Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 65

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 65

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Only a youth of fifteen years when brought to Montana by his parents, Hermann J. Lehfeldt has since made this state his home, and all of his inter- ests are centered in it. Up to the time he came to

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

Montana he had attended the public schools, but his only schooling since then was a year's course in a business college. His father then interested him in the ranch, and when removal was made to Chinook he rendered 'an active service in the store and was rewarded by his present appointment as secretary and treasurer when the company was incorporated. It was capitalized at $50,000. The other official of the company is Mrs. Adele Lehfeldt, who is vice president, this being a close corporation. With both sons and a son-in-law, together with Julius Leh- feldt, at the head, there is little danger of the busi- ness being neglected or the requirements of the customers being overlooked. This is one of the most reliable mercantile houses in the county, if not in this part of the state, and the progress is steady and natural.

On June 24, 1903, Hermann J. Lehfeldt was mar- ried at Avoca, Iowa, to Miss Emma Stoltenberg, born in Scott County, Iowa, a daughter of Henry Stoltenberg, a farmer of German birth. Mr. and Mrs. Lehfeldt have the following children: Robert, Roberta, Henry and Arthur. Like his honored father Mr. Lehfeldt is a republican, and he, too, has never aspired to political honors.

VERNON BUTLER. Not only has Vernon Butler of Chinook proved his dependability as county clerk and recorder of Blaine County in such a manner as to win approval from his constituents, but he has the distinction of being one of the progressive ranch- men of the Milk River Valley. He was born in Eaton County, Michigan, October 2, 1877, a son of Edwin D. Butler.

Edwin D. Butler was born in Livingston County, Michigan, where his father had established the family, going to that locality during its pioneer epoch from his native state of New York. Entering a farm from the Government, the grandfather there rounded out a useful life. In his family were three sons, of whom one was Edwin D., who volunteered for service in the Union army during the war be- tween the two sections of the country.

The service of Edwin D. Butler in that conflict took place in connection with Company E, Twenty- sixth Michigan Volunteer Infantry, as a part of the Army of the Potomac. He participated in several battles, in one of which he was wounded, a bul- let passing through his thighs, and on account of this injury he was mustered out of the service. With the organization of the Grand Army of the Republic he associated himself with his local post, and has taken an interest in it through life. Ex- cept for voting the democratic ticket he has taken no active part in politics.

Edwin D. Butler was married to Fannie E. Cun- ningham, a daughter of James Cunningham, and they became the parents of the following children : Charles, who lives at Diamondale, Michigan; Min- nie, who is the wife of L. A. Saunders, of Lansing, Michigan; and Vernon, who was the youngest born.

Vernon Butler came into the Milk River Valley in April, 1899, and established himself at Harlem, being then only twenty-two years of age. He and his companion, Len T. Bateman, made the trip to Montana direct from Eaton County, Michigan. Mr. Butler had learned to be a practical farmer at the same time he was securing a common school educa- tion, and remained at home until he attained his majority, at that time beginning to work out by the month for neighboring farmers. As he only re- ceived $17 a month with board, this neighborhood ceased to attract him and he resolved to go some- where else where the prospects were better. Having

put everything in order at home, including the cut- ting of a large amount of cord wood and laying in a store of ice, he started out on his travels, embark -. ing at Diamondale, Michigan for Harlem. He and Mr. Bateman chose that locality because of the favor- able reports of the region they had received from a former associate who had come west to Harlem a year or so before.

When he reached his destination Mr. Butler sought employment, and found it with R. M. Sands on the latter's ranch, receiving $28 a month and board, but he left that ranch after four months and went to work for George Cowan, tieing hay on his hay press. Late in the fall he engaged with Fairbanks, Morse & Company to assist in the construction of water tanks at Savoy, Montana, for the Great Northern Railroad, and when that job was completed he went to Havre and became an engine wiper in the round- house of the railroad. In a short time the Great Northern replaced eight white men with Japanese, and so Mr. Butler lost his job, and he left Montana and went into the Orofino country of Idaho, on the Clearwater River, and his employment there was "swamping," that is cutting roads in a "tie" camp. This work did not suit him and a month later he returned to Harlem and went to work for W. E. French, a merchant of that place. On April 1, 1900, he changed to the Harlem Mercantile Company, and on July 6, 1901, became manager for George L. Bowles & Company at Landusky, Montana, a mer- cantile firm. Here he remained until September, 1902, when the business was closed out and he re- turned to the Harlem Mercantile Company, and remained with that concern until he went on his ranch in the fall of 1906.

