An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 106

Author: Miller, Joaquin, 1837-1913. cn
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Montana > An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens > Part 106

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Mr. Van Gundy was married, in 1879, to Mrs. C. C. Lyons, widow of IT. H. Lyons. She is a native of St. Joseph, Missouri. She has two daughters by Mr. Lyons:

sources of the gold, are very limited and never pay for working; for the manner in which they were formed precludes the possibility of exten- sive deposits. The glaciers of Alaska are mak- ing just such deposits as these in the Northern Pacific ocean. Glaciers many miles wide and several hundred feet deep are flowing from the mountains of Alaska and bearing to the ocean

Cornelia May and Evalina Montana, and she and Mr. Van Gundy have four children: Elmer Jacob, Kattie Alveretta, J. Emory and Phebe May.

In fraternal organizations Mr. Van Gundy is prominent and active. For years he has been identified with the Masonie order, Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery, and is Past High Priest of the order. Ile has passed all the chairs of the 1. O. O. F. and has represented some of the orders in the Grand Lodge; is a Knight of Pythias; and is Past Master Workman of the A. O. U. W., and a member of the D. of II., and was one of the organizers of the Grand Lodge of the A. O. U. W. in Montana. Politically, he affiliates with the Republican party.

JESSE PATTERSON, a prominent farmer of Boulder val- ley, also vice-president of the First National Bank of Boulder, has long been identified with the interests of Montana, and as he is one of her representative citizens we take pleasure in presenting io this work the follow- ing sketch of his life.

Jesse Patterson was born twelve miles east of Colum- bus, Ohio, February 7, 1837, and is of Scotch-Irish an- cestry. His great-grandfather, Joseph Patterson, the first of the family in this country, located in Pennsylvania. His son Joseph had seven sons, of whom Jesse, the third of the family, born July 12, 1797, was our subject's father. When a young man, this Jesse Patterson located in Franklin county, Ohio, where he was subsequently mar- ried to Miss Frances Drake, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Francis Drake, who had removed from Penn- sylvania to that State. After their marriage they located on a larm in Franklin county, where they remained until 1846, at that time purchasing and removing to a farm in La Fayette county, Wisconsin, where they spent the resi- due of their lives, Mr. Patterson dying in March, 1856, and his wife passing away in 1869. Both were men, bers of the Methodist Church for many years. In their lives they exemplified the teachings of the faith which they professed, and both were held in high esteem by all who knew them. Of their nine children, four are still living.

Jesse Patterson, their third son and fifth child, spent the first ten years of his life on their farm in Ohio and the rest of his youthful days in Wisconsin, working on the farm in summer and attending school in winter. In 1857 he secured 160 acres of Government land in Howard county, Iowa, where he made his home until the spring of 1864. Then, with his wife and two children, he crossed

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

quantities of boulders, gravels and sands,- some of them containing gold. When these rivers of ice with their precious loads reach the sea, large masses break off and float away as ice- bergs; and wherever they melt they drop their freight of golden sands.

Similar deposits are sometimes found in our wide valleys far away from the mountains. These were formed by the glaciers flowing ont into the valley before they were melted, or were

floated out as icebergs when these valleys were lakes or bays of the ocean. Some of these ab- normal deposits of gold in gravels so far from their mountain sources may have been carried by the great glacier that once covered nearly all North America as far south as St. Louis or Cincinnati.

Such were the modes in which our placers were formed. Vast bodies of moving ice frozen full of masses of rock, were the mills that

the plains to Montana with the Townsend train, which was composed of fifty wagons. While the emigrant party were on the Powder river they were attacked by a large band of Cheyenne Indians and during the fight which followed four whites and about twelve Indians were killed, after which the Indians withdrew and allowed the emigrants to proceed without further molestation.

