Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 137

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 137

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M ICHAEL LANE, of Three Forks, Gallatin county, might almost be said to be an agri- culturist by inheritance, his family having followed that pursuit in Ireland, their native country, for many generations. His life began in County Gal- way, March 28, 1847. His parents were Patrick and Silana (Gerraughty) Lane. Mr. Lane was reared and educated in his native country, and in 1865 he came to the United States and located in Bos- ton. Two years later he started overland to Cali- fornia. He had no trouble of any kind until after Corinne, Utah, was reached and passed. Two days later the train was attacked by Indians, but the attack was not violent and no serious results followed. After spending eight months in Cali- fornia he removed to Gallatin City, Mont., and en-

gaged in farming one summer. with good results. He then began to follow horse racing with appar- ently good prospects, but soon saw his accumula- tions melt away like snow upon the sunny slopes. At this time he removed to Radersburg and fol- lowed mining for eighteen months; then returned to Gallatin City and bought the Haskins farm five miles southwest of Three Forks. He now has 1,000 acres under his care, 360 of his own and 640 leased ; and each of his four brothers has also taken up a ranch in the neighborhood and is doing well. His father is also living among them. They are all engaged in farming and stockraising on a large scale and with good profits. Mr. Lane was mar- ried March 18, 1877, to Miss Sarah Kelley, a native of Ireland, daughter of James Kelley of that coun- try. They have nine children, namely: Agnes, Lizzie, Katie, Josie, Theresa, Isabel, McThomas, Francis and Edward. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lane are industrious and frugal and are highly re- spected.

JOSEPH LAIRD .- Born in the fine old city of Dublin, Ireland, September 20, 1849, Joseph Laird did not remain long in his native land, for he was brought to America when he was six years old. He was the eldest child of James and Eliza- beth (Dunn) Laird, and at the proper age was sent to one of the national schools of the Irish capital. The education thus begun was continued in the public schools of New Jersey, where he located on his arrival with his mother in the United States. At the age of eighteen he removed to Massachu- setts and was engaged in mining at the Hoosac tunnel for three years. From there he went to New York and worked with Gen. Newton in the tunnel under the river preparatory to the famous Hell Gate blast of that city. From there he was sent by a manufacturing company into Michigan with the first machine drill taken into the state. He remained there a year engaged in mining, then returned to New Jersey and for two and a half years was in charge of a crew of workmen at the Pattenburg tunnel in Hunterdon county. From New Jersey Mr. Laird went to California and spent three years at mining in Bear valley. From there he went to Eureka, Plumas county, and fol- lowed the same business for six years, after which he spent a year in Idaho and then came to Mon- tana, locating at Butte in 1883. He was there first employed as a shift-boss in the St. Lawrence

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mine for about three years when he was promoted to the position of foreman, which he held for two years and was then made superintendent of all the Anaconda mining properties on the hill; but as the work developed his duties were confined to the management of the Green Mountain and the Wake-Up-Jim mines. His death occurred July 31, 1897. Mr. Laird was very prominent in min- ing circles and richly deserved the high esteem in which he was held by his fellow-workmen, his em- ployers and the community in general.

In political relations he was an active and in- fluential Democrat ; fraternally he was identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Irish-American or Ninety-six Club. He was married in Massachusetts in 1873 to Miss Mary Callahan, a native of Bangor, Me., and a daughter of Jeremiah and Catherine (Burke) Callahan. Her father was a native of Ireland who came to Ameri- ca when he was nineteen years old and located in Maine, where he engaged in railroading and min- ing. Mr. and Mrs. Laird were the parents of seven children, namely : William J., who is living in Denver ; and Katherine A., Josephine F., Frank J., Helen E., John B. and George H., all of whom are still at home.

