An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 63

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 63

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In 1866 Mr. Wilhart engaged in the dairy business, at which he continued until 1873, selling butter at $1.50 per

tice for a quarter of a century by eminent lawyers at the same bar could not fail to pro- duee uniformity of decision and harmony in the structure of the law. The Montana Reports have always been well thought of by the pro- fession both at home and abroad, and one of the reasons is the strength of the bar behind them. Valnable reports are as much the work of the bar as of the bench.

The first term of the supreme court was held at Virginia City, then the seat of government of the Territory, in May, 1865, Chief Justice Hosmer presiding, with Williston and Munson associate justices. It is unfortunate that these

pound, and in 1873 he turned his attention to stock-rais- ing. In 1881 he purchased his present place and in 1886 built the fine residence he now occupies. Ilis ranch contains 650 acres of valuable land adjoining the town of Twin Bridges, and on his broad acres he keeps an average of 1,000 head of cattle and as many horses, his cattle being chiefly Durham stock, which he thinks is best adapted to this country. He has one fine Norman- Percheron horse, but the most of his horses are Clydes- dale. Ile still has an interest in some valuable mining prospects.

Mr. Wilhart was married May 2, 1886, to Mrs. J. II. Drebner, nee Malvina Henney, a native of Illinois. Her father, Daniel Henney, is a resident of Nebraska. She has two daughters, Pearl May and Flora E., both by her first husband.

In politics, Mr. Wilhart is a Democrat. He is an active worker in the temperance cause, a member of the Good Templars, and is a prominent Granger, he having helped to organize the grange at Twin Bridges, Public-spirited and generous, he has done much to advance the interests of the town.

He gave twenty-eight acres of his land to the Montana State Orphans' Asylum, of which institution he is a Trus- tee. Few men in Twin Bridges are more highly respect- ed than is John Wilhart.

CHRISTIAN DARNUTZER, one of the representative farmu- ers and stockmen of the Beaver lead valley, dates his arrival in Montana in 1865.

Mr. Darnutzer was born in Switzerland, November 19, 1829, and until he was thirteen remained in his native land, receiving his early education there. Then he came to America, joined his brother in Iowa, and made his home with him until 1850. In 1550 he went to California. On the overland journey he drove a team of live yoke of oxen, leaving Omaha, Nebraska, on the Ist of May, and after four months of travel, landed safe in the Golden State. The only misfortune that happened on the jour-

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justices, during their period of office, delivered no opinions in writing, for thereby their valu- able services to the Territory and to the profes- sion have, to a great extent, been lost. They did not seem to comprehend that they were lay- ing the foundation of a great structure, to en- dure for all time. We know from the records of the district courts and of the supreme court that the litigation of that period was extensive and important, and that it related chiefly to placer claims, to water for mining and irrigat- ing purposes, and to possessory rights in public lands.

The doctrine of the prior appropriation of

ney was the drowning of one of his party while they were crossing the Humboldt river. For four years he was engaged in mining in El Dorado county, and while he was successful at times, taking out $1,700 in ten months, he invested his money in an unsuccessful enter- prise, and lost all he had. After this he kept a miners' supply store and boarding house, and while he was thus engaged, there came a great freshet which obliged the miners to quit work and go elsewhere, and thus many of the bills due him were never paid.

In 1859 he returned to Iowa, and was there when the war broke out. In the spring of 1861, when the first call for volunteers was made, he enlisted in Company E, Fourteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served in the Western Department, in the Sixteenth Army Corps, under General Sherman. The first winter he spent with his regiment in St. Lonis; in the spring they were ordered to Cairo, Illinois, and their first fight was at Fort Henry, whence they proceeded to Fort Donelson and cap- tured the fort. During that engagement a ball cut his canteen strap from his shoulder. In the battle of Shiloh a ball passed through his hat. At the latter place he and a part of his regiment were captured, were taken to sev- eral Southern points, and finally to Libby prison, where he was confined seven months. At the time he entered the prison he was strong and well, and while there he became so weak from want of proper fook that he was unable to walk. During the greater part of the time he was a prisoner he was detailed to issue rations to 100 men, their food being corn meal,-ground cob and all,- each man cooking his allowance in a tin cup and without salt. Occasionally they had rank bacon. At last they were paroled, and as soon as they were strong enough to travel, went to St. Louis to be reorganized, About this time Mr. Darnutzer took a severe cold, was sent to the hospital, and his sickness resulted in the loss of sight in his left eye, When he left the hospital he was honorably discharged, his term of service having expired.

