Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 22

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 22

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wagon, provisions and the customary outfitting for the settlement of a pioneer state. Other parties joined them on the way for company and for protection against the Indians. One of the party, a man of wide experience in a plainsman's work, was chosen as captain of the expedition and when the company had attained a sufficient size the journey was commenced in military fashion.

Although Indians were frequently seen it was some time before they gave material trouble. The party did not travel on Sunday, and on Sun- day morning they found that quite a number of their horses had been stampeded. A number of men started in search of them, continuing the search all the morning. Shortly after eating din- ner an alarm was raised that Indians were making a raid on their stock. The Indians were driven off but not until they had speared a number of cattle. Retiring to a high hill the Indians watched the men who had gone in search of the stolen horses until they saw that their help was needed by their companions and went to their aid. After a number of shots were exchanged, the In- dians retreated. One Indian at least was killed, but none of the whites were injured. Sentinels were thereafter stationed and no more trouble was given.

Mr. Kirscher's first location in Montana was at Virginia City. In the spring of 1865 he went to Last Chance gulch, and from the spring of 1866 he prospected with poor success for some eighteen months. Having a brother on Missouri creek Mr. Kirscher visited him through the winter of 1867 and spring of 1868, and the summer of 1868 he passed in ranching with his brother-in-law on Beaver creek. In 1868 his brother sold out and they engaged in freighting. 'Relinquishing this enterprise in the fall of 1869, the next spring he and his brothers Peter, Jacob and Anthony, lo- cated a ranch and worked it in partnership until the fall of 1873 when Joseph and Peter bought their brothers' interests and conducted the ranch until 1883, Peter then going to the Deep creek ranch, leaving Joseph sole proprietor. Here he remained in prosperous circumstances and in 1888 he added to his estate by purchasing the valuable Daugett ranch, on which he has since resided, and working both ranches with excellent success. In 1883 Mr. Kirscher married Miss Mary Holst, a native of Denmark. She came to America in 1881, making the voyage without escort. They have two sons, Louis Maron and William Guy.

S TEPHEN H. KNOWLES, one of the prosper- ous ranchmen and enterprising business men of Boulder valley, Jefferson county, came to Mon- tana in 1883. He was born at Augusta, Me., on November 3, 1854, and comes of an old Colonial family, his ancestors on both sides serving in the Revolution. He is the son of John and Sarah Ann (Wade) Knowles, the former of whom was born at Redfield, Me., on May 6, 1816. On May 6, 1844, he was married to Sarah Ann Wade, who was born at Augusta, Me., on August 28, 1825. The father died August 12, 1899, while the mother is still living. The paternal grandfather, John Knowles, was born in New Hampshire in 1782. He married Miss Betsey Powell and died in Bath, Me. The great-grandfather, Jonathan Knowles, took an active part in the war of the Revolution. He was a tailor and when not on duty against the British troops he was engaged in making clothes for the officers of the Continental army. He married Miss Mollie Prescott, the daughter of Jeremiah and Mary (Sanborn) Prescott, and a scion of a very distinguished family. Her father was also quite prominent in the Revolution. He was the son of Samuel Prescott, the son of James and Mary (Bantler) Prescott, and James was a son 'of a James Prescott, the English emigrant, who was one of the early British colonists in Amer- ica. The paternal great-great-grandfather, John Knowles, was a soldier in the Revolution, and was under Gen. Stark at Bennington and else- where. He died in the service. The mother of S. H. Knowles, Sarah Ann (Wade) Knowles, was the daughter of James Wade, and born at Augusta, Me., on January 2, 1792. Her father served in the war of 1812, married Keziah Blunt, a daughter of Andrew Blunt, who was also a Revolutionary soldier, and wounded at Castine, Hancock county, Me. His ancestors are traced back to Normandy, France. The father of James Wade was Benjamin Wade, also a heroic soldier of the Revolution. He removed from New Hampshire to Augusta, where he married Rachel Pettingill, a native of England.

