A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 60

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

USA > Montana > A history of Montana, Volume II > Part 60

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

1046

HISTORY OF MONTANA

northwest seems trite indeed. Scarcely has one in fifty received material assistance from friend or relative. Most of them, however, have had some inheritance, some sacred memory of childhood, the advice of kindly parents or the aid of an education to help them in the beginning of life's battle. Mathew Dunn, on the other hand, knew nothing but sorrow and unkind- ness from his earliest childhood until, master of his own fate, he broke the only home ties that he had ever known. Friendless, penniless and alone, he set forth, not knowing the meaning of fear or failure. Through all of his hardships, he never lowered his standard of integrity and honor. He has built for himself a competence that must be measured by pounds of ster- ling and gold, but more than that, he has built him a character measurable only in the hearts of those he has loved with his true Irish tenderness, or aided with his native generosity.

Mathew Dunn was born near Hamilton, Canada, on the 19th day of May, 1850. His father, William Dunn, a native of Ireland, came in 1842, to Canada, bringing with him his wife and one child. In the autumn suc- ceeding the birth of Mathew, they moved to Racine, Wisconsin, where the father ended his days, at the early age of fifty-five, passing away on the 7th day of December, 1862. Mr. Dunn had never known worldly success. Cramped and hampered by the hor- rible poverty of Ireland, he reached out for a broader life, but it remained for the next generation to dis- cover the road that led thither. All of his energy. was consumed in the struggle to supply by his daily labor the actual wants of his rapidly growing family. His wife, Bridget Fogarty, came with him from the Emerald Isle, bringing the infant who had probably inspired the emigration. Seven children were born to them before the mother's untimely death on the 19th of September, 1854. Four of the children yet remain, three sons and a daughter.

After the demise of the mother until his own end, the father made a pitiable effort to keep the little family together. Upon his death, however, Mathew, who was then in his eleventh year and strong and active, was adopted into the family of James Crawford, a farmer of Florence, Michigan. He attended the rural schools and worked with his foster father on the farm until he reached the age of eighteen. His life had been by no means an easy one, but he had done what seemed to be his duty, asking for no holidays or recreation. The summer of sixty-eight found him doing a man's work on the farm. Toward the close of that season he made of Mr. Crawford an unusual request, a day's vacation, that he might attend a picnic in the country side. His request was peremptorily refused. This injustice roused his temper and the lad, after fair warning, left Mr. Crawford's house for- ever. Doubtless he attended that picnic which, for- tunately for him, became the first corner stone in his life's career.

A neighboring farmer, knowing his worth, was glad to employ him at the usual wage of eighteen dollars a month and board. As a farm laborer and lumber- man in the woods of Michigan, he worked until 1874, when with his small savings, he started for the West. He left Michigan on the sixteenth of March, and traveling west until he reached Helena, Montana, on the 10th of April, he then crossed through Montana from Helena to the Sun river, and there secured a position as a ranchman, feeding and herding cattle. Two years later he began raising cattle for himself which he followed for five years. In the winter of eighty- one he returned to Michigan for a visit. In March, 1882, in Blackfoot county, Idaho, he purchased four hundred head of cattle which he drove to Fort Mc- Cloud, Alberta, where he managed the beef contract for Captain Stewart R. S. Ford of Great Falls, as well as his own interests. The contract concerned the

meat supply of the Indians who were in the charge of the Canadian government.

