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 29
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 29
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 29
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 29
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 29
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 29
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 29
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The town of Horr did not enjoy a con-
tinuous existence. Owing to troubles of one nature or another the works of the coal and coke company were closed part of the time, and as the town depended entirely upon this company, when the mines and ovens closed the population of the town dwindled to almost nothing. During the nineties the Montana Coal & Coke company became the owners of the property. During the year 1900 quite rapid advancement was made in the little vil- lage owing to the activity of the company. Mining and coke burning was carried on on a larger scale and as a result more men were employed. A fire on February 14, 1904, de- stroyed the store and saloon of the Montana Coal & Coke company, entailing a loss of about $20,000. The change in the name of the postoffice and town was made in the sum- mer of 1904. There have been a number of strikes by the employes of the company at this point and at Aldridge, the last one occurring during the closing days of 1906. Matters were satisfactorily adjusted early in 1907, and the works are again in full blast.
ALDRIDGE.
Two miles from Electric is the village of Aldridge, where are located the coal mines of the Montana Coal and Coke company. Here is to be found a village of about 400 people, nearly all engaged in mining coal. There are two general stores, three saloons, a hotel, meat market and a school house. There is daily stage and mail to the railroad at Electric.
The town, which came into existence some time after the establishment of Electric, or Horr, was named after Mr. Aldridge, one of the directors of the Montana Coal & Coke company. The village was started in the spring of 1896, and in 1898 a townsite was platted by the state of Montana, per H. D. Moore, register of the state land office, under direction of the state . board of land commis- sioners. As both Electric and Aldridge de-
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
pend for their existence upon the Montana Coal & Coke company, their histories are some- what similar. Aldridge is the company's coal mining town and Electric is its coke burning town.
COOKE.
In the southeastern part of Park county, just outside of the Yellowstone National Park, is the mining town of Cooke ( formerly known" as Cooke City), the oldest existing town in the county. As the crow flies, the camp is about 35 miles due east of Gardiner, but as the stage between these two points goes, through the northern part of the park, the distance is about 60 miles. The town depends entirely upon the mines in the New World mining district and the population varies from a few dozen to a few hundred according to the activity of min- ing and smelting operations. There are two smelters here and two steam sawmills. The business houses of the town consist of three general stores, two hotels, two saloons, two livery stables and a meat market.
In a former chapter we have told of the discovery and early history of mining in this vicinity in the seventies, when a smelter was erected at this point by a company of Bozeman men and a run made in 1877. The place was not then known as Cooke City, however. Prior to the ratification of the Crow treaty in April, 1882, the county in which Cooke City was located was a part of the Crow reservation, and white men had no legal right upon those lands. But the knowledge that the precious metal was to be found here in abundance caused quite a number of prospectors to come into the Clark's Fork district, as the whole of that country was then known. By 1880 there were several score upon the ground and that year the town came into existence.
The prospectors who were then gathered upon the site of the present town of Cooke were jubilant, the surface showing sufficient to make the most skeptical go wild with the
dreams of wealth. All were in high hopes and living in expectancy of great things for the future. The year 1880 was an important one in the history of the camp, for it brought about the bonding of the Republic group of claims to Jay Cooke, Jr., and associates, with a promise of active operations on the claim with untold fortunes back of the work. On the arrival of the Jay Cooke party the hospitality of the little company of prospectors were ex- tended. The snow, which had been eight or ten feet deep over the Republic group, was shoveled away that the veins might be shown. There were immense bodies of the argentifer- ous ore in sight, and on the dumps were several hundreds tons of $100 per ton ore corded up at the entrance to the tunnels.
During the time the eastern party were in camp a meeting of the miners was held, at which time the name Cooke City was given to the camp, in honor of the man who had just invested in the Republic claims. The name was selected by a unanimous vote. Mr. Cooke who was present at the meeting, thanked the people for the honor and stated that he was gratefully affected by the good will extended to him and his party, and that his endeavors would be for the future welfare of the camp. The party then left with the promise to do all in their power to have a railroad built to the town.
