An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 141

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 141

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

nected with the mine by a wire tramway. Mill A has 30 stamps and 10 pans. Mill B has 50 stamps and 16 pans. Mill C has 90 stamps and 32 pans. The mine employs fromn 510 to 530 men. They mined and worked in 1890, 53,529,053 tons of ore, which yielded in silver 3,930,329.69 ounces and 8,583.48 ounces of pure gold. The Granite Mountain has declared $10,200,000 in dividends.

All the work is first-class; the mine is kept dry and well ventilated. The company provides a reading room, commodious and well supplied

ness. At the end of that time he accepted the position of conductor on the Northern Pacific, and served as such until 1889. That year he was elected Sheriff of Missoula county by the Republican party. For three years and two months he served as Sheriff, and during that time performed most effective service in running down and capturing the renegade Indians who had infested the country, his service often being rendered at the great risk of his own life. He captured four of these Indians, and after they had been tried and sentenced he executed them. Besides these renegade Indians he also had many other criminals to arrest. Some twenty, in all, during his term were captured, tried and had their deserts, receiv- ing the full penalty of the law. In one case a desperado had shot one of the policemen of the city and would not surrender. When the sheriff was called to make the arrest the criminal shot at him three times, Mr. Houston returning the fire every time, and every one of the latter's shots hitting the enlprit, from the effect of which he died soon after. The efforts of Mr. Houston in bringing to trial and execution so many criminals had a most salu- tary effect upon the country, and since then crime has been much less frequent.

Since retiring from office Mr. Houston has been inter- ested in the improvement of the city and has done much to bring about its present development. In 1891, in part- nership with Messrs. Higgins and Greenough, he built the Union Block, an elegant brick structure, 30 x 105 feet, three stories and basement, and occupied by stores and offices. Soon after the building was completed Mr. Houston opened a clothing store in one of its rooms, bnt soon afterward sold the stock. He is also the owner of other valuable property in this city and elsewhere, hav- ing invested some in land.

Mr. Houston was married in Omaha, April 8, 1880, to Miss Mary Quigley, a native of Wisconsin, and they have one child, Harvey A.

Fraternally, Mr. Ilouston is both a blue lodge and chapter Mason and a Knight of Pythias.

MILO FRENCH, proprietor of the Gregson Hot Springs, Deer Lodge county, Montana, is ranked with the pioneers

with the periodical literature of the day, a plunge bath, and a good hospital with medical attendance and nurses free to all sick and dis- abled miners, who pay only $1.25 a month for its support. Everything is done to secure the safety and health and comfort and intelligence of the workinen: As might be expected, the miners appeared to be picked men from all the nationalities which produce experts in mining. Besides the Granite Mountain mine the com - pany owns a hundred or more outside mines and claims.

of 1864. He was born at Constantine, Michigan, June 8, 1847, son of H. F.and Rebecca (Bates) French, the former born in Connecticut in 1803, the latter a native of Ver- mont. His parents were married in Western New York, and in 1833 removed from there to Constantine, Michi- gan, where Mr. French took claim to a tract of Govern- ment land, which he improved and upon which he reared his family, passed his life and died, his death occurring in February, 1891, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. His wife died in 1864. They had eight children, the sub- ject of this sketch being next to the youngest and one of the six who are still living.

Milo grew up on his father's farm, attending the dis- trict school in winter, and when he was eighteen years of age started out in life for himself. It was at this time that he came to the far West, the journey being made in company with six young men. Their outfit consisted of two wagons, with two yoke of oxen to each wagon, and they drove from their home to Chicago. At Chicago they chartered a freight car to the terminus of the road in Iowa, and from there they proceeded with their ox teams on the long journey across the plains to Montana. It was on the 29th of July that they landed at Virginia City. Virginia City was then a crowded mining camp, and the day on which they arrived excitement ran high, as one man was hung and another whipped.

