Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 141

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 141

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

vancing commercial prosperity in this vicinity, and his career, both public and private, has been one worthy the high esteem which those knowing him best freely accord.

WILLIAM D. MILLER, editor and proprietor of the Saco Independent, and one of the members of the Board of Commissioners of Phillips County, and has been a resident of Saco since April, 1903. He was born at New Carlisle, Indiana, September 24, 1878, a son of Charles W. Miller, also born in Indiana, near New Carlisle, where he was later engaged in farming. In 1910 he migrated to the state of Washington, and has a ranch near Ellins- burg. He was born in 1852. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Lydia Hicks, was also born in New Carlisle, and she is a daughter of Dr. J. L. Hicks, either a native of Indiana or one of its early settlers. Charles W. Miller and his wife became the parents of six sons and one daughter, but Wil- liam D. and his brother Jesse M. are the only mem- bers of the family living in Montana.

William D. Miller entered the employ of the Chi- cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company at Burlington, Iowa, and served as station agent at Durham and Redding, Iowa, and Darlington, Mis- souri, and from the latter point came to Montana in 1903 as station agent at Saco for the Great Northern Railroad.

At the expiration of a period of five years Mr. Miller purchased the Saco Independent, and suc- ceeded W. W. Coon as editor and proprietor. This paper was founded by Harry Franklin. It is a six-column quarto and devoted to county develop- ment and news, with political leanings toward the republican party. Mr. Miller took advantage of the opportunity to acquire a home from the public do- main, and entered his claim in the Milk River Val- ley country, and while proving up, being a bachelor, lived in a one-room, log cabin. He did what farm- ing was required for proving up, and was also engaged in stockraising during that time, and he has continued his agricultural interests. As a busi- ness man of Saco in addition to his printing plant he is a director of the Saco Co-operative Store.

William D. Miller was reared in a republican household and early learned republican sentiments. His first presidential vote was cast for William Mckinley, and in national elections his party nomi- nee always has his ballot. He was appointed United States commissioner at Saco, this being his first official service, and he held the office for ten years. Most of the filing and making proof of title of this whole region was during his period in office. Mr. Miller was elected one of the first commissioners of Phillips County, and after serving for two years was elected for a term of six years in 1916. His associates on the board are Charley Ross, of Dod- son, and Harry S. Whitcomb, of Malta. As a show- ing for their work the board can lay claim to the honor of organizing Phillips County and getting the various branches of the services to operating systematically, and also rendering the same service to the municipality. A Carnegie Library was se- cured through their instrumentality; a new jail was erected for the county; water works and an electric light plant installed at Dodson; and sewers and water works were installed at Saco before the incorporation of the latter city. Road building has received its proper share of attention, although it is the policy of the board to build them rather for the convenience of the neighboring farmers than for the pleasure of the chance tourist. Much of the work that is being done by the board is for the future and its full value cannot be adequately appre-

ciated for some time to come, but the commissioners are men of practical experience and are animated by a love for their county and a desire to improve it just as fast as is wise and just.

On June 6, 1906, Mr. Miller was married at Saco, Montana, to Miss Edna Taylor, a daughter of W. H. Taylor, a native of Minnesota. Mrs. Miller was reared in the locality of Saco, and completed her educational training in a commercial college at Mis- soula, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have three children, namely: Howard, Marion and Frances. Mr. Miller belongs to the Odd Fellows, and has passed all of the chairs of Saco Lodge, of which he is now a past grand.

MONTANA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. The Methodist Church was one of the first religious institutions to become permanently planted among the mining pop- ulation of early Montana territory. Churches in nearly all the larger cities have already celebrated their semi-centennials. Hand in hand with religious worship Montana Methodists have given an unusual share of their attention and means to the cause of education. In the minutes of the first Montana Con- ference August 2, 1877, is voiced a demand for the establishment of a school of higher grade "to meet the wants of the people who are unable to bear the expense of sending their children to eastern schools." Five years later, in 1882, a committee was appointed to consider the manner of starting an educational institution. In 1888 a field agent was appointed and in 1889 the Conference determined to locate a school at Helena. The first president of the board of trustees was the late Col. Wilbur F. Sanders, and the first treasurer was Fred Gamer.

Montana Wesleyan University opened its doors to students in 1890 after the completion of a building in the valley about six miles north of Helena. After street car service was discontinued to the Prickly Pear Valley the location was isolated, but the school has never closed its doors. The panic of 1893 and the slow development of the state in the matter of population are the principal reasons why the institu- tion did not sooner realize the hopes of its pro- jectors.

