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| The Bi-Centennial Committee of the Big Hom Altha Montgomery, Ll[...]n, and Douglas contributed in any way to this bit of personal history of Freeman. (The latter two are the chairmen of the Big Hom County to 1940, entitled "Lookin' Bac[...]We accept no responsibility for the authenticity of and Emma Weltner, Jens Kalberg, Margaret Ping,[...]pioneers of Big Hom County[...] |
| WHAT'S IN A NAME FROST PICTURES [A Tribute to Bronc Savage}[...]ornery, the wise, old or green Of snow-covered mountains and icicled streams And soon he'd discover with some special sense Where rime-cry[...]r hand, And very meticulous is he Ain't a horse born I can't understand.[...]d by their very nature they'll pick out their own." And tho the specimens are as fine as hair, He never had money, a home or a wife One can plainly de[...]le there. For horses and cow camps were the loves of his life, Ever varied and unique are Jack's twinkling But we who remember, hope that on a far range snowflake creations fo[...]I'm intrigued by this unseen chap There was never a wild one he couldn't tame Who[...]ing to the windowpanes As he hated "Gas buggies", with their loud, brassy The beauty of our winter-bound hills and plains. honk His frien[...]By Gladys Robinson Blankenship A MONTANA ETCHING |
| TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page .[...]~ - ~;- - -- -- |
| [...]" "[...]" " " What the Land Yields.[...]Of Hardin Billings . .. ............ 68 ml. Custer ................ 31 " Potatoes, 400 bushels per acre.[...]• Lodge Grass .......•.. . . 33 " Custer Battlefield ....... 15 " Corn, 60 bushels per acre. Parkman . . ... . ........ 59 " nun1nore . . ........... 6 " Wheat, 5 2 bushels per acre.[...]Forsyth . . ....... .. .... 95 " Alfalfa, 5 tons per acre. Rowley's Lake. . . . . • . . . . 7 "' Foster ................. 14 ..[...]r acre. Sheridan . . ............ 84 " Indian Princess. . . . . . . . . 4 "[...]An Acre Herc Is Worth More Given With the Sarpy Ba.sin ............ 3 5 "'[...]LIMENTS St. Xavier . ....... . ..... 22 " Railroad Time Table[...]olis Is Toluca ................ 14 "[...]HARDIN Worden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 '" Wyola . . . .......... . ... 46 " 43 .[...]7: 13 a.[...]Train 42 Oeparts 8:47 a.[...]RESPECT The Foun dation of All[...]Phone 4 Brief History of Hardin Brief History of Hardin TOWN OFFICIALS[...]Mayor-A. L. MITCHELL |
| [...]HARDIN hands of W. E. Reno and A. P. MacDonald. They By John K. Rankin operated out of a large barn located on the east side of The Lincoln Land Company in trying to find a South Custer. This business was principally operated name for their new property, toyed with Indian names, by Mr. Reno, who built a residence adjacent to the even considered naming[...](see special business. Reno also operated a horse and mule ranch appendix at the end of this article.). All names were north of Hardin. A. P. MacDonald had ranching discarded and ultimat[...]he old Two Leggins Bridge area Samuel B. Hardin, a personal friend of C. H. Morrall, south of Hardin. The desires for "libations" were President of the Lincoln Land Company. Mr. Hardin adequately dispensed by A. Becker, at his Montana was a citizen of Wyoming where he engaged in cattle Saloon[...]Hardin from Billings, where he also operated a similar After the town of Hardin became established, Carl business. Later on a second floor addition expanded Rankin, who had s[...]Harry E. Clifford and Thomas H. Mouat for the sum of Joliet and Red Lodge, and was managed by D[...]Building of the Howell's House, 310 N. Crow, Hardin,[...]utcher, the baker, and the operators (or owners) of many diversified business enterprises were soon in evidence. The main street (Center Avenue) of the new town was now in the business of supplying essential commodities to the new commu[...]ares, many also built family residences. The town of Hardin started off its first full year of 1908 with the following establish- ments: Smith Hardware and Implement Company operated by A. L. Smith, a former hardware salesman from Council Bluffs, Iowa. Mr. Smith also erected a residence on the S/E corner of Fifth and Custer; J. B. Arnold, with banking interest in Billings and Huntley established the Bank of Hardin. Mr. Arnold installed E. Interior of Big Horn County Bank-in Gay Block A. Howell as Cashier. Mr. Howell, an associate of Mr. Gracia Dillon, E. L. Kelley, Jr., W. E.[...]ile Mr. Howell brought his Coffin, both from Billings, and with the latter family to Hardin after building a home on the west side managing while Stoltenburg continued to live in of Crow A venue, between Third and Fourth. The man[...]n Hardin, C. C. Hutton, an Robert Anderson, one of the first of Hardin's business old-timer in the general area f[...]ral and Crow Agency, came to Hardin in the spring of 1907, eastern Montana," with twenty large, well furnished, going into the grocery business. The needs of the sleeping rooms located on the secon[...]the floor contained, in addition to the Bar, a well-appointed[...] |
| [...]Third and Center (later years, the location of a business C. A. Cobb, whose son, Robert or Bob, later in his lif[...]ere he sold hard- became famous as the originator of Hollywood's Brown ware, furniture and farm[...]Derby Re.s taurant. Bob Cobb was also part owner of the engaged in the undertaking business (which[...]ended to the ownership needs were in the hands of Coulter and Bayles, whose of the townsite of Toluca, some fifteen miles west of ice house could hold up to 200 tons of ice harvested, Hardin, where the CB & Q R.R. branched to Cody, during the winter months, from the sloughs and old Wyoming, (the main line continued on to Billings). channels of the Little Big Horn River. Here Mr. Anderson also operated a restaurant and bar. The journalistic endeavors of the new town were in Unfortunately or otherwise, Toluca "never got off the the hands of E. H. Rathbone, owner/editor of the ground," as the expression goes![...]valiantly dedicated to the advancement of Hardin and development of the surrounding countryside. Editor[...]athbone, before coming to Hardin, was the founder of[...]Republican," which he later sold and the new owners[...]changed the masthead to "Lewistown Democrat!" The townsite gave Mr. Rathbone a lot after he had[...]copy of the publication was dated 1-10-1908. It was[...]while the survey was in progress, was located in a tent on the south side of the CB & Q tracks ... foot of Center A venue ... owned by E. E. Spencer, selling a general class of merchandise (Dry Goods, Groceries, Clothing and Boots and Shoes). As soon as townsite lots went on sale, Spencer im- mediately built two store buildings, leasing one to MacDonald and Mouat, the original operators of the Hardin Meat Market (Harry E. Clifford was an early Drawing by John K. Rankin. partner of Mr. Mouat). The medical needs of early day Hardin residents and surrounding community were in APPENDIX: the hands of Dr. W. C. Richards, a graduate of the The receipt that my father executed and University of Michigan Medical School, who had delivered to the purchasers of the first lot sold [I have practiced medicine elsewhere for a number of years this receipt in my possession] to H[...]Thomas H. Mouat reads as follows : by the firm of H. M. Allen & Co., who also had business "117257. Ft. Custer, Mt. May 31, 1907[...]th and Columbus. The Hardin yards were managed by a Mr. Calhoun. The Received of Thomas H. Mouat and Harry E. partnership of Hill and Coulter, both formerly from Clifford I/One hundred Six and 25/ 10[...]lars, which is to be forwarded to the Secretary of along with all kinds of iron works at the N/W corner of the Lincoln Land Company, at Lincoln, Neb[...]ourth. John Boylan was Hardin's coal with the Contract for Lot No. [1] seven, Block No. dealer, and also dealt in hay and grain. A new town [12] twelve, Town of Ft. Custer, Mont. for ap- has to have a United States Land Commissioner. The proval. If not approved, the money to be returned. duties of this office were handled by J. W. Johnston,[...]CARL RANKIN who also was a notary public, insurance agent and sold Local Agent, L.L. Co." real estate. Prior to coming to Hardin, Mr. Johns[...]which communities he where and how the naming of Hardin occurred. It would had considerable varied[...]decision to name the new town, Johnston disposed of such interests and concentrated either had not been settled by May 31, 1907, or that if a his energies in Hardin, where he soon started the[...]cision had been rendered, my father was not aware of construction of a large building at the intersection of that decision at the time he executed t[...] |
| [...]As Recalled by Lloyd Snyder of the Becker Hotel. Mr. Matt Larkin had his bar- Dad and I ate our first breakfast in a small cafe bershop in one corner of the pool hall. John Mahoney located next to the a[...]Bordewick were in the cement block building south of the Becker Bar; Peden's General Store; and Gibson's Store located in two wooden frame buildings where Solazzi's Fur- Interior of Weir's Golden Rule Store in early '20's; niture is now. Kopriva Bros., Fra[...]rected the large brick building There was a wooden frame building next to the where they ran a large general store for years. alley behind the cement bl[...]master, and in the rear of this post office building there[...]was an old Chinaman who ran a Chinese hand laundry.[...]to A. S. Broat, who later sold to the Hardin Lumber[...]A. A. Becker, the Old Fashioned Bar owned by Interior of the Brekke Grocery store in early '20's, with Charley Blankenship; and the Hardin Bar owned b[...]Henry Wilson. I don't remember who owned the other[...]two, but Tommie Thain later purchased one of them. There were two hardware stores: Eder H[...]y Charley, Frank, and Bill Eder was where A. Vickers, and Harry DeTuncq. Roy (McEvoy) Bowler the Coast to Coast Store is now. T. E. Gay Hardware, was a linotype operator for the Tribune. -There was a operated by Mr. Gay and an Englishman named Foy, small cleaning establishment operated by a Mr. Ned and located in a wooden frame building where the Ragan; I remember he did his pressing with . a hand Liquor store is now. "T[...]ink, by One meat shop, owned by Tom Mouat and A. P. gasoline. MacDonald, was later so[...]unston, C. F. Gillette, F. furniture and hardware store owned by J. W. Johnston D. Tanner, and Joh[...]the mid- now occupied by the Stockman's Bar; Mr. A. M . night telegrapher. Rastus was quite a banjo player, and Hicks was her druggist, and Dr.[...]lper. There were two pool halls, one owned by a Fren- There were three blacksmiths:[...]in Photo building, and the other Harry, a Mr. Wertz, and a Mr. McMeekin. Two livery[...] |
| [...]K Dr. 0. S. Haverfield and Dr. W. A. Russell were Livery barn, the larger of the two was where the in- the two doctors-[...]gs are now, was operated for many years. by a John Lee and Ed Dornboss. The "picture show" was located in a galvanized The three churches were the Congregational with sheet iron building on the comer east of the present Big Rev. I. L. Cory, pastor; the Methodist with a Rev. Hom County Bank. The operator of the show would get Blackman who was followed by the first regularly out on the street with his megaphone every evening and appointed pastor[...]he show building; Mrs. Laura Equal and had charge of the St. Xavier mission. Lucy Brooks were the operators with Ruby and Winnie[...]t National Bank, Gwen F. Burla, President and E. A. Howell vice-president, and Fred M. Lipp as cashi[...]but W. E. Warren and E. L. Kelley were connected with it. -A real estate office was operated by A. L. Mitchell and John Wade. Early Day Hardin Women in front of the Pearl Theatre The bakery was owned by Mr. Bateman, who sold [now Martin's Western store]. Those numbered are: 1. to Rbt. Brogehnan, who s[...]rth brothers, Reuben and Homer, who Mrs. R. A. Vickers, 4. Mrs . H . W. Bunston, 5. Edna sold t[...]Charlie Schneider had a harness and saddle shop- John Boyland had th[...]e house and later an ice cream parlor-in one of the brick buildings delivered coal and ice to customers in town. Ralph Peck north of the Becker. operated one dray line and Ira Cochra[...]Van Houten, Mr. Perry Conver and son, master. J . A. (Brig) Youst operated the other dray line. Guy, erected a small galvanized sheet iron garage on a Brig was always breaking horses on his dray; one[...]e the Triangle Motor Co. have their garage he had a colored boy working for him and they were now; this was in the early summer of 1914. Another breaking a pair of mules. The boy was pulling back on son, Jake Conver, was working as a mechanic in a the lines and yelling "Whoa" while Brig was layin[...]to move. Hardin as a mechanic in the Conver garage. Hardin depot and water tank, 1917 A typical scene on the roads 1916-29-A FLAT TIRE![...] |
| There was a brickyard located on the east side of There are no doubt some business firms[...]s son overlooked, but these are the ones I remember. Floyd, is now with Bud's grocery. W. E . Fearis residenc[...] |
| [...]birth control-just By Blanche A. Schaller kids. This was a far cry from the one room schools up It will be forty-tw[...]r things hill to Hardin. Hardin in those days was a very frontier that went into the community expansion, paved roads town, not from the standpoint of Indians and cowboys and electricity and a lot of headaches. but in general appearance.[...]le-hearted effort brought Someone had taken a good long look at the sub- forth a generation of people that knew no other marginal land on the banks of the Big Horn river, and economy. The beet industry had grown into a colossal they had envisioned crops, sugar beets in particular. enterprise of mechanization, chemical balance of land, Two new men had been added to the sugar beet water and management of the farm operators. operation, L. R. Cool and H.[...]the sugar factory was to activate the land north of Hardin to its fullest potential. close it was h[...]gaps between Hardin and sure, it had been a terrible waste of human resources: Sheridan in the Little Horn valley. These men brought The pride of a special breed of men The Farmers. in good families on the promise of this expansion. It didn't take but two seasons to do what had been planned as asked of them. South of Hardin were miles of land that really looked good. There had been thre[...]armers that demanded beet contracts. These fields of beets were hauled into Hardin and delivered to Sh[...]d. Farmers and fieldmen and tires and trucks took a beating in more ways than one. About this time Ro[...]ieldmen for this factory area were H. P. &haller, A. B. Cook, Tom Clump, Carl Sloan and C. C. Bounous. The economy of Hardin was looking up. The bankers and the business people began to talk about the sugar factory. There were a few diehards that did Hardin's first Volunteer Fire Department not go along with this kind of commercialization. The factory was completed for operation in 1937. We as a family were assigned south of Hardin to the St. Xavier district. The road south of the bridge[...]Kalberg, Sam Meeke [?], Bill Larkin sported a thin layer of gravel. Farmers and families |
| [...]LODGBGBABB HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF However, from this beginning in merchandizing, Lodge[...]has grown to where it can offer its citizens all of By Arthur G. Westwood, Jr. the necessities of life and many of the luxuries. Today When you newcomers firs[...]e Grass we have six grocery stores, three of which are equipped you probably said, "So this is Lodge Grass!" We don't to handle fresh meat, three garage[...]ation, three restaurants, three lumber yards, one with disappointed. If you were expecting more than you hardware, two hotels, a dry goods store, a bakery, a found upon first sight we hope that we can help you furniture store, a blacksmith shop, a shoe shop, a find it before you have occasion to leave. One thing I barber shop, a drug store, an elevator, two bulk am sure of and that is that Lodge Grass has a lot more gasoline plants, a municipal light plant, and last but to offer now than it did when the Stork discovered that not least a livery stable. Along with the change in the my ticket ran out and left me at the depot here at Lodge mode of transportation, Bill Gardner has renovated his Gr[...]accommodations until now he handles the kind of oats History of L. G. that he had found occasion to leave a that keep our cars running. Although I have[...]must have been flying at mention the names of all the different people who were a very low altitude or else he would have missed th[...]sinesses, town completely. I'll try and paint you a picture of they were all people of a pioneering nature, people who what our fair town consisted of in those days. There had enough confidence in the future of Lodge Grass to were four families that made up th[...]n in total. invest their time and money here. With very few ex- Up in the southwest comer of the present Lodge Grass ceptions, the peo[...]Grass is still Little Hom River was the location of the Baptist in its infancy. Since the inception of the first business Mission and the Petzoldt famil[...]es, might call the Dark Ages in the history of our town. except along the river ; no lawns or streets; just a few Although there have been dark days Lodge Grass has trails and old wagon roads; a few barbed wire fences always grown and developed in spite of drought years running across this big field were about all that broke and depressions. the monotony of the vast area between our Trading A large number present this evening are interested Post, the Depot, and the Baptist Mission. From that in the teaching profession. In fact[...]have here today. can find that a lot of our permanent citizens were When we stop to[...]y teachers, and before they knew it some Grass is a relatively new town; one of the last frontiers cowpuncher convinced them t[...]merica, and this history I Let us take a look at the development of our school am relating just dates back to about t[...]was started in Lodge Grass in Haven't we enjoyed a marvelous development in that the year 1911. School was held in a little log house and short period of time? From that group of four families during the year was moved down to the cafe that is now we have grown to a point where we have over 500 located[...]oblems. It was in In 1911 the business part of the present Lodge this school that the President of your local Woman's Grass was started with the construction of A. M. Club organization (Marjorie Stevenson Clanin) received Stevenson's two story brick store on Main Street. It some of her primary education. In 1912 the people in took a great deal of nerve and - shall I say "intestinal the community built the Stevenson School which is now fortitude " to build a building of its size and kind right being used for the first grade room. For several years it out in the middle of a big 120 acre field. But it was this was large enough to accommodate all the children in all kind of nerve and confidence in the future that started the grades. At the time of its construction, the people of this town, and also the same elements of character that the community figured they had a school house that have been responsible for its f[...]large enough for years to come. It was also A couple of years after Allie moved his trading used as a sort of community center. Many a time I can post down to the nice new brick building, George Pease remember crawling into the seats that were stacked started a store which is now owned by W. T. Benbrooks along the edge of the room and going to sleep for most directly across from the depot. Since then we have had of the night while the elite of Lodge Grass spent the numerous additions as busin[...]hat it would take too long that some sort of church service would be held. Some to mention all of them, and the time that each of them four years after the construction of the Stevenson arrived and started their re[...] |
| since they were unable to accommodate all of the pupils dition of the Catholic Church over in the Southeast part in the one room. What is now used for the second grade of town. A community is usually judged by its schools was made at that time. Again the residents of the and churches. I think as far as both of these are con- community figured all educational[...]e cerned, Lodge Grass is entitled to a 100% rating. settled, but lo and behold, it was j[...]ion, and later that it was necessary to move part of the children it was decided by the business men of Lodge Grass in to the community room of this church for school 1928 that the[...]constructed, and High School classes were started with incorporated in that year with John T. Ryan serving as an enrollment of about ten for the entire High School. I first Mayor and for two additional terms. Then last can well remember when we moved into this new Spring[...]n the seventh grade at that time, and reins of the Town in the capacity. we certainly enjoyed sl[...]the banisters in this Needing some sort of lighting system, the town building - that is, whenever we didn't get caught. In purchased a light plant in 1931 which has served us our gradu[...]ntly since that date. Although year 1925; it left a large gap since there were only 27 in the cost[...]g forward to the entire school. Just compare that with today when the day when the plant will ha[...]ertainly growing can get our electricity at a nominal figure. toward the 200 mark. In 1928 acco[...]The highlights in the development of Lodge Grass again insufficient, and the Valley Vi[...]as have been recited. I have drifted away from my subject constructed with its fine large rooms and nice gym- of Boyhood Reminisences. I have a lot of them, no nasium. During our High School days the Indian dance doubt; some of which I could tell and some of them I hall across the river and Stevenson's ware[...]n't dare to tell. Whenever I visit school I think of our gymnasiums - very crude compared with what we the wonderful days that I spen[...]rooms; how patient the teachers had been with myself This briefly covers the growth of our school system and pals when we were trying to be the worst kind of from time when two people, namely Marjorie and Sam[...]he red bridge down on the Stevenson comprised 50% of the total enrollment until railroad track, I think of the old swimming pool; how t.oday when we find approximately 300 in our schools. A Orin Benbrooks, Keith McKinley, Sam Stevenson, system where the payroll of this year is $2224.00 per Leonard Young and a lot of the bigger boys used to month. A system which requires close to $30,000.00[...]le annually to maintain. I don't believe there is anyone fellows under the water without drowning u[...]cation in Lodge Grass have no doubt heard of the two scotchmen who were in has been neglected. When we read daily of the blood bathing and made a bet as to which one could remain shed in the Span[...]be thankful that under the water the longest with the result that they our children are being offered the advantages of a free both were drowned. I guess that is what[...]through high school. When "perseverance, a quality essential to success". we read about the Spanish Revolution, they tell of the various factions that are fighting- the fasci[...]just this: Education has been neglected! The bulk of the population has never had the privilege of free education and freedom of thought. If the standard of education in Spain were as high as our standards, the revolution would be impossible. The importance of education cannot and will not be overlooked in Lo[...]at has been our lot without the aid and influence of religion. Religion has always gone hand in Early View of Lodge Grass han? with the development of the town. The Crow Indian Baptist Mission was sta[...]by Mr. Petzoldt; they also handled the education of the Indian What we are all interested in is the success of yo~gsters for a number of years. The whites oc- Lodge Grass; t[...]ng the first school house. By 1917, as the result of a lot of folks and the help it offers toward the advancement of CO~unity work, the residents managed to finance and Society as a whole. I don't think that an individual's build t[...]Church which we are using this success nor a communities success should be measured eve[...] |
| improvement of the well being of its individuals. We are From that time on the store has passed from assured of satisfactory returns from every dollar we generation to generation, starting with A. M. (Allie) invest in education and in our churc[...]w, Marjorie and greater than its source so it is with our children who are Clayton Clanin, to Marjorie's brother and Allie's only growing into men and women in our community. Their son, Sam, to Sa[...]being earmarked daily by Stevenson II. The store is now in the process of passing the opportunities we are offering them here at the on to A. M . Stevenson's great grandsons, Gary M. and source of their careers. You teachers will have a sub- Samuel G. Stevenson, who are the sons of Albert M. stantial effect on the future of the children whom you Stevenson II. During the early days of the store, Mrs. are contacting daily. A. M. Stevenson, Hester Nancy, assisted her husband Now for myself, it is with a great deal of pride and in operating the store. She was also one of the first pleasure that I remember my boyhood and school days women mayors in Montana, serving as Mayor of Lodge in Lodge Grass. I am certainly thankful for[...]have enjoyed while I have lived here. Previous to a few years ago, I was on the receiving side of the community and, as I men- tioned, am very grat[...]e bestowed upon me. My only hope is that I may be of such service to the community in the future so as[...]Interior of Stevenson's store when it was managed by[...]ancestry back prior to 1800, with each generation being in some type of a retail store operation. The Grand-[...]merchant, and later had a grocery store in Lodge Grass. Stevenson's Store, built 1911 Mr. A . M. Stevenson was also the first Postmaster[...]in Lodge Grass, The post office was situated in a corner of the store. Later as a political appointment it was STEVENSON'S STORE, LODGE GRASS, MT awarded[...]iness" and he ran it in conjunction with his grocery store. Those who served as postmaster, with the dates ot The business has an interesting[...]are as follows: 1880, Charles Babcock established a Trading Post at Morris Shreve, 1902; Frank Davidson, 1903; Absarokee (one of the Crows ' first Agencies). When the James A. Thompson, 1905 ; Frank Nolan, 1908; Mary Crow Agency headquarters was moved to the present A. Beaumont, 1913; Maud Coates, 1920 ; A. M. site at Crow Agency in the 1880's, Babcock al[...]. F . his Trading Post . In 1887, the grandfather of the Bumbaca, 1945. present owner of Stevenson's Store, A . M. Stevenson ran away from his home in Michigan after his high school gradua[...]By Mrs. Warren Adsit his relatives and friends as " Allie" Stevenson was a The Hutton Post Office was discontinu[...]to what is now the Bearer" or "Wraps Up His Tail " incident. Rugg Place. George Kirby lived there and this became In 1902, A .M. Stevenson and his wife, Hester the[...]ck down Nancy , came to Lodge Grass and purchased a small the Rosebud to the large rock building, now owned by trading post operated by a Mr. Simmons and a small Walter Taylor. It was then owned by George Carroll store operated seasonally by George Pease, Sr.[...] |
| [...]9_ M ~~ ~~ ?U·d£~ A. M. STEVENSON A bill from Stevenson's store |
| [...]It later was moved to the lower store which was owned It was then changed again to the[...]to the present site on the was moved to the upper store owned by Ali Stevenson[...]~ :_ ---~a.m.,·[...]saloon. There was the hotel and restaurant, a two-story By Elbert S. Connor station, a round house, a two-story section house and In early 1906,[...]for Toluca, much in common with Colonel William F. Cody, Montana. At that time a branch of the railroad ran from (Buffalo Bill). Many were the n[...]their hunting days. H. Barnes, had the concession from the railroad to operate hotels and restaurants in[...]braska, In 1907 the town of Hardin held an official and Gillette and Frannie,[...]festivities. Little do I recall of the events other than our enticed by a Mr. Wiley to operate his land-opening[...]lieve has since hotel in Wiley, Wyoming, 20 miles from Cody and burned. Whether or not the register was saved I do not which later proved a failure. know, but in any event, the names of the Conner family In Toluca, few bui[...] |
| [...]fter the Custer MEMORIES OF TOLUCA Massacre, a visit to the battlefield was a must. Also, By Alva Montgomery the Crow Indians had scheduled a fair at Crow Agency. I was nine years old when my father went to work Representatives of all tribes of the west were present. on the railroad at Tol[...]rce, Cheyennes, Toluca was strictly a railroad town built up by the Blackfeet and many[...]ces were held railroad. In 1909 Toluca had a section house, depot, at the rodeo grounds and tepees were scattered all along roundhouse, coal chute, a large rooming house, an the river. Th~ government had built many houses in eating house with a large dining room and lunch room, Crow Agency for the Indians but they refused to live in a laundry, and a number of car bodies for railroaders them. They claimed such types of living caused them to and section workers to[...]e dances. We particularly watched the war dances. From time to time the squaws would dance and the dances would go on for hours. Father spent much of his time selecting elks' teeth from the shift-like dresses worn by the squaws. These dresses were covered with hundreds of elks' teeth and as father could tell the genuine from the imitation, much money changed hands at $1.00[...]road had been built to Reno's battlefield and as a result few people saw it or were aware of the part played by Major Reno and his command. An[...]Army spoon as the battlefield was still littered with debris. Only the bones of men and horses had been removed. A set of seven photographic post cards, which were purchas[...]year after the fight. The pictures were taken by a Sheridan, Wyoming photographer. These have since[...]he and was fortunate to attend the formal opening of the night at Toluca so the rooming house and dining and townsite of Hardin. anyone else coming on the passenger train enroute to He is a past President of the Santa Barbara Cody, Frannie, or Gr[...]metimes to Hardin Historical Society and resident of Santa Barbara, had to stay over night i[...]had about four waitresses as well Calif., and is a veteran of World War I, having served in as two or three in the lunch room. My ~other had France and was a member of the Army of Occupation, charge of the dining and lunch room. Two or three in German[...]ooks. He attended Sorbonne University and is a Several large tables in the dining room were graduate of Soldier High School, St. Louis, Missouri. covered with colored table cloths. The other tables were[...]covered with a white table cloth with a bouquet of[...]The workers ate at the table with the colored cloth for thirty-five cents a meal. They were served family[...]table and were charged seventy five cents a meal for the[...]cents a meal.[...]The laundry was run by Bess Hennesey, an aunt of[...]The first injunction ran out on a Sunday.[...]The railroad started two work trains, with extra help, in the middle of the track. The trains traveled in[...] |
| [...]day. Toluca once stood. Part of this railroad bed was later used as the old Beautiful agate rocks could be picked up on the Hiway from Hardin to Billings. Toluca has faded away[...]uca at that time. to one unused section house and a sign by the road that[...]H. V. Bailey Company store in Wyola, 1912 Town of Wyola, Montana in 1920 This store later burned. WYOLA AS I REMEMBER IT Some names that[...]. and Mrs. Wm. Burke ran the hotel; |
| [...]Wyola, through the combined efforts of all the Ground.[...]people, finished and completely furnished a Community Up the valley, near the mouth of the Little Hom Baptist Church in 1934. A parsonage was built and canyon, were Raymond Powe[...]ald Coffeen. A new school building was completed in 1957. W[...]promoting various projects. town of Wyola has gradually diminished until, today, Near Wyola was a Bentonite Mill started in 1942 only a ghost of what the town was at one time, remains. called the W yotana Mining Company. Bentonite is a collodial clay found in Wyoming, Montana and Sout[...]ter about ten years as the Bentonite was too poor a quality. Wyola, Montana Hotel[...]/" I[...] |
| [...]By Fred Roush of an expedition led by the French-Canadian fur trader For those unfamiliar with the scene, it may be in 1743. Historians have long disputed the route of the useful to say something about the physical a[...]hat could have settled it has historical setting of the Ranch. Between permanent disappeared. Al Powers (of whom more later) said that streams and hills the vegetation is mainly low growth a lead plate with writing in a foreign language had been like sage brush, short[...]here it was stone. In such places the hills have a sparse growth of found? Ponderosa Pine. Little Youngs Creek,[...]This vicinity was not trod by persons of European thru the Ranch, contained running water except during descent for possibly a century or more after the the dryest years. I do not remember anything about Verendryes, unless it be[...]left no fish in it. Along such streams, there is a narrow band of record. Quite likely fur trappers from the trading forts dense growth of cottonwood, box elder, wild plum and on th[...]d other shrubs and and Clark went north of here, and later explorers weeds.[...]le: bobcats, coyotes, to their rendezvous with destiny in 1876. Not many skunks, and rattlesnakes. They were shy and rarely years after, with the Indian danger gone, cowmen and seen. I have never seen a bobcat in the wild, and the sheepherders we[...]ometimes puzzling. began to be homesteaded. A possible explanation is that this most adaptable of North American animals is smarter than some people. A rattlesnake occasionally frightened the neighbors by biting a child, but I do not remember any deaths from DECKER,MONTANA snake bites or any serious injury to an adult. A According to old timers, Decker derived its name bullsnake or other harmless reptile, like a homed toad, from a man by the name of Charlie Decker, who used to was sometimes seen. A rattlesnake was easily identified do prospec[...]and we children were warned to run away was a general dealer in anything that was for sale or from one as fast as we could.[...]on This Charlie Decker lived for a time in a dugout nearby reservations were comparative newcomers to located west of the present site of the Decker general the region. As long as we lived on the ranch, the only store, but the family didn't remain long in one locatio[...]ed further down the Tongue river and later way to a "celebration" in Sheridan. On one such oc- onto Pumpkin creek. From there they moved in Miles casion, when we were eating in a Sheridan restaurant, a City country, and old timers in this area lost track of man sitting at a nearby table came over and pinned a him. button on my coat with the words "bot sots" on it: the According to the records of the Post Office Cheyenne for" good, " and that is all that I have learned department now in the National Archives, a post office of that language.[...]cker (formerly in Custer and No doubt bands of hunters of the seventeen or Rosebud counties) on Oc[...]ed in the Northern situated on the east bank of the Tongue river and the (NW) plains wandered over the area from time to time west bank of Badger creek. Morris A. Shreve was first in the 20,000 or 30,000 years t[...]postmaster. sapiens has been there, most of these peoples are known He served until[...]probably Shoshones, who were at one east of Tongue river and about 100 rods north of the time supposed to have lived as far north as Alberta. mail route from Sheridan to Birney. Probably avaho and Apache pas[...]t office was discontinued May 15, 1919, their way from Asia to the Southwest. An an- and[...]at the present tribes moved south, the Crows came from the East. The location. Cheyennes came in a dramatic winter flight from The Decker post office of 50 years ago is still Oklahoma when they were int[...]esent standing, but has been made into a residence with a reservation. For a long time the legal status of the porch added, thus changing the appearance. It has also Northern Cheyennes was that of prisoners of war. been moved to a new location.[...] |
| Pictures of Ranchers, Farmers and Businessmen of Big Horn County Displayed in the Lobby Cafe, Hard[...]Photos by Dennis Sanders and Courtesy of the Big Horn County State Bank.[...] |
| [...]and has served as an officer many times. She is a past matron of Jasmine Chapter No. 65 of Hardin. Mr. and Mrs. Abel have recently bought a home in Sheridan, Wyoming. Mrs. Abel still has a huge flower garden in the back yard of their Sheridan home.[...]from Billings, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Fay Abel MARY AND FAY ABEL |
| six weeks of age. Minnie, Jarry, and Junie are all buried land and the logs for a school on Elk Creek. Men of the on a hill above the Weltner homestead house near[...]desks and books from other abandoned schools. My The Adsits moved to Ranchester, Wyoming when mother had used some of the books herself as a child. Ruby was eight and a half and Darrel and Harold were The seats were double with desks made on the backs of old enough . for school. All three started first[...]uld sure make it miserable for the ones together with Mama tutoring them at home. I behind you in penmanship class. We had an old pot- benefitted from the tutoring and skipped the first grade bellied stove for heat. If we arrived at school with frost- when it came time for me to start.[...]February 14, 1929 and it wasn't until front of the room. Chillblains were terrible to put up 1934 that Mama moved back to the homestead. I was with. When we did go near the stove, we cooked on one ten that year and I have a wealth of memories of "out side and froze on the other. We walked about two miles home". We led a pioneer life for the next three years. · · to s[...]oms on the cabin We had one teacher (a new teacher each year) for while another uncle built a coal house for "Mom and us eight to twelve kids. All eight grades were taught. One six kids." Mama used dynamite to blast the coal she day the boys took the clapper out of the bell and no one hauled in the wagon for winter. We also had a root would go in after recess because the[...]Another day we spent walking five miles to a "petrified logs-filling the cracks between the logs of the cabin forest'' - a ravine with several petrified trees in it. The with mud to keep the winter winds out. We raised a teacher and we kids dug out large fern-le[...]One winter day the weather was really eerie. A The shelves in the root cellar were filled each fall with little after noon, the teacher sent us home; but[...]. we got half way home, a blizzard struck. We strung out, We picked w[...]holding hands with the two little ones in the middle. My and other w[...]for pancakes. I still love hand was badly cut from holding on to the fence as we to pick wild berrie[...]k even though it was Mother did the farming with the help of my two early afternoon. As we neared home,[...]e plowed the fields, planted and meet us with a lantern and blankets. Years later she harvested.[...]ed half the night All our water was carried from the spring: water after Mama read about Litt[...]day night baths. Did you ever take One of my jobs was to help the others with their a bath behind the stove in an old wash tub? I have,[...]ons after supper. We would gather around the many of them, with a ~apful of Lysol in every bath. We dining room table with a kerosene lamp for light and do had a garden to hoe and W'lod to chop. Was it Ben[...]wn wood is is probably the reason I am a school teacher today. twice warmed?" The last year we were there, four of us took our We lived three miles from the mailbox. We walked eighth grade exams at[...]mail man on Friday and ride to Sheridan, Wyoming with him. My uncle would bring her home on Sunday We had one other form of entertainment, listening with groceries and supplies.[...]is cowboy experiences. Clothes were ordered from the "Monkey Ward" Later we ran across his supply of wild west magazines. catalog. These catalogs were[...]we knew where he was getting his "experiences." Clothes were ordered from the new ones after spending Needless to[...]hree years. The first wound up in the "out house." year the wheat smutted. The second year the We had a radio run by a car battery but no one grasshoppers took most of our crop, and the third year turned it on but Ma[...]groups Our entertainment was playing together as a family. and set fire to them, we beat them with shovels, sticks, Many hours were spent hiking ar[...]ouse. In Montana when six children lived in a certain That ended our stay. I was ready for high school area, a school could be built for them. There were six of and as there weren't enough children to keep th[...]s in grade school in 1934 so Mama donated an area of open, we moved to Lodge Grass.[...] |
| [...]that could drive, the rest of us knew only too well those words of last resort, "Pile out and push!" We also became on intimate terms with every friendly rock that[...]tubes. Those a little more advanced could clean and[...]Even I could do those things, but Allen had a real feel for it, and he knew a car as he knew his alphabet. By the[...]Another car I knew very well is shown in one of the pictures of the North Bench School. This little car[...]belonged to Ramon and Harvey Kent, who were two of[...]school from their home in Whitman Coulee when the[...]body was Miss Fay Alderson, County Superintendent of Schools proud of them and the way they handled their little car,[...]at they had no time to drive their Superintendent of Schools in Big Horn County. The new car nor take the baby for airings. Therefore it daughter of Walter and Nannie Tiffany Alderson, she became the duty of the older children, fifth grade Annie had grown u[...]the Rosebud, and and Peter, to hurry home from school and take the baby later lived with her family at Birney. Her father died out in[...]at solemnly in the when she was young, the second of four children, and all driver's seat and drove the car at a speed posing no helped to support the family. Years later Mrs. Alderson difficulty for anyone wishing to walk alongside. Annie wrote of their experiences in "A Bride Goes West". sat seriously beside h[...]he served one term, and to be happy, and he did a perfect joyous job. then returned to teaching. She taught in the grades in Cars were by no means a rarity in those days, but Sheridan until her reti[...]and horses both, considered horses the currently a resident of the Eventide Rest home in best bet. However, a surprising number of Big Horn Sheridan.[...]County folks felt even fifty years ago, that a car was an important possession. CARS OF FIFI'Y-ODD YEARS AGO |
| [...]ir 160 etc. We also had Sunday School and once a month a acres of land that my dad decided to take, ten miles minister drove out from town and held services. north-west of town.[...], leaving the dirt roof. our moving. He chartered a box car to bring a team of Several times, after big rains, the roof would leak, and horses, our household goods, a cow, and some chickens once we had to move[...]on the Homestead in 1911. They drove overland in a covered wagon, brought two My parents and two brothers have passed away. Others other teams of horses, and a couple of wagon loads of have moved away leaving our old homestead[...]them Bench. The House still stands, the home of Mildred a week to drive over all dirt roads. Ragland and sons. In a few weeks father put up a couple tents for us We have had several booms; one is the mining of to live in. Then he sent for us. We arrived here[...]a, the other is the Yellowtail Dam. in the middle of the night, and spent the rest of the It was first started by the Big Hom Land and night in a small rooming house.[...]but it was 1914 The next morning Father came with a wagon that they started work. Years later the Government loaded with lumber and another one for us to ride in. So,[...]s, their wives, four granddaughters 1907.) It was a small building on the west end of the lot and one grandson of whom I am very proud. where Johnny Thompson's bui[...]There are not many old timers, the ones from 1907 were only a few boxes and a small store. Mr. Spencer to 1975 left to tell the story of what happened in these was the first postmaster a[...]rs, but their children's children have reaped the store. harvest from their parents' experience. I for one, have We didn't live in tents very long before Dad built a been happy to have lived and seen all these things come small wooden shack. That was a hot summer, and as to pass. time pass[...]ere the Torskes, Wagners, and Atkins, so they had a school before we did. By this time Dad built another larger one-room house, a barn, and chicken house. We moved in on Thanksgiving Day, 1909 and what a cold one, with lots of deep snow. Then spring and summer came, Dad plowed up a few acres, and planted grain and some potatoes; they did very well. Several years with good crops, then came several years of crop failures, little rain, hail storms, and grasshoppers. My father asked for a school building and they said if he'd do the work they'd furnish the lumber. By this time another family with children moved in so together they built the fir[...]became Big Horn County. The County Superintendent from Billings would come by train, then horse and bugg[...]cated on the School Section, cattlemen shipped in a lot of Texas Longhorns. The cattle used to come to the windows and look in. We'd have to stay inside, maybe most of the day. We had many good times in the litt[...]H. V. AND LILLIAN BAILEY organ which she brought from Missouri. On many cold B[...]t made frequent visits to the Reservation during a one. their lifetimes. From 1903 to 1907, H. V. Bailey was a Years later with the area more settled, the social store manager at Crow. After 1910, he was interested in[...]ged.' The Farmers Union came and held a store at Wyola, the H. V. Bailey Company, which meetin[...]socials, burned in the 1920' s and went out of business.[...] |
| [...]ell, Mr. Richardson's nephew. Burdette graduation from Pennsylvania Military College and Boy[...]some European travel. At Chester he had acquired a by a dappled grey mare, Dolly. Mr. and Mrs. degree in civil engineering and a soldierly bearing that Richardson eventuall[...]did not like his real name, had another store. The Baileys still lived in the little Herbert V[...]olonel and Mrs. "Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey?" In Billings, he Rankin, Alice, Gretchen[...]rl married, worked for Colonel Babcock's hardware store. Being a he and Bess lived there. The Bailey parl[...]he rosewood that went to the Spanish-American War from Billings "baby grand" piano that his parents had bought for (See Abbott's History of Montana, 1st ed.), and he Bill to practice on when he was a boy in Missouri. went with it. Home again, he met the young sister-in-[...]seldom performed, he could play well. Lillian law of his friend S. G. Reynolds, Lillian Brown, who[...]re married in 1901. on that piano, and, a real pleasure, she played for the Lillian B[...]event took place in The main bedroom of the little house fascinated her parents' home, and I have dim memories of it; for me, with its bird's-eye maple furniture and brass bed. A my mother, brother, and I accompanied the groom from large red, white, and black Navajo set the color scheme Billings-a harrowing experience for him, he used to of red and white. There were huge red silk bows at t[...]bolster ends. The door curtain was strings of various- sized beads-a fad then, as now.[...]a frequent visitor. Having fun one night she and Li[...]had dressed up in Uncle Bill's uniform and some of[...]llian's more glamorous trousseau stuff, including a[...]Alice with mustache and waving a sword, we children, who had been listening to a bedtime story, were so[...]underthings, lace-trimmed, with ribbon bows.[...]Whatever fireworks were unsold the evening of July 4th, Bill would set off at the edge of the park in front of our house, for the pleasure of anyone who[...]they left with us Lillian's pony, Ikey, and their bulldog,[...]Wyola, the pony was waiting. From the Jordon[...]ley, 1901 Helena, to be head of state lands under Governor[...]died in 1928, Bill within two years. By way of a honey moon, besides the trip home, Bill took his bride on one of the occasional journeys by buckboard that he made[...]By Carolyn R. Riebeth strangest adventure of her life. She told of spending one Facts given here, besides personal memories, are night in a large bunkhouse full of men. They provided included in his citation as an Honoree from Montana of privacy for the lady by suspending a blanket from a the Cowboy Hall of Fame. It says: "Charles Monroe rafter. Bill had a new house waiting for her in Billings, a Bair, who was to become 'King of Western _Wool few doors from her sister's. They lived in it only two Gr[...]n the family farm until he was seventeen" Babcock store there. ([...]. It was the only building on the north side of the After some experience with the Michigan Central main street, on the comer of the block that faced east Railroad, "the lure of the West drew him to work for the across the park[...]finally moved, our Uncle Bill became of St. John's, Michigan. He took his young bride to live manager of the E . A. Richardson store. Clerks there in Helena." In 1890, using his savings plus a bank loan, were Ernest Woolston, Mrs. Richardson's nephew, and he bought a small ranch, with a sod-roofed house, near[...] |
| Lavina, and got a band of sheep. A family story tells of t he Two Leggins I rrigation Canal and also helpe[...]riP.velop irrigation in Rosebud County. Governor a rattlesnake curled above the stove, where it had Babcock named after him a large reservoir near crawled t hrough the sod for[...]arters. Although his In 1893, he established a ranch west of Billings. He greatest investments were in Montana, he also had also had a home in Billings, where the Fox t heater now interests in other states. He was acquainted with U.S. stands. By 1895, he had two daughters, Marguerite and Presidents of his day. He enter~ed Theodore Alberta.[...]buying many paintings, some to give away. He had a[...]While my father was agent of the Crows, 1902-[...]some of the Bair camps. Since the friendship between[...]1903. Let a blizzard threaten, and Uncle Charles arrived[...]of "the pony with the rattlesnake legs" that saved[...]was lost in a blizzard on a below-zero day; but the[...]thinks that the plow cleared a path for the sheep, to[...]Sometimes, between trains, Mr. Bair spent a night with us, sleeping on a solid oak davenport, sturdy[...]across the room. One night all of us trouped to the late-.[...]He brought us the most beautiful candy, always a five-pound box, a work of art. That could be what we Joining the Klondike goldrush in 1898, he staked a who were children then remember best about his visits. profitable claim. His prin[...]market an effective ground-thawing think of him. machine that a friend had patented and that he and At last he moved his sheep to a 60,000 acre ranch, three others had financed.[...]where he Soon he was leasing immense tracts of the Crow ended his days in March, 1943, a[...]Plenty Coups. By 1906, he clipped nearly one and a half million pounds of wool a year. I remember visiting a MR. AND MRS. E. A. BAKER shearing shed-a long row of stalls with a sheep in each one being rolled about by the shear[...]ene Baker and daughters, Pearl, off the wool like a blanket, with hand-powered shears. Ruby and Opal came to Lodge Grass from Bridger to be In 1910 a trainload of Bair wooi about a million dollars near Irene's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Standish. worth, went from Billings to Boston. An old-timer They leased 500 acres of land west of Lodge Grass recently told me that, once in his bo[...]eep passing his Billings home, filling the street from good wheat crops in 1928, 1929 and 1930. A depression morning to late afternoon. They were C[...]ey stored their 1932 wheat He was associated with the Yellowstone Bank and crop thinking to get a better price in the spring but had later was a founder and director of the Midland to sell it for 17 cents a bushel. When their farming bills National Bank, of Billings. He helped develop the coal where paid Ted ended up with the sum of $11.00 in his fields near Roundup and formed the[...]Ted went to work for the State Highway at a $4.00 years, he owned a ranch near Hardin, which he sold a day wage. Horses and slips were used by the Highway later to the Holly Sugar Corporation. He was a backer workman to change the Little[...] |
| [...]iring in January 1963. Ted and Irene cows, rented a pasture up Lodge Grass Creek, and and family have a host of friends over Big Hom started a milk route in Lodge Grass. They sold twelve[...]ey are active members in the Eastern Star, quarts of milk for a dollar (8 1/2 cents a quart) Masonic orders and Shrine. They[...]caused them to sell the and Montana. They have a home in Hardin. Gardening milk cows. Grasshoppers[...]ement. and hay so they also sold their range cows with calves Their daughter, Mrs. Pearl Towne also lives in for around $20.00 a head. Hardin and is an employee of the Big Hom Bank. Mrs.[...]LIFE OF HAZEL BAKER GROSS[...]May 1917. My father, Erle M. Baker, bought a section of land, seven miles west of Toluca, Montana intending[...]with sage brush, prairie dog mounds, and rattlesnakes. Mrs. Baker's delivery of milk It truly was a start from scratch effort. We lived in two[...]other with a fly between where we cooked and ate. My[...]fencing and housing. There were miles and miles of open range so it became the job of my brother and I to[...]horses to go with them, so it was a constant battle[...]We children had a two-wheel cart and a single[...]ents would not allow us to ride horseback because of the danger from the wild horses but they were afraid of[...]gave us a good many wild and rough rides and often we[...]and from then we had no problems with either the wild[...]The house was built of ties from the old Frannie[...]was three rooms with a cement floor because Dad planned to use it for a shop and garage later when lie built a permanent home. Water was the greatest[...]problem. We hauled it about ten miles from Spring Creek near Corinth. So Dad built a cistern which was[...]filled when necessary. and we saved rain water from the They lost their middle daughter Ruby in[...]in 1949 and has Gardening was not a real success because the rains been an Avon Repre[...]idn't come regularly enough for growing that kind of the past twenty-six years and is selling A[...] |
| [...]We started this roundup circle below the mouth of Later we had turkeys and geese. The pork was home[...]er that flowed into cured and good! We had plenty of milk and cream and the Yellowstone River n[...]antial and got the cattle drive at the head of Sarpy Creek they varied.[...]herd and all the reps, who had cattle, cut Clothing was made at home, of cotton and woolen them out and took them bac[...]and jackets. Binion, repping with the Sarpy Creek Pool, helped School was at[...]in Hardin, where my sister was had, we took with the herd of cattle and went over in born. Dad spent the most part of the winter building the Wolf Mountains to the headwaters of Horse Creek the house, so was with the family only occasionally. and the head of Sarpy Creek and I stayed with the After that year we usually moved somewhere closer to wagon until they got down on the mouth of Sarpy school as soon as the weather became stormy[...]ek that flows into the One winter, mother ran the store in Toluca while the Yellowstone River. owne[...]d upstairs in the depot. Our education was always a Spear O or the OW, but I had a brother, Cy Baldwin, problem of moving to and from. When we were ready who cooked on differ[...]nt ranches and cow There we children helped with the farm work. outfits. There was haying, field work and harvesting. We all did our share of whatever was to be done. When we lived in Hardin, we attended the Methodist Sunday School. One of my dear memories is the little club, Mrs. Charles Squire, my Sunday School Teacher had for a group of 4th graders. We met each Saturday at her home, an[...]Social life at Toluca was not plentiful because of the scarcity of people and the long distances we had to go. Often[...]dren didn't see another woman for three months at a time. Occasionally there would be a community picnic, usually the last day of school. Or there would be a dance at the school house. These usually lasted t[...]ed the grownups in the fun. Sometimes people came from Hardin and Corinth on the train or Th[...]tle that helper engine. In the winter, we went in a bob-sled with were unloaded off from the cars at Custer, Montana straw in the bottom of the box and heated rocks and and trailed i[...]eople came on Country. One year we trailed a bunch from the Big Dry, horse back, too. north of Miles City into the Pryor Mountains. As I look back on it, life was hard work but there I remember one year there was a horseman who were many things about it that were[...]think bought all the horses who belonged to a man living on some of our children today would have profited by some Rotten Grass Creek and this man was to receive these of our experiences. I believe they've missed something horses at Spear Siding. The horse buyer wanted me to of value.[...]to Wyola. My family moved here someone with a horse water tanK that I could get to for a couple of years, then went to Seat~le where ~y haul water in to the yards with, but I couldn't find any. sister and two brothers grew up and marned. They still There was a man and wife living down the Little live in that area. Horn a few miles where I stayed and she gave me board[...]and room. They had a girl about twelve years old used[...]to come up to the stockyards with her saddle horse and[...]me halter these horses and take these horses out of MEMORIES OF BY-GONE DAYS the stockya[...]dwin were over 100 head of horses in this bunch. I built a I was working over in the Sarpy Creek, Tulloch chute inside of the stockyards and set a snubbing post Creek and the Reservation Creek in the Wolf Moun- in the corral in front of the chute, in the stockyards; we would run a horse in the chute and I put one of those ains. I was working for the 2 Circle Bar Ra[...]at out Arnold sent me over in that country to rep with the of binding twine and I had 50 or 60 ropes and[...] |
| [...]d when we would get 50 or the spring, some of the logs are still there. He owned 60 of these horses haltered, the girl would get on her one of the first cars in the area and was always called[...]n to the Little Hom River and cross when anyone needed transportation. In later years he over on the other side, when any of the horses would try was well known as a round-up cook. I can remember to come up the bank, she would spook them back. After visiting him on a wagon and how good everything we would get them[...]arried Marian Francis Long, they had two hay out from the gate down to the river bank and she sons, Richard William (Dick) and Frank. He also had a and I would spook the horses back in the stockya[...]e by another marriage. He was 72 years old don't remember how many days it took her and I to when[...]nt and Uncle, Jess and Viola Mashburn also A lot of people wanted to know how I got this idea had a homestead in this area. They filed and built a to break horses to lead and go to water. Well, I worked cabin in a draw running off of Four Mile Creek below in the Miles City Horse sa[...]orses for World War One in 1914-1915. There were a bunch of us bronco busters working in the sale yards ridi[...]Ed Love and Ott Meeks had orders for carloads of horses shipped to the East. Each of us had a corral, chute, and a snubbing post. We would run these horses into chutes and put a grass halter and a long rope on them. We had this snubbing post set about fifteen feet from the gate and we would take our Sunday morning wra[...]o the buyers the next morning. We put ten head in a small corral and they stepped on one anothers' lead ropes and took the kinks out of their necks. We could go in and pick up one of the ropes and lead the horse out. I can't give you all the different riders who I worked with during my time in Miles City, Sheridan, Wyoming, and Grand Island, Nebraska, but I worked with some great riders in my time. I can remember in 1914 when Lee Caldwell won the State Champions[...]two Smoky Nickols boys on the Big Dry country. I remember Doc Corrigan from the White River Country in Canada, also Yakima Ca[...]the Montana Kid, and Billy Searles whom I worked with and grew up with in the West River country of South Dakota, Wyoming and[...]eastern Montana. We had boys working there from our neighboring COLONEL ANTHONY "T[...]ountry to the north, Canada. There were thousands of Tony Baron was born in 1850 in Washi[...]ines, until March 12, 1879 when he joined Troop E of those days, was known as the Horse Capital of the the 7th U._S. Cavalary at Fort Mea[...]He was discharged from the army in 1884. While on a buffalo hunt in Dakota in 1881, he[...]ER became separated from the hunting party and his horse By[...]Barber came to Bighorn wild berries, with water from the morning dew on the County m the early 1900's.[...]nd eleven days later. His last Arkansas. He filed a homestead in what is still kno~ expeditio[...]up the Crow Indians while as Barber Draw. This is a long draw that runs into Four serving[...] |
| Tony came to Hardin in 1913, and was custodian of There were ten children in our family.[...]ly residents seven girls and three boys. All of them are living but recall his hosing down of the sidewalk in front of the the oldest son who passed away in 1915. Of the ten building every hot day to allay the dust[...]e born in Hardin. All street. On another occasion a parade was passing by seven of the girls graduated from Hardin High School. and a tall, young man stood while it was going by ; We lived on a dry land farm north east of Hardin suddenly his hat flew off, and he turned to confront an for a number of years. We lived on the farm in the angry, pudgy l[...]lived in town your hat off when the flag goes by! " Tony was a soldier, in the winter so we children could go[...]days the babies were born at home with the help of the In 1928 he went to California for several years and local doctor and a neighbor lady. All ten of us were born returned, commissioned to take charge of the Indian at home. War Veterans at the sixtieth anniversary of the Custer In those days the winters w[...]was made National Inspector-General and with lots of snow. Not many families had water in their Assistant Chief of Staff, as well as National Guard homes.[...]. We burned wood for Marshall and State Commander of Montana Veterans. cooking and for heat[...]the In those days nearly everyone had a garden. guest of honor at a large dinner party on his ninety- Everyone[...]s. Everybody second birthday, and Hardin lost one of its most knew how to "cold pack" on a coal range. There were colorful characters. quite a few chickens and turkeys raised for meat as well[...]as beef and pork. Nearly everyone had a milk cow or bought milk from a neighbor. The farmer who had a number of milk cows sold milk and cream and some[...]farmwives churned butter to help with living expenses. Mother made most of our clothes, either from new material or from other clothes which had been[...]outgrown. If we lived in town we walked to and from school and church. Before we had cars we drove a team to and from school and church if we lived in the[...]of a job after school. Some of the girls worked in stores and some of us did house work for other people, as well[...]as taking care of children, but it wasn't "baby sitting".[...]We thought we were making good wages if we got a Col. Baron and party going to Reno Battlefield dollar a day for housework. I worked in a maternity l-r: Tony, Mrs. Woodward, Dr. Russell,[...]took up homesteads about sixteen miles Northwest of Hardin near Pine Ridge.[...]arss' father, Omar E. Bearss, moved to ~ke charge of the ranch while Miss Lucy taught school Sa[...], Edwin C. m town. Both were contributing members of the Bearss, bought the ranch from the Cranfords. Ed's community, and much intereste[...]t September 1922 after marriage to Omar. of Schools of Big Horn County, from 1917-1921, and Ed and Pat (Robert[...]wo years (more Ed went to Sarpy school from 1935 to 1937. He th~n half of them in Big Horn County.) Despite suf- graduated from Sarpy 8th grade in 1937. He graduated ~nng from arthritis, she maintained a cheerful alert from Hardin High School in 1941. mterest in each of her children. She was a charter state- He served in the Marine Corps from April 1942 till honorary member of Delta Kappa Gamma, (Honorary March 1[...]e first person in Montana He graduated from Georgetown University, to receive this honor. Ill health forced her retirement in Washington, D. C. with a B.S. in foreign service in 1938.[...]1949. He got his Masters from Indiana University in 1955. FAMILY OF MR. AND MRS. S. A. BEALL He married Marg[...]ll Louk Two daughters and a son were born to Ed and Margie. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Sherm A. Beall came to At present, Ed is a supervisory historian for the Montana from Iowa in 1914. We settled in Carbon N[...]Service in Washington, D. C. County. In December of 1915 we settled in Big Horn[...] |
| [...]y baseball on the Massachusetts, and he had a pastorate among the oil Howell Place, went to Sat[...]years in the army, ten months of which were in France. Following is a quotation from The Billings For two years he was commander of Hardin Post No. 8 Gazette, January 3, 1965: "A Montanan has given of the American Legion, five years State Chaplain for Mississippi a world's first: Resurrection of a Civil War Montana, and for many years was chaplain of the local gunboat sunk 102 years ago. Edwin C. Bearss, native of Legion Post. For many years he was actively related to Billings, and now a National Park Service research the Boy S[...]grave ..... He is acclaimed as he was chairman of the Big Horn County War Council, one of the outstanding Civil War historians and has[...]for meritorious years he was chairman of the Big Horn County Service in the field of history." Community Center, Inc.[...]of a Recreational Center at Hardin valued at nearly[...]and in 1958 was granted the honor of membership in the My father, Anton Becker went down to Hardin Council of Kadosh. He is also a member of the from Billings when he heard of the townsite sale of lots. Honorary Legion of Honor of the Order of De Molay. He bought two lots, the first sold, on the corner of He is a Past Master of the Masonic Lodge at Hardin what, I believe, is now called Center St. About 1908 he and a member of the Consistory and Shrine at Billings, built the[...]lding in Hardin. Montana. A man named Jake Norris, and John Wade,[...]Linfield College at McMinnville, Oregon together with some others organized the Hardin conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity Townsite Co. (They were from Hardin, Missouri, hence upon Rev. Bentley.[...]d Nellie Brown Mrs. Bentley always took a very active part in the was my first teacher. Later I continued my education in work of the church, local women's organizations, and Missoula, Montana, and San Diego, California. cared for the family of four children. Two daughters, In 1918 my fa[...]the Becker Hotel which he Mrs. Sherman Hubley of Billings and Mrs. John operated until his death in 1920. My mother and I Zendzian, Jr. of North Stoneington, Connecticut helped continued t[...]niversary September 1, 1972. The other children, a son eldest son of Dr. John A. Meeke. John was in the in- and a daughter, have passed away. urance business and a Deputy Sheriff. Our son John Jr. In April 1959 the Bentleys were retired from their was born on December 2, 1926 in Hardin.[...]Rev. Bentley has been active in the local chapter of the States Mgr. for the Glens Falls Ins. Co. of Glens Falls, American Association of Retired Persons, hospital . Y. We then transfer[...]Pacific nearby towns, and conducting funerals of old-time Coast Manager.[...]loria Jill, was born on May 20, Both of the Bentleys enjoy travelling and since 1935, in[...]a and Europe as well as to 1965 when John retired from his own business and we various parts of the United States. This summer (1975) moved to La[...]n adult com- they went to Alaska to visit a granddaughter as well as munity called Leisure Wo[...]to go sightseeing. DR. AND MRS. CHESTER A. BENTLEY |
| [...]d in the Hardin Hardin School lunch program with bushels of tomatoes. area at the age of seven, and attended schools in Crow Weeks of hard work in the fields was often wiped Agency an[...]by the dreaded hail storms in the late afternoons of on June 17, 1933 in the Methodist Parsonage, whic[...]ss it was haying or Dunmore area before moving to a farm in the North combining time. Vall[...]section of the large barn, and cows were milked in the[...]they'd meet a bull snake coming out after he'd just[...]Winter evenings were taken up with reading the "funny papers," or listening to Amos "n" Andy, The[...]rol, Mrs. Roy Schmidt; and Donald, who graduated from Hardin High in 1959, were all born in the old Ha[...]ursing Home and is now the Rev. Dick Kroll's wife of Spokane, Washington. The Benzel's farmed 16[...]arly spring, Mr. Turner the mailman, would hauled from Hardin. For a number of years the Benzel's drive up in his maroon c[...]was borrowed by many North Valley of peeping baby chicks in the big boxes. The chicks residents; the only pay asked was to bring a tank of were given a home in the corner of the big screened water on the last trip to put in the Benzel's cistern. porch, in an enclosure of cardboard boxes, then tran- When the Benzel[...], ferred to the chicken house. ~her~ was only a small four room house. They enlarged[...]kunks were constant ~t to mclude another bedroom, a utility room, a screened threats in those days, and even the youngest child knew m porch over the cistern, and one of the first indoor the dreaded rattling of a rattlesnake. bathrooms in North Valley. The original homestead, a dugout with a cot- .. Kerosene lamps, now a thing of the past, as the tall onwood pole front and straw roof, was used as a ~t~ty poles marched across the Benzel's dryland to chickenhouse for a number of years, but has since rmg electricity. Mrs. Benzel had one of the first disappeared from the hillside. electric clothes dryers in the Valley, but the washing Water was dipped from the High Line ditch to was done with the old-faithful wringer-washer and tubs. water the Benzel's pigs, which had a pen right next to The family all helped sh[...]rway. Carol fell into this ditch when she was sug_a r beets, stack hay, irrigate alfalfa and combine[...]saw her and rescued her gram_ Mrs. Benzel raised a large garden, preserved her before t[...] |
| [...]it for Donald and Linda graduated from Hardin High swimming, but when the children did venture in, their School. Linda was the only member of her class in St. Bernard, Daisy, ran up and down the bank, barking school with a straight A average for all four years. They her dismay until[...]No matter how ofter they came, Daisy wouldn't let anyone in the house, some not even into the yard, and strangers, not even out of their cars. She was a member of the 4-H parade in Hardin one summer, and was dres[...]and other functions held at the Community School, with encouragement to all youngsters. Lawrence Benzel was a charter member of the Community Hustlers 4-H Club, which held it's[...]meetings in the members homes. Carol later became a member and secretary. The Benzels were early supporters and members of Christ Evangelical and Reformed Church in Hardin,[...]Mr. and Mrs. Fred Benzel, Jr., 1975 of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were enjoyed at the old Harriet Theatre. It was a treat for the Benzel children to mow their grandp[...]Arthur Black, known as Butch, was a Virginian. I[...]with St. Xavier, in the early 1900's. He was friendly with my family and looked to be of my parents'[...]we grew big enough to ride with the cowboys-1911[...]the "West Side." He was a fellow slight of build and reliable of performance, who knew all the arts of cow- punching and was a favorite of ours. When Frank[...]Heinrich gave our sister Rosalind a fine pony, she[...]about his neck into a bonnet with ties. This was worn,[...]923, and tried to teach us how he rolled a cigarette with one farmed in the Dunmore area until they retired in 1945. hand, a trick for the convenience of horsemen. With Besides their oldest son Fred, there was Arthur, who bridle reins in the left hand, a rider could fetch his book married Frieda Amen; Mary, Mrs. Walter Heitzman; of cigarette papers from his shirt pocket, extract a Carl, who married Betty Taylor; Edward, who married paper, then get out the little sack of Bull Durham. Vivian Litton; Hilda, Mrs. Paul Tonder; John, who Using his teeth and some aid from the left fist, he married Ruth Frickle; Harold, w[...]ed the paper. The right hand alone rolled it into a Schaneman; and Lora, now Mrs. Don Hert. Fred, Sr. compact cylinder. passed away in November of that year. They farmed Once Butch v[...]Billings, walking near Crow Agency before buying a farm about three out to our house from his hotel, to spend an hour miles south of Hardin.[...] |
| of sky, high up where a great full moon began to rise.[...]last, we found the road but no wagons. A light appeared in the east, perhaps a car twenty miles away. "The camp!" we agreed, and started toward it at a gallop in[...]More shouts, and some little flashes of light, as of[...]heard words, "Where the hell you goin' with them horses?!!" It was Butch Black. Butch Black on Frank[...]In the spring of 1928, Butch was stationed at the[...]and I, not long married had been there a few days |
| [...]LANKENSHIP'S STORY years from 1919-1920 and 1920-1921. She taught 15 I w[...]years until her retirement at the age of 70 years. She 14, 1906. I worked for sheep and cattlemen west of retired making her home in Hardin at 7[...]d back to Kentucky for burial. ever seen at Forks of Woody line camp-2000 out of Eugene Boggess left the homeste[...]an Heller in 1930 and worked for P. He served with the Machine Gun Co. 14 U. S. Infantry R. Krone te[...]s training when he was discharged on carried mail from Billings to Rapelje. In 1934 I bought November 14, 1918. Returning to Hardin, he worked at a truck and hauled gravel, beets, loose hay, or any[...]l Farming. He married Edel Buckingham in to make a dime. In 1937 I bought a livestock trailer and 1924 and moved to Wyomi[...]Hardin he worked up until at one time I had five of them-and worked as a painter until he went to work for the B.I.A. headaches! I was arrested by a U. S. Marshall for in Crow Agency in 1929. He was active in Boy Scout hauling tile out of Sheridan for Mac's Beanery in work, w[...]t Hardin. In 1938 I remarried- roped and hog-tied a girl master when Wesley Magnuson moved to Washington. from West Virginia, Martha Phillips; best catch I ever[...]ds and Mc- in Big Horn County. He retired from the B.I.A. in 1945 Coys on both sides![...]5 per month, and at Masonic Lodge No. 92. A.F. & A.M. and served as times in Montana for $30, and it[...]ster National Cemetery, might ride 30-40 miles to a dance, where a good time at Crow Agency. His son Eugene[...]e born Washington and is the minister of the Baptist church knowing how to dance.[...]in. Have hauled in 50 degree below weather, with no Owen Boggess married Gladys Rick[...]dren were born to them while in Crow. Owen was in a truck, , but the only animal to put me off my feet active in the Masonic Lodge being a charter member of was a real gentle kid's pony: he kicked me twice on the St. John Lodge No. 92 A.F. & A.M. in Hardin. Gladys knee in the same spot.[...]was active in the Jasmine Chapter No. 65 Order of I have seen my first customers slowly fade[...]erred back to Lame and their boys take over. Have a host of friends (I Deer as Superintendent of the Cheyenne Reservation. think) in Big Horn County. Have seen the country go From there he was transferred to New Mexico, then to from a stock country to a farming country, but my Eureka, Californaia as Supt. of those Indian Reser- heart is still with the cattleman. I sold out in 1970 and ations.[...]his retirement. He was got time to look the rest of the cattle country over, but I Sec. 'y. to the[...]during World War II, he was a Lieutenant in the Air[...]nd her son, Eugene Hughes Boggess came to Montana from Lawrenceberg, Kentucky to visit another son and b[...]Aye, Owen M. Boggess was working for the B.I.A. in Iowa, April 22, 1881. They were ma[...]resided until March 1914. They then moved to a farm California but remained in Montana with his brother seven miles north of Hardin. and mother.[...]Merle Bowers, Billings; Everett Bowers of Powell back to teaching:_ first at Sand Creek nea[...]ss, Wyoming; Clarence Bowers and Mabel Smith of then at McRae m the Sarpy School near the[...] |
| Mr. Bowers passed away April 7, 1949, with a He left in the spring of 1908 for Nebraska. When he heart attack, while at[...]he returned here from Nebraska. He lived on the[...]years. The mail was carried from the depot to the Post[...]a quarter change coming, and if the bill was $10. 7[...]he came the depot was on the other side of the River. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Bowers and dau[...]re married in 1925 in Sheridan, |
| [...]Nov. 17, 1910 and moved onto Bowman were sources of valuable information on the the ranch on[...]rn. There was no post office history and geology of the area, especially the route of nearer than Parkman, Wyoming. An engineer by th[...]ail. name of "Bill Toy" would pick up their mail at Park-[...]in 1970 and now live in their man, put it in a sack and throw the sack from the home in Edgar, Montana. engine in a choke cherry patch on certain days. Joe[...]would pick the mail as he came by running a trap line. A son and a daughter were born to Joe and Cecile[...]Scotland November 17, 1886, and came to the U. S. A. with his family when he was two years old. He was the younges t of four boys. They settled in Johnstown, Pennsylva[...]ing wrapped in the American Flag and clinging to a church steeple, as the church was washed two blo[...]t. The family 's two story home was filled with silt, and fine, fragile , glassware remained on the shelves, undamaged, surrounded by tons of silt. Young Joe attended New York Military Academy, there met and wooed Miss Cecile Kissam Phillips from Albany, New York. In 1905 Joe came to Sher[...]He worked at the Kendrick Ranch, broke horses for a Mr. McNabb. Later he went to work for Mr. George Tschirgi, where he made a life long friend of George's Mary Anna Boyd McGovern and her fath[...]Sr. At the Tschirgi ranch, he met a wolfer named "Buck" Smith, a brother of Bob Smith who ranched In 1923 a fine new home was built on the Boyd near Wyola, Montana many years. ranch, a place that later became famous for the quality . He went into partnership with " Buck" Smith. of flowers Joe raised. Some of his dahlias were as large They became such good t[...]hows when displayed. ation. White men were banned from the reservation The Chinese Pheasant was introduced as a wild without a permit. game bird in this area by the efforts of Matt Tschirgi The partners built a cottonwood log cabin on the and Joe Boyd. Li[...]Tom Woodley place, later the Van followed by a stroke on her left side. She passed away Der Sloot place and is now part of the Antler Ranch. June 27, 1927. In[...]enties J. R. Boyd and Henry Little Horn. He owned a few cattle, a grizzly bear and a Stevens of Sheridan formed a ranching partnership wolf he had chained for pets[...]eath December 23, 1945. H. C. Stevens then formed a Buck Smith promise to kill his pets as he deemed them partnership with Joe's son, J . Phillips Boyd which a little dangerous for an Eastern bride.[...] |
| [...]d ran cattle on the ridge between the main canyon of the Little Horn river and the West fork of the Little Horn before there was a forest reserve. When the forest preserve was[...]did. Joe Boyd served in the 29th Legislature of Montana as Senator from Big Horn County, from January 1945 until his death. He was a Mason, thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Consistory member, and a Shriner. Since 1938 Joe occupied top position for production and improvement of Poland China Swine. He was President in 1944-45 of the Midland Empire Swine Association also instrum[...]ee the elk in the Sheridan Park across the valley." Pat and E[...]started working on the railroad as a hosteler and a[...]pent in the Court House in Hardin as Deputy Clerk of Court, and my year as Worthy Matron of the Eastern Star have been such a pleasant memory for me. I miss the friends I left, and I look forward to the arrival of the Hardin paper every week. I am so grateful to[...]PAT BRENNAN Pat Brennan is the son of Thomas and Hattie Brennan. The Brennans lived at New castle, Wyoming because Tom, Pat's dad, was a railroad engineer and at the time Newcastle was the end of the railroad. As the H orse back riding[...] |
| [...]saddle horses and enjoyed riding. Their ranch was a good distance from Hardin and they often rode horseback to Hardin. "[...]gh- bors. They would load all their youngsters in a sled or buggy and all go to have fun. Baby sitting in those days was not practiced. The whole family went as a group to social functions. In 1930 Mr. and M[...]Big Horn roads. He worked for Big Horn County as a road patrol operator for many years. Pat retired[...]: Mrs. Snow, Mrs. Chas. Dyckman, Mrs. Pat is a rockbound, he has a wonderful collection of Andrew Frazer, Evelyn Brennan, Alma Frazer; seated: agates. He has a fine display of different styles of Mr. Snow, Andrew Frazer, Chas. Dyckman, ?, in front: barbed wire used in various parts of the country Mike Yurick and young Bill Frazer through the years. This wire is mounted on a piece of heavy canvass. Mrs. Brennan does crochetin[...] |
| AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF we later purchased. We r[...]chickens. When I was older, I got them to stay in a born August 18, 1853 at Lauderdale County[...]at Sheridan, Wyoming, was six and one-half miles from home. Mom would September 2, 1918. He[...]Lodge Grass, Montana. The Cattle Company had a feed older, we went down to Frank Medicine Horse'[...]y an Appaloosa horse that he had for sale. He was a gather their cattle off the Wolf Mountains a[...]feed lot. He made several trips turned out to be a good race horse as I raced the other to the feed lot during the winter with cattle and moved kids to school, including Louise[...]o pasture in the spring. He also broke Some of the teachers at Maschetah were Miss hors[...]Helen Moore. I, Jim, finally leased a place on Indian Creek in the My grandmother[...]hornton W. Wolf Mountains 12 miles east of Lodge Grass, Mon- Burgess Bedtime Stories that she cut out of the Kansas tana, and farmed for myself and ran a few cattle. City Star, I also got the "Youth's Co[...]in and I went after the In 1926 I bought a small place on Owl Creek from mail. A bad storm was coming up, and I had been told Ollie Graham, 12 miles from Lodge Grass, farmed and to take shelter if I was[...]n to put the horses We had to contend with lack of moisture at times, inside, but we never did get t[...]•md cold winters. Then came the depression, with worst hail storm I have ever seen, some of the stones grasshoppers and crickets added.[...]ouble, so we did the best we could. jagged edges, a cloudburst accompamed the hail .. I I[...]l, Mom and Fuller and Cliff Woodley, officers of the Little Hom I went to Kansas to visit my grandparents. While we State Bank of Wyola, Montana. were in Kansas City waiting for our train, we s~w ~he I had a wife and four children who helped me Graf Zeppeli[...]Criswell of Hardin, Montana and owns the place I Mom an[...]ardin one hot day in July, bought in 1926. A son, Francis, who passed away April 1933 to get s[...]ame over the hill, our house was gone Gentry of Crow Agency and lives at Glendive, Montana and we could still see the smoke. Dad was sitting on the on a ranch of their own. Maxine, married Jack ewkirk door step of the bunk house. We slept in the ~unk of Hardin and lives at Bozeman, Montana. They own a House and Mom and Dad slept out in a shed until we business there. could get b[...]k house. Poly Drive, enjoying visits from our children, grand- The Spear Cowboys had[...]NELLIE V. BROWN go with Bob Fulmer. I worked at the County Treasure[...]Kansas and I went to Hardin about 1910 with her father, who had a farm Business College in Wichita. We came back to Hardin ; about two miles south of Hardin. She taught first grade I worked for B. H.[...]ipal before I was married to Murry J. Brown of Lodge Gra~s becoming' County Superintendent of Schools in 1923, in 1940. We have one son, M. Jam[...]ing three terms. married to Mary Wiley. They have a daughter, Sherry She then taught in Billings and became principal of Beth and a son, Dale Justin. We live on the former H . R[...]here Murry grew up and which Universities of Washington, Minnesota and Chicago.[...] |
| [...]active participant in Indians of those days rode some pretty spirited horses, prof[...]oth in Hardin and shoeing them could be a dangerous business. and in Billings. She was a charter member of Gamma Chapter, Delta Kappa Gamma, and the third president of the chapter. She belonged to the Business and Professional Women, PEO Sisterhood, the DAR, the Yellowstone Histori[...]er interests to include retired teachers. She was a charter member of the Yellowstone Association of Retired Teachers-the organizational meeting was h[...]Cal Buckingham shoeing a horse, 1912 Cal and Mary Buckingham,[...]affairs. He loved the game of baseball and played on |
| [...]exaco Service, Calvin, owns and operates the feed store, Buck's Ranch Supply and is the present mayor of Lodge Grass. Cal retired from active blacksmithing in the early 1940 's and died in 1948, a year after his wife Mary passed away. Even though Cal and Mary are gone many of their children and grandchildren are still in the[...]Worked one summer in the J. W. Johnston Furniture store. He graduated from Montana State College (now University) in Bozeman in 1923. 1923-1935, with the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Geological S[...]waiian Volcano Observatory. 1936·1968, City of Oakland, California. Retired as Supervising Civil[...]nts. Registered Professional Engineer, State of California. Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, aand the American Public Works A[...]n the West", 1954, and "Who is Who in California, " 1958 and 1974. President, Pan American Association of Oakland, 1975-1976. Married Ellen Day of Moweaqua, Illinios, who passed away in May 1974. One son, Joseph Thomas, and two grandsons, Richard A. and Kenneth L. of Dr. and Mrs. Joseph T. Buckingham, parents of Earl, Moraga, California.[...] |
| [...]INGHAM, D.D. mouse and caught a rattlesnake. Our first furniture By Earl Buckingham consisted of a coal range, a bed, table, two folding Born June 10, 1867, Cornwall, England. Came to chairs and a nail keg for a wash stand. We lived there Montana with his family in 1876 (the year Custer was until the fall of 1935 then went to the 77 ranch to work. killed) at the age of nine. Spent his early manhood In the spring of 1936 a son, Tom, was born. That fall we ranching with his brother near White Sulphur Springs. moved to the John Buckley place and took care of their Attended Valparaiso (Indiana) University, where stock while they made a trip to Indiana. In the spring of he met and married Grace Mowbray of Geneseo, 1937 we returned to the homestead. We bought a neigh- Illinios, and Chicago Dental College.[...]Chicago and Alexis, Illinios until 1910, on a kitchen. when he returned to Montana to manage one of his One memorable experience on th[...]White Sulphur Springs. the invasion of the Mormon Cricket. We had a nice Practiced dentistry in Hardin from 1912 to 1919, garden and in order to save it we built a fence from used our first dentist, with offices over Reeder's Drug Store oil cans. Pits were dug outside this tin barrie[...]ing. feet and filled with used oil. The crickets couldn't get Member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, over the fence so followed it and fell into the pits. They and City Councilman for a short time before moving to had to be scooped out and the pits refilled with oil but Ekalaka, Montana in 1919 to join his brot[...]we did save the garden. William Mowbray in a general merchandising business. Times[...]his place and moved there in the spring of 1943 so Tom interred at Geneseo, Illinios. Their son, Earl Mowbray could attend school from home. Prior to that we had to Buckingham, now res[...]ifornia. board him out, the first year with Fauntella Bumbaca,[...]who was also his teacher, and part of his second year with the Jess Thomas family. We later boarded Peggy[...]s place and the Phil Buckley came to Montana from Indiana with Joe Livvix place in 1953. We ranched and farmed , his parents at the age of eleven. His father , John raising wheat with the exception of the years the hail Buckley, homesteaded northeast of Decker in 1918. Phil demolished the crops. Du[...]I taught the attended grade school at Pine Butte, a mile and a half Pine Butte School for seventeen years. Road ex- from his home, and later High School in Sheridan.[...]the mud and snow. The In 1930 Phil filed on a homestead on Hanging winter of 1949 was exceptionally bad and no vehicle was Wom[...]for forty-two days so transportation was the fall of 1934. Our first home on Hanging Woman was by horseback. We were glad to see spring arrive. a 12 x 14 shack, unlined, and with cracks in the floor In 1963 we purchased[...]which where mice could enter. One time we had set a trap for a was rented until 1974 when we retired an[...] |
| [...]accident due to run away horses. Old Brig had a voice Backhoe. He has two children, Sam and Sue.[...]in Sheridan but return to the were not of the best choice. ranch part time as it is hard to[...]When I was about ten or eleven, I can remember from us folks. running all over town looking for a brick stretcher. I[...]and could make do with what he had. Before this was[...]Lumber yard and a couple of other places before I[...]h, 1958 John Graff was one of my best friends. I finally graduated from High School in 1941. School days were some of the best days of my life. I was[...]Hardin. George Choteau, Hardin, Montana, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Realbird is another, he[...]seen plays, high school band (played a sax), and other things most of the present day Hardin built. When I was a kid occupied my time. I can remember the dirt streets, board walks, swamps, When I was a freshman in high school, I had my vacant lots etc. that made up most of Hardin. I at- first job. I worked for[...]he old school building at Third Hardin, as a grocery delivery boy. To this day I still and Cra[...]high school building at refer to some of the old timers by the nick names that Fifth and T[...]n I was junior and senior in The activities of the youth were centered around high schoo[...]had Roy Chambers in the Chambers Grocery store on the to do on our own. Swimming was done in the Little corner of Third and Center street. That building is now Horn River or in the Big Ditch. After a few close calls occupied by the Stockman Bar and Cafe. The summer and a couple of drownings, the present swimming pool following my graduation I went to work as a student was constructed by community-spirited peo[...]as under the Depot agent, C. Bowers, Wray covered with drained motor oil donated by the garages[...]In 1942 I went to was made this way on the corner of Fourth street and Missoula to the Monta[...]When I enlisted I knew that I was color blind (a little) pond up town; the present Court house now[...]te. When the Court house was built, I , like most of the color blind people could detect camouflau[...]the learning to fly etc. for over a year and about ready to limestone blocks by hand. All of the limestone for the go over seas, the A[...]an't tell Big Horn County Court House was trucked from the colors" and so I was placed in Radio operation and Lime Kiln Creek area just south of Fort Smith. The mechanics. I had to learn code all over again; this is construction was a W. P. A. project. The streets of what I did in my job with the railroad. Anyway, I spent Hardin and curbs were a result of the W. P.A. and the , two and one-half years over-seas in the Middle East as a local tax-payers. radio operator in the Sands of Egypt, Palestine, on the During my youth th[...]t- the Persian Gulf, the last supply post of the European house that was tipped over on Hallow[...]nd coal box that had to be filled, carrying water from When in the service, I attended coll[...]iting for the ice man to Oregon College of Education at LaGrande, Oregon for come around with ice for the ice box. It was a great one year and Santa Ana, California. After my discharge treat for the ice man to come with ice. He would have to from the Air Force in 1946 I went to St. Louis, chip o[...]Missouri where I attended the St. Louis College of the children. The dray wagon that old Brig Youst[...]months. I returned to around town; every once in a while he would have an Hardin a[...] |
