Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 134

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 134

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Herbert A. Hover was but a young lad of nine years when he began working for a living. His parents were in poor circumstances owing to the ill health of his father, and he assisted in the sup- port of the family until he was sixteen, when he left the parental roof and started out entirely for himself. He was twelve years of age when the family removed to Lawrence, Kansas, and it was from that western city that he set out to battle for a name and place in the world. In the mean- time he had attended school to the eighth grade, and then becoming a youthful commercial salesman he continued in that work until he reached the age of nineteen, covering Kansas and the states west and also California. He then enlisted from California in the regular army, becoming a member of Company I, Fourteenth Infantry, and served at the Vancouver Barracks, Washington, and at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He was at the opening of Oklahoma when the grand race was made for lands, but was doing duty as a soldier at Guthrie at the time. Receiving his · discharge at Leavenworth in April, 1890, he returned to the commercial sales- man's life.

About thirty years ago, in 1890, Mr. Hover identi- fied himself with the far West, going into the State of Washington as a representative of the New York Life Insurance Company and estab- lishing his headquarters at Tacoma. His district covered a third of the state, and his connection with the life insurance business covered the period until 1902, when he entered the field of speculation in lands and the development of farms. He was par- ticularly interested in Central Washington, about Kennewick, and was the purchaser of a majority of the townsite of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company and began the building of a town on the land. Most of the large business houses were con- structed at his instigation, and he also bought a large portion of the lands irrigated by the Kenne- wick Canal and developed a number of farms de- voted to fruit and alfalfa. He set out one of the largest orchards in that region, also the largest field of alfalfa, having taken the initiative in test- ing the soil and climate there for those products. His alfalfa ranch continued in existence until its site was demanded for an urban community, and the tract was platted and the Town of Hover was built upon it. It was Mr. Hover's original purpose to promote immigration into the region and sell the land in tracts for fruit and alfalfa. Within the space of seven years he had accomplished his task, and today the locality blossoms in fruit and alfalfa and the market-gardener's products, and has developed

into the greatest early fruit, vegetable and aspara- gus district in the entire Northwest. Mr. Hover built in the town the Kennewick and two other hotels, the Hover Block and in many other ways promoted the town's advancement, and although he now maintains his residence in and has transferred his active work to the Montana field his interests are still great in that community.

The Hover ranch and farm in Montana yielded its first fruits under Mr. Hover's methods in 1919. The management contemplates a campaign of mixed farming and stock raising, and its undulating graz- ing lands are now stocked with White Face cattle. As a profit yielding property from the standpoint of dry farming the ranch's history invokes no en- thusiasm. A scientific method of irrigation and cul- tivation was inaugurated which revolutionized crop growing, and abundant streams of revenue have replaced a stream of outlay. The waters of the Yellowstone as they pass into the ditches from the big pump cover an acre two inches deep. every forty-six minutes, and under this life-giving im- petus wheat, oats, corn and alfalfa have produced yields which make scientific farming worth while. Six hundred acres respond to the husbandman's magic touch on this model farm and prove the value of irrigation farming. The improvements of the ranch were very largely increased in 1919, twenty- two new buildings on concrete foundations were erected, converting the landscape into a veritable hamlet itself. Both horsepower and tractors are employed on the ranch, and the implements used convey the impression that a big enterprise is being carried on by a management used to big things.

At San Francisco, California, in December, 1894, Mr. Hover was married to Mata C. Purviance, who was born in Oswego, Kansas, a daughter of Nathan and Emma B. (McPherson) Purviance. The father, who was an attorney, died at Parkville, Missouri. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Purviance were five children, all of whom are still living, namely: Wal- ter C., a former missionary of Corea, is a practic- ing physician at Beatrice, Nebraska; Lula M. resides in Los Angeles, California; Mata C., the wife of Mr. Hover; Nathan, an optometrist of Lewiston, Idaho; and Alice the wife of Walter J. Spaul, whose home is in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Hover reared one son, Harry D., who died at the age of twenty-three years, while in the service. of the Amer- ican Railway Express Company between Minot and Havre on the Great Northern. His death occurred on the 7th of December, 1918.