In 1900 the school was moved to temporary quar- ters in the heart of Helena, and against many adverse circumstances it continued its work until January, 1914, when it was moved to its present loca- tion at Klein Campus. Through the generosity of Mr. Henry Klein a donation of over $16,000 came to the school. It was from this fund that the trustees were able to secure a tract of ground twenty-two acres in extent 21/2 blocks from the capitol grounds, calling it the Klein Campus out of respect to the name of the generous donor. In the meantime the original building in the valley, costing about $7,000, was leased to the Deaconess Association, and is the home of the Montana Deaconess School.

During the past five years, in spite of rising costs and other enormous difficulties that have confronted . trustees of educational institutions all over the coun- try, Montana Wesleyan has reached a degree of building and other equipment that enables it to ful- fill the high purposes and ideals of the founders thirty years ago. The fine campus now contains two splendid examples of school architecture, the main administration building being known as Helena Hall, and in 1920 a new dormitory for women, Mills Hall, was completed and occupied. Other buildings convenient to the campus are utilized for dormitory and other purposes, and the students also have access to the many advantages of the capital city, including the State Historical Library, the State

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Laboratories, the City Library, Y. M. C. A. and all the rich and varied social, religions and civic ad- vantages of Helena.

Montana Wesleyan has a complete faculty organ- ization of men and women specialists in their lines of work, and the educational facilities embrace not only the general academic and college course, but special scientific departments, domestic science de- partment, music and commercial department.

The aim of the college is best stated in words taken directly from the college publication : "The aim of Montana Wesleyan College is to help its students to attain the largest success and usefulness in life. It therefore holds constantly to the highest educational standards in each of its various depart- ments of instruction, and insists upon thorough scholarship in every course offered. The College does not consider merely intellectual training a suf- ficient preparation for the most successful life. It aims, therefore, to hold constantly before its student- body the highest moral and religious ideals, and earnestly strives to develop its students in the essen- tials of genuine Christian character.

"The college was founded by and is the property of the Methodist Episcopal Church, from which it also derives its support. Yet it is denominational only to the extent that its discipline is in harmony with the views of the church which founded and supports it. The school is based on broad Christian principles such as are commonly held by Protestant churches. It has a positive Christian spirit and at- mosphere, and its teaching is reverent and earnest, but it is neither dogmatic nor sectarian."

ALLAN CLARK LEMON since the fall of 1919 has been Dean of the Montana Wesleyan College at Helena. Mr. Lemon is one of the young men in Montana's educational affairs, and has distinguished himself by his ability in educational administration and as a leader in many of the newer ideas of higher education.

Mr. Lemon was born near Akron in Plymouth County, Iowa, January 23, 1889. His ancestors were English, were colonial settlers in Pennsylvania, and in a later generation planted their homes in the Province of Ontario, Canada.

Mr. Lemon attended the rural schools of Ply- mouth County, Iowa, graduated from the LeMars High School in 1909 and took his college work in ·Morningside College at Sioux City, Iowa. He was graduated with his A. B. degree from that institu- tion in 1913. The following year he was principal of the high school at Iowa Falls, and in the fall of 1914 came to Montana and for three years was superintendent of schools at Culbertson. Mr. Le- mon's first association with the Montana Wesleyan College at Helena was as athletic director and teacher of history. He performed those duties a year, beginning in the fall of 1917. The following year he served as chief clerk in the department of agriculture and publicity for the State of Montana, with offices in the capitol, and at the same time di- rected the athletic activities of the Montana Wes- leyan College as coach. From this work he was called to his present duties as dean of the college in the fall of 1919.

Mr. Lemon has concentrated his experience and his studies along the special line of school administra- tion. He took post-graduate work in that subject during the summer sessions of the State University of Iowa in 1913, 1916 and 1920 and was also a re- search and post-graduate student in the University of Montana in the summer of 1917. Mr. Lemon is

an independent voter, an active member of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church and steward of his church at Helena, and is a member of the Montana State Teachers' Association. He is affiliated with Helena Lodge' No. 3, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He is also a member of the honorary educational fraternity, Phi Delta Kappa, and of the honorary debating fraternity, Pi Kappa Delta, both national organizations.

Mr. Lemon and family reside at 805 Sixth Avenue. He married at LeMars, Iowa, in 1914, Frankie Irene Crouch. Mrs. Lemon is a graduate of the LeMars High School, and also from the Iowa State Teach- ers' College at Cedar Falls. Mr. and Mrs. Lemon have one son, Emmett Dean, born January 6, 1916.