The early education of S. H. Knowles was re- ceived in the public schools of his native city and later he attended the Maine Wesleyan Semi- nary. Subsequently he studied medicine under Dr. George E. Brickett, at Augusta, Me. He then en- tered Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, in that state, for the purpose of studying medicine, but owing to failing eyesight he was obliged after a

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time to relinquish his design. While attending school and reading medicine he taught in the public schools of Kennebec county at intervals. In 1883 he came to Boulder, Mont., and for a number of years followed mining. He then en- gaged in ranchiing two miles from the town. In 1896 he settled in Boulder and in connection with his ranching operations engaged in mercantile business, conducting it successfully for four years. At the end of that time he gave up merchandis- ing and has since devoted his attention to raising cattle and horses. He now owns and operates a ranch of 1,000 acres in the Boulder valley and has on it regularly from 300 to 700 head of cattle and horses. Mr. Knowles was married on Septem- ber 13, 1882, to Miss Viola M. Adell, daughter of Cornelius and Mary (Dudley) Adell, both na- tives of Maine. The great-grandfather on Mrs. Knowles' paternal side was a German who settled in Maine in the early part of the eighteenth cen- tury, having then a' wife and a few children, the most of his offspring being born in this coun- try. They all lived and died in Maine. On her ma- ternal side all of her forefathers were of Scotch and English ancestry, and took an active part in our Revolutionary war. Mrs. Knowles was a teacher, teaching in the public schools of her na- tive state and for five years after coming to Montana. To her and her husband two children have been born, one of whom died in infancy. The other one is Stephen H., Jr., who was born on May 21, 1899. In politics Mr. Knowles is a Re- publican, and fraternally a member of Boulder Lodge No. 41, A. F. & A. M. He has been eminently successful in all his business under- takings and is highly respected by all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance.

LION. WILLIAM A. CLARK, United States Senator from Montana, is a resident of Butte. He was born on January 8, 1839, near Connells- ville, Fayette county, Pa. It would be impossible. to write the history of the progressive men of Montana without direct allusion to William A. Clark. For of all the brave men who have dared the. perils of the plains and fought step by step for mastery and control of the territory against the alert and hostile savages, and then turned from the sanguinary battlefield to the pleasanter paths of peace and commercial industry. gaining re-

wards in wealth and honors that royalty might envy, none has been more conspicuous in sunlight or shadow, peace or war, panic or prosperity than Senator William A. Clark, the son of John and Mary (Andrews) Clark, natives of Pennsylvania. The paternal grandfather was John Clark, a native of County Tyrone, Ireland, who settled in Penn- sylvania soon after the Revolution. He was united in marriage to a Miss Reed, of Chester county, Pa., whose parents were also of the north of Ireland. The maternal grandfather of Sena- tor Clark was William Andrews, who married Sarah Kithcart, of County Tyrone, Ireland, and came to the Quaker state in the early days of the nineteenth century. . The ancestors name was originally spelled Cithcart, which through an er- ror of a parish clerk was changed to Kithcart. The Cithcart family, an ancient Huguenot one, went from France to Scotland and later moved to the north of Ireland, from whence a later genera- tion came to America and settled in New York and Pennsylvania. The parents of William A. Clark were reared, educated and married in Penn- sylvania, where they resided until 1856, when they removed to Van Buren county, Iowa, where John Clark, the father, died in 1873, aged seventy-six years. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, and for forty years was an elder in that denomination.

The boyhood of Senator Clark was passed on his father's farm, where he secured the benefits of three months schooling in winter, and during the summer was at home giving diligent atten- tion to whatever his hands could find to do. He was an energetic, self-reliant boy, and at the age of fourteen he entered Laurel Hill academy, and there laid the foundation of an excellent English education, which was supplemented by a term at the academy at Birmingham, while afterwards he matriculated in the law department of the Uni- versity at Mount Pleasant, Iowa. For two years he prosecuted his legal studies and, although he did not become a disciple of Blackstone, it is cer- tain that the knowledge and mental discipline he gained by the study of law has been of in- mense benefit to him. That he would have de- veloped into an able and successful attorney is without question ; and instead of individually ex- ploiting the vast enterprises with which his name is now associated, he might have been now re- ceiving retainers from similar gigantic corpora- tions. In 1859-60 he taught school in Missouri.