In October, 1883, he sold his stock and returned by way of Montana, to California. In the spring of 1884 he returned to Alberta, and on the 4th day of Feb- ruary, 1885, at Collingswood, Ontario, he was united in marriage to Miss Barbara Elizabeth Brown. Mr. and Mrs. Dunn then made an extended trip through the central portion of the United States, stopping in Illinois, Michigan and Texas, and returning to Cal- gary, Canada, where they intended making their home. Here he formed a partnership with John Lineham in the wholesale cattle business. They purchased their stock in Texas and other markets in the United States and shipped them to western Canada. This business laid the foundation of Mr. Dunn's future fortune. Two years later he sold his interest in the company at a large profit and moved his family to Fresno, California, situated in what is now the greatest grape producing district in the United States. Mr. Dunn then realized his possibilities, and together with his brother, Thomas Dunn, and with a Mr. A. J. Samuels, he entered into the real estate business in California. In April, 1888, he disposed of this partnership and made a small investment in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. On the 15th day of June of the same year, he came to Great Falls, Montana. On June the sixteenth, the following day, he purchased lot 13, block 313, of that city, for the total consideration of $3,000. This is now one of the principal blocks of the city, located on the main street. After making this investment he began work on the plans for the erection of a new office build- ing to be erected on his lot, to be known as the Dunn building. This was one of the first of the modern office buildings of Great Falls. In the autumn of 1889, he disposed of all his real estate in Calgary and in the winter of the same year, upon his return to Great Falls, he bought of James Perkins of Helena, lot 12, block 313. This lot adjoined the one he had previously purchased. On this he erected, during the following spring, another office building which he joined to his former block. He then formed a real estate company consisting of Mr. Day Churchill, Mr. D. D. Lambie and himself. In December of 1905, he became inter- ested with Mr. Hoover in the development of the Yogo sapphire mine. This mine was located in January, 1896, in Fergus county, Montana. Today it is owned and operated by the London Sapphire Syndicate and is acknowledged to be the finest mining property of its nature in the United States. Mr. Dunn owned a one-fourth interest in this property and was, at one time, president and manager of the company, George Wells being secretary and treasurer and H. H. Hob- son, vice president.

Mr. Dunn is known throughout Montana. What he has done for Great Falls, herself, can scarcely be estimated but from the esteem in which he is held in the home town, it is not unappreciated.

Politically, he is a Democratic partisan of the pro- gressive type. In 1892 he leaned, on some issues, strongly toward Populism, being elected to the seat of city alderman on that ticket. He accepted the posi- tion to make a fight for the city on the water question and it was largely due to his influence and ability that she came out the victor. For fourteen years he was director of the Great Falls National Bank. He still retains his presidency of the Black Jack Mining Com- pany at Carbon, Montana. now operating as one of the state's best properties. The only secret organization that can claim him as a member is the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Mathew Dunn has had many and varied experiences of interest, one of the most unusual of which was met with during the "Reil" or Halfbreed war of Can- ada. On a trip to Winnipeg, at the outbreak of trouble, he volunteered his service as dispatch bearer for the

HISTORY OF MONTANA

1047

Canadian government and took the contract to deliver messages between Calgary and Edmonton, a distance of some two hundred and twenty-eight miles. For this purpose he employed four riders and arranged a relay of twelve horses, the service lasting for fifty-four days. The work was exciting and much to his liking, in addi- tion to which he received as compensation from the Canadian government fifty-five hundred dollars net, a ratio of one hundred dollars per day. He also re- ceived from the Canadian government credit for car- rying out his contract to the letter.

The citizens of Great Falls still claim Mr. Dunn and his family as residents of their city, although as a matter of fact, they now reside most of the year in San Diego, California. Edith M. Dunn, the daughter born in Calgary, Canada, on the twenty-seventh day of February, 1887, is now Mrs. George B. Keith of San Diego. It is largely to be near this daughter that the parents prefer the California home. The only son, Henry Mathew Dunn, who will reach his majority on Christmas eve of this year, 1912, is a student in the Stanford University, California. The younger daugh- ter, Josephine, was twelve years old on the ninth of August.

Mr. Dunn himself transacts most of his own busi- ness, though nominally retired. He has every appear- ance of being in the prime of his manhood.

LAPEYRE BROTHERS. One of the oldest business estab- lishments of Great Falls and one that for more than a quarter of a century has carried the confidence and patronage of the best class of people in the city is that of Lapeyre Brothers, pioneer druggists, who have car- ried on their present business here since 1886. This enterprise, started in a small way, has steadily grown as the city has advanced, and at this time has a patron- age that is excelled by no other retail pharmacy in the state, and the prestige it enjoys has come as a direct result of the enterprise, progressive ideas and business ability of the founders and proprietors, Alexander R. and Benjamin E. Lapeyre, men whose activities have done much to develop the commercial interests of their adopted city.