| [...]as born March 24, 1881 in Montana, the daughter of Earl J. and Bertha A. Hampton, Iowa, the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Zelenka. Bea graduated from Fergus High School in Therman Bullis. John moved with his parents to Lewistown and Eastern Montana Co[...]n Nebraska at Everett Bullis was appointed a Deputy coroner of that time: he was then twenty years old. B[...]tinard in Valentine on 1955 after the retirement of his father John W. Bullis. November 24, 1904[...]1885 in Valentine, Nebraska, the daughter of Mr. and in 1972.[...]Mr. Bullis was employed active in the civic life of Hardin. Bea belongs to the in a Hardware-Furniture and Funeral Business until Me[...]hey moved to Cody, Wyoming. Mr. Bullis president of the Hardin Post #8, American Legion came to Hardin in 1914. One of the reasons for moving Auxiliary, Neighbors of Woodcraft, and is a past to Hardin, was that the Big Horn River Dam was going president of PEO. I have been Coroner since 1955, to be built and Hardin would soon be a Boom Town. served on the County, City Planning B[...]n arrivng in Hardin, John Bullis was employed by of the council on Aging, past president of the Hardin the Eder Hardware Store and a few months later Lions Club, treasurer and past president of the Hardin purchased the Johnston Hardware and Furniture Store. Chamber of Commerce, Scout Master of the Hardin Johnston had a stock of caskets on hand and Mr. Bullis Boy Scout Troop twenty, for six years, Secretary of the also was involved in the undertaking business. In 1916 Sts. John Lodge #92 A.F. and A.M. (Masons) for three he opened up the first Funeral Parlor in Big Horn years, a member of the Hardin Methodist Church, Past County and built part of the building that presently is commander of the Hardin Post #8 American Legion, the site of the Bullis Mortuary, now managed by his served t[...]son J. Everett Bullis and his grandson Terry A. Bullis. President of the Montana Funeral Directors in 1968, John W. Bullis was the first elected Coroner of Big past president of the Hardin Men and Missions Horn County and served in the capacity from 1917 until Organization, and served on various c[...]2 until just two years ago. At that one of the oldest, continuous businesses ip Big Horn time, it was a heavy money losing operation and in 1973 Cou[...]Today the ambulance service is the Big from the time he arrived. He was an active member of Horn County Ambulance service and financed by the the Methodist Church, a past officer in the Hardin county.[...]Lions Club, active in the Old Hardin Chamber of The Bullis Mortuary now serves all of Big Horn Commerce, a former member of the Hardin Volunteer County, also the Lame Deer, Birney, and Ashland Fire Department, a past officer of the Hardin I.O.O.F. areas.[...](Odd Fellows Lodge) and an active member of the In looking over the down town area of Hardin I can Republican Party of Big Horn Co. He was on the City remember the wagons hitched to the hitching posts Council of Hardin for three terms and was on the where Putna[...]er filtration plant Photo), also posts just north of Lammer's store, also and the old water tower were built.[...]the old Hardin Hotel was located and a plaque on the present City Hall that was built in 1920. several other spots on Main Street. I can remember Shortly after his arrival in Hardin John Bullis when half of the people in Hardin had a milk cow in the opened the Package Grocery on the corner of Third back yard as well as chickens and gardens. During the Street and Custer A venue. There were very few houses Winter, the kids of the town used to take old car tires to or busin[...]to the old Harriet Theatre and Mr. Lawlor gave us a free Hardin. The streets were dirt[...] |
| Street just past the city park. The rest of the town was Christianity. There were schools a[...]yowen) all dirt or gravel streets. Hardin has had a steady, and Black Lodge; Rev. Burgess held services at each of sound growth and was known as the " Best City By A them on alternate Sundays. In Crow Agency[...]boarding school was used until the between, many of them were made of boards and built present church was comple[...]the Indians swampy areas ran through Hardin. One of the worst liked her husband was that he treated them with was from the old Congregational Church to the old respect- he never entered a teepee without first Methodist Church on past the[...]on the outside and receiving permission to times a good big rain would have water running enter. through the churches of Hardin. Rev. Burgess built a large two-story house down Mr. Bullis was al[...]the house was very strongly built; despite a variety of 400 block on Custer A venue, in the building now oc- careless tenants, it was worth while for a Hardin cupied by Bud's Locker and Freezer and the[...]n about four years ago, dromat. Later he operated a garage at the corner of remodel it inside and have a two-apartment complex. Center avenue and 2nd Stre[...]o active in community This was the beginning of a school for white children. affairs and also worked in the various businesses that Clyde Lewis was one of the older children and he was Mr. Bullis had. She was a member of the Methodist most helpful in looking ou[...]Church, the Woman's Society, the Past Noble Grand of The first baby born to Rev. and Mrs. Burgess had the Rebekah Lodge of Hardin, a member of the Degree died in infancy, then came Aline (Now Mrs. Aline of Honor Lodge, the American Legion Auxiliary, and Walsh of Claremont, California), Marjorie (Mrs. George was[...]d Secretary for many years for the Cooley of Pomona, California), Ormsby (also in Neighbors of Woodcraft. Cal[...]ter grade school the two older girls were sent to a oldest Inez Maurine Bullis was born in 1906 and d[...]family to Bozeman where all three girls graduated from L. Scott, Laurel, Montana; Milton Laverne Bullis,[...]verett Bullis, Hardin, Montana Mrs. E . A. Richardson is remembered as and Lowell Bullis, L[...]Superintendent of the Sunday School for many years. .[...]came to Hardin in March, 1911-my husband In a corner of the Baptist Mission at Crow Agency Charley, a[...]ranite markers which read: a farm southwest of town for a short time, then lived on Lottie[...]ll Reno 's place until fall when we moved in back of 1868-1944 the Benbrooks' store in a tin building owned by Ed James G[...]mill until it burned down in 1916. He was a contractor, 1851-1911[...]st trees in the City Park. this that a man lay down his Sidewalks[...]ngthwise, life for his friends." nailed together in front of stores; street lanterns at the Rev. Burgess was born and reared in England. He corners of Main Street furnished lights. The deputy and Mrs. Burgess were sent by the Congregational sheriff of Yellowstone County was in charge of Mission Board to Crow Agency about 1894, the firs[...]January 1913. remembers hearing Mr. Burgess tell of his first contact Hardin's first hospital was the brick building at with the Indian men: they were playing "Shinny" at the corner of Crook and 6th Street. Mrs. Gilmore had a Black Lodge; he rode up horseback and sat down under hospital in her home. Dr. 0 . S. Haverfield built a a tree with his Bible. Soon one man came over and hospital at the edge of town which is now the Mountain asked what he was doing? (Many of the Indian youth View Rest Haven. Later Dr. L. H . Labbitt built a had been sent to Government boarding schools so hospital on Third Street, across from the Dornberger spoke English.) Mr. Burgess answer[...]station; this later became an apartment house him from the Bible. In time more Indians came to listen before being torn down. Members of the Butler families to "The Man of God", as they called him, and accepted were treated in all of these hospitals at various times.[...] |
| [...]Mother did all our sewing on a treadle Singer B~tler was a farmer and for twenty-two years, a bus sewing machine. She made all our clothes including our driver of a school bus. coats. Son Chet was one of the first enrolled members of Logs also had to be hauled from the Pryor the Methodist Cradle Roll; Rev. B. V. Edworthy was Mountains to make a shelter for the horses, the one the pastor.[...]milk cow, and the few chickens. The chickens had a Our children attended the Hardin schools, and still perch and a few nests beside the cow. live in Hardin: Ivon, M[...]the frost came out of the ground, plowing began. As[...]this was all sod, only a small amount of land could be "broken" at a time with one team and one man.[...]one hundred sixty acres was under EARLY LIFE OF EVA BACHELDER-CABLE cultivation and a large ditch had to built that brought My fa[...]der, was born in irrigation water from the Clark's Fork River near Rutland, Vermont; my[...]y, in Bridger. Mother now raised a fair sized garden and Oxford, New Jersey. They met and married in Billings, canned quantities from it. As soon as this ditch was Montana where I wa[...]My birthplace completed, my father dug a cistern under the back was a small house on the corner of First Avenue North porch and filled it, spring and fall, from a pipe run from and Thirty-First Street which was on the outer edge of this ditch. Later he put in a pump. Before that the town as the business section was then on the south side water was obtained from a bucket on a rope. of the tracks.[...]rning Joliet, Montana where my father had charge of a milking to graze on these foot hills. She always general store. The only modern thing here was the[...]time. railroad which ran then to the mining camp of Red When my sister was five years old and I was Lodge. Our home was a small log cabin-as were all seven, we started to school in a small building about others. The cracks between the logs were filled with one mile from our home. The term was a three month mud. The only heat was a wood and coal burning cook summer term[...]ol was closed stove. Water was hauled in barrels from Rock Creek. after the second summer my[...]We then went to school in the small mining town of by hand on a washboard, heated her water in a large Gebo, one half mile north of what is now Fromberg and boiler on the stove. Light was a kerosene lamp which four and a half miles from our home. I drove a one horse had to have kerosene put in every day,[...]My father was elected sheriff of Carbon County in vegetables and fruit, and of course potatoes for our 1906, so we al[...]d running water in the house and father would get a quarter of beef and hang it on the electric lights but coal stoves. Here I completed the north side of the house above the reach of dogs. We had eighth grade and two years of High School. I was much fresh meat while that las[...]embarrassed at being in the same grade with my sister To keep me from under the feet of the horses who was two years younger. I was now eighteen years always tied to a hitching rack some distance from our old and would be allowed to teach school by passing a house, I was always "picketed out!" on a rope when out State Teacher's Examination, which I did. I taught my of the house. My sister was born while we lived in first school (a four month term) at Bee Hive School in Joliet.[...]d attend Normal at Dillon the balance of that year and what is now Fromberg on the south side of the Clark's the following summer. I then got a six-month ry.iral Fork of the Yellowstone River was "thrown open" for[...]Normal again at homesteading. My father filed on a hundred and sixty Dillon that spring qu[...]ere in the spring. Father and then offered a contract for a nine month term in two other homesteaders pooled[...]. During home and rode horseback to and from Red Lodge. I this summer of house raising, mother and we two girls taught here three and a half years. At this time a mid- lived in a tent, father , too, when he was home. Our year vacancy arose in one of the second grade rooms in water was hauled in barrels on what was known as a Red Lodge. The Was hoe School Board released me. I "flat boat," from the Clark's Fork River over a mile taught this second grade room until the spring of 1925, distant. This " flat boat" was made of log in the form of when I married and moved to Denver, Colorado. I lived a crude sled. A place cut out for the barrels to fit into so in[...], 1931 , when my husband was they could not slip, a chain fastened around them and killed. to the " flat boat" to keep them from tipping. This " flat I returned to Red Lodge, with two little boat" was drawn to and from the river by a team of daughters-two and a half years and ten months horses. Our bill-of-fare remained much the same. respectively. I attended Eastern College of Education[...] |
| that winter and summer. I obtained a rural school, nine where they were sent to Eng[...]g months term, at Fox and taught here for two and a half those who brought in the last trainload,[...]d years, when I was elected County Superintendent of to go on east. He had been away from home 11 years! Carbon County where I served for s[...]joined the U. S. Army and in six At the end of that, Mr. Skeie offered me a teaching weeks found himself in France. He had[...]ued to teach in Hardin until "distinction" of being the first American soldier 1961. Her retire[...]s there until the Armistice was signed. He earned a Herbel, Flagstaff, Arizona and Margret Taylor, Co[...]Ft. McKenzie into a hospital. There he met and married[...]had become a school teacher like all of her brothers and[...]of the West, and came to teach in Wyoming, and later[...]Lettie gave up teaching and became business women,[...]ank Hatch's plumbing business, in 1929. Pearl had a gift shop in the office, combining this with being the[...]active in many organizations. Matt was a Mason and a Shriner, and was Master of Sts. John Lodge in 1936.[...]The same year Pearl was Worthy Matron of Jasmine[...]Methodist Church. Matt became Mayor of Hardin, and[...]w York. When he was 17 he left renovation of the Northern Hotel. After he retired from home to find his fortune in the West, working as a business he continued to keep busy in managing a small journeyman plumber in many parts of the West and in apartment complex which th[...]the Custer Battlefield Cemetery. British Columbia with a cousin, but the second year it Matt resides a[...]ry, where he worked on the Canadian Pacific Hotel with Frank Hatch (who later was a plumber in HISTORY OF EARL CAMMOCK Hardin).[...]Cammock On the train going to Calgary he met a man who Born near Bozeman, Montana. In early childhood had a horse ranch, and he offered him a job. While lived in a log house. Had two sisters and five brothers. wai[...]ge 99, is still he was waiting, suggested he take a ride with him out living in Billings, Montana. to the[...]turned out Attended school an average of three months a year to be a person who had known Matt's family in Nova[...]a. Farmed in Joliet, Scotia, so he took him on as a cow hand. When the war Montana most of his early life. started Pat Burns got a contract to deliver a million In 1916 moved to Hardin, Montana and took up a dollars worth of beef on the hoof, in Liverpool, and the homestead on Sarpy Creek. The winter of 1917 and 1918 next several months were spent in r[...]any. They were camped shipping the 36 train loads of beef to Chicago, from on Reno Creek. Spear Cattle Co. had[...] |
| cattle there. Lost many of the cattle during the winter. All that could be[...]In 1923 moved to Joliet, Montana and farmed with his brother Leslie. In 1924 married Ruth Elarth and lived in Joliet until 1925. The Spring of 1925, moved to Hardin and worked for Elarth Bros[...]ht the Hardin Bakery in 1936. Retired in the fall of 1963 and have spent most of the winters since in Arizona or travelling. Bought a trailer and travelled through Mexico and Florida. Have a son, Earl Cammock, M.D., Mount Vernon, Washington, and a daughter, Charlotte, Mrs. R. D. Hamilton, in Word[...]une 22, 1974 we celebrated our 50th An- niversary with an open house hosted by our children.[...]1869 in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. He was the son of Alexander Campbell and Helen Watt Campbell. At the age of fifteen years, in 1884, he came west to Buffalo, Wyoming to live with his aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Wedding picture of Mr. and Mrs. Henry G. Campbell Cullen Watt. He w[...]ss Cattle Company at U Cross, Wyoming. The owner of this large company The Campbells had[...]Buffalo, when their two oldest girls were of school age. from Cedarvale, Kansas in a covered wagon train in Henry leased th[...]d the girls to school. She ranches were both part of the U Cross Company. They liked California and wanted to buy a fruit orchard and then bought a ranch on Piney Creek and homesteaded live there, but Henry had his heart set on a cattle ranch. extra joining land. Henry planted a row of trees along The fruit orchard they almost bought is now North each side of a half mile lane leading to the house from Hollywood. the county road. Those trees are[...]s the terests and bought seven sections of land in the Pine " Shady Lane Ranch". Hills in Big Horn County. A year later they bought the Henry was a young man at the time of the Johnson Belcher Ranch in the Big Horn Valley, which joined the County Invasion in Wyoming. A rider went thru the Pine Hills ranch. This ranch is seventeen miles north of country, from ranch to ranch, and all the young men Hardin, and had a lovely three bedroom modern ans wered the call and went to Buffalo to meet the in- bungalow. A year later a large hip-roof barn, vaders. During his life time[...]ad never read house, machine shed, and a pig house were built. A " Banditti of the Plains" by Asa Mercer, his story De[...]e paralled the story as told in this book. He had a keen wired for electricity. A new well was drilled up along the sense of accurate dates. His story was told many times[...]e entertainment at the ice cream socials and P.T .A . Line Ditch and the Highline ditch were turned[...]trenches for the pipes were dug from the well to the[...] |
| house. One Sunday when everyone was away from Wyatt finished high school and attended college in home, one of t he ditches was turned on again, and we Holl[...]ell Post and Eunice Campbell were floating on top of the water. Keep-sakes in trunks Lammers graduated from Hardin High School and both were soaked, and the new Delco plant was under water. graduated from Montana State University at[...]Henry was a lover of horses. He raised saddle[...]the Isle of Pines. One time when the horses were loaded on a ship at New Orleans, the gang plank came open[...]In 1926 the Campbells moved to a ranch four miles from Wyola, on the Little Horn River, and continued to[...]with her daughters. She passed away in 1956.[...]he Henry G. Campbell Ranch, 1919, 17 m iles north of[...]became one of the big " Bonanza" farms of the Red[...]River Valley, orth Dakota. The farm house, now a museum of the Grand Forks Historical Society, was[...]restored with funds left by Mr. Campbell. When[...]removing the siding from the old house, workmen found a log cabin beneath part of it. At the University of North Dakota, Tom Campbell got a Liberal Arts degree, 1903. He then went on to[...]Cornell University, working toward a Master's for a[...]in mechanical engineering the University of North Henry G. Campbell[...]Cornell, 1904-1906. In 1906, the University of Southern Henry Campbell believed in an opportunity for a California made him a Doctor of Engineering. good education. He served many years on the school In 1906 he married Bess Bull, a childhood board, both in the Fairview and Community districts, classmate, whose father was founder of the Cream of in the Big Horn Valley and at Wyola. He also served Wheat Company . Their first child, a son, died at three. many years as County Commissi[...]The other children were three daughters. Because of girls, Esther Campbell Kelley and Anna Cam[...] |
| established a home in California. She could not live in a Long before World War II, foreign governme[...]had sought his children spent the warm months at a ranch north of advice about a program for grain production. This Hardin.[...]ultimately led to the formation of the giant farms. When the war began, Mr. Ca[...]hree times, and wrote the the Allies urgent need of food and being an book Russia, M[...]that Winston Churchill had invited him to be a consultant some tracts of Government land in Montana might be- on problems of raising grain enough to make Great come large sc[...]in London during the Campbell became the father of this kind of farming. The Blitz, 1941. Churchill equipped him with a helmet. President sent him to Secretary of the Interior Lane, Entering the U. S. Air Force as a colonel, he took with whom he scoured Montana, looking for the right[...], first called the Montana The last year of the war, he became a brigadier general Farming Corporation, approved[...]griculture, to make North Africa the bread-basket of In 1918, this undertaking became the Campbe[...]Campbell's friends proposed him for the Secretary of Agriculture. The farm program of the 1930's required him to abandon much of its acreage. The farm was managed, and still is, from a Hardin headquarters and four "camps". In 1947, it produced a half million bushels. In 1948, it was first to us[...]as Campbell Tom Blankenship and Tom Campbell with truck used Tom Campbell was made a Commander of the |
| [...]DR. D. W. CARPER Tom Campbell was in Hardin part of each year. Every By Llo[...]College in Cincinnati, ago, his Stutz Bearcat was a familiar sight in these Ohio. While teaching he met and married Cornelia parts. Now it's a sheltered relic of the tall man with the Thompson of Rantoul, Illinois. He practiced medicine gracious[...]in Henning, Illinois until he decided to become a· far-[...]1916 School was built and was an officer of the association where both had been raised, for B[...]. He brother lived. Later they both found work on a ranch was always interested in community affairs and gave near Reedpoint, he as a ranch hand and she as a cook. generously of his time and talents. That fall they homesteaded[...]ck to Missouri to await the Bowers, all of whom lived near-by. He passed away in birth of a child, there being no doctors close by. She was 1940 and Mrs. Carper died in 1956. away from March to May. That winter the baby , Marvin, got sick so they left home in their first car; a· Model T, which they called a Tin Lizzie, for town. They did not arrive until two a.m. because the drifts were so bad. Some had crust[...]e feet deep. In 1933 the Carpenters moved to a farm on the Little Horn in Big Horn County near D[...]Marvin attended High School in Hardin and helped with the farm work. He was a member of the Armed Services in World War II spending twent[...]ticed medicine in the Big Horn Valley in the fall of 1912-the first Carp~r Illinois where I was bo[...]Bowers), brother December 27, 1911. They moved to a farm south of St. Harold, and myself. Uncle Dick Carper[...]til his retirement in 1960. 1920 I bought a place about a mile from the home place, They moved to Hardin and r[...] |
| [...]For forty-four years I served as clerk of School District 16-a most interesting experience. My father[...]responsible for building a telephone down the valley.[...]Billings-each of them has two boys. Helen passed[...]away in 1967, and in July 1968 I married a long-time[...]ver since. Lloyde Carper and Sam Emmons, one of the original |
| [...]When they moved their household equipment from Billings to[...]n the spring of the year after the ice had left the river.[...]When they arrived on the other side of the river, there was a large group of Indians camped there. Very few[...]two weeks, and is buried on Rotten Grass creek, a little head[...]The Chathams built a four room cabin on Rotten Grass near a large spring. 'l'he old Bozeman trail went[...]through their ranch. Many rnlics of the early travelers[...]ch as guns , a bayonet, old forks and knives and even a drum stick.[...]spring, I found a man's ring, at that time I didn't know it was hand made with a real piece of t urquoise. Another time I dug up a child's ring with " Darling" on it. They built a nine room house in Lodge Grass where[...]ing was done with horses and seeding the fields was from a Ira L. Chatham, age 18 large tubful of grain in the back end of a wagon and hand broadcast. Cutting the grain was with a horse drawn binder and shocked by hand. It was a big day when[...]There was always a large crew, besides the neighbors that came in to help. Some of the wheat was taken into[...]between. About once a year the Raleigh man would make it out to our place with his team and special[...]family candy and gum. My mother would buy a supply of spices , flavorings and the ever present bottle of liniment. We had a lot of company stop in on the way to town, most of the time they would stay overnight.[...]lack Canyon, Martha Cooper Chatham, age 18 with friends and cousins going along. One thing[...] |
| [...]ways the choir for years, was Supt. of the Cradle Roll Dept. remembered. Usually on the[...]and taught Sunday School classes. Also worked with horses and pack horses would be frightened by be[...]Girl Scouts as well as the Boy Scouts. I was one of close by during the night. Even though they were on the Charter members of the DAR and the Business and picket ropes and hobbles they would head toward home Professional Women Club. While in Hardin, I served as as fast as th[...]he next thing that would State President of the Montana Library Association; happen on these outings was a big rain storm. At night, State Membership Chairman for Montana for the from the top of the mountains we were thrilled to see Amer[...]iation; Montana Membership the flickering lights of Hardin miles away. Chairman for[...]st Library My mother would find time to tan a couple of deer Association; Secretary for the County[...]hides during the smmer, that was quite an art and a real of the Pacific Northwest Library Association; local[...]y for two harness. Both my mother and father were a good nurse years; local President for th[...]or for out the "goose grease and mustard poultice." My the Montana Library Association paper, called mother was midwife to many women in and around "Montana Libraries",[...]1969 at husband, Kenneth Christiansen, who with his father the age of 93.[...]Gillette Building for awhile then moved to a larger one HISTORY OF HAZEL RENNIE CHRISTIANSEN i[...]I was invited to Hardin to have an interview with improved. While we lived in Hardin, Kenneth[...]Horn cards, dancing, etc. Kenneth was a member of the County. At the time, I was the Reference Libr[...]at the continue to enjoy. time, I was one of eleven applicants for the position. I[...]e Falls, Minnesota. Our family begin work the 1st of November, 1926. I found the moved to Montana in my late teens. I attended Rocky library in a deplorable condition, as no trained per-[...]were cataloged or years at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. classified-no segregation in[...], reference or children's books. I found it to be a father had a large cattle ranch. They sold that spread very he[...]e Tongue River, then sold that and As I was a total stranger intown, I wondered where moved to a ranch near Lodge Grass. Later they sold I would find a place to live. However, I did not have to their holdings there, during the dry years, and he " wonder" very long, for I was invited to live with Mr. became a builder, which was really his calling, for he and Mrs. Lawson Winslow, who I found to be a most enjoyed it much more than ranching. Kenneth attended delightful family to be with. The first night I was there, college in Walla[...]ington, Logan, Utah and Mrs. Winslow invited some of her friends in-mostly Cambridge, Mass.[...]provements teachers, as her husband was connected with the for the county library and he assisted in building schools-to a bridge party and to meet me. This I v[...]hes the library had during the time I was not say a thing about it. I just "bluffed" my way along. there. I made trips with Nellie Brown, County Supt. of Ever since then I have enjoyed bridge and am a Schools, Bea Dahle, County Red Cross Nurse and some- fair player. Many of those I met that first evening are times Ken[...]the closer places. Many times we had to One of those friends is Mary Van Cleve, who also drive over mere trails and open many wire gates to roomed with the Winslows, and we ate our dinners with reach the schools or branches. Several tim[...]inners they were-each in trying to find a certain school or ranch. One time a one a real banquet![...]plain how Stanley Yergey. My apartment was across from Nellie we could find the certain ranch, but you know all the Brown, then County Supt. of Schools, who was a roads or trails looked alike to us (I think I was with wonderful neighbor and a warm and close friend. Nellie Brown)[...]During the years I lived in Hardin, I became a us, for we could never have found the RIGHT trail. I member of the Congregational Church where I sang in[...] |
| had been invited to stay over night with them. I had few years there were just us[...]. Then we had Furman had around her yard. One row of each different fun . The little school wa[...]pot-bellied colors. For instance one purple, one of pink, one of red, stove. In the winter the ink wells would freeze and one of orchid, one of white, one of yellow-just simply burst. beautiful. I wil[...]iding in the summer. We did have dances that part of the county and when they took over the almost every Saturday night at the school or at a ranch store and P. 0. at Kirby, they continued to be house, with my father playing the fiddle. thoughtful of us. When visiting in the Kirby and[...]livestock, Decker area, we would stay over night with very then our work became harder an[...]ridan, munity, and the Doctor had to come from Forsyth, part Wyoming to stay over night and star[...]day way by horse and buggy, and t he rest of the way on in a different direction. In this way I always felt I took horseback. There were a few deaths, and the perscns a very personal touch of the library to the many were buried[...]The first car to venture up Sarpy, came from the various communities. During my first years th[...]n the almost stampeeded at t he first sight of it, as it came to county. Books were taken to the[...]ts in the community as and my mother for a ride in it. In 1915 my father well, where the schools were not near a branch library. bought his first car-a 1915 Cadillac. Since there were During the y[...]e she one by the one t he neighbors got a car. The cars made many warm, close and cherished[...]the horse and buggy did. passed away there after a long illness in 1943. From that time on more equipment was invented and[...]rk Lake husband and I came from Clinton County, Indiana to Mi[...]Montana, which was still open range and with very few My father, Frank Clark, and two of his brothers railroads and not very many large town . came to Montana in 1888 from Indianapolis, Indiana After we go[...]fork, Red Lodge, Absarokee, and borrowed a horse and rode out to the horn tead to get a what is now the town of Hardin. All three brothers team and wag[...]au I thought the Indians would scalp m . He built a one-room log cabin, then went back to In-[...]d then for the windows and supplies for a year. While he was by horse and buggy to the cabi[...]I tayed on my mattress in the comer, on the head of cattle and rode every day looking after them[...]as there were rattlesnakes, a well a many other I was born May 12, at the Cheyenn[...]to the grey wolves and coyotes howled a lot at night; I never one room cabin. Four boys were born over a period of a learned to shoot a gun . The nearest railroad was at few years and each time a new baby came along my Crow Agency, where we went when we wanted to sell father built on a log room till he had a seven room log cattle or pick up supplies th[...]There was no school, and when I reached the age of were no bridges, and roads that were good we[...]hould have some schooling. find . He built a one room school on a little hill not far from The range was still open and the Indian[...]cattle. man once went out to drive in some dairy dows. He made the seats and desks and also paid the cattle when he came upon a group of Indian killing a teacher. In 1909 the County formed a school district cow. He tried to stop the[...]punishment the Indians wer ent down the middle of thought we were fancy with varnished desks and a two lines of people who were to shoot them. Only one pl[...] |
| [...]nd one girl. I did all my own sisted mostly of beans, baked bread and meat. He still sewing and tried to go to town twice a year, once in the has his bed roll from those early times. spring and once in the fall.[...]ollowing his marriage to Hazel Smith in 1913 at of material, as I made the boy's overalls as well as Terry, Montana they ranched in a canyon in the shirts, and dresses for myself and my daughter. We foothills of the Big Sheep Mountains north of Miles would order presents from the catalogs and hope the City. Their home, of two rooms, measured 14 x 28'. The snow drifts w[...]to reach Lame kitchen and bedroom contained a bed, table, chairs, Deer to pick up the packages. cook stove, cupboard and a rocking chair. Water was When someone went to Lame Deer, he picked up carried from a nearby spring. Wood and lignite coal everyone's[...]were used for fuel. Potatoes were stored in a cellar. it off at the centermost house, where th[...]. a milk cow, chickens, as well as a dog and a cat. A little The first school building we had out on Sarpy w~ a farming was done with a plow, harrow, mower and a little log building that everyone helped build. My rake. husband hauled lumber from Lame Deer for the desks. He hewed out the seats and desks by hand. The floor was of green lumber and so was very rough and slivery. We sent to Chicago for a teacher, who arrived during one of the worst storms of the year. She was a young girl and was afraid to stay as she was sure[...]en hired. She had five students. There was a dance somewhere about every week, so everyone packed themselves and their children into sleds with hot bricks and plenty of blankets. After we got there the adults danced an[...]Winters were cold with the frost forming so thick Our homestead wa[...]ry cold nights some railroad land and leased land from the Indians. someone would sit up all night to keep the fire going. We never had any trouble with the Indians at the Even with a fire going your face would bum and your ranch. We[...]many horses. back side would freeze. With a single plow we made a furrow and planted The Clements and f[...]s able to see Hardin come in the spring to a house in the Fourth addition. The out of the gumbo, but it was hard for us to get to Fourth addition was separated from the main part of Hardin because there wasn't any bridge across the Hardin by a large grain field belonging to D. L. Egnew. river. We could take the train from Crow Agency, for The downtown section of Hardin consisted of a lumber there was a railroad bridge, but Hardin wasn't very big.[...]es, post office, There were three livery stables, a drygoods store, three dry goods stores and two hotels,[...]counties without ever moving". This was as a stock inspector and as a ranch hand. The ranches possible because the larg[...]harlie Clements, came by train to Montana in 1903 with a herd of cattle from the XIT ranch in Texas. THE EARLY DAYS OF MR. H. E. CLIFFORD He had attended the Goodnight[...]area in 1904. His earliest home was made Terry as a cowboy for forty dollars a month. He broke in Sheridan, Wyoming but h[...]an expression that meant they traveled now. from one ranch to the next staying the night and for one Mr. Clifford said when he arrived at Sheridan from meal when out of work. Food at the cow camps con- Des Moines, Iowa there were only a few buildings and[...] |
| [...]oneer High School being located so far away from the came to Crow Agency the railroad and two stores were business section of town. Dad replied "Mother, that all that were the[...]will be the center of town in the near future". Mr. Clifford reac[...]mpany. Then he and T. an active village: A staff of government employees and H. Mouat established Hardin's first meat market in a families. Nice houses were furnished these[...]There was also a mess hall for those who chose to eat His work as a county commissioner began when he there. There were many departments even to a was asked to finish serving a term of a previous county blacksmith shop, barns, light[...]chool had many buildings, boys' At the time of the auction of plots in Hardin, Mr. dorm, girls' dorm, dining room, laundry, assembly, Clifford was one of the first purchasers of a lot. teacher's quarters plus many buildi[...]Our farm was located seven miles south east of Crow Agency at the time he arrived in 1904 was "t[...]only town between Sheridan, Wyoming and Billings." Dad had only a box car for a house on the farm; he made arrangements with Supt. Asbury to live in the[...]death of Indians and especially Smoky, the colored[...]consecutive months with below zero weather much[...]Death of a little sister just before we came to[...]the families of Max Big Man, Mark Real Bird, and the[...]One of the incidents at the box car house includes[...]my sisters and brother raking turtles out of the Shoulder Blade creek. One day at the height of our turtle fun a howling war cry of an Indian dressed in full Mr. H. E. Clifford regalia on a nearby bluff nearly frightened us almost to Note:[...]the box car house. I hid them to the best of my ability and stood at the window with a rusty old .22 rifle poked[...]to the hotel to tell my parents of the hilarious ex- THE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF perience and that he was[...]When school started we went to a school built close Ethel, along with her mother, four sisters, and one to the river[...]dians had their own school until brother, arrived from Spokane, Washington in Hardin, Senator Gr[...]Johnson, school. Vivian Lewis Kimball of Forsyth was my had been here three years seasonally before moving his classmate and Helen Lewis Grover of Hardin is her fr,Inily '1ere.[...]younger sister. We arrived in a Studebaker touring car. Our While living in the hotel my father ran a taxi to furniture followed us via box car. The St[...]lefield, in those days there was no age limit was a great pleasure and use in time to come.[...] |
| My father had a dance band: Jeannette Clarke, my As time advanced Dick Warren had a Ford school school teacher was pianist, Jack Da[...]weighed #43 would go through to Hardin at 4:00 A.M. so many beets for Holly Sugar before th[...]ied to Ira Cochran in 1926 and have our new home with no modern conveniences. Crow lived i[...]th went to work for Agency had running water and a light plant but we had Holly Sugar in 1937[...]y was completed and to carry our drinking water from a natural spring on both of us worked until retirement age. Onion creek some distance away. My father made a I joined the Congregational Church in 1926 and stone boat with two barrels fastened to it and we would have[...]Labbitt go to the irrigation ditch to fill them with rather muddy with Girl Scouts and on other community projects. wat[...]ould take turns pulling the handle back was a very devoted husband and father, and interested[...]th married in the I was nearly asphyxiated from the fumes from a Congregational Church in Hardin. Ira passe[...]I now take care of my eighty-seven year old Auntie As everyon[...]the pioneer days Mamie who has made her home with us the past seven was as much a gamble then as today having hail, yea[...]and think we are very fortunate to have had a member, We had a large garden, grew and cured our own Mr. J. J. Ping, who established a Golden Age Trust meat, took our wheat to the flo[...]Crow Agency Fund that will assure operation of the Senior Center for for flour, cereal, etc.[...]many years to come. I had a garden of my own and would sell vegetables to the government employees at Crow Agency which provided me with enough money to buy material so I could have nice clothes for school. There was always plenty of wild fruit and I can well remember my mother canning as high as fifty quarts of pitted choke cherries for pies and sauce. It was fun gathering most of the fruit as we would make a picnic of it and be gone all day. Being quite a tom boy I enjoyed climbing for the wild grapes. At harvest time my father had a pair of white mules with which I drove the wagons of wheat to the elevator at Garryowen. With our wonderful highways of today it is hard to realize the gumbo we used to[...]nson], 1971 In time District 17-H furnished a horse drawn school bus with a stove in it for the winter. My father[...]I do not know whether I can tell you anything of by George Muth, and enjoyed a hot lunch for my interest or not, but if not there is always a waste basket services. close by, so about all I know is a history of my life here There was the Baptist Mission[...]I arrived here in Hardin, Montana the morning of and Rev. Cory came alternate Sundays and we had[...]nd the depot besides the Harry Clifford had a first rate fresh meat market Agent was old C[...]Mr. Bateman was in and Richardson and Skipton had a general store with charge of the livery barn just across the street, so I the[...]over and talked to him and he was my first A. G. Carter also had a general store and the acquaintance. He also was Deputy Sheriff of Albert Steens are now living in the house he buil[...]County as this was not Big Horn County beside his store.[...] |
| [...]as teaching school f1 )m Third street north from the ditch bank. The ladies at Nine Mile. Mr. Bateman told me where the place was of the church responded with our dinner meal which and he suggested I should s[...]winning of World War One. It was a great day , My first summer here I worked f[...]ation experience. I plowed the ditch along the from the Becker Hotel north two blocks up one side of road where there is some big tall trees and the N[...]y to Mile school house was built on the east side of the get out in the street. Walt Lee was[...]sugar factory and when they ones so he got a lceg of high power and set it on a box on built the railroad they had to move the school house the corner in front of what was the Reeder Brug Store across the road where it is now located. and hung a tin cup on a nail close by and told you to My brother, Bill, taught the first term of school in help yourself. At that time the Congr[...]1910. had ordered a new bell for the church and it was sitting[...]e bell all and. that was when I became acquainted with our old afternoon and the truck was loaded with celebrators of friend J.E. McCarthy and Rastes Elder as the dray[...]ties. Tilly Sings, an Indian woman, sang had lots of business to do at the depot. I worked at[...]eral years and had many in- the bunch. A lot of people got lit up a little but everyone teresting experiences. I haul[...]efully and no trouble at all. I winter and he had a big black team that looked like happened[...]o'clock. just took off. They ran away three times with me so I Walt Lee came around and handed th[...]job at six and I don 't think there was none away with me was between first and second, north of that could top Hardin. Along with all this celebration the Hardin Lumber Company and when they got to there was about six inches of wet snow and the streets going good the tongue ca[...]t that time. ground and shot me and the front end of the wagon right up in the air. The team went down the street with In the early days of Big Horn county Dewey double trees and neck-yoke.[...]sheriff he had to go to Crow to pick up a Negro that was[...]and killed Gilmore and put a bullet in the deputy[...]across the track from the depot. Everyone from far and near that had a gun went to Crow Agency. The place[...]where the Negro was hiding was surrounded with guns[...]what to do with, so he went over to wher e the Negro[...]gasoline and sprayed t he back of the building where the Dray used by Ir[...]open and they riddled him with bullets and threw him I worked for J. W . Jo[...]Dick Warren in 1923, he got the In the year of 1915 I was working on the ditch a nd contract of hauling school children to school from G. L. Kent was in charge. At that time there was a Garryowen and I had the honor of driving the first slough that ran northeast throu[...]re two buses, Congregational Chruch. The sidewalk of the church Alfred Triplett drove the other one. Some of the running north and south was on stilts about t[...]Johnson 's, who in later high, so the church had a dirt hauling bee one day and years became my father-in-law , Naylor's (Ada, now anyone who had a wagon came and hauled dirt. G. L. Mrs. Joe Torske), Jim Clawson, Harry Whiteman's Kent came down from the ditch with two wagons and kids and many more. half a dozen men with shovels and we filled in around the church. In th[...]when it was 47 by hand. We got the dirt just west of the high school degrees below zero[...] |
| [...]for Big Horn county and the job was all the way from the jump-off place in the south-end part of the county to Pryor. I helped build the sugar factory, and I drove a good share of the spikes in the floor of the wet pulp pit and had the pleasure of emptying the pit ten times with the gas shovel. After my retirement with Holly Sugar I was custodian at the Hardin grade[...]ll I could and now we will celebrate the burning of the mortgage February 4th. The majority of people living in Hardin now do not realize there[...]Jake served as a volunteer fireman and was also on I feel I have had a very fruitful and interesting life.[...]were born in Hardin and attended all twelve years of their schooling here. They were very children had graduated from high school, the Jake active girls, and both had a church wedding in the Convers moved[...]in March 1975 in old Congregational church. Each of the girls have a boy[...]His It has been very interesting living in a community[...]rtha, still lives in Billings. Also surviving are of progress where we now have every modern con- venience possible and the completion of the Big Horn the three children, eleven grandchildren and three great Dam with many promising recreational and other grandchildren. possibilities of which I have stock certificates bought in 1913.[...]clusion my wife and I plan to spend the remainder of our lives in a fruitful retirement. ote: Talk given to the Historical Society, February of 1968. THE CONVER FAMILY[...]first automobile garage and repair shop. January of |
| [...]then came out to pull the railway express company 's[...]had a free ride. Free beer was served the men on one[...]side of the street, and punch was free to the ladies on[...]ON COOK The boys delivered bread to the cafes from the By Edson Cook and Mary Marjorie Co[...]graduation he worked at the newly opened wagon with his family from Big Springs, Nebraska to Hardin Hardware. Decker. One of the sad memories was the death of the Ed While they lived on the Tongue River the Torske twins, who lived only a short time. Cheyennes went on the[...]around and heard a voice say "Know me only in the[...]whose hearts are bad." This was Chief White Cow, for[...]whom Father had earlier done a favor. Father told the[...]day. At noon Mrs. Cook said "I can't feed all of your people but I can feed you and six of your friends". She served seven of the Indians corned beef and cabbage.[...]the line a chunk of lead would come flying, you started[...]on one rein, and got out pronto. Bessie Cook with twin girls of Ed Torske Dad left the Tongue Ri[...]Park City where he ran a dairy. In 1908-09 he moved to When World War I ended, Hardin had a real the mouth of Sorrel Horse Creek, in the Big Horn celebration. Mint Kelley rode his horse into stores and Valley. He had a place near Guy Van Cleve's.[...] |
| In 1907 my brother Ernest and I had a bunch of out in the hills, it began snowing, and[...]About where Toluca for the night, but saw a light and thought it was Mrs. is there was a heavy snow storm; we herded them down Hel[...]acks, and never went any further- I needed a bed. I'd had no dinner, but when she asked me bought a place right in that area.[...]ked so tired I said I wasn't I always worked with cattle and horses. Ernest hungry. She said they had had a big dinner and there and I broke horses for the S[...]hungry I'd hate to feed him when he was." Ellen and Dave Ship, and Ed and Mary Marjorie Much later I was being considered for a job in the Cook started the Sorrel Horse school.[...]as an old granary, then it was moved to the mouth of that the German women from down the valley had put Mission creek and an addition was built. Mary Van in a good word for me. That meant more to me than Clev[...]oney! Irwin was the second grade teacher; he used a hr ·se- June 18, 1914 I married Edna[...]and we had seven children. Now I'm living with my open with the butt of the whip because she was tardy. oldest dau[...]th He didn't last long in the school. Luella Tate from Avenue, Cody, Wyoming. Custer was the ne[...]1908. He came to Hardin in 1915 with his parents by[...]tools, as well as household belongings, for a small fee. The family settled on a farm about four miles west of Hardin. The town had a few stores and a population of[...]Mr. Cook went to a country school, Washington[...]Hall. It was located about one mile from the present[...]the school for eight dollars a month. They had to come[...]After school they swept the floors. The niversary of Mr. and Mrs. Cook, June 18, 1964. children came to school by horseback, or in a school l. to r.: Mary Marjorie Findlay, Eunice Hudson, bus. This bus was a covered wagon pulled by a team of Edison, Jr., Mr. Cook, Bobby, Mrs. Cook, Alfreda horses with a small stove in the back of the wagon for Simone, Ralph, Dorothie DeLong[...]In the winter of 1918 the snow drifted over the tops I was assigned to go after some cattle that had of the fences. Melvin and ten other boys were on their been stolen from the farmers in the Pine Ridge area. way to school for a Spelling Bee, riding horseback. Mrs. Helwich aske[...]e snow was Norris described an animal she 4ad fed from a crusted. Suddenly one boy on a Shetland pony fell bucket- she knew all of its markings and the cow had through the crust because of the pony's sharp hooves. been missing six years. A mean old fellow, Gayley, was The boys had quite a time digging him out of the snow. suspected of stealing the cattle. I'd tangled with him A school for all grades was built in 1910 in Hardin. before; my boss told the crew with me to do as I told In the spring Melvin and some of the others brought 'em. I placed them around an area, where down in a eight teams to school and made a track behind the draw I'd spotted about two hundr[...]sent high school. The boys often had horse-races. with my slicker and spooked them out toward my Melvin Cook's horse was a buckskin that "couldn't be gang. One of the cows was marked just like the one b[...]ice to feed them. it, and told him it belonged to a poor old couple; he'Said Another time he went into Sawyer's store and heard a "There might be a reward"; "That cow's been here six chirping sound. He picked an egg out of a bunch which years and you've had her calves-ain't that reward a girl had brought in to trade for candy. The store clerk enough?" I answered. I hate a thief! That was one gave him the egg,[...]s so glad to get those cattle back to their a pet. rightful owners.[...]all team, Mrs. Helwich wanted to pay me, but of course I which traveled to out of town games by train. His couldn't take any[...] |
| [...]here very long before managed the Hardin Hardware store, and later worked his cow ran away. The first winter they lived in a tent for the City of Hardin until his retirement in 1973. on Pine Ridge and ran a saw mill. He had to build his own house from logs he had snaked down from Pine Ridge. For the first few years of his homesteading he RUTH CO[...]1963-4) and was snaking logs down from Pine Ridge to build his Naomi Cool Sweeney [19751 barn with, when one of the back wagon wheels rolled My grandmother,[...]er his foot. It was so painful he had to ride one of the sylvania and moved to Colorado to homestead,[...]vered wagon. When she was eleven she wasn't a doctor in the area then. At that time there was in the fourth grade during a four month term. She were a lot of cattle and sheep around. These were walked one and one-half miles to school every day in shipped from the pens on the other side of the river. summer and in the winter she never wen[...]ertainment was an occasional taffy pulling party, a other goods shipped in wheelbarrows across[...]en Charlie started growing other crops he had was a quite large house. It was lighted by candles and to use a single-blade hand plow for the plowing. The kerosene lamps. They cooked on a wood, coal, or corn hard job was made even[...]fuel stove. All the clothes were made at home on a alfalfa grow there for a couple of years. When harvest treadle sewing machine, except for twice a year a time came around he had a mower, which all of his seamstress would come to make clothes. Carpets were friends borrowed. There were plenty of times when made on a loom, and for padding they would use straw;[...]had they were nailed down but would come up twice a year to worry about water for his crops. There was a coulee to be changed. Most of the houses were either log or sod behind his pl[...]telope, but grandmother also had, in their house, a large organ there were a few deer on Pine Ridge. which you pedalled and a phonograph which you wound Every two or three weeks they would have a square up. The diet was pork, beef, fish, chicken[...]dance at somebody's home. The music was played by a corn, beans, tomatoes, apples, peaches, and pears[...]ese When my grandfather was thirteen he worked on a dances sometimes lasted all night. ranch for fifty cents a day. In 1920 C[...], Hardin, Montana. the Holly Sugar Corporation as a Field man. He was Note: Mr. Corkins was part owner of the Hardin instrumental in securing Mexican Natio[...]responsible, also, for was on the school board of Dist. 1116 and also that of 17- bringing the Shirasago and Koyama families to the Big H for a total of over thirty years. He also served as Horn Valley. Justice of the Peace for thirty years. He passed away M[...]in Hardin, and Mrs. October 1965 at the age of 84. Cool has recently left Hardin to live in a retirement home in Billings. Both Mr. and Mrs. Co[...]HISTORY OF ARTHUR E. COTTON Hardin.[...]Horn County, Montana when I was a few weeks old.[...]on the Four Mile divide. I lived THE STORY OF CHARLIE CORKINS there unti[...]four The homesteader was the little thought of person miles wide, nor four miles from anywhere. Unless it is in the old West. One of these homesteaders in Montana straight down.[...]Hom County. That was were an important part of any family's identity, I when the reservation was[...]mares worked either under the saddle or harness. of erosion in the hills and the soil coming down the[...]lmer, Jean Francis, Dean Clarence and Wilber even a light wagon down Main Street.[...]When he first got here he had two horses and a 1930, mother married H . W. Wyrick, who had three cow, a walking plow, one section of furrow, a bag of children-Harold W. Wyrick, Willard a[...] |
| [...]nd Frisky Tom Davis, played the fiddle. One of the first things I remember is watching for Sometimes they would sing and keep time on a tub for Frank and Pearl to come from school. We could see music to dance to[...]o, went to the school house on Sundays. chenpart of our one room twelve by twenty-two log[...]he back off house. This was eight logs high, had a log floor joist the girls toilet, then bent the nails and set it back up. and a log roof joist and no ceiling. The kids would com[...]ot in there, we jerked it in sight by the corner of the school section, nearly a down. All three holes were full. We did get into some mile away. I remember mother singing and the clock trouble over that. ticking, and log worms dropping tiny bits of sawdust out of the roof logs. One winter we found a coyote that Jim Gibbons I remember hauling water on stoneboat from my had skinned and left his eyes and nose. He was frozen Aunt Florence's house. They had a spring. We had a and we could make him stand up, so we t[...]ouse, pried the door open and propped him up put a little piece of board in the barrel to float on the looking at[...]ll at school early, when water to keep the water from splashing so much, still if the teacher came,[...]she had forgotten something. We got in a little trouble we rode on the stoneboat we would get wet. Sometimes mother would put a cloth over it if it was dusty on the over t[...]be it is the times we were not that I remember best. We afraid of. There were coyotes, bob cats, rattlesnakes,[...]t sweet buns, hoot owls and cactus. Although when a coyote howled, put them in our shirt front and slip out of the house. I usually went to the house. I remember when our horse One time we were playing little farm, which we played a Browny got bit by a snake. She limped for several lot in the summer. We would build us a little barn and months. But I was bit nearly every day by cactus. house, and a fence. This day we were using potatoes,[...]had one of the little kids to watch for mother, then we[...]were going to put all the potato horses in a hole if she came out. Of course self-protection is the first thing, so[...]have any, Mother." We got the potatoes all hid, but[...]mother was on the alert, so for the next couple of weeks[...]had to pick choke cherries and plums, two gallons a[...]chapters and I am Mother raised a lot of turkeys. We would have to not out of the first grade yet. So I better tell about Four[...]It was about 14 by 30 feet. It had twenty- a chicken hen. My Dad worked away from home a lot one seats, most of them home-made, windows all on one with his teams, and when he came home, he used to sing side, a door in the east end, and a blackboard on the to us kids. He would take one of the younger kids and west end. The teacher's desk was in front of the black rock them and sing. He had a deep voice, which none of board and a big wood burning sto~ in the middle of the us kids inherited. In the winter somet[...]acher. Out side there were two, three hole from the house, and listen for him. Sometimes when it toilets, a shed to put the horses in, and a wood shed. In was real cold, we could hear for a mile or so. The first front there was a play yard, but no equipment. We thing[...]y soon we would hear run-sheep-run. In the middle of the play yard there was the chains or maybe a horse would cough, and then we a flag pole. This reminds me of a story Old Shane, the would run to the hous[...]the Flying V who was so patriotic, he was taking a bath and someone when he got wet, caught p[...]old, and died!! to be a man and not cry. And I didn 't until I got alone.[...]ouse was used for church on some took a horse and rode up on the hill and cried all af- S[...]g that fighting old boys, and there might be some of them still portrays any of the loneliness and heart ache that were alive, so I will leave that part of the story out, but in to be mine for the next[...]very night after the kids were in bed. We planted a had Bible school, we acted out the book of Ruth one crop but that was the first year of the drouth. We didn 't summer. They also h[...] |
| summer and we had to sell most of our cows. The[...]tana winter. We played Norwegian Whist about once a week. The grasshoppers and crickets ate everythin[...]2 I so no one was unaffected. We had card parties with as married Frank Cotton.[...]les, and they would started from Sheridan, Wyoming for Montana and a play until daylight. Then about once a month we went homestead. We got as far as the Harrington Place to a dance, either at Monument Creek or down on the[...]he next day we landed at river. Mother got $30.00 a month Mothers' pension. We the place we decided to call home. We lived in a tent would go to Decker, fill the car and we coul[...]years and the 10 day old baby. In the spring of 1931, I went to work lambing for[...]go to Birney to file on this 320 acres of land. A couple of out. Then after that I worked for Joe Crackenberger, years later a law was passed and we were allowed to file forema[...]on another 320 acres. We built a small chicken house In 1934 I was eighteen y[...]worked on the county road in the summer bought me a Kodak, then we started to Hardin,[...]hird year he planted wheat. It did Wyoming we had a flat tire and no spare. Mother fine, but when it was almost time to cut, a hail storm wanted me to go on. I finally caught a ride. As we drove came up an[...]The hail also took the roof off of our house, it was a tar cried again, but the people were watching me. paper one. A cowboy rode by during the storm and But toda[...]asked if he could come in out of the rain, but there was of Four Mile I get lonesome and thirsty.[...]~ ~ I') _,..-a;P -t,l- -;;:,-~~-.._[...]. ..,.,--;7~N\~...__\.! ~ II ~ "' That next fall Bill Eaton of the Eaton Dude Ranch,[...]to look after them and feed them grain once a day. So,[...]~L~ very old and one would die about once a week. The[...]all night,it would sound like there were dozens of them Chester (Chet) Cotton came into Big Hor[...]we had no gun at this time to scare them away. as a boy of thirteen or fourteen years, and went to work[...]d again. One day when he was away, I got so tired of various cow outfits in the county, but mainly for[...]the house and all that I put the youngest of the three Flying V. Ranch headquartered on the To[...]decided to walk over above Birney. He was working with the Flying V. to a small hill. Our place wasn't fenced-no one had wa[...]National Guard and went from the house I saw wild horses coming our way on a to Mexico with them as a mounted scout. When the[...]40 horses were coming at us on a fast gallop! I didn 't called back to the Wyoming[...]hey all throughout the war as an ambulance driver with the stopped. I let out a yell and waved my apron at them. Wyoming 148th field artillery. On returning from They turned tail and[...]they had World War I he married Estella P. Seaman of Sheridan, come. Believe me I didn't take any more walks for a Wyoming. They took up a homestead on Post creek long time. northeast of Decker, he continued to work seasonally[...]ne son, Duane. They sold with wings and flying ones, I think were some of every their homestead and later bought property on Four kind of hopper that there ever was. Mile creek in Big Hor[...]Cemetery. with me but an unmarried girl; I named him Ed.[...] |
| I had planted a garden that year but it was so dry Frank g[...]the seeds never sprouted. This was the first year of home by staying on top of the hills as there wasn't as W.W.I. We couldn't get flour, lard and many other many drifts of snow there. things. Frank carried his lunch, so[...]I had to haul water about three-fourths of a mile. cakes but without flour they crumbled so he used a Sometimes when Frank was away working, I would get spoon to eat his lunch. I had a few young chickens up before the chil[...]house to drink for the Sometimes we would kill a cotton tail rabbit, but it was day. pretty slim eating for all of us. On the 4th of July, Frank came home and we drove That ye[...]Frank hauled coal 20 miles to Decker to a rodeo, in a wagon. It was quite a for John Stout, until he got the flu. He was re[...]midnight. My sister was visiting, and she went with us care for us, but our little girl. Everyone was so scared of and slept all the way home. flu and so many were dying from it. The Doctor came We did have g[...]in fifteen miles and all the picnics, we also had a Not much money was saved but we went back to club that met once a month. We would take whatever the homestead and[...]better, but it never happened. enjoyed it a lot. By now we had 9 children and 4 were born without On the 4th of July there was always a rodeo some seeing a doctor. place that we would go to with the team and wagon. On The Flying V decide[...]all holidays we either had folks at our house or with bring them closer to home. It was only October, so I got some other family. One 4th we were having a picnic at Grandma to come and take care of the children and I our place on Four Mile. It was cloudy and cool, about 11 rode with him to bring the horses back the next mor-[...]home leading the rained terrible along with the hail. The children were one horse. I had 10[...]se the door. It think he would be gone more than a week. It kept was coming in two foot drifts of hail right up to the storming, and many of the men quit and Frank stayed door, i[...]went each way. The hail, rain and on. We ran out of wood and I couldn't keep the children flo[...]before it divided warm. I decided I would go get a load of coal from the each way. This storm beat the roofing off the house and coal mine, that some of the dry land farmers were all prese[...]gain I asked Grandma to come to the beds from getting wet, but they got wet anyway. take care of the family while I was gone. It took about[...]was real cold and I felt started to build a fire in the stove, but it smoked and pretty sorry[...]then we discovered the chimney was full of hail. Luckily way home, but we did keep warm afterwards. Then I there was a large table in the kitchen, and the beds ran out of flour and lard, so again I called on Grandma[...]eds were over that part and took my sister-in-law with me to the Flying V to of the ceiling and took the water that would have ru[...]ough onto the food that everyone had brought. So, of that. I took flour, lard and a few small things home we and everyone enjoyed it. We then went to Fred with me. It was so cold and I had to open all those ga[...]re I could go into the house. Flo had her feet in a by all. In April 1937 H . W. "Bill" Wyrick and I were pan of snow to take the frost out of them. About a week married. Bill had 3 children. Harold of Baker, Montana, later, Frank got home and we were[...]and had children. Lelah married Dudly We had snow from October to late May that year. That Te[...]2 children. Lelah passed away was the first year of W.W. I and we had to go to Kirby when he[...]dn't have to two children. Fred, now of Helena and Margaret T. enlist. The snow was so deep we drove over the tops of Yonkitis lives at Rosebud. Bill passed a[...]e got to Adsits we stayed and works in a Vet hospital. Frank, Jr. lives in all night. The[...]her colt, Spokane, Washington, is retired with a medical illness. so we borrowed a horse from the Adsits and left our Arthur lives[...]r Metz horse there until we came back. There were a number of Beer and Ice company. Ed is in Billings,[...]e snowed in at Kirby, so the next morning from road construction. Hazel Pierce lives in[...] |
| Goldenglow, Washington and is a housewife and or rode when a horse was available, horses were needed mother. J[...]ol we had to Dean was killed at I wo Jima, he was a medic in the cross the river on a swinging bridge which the boys Marines, he was one of the first to go on the island of delighted in swinging until we girls nearly[...]abin; my mother worked there 20 years and now has a medical retirement and some of the other women had gotten together and from the department. driven from neighbor to neighbor to petition for it. For[...]boys delighted in sending we girls to the top of our AUDIEM.COX desks by chasing us with the bull snakes that crawled As I remember it was a bright day in early May, in. Later on an unused school building from somewhere when as a child of six I came to Big Horn County from was moved into a more central area and there I com- Wyoming, 8 miles north of Decker in a wagon packed pleted the eighth grade, a teacher from another school with the last of our belongings and a milk cow trailing in the area giving me my examinations; high school behind. There were four of us, my step Dad, James K. was done by cor[...]ter Charlotte and Here we also built a community hall, where all our myself. Later we w[...]. Mom had explained that we were instead of in the homes, where some times it was leaving ou[...]ed the State line she said we are now summer a student minister came and brought services in Mon[...]and the nearest phone was five. So, I can remember as a By the time we reached the flat where Dad had young child of eleven riding through the dark night to taken up[...]ad it had started to rain and was call for a doctor when my brother was born. However he getting dark. A small wooden frame house had been proc[...]mother tools had already been taken there. I can remember my when he did arrive later that afternoon; needless to say Mom's cries of dismay and Dad's not so mild ex- he[...]hbors helped one another clamations when we found a claim jumper had taken and oft times t[...]first years were not too happy as the cattle- from a deep well, one hundred and twenty-five feet , men[...]s taking over the which we had drilled with horses, it was a long slow grazing land and tilling the sod. I vaguely remember process but eliminated the trips to the spring two and a cold winter nights, the howls of the mountain lion hlaf miles away where we had to fill the barrels and then which sounded like a woman screaming; the coyotes watch car[...]n houses and killed all our chickens; wind up with very little water when we did get home. snow drif[...]ces, summers Ice for summer cooling was cut from the river and when hailstorms struck and ruined a[...]and hauled to the ice house then covered with sawdust if gardens. I remember grubbing sage brush and availabl[...]an that, he was in and happiness. Though, I can't remember being too reality a moving store traveling the more than sixty lonely we were always too busy. miles from Sheridan, Wyoming to Birney, Montana We had[...]buggy, by horse back when the roads about one-and-a-half miles away. W. T. Rooks, the were[...]e Adam Andersons ; was always loaded with groceries, tools, wagon parts, there were others too we neighbored with but they were or parts for binder, combine,[...]whatever else a farmer or rancher needed, and couldn't There was always plenty of recreation; we had our get to town for. If[...]miles in the wagon or rode horse back. The Fourth of As I grew older and when I wasn't n[...]bration either at the I worked at some of the dude ranches in the area for the Weltner Ranch or at Decker. I can still see the big big sum of eight dollars a month unless I was cooking, barrels of lemonade and tables that groaned under the[...]wenty-five. This was during the depression weight of all the food and everyone joined in the games. era when everyone was searching for a job. Our first years of school were spent in the mining Of course there are many memories both good and camp[...]Deer Creek school bad that are talked over with laughter and tears when[...] |
| our families get together, but one of the early memories He married Audie Armstrong in 1939; they my sister and I recall with laughter was on being l~ft became the parents of two daughters: Mary Ellen (Mrs. alone when our folks had to make a trip to Sheridan, David L. Iserman) and[...]supplement the winter feed until he could return with wire to fence it, the posts were already up. Being kids we could think of a lot of things that would be more fun than watching cattle and of course a lot more import~nt-so we proceeded to pull binding twine from the stack, this had been used to tie the bales. We tied this together and proceeded to build a two wire fence around the stack. It worked too.[...]building in Hardin at this time was a little general store located where the Sawyer's store now stands. This store was owned by a Mr. Spencer. At that time the depot[...]over the R. R. Bridge on a wheelbarrow. The second business in Hardin was a saloon located in a tent and[...]Spencer's store, which was built in 1907. (Goering Meat[...]anything she could get. She bought a cow and calf from[...]er earnings, also feed, etc. Their first home was a HARRYE.COX dugout, a little later they added a tin shack, and lived in Harry Cox, born in Billings 1902, the son of Mr. this for a couple of years, until a cyclone came and blew and Mrs. Wm. Cox, was for t[...]down the tin addition. They then hauled logs from Pine Recorder for Big Horn County, retiring in January Ridge and built a two-room log house. They built their 1968. He had come with his family to Hardin in 1907, present home in 1912. They hauled all their firewood and lived on a farm about four miles west of town. He from Pine Ridge also. attended Hardin schools and Bill[...]llege. In the early days Hardin was part of Yellowstone He took over the management of the family farm, and County and Billings[...]ld take two days and during muddy During his term of office the present courthouse was weather[...]he second county in Mr. and Mrs. Cox made a trip from Billings which took the state to install a machine bookkeeping system to two days. They had a tent for shelter when night came. modernize its work. That night a very strong \\ind came up and blew their He was a very active member of the Baptist tent flat to the ground. On this same trip they lost a church, as well as of the Republican party. In 1962 he very valuab[...]e for which Mr. Cox had just was chosen president of the Montana County Clerks refused $500.[...]he first well on the bench was dug on the Cox was a member of the Association 's legislative com-[...] |
| from springs. The Cox family was the first family on barn and corral with logs cut nearby. The blacksmith the bench. Soon after they settled there two other shop was a busy place, equipped to shoe the horses and famil[...]he first bakery in Hardin hauled freight from Miles City and Sheridan, and which was located wh[...]ed for neighboring ranchers at the roundup B. A. Erickson, son-in-law of Mrs. Cox, made all wagons. the first sidew[...]delivered by their father. Gladys came in a February[...]lizzard in 1916. The Dodge couple lived less than a[...]ere expecting to come for the THE LIFE OF JOE AND NORA event but a picture taken after the storm shows a deep CRACKENBERGER[...]snow trail to their house. Plans for the births of Irma in By Daughters Gladys Kluk, Irma Tors[...]in Joehaves County, Illinois, in 1885, the oldest of nine children. His parents were Joseph Crackenber[...]s as far as Iowa in the summers during the change from horse power to steam engines. The summer of 1908 when he was twenty-three he was husking corn across Kansas and signed on as roundup cook in Nebraska with a herd on the way to Sheridan, Wyoming. He stayed i[...]uman Furman and Eliza Butterfield. Her father was a traveling Baptist Minister. She had studied nursi[...]Chas. Penson) came about the same time. It was a three playing for the community dances, took her from day ride for them to take the state t[...]o Sheridan down the Tongue river. Taking pictures of the get their Montana teacher's certificate. They taught in working cowboys was another of her many interests. the country schools[...]In 1924 Joe took a job for the Flying V to winter[...]cows at their camp at the head of Canyon creek. They[...]corrals, a new log bunk house, laid out and built[...]summers were busy times for them with the haying and[...]with fun and getting together, going for miles to the[...]about the first of October, 1924, and school was held the rest of that term in our home. The next four years, Joe a[...]e his girls all the training married the 12th day of May in 1915, the third marriage they would need. He took lots of time to teach the performed in Big Horn County. They had filed for fundamentals of the work which was to be done. Gladys homestead rights near the head of Prairie Dog creek on was sent to Sumatra to high school where she was the eastern border of the county. With help from neigh- graduated in 1933. Irma and Winnie B. graduated in bors and newly arrived relatives, they built a log cabin, Hardin in 1936.[...] |
| [...]pony one day and was working cattle with some of the[...]other cowboys when the pony just dodged right out of[...]the country. A couple of the boys thought they had race[...]"JUMP OFF!" shouted Tug, ". - . . I couldn't hardly STAY ON!"[...]years used to work through a large part of Wyoming.[...]gotten a new gun. He wanted to try it out. There were[...]some ducks on a lake. He got 4 out of 5. He took them Gladys Kluk, Winnie B. Clauson, I[...]down to the round-up camp. He asked a Portuguese[...]ellow there if he wanted them. "I'll taka the one-a." the man replied, tying the duck on the back of the saddle by He was married to Ruth Salverson in the fall of one foot. He mounted his horse and star[...]ared the horse to death", Dad told me, and moving from the head of Canyon creek to the Tongue he threw t[...]. "what the thrown man had river. Later he bought a ranch near Ulm, Wyoming. He to say would scarcely be printable!" retired to Sheridan and died in October, 1959.[...]in the early days. Quite a few men made their living[...]boys called these men By Mrs. Murry J. Brown from tape recordings "wolfers". Such a man was Ben Rheinhart. Dad knew My father, Jesse H. Criswell, came west from Ben well and recalled several of his experiences. One Curryville, Missouri in 1902[...]time Ben was wolfin' for the Joe Leiter Company of around Cody and Sheridan, Wyoming, Miles City and Chicago on one of their ranches in the Clear Creek area Billings, w[...]ghlin was running was riding, his horse went into a fence and his foot was the wagon at the time[...]thought that they would have to track down a wolf. They found the den and decided to amputate the foot but at the insistence of Willis Spear, get the pups. Ben was to go do[...]weeks in the sure that he could get out in a hurry in case the wolf Sheridan, Wyoming hospital, he was well enough to go was in there, they tied a rope to one of his feet. Ben got to Spear's Bitter Creek Ranch t[...]n and gave the signal that the wolf was Gollings, a well known artist of the Sheridan area, came in. Bill thought that the wolf might be eating Ben up so to the ranch, bringing with him a 30-40 Krag. Bill was he had better act quick. His horse was down hill so it proud of his markmanship but in some of the target made the rope pull down hil[...]the horse and practice Jesse beat Bill. There was a beaver dam near down the hill he went. Be[...]e bank and Ben's leg out. (Ben was better alright with the cowboys, it made a good place to water known as Rheinie). "It[...]umped over while Bill was out painting, Jesse saw a blue heron on him as she came out. " Another time Ben was wolfing the lake. As he told[...]aimed at the for the OW outfit. They gave him a team of little mules middle of the bird. I missed and shot high, about a foot, for his wolfing cart. The mules were ge[...]se. When Bill came in I told him I'd never from Texas and had had a brush or two with the In- shot a gun that size in my life, that I shot at the old dians on the way. The mules got such a fright in these heron's head but it fell a little bit low, just cutting his brushes that w[...]o start out but one mule was lame so it. That was a good shot! " he hitched a pony up with the other mule. He got his A fellow named Tug Wilson, worked on some of the cart loaded with traps, grub and grain for the team and outfits with Jesse. Tug liked to get all the new things[...]ing until he got to his wolfing ear-stall bridles with no throat latch had just come out, country th[...]ave one and he got it. Tug always rode with the wind to his back and getting along just fine. good cow-ponies; one was a good pony but terribly Some Ch[...] |
| [...]n the same side as Wards and purchased a kitchen cabinet, dining table, the pony and they[...]k down into the couch (which made into a bed), a white iron bedstead, cart. The mule ran until he lost scent of the Indians and mattress, and a little dressing table and chair for the stopped.[...]up-stairs bedroom. Earlier Jess had had a log house These stories and others are on tape recordings built on the homestead which had a kitchen-dining that Dad made for us.[...]story upstairs was used for a bedroom; there was a cook AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LUCIA TIPTON stove in[...]were no sidewalks, and my trousseau of medium bright My father, James Worline Tipton, 1855-1940, was blue and grey shoes looked a sight by the time we born in Indiana and my mothe[...]he trip out. Mrs. Frazier They had four children, of whom I am the youngest. warned me a[...]luckily she had brought They wanted me to become a teacher trained to teach some lemonade. deaf children and that is what I did. While taking a On Saturday night we had gone to[...]heard voices. We dressed pronto; several couples with Massachuesetts. I heard about a family in Lodge cowbells, etc. h[...]nted an oral teacher for their baked a cake, and we had bought some candy. I made little[...]layed the ac- hired to teach Fern Young, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. cordian. Frank Young.[...]I bought three dozen Plymouth Rocks from Mrs. It was a long journey but we finally reached Lodge Hite, so we had plenty of eggs. We had to go to George Grass where the Youn[...]d new modern home. I had the large room upstairs, with one time I fell off the loaded sled but escaped injury. Fern's classroom in one end. She was a very bright We had lots of wood and coal on the place which we child, and I taught her from 1914 thru the Spring of used for cooking and heating. We had a garden, I 1915. The first week I was there the La[...]s, beans, and beets the cold pack method ; having a chicken pie supper at the school house; Mr. when I had extra fryers, I canned them. We also got a Young brought Jess Criswell, a cowboy for the Spear pig, fattened i[...]he house and introduced him. He soap from the cracklings. Our first butchered beef we invit[...]thes as I'd always ridden side- saddle, so making a khaki divided skirt was necessary.[...]could get title. He there on Sunday he would get a black horse from the[...]which I really liked. One day while riding we saw a large herd of pinto ponies which were Mrs. Geo[...]rst I'd seen. fall of 1916; mail was brought from Big Horn, in The school house was used for[...]e Mr. and Mrs. Sutton, Guy Bealls, Jeff organized a Sunday School and a Literary Society. Dinsdale, Zelmer Salo, Andrew Millers, and George When the dudes came from Eaton's Dude Ranch in Millers,[...]Mr. and Wyoming to the Crow Fair they would have a dance in Mrs. Walley from Billings, Clyde Cordray, John and D. the school h[...]ines, Stark Bairs, and Polly Lynde, who was later a County Commissioner, and Jaroz-b[...]proved up. Sometimes we would Grover Swartz built a large barn with a hay loft; when get together on the 4th of July- I usually took a freezer it was completed the dances were held there. Sam of ice cream and fried chicken. We had a small ice house McDowell played the violin and Bum Schubert the and cut ice from the reservoir on West Sarpy Creek. harmonica. The[...]merican Legion building. in a new Model T Ford. After dinner Mrs. Cranford said Jess filed on a homestead on the west side of the "I'll take you over on the flat and[...]and had 640 acres, repairs many times." She really knew what she was plus, in it: Sec. 4,[...]I were married in the Methodist par- a bobcat-he soon became a rug-and another time a sonage at Toronto, Kansas July 15, 1916. W[...] |
| Jess had a well drilled in 1915; it was 165 feet deep, The work horses he used were purchased in a sales as they had to drill through several layers of solid rock, barn in Billings, Montana. He kept a few horses, but no and even so had a slight soda taste. Later another well cows for a period of time. was drilled in a coulee and it still furnishes water for[...]and garden. with their daughter Leone, in the fall of 1901. She lived We bought our first groceries from Mr. Peden in in Billings before returning to Michigan for a few years. Hardin; Mr. T. E . Gay, who had a hardware store, gave In 1906 she and her daughter retur[...]tay. good coffee. In later years Charlie Eder had a hardware The Crouch family then moved to their farm home. store and J . J . Ping a dry goods store. Mr. Crouch cultivated and raised a variety of crops for Mrs. Hubbard, one of our neighbors, planted many years. J[...]for many years. full . She took them to Hardin on a Saturday, and sold Mr. Crouch marri[...]ve one daughter, Carolyn. They moved to Hardin in " sock" or bank it, but decided to bank it. On Mond[...]ave lived in Hardin since then. A MONTANA PIONEER |
| [...]To me, listening to the eighth grade read was a real Florence, Elizabeth, and Robert. Doctor Tuck[...]. "The Great Stone Face" was an absorbing family, with Frances, Ernestine, Gayland, and a baby tale, and I haven't read it since. le[...]Ball were among have noted this as news of them has reached me over the older ones. Over the[...]We didn't think about discipline, and ap- family, with Otho and Victor. From the depot toward parently the teacher didn't either. We just naturally the end of our stay came Bill and Mary Dakin; and behaved. But we had one exciting episode, for which we from the section house Frank Wagner and his brother. have Donald Lewis to thank- a particualr pal of my The parsonage was down by the river, and Aline[...]questioned him briefly and said, "Oh no, Donald. " She our years at the Agency; I remember June Creel, then turned her back, and[...]departing, she was after him. Like Maudie, he was a the Graham family arrived, the first children from runner hard to catch. But Mrs. Cruikshan[...], duty, and, to our astonishment, was a great runner Myrtle riding a side-saddle. I had never seen one before, herse[...]an Don's, and snow lay but was too shy to ask for a close look. The Grahams on the ground. Bug[...]were all big kids-Tillman and Bill, I think, and a boy dows. Don gave the escape his all. Cut off from the cousin. There were we Reynoldses, of course. The gate, he sped across the playground in a wide circle. children of Bill Humphrey were Maud, Lillian, and M[...]g black skirt, Billy. The Scallys arrived in 1907 with Margaret, was right in his tracks, with outstretched arm. At last Lillian, and Billy. Har[...], and escorted the future senior ar- Huttons came from across the tracks near our coasting chitect of the City of Los Angeles back into the hill, Sandy, Allie, and[...]ere was no observable punishment. grown up. A narrow sidewalk of two by twelve planks laid SAM N. CUNNINGHAM AND EARLY TIMES ON lengthwise in pairs led to our school from the main TULLOCK CREEK[...]n Buechler Medicine's cabin was on the other side of the road near[...]father, Sam N. Cunningham, came to the river. One of his children who had died was buried in[...]Big Horn Co. , Montana from Fertile, Minnesota, in a big cottonwood in the grove behind the school-a[...]s before Big Hom County was created. small bundle of blankets and canvas firmly lashed to a[...]ime. played porn-porn-pull-away, prisoners' base, a few circle Jim, who had filed on a homestead in 1906, met games, and mumbletipeg (pr[...]took him to the sheep camp winter, we could make a big fox-and-geese ring. We did where his brothers were working for the Ash Sheep Co. a lot of running and chasing. Maudie Humphrey was a This company was owned by Chris and Peter Yegen of phenomenal runner. I sincerely believe that she w[...]illings, Montana. Louis (Lou) Perkins was foreman of Olympic material. And you should have seen her the camp. The men were in the process of shearing and sail across that wide ditch. We played anti-eye-over, too dipping the sheep. Being short of help Lou asked (so pronounced by us).[...]the company was running about forty thousand head of Just inside the door were a big iron stove and the sheep. The shearing was finished about the first of July. fuel box. The water bucket and dipper stood on a table Then grandpa was made caretaker of the wool which nearby. Either side of the door were the hooks for coats. was stored in a shed at the shearing pens until it was The rest of the pleasant room accommodated the s[...]time, was bringing fifteen cents per classes. In a front comer was our library, from which we pound compared to about fifty cents at the present could take books home ; I found one of my favorites[...]hen the wool was sold they moved to the Lou desk, a big chart with pictures and words for first grade Perkins ranch, about five miles up the creek, to put up reading, and a "modem" little folding organ, which the hay,[...]ld Hom allotment, now owned looked at the picture of a squirrel, an animal unfamiliar by Robert Stoval[...]hay on four to me. Nowhere in the chart was there a prairie dog. hundred acres. It was a long "back-aching" job. The large, framed pic[...]omesteaded the land which is the were good prints of the great masters: Rosa Bonheur s present O.W. Ranch. That was the home of the first "The Horse Fair," Landseer's "Monarch of the Glen," post office called Maschetah. Mail was delivered twice a and others.[...] |
| [...]as successful in bringing her to Montana. shacks with dirt floors, but no seemed to care. Grandpa was one of the first jurors at the first Hospitality was the by-word regardless of worldly term of court held in Big Horn County. Since there was g[...]cross the Big Horn river on the ice Another of his experiences was helping his neigh- with team and wagon to get to Hardin. The case in- bor[...]ls at Iron Springs and Burnt Creek in order of lack of evidence. to catch them. They were branded and put in the Hope Grandpa eventually got a homestead of his own on pasture. Some were broken to ride, and[...]school teacher, raised a family and decided that Big There were two[...]and his sister Nell Smith. Bob had the reputation of being extremely absent-minded. His sister was fond of telling how she went to clean his shack and found Bob in the doorway SIGNADAHL with one arm in the sleeve of his jacket and a won- Born in Wisconsin of Norwegian parents, in 1891, dering look on his face. She asked him where he was Signa Dahl was a truly dedicated teacher. She loved going. Shaking[...], I children and was devoted to the ideals of her profession. was just trying to remember whether I was comin' in After teaching in rural schools in Wisconsin and South or goin' out." Nell later taught school at Crow Agency, Dak[...]d to the Methodist Church, the County was created from part of Yellowstone and Montana Education As[...]anch in December 1912. L of the PEO Sisterhood, Order of the Eastern Star, Lee Parish was a cowpuncher and trapper in the Rebekah's,[...]as wolves. At that time the counties were paying a bounty one of Hardin's strongest teachers. During her 31 years of three dollars on coyote pelts and twenty-five dol[...]Cross Chairman for on wolf pelts. When Lee caught a coyote, he would skin District 17-H for 25[...]o make them look like wolf eyes. He had some sort of dye he used to color the pelts to resemble wolf h[...]knamed "Shorty Pease" Taken from Hardin Tribune because he worked for Major Pease at Crow Agency, Russel L. Danielson is a Hardin pioneer who truly was the cook for the she[...]ore the city was anything but sanitary. The floor of the cook shack was formed-but he wasn't very old at the time. always littered with ashes and tobacco juice. If a morsel His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Danielson, of food fell to the floor, Shorty would retrieve it, brush came from Iowa to Billings, in 1905. Their son, Russel, it[...]infant when the family moved to Hardin in January of they soon soured but they were served and at times the 1907-and the town was started in May of that year. whole camp got sick.[...]as Jim Gear. Jim came to was graduated from Hardin High School in 1924 and Yegen Brothers from Virginia City. He rode fence for afterwar[...]y farm four miles north the sheep company but was a tough hombre. It was of Hardin. After his father's death in 1941, he cont[...]and sheep men and the cattle men, he shot through a moved to town shortly thereafter. sh[...]stood trial for it but He ran for Justice of the Peace and was elected. was never convicted. H[...]s City Police one day near Big Hom and being hard of hearing didn't magistrate in April of 1957, and also served as U. S. hear the train whi[...]ow he's Frank Newbold, an Austrian, who was a line rider ready to retire from the bench. for Spear Cattle Co. was another ole-t[...]rried Rachel Walker in 1925. They have two he was a band leader in Wyoming. He played the children-Mrs. Joyce Zacek of Missoula and Harlan cornet and clarinet very well. He lived in a dugout Danielson of Richland, Washington, and five grand- where the p[...]d crosses Tullock. Later he children. built a two room shack and went to Austria to get his[...]rried in Austria but Lodge. He was master of Sts. John Lodge No. 92, A.F. ran into difficulties when he tried to bring his bride & A.M., Hardin in 1941, and was chosen High Priest of[...] |
