Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 78

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 78

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In March, 1915, he located at Wolf Point to as- sume the duties of cashier of the First State Bank, succeeding Charles E. Roblin. He has since been the active manager of the institution and one of its directors.

The First State Bank of Wolf Point was founded and opened for business in May, 1913, with a capital of $20,000. The first officers were S. T. Cogswell. president ; H. T. Smith, vice president ; and Mr. Roh- Hn, cashier. These officers remained the same to- day except Mr. Roblin as cashier and G. H. Flint as another vice president. The capital stock is now $30,000, surplus and undivided profits $12,000, and average deposits through the year are $475,000.

Mr. Rathert is an able young banker, and his vigor and enterprise have extended to other move- ments in the history of Wolf Point. He is a stock- holder in the Sherman Hotel Company and the Herald Publishing Company, has served on the school board of the town, and was one of the first aldermen. He is a republican in national politics and is a Scottish Rite Mason, being affiliated with the Consistory and the Shriners Temple at Helena. and is a member of Loyalty Lodge No. 121, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Wolf Point. During the war he was chairman of the local committees raising funds for the prosecution of the American cause, and was treasurer of the local Red Cross Chapter.

In 1916 Mr. Rathert huilt one of the modern homes of Wolf Point, a seven room cottage. He married at Fessenden, North Dakota, March 12, 1908, Miss Mary Scharf. She was born at Spencer, Iowa, July 1, 1889, daughter of Charles W. and An- nie (Jepson) Scharf. She finished her education in the high schol at Spencer and was married soon afterward. Mr. and Mrs. Rathert have two sons, Charles W. and George Kenneth.

FRANK J. TYNER. A resident of Montana seven years, Frank J. Tyner of Oswego is a grain man of much experience and training, and is one of the firm of the Smith-Tyner Company, operating an ele- vator and doing business as a grain merchant in this part of the Missouri Valley.

Mr. Tyner was born on a farm, but since early manhood his work has been in commercial lines. He was born at Canton, New York, August 2, 1866, son of Richard and Louisa (Van Waltenburg) Tyner. His parents were natives of New York and farming people of that state. Richard Tyner, who died about 1870, when forty-five years of age, was the son of a New York State farmer who came from Ireland. The sons and daughters of grandfather Tyner were James, Robert and Richard, Sarah, Mary and Betsey. Richard Tyner's wife died when about sixty-two years of age. Their two sons and two daughters are all living in the far West: John, of Randolph, Minnesota; Mrs. R. L. Perry, of Val- ley City, North Dakota; Frank J .; and Mrs. Major Hunt, of Valley City, Oregon.

Frank J. Tyner graduated from the Canton High School at the age of nineteen, and the following year completed a course in the Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie. After a year of business experience in his native city he came West to Min- nesota and acquired his early training in the grain business in the southern part of that state. For four years he was a resident of Northfield, connected with the Northfield National Bank. From there he removed to Minneapolis and was in the great flour city for ten years, most of the time being in the grain business with the McCall-Dinsmore Company.

On leaving Minneapolis Mr. Tyner came to Os- wego, Montana, in the fall of 1913, and had charge of the building of the elevator, which has a capacity of 25,000 bushels. Practically all his time has been required by the local grain business, but he is also interested in the Smith-Tyner Company as stock- holder and vice president, operating a flour milling business at Scobey, and also in the Smith-Tyner Company at Frazer.

Mr. Tyner began voting as a republican, sup- porting Benjamin Harrison for President in 1888 while at Canton. While at Northfield. Minnesota, he became affiliated with the Masonic Order. Mr. Tyner served as chairman of three of the Liberty Loan campaigns at Oswego. During the war Mrs. Tyner was chairman of the local chapter of the Red Cross.

At Northfield, Minnesota, June 12, 1905, Mr. Tyner married Miss Lucy Ella Smith, who was born in that city March 2, 1876, oldest of the three children of Reuben and Charlotte (Ames) Smith. Her par- ents were natives of the State of Maine. Mrs. Tyner's brother and sister are Jesse D., in charge of the Smith-Tyner Company at Scobey, and Mrs. Earl Boley, of McCone County, Montana. Mrs. Tyner was educated in the Northfield High School, also attended Carleton College of that city, and was a successful school teacher before her marriage.