The Lapeyre brothers were born in St. Louis, Mis- souri, Alexander R. on April 23, 1857, and Benjamin E. January 13, 1861. Their parents, Alexander and Emelie (Vigieur) Lapeyre, were natives of France, the mother coming with her parents to St. Louis in 1832, and the father locating in that city about the year 1848. Mr. Lapeyre was a merchant, and during his residence in St. Louis conducted a retail grocery business. His death occurred in the Missouri metropolis May 27, 1884, his wife having passed away August 23, 1871. Both the boys secured their education in the public schools of St. Louis, after leaving which Benjamin E. entered the St. Louis School of Pharmacy, while Alex- ander R. made his way west, locating in 1874 in Helena, Montana, where he found employment with the pioneer drug firm of that city, Parchen & D'Acheul, with whom he remained until 1886, the year that he joined his brother in Great Falls. Benjamin E. Lapeyre followed his brother to Montana in 1878, first settling in Butte, where he was employed in the branch store of Parchen & D'Acheul, and after several years there removed to Fort Benton, Montana, there being employed in the drug business by M. A. Flanagan. He continued with Mr. Flanagan until 1886, and then came to Great Falls to assist his brother in founding the firm of Lapeyre Brothers.

This firm makes a specialty of prescription work, and the care used in compounding prescriptions and the use of the selection, only of the very best drugs, herbs and chemicals have gained in a marked degree the con- fidence of the public. The Messrs, Lapeyre are Repub- licans in their political views, and take an interest in the public affairs of the day, although neither has cared to hold office. Both are connected with the Merchants'

Association and with Cascade Lodge No. 34, A. F. & A. M., and Benjamin E. also holds membership in the Elks and Woodmen of the World. They enjoy the friendship of numerous prominent and influential citizens in both business and social life and have so conducted their affairs as to gain a wide-spread reputation for in- tegrity and probity of character. The original location of the firm in 1886 was on Central avenue, between Fourth and Fifth streets, but after one year these quar- ters were found inadequate to the growing business and removal was made to a larger store in the Vaughn building, on Central, between Second and Third streets. This was their location until September, 1890, at which time they removed to their own building, on the south- west corner of Central avenue and Third street, their present location.

BERT G. PAIGE is the owner and proprietor of the leading mercantile establishment in Twin Bridges, which he has controlled since 1906, previous to that time having been employed for a matter of two years or more by the owners of the store, the original firm being known as the Jefferson Valley Trading Company. The firm is now, and has been since he took over the stock and good will six years ago, the Bert G. Paige Company, and the concern reflects in every way the high character of the proprietor and his excellent business ability.

A native of the state and county, born here on December 18, 1874, Mr. Paige is a citizen of the truest western spirit. He was educated in the public schools of the town of Ruby and Twin Bridges, and following his schooling here with a business college course in Sedalia, Missouri, specializing in higher accounting. He was graduated in each course and holds a diploma from each department. As a boy Mr. Paige assisted his father on the ranch, but his first responsible position was when he entered the employment of Wilcomb Brothers at Laurin, in Madison county, and clerked in their store for about two years. This was his first experience in mercantile lines, and gave him an insight into the busi- ness which won his interest and attention and he has been identified with commercial enterprises continuously since that time. After leaving Wilcomb Brothers Mr. Paige became associated with Elling & Company at Sher- idan, and continued with them in a clerical capacity for five years, after which he came to Twin Bridges and en- tering the employ of the Jefferson Valley Trading Com- pany, continued in their service for two years. At the end of that time, conditions being favorable, Mr. Paige bought out the company, and thereafter has carried on the business in his own name, and has enjoyed a liberal measure of success in the enterprise. He has in the six years of his proprietorship proved himself a capable manager and a wise merchandiser, amply able to direct every line of activity connected with the maintenance of such an establishment, which under his management has assumed the form of an up-to-date and comprehen- sive department store.