| [...]tes formed what was known as the "Upton secretary of the Royal Arch group for the 20th time. Pool[...]ailroad • The He is past presiding officer of all the York Rite Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, and unloaded their bodies, and was Illustrious Master of the Grand cattle at the Big Horn Wye, and from here they could Council of Royal and Select Masters in 1966-67. tr[...], which they had been He has acted as master of the Lodge in conducting buying at advertised l[...]as which they had leased. This move by rail from been operating the Hardin Title and Insurance for the Wyoming in 1914 has been very permanent as one of past several years. He says he was three years the family still resides at the family home east of preparing to handle the business of preparing ab- Hardin, and is known by all[...]s after he The cowmen who came as members of the Upton retires from his judicial jobs. Pool[...]dissolution by some of the members of this Pool, who[...]Frank Douglas formed and entered into a partnership[...]from their ranch home north of Hardin on the[...]Arizona-Mexico border town of Douglas, Arizona. Here[...]spent the summers on a cattle ranch in Sonora State[...]pleasant. We lived a beautiful life, had all the things[...]that it takes to make a good life and spent our summers[...]Montana as a child was the high point of the summer[...]kind of air conditioning. The refrigerators then · remember• required blocks of ice and they didn't last[...]One of my first experiences however in regard to "ONCE UPON A TIME" attending school wa[...]Long Beach, California for one year. This was a treat There was a family consisting of a father, mother, and special privilege at that t[...]first grade in Hardin, Montana with Nellie V. Brown as 14 year old son, and an eight[...]first grade teacher whom I dearly loved. She was a crone to Big Hom County to make their home. They[...]doll! I can also recall how frightened I was as a first their cherished friends and ranching enviro[...]grader of Dr. Russell who at the time was County come to th[...]known as the "Ceded Strip" to run cattle, and buy a farm home, commonly known as the "Brooks Ranch" of my skin, but I later learned that he was a very kind located two miles directly east of Hardin, Montana. person because he invited[...]a first for me, as I had probably never seen a poodle "Jack" had decided that he and his associates with before. Next was schooling in Arizona with the Douglas whom he had grown to know and love in[...]children who were well acquainted with everyone in- Newcastle, and Devil's Tower vicinit[...]played with as there was no hint of discrimination in area, with room for expansion. Eight or nine friends[...] |
| [...]lace I've ever seen. And since this began as a "Fairy Tale", starting " Once Upon a Time." I feel that it should be short, but let me once a[...]hich is the title the CB&Q railroad gave the town of Upton and came to Montana.[...]Elvin R. {Peely] and Hazel Davis with instruments[...]they played for dances, 1936-Ira Drake on side with[...]In 1929 I bought a fiddle-learned to play it by ear[...]I borrowed a little boy's glove and without any practice[...]I played third base. I don't remember which team won, but I do remember when the game was over my hand[...]ELVINR.DAVIS a ball glove. I was born at Mason City, Iowa[...]In 1931, I took part in the Mock Battle of Custer's 1911 and came to Montana in March 1912.[...]er did that again. That same day I put on an made of logs with a dirt floor. The closest neighbor was exhibition ride at the old Crow Fair riding a cow with a five to fifteen miles away. In the winter flat ir[...]cut I worked there in 1934. It is very nice now with the when I was three years old. My uncle said tha[...]useum, paved roads and well tended cemetery. like a peeled onion and I have been called "Peely" for[...]arted to school when I was five years old and of the Hardin High School when she graduated. With rode horseback five miles to and from school. I the help of God and Dr. Chester A. Bentley, I made her graduated from the eighth grade in 1926-knew more my w[...]w living in my second ride I got throwed off into a pile of cactus. Dillon, Montana with her husband Joe and their five That was fifty-two[...]was when I was fifty-seven, moving to Atlanta with his wife and two boys; and got my nose bro[...] |
| [...]uring the forties and fifties, my wife and I took with the biggest heart I know. I had nineteen "cam-[...]ars at the Holly Sugar factory and am now a little money, learned several professional round[...]r the Big Horn County square dances, met a lot of interesting people and had Road Dept., and have loved every minute of it. In 1958 barrels of fun, but we gave it up some time ago. I was Master of Sts. Johns Lodge #92 AF & AM. It was I am now semi-retired and am shrinking up with a very busy but wonderful year. I have been Rainbow arthritis of the spine and a muscle disease similar to Dad for over fifteen years and am a member of the Muscular Dystrophy. My good wife helps me dress and Order of Eastern Star. I have enjoyed my affiliation undress. Bless her soul, if she ever quit helping me I with these organizations. I have been a member of the could run as a "Streaker" and would have to start a Baptist Church since 1937 and have held many offices nudist colony. in the church and presently am a trustee. To all my friends[...]We came to the Rosebud in the late summer of 1895. The Dickson finances were at a low ebb. There were four of us: my mother, father, my brother and[...]ear his uncle Joe Hutton's house on the east side of the Rosebud, about a mile below the mouth of Corral Creek. Dad had hauled in a small stock of what it took to start a frontier store. He and my brother built a log cabin that served as a store and living quarters. This little store was the only one in that part of the country. The[...]Shortly, dad got his store business going and had a very good trade with the Cheyenne Indians, and the few[...]whites near there. He had the confidence of the Cheyennes because of his fair dealings with them. His[...]Some of our neighbors were: The Busby's, who owned a ranch near the present site of Busby. Between[...]35 and the girls, Minnie and Dot, also a son-in-law and his[...]family, the Conley's. Frank Shields had a sheep outfit up Trail Creek. J. J . Thompson, a plantation southerner[...]outfit of the country and were very considerate of less[...]Lines-with the family living quarters removed from the cook house and other places of major activity.[...]Above the OD, which was six miles below our store, were a few settlers. Among them were the John[...]Ramseys , at the mouth of Corral Creek, Frank and[...]were at Big Bend. On the other side of the stream were[...]White kids were few at that time, so most of my[...]go to sleep in a Cheyenne tepee and wake up at home where a squaw had carried me. I remember High Bear[...]A year after we came to the Rosebud, my father[...]built another store, just across the Rosebud from the Davis children - Violet, Ronald, and Clarice, 1946 mouth of Corral Creek. A little settlement sprung up[...] |
| there and dad had the Hutton Post Office in his store. Mail came through once in a while from Crow Agency. Among the people who built houses on[...], Spencer Dewey, Bob Fauvers-all old neigh- bors of dads' in Nebraska. They and other settlers built what we would now call a community hall. This was used for school, church,[...]the whites occurred. The settlers were ordered by a runner from Fort Keogh to gather at the OD and prepare for trouble. Dad was in Sheridan at the time. Mom had a cowpuncher take word to him, then boarded up the[...]ny white kids at one time. We built forts and had a lot of fun. We were really disappointed when the runner[...]f everything was all right, then went back to the store against military orders. The Cheyennes were prisoners of war at that time, which status they held until a few years ago. The Cheyenne Reservation was[...]ght out and we moved to Dayton in the late summer of 1899.[...]ners ran cattle on the open I came to Hardin from England in 1908. We range from Upton, Wyoming to Lusk, Wyoming, homesteaded 40 acres two and a half miles west of consisting of a vast territory of free range. Huge sums Hardin. of money were made with free range, few taxes, and I started school in 1911 in a house that belonged to little expense. The cattle were rounded up twice yearly a Mrs. Hansen. My teacher was Miss Eder. I later we[...]enished, the My father, George Dimbleby, was a brick mason. horses and riders were ready, and on the trail they went He built Kopriva's Store, worked on the library, for several weeks at a time. This was hard living but theatre, Ping's Store, and many more. The only brick fun livin[...]homesteaders came in, fencing the land, and drug store was Mrs. Reeder's.[...]estward for Montana, I guess we did not have a calendar-we went to settling on Pocket Creek, an area east of the Big Hom Rousseau's for Christmas Dinner on the 24th, and of River near Custer, Montana. Walter and[...]ncle Frank" as he was One day on my way home from school, the Indian called. kids were go[...]as built close at the turn off, one chased me for a mile. I was so afraid, enough to the Big Hom River that a spring ice jam tore but when he caught up with me he handed me a bottle the kitchen from the front room, carrying it in its path. of vanilla I had dropped, then turned and went ijack. Amidst the roar of the water and the ice, safety of the I was on the Ranch when we had a cyclone. Hotses family was sought on high[...]fences. Wagners lived close by, Again a move was made west of the Big Hom and were without shelter, so they sta[...]nged tires twice on the way. of Douglas, Frank went into Old Mexico, bought the[...]cattle, called the Texas long-horns, Hardin holds a spot in my heart, the others don't.[...] |
| [...]hadows lengthened On their arrival, if greeted by a cold storm or blizzard, And death ends his weary days. many of them perished.[...]usand dollars in payment for cattle, he was aware of the danger of the trip. So his wife sewed a pocket inside his underwear, placed the money ins[...]as delivered. In 1931 Frank Douglas disposed of his interests in Old Mexico, returned to Hardin,[...]pur- chased the old Reno Ranch on Dry Creek, east of the Big Horn River. Desiring to change the location of the home-site, the log house was torn down, log by log, and carefully marked so it could be re-assembled on a bluff above the river. This two room log house boasted a large iron barrel with a loosely fit door for a front room stove. It stood on crude legs which was anything but a thing of beauty. Long logs were thrust inside it; at the same time columns of smoke encircled the room. But soon the crackling[...]brightly as the heat radiated to the far corners of the room. Beside the warmth of this stove three grand- daughters, Mary Lou, Joan[...]ily baths. The log house also had the luxury of electricity. The men of the household built a windmill which furnished electricity for the home. However, a choice had to be made. Eithe.r listen to the radi[...]een door for the summer. When Mrs. Douglas cooked a sumptuous dinner for W. C. [Bill] Dr[...]were raised HISTORY OF and cat fishing was good.[...]RAKE The water supply for the home was quite a prob- IN BIG HORN COUNTY lem. It came from a hand dug cistern replenished by a By Maude Drake spring which was a short distance from the house. My husband, Bill and I with our two children, Ira Pumpkin and Speed, two trus[...]ame by train to Hardin in February, 1918. ched to a flat bed on which stood two wooden-stayed[...]rels were filled , bucket by bucket, here from Pawnee, Oklahoma, but we did !earn to like pulled up from the cistern. the[...]u epidemic that fall. had to haul the water. "Out of water" was no doubt The first home we lived in had been made with three of the worst words to echo through the ranch[...]e log house was torn down and in its place stands a chinking fell out from between the logs, we stuffed the beautiful new Model Log home. cracks with rags and paper. My husband slept with our Being sentimentalists, daughter Florence[...]u, Joan, and Betty each son's hair from Bill's breath. I slept with the two little selected a log from the old house to have sawed and girls an[...]ere his mornings made. We had a little cookstove with four lids and a Toiling through the sun's bright ra[...] |
| [...]we would almost be standing on our heads to get a pail of water. We used old lumber scraps to make a table and we had MR. AND MRS. C[...]Mr. Dyckman came west from Aurora, Illinois in In the spring of 1919, my husband and three the spring of 1907, and filed on a 320 acre homestead in children all had the small[...]They lived in a log cabin until they could build a The first summer we had ticks and rattlesna[...]three room house. A son was born in 1913. thick as hair on a dog's back and I was constantly[...]The horses to farm and ride were gotten from the picking ticks out of the younger daughter's white hair.[...]wild bunch. They also had a few cows, chickens, and Also, we dug a little well that summer and put a little raised a big garden. Hay and cattle were the main pitcher[...]income. from the river after that.[...]Vegetables were kept in a root cellar. Clothes and together. As he worked on this building, we lived in a bedding were gotten from mail order houses and came tent on the school gr[...]e gotten finished, he worked for the railroad for a few years. at the Crow Agency once a year. Then we decided to move out of town, so we moved[...]tation was by wagon, sleigh, and horseback. south of Crow. My husband worked at the Custer Mail came by stage from Hysham via horse and Battlefield when they dug up the bodies of the soldiers buggy starting in 1904 to the Cooley ranch. In 1923 the from Custer's battle and reburied them.[...]arpy Post Office. While on the farm, we had a team of horses and got a few milk cows and raised huge gardens. We dried corn and pickled com and cucumbers. We canned many quarts of vegetables. We picked choke cherries, buffalo ber[...], jams and jellies. We raised wheat and took some of it to the flour mill at Crow Agency where we had[...]rots, cabbage etc, and milk, cream and butter, in a dugout root cellar. Later we raised sugar beets and we did all the work by hand. I would make a trip to Crow Agency once a week in a one horse shay, " buggy" to take eggs and dressed chickens to customers there. At times we would have a can of cream to ship by train to Sheridan to the dairy there. Every fall I would catch a freight train at Garryowen and ride in the caboos[...]CLYDE DYGERT and I baked ten loaves of bread every other day. I used Permillia Coolidge, a second cousin to Calvin a yeast starter for the bread. I washed clothes three Coolidge the President of the United States, married times a week on the old washboard and all the white Ernest H. Dygert June 11, 1901 at Woodstock, Illinois. clothing, towels, sheets, etc., were boiled on the old coal A year later their first son, Clyde, was born. He w[...]ert in Every summer the church would sponsor a Illinois and Bill, Alice and Ern[...]everyone for miles around would January of 1914, Ernest Dygert, came to Toluca to come and p[...]etc., and have many homestead. He built a barn 30 x 60 with a hay loft and games for the children. This was the highlight of the then returned to Illinois for his fam[...]d via Omaha, Edgemont, Sheridan and away in April of 1974 and I sold our home there and[...] |
| [...]R., then to Billings by the Northern over a three year period. During this period, he trucked[...]ce, having moved trains arrived within four hours of one another on back to Hardin and his t[...]1968, Clyde Dygert sold his business and days and a night-and-a-half. retired. In 1969 and 1970 he oversaw the building of a An old saloon 18 x 20' which stood by the d[...]ough to was moved to the farm and converted into a kitchen, keep him -busy so in 1971 he beg[...]capacity being 1,000 bu. He has now retired rooms of the new barn while a hired carpenter and his again to fish, boat, hunt and travel to Mexico and helpers put up a two story house by August. The Canad[...]regon. carpenter worked for the Dygert family for a year. School District 17-H was getting organized about this time and were short of funds for buildings so Mr. Dygert built a school house across the road from their home. He furnished the building and the coa[...]six pupils. Clyde, twelve years old, would build a fire at the school house each cold day before breakfast. The teacher did the sweeping. She also boarded with the Dygert family. Clyde also helped Bert Lillis of Billings set the stakes when they re- surveyed the streets of Toluca. Toluca was on the original dirt road to Billings where it crossed the tracks of the C.B. & Q. The power line was put in about 1928 and followed the road. The poles turned west in front of the Dygert homestead.[...]to Red Lodge. 1950 County Commissioners of Big Horn County He stayed on the farm combining,[...]d entered trucking full time. His first truck was a Ford one and a half ton which hauled farm products and coal.[...]t the District schools and all was One of the early day homesteaders of Toluca was shoveled out of the truck with a scoop shovel, hydraulic Ernest H. Dygert and his family from Woodstock, lifts were not put into general use un[...]ame time. passenger train number 44 in March of 1914. Mr. Dygert arrived later that evening in a freight car with[...]machinery. They had filed papers on a contested[...]homestead and bought two hundred acres of land south of Toluca depot.[...]chicken-house and sheds. A schoolhouse was built and[...]Big Horn County was founded as a county in 1913.[...]was the First Precinct of Big Horn County. Judges and[...]county, some of the children and grandchildren did. {approx. 1944[...]years after they left. One day in 1945, a woman rancher, Leone Crouch, Mr. and Mrs. Dygert owned a ranch near Luther came in to get him to haul a bull that kept wandering which they later[...]nched retire. Ernest Dygert died in July of 1949 and his wife on Soap Creek for two years. His neighbors talked him Millie passed away in October of 1952. Their six sons into running against "Butch" Clifford for a six year and two daughters and their fami[...]er. He was unopposed for various areas of the country. Clyde, who is supposed to his second[...]signed after three years because be retired from trucking, lives in Hardin, Montana. of the press of his trucking business which was to take[...] |
| [...]unty, died in Hardin in 1970. letter from dad, telling us he would meet us in Fort Harold o[...]es an International Harvester Custer on a certain day, to go down to the ranch. dealership[...]ry frightened, as we would have to ford operates a farm outside of Sheridan, Wyoming. Albert, the Big Horn ri[...]d where Hardin would later be located; just a barren, Lodge, Montana. Bill, who was quite famou[...]. Ernie spent the whole day at the depot. One of mother's is working on construction out of Great Falls, Montana. friends had given her a box of candy when we left There were twenty-two grandchi[...]We went grandchildren which were/are descendants of this back to Billings on the evening[...]received another letter from dad, and found that we[...]had gone to Fort Custer on the wrong day, and set a[...]In the meantime we had acquired a cat. To take him with us, mother cut a hole in a small valise to[...]eral people to see us off and someone gave mother a bottle of wine, which she put in with the cat as we had[...]could find a hotel. He said we should go to Junction as[...]It was satisfactory, but mother noticed there was a[...]through here but that's alright: it's just my son." After at the first election held in Toluca, 1914.[...]my room." LEONE DYGERT[...]The next day we were walking along the bank of 1906-[...]river toward the It was early in the spring of 1906, and we were held new bridge we saw a team and wagon crossing it, and up in Miles City,[...]nd as they came nearer we recognized bridges were a yearly occurrence in those days. To kill it was dad. Next morning we went to Harry Scott's time, most of the passengers, including mother and me, store as dad had a large load of "grub" to get for the climbed on the work train a[...]d we came back to town only Dad had filed on a homestead the previous year, once more be[...]r we were loaded, we 1905, and we were coming out from Michigan to join headed for the ranch. Part of the road was very rough, him, though mother wasn't very happy about it. such as the rocky bed of Mission Creek which we had to When we reached Billings, we stayed at the Gage travel for a few miles. Soon we began to smell hotel for a few days, but mother was finally able to get a something and it was rather strong before mother room at the Cottage Hotel which also had a family thought of the wine in with the cat. We stopped, of dining room. She was trying to find an appartment or a course, and when they opened the valise you[...]place to live as we couldn't go to the such a poor, bedraggled cat. They set him on the ranch a[...]emptied the valise, but he couldn't ran thousands of sheep on the Crow Indian reservation. stand[...]east on an When we reached the edge of the flat where we extensive visit and asked mothe[...]two teenage daughters for the the team to a halt, and proudly pointing to something sum.mer?[...]d in the distance said, "There's our house." Mother took time to get the house built. When the[...]ears. When we reached the mother was able to find a room, with kitchen privileges, ranch we found a fair sized one room, frame shack, with with the Gilsdorf's, on So. 28th Street. Mr. Gilsdorf floor, and a hitching rack for the team and saddle horse. operated a meat market just back of Yegen Brothers While dad took care of the team, mother got the cat out store. We had lived with them once before. of the valise. Seeing a grimy looking towel hanging on We were still[...]e cat. Soon dad came in school, but went for only a short time as we received a and, glancing from the cat to the wall cried out, "What[...] |
| are you doing? That's my last clean towel." That first summer dad dug a well so we didn't have Shortly after Christmas, dad had to go to St. to haul water from the river, and, also, were able to Xavier to feed sheep for Bair. He left someone with us have a small garden. Mother planted some bachelor who lived in a sheep wagon but came in for meals. He, but[...]volunteered for years also, left an enormous pile of stove wood, just outside after. Dad also dug a cellar, built a chicken house, and the back door. To me, it seemed almost as large as the set a tent on a frame foundation for the supplies that house. It was a good thing, too, as we had one of those couldn't be kept in the cellar. bitter, Montana winters that year and just a cook stove I had a swing, a little red wagon, a dog, stick to keep us warm, although I don't remember ever being horses and later in the summer, a real horse to ride. I cold. However, I do remember mother getting up in the had a finger in everything that was going on, much to n[...]r would take me and go for walks and we with her. We often met rattlesnakes or bull snakes, se[...]she always early spring, two men came passing by with a team and killed the rattlesnakes. She coul[...]d rocks buggy. They were mostly travelling on top of the snow, so dad fixed an old shovel handle for her to use. She too. They asked a lot of questions about our neighbors called it her coup stick and every time she killed a snake on both sides, who also worked for Bair. Mother figured would cut a notch in it. they were probably claim jumpers. Ho[...]t. Xavier to hadn't been gone long enough to give anyone the right feed sheep and mother moved into[...]school Late in March or early May there was a big in Junction City. chinook and the[...]d -Thus ends my first year and a half in Montana. hear a loud roaring so we went up to the foot of the hills to investigate. The water was pouring off the flat above. The roaring was coming from one short, steep coulee that was one continous waterfall. The snow was all gone from the valley now, and the water was getting deeper[...]t in the water, pretending to irrigate when I saw a team and wagon coming past the point of the hills. I ran to tell mother and when she saw[...]as she thought she recognized the outfit. It was with great excitement and relief we watched them come,[...]Leone Dygert and Gretchen Van Cleve, sister of Guy done that was never flooded.[...]began arriving. During the winter mother had fed a flock of camp· robbers, which sat on our woodpile every d[...]deer, magpies, left for Montana in search of work. He settled in prairie chicken and various h[...]1909. They homesteaded on orth Bench for a few buy sugar and flour by the 100 lbs., eggs by[...]years, then moved into town where Bill opened a meat case of 48 dozen, cases of vegetables, and evaporated market. Things[...]built it and continued his ourselves, huge wheels of American Cheese, oatmeal business. and[...]ted in the town, known by lbs., salt cod and lots of hams and bacon so that we everyone, not o[...]Later in the summer he went to Illinois with a load of cattle when the ac• there were chokecherries, b[...]had catfish whenever we wanted them and a piece of steel flew out, striking him in the leg. Blood rabbit once in a while and, of course, prairie chicken. poisoning re[...] |
| [...]on, working where she could and still taking care of the children: Robert, Arthur, Josephine, and Maddarine. The boys were a great help to their Mother-Robert always seemed like a father to Maddarine, who was only three when her father died. Our house was always a gathering place for the kids of the town, and I can hardly remember sitting down to the table that there wasn't at le[...]I, Helen Stuby, along with Francis Eggart, was graduated from Sheridan, Wyoming, High School in the class of 1911. After Francis got out of the military[...]my second year of teaching in Sheridan, we were[...]wedding breakfast was a miniature ranch in detail, I[...]was ill-prepared for life on a ranch. I had never lived in[...]What leisure time? It was a Fannie Merritt Farmer Cookbook and a knowledgeable husband that got me[...]We came directly to Montana in a borrowed Maxwell car, and lived in a tent while Francis was busy[...]building our first home on a piece of land he had leased from an old Indian named Arm Around the eek. One[...]Bert and Louise. located about ten miles south of the Forty Mile ranch There were many good times, along with sadness. on the same side of the river. Josephine was married, but passed away[...]was born. Jessie brought the baby thought of it as the land of opportunity. The Indians home and raised her as h[...]ase their land and the Crow Agency Office comfort from the baby. She was so proud of her was willing, if the lease w[...] |
| was used as a model of a typical American Indian by a Sheridan for one year. Then, Eileen was ready for New York City artist, and a statue of him is supposed school, so we bought a piece of land on highway 87 near to stand in the city. He was picturesque as he wore his the bridge of the Little Big Horn River, to be on the bus Indian clothing. He jogged by our place on his pony rout[...]ded Lodge Grass School. I every day. I especially remember Jenny Wallace as she had been asked to sub[...]8 cows by hand, and we sold the cream live with us. She was with us twenty-seven years. and eggs to buy groceries with. Our son, Dan, was born In 1939, Dan m[...], and two and one-half years we were blessed with four grandchildren : Francis later, Eileen put in[...]ileen was married to Adolph Later, we bought a piece of land in the hills near Fink from Roundup, and they had two children: Mary Wyola. W[...]d Frances Ann Fink. neighbors and friends gave us a house warming. We worked harder here, as we had grain to take care of, as well as cattle and hay. I remember the threshing crew of sometimes as many as twenty-one to feed. If it ra[...]ked bread every other day and cooked sweet com in a wash boiler kept for that purpose. We learne[...]-saving device we got. At first, we carried water from a spring up a hill to the house. Next, we got a pump in the yard, then in the kitchen.[...]L-r: Emily Berry, Frances Wallace, Helen Eggart, remember the fine church there and our many friends.[...]irthday. friends would come and stay all night. I remember we had one of the first earphone radio sets. When Carl Gross an[...]s and Ernie Hare" . REA, and Francis was one of the incorporators. The No matter how deep the sno[...]irst pole was set on February 11, 1941. This made a the Jim Brown family would often visit us and we them. great deal of difference in our lives. Francis was also Soon we had the problem of getting Dan to school. president of the Federal Land Bank Association of I taught Dan myself for two years, then we[...] |
| [...]t that time there were no graveled roads entering of Lodge Grass, and I was a member of the Legion Hardin. It was some time[...]ad to buck the mud if you Training" for boys back from the service, so he con- travelled wet ro[...]wet", which we found to be absolutely true of the ~fter almost forty-five years, I rented[...]oil. Our Ford Model T's had considerable the side of the road and leased my place. I still own it[...]ill to Billings when it today, and I'm still part of Big Horn County. I live at was dry and next[...]es and three daughter and family, and not too far from my son who saloons in Hardin, and althou[...]and Sons Construction Company. It was a good thick[...]was laid, although it was a very dry year, there was rain DA YID L.[...]ugh at one time to make the street muddy in front of By David L. Egnew the 0. M. Kelly Store on Center Avenue. The Egnews are of Scotch-Irish ancestry; they The Lammers Apartments, a two story building, came to Virginia and Kentuc[...]y date. My stood on the northeast corner of the intersection of grandfather moved to Spencer County, Indiana in 1839. Center A venue and Fourth Street, adjoining the He was active in building a brick school house, named present Lammers B[...]he Egnew school, and Little Pigeon Baptist church of All the rest of that block was then vacant. At one time which I am still a member. My Mother's people came when fuel was very scarce because of coal strikes, Mint from Kentucky, owned slaves but freed them, fought Kelly was appointed Fuel Administrator, and he put a for the North, and were attacked and robbed by[...]In- cottonwood to aid the short supply of coal. Needless to diana. This was the home of Abraham Lincoln's family, say, green cottonwood is a poor substitute for fuel. At and the Romines wer[...]I have hunted squirrels in the to Hardin. A portion of the block on the east side of woods surrounding the grave of Nancy Hanks Lincoln Center A venue between Third and Fourth Streets was before it became a National Park. I used a long muzzle- also used for a carnival, where later McDonald had a loading rifle and moulded my own bullets; I carried a grocery and Earl H. Menzer had a one man cigar powder horn and used a rooster spur for a measure to factory.The building now used by the Egnews was at determine the amount of powder to use. one time occu[...]randfather, and two aunts Steam Laundry, with a slogan, "It's the Soft Water". homesteaded in Mo[...]Third Street ended at the 0. K. Barn, a livery stable, uncles, Bert and Sid Romine, homesteaded nearby in where the present Chamber of Commerce office is orth Dakota. In 1912 I came out to visit, worked in a located. store, and then went back to college. I finished law[...]tted to the bar. Elsie taught together with the filter plant for filtering our water. school[...]28, Prior to that time, the water was used from the Big 1915 we were married in Indiana. I becam[...]thout filtration. At that time the Mayor tendent of a high school in Indiana and we remained an[...]ng their plant. The plant did not Kelly's Grocery Store and left it while we went to Uncle generate a large amount of electricity and when you Sid Romine's in Sarpy. W[...]s, it would dim your Charles and Ruth, in Indiana with my sister who lights. The rate was v[...]e driest year on record, and on June 6 Center A venue and Third Street, the Sullivan Building, th[...], on Fourth and late fall. It was followed by one of the worst winters we Center, and the Becker Ho[...]ond have ever had. Feed was scarce and slough hay of a Streets, were the principal buildings down town. The very poor quality was shipped in from Nebraska at a Lee Building (now Wilson) and the Sullivan Building high price. Stockmen lost a lot of cattle and the ex- were both used at diffe[...]mind Courthouse. the winter. I had bought a heavy overcoat with a big fur In 1926 the 50th anniversary of the Custer Battle collar and I did not wear it much of the time. Although was celebrated. The Chambers of Commerce of Billings, hay was scarce generally, in the late fall I made a trip Sheridan and Hardin cooperated for a year in ad- up the Big Horn Valley, and the Heinr[...]the Associated valley above St. Xavier had stacks of loose hay Press, United Press and ot[...]encies. James everywhere which showed the results of irrigation. Shoemaker, Secretary of the Billings Chamber, acted as[...] |
| Chairman, and I was Treasurer of the organization. We kinds of fruit, and a large garden . Everything was open- succeeded in[...]me ill over the way it was assembled in the State of Montana. The highways were done. Apples,[...]ey attended, In 1918 we moved to a farm near Centralia which as well as scores of old timers, including Charles had a six bedroom house on it. We were three miles Russell, the famous Montana artist. Theodore W. from the Floyd Curry family- seven boys and three Golden, a member of the Seventh Cavalry, who received girls. Little did Leone and Madonna dream that two of a Congressional Medal of Honor for carrying water those boys would be their husbands! under fire from the Little Horn River up the cliff to Reno 's wou[...]in at- tendance. He was present when the steamer, " Far West" , landed on the Big Horn River and showed Dr. W. A. Russell and me the point of landing. He is the author of several books. The first radio in Hardin wa[...]by E. B. Goldsberry (Goldie) who was then manager of the Hardin Light Plant. He invited some of his friends to the City Hall to demonstrate it. You had to use ear- phones. Goldie received a broadcast from Cuba and thought he was in touch with the world. Since there were no hard-surfaced roads and some people did not have cars, it was a sure sign of spring to see the people walking to the river on[...]that time Elsie and I have driven in every state of the U . S. looking for some place we might like t[...]M r. and M rs. J. C. Elder it all the way. Being a frontier lover, the early days seem to have been[...]Mr. and Mrs. Elder, Glen, Madonna, and Leone a great future and hope that it remains free of pollution, caine to Hardin in a Model T Ford in April, 1925. dissension, or regim[...]stayed in Missouri but later caine to Montana for a[...]school years Leone and Madonna baby-sat with the Labbitt girls, with the salary of thirty-five cents a week, plus our room and board. We had lots of hard[...]bank closed its doors in the fall of 1925. We lived north of Hardin with the McDowells, Goodells, and[...]of those dances at orth Bench School with Roy Riley[...]ELDER AND CURRY FAMILIES with the perpetuating of their tribal customs. B y Leone E[...]urry the official car for a colonel in the 7th Cavalry from We Elders lived in Missouri, near Carrollton. There Texas at the fiftieth anniversary of the Custer battle. were six children in the family , Mother (Miranda Scott Three of the Curry boys-Howard, Lee, and Elder) and Father[...]d Grandfather who Francis-came to Hardin a few months after we did. made his home with us for fifteen years made a happy Lee Curry and Leone Elder were married in October, family. Our Missouri farm had a large orchard of many 1926, and three years later Fr[...] |
| [...]ed. In later years all the Curry family Of the Curry family, the father died in 1936 in but[...]daughter Cora is in Colorado, and two of the family,[...]the restaurant business with my brother, Glen, usually[...]started a garage in Lodge Grass in 1941.[...]I landed in Sheridan, Wyoming, in the spring of[...]a rancher from Birney, Montana. We rode in two[...]months supplies for their ranch. The trip took a day and a half. Ranches nearby were the 0. W. owned by John[...]Taintor, a wealthy New York man. Taintor's plan was[...]to bring in 5,000 head of Mexican steers, keep them for[...]two years, then ship them to Chicago, bringing in a like number from Mexico or Texas.[...]a Cowboy. I wanted to become acquainted with the American Indian. In the fall of 1913 my ambitions were[...]Cattle were turned out to graze on areas of deeded Earl; middle ro w: Leone, J . C. Elder, Madonna, Mother and Reservation land nearby from three or four big Meranda; front ro w: Glen[...]handling of range cattle from Tony Gibbons and Bum[...]Schubert. I also became acquainted with Pat Spotted Wolf as I rode circle with him each day. He told me[...]Late in 1913 I took up a 320 acre homestead on[...]., fence we put around the land. I built a log house on my Madonna E ., Taylor E ., Howard C[...]There was a joke going around that when a man took up a homestead he bet Uncle Sam $50 he wouldn 't[...]Grand Junction, Colorado. In the fall of 1917 I received a notice that I was Madonna and Francis spend their[...]he summers in Hardin. Leone now lives Sheriff of Big Horn County. Many of my cowboy in Hardin.[...] |
| [...]for training for before there was any town of Hardin. He and his wife a month then some of us were sent to Camp Mill, New Durzilla A[...]s, York where we joined the 163 Infantry Regiment of the Addie and Rose. He built a story and a half log house Montana National Guard. We were tr[...]bought land about one and one-half miles west of renamed Leviathan. We were met by British destroy[...]ere large cottonwood trees in the within two days of England. We landed in Liverpool Ewers' yard. safe and sound. From Liverpool we went by train to A neighbor recalls that Mr. Ewers had a well by France to join the First U.S. Division as replacements. the side of the road which had good drinking water (a The First Division fought many hard battles[...]ty in those days), and people usually stopped for a suffered more than 26,000 casualities. After the[...]In addition to other crops, he raised a large garden Montabaur Castle to stay for nine mo[...]getables, eggs, butter, milk and cream to Fort D. A. Russell where we were discharged. to[...]I got employment at Fort MacKenzie. I with her youngest son, Al Gene Smith, at Longmont, add[...]Colorado. acres. In 1945 I returned to live on a ranch I had bought I married Gus Lammers in April 1915 and we lived with a stone house built on it.[...], 1957. October 14, 1960 I married Perry Kitchens of to work hard to keep things going. We liked this kind of Sheridan, Wyoming; he is now retired and we ke[...]mind the hard work. We only kept about busy with a variety of activities. 75 head of cattle on the ranch. During the winter of 1949 and 1950 we were snowbound for 3 months. I lived in Montana for half a century. The hospitality in my country impressed me. Anytime you rode up to a ranch you didn't need an invitation to eat or sta[...]again to the ranchers. When I left, I left behind a golden era.[...]I also remember that when the County was[...]were worried about the slough and the number of By Rose Ewers Kitchens[...]rs - frequently referred to as the right-of-way through his place to the County to "Daddy Ewers" - took up a homestead five miles north make it easier. There was a jog in the road at this point of Hardin, and moved his family there in Marc[...] |
| [...]Since one is prone to retain a more vivid memory of[...]rough spots along the way, I shall try to recount a few of them as space permits, such as: -I shall never[...]forget the winter of '28 and '29 which was not only my[...]below zero weather and the snow-banks from early December to the first of March in our effort to keep the[...]jack's horses and no way of getting any more. We[...]r than I had expected. Ewers homestead, with the well in front I also remember that during the same winter when[...]I had to make a trip from our headquarters on Shoulder[...]truck up the railroad track several A SHEPHERD'S MEMORIES[...]enry Esp the road north of Spear Siding. Since I had to use a I, Henry Esp, moved from Big Timber, Montana, horse on both ends of the trip, it took three days to get to Big Hom County with my wife and two young sons to the ranch. in the spring of 1928. I had been hired by Harvey Cort[...]the time when Donald, my who was in partnership with M. H. Tschirgi of Wyola, older son, and I were bringing a band of sheep home Montana, in the operation of the Antler Sheep Com- from the west side of the Big Horn river. We had pany on the Crow Rese[...]ort camped for the night at the mouth of Beauvais creek, many years, having been associated with him in the and rather than stay in the wagon with the herder who sheep business in Sweet Grass County. I had always was a natural crank, and, at his very worst since he wa[...]not stakey and on the quit, we chose to dig a hole in the have chosen a more suitable place to live with them; snow and roll out our bed. Donald[...]dream that we were destined to morning with a "Happy Birthday, Dad" and later, after spend the greater part of our lives in this wonderful crossing the river on the ice with the sheep, we learned area.[...]ary 5th, 1949, my and provisions for eight bands of sheep with a four- forty-ninth birthday. horse team, from the Antler ranch on the Little Horn to And finally, an excerpt from my little black note- the old Hunter's Cabin on[...]Apr. 22nd (Easter Sunday) one-half of the band of 1750 In the fall of 1928, I took over the job as foreman of ewes under several feet of wet snow. About 525 of them the Antler Sheep Company, an outfit which at[...]t in the sheep business, as well 50,000 head-one of the largest sheep operations in the as in[...]along the way, and I have mentioned but a few of those the same range, an arrangement about which[...]far outnumbered by our many pleasurable vastness of the outfit's holdings. It worked out better[...]and split up into four smaller partnerships, each with its particular block of range. We, as well as the Berlands, the Prantes, and the Myron Lynde families functioned as partners with the Tschirgi family FADD[...]The Faddis and Spear interests have been a part of I sold our sheep and the ranch we had acquired ov[...]bout sheep, had chosen the cattle 1913, with R. M . Faddis, Willis M. Spear, D. B. business as a way of life. He and his family still operate Zimmerman and H. C. Bostwick as the original Board a ranch on the Crow Reservation. of Directors, acquiring the ranches and cattle of Spear[...] |
| [...]Faught, Sr., born in Arkansas. original secretary of the company. During the year, J. As a young man he came to Montana seeking his B. Kendrick became a stockholder and director of the fortune. He met and married my mother,[...]Montana secretary. In 1917, Mr. Zimmerman retired from the and at the age of three, in 1900 her parents moved north company, having sold his interests to Messrs. Faddis & of Hardin. The Fosters built and operated a store and a Spear. In 1918 the company name was changed to post office that used the Foster name. A well known Spear-Faddis Cattle Co. In that same y[...]landmark and building is the Foster Hall north of (Junior) Spear and Philip T. Spear became stockholders Hardin. of the company, and W. B. (Junior) Spear and Mrs. I was born in 1917 in a log cabin on the banks of Faddis were elected to the Board of Directors. During the Big Horn River near Foster. I was the first of seven this period the company was operating exten[...]at Fairview, Sorrel Horse, the Crow Reservation, with thousands of head of cattle Custer, Toluca, Sand creek and Lodge[...]ing cattle prices, and weather Graduating from High School at Lodge Grass in conditions were favorable, until 1919 when a severe 1933, I worked on various ranches[...]until drouth affected the whole area, and prices of cattle 1939. A few happenings in between those dates was a tumbled as herd numbers were forced to be reduced to winter spent in CC camp and a couple of trips to fit the short feed. In that year, many numbers of the Chicago with stock trains. company's cattle were shipped to Texas to winter. One of the toughest times I had was when another While t[...]fellow and I started for California to get a job picking the following spring with very little winter loss. The fruit. Our method of travel was railroad box cars, sort following few years were difficult, and finances became of on the bum. We went without quite a few meals, a serious problem. Profits were an unknown. In 1923 a until we found out about the Salvation Army soup re-organization was had and the new officers of the lines. One time we had been three days without eating. company were elected. The Board of Directors con- I finally got a job cleaning a filling station for fifty sisted of R. M. Faddis, Mrs. Alzora D. Faddis, J. R. cents. I bought a dozen cinnamon rolls and a quart of Porter Kennedy and Callie F. Kennedy. Mr. R. M. milk and I think that was one of my most appreciated Faddis became president, J. R[...]In 1939 I married Myrtle Stimpson, daughter of During that year, the company absorbed the part- Harry and Hazel Stimpson. I got a job on the railroad. nership of Faddis-Spear, with their real properties and We traveled a lot and were saving our money for our livestock,[...]fit. One time we were at Keensburg, Colorado name of the company was changed to Faddis-Kennedy[...]check, we lived on rice and tomatoes. It was a real test During the period following World[...]for my young wife, to fix her working husband a lunch physical range operations of the company in Big Horn out of that. County, Montana, were combined with various other We finally had enoug[...]P. T . Spear, Spear Good Luck creek and buy a team of horses and five milk & Edwards, W. V. Johnson Cattle Co., Burgess & cows. With the help of our three daughters, Hazel, Helvey, and others. W[...]wife a lot of the credit for keeping things going when Looking back from this year of 1975, we enjoy, and hardships came our way. are proud of the friendships of those years of We are in love with our place near Lodge Grass and association, and acquaintances with the many Crow with Montana. We don't plan on leaving and with the Indian people, the large numbers of our employees help of the Good Lord, we expect to be around for (both past and present), the businessmen of the area, several years to come. and our other acquaintances of Big Hom County. Callie and I are proud that we were privileged to have been a part of the community, and that our three children WALTER FELLOWS FAMILY experienced a part of their growing up on the Forty Walter Fellows was the son of George E lbert and Mile, the S. U. Ranch and in B[...]Minnie Fellows. He was born May 13, 1904 in a sod Kennedy is now president and general manager; Mary house in Blaine County, Nebraska. In 1896 as a Kennedy West is vice-president; John P . Kennedy[...]North Platte, Nebraska. He helped to drive a bunch of secretary of our company, as we proudly review these horses from North Platte to Buffalo Bill's ranch at past sixty years of operations and associations in Big Co[...] |
| [...]meday. He came to Hardin in February 1914 to find a train 42 in 1922. He was killed at the crossing south of place for his family to live. My mother and 8 chi[...]Warren. April 14, 1914. Dad met us at the train with a wagon I went to work as a mule skinner for Floyd Warren and hayrack. We moved to a house near the present in 1923. My wages were $60.00 a month with room and Custer Golf Course.[...]were here we attended school at The 6th of November 1924, Mary Wiebert, a neigh- the North Bench. In 1915 the Alfalfa Center School was bor girl from Dunmore and I drove a Model T Ford to built just across the road from the Custer Golf Course. Ballantine, Montana w[...]a month without board. We lived on the Warren farm[...]Nebraska. An epidemic of swine disease forced us out of[...]In 1939 we bought a farm nine miles north of[...]n, Pearl, Samuel, George, Ruby, graduated from High School there. We lived and Walter, Opal, Gam[...]e moved to Dunmore on the present A Note: My mother was one of the first patients in Walter Heitzman place. I went to school at Dunmore the Hardin Hospital with Dr. 0. S. Haverfield as her during the winter months. The fall of 1918, '19, and '20 Doctor. I ran the water wagon for John Young's steam Out of a family of ten children, five are still living. threshing ma[...]Idaho, Hardin and Custer farms. I received $3.00 a day for this Opal in Washington, brother, Jim,[...]n the lives in Billings. Our son Tom is a dentist at Bozeman, winter. James is a rancher at Big Timber and Charles a rancher My two brothers and I worked on a Government at Chouteau. We have 14 grandchildren, and 5 great Irrigation Dit.ch in the summer of 1920 and '21 near St. grandchildren. Xavier. Wages for a team, man and scraper were $5. 98 a day. In 1922 we worked on the Holly Sugar ranch.[...]house. My father and John Young played the fiddle with my sister, Opal, or Mrs. Charles Corkins, seconding at the piano. We well remember the hard winter of 1918 and 1919. My father took a contract to feed a thousand head of cattle. When the cattle arrived, there were three thousand instead of the thousand. We stayed up all night to keep them out of the house. We had 35 tons of hay stacked in the yard. The next morning the 35[...]lies due to the extreme cold. I received 50 cents a head for skinning the dead animals. Back row: Charles Fellows, Thomas Fellows, James In the fall of 1922 my folks moved to Hardin. In Fellows; front row: Margaret Fellows, Mary Fellows, the spring of 1923 they moved to Sheridan, Wyoming.[...] |
| [...]ngsters roller and ice skated terville, Iowa, one of eight children. When he was a went to picture shows, attended country dances with young man, his family moved to Kathleen, Florida,[...]l, St. Xavier chool and inem.ile to Tolsie Owens, a Methodist minister's daughter, on dances a s those were the places large enough to hold the March 8, 1915. Two years later they came to this part of crowds. the country. Dad worked on a ranch near Buffalo, My father[...]go Wyoming, for two years. The ranch was owned by a to pick wild fruit, chokecherries, p[...]grapes. My mother made wine of the berries and A year later dad's folks, three sisters, and one[...]ol in Hardin in the third grade. Crazy Woman, out of Buffalo. Mom and Dad then eva B[...]er found work on the Big Horn Headgates. He built a graduated in 1923. I graduated in 19[...]I married Ed Buchner in 1928. Mr. Buchner was a built numerous houses in the area and kept the tr[...]He cooked at various camps in the county. We had a carpenter. He then bought a lot in Lodge Grass, five children and[...]. Montana, and during the years 1927-1928, built a house After I lost my husband I worke[...]Carl bought another lot in Lodge Grass and built a two- Schuppe ~nd we both worked in the[...]mstress and did My father started a tailor shop in another building. custom sewing to[...]dry cleaning business to my granddaughter raised a huge garden. Dad built another show hall, the[...]leaning hop has been in the Fischbach He received a lot of building work and sold the movie family f[...]use, which later burned to the ground. Among some of the buildings built by him was a big barn on the Porter Kennedy Bar Ranch. It is s[...]THE FIT HF MILY C. Smith was the manager of the ranch then. He now[...]E . Fitch, his wife, Agn , and their children can remember were McKinley Back Bone, Matthew came to homestead in the arpy ar a in th ond Good Luck, Harry Beads and others. decade of the century. Previously, th parent had lived Dad drove a Model A Ford, which kicked every in anada and th Imperial all y of alifomia . Th time he started it. He never drove[...]ing in orth m alifornia and pa in three boys, all of whom are living. through Utah and Idaho. They had with th m two Every Fourth of July we had a family reunion to adopted children, Elwin[...]ay and Independence Day. Mom had taken from an orphanag in Fargo. orth Dakota, always baked a big cake for dad. His family would come and five childr n of their own . and we held the picnic up the Little Horn Canyon at a During th ir fi t winter in th Hard[...]Fitch family mad their home at the brick ard east of Although our folks are gone, we children hold the town. Harlan worked at the yard handicapped by a traditional family reunion on the Fourth of July. We broken leg. also go up to Willo[...]home tead ju t east of th Wolfe school in arpy wh re[...]Harlan "proved up " on his horn t ad. H planted a row of tree , which were hi · prid and joy. Th[...]H F MILY Harlan wa a gifted man of many t.al nl . H made B Daught r e[...]wood carvings depicting c ne from Grimm ' Fairy Our family, consisting of my parents, two Tale and figur for[...]ie, my sister Dorothy, who i ljfe. He was a prolific writer of torie . ays, poems. now Mrs. Dorothy Wolcott, and myself, Cecelia, came and hymns. Many of hi carvings are hou ed in the to Billings from Staples. Minnesota in 1918. My father, Yakima. Washington museum . a tailor by trade, worked in Billings a short time. Of th ven children, only Marian and Elwin In the spring of 1919 we moved to Hardin to remained in the local area for most of their adult year . establi ha dry cleaning and tailor shop next to the old Marian (Mrs. M. . herod of Ryegat . Montana) had Hardin Hotel. Later we moved to the site of the pr sent on hild and wa a ranch homemaker. Elwin had Anthony tore. Again we moved to th site of the become an influential f[...] |
| [...]e College, in preparation for entering worked as a cowboy on various ranches in the Sarpy the ministry. area. During this time he fell in love with the young Elwin and Jean were marri[...]they returned to the Hardin and E. White. Jean, a graduate of Park College in Missouri Sarpy areas to begin his ministry. Elwin ministered in with a degree in education, was teaching for $90.00 a various western and .mid-western states,[...]7), she lived in churches developed because of his pioneer work. The the home of Mrs. Bertha Miller, where she paid $1.00[...]Jean Social life in Sarpy consisted mostly of family taught school. The converted cowboy turned preacher dances which were held at one of the three Sarpy endeared himself t[...]Each Wyoming area. mother brought a cake and each father contributed a Elwin and Jean adopted two sons,[...]for school equipment. The Sidney, and a daughter, Linda, Mrs. Steve Gross. people danced most of the night and left for home In[...]tirement age. The following year ( 1928), at a revival held by the William Morrison family in the Wolfe school, Elwin became a Christian. This event was to determine the FLY future of Elwin and Jean's lives.[...]from Fresno, California. They homesteaded in the Iron[...]Springs area in 1914. Arriving with a team and wagon they claimed a section of land and built a log cabin. This was the beginning for them of a stake in what was later to become a very successful farming operation.[...]From the time they homesteaded they were[...]Fly farmed with the use of horses to plow the sod and[...]trips a year to purchase enough staples to last a year. In the fall, Mr. Fly took a wagon load of grain to the[...]which was their supply of flour and some for breakfast[...]Fly Homestead After his conversion, with Jean's promise to wait When it was time[...]eparted for Los Angeles to bake eight loaves of bread a day, dress six to eight |
| All of the cooking was done over a coal stove. Sarah Fly the community with many social affairs. The Saturday also raised large flocks of turkeys. Because the coyotes night dances were looked forward to with enthusiasm, were so prevalent it was necessary for one of · the with George and Roy Fly and George Secrest providing children to herd the turkeys to keep the coyotes from the music. Other memorable events at the school were getting them when they were out of the pens. Many a the pot luck dinners when families shared their food. turkey from Mrs·. Fly graced the table of people in Home-made ice cream was alway[...]gatherings. Games were enjoyed by everyone with large gardens and did all the canning possible as[...]were made into preserves. Robert was a hard-working farmer and made his Hardships w[...]ed to find the courage to continue some of the neighboring farms and operated a suc- farming.[...]cessful farming operation until he was thrown from his The year 1936 brought drought and grassh[...]moved to Hardin which forced Mr. Fly to sell all of his Hereford cattle in 1960 leaving Roy and[...]brought in 1974. enough money to buy a 1936 Ford car. A slight dif· ference from today's cattle prices! This was also the year the[...]tin cans together to divert the crickets to go in a different direction. The CCC program also helped with the hordes of crickets. They would put miles of metal strips along and they dug pits with a poison mixture in the pits to kill the crickets. This was a success as many crickets were killed this way. In fact these pits of dead crickets left a stench over the land for miles around. However, this was the end of the Mormon cricket droves. One event that wa[...]Mr. and Mrs. R . C. Fly at their Golden Wedding from farm to farm selling their various wares.[...]ng and allowed the farm people to do some trading of their produce. Mrs. Fly would trade cream, eggs,[...]Charles M. Foltz was graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Agriculture and held the rank of Acting Major in the Corps of Cadets.[...]" Carl", married Lena C. Stoddard in Princeton,[...]minated. In 1921, because of the Depression of the 20 's and lack of jobs in the East, Carl and Lena and their[...]Montana where three more children were born. One of the three died at the age of two as the result of a tragic accident during a severe Eastern Montana blizzard.[...]ch 1, 1919 Mr. and Mrs. Foltz moved to Fly family with Thelma and Roy missing. Rob Fly Wyo[...]In 1933, the Foftz's bought ten acres southwest of Social life for Rob and Sarah revolved around Wyola and logs for a house were hauled from Burnt visiting neighbors and attending community[...]ountain. John Aeshback laid up the logs. The last of the Spring Creek school. The country schoo[...] |
| depression made the rearing of ten children a veritable countryside. They were both happy and content in their struggle. Mr. Foltz invested in a truck which he and the retirement. older boys[...]another eighty acres for hay. Carl was very proud of the registered Shorthorn cattle he raised as well as the horses he raised and used to "put up" the many tons of contracted hay. Each summer the Foltz's raised a big garden (as well as chickens) and Lena and the girls canned the year's supply of vegetables. Mr. Foltz watching his shor[...]unday morning services. |
| [...]you missed something. T he mos t enjoyable part, of course, was the guided tour tha t went with it. He'd ring each one, discuss t he tone, and th[...]and had some nice books on the subject. Music was a special enjoyment-he appreciated a good Choir and he drove his horses with jingling bells to t ake the kids around t o sing Christmas carols. He believed in the infinite wort h of the human being and personal human dignity, and s[...]he in- dividual . The family unit was the cemen t of society. A t the family reunion in 1963 he said, " The family is the backbone of t he country." Mrs. Foltz passed away on November 10, 1966[...]Ester Liming and son Ben Foster children host ed a family reunion which was held at the Jim Fellows[...]Valley grew fast; by 1911 the sagebrush was where a group of 85 family member s gathered for grubb[...]were planted. So father several days. The spirit of t he Foltz's and-their strong built a dance hall, and moved the post office and store belief in love of the family lives on t hrough their into t[...]closed the post office because Hardin was on a railroad and big enou gh to supply the needs of the people.[...]The Valley built three schools to take care of the[...]I remember my father building several caskets for[...]finally organized a graveyard. Mr. Jack Corwin[...]was a teen-ager who died with heart trouble and was the[...]dad sold out, (the hall is still standing), and with my THE LIFE I LIVED WHEN A YOUNG GIRL mother, moved to Lodge Grass, and bought a farm By Eldora Foster Turner Seivert[...], landed in the Big Hom raised cattle and a garden. Valley in 1906; he built us a tent house with a board For transportation we used hor[...]dances. and we four girls got there in the spring of 1908, and We sold box lunches to pay for th[...]used when he had to go to town. If one farmer got a anybody else, much, except Indians. When they were piece of machinery we all used it. When they threshed arou[...]m the grain we all helped; sometimes the women folks until they were gone. My father decided to start a little cooked for twenty or more. Household go[...]e first radio in so they got together and started a school which we which we went to bear, rai[...]E. K. Bowman taught the In 1912 a saw mill came in on the Malone place, first year;[...]gen. The where there were fifteen pupils to begin with. We all got lumber was used to build homes and schools. After a along just fine.[...]alfa seed; My grandfather was the freighter from Billings, one of the thresher machines is still down on Bob and al[...]the Big Horn River Young's place, just east of town. near where Custer is now. He had six horses, a good In 1916 I married Marvin Turner, a cowboy. After wagon, and the Indians were[...] |
| [...]late at night. We always used the T. E. Gay store as children, three boys and three girls; all grew to our headquarters on those trips and to have a dime to maturity, but the oldest girl died in childbirth. The spend was a real treat for us kids. others are all living-one[...]ne-half miles to school at the Colorado; another, a brick mason and named for his Fairview Sc[...]orence and I went to Community School, we carried a the oldest boy, Raymond, lives here in Hardin with me; heated iron on the bus in winter to help keep us warm. I the youngest girl and her husband have a cattle ranch believe Bill Luckett was the bu[...]na, and the other daughter, Emma, I remember, also, the occasion when they brought and her hus[...]ry. After my first Henry Luckett's body back from war and he, too, is husband died I moved to Calif[...]r twenty-five years. I moved back to daughter of U.S. Miller, was the first burial there, so it Hardin after his death, and with Raymond, bought my was given the name of Mt. Vera. At that time it was on brother's place[...]A. E. FOWLER FAMILY[...]A. E. Fowler, his wife Ernestine, and son Fred[...]north of Wyola in April 1917. He had been in the area[...]five years, having come west from Columbus, Wisconsin. Fred just home from Bozeman "Ag" College was 16 years old; A. E. was fifty. A brave beginning-moving onto the Reservation with all their possessions in a new wagon, a $400.00 team of matched bay mares, and a saddle horse. They didn't have a fence or building to move to! A tent was set up on the river[...]River in that area. HISTORY OF |
| built house came from the new lumber yard. Later in betterment of their community and were staunch Fred's "Ag" Carpentering Class rounded out his supporters of the church and school; better roads, "know-how"[...]in the Little Horn area, carrying on their owned a car! It was quite a car with leather seats, no heritage of community involvement. Muriel still lives heater[...]it was Production at Montana State and with his wife Joyce, difficult to come by cash enough[...]Fowler place on the Little Horn. men worked away from home with their team during harvest season and cleared their own land during the off season. A grub axe and walking plow shaped their hands and their land. They acquired a buggy and delivered milk in Wyola; went to churc[...]g and dehorning time. One brother visiting from Wisconsin complained he didn't see anything even[...]oys who always expected to have an invitation to a meal topped off with Mother's famous sugar cookies; who sometimes cam[...]fresh meat to trade for fresh cabbage or potatoes-a welcome treat for both parties. There was a[...]and spring. Green ash trees to cut and season for a new wagon tongue, reach or single trees, or fence posts. Trees were felled with a crosscut saw, split with a double-bit axe so it would cure for the summer wo[...]Majestic kitchen range, Coal was mined and hauled from nearby hills to use in the heater for warmth. Water for house use was carried from the river until a well could be dug beside the back door. Little by little things changed as time went by. A gasoline engine was used to saw wood and grind feed grain. A cistern replaced water barrels on a stone boat for laundry water. They obtained a cream separator and shipped cream to the creamery instead of selling milk. Fred Fowler on the stack. winging hay s tack er. Mother saved her pennies and a hen house was built in 1926. Eggs were traded for[...]. Mother, as her neighbors did, canned vegetables from their garden, preserved wild[...]e small an I, Mabel Carroll, came from Iowa, to Billings, ice house was built and filled. Everyone enjoyed cool, Montana, with my parents in the spring of 1906. refreshing milk and a special treat - homemade ice In August of that same year, I filed on a cream.[...]hich was then in Fred and his father bought a few more cows and Yellowstone County), 10 miles north of where Hardin is another team, another pasture, another meadow, a now. permit to graze some cattle on the ational Forest and From September 1, 1906, until a few days before were in business-raising Hereford beef cattle! Christmas, I taught a private school on the Harry In 1935 Fred brought a wife home to the Wyola Drum ranch near[...]e. His (one boy and two girls). It was a wonderful experience, wife, Muriel, is the oldest of ten children of the family of a fine family, and I enjoyed it. Chas. M. Foltz who[...]e, Lena, in 1966. Ralph H. Franklin, from Iowa. We lived in Billings Mr. and Mrs. Fow[...]two granddaughters married in the Wyola remember was hauling ice from the Yellowstone River Community Baptist Church of which they were charter for the city of Billings. He bought a team of hor es, a members with their daughter Clara Fuller. The church wagon and a cow. was organized in 1918 in a Railroad Chapel Car by Rev. May 1, 1907 , we started from Billings to the Petzoldt of Lodge Grass. They were always interested homestead in the Big Hom Valley. We bought a small[...] |
| cook stove, a bed and dresser, a few dishes and cooking Harry Rosemond also had filed on a homestead utensils and loaded it all in the wagon. Ralph put a just north of where Community School is now located. canvas cover over the wagon to protect our things from He came along with us with his team and wagon. the weather. We also put one[...]ock It took us three days to drive from Billings to our hens in the wagon which Ralph 's[...]homestead. We slept in our wagon and cooked a little from Iowa . We tied the cow to the back of the wagon on a fire by the roadside. We brought most of our food and my father walked behind the cow to keep her from ready to eat. Part of the way we followed a road and getting loose and running away. A little Shepherd part of the way there was only a trail or cow path. There puppy I held on my lap a[...]Indian trail along near the river. There was lots of sage[...]A few of our neighbors had come to their[...]homesteads in the fall of 1906. E. K. Bowman, Phil[...]Dowd, Arthur Brown and the Dethelsons were some of[...]with part of the roof gone, which he let us use until we[...]He built it all by himself; oh, of course, I helped a little.[...]from old Fort Custer which was abandoned and most of[...]Each homesteader was required to have a little plowing done that summer of 1907. Ralph plowed a little for a number of old maids and old bachelors. We had a real good garden on our homestead near the river[...]that summer. One of the pests we had that first summer[...]There were also lots of mosquitoes.[...]a 4th of July picnic in 1908, at Nine Mile. U. S. Miller[...]organized a band and had good music for a lot of our get-togethers and meetings. Also in the summer of 1908, a number of men in the valley built a log school[...]Ralph's sister, Blanche Franklin, who came from Iowa and taught that school in 1909. She stayed with us and[...]Franklin Homestead ten miles north of Hardin, 1909[...] |
| Late in the summer of 1908, Ralph and Mrs. A. L. three years later they moved to Upper Sarpy or Sarpy Mitchell organized a Sunday School that met in the log Basin. The Frazers first settled on a half section before school house on Sunday aftern[...]was surveyed and they found out they were in had a minister that came and preached after Sunday the middle of a railroad section and had to move. They school-a Congregational minister until 1914 when the homesteaded on Section 32 and bought Section 33 from Methodist Church was organized in Hardin. Rev.[...]and Bill, and nephew Bill. Their first home was a log afternoon as long as he was in Hardin, which was two cabin that burned with all their possessions. The family years. After th[...]he main ranch house was Our family consisted of four boys and two girls. built-where it still stands. A few hundred yards from The three boys and the oldest girl went to school at the ranch house, a schoolhouse was built for the Nine Mile and Commu[...]younger children and grandchildren. graduated from Hardin High School.[...]to be buried on a hill west of the ranch house. It was thought she died of Diptheria so the family wasn 't[...]means of transportation. The standard wage was $30 or $40 a month. In the winter the "drifters" would work[...]the main diet. One or two trips a year were made to[...]bought 500 or 600 pounds at a time.[...]born at McCook, ebraska , came to Ralph was a good farmer. He raised various crops Hardin with his parents, the Jacob Frie , in 1936. He includi[...]ough high school. We left the farm in March of 1930 and moved to Hardin. Ralph delivered mail and freight to St. Xavier for a few months. After that he was manager of the Sheridan Elevator in Hardin until his death in August of 1936. Our oldest boy passed away in June 1937.[...]in Hardin, at 616 orth Cody Avenue until the fall of 1955, when I sold that place and moved to 520 orth Crow A venue where I still make my home. I like Mo[...]hompson Andrew and Alma Burnell Frazer moved from Missouri to Big Horn County in 1900 with their older children. They firs t settled[...] |
| [...]943 at Wyoming. Allen K. Gibson was the son of Charles the Hardin hospital.[...]By Orajean Blakely Coming from Russia as did many of their con- trymen in the early part of the century, the Jacob Fries family settled first[...]ming to Big Horn County in 1936. They farmed west of Hardin, living in a house that was in the northwest corner of the cross-roads going to Billings and St. Xavier.[...]way in the early 1970's. David and Martha married a sister and brother of the Philipp Schafer family, Minnie and Victor. Li[...]The David Wagners live at Billings; the remainder of the family, Allen F. Gibson, son of Charles Gibson. including the widowed Mr. Fries, moved to Washington state in 1943, where he passed away a few years later. Harry Wagner married a Washington girl, Helen Pope, and lives in the Wapato area of the Yakima Valley, as do the remainder of the Fries family. GRACE SCOFIELD GARR[...]son, born in 1884, was educated in the |
| Her husband, Bob Gil.more, was sheriff of Big The sheriff drove up in front of the fence Hom County when killed in line of duty in Crow surrounding the cabin[...]on the path She died in June 1959, at the age of ninety-nine leading to the cabin. Withou[...]with a 30-30 rifle. The first shot hit Damberger, who[...]a bullet from the negro's rifle hit him in the neck and he[...]with a third shot from the negro's gun. The sheriff[...]who were in the sheriffs car, jumped out just as a bullet ROBERT P. GILMORE[...]and Ralph squatted down behind the car just as a fifth Robert Porter Gil.more was born in Howard shot from the negro's gun punctured a front tire. He County, Missouri, December 17, 1862, being one of 17 then raced to the shelter of the depot and from there children. He was married at Booneville, Mo.[...]Ross that Gilmore was 1899, to Mrs. Ella Pickard. A son, Robert C., born to killed and Damber[...]n two years old. In rapidly and soon scores of men, armed with rifles, left 1902 he moved his family to Tulsa,[...]for the scene. farmed until March 1910 when along with Mr. and Mrs. Special Federal Offic[...]est or to Hardin. When Hardin was incorporated as a city in shoot the murderer. 1911, he was named as police judge, a position he held Joint funeral servi[...]acLeod in the Harriet Theater and final ployed at a local hardware store after which he served rites at the Hardin Fairview Cemetery were conducted as Justice of the Peace and as jailer at the Big Hom by fraternal organizations and delegates from the Crow County jail. Prior to his election as sh[...]regalia, ten Indian chieftains Gil.more had been a deputy for four years under Sheriff conducted a brief ceremony in their native tongue then John M[...]bowed their heads in prayer as their symbol of bravery In the fall of 1926 Sheriff Gilmore was killed in one was placed on each casket,- a tomahawk ! of the most shocking tragedies in the history of Big Hom County lawmen! On Friday, October 2[...]o THE GOOKIN FAMILY IN SARPY BASIN was a candidate on the Democratic ticket for re-[...]Andrew L. Damberger, We moved from the Big Hom Valley in 1916, and accompanied by J.[...]c candidate homesteaded in the corner of the Crow and Cheyenne for representative and Ralp[...]reservation. We had bought some furniture of people candidate for county treasurer, motored to[...]re Gilmore was when we were all down with small-pox. informed that the negro, James Bolin,[...]s would howl around the cabin and cattle arrested a couple of days before on a charge of corrals at night. A cowboy passing thru warned us disturbing the peace and had been given the choice of about 3-Toes, that had killed so many cattle- there was leaving the country by the 28th of October or going to a big bounty for him. The cowboy was setting traps[...]ck. When and we went out to the path from the corral; there were the negro saw the sheriff[...]large as your hand. across the Burlington tracks, a few rods southwest of Another time my Mother was preparing to empty the depot, dismounted from his horse and entered his the dishwater[...]out, and a large rattlesnake crawled into the house a[...] |
| [...]slough near the house. The same slough was a skating took an axe and waited on top of the bed for the snake pond during the winte[...]uilt Our well was 40' deep and we drew water with a a large garage which became a workshop for the boys windlass, but it was very g[...]When the depression hit, all building came to a go and two to return. While returning one winter[...]n gathered in evening there were eleven wolves in a pack just sitting the Graf garage to visit a[...]n seldom went to school every year. My mother was a music teacher in the East, and my Father a teacher so we did not do too badly; they got books from the County Superintendent in Hardin. We would som[...]enjoyed this occasion. THE LIFE OF JOHN GRAF |
| [...]The Life of Ruby Graf Wemple[...]o John and Laura Graf and became the middle child of[...]In the spring of 1917 our family, along with an[...]rain. The tents were our home until a cabin could be[...]house at the East end of 6th street. We all helped nail The Graf Family: b[...]days. We had to carry water from a neighbor a block and half away. We carried a bucket in each hand. The[...]mosquitoes would follow us in clouds and with our Mr. Graf died in September 1972 at the age of 96. hands busy carrying water we would be liter[...]d and Sheridan, both live in Billings; covered with bites. Soon we had a well drilled in our three daughters, Mrs. John Ow[...]n Hardin, Mrs. In September 1919 five of us started to school. Alvin Brown is at Sidney, M[...]28 great grandchildren. The sons The winter of 1919-20 was very cold and we all came and grandsons are carrying on the Graf mason and down with the Small Pox except my father who had it bricklayer trade. when a child. We all recovered with no ill effects but it was a trying time. In 1920 we enlarged our house with a basement[...]d enlarged the kitchen and dining room. There was a[...]In the early spring of 1921 I fell out of the swing at[...]a cast. My father made some crutches out of broom sticks. I missed a month of school. In those days we had to make do with chunk of[...]rub them on the board. We heated flat-irons over a hot stove to iron clothes. It took a lot of ironing for nine[...]We had a good garden and mother canned all the[...]care of the cow we bought to provide butter and milk[...]In 1925 we got a ash touring car with a California top. We all went back to visit for a month at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin that year. We had a grand time. My[...]made a little spending money picking cherries in a larg1[...]row: While I was in High School I helped with th, Julia, Eleanor[...] |
| summer. We fed crews of twenty to thirty men. After Mother had fixed each of us a little sack with a half graduation I worked in the Hardin Bakery then later at stick of gum for Allene and I and a little sugared Ping's Dry Goods Store for $65.00 a month. popcorn. We were as pleased as if it had been a whole I married Rex Wemple in 1934. Work was scarce sack of toys. That was in 1919 when the winter was so and he worked for $75.00 to $100 a month. We had three hard and so many peo[...]mic. children one son, John, who lives in Hardin; a son, Ray living in Denver; a daughter, Judith now Mrs. Robert Schneider, Fort[...]I was born December 14, 1913, nine miles north of Hardin on the old Frank Carson place. Dr. Russel[...]physician and he had to drive the nine miles on a dirt road with a horse and buggy to be with my Mother. My father, Joseph Allen Graham[...]for two years. Since the two had been batching, a cook was most welcome for both of them. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Graham [Francis] with Dorothy, Mother had been a t.elephone operator in Sarcoxie Alene a[...]The years on the homest.ead were tough with no My paternal grandfather, Buck Graham, made his transportation other than a team of horses and a wagon first appearance in Montana from Missouri when he or buggy, so one had to put in enough groceries to last was a young man, shortly aft.er 1876. He came to Miles[...]r and the like were what brothers were freighting with two sets of ox teams from was purchased. Mother canned the vegetables from her Fort Laramie in Wyoming to Fort Custer for t[...]icked wild fruit and canned it. government. I can remember Grandfather telling that There was plenty of coal to be mined from the he left Miles City with only the clothes he wore and a banks of the creeks for heat. The jack rabbits were so pistol on his hip. He was very much afraid of being thick that many a homesteader lost his little stack of attacked by the Indians as the stories in the hay to the rabbits. There were thousands of wild horses newspapers about the Custer massacre were very fresh that at.e all the grass so it was a poor place to raise in every ones' minds. Somewhe[...]e cattle. Father sold the homestead to a sheepman in decided to spend the night without an[...]ek presence might be discovered. About the middle of the where I have been ever since. night h[...]like rifle fire, and he We made the move with teams and wagons. was sure that it was the Indians attacking. The noise Mother drove four head of horses on one wagon with continued through out the night and at day light[...]that it was the ice two wagons, one as a trailer behind the other. I was breaking up in th[...]he time. The George Gibsons an Indian on the rest of his walk to Fort Custer. moved to this country from the dry land at the same We lived down the v[...]efore leaving for the new homestead in the spring of along with the wagons some two hundred miles to 1916. The la[...]d the cattle got sore feet. brother Tillman drove a t.eam and buggy near the town I attended a country school on the Dominic of Edwards on the head of the Big Dry creek. Uncle Stevens ranch[...]man contracted typhoid fever on the trip and died a graduated from Lodge Grass High School in 1932. I short time aft[...]Billings which is now the Big Dry and constructed a half dug-out which was Rocky Mountain Col[...]s born in 1918 while we married and all of us are living on the ranch. were living in the dug-out. Mother was att.ended by a I was elected to the Stat.e Senat.e[...]hat office continuously since that time. I I remember one Christmas out there when the folks might say that it has been a rewarding experience, were poor as was eve[...] |
| has given me an opportunity to know many of them. I remember one day we had to close school because a Times have really changed in my lifetime. I[...]little ones chose to crawl under we were plowing with three head of horses and a one the school house. Charlie Ferguson[...]om and evicted the unwanted callers. 16" plows behind 150 horse power tractors. There[...]County and we drove on to Billings Now there is a combination of good gravel and oil to to be married. We[...]re the change has all been for the best. Clerk of the Court and when he read in~the paper that Now[...]refunded the three have time to enjoy the beauty of the sunrises and dollars, the amount of the unused license. We really sunsets.[...]We are all on the ranch-a family farm. NELLE YVETTE PICKARD GRAHAM The ranch work, even for women has been made I was born June 28, 1918, in Casper Wyoming. My easier with the coming of rural electrification. Running parents are John[...]water, inside bathrooms and bright lights were a attended grade school in Casper and the Salt Cr[...]hool and (automatic) weren't even thought of forty years ago. graduated in 1936, which was t[...]cities to the Mother had graduated. She was one of three members farms. Farm women have all the conveniences of their · of the first graduating class in 1916, so that made[...]; however there is nothing that quite the first of the second generation. I was a charter takes the place of the hoe in the garden, and I see some member of The Order of Rainbow for Girls in Hardin of the City cousins are gardening the back yard. and was installed as Associate Advisor as one of the I've used all the things that p[...]que stores and sales, and I can Among some of the other "firsts" in my family, tell yo[...]st theater in Hardin. Dad and all the rest of the way of life of forty or fifty years also owned one of the first model T Fords, and he ago. I[...]randmother BIOGRAPHY OF Gilmore (paternal Grandmother) had the first ho[...]WM. J.B. GRAHAM in Hardin and also a nursing home. Grandfather[...]n Graham was born in lost his life apprehending a negro who was supposedly Warren, Montana,[...]got his supplies and mail at rugged. Our family of five lived in a two room house Billings, about 75 miles away. The family consisted of that was in no way modem. Water had to be carri[...]1900 when he was 4 years and out. The well was a long way from the house and it old, bis father sold the h[...]Carthage, Missouri, in Jasper County. He bought a lights were little better than candles, and Mot[...]d for six years, again he sold out in cooked on a coal and wood range. She cooked a mighty Missouri and moved back to Montana, landing near the tasty meal for many a threshing crew on that stove. old homest[...]nd horses and it left the clothes she washed on a wash board, and moved to the Crow Reservation, locating five miles yellow, so she took most of her laundry to Hardin to north of Crow Agency. Hardin at this time was just wash at Grandmothers. What a boon detergents would starting to prosper. Most of the trading the family did have been![...]awhile they The winters were bitterly cold with temperatures would travel by team and wago[...]walk across the railroad After graduation from high school, I attended bridge into Har[...]ncy and about five miles below the present site of Yellowtail Custer during his years. In 191[...]een pupils and all eight grades, fed north of Hardin and leased a fann. His father leased them lunch, did my own[...]my own and farmed several different farms from Hardin to fires all for the big wage of sixty-five dollars a month. Custer until 1916, when he moved to a homestead near Of course there was a little out for teacher's retirement. Jor[...] |
| [...]1910. They moved by wagon from Ucross, Wyoming.[...]They trailed their cattle from Ucross to Lodge Grass. The winter of 1910 was a severe one, the snow was so deep a lot of cattle were lost. The Grahams and[...]was then 20 years old, and he took made a trip back to Missouri to buy machinery, food squ[...]near his father 's homestead, filing on and clothing. We had to haul coal and everything from them when he turned 21. It was there that he met[...]ember 12, Kansas City. My father had a brother near Kansas City 1919, in Jordan, Montan[...]hinery that was until 1920. Their first home was a dugout and a sod hut not available in Lodge Grass and ship it to Montana. with a boxcar roof. For fuel they would go out and pull tana. up sagebrush. They spent one of the hardest winters Graham and McGredy raised a lot of grain, cattle there. They would have to make a tunnel through the and hogs. We also had a coal mine on the ranch, all of snow to get out of the house. In 1920 they moved to the ne[...]e days the wolves and coyotes were bad to spring of 1921. They then moved back on the Big Horn kill cattle and hogs. Ben Rhinehart and Lee Hollis did a near Custer, Montana. Their first home at Custer lot of trappi~ of the animals and kept them cleaned out burned down. Mrs. Graham went to a shelf at night to pretty well. find the Bible, lighting a match to find it. She didn't get School for the children on Owl creek was a problem the match put out, and it started a fire, which burned the first year, so the[...]ild the school they would furnish the moved into a granary, which served as their dwelling.[...]forcing children, Verle Heit and Eric Kerts, a boy from Ger- him to reseed spring wheat. That summer was[...]thing the wheat was good for was All of the neighbors would get together and go hay. That fall he was holding a lantern for another man sleigh riding, youn[...]dances at the school house and enjoyed them very with gas. The fumes started a fire, and he threw the much. container i[...]Miller Corporation now own the ranch That started a fire and he went in to tramp it out and we did own. was caught on fire himself. He had a leather jacket on Mr. McGredy passe[...]es off he My father died in 1950 at the age of 87. My mother died was burnt awful bad. The other fellow tried to talk him in 1964 at the age of 86. Harry Graham works at the into stay ing, but[...]fore he Sutherlin , Oregon. Florence is a beautician in Lo~ passed out. A big part of his body was burned. He Angeles, Gle[...]the hospital at Hardin. He healed years with the State Hi-way Department. the burns by using w[...]Y y ounges t child was born there which gave them a By Joyce Gray Buckingham family of four girls and one boy. In 1929 the family[...]West Pass Creek, leasing Depot in March of 1914 when she was about nine yean a farm from some Crow Indians. old. She came with her parents and brothers on the In 1941 Mr. Graham purchased a place near train from Woodstock, Illinois. When they arrived ir Wyola, Montana, on the South side of the Little Horn this new country[...] |
| buildings and a cistern, and all manner of things to member of the board of directors of the Big Horn make their home. Alma attended the s[...]hool years. She boarded out in served as a director of the Federal Land Bank. Hardin to go to High School, as it was too far to travel Earl died in May of 1955 on his farm that he loved back and forth everyday. She graduated from Hardin so well. That same fall Alma sold[...]e bought the Eleanor Starina house. She lived and from then on taught in various schools at Red[...]y and Three children are still living from this family. Hardin. They are: A son, Earl, who is an Electrical Engineer My[...]eld, and lives at Victorville, California. A daughter, Marian MO in 1901. As a small child, he and his family came is marr[...]at Sheridan, through this area (before there was a town of Hardin) in Wyoming. Another daughter, Joyce, is married to a covered wagon on their way to a homestead in the Calvin Buckingham and li[...]Earl Gray farmed in the St. Xavier community with brother Bill and dad Noel. Later the partnership[...]y where they farmed for years. Later, they bought a farm a few miles south of Hardin, and Carl Gross remained there for the rest of their married lives. They were active in com[...]Both Alma and Earl were area, then moved with his parents to Wyola, early in Sunday School teac[...]1910 or 1911. He farmed and raised horses for a time, Groups for the Baptist Church. Alma returne[...]. school at Eastern Montana College and graduated with Carl married Lucille Rath in 1924, and they made a Degree. She taught at St. Xavier for several years , their home west of Wyola on the north side of the Little then came to Hardin to teach until she[...]Horn river. Carl had one daughter, Carlene, by a former before she died.[...]ntil failing health caused Carl to decide to did, of the local beet factory for years . He was a retire. They sold their cattle and[...] |
| [...]lanned spending nearly grown young men and women who had never their summers in Sheridan and the winters in California attended school before, so a school was badly needed. or traveling.[...]Chris built the first house on the farm south of Carl's daughter lives in Billings, Montana. She and Wyola, and lived there a number of years. Later, the her husband, Melvin Loomis, hav[...]place was to become known as the Spear Brothers of whom are married.[...]n the 1920's. After In April 1962, Carl died of a heart attack in that it became the Hager[...]then California, Mrs. Gross is presently residing with a niece his son Everett. It is now owned by Howar[...]man. Chris later built another house S. W. of Wyola[...]The family of two sons, Carl and Frank, two[...]before the family moved from Wyoming, so she never[...]in Sheridan and went on to be a nurse and teacher, so[...]Mrs. Gross lived for a while on the farm but then[...]sold it and went to live with her daughter Edna. She[...]CHRIS GROSS the summer of that year in Alaska working at a fish Before coming to live in the southern M[...]family and farmed Montana territory. Thus, he had a good working the same place where we presently make our home at knowledge of this western country before he came here Wy[...]liffe (born 1866) in 1889 they made their home on a ranch on Twin Creek, S. W. of Parkman, Wyoming where all their five children we[...]esent Wyola area and to farm it. He broke up much of the farm land in the immediate vicinity of Wyola and there he raised grain and hay. When he[...]ental in getting the first school here. He, along with Mr. Harry Thompson and Mr. Ollie Graham of Owl Creek, were the first school board and were a[...]t. They had the first school building built, a one room brick on land that housed the later addi[...]it became needed and that served until 1929, when a second brick building of two rooms with indoor plumbing and a basement were built nearby. Before the famil[...]there would be enough students so they could get a school . Frank had attended Wyoming schools, both on Twin creek and in Sheridan before coming here. Some of the first students were[...] |
