Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 102

Author: Stout, Tom, 1879- ed
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 1144

USA > Montana > Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III > Part 102

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

About June 20th, relates Mr. Duncan, the boat landed at the mouth of the Maries River, where

two of the Duncan boys were waiting with ox teams to take the family on to Helena. That part of the journey was accomplished without incident, though at the time the Sioux Indians were on the war path. They reached Helena about July Ioth, and within a month the family suffered the grievous loss of the death of the mother. Of his early memories of Helena Mr. Duncan recalls seeing gold dng out of the dirt in the streets at Last Chance Gulch. Helena was in fact nothing but a typical mining town, the houses, spread over a great deal of ground, being built of logs. The Duncan family located in the Boulder Valley, thirty miles south of Helena, and Tyson Duncan remained there until the following spring, when he entered the service of a Mr. Nelson and drove a freight team of five yoke of oxen. He was employed at that work until July, and in Sep- tember joined a party of sixteen, leaving Helena with two four-horse teams for Fort Benton. Here they secured a good strong boat, 40 feet long and II feet wide, fitted with oars and sail, and started on a voyage down the Missouri River that Mr. Dun- can even now regards as the most delightful ex- perience of his career. The entire trip from Fort Benton was not marred by a single accident or mis- hap. A cook stove was on board, and cooking was done regularly. Each mess took three turns at cooking and three turns at the oars, and the boat was run night and day, with four men on duty at night and twelve in the day. This continuous run was necessary while passing through the hostile Indian country, but after reaching Sioux City, Iowa, they tied their craft to the shore at night. The entire voyage from Fort Benton to St. Joseph, Mis- souri, was made in thirty-one days, considered very good time for an open row boat.

The next seventeen years of his life Mr. Duncan lived chiefly in Missouri, two years in Jackson County, in the vicinity of Kansas City. In Novem- ber, 1868, he went to St. Clair County. Missouri, and there on November 25, 1869, married Miss Sarah Caton. It is appropriate to look ahead from that date just fifty years to November 25, 1919, when Mr. and Mrs. Duncan in the presence of congratulat- ing friends celebrated their golden wedding anniver -. sary.

During the early seventies Mr. Duncan spent two years in Colorado, six months in Bent County and the rest of the time at Silver Cliff in Custer County.

In the spring of 1881, while in Missouri, Mr. Dun- can contracted a severe case of western fever, and in February, 1882, having sold his little farm, he joined a party of about thirty bound for the West and Northwest. They left Kansas City March I. 1882, traveling over the old Kansas Pacific through Denver and Cheyenne, reaching the' terminus of the California and Oregon Railroad March 9th. There they procured a team and drove to the Rogue River Valley in Oregon. The stay in Oregon was brief, only ten days. Mr. Duncan was not pleased with the country, and he then continued his jour- ney to Portland, and on the 30th of May took boat and went up the Columbia River to The Dalles, thence taking the trail over the mountains to Mon- tana. The route was hv wav of Pendleton, direct to Boise. Idaho, thence through the Lost River coun- try to the Salt Lake and Virginia Emigrant Road at Camas Creek, and thence north across the moun- tains and down the Ruby Valley and the Jefferson hy Whitehall to Boulder Valley, the place that Mr. Duncan had left seventeen years previously.

Here began his second period of pioneering in Montana. His plans being unsettled, Mrs. Duncan soon returned to Missouri, but he remained there until the following April, when with Edgar Brook

1016

HISTORY OF MONTANA

and a young man named Mossburg he fitted up a four-horse team and started for the Bitter Root Valley with the intention of taking up land. They followed the old Mullin Road, and on arriving in Missoula met the Indian Agent Peter Ronan, who advised them to go into the Flathead Valley, where settlement had just begun. The travelers were not entirely sure as to the exact location of the Flat- head Valley and had to be reassured by the Indian agent that it was in the United States and not in Canada. At that time the line of the Northern Pacific was being built, and Mr. Duncan and com- panions, accepting the advice of Ronan, followed the route over to the Flathead Reservation and con- tinued on north thirty-five miles to the foot of Flat- head Lake. April 16, 1883, they reached the Flat- head Valley at the west side of the lake, and Mr. Duncan was convinced that the most beautiful scene was outspread before his eyes that he had ever wit- nessed. The entire country was covered with a heavy growth of bunch grass, resembling at a dis- tance a vast grain field. After looking around for several days he and Edgar Brook picked their claims, built a log cabin, and then returned, stopping at Helena to complete their filing. That was about the first of June, and Mr. Duncan went on to the Boul- der Valley and assembled his possessions. About the 20th of June he started for Deer Lodge Valley, following the old Mullin Road, and while on that part of the trail he narrowly escaped being a par- ticipant in a stage hold-up. His journey led through Anaconda, where the first smelter was in course of construction, the cornerstone of the greatest smelt- ing plant in the West. Near Anaconda he took employment with a rancher, helping him put up hay, and about the 15th of August his wife joined him after coming from Missouri, and on the 27th of the same month they loaded their few belong- ings into a wagon and started for their new home in Flathead Valley.

