Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 12

Author: Bowen, A.W., & Co., firm, publishers, Chicago
Publication date: [19-?]
Publisher: Chicago : A. W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1374

USA > Montana > Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1 > Part 12

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Alden Joseph Bennett received preliminary edu- cation in the public schools and later was graduated from Franklin Engineering School, at Franklin, N. Y., with the class of 1866. As an engineer he was identified with the Union Pacific Railroad from 1868 until the completion of the road. He then went to White Pine, Nev., engaged in mining and milling until 1870, and here had numerous experi- . ences incidental to frontier life. In 1870 he came to Montana, located in Virginia City, taught school for a number of years and also was county superin- tendent of schools for Madison county. He was also engaged in ranching for three years, associated with his old friend and schoolmate, J. H. Harper, now of Butte, Mont. In 1876 Mr. Bennett became bookkeeper in the bank of Henry Elling, at Vir-, ginia City, a position which he filled for three years. In 1879 the banking firm of Raymond, Har- rington & Co. was organized and Mr. Bennett be- came one of the firm and its manager. In Novem- ber, 1889, the company was reorganized as Hall & Bennett, the other stockholders retiring, and the in- stitution being continued by Amos C. Hall and Mr. Bennett. The firm name is still retained, although Mr. Hall died in 1893. This is one of the solid, conservative banking houses of the state, and its af- fairs have been handled with signal discretion and ability by Mr. Bennett, who has been the chief exec- utive from the first. Mr. Hall's interests in the bank are still retained and the business is con- ducted under the title of the Hall & Bennett Bank- ing Company. Aside from his banking interests at Virginia City, Mr. Bennett is also connected with various 'extensive business enterprises, being presi- dent of the Bank of Twin Bridges ; president of the Alder Gulch Consolidated Mining Company, etc.

Mr. Bennett has been prominently identified with party affairs in the city and county as a Republican." He has served many terms as one of the aldermen of Virginia City and was elected its mayor in 1888, since which time he has been incumbent of this posi- tion for six additional terms. He was county super-

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

intendent of schools in 1882-3 and for ten years chairman of the Madison county central committee of his party, has held membership in the territorial and state central committees and was an alternate delegate to the Republican national convention held in Minneapolis in 1892. Mr. Bennett was the can- didate of his party for lieutenant-governor in 1900, but was defeated, as were the other candidates. Fraternally he is prominently identified with the order of Elks and the Odd Fellows, being past ex- alted ruler of the Virginia City lodge of the former and having "passed the chairs" in Virginia City Lodge No. 7, of the latter organization. He deliv- ered the oration at the Elks' memorial conclave at Helena in December, 1899, and at Butte in 1900, and is one of the most popular Elks in the state. He is also a member of the New York Society of the Sons of the Revolution.

On November 21, 1878, in Virginia City, Mr. Bennett was married with Miss Mary Prout, daugh- ter of Rev. Henry Hedges Prout, a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal church, as a missionary of which he was stationed in North Carolina, where Mrs. Bennett was born. The original American ancestor was an Englishman, Capt. Prout, who located in Boston in 1641. After the Civil war Rev. H. H. Prout lived in New York until 1872, when he became rector of the church in Virginia City, Mont. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett have three children, Minerva M., Henry P. and Lyman H. The daugh- ter is a graduate of Wells College and the elder son is assistant cashier of the Bank of Twin Bridges. Mrs. Bennett is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church, which the family attends. Of Mr. Bennett another publication has spoken as follows: "Since coming to Montana he has taken a deep in- terest in all public enterprises and rendered sub- stantial aid to every undertaking intended to benefit the town, the county, the state or the country at large, and his whole record as a citizen and business man has been such as to justly win him the high esteem of all who know him."