| [...]could see was a level plain of snow with hardly a tree in[...]four of us went to country school, Washington Hall. By[...]rode horses or drove to school in a buggy. The first summer here, we lived in a new granary[...]being built. We hauled water in barrels on a skid pulled by a horse. We moved into our house the last of October of[...]oss, Wyola postmistress for many years a shed behind a small store on what is now W. 1st.[...]many changes during the By 1921, a new school was built which is still being years.[...]used. Our sister Edith passed away that Spring, a have been good years and drouth, depression and good victim of diptheria. The seventh through the twelfth times. It has been a challenge, but we have come this grades we[...]on our end as we were at the end of the route. Later We began with the barest of necessities in two Evan drove the bus. The[...]dried out and struggled to school by now. with the Depression, but it has all worked out even- Our recreation was mostly riding with the neighbor tually. As long as one had faith, he[...]On summer nights we had great fun playing a game educated, grew up, married and have their own homes. called Run, Sheep Run. Often we had a range of our We are comfortable in our small modern home i[...]close to three miles. eigh- country where we have a beautiful view, clean air, and bor children took part in our fun. all the good things of God's great country to enjoy. There was open range then and we, along with our[...]was the fun time of the day.[...]days. Our meat was home butchered, some of it was[...]January 22, 1899. He is the oldest of eight children. His first two year of school were experienced in Erle Gross on[...]in this new surrounding at Valley City. A. 0. GUSTAFSON AND FAMILY After this first year, the family moved to a place By Mildred G. Holland ten miles south of Beach, orth Dakota. Oscar's Our fat[...]in 1912 and bought parents then filed on a homestead located twenty miles two sections of land at an Indian land sale. He stayed at north of Beach. This was in the year 1912. While living a hotel in Toluca, 13 miles west of Hardin. At that time in this area, Oscar went[...]ol. which is located five and one-half miles west of Hardin. The teacher had to ride horseback ten[...]17. Father came ahead on was Bessie Bridges. a freight train with his horses and cows. He met our Altho[...]ly remained on this homestead, train in Hardin in a bob-sled, taking us to a rented Oscar changed schools and entered the school in Arvid, house about two miles southwest of Hardin. All we North Dakota. Mis[...] |
| school. The town of Arvid was made up of a building "buck" for help to put up the tipi he had bought and that was a combination store, post office, dance hall, was told in no unc[...]"squaws" work. When he reached the age of seventeen, Oscar went After a few months chopping wood, in 1894 to work on various ranches in Montana. He performed Hammett got a job with the Custer Cattle Company regular ranch work and[...]rican Railway ran more than 25000 cattle from which Hammett would Express. This was during the year 1919. He was em- help cut 450 head a month to feed the militia and the ployed as a guard on a value wagon. This wagon Indians. The price at that time was 4 1/2 cents a pound. carried money and valuable packages from the railroad In 1896 still working for the Custer Cattle Com- depot to the banks of Butte. pany, Hammett met up with a band of Canadian He met Fay Elizabeth Shibley in 19[...]ht forearm and the bullet lodged in his shoulder. A 1924. Oscar was 25 years old at that time and his bride friend used a shirt tail to staunch the wound, and it was 20. They rented a small ranch near Wibaux in 1924 worked so well Hammett has never had the slug and were hit by quite a few dry years. They couldn't removed. make a living on this ranch so they trailed a bunch of For 50 years he never missed a day from cow horses to Big Horn County in 1927.[...]ammett worked for large outfits like the Flying E of worked for E. L. Dana, of Parkman, Wyoming. The old B. K. Hysham, running 40000 head of cattle; Smith Dana ranch is now owned by the Gill Cattle Company. Brothers of Hardin, one of the first large steer outfits In the fall of 1927, Oscar and his wife, with their operating on the "Ceded Strip"; the Quart[...]moved to Little Horn Valley. They went L. of Mack Daniels; the Dana Cattle Company on the to w[...]and Crow Reservation; the Antler Ranch of Matt Tschirgi continued working for this ranch fo[...]Lodge Grass. made their home near Wyola most of the time. They did In 1958, he was fea[...]t Parkman, Wyoming, working on Post as "83 and still cowpunching". the John Booz ranch.[...], 1920, in In the year 1935 they bought one of the Spear Casper, Wyoming. Mrs. Hammett died in December of ranches. At the time they bought this ranch, there were 1973. five children in the family. All of the children are now The Hammetts have two sons, John Hammett, Jr. married and only one of these children, a son, Everett, of Lodge Grass and Lee Hammett of Sheridan, together with his family live in the Wyola area. Wyoming; four daughters Mrs. Olive Sargent of Burke, Oscar is now retired, although he does go out some South Dakota, Mrs. Roberta Williams of Lodge Grass, of the time and works on the ranch. For vacations, he Montana, Mrs. Alice Stevens of Worland, Wyoming visits his other children who are living in several dif- and Mrs. Ina Bell Snyder of Sierra Vista, Arizona; ferent states. One lives i[...]fishing, and hunting. He also gets enjoyment out of trapping mink, beaver, muskrats, and bobcats.[...]Big Horn County, Montana from 1921-1932 and JOHN E. HAMMETT - COWBOY[...]nty, My first recollections are of a beautiful little city, Texas, May 28, 1875, retired as a cowpuncher at the age Fayetteville, Arkansas nestled in the heart of the Ozark of 86. He began punching cows on his father's ranch[...]Amanda Lillian and In 1893, at age 18 years of age, he worked as a Frank Elwood Taber. Two sisters and two brothers cowboy trailing 5000 cattle from Del Rio, Texas to the older than I and one sister younger. Six in all. Canadian line and told of never seeing a fence, except The house where we lived was a typical but greatly around little homesteads here[...]romantic and haunted. paid by the amount of wood he cut. The kitchen was separate from the house but He remembers there were 350 soldiers at Fort connected with a breezeway, which in that locality was Custer. The[...]structed in 1877 to keep peace designated as a "Dog Trot" . The lot on which the house among the[...]een ex- was built consisted probably of three or four acres, a terminated the Grow Indians had made the transition small part of which was heavily wooded. There were from hunters to successful farmers . They provided the[...]o my hay and grain for Fort Custer. Hammett asked a great joy, near the house a huge chestnut tree under[...] |
| which we had our play houses and a swing. There were Damned Yankee" consisted of two separate words until wild flowers in the wood[...]we moved to Kansas. vegetable garden, and perhaps a half dozen fruit trees. Then the day dawned when my father went out of Fresh vegetables from the garden in summer and business and the[...]dried, in great quantities, apple butter made out of for children to adjust to a new place. The children at doors in a huge iron kettle and stirred with long han· school made all kinds of fun at my accent, called it dled spoons, (incidently the peelings from the apples "Nigger Talk" but the girl who s[...]he juice cooked down helped me is still one of my closest friends. to a thick consistency and canned and used to make[...]as was supposed to be very poor in jelly and jams with the fruit which contained not education[...]days), which meant I finished high school a year younger than cornbread and biscuits, black e[...]eas"), sorghum molasses, the University of Kansas at Lawrence and from then I and navy beans with plenty of pork (cheaper than beef) taught school in nine months and went on to college in made a varied and pretty well balanced diet. Home the summers. I have credits from some five different made wine was served on very[...]ions. colleges. Soap was made in a larger kettle than the one for My firs[...]y, Kansas. I The laundry, also, was done out of doors. First the had contracted ague in Oklaho[...]doctor white clothes and bedding, etc., were 'rub-a-dubbed' on suggested that I go to a high altitude. So in 1916 I came a wash board, then put to boil in this huge iron kettle. to Montana to the village of Rosebud (300) souls and Then the colored clothes[...]d- two bathtubs in the town. I loved Montana from that then both were rinsed and hung out to dry. first minute in spite of the 60 degree below freezing we We could not afford hired help as a rule, and to had that first year. cook in a kitchen separate from the house was too I could write a book on those three years at much, so a small kitchen made from a big pantry next Rosebud, the First World W[...]the state I believe the only heat we had was from fireplaces and all happy ones. When the Superintendent at and a small cook stove and much food was cooked over[...]me to go along as assistant principal of the High Our next door neighbor ,;c1.1 a Senator Dinsmore, a School. I started at 60.00 per month in Rosebud and typical gentleman of the Old South, who had lost a made $100.00 per month in Lavina. At the end of three fortune in the war between the states (Civi[...]regon and I did not want to never mentioned). One of his ex-slaves lived in a cottage leave and was flattered to be offered t[...]year. "Addie". She was lonely and there never was a kinder I shall always be so glad I came to Hardin, for of soul. She adored us children and we returned her[...]s and tried her best to teaching in Hardin was a great pleasure. o town could make Southern Ladies out of the girls. Coming home give greater support to the teachers than did the town from school it was a little nearer to take the path of Hardin. We became a part of the social and com- through the Dinsmore place an[...]eekends in nice weather, Addie did help my mother with canning and especially at near by ranches, Tschirgi' , enator Kendrick 's with laundry. How did my mother ever do all that Ranch, where John Turner was manager, Heinrich work? A big house to keep clean, food to preserve, sew[...]ble and flower gardens, Hardin was one of the first to have regular music scrub us and get[...]ind Finn and Tom Sawyer, the Alger books. We were a finer young people and so many have m[...]ch in our wonderful success in life. love as a family.[...]or the Boys in Flathead. When the parents of a town are 100% with Blue. Decoration Day was celebrated on two different the school, how happy a community can be. days but the hatchet was[...] |
| [...]house was too small. The school was equipped with double seats. Often there were three in a seat. Sixty or[...]there are more than twenty-five pupils to a teacher they[...]have changed. My first job as a teacher was principal of[...]the teachers under me got $27.50 a month. I graduated from college in 1912. My first teaching[...]there to establish a High School. There were twenty[...]students and two teachers to begin with. I was in Mt.[...]I was then elected principal of the Huntley Project[...]Arkansas. At Camp Pike I earned a commission as[...]all ready to go and most of us on the way when the[...]I then began to look for a new teaching position. I Faye and Ge[...]lots of places open, but suggested that I take Ekalaka. HISTORY OF GEORGE M. HARRIS She said they wanted to establish a County High[...]in Uniontown, Pa., October 22, 1886. it is a long story, too long to put on paper. I did enjoy[...]in the Then I came to Hardin as principal of the high family. I was number six. school. This was an ideal set up, a nice building, an The house where I was born was an old house, two enthusiastic group of teachers and fine students. Mr. S. stories, frame[...]n he left Hardin the house too small for so large a family, and an ad- to go to Winnetka, I bec[...]x years, through the worst depression We had a large garden with all the vegetables that of this country. grow in Pennsylvania. I remember the rows of stone During my last year as principal of the high school, jars in the cellar, where the fr[...]aching, so the Board elected ning time, the juice from the fruit was carefully set another for her place. aside and was made into wine. I remember very well a I resigned from Hardin in 1932. We moved to wine incident. My bro[...]I, and I were Billings where I was connected with a finance company. sent to the cellar to sprout potatoes. A neighbor I did not like that work and after a year in Billings, we dropped in to see us. We were working by the light of moved to Flathead Lake from which place I worked an old farm lantern. The chimney was all smoked up with the National Land Bank of Spokane, Washington and the lantern did not give[...]I was then elected as Superintendent of Schools at potatoes by that light" and my brother[...]Thompson Falls, where I worked until 1940, when a shot of the elderberry wine and you don't need a because of a very bad heart attack I had to give up light."[...] |
| [...]his cattle business. This he built up with no backing April, 1869-0ctober,[...]except bank loans. Memories of Carolyn Reynolds Riebeth My father became agent of the Crows in 1902. He Here are remarks made November 2, 1928, by the heard of "Frank Henry," who had been chief witness Reverend I. L. Cory, a[...]the "Spiked Pumpkin" plot to Montana when it was a territory, three years before it steal I. D. cattle. My father first met him during the was made a state. The Northern Pacific Railroad had capture of another thief. Getting better acquainted with only recently been built, and there was no Burlington .. young Heinrich, he recognized him as a superior sort, . .It is not often that a lad starts riding when 16 years and brought him home . old and sticks with it persistently for 43 years, reaching For our good portrait of him, we owe two old the eminence Frank Heinrich attained. There must ladies. One was the sister of Mr. Bostwick, president of have been some quality hidden away in his brain and the Stockyards National Bank, Omaha, with whom Mr. heart, of great value. It is not an accident that a 16- Heinrich was visiting New York. These tw[...]his job until he reaches the . to go walking with them. They walked him right to the top." renowned Campbell Studio. Later, a framed print hung[...]in the First National Bank. When it consolidated with[...]to let them throw it out on the trash heap, " said he. Mr. Heinrich's opinion of Sam : "Probably the finest roper[...]who ever came to the Northwest."[...]remembers trains of Antler cattle going to market- " Once a week from September to November, often 35 cars." We have a snapshot of over 400 steers and 28[...]including our cousin but minus little sister, on a pack he came first to bring some bulls from his father's Iowa trip through the Big Horns, his summer range. After a farm to a Reservation stockman, John Booze. He told week, we came out along the east wall of Big Hom of breaking horses: "They'd pile me, too." Thirty years Canyon-rather scary. How many t[...]wed that trail alone. personal string were models of co-operation. Though The winter 1919-20 was a disaster. Mr. Bostwick's daring horsemanship wasn't a constant thing, we bank came promptl[...]equal to it. paying it back for the rest of his life. Then illness The late '90's found[...]m, something he hadn't figured on coping He spent a winter in an abandoned shack, where he with in a chronic state. He had lived through infection, discovered a a copy of the Story of an African Fann and smallpox, and serious in[...]different-diabetes. ow came the closing of the First adventures. The worst was when he and a friend, falling National. Mr. Heinrich, larg[...]president and asked for an audit. floating under a sagging bridge of suspended ice. They But within 14 months, t[...]pened. He had lay flat, listening to the scraping of the prow against covered the frozen assets with his notes for 100,000. A ice. Frank couldn't swim. Hurrying to join the Klondike letter from Mr. Humphries and Mr. Vickers of the rush, he developed blood poisoning in an arm,[...]ay to Seattle by freighter, he was extremely ill. Of and unselfish act stands out in this community[...]er who saved his life, he'd say act of one man in thousands." He had also paid the regretfully, "I didn't even[...]tock and several thousand on do something for him." Back in Montana, he started note[...] |
| [...]ig Horn County, was its first I had the honor of being named a member of the representative to the Legislature, and its l[...]en I have taxpayer. Herbert Hoover, as Secretary of Commerce, enjoyed travelling and helping i[...]discuss cattlemen's without the demands of strenuous activitity. problems. The article, with photograph, from the Washington Post, is preserved in our father'[...]In early 1900 my father, A. L. Hindman, decided to[...]leave Kansas and move to Oregon. He had been ill with[...]moved farther north. Father outfitted a covered wagon[...]family camped at the junction of the Big and Little[...]Goose Creeks while father worked as a carpenter. After[...]Peritsa, Montana. Here Father was given a job with the[...]brother Jim, was a telegraph operator and brother Dick[...]law Mr. and Mrs. A. A. Lewis, lived in Toluca. For the[...]about sixty miles, so a neighbor woman came to help[...]caretaker at the time was a black man.[...]The two older brothers attended school with In-[...]were still to be found on the site of Custer's battle. My[...]brothers and some Indian boys got hold of a small cannon from there. They would pack the barrel full of almost anything they could-pieces of metal, rocks, Frank Heinrich on the r[...]nails, and shoot it off. One day they shot a hole in the[...]ted ebraska, until coming to Montana. Graduated from school and the boys finished theirs. Boy[...]ed to be done. He died in 1933 and the management of the ranch, in general was on my shoulders. I[...]anizations, but politics was the main attraction. Women were recognized as precinct committeewomen in the 30 's-a real step forward. I was the Republican committeewoman from Big Horn County 1932. 1932-36 I was President of the Montana General Federation of Women's Clubs, but party politics remained my chief interest. From 1940-64 Amos and Laura Helve[...] |
| Later we moved to a homestead east of Sheridan. I am not one that wants to g[...]days. whom I married on December 9, 1920. From there we shuttled back and forth between the two[...]no winter feed for the livestock and farmed a couple of years. but the chickens and the turkeys did well on such a high In 1934 we had no crop at all. In the fall of 1934 protein diet of bugs. There was nothing else to do but August, his Dad and some of his brothers came to buy feed so my husband and F[...]yed at the Davis place. The In the spring of 1935 we left North Dakota and springs froze solid[...]snow all 1938 we came to Hardin and found a place to live and winter for our water. I melted[...]ol, raising sugar beets. We lived selves but, for a few hogs and the chickens, too. three miles north-east of Hardin. An interesting thing happened that winter of 1936 and 1937 which I shall never forget. We had a battery radio and to be sure to get important thi[...]which was called Hobby Lobby. One day the master of ceremonies had a black woman on who practiced Voodoo and as he clo[...]the knob to 'off' and at the same time there was a knock on the door. The snow was so deep and no tr[...]e by car as far as he could and then had borrowed a horse to ride the rest of the way. He had followed the ridge back of the house to miss the drifts.[...]Virginia Carstensen of Boise, Idaho; Arlene, Mrs. Clyde R. Miller of Chinook, Montana and Larry, who[...]married Dorothy Seder of Laurel, Montana. We are members of the Open Bible Church. We[...]as a teacher in the United States Indian Service. Thus[...]ived at Poplar for Helvey Ranch south of Kirby twenty one years. When[...]oked at the coal outcroppings I lived from 1931-1942 in Hardin and taught in the and said someday they will find a use for it. Today they High School. Two Indian boys I particularly have and an oil and a coal lease make it interesting. remember are Johnny Buffalo and Barney (Junior) Old[...] |
| [...]Mrs. George Holmes let anyone leave hungry, so I learned quickly how to[...]would run out of food, but we never did! Of course, we The Rancholme ranch, now called Rancholme had milk cows, chickens and a garden from which I Cattle company, is located seven miles east of the learned to can vegetables. We rais[...]heat Decker Post Office in the southeast corner of Big Horn which we exchanged at the flourin[...]no George Holmes, who bought one thousand acres from bakeries to run to, so everything was[...]r. George first came to the United States from During our first year of marriage, we only went to England in 1903, at the age of fifteen. He worked for an Sheridan twice for[...]winter, but he did not My first letter from England asked how many like the severe cold, so[...]yed to work on ranches in the back to a day school used for church. It was across surrou[...]amily, sailed to Spain, around the across on a swinging bridge, which I hated! Although coast of Africa, then across the Atlantic to Argentina we did not attend a proper church, I always felt we were where he co[...]many money to travel back to Montana. He took up a cowboys who were always gentlemen and I felt their homestead site east of Deer Creek, but when the United religion w[...]we obtained the Calvert well. He and I met just a few days before he was once Correspondenc[...]onded for five first eight grades. This was a job in itself, but it had to years before I decided to accept his proposal of be done along with the house work, cooking, washing, marriage.[...]and ironing. Sometimes I had a person work for me for I sailed from England in August, 1923, to New a few days, but mostly I did it alone with help from York City where George was waiting for me. We we[...]dren and any hired men we may have at married by a minister in the home of friends I had met that time. We had a chore man who worked for $40.00 a aboard ship. Two days later we boarded a train for the month, plus room and board. W[...]ying and shipping seasons, so there were driving a Model T car, met us at the depot and brought[...]hours and discipline at all times! When it spent a few days gathering supplies to take to our own[...]is one hundred miles away. My new home was a two story frame house. This The[...]n the West were log! Many years later, we did add a with temperatures dropping to 50 degrees below zero fo[...]ky I was to have the off the south side of the house! We spent many nights conveniences we h[...]heaters and coal ranges going water, but did have a bathroom with a tub that could be so the place wouldn't freeze up. That year we sold cows drained through a hole in the floor. Our coal stove had a to the Government for $20.00 a head and their calves water tank attached to it. We filled it with a bucket, with them because we had no feed to winter them. from the top, then used a faucet near the bottom to Many ranchers had to quit because of those years. We obtain hot water! We had carbide lights, but woe betide stayed, with the help of the bank, but it took ten years when the plant ra[...]nd I never I have loved ranch life with its ups and downs, but did learn to make a good fire! I would smother it, then I would[...]have lived in Sheridan since the death of my husband in had a telephone line between our ranch and the Shreve[...]Bookkeeping is a "must" to keep up with the Rancholme was a "stopping place" for travelers regulations of County, State and Federal Governments. going to or coming from Sheridan. Cars were scarce, so Nothing is[...]back. We must have progress. Fifty-two years of ranch[...] |
| living, from team and wagon, to men walking on the About 1917 or 18 the family bought its first car, a moon, is indeed a very good time to have lived! Model[...], to make way for the Tongue River HISTORY OF EDGAR FRANCIS HULTS Reser[...]over the ranch. The Edgar Frances Hults, one of the early residents of Hults family moved to the Lodge Grass area[...]s born in Missouri. Early in life he spring of 1938. The two sons, Irwin and Maurice stayed and another teenager ran away from home after trouble in partnership, with their father Ed operating a ranch with a school teacher. Upon leaving the Missouri area,[...]n freight trains finally coming to was mostly a cattle, hay and grain operation on deeded Sherida[...]ors and friends, when he was working for with the Stevens family. In the spring of 1949 the Hults the 76 Ranch north of the Big Horn River in the family decided to buy a larger ranch on Swamp Creek at Musselshell area a[...]any years. These camps were operating on the head of Tongue After two years on Swamp[...]the sold and the Hults family moved to a small ranch at canyon in wooden flumes to Dayton,[...]land for a year-around operation in one location. The[...]partnership, E. F. Hults & Sons, then bought a ranch at[...]and selling it in the spring of 1955. Then returning to[...]head of Corral Creek. This ranch, located in the Wolf[...]Mountains, was used mostly as summer pasture with[...]December of 1969, the Givens ranch was sold to a neighbor, with all operations then located on Lodge[...]the Stimpson family in December 1971 with the two Around the turn of the century, Ed's family, the J. sons, Irwin[...]Robert J . Miller ranch the same day. miles west of Sheridan on Soldier Creek. The family Here the operation continues as the Hults Brothers consisted of the parents, one brother, and three sisters. Ranch, located thirteen miles from the town on Lodge Ed and his brother Clarenc[...]s Creek. the Tongue River, seven miles down river from Decker, Montana. Clarence and Ed operated these ranches as a partnership for several years before dissolving and operating individually. Ed and Jessie Irwin, a school MABEL TUCKER H NTINGTO te[...]By Mabel Huntington Decker a few months later. Ed and Jessie were the[...]orn at Ashland, Montana on June 17, 1900, parents of two sons, Irwin and Maurice, and two the daughter of Robert E . Lee Tucker and Helena daughters, Marga[...]born in Fort Morgan, went through grade school in a local country school at Nebraska, son of John S . Tucker and Frances Evans Deer Creek and[...]who was Helena Lynch Sheridan only once or twice a year. This was a thirty- daughter of Pvt. Hugh Lynch. She was born in Ireland• mile[...]ovanaugh. Her family , father , mother, Most of the food was raised in the home garden , girls and one boy came to the U. S. in 1881. Their Uncle with the meat grown on the ranch. Lights were[...]gerator was an ice box cooled by put them on a farm south of Lame Deer. They lived ice cut from the river in winter and stored in the cell[...] |
| [...]until Joe Egan purchased it. My mother told lots of he drove them to and from the show. I don't know or Indian stories; I wish I could remember them. She remember what he charged, but it was a winter to grew up there and married my Dad, Lee Tucker, in remember. That was the year they slaughtered the 1893 on November 5th. They lived on a ranch 9 miles sheep and hogs. Nobody cou[...]ls and 3 boys. One girl died in infancy, the rest of us That spring we lost our little boy Clinton. Arthur lived to a good life so far. Sister Val died in 1972. got a job through Cliff Randall, and Helen and I got[...]ing School. The the measles. I nearly died from them. We were out at school is still standing and was used for a school for Maxim place at Kirby. In the fall we came back to town more than 60 years. It is now a community building. and got a place to live so we could get Helen back into We went to school in all kinds of weather and we walked school. We had Velda the next year and two years later most of the time, taking our lunch pails. You should[...]have seen our sandwiches, they were frozen white with managed, somehow, to get the kids all thro[...]d times and bad when growing up but I guess most of it was good because I know I had lots of fun. I finished school in Powder River County. It[...]er 1918. During World War I and the big Epidemic of flu in 1918 I was in training. The war ended November 11, 1918 and that was a great time for us all. In 1921 I took my State N[...]sed until 1923. I married Arthur Huntington, son of Ebinezeer and Elizabeth Richards Huntington on May 10, 1923. We lived on the home place of his folks. His father had passed on and his moth[...], Helen, Arthur, Mabel; bank closed and took all of our money. That winter front: Carol and[...]d cows and we made butter-we sold about 15 pounds a week. With this we bought our Arthur pas[...]ake it any longer. I think it made better men and women and those things I went to work at[...]y died in infancy. Helen married Chet Rogers, son of I visit my children once a year and enjoy all of my Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Rogers. Velda married Robert grandchildren and one great-grandson. Haug, son of Lucy and the late Fred Haug. Carol I remember the Indians coming to our house for married Mel Hurley from Colorado and Bryan married food, but my folks always made them earn what they Carlean Conover from Boise, Idaho. got. I d[...]rdin in September 1934, Indian woman jobs of washing or scrubbing a floor. during the depression. Arthur had a car repair shop in The buck, as he was called then, chopped wood. Mother back of the Old Peden BuiJding. He took in alJ kinds of wouJd give them a bucket of milk, loaf of bread, coffee, jobs in regards to repair work. He[...]y were happy then, as they Billings and had taken a mechanic course. It sure came didn't have[...]then. We felt sorry for them. rented a little house from 0. E . Anderson, in back of One of Mother's cousins was killed by the Indians Mrs. Strand. Anyway we had quite a time. I canned over by Lame Deer. He had come out here for his health lots of fruit and vegetables that summer and Arthur and was staying with some relatives. He was out took in outside money[...]s found out about it and the turkeys, geese, part of a pig, a quarter of a lamb, eggs, Indians showed where he was burie[...]e didn 't go to any shows either. We didn 't have a Indians in those days , if they were your fr[...]ves for company. be trusted . They did have a hard life, but so did my Arthur worked until 11 P.M . He also ran a Taxi for folks . The old Indians[...] |
| [...]same even gait. It was getting dark and she had a few miles yet to go. Finally, reaching the end of the divide[...]THEHUTTONS the ""'.olf stopped following her, lifted his head high[...]the arr and filled the lonesome night with his weird cry. Joel W. Hutton was born in J[...]il 1854 when where she was to spend the night with some relatives. he moved to LaCrosse, Wisconsin and worked in the When she told them of her experience the foreman lumber business.[...]The next day when he discovered the dead wolf in a trap Iowa. Irene Cooley was born in LaCrosse in[...]to Montana in 1886. Their home and received a good price for it, for th.is was the last of was a three roomed log house. Their water was from a the timberwolves. well and they heated it on a stove which burned wood as At this time[...]creech owls, coyotes, weasels, snakes and heaters with green wood. The wood was mainly pine, bo[...]she went out to gather the eggs. She the stove in a wash boiler and a wash tub was used for waited until her eyes became accustomed to the dim the bath which was taken once a week There was an light. Just then as s[...]y comfortable in the search for some eggs a Blue Racer snake slithered out of winter time. Everyone enjoyed life. Entertainment[...]songs, and going outside she stepped over a stone by her cabin and they had dances in the winter with their conveyance went about her business. When she returned a rat· sleighs and horses. In summer they had pic[...]upon the stone which she had not The winter of 1886 they stayed in Spearfish, noticed before. She ran to the shed and got a rake and South Dakota. They located on the Rosebud in Custer an ax. With these she killed the deadly snake. County. Joel H[...]One evening while bringing in a cow and her calf, sawmill on South Thompson Creek[...]ther noticed two bright, glassy eyes to build the store he had on the Rosebud. He also was staring at her. She told her husband, and while she Postmaster of the Hutton Post Office. The carrier was sto[...]nt to the cabin and got his Otis Shreve who drove a one horse cart. He drove from gun. He returned and killed the animal. It was a bobcat Sheridan one day and back the next day. Th[...]at measured five feet long. delivered three times a week. Prairie[...]They left in 1897 for Carbon County and lived on a was very beautiful and quiet until the cowboys made a ranch until the summer of 1909 when they moved to. change when they rode in during a roundup in the Hardin and ran a feed store just south of Jessie (Clark) spring and fall. Rowland. His so[...]he says she wouldn't trade her wagons and brought a few chickens and a few cows, and experiences and the inconveniences she endured for all I suppose maybe a pig or two. the luxu[...]e area around 1910-1964. The THE LIFE OF AN OLD-TIMER experiences wr[...]THE TORREY JOHN ON FAMILY She came from the east and was used to all modem[...]te conveniences. She arrived in Montana and lived a the Spear O Ranch on Corral Creek withi[...]ny times she had to chop wood and boundary of the Crow Reservation near Kirby. haul water from the spring. A[...], was married to The only transportation was a cow pony. Often she Willis B. "Junior" Spear,[...], and it would ride twenty miles or more to visit a near by was during her summer visits to t[...]her future husband. Adrienne's father On one of these trips she had just entered a coulee Dr. R. E . Henderson was a practicing physician in and traveled up on the divide when she saw a lone, Washington, D. C. between the two W[...]val Aviation in World War I in the Canal far away from habitation. Greatly frightened, she knew Zone and again as a Naval Flight Surgeon in World she didn't d[...] |
| Adrienne, an only child, was graduated from the along with the growing family. Being 50 miles from University of Maryland in January of 1940 and she and Hardin and 50 miles from Sheridan, with no electric Torrey were married on March 28 of that year in welder and no telephone, Torrey flew a lot in the 40's Hyattsville, Md. They made thei[...]e neighboring ran- Creek about 1 1/2 miles east of the X4 ranch where chers; taking bro[...]or repairs, Torrey was raised. They started out with 24 cows and beating the tire and gas shortage during the war and of calves, 19 brood mares and 30 saddle horses and course keeping track of livestock and also flying range combined this with summer dude business in order to and[...]Most of his early flying was done in a 65 horse-powered Spaced approximately two[...]2 place Luscombe 8-E, but Torrey is now flying a 1955 children, Sandra, Robin, Jocelyn (Jolly),[...]d has 150 horse-power, Tempe came along to make a family unit that func- much better f[...]round the mountains, still tioned in all phases of the ranch work until all had their flying fir[...]r- boying. Torrey was elected President of the Montana suits. Sandra and her husband Gene Peabody from Flying Farmers and Ranchers Associ[...]go on Corral Creek in 1967. a Constitutional Convention Delegate in 1972, In the spring of 1943 the J ohnsons purchased 320 representing District #I-Big Horn, Powder River and acres from Uncle Junior and moved their belongings to Carter. the forks of Little Corral Creek and Big Corral Creek,[...]es above the Main Spear O Ranch. from the Junior Spears and with the help of Sandra and Besides a work team, Torrey had a 1929 Model A Gene Peabody and their three children, Gina 10, Kelly Ford pickup without a top to use in pulling a wagon 12, and Wendy 5, they manage to do most of he riding, hay-rack piled high with all sorts of plunder while fencing and other work[...]hay-stacking tractor. cattle business from here on. No more dudes, mainly[...]er, William V. Johnson, was born in because help of the kind needed was impossible to get N[...]6, 1870. He prospected and cooked as on account of the War.[...]near Buffalo in the 1890's. He never carried a gun Reservation into units. making it impossible to allow against a man during the Sheep and Cattle War, but the bunches of wild horses to run free anymore as they d[...]ad not seeing them behind trees or under the brow of a hill. two bands of sheep at this time and so was unpopular The Reservation Pool Outfit was comprised of several with the cattlemen! cattle ranches furnishing men, horses, and equipment Since he played a mandolin, he carried it with him to at least three Round-Up Wagon units, each with at while wooing Jessamine Spear, daughter of Willis M. least 10 men, 100 horses, cook, wrangle[...]hey hawk. Each Pool Wagon went about the business of ranched, both cattle and sheep, in Sheridan and taking care of the combined ranchers cattle on the[...]r calves and shipping the beef as Ranch from Mert Sullivan and moved their family to they were[...]tana area. Torrey was 11 months old at Some of the wild horses were large enough to make this time, being the fifth of seven children. work horses and became very serviceable but were "William V." as most people knew him, ran 3000 never quite com[...]cows on the X4 in the Wolf Mountains, and had a Crow with anything they were hitched to if not watched[...]k Creeks, and summer closely. They sure scattered a grain binder all over the mountain range in[...]Bull Elk divide place one careless day at the X4 with Dave Whaley areas to run fifteen bands of sheep. At one time he had driving![...]fifty-two thousand breeding ewes. After the crash of Torrey attended the University of Montana in 1929 he formed a partnership with Matt Tschirgi on the Missoula and the University of Chicago in the middle Antler Ranch on the Little Hom, but he had to retire 1930's. He paid part of his expenses by entertaining from this merger in 1934 due to a heart condition and private groups by singing wes[...]poor health. guitar accompaniment. Also a five minute spot on week Jessamine Spear Johnson was a photographic nights in the Warner Bros. Theatre in Oak Park, Ill. at artist and accumulated thousands of photographs of 9 P.M . cattle on the ranges, mountains and canyons of the Big He started a small Dude ranch on Dry Creek in Horns taken on many pack trips which she organized 1939 on a piece of land contract-purchased from his for the interests of vacationing "dudes". Also, being a parents and got most of the guests from Chicago. good friend of the Cheyennes and Crows, she has a long After moving to the Spear-O Ranch on Corral pictorial history of many Indians including some who Creek he had more room to expand the herd of cows were at the Custer Battl[...] |
| of school held in the infancy of that flourishing little[...]city. This was in 1907. For a period of some 12 or 13[...]years I taught there at irregular intervals, part of the time regularly employed, much of the time doing substitute work. In the fall of 1909 I was asked by the County Superintendent of Yellowstone County to act as a member of the Teachers' Examining Board, which I[...]did until the formation of Big Horn County in 1913."[...]was editor of the Hardin Herald which later merged with the Tribune. "[...]"Life is so fine if we make it so." A KITCHE BOUQUET[...]"She was a good cook, as cooks go, and, as cooks[...]indeed, others quite contrariwise, but some of the best,[...]prefer to think of myself as rather a good cook)-maybe[...]A brief sampler of our neighborhood cooks around |
| [...][ART] transportation was with horses or walking until about By T[...]in winter. Medicine County, Minnesota. He moved with his I worked for a mail contractor hauling mail with a family to Aitkin County when he was a young boy. horse for $1.00 per day for[...]d wagon to their new home where there was a bad forest fire in our area and it looked like his father started a general store. we were going to be burne[...]o years old, to McCone At the age of 21 a neighbor boy and I bought a County, Montana to prove up on a homestead. new Ford car and heade[...]e 1915. We landed in Circle, Montana after a week on the homestead, they returned to Minnesota to take over road. This trip was in the spring of the year; and we got the general store. A son, Raymond, was born in 1921, along pretty[...]North Dakota and another son, Donald in 1924. The store burned in where we found no graveled roads,[...]left town fairly early, but at Chevrolet business with his brother Jens. noon we could[...]to the nearest farm and have the farmer come with a moved back to Minnesota, and again started a general team and pull us out. This happened several times. We store. After two years they came back to Hardin, and to[...]sold out his in- We had to cross the river on a ferry. When we got to terest in the garage and wa[...]The river was treasurer. Then he served the State of Montana as an so high that we could not for[...]eral years. car on a flat car and wait until the local freight train[...]Billings, Montana; car there. These are some of the reasons it took a week Raymond of Great Falls; Donald was killed by kid- to go from Minneapolis to Circle, Montana. nappers in Septem[...]959 mt was married to Edith also as a carpenter and helped build several houses Kalberg[...]that he there. I also filed for, and got a homestead about 25 retired: they old their home in Hardin, and moved to miles west of Circle. While living in Circle I met my Me a, Arizona. Also, they built a summer home in future wife and we were[...]ovember Minnesota, close to where he had lived as a child. He 1917 and moved to the homestead.[...]Minnesota and is buried some cattle and a number of horses, but in the fall of there.[...]out to be very 11 three children graduated from Hardin High severe. It lasted until the next April and we lost half of chool. Both boys served in the Air Force during[...]spring we had two calves left, so we gave them to a[...]where I worked as a carpenter for some time and later[...]lived in Billings, our daughter Yvonne nesota, on a farm on February 1 , 1 94, one of a family was born, in January, 1921. She is now Mrs. Reg of nine children. t the age of 10 my folks sold the farm Davies and lives in Chinook, Montana. I continued and moved to a new location in an area which was ju t work[...]February 1925, when we being settled. This was in a timbered country in the moved to Hardin and started the Chevrolet Agency north central part of Minne ota . Dad built a large, two here. While living here I got involved in a number of tory building with living room, kitchen and dining community[...]the room in the rear and the General Merchandise store in school Board, City Council and as City M[...]the Hardin Volunteer Fire Department and served a floor. This was in 1904 and we had no refrigeration, so total of 20 years, five as fire chief. I also joined the in s ummer lother would roast large pieces of meat Masonic Lodge here and in 1934 join[...]ed course at the High School and had charge of the and the roasting was finished. In this area there was a Defense School at the start of World War II. We great deal of wild life so we used a lot of veni on, trained men for defense work such[...]acksmiths. etc. Our winters were quite cold with a lot of snow. We About 1940 I sold the garage business to Graham- kept several cows and also a few hogs and chickens. Our Staunton and went i[...]tment business. In schools were the one-room type with only one teacher. 1942 I received orders from Fort Douglas, Utah, to At first there were[...]es until the church was built. Our Oregon, as a technical advisor for the War Department.[...] |
| Here the 96th Army Division was to go in training. A must have been, trying to milk those cows in a forty year later we had the 70th Army Division fo[...]de, explored the country, went Washington to work with the Army Engineers. In 1942 swimming in[...]family were close friends; whenever either set of pointed Ordnance Officer there and we closed the[...]ed and returned home. stayed with the children of the absent ones. In 1933 we adopted a girl less than a year old, There was no Catholic chu[...]rved the first two seemed like going to a different world. years as President. Later I helped organize the Big We had a lot of rough times, but many good and Horn County Senior[...]rly nice children-one an R. N. and the other a radio homes here and after my wife passed away in 1965 I announcer, with families of their own and good jobs. sold the last one and moved into one of my rental units. Mom passed away in 1960 and Dad in 1972. These are some of the high lights of my 60 years in God has been good t[...]EY, JR. FAMILY My father, Andrew Kallen, and a brother came to The E. L. Kelley family moved to Montana from the United States in 1910 from Holland. They and Independence, Missouri because of Mr. Kelley 's health. another Holland friend home[...]r the Snowy He had been superintendent of schools at Lamoni, Mountains, close to Hedgesvill[...]Iowa. Mrs. Kelley's father, Lester J. Barr, had a at Helena where Dad met and married my mother,[...]ecided to come, in Dorothy Kessels. She also came from Holland but they 1907, and apply for one,[...]ily had loaded him up In 1916 Dad worked for a big wheat farmer at with canned fruit, making his suitcases very heavy. He Toluca. In 1918 he went to farming for himself on a thought he could get off at Fort Custer, but the train small farm just south of Hardin, where, in 1918, I was did not stop until it reached Toluca, so he had to spend born. From there we moved to different rented farms[...]next day. Those were the so-called "good old days " There were five children born to my parents: Euge[...]. L. was forced to it up all night and watch John of Spokane, Washington, Ted at Hysham,[...]d four hundred dollars in his Montana, and myself of the old family home. pocket and[...]e watched the poker game got tough and one of the men had been several deaths due to a diphtheria epidemic. was shot and killed.[...]at- home in Whitman oulee. Th y lived in a cabin tention while checking our hearing-he was D[...]built. E. L. got a job a a clerk in the First ational In the years we lived on this place there were Bank of Hardin, bought a horse and rode back and several springs when we h[...]quite an experience fast Dad began moving us out with a wagon and team, in real living. There was a pring, and all water had to but om was baking bre[...]hot stove, and when they had company bedding and clothing loaded the horses had to swim , made extra mattresses out of gunny sacks tuffed with pulling the wagon with us all on it, for a short distance. straw. ( r. Dyvig was the only man around with wheat We stayed at the teacherage for a week. Dad had to feed straw) . Dorothy, aged 2, was forever falling in a cactus and milk his cows every day and though the[...]ld , they insisted on going had to fetch a ladder and go down after her a the through the water to their barn. After going through spring was fashioned like a small well. the water a few times they decided to stay in the field. Mrs. Kelley reminisces about two early day Dad had a pretty good-sized dairy herd, so you can see events : " The weather was pretty cold the fir t it wasn't the fun we kids thought it was. What a job it Christmas. I heated bricks bef[...] |
| [...]and the men hunted up beer kegs on which to build a platform. Mrs. Peck was in charge of the program. My husband was looking after the chi[...]my seat. The people kept applauding and I thought of a piece I could use as an encore. I asked my husban[...]he didn't, and I guess she really stole the show." "The Fourth of July celebration was nine miles down the Valley.[...]ken them. W. E. Warren There was to be a program, and I had promised to give a couple of readings. They fixed a sort of platform on a The Hardin State Bank was sold in 1922 a[...]ey helped form the Big Hom County Bank. This milk."[...]terwards, the Bank was moved from its small quarters[...]resigned from the Bank in 1935 to pursue his own businesses of farming, Insurance and Real Estate.[...]When Mr. Fearis decided to start a fund to establish a library (later to become a Carnegie Library) Mrs. E. L. Kelley Ed Kelley believed in the future of Hardin and was |
| Mrs. Kelley baked all kinds of good things-rolls, angel for pupils who coul[...]ad pretty red-bound slates, but no slate pencils; a box She was known to be an excellent cook and always sold of lead pencils, but no paper; one box of chalk, but no everything she brought to town to h[...]erasers. How would you begin? I often try to remember civic projects, especially the library.[...]mbers on the board, Missoula. Edmund III lives on a ranch near Crow and tried to do likewise with a wet finger on their slates. Agency, Kathryn (Mrs. Ed Buzzetti) lives in Missoula, In a few weeks supplies came and we were happy. I as d[...]ordered all the pretty primers and books with pictures, Wilkinson) lives in Springfield, Oregon[...]I taught them poems and songs. I remember Gaskill) in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.[...]discovered they sang "Land of the Pilgrim's pie". I wish I had kept a record of the many funny mistakes,[...]school February 12th and Lincoln's [This is a copy of a paper read by Mrs. John Keogh birthday always meant a special party for the school. In before the M.E.A. meeting at St. Xavier on October 1, March we had our first visit from a Supervisor, who 1941. Mrs. Keogh is a pioneer teacher, coming here considered our school unique in the service and com- from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in January 1903.J plimented us on the work we had done so far. In June of The Crow Agency Government Boarding School that year we had smallpox, twenty-three of the children began about 1883, a year after the Agency was moved in school were broken out, and when I called the at- from near Livingston. The Pryor Mission school at tention of the Doctor and Matron to the fact, they Pryor was[...]rantine the school. It was my first Xavier was in a log house north of the Mission school in contact with the disease, and added to my dismay was 1913 or 1[...]e had sixty pupils enrolled, forty-five in school a.m., after encountering blizzards and being all day; half of the older ones being on some detail. I snowbound[...]hrough to Chicago, to find had an hour with the children every evening except the school children playing on the grounds with no Saturday and Sunday. coats or sweaters. We had a zealous group of employees and a fine The school house was a frame building in which superintendent.[...]one building, over 200 children attended classes with five teachers, dormitories for the boys and girls, and pleasant rooms one a kindergarten teacher. I was to take charge of the for the employees. Our rooms were free, but we paid our intermediate grades, boys and girls from twelve to board, employing a cook; the regular school cook was fifteen years of age. The pupils who attended in the permitted to do the employee's cooking in a mall morning were detailed to the sewing room, ki[...]hool if she so desired. We were located two miles from laundry, bake house, and other work in the afternoon, the Post Office and store, and one mile from the station. and the morning detail came to schoo[...]ool one-half day saw my first pupils advance from grade to grade and only.[...]ved to hear After three weeks I was offered a transfer to the stories, and our everung i11[...]elves read or told the about sixty children, most of whom had never been to stories were very enjoyable. school; five, three boys and two girls, had had a year or The Government Boarding schools on the two of school and could speak a little English. The Re ervation were abolished a number of years ago a pupils ranged in age from six to sixteen, and except for the Indians w[...]nrolled under schools. their father's name, with a Christian first name, if there You may be interested in some facts about the first was a baptismal record of such a name; if not, the schools established in what is now known as Big Horn employees had a happy time giving the name of a County. The fir t public cbool was at Fort Custer, relative to a Crow boy or girl. After they were named, wh[...]arn to say their school was for the children of officers and oldiers own name and the names of others. "I am tella Turns quartered at t[...]s Daniel The Other Blackbird ; she is Lily of the Fort, facing the parade grounds. It was part of Rides Pretty; this is Jacob Stands on the Bull", etc. the building used as a chapel, partitioned off from the There were many amusing mistakes, especially[...]l, located about twenty-eight miles equipment was a box of third and fourth and fifth grade north of what is now Hardin, was started by an read[...] |
| It was for Indian pupils, and as there was a large en- Another experience to try the patience of a woman campment of Indians in that part of the valley, there managing a farm and three children was the project of must have been many pupils. The girls were taught raising and butchering annually, a flock of 130 or more sewing, rug-making, and fancy work. Part of the turkeys for a Butte concern. building was still standing a few years ago, and the site The family finally moved to Hardin to make their should have a marker. It was a well-known landmark in home about 1923. The[...]Mrs. Kifer has always been interested in the from Toledo, Ohio in 1884, and who had schools at history and growth of Hardin and Big Horn County, Miles City, Ashland,[...]'s near Helena. and is an active member of the B.H.Co. Hist. Society.[...]membership in the Pioneers of Eastern Montana and MRS. JOHN KIFER the Sons and Daughters of Pioneers. Her family were Alma Kifer (Mrs.[...]latin Valley where she was born in Valley not far from Bozeman, Montana, the daughter of 1890 and spent her childhood. Alma was Hard[...]Hardin Hotel. County including Ladies Circle of UCC, Big Horn Co. The next morning they were met by her stepfather with Hospital Auxiliary, and has served a number of offices a wagon and team and taken to their new home near at the local, district and state level of O.E.S. ine Mile School. She remembers the town of Hardin as Mrs. Kifer has two daughters,[...]s. having board walks and hitching posts in front of Hillard Miller) and Jennie (Mrs. Russel[...]ldings. The one car she saw came speeding of whom live in Billings. Her present home is in dow[...]er hour, Meadow Lark Apartments. leaving a trail of dust behind and frightening teams as well as pedestrians. Of the few buildings on main street, she remembers[...]Frank Kincaid was born on June 2, 1886 in a farm the same location as in 1908. John Kifer owned a home in Grundy County, Missouri, the son of Harvey furniture business, and going with her mother to the and Fanny (Darling) Kincaid, the second child in a store to buy furnishings for their new home, she met family of nine. He attended schools in Trenton and took the young manager who was to become her husband in a course at the Trenton Business College. 1910. Whi[...], no doubt, In Trenton, Frank was a clerk in the men's arranged some of the dances along with Bill and Ed department of a dry goods store, and worked as a street Hoerr as a way of "courtin" Alma. She loved to car conductor in Kansas City, Missouri. He told of men dance. Many of these dances were held in the old riding to the end of the line with a keg of beer or barrel Lammers Building and "even in winter" they were well of whiskey, getting off and kicking the keg or barrel so attended with young people arriving from Crow Agency it would roll across the state[...]ad friends who met them at the river if then a dry state. they had come in a wagon. The building was often cold In[...]ontana and worked at and hallways were piled high with overcoats! the Trident Cement Pla[...]le to shipping points near Manhattan. At times he of land. Later, when Mr. Kifer accepted a position as travelled with the cattle to Kansas City, Omaha, and Big Horn Co[...]rothers near the land "to hold down the homestead," coming to Belgrade. During the winter of 1907. Frank and his Hardin to live during the winter with John and the father were initiated into[...]nding- often discouraging At the age of twenty-three, Frank, a single man, years. Mr . Kifer recalls the 1918 grasshopper scourge came to Hardin, Montana, with the Hugh Beck and Bill when most of their crops were destroyed. Then there Eb[...]09 and homesteaded eight was the very real threat of rattlesnakes on the miles northwest of Hardin. drylands, - they often came down to the home grounds He built a one room shack to live in while he hauled in the valleys. Also, there was the hazard connected logs from Pine Ridge to build a log house. In 1917 he with the very common prairie sod-roof. Mrs. Kifer lived in a lean-to attached to a garage while the present recalls a wind and rain storm taking off half of the roof house and barn were built. Frank was always proud of on their house. She had just taken pies from the oven his house. When his sister, Lucille, stayed with him he and quote," My stovepipe was gone, and my pies were told her that if she got one speck of grease on the full of water-pies that were intended for the county[...]r the hills. commissioners who were to stop by on a road inspection Lucille taught at Alfalfa Center and orth Bench trip the next day." Schools and stayed with the Danielson and Pike[...] |
| families. She later married C. L. Royce, a civil engineer working on the proposed Big Horn C[...]t plow land to prove up, Frank did custom plowing with horses and a walking plow. For seventeen seasons he and Frank Brummell threshed grain from Hardin West Bench to the Big Horn Ranch near St.[...]parator was sometimes pulled by his favorite team of horses, Ned and Ted, through muddy fields. Meals were often served outside under shade made from tree limbs and leaves stretched over wire. Since corn was grown on the farm in Missouri, it was one of Frank's favorite foods Frank Kincaid in his first car, a 1917 Dodge Touring and when asked what he wanted to eat, he often said Car. "corn". Once a wash boiler of corn was set on the table. Frank later bought a McCormick-Deering Combine and Frank was a bachelor until August 20, 1940 when cut grain for[...]g Ed Kopac. he married Anna Stanerson of Cohagen, Montana. A[...]One of the really fun things in life has been to recall[...]happenings-not just because they " happened" but Frank Kincaid and half of a team they are in such contrast with so many things I now know and do. Once a lady asked Frank to thresh beans; he said My folks, the Wort Family, moved from Missouri he could not do this without cracking th[...]e Bitterroot Valley, near Hamilton, in the spring of not have proper attachments. She insisted and was[...]t same fall , dad came to Hardin to "look unhappy with her smashed beans. around." Another time a spark from the separator caused a When he found a couple of likely looking farms, straw stack to burn down. Y[...]k met the my Mother and I came. (I don 't remember wh re my wife of the man who owned the straw stack in a hard- sister Helen was.) Mother and I started to walk to one ware store purchasing a broom. She chased Frank location and we walked for mile along what was then down the street with the broom, yelling "You burned the Bair R[...]ding. Along the way, a young man with a ingle-horse Frank often talked about the rat[...]d you and around residences. In one instance when a family and your Mother like a lift? " To his dying day, I wa returned from taking their snakebitten daughter to the "Willy" to Ed Hoerr, who farmed north of Hardin. doctor, they found a rattlesnake curled up in the house. When[...]the They packed and left. Another time a lady put her hat Redding house from Hardin. on the bed and when she wanted to put it on, a snake The r frigerator is another in[...]to do so. Once while walking through deep snow to a Horn Ri er wher it touch t . lairs' land . I ' a dance in town, he tore his trousers climbing over a fence funny thing too, I've since known that ri[...]When my mother started carrying mail north of women in the Hardin area say Frank taught them to[...]s carried by hor e Frank's first tractor was a Fordson; in 1927 he and buggy for a year and half. The now got pretty deep bought a Model D. John Deere with steel wheels which at time , but Mother said he never had to wade snow he used until he purchased a Model A John Deere in to put the mail in Fred Ta[...]often than not, a hot drink wa offered to her.[...] |
| [...]a freight engine, helped build some cabins, worked[...]Hardin, Montana. There was a good spring of water[...]for improving his land. A tornado came through the[...]He had to build another house a short distance from the[...]raising wheat entirely. Fergusons owned a threshing machine and did most of the neighborhood wheat[...]planted. In 1918 he bought a Model T Ford car. He met In those days when[...]rnoon meeting in the orth Valley, there was a mens' Edna Grace Brown, a Kansas teacher, and they were quartet-we thought[...]Charles Wort. Rev. Meeke once told them, they had a 17, 1919 Mrs. Kingston saw her first C[...]to Logan's good Whitman Coulee, selling wheat was a matter of hauling tying it didn't break". it by 4-horse team into Hardin, and it was a long day's We finally arrived at the[...]called it '' My Little Gray Home in the West." log church-Baptist-built, and some years later, the That year we bought a Fordson tractor and kept log parsonage next to it. Uriel also filled the pulpit for a one team of horses. The winter of 1919 and 1920 it was time, and dedicated the chur[...]ught the Finlayson school In the early '20's a group of Baptist young people, for we needed the money. accompanied by Rev. elson and his wife, attended a youth meeting in Helena. A rainy spell almost brought During the spring of 1922 our daughter Bette the whole thing to a halt, but when the sun came out Lorene[...], bank failures and one fall know that we were in a low spot, but found out during after the[...]t broke. the night when it rained again. Just out of Bozeman, we Later cattle and hogs sold for so little it was like giving found a few miles of pavement, but even with that them away. break it was suppert[...]the neighbors Broadwater Hotel in Helena-two days from Hardin to during those homestead year[...]and had one year at the University of Washington. She Logan Kingston of Moline, Kansas heard of the worked for Boeing in 1942 and returned to Hardin in fabulous living in the West from his relatives from 1945. Sheridan, Wyoming who were visit[...]l three baptized in the In 1907 Logan bought a ticket to go to Sheridan, Baptist Church[...]We helped to Wyoming by train. He had to lay over a short time build the log Baptist Church in Hardin that is being in Kansas City. He bought a watch in Kansas City. used at presen[...]he had to stay over another Robert Torske of Hardin. We moved to a small acreage night and day. His money was running low. The next near Mount Aqua about 30 miles from Billings on the day he found his ticket in his wa[...]d. Our health failed so we moved into in Sheridan with one thin dime in his pocket.[...] |
| [...]her. I have lived in Big Horn County most of the time Mother was an excellent markswoman with a gun and from November 1918 to August 1933, on a farm near would often bring home a rabbit, grouse or sage hen for Decker on the Tongue River. The first month of my life a meal. was spent on a ranch near Birney (Rosebud County)[...]ld saw many Big Horn County on another ranch for a few months blocks of ice from the frozen river, at least 1 1/2 to 2 feet moving from there to one of the coal mining camp~ in thickness, an[...]he youngest)-until 1934 about two trips a year to Sheridan to buy supplies like when another boy arrived -a surprise and joy to coffee, flour, s[...]foods we raised and preserved at home. lived in a log house which my father built, having cut[...]ought them on baking day, she usually cooked a pot of beans and m out of the hills ready for building. Since I was only that was always such a treat with hot bread and home- two at the time, I must rely[...]the river so we visited often; it was always such a before Christmas 1920, and we had a Christmas tree, joy when I was allowed t[...]yone's delight. Very few presents were a few ~ays-Grandmothers always have lots of goodies exchanged at our house for Christmas or f[...]dinners-Grandmother would begin at least a month family always participated in decorating th[...]dvance preparing fruit cakes, pies, Christmas Eve with all home-made decorations- etc. Mother had a treadle sewing machine and made strings of popcorn, apples and oranges tied on with dresses and petticoats for the girls an[...]ather string, and Mother's little baskets cut out of paper were and my brother. Our shoes and other necessities were filled with candy and nuts. All through childhood, we obtained by mail order. We girls wore overalls a lot of only had candy and nuts during the holidays. In l[...]neighbors on the tree but had to be very careful of fire. and the music was always suppl[...]Father played the old "squeeze-box" accordion, a riding horses; Father nearly always had a team of neigh~or played the fiddle, someone picked a guitar, mules, and many times we rode them to school. Father sometimes we even had a piano-not big band music let me have my own pony (I called her Cricket), but I but everyone had a good time. All the furniture would had to sell h[...]es around midnite and then eggs we could use most of the time. We always had the dancing would continue until the wee hour of the garden in the summer, and, since Mother was so morning. We leased and lived on a neighboring farm for resourceful, we ate canned vegetables during the a few years during my childhood and we had a big red winter. We children helped gather the vegetables-up barn with a hayloft where we had dances also. at ~awn while i[...]Our one-room schoolhou e was two and a lialf miles strmg and snap the beans, or cut corn off the cob-we from home and we had to cross the river. We would ride[...]o I had to ride behind ~hrough the winter. We had a food cellar which was dug the saddle with someone- ometime on mule m the ground and had a roof covered with dirt so that it sometimes we would dri':e a team and buggy or led: would keep cool during the[...]and we even walked at tune . When we drove a team buried in sand, and the potatoes placed in a bin, in the and sled, my brother always at th[...]ns and squash were children would ride with us and we had a wonderful also placed in the cellar until used, along with shelves time. The sled was filled with hay or straw and stacked with Mother's jars of vegetables, pickles, fruit , Mother's warm quil[...]ndred or more quart jars. We unheard of then to clo e school for bad weather. fter gather[...]my sisters finished grade school, Father bought a r.i.., for syrup, jam and pies-quite often the en[...]y brother rode hor eback and pulled me would pack a picnic lunch and spend the day. Apples o[...]t when we went over the neighbor's feed lot apple a day.[...]was quite bumpy. Our meat consisted mainly of beef, pork and There was a footbridge across the river by the chickens, all[...]on and mutton, usually given to us by out of paper, drop them into the water from the bridge neighbors-none ofus were very partial[...]Our and watch them sail until they passed from sight. We bacon was cured at home; sausage was ground, par- always participated in a Christmas program and all tially fried, packed in layers in a big crock in lard, and parents were pre ent to[...]form. stored in our food cellar. Mother would can a lot of meat In the winter, recesses and noon h[...] |
| clearing the snow from the ice and then skating until[...]other moved to New attend but I recall attending a Bible class at my Mexico and left me behind, consequently I went to schoolhouse for a short time one summer. work at an early age." "I didn't receive much formal My brother and I were in the same grade in school education." "There were lots of schools for Indians, but from the second grade through high school; and none for whites." because of the depression and resultant hard times, had[...]after finishing grade school Sheridan, Wyoming." "Slim," as he was to be known, but it later proved no hardship on either of us. When he hung around saloons looking for work. A new friend, was 13 and I was 12 we were left by ourselves for a week Tom Garrett, said "You won't find work there, you at a time because Father had to go away to work and have to go into the hills" and invited Slim along on a Mother had to stay in Sheridan with my older sisters "job hunting" excursion.[...]They walked toward Rosebud Creek in Montana. of all the outside chores and I maintained the house[...]aning, making our lunches night was spent with a haying crew near Kirby. One for school-and we never missed a day of school. was Ray Holmes, who settled o[...]was finally found 56 miles from Sheridan on what is In 1933 our farm was pur[...]ow the Spear "O" Ranch. ment for the construction of the Tongue River Dam and[...]happened in 1915. He was hired by a Dude from New nearby Sheridan so that my brother and I coul[...]hrough complete our education. In 1940 I accepted a civil[...]They left from the Penson Ranch near Big Bend working for thirty[...]d am currently living in down the west slope of the Wolf Mountains to Lodge Hardin.[...]Creek to the Cashen Ranch, across the East Fork of[...]liked to play poker. Every time they rode into a cow I came to the Big Hom Valley in 1910. We bought camp a game would ensue. the Ralph McComb place and stayed there for several By the first of October, they were in the Park year . t that time every 160 acre tract had a house and "snowed in. " Bacon gravy was a favorite camp food. new buildings. But, bears like bacon. As a result, a bear got the bacon[...]t for participation in World War I, the first man from Big Hom County to go to France. This was a month before the United States declared war on Ge[...]I returned pril 4, 1919. That summer I worked for a time for Dr. Haverfield and then became an appren[...]nches between ine Mile and orrel Horse ; I worked with John Young's threshing crew-it would take about a month to complete all the threshing. I recall when Mr. Tuchenhagen, who ran a saw-mill, had his leg cut off in the saw. Mrs. Malone rode with him in the wagon to town and prevented him from bleeding t-0 death. I left the valley in 192[...]round Sheridan were on strike. I spent the winter with Charley Schneider and family . That summer I worked as a carpenter in the oilfields in the Sheridan[...] |
| [...]the park. Alderson, the County Superintendent of Schools visited An interesting two weeks were spent with William F. us each fall and checked the[...]ody at his ranch. made a special trip to attend the chest expansion and[...]ter DeHaven and other athletic events at a field day in the spring. eigh- Slim arrived back[...]contests and programs. contact since. DeHaven is a free lance inventor and For the su[...]two Johnson girls, painter. His last letter came from Singapore. Annabelle and Phyllis,[...]fit" between 1911 This school was held in a homestead cabin about four and 1915. Pay in those days was $40.00 per month and miles from the rock house. Miss Alderson came over board.[...]and we rode horseback to the school from the W. V. In 1915 he filed on a homestead. Through the Johnson ranch w[...]eral times. The place Slim At the close of summer school I was on my way to and his wife Rose live on now was purchased from Jim Dillon for more normal training when my sister, a Davis. Jim said "I can't hire anyone that's worth a student at the Sheridan Business College, persuaded damn anymore, I'll sell you the place." "I don't have me to take a business course there. I did so, and worked any money," was Slim's reply. "I'll sell it to you on two years at Lindsey-Sheridan-a wholesale house-as jawbone, 760 acres, $20,000.00" It was a deal. a bookkeeper and did general office work.[...]I met Slim Kobold the day he came home from[...]married in Buffalo. He had bought a ranch on Rosebud In 1916 my parents and family came from near Creek in 1920; there was a five-room house on the ranch Iowa City and settle[...], and all are living except one daughter his farm of 250 acres just before we left. I finished High[...]rs. Dolores Piney (in Wyoming) one year. Shortage of teachers McKennan, Lansing, Michigan.[...]d kerosene lamps, grew our own beef, made request of Mr. and Mrs. W. V. Johnson. I taught there[...]utter, canned our vegetables, etc. two years, and a summer school near the rock house. In summer we put tubs of bath water out in the sun in At Big Bend I b[...]ght it was warm enough to bathe. walked to school a mile away, held in the Pack Saddle We stayed at home, chiefly, except for a couple of trips Jack house. Gregg, Marie, and Clara Penson, two of to town each year. Mail came once a week if the road Warren Adsit's children, the Kolmer children, and were passable. We ordered most of our clothing from Edgar and Harold Williamson were my students. We[...]Sheridan. and the children brought food from home at times. This Get-togethers wer[...]t; parents brought their schoolroom-but there was a side room we used for our children and th[...]Johnson always a ked everyone to come to their[...]arri ed in Hardin on a 40 degree b low zero morning. He cmne from Grass Lake, ichigan, to Montana to[...]farm in partner hip with his brother J. . Koebbe.[...]into town after him with a team and sleigh be could[...]from Hardin, when they look to be only fifteen mile[...]J . A. Koebbe had lea ed a farm about eventeen miles south of Hardin and they farmed as partners until[...]C. agel), Ronald (who married Eunice Tor ke of[...] |
| Hardin), Joyce (Mrs. Dean Huss, married a Hardin boy) and Marilyn (Mrs. Myron Strand).[...]By Mrs. Frank Kopriva In the spring of 1925 the Koebbes leased a farm[...]hers, Frank and John, were born seven miles north of Hardin then known as the R. B. Johnson place, whe[...]o Fairibault, Minn. where their father had spring of 1930 they bought a farm on the bench south of Two Leggin creek, which did not prove to be a paying a dry-goods store. They lived in Fairibault until Frank venture due[...]rked in department then located in the south half of the Hardin Hotel. He stores there when they[...]ring the depression years until 1936 when he took a worked in a department store. Frank came to Miles job as carpenter for the Hol[...]that firm City, Montana, and worked in Mund's Clothing Store. built the Hardin Sugar Factory. The factory was[...]land, heard of the auction of some Indian land at[...]Billings. He bought 6000 acres of it near Toluca. He had[...]the land and stayed overnight at the new town of Hardin, the county seat of the new County of Big Horn, composed of parts of Rosebud and Yellowstone[...]terested in buying a general store. He heard that the[...]Gibson brothers wanted to sell their store so made[...]Hardin was a progressive and flourishing little town as[...]The store was a wooden building, twenty-five feet[...]was a vacant 50 x 140 foot lot. Here, in 1917, they bui[...]a modern brick building. It had hard wood floors, s[...]trances-also a balcony. The entire store to the alley Breaking sod in the early 1920' at[...]was divided into departments and filled with mer- chandise. The front was Hebron brick from South In 1937 he took the job as supervisor of the Two Dakota. The store was known as the Hardin Mercantile Leggin Water U[...]until 1947, Co. and was the large t general store between Billings when he decided to go into business for himself. and heridan. He started on a small scale with a drag line, a pick After 20 years, John sold his half interest to Frank up, a cement mixer, and some house moving equip-[...]rs. Frank passed away After Ronald graduated from High School, Art in 1962 and John in 19[...]heir fiftieth wedding tana. I graduated with 10 other students from Custer Anniversary in October, 1974.[...] |
| from the Winona State College in Minnesota and af- government behind a fence until the emergency was terwards taught in the grade schools of Miles City. I over." He then began to recruit volunteers and to get me[...]ove to Hardin. When 1915 when I came to Hardin as a bride. these volunteers move[...]was I had not seen Hardin before we arrived from our placed in charge of the operation and supervised honeymoon. A group of men immediately hand cuffed American Nationals and also German prisoners of war, Frank as he descended from the train and took him to as well. five di[...]ed the money to buy cowboys. Al Youst took charge of our two suitcases. three hundred acres of land for his home. He has since Frank Eder took m[...]nly car in Hardin, added many more hundreds of acres to his original a "tin lizzie" and drove me up and down Main Street investment and has developed and landscaped a where the Hardin residents were standing on both sides beautiful home on the outskirts of Hardin. He has of the street. I was then taken to Schneider's Store branched out, successfully, from his first love of sugar where a number of ladies were assembled. Thus I was beet cu[...]were very good to us. delegate most of the operation and management of the Perhaps I am shedding a few tears as I write these ranch to his sons but Tom still keeps an eye on the lines at the age of 83 years. I have much to be thankful business.[...]r many The Koyomas are justly proud of their material years. successes but are more proud of the eight sons and I have my daughter, Betty[...]home. The children are-Carole, Tommy, Kathryn, is a research engineer for North American Autonetics. Bernice, Marion, Harry, Bobby, and Elaine. She had a daughter, Karen, married to a university Note: Material, from Billings Gazette March 7, 1965. professor in Clev[...]ney in Olympia. She has two married daughters and a son, Brad, an engineering Mr. and[...]from Hartington, ebraska in 1904. Mr. Lammers was a building contractor and came to Sheridan to find[...]In the fall of 1906, shortly after the Crow Indian Tom Yosh[...]vation land was thrown open to settlers, Mr. Year of the Tiger" in Dunmore, Montana barely twelve Benjamin Lammers came to Hardin and filed on a miles from his present home near Hardin. A bus driver, section a mile and a half west of Hardin. when he started to school, called him Tom inst:.ead of The family moved from heridan to the Yoshikasu, as it was e[...]im to pronounce, and homest:.ead, living in a two room hou e until a larger the name has stuck. Tom attended Hardin sc[...]was sold in 1914. twelve years and was graduated with honors as In 1915, Mr. B. J . Lammers bought a two tory president of the Class of 1933. building in Hardin, from Geo. Thoma {on what would At about this time the family moved to Gilmore, now be the corner of East Fourth and Center). Ben California where Tom, at the age of nineteen, managed added a brick building in back. It housed a hoe hop, to lease three-hundred acres of land and gave Santa Garage and Second hand store with rooms for rent Clara County farmers a lesson in sugar beet farming. In upstair . One time it hou ed the Court Hou of Big an area considered to be "an impossible valle[...]ons to the acre. He and his brother had plans for a university education in Japan, but language was a barrier to American-born and educated boys and th[...]affairs and report to relocation centers. Life in a barracks at Gila, Arizona soon became monotonous for his busy mind but he and Emi, his bride of a few weeks, kept busy by volunteering for every job they heard about. It was then he dreamed of returning to Hardin to give badly needed help with the beet harvest, quoting Tom. "I felt we had to prove we were the kind of citizens the United States needed and I knew we couldn't do it by being parasites of our B. J . Lammers in his store.[...] |
| B. J. Lammers bought a well drilling machine run In the early thirties Ed started a plumbing shop in by horse power. Ed Lammers, his[...]ell as continuing his well drilling. homesteaders with the horse power outfit. Later Ed Ed was a member of the Hardin Masonic Lodge drilled both water and gas wells as a business with and Odd Fellows Lodge. He and his brother G[...]played in the first band. Sam Woods was director of the Ed married Grace Cronk in Sheridan, Wyoming band. Ed passed away in 1940 with a heart attack. November 6, 1912. Grace Cronk came to Sheridan in a George Lammers, Ed's brother, ran the second covered wagon with her parents Mr. and Mrs. Chalmers hand store in Hardin for many years until it was Cronk from Beaver City, Nebraska. Mr. Cronk was a destroyed by fire in 1950. George's son, Gayle Lam- carpenter and got a job helping to build more barracks mers, runs a second hand store in Hardin at present. at Fort McKenzie near Sheri[...]Gus Lammers, another brother, became a car- Mr. and Mrs. Ed Lammers lived their fir[...]ter and worked for Ernest Adler, helping to build of married life in the two room house on the homestead. many of the early day homes in Big Horn County. In the sp[...]se to the Ed's son Joe Lammers, who is a well driller and present address 618 N. Crawford Avenue. This house, plumber also one time Mayor of Hardin, lives in Hardin with additions, is the home of Mrs. Ed Lammers at the at the present time. T[...]in Portland, Oregon. the early days. Neighbors of the Lammers were John and Julia Henman, Ralph and[...]THE LAPP FAMILY Ed was town marshall for a short time and in 1914 By Lydia Lapp Unverzagt and he went to Helena with a Federal prisoner. D. Morissette The E. A. Lammers had three children, a son, Joe John Lapp and his wife Katheri[...]ughters, Helen, born in the Great Depression of the early thirties. At the May 24, 1916 and Lorli[...]from Germany to Russia before coming to the United[...]States in 1905. Throughout a very rough voyage across[...]the Atlantic, Katherine lay desperately ill with her[...]old at the time. At times John despaired of her sur-[...]South Dakota and later with Lydia and little Emma to[...]north of Richardton, North Dakot.a. After a number of years of hard labor the family[...]were forced to abandon their homestead because of[...]a living. John worked on other farms in North Dakot[...]to the Hardin area where they lived the remainder of[...]Upon arriving in Hardin, the Lapp family lived in a labor shack approximately twelve miles from town in[...]could get. The depression deepened, and much of the[...]after the thinning of the beets, and then another period of credit was allowed until after the beets were har[...]vested. From seven to eight dollars was paid to block[...]and thin an acre of beets; weeding was two-and-a-half[...]cluded getting the beets out of the ground, cutting the[...]leaves off and piling them, paid fifty cents a ton. The[...]roceries were paid for. Each child had one change of Ranch in October, 1940 clothes and one pair of shoes which were worn only in[...] |
| [...]g the bare feet caused the children to shed many a tear. Their late 1800's. diet consisted mainly of potatoes and bread. The mother and girls baked o[...]e found he could buy "Dead Indian" garden failed from drought or hail the diet was land, he[...]ty as well as quantity. near "Dead Man's Corner." However, Katherine was ingenious in preparing tasty Father Lee told many stories of the early days, and delicious dishes mainly from flour and potatoes. hardships, and of an Indian Chief who wanted to adopt John Lapp al[...]e. cellar and the large family always had plenty of cold milk to drink. Father Lee and Jay spent the year of 1918 on the The oldest daughter, Lydia, worked as a mother's farm; putting in crops, fencing the land with steel helper for another family from the age of thirteen. She posts, and building a granary. recalls how homesick she was during those early teen years. She kept house, cared for a family of children, Father Loo died in 193 7, the l[...]eive any cash for her work, only her room, board, a ready for production, he found out we had no hist.ory of set of clothes and a pair of shoes. crops so our allotm[...]ia married Otto Unverzagt in got ten acres of beets and twenty acres of wheat. Warner, North Dakota. Lydia thought she and Otto During the depression that was a bit discouraging. were only going to get the lic[...]d for several years, as arranged for the Justice of the Peace to perform the Jay's father had d[...]ate. Mr. Hanna was the daughter to be married in a ceremony by a minister of Supervisor of Water for Indians in five states. He his choice. John Lapp made a scene and told Otto to became a life-long friend and acted as liaison when the g[...]ed on the Big and Little Horn meekly stayed home with the family she loved dearly, Rivers. When t[...]on the con- courage to come back for her. After a couple of days of struction were given a rebate in the form of tax relief for waiting, the groom strode bravely to the door and a certain number of paid water years. Jay was demanded his bride. Th[...]orado, and was Otto was running his own business of local freight on water projects in Johnstown. delivery with a team and dray wagon. He delivered to the local b[...]mail and all commodities Our allotment of farm products was gradually which came into the[...]we worked for Boeing. to Hardin. Otto worked as a head blacksmith for Holly We returned to the[...]ier and the Big Horn Bridge fifty plow shares in a day for a daily wage of three when we built our log hou in 1936. Holly ugar Co. dollars and fifty cents. Otto's skill as a blacksmith built a factory in Hardin, and eighty labor hou were contributed to the growth of the community. The built. Unverzagts[...]s not an easy one. Many farmers lives in Hardin. A daughter, Jane, is the wife of the wanted to wait till the lines were built[...]orn after the war- then cam our Hardin area most of her life with her two sons, Ray and telephone . John Helzer[...]Joyce Helzer Pattyn. Good roads were a necessity as we had only gravel[...]By ueLee with the cattlemen paying a small fee. He was also Jay Lee's father and brothers drove horses from instrumental in encouraging a veterinarian to locate in Johnstown, Color[...] |
| BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN LEWIS AND It was[...]1852. The family came to the United States by way of On January 7, 1896, Mr. Graves succeed[...]860's. getting John appointed by the Office of Indian Affairs Adalaide (Addie) Irene Hart was born in Camden, as " Supervisor of Constructed Ditches on the Crow ew York, May 27[...]family moved t o Reservation in Montana. " Soon thereafter, John, and Flint, Michigan, proba[...]arriage Billings until John was able to alter a warehouse in with John Lewis in Detroit. Two years later, on Octobe[...]September 25, 1898. A few years later they moved to Colorado in search John 's work on the Crow Reservation was to of gold and silver where, in Pitkin, Clyde E dward L[...]to was born on September 15, 1882. The quest for a for- the Indians. Some of his projects were known as the tune took the fami[...]r To the Crows, John became known as " The old woman. man who makes water run uphill. " A canal on the side Hardships in that period were a way of life. On one of a valley, sloping only enough to give the proper occasion in the dead of winter, they took E dith to the water flow, does look as though it runs uphill when doctor from a camp high on the mountainside, traveling compared to the slope of the valley ; hence his Indian on snowshoes in below-zero weather with E dith name. suspended between them in a small chair. Another time, John detoured off the trail to avoid confrontation with a mountain lion. Lack of funds (not to mention rattlesnakes and mosquitoes) made life difficult. After John gave up the hunt for a mineral strike, he obtained work as a carpenter in Montrose, Colorado. He had to learn[...]entually, he became involved in the con- truction of irrigation structures on the Federal Gun- nison project in Colorado, under the supervision of Walter H . Graves.[...]at his command and plenty of ingenuity to go with it.[...]One such challenging task was the transporting of a large stone monument from the railroad tracks in the[...]arrived on a flatcar, and John devised a system of[...]move it to a specially designed sled. A team of horses Adelade Irene Hart Lewis {Mrs.[...] |
| drag the conveyance to the Battlefield, a distance of two years old when we left Billings and went onto a three and a half miles. piece of 'raw' land near Waco. Mr. Helm and my father[...]he had the place together. remodeling of the water system for the Agency. This[...]ed many times after leaving Waco unt il consisted of a huge hole dug beside the river to receive[...]e and I the water as it seeped through the gravel from the river, graduated from high school, and where my parents providing a filtered-water reservoir; the construction of lived until their deaths. a concrete reservoir (the first of its kind in the West) on One year while my father plowed for Mr. Mace, we the top of a hill ; and the pipe system connecting the lived in a tent with boarded-up walls and a board floor. gravel reservoir with the hilltop reservoir. We live[...]he Isaac Ranch on Pease Bot tom near construction of barns, offices, residences, and H[...]ham Hills. Our warehouses. He saw to the planting of many trees, the last move was to Lodge Grass. All the moves were laying of sidewalks, building of fences, and the made by team and wagon. " putting-up" of ice. With the Almond family and us, there were enough[...]rnment sold the so-called children for a school. Papa and Mr. Almond hauled the " Ceded Strip" of the Reservation to the white man, lumb[...]homestead . John put in his bid for forty acres, a mile and a half The school district furnished the lumber, books, desks, northwest of the present town of Hardin. When the sale and etc. We had three teachers (each stayed a year.) was consumated, he requested retirement an[...]The grasshoppers would come and sit in the shade of home-a twelve-by-sixteen-foot tent. the house with us. As the weather permitted, and with the help of When it was decided to build a dam on t he Big Kenneth and Donald, John built a chicken house into H om River, my fath[...]nt on, including t he con- tember day with all our household goods on the version of sagebrush areas into seeded crops. They were[...]e stars, slept on the able to build and move into a two-story farm house by ground, hobbled[...]sitting flat on the deat h on September 4, 1923. A few months following sidewalk, wearing[...]black hats. We went through Lodge Grass and lived with him until his marriage to Frances May on to Wyola, then back to Lodge Grass. A few days Burroughs on June 29, 1928. After that, she lived with later, my mother, sister, and I left by t[...]ght John and Addie Lewis were truly pioneers of our inches of snow and the train arrived at three A.M. great country, and in their small way contribu[...]et us, and we couldn't stay at to the development of the West. Arthur, Kenneth, and the depot[...]Donald were in World War I. The third generation of Cottage Hotel, where we waited till mor[...]ery large to u . Our building wa in the main part of Pearl Yost: ormal Russell Lewis; to Kenneth and town , and the high school was a new brick building up Mary Rumfelt: Kenneth Elmer[...]iam Lewis, Virgil Esco Lewis, graduated from high chool in 1929. Our clas was the and Mrs. Ros[...]and Frances largest until that time with eleven members . At this Burroughs, Mrs. Letty Ir[...]writing they're all living and scattered from California Cornwell had no children.[...]Father rented a place on the top of Wolf Mountains about twenty mil from town. When spring came we THE LOOM[...]during that year. We missed a full year of chool but I was born in Billings, Montana on[...], Father bought three lots in town and the eldest of two daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Frank built a house using rough lumber he got as pay for Wesley[...]Lodge Grass. We got a few cows and sold milk while we While we live[...]ed for finished high school. Father made a one-horse led and the Billings Best Flour Mill, My sister, Rosalie, was a two-wheeled cart that we u ed in the summe[...] |
