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 37
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 37
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 37
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 37
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 37
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 37
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 37
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Beyond the upper sandstone, the Larmine beds outcrop, and in it are several layers of coal, thick enough to warrant mining and from which a considerable quantity of coal has already been mined. These layers, though but at most four feet thick, supply coal superior to anything found in the west, so much better that, though costing fifty per cent more, it is yet economical for fuel. As a substitute for imported soft coal, which is yet considered a necessity for the working of iron, it has been proven to be equally good.
Beyond the sandstone beds lime rock shows, not in seanis, not in beds, but mountains of it, and in comparison with other lime rocks none can be su- perior to it. Kilns for producing lime suitable for building purposes have been in operation for years.
Beyond the lime area for thirty miles the rocks are seamed with quartz bearing iron. copper, silver, lead and gold. Iron ore of good quality and high percentage shows in such quantities that if but a small part of it could be so placed that transportation would cost but little, such as is possible in the Great Lake region, a million dollars would be a small estimate of its value ; located as it is, it is valueless. It will not always be so.
Recently the statement was made that under very favorable conditions one per cent copper ores could be worked with a small profit-there are half mile areas in Sweet Grass county in which the ordinary country rock contains more than that, and rock with percentages as high as five per cent can be found as easily as boulders in Big Timber.
There is an area of over twenty square miles in the Boulder district where copper bearing quartz can be found outcropping in any half mile square. With a few exceptions the percentage is not high-eight per cent or less. Occasionally, however, it is found up to forty per cent. Leads on which development
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HISTORY OF SWEET GRASS COUNTY.
work has been done in every case have exceeded ex- pectations when depth was obtained. One with a depth of something over two hundred feet gives assay with over twenty per cent copper with forty dollars of gold per ton. This ore, though very rich, is so located that it could be taken only at great expense from the mine, an expense so great that the possibility has not been considered.
Another copper lead, having a width of over thirty feet and extending over three miles, is now be- ing developed with extensive operations in view. Six men are at work at the present time on this lead, and the results shown are reported as being most sat- isfactory.
The Crazy mountains, twenty miles north of Big Timber, have never been prospected by persons com- petent to give an opinion of any value.
Some ranchmen, however, resting a few moments while following a deer on one of the mountains, noticed that the rock they were sitting on was un- ustial in appearance, and taking some with them, learned from others that the rock was galena-almost pure lead with silver. Where found the rock was nearly a foot and a half thick and extended as far as examined. Development work later confirmed the value of the
lead, but difficulty in getting the ore down the moun- tain and transporting to railway with lack of capital, by which these could be overcome, necessitated the temporary closing of the mine. Work will be com- menced in the spring as soon as conditions allow. Car- load shipments from this mine give smelter returns of sixty per cent lead and about twenty ounces of silver per ton.
That there are enormous bodies of lead in these mountains is proven beyond a doubt by the presence of galena crystals in the gravelly soil eight miles from the mountain along Big Timber creek. The amount of galena in this soil is almost enough to make it profitable washing for that alone.
While there has not been much activity in mining operations in Sweet Grass county for many years, during the early nineties there was more interest taken in mining operations on the Boulder than in any other industry. The Boulder district is partly in Sweet Grass county and in Park county; but as the town of Big Timber was the principal outfitting point for the camp during the days of activity. They are properly consid- ered as belonging to this county. Of the his- tory of this district prior to the panic, which suspended all operations, Mr. H. C. Freeman wrote in 1895 :
According to the best information obtainable gold was first discovered on Baboon mountain in 1864 by those pioneer prospectors, John Allen and Barney Hughes. This district was then within the territory of the Crow Indians and continued so until by treaty the western part, including this district, was ceded to the United States, and by proclamation of President Harrison it was formally opened to the public. In 1891, 1892 and 1893, up to the period in the summer when the panic struck Montana, it was the scene of great activity. During this time, also, the available agri- cultural lands in the valley of Boulder creek were taken up for homesteads.
