An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 52

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 52

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Mr. Fergus was married to Pamelia Dillin, formerly from Jefferson county, New York, at Moline, Illinois, March 16, 1845, and she, his faithful consort for almost half a century, died October 6, 1887. So far as there is credit in being a pioneer Mrs. Fergus shared equally with her husband that honor. Colonel W. F. Sanders de- livered a feeling and eloquent address at the grave of Mrs. Fergus, into which he incorporated the following words prepared by the husband:

These hardy pioneers, these builders of States yet to be, more venturesome than Columbus or Marco Polo, found themselves in a new world, full of resources and surrounded by new and strange conditions. They were beyond the reach of law. They were effectnally beyond the protection or control of the Government of the United States. These mineral lands had not been declared open to exploration or pur- chase. There was no means of acquiring title. These immigrants, miners and prospectors were trespassers upon the public domain, and as be- tween themselves actnal possession was the only evidence of ownership.

"Friends :- The dead wife, mother and friend who lies here belonged to no religious sect, believed in no religious dogma and desired no religious services over lier re- mains. The wishes of the livingwill be kept as a sacred contract with the dead. While she could not understand how she could live after death, or locate a heaven or a hell, she clearly comprehended the duties appertaining to her station in life, and in their performance was an obedi- ent child, a faithful wife, a loving mother, a true friend and an honest woman, performing her full duty in all stations of life, beloved by all, leaving not an enemy be- hind. When our end comes may as much be said of us."

This worthy couple had four children, namely: a son, Andrew, still unmarried: two daughters, Mrs. R. S. Ham- ilton and Mrs. S. C. Gilpatrick, of Helena; and one, Mrs. Frank II. Maury, of Washington county, Oregon.

At the organization of the Pioneer Association of Mon- tana, Mr. Fergus was elected the first president of the so- ciety, and upon taking the chair said: "I would rather occupy this position than be President of the United States." In writing of this organization and its first pres- ident-and the quotation is a fit conclusion to this sketch -Captain James H. Mills said in the New Northwest; "Mr. Fergus is a thoroughly honest man,-the noblest work of God,-in every sense of the word. His character is as sturdy as the mountains of his chosen home and his life as pure as the snows that tip their summits. May James Fergus be hailed in fellowship at mauy succeeding convocations of the pioneers."

ROBERT McMORAN DONALDSON, pastor of the Pres- byterian Church of Bozeman, Montana, was born at Ossian, Wells county, Indiana, son of Wilson M., and Elizabeth M., (Egbert) Donaldson. The Donaldsons are of Scotch origin, and their ancestral tree has been pro- lific with luxuriant growth of educational and ministerial branches. The descendants have taken no little interest and pride in gathering and putting in print the worthy deeds of their ancestors.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

There was no law defining a mining claim, its extent, what should constitute a discovery, to what the discoverer should be entitled, the means of ownership, how a claim might be con- veyed, how it might be worked or mined, or how water for that purpose might be used and delivered to the next claimant for the same purpose. The situation demanded law, and that without delay. There was no legislature to enact laws, even if it would have had the right, and Congress had not yet spoken upon the subject.

But these American citizens, most of them well educated, many of them graduates of col-

Wilson M. Donaldson, the father of our subject, was born in Pennsylvania, was reared and educated there, and came from that State to Indiana in pioneer days. He devoted the best of his life to pastoral work. For forty- five years he served faithfully in the ministerial field, thirty years of that time in Indiana, ten years in Penn- sylvania, and five in Ohio. Now at a ripe old age he makes his home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He reared five sons and one daughter, all of whom are living except the daughter, namely: John B. Donaldson, D. D., au able and energetic minister and educator, is a graduate of Wabash College, Indiana, was for two years pastor of a Church at Ashland, Oregon, has for a number of years been editor of the North and West, a religious journal published in Minneapolis, and is also now pastor of the Fifth Presbyterian Church of that city: A. M. Donaldson, a graduate of a college in Colorado City, Colorado, is an assayer of metals in Denver; Wilson E. Donaldson, a graduate of both the Wabash College of Indiana and of the Allegheny Western Theological Seminary, of Penn- sylvania, has for ten years been pastor of Bethel Church in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and is now pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Toledo, Ohio; Charles A. Donald- son, M. D., is a graduate of the medical department of Wooster University, Cleveland, Ohio; and Janet, who was also educated at Wooster University. She died in Min- neapolis, October 30, 1893. All spent several years at Elder's Ridge Academy, founded by their uncle, Alex- ander Donaldson, D. D. Their father and this uncle were both graduates of Jefferson College, Pennsylvania.