TILLIAM M. BLACKFORD .- It has been well said that law is a jealous mistress, and demands of her votaries an undivided loyalty and singleness of purpose. This fact is exempli- fied in the career of every truly successful lawyer. The bar of Montana has ever maintained a high standing, and among its representative members in

Fergus county is William M. Blackford, senior member of the firm of Blackford & Blackford, of Lewistown.

Mr. Blackford was born in White county, III., on the 22d of October, 1860, a son of James M. and Cecily (Spencer) Blackford, the former of whom was born in White county, Ill., and the latter in England, whence she accompanied her parents on their removal to the United States in her childhood. James M. Blackford was a farmer in his native state, where he passed his entire life, his death oc- curring on the 17th of March, 1887. He was a son of Ishmael Blackford, likewise born in White coun- ty, Ill., where he passed his life in agriculture. The family originally came from Virginia, where it was established in the colonial epoch, and in Illinois it was numbered among the very earliest settlers. James M. and Cecily Blackford were the parents of six sons and four daughters, all of whom are liv- ing. The mother is now residing in White county, I11.

William M. Blackford is indebted to the public schools for his preliminary schooling, and he con- tinued his literary studies in the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, where he was gradu- ated as a member of the class of 1887. He had pre- viously devoted considerable time to the reading of law under effective preceptors. After leaving col- lege he went to Jacksonville, Ore., as principal of the grammar department in the public schools of that city, and retained this position nine months, from there going to Oakland, Cal., where he studied law until 1889, when he came to Butte, Mont., to take charge of the affairs of J. E. Carne, an attor- ney. In January, 1890, he was admitted to the bar of the state and was in practice at Butte until May, when he removed to Helena, and was associated with Judge Decius S. Wade, ex-chief justice of the supreme court of Montana, and also with Judge J. W. Kinsley. For one year he was clerk of the code commisson. In February, 1894, Mr. Black- ford removed to Lewistown, and has since been en- gaged there in the active and successful work of his profession. In July, 1899, his brother, James M. Blackford, joined him in the law firm of Blackford & Blackford. They are thoroughly equipped for their profession labors and occupy a noticeably convenient and well arranged suite of offices.

In politics Mr. Blackford is a staunch supporter of the Democratic party, in which he has been an active worker. He is prominent in the Masonic fra- ternity and is now master of Lewistown Lodge No.

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

37, A. F. & A. M., also being a member of Hiram Chapter No. 15, R. A. M .; and of Black Eagle Commandery No. 8, Knights Templar, at Great Falls.

On the 4th of December, 1895, Mr. Blackford was united in marriage to Miss Anna Otten, a daughter of Herman Otten, president of the Judith Basin Bank, of Lewistown, and one of the promi- nent and influential citizens of Fergus county. Mr. and Mrs. Blackford have three children, Herman O., Cecily Elise and Anna M.

H ON. WILLIAM G. CONRAD .- The great American republic has in many ways reset the conditions of life and changed long established beliefs in numerous lines of thought and action. Until the gigantic enterprises which distinguished the development of her enormous northwestern ter- ritories were put into successful operation no one thought of looking for mercantile or business in- dustries of magnitude outside the mighty marts of commerce. America has taught the world that they can be conducted on an enormous scale in the very heart of an almost unbroken wilderness. One of the most impressive illustrations of this fact is fur- nished by the career and achievements of the Con- rad brothers, Hon. William G. and Charles E. Conrad. The business enterprises which these gen- tlemen have put into motion and conducted to em- phatic success are of such a character and magni- tude as to forcibly engage the attention and almost stagger belief, even here in the west, where men have their vision adapted to colossal proportions in everything.

