An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 155

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

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Mr. Hilger acquired his earlier education at the State schools of Luxemburg, continuing in school there until his removal from that place in 1847, at which time the entire family, comprising his parents, grandmother, broth- ers and sisters, emigrated to the United States, the great Mecca of enterprising people from the Old World. On arrival in America the family first located at Buffalo, New York, where they remained resident until 1857. The father, although in the old country he was a machinist and wine manufacturer, after settling in Buffalo purchased a farm near the city and engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1854 young Hilger removed to St. Paul, Minnesota, but after a short time settled at Henderson, that State, where he was soon appointed Justice of the Peace for the district in which he resided. To this office he was after- ward elected, and after that again he obtained a position in the United States Land Office. After filling this posi- tion for a time he accepted a position in the Census De- partment of the Territory, preparatory to its admission into the Union as a State. After completing his duties in that relation he was elected County Auditor, and he . served in that responsible capacity for three consecutive terms, namely, from 1857 to 1864; and while he was serv- ing in this office he was elected Captain of a regiment of the State Militia, which office he held uutil the year 1864, when he resigned to join a train then starting across the plains for the great west. This train afterward joined the Sully expedition, which was then sent against the Sioux Indians. Following the course taken by this ex- pedition the party arrived at Helena on the twenty- seventh day of September, 1864. At this time Last Chance Guleh had not reached the zenith of development, and Mr. Hilger and others passed ou to Montana City, which was then the county seat of Jefferson county, where they remained during part of the ensuing winter. While ther

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Mortson and Woodhurst, Red Oxide, Sir Walter Scott, Last Chance, Mountain Side, Eureka, Aha and Castle. The first named mine (the Mortson and Woodhurst) is a contact vein be- tween porphyry and limestone. Some 500 tons of fine carbonate ore have been taken out of this mine, averaging, by working test of thirty tons made at the Montana Smelting Company's works at this place, thirty ounces of silver per ton, and sixty-five per cent. lead. The mine is comparatively undeveloped, yet for a distance of 300 feet along the course of the lead and as far as worked, it shows a continuous vein, vary- ing from two to six or seven feet in width of a very superior quality of smelting ore, princi-

Mr. Hilger was appointed the first Deputy Recorder for Edgerton county, by H. H. Eastman, the Recorder of the county. Mr. Hilger served in this office until June 1, 1865, and then returned to Minnesota for his family. After being delayed in that State for some time by his business interests, he at length returned overland to Mon- tana, with his family, in 1867, since which time he has been a resident of this State. During this period he has served as Justice of the Peace and as Probate Judge for several terms, and also, during this time, he purchased his present home and farm on the Missouri river, and be- gau to engage in the rearing of live stock. This depar- ture has proved successful, and Mr. Hilger is now one of the solid and prosperous farmers of Missouri valley.

It was in the year of 1857 that Mr. Hilger was married, taking for his wife Miss Susannah Moersch, of Minne- sota, and they have had ten children, eight of whom are still living, -four sons and four daughters,-and several of these are married and have children.

Mr. Hilger is still hale and hearty and au active busi- ness man. For a number of years he has run a pleasure boat from his hospitable ranch to the Gates of the moun- tains on the Missouri river. The trip to that point is one of the most beautiful in the West, aud many tourists pass over this route every year.

HON. JOSEPH W. KINSLEY, a prominent member of the legal profession of the State of Montana, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, August 24, 1843. His first American ancestors, having received a land grant in Rhode Island from King James, emigrated from old Eng- land to this country in the early Colonial times. The surname iu the family of which our subject is a member was formerly Kingsley, but the letter g was inadvertently omitted in the grant just referred to; and in order to pre- vent trouble the family changed the orthography of their name to correspond, so that their legal title would appear clear. All the Kinsleys in the United States are from this stock. Mr. Kinsley is the oldest son of the old- est son for several generations, which fact, in England, would make him heir to a large estate It is believed,

pally lead carbonates, and entirely free from zinc and other refractory metals. Further de- velopment will undoubtedly prove this to be one of the most extensive silver-lead deposits in Montana. The Red Oxide, adjoining the Mortson and Woodhurst on the sonth, shows an immense outerop of iron and copper ore assay- ing ten to twenty ounces in silver. A shaft fifty feet deep has been sunk on the lead, all in ore of the character described.

