Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 28

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 28

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In 1892 Mr. Skylstead came to Havre, Montana, and embarked in the general mercantile business, which he developed into a large enterprise and con- tinued until 1904, when he went into the loan and real estate line, and was thus interested until 1911, additionally being president and manager of the Citizens National Bank of Havre. In the mean- while he had taken an active part in politics, and on the republican ticket was elected in 1906 a county commissioner, in which office he served until 1912, being chairman of the board during 1911 and 1912. Additional approval was shown of Mr. Skylstead's integrity and business judgment afterward in his appointment by Governor Norris as a member of the Board of Appraisers of Chouteau, Hill and Blaine counties. During 1914 and 1915 he served ably as alderman from the First Ward, at all times looking carefully after the best interests of his constituents, while in close party councils he has been trusted and honored as chairman of the Republican County Cen- tral Committee in 1916, and as a member of the Re- publican State Committee in 1918 and 1919. During the continuance of. the great war he was helpful in every possible way commensurate with loyal citi- zenship, giving one of his cherished sons to the service of the land of his adoption, the latter, after gallantry most remarkable, providentially surviving every terrible hazard of war.

On June 17, 1893, Mr. Skylstead was united in marriage to Miss Anna Troye, who was born at Bergen, Norway, and five children have been born to them, namely: Esther, who died in infancy; Ralph F., of whom mention will be made later ; Anna, who completed one year in the University of California, then entered the University of Mon- tana, a young lady of brilliant talent; Olaf G., who is a student in the Havre High School, and Esther, who is yet in the grade schools.

Returning to Mr. Skylstead's eldest son, Naval Lieut. Ralph F. Skylstead, a few words of tribute may be given to a very unusual young man, who is well known at Havre, where he received his early education. In 1913 he received his appointment to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, which he entered in his sixteenth year, on May 6, 1913, from which he was graduated March 30, 1917. im- mediately receiving a commission as ensign. As a midshipman he went on cruises on the battleships

O. S. Skylstead.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri, and had the ap- preciated distinction of being on the Missouri when that battleship was the first of any to pass through the Panama Canal. He also served on the dread- naught Texas. After three months as ensign he was promoted to junior lieutenant and transferred to the transport Finland, later became lieutenant-senior, and during the World war was chief gunnery officer and had made nine round trips across the ocean when the armistice with the enemy was signed. After that he was transferred to the cruiser New Orleans and ordered to the Asiatic squadron and is now at- tached to the Brooklyn, the flagship of the fleet. He was for some time the executive officer of the U. S. S. Helena, named after the state capital of Montana.

For many years prominent in Masonry, Mr. Skyl- stead is a member of Havre Lodge No. 55, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is past mas- ter; of Butte Consistory, thirty-second degree and Algeria Temple Shriners, and hoth he and wife are members of Havre Chapter No. 30, Order of the Eastern Star, of which he is past patron and she past matron. He belongs also to Havre Lodge No. 1201, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of which he is treasurer. He is also financial agent of the Masonic Temple at Havre.

CHARLES STIERLE, one of the old Indian fighters and ranchmen of the Northwest, came into this country on the 23d of August, 1875, as a soldier, a member of Company I, Sixth United States Infan- try. As a recruit he had journeyed from Indian- apolis, Indiana, to Newport, Kentucky, and thence to Standing Rock, South Dakota. His command left the latter place on the 22d of April, 1876, arriv- ing at Fort Buford, North Dakota, where they re- mained until the 10th of May following, and then started on the Sitting Bull expedition. While at Standing Rock the troops had been engaged chiefly in distributing food to the Sioux Indians, Sitting Bull at their head, but during the winter he went on the "warpath," and the troops, with Mr. Stierle among them, gave chase in the following April, journeying up the Yellowstone and camping at the mouth of Powder River. There they met Generals Custer and Gibbons. After a conference of the troop commanders, with General Terry chief in command, it was decided to send General Custer and the Seventh Cavalry to find the Indians, while Terry took his troops by boat up the Yellowstone, but after hearing of the massacre of Custer's com- mand they landed at the mouth of the Lower Rose- bud, where they met General Miles and his com- mand, and they marched up the Rosebud together. However, before reaching its head they were met by General Crooke and his command, the first evi- dence of his presence having been the firing of the Crow Scouts under General Terry into the Snake Scouts of General Crooke, and at first it was thought the Sioux had been encountered. Generals Terry and Miles had a transport train of 182 wagons, and with the consolidation of the three armies, about 2200 troops were together. Leaving General Miles on the Rosebud to take care of the wagon train, the two other generals followed the trail of the Indians up the Rosebud over into the Tongue and back to the mouth of Powder River, where an engagement took place in which a few Indians were killed and one white man was lost. Here the combined ex- pedition dissolved, and Terry's command was or- dered across to the Fort Peck country, where the Indians were forcibly removing supplies from the agency, but no fighting took place, and leaving a guard at the fort the command proceeded down the