| winter to deliver milk. With the milking of cows, District decided to build a bigger one. Miss Eder's delivering milk, wranglin[...]y enjoyed the Crow Indian Parades side of the river, tie up the team, and walk across the every Fourth of July when they would parade through rail[...]s and you had to scratch through the boxes to get of the Lodge Grass High School. The first graduating[...]Mr. Anderson was the first groceryman. He put up a Cammock and Chloe McKinley graduated in 1922. tent about where the Sawyer Store Bldg. is now, and In 1930, school district 27 had five country schools that was the first grocery store. Before he located here, with fifty-seven pupils. They were: Grey Blanket[...]Albright to Crow Agency or west to Toluca (a terminal for the School, 10; and the Absaroka Sch[...]Cody Branch Line.) Toluca had two saloons, a small The Absaroka School located on West Soap Creek grocery store, and a hotel. Nearby Peritsa Siding, there and better known as the Soap Creek School was the was a small grocery store, but that is gone. first school I taught. While teaching there I met and My mother, Eva Hanson, a sister, Lulu, and married John oblett, and thus e[...]rs when we School about eight miles north of us on the North were first married. My husband was from Missouri, but Bench. My first teacher was[...]Hammer.) She was the first County Superintendent of service there.[...]eighth grade there. Later with more children they[...]ol. Back in earlier days after In the spring of 1880 my parents, with forty-three Finlayson-Willard was going good, they built another others, chartered a railroad coach and came west to school u[...]the Hart School. Miss Corinth, Utah, then the end of the railroad line. From Pickens and Bertha Ray taught the first yea[...]ns, Lew and Boone Kennedy, and the Fred and found a place for them to live. W atermans. The W atermans moved from the Gallatin Several out of the group didn't like the country, Valley, and settled north of town. The Kennedys but most of them stayed. They were mostly stock located south of Hardin on the Bench. Then ca.me Geo. people and it was a wonderful stock country. There was Kent. In 1911 John Torske homesteaded at the place a family named Hanson, who were originally from where Alvin Torske now lives. orth[...]had settled there and built up their One of the first barbers was Al Brotherson. He ranches. drove a horse and buggy to town every day. He worked[...]Reno and his wife. The Fergusons bought Idaho in a covered wagon. Mom's older brother was out[...]down the valley where there. They lived there for a year but didn't like it, so they lived for yea[...]on two homesteads. born, so she took care of him and his mother. He was In the spring of 1907 we moved overland by way of the first white baby born in Hardin. Melvin[...]ch Johnston and wife moved here and opened up a Hard- we lived. Later a larger home was built and we lived in ware and Furniture Store. Mrs. Johnston was a teacher. that until we sold it in 1933.[...]ned by Mrs. Reeder, who The first school was a little one-room shack that came here with her son, Edgar. Guy Logan and a friend, belonged to my grandmother. Mrs. Martha Stevens Herman Acres, came here from Ozark, Missouri, and was the teacher. The[...] |
| [...]llards came and though she never became a good rider. Mom made homesteaded till 1920, then[...]pillows and feather tick mattresses out of goose place is now owned by Mrs. Dewald. feathers, from geese which she raised herself. There Adjoin[...]ery prominent the winter, you raised a garden and canned all you people, whom we enjoyed[...]chool and then later to Mom told us of one year that they lost all their big Hardin. Mrs. Winn and family moved here from two-year old steers from Blackleg. There was no Mexico, Missouri and lived[...]h was Some years afterwards, I married Dale Lowe, a loaded oh the wagons by hand with the help of a railroad passenger conductor with whom I enjoyed pitchfork, and she[...]d Her mother died in childbirth with twins when away and I've continued to make my hom[...]this writing, Mom is in a nursing home in Billings,[...]Montana. She suffered a stroke that left her blind. ANNA ERTL LUTHER AND JOHN LUTHER |
| camps were. One of these camps is on the old Weaver for up to sixteen months of passing over the great place that I now own but a[...]he ranch. In 1946 we three boys bought the cattle of his or some of the neighbor's stock, or where a ranch. John, Jr. got Mother's homestead and[...]ren't. In the good years dad hauled wheat to town with a four horse team and in the bad years he hauled cottonseed cake out from town to feed the cows. In 1914 Dad and Mom were married. They had six children, five of which survive.[...]He came to America from Bavaria, Germany in 1887.[...]cattle in the Lake Basin country of Montana in 1908. They were in that part of the country until the spring of[...]This area was taken from the Crow Indian Reservation.[...]y drove their cattle to the Sarpy area the spring of[...]cattle and go into the sheep business, of all things.[...]ain reason they left the Lake Basin Dad had a bad leg, it was three inches shorter than a[...]tle and sheep men did the other. He got this when a team of broncs ran away not get along too well. One night they moved a herder and turned over the wagon he was driving.[...]heep off their cattle range and the local sheriff a mall boy I remember Dad hauling water in a barrel to and the owner of the sheep did not approve. the pig pen on a stone boat with a team of broncs; he They had two bands of sheep with about 2500 fell in front of it and got run over by the hor e . He sh[...]he stoneboat and hurt his hip and leg. a bad winter. Bad nowstorms in the late spring of one Dad told us about his first walking plow. He could year caused them to lose forty percent of the ewes and not get it to plow right and he cuss[...]the lambs. They ran sheep until the spring of 1918, then for a couple of days, By chance a man came by that Dad bought out Leonard's share. Dad then traded the knew how to sit a walking plow o they plow straight sheep to a man that lived on Rosebud Creek for his without wearing your back out trying to keep it run- herd of cattle. ning straight.[...]anche Meredith, How the country had changed from 1911 to 1946 came to the Lake[...] |
| homesteaded south of Mother's homestead, then she George Deputee who worked there. He owned a very and Leonard were married. In 1918 Leonard, B[...]oved to Nevada County, California. made a deal with t he Lynde family to move into his There they bought a ranch from John Fontz in 1918. place. E mma was to[...]. T he Lyndes were very hospitable people and was a dugout about 11 x 20. It had logs around the Emma was a good cook so they always had a great d~l topside about three high. The roof consisted of poles of company. with dirt on the top side of them.[...]Bill was a horse trader at heart and did a great deal of trading with the Indians. Many of them owned as many as 400 bead of horses and were eager to sell or[...]In the spring of 1914 Bill took a contract with the[...]ian Dept. to gather wild horses on the west .,ide of the Big H orn River, from Fly Creek to Woody reek.[...]At that time there were thousands of heads of hor e Otto Blanche L uther [wife of Leonard L uther] running in small bunches from 25 to 100 head. They[...]for their cattle herd. I t was in ovember of 1913 when t he passenger The abandone[...]Pryor train number 42 pulled into the little town of Lodge had left its telegraph wire o Bill a[...]t to Grass. The local citizen s were unaware that a new build blind corral at variou er k cro in and trail family of four had arrived and planned to make this u ed by the renegade bands of hor ~. fter much work village their home.[...]their d pendabl Amid t he noise and steam of the engine the tall mounts they were able to[...]ma as she led six year old Rowley for .00 a head. Myron toward the red wooden depot.[...]er wartz who had The young family had come from Gillette, gon into partner hip on the wild hor decided to Wyoming and was in need of lodging until they could build a Livery table for peopl who came great find a home. At t hat time t here was no hotel so the distance to the railroad thu giving them a plac to Depot Agen t A. G. Westwood said that his family leav[...]were gone to heridan, could accommodate them for a few days. Hardin or Billing on bu in Bill then contacted Mr. Perle Mapes and got a job Thi large barn al o became a ocial center. Every as teamster hauling timber from the Wolfe Mountains two weeks a dance wa held and they danced from du k to shore up t unnels io the coal mine he owned at the till dawn. In order to erve a lunch the women hit on the edge of town. (It was under the present school house[...]ly rented was owned by hired was Tip Tynan' from heridan . People came for an Indian man named Whi[...]arer looked forward to by the people in such a thinly the mine.[...]ght groceries at the At one end of the haymow, wa two rooms in which Stevenson Store. There they became acquainted with the cowboys bunked when they stay[...] |
| [...]r no hay, so to play basketball. It then became a gymnasium. hay had to be shipped from as far away as Nebraska by The town at tha[...]country. could hold services for the Catholics of the community. At about this time the Indian Department herd In the fall of 1914 their daughter Wilma Theresa was was d[...]bout 4 miles up Lodge Grass creek. He also bought a When he got home the men had just put in a new piece of land adjoining it from A. L. Barrett. Here the section of cement in the barn. Of course you never left a family moved in the fall. Then in the spring, t[...]ny new car out at night, besides there was plenty of A. C. Dill to build a new home and changed the I.D. room on the older floor for a car, so Bill drove in, cabin into a barn. However he didn't stop quick enough so he[...]could not, so amid much laughter and joking one of the men harnessed up a team and pulled him out. The next day he backed out of the barn so he could show off his new car, but h[...]id much laughter and joking they had to hitch up a team and drag him out. An Indian from Crow Agency was so impressed with the Model T that he traded Bill quite a bunch of ponies for it. It is believed that he was the first full blood Indian to own a car on the reservation In 1916 Bill took a contract with the Indian Department to build livestock reservoirs. These small dams were built with horses on nearly every creek from Onion Creek near Crow Agency to Buffalo Creek near Wyola. These were for the Indian Department herd of cattle, called the ID.[...]ell and Bill Lynde Then in 1917 Bill gained a grazing permit and started to run cattle for himself. Bill spent the rest of his life here ranching and When World War I ended in 1918 a young man by farming and trading horses except for the years he the name of Barney McLean who had been stationed at s[...]Bill's daughter, Catherine is Mrs. George Cooley of be disposed of. So the two men and Myron went over Lod[...]r old Myron followed in the drag. Bill went ahead with the car and made camps, cooking the meals over a camp fire in dutch ovens. It took them four days to get to Lodge Gra . ome of these horses had been MYRON AN[...]emand as work horses We both have been a part of Big Horn County for by both white and Indian farmers . The balance were most of our lives. We were 6 years old when Myron cavalry[...]to Lodge Gras and Eleanor who were always in need of gentled horses. Graff's family moved to Hardin. The summer of 1919 had been very dry. In many We were married in 1930, not aware of the place ranchers had to give up because they didn't have beginning of a depression. Myron had a good job with enough grass or water, so Bill formed a partnership an oil drilling company. The oil drilling closed down so with several local stockmen and they went to the Myron got work with a trucking Company. The Powder River ( orthem Wyomi[...]trucking company went broke and could pay only a part head of steers and shipped them to Parkman, Wyoming of the drivers wages. bout that time our on, tan, by[...]unloaded and driven to the was born. head of the Little Horn River. Here they were turned The rancher were having a very bad time too. loose with good grass and plenty of water and no Myron's father, Bill Lynde, a ked Myron to work at fences, so they did very wel[...]cattle, so they time stockmen as the hard winter of all hard winters. stocked the Dryhead with sheep. The market crune up, Great losses were incurred by all stockmen. Snow with both the Jambs and wool sales. In two years they[...]stayed on the pulled the family out of the hole. At this time Myron's[...] |
| [...]to give up the Dryhead, sell the sheep where a man near our range had 500 head of two year and buy cattle.[...]l to sell ewes in the Myron was looking for a job. Bill Prante, who was winter, they were the[...]eep foreman for the Tschirgi Ranch, offered Myron a and recognized the ewes as the ones he was missing, job caring for sheep. It was a lonely job. It was hard even the paint brand w[...]e moved to Lodge Grass. Myron had an Indian lease with a nice little house on it. We borrowed money to buy 50 head of cows. The winter was severe and some of the cows died. The market was off the day our banker picked to sell our cows, so we ended up with an eight hundred dollar debt at the bank. Ou[...]illcutt, foreman for E. L. Dana, wrote us. He had a chance to buy some sheep. Would Myron bring his family to Woody Camp and run the sheep for him at $75.00 a month? Myron liked working with sheep, so we took the job. We were able to pay off our loan at the Bank after a while.[...]war was over we built a home in Lodge Grass. In the winter of 1949 the snow got real deep. Myron used to fly[...]Woody Creek. Flying was out because of the weather. He and a twenty year old athlete started out in 40[...]below weather, in a 4-wheel drive. The oil line froze up[...]15 mil away, so they tarted Myron Lynde with band of sheep to walk. The boy oon got[...]dn't go on. Myron realized he would have to build a Myron decided to quit working for wages and[...]rk for himself. Matt Tschirgi asked Myron to take a as well as some other papers 10 hi pocket to start partnership with him. They bought thirty-five hundred some twi[...]fire, and for our soldiers. We increased our band of sheep until partially burned his loth . we had[...]nrise Myron made the treme ffort to reach move to a larger ranch but Matt had the land and t[...]care for the sheep. Shockey, was a powerful man. He carried the boy to th June 3 1944 a sad incident occurred. We had h p wagon. sheared 2400 head of ewes. An extremely cold bliz.zard Soon the weather cleared and a pilot friend, Dick hit the country. We had shed room for 1200 head of Yentzer of h ridan, Wyoming, flew the boy to ewes. Twenty me[...]lo hi 1200 head, outside, alive but they all died of hock. feet or hands. Fourteen hundred head of lambs died because they About this[...]on's father 's ranch near Lodge Gra s. In we lost a two year old son by drowning in the river. It 1959 we built a ranch home of our own where we now was a stunning blow. We had to be away for awhile[...]e all living in Montana. Stan, the so he was away from his sheep for sometime. He had cartoonist,[...]er. Christine is a nurse who work part time at th t. The herders reported there were 500 head of sheep John 's ursing home in Billings .[...] |
| have a daughter and two sons. Loretta is a Journalism JOHN MACLEO[...]By Jessie MacLeod Ottum Charles Breslin, is a pilot for Johnston's flying service. John Macleod was born in Ross Shire Scotland, They own a small ranch 20 miles out of Missoula, August 31, 1882. As a young man he worked in a game where they make their home.[...]sportsman and marksman; at the age of 21 came to[...]America, arriving in Billings in the fall of 1903. His first jobs were working with various horse outfits on the[...]endurance race to be run from Billings to Lavina and[...]on his desire to become a law officer. Entry fees were[...]ch horse had to cover the I 00 mile course within a given number of hours the day before the race. Gold[...]when the starting gun went off in front of the Northern Hotel on the 4th. It was a gruelling race for rider and[...]the crowd congregated in the lobby of the Northern for Stanley and Christin[...]he got back out to the street again, a pickpocket had[...]of Hardin, where currently Westmoreland Resources[...]elected sheriff. On ovember 14th of the same year he[...]married Lillie Anne Fitzgerald, a teacher in the Hardin[...](Mrs. Juell Ottun of Hardin) and John (Edmonds,[...]acLeod and Undersheriff Carl 0. Long gained quite a[...]of thrilling liquor chases running through barricade[...]and road blocks amid a fusillade of bullets. through[...]Many times a well placed shot hitting a tire or punc-[...]turing the radiator ended the race of a fugitive machine carrying 25-30 cases of whiskey, bourbon or Scotch.[...]in a pistol duel with a Mexican dope fiend whom he[...]had only been on duty a couple of months when he met[...]armed with everything from bow and arrows to high[...]powered rifles and Bolin barricaded in a barn adjoining his cabin across the tracks from the tation. Sheriff[...]Gilmore's body still lay where he fell, the negro from the cover of the barn taking a shot at anyone who[...]arrows to shoot balls of fire into the straw by the barn Loretta Lynde with the hope of setting the building on fire but the[...] |
| [...]espite the entreaties jail and locked him up a couple of hours, just to give of several, made a detour around the building sheltering him a taste of his own medicine! The ladies took charge the negro and when he attempted to enter the door to of Mrs. MacLeod, but being more tender hearted, took arrest or shoot Bolin, he received a bullet through the her for refreshments and a movie. Finishing out the left thigh near the groi[...]until after fell, then crawled around the corner of the building out the death of her husband in 1926 and from 1927 to 1930 of range of the negro. There he laid for upwards of an was a teacher in the Crow Agency schools. hour, no one being able to rescue him without danger of himself being killed. Finally, A. C. Cole, a mechanic at the Big Horn Garage, succeeded in getting up to the west end of the barn and after throwing gasoline on the walls[...]s forced the negro to come out and he was riddled with bullets from nearly a hundred guns. After he had been brought down he f[...]al but had lost so much blood that he passed away a few minutes later. Joint funeral services f[...]ter and was the largest ever held in this section of Montana. More than 1000 persons crowded into the[...]ld at the Hardin Fairview cemetery were in charge of fraternal organizations and a delegation of the Crow Tribe. Ten Indian Chieftains dressed in[...]nberger [Mrs. Andrew] Mr. and Mrs. John conducted a brief ceremony in their native tongue then[...]and John MacLeod. bowed their heads in prayer as a tomahawk was placed on each casket,-the symbol of bravery! In 1930 she was elected County Superintendent of Schools and after serving a four-year term, returned to[...]NNE MACLEOD During one of the years of World War II Mr . MacLeod Lillie Anne Fitzge[...]that her on, John, had Western Washington College of Education in been taken prisone[...]march. When the telegram arrived at was the start of nearly 35 years of teaching and school school telling of his release from prison, one of the other administration work in Big Horn County![...]teachers said, "You really hould take th day off," to zgerald began her teaching career at the Wolf[...]i on day I won't the Sarpy area in 1917, boarding with the Jess Wolfe need a substitute." family who lived close by. They also had the only[...]lt fortunate as the in her house across from the chool, now owned by Mrs. other ranchers only[...]wice Florence Preston, enjoying every minute of sub titute a year with their wagons for supplies. It didn't take[...]e long to learn that the school house was the hub of the pa sed away, leaving a daughter, J ie (Mrs. Juell community and everyone for miles around looked Ottun) of Hardin, and a son, John, of Edmond , forward to special programs and social g[...]to light entertaining children and parents alike with her dramatic readings and oral recitations, a talent which she hared with others THO A · M LEOD throughout her life.[...]By R. B. MacLeod The next year she accepted a job teaching the 6th Thomas MacLeod ho[...]heriff, John. MacLeod, on ovember for a sheep camp. He was born in Rosshire, otland 14th[...]r in the the Briti h Royal avy were met by scores of friends of both sexes. The men, before coming to the United States. under the command of Chief of Police John Putnam, Tom li[...] |
| [...]board walks. It was a familiar sight to see Indian[...]Putnam's Variety Store and buy ten cents worth of caramels, and what a bag full we got! In the fall of 1929, Swindle's Orchestra was[...]vicinity had a good dance crowd, old and young alike.[...]munity, near Sarpy, gave a dance in their new hall,[...]times, about fifty cars of dancers from Hardin, could be[...]two sons, Colin and Burgess. Mr. MacLeod was a county commissioner for eight Dr. Haverfield[...]art, Sam years in Big Horn County and earlier was a deputy Paulos-Faturos assessor for eight[...]Foster Hall, in North Valley, was the scene of story was told that they used each others' tools[...]lunches were served at midnight by the ladies of the his own spring wagon a friend asked if he had borrowed community. Dunmore and Halfway Schools were two it from Ira Haynie.[...]asis, Farmers Union dances at the Grade HI TORY OF ALBERT MAHER AND JEANETTE School, and for many of the Firemen's Balls. Wasn't it[...]ies Trading his ortb Dakota homestead for a seven and put them on plates or we wouldn't get t[...]passenger Case Car, Frank Mielke and his family of on. Pie was cut in five pieces and sold for ten cents a four children arrived at the north edge of the booming piece. We worked seven days a week and twelve hours a City of Hardin, May 20, 1920. day. Waitresses got $10.00 a week and uniforms fur- Proudly pointin[...]d unbroken nished. Used ice for refrigeration and a coal stove, ground, he said, "These are the two acres I bought for which realJy brought out the beads of perspiration. Had $600.00." Mrs. Mielke began to cry. "There's going to an electric fan in the middle of the ceiling, which we be a dam built in those snow capped mountains, the tho[...]Just two blocks on the west and one on the east of electricity for your Maytag (a washer with a wooden Center A venue had cement side walks. The rest were tub and iron stand)."[...] |
| In the pasture across the dirt road could be seen a Ed Lawler and Bill Hoerr of the Harriett Theatre dim pioneer trail to Pine Ridge, also a huge barren spot weren't fooled much when a youngster presented an old where Buffalo had onc[...]ck to the disclosed arrowheads, French coins and a gold trimmed basement door to be burned later in the furnace. The trappers knife with three notches in the blade. same tire was used by a half dozen kids to see Charlie The family lived a month in the Lammers building Chaplin, Tar[...]ickford on the silent black awaiting the arrival of household goods by rail, from and white screen, while Velda and Gordon[...]Marmarth, N. D. The Mielke kids played upon piles of Maurice Weller provided music in the pit[...]ll, where their father was Janitor of the Sullivan block, housing Big Hom employed as a carpenter. The floor of the Council Room County Offices, was Tony Baron, who also put sticky was laid with a center square graduating outward and fly paper in the east window of the Post Office. Portly, is still in use today.[...]Andy Torske's garage and Gay Block, with a huge white dog hitched to a cart, paint shop below. They were afraid of the black-hatted gathered wood and seed pod[...]squaws on Main Street. radish seeds on a tree stump that were to be sent to his One of the first outings was to fish in the Little h[...]. Hom and we could pick strawberries for 3 cents a quart Three summers we walked to the patch beyond the in a 20 acre patch owned by A.H. Bowman. There was east bridge to pick strawberries at 5 cents a quart that no doubt in our minds Dad had found the promised were stored in a root cellar. During the heat of the day, land, until evening when we were a mass of red welts we played on old Fort Custer, learned to swim in the from mosquitoes plus wood ticks in our hair. Little Hom and sometimes took a row boat ride with Our first home was a wooden-floored tent boarded "Pump House" Ha[...]our way up about 4 feet high on the sides, plus a small frame home, we stole a watermelon from old man Weller, sat building for the kitchen and[...]e ditch bank and ate it. Usually the boss gave us a bors were the Charles Corkins family who moved to ride in his flivver when he delivered crates of berries to town to publish the Hardin Herald in the basement of genial Mr. McCarthy at the depot. We wer[...]At canning time that fall, spend 5 cents for a Green River at Sibleys Drug tiny Mary Corkins sca[...]iles fountain . Every week during the summer of 1924, I from the ranch to town, when her driving horse ran[...]the $10.00 Chippewa high top laced boots on away with the buggy. the top shelf of Pings Store. In September they were Our irrigated garden flourished so we filled our red mine. coaster wagon with vegetables to peddle to the In August of 1925 the family drove to the top of townspeople. When all was sold, we picked up spil[...]to fish . Some horseback Indians were shooting at a at the bums riding coal cars; they tossed us big[...]cks. behind a boulder growling defiance with echoes ringing Evenings we delivered fresh[...]un, sheep Big Horns in one big bed made from a tarpaulin and run, and other games with the Ebeling, Powers and blankets. The[...]verywhere. Lammers kids. "Daddy" Vance, policeman with size 15 Most Hardin kids learned[...]they ventured to the City Pond at the site of the pre ent Emanuel King, with a big sled, sleigh bells ringing courthouse, pl[...]enjoyed inside canvas business. In the rainy fall of 1925, High School tents with board flooring, also upstairs above the students[...]shoes Chevrolet garage in 1933 and 1934. from Fred Gladden's store and helped farmers top Young a[...]ll, beets. Three rows on each side were thrown to a center country school houses and individual homes. Farmers pile and teams pulling wooden boxed wagons with drop Union dances at the new Primary bui[...]arvested beets to the railroad included a dance of the Schottische by Tom Gibbs and dump.[...]midnight refreshment were stolen and eaten at the store of Chas. Peck and might take a minute to watch nearby city park. The ne[...]nto cigars in his brought before Police Judge A . H . Roush for discipline. shop next door.[...]ious young people Sammy the Jew, proprietor of Marquisee Clothing watched an Indian dance in Lodge Gra s. Dancers shop, down graded the quality of an overcoat his resplendent in beade[...]ngles , carrying small hand mirrors trying on one from hi9 own rack. up to a lighted candle, sitting on top of a barrel. Five Sammy the Greek owned the "Greasy Spoon " drummers on one Tom-Tom provided music from a dark Club Cafe nearby, and always knew whe[...] |
| The first two blocks of Main Street paving were also living in Pryor, like the sport. "I guess my first celebrated with a street dance in 1921. artifact[...]rday nights at Sawyers always hunted rocks," he said. "The best place to hunt Store were packed in wooden apple boxes or orange[...]d Indian camp sites. They are crates and included a sack of good candy, not all day always at a good spring and shade ... " He told me of suckers, licorice whips or jaw breakers like the[...]aid ... He qunday morning we read the antics of Happy likes to hunt moss agates north of Fly Inn and Corinth. Hooligan, Katzenjammer Kids[...]Dryhead agates are found along the rim of Hoodoo Denver Post funnies, took our baths in a tin wash tub, Creek. donned our best clothcc: and Sunday shoes. A silver pin Roy has an estimated ten-thousand artifacts and with gold wreath testified 2 years of perfect attendance about the same number of rocks. Artifacts in his at Sunday School for me.[...]nclude arrowheads (among One fall we shelled a tubful of home grown them Fulsom, Yuma, and Clov[...]Mrs. knives, drills, hammers, mortars and clothing. Ping hung a 15 pound sack on her front porch. The Probably most valuable is a cook pot made of soap- money was used to buy Christmas presents th[...]here: tungsten, copper ore, re-wrapped and hidden a dozen times before the day. gold nuggets, silver ore, rose quartz, jade, pipestone, We put popcorn in a long handled wire basket shaking obsidian,[...]ating stove. Homemade butter pyrite, and agate." was melted and poured over it. We sat around the kitchen table reading by the light of kerosene lamps or Coleman 2 mantle lamps.[...]By Bertha M. Richard the library. "Tess of the Storm County" series or Frank Maxham, one of the Upper Rosebud's early "Anne of Green Gables" were two of the stories. settlers was born December 20, 1858 in Quebec, the son We used playing cards from V. B. McMoran's Pool of Addison and Elizabeth K. Maxham. Hall. These were[...]Frank went to work quite young; he worked in a during a game of rummy. store at J aneville, Wisconsin. He then went to the[...]Many Cheyennes died that winter from lack of food Roy Marsh, 82, is the owner and proprietor of a and exposure.. Frank helped them all he could and in so rock and artifact museum in the center of Pryor. He doing acquired a working knowledge of Indian sign came to Billings from Lesuer, Minnesota; residents language. were celebrating the end of World War I when he In 1885 Fran[...]He would take an issue of live beef to Crow Agency for The family homes[...]tle went to the Cheyennes. road three miles north of the divide. He farmed there, One day when the Cheyenne cowboys were helping alone and with his dad, until about 1929. After that be drive[...]ral farms in the Pryor area. Some of the Cheyennes being in a talkative mood, told[...]hear. Dr. Marquis in his book relates some of the same[...]Wylie. Frank bought a team of oxen and broke up the first ground in that part of the country. He raised a fine crop of grain.[...]in the country, also a registered Hereford bull and later a registered mammoth Spanish Jack and raised mules.[...]In the fall of 1893 Frank Maxham and Sophie[...]Frank had been staked by a grandfather in 1886 with $200 to buy twenty heifers. This herd accumula-[...]Roy Marsh of the cattle business abruptly. At that time it was[...]deemed necessary to register brands, so many a new Artifact and rock hunting are the height of Roy 's rancher used his initials. Frank[...] |
| [...]to the The school had yearly visits from Dr. Russell, the ribs. There was a large cattle outfit towards the County Health Doctor, and from the Supt. of Schools. Wyoming line that had his wagon boss take note of all Parents attended programs; otherwise, t[...]One advantage in living 25 miles from town and registered. attending a country school was the absence of After the usual spring roundup the wagon bos[...]ases. Colds and chilblains were common, and bunch of cowboys dropped in and asked if Frank bu[...]the school days in t own. boss showed him a paper that stated his employer had A[...]on the ribs. They took every head providing a mail box along the main road, patrons were of cattle including the milk cow. Frank wasn't long required to have two small sacks made with without cattle, however. drawstrings. Letters to be mailed were placed in a sack, The ranch was noted for its hospitalit[...]d up and taken to H ardin, and t he sack was used a sort of an advisor and Sophie was the local mid-wife[...]many years. By 1911, Frank's health necessitated a carrier put the filled sack in the box, pick[...]received no service the nex t week. in the spring of 1936. Frank was a Mason. Sophie was Farming and cattle[...]One bad winter $25 a ton hay was hauled t he 25 miles from the Hardin valley wit h teams; another really[...]memorable year the first load of wheat brought $1 a THE MA YO FAMILY[...]Mayo sold their homestead in and 4 cents a pound at the ranch. Crops were good if Wyoming in[...]e was no hail. Wyoming and early the next spring, with daughter Son William and daughter[...]d not attend school unt il after 1924 looking for a new home. They traveled in a sheep when the family moved to a ranch on upper Lodge wagon with a team and a saddle horse. Along the way Grass Creek , near the present site of the Willow Creek they were joined by Charlie Will[...]wagons stayed together for mut ual lots of wa ter in t he creek and there was a better road to company and aid in case of trouble ; several times both town in spite of t he seventeen gates in seventeen miles teams wer[...]They which must be opened and closed. After a few years, came into Big Horn County through the[...]e one room school attended Mr. Mayo obtained a plowing contract near by the younger children until 1930; after that each fall a Corinth for the summer. This was virgin soil libe[...]to Lodge Grass for the school year. All sprinkled with arrowheads and agates. atte[...]ol at either Lodge Grass or Hardin. The fall of 191 7 found t hem settled on the Ed After the death of Mr. Mayo in a car accident in Mayer farm near Maschetah, a well established 1933, the family moved back to Hardin were they community. A school was built which opened in 1918. lre[...]helped the many- coated, slightly frozen students from their horses when J.E.Mc[...], and reversed the procedure in the evening. Most of the students rode between two Born in ew York state, 1 72 of Irish parents, J. and three miles. Some playgroun[...]E.McCarthy led an adventurous life as a railroad tele- provided, a sledding hill was available, and th large grapher, working in most of the western states. He was yard was well used for[...]legrapher-his hand sending was Occasionally, a dance was given and the money clear-cut Morse, and his penman. hip wa as perfect a obtained from tickets was used to buy cases of soup to his telegraphy. add to cold lunches, and other extras for the benefit of In December 1912 he came to Hardin, and ex[...]bout that time, as there was these years he wa a member of the school board of not a large supply of paper. Children from the O'Leary, District 17H for two terms, and o[...]utton, Dinsdale, Mayo, Weast, Council. From 1933-34 he was t he mayor -this was Hobson[...] |
| [...]erested in cattle, and before re-election because of the increased work load at t he coming to Montana he had worked a few years for the depot.[...]Matador Land and Cattle Company of Texas.[...]Soon after arriving in Sheridan he got a job[...]Upon hearing that the Sarpy Creek area east of[...]turned out that proving up on a homestead was not the life for Sam. In less than a year he sold out and went to[...]work for Willis Spear who was running a roundup wagon nort h of the Wyoming line in Montana. Spear[...]employed quite a group of riders at that time. Among[...]" Which one do you want?" yelled back Johnny Shreve. " There's two of 'em in here. " " Sarpy Creek Sam," came the answer. The name[...]caught on and stuck although a little later the " Creek" was dropped. H e was known as " Sarpy Sam" from then on, and for the rest of his life. The J . E . McCarthy 50th wedding a[...]ried Clara Field, and they had five |
| time that Sam's skill as a calf roper became known far were always regard[...]on showing to his friends. Years later, after a collection of the reservation and chances are he'd say, "Why, that's Russell letters had been put into a book called Good Sarpy Sam." Med[...]nd Winter camps were set up in various parts of the writer and long-time friend of Sam's, asked him why his range. It was the job of the men who stayed in these letters from Charlie Russell had not been included. But camps[...]his family to the Eagle to check on the condition of the cattle. Springs Ranch about nine miles out of Hardin on Two It was while he was visiting such a camp at the Leggin Creek. This ranch was headquarters for the mouth of Hay Creek that he got acquainted with the Antler outfit. The two older girls att[...]ellison family who were living at the Pryor a one-room rural school located about a mile from the Creek Ranch. The Kellisons had come to Montana from ranch. Eva Romine from the Sarpy Creek area was the Nebraska some years[...]re moving to Pryor Creek. March of 1928 was mild and rainy. Most of the Over the next two years Sam frequently v[...], on Thanksgiving Day in 1916, full. It was a treacherous creek, especially in flood he married the Kellison's 20-year-old daughter, Carrie. stage, with steep banks and few crossings. Some of the Three daughters were eventually born to[...]ing all day, attempted to Barbara (Mrs. Joe Hope, of Busby, Montana), OraJean cross -the creek on their way back to the ranch. Bert (Mrs. Richard Blakeley, of Joliet, Montana), and Little John, one of the cowboys, originally from Corinna (Mrs. Junior Smith, of Ekalaka, Montana). Oklahoma, was riding Shimmie, a horse that was not Also, the couple had nine gran[...]overhanging tree limb thus knocking him out of his[...]drowned in the muddy waters of Two Leggin Creek. Eagle Springs Ranch was a working ranch in every sense of the word. The only way to rid cattle of parasites in those days was by way of the dipping vat.[...]"Doc" Logan, veterinarian in the employ of Frank[...]The cattle were forced to jump, one at a time, into the deep end of the vat, swim to the other end and climb[...]out into the corral to dry off. It was a job that had to be Sam and Carrie Mc[...]e horses to break as the The rich grassland of Southern Montana was the Antler Wagon needed plenty of good young hors s , natural habitat of thousands of head of wild horses. Frank Greenough, old r brother of th "Riding Stockmen and ranchers in the area thought the grass Greenoughs" of Red Lodge, was hired as bronk should be saved for[...]rent methods were devised to rid the cowboys with urprising regularity. And this was the ranges of these unwanted horses. Hundreds of head way it was until the death of Frank Heinrich. were trapped, loaded into stock car and shipped east to E. L. Dana operated a large cow outfit in both canning factories. Hundreds of others were shot and ontana and Wyoming with the main ranch located on left right where they fell. Some cattlemen paid a token Pass Creek in Wyoming. Harve Willcutt, r. was amount to anyone bringing them tpe right ear of a wild superintendent of the Dana holdings in ontana, horse as[...]horse had been killed. which included a lease on the Dryhead Ranch at the It was in protest of this treatment of the wild foot of the Pryor Mountains. oon after Frank horses that Sarpy Sam wrote a poem entitled, " In Heinrich died, " arp" (as most people call d him by Memory of the Cayuse" . The poem was published in then) was hired by Willcutt to take care of the cattle on the Big Timber Pioneer and in The Great Fall Tribune, that part of the range. But after living at the Dry head where it caught the eye of cowboy artist, Charles M. for only two year[...]As arp wa to continue working for Dana, the Of course the poem did nothing to ease the plight family moved to the Pass Creek vicinity . But early the of the wild horses but it did establish a writing following pring they moved to Ha[...]ween the two men. The Russell letters worked a few months as deputy county assessor.[...] |
| [...]HE McKIITRICKS cattle. He wanted to be an officer of the law. Four times AND THE BIG HORN VALLEY he threw his hat in the ring for Sheriff of Big Hom By Carol Lautt[...]he biggest ice jam the Darroll Warren tells about a time when he and Mitchell McKittricks could remember. The water covered the Clawson had gone on a hunting trip and had somehow road betwee[...]ook gotten themselves in unfamiliar territory. At a them about three or four hours to get to Hardin with crossroads they were in the position of not knowing horse and buggy. The ice jam took the porch off of Mr. which fork to take. They saw a sign nailed to a post. Hammer's house. The water was up to the bellies on the Mitch got out of the car and went over to read the sign horses[...]hey went down in hopes it would give them an idea of which direction to get this family out of their house. to take.[...]any gravel roads or paved "What does it say?" called Darroll. roads. The peo[...]t to school at "It says 'Vote for Sarpy Sam'," answered Mitch. that time had to gather th[...]school. Sarp was never elected Sheriff of Big Hom County, In 1920 there were just a few telephones in use. missing each time by only a few votes, but he did serve[...]team engines for cutting wood for appointed Chief-of-Police for the city of Hardin.[...]people in the neighborhood who had a horsepower washing machine that was pulled by a horse.[...]was a five gallon jar with a wooden lid. The motion of[...]all. Sam McDowell [Sarpy Sam] as Hardin Chief of Police In 1940, Sarp went to work for P. R.[...]moved to the SU Ranch in the Wolf Mountains east of |
| [...]married to Mother 's Imagine riding in a box wagon for t he fourteen or brother, so when Grandmother Mehling became a fifteen miles to our new log cabin home. The one room widow, she moved in with Mother's family, (Winks). log cabin , with one small window had cracks between Dad came to[...]s. Before they did that, factory . Mother, along with Grandmot her and Uncle (the ground was fr[...]couldn't get any soil), Jake come in 1907. Most of Mot her's fri ends and t hey covered the walls with canvas that they had relatives tried to discourage her from coming , telling obtained from t he sugar factory after it was too worn to her[...]the U.S. by use t here. They hung containers of eggs up near the this time. Mother and Dad were[...]any girl friends, he forgot and cooking was a cast iron wood and coal stove, no all about them[...]warming oven, just a flat top. I remember we had a There was another Mehling, Conrad, probably a curtain dividing the cabin. One end was the bedroom distant cousin, that the family had sort of adopted, who and t he other t he kitchen and dining room, with a space lived with them. He went on his own soon after he and[...]he lived in the Park City kitchen area was a stove, cupboard and table and area of Montana. maybe a couple of benches. I don't remember any chairs[...]were no closets, etc. for On the train one of the strange foods (to t hem)[...]ich Mother just couldn't eat. Later it became one of her favorites. I t hink the place trunk. The[...]Since water had to be hauled from the irrigation[...]ditch, the first thing Dad did was to put up a windmill April, 1908 Mother almost died from childbirth even before the well was dug.[...]rses good water that later was used to water a garden and came to shave her ( with long razors) she became so orchard above the irrigation ditch. He built a barn with frightened,- thought she was going to be butchered - part of it used for a granary. One time during a bad she had to be held down until s he went to sl[...]ome if he hundred feet. couldn't refrain from breaking rules. Later tha t summer Our closest neighbors, Cotters, were two brothers, the baby, a boy, died from s ummer complaint. bachelors. We ch[...]inter They were still filling barrels with water from the ditch where Dad and Uncle J ake worked in the[...]y. for cooking and drinking. They had bought a cow, their first, one summer. When[...]ak English while learning to read and the cow and with the money bought a "Talking write at the same time, meant I didn't know what was Machine", an Edison phonograph with cylinder records going on mo t of the time. Of course, children always and a big horn with the prettiest big red roses on it. learn fir[...]hey lived got me into trouble. For instance, a boy itting in front in a sod house where I was born. I was told that during of me turned around and grabbed my pencil and broke a hurricane the roof blew off.[...]me it at anoth r de k. was able, she put me into a little wagon and took me Of course, I said I didn't swear. I didn't ev n know[...]she could help finish harvesting what the word " swear" meant! beets. Uncle Jake was driving a horse drawn puller There was quite a lot of prejudice against the (before days of tractors) and all of a sudden here was I German-Russians that soon fo[...]tle wagon between two horses. The folks remember one time someone wa mi sing some hams always told me they plowed me out of the beet field! from their ice house and tho e foreigners were blamed. The rabbits brought all of you that were born in It turned out th[...]some good friends who were helpful to u as well a we have done quite well as farm tenants in ebrask[...]this Conrad Mehling, mentioned before, came ahead of beets were raised in the area. The crops w[...]on the farm , so the animal fertilizer was under a partnership, "Mehling Brothers " . an added bonus.[...] |
| [...]t know people in School District 16 was a desire and need that where, maybe Sheridan, Wyoming and Lodge Grass. became a reality when the Community School was It was[...]ine and ten were included in the grandmother came from Scotts Bluff. They bought classrooms, and a horsedrawn school bus provided the another farm f[...]ven or eight) sugar beets were school students from the local district were boarded raised in the valley. At first they had to be hauled all with families in Hardin at the parents' expense. Some the way to Hardin. Later beet dumps were put along of the students worked for their room and board. the[...]town. Finally, the sugar company and railroad put a line down the valley so the beets could be shipped by rail to Sheridan, Wyoming. Later a sugar factory was built at Harnin.[...]Verne was born in Illinois, the son of David and[...]e Melville. Myrtle was born in Iowa, the daughter of[...]a few years where they farmed. While in Mi souri, t[...]ears, tr. and Mrs. Paul S chafer [1931] daughter of George erne and Myrtle decided to take th[...]family arrived in Hardin, Montana in the spring of 191 . Finding a farm close to a cou in of Myrtle's, Mrs. During World War I all German[...]by her friends), closed. The German-Russian came from a strict the elville family moved into a log house located Lutheran background. Dad built a new home to replace about one mile north of the Fairview Cemetery. On a the cabin where brother John, Florence and nne were cold and snowy day in ovember of 1919, their son born. Wilma was born after we mov[...]was born. Their daughters Mildred and Helen place a mile from the original homesite. All the children attende[...]home and located about one-half mile south of the Ed Torske communion services held there, sinc[...]uated in 1924 and 1926 respectively. Soon. we had a church built in Hardin. We shared a After farming the land for a few years, the Melville minister who came every other Sunday from Worden . family moved to the vall[...] |
| [...]ar the Nine Mile School. Their son, Ver- men a day on an average during this time. nard, attende[...]n Hardin. In the early 1930's the family moved to a dry land farm located on the North Bench where Verne and Myrtle remained for the rest of their lives. Verne and Myrtle celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary in the community room of the court house where a large number of friends and neighbors gathered for the occasion. They celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary at home with their family.[...]{Mrs. Sam Ragland], Helen [M rs. H arold Swant], A rdelia [Mrs. Kirkman], Vernard MeluiUe, 1935[...]Mr. and Mrs. ick Miklovich are natives of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, where they were married in[...]rs. came in 1912. On the trip she saw the sinking of the Titanic, as her ship was one in the immediate[...]ed in the coal mines at Dietz. They always raised a large garden. Their two daughters, Martha and Sophie would drive to Sheridan with a wagon load of £re h garden vegetables. The girls would go from house to hou e until the vegetables were all old. They moved to Lodge Grass in 1926 and opened a confectionery store, later meats and groceries were added. It was cal[...]ch Supply. Mr. Miklovich's hobby was raising a beautiful ick Miklouich and Gran[...]eight trains that would be Aron on, Governor of Montana at that time wa one of sidetracked at Lodge Grass for a short time. The word the 200 guests a[...] |
| [...]Prentiss Bliss, daughter of a Grand Rapids, Michigan,[...]after serving as a brigade surgeon during the Civil War.[...]Dr. Bliss was the surgeon in charge of President Garfield at the time of the assassination, 1881. Eugenie[...]In 1880, after completing a course in law at the[...]Besides supervising the building of Crow Agency and the layout of the Reservation, he had responsibilities[...]toward the other agencies of his jurisdiction until[...]elected judge of the Seventh District of Montana:[...]declining a renomination, he resumed his practice,[...]In 1900, as candidate of the Democratic, Populist,[...]Associate Justice of Montana's Supreme Court. Barely[...]er The Miklovich retired in 194 . They built a lovely |
| "From newspaper articles, Milburn was in Miles City in assisted with the loading of the cattle at Spear Siding 1883 on business connected with Indian affairs. He for shipment to the markets. attended the organization of the Montana There were many forms of entertainment that' we Stockgrowers Association in 1884 at Miles City. His had the privilege of participating in. During the winter, name, along with Theodore Roosevelt's name is in a we often skated on the Little Horn River. My father, record book of the old Miles City Club in 1884. Some having been a fine figure skater, helped us with the years ago, I looked this up in this record book and early training in skating. We often went with our sleds found that someone had cut out the signature of and toboggan on the hills nearby. Our folks took us for Theodore Roosevelt with a knife! In this record book of rides in our large sleigh on days when the snow was 1884, Milburn gave his address as Fort Custer, MT." well-packed and good for sleighing. At the time of his mother's death, Jack Milburn Another great form of recreation were the barn and his sister Roszelle, much younger than the two dances. We enjoyed many of these at our neighbors. I older boys, Paul W. and Eugene, were only seven and remember, in particular, of going to the Matt Tschirgi nine. He adds a word of gratitude to Mrs. L. A. Huff- ranch for this. The children in the families were always man, wife of the great Wes tern photographer and a dear included in this pastime. Benches were set up for them friend of Eugenie Milburn. She insisted upon coming to sleep on, when they became drowsy, as the dances from Miles City with her own two children to Helena to usually las[...]ially to make our large living room, and had a player piano which sure that the two youngest got[...]e served for music. they needed. She stayed a year. My first swimming was done in the Little Hom Here is a story in Jack Milburn 's words: "Before River[...]that valley learned to swim in the vicinity of our place, assignment to Montana and Fort Custer,[...]g was another happy pastime. It not only asked by a close friend of Mrs. Milburn, the wife of Lt. was a form of entertainment, but provided food for the Crittenden who was killed with General Custer in the table. Hunting for duck and pheasant was a great Battle of the Little Big Horn, to try to find the gold[...]er husband when they were We had a large vegetable garden, which we married. It carr[...]onate inscription con- children had to help with. Also, there were numerous taining his name and r[...]d to care She hoped that it might be in the hands of an Indian for. When the harvesting of the wheat fields took place, who had robbed the b[...]e always looked forward "Through the efforts of Indian agents, the watch to the baying time,[...]1. (He) In order to have the advantage of further sent the watch to Mrs . Crittenden in Washington .... " education, we moved to Hardin, ontana[...]While attending high school, I had the pleasure of visiting at the cattle ranch homes of students, located in various parts of Big Horn County, and there were MEMORIES OF LIFE ON many happy time wh[...]ller Reynolds I feel it wa a marvelous opportunity to have been I have many fond memories of life on our cattle raised in Big Hom ounty,[...]anch on the Little Hom River, located eight miles from privileg of early ranch life. Wyola, Montana. My parents, Mr.[...]moved to the ranch in 1915, when I was four Years of age. My sister and two brothers went also. I attended my first year of school at the little one BOB A BILLIE MILLER FAMILIE room school house, which was two miles from the ranch. By Flor nee Miller Wells We usually rode horseback to and from school, and Robert Jam "Bob" iller was born December , what a wonderful experience that was. The school 1877 in Calais, Maine, the eld t on of . L. and consisted of grades one through the eighth, and all Minnie A. Miller. Hi father and brother-in-law had grades[...]r, but we did gone W t to look for work and a drier, healthier not lack for good training and e[...], Wyoming, working on the building of the railroad especially in the summer. We enjoyed[...]t 1 . they have many pleasant memories of this, too. I Bob told of the trip w ta fun, be tuck hi bead out of remember how much Rev. Cory, of the First the train window and lost hi hat, and he had to wear Congregational Church of Hardin, enjoyed his his sister's hat all the r st of the way to Cheyenne. vacations yearly, with us. After so[...]others and my sister and I were fortunate to of Charles Coffee near Harri on, ebraska, in the and[...]. While hi father was employed at this ranch life of that era. We went on the round-ups, helped ranch, the family took up a homestead where they with the branding of the cattle, and my brothers cont[...] |
| his older sister, Evelyn, herded their few head of cattle Schoolhouse. They left Pass Creek in 1915 and bought a near the cabin using two old gentle steers as their ranch on Lodge Grass Creek in Montana, from Charles "horses".[...]into Wyoming in the spring and shipping the beef from December 8, 1961, his 84th birthday. Orion Junction, Wyoming in the fall, returning the balance of herds to ranchers for winter. He was thus employed at the time of the Johnson County War, or the War on Powder River. He said he could have been there except that one of the older men knew there was to be trouble and co[...]to be involved and sent him back to headquarters with a bunch of horses. He knew most all ot the people in- volved[...]brought his younger brother Wm. . "Billie" Miller from ebraska to work for the pears. The first winter Billie stayed with the "Doc" pear family in Big Horn, Wyoming and[...]At one time, between 1901-1904, Bob served as a Deputy Sheriff under A. J. "Andy" Nelson. 1n 1905 he was voted one of the seven successful contestants in the !Cheyenne[...]. and Emma J. Critchett, who had come to Sheridan from Plattsmouth, ebraska. Mr. Critchett came as a brakeman on the first freight train in heridan, Wyoming. In the fall of 1906 Bob and Elda went to the Bay tate Ranch at Tensleep, Wyoming on business for the Bank of Commerce in Sheridan. In the spring of 1907 he sent for his brother Billie Miller to bring some horses over the mountain from Buffalo to Tensleep, the route of the present hiway. When his busines was finished[...]here he had met his future wife, Miss Laura Brown of t. Paul, Minn. who was visiting her sister at the[...]children finished school while Billie established a ranch on Lodge Grass Creek near his[...]e and her husband, M. T . 1966. Mrs. Miller lives with her children. "Curly" Wells, con[...]ent to work for E. L. Dana at his Pass Creek with their own until it was sold in 1971 to Irwin and[...]their second daughter Fay M. Maurice Hults of another old-time family. was born and passed away[...]M. T. Wells came to Lodge Grass, Montana from and Florence started to school in the old[...] |
| [...]tle Co. He later worked for W. B. wasn't much. A number of homesteaders received their " Junior" Spear, before getting a place of his own and mail at the post office. marrying.[...]nded and the post Robert J. "Bob" Miller was a member of Montana office was moved farther along the rou te. Later it was Stockgrowers Assoc., being a Past President. A abandoned, but the mail route from Big Horn is still in member of Elks Lodge in Sheridan and a member of existence, with its Tuesday and Friday service. Masonic Lodge #8[...]ted the first grade at the Maschetah school , and of Al Bedoo Shrine Temple in Billings, Montana.[...]rea people in 1918. Mrs. Viola At one time he was a member of their Black Horse Bair, of Hardin, was my first grade teacher. Patrol. In the late 1930's he served as Representative of Big Horn County in the Montana State Legislature.[...]George C. Miller with his work team-note burlap bags[...]iller, and myself came to Big Horn County in 1916 from Central City, Colorado. My brother, Edmund A., was born in 1918. We homesteaded in the Tullock Creek area at what was known as Maschetah. There was a post office by that name, and the mail came by team and buggy from Big Horn, lontana. The first Maschetah post[...]became postmistress. All the income she received from the job was equivalent to the amount of cancelled stamps on the out-going mail, wh[...] |
| [...]lis, Ruth O'Brien, and Mrs. Bland. Mrs. this area with a lot of extra-large machinery, for those Pope was the[...]children at- earJy time . The machinery included a Model 25-30 tended High School in Lodge Grass. ultman Taylor tractor, a grain thresher, a saw mill, an alfalfa seed thresher, and other machinery to farm with which proved to be much too large and cumbersome, and not at all suited for farming in this type of country. The ultman-Taylor tractor would use up to fifty gallon of gasoline a day and all of it had to be hauled by team and wagon at least twenty miles from Hardin in fifty gallon teel barrels. To say the l[...]We spent several winters in the Wolf Mountains of the arpy area where my father and Uncle Andrew operated their saw-mill with the large tractor for power. ll the trees were cut by a two-man cross-cut saw and the logs were skidded on the snow, one at a time, with a team of horse . The lumber was sold to the home teaders.[...]Walter Miller, born January 11, 1893, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Dudely Miller of Burwell, ebraska. He came to Decker, Montana in[...]is sister, who is Mrs. Fred Tetschner, also crune with Walter to homestead near.[...]918. sons Glenn and Walter, Jr. continued with the farming They were married at Sheridan, Wyomin[...]on the ranch. Walter, Jr. lost his life in a car accident a Je ie Maus Miller came to Hardin from Shell few years ago. Junior's two sons Wade and Paul Miller, City, issouri, with her parents, Albert and Ida Maus. and Glenn Miller have taken over the ranch work at lbert Maus was a carpenter and came to Montana to present. Glenn, who married Juanita Fenton of Lodge help build homes for the newcomers. daughter of Grass, lives on the former Francis Brown plac[...]ert and Ida' • Mrs. Bob Mau • and husband had a son Wayne, and daughter Linda and husband help with place between Toluca and Corinth, and urged her[...]Mrs. J. J. Ping and Mrs. Walter Miller came from name happened to be the ame as her maiden name.[...]dchildren. he 1920 the Millers bought a five ere tract of land about continue to live on the ranch. w[...]actory i located now. One summer they farmed with Harold Sult on Big Owl near Lodge Gras and liked that part of the . L. MIT HEL[...]ale. They [Note: The following is from a letter from former· moved on this place in 1929. Later they were able to mayor, A. L. Mitchell, Oceanside, California, dated 1· en[...]es. Cattle and wheat were their main cash " . . . .Carl Rankin has much of pre-Hardin history. Also crop . 11 of their ranch work u ed to be done with with him are Corwin, Lawler, Franklin, Eder et aJ, who[...]n over completely at homesteaded there with us. Vickers and associate have present.[...]in mind and files a long line of history. Corwin and Two sons and one daughter were born to the Franklin were right along with me in building of Low Walter Miller family. Bernice in 1918, Walter Jr. in Line Canal. Lawler and Brotherson were much with me 1920, and Glenn in 1924. The Miller children traveled while mayor of Hardin when major improvements were three miles to a country chool on Little Owl. Some of made. Lawler, Eder know the history of creation of the their teachers were Mrs. Byron Covingt[...] |
| [...]Wyoming, and ride horseback to and from school. he[...]nch or anything else she needed. he received $100 a month for nine months a good salary at that time.[...]married Alva Montgomery, of Wyola, Montana and in[...]the four upper grades of the two room school building.[...]spoke no English. "A first for all of us, but we sur- vived," she said. Every once in a while, seven or eight wagons and buggies filled with Indian parents would draw up in the[...]about a Crow child she had scolded, and wondered if she[...]were only interested in the welfare of their children and[...]The school bus in the beginning was a horse-drawn affair with a stove rigged up inside to keep the pupils[...]warm. The smoke streaming from the small stove could Mrs. A. L. Mitchell, wife of Hardin's first mayor be seen long before t[...]after nine for the bus students, to start clas es with 17 years, ov. 1906 to ov. '23 history of Hardin and a full attendance. the surrounding country. Ask Law[...], etc. Billings. Th.e teachers and patron of the yola chool Fred Miller about ice skating rinks that I built with co-operated very well. They had an active P . T. A. with expense money allowed me by city for a trip. There is a interested parents as members. A large modern chool world of history centered there, made by the best bunch building was completed in 1957. of folks ever known. Mr. Warren can give you much. The General Federation of omen ' lubs Don't overlook Mr. Br[...]s for Teachers" program in 1957. visit Hardin for a long time and again live the only part r . Montgomery wa an entry for the Wyola of my life that wa real. It was made up of real folks and Woman 's Club and wa delighted wh n he was cho en real work .... " outstanding teacher for 1957 for the tate of Montana [signed]Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Mitchell by the Women ' lub .[...]tendent of chool at that time, fellow teacher , chool[...]Board members, and parents arranged a urpri[...]nasuim in May 1967. r . Lipp rt p ented her with a Altha Wallace Montgomery was born in Sheridan, scrap book containing the names of all th pupils, over Wyoming April 3, 1904, the daughter of John and 1500, she had taught during the ear at Wyola hool. Frances Wallace of Parkman, Wyoming. he had two Three generation of the tewart family presented her younger brothers, Gilbert, who lives at Arlington, with forty -two red apple at this party. he truly ap·[...]. " Happy Retirement." Later that year the Wyola In· After graduating from Sheridan , Wyoming High dian parent and pupils gave her a party and gif he hool in 1922, and going to the University of values greatly. The 1ontgomerys move[...]Wyoming six weeks summer school, she was granted a that spring. Temporary Certificate to teach a country chool known In ovember of 1967, Mr. Lippert resigned as Big as the " Owens " school. To continue teachlng, she was Horn County uperintendent of chools and she was required to write teacher's ex[...]t later in the school year. and erved a uperintendent for thr y ar and two[...] |
| months, making a total of forty-seven years in around a lot. I attended school at Thermopolis, Lovell, ed[...]ries bridge as my father was helping build a heavier bridge. are of Wyola and the friends they have made all over I walked to school from the bridge, sometimes, Mr. Big Hom County. Nayumatsu, father of the Nayumatsus now living in[...]Hardin, would give me a ride on his new railroad motor[...]r. I attended school in Hardin until 1918 and was a member of the first basketball team. I enrolled at the[...]Bozeman college for a time.[...]bridges I worked with him. After we moved to Wyola in[...]Once when we were working on some of the state[...]bridges we had to dig down to cut off some of the rotted piling. One of the holes was deep enough to use a ladder[...]was down in the hole alone when a rattle snake fell out of the back of the wall. I got out of there without a Alva and Altha Montgomery on their Golden Wedding[...]y, Alva Montgomery at left. Alva Montgomery helps with branding at Spear Siding near Wyo/a. I married Altha Wallace from Parkman, Wyoming[...]farming and ranching for a while and did very well, then ALVA[...]as born ovember , 1 9 , s I was a heavy equipment operator, I went back in a sod house at Eddyville. ebraska, the only on of to dirt and construction work. I worked o[...]oad by the airport at Hardin by train just before a cyclone hit the mall Billing , the Tong[...]a. I old the Willow Creek dam. I took care of the roads and the Billings Gazette and Denver Post at the Toluca plowed snow with a road patrol for about eventeen rooming and boarding hou a everyone coming in on years, at Wyola[...]s. the train had to stay overnight at Toluca. One of my Th big snow storm in pril 1955 wa[...]Cody. chers to get feed to their stock a well as trying to keep Sometimes he would buy all[...]hile before all this was ac- give everyone around a paper. He was a big man with a complished. hearty laugh , a true howman . My years as a cowboy and ranching were the most My mother and a Mrs. Harrington, a railroad enjoyable of my life. I worked for Spears and the engineer's w[...]ntler ranch as well as for myself. I worked with only child living there and for once I was the st[...]known and real cow hand during that My father was with the railroad bridge crew and moved[...] |
| [...]In 1913, Montgomery's moved to Hardin to build a[...]er cafe in Hardin. Alva Montgomery loading trucks with dirt while They sold the cafe after about a year and a half and building the Willow Creek dam.[...]Company. They built a bridge over the Little Hom near Part of our recreation and fond memories are the Har[...]d to Hardin in 1967 as they had to be out in a camp. and are now living in Hardin, Montana. Our[...]farming. Mrs. Montgomery ran a cafe in Wyola during[...]Whitten was born at Crete, ebraska lived in a small house near her son until her death in September 27, 1871 the daughter of Andrew and Laura 1959. Whitten. Charles W.[...]t Brook- field, Missouri August 24, 1877, the son of Clayborn and Hattie Montgomery. Charles came to e[...]here he worked in the Bozeman Flour Mill. ora and a[...]lived on a plac near al vill , now known a Gallatin[...]north of the pr nt Fairview metery, wh re lb y[...]tion about thr mil north. He u a team of hor and broke th land out of od.[...]was born th r . fter two ear they bought a home-[...]Dena, wa born here in 1922. till farming with hor ,[...]to round them up. Thi was quite a job becau e th y[...] |
| [...]Morissette, came from East Moline, Illinois to the[...]Billings Land Office in the fall of 1909 to make the first payment of $166.71 on his homestead, Sections 12 and[...]13, Township IS, Range 32E consisting of 151.05 acres.[...]and fifth Crow payments which with fees totaled[...]In March of 1910 Delbert or Del, as he was known, and a cousin, Will Carius, who was to be a neighboring[...]Burlington Railroad from Moline, Illinois to Hardin.[...]Delbert's belongings on the car included: a walking The home place[...]seed wheat, seed barley, a grain drill, harrows, lumber for a shed, feed for the animals, machinist's tools, on[...]cat, two dogs, a wood burning kitchen range, a tent, a In 1925, due to death in the family , a surviving bed, a clock, and a good Kodak camera with which the niece, Lois, joined the family. During[...]tt Morissette, left During the dry thirty's a big garden was planted in her German relatives[...]her husband. saddle up the horse "Old Lady", tie a small wagon on The couple bought a wagon in Hardin and moved behind and head for the garden. After the vegetables their belongings from the immigrant car to the barren, were picked the[...]dry land homestead site six miles northwest of Hardin. the wagon was filled. After getting home, Cora would They lived in a tent until a shed was finished. can up to nine-hundred quarts[...]inter use. In later years William donated an acre of land to the school district so a new schoolhouse could be built. The chool was also used for community ac- tivitie , and a Sunday school was started. Christmas programs wer[...]Fig. 1. Edith writes of this first home: This is my away and William in 1961. husband, Delbert, on a wagon in front of our first cabin.[...]He was going after wa ter at t he well about a mile away.[...]place either, so we all brou ght water from a well we[...]and handy as possible, so I made myself a porch shade.[...]a couple of poles across the top and spread a length of[...]"On the north side of our cabin, you can see our water barrels and a bench which I built. Also on the[...]window is a water bag, which every farmer had to have.[...]It is made of tig'3tly woven canvas. As long as it hangs[...]ere the air can strike it. the water remains cool." The William Moore Family: Dan and Francis[...] |
| Fig. 2. Edith said, "Although many of the homesteaders bought their lumber at the Lost Boy Fig. 4. This scene includes all of the buildings on Sawmill, Delbert cut the trees a[...]he fancy Holstein dairy cows. Later Delbert added a the spaces between the logs, filling in the spaces with silo with a beautiful hardwood floor. The shed at the wood ch[...]he couple while they "The log house had only a dirt floor the first few built the "loggie". years, and as soon as we could we put down a pine floor, The large white alkali patc[...]foreground, tell-tale signs of marginal land, held no "While we were buildi[...]s. Three decades were cold at night we covered up with new horse blankets. to pass before the l[...]ght at Mr. and Mrs. maximum yield. A 160 acre homestead could not Peden's store, where the homesteaders bought produce enough for a family to survive. Summer groceries and supplies,[...]ange cattle accounts at harvest time. In the back of the store instead of dairy herds would thrive on the dry land. around a pot bellied stove, all the women who had come Like other homesteaders, the[...]ir husbands were ready that Illinois methods of farming and cattle raising to start the return wagon trip home." would not work in southea[...]Fig. 3. "Before Delbert and I came to Montana," Fig. 5. Five men from the Hardin area went to Edith recalls, "we asked my uncle from oline, Illinois, Black Canyon to hunt in the fall of 1914. Delbert acted to come with us, but he was afraid of the Indians. as guide and drove his team with the wagon of uppli . "The first Fourth of July celebration after we were Left to rig[...]der, Dr. 0 . . Haverfield, Charl Blanken hip, one of the Indian men, Scratches the Face, if he would Moris ette, and Charle Eder. get in a picture with my neighbor, Mrs. Ethleen weely, Hunting[...]s or longer - until stood off to one side and had a good laugh. Soon the supplies ran out.[...]While the men hunted, their young wive a sumed hu band took the picture. We sent my uncle one of the all the re ponsibilities of the home tead and their pictures, hoping he would come. He still never came. " famili for the duration of the trip. Perhaps the name of the Crow friend did not The chneiders' daughter, Dorothy, a young child reassure him.[...]the time, remembers this trip. "I wanted my daddy,"[...] |
| [...], 'When is Daddy coming Delbert was a machinist and a tool maker by trade. back?' In exasperation Mother, weary from the chores In New York state he worked o[...]ow if the damned Hudson river. Working as a machinist for the bridge old fool is ever coming back."' company, he helped[...]Automobile Company of Moline. Even though he[...]completed only the first two grades in a French-[...]Delbert was ingenious to the point of being able to do[...]icture, left to right, Earl and Ray, the two sons of the Morissettes, are playing on the woodpile near[...]t asked the district Fig. 8. "This is a picture of Ethleen Sweely (on the surveyor to locate the sec[...]aders' wives, worlring at this point, Delbert dug a hole, and set a large pitch pine my wood pile-just for fun-," said Edith, "their pole for the corner post. He cut the top of the post off children; Henry Carius, sitting on the stump; his sister flat and drove a long nail on the side toward the sun, so Bernice, standing; and Edwin Sweely, sitting on the the shadow of the nail fell across the post from south to ground. north. Exactly at noon, he p[...]ch so "I used to saw and split wood a lot-sometimes the shadow of the nail crossed from 6 o'clock to 12 because I needed the wood, but more often just for o'clock. This gave him a true north-south line. True east something to[...]lock and true west was at 9 o'clock. He of the time the first and second years. He would work carefully drove nails at the positions of 12, 3, and 9. for others with our horses and machinery as we were These nails b[...]"Later Delbert took a taxidermy course by[...]in the long winter evenings, and he became a skilled[...]than farming during the years of drought and failure." Edith said "If anyone ever asks what we ac-[...]we blazed the trail for the others who followed."[...]JACK] Fig. 7. Delbert's compass and transit. With the aid In 1923 my folks homesteaded in Decker and later of a neighbor he sited across two of the nails and bought the Phil Cotton Place on the Tongue River. The located a point about one quarter of a mile down the present town of Decker is on this ranch. boundary line. He then tied a rag around the wagon We four girl[...]g the was it ever cold! We walked a mile to school, and in the revolutions of the wheel, he stopped at a point that winter we had to wait about twenty minutes for our gave him exactly one quarter of a mile. Here he dug overshoes to thaw bef[...]r post. During the cold weather, mothers of the children would Using this crude but effective method of surveying, this send kettle of rich stew to school. these were heated on twenty-[...]vey placed Ednis Carroll, daughter of earlier homesteaders, bronze markers in this area, they were within inches of taught the school for three year . W[...] |
| [...]ts" when adults and for Virginia City from St. Joseph, Missouri, carrying nearby schools pre[...]ecided to go into the cattle business in sled box with hay and we had lots of quilts, so we Montana. He traded his fr[...]Lake for cattle which he drove to the to the back of the sled. Two other teams were tied to the Jef[...]cKinney, Roy McKinney, Jimmy herd of cattle into the Shields River valley about 1877,[...]McQueen, and Presumed to be a confirmed bachelor, he met a Helen, Ellen, Wilma, and Alice Burns. pretty young girl who had come out from Minneapolis Squirrel Creek began as a dance hall. There were to join her father who was U. S. Agent for the Crow not enough children for a school, but they put up a Indians. The Agency was then at Mission-east of building of large logs with bullets still imbedded from where Livingston now is. They were married in 1880 an Indian-Crook fight. The people wanted a good floor , and had four daughters- Harriet[...]floor. Four men went to Sheridan to cattle from the Shields Valley to the station which is get the lumber, they also took on loads of something now known as Myers, and shipped[...]d else. They reached Squirrel Creek in the middle of the of cattle from that point which was named for him. He night and decided to finish the work, by laying the floor was a member of the first Constitutional Convention and nailing (with big nails) straight through tongue repres[...]ever used his homestead right, so popular and for a long time those four "helpful" fellows when the Crow reservation was opened he decided to didn't receive a very cordial welcome at the dances. "pioneer" again. He drew a low number, and filed on When the school-age population needed a school, land one and one-half miles southwest of Hardin. The they used this building until the pre[...]Two-Leggio Canal had been surveyed so he selected a School was built, about 1915. choice piece of land just below the canal, but much to[...]his disappointment and to that of others as well, they JACK MU[...]921 and worked at place. The next year a hail storm took a beautiful crop Forty-Mile and other cow-outfits, especially the Spear of winter wheat. So be was again going through pione[...], who had land- office. We looked at all the maps of the been teaching in Billings, was[...](by ran· ashington Hall school west of Hardin, and to run for chers taking land around it) but I filed on it right away. ounty Superintendent of School of th newly formed Cliff Randall surveyed it for me[...]Big I-lorn ounty. The idea intrigued her. he a fly." They didn't want me in there, so they flooded elected and re-elected to a second term, but res~gned in meadows, wired gates shut, and did everything to make the middle of the latter in order to marry Walter life d----- miserable. My place was about a quarter of a Hammer, the County Treasurer. He was also one of the mile above the Rosebud X-4 House.[...]homesteaders on the Reservation, living there a few I raised cattle, and in the spring of 1929, I worked years after finishing his term. Later h was again for W. V. Johnson. I built a log cabin and in 1933 I elected County Tr[...]o lives in the Ozarks; James in irginia, and Mary of Both are buried in Fairview Cemetery of Hardin. Tasmania, Australia.[...]ni M. Hammer When quite young, to win a 5.00 bet, I rode a in 1957 and Montana M. an Doren in 1962[...]ging bridge over the It seems sort of ironic that I, l'S. Hammer's only Little Horn Riv[...]ight along and when we reached At the time of Mrs. Hammer's death, my husband and the other sid[...]r property here. We had both just retired made it." and bought a trailer, intending to travel and see where[...]had no doubt in his mind that he wanted to have a THE ALFRED MYERS FAMILY[...]ter After two years of traveling from coa t to coast we My father, Alfred Myers, was a real pioneer, not decided to take over the Hardin house. I had many fond only of Hardin but of Montana. He first came to remembrances of my girlhood days here and there were Montana in 1866 as a "freighter" with mining supplie still quite a few of the old timers here although many[...] |
| [...](Mrs. George Clappin), all of Butte, and Jim Brown. Mr. Potter passed away in 1971. I spend the greater part of the year here, but go to Phoenix, Arizona for the[...]s. LIFE OF S. B. [BUD] NOVARK[...]the train at Crow Agency on a cold, blustery day in the Hardin, Montana (1916-1955] winter of 1915. They were to take up a homestead in the By Amber A. Cook Sarpy Hills. The[...]in the brother Roy Barnard. There followed a blizzard that Gallatin Valley near Bozeman, Montana. He was one of lasted t hree or four days. A former friend from Chicago nine children born to John and Lucy ewel[...]welcome. They stayed with the Steens until the storm In 1903, Joseph married Nettie Chute. They had a subsided. daughter, Blanche. Nettie died of pneumonia in 1906. When they embarke[...]rs. Albert Steen). a bobsled in which to travel and warmed bricks[...]apped in burlap. Montana for Hardin. They came in a lumber wagon Roy had taken a homestead, and his sister decided with all their belongings. It took five days to make t[...]omestead too. The house in which Bud and his trip from Roberts to Hardin, where Joe had a contract mother lived was very crude, with a dirt floor and sod to sell Raleigh Products.[...]e hard-packed dirt floor Joe spent the rest of his life in the Hardin area. He before sweeping it . held a variety of jobs. He stacked hay for Bill Reno,[...]eeded to go to town for moved to Sorrel Horse for a couple of years- the three groceries (usually twice a year), several banded children started school the[...]took two large wagons and bought Hardin, and ran a dairy for Dr. Labbitt. Later, he suppl[...]al delivered milk for Harvey Barnett who also had a dairy. hundred pounds of staples such as : sugar, flour, etc. About[...]in Brown They usually made it t o the home of Mrs. Weast (Mrs. place. While here he worked for the city of Hardin-he Lee Secrest's mother ) which was called " Half-Way had a contract to haul garbage. It was here that a fire House." Mrs. Weast would put them up for the night, destr[...]loss was heavy as and they made it the rest of the way to Hardin the he had no insurance. He had[...]e. T hey usually managed to have Wier circulated a petition around town and collected enough[...]Gradually they made improvements such as a harness to carry out his city contract.[...]hickens were kep t under the house. They acquired a property of late J. J. Ping. Here he operated a truck milk cow and some hogs, so they wer[...]e Holly their diets as well as their way of living . Sugar Corporation. He worked there until[...]ell and broke his hip, crippling him for the rest of his life. Joseph ewell died in the Hardin Hospital in September of 1955. His wife, usan, is a patient in the Hardin Hospital, and has been for[...]en attended Hardin chools and graduated from Hardin High School. Most of his family still live in the Hardin Area. J[...]ave four children: Jackie (Mrs. Coil Redding Jr.) of Big Horn, Tom of Anaconda, Ray of Billings, and Janet (Mrs. Lon Rusk), Hardin.[...]bert Harlin) and Sharla (Mrs. Larry Bastrom) both of Hardin. Isabelle and Albert have two children; Betty (Mrs. Edward Whaley) Hardin and John Steen of Delta, Colorado. Blanche and her hus[...] |
| [...]his the homestead for sometime. Later Chub served a term occurred, my mother sent my sister Ell[...]as county assessor, and after that he cooked for a road doctor. She didn't know where the doctor[...]his office, so she just ran in the direction of town. After In January of 1921 a son was born to Mabel and running several blocks, she was stricken with a stitch in Chub- Robert Franklin who now lives in[...]her side and dropped to the ground in front of a house nadino, California. At about that time, Chub and a on Custer Ave. A man, who had apparently seen her partner Mr. McGiboney, purchased the Mission Cafe. fall, came out of the house and asked what was the In November of 1924 another son, Herbert Ellis, was matter. She said she had to find a doctor as her baby born. Herbert and his family a[...]sister was choking. He said, "I'm the Doctor." She make their home in Hardin. Chub continued to[...]ally supported himself since he was ten, a feeble cry. The doctor's name was Orville Haverfi[...]always called Dr. 0. S. (as he was Goering, owner of a meat-market. In 1928 he went to affectiona[...]thirteen years. Bud was forced to retire because of ill health. They have four children: Bernard of Hardin, Beverly (Mrs. Victor Yerger) of Forsyth, Richard of Salt Lake City, Utah, and Cheryl (Mrs. Jake Strec[...]Dori ovark Among my earliest memories of Hardin was one of my mother talring me in our buggy pulled by our h[...]e usually drove out to the cemetery several times a month (during the summer) to take flowers and dec[...]ather's grave. My grandfather, elson, had lived with our family most of my parents' married life. He had passed away at the age of 86, and Mrs. Vicker holding Dori , 1913 since I was only two years old at the time, most of my memori of him were hear· ay.[...]ll bow much my father wanted the Big Hom One of the s tories I wa told repeatedly about R[...]and I was end. He always felt that one day a dam would be built. fifteen months old, I had con[...]ed much work and printing towards getting Cough - a most dreaded disease at that time. I would[...]stationary regarding Hardin, and calling Hardin, " The run outside with me, probably thinking I would catch best little town by a dam· ite." It has been a great my breath faster in outside air. Sev[...] |
| [...]Novark and I were married and have She had a brother, Charles. Her father went alone on lived[...]eturned. After some years, her mother married one of grandchildren.[...]AMILY The obituary of Mrs. O'Brien's half-sister, Marie[...]amily moved to Mrs. O'Brien's memories of that hotel were lively. Iowa and settled near Bedford. It was a place for various festivities. Theodore He[...]les City sometime in Roosevelt was sometimes a guest, as he traveled back about 1876 and spent some time there driving a team. and forth from Medora. He attended the dances, and at Also he drove a team at Fort Keogh, Crow Agency and one of them he picked up Marie, a toddler, and waltzed Fort Custer. around the room with her in his arms. Electa He came to the Rosebud creek near where Busby remembered working like a slave at the hotel, scrubbing now is and cooked at a ranch, the OD owned by a floors eternally. When she fell in lov[...]ation agent. Henry was Irish, City and worked at a sawmill on South Thompson and Mr. Ser[...]little place only Spring Creek on the west side of the Rosebud. He periodically, and Henry and Electa had planned to get joined fences with the Crow Reservation. He spent the married when the next one arrived, because on it there remainder of his life here until he was dragged to death was going to be a priest. But her step-father locked her on Februar[...], January 30, 1895; her window, in case of attempted escape, in which they Jessie O'Dell, Ap[...]After dark, Electa let her small trunk down from the chilch-en were born in Custer Co. and went t[...]in came, the priest was on it, and, Our way of travel was by team and wagon. In the by the[...]04 over by formed on the platform among a group of trainmen and Ranchester, Wyoming. His wages were $60.00 a month passengers. Some of these kind people were fresh fro~ and he came home maybe once a month. He put in the gold fields. They passed around a small, buckskin several days with Mother and children. eighbors prospector's sack and filled it with gold-dust and were few and far between. Later he farmed and raised nuggets, a gift for the bride. The engine hooted, the alfalfa, corn and a garden. We went to Sheridan twice a brakeman yelled, "A-a-ll aboard!" The O'Briens were year for groceries. We carried water from a spring about on their way to look at the Atlantic Ocean. a quarter of mile north of the house. On Saturday we They had on[...]missed, both boiler and we used the wash tub for a bath tub. We had O'Briens got jobs in the Ea[...]Cornell University, where he won a degree in civil I spent my life at home unt[...]in don't know whether I ever graduated from first grade." Greenwood County, Madison, Kansas, and came to It was from her that I heard the story of the wedding. Wyoming in 1902. He worked around Sheridan at She was a business woman all of her life. When I knew different cow outfits and i[...]traveled for Avon Montana and settled on the head of Leaf Rock Creek products, establishing a[...]d away on June 20, 1956. the railroad to be a bookkeeper in a Forsyth bank. Our family has one girl, May, March[...]By Edward A. Olenik By Carolyn R. Riebeth The Olenik Family of four boys and three girls Electa Getchell lived in this region from small lived about seventeen miles north of Hardin, in a large childhood to her marriage. She came with her family house almost a mile east of the highway. with the soldiers and workmen who built Fort Custer,[...]he river to the Suzda place, 1877. Her father was a civilian, I believe a blacksmith . where there was an old log[...] |
| [...]By Helen C. Olenik end of the pipe with mud, put powder in it, and, Joseph Olenik, born in Poland, 1883, was a plugged the other end with a wooden plug. John cut the graduate of the University of Prague, and homesteaded plug out, and Howard said[...]lower Big Horn Valley in 1906. Earlier he had off?" We found some string and put it in, then lit it. worked on the railroad, in a supervisory position while Boy! it exploded and the end of the pipe was just saving money to come to Montana. He lived with his shreds. It sure was lucky none of us were standing by! brother in Red Lodge[...]er. mother liked to talk Lithuanian and Hungarian with Their children are Mary (Mrs. Jack ewe[...]Harry Herbel) all of Hardin; Joe, Parma, Idaho; Ed,[...]Glen Ellen, California, and Bill of West Covina I used to go to High School with Roy and Jim California.[...]s spelled Oleinik, but due to overshoes in Ping's store. Mr. Ping was always nice to a misunderstanding the first "i" was omitted from his everyone.[...]ip papers. I used to walk to Fairview School, a mile from For many years he served on the school board of home. My parents wouldn't let me walk alone as th[...]- were afraid I'd fall asleep, so John would walk with me, munity projects. then walk home alone. S[...]ed in San Diego, and it was 78 degrees. The bunch from Wyoming and Montana stood around in that 78 degree weather with sheepskins and woolens because we didn't bring an[...]rthem Beans. My dad had planned to sell for $5.00 a sack-he had llOO sacks-but George said he was goi[...]. Dad didn't laugh at him; people didn't make fun of people[...]Juell They talk about depression nowadays; I remember dad coming home from town and telling mother (who was always worried a[...]THEOTT F ILY wire today because we need a fence to keep them in. We B AliceOUun have only 10 left in the bank." That seemed like a lot Mr. and Mrs. ils tt\m and th ir[...]Hardin in April 1913 from Osnabrock, orth Dakota . John, Joe, and I us[...]at 2 o'clock, Lyle would ask me Bench a year or two earlier wh n h visited the Tor- to br[...]ad to bought 80 acres in the valley north of Hardin, and the[...]le the buildings were built on ha e tea. All four of us would go to the house and have[...]Foster Hall, Kenneth, who died at fi e year of age, and u-gm1a . especially at Thanksgiving time. Everybody brought All of the children attended the Hardin Public turkeys,[...]es, and everything. I schools and most of them went on to graduate from especially remember how we used to gorge our elves. I college. They are now cattered from coast ot coa t but can still see Dave King as he sat there, and said, " l 've are well and keep in touch with family, relatives and ate enough to last me till next year." friends in Hardin. Two members of the family still live[...] |
| in Montana-Juell, who resides east of Hardin; and Our upright grand piano was the center of many Rachel (Ottun) Luger, who lives in Polson.[...]rrie) died in October, 1954, and Mr. blending with his off-spring. Any practice time had Ottun died[...]ried in the priority, the wail and screech of unschooled fingers on a lovely Fairview cemetery west of Hardin. violin or a blast from the cornet was not always for the sake of developing a skill. Mother tried to bring good[...]Edison phonograph. Many of these records are now[...]the actions and words of both parents. Ranch life, then, in terms of today was fairly simple, more natural, less[...]was a constant contest with the elements. In this real world of direct relationship with nature, God could not be crowded out of the mind. The wonders of his creation[...]Through the Montana Board of Education and the[...]Big Horn County, Father arranged for a school on the Mr. and Mrs. Nils Ottun ranch. The peal of a handsome wooden handled brass[...]bell penetrating every room and reverberating from[...]room in our home with desks, map standard, and a flag THE OWEN FAMILY was a miniature of a real class room. Another kind of By Kathleen Owen[...]-1957 touched by the sages and nobility of the range in the (German and English) cowboy personages of the Uncle Charlie Browns, and Children: *Myrtle Leona, *William Frances, John the George Rogers. A rancher has his own private Robert-Stockton, Cali[...]Snooks Zumwalt), three orphan children were given a home. There are 16 grand- children; and 8 great grandchildren. (*Children deceased). The coming of the herd law and the closing of grazing land in Oklahoma prompted Father to look to the north for a new location. In 1918 furniture and household wares were shipped in a box car with one-half of the freight car reserved for Father's prized horses. The Owens and their five younger children packed a Davis car and followed to make a new home. This cross country trip of 1600 miles over roads little more than a trail was filled with dust, mud, pathos, and laughter. The place t[...]W. F . Owen, "Big Dad" sixteen miles northeast of Lodge Grass. This piece of land, tucked back against the Wolf Mountains, visible for five miles from a saddleback was to become a Mother was the stabilizer and chief architect of the project for the family for years to come. The first home commissary. Her kitchen was a beehive of activity, for was already there, a half dugout. It was not long before it drew family and guests like bees to the blossoms of a nine-room home was constructed on a high hill clover. The huge iron stove with warming closet on the overlooking much of the cultivated land. Young maple top and w[...]and coal. How Mother mastered this monster has a their appearance as a result of Mother's green thumb. story all it's own. The young member.s of the family, with their tasks of The towering Big Horn Mountains, the back-drop carrying many buckets of water each evening during for all ranch work, beckoned to play. The beauty of it the growing season for the survival of this beauty, caught and held the eye and[...]full well his task must be done before the magic of the it.[...] |
