An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 18

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 18

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Soon after coming to Montana, Mr. Edgerton turned his attention to the subject of mining and mining enterprises. Ile soon acquired sufficient knowledge to enable him to make safe investments in mines, both for himself and for others, and he has thus been a "success" in bringing a large amount of capital to Montana to develop and work lier mines, and develop her mineral resources. To him mining has been an exhilarating and inexhaustible study Ile has been a hard student and great worker, and in that

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

show a yellow ripple or ribbon in the sand. Men believed that by digging they could find great nuggets, naturally thinking that the heavy gold was deep in the sand, only the lightest and least important being on the surface. But not so: this gold, fine as the finest flour, was all on the surface and in sight, as a rule.

But to proceed toward Montana. In 1852, gold was known to exist on the Sanliam

lies the secret of his success. Accurate knowledge is a great power in everything, emphatically so in mining; by it absolute certainty is obtained.

Mr. Edgerton is now largely interested in various com- panies and enterprises, among which is the Confederate Gulch Mining Land & Irrigating Company, in Meagher county. From one bar in this property a million and a quarter of gold was taken out in ninety days. The capi- tal stock of this company is $600,000. He is also inter- ested in the Basin Mining & Concentrating Company, which has a capitalization of $500,000, and is producing $1,000 per day; and in the Boulder Smelting Company, in Jefferson county, which has a capital stock equal to that of the company just named.

Mr. Edgerton is also interested in a company that owns large gold mines recently discovered near the National Park, said company having a capitalization of $1,000,000; and also mining interests on Bear creek, Crevasse and Emigrant Gulch, in Park county and in Washington Bar, Madison county. Ile is a large stockholder in the Helena Land & Improvement company, and is interested in va- rious other companies and land investments, owning 800 acres of land adjoining the city of Helena, and has par- ticipated in enterprises which have given to the city of Helena her electric and gas light and her street railways. Banking, mining and deals in real estate now claim the whole of his attention, for several years past he having altogether abandoned the practice of his profession.

Mr. Edgerton is in politics an uncompromising Demo- crat. He has served four years as one of the county com- missioners of Lewis and Clarke county, a position for which his financial ability and incessant industry partic- ularly fitted him. He has connected himself with various other organizations. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., the Masonic fraternity and the Episcopal Church, and is trustee of St. Peter's Hospital.

MARTIN M. HOLTER, a Montana pioneer of 1864. and for many years a prominent lumberman and merchant of Helena, is deserving of some personal mention in this work.

Martin M. Holter was born in Norway, July 17, 1835 and in his native land was reared and educated, and learned the trade of wagon and carriage maker. He served one year there as Deputy Sheriff. Believing that the United States afforded better opportunities for an

river, not far from the capital of Oregon; and here in the autumn of this year I for the first time saw gold washed from the ground and for the first time knew what it is that gold miners call "the color." My father had taken me with him to the Knox nursery to get shrubs and trees. This was on the south base of Knox's Butte, named after the good old man who had first settled there and who kept the nursery.

enterprising young man, he emigrated to this country in 1857, and settled in Mitchell county, Iowa. For two years and a hall' he was engaged in sawmilling in Osage, that county. In 1860, he went to Colorado and turned his attention to mining, being thus occupied at Gregory Point and also at Illinois Bar on South Clear creek and meeting with moderate success. Then he and his broth- er, A. M. Holter, purchased a sawmill, which the latter took to Montana and located at Rainshorn Gulch, eighteen miles from Virginia City. So ar as they know, it was first sawmill ever taken to Montana. Martin M. remain- ed in Colorado, looking alter their business there, until 1864, when he, too, came to Montana, and for many years he continued in partnership with his brother, their inter- ests being identical. In the spring of 1865 they purchased at Bannack a boiler and engine, and built at Ten Mile a sawmill, which they operated a number of years. In the sawmill business they made large sums of money, receiving as high as $125 per thousand for their lumber at Virginia City. Our subject continued the business for some time at Virginia City, spending only his winters at Helena, but in 1869, located here permanently. As the years passed by and prosperity attended their efforts, they enlarged their operations, establishing mills near Great Falls and at Missoula, engaging in merchandising in Helena, and also investing largely in mines and min ing. For a time they owned and operated a distillery, but sold it and the grocery and built the A. M. Holter Block, in which they opened out a stock of hardware, miners' machinery and builders' materials They also became largely interested in farming and in city real estate, and erected numerous buildings in Helena, includ- ing an attractive and commodious residence, No. 15 South Rodney street, where Martin M. Holter resides with his family.

