A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 94

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

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In 1891, in company with Simon Pepin, he moved to the site of the present city of Havre and inaugurated the enterprise which may properly be considered the cornerstone of that city's upbuilding and subsequent prosperity. Under cover of a tent they opened a gen- eral merchandise store on ground now occupied by the Great Northern Railway yards. Upon the location of the railroad, with public-spirited enterprise they donated to the railway company the land on which their business was being conducted, the condition of this transfer being that the company should make this a division point on the road. These mutual conces- sions on the part of the local business men and the railway company gave the first real impetus to Havre. The firm then erected a substantial store building, and this, with Mr. Broadwater's residence, was the pioneer structure in Havre. For twenty years the firm of Broadwater & Pepin has ranked foremost among the mercantile concerns of Havre and northern Mon- tana; and their enterprise has led the way for many important improvements in this vicinity. Mr. Broad- water has also been engaged in stock raising, and in connection with others controls many thousand acres of grazing and farming lands. He is secretary and treasurer, while Mr. Pepin is president of the Broad- water-Pepin Company. He was also one of the organ- izers and is a director of the Security State Bank of Havre.

For many years Mr. Broadwater has been one of the influential Democrats in this portion of the state. Dur- ing Cleveland's administration in the nineties, he served four years as postmaster at Havre, and was also an alderman of the city two terms, or four years. Fra- ternally he is a member of the Elks, Havre Lodge No. I201.

In October, 1890, Mr. Broadwater was married at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to Miss Sadie Moon, who was born in that city, where her father, Dr. Henry B. 'Moon, was a prominent dentist. Her brother, Major H. G. Moon, of the Twentieth U. S. In- fantry, now recruiting officer at Philadelphia, was for a number of years stationed at Fort Assiniboine. He

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also took an active part in the Cuban war, and was seriously wounded in one of the engagements about the city of Santiago. Mr. and Mrs. Broadwater are the parents of two children, Marian Louise, attending the state University at Missoula, and Kathlyn Eddwina, a student of the Havre high school.

ISAAC A. HEILBRONNER. The west is replete with young business men who through their own well applied efforts have made of success not an accident but a logical result. Prominent among the representa- tive self-made men of Butte is Isaac A. Heilbronner, president of the Heilbronner Company, which con- ducts an extensive and well-known mining brokerage business.

Isaac A. Heilbronner was born at Salt Lake City, August 2, 1875, and he is a son of Henry and Hen- rietta (Steinhauser) Heilbronner, the former of whom was summoned to the life eternal August 26, 1884, and the latter of whom is now living, at the venerable age of 75 years, at Butte. The father was a native of Bavaria, Germany, where his birth occurred Dec. 2, 1836, and he came to America from France about the year 1856, at which time he was twenty years of age. He settled first in New York, going to Portland, Ore., in the sixties by way of Isthmus of Panama, and was engaged in mercantile pursuits until he came to Butte, in 1881, here turning his attention to the retail furn- iture business. He did not long survive his advent in Butte but died three years later. At the time of his demise he had extensive mining interests at Carlin, Nevada, and he left his family fairly well provided for. Mrs. Heilbronner was born at Nuremburg, Ger- many, May I, 1837, and when a child she accompanied an older sister to America. Location was made in Philadelphia, later in San Francisco, and subsequently in Portland, Ore., where she was married to Mr. Heil- bronner. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Heilbronner, namely, Theresa, who is the wife of I. N. Symons, a prominent dry-goods merchant at Butte; Charles H., who is engaged in business at Wenachie, Washington; Max H., who is located at Prince Rupert, northwestern Canada; Isaac A., the immediate subject of this review; Julian H., a resident of Hood River, Oregon and Adolph H., who is con- nected with the San Pedro Railway Company at Butte.

