Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 17

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

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of the untrodden wilderness, and reduced it to sub- jection and useful fruitfulness. Of this class was Alexander Metzel, of Puller Springs, Madison county, one of the Montana pioneers of 1863, and one of her most respected and substantial citizens, who could see satisfactory results arising from the work of his hands in the section of the great com- monwealth where his activities were exercised. Mr. Metzel was born in York, Pa., January 14, 1835, of ancestors German on his father's side and English on his mother's. His parents were Thomas A. and Hannah Matthews Metzel, both natives of York, who lived and died there, and were for many years owners and managers of the Metzel House, a hostelry celebrated for its substantial fare and excellent service. The father had six children by his first marriage and eight by his second. Only five of them are living.

Alexander Metzel, one of the second family, was educated in York, and there learned the butcher's trade. In 1857, the year before his father's death, he emigrated to Iowa City, Iowa, and secured em- ployment at $15 a month until 1860, when he crossed the plains to Pike's Peak. He engaged in butchering for several months in Denver, and then returned to Iowa City. From here he went to Rock Island, Ill., and worked as a trimmer in a packing house. Again he returned to Iowa City, purchased teams and with them took his employ- er's family in 1861 to Denver, Col. He worked in that city until the following spring and then, re- turning to Iowa, was married at Indianola to Miss Anna E. Spicer, a native .of Pennsylvania. Soon after he again crossed the plains, with his bride for company, and he was again employed at Denver by his former employer. In 1863 he came to Montana, leaving his wife in Denver, and July 15, 1864, opened a butcher shop at Nevada City, in Alder gulch. The country at that time had been brought into a state of law and order by the work of the Vigilantes, in which he had assisted with some spirit, and he went to Denver for his wife; but he concluded to go back to Nevada City. There he opened a butcher shop for the second time, and bought and dressed the first hog killed in the place. He paid seventy-five cents a pound for it and it weighed 300 pounds dressed. He made a con- siderable portion of it, mixed with beef from the four head of cattle which the cold winter had left him out of a herd of 200, into sausage, and sold the sausage at $1.00 a pound.

Mr. Metzel had owned a ranch in a pleasant

Alert Megel

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

location at Puller Springs, fifteen miles southwest of Virginia City, for some time, and in 1872 made this his home. This ranch contained 6,000 acres of land, and had all appliances necessary for a first- class stock farm, on which he raised large crops of oats, and cut from 600 to 800 tons of hay a year. He was the first Montana stockman to bring thoroughbred Durham cattle into the state. His first importation of Durhams was from Kentucky in 1871, and from that year he did a large business in supplying farmers with this stock, and thereby contributed largely to the improvement of stock in his section of the state. He was also interested in raising superior breeds and strains of horses, among his products being the dam of Frank Quirk, 2:121/2, the fastest horse ever bred in Montana. He raised in all many hundreds of fine draft and trotting horses, and thousands of excellent cattle.

Mr. Metzel was not, however, wholly absorbed in his own pursuits. He exhibited a lively inter- est in public affairs, and, as an active Republican, performed his part towards securing good results from political forces. When Gen. Grant was president he appointed Mr. Metzel postmaster of Puller Springs, a position which he held until he died. He was also a county commissioner for four years, and in 1883 was nominated for the Montana house of representatives by his party, and, although he tried several times to withdraw from the ticket, and did no electioneering, he was elected by a vote largely in excess of that of the other candidates. At the conclusion of his term he was unanimously renominated by acclamation, and during his tenure he secured valuable legislation for his constituents, one item of which was the erection of the State Orphan's Home at Twin Bridges, and another was useful laws concerning live stock. A unique, and as the results prove, a very useful enterprise, was the organization of a live stock company by giving each of his five sons 100 calves, each calf repre- senting a share of stock in the company, of which he retained the presidency, and an active participa- tion in its control. In 1897 the company was dis- solved and the stock sold. His sons are Frank S., born in Colorado; Charles Montana, one of the first white boys born within the limits of the present state, now residing at Puller Springs; Thomas A., raising cattle in Centennial valley ; William O., re- siding on the home ranch; and Albert Lewis, now extensively engaged in raising thoroughbred cattle in the Centennial valley. A daughter, Clara May, died January 26, 188c. Mrs. Metzel, after sixteen