water for the purpose of placer mining; that the first appropriator thereof for such nse be- came entitled thereto as against subsequent ap- propriators-first in time first in right -- had taken root in the pre-Territorial days under the rules and regulations of the miners, and under the provisions of the Bannack Statues of 1865, and the act of Congress of July 26, 1866, the doctrine was extended and made to apply to water for agriculture or any nseful purpose. The application of this doctrine, which had arisen in California, and was born of the neces- sities of placer mining and the arid condition of the country, and which overturned that of

In the spring of 1865 he and a number of others organ- ized an emigrant train, composed of 105 men and eighty- five wagons, to cross the plains to Montana, and of this train he was elected captain. After a journey of two months they arrived safe at Virginia City, on the 8th of July, 1865. His brother, Nicholas, had preceded him to Montana, and was engaged in mining here. He shared his mine with his newly arrived brother; who at once went to work, and from July until November took out $4,000 worth of gold. Then our subject returned East by stage coach, the fare being $500, and the next season he conducted an emigrant train of 105 wagons across the plains. That year the Indians were so troublesome that the emigrants had to have a permit from the Government before starting. At the Big Horn they were attacked by the Indians, but their only loss was some of their cattle. Two of the Indians were killed, one being shot by Mr. Darnutzer. On this second trip to Montana Mr. Darnutzer brought with him forty cows, with which to establish a dairy, and came at once to his present location in Beaver Ilead valley. Here he purchased 480 acres of land, which he has since developed into one of the finest stock ranches in the valley, having improved it with good buildings, etc. In the stock business he has met with success from the first, and at times has had as high as 400 head of cattle.

Mr. Darnutzer was married May 17, 1871, to Miss Au- gusta Carpenter, a native of Iowa, aud a daughter of John Carpenter, who moved to Iowa from Ohio. They have four children; Augusta V., John C., Carl N. and James P. Both Mr. and Mrs. Darnutzer are charter members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Blaine, have been useful members of the church since its organ- ization, and he is now serving as one of its Stewards.

Mr. Daruntzer cast his first presidential vote for Stephen A. Douglas, but when the war was inaugurated he be- came a Republican, and has ever since given his support to that party. He is a member of the G. A. R.

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riparian rights as known to the common law, and the adjustment of controversies and rights consequent thereon, and questions growing out of the possessory rights in the publie lands, and of practice, occupied largely the attention of the justices of the first period.

The prominent lawyers of that period, in ad- dition to those already named, were: Henry N. Blake, Alex. M. Woolfolk, Thomas R. Ed- wards, Green Clay Smith, L. G. Sharpe, John H. Shoper, John C. Robinson, R. E. Arick, Henry Burdick, Joseph J. Williams, Thomas J. Lowry, Walter F. Chadwick, Sample Orr and A. G. P. George. *

ALEX Dow, post trader and dealer in general merchan- dise, Arlee, Montana, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, March 2, 1862, and is a son of Alex and Ellen Harris Dow, the former a native of Beauharnois, Canada, and the latter of Herfordshire, England, who when a child eame with her parents to America and settled in Nauvoo, Illinois; they subsequently removed to Salt Lake City.

The parents of Alex Dow, Sr., lived and died in Can- ada. At the age of eleven years young Alex ran away from home and went to St. Louis, where he lived un-

*One of the earliest and ablest lawyers in Montana was W. Lair Hill, although he devoted his attention to fine stock and quartz mines rather than the practice of law, and remained but a short time. In 1884 he began, and in 1887 completed, a recodification of the laws of Oregon from the earliest settlement down to date, with annota- tions from the decisions of the Supreme Court of that State, of the sister States, and of the United States, upon questions arising under those and similar statutes. This work was in two volumes, entitled " IIill's Annotated Laws of Oregon." His annotations, I think, were more extensive and complete than those in any similar work published in auy State down to that time.