In the public schools of Butte, Isaac A. Heilbronner received his early educational training. At the age of nine years, however, he was taken from school and made cash boy in the Bonner Mercantile Company, remaining with that concern for the ensuing eight years and eventually becoming a salesman. Believing that broader opportunities existed in other fields than the general merchandise business, he resigned his posi- tion with the Bonner Company and became a sales- man in the employ of Louis D. Cohn, a wholesale cigar manufacturer. After considerable experience in the cigar business Mr. Heilbronner decided to launch out in that line himself and accordingly, in 1898, formed a partnership with E. C. Kulli and opened a whole- sale and retail cigar and tobacco establishment in Butte. Mr. Kulli eventually withdrew from the con- cern and his place was taken by Patsy Brown, the firm becoming that of Brown & Heilbronner Company. In 1899 Mr. Heilbronner withdrew from the above con- cern and opened the Heilbronner Cigar Company, at No. 23 East Broadway. He conducted the latter busi- ness independently for the next three years, at the ex- piration of which he sold out in order to engage in the mining brokerage business, opening offices under the name of the National Mining & Investment Com- pany, a concern which was incorporated in 1906 and which was officered as follows: Walter C. Lewis, pres- ident; G. A. Lauzier, vice president; and Isaac A. Heilbronner, secretary and treasurer. The above cor- poration continued until 1909, when Messrs. Lauzier

and Heilbronner withdrew. About that time the Heif -- bronner Company was incorporated, with I. A. Heil- bronner, president; J. C. Adams, general superintend- ent of the Boston-Montana Company, vice president ; and H. H. Walrath, secretary and treasurer. The offices of the Heilbronner Company are maintained at No. 200 North Main street, Butte, and a large mining brokerage business is controlled, the same including extensive mining investments.

Mr. Heilbronner has built up a splendid business for himself in Butte and his sterling integrity of char- acter as allied with his fair and honorable business transactions has gained to him the friendship and esteem of many of the most prominent citizens of Butte. In politics he is an uncompromising Republican and while he has no time for active participation in public affairs he is always ready to exert his in- fluence in support of all measures and enterprises ad- vanced for the good of the general welfare. In a fraternal way he is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the United Commercial Trav- elers, the Silver Bow Club, the Rocky Mountain Club of New York, and the Butte Country Club.

February 6, 1900, at Butte, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Heilbronner to Miss Rose Hall, youngest daughter of Capt. W. E. Hall, manager of the Alice Mining Company. Captain Hall has figured very prom- inently in national, state and local politics and was the first mayor of Walkerville, Montana. Mrs. Heilbronner was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, February 17, 1879. She is a woman of most gracious personality and is deeply beloved by all with whom she has come in con- tact. She is a devout member of the Episcopal church and they are popular factors in connection with the best social activities of Butte, their home being recog- nized as a center of refinement and generous hos- pitality. Mr. and Mrs. Heilbronner have one son, Walter Lewis Heilbronner, whose birth occurred the 16th of September, 1910.

FRANK E. BLAKESLEE. One of the best known and most popular hostelries in Sweet Grass county is the Blakeslee Hotel, favorably located at the county seat, Big Timber, the proprietor of which, Frank E. Blakes- lee, is a business man of versatile talents and promi- nent in the public and social life of the city. Coming first to Montana about thirty years ago, he was for a time employed in minor capacities, but after he had embarked in business on his own account his rise was rapid and continuous and he is now recognized as one of his community's most substantial citizens. Mr. Blakeslee was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, November 17, 1848, and is a son of Edward and Emmeline (Wood- ford) Blakeslee.

The Blakeslee family is one of the old and honored ones of New England, its progenitors having come to America on the Mayflower, and members participated in both the Revolutionary war and War of 1812-14. Edward Blakeslee was born in Plymouth Hollow, Con- necticut, known at this time as Thomaston, in 1800, and as a youth learned the trade of clock maker, being for some time in partnership with the noted Seth Thomas in the manufacture of clocks. He came west to Alle- ghany, Pennsylvania, by stage at an early day, and then went down the Ohio river on a flatboat to Cincinnati, where he became the pioneer clock-maker of the city, and from the early 'forties had the controlling trade of the Thomas clocks throughout the western country. He was also well known in Democratic politics, and in his death, which occurred in 1866, his city lost an able business man and representative public-spirited citizen. His wife, also horn at Plymouth Hollow, died in 1864, having been the mother . of six children, of whom two survive: Emmeline, the widow of George Deprans, living at New Haven, Connecticut ; and Frank E., of Big Timber.