CHARLES F. HUCKINS. Properly placed among the pioneer settlers along Powder River, and ac- cepted as a representative of the best type of cattlemen of Montana, Charles F. Huckins belongs in a work of this high class. He was born in Kankakee County, Illinois, March 26, 1857, a son of Samuel and Louesa (Redford) Huckins, natives of Ontario, Canada, and Michigan. Samuel Huckins came to the United States when fourteen years of age, accompanying his parents, Joseph and Malinda (Sawyer) Huckins, who located at Momence, Illi-

MR. AND MRS. C. F. HUCKINS

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

nois, and there spent the remainder of their lives. They had three sons and four daughters, and all of their sons served in the Union Army during the war between the states. Samuel Huckins enlisted in Company G, Sixteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, serving in General George H. Thomas' corps, and participating in the battles of Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, and the campaign in Georgia with General Sherman, completing his military ex- perience at Goldsboro, North Carolina. His period of service extended over nearly three years and he escaped being wounded, as did his two brothers, but his wife's four brothers were all killed in service. Samuel Huckins and his wife had the following children : Andrew, who lives at Vancouver, Wash- ington; Lucius, who is also a resident of Vancouver ; Charles F., whose name heads this review; and Mrs. Clara Ryan, who lives at Vancouver.

When still a child Charles F. Huckins was taken to Iowa and lived near Cresco, Howard County, for six years, or until his parents moved on to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and there he remained until he was seventeen years of age, completing his educa- tional training in the public schools of that locality. When he was seventeen years old he began to be self-supporting, leaving home and joining the Red Cloud Agency of Nebraska to "whack bulls" for Pratt & Ferris. He hauled freight from the Rosebud landing on the Missouri River to the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies in Nebraska, and was so occu- pied until two years later, when he became infected with the mining fever, stampeding with the rest and going into the Black Hills expecting to find gold lying in the creek beds by the shovelful. Of course he was bitterly disappointed and used up his grub and money trying to locate "color." Disillusioned, he sought another job "bullwhacking," and found it with Hornick & Evans, plying from Sidney to the Black Hills. Later he met Perry Wisdom, and the two resolved to break away from their old asso- ciates and old habits and engage in another line of work. They took up trapping, and while engaged in that industry they came into Montana in September, 1879, with a span of little ponies and a "trap wagon." Being so equipped they were recognized as trappers. They had netted all the fur-bearing animals of the region, including the wolf, bear, beaver and bob-cat, but as a money-getting venture it was not a success, and once more they were "looking for a job." Realiz- ing that there was much more demand for beef than for furs, they became cowpunchers, but in- dulged in hunting as a recreation and killed a num- ber of buffalo, elk, deer and other animals. Until 1885 Mr. Huckins continued his partnership with Mr. Wisdom, but they then separated, the latter going into Wyoming, since which time Mr. Huckins has had no definite information relative to his move- ments.

Mr. Huckins then went to work for the "Fifty- four" outfit on Pumpkin Creek, on the present site of the ranch of Dan Gaskill, operated by C. B. Strauss, a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and rode the range for him for two years, when he changed to the "C Dot" horse outfit, also called the "969" cow outfit, located on the same creek. The place is now occupied by the ranch of J. D. Viall. After three years of active service Mr. Huckins left this outfit and forming a partnership with Nate Williams, who later founded Terry, Montana, returned to his occu- pation of buffalo hunting. Messrs. Huckins and Williams joined other outfits hunting the bison, and they made "buffalo circle" their camping place. As a result of the prowess of these mighty hunters they chased the last band of buffalo to the Porcupine and other points north of the Yellowstone River, and

then lay in wait for the animals to pass them so that they could slay them by the hundreds and then skin them, as the profit to the hunters was from the sale of the hides. Mr. Huckins took a hunting horse with him, but he used him only to find the herd and get within walking distance of them. He would then leave his horse and crawl upon them and do his execution from the ground. In this hunting he used a 45-90 Sharps rifle, and his kill from a herd ranged from one to twenty-one animals. This gun is still in the community in which he lives and is an object of interest. For three years he fol- lowed up the hunt and of course became an expert rifle shot. The last stand made for the buffalo was on the Big Dry, where Jordan now stands, and it was while waiting for the animals to drift back to them that the hunters found that the buffalo had fled the locality and was rapidly leaving the state. Hunters had been too numerous and skillful, and the buffalo sensing the danger abandoned the old grazing grounds, crossed the Missouri River, which they swam, at the mouth of the Big Dry, and fol- lowed up the Milk River to its crossing the Canadian border, and there the pursuit of the last band of buffalo in Montana was abandoned and the end of buffalo hunting came in September, 1882.

