Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 94

Author: Stout, Tom, 1879- ed
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 1144

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

for many years was a furniture merchant. The oldest of Mr. Thien's children is Robert R., who at- tended St. John's University and several business colleges and is now in the advertising business at Detroit, being vice president of the Walter F. Zim- mer Company of that city. In September, 1917, he enlisted, was trained at Camp Dix, New Jer- sey, and was commissioned first lieutenant in in- fantry. He was mustered out of the army in De- cember, 1918. The second child is Clara, a grad- uate of the School of Arts at Detroit and the wife of Floyd Dickinson, who is in the automobile busi- ness at Spokane, Washington. Leo H. Thien, who graduated from the State Agricultural College at Fargo, North Dakota, is a civil engineer by profes- sion and a resident of New York City. In the early summer of 1917 he enlisted, was trained at Camp Lee, Virginia, joined the Two Hundred and . Fourteenth Engineers, and went overseas in June, 1918. He performed some of the duties for which the American engineers were noted in the St. Mihiel and Argonne campaigns, and was returned to this country in February, 1919, and mustered out with the rank of first lieutenant. The fourth of the family is Frances K., a graduate of the Fargo High School and in the employ of the State Bank of Ryegate. Edmund J. Thien, who joined the Montana National Guards while a student in the State Agricultural College at Bozeman, did duty on the Mexican border in 1916 and in 1917 was called again to the Federal service, attending the officers' training school at the Presidio, California, and was commissioned a second lieutenant. Later he joined the Aviation Corps, and was in that de- partment until mustered out in November, 1919. He was killed in an accident at Big Timber July 31, 1920, while engaged in electrical work at that place. The younger children of Mr. Thien are: Ray- mond, a fruit farmer at Grandview, near Yakima, Washington; Lucile, a graduate of the Billings High School and at home; Erminilde, a student in St. Vincent's Academy, Helena; Wilfred, who attends the Billings High School; and Harold, the youngest, who attends the parochial schools at . Bil- lings.

J. PETER P. HEALY is a well educated lawyer, and has been in successful and active practice at Mel- stone for the past six years. The ownership of con- siderable farm and ranch properties around Mel- stone affords him diversion from his law practice.

Mr. Healy was born near Marcus, Cherokee Coun- ty, Iowa, January 17, 1883. His father, John Healy, was born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1842, son of Thomas Healy, who spent all his life as a farmer in that county and died during a great epidemic in 1849. John Healy was then seven years of age, and at the age of ten years was brought by his mother to America. His mother first settled in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1852, later moved to Lincoln, Illi- nois, where John Healy grew to manhood and mar- ried and where he followed farming. In 1881 he moved to a farm in Cherokee County, Iowa, in 1890 went to Sioux County, Iowa, and in 1907 to the vicinity of Alvord, Lyon County, Iowa. He still owns his farm there but is now living retired at West Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He is a demo- crat, a Catholic, and a former member of the An- cient Order of Hibernians. John Healy married Barbara Kaufmann, who was born in Wisconsin in 1851 and died at Alvord, Iowa, in 1911. Their children are: T. J. Healy, a carpenter and plasterer in North Dakota; N. A. Healy, a farmer and barber at Bainville, Montana; J. Peter P. Healy; Daniel J. Healy, who has a farm devoted to full blood

Poland China hogs at West Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Mary, who is Sister M. Emmanuel in Mount St. Clair at Clinton, Iowa; Eme, Sister M. Hyacinthe in the same convent; Valencia, who is still pursuing her studies.

J. Peter P. Healy attended the public schools at Rock Valley, Iowa, also a Catholic school there, was a student in rural schools in Lyon County, Iowa, and graduated from the high school at Inwood in 1904. Soon afterward he entered the University of Iowa, taking two years of the general college course and finishing the law course and receiving his LL. B. degree in 1909. Mr. Healy began practice at Mor- ristown, South Dakota, in the fall of 1909, but in 1913 came to Montana and for six months traveled as a collector with headquarters at Billings. In February, 1914, he located at Melstone and opened his law office on the 2d of March. He has since conducted a general law practice and owns his of- fice building on Main Street. He also has a mod- ern home on First Avenue, West, and his farms and ranches comprise a half section 372 miles north- west of Melstone and another 320 acres nine miles southeast.

