An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 137

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 137

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Mr. Kohrs was married February 23, 1868, to Miss Au- gusta Kruse, a native of Altona, Holstein, Germany. They have three children. The eldest, Anna, is now Mrs. J. M. Bordman, and the other two, Catharine and William John, are at home. Mr. Bielenberg is unmarried and re- sides with Mr. Kohrs. Their residence is one of the most commodious and attractive in the whole State of Montana.

Politically, Mr. Kohrs is a Republican. Ile has served as County Commissioner, was a member of the Fourteenth Legislature of the Territory of Montana, and was also a member of the Constitutional Convention which formed the present State constitution. Fraternally, he is a Mas- ter Mason.

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each, and that the whole amonnt thus paid to that date was $1,620,000 more than the capital stock.

Dewey's Flat and the Lone Pine mines are becoming a very important factor in the mining business of Beaver Head county, The Lone Pine mill is running ten stamps and crushing some twenty-five tons of ore per diem The ore yields about fifty ounces of silver per ton. A large amount of development work has been

DANIEL J. HENNESSY was born at Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, in September, 1854. At the age of thirteen he quit the collegiate school to which his parents had sent him and went out to battle with the world.

He was first employed in a grocery store, then in a dry- goods establishment, where he remained until he caught the Western fever, and came to Montana in April of 1879. After a month in IIelena he visited Butte and secured a responsible position with E. L. Bonner & Company, where he proved his worth as a man of business.

In September, 1886, he started out for himself and es- tabli-hed the. firm of D. J. Hennessy & Company, on Main street, above Broadway, moving shortly afterward to the corner of Main and Granite streets. His venture proved an unqualified success. In the summer of 1889 its scope was enlarged and the firm changed to a corporation, with a paid-up capital stock of $250,000, under the title of The D. J. Hennessy Mercantile Company. At noon on Sun- day, September 29, 1889, a fire started at the intersection of Granite aud Utah streets, and in a few minutes the building he occupied, together with his dry-goods stock, valued at over $125,000, was a mass of flames,-his books alone left, everything else being totally destroyed; but his ledgers were in such good shape that the full insur- ance carried was promptly settled by all companies with- out any quibble. Plans were at once drawn for a new building upon the old site, and before the end of the year, owing to his indomitable push and energy, it was completed and filled with an immense stock of goods, worthy a place in any large Eastern city. Prosperity has since crowned his every effort, and as a business man his name is second to none in the Western States.

In the following November, 1889, he had the honor of being elected to the first Senate of the new State of Mon- tana, on the Democratic ticket, in Silver Bow county, leading his opponent by a large majority. In 1890 he was re-elected, but after serving two years he resigned, and has since successfully devoted himself to the build- ing up of the largest dry-goods trade in the West. The D. J. Hennessy Mercantile Company has branch houses in Missoula and Granite, together with the large estab- lishment in Anaconda, now known as the Copper City Commercial Company.

done in this district, and the mines promise very good returns when silver returns to its real value.

The Vipond group embraces many promis- ing mines. The output of the mines of Beaver Head county has been very large, even in the times of depression. Strikes have hardly reach- ed the old-fashioned people of Beaver Head, who have been the more prosperous during these years of depression.

In Mr. Hennessy's vocabulary there is no such word as " fail," and as he is still a young man, his prospects for the future are exceedingly bright.

CAPTAIN WILLIAM HARMON. Prominent in business and social circles in Miles City and Custer county is Cap- tain William Harmon, a retired army officer who has had an eventful career in army life. Ile was elected to the Board of County Commissioners of Custer county in the fall of 1892, by the Republicans, he being an able advo- cate of the principles of that party. He was born in the State of Maine, in June, 1835. His remote ancestors were noble Scotch. He is the son of Allen and Charlotte (Boobar) Harmon.

