Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 158

Author: Bowen, A.W., & Co., firm, publishers, Chicago
Publication date: [19-?]
Publisher: Chicago : A. W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1092

USA > Montana > Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2 > Part 158

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PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

and Martha (Ash) Snidow, the former born in Virginia in 1825, and the latter in Indiana in 1831. The father removed with his parents to Missouri when he was twelve years of age, and has for many years been engaged in farming and stockraising in Monroe county. There on the homestead the mother died, August 2, 1895.

Mr. Snidow remained at home until he was twenty-two years old, attending the public schools of his neighborhood during his minority and as- sisting on the farm. In March, 1885, he migrated to Colusa county, Cal., where he worked for four- teen months on the ranch of Mr. Glenn. He then leased a 500-acre farm in the same county, and after raising one crop of wheat sold it and entered the employ of the Sierra Lumber Company as fire- man in the hoisting works at Butte Meadow, re- maining from May until December, 1888, at which time he returned to Missouri and bought a farmi in Randolph county in February, 1889, which he sold in August of the same year, after which he went back to his old home and remained there un- til 1891. From April to July of that year he was in the ice business at Castle, Meagher county, Mont., and went from there to Billings, working through the summer of 1891 for George Ash. In the fall he ran sheep on shares for about a month, and then bought 800 head for himself, and has since been engaged in the sheep business. The financial panic of 1893 swept away all his earnings; but with resolute heart he went to work on the stock ranch of P. B. Moss, still holding the sheep he had origi- nally purchased, and gradually recuperated his for- tunes, until in October, 1900, in partnership with the First National Bank of Billings, he formed the Snidow Sheep Company, of which he acts as secre- tary and treasurer, P. B. Moss being the president. The company runs annually about 17,000 sheep.

In 1899 Mr. Snidow completed a handsome resi- dence in Billings which he now occupies. In politics he is a Republican, but has never been an active partisan. He was married in Shelby county, Mo., in 1899, to Miss Sallie Rodes, a native of Monroe county, where she was born December 18, 1868.

G EORGE W. SPROULE, clerk of the United States circuit court and district courts for the district of Montana, was born at Petaluma, Cal., on October 27, 1858, the same year and day when President Roosevelt began his brilliant career. Mr. G. W. Sproule is the son of Joseph A. and Jane E.

(Fraser) Sproule, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Scotland. The father went to California in 1849 to take a responsible position in the United States custom house in San Francisco, and died when his son, George, was but eleven years old. Three years later his mother also passed away, and then, making his home with a sister in Virginia City, Nev., he studied assaying under his brother-in-law, Mr. G. McM. Ross, readily acquir- ing great skill and continuing the business until 1879, when he commenced the study of law in the office of Col. Frank Drake, a leading attorney of Nevada. Before completing his legal studies he re- moved his residence to Bodie, Cal., where he accept- ably served as deputy sheriff, constable and assistant postmaster and resided there until his removal to Portland, Ore., where he was admitted to the bar on October 4, 1883, and where he immediately be- gan the practice of his profession. He soon after joined the great stampede to the Coeur d'Alene country in northern Idaho, and there remained ac- tive in legal practice for about six months.

He then established himself as an attorney in Butte, Mont., meeting with acceptance and a good clientage, and soon after was given the clerkship of the probate court of Silver Bow county, and also held a clerical position in the office of the sheriff. His thoroughness and efficiency in a clerical ca- pacity was soon demonstrated, giving him an ex- tended reputation. He did not, however, relinquish legal practice, keeping his law office open while pur- suing his other duties. Upon the admission of Montana as a state, and the creation of the United States district court for Montana, Mr. Sproule was tendered the clerkship of that important court by Judge Hiram Knowles and was also tendered the position of clerk of the United States circuit court for the same district by the late Hon. Lorenzo Saw- yer, then United States circuit judge for the Ninth judicial circuit. These positions he accepted, and entered upon their official duties in February and March, 1890. In these responsible positions he has made a highly creditable record.

Politically Mr. Sproule has always been identified with the Republican party, and is a stanch supporter of its principles and policies. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic order, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the National Union and the Knights of Pythias, and takes an active interest in the social and fraternal life of Helena, where he resides. On May 1, 1889, at Butte, Mont., Mr. Sproule wedded Miss Anna Rutledge, the

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daughter of John and Mary Rutledge, the former being a native of England. During the Civil war Mr. Rutledge served in the United States navy, making there a most honorable record. He died in Colorado in 1882. His widow is living at Oroville, Cal. Mr. and Mrs. Sproule had two children, Mabelle, aged eleven years, and George, who died in infancy on December 27, 1898. Mrs. Sproule also died at Helena on November 1, 1900, and is buried in that city.