| [...]sealed tight. The jars harvesting, and shipping of cattle. Dawn to dusk was were then taken to the creek, placed in gunny sacks and the usual day with pre-dawn coolness used more often anchored in the creek. It would keep from one to two than not.[...]months. Intermingled in the labor of weeks and months Household duties consisted of making bread, were times of prosperity, loss, deep sadness, high ch[...]at happiness. cleaning, washing clothes on a washboard, and carrying These family and personal emotions were crystalized by drinking water a quarter of a mile. many, many interwoven incidents. Some too sad-the I graduated from high school in Moravia. It was mind is reluctant[...]five miles each way and my sister and I drove a horse detail comes in bold relief, such as: and buggy. I had two years of college at Iowa State. I The drama of watching the wild horse chase from taught school for four years-two years in Mystic, the logs of the ranch stoop, in the amphitheatre of hills Iowa and two in Foster, Iowa. My salary was $65 a below. month for the first year and $75 a month the second. It The beautiful relationship that grew between a never increased after that. younger brot[...]kyrocket. In my fourth year of teaching my parents decided The finding of Indian and old army artifacts. to move to Montana. They purchased a ranch twenty- Summertime, sentimental journeys, finds one five miles southwest of Lodge Grass. Life was pretty viewing the range and the old ranch from the saddle hectic till we got settled. b[...]met my future husband. We were married changes at a closer look. The imagined creak of a saddle in the spring of 1931. We lived up the creek several and the quiet humming of a familiar voice makes the miles. mind rea[...]our daughter and shortly Our parents gave us a reason to be proud of our after took two more children and rais[...]their time and their love. Their In a coulee a mile from our ranch, Cherry Adams spiritual and moral gift,[...]was shot and killed. Some people considered him a in the greatest gift of all: horse thief. ... A BELIEF IN GOD AND A BELIEF IN OUR- My husband had a threshing machine and did SELVES ...[...]were invited to dinner. A good sized pig lay on the bed Lod[...]in 1963. I've been living on the We lived on a farm five miles from town, and the ranch alone since. only means of transportation was team and wagon. When I was ten, papa bought a Model T. In the winter my father and brother[...]orn in Audrain County, heated the home and cooked with wood. Missouri, on August 13, 1 74. He and four other young I went to a country school through the eighth men from the same neighborhood, came to Yellow tone grade. Most of the children had to help at home; County in 1900. Of the five, Charley was the only one to therefore t[...]g took longer. They attended fall in love with the e t and t.ay. Charley worked on school till t[...]ery Friday various ranches, and accumulated a small herd of cattle the pupils would choose sides and have spelling and which he pastured in the Bull Mountain with other geography matches. We also put on plays and[...]Canada on arch 13, 18 6. She came to Billing with I was eight years old when my father's mothe[...]ts, Mr. and Mrs. James Steele. died. To me it was a tragic experience. Mr. and Mrs. Peck were married in ew Castle, We girls did a lot of embroidery and sewing-even Wyoming on ovem[...]homemade. Mother would take miles west of Billings until 1911, when they old their outgrown[...]Mr. Peck had leased the weave them into rugs. Our clothing was homemade. Dr. James Chappel farm three-fourths of a mile west of Some evenings, mother would sit in the rocking ch[...]me the highway to and read us interesting stories from a magazine called Billings. The house was a new four-room bungalow, not "Comfort."[...]hed when they moved into it. This farm is As a child I attended the Methodist Church at[...] |
| [...]Josephine Ackerman taught only one Nellie Brown, a Hardin pioneer teacher. Effie's first year in Montana, Big Horn County is indebted to her pony was a fat little dapple gray with a crow branded for earning the first money which was contributed to a on the left shoulder. The pony was so fat that h[...]ived her grade, high school, and normal replaced with another horse. training in Illinois. Five members of her family were The Pecks became charter members of the First teachers. She had the unusual experience of having her Congregational Church of Hardin. father, a sister and a brother as her teachers. The spring of 1912 or 1913 was a very wet, rainy Most of her teaching was done in Illinois before one. Mr.[...]coming to Wyoming in 1908 for the purpose of filing on children to school in the wagon because of the muddy a homestead. By paying rather a large sum of money roads-saying the mud was so deep and sticky that it for those days to a Chicago bank for improvements on would have pulle[...]deal stop once or twice each way to push the mud from turned out to be a fraud, so she was glad to resume her between the spokes of the wheels with his feet. The mud teaching career in a rural school near Worland. rolled up in lumps so[...]the wagon too hard for the distinction of being the first teacher to stay for the horses to[...]entire term. She had about thirty pupils of all grades in The Hardin School at that time was a four-room her one-room school. No book[...]y most families had brought old text books center of the block where the elementary building now with them when they came out to file on homesteads. It stands. It housed all grades from 1910 till 1915 when took considerable in[...]daily four more rooms were added to the west end of the preparations when no two readers were alike. building. In the northwest corner of the school yard was There were duties in connection with her work that a slough which ran south and west across the area w[...]ere new to her. She paid the janitor five dollars a of the school for another block or so, and since the[...]ey would reimburse were no streets or houses west of the school at that her, but this was no[...]he following year. On time, the children found it a great place to skate during Friday night she[...]first service was Catholic, in charge of a priest who[...]twenty-five miles from the St. Xavier Mission. The next[...]One of her most embarrassing experiences oc·[...]curred in Hardin. When she called on one of her boys[...]Good reading had always been a hobby with[...]plement the material found in her limited supply of[...]books by putting on a school program. It turned out to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Peck be a church and school program. Quoting from the Hardin paper of December 1909, it stated "On[...]Christmas Eve, 1909, a church and school program was On the occasio[...]given by Miss Josephine Ackerman and Mrs. A. L. in their first Ford car, Mrs. Peck would quit[...]Mitchell. Although the program was given under up a large rock or two for blocking the back wheels difficulties owing to the crudity of the hall, there was a because Mr. Peck sometimes killed the motor on th[...]as $20, which long Hogan hill about ten miles out of Billings. was destined to make hist[...]eal Westerners-hospitable, nucleus from which grew the present Big Hom County loving and giving. They farmed most of their lives until Carnegie Library." Later it was learned that the retirement in 1948, except for a short period 1919 to district had to set aside a certain amount of money for 1923 when they operated Peck's Cash Gro[...]ooks, so Miss Ackerman was told she could use the store, which they lost during the depression.[...]ed. Realizing the Mr. Peck passed away after a stroke in February great need for books in the community, she turned the 1952 at the age of 78. Mrs. Peck passed away after a money over to the Hardin Library Fund. This served as heart attack in January 1962 at the age of seventy-six. a goal for individuals and organizations to[...] |
| toward. After years of planning and working on this back of the Sullivan block, facing the alley, for the project, the library became a reality, with a donation of engine and the members of the department. $15,000 from the Carnegie Foundation. The corner Lee had a clothing store which he sold to W. A. stone was laid May 12, 1918.[...]now. As for automobiles , Charlie Bair had one of the Ackerman Peck was chosen to formally present[...]Jake Conver drove for him. library to the people of Big Hom County in the name of The first church in Hardin was the Catholic the Carnegie Library Board and the board of County church-a small white building near the comer of Fifth Commissioners of Big Horn County. and Custer. So an idea started by a teacher forty years ago is At the time I[...]been in excellent books to the library in memory of their loved existence many years. Mail was se[...]sorted, then dropped in a box. Mr. Spencer was the first Mrs. Peck co[...]nd could post master, having the office in his store; then Fred always be counted on to give a reading, or a book Gladden was post master and the office was moved to review to any of the many organizations to which she the southeast corner of the Sullivan Building. The belonged. The Pecks co[...]water supply; people did get water from the Burlington[...]de Social Studies class about the early days of Crow and Fourth. He taught two or three months, in Hardin; the following is taken from notes made at then took over a job in a lumber yard and Mrs. J. W. that time. M. R. C.[...]. Josephine Ackerman, who became my wife, west on a pass; Steve Tupper was the agent here and I[...]The depot and section house were In 1910 a two story brick building, with four rooms was across the river; meals were served and there were beds built. Miss Nellie Brown and a Miss Whiting were the upstairs for rent. The railroad bridge was the only one teachers I remember. Stanley Kelley was one of the across the river. Wagons were pushed and pull[...]lt side tracks in Hardin and in just north of the railroad bridge, was built. June, 1907 the de[...]n the early days-nickels Hardin, to the west side of the street. were the smallest[...]People loved to dance; Bill Becker's orchestra, of homesteading in 1906; and later this was extended to violin and guitar furnished the music. There was a May 1907. The low numbers got first choice; I took up a piano at Ranchester and a man working at the depot homestead four and one-h[...]rveyed railroad payroll. it. Spencer opened a store across the tracks, then bought a lot. Soon the Becker saloon and the Hardin hotel[...]troubles and lots MR. AND MRS. W. A. PEDE of mosquitoes. Tom Mouat was the first mayor, and W[...]anized in Hardin specializing in general clothing, fabrics, hoes, 1911. There was no sheriff, only a town policeman after notions, etc. the town w[...]ganized Methodist Church. Mrs. Peden t.aught A Mr. Smith had started a hardware, but sold it to a Sunday School class of teenage girls. This group T. E. Gay. The Lrunmers[...]ad the only hall ; organized themselves in a Triad Club with objectives they had started a hardware department but sold it to and programs similar to those of Campfire Girls and Eders, where Coast-to-Coast is[...]rl Scouts. In 1915, Mrs. Peden took the group for a where Grover's drug store is. John Kifer built a fur- weeks camping trip in Black Canyon, and the following niture store, but it burned in December 1909; he rebuilt summer she took them to Thermopolis-truly a the building and started a pool hall. major undertakin[...]rved one term in the St.ate Legislature organized with Charles Schneider the first chief. They as State Senator from Big Horn County 1924·1926. He had a hand-propelled chemical fire engine, but it froze sold the store and began farming at Dunmore. hortly up, and they couldn't use it. They built a small building thereafter, he was struck[...] |
| Mrs. Peden built a beauty parlor and apartment Bob Carlat, an[...]tle was his business and his hobby. When he could with her sister, Mabel Asher, where she died. no longer follow a cow, he enjoyed reading about Western ranch life of others. He lived 68 years in Big[...]eader when first coming to Big Penson, oldest son of Mabel and Tom Penson, and I Horn County[...]years old that I became involved in starting a 4-H Club July 28, 1901 at the ranch. He said from the time he was in Kirby. George Gustafson was the County Agent. two years old he had ridden a horse along with his Gladys, Alice, Hazel Adsit, Almira R[...]y and Marjorie Hamilton, Lenora, three months out of a year during the winter months. Joanne Kobold and Charlene were some of the mem- Charlie rode to the Kirby log school house eight miles bers. from his home, also attended school at Packsaddle[...]e and I, walking out in the hills Jack's plal'e. (a log building that later became our home over th[...]oung, her Uncle. He recalled that it was the home of early day trappers. I later met an old man in a grocery store in Sheridan who said he had lived there when two[...]the beginning of my hobby, making such things as[...]many other things from the cedar.[...]ranch and had a good forty-six years of life together.[...]Hubbard of Mankato, Minnesota and Mr. J. J. Thompson of Virginia. The ranch headquarters were[...]about six miles south of Busby, Montana at the mouth of Thompson Creek. It extended toward Busby. Mr.[...]into a good irrigated hay ranch. It was one of the first[...]consisted of several thousand cattle and fifteen[...]just north of the ranch as prisoners of war. There were[...]ring the time the OD was Many evenings after a hard day's work he enjoyed established there. My father was at one of the later going to dances, the neighborhood recre[...]mily caught an Indian or Indians butchering a beef. The would go. The Fergusons at Kirby were cousins of his Indians would usually kill the one tha[...]s was killed here- Bob Ferguson, brother of my uncle Bill needed so land was leased on the Cheyenne Reser- Ferguson of Kirby, was killed in 1890 about eight or ten vati[...]everal summers there. Charlie miles northwest of Busby. He had left the OD Ranch and I moved there a few winters to feed hay to the that morning with Perry Hultz, who later became a cattle. Later the old Shreve Ranch was purchased from Sheridan merchant. They both stayed at the[...]ll in Big Horn County. last anyone saw of Ferguson. Hultz was the last man to In 1969[...]two weeks to find his body. They finally found a little[...] |
| piece of rope sticking out of a wash where the Indians and used as a line camp by the Wrench Ranch near had pawed some dirt over him in a washed draw. John Sheridan. My father came to Montana in April of '93 Hoover was another man who was killed. His n[...]did carved in our old barn here at the Big Bend of the everything, even cooked for twenty-fi[...]spent the winter here. He was herding names of only a few. J. C. Morris- " Packsaddle sheep for people by the name of Barringer on lower Jack"; Bill Bradshaw, who later had a big ranch north Tongue River. The Indians shot him from a long way of here; Red Jack Pennel; Adolph Yonkee, Sr.; Perry off and apparently did a poor job of killing him because Hultz; John Bradley; Lou A[...]didn't come any closer to him. a reservation for the Northern Cheyennes. There wer[...]d they sold for $49,000. That the cowboys. At one of these- I don't know the exact was the termination of quite a ranching operation. date, but it was in the 90's-[...]xteen years and over were loaded possession of this small Big Bend Ranch. It wasn't long with ammunition. They had danced for three days and[...]ason City, Iowa, During the night, all the people from the head of the bought out Hugh Redman's interest. It w[...]ht father was there and was very surprised to see women out Uncle George. and kids and dogs and ho[...]ng and couldn't figure it out. Mabel Barton of Irvington, Illinois. To their marriage They didn'[...]ian scare, six children were born. Four of us are still living. One apparently. They dug rif[...]n infancy. Charlie Penson died in 1974. organized a cavalry troop which went on down toward Mother and Dad had a real challenging experience the Indian activity to render any assistance they could. raising a family-like all the rest of the old timers. It It was quite a motley bunch of would-be cavalry men, was under pretty rough conditions, but we all survived my dad said. I remember him saying 0. H. Hon was and had a fine time together. The hospitality of the chosen captain, and I remember Mr. Hon years ago-he West was very prevalent in those days. You never was a friend of my father. They organized this cavalry turned anyone away at the ranch for dinner or over- troop and w[...]Deer. Here was cavalry night. coming in from Fort Keogh on the gallop. The hills My brother and I went in partnership with my around Lame Deer were just covered with Indians. A father when we were grown-around the 30'[...]the man in charge, who I 1965. believe was a Major Howe. He realized the tenseness of Recorded d[...]15. arrested the Indians that committed the crime of killing this boy, got them away from there, and told everybody else to go home. It was a great piece of strategy because there were enough Indians to[...]Y annihilate what few settlers there were. It was a fine By Marie Penson Turley piece of work.[...]0 . P . Hanna who City, and then worked as a butcher for a cattle feeder in was an early day Sheridan resid[...]Iowa. Father arrived in il ~ City by train. A fri nd, enroute to Bozeman with a wagon train. He was in the Hugh Redman, ac[...]there for three year , Indians. The Indians cut a log and were rolling it and bought a tract of land known as the Big Bend toward them, shooting from it. In these travelers' Ranch, named for the Big Bend in Rosebud Creek. possession was a little brass cannon. They let these[...]t right close to them and they shot at this log from Centralia, Illinois, April 6, 1900. other came to[...]visit her two sisters, Lena (Mrs. Will Ferguson of Indian or two. They never had any more trouble. They Hutton), and Bertha, (Mrs. Claud Rugg of Kirby.) Mrs. dispersed the little attack. ow they[...]my first teacher. All There's not many people who remember that anything the children loved her. ev[...]the rifle pits were Father and Mother had a log house, two bedrooms, gone because my dad show[...]kitchen, pantry, and large living room with a red shale Hanna showed it to him.[...]m and Mabel Penson: The ranch my dad bought from the OD in 1898 at Charley, Howard (who passed away when he was two the head of the Rosebud was a line camp of the OD. years old), Marie, Greg, Clara,[...]Mr. Jim Glenn (Anna Crilly's father), built a frame[...] |
| [...]Turley moved to Wyoming and homesteaded on lumber from Sheridan, forty miles away. Pow[...]Lee worked at Spear O ranch for a time. He leased a ranch on Spring Creek, four miles from Kirby. A neighbor, George May, drove a stage-coach with[...]stopped by to leave his mail and visit a while; George[...]asked "When are you and Marie getting married?" Lee told him "Tomorrow". He jumped up to make a pot of[...]I'm more excited than you are!"[...]Joe Crackenberger's on Canyon Tom Penson in front of his first home on Big Bend Creek, fifteen[...]while so I would carry the fiddle. Lee played from nine[...]dances, had Community picnics, and on the Fourth of July had a get-together; boys would ride bucking broncos and[...]y; he played the fiddle. Lee came to Corral Creek with a large herd of cattle-he had helped trail them from Powder River for Jr. Spear on Corral Creek.[...]good grass-fed beef, a few pigs, chickens and turkeys, lots of milk, cream and butter. We also had nice fat[...]grandchild in the Penson family so she got lots of at· tention. She stayed with her grandparents and went to school for a time, then she rode five miles to the log[...]pony. Evagene was real proud of her baby sister, born Lee and Marie Pens[...]were a real joy to us. We always enjoyed our get•to·[...]in Farmington, Missouri. He at· gethers with all our families: Charley and Irene Penson tended[...]Charlene (Mrs. Bob Carlat); Gregg was motorman on a street car. Rufus and Adaline an[...] |
| [...]andchildren have brought us much hap- a number came quite a distance, activities on Sunday, piness. We have all lived a very happy life together. with a noon meal, took up most of the day. At first the[...]solicitations, raised enough money to build a church William Augustus Petzoldt was born on August free of debt. 1st, 1872, of German parents. His father fought in the[...]ial and ijgriculture classes, gave was graduated from the University of Rochester in 1894 supplies and food to the needy, visited Crow homes, and was ordained as a Baptist minister in Beaver, Iowa acted as hosts to many visitors, answered the in the fall of 1894. In 1895 he became the pastor of the correspondence, and did the bookkeeping in[...]hools and mission work at Wyola, Anna, also of German ancestory, was born on May Upper Bi[...]interested friends of the Mission to give financial help The Petz[...]tionally advanced, to September, 1900. As pastor of the Baptist Church Rev. attend Bacone Colle[...]uct services at the Cavalry Post, Petzoldt a leave of absence to make an official survey Fort McKenzie[...]for the Inter-Church Movement in ew York City of all In July, 1901 Indians from the Crow Reservation Indian reservations i[...]a, Idaho, went to Sheridan to join in the Fourth of July Oregon and Washington. celebration. This was the Petzoldts first meeting with the Crows with whom they became friends, and with whom they would spend the rest of their lives. The Crows sent a petition to the Baptist Home Mission Society in New York City for a day school. The Government boarding schools kept the students for long periods of time. The Crows wanted their children to live at home and still attend school. A Council was held at Lodge Grass in June, 1903. Officials of the Home Mission Society met with Chiefs and leaders. If a day school could be established the Indians promi[...]reed, and commissioned Rev. Petzoldt to establish a school and in addition to act as Missionary. Dr. and 1r . W. A. Petzoldt On December 1, 1903, William Petz[...]name "He Talks Up To God". Medicine Crow, Chief of In early January, 1904, Mrs. Petzoldt with the two the Lodge rass District, gave the nam[...]". In eptember, 1928, during dedication from his house into a tent so they would have a place to ceremonies of Chivers Memorial Church, White Man live. The weather was severe. The baby boy, Cedric, Runs Him, a Custer cout, gave Rev. Petzoldt his own became ill with pneumonia and died. The Indians name and his war bonnet. He then took the name of showed sympathy in many ways. "Morning Star." This is the highe t honor that can be The lo[...]e was completed in the spring be towed upon a white man. Mrs. Petzoldt's Indian of 1904. Skunks and rattlesnakes added diversity name was "Strikes The Two Lodg ," given by Wolf during construction. The school house was a frame Lies Down in 1905. The Pe[...] |
| [...]Lodge Grass, Montana thought a pageant would make the event more In 1903 my parents, Rev. and Mrs. W. A. Petzoldt, meaningful. She carefully researched t[...]orward to by the entire com· establish a day school and mission. The school was in munity.[...]Petzoldt was ably assisted by Co- answer to a petition from the Crow Indians, who Missionaries Misses Olds an[...]nd missed them when Agnes Deer Nose took the part of Mary. McKinley they were away in gove[...]l which was were dignified as the three Wise Men. A deserving little dedicated in 1904. The childr[...]satisfaction of their parents. The school was popular On Jun[...]l the early 1920's, when Congress honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity at Linfield passed a law enabling Indian children to enroll in public[...]originated the Advisory Board at the Lodge a tent so my parents could live in his house until[...]led the Crow who was nine months old, died of pneumonia. People Christian Council; this group of church members were sympathetic. The Spear Cowboys came and asked directs the business of the church. permission to[...]hese busy years Rev. Petzoldt took for a Memorial Stone. It was the first Christian burial pictures of Crow people, scenery, and activities. His as the Indians still placed their loved ones on a scaffold or in a tree. first pictures were taken in Sheridan of the en- campments for the 4th of July celebrations. He used an The church work began, and the attendance was Eastman camera with glass plates. He did his own large. Sin[...]eveloping and printing. As he continued his hobby of teams and wagons, Sundays were spent with several photography he used a variety of cameras including one services. A long interval at noon gave time for dinner that took panoramic photos. He tinted some of his own and sociability. White Arm and his f[...]used the first converts. The membership grew with most these photographs to illustrate lectures he[...]es, and glass slides. It is now the population of Lodge Grass grew until my father was property of his daughter, Mrs. Jay Fitzgerald. instrumental in organizing a white church, now known[...]The Crows were beginning to have individual years of service. Their co-workers, Misses Clara Olds[...]nd Malvina Johnson, were appointed to take charge of tents and tepees by groups. On holidays ther[...]ery active in the large tribal camps. As a result my parents had a camp mission work, in community service and were respected outfit and we went around camping with our Indian public speakers. Both Dr. and Mrs. Pet[...]ry, root, and hunting camps were im- Petzoldt had a record of speaking engagements in 46 portant in that food could be obtained not only for states and was a recognized authority on the American present[...]prepared for winter Indian. Mrs. Petzoldt was one of the founders of Travel use. Club in Lodge Grass and a sponsor of the annual Senior Tea for graduating high school seniors. Dr. Petzoldt was a member of Delta Upsilon Fraternity, a 32nd degree Mason and a member of the Sheridan Rotary Club. The CB & Q Railroad named a loading station on its line after him. He was listed in "Who's Who in America." The Petzoldts celebrated their 50th wedding[...]n 1957. They participated in the 50th anniversary of Baptist work among the Crows in 1953. Anna K.[...], Wyoming, on August 11, 1958, age 82, and Dr. W. A. Petzoldt died in Hardin on May 21, 1960, age 87.[...]ool's first graduating class Lodge Grass Cemetery with an inscriptionwhich reads Genevieve[...] |
| We had a buggy with canvas curtains. My father and we spent that afternoon talking-we urging him on fashioned it into a camper. The back had a lid which let to tell his memories. Afterward I rushed to jot down his down to form a table. Back of that was a cupboarp words in my "Log", while they we[...]anged so that "Nowadays Bud Phelps is a rather graceful, alert a bed could be made for my parents. I slept in a niche person with the quaint manners of a cowboy and a below. The fishing was excellent, and there were many pleasant voice. He is aware of the small needs of those grouse and some sage hens. These items along with about him-will jump up to fetch Ed an ash-tray." He meat given us by Indians enabled us to have a varied told us that his grandfather Phelps came from Indiana. menu.[...]ndiana. Charles Phelps' or Sheridan was by riding a freight train. People had to children had their own school at the ranch, and he hurry to the end of the train and get on the caboose. probably employed a teacher. Bud told us that he had The passenger tr[...]idn't stop. The mail spent only one year in a public school. bag was thrown from the baggage car door, while One of our small grandsons asked, "Bud, how old outgoing mail was attached to a standard near the were you when you began to ride horseback?" track from which it was snatched by a hook-like Bud replied, "Let me t[...]trail cross the Pryors asked my father for a guide, and my became too difficult to negotiate, a parallel one was father said to me, 'Son, you go with these people and made. By summertime, when it was dry, there were a show them how to get down off Big Pryor Mountain number of parallel trails which were called roads. without breaking themselves to pieces,' and I went with Fording streams was often hazardous. The ford acr[...]bits was dangerous was three years old. " due to quick sand.[...]geous above town. The passenger trains stopped as a matter route. Mr. Phelps had sometimes told his family about of course. There was a newspaper, a resident Doctor, the very hard winter of 1886-'87, when he was living on bank, drug-store, hardware store, lumber yard, several the Canadian border. He[...]ome place, fleeing I attended the University of Montana and was from the bitter weather to the north and seeking refug[...]n outhern During World War One, wheat was at a premium. Montana, he and his brothers helped a trapper of Mr. Tom Campbell was successful in raising wheat on wolves. One day, east of Dry Head, he came upon a dry land on the west side of the Big Horn River. In closed basin filled with animal skeletons and bones, of Ohio, a Quaker, Mr. Fred Wilson, read about the deer with skulls about six inches long, with pronged venture and decided he would come to the[...]ung the natural depression and had starved." He aid that men to do the work. One was Jay Fitzg[...]realized that the new fertilizer plants in 1923, with my father officiating. We have two grown B[...]ren. Patricia is married to Dr. Richard Moothart, a Fred Phelps' land was in and adjacent to[...]tal in Colorado Springs, Canyon, at the foot of the Pryors, a wild, lovely spot, Colorado. They have three children. Bill, a lawyer lives hard to reach from any other place. The famou "Red in Billings with his wife and son. Hill" on the trail from Pryor was th bane of early I have always lived in the old mission[...]Billing was about ixty miles away, which is full of wonderful memories. and so[...]at a forestry station on top of the Pryor fifteen miles away, and a steep climb. A county road ran through the[...]ranch dining room (free). big wagon with four-horse By Carolyn R. Riebeth team ca.me through every ummer from Barry 's , going The only Phelpses whom I kn[...]ank to Billings for supplie . and Bud, sons of Charles. I knew the former Phelps F[...]he ranch in 1915. I first home very well, though, from 1916 on. At the Antler saw it the next year. It had been left with all fur- roundups of 1916 and '17, Frank was a handsome ni hings and machinery, even chickens. There was a cowboy of much charm. Bud, the youngest, was around little graveyard, with two graves, that the Phelps occasionally. What I[...]amily moved. The big house showed that the family from Bud in 1961, when he worked on the Bar Ranch[...]ary's husband was through the shelves of books in the den, where the big assistant to his[...]ireplace was; and she wa impr s ed by the quality of Learning that Ed and I were visiting, Bud came over to the reading matter. The hou e had plumbing and a Mary's yard. She invited him to dinner on July Fourth, furnace. Water from springs along the canyon wall had[...] |
| been piped in. There was a big tank on the unfinished The mosquit[...]. We were so third floor. There was electricity, from the Phelpses' homesick to go back to Missouri[...]urniture was good, and the immense summer of getting used to the alkali water, acclimated, "O[...]began to look brighter. blacksmith shop was full of curiosities. Helen and Ad[...]There were other people near by who had come from[...]in the fall of 1913. I was ready for the Junior year of[...]Rogers arranged classes so I took some subjects with[...]became the first graduates of the Hardin High School[...]nch looking North and had charge of our dramatic efforts. The Junior and[...]r in class plays and games. The house, built of rough-hewn timbers, with some One time we went to Crow Agency School to put on a colonial touches, as the porch pillars, stood on a knoll play. We went down by train and had to wait in the in the angle where a small tributary ran into Dry Head depot until[...]n were irrigated. There was We also had a girls' basketball team. Our classy an old buffalo jump on the place; and a legend persisted uniforms were black pleated fu[...]was looking for arrow heads at Old or seven miles with a pack horse. In our time, the mail Fort Smith. We had a girls' club called the Triad Club; man lived at the bottom of another canyon, in a one- Mrs. Peden was our sponsor. Once we went to the Black room cabin with a dirt floor. His family seemed quite Canyon for a camping trip, we had an Indian woman for happy. a guide. We saw bear, all kinds of wild fruit and caught lots of trout.[...]PICKARD was first held in a hall over the drug store known as the Lulu Snow Pickard was born on a farm in Warren Sullivan Hall. We gave Churc[...]fourth to keep the church going. daughter of a family of six girls of the Albert Snow family. Our family lived in Iowa[...]At this time my father sold this farm and bought a farm in Missouri. However as time went by many of the farmers in Missouri were hit hard by drouth, army worms, no crops and my father was no exception. Many of the famers were moving out. In the winter of 1912 my father came out to Hardin, Montana and bought a small farm north of Hardin. Uncle Sam Chandler, my cousin Walter Chandler, and my Dad came on ahead with the livestock and to get a place ready for us to live. Mother stayed with us girls until school was out. My Uncle Sam was a carpenter, he built two more rooms onto the two room house already there, also a bunk house and a shed for the livestock. Dad owned two big white w[...]West. I hated to John and Lulu Snow Pickard with Nelle Yuette, 1918 leave our friends in Missouri.[...]In March 1917 I married John Pickard. He was the women in their blankets at the depot too. We girls were rural mail carrier with wages at 75.00 a month. John sure they were intending to scalp us. drove a Model T Ford on this twenty-five mile rout[...] |
| but when it rained he would have to take a horse and Ruth lived with one of these in order to graduate from a buggy because the gumbo mud was so bad. It took a[...]went to live with her sister Lettie who was teaching in In Dec[...]how hard life was as they were growing up. One of to take care of his estate. We lived at St. Xavier one Ruth'[...]summer for 1/4 cent a basket. She ended the season Our daughter, Nellie Yvette and son Robert, with a savings of 90 cents with which she bought a pair finished High School in Hardin. Nellie Yvette taught of slippers. Another was her favorite story of the time one year in Big Horn County before she m[...]youngest to the Fourth Graham who is now Senator of Montana from Big Horn of July Celebration and gave them each a whole nickel County. Robert worked three years in[...]to spend any way they wanted. There were many clothing store before joining the Air Force. stories of hardships, but there was also a lot of pleasure In 1942 John and I and our daughter Johanna from remembering the sense of community which grew moved to Ogden, Utah to help[...]up around the small church which was the center of was a supervisor at a Defe~se Depot until his community life. She always felt that anyone who had retirement in 1957. I worked at the Ogden Arsenal for not attended a rural school or taught in one had not four years then went to work at Hill A. F. B. until my really lived. retirement in 1968-nearly twenty-five years of Government Service. After John passed away in 1965, I sold our home and am now living in a high-rise apart• ment house in Ogden. I have te[...]hers and one sister, and his parents were typical of that poor, Appalachian region, where corn and eggs were the medium of exchange and money was very scarce. When he was a[...]his family moved to Mount Vernon, the county seat of Rockcastle County, and here he went to school, graduating from a Presbyterian mission high school there. Upon graduation from high school he took the examinations for teaching and his first school was a country school with more than fifty students. For the next several ye[...]n different mining towns, and finally in Liberal, a town of about 1000 people which had been started by a spiritualist. It was while he was Superintendent of schools in Liberal that he met his wife, who was[...]n County, J. J.'s stories had to do with lack of money, too. Missouri, September 15, 1887. Her father was a farmer When he would hear of people b ing paid for manual and lay preacher in[...]ld. The family was very poor, the coming to. A he wrote in his own story of hi life, ~ hen father farming rented farms and struggling to be both he was married he rented a "nice two room hou eon the father and mother to his children. Eventually he edge of town for $6.00 a month. On it were an orchard of remarried, and at the time a "stepmother" was to be about five acres, with all kinds of fruit trees, a garden avoided at all costs, so that the older children got jobs and a chicken house.·• Hi alary of 1000 a year must as rapidly as possible, and worked to e[...]ger ones so that they, too, could leave home. All of J . J. and Ruth Ping, with their 4 year old daughter the brothers and[...] |
| [...]eachers in Missouri, and J. J. the leaving of bags of vegetables at the homes of many had just taken a year off to finish the work necessary to friends, he also raised thousands of gladiolas so that graduate from the University of Missouri, when they bouquets of his flowers brightened the bank, the were persuaded by Ruth's sisters who had a ladies' hospital, and other such places. Both were interested in ready-to-wear store in Sheridan that the business world having Hardin enjoy all the good things which a town was exciting and the West was the place to be. Sister can provide for its citizens, and had a part in Lettie had the town picked out-Hardin wa[...]mmunity Center, the Mountain eight years old but a great future was predicted for it. View Rest H[...]sonic Temple, and the Senior The first Ping store was located in a small frame Citizens' Center. J. J. was chairman of the Cemetery building just north of the old Hardin Hotel. Space was Board from the time it was established, and took great at a premium in this new town, and the small building pride in seeing it change from a brown, dusty hillside to housed a jewelry store in the front, a cleaning-tailoring the green and shady place it[...]so many hours planning for beautifying. shielded from the customers by a piano. After a short time the store was moved to larger quarters in the "Bean Block"[...]time additions were made to the It was a sunny day in February 1933 when we[...]mudded our way down a little side lane, with snow on stock to include drygoods, notions, shoe[...]what was to be our wear. The last few years the store was located on Main[...]future home. Street in the Goering block, and a branch store was In the middle of an alfalfa field stood a large red operated for more than twen~y years in Lodge Grass. section house with GARRYOWEN on the front in big Ruth went to[...]icago white letters. The door opened into a living room which twice a year to buy the ready-to-wear stock. The was partially filled with grain. Harnesses hung on the salesmen were always surprised that a store in so small wall. How I would love to have those harnesses now for and isolated a town carried such good lines. She always my antique collection... they didn't mean that much went with many personal orders, women trusting her then. judgment to bring ba[...]made the trip together, and brought back accounts of life in the big cities as well as of ex- periences of being snow-bound, or wrecked, on the Burlington[...]s City. Both Ruth and J. J. made themselves a part of all that went on in Hardin. J. J. was on the school board for 15 years and after the reorganization of the Bank which eventually became the Big Hom County State Bank was a director, and then President, for an ac- cumulation of 50 years. Ruth was active in church work, in Girl Scouting, and was the Cancer Drive Chairman for a number of years. Both were active in Eastern Star and serve[...]years in Hardin their friendships revolved around a group which played Rook-this being, at the time, a more acceptable card game to church people than such things as Bridge. Five of these families-Harry Rogers, Levi Colbergs, Wayne[...]p located on the Little Big Hom River at the foot of the Battlefield, and calling it the Rooks' Nest, the women and children lived there for the summer months, t[...]driving back and forth to Hardin to work. It was a long eighteen miles on poorly graveled roads and[...]rest in gardening. He found it hard to understand anyone who didn't want to help things grow. At one time,[...]eter Pitsch, Jr. in their home, the old dition to a large vegetable garden which necessitated[...] |
| [...]help in the fields and harvest and never had a reason to day; the walls had a thorough scrubbing with steel wool distrust them. and cleanser. It was a mistake to scrub the first spot One of the most interesting aspects of farming and because then it was necessary to do[...]irst thirty years we were in Big Hom many layers of grease and dirt. County was the variety of hired help. Many of these How proud we were of our home when it was men came and went and were never heard from again. scrubbed and polished. A 9' by 12' linoleum rug was Others eventu[...]t the kitchen floor was Big Horn County. One of the regrets of the past forty• rough planks. The first curtains cost 29 cents for the three years is that a diary was not kept of the hired men kitchen, 39 cents for the bedroom[...]employed and the funny and sad stories that were a living room. The first towel rack was a piece of twine part of each of those relationships. One story is enough upon wh[...]pecial hand embroidered to give an idea of some of the humorous things that tea towels.[...]happened. There was no need for a moving van to move the One day Peter[...]n after giving the hired furniture. It consisted of a coal stove, a homemade man instructions to plant a shelter belt of some 100 plus kitchen table with slivers on the legs and a second hand spruce trees. Instead of going to the shed and picking kitchenette set and steel cot which was our living room up the bucket of phosphate which he was to use in furniture. At the beginning of that first summer there planting the trees he picked up the bucket of dry were no screens on the windows and the mosqu[...]Entertainment consisted of visiting neighbors, on Since there was no[...]the first year. Later we had pinochle parties in a well could be dug. It wasn't as polluted as it is[...]wn for the evening. wanted. The refrigerator was a square hole in the The Lord has been good. We've never had a ground with boards covering it. Here went the milk, complete crop failure. . .maybe a little hail here and butter and cream. We had no fresh vegetables or fruit there, a few grasshoppers, but always something to until[...]st. The days were long, the work hard, but it was of salt pork and some canned meat. . .a gift from good. Mother Pitsch.[...]in the An aunt who lived next door gave us a frying same house although the name GARRYOWE is gone chicken and we had a real banquet. Her slice of and it has seen many face liftings a[...]ooking and baking were Agency and graduated from Hardin High School. The atrocious but the neighbo[...]visit life must not have been too bad- three of them are now and enjoyed all the failures.[...]Horn County. Almost daily the trek was made from the house to the Garryowen store for mail. . .even though there seldom was any those days. A neighbor said as he saw me going across the field, "I thought it was a deer." THE BERT PORTER FAMILY Times have changed... I walked to the Garryowen store By Helen [Margie] Thomas a couple of years ago and 'o ur son came to the rescue[...]nts Bert and Edith Porter came to the and gave me a ride home. I t would have been a struggle Decker area of Big Hom County in the spring of 1917. to have walked back.[...]on farms in Iowa. They Livestock consisted of four large work horses and a were married in Iowa in 1913. Harvey, my brother, and black milk cow. Although raised on a ranch, I was a flop I were born there. as a farmerette. Being terribly afraid of the milk cow, Our first summer in the W t wa pent in a tent when I tried to milk her I stood as far away as possible on Waddle creek in Wyoming with Dad' Uncle Hugh and set the bucket under her. Of course, when she Ulm and hi wife, Esth[...]ey used. Mother had to take the laundry on bucket of milk over on her way.[...]fferent. They the soap and tub etc. under a agebru h. were huge and I weighed less than 100 pounds. A pull That fall we moved to Dad's own[...]down Waddle creek in Montana, about 26 miles east of continue on their way-whichever way they wanted to Decker. The house wa a one room tar paper hack go. The tractor was worse[...]d around the field he was plowing one day to make a until it became a two bedroom hou e. hurried trip to the house. I got out of the track and Mother always managed t[...]ound in circles I went until he and pictures from Iowa. She al o had ome linen table returned. That was the last attempt at driving a cloths that did wonders for the table[...]of rough lumber and was usually covered with oilcloth. I was never afraid of the Indians when we moved Thro[...] |
| [...]demic. We all moved to the O.W. camp at the head of Hanging Woman during the winter of 1919. This was a heavy snow year and many cattle died. Mother, having been a teacher in Iowa, was soon teaching again both in[...]ght something over 32 years. She taught all three of us and eventually three of her grandchildren. In 1929, our younger brot[...]s born. The family was just beginning to get a start when the great depression hit. This wasn't too bad as there was always a good garden which made a cellar full of canned food and vegetables. Dad traded wheat for[...]held by Margie Thomas, Fra and drought hit along with the depression things were a Harvey Porter, Clara and Harvey Porter, Sr. Bert mite rough ... Mother was earning $60.00 a month Porter, Jess Thomas on car, Edith Porter and John teaching. There was a daughter wanting to go to Mielke, boy in front, Hayden Porter. college, a son in high school who would have to board away from bome, and a little one at home to start to Dad's sense of humor helped us all through many a school. Dad always managed to have a couple of fat rough time. One time he and Forest Neely were on their pigs to sell or a can of cream for extra cash. way to town in[...]" Say, don 't you think it's a little close in here?" He always came up with something when everything[...]aniversary in 1963 with family and friends in at-[...]They certainly saw great changes in their day, from[...]and Edith Porter, Margie, and Harvey on the porch of their homestead. Somehow everything was mana[...]o Eastern that fall and started teaching in 1933. With Mother and I both teaching we weathered the depression. I remember I felt pretty smart getting sixty dollars a month when most of the cowboys around were only getting 25. In[...]ess Thomas and went to live at the 77 ranch about a mile from the folks. In 1941 Harvey married Fra Dooley and[...]e By 1943 the folks were able to build themselves a new home with running water and a bathroom. School was always a problem in this isolated area. HA[...]mail for two or three In the spring of 1917, I , Harvey Porter left months. When the neighbors or we went to town, mail Humeston, Iowa with my parents Bert and Edith for everyone in the are[...]My father and his brother left first with all of our were dances and card parties at the school or homes. belongings in a box car, including my mother's piano, One winter we put on a lot of plays (Comedies). Some corn planter, milk cow and a team of horses. They had Sundays we would have a rodeo. I remember Edgar started to Havre, Montana to take a homestead. Cooper, Simon Muller, Fred Randall, Ji[...]ely and Claude livestock, they ran into a friend from Humestone who Adams being in on the rodeos[...] |
| what they wanted twenty-five miles east of Decker, on John Livvix and Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Shields in 1945. North Waddle Creek and settled on a squatters' right of We are located on the Deer Creek Divide between 160 acres. The land was fairly flat with rolling hills, and Decker and the 0. W. Ranch.[...]ich was what my father was looking for, as he was a farmer in Iowa. My mother, sister and I and my Aunt followed on the passenger train. We lived in a tent that summer, until the one-room house was bu[...]to Sheridan, Wyoming to get supplies. We would go with the team and wagon to Acme, Wyoming about twenty-five miles and stay overnight with friends. The next morning we would ride the stree[...]ted for home, stopping at Decker, where there was a store, and stocked up on groceries. In the summer of 1926 we went to Lewistown,[...]arn Montana, to visit my Aunt and Uncle. We drove a Star car with cloth top and side curtains. We took our bed roll[...]ded, just HAYDEN PORTER FAMILY a road. We got stuck in the mud near Parkman,[...]Hayden Porter was born in 1929, the son of Bert stayed overnight just north of Hardin. We made pretty and Edith Porter.[...], and made it on to Lewistown all eight of his grade school years. He was in the service with only one mishap with the car. Someone came along during World War II. He attended Moody Bible In- and fixed it for us. I remember there was a little gravel stitute in Chicago where he met[...]He got his B. S. degree in Agriculture from[...], whose ranch wa Harvey Porter and parents on a trip to Lewistown located on the upper[...]miles above Wyola, ontana, came from a pion r I think one of the most difficult things on the family who came to Wyoming and Montana from the homestead was getting an education. Our parents state of Missouri in 1 6. Ray's parents, Thoma and would f[...]ers on benefit the most children and we would get a school Pass Creek, and Ray wa one of ix children. At the age started. It was fortunate my mother was a teacher, so of fourteen, Ray left home, and wa a cowboy for L vi she taught much of the time when I was in grade Howe o[...]for his school. We went to school horseback or with a team brother, Roy, near Quietus, Monta[...]iness for himself, and thought We had quite a few neighbors, and everyone was be shoul[...]to Billings real cooperative, helping one another with work, and Busine s College. He then came[...]ch holding . dances and school functions. I don't remember of being Ray met Irma Jenkins in 1916. Irma was a school lonesome, even though I might not go to to[...]at the school located on Gay Creek. He con- once a year.[...]name to Powers and I still live in the area with my wife Fra, and where they were married. Thei[...]fortunate Little Horn. Later, Ray built a pacious two-story home to acquire land from two homesteaders, Mr. and Mrs. with electricity and running water for his family of[...] |
| seven children. The children attended grade school in a SAMUEL F. RAGLAND [ 190,i-1961 ] AND log cabin near their home. This school was called " The MILDRED MELVILLE RAGLAND (1905-[...]spent many hours in her Missouri, the son of Fred and Cora Ragland. vegetable garden and lovel[...]gard, Missouri, yard was large and many varieties of perennial flowers the daughter of Verne and Myrtle Melville. gave prolific bloom from early spring to late fall. Sam's father was killed by a train when he was a Ray's summer pastures for grazing his cattle[...]was raised by his aunt, Myra Morrison, consisted of some mountain range and also on upper and came to Montana with the Morrison family when Lodge Grass creek. A good part of the summer was they first settled in[...]rison spen t in branding, herding and taking care of the cattle family and Sam moved to Hardin in the fall of 1917 held in these summer pastures. Camp cooking consisted where they lived on a farm on the North Bench. Sam of meat, potatoes, biscuits and peanut butter. When[...]iss V\olet Alexander. The delighted and there was a lively contest to see who North Bench at this time had quite a few families living could eat the most corn on th[...]mmer camps were made more consisted of the families of; Alfred Johnson, Pete exciting by campfire tale s[...]Sam met Mildred in the winter of 1922 and they[...]poor those first years because of the drouth, grasshoppers and hail. Because of the times, Sam and[...]managed the Sawyer Store. A year later they returned K enneth Woodley a[...]station. In the spring of 1934 they moved back to the Irma passed away[...]and began E. Sheldon and there were five children of this farming. The same year their dau[...]. Sam and Mildred bought the Atkins property A lovely, more modem home was built a short and began building the farm and ranch that the family ways down stream from the two-story home, and Ray of Sam Ragland now owns and operates today. In 1941[...]reserve. Sam and Mildred became the parents of twins, Dick Around 160 acres were fenced off with a nine-foot game and Don. Sam passed away in 1[...]ams began to flood the county road. He also built a lake for waterfowl in this game preserve, and the Canadian geese always made this lake a stopping place on their flight to and from Canada. To limit the numbers of his elk herd, he sold thP meat on contract to wel[...]u special treat for their guests. He drilled a well on the site of his second home, instead of pumping from the river, and struck a flow of water that was very unusual. The pressure was so great that he could run three garden hoses from this well at once. It was said that the new[...]e cattleman and among the many early day ranchers of this area who have left their imprint on B[...] |
| [...]blanket, in some soft sand at the head of a gulch. Fred Ramsey, who was the first settler of the The land Ramsey had settled on was a part of the Upper Rosebud, came West as a cabin boy on the Reservation for th[...]9, he bought steamer "Carol" in 1876 at the age of twenty-one, and the land of Ed and Homer Homes a short ways above spent the rest of his life in southern Montana and the Reservation. He built a small home there to live in northern Wyoming. while a nine-room log house was built. He and his wife[...]uri rivers supplied. At the ti.m·e, Roy, and a daughter who was born and died . Later they he a[...]dan, Wyoming, where their sons were best packers of the West. edu[...]Ramsey and his sons took up homesteads south of the Deadwood and Bismarck, and the next year built a Big Bend of the Rosebud. cabin; one of the first, if not the first, along the Powder Ramsey was a great politician, an ardent River. The summer of 1881 he was with a survey crew Democrat, whose Corrall Cre[...]an election precinct, and he furnished a big barbeque. where he learned enough engineerin[...]t He passed away in Sheridan at the age of sixty- race track at Miles City. nine. During the winter of 1881 and 1882, Ramsey was hide-hunting along the Powder River. In 1882, Ramsey located a ranch at the mouth of Corrall Creek where he CLIFFORD ALONZO RANDALL built a two-room house of logs with a porch, the first on By Bertha Max[...]t elegant for many The family of Clifford Randall were long-time years. He planted silver maple trees around the house, residents of Irwin, Iowa, the town having been named where they still grow as a living monument to a pioneer. after his mother's family. Chauncey Randall was At this time, he was running horses with a Miles City employed by the railroad for[...]ime in Miles City where he met and married of their children were attending the University of Iowa the sister of the famous saddle makers-the Moran[...]lawyers, Ray a doctor in Miles City, and daughter Ramsey's ranch was run by hired men, and one of Addie was married at Birney, and was th[...]n to have the U. S. land office. Clifford, Keogh from New Brunswick as a hunter and had the the youngest, was born in December, 1883, and became distinction of riding a buffalo. He had shot it, but when a civil engineer. As soon as he graduated he was hi[...]Jim figured to assist in the surveying of a railroad from Durango being on it was the safest place until it fell dead. A baby across the mountains to Matlazan, Mexico.[...]ng boy was born to the Haywoods during the winter of quarters were most primitive, always[...]such as rattlesnakes Rosebud. This boy was later a doctor at Forsyth. and malaria. Having no doctor with the crew, and being Bob Ferguson was another man who had livestock many miles to a Mexican town with one, Clifford was and a cabin on Cache creek, who did riding for Ramsey over-dosed with quinine which affected his hearing; he and Beeman[...]his own livestock. Early in was tied on a burro that was led to a doctor. May of 1890, Bob was to gather and bring some horses[...]He returned home, and then worked in the East to a sale at Miles City, then the world's largest hors[...]who was market. Bob went by the OD Ranch the 5th of May, practicing medicine in Miles City, became the owne of borrowing a pair of field glasses and a saddle horse from a ranch at Birney, Montana. Clifford did urveying f[...]eft for the Sarpy the community, had a U. S . land office, and was a country saying he would be back that night with a notary public until 1918 when he sold to his brother-in- bunch of horses to select out the ones he was to take to law Edward Peterson, and bought a ranch at Kirby on the sale. When he did not retur[...]other land office and figured he had some trouble with the stallions and practiced his profession. geldings straying from the herd and he had met Whe[...]high someone to give him some help. The 22nd day of May, school, he was elected County urv[...]held for more than twenty years. He was a permanent Bob Ferguson had not brought the horses in to sell. o resident of Hardin until he retired, and then lived with one had seen him since he left. Beeman and all av[...]hter, Patsy Cox in Idaho, on Frank in OD cowboys, with foreman, Jim Davis, rode in the Missouri, and son Mike in Kali pell. All of the e direction Bob had gone. On the 29th, Beeman found the children are graduates of Hardin High School. horse Bob had rode shot dead[...]During Clifford' years in office the County built a Indian butchered beef (the meat cut from the bones). court house which was draft[...]d set up it was found that he was not a registered Montana camp at a nearby spring. All settlers aided in the draftsman, the blue prints had to be sent to a man who search, and as the hills were full of Indians, no man was was registered. He copied the blue-print , making a few to ride alone. On the last day of May, some cowboys minor changes, at a cost the County could ill afford.[...] |
| [...]her tiny white flowers and cover the grounds when a PIONEER MEMORIES-GUY RANDALL FAMILY[...]funeral took place. On one occasion, when we lost a By Jeanette Randall McCormick neighbor, mother lined the grave with white sheets and Lander, Wyoming covered the sheets with these tiny flowers. She also In the spring of 1910, the Guy Randall family came remembered the bachelor neighbors. She once invited to Hardin from Lamoni, Iowa. The family consisted of them all for Christmas Dinner. I only remember the three girls, Dessa 16, Doris 13, Agnes Jennette 7, and names of several: Peter Sikkinga, the Olson Brothers, one[...]and others. When they came, they brought a most During the winter of 1909, Guy and Jennie came useful gift-a rocking chair. out west to visit her brother, Les[...]Ways to earn money were few. Father helped a over the prospect of homesteading 160 acres on the Batty, (Hannah) formerly a teacher from Nebraska, to. West Bench. Returning home, they so[...]some neighbors loaded their possessions including a team of work built her house, a two story home, made of rough native horses, and a saddle horse into a railroad car and came lumber. They made the p[...]they arrived in Hardin, the train was late, of those who helped was Edelbert Morrissette, a neigh- the streets dark and sloppy. There were no sidewalks, bor who lived west of us. just single boards laid here and there.[...]l storms. Once hail broke Father had brought a large tent and lumber with every window in the house except two. Lynn and I were him. He laid a floor and boarded up the side and with alone and really frightened, as mother had gone to the aid of furniture and drapes, it was separated into[...]had seen the storm coming, father could build us a larger one room house. Some and found shelter for himself and the horses. years later, a five-room cement block house was built. Fire wood and posts for fencing were brought from Pine Ridge. It was a hazardous all day trip, with narrow crooked roads. A cave was dug for the storage and preservation of food. Mother canned and preserved everything. We[...]Another cave was dug for ice which father hauled from the Big Horn River. What a treat on hot summer days-iced tea and ice cream. Water was at a premium, as it had to be hauled in barrels and used sparingly. Later father made a cistern for house use and a reservoir for cattle.[...]We went to church at a schoolhouse on the North[...]Bench. Rev. Cory came each Sunday from Hardin. We11 always remember him, a kindly gentleman with[...]Doris and Jennette attended a one room school, two and a half miles away. Stanley Kelly was the[...]me on North Bench - Lynn Randall in was a sheep wagon, heated with an oil heater. This was foreground unsatisfactory-with the aid of deep ruts, the heater showered us with soot. After a year or so, we were Eggs were very high price[...]returned to our country school, namely Washington a recipt" 'or eggless chocolate cake, which turned out Hall. very well. Only once did Dpqqa make a flop of it. Mother Then there were box socials at the same school we said , "We'll fix it." She soaked it in milk, added other attended chu[...]ance, and rebaked it, and the cake was flowers from colored tissue paper to decorate our boxes[...] |
| [...]school graduation at Lawrence, Kansas in the fall of 1911. She stayed with Grandmother Barr. in 1897, in Nebraska, Or[...]he next fall she was teaching in the Valley north of and Arizona, joined him on the Crow Reservation, July Hardin. To get a teacher's certificate, one had to pass 3, 1[...]Billings, Montana. Mr. Kelly and encampment of over 2,000 Indians which stretched Bess Russell ([...]Field. Cheyenne, Billings, as they were to be two of the judges of cer- Sioux, Crow as well as lesser tribes[...]Shoulder Blade, and worked for her room and board with the Pedens and Spotted Horse. Jennett[...]Hardin, where spending the first months of their marriage living in the Lynn attended high s[...]Server Hotel at the Agency. Later, along with Colonel There are a lot of memories of those days-some Rankin, they moved into a comfortable brick house, of good-some not. But one always wonders how mother two stories (no longer standing) a few houses east of the and dad managed so well. A lot of hard work and faith Server Hotel. It was[...]the times. They consisted of tents for the crew, CARL RANK[...]teamsters, cooks and cook-tent, storage. A large By John K. Rankin housekeeping tent with a canvas floor was provided[...]nkin came to Crow Agency Johnson, a black man from the South. Mrs. Rankin and following their marria[...]h, Jim cooked up some interesting meals of varied fare, 1904. For the next three years they[...]use, fish and deer, the Crow Reservation, Carl as a member of his father's utilizing wild fruit in the s[...]was consumed immediately due to absence of divided her time between a housekeeping tent out on refrigeration.[...]the Frank Heinrich Cattle Co. The length of time a camp was in a certain area depended upon the number of allotments involved, but generally were of three to[...]Breakfast was at 7 A.M . Crews in the field by eight[...]returning around six or seven with supper following. Everyone as a rule carried prepared lunches and canteens of water. Allotment work started middle of April and continued until the middle of ovember.[...]Dept. of Interior.[...]considered by the Lincoln Land Company to be a member of their survey crew for a new town to be[...]while working Custer R. R. Station, outb of the Big Horn River on the Pryor Creek survey, 190[...]Colonel John Rankin was ordered portion of the reservation ceded to the public. His by the Dept. of Interior, Indian Affairs, to proceed to app[...]Having been appointed bead surveyor, Mr. because of their agreement to ceding a considerable Rankin , with Mr. A. B. Smith and his nephew, William portion of their reservation, north of Township One Smith, proceeded to stake[...]st line, as well as other equitable within a matter of days in the early pring of 1907. The allotments in view of the construction of irrigation actual selection of the town site location was made by a ditches and canals ; it being the intention to gi[...]n, field.man for the townsite owners. Crow Indian a sufficient quantity of irrigated land for The townsite plot[...] |
| [...]Rankin was also active in many community Hutton, with the second house belonging to Carl affairs. He was a founder and first secretary of the Rankin. The Rankins later built a second house in 1908 Chamber of Commerce: a charter member in 1929 of at 3rd and Cody where their son, Carl, was born in Lions Club; twice President of the Volunteer Fire September. The family lived at this location until the department; a member from March 1917 of Saint John following fall. Lodge /192 A.F. & A.M. serving as Master and second In September 1909 the Rankin family moved to president of the Past Masters Club of Montana. He and Lincoln, Nebraska where for two y[...]Mrs. Rankin shared membership in the Order of ployed in the Home Office of the Lincoln Land Co. In Eastern Star #65 se[...]thy Patron and 1912 he was offered the management of lands situated Worthy Matron, and the Congr[...]e Loup Valley Land celebrated fifty years of marriage in 1955. He served Company's agent for the townsite, it grew from nothing the City of Hardin as Councilman and in 1940, 1942, to a town of 500 by 1915. Mr. Rankin owned and 1944 and again in 1955 served as Mayor. He was an published a newspaper, the Stapleton Enterprise, until av[...]strumental in In Hardin he became associated with A. L. Mit- obtaining necessary acreage for the golf course on the chell, Hardin's Mayor and a close personal friend, Fort Custer headlands south of Hardin. dealing in insurance and real estate. Car[...]In the late fifties, Mr. Rankin retired from active ran the Hardin Abstract Co. belonging to A. E. Bollum business with Mrs. Rankin's death coming in June 1961 while the[...]mber 1962. Around 1913 Big Hom County became a legal Offspring of Carl and Bess Rankin were John K. entity, being carved out of portions of Yellowstone and and Carl E. who were graduates of Hardin High School Rosebud counties with R. P. "Bob" Ross its first in 1925 and 1926. Both attended the University of County Clerk and Recorder. In May 1919 he decided[...]where John majored in Journalism and Carl in join a new bank in Hardin, the Stockman's National,[...]r the same office and served three successive from the Armed Service as a Colonel in 1960 and also terms. While a County official, Rankin and Attorney, lives in California. He is the father of one son and two D. L . Egnew, purchased the Big H[...]or- daughters. poration, an amalgamation of A. E. Bollum's Hardin Abstract and the Abstract business of C. M. Squires. This business was Carl Rankin's full time business RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS . . .. OF A SMALL BOY following his departure from county office in January IN THE EARLY DAYS OF HARDIN 1929. He was also Public Administrator until the fall of By John K. Rankin 1961 and also operated a small insurance business I remember Hardin of some 60 years ago, when our which he later turned[...]family made its return after roughly six years of living turn sold it to Chas. Egnew in 1941 before[...]in Nebraska. I was born at Crow Agency in March of California.[...]Hardin was Melvin Gay whose father had a hardware store near the Becker Hotel and later built the Gay[...]The school of my early Hardin years was a two story brick building situated in the middle of the block[...]first teacher was a Bill Cochran, followed by Mrs. J. W.[...]istrator of the famous Winnetka, Illinois school[...]system. My first teacher was Martha Eder, sister of[...]which brings to mind my numerous fist fights with Tam Dyvig. A school always had to have its' "Peck's[...]shoulders of one Edgar H . Reeder, (now Rear Admiral,[...]Retired) whose mother operated one of Hardin's drug[...] |
| and a high school building was erected around 1919-20 Huffman, Ray Buzzetti, Ed Miller, Herb Dunham, Ed with Walter Fry, Principal and Mr. Nelson, coach. The[...]Gilmore and walrus mustache with a six gun tied to his Life for small boys in Hardin some sixty years ago right leg, a Bi-plane pilot from Billings who worked for was somewhat more rugged[...]d our own entertainment. One activity from a flat strip of land west of the old engaged in by my brother, Carl, (or Bub a[...]ew the known) and I, until prohibition put us out of business, Atlantic ocean as the now famous Chas. A. (Lindy) was scavengering "empties" .... empty be[...]cent for pints and two cents for quarts. This Store where as a high schooler I clerked all day activity earned us a banked sum of eight hundred Saturday for $1.25; McMoran's Pool Hall across from dollars which helped start us at the U. of Montana in the Harriet Theatre where I lea[...]acations as assistant them before school started, store the empties in gunny commissary boss under[...].00 sacks for eventual delivery to the Becker Bar with our plus found, at Camp One .. in town $115[...]t noon time. Mr. Becker, after I well remember Hardin of those early days; it's accounts were settled, would allow us to partake of the still my home town regardless that my wi[...]Roberta was evening airing'' .. .and to get away from the mosquitoes born. In April 1972 I retired,[...]en dressed in shirt and knickers wrapped our legs with newspaper under our long black stockings.) The "airing " was on the old DR. AND MRS. WAYNE A. RANSIER Billings road. The road that used to fol[...]The life of Dr. Wayne A. Ransier and Miriam grade, then "Mahoney's Hill". (To return from one of Ransier (later Higgins), who lived in Big Horn County, these rides with less than two or three gunny sacks full. Montana, from 1920 until 1940 and after. Dr. Ransier . .. 75 to[...]born bill, but we attended the other theatre out of love for in Cando, North Dakota, to Lewis an[...]ver she was. He was the oldest of eight children. His childhood was There was[...]er months. Right town. His father was a cabinet maker, later, County after Sunday School at the Congregational Church we Treasurer for a number of years. Eventually the family would peel potatoes,[...]go-to-meeting clothes received his Degree of Dental Surgeon from Chicago search the board walk in front of Tom Thain's Saloon College of Dental Surgery and was in hi own practice for money fallen between the cracks from some un- in Cut Bank, Montana. fortuna[...]aturday night. Miriam Worden was one of four children born in Surprisingly, the pickings[...]mother was a music teacher and her father was in the As youngsters we swam in parts of the Little and banking business. The family moved from Iowa to Big Hom Rivers usually walking but someti[...]ennis when I grew older was brought up in a Christian home where daily under the tutelage of Fred Lipp, a bank employee and devotions, prayer meetin[...]father. Mr. Lipp was responsible for the building of school attendance was a regular thing. As the children two wire enclosed[...]ipp moved to Helena and but it was always a part of home life. Early memories John Meeke took his place as my teaching-opponent. A were of "Mama" in a lovely dark red cashmere dressing little later Ca[...]gown with satin sash, playing beautifully on her Basketball[...]"Witches Dance" from the "Headless Horseman." It membership under Coach Ostergren was Paul Gill[...]was exciting and we associated it with the story of Neil Janney, Dwight Perry, Cy Calhoun, Bob Ross,[...]and myself. The 1924-25 team mem- with variations and were a delight. As we grew older bers were Ed Miller, Bo[...]and young friends joined us, we sang for hours at a Buzzetti, Paul Gilliland, Harry Huffman, A[...] |
| Our homes were usually at the edge of town for our being stuck in gumbo mud to th[...], father believed that children should be raised with we determined to have a picnic every month in the year space. M ther cou[...]apolis, this Day, was plenty cold in spite of a huge bonfire in the was not so. Mother tried to keep chickens in the new yard of the Girl Scout Cabin near the Big Horn River. ne[...]ities for us in Hardin, the year around, included a door one moring and roasted mother to a crisp for lot of church work. Though the population was not keeping THAT rooster in a city. We had roast rooster great, we had[...]denominations were represented, many surviving with Dad's health was not good in the city and the move missionary funds. We had a thriving community to Montana's wide open spaces was advised. Life was chorus, lots of organizations and clubs supported by different i[...]ave whiskey or molasses barrels) for fifty cents a barrel. Miriam the first commercially made radio in town-a Before the town water plant was installed, we ha[...]ting gift it moved to our 80 acre homestead just a mile from town. later proved to be. After putting up an aerial, then There, Dad developed a spring in 1914 that still serves ordering another little red box to amplify the sounds, the people of the area in springtime when the city water and installing five sets of headphones, we held evening supply from the Cut Bank river tastes of the run-off. parties lasting into the wee small hours where head We still had the outside toilet but a new convenience, a phones were split and then ten people could l[...]ever better radio sets and at one time there was a ticularly when the temperatures went to 60 below[...]forth. happiest though it may have been because of our ages. There were other hobbies th[...]in the area and furnaces con- us how to chew gum from grains of wheat in summer verted from coal to gas, our coal bin was made into an and how to make gum from tamarac sap in winter. We ideal dark room. We used a corner of the basement for a had huge family picnics with games, races and swings studio, built a copying machine, installed an enlarger fifty feet high. In Montana, our teen years en- and with our five types of cameras, were equipped to tertainment included riding horseback, snaring and enjoy this hobby. From that time until the end of his shooting gophers, country dances and school p[...]along the river or films for the local drug store. With the Crow Indians adjoining coulees.[...]and their finest regalia and the beauties of Big Horn And now, in 1919, Wayne returned from duty as County and nearby areas, there was no lack of subject First Lieutenant in the Medical Corps. He and Miriam matter. Many of the Ransier enlargements were were married in June and after a little over a year and a published in the rotogravure section of the Denver Post half in a dental office in Butte, Montana, Dr. Ransier[...]roformed crickets, then photographed the strength of anticipated growth of the community and enlarged the pictures. These pictures were used by due to plans for building a dam on the Big Horn River. the Entomology d[...]tually, forty years later, the Yellowtail Dam was a University in Bozeman. There being no professional reality, a dream come true.[...]he locality, we were often asked to furnish A son, William (Bill) was only a month old when photographic evidence for l[...]cies the Ransiers arrived in Hardin late in 1920. A short and the F.B.I. One interesting case was the discovery of time later, Eleanor Ransier, younger sister of Wayne, a large cache of marijuana involving three criminals. having lost her mother, ca.me from New York State to nother was in connection with a murder on the be a part of the family . She remained in Hardin until reservation involving two brothers and a boss farmer. time for college. While her home has[...]nally as Mayor, being elected three In spite of depression years, it was a good life terms. During those years, mosqui[...]nics or settling basin was built on the bank of the Big Horn weekend excursions to the Canyon cou[...]muddy waters. The first swimming pool was built with great fun. We slept under the stars and whether true or a fund collected by Boy Scouts and supplemented by[...]round our beds would city funds . The streets of the residential section of the protect us ftom the rattlers. The cars were few, adults city were paved. were crowded in with children on their laps. Almost On[...]Ransier passed away at age every trip resulted in a flat tire, fording streams, at forty-eight. T[...]or mastoid, resulted times making our road around a mountain, high in spinal meningitis which was the cause of his un- centering and dangerous and when t[...] |
| [...]ulture; was then asked to fill the unexpired term of fifteen carrying a book on her head developed posture. Family months, as Mayor of Hardin. During that same year, mending and embroidery made her a skilled the Big Horn County Electric Co-op was or[...]books and office perfect miniatures of their own. She finished high procedures. In June[...]ol in 1890 and for awhile attended the University of vention of the Montana State Chapter of P.E.O. having Michigan. There she lived with a lady who had taught served as its president the p[...]ad encouraged In June 1941, Miriam accepted a position with the some ambitious students to come t.o Mich[...]ame chief Several years later, she married Walter A. Higgins in justice of Montana's Supreme Court. California, where they l[...]1958. In 1960 she returned to Cut Bank, and lived with a sister. She was employed in a C.P.A. office there for fourteen years until retirement[...]spent four years in California during early years of W.W. II, then two years in the Army, surviving the battle of Okinawa where he earned the Bronze Star. He attended Glendale College and the University of California at Berkeley, earning his degree in Chemical Engineering. He has been employed with Monsanto Chemical Company since that time, presen[...]husetts. He has three children, two daughters and a son and two grand· children. The years pas[...]s in Big Horn County seem very precious in spite of limited conveniences and the need to make our living and enjoy life with intense individual effort, loved ones and close friends and a trust in our Maker. All this kept life worthwhil[...]wedding: white silk brocade dress; wired and came with him to Billings. In 1902, with three lace bow in her hair; bouquet of lilies-of-the-valley and children, one a baby, she moved to Crow Agency for an maid[...]ily, insisted that he bring Carrie to their agent of the Crows, she returned to what she had called[...]ecame her dear friend. Carrie joined our "cottage," in Billings, built in 1899. For the rest of the Billings Woman's Club and was its second he[...]etimes visited her old government house, with seven outside doors, and tin home at Big Rapids,[...]e and bathtub made at Fort Custer. As few of the doors grounds were across Elm Street from the Muskegon's locked, she'd take a baseball bat to bed with her when high bank. Beyond the river were lumber[...]il which in earlier days drives had floated down, with into the wilderness on business-camping[...]is year's and last year's. family. Her father was a judge, her mother a She relied on her friend Smokey Wilson, especially in " seminary" graduate. When she'd drop in at the nea[...]l twice. Joe un Dream was the thoroughbred colt of the her that her father wished her to leave. She[...], played tennis on the family court, panful of milk that Mother held, he'd whirl and kick ; and[...]orse dealers. He walked through the hotbeds. were a cutter and bells. She had scarlet fever ,[...]d he went out to diphtheria, and t he whole range of childhood diseases. winter pasture. ext spri[...]ral fence watching Smokey bring in the horses. An with her parents-was photographed in a short-skirted immense work horse jogged over to her and put his bathing suit on the beach of Martha 's Vineyard. She head in her lap.[...]ng, and dancing lessons, and was in Smoke?"[...] |
| [...]"going back to the blanket." All they had learned in school would be of value to their families, she thought, regardless of what they wore.[...]of thought and care to our clothes and how we looked[...]Head kept her in touch with the open country that she[...]I was born in Billings, 1897, son of Samuel[...]early memory is of a horseback ride, behind my father, to a herd of 6000 cattle held on the Billings Bench[...]In 1902 I went with my family to Crow Agency.[...]over Custer Battlefield with Custer's Crow Scouts[...]with the Terry-Gibbons forces. We followed Curley over[...]his escape route along a distant ridge to the Big Horn, Mrs. S . G. R[...]nuity, from Crow Agency to Lodge Grass, then to Alec[...]Green's ranch on Soap Creek. Green, said to be a graduate of Dublin University, had a Greek-letter[...]probably Big Medicine, Scolds-a-Bear, Little Nest[...](Crow police), and Indian trader E. A. Richardson.[...]Cheyenne. The agent had to appear twice a year. Y!e[...]knew Helena well, and sometimes visited Denver with[...]On my seventh birthday, camping with my family ,[...]Creek." So said the old anglers who viewed it. Also at[...]seven, I went horseback with my father to Billings. We Mrs. Reynolds' neighbor[...]with Paul McCormick; slept the second night at a[...]ge into Billings next day. "Why, that's ipsy," replied Smokey. Crow police br[...]tood between the Indian boarding balky pony home, with Ros aboard. When girls from school campus and the grounds of Fred Server's hote~ the b?ardin~ school were allo[...]d visit Server had been First Sergeant, Company A, Secon and Joke with them and try to reassure them about Cavalry, under Brisbain, at the time of the Battle. He[...] |
| and Old Crow, a famous war chief, were first to discover agric[...]organize a chapter of S. A. E. there. The porch of the Agency Office was pitted with In January, 1921, I married Viva Hewett, a bullet holes, left by the charging warriors of rebelling member of my high school class and daughter of A. L. Wraps Up His Tail. At the rear of this building was Hewett. His Security Bridge Company had built twelve police headquarters, a large room fragrant with kin- highway bridges over the Yellowstone[...]and other famous Indians were frequent visitors. A talk Billings. I was employed by F. W. Foulke[...]aveled for it over the My schooling began in a wing of the boarding state. In 1926 I became a special agent for Nor- school's oldest building.[...]8 we returned to Billings in July, 1910. I became a member moved to Hamilton. Until 1946, I was parts man for the of Montana's first Boy Scout troop, and an avid patron Harper Logging Company. Then I opened the first of the YMCA.[...]Reynolds swimming hole near Wyola after a hot day of During high school years, I punched cows sum- branding. Man in rear is Harry Robinson mers with Frank Heinrich's Antler Outfit and played footbal[...]For twenty years I worked in politics: 1920, ap- of 1916, I entered Cornell University, Ithaca, New pointed first director of Republican activities; 1922, York, and became a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon first Young Republ[...]29, Fraternity. The World War began, and the Dean of the 1931, 1933, and Special Session of 1934, First Assistant College of Agriculture advised me to return home and Sergeant-at-Arms of the Montana Senate; 1935, raise wheat. So I went[...]nized an eleven-state Young Republican Con- acres of land and planted it to wheat, which was har-[...]mmittee; 1941, State but was stopped by the onset of the great flu epidemic. Republican Com[...] |
| ow, since the establishment of my three children to heal at once. Forever tr[...]'s death, I come back to Joggles, or by wagon with the Government's "litttle the Crow Country as often as I can manage. bay team," he'd take along as many of the family as could go-usually Mike. The summer of 1903, at Green's Ranch on Soap Creek, there was a camp with S. G. REYNOLDS[...]Reynolds was "Guil" to friends. put together with the aid of Crow leaders, was such a As Indian agent, he was often " Major." Other agents motorless celebration (except for transportation of were addressed that way, too-the title perhaps a relic visitors by train) as can never be seen again. First given of days when agents were Army majors. Guil Reynolds[...]agriculture which "boss farmers" and the him out-of-doors. Agents were Presidential appointees B[...]lican friends evidently met no buildings, of rough boards and logs, included an exhibit diffic[...]vegetables, handicrafts, chickens, and examples of retiring from the post at Crow in July, 1902. Our family housewifely arts. There was a parade of larger animals lived there until 1910.[...]and farm equipment. The daily program began with a He was a farm boy from southern Michigan. There procession around the Agency of mounted Crows in he had attended school, also "singing school," native dress, led by Plenty Coups. The school band " strawberry socials, " and country fairs. He had swum played at the[...]els (often ac- posed the lively program, with spectacular bareback companied by a gun-toting grandmother). At six, he (horse and rider, both) races, along with adaptations had lost his mother. from my father's accounts of country fairs-including[...]catching the greased pig. Each day ended with a dance. Board and judges were Crows. A healthy Fair Fund[...]praise had appeared in the national press, since a sprinkling of newsmen attended-always Arthur Chapman of the Denver "Post" and Henry Hall (an Eaton dude) of the Washington "Post". S .[...]work his way through |
| [...]ERVIN A RICHARDSON[...]Ervin A. Richardson, Indian trader, was born at[...]train and thence to Forsyth on a construction train. He[...]worked at the post's general store until it went out of[...]Then he went to St. Paul, to work for "one of the[...]Back at the Agency, he opened a store for Paul Mc-[...]then applied for and received from the U. S. Govern- ment a trader's license, before 1900. Thereafter, he S.[...]Cheyenne Chief Two Moons talking received a license annually, to sell goods on the Crow over[...]In the early years, the Babcock store was operating at Along in the '30's, my father and husband dropped the Agency, and a Chinese gentleman had a shop, from in unannounced on a mass meeting of Crows, and sat in which Chinese candy and li[...]thcoming at the back row. My husband became aware of some neck- Christmas. stretching up on the platform. Then came one of the top Young Richardson had married Lil[...]sle, seized my father by the hand, Woolston, a New Jersey girl who had come West to and led him to a chair on the platform. As he passed teach in Indian schools. along, he was followed first by a murmur of recognition, There was already irrigation[...]; but in the early 1900's the large canal leading of greeting, until when he appeared up front, the from the canyon down the Big Horn Valley on the east friendly murmur had become almost a roar. Ed said side was being built. Richardson followed the con- that he had never seen such a spontaneous display of struction crews with tent stores, supplying their affection.[...]hing their checks. Alone, except for We have a portrait of Guil Reynolds, painted in his team and his six-shooter, he carried large sums of those happy days by his great friend J. H. Sharp.[...]RICHARD The old store stands now at Crow Agency, looking By Mrs[...]xim] much as it did at the beginning of the century, when it was the E. A. Richardson store. Where cars are parked Ernest Richard was bo[...]now, stood a timber hitching rack. Riders tied their Lavarno in northern Italy, the son of Louis and[...]ir teams there, while Clementine Richard who were of Italian, French, and[...]ass. For sale in Swiss ancestry. Louis was always a farmer; the family those days were mountains of beads; bright head- of Clementine were lawyers and wine-makers. Louis[...]scarfs; bolts of calico; blankets-Hudson's Bay, made a trip to South America searching for more and[...]"Indian" (machine made with Indian patterns), and better land, but returned d[...]at the Crows had an orchard. His family consisted of Henry, Ernest,[...]liked; boots and shoes; buggy whips hanging from a Louis, Helen, Jennie, and Emma.[...]foodstuffs and household necessities. A huge iron stove working, and located homesteads on the east side of[...]front windows were full of toys. Some of the candy for married Reva Hone of Provo; Ella and Max were born[...]remember all-day suckers on licorice sticks that you ranch[...]the gone. REA board for twenty-five years, a local water board, "Uncle Ervie," as some besides his nephews called and a county one.[...]etired to Creston, British Columbia, where he had a In later years, Mr. Richardson enjo[...] |
| tongue, with men he had known when they were She married Ervin A. Richardson, and they lived papooses on their mothers' backs. in a roomy apartment in the pleasant east wing of the J. H. Sharp was a neighbor at Crow, and a friend. store. They had a spacious, fenced yard; and there was The Richardsons acquired some of Sharp 's most a screened verandah, Crow Agency then being the bea[...]For the year 1906, mosquito capital of the world. Two green parks, the Sharp painted the picture to decorate the store's green campus of the school, and all the green yards and calendar, doing it in the style of native painting. gardens were wate[...]relatives, who called her "Aunt Lillie." She was a person of much dignity, with a regal presence. Her[...]uprightness was not only of the person, but of the[...]character. She was sincere, and never guilty of anything petty. She was an artist, a teacher, and an[...]those were the times of a recognized visiting day, and[...]uperintendent, she ran the Sunday School, and was a bulwark of support to our missionary, Mr. Burgess.[...]We had an active Sunday School, with picnics and Christmas programs. I have a little book that was[...]9 20 Upon the Midnight Clear" was one of the joys of my 21U23U252627[...].:=. -=-- childhood. E. A. Richardson's store calendar, 1906 Richardson owned a store in Forsyth and finally |
