An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 54

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 54

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William V. Myers, the third child in order of birth in the above family, was reared on his father's farm in Ohio, where he worked during the summer months, and attended school in winters. In 1858 the family emigrated to Iowa, and in 1860 our subject crossed the plains to Colorado, having spent three years in the mines at Pike's Peak, working chiefly on his own account, but with poor suc- cess. In 1863 he came from that place to Virginia City, Montana, and from that time until 1873 mined at that place, Ilelena, in the Blackfoot region, Confederate Gulch, Diamond City and Indian Creek. At Diamond City he made from $100 to $400 a day on his claim, and on Indian Creek the mining was equally good. In 1874 Mr. Myers embarked in the mercantile trade in St. Louis; in 1876 engaged in the same occupation in Radersburg, remaining there three years, and spent four months at his old home in Ohio Since returning to this State he has purchased 320 acres of land near Toston, where he now resides. He has a large free range for his stock, and for a number of years has been successfully engaged in raising a grade of Durham cattle and trotting horses. He keeps as high a- 200 head of cattle, and is considered one of Montana's competent stock farmers.

In the fall of 1880 Mr. Myers was united in marriage with Anna Parks, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, but who died after twenty months of happy wedded life. In

from summit to summit. That no person be allowed to hold more than one claim by pre- emption, and one by purchase, except as regards the discovery claims. That each member of the discovery party be entitled to hold, in addi- tion to 200 feet by pre-emption, 100 feet for a discovery claim. That the discovery party shall have the prior right to the use of the gulchi water. That claims, when pre-empted, be staked and recorded. That any person, besides his own claim, be allowed to record one for his actual partner, and one ouly, and that he can represent both; but if a partner be so recorded for, it must be specified, and the name given in full."-John D. Ludwig.

political matters, Mr. Myers affiliates with the Republican party, and is now holding the office of County Commis- sioner. Socially, he is a member of the A. O. U. W., and of the Pioneer Society. He enjoys the highest esteem of all who know him, and is a worthy representative of the Montana pioneer of 1863.

WALLACE L. MILLIGAN, a successful farmer and respect- ed pioneer of Montana, came to the Territory in 1863, and, having long been identified with it, he is entitled to some mention in connection with its representative citizens. A brief sketch of his life is as follows :

Wallace L. Milligan was born in the State of New York, February 4, 1837. His father. James Milligan born in Scotland in 1796, came to America in 1805, and settled in New York. He was in the war of 1812, sta- tioned on Long Island. After he grew up he was united in marriage to Miss Eleanor Mead, a native of the Empire State. As the years passed by they had sons and daugh- ters, nine in number, of whom six are now living. His wife died in 1863, and he lived to the advanced age of eighty-four years, dying in Helena, Montana, in April, 1881, and buried in the old cemetery.

Wallace L. was the last child born in this family, and, the Milligan family having removed to Wisconsin in 1847: in that frontier Territory he was reared and educated, receiving his education in a primitive log schoolhouse. He remained with his father until 1859, when he came across the plains, his objective point be- ing Pike's Peak, at which place he mined until the spring of 1863. He then came to Bannack, Montana, and engaged in mining during the summer. bis operations there being successful. On one occasion he got $9 out of a single panful of dirt, and his best day's work netted him $250.

After this Mr. Milligan returned, in November, 1863, to lowa, and April 9, 1864, married Miss Martha Rocko- fellow. Two days after their marriage, April 11, 1864, they started on the long journey across the plains. Their wagon was drawn by a four horse team, and they came on

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

One of the editors of the Herald, writing of those early events, says:

" From Mr. Wellington E. Wood, who was one of the earliest settlers in the camp, who still lives among us, who, with his brother, Captain George J. Wood, erected the third cabin in the camp, which stood where the Inde- pendent office now stands, we have secured a copy of the minutes of the original meeting at which the town was named. There was a scarc- ity of writing materials in those days, and the minutes were only recorded in pencil in a blank book of Captain Wood's. The meeting was held in the cabin of Mr. Wood and his father-in-law,

a new trail from Fort Laramie to Virginia City, arriving August 28. After spending the winter in Bannack, they went to the Blackfeet country and kept a boarding.house, in which venture they were very successful. Flour at that time was worth $125 a sack of 100 pounds, but they had brought a large supply of flour with them, and they served meals at $2 each.