Alexander Donaldson, D. D., was from his youth up deeply interested in educational progress. Ile erected a log cabin, fifteen feet square, at Elder's Ridge, Pennsyl- vania, where boys were educated, and it soon became so popular that capacious, modern buildings were erected. Later, girls were admitted to this preparatory academy, and it continued to grow in favor. Among its graduates are numbered many eminent lawyers, doetors, ministers

leges, and all of themn familiar with the prinei- ples of self-government by the people, and accustomed to exercise the right at the ballot- box, proved themselves equal to the emergency. They invoked the good old method of the New England "town meeting" and made laws for themselves, by which they agreed to be gov- erned. Wherever there was mining gronnd, they organized a mining district, and adopted rules and regulations for the government and control of all matters concerning mining. the use of water for that purpose, and the acquisi- tion and disposal of mining claims, after defin- ing of what a mining claim should eonsist.

and men who have ranked among the leaders of their day. Alexander Donaldson's wife had three sisters whose husbands were doctors of divinity, and her brother was a Presbyterian clergyman A record of Alexander Donald- son's children is as follows: James IIenry, who gradu- ated at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1858, was ordained as minister in 1863, was for four years pastor of a church at Schellsburg, Pennsylvania, and preached his last sermon in 1868; Martha J., a graduate of Blairsville Seminary, and the wife of Wallace W. Moorhead, D. D., died in 1871, leaving three children, Martha, Alexander D. and William Paul, the daughter being a graduate of the Woman's Medical College, Pennsylvania, and a prae- tieing physician in a Boston hospital, and is now home physician in the North Western Hospital, Minneapolis: the sons being graduates of Jefferson College; Thomas Wilson, who died when young; Anna M., who married a prominent merchant and a Presbyterian Elder, John Milton Guthrie, of Indiana, Pennsylvania: David E., who died in 1862; Alexander H., a graduate of Jefferson Col- lege and of the Western Theological Seminary, Penn- sylvania, died in New Mexico while acting as a mission- ary to the Navajo Indians; William Bracken, who was in college with his brother, Alexander II., and graduated with him at Jefferson College in 1869, died in 1871, while preparing himself for the ministry; and Robert McShane, a graduate of Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, with the class of 1885, died while on his way home after his graduation.

Robert M. Donaldson, whose name heads this article, was educated at Elder's Ridge Academy, University of Wooster, in Ohio, the Theological Seminary at Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and the McCormick Seminary of Chicago, Illinois, being a graduate of the last named institution, with the class of 1888, While attending seminary he was licensed to preach, and for three years before his gradu- ation at Chicago he had heen filling a charge at Hastings, Minnesota. July 3, 1888, he was ordained to the ministry

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

They organized miners' courts, preserved order, protected life and property, and adjudi- cated rights, and commenced the conquest and reclamation of a vast unexplored country that has since then added so much to the wealth and power of the United States.

The jurisdiction of the miners' courts was not final. From the decision of these tribu- nals there was an appeal to the whole body of the miners of the district, presided over by an officer whom the miners had elected and called the President of the District. This was a direct appeal to the people and their voice was the supreme law.

These mining rules and regulations, being much the same in each district, very soon came to have the force and effect of the common law, the law of the land, for the mining region, and later, when Congress began to legislate on the subject, these rules and regulations of the miners were recognized as valid laws, and were enforced by the courts in the adjudication of property rights .*

by the Presbytery in session at Hastings. He succeeded his brother, Dr. J. B. Donaldson, as pastor of the church at that place, his brother having filled the pulpit there for nine years, and he for five years longer. From this field of labor the subject of our sketch was called to Boze- man, Montana, in 1893.

