Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 52

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 52

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Judge Knowles has ever rendered a stanch alle- giance to the Republican party, whose principles and policies he has done much to advance, having been an active worker in its cause when not incom- patible with the duties of his judicial functions. In religion he holds to the faith of the Unitarian church, being broad and charitable in his judgment of his fellow men. With a clear, analytical mind, distinctively judicial in his attitude, thoroughly read in the literature of the law and ever animated by an

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absolute integrity of purpose, his rulings on the bench have been signally free from bias and have ever promoted the ends of justice. As a man and a public official he has retained the confidence and es- teem of the public and is honored as one of the rep- resentative pioneers of the state. The Judge is prominently identified with the Masonic order, in which he has advanced to the higher degrees of the Scottish Rite bodies and served as grand master of Montana territory in 1879, and he is also a member of the Ancient Order United Workmen. On April 12, 1871, at Athens, Mo., Judge Knowles was united in marriage to Miss Mary C. Curtis, born in Lima, Ohio, and they became the parents of three sons and four daughters, all dead but three daughters, Eloise, Hilda, wife of C. W. Blair, of Butte, and Lucretia. Since assuming the functions of district judge, Judge Knowles passes much of his time in Helena, but the family home is still in Missoula.

H ON. CONRAD KOHRS .- No man in Mon- tana is more appropriately entitled to promi- nent mention than Hon. Conrad Kohrs, because of his varied, enterprising, yet successful career. He is probably the largest cattle owner in Montana, and was born at Holstein, Germany, on August 5, 1835, the son of Carston Kohrs, a farmer and dis- tiller, of Hanover, who died when Conrad was seven months old. His mother was Gesehe Krause, a native of Wevelsfleth, Holstein, Germany, who came to the United States in 1854 and located at Davenport, Iowa, where she died on March 17, 1886. By her first marriage she had two sons, who are now living.

Conrad Kohrs, when fifteen, began life as a sailor, which career he followed many years, visit- ing the principal ports of the world. In 1850 he came to the United States and for two years sailed from New York to South American ports. He then came west to Iowa and for several years was engaged in rafting and steamboating on the Missis- sippi, after which he was in the meat business until 1856. He then went to California by the Panama route and engaged in mining in Siskiyou county. The Fraser river excitement drew him thither in 1858 and he mined successfully, averaging $14 per day. Returning to California in the fall Mr. Kohrs engaged in different mining enterprises and lost all of his money. He then returned east and in 1862 started for Montana and arrived at Deer

Lodge in July. This journey was attended by the hardships and perils so vividly remembered by the ever-dwindling band of the surviving pioneers. He prospected and mined near Deer Lodge until the discovery of gold at Bannack. In this new camp of great activity he was employed in the meat business by "Hank" Crawford, at a salary of $25 per month. In June, 1863, occurred the stampede to Alder gulch, and Mr. Kohrs joined in the pro- cession and engaged in a successful meat business until 1865.

Those familiar with the early history of Montana know that civil law was preceded by the more rapid operations of the Vigilantes. "Road agents" were numerous, and desperadoes who recognized no law but force, and knew no pity. Like all good citizens Mr. Kohrs aided in ridding the country of these evil men. There was a strong personal incentive on his part to become an active factor in this work, for he once came very near falling a victim to their rapacity and greed. While on his way to Deer Lodge, in the fall of 1863, he stopped for the night at Camp Creek. In the early morning, while look- ing for a horse that had strayed away, he met a friendly halfbreed, a herder for Fred. Burr, of Big Hole bridge, who was stopping on the ranch now owned by Hon. Joseph Brown, who said: "Kohrs, I think you had better get out of here. Two of the boys were at the house last night. They were after some one, and I think you are the man." Mr. Kohrs replied that he would get out if he could find his horse. The halfbreed said he would get the animal and brought it to Mr. Kohrs, who had $5,000 in gold dust with him. He hastily mounted and dashed away toward Deer Lodge. Two horsemen soon came galloping after him and he gave his horse the reins, hoping to outride them, and he threw away his overcoat and blanket to lighten the load. The two desperadoes continued in hot pursuit and it was a race for life. The distance to Deer Lodge, sixty-one miles, was made in six hours and Mr. Kohrs reached the town fifteen minutes ahead of his pursuers. He had the pleasure later to assist in the capture of these very men at Big Hole, Missoula county, and one of them, Bill Bunting, paid the penalty of his numerous crimes on the gallows.