In 1890-1-2 he did a similar work upon the laws of the State of Washington, but pushing the codification more into detail and extending the annotations still fur- ther than in the Oregon books. This is in two volumes, eut tled "Hill's Statutes and Codes of Washington."

The Oregon books were started as a private enterprise, but before completion were taken up and authorized by the legislature of the State. The Washington books were undertaken under an act previously passed by the legis lature appointing him a commissioner for that purpose.

In 1892 a second edition of the Oregon books was issued with the annotations brought down to date. Ile is the most modest of men and avoids all mention of him- self, although he is in his way the ablest counselor west of the Rocky mountains.

The second and third legislative assemblies met before the elose of the year 1856 and en- acted statutes, all of which were abrogated by Congress,-for one reason, among others, that the law providing for representation districts had lapsed, and the members therefore had not been legally elected. The legislative assembly again met, in the year 1867, and enacted what has been known as the California Practice Act, and other statutes. The Bannack Statutes were ernde and uncertain, and were not printed until some time in the year 1866, and those of the session of 1867 were not printed until the sun- mer of 1868. This dearth of statutes during

til the breaking out of the Mexican war, when he en- listed and marched and fought with the victorious armies of our country during that struggle, Chapultepec being the last battle in which he participated. He was dis- charged near Fort Bridger and soon after began riding the pony express, which he followed for several years. In 1861 he was married to Ella Harris and three years later moved to Virginia City, Montana, and engaged in placer mining, meeting with only moderate success. Dur- ing the winter of 1864-5 he settled in Deer Lodge and in the spring located near Frenchtown, and engaged in farming until 1881, when he moved to the Bitter Root valley, re siding there until 1890, when he joined his son Alex at Arlee, where he remained until his death, January 17, 1891, at the age of sixty-nine years.

Mrs. Dow, the mother, is still living and resides with her son. Of five children all but Alex are deceased. He was but two years old when his parents located in Vir- ginia City, and but four when they settled near Frenchtown. Here in the primitive schools, he obtained a rudimentary education. Schools were few and far between, scholars were few and scaree, young Alex and his sister sometimes representing the numerical status of their school. Subse quently he was privileged to attend a night school and thus terminated his school days. At the age of nineteen years he began herding cattle and assisted in driving herds to the railroads for shipment. Early in ISS3, he opened a grocery store in Frenchtown, during the con- struction of the railroad at that place, but the business not proving congenial he disposed of it. His next ven- ture was in horses. In the spring of ISSThe took a large drove into Canada on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, this trip being successful and ovenpying his time for two years. In the spring of 1856 he settled in Thompson Falls, engaging in the butchering business and handling cattle until 1889, in the spring of which year he purchased A. L. Demar's trading post at Arlee, where he has since done a profitable business.

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the first judicial period, the lack of courthouses and places for keeping records, the widely-scat- tered population and the distances for the judges, litigants, lawyers, jurors and witnesses to travel to the eonnty seats and to the capital, made the courts expensive, and surrounded the administration of justice with great difficulties and delays. Perhaps the justices of the first period, as most of the people of that time did, thought that the occupation of Montana by white people would only continue while the placers were being worked out, and that records and decisions were hardly worth preserving in a country so soon to become again an uninhabited

On August 25, 1890, he was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary B. Smith, daughter of J. W. Wiedin, from which union there is one daughter, Mary.

By her first husband, Mrs. Dow had two children, Jo- seph W. and May Smith. Mrs. Dow died June 29, 1893, at the age of twenty-seven years. Mr. Dow is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having become a member of the Lone Star Lodge, No. 33, at Thompson Falls in 1888. Subsequently by demit he joined Covenant Lodge, No. 7, at Missoula, and is also a member of En- campment No. 5, at the same place; is a member of Union Lodge, A.O. U. W. No. 3, and is a member of the Select Knights.

Mr. Dow is an affable gentleman, a good entertainer, and of incorruptible business integrity. He has a host of warm and true friends, and will doubtless continue as one of the most successful merchants of this section.