Turning then to another line of activity, Mr. Huckins decided to engage in railroad construction work on the Montana Central Railroad, which was being built between Great Falls and Butte. He bought some teams and took a contract for the grad- ing of some of the line at Alhambra Springs, se- curing twenty-three sections of the road, completing his work according to contract, but because he re- fused to build bridge abutments higher than speci- fied the general contractor and engineer refused to pay for his work, and he never recovered on it. Mr. Huckins then took his teams to Basin, Montana, and put in a cordwood camp and furnished wood to the Boston and Montana Consolidated Copper Mining Company's smelter for two years, and although he made money he contracted rheumatism and had to leave that region and come to the ranch he had located on Pumpkin Creek. For a time he ranched in the summer, shearing sheep, putting up hay and bought some stock, and made enough improvements upon his property to command a price that netted him considerable profit when he found a buyer at his figure.

Mr. Huckins then came to Powder River, bring- ing with him a bunch of mares of Percheron strain which he had picked up while with the "Three Dot" outfit. For several years after coming to the Powder River district he bred Percheron horses, and no others of like quality went out of the state. He shipped them far and wide and they always attracted attention and everywhere advertised the Huckins ranch from which they came. At the first horse sales established in Miles City he "topped" the mar- ket with his stock. In time, however, he found that his sheep and cattle were crowding his horses off the range and gradually went out of the horse business.

As a cattle man Mr. Huckins adopted the brand "YD," but subsequently sold it and then recorded the "R-Bar block" which he also sold, since then running under the brand "LS." He was in the sheep business for a dozen years, but his profits from it did not justify his continuing in it, and he gave up sheep for cattle. Mr. Huckins homesteaded on Powder River, where his improvements now stand, and he has developed a ranch of 1,100 acres, of which 200 acres are in alfalfa. He has always given reasonable attention to farming, but has never raised but one crop in all of his farming, and that

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was of oats. Notwithstanding his preference for cattle raising he has made a record of 75 bushels of wheat and 125 bushels of oats per acre. He de- clares that if anyone will give him as many bushels of seed as he has planted to various crops he will donate as many bushels of grain as he has ever harvested from his land.

Charles F. Huckins was married in Custer Coun- ty, Montana, to Miss Leonora Henning on July 13, 1893. She is a daughter of Frederick Henning, a pioneer on Tongue River, who came to Montana in 1880 and entering land was among the very first to try to farm in the vicinity of Miles City. Mr. Henning was a native of Hamburg, Germany, a soldier during the Franco-German war, and immi- grated to the United States soon after the close of that conflict, locating in Minnesota, where he was married. While living there he assisted in put- ting down an Indian uprising which had resulted in a massacre. In 1869 Mr. Henning made his first trip to Montana, prospecting in the region around Helena and located the "Drum Lomand," a quartz mine, but never followed its development. After two years spent in the territory he returned to Minnesota, but came back to Montana in 1880 to make it his permanent home. During the last years of his life he was engaged in the wool in- dustry on Lilscomb Creek, where he died in 1892, aged sixty-four years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Dorothy Mensing, was also a native of Germany, her birthplace being Hanover. She died in Minnesota. Their children were as fol- lows: Mrs. Regina Suepke, of Stacy, Montana; Julius, who lives at Minneapolis, Minnesota; Fred- erick, who died on Powder River in 1916; Emil, who is a farmer near Stacy, Montana; Emma, who lives at Miles City, Montana, is now Mrs. Chauncey Weaver; Mrs. Huckins, who was born June 8, 1876; Mrs. Fannie Tyler, who is the wife of Riley Tyler, of Stacy, Montana; and Mrs. Minnie Tetters, of Custer County, Montana.