At Garrison they struck the line of the Northern Pacific and followed the right of way to Missoula. They reached Gold Creek just one day too soon to witness the ceremony of the joining of the two ends of the track and the driving of the gold spike in the presence of the head officials of the road and also former President Grant. Leaving the rail- road at Ravalli they proceeded across the reserva- tion to the foot of Flathead Lake, and thence by his original route to the homestead cabin, which they reached September 9, 1883. It was a certain sense of humor that sustained many of the pioneers on their first introduction to the bare surroundings, and evidently Mrs. Duncan had that sense, since to her question whether this was their future home and Mr. Duncan's affirmative reply, she said "a pretty gloomy looking outfit it is," and Mr. Dun- can could only confess that her words were an apt description. It was a little log cabin, had neither roof, doors nor windows, and what was more there was not a foot of lumber to be had nor a sawmill within 100 miles. However, both were young and strong and could make the best of circumstances. Within a few days Mr. Duncan had a dirt roof, had plastered the cracks between the logs both outside and inside with mud, and going into the woods he cut small logs, splitting them in halves, and smooth- ing off the flat sides so that when laid on the ground they had what eastern people called a slab or pun- cheon floor. By similar contriving with axe and draw knife he made a rough door, hung on wooden hinges, and with a wooden latch whose string hung in the proverbial manner on the outside. The coun- try was then full of Indians, and they soon dis- covered the inviting latch string, and, as was their

custom, came into the house without the formality of announcement. They were not hostile, but never- theless were frequently troublesome intruders and stayed much longer than they were welcome. When Mr. Duncan was at home he would curtly order his Indian visitor out, using the Indian tongue, but it was not so easy for Mrs. Duncan to get rid of them. However, one day she lost her patience and drove an Indian buck out of the house with a stick of stove wood, and the next time Mr. Duncan came onto the Indian he was profuse in his expressions of apology, calling Mrs. Duncan "much good wom- an" and saying that she was going to kill him with a stick.

Mr. Duncan also eked out the meager furnishing by contriving a table from a soap box, and later he secured a four-light window that relieved the gloom of the interior.

The following winter was literally the worst ever experienced by the oldest settlers in that section of Montana. Mr. Duncan had made what prepara- tion he could against the coming of the season, erect- ing a stable for his team and getting up a supply of wood. His nearest neighbor and the first settler in that part of the valley was Nicholas P. Moon, who had located there about three years before. From him Mr. Duncan bought enough potatoes and other vegetables to last through the winter, though some other families that came the same fall had to do without. Nevertheless there was an ample supply of deer meat, and for several years venison and fish were almost the only meat consumed by the pioneers. Mr. Duncan was busy cutting posts and making rails up to about the 15th of Decem- ber, when it began snowing, and by the first of the year the snow lay on the level about twenty-four inches deep. Then came heavy rains, converting the snow into an ice sheet, and following that came other snows and alternative rains, until by the 20th of February, the date of the last snow, the ground was covered to a depth of about three feet on the level, most of it solid ice. It was a matter of ex- treme difficulty to go anywhere, except on long snow shoes or skis, and the long and lonesome winter was especially trying to the women of the com- munity.

That winter brought them their first experience in high cost of living, bacon being 30 cents, sugar 25 cents, salt 6 cents, flour $7.50 a 100, coal oil $I a gallon. Mr. and Mrs. Duncan resorted to economy in the use of oil or kerosene. After the chief work of the evening was done the front doors of the cook stove were opened, a pine knot put on the coal, and the blaze furnished enough light until bedtime. The snow did not disappear until about the middle of April, and by the first of May Mr. Duncan had about forty acres fenced in with posts and rails, and was ready to plant his first crop. Seed was scarce, but he managed to secure a little seed grain and vegetables, and with ample rain everything grew in abundance and there was a surplus to sell the great crowd of home seekers who arrived during the season.

