An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 86

Author: Miller, Joaquin, 1837-1913. cn
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1216

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In 1891 Professor Simpson was happily married to Miss Mary Faut, a native of Helena and the only child of J. J. Faut, one of Montana's respected pioneers. The Profes- sor and his wife have one child, Ruth, and their pleasant home is located on the West Side, on Clark street.

While Professor Simpson affiliates with the Demoertic party, he is very liberal and independent in his political views. As he was in his school days an exceptionally bright student, so in his mature life is he an enthusiastic educator. He is a lover of sublime seenery, and in this has gratified his taste by making many tours in the Yel- lowstone Park. He has taken many fine photographs of that wild and picturesque country. Genial and affiable, he and his young wife have made many warm friends in Helena.

THE C & D MINE, located in the mountains a mile and a half from the village of Elkhorn, Jefferson county, was discovered in 1885, by Frank Crum and William Dunston. In 1886 they sold the claim to A. G. Clarke, Charles A. Clarke and E. Toole, of IIelena, and R. T. Woliston, of Elkhorn. Three years afterward this firm sold a three- fourths interest in the mine to Messrs. A. J. Seligman, J. T. Murphy, O. R. Allen and others, for $75,000. Since · that time 20,000 tons of ore have been taken out, and they are now shipping to the East Helena smelter from sixty to one hundred tons of ore per day. It averages from

one to two ounees of gold per ton to fifteen ounces of sil- ver, and about ten per cent lead. In 1887 the company built a smelter at this place. They are now about 300 feet in the mountain, and there is now in sight about 20,- 000 tons of ore. They have a hoist in a tunnel 400 feet long, out of which the ore is run on ears, thus requiring but little machinery or power. About forty men are given employment in the mine. This is a most valu- able and promising property, and its present owners, who are men of the highest integrity and business abil- ity, are fortunate in the possession of the C & D mine.

R. T. WOLISTON, part owner of the C & D mine, and assayer and chemist for the company, was born in Ohio, January 24, 1847. His grandfather, Joshua Woliston, was born in Scotland, came to the United States when a young man, and was a soldier in the war of 1812. He married a Miss Nunnemaker, and they had five children, of whom John, the father of our subject, was the eldest child. He was born in 1820, and married Miss Amanda Troxell, a member of an old Maryland family.

R. T. Woliston, the eldest of six children in the above family, three now living, received his education at Wit- tenberg College, Ohio, after which he began fitting him- self for a mining engineer. For a time he was engaged in making steam pumps and machinery. In 1876 he located in Colorado, where he began building and oper- ating silver-lead smelters, his first work having been at Bonanza, remaining there two years. Mr. Woliston next built and conducted a smelter at Galena, Colorado, fol- lowed the same oceupation in the Carbonate Camp in the Black Hills two years, built and conducted a smelter at Neihart, Montana, one year, operated works six months

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

Livingstone. Here nearly everybody gets out to take the sixty-mile railroad to the-ten- mile stage line that lands yon in the great National Yellow- stone Park.

" What is the fare for the round trip?" I ask of the red-headed runner for the Yellowstone railroad and stage line.

"Forty dollars and five days."

It sounded a little too much like "ten days or twenty dollars," which I used to hear when trying to practice law in the police court of San Francisco, and I didn't like it.

But my dislike was not shared by others at all. A large party from Alaska, a big crowd of big English noblemen, besides a crowd of com- moners, like myself, all hastily paid their money and took seats in the crowded cars for the National Park.

As for myself I hired a horse, telegraphed ahead to a half-way station for a fresh animal to be held in waiting; and at eleven A. M., with- out arms or equipments, I swung in the saddle and set off at a hard gallop for "the greatest show on earth."

It was a rather reckless undertaking, for I

at Toston, this State, conducted a stamp mill at Diamond City six months, and in 1886 came to Elkhorn. After arriving in this place Mr. Woliston built and operated a smelter two years, and during that time he brought the smelter he owned in Colorado to this State, which he ex- changed for an interest in the C & D mine. He also was superintendent of the Dunston and Queen mines, one of which is located near the C & D mine, and both are be- lieved to be very valuable. Mr. Woliston has done much assaying for his own and other mines, has a fine labora- tory, has examined mines for prominent capitalists from Mexico to Canada, and by long experience has acquired the reputation of being a most practical mining expert. He has been a member of the American Institute of Min- ing Engineers for seven years, is a charter member of the I. O. O. F. at Elkhorn, and has the honor of being the first Noble Grand of that order.

