An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 24

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 24

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" I gladly accepted his offer of a fresh horse, and the privalege of making one of his party. For reasons suffic- ient to the old mountaineer, we set out at night, and climbed and crossed Craig's mountain, sparsely set with pines and covered with rich, brown grass, by moonlight. As we approached the edge of Camas prairie, then a land almost unknown, but now made famous by the battle-fields

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he comes upon the Salmon, which is a rapid, clear, cold stream, and barely fordable at the lowest stage. Ten miles travel np stream, over the very roughest and rockiest of roads, brings him to the mouth of Slate creek, where his ronte leaves the river at right angles, crossing to the east over a mountain almost always cov- ered with snow and wrapped in a perpetual sea of clouds. Twenty-eight miles from where he leaves Salmon brings him into the heart of the mines.

The gold, as far as discovered, is of a fine qual- ity, and confined mostly to low, marshy gulches. It is found below peat three feet thick, which is covered with a thick, heavy turf, generally of a corresponding thickness with the gravel. Al-

of Chief Joseph, we could see through the open pines a faint far light on the great black and white mountain be- youd the valley. 'Idahho" shouted our Indian guide in the lead, as he looked back and pointed to the break of dawn on the mountain before us. 'That shall be the name of the new mines, ' said Colonel Craig quietly, as he rode by his side.

" The exclamation, its significance, the occasion and all, conspired to excite deep pleasure, for I had already writ- ten someting on this name and its poetical import, and made a sort of glossary embracing eleven dialects.

" Looking over this little glossary now, I note that the root of the exclamation is dah! The Shasta word is Pou- diah.ho! The Klamath is Num-dah-ho! The Modoc is Lodah! and so on. Strange like 'Look there!' or 'Lo, light" is this exclamation, and with precisely that mean- ing.

"I do not know whether this Indian guide was Nez Pierce, Shoshonee, Cayuse, or from one of the many other tribes that had met and melted into this half-civilized people first named. Neither can I say certainly at this remote day whether he applied the word .Idahho' to the mountain as a permanent and established uame, or used the word to point the approach of dawn: but I do know that this mountain, that had become famous iu a night and was now the objective point of ten thousand pilgrims, be- came at once known to the world as Idahbo.

" Passing by the Indians' corn-fields and herds of cattle and horses, we soon crossed the Camas valley. Here, hugging the ragged base of the mountain, we struck the stormy and craggy Salmon river, a tributary of the Sho- shonee, and found ourselves in the heart of the civilized and prosperous Noz Pierces' habitations. Ten miles of this tortuous and ragged stream and our guide led up the steep and stupendous mountain toward which all the pros-

together, these mines look more like the low marshes or meadow lands than like the placer mines of California; yet I think I can safely say that they are far richer than any mines that have ever been discovered on the Pacific coast. It is a positive fact that many of the companies on Baboon Gulch, Rich Flat, and Miller's creek, have entirely laid aside the miners' gold scales, and use only the spring balances for weighing the proceeds of their day's labor. I have it from anthority that I think is unques- tionable, that the least day's work that the two discoverers of Baboon Gulch have done since they began nsing their long tom, was fourteen pounds, avoirdupois weight.

The Indians, so far, seem peaceably disposed,

pectors were now journeying. At first it was open piues aud grass, then stunted fir and tamarack, then broken lava and manzanita, then the summit and snow.

" A slight descent into a broad flat basin, dark with a dense growth of spruce, where here and there a beauti- ful little meadow of tall marsh grass, and we were in the mines-the first really rich gold-mines that had as yet ever been found outside of California.

' "Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for the gold where they fine it,' says the Bible, meaning that the only certain place to look for gold is where they refine it. Cer- tainly the text never had a more apt illustration than here; for all places for gold in the wide world this seemed the most unlikely. The old Californian miners who came pouring in after us, almost before we had pitched tent, were disgusted. 'Nobody but a parcel of fools would ever have found gold here,' said one, with a sneer at the long-haired Oregonian who had got lost and found the new mines. But the wheat-like graius ef gold were there, and in such heaps as had never been found in California; and so accessible, only a few inches under the turf or peat in the little meadows and little blind gulches here and there in this great black, bleak and wintry basin that liad never yet been peopled since it came fresh from the Creator's hand.