| H. Sharp was a resident artist, but others came oc-[...]and had come to the Crow tribe for many with Ed. In 1943 she started with the school district as years. George deForest Brush was with them before clerk of the board and stayed with the district twenty- 1883 (paintings in Nat'l. Gallery, Washington). Mrs. six years, twenty-two of them in Hardin High School. Richardson took an in[...]and other subjects, directed W. E. Rollins set up a temporary studio in her living- plays, spon[...]ool was finished, Carolyn was then full- portrait of an Indian smoking his pipe before the tepee time high school librarian. She describes her years with fire (now owned by Mike) . Rollins liked the subject and the schools as "a hard and happy life". did it again. The second pi[...]l Club. The boarding school's herd included a mean little Jersey bull. Every afternoon the cows came in from pasture to the area behind the campus ; but now and then they strayed into the parks. We were scared of that bull. We knew he had over-turned Dr. Tucker'[...]the agent, was impressed. In the last year of her life, my father and I met Mrs. Richardson again. She had lived in Forsyth for a long time, taking part in all good things, as she[...]re Her own words best tell the stories of her girlhood she was alone except for a couple of boy roomers. She at Crow Agency where her[...]Agent. At that time Carolyn's family were father, of her nephew and niece, the Ernest Woolstons. She[...]ike and sister Rosalind. Youngest filled her life with church work. She was often invited to child, Ma[...]he family moved give talks at churches or schools of the small com- back to Billings. munities in the area, even commencement addresses. " In July, 1902 we moved to Crow. Our home was We had been with her six months when she decided to doubtless built 1883-'84 when the Agency was go to a church conference in' California. There she died, established. It was one story, built of upright boards August, 1924. Her funeral services[...]of big trees, an orchard bounded us on one side, the[...]park was across the road. I have never heard such a By Alice Riebeth Jacobson and racket of bird song since. There were no sparrows.[...]. Riebeth There were lots of wrens, robins, some orioles, Carolyn Reynold[...]s, red-wings, magpies, and owls on the in Montana with the exception of four years in North- outskirts of town. ampton, Massachusetts, where she attended Smith We had pets - a magpie ; rabbits; lots of cats; College. She graduated in 1921 with an A.B. degree. motherless lambs and colts ; several dogs, one by one. " A.B. " because the diploma was in Latin.[...]rolyn assisted her father, Railroad) gave Ros a cocker spaniel, " Sport" , her Guil Reynolds, who was a receiver working in closed companion all[...]in Forsyth for several years in other closed " Papa" built a large, covered pen for the pheasants. banks.[...]successfully planted here. Mike Piper Hardin part of the time where his business was and in gav[...]t tering about overhead was and Mary, were living with Carolyn's parents, Mr. and another early morning sound-along with the coffee Mrs. S. G . Reynolds.[...]uilding In Billings Carolyn was on the Y.W.C.A. Board fires in our few stoves and fireplace. and one year she ran the " Y" when the Board couldn 't A " big ditch" skirted the edge of the Agency, and pay an executive secretary. She was a charter member the village was criss-crossed by smaller ones . The parks of A.A.U.W. and had long belonged to D.A.R. were a grassy playground where the Agency childre[...] |
| [...]ing Kinnikinick, giving flowers. the place a lovely fragrance. We'd stick our fingers int o[...]the holes left in the porch posts by the bullets of Wraps- across from the mill was a good place when adults were up-his-Tail and his insurgents twenty years before. with us at night, with a bon-fire. We coasted, too, We learned to ride on a small sorrel mare, Judith. across the tracks[...]ayed until the On my seventh birthday I got Dime, a white pony. Ros coyotes began to howl. in[...]Coyotes were the chorus we went to sleep by, with best horsewoman. Accompanying the wagon drawn by the accompaniment of drumming and chanting Indians, our father's belov[...]e government wagons would western hills. Hundreds of curlews circled overhead, be put on runners. My father would take all the kids crying, " curlew! curlew!". In the near distance, a herd riding in one of these that had a bed large enough. of wild horses might sweep across the hilltops, then In July of 1910 we moved back to Billings, a very stop and look at us. There were no deer or a[...]ope were gone. Prairie dogs river. We had a fine swimming hole and Dad got us an were plentiful. Our dogs never gave up hope of catching Old Town Canoe. We brought from Billings a team of one. shetland ponies, Thunder and Lightning, and a small wagon. Our saddle horses had been brought from Crow.[...]out fit camped across the river a couple of times a summer. Soon he was saying, " Mrs. Reynolds, may I take t he girls for a little while? You know that girls[...]don 't have much fun. Boys have all the fun." So trusted[...]Hathhorn. So we rode the range with Frank Heinrich and t he cowboys of the Antler, for many happy summers. " With Frank H einrich at Dry Head: Carolyn, Maureen[...]E dwin Walter Riebeth (1883-1964), grew up in a |
| [...]but if I weather these bad times I'll make it up." hopping freights. One winter, he helped build an Ed was an outdoorsman; he had once made a 400 mile elevator in northern Montana. He was hom[...]lis ridden - said he felt higher up on a horse than he would tennis tournaments. He enjoyed a year in San Fran- on the Empire Stat[...]foreign life. His there he met Maurice McLaughlin of the Davis Cup primary task was to audit the First National Bank. team and played with him often. During his few years This l[...]onship games, by Frank Heinrich's money. A mass of real estate city and state. In his early Hardin y[...]and the Buzzetti youth among streams of the Antler range, for the pleasure of it. He those he played with. learned to deal with his employer's precarious health, Real Estat[...]punishing years, Frank, met, 1922, he was leading a full, bachelor's life, living at remembering his original proposal, offered Ed a most the Y.M.C.A. (later at the Commercial Club), playing generous bonus, the Third Street building with the tennis, chess, volley ball. He belonged to th[...]building. He Lions' second president, and editor of the Lion's Cub. wouldn't have done this,[...]·else." The W.P.A. removed his county tenants. Remodeling, with borrowed funds, came next. For[...]months, he tracked down new tenants. A few years later, the war took most of these; and Ed sold the[...]nce when I fu:st knew him, he found me struggling with party m- vitations that I wanted to do in poetry.[...]feet. Arithmetic came naturally. Looking at a sales slip upside down, he would startle the cler[...]er how long, in his head. Invention had been a spare-time occupation. He had a patent on a spring wheel (no tire), a bronze model of his rotary pump, and a device to send p~otographs by telegraph ready to[...], 1934 in chorus, "How did you make the lightning?" My husband's doings, I said. In 1928 he'd acquired a wife-later, two daughters. His employment by[...]pe_d During the Depression, seeking a living, he prospected from Ed's help in a law suit. To show gratitude to this[...] |
| Bighorns and Beartooths. With Oscar Sullivan and the Peden's Dry Goods. She[...]hole thing, Barber Shop. For many years she had a boarding even cliff tops. They navigated backwards, rowing house, first on Crow A venue and later operated the upstream like mad to[...]rily as the river shot them over some huge from Bozeman in 1910 to live with his sister, Mrs. boulder.[...]bts. Home to stay at last, he did more inventing. A while before he died, he accompanied me to the Ju[...]of Elsie Gibbs. Elsie was born in Prescott, Iowa. Th[...]Gibbs went to Idaho on the train from Iowa, then came[...]They lived at Bozeman for several years on a farm four miles south of Bozeman. They were hailed out[...]they came to Hardin in 1914, living on a farm northwest of Hardin.[...]Falls, Minnesota, a son of Mr. and Mrs. George Riley. He came with his parents to Hardin in December of 1916 and attended Hardin High School from 1917 to[...]operated a farm northwest of Hardin. In 1929 they moved to a ranch above Lodge Grass.[...]all Ed Riebeth {front] and Oscar Sullivan on one of the worked out. Mrs. Gibbs cooked on a ranch, Mr. Gibbs several boat trips through Big Hom Canyon in mid- worked at a lambing camp, Elsie did housework for thirties[...]Mrs. Yergey, cooked at a cafe and for Campbells wheat[...]farm. Roy worked around town and was a policeman for a while. (The year is well remembered because of the THE RIGGS FAMILY thick crop of grasshoppers that year!) Mr. Gibbs got[...]d Rayburn's 1947. sister Mattie McDonald of Centralia, Missouri came to In 1937, Roy was appointed Chief of Police and Hardin on the Burlington R.R. in 1914.[...]- dersheriff until 1946 when upon the death of Sheriff ware. Aunt Matt, as she was known,[...] |
| [...]V. Bailey. This was the first and only store in Wyola for election and served in that capacity for 20 years until he many years. He was post master from 1912 to 1930. retired on January 2, 1967. On Dece[...]ppointed Sheriff again to fill the unexpired term of and given an honored Indian name meaning "He F[...]lone". Many beautiful gifts were given, including a Elsie and Mrs. Gibbs helped with the Sheriff's blanket and moccasins. His[...]were busy elsewhere. years until a change in rules made post-masters Mr. Riley was Secretary-Treasurer of the Montana ineligible for such partisan po[...]To those who knew him he was always "Ernie" -a stjll held the job when he passed away on March 1[...]and whose word was always trusted. Elsie is a past Matron of the Jasmine Chapter No. 65. Roy was a member of St. John's Lodge No. 92 A.F. and A.M., Hardin, a member of the Royal Arch Masons, Hardin, a member of the Commandery of Billings and the Al Bedoo Shrine, Billings, and was Past Grand Noble of the I.O.O.F. Lodge in Hardin. Roy was well liked as a Sheriff and served the Hardin community in many w[...]re dance, fish and hunt. Roy and Elsie have a son Dale born on June 16, 1930. Dale joined the Navy after graduating from High School. He is married, has two children and is superintendent of the Hobby Shop at Leisure World, Laguna Beach, Ca[...]By Vera Waterman Bill Roach, one of our neighbors, had lived in the Valley, came up to our area. Hearsay was that he loved a girl in the valley, and she married another, so he was a typical old "Batch". He made the best sourdough p[...]er ate, and biscuits like feathers! He tamed a deer, called Old Splay Foot, a little wild rabbit, and a big bull snake who lived above his cellar door an[...]ing, but this one day he wasn't home, some people from town came out, killed Old Splay Foot, the bunny, and even Old Bull, the snake. Bill was sort of soured on town folks after that.[...]. He finally went to Reno to live with his brother, Amos, and died there.[...]nson Blankenship Ernest C. Robinson was born of Scotch-Irish parents in Owatonna, Minnesota, October 1, 1879. He died in Sheridan, Wyoming April 11, 1941 from a heart attack. He left Minnesota and came to Montana for reasons of health, and settled in Wyola in 1912. There were[...]became manager and post master Interior of the Christiansen-Robinson Store, with post of the general store owned by E. A. Richardson and H. office in rear[...] |
| [...]asants, and grouse. He was an enthusiastic member of the Hardin Rod and Gun Club. In these early[...]eek and the Little Hom Canyon. Dempsey Voiles ran a livery barn in Wyola and his horses and buggies were available for such outings. In 1924 he entered a partnership with Chris Christensen, formerly of Sheridan, Wyoming, and they. operated the Wyola Mercantile Store until his death in 1941. The post-office was a part of the store. For twenty years he served on the Wyola sc[...]s he lived in Wyola his goal was to make his town a better place in which to Our nearest neighbors were the John A. Perry live.[...]I explored every sandrock formation within miles of our[...]I had the privilege of taking Normal Training my[...]at the Hart School, which was located south of Hardin near Two Leggin Creek. After graduation from what[...]Billings I taught the total of twenty-one years in[...]Hardin District 17-H. Eighteen of those years were in[...]I have lived in this area since the fall of 1917. By Eva Romine Miller My father, James S. Romine, and two of our neigh- bors, Stark Bair and Tom Coons, came into the Sarpy area in the spring of 1917 from Bowbells, North Dakota. Each took up a homestead joining each other. My father built a one-room homestead shack during that summer in which we lived for about two years, before building a larger, log house. The middle of October of the same year my parents, my brother, Sidney Allen, and myself, Eva (now Mrs. George Miller), with all of our worldly possessions moved into our new home, such as it was. My younger brother, James, was born in July of the first summer we spent in our new homestead sh[...]days we had to go seven miles to get our mail at a little country store and post-office called McRae, now extinct. At that time a Mrs. Sid Romine and Jimmy stage brought the mail up Sarpy Creek from Hysham every Tuesday and Friday. To this day mail[...]chool in the Spring Creek com- FAMILY OF HECTOR AND MARY ROSS munity at that time, Allen and I lost one year of school. By Vivian Lewis Kimball During the summer of 1918 neighbors Homer S. Allen Hector Ross was born in Canada, September 27, and John A. Perry and my father built the Spring Creek[...]be a miller.[...] |
| He worked as a miller in Burlington, Iowa, and 1938 and[...]n Kossuth, Iowa, their Server Ross died in a Billings nursing home in 1968. children were born[...]Mary (Marie) Barbara Ross taught school as a Hector was elected representative from Des substitute teacher in Crow Agency[...]y moved to Mediapolis, and he attended son of John Lewis and wife. They lived in St. Xavier for night school to become a millwright, starting new mills. the first two or three years of their marriage. In 1907 a In 1896 Mr. Ross came to Crow Agency to ser[...]ey were the the first government miller. The rest of the family parents of twin daughters, Evelyn and Genevieve. remained in Iowa to wait for Marie to graduate from Genevieve died at 10 months of age. In 1912 another high school in 1897. Ida arr[...]egraphic trade before following his father, along with there until Clyde's retirement in 1945. He had[...]years. At the time of his retirement he had been Project Hector R[...]il April 29, 1904, when he became ill and died in a They moved to Hardin in 1945. Mr. Lewis died in 1950 Billings hospital from Bright's Disease. During his and is burie[...]or the delicious Home in Forsyth. At the age of 94, she is the last bread which came from her oven. Mr. Ross was buried surviving member of her family. in the Custer Battlefield National Ce[...]Vivian married Glenn Kimball and lives in a veteran of the Civil War. Hy[...]and lives in Columbus, Montana, where they owned a small acreage Hardin. of land. Bob continued to work in the depot in Crow Annabelle, the eldest child of Hector and Mary Agency; Ida returned to Iowa wher[...]r death in 1963. Jesse and for many years, a specialized law secretary for a Clifford finished their high school education in Winona law firm. She retired from her work because of Columbus, and Clifford entered the Iowa State failing health, and moved to Hardin to be with the rest University where he received a degree in Dentistry in of her family. She was a highly intellectual, self- 1916.[...]educated woman, and contributed to the culture of any Following his graduation, Clifford opene[...]rand children, Columbus to move to Hardin to live with Clifford. They 4 of whom still live in this area of Montana. continued their residency in Hardin until the death of Mrs. Ross in 1931. Mrs. Ross was affectionately k[...]in 1885. Her father, Fred Server, had been a soldier in the Hardin Cemetery.[...]d to Marie Laura Server Custer, when both a soldier and a civilian. After he on November 5, 1903, in Crow Agency. Marie Server resigned from the army he hauled freight for a time but was born in 1885 in Junction City, now C[...]el in Crow Agency. At this time Bob operated a hotel in Custer, where Marie was born and was working for the CB & Q Railroad. A son, Robert spent her early years. Jr.,[...]nued work for the Agency and operated a hotel there. She went to Fort railroad. In 1913 t[...]Custer often to watch the dances and the drilling of the there until their deaths. Bob died in 1963. D[...]she time he lived in Hardin he served as cashier of the was allowed to join the dances and re[...]she was Stockman National Bank, and held several of the one of the few young women ; with so many single men County offices. He was active[...]was much sought after. church groups. At the time of his retirement in 1954, he In 1903 she married Bob Ross who was working for had held the office of Clerk of Court since 1927. Cecil the Burlington Railroad. This was a year after the Fort and Orville, twins, were born[...]in was abandoned and dances there were only a memory. 1923 a daughter, Betsy, joined the family. Cecil married[...]ornia. Orville died in to Hardin. Mr. Ross had a very friendly, outgoing[...] |
| [...]the into politics; he was the first County Clerk of the newly parents' expectations but they were[...]enos, Thompsons, and Treasurer, and County Clerk of Court. He held this last many many others.[...]There was plenty of room to play; north of the five Mrs. Ross was an excellent story-teller. One of her hundred block was one house and the rest[...]ss sage brush. Rankin when they returned from their wedding. The family li[...]and undesireable, but that did time for a week-end of fun they all went out to not deter the young people. They went ahead with their Thompson's Grove and what fun they h[...]the Rankins were meals they had at the end of a ball game or some game staying. When Carl heard[...]ne was there, it took the doc- determined to put a stop to such nonsense, so he tors, bankers, Court House gang, the merchants and all grabbed a rifle and fired a shot out of the bedroom in all they sure let their[...]d had one good window, presumably over the heads of the crowd, but it time. This was enjoyed in full by kids and all. went through the arm of Mrs. Ross' brother. It was an When w[...]so I had to work and sure enjoyed the fun of working. tainly ended the party on a sour note." (However, the Matt Larkin got me a job working in the bowling lanes Rankins and Ross[...]ther occasion Mr. Ross was on temporary a game and purchased my first pair of shoes from Fred duty at the Hardin depot; Mrs. Ross decided to take Gladden-that was a big day and I had money left to pay baby Bobby and spend the day with him. The train Dad for board and ro[...]il it reached Kopriva boys at the Mere., from there to Gladden Toluca-and no east bound train until evening. It was a Grocery Store, and from there to the opening of very hot summer's day that Marie Ross spent there Sawyer's Store. with a fussy baby and swarms of flies for company. "I When I was in[...]l I had to work and play sure gave that conductor a piece of my mind the next basket ball; it was gre[...]me past times but I got along. Hardin. " We spent a lot of time down at Crow Agency with The Rosses had four children: Robert S., who now all the friends there and it was a great place: always lives in Billings; twins Orville (deceased) and Cecil of something going on. Dad's sister, Marie Lewi[...]family lived there, and it was nice to visit with them Torske, Blackfoot, Idaho. Mr. Ross died in 1[...]hours of day-break he lined me up for licensing those ROBERT S. ROSS from Wyoming at early hours. So I remember getting [lived in Big Horn County from 1913 to 1932 home about three-thirty when a car pulled up and some in the 500 block Nort[...]and said he wanted to see the At the time of my birth in Crow Agency, Montana Clerk of Court so he could get a marriage license. I told 1906, it was in Rosebud County. The folks were living him he'd be right with him; Dad came out the door and over the Burlingto[...]said "Young man, what is it that you want?" The fellow Grandfather Ross came into this country from told him "We want to get married." Dad said "I have Iowa at the time and was working for the Government given out a lot of these license's and have not had one of building Grit Mills; he was sent to Crow Agency to put them go bad; are you going to stick with this for good, one up for the Indians. Grandfather Server had the or just what are your intentions?" He turned and went hotel, it was here that I was born. We lived in Crow back to bed. The fellow got a big kick out of it and said Agency until about 1909 and then the[...]s my father was agent for the C.B. more." Well, that gave me a twist that I thought was & Q. Railway. We lived i[...]nce band was something I en- started to take part of Rosebud and Yellowstone joyed very much; also all of the club dances as they counties, to create Big Hom County. There were not were lots of fun seeing those folks really enjoying too many b[...]ut I can themselves and how so many classes of people could get remember quite a few of them, and we enjoyed the good together and in a nights' time have such fun! Saturday old board wa[...]the side and I started to school in Hardin with Nellie Brown in watch-it was a great town life. the first grade; it was a great start in life. Dick W~en I remember the end of World War I, the news came and Sterling Loaney we[...]t on what they thought was good for along so well with Miss Brown. There were many fine[...] |
| [...]rned At first the house on the comer of Chouteau and out for the day. I was playing in th[...]ghth was by itself. There were no dwellings north of playing Alto French Horn, I never saw so many folks us, and it would be a long time before there were any that were so happy and streets so full of town folks, it structures to the west, except for an occasional tem- was a jam! The band was playing in front of the Drug porary shack. I can remember an old (middle-aged?) Store and Mrs. Reeder was worried about the windows man living in such a place on a cold winter day cutting falling-she was having Mr. Hicks outside most of firewood as hard as he could, thus i[...]the the time trying to get the crowd back. He had a job. saying that a wood fire warms you twice. We burned Many of the boys went home not feeling too hot but[...]n the basement. We dressed warmly and had I remember also when Dr. Clifford Ross, my uncle, heavy bedclothes, because heat from the furnace was the dentist and he was busy all the time. Bill warmed us only in front of the outlet. Larkin was having a time with one of his teeth; he went My father, Arthur H. Roush, the first Assessor of up to see Clifford and they had quite a talk. About two Big Horn County, originally[...]ation system had been laid out, and he hoped that a not cut hair, so he went up and Dr. did not put him in garden together with a cow and some chickens, would the chair, said he would just look at it. Dr. Haverfield provide a considerable part of the family food and keep came walking in the offi[...]ifford what he us youngsters busy and out of mischief. It turned out, was doing? He said he wa[...]however, that water was too expensive for a large and going to put something on it to make it better, and garden, and so he sold a lot and a half. We did have winked at Haverfield. He told H[...]e fell to my lot until high school having trouble with his neck also, so Dr. Haverfield days. I have never liked since to take care of livestock started to feel it. When it was set up Clifford winked or pets. and Dr. Haverfield with a quick move twisted Bill's In late[...]lled out the tooth. Bill stood there in such a rather unfavorable place, and was told that and h[...]fford told him to the Burlington Railroad owned a section of land there come back next day and maybe take the[...]g good to make all the money they could out of that section. now, - his eyes came wide and he started out of the Since then, I have traveled enough[...]d did not across the Big Hom, near the mouth of the Little Horn, tell him about it. Dr. Haverfield kidded Bill for years would be a better site. about that. I don't know if they got[...]e. There were no buildings on either of the half-blocks In 1930 Irene Buzzetti and I got married; we were facing Chouteau avenue across from us when we moved married in Red Lodge as we could not see the folks to Hardin, and most of the other dwellings had recently trying to put on a wedding with all of the friends they been built. For a long time we had few, if any neighbor had, so we[...]rothy Schneider and children to play with. We bought milk from Ed Lorraine and Sterling Loaney bring Irene to Red Lodge Lammers, who lived with his family a block east of us. for a dance. They did not know what was going to It was my job to go and get the milk in a pail in the happen until they got to Laurel, then Irene told them. evening, and so I was with them more for a while than We had a great time and we all had a lot of fun for four any people outside my own folks[...](and is) considerably younger than I. When on a visit At the time I was working in Red Lodge; in a back home many years later I learned that Joe was a couple of months after Irene got there we moved to grandfather and mayor of the town, it made me feel Sheridan, Wyoming. From there to Hardin, then to peculiarly[...]ack to Billings, always Readers of the Spoon River Anthology, and of a keeping Hardin in our thoughts, as it is a great town. recent collection a Wisconsin town, know that small-[...]town and rural life in the early years of this century was[...]t as idyllic as sometimes pictured. They had many of[...]early days was not like a place in more settled sections[...], the big relations, both good and bad, of those lived in longer- question was the new City[...]hat time, settled places. most water was from wells, and one of the tasks, of the We had moved to town mainly to send us hired girl was to carry water from the neighbors well, youngsters to school.[...]chool started that fall. Because I was six) to be of much help. I can't say for sure whether already knew how to read, after a month in the first the water tower was still bein[...]g, where the dug, water mains laid, as were pipes from them to the Lammers store later was. After Christmas, the second houses for kitchen water. It was a few years before we grade was move[...] |
| Pierce (Pearce?) wife of the manager of a dry goods carefully place them, with air-spaces between, until the store, taught the second. I used to have a picture of the kiln was full- kilns were twelve feet high[...]w where it is now. ning they were removed from the kiln, cooled, and I can not remember the name of my third-grade hauled to the building site. We made 5000 bricks a day. teacher- it may have been Miss Pendergast.[...]ce. I believe both Today the bricks are of better material, rolled and stayed in Hardin for only a year. There were three burned, so the b[...]ich are teachers during my fifth grade year, one of whom later now in brick, make them lighter[...]e we were moved Father had worked with an Englishman, Mr. to the high school building. I do not remember the Dimbleby, in Billings so he asked him to come to names of most of the teachers during the early years Hardin and work with him here, which he did. The first there, except t[...]aught eighth-grade brick building built with the aid of Charlie Hunt was arithmetic.[...]that I already knew how to read the middle of December and the first bread was baked when we mo[...]before Christmas, 1908. The summer of 1909 he built myself, I don't suppose I can blame others for a habit the pool hall for John Kifer, where the Hardin Photo is that has tended to isolate me from people, and hence do now. We discovered tha[...]round me particles in the mud out west of town which would swell as many others. Hardin was[...]y the river where the sandy soil was good 1 1ave a car for a long time. It was therefore, much more brick[...]places. moved across the river and got a soft mud machine: My view of Hardin is likely distorted by economic bricks were "flop-brick" instead of being hand-made, conditions while I was there. Th[...]and there were six bricks in the mold instead of three. continued through out much of the Northern Plains, This was to the right of the present highway. Several and 1929 merely intensified what was a chronic con- brick homes, a duplex and an apartment house, and dition. I can't remember when, but at one time graveled sidewalks, were erected in the central area of town and streets were a great improvement. That was typical of many are still in use. the times.[...]School for us children was a 24' x 24' school house[...]ousseau In the fall of 1910 we built a large brick barn on the We came from Billings in May, 1908-my mother, back of the lot at 411 N. Crow; we lived in it that winte[...]o had and built the big house on the front of the lot the next come earlier met us at the depot[...]r. I went to Billings Business College that fall. of Center, and prepared to take us out to the place he Going back to 1908 the Gibsons built a fifty-foot homesteaded two miles west of Hardin. We could see wide store building and sold general merchandise- little exc[...]dings on Center avenue were the Gibsons came from near Tulsa, Oklahoma; they Becker Hotel, the Hardin Hotel, a one-chair barber brought with them a Hambletonian trotting horse, a shop, two saloons (one on each side of the street), and a deep bay. It was bred to a black stallion owned by A. P. small general store which housed the post office on the McDonald. (He and Tom Mouat had the first meat south side of 2nd Street. Our folks stopped there and ma[...]ght supplies, then loaded family and groceries in a was a mare, rather large, and the second a "horse colt", wagon and started due west for the[...]o teams and the colts homestead. Father had built a two room house just in the barn. under[...]lived here for two years. We had a town band, organized in the fall of 1910 Father had brought us here so that he could make under the direction of Sam Woods, Hardin's first brick and start contrac[...]ublic appearance in 1911; we played at least once a burned at a certain heat; we used coal and wood to get[...]. Woods the bricks for sand-rolled brick-three in a mold and the would take over. Some of the members were my cousins dirt was all ground in a pug-mill. Mud was shovelled in Jack Rowland[...]Shin Hutton, Gus Lammers, Dell Kelley, and to be of the right consistency), it was then hand-rolled, myself. placed in the mold, and a bow with a piano string cut Eva and Otto were th[...], ground to dry and then wheeled into the kiln in a made foundations, and helped with various buildings. specially made wheel-barrow. There the moulder would Otto fell in love with horses and soon moved to a[...] |
| homestead near Fishtail where the rest of the family ceased to fascinate him. He was[...]intrigued with the story of the Hay Corral fight, near The Dimblebys built a frame house with a fire Fort Smith, and erected a marker for it. With C. H. place and an unusual chimney-a local land-mark until Asbury and R. A. Vickers pressure was put upon Hon. it burned.[...]Scott Leavitt to have a monument put up on the Reno I left Hardin in 1915, had a homestead seven miles Battlefield and a road built from the Custer Battlefield from Columbus, and went back to laying brick in to it. He loved conducting groups of people to various various cities. I was in Wichita Falls, Texas for thirty- sites of historic importance and thus "educating" them thr[...]mination of the more rigorous schedule of health work,[...]interest until his death in 1941. DR. W. A. RUSSELL AND FAMILY By Marion Russell Carper Very early in 1908 my father, Dr. W. A. Russell, Mam.ma, (Jennie Calkins Russell) and I came to Huntley where he established the first drug store and was the first physician on the Huntley Project. With us came Mama's half-brother, Emory Flickinger who[...]ngineer. Water had been turned into the big ditch of the Huntley Irrigation Project, the first Government project of this type, the preceding August. Huntley was both new and "raw", a great contrast to the Michigan home and surroundi[...]was more healthful and the challenges great. Both of my parents were in- terested in helping the town grow and enjoyed the people; Dad organized a debating society for the young men who had no place to go except the saloons, and Mam.ma was chairman of a women's study group that, during our last year there, started a library. In 1914 I was ready for high school, and this posed a problem. Since there would only be three grades i[...]trict Superin- Dr. W . A. Russell, 1917 tendent and the County Superintendent of Schools to put a ninth grade course of study in its place, and this Mother gave music lessons to a few mature met the needs of the three or four of us who were ready students, had a piano quartet, and was President of the for the work. General Federation of Women's Clubs ; later she held In August of that year we had driven to Hardin to the same[...]ove here. Mr. and Mrs. Peden joined in the praise of Hardin library for nineteen years. She reti[...]ater system and electric and joined me for a year's travel thru Central and South lights, plus a high school, were most appealing. The Amer[...]Huntley; ten days later we illustrating them with colored slides. She passed away "officially" move[...]although we did not in 1969 at the age of ninety-three. actually arrive until December. A year later Mama Meantime I graduated from Hardin High in its passed away.[...]e two-year In 1917 Dad married Bessie Reed, a distant secretarial course at Montana State, and received my relative and a talented music teacher from Jamestown, Bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan. My New York. He became increasingly interested in first year of teaching was in Kalispell, then I returned preven[...]ional trails. During my thirty-four years there I " Flies", " Typhoid and Tuberculosis" for everyone. was privileged to have two sabbaticals: one for a year's Mother acted as secretary, chauffeur, and general trip around the world, and the other for a year of travel manager; (learning to drive a car was one of her first and school visiting in Central and South America with Montana accomplishments and she continued to use four weeks teaching at the summer session of the this skill until she was eighty-five.) University of Chile. As they travelled about the country the historical When I retired from Winnetka I came home and aspects made a great impression upon Dad and it never taught three more years in the same building- with the[...] |
| [...]iness for himself. The family then moved children of those I had taught earlier. Local history, to[...]eing Mrs. Lloyde Carper. a motel.[...]My grandmother was born in a small village close[...]west, and established a small ranch near the Tongue[...]afraid of the large horses because in Norway they had[...]there. They had a friend who was Saundra Dohl's father, a sheepman and not very well liked. If the sheep[...]grazed too long on a certain spot they would kill the[...]grass. This was the cause of the sheep war in Montana[...]south of Hardin where an old mission used to be. My[...]rents have died but she has lived Mrs. W. A. Russell and Marion, 1962 there si[...]ROBERT BOONE SAUNDERS AND LIFE OF GUS SALVESON[...]The R. B. Saunders family came from Virginia, Mr. Salveson's parents were born i[...]he name Boone is as common as An- came to America with some of their friends. After derson is in Montana. His grandfather was a slave- reaching the eastern shore, they decided to go along owner and a soldier for the Confederacy. His grand- with people who were going west on trails made by mother Saunders was also of an old Virginia family. explorers.[...]mber After reaching Montana, and seeing what a Company came into being. About 1850, an uncle of his beautiful country it was, they decided to sta[...]ather left Bedford, Virginia, for Missouri, where a home here. They had eight children, the youngest was he started a town on the Grand River and called it Gus. Bedford. To a Virginian, tobacco was the crop to raise, Wh[...]and so that great-great uncle cut down much of the father died and they had to hire a hand to take care of neighborhood's luxuriant timber to start a tobacco the ranch until the boys were old enough[...]plantation. In Missouri throve great forests of hickory, themselves. The family was poor and if t[...]ey had to trap muskrats and sell the fur. tree of the Temperate Zone. Bob Saunders's grand- On[...]cattle and cut cedar- father, who had been a prisoner in the Civil War, came wood. The boys didn't get to go to town only once a later to Oklahoma; and, in about 1880, he started a month. sawmill business. Frank Turner, who was a tobacco Their house was of log and Gus was born in a buyer, followed his cousins to Oklahoma and soon cabin. At the age of nine, he started school and went to found himself in the retail lumber business. Many of the the eighth grade, by then he was fourteen. At[...]s father, Walter Boone Saunders, worked in Ranch. " He worked there for a year, then went to work Kansas City. He and his five sons formed the Saunders on a ranch for a man named Dr. Blake. At age Lumber[...]spread over Oklahoma and seventeen, he worked in a sawmill at Birney. When he Nebraska, where it had a store in Red Cloud and several was twenty, he worked as[...]ontana two lumber yards could be run for the cost of on a construction job, he was sent to Washington. one in Nebraska, set out for Billings. He opened a yard There he married, and they had their first c[...]ir son, Dwain then five years old, the eldest of his family, he says. His was born.[...] |
| [...]in Greybull, Wyoming. Oil had been E. A. Richardson's or its predecessor. He and discovered near Grey bull. Later there was a yard in Richardson were friends. In 1906 t[...]view the devastation of San Francisco after the ear- In 1928, the c[...]here to be manager. The Saunders family were part of the town's life for forty-three years. Bob[...]one on to the University at Missoula. Bill Scally of Crow Agency was his roommate there for awhile.[...]y owned the pleasant house and yard at the corner of 3rd Street and Choteau A venue, south of the park. It was a happy and hospitable place. Both of the Saunders had great interest in their children[...]urch, the First Congregational. Mrs. Saunders was a great cook and home manager. She was aware, also, of what she could do for friends. It was a good finish to the day of a late- working teacher, after tramping through dusk and snow to an empty abode, to find a fat parcel at the door-supper from the Saunders kitchen. The lively Saunders ch[...]1975), Martha was honored as the Homecoming Queen of twenty-five years ago. Her portrait was featured[...]1900's the Saunders Lumber Company had built a fine, new building. It now houses French's Buildi[...]Andrew Nathan Grover, was superintendent of Custer Jr., and family in Billings; Lloyd and his family in Battlefield from 1893 to 1906. He was a Civil War Gillette, Wyoming; and Martha and hers[...]new, to which, in those days, was attached a stone wing containing barn and carriage shed. I remember that the WILLIAM SCALLY Scally kids, through one of these grandparents, were By Carolyn R. Riebeth descended from Daniel Boone. Bill and Harriet's first William Scally, who most of his life was an Indian child, Margaret, was[...]11, 1860, the only doctors were. during a lay-over by his family, who had just come from Soon Mr. Scally had a store at Pryor, in which E. Ireland looking for a home in the U.S.A. They went on A. Richardson may have been interested. Pryor then[...]ventually to Northfield. The father used was a busy hamlet on the Toluca-Cody spur of the to make a one hundred mile round trip afoot to St. Paul, Burlington line. When the ''Ceded Strip" of the Crow to fetch home on his shoulder a fifty-pound sack of Reservation was opened to homesteaders,[...]as to suggestion, came west to file on a homestead near Duluth. There father and boys work[...]Bill, Jr., remembers the doing the grueling work of shoveling coal and wheat. pleasant trips[...]d Pat, the ancient buffalo wallows filled with water, where curlews eldest, left home and joined the Army, changing his gathered; the absence of weeds; the abundance of grass name to McDermott. He was stationed at Fort[...]as over, he was mustered out in With "Auntie Margaret" in charge of his Montana and became a foreman on one of the ditch motherless children (Margar[...]y moved back to Crow in 1907 to down the Big Horn from the canyon. take charge of the Richardson store. Bill Bailey was While Pat was still at Fort[...]leaving for Miles City. The family lived in the store's came west to join him, but not in the Army. After small house until Mr. Scally built a large one, after spending a winter in a dugout with a companion (some 1910, in the field across the road from our schoolhouse. say Don Hardy), probably along the trail from the fort He was a family man. Daughter Harriet says that he to Custer Station, finally he found work with the post read her favorite book, "Peter Rabbit," to her so many trader at the fort. He moved on to a Crow Agency store, times that she had it perfectly memo[...] |
| Margaret graduated from Billings High School in 1914. Mr. Scally had owned a house in Billings, against the day when his child[...]d when Bill remarried in 1913. The children lived with her during later school years, went on to college[...]s in Missoula, where she had the loving attention of her niece Harriet McCann. Young Bill returned to Crow and worked in his father's own store. Mr. Scally's second wife Elizabeth Fleming had met him at ·the Mayo Clinic. She was the talented daughter of a well-to-do-family who couldn't understand why she insisted on being a nurse. She was a painter of con- siderable ability. She and Bill had a daughter, Ann. Mr. Scally died in 1930, and finally Mrs. Scally went to live in Hardin with Ann and her husband, Eugene Sloan. She was often seen on the street with a small grandson Mr. and Mrs. Philipp Schafer[...]ward, Mr. her plate at meals, his grandmother had a long-handled Schafer, back row: August, Victor, Hilda, Robert, Paul wooden spoon. If one of the four boys began to reach and grab, he got a crack with the spoon. the only one to graduate from Hardin High School, and[...]moved to a farm just east of Hardin, near where the[...]Like many of the early settlers in Big Horn[...]people. They farmed with horses, grew their own[...]They brought with them many recipes handed down from generations for preserving foods, making sausage, Harriet Grover with her parents and brothers when she head chee[...]the milk, cream, and cheese. Mr. Scally was a mild, scholarly sort. It's un- believable, but true, my father said, that he once knocked a fellow flat for repeated false and damaging statements about a friend. After several polite corrections of these words, without'results, Scally had taken firmer action. He hadn't shoveled tons of coal for nothing. At the time of his death, he was a commissioner of Big Horn County. He had served on the district school board. LIFE OF THE SCHAFER FAMILY |
| Silk stockings were a much valued possession of the young ladies in the early '30's. Young women "marcelled" their hair, and just before the three-day wedding of Paul Schafer to Marie Mehling, all the young women in the Wedding Party under went this procedure. The wedding was a three-day affair, with church ceremony and feasting and dancing at the home. The big iron bedsteads were filled with sleeping babies and small children every night, while the men rolled up in quilts on the floor and the women occupied the bedrooms. Because Philipp Schafer had been a school teacher in his native Russia, his children[...]Paul was a Holly Fieldman, transferred by Holly Sugar from Worland, Wyoming. Blanche's parents[...]were pioneers of Wyoming. They came from Colorado in[...]Mr. Schaller retired from Holly Sugar in 1964. Mrs. Schaller retired from District 17H in 1967.[...]· pushed in a doll buggy by their two daughters. He[...]would carry them home. It would be a fallacy to[...]who were working on the new Courthouse. With[...]ate in 1939, pick up the mail and go home. with all their children except Hilda, who had married and moved to a farm near the Little Big Horn River. Paul Schafer[...]n Army Career Officer, and married Betty Uffleman of East Helena. Philipp Schafer passed away Nov[...]BY THEIR DOGS YOU SHALL REMEMBER THEM By Blanche Schaller The Schallers, H. P., his wife, Blanche A. , son Dwayne T., Pauline, and Bill D. cam[...] |
| Speaking of bulldogs, Moon was the pet of the Kronmillers. He saw the Kronmiller children through many crises. Bert, a rising young lawyer, and his wife needed this help. Sandy, grandee of police dogs, belonged to the Traphagens. He was a one-man dog, although he tolerated the young daughters. Tom, by the way, was one of our early water conservationists. Many of his reservoirs hold precious water in the hills[...]oehring, were early d;iy meat- market owners. As a hobby they raised fox terriers and bulldogs. The Schallers bought one of these terrier pups and named him Lanny, after Al[...]ident. After the election, Bob Saun- ders, owner of a lumber yard and ardent Democrat, called and asked[...]ck Scottie dog named Pepper, the absolute epitome of good behaviour, belonged to the Labbitts. Dr. Labbitt, one of the early day gifted surgeons, was an ardent farm[...]he unfinished irrigation project on the west side of the river. Ed. Note: The Schallers celebrated the[...]December 24, 1973. Mr. Schaller had not only been a farmer and field man for Holly Sugar, but an auctioneer, and a member of the School Board of District 17H for twelve years. Mrs. Schaller[...]seventeen at St. Xavier. She was an active member of 4-H and Home Demon- stration Clubs, Daughters of the American Revolution, Mr. and Mrs. Hank[...]Jackson] and and Hardin Business and Professional Women. For Indian artifacts three years she wrote a weekly column "Sage and Soil" for the Hardin Trib[...]Hardin, and Mrs. Schaller is an interested member of Schenderline is the daughter of the older Jackson boy, the Senior Citizens.[...]An Indian Princess, an early white trapper, a Custer Scout, a French Noblewoman-the ancestors of Julia Schenderline of Lodge Grass are a varied lot who saw and created much of Montana's History. Mrs. Schenderline, 84 is the great, great, grand- daughter of Lone Walker, chief of the Pikuni Tribe of the Black feet Confederacy. Lone Walker's da[...]Julia Schenderline's grandson, Dennis Sanders of Hardin Photo Shop said the Blackfeet named Monroe[...]because he did pushups that reminded the Indians of a Rising Wolf. Monroe was buried at the foot of the mountain in Glacier Park named Rising[...] |
| [...]The Jackson family owned and lived on a ranch Fort Lincoln near Bismark, N. D. Robert was[...]ert father left the family and traveled with the Buffalo Bill was with General Custer when he left Fort Lincoln to[...]she became acquainted with Olympian Jim Thorpe,[...]and running for a touchdown. "That play was outlawed[...]be full of cities like the East. "But nothing had[...]Julia and three of her four children were allotted[...]about 1,000 acres of land each near Pryor in the Crow[...]Land Allotment Act of 1920. Her mother, Helen Soos[...]couple moved to Lodge Grass. Schenderline was a[...]Now they reside in Lodge Grass with a little pet[...]of fading away. The Schenderlines boast 23 great[...]Patefield came from Wisconsin in 1917, bringing their[...]children Lenice, Kate, Irma, and Rachel, and a son, his Robert Jackson, Mrs. Schenderline's fath[...]wife, and little girl They bought 160 acres of unfenced while with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show land with only sagebrush. They built a house 16' x 20' and drilled a well by hand but the water was not fit to[...]ns trails leading to the Big Horn River indicated a large the first summer and the next two summ[...]. Within sister worked in the Gallatin valley. a few days every man in his column would be dead. In 1920 the Patefields bought the general store in Jackson and a few other Scouts were cut off from Corinth from Bill Kukuro; they sold gas and farm Reno's main body of troops and surrounded by Indians. supplies[...]ng tions were taken up to pay the musicians. from the hills near the Big Horn. Later, victory songs of In 1922 I married Geo. H. Schissler, Jr. His father, the women could be heard.[...]r married Helen Soos Lewis we lived most of our married life. I continued farming who[...] |
| [...]They turned four trail herds of one, two, three, and[...]the Big Dry North of the Yellowstone River. One trail herd of cows and calves was turned out on the Flat[...]went to work for Worthington General store and run[...]He married Cora L. Williams of Junction City in[...]Spoolstras, the Thompsons and Tom Brennans-father of Pat, who lives in Hardin. Our son, Jerry live[...]Kansas April 12, 1871. He came to Montana in 1893 with the Ryan Bros. Cattle Co. the (RL) Jl outfit from Leavenworth, Kansas. They shipped five train loads of cattle from Amarillo, Texas to Orin Junction, Wyoming the end of the railroad at that time and trailed them to Jun[...]In 1903 or 1904 S. G. Reynolds, Supt. of Crow[...]Government Dept. of Indian Affairs. He was to teach[...]I remember the store at Lodge Grass run by Allie[...]Stevenson who was known as a Licensed Indian Trader[...]where one could buy 50 lbs. of flour for $1.75, 12 lbs.[...]sugar for $1.00, 4 lbs. coffee for $1.00, 1 gal. of syrup for Schroeder baby in fancy buggy, w[...] |
| [...]away at 88 years of age in 1959.[...]Jr. is the owner of Les's Super Mart or Food Farm in[...]of King Supers' Meat Market in Denver, Colorado.[...]-A COWBOY-[...]everyone knew him, died the summer of 1954. He was[...]slipped quietly from his makeshift seat to that same[...]ra Williams in 1887 one of ten children. He came to Sheridan, Three boys were born to the Schroeder family while Wyoming with his parents in 1893 when he was six they lived at[...]Grass School In those days Sheridan was a real old cowtown, along with the Stevenson, Campbell, Pease, and with hitch racks and livery barns. Saturday was always[...]the "big day" so to have a few nickels in his pocket he[...]also dance a jig for a nickel-that's how he came to be[...]"Bum" was a cowboy, not the "drugstore, movie-[...]hero" type but the kind that lived the life from youth[...]He was a cowboy because he had never had a desire in[...]life to be anything else. He was hardy, and had a pioneering spirit. He loved nature, the beauty of it, the loneliness of it; even the cruelty of it he understood and[...]" Bum" always wore Levis and boots; on dress-up[...]looking in any sense of the word. But if you knew him[...]expression was kind, he had a rather philosophical sense of humor and he loved a good story.[...]He worked hard all his life and when he got a[...]somewhat of a rounder. He liked " purty" girls, fine[...]12, 1953 might say he liked the latter a bit too well, but perhaps[...]s transferred to Wyola, had ever thought of him as being also a family man Montana doing the same kind of job for the Govern· with all the normal frustrations that come from family ment. Later the two boys Ellsworth and Joh[...]Boss Farmer job to ranch for not so aware of the freedom to be felt in a cowboy's himself on the Upper Little Horn River a[...]ing existence. He probably should never have ~les from Wyola. There were very few ranches on the married, but since he did he tried to make the best of it. Little Horn at that time. Now it is a prosperous farming Sometimes I 'm sure the burden of home and a family and cattle feeding area. was just a little too much for him. And since he[...] |
| [...]the betterment of the community including serving as chairman of the organization which carried thru the[...]creation of Big Horn County; membership in the[...]of the city of Hardin, and numerous other groups. He[...]was the second mayor of Hardin and it was during his[...]Taken from " The Hardin Tribune Herald", Dec. 2,[...]December 31 , 1897. He was the son of William J. Scott[...]Ontario, Canada and his father was a native of Ireland.[...]graduating from Hardin High School in 1918. He Left: Henry "B um " S chubert R ight: Harry Sharp[...]e in the First World War. couldn't always jump on a horse and " move on" he may He was stationed at Camp McArthur, located at have at times turned to a handier solace. Waco, Texas, and was there for the duration of the war. Henry Schubert wrote for two winters on a book to Returning to Hardin he became a partner in the Hardin be published of his experiences as a cowboy. H e didn 't Motor Company with William Hackney and Charles get to finish it. The[...]and entered into a partnership with Glen Whiteman[...]land, August 21, 1847. At age twelve, he migrated with his parents to the U . S. who located on a farm near La Crosse, Wis,c onsin. As a youth he learned the printer's trade in the office of the historic Brick Pomeroy, owner of the La Crosse Democrat. After following t he prin[...]osse, Jacksonport, Arkansas and in ew Mexico, for a number of years, he ret urned to La Crosse. In 1880 he was appointed un- dersheriff of La Crosse County and later elected sheriff. In all, he was connected with the sheriff's office for seventeen years . In 1896, he was appointed to the office of Sup't . of Public Property for the state of Wisconsin. After retiring from that office, he engaged in general contracting un[...]Montana. Here he embarked in the lumber business with N. C. Bacheller of Huntley under the firm name of Bacheller and Scott Lumber Co. The business was s[...]It is to be noted in this review that much of the life of this patriotic American was spent serving the in- terests of his country. His first vote was cast for A[...] |
| [...]garden. It happened to be on the grounds of the old Chicago in the auditing department and w[...]udio in Taos. he was called to Hardin on account of his father 's final He had sold Indian p[...]where he arrived in 1902 to After the death of his father he entered politics and fulfill a contract with Mrs. Phoebe Hearst, who was was elected County Clerk & Recorder of Big Hom making a gift of Indian paintings to the University of County in 1928 and was re-elected in 1930. He did not California. file for a third term as he intended returning to Chicag to[...]elds. The job fell through and l accepted the job of Chief Deputy for the newly electE County Clerk and held that position for ten years. fl accepted a position with Holly Sugar Company in 19 in the accounting depar[...]e in city and county affai during the early years of his life. He served two tern as Commander of Hardin Post #8 American Legion ar. was elected as District Commander of District #j American Legion. He is a past President of Hard) Kiwanis Club having a perfect attendance for thir seven years. He is the only Charter Member of Kiwan in an active role. He is also a past head of the Moo Lodge. He is a member of St. Johns Lodge /192 and h been a member for fifty-five years. He served as Chairman of the American Red Cro for seven years and was Home[...]drives during the war years in both the Red Cross a; the U.S.O. He holds Life Memberships in th[...]ed Margaret Nelson and ti present family consists of two daughters, Mrs. Edwara Guy and Mary E. Scott both of whom live in Helena, Portrait of J. H. Sharp by Meyer Studi.o, Cincinnati and a son, Willard N. Scott, living in Billings.[...]Addie had given up a musical career to look after JOSEPH HE[...]ear it. Mrs. Sharp, after their This painter of Indians signed his work J. H . small log house was complete, became the busiest of Sharp and was called Henry by his family. He housewives, in her big apron stiff with ruffles. Like her sometimes signed himself " Uncle Hennery" in letters husband, she h[...]in 1859, where tains were "Japanese print," and her dishes were he had a lively boyhood. He entered the Cincinnati Art[...]. There he met the Byram girls Uncle Bill's " baby grand. " She played for us, too. Once from Indiana. In a few years, he and Addie Byram were when L[...]studying abroad together, he art and she a little concert at our house, both performing with[...]he stayed on alone. out for my parents on a trip east. The interior Henry returned to his old Institute t o teach the life decoration of the Sharp cabin was mostly by Henry. I classes. He did a portrait of William Howard Taft, and have a painting of the living room: log walls covered he did some society portraits, which he didn't enjoy with Crow war-shields, papoose boards, pipe sacks, muc[...]at he liked to do. He hides embroidered with porcupine quills, and a few was one of the first painters to do work at Taos, New paintings. There are Navajo rugs and pottery from the Mexico, where the ancient pueblo is ; and he was a Southwest ; and a huge set of antlers equipped with iron founder of the famous colony there. For a residence, he discs for candles hangs on an iron chain from the roof· acquired an old dance hall, chopped it up into rooms, all tree. It is decorated with a stuffed weasel- good in a row, and added a long porch facing a side yard and medicine. The fireplac[...] |
| "fumed oak," some of it made by Louis Ballou at the years la[...]n made the Crow carpenter shop, and some acquired from Elbert punch-and we sold a lot of pictures." Hubbard's Roycrofters.[...]bard came to Crow one summer to see was a beloved family member. It was a true grief when Sharp. The next summer he sent his son Ralph, age he died after a fight with a porcupine. In our talks twenty. Another occasional guest was Mrs. Ed Dana about old times during a Riebeth visit to Taos in 1946, (Fra), herself an[...]when he was 86, Mr. Sharp spoke affectionately of been Sharp's student, but they were old friends. The "Frans." Sharps sometimes visited the Dana ranch near Park[...]their cabin in an open field, not much more than a shed or move his things until the 30's. He[...]friend Louise, and his life once more became one of my portrait, a surprise for my father, when I was five. travel and hard work-a life he enjoyed. He had me take a seat on a straight chair placed on a In Pasadena, where he also had a home, he died in low platform and said, "Sissy, take out your gum." August, 1953, not long before his 94th birthday. The Sharps, with their two vital personalities, made an impact on[...]usiastic, busy, friendly , they were favorites. I remember the Agency THE SHREVE[...]By Ollie Joseph had been seen to alight from the morning passenger After three years of drouth and grasshoppers in train. Mrs. Sharp, hal[...]came in time Alonzo aged ten months, into a covered wagon and for the fair in October. That k[...]wife's lips, but no one several days, find a camping place and stay a day or so else's. He carried a pad for communication. Still, he and to do the washing, and bake bread in a dutch oven over my father held long conversations, full of jokes and a campfire, then resume their journey. When the laughter. He could converse with the Indians in sign children became ill, they'd find a place to sleep, but language ; I have seen him doing so at the store. they had to eat at their camp. An ex[...]charged for a night's lodging.[...]In June 1886, after six weeks of travel, they[...]month's supply of groceries, then drove on to the lower[...]Tongue River in Montana, twenty-five miles north of[...]before. (He had come from Texas with a trail herd.) They built a one-room log cabin, with a dirt roof[...]did not see another woman from December till May.[...]with a pack horse. The snow was so deep and traveling[...]To supplement the meager income of the first years, Mr. Shreve freighted from Miles City to Addie Sharp and Fransel, at the Kit[...]Shreve and her family were alone with no com- munication or transportation. A few years later,[...]bits in his and that put an end to some of the loneliness. studio, just for the pleasure of the Agency people. His Mrs. Shreve was terrified of Indians. She was also firs t exhibit in Billings was held at the home of my aunt afraid of cowboys hecause some had come to Dodge and[...] |
| that fear, and was glad to see the cowboys come in with MABEL SIMMONS' STORY the roundup[...]I was born a pioneer; you ask why? My father was As time[...]ildren to the family. Sadie and plains with his parents by ox-cart in 1876, and they Ralph (t[...]wins) and Frank. in a covered wagon train in 1888, and they settled at There were a few '' hair raising'' experiences during Eugene[...]ion. On the way they stopped at the Shreves'. The women and children went on to Sheridan, and the men ret[...]that never came. One "sheep killing" took place. A sheepherder moved his flock on to a range that the cattlemen claimed as theirs. The c[...]My parents were married July 3, 1893, and took a[...]owned on a wagon and started across the Cascade[...]Mountains. It took weeks to cross. They trailed a cow, tied to their wagon, and had a pig in a crate. Father filed on a homestead three miles out of Prineville, in September, 1899. He built a 12' x 18' shack, put in[...]homestead with the four small children.[...]sed were sand toads and kids. The midwife charged a B essie. fifty pound sack of flour for my delivery.[...]re was system developed, and the place built into a successful free land. The pioneer blood was[...], we had spent our last range, but eventually all of the land was homesteaded celebration in the states for a long time. The next day and everything grazed in[...]e were on our way to visit The homestead was a part of three Montana Grandmother, across the mountains, before leaving. Counties-Custer with Miles City as the county seat, July 27th father took a few belongings and started Rosebud with Forsyth as the county seat, and Big w[...]ty miles to the railroad that would take him Horn with Hardin as the county seat. When the Tongue[...]Lacombe, Alberta; he met an old after fifty years of occupancy, was flooded and had to man who was tired of the North, they traded be abandoned.[...]ived September 27 , 1913. Next day postmaster for a number of years and served as Brand supplies, kids and all were loaded on a wagon and we Inspector and County Commissioner fo[...]around big lakes, and also we saw " funny " people. The Shreves purchased a home in Sheridan where Hardly anyone could speak English. We reached the Mr. Shreve died on January 4, 1941 at the age of 78. ranch about five p.m.- time to look it over before dark. Mrs. Shreve died at the age of 86 on September 14, The buildings were good : barn, tool shed, and 1948. Both of them rest in the Sheridan Cemetery.[...] |
| [...]in the field, in. We knew no one, neighbors were a mile away in each and I cooked. The wind was[...]oing. The old timers aged two to fourteen, scared of everything! around there said they were snowed in most of the We grew as all young people do. We wal[...]king all our savings. We sold cattle we had given a hundred dollars for, for seventeen dollars a head-we'd fed them hay that cost forty dollars a ton. We decided to come back to the States. We wo[...]and the roads were bad. We had a new Plymouth coupe[...]the car with our belongings and a pup. It took all day to[...]no dinner and there was no cafe, so we ate a cold lunch[...]of the night, and arrived in Hardin at six that nigh[...]Savoy and the Club; the Club looked like a working[...]Sim had rented a house from Potato Walker on Crow A venue. The first ladies I met were Jessie Miller[...]what a time we had! As for me, I knew my stay was[...]In 1930 a house at 405 N. Crow Ave. was up for tax Wh[...]over every window was gone and we had to buy have a bottle of Canadian spirits; he'd hid it under the new on[...]one if he wanted to check the car? He gave me one of those until moving to Montana. The country was hot and dry, far away smiles that only a red coat can give, and said with no crops, money, or work -the Depression was " o, your face is enough to me. I can tell if people are on. You could buy pork chops for twelve cents a pound, honest, just by looking at them. " When Sim came back but twelve cents were ha[...]or ditch the bottle. Savoy cafe for one dollar a day, twelve hours a day, My face might not look so honest next time!" seven days a week. Milk was ten cents a quart. I[...] |
| remember buying a pound of butter, a quart of milk, a discovered that I directed both the Catholic and the loaf of bread, and a pound of good meat for fifty cents, Lutheran choirs, wh[...]t the fifty cents. they decided that I would be a help to my husband who A group of us ladies went out and picked up potatoes was applying for the Superintendency of District for our families. Sim was a hunter; we canned wild meat 17-H. Anyway, he[...]Here we made many friends, and outstanding among a community garden in south Hardin. They plowed the[...]had to and Wilma Thompson. At the beginning of his tenth do was get seed, plant it and care for it; it was a year Mr. Skeie was stricken with a fatal heart attack. Godsend to many.[...]iven commencement addresses, and belonged to many of grass, grain, or anything that got in their way.[...]re I now live for ten dollars each; the lots east of us were for sale for five dollars each, but they were a frog pond then. I haven't said anything abou[...]eighbors we are; each nation has its own culture, a birthright to which we are entitled. I don't inte[...]Hardin has been good to us- we arrived in Hardin with one young son and a spotted pup. Over the years we were blessed with another son, William, and a daughter, Janice. All three attended Hardin schoo[...]r, in the space program, in New Orleans. William, a music instructor, has taught in many fine schools and studied in Vienna, Ann Skeie [Mrs. E. A.] in the rose garden of the Austria. Janice, her husband and two small ch[...]various places in North Dakota before to get out of Big Horn County as fast as I could forty- com[...]ve changed. When I come into musical events of the town, singing solos, forming both Hardin from the west bench, and look over the valley Junior and Senior music clubs, and singing in many with its fertile fields, new homes and businesses, I c[...]s as well as in church. only say I am proud to be a part of it. From childhood I have loved the sea and moun-[...]available in the San Diego area. Memories of my years [Mrs. E. A. Skeie] in Hardin are preci[...]forget the many I was born on the outskirts of Bergen, Norway, friends I made there. God bless you all! and attended a private school seven miles from town. The discipline was outstanding: girls had t[...]e presented. The The second wife of Henry G. Small was the contrast with conditions in the New York schools was daughter of a young man from Ireland and a Cheyenne great, and I was horrified at the behavior of the girl. She was born April 16, 1885,[...]n in our family, all well- people to live with a Quaker family in Madison, behaved and helpful to each other. Father, a preacher, Wisconsin, when she was three. I b[...]ip that she fell off the travois on which she was ";ight. We had morning and evening devotions, and t[...]ne saw the accident, and she sat there in the smg a couple of hymns was sheer joy. I also sang in the dust[...]eighteen, she When the school board members from Hardin was again in Oklahoma. She ma[...]m (unexpectedly) at dinner. They them in a convent where they stayed until they were[...] |
| [...]married Ed Schroeder and was school days drew to a close, she could hardly wait to get also living[...]ne grandfather show him Lillian rode Ikey, a "Cheyenne pony" (because he was to have been a self-respecting, independent man. It was brown with a black stripe along his spine). said that he woul[...]use he refused to lower himself to ask permission of any agent to go where he pleased. Some of Mary Small's relatives were on the northbound mar[...]there. Mary started working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1907 in Oklahoma. Later she wor[...]1921. She was married in 1923. During the summer of 1929, she was my neighbor at Crow. We had many a chat on the sidewalk in front of the store. She was small, trim, and pretty, with a deep dimple. She joined the Hardin (Jasmine) Chapter of the Order of Eastern Star, and also became president of Chapter L, P.E.O. She was studious by habit, and a great reader. Her friends say that she was particularly familiar with the Bible and could give very knowledgeable talks[...]n on Crow's main street near the Richardson-Small store. I felt that Henry wanted it for sentimental reasons, mostly. When he had been a teen-ager, Sharp had doubtless been his good frie[...]alls placed beside the cabin's front door was one of the old Agency street lamps. Built like kerosene[...]hed and lighted every night, in Henry's youth, by a policeman named Stone.[...]One afternoon I went with them on my pony. The ride evidently was part of the entertainment for a guest, Mattie Williams was born on the Yellowstone at a young girl; and the horse she was mounted on was a Junction City. The census of Junction, 1880 lists H. L. tall, lively one,[...]Shively's saddle horse. When we turned homeward a Cora, five months old. Mattie was yet to come. An[...]iles up the valley, the big horse bolted, leaving a group picture shows the two little girls sitting on the considerable stretch of road behind him in mere ground; they look not far[...]Mattie's guest screamed in fright. In Jinnie, was a Crow girl. During my father 's tenure as another second, Mattie and Pumpkin were off and Agent of the Crows (1902-1910), Mattie was an in-[...]ey came was working on family trees. For purposes of alongside, Mattie leaned far to her right with out- inheritance, the Crows were acquiring surnam[...]-middle-aged and yanked him around to a stop. Mattie was probably Crow men happened to have in those days-Big lucky to be a tall, strong girl; but I, not yet eight, felt Medicine, Fire Bear, Short Bull, On Top of the Tepee, I'd seen some great horsemanshi[...]Even we children couldn't help hearing that a Thereafter their children had first names. The wi[...]Mattie. Mr. Small, the Agency miller, had a large Big Medicine, and so on. Mattie was an expert at family of grown-up children. Henry was the youngest. unrave[...]He helped his father at the mill for a time. In leisure[...] |
| hours he rode about on a nice dappled grey called business. So[...]on the upper Rosebud at Busby, Ivan seback rides of the Crow Agency youth, or even church ran[...]owever, it was Clinton at Ashland, Tom Jr. (" Tuck" ) and Horace at almost impossible not to ge[...]derline, have recently returned from a stay of 23 years By 1911 we were back on the Reservation at a in Sitka, Alsaka where both were empl[...]. Ted was maintenance man for the Wyola. Upstream a few miles, Henry and Mattie were school and Josie was a matron. starting a ranch on Mattie's allotted land. Though we The history of Josephine Rondeau Small's family had to travel ho[...]is most impressive. Her mother was the daughter of the back and forth. That first summer, the Smalls had a first Cheyenne Chief to sign a peace treaty with the beautiful living arrangement. Beside the stream, on the Government and received a silver medallion with the wide beach, they had put up a large, walled tent on a date, May 1825. The next year this chief,[...]out over the water. It was so Wolf, was one of the first three delegates to go to clear that one[...]e pebbles on the bottom. Washington D. C. from the Cheyenne tribe. Mary On the extension was a screened porch covered with a Rondeau had a trunk full of the garments and or- fly. The view was upstream and also across to a grassy naments of her father, the medallion and clothes of her spot sheltered by a low cliff. As a child, I thought theirs equally capable chief brother called High Wolf. was a perfect way to live. By the next summer, they[...]was born in 1848, married at Fort Laramie to had a log house on higher ground. We saw them every an army officer, Colonel Bullock. After he retired from summer until 1916. Then came the war, and going o[...]w Mattie again. he had a large store. They had two daughters and in Several years later, as my parents were taking a 1878 they were divorced. In 1884 she marr[...]urprised Rondeau whose history would fill a book. John traveled to meet Mattie. The three strolled on, visiting. We from old Mexico to Pine Ridge where he broke and knew[...]Now she raised horses and cattle and had a freight outfit. was about to have an operation; b[...]sephine. When Josephine was small they moved walk a bit. They said goodbye and parted. The next[...]Josephine passed away in February of 1939 and By Bertha Richards[...]at the ranch. In 1948, Tom married Julia One of the Rosebud's outstanding cowboys,[...]taken to the Miles City Dawson, Alabama, the son of Lemuel and Leola Small Veterans hospit[...]too was buried in the family cemetery beside both a rancher and a Presbyterian minister. Both sides Josephine. of Tom 's family were professional men and women, The boys of t he Small family have chalked up running to lawy[...]many rodeo records including Clinton being " All two judges on Leola's side. Around Cowboy" three years in a row. His grandsons In 1907, at the age of 17, Tom's brother Henry are also making[...]game. assisted him in bringing one of the large cattle herds from the sout~. Both brothers worked for several big o[...]There were numerous old-timers in t he history of Josephine, daughter of Mary and John Rondeau, who our County[...]including ' Turkey ' Smith, had recently returned from Fort Shaw where she was 'Chicken' Smit[...]as to educated. Tom and Josephine made their home with the do with my dad, Claude 0 . Smith. Rondeaus at their ranch[...]divide. It He first came to Montana from Indiana in 1902 later became theirs and they ranc[...]livestock there until they moved to the south end of t he returned to Indiana for a visit in 1903 and on his return Reservation near[...]where Hardin now Tom was in great demand as a veterinarian, for his stands, over to the w[...]were ability to break horses and for his skill as a cowboy. All building a home. He asked why they weren 't settling of his sons profited by his training in the s[...] |
| system and they replied that there was to be a dam Dad and Mother are still alive,[...]e irrigated-it came to pass ninety-one years of age and lived together for almost 70 but about s[...]ree children, Dad met Mother, formerly Mary A. Bennett, at Claude B. Smith, of Billings, Blanche I. Potter of King Rockvale and they were married in 1906. With a team of City, Oregon, and J. W. (Bill) Smith of Hardin. horses and wagon and with some tools and camping Dad likes to reminisce and has, I think, a gear he went to his homestead on the Huntley proj[...]good weather, and sixty immensely to visit with any of the old-timers, but there days later had finished his log home and sent for are very few of his generation left, in fact, I can't think Mother to join him. of anyone left except two or three who settled the north[...]my Dad and 'Bachelor Place' in north valley, some of his neighbors those of his generation, for the most part, were a very being U.S. Miller, Ralph McCone, James Foste[...]hardy breed, they were very self-sufficient, hard of the store and post office at Foster), Ralph Franklin, wo[...]rank E der, John Bennett, Sam favors from government and in fact were very disturbed Bennet[...]e ' Doc' Carper, Dick hand but took some of their freedoms on the other-it Carper and Herb Wi[...]ly thinking and analyzing why they were operation of the store. disturbed. These were truly the ' horse and buggy days' with horses being used for farm power and transportation. The farms were small as compared with today, the MAURICE W. AND RUBY FO[...]In the early 1900's, Gillette, Wyoming was a center of social affairs. Dances were held frequently, bustling small town, when Maurice Warfield Smith of often in the Holsclaw and Belcher barns. There wa[...], Kentucky came to Wyoming to see how he'd always a good turnout of young couples, no drinking of like living out west. Maurice, who was born February liquor, but they had a wonderful time and would bed 18, 1881, le[...]and his brothers and sisters, They did have a few controversial matters and returned only a couple of times during his lifetime naturally, and Dad mentioned that he and Sam Bennett to that area of the country for short visits. had the negative side on a debate on the raising of Maurice hadn't been in Gillette very long before he sugar beets vs. the raising of grains, hay, beans, etc., became acquainted with Ruby Valentine Fox since she which debate was hel[...]for Lewiston, Idaho in 1915. was a popular place at that time. In 1917 Dad went to the land office in Billings to file on a homestead in the Sarpy area and he met and visited with a man standing next to him in line-Cary Mabe-who was to become one of his neighbors; others were John Weaver, John Arion, Bob Conway, George Miller (father of George and Ed), Andrew Miller, and a man named Weast. Dad at a later date sold his land in the Iron Springs area[...]at that time in wagons and to bring sixty bushels of grain by team and wagon for thirty-five miles was a good days trip and it was a welcome sight to see the lights of town when coming over the last hill, but there were times when after a rest and a good feed of oats for the horses they headed right back with the empty wagon. You can hardly blame a few of those who chose to distill it down so they could[...]he Doc Perry place three and one-half miles south of Hardin and purchased a small farm of his own in 1924 which was three miles south of Hardin and which he broke out of the sod with horse-power (literally). He built his own[...] |
| [...]n provided transportation to and from school. The grade February 14, 1893 to William Ra[...]school building was not yet completed and some of the Elizabeth Zane Fox. William R. and Elizabeth[...]classes were held in the movie theater. come west from Schoolcraft, Michigan one year after The second season didn't produce a very good crop their marriage in 1888, and had se[...]illette. Grass where Maurice took a job operating a dray-line Maurice was soon courting Ruby, an[...]Maurice and Ruby then moved the family into a Wyoming. They worked on several ranches in the area farm by the Little Big Horn river north of Lodge Grass around Gillette before moving to Midw[...]generosity with the produce from it.[...]located seven miles from Lodge Grass, Montana.[...]I was living on a farm in southern Iowa with my Aunt and Uncle; my father was a railroad section foreman at Ionia, Montana, a rail siding between Lodge[...]a rail pass to come for a visit until corn shucking[...]started, about the middle of October. I visited with him Back row: Elizabeth Fox, Ruby Smith, William Fox, a few days, when his Indian section laborer, by the[...]Front riw: William and Raymond name of Clifford White Shirt, got a pay check and Smith. 1926[...]e section while visiting? In the first part of March 1928, Maurice and Ruby with their two young sons, William R. and Raymond M.,[...]yoming bound for Lodge Grass, Montana. Ruby drove a 1927 Chevrolet and Maurice with the household goods in a Model T Ford truck. The first Model T burned out[...]ycee, Wyoming, and it was necessary to spend $125 of the family finances for another truck. They arrived in Sheridan, Wyoming the second night and stayed with relatives. The roads were mostly dirt, but there were a few miles of pavement in the vicinity of Sheridan. When they reached Ranchester, Wyoming the next day, a portion of the present road was under construction and was p[...]send the family back to Gillette, Wyoming to stay with Ruby's parents, the Fox's, until he could complet[...]er's wedding picture, 1917 man, Wyoming. He hired a driver for the car part of the way, but also drove both vehicles part of the time. I remember my first day of work was at Benteen, a They settled on 80 acres of leased land on Good livestock loading sidet[...]n men's duties Luck Creek, about three miles west of Lodge Grass. It were to bed the cars with cinders, push the loaded cars was necessary to buy horses and some machinery after of cattle away from the chutes, and spot another empty they arrived. Maurice bought a team of horses and a to load. I worked on the Ionia section the balance of saddle horse at Buffalo, Wyoming, and returned to[...]d Willis Spear- Grass. He also bought some horses from a rancher on loaded several thirty-car trains out of Benteen that fall. Rotten Grass Creek near Lodge[...]' in length, and the The farm land was foul with weeds and it was a late cattle loaded were three and four years ol[...]car. enough to see the family through the winter. A horse- In October my father was transferred to the drawn school bus, complete with a coal-fired heater Hardin section ; a Japanese man took charge of the[...] |
| [...]our bed-rolls and There was an abundance of native grouse and suit cases to Hardin on the loc[...]e coming in by the thousands-it was really a bird place Dad was ta.Iring, was Ed Conroy. He was loading hunter's paradise. his household goods in a box car for Sheridan, The railroad had just completed a new bridge Wyoming, as he was ta.Iring charge of the Sheridan across the Big Horn; Charley Montgomery, father of yards. About 9 p.m. he came to the depot, said he[...]and I think Mrs. Montgomery was cooking visiting with Bob while waiting and that was the for the bridge crew. This was when I met the Mon- starting of a life long friendship. gome[...]Reeder had one in her store. Andrew Torske and I[...]it ran out of nickels; when we could get no more money out of it Mrs. Reeder moved it to the back room and it[...]t. In those days the Railroad Company always left a heating stove in their section houses and the coal house was full of coal. The section foreman 's wages in 1913 were $45.00 per month, working ten-hour days with one hour off for lunch, six days a week-no paid vacations nor fringe benefits. Today[...]any. The laborers' wages were .16 cents per hour, with no extra benefits ; today they receive $5.05 per[...]W. B. Snyder, father of Lloyd, in his wheat field near[...]I was a railroad telegrapher at Hardin 1915-31; a[...]Goods shipped out of Hardin in those early days were a miscellaneous variety. I remember George Secrest and a Mr. H. B. McDonald trapped every[...]would ship large bales of furs by express to Chicago or[...]St. Louis. Perry Corkins shipped crates of fresh[...]of chickens on their ranch in Sarpy, and when the CB[...]t Domberger, Lloyd V. Snyder crates of them to be shipped to Billings by express.[...] |
| [...]appers were Loge Rowland and Charley Hutton, both of them bachelors. About the middle of October each year they would take their team and wagon, load it up with groceries, and head for the Warman country, south of St. Xavier. They would trap all winter, never coming to town until about the middle of March; they would have several bales of coyote, bob- cat, skunk, and a few martin furs which they shipped by express to Chicago or St. Louis. They were true old- time[...]son homestead, two miles west and three- quarters of a mile south of Hardin. On it there was a two-room log homestead cabin, a log chicken house, and a log cow or horse shed. There was a dug well, with a pulley and rope with bucket attached to draw water. One of the first things Dad did v.as to wall the well up with brick and install a pump. Dad later sided the log cabin, and it still stands, with walls about twelve inches thick, making it cool i[...]and we had two children-Wanda (Mrs. H. R. Salyer of Hardin), and Bill who now lives in Quincey, Illin[...]nson Willis Moses Spear (Uncle Willis) moved from New Chicago, to Montana, in 1883 when his parents[...]na, where his brother-in-law, Paul McCormick, had a trading post, and ran cattle on the Crow Reservation. Willis was 21 then and put in some time working as a cowboy there. On November 18, 1885 he married Virginia Belle Benton and bought the homestead of her father Elder G. W . Benton, which hoined that of his own father in Big Horn, Wyo. Their children w[...]chers. Jessamine Wedding picture of W. V. Johnson and Jessamine Johnson was well know[...]hes on the money on them in the fall of 1919, but in financing their Powder River in both[...]d had various companies for the winter of 1919 they used up leased the Leiter ranches on Clear Creek. Later they all of their equity in those steers. The drop in the price leased over a million acres on the Crow Reservation and of cattle really caused most of it. In 1924 W. M. Spear began running cattle there in 1909. Every year from turned over all of his holdings in Spear-Faddis and 1899 to 1914, Wi[...]He still had the Big Horn, Wyoming ranch, a house in Montana. The Burlington Railroad built a siding and Sheridan, the Spear-0-Wigwam[...]priately named Spear- the Wolf Mountains of Big Horn County, Montana. He Siding. They ran 32,000 head of their own and 26,000 turned the Wigwam into a dude ranch. He then formed for other companies. W[...]an cattle on the lease various ranches by driving a fast team, called " The that Doc Spear had after the Spear Brothers closed out Billies" , from ranch to ranch. He started the first rural in 1913. Willis served in the state Senate of Wyoming telephone line in this area by stringing the wires on for 16 years. He operated a sheep and cattle outfit until fence posts. The Sp[...]1915. Several other cattle companies were formed from Willis B. Spear, Jr. and his wife Rut[...]ven. was their home from 1922 until they both died; Ruth in[...] |
| June of 1973, and Junior in July of 1974. They moved up from Powder River in 1920, but did not move into their home on Corral Creek until 1922, having spent most of their time with the Roundup Wagon, or at the Forty-Mile Ranch nea[...]Grass Creek. For a number of years they ran a Dude[...]was one of the first to crossbreed different types of cattle. Jessie was from New York State and her maiden[...]cember 1961. Virginia Blue Belle Benton Spear with chi/,dren Willis |
| [...]State Senator Joe Boyd died in January son of Jessamine and William V. Johnson, but had his of 1946, and Mr. McAllister was appointed by the[...]ved in the Navy during World War II in the August of that year, Junior was appointed to fill the[...]tly took flying lessons, until in 1945 at the age of Patricia Brooder of Sheridan, Wyoming, and they have 56, she got her[...]and birds. For Padlock Ranch, he spends most of his time in Big Hom many years she reported bird[...]County, Montana looking after the interests of the migrations to the Government. She was aircraf[...]Following are the names of some of the cowboys that worked for the Spear outfit from 1898 and later.[...]MEMORIES OF[...]The trail of the Dayton Kane Road was so steep[...]located. In about 1907, we saw the last of the freight wagons. Ten teams driven with a jerk line pulled a BRADFORD J. SPEAR wagon with a trail wagon behind. These wagons hauled By Torrey Johnson freight from Billings to Cody. Bradford J. Spear lived with Ruth and Junior When I was ei~ht years old, I started to help my Spear for many years as a youngster, and rode a pony 4 dad get coyote pups. One time we were going along a 1/2 miles up Corral Creek to school. The pony's name road when three wolves crossed the road ahead of us. was "Napoleon", but Brad always insisted he was so The hill at the side of the road was so steep that we had fat that he had[...]st to crawl up it. Our trail hound ran ahead of us tracking[...] |
| [...]mounted which are in our homes today. I still do a being so cunning, had killed our dog, tearing him[...]recall I first started farming with my dad near Lodge happened when dad crawled into a wolf den to get the Grass on lower Rotten Grass Creek. We bought the old pups. In a little pocket in the den, laid a large rat- Bert Hayes place. Perry Howe w[...]brother Melvin worked for dad. This was the year of the rattler which kept rattling all the time. Later on we 1921. We hauled our wheat into Lodge with teams. got eight pups from that den. That J[...]ent to work trapping for horses to pull a wagon load of wheat into the elevator. the government, along with dad. Our boss was M. E. I began[...]24 and have been here fifty-four years. I started with One time on the Pryor Mountains, we came acr[...]ling heifers, and I had to picket one to keep the a den with five deer carcasses that the wolves had other from running away, as there were no fences yet to kill[...]em. We got eight pen them in. I have seen a lot of changes in the pups there, too.[...]along with the bad. We always put in long hours[...]starting before daylight with chores, and working until[...]was done with horses. On Saturday nights we'd have[...]different homes, ending with lots of good home cooked food. One of our favorite people was Mrs. Tekla An-[...]with her family.[...]married Agnes Berquist, a daughter of Mrs. An- derson's. I like to think of myself as 77 years young.[...]summer fallow ground running a diesel powered[...]Michigan where this story begins. When a young man[...]my mother. They came in a covered wagon to Bridger, Mr. and Mrs. Dell Stan[...]Montana, in 1901, with a wagon train, crossing the Big[...]Demmie John Flat near In 1919 they came from Bridger to Lodge Grass; the Pryor, the wolves had hamstrung a cow, and she was road between Hardin[...]hile the wolves were eating on her. She was a team had to be used to pull the car thru the mud.[...]wolves cleaned out but we to Montana he was with the Forestry Service for eight still hunte[...] |
| [...]the hood of his car, and started for his supervisor's in[...]with its carcass became an extra attraction, almost[...]causing a traffic jam before the supervisor could be[...]Coyotes also were a menace to stockmen. Twenty-[...]chasing a coyote on the Campbell Farming Corporation[...]of their stripped-down car was Joe, ready with a rifle,[...]With the car gaining on the animal, the expected shot from the rear did not come; Mrs. Standish turned to[...]out, and they found him a mile or so back, still clinging[...]they got the coyote. Walter and Dell Standish with wolf pups caught on |
| [...]Academy in Miles City where I spent a year. The next[...]year I went to school in Stacy, a little place with a hotel and restaurant, and a store and one house. The family[...]in Miles City. I graduated from this little school in the[...]I graduated from high school in 1918, returned to[...]About three years later, when our son was a year- and-a-half and I was six months pregnant with the[...]alone, so I sold it, and bought a house in Ashland where[...]rnment Service; we BIOGRAPHY OF moved to Miles Cit) a[...]Dillon, and two years after My folks came from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; my that to Missoula. Next came ·a transfer back to Miles mother's name was Cora Bennett, and my father's City as a Supervisor of the Custer National Forest. He name was Oliver McKelvey. They came to Absaroka, resigned from this job, in the Dept. of Agriculture. Montana with a bull team. It took them two or three A year later he applied for work in the Indian yea[...]Crow Agency until his retirement, when we bought a told me. They came thru to Crow Agency, shortly[...]Then they went on to were not as much of a problem. Absaroka. When they came to the Big Hom[...]so they cut trees and put one tree on came from Detroit, Michigan. We had two boys, each side of the wagon; this enabled the wagon to float Raymond and Russell; Raymond was killed in a tractor while the bulls swam across.[...]two girls: Clark works for the Government in on a piece of land, and built a house. My mother did not Washington, D. C., H[...]was three years old. I Hardin, and Wendell is a lawyer and C.P.A. in do not remember anything of her. My father was in the Billings, Montan[...]n Sheridan, Wyoming. One there, being taken care of by my older sisters. It wasn't daughter is in[...]all good, and it wasn't all bad, but still it was a fairly a small son, Michael. The other daughter, Donna nice life. We had these sheep and couldn't afford a Allison, also lives in Sheridan and has two sons and a herder, so my brothers and sister and I had to herd daughter, the oldest of which is in college. these sheep out on the mesa. This I resented very One thing that I remember is the unloading of the much ; I got so tired of herding sheep I nearly died. buffalo at the Yellowt.a.il damsite, before the dam was Looking back, it[...]years my Dad built. I saw five truckloads of buffalo unloaded-this sold the place.[...]was two Crow Reservation. houses, joined as a V; one had a kitchen and dining room and the other had two rooms for the eleven of us. Some of the older boys were gone, so I don't know THE STARK FAMILY just how many of us there were at any one time. We moved from the ranch on the Stillwater down to Ab-[...]he Shanes, Ancil and Lulu Stark moved from Parkman, who were part Indian, held a great deal of grazing and Wyoming to a homestead on Indian Creek near the Big farming l[...]lumbus and Hom Co. line. The house was a dugout, which Dad built Absarokee. a month before my mother and us six boys came. We[...]was in October and Dale was only three and a half years father took me down. My sister said " You've got to go old. My dad and an Uncle were building a house about a to school"; I said " Fine, show me the school and I'll half mile from the dugout. Dale wanted to go see his[...] |
