An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 36

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 36

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Then he returned to lowa and at Indianola married Miss Anna Spieer, a native of Pennsylvania. Soon after- ward he started with his bride across the plains to Den- ver, where he was re-employed by the same man he had been working for during the preceding season.

In 1863 he came to Montana and engaged in the butch- ering business at Nevada City, near Alder Gulch. July 15, 1864, having seen much of the good work done by the "vigilantes," and having participated with them to some extent, he returned to Denver for his wife, whom he had left there, and on arriving there he concluded to remain awhile. He had a stock of 200 head of cows, which, by the cold of the preceding winter, had been reduced to four head. As a reminiscence of his work in Montana there he states that he bought and dressed the first hog that was killed there, which cost 75 cents a pound when dressed, and it weighed 300 pounds. lle sold it at a dol-

184

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

We camped for the night on Big Hole river, below the 'Backbone.' George Smith's horse gave out and was left five miles from camp. Johnny Campbell, with a party from the Three Forks of the Missouri, camped near us. He saw Worden, Powell and others, from the west side, start down the river from Fort Benton. I killed a wolf and two geese to-day. Weather nearly clear, light wind and pleasant. The rear guard (George Ives) reached camp from Ban- nack City a little after dark. Traveled twenty- three miles.

"Sunday, April 12th .-- We had a guard last night for the first time; it seemed like old

lar a pound. He made a considerable proportion of it into sausage, which was mixed with beef and sold at $1 per pound.

Next Mr. Metzel returned to Nevada City and engaged in his trade there until 1872, and then moved to his pres- ent location at Puller Springs, fifteen miles southeast of Virginia City, where he now has 6,000 acres of land, with large and capacions buildings and everything necessary for condneting a first-class stock farm. On this property he raises large quantities of oats and cuts from 600 to 800 tons of hay annnally. He has the credit of being the first Montana stockman to import thoroughbred Durham cat- tle. His first importation was from Kentucky in the spring of 1871, and since then he has done a large busi- ness in supplying the farmers throughout the State with that class of animals. He now has 200 head of this stock, pedigreed. IIis enterprise in this direction has been of great value in improving the cattle of Montana. He has also been largely engaged in the breeding of fine horses. He raised the dam of the fastest horse bred in the State, namely, Frank Quirk: record, 2:1216. He was by Defiance. Mr. Metzel now has a band of 1,000 horses, comprising some splendid specimens of both draft and trotting horses, and 6,000 head of grade range cattle.

During the administration of President Grant Mr. Met- zel was appointed Postmaster of Puller Springs, and he has held that office ever since. Ile is a Republican. He has also served his county four years as Commissioner, and in 1893 his party gave him the nomination of State Representative; and, notwithstanding that he persistently endeavored to have his declination of the office accepted, and the further fact that he did no electioneering, he was elected, receiving votes far ahead of his ticket, and he is now representing his county in the State Legislative Assembly. September 1, 1894, he was enthusiastically and unanimously renominated for the same office. For a number of years also he has been appointed by the Gov- ernor of the State a member of the County Board of

times to have to stand guard. Early this morn- ing Ives and Smith went to the Campbell party's camp and traded Smith's exhausted horse for a colt. We boiled our geese all night and tried to eat them for breakfast, but they were too tough. Had to leave them for the coyotes. I broke a white-tailed deer's leg, but lost it in the bush. I also shot at and missed a goose. Cloudy, with showers of rain. No frost last night. Passed two creeks that come into Stinking Water river from the north, and camped on the third one. They are all about the same size, having three or four sluice-heads of water in each. Traveled twenty-five miles.

Stock Commissioners. Mr. Metzel is a man of large experience and executive ability, full of "vim" and busi- ness enterprise. As a member of the Legislature he has secured the erection of the Orphans' Home in this county, at Twin Bridges, and has procured the enactment of two useful laws relating to live stock. He seems to be in the prime of life, and is a fair representative of the Montana pioneer of 1863.

He has six children, namely; Frank S., born in Colo- rado and now in the sawmill business and a member of the stock company which his father organized by giving each of his sons a thousand head of calves, each head being considered a share of the stock. The father remains president and the enterprise has proven a great success. The next son, Charles Montana, was one of the first white boys born in the Territory; he is now at Liv- ingston engaged in the butchering business. Thomas A. is a stock broker, having offices in Chicago and New York. The two younger sons, William O. and Lewis Albert, are at home with their father in the stock busi- ness; and one daughter, Clara May, died January 26, 1880.