M. S. PARKER, a resident of Great Falls, Montana, has acquired a national reputation as a civil engineer. He was the pioneer in the development of the water power of the Missouri river, at Great Falls, he having built the dam at the Black Eagle falls. Thus it may be said that he put in motion the wheels which have had so much to do with the phenomenal growth of the city of Great Falls.

Maurice Stiles Parker was born in Groveland, near Haverhill, Massachusetts, December 3, 1851. Both his paternal and maternal ancestors settled in Essex county, Massachusetts, during colonial days. His great-grand- father, Joshua llarnden, served with distinction as a Col- onel in the Revolutionary army. The Parkers have for generations been a family of farmers and manufacturers in the East. Niles G. Parker, the father of our subject, was born in Massachusetts, January 26, 1827. lle mar- ried Miss Nancy Jones, a native of Haverhill, who died in 1864, at the age of thirty-nine years, leaving a family of two children, one of whom died in infancy. The fa- ther died April 7, 1893, at the age of sixty-seven, and

wilderness. At that time the stock industry had not been dreamed of, the agricultural capac- ity of the country was unknown, and the ex- ceeding richness in gold and silver quartz, lead, coal and copper was yet to be found out.

The first justices of the supreme court were now near the end of their term (1868). Hos- mer, after he retired from office, soon removed with his family to California, where he engaged in literary pursuits. He was a writer of ability. He wrote "The Octoroon," which was famous in its day and brought fame to its author. He also wrote "Shakespeare in his Sonnets," which has been extensively read and

thus M. S. Parker is the only survivor of the family. Niles G. Parker served as a Colonel in the Union army, during the civil war.

The subject of our sketch received his early training in the public schools of his native place. In 1869 he en- tered West Point, where he remained two years. Then he went to Berlin, Germany, and took a four-years' course in civil engineering in the Gebewehe Academy. Upon his return to America, in 1875, he engaged in gen- eral engineering, chiefly in railroad work. He was with the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad five years, and was afterward with the Burlingtou & Great Northern. He located over 500 miles of road for the Great Northern alone, which is more than the average railroad engineer locates in a lifetime, and he estimates that he has located in all about 1,000 miles of railroad. In this particular his record undoubtedly surpasses that of any other engineer. He first came to Great Falls with the the Great Northern when it was constructing its road, and in 1890 he came with Mr. Hill to the town to become the engineer of the Great Falls Water Power & Town Site Company, and took charge of the water power development at the Black Eagle falls. Be it said to his credit that it is conceded in engineering and hydraulic circles that at no other place in the world is water power better laid out and the construction more substantial than at this place. Since coming here Mr. Parker has also engineered the con- struction of the massive iron bridges which span the Missouri river at Great Falls, and among other work he has engineered may be mentioned the First National Bank building and many other fine blocks of the city.

Mr. Parker was married in 1875 to Miss Minnie Burns, a native of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and they have one daughter, Helen C.

Fraternally, Mr. Parker is identified with the Order of Elks, the A. O. U. W., and the American Society of Civil Engineers. In his political views he is independent.

HISTORY OF MONTANA.

admired. He died in California in 1892. Williston and Munson resumed the practice of their profession in the States whenee they eame. They were men of distinction before and after their official terms in Montana. Williston died in Pennsylvania, in 1893.

The coming of Henry L. Warren as Chief Justice, appointed from the State of Illinois. successor to Hosmer, and of Hiram Knowles as Associate Justice, appointed from the State of Iowa, suecessor to Williston, in July, 1868, was the beginning of a new era in the judicial history of the Territory. They were expe- rieneed lawyers of unusual ability, in the prime

CAPT. WILLDEN PINKHAM, a representative business man and an influential citizen of Butte City, Montana, forms the subject of this article.

Captain Pinkham was born in Booth Bay Harbor, Lin- coln county, Maine, May 4, 1839, a descendant of English and Scotch ancestors who came to America previous to the war of the Revolution. His grandfather, Nathaniel Pinkham, served as a soldier in that war and also in the war of 1812. He lived to be ninety-four years of age. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth McFarland, was of Scotch descent, and she, too, lived to an advanced age, being eighty-nine at the time of her death. They reared a family of thirteen children. In both the MeFar- land and Pinkham families have been many seafaring men,-ship owners and captains.