CHARLES LANNIN .- One of the stanchest advocates of the cause of the laboring man, in which line he has been a potent factor in Mon- tana politics, is Charles Lannin. He was elected to the lower house of the Seventh legislature of the state in 1900 by the Labor party, and did most effective service for his constituents during the ensuing session, being recognized as one of the most prominent and able working members of the house. Charles Lannin was born on Decem- ber 28, 1863, in the province of Quebec, Canada, the fourth of the nine children of James and Ellen (Fitzpatrick) Lannin, Irish emigrants to Canada, who eventually removed from Quebec to New York, the father being a farmer and grocer. Charles Lan- nin received his education in the public schools of New York city, being graduated from the high school with the class of 1879. He then found em- ployment in the grocery of P. F. Mayher, and two years later took a position with Park & Tilford, with whom he remained eighteen months, and then he was employed by the Great' Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company until 1882, when coming west he was employed in the smelter at Salt Lake City

for one year and then accepted a clerkship in the grocery department of Walker Brothers, with whom he remained until March, 1884, when he came to Butte and thence to Wickes, where he remained three years, engaged with the smelting business. He next removed to Granite and soon afterward was installed by the Buskett Mercan- tile Company as manager of their Rumsey store. A year later he went to Phillipsburg, and entered the employ of William Weinstein, and after a time engaged in business on his own responsibility. In 1895 he accepted a position in a large grocery house at Anaconda and in 1898 returned to Butte, where he was identified with the grocery trade until his election to the legislature.

Thoroughly in sympathy with the cause of the working man, and realizing that definite action is necessary to insure him his just deserts and to right indubitable wrongs, Mr. Lannin has been drawn into politics through interest in this cause, and is a zealous and influential member of the Labor party. In the Seventh legislature he took a prominent position in the house, being assigned to the chairmanship of the committee on the affairs of cities and the labor committee and holding membership in other important committees. Af- ter being once installed in the chair of the commit- tee of the whole, Mr. Lannin was more frequently called to the chair of the house than any other member, being thoroughly informed in parlia- mentary rules and standing as one of the house authorities in usages. This familiarity with rules and methods was gained through study and active . association with the executive affairs of fraternal and labor organizations. Mr. Lannin was active in promoting the eight-hour law and in opposing senate bill No. 87, relative to change of venue, the contest on this bill lasting three days in the house. He favored the Richardson "fellow-ser- vant bill," whose provisions were just. He raised fifty-seven points of order relative to senate bill No. 87 and substantiated his claims in each in- stance. Gov. Toole is authority for the state- ment that the contest on senate bill No. 87 was the hardest parliamentary fight ever known in Montana legislation.

While a resident of Anaconda Mr. Lannin was president of the Clerks' Union when the closing of the stores at 8 o'clock in the evening was brought about and he was also president of Lodge No. 108, Knights of Labor, in that city, when the Anaconda Standard made its strenuous fight

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against the union. He became a member of the Butte Clerks' Union upon resuming his residence there and was its vice-president when the plan of 6 o'clock closing was adopted and, as the president of the union had resigned, he was its presiding officer when the contest was on to secure this change. He was a delegate to the convention of the Western Fed- eration of Labor in Denver in 1901, and was there chairman of the press and constitution commit- tee and a member of the committe on resolutions, being in the chair during the revision of the con- stitution. Fraternally Mr. Lannin is identified with the Woodmen of the World, an order in which he was captain for two years, and is now adviser lieutenant of his lodge, while he also holds mem- bership in its grand lodge. In 1889 Mr. Lannin was united in marriage to Miss Louisa Diment, a native of Minnesota. They have one son, Earl, and are members of the Catholic church.

E DWARD LARSON .- Among the resolute and determined men who have aided materially in building up the great northwest of our country, and reducing its wild and untamed conditions to subjection and fruitfulness, no country's contribu- tions are more valuable or have achieved greater distinction than those of Sweden. And of her people who have come to the land of promise that lies along and around the Rockies, Edward Lar- son, the accomplished chief of police of Missoula, is entitled to special mention. He was born at Stockholm, Sweden, on March 25, 1858, the son of Lars and Mary Henrietta Larson. His father was a prosperous farmer in Sweden, and there Mr. Larson received his education, being a diligent student in the public schools, from which he was graduated in 1872. In 1873 he came to America, and, settling in Chicago, he worked at farming near that city until 1876, when he removed to Wisconsin and engaged in lumbering until 1880. The next two years he passed at Brainerd, Minn., following the same line, and then entered the ser- vice of the Northern Pacific Railroad as a line- man, continuing in that capacity until 1888, being transferred to Missoula in 1886.

