An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 154

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 154

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early settlers of Kentucky, and was killed there by the Indians. Col. William L. Irvine married Miss Fanny Ilart, a native of Fayette county, same State. After their marriage they remained in Kentucky until 1849, and then moved to a point near St. Joseph, Missouri, where Mr. Irvine engaged in farming until 1865. Mrs. Irvine died in 1858, in the forty-seventh year of her age, leaving three sons and two daughters. In 1864 the sons came to Mon- tana, and during the following year the father and sisters came also, settling in Deer Lodge county. In February, 1882, the father died, in the sixty-first year of his age. He and his wife had for many years been active and re- spected members of the Christian Church, and they left "a good name, which is more to be desired than great riches."

Mr. Edwin H. Irvine, their eldest child, was reared upon the farm in Missouri, attending school, and he finally graduated at Bethany College, Virginia, in 1857, and thereafter continued his agricultural pursuits. In 1859 he married Miss Anna Eliza Forbes, a native of Platte county, Missouri, and they continued to reside in the State until 1864, by which time they had two children,- Frank and Ella. Then, with oxen and wagons, they started on the long journey to Montana. Crossing the Missouri river on the 13th of May, they made a success- ful journey, arriving at Alder Gulch on the 23rd of Sep- tember.

Mr. Irvine there engaged in placer-mining until No- vember, 1865, and then removed to Deer Lodge valley, lo- cating on Race-Track creek, where he engaged in the live- stuck business (cattle and horses) for about fifteen years. In 1867, in connection with Conrad Kohrs, Col. J. C. C. Thornton and others, he projected a mining ditch to carry off the water of Rock creek to a very extensive mining camp about thirteen miles from Deer Lodge. The ditch when completed cost about $140,000, and proved a very paying enterprise. Its waters are still utilized there, and the camp has produced about $70,000,000 in gold dust. Mr. Irvine was a joint owner of the ditch and mines, and was superintendent of them from 1869 until 1883.

the Belt Range will maintain its fair fame for productive mining for long years to come.

Unlike the Belt mountains, the Little Belt Range is more noted for its quartz mines than for its placers. While only a few placers have been worked, and these with moderate success, some of the quartz discoveries are so well known as to enlist the investment of capitalists and attract the attention of railroads. One road is now running to Barker and Neihart, to aid in the development and share the profits of the rich and extensive mines in this district. The

Then selling out he embarked in the sheep business, and he now has about 5,000 head of these most useful animals, and two sheep ranches, -- one of 2,700 acres and the other of 800.

While in Deer Lodge he took an active interest in all the affairs of that section, and has the credit of being the organizer and founder of the College of Montana.

In 1888 he came to Butte City and engaged in real-es- tate business, and since then has been a very active par- ticipant in the growth and development of the city. He was instrumental in removing one of the greatest obsta- cles to her growth, as follows: He found the town covered by two patents from the Government,-one a quartz-mine patent and the other a town-site patent. The miner's patent made the site valueless for homes, and the lower courts had sustained their claim. Mr. Irvine and his son succeeded in procuring a compromise, which set- tled the question, and from that time the real estate of the town acquired a market value; and the growth of the city may be said to have been from that time phenomenal. In addition to handling so much of the real-estate of the place, Mr. Irvine has continued his mining operations, meeting with varied success.

He is a member of the Deer Lodge and Butte Mining Company, also owner of one of the richest silver mines in Butte, and has various mining properties throughout the State.

Of the two children who crossed the plains with their parents, it may be said that Frank has been for several years his father's partner, and is au efficient and capable business man; and Ellen became the wife of Rev. Wilder Joy, a minister of the Christian denomination. Mr. aud Mrs. Irvine have had five children born since coming to Montana, namely: Agnes, who is now the wife of Rev. Galen Wood, the present pastor of the Christian Church in Butte City: Shelby, May, Katie and Edwin. They lost a child in infancy, and all the rest reside in Butte.

Mr. and Mrs. Irvine both became zealous members of the Christian Church when young, and have been help- ful in building the church at Deer Lodge as well as in Butte City, in which latter place the edifice is a particu- larly fine one.

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Richard Lockey.