A large number of mining claims were located, and the rush of prospectors and miners into the district started the town of Independence, about three miles above the head of Boulder creek. in 1893. After the usual preliminary work incident to a mining camp in an isolated district, far from supplies and roads, supplies and machinery were gotten in from Big Timber, and systematic work was begun. As four cents per pound was the rate for transportation for supplies and machin- ery from Big Timber, a portion of their labor was natur- ally directed to opening and improving a road. Prog- ress enough was made to reduce freights to three cents a pound, and this was reduced to one and one-half cents a pound in the autumn of 1894.
The first stamp mill taken in, other than a pros- pecting mill,' was that of the Hidden Treasure Com- pany-a ten-stamp mill-and located on Basin creek, on the west side of Baboon mountain, the mine being nearly a mile distant on the south slope of the same mountain. The next mill was taken in by the Inde- pendence company and was located on Boulder creek, just above the townsite of Independence. This was a three-stamp Kendall mill, estimated to be equal to an ordinary ten-stamp mill. In the next year this com- pany added a ten-stamp mill of the ordinary style. About the same time the Daisy organized as the Treas- ure State Mining company, put in a ten-stamp mill on their property on the south slope of Baboon mountain, adjoining the mine of the Hidden Treasure company, and the Poorman company brought in a Crawford mill and put it on its property, three-fourths of a mile south of the Treasure State and Poorman mines, to furnish the power for the mills and light for mills and mines.
In August. 1893, another ten-stamp mill was brought in by the King Solomon company and located about a mile southeast of the Poorman. Some lesser outfits for prospecting and light work had also been brought in, which are not necessary to mention in de- tail. At this time, when the camp was booming and alive with hope and expectation, the panic struck Mon- tana. Some of the banks went under, and very soon the necessary money supply to keep the mining opera- tion afloat until self sustaining, was cut off, and only one developed to a condition to be self-sustaining, had funds tied up in suspended banks. Very soon all opera- tions were brought to a standstill.
CHAPTER V
BIG TIMBER AND OTHER PLACES.
There is only one town in Sweet Grass county that has arisen to the importance of having municipal government; this is Big Timber, the county seat, and a town of about 1,000 population. Next to the county seat town comes Melville, a little village in the Sweet Grass valley. These two are the prin- cipal towns, but there are a few other settle- ments in teh county that should be considered in this chapter. There are at present nine postoffices in the county as follows: Big Tim- ber, Melville, Nye, Howie, McLeod, Grey- cliff, Reed, Merrill and Busteed.
BIG TIMBER.
Big Timber is situated on the main line of the Northern Pacific railroad, a little to the west of the geographical center of the county. The town is builded on a high bench or plateau a short distance above the confluence of the Boulder with that river . The bench upon which the town is built is 4,090 feet above sea level. d The location is a sightly one and commands a good view of the surrounding country. To the north one can look over twenty or thirty miles of ridgy green uplands to the superb Alpine range of the Crazy mountains. To the south one can look across a vast billowy expense of pasture and farming lands to the Snowy or Absaroka range, whose enormous bulk reaches away into Wyoming, lifting their masses of granite and snow 10,000 feet to the blue heavens. The landscape is unique and beautiful in whatever direction the eye is turned.
Nature has paved the whole townsite with boulders and gravel. In fact, this particula:
locality appears to have been one of nature's chief dumping grounds for drift in the glacial age. Bed rock is fifty feet below the surface, and down to that depth the soil is full of boulders of all sizes, shapes and formations. Undoubtedly, during the glacial period these were carried down from the mountains from the south. On the principal thoroughfares of the town these boulders have been cleared away, but once out of the main streets they are the first thing to attract the notice of the stranger. Big Timber has sometimes been termed the "Cobblestone City" because of these boulders.
Big Timber is the natural business center of a large scope of country, and draws its of a large scope of country, and draws its trade from great distances. Livingston, the nearest town on the west, is 35 miles away, while the nearest town on the east is Columbus, at a greater distance. Most of the business houses of the city are built of building stone, quarried a few miles from town, and give the little town a handsome appearance. To see Big Timber at its best, one should visit it during the sum- mer months, the wool hauling period. Then the wool teams come in for fifty miles or more -from up the Boulder, the Sweet Grass, the Big Timber and from the flanks of the Crazies. Two, and sometimes three, wagons are fastened together, drawn by six or eight or ten horses.