The Sir Walter Scott is located about one and a half miles north of the Mortson and Woodhurst, near the summit of the mountains, in a lime and porphyry contact. The ore is of an entirely different character from that men-

however, that the connection which the family formerly had with our Revolution disinherited the American Kinsleys.

Mr. Kiusley's father, Henry Kinsley, was born in Bos- ton, in 1821, married Miss Elizabeth Allison, a native of the British provinces and of English ancestry, and re- sided in East Cambridge for many years, where he was a foreman in the glass works, then one of the largest in the United States. His death occurred in 1874, and his wife is still living, seventy-four years of age. She is, as was her husband, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mr. Kinsley, whose name introduces this sketch, was educated in the Cambridge schools, and, commencing at the early age of eleven years, he served an apprentice- ship of seven years at the printers' trade, completing it at the University Press in Cambridge. His last work there was on the American edition of Charles Dickens' works.

In April, 1861, President Lincoln called for volunteers to put down the rebellion, and in answer to that first call Mr. Kinsley enlisted in Company A, Sixteenth Massachu- setts Volunteer Infantry, and served for nearly two years in the Army of the Potomac, under General Hooker. When engaged in the battle of Malvern IIill a shell burst near him and destroyed his hearing in the left ear; and he was also prostrated by a severe sunstroke. Ile was taken to the hospital at Newark, New Jersey, where he suffered a severe attack of fever, and by reason of his disability he was finally discharged.

Returning to East Cambridge, he engaged in the printing business on his own account until 1865, when he engaged in the fire-insurance business as local agent and also as an adjuster for several companies. In 1866 the great Portland (Maine) fire occurred, and he was sent there to adjust losses for a number of companies. After completing this task he went to Boston, where he ac- cepted the New England agency for twelve large West- ern companies. While employed in this capacity the great Chicago fire of 1871 occurred, and his companies

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tioned above, being a sulphuret and chloride of silver, carrying no lead, or what is termed a free-milling ore, averaging according to mill test sixty or seventy ounces of silver per ton. Very beautiful specimens are obtained from this mine, assaying upward of 1,000 ounces of silver per ton. At several points along the course of the vein shafts have been sunk twenty- five to thirty feet deep, and drifts run sixty feet, disclosing a vein of excellent milling ore from two to five feet wide. Owing to the loca- tion of the mine (near the top of the mountain) being somewhat difficult of access, and the heretofore isolated position of the district, but little more than the annual representation work required by the mining laws has been done. But with railroad communications and better

went down. Then he and five others applied to the Massachusetts Legislature for a charter to organize the Faneuil Hall Insurance Company. It was granted, and when it was organized he was elected its vice-president, and had the charge of its affairs until 1877.

November 8, 1873, Mr. Kinsley married Miss Carrie Amelia Safford, a native of Boston, and while they were residents of that city the eldest of their two children was born. Their youngest was born in Helena, Montana. On account of the illness of his family he was advised to re- move to California; and accordingly he resigned his posi- tion in the company and moved to San Francisco, where he engaged in publishing a Masonic monthly magazine until 1880. At this time the Ancient Order of United Workmen was organized on the Pacific coast, and he with others was chosen to introduce the cause of the order in the Golden State. This he did, and afterward introduced it also in Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

When engaged in the printing business after the war he commenced to read law, purchasing his books and reading at night. Ile read for about three years and was about to take charge of the insurance department of the large law business of General B. F. Butler when he was advised to go to California. When he was in the Ter- ritory of Utah he was admitted to the bar, after a personal examination by Judge Philip II. Emerson, and soon afterward he was appointed Assistant United States Attorney for the northern district of Utah. At the same time he was editor of the Ogden Pilot, a "Gentile" paper published there.

In 1882 he went to Billings, Montana, and started the publication of the Billings Rustler, which, however, he sold in 1883 and came to Helena, where he opened his law office, where he has since practiced, meeting with success that is satisfactory. Miss Ella Knowles read law in his office, was admitted to the bar and for a time was

facilities for working, which the district will soon have, this (as well as many other mines in this district) will be vigorously worked; and, judging from present indications, will prove one of the best paying mines in the camp. The Ada, Mountain Side and Last Chance locations show fine bodies of fair grade smelting ore.

