An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 77

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 77

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After the adjournment of the January (1871) term of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Warren and Associate Justice Symes resigned, and on March 17, 1871, President Grant ap- pointed Decins S. Wade, of Ohio, Chief Justice to succeed Warren, and about the same time

into a congestion of the lungs. The strain of the past month had been too much for him, and the excitement attendant upon the opening of his hotel had a bad effect. He gradually failed until Monday morning following, when he breathed his last. His last struggle for life was aggravated to some extent by a weak action of the heart, resulting from the use of tobacco; this, with the strain of his active work in Washiugtou and the previous attack of influenza, comprised the combined forces which finally brought him to his death. Its announcement threw the entire State into the profoundest gloom. All business was for the time suspended and messages of condolence poured in from all over the world. President Harrison was among the first to send his words of sympathy from the executive mansion, and throughout the State ad- versary and friend alike paused to add to the universal sorrow their words of tender and reverential tribute. The business houses of Helena, his chosen and beloved city, closed their doors; and lowered flags and mourning buntings but lent to the cause their mute appeal to the memory of the sacred dead.

From a historical standpoint the life of Colonel Broad- water enters to a far greater degree into the present con- ditions within the State than any other of the earlier factors. His fertility of conception may be credited as the original source of an immeasurable after-result whose potential must remain as yet within the scroll of future years. Ilis life portrayed a character of more than mere genius in a choseu profession. In fact he had no profes- sion. His capacity was too broad to limit to the bound- aries of a single walk in life. It covered the entire breadth, from a pleasant spoken word to a child at play to the shrewd, tactful commander of an army; the heights and depths perfectly balanced by a well-lighted plane of genial warmth where all could meet him in an atmos- phere of perfect ease. Uuassuming in this self-poise he left the fields of literature and religious controversies to those better snited, and taught a lesson of greater im- port and stronger impact by his example of broad human- itarianism than could the written sermons of a volume or

John L. Murphy, of Tennessee, Associate Jus- tice, to succeed Symes.

Warren resumed the practice of his profes- sion at Virginia City, and Symes at Helena. Subsequently they both left Montana, War- ren to practice at St. Louis, Missouri, and later in New Mexico, where he achieved success, and Symes at Denver, Colorado, where he amassed a fortune, and was elected to Congress. He died at Denver, in 1893, leaving a name as Judge, Congressman, and citizen above re- proach.

To these newly-appointed justices, as at that

an era of dogmatic oratory. Always a man of close and profound thought he was pre-eminently a man of action.

HILAIRE PALIN, a worthy Montana pioneer of 1863, and now a successful farmer residing in Grass Valley, a few miles east of Frenchtown, was born thirty miles south of the city of the city of Montreal, Canada, January 6, 1838, and is of French ancestry. He attended the schools of his native place, and at the age of fifteen years started out in life to make his own way in the world. He first worked for wages on a farm in New York three years, afterward went to Iowa, was next engaged in cutting wood for the steamers on the Mississippi river, followed lumbering and rafting on the St. Croix river and Still- water lake, Minnesota, five years, spent one winter in Mississippi, being employed by the Mississippi Central Railroad Company, in the following spring went to St. Louis, thence to New Mexico, spent the next winter in - Kansas City, and then crossed the plains to Colorado. Mr. Palin remained in that Territory about three years, and followed mining at Grizzly Bear Gulch and Black Hawk Point, where he made about $1,200 during a part of the summer. At that time gold had just been discovered at Virginia City, Montana, and he mined at that place two years. Taking part in all the exciting times of that per- iod, Mr. Palin joined the Vigilant Committee, and aided the law-abiding citizens in ridding the country of the "road agents" that threatened the life and property of every honest man. He afterward engaged in ranching at Stinking Water, Madison county, where he sold his hay for $25 to $28 a ton. In 1866 he pre-empted 160 acres of Government land in Grass Valley, four miles east of Frenchtown on the Mullan Road, in 1879 home- steaded 160 acres, and has ever since resided on this prop- erty. He has raised from fifty to sixty bushels of oats to the acre.