Mr. Hover is a member of the Blue Lodge, Chap- ter and Commandery and is also a thirty-second- degree Scottish Rite Mason, belonging to State Lodge No. 68 at Tacoma, to the Chapter at Spokane, to the Commandery at Walla Walla, to the Consistory at Spokane and to El Katif Shrine at Spokane.

B. M. HARRIS is one of the younger men in the financial life of Montana, but his abilities are of first rank and he is widely known outside of his home town of Park City, where he is president of the Park City State Bank. Mr. Harris is president of Group No. 7 of the Montana Bankers Association and vice president of the state bank section of the American Bankers Association.

He was born in Ripon, Wisconsin, June 26, 1885. His paternal ancestors came from Ireland and were early settlers in Wisconsin, where his father was born in 1854. His father, Richard Harris, grew up and married in Wisconsin, spent his early life on a farm, and in 1887 moved to Denver, Colorado, where he was active in business affairs until 1915, when he retired and is now living at Imperial Beach,

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California. He is a republican. He married Dora E. Meyer, who was born at Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1864. B. M. Harris is the oldest of their children. Irma H. is the wife of William C. Eck, who served with the American Expeditionary Forces in France and when at home is credit man for a large dry goods house at Denver. Ernest R. is sales manager for the Denver Fire Clay Company at Denver. Bertha B. is the wife of Frank A. Hartong, secre- tary of the B. F. Robinson Printing Company at Denver.

B. M. Harris was about two years old when his parents moved to Denver, and he was educated in that city, graduating from high school in 1902. On leaving school his first employment was as a mes- senger boy in the Denver offices of the Union Pacific Railway Company. He was promoted to night clerk and then to assistant cashier in the freight office. He left Denver in 1906 and coming to Montana was for a year bookkeeper with the Meyer-Chapman Bank at Red Lodge. He was then delegated with the responsibility of opening the Park City State Bank in 1907, and served as its cashier until he was elected president in 1919. The vice president is W. D. Story and the cashier H. A. Searls. This is one of the sound and prosperous banking institutions in Stillwater County, and has a capital of $40,000 and surplus and undivided profits of $5,000.

Mr. Harris is also president of the Park City Milling Company, which he established in 1914. These flour mills, with a rated capacity of fifty barrels per day, furnish a local market for much of the wheat grown in the vicinity. Mr. Harris is also a director in the Boyd State Bank and a director of the Park City Water Company. He is a republican, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is af- filiated with Carbon Lodge No. 65, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, with the Scottish Rite Con- sistory and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena, and is a member of Billings Lodge No. 394, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Billings Midland Empire Club.

April 18, 1909, at Joliet, Montana, he married Miss Bernice Crismas, daughter of W. J. and Lola M. (Pickering) Crismas. Her parents reside at Joliet, where her father is a farmer. Mrs. Harris is a graduate of the Carbon County High School. They have one son, B. M. Harris, Jr., born March 4, 1910.

FRANK J. STIEHL. A man identified with the magnificent Missouri Valley for a quarter of a century, and for many years successfully occupied with large ranching interests, Frank J. Stiehl was essentially typical of this important region. His death occurred on May 23, 1920. He was born in Sauk City, Wisconsin, near Madison, on December 7, 1856, a son of John D. Stiehl, who settled in that locality a year before the birth of his son, having come to the United States from Germany. John Stiehl was born at Hartzhausen, Germany, and was the son of a farmer. He left his native land in young manhood, and was married after reaching the United States, his wife, Christina Nagel, being also a German. In 1884 they came West to Mondak, Montana, where he died in 1912 and she in 1916. They had the following children: Frank, who was the eldest born; Dan, who died near Snowden, Mon- tana, while engaged in ranching, leaving his widow, Mrs. Nancy (Hall) Stiehl, and five daughters; and Nora, who married A. V. Rodger and died at Prince- ton, Kentucky.

On February 22, 1884, Frank J. Stiehl was mar- ried at Witt, Illinois, to Miss Lillie Tratt, who was born at Whitewater, Wisconsin, on January 19, 1862, a daughter of John and Sarah (Hooper)

Tratt, natives of Somersetshire and Cornwall, Eng- land, respectively. They were farming people, and Mr. Tratt died at Decatur, Illinois, and Mrs. Tratt, at Litchfield, Illinois. Of their six children the sur- vivors are as follows: Mrs. Stiehl, Mrs. Jennie Paisley, of Decatur, Illinois, and Mrs. Stella Pul- len, of Upper Alton, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Stiehl had a son, Leroy, who was born on February 12, 1908 ..