In the fall of 1865 Mr. Milligan came to Helena, and took homestead claim to a quarter-section of land, three miles northeast of the city. On this property they at once established their home. They began with very little, their household furniture consisting of a stove, a home-made bedstead, fastened to the side of the log house, and a few tin plates, and tin cups and spoons of the same material. Mrs. Milligan says, in speaking of her early experience here, that she did not see a white woman for five months. She paid $10 in gold for the first pair of chickens she got, the eggs from which she sold for $2.25 per dozen. She received $2 per pound for the butter she made, and paid $9 in gold-dust for a calico dress. Not- withstanding the many privations they endured in their new home, they were happy and prosperous. In 1872 Mr. Milligan added another 160 acres to his farm, all of which he still retains, his principal crops being wheat, oals, peas and barley. His land is well supplied with water, having the first water right. Mr. Milligan was the first farmer in the valley to begin raising alfalfa here, which he is now growing successfully.

This worthy couple have had thirteen children, all born in Montana. It was their misfortune to lose three of their little ones from diphtheria. Nine of their children are now living, a record of whom is as follows: Carrie M ., wife of Wallace Evans, resides in Helena; Willard Lewis, on the farm with his father; Hattie Ann, wife of Robert Maccolum, resides in Cascade county. Montana ; and Martha E., Robert LeRoy, George W, Cora and Nina, -all at home.

Mr. Milligan is a member of the A. O. U. W , and all his life he has been a Republican in politics. For six

Orison Miles, of Bozeman. From each of these parties, and others who participated in that original meeting, the writer has heard the same story oft repeated, and the minutes of that meeting were made also by the writer hereof from what were the original documents. Though there is other matter besides that which pertains to the name alone, we will give the whole, for it will possess interest for other reasons.

"' HELENA, October 30, 1864. " ' At a meeting of the citizens of Last Chance Guleh for the purpose of naming the town and electing commissioners, etc., on motion, G. J. years he served as County Commissioner of his county, performing faithful and acceptable service. Was judge of the first election in Colorado, and voted at the first State election of Montana. He is a member of the Bap- tist Church, as is also his wife. Both are well known and highly esteemed, and they and their family are ranked with the leading people of the community in which they live.

THE BOULDER HOT SPRINGS .-- In a beautiful locality, surrounded by picturesque scenery, and only two miles from Boulder, these wonderful springs are located. They were discovered in 1863, by James E Riley, while hunt- ing. Believing he had made a discovery that in some future day would be found to be of great value, he located on the land, where he resided from 1863 until 1882. The great medical properties of the waters of these springs became known long before any move was made toward building the hotel, baths and other appliances for the comfort and treatment of invalids, on the present large scale. After Mr. Riley's death, in 1882, A. C' Quaintance purchased the property, and soon afterward the fine hotel and other improvements which now adorn the property, were built. The hotel was managed for five years by William Trother, a pioneer hotel man of the West, and during that time the intrinsic value and won- derful healing power of the water became more and more evident. In July, 1891, a stock company was organized by many of Boulder's most reliable citizens, to purchase the property and give it the attention which it merited. Messrs. Gaffney, Berendes and Beckwith organized the company and became its stockholders.

The main building, 35x100 feet, is artistic in design, is three stories high, heated throughout by the hot water from the springs, without fuel; has electric communica. tions in every room, and the building is supplied with an adequate number of porcelain haths, a fine plunge bath and laboratories. They have also a fine dining room, and their table furnishings are unexcelled by any health or pleasure resort. The temperature of the water is

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

Wood was elected chairman and T. E. Cooper, secretary. After several motions and balloting, the name of Helena was given to the town, and G. J. Wood, H. Bruce, and C. L. Cutler were elected town commissioners, and ordered to lay out the town and get their pay for the work by recording the lots at two dollars each, the proceeds to go to the commissioners for their labor and trouble. They were further authorized to make snch laws and regulations as may be deemed necessary, to regulate the location and size of lots, streets, alleys, etc. At a meeting of the commissioners it was decided that the lots should be thirty feet front by sixty

from 125 to 187 degrees. The diseases specially benefited and cured at these springs, are rheumatism, indigestion, kidney diseases, the various skin diseases, hemorrhoids, lead, copper and antimonial poisoning, liver complaints, etc. The following is the analysis of the water: Chlo- ride of sodium, 4.7; sulphate of soda, 4.8; carbonate of soda, 2.6; carbonate of lime, 3.6; sulphur, 4.8; iron, 2.9. The rates of the hotel are from $2 to $2.50 per day, or from $12.50 to $17.50 per week, and special rates are given to families or large parties.

