Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 8

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 8

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JOHN C. E. BARKER, one of the earliest and best-known mining operators in the state, is a resident of Great Falls, Mont. He was born at Woodstock, New Brunswick, on October 1, 1858. His parents were Robert and Jane (Colwell) Barker, both natives of New Brunswick, where Robert Barker conducted merchandising for many years. In 1879 he came to Montana, and with his wife makes his home with his son, David L. S. Barker, at Neihart. The paternal grandfather was a Loyalist and raised and equipped a company for service on the British side in the Revolution. Both himself and his wife attained great ages, he living to be ninety-two and his wife ninety-three years old.

Until the age of nineteen the boyhood and youth- ful days of John C. E. Barker were passed in New Brunswick, and there he was educated in the public schools. In 1877, with his elder brother, Carter Barker, he came to Montana, first locating at Butte. Carter Barker

is now superintendent of Los Murtos, Helita and other mining properties in Mexico, having gone there in 1892. The brothers came to Montana via the Union Pacific Railway to Ogden, and here they hired a man with a mule team to convey them to Butte, the stage having been taken off the route on account of the threatening demonstrations of hos- tile Indians. They were compelled to sleep on the ground at night, alternately keeping guard, and the daylight hours were filled with watchfulness and anxiety. But this suspense was the common lot of all who took their lives in their hands and braved the dangers of this mountain wilderness. Once the Barkers and their party narrowly escaped a band of 400 Indians, who swept by them just as they had removed their clothing preparatory to swim- ming the Snake river. On November 1, 1877, they arrived in Butte and located at Walkerville and worked for the Allied Company for seven months. They then began business for themselves, locating nearly fifty claims the first year, some of which proved to be exceedingly rich. In 1878 Mr. Barker and an uncle engaged in placer mining in Yankee Doodle gulch, where they continued working for two years. Mr. Barker then moved to Madison county, on Mill creek, and in 1882 he came to the present location of Neihart and purchased the Mountain Chief mine. In working this mine he secured the co-operation of some Boston parties and a smelter and a concentrator were built and de- velopment was rushed until 1891, when they leased the mine, having constructed a mile of shafts and tunnel. In 1890, with the Anderson Brothers, Mr. Barker purchased the mines on Snow creek subse- quently known as the Benton group. Their alti- tude is 9,000 feet, and they have over two and a half miles of underground work in gold and silver ore on which more than $1,000,000 have been expended. These were afterward merged in the Big Snowy Mining Company, and controlled by Great Falls parties.

Mr. Barker was also largely interested in the Big Seven Mining Company, adjoining that group. This company has a mile of tunnel work, with a shaft 300 feet deep. They are also now working the Rip- ple mine, which is exceedingly rich in ore. Mr. Barker and his brother are interested in the Silver Belt Mining Company, whose mines are very rich in silver, gold and lead, and are now being worked to their full capacity. In Meagher county Mr. Bar- ker was largely interested in locating the Copperop- olis claim in 1886, among these being the Copper

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

Duke, Darling and Fraction. He also bought an interest in the Patented claims, the oldest mines in Montana, which were successfully operated in 1867, the ore being shipped to England, where it was smelted. Copper was then worth thirty-nine cents a pound, and this ore ran nearly 50 per cent. pure copper. Some of the refuse ore was shipped and ran 23 per cent. These mines were de- stroyed by the Indians in 1870 and later reopened1. In 1887 Mr. Barker sold his interests in these mines and in 1890 removed to Birch creek. Here he operated another mine in 1893, also properties on Duck creek and later in Broadwater county. In 1893 with his brothers, he purchased a mine in the Lake of the Woods country, where the company opened a shaft and in that winter's work took out $18,000. They still own that mine, which runs free milling ore. In 1893 Mr. Barker was married to Miss Leonie Rime, of Indiana, whose parents were natives of France. Their children are Eulalie F. and Robert E. In politics Mr. Barker has never taken any active part except as a warm advocate of silver. Fraternally he is a Freeriason and is also a member of the Church of England.

