USA > Montana > Blaine County > In the land of Chinook; or, The story of Blaine county > Part 3
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There were about 500 lodges and probably an average of five people to the lodge. We had no name for the post. There were but few white men in the country that winter. There may have been fifteen. I recall some of them: George Boyd, above the mouth of the Musselshell, at Holly; "Old Man" Reavis, Jake Leader (killed in 69 at the mouth of the Musselshell) ; Cyprenne Matt and Jim Wells. Dave Pease (who helped to build Ft. Holly) was at Ft. Union. We were in the Rockies about four months trading for robes and had no trouble. Prior to this time men may have made a winter camp in this section as it is known that the hunters and trappers from Ft. Union would often pass through it in their quest for game and pelts.
We know, also, that the Cree half-breeds were in the habit of coming to the Milk river to hunt and that they built cabins and had several settlements up and down the valley. We find that about 1868 Ft. Browning was built down below the mouth of Peoples creek in what is now Phillips county. When the Sioux came and made it unsafe for the other Indians to trade at Browning it was abandoned and Old Belknap was constructed in the early seventies just across the river from Chinook.
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
It was hardly safe yet for men who were not living with the Indians to begin to settle as there was still a chance to lose one's scalp. In '79, after the Nez Perce war was a thing of the past, the government came to the conclusion to build Fort Assinniboine. That post gave some security to the people, yet, once in a while it seemed necessary for the soldiers to go out and hunt Indians .*
There are men living in the valley today who will tell you that the Fort was really of more benefit to the contractors who supplied the place with various articles than it was to the settler.
If one could believe all that is told of these days one could see without any glasses the reason why some of the men now at the head of affairs in Montana became so wealthy.
It is said that one load of hay would be hauled and delivered so often that the teamster would need stop and grease his wagon to keep the wheels from locking. A prominent citizen of the Milk river told me he had never attempted to get a hay con- tract while the Fort was in operation for the reason that no man could expect to get his stuff accepted unless he first gave the man in charge of those commodities a present.
In those early days when the Government had sent out men to fill positions of responsibility too many of them fell through the wiles of the tempter and were ruined themselves though the men, whom they had made rich, escaped. A man told me that one of these officers had been apprehended and sent to the peni- tentiary, here he had remained for five years but that the man who had been benefited was a pretty good fellow for "I saw a check for fifty thousand dollars which he had gotten one of his clerks to send the man." Now that man, who received the bene- fit, is a much respected citizen and a banker as well as merchant in this state today.
Though men came and went in the early days one could hardly say that there was any real settlement on the Milk river until the Great Northern Railroad was finished, or until it came into that section. The railroad came in 1887 and people began to settle along the river. At that time, the fact is, the whole section was an Indian reservation and one could not settle with any chance of holding a claim. The Reservation was thrown open, or at least a part of it was, on May 1st, 1888.
At the time of the opening of the reservation the Great North- ern advertised the Milk River valley as the only portion of Mon- tana that could be farmed without irrigation and the valley was settled up, especially around Chinook, and almost every 160 acres was taken up and farmed without irrigation. In the fall of 1889 a man by the name of T. C. Burns came to Chinook from the Yellowstone where he had practiced irrigation. He and his family filed on about 1800 acres of land under the old desert land
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IN THE LAND OF CHINOOK
act which granted a section to each applicant and permitted a homestead in addition to it. He started in the fall of 1889 to build a canal from the Milk river to irrigate his claims. He worked on his ditches till 1890 when a suit was brought against him by the Great Northern Railway, an injunction secured by the company, stopping him from building the canal. The Com- pany claimed that in 1888 they had filed a water right covering all the waters of the Milk river for tank purposes for its engines, but the real reason given by the officials of the road was that the building of the canal would put a damper upon the immigra- tion from the east as it would lead the settlers to believe that irri- gation was necessary and having no experience with that kind of farming they would refuse to settle the country. The case dragged through the courts for several years and it was finally decided in favor of Burns and the injunction dismissed.
In the meantime a succession of four or five years had caused the most of the farmers to leave the valley as dry land farming in the valley had proved a failure. The only people left in the valley, except a few stockmen, were the settlers engaged in the construction of irrigation canals at Chinook and Harlem.