Our subject's father, Captain Jason Pinkham, was born in Booth Bay Harbor, Maine, in 1811. He married Abigail Tibbets. The Tibbets family were of English origin, while on her mother's side-her mother being a Louis -- there was a mixture of French and Welsh blood- They had five children, of whom only two are living. The mother died in 1893, in her eightieth year, and the father is still living, now at the age of eighty-three. She was a Baptist. The Pinkhams have long been prominent members of the Congregational Church.

Captain Willden Pinkham was the first born in his father's family. Ile was educated in his native town. At the age of fourteen he went to sea as a cabin hoy, and he followed the sea in the West India trade for ten years, having during that time risen from the position of cabin boy to that of captain of the vessel. When the great Civil war burst upon the country he retired from the sea and enlisted his services in the Union cause, becoming a member of Company E, Fourth Maine Volunteer Infantry.

In the fall of 1864 Captain Pinkham went to Boston, where he was engaged in the package express business until 1870. Ile then came West as far as Ottawa, Kansas,

of life, energetic and ambitions, and of high, unblemished character. They at once com- manded the respect and confidence of the people and of the bar. Knowles had known something of life in the mining camps of the far West, having previously lived in Nevada, where he had praetieed law and been prosecut- ing attorney. They organized order out of the elaos of the courts. By an amendment to the organic aet, the justices of the supreme court were clothed with authority to define the judi- cial distriets of the Territory, to assign the justiees to their respective districts and to fix the time and place of holding the district courts.

and turned his attention to contracting and building, in which he was engaged for five years. From 1875 to 1880 he was engaged in the same business in Wyoming. When the Utah & Northern railroad was built he was the boss carpenter of the line and erected all the bridges on the road as far as Dillon. In the spring of 1881 he came to Butte City and on the ninth of March laid the first railroad tie laid in Montana, from which he now has a cabinet made; and at Monida he drove the first railroad spike-a silver one. It was not long after this that he became associated with Mr. White-now ex-Governor White of Dillon-and others in the purchase of the town site of Dillon. They formed a syndicate, paid $10,500 for the tract of land and laid it out in town lots, and made an auction sale, selling $14,000 worth of lots. They still own a considerable portion of the town.

In April, 1881, Captain Pinkham, becoming convinced that Butte City had before it an era of great prosperity, came hither and cast his lot among its citizens. For a few months he carried on his contracting and building business, and then he and a partner opened a furniture establishment in which he was interested until 1893. That year he and others organized the Butte Auction & Commission Company, of which Captain Pinkham is president and Isaac Genzberger secretary and treasurer, and other members of the tirm being Segmond Genzber- ger and Samuel Kolberg. They are doing an auction or commission business, although that was a part of their intentions when the company was organized, but they keep an extensive stock of general merchandise, includ- ing all kinds of novelties, gentlemen's furnishing goods, books, etc., and occupy two floors, each 22 x 100 feet, their place of business being at No. 22 West Park street.

Since coming to Batte City, Captain Pinkham has invested largely in property here. Besides his own beau- tiful and attractive home, he has erected a number of business blocks and residences.

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They did not lack for power and they exercised it to promote the orderly administration of justice. They adopted rules for the supreme court similar to those of the supreme courts of the States, pointed out how transcripts on ap- peal should be made, provided for the filing and service of briefs, and required every deci- sion of the court to be in writing and filed with the clerk.

The first volume of the Montana Supreme Court Reports begins with the first term of that court after the advent of Justices Warren and Knowles, which term began in the month of December, 1868. The eighteen decisions rendered in important cases and reduced to

Ile was married in September, 1863, to Miss Francis H. Ransdell, a native of Pembroke, Maine, and a daughter of Captain George W. Ransdell. After twenty-six years of married life, she was called to her last home, her death being a source of great bereavement to her family and host of friends. She was a graduate of the Massachusetts State Normal School and was a lady of more than ordin- ary intellect and amiability. She left two children- Etta, now the wife of E. S. Boothe, one of Butte City's promising young lawyers; and Jason William Pinkham, of Butte City. Captain Pinkham's second marriage oc- curred in September, 1892, the lady of his choice being Alice Matherly.

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 63

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