In mining circles Mr. Barker is regarded as one of the best judges of the development and character of mines in the west. He is familiar with the mineral geology and formation and knows the his- tory of nearly every mine in the state. He is also personally acquainted with the discoverers, the men who opened and those who have operated them. In 1898 his services were secured as an expert ex- aminer of mining properties in Mexico, and in the same capacity he has examined mines in Nevada and New Mexico, on some of these trips paying $30 a day for water for his teams. He has trav- eled extensively in all of the American and British Columbia mining districts, as well as in those of Mexico, and his name is a familiar one to all promi- nent mining operators of Montana, for his whole life since coming to the state has been devoted to the advancement of the mining industry. His eminent abilities in this sphere are universally ac- knowledged, while his sound judgment, force of character and business sagacity have received a merited financial and social reward. He is a fine conversationalist, and his fund of reminiscence is inexhaustible. He vividly relates many exciting stories of the dangers, hair-breadth escapes and tragedies connected with the border life of the early days, when the pioneer settler might at any mo- ment be startled by the warwhoop of hostile Indians breaking in upon the seeming solitude.

[ ARTIN BARRETT .- True soldiers of for- M

tune were the valiant pioneers who came to the great west and laid the foundations of now opulent and populous commonwealths, and among the names of those enrolled as pioneers of Montana special reference may be consistently made to that of Mr. Barrett. He was one of the early settlers in Colorado, joining the rush of gold seekers to that section when it was known as Jeffer- son territory. He is now one of the prosperous and influential citizens of Beaverhead county and is a representative and extensive farmer and stock grower. Mr. Barrett comes of stanch old Irish lin- eage and is a native of the Emerald Isle, born in County Mayo, February 2, 1840, the son of Thomas and Nancy (McDonald) Barrett, the former a farmer by occupation, whose death occurred when Martin was about seven years of age. His widow immigrated to America in 1847, the year after the death of her husband, accompanied by her nine children, of whom Martin was the sixth in order of birth. They located near the village of Hespler, at that time known as New Hope, in the Province of Ontario, Canada, and there our subject attended public schools, laying the foundation for that broad fund of information which has come to him from reading and application and through association with men of affairs in later years. He early began work on the farm, and when fifteen years of age entered upon an apprenticeship at the trade of tan- ner and currier, continuing to assist his widowed mother in the support of the family until he had attained the age of nineteen years, having devoted five years to acquiring his trade. He was a youth of ambitious spirit and was determined to make for himself a place in the world. Thus, in 1859, when he was nineteen years of age, we find the young man making his way to the west. He first located at St. Joseph, Mo., securing whatever work came to hand, and in 1860 he drove an ox team in a freighting outfit from Atchison to Salt Lake City. He re- turned with the outfit and in the following year he drove with a one-horse wagon across the plains to Colorado, where he passed the summer, quartz min- ing in Gold-dust gulch. In 1862 he was employed in mines at Central City and Nevada City, and in the fall of that year returned to his home in Canada, where he passed the winter. In the spring of 1863 Mr. Barrett returned to St. Joseph and formed a partnership with Joseph Shineberger. They se- cured an outfit and drove their mule team across the plains to Montana, the train of which they

PROGRESSIVE MEN ·OF MONTANA.

formed a part having no trouble with the Indians. Our subject and his partner arrived on Horse prairie, Beaverhead county, on July 7, 1863, and turned their attention to stock raising. Mr. Shine- berger went to Alder gulch, where he engaged in mining, while Mr. Barrett assumed the manage- ment of the ranch. By mutual consent this partner- ship was dissolved in 1871, Mr. Barrett becoming the sole owner, which now comprises about 4,500 acres, one of the most valuable estates in the coun- try. Here he is extensively engaged in the raising of high-grade shorthorn cattle, his favorite type, and he usually runs about 2,000 head of stock on his ranch. The ranch is equipped with the best of improvements and facilities, including a com- modious and attractive residence, modern in its ap- pointments, and shows on every hand the distinctive evidences of the refinement and culture of those who there make their home, the best of literature and fine specimens of art production showing that Mr. and Mrs. Barrett thoroughly appreciate the ideal phases of life, while the hospitality of the home is unequivocal and most gracious. In addi- tion to his stock interests Mr. Barrett secures large yields of hay from his ranch, much of the land being exceptionally fertile and prolific. He is one of the representative stockmen of the state, and is ever on the alert to forward the interests of this great industry, being at the present.time stock coni- missioner for Beaverhead county, in which position he has rendered most effective and timely service.

