Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 76

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 76

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Mr. Dick is also the present mayor of Culbertson. Politically he has always contributed his influence to the success of the republican party, casting his first presidential vote for Major Mckinley. He is chairman of the Roosevelt County Republican Cen- tral Committee and has attended a number of county conventions as a delegate. He is affiliated with the Masohic Lodge at Culbertson.

At Helena, Montana, April 5, 1893, Mr. Dick mar- ried Miss Celia McHugh, daughter of Cornelius and Sophie (Hayes) McHugh. Her father, a native of Ireland, was one of the early gold seekers to Cali- fornia, and came into Montana in 1863, when the chief industry of the territory was mining. He was associated with the early fortunes of Alder Gulch, and was still interested in mining when he died at Helena. Mrs. Dick is the oldest of four children. To Mr. and Mrs. Dick were born two children: Madge C. and Robert H. Madge is a graduate of the Hamilton High School, finished her education in the University of Pennsylvania, and is now as- sistant cashier of the State Bank of Culbertson. Robert graduated from the Culbertson High School in 1919, and is now pursuing his higher education in the University of Montana.

ALFRED WELCH RUE is a ranchman in the vicinity of Broadus on the Little Powder River, and has been identified with this region since his advent into Montana on April 4. 1900. He was born November 23, 1882, in Fort Pierce, South Dakota, a son of Lewis and Elizabeth (Huntington) Rue. Lewis Rue was born in Minnesota, but went to Greene County, Iowa, after he had served his country as a soldier during the war between the states, as a member of Company C, Third Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. This company had the misfortune to be captured by the enemy, was paroled and sent home, but was later sent by the Government to quell the Sioux uprising A millwright by trade, Lewis Rue set up the first wagon ever built in Iowa and continued to work at his trade when he moved to South Dakota. He lived at Vermilion, Fort Pierre and Spearfish in the above mentioned state, dying at Spearfish in 1898 when only fifty-six years old. His widow survives him. She was born in Canada in 1843, a daughter of Zebulon Huntington and great-granddaughter of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Zebulon Huntington was born in New England, but spent some time in Canada, where he was engaged in the cattle business, before he located permanently in Iowa, and there he met his death in a tornado. His son James Huntington was one of the soldiers to enlist from Iowa for service in the war between

the states. Lewis Rue and his wife had the fol- lowing children: Lillie, who is Mrs. D. P. Green, of Greenleaf, Idaho; Jasper S., who is a ranchman on the Little Powder River; Fred W., who is also a ranchman of the same region; George H., who owns a ranch near that of his brother Jasper S .; Alfred, whose name heads this review; Walter J., who is an automobile dealer of Seattle, Washing- ton; and Birdie, who is the wife of Frank Stratton, of Caldwell, Idaho.

Alfred W. Rue was seventeen years old when he came to Montana from Spearfish, South Dakota, and his educational training was limited to the advan- tages offered up to the eighth grade of the common schools, which he did not complete. His first work in the state was secured as a sheepherder for Myrt Edwards on the Little Powder River, for which he was paid $35 per month, and as he had never had that much money before he was entirely satisfied with the compensation. Six months later he en- gaged with Link Wilson for the same kind of work, and he was also employed by James Daly, in the meanwhile assisting his brother Fred Rue in de- veloping a ranch on the Little Powder.

Finally he and his brother Fred went into part- nership, holding sheep as well as cattle, and re- mained together until 1907, when they separated, and Alfred W. Rue moved to his present location, buying the improvements of John Anson on the "Roan Mule" Ranch, subsequently called "Alfalfa Meadows." The name "Roan Mule" was rather a misnomer, for the place resembled little more than the roached mane of that animal when Mr. Rue took charge of it. His first shelter was a three-room log house, which he later enlarged by the addition . of several rooms, and this made the family a com- fortable home for seven years, when Mr. Rue erected his present modern nine-room bungalow, one of the few along the Little Powder River. It is of stucco, after Mr. Rue's own design, and is furnished with Delco lights, artesian water supply and an elec- tric motor for performing all heavy domestic labor. There are not many rural homes in the state which are so complete in every respect, and the Rue resi- dence serves as a model.

Mr. Rue brought both cattle and sheep to his ranch, but has specialized on the latter. During the early part of his experience he sold wool as low as 15 cents per pound, but in 1918 was rewarded by receiving 63 cents for his clip. Owing to his care of his sheep he has had remarkable results. While the ordinary production is from six to eight pounds per sheep, he averages ten pounds per fleece from his ewes and thirteen pounds from his yearling lambs, and as high as nineteen pounds from his bucks. During 1919 general farmers suffered from the great drouth, but sheep growers like Mr. Rue profited, as their wool production was not affected by the lack of rain.