" In less than a week the black basin was white with tents. Our party located a 'city' where we first pitched our tent, with the express-office for a nucleus. Look at your map, tracing up from Lewiston over Craig's moun- tain and Camas prairie, and you will find "Millersburg," looking as big on the map as any town in the West. Yet it did not live long. A man soon came with a family of daughters, Dr. Furber, an author of some note at the time, and settled half a mile farther on. My 'city' went with and clustered about the ladies. The doctor named

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but it is evident that they are of a much more fierce and warlike character than those nearer the frontiers. It is predicted by many that on the opening of spring they will endeavor to · resist the encroachments of the whites. At present their head chief, with most of his chosen warriors, is ont on a hunting excursion, east of the Rocky mountains. Some think his return will be the signal for hostilities, as he has always been known to be a mortal foe to the white man.

Yours, in haste, C. H. MILLER.

My brother, John D. Miller, was president of a debating club on John Day's creek in Decem- ber of 1861. My cousin, Henry Miller, at the time correspondent and afterward editor of the Oregonian, was one of the members: Alex. Blakely, speaker of the first House in Idaho, was another; Judge Walton, now of the Oregon University, another; and, besides these, quite a list of good men still living might be given.

When it was announced that I had taken this history in hand hundreds of my old friends throughout the great new Northwestern States unite to send material, congratulations and so on. Here is a kindly line from an old schoolmate

who is now of the Oregon University. It shows how heartily men of high place and culture entered into the task of transportation with their own backs for burros. I had forgotten all about the big bag of gold till I tried to do this work, but it seems the recipients of the loan had not. Here is the letter:

UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, EUGENE, OR., July 7, 1894.

JOAQUIN MILLER, EsQ.

My Dear Friend: I remember well the circumstance of meeting you when we, -- father and myself, -- were going into Florence, carrying onr pack on our backs. Yon were coming out with the mail (express) -- in fact carrying the letters and mail from the camp of Florence to the State Creek station. The entire distance was about eighteen miles over huge mountains covered with snow from five to fifteen feet deep. Yes; and well do I remember the sack of gold dust you let us have. We purchased that claim on "Boon's Gulch ", where we made from $300 to $800 per day until it was worked ont. That was a rich find. Oh that those days would come again! Yes; I remember that all the provisions and supplies for the camp were

the rival 'city' after his eldest daughter, Florence. It flour- ished in the now falling snow like a bay, and was at one time the capital of the Territory. There is little of it left now, however, but the populous graveyard.

"And alas for the soft Indian name! The bluff miner, with his swift speech and love of brevity, soon ent the name of the new mines down to 'Idao.' And so, when the new gold-fields widened out during a winter of unex- ampled endurance into 'Warren's Diggin's,' Boise City,' 'Bannaek City,' and so on, and the new Territory took upon itself a name and had a place on the map of the Repub- lie, that name was plain, simple, and senseless Idaho. Should anyone concerned in the preservation of our native and beautiful names eare to know more particularly the facts here sketehed, let him address Colonel Craig, of Craig's mountain, Idaho,a well-read and the best-informed manon the subject to be found in the far West: and he is the man who found and named I-dah-ho."-Tourgee's Continent.

ALFRED D. EDGAR, general agent of the Northern Pa- eific Railroad at Helena, is a native of Tennessee, born at Lebanon, December 4, 1851.

The Edgars were early settlers of Delaware, having located there long previous to the Revolution. Rev. John T. Edgar, the grandfather of Alfred D., was a prominent Presbyterian clergyman. His son, Andrew HI. Edgar, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and married Miss Elizabeth S. Douglass. They became the parents of twelve children, Alfred D. being the third born and one of the six who are now living. Andrew H. Edgar was a Greek and Latin scholar, a professor in the Lebanon Law School, and later professor of aneient languages in the Nashville University. He died in the sixty-fifth year of his age. ITis widow is still living, being now sixty-two.