Mr. Kohrs made his home in Deer Lodge in 1864, purchasing his present ranch, with its stock, of John H. Grant on August 23, 1866. It was started in 1863 by Mr. Grant and is a very hand- some property, lying less than a mile north of Deer

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Lodge. He widened his operations and soon be- came one of the largest stock purchasers in the valley. In 1865 he began the breeding of cattle and he has so extended his operations that he now has a national reputation as the "Cattle King of Montana." He was pioneer in the introduction of shorthorn cattle, purchasing his first herd in Illinois in 1871 and in 1890 he introduced the Herefords into Montana. He is also a member of the Pioneer Cattle Company, organized in 1885. Although these vast operations would seem to occupy all of one man's time. Mr. Kohrs is also interested in mines and mining. In 1867, in company with W. H. Irwin, F. H. Irwin, Christopher Horn, E. S. Newman and John C. Thornton, he constructed the Rock Creek ditch, which is thirteen miles long and car- ries over 3,000 inches of water. In the same year J. W. Belenberg became his partner in this and since 1885 they have owned the entire property. They own nearly all the mining ground at Pioneer and are largely engaged in hydraulic mining. Mr. Kohrs also owned a 10,000-acre ranch at Deer Lodge, considered one of the finest in the state, which now contains 30,000 acres. Mr. Kohrs is an influential factor in councils of the Republican party. He has served as a county commissioner, as a member of the Fourteenth Montana territorial legislature, and as a member of the constitutional convention of 1889. Socially he is a Freemason.

On February 23, 1868, Mr. Kohrs was married to Miss Augusta Kruse, a native of Holstein, Ger- many. Their four children are Anna, now Mrs. J. M. Boardman; Catherine, now Mrs. Dr. O. Y. Warren, of Warren Springs, Mont., and William, who died March 20, 1901, while attending Columbia College, and John.

SAMUEL W. LANGHORNE .- Back to that cradle of much of our national history, the Old Dominion, must we revert in tracing the lineage of this well known land and mining attorney of Helena. He was born in Buckingham county, Va., on January 19, 1836, the son of John W. and Martha (Branch) Langhorne, both of whom were natives of the same county in Virginia and de- scendants of old English families. John W. Lang- horne was a physician and surgeon and one of the early graduates of the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. He was for years in practice in Virginia and Missouri, later removing to

California, where his death occurred in 1889. He was a man of ability and broad information, kindly and generous in character and beloved by all. Samuel W. Langhorne was one of four children, two sons and two daughters, and one sister is now residing in Montana and the other is dead.

Samuel W. Langhorne was reared and educated in Missouri, in a home in which culture and refine- ment were ever in evidence. He attended the col- lege at Lexington, Mo., and in 1852 accompanied his father to California, where he resided until 1863, when he went to Virginia City, Nev., whence, in 1865, he removed to Helena, which has since been his home, with the exception of fifteen years passed in Bozeman. He has been engaged in legal prac- tice in the field of land and mining operations since 1890. He was appointed register of the Helena land office by President Cleveland in 1885, serving in this capacity for four years. His popularity and recognized ability have led to other official prefer- ment and in every position he has rendered effective service. As a representative from Gallatin county he served in the first territorial assembly to meet in Helena, this being in 1876, and had the distinc- tion of being chosen speaker of the assembly. He was again chosen to the legislature in 1896, repre- senting Lewis and Clarke county. He also served two terms as judge of probate in Gallatin county and two years each in the offices of clerk and record- er of the same county. His prominence in and knowledge of the affairs of the state was shown still further in 1884, when he was elected a delegate to the constitutional convention which framed a state constitution, which was never adopted. In his po- litical views Judge Langhorne is one of the leading representatives of the Democratic party of the state and has done much to further its cause. Fra- ternally he maintains membership in the time-hon- ored order of Free and Accepted Masons. In 1884 he served as grand master of the state in this fra- ternity and he has been chairman of the jurispru- dence committee of the grand lodge since serving as grand master. As a pioneer of Montana and as one who has wielded a strong and vigorous influ- ence in shaping the policy and advancing the ma- terial welfare of the state, he is held in the highest esteem throughout the commonwealth. The mar- riage of Judge Langhorne was solemnized in Mon- tana, in 1872, when he was united to Miss Alice Leonard, a native of New York. They have six children : Maurice L., Alice, Helen M., Samuel W., Jr., John E. and Henry B.