years of married life, was called from earth on May 9, 1878. Mr. Metzel's death occurred at Puller Springs on January 10, 1899. His estate was valued at $150,000, and was equally divided among the five sons. In addition to the offices already noted as held by Mr. Metzel, he was elected in 1895 to the state senate for a term of four years, and bore himself in the higher body with the same conspicuous ability, conscientious attention to duty and serviceable regard for the interests of his con- stituents that had distinguished him in the lower house. He was well prepared for a leading part in public affairs, whether they concerned only his immediate section, or pertained to a large area. He was one of the exhibitors at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition at Omaha, Nebraska, and secured a diploma there for a superior specimen of jasper.

S TARRATT J. BURGESS is one of the most prosperous and successful dairymen in Mon- tana, is the scion of a family which for nine genera- tions has contributed its enterprise, intelligence and force of character to the welfare and develop- ment of America. He is himself the pioneer of the dairy business in his neighborhood, and the first man to introduce every modern appliance and im- provement. His parents were Charles H. and Hannah (Starratt) Burgess, natives of Canada. The ancestors of his father were English; those of his mother were of the north of Ireland. The Burgess family came from England to Nova Scotia in 1637. One branch, headed by Thomas Burgess, has had an unbroken course of substantial suc- cess in every line of life. In 1776 two brothers took the oath of allegiance to Nova Scotia, and both located there. Of one of them, Edward, is directly descended Starratt J. Burgess, whose fa- ther, Charles H. Burgess, was born in Nova Scotia on August 19, 1827. He attained manhood on the frontier as a farmer's boy, but nature had en- dowed him for other occupation and, yielding to the voice of the muse, he became a professor of music. After some years spent in this line he re- tired from it to a fine homestead which he pur- chased, and lived the life of a quiet gentleman farmer and successful fruit grower. He married Miss Hannah Starratt in May, 1854. She was born in Annapolis county, N. S., on July 7, 1828, the daughter of John Starratt, of Irish parentage. The Starratts came to America as early as 1637,

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

and soon assumed a position among the leading families of their neighborhood. All branches of the Burgess family were thrifty, industrious and self-reliant people. Mrs. Hannah Burgess died in August, 1898, at the age of seventy years, leav- ing eight children, of whom five are residents of Montana.

Mr. Burgess remained under his parental roof until he was sixteen years old, performing such labor as the circumstances required and receiving such education as the times afforded. He then yielded to a longing for the sea and became a sailor. He shipped at first as a cook and later as an able seaman before the mast. For ten years he enjoyed this rollicking life of alternate hope and fear, adventure and triumph, and then tiring of it, settled down on land and began working at the carpenter trade, and continued at this employment for twenty-one years near the old homestead. In 1877 he removed to Quincy, Mass., where he first engaged in dairying and market gardening. In April, 1888, he came to Montana and renewed his occupation as a carpenter in company with his brother, Harry C. Burgess. He continued in this employment three years, but in July, 1891, he be- gan dairying as successor to C. H. Bradish, and is still engaged in it on an extensive dairy farm three miles east of Helena, where by industry, foresight, breadth of view and excellent judgment, he has built up a most profitable business, which is stead- ily increasing and is conducted on an elevated plane of progressiveness and strict integrity. He now (1901) daily milks more than fifty three-quar- ter blood Jersey cows on his own place, and also uses the product of neighboring farms. He is the owner of the ranch on which he lives, and has made it a model of neatness, taste and high development, containing every modern device for his business, and the whole is kept with scrupulous care as to cleanliness and purity. In fact, from the begin- ning of his career his progress has been steady, constant and substantial.

Mr. Burgess was united in marriage on March 16, 1881, to Miss Mary Riech, of Quincy, Mass. She was born in Mechlenburg, Germany, March 17, 1860, a daughter of John and Wilhelmina Riech, with whom she emigrated to Nova Scotia in 1866, and who are yet living. Mr. and Mrs. Burgess have five children, Caroline, Gertrude, Helen Ruth, Starratt J., Jr., and Mildred, who add life and light to their home, and assist in dispens- ing the graceful hospitality for which it is noted.