Mr. Butler exercised his right of homesteading when he entered his claim at Savoy, Montana, in 1904, and when he occupied it as a ranch he en- gaged in the cattle and horse business, remaining on it until 1911. He then returned to the Harlem Mercantile Company, with which he remained until March 2, 1912, on which date he located at Chinook and assumed the duties of county clerk and recorder of Blaine County.

As ranchmen Mr. Butler and his partner, Mr. Bateman have accumulated 783 acres of land in the Milk River Valley near Savoy, which includes each of their respective homesteads, all under fence and improved with two, two-story log houses. They are the successors of the pioneer shacks which shel- tered the young men while they were proving up their claims. The ranch is partly irrigated from the flood waters of Savoy Creek, and is a hay ranch and stock farm.

Brought up under democratic influences, it might have been but natural had Mr. Butler given his support to the candidates of that party, but he found upon reaching mature years that he still held to the. sentiments he has had since boyhood, and cast his first presidential vote at Harlem in 1900 for William Mckinley, and has continued in the republican ranks ever since. In February, 1912, he was elected, with- out opposition, first county clerk and recorder of Blaine County, was re-elected that fall, also with- out opposition, and has been continued in office ever since by the voters of the county. During the World war he served as secretary of the local Selective Service Board, and was one of the most generous contributors to the various war drives.

On September 15, 1905, Vernon Butler was mar- ried at Harlem, Montana, to Anna Louella Cole- grove, a daughter of Herman L. and Gittie Cole- grove. Mr. Colegrove came to Harlem, Montana, from Lenawee County, Michigan, in 1902, and has

Samuel Simme Susan Simms

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since been a farmer of this locality. Mrs. Butler was born near Morenci, Michigan, June 20, 1886. After she was graduated from the Morenci High School she was engaged in teaching in the Harlem schools for a few months prior to her marriage. She was the fifth born in the family of six chil- dren of her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Butler have one son, Clyde R.

The career of Mr. Butler is one which points an excellent lesson. It demonstrates what can be ac- complished through earnest, steadfast and honorable endeavor. Thousands of young men came to Mon- tana and were offered quite as good, if not better, opportunities as he found, and yet they have drifted out of sight because they were looking for some- thing "easy," jobs which did not require any exertion on their part. He has always been a worker, and has carried into his official life the same painstaking in- dustry which has always characterized him, with the result that he has been returned again and again to office, and is held in the highest esteem by his fellow citizens.

GEORGE W. COWAN is one of the early settlers of the Fergus County locality of Montana. He came here in the fall of 1889, reaching his destination on the 5th day of that month. He had then just reached the age of maturity and came to join his brother at Box Elder, Fergus County. The brother was a member of the stock firm of Grant & Cowan, prom- inent sheep raisers, and it often fell to the lot of young George to serve as a sheep herder. He con- tinued in this first employment until the fall of 1891, and then began work for the ranchman David Hil- ger, with whom he remained during the winter of 1891-2. In the meantime his brother, W. S. Cowan, had sold his interest in the ranch, and the two brothers then located on Woody. Island Creek on the Canadian line and engaged in the sheep business, the association continuing 21/2 years. George W. Cowan then sold his interest to his brother and re- turned to New York.

He had resided in Montana nine years when he returned to his native commonwealth. He had come into this state with a cash capital of nine dollars, and returned to New York with a capital of $2,700. Once more in the East, he engaged in running a stage and mail line and also in farming, and re- mained in the state for 21/2 years, marrying in the meantime. But the call of the West and the free and open 'life of Montana finally lured him again to this state, and he became a resident of Harlem in 1899 and formed a partnership with W. E. Franch in farming, stockraising and the livery business, this association continuing for about two years, but the venture was not successful and instead of mak- ing money Mr. Cowan was $2,700 worse off than nothing. At this juncture the firm dissolved part- nership, Mr. Cowan retaining the livery business, and in nine months he was $3,000 ahead. He dealt in horses as a part of his business and continued the industry for about nineteen months, and on sell- ing out realized a capital of about $4,000.