Immediately following his marriage Mr. Stiehl came West with his bride, shipping native cattle from Wisconsin and Minnesota and running them under the brand "ST" on the left hip, and their range was over a wide territory, which has since been all settled and is now devoted to mixed farm- ing. Mr. Stiehl was a beefmaker of the Little Missouri country, shipping his product to the Chi- cago and Saint Paul markets. Among his neighbors of those early days were Hans Christiensen, Dan Manning, Conley Brothers, Richard Jeffries, Byron Tripp, Marquis DeMores and Theodore Roosevelt. Mr. Stiehl became very well acquainted with the future president and great American, who made friendships among the men of the grass-country which endured as long as he lived.

Mr. Stiehl remained in North Dakota until the influx of settlers interfered with his range and he was compelled to seek more open country for his operations, and he then came into the land tribu- tary to the mouth of the Yellowstone River. His Dakota ranch was converted into a stock com- pany, so that he started anew when he came to Montana.

It was in 1896 that he unloaded his stock at Cul- bertson, and he adopted a new brand, the "reverse 2" on the ribs for the cattle and the same brand on the thigh for the horses. The soldiers had abandoned the military reservation at Fort Buford and he drove his stock into it. As his neighbors during the early days he had the Seibens, Arnetts, Hedrick Brothers, and a lot of others who made the history of those times. These cattlemen had access to the range clear to the Canadian border. Mr. Stiehl always made stockraising his chief in- terest and was eminently successful at it, although of course with changing conditions he altered his methods to conform with them.

His ranch comprises almost 1,800 acres, and per- haps 150 acres of it are devoted to farming and hay raising, alfalfa coming in for a good share of this cultivated land. He entered his homestead where he lived. It was a desert entry, and his first home here was built of logs and ties and comprised four rooms. A remnant of the logs composing this pio- neer home remains. A new frame house replaced the original one, and it is constructed of material hauled from Williston, North Dakota. He and his neighbor Sweetman pooled their interests to some extent, Mr. Sweetman furnishing the plow which broke the sod for both of them. A few potatoes and a little "squaw" corn comprised the crops of both of them for some time. The family table was supplied with beef from the herd, game killed from the prairie, and on a whole living conditions were excellent.

Mr. Stiehl had other interests outside his ranch, being a stockholder of the First State Bank of Buford, North Dakota, and its vice president, a stockholder of one of the banks of Williston, North Dakota, and was interested in mining and oil proj- ects in Montana and Wyoming and Jackson, Wis- consin.

Mr. Stiehl lived in three counties in Montana without changing his place of location. When he first came here this region was included in Valley

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County, but that part of it containing his farm was cut off and made into Sheridan County, and finally when Sheridan County became too large in popula- tion the new County of Roosevelt was created, and Mr. Stiehl was proud to be a resident of it because it bears the name of his old friend. He was active in public matters and assisted in organizing the Springdale school district, and was a member of its board. The schoolhouse of this district was for years the popular meeting place for the region. Later the Mondak School was organized, and he served it as a school director until his death. A strong democrat, he was the delegate of his party to the state conventions at Helena upon more than one occasion. In late years Mr. Stiehl devoted serious attention to Galloway cattle, and his ranch acquired considerable reputation as a breeding place for this strain, and in this way he contributed toward raising the grade of cattle in his territory.

Mr. Stiehl was made a Mason at Culbertson, Montana, and demitted to the lodge at Mondak. He also belonged to Algeria Temple at Helena, Mon- 'tana. An Odd Fellow, he passed all of the chairs in the local lodge and was a delegate to the Grand Lodge at Wappleton, North Dakota. Sturdy, self- reliant and enterprising, he succeeded where other men failed. When the open range was taken away from the cattlemen by the opening up of this region to settlers a number of them went out of business, feeling so discouraged they were not able to rise to the occasion, but not so Mr. Stiehl. He simply made other arrangements, and through a little man- agement and foresight succeeded in altering his man- ner of handling his cattle and made just as much money, if not more, than he did in the old days. This was not accomplished through luck, but hard work, keen insight into existing conditions and a willingness to grasp opportunities offered instead of wasting time lamenting over those which had passed. In every way Mr. Stiehl measured up to the highest standards of western citizenship, and was thoroughly typical of its best interests.