Mr. Rue's ranch comprises 800 acres of land, all fenced, through which Little Powder River winds its way. An artesian well with a flow of thirty gallons a minute was sunk five years ago, and this combined with a reservoir fed by a dam across a canyon, furnishes ample irrigation for all purposes and gives plenty of water for the house and stock.

On February 28, 1907, Alfred W. Rue was mar- ried at Terry, South Dakota, to Miss Helen Estes, a daughter of Charles and Susie (Dunlap) Estes. Charles Estes was born at Carroll, Arkansas, and became one of the pioneers of the Black Hills region, where he was engaged in mining during the greater part of his active life, but his last years were spent at Goldfield, Nevada, National, Nevada, and Mon- tana, he dying at the home of Mrs. Rue on July 28,

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

1915, at the age of fifty-seven years. During the time he spent in Nevada he was a high grade miner. His father, Isaac Estes, was a soldier in the Union Army during the war of the sixties, en- listing from Arkansas, and was killed by bush- whackers while home on a furlough. Isaac Estes married Tempa Hulsey, and their children were as follows: Mrs. Emily J. Lee; Charles, who was the father of Mrs. Rue; Mrs. Mary D. Chambers, of Reading, California, widow of Robert A. Cham- bers, a Montana pioneer, who during his career as a scout for the United States Government gained the nickname of "Kid" Chambers; and Isaac J., who was the youngest born. Charles Estes and his wife had the following children: Mrs. John H. Vincent, of Pittsburg, Kansas; Mrs. Rue, who was born July 4, 1883; and Roy C., who lives at Broadus, Mon- tana. Mrs. Estes was the widow of William Boyd when she married Mr. Estes, and had borne her first husband three children, namely: Mrs. Alice John- son, who is now deceased, Rose and William.

Mr. and Mrs. Rue have the following children: June Iola, Illene Elizabeth, Alfred Estes, Roland Reginald and LeMoyne Charla. The second child, Keith Royal, was drowned in childhood. In their family is Robert Raymond Rue, an adopted son of Mrs. Elizabeth Rue. Mr. Rue cast his first presi- dential vote for Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, but now both he and Mrs. Rue vote the democratic ticket on national issues. They are people of more than ordi- nary ability, and owing to their progressiveness are looked upon as leaders in their neighborhood.

HERBERT DAVID EDMONDS first became acquainted with the Culbertson locality of Eastern Montana more than twenty years ago, when Culbertson was only a trading post for the immense cattle range. He has been permanently identified with the town since 1907 as a merchant, and has been one of the stanch friends of every enterprise launched for the improvement and upbuilding of the community.

Mr. Edmonds was born at LeMars, Iowa, Janu- ary 18, 1875. He is of Welsh ancestry, and the name in Wales was spelled Edmund. David R. Edmonds, his father, was left an orphan at an early age. He was born at Marietta, Ohio, in 1850. Be- ing too young to get accepted into the army during the Civil war at home, he slipped across the Ohio River and joined Company A of the Thirty-fifth Kentucky Regiment as a drummer boy. When his first term expired he re-enlisted in the Fifty-sixth Ohio Infantry, and was only fifteen years of age when the war closed. He was under General Grant in the early campaigns around Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, also at Shiloh and in the Vicksburg campaign. He was shot in the leg at Shiloh and was also run over by an ammunition wagon. At the close of the war he went to Cincinnati and served a four-year apprenticeship as a tinsmith. When that was completed he moved out to Sioux City, Iowa, and went to work for Groniger Brothers, hardware merchants, but a few months later saw an opening for himself at LeMars, and was steadily engaged in a growing and prosperous hardware busi- ness there, from 1869 until he retired at the age of sixty-five. He has done his part as a citizen in keeping with his patriotic record in the Civil war, is a democratic voter, a Methodist, and is affiliated with the Masonic Order. At LeMars David R. Edmonds married Miss Emma Louisa Herman, a native of Detroit, Michigan, and daughter of the Reverend and Frederica Herman. Her father, a native of Germany, was a German Methodist preacher at Detroit when the Civil war broke out, went south as chaplain in the Union army and died

during the service. The children of David R. Ed- monds and wife are: Herbert D .-; Charles W., a physician and surgeon at Omaha, Nebraska; Jennie, wife of Oscar J. Theilen, of Los Angeles; Raymond C., assistant postmaster of LeMars; Mrs. Clair Ewers, of Halbrite, Saskatchewan; Mrs. Roy Cooper, of LeMars; Richard S., of Needles, California; David H., of San Francisco; Esther and Elsie, of LeMars.