Notwithstanding these events of the year 1880, there was little activity in the Clark's Fork district until the opening of the reserva- tion on April 11, 1882. Then miners and pros- pectors poured into the country from all direc- tions and the town of Cooke City began an ac- tive growth. About 135 dirt covered log shacks were erected that summer, which was barely enough to accommodate the people who now called this place home. The greater part of these left the camp for the winter, but re- turned the following summer. In the early part of June, 1883, a correspondent to the Livingston Enterprise from Cooke City said
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
that there were then only about 75 men in the camp. but that the buildings would all be oc- cupied by their owners in about two weeks and would have been sooner but for the deep snow, which prevented them getting in. That there was a large population in the camp that year is evidenced by the fact that 227 votes were cast there at the November election. A repre- sentative of the Livingston Enterprise visited the camp that year and in the issue of October 17th said of the condition of the camp at that time :
"Cooke City, in appearance at least, is a typical mining camp, presenting in itself and surroundings all the rugged picturesqueness that is associated with the description. It is situated in a narrow gulch threaded by a swift little mountain stream, along which lies the street of the town with barely enough room for the two parallels of buildings to occupy level ground. Thence sloping up on either side are walls of rock stored with mineral wealth that has called the camp into existence, and in every direction peak rises behind peak in an apparently maze of mountains. The houses that comprise the town are, without ex- ception, the dirt covered log shacks that indi- cate the lack of building material instead of poverty in purse and mild architectural ambi- tion rather than indifference to comfort. * From being small, the present buildings are numerous and stretch out to make a street as long as the main street of Livingston, though the population of the camp will not number ahove 200, exclusive of prospectors scattered throughout the mountains."
In the fall of 1883 the people of the camp began to consider the matter of platting the townsite, that title might be obtained to lots. Under the provisions of the United States law for the platting of a townsite upon govern- ment land ten citizens of the town might apply to the probate judge of the county in which the proposed townsite was located to have the land surveyed as a townsite and sold. The
law provides for the sale of lots at ten dollars each and limited the number that might be purchased by any one party, the surveying and sale of lots to be done by the probate judge. The necessary action was taken by the citizens of Cooke City, and early in November, S. Deutsch, representing Probate Judge John P. Martin, of Gallatin county, appeared on the scene and surveyed the townsite, taking in a little over 41 acres. While this was going on there was indiscriminate "jumping" of town lots, which in several cases nearly resulted in serious trouble. The townsite as surveyed by Mr. Deutsch included several sites which had been filed on by different parties for mill sites, and the contest that arose was not set- tled for eight years, and there was no clear title to lots until 1891.
Before the plat was filed the question of changing the name of the town was brought up. A meeting was held on November 7th for the purpose of selecting the name. Major Geo. O. Eaton was in favor of calling it Eidel- weiss, a German name for a flower that blos- somed in the snow. The majority of the miners present, however, were in favor of re- taining the old name. They argued that Jay Cooke was the pioneer capitalist of the camp, and that no more fitting name than this could be found for the town; besides the camp was known throughout the United States as Cooke City, and there was no good reason why con- fusion should be courted by changing to another name.
The townsite was recorded as Cooke, though for many years the place retained its former name of Cooke City, and only in recent years has the "city" been dropped. The plat was recorded in the office of the clerk and recorder of Gallatin county by Probate Judge J. P. Martin on February 8, 1884. Since that time additions have been platted to the origi- nal town as follows: Vilas & Henry addition, July 27. 1889, by Josiah C. Vilas and Frank Henry; Republic addition, September 6, 1889,
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
by Josiah C. Vilas, Frank Henry and Edward H. Talcott; Court addition, December 7, 1894.
The year 1884 was a prosperous one for the little town. Building operations were prose- cuted vigorously during the summer, and sev- eral new business institutions were started, among others a bank, which began business in the spring. The log buildings of the past gave place to frame structures built of sawed lum- ber. The rough and ready days were passing away.
