Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 181

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 181

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DUDOLF VOGEL, the interesting subject of this review, is a native of Switzerland, where he was born May 13, 1852, the son of Fred- oline and Anna (Stauffacher) Vogel, natives of the little Alpine republic, where their ancestors had lived for many generations. His grandfather, Jas- per Vogel, would often quicken and color the childish fancies of our subject with tales of the Napoleonic wars, in which both he and his father had personal experiences of an unpleasant char- acter. The elder Vogel, great-grandfather of Ru- dolf, was, at the beginning of the nineteenth cen- tury, a mail carrier in Switzerland, and used his teams as a means of distributing groceries and other articles of merchandise through the rural districts along his route. He was harassed by the French soldiers in their passage through the country on the way to or from Italy, and on one occasion, in 1807, when our subject's grand- father Jasper was in charge of the wagon, a body of the French intercepted him and took every- thing he was carrying except the mail. The fre- quent and extensive losses during these troublous times caused them to give up carrying the mails and turn their attention to farming, an occupa-

tion at which the father of our subject spent his life.

Rudolf Vogel remained in his native land until he was sixteen years old, attending school and assisting his father on the farm. In 1868 he came to America, landing at New Orleans, where he had relatives with whom he expected to live for a time. But owing to the devastations of the Civil war in this country, then but recently closed, his relatives were in straightened circumstances and could offer him no inducements to remain with them. They, however, secured him a place in the United States navy, in which he enlisted in 1870, and placed on the ship Delaware. He remained aboard the ship two years, and in 1872, on her arrival in California, left the service and engaged in various occupations-mining, storekeeping, farming and whatever else he could find to do. In 1881 he moved into Montana and opened a hotel in Bozeman, called the Tivoli, which he kept until 1893, and was very successful. In 1883 he purchased the ranch on which he now lives, and also had bought a small farm near by, which he rented as long as he lived in town. In 1893, having grown tired of keeping the hotel, he sold out and removed to his farm, on which he has continued to reside since that time. It is situ- ated two miles north of Bozeman, consists of 240 acres, a large part of which is under irrigation, and rewards his labor and skill in cultivation with generous crops of wheat, timothy and other staples. He also breeds Norman and Percheron horses ex- tensively, and devotes a good deal of attention to poultry and dairy products, strawberries and other small fruits. In this connection his large and well equipped poultry house should be men- tioned. It is 75x30 feet in size, and affords good accommodation for 600 or 700 chickens, the num- ber he usually has in stock, Leghorns and Ply- mouth Rocks being the preferred breeds. In 1898 he made a visit to his old home in Switzerland, and on his return brought a number of plants and shrubs indigenous to that country, in the hope of having them around him here. But all ex- cept a wild rose died.

Mr. Vogel has been twice married, on the first occasion, May 28, 1882, to Miss Paulina Goetz, a native of Wurtemburg, Germany, who came to America in 1880 and located in Bozeman. Her father, David Goetz, immigrated to the United States when he was twenty years old, and settled in Philadelphia, but after some years returned to Ger-

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many and spent the remainder of his life there. Mrs. Vogel died in 1889, four children surviving her, namely : Rudolph, David, Anna and Paulina. Another son, named Frederick Bozeman, who was the first child born in Bozeman after its incorpora- tion as a city, passed away prior to her death. In 1891 Mr. Vogel was married to the sister of his first wife, Eugenia Goetz. They have four chil- dren living, Frederick, Karl Eugene, Rosa Julian- na, Edward Henry, and one dead, Emma.

Mr. Vogel has not mingled much in the tur- moil and strife of active politics. He is a man of strong convictions, but not an ardent partisan in the ordinary sense. He is a valued member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a very es- timable citizen, devoted to his county, his state and his adopted country, and deeply interested in the welfare of his family. He has a very de- sirable residence, which is a center of generous hospitality, and his ranch is beautifully located at the mouth of Bridger valley. He is a progressive and enterprising man and is highly respected by everybody.