His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party, as the candidate of which he was elected to represent his county in the territorial legislature, in 1879. In 1885, at the time when the legislature was practically on the point of voting a subsidy for the Northern Pacific Railroad, Mr. Barrett was one of six men who left Helena and went to Fort Benton, where they found Hon. W. G. Conrad, who they induced to return at once to Helena, and through his influence the subsidy bill was defeated and a great burden averted from the territory, which was soon to assume the dignity of statehood. Mr. Barrett has various capitalistic interests in the county and is one of the stockholders of the Dillon State Bank. His religious faith is that of the Ro- man Catholic church, of which Mrs. Barrett also is a communicant. They pass the winters either in Cal- ifornia or Montana, returning for the summer sea- son to their beautiful ranch home and to the invig- orating climate of Montana. The ranch is located sixteen miles west of the village of Red Rock, the postoffice address of our subject.

On August 6, 1867, Mr. Barrett was united in marriage with Miss Alice E. Cook, who was born in East Townsend, Huron county, Ohio, the daugh- ter of Hiram and Mary (Vining) Cook, natives of the state of New York, whence they removed to Ohio about the year 1840. Seven years later they removed to Michigan, where they made their home until 1864, when they located in Missouri. 'In 1868 they came to Montana, and located in Boulder, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Mrs. Barrett's great-grandfather, in the paternal lines, was a soldier of the war of the Revolution; her grandfather bore arms in the war of 1812; and her father was captain of Company H, Twenty-fifth Michigan Volunteer Infantry, in the - war of the Rebellion. Mrs. Barrett came with her brother to Montana in 1867, and here her marriage to Mr. Barrett was solemnized. They have no children.

T HOMAS F. BARRETT .- One of the rep- resentative citizens of Beaverhead county, and one who has attained success through his identification with the stock growing and ag- ricultural industries of this section of the state, is Mr. Barrett, an enterprising and public-spirited gentleman who served with distinctive efficiency as a member of the board of county commissioners. Mr. Barrett is a native of the province of Ontario, Canada, having been born in the county of Water- loo, on September 23, 1854. His father, Jolın Bar- rett, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, whence he came to America at the age of fourteen years, lo- cating in Canada, where he remained until he had attained man's estate and engaged in farming for a number of years. As early as 1859 he made a trip to St. Joseph, Mo., but returned to Ontario and resumed his farming operations until 1867. In the fall of that year he again went to St. Joseph, re- mained until spring, and then removed to Kansas, locating in Doniphan county, where he has since de- voted his attention to agricultural pursuits. His wife, whose maiden name was Ellen McVey, was born in Kings county, Ireland, whence she came to America to join a brother located in Canada, and there her marriage to John Barrett was solemnized in the year 1850. They became the parents of eight children, all of whom are living, the subject of this sketch being the second in order of birth.

Thomas F. Barrett was educated in the public schools of Canada and Kansas, in which latter lo- cality he was reared to maturity. There he de-

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

voted his attention to farm work for some time and later became identified with railroading. In 1874 he came to Montana to visit his uncle, Martin Barrett, and was so impressed with the advantages afforded for individual effort that he decided to lo- cate in Beaverhead county and engage in stock- raising and farming. He took up a tract of gov- ernment land, located fifteen miles west of the vil- lage of Red Rock, his nearest railroad and shipping point, and he has since added thereto until he now has a fine place of 1,100 acres, the same being thor- oughly well improved, having a commodious and attractive residence. He has given his attention to the raising of high-grade shorthorn cattle and the best type of draft horses of the Norman and Perch- eron strains, and secures good yields of hay from his ranch.

Mr. Barrett is a stalwart supporter of the Demo- cratic party and has been an active worker in its local ranks. He is at all times public spirited and ready to lend his influence and aid in the furthering of all enterprises and projects which make for the advancement of the interests of his county and state. In 1896 he was elected commissioner of Beaverhead county, serving one term, having been chosen chairman of the board. During his term of office great improvements were made in the county poor farm and pest house, while special attention was given to improving the county roads. He is a member of the Jefferson Club, a politico-social or- ganization maintained at Dillon.