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The education of Frank E. Blakeslee was secured in the public and high schools of Cincinnati, and in that city he also attended Woodward College. On com- pleting his studies, he learned the carpenter's trade, but subsequently accepted a position as clerk in the wholesale grocery establishment of William Glenn & Sons. He continued with this Cincinnati firm from 1865 until 1881, when he embarked in business for him- self in Montana. As a broker he handled the output of a cotton mill for about three years, and then came to Montana and became manager at Couer de Leon, for the St. Paul firm of Glidden, Griggs & Company, now Griggs, Cooper & Company. After spending four years in this business, Mr. Blakeslee went to California, but a year later returned to Montana, locating at Thompson's Falls, where he was engaged in the liquor business for some length of time. Later he went to Hunter's Springs, Montana, and for some time was employed as a cowboy, but subsequently came to Big Timber and engaged in the restaurant business. He now devotes his entire attention to his hotel business, and the Blakeslee enjoys a large share of representa- tive patronage. The proprietor endeavors to make his house homelike and comfortable for his guests, and as a host he is genial and obliging and very popular with the traveling public. He is a stanch Republican in his political views, and for four years has served as alder- man of his ward.

On December 13, 1889, Mr. Blakeslee was married to Miss Mabel Follansbee, who was born in Concord, New Hampshire, daughter of Richard Follansbee, a promi- nent citizen of Concord and a member of an old and honored New England family. Mrs. Blakeslee died December 5, 1901. She and her husband had no children of their own, but reared an adopted daughter, who is now the wife of Robert Brownlee, who has twice repre- sented Sweet Grass county in the state assembly.

BEN FALK. Those local characteristics which are most apparent to the stranger when he first mingles with the people of Montana are their progressiveness, their ability to begin large projects and carry them to a successful conclusion, their whole-heartedness and their intense loyalty to the state of their adoption. This has largely been the quality of the citizenship of the Treas- tre state since her pioneer days. Then it was that pio- neers of large ability and of strong character, laid the foundation of this promising commonwealth, of which few who have lived within her boundaries ever speak in other than terms of praise. One of the prosperous cities of this thriving state and one especially favored in the calibre of the men who have cast their fortunes here, is Anaconda. Among its strong business firms we note particularly that of Falk Brothers, who both operate the Independent meat market there and also conduct a wholesale business in that line. The founder of this successful business was Ben Falk, the father of the present proprietors and now a retired resident of Anaconda, whose people esteem him as one of the city's most honored pioneers. A record of the events of his life is of especial interest.

The proverbial thrift, industry and business acumen of the German nation descended as an ancestral gift to Ben Falk, who was born near Bruchsall in Obergram- bach, Groscherzogtheim, Baden, Germany, on July 13, 1835. His father was a butcher and stock dealer, whose business thus gave Ben early opportunities for learning the butchering business. He lived at his home in the Fatherland until early in the year 1857, at which time he came to America, sailing from Havre on a sailing vessel and, after a voyage of forty-two days, landing in New York. There an older brother, Nathan Falk, who was engaged in the meat business, met young Ben Falk and took him into his employ. After a time the latter was admitted into partnership in the business which was then located on Stanton street, New York

City. From March 12, 1857, uutil December 2, 1862, Ben Falk remained a resident of New York. On the latter date he embarked for new scenes and varied ad- ventures, but with definite vocational purposes in view.

Having taken passage on the steamer "Ariel," Mr. Falk was once more on the sea, bound this time for California via the isthmus. When off the coast of Cuba, the vessel was fired upon and stopped by the Confederate cruiser "Alabama," from which a shot was fired so close to the "Ariel" that it cut off part of the mast. After being detained for three days in West Indian waters, the "Ariel" was permitted to proceed on its course, and after a journey of twenty-eight days Mr. Falk landed at San Francisco. There he imme- diately found work at his trade and a month later be- came a partner in a stall in the old Metropolitan market. Disposing of his interest there, he went by boat to Portland, Oregon, en route to Boise, Idaho. When, however, he went to Walla Walla-three hundred miles from Boise-to take the stage, he found that space in the coaches on the line running to Boise was all taken for the next three weeks.