In 1889, Martin M. Holter sold his hardware business to his brother, and has since given his exclusive attention to lumbering and other business interests. He has stock in the electric light plant and also in various other enter- prises of value to the city. During his residence in Helena, he has met with several disastrous fires, but has come out of them all with flying colors, and has replaced his lost buildings by better ones.

Martin M. Holter was married March 30, 1869, to Miss Emily Olsen, a native of Norway, who came to this coun-

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

While digging up the trees the old man told father in my hearing and with no secrecy that he had found gold in the sand of the river on the other side of the butte, and that he believed, from what he knew of the California mines,- from which he had lately returned if I remem- ber rightly,-that big mines would be found up the Santiam river some day. Father wanted to

try with her parents when she was two years old, and was reared in Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Holter have one child, Milton Bernard Holter. born in Helena.

Mr. Holter was made a Master Mason in 1868. Since then he has advanced through all the branches of the Order, Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council and Commandry, and is a Shriner. He is also a member of the Elks. Poli- tically, he is identified with the Republican party. In the early days of Montana, he took a great interest in aiding the good citizens to rid Montana of the road agents and murderers that intested the Territory. Ile was a promi nent member of the Vigilant Committee, and was also Fire Marshal of Helena for some time. In 1865, when Helena was shut in from the outside world by snows six feet deep, and there were no means of obtaining supplies, il was he who started out on snow shoes, Jannary 10, with the mercury at ten degress below zero, to bring relief. The supplies had been left in the dee, snow on the other side of the Snake river. He traveled 140 miles in that most inclement weather, found his cattle with the Indians, drove them back to a canyon and took care of them there; during his sojourn in the canyon, living in a house made of the skins of cattle. Three hundred and sixty Indians were camped there at that time. As soon as the weather would permit, he hitched seven yoke of oxen to a wagon loaded with forty-two sacks of flour and two kegs of nails and started for Helena. Several pack mules had been previously sent through with flour to the destitute inhabitants of the little city. The flour sold readily for $100 per sack and the nails for $90 a keg. They lost in that winter several head of cattle. But by courage and endurance, Mr. Holter was enabled to save most of them, while others lost nearly all the stock they had.

Mr. Holter is still a well preserved man and his name is familiarly known to all the inhabitants of Montana. Long may be live to enjoy the comforts that his co rage and thrift have so liberally provided.

DR. WILLIAM H. GELSTHORPE, the present active and progressive Mayor of Great Falls, Montana, was born in Wellsburg, West Virginia, in 1859.

His father, John Gelsthorpe, was born in Nottingham- shire, England, in 1824, emigrated to West Virginia in 1850, and in 1852 was married to Miss Margaret Rogers, a native of West Virginia. He was a merchant in the early part of his business career, and late: was the owner of a hotel at Wellsburg. Hisdeath occurred in 1883. His

see some gold dust an I so gave me leave to go along with one of the Knox boys and "prospect."

We were barefooted, as all Oregon boys were in those days, and so, wading out in the shallow water at the end of a bar or spit of sand, the Knox boy took up a pan of sand, washed it and got three particles of gold.

"There, 'Squire, I have got the color," said

wife still survives him, and is now, 1894, in the fifty-ninth year of her age. They had a family of six children, all of whom are living.