Mr. and Mrs. Huckins became the parents of the following children: Gladys, who is the wife of Roy Geer, of Powder River County, Montana; Car- rie, who is the wife of James Geer, a farmer on Butte Creek, Powder River County, has a daugh- ter, Edith; Mckinley; Charles A .; Clifford I., who holds diplomas in electrical work for the Sweeney Automobile School of Kansas City, Missouri, as well as a diploma as a graduate in auto work from the same school; Lloyd A .; and Forra F.

Although so busy a man Mr. Huckins has never neglected his duty to his county and country. His first presidential vote after the admission of Mon- tana as a state in 1892 was for Benjamin Harrison, and he has continued in the ranks of the repub- lican party. In 1909 Mr. Huckins was elected county commissioner of Custer County on the issue of good roads. He made, the plea that the buffalo trails the people of Powder River were using were en- titled to the distinction of being made public high- ways and that if he were elected to the county board he would accomplish that for his county. Taken at his word, he was placed in office by a large ma- jority, and he immediately began working to make good on his promise. Although it was two years before he could get favorable action, he made up for the delay during the remaining two years by building excellent roads in his district. His asso- ciates on the board were Commissioners Stith and Bateman. The value of his services in this con- nection received tangible recognition by his being sent as a delegate to the first Good Roads Conven- tion of Montana, held at Billings, and there he

gave expression to his views as to the benefits accru- ing from good roads.

Mr. Huckins' activities have been many, and in addition to those already mentioned he has served his district as school trustee, and he is a director of the Powder River Telephone Company and also its president. While on the county board he made a fight for the establishment by the county of a county hospital, and won it against a bitter opposi- tion led by Miles City. The result of his efforts in this connection is the fine modern hospital of Custer County, which gives indigent people first- class treatment without expense to them. Social by nature, Mr. Huckins finds congenial connections in his membership with. Miles City Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. There are few men more representative of Montana's best element than Mr. Huckins. During the formative period of this great commonwealth he engaged in almost every industry specially typical of it, gradually developing into a large landowner and man of affairs. His early experiences have made him big of brains and warm of heart. He can never forget his struggles against adversity, nor close his door upon those in need. Having been one of the pioneers of this region and participating in its development he takes a nat- ural and healthy pride in further improvements and is willing to make almost any sacrifice to bring them about, both as a private individual and pub- lic official. As before stated, his work with ref- erence to the Good Roads movement is exceedingly valuable and his name will always be associated with it in this section, although he is not yet through with it, having many plans for an extension of the im- provements, devoting much time to working out his ideas and securing the co-operation of other men of influence.

MATHIESON MURRAY. In the career of Mathieson Murray, vice president of the Farmers and Stock- growers Bank of Glasgow, is shown what can be accomplished by a man provided he knows how to make use of his talents and is willing to work with a definite object in view. He was born at Wood- stock, Ontario, Canada, March 27, 1876, a son of Robert Murray.

Robert Murray was born in Sutherlandshire, Scotland, and was brought by his parents to Can- ada when he was eight years of age. He was reared in the vicinity of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, and developed into a farmer and sheep raiser on a small scale, being known as a "crofter." His death oc- curred about 1886, when he was seventy-four years old, and from the time he was eight he lived in and about Woodstock. Robert Murray was married to Annie Mathieson, a daughter of George Mathieson, and she, too, was born in Sutherlandshire, Scotland. Her death occurred several years before that of her husband. They had the following children : John, who is a resident of Stratford, Ontario, Can- ada; Jean, who is the wife of Columbus Ross, of Embro, Ontario, Canada; George, who is a resident of Drayton, North Dakota; Doctor Gilbert, who is practicing medicine at Scranton, Pennsylvania; Mar- garet, who married Daniel Murray, of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada; Jessie, who married Crandall Monroe, of Embro, Ontario, Canada; and Mathie- son, who is the youngest.

Mathieson Murray had but few educational ad- vantages, but he was given a practical training by his careful father, and has since found these lessons of value to him. When he was seventeen years old he left home and came to the United States, and for a year was employed at driving sheep from

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

the docks at Buffalo, New York, to the Stock Yards at Chicago, Illinois, for Swift & Company, and then was transferred to Chicago by that same company, and finally became one of the buyers of sheep, and when he left the employ of Swift & Company it was to come to Montana and go into the sheep busi- ness for himself.