The first irrigated ranch in what is now Blaine county is the one on which Thomas M. Everett is now living. Mr. Everett owned it at that time also. His land was flooded and a fine crop of hay raised the first year.
In 1889 there was a large crop raised from the overflow of 1888. In 1900 a ditch was constructed from Parallel Creek, now called Thirty Mile. This ditch was built by Thos. M. Everett, J. M. Everett and James E. Fox, from a point near the James E. Fox homestead buildings.
The Harlem canal, from Milk river, was started in the sum- mer of 1891 and the first water was turned on the land from that canal in 1895. The Paradise Valley Canal was started about the same time as the Harlem canal to irrigate the south side of the river west of Harlem.
The lands along the Milk river were very smooth but were generally covered with sage brush and needed cleaning before the hay could be cut.
It was about this time that the cattle men began to fetch their stock, as has been said in another place, they were compelled to move from the older settled sections of the Territory to the lands north of the Missouri as the grass was getting thin in the older ones.
This caused the streams and watering holes to be filed on as they were the only parts of the country the stockman thought had any value. It had been proven by several futile attempts that the dry lands would not raise a crop and if such should prove
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
the case then the water holes would always be very valuable, as it was safe to say there would be all the grass needed by them for years to come. But, then, they had not taken into considera- tion that the sheep would come and make the stockman so much trouble that he, too, would be required to stop his range busi- ness and go into something else.
The people who lived on the Milk river in those days could put their land under the ditch and protect their stock from the hard winters, or they could get rid of them and sell their hay to the west, as the kind of hay raised, Blue Joint, was much in demand, as horse hay, by people as far removed as the coast.
There had to be trading points on the railroad, so Chinook was started in 1888, that is, there was a station about three-fourths of a mile up toward Havre from what is now the station, that was known as Dawes.
When the railroad was being built into the valley Tom O'Hanlon was running the store at Belknap. Louis V. Bogy was working with him and they came to the conclusion that there must be a town some place near the Agency. Tom had made up his mind that the proper place would be on the creek some place but "V." thought that the "little hill" would be much the better place as the spring had shown that water would cover the point which Tom had selected. It would be useless to try and get a patent to the land as it would be out of the question to homestead, as that would require too long, and the preemption law was not in effect on the Milk river. It was thought wise to have Bogy build a cabin and squat on the place picked out and then when the reservation was thrown open they would have the first right. So he built a little cabin near where George Cowan's barn is now.
Bogy and O'Hanlon had no idea of making any money out of the town site but were to turn it over to a town site company which was composed of a Press Association that was financed by several farm papers of the east. These people took it over but did not get a title, so the Government had to reserve it for a town site and the money from the sale of lots went into the school district.
The name Chinook was chosen by D. R. McGinnis, one of the newspaper men, so L. V. Bogy told the writer, and he should know.
Rideout had the first hotel. The Chinook House; Wynkoop, the Pioneer Restaurant; Kingsbury, the Townsite King; Kelsey, the Feed and Grainman; Coombs, the General Store; "Uncle Johnnie Lewis" with his stock of drugs; Lee Cumm, the China- man, built the Montana hotel; Vincent, with his brick kiln; A. H. Resor was the first blacksmith and then came Ballou, Elliott
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IN THE LAND OF CHINOOK
of "The Bank," the unfermented juice man; Letcher, the barber; Maney, the choice brandy man; Rainbolt Bros., furniture house; Raymond of the Boston store; Judge Stevens, a notary public and first railroad agent.
T. C. Power and Brother same as Tom O'Hanlon; Barton and Stam, heavy hardware; Lohman and Bartzen, general store; Chas. A. Hanson, livery stable.
The foremost building of that day was the brick built by Thos. O'Hanlon, 1889. Soon the old town hall was built by popular subscription, and used for school and church by the little band of pioneer educators and Christians of all denominations numbering less than a score.
Miss Lizzie Curtis was the first teacher, and the trustees of the district which was the tenth in old Chouteau, were Thomas O'Hanlon, A. H. Resor and W. N. Woolridge. In 1893 they built the first brick school house with two class rooms and a reci- tation room. Prof. J. S. Whitehead was first principal. In '99 the W. H. Duke building was erected; later, 1900, the Lohman block and the Bogy building; in 1901 the Chinook hotel.