C APT. JOS. V. STAFFORD .- If there be anything inspiring and helpful in an example of parental devotion and heroism, Capt. Joseph V. Stafford has had its full benefit in the life of his resolute and heroic mother, who, left a widow with very small financial resources to rear a family of twelve children, took up her great burden with lofty courage and faithfully bore it to a successful termin- ation. Removing her family to Iowa in 1848, by her ability she kept them together and provided for them until they attained mature life. Thereafter she lived with her son, Morgan, in whose home she died, having made one visit to Captain Stafford in Montana, and here remaining for a year. That her example was not lost on him is proven by the record and achievements of Captain Stafford, who . has exhibited in his life the same sturdy and reso- lute force of character that distinguished his mother. He was born in Indiana on January 31, 1831, the son of Jesse and Permelia (Harrison) Stafford, the former a native of Kentucky of Dutch ancestry and the latter born of French ancestry in Ohio. They emigrated to Indiana in their early married life, and remained there engaged in farming until the death of the father in 1845. Of their twelve chil- dren, five are now living, Zephania D., Joseph V., Morgan R., Sarah E. and William Henry Harrison. Two children of the father by a former marriage are also deceased. The mother died in Kansas in 1891 at the age of eighty-seven years. In religious belief she was a zealous and devout Baptist. The father was a Freethinker and he was a Whig.

When he was seventeen Capt. Stafford accom- panied his mother and the rest of the family to Jowa, and there worked on farms in the summer season, wintering with his mother. This he con- tinued for five years, and in 1852 left Iowa for the gold fields of California, where he engaged in min- ing until 1857. His operations were. successful, but he lost most of his earnings in the bank

failure of Page & Bacon, of San Francisco. Re- turning to Iowa, he resumed farming operations, entering a piece of land on the Missouri river near Sioux City, and which he afterwards lost from a defect in the land title. In 1864 he again came westward, settling in Montana, and having charge as its captain of the first permanent camp established by emigrants within the present limits of the state, which was at Emigrant gulch on the Yellowstone and was started in the winter of 1864-5. His time during that winter was passed partly in this camp and partly in Bozeman, in which town he helped build the first hotel there erected. This was built by Rice & Stafford, and remained standing until a recent date. In June, 1865, he removed to Helena, went over to the Missouri river, established Canyon Ferry, where he erected a hotel and con- structed a graded road over the mountains to the river at this point. Later he engaged in mining in the surrounding gulches and helped build a large ditch leading to Cave gulch, at an expense of several thousand dollars. In 1873 he leased the ferry and hotel and opened a boarding house at Cave gulch, which he conducted until 1875, when he purchased a tract of land which is now his home.

From time to time Capt. Stafford has given at- tention to other mining enterprises. He invested $10,000 in Bed Rock flume in Confederate gulch, but like a number of others of the kind, the ven- ture was a total failure. In 1877 he settled on his ranch at the mouth of Avalanche creek, eight miles above Canyon Ferry, and began operations in stock- raising. He placed his family in a good home in Helena for the benefit of the superior school ad- vantages, they passing the summers on the ranch. In 1898, fired with the old spirit, he went to the Klondike and secured a share of its golden store, and came back to Montana in the fall of 1900 and continued his stockraising enterprise, in which he is still engaged. On January 31, 1868, he married Miss Mindwell B. Kemper, the fifth daughter of nine children born to her parents, Zenas and Bart- lett (Nash) Kemper, whom she now survives at the age of sixty-five years. In early life she was a communicant of the Congregational church. She is of Revolutionary stock, having had a great-uncle who fought in the war for independence, and being related to Governor Chittenden, the first governor of Vermont, and also a direct descendant of Josiah Bartlett, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. In political affiliation Capt. Stafford has been an ardent Republican from the organiza-

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tion of that party, and has rendered valuable service in local campaigns and in official stations. He was a county commissioner for six years, and gave gen- eral satisfaction by his wise and judicious adminis- tration of the office. In religious belief he is a Freethinker, and in fraternal relations an Odd Fel- low of the highest degree. His life motto has been "Do right for the sake of right, not for reward."