In 1889, in Idaho, our subject was nnited in marriage with his consin, Miss Brnce Zacharias, of French ex- traction. They have one son, John, a native of Elkhorn. Mr. Woliston was identified with the Democratic party for many years, but has recently taken an active part in the People's party.

THE PHILLIPSBURG IRON WORKS, at Phillipsburg, Montana, were established in 1887 by Bowen Brothers & Thompson. This institution immediately took rank with the leading enterprises of this part of the country, and from the time of its establishment up to the present it has done a large and increasing business. The extensive buildings of the company are fitted up with all the ap- pliances and machinery necessary for the manufacture of

did not know the road, after nearly thirty years; storms were brewing: rivers to cross; bad bridges; lots of things, indeed, rose up before me as I plunged on ten, twenty, thirty miles, and began to grow weary, thirsty. Then the sun was so hot that the rain falling from a sud- den thunder-storm almost blistered my hands, so hot were the first great drops.

But it would be a digression from the line of these letters to continue this. Suffice it to say now that I got there in one day, by using three horses, the third horse having been made neces- sary by my mistaking a lumber roal, and thus losing fifteen miles. I spent one day in being driven about the park; and then I rode back in one day, thus "doing" the National Park in grand style in three days. My entire expenses amounted to $28.50 only, thus making a saving of two days and about one-third the money cost.

But the satisfaction of having done that which the management, and every one else along the road, told me could not be done, was the best of it all. I simply demonstrated that a man, without gnide, arms or equipments of any kind,

everything in their line, covering a wide range of work, and including the building and repairing of mills and a general iron business. In 1890 this enterprising firm put in the electric-light plant of the city of Phillipsburg, at a cost to them of $18,000. They subsequently sold it to an Eastern firm, by whom it is now operated.

The Messrs. Frederick and William Bowen are natives of South Wales. They emigrated to America in 1865, and first located in Akron, Ohio. Some years later they went to Cleveland, where they were employed in the Va- riety Iron Works five years. In 1884 they came from Cleveland to Butte City, Montana, where for two years they were with the Butte Iron Works. In 1887, as above slated, they became associated with Mr. Thompson in their present enterprise. The Bowen Brothers are both men of families, aud have erected handsome brick resi- dences in Phillipsburg, where they stand high in social and business circles.

Mr. Ezra R. Thompson, the other member of the firm, is a native of Ohio, born November 24, 1857, the son of an intelligent farmer of that State. He came wast as far as Kansas in 1884, and the following year came on to Butte City, Montana, where he met the gentlemen with whom he has since been in partnership. Mr. Thompson has charge of the pattern-making, while the Messrs. Bowen are expert iron workers. Like his partners, Mr. Thompson has shown his public spirit by building an elegant residence in the city in which he is located, their homies being situated on an eminence and commanding a magnificent view of the town and surrounding country. Mr. Thompson is unmarried.

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can get off the train, hire a horse and ride to the National Park, hunt and fish by the way, study nature and enjoy himself with impunity and with perfect security, and so ride baek again and ask no odds of any one.

True, we might not have found the best of and largest geysers in our brief visit of 1861; still it is incredible that such intrepid men as Mullen and Stevens, West Point men, learned, equipped with arms and implements, in the pay and employ of the Government, ambitious of honorable distinction, should not have looked into this thing, sinee it lay almost in their road, as well as in their line of duty.

There was a broad, open plain, the prettiest pastore lands ever seen, up the Yellowstone

DR. H. DERBY PICKMAN, the leading physician of Dillon, Montana, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, Sep- tember 28, 1844.

The Pickmans originated in Bristol England, but have been residents of Salem since 1662, at which time Benja- min Pickman settled there with the Massachusetts Bay colony. For many years his descendants were prominent merchants of Salem. On his paternal side the Doctor traces his ancestry back to Willoughby de Eresby, an old Norman baron, who came with the conqueror; also on his mother's side to the Prendrills, one of whom was noted in English history for having hidden King Charles in the oak tree, for which they were granted an annuity which is still paid to members of the family. Emily Woodville (the fair maid of Kent) was a direct descendant of Willoughby de Eresby, and it is in direct line from her, by her first marriage, that the branch of the Pick- man family to which our subject belongs claim their descent. Her first husband was Sir John Grey, and her second was Edward IV. The arms of the Pickman family are described briefly as follows: Gules-two battle-axes in saltire, or cantoned by four martlets argent; crest, hand grasping battle-ax.