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ERASMUS D. LEAVITT, M. D .- It has been said that inherited tendencies determine one's career. It has also been said that environment and individual taste are responsible for the developed man. Perhaps truth lies in both. From his father Dr. Leavitt doubtless inherited tendencies toward medical study, but in medicine, as in all learned pro- fessions, success and advancement deniand earnest study and close application. In observing the ca- reer of a successful practitioner it is invariably found that a tender sympathy and an earnest de- sire to aid the suffering are combined with skill and judgment. These attributes are acknowledged to belong to Dr. Erasmus D. Leavitt, one of the pioneer physicians of Montana, a man of the high- est integrity in all the relations of life. He has been intimately identified with the development of the state, is scholarly in his, attainments and has ex- ercised a beneficent power in the work of his pro- fession. In reviewing his career we shall have re- course in a large measure to a previously published sketch, which paid due tribute to him as a man and as a physician.

Erasmus Darwin Leavitt is a native of New Hampshire, and the son of Dr. Nathaniel and Fran- ces M. (Powers) Leavitt, both of whom were born in the same state, and representatives of old New England families, his ancestors in the maternal line having been active participants in the Revolution. The mother of Dr. Leavitt died when he was a child, and subsequently the father, who had attained distinction in his profession, removed with his five children to Cayuga county, N. Y., where he was in medical practice for nearly a decade, after which he removed to Berkshire county, Mass., and there passed the closing years of his active and useful life. He was educated at Dartmouth College, N. H., and was a man of marked ability and sterling character. We now quote from the sketch to which reference has been made :

"Dr. Leavitt must have carefully improved his early advantages, for at the early age of sixteen years we find him a teacher in the common schools of Massachusetts. At that time, under the inspira- tion of Horace Mann, the schools of that state be- gan to assume the high reputation which has since been justly accorded them throughout the nation. For several years he followed this vocation, during which time, by private study and some academical advantages, he so qualified himself as to be admit- ted to the sophomore class of the Wesleyan Uni- versity, at Middletown, Conn., and he would have

been readily admitted to the junior class but for the rigid rules as to age qualifications, his youth being his only ineligibility. Here for three years he so faithfully devoted himself to study that soon after his graduation he was selected as the principal of the Great Barrington (Mass.) Academy, where among his duties was the teaching of Latin, Greek and higher mathematics. The reputation he main- tained as the head of that institution induced his alma mater to confer upon him the degree of Mas- ter of Arts a few years later. While occupying that position the desire to follow the profession of his father rather than that of a teacher took strong pos- session of him, and as time permitted he gave his attention to the study of medicine. The first course of medical lectures he attended was at the Albany Medical College, at Albany, N. Y. Subsequently he attended lectures and enjoyed instruction in medi- cine in the medical department of Harvard Univer- sity, and while there, in the spring of 1859, the Pike's Peak gold excitement broke out. A friend in Iowa solicited him to join a prospecting expedition into the region now known as Colorado. There was no time for delay. The expedition must start with- in a few days. The question was presented : Should he wait a month during which he would receive lit- tle instruction and accomplish little study, and thus secure his diploma, or, on the contrary, should he join the proposed expedition and perhaps acquire in a day the wealth for which others sought with a lifetime of toil? The fabulous tales of gold discov- eries were too alluring to be resisted. He joined, with his friend, Dr. C. R. Bissell, an expedition which bore on its banner "Pike's Peak or Bust," and the summer of 1859 found him a gold miner, delving in the ravines and canyons of the Rocky mountains. But the dream of gold, which lured so many of the first prospectors across the plains and sands of the great American desert was realized by but very few, and the accomplished young doctor belonged to the majority upon whom fortune did not lavish her mineral favors. However, with that courage and energy which has ever characterized his efforts, he followed the fortunes of that section, at times engaged in mining and at others following his profession. In 1862 reports reached him that the coveted gold lay farther to the northwest, and in its quest, in the fall of that year, he reached what is now Bannack, Mont., of which place he was one of the founders. It soon afterward became the cap- ital of the young territory. Being among the first arrivals, the Doctor secured good mining claims,