Three brothers-Harmons came from Scotland in 1642,- two of whom settled in the Massachusetts colony and one in South Carolina. One of the number was Captain John Harmon, from whom Captain William Harmon descended. His mother descended from English and French stock, His grandmother on his mother's side was a Jolinson. whose father was a resident of London when the colonies declared their independence. He was impressed in the English army against his will, was wounded and taken prisoner by the Colonial army, and when able to enter the field again joined the Colonial forces and fought gal- lantly for independence, and became a Captain. The English confiscated all his property. Ile lived an hon- ored citizen of the republic and reared a large family. Captain William Harmon's parents, when he was fifteen years of age, moved to the then Territory of Minnesota and located at St. Anthony Falls, now Minneapolis. This was in 1850. The following year he shot buffalo near where the West Hotel now stands in Minneapolis. He received an academic education, and when twenty years of age engaged in the hardware business, and had con- structed a steamboat, the H. M. Rice, at a cost of $21,000, of which he was Captain, and which plied between Min- neapolis and St. Cloud, and did a large and profitable business.

During one season he had all he could do with three boats. He was doing an immense business when the war broke out in 1861, when he dropped everything to fight for his country, and responded to President Lincoln's first call for troops. Ile enlisted in the First Regiment of Minnesota Volunteer Infantry in April, 1861, and was

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

CASCADE COUNTY.

Though Cascade county las no important quartz mines, Great Falls has by its railroads all the business advantages of Neihart and Barker; and by the most direct communication, the Spotted Horse leads Maiden and the mining camps of the Little Belt to this city. Great Falls still holds the great river, its vast powers, the smelters, and extensive reduction works.

mustered in as Sergeant, and participated in all the hard- fought battles of the Army of the Potomac, and was pro- moted from time to time until he reached the rank of Captain. Ile was First Lieutenant at the battle of Get- tysburg, then in General Hancock's corps, where he was severely wounded. It was in that battle that his regiment sustained the heaviest loss of all the regiments in the Federal army during the war, having lost eighty- two per cent. killed and wounded! Not one was taken prisoner.

Captain Harmon remained with the army uutil peace was restored, when he returned to Minneapolis, where his father held the position of Revenue Collector, in which he for a time assisted him. While thus employed, and without solicitation ou his part, he was appointed Second Lieutenant in the Eighteenth United States Regu- lar Infautry: this was in 1866. In 1868 he was promoted as First Lieutenant and assigned to the Thirty-sixth United States Infantry. In 1867 he had command of troops conducting and protecting the engineer corps sur- veying for the Union Pacific Railroad. They had fre- quent skirmishing with the Indians. One sergeant was killed, one corporal wounded and two engineers mortally wounded. One of the unfortunates was a young man of a prominent New York family (Clark), a nephew of Thurlow Weed. There were a number of prominent New York families represented in the engineer party. They were anxious to explore the new country and enjoy the sport of shooting wild game then numerous in that region. Among the number were a son of Judge Hilton aud a nephew of ex-Governor Seymour, of New York. The battle with the Indians, in which Clark received his fatal wound, was iu May, 1867, near Rock creek, Wyoming.

When in camp near the summit of the Rockies, on that expedition, General Gibbon and General Rawlins, the latter then Secretary of War, came up with a large force, and all were in camp together for several days. When the officers were mounted and shaking hands to part, General Rawlins with a body of troops was going to Salt Lake City, General Gibbon to return, while Captain Har- mon was to proceed westward on his mission. The ques- tion was asked, "What shall we call this eamp?" Cap- tain Harmon suggested "Separation." When the Union Pacific Railroad was completed to that point, there was a station established there, and named "Separation."

CHOTEAU COUNTY.

Choteau county has been more noted for its broad rich pastures than for its mines. Still the various coal deposits have attracted some attention, and later the little mountains in the county have shown veins of the precious metals.

For many years we have heard rumors of rich discoveries of placer and quartz veins in the Sweet Grass Hills away off on the borders of