In order to gain a practical knowledge of condi- tions in this region Mr. Murray engaged for a time with J. B. Long of the Judith Basin, one of the best known sheepmen of Montana, and was with him from 1899 until 1914, rising from the position of herder to that of partner. Leaving Mr. Long in 1914 Mr. Murray formed business connections with Gordon Jamieson, under the name of Jamieson & Murray, and they became one of the most impor- tant firms of sheepgrowers in the county, running when in their prime as many as 35,000 head, but with the closing of the range they have been forced to curtail their production and now have only about 7,000 head under their brand.

In the winter of 1917 Mr. Murray joined his partner in organizing the Farmers and Stockgrowers Bank at Glasgow, capitalized at $35,000, and officered by J. R. Jamieson as president, Mathieson Murray as vice president, and E. D. Button as cashier. Other members of the board of directors aside from these officials are: W. W. Hurd, Henry Shipstead, W. A. White and Roy Billingsly. The capital of the bank is now $40,000, and the average deposits are $270,000.

Mr. Murray took out his citizen papers at Great Falls, Montana, in time to cast his first presidential vote for William Mckinley in 1900, and he has continued to vote the republican ticket in national affairs. He served as a member of the City Council for one year before he was elected Mayor of the City of Glasgow in 1917, and he was re-elected to that office in the spring of 1919. During his occupancy of the office as a successor of P. E. Kent and himself he has achieved remarkable results in the development of a system of sidewalks, the ex- tension of sewers and water lines and other im- provements, which were made possible by the issu- ance of special improvement bonds for the districts affected.

Glasgow Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Ma- sons, made Mr. Murray a Mason, and he maintains membership with it, and also with the Consistory and Mystic Shrine of Helena, Montana.

On February 22, 1907, Mr. Murray was married at Helena, Montana, to Miss Alice Mckay, a daugh- ter of Alexander McKay and his wife, Maria (Smith) Mckay, farming people, who resided on a- farm adjoining that of the Murrays, and on it Mrs. Murray was born. She is the eldest of six children born to her parents, and the only one of the family living in the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Murray have the following children: Julia Ann, Margaret Ross, Mathieson and Donald Graham. The Murray residence at Glasgow was erected in 1913, and is a ten-room, story-and-a-half bungalow, with full base- ment, the latter being equipped with a laundry. The house is thoroughly modern in every respect, and is in Murray's Addition to Glasgow, the addition platted by Mr. Murray in 1913.

During the Great war Mr. Murray was very ac- tive in the work of the Red Cross, the Young Men's Christian Association, was one of the Four Minute speakers, and a member of the Glasgow Home Guards, in every way endeavoring to assist the ad- ministration in carrying out its policies. He has always had the good of the community at heart, and has found in it his inspiration, and has been able to give to it the full force of his unusual abili-

ties. A man of broad vision, technical experience and business ability, he has exerted his will and brought into play his resourcefulness in the ad- ministration of the duties of his high office, and has handled with tact and success a number of dif- ficult problems.

" CHARLES C. SARGENT. There are few men still actively engaged in the affairs of his community and state who can trace their connection with the history of Montana as far back as can Charles C. Sargent of Nashua, an early merchant of this place and the original homesteader of the present site of the village. He came into the Treasure State soon after it was made a territory, as a soldier in Company C, Thirty-first United States Infantry, and as such assisted in the building of Fort Buford. The American Fur Company Post was then at Fort Union, on the Montana-Dakota line, and the com- pany of soldiers to which he belonged came up the Missouri River on the boat Mary McDonald and landed from it at the fort June 12, 1866. Mr. Sar- gent helped to cut the first timber used in the con- struction of the new fort. He also helped to dig the first grave there for a victim of Indian atrocity. During the three years of his service Company C fought the Indians, who became so savage in their attacks that the soldiers were forced to abandon their practice of going to the river for water, and dug a well inside of the fort to supply their needs during mid-winter.

After his discharge from the army Mr. Sargent became a civilian scout, and served the Govern- ment as such for five years. In this service his duties were to detect smugglers and illicit traders and prevent them from supplying the Indians with whisky and ammunition. This was before the tide of immigration began to flow into the state. The only immigrant train that came through while he was connected with the fort that could be regarded as belonging to this class was that which brought in the Fisk brothers, who were subsequently en- gaged in the newspaper business at Helena, Mon- tana, for 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 78

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