Mrs. Burgess is a devout member of the Baptist church. Mr. Burgess is a type of the sterling, broad- minded and far-seeing men who have made the grati- fying history of Helena and its immediate vicinity. His ability, force of character and business acumen have given him a high place in the regard of his fellows and a strong hold on the confidence of the community. Politically he is independent of party control, voting as his judgment dictates, and seek- ing no preferment himself. · He is a member of the Masonic order, up to and including the Knight Templar degree, and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

I UCIUS D. BURTT .- This honored pioneer of the west has had an eventful life, and his familiarity with the scenes and incidents of early days was gained through intimate and varied ex- periences, and it is peculiarly proper that he be given representation in this work in order that perpetual record may be left concerning his life and accomplishments. Mr. Burtt is a native of Essex county, N. Y., where he was born on Octo- ber 13, 1827, coming of stanch old colonial lineage. His father, John Burtt, was a native of the old Green Mountain state, when, as a young man, he removed to the state of New York, and there passed the residue of his days after devoting his life to farming, lumbering and contracting. He served as a private in the war of 1812. The maiden name of our subject's mother was Laura Stevens, who was born in New York state, her father hav- ing been there engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was a valiant soldier in the Continental army during the war of the Revolution, and participant in the battle of Ticonderoga. John and Laura Burtt became the parents of eleven children, and six of the number are yet living. Three of the brothers maintained the military reputation of the family by effective service during the Civil war. In the common schools of his native county Lucius D. Burtt received a fair English education, supplemented by long and active association with men and affairs and by personal application. At the age of sixteen he left school and went to New York city, where he shipped on a vessel bound for the West Indies. He followed the sea for two years, and in 1849, at the time of the ever mem- orable gold excitement in California, he was one of the argonauts who proceeded thither by way of

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

the Panama route. He disembarked in San Fran- cisco on February 15, 1850, proceeded to the min- ing districts and secured a claim which he worked successfully until 1852, taking out $1,600 in one day. He disposed of the claim that year, bought a number of pack mules and engaged in freighting into all the mining districts of the northwest, which he followed until 1866, packing goods and supplies into every state in the northwest and teaming in Arizona and Nevada. He knows all the Indian trails, even those extending into British Columbia and as far north as the Arctic regions. In 1867 Mr. Burtt made a trip to Mexico, and in the fall returned to California, purchasing a pack- mule train in Los Angeles and engaging in pack- ing through Arizona. In 1868 he sold his mules and business and purchased sheep, trailing the same through to Montana in the spring of 1875. In 1877 he returned to California, secured another large band of sheep, which he brought through to Montana, organized the Burtt, Gans & Klein Sheep Company, and has since been thus asso- ciated in the raising of sheep upon a very exten- sive scale, having ranches in Broadwater, Meagher and Cascade counties, and running about 43,000 sheep. Mr. Burtt maintains his headquarters at Townsend, Broadwater county, where he is well known and held in high estimation as one of the sterling pioneers of the state and as a man whose life has been one of earnest and consecutive en- deavor.

In politics Mr. Burtt takes but little interest, his business activities proving more attractive to him than the seeking of political office. He is alert and active, having the vitality engendered by the free and open life of the plains and mountains, and does not give in his personality the suggestion of the more than three score years and ten which mark the span of his life.

HE FIRST NATIONAL BANK, of Great T Falls, Mont., was organized on July 1, 1886. The original officers were: President, C. A. Broadwater; vice-president, H. O. Cohowen ; cash- ier, L. G. Phelps; assistant cashier, A. E. Dicker- nian. The first meeting had been held on May 27, 1886. In July the bank was opened for business in the building now occupied by a cigar store on Central avenue and Second street. Subsequently it was removed to where the Cascade Bank is now

located, and in 1892, in company with the Town- site Company, the bank built its present building. Mr. Broadwater continued president until November 17, 1887, when T. E. Collins was elected to suc- ceed him. The first directorate consisted of the original officers, S. E. Atkinson and Ebenezer Sharp, of Helena. In June, 1887, the number of directors was increased to nine,T. E. Collins, Mar- tin McGinnis and John Lepley being added. Mr. Collins acted as president until July, 1893, and on July 3, of that year, A. M. Scott was elected to the office. On July 17, 1893, G. T. Curtis was elected cashier and one of the directors. Marcus Daly was elected a director on January 8, 1895. Mr. Scott served as president until July 1, 1895, and was succeeded by G. T. Curtis. H. H. Matteson was then chosen cashier and served until 1902. The original capital stock of the First National Bank was $50,000, since increased to $200,000. The bank carries deposits of $1,200,000. The sur- plus and individual deposits are $55,000.