The name of the town is a misnomer and conveys a wrong impression, as there is no natural timber on the townsite or near it and never was. The town was named after the old Big Timber stage station at the mouth of Big Timber creek, and there in the early days
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HISTORY OF SWEET GRASS COUNTY.
were found some of the largest trees in the whole Yellowstone valley.
Big Timber came into existence on its pres- ent location in the year 1883, but before that date there had been setlements near this spot, accompanied by efforts to found a town, and we shall consider these before taking up the history of the town proper.
Back in the late seventies, after the In- cians in this part of the country had been sub- dued and white people were beginning to make their homes in the Yellowstone valley, but be- fore the railroad was built, there was estab- lished a stage and mail route between the towns of Bozeman and Miles City. This stage road passed along the north bank of the Yel- lowstone river, and along the line were num- erous stage stations, where horses could be ex- changed and where passengers and drivers might secure refreshments. One of these sta- tions was located on the north side of the river, just below the mouth of Big Timber creek, and was known as the Big Timber road house; this was the first Big Timber. J. F. Marley conducted the station, and there was also a saloon owned by another party. Later other enterprises were started there. A toll ferry was put on the river by Keiger brothers; a store was started by R. B. Dunham; Big Tim- ber postoffice was established with Mr. Dun- ham as the first postmaster. This station on the north side of the river remained in exist- ence until the railroad was built through this part of the territory in 1882, when the stage line went out of existence, and with it the sta- tion of Big Timber, which was moved across the river and formed the nucleus of a new town.
This brings us up to the founding of Dornix, which was in turn to be abandoned for the starting of the town of Big Timber on its present location. In the summer of 1882 the Northern Pacific railroad was built through this part of the country, and a bridge construction camp was located on the south
side of the Yellowstone, just west of Boulder creek and nearly opposite the mouth of Big Timber creek. Here the men who were em- ploved in building the bridge across the Boulder were camped. Most of the laborers were Irishmen, and they christened the camp Dornix, which, though appropriate for the camp, did not preserve the euphony so char- acteristic of the names of western towns, and was not destined to live. Harvey Bliss, for many years afterward a prominent citizen of Sweet Grass county, was one of the contractors and built the approaches of the railroad bridge across the Boulder.
The railroad company put in a spur down to the river at the point and named the station Dornix. The depot consisted of a platform and a tent. Quite a little settlement was then built up here. The store and postoffice were moved over from across the river, and a saw- mill was erected, which manufactured rough lumber for the construction of buildings by the few settlers, the lumber being rafted down the Big Timber from the forests up in the Crazy mountains. After the bridge had been constructed and the railroad builders had de- parted a new industry sprang up to keep the town of Dornix in existence. This was the matter of getting out ties for the railroad com- pany. Contractors employed forces of men to get out the ties from the timber up the Big Timber and Boulder, and these were brought down to the Yellowstone and piled up along the track for use at different points on the line. Owing to this work and the fact that quite a number of settlers were coming into the country and taking up land in the vicinity, we find that Dornix had grown to quite a flourishing little village by the summer of 1883.
That fall arrangements were made to plat a townsite at this point, and as the town was builded on government land, the platting was done under the direction of the probate judge of Gallatin county. Sigmund Deutsch, of
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HISTORY OF SWEET GRASS COUNTY.
Bozeman, a surveyor was sent to Dornix to lay out the townsite, which he did in the latter part of September. Concerning the platting of the town and the condition of the little place at that date we reproduce the following, which was published in a Bozeman paper about the first of October :
U. S. Engineer Deutsch has just returned from making a survey of the embryo city of Dornix, located thirty-five miles east of Livingston on the Yellowstone river, at the mouth of Boulder creek and on the North- ern Pacific railway. He reports the town growing very rapidly. There are already twenty-five houses, four stores, four saloons, a blacksmith shop and the usual number of trades and professions which are the usual adjuncts of a town. The population numbers about 100, the majority of whom find employment with the Montana Lumber company. This firm has a very large saw mill on Boulder creek, and manufactures about six million feet of lumber annually. This is also a great point for getting out railroad ties. Over 200,000 are stacked up along the track for shipment.
