Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 205

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 205

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At the time Mr. Reno arrived in this neighbor- hood there were very few settlers. Boderick & Spencer had a small store on the south side of the railroad; Mr. McDonald was doing a livery business, although he had no barn for his horses, which he ran into a corral to catch them when they were needed, and not long after he arrived Mr. Reno went into the same line of business in partnership with Mr. McDonald. Carl Rankin was the Lincoln townsite agent, and there were settlers scattered up and down the river, most of whom have long ago moved away, new ones coming in to take their places.

Mr. Reno was married at Buffalo Gap to Lula T. Sheffield, born in Texas, and they became the parents of the following children: Roy, James, Alma and Howard. During the period that this country was in the World war Mr. Reno took an active part as a member of the local committee for the sale of bonds, and was instrumental in raising the quota of his community in each of the drives. In every line he has entered he has proved his ability and good citizenship, and it would be difficult to find anyone who stands higher in public esteem than he.

SAMUEL A. HOTCHKISS. One of the interesting features of Montana is the operation of large ranches by men who have acquired the knowledge of their business in a first-hand practical manner, and who have been located in the state since its pioneer days. One of these eminently representa- tive ranchmen is Samuel A. Hotchkiss, owner of the old R. C. Huson property of 3,000 acres, Mr. Huson having been one of the old timers of the Tongue River country. The birth of Samuel A.

Hotchkiss took place at New Haven, Connecticut, the seat of Yale University, January 19, 1871, he being a son of Stephen G. Hotchkiss.

The Hotchkiss family is of English origin, but for generations representatives of it lived in Con- necticut, bearing their part in the development of the colonies into a great and united country. Stephen G. Hotchkiss was also born at New Haven, Con- necticut, January 28, 1826, one in a family of three sons and one daughter born to his parents. In young manhood Stephen G. Hotchkiss was married to Harriet Augusta Stevens, a daughter of New- ton Stevens, also born in Connecticut, of good, old English stock founded in the American colonies prior to the Revolution. Both the Hotchkiss and Stevens families were farming people, so Samuel A. Hotchkiss inherits his taste for agriculture from both sides of the family.

As his children began to grow up abont him Stephen G. Hotchkiss, who was a man of broad outlook and practical ideas, saw that opportunities for their advancement were limited in the old state of their nativity, and so, taking the elder ones with him, he started out for Montana in 1880, mak- ing the trip by rail to Bismarck, North Dakota, and thence by boat to Miles City, Montana, coming up the Yellowstone River. When he was joined two years later by his wife and the other children the trip was made entirely by rail. This pioneer family had an experience, stretching over some twelve years, on land the father entered on Pumpkin Creek, twenty miles from Miles City, and it was a hard one, for the pioneers endured hardships and vicissitudes hardly to be appreciated today. Disposing of his ranch about 1892 or 1893, Stephen G. Hotchkiss moved to Miles City, and there he lived during the greater portion of his remaining years, although his death occurred at Long Beach, California, to which he had gone shortly before his demise, May 1, 1918. His interest in politics was manifested by his strong support of the prin- ciples of the democratic party. A Blne Lodge Mason and Presbyterian, he lived up to the highest teachings of his order and church, and was a man of fine principles and upright manhood, setting an example of good citizenship in every particular. Mrs. Hotchkiss died at Miles City during October, 1916, aged eighty-three years, hers being the · first death in the family. The five children born to Stephen G. Hotchkiss and his wife were as fol- lows: Amelia, who is the widow of A. B. Marvel, of Long Beach, California; Stephen S., who is also a resident of Long Beach, California; Arthur N., who is a Custer County ranchman; Louise, who is the wife of L. W. Stacy, of Miles City; and Samuel A., whose name heads this review.

Coming to Rosebud County when only twelve years of age, Samuel A. Hotchkiss completed his preliminary educational training in the schools of Custer County, and when only fourteen years of age began working as a cowboy, continuing in this line of work for a number of years, hiring out by the month to some of the old-time ranchmen of the Tongue River region, among them being J. M. Holt on Powder River, G. P. Comstock and L. W. Stacy. When he severed his connection with the last named Mr. Hotchkiss came into the Grandenburg locality and bought the nucleus of the ranch he now owns, which is called the "bar L A-" ranch and comprises 3,000 acres extending along the Tongue River for two miles. It has been an alfalfa ranch for a number of years, but through the enterprise of Mr. Hotchkiss an irri- gation plant has been installed which furnishes

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abundant water for his own stock and that of his neighbors, and he now has only 150 acres in alfalfa, devoting the remainder to raising White Face and Durham cattle and sheep. This ranch is in district No. 26 of Rosebud County, and Mr. Hotchkiss is serving it as a member of the school board. In 1896 'Mr. Hotchkiss cast his first presidential vote for William Jennings Bryan. His admiration for Colonel Roosevelt led him to support the republi- can ticket, but in 1912 and 1916 he returned to the fold of his own party. Mr. Hotchkiss is a Blue Lodge and Chapter Mason, and a man of the high- est standing in his community. .