Missouri, camped at Porcupine and later entered camp at Wolf's Point, and continuing on to Fort Buford engaged in escorting wagon trains up and down the Yellowstone from that point.

The soldier of those days had a grievous burden to bear. His equipment were his gun, his knapsack and his haversack, two blankets, a part of a shelter tent and his load of ammunition. When on the march he carried two stocks of sixty rounds each over his shoulder besides fifty-four rounds in his belt, and this load frequently proved too much for him and he either had to discard a portion of it or drop out of the ranks exhausted. After the troops joined the command of General Miles on the Rose- bud and crossed over to the Tongue River it is estimated that about 10,000 of these ammunition stocks were thrown away by the men to enable them to stay in the ranks, and the articles thus discarded were always picked up by the Indians.

In 1877 Mr. Stierle went with his command on the Nez Perce expedition against Chief Joseph and his band, which were depredating from Oregon to Canada. Joseph and his followers were civilized Indians, and treated the captives and wounded humanely. General Terry's command never parti- cipated in actual hostilities against Joseph, but the chief was finally taken prisoner by General Miles and brought to Fort Buford, where Mr. Stierle was stationed at that time. General Terry's troops had a supply depot at old Fort Peck, and they guarded steamboats from there to Cow Island, where another supply depot was stationed and which was burned by the Nez Perce Band, at which time enough hams, fine cut tobacco and beans were found scat- tered over the ground sufficient to supply a regiment.

At the time General Miles separated his com- mand from that of General Terry, following this expedition, he organized a cantonment at the mouth of Tongue River, while a year later he established Fort Custer, and Mr. Stierle helped transport goods and escort trains between Fort Buford and those two forts during the remainder of his army career.

Receiving his discharge at Fort Buford July 22, 1880, after a long and arduous military experience, Mr. Stierle journeyed up the Yellowstone and en- gaged in trapping and operating a woodyard, sup- plying boats, etc. Beaver, otter and other fur bear- ing animals were plentiful at that time in this local- ity, and he disposed of his furs and buffalo hides to Mr. Baldwin, one of the early hide and pelt dealers of this region.

Following this experience Mr. Stierle located at Newlon as a ranchman. Sending for his family, which then consisted of his father, mother and sister, he entered his first claim there and engaged in the cattle business, buying his first stock from the capital he accumulated out of the sale of his hides and his fur business. In time he developed a ranch of 800 acres, and also owned a half interest in a section west of this ranch and had a lease of 1,000 acres a mile south. His first home was a log cabin containing one room 14 by 16 feet, with a dirt roof, but this was subsequently replaced by a more permanent home of five rooms, a frame building, and he also supplied himself with a good barn and ample underground sheds for the accom- modation of his stock. He began ranching with the brand "Box S" on the left hip, and carried it throughout his career as a stockman. In 1918 he sold his ranch and stock and has since engaged in the breeding of thorough Holstein cattle, his ranch being located one mile south of Newlon.

Although so long and intimately identified with the United States, and more especially the north- west territory, Mr. Stierle was born in the Province

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

of Baden, Germany, at Asen, May 5, 1857. He came to the United States in April, 1866, in company with his parents, who located at Indianapolis, Indiana, and there the son grew to years of maturity and received his educational training, finally enlisting in the army from that point. His father, Modestus Stierle, was a carpenter, and in later years he fol- lowed his son into Montana and both he and his wife now lie buried at Newlon. In his early youth he married Mary Rothweiler, who bore him seven- teen children, of whom the son Charles was the six- teenth born, and the surviving ones are: Cecelia, wife of Chris Sieder, of Indianapolis; Charles; and Mrs. J. A. Pennington, of Brooklyn, New York.