Taken altogether, the Running Wolf Dis- triet, with its abundant supply of fuel and water, its large deposits of free ore and its bright prospects of immediate railroad com- munications, will, in the not distant future, oc- cupy a position as a bullion producer second to no other mining district in the rich and extensive mineral zone of the Belt Mountain Range.

Respectfully, H. H. CHANDLER.

a member of the firm. When the United States Courts were organized in Montana, Mr. Kinsley received the appointment of First United States Circuit Court Com- missioner, a position which he still holds. In 1892 he was chosen by his party (the Republican) as their candi- date for District Judge, but was defeated; and that was the only time he has ever taken an active part in politics.

When twenty-one years of age he was initiated into the mysteries of Freemasonry; he is now a Past Master and a Knight Templar. He has been a member of the G. A. R. ever since its organization. He united with the A. O. U. W. in 1878, in San Francisco, being a charter member of Franklin Lodge, No. 44, of that city, and was elected overseer of the lodge on the same night that it was organized and that he was initiated. The same year, with ninteen others, he withdrew from that lodge to form another, St. John's No. 73, comprised exclusively of Freemasons, and he was elected Past Master Workman. In this organization he attended the Grand Lodge of California in 1879, '80, 81, and '82. In 1880 he was ap- pointed Grand Lecturer, and during that year he visited eighty-three lodges and conferred degrees upon 1,500 candidates. In 1880 he was also appointed Depnty Supreme Master Workman for the State of Nevada, when there were five lodges in that State, and within a few months he had organized six more lodges, and in May, 1881, he organized the Grand Lodge of that State. In May, 1882, while attending the second Grand Lodge of Nevada, he was employe 1 as a general organizer for the whole of the intermountain country: and, having or- ganized fifty-two subordinate lodges and conferred de- grees npon 3,000 candidates, he was, in 1883, elected Grand Master Workman, and re-elected in 1884; and in the latter year he attended the Supreme Grand Lodge as a representative of the Grand Lodge of the State of Nevada. The Supreme Lodge was held in Toronto, Canada, and he has attended every session of the Su-

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The mines in Dry Wolf District are on Lion creek and Iron Gulch, tributaries to Dry Wolf creek. The mountain ridges in which these mines are located are capped with a dark lime- stone underlaid by beds of variegated argilla- ceous shales. All the quartz veins thus far opened are in the above named limestone and show a large amount of excellent ore for the work done. All the veins are capped with oxide of iron carrying gold and silver. There is a very large amount of float, particularly the oxide of iron, on the mountains and in the gulch.

The mines most worked, the Dry Wolf and Gold Dust, were closed up when I was in the

preme Lodge since that time. In 1888 he was appointed a member of the committee on laws of that body. He was reappointed, and in 1889 was elected Supreme Overscer; in 1890 was unanimously elected Supreme Foreman; in 1891 unanimously elected Supreme Master Workman. In December, 1890, he organized the Grand Lodge of the State of Montana, being elected its first Grand Master Workman: in January, 1891, he was elected Master Workman of Capital Lodge No. 2, at Helena; and when elected Supreme Master Workman, in June, 1891, he for a short time held the three presiding offices of the order at once,-Master Workman, Grand Master Workman, and Supreme Grand Master Workman. Dur- ing that time Kinsley Lodge, No. 15, was organized at East Helena, Montana, which adopted for its seal the three gavels which he held, tied with a bow ribbon. He is now chairman of the board of arbitration of the Sn- preme Lodge, which board is composed of five Past Supreme Master Workmen, and is the final tribunal which has the settlement of all questions connected with the order.