He acquired his title by being elected captain of the emigrant train in which he crossed the plains, and which he conducted through the long and tedious trip and its accompanying dangers with skill and success. Expressing himself now in re- gard to Montana, he says : "Taking my successes and pleasures in the state into consideration, I must say the sun shines longer and brighter here than in any clime I have seen in all my wanderings." In the evening of his life he rests amid generous friend- ships, with the evidences of public esteem and ap- proval multiplying around him. His present family consists of his wife and three children, George M., Jessie P. and Joseph Z. Stafford. The children are all married and settled in homes of their own. The Captain's life has not been wanting in the element of tragedy, but misfortune has never destroyed his nerve or soured his disposition. In 1874 one dis- astrous fire destroyed his hotel and caused him a loss of $3,000. A month later another fire con- sumed 30,000 pounds of hams, shoulders and ba- con, at a time when ham was worth twenty-five cents, shoulder twenty-two and a half cents, and bacon twenty cents a pound. In 1894 a third fire destroyed 4,000 bushels of grain when he was threshing. But after each disaster he went forward with resolute courage and determination, and smiled at adverse fate with a serene and lofty spirit.

JOSEPH Z. STAFFORD, a son of Capt. Joseph V. Stafford, whose career is noticed at length on other pages of this volume, was born at Canyon Ferry on June 4, 1870. He spent his early years at the place of his nativity, being educated at home by his capable mother, an accomplished lady. In 1879 he removed with his parents to Avalanche, and while there attended a public school at White Sul- phur Springs for a few years. After leaving school he engaged in ranching with his father, and when the latter and his wife went to Alaska, they left the ranch in his charge. From the spring of 1898 until the fall of 1900 "Brick" Stafford, as he is

commonly called, conducted the large and profitable business of this ranch with eminent success. He was chiefly engaged in cattleraising during this time, introducing thoroughbred stock and breeding them with gratifying results, in which line he is still occupied. He was married on December 24, 1894, with Miss Maud L. Rotz, of Canton, Mont., a daughter of Azariah L. and Missouri (Filson) Rotz, the former a native of Reading, Pa., and the latter of Missouri. They moved to Montana in the early days and settled near Canton, where they en- gaged in ranching. Mr. Stafford is a Democrat in politics, but has not sought prominence in the coun- cils of his party or official station. His fitness for public service was so manifest, however, that he was selected as census enumerator in 1900. In fraternal relations he is allied with the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the United Workmen and the Woodmen of the World. In addition to his father's ranch Mr. Stafford has a homestead and a desert claim of his own in Broadwater county. He is an active, ener- getic and highly esteemed young ranchman with a future full of promise.

S D. SOMES, one of the successful miners of Teton county, is perhaps the most experienced railroad man in Montana. He was born at Som- bury, Canada, on January 29, 1854, his father, Timothy Somes, having been born at Picton, Canada, in 1828. He was a prominent lumberman, both in Canada and in Michigan, and died at Port Gratiot in 1879. His wife, Mary (Cole) Somes, was born in Canada in 1838, and is at present re- siding with a daughter at Tobogan, Mich. The education of S. D. Somes was completed at the public schools of Thornton, Mich., and at the early age of sixteen years he began railroading by enter- ing the train service of the Grand Trunk Railway, first as brakeman and subsequently as freight con- ductor. From 1881 until 1885 he was conductor of a passenger train on the Canadian Pacific, and subsequently on the Northern Pacific, running be- tween Winnipeg and Brandon and engaged in con- struction work. He then entered the service of the Great Falls & Canada Railway with which he re- mained until the completion of the road. Mr. Somes then engaged in construction work on the Great Northern, between Havre and Spokane, and at Fisher station in 1893 he received an injury to his spine which incapacitated him from further work

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of this description. He next successfully con- ducted a hotel at Blackfoot, Mont., and subsequently he went to Swift Current, on the Blackfoot ceded strip, and acquired an interest in eleven quartz mines, which he owns in company with Daniel Doty, John Berger, Charles Buckley, James Ford and one Edwards, which are bonded for $150,000.

At Winnipeg, on December 22, 1884, Mr. Somes was married to Miss Annie Johnson, a native of Kenkarten, Canada, born in 1865. They have four children, Edna, Josephine, Seymour and Maude, aged fourteen, thirteen, ten and eight years. Fra- ternally Mr. Somes is affiliated with the Order of Railway Conductors, in Division 49, of Winnipeg, Canada. Politically his sympathies are with the Republican party. He is a man of force of char- acter and sterling integrity, highly esteemed by a large circle of acquaintances.