A LEXANDER M. WALKER .- The descend- ant of two families distinguished in the earlier history of Virginia, a native of the great state of Iowa, where he was born January 14, 1839, comfortably settled in an inviting home after many wanderings, prominent in the regard of his fellow citizens at home and having won the respect of men throughout the state who know him, holding high office of great responsibility for a number of successive terms, Alexander M. Walker, of Ana- conda, having now passed the meridian of life, can find in the retrospect of his career much that is pleasing and but little, if anything, to regret.

His father was David Walker, a native of Vir- ginia, who emigrated to Iowa about the year 1836. He was of Revolutionary stock, a successful farmer, an active member and elder in the Pres- byterian church, an ardent Democrat in politics, devoted to the interests of his party, and a man of high character and correct deportment in all the relations of life.

His mother was Nancy Davis Patterson, also a native of the Old Dominion, who removed with her parents to Iowa when she was young. They were married in Kentucky, and had eight chil- dren. Alexander was the sixth. He grew to manhood in his native state, received his education

in the public schools and at Des Moines Col- lege, which he attended four years, pursuing a full academic course therein. After leaving college he began business as a farmer, and kept at it until he concluded to go west, which he did in the spring of 1863, arriving in Montana in the sum- mer of that year. He traveled as far as Atchinson by rail, and from there proceeded overland by stage to Denver where he remained three days. He with others then bought a wagon and four mules, and drove to Bannack, Mont., reaching that place June 2, 1863. The first night he spent in Bannack was one of great excitement. Fabulous accounts of rich finds at Alder gulch had just reached the town, and everybody was talking about the matter. Mr. Walker caught the fever, de- termined to go to Alder gulch and lost no time in doing so. He found there a great dearth of lum- ber and other facilities for work, and returned without unnecessary delay to Bannack. After min- ing there for a month, concluding that the facilities at Alder gulch must have improved, he went back to that point and remained eighteen months, not engaged principally in mining, however, but in lum- bering. He and his partners bought a horse power sawmill and two shifts of horses to run it, twelve horses in each shift. While one was working the other was turned out to grass, the only food available. The capacity of the mill was 1,200 feet a day. In September, 1864, he went back to Iowa to spend the winter. The next spring, ac- companied by his brother, he returned to Mon- tana, stopping at Virginia City a few months, but spent the winter of 1865-66 at Deer Lodge. In the spring of 1866 he and his brother went to Elk creek and started a store. They were there two or three months and then took a sawmill into Helena and established it on Ten Mile creek. They remained in Helena twelve or fifteen years, spending the time pleasantly and profitably. In the meantime, in 1873, our subject made a trip to Nevada to look at the country. In 1881 he went into the lumber business at Butte and continued it until 1887, then went to Empire for a year and furnished lumber for a number of buildings, among them the Empire mill. In July, 1888, he took up his residence at Anaconda, and conducted a large boarding house at the copper works for five years. He has also, at times, engaged in raising sheep for market and for the wool. At one time he started with 2,500 head, which in three years in- creased to 4,500, besides the large quantities of

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mutton which were sold. The fleece brought him a comfortable income, the last clipping netting the sum of $4,600.

Mr. Walker is a man of considerable property. He owns valuable real estate in the cities of Ana- conda and Butte, and much outside. He is a Democrat in politics, and has been chosen by his party as its nominee for county commissioner several times in succession, always being elected. He began this service in 1894, and is still in the office, having been there continuously since his first election. This alone were sufficient evidence of a vigorous and capable discharge of his official duties if the matter were not one of universal comment. He is chairman of the board, and has had some very important enterprises in charge during his incumbency. He was a principal fac- tor in the building of the new court house, which cost $105,000, and is given up as a marvel of cheapness. When he first went into office there was no system of keeping the tax rolls, and many persons were paying taxes on lands which were wrongly described. He and the other members of the board had a set of ownership books made, and has seen that they were carefuly kept. They have been very valuable to the county. He was mar- ried April 25, 1871, to Miss Abbie B. Creel, a native of Keokuk, Iowa, and has one son, David C., who is a chemist and metallurgist, a gradu- ate of the Montana College located at Deer Lodge and is engaged at present in the newspaper illus- trating business at Butte.

