A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 92

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

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After Mr. Boyer's father left Helena, the son con- tinued to clerk for various firms for a few years, and then went on the road as a traveling salesman. It was largely through his efforts that the Montana branch of the United Commercial travelers was organized, and he is a charter member of the association. In January, 19II, Mr. Boyer decided to go into business for him- self, and since that time has been engaged in the whole- sale liquor business.

He is a Republican, but of late years has taken no part in the activities of the party, being wholly oc- cupied in his business. He is a Mason of high rank, having taken all degrees to the thirty-second and being a Shriner, affiliating with Algeria Temple at Helena. He and Mrs. Boyer are members of the Hebrew church. Mrs. Boyer was formerly Miss Carrie Feldberg, whose father, Jacob Feldberg, belongs to one of the pioneer families of Helena. Miss Feldberg became Mrs. Boyer on January 18, 1907, the marriage being celebrated in Helena, the birthplace of the bride and the residence of her parents. One daughter has been born of their union, Nancy Boyer, born at Helena on May 7, 1909, and one son, John Feldberg Boyer, born September 14, I912.

Mr. Boyer's idea of enjoyment is to spend his time with his family, and so when he is at leisure he is generally to be found at the pleasant home on Dearborn street, which, like all he possesses, is the guerdon of his unaided efforts.

EDGAR BOYD CAMP. One of the leading citizens of Billings, who was the pioneer business man of the city and the owner of the first store here, is Edgar Boyd Camp, who is now engaged in the real estate, loan and insurance business, with offices in the Chi- cago Building. Mr. Camp was born at Bloomington, Illinois, November 25, 1856, and is a son of Edgar B. and Mary (Porter) Camp, natives of the Empire state. His grandfather was Elisha Camp, a colonel in the War of 1812, and two of his father's brothers were colonels in the Union army during the Civil war, and were buried with military honors in Arlington Ceme- tery, Washington, D. C. Edgar B. Camp, Sr., a banker, died at the age of thirty-six years, shortly after leaving his native home at Sacket Harbor, New York, for the then far western prairies of Illinois. Mr. Camp's mother was born and educated in New York City, a daughter of David C. Porter, a wealthy business man of that city, and Rose Ann (Hardy) Porter, daughter of Sir William Hardy, of England. The families on both sides were noted for their literary attainments, and members thereof have gained dis- tinction in the field of letters down to recent times, Miss Rose Porter, whose death occurred September 7, 1906, at her home in New Haven, Connecticut, having been a well-known writer and the authoress of some forty books. Mrs. Laura Porter Sanford, of Genoa, Italy, although only having published one vol- ume of poetry in her own name, is a constant con-

tributor to the various leading magazines and periodi- cals, and her work is much sought after. Both of these ladies are sisters of Mr. Camp's mother.

Edgar Boyd Camp was reared in Illinois, and at various times lived at Odell, Bloomington, Normal and Pontiac, and at those places received a public school education. On leaving school he secured em- ployment in a dry goods store in Pontiac, where he re- mained for five years, and in the spring of 1880 engaged in the real estate business on his own ac- count. During the fall of 1881, however, he disposed of his business and turned his face toward the west, and on November 21, 1881, arrived at Glendive, Mon- taha. He at once secured employment in the yards of the Northern Pacific Railroad, but after spending a few days in the exhausting work of loading buf- falo hides and other heavy work, decided that his former sedentary life had not prepared him for such heavy labor, and he accordingly pushed on to Miles City, arriving on the first train to enter that place after the construction train, which had reached that point the day before, November 30, 1881. Here Mr. Camp soon found employment with the hardware firm of Miles & Stravell, with whom he continued until February 26, 1882, at which time he formed a part- nership with Arthur W. Miles, of Livingston, Mon- tana, who was then paymaster's clerk at Forth Keogh, and, representing the firm, Mr. Camp went to Coulson, at that time a lively frontier town located on the banks of the Yellowstone river, two miles east of the present site of Billings, traveling 160 miles by stage and being followed by his merchandise, which was hauled by freight teams. On his arrival he established himself in the hardware business in a tent, but some time later was able to secure some green cottonwood lum- ber, at $60 per thousand feet, and erected a store building. Even at this time Mr. Camp possessed the foresight to discern that Billings would be the city of the future, and he patiently carried on his business at Coulson until the townsite of Billings had been laid out and lots were placed on the market, and on May 12, 1882, he opened the initial store in the magic city of Billings. During that summer, however, he disposed of his interest in the hardware business to Mr. Miles, and became interested in the first brick yard in the Yellowstone Valley, known as Camp & Penny, which firm manufactured the brick for the Northern Pacific round house and a number of the first brick buildings in Billings.