Mrs. Metzel, the beloved wife and kind and indulgent mother, died on the 9th of May, 1878, and her husband speaks of her as the noblest of women, and as such she was most highly esteemed by all who knew her. Since her death Mr. Metzel has remained single.

DUNCAN HUNTER, a business man of Helena, was born in Scotland July 3, 1863, and received his early education in Scotland and England. In 1882 he emigrated to America and located in Dakota, where he remained two years, coming from there in 1884 to Montana and taking up his abode at Three Forks. There, with others, he was the owner of a ranch of 6,000 acres and was engaged ex- tensively in the stock business, making a specialty of fine cattle. He was one of the founders of the town of Three Forks. In 1889 he sold his interests there and came to Helena, at once becoming connected with the Equitable

185

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

Louis Simmons and party were to have met ns at the mouth of the Stinking Water, but we can find no trace of them; they have failed from some cause to us unknown. Granville Stuart explains the absence of Simmons thus: This party consisted of Louis Simmons, William Fairweather, George Orr, Thomas Cover, Bar- uey Hughes and Henry Edgar. They were de- tained by not being able to find their horses, which had wintered in Deer Lodge. They ar- rived at the appointed place of rendezvous some three or four days after the main party had passed, and taking their trail followed on, ex- pecting to soon overtake them; but before they

Life Insurance Company of New York. The first year he was here the business was managed by Burt & Hun- ter, but after that Mr. Hunter became sole manager of the company's affairs in Montana. He resigned from the Equitable in September, 1893.

Mr. Hunter is also interested in mining and in Helena real estate and farm lands. In politics he is Republican; is a member of the Montana Club and of the Masonic fraternity, ineluding the blue lodge, chapter, commandry and council, and he is also a Shriner.

January 24, 1893, he was married to Miss Abby Lippitt, the daughter of the late Governor Lippitt, of Providence, Rhode Island.

MYRON LOCKWOOD, a successful farmer of the Bitter Root valley, was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, January 8, 1841. His grandfather, William Lockwood, was a native of England, and after emigrating to America settled on Long Island. He married Miss Perey Powers. Mr. Loekwood was a soldier in the war of 1812. His son, Ai P. Lockwood, was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, was there married to Miss Sophia Wright, also a native of that county, and they had ten children. The three surviving children reside in Montana. The parents spent their entire lives in St. Lawrence county, and were active members of the Methodist Church.

Myron Lockwood, the fifth child in order of birth, was reared to manhood at his native place and attended the winter schools. When the great civil war burst upon the country, and President Lincoln made his call for vol- unteers, he tendered his services, and in September, 1861, was enrolled in Company F, Fifth Vermont Volunteer In- fantry. Ile served under Generals MeClellan, Burnside, Hooker, Meade and Grant. At the expiration of his term of enlistment, Mr. Lockwood re-enlisted as a vet- eran, served until the close of the struggle, and partici- pated in twenty-eight of the hard-fought battles of the war, in many of which the army covered itself with glory and rendered the country an inestimable service. 12

did so they were met on the upper Yellowstone by a large party of Crow Indians, who at once proceeded to plunder them, taking nearly all they had, and, giving them miserable, sore- backed ponies in exchange for their horses, ordered them to return on pain of death. Sit- uated as they were, they could only comply, and started on their way back with many misgivings as to the fate of the main party, and curses both lond and deep against the Crows. And yet this vexations outrage was the most fortunate thing that could have occurred for their own interest and that of the Territory, for on their way back to Bannack City they went one day's travel up

At the battle of the Wilderness Mr. Lockwood received a shot in his right thigh, which disabled him for five months, and he was afterward wounded in the left thigh. He entered the service as a private and was promoted to the position of First Sergeant. After the surrender of General Lee's army he went to Washington and partiei- pated in the grand review of the victorious army.