S AMUEL SPAULDING. - Among the well- known and highly respected business men of Browning, Mont., and one who has traveled exten- sively in the western country, is Samuel Spaulding, a native of York county, Pa., where he was born on February 28, 1849. His father, also a Pennsyl- vanian, and a native of Park, in that state, was a miller by occupation and died at Baltimore, Md., in 1893. His wife, Mary A. (Jones) Spaulding, was born at Park and now resides at Baltimore. In the public schools of Baltimore and of Indianapolis, Ind., Mr. Spaulding acquired his school education, and the greater portion of it before he reached the age of twelve years, for he then went to learn the barber's trade in Baltimore. This business he fol- lowed from 1866 to 1869 in the latter city, Indianap- olis, Hillsboro and Alton, Ill., going from Alton to St. Louis, where he embarked on the Missouri river for Fort Benton, Mont. He arrived in June, 1869, and pursued his vocation at Helena, Bear Gulch, Deer Lodge and Fort Shaw until 1872, and was then engaged in steamboating between Fort Shaw, Sioux City, Bismarck and Fort Benton until 1874. He then resumed his trade successively at Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyo., Forts Fetterman, McKinzie, Phil Kearney, Custer and Buford until 1881, when he returned to Fort Benton, going thence to Fort Assinniboine and Havre. At the latter point he was permanently located for fourteen years, and here he owns a seventy-two acre farm, four miles from the city, which he secured as a homestead in

1894. In September, 1900, he settled at Browning, on the Blackfoot reservation, where he has since been the proprietor of the Browning Hotel. In. 1876 he was married, at Cheyenne, Wyo., to Miss Georgia Harrington, a native of Georgetown, Ky., born in 1860. . They are the parents of three chil- dren, Lorena, Beatrice and Viola, aged respectively twenty, sixteen and nine years. Mr. Spaulding possesses an extended acquaintance and is highly respected by all.

JOSEPH SPOONER .- The death of this valu- J able citizen, which occurred April 10, 1899, was a source of deep regret to all who had the pleasure and the benefit of his acquaintance. He was born on February 3, 1834, at Montreal, Canada, the son of Joseph and Angelica (Dow) Spooner, also na- tives of Canada. They were the parents of four- teen children, of whom Joseph was the fourth. Mr. Spooner attended the Brothers' school until he eu- tered the Jesnit college and studied for the priest- hood. He was graduated at the age of twenty-two, but was never ordained. After leaving school he went to California with two of his brothers, and very successfully mined there for five years, and while there sold a mine which had come into his possession and went back to Canada, where he fol- lowed farming in the neighborhood of Montreal for the next ten years. He then opened a hotel at Cedars, which he conducted for four years. In 1884 he came to Montana and took up a claim iwo and one-half miles east of Victor on which he re- sided to the time of his death. His farm comprises 480 acres, and is well improved with a good brick house, modern in construction and arrangement and furnished with taste and judgment, with good barns, outhouses and other necessary appliances, and containing one of Bitter Root's famous orch- ards, which yields abundant crops of superior fruit. All about the farm that indicates thrift and skill in management, public spirit and enterprise in im- provement, and taste and foresight in arrange- ment, is practically the work of Mr. Spooner's own agricultural genius. He was a model farmer and a · good citizen in every respect, whose life work was well done. In religious faith Mr. Spooner was a de- vout Catholic, and in political affiliations a zealous Republican. He was married on February 10, 1861, to Miss Priscilla Dow, daughter of Anthony and Angela Dow, of Montreal. Their family consisted of fourteen children, of whom six are now living,

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William B., Orville J., Orell F., George C., Mary L. and Noalı A., of whom it is enough to say that they are worthy followers of their father's example, and carry out in their lives the good lessons incul- cated in his. Mrs. Spooner, who is practically in charge of the farm and conducting its operations successfully, stands high in the community and well deserves the commendation which she receives.