Mr. Deutsch was ordered by the territorial author- ities to survey and plat eighty acres of a townsite. The probate judge of Gallatin county is selling lots at $10 each. He (Deutsch) predicts a prosperous future for the town, which, by the way, is owned by the company and is without real estate scheme to profit by its growth.
The town of Dornix was not to retain its identity long after this. Farther up the Boulder, about a mile from Dornix. John An- derson had settled upon land, which later be- came the townsite of Big Timber. Here in the latter part of 1883 the railroad company moved its station and built a neat depot. This change in location, it is said, was made be- cause of the steep grade at the town of Dornix and the difficulty in handling trains there. The company called the new station Big Timber, and abandoned the Dornix station. A Dornix correspondent to the Livingston Enterprise of November 12, 1883, said of the arrangements at that time : "A stop is made at the town of Dornix, where there is not even a platform, but where all passengers alight or come aboard. The train then crosses Boulder creek to a neat new depot called Big Timber, erected on the railroad land, but which has no buildings
around it nearer than those of Dornix, across the stream."
In the month of December, 1883, the town of Dornix ceased to have an official existence, and the town of Big Timber was founded. Postmaster R. B. Dunham received instruc- tions to move the office to the new location, and the name was changed to Big Timber. Mr. Dunham, who was also the proprietor of the store in Dornix, moved that to the new town. Concerning the removal to the new site, a correspondent writing on December II, said : "The old town of Dornix is a thing of the past. Everybody is moving up to the new town, one mile west, at the new depot, as fast as possible. * * * R. B. Dunham, postmaster, has received instructions to move the postoffice up to the new town, which he will do tomor- row, together with the store. There are others who will soon follow in the same wake."
Several others moved at about the same time. The neighbors came with teams and moved the store building of James Mirielles up to the new town, and it was made into a hotel for William Bramble. Mr. Mirielles was appointed postmaster, and later, in partnership with Walter Allen, erected a building and started a store. C. E. Brooks and brother moved their saloon to the new town at about the same time. A correspondent writing from Big Timber December 20, said: "The new town of Big Timber now has two stores, one saloon and a hotel, and another saloon and restaurant are in contemplation."
Of these early buildings in the new town, the Wool Exchange saloon building and the Owl saloon building were destroyed by fire on April 9, 1894. The Big Timber hotel (Bram- ble's) was also destroyed by fire in the mid- dle nineties. The old Kieger ferry, which had done duty so long across the river from Dornix, was purchased by Joseph Hooper, and it was hauled up the river for him by J. G. Marley. It was placed in position on the west side of the Boulder near the town and was op-
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erated until 1884, when Mr. Hooper con- structed a toll bridge. The Hart brothers had charge of the bridge for a time, and later A. G. Yule was in charge.
Church and Sunday school work was taken up in the little town at this early date. Mrs. Ellen DeWitt Hatch took up the work of forming a Sunday school, which she conducted for a long time. The first church services were held in the town in 1884 by Rev. Alfred Brown, who came from Livingston.
While the population of Big Timber did not increase rapidly during the first few years of its existence, it became one of the best trad- ing points in the Yellowstone valley. This was because of the wool trade which centered here, and while we find that during the late eighties the population of the town was not at any time over 200, it became noted as one of the largest wool market in the United States, an average of about 1,000,000 pounds being shipped every year. C. T. Busha and Joseph Hooper put up a wool house in 1885, but the bales of wool came in such numbers that the railroad company was obliged to build a large store house to keep it from being damaged. One of the earlier business houses of the town was a meat market, which was started by Daniel Hogan. The building was made by standing railroad ties on end.
One of the editors of the Livingston En- terprise visited Big Timber in May, 1886, and wrote as follows of the town as he found it at that time :
Big Timber is a most thrifty little town, and when its resources are considered, it is apparent that it can never be anything other than a good business point. It is the main supply point for a large and productive territory on the north and south, ranks next to Helena and Benton as a wool market, and has the advantage of being favorably located in numerous other particulars. -
During the year 1886 there were shipped from the town about 1,028,000 pounds of wool. Heavy losses were made by the sheepmen dur- ing the severe winter of 1886-87, and the ship-
ments for 1887 fell a trifle below the million pound mark. That year Big Timber ranked second among the towns of Montana terri- tory as a wool shipping point. Mr. Thos. K. Lee furnishes the information that during the winter of 1886-87 there were just fifty-one resi- dents in Big Timber.
