend, and christened in the Catholic church, of which their mother is also a member.

GEORGE W. CRANE. Fifty years ago thousands of men and boys marched away from comfortable homes and loved ones to offer up their lives on the altar of patriotism. Some dyed that altar with their life blood and never returned; others came back, but have borne through the succeeding years the indelible imprint made by a soldier's hardships. Those who did return found hard conditions awaiting them. After four years of strenuous endeavor, when each minute might be their last, when a nation's life hung in the balance, depend- ing upon their bravery and endurance, it was extremely difficult to resume the ordinary occupation of peace. Yet thousands did this very thing and developed into magnificent men, sound of body, as well as of judg- ment and principle, greatly benefited by the discipline which their military life had ingrained in them, and rounded out useful careers that have set an enduring example to coming generations. One of the honored veterans of the great Civil war, George W. Crane, illustrates in his life, the vicissitudes and experiences of the typical westerner. One of Montana's "old- timers," he has joined in the stampedes to the new mining camps, has followed the open range, has gained a name and position for himself in the world of busi- ness, and has been one of the influential factors in the development of Fort Benton, of which city he has served as postmaster since 1900.

George W. Crane was born in the state of Vermont, November 27, 1843. His father, James E. Crane, was also born in the Green Mountain State, but in 1857 took his family to Champaign county, Illinois, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits, subsequently be- coming roadmaster for the Great Western Railroad. He died in 1880, at the age of sixty-three years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Eliza Brown Corlue, was born at Springfield, Vermont, in 1812, and died at Jacksonville, Illinois, on November 10, 1905.

George W. Crane was educated in the schools of the state of Illinois, and was thirteen years of age when he was taken to Champaign county, Illinois, by his parents. He was engaged as telegraph operator on the Great Western Railroad at the outbreak of the Civil war, and when President Lincoln issued his call for troops was one of the first to respond, offering his services to the Lyon Guards, an independent rifle com- pany. After serving 101 days with that company, he assisted in the organization of Company I of the Twenty-sixth Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, of the Fifteenth Army Corps, with which he served through- out the entire period of the war. In the long list of notable hard-fought engagements in which he partici- pated may be mentioned the battles of Corinth and Iuka, the siege of Vicksburg and a number of hotly contested engagements in the south under Generals Logan and McPherson. He was with General Sher- man's command on its famous march to the sea, and was mustered out July 19, 1865, at Washington, D. C., and discharged as a non-commissioned officer. Mr. Crane had the record of a gallant and faithful soldier, and received creditable mention for bravery in battle. He was of the type of soldier that formed the backbone of the Union armies and which finally made them

victorious, justly winning the admiration of his com- rades and the respect and confidence of his superior officers.

On receiving his honorable discharge, Mr. Crane went to Lafayette, Indiana, where he took a position with the Wabash Railroad, but after a short period spent in the freight department went to Hannibal, Mis- souri, where he arrived December 14, 1865. He entered the mercantile business in that city, but after a few months sold his interests and started for Montana, July 10, 1866, via the overland route from Omaha, Nebraska, and on reaching the Gallatin valley took employment on a ranch. One year later the discovery of gold at Canyon Creek found him with the mad rush of venturesome souls in search of the precious metal, and after four years, during which he met with a fair amount of success in placer mining, he went to Helena, Montana, and was immediately employed as clerk in the mercantile establishment of A. M. Holter, for whom he worked eight months. At that time, learning of the discovery of gold at Clancy and Ten Mile Creek, he was unable to withstand the lure and packed his prospector's outfit and joined the rush, but after a short period, meeting with only indifferent success, gave up mining and for one year was again engaged in ranching. Mr. Crane then decided to embark in business on his own account, and accordingly opened a mercantile establishment at Clancy, which he con- ducted successfully until 1879, the year that saw his advent in Fort Benton. Here at that time was located one of the large stage stations, although Fort Benton was then little more than a trading post, and Mr. Crane was appointed agent, a position which he held while conducting a general merchandise store until the iron horse came to this point and eliminated the old method of travel. He has continued his business, how- ever, to the present time, and since his first appoint- ment, July 21, 1900, has acted in the capacity of post- master of Fort Benton, giving universal satisfaction and being one of the most popular citizens of the com- munity. Mr. Crane is a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight of Pythias. A Republican in politics, for thir- teen years he served as justice of the peace of Fort Benton, up to 1899, and for the past thirty years has acted as a member of the school board and still holds office. With his family, he attends the Episcopal church. The example Mr. Crane has set is a potent stimulant to public-spirited activity. While others have theorized about benefits to be obtained he has been out working to get them. Citizenship of this type is far too rare, and it is probably for this reason that he is recognized as one of Fort Benton's most representative men.

The marriage of Mr. Crane occurred February 14, 1877, at Helena, Montana, when he was united with Miss Julia lone Payne. They have had fifteen chil- dren, as follows: Edgar Rufus, a prominent news- paper man of British Columbia; Oliver B., a resident of Havre; Ezra L., deputy county clerk of Chouteau county, and a resident of Fort Benton; George W., Jr., Miss Julia I. and Miss Florence E., living at the family residence; and James P., Miss Gladys, Chester A. and Harry H., all of whom are attending the Fort Benton schools, and four who died in infancy.