Hon. W. G. Conrad, the scion of old colonial families, was born in Warren county, Va., August 3, 1848. His father was Col. James W. Conrad, whose paternal American forebear, Joseph Conrad, emigrated from Germany and settled in the beautiful valley of the Shenandoah in very early days of the Old Dominion. The Colonel married Miss Maria . Ashby, also belonging to a Virginia family identi- fied with the history of the commonwealth from its earliest colonial period, her ancestor, John Ashby, a loyal subject of Charles I, being among the first Englishmen who landed on Virginia soil. Mrs. Con- rad's great-grandfather, also named John Ashby, was with Washington under Braddock at Fort Du- quesne, and her grandfather, Benjamin Ashby, was one of that great commander's confidential officers

in the Revolutionary struggle. Col. James W. and Maria S. (Ashby) Conrad were parents of thirteen children, six of whom are now living. They owned a large Virginia plantation, and, besides be- ing a colonel in the state militia, the father was long a prominent judge. They removed to Montana in 1874, and his life was peacefully ended at Great Falls in 1894 at the age of eighty-two years.

Hon. William G. Conrad, their oldest son, was reared on the plantation and supplemented his dis- trict school education at the famous Washington Academy. When he was eighteen years old, with his brother, Charles E. Conrad, whose interesting life story appears on another page of this work, he came to Montana, traveling by rail to Cincinnati, thence down the Ohio to Cairo, up the Mississippi to St. Louis, and on the Missouri to Fort Benton, which was reached in safety after a three-months' journey of 4,000 miles by water through many privations and dangers. Mr. Conrad at once entered upon his remarkably successful western business career. He and his brother both found employment with I. G. Baker & Co. as clerks. At the end of four years they became partners in this firm, and, at the end of four more years, sole pro- prietors, by purchase, of the immense business, probably the largest mercantile enterprise in the entire northwest of the United States and Canada, and one of the most extensive ever con- ducted by private capital in the world. It comprised very extensive freighting opera- tions and numerous large mercantile es- tablishments in both our country and the Dominion. Enormous quantities of supplies were hauled from Fort Benton for both their own use and that of the Canadian government and this required the services of hundreds of men and thousands of mules and cattle. After the purchase W. G. Conrad took control of the Montana branch of the business and his brother of the Canadian. The latter included . large stores at Lethbridge, Fort McLeod, Calgary, and Fort Walsh, and a bonded freighting line extending from eastern Canada to the northwest territory. The firm handled all kinds of military and Indian supplies, and furnished the Canadian government the money to pay their mounted po- lice and Indian annuities. In Montana their freight lines extended over nearly the whole terri- tory, supplying Helena, Missoula, Bozeman and many other places with their merchandise, and the government with supplies for both soldiers and Indians. They also owned and operated a number

W.G. Conrad

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

of steamboats on the Missouri and several Canadian streams. Frequently they handled over 20,000,000 pounds of freight in a year, and they did this with- out apparent difficulty or extraordinary effort, so highly endowed by nature are they with executive ability, financial genius and capacity for large af- fairs. They continued this business from 1874 to 1888, and then sold their merchantile interests in Canada to the Hudson Bay Company, the sale being consummated in London, and, before the end of the year, they also disposed of the freighting line.

In the meantime they had become interested in the cattle business in Canada, and they still retain that interest, having it in two outfits-the Leth- bridge Cattle Company and the Benton & St. Louis Cattle Company, the former of which is confined to Canada while the latter conducts extensive opera- tions on both sides of the line. In addition to his cattle enterprises, Mr. Conrad engaged in banking, founding the First National Bank of Fort Benton, of which he was president during its existence. After some years of successful operation at Fort Benton this bank was removed to Great Falls and the name changed to the Northwestern National Bank, of which he and his brother were sole owners. In 1894 they sold the Boston and Montana people one- fifth of this stock and, at their request, B. D. Hatcher was made cashier and acted as their repre- sentative. In December, 1896, Hatcher bought the balance of the Conrad brothers' stock for the Boston and Montana people. Two months later the bank was closed, and the people of northern Mon- tana well know what then happened. It takes over twenty years to grow men and as many more to try them to see if they be men. When the wires flashed the news to W. G. Conrad, then at White Post, Va., the immediate message that came back was: "I want every depositor paid in full." In this tele- gram he also asked James T. Stanford to act as receiver. Mr. Conrad went to Washington, had Stanford appointed, and, not only the people of Montana, but all the bankers of the United States, know how well and quickly the depositors got their money. When asked why he did this Mr. Conrad said: "The people deposited their money on ac- count of my connection with this bank, and, al- though advised by the best lawyers of the state that I am not legally liable, I would rather not have a dollar than to see these people lose their money."