Herbert D. Edmonds acquired his education in the public schools of LeMars, taking a commercial course and in 1898, at the age of twenty-three, he came to the Northwest, to Williston, North Da- kota. He became a clerk for the pioneer mer- chants of that locality and the post traders at Fort Buford and other frontier points, Hedrick Brothers and Company, but originally the firm was Leigh- ton, Jordan and Hedrick. As clerk and confiden- tial man of the firm Mr. Edmonds was sent to different points where the firm had business houses, and in these outlying posts he frequently performed the burden of clerical work. At different times beginning with 1899 he visited Culbertson. Mr. Ed- monds is able to draw from memory a quite accu- rate and interesting picture of Culbertson as it was twenty years ago and when its only importance was as a trading post. There were two firms then sell- ing goods, the Hedrick Company and the Bruegger Mercantile Company. Old "Tom" Evans-Winfield Scott Evans-had just moved one of the officers' quarters from Fort Buford to the locality, had re- modeled it and converted it into a hotel. The hotel was subsequently destroyed by fire. Liquor dispen- saries were in evidence as in all frontier localities. The railway station on the Great Northern was a box car, and William Shoemaker of Glasgow was probably agent at that time. All the country was devoted to stock growing, with numerous bands of horses, cattle and sheep. Culbertson served as a place to get supplies for all the region to the Ca- nadian line and east to Fort Buford. Farming en- joyed no prestige with the stock men, and it was only about 1906 when Bill Jackson brought the first binder into the country to harvest his crop of oats that the success of his efforts attracted others to agriculture and proved the grain growing possi- bilities of the district.

During his early years in this frontier country Mr. Edmonds cherished an ambition to become a physician. With money he had earned as a clerk in Montana he went East and entered St. Louis University, performed the duties and carried on the studies of the medical curriculum for four years, and received his M. D. degree in 1904. As further preparation he took a post-graduate course in 1905 at Rush Medical College and the Chicago Lying-in Hospital. He was thoroughly qualified by training for the profession, but had hardly begun it when he abandoned it and in 1907 returned to Culbertson and took up merchandising. The house in which he first worked as a clerk at Culbertson is the one now occupied by the Farmers Mercantile Company. The store in which he established his own stock of goods in 1907 was located next door to Tanner and Bests on Main Street. During the winter of 1907-08 the block of wooden buildings across the street burned, and was rebuilt with a brick block and he became one of the first tenants and has been at that location ever since. Mr. Edmonds began busi- ness here with a stock of clothing, shoes and men's furnishings, and has continued his service as a mer- chant along the same lines.

He not only became a local merchant but has shown at all times and seasons his thorough devo- tion to the town and has lent his helping hand to

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

whatever appealed to the public for encouragement and support. He is a stockholder in the company that built the New Evans Hotel, is a director in that company, and is a "director emeritus" in practically every other community affair. He is a former mayor of Culbertson, was active as a leader in two of thé bond drives and the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion drive during the war, was a member of the Sheridan County Council of Defense, one of the Four-Minute men, and chairman of the Home Serv- ice Department of the Lower Missouri River Chap- ter of the Red Cross. He is a trustee of the Cul- bertson Presbyterian Church. Recently he has built a comfortable home of five rooms as an addition to the town's housing facilities.

At Fergus Falls, Minnesota, in June, 1907, Mr. Edmonds married Miss Lillie McFadden. She was born at St. Peter, Minnesota, July 4, 1876, daughter of William and Annie McFadden. Her parents were married in St. Paul. Her father was of Irish birth and an Ulster Presbyterian, and spent his ac- tive life in charge of Minnesota state farms and hos- pital work, and is now a resident of Mercer, North Dakota. Mrs. Edmonds, one of a family of three sons and four daughters, finished her education in the high school at Fergus Falls, took a course in stenography, and was employed as a stenographer in Minneapolis before her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Evans have two children, Dorothy L. and Harold K.

JAMES L. ATKINSON, M. D. The experiences of Doctor Atkinson of Poplar, one of the early Fort Peck Indian Reservation physicians, might well fur- nish material for a long chapter illuminating many of the conditions involved in the process of civiliz- ing the Indians of Eastern Montana.