JOSEPH HIRSHBERG. Prominent among the successful business men of Montana, Joseph Hirshberg is emi- nently deserving of some mention in a historical and biographical work of this nature, devoted to the state in which he has concentrated his business activities in late years, and where he has won a high place in the esteem and confidence of his fellow men. Mr. Hirsh- berg was born in Posen, Germany, on January 28, 1847, and is the son of Abraham and Ernestine Hirshberg, also of Posen, Germany, where they passed their lives.

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In early life Joseph Hirshberg immigrated to the United States He came to Montana in 1866.

Mr. Hirshberg was married in New York to Miss Eva Davis, who was born April 1, 1857. She died in Helena, Montana, on August 14, 1907, leaving her hus- band and four sons. They are named as follows: Ed- ward, born at Fort Benton, Montana, on April 10, 1880; Sidney, also born at Fort Benton, June 12, 1881 ; Mor- timer, June 27, 1883; and Francis J., April 1, 1889.

Edward J., the eldest son, is cashier of the banking firm of Hirshberg Brothers. He is a young man of much ability and progressiveness, and is destined to occupy a prominent place in the life of his community. He married on June 12, 1907, at Missoula, Montana, Miss Gertrude Kohn, daughter of Herman Kohn, an old pioneer settler of Montana, and a well known merchant and jeweler of Missoula. He has been a resi- dent of the state since 1875, and is a heavy property holder in and about his home city. One daughter has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hirshberg, Eva, born at Missoula on March 7, 1910.

The three remaining brothers are unmarried as yet. Sidney, who is the second born of the four brothers, is a member of the Hirshberg Mercantile Company of Conrad, Montana, in which business he has been active since he was graduated from the Helena high school at the age of seventeen years.

GEORGE A. BRUFFEY. During the past decade various sections of Park county, have shown a decided growth and development, both in population and industrial and commercial importance, this increase being commen- surate with the activities and progressive spirit of the leading men of the several communities. Not the least of these in point of advancement is the city of Bruffey, named in honor of George A. Bruffey, who came as a pioneer to Montana nearly half a century ago, and who during his long residence in the state has identified himself with business ventures of an extensive nature and rendered his section signal service in high public office. Mr. Bruffey was born in Pocahontas county, Virginia (now West Virginia), September 24, 1842, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Call) Bruffey.

John Bruffey was born in Pocahontas county, Vir- ginia, in 1808, and as a youth learned the trade of wagon maker. In young manhood he migrated to Trenton, Missouri, where he worked at his trade for about two years, then removing to Knoxville, Iowa, where he continued to follow the same vocation until the spring of 1848. Returning to Missouri, he spent two or three years in that state, then going back to Knoxville, Iowa, and being in business for five or six years. Subsequently he secured a farm in Clark county, Iowa, where the remainder of his life was spent, his death occurring in 1880. He was a lifelong Democrat. His wife, who was born in Greenbrier county, Virginia (now West Virginia), in 1811, survived him until 1891, and was the mother of ten children, of whom three survive: George A .; Mary, the wife of Jefferson Kil- gore; and John, who makes his home in Iowa.

As was the custom of farmers' boys of his day, George A. Bruffey worked on the homestead place during the summer months, and obtained his education in the dis- trict schools during winters, thus spending a boyhood in training his mind, while also building up a robust and hearty physique. He was eighteen years of age when he left the parental roof and started overland with ox-teams for Nebraska, where during 1860 and 1861 he was engaged in putting up hay. In the spring of 1862 he continued overland to Denver, Colorado, where he followed freighting until the fall of 1863, on September first of which year he started for the Salmon mines, in Idaho, with ox-teams. Reaching that point, the members of his party agreed to go on to Alder Gulch, Idaho (now Montana), and for about two

years he was engaged in mining there, but subsequently engaged in farming, an occupation which he followed on the banks of the Jefferson river until 1866. That year saw his advent in Butte, where he was engaged in mining until 1869, at which time he embarked in the dairy and merchandise business, and in keeping the Fish Creek station on the overland road, a business with which he was connected for a period covering twenty years. Since leaving Fish Creek, Mr. Bruffey has resided in Park county, and has been extensively engaged in raising cattle and horses, and in general farming, his alfalfa crop in 1911 aggregating 100 tons. He is a shrewd and capable business man, and the hon- orable and upright manner in which he has conducted his dealings and the fact that his name has been asso- ciated only with legitimate transactions, have combined to give him a wide reputation for business probity, and to firmly establish him in the confidence of his fellow citizens. Mr. Bruffey has been a lifelong Democrat, and stands high in the counsels of his party in Park county. His first public office was that of deputy sheriff in Madison county, Montana, under A. J. Snyder, the first sheriff of that county. In 1872 he was elected to the territorial legislature from Madison county, and in 1876 he was appointed postmaster of Fish Creek by President Grant, and held that office until 1889, also serving as a member of the school board in Madison county. In 1896 he was elected to the state legislature from Park county and served one term, and in 1901, through the efforts of United States Senator W. A. Clark, the Bruffey postoffice was established and named in honor of Mr. Bruffey, and since that time he has held the office of postmaster. In addition he is acting as a member of the board of school directors of district No. 34. As an official he has shown himself at all times to have the best interest of his community at heart, and in the discharge of his duties has shown a conscientious regard for the responsibilities of his of- fices. He is a valued member of the Montana Pioneers' Society.