In the fall of 1884 Flathead Valley held its first election. Montana being still a territory, there was no vote for president. The people in the Flathead were in the jurisdiction of Missoula County, and they only nominated township officers, all of the county to the Canadian line being Jocko Township. The offices to be filled were two justices of the peace and one constable. John Lang and Mr. Dun- can were elected justices, and a few days after the election Mr. Duncan started to Missoula, the county seat, to qualify, driving 140 miles for that purpose. He had the honor of being the first official to qualify

John. L. Selway

1017

HISTORY OF MONTANA

for office in the Flathead Valley. During the fol- lowing two years Justice Duncan presided over some local cases of peculiar interest, which he usually solved to the satisfaction of all concerned, and he also married a few couples,

During the fall and winter of 1886 Mr. Duncan participated in the stampede to the newly discovered gold district on Wolf Creek, sixty miles west. He and his partner staked out their claims, and on their return they made their night camp and with plenty of wood for fire endured in comfort the ex- treme low temperature, and when they finally re- turned to the settlement they learned that the coun- try had been visited by a severe blizzard and that all the prospectors were believed to have been lost, and rescue parties had been proposed.

During successive years, as a result of hard and persistent work, Mr. Duncan had his claim fenced, and was enjoying the fruits of prosperity as a farm- er. He established a nucleus of cattle and horses, built a better house, and by 1890 was thoroughly established and contented. During the spring of that year he put in a large crop, and with a good season had his largest surplus of grain, hay and vegetables. One day in November of that year the community became much aroused, strangers were rushing in rapidly, and it was learned that town- site men had come in advance of the Great North- ern Railroad and were acquiring options on eight or ten ranches for the purpose of laying out a large town. Then came surveyors driving their stakes, and by the 15th of April, 1891, the town was being platted. Mr. Duncan in dealing with the townsite men let them have three forty acre tracts, three- fourths of his farm, reserving one forty for him- self. This was the founding of the new Town of Kalispell, and Mr. Duncan platted 81/2 blocks, each block containing twelve lots, and called it Duncan's Addition to Kalispell. Thus almost before he knew it he was in the townsite business, and all of Dun- can's Addition except twelve lots have long since been sold. This addition, because of its wide streets, gentle slope and other attractive features, is one of the most attractive parts of Kalispell. Now after thirty-seven years of residence in the Flat- head country and despite the fact that he has at- tained the age of three score and thirteen, Mr. Dun- can periodically experiences a touch of the western fever, though he realizes that the western frontier has practically disappeared through the gates of the Pacific Ocean, and douhtless he will be well satisfied to spend the rest of his life in the beauti- ful valley where he pitched camp so many years since.

Politically Mr. Duncan gives his support to the democratic party and is a strong admirer of William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson, fine por- traits of both men adorning the walls of his home. Religiously he is a member of the Free Methodist Church and Mrs. Duncan is of the Presbyterian faith. Mr. Duncan is recognized as a man of ex- traordinary characteristics, who, by reason of years of indefatigable labor and honest effort, has not only acquired a well merited material prosperity, but has also richly earned the highest esteem of all with whom he has been associated.

JOHN LLOYD SELWAY. While the earliest settlers of Montana were prospectors and gold seekers, the Selways, who came here in the '6os, have been al- most entirely ranchers and stock raisers. It is a notable family group, and the representatives today, descended from four pioneer brothers, are widely scattered over the state.

John Lloyd Selway, whose home is in Custer

County, was born near Kenosha, Wisconsin, July 31, 1861, and was about five years of age when brought to Montana. His father, John R. Selway, was born in England, a son of Robert Selway, who finally returned to that country. Four of the sons, John R., James, Thomas M. and Robert H., all made for themselves names in Montana as stock- men. They are now deceased but have left the trail of their deeds behind them. Their mother, whose maiden name was Eliza Bartlett, came West with two of her sons and was preceded by one of her sons, James, who came to Montana in 1863. It is believed she was one of the first white women in Beaver Head County, and was loved by all the pioneers. She was frequently given the custody of money by the freighters for safe keeping from road agents, since "Grandma" Selway was an in- violable personality even among the bad men of the country. She died in Beaver Head County and is buried at Dillon. John R. Selway and all his brothers died in Beaver Head County, all left chil- dren, and the second generation is engaged chiefly in the stock and farming industry.