He then resumed the sheep industry, buying out W. A. Howard on Savoy Creek, and continuing the business until the fall of 1912, having a ranch of unlimited range and running at the height of the industry 16,000 sheep. Before leaving the ranch he sold an interest in the sheep to Lachapelle Brothers, and with Mrs. Cowan he spent the winter of 1910 in California. Leaving the ranch, he came to Chinook and engaged in the livery and feed business, leasing the old Bear Paw barns and continuing the business

there until buying the Ryan barn, better known as the City Stables, removing thereto in the fall of 1917. The City Stables is a concrete building erected by the Ryans, is 140x60 feet in dimensions, with mow room for 100 tons of bailed hay and with a capacity for ninety-six head of horses.

Mr. Cowan is also interested in and identified with farming. He entered his homestead on the Bear Paw Mountains, sixteen miles south of Chinook, on Snake Creek, and he is now proving it up. In 1916 he planted twenty acres of flax and twenty acres of wheat, with the result of an acre yield of fourteen bushels of flax and twenty-seven bushels of wheat. In 1917 he farmed sixty acres, forty of which were devoted to flax and the re- mainder to wheat, but on account of the drouth that year he harvested practically nothing. In the fol- lowing year he sowed eighty acres to wheat, but another dry year caused him almost a total loss. In 1919 he sowed 400 acres, 360 to wheat and forty to flax, and threshed the total sum of twenty bushels of flax as his entire return.

Mr. George W. Cowan was born in Schoharrie County, New York, in the town of Fulton, August 27, 1868, a son of William and Mary (Watters) Cowan, both natives of the North of Ireland. They passed their lives as farmers and in conducting a boarding house for tourists in the Catskill Moun- tains. Mrs. Cowan died in the Catskills in 1897, and two years afterward Mr. Cowan sold his interests in the East and came to Montana to be with his sons. He spent the remainder of his life here and died in 1903 at Harlem, when he had attained the age of seventy-eight years. The following children were born to William and Mary Cowan: Winfield S., a business man of Harlem; Jennie, who married Jerry Whitbeck and resides in Columbus, Ohio; Elizabeth, who married George Banta and resides in Brooklyn, New York, being now a widow; James Arthur, of Harlem, Montana; Eugene Everet, who died in Nantucket, Connecticut, in 1898; George William, of this review; Charles Alexander, of Schoharrie County, New York; and Minne, a ranch- man north of Harlem, Montana.

On the 13th of April, 1899, George W. Cowan was married to Miss Edith Fancher, who was born near Summit in September, 1880, the sixth of the seven children of Seth Fancher, of Summit, New York. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cowan, Florence Louisa, a student in the Valley City Normal School of North Dakota, George Perry and Arthur Edward.

When he reached the voting age Mr. Cowan cast a republican presidential ballot, although his father was a democrat, and he has continued to uphold the principles of the republican party since that time. He has received the junior degrees in Masonry and is a subordinate in Odd Fellowship.

SAMUEL SIMMS is an old timer of Great Falls, where he arrived and began work at his trade as a bricklayer over thirty years ago. For a number of years past he has been one of the leading breeders and raisers of Hereford cattle in that section.

Mr. Simms was born in Lancashire, England, May 5, 1863, next to the youngest in the large family of sixteen children of John and Mary (Pennington) Simms. Seven of these children are still living. His parents spent all their lives in England, where his father died in May, 1886, and his mother in 1894. His father was a mining contractor, and lived for the most part in Lancashire. He was a member of the Church of England.

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Samuel Simms was educated in Manchester, and as a boy learned the bricklaying trade. On May 20, 1886, he arrived in New York, worked for a time at Buffalo, and on June 1, 1887, arrived at Great Falls, Montana. His first employer was Hon. Paris Gibson, who gave Mr. Simms work at his mines in Sand Coulee. For a number of years Mr. Simms employed his skill at his trade and industry for the upbuilding of the City of Great Falls. In 1902 he engaged in ranching. His fine farm of 486 acres is ten miles east of Great Falls. He makes a specialty of beef cattle, principally Herefords, and also has a small herd of Jerseys. Mr. Simms has never cared for office, and in politics has voted for the best man in local affairs and in national campaigns has voted the republican ticket. He attends the Presbyterian Church.