Mr. Conrad is also president of the Conrad In- vestment Company, which owns large tracts of land, town sites, electric light and power plants and thous-

ands of cattle and sheep. This is the largest financial factor of its kind in the entire northwest. In addition to these investments he is a large owner and the treasurer of the Conrad-Price Cattle Com- pany, one of the leading cattle firms in Montana and Canada. Besides these numerous enterprises, which would seem to be enough to occupy all his faculties and all of his time, he serves as treasurer of the Conrad-Harris Cattle Company and is heavily inter- ested in mines in Montana and other mining sec- tions of this continent. His operations in the sphere of finance are colossal in scope and far-reaching in variety ; and yet they are so systematized that it is as easy for him to conduct them successfully and without friction as it would be for many a man to operate a corner grocery. Mr. Conrad is imperial in the range and sweep of his financial transactions, and holds a princely rank among the great finan- ciers of the country. To the end that his banking establishment, the Conrad Banking Company, may be suitably housed and accommodated, he has re- cently completed a home for it in Great Falls, which is undoubtedly one of the finest buildings erected for this purpose in Montana, and it would do credit to any city. He has also recently erected another business block in that city which is in keeping with the general character of his achievements.

In political affiliation Mr. Conrad is an uncom- promising Democrat, and a recognized leader of his party. During his residence in Choteau county he served as county commissioner, being elected to the office when he was barely of age, and he was returned to it at each succeeding election so long as he was a resident of the county. He also repre- sented north and east Montana as a member of the upper house in the territorial legislature of 1879 and 1880, and filled a number of offices in Fort Benton and was its first mayor. In the memorable contest for the United States senatorship of 1899 in the Montana legislature he was a candidate, and lacked only four votes of election, notwith- standing the immense amount of money expended for his successful competitor ; and in 1901, although he was not a candidate, he received a very flatter- ing vote. In 1876 Mr. Conrad was united in mar- riage with Miss Fannie E. Bowen, of Virginia, a daughter of Hon. Paul L. Bowen, of that state. Four of their five children are living: Maria Josephine, Minnie Atkisson, George Harfield and Arthur Franklin. Their eldest son, William Lee, died in 1878 when he was one year old. Mr. Con- rad owns a beautiful residence in the picturesque

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

Shenandoah valley in Virginia, which is consid- ered one of the finest and most imposing in the state. He also has a charming Montana home in Great Falls, where his numerous friends are roy- ally entertained. Mr. and Mrs. Conrad are active members of the Episcopal church, in which he has held the office of vestryman for years. In fra- ternal circles he is identified with the Masonic order. In church, in social and in business circles he is highly esteemed, and, best of all, he deserves every encomium that he has received.

FRED G. BENSON, senior member of the ex- tensive firm of Benson, Carpenter & Co., deal- ers in agricultural implements, wagons and car- riages, is pre-eminently a western man, having been born in Utah. He is a son of Ezra T. and Elizabeth (Gollagher) Benson. Ezra T. Benson was a native of Massachusetts and married Miss Elizabeth Gollagher, who was born in Ohio. In 1850 he settled in Tooele county, Utah, and en- gaged in farming, connecting this industry with the mercantile and milling business, and he also erected the first mill in Utah. He was a prominent member of the Mormon church and one of the twelve apos- tles. He was elected to the Utah legislature as a Democrat, and after a life of usefulness and credit, died in 1869. His widow now resides in Wellsville, Utah.