John R. Selway married Jane Reynolds, daughter of John Reynolds, who came from Wales as a child and spent his life in Wisconsin. Jane Rey- nolds Selway started the first Sunday school in Montana that became a permanent organization. The ring which the Bible class of that school pre- sented her, made of Bannock gold, is the property of her son Lloyd. John R. Selway died at the age of sixty-four and his wife when about fifty. Their children were: Charles, of California; John Lloyd; Robert R., of Sheridan, Wyoming; Senator E. O. Selway, of Dillon, one of the best known men of the state; Delos Duncan, a farmer and stockman of Powder River County; Blanche, who became the wife of Lewis Alger and died in St. Louis, leaving two children; and Richard A., who is an extensive stock raiser at Alzada, Montana.

John Lloyd Selway acquired his education in the country schools of Montana and was the only mem- ber of his family who failed to get a college edu- cation.

John R. Selway brought his family to Montana joining his brother James and coming about a year after his mother had reached the state. He settled in Beaverhead Valley. He had come by ox team from Wisconsin over the Bozeman trail, and he brought with him only his family, a yoke of steers and a yoke of cows. He followed the Platte River up through Nebraska and crossed the Big Horn River at old Fort C. F. Smith and the Yellowstone above Livingston. He had been a farmer in Wis- consin, and applied his efforts in the same line in connection with stock raising in Montana. He first tried cattle and then took up sheep. He was one of the pioneer wool growers of Montana. In com- pany with a brother-in-law, R. A. Reynolds, he brought in from Oregon about 800 head of ewes. This was one of the pioneer flocks in Montana. Some of them later fell into the hands of Charles Daly on Little Pumpkin Creek and some of that old stock or blood is still found there. John R. Selway brought his stock into Custer County in 1881 through his son Lloyd and Charles Daly. While their flocks were held at Miles City they loaded a burro with their pack and went into the Powder River region, and on the farm where Mr. Selway now lives they made camp and from there pro- ceeded up the river to select their winter quarters. In 1882 the Selway ranch was selected by Lloyd Selway and in July he took his sheep to the Main Pumpkin Creek, where the family has since main- tained a ranch. He and Mr. Daly were associated

1018

HISTORY OF MONTANA

in hay making, sheep shearing and in a general busi- ness partnership for several years, though one was located on Big Pumpkin and the other on the lit- tle fork of that stream. Mr. Selway remained in that locality until 1887, when he was succeeded by his brother R. R. Selway, Lloyd returning to Beaver- head Valley in Beaverhead County. He continued in the sheep business as manager of the Ruby Sheep Company's business for several years. He finally returned to Custer County and established his ranch north of the Yellowstone in the Jordan country until after the disastrous blizzard of 1905. At that time he would have been forced out of stock rais- ing altogether but for Mr. Jordan, the banker, who supplied him with financial backing. On coming to the locality of his present ranch in the Powder River country he ran his sheep on the range, and ing, owning 37/2 sections along the river. Raising sheep for wool and mutton has been a leading fea- ture in his stock enterprise, and at the climax of his business he had three flocks, comprising about 9,000 sheep. He has gone through all the ups and downs of the sheep business, but the era of low prices for wool never brought him near financial ruin. Recently he has added cattle and also to some extent horses, breeding the Percheron draft horses. This branch of the industry was particu- larly profitable during the World war.

has built up a ranch devoted to mixed stock rais- . at Redstone and has taken the Blue Lodge de-

June 2, 1908, in Custer County, Mr. Selway mar- ried Miss Katherine Wiese, a native of Iowa and a daughter of Jocklin Wiese, an Iowa farmer. Mrs. Selway is one of a large family and the only one of them to live in Montana. The Selways have been republicans for half a century or more and Mr. Selway has served as precinct committeeman.

KAARE O. CARLSON. Northeastern Montana is pre-eminently a country for young men, men alive to new opportunities and ready to embark their energies and resources in a development work that in time will give this section of the state its merited place as a commercial and agricultural district. One of these live and hustling young men is Kaare O. Carlson, cashier of the State Bank of Redstone.

