USA > Montana > Yellowstone County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 13
USA > Montana > Park County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 13
USA > Montana > Dawson County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 13
USA > Montana > Rosebud County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 13
USA > Montana > Custer County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 13
USA > Montana > Sweet Grass County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 13
USA > Montana > Carbon County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 13
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).
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HISTORY OF MONTANA.
a territorial government was given to Louisi- ana. As such it was known and governed un- til 1812.
In 1812 Orleans territory was admitted to the union as the state of Louisiana, and the former Louisiana territory was named Mis- souri territory. On July 4, 1814, that part of Missouri territory comprising the present state of Arkansas and the country to the westward was organized into Arkansas territory. The next important event in the history of this country was the admission of Missouri into the union as a state, only a part of the Missouri territory being included in the boundaries ot the state of Missouri. By congressional acuon, approved June 28, 1834, the territory west of the Mississippi river and north of Missouri was made a part of the territory of Michigan; but two years later (July 4, 1836, ) Wisconsin territory was created, including the present states of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, and the part of the Missouri country which was in- cluded within these boundaries became a part of Wisconsin. A congressional act of June 30, 1834, decreed that all the country west of the Mississippi, not included within the recognized boundaries of Louisiana, Missouri and Arkan- sas, should be considered Indian territory, un- der the jurisdiction of the United States dis- trict court of Missouri. Although that part of our country which is now the state of Montana was always nominally a part of some territory, the country was literally without a government for several decades after the admission of Mis- souri as a state. There were only a few roam- ing trappers within the district, and the terri- tory to which the mountain country of Mon- tana happened to belong paid no more atten- tion to it than did the Sultan of Turkey.
On May 30, 1854. Nebraska territory was created from part of Missouri and included the present states of Nebraska, that part of Mon- tana east of the Rocky mountains, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and the north- ern portion of Colorado, the southern boundary
being the 40th parallel. The next division which affected the future state of Montana was the creation of Dakota territory in 1861, which included all that part of Nebraska ter- ritory lying north of latitude 43 degrees and that part of Minnesota territory which was to the west of the Red River of the North. By act of congress March 3, 1863, Idaho territory was formed, including within its boundaries that portion of Washington territory extend- ing from the 117th meridian of longitude to the summit of the Rocky mountains and that portion of Dakota territory which was to the west of longitude 104 degrees. It will be seen that this mammoth territory extended from the 104th to the 117th meridians of longitude and from the 42nd to the 49th parallels of lati- tude. It was described as containing 326,373 square miles, which was an area greater than that possessed by any other territory or state in the union, and included the present states of Idaho, Montana and a large slice of Wyom- ing. The following year, 1864, this vast ter- ritory was cut down by giving back to Dakota territory that portion between parallels 43 and 45, and meridians 104 and III and an addi- tional section between parallels 41 and 43, and meridians 104 and IIO, which tract was, in 1868, formed into Wyoming territory.
Before proceeding with the story of the or- ganization of Montana territory we shall now tell how that portion of Montana west of the Rocky mountains came into the possession of the United States and of the several political divisions of the Oregon country that were made before the northeastern corner of it be- came a part of Montana.
The Oregon controversy is too long a story to more than briefly outline here. The United States' title rested upon three foundation stones -its own discoveries and explorations, the dis- coveries and explorations of the Spaniards and the purchase of Louisiana. While it was not contended that any one of these conveyed exclu- sive right, the position of our country was that
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HISTORY OF MONTANA.
each supplemented the other ; that, though, while vested in different nations, they were antagonistic, when held by the same nation, they, taken together, amounted to a complete title. By treaty in 1819 Spain ceded Flor- ida to the United States and latitude 42 de- grees was fixed as the northern limit of Span- ish possessions. In 1824 and 1825 treaties between Russia on one side and the United States and England on the other fixed the Rus- sian southern boundary at 54 degrees and 40 minutes. The country between these two lim- its-42 degrees and 54 degrees, 40 minutes- was the Oregon country and was claimed by both Great Britain and the United States. From the early days of the nineteenth century until 1846 the rivalry between the two coun- tries for possession of Oregon was spirited and war was narrowly averted. On the last named date a treaty was entered into by which the United States became possessed of the terri- tory north to the 49th parallel.