At Helena, October 9, 1894, Mr. Simms married Miss Susan Heher. The ceremony was performed by Rev. L. L. Love. They have two children, Susan and Frederick. Susan is the wife of Edward Kelton, and has two children. Gladys and Pert. The Keltons are a very talented family, all of them being skilled musicians, and they make a very effective combina- tion and are professional entertainers of great repute. The son Frederick Simms married Edith Forest and lives at San Diego, California. He and his wife have five children, Mazie, Jewell, Frederick, Junie, and an infant not yet named.

JOHN MCLAREN has played an important part in the early and subsequent development in this northern central part of Montana both as a citizen and rancher. He was born in Perthshire, Scotland, a son of a sheep farmer, John McLaren, and was educated in the country schools. The McLaren family have been a part of that locality in Scotland for many generations, and their chief vocation has been farming.

John McLaren came to the United States in 1887, stopping first in California, and although he spent over a year in that state he did not engage in busi- ness there. In the spring of 1889 he came to the Milk River Valley, purchased a team and wagon at Fort Assiniboine, also a camping outfit, and took up a claim one mile north of Yantic, now known as Lohman. His worldly wealth at that time consisted of $400, but in the following year he fell heir to enough money to enable him to buy a small band of sheep, beginning the business with 800 ewes. Later on he increased his flock with an additional 300 ewes, and from the first he was assisted in the enterprise by his nephew, William McLaren, who was then but a boy. They at first lived in a tent, but in a short time built a log cabin, and there they lived for one year, when the cabin was replaced by a small frame house, the cabin being then used for other purposes.

Yantic was at that time an Indian reserve. The Indians camped in the brush quite near to the Mc- Laren home, but they proved very friendly neighbors and frequent borrowers. The squaws made daily rounds among the herd looking for dead sheep, and when one was found they cut out the choicest mor- sels with their small hatchets. The cabin was never locked, but the Indians were strictly honest.

As the years passed Mr. McLaren succeeded in his business interests in Montana. The one inci- dent to which he attaches much of his success was a visit he paid to Fort Benton for the purpose of cashing a check at the First National Bank of that city. But the cashier refused the check, Mr. McLaren having no one to identify him, and he later presented it at the Stockman's Bank, of which

Charlie Duer was then the cashier but later was made the president of the bank. Mr. McLaren asked the cashier for $70, until the validity of the check could be ascertained, when he was to be sent the remainder due him. Mr. Duer complied with this request, returning him all but $5, which he said he kept that Mr. McLaren might open an account with the bank, which he did, sending to the bank all the surplus money he had at that time. During the very severe winter of 1892-93 Mr. McLaren found he had made a friend that did not fail him in all his subsequent years of business.

The few hundred ewes with which he engaged in the sheep business was increased until the flock numbered over 20,000 sheep, but the drouths made it necessary to decrease the number. They also in- creased their holdings of land both by purchasing and renting, and at the present time they have about. 8,000 sheep and a limited number of cattle. The nephew, William McLaren, is now in charge of the sheep and ranches. They still own the old homestead ranch 11/2 miles north of Lohman.

John McLaren was united in marriage with Chris- tina Robertson, and six sons and five daughters were born to this union, three of whom came to the United States: John, mentioned more at length below; P. L., who is engaged in ranching in Blaine County ; and Susan, the widow of John Thibedeau, who was a prominent sheep man in Blaine County. Mrs. Thibedeau is now the companion and house- keeper of her brother John.

John McLaren became identified with the bank- ing business in 1910 as vice president of the First National Bank of Chinook, and he succeeded to the presidency of this banking house in 1915. He served as chairman of the different Liberty Loan drives of Chinook, was a member of the Blaine County Council of Defense, and was a member of the ex- ecutive board of the local Red Cross. As a na- tional voter he affiliates with the republican party, having cast his first presidential vote for Benjamin Harrison, but with the exception of casting his ballot he has had no part in the political life of his com- munity. His only society is. his church, remaining true to the Presbyterian faith in which he was reared.