Robert Mc M. Donaldson was married February 23, 1892, to Miss Jennie E. Talcott, of Livingston, Montana,

*The miners' laws of Montana, as were those of earlier gold fields, like the all-enduring constitution of the Brit- ish empire, entirely unwritten but resided in the min- ers' heart, based on the eternal principles of equity. I have at hand many an old record in the recorder's orig- inal manuscript. One of these is entirely on the blanks of old letters, and they are all exceeding brief, differing, as a rule, only in the length of a claim and the time al- lowed a miner or a mining company to "lay over " with- out being "jumped." This was a matter regulated by water, snow, frozen ground and so on. In short, common sense was the common law of the miner. No man was required to work his claim if it could not be worked ; nor was it written down that a claim could not be " jumped" while its owner was absent fighting Indians or kept from work by sickness or for the want of " grub" at hand.

Thus was laid the foundation of that great system of mining law that now prevails in the mining regions of the Pacific States, and npon the validity of which such vast interests and rights depend. This system of mining law is but an instance and example of how the law grows np and adapts itself to novel and strange conditions. This system was formed without a precedent, its language is Greck to lawyers who have not studied and learned to interpret it, and is the product of the wants, needs and necessities of the country where it exists.

Montana is within that region of our country covered by this system of mining law, and was an active agent in building up and perfecting the system. Rich in mineral resources and of vast extent, this Territory at once became a tempting field for the energy and enterprise of those daring spirits who endured the perils of the plains to reach and ocenpy it. Isolated and beyond the reach of civilization, these men became a law unto themselves, and the miner's rules and regulations, those primitive statutes

and they have one child, Jeannette, born August 10, 1893. Mrs. Donaldson is a daughter of William H. Talcott, deceased. She has one brother, William Talcott, who is a prominent electrician of Chicago; another brother, Henry Talcott, is engaged in business in Livingston, Montana; and still another brother, E. H. Talcott, who is president of Park National Bank of Livingston.

But such was the insatiable law, and as fixed as that which made Esther mistress of Media and Persia.

Of course as districts rounded down from their first crude existence and began to develop great riches, the re- ceiver became a man of some importance, gol a big book and had an office instead of carrying his office and all its belongings around in his hat, as did Abraham Lincoln when postmaster; but the book of the average receiver is a lesson in laconics.

"We, most of the m ners, resolve, first, that this district shall be called French Creek, and that a claim shall be one hundred feet long in the creek, two hundred feet long in a gulch and fifty feet front on the bank, and that a man may hold one of each :

" Resolved, secondly, that no more Chinamen shall take up claims.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

of the mining districts, mnade and enforcel by the people, became charters of liberty and the parents of law and order.

Montana had a history before it had a name; it enacted laws and established courts before it had a legislature or judges; it planted a State before it was born a Territory.

The period from the discovery of gold in 1862 to the organization of the Territory in May, 1864, was an era of government and con- trol by the inherent force and majesty of Amer- ican citizenship, unaided by executive, legisla-

WILLIAM HAYDEN CAMPBELL, M. D., Livingston, Mon- tana, was born in Cobourg, Northumberland county, Ontario, June, 29, 1848, son of William and Sarah Ann (Haven) Campbell.

William Campbell, the doctor's father, was one of the Argyle Campbells of Scottish prominence. He came to America and located in Canada when a mere youth, where he married, and where he became famous as a contractor. He had a contract for building a plank road between the cities of Hamilton and Port Dover, which at that time was considered a more formidable undertaking than the constructing of a like mileage of railroad at the present time.

William H. Campbell early developed a capacity and inclination for professional life. After completing his studies in the grammar school at Cobourg he attended the

" Resolved, thirdly, that a white man must stick up a notice at each end of his claim when he takes it up.

" Resolved, fourthly, that a man may lay over his claim a month by posting a notice aud paying the receiver one dollar.

" Resolved, fifthly, that all disputes about claims shall be settled by a miners' meeting and no lawyers."

Here follows the unintelligible name of the receiver and about a dozen others. If the document ever had a date it does not appear. A fine and not a faultless book of laws to be sure; yet millions were oftentimes held by no other tenure, and the miner lost no sleep from dread of his title deeds. The " notice " read all sorts of ways, and, like the foregoing "record," was spelled almost any way. The usual reading was:

NOTICE !