Mr. Falk and a companion thereupon determined to set out for Boise on foot. During the first day they walked twenty-five miles. Then, on the Blue Mountains, they encountered snow, waist deep. That made it seem advisable that they retrace their steps to Walla Walla, which they did. There Mr. Falk temporarily accepted a position in a meat market, where he remained at work for two months. News from the gold fields of the Kootenai country in British Columbia attracted him to that country, five hundred miles from Walla Walla. He made the journey thither, finding on his route not a single house, until he reached Fisherville, his destina- tion, in July of 1864. That camp was at the time very rich in placer mining and there were several hundred men in camp. Late in the fall, about two hundred men arrived. By February the supplies which had been laid in for the regular population had run so low that prices became exceedingly high. Mr. Falk has seen flour sell as high as one dollar per pound and potatoes at nearly half that value. The winter of 1864-65 was unusually long and extremely severe one. Mr. Falk conducted a market in Fisherville until August, 1865, when he sold out and located at Helena, Montana.

In the city of Helena Mr. Falk's residence was short. He established on Wood street a market which was successfully conducted. But on April 28, 1869, a great fire swept the city and one of the many buildings that were burned was that of the Falk meat market. There- upon his period of less than four years in Helena was followed by eleven years in the great American me- tropolis, the scene of Mr. Falk's earliest experiences in this country. There he purchased a meat market at the corner of Third avenue and Fifty-ninth street. He left New York City a second time, in July of 1881, returning to Montana and settling at Butte and there opening a market at East Park street. In August of 1883, he came to this place, which has ever since been his home.

At the time of Mr. Falk's arrival here, Anaconda was a city of tents. In the first business block erected on Commercial street, he established the first butcher shop ever conducted in Anaconda. Here he continued to pursue his habitual business activities until his retire- ment a few years ago, at which time he was succeeded in business by his sons, Barry and David.

Both during the years of his active business career and since his retirement ten years ago, Ben Falk has been prominent in the Montana Society of Pioneers, of which he was in 1912 elected president of Deer Lodge county. He has also taken much interest in political affairs, being a stanch Republican, but has always re- fused such offices of public preferment as have been tendered him. His religious attitude is best expressed by his endorsing and actively carrying out the prin-

Ben Stalk

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ciples of human conduct so compactly stated in the Golden Rule. Mr. Falk is, like other pioneers, possessed of a fund of interesting reminiscences of personal ex- periences. While the foregoing account is but a brief record of the life of a rugged and doughty pioneer, it can be said of him in general that he was ever ready to do his part in the preservation of law and order, that he was a strong advocate of fair play and that he well represents the type of citizen that the state is proud to claim.

Not only has Mr. Falk's exemplary living established him firmly in the high esteem of all who know him, but the wealth that has accrued to him as a result of his successful business activity has added to his personal prestige and influence. It is further greatly to his credit to be the father of the superior family of nine children that have been so creditably reared by him and Mrs. Falk-nee Fredericka Gottschalk, to whom he was married in New York City in 1870. The members of the second generation are as follows: three sons, Barry, David and Jacob, who are residents of Anaconda and still members of the parental home; a daughter, Emma, who is also one of the family circle at Anaconda; a son, Abraham Falk, of Livingston, Montana ; a second daugh- ter, Emma, who is Mrs. W. N. McCarty of Pocatello, Idaho; Rose, now Mrs. Morris Lewis of San Francisco, California; and Felix Falk, unmarried, of Seattle, Washington.

Messrs. Barry and David Falk, who assumed the man- agement of the business interests formerly conducted by their father, have in the ensuing ten years well demonstrated their ability to sustain the high reputa- tion already established by the house and have also made evident their own energy and large business abil- ity. The remainder of this review will be devoted to a brief consideration of the main details in the career and local status of each.