Mr. Patterson arrived in Virginia City August 10, 1864. He first engaged in hauling supplies to the mines, for which he received about $25 per day. Afterward he fol- lowed placer-mining. He was a party to the discovery of the mines at Blackfoot, called the Carpenter Bar diggings, which they worked from June until the following Sep- tember. They employed about six men, and in three months took out $26,000. Mr. Patterson spent the winter in Trinity county, California, and in the spring brought a stock of groceries and dried fruits to Montana. His train was composed of three wagons, with four yoke of oxen to each wagon, and it was not until the latter part of August that he reached his destination. The following winter he spent in prospecting in the Salmon river min- ing district. In the spring be turned his attention to the lumber business, near Jefferson City; built one of the first sawmills in the county, and continued in that husi- ness for a period of fifteen years. Then he purchased 200 acres of land in Boulder valley, to which he subse- quently added 160 acres more, and he has from time to time made improvements upon this place until now he has one of the best-paying farms in the county. Musk- rat creek runs through his land, affording abundance of water for his stock. His cattle are a grade of Durhams, and he is giving considerable attention to the breeding of valuable draft and road horses of the Norman Perch- eron and Knox Belmont breeds. Besides being largely engaged in farming and stock-raising, Mr. Patterson has various other interests. He is a stockholder in several valuable mines and is vice-president of the First National Bank of Boulder. He helped to found this bank and is ranked with its heaviest stockholders.

Mr. Patterson was married, in Iowa, December 12, 1858, to Miss Martha E. Tolley, a native of Wisconsin. The Tolleys were for many years residents of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Patterson have four children, namely: Mary Frances, wife of C. A. Darlington, Madison valley ;

Alice Ellen, wife of P. H. Park, of Jefferson county ; Frederick Summit, and William Henry, now at home.

Notwithstanding his father was a radical Democrat and that he was reared under the influence of Democracy, Mr. Patterson has been a life-long Republican. IIe be- came a voter when the life of this country was in immin- ent danger ; he cast his first Presidential vote for Lincoln, aud he has ever been true to the principles of the party he then espoused.

RICHARD A. REYNOLDS, a Montana pioneer of 1864, and now one of the leading stock men of Beaver Ilead val- ley, was born in Wales of Welsh parentage.

His father, Owen Reynolds, was born in Wales, and came to America in 1842. He had married in his native land, and when he came to this country brought with him his wife and eight children, the subject of this sketch being then six weeks old. They settled at Utica, New York, where the father worked at his trade, that of black- smith. In 1845 they removed to Kenosha county, Wis- consin, where he resided until the time of his death, which occurred in 1858, in the sixty-first year of his age. 1Ie had been a Methodist from early in life, and she was reared an Episcopalian. She died in the fifty-sixth year of her age.

Richard A. received his education at Pleasant Prairie, Kenosha county, and at fifteen years of age, after the death of his mother, began to do for himself as a farm hand, receiving $7 per month and board. Later he re- moved to northwestern Wisconsin, where he became the owner of land which he improved and sold; purchased again and improved and sold, and was farming his third farm when the great Civil war burst upon the country. He at once offered his services, but at first was not accepted on account of his having a sore leg, caused by the burst- ing of a blood vessel. In 1863, however, he recovered, was accepted, and was mustered into Company I, Thir- teenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. They served under General Sully, were sent on the first boat that went up the Yellowstone, and for a time guarded Sully's supplies. They had several skirmishes with the Sioux and with the Blackfoot Indians. Mr. Reynold's continued in service in the Northwest until the close of the war, was mustered out in September, 1865. and then returned to his home in Eau Claire county, Wisconsin.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

ground the gold out of the quartz and deposited it in the beds and at the mouths of these ancient channels. These channels were plowed out by these ice rivers armed with teeth of flint. These teeth have left their marks, deep scratches, on the surface of the rocks in our gulches and val- leys.

With these facts in mind the prospector will find much aid in examining the form of the

The following spring Mr. Reynolds again came to Montana, this time for the benefit of his health. Hle crossed the plains with a wagon, three yoke of cattle and five cows. He also had flour, bacon, corn-meal and beans enongh for a year's supply. In the party with which he traveled there were three families, and when traveling through the Indian country they joined with other parties until the company numbered thirty-five men. In the Black Hills they were twice corraled by Indians, and each time succeeded in driving them off. Once Mr. Reynolds recognized among them Indians he had known and befriended while in the service, and he pacified them with presents of tobacco. The company had started the 26th of May, and it was not until in November that they reached their destination in Beaver Head valley.