In 1885 the campaign for the building of a railroad to Cooke City was begun. The dis- trict was known to be rich in mineral ; develop- ment work had been quite extensively carried on; smelters had extracted the precious metal from the ore. But the district was seriously handicapped because of lack of railroad facil- ities. Not only was the camp a long ways from the nearest railroad point, but the country was so rough that it was almost impossible to get into and out of the place. Meetings were held in the fall of the year to devise means for securing the interest of capital in the building of a railroad. This was not hard to obtain, and a corporation was soon formed, the object of which was to build to the camp from Gardi- ner. The only feasible route from that point was through the northern part of the Yellow- stone National Park, and congress was asked to grant a right of way. The promoters of the road were unsuccessful in this, and all efforts to secure this privilege in after years resulted in failure. Year after year, up to the early nineties, the struggle was renewed. Every congress during the late eighties and the early nineties had to deal with the question of grant- ing a right of way through a small portion of the park for the Cooke City railroad, but that body absolutely refused to grant such a con- cession. The struggle was truly pitiable. Here were a band of men, confident of the richness of the country, struggling on year after year to develop the mines, but working against
such odds as few mining camps have had to contend with. The money was ready for the building of a railroad, which would certainly have resulted in the building of a prosperous town, but the only means of ingress to the town was cut off.
The effect upon Cooke City was depressing during these years of uncertainty. Occasion- ally when there seemed a prospect of success the camp would take on new life. In the spring of 1889 there was such a condition. Some mining property changed hands and a number of new companies were organized for the de- velopment of mines. Town property also rose in value, and the prosperous times that were then prevailing over the whole country pene- trated even to Cooke City.
The contest for the title to the townsite was not definitely settled until in April, 1891, when a cash patent for the townsite was re- ceived in the Bozeman land office in the name of John P. Martin, who had been probate judge when the townsite was surveyed. The title was vested in Judge Chas. S. Hartman, as the successor of Judge Martin, who then issued the deeds and conducted the sale of lots for the benefit of the Cooke school district.
During the nineties and the first few years of the present decade there was not much activ- ity in Cooke City or the surrounding mining district. The camp was never deserted, how- ever, and there was continual development of the mines, but not on a scale the richness of the territory warranted.
In the spring of 1905 active mining oper- ations were resumed, and the little town again became lively. The resumption of work on many of the properties that had been idle for a long time brought quite a force of men to the camp and a recent census gave the town a pop- ulation of 260. In the summer of 1906 the Republic smelter started up again, and the camp is again enjoying some of its old time prosperity.
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
JARDINE.
Another of Park county's mining camps is Jardine, situated about five miles northeast of Gardiner, with which town it is connected by a daily stage and mail line. A recent census gave Jardine a population of 286. Two gold quartz mills are located here, and the business houses of the town consists of a gen- eral store, hotel, barber shop and three saloons.
Jardine is one of Park county's newer towns, dating its founding back only to the spring of 1899. Its existence was brought about by the operations of the Bear Gulch Min- ing company, which was incorporated in Au- gust, 1898. The next spring the company be- gan mining and reducing their ores at the camp on a large scale. Big sums of money were spent in improvement and the new camp gained a population of 400 or 500 al- most at once. The place was named Jardine. in honor of A. C. Jardine, the secretary of the company. A postoffice was established with J. B. McCarthy as postmaster. This gentle- man also had a general store; the other busi- ness houses were an hotel and barber shop. Other business enterprises followed later in the summer. A correspondent writing from the town about the middle of October stated that 100 buildings were then in existence in the town or in course of construction, and that the mining company contemplated the erection of thirty more cottages. The monthly payroll of the company was about $20.000 during this season. The Livingston Enterprise of Decem- ber 30, 1899, reviewed the history of the town during its first year of existence as follows :
"Through the brilliant management of H. Bush and his associates, Jardine has grown in one short year from a rude camp of huts to a commercial center of considerable importance. Stamp mills, stores, hotels, commodious dwell- ings, supplied with water works, electric lights and all the advantages of large centers of pop- ulation have been erected during the year. No
point in Montana, it is safe to say, has made more rapid strides toward becoming an im- portant mining center than has the camp at Jardine."