At Newlon, Montana, on the 12th of May, 1886, Charles Stierle was married to Nora Sartin, whose father, William Sartin, was the bugler in Mr. Stierle's military company and who gave many years of faithful service to the army. . Mrs. Stierle was the oldest of her parents' seven children and was born at Fort Hayes, Kansas. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Stierle have been born four children, namely: Charles R., of Newlon, who married Eda Wyman; Ileen, the wife of George Darling, of Lam- bert, Montana; Alice, wife of L. H. Turner of Sidney; and Annie, who married Neuwme Scott, of Scobe, Montana. Mr. Stierle has always cast his ballot with the democratic party. Living on his ranch home at Newlon, this intrepid Indian fighter, frontiersman and ranchman is at last spend- ing his years in peace and quiet, having earned the true reward of valor and industry.

JESSE CONNER. One of Richland County's largest and most successful ranchmen is Jesse Conner, who has been identified with this region since July, 1900. He was born in Dane County, Wisconsin, March 12, 1862, a son of Jesse Conner, Sr., who was born in Pennsylvania, and who remained in his native state until he had reached the age of twenty years, going then into Canada and settling at Toronto. The father was by trade a pump-maker, and he was en- gaged in that occupation for some years in Toronto, but finally returned to the United States and took up farming near Stoughton, Wisconsin. Subse- quently he removed to Floyd County, Iowa, and after the death of his wife he made his home in Fayette but subsequently accompanied his son Jesse to Mon- tana and spent his remaining days on the Crane 'Creek Ranch. He died at the age of ninety-three and his body was returned to Oswego, lowa, and laid beside that of his wife. Although he lived a quiet and unostentatious life, he never missed casting his ballot and supported the republican party. Both he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Conner, Sr., married Mary Pimlot, who was born in Leicestershire, England, and was ten years younger than her husband. A large family of chil- dren blessed their union, namely: Thomas, who resides in Oswego, Iowa; Annie, wife of Henry Rose, of Estaville, Iowa; William, who died in Sherbourne, Minnesota, leaving a wife and three children; John, a farmer near Noah Springs, Iowa; Belva, who married Frank Barton, of the State of Washington; Jesse, the Montana rancher; Mary, the wife of Douglas Bracken, of Floyd, Iowa; Hattie, wife of Lee Gruber, a time keeper for the Ford automobile factory at Detroit, Michigan ; and Hank,. who died in Washington, leaving a family of five children.

Jesse Conner, the son, was but two years old when his parents removed from Wisconsin to Iowa, and he was reared in Floyd County . until sixteen years of age. His father then gave him his time

and he rented one of the home farms until he reached the age of twenty, going then to South Dakota. It was in 1882 that he located in Sanborn County, South Dakota, taking with him $2,000 and leaving an equal value in property on the parental farm he had worked. He developed a farm in Sanborn County, and was its occupant and tiller for nine years and was also married while living there. Returning then to Fayette County, Iowa, he farmed, dealt in stock and followed the butcher business until he set out for the far Northwest, with Mon- tana as his destination.

Thus Mr. Conner arrived in this state with a fair knowledge of farming and stock buying and dealing, and he brought with him from Iowa 100 head of cattle and two carloads of horses. He at once entered a homestead on Crane Creek, then in Dawson County, and purchased the relinquish- ment and improvements of a settler. This home- stead became the nucleus of his present extensive ranch. He adopted the "lazy EX" for his cattle brand, and his horses ran under the brand "XO," having been thus branded when he acquired them. He adopted the name the Crane and Fox Creek Stock Ranch for his homestead and with the pass- ing years he has extended the boundaries of his land until it extends three miles on Crane Creek and two miles on Fox Creek, comprising seven and a quarter sections. For a period of three years he went to and from the East to his ranch, and lived there alone while preparing it for the profitable enterprise which it has subsequently become. After the third year here he began shipping his beef to the Chicago and South St. Paul markets, beginning his shipments to Wood Brothers forty years ago, and in 1919 a consignment of hogs was again sent to them from his ranch. He grew gradually into the business of horse raising extensively, and early found a market for them in Canada and later supplied the home market for new settlers. He bred the heavy horses, going into the Percheron and Shire strains, and during the period of the World war there was a great demand for his class of horses.