For many years Mr. Kinsley has endeavored to have the word " white" stricken from the constitution of the A. O. U. W., as he has always been a lover of civil liberty and an extreme abolitionist. He came to the conclusion that if he was made Supreme Master Workman he would organize an order on the same plan as that of the A. O. U. W., omitting the word " white" from its constitu- tion. Accordingly, in July, 1893, he organized the American Order of Home Protection. It is governed on the plan of the United States Government, and the lodges are named after the presidents of the United States, and afterward, as occasion demands, in honor of generals and statesmen. This order has already been introduced throughout the States of Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio, Missouri and Alabama, and the good work is to go on throughout the Union. This has the honor of being the

camp and could not be examined. Many dis- coveries have been made and recorded. Consid- erable placer mining has been done on Lion creek; and Iron Gulch is located and held as valuable placer ground, as shown by the pros- pecting and mining already done in various parts of the gulch. The Dry Wolf District is well supplied with good timber and water for domestic, mining and agricultural purposes. Dry Wolf itself runs dry sometimes at the month of the canon, but there was at least 500 inches in the creek a mile or more above. This water sinks and can be raised from bed-rock at the month of the canon and be used for irrigat- ing the agricultural lands in the valley below, or

first national beneficiary organization with the word " white" left out of its constitution, and it admits ladies as well as colored people.

Mr. Kinsley has a home in IIelena, where he resides with his wife and two daughters: the latter are named Carrie S. and Alice F. Mr. Kinsley has a ranch near Helena, and he enjoys a wide reputation and a good law practice. He is a talented man, has a large heart full of generous impulses, and is deserving the high esteem in which he is held by the A. O. U. W. of America.

GENERAL CHARLES DAVID CURTIS, of Helena, is one of Montana's most honored pioneers and public-spirited citi- zens. He was born in the city of Cloyne, county Cork, Ireland, March 11, 1839. His father, William Curtis, Esq., married Miss Honora Eugenia Doyle, an ac- complished daughter of the house of Desmond. Mr. William Curtis was a man of superior education and cul- ture, and was a large property owner, but, being a patriot and connected with the patriot troubles in his native land in 1848, he sailed for America and was followed by his wife and children in 1850. They spent a short time in New Orleans, afterward settled in St. Louis, and in the latter city Mr. Curtis lived retired from active business the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1876, at the advanced age of 78 years. Ilis wife died in 1855. Their family consisted of three sons and two daughters. The youngest son, a graduate of the Christian Brothers' College of St. Louis, while on a visit to his sister, Mrs. Captain Wildman, at Point Isabel, Texas, met his death, which resulted from exposure and extreme exertion in saving the lives of a number of inhabitants of that ill- fated town, caused by an overflow of the Gulf of Mexico, which inundated it in 1867.

Charles D. Curtis, the second born in his father's fam- ily, was educated at the St. Louis University. In 1857 he accepted the position of special agent for the overland mail and served on the plains, where he first established

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for mining purposes. And, besides, when the placers above are worked the sediment will so puddle the creek where the waters sink that Dry Wolf will no longer be an appropriate name for that stream. Williams is an important mine high np in the mountains between Dry Wolf and Barker. The coal beds on Wolf creek will supply the mining camps on Running Wolf and Dry Wolf with good coal.

One of the most important mining regions in the Little Belt mountains is the Montana Dis- trict at Neihart. Neihart is a well-built, sub- stantial mining camp located where the deep, rugged cañon widens out to let in the sunshine

and free air and give a wider view of the celes- tial world. Mountains of syenitic granite and porphyry rise on all sides abrupt and rough with rounded and craggy summits. These mountains are cut and intersected by a great number of veins containing oxide of iron carrying gold, sulphurets and carbonates of lead and copper carrying gold and silver.

A great many locations have been made in this district, and so opened as to show a great number of bright prospects and a few of them have been sufficiently developed to prove them good mines. There are three furnaces in this camp. One, a small reverberatory, and the

his reputation as a scout and Indian fighter. The follow- ing year, after passing a rigid examination, he was com- missioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Army and was detailed for duty on the frontier, where he re- mained until he went to Camp Floyd, Utah. He remained at Camp Floyd with Johnson's army until the fall of 1860. Unfortunately about this time he had a severe attack of measles, which settled in his eyes. He resigned his com- mission and went to Salt Lake City; from thence to Den- ver, Colorado, where, during a part of the following two years, he devoted his time to the study of medicine with Dr. Farmer as his preceptor. At the end of that time, Dr. Farmer went Sonth and Mr. Curtis was employed as a scout, and carried important dispatches from Governor Galpin to the commanding officer at Fort Laramie and other posts in Wyoming, and New Mexico. He was of- fered a commission in the Second Colorado Cavalry, but declined, as his pay as a scout was $10 per day. After this lie was engaged in purchasing cattle to supply the Colorado troops with beef.