Mr. Paige is the son of Samuel B. and Minerva (Taylor) Paige. The father was born in New Hamp- shire, and he came to Montana in 1866, after the Civil war, in which he served in a New Hampshire regi- ment, and he saw much active service during the term of his enlistment. He is one of the few Grand Army men in the state of Montana today. Coming to Mon- tana Mr. Paige crossed the plains with an ox team, and he established one of the first quartz mills in the country. He settled in Madison county at the mouth of Alder Gulch, and he resides there now. He has a splendid stock ranch of more than six thousand acres, and a fine home. Mr. Paige has never taken any active part in the political life of the county, although he has been honored with several important offices. He at present holds a state office in the G. A. R. and is head of the local camp at Virginia City. He is also a prom-

1048

HISTORY OF MONTANA

inent Odd Fellow. His wife was a native of Montana, and they were married in Madison county. She died in 1904 at the age of fifty-eight. They were the par- ents of ten children, Bert G. being the third born and the eldest son. Three of the number are deceased, the seven remaining being as follows: Bert G. of this re- view; Ida N., the wife of J. E. Shorten, living at Salt Lake City; Oscar S., married and living on the ranch with his father, whom he assists with the business; Wilbur L., unmarried, also living at home, as is also Warner L .; Charles A. is married and lives in Salt Lake City; Henry W., single and living at home.

Bert G. Paige is a member of the Masons and of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, his wife is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. He is a Democrat and is active in a political way, although he has always declined to run for office of any kind. Mr. Paige is an enthusiastic sportsman, and is devoted to athletics of every kind, although not personally active. He is a true son of Montana, and speaks in highest terms of the opportunities and advantages of the great western commonwealth.

On February 14, 1904, Mr. Paige was united in mar- riage at Sheridan, Montana, to Miss Florence Mar- shall, the daughter of Barney and Katherine Marshall, a pioneer family of Sheridan. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Paige-Boynton S., now in school, and Lowell M.

PETER ANDERSON, deceased, was born in Canada in 1853, and was the son of Donald and Anna (Duer) Anderson, both native born Scots, who settled in Que- bec, Canada, and there reared a fine family of twelve children. Peter Anderson was the eleventh born of this goodly number, and he was raised on the home farm, receiving such education as might be procured in the common schools at that time. He was twenty-one years of age when he left home in 1874, and he made his way almost at once to Montana after arriving in the United States.

As a boy at home Peter Anderson had learned the trade of a blacksmith, it being the admirable custom in those days to fit out a youth with either an education or a trade. Thus young Anderson was amply able to look out for himself in a new country, and for ten years he conducted a blacksmith shop in Helena, then coming to Lewistown, which was then a mere trading post. He built a shop on the corner of Main and Fourth streets, where the Phillips drug store now stands, and his was the first smithy in the settlement. For something like three years he plied a busy trade at that place, then moved the shop back from the main street, and continued to run the shop at the new location until a year before his death. At that junc- ture his health failed, and he was obliged to relin- quish his business activities. In later years Mr. An- derson conducted a wagon making shop in connection with his blacksmithing, and Paul Weydert, of whom specific mention is made in other pages of this work, had charge of the wagon shop end of the business. They were both successful in their work, and Mr. An- derson was especially well known in and about Lewis- town as a master of his trade, and one in whom all con- fidence might be reposed. He was a true pioneer, and was a man held in the highest esteem because of the many fine traits of character which marked him.

On January 25, 1881. Mr. Anderson married Miss Flora Munro, a daughter of Donald and Catherine (McLennan) Munro. The father of Mrs. Anderson was a Canadian, while the mother was born in Scot- land. The father was a farmer and he died in his Canadian home, while the mother still lives and makes her home in Clenroy, Ontario. Of their nine children, Mrs. Anderson was the second born. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, of whom brief mention is here made: Catherine married A. F. Elliot

and lives in Musselshell, Montana; Donald A. is a resident of Lewistown; and Jennie, the youngest of the three, makes her home with her widowed mother. They have a comfortable home in Lewistown in addition to which they own two fine store buildings in the city, which are the source of a considerable revenue to them, and Mrs. Anderson and her daughter contribute much to the social life of Lewistown, in which they have a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, and where they are accorded the most genuine regard.

ROBERT POLLOCK HOPKINS AND OLIVIA HOFFMAN ( GRAETER) HOPKINS. One of the well known and active business women of Silver Bow county, Mrs. Olivia · Hoffman Hopkins, nee Graeter, is the surviv- ing head of one of the oldest families of Butte. She is a graduate of the Western Reserve Union schools of Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, her native place, graduating in 1867.