Dr. Gelsthorpe was the second born in his father's fam - ily. His boyhood days were spent in his native town, where he received a common-school education. Later he spent two terms at Bethany College; but, at the age of sixteen years, on the death of his father, he was com- pelled to leave college and give his attention to the seri- ous matters of life, consequent upon his being the main- stay of the family. He did not, however, give up the idea of securing a better education and preparing himself for a professional career. To this end, he first took a course in book-keeping, and graduated in a commercial college. By the aid of office work he was enabled to per- form, and by the earnings of newspapers and other work during vacations, he succeeded in completing a medical course, at Cleveland, Ohio. Returning to his native town when scarcely more than twenty-one years old, he was elected City Clerk, and served a term in that capacity. Ambitious to advance in his profession and otherwise, he concluded to "go West and grow up with the country," and 18:3 found him in Glendive, Montana, where he was soon in the enjoyment of a lucrative practice. At the end of one year he returned to Cleveland, and took a post graduate course in medicine, and, being offered by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, the position of surgeon for some four hundred miles of its line. with headquarters at Miles City, he accepted the same and remained there until 1886. During 1886 he accepted the position of surgeon for a mining company at Rimini, Montana, and in 1888 received the appointment of sur- geon of the Sandcoulee Coal Company, at Sandcoulee, near Great Falls. Here he remained three years, practic- ing his profession with great success.

While at Sandcoulee Dr. Gelsthorpe manifested his confidence in the future of Great Falls, by making invest ments in real estate here, all of which proved profitable ; and in 1890 he took up his permanent residence in the "Cataract City," where he has since been a prominent and successful physician.

Dr. Gelsthorpe was married March 3, 1887, to Miss Ella Naston, a native of Minnesota, and they have a delightful home at Great Falls.

The doctor is a member of the State Medical Society, and of the Northern Montana Medical Association. He is also a member of the A O. U. W., at Great Falls,-of

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

the old man under his spectacles after looking down in the pan handed hit by his son on our return.

"But what is the color? I thought you said gold; real gold."

" And so it is. The color is real gold, real, solid gold. If you had colors enongh put to- gether you could make a lump of solid gold as big as that butte."

which order he is examining physician,-and the B. P. O. E., and he is president of the Chamber of Commerce, at this place. Every movement and enterprise intended to benefit the city, has always found in him a hearty sup- porter. He is a Democrat, aud has been active and keenly interested in political affairs. In the spring of 1893, he accepted the nomination from his party for Mayor of the city and in the face of great opposition was elected by several hundred majority. It was a signal victory, and Dr. Gelsthorpe enjoys the distinction of being the first Democrat elected to that office in Great Falls. His administration has thus far bren eminently successful, and he people of the city, generally, are supporting him in his efforts to promote its interests.

DR. JOHN BAKER ATCHISON, a prominent member of the medical profession of Helena, Montana, was born in Clay county, Missouri, April 9, 1843. He came of Scotch-Irish ancestors who located in Pennsylvania in the seventeenth century. From Pennsylvania they emigrated to Virginia, thence to Kentucky and later to Missouri. They were people of the highest integrity and were among the best citizens of the various communities in which they lived. Some of the family participated in the war for independence.

William Atchison, the Doctor's father, was born near Lexington, Kentucky, in 1813. He married Miss Catha- rine Baker, a native of Huntsville, Alabama, born in 1817, and in 1842 they removed to Missouri, where they reared their family of six children, all of whom are still living. Both father and mother were worthy members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. She passed away in 1857, and he in 1872. He was a planter and large stock dealer, and during the civil war suffered greatly in the loss of his property.

Dr. Atchison was the second son and second child in his father's family. Ile was a student at Pleasant Ridge Col- lege and was just merging into young manhood when the civil war came on. Filled with enthusiasm for the cause of the South and the success of his own people, he left the college and enlisted in Captain McCarty's Com- pany, Hugh's Battalion, which afterward became the Third Volunteer Infantry of Missouri. Ile served in General Price's command. He participated in the battle at Pea Ridge and in all the fights during the whole cam- paign on the east side of the Mississippi, including the

Years after this date great mines were found far up the Santiam river, but not till other fa- mons mines had taken precedence in point of dis covery.