Great-grandfather Pickman had gone to England on business and was there when the war of the Revolution began, and being a Loyalist he could not return to his family in Salem until the war was over. Several of the family, however, served in the war on the Colonial side. When the Louisburg expedition was started great- great-grandfather Benjamin Pickman, then a Judge and prominent business man of Salem, subscribed ten thou- sand pounds sterling toward paying the expenses of the expedition. As history tells us, the town was cap- tured from the French. In gratitude for his magnificent subscription the Colonial government of Massachusetts Bay presented Judge Pickman with a large silver montiff, which has been handed down from father to son

from the military road to within hearing dis- tance of the geysers and only a day's ride from the road.

Again, Lewis and Clarke wintered within a few hundred miles of Yellowstone Park in 1804, right among Indians of that region, and all Indians know all things about their own and all neighboring countries. These men passed down the Yellowstone a year or so later, Indians with them all the time. They had learned all about the great falls of the Missouri long before leaving Washington, and were eager to see and deseribe them; but not one hint about the "Fire Hole" is to be found in all their pages. Bonneville, in his letter to the

and which is now owned by Dr. Pickman. It is about eighteen inehes high and has on one side the arms of the family and on the other the following inscription: "Pre- sented to Benjamin Pickman for valued services rendered in the capture of Louisburg, 1749." The Doctor also has a silver pitcher which was presented to his uncle after the war of 1812 by the New England Gnards. The Doctor's uncle, Benjamin Pickman, was a prominent statesman and member of the Massachusetts Senate.

Francis Willoughby Pickman, the father of our sub- ject, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, May 15, 1804. He married Elizabeth Walker, a native of Nova Scotia and daughter of Colonel William Walker of the English army. They had ten children, of whom four are still living. He died in the eighty-fourth year of his age and she passed away in her sixty-sixth year.

Dr. Pickman is the ninth generation of his family born in this country. IIe received his education in his native city, graduating in its high school in 1861. In August of the following year he enlisted in Company A, Fiftieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, and served under Gen- eral Banks in the New Orleans expedition. After having served three months over his term of enlistment, he was mustered out and returned to his home broken in health. Upon his recovery he again enlisted. Two of his brothers were also in the service.

At the close of the war he turned his attention to the study of medicine and subsequently entered the medical department of Harvard College, where he graduated with honor July 15, 1868. Then he practiced a year at the public general hospital at St. John's, New Bruns- wick, and from there went to Lake Superior and was employed as physician for the Bay Furnace Company until the failure of Jay Cooke, which took place in 1876. After that the Doctor came West to Utah and Idaho and in the fall of 1883 took up his abode at Dillon, Montona, where he has since conducted a successful practice.

A D Putman W. W.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

Historical Society of Montana, previously quoted, says he did not see the " Fire Hole," but heard about it when in that region fifty years before. So I can but conclude that the hot springs and geysers have grown greatly in importance and splendor within this century, whatever they may do in the next.

When I was sent to the Yellowstone Park by the J. Dewing Company, publishers of Pictur- esque California and Rocky Mountain Scenery, the year after I had been there for the Indepen- dent, I left the railroad and took horse and rode up the Yellowstone, trying to follow our old ways of 1861, so as to see the same things, if I could, and satisfy at least myself as to whether or not the springs, in thirty-two years, had in- creased in volume and importance. Truly, it seemed to me that they had doubled then and

there. All this I set down in detail for my em- ployers; but they would have none of it, but kindly told me that I had better leave matters of science to men of science. Doubtless so, and I leave the subject, content with having only mentioned the idea here. In the course of time, who cares to will gather up evidence of the fact, and it will be found that I do not mis- take.

A careful reading of the great work of Dr. Hayden, as touching the Yellowstone and other geysers, in quest of evidence as to whether these of the Yellowstone Park may be increas- ing or diminishing, yields but vague results, as follows:

EVIDENCE OF INCREASE.

"The south base group is the one first met with, and includes fifteen springs. On the map

When he arrived here there were no other physicians in the town, but some have died and others have moved away, and he is now the oldest resident physician in the town.

