Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 199

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 199

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Mr. Logan entered his homestead about the time he left the Three Circle ranch, taking possession of the place then which has ever since continued his home. His first residence was the usual log shack of one room, and he continued on there as a bachelor until his marriage some years later. He started his ranching industry with perhaps twenty-five head of cattle, and he has followed the plan of raising calves and parting with his steer cattle, his market being Omaha and Chicago. In the earlier days he drove to Miles City, but more recently has shipped from the Crow Reservation over the Burlington Railroad.

After several years spent in his primitive log shack Mr. Logan married and erected his present frame and log residence, a ten room house modern in many details, and other substantial improvements have been built on the place as the demand for them has arisen until this has become one of the best im- proved ranches in the section. With the passing years he has also added to the boundaries of the place until it now comprises 2,000 acres of deeded land and 2,000 additional acres of leased land, and it is stocked with a good grade of White Face cattle running under the brand "Y-5." Mr. Logan has exercised a civilizing influence upon his neigh- boring red men by employing them on his ranch, and in the earlier days upon the Indian irrigation system which he built. His acquaintance with the Cheyenne tongue has been a factor in bringing about a better understanding and a friendlier feeling be- tween the red men and their neighbors, and his ranch is a mecca toward which the industrious Cheyenne looks when the harvest time comes.

Mr. Logan is responsible for the building of the irrigation project on the Cheyenne Reservation, hav- ing taken hold of it for the Government in its incipient stage and built eight miles of the system on the south end of the reservation, naming it the Tongue River Irrigation Project. He has also con- structed an irrigation system of his own totaling a half mile of main canal and sufficient laterals to irrigate 300 acres of his ranch. His farming industry comprises alfalfa growing, although wheat and other grains have been tried for his own use only, and with a seasonable year their yield has been as prolific here as elsewhere.

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At Sheridan, Wyoming, September 17, 1902, Mr. Logan was married to Miss Marie Foster. She was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 6, 1883, a daughter of Dr. L. P. and Cynthia (Knight) Foster. Her father was a practicing physician of Minneapolis. Dr. and Mrs. Foster were the parents of three surviving daughters, namely: Miss Jes- sie Foster, of Sheridan, Wyoming; Mrs. Agnes Lonabaugh, whose home is also in Sheridan, and Mrs. Logan. Two daughters have been born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Logan, Natalie and Virginia.

Mr. Logan's part in the political life of his coun- try has been merely as a voter. He cast his first presidential vote in 1892, supporting Mr. Cleveland. Although he is a strong sympathizer of all church activities he is not a member of any denomination, nor has he become affiliated with any secret orders. But he is regarded as one of the most progressive and influential men of his community, and has been instrumental in carrying forward many projects for the improvement and upbuilding of Custer County.

MICHAEL TREPP. Among the pioneers of Montana who have witnessed the mighty changes which com- paratively a few short years have wrought and who have taken part in these changes as witnesses and participants, one of the best known is Michael Trepp, now a retired resident of Lewistown. Mr. Trepp ex- perienced all the hardships and excitement of frontier life; he was an ox-team driver when that was the only mode of travel; he both fought with and be- friended the Indians; he was a member of the old Vigilance Committee in Virginia City; and later engaged in gold mining. With the coming of more civilized times he interested himself in the cattle business, in which he attained much success, and his silver years are now being passed in peace and contentment at his comfortable Lewistown home.

Mr. Trepp was born in Switzerland, June II, 1836, a son of John Martin and Christina (Belig) Trepp, who passed their entire lives in their native Switzer- land. Of their six sons and two daughters all are deceased with the exception of Michael, who was the third in order of birth. Michael Trepp received his education in his native land, but his trade, that of a confectioner, he obtained in Prussia. He was twenty-two years of age when he immigrated to the United States, making the journey by steamboat and landing in New York City, from whence he made his way to La Salle County, Illinois. Here his first employment was that of pastry cook on a Mississippi River steamboat which ran from St. Louis to Peoria, Illinois, and up the Illinois River as far as La Salle. Mr. Trepp later went to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he remained for about one year, and then to Council Bluffs, Iowa. In the spring of 1864 he left Council Bluffs overland in an ox- team outfit, and after a four-month trip worked his way through to 'Alder Gulch, later Virginia City. During this trip he met many Indians, and this at a time when the red men were inclined to be ob- streperous, but Mr. Trepp managed to keep them friendly through presenting them with flour and other food, and had but little trouble. During the winter of 1864 he conducted a saloon and bakery, and at the same time worked in behalf of law and order as a member of the Vigilance Committee, the form of organization through which the peaceful people protected themselves against the lawless ele- ment and "bad men" of the times. During the spring of 1865 he again moved on, this time to Helena, Montana, where he worked for a time for wages in the bakery business. After about a year he went to Diamond City, where for a time he let gold min-