All the territory between the 42nd and 49th parallels and from the Pacific ocean to the Rocky mountains thus came into the undis- puted possession of the United States and in August, 1848, it was organized into the terri- tory of Oregon. On March 2, 1853, that por- tion of the territory lying north of the Colum- bia river and the 46th parallel of latitude was organized into Washington territory, and that portion of what is now the state of Montana lying between Bitter Root and Rocky moun- tain became subject to the laws of Washington.
As we have told of the erection of Idaho territory from the eastern part of Washington and the western part of Dakota, we are now brought up to the creation of Montana terri- tory, which was brought about on the 26th of May, 1864. It was created wholly from terri- tory embraced within the recently created ter- ritory of Idaho, and its boundaries were de- scribed as follows: Commencing at a point where the 104th degree of longitude intersects the 45th degree of latitude; thence due west
to the IIIth degree of longitude; thence to latitude 44 degrees, 30 minutes; thence west along that line to the summit of the Rocky mountains and along their crest to its intersec- tion with the Bitter Root mountains; thence along the summit of the Bitter Root mountains to its intersection with the 116th degree of longitude ; thence north to the 49th parallel ; thence west to the 104th degree of longitude; thence south to the point of starting.
The forming of the new territory was brought about because of the rapid settlement of the country as a result of the rich placer dis- coveries and because of the remoteness of these new settlements from the capital of Idaho, Lewiston. Late in the year 1863 the citizens of Virginia City and Bannack met and decided to ask congress to divide the ter- ritory of Idaho and grant a new government to the citizens of the country which is now Mon- tana. Sidney Edgerton, then a judge of the Idaho courts, and residing at Bannack, was selected to go to Washington and urge the formation of the new territory. Owing to the hanging of the road agents about this time, Judge Edgerton's journey was postponed un- til about the middle of January, 1864. It was a winter of great severity, and while he and those with him knew that they were not likely to be attacked by road agents, owing to the re- cent activities of the vigilance committee, the intense cold was an enemy not to be overlooked on the long road from Bannack to Salt Lake City. Most of the members of the party took with them large quantities of gold. Ingots were quilted into the lining of Judge Edger- ton's overcoat and he carried in his valise im- mense nuggets wherewith to dazzle the eyes of congressmen and to impress upon their minds, by means of an object lesson, some ade- quate idea of the great mineral wealth of this section of the country. Arriving safely in Washington, the gold was exhibited, congress- men interviewed, and at length the desired end was accomplished. There was some discussion
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HISTORY OF MONTANA.
over the proposed western boundary line, but the combined efforts of Gov. Wallace of Idaho, and Judge Edgerton saved to Montana all of her rich territory lying west of the sun- mit of the Rocky mountains. The territory of Montana as described in the boundaries con- tained 143.776 square miles or 92,016,640 acres.
An effort was made by the legislature of Idaho in 1865 and 1866 to take from Mon- tana that part of her territory lying west of the Rockies and to form a new territory to be called Columbia, embracing in addition to that country the panhandle of Idaho and the eastern part of Washington. A memorial was pre- sented to congress praying that the portion of Idaho lying south of the Salmon river moun- tains might dissolve connection with the pan- handle and receive instead as much of Utah as lay north of 41 degrees 30 minutes. The residents of the Walla Walla valley in Wash- ington being strongly in favor of a readjust- ment of boundaries aided the agitation, which in 1867 was at its height, meetings being held and memorials adopted in Lewiston and Walla Walla. Montana wanted to retain the rich Bitter Root valley, however, and the people of Southern Idalio were slow to see the wis- dom of parting with a large part of its popula- tion, and nothing came of the agitation.