Arrived in Montana, Mr. French first secured work on a ranch at $60 per month. He continued in the valley until spring and then went to the mines in the gulch, where he worked for $6 a day. The following June there was great excitement over the discovery of mines in the Blackfoot country, and he, among others, made a rush for that place. The expedition, however, proved a fruitless one to him, and in the fall he returned to Alder Gulch. It may be said of him that he went to all the stampedes of those exciting times, securing claims at various places and meeting with the miner's usual luck. At Jefferson Gulch he took out considerable gold. After a time, thinking his claim was about worked out, he sold it. It afterward proved of great value, netting its owner a large amount of money. He continued his mining

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

The Bi-Metallic is adjacent to the Granite, on a crevice vein in granite, varying in thickness from four feet to twenty. The main shaft is down 1,000 feet, and is cut by six levels. Down 200 feet, levels are run 950 feet west and 350 feet east to the Granite mine. The other five levels are about the same length. The mill has sixty stamps and sixteen pans, and works eighty tons a day, which yields from fifty to seventy- five ounces of silver and some gold. The mill is in the valley, and is connected by a wire tramway one and a half miles long. The ore is

operations up to 1880. That year he located in Butte City. He was well acquainted with the growth of the city, having been there off and on since 1869, and in 1880 he became the proprietor of the Girton House, then a paying hotel. He conducted a prosperous business there until 1886, and still owns the property which has greatly enhanced in value. In 1886 he took charge of the Hot Springs. Eighteen months later he sold out, but in 1890 he returned and has since had full control of the hotel, baths and saloon. This is a favorite resort and is well patronized by people from all parts of the country, es- pecially by invalids; and Mr. French's management of the establishment is meeting with the approval of the public.

Mr. French was married June 12, 1894, to Miss Bertha Joulson, a native of Norway who has been a resident of America since she was fifteen.

Mr. French has been a stanch Republican all his life, and while a resident of Butte City served as Alderman from the first ward. He is public-spirited and enterpris- ing and is a man of sterling characteristics.

ROBERT VICKERS, a respected business man of Virginia City, came to Montana in 1865, and as one of her pioneer citizens is entitled to personal mention in this work.

Mr. Vickers is a native of England, born in Lincoln- shire, February 15, 1830, youngest in the family of eight children of William and Frances (Wilson) Vickers, both natives of England. Four of this family are still living. In 1830 the father came to America and settled in New Jersey, where his death occurred in 1835. The mother remained in England and reared her children there, and there, in 1877, she died, at the age of eighty-four years.

Robert Vickers was educated in the public schools of his native land. When he was seventeen years of age he entered upon a seafaring life, and for eight years he sailed along the coast of England and to different parts of the world. In 1854 his ship landed in Califor- nia, at which time he retired from the sea and sought his fortune in the mines. Until 1863 he was engaged in mining at Pennsylvania Flat. During these years he had the usual experience of the average miner, at times

broken by two Blake crushers, and sent to mill in 500-pound bucket loads. This company takes good care of the safety, health and com - fort of its workmen. It furnishes free baths, and has a partnership with the Granite in the hospital. The output of the Bi-Metallic has been over 82,000,000 per annum. The roast- ing and lixiviating plant is large and complete. The best we can say for this mine,it is now (1894) running on the old tailings, with silver at 62 cents. The old mine is under repairs for full work.

getting a deal of gold and then investing it in mining en- terprises and losing it. A part of the time while there he clerked in a general merchandise store. Next he went to the Reese River mines, where he mined for wages and clerked for a time, and whence he dir- ected his course to Salt Lake and from there to Virginia C'ity. This journey from Salt Lake was made by stage: passage price, $150. Flour was then $1 per pound and other things proportionately high. He mined for awhile, but without success, after which his partner returned to California and he accepted a position as clerk in a cloth- ing store in Virginia City, at 860 per month and board. The following April he and W. P. Armstrong became partners and bought out the store, and conducted the same until 1868.

In 1868 Mr. Vickers returned to England, and April 5, 1869, was married to Miss Martha A. T. Borrell, a native of the village in which he was reared. Returning with her to Virginia City, he again established himself in busi- ness here, this time in a tobacco, cigar and notion store. After running this nearly two years he sold out and he and Mr. E. J. Walter became partners in the clothing business, and a year later he disposed of his interest to his partner. Then he purchased a ranch of 160 acres in Ruby valley, but after the grasshoppers had destroyed his crops two years he was glad to sell out, which he dal, and returned to Virginia City. After this he was vari- ously employed, in a clothing store, in the express office of Wells, Fargo & Company and finally in the sheep. busi- ness. In the sheep business he was in partnership with Dr. Raymond, and this enterprise, on account of the se- vere winters, proved a failure, their loss being 1,290 out of the 1,640 sheep with which they had started. About this time Mr. Vickers was nominated and elected by the Democratic party as Assessor of Madison county, and in this capacity he served with entire satisfaction for two years. At the expiration of his term of office he was made the assignee of a Laurin merchant, and sold out the stock in three months, and after this, in partnership with Mr. II. Elling, he purchased the old clothing busi- ness of his former partner, U. P. Armstrong. Since that

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A very large number of mining claims, more than 1,000, have been located and more or less developed in and around Granite mountain.