On February 12, 1871, Mr. Bruffey was united in marriage with Miss Matilda Jane Ridlen, who was born in Indiana, daughter of William and Malinda (De- Vore) Ridlen. Mr. Ridlen, a native of Maine, came west to Iowa among the pioneers of that state, locating in Mahaska county, where he was engaged in agri- cultural pursuits up to his death at the age of seventy- five years. His wife, who lived to be eighty-nine years old, was a native of Indiana, and they had ten chil- dren, of whom two, Sabra and Mary, are living. Mr. Bruffey's wife died March 2, 1911, in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which her parents were lifelong members. She and her husband had the following children: Margaret S., the wife of Montie Cady; Almeda I., wife of S. P. Skillman; Primus A., who married Pearl Baker; Sylvia, the wife of James Gravley; Fatima, the wife of Frank E. Skillman; Memrous, who married Ella Bouche; Elzina, wife of Matthew Gravley; Minot and Emma, residing at home with their father; and Ruth, who lost her life in an accident.

WHEELER O. DEXTER, well known among the pioneers of Chouteau county since 1866, was born in Canisteo, Steuben county, New York, on July 31, 1843, and is the son of Bela and Anna (Snyder) Dexter. The father was a New Englander, and the mother was born in New York state. Farming and lumbering occupied the time and attention of Bela Dexter and he passed his life in those occupations in New York, dying there on February 15, 1851, while the mother lived to reach the age of sixty. They had three children, Wheeler O. being the youngest born.

To the age of twenty-two years, Wheeler O. Dexter

RANCH HOME OF GEORGE A. BRUFFEY, BRUFFEYS, MONTANA. LOCATED DECEMBER 25, 1890.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

lived in New York state in his native town. He was educated in the common schools of his home community and in the academy at Ithaca, New York, doing labor for his board while at the common schools, labor, haying and harvesting to pay for his academy school- ing. When he was twenty-two he left home and came directly west. Arriving at St. Cloud, Minnesota, he joined a wagon train then being organized by one Jim Fisk. Four hundred men, women and children made up the company, and one hundred and forty wheeled vehicles left St. Cloud on June 6, 1866, arriving at Helena, Montana, on the 2d day of September fol- lowing.

At Helena the party disbanded, but Mr. Wheeler had left the outfit at a place called The Lakes, Chouteau county, then went on to Helena and reaching it in advance of the regular party. His first work in Helena was for his board, and then he secured a position as an engineer in a sawmill, situated in Dry Gulch, and after a short time he was engaged as engineer in a quartz mill, where he remained for a year. He then gave up the work and went up the river where he established a wood yard, in which he continued for a brief time. In the spring of 1868 he went to Benton, where he worked at carpentering for a time, then tried his skill at teaming. The next year, while in search of coal, he was robbed of his team of three horses. He followed the robbers twenty-six days, and finally suc- ceeded in recovering two of his horses, after which he devoted himself to cutting wood on the river for the supplying of boats. That work proved profitable and he continued in it until 1874, when he went to the Gallatin valley and preempted some ranch lands. He stopped there for two years, then sold his right and came back to Benton, which has been his headquarters ever since.

For a time after Mr. Dexter returned to Benton he was occupied in hauling passengers and freight from Cow Island to Helena and Benton, the latter place then famous as a trading post. At the mouth of the Mussel- shell river three more horses were stolen from him by Indians, but this loss he never recovered, although he pursued them hotly and in a running fight fired eight shots into their midst before he was compelled to seek cover. In 1874 he opened a meat market at Bozeman, which he operated for a time, and at one time he operated a threshing outfit in the Gallatin val- ley, but for the most part he was engaged in freighting up to 1879, when he introduced the first threshing out- fit into Benton and operated it for years. In 1881 he established a sawmill in Highwood which he ran for three years, and when Great Falls was first"opened up he built a ferry boat to meet the demands of the traffic. He later built a second one, and these he ran continu- ously until the railroad went through. He built there the first steam launch, and it was used as a passenger boat on the river. Though his operations were care- fully conducted, it is a fact that Mr. Dexter never experienced any measure of financial prosperity while away from Benton, and many an enterprise has known his touch in the years that have passed, many of which met with absolute failure; others with only common- place success. At one time he operated an express line from Benton to Great Falls. He freighted and threshed all over the county of Chouteau. And he was one of those who had the government contract to haul supplies to Custer from Fort Shaw to the Big Horn river on the Yellowstone. He has seen the ups and downs of western life, has had his successes and his failures, like most men, but through it all has main- tained a calm and quiet existence, untouched by worry or doubt of the future. Mr. Dexter is a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted on January 4, 1864, in Company F., in the Sixteenth New York Heavy Artil-

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 43

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