Mr. Reynolds "squatted" on lands on Blacktail Deer creek, where he still lives, and for three years drouth and grasshoppers destroyed his crops and he was obliged to work for wages at mining to earn his living. He mined somewhat on his own account and made a few good finds, getting out once, in a single afternoon, as high as $100; but everything thus found was used to work more ground, and when he left mining he was as poor as when he began. The little he now had left he invested in wild horses, which he broke and put to work hauling farm produce, which he bought in the valleys and sold at the mining camps. Ile now began to meet with prosperity. As fast as his horses well were broke they were sold, always at an advance on the purchase price, and their places filled again by wild colts.

Finally, becoming convinced that if there was any- thing he could handle successfully it was horses and sheep, he concluded to invest his little savings in the latter and add to his already growing band of horses from time to time as could be afforded. Accordingly he, with John F. Bishop, journeyed overland in 1869 to Oregon, where they bought a band of 1,400 sheep, Mr. Reynolds' share being 400 head. Their return on foot, driving the sheep before them, was necessarily slow, and they did not arrive on the home range until the winter had set in, having been five months on the road and en- during many hardships. This was the first band of stock sheep in this vicinity. He has continued in this business, with flattering success, until he now owns about 8,000 head, located in eastern Montana and western Dakota. ! IIis horses, however, have been most profitable, number-

gulch, to determine where the glacier flowing through it would pile up its freight of golden sands, where the sun would strike it hottest and melt it most, and where it left most of the gravel; for these places would be the richest parts of the placer. In gulches bordered by high mountains, the north and east sides would have the most sun; there the ice river would spread out and melt and leave more or less of

ing sometimes as high as 500 full-blood American, both draft and roadsters, with stallions imported from England and France. He has also a fine herd of shorthorn cattle. In addition to his stock and farming interests, Mr. Rey- nolds, in 1889, with his brother-in-law, H. J. Thompson, bought and consolidated the two lumber yards in Dillon, and they deal extensively in lumber, also grain and hay, being one of the leading business houses in the country. They have erected several buildings in Dillon, among them a planing-mill and a large warehouse.

In politics Mr. Reynolds has always been a stanch Re- publican. He has served his county twice as County Commissioner, when a large Democratic majority made the election of a Republican a personal compliment.

In 1877, during the Indian raid made by the Nez Perces, he took his family to Virginia City for safety, and with his team carried volunteers a distance of forty-four miles to the Blacktail crossing of the Salt Lake road, in the night, and returned to Virginia City with dispatches.

Mr. Reynolds was married in 1873 to Mrs. Virginia Johnson, a sister of the Poindexters of Dillon. She had by her first husband, Dr. Johnson, of St. Louis, Missouri, three children, two of whom are living: Georgia, wife of Rupert Nuckolls, of Dillon; and Philip, who also re- sides near Dillon.

Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds had one child that died in in- fancy. Mrs. Reynolds died in 1885, and in 1887 Mr. Reynolds married Miss Della Thompson, of New Cassel, Wisconsin.

While Mr. Reynolds has accumulated a comfortable competency, he has gained what is still better-the good will and high esteem of all who know him. He is, indeed, a fair representative of the prosperous pioneers of Mon- tana.

HENRY O. WORDEN, a native of Missoula and one of her enterprising young business men, was horn April 26, 1869. He is a son of Hon. F. L. Worden, a prominent pioneer of Montana. Henry O. was reared in his native town and learned the mercantile business in his father's store, in which he continued up to the time of his father's death in 1887, and until 1890, when the business was sold.

About the time he reached his majority, his father's . estate having been settled and the store disposed of, yonng Worden entered the employ of the Montana Com- mercial Company, with which he remained until Sep-

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

its rich freights of golden sands. At the place where the gulch opens into the valley, is the place where it would finally melt and leave what was left of its precions freight.

These are the general deductions from the modes in which glaciers formed placers. There are some others, produced by local canses, which will be named. It should also be stated that

tember 1, 1893. At that time the firm of Murphy & Wor- den was formed, Mr. Worden being the junior member, and they have since been doing a wholesale and retail grocery business, with large and well-filled store rooms on Main street, near the stand where Mr. Worden's father opened the first store in Missoula and where he did busi- ness for many years. Mr. W. C. Murphy, the senior mem- ber of the firm, has long been a business man of Missoula, and both he and Mr. Worden have a wide acquaintance throughout the western part of Montana, over which their business operations extend. Their stock consists of everything in the line of groceries, provisions and wines and liquors, and the new firm is rapidly coming to the front.