The pioneer silver mill of Montana, the Hope, is still running, near Phillipsburg. A few old-timers will remember the sensation produced by the news that the Wheeler pans for the Hope mine, then on the way from San Francisco, had gone down, wagons and all, beneath the quick- sands of Virgin river. Coffer dams to turn aside the flow of water and sand, were con structed before the pans could be raised.

time he has been engaged in business under the firm name of Robert Vickers & Company, dealing in clothing, furnishing goods, hats and caps and dry goods, Mr. Vick- ers having entire management of the establishment.

Mr. and Mrs. Vickers have nine children, namely: Robert Arthur, Mary Frances, Dean Wilson, Nellie Eliza- beth, George Dawson, Richard Borrell, Bessie Maria, Martha Fox and Ella Rhoda, all natives of Madison county, Montana. His parents being members of the Episcopal Church, Mr. Vickers was raised in its faith and is now an honored member of the church at Virginia City, of which he is Steward and Treasurer. His family are also members of the Episcopal Church. Fraterually, Mr. Vickers is a prominent Mason. He has represented his lodge at the Grand Lodge aud has served as a proxy to the Grand Commandery, and he and his wife and two daughters are members of the Eastern Star. In city af- fairs he has likewise been prominent and efficient, serv- ing as a member of the City Council and also on the Board of Education.

J. C. KEPPLER, the leading jeweler of Anaconda, Mon- tana, is a practical business man who has by his industry and good management accumulated considerable valu- able property in this place. He is one of the few now engaged in business who began here in the early years of the town's development, and few have done more to aid in its material growth than he.

Mr. Keppler was born in Germany, March 19, 1844, and in 1858 came with his parents to the United States and settled with them in Galena, Illinois. There he en- tered upon an apprenticeship to the jeweler's trade, un- der the instructions of J. W. Safley. From 1861 to 1864 he was in Denver, Colorado, and in April of the latter year he came from there to Montana, first locating at Bannack City, where he engaged in the jewelry business until 1866. That year he removed to Virginia City, Mou- tana, and in 1867 to Highland Gulch. In 1868, however, he returned to Bannack City. Ilis next move was in 1878 to Glendale, this State, where he was appointed Post- master in 1881, filled the office until 1885 and then re- signed. Since 1885 he has been a resident of Anaconda,

Other mines in and around Granite Moun- tain and the Bi-Metallic are the Blaine, Boston, New Departure, Montreal, Elizabeth, Zeus, Black Rock, Fanny Parnell, Altoona, Chalced- ony, Bi-Metallic Extension, East Granite, Me- tallic, Metallic Fraction, Tyson, Maggie C., Rainbow, Young America and Lord Nelson. Near Hasmark are the Gold Coin, Union, Michael Davitt and Sunshine. It is said that six companies own more than 1,000 claims on and around Granite mountain.

Near Phillipsburg are Two-per-Cent (rich in

that year having established his present business, which he has since conducted successfully. From 1890 until 1893 he was Postmaster at Anaconda. This position he also resigned.

Mr. Keppler was married in 1869 to Miss Clara Kirk- patrick. They had five children, only one of whom, Eu- gene R., is living, and he has apprenticed himself to a watch maker in Germany. Having been legally separ- ated from his first wife in 1884, Mr. Keppler was again married, in 1890, to Mrs. Manthie Haining, his present companion.

PATRICK J. BROPHY, one of Bitte City's enterprising and successful business men, is a native of the Emerald isle, born in coanty Carlow, August 5, 1855.

Mr. Brophy was educated in his native county aud learned the grocery business there. In 1877 he came to this country and in Chicago began his career in a spice and coffee mill at $9 per week. From there he went to Wyoming, where for three or four years he was in the employ of Beckwith, Quinn & Company, and since 1881 he has been identified with the business interests of Butte City, Montana. That year he and a Mr. Casey opened a stock of groceries in a little shack on the southeast corner of Broadway and Main streets, and they continued in partnership until 1888. In 1884 the small building they at first occupied was replaced by a more substantial structure, into which they moved. In 1886 Mr. Brophy purchased his present store of Foster & Kleinschmidt. It is located on the east side of Main street, midway between Broadway and Park street, and is one of the very best locations in the city. Since 1888 Mr. Brophy has conducted the business alone and with marked suc- cess. Hle now does a large wholesale and retail business, his annual sales amounting to over $350,000.