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and then went to South Park, Colo., driving a team across the plains in 1862. His first min- ing experience was at Central City, Colo., and the knowledge and practical experience there gained was of great value to him in his future operations in Montana and in the rich ore-producing country bounded by British Columbia and Mexico. Among the first in Colorado to learn the news of the discovery of gold at Bannack, Mont., in 1863, was Mr. Clark. He started for that place at once, arriving at Bannack to find the population stampeding for Horse Prairie. This stampede he joined and there secured a claim which he worked for two seasons, cleaning up $1,500 the first summer. This was the foundation upon which Senator Clark has built up the vast for- tune le now controls.

The ensuing five years of his life while not uneventful were prosperous. Each year saw some- thing added to his rising fortune. Bold in his plans and energetic in their execution, he took no backward steps. He early perceived that the advantages offered for trade and business were more lucrative than life in the placer mines. These advantages he seized upon, and within half a dec- ade was at the head of one of the largest whole- sale mercantile establishments of the territory. The $1,500 had increased in a manifold ratio. In the winter of 1863-4 he imported a load of provisions from Salt Lake City. Upon these the profit was immense and the experiment was repeated the following winter, his market then being Virginia City. His eye comprehended the demands of every locality and under every pos- sible condition. Tobacco was a scarce article in the mining camps. Mr. Clark started on horse- back for Boise City, Idaho, purchased several thousand pounds at a cost of $1.50 a pound which he sold for $5.00 and $6.00 a pound at Last Chance gulch. In 1866 he established a store at Elk creek, which was profitably conducted. Disposing of his interest in this establishment in the fall, he made a horseback trip to the Pacific coast and brought back another stock of goods, carefully selected for the purchasing miners. In October of the same year Mr. Clark went east by the Mack- inaw route, visited the principal cities of the east and south, familiarized himself with their local conditions, topography and geography, and re- turned to Montana the following year. Be- tween Missoula and Walla Walla there was then a star route mail line of 400 miles. Mr. Clark 70

secured the contract for carrying the mail over this route and made such a success of the un- dertaking as to bring him into local prominence. In 1868 Mr. Clark went to New York and formed a partnership with Mr. R. W. Donnell for the purpose of engaging in the wholesale mercantile and banking business in the territory of Mon- tana. The result was one of the strongest business firms of the northwest. In 1869 they shipped in an immense stock of goods and opened them for sale in Helena. Subsequently the business was transferred to Deer Lodge, and consolidated with that of Mr. Donnell. Mr. S. E. Larabie was then admitted as a partner, forming the firm of Donnell, Clark & Larabie, which conducted a most successful business. When they retired from merchandising the members of the firm directed their attention to banking, first at Deer Lodge and then at Butte. In May, 1884, Messrs. Clark and Larabie purchased the interest of Mr. Don- nell in their Montana business, and subsequently Mr. Clark and his brother, James Ross Clark, came into full ownership of the Butte bank, and the banking house of W. A. Clark & Brother at Butte is one of the strongest in the west.

No other individual has played so conspicuous a part in the operation of vast mills and smelters for the profitable treatment of ores, and nothing has contributed more to the development and prosperity of the Treasure state than these large industries. The quartz prospects in the neighbor- hood of Butte first received the attention of Mr. Clark. In 1872 he purchased the Original, Colusa, Mountain Chief, Gambetta and others. Nearly all of these mines proved to be of immense richness. A marked characteristic in the career of Senator Clark is that he never enters upon a project un- supported by the fullest information. This strong trait in his character he exhibited in his early mining operations, for the winter of 1872-3 he passed at the Columbia College School of Mines, taking a course in practical assaying and analysis, with a general outline of mineralogy. The knowl- edge here gained has served him well in his min- ing, milling and smelting operations. By means of the financial aid furnished by Mr. Clark, the first stamp mill of Butte, "Old Dexter," was completed in 1876. He organized the company that erected the first smelter in that city, the Colo- rado and Montana Smelting Company, still one of the leading enterprises of the Copper city. The Moulton Mining Company followed, organized in