JOHN JAMES MACDONALD. Trained in the hard school of work and early self support, John James Macdonald, the present sheriff of Broadwater Coun- ty, presents an example of self made man whose his- tory is well worth considering because of its illus- tration of the value of industry, courage, self re- liance and sterling basic character.

John James Macdonald was born August 1, 1858, in Ontario, Dominion of Canada, where his Scotch grandfather settled, developed a pioneer farm and reared a family of sturdy children. One son of many he named John James when he was born in 1814. The latter grew up on his father's farm and devoted himself to general agriculture and lumber- ing until 1861, in which year he came into the United States with his family, locating in Copper Harbor, Michigan. For three years he worked in lumber camps and at copper mining with the Calu- met and Hecla Company, moving then to Lake Lin- den, where he was engaged during the rest of his life in hauling wood for the mills under contract. His death occurred at Lake Linden in 1902. In Michigan he identified himself with the democratic party in politics, but never held any public office. He was a faithful member of the Roman Catholic Church. He married Christie Macdonald, of the same name as his own but of another branch of the old Scottish clan. She was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1825 and died at Lake Linden, Michigan, in 1910. Of their four children John James was the youngest born, the others being as follows: Kate, who is the widow of Duncan MacKeller, of Supe-

rior, Wisconsin, formerly a lumber and timber con- tractor; Duncan, who resides at West Superior, is a dredging machinist on tug or steamboats; and Margaret, who died at Hubbell, Michigan, in 1912, was the wife of D. K. Macdonald, a hardware mer- chant of Hubbell.

From childhood, almost, Mr. Macdonald provided for his own needs, and when he left home at the age of sixteen to carve out his own fortune his entire school attendance summed up less than a year all told. He was well informed, however, as he was fond of reading and was of observing mind. He made his way to the Black Hills, South Dakota, where he secured stable work with the Homestake Mining Company and proved so reliable that he was given charge of the stables and remained four years. He then bought a team and went out seek- ing employment at Brownsville in the Black Hills, and afterward, for a year, under contract, hauled wood and timber to the Pierre and Black Hills Rail- road. Mr. Macdonald then returned to the Home- stake Mining Company and for the next three years worked in their sawmill, going from there to Lead City, South Dakota, where he drove the company's team trucking and hauling around the mines. He remained with the company two years and then worked at draying and hauling freight from the railroad to Lead City for himself up to 1891, when he came to Townsend, Montana.

Here he secured the contract to haul ore, with his own outfit, from the Iron Mask mine to the Bedford depot, and continued at this laborious' task for one year. Mr. Macdonald was now thirty- four years old and had worked harder and more continuously than many men of his acquaintance, and as he had married he desired the quiet and comfort of a settled home. Therefore, in 1892, when the opportunity was presented for purchasing an established business at Townsend, he took it under consideration and ultimately, in partnership with James Jobb, bought the stock of the pioneer livery stable and leased the property from Ficklin and McCormick. The above partnership continued four years at the old stand, when the firm leased the building that is now known as the Central Garage, and here the livery business was carried on two years longer, when Mr. Jobb was elected sheriff of Meagher County. He sold his interest in the stable to Scott Dewell, and the new firm con- tinued two years, when Mr. Macdonald sold his in- terest to Mr. Dewell.

In the meanwhile, Mr. Macdonald had become quite prominent in republican politics, and under President Taft served 47/2 years as postmaster of Townsend. During this period he gave his entire attention to the duties of his office, but when he retired from his official responsibilities he formed a partnership with W. L. Cronk, a stock company was organized and a hardware store was established on Broadway, which is one of the two largest en- terprises of its kind in Broadwater County. The business is carried on under the style of the O. K. Hardware Company, of which Mr. Macdonald has ever since been president. He has always been a safe and cautious business man, but all who ever have had dealings with him from boyhood to the present day will testify that every transaction in which he has taken part has been honest, fair and above board. Perfect reliability, with other quali- ties, have made him acceptable to his fellow citizens in numerous positions of responsibility. He has been active in city affairs and has served three terms as alderman of his ward. In 1918 he was elected sheriff of Broadwater County, and entered upon his duties on January 1, 1919, since then proving en-

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tirely competent to handle the unusual problems arising from the ending of the World war and the general unrest prevailing over the country.