Like most business men in Montana, Mr. Brophy has invested some in mines and mining and he has also ac- quired valuable real-estate interests. He is a partner with Mr. Lockhart in the "Lockhart Ranch," which comprises a vast tract of land, 1,100 acres of it being inclosed. It is, indeed, one of the finest ranches in the State and is noted for the large draft horses raised there.

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silver), Mystery, Sweet Home, Silver Chief and many others. In Spring Gulch are the Hawk- eye and Wenger No. 2. At Black Pine the Combination mill and mine, Mountain Boy, Durango, Sunrise and Midnight are located. On Dunkleberry creek, eight miles south of New Chicago, the Hatta, Forest Rose, Stone- wall, Pioneer, Little Jo, Mountain Chief and Little Mack are found. Some of them have been opened, and the ores shipped have given favorable returns. Good veins have been opened on Pioneer Gulch. The Potosi and other mines

Mr. Brophy was married January 24, 1893, to Miss Margaret D'Arcy, a native of Joliet, Illinois. He and his wife are members of the Catholic Church. Politically, he is a Democrat, but has persistently kept out of politics, preferring to give his whole time and attention to his own private interests. He is a member of the American- Irish Club, an I stan Is high in the estimation of the busi- ness men of Montana.

PATRICK H. MEAGHER, one of the prominent farmers of Deer Lodge valley, Deer Lodge county, Montana, dates his first arrival in Montana in 1862, and is therefore ranked with the early pioneers of the State.

Mr. Meagher was born in Canada, March 17, 1842. His father, Thomas Meagher, was a native of Ireland, emi- grating to America when he was seventeen years of age and settling in Pennsylvania. From there he went to Canada, where he was engaged in farming and railroad contract work until 1549. He was there married to Miss Catharine Meagher, also a native of the Emerald Isle, and they became the parents of nine children. In 1849 he returned to the United States and took up his abode in Franklin county, New York, where he spent the resi- due of his life and died, being sixty-eight years old at the time of his death. His wife died when in her sixty-fourth year. Seven of their family are still living, Patrick H. being their fourth child.

Patrick H. Meagher was educated in the public schools, and when he was seventeen filled the position of baggage master at Burke Station. Two years later he went to California, making the journey by way of the Isthmus of Panama and landing in San Francisco January 25, 1861. He spent that winter in California and in the spring went to Nevada and engaged in gold mining. He remained there, however, only a short time, and from that place came to Montana, making the trip via Portland, Oregon. Like many of the early miners, he was of a roving dis- position in those days, and after he had spent two months in Montana he proceeded to Boise City. For some time thereafter he mined on Feather river and took out $7,000 there. In 1864 he went on a prospecting trip into British Columbia, but did not meet with success there. After

are large and rich in gold. Boulder creek has a group of very promising prospects, which have attracted the attention of the mining com- munity. On Rock creek, twenty miles from Phillipsburg, we have the Great Republic and many other good claims. The Algonquin mill, with twenty stamps, was erected to run on the ores of Speckled Trout and Salmon mines, near Phillipsburg.

GALLATIN COUNTY.

While the rich valleys of Gallatin county have produced more to feed our people when thou-

that he came to Montana again, his second arrival here being in 1865. He prospected and mined at Confederate Gulch and other places until 1869. He next turned his attention to farming, but two years later abandoned his land and went to mining again, mining at Dry Gulch and taking out considerable gold. In 1873 we again find him in Nevada, where he prospected for wages for a time. In 1876 he returned to Montana. He continued pros- pecting and was successful in locating a number of valu- able claims, among which were the "Gray Nun," which he sold for $1,000; the " Bella Clara and Burk," which he sold for $20,000; and the "Clinton," for which he realized $12,000. He sold his half of the "Callio" for $12,500, and he had a number of other mines, which he sold for $1,000 each.