Naturally the camp was not as lively in the succeeding years as it was during the first year of its existence, but it has always been a pros- perous camp.
FRIDLEY.
Twenty-three miles south of Livingston, on the Park branch of the Northern Pacific rail- road and the Yellowstone river, is the town of Fridley, or, as it is known on the railroad maps, Emigrant station. Here, at an elevation of 4,887 feet above sea level, is the chief trad- ing point of the Paradise valley, a town of 138 inhabitants. In the town are one general store, hotel, lumber yard, saloon, blacksmith shop, a school and an Episcopal church.
Emigrant station was not located on the line of the Park branch when that road was completed in 1883, as were most of the other stations along that line. But in the spring of 1886 the railroad officials marked on the map the name Emigrant station, which was at a point two and one-half miles south of the sta- tion called Chicory, which had failed to ma- terialize into a town, as was expected when the station was located. The following year the place became generally known as Fridley, be- ing named in honor of F. F. Fridley, and a little town was built there. It was brought into existence because of the development of mines in Emigrant gulch and on Mill creek. Later it came to depend upon the surrounding agricultural country.
SHIELDS.
Shields is the name of a little village in the rich Shields valley, 25 miles north of Livings- ton. It is on the stage line between Sedan, in Gallatin county, and Livingston, and has daily
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
mail. It takes its name from the river of the same name, which was named in honor of one of the members of the Lewis and Clark party.
The village boasts of a general store, ho- tel, saloon, blacksmith shop and livery stable.
CLYDEPARK.
Another trading point and postoffice on the same stage line as Shields, ten miles north of Livingston, is Clydepark. Here is a store which supplies the wants of the people in the neighboring farming and stockraising country. A postoffice was established at this point in the late eighties with Jolm H. Harvey as postmas- ter. In 1890 it was discontinued, but was later reestablished. A townsite was platted at this point April 21, 1906, by H. S. Amos.
SPRINGDALE.
Just within the boundaries of Park county, on the main line of the Northern Pacific rail- road, nineteen miles northeast of Livingston, is the postoffice. railroad station and little vil- lage of Springdale. It is fifteen miles west of Big Timber and two miles southeast of Hun- ter's Hotsprings, and is the railroad station for the latter point, which fact is its principal reason for being in existence. The station is 4,233 feet above sea level. It supports one general store.
HUNTER'S HOTSPRINGS.
One of the best known points in Montana is Hunter's Hotsprings, the site of the famous sanatorium. The springs and the little village that has grown up around them are located on the eastern boundary of the county, two miles northwest of Springdale station. The site is on a little plain surrounded by high moun- tains. The springs are of hot water containing rare medicinal qualities, and here come every year hundreds of patients from all parts of the
country to bathe in the healing waters. A fine sanatorium, bath houses, hotel and other build- ·ings are built here for the accommodation of the visitors.
In an earlier chapter we have told of the discovery of these springs by Dr. A. J. Hun- ter in 1864 and his subsequent settle- ment at that point in the year 1870, so we shall not deal here with this early hi,- tory of the place. Suffice it to say that Dr. Hunter believed he had found his fortune in these hot springs of water. In 1839 he had seen the Arkansas hot springs with nothing but a shanty as the pio- neer of what a few years laters became the resort of thousands of the afflicted, and he believed that these springs would attain like fame. So, in February, 1870, he and his fam- ily moved to the springs from Bozeman and there erected a house and began the cultivation of the soil on a limited scale.
Until the near approach of the Northern Pacific railroad in 1882 Dr. Hunter did little except "hold down" the property. In the sum- mer seasons his house was something of a re- sort for the afflicted, but the Sioux Indians were hostile the greater part of the time, and the doctor's family had frequently to leave the country, which fact prevented the resort from becoming popular. In the fall of 1882 Dr. Hunter laid the foundation for a new hotel, and in the following year completed the building as well as the bath houses and other buildings. With the advent of the railroad the springs became well known and patronized, and their popularity has in- creased every year since that date.