An estimate of the town's population in 1888 placed it at 200. That year about 1,000,000 pounds of wool were shipped. An- other event of that year was the establishment of a store by Busha & Bailey.
Although John Anderson had surveyed the townsite when the town was first started, it was not recorded until 1889. According to the official records he platted the townsite on August 27, 1889, filed the plat for record on September 5, and the plat was approved by the commissioners of Park county on Septem- ber 6th of that year. The townsite consisted of 160 acres, which had been homesteaded by Mr. Anderson, and the streets were laid out parallel with, and at right angles to, the rail- road. The lots were placed on the market by Mr. Anderson and A. M. Harris. Since the original townsite was platted there have been three additions made. Boulder addition No. I was platted by Lucy A. Merielles September 4, 1890, and was filed September 18. It con- sisted of eighty acres and had been taken as a homestead by Mrs. Merielles. Boulder addi- tion No. 2 was platted by Albert Stubblefield September 4, 1890, was filed and approved the same day. This was an eighty-acre tract and was one-half of Mr. Stubblefield's homestead. He sold one-half of the townsite to T. K. Lee. Yellowstone addition was platted by Daniel Hogan July 25, 1891, was filed July 27 and approved by the Park county commissioners August 5. There were eighty acres in this addition, and was originally the homestead of Mr. Hogan.
The wool shipments for 1889 were about up to the average, 984.635 pounds being billed out of the town. Besides the wool, 33 cars of
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HISTORY OF SWEET GRASS COUNTY.
mutton sheep and 27 cars of horses and cattle were shipped.
The year 1890 brought the town's first fire, which destroyed a few thousand dollars worth of property. It occurred April 9, when the following losses were reported: Shank & Lee, bank building, $500; Moore & Stocker, drugs and stock, $2,500; Oscar Anderson, house, $800; H. O. Kellogg, house; H. O. Hickox, house, $400; Harvey Bliss, two houses, $250.
The federal census of 1890 gave Big Tim- ber a population of 265. That year trade opened up better in the spring than ever before in the town's history, and an era of prosperity was begun. Merchants did a thriving busi- ness, and new buildings were going up all over the town. Among others was the first sub- stantial brick building, put up by George Hatch. In April W. L. Shanks and T. K. Lee started a private bank, the first in the town. The wool business was good, and there was the largest shipment that had yet been recorded in the town's history.
While the year 1890 liad been a prosperous one the next year distanced it completely. In December the Livingston Enterprise said of the little town down the river: "During the year now closing the growth of Big Timber has been marvelous, fully $150,000 having been spent during that time in the way of buildings and improvements." Among the principal buildings put up that year were the Grand hotel, erected by Jacob Halverson; and the brick block, now the Oxford hotel, erected by W. L. Shanks. Among the new business enterprises was the Frst National Bank, which opened its doors in July. The wool shipments for 1891 were nearly 2,000,000 pounds, or over one per cent of the entire wool clip of the United States. Other shipments from Big Timber were thirty-two cars of cattle, ten cars of horses and 115 cars of sheep. While there had been a school in Big Timber from the time the town was founded, there was not a suitable
building for school purposes until 1891, when Judge Lee and George Hatch donated land where their claims joined for a site for a brick school house. This was built, but had to be rebuilt because of a storm on Thanksgiving day, which blew off the second story.
For some time each year seemed to eclipse all previous years in the building up of Big Timber, and the year 1892 was no exception to the rule. The Pioneer of June 28 said that a census of Big Timber taken at that time would reveal the fact that the town had dou- bled in population during the last twelve months. There was some little talk of incor- porating at this time, but there were no results from the talk. The wool shipments for 1892 were the largest in the history of the town, and were believed to have been the largest from any town in the state. The shipments were as follows: Sold, 1,446,342 pounds ; consigned, 640,309 pounds, making a grand total of 2,086,651 pounds. The ruling price was from 161/2 to 18 cents a pound.
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