After his re-enlistment in 1864, Mr. Lockwood was given a furlough and returned home, aud January 6 of that year was united in marriage with Miss Amanda P. Gordon, a uative of Russell, New York, and a daughter of William R. Gordon, of Scotch ancestry. In 1867 our subjeet and wife left Marshalltown, Iowa, for Council Bluffs, and in the following spring came up the Missouri river to Montana. They spent two months in making the journey to Fort Benton, and came with ox teams from that place to Helena. They passed large herds of buffalo on the road and were much annoyed with the Sioux In- dians.

After his arrival in Helena Mr. Lockwood secured work at $125 per month, and during the winters followed mining at Iowa Gulch with good success. Next, with a partner, he was engaged in making cheese and butter at American Bar. During one season they made as high as $1,700, but the entire amount was gambled away in a single day by his partner. Ile afterward mined across the Missouri river. While there the Indians drove his wife from home and he returned to find the house empty, the red skins having robbed them of nearly everything they possessed. Mr. Lockwood next went to the Cedar creek stampede, passing over the mountains ou what is now the Mullen road, and they paid as high as $20 apiece for their passage, but, on account of the deep snow, were obliged to walk the entire distance. They spent six weeks on the road and suffered many hardships.

After returning from this expedition Mr. Lockwood rented land at Frenchtown, where he engaged in farm- ing, butter and cheese making, and freighting. In 1814

186

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

the Madison river, above where they had struck it as they went out, and crossing through a low gap to the southwest, 'they camped at noon on a small creek. While his comrades were cook- ing a scanty meal, Fairweather, on going out to look after the few broken-down ponies the Indians had given in compulsory exchange for their good horses, observed a point of bare bed- rock projecting from the side of the gulch, and determined to try a pan of dirt. He was aston- ished by obtaining 30 cents in beautiful coarse gold, and in a few more trials he got $1.75 to the pan. This was at the point afterward famous as Fairweather's discovery claim in Alder Gulch. Believing the locality would prove rich, they proceeded to stake off claims, and Hughes was sent to Bannack for provisions and friends; and on his arrival there, in spite of his efforts to keep the matter a secret, it be- came known that rich diggings had been struck somewhere, and a close watch was kept on Hughes, and when he started he was followed by some 200 men. About the present site of Daley's ranch, on the Stinking Water, Hughes refused to go farther until morning, and the party encamped; but during the night he ap- pointed a rendezvous for his particular friends,

they came to the Bitter Root valley, farmed on rented land during the first three years and then purchased a ranch on Rye creek. In 1877 the Indians made another of their murderous raids and they were obliged to flee for their lives. At that time Mr. Lockwood was asked to guide General Gibbon's volunteer militia over the monn- tains and soon afterward, on August 9, the Big Hole bat- tle was fought. They approached the Indians, skirm- ishes were deployed, and every fourth man was ordered back to take care of the horses. In the first volley Mr. Lockwood's brother, Almond J., was killed. At the close of the day the troops fell back to a pine grove. Our sub- ject was wounded in the right hip and left thigh, and was taken to Deer Lodge hospital, where he remained dis- abled eight months. Those wounds caused him to be a cripple for life.

After his recovery Mr. Lockwood resumed farming, but, learning that the Indians intended making another

whom he escorted into the mines in the night. In the morning the remainder of the party fol- lowed his trail into camp, and Fairweather dis- trict, with Dr. Steele as president, and James Fergus as recorder, was organized on the 6th of June, 1863. Further prospecting of the gulch developed an alluvial deposit of gold exceeding in richness and extent the most sanguine hopes of the discoverers, and perhaps combining these two qualities in a greater degree than any other discovery ever made.' (Thus it will be seen that James Stuart's expedition was the direct cause of the discovery of Alder Gulch, and the consequent rapid development of the Territory.)

"13th .- As one of our party was returning from hunting about 9 o'clock last night, he stampeded all the horses, and four or five broke their picket ropes, but were finally overtaken and secured. It had one good effect-it showed the party the necessity of keeping strict guard over the animals. It snowed a little on us during the night. To-day we crossed two small creeks and camped on the third one, near the divide between Stinking Water and Madi- son river. Road not very good. Saw three elk to-day. Blake saw elk and sheep last evening, but could not get a shot. Camped at 1 P. M.

raid, the settlers escaped the day before they arrived and their savings were again wiped ont. Soon afterward he sold his land and purchased property at Corvallis, where he received the appointment of guard at the penitentiary, under Hon. A. C. Botkin, and served in that capacity four years. During that time Mr. Lockwood purchased 320 acres of land on which he now resides, located one and a half miles north of Corvallis, but has since given 110 acres of that tract to his son.