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principal mines as yet discovered in the Little Belt mountains are at Neihart, on Running Wolf, on Dry Wolf, at Yogo, in the Bigger dis- triet, at Williams' Camp and at Barker. The Little Belt mountains are well timbered with pine, red fir and spruce. They furnish the waters of the eastern tributaries of Smith river, the northwestern tributaries of the Musselshell, the western tributaries of the Judith and the head streams of Arrow river and Belt creek.

The Bigger District is in the foothills at the

As to national questions, Mr. Irvine has all his life heen a Democrat, but uever a politician. His public career has been chiefly devoted to educational and church interests, and during his long existence in Montana he has acquired a reputation for being a business man of the highest integrity of character.

AUGUSTUS GUSTAVE WILHELM, the pioneer merchant of Pioneer, Montana, dates his birth in Westphalia, Ger- many, October 21, 1836. The first seventeen years of his life were spent in his native land. IIe then came to America, first landing at New Orleans. At New Or- leans he entered upon a seafaring life, and for six years sailed the deep iu American vessels, during that time making two trips around the world.

On Washington's birthday, 1857, Mr. Wilhelm landed at San Francisco, and at that time retired from the sea. After this he was engaged in boring artesian wells in Cal- iforni t until 1863, when he went to Nevada. From 1863 to 1866 he was employed at butchering in Nevada, working for wages, and in 1866 he came to Montana. Upon his arrival in Helena, his first stopping place in Montana, he was employed in breaking rocks which were used in the building of the First National Bank building. From August, 1866, until April of the following year he was in Diamond City. He then returned to IIelena, and until 1870 clerked in the store of Lehman Brothers. In 1870 he came to Pioneer and established himself in business, and here for nearly a quarter of a century he has been a prominent and successful merchant. Three years after he opened up in business he erected the building he has since occupied, it being 25 x 60 feet, and well equipped with a good stock of general merchandise. Mr. Wil- helm's honorable business methods aud his courteous treatment to customers have gained for him the good will of all with whom he has had dealings. In connection with his other business, he buys gold, his checks being readily accepted at any of the banks in the State.

Mr. Wilhelm has been a Mason since 1857. During President Graut's administration he was appointed Post- master at Pioneer, and served in that capacity several years. At this writing he is secretary of the School Board. IIe is a fine penman and has for years been espe- cially interested in educational matters.

southwest base of the Little Belt mountains, on the North fork of Smith river, and about ten miles from Copperopolis. Several claims have been opened here on good-sized crevice veins in argillaceous shales, similar to those at Cop- peropolis. The quartz is stained with iron and manganese carrying gold. It also contains sul- phurets and carbonates of lead and copper ear- rying gold and silver. Some of the ores yield as much as 820 and $30 in silver and gold and thirty to forty per cent of copper. Very little

HON. RICHARD LOCKEY, Helena .- It is as a man of affairs that our subject takes pre-eminence in the com- mercial and political history of Montana, with which he has been closely identified since 1866.

A native of Eugland, he was born in Yorkshire, June 11, 1845, the third in order of birth of the nine children born to his parents, John and Mary Lockey, who emi- grated to the United States iu 1846, locating in Dubuque, Iowa. Here, until his twelfth year, young Lockey had such advantages for acquiring an education as the pub- lic schools of a frontier town afforded. Meager as those advantages were at the time, by diligence he laid a found- ation which has stood him in good stead throughout his active and successful career. Leaving school he secured a situation in a store for three years, and subsequent to the breaking out of the great Rebelliou he was employed in the lead mines. In 1862, though only seventeen years of age, he offered himself for enlistment and was twice refused on account of his youth. Not to be deterred in his design he was finally accepted in a clerical capacity, and attached to the Fremont IJussars, at Patterson, Mis- souri. In November of that year, his command accom- panied that of General Davidson's in an expedition into sonthwestern Missouri and Arkansas In 1863 he was with General Asboth at Columbus, Kentucky, and in Ten- nessee. Early in 1864 he accompanied General Sherman's army from Vicksburg in its march across Mississippi into Alabama. Subsequently returning to Vicksburg, he joined in General Bank's famous Red river expedition, Mr. Lockey at that time having charge of the Commis- sary and Quartermaster departments of General A. J. Smith's command, the Sixteenth Army corps. In the fall of 1864 he fell a victim to the unhealthy climate of the South and the exposure of army life, and, after re- covery from a dangerous illness at Memphis, he was re- turnel home. Convalescence having been established, he entered Bayliss Commercial College, Dubuque, Iowa, at which he graduated.