In October, 1882, Mr. Camp re-entered the hard- ware business, in partnership with his brother, Charles D. Camp, under the firm name of Camp Brothers, which became one of the largest concerns in eastern Montana and built the building now known as the Commercial Hotel, at the corner of Montana avenue and Twenty-sixth street. During the year 1886, how- ever, the widespread commercial depression affected this part of the state, and along with various other houses the firm of Camp Brothers, in July, was forced to make an assignment for the benefit of its cred- itors. In January, 1887, the firm having paid its cred- itors in full, a new company was organized, known as the Williston Hardware Company, with which Mr. Camp was connected for some time. On retiring from the hardware business, he entered the newspaper field, and purchased the plant of the Gazette Publishing Company which had just consolidated with the other three newspapers, the Post, the Herald and the Rustler, and thus became the owner of all the news- papers published in Yellowstone county. He con- ducted the Gazette daily and weekly for one year, and after that continued to publish a weekly, known as the Montana Stock Gazette, until September, 1888. Dur- ing the time from March 4, 1885, until March 4, 1887, Mr. Camp served as treasurer of Yellowstone county, and for a time acted as alderman of Billings. In 1888

Edgar, B, Cauf

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he disposed of his journalistic interests to E. H. Becker, and in that same year was elected to the office of mayor of Billings, serving in that capacity until January, 1889. Subsequently he removed from Bil- lings with his family and lived at various times in Helena, Spokane, Washington and Chicago, and re- turned to Billings from the latter city in March, 1897. For the year that followed he was associated with the well-known merchants, Yegen Brothers, and then opened a general merchandise store in partnership with his brother at Laurel, the townsite of which he owned and platted, but in December, 1905, disposed of most of his interests in that town. In May, 1902, Mr. Camp returned to Billings and engaged in the real estate, insurance and loan business, in which he has been uniformly successful, and in addition is interested in several large ranches in the valley. Mr. Camp has always maintained an active interest in all that per- tains to the welfare of his city, and at present is serv- ing as president of the Library Board, and a director and secretary of the Board of the Polytechnic Insti- tute. During 1911 he served as president of the Bil- lings Chamber of Commerce, of which he was a mem- ber of the board of trustees for six years, and during 1910 and 1911 was president of the Central Commer- cial Club, made up of the various commercial bodies of the Midland Empire. He is vice-president of the Bank of Billings, of which he was one of the or- ganizers in 1911, and is widely known in financial and industrial circles. In the campaign of 1912 Mr. Camp was elected on the Republican ticket a representative of the lower house in the Montana legislature, and served with credit his party. Fraternally he is con- nected with the Elks and other societies. In the spring of 1882 Mr. Camp was one of the organizers of the first church in Billings, and he has always been active in church and charitable work. He is an adherent of the Congregational faith.

On January 21, 1886, Mr. Camp was united in mar- riage with Miss Ida L. Carter, at Jersey City. Mrs. Camp was born at Bridgeport, Connecticut, and is a daughter of Gilman and Ila H. (Hudson) Carter, the former a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and the lat- ter of Newburg, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Camp have two children: Gilman L., special agent of the Insurance Company of North America of Philadelphia ; and Ruth Esther, who is attending St. Helen's Hall, a school for young ladies at Portland, Oregon. Mrs. Camp's sister, Mrs. Emma H. Anderson, is a resident of San Francisco, California. Charles D. Camp, Mr. Camp's brother, with whom he was in business for a number of years, is now an agriculturist near Laurel.

Edgar Boyd Camp has led a very active and indus- trious life, and has made his money solely through his personal exertions. He is recognized by his fellow citizens as a man of enterprise, ever ready to promote all projects designed for the public good. His social standing is with the best people of the community, and his business integrity has ever been without reproach.