In 1886 Mr. Meagher came to Deer Lodge valley and purchased a tract of land, and since that time has given his attention to farming and stock-raising, making a spe- cialty of Percheron horses and Holstein cattle. Here he owns 2,640 acres of choice land, some of the best in the valley, and raises large crops of hay, wheat and potatoes. He annually cuts 200 tons of hay. Ilis wheat and oat crop averages 15,000 bushels, and he raises about 3,000 sacks of potatoes every year. He keeps about thirty-two head of work horses, has all the necessary farm ma- chinery, and is carrying on his operations by the latest and most approved methods. While he gives his chief attention to farming now, he is still interested in mines and mining. He is a Republican and a member of the A O. U. W.

Mr. Meagher was married in 1884 to Miss Rachel Thomas, a native of Idaho, and they have five children, all born in Montana, namely: Lawrence P., Nora, Mary, Thomas Francis and Rachel.

PROF. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN MAIDEN .-- This young and promising educator is a son of G. W. and Sarah E. (Campbell) Maiden. Ilis paternal ancestors were En- glish, while his mother's people originated in Scotland. His parents resided in Page county, Iowa, where for many years his father was extensively interested in woolen mills, manufacturing woolen goods, etc., and in

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sands of miles away from other sources of sup- ply, than any other part of the State, her pros- perous people have discovered and opened vast beds of coal to run our railroads and mines, smelt onr ores, and warm our homes and busi- ness houses and light our cities. These coals speed the trains on our railroads and keep the streams of gold and silver and copper and lead flowing from our glowing furnaces. As if this was not enough for one county to do, Gallatin has during the last year opened up a mining district in which hundreds of quartz claims have been discovered and located.

that county, March 11, 1868, the subject of our sketch was boin. He attended the public schools of his native coun- ty until he was fourteen years old. At an early age he be- came anxious to try his fortune in the great West, and at the age of eighteen we find him in Montana. Feeling the need of a thorough education in order to prepare him- self for usefulness in life, he entered the College of Mon- tana, a Presbyterian institution of learning, located at Deer Lodge, and was afterward a student in the Bozeman Academy, where he completed his preparatory studies. In the fall of 1889 he entered upon a regular college course at Marietta, Ohio, where he graduated in 1892, having accomplished a four-years' course of study in three years. A few months before his gradnation he was elected to take charge of the Bozeman Academy, and satisfactorily conducted that institution for one year. At this writing he is a member of the faculty of the Montana Agricultural College, being professor of ancient lan- guages, English, etc. This institution is located at Boze- man and is supported by the Goverment.

ORLANDO EMMONS, formerly of Livingston, Montana, now of Nye City, dates bis birth in Petersburg, Virginia, July 14, 1851. Ile is a son of Roderick W. and Louise (Alley) Emmons. His father was a farmer and railroad contractor, and was a prominent factor in the building of the South Side railroad, over which the Federal and Con- federate armies so long and fiercely contested before the fall of Petersburg. He had three sons in the Confederate army, two of whom died, and he contracted fever while attending one of them, which terminated his life at the age of sixty-five years.

Orlando Emmons was educated in the private schools of his native State. At the age of twenty he went to Baltimore, Maryland, where he was employed by a safe manufacturing company. While in that city be formed the acquaintance of Emma Smalley, the accomplished daughter of A. P. and Faony (Hodgkins) Smalley, of Vermont, her father being a merchant and farmer. Ex- Governor Page's mother and Miss Smalley's father were brother and sister. To this young lady Mr. Emmons was

From December 1, 1889, to December 1, 1890, 104 mineral claims were recorded in Gal- latin county. Of these sixty-six were quartz claims, twenty-seven placers and eleven coal claims.

But this enterprising county has also under- taken to teach our boys and girls to love the glorions pursuits of horticulture and agricul- ture, that our miners may eat home food. We want gardens and orchards. No State can have better gardens. Beets, onions and cabbages grow better here than elsewhere. Our currants, raspberries, strawberries, are as good as can be

married, February 13, 1872. They subsequently removed to Iowa, where Mr. Emmons was supervisor of an asylum for feeble-minded children, under Dr. O. W. Archibald, at Glenwood. From there be came to Livingston, Mon- tana, in 1884, as foreman painter for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, in which capacity he remained until the fall of 1889. He was then elected Clerk of the Dis- trict Court of Park county, on the Republican ticket, the contest being a close one, as his opponent, James A. Bailey, was defeated by only four votes. Mr. Emmons acted generously toward Mr. Bailey by appointing him as his deputy. It should here be stated that Mr. Emmons was reared a Democrat, amidst Democratic surroundings, while his wife and her people were stanch Republicans. The union in this case of the North and the South ter- minated, as did the war, in favor of the North.

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 141

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