On September 21, 1904, he was married at Cher- okee, Iowa, to Miss Myrte Chick, a daughter of William B. Chick, born at Limington, Maine. Dur- ing the war between the states he served for two and one-half years as a member of the First Maine Battery in the Army of the Shenandoah, and under the command of General Sheridan. Soon after the declaration of peace Mr. Chick went to Chicago, Illinois, and thence to the lumber woods of Michigan. Still later he joined his brother-in- law in a trip to Cherokee, Iowa, and was so pleased with conditions there that he remained, and for twenty years was one of the officials of the county, and established an extensive abstract business. In February, 1873, Mr. Chick married 'Miss Sarah Delaney, of West Bend, Wisconsin, whose parents, Mitchell and Prudence Delaney, were pioneers in that state when Black Hawk was still a power. After forty years of residence in Iowa Mr. Chick sold his holdings and, coming to Montana, took up his residence on the Hotchkiss ranch. Mr. and Mrs. Chick became the parents of three children, two who are deceased and Mrs. Hotchkiss. She was born August 15, 1876, and after obtaining her education and graduating from the Cherokee High School she became a student of the State Teachers College at Cedar Falls, Iowa, from which she was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Didactics. For the subsequent four years she was engaged in teaching, two of them being at Miles City, Montana, where she met Mr. Hotchkiss. Sim- ilar tastes drew the two young people together, and their acquaintance developed into something deeper. While she has abandoned the educational field Mrs. Hotchkiss retains her intense interest in current affairs, and her home is one of cultural atmosphere. Mr. and Mrs. Hotchkiss have two children, Philip William, who was born August 2, 1909, and Majorie, who was born May 5, 1911. Mrs. Hotchkiss and her children are identified with the Episcopal Church of Miles City, but Mr. Hotchkiss is not connected with any religious organization. Belonging essential- ly to the great West, he has many of the magnificent characteristics of his locality. Early struggles have developed and broadened him, and made him more sympathetic with the failure and disappointments of others. American to the core, during the great war he was one of the most energetic workers in promoting the various Liberty Loans and other war drives, and was chairman of the local committee on the loan drives. Always a hard worker, he has also known how to so systematize his operations so as to effect the best results, and his broad acres, well tended premises and sleek stock prove that such methods are remunerative and inspiring.

B. R. MATTESON is managing editor of the North- west Tribune Publishing Company at Stevensville. For a man of his years Mr. Matteson has had a vast amount of experience and has become well known over a great scope of country. He is a practical printing expert, and is equally talented as a musician.

Mr. Matteson was born in Turner County, South Dakota, May 20, 1885. His grandfather was of French ancestry, lived for many years near Buffalo, New York, and subsequently became a pioneer set- tler in Wisconsin, where he spent his last years. He was a fruit grower.

M. R. Matteson, father of B. R. Matteson, was born in New York State in 1845, but was reared and married in Wisconsin. He lived for several years in Turner County, South Dakota, where he had a horse ranch and also founded and named the Town of Marion. As a youth he served in the Civil war as a Union soldier. He is now living in Wisconsin. He is a Scottish Rite Mason, and in politics is independ- ent. M. R. Matteson married Catherine James, who was born at Dublin, Ireland, in 1849. They became the parents of six children: Mary Belle, Charles Edward, Francis Marion, B. R., Ruby and Pearl.