Mr. Healy has performed the duties of United States commissioner at Melstone since 1915. He is a republican, a Catholic, a third degree Knight of Columbus, having affiliation with Miles City Coun- cil No. 1518, and is a member of the Musselshell County Bar Association and the Commercial Law League of America. He is also secretary of the Melstone Commercial Club.

In 1916, at Melstone, he married Miss Cecile H. Aikins, daughter of Charles F. and Harriet (Fisher) Aikins. Her father homesteaded in 1911, and he and his wife still live on their ranch seven miles southeast of Melstone. Mrs. Healy is a grad- uate of the high school of West Liberty, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Healy have two children: J. Peter P., Jr., born March 12, 1917; and Barbara Harriet, born May 13, 1918.

CORNELIUS FRANCIS KELLEY was born at Mineral Hill, Nevada, February 10, 1875, son of Jeremiah C. and Hannah (Murphy) Kelley. His parents lo- cated at Butte, Montana, in April, 1883, when he was eight years of age, and he acquired his early education in that city, graduating from the Butte High School in 1892. He received the degree of LL. B. from the University of Michigan in 1898, and at once began general practice in Butte. He served as assistant county attorney of Silver Bow County, Montana, from 1899 to 1901, and during that same period was a member of the Montana House of Representatives. In 1900 he was a candi- date of the independent democratic party for Con- gress.

In 1901 Mr. Kelley entered the legal department of the Anaconda Copper Mining Company at Butte as a member of the staff. He was appointed chief counsel in 1908, In 1911 he became vice president and a director and in 1918 was elected president of the company, which office he now holds.

Mr. Kelley is also president and a director of the Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company, the Intermountain Power Company, International Smelt- ing Company and the Butte, Anaconda and Pacific Railway Company. He is vice president and a di- rector of the Potrerillos Railway Company, the San- tiago Mining Company, the Andes Copper Mining Company and the Greene Cananea Copper Company. He is a director of the Andes Exploration Company of Delaware, Andes Exploration Company of Maine, Butte Water Company, Raritan Copper Works, United Metals Selling Company, International Lead

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

Refining Company, Anaconda Lead Products Com- pany, Arizona Oil Company, Guaranty Trust Com- pany of New York and Western Montana National Bank of Missoula, Montana.

Mr. Kelley is a member of the American Insti- tute of Mining Engineers, the American Bar Asso- ciation and the Montana State Bar Association. He is a member of the Silver Bow Club of Butte, Mon- tana, the Montana Club of Helena, Montana, and, in New York City, has membership in the University of Michigan Club, Metropolitan Club, The Links, New York Athletic Club, Sleepy Hollow Country Club and Rocky Mountain Club.

Mr. Kelley is a Catholic in religion, and a mem- ber of the Knights of Columbus, the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Elks. He votes as a demo- crat.

On June 3, 1903, he married Miss Mary Trem- blay, of Missoula, Montana, a daughter of Dr. J. A. Tremblay, a distinguished Montana physician. They have five daughters, Katherine, Dorothy, Frances, Cornelia and Mary.

FRANK E. HARDY is a Richland County farmer and at the present time one of the board of county commissioners. He dates his permanent advent into the county from the 9th of June, 1909. Like most homeseekers of the Northwest, he immediately be- gan looking for a proper place to exercise his home- stead right to a part of the public domain, and selected its site two miles from Sioux Pass, in the northeast portion of the county.

Mr. Hardy, however, began his Montana career at Mondak, whither he arrived by train from Wis- consin, a young, unmarried man, and his first home was the proverbial shack of lumber, shingled and containing three rooms. He brought with him twelve head of horses, with the intention of engaging ex- tensively in dry farming.

He was accompanied on the trip to this state by his brother John T. Hardy, and they obtained home- steads near each other, and are still neighbors and farmers. A sister also came with them, she being now Mrs. William Lewis, and this family are also located in the community and are numbered among the homemakers of the county. But this trio of Hardys were not the pioneers of the family in Mon- tana, that honor resting with Sam Hardy, who was closely followed in this westward journey by Charles and Henry Hardy, and these three brothers formed a company and engaged in the cattle business in the northern part of old Dawson County, and they have since remained in that locality or not far removed from it.