Mr. Carlson was born at Gaasver, Norway, Jan- uary 19. 1891, son of Karl and Oline (Knudson) Olson. His father spent his life in the same locality as a merchant and fisherman. Of his children three sons survive: Jorgen, who is still in Norway; Reverend Olaf, a Lutheran minister at Fairview, Montana; and Kaare Oliver. The mother by a previous marriage had a numerous family of chil- dren.

Kaare Oliver Carlson acquired a common school education in Norway and left his native country at the age of seventeen, sailing from Trondjhem to Hull, England, thence to Liverpool, and the ship that brought him across the ocean was the later ill- fated liner the Lusitania. He arrived in New York August 25, 1908, passing through Ellis Island, and finished his journey at Fort Ransom, which was then the home of his brother, Rev. Olaf Carlson. He had no knowledge of English when he came to this country, but rapidly mastered the elements of an English education, and from savings acquired as a farm hand he paid for a three months' course in a college at Fargo in 1911. While in school he made a record that put him second in a class of 210 in bookkeeping. After that for another year he worked on a farm at wages of $30 a month and board, and from the farm he came to Montana, reaching this state in May, 1913. At Joplin in Hill County he was employed as a yard man for the Piper-Howe Lumber Company, but in June, 1914,

removed to Westby, Montana, and was bookkeeper for the Kulaas Lumber Company of that town. This company next sent him to Plentywood as yard man- ager, and before the end of the year he was trans- ferred to Redstone and put in charge of the com- pany's business there. His home has been at Red- stone since 1915. His qualifications as a business man attracted the attention of the State Bank of Redstone, and he was invited to become that in- stitution's cashier, a service he has performed cred- itably and has gained many friends for the bank.

Mr. Carlson made his declaration of citizenship while at Stanley, North Dakota, and his final pa- pers were issued while he was in Plentywood. Though he cast his first presidential vote in 1916 for Mr. Wilson, his political convictions take him in the republican ranks. He was made a Mason

grees.

At Minot, North Dakota, June 24, 1915, he mar- ried Miss Bertha Anderson. She was born at Bel- grade, Minnesota, in August, 1894, a daughter of Andrew and Anna Anderson, both natives of Den- mark. Mrs. Carlson is the oldest of three children, the other two being Dewey and Della, both of Wil- mer, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Carlson have a daughter, Ada, born June 23, 1916.

HERBERT J. ADDEN. The entire abstract of title business of Valley County is now concentrated in one office and under one organization, the Valley County Abstract Company, the active head of which for a long period was Herbert J. Adden, whose ac- tive experience in abstract work covered a period of ten years and who became a resident of Glas- gow in April, 1913.

Mr. Adden was born at Mount Olive, Macoupin County, Illinois, November 19, 1882. His grand- father Adden was born in Germany of Low Ger- man stock, came to America in early days, and spent his active years as a farmer near Bunker Hill, Illinois. Adde H. Adden, father of the Glas- gow business man, was born near Bunker Hill, Illi- nois, and became a traction and stationary engineer and was also identified with the operation of some of the early coal mines of Southern Illinois as a stationary engineer and sunk several air shafts for the Consolidated Coal Company. He owned and operated several saw mills in Macoupin County. His death occurred at Ashton, Iowa, in 1896, at the age of forty-six. He was one of a family of five children, and his wife, Hattie Keiser, was one of the seventeen children born to Herbert Keiser, of Fosterburg, Illinois. Mrs. Hattie Adden, a na- tive of Illinois, is now living at Gladys, North Da- kota, the wife of John Essmann. Her husband proved up a homestead at Gladys. The children of Adde H. Adden and wife were: William H., a farmer at Gladys; Margaret, wife of Joe Hickman, of Ellsworth, Minnesota; and Herbert J.

Herbert J. Adden lived in Illinois to the age of ten years, in Macoupin County, and his parents then moved to Litchfield, Illinois, and he completed his education in the public schools there. About that time the family came West to Ellsworth, Minne- sota, and for one year he, was a student in Ham- line University in St. Paul. Mr. Adden left col- lege in 1906, and he regards his best education as the product of his actual business experience.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 102

Author: Stout, Tom, 1879- ed Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society Number of Pages: 1144

Author: Stout, Tom, 1879- ed
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 1144