It is in line with this history of gold discov- eries to say that this same year three separate expeditions of Californians and returned Ore- gonians, who could not now be quite patient under the restraints of their former pastoral

battles of Corinth, Hatchis, Farmington, Baker's Creek, Big Block, Port Gibson and at the seige of Vicksburg. After the seige came the Georgia campaign. He was in the battle of Resaca and the battle of Fort Blakeley, his command being captured at the latter place. He was sent as a prisoner of war to Ship Island and from there to Jackson, Mississippi, where he was parolled. This was shortly after the war closed. He had entered the service as a private, and when he came out at the close of the war it was with the rank of Orderly Sergeant. During his army life he received a few slight wounds, but no serious injuries.

The war over, young Atchison entered the Canadian Literary Institute, where he resumed the studies he had dropped at the beginning of hostilities. From there he went to the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, completing a course there and also one at the Long Is- land College Hospital, graduating at the latter institution in 1867. Immediately thereafter he entered upon the practice of his profession at St. Joseph, Missouri, where he met with marked success and where he remained until 1875. From that year until 1879 he practiced in St. Louis, and in the latter year, on account of failing health, he came to Helena, Montana, for a change of climate. Here he has since continued to reside, and in the practice of his profession has met with eminent success. The Doc- tor has also been successful as a business man since com- ing here, having made some valuable investments in real estate. The Doctor is a member of the Montana Medical Association, of which he served as president during the year 1893. He is also president of the Montana Board of Medical Examiners.

In 1873 Dr. Atchison was married to Miss Virginia Toole, a native of Missouri, and a daughter of Judge Ed- win Toole, a venerable citizen of Helena. They have five sons and two daughters, namely: Nelsine, Edwin A., Ann Virginia, William, Warren, David R. and Benja- min P.

Dr. Atchison's political affiliations are with the Demo- cratic party. Ile is a member of the Patriotic Sons of America, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Masonic fraternity, having taken all the degrees in the latter organization. Like his Southern ancestors, the Doctor is noted for his genial hospitality. He is en- thusiastic in his profession, and by his close attention to

a. m. Ester

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

life, set ont for the headwaters of the Santiam and Mackenzie rivers to find the fabulous " Blue Bucket Diggings." A mysterious stranger with a mysterious air and a very heavy bag of dust had come and gone, none knew whence or whither. Now this mysterious man with his big bag of dust has appeared many a time and oft in the history of gold discoveries, from San Diego to Cariboo, and he might as well be set down first as last as a chapter in fiction. Let

it and his many estimable traits of character he has won the confidence of all with whom he has come in contact. J. D. O'DONNELL, a prominent rancher of Yellowstone county, was born in Canada, in 1860, a son of Daniel an Margaret (McIntosh) O'Donnell, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. The family located in 1866, in Saginaw county, Michigan. where Daniel O'Donnell became prominent as a practi- cal farmer, and held many responsible county positions. He had been engaged in mercantile pursuits prior to set- tling in that State.

I. D. O'Donnell, our subject, grew to manhood on his father's farm in Michigan, In 1882 he located in Miles City, Montana, which was then the temporary terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Deciding to experi- ment in mining, he accordingly went to the Maiden mines, but, soon becoming dissatisfied with that occupa- tion, entered the employ of the I. J. Horse ranch Com- pany, of which he soon became foreman. In 1856 be came to Billings, as manager of the Billings Ranch, and three years afterward purchased the interest of Mr. Billings in the company, and is now an equal partner with Edward G. Bailey. Mr. O'Donnell is resident manager of their large land and stock interests. Hesper Farm, known as their home ranch, is the finest in the Yellowstone valley, situated ten miles west of Billings, and contains 1,280 acres, well stocked and supplied with appropriate build- ings. They have successfully demonstrated that fine apples and all varieties of small fruits can be produced in this county. About 2,000 tons of alfalfa and timothy hay were harvested on the place in 1892. The company own large tracts of grazing land, on which they have a num- ber of springs, and are raising cattle, sheep and horses. Their landed estate amounts to 5,000 acres. Mr. O'Don- nell is superintendant of the M. & M. L. I. Co., irriga- tion canal, having filled that position for five years. He has a comfortable home in Billings, surrounded by one of the most beautiful lawns in the city.