REV. CHARLES M. DONALDSON was chosen by the board of trustees as the new president of Montana Wesleyan College in 1920, to succeed Leon H. Sweet- land. In the interval following Mr. Sweetland's resignation Dean Allan C. Lemon had been acting president.

Doctor Donaldson came to Montana in 1910, hav- ing been appointed to Fort Benton by the late Dr. W. W. Van Orsdel. He served that church for more than three years, with responsibilities covering a wide field beyond the jurisdiction of the immedi- ate church, involving the visiting of many appoint- ments and work in communities where since then churches have been erected. During his pastorate at Fort Benton the North Montana Annual Con- ference was held in that city, and at that time the Order of Caleb was instituted.

Rev. Mr. Donaldson was appointed to Lewistown in 1913, and made the five years of his pastorate notable in every way. Though reappointed for a sixth year, he was soon afterward selected by Bishop Shepard to take up the work of St. Paul's Church at Helena. He was pastor of St. Paul's during the year 1919, and in 1920 was associate sec- retary of Helena Area of the Methodist Centenary, leaving the duties of that position to become presi- dent of Montana Wesleyan Collge.

Rev. Mr. Donaldson graduated from Hamline University in 1905 with the degree Ph. B. In June, 1920, he was honored by his alma mater with the degree of doctor of divinity. His scholastic stand- ing was high at the university and he also gained a reputation as being an all around athlete. He en- tered in 1907 the Boston School of Theology, where he majored in philosophy under Doctor Bowne, and in religions history under Doctor Sheldon. He graduated in 1910 with the degree S. T. B., and while at Boston took additional work in the Curry School of Biblical Interpretation and Expression. Throughout his active ministry he has been distin- guished by his deep love for young people and his interest in all that pertains to young life. His vari- ous pastorates have been especially successful for what he has accomplished among young people. During his pastorate at Fort Benton the first "Win my Chum" meeting in the United States was held.

KARL P. KRUEGER. Talented and cultured, with a natural aptitude for mechanics, Karl P. Krueger, of Butte, is admirably fitted for the important position he is holding as superintendent of the West Colusa Mine, not only by experience and acquired knowl- edge, but by his acknowledged ability and broad ca- pacity for the conduct of his business affairs. A na- tive of Montana, he was born, May 20, 1883, in Bozeman, of German ancestry.

His father, the late Louis Krueger, Sr., was born

Jul. Campbell

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in Berlin, Germany, in 1843, and was there brought up and educated, as a youth serving an apprentice- ship at the stone mason's trade. Immigrating to the United States in 1861, he first followed his trade in Pennsylvania for a short time. Coming to Mon- tana in 1866, he located at Fort Benton, and subse- quently moved to Helena. Continuing at his trade, he did all the mason work for the Government at Forts Yellowstone and Ellis, and at the Crow In- dian Reservation. He afterward prospected awhile at placer mining, being thus engaged until 1872, when he settled in Bozeman, Montana, where he was successfully employed as a contractor in mason work until 1886, as a pioneer resident helping to build the town and in the meantime acquiring title to several business blocks. From 1886 until his death, June 12, 1919, he lived retired from active business, enjoying a well-earned leisure. He was a stanch democrat in politics until Wilson's second campaign, when he joined forces with the republi- can party.

Louis Krueger, Sr., married in Helena, Mon- tana, Emily Ketterer, who was born in Baden- Baden, Germany, in 1851, and died in Bozeman, Montana, November 30, 1905. Ten children were born of their union, four girls dying when young. The living are: Louis, Jr., and Albert, residents of Bozeman and both are plumbers; William, also of Bozeman, is a clerk in a store; Karl P., the special subject of this brief sketch; Anna, resid- ing in Bozeman, is the widow of the late Charles Fridley, a pioneer ranchman of that place, who died of the Spanish influenza during the epidemic in the fall of 1918; and Harry, a prosperous ranch- man of Reed Point, Montana.

After his graduation from the Bozeman High School with the class of 1901, Karl P. Krueger at- tended the State Agricultural School of that place for two years, and then entered Columbia Univer- sity in New York City, where he was graduated in 1906 with the degree of Engineer of Mines. While there he joined the Greek letter fraternity Phi Kappa Sigma, of which he is an interested member. Coming to Butte soon after receiving his degree, Mr. Krueger mined underground for a year, and during the ensuing five years was em- ployed in the engineering office of the company. In 1912 he was made assistant foreman of the West Colusa Mine, and proved himself so effi- cient in that capacity that he was promoted to his present high position as superintendent of the same mine in 1913. This mine, located in the Meaderville District, employs 700 men, it being one of the larg- est and most important of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company's properties, yielding its owners a good yearly income.