When the subject of our sketeh was four years old his parents removed with their family to Texas, where he was educated under their instructions. In 1867, when fourteen years of age, he began railroading, as newsboy

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carried in on men's backs, over the snow from five to ten feet deep, and that, too, over those huge old mountains that seemed almost per- pendicular, and especially when a fellow had from seventy-five pounds to one hundred and fifty pounds on his back! I saw with my own eyes men with three fifty-pound sacks of flour on their backs at one time, which they had car- ried over that snow trail-over those big mount- ains! I saw one man carrying a large black- smith's anvil on his back, one with a large bellows, and a great many with ten-gallon kegs of liquor on their backs! Everything was car

on the Houston & Texas C'entra] Railroad, in which busi- ness he continued for several years. Then he became connected with an engineering party on the line of the International & Great Northern Railroad. He began with them as flagman, was afterward rodman, and finally ran the level, and while he was thus employed they ran a large part of the line of the road. After this he was in the office of the chief engineer of the road, as clerk and correspondent. Next he entered the employ of the Texas & Pacific Railroad Company, with which he was con- nected in the construction department of their line be- tween Sherman and Bonham for a period of eight months. Then he returned to the International & Great Northern, at Houston, Texas, where he was clerk in the office under H. M. Hoxie, and while there he was promoted to the position of chief clerk. In June, 1874, he went to Costa Rica, Central America, where he was in the employment of the Government for two years, a portion of that time being general freight and passenger agent for a road that was being built. In December, 1876, we find Mr. Edgar in San Francisco, from which date up to 1880 he served as local agent of the South Pacific Coast Railroad. In 1880 he entered the employ of the Oregon Railway Navi- gation Company, having charge of the freight business at San Francisco, and continuing thus occupied until April, 1883. At that time he received the appointment of general agent of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, which he represented in Chicago one year. Then he was transferred to Portland, Oregon, to the position of assist- ant general freight agent of the Northern Pacific Rail- road. In December, 1883, a stroke of paralysis necessi- tated Mr. Edgar's leaving the road, and it was some time before he recovered his health sufficiently to resume business.

In 1887 he came to IIelena to accept a position of clerk in the general agent's office of the Northern Pacific, and in April, 1889, he was made the company's general agent, the position he now holds.

Mr. Edgar is a member of the Elks and of the Knights

ried on men's backs until the snow melted off of the mountains so pack mules conld travel.

Your faithful friend, JOSHUA J. WALTON.

There was little or no suffering in or about this great camp, although prospecting was push- ed on right and left, though snows were deep, by these brave and intrepid men.

There was almost no sickness at all. Dr. Furber, who came in the first rush and before Florence had a name or place,-for he laid out Florence, and named the town after his step-

of Pythias, in both of which orders he has held several offices. He has a home in Helena, where he resides with his mother and sister. Mr. Edgar is a thorough gentle- man, and during his residence in Helena has made many warm friends.

FISK J. SHAFFER, a Montana pioneer of 1866 and one of Helena's oldest and most competent architects and builders, is a native of Michigan, born at Centreville, St. Joseph county, March 22, 1844. His ancestors came from Germany to this country and were among the early set- tlers of Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Thomas Shaffer, was born in that State, was a farmer by occupation, and lived to be seventy-nine years of age. He had a family of eight children, one of whom, Thomas, the father of our subject, born in Pennsylvania in 1813, removed to Michi- gan in 1834 and settled at Centreville, where he has ever since resided, he being ranked with the pioneers of that State, as it was nearly all a wilderness when he located there. In 1841 he married Miss Mary Brown, a native of Vermont, who died in early life, leaving two children, Fisk J. the younger, and he at that time only a few months old.

Mr. Shaffer was educated in the public schools of his native town and there Jearned the carpenter's trade of his father. In 1864 he came West. For a time he worked at his trade in Idaho City. In 1866 he prospected on the west side of the Main range, from Blackfoot along the foot of the range to Nevada creek, and in September of that year arrived in Helena. He was engaged in mining more or less for a number of years, both in placer and quartz mines. He soon formed favorable acquaintances with the business men, engaged in contracting and build- ing and had all the work he could do. At the time he came to Helena there were no good buildings in the town. He met with success in his undertakings there, saved his money, and in 1867 returned to the Blackfoot country, where a second time he lost all he had saved. He not only lost all the money he had while in the mines, but also upon his return to Helena he found himself

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daughter,-told me that he had nothing at all to do except pull teeth. My brother, a medical student at the time, also assured me that such prevailing good health was withont example; though the measles, breaking ont in midwinter, proved fatal in at least one case,-that of Henry Vandyne, son of a rich cattle drover from Oregon.