Mr. Palin was married January 30, 1870, to Miss Ange- line Finley, a native of Colville valley, Idaho, and a daughter of Patrick Finley, a Montana pioneer. Mr. and Mrs. Palin have had the following children, viz .: Mary, (now Mrs. Gabriel Russell); Isaac, Eli, Charles (who died

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

time to all the East, Montana was an un- known region, marked on the maps as unex- plored, situated on the western border of that mythical land, "The Great American Desert," inhabited by Indians, a few venturesome gold- seekers, and stage-robbers. And to one born and reared among the farmns, the trees, the birds, the flowers, the sunshine and the verdure of Ohio or Tennessee where there were people, homes, schoolhouses, churches, roads and fences, a ride on a stage coach from Corinne, situated on the Central Pacific Railroad, in the Territory

at the age of sixteen years), Lena, Eugene, Adeline, Joseph, Albert, Peter and Louis. The family are mem- bers of the Catholic Church. Mr. Palin was formerly identified with the Democratic party, but has recently joined the ranks of the Populists, on account of the ques- tion of the free coinage of siver. He has always been an industrious and honest man, and by leading such a life has acquired a good reputation in the valley in which he has so long resided.

ROBERT W. NICOL, a Montana pioneer of 1864, and now one of the representative farmers of the Bitter Root valley, oue mile south of Hamilton, was born in Michi- gan, March 4, 1847. His father, Robert Nicol, was born in Scotland in 1800, and in 1836 emigrated to America, locating in Newark, New Jersey. Ile was there married to Miss Amelia Stockman, and they had six children, of whom three are now living. The family subsequently moved to Detroit, Michigan, where the father died in 1850. The mother afterward came with her son to the Bitter Root valley, Montana, where she reached the age of sixty-seven years. Both she and her husband were members of the Methodist Church.

Robert W., their youngest child, removed with his par- ents from Detroit to La Porte, Indiana, where they resided on a farm a number of years. He next went to Aurora, Illinois, afterward to Iowa, and in 1864 crossed the plains to Montana. At Omaha they left the Missouri river and joined a large company of emigrants for self-protection. They reached Fort Bridger July 28, of that year, where Mr. Nicol conducted a stage station for the Overland Stage Company, until the spring of 1863. He then went with ox teams to Colorado, and March 10, following, re- sumed the journey to Montana, arriving at Virginia City July 10, 1864. He followed various occupations there until November, then went to Bannack City, and Novem- ber 19 started for the Bitter Root valley, via the Big Hole Pass. After spending eleven days on the road Mr. Nicol arrived at the place where he still resides, De- cember 2, 1864. Hle was accompanied by his stepfather, D. C. Elliott, and his step-brother, Leander C. Elliott, and the three purchased three-quarters of a section of

of Utah, northerly, over sage brush, treeless, birdless, rainless plains (now known to be ex- cellent for grain, fruit and vegetables, when irrigated), without a habitation or the sound of a human voice, except those of the jolted and dusty passengers, and that of the stage driver, who, when the night closed in, would, especially if there were women and children on board, re- late marvelous stories of stage robberies and murders, and wonderful escapes, and then up and up over barren mountains and down into deep and narrow valleys, and so on and on, for

land. They erected a log cabin, and for the first few years were obliged to make their bread of bran. Their potatoes cost them 86 a bushel. Mr. Nicol followed mining at French and Washington Gulch, receiving 86 per day, and afterward conducted a dairy for three years. He sold his milk for $1 a gallon. His next occupation was freighting from the valley to the various mining camps. He sold potatoes at as high as 25 cents a pound, onions at 30 cents a pound, beets and turnips at 25 cents per pound, butter at $1.50 a pound and eggs at $1.50 a dozen. In addition to his general farming and stock-rais- ing, he has turned his attention to fruit-growing, in which he has met with good success. In 1886 a good and com- modious residence took the place of the old log cabin, which is surrounded by trees of his own planting.

Mr. Nicol was married April 2, 1878, to Miss Nellie M. Goff, a native of Kansas, and a daughter of Jacob and Emma (Reed) Goff, natives of Pennsylvania and Illinois, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Nicol have three children: Florence M., born July 28, 1880; Robert H., July 6, 1882; and Annie A., July 26, 1884. In his social relations, our subject has passed the chairs in both branches of the I. O. O. F., and, politically, is a stauch and life-long Re- publican.