In October, 1887, he was united in marriage with Miss Louise Roeser, a daughter of Gustave and Louise Roeser. Her father was a pioneer and prominent citizen of Sagi- naw county, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. O'Donnell have two daughters. Mr. and Mrs. O'Donnell are liberal in their religious views. Ile is a zealous worker in the Democratic party, is active in irrigation work, and is President of the Montana Irrigation Society.

us concede that he even has appeared and disap- prareJ, now and then, here and there. You must admit that there are plenty of ways for a mysterious man to get hold of a bag of gold on this globe quite as easily and far more probably than from some remote and mysterious mine. But this one suddenly set the inflammable gold- hunters of Oregon in a blaze and all said, "He has found uncle Billy Vaughn's Blue Bucket Diggings.

ALFRED M. ESLER, one of Montana's most respected pioneers, came to the Territory in 1864, and has since been identified with her mining interests.

Mr. Esler was born in Jefferson county, New York, in 1840, descending from French ancestors. Ilis parents, Moses and Sophia (Wemott) Esler, were both natives of New York. They had seven children, four sons and three daughters. The father was a carriage manufac- turer, led a useful and worthy life, and died in his sixty-second year. The mother, still a resident of New York, has attained her seventy-ninth year.

Alfred M. Esler is the oldest in his father's family. He was educated in the public schools of his native State, and there learned the trade of house paiuter and decorator. In connection with this business he also con- ducted a store, in which he handled wall paper, books, stationery, glass, paints, oils, etc. Rumors of the rich gold mines in Montana induced him to leave a prosper- ous business in New York and come out West to seek his fortune. He accordingly sold out in 1864 and made the journey across the plains and mountains with ox teams, it being accomplished after long and tedious months of travel. He and his brother-in-law made the trip together, both being accompanied by their wives. At the end of five months they reached their destination which was Idaho, and there they divided there effects, Mr. Esler getting two yoke of oxen for his share. He traded his oxen for a placer claim and engaged in mining, but soon afterward discovered that his claim was of no value. Later in the season Governor Edger- ton gave him the appointment of Justice of the Peace. With this office and by keeping boarders they managed to live. The following spring, 1865, he met with a severe bereavement in the loss of his wife. After the death of his wife he engaged in prospecting and was fortunate enough to discover a good silver mine, which he named the Legal Tender. That fall he started with a six-horse wagon load of the ore and took it back across the plains to the East. His showing it to the people there re- sulted in the formation of a company, to which he sold a three-fourth interest in the mine. In the spring of 1866 he returned to engage in operating it. Governor Hauser was then interested in a St. Louis company, and Mr. Esler

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

Briefly, this honest but illiterate old Virgin- ian, Billy Vaughn, had been telling, even from before the date of the great gold discovery in California, that he, away back in the early "forties," had crossed a little stream in the mountains, with his ox wagon in which was his numerous family, where gold lay so thick in its bed that he could have picked up a blue bucket

gave him $20,000 in gold to put up a smelter and smelt 200 tons of the ore. It proved a success. Mr. Esler afterward put up two smelters and a refiner. After they had taken out a ton and a half of silver the mine gave out. The freights were so high it was impossible to make it pay, so they discontinued work there. Mr. Esler has since located several mines. Indeed, he has made this his life business, meeting with varied success. At this writing he is interested in several rich mining prospects in North Idaho and British Columbia. He is one of the owners of the Badger mine in the Cœur d'Alene country, this mine being valued at a million dol- lars. A number of the most prominent citizens in both Helena and San Francisco are interested in it. This Badger mill was blown up by the miners in 1892. The miners struck for higher wages, a demand which the own- ers of the mine deemed unreasonable and with which they could not comply, so they shut down the works, and, later, upon opening again, they employed new men. While sixty men were at work in the mill it was exploded with giant powder. The miners attacked the workmen, five being killed and fifteen wounded. Two of Mr. Esler's brothers were in the mill. One was taken prisoner and the other escaped and hid in an excavation. Mr. Ester and another gentleman chartered a special train and left the scene of action. He had been firm and resolute during all the trouble. At the time of the attack 100 meu went to the hotel to search for "old Esler," as they called him. Some of the men engaged in the outrage have been tried and sent to the penitentiary. The mill has since been rebuilt and the company is now operating the mine.

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 18

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