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1880; then the erection of the mill and the devel- opment of the mine. At a cost of half a million dollars a complete dry-crushing and chloridizing forty-stamp-mill was built ; a three-compartment shaft 800 feet was sunk and a modern pumping and hoisting works provided and the property thoroughly exploited. Ever since this mine has been in successful operation, and even through the dark days of panic and depression, the stamps of the old Moulton never ceased to drop until the great drop in, the value of silver occurred. Of this historic company William A. Clark is the president, and his brother, Joseph K. Clark, the manager. Senator Clark and his son, Chas. Walker Clark, own the Butte reduction works and the Colusa-Parrott Mining & Smelting Company and several other copper and silver mines in connection with the Butte district. Mr. Clark has large individual holdings in other mines in Butte, many of which are in successful operation, affording employment to a large number of men. Perhaps the most valu- able of his present holdings are in Arizona. He is practically the sole owner of the United Verde Copper Company's property in Arizona, one of the wonders of the mining world. This mine is supplemented by immense modern smelting and re- fining plants, electric and water plants, and the out- put of copper is only limited by the world's de- mand. The United Verde & Pacific Railway, con- necting this mine with the Santa Fe system, is a marvel of engineering skill, and for its length, twenty-six miles, is one of the most expensive in the west.

Mr. Clark now holds monetary and industrial interests across the entire continent from the Pa- cific to the Bay of Fundy, and he has large min- ing interests, in addition to those already men- tioned, in Montana, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona. New Mexico and Maine. They comprise gold, copper, silver, lead and coal mines, and a large stone quarry at North Jay, Me. He owns and controls a number of newspapers in Montana and Utah, including the "Butte Miner," one of the largest and best equipped newspapers of the north- west ; the Great Falls Tribune, of Great Falls, Mont., and the Salt Lake Herald, of Salt Lake City, and interests in many other journals and periodicals. In California he has an immense sugar plantation and one of the largest factories in the west, conducted under the name of the Los Alamitos Sugar Company. At Elizabethport,

N. J., he has an immense plant, the W. A. Clark Wire Works, one of the largest manufacturing plants of its kind in the United States. In New York he owns and operates the Henry Bonnard Bronze Company, which is probably the largest bronze house in the United States. He owns large real estate interests in Montana, New York and the District of Columbia. In New York he is building a handsome residence on Fifth Avenue, which will probably be equal to any building in America, and which will contain one of the largest private art galleries in the world. This mansion will be completed and ready for occupancy about 1904. His latest business venture is the con- struction of a railroad from San Pedro Harbor on the Pacific coast via Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, known as the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad, a goodly portion of which is already constructed, and it will be fully oper- ated within the next two years. The length of this road and branches will aggregate about 1,100 miles. He also owns almost numberless amounts of stocks, bonds and securities of many of the large eastern railroads and other financial enter- prises. In the municipal improvements of Butte Senator Clark has always manifested the liveliest interest, for he is public-spirited to the highest degree. The first water system and the first elec- tric lighting plant of Butte were established by him. He is the principal owner and president of the electric railways of Butte, and is other- wise largely interested in local and state indus- trial enterprises.

But the business side of Senator Clark's char- acter, remarkable as it is, does not show the full measure of the man. There is no one in the state with a higher, broader sense of public duty. While one of the busiest men, with his hand always on the helm and in touch with the details of his vast enterprises, he still finds time to respond to every call of public duty, either of his party, his home city, or his state or country. The services he has rendered each may be called invaluable. Through- out his life, by intense application. study and careful observation he has prepared himself to fulfill the highest functions of citizenship and his services are fully appreciated. Gov. Potts ap- pointed Mr. Clark state orator to represent Mon- tana at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, and the brilliant oration that he there delivered did much to attract attention to the resources of the territory. In 1877 he was elected grand mas-

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ter of the Masonic grand lodge of Montana. He was among the first to respond to the call of Gov. Potts for troops to repel the Nez Perces invasion of 1877. Receiving the commission of major, he led the Butte battalion to the front against that wiliest of Indian warriors, Chief Joseph. To the first constitutional convention, 1884, he was elected a delegate from Silver Bow county, was made its president and there won laurels as a pre- siding officer and master of parliamentary law. To the World's Industrial and Cotton Ex- position at New Orleans President Arthur ap- pointed Mr. Clark as one of the commissioners, and there he passed several months, devoting his time exclusively to furthering the interests of Montana.