Mr. Barrett has been twice married. In the spring of 1880 he wedded Miss Nancy Williams, who was born in Kansas, and they became the par- ents of four children, of whom three are living. namely, Elmer A., Chester M. and Nancy E. Mrs. Barrett was summoned into eternal rest in 1887, and on February 7, 1888, Mr. Barrett consum- mated a second marriage, being then united to Miss Maria Poirier, a native of France and the daughter of Constant Poirier, who was a soldier in the French army during the Franco-Prussian war. Mrs. Barrett was reared and educated in America, whither she was brought by her parents when a child of but three years. Mr. and Mrs. Barrett have one daughter, Constance H.

D AVID W. BATEMAN .- The offspring of a long established family of prominent and forceful men in the history of Tennessee, whose

members have filled with distinction almost every position of trust and consequence in the gift of the people of that state from time to time, but deprived by the Civil war of what might have been golden opportunities for scholarly training and political ascendancy in his youth, and thereby thrown on his own resources for whatever career he was to work out, David W. Bateman, the president of the Bate- man-Switzer Co., wholesale liquor dealers, of Great Falls, notwithstanding his untoward circumstances, has by his inherent qualities of grit, energy, fore- sight and sterling manhood, handsomely sustained his family name and redeemed the promise of his early life. He was born in Tennessee in September, 1854. His parents were William L. and Florence (Witherspoon) Bateman, both of whom were born near Nashville. His father, a physician and sur- geon of wide repute and great skill, was a graduate of the Medical School of Louisville, Ky., and in 1855 removed with his family to Hill county, Tex., During the Civil war he was surgeon of Gen. Throckmorton's brigade of the Confederate army, operating on the Texas frontier. He has retired from active practice and is living a quiet life at Morgan, Tex. The mother is dead.

Mr. Bateman grew to manhood in Texas, and there received his education. In 1878 he, after traveling about for some time, located at Hutchin- son, Kan., for a short time and from there came to Montana in 1881, settling at Three Forks in Madi- son county. At that place he conducted a branch store for Kleinschmidt Bros., of Helena, and later one for the same firm at Martinsdale. He then re- moved to Helena, where he remained in the employ of the same firm until 1884. At that time the Coeur d'Alene gold excitement broke out, and he joined the stampede thither, an argonautic expedition which was not rewarded with very brilliant suc- cess. He returned to Helena in the fall and before the end of the year removed to Marysville, where he remained until 1890. He then took up his resi- dence in Great Falls, and has since resided there. In that city he opened a wholesale liquor store, which he carried on with constantly increasing suc- cess for some years, and then formed a partnership with Mr. Switzer under the firm name and style of Bateman & Switzer. The business was conducted by this firm until 1898 when the Bateman-Switzer Co. was organized with a capital stock of $50,000, Mr. Bateman being made president and Mr. Swit- zer vice-president of the corporation. Under this new arrangement the business of the firm has

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

shown gratifying progress and prosperity, secur- ing the patronage and commanding the confidence of an ever-augmenting body of customers, and widening its reputation for the quality of its output and the methods of its management far beyond the boundaries of the state.

In addition to this commercial enterprise, Mr. Bateman is largely interested in land properties and in an extensive irrigating plant in Valley coun- ty. Politically be is a Democrat, and received the nomination of his party for mayor of Great Falls a few years ago, but, although making a flattering vote, was unable to overcome the hostile majority and was defeated. In 1881, at Lincoln, Neb., he was united in marriage to Miss Lucretia Brown, a na- tive of Ohio. In fraternal relations he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Bateman is always alive to the welfare of his home city and omits no effort on his part to advance it, giving freely substantial as well as mental and moral support to every enterprise of merit. He is a selfmade man in every good sense of the term and well deserves the high position he has in the financial, social and political circles of the city. Every element of his success has been from within. He owes nothing to adventitious circumstances or the special favors of fortune. He is a fine example of business thrift and energy, combined with the highest integrity, the most progressive spirit and the courtliest manners, and is known as such throughout Montana and adjacent states. .

DEV. FRANCIS BATENS .- The part which R the missionaries of the Catholic church have played in the development of the great northwest and their self-abnegating labors among the be- nighted children of the plains and mountains can not be held in light regard. It is pleasant to know that the same self-sacrificing work is being carried on by the church in these later days, and with equal fidelity, as when civilization still maintained precar- ious foothold in the west. One of the able members of the Catholic priesthood in Montana is Father Batens, now pastor of St. Lawrence church, at Walkerville, Silver Bow county. Like the reverend bishop of the diocese, Father Batens is a native of Belgium, where he was born on December 11, 1868, the son of Isidore and Anastasia (Roonen) Batens. both of whom were born in the same country as their son. There the mother lived until her death

in 1894. The father is still living there and is a farmer by occupation.