During his three years experience in the sheep business Mr. Conner handled about 27,000 head, the wool and mutton showing a most favorable net re- sult, and brought the ranch the "easiest money" of any stock handled by its owner. On account of the death of the younger Mr. Conner the manager, and also on account of advanced prices during the war period, the ranch began to curtail its output, and Mr. Conner is not now running his customary bunch of cattle.

The Conner Ranch has' also developed into an ex- tensive farm, 'at one time having 2100 acres under cultivation. The growing of flax, wheat, oats, barley and corn has been undertaken by the man- agement, and at times record yields per acre have been harvested. A field of 500 acres of flax one year averaged eighteen bushels per acre, a field of seventy acres of wheat yielded thirty-nine bushels an acre, and the best yield in oats was sixty-two bushels to the acre, weighing thirty-four pounds to the bushel. Mr. Conner's experience with alfalfa has also been favorable, two cuttings a year having been taken from the land with a total yield of two tons to the acre. It has been his custom to feed his grain to his stock, with the exception of the wheat. For a period of sixteen years he sold horses on time payments, and never had an animal returned to him for lack of payments where the party remained in the country. But when the war came on and the boys began to leave for the army and could not pay him 160 head of his horses were brought back to him by the soldier purchasers.

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

Mr. Conner is interested in one of the live mining properties of Montana. With other men of Sidney he constitutes a part of the company owning the mine, the property comprising 203 acres within a mile of the Great Northern Railway and eighteen miles from Helena. It joins the old Alder mine, the rich silver property of former days, and was located by Thomas Paul of Jefferson City. Assays of the ore show the mine to be rich in silver and copper, and about 1600 feet of tunnel have been built and ninety feet of shaft. The corporation is known as the Moose Mountain Copper Mining Com- pany and is capitalized at $600,000. Development on this mine was arrested during the war by an explo- sion which occurred as the result of a mine planted by a pro-German member of the company, but the property is now being cleaned up preparatory to active operation. Mr. Conner is president of the company, William Combs of Sidney is secretary- treasurer, and W. F. Winkelmann of Savage and Jack Turner and John Carey of Sidney are members of the board of directors.

At Mitchell, South Dakota, June 9, 1887, Mr. Con- ner married Miss Chloe,Servoss, the marriage cere- mony having been performed by Reverend Clark. Mrs. Conner is a daughter of John and Helen (Weager) Servoss, farming people of Fayette County, Iowa, where Mrs. Conner was born on the 29th of August, 1866, one in a family of seven chil- dren. The first born of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Conner, Glenn, became his father's assistant as ranch manager and died in Chicago November 25, 1918. He had married Dell Ogee, and they had one child, Glenn Jesse. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Conner is Miss Gladys.

Unlike his father in political affiliations Mr. Con- ner began voting as a democrat, casting his first presidential ballot for Mr. Cleveland, and the only time he has changed his . political allegiance was when he supported Colonel Roosevelt in 1904. He joined the Masonic Order at Artesian, South Da- kota, when he was twenty-one years of age, and is now a member of the Sidney Blue Lodge, and the Helena Consistory and Shrine, and is a member of Algeria Temple. He is connected with the Elks Lodge in Glendive.

The Conner home in Sidney was erected in 1913, and is a large modern bungalow of eight rooms, and the family maintain their home there and on the ranch. At times during the World war the ranch was the scene of hilarity and pleasure, dances having been held there for the purpose of raising funds for Red Cross work. One of these occasions proved an historic entertainment of that region, as the company attending numbered about 700, and 176 automobiles were used to bring them to the scene. The dance itself was held in the ranch machine shed, the floor space covering 96 by 32 feet, and gave room for nine sets on the floor at one time. The entertainment included a feast, which was served in the cafeteria style.

ALBERT E. KELCH. The name of Albert E. Kelch is recorded among the settlers of Montana of the early days. He was born in LaPeer County, Michi- gan, February 22, 1850. His father, John Kelch, who died in 1861, was a native of New York and was married there to Betsy Mills who died near Flint, Michigan, in 1901. They became the parents of the following children : Lydia, who married a Mr. Wilson and died in New York; Sylvester, who was a Civil war soldier from Michigan, and died in Sid- ney, Montana; William, whose home is in Sidney; Susan, who became the wife of Peter Lumeree, of Hawley, Michigan; Almyra, the wife of Caleb Mat-

thews, of Genesee County, Michigan; Elizabeth, who died unmarried; John, of Genesee County, Michi- gan, and who served as a Union soldier during the War of the Rebellion; Truman, whose death occurred in Genesee County, Michigan; Horace, a farmer in that county ; and Albert E., who is the youngest of this large family of children.