B. R. Matteson graduated from the high school at Wonewoc, Wisconsin, in 1903. From childhood he was given a careful training in music by his father. He possessed exceptional talents and abilities in that field. B. R. Matteson is a practical master of all band instruments and has appeared in many profes- sional engagements as a soloist. For a number of years he spent his winters in professional engage- ments as a musician, and those engagements covered all the states in the Union except Rhode Island and Texas. As a boy he also became fascinated with the printing art, and from the close of his musical season worked at the printing trade. Mr. Matteson has the reputation of being an efficiency expert in the management and handling of every technical detail of a printing shop. In a number of cases he has been called to a plant where loss and ineffi- ciency were the rule, and after several months had given new life to the business. Mr. Matteson has been a permanent resident of Montana since 1909. He was superintendent of printing plants at Glasgow and Harlowton, and on October 1, 1918, came to Stevensville as editor and manager of the North- west Tribune. This is one of the oldest papers in Montana, having been founded in 1886. Recently it was consolidated with the Register. The paper is published by the Northwest Tribune Publishing Com- pany, of which Mr. Matteson is managing editor and Ashley C. Dixon is president.

Mr. Matteson holds a card of membership both in .the International Typographical Union and the American Federation of Musicians. Politically he is independent.

At Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, he married Miss Claudia Margaret White, who is also a highly proficient musician, being a graduate of the Conservatory of Music. in Indiana. Her talents include both vocal and instrumental. She is a daughter of Rev. P. A. and Katie (LaPlant) White. Her father was a Baptist clergyman and died at Glasgow, Montana, in August, 1919. Her mother lives with Mr. and Mrs. Matteson. The latter have two children : Jessie Hope, born in 1911, and Burton Wray, born February 6, 1919.

ERWIN E. JORDAN is a Montana banker, a former member of the Legislature, and expended a good deal of time and effort in behalf of the creation of Treasure County, of which he is one of the promi- nent citizens.

Mr. Jordan, who is vice president and cashier of the Treasure State Bank at Hysham, was born near Annandale in Wright County, Minnesota, July II, 1880, son of Everett and Iona (Jones) Jordan, the former a native of the State of Maine and the latter of Illinois. They were married in Minnesota and farming became the chief work of their household.

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They lived quiet and industrious lives and were mem- bers of the Methodist Church. Everett Jordan died in 1890, and his widow is now living at South Haven, Minnesota. She is the mother of two sons, Erwin E. and Everett .A., the latter of Clearwater, Minnesota.

Erwin E. Jordan spent his boyhood on a farm in Minnesota, attended public school at Annandale, and his first experience in the far West was during the winter of 1898 when he was at Spencer in the Willa- mette Valley of Oregon. For a time he worked in a hotel and in the spring became a ranch hand for the J. E. Smith Live Stock Company at Pilot Rock. Leaving the ranch, he continued his education, spend- ing a year in an academy at Ogden, Utah, and the Salt Lake Business College. In the meantime, in the spring of 1899, he had gone to Idaho, and subse- quently was in the employ of the Wood Live Stock Company at Dillon, Montana. He returned to school that fall, and after finishing his course acquired the fundamentals of banking by employment at Water- town, Minnesota.

Mr. Jordan has been a permanent resident of Montana since May, 1904. He made his first home at Wibaux, where for a year he was bookkeeper for W. A. Organ & Company, a leading mercantile house. He was then appointed postmaster of the city as successor to Postmaster Davidson, and filled that office and made an enviable record in it for six years. In the meantime he was also appointed and served four years as United States commissioner.

About the end of his official tenure he entered the Jand business, handling new lands and making loans. As an outgrowth in this business he organized in 1910 the Jordan Realty & Loan Company, serving as president. This concern handled thousands of acres of land, located many people around Wibaux and otherwise had an important pioneer influence in developing and colonizing that section of the state. It is believed that not five acres of land had been broken and farmed in that county when Mr. Jordan entered the land business. He continued as active head of the Jordan Realty and Loan Company for some five or six years.

In 1906 he joined some other business men in the organization of the First National Bank, and con- tinued as one of the directors of the institution until 1916. At that date he moved to Miles City, where he represented the Montana Life Insurance Company as general agent for about eighteen months.

Mr. Jordan has been identified with the new county of Treasure since 1917. The Treasure State Bank of Hysham was organized in June, 1917, by Mr. Jordan, George S. Warren, J. E. Edwards, E. A. Cornwell, W. G. Cooley and a number of other local stock- holders. Its capital is $25,000 and its surplus is $6,250. Besides Mr. Jordan as vice president and cashier, George S. Warren is president, O. L. Evje, assistant cashier, and other directors are J. E. Ed- wards, E. A. Cornwell, W. G. Cooley, John C. E. Hagam and W. J. Noble.