Senator Clark is a Democrat. In 1888 he re- ceived the nomination of that party for delegate to congress, made a most brilliant canvass, but was defeated by treachery within the party lines. At the time of the second constitutional conven- tion in 1889, when the state was admitted into the Union, Mr. Clark was elected a member of that body, and as its president rendered effective ser- vice of an entirely non-partisan character. To Mr. Clark's senatorial aspirations national inter- est attaches. Upon the first legislative assembly, convened in Helena in January, 1890, devolved the duty of selecting two United States senators. Political misunderstanding resulted in the elec- tion of two sets of senators, following the or- ganization of two houses of representatives. The Democrats elected William A. Clark and Martin Macginnis, the Republicans W. F. Sanders and T. C. Power. Mr. Clark received the unanimous vote of his party in caucus and in the joint session. All four presented their claims to the United States senate, but that body recognized Messrs. Sanders and Powers to be elected as the Montana members of their body. But it is a matter of record that Mr. Clark then received from his party in the state the highest honor in its gift, and he is as proud of it to this day as if he had enjoyed the full honors of what he regards as a just and legal election. In 1893 occurred Mr. Clark's second contest for the senatorship. The legislature convened in Helena to elect a successor to Col. Sanders. The three Populist members held the balance of power. Again the caucus nomination was given to Mr. Clark, but a contin- gent of Democrats refused to either participate in the caucus or abide by it. During the entire ses-

sion of sixty days the contest was protracted, and at the last joint session the gavel fell with no election. During several ballots Mr. Clark came within two votes of an election, on the last hallot receiving the support of one Populist and several Republicans in addition to the twenty- six Democrats who stood faithful. In 1892 Mr. Clark headed the delegation to the Democratic National convention at Chicago. During the legislative session of 1898 Mr. Clark was again a candidate for the senate and was again elected. On his application for permission to take his seat partisan politics again intervened, and at the re- quest of the Republican majority in the senate the question was held in abeyance. Meanwhile Mr. Clark resigned his senatorship and was thereupon appointed by Lieut. Gov. Spriggs to fill the va- cancy, but never presented himself to take the oath of office. This term, however, could con- tinue only until the next meeting of the legis- lature in 1901, when for the third time he was elected to the position he had so honorably sought. Thus Senator Clark has been highly honored by his party in Montana. But no man has more justly deserved such recognition. Amid the cares and complexities of business his ear has ever been at- tentive to the calls of duty.

While he has been faithful to his party, he has been no less so to his friends. The city of Hel- ena is indebted to him for the location of the state capital at that city. In 1894 the permanent seat of the state government was to be estab- lished. There had been a contest for the location of the capital in 1892 which had resulted in leav- ing Helena and Anaconda as the sole contest- ants. Temporarily Helena was the capital city, but the choice of the powerful Anaconda Com- pany was Anaconda, and everything looked favor- able to the location of the capital at that city. The Helena people were without leadership and their forces without organization. In this con- nection it should not be forgotten that the resi- dence of Senator Clark was in sight of the Ana- conda mines, and there were large inducements for him to throw his influence in favor of Ana- conda. But the situation appealed strongly to his love of justice. He cast aside personal and political ambition and threw the weight of his influence in favor of Helena. Through the col- umns of the Butte Miner he made his position known, and from that day he was the recognized leader of the Helena forces. He eloquently urged

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her claims upon the stump. He contributed liber- ally to the campaign fund, becoming the invinci- ble champion of Helena in the fray. The cam- paign was one of the most exciting ever wit- nessed in the state and when the victory was won for Helena a spontaneous and wild ovation was tendered to the man whose successful efforts had made the victory possible. By thousands the people gathered at Helena to do him honor. They bore him on their shoulders, then placed him in a carriage, and, detaching the horses, the surging populace drew him in triumph from the railway station to the city on which he had conferred so great a benefit. From that eventful local strug- gle it may safely be said that William A. Clark has easily ranked as the first citizen of Montana and as one of the commanding figures of the west.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 2, Part 22

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