Captain Harmon resigned his position in the regular army in 1870, and engaged as post trader at Forts Rice, Lincoln, etc., with success. While residing at Bismarck, Dakota, in 1882, he was elected to the Board of County Commissioners. JIe engaged in the live-stock business in Montana in 1882, ou O'Fallon ereek, 100 miles from Miles City, where he has an excellent, well-furnished residence and farm buildings, and a water tank for irri- gating a large garden, where he grows all garden vege- tables for family use. Ile also keeps carriages for driving, and spends the summer months here with his family, en- joying the vigorous country atmosphere and fine scenery surrounding. Ilere he has large herds of cattle and some of the finest blooded horses in the State. He is now making a specialty of breeding mules for Southern mar- kets. Mrs. Harmon is an expert scenie artist, and has many sketches unsurpassed, one of which represents their country ranch. Her art work should have been exhibited at the World's Fair at Chicago, where it would undoubtedly have taken a prize. Their country post office is Ekalaka, Montana. Captain Harmou was married in Sioux City, Iowa, July, 1870, to Miss Zoe Picott, of French ancestry. Her father was a member of a St. Louis fur company, and a prominent man on the frontier in early times. She spent nine years at an educational convent in Chicago, and four years completing her education in a St. Louis institution. She was an apt student and received high honors at school. Captain Harmon and wife have four sons: Leo C., who was educated and received a gold medal at Montreal, Canada, is now employed in the Stock Growers' Bank, Miles City; the other three are respectively Milan T., William E. and Joseph R. Cap- tain Harmon east his first Presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, and has voted for every Republican candidate since. IIe is a member of the G. A. R., Grant Post, No. 14, Miles City, and has been Commander of the post. He is also a member of the Patriotie Order Sons of America. He is a genial, social gentleman, a good business man, and his residence is the finest and best furnished in Miles City. Mrs. Harmon is a member of the Catholic Church.

JOHN K. HoUK, one of the honored pioneers of Montana, was born in Ohio, November 18, 1828, and is of German descent. The grandfather resides in Maryland, and the father of our subject, Bela Houk, was born in that State, From which he emigrated to Ohio. In the latter State,

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British America, where Piegans, Blackfeet and Big- Bellied Indians keep gnard over mines and game. But the evidence is now conclusive that good placer and quartz mines have been discov- ered in this pleasant region " forever dedicated " to the use and profit of the indigenous red man. Many rich veins of gold, silver, copper, lead, and iron have been discovered and partially opened. Placer mines have also been worked with varied results. When this county is opened and cheap

he married Miss Charlotte Johnson, a native of Ohio, and they located on a farm in Seneca county, where seven children were born to them, three of whom are living. The father died at the age of forty-five years, and about 1838 his widow became the wife of William B. Mathew- son, of Rhode Island, by whom she has six children, two yet living. Her death occurred at the age of fifty-five, and Mr. Mathewson passed away at the age of seventy- two.

In 1850, Mr. Houk accompanied their family on their removal to Kent county, Michigan, and in 1852, attracted by the discovery of gold in California, he made his way to the Pacific slope, paying the sum of $100 for the privi- lege of walking and driving a herd of cattle. That was the year in which the cholera raged so severely, and every camping place was lined with the graves of the victims of that dread disease. Mr. Houk escaped that but suffered much from erysipelas, his eyes being swollen shut. The doctor bathed his eyes in liniment, and our subject, who thought it spirits of turpentine, insisted upon his comrades applying that liquid again, and the turpen- tine did what the liniment had failed to do-effected a cure .!

On reaching California, Mr. Houk sold his cattle in the Sierra Nevada valley, and on the 28th of September, 1852, arrived in Downieville, where the party with which he had traveled separated, never to meet again. With a part- ner, John H. Frees, he built a miner's cabin, at a cost of $40, two miles below the town, and with their blankets upon their backs made their way on foot to Sutterville, about forty miles south of Sacramento. There they were employed in various ways until the latter part of August, 1853, when Mr. Frees started for his old home and Mr. Ilouk was left alone.

Mr. Ilonk was then among strangers and was quite ill, but he resolved never to leave the mountains until he had made $5,000; and in the fall he made his way to Weaver- ville, and after engaging in prospecting south of that place for a time, he purchased a fourth interest in a claim and water ditch for $500, to be paid when he had secured the gold. He afterward bought and sold different claims, and in connection with John W. Winslett purchased Burnt Ranch, fifty miles below Weaverville and began farming, blacksmithing and hotel keeping. In 1858 Mr. Winslett

transportation furnished, the Sweet Grass Hills will be the seat of a prosperous mining camp.

All remember the famous stampede to the Bear-Paw mines in 1878, which ended in dis- appointment to many and disaster to a few. Those who remained to prosecute the work of discovery and development were driven away by the primitive landlords, who deemed this most like those "Celestial Hunting Grounds" promised to all "good Indians." Placer and

joined a volunteer company to fight the Indians and in an encounter was wounded. The next year the Redwood Indians became so troublesome that the Governor ordered out a volunteer company to keep them in subjection, and Mr. Houk and his partner, renting their claim, joined this company. In an engagement, the former was wounded in the hand and side, and from his injuries has never yet recovered. Subsequently, he engaged in carrying the mail from Weaverville to Arcata, California, for one year, a distance of one hundred miles, and thirty miles of this he traversed in the night, as it was unsafe to make the trip in the daytime. He several times narrowly escaped with his life, being on one occasion met in a narrow trail by two notorious robbers, but drawing his six shooter up- on them they fled.