HON. EDWIN C. SMALLEY, the oldest and leading drug- gist of Stevensville, and at this writing one of the Repre- sentatives from Missoula county to the State Legislature of Montana, was born in Xenia, Ohio, October 18, 1846. His ancestors emigrated from England to this country during the Colonial period and settled in New England. ITis father, James Smalley, was born in Vermont in 1803, while his mother, whose maiden name was Cynthia Palmer, was a native of Connecticut. In the course of his long life he did business in Troy, New York; Xenia, Ohio; and St. Louis and St. Joseph, Missouri. At Xenia he spent twenty-five years. In his religious views he was a Presbyterian, and in every way he was a man of excellent worth. Ile died at Cameron, Missouri, in the eighty-fifth year of his age, and his good wife still survives him, she having attained her eighty-eighth year. They reared a family of eight children, of whom six are still living.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

four days and nights, without stopping or rest, for a distance of five hundred miles, he begins to think the desert not so much of a myth, after all, and wonders why he left a pleasant home among devoted friends to exchange for snch a desolation.

But when, a stranger in a strange land, he is greeted by warm liearts, such hearts as only the miners and pioneers of the far West have, he feels that the world is larger than the neigh borhood of his father's farm, that the choicest flowers of friendship may bud and bloom in a country where there is not much other vegeta- tion, and that "one touch of nature makes all the world of kin," even in the neighborhood of Mullan's Pass or the Falls of the Yellowstone.

In the summer of 1872 Justice Murphy,

Edwin C. Smalley was the sixth born in the above fam- ily. His education was received in the public schools, and until he was twenty-two he was, when out of school, employed as clerk. At that age he began business on his own account at Norborne, Carroll county, Missouri, where he continued two years, at the end of which time he sold out and returned to Ohio. After conducting business in Napoleon, Ohio, four years he disposed of his store at that place and returned to Cameron, Missouri. There he started up in business, but at the end of eighteen months sold out and removed to western Kansas, settling at Osborne, the county seat of Osborne county, and doing a successful business there for four years. His next move was to Stevensville, Montana. In company with a part- ner he at once established himself in business here; at the end of a year and a half bought out his partner's in- terest, and since that time has conducted the business in his own name. lle built the nice residence which he oc- cupies and also the business house in which his drug store is located.

Mr. Smalley is a man of family. He was married May 15, 1872, to Miss Lucy Goddy, a native of Olney, Illinois, and they have one son, Lloyd, born in Stevensville, June 19, 1887.

During the most of his political career Mr. Smalley has been a Republican. Recently, however, he has adopted the principles of free trade that are advocated by the Democracy, and by the Democratic party was nominated in 1892 to represent Missoula county in the State Legis- lature. To this position he was elected, and his services have been performed in a manner creditable both to him- sell and to his constituents. While in the Legislature he served on the committees on Appropriations and Claims

preferring the practice, resigned his position, and opened a law office at Bozeman, Montana, and subsequently located at San Francisco, Cali- fornia, where he became prominent in his pro- fession, and served for one term there as City Attorney. In September, 1872, he was snc- ceeded as Associate Justice by Frank G. Servis, of Ohio, a trained and successful lawyer.

Wade was not without experience as a judge before he came to Montana, and he had also served in the Ohio Senate. He was reappointed by President Grant in March, 1875; by Presi- dent Hayes in March, 1879, and by President Arthur in March, 1883. his service as Chief Justice of Montana being continuous from March, 1871, to May, 1887, a period of more than sixteen years.

and on Enrollment, and was Chairman of the committee on Towns, Counties and Highways. He is a prominent member of the A. O. U. W. at Stevensville.

JOHN BOTHOLF JOHNSON, a merchant tailor of Helena, Montana, dates his birth in Helsingborg, Sweden, June 17, 1843. He spent his early youth in his native city, at- tending school up to the age of thirteen. Then he en- tered upon a five years' apprenticeship to the trade of tailor in Landskrona. At the expiration of his term of service he went to Stockholm, and eighteen months later to Copenhagen. A short time afterward he went back to Stockholm, then again to Copenhagen and other places in Denmark, and finally returned to his native land and re- mained there until April 5, 1867, when he embarked for the United States.