In 1888 Mr. Larson quit railroading and took charge of a hotel at Victor until 1890. In that year he removed to Missoula and entered the ser- vice of the city as a patrolman on the police force,

and in May, 1891, was promoted to the position of chief of police, a post which he has filled con- tinually since then with commendable zeal, diligence and skill. He has won the approval of the good citizens and the righteous fear of the lawless ele- ment by the vigor of his administration and the wise discretion he uses in his trying and arduous duties. He is noted for his bravery and also for his quiet and unpretending modesty. Every of- fender against the peace and good order of the city knows he is not to be trifled with. In political relations he is a Republican, and in fraternal cir- cles he is extensively connected and justly promi- nent. He is a member of the order of Odd Fel- lows in both lodge and encampment, and has filled the chairs in each organization. He also be- longs to the United Workmen, the Modern Wood- men, the Independent Order of Foresters, the Scandinavian Brotherhood and the Federation of Labor. In religious affiliation he is connected with the Lutheran church. He was married at Missoula on Thanksgiving day in 1880, to Miss Mary Dur- fee, a daughter of Charles Durfee, a veteran of the Civil war from New York and a pioneer of the northwest. Mr. Durfee died at Plains, Mis- soula county, in 1886. The Chief Larson and wife have three children, Charles Frederick, born February 22, 1884; Claude Emmanuel, born June 24, 1890, and Oscar Willman, born May 18, 1893.

M AX LAUTERBACH .- Among the worthy sons of the great German empire who have become identified with the industrial life of Mon- tana is Mr. Lauterbach, one of the extensive stock- growers of Madison county, and he has realized his ambitions to a large extent by the opportunities afforded in Montana for personal advancement. Max Lauterbach was born on May 16, 1859, in Bavaria, Germany, the eldest of the five children of Michael and Katherine (Grimm) Lauterbach. His parents still maintain their home in Bavaria, where the father is a brickmason. Max Lauter- bach received his education in Bavaria and also prepared himself there for practical life by learn- ing the baker's trade, and at the age of twenty he set forth to seek his fortunes in America. Soon after his arrival in New York, in 1879, he enlisted in Company B, Sixth Infantry, United States Army, which was placed on duty in the Bad Lands of the northwest. Thither he accompanied his regi-

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ment and then to Colorado and Idaho. The gov- ernment sent him to a rifle school in Omaha, where for seven months he was under effective discipline. Continuing in service until the expiration of his term, in 1884, he came to Montana, first locating in Anaconda and in Dillon.

Mr. Lauterbach engaged in railroad work until 1886, when he took up land in Madison county and went into the cattle business in a modest way, and later he turned his attention to the raising of sheep. By good management and indefatigable industry he has attained a high degree of success in this business, and he has acquired a valuable real estate, having one ranch of 1,300 acres on Blacktail creek, in the southwest part of Madison county, and about 4,300 acres near Twin Bridges, his post- office address. His title deeds call for 5,600 acres, and he leases over 4,000 acres of state land, so that he has ample accommodations for his stock. He runs an average of 10,000 sheep, and his large clip of wool he markets at Dillon. He is recognized as a thorough-going and successful business man, and in politics gives his support to the Republi- can party.

On March 12, 1884, Mr. Lauterbach was united in marriage with Mrs. Josephine (Gunderson) Fritz, who was born in Norway, the daughter of Jens Jensen. She was first married to Mr. Fritz, who died in Norway in 1876, leaving one child, Hilda.

OHN A. LEGGAT .- This gentleman was born at Wigtonshire, Scotland, on November 28, 1832. His father, William Leggat, was a mer- chant who emigrated to America in 1834. The descendant of an ancient Scotch family, he had the praise-worthy independence to build his own fortune without aid from family name or influ- ence. He located at Albany, N. Y., where he en- gaged in merchandising until he died in 1852. The mother, Margaret (Main) Leggat, was also Scotch. Of the children born to them Mr. Leggat was a twin and the third in order of birth, and is the oldest now living. He began his education in the Albany schools, and then entered Albany Acad- emy, where he was graduated in 1848. After pass- ing two years in the office of the Albany Journal to acquire a practical knowledge of printing, he went to Connecticut and worked four years in iron factories. He then returned to Albany and in 1854 removed to Chicago, where he worked two