Doctor Atkinson, who for thirty-one years was government physician at Fort Peck Reservation, was born in Southern Illinois September 17, 1856. His grandfather, James Atkinson, was a slave-holding planter in Tennessee, but left that state and became a pioneer of Illinois, abandoning his slaves when he moved to a free state. He spent many years near Mount Vernon, Illinois, where he died about 1870, at the age of seventy. He married Winnie Bonner. Their sons were Calvin, Russell, Ezekiel, Millard, Elihu, Willis, Grundy and James, and the daughters were Mrs. Tennie Mofield, Mrs. Jennie Casey, Mrs. Venie Fulton, Mrs. Amanda Richards and Mrs. Tennessee Martin. Most of the sons were farmers, though Russell was a merchant at Mc- Leansboro, Illinois.

Ezekiel Atkinson, father of Doctor Atkinson, spent his life as a plain farmer in Southern Illinois, and was a small boy when he accompanied his par- ents from Tennessee, where he was born, to Jef- ferson County, Illinois. He had little opportunity to acquire an education, voted as a democrat and was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church. He married Jane Richards, daughter of Henry Rich- ards and a native of Tennessee. Ezekiel Atkinson died about 1897 and his wife in 1885. His children were: Alice, who became the wife of William Rogers and died in St. Louis in 1917; Dr. James L .; and Winnie F., wife of Louie Bozin, of Los Angeles.

Doctor Atkinson spent his boyhood on a farm, attended country schools, and secured his medical education in the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, where he graduated in 1879. He was in private practice at Mount Vernon until he entered the government service as a physician in Montana.

Doctor Atkinson came to Montana and reached the Agency at Poplar November 1, 1887. At that time Col. Lloyd Wheaton was commander and the

Indian agent was D. O. Cowan. Other successive agents were C. R. A. Scobey, Captain Sproule, Scobey again, C. B. Lowmiller, and then Agent Modsman, who is still on duty there.

When Doctor Atkinson came to Montana the Sioux Indians were concentrated on the reservation as a result of a treaty with the government, provid- ing an annual payment for the tribe. However, practically nothing as yet had been done toward civilizing the red men. Not half a dozen wagons had reached the reservation and no progress had been made toward the establishment of homes, cul- tivation of farms and other permanent improvement such as the tribe now enjoys. Doctor Atkinson knew the Sioux when they were still possessed of their nomadic and restless habits, living in tepees in summer and log shacks in winter. They were rationed by the government and also killed some game now and then.

Doctor Atkinson's office was established at the agency in Poplar and he tells many amusing inci- dents of the early relations between the members of the tribe and the "pale face" doctor. He had little prestige among them at first, though in the course of fifteen or twenty years he was so busy that he required an assistant to meet all the de- mands made upon his professional services. In the early years the chief disease he had to combat was tubercular, and then the common ills of white men followed, and more and more the cases were re- ferred to the government doctor. He voluntarily visited the various camps of the tribe, and wherever he found sickness he prescribed and left medicine. The Indians seldom administered this in the early years, though if they liked the taste of the com- pound they would consume it with little regard for quantity of dosage, while if it was disagreeable they threw it aside as of no value. Doctor Atkin- son gained his real influence with the Indians by successfully treating some cases of chiefs or lead- ers, and in time there was a rush to the "pale face" doctor rather than the old medicine man.

Doctor Atkinson retired from the government service in 1918, but still has a large private prac- tice in the community of Poplar.

At Mount Vernon, Illinois, in June, 1885, about two years before he came to Montana, he married Miss Nellie Bawden, oldest of the children of Wil- liam and Hannah Louise Bawden. Her father was a native of Cornwall, England, and her mother of the Isle of Man. Mrs. Atkinson was born in 1858 and had a public school education. Doctor and Mrs. Atkinson have an interesting family. Their first child, Dale Earl, was the first white child born on the Fort Peck Reservation and was drowned at the age of eight years. Audrew L. is the wife of Edgar Manley, of Poplar. Iva V. was married to David Willoughby and died at Poplar in Novem- ber, 1918. Vivian L., the youngest of the family, is a student in the Ward-Belmont College at Nash- ville, Tennessee.

Doctor Atkinson is a member of the Medical Re- serve Corps, belongs to the Eastern Montana Medi- cal Association, and is affiliated with the Masons and Woodmen of the World. The Atkinson home at Poplar erected by Doctor Atkinson in 1917 is a modern bungalow, with basement, hot water heat, and its fourteen rooms comprise a generous home for a hospitable family.