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ing engage his attention, and finally engaged in the cattle business in the Missouri Valley, a line of endeavor in which he was destined to be remarkably successful.

By the winter of 1884, Mr. Trepp felt that he was in financial circumstances which would allow him to establish a home of his own, and accordingly he returned to his native Switzerland, where, February 10, 1885, he was united in marriage with Susanna Thoni, who was born in that country. They almost immediately returned to this country and located on his ranch in the Missouri Valley of Meagher County, and there was born their daughter, Mary A., who is now the wife of Smyth Bartley and resides at Lewistown. Mrs. Trepp died in 1889, not long after the birth of her daughter, and Mr. Trepp continued to live alone until 1895, when he again went to Switzerland, and on March 24th of that year was married to Katrina Conrad, who was born in that country. They returned to the Missouri Valley, but in 1899 Mr. Trepp sold his ranch there and drove his cattle and horses through to Fergus County, where he settled on Rock Creek. This ranch he also sold later and bought a new property on Beaver and Cottonwood creeks, where he continued his stockraising operations until his retirement in 1908. Since then he has resided at Lewistown, where he is held in high esteem by all who know him.

Mr. Trepp is a republican in politics. From a vast store of reminiscence he can draw many pictures in words of the early days of the region and is a most interesting conversationalist. He has always been a lover of race horses and in his day has been the owner of some valuable animals, including the famous "Snip." About this animal a number of stories are told, the principal one being the time it defeated the two crack racers, which were favorites in the betting, owned by a Mr. Baker. This match race, held during the '8os, is still well remembered by a number of the old-timers.

CHARLES M. SIMPSON. In no region of the coun- try is the value of broadminded foresight and en- terprising action so forcibly demonstrated as in Montana and other states of the West which were opened for settlement after the more eastern ones became overcrowded. The pioneers here found great tractless ranges upon which it was possible to feed their cattle without any expense save for the hir- ing of a limited number of men to round them up and attend to their branding. Even in the winter seasons these hardy range cattle could forage for themselves, and cattle raising was extremely profit- able. There were many of these oldtime cattle men who believed that the open ranges would always be unoccupied, and could not be convinced that changes were pending, but there were others who better read the signs of the times and quietly pre- pared for the time when those countless acres would be divided into individual ranches, and fenced off. One of the men who has been profitably engaged in raising cattle under both systems, and is now the owner of a magnificent ranch which he secured when land was cheap, is Charles M. Simpson, one of the best known men of his calling in the Pumpkin Creek region of Custer County, who has been a resident of the state since 1887.

Charles M. Simpson was born at Boston, Massa- chusetts, December 10, 1867, a son of Willard E. Simpson, a native of Maine and a member of one of the old New England families, established in the American Colonies by hardy North of Ireland people. The family home of the Simpsons for sev- eral generations was at Andover, Maine, from which place Willard E. Simpson in young manhood went

to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was there en- gaged in box manufacturing for some years. The rigors of the New England climate were too much for his health, and because of a rheumatic af- fliction, he removed to Texas, hoping to benefit from a milder temperature. He died at Gonzales, Texas in 1895, aged seventy-one years. All his mature years he cast his vote as a democrat. He was a Universalist in his religious faith. Willard E. Simpson was married in Maine to Hannah J. Mower, born in Maine and the daughter of a farmer. She died at Kingsville, Texas, in 19II, aged seventy-two years. Their children were as fol- lows: Willard L., who lives at San Antonio, Texas; Wallace B., who at one time was a resident of At- lanta, Georgia; Melville M., who lives at McClave, Colorado; Charles M., whose name heads this re- view; and Alice G., who married Leslie Given of Summit, New Jersey; Hattie C., who married Thomas Colston of Kingsville, Texas; and Mabel, who is the wife of Luther Noe of Billings, Mon- tana.