Albert E. Kelch during his youth received but meager educational advantages, attending school only until about fourteen, but as time has passed he has added to his knowledge in a practical way and has gained experience ample for a successful career. He made the journey into the northwest country by rail to Glendive, the destination of so many who have settled in this locality, and he came direct from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He had been variously employed before coming here, at farming, lumbering, driving logs down the rivers and as an employe in a furniture factory, so that when he located upon his western claim he practically began a new life amid new surroundings.

The first stopping place of Mr. Kelch in Montana was a mile north of where Sidney now stands, and there he took up a homestead and gradually worked himself into the stock business. Like many of those who are numbered among the pioneers of the region. he was without resources beyond what was required to bring him here. He found in this community as his predecessors and neighbors William Meadows, John O'Brien, the old time merchant and well known settler of Newlon, Thompson Kemmis and the Frenchman Ayott. William Kelch, a brother of Albert, was also among the early ones to locate here, and his claim eventually joined the townsite of Sidney, and he also established the first blacksmith shop in the community. There were also a few stockmen occupying the country, but none of those are here at the present time.

Without cash capital to work with, it was incum- bent upon Albert E. Kelch to give his time to others as a means of paving the way for a more independ- ent day. Shearing sheep every season during the earlier years proved an occupation which would carry him through to the time of haying. His pas- ture ground included the townsite of Sidney and other broad acres of this country, and he ran his stock under the "pothook" brand. As the nucleus of his stock raising industry he acquired three calves, and gradually his herd grew to number al- most 100 head. He was a shipper in a small way, marketing both at Chicago and St. Paul, and horses also entered into his industry, but little profit came to him from those animals. His homestead was the northwest quarter of section 28, township 23, north of range 59 east, and there he erected a one-room log house containing a floor, door and windows and dirt roofed. He first bought the house, tore it down and moved it to his own claim. This was his first home in Montana, and he occupied it for a quar- ter of a century, and most of the time alone. There were few times in those early days when he was not to be found in the vicinity of his operations, intent upon the work of his ranch, and when duty actually required his absence, such as his services -to the public as a juryman, he left some one to care for his affairs until his return.

Wild game constituted a large part of the suste- nance at the Kelch cabin in those days. The buf- falo had all disappeared with the exception of now and then a straggler coming through, but deer and antelope were yet plentiful, and the saddles from these animals which Mr. Kelch brought in and the beans which he prepared in his Dutch oven, made splendid provisions for his bachelor table.

Before he left the farm Mr. Kelch placed bet-

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ter .improvements upon it. He gradually drifted into farming, raising oats successfully, they in fact proving his banner grain crop. When he first came into this country he settled in Dawson County, whose boundaries then extended to the Canadian border, and he later transferred his residence from Dawson to Richland County without changing his location. In the controversy for the establishment of a new county he naturally favored the project and supported the claims of Richland County. When the Town of Sidney was organized he purchased a few lots within the townsite and moved a house thereto, in which he still makes his home. This house served as the first hotel building in Sidney.

Mr. Kelch participated actively in the public affairs of the early days, and the few voters there were in the region then gathered at the Meadows schoolhouse. He began voting as a republican, cast- ing his first presidential ballot for General Grant in 1872. From 1885 to 1892, when the first presi- dential election following Montana statehood was held, he could not participate in national elections, but since then he has been a republican voter. He took part in the erection of "Community Hall" in Sidney, which was long used as the meeting place for all sorts of gatherings, church, political and oth- erwise, and it proved the center of interest on many notable occasions during the formative stage of this community. The logs were cut by volunteers on the Yellowstone and volunteers also erected the hall. When it ceased to do duty as a place of public assembly it was converted into a stable, and this old log building still stands on the outskirts of the town. Mr. Kelch participated in the or- ganization of the Odd Fellows order in Sidney, and served as treasurer of the lodge for many years.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 28

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