J OSEPH S. WALKER, of Highwood, Choteau county, Mont., has won success through the business of cattle ranching. He was born in Grant county, Wis., December 28, 1862, the son of John Walker, a native of England who came to the United States in 1835 and followed the occupa- tion of a miner throughout his life. In 1850 he went to California, but returned to Wisconsin, and in 1865 went to Pike's Peak, where he was very successful in his mining operations, making a rich strike, and was en route for home to enjoy the deserved profits of his lifelong industry when he died. James S. Walker, the subject of our sketch, was seven years of age when this heavy bereave- ment fell upon him. At that time he removed with his mother to Palo Alto, Iowa, where they re- mained sixteen years, and where he was educated

in the public schools, working on a farm during the summer months.

On August 28, 1886, he was married to Miss Esther I. Pugsley, daughter of Merrill Pugsley, a prominent farmer residing in Palo Alto county. Soon following his marriage Mr. Walker came to Montana and located at Great Falls, Cascade county. Subsequently he pre-empted land for ranch purposes in the vicinity of Rainbow Falls ; later he filed on a tract twenty-five miles south of Great Falls, and for thirteen years he there farmed and raised stock quite successfully. When the country began to be too thickly settled for this business, or the profitable extension of it, Mr. Walker moved, in June, 1899, to Highwood creek. He is there at present, and prosecuting the business of stockraising with every evidence of success. He has land to the amount of 320 acres. Mr. Walker has one son, Floyd Merril, aged eleven years. Politically he affiliates with the Republican party, and, although not a seeker after office, he takes an active interest in the trend of political events, and is a patriotic, conscientious and enter- prising citizen, having the respect and confidence of all.

G EORGE K. VAUGHN .- One of the honored pioneers of Montana, and also having the dis- tinction of being the first settler in the beautiful Camas prairie district of Missoula county, where he still maintains his home, Mr. Vaughn comes of stanch old southern lineage, and is a native of Osage county, Mo., where he was born on May 10, 1838. His father, Judge Daniel Vaughn, was born in Virginia, whence he emigrated to Osage county, Mo., in 1837, and there resided until 1855, when he removed to Hunt county, Tex., where his death occurred in 1886. For the greater portion of his active life he was a successful farmer, and in poli- tics was a zealous and effective advocate of the Democratic party, having been prominent and in- fluential in public affairs in both Virginia and Mis- souri. In the latter state he served with distinc- tion as sheriff and as county judge of Osage coun- ty. He married Martha Bishop, who was born in Tennessee, whose death occurred in 1884 in Texas.

George K. Vaughn was reared on the homestead farm in Missouri, and his educational advantages were afforded by the public schools. When the Civil war was inaugurated he espoused the cause of the Confederacy, and in 1861 enlisted in Com-

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PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

pany H, Eleventh Texas Cavalry (having accom- panied his parents on their removal to the Pine Tree state), and was assigned to the command of Col. Young, and he was in active service for two years in Texas, Louisiana and Tennessee, passing most of this time in arduous scouting duty. After leaving the army Mr. Vaughn removed to Colo- rado, and two years later went to Salt Lake City, whence he came to Montana in 1866, thus becoming one of the early pioneers of the territory. He had many typical experiences of life on the frontier, when civilization was striving to gain a definite foothold. He first located at Helena, then a mere mining camp, and thereafter was variously en- gaged until 1881, when he took up a claim on Camas prairie in Missoula county, the first settler in this favored section. He has devoted his attention to general farming and stockgrowing, and has been duly successful, while he has noted with pride and satisfaction the development and progress of this section from its primitive condition when he located here as the original settler. In politics Mr. Vaughn has ever been an active worker in the cause of the Democratic party. In 1884 Mr. Vaughn was united in marriage to Miss Melinda E. Neal, who was born in Oregon, their marriage having been solemnized in Missoula county, Mont. Their five children are Wilbur, Bertha M., Bert, George and Raymond.

CHARLES D. LADD .- Few men in the state have experienced a more exciting and at the same time successful career than Mr. Ladd. He is a resident of Great Falls and was born in Frank- lin, Merrimack county, N. H., on August 13, 1847. His parents were Dudley and Amanda (Palmer) Ladd, both natives of New Hampshire. During the war of 1812 the father served in the army, and was present at the battle of Sacketts Harbor. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Ladd was also Dudley Ladd. He was born in Massa- chusetts and was a volunteer in the Continental army, serving through the Revolutionary war.