During the winter of 1865-6 he was engaged at St. Lonis in settling up the Quartermaster's books and ac- counts of the Fourth Missouri Cavalry. After complet- ing this work he came to Montana and located in IIelena, first securing employment in the construction of the

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prospecting has been done in this district, and the few discoveries made have been but little worked. There is an abundance of timber and a scant supply of water near the mines.

Mines have been discovered and opened over a large area at and around Yogo. These mines are on Yogo creek, Skunk Gulch, Elk Gulch, Lead Gulch and Black Tail Gulch, and in the mountains for five or six miles around Yogo. Placer mines have been worked in Yogo Gulch for six miles below and as far above the camp;

Truitt and Plaisted ditch He then accepted a position as clerk, which he held for a period of three years, sub- sequently reading law in the office of Colonel Sanders and Chumasero & Chadwick.

In 1871 he engaged in mercautile business in Helena, and in 1876 opened a branch store in Bozeman, where he manufactured large quantities of hard bread for the military and Indian departments on contracts. In 1881 he sold out the Bozeman store to his brothers, John and George W., who conducted the business under the firm name of Lockey Brothers; and the Helena store to William H. Ulm. Then turning his attention to real estate, insurance and abstracts, he became a leader in those lines in Montana. He is largely interested in real estate, mines, stock and other enterprises, and at present is president of the Helena Trust Company, and also of the Lockey Investment Company, and is a director in the American National Bank of IIelena.

All his undertakings have been characterized by a well grounded knowledge of organization, and all his enterprises have been pushed by a zeal and indefatig- able industry that admits only of success. Of a mental organization highly deliberative, his plans are never quickly conceived or chimerical in character, but always the emanation of a deductive analysis peculiar to the trained thinker.

Mr. Lockey is prominently and actively identified with tLe various branches of the Masonic order, and has officiated in many of the higher offices of the same. He is now serving his third term as Grand Receiver of the Grand Lodge, A. O. U. W., of Montana, and he is an active member of the 1. O. O. F., Sons of St. George, Elks and other societies. In 1868 he assisted in the organization of the Good Templars' order in Helena, having in that association officiated in all the higher offices.

Mr. Lockey has been twice a member of the Board of Education, has served in the City Council, and other im- portant positions, and is a vice-president of the Board of Trustees of the Moutana Wesleyan University. He is a Republican in politics, and in 1892 was elected a mem- ber of the Montana Legislature, where he distinguished himself as a man of patriotism, breadth of mind and pro- gressive ideas.

there were good placer mines in Skunk and other gulches around Yogo. Some of these placers are still worked with profit. A great many quartz claims have been located in this district, and some of them have been so de- veloped as to prove good mines. Gold Belt, Golden Slipper, Allen, Quaker City and My Choice are on Skunk Gulch, Blue Dick, on Elk Gulch; Golden Treasure between Skunk Gulch and Elk Gulch; and T. C. Power and other mines show considerable bodies of good ores,

Of the "House of Lords," a burlesque legislative as- sembly, Mr. Lockey has been president eighteen years. It was organized in Virginia City many years ago, and was removed to Helena at the time of the removal of the capital. His natural adaptation for presiding over an assembly of this character is marked. Nature made Mr. Lockey a humorist of quaint type, and, possessing thor- ough knowledge of parliamentary law, he is quick and incisive in his rulings as a presidiug officer. His as- sumed gravity is never disturbed by the mirth and hilarity of this burlesque assembly, and he gives by his serious demeanor a grave dignity to the scenes enacted by this mock tribunal. It has given him a reputation confined only by the limits of the State, and the influence of this body upon legislation has been wholesome and salutary.

He is now in his prime and is confidently anticipated by his friends as a force of great consequence in the future achievements of the State.

On the 5th of June, 1870, he was united in marriage to Miss Emily E. Jeffrey, of Leavenworth, Kansas, who has borne him five children, two of whom are living, --- Mary I. and Richard.