When the troops left Colorado for New Mexico and the South, Mr. Curtis became interested in an auction and commission business with Picket & Lincoln, with whom he remained until April, 1864, at which time the gold ex- citement at Alder Gulch brought him to Virginia City, Montana, where he arrived on May 16, 1864. Here he engaged in business with John C. Curtin and Watt King, under the firm name of King, Curtis & Company. For a time they carried on two stores,-one on Wallace street and the other on Jackson street.

While residing in Virginia City, Mr. Curtis took an act- ive interest in its affairs, and was promptly identified with its early history. He was instrumental in effecting the or- ganization of the Fire Department of that city and com- manded one of the companies.

Ile was elected the first ('ity Clerk of Virginia City, with a salary of $2,000 per year. Soon after his election to this office, the fame of rich gold diggings at Last

Chance Gulch was spread over the country, and he depu- tized Judge Francis Bill to fill the office, left his partners to take care of the business there and came to Helena, arriving in the latter city on the 5th of June, 1865. See- ing that it was a lively camp, he sent for one of his part- ners. They decided to open a store and did a most ex- tensive business in that city. An important feature was buying and selling stock, of which department Mr. Cur- tis had the management. He bought as high as 500 Cal- ifornia horses at a time, broke them and sold them to miners, prospectors and traders. In 1866 he sold out to his partners and until the spring of 1868 was engaged in speculating. He then went to Wilson Gulch, Jefferson connty, where he was interested in mining, merchan- dising and packing lumber across the mountains, in com- pany with Hugh Daly, which work he continued np to 1870, then sold out and returned to Helena, where he en- gaged in the grocery business with his brother, John H. Curtis (now of Butte City), under the firm name of Curtis Brothers. They conducted business one year, when our subject again sold out and turned his attention to buying and selling stock, in partnership with T. E. McKoin.

In May, 1872, he opened an auction, commission and stock business at the foot of Broadway, George Booker becoming a co-partner in the enterprise, and in this they continned until 1888, a period of sixteen years.

Mr. Curtis was appointed Postmaster of Helena by President Cleveland, the duties of which office he entered upon July 1, 1886, and served until March 31, 1891. That he made a good record as Postmaster is evinced by the endorsements of the Department.

On the 5th of June of the same year he paid $10,000 for a third interest in the mercantile house of F. S. Lang & Company, extensive dealers in house-furnishing goods and hardware, and was elected vice-president and treas- urer of the company. With this establishment he is still connected. He is also President of the Montana Mineral Land Development Company. At the present writing he

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other had a capacity of thirty tons, and the third is down toward Belt creek. There were also two concentrators.

On the Monarch the work was well done and made safe for the workmen. This mine is near town, and is in a ridge of syenitic granite so situated that it can be worked at comparatively stall expense. Six men were at work on the Monarch. There were about forty tons of ore on the dump. Seven tons had been shipped to the Great Falls smelter, which yielded 108 onnces of silver and $5 in gold per ton. The ore is rich in galena and carbonate of lead and much of it will yield seventy per cent or more

is serving as Sheriff of Lewis & Clarke county, having been elected to that office by a very large majority. Here, as elsewhere, he has proved himself to be the right man in the right place. Previous to his election to the Sheriff's office, General Curtis met with a severe accident, from the effects of which he is slightly crippled. On the 17th of September, 1891, a lady who was wheeling an infant in a baby carriage was passing along the street in IIelena, and was in danger of being dashed to pieces by a run- away horse. At this critical moment the General ap- peared on the scene and saved the lady and her child at the peril of his own life. While she fell, and the baby carriage was turned over, neither was hurt; but General Curtis received the full shock and was thrown down a stairway into a basement, his head, shoulders and sides being badly ent and his leg crushed into splinters. IIe was disabled from September until March.

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 155

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