Mr. Worden is unmarried and resides with his mother and family.

GENERAL LESTER SEBASTIAN WILLSON .- The tides of emigration that swept over this western country during the fifties and sixties, while they brought much of the lawless element to the mining camps and early settle- ments, they also brought many of the very best young men of the East young men of sterling integrity who came out here not merely to secure a sum of money in the mines and return to their homes, but who came to estab- lish themselves in honorable business and " grow up with the country." Now, after the passage of more than a quarter of a century, we find them at the head of affairs in their respective towns and cities-men of prominence and worth, held in high esteem by their fellows. The sketching of their lives is a pleasing task to the biograph- er, for in no country is the study of biography more in- teresting than in the western portion of the United States, where, within a brief space of time, cities have sprung up, wide extents of territory have become populated and brought under a high state of cultivation, and where poor young men have made fortunes and by dint of their own pluck and energy have risen to positions of importance and trust.

Among these enterprising young men was one who landed in Montana about twenty-five years ago, whose name has since been coupled with the social and com- mercial history of Bozeman, whose life has exerted an in- fluence for good, and who is entitled to just consideration in this work. We refer to General L. S. Willson, whose name appears at the head of this article, and a resume of whose life is herewith presented:

the effects of ice rivers, nature's quartz-mills, are modified very materially by the shape of the channel, and that all depends on the forms of the gulch and the places where the ice melts and leaves its tailings.

Most of the mines of the United States were discovered by prospectors, or persons who made it a business to search for valuable minerals.

Lester Sebastian Willson was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, June 16, 1839. 1Tis father, Ambrose Willson, was a native of the State of New York, his an- cestors being among its pioneers; while the mother of our subject, whose maiden name was Julia A. IIill, was a de- scendaut of the Knox family of Revolutionary fame. Lester S. received his education in the common schools and academy of his native county. The son of a farmer, in his younger days he had some practical experience in agriculture.

When the Civil war came on young Willson was among the first to tender his services for the defense of his coun- try. In August, 1861, he enlisted in the Sixtieth New York Infantry, was first on duty in the Army of the Po- tomac, was afterward transferred to the Western Army, and was with General Sherman on that famous "March to the Sea." He served until the close of the war and was mustered out in July, 1865, having participated in many of the hardest-fought battles of that sanguinary struggle. Ilis military record was a progressive one and showed promotion for merit from the start, rising from a private successively to the rank of Sergeant, Second Lieu- tenant, Adjutant, Captain, Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel. After the old regiment was mustered out he was brevetted both Colonel and Brigadier General. Much of his service consisted of staff duties-Assistant Inspector General, Assistant Adjutant General, etc.

After his return to his uative State and peace again reigned over the country, he was appointed Assistant Quartermaster General of the State of New York, which at that time was a very important position, involving a great responsibility and a large volume of business. This office he filled for two years. The immense volume of transportation incident to return of troops, equipments etc., from the field of war brought him constantly in con- tact with railroad officials and other public men. At the same time a large volume of money passed through his hands, uniforming State troops, and providing for the Soldiers' Home, of which he had supervision. His posi- tion was at that time one of the more arduous duties and larger responsibilities than perhaps the same office in that State has since required. Governor Fenton and General Willson were warm personal friends, the latter being one of the Governor's staff. General Willson was a member of the Republican State convention held at Syracuse, New York, in March, 1867, that nominated most of the mem

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

The work of such men is called " prospecting." Some look upon prospectors as a class of men possessing but little energy and thrift; but it is still true that nearly all the gold, silver and copper mines in Montana were discovered by the hard labors of these men among our gulches and mountains. Some prospectors have made large fortunes, while others have a competence,

bers of the constitutional convention that revised the State constitution that year, and had the pleasure of par- ticipating in that body with his warm friend, Horace Greeley.