Fred G. Benson was the eldest of seven children and was born in Utah on January 17, 1855. He re- ceived his education in Salt Lake City and in Logan, Utah, and in 1882 came to Helena, where, in 1886, he established his freight transfer line which now finds employment for ten men and twen- ty-three horses. In 1890 Mr. Benson, G. F. Car- penter and H. S. Benson formed the firm of Ben- son, Carpenter & Co., dealers in agricultural imple- ments, wagons, buggies and all kinds of carriages. It is one of the best known firms in the northwest, and they do a very large business extending all over Montana and into neighboring states. Politically Mr. Benson is an active Republican, and frater- nally he is a member of Excelsior Lodge No. 5, Odd Fellows; Lincoln Lodge No. 57, United Work- men, and First Montana Camp No. 42, Woodmen of the World. In 1889 he was united in marriage with Miss Clara J., daughter of Oscar and Jane Rice, of Providence, Utah. They have one child, Gratta.

H. S. Benson, the junior partner of this firm, was born in Logan, Utah, and educated in its public schools. He came to Montana in 1882 and worked with his brother, Fred G. Benson, until 1892, when he was admitted to the firm. He married Miss Nannie Rice, daughter of Oscar and Jane Rice, and a sister of Mrs. Fred G. Benson. He is a member of the Odd Fellows and the United Workmen.

JOHN F. BISHOP .- Those of the younger gen- eration who wish to gain a definite idea of the gigantic and rapid strides which civilization has made in the great northwest within the past four decades need but refer to many of the pioneers who are yet with us and are not overburdened with years. There are to-day many vigorous and ster- ling citizens in Montana who came to the state when it was on the very frontier. They were en- dowed with the adventurous spirit and indomitable energy of youth, and have remained to witness and be identified with the march of progress. Among the honored pioneers of Montana who attained suc- cess through his own well-directed efforts and was identified with the strenuous life of the early days and the great industrial activities in later years, is Mr. Bishop, who has practically retired from busi- ness, but maintains his home in Dillon, with whose interests he has been concerned for a long term of years. John Fernando Bishop is a native of the Empire state, having been born in Wyoming county, N. Y., on March 14, 1836, the fourth of the nine children born to Benjamin Blake Bishop and his wife, nee Lydia Wakefield. The former was born in the state of Vermont, whence he was brought, in 1811, by his uncle to New York when but six years of age. There he was reared and educated, and there devoted his life to agricultural pursuits. His father was an active participant in the war of 1812. His mother was born in the state of New York, where her father was a pioneer farmer. John F. Bishop received a common-school education, attending the winter sessions and assist- ing in the work of the farm during the summers. He followed farming in New York until attaining his majority, when he set forth to make his own way in the world. Upon leaving home he made his way to Kilbourne, Columbia county, Wis., and was employed at teaming in the lumber woods for one year. In 1858 he visited New York, but the follow- ing year returned to Wisconsin. In the fall of 1859