Mr. and Mrs. Lockwood have had the following chil- dren: Frank M., born at Helena, October 27, 1867; Walter A., born March 25, 1869, died March 31, 1869; Dexter G., born March 19, 1871; William R., born August 20, 1872; Mable Alice, born August 14, 1874; Lucy C., born June 27, 1877, died December 4 of the same year; and Maud S., born January 22, 1873.

Mr. Lockwood is a Republican in political matters, and socially is a member of the A. O. U. W. and the G. A. R.

187

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

to-day, and after dinner I went to the top of the divide, about five miles from camp. There is a beautiful valley on the Madison, about twenty- five miles long and ten wide. From the divide it looks very much like Indian valley, near the Big Meadows, on the north fork of Feather river in California. The chain of mountains on the east side of the valley has two high peaks; the southern one is like a tall dome of a church, with regular terraces or steps from the base to the top. The river canons are at the lower end of the valley. While on the divide I saw a band of either horses, elk or buffalo in the val-

AARON H. NELSON, senior member of the law firm of Nelson & Settles, Helena, Montana, was born in Rich- mond, Virginia, August 4, 1838. Of his ancestry and life the following is the record:

Aaron H. Nelson traces his paternal ancestry back to William Nelson, of Plymouth, England, who, with his wife Martha, nee Foard, came to this country in 1621 in the ship Fortune. His great-great-grandson, Thomas Nelson, of Middleborough, Massachusetts, had three sons,-Job, Thomas and Stephen, -- the first a lawyer, the second a doctor, and the third a Baptist minister. Stephen was the father of William F. Nelson, who was the father of the subject of this sketch. William F. Nelson, after being graduated at Brown University and Newton Theo- logical Seminary, was ordained a Baptist minister and became one of the professors in the Baptist college at Richmond, Virginia. In 1835 he married Susannah Hay- den, a native of Eastport, Maine, and a direct descendant of that John Alden who has been so beautifully immor- talized by Longfellow in his "Courtship of Miles Standish."

William F. Nelson and Susannah Hayden had two children, a son and a daughter, the former, Aaron II., being the only survivor of the family, the father having died in 1875, at the age of sixty-nine years, the mother in 1877 at the age of sixty-four years, and the sister, Emma G., in 1888, at the age of forty-eight years.

Aaron H. Nelson prepared for college at the academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts, and in 1854 entered Amherst College, but in his sophomore year he removed to Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, where he was graduated with the degree of M. A. in the class of 1858.

In 1860 he was admitted to the bar at Hastings, Min- nesota, but in 1863 entered the United States navy as Paymaster, serving continuously in that capacity through the war of the Rebellion and until January 1, 1872, when he resigned his commission. From that time until 1880 he was engaged in business in New Orleans. In 1881 he entered the General Land Office at Washington, District of Columbia, and there remained for eight years. In

ley. The country from the Stinking Water to the divide is very broken, with deep ravines, with plenty of lodes of white quartz from one to ten feet wide. In this camp Geery and Mc- Cafferty got a splendid prospect on a high bar, but we did not tell the rest of the party for fear of breaking up the expedition. 'This pros- pect,' says Granville Stuart, 'was on a fork of Alder Gulch, called Granite creek; and if Fair- weather and his party had not discovered the mines in Alder Gulch, it is certain that they would have been discovered by Stuart's party when they returned, for it was their intention

1889 he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States, and in June of that year resigned his position in the Land Office and removed to Montana, where he has since been engaged in the practice of his profession, making land and mining law a specialty.

October 24, 1872, Mr. Nelson married Miss Anna L. Berry, a native of Massachusetts and a daughter of Seth and Mary (Simpson) Berry, of Bangor, Maine. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson had four children, two of whom are living, Jessie Louisa and Harold Hayden. Mrs. Nelson died at Helena, Montana, November 21, 1891.

