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 25
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 25
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 25
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 25
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 25
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 25
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 25
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
shall endeavor to state just what territory Park county covered at that time as described on a present day map. Within its boundaries was all of the present day Park county and that portion of Sweet Grass county north of the Yellowstone river. Also, there was in the new county a narrow strip of Sweet Grass county south of the Yellowstone.
The act creating Park county provided that its provisions should be put into effect on May I, 1887, but that until August I the new county should be attached to Gallatin county for ju- dicial purposes. The tax levy of 1887 for Gal- latin county was to be the tax levy for Park county for the same year. The county seat of the new county should be at Livingston until the general election in November, 1888, when the voters should vote for the permanent loca- tion of the county seat. The act named the county officers, who were to hold office until successors, elected at the general election of 1888, should have qualified. The new county was to assume $35,000 of the debt of Gal- latin county and issue interest bearing warrants therefor in full of all demands by the old county against the new. The amount of in- debtedness to be assumed by the new county was arrived at as follows: The bonded indebt- edness of Gallatin county was $105.000, and from this was first deducted $35,000, the value of building improvements at the county seat. Park county's assessed valuation was placed at $2,000,000, or about one-third of the total assessment of Gallatin county before division. After deducting the value of the improvements. the remaining bonded indebtedness ($70,000) was divided by three, giving $23.000 as the proportion to be assumed by Park county. To this was added $7,000, delinquent taxes due on the east side, and $5.000 for court ex- penses until August 1, 1887, making the total amount to be assumed $35,000.
Park county was organized on the 2nd day of May, 1887, when the first meeting of the board of county commissioners was held in the
First National Bank building. There were pres- ent County Commissioners George H. Carver, George M. Hatch and Benjamin F. Myers, County Clerk E. B. Martin and County Attor- ney John H. Elder. Mr. Carver was elected chairman of the board. On the following day the board executed a lease for the ground floor and basement of the First National Bank build- ing for county purposes. The rental was $150 per month; the owner was J. C. Vilas. On June 8 the board met at Bozeman, in joint meeting with the commissioners of Gallatin county, and affected a settlement with the mother county in accordance with the provi- sions of the act creating Park county. War- rants were issued on the general fund to the amount of $35,000 for the payment of all ob- ligations to Gallatin county.
The 1887 assessment roll of Park county showed assessable property to the amount of $2,205,248.
The population of the county at this time was estimated at 4.500. Among the other acts of the commissioners during 1887 was the erection of a jail at Livingston at a cost of a little over $7,000.
It will be remembered that the act creating the county provided for the temporary loca- tion of the county seat at Livingston and that the voters should decide where the permanent seat of government should be at the general election in November, 1888. Livingston was the logical location, but it was not to retain the honor without a slight effort. A short time before the election Mr. C. B. Mendenhall, proprietor of the Hunter's hot springs, worked up a private boom for Springdale as a county seat contestant. That place was then, as it has always since remained, simply a station on the Northern Pacific railroad, but it was only a lit- tle ways from the hot springs, and Mr. Men- denhall thought it would be a nice thing if he could secure the county seat for that place. The bulk of the population of the county was in the vicinity of and largely west of Livings-
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
ton, and there was at no time serious danger of the county seat being removed, although Mr. Mendenhall waged a strong fight. While Big Timber did not enter the field as a candi- ciate, it received several votes. The total vote was: Livingston, 1,382; Springdale, 274, and Big Timber, 35.
Park county, after so many years of en- deavor to secure separate county government. was no sooner firmly established than efforts . were made to take away some of its territory. By the beginning of the year 1889 there was quite a settlement in that part of Park county in which the town of Red Lodge was situated, owing to the development of coal mines there and the building of a railroad from Billings to Red Lodge. This latter event made the new mining town more in touch with Billings than it was with its county seat, Livingston, and many desired that the "panhandle" of Park county be annexed to Yellowstone county. A petition, quite generally signed, was presented to the legislature asking for such enactment. That part of the "panhandle" east of the East Rosebud creek was asked for, and while it was small in area, its recently developed mines made it highly desirable for taxation purposes.
Park county naturally fought the dismem- berment and put forth as argument the fact that the Park county assessment levy was only fifteen and one-tenth mills, while that of Yel- lowstone county was twenty-two and six-tenths mills : also in the event of favorable action by the legislature the annexed portion and Yel- lowstone county would not be contiguous, as a portion of the Crow reservation intervened. The people of the territory in question were not of one mind, and a petition of remonstrance with 147 signers was sent to Helena to coun- teract the favorable petitions which had been sent in. Councilman W. Ashby Conrad, repre- senting Yellowstone and Dawson counties, in- troduced the bill which was defeated.
The year 1889 was a very prosperous one for Park county, and great improvement was
made in all lines of industry. There was a large emigration from the east that year and Park county secured its share. The assessa- ble property was valued at $3,008.289.