Dr. Chas. F. Hopkins was the first physician, he came in 1890.
Akin to these pioneers, who have laid the foundations of a strong and vigorous Commonwealth, are Wm. Duke, who embarked in business here in 1898; Julius Lehfeldt, who pur- chased the A. S. Lohman business in 1898; Attorney W. B. Sands, who hung his shingle out in 1895. Frank Boyle, the clothier; Marvin P. Jones, C. M. Williams, A. Perkins, John C. Duff, G. E. Fuller, Samuel Houston, Thomas Dowen, E. S. Sweet, John M. Montgomery, J. S. Mckibbin, Ed. Price, A. W. Ziebarth, "Daddy" Marsh and Frank O'Neal, the genial landlords of the Montana hotel; J. F. Williams and a long list of others have helped to make this a city of homes and one of the nicest places of its size to be found any where.
In 1899 Chinook was incorporated and A. S. Lohman was elected mayor; L. V. Bogy, J. W. Stam, Dr. C. F. Hopkins and M. P. Jones aldermen, with Samuel Houston magistrate and A. W. Ziebarth marshal.
When the new county of Blaine was organized the city of Chinook had "pull" enough to become the County Seat. A beautiful court house was erected that would be a credit to a city several years older and for a county much richer. The people of Chinook have gone about beautifying their city until today it is one of the best built towns in the northern part of the state and bids fair to grow for years to come. Its people are wide- awake and are ones to whom we kindly express pleasure for having received so many favors.
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
The little city of Harlem had its first start in 1889. As it was close to the Agency and only a short distance from the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation there was some probability that it would make a good point. The first house was built by Thos. M. Everett; first saloon by Al Cecil; first store, Chas. A. Smith; first hotel, Manning Bros .; first bank was opened in 1906 by eight men, Thos. M. Everett, Walter French, E. M. Kennedy, Chas. Owens, who was cashier before Mr. Hatch; Carver, who used to be president of the First National Bank of Chinook; Sprinkle Bros. and Major Will Logan.
Steven Carver had organized a bank in Chinook. The first white woman in Harlem was Mrs. John Manning. She came in the fall of 1889. The first white woman in this vicinity was Mrs. J. A. Wise, who came in 1888 and settled on the little knoll where Dr. Williams has his house now. The first wedding was Al Cecil, who married a niece of Louis Riel. Their daughter was the first white girl born in Harlem and is now the wife of Ole Nelson.
Right here will be a good place to give some of the experi- ences of the man who was the first merchant in the town, Charles A. Smith. In the fall of 1888 I was at Rockey Point and Johnnie Lee insisted that I stay with him that winter and hunt wolves. John Lee, "Dutch" Louie and myself started for Valen- tine Spring with traps and ammunition to catch wolves. We got there and camped near a cabin, intending to stay all winter. Next day we got some deer, then John started back.
I noticed the knuckle on my hand was sore, the second day it got worse and the third I was down with inflammatory rheuma- tism. I had to have help so Louie put me in the cabin and started for the Point. I had to make my bed on the ground and never left it till he got back. That night was the most terrible one I have ever experienced because that old chimney was full of mountain rats. As soon as it got dark they came and ran all over me and even ate the hair off of my head and I couldn't do a thing but yell at them as I could not move a hand in self-protection. I got a little sleep in the day time and Louie came by night. I hadn't had a thing to eat for two days.
In the morning he put me in the wagon and took me forty miles. How I suffered. I got to camp and for six weeks I never moved hand or foot. Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Marsh, now of Chinook, took care of me.
In the spring the Curry boys got me, I was stranded, hadn't a cent on earth, and took me to the Curry ranch. I stayed with them for a couple of weeks and told the boys I was going to pull out for the St. Paul's Mission to work. I took my blankets
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IN THE LAND OF CHINOOK
and some bread and bacon and started on my walk of fourteen miles to the mission. I worked there all summer till August and then came down to Wayne creek and from there to Chinook. I received $225 from Mr. O'Hanlon which I had coming for the work at the mission. I made up my mind to come to Harlem. There was nothing here then but a boxcar for a depot. The first night I spread my blankets about where the depot is now. The next morning we took our blankets to the bank of Thirty Mile under the big trees and not far from where this house is. I remained in that camp for about a week and then came to the conclusion to start a little store here. That was in the fall of 1889. There was only one family, no store or hotel. Henry Playmondin was going in with me.