HON. ALFRED CAVE, a Montana pioneer of 1865, now a resident of Missoula and manager of the Missoula City Water Works, was born in Boone county, Missouri, Octo- ber 5, 1829. He traces his ancestry back to the early settlers of Virginia, in which State his grandfather, Reuben Cave, was born. Reuben Cave emigrated to Ken- tucky at an early day and was among the brave pioneers of that State, where he was engaged in the manufacture of powder. ITis son, Richard Cave, was born in Kentucky in 1799, and at the age of twenty years moved to Boone county, Missouri, where he married Miss Colma B. Will- iams, a native of Franklin county, Kentucky, born in 1803. They became the parents of eight children, all of whom reached adult years, and five are still living. Richard Cave was among the gold-seekers who went to California. After mining for some time he turned his attention to the cattle business in Siskiyou county, was successful in his operations, and in 1859 was killed for his money. His widow survived him several years, living to be seventy-eight.

Alfred Cave, the subject of this sketch, was the fourth child born in the above named family and is now the old- est one living. From his sixth year his early life was spent in lowa, to which State his parents had moved and where his educational advantages were limited. The schoolhouse in which he conned his lessons was lighted 1\ holes in the roof that also served the purpose of a chimney. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California, url mined near Rough and Ready and on the North Yuba river, meeting with only moderate success, and go-

feet deep, and that any person might pre-empt a lot by laying a foundation on the lot, which foundation should hold the lot ten days, and if a person record his lot at the time of laying the foundation, then the foundation should hold good for twenty days. And it was decided that if there were no improvements made on the lots at the expiration of the ten or twenty days, the lots should be jumpable; but all persons should record their lots. G. J. Wood was elected recorder of the town. All disputes to be settled by the commissioners or an arbitra- tion, until civil law is established.'

ing from there to Trinity county, where he was more fortunate. Later, he was engaged in packing from Big Bar to Humbolt Bay. After this the Salmon river excite- ment attracted him to that place, and he was there en- gaged in merchandising and quartz-mining. He was one of a party to locate the Black Bear mine, which subse- quently became noted, and of which in 1863 he was su- perintendent. He sold his interest in it and came to Mon- tana in 1865.

After coming to Montana, Mr. Cave for a time engaged in mining at Mcclellan Gulch, near Helena, but soon turned his attention to packing, which was then a paying business. He packed all over the Territory of Montana, Idaho and Washington, and British Columbia as well, and camped out the greater portion of the time. In 1870 he located at Cedar Creek, where, in partnership with a Mr. Buck, he did a successful merchandising business for nine years, the firm of Buck & Cave being well known throughout all the mining districts of the Territory. In 1874 he had purchased property in Missoula, and in 1879 he came to this place to live. Since that date he has been identified with the various interests of Missoula and the surrounding country. He was one of the first to set out an orchard here and demonstrated the fact that apples, pears aud various other fruits can be successfully raised in this locality. In 1876 Mr. Cave was elected a member of the Montana Legislature, in which capacity he served with credit to himself and his constituents. Since then he has served as Public Administrator of his county, and for six years past has held his present position, that of manager of the water company.

In 1871 Mr. Cave was married to Mrs. C. A. Heckleman, a native of Detroit, Michigan. Her maiden name was Miss Carrie A. Nichol. By her first husband she had one son, William, who has taken Mr. Cave's name.