It was in the spring of that year that the matter of building a court house was consid- ered. Plans for a building to cost in the neigh- borhood of $23,000 were furnished by I. J. Galbraith, of Livingston, and accepted by the commissioners on May 10. Then bids for construction were asked for. At a meeting of the board July 9, the bids were all rejected . and it was decided to discontinue all proceed- ings concerning the court house until the mat- ter should be left to a decision of the voters. A special election was called for February 4. 1890, to vote on the question of issuing bonds to the amount of $35,000 for the erection of a court house. Only 623 votes were cast, show- ing indifference, but a majority of 61 was re- corded against the proposition.
The commissioners then entered into a con- tract with C. S. Hefferlin to furnish the county with a court room and county offices until such time as the county might build at an annual rental of $2,200. On August I, 1890, the county officials took up their quar- ters in the Hefferlin block.
The federal census taken during the month of May, 1890, revealed the fact that Park county had a population of 6,881. The towns in the county were listed as follows : Livingston. 2,850; Red Lodge, 624; Cokedale, 284: Big Timber, 265.
Another attempt was made in 1891 to se- cure a slice of Park county's territory. Dur- ing the month of February a lobby from Red Lodge appeared in Helena and worked for the formation of a new county, of which Red Lodge should be the county seat. Little en- couragement was accorded this lobby, and the division scheme was abandoned, only to be fol- lowed by another effort to secure annexation to Yellowstone county. A bill to that end was introduced, but before it was acted upon an-
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
other event had taken place that changed all calculations.
We refer to the ceding of a large tract of the Crow Indian reservation, including all that part of the present counties of Sweet Grass and Carbon which were not already open to settle- ment. This treaty with the Crows had been concluded December 8, 1890, but was not rati- fied by congress until March 3, 1891.
Then began a struggle between Park and Yellowstone counties for the possession of these lands. The legislature was in session, but would adjourn by limitation on March 5th, two days after the ratification of the treaty. A bill was introduced in the senate dividing the lands between the two counties, giving al- most all the lands to Yellowstone county, and March 3rd-the same day that congress rati- fied the treaty-it was passed by a vote of 10 to 4. It was taken immediately to the house and there referred to the committee on federal relations. That committee promptly amended the bill by giving a greater portion to Park county, making the dividing line run due south from the junction of the Yellowstone river with the west boundary line of Park county to the Wyoming line. The amended bill was re- ported on March 4th, and a motion that the report be not adopted called forth a lively dis- cussion, in which Representative Charles H. Eaton, of Park county, took a strong stand in favor of Park county. The motion was lost and the bill placed on general orders. Later in the day the bill was passed. On the same day it went back to the senate with the house amendment favorable to Park county. The senate would not concur and the house was asked to recede. The lower house would not recede, and the bill was lost.
The failure of the bill was in the nature of a victory for Yellowstone county, for a previous legislature had passed an act provid- ing for annexation to Yellowstone county of all that portion of the Crow reservation lying between the Wyoming line and the Yellow-
stone river and west of the Big Horn river that might at some later time be segregated and thrown open for settlement. The people of Park county thought they had been treated badly, and the Livingston Enterprise voiced this sentiment when it said: "Their [ Yellow- stone county's] attempt to secure more than an equitable division has postponed action un- til another session of the legislature, when it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible. to secure as favorable terms as those proposed by Park county at the last session." But Park county was not destined to secure any of these lands. In fact, it was soon to lose part of what it had.
Park county continued to grow in wealth and population. The assessed valuation in 1891 was $4.992,817, and the next year it had reached the flattering figure of $5,468.873.50. This was over a million dollars more than twice as much as the first assessment had been, five years before.
Again in 1892 the county officers brought before the people the question of issuing bonds for the erection of a court house. Bonds to the amount of $75,000 were to be issued if the people so decided at the general election in November, but again the electors turned down the court house bonds. The vote was deci- sive-1,201 to 548-and only three precincts in the county returned a majority for the bonds.
In 1893 a very determined effort was made to divide Park county and create from the east- ern portion thereof the county of Sweet Grass. For the proposed new county was to be taken a large part of Park and a small part from Yel- lowstone-a part of the Crow lands which had two years before been ceded and attached to Yellowstone county. The Sweet Grass county bill also provided for attaching to Yellowstone county a small strip of Park county land lying east of the township line between townships 17 and 18 east. Livingston waged a fight-to- a-finish campaign against the measure and was
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
successful in defeating it, although the friends of the new county had secured the services of the Park county members of the legislature, As the story of this fight for the creation of Sweet Grass county will be told in the history of that county, we shall pass it here with this brief mention.