When General Willson contemplated moving West, he resigned his position in the State of New York, much against the protest of Governor Fenton and the advice of his friend, Mr. Greeley, being one of the few young men that he advised not to go West. In connection with Charles Rich and a Mr. Tuller, he formed a partnership to do a mercantile business in Montana. Messrs. Rich and Tuller, also a brother of L. S. Willson, came overland with a stock of goods in the spring of 1866. They loaded their caravan at Omaha, Nebraska, and were about six months on the way, having been detained for some time at Fort Reno, on Powder river, by the hostile attitude of the In- dians. They entered the Gallatin valley through Bozeman Pass, and continued down the valley some miles, to a point where a settlement of farmers had commenced the culti- vation of some ground, and were making preparations for homes. They pitched their tents and commenced busi- ness. After a few months they removed to the little vil- lage of Bozeman, which had been established in the mean- time, and found that the Masonic fraternity had erected a commodious, two-story log house on what is now the cor- ner of Main and Bozeman streets, this corner being oecu- pied by the modern brick structure in which the Commer- cial Exchange Bank is doing business. The log house consisted of a lodge room above and a store below. This store-room Messrs Tuller and Rich, secured and in it open- ed up their stock of merchandise, which at that time con- sisted principally of boots and shoes. Later they added dry goods and finally drifted into general merchandise, in- creasing their facilities from time to time and ere long doing business on a large scale. LesterS. Willson followed these gentlemen to Montana in 1867, and became an active member of the firm and its chief salesman. Mr. Tuller soon afterward retired from the company, the firm name then being Rich & Willson. They also engaged largely in freighting, Mr. Rich superintending outside business while Mr. Willson managed the store at Bozeman. This freight- ing business was begun on a small scale, with two six-mule teams, but so rapidly did their trade increase that soon they had to enlarge their capacity, putting other teams on the road. Then for some time their freight train consisted of six twelve-mule teams, with a capacity of more than 100,000 pounds. After the Union Pacific Railroad was completed to Corinne, west of Ogden, that was their point of receiv-

and others still have not been so fortunate, prudent and persevering. Many have discov- ered very valuable mines and have for some cause sold out for small pay or neglected to se- cure good titles. The discoverer of the famous Comstock mine in Nevada, from which more than $600,000,000 have been taken, died poor, even dependent upon his friends for food and

ing goods from the East and where they loaded their teams with goods, which consisted principally of their own, for their store at Bozeman. However, they made occasional trips with goods for parties at Phillipsburg, Helena and Butte mining camps, also with Indian supplies to the Crow Ageney, and often accompanying the military on expe- ditions against the Indians.

General Willson has all these years been prominently connected with the commercial interests of this part of Montana, and in public matters he has also figured prom- inently. Ile was elected to the Territorial Legislature of Montana in 1868, and in that body served two years, there being only one other Republican in that Legislature. At the same time he was a member of the National Republi- can Central Committee. Ile was Quartermaster General of Montana during the administrations of Governors Crosby and Carpenter. Few men have contributed more freely of their energy and means toward building up the city of Bozeman and extending its commercial and social influence than has General Willson. He is still interested in the mercantile business here, and now lias one of the largest and best stocked establishments in Gallatin valley. Ile is a stockholder in, and vice president of, the Gallatin Valley National Bank of Bozeman. Ile is a member of William English Post No. 10, G. A. R, of Bozeman, and has served as Commander of the same. He is a member of the military order of the Loyal Legions of the United States Commandery of the State of New York. He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity.

March 2, 1869, General Willson married Miss Emma D. Weeks, at Albany, New York. Her ancestors were among the early settlers of New England, and her father was a soldier in the war of 1812. They have two children,- Fred Fielding, born November 11, 1877, and Lester Eugene, November 11, 1879. Mrs. Willson is a woman of rare social attainments and exerts an influence for good on all around her. She is an active member of the Pres- byterian Church and a great worker in all charitable un- dertakings. None know her but to love her. The citizens of Bozeman may well feel proud to claim as their leading residents General and Mrs. L. S. Willson.

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 106

Author: Miller, Joaquin, 1837-1913. cn Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis pub. co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Miller, Joaquin, 1837-1913. cn
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1216