Charles D. Ladd was an only son. Up to the age of seventeen he was reared in his native state, receiving his education in the public schools of Franklin and at St. Paul's school at Concord, where he was graduated. Following this event he removed to Massachusetts, and in the spring of 1866, determined to see the great west, he and a companion conceived the plan of enlisting in the

army as a means of accomplishing this end. They joined the Thirteenth United States Infantry, which was ordered to the frontier, and came with it up the Missouri river from Leavenworth to the mouth of the Judith river, whence they arrived in July. His regiment was stationed at Camp Cook and Fort Shaw, where it assisted in build- ing those frontier defenses against the Indians. The soldiers were actively engaged in scouting parties which scoured the country, scattering the various bands of hostile Indians, keeping them in motion and too busy to plan attacks. The absolute necessity of the presence of soldiers in those troublous times can only be appreciated by those who were then on the ground. Ranchmen and their families were in continual danger from marauding savages and many a poor fellow was discovered in the cold embrace of death by these scouting parties, with their scalps torn from their heads.

In 1869 Mr. Ladd engaged in wood-cutting on the Missouri below the mouth of the Judith. Con- tinuing in this occupation for one year, annoyed considerably by Indians, but suffering no fatal- ities, he removed to Fort Benton and began freighting and trading with the Indians, these com- bined occupations being quite remunerative. Large herds of buffalo were roaming at will in the valleys and on the benches. In 1872, he and his two companions were attacked by Indians on Eagle creek, and after acting on the defensive from daylight until noon of the next day, the In- dians withdrew, having succeeded in capturing their horses and killing their oxen. In the sum- mer of 1873 a squad of Indians from Canada stole some of their horses and ran them safely across the line. In a short time a party of eleven white men and one halfbreed was organized at Fort Benton to rescue the property, and they followed the Indians' trail for five days, overtaking them at Farwell's trading post. From the post the pur- suing party proceeded directly to the Indian camp and began to talk with them. The Indians soon exhibited hostility and were about to attack them when the party opened fire and killed between thirty and forty of the savages. The Fort Ben- ton party lost one member, Edward Grace. After the Indians fled, the successful whites followed the trail for some distance but were compelled to re- turn. The horses were never recovered but the pun- ishment administered by Mr. Ladd and his brave companions ended the Indian raids into that country.

Chas & Ladd

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PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

In 1878 Mr. Ladd went to the Yogo placer min- ing district, on the Judith river, where he located claims and worked them unavailingly for one year. He then took some quartz claims at Barker's and in 1881 went to Neihart. Here he located the Galt mine, very rich in silver, which is being worked and paying regular dividends. He also owns other claims near there which gave promise of consider- able profit, and from that time he has devoted his time almost exclusively to mining. He was one of the original stockholders of the First National Bank of Neihart and was its second vice-president. When the state bank was organized he was made vice- president, but sold his interest in it in 1897. Mr. Ladd, formerly a Republican, is a strong silver advocate. He takes an active interest in political affairs, and is an earnest worker in campaigns. In 1893 he was married in Colorado to Miss Valberga C. Klein, a native of Minnesota. Fraternally Mr. Ladd belongs to the Odd Fellows, United Work- men and the Maccabees. He has seen much, en- dured much and accomplished much during his thirty-five years residence in the territory and state of Montana. But he has won both financial and social success and he has a wide circle of per- sonal friends in all parts of the state.

THEODORE M. WALKER .- At the corner of Montana and Greenwood streets and oppo- site Mount Moriah cemetery in Butte, are located the extensive granite and marble works of Mr. Walker, one of the progressive young business men of this alert and vigorous city and who controls a large and successful business. He is a native son of the great German empire, from which the United States has drawn so largely in recruiting its best citizenship, the date of his birth being March 7, 1869. His father, George Walker, was born in Germany, on May 14, 1846, and he was there engaged in farming and in a sandstone quarry until 1886, when he emigrated to America, locating first in Kansas, where he was contracting and building until 1890, when he removed to Portland, Ore., where he devoted his attention to stone cut- ting for the erection of the city hall. In 1895 he came to Montana and engaged in contracting stone work, and quarrying and building, and this enterprise he still follows, also having mining in- terests in the state. He makes his home at Butte. The maiden name of his wife was Anna M. Buer- ner, and she was born in Germany, on October 7,

1850, her father having been a successful agricul- turist in the fatherland. In the family are three sons and two daughters.