M AJOR GEORGE STEELE .- It is a far cry back to 1857, the year in which Major Stcele came to the territory of Montana, and it is safe to say that few men now in the state are more generally and favorably known, or have had a wider experience in the important affairs of the com- monwealth than Major George Steele, of Dupuyer, Teton county. In leading industrial enterprises and in political circles he has ever been an important factor, being at all times closely identified. with the best interests of the state which for so many years has been his home. He was born in the province of Quebec, Canada, on January 13, 1837. His father, William H. Steele, born in Scotland in 1799, and died in Canada in 1847, was a soldier in the British army, and as one of the gallant Scotch Greys fought bravely under the Duke of Welling- ton when the great Napoleon encountered the crush- ing defeat of Waterloo. His wife, Nancy (Simp- son) Steele, was born in England and died in Canada on March 31, 1842. George Stcele was educated in the Canadian public schools until he was fifteen. when he began to work and plan for himself, going to Rouse's Point, N. Y., where he became a clerk in a store and remained until 1853, acquiring a general knowledge of business affairs and details that proved in after life of great service to him. From 1853 until 1856 he was connected with commercial life in Boston, Mass., and in 1857 he removed to St. Louis and from that city came up the Missouri river to Fort Benton. Here and at Helena he remained for seven years, associated with the American Fur Company. In 1864 he in company with Matthew Carroll engaged in general merchandising at Fort Benton until 1871. In 1868, Messrs. Steele. Carroll and E. G. Maclay pur- chased a freighting outfit and one year later they were joined in this enterprise by C. A. Broadwater, and they long transacted an extensive freighting business, touching nearly all points in Montana. Major Steele disposed of his interest in the en-

terprise in 1873 and for two years was in general merchandising at Salt Lake City. In 1875 he set- tled at Sun River crossing as a merchant and con- tinued there until 1884.

From that year until 1890 Maj. Steele was ranch- ing on the Muddy, near the town of Steele, and in 1890 he was appointed Indian agent by President Harrison, and served most efficiently in this office for three years. Then after two years passed in other enterprises he was again appointed Indian agent by President Cleveland, serving until 1897. In addition to his many other enterprises conducted simultaneously from 1890 until 1897 he operated an extensive stock ranch on Birch creek and in 1897 he purchased his present property of 750 acres on Birch Creek flat, and added leased 520 acres of school land, the range being located nine miles from Dupuyer. Here he annually secures enormous yields of hay and runs an average of 400 head of cattle. On March 2, 1869, Mr. Steele was married at Ticonderoga, N. Y., to Miss Eva R. Treadway. She was called from earth to those activities that have no weariness at Helena on December 17, 1869. On May 14, 1877, at Helena, Mr. Steele wedded with Miss Annie M. Dias. They have two children, Georgie Maud and Edgar M. The political activity of Major Steele has been marked with unqualified success, his sympathies being with the Republican party. In 1867, on the organization of Choteau county, he was appointed one of the commissioners and served as representative from Lewis and Clarke county to the territorial legislatures of 1877 and 1879, and was also a prominent and influential mem- ber of the constitutional convention of 1884. Ev- erywhere in Montana he is highly esteemed and recognized as a man of great force of character and broad, progressive views, and as one of the best types of that now rapidly decreasing class, the old- timer of the earliest days.

EORGE G SPENDLIFF .- This representative

I citizen, progressive and enterprising business man, good neighbor and firm friend, whose beautiful home proclaims his thrift and neatness, was born in Madison county, Ind., on July 14, 1857, the son of James and Sophia (Paris) Spendliff, natives of Kent county, England, who upon their arrival in America located for a time in New York and later removed to Indiana, where he passed the rest of his life in farming and raising his family of eleven

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children. His son, George, was educated in the schools of his native county, and in 1881 he came west to Wyoming where he remained seven years employed for a portion of the time as a herder of stock and then going into business for himself. At the end of the seven years he sold out and made a visit to the scenes of his childhood. When he came back west he located in Montana and worked for wages on the Musselshell for a time, then bought and located on the Block ranch, situated seven miles above the Musselshell crossing. He has under irrigation 320 acres of good land which is very fruitful. The water for this purpose is easily procured from the Musselshell and its tribu- taries, and he raises large crops of timothy and alfalfa. He has in all about 2,000 acres, on a part of which he recently started an orchard. It is coming into bearing order and is very promising. In November, 1895, he was united in marriage with Miss Nora Barley, a native of Iowa and daughter of William Barley, who was prominent in that state in his years of activity, but who retired from active life some years ago and is now making his home with Mr. and Mrs. Spendliff. They have three children, Dorothy, James G. Blaine and Arthur.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 158

Author: Bowen, A.W., & Co., firm, publishers, Chicago Publication date: [19-?] Publisher: Chicago : A. W. Bowen & Co. Number of Pages: 1092

Author: Bowen, A.W., & Co., firm, publishers, Chicago
Publication date: [19-?]
Publisher: Chicago : A. W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1092