THOMAS J. TODD, one of Fort Benton's prominent citi- zens, was born in Marshall county, Virginia, near Wheel- ing, March 9, 1854. His remote ancestry were from Scotland, settling in Virginia, in the early age of that "Dominion." His father, Thomas Jefferson Todd, was born at the same old home, in 1824, aud married one of his cousins, Miss Susan M. Todd, moved with his family to Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1861, and died there the fol- lowing year, leaving his wife and three sons, the eldest then twelve years of age. This son became a grocery clerk, and is now a member of the firm of the Buttman- Todd Grocery Company at Leavenworth. The youngest son died. Their mother is yet living, now sixty seven years old, and residing with their son at Leavenworth. She never remarried.

Thomas Jefferson Todd, whose name opens this bio- graphical account, was the second son. He was educated in the public schools of Kansas, and later took a com- mercial college course. In 1872 hie accepted a clerk- ship on the steamboat Silver Lake No. 4. After serving

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on the mountains above Yogo. Nearly all the mines in this district have iron caps carrying free gold, some contain sulphurets and carbon- ates of lead and have native copper and azurite and malachite and copper pyrites carrying gold and silver; and some show sulphurets of silver. A very large portion of the ore developed in this camp is free-milling gold and is easily worked and amalgamated in common quartz mills and arastras. But the ores deeper in the mines are sulphurets instead of oxide of iron.

in that capacity two years he held the same position on the Nellie Peck. With this vessel he came to Fort Benton, arriving May 22, 1874. After his arrival in Mon- tana he accepted a clerkship in the establishment of W. S. Wetzel at Fort Benton until the season of trade closed. Next he went to Fort Washington and continued in busi- ness during the winter. The next spring he returned to Fort Benton and had charge of handling the freight until winter; then was employed by T. C. Power & Com- pany, and later was in the employ of the firm of I. C. Baker for the steamboat line at Bismarck, Dakota.

In 1889, npon the admission of Montana into the Union, he was elected clerk of the District Court of Choteau county, and served acceptably in that capacity three years. In 1986 he was connected with a large cat- tle company, but that winter being a severe one the ven- ture proved disastrous. At present he is retired from active business. He has a delightful home at Fort Benton, sitnated on a pleasant hillside overlooking the city and the surrounding country.

Politically he has been a Democrat all his life. He is a pleasant and kind-hearted gentleman, and, like his old Virginia ancestry, is noted for his hospitality. He and Mrs Tood have many warm friends in Montana.

He was married December 9, 1880, to Miss Martha E,. Conrad, a native of Warren connty, Virginia, and the danghter of Colonel James W. Conrad, of that State.

JUDGE EVERTON J. CONGER, of Dillon, Montana, and . now Proseenting Attorney of Beaver Ilead county, is a native of the State of Ohio, born April 25, 1836.

He descended from a family of French Huguenots who were among the first settlers of New Jersey, where his great-grandfather, Renben Conger, was born, in 1694. Renben Conger married Miss Mary Percey, daughter of Henry Percey, of England. After their marriage they resided in the Schoharie valley, New York, being there at the time of the massacre of the settlers by the French and Indians, but Mrs. Conger escaped with her children. Their son, Uzziah, was born in 1758. Ile fought in the Revolution on the side of the Colonies. Ile married Miss Mary Hungerford. Their son, Enoch, (Judge Conger's father) was born in Albany county, New York, in 1795, and became a Presbyterian minister. He married Miss

C. W. Gardiner has a small mill on Skunk Gulch, which consists of a Blake crusher, a Hunter oscillator and a Frue-Vanner concen- trator. The mill is working from six to fifteen tons of ore from the Gold Belt per day. The ore yields abont $15 per ton. Two men take out the ore and run it into the mill, and two run the mill, so the mining and milling are economically conducted. Elias Shelby has an excellent arastra at Yogo, running on the ore from the T. C. Power mine. The arastra las

Ester West, a native of New York, born in 1800. After their marriage they removed to Ohio. They had seven children, of whom only four are living, Senator Conger, of Michigan being one of the survivors. In 1870 they re- moved to Carmi, White county, Illinois, where the father died, in the eighty-fourth year of hisage. The mother survived him six years, and her death also occurred when she was eighty-four. Their whole lives had been spent in the service of the Lord. Mr. Conger had gone to the Western Reserve as a missionary, and spent half a cen- tury in the ministry, and as a pioneer preacher was known far and near.

Judge Conger was their sixth child. He was educated at Milan, Erie county, Ohio, and at the Western Reserve College, after which he learned the machinist's business.