JEROME G. LOCKE. Montana had but eight years to exist as a territory when the young man who holds the important post of United States surveyor general for the state was born at Bozeman. In him has been given to the state one of the most brilliant and able of her native sons, whose career, necessarily short on account of his youth, has been such as to warrant the trust and confidence of the world, while his devotion to the public good is unquestioned and arises from a sincere interest in the welfare of his fellow men.

The date of Mr. Locke's nativity was April 2, 1881. His father, John Franklin Locke, who was of Scotch- Irish parentage, was born in Kentucky about 1847. His father and mother had removed from Virginia to Kentucky about 1840, and when he was six years of age his parents again removed to Iowa, where John

Franklin received a meagre common school education and learned the business of a flour miller. He left Iowa about 1870 for the west, coming by the way of the Black Hills in South Dakota to the Crow Agency in Montana. He was variously engaged from 1870 to 1880 as a gold miner in the Black Hills, as a hunter and trapper, as a government packer and as a freighter. He was in several Indian fights, the best known of which was the Canyon Creek fight near where Billings now stands, at which place he and some twenty-one soldiers and civilians captured about one hundred and fifty members of the Nez Perce tribe after having killed several of their number. He barely missed the Custer massacre in 1876, having been with Reno's command as a dispatch bearer less than a week before the cele- brated fight.

The subject's mother, Fidelia Alice Stone, was born in California, in 1855, her parents having gone to that state from Missouri in the gold rush of "49." She came overland to Bozeman, Montana, about 1877. Her father for a short time was fortunate in mining advan- tures in California and acquired a considerable amount of money, so that she received as good an education as could then be obtained in the west. In 1882 Mr. Locke's parents removed to a ranch in the Yellowstone, about fifteen miles east of where Livingston now stands, where the father engaged in the stock business. Young Jerome spent his early life on the range and acquired an educa- tion by attending the country school from two to three months each summer from the time he was eight years of age until the age of thirteen. He then took his first trip on the railroad, to southern Idaho and northern Nevada, where he spent the summer with a roundup outfit in the employ of an uncle. In the fall of 1894 he entered the preparatory department of the Montana State College at Bozeman. The faculty at that time consisted of only six or eight members and the school was held in various places in the town, no buildings having yet been erected. Mr. Locke had an allowance of only twenty dollars per month from home and he added to this by sawing wood and doing janitor work at twenty cents per hour. In the school season of 1895 and 1896 his finances were too low to attend and he spent the time on his father's ranch, caring for cattle. In the fall of 1896 he again entered school, and after finishing a preparatory course, entered the college proper, from which he graduated in 1904 with the degree of Bachelor of Civil Engineering, having contributed to his own support during the course.

During the spring of 1902 Jerome G. Locke entered the United States reclamation service and spent the summer of 1902 and 1903 on various projects in Montana and Dakota. In 1904, after graduation, he was employed by the Emigrant Gulch Placer Mining Company, as assistant engineer, in charge of the installation of placer mining machinery at Chico, Montana, and later in min- eral surveys in and around Cook City; in the spring of 1905 he was employed as transitman on irrigation work near Billings, and was later raised to assistant engineer, where he continued until the spring of 1906, when he took a position as engineer in charge of an irrigation project in the Clark's Fork Valley, east of Red Lodge and in which project he was financially inter- ested. In the summer of 1907 the company failed and his father died, and Mr. Locke taking charge of his estate and resided at Livingston until the fall of 1908, working at odd time as deputy sheriff. Having practi- cally settled all the affairs of his father's estate by the fall of 1908, he then took a position as engineer in charge of an irrigation project in the Upper Madison valley, east of Virginia City, where he continued until the fall of 1909, when he took a position as engineer in charge of the Willow Creek irrigation project near Three Forks. In the summer of 1910, the project having failed to materialize, he accepted a position as special agent in charge of the census of irrigation for Montana and

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North Dakota and continued in this capacity until July I, 19II, when, in recognition of his ability and faithful- ness to duty, he was appointed surveyor general for Montana.

In politics Mr. Locke is a Progressive. He is affiliated with no church but is unswervingly altruistic and kindly and generous in his dealings with his brother. Frater- nally he has taken all the various Masonic rites. In 1908 he received the Master's degree in civil engineering at the Montana State College. On August 7, 1912, Mr. Locke was married to Pearl A. McNutt, a Minneapolis school teacher. For three years previous to her marriage she taught in the graded schools of Helena.