Remaining with his parents, Charles M. Simpson accompanied them to Texas and was reared in Gon- zales County, his educational training being ac- quired from the subscription schools of that region. During his formative period he worked on his father's farm and turned naturally toward stock handling. His first employment after leaving the parental roof was as a cowboy with the Kokernot Cattle Company, one of the largest cattle operators of that part of Texas. Mr. Simpson went into the trail business with this outfit, and first made a trip in 1886, with a big herd to Hunnewell, Kansas, and in 1887, came into Montana with a bunch of 6,000 cattle for "Dick" Worsham of Henrietta, Texas, another extensive cattle operator of the "Lone Star" State. The cattle were delivered on the Little Dry, north of Miles City, to the Home Cattle Com- pany. This bunch of cattle started May Io, and was delivered October 17 following.

In the fall of 1887 Mr. Simpson went to work for the Mankato Cattle Company and when work was scarce in the winters, did chores for his board and lodging, the latter usually being whatever spot he lay down upon wrapped in his blanket. In the following spring he began working for the Here- ford Cattle Company, and remained with this or- ganization for nine or ten years. During that pe- riod he invested his savings in steers and ran them on the range. When he filed on his homestead in 1898, he had sufficient capital to lay the foundation for his present prosperity as a ranchman.

His pioneer home was a small frame house 12 by 14 feet, and in the fall of 1898 he established himself permanently in this home. For some years he ranged his cattle, and then bought two sections of land on the ten equal payment plan for $1.50 per acre, and later bought other railroad lands on contract for $2.60 to $5.40 per acre until his ranch comprised from 7,000 to 8,000 acres of land. At first he was running range cattle and horses, but finally has drifted into the growing of Short Horn and Hereford cattle, which he believes to be the best for this region.

On November 16, 1898, Charles M. Simpson was united in marriage at the ranch of Walter Shy, on the East Fork of Otter Creek, to Maggie S. Shy. Walter Shy came into the state in 1890, and here established himself as a ranchman. It is believed that he was a native of Kentucky, and from that state went to Missouri, and thence to New Mexico, his place of residence immediately prior to migrat- ing to Montana. All of his active life he was en- gaged in either farming or ranching. While living

Mrs. Chas M. Simpson

CMSimpson 1

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in Clay County, Missouri, Walter Shy was married to Jennie Elliott, a daughter of James Elliott, prob- ably also a native of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Shy had the following children: James D., who lives at Ashland, Montana; May, who is the wife of O. L. Reed of Miles City; Mrs. Simpson, who was born in Pettes County, Missouri, August 21, 1875; Mil- lard D., who lives at Stacey, Montana; Vest, who lives at Ashland, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Simpson have a son, Milton C., who was born in Custer County, Montana, December 7, 1899. After he com- pleted his attendance at the county high school at Miles City, he returned to the ranch and is asso- ciated with his father in the cattle industry, and also owns a ranch of his own. He registered under the last draft during the great war, but was not called into the service.

Mr. Simpson was chairman of his district for the various war activities, and in every drive his district oversubscribed its quota. He was also chair- man of the community committee, and rendered every service in his power to render effective the efforts of the administration to carry out. its war campaign. Mr. Simpson is a Blue Lodge and Chap- ter Mason, and he is also an Elk, and has sub- scribed very generously to the erection of the fine building the Elks have just erected at Miles City. In every relation of life Mr. Simpson measures up to the highest standards of American manhood, and his associates in Custer and adjoining counties are proud of him and what he and his class have ac- complished for Montana and themselves.

EDWARD CHANNING RUSSEL. Probably one of the most complimentary things that could be said of the late Edward Channing Russel is that his record as a public official is brief. He had the qualifications of leadership, was a man of great sincerity and integrity of character, was for over thirty years a lawyer and was successful both in his profession and business affairs. It was his uncompromising and fearless stand for right as he saw it that so frequently interfered with his aspirations for office. A few years ago he was the candidate of great promise, supported by the best and most liberal- minded people, for the office of district judge, and it is known that his defeat was largely due to the liquor interests, hostile always to a man of his character and standing.