April 19, 1906, two years after coming to Mon- tana, Mr. Jordan married Miss Eva Schrader, of Clarence, New York, where she was born July 13, 1880. Her father, Philip Schrader, married Miss Workman, and Mrs. Jordan was one of their four daughters. She was educated in the grammar and high schools of Clarence and after her marriage de- voted herself to the responsibilities of home and the rearing of her children until her death on October. 15, 1918. She was the mother of four daughters, Isabel, Doris, Kathleen and Lydia.

As a banker in the new community of Hysham, Mr. Jordan gave an active leadership to the prosecution of the war, the sale of bonds, and the work of the Red Cross Chapter, in which Mrs. Jordan was a

participant as far as her health and strength would permit. She also served as a member of the Treas- ure County Council of Defense. Mr. Jordan repre- sented Dawson County in the House of Representa- tives in 1912-13, being elected as a progressive and serving under Speaker McDonald, in a democratic house. He was assigned to the committees on appro- priations, new towns and counties and various others. That was the last session of the Legislature that voted for a United States senator, and he cast his ballot for Mr. Walsh, who had won the state en- dorsement for the office. Knowing the work of the Legislature, Mr. Jordan was an obvious choice for a personal representative at Helena for the movement to create the new county of Treasure, and repre- sented the New Counties Committee and worked ardently for the passage of the bill.

THOMAS H. MOUAT. The men who had the initia- tive and courage to brave the dangers and endure the hardships of frontier life in Montana deserve to receive material rewards as well as the plaudits of their fellow citizens, pleasant though the latter may be. One of the pioneers of the Big Horn Valley who has been honored with both is Thomas H. Mouat, one of the very extensive shippers and deal- ers in cattle at Hardin, and first mayor of the municipality.

Mr. Monat began his connection with this region in 1904, as a stockholder with the Crow Indians, buying their horses and selling them cattle, and he carried on this line for three years, and then joined A. P. McDonald and built the first meat market at Hardin. Before their building was completed the partners sold meat in a tent. They had the mis- fortune to lose their substantial brick market by fire, the first of the permanent buildings to be burned, but they replaced it and Mr. Mouat continued in this line of business until I911, when he sold his interest in the market and began handling live stock, first as a partner of Mr. McDonald, but now operating alone, and he ships cattle in as well as out and does a very large annual business.

Long before the most sanguine ever dreamed of Hardin, Mr. Mouat was familiar with the locality, and often participated in horse roundups with the Indians on the very site of the present city. At that time all of the region was wild and uncultivated. Mr. Mouat has been in the West for many years, coming to Williston, North Dakota, by rail, and spending a number of years as ranch foreman on the "bar T" ranch south of that city. In 1889 he left that ranch for Dickinson, that same state, and dur- ing the subsequent five years he was principally em- ployed with the Sutphin Cattle Company of Duluth, Minnesota, and being at St. Paul, Minnesota, during a portion of each year.

In 1887 Mr. Mouat went into Minnesota to handle horses, making his headquarters at Fargo, but handling them in different parts of the state. He imported the horses from the eastern states and dis- posed of them to Minnesota farmers, and then gradually worked into Montana.

Mr. Mouat was born at Janesville, Wisconsin, August 11, 1860, a son of James Mouat, who founded the Mouat family in that state, and also the United States, coming here from Scotland. He immigrated from his native land in 1844 with a colony of set- tlers and made a permanent home in Rock County, Wisconsin. There he was married and spent the rest of his life as a farmer and stockman. Upon becom- ing naturalized he became a republican. In his religious faith he was a Presbyterian.

James Mouat married Mary Storey, born in New York State, a daughter of Ozias Storey, also born

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in the Empire State, who, becoming a pioneer of Wisconsin, continued to be a farmer all of his life. James Mouat died in 1902, when he was seventy- two years old, but his widow, now a very aged lady, survives him and makes her home at Janesville, Wisconsin. Their children were as follows: Thomas H., who is the eldest; Grace, who is a resident of Janesville; Frank, who is a business man of the same city; Margaret, who married A. G. Dupuis, of Custer, South Dakota; Malcolm, who is an attorney of Janesville; and Mary, who lives with her mother.

Thomas H. Mouat was educated in the common schools, and he remained at home until after he had passed his majority, and during that period had learned the horse and cattle business from his father. In association with his father he made his first money shipping horses into Minnesota.