Upon his arrival in this country, Mr. Johnson first lo- cated in Brooklyn. He afterward went to Philadelphia, thence to Omaha, and in the spring of 1869 to San Fran- cisco. After a sojourn of four years and a half in Cal- ifornia, he returned to Europe and visited England, France and Germany, but came back again to this country and settled in New York city, where he remained until June 9, 1875. Next we find him in Denver. He was after- ward in Leadville, Albuquerque, San Francisco and other Western cities, and in 1878 he again returned to Europe, this time to visit the Paris Exposition. After coming back to this country he settled in Los Angeles, California, where he made his home until 1886. Since that time he has been identified with Helena, Montana, and has car- ried on a merchant-tailoring business.

Mr. Johnson was married October 6, 1883, to Miss An- nie Roshnofsky, a native of Austria.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

The business of holding district courts in the counties of the three judicial districts of the Territory, besides two terms per year in each district for the trial of causes arising under the constitution and laws of the United States, and two terms of the Supreme Court, at the capital, had become laborious and exacting. The only means of travel was by stage coach, the counties were larger than many of the the States, and the distances to the places for holding court very great. It is estimated that Judge Wade, before the advent of railroads in 1883, traveled twenty-five thousand miles by stage coach in attending to the holding of courts in Montana, and it is probable that Judge Knowles in his eleven-years service as Associate Justice accomplished an equal task. The centers of population and business at the time were Virginia City, the capital of the Territory; Bozeman, in Gallatin county; Helena and Dia-

Mr. Johnson's experience as a traveler has been equaled by few. As a business man he is thoroughly posted in his line, is an artistic workman and has an extensive trade.

GEORGE M. HATCH, of Big Timber, Montana, was born at Griggsville, Pike county, Illinois, May 8, 1852. He attended the common schools of his native village until he was nine years old, when he " went off to the war," accompanying his father, who was a Captain in the Eighth Illinois Infantry, being afterward Major of his regiment. George followed the fortunes of the division of the Mississippi, remaining with the troops until the close of hostilities in 1865. While not old enough to c rry a gun, he had a most varied and interesting army experience. After the close of the war he joined the family at Quincy, Illinois, where they located, and again for two years he attended the public schools, completing his education with one term at an Episcopal school at Racine, Wisconsin.

In 1868, he became infected with the " Western fever," and that year emigrated to Wyoming, locating at Lara- mie City. There he joined the Union Pacific Railroad surveyors, and carried the chain about a year. He re- turned to Chicago the next year, and for a time was with an engineering corps of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad. In 1870 he went to California and entered a general store at Shasta as clerk, being engaged with the same firm two years. His next employment was as agent for Wells, Fargo & Company, at Redding,

mond City, in Lewis and Clarke county; Deer Lodge City, in Deer Lodge county, and Mis- onla, in Missonla county. These places were county seats, and the lawyers traveled from court to court, many of them having cases in every court in the Territory.

The courthouses, like those of most new countries, were not imposing temples of jus- tice. Many important cases, involving large sums of money or valuable property, or perhaps pioneer cases, without precedents for guides, and whose decision would become foundations in the systems of law for this Western world, were fought out in log cabins, or in crude wooden structures whose walls and ceilings were lined with cheese capping for plaster, whose carpets were saw-dust or sand, whose chairs were backless boards, and whose jury seats were bare benches.

The accommodations at the hotels, if the

California, and later as messenger on the California & Oregon Railway. He then tried ranching and stock growing on the Sacramento river, being interested with Mr. C. C. Bush in this undertaking. In 1876, Mr. Hatch left California with a band of 5,000 sheep, headed for Montana, this being one of the pioneer sheep drives to this Territory. He reached Bannack October 1, and win- tered on Horse prairie, driving the next spring to Old Camp Baker, in Meagher county, where he closed out the band to good advantage and returned to California. In the spring of 1870, he took the trail for Montana with an- other big drive, this time with the intention of remaining in Montana to engage in the sheep business. In 1879, he located at Big Elk, one of the tributaries of the Mussel- shell, being the first to settle on that stream, and, in fact, one of the pioneers of the Musselshell country. Here he engaged in driving from California, and trading in sheep generally. In August, 1881, he shipped 2,000 head of mutton from Glendive to Chicago, these being the first sheep ever shipped from Montana, and the beginning of what is now a most important industry.