Frank E. Hardy has followed his early plans as regarding farming and grain growing, and is numbered among those who have achieved success as agriculturists in this locality. Of the ten crop years he has witnessed in Montana in not one has he failed to harvest a crop, his wheat, oats and flax yielding him twenty-six bushels to the acre, and alfalfa is one of his favorite forage crops, for it matures well on dry land. Mr. Hardy's success has permitted him to add to his domain 280 acres by purchase, and his entire 11/4 sections is in one body and all fenced and improved with substantial buildings. His residence is a seven-room house, modern in its appointments, and his barn, 42 by 38 feet in dimensions, furnishes ample accommodations for the horses used on the ranch.

During the time Mr. Hardy has been a resident of Richland County from ten to fifteen school dis- tricts have been formed from the original one on which he settled, and he is now located in school district No. 26 and has been active in maintaining

the standard of its schools. Since becoming a voter he has taken an active part in local politics, and in 1912 he was elected a member of the board of county commissioners to succeed C. P. Collins. He was re-elected at the expiration of his first term, defeating his fusion opponent who was endorsed by . the non-partisan league. He has served with Com- missioners John Bawden and O. H. Conkrite, and with Commissioners Henry Mikler and Arthur White, the two latter, with Mr. Hardy, constitut- ing the present Board of Commissioners of Rich- land County. He has worked diligently for road building and road equipment, and has been influential in the purchase of two caterpillar tractors by the county for the improvement of its roads. During his tenure of office two elections have been called to test the sentiment of the county regarding the erection of a new court house, but both elections failed of endorsement by the voters. On petition of the board of county commissioners ordered an election for the purpose of obtaining local option, which petition was sustained by the voters and Rich- land County thereby became the first local option county in the state. On two occasions Mr. Hardy has been present at board meetings for the purpose of passing upon applications for seed grain for farmers, as provided by the statute of the State of Montana.

Although so closely identified with Montana and its interests for so many years Mr. Hardy is a native son of Wisconsin, born in LaCrosse County of that state October 30, 1881, and his boyhood days were spent on his father's farm there and his edu- cation was received in the county's district schools. His father, William Hardy, a native of Dublin, Ireland, had located in Wisconsin in 1866, and he died there during the childhood of his son Frank. His widow, who bore the maiden name of Mary Ann Agnew, still resides at LaCrosse, and she has attained the age of seventy-three years. She is the mother of the following children: Henry, John, Samuel, Frank E. and Charley, all of whom reside in the region of Sidney, Montana; Jennie, the wife of George Brannen, manager of the Jensen Coal Company of Fairview, Montana; Lizzie, wife of W. M. Lewis, of Sioux Pass, Montana; and Sadie, wife of W. M. Hartley, of LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

Mr. Hardy has never married, nor has he ever carried life insurance or joined a fraternal order. He indulges his love for reading, and this love for books and the current literature is perhaps his great- est pleasure in life. He was reared in a home of democratic influence and has supported the principles of that party, his first presidential vote having been cast for Judge Parker as against Colonel Roose- velt, the competitor of Judge Parker in the presi- dential election of 1904.

ANDREW F. NOHLE. In the sphere of business and in the domain of livestock this history of Montana and the Northwest is brilliant with the deeds and achievements of those yet living and yet active in the affairs of men. The pioneers of the first and the second settlement era have long since released their hold and passed into their reward, and those who followed them are the ancients of today and many of them are still factors in the creation of wealth and forceful in the administration of com- munity affairs. Standing out conspicuously among this citizenship in Richland County, and among those whose efforts have counted for both the individual and the state, is Andrew F. Nohle, early settler, ranchman and financier.

He can be claimed one of the contingent of stock- men whose coming hither dates from the last decade

Q.t. Achle

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HISTORY OF MONTANA

of the old century, but he is, nevertheless, early, for he passed over a somewhat trackless region when he felt his way up the Big Muddy in 1892, trailing his cattle toward a new grazing ground, halted them on Milk River and established his first Montana ranch five miles north of Saco.