As a contributor to the growth of Hardin, Mr. Monat has participated in its building, and has lent it his influence in all of its progressive movements. When the idea was broached of the creation of Big Horn County, Mr. Mouat was in favor of it from the start, and he was also one of the leading figures in the incorporation of Hardin. He was elected its first mayor, and his council was composed of the following men: Messrs. McMeekan, Gordon, John- ston, Mitchell, Boylan and Morgan. During his ad- ministration of a little more than two years the city government was instituted, one of the big tasks to- wards securing this being the framing of the ordinances. A levy for the first taxes was made, a city court was created, a fire apparatus was provided, and an appropriation made for the erection of the first town hall. The services of the mayor and the council were contributed without charge, and the service was rendered ungrudgingly and cheerfully, all being animated by the desire and determination to give the public the very best that lay in their power.

In addition to his other interests Mr. Mouat is a stockholder of the Stockman's National Bank, and he is also a member of its board of directors. For some years he has belonged to Billings Lodge, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

On January 15, 1920, Mr. Mouat was married at Sheridan, Wyoming, to Mrs. Maud (Fentoti) Gib- son, a daughter of John W. and Mollie (Boyington) Fenton, who for many years lived at Verona, Mis- souri. Mrs. Mouat was born in Benton County, Indiana, December 17, 1874, but was reared at Verona, and came to Montana in 1907, since which time she has made her home at Hardin. Five children grew up in the Fenton home, those sur- viving being: Mrs. C. W. Wilder, of Mount Ver- non, Missouri; Mrs. Lena Flick, of Compton, Cali- fornia; Mrs. Mouat, who is the third child; and Fred D., who lives at Carthage, Missouri. Walter B. is deceased. It would be difficult to find a man more universally liked or respected than Mr. Mouat, and he is recognized as thoroughly representative of the best element of the West.

ALONZO L. MITCHELL, mayor of Hardin and one of the earliest settlers of the place, stands very high in the esteem of his fellow citizens because of his many sterling traits of character. He identified himself with this community when he entered a homestead on the ceded portion of the Crow Reser- vation in 1906, and two years later became a resi- dent of Hardin. Mr. Mitchell came here from Kansas, but was born at New Virginia, Warren County, Iowa, December 22, 1876. During his boy- hood he lived on his father's farm and attended the country schools, later attending those of the adjoin- ing village, and completed his studies at the Lin-

coln Business College of Lincoln, Nebraska, from which he was graduated in 1896.

Mr. Mitchell left his native state in 1902 and went to Oklahoma and embarked in a land business as senior member of the firm of Mitchell & Reat. After eight months spent in that locality Mr. Mitchell sold his interests and spent the next three seasons with the Chicago Lyceum Bureau as advance man, cov- ering. Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Iowa. This experience was one of great value to him and greatly extended his acquaintance over the central portion of the country. He left the road very suddenly and came to Montana at the time of the opening of the Crow Reservation, as he desired to file a desirable claim.

While he was living on his homestead and doing the development work necessary to make it a profit- able undertaking, Mr. Mitchell organized and built the Big Horn Low Line Canal, the first irrigating system in this end of the Big Horn Valley. The system covered about 10,000 acres, and about 90 per cent of this was brought under irrigation and made a productive general farming proposition. When he proved up his claim Mr. Mitchell moved to Hardin, entered the real estate and insurance business and soon had the Big Horn Valley Land & Development Company organized and in good working condition, with himself as president, general manager and chief stockholder. This company has bought and de- veloped thousands of acres of wild and uncultivated lands in the valley and is one of the pioneers in dry as well as irrigated farming. It has large holdings about Hardin, and engages in actual farming each year.

In 1916 Mr. Mitchell, together with a few asso- ciates, organized the Hardin Townsite Company, and purchased from the Lincoln Land Company 800 acres of irrigated lands, in the center of which was platted the Town of Hardin. Since then this company, with Mr. Mitchell as manager and chief owner, has been exploiting its interests and contributing materially toward the development of the locality. Hardin's incorporation occurred in 1911, and at that time Mr. Mitchell was chosen as one of its first board of aldermen, and he held that office until his election as mayor in the spring of 1914. He is still the incum- bent of this important office, having been re-elected to it at each biennial election. His administration is responsible for the following public achievements : A complete storm and sanitary sewer system, a water system with a modern filtration plant now being com- pleted, fifty blocks of bitulithic pavement, and the practical planning of parks for the growing metrop- olis of the valley.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 205

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