" I (or we) the undersigned, claim [here follows the number and length of claims] for mining purposes, and in- tend to work the same as," etc. Here follows water, cabin, provisions, or whatever cause of delay, ending with signature and date. But even date and signature, oddly as it may read to a lawyer, could be dispensed with under certain circumstances.

tive or judicial departments, and as to mines, mining and water rights, this era continued until July, 1866, and May, 1572, when Congress opened the mineral lands to exploration and purchase, and validated the miners' rules and regulations theretofore existing.

The first courts in what is now Montana, were miners' courts, presided over by judges elected by the miners of the districts, to enforce min- ing rules and regulations made by and for themselves. Besides providing themselves with a system of mining law, the people acting to-

Collegiate Institute at Port Hope. He also studied medi- cine in Canada, taking two courses and took one degree there before coming to the United States. In the spring of 1878 he located in Jamestown, North Dakota, where he continued the study of medicine and was associated iu practice for a time with his uncle, Dr. F. E. Thorald. In the spring of 1882 he removed to Glendive, Montana, and from there, in November of the same year, came to Living- ston, where he has ever since been engaged in the prac- tice of his profession, with the exception of time spent in Colorado, where he further prepared himself for profes- sional duties by taking two courses at Gross Medical College, graduating there in 1890. Fitted by both natural ability and by thorough education for his profession, he ranks with the leading physicians of this part of Montana, where he has an extensive and profitable practice.

The first lawsuit in which I ever appeared as advocate was occasioned by what was counted a defective notice. This was in Florence, from which lawyers were not de- barred. The lawyer on the other side was a bright young fellow by the name of Thurmond, famous afterward as one of the lawyers who unsuccessfully defended George Ives, and who, being notified by the vigilantes to leave the country in twenty minutes, replied that he would be off in less than five if his mule didn't balk. This notice read: "Notese, i clames the clames on dese here gulch here."

Thurmond held that this was no notice at all; but his client admitted that he knew Dutch Jake, the baker, put up the notice and claimed the ground; and so they gave the poor illiterate fellow the claim without even giving me a chance to make my maiden speech! The Supreme Court of the United Sta es could not have done better. Let me add that it was often allowed in the old days, as in this case at Florence, that a miner could take up a claim for his coming partner.

The mining laws of Last Chance Gulch, from which grew the wealthiest city per capita in the world, if we except Pilsen, Bohemia, and a few small places of like community business relations, were even more brief than those given here, and will be found literally as first writ- ten in the next chapter.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

gether were compelled to exercise their original eriminal jurisdiction, which corresponds to the right of self-defense in the individual. The discovery of gold attracted thither not only the better but also the worst and lowest elements of society. Criminals and outlaws, following close npon the heels of the pioneer and homeseeker, hovered about the mining camps and infested the country. Their business was crime and plunder." They lay in wait for stage coaches by which gold was sent out of the country, murdered the passengers, robbed emigrants and

Associated with him is Dr. Alton, one of Montana's noted surgeons, now employed as surgeon for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company at Livingston. Dr. Campbell was for some time connected with a drug business here, but has disposed of his interest in it. He served two years as Aldermau of Livingston, representing the second ward. Dr. Campbell is a member of the State Medical Association of Montana and of the American Medical Association, and holds a certificate from the Colorado

* I mean no more to dispute or disrespect Bret Harte than to contradict Dickens or Dumas. But for the bene- fit of the young John Oakhursts that are sprouting up in the little "cities" along the "Shining Mountains," I want to say flatly there never was such a man except in the matchless story of the Outcasts of Poker Flat, and there never will be. And yet he is a fact as the Count of Monte Cristo is a fact.

But if you could have taken off those pretty boots which he so carefully dusted with his pocket handker- chief, and in which, let us hope, he died, you would have found holes in his socks and his feet very dirty.

For the good of the rosy, rural girl who is disposed to love her embryo Oakhurst who haunts the saloons of the little town of the mountains or foothills, I want to say positively that anything that is on him or about him, except the boots and outer shirt, is as dirty and ragged as his character; and that is saying that he is filthy, repul- sive from top to toe, a coward, a liar and a sneak, who would no more think of taking his own scalp, as John Oakhurst did, than he would of paying a board bill.