Jim Warren, one of the boldest of the many bands of prospectors who had headquarters in Florence, came in early with big news. He had struck wondrous diggings! Warren was the only man of all who dared the elements, Indians,

$1,700 in debt. In this extremity he again turned to his trade, beginning work on the C. W. Cannon residence on Broadway, and afterward being employed on others of the best buildings being erected. In 1869, after a part of Helena was swept away by a great fire, Mr. Shaffer had all the work he could do, and received $10 a day. By cooking his own food and by otherwise exercising the strictest economy he was soon enabled to save enough money with which to pay his indebtedness. At the time he left Blackfoot he had not even been asked for a note, and when he had earned the money he returned and took great pleasure in paying it. Again he came back to IIelena, and here by continued industry and economy he soon saved $1,500. In 1871 he formed a partnership with Henry Yergy in the planing-mill and sash, blind and door manufacturing business. They purchased the second planer ever brought to the Territory. It was shipped from Corinne, the freight on it being five cents per pound, This partnership was continued for ten years, during which time they had a large patronage and erected many of the best buildings in the city, Mr. Shaffer taking full charge of the financial part of the business, theiroperations being attended with very satisfactory results. Disposing of the factory and the ground on which it stood, corner of Sixth and Main streets, they opened a hardware business, which they conducted a little over a year. In the mean- time they had also invested in land and stock, and after they had run the hardware business more than a year they dissolved partnership, dividing the business, Mr. Shaffer taking for his share the stock and ranches.

In 1882, accompanied by his wife and two children, Mr. Shaffer returned East for a visit to his old home and hers, and was absent abont four months. Upon coming back to Helena he again engaged in contracting and building and on a larger scale than ever, also continuing in the sheep and cattle business, in all of which he has been successful and in which he is still interested. He owns a ranch of 400 acres, and several residences in IIelena. Among the fine buildings erected by him we note the fol lowing: The Power block (six stories), the Diamond

all things, to find great results that wild winter, which was truly dreadful toward the end.

From Warren's Diggings the golden road to Montana was short and was rapidly built. Briefly after this fifth camp, or golden station, came Boisé, Grimes, Idaho, and at last we literally climb the "golden stair "np the Rocky mountains into the golden heart of the west world's heart, MONTANA.

One would think that the flood of resolute men that followed this discovery would have emptied Florence. No so. The flood poured in daily, almost hourly, in and on! Warren!

building, the Atlas, the Steamboat, the Gold, and many others, a list of which would cover many of the best build- ings in Helena. Among the residences built by him, we mention those of Mr. Power, Mr. Ashby, and D. A. G. Flou- ree. And a fact worthy of mention in this connection is that in all his dealings Mr. Shaffer has never had the least dffi- culty in pleasing and settling with the men for whom he has done so much valuable building. He platted an addi- tion to Helena, which bears his name,-Shaffer's Addition.

Mr. Shaffer was married in 1875 to Miss Anna E. Ellis, a native of Maine, she having come to Montana with her father in 1864. They have three children, Beatrice A., Guy F. and Winfield, all born in Helena.

Mr. Shaffer is a member of the A. O. U. W., and his political affiliations are with the Republican party. Ile was reared a Methodist, to which church his parents be- longed, but in matters of religion he now gives his prefer- ence to the Unitarian Church.