Dr. Pickman was married in 1882, on the 15th of May, to Miss Virginia L. Palmer, a native of Michigan and daughter of Hon. Charles H. Palmer of Pontiac, Michigan.

Politically the Doctor is a Republican. He was elected a member of the Montana Legislature in 1888, and he has the honor of having introduced the bill which is now the medical law of the State of Montana. He re- ceived from Governor White the position of Brigadier General and Surgeon General of Montana and Governor Rickards honored him with the same appointment. He is a prominent and active member of the State Medical Association. In Masonic circles he is also prominent, being a Knight Templar and a Captain General of the order.

Dr. Pickman has during the decade he has resided in Dillon accumulated a competency. He has stock in copper mines in Idaho and at Butte City, and in Dillon is the owner of valuable property. He built the brick block known as the Bee Hive, and has also erected a number of dwellings, among which is the comfortable home in which he and his family reside.

SOPHRONI MARCHESSEAU, one of Butte City's promi- nent men, is eminently deserving of the name of pioneer. There is probably not another man in the city, or, indeed, in the State, who has seen more of pioneer life than has he, and his reminiscences of the early mining days on the Pacific coast and all over the Northwest are most in.

teresting. A detailed account of his journeys across the continent and of his experience as he worked in the mines and went from camp to camp, would fill a volume of no small proportions. It is a matter of regret that want of space permits us to publish only an abridged ac- count of his life.

Sophroni Marchesseau was born in L'Acadie, St. John's county, province of Quebec, Canada, September 23, 1828, son of Francis and Sophia (Richards) Marches-eau, both natives of Canada and of French descent. The father was a farmer. He died in the forty-sixth years of his age, and the mother passed away in her sixty-seventh year. Sophroni was the fourth born in their family of ten children, and he and his sister Henrietta are the only ones of the number who are living. This sister is now the widow of a Mr. Trahan, and resides in Central Falls, Rhode Island.

Mr. Marchesseau received his education in the public schools of his native town, and after leaving school was for a time employed as clerk in a general merchandise store. Then he went to Burlington, Vermont. About the time he reached his majority, news of the discovery of gold in California spread all over the country, and in every vicinity parties were being made up to start for the Pacific coast, some going around the Horn, others by way of the Isthmus, and many making the long and tedious journey overland. Young Marchesseau and two of his brothers were victims of this California gold l'ever, they, in company with eight others, making the trip across the plains. They left St. John's April 11, 1850, and traveled by rail and the lakes and rivers to St. Lonis, where they were delayed a short time. At Independence, Missouri,

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

published in the report of 1872 only seven or eiglit of the springs of this group are indicated." -Page 280.

" In St. Domingo * * the earthquake of 1770 caused hot springs to break out where no water previously existed; but they afterward ceased to flow."-Page 328.

As you will see, I have not been able to find much evidence either way on the point in ques- tion, but that little is mostly in the negative. The writer compares localities, deciding, on ac- count of the chimney-like deposits, that Iceland is the youngest and Yellowstone the oldest of the three great glacier fields of the world, but says that because it is so recent a discovery, "no data of value can be presented bearing upon the question of change in the temperature of its hot springs." He says also (page 417): " It has been noticed that geysers occur where the intensity of volcanic action is decreasing."

they purchased mules and other necessaries for their out- fit, and proceeded westward, each man armed with a flint- lock musket and a bayonet. At Westport they were joined by a party of Santa Fe merchants, and on the first of June they all struck out together across the great plains. After months of tiresome travel, varied with amusing and sometimes sad and startling incidents, they finally landed in California. They saw many Indians, especially while traveling through the Sioux country, but were not molested by them. Indeed, these Indians never gave Frenchmen any trouble, and as Mr. Marchesseau and his party were aware of the fact, they talked French to the red men. At Salt Lake the party rested three weeks, the Mormons treating them with utmost kindness and offering every inducement for them to remain there, But California was their objective point, and even the promise of Mormon wives was not a sufficient induce- ment lor them to linger at Salt Lake.

Arrived in the Golden State, they mined first at Lock town, near Mud Springs, in El Dorado county. They had taken rockers with them, and, while all they knew about placer mining they had been told, they went to work in earne-t, and the first day's work resulted in $25 to each man. They remained there all winter and the eleven men made an average of $100 per day. The fol- lowing spring they went to the diggings on the Yuba river. The Fraser river excitement in 1858 took no less than 18,000 men from California to that region, and Mr. Marchessean was unong the number. He made the trip from San Francisco to Victoria, from there across the Gull of Georgia and thence up the Fraser river. With- out stopping to detail the various incidents of this trip,

EVIDENCE OF DECREASE.