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and he delved with pick and shovel, and not with- replied to his plea by unrolling a coil of rope and saying, 'Boys, cut these ropes and tie the knots.' Delay and argument were then ended by action. out reward. Though some success here crowned his labors he soon found that he had more reputa- tion as a physician than as a miner, and that there "The Doctor has always taken interest in politics. When the Civil war was inaugurated he was classed as a war Democrat, but before it ended he found himself fully in accord with the Republican party. Owing to his recognized popularity that party gave him its nomination in 1876 for delegate to congress from Montana. At that time the Democrats had quite a majority in the territory. He made no can- vass for the position. It is just, however, to say that the usual Democratic majority of the territory was considerably lessened that year, in spite of the fact that it was the year of the presidential elec- tion, when partisan lines were most strictly drawn. Beaverhead county, usually Democratic, gave him a fair majority, and Bannack, where he lived, hon- ored him with more than two-thirds of its vote. In 1884 the growing importance of the city of Butte, and its promise of soon becoming the commercial and mining metropolis of Montana, induced him to move to that place, where he now resides, an hon- ored citizen and successful practitioner. He is by nature a genial and agreeable gentleman, courteous in his personal and professional relations and re- gardful of the opinions of others, though perhaps withholding his assent. He is guided in the matter of professional ethics not alone by the rules definite- ly laid down, but also by the unwritten principles of good breeding-by the requirements of the high- est courtesy and most humane impulses. He is noted for his liberality toward other members of the pro- fession and is very popular with them, and they, with commendable cordiality and unanimity, crowned his years of practice with professional was greater profit, as well as fame, in allowing some one else to wield his pick and shovel while he attended to his profession. His thorough educa- tion, his professional ability and his ability to make friends gave him pre-eminence among the physi- cians of the new territory. During the time he lived in southern Montana Dr. Leavitt enjoyed a very extensive practice, which often extended into adjoining territories, where his reputation had reached. He possessed the true western spirit, with 'a heart large enough to enfold all men as brothers.' He shared the hopes and disappoint- ments of the early miners, sympathized with them in their misfortunes and rejoiced with them in their triumphs. When one of them in sickness called for his aid, no matter whether in poverty, lingering on a bed of pine boughs in some lowly cabin, or in some camp to which access was to be obtained only by an obscure and dangerous trail or up some un- explored mountain canyon, he answered promptly, although it often caused him a perilous journey amid falling and drifting snows and across swollen mountain torrents. Perhaps never in any country has a physician enjoyed more fully the confidence and esteem of the people than did Dr. Leavitt that of the people of Beaverhead county during those early and eventful years of common hardship and vicissi- tude. In 1869 he returned to Harvard University, and, after attending another course of lectures, re- ceived the diploma to which he had for ten years been entitled and which conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Since that time he has been admitted to several of the leading hospitals . honors by electing him president of the medical as- of New York city, and has there taken observations sociation of the state at the time of its organiza- tion. He has also been president of the state board of medical examiners, of which he is still a member. His name will be most kindly recalled, not only in the towns and villages and mining camps in the sec- tion of the state where he so long lived and labored, but also by many dwelling in isolated farm houses. situated on distant mountain streams or in lonely mountain gorges, and this by reason of his prompt attention and words of cheer and his skillful min- istrations in the hour of distress. The 'old timers' will always point to him with warmth and pride as their ideal pioneer doctor." upon special and general diseases and their treat- ment. Dr. Leavitt is one of those physicians who hold that his profession is not only a learned one, but also a progressive one. Upon his table are found the most approved literary, scientific and medical periodicals, and these show significant marks of careful examination. In the struggle be- tween law and order and the road agents in Mon- tana in those trying early days, the Doctor was on the side of the former, but when Plummer and sev- eral of his confederates were arrested at Bannack he took the ground that they should have a fair and open trial before being executed. Many of the vig- Dr. Leavitt is a stockholder in the State Savings Bank, of Butte, and a member of its directorate, ilance committee agreed with him, but their leader