This was the first bank of any note to be organ- ized in Great Falls or Cascade county. G. T. Curtis, the present efficient and energetic presi- dent, is a native of Minnesota, and a son of Gold T. and Mary A. (Anderson) Curtis, both natives of New York. Gold T. Curtis was a lawyer who prac- ticed in New York during his early manhood and removed to Minnesota in 1855, where he continued in successful legal practice and served in the consti- tutional convention which preceded the organiza- tion of the territory into a state. On the breaking out of the Civil war he organized Co. K, Fourth Minnesota Volunteers, and was elected its captain. He did not live to witness the termination of the fierce struggle in which he so patriotically and enthusiastically engaged, for having served gal- lantly in some of the more important and decisive battles of the war, he died at St. Louis in 1863. His widow is still living.

G. T. Curtis was reared and educated in Minne- sota and New York city. Before coming to Mon- tana he was for two years and a half with the Chase National Bank of New York. After his arrival in Great Falls in 1889 he entered the First National Bank of Great Falls as a clerk. One year later, in 1890, he organized a bank at Sand Coulee, and in 1891 he founded the First National Bank of Nei- hart, which, in 1893, was converted into the State Bank of Neihart. In 1893 also Mr. Curtis severed his connection with this institution and accepted the position of cashier of the First National Bank

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

of Great Falls, since which time he has resided in that city. He is also interested in banks at Stocket and Belt, both of them being private institutions.

The financial and social career of Mr Curtis affords a most striking and valuable example to the ambitious young man of the day. By force of character, business sagacity and those sterling qualities which go so far to establish a man's influence in any community, he has won his way to the top. Not only in Great Falls but throughout the state he is well and favorably known. Early in life he laid the foundation of his character upon the rock of industrious probity and his enviable suc- cess has been deservedly won. Politically Mr. Curtis has been a lifelong Democrat, and frater- nally he is an Odd Fellow. In 1899 Mr. Curtis was married to Miss Lucile M. Monroe, a native of Michigan. They have one child, Gold T. Cur- tis, Jr.

L IEUT .- COL. EDMOND BUTLER, U. S. A. -The achievements of the citizen soldiery of the United States under every form of warfare, and in all the delicate situations appertaining to the service, have won unstinted praise from vet- eran warriors of other lands, and are worthy of every commendation that has been heaped upon them. On the list of our immortals in the military service Lieut .- Col. Edmond Butler occupies a justly high and honored place. He was born in Ireland March 19, 1827, immigrated to the United States when a young man, settled in Brooklyn, N. Y., and engaged in editorial work, being associated with Horace Greeley and later with Charles A. Dana. During the Civil war Mr. Dana secured him appointment as captain in the regular army of the United States, but not having had a military train- ing, he preferred to take the position of second lieu- tenant. He was first sent to Leavenworth, Kan., where he was appointed provost marshal and placed in charge of Confederate prisoners. He served in this capacity a year and a half, and was then sent to New Mexico to join his regiment. He was de- tailed to accompany Gen. Baird (afterward inspect- or-general) in inspection of Kansas and Missouri troops. In 1862 he was the mustering officer in consolidating and remustering Kansas volunteers, and performed his duties with so much tact and suc- cess that he was officially complimented by Gen. Hunter, the department commander, for settling without resort to force "difficult and delicate" mat-