Mr. Cave has been a Democrat all his life. He belongs to the rank of brave pioneers aud has seen and endured many of the hardships and privations on the frontier. In recalling some of his reminiscences, he relates that he has paid as high as $1 for a newspaper and has given $62 for a fifty-pound sack of flour.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

" As Mr. Wood informs ns, there were pres- ent at the meeting all that the cabin would hold, probably thirty or more, among whom he gives the names of the following, who will all be re- membered by the early settlers. Besides Messrs. Wood and Miles, already named, there were Abraham Mast, A. Peck, John Cowan, Robert Stanley, T. E. Cooper, C. L. Cutler, John Clore, Dr. Sales, John Somerville, H. Brnce, -- Fol- som, - Wilder, O. D. Keep, the . Michigan Boys,' as they were called-Murray, Marshall and Burke-Henry Sellick, P. B. Anthony, John Scannell, now living in town, with others who came through in Captain Allensworth's train.

IION. NEWTON W. MCCONNELL, of Helena, Montana, was born in Marshall county, Tennessee. He is of Scotch- Irish descent, his ancestors having settled in the Sonth during the early history of this country.

His grandfather, Manuel McConnell, was born in Port Tobacco, Maryland, and from there went to South Caro- lina, where, at the age of sixteen, he enlisted in the Co- lonial army, and rendered efficient service throughout the Revolutionary war. He was in the battle of Cowpens and the seige of King's Mountain. By occupation he was a farmer. His religion was that of the Presbyterian faith.

Mannel McConnell reared three sons and five daugh- ters, lived to a ripe old age and died in Marshall county, Tennessee, in 1843.

His second son, whom he named Jeremiah, was born in Georgia in 1798. He was the father of the subject of this sketch. He married Annie Martin, a native of North Carolina. IIer grandfather was an Irish gentleman, who was one of the very earliest settlers in the Sonth. Her people on both sides were likewise participants in the struggle for American independence.

The parents of the subject of this sketch both removed to Tennessee when they were small children. They there became acquainted, were married and reared their family of seven children. The father died in the seventy-fourth year of his age. The mother lived to be eighty-four. Both passed away at the old home in Marshall county, Tennessee.

Newtou W. McConnell was the third child of this union. He was reared in his native State, and was edu- cated at Alleghany College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Upon leaving college he turned his attention to teaching. He was principal of the Girard Academy, in Girard, Pennsylvania, for two years. For two years immediately succeeding he was principal of the Hartsville Female College. In the meantime he studied law and began the practice of that profession iu Hartsville, where he con- dueted a successful practice until 1875.

It will be seen that the date when the meeting was held was October 30, 1864, at which time there were not a great many at the mines, which had only been first discovered by Cowan and Stanley in July. The Woods, who came across in Bridger's train that season, came here in September, and most of the other early resi- sidents came in from Minnesota, in the fall of 1864. At that time Silver City was already quite a settlement, and on the other side Mon- tana City, of which only a single house sur- vives, was the chief business center, where Con- stans & Jurgens had a store before starting the first one in Helena. In regard to the name

In 1872 he was elected a member of the State Senate of Tennessee, representing the ninth Senatorial district. Ile served on several committees, notably the Committee on Public Schools. As a member of this committee he championed, and was largely instrumental in securing, the passage of the bill which gave to Tennessee her present splendid school system. The race prejudice had not, at that time, died out, and there was strong opposi- tion to the passage of the bill because it gave to colored children the same rights and opportunities possessed by white children.

In 1874 Judge McConnell was a candidate for Congress before the Democratic convention of the fourth Con- gressional district of Tennessee. In this convention the two-thirds rule was adopted. He received a large ma- jority of the votes for nearly 200 consecutive ballots, at one time lacking only one-sixth of a vote to secure the nomination. He finally withdrew in the interest of har- mony, and the Hon. S. M. Fite, judge of the fifth jndi- cial circuit, was nominated. Thereupon Judge MeConnell was appointed by James D. Porter, Governor of the State, to fill the vacancy created by the election of Judge Fite until the next general election. At this election he was chosen, withont opposition, to fill the unexpired term of Judge Fite. Ile was commissioned to this office in April, 1875. At the expiration of the fractional term, to which he had been elected, he was a candidate for re-election, and after one of the most exciting races ever known in that section, he was elected by a large majority for a term of eight years. He remained upon the bench of the fifth judicial circuit of Tennessee until the fall of 1886. In the month of April, 1857, President Cleveland appointed him Chief Justice of Montaua. This appointment was without solicitation on the part of Judge McConnell. He tendered his resignation of the Chief Justiceship in De- cember, 1888, but his successor was not appointed until March, 1889, at which time he again entered upon the practice of law as a member of the firm of McConnell, Carter & Clayberg: afterward McConnell & Clayberg, and now McConnell, Clayberg & Gunn.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