Of a continuous line of Baptist ancestry, Mr. Nelson has been from his twentieth year an active member of that church. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and continuously, since his removal to Montana, has been the secretary of the Montana Bar Association. Politically he is a Democrat of the Grover Cleveland stripe, having ever since his residence in Montana been zealous, both on the stump and through the press, in his advocacy of the distinctive principles of that party as expounded by that standard-bearer.

ROBERT STAVELY HAMILTON, a respected Montana pioneer of 1864, was born in county Antrim, Ireland, in 1839, a descendant of Scotch ancestry.

Mr. Hamilton came to America in 1852 to make his own way in the world, at that time being a boy of thirteen years. Ile first located at East Cambridge, Massachu- setts, where he served an apprenticeship to the hardware business and where he resided until 1856. In the spring of that year he came west as far as Minnesota, first stop- ping at Minneapolis and soon afterward going to Little Falls. At the latter place he engaged in the hardware business on his own account. He was also Postmaster there during President Lincoln's administration. 1Ie had made some investments in real estate, but as property declined in value, and the town seemed dead, he closed out his business. He, however, retained his real estate there. From Little Falls he went to Henry county, Illi- nois, and March 23, 1864, was married to Miss Mary Agnes Fergus, daughter of James Fergus. Her father

188

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

to thoroughly prospect that vicinity when they came back, and it was only a few miles from where Fairweather struck gold. As it was, when they got back Alder Gulch was full of miners, and all the interest centered there; but McCafferty and one or two others of the party went to the place, and tried it, but they said they could only get a prospect on the river rock, and abandoned it as worthless.'

"14th .- Followed up the creek we had been camped on, and when near the divide we met two Bannack Indians, the advance guard of the main camp, who were returning from their winter's buffalo hunt on the Yellowstone. They

had come to Montana in 1862, with the Fisk expedition, and settled at Bannack. The rest of the family, mother, three daughters and a son, and Mr. Hamilton followed him soon afterward. Mr. Ilamilton brought with him a set of tinner's tools and a small stock of hardware. He had two wagons and eight yoke of oxen and his mother- in-law also had a number of ox teams and wagons. That year the overland emigration was large. Mr. Hamilton and his party chose the route up the Platte by Bridger's cut-off to Virginia City. After leaving the Platte they lost a number of their oxen, their cattle dying from the effects of poison weed they had eaten along the way. As the emigrants were in such large numbers the Indians made no attempt to molest them.

After his arrival in Virginia City, Mr. Hamilton at once opened up his stock of goods and engaged in business. Prices were high and he made money on his hardware. From the first he became identified with the early his- tory of the country, taking a hand with the law and order men of the State and doing his part to rid the country of the road agents and murderers who infested it at that time. Ile remained at Virginia City until 1870, when he sold out and came to Helena. Here for a time he was engaged in loaning money. In 1875 he returned to Little Falls, being accompanied on this trip by his family, and while there traded his Little Falls property for 225 head of cattle that were on the Madison. This was the com- mencement of his large cattle business, in which he has since continued. Although his operations have at times been attended with losses, his business has proved a snc- cess and has resulted in an ample fortune to him. To-day he is ranked with the wealthy men of Montana. Ilis sons are with him in the business, and so large are the herds that roam over their broad acres that they scarcely know how many cattle they have. Mr. Hamilton has also bred a large number of horses, and is now giving special attention to the breeding of Norman-Percheron stock. For fifteen years Mr. Hamilton has been one of the di-

told us the camp was coming, and in a few minutes we met ' Arro-ka-kee,' alias ' Le Grand Coquin,' or ' The Big Rogue' (eminently appro- priate, that name). This gentle savage only stood six and a half feet high in his moccasins, and weighed 275 pounds. He was accompanied by 'Saw-a-bee Win-an,' or the 'Standing Cot- tonwood,' who was a good Indian, although not dead, which I note as an exception to the gen- eral rule. They told us that if we would camp with them they would send back and get the 'Big Medicine' chief, Winnemucca, to camp on a little creek that they were following up to the divide. We agreed to it, and one went back to

rectors of the First National Bank of Helena. While he has a nice home in the city of IIelena, his lands and stock are in Fergus county, where he also has another fine home.

Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton have the following children, all born in Montana: Mary A., now the wife of Frank E. Hawksworth, resides in Helena; and Robert Emmet, Thomas Moore, and Robert S., Jr.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 36

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