JAMES EDIE. For many years James Edie was one of the prominent and prosperous sheep breeders and dealers in Montana, having lived in this part of the country for over a quarter of a century. He was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, 1856, and came to Montana in 1881, coming directly across the continent. He settled on Horse Prairie, and immediately took up the business in which he was to spend the remainder of his life, that of sheep breeding and dealing. In the country of his birth he had been engaged as quarry master. He became a successful man, a well-known citizen of this section, removing to Dillon from the ranch on Horse Prairie about 1892, and his Scotch traits came out strongly in the rough and arduous life of the sheep country. He was a nephew of the late Hon. George M. Brown. His death occurred in New York City, on the 28th of December, 1897. He was starting on a journey back to visit the home of his boyhood, accompanied by his family, when he was suddenly over- taken by his fatal illness. He left his family in com- fortable circumstances, and his widow has ably main- tained his reputation as a keen and scrupulously honest business man.

Mr. Edie was married in 1879 to Miss Maggie Hay Morrison, who was born in Fifeshire, Scotland. She was educated at St. Andrews Madras College, Scotland, and since her husband's death she has become one of the largest land holders and realty owners in Beaverhead county. Mr. and Mrs. Edie became the parents of seven children, but of these only two, Margaret and John, are living. Mr. Edie was a member of the Repub- lican party, and in the fraternal world was a member of the Masonic order. He was a member of the Presby- terian church, as are all the members of the family. Mrs. Edie is a very active worker in church affairs and has been of great aid in the upbuilding of the church in Dillon. In 1908 she and her daughter made the journey to Scotland and then over to the Continent, the journey that Mr. Edie had planned. She and her daughter are valned and distinctly useful citizens of Dillon.

ROBERT LEAVENS has been prominent as a ranchman and general business man in and about Billings, Mon- tana, for the past twenty years. Coming to Montana when he was in his 'teens, he has taken active part in many affairs of public interest since his early manhood, and is recognized as one of the solid man of his section.

He was born in Beverly, New Jersey, August 24, 1869, and is the son of William T. and Mary (Kain) Leavens. The father, now a resident of Billings, Mon- tana was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1839. The mother was a native of New Jersey, born in Beverly in that state, and she died there in 1869, when her son, Robert, was but six months old. One other child was born to them, Teresa, the wife of Major Hugh Stuart, of the British Army.

William T. Leavens came to this country at an early age, and from New York City he drifted to Old Mexico. Returning from Mexico, he eventually found himself in Beverly, New Jersey, where he married and settled down, engaging in the mercantile business. Following

the death of his wife, crushed by the blow, he went hack to his old home in England, taking his two infant children with him. He remained there for a number of years, finally returning to the United States in 1881, and bringing his son with him. They went direct to Philadelphia upon landing, and shortly after they came up the Missouri river to Fort Benton, and later in the summer of 1881 they located on Judith Basin, on Little Rock Creek, Montana, where the elder Leavens homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of govern- ment land and engaged in the stock raising business. In 1883 they removed to Judith Gap, Montana, where he bought a ranch, in addition to which he took up another tract of government land, and again entered the stock business. He continued thus until 1897, when he came to Billings, where he now resides with his son, Robert.

Robert Leavens spent the early years of his life in England, where he received the usual schooling, and he was about twelve years of age when his father brought him back to the land of his birth. He began early to "rough it," and while he was still but a lad he earned his first money working in a sawmill on Beaver Creek, Meagher county, Montana, receiving as his wage for a month's work the sum of forty dollars. When he was sixteen years old he began "cow punching," which he followed for several years. He saved his money carefully while he was thus employed, and in a few years he was able to start ranching on his own responsibility, locating a piece of land in Judith Gap and buying cattle and horses with his savings. In 1890 he located a second ranch and sold his first holdings to his father. In 1894 he took a government con- tract to carry the United States mail between Billings and Ubet, carrying the contract under the firm name of Hughes & Leavens, and continued the work for four years, running his ranch at the same time. In 1896 he sold his second ranch, replacing it with another nine miles south of Billings in the Yellowstone valley, and beginning operations there on a large scale.

At the time of the breaking out of the Spanish-Amer- ican war Mr. Leavens was second lieutenant of Troop A, Montana National Guards, their company located at Billings. He enlisted with his troop for service in the United States Cavalry, as Troop M, Third Cavalry, U. S. V., and was sent to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he spent the summer of 1898 with his regiment. At the close of the war he returned to Billings with his troop.