"This has probably been a strong spouter, but now erupts only at long intervals, if at all." -Page 266.

"Several mounds indicate the former posi- tions of geysers of considerable size .* * The de- posits are now rapidly disintegrating."-Page 301.

" Some of them have not been seen in action, but are placed in the list because the forms of their basins or bowls indicate them to be geysers."-Page 303.

"Olafron and Povelsen, in 1772, and Hen- derson, in 1815, described these springs- Iceland-as * * of great activity; but Baring- Gould, in 1863, speaks of them as having di- minished greatly, both in numbers and activity." -Page 305.

Let me take a few concluding paragraphs from the work I was sent to do on the ground, and pass on, pausing only to say that the pub- lishers of that finest illustrated work ever issued on that subject not only entirely sup-

we pass on to the fact that while there was a wealth of gold in the mines the provisions were high, and indeed almost impossible to obtain, and many of the miners did not remain, choosing rather to leave the gold than to face starvation. Mr. Marchesseau returned with others to San Francisco. He continued mining in California until 1863, when, after an absence of fourteen years, he made a visit to his old home in Canada, the return trip being made by way of the Nicaragua route. In the meantime many of his old friends had died, and it was with sadness that he marked the many changes made during his so- journ in the West. After a visit with his mother, his sis- ters and one brother, he again turned his face westward.

In the spring of 1865 Mr. Marchessean started for Mon- tana. He came up the Missouri river to Fort Benton, and thence by wagon to Helena. At the mouth of the Marias the Indians had killed some wood choppers, and there was great excitement among the travelers, but the red men let them alone and they reached Helena in safety on the fifth of July, 1865. Mr. Marchesseau at once engaged in mining, and he still owns mining stock. First he mined at Dry Gulch and on Indian Creek, and after that was en- gaged by the New York Mining & Exploring Company, at $10 per day. Professor Hodge was superintendent of the White Latch Union, and Mr. Marchesseau was over- seer for a year. After that he bought a stock of goods in Helena and came to Butte City to start a little store. This was in 1866. Butte City was then a little mining camp, and its miners were working with rockers and sluices. He continued in business here until 1868, when water became scarce and mining almost ceased, and he then removed his goods to French Gulch and subse- quently to Bitter Root, Missoula county.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA.

pressed my idea about the increasing splendor of the springs, but took such liberties with my work as to almost make the contrary appear. And then there was also a change of dates, but this, of course, was accidental.

"A list of these wondrous and mighty bursts of water, known as the geysers, hot and cold, clean and unclean, colored and colorless, would weary the most patient mind and make but a dreary catalogue and guide-book. The best that can be done here is to mass the whole and try to contemplate and comprehend the effect of this continuous and majestic spectacle on the soul of man. However, we may venture to set down the magnitude, date of operation, dura- tion and so on of one of the largest of these utterers from the earth, as this is so recent that it has not yet found its way into the earlier guide-books. Here's a memorandum handed me by one of the men whose duty it is to daily observe and report on such phenomena. The geyser referred to is called the Excelsior, and is

In 1875, when the quartz mines of Butte began to be operated, Mr. Marchesseau returned to this place and re- sumed business. At that time all goods had to be hauled here by wagon, and the price of freight was from twelve and a half to fifteen cents per pound. His store was lo- cated on Main street, on the site of his present brick block. He continued in active and prosperous business until 1883, when he sold out to Meesrs. L. W. Foster and L. R. Mallet. Since then he has been practically retired, the looking after his interest and his rents being suffi- cient to occupy his time. It was in 1890 that be built the Beaver Block, a handsome structure, 74 x 81 feet, with three stories and a basement. The first floor is used as business rooms, the corner being occupied by the Silver Bow National Bank, and the upper rooms are elegantly equipped and utilized as a hotel. Here, surrounded with al that wealth can procure, and happy in the possession of hosts of friends, this worthy pioneer finds the rest to which he is so justly entitled.

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An illustrated history of the state of Montana, containing biographical mention of its pioneers and prominent citizens, Part 86

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