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while he has valuable real estate interests in the city. Fraternally he has been for many years iden- tified with the time-honored order of Freemasons. His life has been ordered upon a lofty plane and in all its relations he has been true to its ideals and prolific of goodly influences. He stands in exem- plification of the highest type of the sterling pio- neers who laid fast the foundations upon which has been reared the magnificent superstructure of the great commonwealth of Montana. In 1881 Dr. Leavitt married with Miss Annie Thralkeld, who was born in Kentucky. They were parents of two sons and one daughter, of whom only the daughter, Frances Mary, survives. She is now attending a female college near Boston, Mass. The home life of Dr. Leavitt is ideal in character, and the family domicile is a center of gracious and refined hospi- tality.

M ARK D. LEDBEATER .- Nearly half a cen- tury has elapsed since the honored subject of this review became a resident of what is now the state of Montana, and his early days were tense with stirring life on the frontier, almost beyond comprehension by the younger generation, to whom the tales of pioneer life seem like a romance on reverting to the privations, the sturdy good will and the self-reliance of those who laid the founda- tion of our prosperous commonwealth. The then delightful picture was only shadowed by the pres- ence of lawless desperadoes and savage Indians ; but the retrospective ensemble of the years agone will be a pleasurable theme for many years to come. Mr. Ledbeater, now past the psalmist's span of three score years and ten, is still hale and hearty, and is known as one of the popular and ' successful farmers of Gallatin county, where he has maintained his home for many years. He is a native of the county of Kent, England, where he was born October 18, 1830, a son of Thomas and Mary (Wells) Ledbeater, both of English na- tivity. The father was the superintendent of ex- tensive potteries until his death. He and his wife became the parents of four sons and two daughters, Mark D. being the fourth in order of birth, and was reared in Kent and Surrey, receiving his edu- cation in the public schools. In 1845, when a lad of fifteen years, he came to the United States in company with his uncle, Wells. Upon beginning his business career in this country Mr. Ledbeater found employment in the copper regions of Mich-

igan, in the Lake Superior country, and there re- mained for a number of years, after which he trav- eled for a time, located at intervals in St. Paul, Minneapolis and St. Cloud, Minn., having been clerk in the Stearns house, St. Cloud, in 1856-7. He then went up Red river and assisted in laying out the town of Breckenridge; but on May II, 1862, set forth on that long and weary journey which made him a pioneer of Montana. On that date, in company with a party of sixty-two others, he left Minnesota about the time of the Sioux uprising which culminated in the massacre at Spirit Lake, Minn., and passed through what are now the Dakotas. While there about 100 Indians came up and prepared to attack them. The emigrants were in corral at the time, but making ready to continue the journey. The captain of the train was Thomas Holmes, who could speak the Sioux language, and was thus able to bring about a council with the savages, who, after some parley- ing, finally moved off, but followed the train for two days, awaiting an opportunity to attack in the open, but finally withdrew. Later on the party fell in with bands of the Gros Ventres (Big Bel- lies), who treated the emigrants in a friendly way, but it was not until August, 1862, that the jaded travelers arrived at Fort Benton. They contin- ued together from that point until reaching Prick- ly Pear valley, going by way of the Mullan road, where a separation occurred. Mr. Ledbeater and others prospected for gold in the valley mentioned, but as no appreciable results were secured they remained only two days and then pushed on to Deer Lodge, where the disbanding of the company took place, some going to the Salmon river mining district and others remaining in Deer Lodge. Mr. Ledbeater and a number of his com- panions proceeded to Bannack, where he was en- gaged in mining with fair success until the fol- lowing year, when he went to the Alder gulch dis- trict and worked at placer mining for a year and a half, being present at the time of the secret organ- ization of the vigilantes and becoming an active member. To those not familiar with conditions at the time certain actions of the vigilance committee may seem to have been high-handed and inhuman ; but the honest and law-abiding citizens felt that heroic measures were necessary to rid the coun- try of the desperadoes and cutthroats who in- fested the camps and mountain fastnesses, way- laying and murdering inoffensive persons, plun- dering and robbing on every hand, and proving a

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 52

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