And please remember, that even perfect and pathetic as this ideal Oakhurst is, he became an outcast and died miserably by his own hand to escape the rope. Cherokees Sal, Mother Shipton,-all such, in fact, perished most wretchedly. And here is where the work of the perfect artist is apparent. He could not, if he would, forget the eternal equities. They all and each went to the dogs in the great "round up." Only the work is so perfectly done and the shadows so compact with pathos that we are all lost in sympathy, and don't see the dismal end, or the dirty l'eet in the polished boots.

travelers, waylaid miners, and terrorized every mining camp and community. In the summer and autumn of 1863 the supreme question was whether criminals and murderers or the well- disposed people should rule thecountry ; whether ent-throats or honest men should control. There were no courts or officers to preserve order or to punish crime. Life, liberty and prop- erty were without any protection. The situation was desperate and unparalleled. It was crime against society, criminals against honest men, murder and robbery against life and property.

Medical Examining Board. He also took a four months' course at the Chicago Polyclinic, in the winter of 1894. He is connected with both the A. F. & A. M., and the B P. O. E., being Exalted Ruler of the latter.

Dr. Campbell's residence is one of the most attractive homes in Livingston. He was married in 1885 to Miss Rose Ferte, daughter of Dr. Edward Ferte, a Frenchman and a resident of Livingston. He and his wife are mem- bers of the Episcopal Church. He has been, and is now a consistent Democrat, aud an ardent friend of silver.

And now let me announce a fact, not without delibera- tion and observation-one which I shall stand at all times ready to maintain: the mountain gambler, who has always been heralded as a most generous, liberal and open-handed fellow, is, was and always will be the mean- est, stingiest man in the State.

In Europe, where men have nothing to do but spend money, things are not as here. Pent up in cities, of at best crowded together by millions on a continent not much bigger than our back yard, they often turn to cards for diversion. They do nothing but spend money. We do nothing but make money. In Europe, if a man is even suspected of playing cards merely for the money there is in it, he is promptly "cut." But here if your Mr. Oak- hurst should be found playing cards for the fun there is in it he would be thought a fool.

The fact is, my dear folks of the foothills, your Mr. Oakhurst does not want to work, but he does want those pretty, polished boots, little matter whether he has any- Thing else on his feet or not; and he is going to fleece some drunken old man or some idiotic boy to get them. And that is the John Oakhurst of the mountains. He is a grade or two higher down in Portland or Duluth, where he hangs around the cigar-shops and the pool-rooms; but he is the same cunning, mean, miserly lout-doing it all for the money there is in it. In San Francisco, of course, there is a higher grade, somewhat as in Europe, where diversion is sought; but my work is with the Oak- hursts of the interior, where the rank crop of young would-be gamblers is growing up.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

The people, few in numbers and scattered over a wide extent of country, were compelled to organize and confederate together for self- preservation. They acted with deliberation. The supreme hour had come. They were to test their right to live. Their calinness was not that of despair or cowardice, but of self- respeet. manhood, American citizenship. They did nothing in the nature of mob violence or lynch law. Remembering the forms of law in their distant homes, where judge and jury tried men for crime, the organized citizens' courts

COL. HARRY C. KESSLER, of Butte City is a native of Pennsylvania, born in the city of Philadelphia, Marel 18, 1844, of German aneestry, a family of merehants who eame to that eity previous to the Revolution. Ilis great- grandfather, John Kessler, was a midshipman in the Un- ited States Navy during the Revolutionary war and was prominent in the affairs of the City of Brotherly Love early in the history of that pleasant place. His grand- father, also named John Kessler, was a Philadelphia mer- chant, and his son, also named John Kessler, born in Philadelphia in 1818, married Sophia R. Steever, a native of his own city, of German extraction. Her people were prominent iron manufacturers. By the latter marriage there were five sons and two daughters, of whom six are still living. Their father died at the age of sixty-eight years, and their mother in her seventy-third year, mem- bers of the Episcopalian Church, and highly esteemed in society.

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 52

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