It was the second trip this young and earnest plainsman had made to the Treasure State when he located his ranch on Milk River, and he had been absent from the region six years since his first in- cursion into it. The unfavorable impression made by a drouth-stricken country upon his memory had not faded away, but he had nourished the hope that climatic action had changed so as to render the region tenable for the stockman and, encouraged by this hope, he returned to a grass-green and well- watered country instead of the arid and parched country it was before.

Upon his maiden visit to the state Mr. Nohle as- cended the Missouri as far west as Fort Assiniboine and there crossed over into Canada and returned east along the southern border of the British pos- sessions to his old ranging grounds in North Dakota. He had gone into the Mouse River country of Dakota ten years before, when there was no white man eye- ing the region as a place of abode and when the Indian and the game animals of the plains were almost undisturbed by the encroachments of the "pale face." He therefore knew the West and felt unafraid to enter this Montana country and take his chances in the stock business with the few "cow men" who had preceded him.

Mr. Nohle was twenty-eight years old when he crossed the Red River of the North and breathed for the first time the inspiring ozone of the North- west. Accompanied by his brother Albert he left Lowville, New York, in 1881 and reached Grand Forks, Dakota, his destination, and there his lot was soon cast with stockmen who had much to do with shaping his destiny and centering his affections upon the stock business. He became a ranch hand, as did his brother, and was employed by men who subsequently chose him as their foreman to estab- lish their new ranch far out on Mouse River, as it was then, and some distance west of Devils Lake.

After a year at Grand Forks, R. M. Pronty, L. B. Richardson and Charley Sprout, associated as ranch- men, sent the Nohle brothers with cattle out to the frontier and, as foreman, Andrew chose his location on Mouse River. They went out with oxteam, too primitive to think of now when we have the auto- mobile and the flying-machine, and the wildness of the region can be best conveyed to the reader by stating that six months passed without a letter or a newspaper reaching their camp. There were no evidences of civilization present save what they brought along; just the Indians and the sneaking coyote and the game animals of the prairie for neighbors. His service commended itself so favor- ably to his employers that Andrew soon became a member of the firm, and he continued so until after he had established himself at Nohle's Lake many years later.

The Nohle ranch at Saco proved to be but tem- porary, and during the four years spent there Mr. Nohle worked the trail, leading north from the Panhandle of Texas and drove two herds of cattle for the Prouty-Nohle Cattle Company over it, pass- ing through Colorado and Wyoming to the Milk River Ranch. It was the old "N Bar N" Trail, and over it thousands of head of cattle were driven from the Lone Star State and the footprints of many old "cow men" still living in Montana were at some time made along its sinuous way. The Prouty-Nohle Company ran its stock under the brands "NP" and

"lazy p" on the point of the left shoulder, and shipped its beef to Chicago from Hinsdale, Malta or Glasgow.

Leaving the Milk River, Mr. Nohle dropped down the Missouri River to the mouth of the Yellowstone and established a new ranch and a new headquarters at Nohle's Lake, just within the State of North Dakota. This region was new and untamed, and he had the use of everything nature offered humanity. His stock ranged up the Missouri and over the region north of it close to the international line, and his brand became widely known over Eastern Mon- tana. With the passage of time he developed an ex- tensive ranch and continued an active stockman un- til 1919, when other matters so crowded in upon him that he established a tenant upon his home ranch and diverted his attention to his other interests.

The Nohle ranch at Nohle's Lake is an achieve- ment wrought with years of toil and waiting. It is a gem among ranch-farms on the Yellowstone and can be referred to as the centerpiece of the mosaic which its owner has conceived and laid. From a stock ranch the property gradually became conspicu- ous as a farm, and 1,600 acres of its valley lands have been brought under cultivation. It was on this ranch that the famous "Grimm" alfalfa made its first appearance, a plant that has popularized itself since and has taken a strong hold on the affections of ranchmen of the West. The erection of his splendid farm buildings, the development of irri- gation under the Yellowstone Valley Project and the growing of alfalfa successfully all contribute toward placing Mr. Nohle in the category of prac- tical men of the farm. He is called the "Father of Alfalfa in the Yellowstone Valley."