The year 1893 will never be forgotten by anyone who was a resident of Park county at the time. The panic which gripped the country that year was fatal to the interests of Park county. Every bank in the county, which was limited to three at Livingston, closed its doors. This was followed by assignments all over the county. Smelters, coke and coal plants closed down, throwing hundreds of laboring men out of work. Business was paralyzed and the "hard times" period set in. It was several years before Park county gained its customary condition of prosperity.
We now come to the great American Rail- way Union strike of 1894, in which Park county played an important part, largely be- cause Livingston was an important division point of the Northern Pacific. The start of all the trouble that followed was a strike begun by the employes of the Pullman company in the spring. The American Railway Union took up the fight, and on June 26,1894, a rail- road strike became general all over the North- west, the strikers refused to handle Pullman cars and the railroads declaring their intention to haul the same. For many days the Northern Pacific was tied up completely, and as a result there were hundreds of idle men in Living- ston. The sympathies of the people of Living- ston were largely with the strikers, although there were some who considered the strikers to be in the wrong. There was no rioting dur- ing this time and only one or two attempts at destruction of property. The only blood shed in Park county during the strike was by the United States troops, who were brought into service to break the strike.
The first train held up in Livingston was
early in the morning of Wednesday, June 27th, and thereafter for thirteen days not a train passed through the town. That morning a public meeting was held in Miles' hall, attended by members of the A. R. U. and sympathisers of the strikers. The decision was reached to do all in the power of the union to protect the property of the railroad company during the strike. To this end Daniel Gillis, J. Venham and Leonard Uhl were chosen chiefs with authority to select such men as might be neces- sary from among the members of the union to guard the company's property. It was also de- cided to notify Division Superintendent Finn that he might select whatever men he deemed necessary from among the membership of the union to send to any point on his division to watch bridges and otherwise protect the com- pany's property. A strike committee was selected, composed of the following men: R. B. Kelly, T. H. Warner, Dan Short, F. J. Woodward and R. F. Dougherty.
The Order of Railway Conductors of Snowy Range division also held a meeting that day and unanimously decided that no cars would be hauled by members of that order ex- cept mail cars.
The last train over the division was a freight, which pulled into Livingston at five o'clock on June 27, in charge of Conductor Campbell. It had left Billings at six o'clock in the morning, at which time no notification of the strike had been received at that place.
When the strike went into effect a large number of passengers found themselves in Livingston, caused by the tieup of passenger trains at that point. Naturally they were very anxious to continue their journey. On the 28th the A. R. U. decided to make an attempt to get the passengers through to Helena, where it was thought they might continue their jour- ney on the Great Northern, and to confer with the passengers and railroad officials with this end in view. A public meeting was held at the opera house and was attended by the strikers,
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
passengers and citizens of the town. The con- clusion was reached that the local strikers had no authority to permit the running of a train that the passengers might get away, without instructions from President Debs, of the A. R. U., and the following message was sent to that official by the passengers :
Livingston, Montana. June 28, 6:28 p. m. E. V. Debs. 413 Ashland Block, Chicago, Ill .- The under- signed, representing passengers stranded on the North- ern Pacific Railway, request that you use your good office to enable them to reach their destination. We are not parties to the strike, but innocent victims to cir- cumstances unforseen by us. Public sympathy may be gained and nothing lost to your position by clearing the tracks of all who were en route when the strike began. Much suffering to helpless women and children, many of whom are invalids, will surely follow if this is not allowed. Our misery will not aid your cause. Please reply .- William T. Baker, Wm. H. Bell, H. J. Spies.
The plan was, if President Debs should give his permission, to run a train to Helena with the stranded passengers, where it was thought they might be able to make connections with the Great Northern. But President Debs was firm in his determination that not a wheel should turn if he could prevent it, as his reply will indicate :
Chicago, Il1., June 29. R. B. Kelly, Livingston- Message from passengers' committee received. Say to them for me that the entire responsibility for the pres- ent condition of affairs rests with the railroad com- panies, who pledged themselves to stand by Pullman. The strike was ordered by unanimous vote of the con- vention and cannot be rescinded. I would gladly do anything within my power to relieve the suffering en- tailed by the present embargo .- E. V. Debs.
The railroad company provided for the stranded passengers at the Albermarle hotel, but later, meals were served to them on the dining cars. Those passengers who were trav- eling on passes were cared for by the strikers' committee, the railroad refusing to be respon- sible for their board.
On Saturday, June 30, Sheriff Conrow was served with a formal notice by Superintendent
Finn that the Northern Pacific would hold Park county responsible for any damage re- sulting, from destruction of its property within the county, and the same notice was served on the executive officers of all the counties along the line of the division. A similar notice was served. on the board of county commis- sioners, then in special session. The notice was rather vague, and, as there had been up to that time no damage to railroad property in the county, the commissioners demanded more specific information as to what property of the company was liable to damage.