ALBERT W. ZIEBARTH, clerk of the District Court of Blaine County, is among the settlers who came to Montana in 1889, just before it was admitted to the Union. He is a contribution from the State of Minnesota, and came as a railroad man in the sta- tion service as train-operator for the Great North- ern Railroad.

Born in Wright County, Minnesota, January 11, 1868, Albert W. Ziebarth is a son of William Zie- barth, of Delano, Minnesota, born in the Province of Posen, Germany, February 2, 1838. When he was about eighteen years of age he came to the United States, stopped briefly at Chicago, Illinois, where his father died, and then the family moved to Minnesota, where later on the mother passed away. William Ziebarth was one in a family of two sons and six daughters, but he and his brother Edward A. are the sole survivors.

William Ziebarth was educated somewhat liber- ally in Germany, and was a country school-teacher for some time in Wright County, Minnesota. When war broke out between the North and the South he and his brother were in perfect accord with the former section, and both wanted to offer their services, but it was decided that one of them must remain and look after the family, so they drew

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lots and Edward A. was the one who secured the winning one and enlisted in the Union army. He served until he was wounded and taken prisoner and confined in one of the Southern strongholds.

From the time he secured his papers of citizen- ship William Ziebarth was a democrat, and he has always been active in his party. He served as com- missioner of his county, a republican section, and was a candidate for representative and county audi- tor, but was defeated, although running ahead of his ticket on account of his personal popularity. He has always been identified with the Lutheran Church, and he belongs to the Patrons of Husbandry.

William Ziebarth was married to Sophie Boerner, born in the Province of Brandenburg, near Berlin, Germany, a daughter of Frederick Boerner, and they became the parents of the following children: William, who is a resident of Herman, Minnesota; Albert W., whose name heads this review; Sarah, who is the wife of Joseph Rummel, of Saint Paul, Minnesota; Alvina, who is married and lives at Delano, Minnesota; and Frederick, who is operat- ing the old homestead near Delano.

Albert W. Ziebarth spent his boyhood and youth on his father's homestead, and his only educational training was that afforded by the country schools and a three-months' course in a commercial college. He learned telegraphy and did his first work as an operator at Waverly, Minnesota, from which place he was sent to Montana as train-operator. For six months he ran between Great Falls and Minot in this capacity, and was then sent to White Earth, North Dakota, as station agent and operator. It was two years before he came back into the Treasure State, but in the fall of 1891 was made cashier of the station at Fort Benton, from whence he was transferred to Assiniboine, and remained at the latter point for two years, when he was returned to Fort Benton as agent. Two years later he resigned that position and left the railroad service.

Coming to Chinook in 1897, Mr. Ziebarth em- barked in a mercantile business and continued it until 1907, and from then until the spring of 1912 he was actively engaged in handling real estate. While he was still a merchant he tried to interest the people of this locality in the best industry, and took up the matter with the sugar beet people of Colorado, making trips to that region and doing the preliminary work for securing capital. His idea was to use the water from the Milk River for irrigation of the beet lands of this valley. He had matters in such condition that this industry would have been established had it not been for a suit instituted by the Indian agent at Fort Belknap against the people of the valley, to secure to the Indians prior right to the water. This suit was de- cided in favor of the Indians, and this killed the beet sugar project.

In the fall of 1919 Mr. Ziebarth headed a move- ment to organize an irrigation district extending from Lohman to the Dodson Dam, so as to bring this intervening region of thirty-five miles under water. There were so many small ditch companies and conflicting interests that the project was aban- doned, and another taken up for the merging of the several private companies south of Milk River into a single company, and this was put through to completion, funds raised for the construction of a dam across 'the river, the building of a head-gate and five miles of main ditch. All of this was done promptly and well with a total outlay of about $40,- 000, and by this system about 13,000 acres are wa- tered, instead of only one-third of that amount as was originally proposed. The men who put this

through, headed by Mr. Ziebarth, are landowners of the district affected.

In 1912 Mr. Ziebarth was appointed clerk of the Court of Blaine County, having served as deputy for the first clerk named, and has been doing the work of the office. since a date three months after the county was established. In November, 1912, he was elected to the office, and has been re-elected every four years since. He cast his first presidential ballot for Grover Cleveland at Havre, Montana, and has supported the democratic party ever since.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 65

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