During the summer of 1900 he was engaged in tak- ing the United States census of Yellowstone county, Montana. Following that he was in the service of Jackson & Higgins Company, of South Omaha, Ne- braska, in the live stock commission business until 1901, and he then engaged in buying horses for the British government during the Boer war, working under the supervision of the firm of Herford & Louther, and oper- ating in Washington, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Utah. He was engaged in this business until 1902. In the fall of that year Mr. Leavens sold his ranch, with all stock and equipment, in Yellowstone county and his town property in Billings, and removed to Bear Creek, Carbon county, Montana, and bought a ranch, also a half interest in another, and engaged in the sheep busi- ness. He organized the firm known as the Bear Creek Sheep Company, and in 1905 assisted in founding the firm doing business under the name of The Bear Creek Coal Company, he being vice-president of the latter.

Seeing the possibilities of their location with refer- ence to future advancement, Mr. Leavens, together with George T. Lamport, his father-in-law, organized and platted the village known as. Bear Creek, in Carbon county, Montana, and became actively engaged in the merchandise, banking and real estate business. They organized the Bear Creek Banking Company in 1908, which has done a thriving business since that time.

Mr. Leavens has never taken more than a reasonable

Argan

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interest in politics, but was elected alderman from the Fifth ward in the fall of 1911.

In fraternal circles he is more than ordinarily promi- nent, being a member of Ashlar Lodge, No. 29, A. F. & A. M .; Billings Chapter, No. 6, R. A. M .; Aldemar Commandery, No. 5, K. T .; Algeria Temple, Helena, Montana, and Billings Lodge, No. 394, B. P. O. E.

He was a member of the old Maverick Hose Com- pany, of Billings, the first fire organization of the town, a volunteer department, J. C. Bond being chief, and while they now have a paid department the old Maver- ick Company, limited to forty members, is still in existence and maintains a club room, where they meet and discuss reminiscences of the fires of Billings dur- ing the palmy days of the Maverick department.

On December 8, 1897, Mr. Leavens and Elle E. Lam- port were united in marriage. She is the daughter of George T. Lamport, before mentioned. Mr. and Mrs. Leavens are the parents of one child, a daughter named Dorothy.

ARTHUR C. LOGAN. Lying eight miles west of the city of Billings, in the Yellowstone Valley, is the 1,000-acre ranch of Arthur C. Logan, a prominent stockman and the heaviest importer of blooded stock in the state. For many years Mr. Logan followed the profession of teaching and became well and favorably known as an educator in various parts of the country, but during the past several decades he has given his whole attention to ranching and now holds pre-emi- nence among the leading stockmen of the Yellowstone Valley. Mr. Logan is a product of the east, having been born at New Milford, Connecticut, June 9, 1853, a son of James and Ann (Denning) Logan, and a member of an old New England family of Scotch an- cestry, members of which participated in the Revolu- tionary war. Mr. Logan's mother was a native of Ireland, who came to the United States about 1849, and her death occurred in 1900, at Brookfield, Con- necticut, her husband having passed away near New Milford, in 1881.

Arthur C. Logan graduated from the Danbury (Connecticut) high school when he was fifteen years of age, and when he was sixteen began teaching school. He was only eighteen years old when he held the posi- tion of principal of the schools of New Milford, and during the next fifteen years held the principalship of three graded schools. In 1880 he migrated to Bis- marck, North Dakota, and after acting as principal of schools there for one year came to Miles City, Montana. For one year he edited the Miles City Press, a daily newspaper, and was principal of schools there for six years, being the real factor in the establishment of the public school system at that place. In 1886 he was ap- pointed superintendent of schools by Governor Sam Hauser, of the then territory of Montana, and was reappointed to the same position by Governor Preston B. Leslie but refused the nomination for the position after Montana had become a state and turned his at- tention to the stock business, to which he has given his whole time ever since. He now has an excellent property of 1,000 acres situated eight miles west of Billings, and has been greatly interested in the im- portation and breeding of imported stock. He has conducted his operations with signal discretion and ability, and his success has been a due reward for his well directed efforts. He also has a 1,200 acre ranch within three miles of Billings and 1,800 acres at Bull Mountain, a stock ranch which he and his son Tom own together.

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 92

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