Mr. Krueger married in October, 1914, at Butte, Miss Imelda Kelley, a daughter of John and Mary (Chatham) Kelley. Her father, a miner by occu- pation, came to Butte in 1876, in pioneer days, and here resided until his death. His widow survived him, and is still a resident of this city. Karl P. Krueger, Jr., the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Krue- ger, lived but two short months. Politically Mr. Krueger is a stanch supporter of the principles of the republican party: Socially he is a member of the Silver Bow Club.

JOHN S. CAMPBELL came to Montana over thirty years ago, and before he settled down to the serious tasks and responsibilities that have made him such a prominent factor at Reed Point he followed many occupations, freighting, mining and performing mis-

cellaneous services for a number of people in and around Helena.

Mr. Campbell, who has spent fifteen years as a rancher at Reed Point, was born in Walkertown, Ontario, Canada, March 10, 1866. His grandfather emigrated from Scotland and settled on a farm in Ontario, where he spent his last years. His father, William Campbell, was born in Ontario, in Essex County, in 1840, spent his early life in his native province as a farmer, and finally lived at the home of his oldest son, Joseph S., in Cadillac, Michi- gan, where he died in 1913. He was a conserva- tive in politics and a member of the Methodist Church. William Campbell married Maggie Sum- merville, who was born in Ontario in 1842 and died in that Province in 1898. They were the parents of eight children, John S. being the seventh in age. Margaret, the oldest, lives at Chesley, Ontario, widow of Charles Arkell, who was a matcher in a furniture factory; Elizabeth is 'the wife of William Whitehead, owner of a large wheat farm in Alberta, Canada; Joseph S. as a young man joined the volunteer forces to put down the Riel rebellion in Canada and is now living at Seattle, Washington; Jennie is the wife of Burton McNett, a farmer at Middleton, Michigan; Cath- erine married H. Ramsey, a hotel proprietor in British Columbia; William is an Ontario farmer ; John S. is next in age; while James, the youngest, is a farmer in Ontario.

John S. Campbell was only about eleven years old when he put himself in close touch with the practical problems of life and the business of earn- ing a living. He had received some schooling in Ontario, and at the age of eleven he went to work on farms in that province. At the age of fifteen he went with his brother Joseph to Cadillac, Michi- gan, and two years later came to the Northwest, Fargo, North Dakota, where during the winter he supplemented his education by attending local schools and also worked on a farm for S. G. Roberts.

Mr. Campbell came to Helena, Montana, in the summer of 1888. He engaged in the teaming busi- ness until 1891, and from April to November of the latter year was employed by the government forces making a geological survey of the Crow Indian Reservation. The following winter he spent in Helena, and during the summer of 1892 he was freighting from Helena to York. In 1893 he went to Wicks, Montana, and worked hard for three months in a leased mine, but was never paid a cent for that labor. He then went back to Helena and in the spring of 1895 began farming in that locality. That was the beginning of his independent enter- prise as a Montana agriculturist. He remained there eight years and in 1903 bought a farm at Reed Point and occupied it in the spring of the following year. Since then his interests have rapidly grown as a farmer and stockman. He owns 500 acres just east of Reed Point, and the townsite is on part of his land. His modern home is in Reed Point and he has some other real estate there.

Mr. Campbell is vice president of the Reed Point State Bank, which was established in 1916 by J. B. Arnold and J. A. Snidow of Billings, Mr. Camp- bell and Pleun Roobol of Reed Point and also Thomas W. Marshall of the latter town. Mr. Marshall has been cashier since the opening of the bank and the president is J. B. Arnold. The stock- holders are Mr. Campbell, Thomas W. Marshall, Irven Rash, Joseph Deeney, Carl Bue, Pleun Roobol, J. B. Arnold and T. A. Snidow. Situated in the midst of a prosperous country, the bank has grown in strength and service, has a capital of $25,000 and surplus of $5,000, while its average deposits

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are $175,000. The bank is housed in a new brick structure on Division Street.

Mr. Campbell is president of the Community Club of Reed Point, is a democrat, a member of the Methodist Church, and is past master of Reed Point Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and a member of the Helena Camp, Woodman of the World.

In December, 1891, at Helena, he married Ada Kroll, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Kroll, both deceased. Her father came to Montana in 1885 and was a miner at Marysville. Mrs. Camp- bell, who died at Reed Point in 1910, was the mother of a family of five children: Hattie, wife of Elmer Humphrey, a rancher near Reed Point; Ruth, who is at home with her father, and for two terms attended the Methodist University at Helena ; Joseph, assisting his father in business; Jennie, wife of Ray Tenant, a rancher at Wibaux, Mon- tana; and Leslie, who is a high school student.