years as a bookkeeper and two as clerk and purser on a Lake Michigan steamer. Then he became interested in sawmilling and lumbering and ac- quired the ownership of a body of pine land, but in 1857 he sold this and went back to Illinois and engaged in farming in Adams county until 1861, when he enlisted as a clerk in the quartermaster's department of the Federal army. He was assigned to duty in western Tennessee, and from Ten- nessee went to the Department of the Gulf, and saw service in Louisiana and at Mobile, Ala. So well did he acquit himself that he was mustered out of the service in 1865 as a brevet brigadier- general. After the war he was for a short time merchandising in Tennessee, and then engaged in the manufacture of tobacco on a large scale in St. Louis, originating the Leggat & Butler To- bacco Company of that city, one of the city's leading houses in that business. He also became interested in Mississippi river steamboating. Soon after his return from the war he sent a steam- boat load of merchandise to Fort Benton, which was freighted to Highland gulch in Montana, in charge of his brother, R. D. Leggat. The ven- ture was unexpectedly profitable, and was the means of inducing him to sell his tobacco inter- ests in Missouri in 1870, and to locate in Montana, which he did about 1876. In the ten years inter- vening between his first entrance into and his per- manent location in Montana he had acquired min- ing properties of value, and some were in Butte, where he took up his residence. Here he owned and at one time actively worked the celebrated Gambetta mine, but later sold it to the Boston & Montana Company, also the Champion which he sold to the Parrot Company for $20,000. Min- ing has been his exclusive occupation since com- ing to Montana, and he has devoted his intense energy to it, conducting it on a large scale and with a breadth of view which has brought very gratifying returns. He has expended in the Butte district alone thousands of dollars in development, and still owns large properties there, as well as in Beaverhead, Deer Lodge, Jefferson and Madison counties, and in Silver Bow county outside of Butte. He also owns lands, lots and other real estate in Butte.

Mr. Leggat is a Republican. He seeks no of- fice, but has on occasions consented to serve in some public capacity for a short time. In Michi- gan he was mayor of his home city and he has held other responsible offices. He is the only

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"man who enjoys the unique distinction of having stopped the Great Northern Railroad from cross- ing his land, but after a few minutes conversation with Col. Broadwater he yielded the, point, his misunderstanding of the case having been re- moved. He is an indefatigable worker in any cause which enlists his interest, and even now, when he is near his allotment of three score years and ten, and might enjoy in quiet retirement the results of his enterprise and the cordial esteem and agreeable companionship of his friends, his 'energy and the habit of a long course of indus- try keep him at work as diligently as when he was a much younger man. He is the father of two bright and promising children, Alexander and Claribel, who are at school preparing to perpetu- ate the mental, business and social qualities which have made their father so influential.

JOHN BENTON LEGGAT .- Born at St. Louis, Mo., on April 1, 1869, carefully educated and giving early indications of a genius for affairs and fiscal matters of large moment, John Benton Leg- gat is working out the successful promise of his boyhood and realizing in a marked degree the hopes of his friends. He is the son of Alexander J. Leggat, of whom extended mention appears in connection with a sketch of Dr. A. C. Leggat on another page of this volume. His mother is Ruth F. (Benton) Leggat, still living in St. Louis. Mr. Leggat attended the St. Louis public schools and Smith Academy, from which he was gradu- ated in 1883. He then took a course at the Manual Training School, graduating here in 1886, and followed this with a course in mining engineering at Washington University. In 1889 he passed some months in Butte and after his graduation from the university in 1890 he located there and gave attention to developing silver mines in Beaver- head county for a few years. Since 1893 he has been operating mining properties continuously at Butte, under lease and bond, and also employed in en- gineering.

Of late years he has been interested in mining in Nevada, as president of the April Fool Gold Mining & Milling Company, which is principally owned by Butte and Salt Lake capitalists, and whose mine, located at Delmar, is one of the now few dividend paying gold properties. He is also manager of his mother's very extensive min-

ing and real estate interests in Montana, St. Louis and Illinois, and in many he has a personal interest. Among these properties is Leggat & Foster's addition to Butte, which is very valuable. In St. Louis he has been engaged in various kinds of business of wide scope in financial circles. He was one of the projectors and builders of the im- posing Carlton building at Sixth and Olive streets, and is a director of the company owning it. He was also one of the underwriters in the consolidation of the street car interests into the St. Louis Tran- sit Company. He is also a director of the new Southern Cross Gold Mining Company, operating near Cable, Mont. In all his business operations Mr. Leggat has shown an acumen, a grasp of details and a knowledge of general principles that have made him easily master of any situation. Business matters present no difficulties to his clear and active mind. He deals with them without hesitation. While men less resourceful and more cautious are thinking of a plan, he is accomplish- ing a result. And yet, with all of his keenness in financial transactions he has so demeaned himself as to win and keep the confidence, the esteem and the cordial regard of his fellow men.