In 1882, Mr. Hatch became interested in a small gen- eral business at Big Timber, and laid the foundation of that prosperous town. In 1885 he sold out his ranch in- terests and located at Big Timber, where he still resides, and where he is extensively interested in business, real estate, stock, mining and ranching. He was one of the promoters of the telephone line from Big Timber to Lew- iston and to Independence. He was one of the organizers

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

stopping places could be so dignified, for jurors, witnesses, lawyers and judge, were of like char- acter; but for many, the dance honses, the saloons, and the gambling places running all night with music in full blast, rendered sleep- ing apartments quite unnecessary.

To these isolated places, the coming of court was the event of the year, the harvest time; and with beer or whisky at twenty-five cents per drink, and other things in proportion, the ex- pectations were never disappointed. Every- thing was carried on at high pressure and with lavish hand. Perhaps this resulted from the ease with which gold was washed from the ground, or it may have been the isolation of the country and the difficulties in reaching it, and the absence of other diversions and pleasure; but whatever the cause, it is certain that never was there a more generous or hospitable people than those of Montana at that period. The

of the First National Bank of Big Timber, and has been, in short, the leading spirit in the business and enterprise of that progressive young town.

Mr. Hatch represented Meagher county in the lower house of the Fourteenth Legislative Assembly, and as- sisted materially in the formation of Fergus county. Park county was created by the Fifteenth Legislative Assembly, and Mr. Hatch was named in the bill as one of the first County Commissioners. He was elected to rep- resent Park county in the council of the Sixteenth or last Territorial Legislature, and in 1892 was elected State Sen- ator, to serve a term of four years.

Mr. Hatch was married in 1855, to Mary L. Pound, daughter of A. E. Pound, a resident of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and a brother of the late Governor and ex- Congressman, Thad. Pound, of that State. They have three children.

GEORGE G. BECKWITH, President and manager of the Boulder Hot Springs Company, was born in New York, September 11, 1839, aud is of English descent. The an- cestors of the Beckwiths came to America previous to the Revolution, settling in Virginia, and the grandfather of our subject, Elisha Beckwith, fought in the war for inde- pendence. They were also for many years residents of Connecticut. Our subject's father, Roswell Beckwith, went to New York when fifteen years of age, first locat- ing in Saratoga county, and later in Madison county.

George G., the subject of this sketch, was raised to manhood in Madison county, New York, At the opening

latchstring hung on the outside, and there was nothing too good to be shared, even with stran- gers. Every place of business had its scales for weighing out gold dust, and every lawyer carried a buckskin pouch for the reception of fees,- which in amount would have astonished an Eastern lawyer and dazed an Eastern client, -- in the same material. But though the fees were large, the lawyers, like the other people, seemed to think the supply inexhaustible, and like them were reckless and extravagant. This characteristic did not, however, disqualify them as lawyers. For the number of people in the Territory the litigation was very large, owing to the disputes and conflicts concerning mining claims and the appropriation of water; and it is not too much to say that the bar of this period was equal to that of any other country. Notwithstanding the expense and difficulties of transportation, they had fine libraries, and when

of the late war he tendered his services to his country, and August 8, 1861, entered the Forty-fourth New York Infantry, called the Ellsworth Avengers. They served in the Army of the Potomac, under Generals Mcclellan, Mead and Grant, and participated in the battles of Man- assas, seige of Yorktown, Gaines' Mill, Malvern Hill, Charlottsville, Fredricksburg, Gettysburg, and in all the engagements of his command. At the battle of Cold Har- bor a ball carried away four of his teeth, and he was sev- eral other times slightly wounded, meeting with many close calls. After serving three years Mr. Beckwith re- enlisted, but was discharged by reason of being a super- numerary Sergeant. His regiment and another had been greatly reduced in numbers and they were combined in one, which made two sergeants of the same rank in one company. They could not be returned to the ranks, and in this unusual way Mr. Beckwith received his honora- ble discharge.

After returning from the war, he was engaged in farm- ing in Madison county from 1865 to 1870, and in the latter year sold his farm to the railroad company. He next followed the hotel and mercantile business in Silver Creek, New York, ten years and for the following six years conducted a dining station between Butte City and Ogden, on the Union Pacific Railroad. Two years afterward he came to the Boulder Hot Springs and joined the company which now own and manage the enterprise with so much ability. The company is composed of W. B. Gaffney, F. C. Berendes and G. G. Beckwith, all of whom are gentle-

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 77

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