I went to Chinook and had a talk with Tom O'Hanlon, but he discouraged me. I reported to Henry, but hold him I would go once more and see Tom. I met Chas. C. Conrad as I was getting on the train, who was glad to see me, and asked me what I was doing. I told him what I wanted to do and he told me to come to Benton and he would give me what assistance I needed. On Sunday I went to Benton. The next morning I called on Conrad and he handed me a note to his head man telling him to give me all the credit I wanted. I only had $167 and my part- ner one hundred. We bought goods to trade to the Indians, out- fit costing eight or nine hundred dollars. Got a small 9x12 tent and had all our stuff sent down to Harlem by freight. Freight moved sooner in those days so I soon got to Harlem and within an hour from the time I landed there we had the tent up and were doing business. That tent was pitched about where the Rasmussen saloon is now. I slept under the counter which was a plank I had brought with me. I took in about $28 the first day and had a little trouble with my partner and bought him out. I put up a log cabin 12x18 and that was the first store in the place. Next year I built a store 24x30.
Al Cecil had a saloon about where Phil Buckley is now. He was the man who took up the land on which the town is but he never made anything out of it. By that time we had four box- cars for a depot. I was the first postmaster and the postoffice was a shoe carton. Everybody came in and looked to see if there was anything for him and no questions asked. I improved a little on that as I took a beer box and made it into an office and it was much better as it had natural pigeon holes. Still every ne acted postmaster. We soon got so we were allowed to handle postal money notes. These looked like a meal ticket and ran from one cent to four dollars and ninety-nine cents. Then we got the money order.
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
The first hotel was run by W. R. Sands with a store. C. H. Barton came from Chinook and was a partner for some time to later buy him out. The first school was taught by Martha Matherson. The school was down along the tracks opposite Mike Buckley's. This was in 1892. In the summer of 1892 they built a school which is now Saddler's Hall, owned by me. It then stood north and south. That and my store were the only buildings, except Tom Everett's cabin on this side of the track. The first white woman was Mrs. John Manning. Next white family was Sands. My daughter was the second child born, her name is Hazel."
Harlem today is quite a place and one of the best little towns in Northern Montana. Two banks, one good hotel, four lumber yards, four elevators, three large feed stables and several stores. I can not name them all and it would hardly be fair to mention some and not all.
There are some well known characters around the little burg that one is sure to meet if he goes there. One of them is a large, portly gentleman who wears a star and will sure capture you if you don't look out. He is called, by all, Daddy, and while not the father of his country he would like to be.
Then there is my friend Lon Ellis who looks like he was always hungry but he isn't because he and "Daddy" often go bear hunting up in the mountains and always take something along so that they will not have to tighten their belts too often, as they were never known to kill anything and have never been able to find anything in their hunting except "dead soldiers." And if you went to Harlem and did not find Bill Hart and Jack Saddler trying to string some one it would be because they are dead. Yet, all the same they are good fellows and I like them. Of course you can't help meeting Bill Reed and Earnest Ekegren because they are trying to get a corner on business, and deserve to, as they are rustlers; when I say that I don't mean cattle thieves.
Then there is Charlie Kemp who actually thinks he knows where there is some homestead land left and would locate you if he had to do so by sneaking you over the line into Canada. Who is that classy looking young fellow who is going over to John Rancelers' picture show? Why that is Schultz. And that fine looking little fellow that you see crossing the street to guy some one in Jess Angstman and the fellow who has just run across is Jay Rhoades looking for mavericks. Taken all in all they are a pretty decent bunch that in some way, past finding out, have managed to stay out of the "Pen."
.
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IN THE LAND OF CHINOOK
CHAPTER V.
PROSPECTING AND MINING IN BLAINE COUNTY.