The mails was of course tied up, and Post- master J. E. Swindlehurst at once made efforts to secure temporary mail service. He received word from Washington on the 30th that there was no objection to a temporary service by stage, provided the mails were taken by sworn carriers and without expense to the govern- ment. Mail lines were then established throughout the county. Other lines were es- tablished in different parts of the state along the line of the Northern Pacific. In this way mail was secured from Helena and other points.
It was on the 30th also that the first wheel moved on the entire system since the tieup. At about 5 o'clock in the afternoon engine No. 442, which had been fired up in the round house, was run through the yards. The engine was in charge of engineer M. L. Porter and was fired by Pat McCarvel; on board were Superintendent Finn and Master Mechanic . Brown. As it passed slowly westward through the yards, it encountered a large force of the strikers, who had congregated at the Main street crossing. At this point several of the strikers climbed on board, when they were in- formed by Superintendent Finn that he was a deputy United States marshal. Later it was found that he had been commissioned during the afternoon. If the strikers had had any in- tention of stopping the engine, they abandoned it, and the locomotive pulled out at a lively rate for the west. The strikers' committee at
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
once telegraphed the fact of the engine's de- parture to Bozeman, Helena and other points.
Immediately after the engine had left the yards a conference of the A. R. U. committee and one from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was held in the hall over Scheuber's drug store, at which the new phase of the sit- uation was discussed. Subsequently the engi- neers held a special meeting, heard the report of their committee with reference to the con- ference and after a discussion that lasted until three o'clock Sunday morning, July Ist, they decided to refuse to respond to a call to go out until the existing troubles were settled. Chief Engineer Fanning sent out messages to other lodges of the brotherhood, notifying them of this action. In accordance with their action, on Monday, July 2, the engineers refused to go on duty. The same morning Train Dispatch- ers Elliott, Flood and Reese, of the general office in Livingston, went on strike.
Monday morning the first through mail from the east bound express, which was tied up in Livingston, together with all letter mail for Butte and Helena from the west bound train was started by handcar to Helena, in charge of the mail clerk of train No. 2. From Helena the through mail for the east was taken over the Great Northern.
To minimize the danger from fire in these troublesome times, the city council on the 2nd authorized the acceptance of the services of fifty men offered by the executive committee of the A. R. U., to act in conjunction with the Livingston fire department. Fortunately their services were not needed.
On Independence day the engine which had gone west on June 30 returned, and the strik- ers were not long in learning its mission. The engineers having gone on a strike in the mean- time, when the engine returned Master Me- chanic Brown was at the throttle, while Su- perintendent Finn did the firing. These of- ficials brought with them a large bunch of writs issued out of the United States district
court of Montana, directed to the striking em- ployes, serving notice upon them to return to their work within a reasonable time or they would be discharged from the service of the railroad company. These notices were issued upon an order of Judge Knowles in response to application of the attorneys of the company at Helena. They were served upon the em- ployes by posting in the several department buildings of the company the following day. The writs, in addition to the above, provided "that all persons and associations of persons be forbidden and prohibited from intimidating or interfering in any manner with all persons who are now or who may hereafter be em- ployed by said receivers." One of the notices posted in the company's buildings on the 5th read as follows :
All persons are warned against trespassing upon, or interfering with, this property, and all other prop- erty of the Northern Pacific Railway company, as it is in the possession of the United States courts, and any interference with it by persons not in the employ of the receivers, will be punished by fine or imprison- ment, or both. HIRAM KNOWLES,
Helena, Mont., July 3, 1894. U. S. District Judge.
The same day that these notices were posted word was received from the Northern Pacific management to suspend from the pay rolls of the company all men still in its em- ploy until such time as train service might be resumed over the system. This order af- fected a number of employes, who were still working for the company in various capacities, and increased the number of idle men in Livingston.
This move of the railroad company was made in the morning. In the afternoon a meet- ing of the A. R. U. was held in Populist hall, at which a resolution was adopted to withdraw the strikers' protection of the company's prop- erty, and the watchmen selected from the ranks of that organization, who had been on duty since the strike, were relieved from further duty.
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
The stranded passengers became clamor- ous for removal to Helena or some other point where they could make connections with other roads for their homes. Superintendent Finn assured them that if there was no interference he would make an effort to get the west bound train through to Helena. But there was inter- ference. An effort was made to pull the train out on the afternoon of the fifth with Master Mechanic Brown as engineer and Foreman Mallahan as fireman. The engine was pulled out, but its passage was blocked at the Main street crossing, where a large crowd had con- gregated and completely blocked the track. The strikers agreed to let the superintendent pull out the mail, but nothing else. Mr. Finn replied that that was all he wanted, and the track was cleared. But when an attempt was made to pull out the whole train, the track was again blocked. After several efforts to get away with the train had failed, the engine was run back into the round house. Thus the first attempt of the company to resume the opera- tion of train service resulted in failure.
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