Having traced the many divisions of the territory which is now included within the boundaries of the state of Montana, we shall now turn our attention to the county divisions which have been made in the same territory from the earliest periods of territorial law making to the present time. We have shown that that part of the state which lies west of the Rocky mountains was acquired from a dif- ferent source than that of the portion of the state lying to the east of the mountains, and up to the time of the organization of Idaho territory in 1863 there was nothing in common between the two countries, and the county formations must therefore be considered sep-
arately. We shall first treat of that portion west of the mountains.
Prior to 1853 all of Montana west of the Rockies was a part of Oregon territory. This country was doubtless included, in an indefi- nite sort of way, in some county of Oregon ter- ritory, but having no settlers, it mattered not whether it was or not. But when Washington territory was formed, one of the acts of the first legislature (that of 1854) was to create a county in which this part of Montana was in- cluded. This county was named Clarke, in honor of Captain Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and extended from a point on the Columbia river below Fort Vancouver to the summit of the Rocky mountains, a dis- tance of some six hundred miles. The same session of the legislature divided Clarke county and the eastern part became known as Ska- mania, and for a short time part of Montana was officially included in that county. The early legislatures never seemed to be satisfied with their work, and before the legislature ad- journed Skamania county was divided and Walla Walla county was created with bound- aries as follows: All that territory east of a line drawn from the mouth of the Des Chutes river in Oregon to the 49th parallel-to the Rocky mountains. The county seat of Walla Walla county was named as "the land claim of Lloyd Brooks"-the site of the present city of Walla Walla, Washington. The commis- sioners named in the act were George C. Bum- ford, John Owen and Dominique Pambrun- Owen being a resident of that part of the county which afterwards became a part of Montana. The fact that a county was created by the early legislatures of Washington territory did not necessarily mean that an or- ganization was perfected, and Walla Walla county was not organized until 1859, so it was not until the latter date that the people of that part of Montana west of the Rockies came under the jurisdiction of any county govern- ment. Before this time, however, Walla Walla
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HISTORY OF MONTANA.
county had been divided, and other counties were created-but not organized. On Jan- uary 29, 1858, the legislature set off from Walla Walla county the county of Shoshone, comprising all the country lying north of Snake river, east of the Columbia and west of the Rocky mountains. The county seat was "on the land claim of Angus McDonald," who was the Hudson's Bay company's agent at Fort Colville. Again was John Owen named as one of the commissioners, the other two being Robert Douglas and William McCreany. The county was not organized, and on January 17, 1860, the legislature repealed the act, and with- out altering the boundaries gave this territory the name of Spokane county and made new appointments of county officers. The county seat was located on the land claim of J. R. Bates, which was about three miles from the site of the present town of Colville, Washing- ton. The commissioners named were Jacques Demers, James Hoyt and J. Seaman. On May 18, 1860, the commissioners met and organ- ized a county government.
The first steps toward the formation of a county of exclusive Montana territory were made in the winter of 1859, when a petition was addressed to the Washington legislature by the settlers of the Bitter Root valley and the residents at the Flathead agency, asking that body to set off a county to be called Bitter Root county. Seventy-seven names were at- tached to the petition, being mostly those of men connected with the building of the Mullan road. These could hardly be called settlers, although a few names of actual pioneers ap- pear among them. The petition was either not presented to the legislature of 1859, or law makers at Olympia did not consider the time ripe for the formation of a new county at this time, as we find that no action was taken until the session of 1860-61. On the 14th day of December, 1860, the bill was approved creat- ing the county of Missoula, which was the name substituted for that of Bitter Root. At
the same time the county of Shoshone was pro- vided for from the remaining portion of Wash- ington territory east of the present eastern boundary line of the state of Washington. Mis- soula county extended from the 115th degree of longitude to the summit of the Rocky moun- tains and from the 46th to the 49th degrees of latitude. The bill creating the county named the following officers: C. P. Higgins, F. L. Worden and T. W. Harris, commissioners ; M. W. Tipton, sheriff; Henry M. Chase, justice of the peace. Higgins and Harris were the only officers who qualified, and the only busi- ness they did was to advertise an election in 1861 and canvass the votes. The enabling act named the county seat as "at or near the trad- ing post of Worden & Co., Hellgate Rond." Missoula county kept up a sort of organization during the next few years while it remained a part of Washington territory, the greater part of the work of the county officials being to can- vass the votes of their successors in office.