At Lead City, South Dakota, in 1889, Mr. Mac- donald was married to Miss Annie Frances Cassidy, who was born at Guelph, Ontario, Canada. They have no children. Sheriff Macdonald owns his handsome modern residence on Pine Street and has other real estate at Townsend. Both he and wife are members of th Roman Catholic Church. Fra- ternally he is an Odd Fellow, belonging to North Star Lodge No. 19, of which he is past grand, and he belongs also to the Townsend Commercial Club, in which he is a valued factor.

MILTON S. GUNN. One of the more accomplished and distinguished members of the Montana bar, Milton S. Gunn, of Helena, has achieved success through a systematic application of his energies and ability to his chosen profession, which, as the price of success, invariably demands veritable tal- ent, distinctive individuality and a vast amount of genuine hard work. The senior member of the prominent law firm of Gunn, Rasch and Hall, he has gained an honored position in legal circles and won an extensive and lucrative practice. A son of Samuel J. Gunn, he was born February 19, 1868, in Allegan County, Michigan, of English ancestry.

Of New England birth and breeding, Samuel J. Gunn was born in Connecticut, where as a young man he learned the carpenter's trade. Full of life, fond of adventure, and thoroughly aroused by the glowing accounts given of the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill, he joined the historic group of peo- ple that opened up the wealth of California, the real forty-niners, going with them to the Pacific Coast in 1849. Returning eastward in 1856, he lo- cated in Allegan County, Michigan, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring there in 1881. His wife, whose maiden name was Cor- delia Truax, survives him and is now living in Helena, Montana. Three sons were born of their marriage, as follows: Shelton J., engaged in the lumber business on the west coast of Florida; Mil- ton S., with whom this brief sketch is principally concerned; and Clinton, who died in Allegan County, Michigan, when but twelve years old.

Having laid an excellent foundation for his future education in the rural schools of Allegan County, Michigan, and in the Wayland High School of that county, Milton S. Gunn entered the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1887, and graduated with the class of 1889, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was at once ad- mitted to the Michigan bar, and in July of that year came to Montana, which had then just put on the garb of statehood. Locating in Helena, Mr. Gunn was for a time associated with the Helena Jour- nal, later becoming a clerk in the law office of McConnell, Carter and Clayberg. Faithful to his duties in that capacity, and proving himself emi- nently capable in the handling of legal matters, Mr. Gunn was subsequently admitted to the firm, from which Senator Carter had retired.

Politically Mr. Gunn is a steadfast republican, ever devoted to the highest interests not only of his party but of city, county and state. A true Christian man, broad and liberal in his religious views, he is an active member of the Unitarian Church. Fraternally he is a member of Helena Lodge No. 193, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Socially he belongs to the Montana Club of Helena, the Silver Bow Club of Butte and to the Rocky Mountain Club, New York City. He is divi- sion counsel for the Northern Pacific Railway Com-

pany for the State of Montana. Mr. Gunn has ac- quired considerable property, owning a modern resi- dence at 433 Clark Street, and ranches in McCone, Cascade and Lewis and Clark counties.

Mr. Gunn married in 1892 Miss Lena Curtis, who was born in Kansas, and was educated at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. Her father was an early pioneer of Montana, settling in the territory in 1863. Mr. and Mrs. Gunn have two children, Milton C. and Mabelle. Milton C. Gunn, born in 1894, re- cently graduated from the law department of Leland Stanford, Jr., University at Palo Alto, California. He served for twenty-nine months in the World war, being in France fourteen months, and as first lieutenant of his company was in the drives at Chateau-Thierry, at Argonne and at Saint Mihiel. Mabelle Gunn, born in 1898, is a brilliant student, having been graduated not only from Castellega Seminary at Palo Alto, California, but from Pine Manor, a school for home efficiency at Wellesley, Massachusetts, an institution of note.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 134

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