Father Batens was one of the four children born to his parents, and was a student in private and public schools at St. Nicholas, in the province of East Flanders, Belgium, and studied the classics in the seminary there, matriculating in 1882 and be- ing graduated therefrom in the class of 1889. At the American College in Louvain, in the province of Brabant, he completed his theological course, and also there gave special attention to modern lan- guages. Father Batens speaks six different lan- guages, and utilizes four in his ministrations and labors in his present parish. He is a man of schol- arly predilections, but has shown his executive power and business ability in effective parochial work. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 29, 1891, and on the following September 19th started for the United States, having the city of Helena in view as his destination. Here he arrived on October 12 and thereafter retained headquarters in the capital city for two years, he having been assigned to outside mission work by Bishop Bron- del, and finding it expedient to report at the see city at irregular intervals. In 1893 Father Batens was made assistant pastor of St. Patrick's church in Butte, and retained this incumbency until March, 1897, when he effected the organization of the St. Lawrence parish and church at Walkerville, where he took up his permanent residence. Services were held in Hibernia Hall from April I until Christmas day of 1897, the erection of a church edifice having been instituted on September 25, while the sanctu- ary was completed in season for use at the beau- tiful services of Christmas-tide. This building cost $11,000 and all of this sum was raised before its completion, so that the parish was free from in- debtedness when it was dedicated. It was conse- crated by Bishop Brondel on January 16, 1898. The work thus accomplished through the zealous and faithful work of Father Batens and his devoted parishioners reflects the greatest credit upon both the earnest priest and his faithful people.

For three months Father Batens was installed in a local boarding house, and then for a time occu- pied a primitive cottage of three rooms. His faith- ful flock soon determined to provide him with a suitable rectory, and in April, 1899, they held a fair, from which they netted $9,000, which was de- voted to the erection of the present attractive home of their priest. The parish school was originally maintained in a little three-room building, with

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

most modest equipments, but in September, 1900, St. Joseph's school was erected, at a cost of $8,000, which provides adequate accommodations for 320 pupils. The parish work has been one of signal earnestness and devotion from the first. The popu- lation of the town has been augmented and the people have been liberal and enthusiastic in forward- ing all branches of church work. The result must be alike gratifying to the bishop, the parish and to Father Batens, and the mutual affection and es- teem which characterizes the intercourse of the de- voted priest and his faithful people have made the labor, arduous and exacting, though it was one of pleasure and satisfaction. There is now 5,000 peo- ple in the parish, and the labors in the vineyard of the Master will see no abating in the days to come.

G EORGE BEATTY is one of the pioneer ranchmen of Beaver creek, Broadwater county, who has achieved success after a long and ad- venturous life .in the far west. He was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, May 11, 1837, the son of John and Mary (Hunter) Beatty, the former a na- tive of County Tyrone, the latter of Formanagh, Ireland. His paternal ancestors were Scotch, and members of the family now reside in Glasgow. In 1847 John Beatty and family came to the United States, landing at New York in June. Here the parents resided until they died, the father in 1876, the mother in 1880. George Beatty has an affection of the heart, and his physician advised constant out-door exercise. So in 1856 he enlisted in Com- pany F, United States Dragoons, at New York and was sent to Fort Riley, Kan., and detailed for duty at Fort Leavenworth. In 1857, he with forty dra- goons served as escort to Gen. A. S. Johnston and Maj. John Porter on a journey to Utah. The troops averaged forty miles a day and on the march Mr. Beatty contracted mountain fever and for three days was delirious. Recovering on the fourth day, the result of powerful doses of blue mass adminis- tered by Maj. Porter, the march was continued to Fort Bridger. Here they were joined by another company of dragoons, and were ordered into camp at Henry's Fork, thirty miles south of the fort, for the winter. Two of their supply trains being burned by the Mormons, they were put on daily rations of thirteen ounces of flour, a little poor and tough jerked beef, and not an ounce of salt. Companies F and I were sent to construct another building at

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 8

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