HARRY (). WILSON, freight and passenger agent of the Uniou Pacific system, Helena, Montana, is a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, born November 24, 1861. He was reared and educated in his native State, an attendant of Racine College. At the age of eighteen he entered the employ of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad and was stationed at various points along its line, his last work for the company being in Dakota in 1889. That year he severed his connection with the Chicago & Northwestern and entered the employ of the Union Pacific, with which he has since remained, serving the traffic department in various capacities on the system. In 1892 he was pro- moted to the important position he now holds. The Union Pacific was the first road to enter Montana and has a di- rect line to Butte, from which place it is directly con- nected by rail with every point of importance in the State and by stage from Beaver Cañon into National Park: is also a great favorite with the traveling public, owing to advantages offered East and Western travel via Salt Lake City, Denver and to its numerous resorts. Mr. Wilson is a thorough railroad man, having been engaged in the bus- iness since leaving college fourteen years ago,

Hauser

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founded them and built them up. I was in the four-days fight where Walla Walla now stands, and was badly hurt. My wound disabled me so I could not work, and so had to spend my time in the saddle, escorting immigrants or travelers, conducting the United States mails and like employment.

"In 1861, John Day, after whom the rich creek in the Florence mines was named, backed me to ride against time for 8500, from Oro Fino to Walla Walla. I won the bet and had time to spare, making the distance of 184 miles

firm name of S. T. IIauser & Company. That year was for him, indeed, a busy one. He organized a mining company, and erected the first furnaces in the Territory, at Argenta. In 1866 he organized the First National Bank of Helena and also the St. Louis Mining Company, now known as the Hope Mining Company, at Phillips- burg, where they erected the first silver mill in the Territory. Still indefatigable, this enterprising and ener- getic man organize.l the First National Bank of Butte and the First National Bank of Benton, First National Bank of Missoula, and for several years devoted his at- tention to banking interests.

A recent writer in speaking of Governor Hanser's labors in this direction says:

"IIelena, the capital of the State, takes the lead in re- gard to the number and resources of her national banks. The oldest of these is the First National Bank, which was organized by Samuel T. Hauser & Company in the year 1866. Among its stockholders are some of the oldest inhabitants of Helena and of the State itself. This bank is the officially designated depository of the United States for Montana. The following well-known gentle- men are its officers: S. T. Hanser, president; E. W. Knight, cashier; and T. H. Kleinschmidt, assistant cashier. The directorate is composed of reliable and in- fluential men, as will be readily seen from the following list: S. T. Ilauser, A. M. IToIter, Granville Stuart, E. W. Knight, T. H. Kleinschmidt, John C. Curtin, R. S. Hamil- ton, O. R. Allen, G. H. Hill, C. K. Wells, and T. C. Power. The names of such men as these are in them- selves a guarantee of the soundness and success of any enterprise or institution with which they are identified. They are the leading spirits of the community and are regarded as high anthorities concerning all financial matters and in the commercial world. The paid up capital of the First National is $500,000, and the surplus and profits reach $700,000. The First National Bank of Benton, Montana; the First National Bank of Missoula, Montana, and the First National of Butte, the same State, are associated with this well established and justly celebrated institution."

in twenty hours and ten minutes. Kit Carson, as all in that country know, said that was the best riding ever done by a white man.

" When Captain Pierce, who discovered the Oro Fino mines, came down to Walla Walla in the fall of 1860 and told me what he had found, I began to fix up my express, and was the first one to carry in letters and carry out gold for the miners. I was half a year ahead of both Tracy and Wells-Fargo, and carried loads of gold. I had been so long in the country and learned the language and ways of the Indians so well

In connection with associates he has built the follow ing railroad lines; The Helena & Jefferson County; Helena & Boulder Valley: HIelena Red Mountain: IIelena Northern; Drummon & Phillipsburg: Missoula & Bitter Root Valley. He also organized the Helena & Livingston Smelting and Reduction Company and is its president, and has probably done more to develop its mines and mining than any other one man in the State. He is also a large real estate owner, and has large invest- ments in stock and mining interests.

In view of what has gone before, it is hardly necessary to add that Governor Ilauser is one of the best known men in the Northwest, and that he is ever ready to aid any plan or enterprise that will advance the best moral, educational and material interests of that section of our land. In politics, he is a Democrat, and in 1884 was made a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, where he was appointed a member of the committee to notify the nominees of the honor conferred upon them. In July, 1885, as has been said, he was made Governer of Montana, and proved himself to be the best Governor the Territory ever had. He was also its first resident Governor. Governor Hauser was married to Miss Ellen Farrar, a daughter of Dr. Farrar, of St. Louis. Two children have been born to this union: Ella and Samuel Thomas.

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 24

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