On abandoning his work as mail carrier, he purchased some mules and engaged in packing between Arcata and Trinity river, and in the spring of 1862 took his train of eight mules to the Florence mines in Washington Ter- ritory. In the last of June of that year, he reached Lewiston at the mouth of Clearwater river, and on the 4th of July got to Florence, in the midst of a snow storm. During the succeeding two years, lie followed packing between Lewiston, Elk City, Florence and the Boise mines, and was then joined by his old California partner, whose home had been burned by the Indians and who had to flee with his family for their lives. In 1864, in con- nection with Robert Johnson, Mr. Houk went to the Bit- ter Root valley with pack trains and established a store at Fort Owen, after which they located the town of Stevens- ville, Mr. Houk building there a log house, which is still used by the Missoula Mercantile Company as a storage room. The town was named in honor of Mr. Stevens, who made the first treaty with the Flathead Indians. Our subject then ran a pack train, purchasing goods at Lewis- ton, and in 1866, Mr. Johnson sold out his interest in the store to Mr. Winslett before mentioned. This venture did not prove very successful, and in 1868 Mr. Houk be- gau prospecting, spending nearly two years in that way but not finding any great quantity of gold. Going to Blackfoot City, he then engaged in burning charcoal, chopping cord-wood, and for two winters carried the mail from that place to Lincoln Gulch, a distance of thirty-five miles, making the trip once a week, on Norwegian snow-

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quartz deposits of great promise have been dis- covered at different times and sundry places in these mountains, sufficient to give strong hopes. They will become the seat of active mining operations when the white man can have legiti- mate claim to his discoveries.

Mines of Little Rocky mountains have scarce- ly advanced beyond the stage of prospecting and discovery; still, enough is known to show that these, like nearly all the mountain regions of Montana, are intersected with veins of the

shoes. He worked for three years but could collect no pay for his services, so once more prospected and secured a claim, which he sold lor 8400. Returning to Stevens- ville, he then joined his old friend, Mr. Winslett, and be- gan buying cattle for the San Francisco market. Ile next bonght sheep, but suffered the loss of his flock, and in the spring of 1877 they left Bruno, Idaho, with little more than a thousand head, coming to Montana. In the spring of 1878, Mr. Houk began working in the ground sluice for the Pioneer Company, at $4 per day; and in the fall came to Bitter Root valley and located at his present home, Paradise Ranch, which he began improving in the spring of 1880. He is now engaged in raising Galloway cattle, some horses and a fancy breed of chiekens, and also cul- tivates fine fruits and berries, also has many beautiful flowers upon his place. In connection with these inter- ests, he also has an apiary of Italian bees, and the fine yield of honey adds not a little to his income.

The life of Mr. Houk has certainly not been an unevent- ful one; on the contrary it has been filled with many ex- citing and thrilling adventures from the time when he first crossed the plains in the early days of California's prominence. He has met with hardships and trials and encountered many dangers from the ruffians of the West. from the wild animals and still wilder Indians. He has several times won the victory in encounters with huge grizzly bears. On one occasion since coming to his ranch, he was sleeping near the corral in which was a cow and her ealf, and was awakened by the noise of a bear attacking the calf. Planting the muzzle of his gun upon the animal's head, he fired, and old Bruin fell dead. After waiting about ten minutes, another bear attacked the calf and was shot by Mr. Houk. The night was very dark, and in the morning he found one dead bear in the corral and the other in a brush near by, both weighing at least eight hundred pounds. This is only one of the experi- ences which come to the pioneer of the West, but the life has its attractions, and the school of experience has been a valuable and interesting one to him. He now has a pleasant home, which be is rapidly placing under a high state of cultivation, and in the community where he lives he is held in the highest regard for his honesty and strict integrity.

precious metals. Now, since these mountains have been added to Uncle Sam's dominion, we may expect to hear good things of the Little Rocky mountains in the way of profitable min- ing. We have abundance of evidence that these mountains contain very rich mineral de- posits.