With the organization of Idaho territory in 1863 came a complete readjustment of coun- ty boundaries. Previous to that time all that portion of Montana west of the mountains was a part of Washington, with the capital at Olympia, hundreds of miles away. All east of the mountains belonged to Dakota territory, the capital of which was Yankton, which by the nearest available route of travel was two thou- sand miles distant. The existence of Bannack, the principal town of the mountain country at the time, was not even known at the capital at that time, to say nothing of the impossibility of executing any territorial laws there. When Idaho was formed with the capital at Lewiston, it was considered time to divide the territory into numerous counties. It was on the motion of L. C. Miller, who represented Bannack in the Lewiston legislature, that that portion of Idaho which within a few months became Montana territory was divided into numerous counties. On January 26, 1864, the governor of Idaho affixed his signature to the bill which
5
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HISTORY OF MONTANA.
provided for the organization of the following counties : Missoula, Deer Lodge, Beaver Head, Madison, Jefferson, Choteau, Dawson, Big Horn, Ogalala and Yellowstone, with their county seats located respectively at Worden- ville, Deer Lodge, Bannack, Virginia City, Gallatin and Fort Benton for those first named. Big Hole and Yellowstone counties did not have county seats named, that minor item be- ing left to the judgment of the county commis- sioners. Fort Laramie was named as the county seat of Ogalala county. Very few of these counties organized under the Idaho act.
When the first Bannack legislature con- vened in 1864 the legislators at once turned their attention to dividing the territory into counties. We find that the first Montana legis- lature provided for nearly the same counties as that of the Idaho legislature and with nearly the same boundaries. Ogalala and Yellow- stone counties were left out and Edgerton county was added to those named at Lewiston.
It is an utter impossibility to trace the boundaries of all these first counties on a map because of the fact that the early law makers did not have a clear knowledge of the location of degrees of latitude and longitude as com- pared with the natural boundary lines, such as rivers and mountain ranges. It is very diffi- cult to trace the boundary lines of a county which are described as commencing at a point where a certain degree of longitude intersects a certain river when the two do not intersect by a hundred miles or so. This indefiniteness of the county boundary lines did not cause much trouble at first because af the fact that the bulk of the population was in the principal mining camps. If the inhabitants of these camps did not know for sure what county they were in they guessed at it, and the result was the same as though they knew. But when the ยท population became greater and new towns sprung up, it became convenient for people to know under what county government they were living that they might know to which
county to pay their taxes and for what set of county officials to vote. The state of affairs is well illustrated in the report of Surveyor Gen- eral S. Meridith dated October 5. 1867, which reads as follows :
Here I beg leave to make some suggestions as to the boundaries of the different counties. Many of their limits are marked only by imaginary lines-latitude and longitude-and no knowledge seems to have been had where these exact places would be. It has been with great difficulty that the law and the map could be made to conform. Such were the mistakes made in their location that a strict adherence to the law would place Virginia City in Beaver Head county and Silver City in Deer Lodge, while Helena would be situated in Jefferson.
Permit me to suggest natural boundaries for the limits of counties as a subject to lay before the gen- eral assembly. By such divisions every one can tell where the lines will run, and in my opinion will in more ways than one increase the interests of Montana.