Theodore M. Walker, the eldest of his father's family, as a boy attended the excellent schools of his native land, and later prosecuted a line of technical study in an architectural school at Nuremburg, Bavaria, where he remained four years. In 1886, before he had completed his course, he accompanied his parents to the United States, and having learned stone and marble cut- ting while attending school, he assisted his father in his contracting work in Kansas, and had charge of the brick laying and stone cutting. After the family came to Portland he was employed in mar- ble works until October, 1895. In that year he came to Montana, and engaged in contracting and building for a time and then established his pres- ent enterprise, which was an outgrowth of his previous operations as a builder. The undertaking was successful from the time of its inception and has shown satisfactory growth and expansion, being the most extensive in the state. Mr. Walker has the only steam marble and granite works in Montana and furnished the highest class of prod- ucts, dealing in and manufacturing both foreign and domestic granite and marble, and executing special designs of any description desired. The works manufacture monuments, headstones, crosses, curbing and all lines of cemetery and general stone work, while iron and wire fences are also handled and put up. In politics Mr. Walker gives his allegiance to the Republican party, and fraternally he is identified with the Sons of Hermann, the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica and the Foresters of America.

T IMOTHY C. WARD .- This venerable and sturdy pioneer of Montana has been identified with much of the strenuous life typical of frontier days, and his experience in mining was similar to that of many others who came in the early days, braving the hardships and dangers in the effort to wrest success from so uncertain a source. Mr. Ward finally turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, and he is now one of the honored citizens and representative farmers of Gallatin county, and is peculiarly worthy of mention in this volume. Mr. Ward is a native of Maine, having been born in Etna, Penobscot county, December 30, 1828, and is a fine type of that sturdy manhood of the

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PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

Pine Tree state. His parents were Enoch M. and Martha (Carter) Ward, the former a native of Hampden and the latter of Sedgwick, that state, where the father was engaged in farming until his death. An uncle of our subject, on the paternal side, was an active participant in the war of 1812. Timothy C. Ward grew up under the sturdy discip- line of the old homestead farm, receiving such ed- ucational privileges as were afforded in the public schools of the place and period, and contributed in the work of the parental farm. In 1850 he was employed on the Penobscot river ; went to the state of New York in the fall, remaining but a few months, going thence to Pennsylvania, where he remained one year. Mr. Ward next turned his face westward, going to Minnesota. Ambitious to bet- ter his condition he joined a party of gold-seekers on their way to Colorado in the spring of 1860, then known as Jefferson territory, remaining there for three years, devoting his attention to pros- pecting and mining with varying success. In 1863 he started for Montana, making the trip with ox teams, having no trouble with the Indians while en route, the party of which he was a member being more fortunate in this respect than many which had preceded and many which came later. He arrived in Bannack in July, 1863, thence pro- ceeded to Alder gulch, the scene of the most ex- tensive placer mining in this section, remaining until the spring of 1864, when he joined the stam- pede to Kootenai, British Columbia, and passed the summer in prospecting and mining, returning to Alder gulch for the winter. In the spring of 1865 he started on a prospecting expedition into the Blackfoot country, where he worked during the summer, passing the ensuing winter at the head of Mcclellan creek. His next venture was at placer mining in Uncle Johnny's gulch, where he "went broke." In the fall of 1866 Mr. Ward came to the Gallatin valley and engaged in farming; but the report of new gold discoveries could not be resisted, and he joined the rush to the new fields on the Salmon river, in what is now Idaho. There he remained until July, 1867, returning to Alder gulch for the following winter. In the spring he went to Bannack, and after a year's experience found his financial resources exhausted. He next went to Deer Lodge county, putting in the summer at Pilgrim bar, and the winter in Emigrant gulch, and the following summer worked for wages in the mines of Deer Lodge county, but wintered in the Gallatin valley. In the spring

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 181

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