The late Mr. Russel was born in New York City, July 6, 1856, and died at his home in Lewistown, March 16, 1918, after achieving a career of real success. He was liberally educated, attending Cor- nell University both for his literary and law courses. His father was vice president and acting president of Cornell University. This is a distinguished family. The late Mr. Russel was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution . and was connected by family ties with William Ellerv Channing, founder of the Unitarian faith, and also a direct descendant from William Ellery, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Judge Russel was graduated from Cornell Uni- versity with the class of 1879. He had overworked at the university and instead of immediately taking up the practice of law as he had planned he came into the new country of Montana, making the jour- ney by river up to Fort Benton, and went out on the cattle ranges. For three years he was in the stock business on Jefferson Island in Jefferson County, and for five years in what is now Fergus County. He took up land in the Judith Basin in 1882, and acquired extensive holdings of some thir- teen hundred acres of land near the present site of Straw. For many years he was known as one

of the successful and wealthy ranchers in Montana, and he also had some experience in the mining districts of this state.

In 1888 he resumed his profession at Helena, and soon acquired a large practice in the State, District and Supreme courts, and also in the Federal courts. For two years he served as city attorney of Helena. In 1910 Mr. Russel removed to Lewistown, near which his ranching interests had been maintained. There he continued practice as a lawyer until his death. He was also identified with many important civic movements, being one of the incorporators of the State Humane Society, out of which grew the Bureau for Child and Animal Protection, and was one of the founders of the Montana Children's Home Society, was a trustee of the Fergus County High School, and a leader in many other community movements.

In politics he always stood for the highest ideals. He was a progressive republican when that phrase was new, and in 1912 became a leader in the pro- gressive party and unselfishly wielded all the influ- ence at his command to realize the aim and ideals of that great party in the state and nation. He was candidate for district judge in 1916, and in 1914 was progressive candidate for the State Senate. Mr. Russel was affiliated with Lewistown Lodge No. 30, Knights of Pythias.

March 5, 1903, he married Lillian Katherine Kolbe, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Textor) Kolbe, of a prominent social and literary family of the south side in Chicago. Mrs. Russel was the second in a family of four children, one son and three daughters. She is still living at Lewistown, and is the mother of one daughter, Ellery Channing, a student in the Lewistown High School.

RUSS A. LOVELAND spent many years in the rail- road service, and on retiring from railroading took up the livestock and ranching business and is now prominently engaged in the dairying industry in Fergus County.

He was born in Allen Country, Indiana, June 3, 1878, a son of John N. and Margaret Ellen (Aten) Loveland. His father was a native of Defiance County, Ohio, and died on June 2, 1917, at the age of sixty-eight, having spent his active career as a farmer in Ohio and Indiana. His son doubtless in- herits from him a love for farm stock. The father was a breeder of Chester White hogs and of many fine horses. He was a democrat, but never cared for the responsibilities of office and was affiliated with Garrett City Lodge No. 537, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. His wife was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and is now living in her seventy-first year.

Russ A. Loveland is the only survivor and oldest child in the family of four sons and one daughter. He spent his boyhood days on his father's farm, attending school to the age of eighteen, and then went to work for the Baltimore and Ohio Railway as clerk in the agent's office at Garrett, Indiana. After about two years he went into the train service. After leaving Garrett he was about five years with the Belt Line of the Chicago Junction Railway, part of the time serving as yardmaster at the Thirty-ninth Street yards in Chicago. Mr. Loveland on coming West first located at Lombard, Montana, and was in the train service as freight brakeman for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, and in September, 1912, was promoted to conductor. He temporarily left the railroad service in February, 1918, to im- prove his farm of 480 acres in Fergus County, near Garneill. and has developed that as a fine grain and stock ranch, handling thoroughbred dairy cattle.

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He is affiliated with Garrett City Lodge No. 537 of Masons, with Harlowton Chapter, Royal Ancient Masons, Lewistown Commandery No. 14, Knights Templar, and Algeria Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Helena. He is also a life member of Lewistown Lodge No. 456 of the Elks, and both he and his wife are members of Marie Chapter No. 36 of the Eastern Star.