DEER LODGE COUNTY

has had a full share in making up the history of Montana mining. The first gold discoveries in the State were made on Gold creek in this coun-

GEORGE SEYMOUR LEWIS came to Montana in 1866 and is now ranked with the wealthy men of Butte City.

Mr. Lewis dates his birth in Syracuse, New York, No- vember 13, 1824. His great-grandfather, William Lewis, emigrated to this country from Ireland and was one of the earliest settlers at Canistota, New York. He served as a brave Continental through the Revolutionary war, survived that struggle and lived to the advanced age of ninety-two years. His son, Oliver Lewis, was born in Onondaga county, New York; became one of the wealthy and respected farmers of that county, was a stanch Pres- byterian, and lived to be eighty-five. Ile reared three sons and three daughters, one of whom, Leonard Lewis, the father of our subjeet, married Miss Catharine Van Vleet, a descendant of one of the old Holland Dutch fam- ilies who were the first settlers of New York. He died at the age of forty and she lived to be sixty-eight. Both were active members of the Methodist Church. They had six children. One of their sons served as a soldier in the Union army and it is supposed that he now fills an unknown grave in the South. One of the daughters died at the age of eighteen years. Four are still living.

George Seymour Lewis was the second born in his father's family. He received a common-school education and learned the tailor's trade, and when he was twenty years old removed to Medina, Ohio, remaining there two years Following that he traveled from place to place, working as a journeyman tailor. He was in Springfield, Illinois, in 1842, and while there made a suit of clothes for Abraham Lincoln, and a little later, at Decatur, a suit for Richard J. Oglesby. Among other cities in which he stopped about that time were St. Louis, Chicago, and Jef- ferson, Wiseonsin, and he finally settled in La Harpe, Illi- nois, all this time working at his trade While in La Harpe he was married, March 24, 1845, to Miss Sophia Gardner, a native of that place, and they continued to re- side there until 1849.

In 1849 the California gold excitement allured Mr. Lewis to the Pacific coast, the journey being made by way of the Isthmus and date of his arrival in San Francisco being March 15, 1850. A few months of hardship and privation in the mines satisfied him that mining was not his forte, and he returned to Illinois. Soon afterward he

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ty, by an enterprising trapper. Gold Creek, Little Blackfoot, Washington Gnleli, MeClellan Gulch, Nevada creek and Pioneer were prom- inent mining camps in the early days. These and numerous others are still yielding up their deposits of gold. Gold Creek, Pioneer, Little Blackfoot, Ophir, Snowshoe, Washington Guleb, Elk Creek, Bear Gulch, Lincoln, Jefferson and Henderson contain many of the very early placers which made Montana so famons for gold mining in the '60s and '70s. Deer Lodge had

established himself in business in Des Moines, Iowa, where he remained two years, and from whence in 1855 he went to Clarinda and engaged in mercantile pursuits. Ile was at the latter place during the financial panic of 1857 and at that time lost all he had. Next we find him at Nebraska City. He then began to freight on the plains, at first in a small way with one wagon, making trips from St. Joseph to Denver. As he prospered he enlarged his business and ere long his freight train was composed of ten wagons and forty yoke of oxen. In this business he continued for about five years. In 1866 he started from Nebraska City with an ox train of five wagons loaded with provisions for Montana, landed at Bozeman on the 14th of August, and since that date has been identified with Montana.

At Bozeman Mr. Lewis readily disposed of his goods and then turned his attention to farming in the Gallatin valley. His son Leonard, then twenty years of age, was with him. They took claim to a tract of land fourteen miles from Bozeman, on the West Gallatin river, and there on a large scale began raising wheat and were very suc- cessful. They had their wheat ground at Springville and marketed it at Ilelena, a hundred miles distant. . In 1868 Mr Lewis opened a hotel in Diamond City which he ran for five years, his son carrying on the farming operations all this time. In 1875 he returned to Gallatin and pur- chased the Union Flouring Mills at Spring Hill. For a number of years he had most of the Government contracts to furnish flour to the forts in the Territory and to the In- dian agencies, his ox trains taking up flonr to Fort Benton and bringing back supplies to Butte City.

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 137

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