Late in the year 1885 the original locator oi the springs sold to the Montana Hot Springs company, which had organized with a capital stock of $150,000 and the following trustees : Cyrus B. Mendenhall, Heber Robarts and A. L. Love. This company made big improve- ments in the property in 1886 and laid the foundation for the future popularity of the
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HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
place. Among other improvements of that year was the platting of the townsite of Men- denhall on July 5, by the gentleman whose name the townsite bore. No town of any im- portance from a commercial standpoint was ever built at Mendenhall, and the postoffice and village has always borne the original name of Hunter's Hotsprings. Improvements have been made in the buildings at the springs since these early days, and Hunter's Hotsprings are known today throughout the length and breadth of the United States.
COKEDALE.
The history of Cokedale is the story of a town that was, but now is not. The site of the town is nine miles west of Livingston, on a spur of the Northern Pacific railroad. Here until the spring of 1906 was the coal mining camp of the Livingston Coke & Coal company, a town of 200 or 300 people, the inhabitants of which were engaged principally in coal min- ing. The town boasted of two general stores, five saloons and other minor business enter- prises. With the closing of the mine and the dismantling of the works, Cokedale went out of existence, and only the vacant buildings now remain of what was a prosperous mining camp.
Cokedale came into existence in 1886, when the Livingston Coke & Coal company was organized and began the manufacture of coke with twelve ovens in operation. This was the first coke produced in Montana. The business was a profitable one, and by the year 1895, 130 ovens were in operation, and a quar- ter million dollars was invested in the plant. In 1887 the company built a spur to Cokedale from a point on the Northern Pacific since known as Coal Spur, a distance of four miles.
The first years of the camp's history were lively ones. On June 6, 1889, the townsite was platted by Peter O. Sandelius. Williams' ad- dition was platted by William H. Williams on
July 20, 1892. The postoffice was established in 1889 with Adam Wise postmaster. Many substantial improvements were made by the company, among others the enlargement of the plant. Concerning the camp as it was at that time the Livingston Enterprise on Decem- ber 25, 1889, said: "Cokedale, the business center brought into existence by the company's works, is a thriving village and can boast of two general stores, a postoffice, boarding house, hotel, two meat markets and numerous other business houses of less importance. Dur- ing the past summer the company has erected between 30 and 40 neat and commodious cot- tages for the benefit of employes." The pop- ulation of the town in 1890, according to the federal census was 284.
July 31, 1895, a disastrous fire visited the camp, destroying the company's engine house, boiler and storage room with its contents, and a large section of the tramway sheds. The loss was $40,000 and was covered by only $11,000 insurance. Because of the hard times under which the country was laboring and, possibly, also because of the fire, the plant was closed down after this event, and for the first time since the company began operations there in 1886 the fires were withdrawn from the coke ovens. This threw 300 or 400 men out of employment and was the means of practi- cally depopulating the town. The pay roll at the time of closing down was from $15,000 to $25,000 per month.
Cokedale remained a depopulated town until the spring of 1903, when active prepara- tions were begun for the reopening of the mine and the beginning of coke burning. A force of men were employed all spring and summer putting everything in readiness, and opera- tions were about to be resumed that fall. But it was not to be, the litigations of Augustus Heinze affected the company operating at Cokedale, and work was suspended. In Feb- ruary, 1905, operations at Cokedale were re- sumed. The coal mine was opened up and
HISTORY OF PARK COUNTY.
the manufacture of coke was again begun, 100 ovens being in use. Cokedale again became a prosperous little city.
Nearly the entire business portion of the city was wiped out by fire on the morning of Thursday, July 6, 1905, the loss being about $20,000, with only about $5,000 insurance. The fire started in a residence, and within a few minutes after the flames were discovered they had spread to the business houses. The Livingston fire department was sent for, but before it arrived on the scene the town was in ruins. The property destroyed was the gen- eral merchandise store of Adolph Jacobs, the building being the property of the Schlitz Brewing company ; the saloon of Antone Mle- kush, saloon belonging to Geo. Lusine, another saloon, the hall of the Cokedale Coal company, one dwelling and two stables. The buildings were immediately rebuilt.
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