March 26, 1898, Mr. Loveland married Mina A. Van Auken. She was born at Pleasant Lake in Steuben County, Indiana, a daughter of Calvin and Mary (Pixley) Van Auken, the former a native of Jersey City, New Jersey, and the latter of Ohio. Her father died in 1911, aged seventy-five, and her mother in 1892, in her forty-first year. Her father was a lawyer in early life, later took up the civil engineering profession, and for several years was county surveyor of DeKalb County, Indiana, and a man of prominence in that section of the state. He was a democrat and a member of the Masonic fraternity. Mr. and Mrs. Loveland have five chil- dren : Russ A., Jr., John W., Helen Mary, Vera Lenora and Allen V.

ROBERT STAVELY HAMILTON, of Lewistown, who recently celebrated his eightieth birthday, is one of the few survivors of that great colonization move- ment which played so conspicuous a part in the founding of Montana during the sixties. He has been a resident of this state for fifty-five years, and in many respects his personal experience has been woven into the history of Montana.

He was born in County Antrim, Ireland, in 1839, the second of nine children of James and Mary J. (Hemphill) Hamilton. He is of Scotch ancestry, and still further back his remote ancestors were among the Norman settlers of England. In 1852, at the age of thirteen, Mr. Hamilton came to America on a sailing ship. He lived several years at Cam- bridge, Massachusetts, and served an apprentice- ship to the hardware business and tinner's trade. In the spring of 1856 he went out to the Northwest. frontier, to the territory of Minnesota, and after a brief stay at Minneapolis went to Little Falls. At Little Falls he became acquainted with one of the founders of that town, the late James Fergus, who afterward was destined to play such a prominent part in the history of Montana. Mr. Hamilton en- gaged in the hardware business at Little Falls, and while there cast his first ballot, voting for Abraham Lincoln. He was a warm admirer of Mr. Lincoln and vigorously supported his policy during the Civil war. He was appointed postmaster of Little Falls during Lincoln's administration. About that time prospects for the growth and development of Little Falls were not attractive, and in the early part of 1864 Mr. Hamilton removed to Henry County, Illi- nois, where at Geneseo, on March 23, 1864, he married Miss Agnes Fergus, a daughter of James Fergus. Mr. Fergus had already come to Mon- tana as a member of the fifth pioneer expedition of 1862. Mr. Hamilton and his wife, together with Mrs. Hamilton's mother and other members of the Fergus family, soon made up an expedition to fol- low Mr. Fergus to the Northwest. Mr. Hamilton brought in his two wagons, a set of tinner's tools and a small stock of hardware. They traveled by railroad as far as Grinnell, Iowa, the terminus of the railroad at that time, and thence came overland, crossing the Missouri River at Council Bluffs and Omaha, and thence up to Alder Gulch and Virginia City. Mr. Hamilton opened his stock of goods and engaged in business at Virginia City, and was soon prospering as a merchant. He also joined with

the other good citizens of that locality in keeping down criminals, and remained a resident of Vir- ginia City until 1870, when he moved to Helena. In 1875 he went back to Little Falls, Minnesota, and traded his real estate there for 225 head of cattle. That was the start of his subsequently extensive business as a stockman. In 1881 he moved his home from Helena to the Judith Basin, where he acquired extensive range and ranch interests. He was in the cattle business from 1872 until 1900, and with his sons frequently had 500 acres occupied by his stock. He was a cattleman and also one of the early merchants of the state. Mr. Hamilton at one time was a member of the Board of Directors of the First National Bank of Helena.

He is one of the early members of Helena Lodge No. 3 of the Masonic Order, and in politics has always been a republican. He and his wife had six children, four of whom are still living: Mary Agnes, wife of George Dillon, Robert E., Thomas M. and Robert S., Jr.

ARTHUR A. FRANZKE, who was superintendent of schools at Lewistown for eight years, is a prominent educator, but doubtless most widely known because of his talent as a speaker and lecturer. Since his efforts as a boy orator in political campaigns in Wisconsin he has been almost constantly on the platform and in the forum. He has brilliant ora- torical gifts, but these always serve as the vehicle for thought and logic that express the views and convictions of a man who has made a close study of American life at the source. He well deserves the title bestowed upon him of "publicist educator," since his work throughout is educational.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 199

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