Adverting to Mr. Nohle's going to the Mouse River country, and reciting some of the incidents which affected the community where he lived, it was but a short time after his settlement until home- seekers began coming in and a civil community be- gan to assume form. Thomas Freeman brought his family into the region in 1885, and many years later Mr. Nohle chose Thomas' second daughter for his wife. His salary as ranch foreman enabled An- drew to acquire cattle interests increasingly, and he sold many milch cows to the new settlers and many yoke of steers as well, the latter providing the horsepower to improve and cultivate the soil for the maintenance of his family. The claim furnished its owner a source of credit, for he could pledge it for his debts, and it was this provision of our law. makers that made it possible for. North Dakota and Montana homesteaders with bare hands and large families to stay.

As new settlers with little means came into the country they were often furnished work at hay harvest or other busy season by Andrew Nohle, and he thus contributed to their welfare in time of real need. This aid helped them to "hold fast" and to acquire a home, whereas without it many would have had to abandon the country, and their attempt to make a home in it would have proved a failure. There are many who will recall the winter of 1886-7, and the killing frost of the latter year, which worked hardships upon the weary and worn settlers and in which suffering was intensified by the seven years of drouth which followed before the climax of ad- verse weather conditions was reached. During these years of affliction Mr. Nohle and his company shipped in three cars of corn and oats and dis- tributed the grain free among the settlers, another and stronger exhibition of the coursing of the milk of human kindness through his veins.

The brother who came into the West with Andrew Nohle prospered as a stockman and was for a period

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a partner of L. B. Richardson, but was carrying on a business of his own when he was drowned in Mouse River in 1894, while still unmarried, and his community mourned the death of a highly re- spected young man.

While a resident of North Dakota, Andrew Nohle deviated somewhat from the beaten path in which his feet had been trained. He became the organizer of the Dakota Trading Company at Alexander, and spent some years in mercantile life. He accepted some of the responsibility and burden of citizenship when Mckenzie County was organized and became a member and chairman of the first Board of County Commissioners by appointment of Governor E. Y. Searles. He was three times elected a commissioner, was a member of the board that built the court- house and jail at Shafer and started off the road work and bridge building in his county besides placing the county's affairs upon a business basis. Among his colleagues were some of the most ear- nest citizens and good business men of the county. His politics are republican, and he is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

Turning to the origin of Andrew F. Nohle, we find his birth occurred in Lewis County, New York, and that his boyhood days were spent on his father's farm, where he learned the lessons of industry and thrift which have characterized him through life. His education was obtained in the country at home and was sufficient to furnish a good foundation for the broader training which came with experience in after years. His father was Charles Nohle, born in the Rhine country of Germany, came to the United States when a young married man and set- tled in Lewis County, New York. The father passed his life as a farmer and gave his political support, when he became a citizen, to the republican party, which elected him supervisor of his district. He and his wife were Lutheran in religion, and he passed away when sixty-three years of age. Mrs. Nohle bore the maiden name of Wilhelmina Smith, and died when sixty-one. Their children were Al- bert, who is mentioned above; Andrew F., the Fair- view banker; Abbie, who became Mrs. Patrick Mar- tell and died in Jefferson County, New York; Florence married Ed Smith and died in that state; Minnie became the wife of George Rector, of Los Angeles, California; Earnest passed away in New York ;. George W. is engaged in the cattle business in Mckenzie County, North Dakota; Constant is a resident of Lowville, New York, and Amelia, who is Mrs. Miner, wife of a "Miles City boy," resides in Los Angeles.

Andrew F. Nohle had passed far beyond his major- ity 'year when he left the parental roof to come West and to quit the scenes of his childhood forever. He brought with him such capital as he had accumulated as a farm hand and began his career with his hands among the free and easy-going people of the frontier in North Dakota. How well he carried himself and how carefully he followed business principles in the conduct of his affairs is attested by the varied in- terests and valuable property he owns.

In the childhood and youth of Fairview, Mon- tana, which knows Mr. Nohle so well, he purchased an interest in Delaney Brothers' Bank, and thus iden- tified himself with the welfare of the town and with a new business field. He subsequently acquired all the interests of the Delaneys in the bank, char- tered the institution as the First State Bank of Fair- view on August 22, 1908, and capitalized it at $10,000. July 17, 1913, the State Bank, of which he was then president, nationalized and became the First National Bank of Fairview, with a capital of $25,000, and of

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Montana, its story and biography; a history of aboriginal and territorial Montana and three decades of statehood, Volume III, Part 94

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