While the exact location of the lines were unknown to the people at the time many of the boundary lines can be easily traced on a pres- ent day map. Missoula county embraced practically all of the present counties of Flat- head, Missoula, Sanders and Ravalli and about one-third of Granite. Deer Lodge county con- tained nearly all of the present counties of Teton, Lewis and Clark, Deer Lodge, Granite and Jefferson, all of Powell and Silver Bow and a small portion of Madison. The bound aries of Beaver Head were not quite so definite as those of the two counties named. Included in it was the present Beaver Head county and the eastern half of the present Madison county, the eastern boundary of the county running to within a very short distance of Virginia City. but not to the east of it as Surveyor General Meridith believed. A small corner of the pres- ent Deer Lodge county would also, probably, come within the original Beaver Head county under a literal interpretation of the boundary lines. Owing to the apparent belief that the 112th meridian of longitude was far to the westward of its actual location, the counties of Madison, Jefferson and Edgerton are hard
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to trace. Madison county can probably be said to have included about half of the county of that name at the present date and a portion of the present Gallatin county. Jefferson in- cluded all of the present Broadwater county and other portions of Jefferson, Gallatin, Meagher, Lewis and Clark and Cascade. Edgerton, later changed to Lewis and Clark, county lacked only a fraction of a mile of being in two separate divisions, according to a literal interpretation of the act and was made up of portions of the present counties of Lewis and Clark and Cascade. The western boundary of Gallatin county was indefinite, but the county contained all the present counties of Park and Sweetgrass and portions of Carbon, Yellow - stone, Fergus, Meagher, Cascade, and possibly Gallatin. Choteau is more easily defined. It included all the present county of that name, nearly all of Cascade, about half of Fergus and a portion of Teton. Big Horn, the county that was described as embracing all that por- tion of Montana territory not included in the other counties, covered about one-fourth of the territory and there were included within its boundaries all of the present counties of Val- ley, Dawson, Custer, Rosebud, the greater part of Yellowstone, about one-fourth of Fergus and nearly one-half of Carbon.
At the second session of the legislature the county of Meagher, named in honor of Secre- . tary and Acting Governor Thomas F. Meagher, was created. As all the acts of the second session of the legislature were declared illegal, we cannot allow Meagher county an official existence until November 16. 1867. when the fourth legislature approved the act of March 26, 1866, and gave Meagher county an official standing. Meagher was created from the northern part of Gallatin county by an imaginary line running east and west across the county from the Missouri river. As de- scribed in the act, "the line between the coun- ties shall commence in the middle of the main channel of the Missouri river opposite the
mouth of Deep creek and run due east to the eastern boundary of Gallatin county as here- before defined." Diamond City, in the pres- ent Broadwater county, was named as the county seat.
Acting on the advice of the surveyer gen- eral, the legislature of 1867 defined the bound- aries of the different counties again and gave them natural boundaries. This brought about a change in all the counties.
Big Horn county, containing all the terri- tory not included in the counties named, is not mentioned in the acts of the legislature of 1867, and therefore remained with its former large dimensions. Dawson county was created by an act of the legislature approved January 15, 1869. It was carved from Big Horn county and included the territory of the present Valley county and nearly all of that in the pres- ent Dawson county. The new county was at- tached to Choteau county for council and rep- resentative purposes, and the county seat was designated as Fort Peck. The county was of- ficially described as follows: "Commencing at the intersecting point of parallel of latitude 47 degrees with meridian of longitude 108 de- grees, and thence along said parallel 47 de- grees to meridian of longitude 104 degrees, and from thence along said meridian north to 49tl parallel of latitude, and from thence along said parallel 49 degrees to meridian of longitude 108 degrees, and from thence south along said meridian to place of beginning."
The only other attention the legislature of 1869 gave to county boundaries was to slightly change the northern and northwestern bound ary line of Madison county.
Prior to the legislative session of 1871-72 the boundaries of Meagher and Gallatin coun- ties were rather indefinite. At that session those two counties were definitely bounded.
At the next session (bills approved Febru- ary 13, 1874) these two counties had their boundaries still more definitely defined.
Slight changes were also made in the
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HISTORY OF MONTANA.
boundaries of Madison and Beaver Head conn- ties in 1874, brought about a readjustment of the western boundary of Dakota territory. The act passed February 7, 1874.
No new counties were created by the legis- lature of 1876, but the boundaries of three counties were altered to suit the wishes of the residents. The counties affected were Deer Lodge, Chotean and Meagher.
During the next few years there were very few changes made in county boundary lines. On February 16, 1877, an act was passed changing the name of Big Horn county to Custer county, and on February 14, 1881, pro- vision was made for including within the boundary lines of Gallatin county a part of the Crow reservation which was then the subject of a treaty before the congress of the United States.
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