' Helena,' it will be seen that it was only adopted ' after several motions and ballotings.' It was proposed to call it after Cowan, Stanley and Wood, but neither proposition commanded a majority. Then it was that John Somerville proposed the name of Helena, and, as Mr. Wood remembers, told the company, among other things, that it meant 'a place far in the interior of the country.' At any rate, that was the time, place and manner that the name was selected, and upon the suggestion of John Somerville, a tall, hardy, jovial frontiersman from Minnesota, who had his wife with him. On the discovery of Nelson Gulch, he moved

As he had been one of the ablest judges in the history of the Montana judiciary, so Judge McConnell rapidly established for himself an enviable position at the bar of Helena and the State. Able, alert, fearless and untiring, his genius for mastering details and marshalling facts, and his invariable habit of presenting himself in the forum of legal combat, armed at every point, have given him the reputation of an invincible antagonist.

The force of his splendid eloquence and logic, not less than his ready, profound and intricate knowledge of the law, has swayed the doubtful issue to the side of justice and right in many of the important cases tried in the Montana courts within the past five years,-contests in which not only great property rights and interests were involved, but in which the lives of his clients were at stake. His legal acumen and ability are fortified and embellished by a wide and thorough general knowledge. He possesses rare physical energy, a commanding and conspicuous presence, and a magnanimous nature. Keen- ly sensible of the ethics of his profession, no man loves the ardor of honorable controversy better than he, and no practitioner at the bar of Montana excells him in unself- ish and incorruptible devotion to duty and to the cause of his client.

llis personal and professional integrity is irreproach- able. He is an honorable opponent, a loyal friend. His manner is frank, cordial and courteous. His active sym- pathy with every exalted public impulse and purpose can always be relied on. ITis life is open, clean and ele- vated: his impulses warm, ardent and generous; his rec- ord untarnished, and his character a public inspiration. No man stands higher in the esteem of his fellow-men, and few have unconsciously done more to deserve it.

After years of service on the bench, at a mature age he again took his place in the ranks of the profession, and by his ability, his ripe experience and knowledge and, more than all else, his unconquerable energy, he has achieved lasting and honorable renown as one of the fore- most men and lawyers of the Northwest.

up there and lived until he returned to Minne- sota. He was appointed by Governor Edger- ton first treasurer of Edgerton county. In this connection, and as a historical fact worth pre- serving, it may be stated that W. E. Wood was the first person in the camp or in Edgerton county who received a commission as a legal officer. He was appointed notary public in 1864, and had some notarial stamps printed at Virginia City, at a cost of $20 per hundred."

Many and very contradictory are the accounts of the swift current of events, no two testi- monies agreeing entirely in dates, names, num- ber of first settlers, and so on, although most of

Judge McConnell was married, February 26, 1856, to Nannie Elizabeth McCall, a native of Pennsylvania, their acquaintance being formed while he was at college. She, is a daughter of Samuel McCall. They have three children, Frank Winston, Odell Whitfield, and Annie Eloise.

While in Tennessee Judge McConnell was an active member of the Masonic fraternity, having been success- ively Deputy Grand Master, Grand Orator, and a Grand Master of the order in that State. In politics he has al- ways been a Democrat. He joined the Presbyterian Church at the age of seventeen and has continued his membership uninterruptedly to the present time.

HON. GEORGE C. FITSCHEN, another one of the success- ful business men of Butte City, Montana, is of German nativity and possesses many of the sterling characterist- ies of his countrymen. For nearly three decades he has been identified with Montana, and as one of her represent- ative pioneer citizens he is justly entitled to some per- sonal mention in this work.

George C. Fitschen was born in Germany, June 22, 1843, of German parents, and in his native land spent his early boyhood days and received good educational advan- tages. Through the advice of his brother, who was in business in New York city, he, when a boy of fifteen years, set sail for America in the llamburg steamer, Anstria. The passage was not a pleasant one. This fine vessel was burned at sea, and out of her 641 passengers only fifty- six were rescued, Mr. Fitschen being one of them. The date of that disaster was September 13, 1858.

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 54

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