It is an actual fact that the discovery of gold in the Little Rockies is clouded to such an extent that, probably, no one will ever be able to say: "I knew the man."
The writer, in his search for truth, has found only conflicting statements. That William Hamilton's party was the first authentic one concerning which we have heard there can be no doubt. This was in 1868. "Bill" Bent was one of this party and he tells their experience in quite an interesting way in the story of his life which will be found in its proper place in this work.
That any one else came until 1884, when actual placer mining began, Bent does not know, though he says: "I heard that some men who had been mining in some of the Western camps got off a boat, went to the Little Rockies and were never heard of again."
The writer can only give the different versions as they have come to him but it will be too readily seen that it is not authentic history. The story of Harry Rash came first to the writer and it may or may not be true. I have no reason for believing that it is anything but true as in a conversation with Charles Smith, one of the first men to mine in that section, I asked if he knew who discovered the gold in the Little Rockies and he replied that he did not. He said: "I have always understood that 'Dutch' Louis and Pike Landusky and some other man found it." Harry Rash said that he was with "Dutch Louis" and Pike Landusky and that he (Rash) found it. Daddy Minugh says that "It is a cinch that Frank Aldrich was the man who found the gold in the Little Rockies."
Now, if you go to Chinook for information of the early days of the cow country, which means the Milk River section, the Bear's Paw and Little Rockies, as well as the story of the peculiar class of people that once builded their homes among the Bad Lands of the Missouri, you will be told to see "Billy Skillen" the sage of Old Fort Belknap. As we were in Chinook we went to see "Billy." Here is his story.
DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN THE LITTLE ROCKIES.
"On the third of July, 1884, Bill McKinzie stole 'Spud' Murphey's horse down on the Missouri river and started for Ft. Maginnis, 65 miles away. Lee Scott at Rocky Point started to look for McKinzie and the blue mare. The report of the theft got to the cowboys and they caught McKinzie, close to Maginnis, shot him and hung him on a big cottonwood tree about
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
one mile and one-half below the Fort on Hancock creek. About the Fourth of July there was some trouble at the races over betting between a white man and a breed. "Rattlesnake" knocked the breed down and made him apologize and give back the money. They rode into town (Lewistown) tied their horses in front of a saloon and went in and got a drink. When they came out, the citizens opened fire on them and "Rattlesnake" and one inno- cent man were killed. From this time on the strangling of horse thieves and road agents started throughout (Northern) Montana and the Missouri river.
" 'Dutch Louis' ran a ranch on Crooked creek where these men (toughs) would stop, going from the Missouri back and forth. Suspicion fell on Louis. He, getting afraid, left his ranch and went into the Little Rockies with Pike Landusky and Frank Aldrich. They prospected for gold and found some in a creek which they named Alder. When they found gold Pike left to carry the news, coming through what was after Landusky, to North Moccasin to Maiden, giving his friends the news that gold had been discovered in the Little Rockies. Mat Foley, Sport Welsh, Denton Doer(?), Billy Leg and William Skillen left that night for Maiden to outfit with grub, lumber and so forth (George Herendeen sold this lumber to them) and with other parties, Willard Duncan, Clois Steadman and Tony McFarlin went down to Crooked creek, the Missouri river and to the Little Rockies.
"A mining district was organized and Willard Duncan was elected Recorder. This was the first discovery of gold in the Little Rockies. No sign of other work ever having been done was found by them in the Little Rockies. (Frank Aldrich says that they were not the ones who found gold in the Rockies as there was a pit 100 by 150 feet that showed that mining had been done years before.) It was first suspected that this was what was known as the lost Key's diggings.
"There must have been two thousand men in there that fall as they came from every place on that stampede. Right after the talk of big discovery, soldiers were ordered from Ft. Assinni- boine to investigate the conditions there and report to the depart- ment. They were under the command of Captain Potter of the Eighteenth Infantry. He notified the miners that they could stay there until such time as a report was made on the conditions but that no liquor could be brought in as it was an Indian reservation. Under the first investigation of the soldiers there, the first pit was opened in Alder Gulch, the discovery running about one dollar to the pan, on bedrock. (The writer was told that in order to show the Captain that there was pay dirt some one 'Salted the
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