GEORGE H. WEAVER is proprietor of Hotel Rich- ards at Libby, and he and his capable wife have given that hotel a splendid reputation among the traveling public as a high class modern institution with the spirit of service dominating every feature, and thus the hotel is doing its share in promoting the general welfare and prosperity of this thriving town of Northwestern Montana.

Mr. Weaver was born at Roseburg, Oregon, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Beverly Weaver, of an old Tennessee family. He acquired his early schooling in Myrtle Creek.

Mr. Weaver married Jennie Gorman, a native of Iowa and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Gor- man. They were married at Helena. They have one son, Myron B., born at Chinook July 26, 1906. The son has been carefully reared and educated, and is now in the first year of high school. He is a typical western boy.

In politics Mr. Weaver is a democrat. He is a Mason and Mrs. Weaver was a member of the Eastern Star at Cut Bank, Montana, where she and her husband lived, and is a past matron of the Northern Star Chapter. Both attend the Presby- terian Church, in which their son is a member and an active junior worker in the Sunday school. Mr and Mrs. Weaver took the management of Hotel Richards in 1919. This hotel is thoroughly modern, fireproof, with hot and cold water, steam heated and electric lighted, and has twenty well appointed guest rooms.

CLAYTON H. TYLER, a lawyer and president of the Crescent Oil Company of Roundup, Montana and Thermopolis, Wyoming, is one of the substan- tial business men of Roundup, and held in high esteem by the people of this region. He was born at Hartford, Connecticut, July 28, 1879, a son of Col. Heman A. and Harriet Ann (Noble) Tyler.

Col. Heman A. Tyler was born at Ellensville, New York, October 17, 1842. During the war be- tween the states he served in the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery, and retained his interest in mili- tary matters to such an extent that after the close of the war he entered the First Regiment, Con- necticut National Guards, and on November 8, 1871, was commissioned adjutant, and made major on February 14, 1872. On March 12 1874, he received his commission as lieutenant colonel, and Governor Hubbard appointed him colonel of this regiment on December 29, 1876, which he held until he resigned on June 16, 1878. Subsequently he entered the Put-

nam Phalanx, and lived to see his four sons en- listed in different military organizations.

Colonel Tyler joined the Knights of Pythias on April 19, 1869, as a charter member of what was then Saint Bernard Lodge, but later became Cres- cent Lodge No. 7. He was also a Knight Templar, belonging to Washington Commandery and to Sphinx Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. While living at East Hartford, Connecticut, Colonel Tyler served as a member of the committee of the Second North School District, and in 1877 was elected on the republican ticket as a member of the General Assembly of the state. After he moved to Hartford, Connecticut, he was elected a member of the City Council in 1889 and 1890, from the Fourth Ward. At one time he was secretary and treasurer of the Putnam Monument Commission, for whose use the Legislature appro- priated $10,000, and when the fine equestrian statue was completed and dedicated on June 14, 1888, Colo- nel Tyler was chief marshal of the ceremony. Mov- ing from Hartford to Wethersfield, he became equally well known to the people of that community, and maintained offices in the Hartford Trust Com- pany Block, where he carried on the insurance busi- ness, to which he devoted the greater part of his life. Seeing the possibilities of Crescent Beach, he was one of the developers of it, and built the Nini- gret House and later the Crescent Park House, as well as the landing used by thousands of Hartford people every summer. Here during the last years of his life Colonel Tyler spent his summers, and was known to practically everybody, and was held in affectionate respect by them all. He was twice married, his first wife, to whom he was united in 1866, being Miss Harriet Ann Noble, and she died on January 15, 1905, having borne him the following children : Mrs. Willis B. Case, Mrs. William P. Barber, Mrs. Hubert W. Chapman, Miss Allys E. Tyler, Dr. Heman A. Tyler, Clayton H. Tyler, Clarence M. Tyler and Royden E. Tyler. There were eight grandchildren when Colonel Tyler died on May 11, 1911. As his second wife Colonel Tyler married Mrs. Harriet (Smith) Munger, widow of Doctor Munger, formerly professor at Yale Uni- versity, who survived him. Colonel Tyler donated to the State of Connecticut the original grounds of Niantic for use by the Connecticut National Guards for encampment purposes. These grounds have since been enlarged and are known as the finest in the United States.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 141

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