CHARLES B. LOHMILLER, an ex-service man who was with the regulars in some historic Indian cam- paigns in the Northwest, for many years an Indian agent, and both he and his son were with the colors during the World war, resigned as superintendent

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation about three years ago and is still busily concerned with a number of private business interests at Poplar, a town with which he has been actively identified for over a quarter of a century.

Mr. Lohmiller was born at Davenport, Iowa, July 17, 1866. His father, John C. Lohmiller, was born in the Province of Wuertemberg, Germany, and came to the United States in 1861. He died in 1912, having been a resident of Davenport, Iowa, for half a century. He was a carpenter in that city. He married Miss Catherine Aberlie at Daven- port, though she was reared in the same community in Germany as her husband. She survived him two years. Their children were Anthony, Charles, John C. and Lena, all living at Davenport except Charles.

Charles B. Lohmiller acquired his early education in the schools of Davenport, though his best edu- cation came from his experience as an army man and Government employe. At the age of sixteen he enlisted in the regular army at Davenport. One of his first posts of duty was Fort Sam Houston in Texas. He was with the regulars during the Geronimo campaign of 1885-86 in Arizona, and as- sisted in the capture of the old warrior. In 1888 he was sent to Fort Buford with his command, was also on duty at Fort Keogh at Miles City and later at Fort Meade in the Black Hills. While at Fort Keogh in 1890 he had an experience in the Sioux outbreak known as the Ghost Dancers outbreak, and was one of the regulars engaged in the battle of Wounded Knee in South Dakota. While he was at Fort Buford there occurred a rising of the north- ern Cheyennes, who attempted to leave their reser- vation, but were checked before they had gone far by the troops of which Mr. Lohmiller was a part. In June, 1889, he also helped restrain Chief Black Moon and his band, who had gone on the war path in protest against the execution of the treaty with the Sioux, throwing open the Black Hills land to settlement. Chief Black Moon was held in check at the mouth of the Little Missouri River.

Mr. Lohmiller was in the regular army almost eleven years and was then transferred from the war department to the interior department and given duties at Fort Meade, South Dakota. While in the regular forces his command was the Eighth United States Cavalry.

Mr. Lohmiller came to what is now Poplar, Mon- tana, September 6, 1893, being sent from Fort Meade as chief clerk of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. He continued to discharge his duties as chief clerk until February I, 1905, when he was made superin- tendent of the agency. He was superintendent until February 28, 1917, a month more than twelve years, the longest incumbency of any superintendent at Fort Peck. His superintendency makes a notable chapter in the history of the reservation. 'During that time the tribal relations were dissolved, the lands were allotted to individual Indians, an irri- gation system established and partly developed, the schools were made instruments for the practical education of Indians in technical and industrial lines, and every encouragement. was afforded to the Indians to farm their allotments. Also during his superintendency ten townsites were opened on the reservation and the remainder of the lands thrown open to white settlement and citizenship was granted to a number of the more competent red men.

In the meantime Major Lohmiller had also iden- tified himself with various enterprises in the Town of Poplar and when he retired from the Govern- ment service he found these interests to include banking, drugs and the land business. He is a di-

rector of the Traders State Bank, was the first president of the First National Bank of Brockton, and for a number of years was active in the cat- tle business. He was organizer of the company which constructed the Gateway Hotel of Poplar, and is still the company's president. As an old army man he heeded the patriotic call at the time of the World war, and on September 14, 1918, was com- missioned a first lieutenant in the Quartermaster's Corps. He was promoted to captain of the Corps and discharged at Camp Stewart, Virginia, May 21, 1919. Mr. Lohmiller is a democrat and his impor- tant connections with various affairs have made him one of the widely known citizens of the state.

Major Lohmiller married at Sidney, Montana, De- cember 12, 1895, Miss Mary K. Obergfell. She is a daughter of Matthew Obergfell, and a sister of the several Obergfell brothers of the Sidney lo- cality who are mentioned elsewhere in this publi- cation. Mr. and Mrs. Lohmiller have one son, Mat- thew, associated with his father in the drug busi- ness. Matthew Lohmiller volunteered in May, 1917, joining B Troop of the Three Hundred and Twelfth Cavalry at Fort D. A. Russell in Wyoming. He was sent to the officers training camp at Camp Pike, Arkansas, and three months later was commissioned a second lieutenant. He received his honorable dis- charge at Camp Custer, Michigan, in June, 1919, and at once returned to Poplar and began his busi- ness career with his father.

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 76

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