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

he, with five others, started down the Wisconsin river in a flatboat, Memphis being their destination. On reaching Hannibal, Mo., the freezing of the river compelled them to abandon further progress. Mr. Bishop remained there until the following spring, when he returned to Wisconsin, and shortly after went to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he hired out to drive a team to Pike's Peak, Colo., the outfit being a part of a large freighting train. Dur- ing the progress across the plains the cattle died and our subject was left in charge of the outfit while the employer went forward to buy other cattle. Mr. Bishop finally brought the outfit through to Colo- rado. Arriving at Nevada City on the Ist of No- vember, 1860, he purchased a load of hay, which he disposed of in small amounts at good profit. He was employed in a quartz mill during the winter of 1860, and the following spring made a trip to Atchi- son, Kan., for supplies, being employed as a teanı- ster. On the return trip they saw large herds of buffalo and antelope. In the early fall Mr. Bishop purchased ox teams and engaged in freighting, and in the summer of 1862 he was identified with placer mining in Nevada Gulch, Colo. Reports of the rich gold discoveries in Montana had reached the mining districts of Colorado, and the result was the cus- tomary hegira to the new field. In March, 1863, Mr. Bishop started for East Bannack by way of the Bridger cut-off and Soda Springs, along the old Cherokee trail. The train crossed every stream on the ice until it reached Snake river. They passed various stations of the pony express, where Indians had stolen the horses and riddled the buildings with bullets, leaving the dead bodies of their victims, reaching Bannack on the 20th of April. He recalls the fact that John Swing, who brought with him 120 pairs of boots, disposed of them at a net profit of $1,200, while "Bob" Lusk realized an equal profit from 150 pounds of tobacco. In the same train was Dr. William L. Steele, one of the honored pioneers of the state, who is still a resident of Helena, and the present treasurer of Lewis and Clarke county ; also Adolph Graeter, now of Dillon. At Bannack Mr. Bishop disposed of his interest in the team and wagon, receiving $175, and then bought claim No. 3, on Stapleton's bar, which he sold in the spring and went to Alder Gulch, the great mining district of the territory and the site of the present Virginia City, and during the summer was successfully en- gaged in mining in Bevin's Gulch, securing good re- turns. In the fall he went to Salt Lake City, where he purchased two yoke of oxen and a stock of gen-

eral merchandise, with which he returned to Mon- tana. On the Ist of November he found himself snowbound at Brigham City, Utah, where he was compelled to remain until the Ist of February, when he again started, reaching Virginia City on the Ist of March. He disposed of his merchandise at a profit of $1,000, and in the following spring re- turned to Salt Lake City, where he again purchased an ox team and returned with a stock of flour, which he sold at the rate of $25 per hundred. Re- turning to Salt Lake City he was arrested on the charge of having stolen the oxen, but it transpired that the man of whom he bought the cattle had stolen them, and Mr. Bishop was compelled to turn them over to the rightful owner. In 1864 he made four trips to Salt Lake City and return, and recalls the fact that he was in Virginia City at the time when the notorious Kelly was hung and witnessed the execution. As a result of the four trips men- tioned he cleared $5,000. The winter of 1864-5 Mr. Bishop passed in Bannack, where he sold eighty fifty-pound sacks of flour for $26 each, two weeks later the same commodity commanded $100 per sack. He purchased in Salt Lake City a bushel of apples for $12, ate what he wanted while en route and sold the balance in Bannack for $15, some bringing fifty cents each. In the summer of 1865* Mr. Bishop went to Fort Benton and engaged in freighting between that point and Cow island, finally disposing of the business to I. G. Baker & Co., of Fort Benton. He then made a trip from Hel- ena to Salt Lake City, where he secured teams and brought through a stock of provisions. The follow- ing winter he passed on a ranch he had taken up on Beaverhead river, nine miles north of the present town of Dillon, and the following spring he en- gaged in freighting between Salt Lake City and Montana points, which he followed until the spring of 1867, when he returned to his ranch. In 1868 he went to Salt Lake to buy cattle for his ranch, but found prices so high he returned to Montana and bought the stock. In the spring of 1869 he associ- ated himself with R. A. Reynolds and proceeded to Oregon, and bought the first range sheep intro- duced in Montana. In 1870 they sold their wool clip to Col. C. A. Broadwater, who shipped the same to Corinne, Utah. Messrs. Bishop and Rey- nolds brought 1,400 head of sheep from Oregon, and thereafter continued to be extensively identified with the sheep industry of Montana until 1899, when Mr. Bishop disposed of his stock and ranch properties. He also raised high grade Durham

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 12

Author: Bowen, A.W., & Co., firm, publishers, Chicago Publication date: [19-?] Publisher: Chicago : A. W. Bowen & Co. Number of Pages: 1374

Author: Bowen, A.W., & Co., firm, publishers, Chicago
Publication date: [19-?]
Publisher: Chicago : A. W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1374