ters affecting; Kansas troops. He was promoted to a captaincy in 1864, and in 1865 he commanded an expedition against the Navajo Indians in Canyon de Chelle, marching his troops 720 miles in twenty-two days and two hours, being two days of the time without rations. He inflicted severe loss on the Indians, killing a number, taking twenty-seven pris- oners and quieting the tumult. In September of that year he received the formal surrender of Manoelito Grande, and sent more than 2,000 pris- oners to the reservation. In 1866 he was ordered to defend the Kansas Pacific Railroad at Fort Wal- lace, Kan. In June, 1868, he was in attendance on Gen. Sherman. In December of that year, with a small infantry force, he exhumed the bodies of the killed in the Forsythe affair, on the Arickaree fork, under fire from the main body of the Sioux, and extricated his small force from a perilous position. In 1869 he commanded the force detailed to guard the Smoky Hill stage route from Fort Wallace to Denver, and in 1870 volunteered with his company for the expedition against the Pawnees under Gen. Woods, and commanded the expedition after Gen. Woods was disabled by illness. In December, 1873, after serving as commander at Fort Wallace in 1871, and being ordered to the plains in 1872, he was stricken down by camp fever and went to Europe on sick leave. On his return, in 1874, he served through the expedition against the Kiowas and Comanches under Gen. Miles. In the cam- paign against Sitting Bull he commanded the center at Cedar creek and in the subsequent pursuit. He was shot at by Gall while relieving an outpost. Upon receipt of the news of the Custer massacre he was ordered to the Yellowstone, and remained on the frontier and in the Bad Lands until he joined Gen. Miles in a series of campaigns against the con- federated Sioux and Cheyennes. In the hard- fought battle of Wolf mountain on January 8, 1877, when the thermometer registered 28 degrees below zero and the snow was two feet deep on the battle ground, Capt. Butler turned the tide of battle in favor of Gen. Miles's forces by leading a victorious charge against a force of Indians who were flanking the troops, and who occupied a strongly fortified po- sition on Steep bluff. He had two horses shot under him, but continued to lead the charge on foot, and after a desperate struggle routed the Indians and captured their position. For this gallant achievement he was recommended by Gen. Miles in his official report for promotion to the brevet rank of major. And when at the close of the campaign

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

he left the command, the General wrote to him: "In leaving the regiment be assured you have the thanks and good will of its commanding officer for your hard service in the field and fortitude in action." No commendation he ever received, how- ever, touched him so deeply as a letter signed by every enlisted man in his company who was in the notable charge, thanking him for "the gallant man- ner in which he led the charge on the 8th of Janu- ary, in which they had the honor of participating, and for the kindness he had shown them in so many different ways." For this charge also he was awarded a medal of honor by congress. In 1885 he was promoted major and was assigned to various posts until his retirement from active service in 1891, when he was admitted to the bar of Montana. He was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel of the Seventeenth Infantry in 1891. He continued to practice law until December, 1894, when he made a trip to Europe, and while in Normandy was taken ill with appendicitis and died within twenty-four hours. His remains were brought back to the United States and buried at Omaha with military honors by the side of those of his wife, who had died some years before. His family consisted of six sons and two daughters, the latter of whom died in infancy. His sons accompanied him in most of his changes of place, and were educated as opportunity was afforded.

EDMOND BUTLER, the oldest son of the Colonel, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., March 16, 1860. After receiving an elementary education in the public schools, he entered the State University at Lawrence, Kan., and was there graduated in 1883. The next fall he entered the law department of Yale, and after finishing the course in 1885, came to Miles City and began the practice of his profes- sion. In a short time he took up journalism in con- nection with his law practice, and purchasing the Stockgrowers' Journal, in company with H. G. Pot- ter, he continued in charge of its editorial depart- ment until January, 1898, when he sold his interest to Mr. Potter. In the spring of 1898 he removed to Gebo and there continued to practice law, buying a drug store as an additional source of activity and business. He was married in December, 1896, to Miss Effie M. Eversol, a native of Ohio. He was the first police magistrate of Miles City, and served in that capacity for eight years. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias and the United Workmen.

ALBERT BUTLER, fourth son of the family, is a physician in active and profitable practice at Red Lodge. He was graduated from Omalla Uni- versity and took a post-graduate course in the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons. At the beginning of the Spanish-American war he was appointed physician in the Marine Corps, and served at the hospital on Staten Island throughout the war.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 17

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