Frail and delicate, she came west for her health with her brother, A. F. Graeter, now of Dillon, Montana, and concerning her trip Mrs. Hopkins has written an interesting article which is here reproduced in full, being a particularly lucid and impressive story of the many interesting features of a trip over the mountains forty years ago. The article follows: "The trip was made over the Union Pacific, via Denver and Cheyenne, to Ogden, Utah. Where difficulty was experienced in hauling the train over the grades, heavy engines were added, one at each end, hauling and pushing, for the snow was abundant and much fear was entertained of becoming snowbound. On reaching the more western limits of the journey, a few noticeable incidents added much to the western air, and reminded one that he was getting momentarily farther and farther away from the centers of civilization. Here and there were to be seen small groups of Indians, five or six' in a band, crossing the country on their Indian ponies, while rumor had it that they were painted for war and that trouble was anticipated. But nothing came of it at the time, and it is more likely that they were on one of their hunting expeditions. While crossing the prairies at several stations there were to be seen carcasses, heads and hides of buffalo ready for shipment, presum- ably obtained by hunters who were eager for big game, or perhaps traded to them by Indians. To the passengers on this novel trip, every digression with a western air or flavor, grasped and enjoyed by them all, had an awakening effect.

"A few hours out of Denver it was their good for- tune to witness one of the most beautiful scenes ever produced in nature. Apparently a chinook with light rain had fallen during the previous day, with a sud- den change or fall of temperature. This was an icy cold morning, and stillness pervaded the entire region. There were no houses, no fences, and with the excep- tion of the train there were no signs of life anywhere -only nature's broad expanse of undulating landscape. A beautiful dell with a small frozen stream winding through and skirted along its banks by willows, formed the center of a picture, and spreading over the land- scape as far as eye could reach was bunch grass, meadow grass and many larger plants beautifying and breaking the monotony. Every leaf and spear of grass,-every twig and every plant, incased in ice, retained its perfect identical form, symmetry and graceful bend. The sunlight falling obliquely from the far east lighted up the scene as though with mil- lions of brilliants,-an irridescence so complete that with the beautiful dome above, the train was moving through a grotto so divinely planned and executed by the Infinite Hand as to beggar description, and any one once impressed by the picture could never again forget the real essence of its infinite grandeur. It passed all too quickly.

Ông bụ L ủ Willens 5 5- NY

Für Anderson Peter

1049

HISTORY OF MONTANA

"Moving on with usual speed the train in time arrived at Salt Lake, where Mrs. Hopkins and her brother spent a day looking over that interesting city, and making a few necessary purchases for the long and tedious trip by coach. The following day the party resumed its journey and on arriving at Ogden learned that short stretch of narrow gauge railway had just been completed for a distance of about twenty miles, which it was necessary to make in order to catch the next morning overland coach. Arriving at the termi- nal after dark, they put up at the 'hotel,' the only building in sight excepting a few huts. Their rooms were reached by ladder-like steps, narrow and very steep. The inside doors and partitions were con- structed of muslin, and for obvious reasons, no locks were considered necessary. At least, there were none; but the rooms were dimly lighted by an oil lamp. Mrs. Hopkins was aroused at early dawn and after breakfasting, made ready for the three hundred mile- trip in the four horse overland stage coach which was well provided with buffalo robes, and stood ready to receive its passengers. After donning her heavy wraps and furs, she found all provision had been made for her comfort, even to a warming pan, and last, but not least, a pair of high top fur lined boots, provided by her brother, who well knew the rigors of the strenuous trip before them. She was the only woman passenger. "Looking in the direction of the lonesome road there was nothing to be seen but snow and the blue sky. With a "Good Bye," a loud crack of the whip and a lurch of the coach and horses, they were fairly on their way northward. In many places the roadway was completely obliterated by the recent snowstorm and the only guides to the right track were branches of willows strewn alongside the roadway. Some of these were snowed under, while others remained partially above the snow to beckon them on through that deso- late and bleak stretch of country, which made her feel that she was very far away from home, and filled her with an eagerness for the first glimpse of the next station, which was always well timed for their next meal, and a fresh relay of horses. They reached Ban- nack on February 1, 1871."

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 60

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