Barry Falk was born in New York City on the third day of April, 1871, the first child of his parents, and was about fifteen years of age when they settled in Ana- conda, Montana. His schooling was begun in New York City, where he concluded his education as a high school graduate. In that city, too, he gained his first business experience, being employed there in a whole- sale hosiery and glove house a short time before the family's removal west. After locating at Anaconda he assisted his father in the meat business until the lat- ter's retirement, when, together with his brother David, he took charge of the business and has since been en- gaged in its conduct. He is interested in all up-to-date features possible for use in an establishment of the kind the Falk Brothers' meat market stands for. The shop is fully equipped with every modern appliance es- sential to that business. The proprietors have their own slaughter-houses and are excellently prepared to handle both their retail and wholesale trade. Mr. Falk is a prominent figure in the fraternal circles of Ana- conda, being a member of the Benevolent and Protec- tive Order of Elks, the Order of Eagles and the Modern Woodmen of America, besides being a member and past president of the Sons and Daughters of Montana Pioneers. In politics he is a Republican and is actively interested in the work of his party. He firmly believes that any individual sustains the highest business efficiency by giving a just proportion of time to recreation, and is himself a patron of different whole- some amusements. In the way of out-door sports he is especially fond of baseball and also enjoys a good boxing contest. There is probably no citizen in the state who holds more optimistic views of the future than does Barry Falk.

David Falk, the junior member of the above-men- tioned firm, was born in New York City on November 21, 1880, and since the age of six years has lived in Anaconda. He is a graduate of the Anaconda high school and began business activity about 1902 when he

and his brother took charge of the business which had been established by their father, Ben Falk. David Falk's vim and business sagacity have made him an able partner in the management of these business in- terests, and he too is recognized as one of the alert and progressive business men of Anaconda. His broth- er's views regarding athletic diversion are shared by David Falk, who has often actively participated in base- ball and football. His fraternal associations are with the Order of Eagles, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Order of Moose. He also is a Republican.

Consistent with their belief in a great future for Montana, these young men are by their business activity contributing to that end. Like their father, Ben Falk, they well represent that western energy which is satisfied only with large accomplishments.

ALMON S. ROBERTSON. A resident of Montana for more than thirty years, during which time he has identi- fied himself with the business activities of several locali- ties and acted in official positions of importance and responsibility, Almon S. Robertson has been closely connected with the growth and development of the Treasure state and is now one of the foremost resi- dents of Livingston. He is a native of County Gren- ville, Ontario, Canada, and was born December 12, 1863, a son of George Fulton and Ellen (Stitt) Robert- son. His father, a native of Scotland, came to America with his parents, Thomas and Ellen Robertson, pioneer farming people of Ontario and later engaged in the mercantile business. George Fulton Robertson learned the trade of carriage maker, worked thereat for a num- ber of years, eventually engaging in the manufacture of carriages and wagons on his own account, and becoming a well known and highly esteemed citizen and the incumbent of a number of public offices. He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Robertson passed away when only forty-four years of age, but his widow, a native of County Grenville, still survives, and is living in Livingston at the age of seventy-seven years. They had seven children, as fol- lows: Margaret, who died in young womanhood; Ellen, the wife of Perry J. Moore, now living at Two Dot, Montana; Minna, the wife of H. C. Pound, of Big Timber, Montana; Almon S .; George, who married Mabel Spencer and lives in Montana, where he is en- gaged in the sheep and cattle business; William, of Butte, who married Miss Nagus; and Percy F., a busi- ness man of Livingston.

Almon S. Robertson received a common school educa- tion in the Canadian institutions, and his first money was earned as a lad, when he received fifty cents per day for digging potatoes. He was then apprenticed to the trade of blacksmith in Brockville, Ontario, and when he had mastered that vocation, started for Montana, in 1881. He was able to travel by rail as far as Bis- marck, North Dakota, but on reaching that point started overland and eventually arrived at White Sulphur Springs, where he was engaged in working at his trade until 1885. From that time until 1887 he lived in Butte, and in the latter year removed to Costle, where he carried on a successful business until 1893. In Costle he served very acceptably as city treasurer and alder- man for two terms each, and after he had been a resident of Livingston for about ten years, in No- vember, 1902, he received the election to the office of sheriff of Park county. The success with which he cleared his section of the country of cattle thieves, murderers and disreputable characters convinced the voters that he was the right man for the office, and accordingly re-elected him thereto in 1904, and during his second administration his excellent record con- tinued. When his term of office had closed, Mr. Robert- son went back to the blacksmith business, in which he has continued to the present time. Success attended his industrious efforts, and in 1910 he embarked in

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A history of Montana, Volume II, Part 94

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