In April, 1861, in answer to President Lincoln's call for three-months volunteers to put down the Rebellion, he enlisted in Company A, Eighth Ohio Volunteer In- fantry. He was transferred to the Tenth, in which he served some time, and then under direction of General Rosecrans he returned to Ohio and recruited two com- panies of cavalry and took them to Wheeling to General Rosecrans' headquarters. They were mustered in at Wheeling as independent companies, and Mr. Conger was elected Captain of Company A. In that position he continued until the fall of 1861, when he became one of General Rosecrans' staff officers. Later he was on the staff of General Ingalls. In the fall of 1862 he was sent out on a seonting expedition, and while in that service received a shot in the side which laid him up until the following April. He was then promoted to Major and went to Washington to take charge of the First Regiment, District of Columbia Cavalry, his commission being, re- ceived from Secretary Stanton. He went with his regi- ment to Fortress Monroe, under General Butler, and they also operated in the opening of the James river. He continued in that connection until the expedition on the Danville Railroad. At Stanton he received a gunshot through the hips, and was sent to hospital at City Point, and thence returned to his home in Ohio. Upon his re- covery he returned to his command, and was at the surren- der of Petersburg. Ile continued with the army until the close of the war, a part of the time on detatchied detective

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two tubs, which are run by an overshot water- wheel. This arastra ought to do good work, as the ore is a brown oxide, containing from $10 to $40 per ton in free gold. The Yogo has an abundance of good timber and water for all do- mestic and mining purposes. There is an ample supply of mineral coal on Sage creek in the ad- jacent valley.

I started up Running Wolf creek to examine the mines in Running Wolf District, but on my way learned that all the miners had left

service for Secretary Stanton, and with his regiment he participated in the grand review of the victorious army at Washington.

The night President Lincoln was assassinated Mr. Con- ger was in Richmond. As soon as he received news of the sad event he immediately started for Washington. At City Point he met United States Marshal Lemon and they went on together. On Sunday evening Mr. Conger went to General Baker's Department, as well as Secre- tary Stanton's, and with a posse of General Baker's de- tectives, by direction of Secretary Stanton, he searched the neighborhood where Mrs. Surratt lived. The search proving unavailing, he went into Maryland, to Annapolis and Baltimore, and thence returned to Washington and reported to Secretary Stanton. Mr. Conger then received orders totake twenty-five cavalrymen and institute further search, which he did. All readers of history are familiar with the story of the expedition, how Booth was over- taken, was found in a tobacco house, was surrounded, and when he would not surrender was shot. Booth's body, under the direction of Mr. Conger, was taken to Washington, was identified, and for the part our subject took in the pursuit and capture of this villain he received a reward of $15,000, while the others of his company each received $5,000.

After the war Mr. Conger returned to Ohio, resumed the study of law, aud in 1869 was admitted to practice in Illinois. On the 9th of March, 1880, he received from President Hayes the appointment of Associate Justice of the Territory of Montana. His district in- cluded Madison, Gallatin, Jefferson and Custer coun- ties, and he resided at Virginia City. This posi- tion he filled in a most satisfactory manner until the administration of Mr. Cleveland in 1887, at which time he came to Dillon and resumed the practice of law. Here he was soon elected Prosecuting Attorney of Beaver Head county for the years 1887-8-9, up to the admission of the State into the Union, and in 1892 he was again elected to the same office, which position he now holds.

Judge Conger was married October 16, 1861, to Miss Emma K. Boren, a native of Fremont, Ohio, and daugh- ter of Levi Boren, of that State. Their family is com- posed of the following named children: Charles W.,

camp the day before; and, as I could not ex- amine the mines alone, the Hon. Paris Gibson has kindly furnished the following excellent description of them, by H. H. Chandler, who had long experience in the mines of Little Belt mountains :

DR. G. C. SWALLOW, Helena, Montana :

Dear Sir-In reply to your letter of the 12th inst., requesting information concerning the mines of Running Wolf District, I would say: The most promising mines of the district are the

Margaret D., Ray S., Earl J. and Omer D. They reside in a comfortable residence which the Judge built at Dil- lon. Mrs. Conger is a member of the Episcopal Church.

NICHOLAS HILGER, a highly honored citizen of Lewis and Clarke county, Montana, is a native of Luxemburg, Germany, boru October 28, 1831, of German ancestry. His father's name was Daniel Hilger, his and mother's mai- den name was Susana Evert.

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 154

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