In politics Mr. Leggat is a Democrat, well grounded in the faith, but leaving to others the administration of party affairs and the enjoyment of its honors. In the relations, however, which cul- tivate the suavities and amenities of life and en- gender good-fellowship among men he has been more active. He is a charter member of Silver Bow Lodge No. 240, B. P. O. E., an active mem- ber of the Silver Bow Club and of the Butte Golf Club, and a non-resident member of the St. Louis and the Glen Echo Clubs of St. Louis. In Fremasonry, however, he has found most en- joyment and labored most diligently. In every 'department of her symbolic quarries and on the walls of the mystic temple he has wrought with zeal and fidelity and has exhibited specimens of his handicraft which have stood every test. More- over the tribute due to his devotion has not been withheld. He has been chosen to high official posi- tions, and has so borne himself in these as to win the commendation and increased regard of all around him. He is past high priest of his chap- ter, past eminent commander of his commandery, and in 1901 was grand royal arch captain of the state and imperial representative of the Mystic Shrine. It is a short and easy inference that he stands high in the good opinion of his associates,

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and is an ornament to the community socially as he is a pillar in its financial fabric. On November 6, 1901, in what was pronounced the most bril- liant wedding ever known to Helena, Mr. Leg- gat led to the nuptial altar Miss Hebe Ashby, one of the most popular and attractive ladies of the capital city, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Ashby, who have long been prominent in social and busi- ness circles.

DOD. D. LEGGAT .- For thirty-six years Mr. Leggat has been a resident of Montana, and during the whole of the time has been giving valuable aid in the development of her resources and the advancement of her interests. He has from the beginning been interested in mines, hav- ing valuable holdings from time to time in Madi- son, Jefferson, Silver Bow, Deer Lodge and other counties, and still owns properties in most of them, having particularly desirable claims in the vicin- ity of Butte and Pony. He was born at Albany, N. Y., June 14, 1839. His parents were William and Margaret (Maine) Leggat, natives of Scot- land, who came to America in 1831, locating at Albany, where the father was engaged in mercan- tile business, and where he died in 1852. The mother died at St. Louis, Mo., in 1878.

Mr. Leggat was educated in public schools of his native city, and when seventeen years old he removed with his mother and the rest of the fam- ily to Grand Haven, Mich. There he was engaged in merchandising from 1856 to 1865, with the ex- ception of two years passed at Milwaukee, where he learned to brew beer, but never followed the business. In 1866 he and his brothers, John and Alexander J., went to St. Louis and bought the steamer Gallatin, which they loaded with a stock of merchandise, and brought it up the Missouri to Fort Benton, reaching that point in August. The steamer was sold and the stock of goods was freighted to Highland gulch, where Mr. Leggat engaged in merchandising until 1872, when he sold out. In the meantime he had become inter- ested in mines there, and after a few years was the sole owner of Highland gulch. He put in a large flume and made other important improvements. The mines were paying propositions for many years, and the product of Highland gulch is noted the world over for its high grade. In 1895 Mr. Leggat sold all his interests in Highland gulch to the Butte Water Company, practically the present

water supply point for the city. In 1876 Mr. Leggat took up his residence in Butte, and that city has since been his headquarters. In 1896 he bought the Buffalo Hill mining properties in Idaho, located in 1862, near old Elk City. The property com- prises 3,000 acres, is supplied with water from Big and Little Elk rivers, which is run through twenty miles of ditches. The whole district is rich in minerals, but Mr. Leggat is at present working but two mines by hydraulic process. He has passed the summer season on the property for a number of years. He also owns claims at Summit Moun- tain, Idaho, and has valuable gold, silver and copper mines in the Yukon territory and in Brit- ish Columbia, acquired in 1902. In 1895-6-7 he was in partnership with Hon. Thomas C. Power in the sheep business. In 1878 Mr. Leggat took up a placer claim of sixty acres, now in the center of Butte and is worth many millions of dollars. This ground was laid out in town lots in 1880, and was known as the Leggat & Foster addition. Many of the lots were sold for trifling sums and many were given away to persons who would agree to build on them. Mr. Leggat still owns a remnant of the property, and is also the owner of considerable valuable real estate in the vicinity of Main and Park streets, in the heart of the busi- ness center of the city.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 137

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