| [...]n the him the road. But for some reason Dale took a road in Hardin area, until I went to work f[...]Her grandfather, Joe Anderson came to Montana from Texas with a trailherd of cattle in February 1905. In[...]1907 he moved his family to the head of Lyon Creek where he had staked a land claim. Her mother, Helen, was the oldest of the Anderson children.[...]in the Wolf Mountains 18 miles from the town of Lodge[...]packed some of their belongings and came from Texas Walter and Harriette Stark[...]on a homestead north of Hardin and began farming. Next morning he an[...]t time somewhere, they would have to hitch up a team of word had got to Billings. A lot of people helped in the horses and use the wagon[...]e winter the men would go down to the river miles from home. The search went on for four nights and cut big pieces of ice out of the river. They would and three days, on the afternoon of the third day, we take the ice home, put it[...]st. They used the ice to make ice cream and to by a passenger on the train, who had been reading[...]the lost child. Dale was tangled up in the right of packed right in the sawdust. way fence. The pas[...]en wanted to study they sat by the happened to be a Doctor and a nurse on board, and this oil lamps. probably[...]id he would The older kids would find a tree that had honey in have only lived about thre[...]him it, chop it down, and get the honey out of it. on to Cody where he was in the hospital for t[...]they used The railroad he was .found on went from Toluca to teams of horses, wooden plows, and other things. Frannie, Wyoming. It was about 10 miles west of When the kids went to school th[...]riage. I had been raised in Chicago and worked as a bookkeeper; I knew nothing about farming or life of a[...]had good crops, but we were in a hail streak and often Stark boys: Walter o[...] |
| For a while Mr. Steen was the Agency miller and for a time, working for different cow outfits. He got a then he was the irrigation and construction foreman of job driving mules in the construction of the Wicks the Government crews. During that peri[...]It was at this twenty-one or twenty-two men for a year and a half-in place, he came in contact with the I.W.W. Union which summer the crews were bigger. My husband built a big caused him to dislike Socialism all[...]ig Timber country, where he in Crow and each took a ton of ice at intervals, met and married Mary Kent, the daughter of Tom and depending upon the weather. He also had a coal Mary Kent, who owned a large cow and sheep outfit business, which he han[...]dren, four boys and the Blue Front garage and ran a garage there for many five daughters, th[...]until the fumes began to affect his lungs. He ran a and Josephine Goering. Those who remain are[...]hool bus for many years. In May, 1943 he suffered a John, Chester (Pete), Agnes Fisher, Marg[...]other times we crossed on the railroad bridge; if a large load was involved we were A TRIBUTE TO DOMINIC STEVENS sometimes met on the other side by friends with a team and buggy, or wagon.[...]people. working with the old Antler roundup wagon on the Because Mr. Steen was a business man he was able head of Lodge Grass creek, when a stranger rode into to build a house in town, which is where I live now. camp. He greeted every one he knew with a soft spoken We have two children: Albert who now runs the word, and a smile. I had never seen the man before but I Richardson-Small store, and Winifred (Mrs. Dave knew right then he was no ordinary person. I liked him Mills) of Lynnwood, California. Both are graduates of instantly, and afterward found out he was[...]Stevens, a rancher from "down the crick."[...]help with the work, showed plainly the kind of man he DOMINIC STEVENS[...]y, Con- years. necticut in 1870. As a young child he moyed with his parents to Pittsburg, Penn. He left Pittsburg[...]age. thought more of his family, nor of his friends than did[...]welcome, and many a stray cowboy riding the "grub line" spent part of the winter there.[...]Lodge Grass creek and during that time raised one of the out-standing families of the community. He was a home builder, he believed in the fire-side,[...]in the sacredness of the hearth, and unless gone to market with his cattle, you could always find him there.[...]His life was full of honor, of kindness and helpful deeds. I have never heard a word spoken of him except[...]The people of Big Hom County missed something[...]mixed and mingled with more of his fellow-men for no[...]man could know him or visit with him without feeling[...]of an honest, generous man, one who was true to the[...]very gates of death. Dominic Stevens on "Coalie"[...]horizon there is another world- a world to which the[...]her, we know that you, My Friend, have He got a job with a trail herd coming to Montana. already been welcomed there. and so we bid you a last He came to the Wilsall community, whe[...] |
| [...]MINIC STEVENS One of Mrs. Steven's greatest delights was a From Hardin Tribune-Herald spring house her husband built for her a short distance "There were good days and happy, but there was a from the house. The cold spring water coming out of the lot of hard work," Mrs. Dominic Stevens said of hillside kept food nearly as cold as d[...]fer the refrigerators, she said. modern way of doing things." In spite of the fact that the nearest neighbors in It was the autumn of 1902 when Dominic Stevens early years live[...]ocial life was not followed the old Bozeman Trail from his homestead on unknown. Holidays and an o[...]s for visiting, and days looked forward to by the with his wife and three children.[...]include the delight and laughter they moved into a tent, where they spent their first of the children on Christmas morning when home-made[...]up outside. goodies were brought in from the pantry. The winter was ~1inevere one, an[...]nce, Tom, times the cook stoveld be1-o be dug out of a snowdrift Agnes and John at the time they mov[...]e logs vtlesnakll)lace, they still had no A new modern house was built on the Stevens doors o[...]in 1942, approximately two years before Mr. were a constant nuisance, Mrs. Stevens said. It was not Stevens passed away. an uncommon occurrence to find a rattler under the The old chuckwagon[...]a symbol of the old days.[...]fan and was active in a number of community[...]MR. AND MRS. A. M. STEVENSON[...]Mrs. Hester Stevenson came to Lodge Grass with[...]a bachelor, W. W. Simmond. Their first home was the[...]cramped bachelor's quarters in the rear of the store.[...]was hung on a crane to be snatched by the trainman as[...]they passed by. A diamond dye box served as postoffice[...]1896, from Kansas City, Mo. with her mother and sister, and for part of the intervening years had lived on Rosebud creek with her mother and brother.[...](Allie) Stevenson at a dance at the Forty-mile ranch. He[...]was clerking in his uncle's store at Crow Agency at the[...]Rosebud creek, where they operated with Oliver and Harvey McKinley, brothers of Mrs. Stevenson. The source of that undesirable situation, however, Mrs. Stevenson remembers well the building of the was eliminated one day when Mr. Stevens locat[...]dewalks in Lodge Grass and the building destroyed a den of rattlers some five yards from the log of the Little Brown church in 1917. Mr. Stevenson ga[...]ions When Mrs. Stevenson was mayor of the town, a and improvements to the home were made from time to position she accepted in 1936, the town joined the Rural time, and the ranch became a familiar landmark to Electrification ass[...]e area. been a municipal power plant operated by the city[...] |
| [...]owned a store at Kirby and one at Lodge Grass. My[...]operated the store at Kirby.[...]Store. George Deputee, a squaw-man, who worked for dad in his store, hauled the store supplies from Lodge[...]Kirby with George to visit my Aunt and Uncle, Mr. and[...]and Petzoldts. Mr. Petzoldt was a missionary for the Mr. and Mrs. A. M. Stevenson-wedding picture, 1898 Bap[...]Dad had a store over at Kirby, as well as the one in The St[...]ry thankful for the first Lodge Grass. The store at Kirby was not the one which school in Lodge Grass. They had a hard time getting it. is there now, but was a little frame store which sat Dr. Petzoldt and Allie Stevenson made a trip by team about five miles or so south of where the present store and buggy to Forsyth to see what aid the county could sets. Uncle Frank ran the store for Dad; he and his give. Big Horn County was not yet formed and Lodge family lived in a one-story log house of about three or Grass was in Rosebud County. four rooms. And I can remember the rooms on the When they found that the co[...]teacher's salary, Mr. Stevenson let them use one of lined with white muslin which had been stitched his building[...]this muslin were hung pictures which to build it. A deed for it was recorded in 1912. or what-ha[...]The trip to Kirby was an "all day" run. I remember[...]was a heavy load by the time it was ready to go. Mother[...]would have one of the tastiest lunches packed for[...]eorge and me, and we'd leave after breakfast. Out of[...]up Sioux Pass, and I remember there on Sioux Pass,[...]was a clear, cold spring. We'd get there about noon and[...]usually I was asleep with my head on George's lap.[...]I remember our first trip to Yellowstone Park, in[...]ach taking his own car. Dad's was an Mr. and Mrs. A. M . Stevenson as most of the Lodge Oakland. The roads were dirt most of the way, with Grass friends remember them little grave[...]often put the brake on AFTER he hit a bump. About Allie Stevenson built the first brick building in half way up a hill, the engine would start chugging, and town in 1911 when he put up a store with h'ving he'd lose speed to the extent[...]been their home ever since brake. The rest of us would get out, and if the car had except for a few years when they were in California and st[...]y brake didn't work. Or we'd have to push it With some additions this brick building is still up the hill. being used as a store with Albert Stevenson, Allie's I remember that that was the last year before cars grandson[...]through the park. We had to leave great-grandsons of Allie presently operating the store. our cars in Livingston, and take a stagecoach through[...] |
| [...]oaches weren't like the traditional harmony with wilderness. I spent a lot of time with ones seen in the western movies, but were open on[...]l while I was growing up. sides and ends, but had a top. There were nine or ten It has alwa[...]r people. The driver let us man there is a woman". Without Grandma, Gramps children take turns riding in front with him, which would have been only half a man. She is an organizer for made for an enjoyable trip. the family. Quite a busy lady at that. Everyone was[...]more than welcome in their home, and I felt a special[...]a happy day.[...]added to the events of the day. Mom always told me[...]around here I'll do what Gramps did." I guess Grandpa mellowed with age. I don't think a kid could survive without a man like Gramps,[...]always around, and he always found time to tell a story. Blankenship The sport of hunting agates was a favorite of his. I[...]never stayed at home when he went. It was sort of hard On our return trip to Lodge Grass, we a[...]cause I didn't know the difference between Hardin from Billings soon after a hard rain, and I've rocks and agates. After[...]red such gluey mud as up and said "The hell with it, kid." I didn't understand. there was on that "Yellowstone Trail" going through When I went for walks with him, we'd hunt for rocks Hardin! We got stuck and[...]-to pull us into didn't matter, I'll always remember those walks by the the downtown area where we stayed in a hotel till the silver and agate bracelet he[...]Lodge Grass. Hunting occupied quite a lot of Grandpa's time. As[...]ys liked to tease us kids; one time he LIFE OF CHARLES R. STOBAUGH thre[...]nnie C. Stobaugh he faked a phone call. The boys always started some Charles R. Stobaugh was born at Okeene, kind of mischievious pranks that ended up in wrestling Oklahoma Territory, the son of Mr. and Mrs. William matches with Gramps. Stobaugh. He graduated from Okeene High School and Gramps loved[...]lege in Alva, special things he did with us showed us that he cared. Oklahoma. He also attended Phillips University, Enid, We favored most of all the way he roughed us up, the Oklahoma and Ro[...]s, candy everytime he came, kissy bites with his Montana. He received a secondary degree in Education moustache and taking us for rides. from Eastern Montana College at Billings, Montana in Even if Gramps did hunt for a sport, he loved 1957.[...]Stobaugh came to Big Horn County in 1924 as with motherly tenderness he fed and cared for the Principal of the Wyola school; he also held teaching ani[...]St. Xavier, Pryor, and Crow Agency. He Now a little stone marker engraved "Tuffy" is was elected County Superintendent of Schools in 1935, surrounded by a small picket fence. Grandpa found fun and held th[...]e In 1968, Mr. Stobaugh was elected Chairman of used to say "We'll have this one for dinner. " It scared the Big Horn County Democratic Committe[...]nd his wife Minnie were the serious. parents of three children: Charles Reuben, Billings, and Gramps was a stubborn man. I never did see him Missoula; Nadin[...]Darby, Montana ; and go to the doctor of his own free will. If he became ill, William S. (Bill) of Hardin, Montana. he'd stay i[...]ick. At times it seemed like he was invulnerable, a man GRANDPA BILL STODDARD of steel, until that one day, when he was brought do[...]By Wanda Schissler a victim of a heart attack. Like the mountains, Grandpa Sto[...]uilt Like the mountains he was built with strength and with strength and determination; like the trees[...] |
| He was my Gramps, a "Hell of a man" and I'm proud school-and a woman, recalling just last week, said to be relat[...]"She was the most wonderful teacher I ever knew." {Bill] William L. Stoddard was born in Blue Earth, In 1945 began a twenty-year period of service as Minnesota on October 18, 1905 and Catherine Davis County Superintendent of Schools of Big Horn County, was born in Casper, Wyoming Febr[...]lpfulness to all teachers, especially the Justice of the Peace Charlie Oliver. They had three[...]d. maintained a concerned interest in her church, the[...]years she was the local chairman of the Red Cross and[...]tional Church for forty years. She Following a childhood on a farm in central was an active member of MEA., NEA., and other Nebraska, and attending loc[...]When the Yellowstone Valley Retired Teachers (a study. After three years there, she joined a group in- branch of the National Retired Teachers) was started, teres[...]t. She has between Ekalaka and Alzada. She taught a rural school been a most helpful member of the Big Horn County near her homestead and the ne[...]usic and English were the make her home with her son Ralph and his family, at subjects she mos[...]r three years. She attended Philomath Argon, of the United Brethern College and graudated in 1923[...]LIVAN FAMILY That fall she came to Hardin as a music and By Eleanor Sullivan Starina English teacher in the High School. In June of 1924, The Dan Sullivans came to Kirby in the Spring of she married H. M. Strand, a jeweler and the father of 1906. My father was connected with the Middlefork two sons, Arthur and Robert, from a previous marriage. Cattle Company. Our first house, a log cabin, burned to In 1925 Baby Ralph joined th[...]erected a large white house, which, many years later,[...]the homesteaders. My grandmother was one of the[...]with her.[...]brother, Elmer, of about two. My aunt took the oldest[...]up was my mother's helper, helping with the cooking[...]helped with the horses, cattle and could use any farm[...]machinery that required the use of horses. Ten years Mrs. Lura P. Strand {Mrs. H. M.J later we got a baby sister, Margaret Helen, nicknamed[...]edit for being the first con- Mr. Strand was a prominent business man, much servationis[...]d Creek and used the water for irrigation of fields and most of all, his family. His death in 1927 was a garden. During the haying season the C[...]as killed dians were our help. They would come with their tents in an accident in 1930.[...]eant that Mrs. Strand assumed the management of the we had other children to play with, besides, the Indians' jewelry store, located in the southeast corner of the tents were always such a marvel to us: they were so Sullivan block,[...] |
| milk and eggs with them. We all gathered berries today: c[...]me. berries, which were especially good with cream and My dad was a notary public for the area and it sugar, t[...]ps. When they were about having papers taken care of. At one time there was a three or four inches tall we gathered them[...]o find out how to do it. Wild plums, It was about a mile and a half or two miles from our plenty of them; coyotes love plums so we tried to get home.[...]le horses or work fruit. They pounded it with rocks, sundried the animals. We had a heavy two-wheeled cart to which resulti[...]Also in preparing for winter they cut fresh meat from school. She was afraid that some day there would[...]n strips, hung them over ropes and poles until be a runaway and that would be the end of us. dried, and then made the strips[...]so nice, and dry our chokecherries-we had a cherry-pitter which she was always good to them. One young woman was separated the pits from the meat, then canned the fruit very weak and was[...]. She was quite perturbed but all she could think of was That winter my folks lived in Hardin, th[...]pring to tell them to take Lydia Pinkham's tonic-"a baby in bought the ranch at Wyola, five mil[...]Pass Creek. In 1923 my dad was stung by a bee and stronger, and there were no more babies in the family. died from the infection. In 1924 Mother and her Then came a time when the county was to be childr[...]When moving to Hardin Mother bought the county of Big Horn absorbed our area. My dad was Greening house and made it into a rooming and appointed one of the first County Commissioners. boardi[...]n, but my to Mrs. Sweet Cool and lived in a small house on Sixth Mother objected. She said th[...]until she passed away in 1961. run the place for a week out of every month while he I, myself, afte[...]I retired in 1965. I Another season that was a great deal of fun was married Frank Starina of Wyola, the son of a pioneer the putting up of ice, which came from the big pond. It family. He was the game warden for thirty-one years, was put in a little log house, covered with sawdust, retired, and passed away in 1969. We had one daughter, and during the summer the big blocks of ice were taken Helen, who is married, and te[...]e tea, ice cream, etc. of Washington in Seattle. She has a Master's degree in It seemed that the Middle[...]hat stock they wanted, but they would never with us has raised and educated thirteen children, now[...]were my start in life. I had my own brand, it was a Joe Tritschler, a rancher at St. Xavier. Mary is still on Quarter Circle A on the left jaw; it was my start in the ra[...]al years ago. business. The money was invested in a bank which later Memories of childhood days are still close as Marie closed. B[...]ite often to reminisce, about the days when I had a everybody would take large picnic baskets of food- it crush on her brother Charlie. The Fergusons and all of seemed that each woman vied with her neighbors to see their children were al[...]g at Wyola I taught my first ball games and games of all kinds. People came from school at Aberdeen; I was eighteen at the[...].chool was on the Upper Little Horn. Miss once in a great while an occasional minister would Alzoa Parks and I rode horseback to school from the come, or a Mennonite minister from Busby would hold Tschirgi ranch where we lived in a cabin and batched. services. Services were held i[...]Frank Tschirgi rode to school on Old Mabel, back of me house, and that was another great occasion, for the and Clara Tschirgi on Old Blue, back of Miss Parks. community to get together.[...]wild fruit that we had - Friday night I rode from the Little Horn over to our we weren't growing al[...]ngs we have home, on Pass Creek. Instead of following the Bozeman[...] |
| Trail, I crossed a divide, took down the fence, replaced supplies to a spot on his route near their shack. When the f[...]carried they got their five gallon cans of kerosene both had to hammer, pliers, and staples with me. go get it because of the deep snow-they carried it on a One night there was a big snowstorm and I was pole between them[...]me afraid to try my short-cut lest I end up in a gulch so I carpentering in the vicinity. They went to work at a went around the long way and was so late getting home grain elevator and later built one. After a spell with that the family were very alarmed.[...]decided to dig a well. They consulted a water douser who told them to dig at a certain spot. This they did, by JOHN SVAREN hand, to a depth of fifty-seven feet, but they found no -MY GRANDFATHER and a PIONEER- water. He did[...]cooked, and landed in New York City, and after a short delay broke horses. They had a good crop, and in the fall headed for Chicago t[...]r work-one job was remodelling the court- stayed with his uncle's family to get acquainted with house in Medora. the new country and to rest up from his long journey. In 1917 he came to Hardin, Montana to build a Ten days after arriving he had his first job-helping a house. That winter he spent in North Dakota preparing man dig a cistern, for which he was paid seventy-five to move to Montana. In April he married Betsy cents a day, of ten hours. Until 1909 Grandfather Cleveland from Belfield, North Dakota. They moved to worked fo[...]e lived here ever since. At first on working as a farm hand. Preparing the land and seeding construction jobs Grandmother would go with him and was done by hand. They cut hay and stacked it, then they would live in a tent at the place where the house they cut the g[...]09 he moved to North Dakota and settled in from a mud-streeted little village to a nice town. Dickinson. He found three-quarters of a section of land that would do nicely as a sister and brother planned to homestead with him- each was allowed a quarter SWEENEY FAMILY section. The "Surveying" was done by a man who knew Mr. and Mrs. E. P. Sw[...]amily the distance around his wagon wheels, tied a han- homesteaded in the Big Horn Valley north of Hardin in dkerchief around the wheel, and counted the number of the 1906-1907 years. Their son, Arthur C.[...]ate the distance-he proved to be youngest of six children, moved on to the homestead extremely accurate. Granddad wrote Erling and Selma with them and remained in the Hardin area for the rest[...]and, they looked at it and in August 1909 of his life. In 1914 Arthur married Minnie Bennett,[...]Joliet, Montana, and the young couple filed on a first of November when they returned to prove up on[...]to their homesteads. Erling remained in Belfield a few World War one. There they built a log house, and their days to get lumber as well as a stove, some scant two children Marjori[...]d for fuel, Finnegan, who later married a Tullock Creek bachelor, melted snow for drinking[...]Alma Dygert who later married Earl Gray of Hardin. school, didn't come until later, so the men batched in Alma Dygert lived with the Sweeneys during the year this shack all winte[...]thirteen miles to the nearest settlement to rent a during recess for the boys was trapping gop[...]during the day. Also remembered was the thickness of boards full of knot-holes, and no covering. deep snow in winter when Arthur had to go with the The temperatures were very low at times. Gran[...]the told me "Snow sifted in, and when you got out of bed saddle horses, with the children hoping they wouldn't you stepped in it. That woke you up!" arrive at school til noon. Once in awhile, on warm In the spring of the next year they built the other Spring day[...]held outside under the pine two shacks. The floor of Granddad's shack was hard- trees, but s[...]before Christmas that and the frequency of these outdoor classes was year and I imagine she taught those bachelors a little determined by the discipline shown[...]Sweeney family moved to Hardin in There was a mail route that ran between Murray[...] |
| [...]r many years. Arthur died in attending. Some of the families remembered attending 1958, and Mrs.[...]chelor farm partners, Bill Winton and Bill Lobin. a small boy of four or five years. He was hired by Phil The Winton, Lobin cabin was located between the Dowd, a bachelor farmer whose farm was at the west school house and the Sweeney homestead. Contrary to end of the old Nine Mile bridge north of Hardin (where orders from home, Marjorie and Charles would stop Jake and Do[...]almost every afternoon on their way home from school wheeling daylight into Mr. Dowd's cellar with a and have a slice of warm bread and jelly or a roll with wheelbarrow. On trips from the homestead to Hardin, Bill Winton, who[...]achelor part• Charles would stop at Phil Dowd's with his father, nership. Also, they would sea[...]e family owned on the homestead. It was purchased with Also, Marjorie and Charles planted watermelon proceeds from the sale of wild horses rounded up on the and cantaloupe seeds in the Spring along the two miles homestead. Purchase of the Model T required that a they traveled horseback to school so they would have better road be built, which was done, with the exception melons to eat along the way in th[...]is no record or recollection of any melon being har- of one hill that had to be climbed backwards because[...]ardin, Marjorie and Charles provided by gasoline, a handful of moth balls dropped attended grade school and graduated from high school in the gas tank did the job.[...]liam F. Rice and has resided there since, raising a family of four girls and two boys.[...]Charles attended the University of Montana,[...]for a year and a half and was called into service in December of 1941 as a Second Lieutenant. Shortly after[...]being called into service he married Naomi Cool of[...]over the North Sea and spent two years in a German prison camp. Upon his release from the service, he[...]returned to Hardin where he and Naomi bought a farm,[...]Angus cattle. Charles then took a job with the Big[...]President of the bank. He and Naomi live on a farm south of Hardin. They have three children, two boys[...]DR. A. T. TAGGART Dr. A. T. Taggart came to Wyoming with his[...]cemetery. A fitting tribute to an old time country[...]living relatives to provide a fitting marker. Orie of his patients expressed her idea of Dr. During summers on the homestead, picnics were Taggart "A dear old time country doctor. When sent held on Tullock Creek with most homestead families for either stayed until patient was better or dead."[...] |
| [...]husband first lived in a log cabin, then in a larger log[...]their only daughter, Lois Harriet, for a time in[...]she got her first glimpses of Nevada on two overnight[...]ed Taylor, Dr. D. W. Carper Dr. A. T. Taggert[...]LICE K. TAYLOR president of the League of Women Voters and the Alice Keeling was born at Fort Leavenworth, Republican Women's Club of Hardin. She was the Kansas on December 17, 1878, the youngest of three organizing member of two DAR chapters, and was the daughters of an Army Officer. After her father retired second regent of the Absaroka chapter in Hardin. She from the Army he moved the family to Falls City, was an active member of the Hardin Rebekah lodge and Nebraska, and opened a grocery store. One of her first a Past Noble Grand. memories, she says, is of sneaking a taste of brown Reno, Nevada was her last address; she passed sugar from one of the wide-mouthed storage jars in her away in 1973. father's store. In 1911 she married Fred Taylor on her 33rd[...]fall of 1929. He went to work for the Kendrick cattle[...]company and remained with them for sixteen years, first as a cowboy and then as foreman of the 77 ranch. Alice K. Taylor[...] |
| [...]years he worked there he was also Bunch" of cows for the 0. W. ranch. I liked the country, wa[...]nd so on April 1, 1932, I drew my months pay of $35.00 he worked as many rodeos as time would permit. He and filed on a homestead, next to the last one before the started as a bronc rider even if the broncs couldn't buck withdrawal of land for homesteading. him off, he couldn't win a dime so he went on to calf It was a hard experience, but, I had bet the $32.00 roping[...]irst calf roping at filing fees, I could win-with the help of a wonderful Wyola in about 1933. In team tying he first teamed up wife, it took 26 years of "Ups and Downs" to where we with Carl Knudson, another 0. W. hand and later with were on our own. Charles Bell. It was a gratifying experience, in spite of hard As soon as Jess was 21 he filed on his[...]faith and health, we enjoyed the friendship of many $150.00 during the depression and bought seven cows people in the Decker area, quite a number have passed and calves. Later he bought th[...]ure holds for the Decker Area. It has always been a wonderful community with wonderful people. The years[...]I remember well my first look at the town that was[...]to be my home for thirty years; it was from the upstairs quarters of the Burlington depot, a rare vantage point[...]agent for the C.B. & Q. coming from Upton, Wyoming, where he had been a telegrapher for ten years. A native of Wisconsin, he grew up in Kansas, learned his trad[...]Omaha at the turn of the century, married a ebraska teacher and came on west with their four children (girl,[...]I saw three things that morning of Washington's[...]Sawyer's Store, long, solid gray mass across the tracks,[...]and most amazing of all-a real, live Indian in blanket[...]mother's opinion of the mess in our living quarters left[...]by itinerant trainmen in the wake of World War I[...]aos. Years later we were to marvel at the station A painting of Jess Thomas made by Bernard Thomas, improvements, when fresh, gray paint gave way to a Jess's brother. The Sheridan, Wyoming rodeo used[...]try and lived there three years. Then they bought a ranch just below Decker on Tongue River from Jimmy Bumbaca. The family lived there twenty seven years. This ranch is the present site of the Decker Coal Company, they bought Thomas out i[...]have two girls, Susanne and Sheryl. They live on a ranch near Sheridan, Wyoming. Mrs. Roger Nicholas[...]Mrs. Ray C. Thompson {Left] and four children with her LLOYD E. THOMAS[...]ork in Big Horn County on Hanging one of the first attempts at "tourist facilities" in Woman creek, February 1, 1932 feeding a "Hospit,l Edgemont. So. Dakota[...] |
| [...]by (and no P.G. rating necessary.) I remember best a trees, grass and flowers planted and tended by veteran musical group of WWI vets wh.o-· tuned their in- Agent J. E. McC[...]Three major events are etched on my memory of front with more of our songs. The big favorite was the those years of living on Main Street: my first movie,[...]item, exclusively; it was Griffith's silent epic of scrub-day, all American mothers, they wish the same to World War I; at the Harriet Theater, and it made a you!" When we got to the chorus, those glamorous movie addict of me for many years. Of the War itself, I guys in khaki would let out a whoop of 'Tuesday, SOO- recall a home talent military band playing for troop[...]dma Thompson train arrivals, at least one member a woman in smart, remarked tersely, 'Well, I see they're gonna 'soup it' navy blue cape faced with red, and jaunty overseas cap. again.' One November morning a pile of papers was tossed off Glorious age of innocence-even though public the train, blazonin[...]Germans figures made dire predictions from time to time. It was Quit" . All that day and far into the night we saw or at the Fourth of July picnic in Thompson's Grove south heard the frenzied celebration; freight trucks from the of Hardin that I heard Senator Burton K. Wheeler, depot platform moved down the street loaded with, and lambasting modern woman, refer t[...]ad been trying to knit apparently, the women didn't care what showed-just for the soldier boys[...].... troops spared on occupational hazard!) Along with I remember going to Sunday School at Baptist many Hardinites-too many-I share memories of the services held somewhere on M[...]she twelve, and eager to show off a smart, black straw hat alternated between fearing she would die and hoping with a wreath of daisies and grosgrain ribbons down the she would[...]he four back. My vanity was diverted for a time by an even daily passenger trains did little to alleviate her misery.) grander presence: a handsome young man was putting By way of variety, Dad and little sister had what an a special offering into the collection box in honor of his exhausted Dr. 0. S. Haverfield diagnosed as s[...]as also the help. Outside help was not to be had, of course. Sunday School Superintend[...]Surely none present then has forgotten a certain lost loved ones.[...]the doors back of his audience. Down the center aisle[...]was moving a number of gowned, hooded figures, the regalia of the Klu Klux Klan easily identifiable. The[...]leader placed a long envelope on the pulpit. Then, without a word, the ghostly company wheeled and[...]contained a contribution toward completing the Church[...]One day in the early 30's a local minister dropped[...]on Ladies Aid; some felt that the "Reverend" had a[...]England, with plenty of clotted cream piled high on[...]as it may, we forgave all that Thompson children with kittens: Max, Susie, Alberta, afterno[...]colonnades cut out." He added, somewhat diffidently:[...]"I trust that a bit of clean levity is not amiss." The It would require a book to recount my memories of dawn of a new era-or the end of the old. school days, among the happiest of my life and most A word more about my father, Ray Thompson. gainful, thanks to fine, dedicated teachers-a number After the war he was bookkeeper for Mr. Robert A. of whom are still going strong, and aren't we glad. Vickers, Sr., publisher of the Hardin Tribune, through "They don't hardly make that kind no more." whose friendly interest he became a member of St. Who of our time can forget the delights of summer Johns Masonic Lodge and served s[...]nd squared off and flung such challenges as: 'Had a little was also active in Jasmine Chapte[...]ed Deputy County Clerk and Recorder from 1920-29, Side, cuz he had good sense!' Heady stuff, but only a during Carl Rankin's incumbency. He se[...]ns and evenings, whole families of Big Horn County Fair Board and later administered[...]the Big Top for adult entertainment a number of relief programs, such as Crilket Control.[...] |
| [...]Thompson [Patagonia, Arizona] 20's, Dad operated a 'bee farm' -not profitable, but to Sam[...]te combs 1896, and lived in Big Horn County a great part of his of honey sold for 15 cents or 2/25 cents. Where would life. He was the son of John and Minnie Lucas you get that kind today-at[...]They are Charles of Roberts, Montana and Marshall J. Ray Thompson was a man of many interests, of Absarokee, Montana. Sam Thompson passed away especially appreciative of new inventions. He owned the on December 28,[...]His family arrived in Montana in 1892 from It was still going strong up to 1930 as a fishing car. The Nebraska. They came here to work on the Burlington summer of 1920, 'Tin Lizzie' carried the family on a trip Railroad grade which was being built from Edgemont, over the new Lincoln Highway(?), which[...]eridan, Wyoming. That same year at Rapid City, in a wallow of mud. My mother wrote of they filed on a homestead on Young's Creek and started these then fairly uncommon experiences for the Hardin a ranch there. In 1896 Mr. Thompson sold the ranch Tribune; several of her poems were also published in a and purchased land on the Rosebud Creek from Joshua Wyoming historical magazine.[...]McCuistion. In 1903 or 1904 they moved to a ranch at the head of Post Creek and ran sheep for a number of[...]from Hale, Missouri on June 25, 1918 at Sheridan,[...]a few years and later started a store where Decker was for a long period. He sold the store to R. W. Morris[...]this ranch for A. K. Creig, who was a banker in Sheridan. In 1927 he ran a horse roundup for Big Horn[...]County and gathered over 5000 head of horses which were grazing on County land with no owners. The[...]load of horses ever shipped from Big Horn County-[...]over 2000. Sam carried the mail from Decker to Kirby for a period when travel was not the best. He used a 1923 Dodge, a motorcycle, and horseback. He had[...]on October 20, 1919 in one of the worst snow storms[...]eek School as well as the Birney Ray C. Thompson with his first grandchild, 1938 School. She taught in the era of Dr. Russell (who I remember coming for his annual visit as county health[...]er and I were very fortunate to Mama had one of the first electric ranges and a be able to attend the first eight grades with our mother Frigidaire in her kitchen, if little else. Back in 1918 a as teacher and parent. Winnie Thompson taught a total Victrola with many Red Seal records was our pride and of 27 years. She passed away on April 21, 1970. joy.[...]use to listen to the Kenneth Thompson is a well-known auctioneer in radio, taking turns with the headphones. From Billings, Montana where he lives with his family. K.D.K.A, Pittsburgh, we got Amos n' Andy and Vernon Thompson lives with his family in Patagonia, Louie's Hungry Five.[...]na. My father was an ardent fisherman, along with such Izaak Waltons as 'Goldie' Goldsberry, Dave Egnew, 'Domie' Domberger, to name only a few who RICHARD THROSS[...]Richard Throssel came to Crow Agency from the picked wild berries and plums enroute home-t~e State of Washington as a very young man. His highlight of the trip for my mother- and who of us will daughters, Vera Throssel and Alberta Hawkins of ever forget her luscious plum butter in the brown stone Billings, think that his Indian blood was Cree, from crock?[...] |
| [...]brother formal education at the young age of fourteen, Ed Harry Throssel, already a clerk in the Crow Agency migrated to th[...]s John and Hans Torske, who had im- long Dick was a clerk, too-until his move to Billings in migrated a few years before his arrival, were in the 1910.[...]iness at Borup, Minnesota. So it He married a girl from Indiana, who had come to was there he received employment. He learned the Crow Agency to be a matron at the Indian boarding English[...]school. Her daughter Vera tells that when she was a College. Upon completion of formal courses, he became small child living in B[...]carry the little Throssels about. Dick had a hobby for photography, which soon turned into a profession. He began taking landscapes and scenes of Crow life. J. H. Sharp thought his work was very good, and, though not himself a professional photographer, could give some help from an artist's point of view, Portrait photography followed, and Dick did some of this at Crow Agency before moving to Billings, where he set up a professional studio that did a good business. He also developed other people's f[...]hrossel" en- velopes. In the 1920's, he was a representative from Yellowstone County to the Montana State Legislatu[...]g just arrived by plane in Helena to take part in a National Guard encampment, he died of a heart attack. He was fifty-four. Mrs. Throssel died in March, 1959, at the age of eighty-six. Throssel's Indian pictures are on a long-time loan at the Laramie Museum, where they[...]tral and eastern Montana. Having and friends, had a wide variety of interests as indicated a desire to become a land owner, Ed in the fall of 1906 in her summer activities-she studied library[...]his was the starting took reading clinics, worked with Girl Scouts, and point for a surrey ride that was to take him and three studied home nursing. She had a remarkably sunny prospecting homesteaders as far south as Hardin. disposition and a sense of humor which delighted her Charlie Bair was grazing several bands of sheep on students and friends. the lush grass four miles west of Hardin. It was this She is a life member of the Montana Education land that caught the eye of Ed causing him to return to Association, the NEA, and Delta Kappa Gamma; of Minnesota and encourage brothers John and Hans to this last she is a State Founder and a charter member of be a part of this new venture. Gamma Chapter. She also belonged to the Christian In the spring of 1907, John and Ed Torske filed Church, the Order of the Eastern Star, the American homestead[...]rters. At present, this Legion Auxiliary, and the Women's Army Corps. land is part of Torske Farms. John Torske moved his Some yea[...]birthplace, family to Hardin the summer of 1909. The rigors of Scottsburg, Indiana, and married John Reeser; the[...]was more than the family could take, so now live a very active retired life in Scottsburg, where[...]To supplement the cost of equipment, new[...]and erecting farm machinery much in demand as a WEST BENCH HOMESTEADER result of many homesteaders arriving in the area. Each[...]year he would break about forty acres out of sod until Edward Torske was born September 22[...]nally the entire 160 acres was under cultivation. A Sundalen, Norway, the youngest child of John and new method of tillage was used known as summer Bergit Ho[...] |
| [...]shrill whistle that gave (number and length of blasts) naturalization as a United States citizen at Billings, instruction to all of the next operation. Threshing was a Montana. cooperative effort with neighbors and their hired help In 1910, the[...]hreshing was complete on all the farms to take up a homestead some two miles southeast of the in the neighborhood. Also our taste buds would rise as Ed Torske farm. Mr. Dyvig was a widower having two we think of all the food that was prepared by mother to comel[...]his household. satisfy the hunger pangs of the hard working crew. The Dyvig family were originally from Cylinder, Iowa, There would always be a few extra pieces of pie or cake they moved to Borup, Minnesota, area because a left over. We children would get the chance of stuffing tornado had wiped out their farmstead. They lost their ourselves with these extra goodies. newly constructed barn in a devastating storm that The family was saddened by the death of mother in came through the Borup area. Again the Dyvig family January of 1934. Thanks to the Bert Slaters and an took up r[...]tender care. the fourth couple to apply for a marriage license in the School was a must for all of Ed and Mary Torske's newly formed Big Hom County.[...]Ed married a second time to Lucy Winn on[...]in the spring of 1908 from North Dakota. My father brought a team of horses, milk cows and the furniture by way of the railroad as far as Custer. He then[...]wagon. Mother and we children came by train about a week later. We were very frightened because of the[...]unice [Mrs. About the worst storm of tornado proportions Ronald Koebbe], Lucy Winn Torske [wife of Edward] happened one of our first years here. It destroyed the Geraldine[...]O.K. Livery Barn and killed seven horses, I remember. The early years of their married life were marred by |
| [...], Hovs our pony hitched to the cart. At the sight of the pigs, Lutheran Church with Pastor Sarheiam officiating. the pony ran away with us kids. We sailed through the He immigr[...]rrived in air and see-sawed on the reins-this was a worry each Brandon, Minnesota June 4, 1900 w[...]the woods as a lumberjack.[...]Before coming to America he had graduated from school as a carpenter: an A-1 carpenter, as a man[...]where he homesteaded about five miles west of Hardin. Andrew and John Torske, cousins of Sivert Torske, came from Norway to Hardin and stayed with Sivert for a time. I remember Dad talking about the[...]size, he put enough in for all of them, and when they got[...], and He met his wife, Inga Christianson, from L. J . Torske, 1926[...]In 1915 we got our first car and in December of child, a son, Sterling Torske, who also met and married that year our Mother passed away. Dad died in 1963 at a girl from Osnabrock, North Dakota, Edith Evanson, the age of ninety years. He had five grandchildren: wh[...]s Neita who married We have seen Hardin grow from a hitching post Jerry Butkay and lives on th[...]ity it is in 1975. Inga lived most of their married life, five miles west of[...]nga settled on his homestead but FAMILY OF SIVERT TORSKE disaster struck them with a fire destroying their home, By Sterling Torske started by a cigarette from a hired hand, who became so Sivert Torske was[...]hey had dalin, Norway to Marit and Jorgen Torske, a family of just butchered and had the basement filled with several three boys and one girl.[...]ves in Inwood, Manitoba, Canada. happened on a Sunday while they were visiting friends.[...] |
| He purchased some more acreage south of his principal with 5 percent interest; throw in a 2 percent homestead, the present home of Neita and Jerry loss clause and still have a good deal for himself, even if Butkay, and moved the rest of the buildings from his the steers just held the money together[...]s cattle, milk cows and chickens. He was so proud of his included Adolf Swartsenberg, Prince of Luxemberg, chickens which took several purple ribbons and Floyd Skelton of Idaho Falls, Idaho, Ralph Cun- trophies at Fairs in Hardin and Billings. ningham of Billings, Montana, Ned Randolph of Denver, Colorado, and Robert Cobb of Hollywood,[...]ner's brand as an additional guarantee of good will[...]Toward the fadeout of the era, Matt and his Antler[...]Ranch staged the biggest operation of modern times in 1957 which involved a deal with Armour & Co., for the[...]largest order ever bought by that packing firm from one[...]delivered to Billings at the rate of 740 head twice a week. The price was $19.75 per hundred-weight for a Sivert Torske and his prize rooster total package of nearly $1,500,000. A cheering feature of the old time spirit was the down payment of one Both Sivert and Inga have passed away b[...]ham. children and friends. Their son Sterling has a flower The Antler stood apart from other ranching shop now in Miles City, Montana. tradition in running a straight steer outfit. He bought[...]MATT TSCHIRGI along with restrictions on Mexican Cattle and the By Geri Tschirgi Glenn scourge of hoof and mouth disease. [Granddaughter of Matt Tschirgi) Matthew Heinrich Tschirgi, known as "Matt", grew up with the wild west and prospered by it, both by friends and by business. The two worked hand in hand. Loyalty was a main factor that kept the gears working on his ra[...]itself used by his father in 1884. He was a man living at the right time and at the right pla[...]ing the Antler spread together during World War I from his Uncle Frank Heinrich's holdings, supplemented by various acquisitions of Crow Reservation land which he bought outright or leased. By the second war, he had a sound nucleus of some 50,000 acres of deeded land for his "home ranch". This was the operating base from which he controlled his empire of roughly half a million acres at its peak. in 1959 he sold half of his land holdings west of the Big Hom River to J. R. Scott which involved 131,280 acres of leased and deeded land. Livestock, as Matt put it, was just a means of cashing in on grass. He considered himself primar[...]0 steers or 100,000 sheep and usually he ran some of each. At one time, his grazing cost was so[...]ng the range, Antler irrigated land could take on a partner's steers for 50 cents per head produced 6,000 tons of hay a year. Hay crews were per month; provide all the r[...]ed the labor and paper work; guarantee the return of guests, celebrities, family and[...] |
| Discrimination was not part of the atmosphere. Big Horn River onto t[...]s sold after his son's death, they Custer in a wagon. have found many obstacles. For one thin[...]oyalty homestead which makes up the north side of the of the Antler Ranch have gone. present farm. In 1927, he bought 221.54 acres of land The name of Tschirgi was changed in Switzerland from A. L. Mitchell, M. M. Brooks, and G. F. Burla for where a General Tschirgorian (the original name being $40 per acre. This makes up the south side of the Russian-Armenian) fled with his army at the time the present farm. He also filed water rights on Sorrel Horse Republic of Switzerland was formed, from the despotic Creek. government of Russia. From Canton of St. Gall, a Tschirgi migrated from the Monasterial town, after acquiring a knowledge of brewing. His trails ended in Dubuque, Iowa where he established a brewery, the first in the State of Iowa. Of the five boys and two girls he reared, his two[...]Stockade Creek", buying Charles Harvey 's right of land for $300. George Tschirgi married Teresa H[...], was born on Pass Creek, his head could fit in a teacup they say. Reared in the western tradition, Matt was not a stranger to hard work. H~ was a self-educated man, a reader of the classics. His favorite was "Ivanhoe" which he read "about eleven times." Long after gas had taken over on other ranches, Matt·s range operation continued to run with teams and wagons until 1951. The outfit travelled with a cavy of 120 horses. The roundup wagon filled with good smells for hungry cowboys, was cheffed by one of the best round-up cooks, Ed Aspaas. Matt[...]cooking for the Porter Krone family. She was one of five daughters who had originally travelled with their family by horse and wagon from Arkansas. Their father came to Hardin and leased a ranch from Charlie Bair. Known as '•Bert·• she was th[...]live with him. Mr. Van Cleve bought a log house, tore it[...]down, and rebuilt it on the end of Califf Homestead THE EARLY DAYS IN MONTANA OF cabin. In the winter of 1915, he, his parents, and sister[...]they could move their household furnishings on a sled. By Joyce Rogers as told by Mrs. Guy Van C[...]They had a cream separator, which was valuable to Guy[...]883 in Terre them, since cream checks were a main source of income. Haute, Indiana, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Van On July 24[...]Gilliland. They went through Yellowstone Park in a and Gretchen.[...]oon. They had three Mr. Van Cleve graduated from the first four-year[...]l. He quit law school and came to Montana because of In the summer of 1917, the Van Cleve's put up hay poor health .[...]s, Montana where he across the river in a boat. Part of that summer was worked for the Robinson Sheep Outfit for a few months. spent in a tent until they moved a house off one In 1906 he filed on a 142.73 acre homestead located homestead. and moved it near the Califf Cabin. This two miles south of the Yellowstone-Big Hom County house[...]In the fall of 1917 he sold his homestead to the 0. In the fall of 1908, Herb Williams and Mr. Van W. Cattle Company. In 1944 he bought 3,600 acres of Cleve took a contract to build a mile of irrigation canal dry land pasture that joined the west side of the farm. for the Victory Ditch Company. They mov[...]946 he leased the farm, and moved to Hardin yards of dirt with two two-horse teams and two slips in where[...]died ovember one month . They were paid ten cents a yard. They had a 1, 1958. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, one steam engine that they used to pump water out of the sister, and six grandchildren[...] |
| VANDERSLOOTS OF BIG HORN COUNTY Selma C. Nelson, whose father had a neighboring farm. In 1909, Piet and Marie V[...]llege, they were engaged. Selma was United States from Holland. The family homesteaded born in[...]omestead and moved to Hardin, Montana. Three of Piets' sons, Lambert then 18, Tony 17, and Charlie (Chet) 12, left Dutch Coulee around the first of March. It was snowing when the boys trailed out with two wagons and eight head of horses, the driving teams and two horses behind each wagon. They traveled by way of Ryegate, Broadview, Acton and Billings. The trip to Billings had taken four days. The morning of the fifth day out was to find the boys breaking c[...]t 7:00 o'clock. Piet and Marie Helen and the rest of the children came by train. The children of Piet and Marie are Lambert, Tony, Nell, Gertrude,[...]1 at Gemonde Holland. He moved to Big Horn County with Robert A. Vickers his parents in 1919. For a while he farmed with his father, then tried his hand at being a cowhand. He Robert wanted to get m[...]essing till he was twenty-one. the Tschirgi ranch of Wyola. After a few years of being Being a good and obedient son, he waited till after his c[...]therine was born July 16, 1911 at Richardson .D., a father, John elson left ebraska for Montana. The daughter of Michael and Katherine Feller. weather was bitter cold, with a lot of snow. When they Lambert and Katherine were m[...]he train at Whitehall, they were met by Robert in a at Wyola, Montana. They farmed in the Hardin area sleigh with heated bricks for their feet, and fur rugs for and later bought a farm 18 miles south of Hardin. They coverings, the balance of their trip was by this horse- have four children:[...]Robert was a printer by trade, and he worked on[...]the Alder-Gulch Times, and made a home for his wife LIFE OF and her widower father in Virginia City. By 1907 the ROBERT A. VICKERS couple had si[...]s time, the Government was opening up Robert A. Vickers was born in Virginia City, lan[...]o take Borrell Vickers. The elder Mr. Vickers was a merchant up a home tead. Mr. Vickers decided to keep working in the town, and was acquainted with most of the on the newspaper just long enough to get a start in Vigilantes, who a few years earlier had taken the law in farming[...]. Vickers, her father, and Henry Plummer, was one of the road agents who were the children, ranging in age from thirteen years to four holding up the stages with shipments of gold, they months, moved to the homestea[...]ieve law and order was about nine miles west of Custer. Each year Mr. ickers to take matters into their own hands. There were a would plan to join his family, but there was alway a number of hangings after these citizens took over.[...]y to buy needed farm supplies. He At the age of nineteen, young Robert took a trip to commuted back and forth, visiting his[...]sit some cousins prior to his leaving for once a month. (In those day , new paper people go[...] |
| [...]. Charter Members of Jasmine Chapter of Order of the Finally after six years, Mr. Vickers broke his ties Eastern Star. with the newspaper in Virginia City and came to the[...]spaper, was an en- farm, prepared to settle there with his family. The thusiastic promoter of civic projects and anything for oldest son Robert (Bertie) was now nineteen, and had the betterment of Hardin. decided he'd had enough of farming. Mr. Vickers said, Mr. Vickers[...]26, 1962. The Vickers had seven without you here." children, all but one of whom are still living : Robert A. After some discussion, it was noted that there was of Westport, Washington, Ellen Rowland Rousseau, a newspaper at Hardin which might be for sale. So Hardin, Mont. Leroy deceased, Llewellyn N. of Ger- father and son hitched the horses to the spr[...]Pine Ridge and down to Hardin. Doris Novark of Hardin. At that time the Hardin Tribune was owned by Harry DeTunq. He was desirous of taking in a partner, and Mr. Vickers bought one-half interest[...]County, Iowa, March 7, family joined him in March of that year. 1891. When I was nine the family moved to Spokane, There was a lot of excitement that day as the Washington. We[...]rawford Ave. the present We were living in a tent, on the Wagner home of Miss Dolores Guenther. People in the neigh-[...]1909. My Dad, brother Roy and myself tumbled out of the wagon. It happened that the local managed to keep the tent from blowing away, in the band was playing a concert on Main St. , and the boys of process Dad's back was hammered black and blue from the family made a running bee-line to Main Street to the hail, it took weeks to heal. A two story building, watch the band play. Their father was more than south of the Becker Hotel where Big Hom Motor slightly sho[...]about irrigating, I was a dry land farmer; that was just[...]what he wanted so he could train me in his way of[...]were in abundance. Mr. and Mrs . Robert A. Vickers celebrate their fiftieth |
| In the fall of 1910 we hauled t wo railroad cars of coal from Crow to the Fergurson Ranch for t hreshing. W e t hreshed with an Indian crew. Everytime a jack- rabbit was chased up from the bundles all t he machines were stopped and everyone chased t he rabbit. I brought six loads of wheat over to t he Mark Ferguson homestead on the west bench fording t he river each way with a team of six horses. Charlie Worley, Lawrence Clawson[...]I bought my first car in September 1920, a Model[...]Shortly after I joined, my uncle and I took a load of[...]horses shod a snoose salesman came in and gave us a can of snoose. I had a bad cold and my uncle, who was always full of the devil said, "take a good big chew that will be good for your cold." I did and I was so sick I[...]I retired from the Hardin Fire Dept. January 3,[...]had during this time was a flour mill, this was located[...]age of 80. I have two daughters, Mrs. A. Dwain Reed and Howard and B eulah Wagner's wedding picture Mrs. Ray Schaak, both of Hardin and one son Howard E . Wagner, Jr. , of Billings. I have six grandchildren[...]e day and said, "See what I traded for last night." He handed me a .44 colt gun and not knowing it was cocked I took[...]buck. I I was born in Ekalaka, Montana, a daughter of Mr. held the reins in my left hand and the gun in[...]school at Fair View about fourteen miles north of riding he ever saw.[...]Haverfield. I took the school teaching had met at a dance two years before. job[...]Sand Creek school, four miles this side of Lodge Grass. night then have cake, sandwiches and[...]pring fast before we would go home. This would be a family we moved to farm the Bowman place an[...]Car- dance. We lived near the railroad tracks in a brick and per's mother passed away. We farmed and raised our s tone house. The kitchen was two steps down from the family there. We had three children, Luc[...]liam C. Watson. Billy Carper living in Oregon and from the kitchen. One day after I had gone to work[...]r living in San Diego, California. Beulah spotted a snake all stretched out on the rocks Wh[...]8th grades were cooking done that day. We rented from 1919 until we taught at Community school.[...]the county superintendent. I boarded with the Henry[...] |
| [...]retired. janitor work at the school. Some of my pupils are still There were two hal[...]ert's folks used to own the Foster Hall, they had a Livingston. I also had Eunice Campbell and three store and a Post Office. Her folks lived down near the James[...]d Corinth. Mr. Watson tells Carperville store was sold and moved across the road, me that at one time there was a school on the old Dr. Alvin Kurtz now lives in what used to be the store. Carper place but that was before my time and I don 't In November 1921 the Sunshine Club was remember it.[...]in the Spring of 1922. It was formed for the purpose of community entertainment and charity. I remember a[...]we gave a dance and raised $500.00. At that time we[...]rward to the fun as much as the grown-ups. Mr. H. A.[...]I can remember the old Sorrel Horse hill on the way to Custer. A car would start up the hill and make it[...]about half the way, then everyone would pile out of the car and put rocks in back of the hind wheels and then[...]start pushing. It had to be a pretty good old car to[...]1975. When he was born the frost went out of the[...]ground. Dr. Haverfield came out to take care of me and the spokes of the buggy filled with mud and went clear[...]e hub all the way out. He couldn't make it out in a[...]remember when the road was graveled the two miles north of town and wishing it could be graveled all the[...]rful at one time. I have At that time across from the Carper place, sitting seen a lot of changes in the North Valley. I was on the in the corner was a store known as Carperville. The mail farm when the drain ditches went in and the R.E.A. was came from Hardin and was distributed there and went put in. My children studied by a kerosene lamp and on to Custer twice a week. The second Mr. Carper had rode two m[...]n torn down , and then it was abandoned. In front of my place was a except Nine Mile and a new two-teacher Community bunch of mail boxes about fourteen on an old wagon school house has been built. wheel. It was at the end of the route. Mrs. Wort at the People tal[...]tuation was worse in the summer and I had to fill a before she got the mail to our place ;ind my kitchen was barrel from the ditch every night for the kitchen use generally filled with men waiting for the mail to arrive. and in the[...]ove the route for neighbors got together as a community project and twenty-five years and the Community gave her a filled each others' ice house[...] |
| [...]r wood. Our was always their main crop with cattle and hay on the wood piles were huge, but c[...]and side. by November we were usually out of wood. Also in the It was always a problem getting the children to spring neighbors[...]her and help butcher school in the winter from the main ranch so they finally their summer meat.[...]Floyd Well those are the good old days. Some of the Warren Inc. main ranch is now. Floy[...]now. Darroll is the manager of the ranch, now.[...]By Mrs. Fred Waterman This is the life of Maud Clawson Warren who came In July of 1912 we came to Hardin to look over to Big Horn[...]and has lived here since. several sections of land which were to be our future Her address is[...]n the bluff above the She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Big Horn River, on[...]milton, the train we had to find some means of transportation; Montana and they moved to the Ha[...]Ford which looked ready to fall apart. He carried a Stella Laura, Lottie, Lawrence, Floyd, Harry and Evin. hammer with which he leaned over every once in a while They lived in a large log house one mile north of the and gave the wheel a tap to keep it on. He took us down present Hardi[...]the river about six miles; he had brought a gun along, The first school she attended in Hardin was in a and after shooting it three times a man appeared on the building where the present D[...]and Clarence opposite shore, came over in a boat and took us across Belue have their offices[...]e the river. We learned that this was sort of a crossing grades including the eighth. Catholic a[...]by the cattlemen and real estate men ; there was a L,ongregational Church services were also held here. sort of land boom going on, selling land across the river Then the Washington Hall school was built west of the to greenhorns like us. Milt Brooks and A. L. Mitchell Hardin Cemetery and the children walked to school sold most of the real estate. there for a few years. This building is now a barn on the We were still seven or eight miles from the ranch, Audie Cox ranch. and afoot. A cowpuncher rode up, saw we were lost, and[...]that was ride my horse-it's only been ridden a few times and located where the present primary playground is. They doesn't know women very well". I thought that that rode to school in a covered wagon pulled by a team of beat walking so I climbed on, and the horse[...]urns driving the bus. She recalls it being heated with a return in my flouncy dress and funny hat, all i[...]the school. couldn't buck me off. Fred walked a long, hot way that She lived in Meeteetsee,[...]rriage to Floyd We liked the looks of the land -it was far-flung Warren in 1916. Floyd had moved to Hardin from and fertile; a small house had been built sometime Anselmo, Nebraska with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. earlier. We[...]. E. Warren and brother Richard in 1909. They had a In January, 1913, we left Belgrade, Montana with ranch just north of Hardin. W. E. Warren was a well all our belongings in what they cal[...]in until his death in 1947, and car-sort of a box car. We had three horses, a cow, Richard was a Hardin businessman, too. chickens, furniture, and a new Altman-Taylor tractor- When they were f[...]ust being put on the market. It was very lived in a one room log cabin out by Pine Ridge. It had a large and heavy, and had various plows, drills[...]added much later after the bridge was the clothes from the walls when it rained as the muddy built[...]et thick enough to hold up In 1918 they had a home built on the Fort Custer that enormous[...]was for many years. us cross, most of them firmly expected all of it to be in Harvey Warren, a grandson, lives there now. They had the bottom of the Big Horn. But we made it! Then there five chi[...]t through school were seven or eight miles of hills and coulees; there was here. They were Darr[...]Bonnie (now Bonnie no road so we fixed a makeshift one. We almost Beary), Jack (died in 19[...]several times. Their first farming was done with teams of mules In winter we crossed on the ice[...]over to our neighbors, the tractors. Thus it was with all the other farm equipment Franklin[...] |
| society, or sometimes a party. In summer there were worked for them that caused us trouble. We were a lot picnics in the groves. We found the people[...]TV: we came into that There were three families of the first settlers: Landons, desolate country[...]ly they tried to run us out. I had one cow that from the Gallatin, so now we had neighbors only six or[...]sed milk ( the cow we brought seven miles apart with whom we could visit, stay all with us died when she calved), and one day a cowboy day, play cards, have parties, and go with to dances at threw a rope at her and put out her eye! They wanted to[...]the feed so our cattle starved and froze for want of a the railroad bridge, pick up mail for all the n[...]me. In the summer of 1919 Fred Waterman and The next year a ferry was built about opposite the Charles Miller went to the new County Com- Wort place and Jim Gear, a real frontiersman, was missioners- Her[...]could run only during high water and to have a road built along the ridge. The Commissioners a road had to be built along the hills to get to it. To decided it would be cheaper to build a bridge, and in signal the ferry-man that one wanted to cross, a gun 1921 we had a bridge, called Nine Mile bridge. More was fired. One night a fellow came to cross on the ferry; people came[...]m, and didn't Holmes, and Wights. We soon had a voting precinct at come out. Next time he shot t[...]ur house. On July 19 we had started to cut wheat, a came out flying. A small settlement formed around the cloud came up and in twenty minutes 500 acres lay in a ferry: Roy Barnards, Art Reno, Roy Reed, Robers, and shambles from hail. Bodkers (where Juell Ottun now lives. Farther back in We had lots of rattlers; they were in the barn and the hills Dewey Riddle, our first sheriff, had a cabin; sheds where the threshing crew slept. One night Tony Perry Hoshaw had a cabin beside one of the few springs Rober, who worked for us, laid his bed out three times, we had, and Bill Roach had a place. and a rattler was under it each time. Finally, he put it We had a covey of sagehens who followed the plow on the hayrac[...]ou. shocking grain, and under each shock was a rattler! He One day a fellow from town shot them all, and left them just laid d[...]d "Too many rattlers for there there were flocks of fifty to sixty sage hens, Tony". prairie[...]on went the way One day our daughter and a neighbor child were of the buffalo. We fished and caught enormous catfis[...]e when one sturgeon, and ling. We also installed a large pump in screamed "A snake, a snake!" - one was coiled right the river and had water p[...]ld dog bounded out, grabbed the considered quite a feat. With 500 feet of pipe we snake and tore him to bits, but was bitten in three watered the garden and even had a sink. places on his jaws and face. He went down in the cool The winter of 1919-20 was very cold; it started cellar and laid on the floor for three days. I poured milk with deep snow in October and didn 't go off until May. and egg down his throat and put permanganate of The Spear Cattle Co. shipped in a trainload of Mexican potassium (in solution) on the bite[...]spring snake's mate came back and I shot it with the 20 gauge not a one was left- they lay in the coulees like cord-[...]ed up in the flowers and vines wood. We lost most of ours as everybody ran out of by the porch and I couldn't hit it with the hoe as I had hay ; slough grass, which was supposed to be hay was others. This dog was a cross of white bulldog and shipped in from the Dakotas at a high price, and though coyote hound ; he and[...]drifted over the bluffs in cornices, cold day with two steel traps on his feet; they were the cattle[...]ved all but one front foot; later he still bottom of the bluffs. Some big outfit lost a lot of their ran coyotes (and caught them). I used ic[...]k; he drove their little wagons down below us, in a sort of got tick fever and almost died-there were lots of ticks valley where the floor was level, and salvaged a lot of on the sagebrush. He was in town at the doct[...]his brother, Clifford, tried to ford the river on a horse, and made camp a few miles below us, staying until the and[...]over. They had been fat cattle, were quick with a load of wheat; the ice was rotten and he fell frozen , an[...]got out. We Jeff Davis and Douglas ran lots of cattle in the fell thru with a load of hay, but were able to pull ours hills beyond us; they were awfully naughty about the out with ropes . cattle. They came with herds into our field , ate up our For a side-line I raised turkeys. I started with one corn, drove off some of our cattle, mixed them with hen and a gobbler and the last year I had 500. I shi[...] |
| [...]he army cut-worms LIFE OF LEE WEIR appeared and cleaned out the young wheat[...]bare. after traveling by train from Arkansas to Douglas, We took our wheat to Crow Agency where it was Wyoming which was the end of the railroad line. He ground into flour, and brea[...]send our daughter, He worked for most of the big ranches including Dorine, to school. We went out each Friday and back the OW, U-Cross (of which his brother John was each Monday until the depression of the '30's when we foreman.) and the McCormack Ranch where Billings is sold our few cattle for $10-$20 a head, tore down our now located. Besides bei[...]into ranches, Mr. Weir also operated a butcher shop at Crow Hardin, where Fred opened a plumbing shop. Agency early in th[...]located southwest of Hardin, and is operated by his MR. AND MRS[...]ta, Illinois, in Augusta Mr. Weir was one of eleven children, four of whom at a box social where Ernest was teaching in 1917.[...]school at Western Illinois in 1967 at the age of 96. He was a great source of in- Macomb, passed the North Dakota State Examin[...]ow and taught two years in Candou, North Dakota, from hangs along with Buffalo Bill at the Sheridan Inn in 1904-06. He[...]unties in Illinois while assisting his father as a cattle and horse buyer for Eastern markets.[...]drafted into the Montana in the fall of 1917 from Humansville, Mo. with service in World War I, Ernest felt it necessary[...]d to Montana to assist his parents. In the spring of 1918 sister, Harriette. The move was made ne[...]ntana where Mrs. Weir's father Henrietta followed a year later, in August, 1919, and Albin Webb operated a Golden Rule Store. The Weirs they were married in Billings, Montana. worked at Mr. Webb's store a couple of years. In 1918 Ernest assisted his parents[...]nrietta cooked the hot meals for the noon lunches from supplies the children brought during one of the coldest winters that can be recalled. E[...]to Illinois at Christmas time to await the birth of their first child, Donald. There were no roads an[...]rings School where Ernest was now teaching. From 1921-26 forty acres was purchased and fanned on Tullock Creek along with the parent's homestead. From 1926-30, Ernest and Henrietta far· med a 640 acreage known as the Samuelson place. In 1930[...]ildren, Don, Dorothy, and Rachel attended school. A fourth child, Ernest, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Orrin Weir was born later in Hardin. Ernest was a Rawleigh Dealer, covering Big Horn County, for 27[...]purchased the Pearl Theatre building in Hardin from[...] |
| [...]they were married, Orrin turned to was the center of early day social life in Hardin with farming and raising stock when it seemed the[...]n attractive offers, sold The Weirs operated a general merchandise store in his own home and gave up a life which would have the building, under the name of Weir and Co. Golden perhaps meant an easier life for him. Rule Store. Orrin, the son, worked in the store before This keen sense of responsibility to his parents in school and after, often until midnight on Saturday. Any their time of need was to affect his whole life and all free ti[...]rms who knew him intimately. There are few of those who and truck gardens. The first summer fou[...]new him who have not felt the neighborly kindness of commuting by bicycle to work in a truck garden. It was 0. Y. W. He truly lived[...]n Rule. "all work and no play" for the eldest son of a hard- Marie continued to teach until she retired in 1967; driving, ambitious father and a semi-invalid mother. with her help he was able to save his father's home, store building and other property. He was able to[...]he owned debt free at the time of his death Oct. 26,[...]I started school in a country school and it was used as a church on Sundays at Hickory Grove, Missouri.[...]he war; Grandfather fought in the War on the side of[...]War. Everything of any value, tools, etc., were buried[...]so that they would have them when they returned from[...]d pick up tools and Orrin Weir and some of his pets whatever else they cou[...]Seat of Polk County and this was where Baby Face A part time branch store was operated by the Nelson fashioned a gun out of a potato, painted it black, Golden Rule at the Tschirgi Ranch where clothing and made his escape out of the jail. supplies such as overalls, long johns and boots for the I graduated from Hardin High School in 1923 on a cowboys were handled.[...]worked for Joe Forsyth, helped Papa in the store during a critical Newell, who had a job with a survey crew working on period, and then wor[...]ng in Rapid City. Arthur Koch. Joe was in charge of the chuck wagon, One thing, I think it was in the Spring of 1919, that while Orrin fed and cared for the horses. the Spear-Faddis were driving a bunch of cattle across In 1926 he went to Edgemont, S. Dakota where he the Big Horn. Several of them broke thru the ice and managed one of the Golden Rule Stores, while he drowned. At this time there was a a dance hall for the continued as general manager of the store in Hardin. Indians and when the ice broke[...]business, he found time to be these cattle out of the water, made it into jerky and an active member of the Masonic Lodge, Lion's Club, everything you could think of. They used to have Chamber of Commerce and Volunteer Fire Department d[...]nd Hardin in the many watch them. Some of the old Indians like Whiteman ways a man on Main street in a growing Western town would get involved in some of the dances. I still enjoy would have an opportuni[...]rned to Hardin and purchased Albin I can remember that when we first went to Hardin Webb's interest in the store and took over active that Mr. Westergaard, school principal, always wore a management of the store. A disastrous fire , huge bowler hat. One day the wind blew it off and his toupee hospital bills and a general depression caused the loss went along with it. The kids had a lot of fun over it. of the business.[...]o. She was teaching in Hardin they had quite a celebration. They moved a barrel of High School at that time and as married teachers were whiskey out and set it on the south side of the drug frowned upon, Marie worked in the store, managed Big store under a canopy and set out a lot of tin cups. They Hom County women's work projects and the local put a bung in it and when the barrel ran dry, they would W.P.A. sewing room. She also did volunteer work for wheel out another. Mint Kelley , at that time a fellow the Red Cross and was a substitute teacher and later a around town and the Mayor, Mayor Mitchell, got a full-time teacher.[...] |
| [...]ve to go back to his horses ride the horse inside store buildings and they rode it and dray-wagon. into the Becker Hotel, on the south end of Main Street . Funerals-one of t he first I can remember was t he Finally Mayor Mitchell could not stay on any longer so funeral of Mr. E beling. I also remember Ralph Scott, Mint rode down to the depot and got one of the express who played on Red Grange's football team. When he carts, tied his lariat rope to the tongue of this express came home in the summer - the Scotts lived o[...]n to pull the Mayor up and down the of town and had a cow - he delivered milk to t he drug street on this wagon. When he would hit the crossings, store for malted milks made from whole milk. I worked which were just built up of board, it was real rough and back of the soda fountain and had to keep everything the[...]and the mayor clean. They had tanks of air that could be charged and would have difficul[...]get carbonated water. We mixed it ourselves in a rocker once or twice, and an Indian woman got up[...]latform device in t he basement and t hat was one of my and held Mayor Mitchell on, with his head in her lap. jobs, along with cleaning out the store. Vera Cleland They went up and down the street se[...]also worked at the soda fountain . that was a funny incident. The Koprivas, across the street had a m ercantile One of things that happened that was sad was and grocery store- Paul, Jack, Clarence, Frank, Andy, when Sheriff[...]ed by this Negro dad used to have a factory at Hardin, and .at-the time shoemaker at Crow Agency. I went down with John his dad was jailer they used to go out and catch some of Swindle and this Negro had got into this barn across the boot-leggers and made a haul. Sometimes it wasn 't from the old depot and was shooting at random. I too bad. John Meeke was a deputy , and he went to drained a gallon of gasoline out of my automobile and Billings. He left Sam[...]n started across the road to throw it on the side of the we got up to t he jail that night t[...]ally came wouldn't let me go; while I was arguing with him Art down. We locked him up in his[...]and since Sam was his brother, nothing came of it. and carried him to the fence; he was given to someone I have a wife, two daughters, one step-daughter, to care f[...]f; he and Andy and four grandsons , a granddaughter, and one great Dornberger had gone[...]gency on an grandson. I'm proud of the family. errand; it was reported that this Neg[...]to Dorney, and get him A MONTANA PIONEER back to Hardin where he was in bad shape for a long By Emma Timm Welt[...]I was born a t Beckton , Wyoming-eig ht miles I went to Billings, this was in Prohibition times, west of Sheridan. My paren ts were Wiliam and and brought[...]Catherine Timm. My fa ther came to America from thought it might give him an appetite. Germany as a stowaway on a ship. H e first came to Another thing that[...]re moving to Wyoming where he Crow Agency, we had a Negro shoe-shine man in homeste[...]se Creek. My mother Hardin. Ira Smith, t he Chief of Police asked me if I came to Wyoming from Wisconsin when she was eleven would stick around[...]ld me t he Negro was holed up in the bought a team of mules, and came to Story, Wyoming paint shop back of Andy Torske's on Main Street. The with an uncle, Bear Davis. Negro wanted to get out of town. I took him in my car I was the sixth girl of fourteen children. This in• to Toluca where he could get a r ide on a freight and thus eluded two sets of twins. One set of twins died-a boy get out of town. H e said he 'd never come back to and a girl. Hardin. I met Fred Weltner while visiting a girl-friend near Getting ba ck to the early[...]ft for the army in 1917, and we were uncommon for a horse to sink clear down in the streets[...]homestead on Leaf Rock Creek. Fred farmed with his were nothing but mud. Mr. Youst and Mr. Astle[...]horses to We had th ree children: a son, J ean Frank of get mired up to t heir knees. Mr. Youst had a side-board Sheridan, a daughter, Frances Jewel of Gillette, affair on his wagon and with the side of this could Wyoming, and a son who died in infancy. take group s out for a ride, and he did this at times. He We played for dances and had a dance at our home also took coffins to t he cemet[...]piano. M r. Astle bought an automobile, or a dray truck One Fourth of July, Fred and his father had one· which was fine in the summer, but it wasn't much good half of the Buffalo Bill Cody's Show tents set up[...] |
| [...]The springs must have been there for hundreds of boxing, and a dance that lasted all night. ye[...]deos, Christmas Programs, campfire sites with lots of arrowheads and hammers to etc. One Christmas, the[...]found. We kids loved to hunt artifacts and it was a house. They had a tree with candles on it. Fred played favorite pastime for us. My Dad has a large collection of Santa, and while passing out the gifts, he got too close artifacts in the Weltner Wonder Museum, many of to the tree and his Santa suit caught fire. The teacher them found at this location. grabbed a horse hide robe off the cot, covered Fred and My folks had built a large log house which was pushed him out the door. The horse hide smothered the used for a school house and for a community center. fire with only a few burns for Fred. The children never The dances that we used to have there were a "High knew what became of Santa or why he left in such a Time In The Old Place Tonight" for most of the neigh- hurry. We all went ahead with the program and had a bors for 20 to 30 miles around. good ti[...]My father and mother played for a lot of the dances Once when on the way to a dance, a baby skunk with my dad playing the violin and my mom playing cros[...]d stopped the car and walked in the sax (a C melody saxophone) or chording on the the grass getting some of the odor on his shoes. He was piano or playing the drums. They were a pretty good so embarrassed but no one seemed to notice or know dance orchestra of two. who smelled so bad. We didn't stay too long[...]kept in glass jars and set in a box in the spring to keep We moved to Sheri[...]ll to put it cool. About eighteen chickens of assorted kinds kept the children in school. Every[...]when you dared to peek under her. A few ducks and two Fred sawmilled and did threshing-working away or three pigs, a work team, two saddle horses and a from home, so the children and I were alone a lot. Our small herd of white-faced herefords kept us all busy. home was[...]and it was out of this world with good taste. We had an We moved to Hardin in[...]chop bought the old County Jail building and had a museum it out and bring the ice home. for[...]and beautiful. By evening it was just stubble, with a moving field of grasshoppers. Our winter eating was[...]slim that year with mostly dry beans and corn from the FRANCES J. WELTNER CARSON year before. The life of Frances J. Weltner Carson who lived in My[...]would run up the I was born about 30 miles from Sheridan, timber trails and watch the[...]ntana on July 24, 1920. My to the runway with one horse. Then they were rolled parents are Fred and Emma Weltner, 13 West 8th St., onto a truck or a wagon with a canthook and chained Hardin, Montana and I have[...]an city schools. We moved About once a week, my dad would haul a load of back to the homestead every summer when school was lumber to Sheridan, usually on a Saturday. We could go out and back to Sheridan in[...]he ranch during spring vacation and picture of the week. What a treat this was. Johnny helped put our garden and[...]rings; this and trees. This usual1y ended in a skinned head. my grandparents, Oscar and Blanche[...]e sawmill crews that had the only flowing springs of water for miles. The summer and she is a marvelous cook. It was hot in the cowboys or ranc[...]Rodeo , roasts are still remembered by some of the men who used to stop overnight at our place t[...]ew people as wel1 as was so good slathered with butter and jelly. friends and neighbors who stopped at the springs. With nothing to do after work one man carved me Three different neighbors used to come every other day a doll chest and another carved a shovel and a rake. I and haul three to eight barrels of water for their stil1 have these and remember the men who carved household use from our spring. The water bubbled up them from wood. Whittling was a pastime for them . out of the rocks, cold and delicious.[...] |
| [...]The springs must have been there for hundreds of boxing, and a dance that lasted all night. ye[...]deos, Christmas Programs, campfire sites with lots of arrowheads and hammers to etc. One Christmas, th[...]found. We kids loved to hunt artifacts and it was a house. They had a tree with candles on it. Fred played favorite pastime for us. My Dad has a large collection of Santa, and while passing out the gifts, he got too close artifacts in the Weltner Wonder Museum, many of to the tree and his Santa suit caught fire. The teacher them found at this location. grabbed a horse hide robe off the cot, covered Fred and My folks had built a large log house which was pushed him out the door. The horse hide smothered the used for a school house and for a community center. fire with only a few burns for Fred. The children never The dances that we used to have there were a "High knew what became of Santa or why he left in such a Time In The Old Place Tonight" for most of the neigh- hurry. We all went ahead with the program and had a bors for 20 to 30 miles around. good ti[...]My father and mother played for a lot of the dances Once when on the way to a dance, a baby skunk with my dad playing the violin and my mom playing cros[...]d stopped the car and walked in the sax (a C melody saxophone) or chording on the the grass getting some of the odor on his shoes. He was piano or playing the drums. They were a pretty good so embarrassed but no one seemed to notice or know dance orchestra of two. who smelled so bad. We didn't stay too long[...]kept in glass jars and set in a box in the spring to keep We moved to Sheri[...]ll to put it cool. About eighteen chickens of assorted kinds kept the children in school. Every[...]when you dared to peek under her. A few ducks and two Fred sawmilled and did threshing-working away or three pigs, a work team, two saddle horses and a from home, so the children and I were alone a lot. Our small herd of white-faced herefords kept us all busy. home was[...]and it was out of this world with good taste. We had an We moved to Hardin in[...]chop bought the old County Jail building and had a museum it out and bring the ice home. for[...]and beautiful. By evening it was just stubble, with a moving field of grasshoppers. Our winter eating was[...]slim that year with mostly dry beans and corn from the FRANCES J. WELTNER CARSON year before. The life of Frances J. Weltner Carson who lived in My[...]would run up the I was born about 30 miles from Sheridan, timber trails and watch the[...]ntana on July 24, 1920. My to the runway with one horse. Then they were rolled parents are Fred and Emma Weltner, 13 West 8th St., onto a truck or a wagon with a canthook and chained Hardin, Montana and I have[...]an city schools. We moved About once a week, my dad would haul a load of back to the homestead every summer when school was lumber to Sheridan, usually on a Saturday. We could go out and back to Sheridan in[...]he ranch during spring vacation and picture of the week. What a treat this was. Johnny helped put our garden and[...]rings; this and trees. This usually ended in a skinned head. my grandparents, Oscar and Blanche[...]e sawmill crews that had the only flowing springs of water for miles. The summer and she is a marvelous cook. It was hot in the cowboys or ranc[...]Rodeo, roasts are still remembered by some of the men who used to stop overnight at our place t[...]ew people as well as was so good slathered with butter and jelly. friends and neighbors who stopped at the springs . With nothing to do after work one man carved me Three different neighbors used to come every other day a doll chest and another carved a shovel and a rake. I and haul three to eight barrels of water for their still have these and remember the men who carved household use from our spring. The water bubbled up them from wood. Whittling was a pastime for them . out of the rocks, cold and delicious.[...] |
| My folks built a rock house in 1908, which is still[...]ltner, was born there [Mrs. A. G. Westwood] in August 1908.[...]Big Horn County 1930-1968 The winter of 1909 Dad was going to the Sheep I came to Lodge Grass the fall of 1930 as a first camp with a team and sled when he found Mr. and Mrs. grade teacher. (The first part of my life was spent in Frank Hanson stuck in the[...]at the time. Our ice box had ice that was brought from buggy, couldn't get through, so Mrs. Hanson did not the ice house. hear from him all that time. When the snow melted Mr.[...]to 40 degrees below zero, and stay that cold for a week or more at a time. I can remember hearing the folks tell of the Spring of 1908: BILL WHALEN the latter part of May there was a blizzard for three By Mik[...]r-old cattle and many Bill Whalen was a roundup cook. I probably met sheep and birds.[...]w him When we had to go to Sheridan it was with a team during several summers when I was a cowboy for Frank and wagon; it took all day to g[...]erating and one day home. It was forty big miles from Decker on the No. 5 lease of the Crow Reservation. This lease to Sheridan. In[...]ter. tracks, the Big Horn River, and the top of the Big Horn In about 1915 the country got[...]ntains. Bill was then in early middle life, tall, with The folks sold some of the sheep, but still ran about a mustache, and evidently a bachelor. On the job, he 2,000 head. wore a battered Stetson and a flour-sack apron. He had Some of the homesteaders were Frank Robke and been cook on sailing ships, going "round the Hom." wife, Fred Tetschner, wife, four boys, and one g[...]Watenpaugh, wife and family-he taught school for a few years; and the Adsits, wife and family. Some of these people are still in the neighborhood. I th[...]he Rosebud were there before we were. When anyone got sick or had an accident anyone present was glad to help in any way-the nearest doctor was in Sheridan. Any time anyone came to your home they were made welcome until th[...]We never went to school more than seven months a term, and sometimes only four months, but in some[...]une 1921 when somebody shipped in some 4,000 head of Texas long horns. They He started the day on the roundup rattling pans in were trailed from the railroad yards in Sheridan right the cook's tent at 3:00 a.m. About 3:30, he'd roar, "R-r- past our house- it seemed to take a long time for them r-oll out! And saddle up!" Breakfast was at 4:00 a.m., to pass. I was late for school, as the cattle[...]still dark in the tent. Each candle was held in a coil at Dad sold the last of the sheep in the fall of 1920. the top of an iron rod with a point at the other end so I married George A. Kimble April 14, 1925. We that it could be thrust into the ground. The men sat had a girl born December 31, 1925 on the same ranch[...]Grace, now Mrs. Don the art of cooking with few conveniences. The breakfast Manning. She lives six blocks from me now and has six menu was usually fried potatoes, huge pans of baking in her family. powder biscuits served with com syrup, and lots of The folks left the ranch in the spring of 1926 coffee with condensed milk. I don't remember Bill's because of Dad's health; he passed away May 9, 1927.[...]o much We left the Decker community in the spring of 1927, else on the top of the stove, which wasn't very large. It and moved[...]ranch. was just a regulation camp range with handles on the[...] |
| [...]could be picked up, shaken out, and dismay of the wagon pilot. This boy did his best to keep hung on the rear of the chuckwagon. Unless we were Bill out of mudholes and other hazards. When the staying long[...]re being hitched, to some cooks. We knew of one working for another outfit, chuckwagon and to[...]from his high seat. Later, on the West Side, an Antler[...]cook, making a sharp turn down into a ford, took his wagon over a cut bank and turned it upside down in the[...]while the horses notified the herders of the accident by tearing through their midst with the front wheels. That[...]and baked famous pies. He had a delicious, special[...]pudding, too, that he called "son-of-a-bitch-in-a-sack." The dough, full of dried fruit, was put into a cloth sack that was tied to a stick and placed over a boiling[...]and outside the tent, some in a pose characteristic of[...]Bill fortably on their toes. Some of them chewed tobacco. Whalen's good food However, if anyone dared to spit on his tent floor, Bill[...]would chase him out with a meat cleaver. The crew that Bill served, as I remember, were: Frank Heinrich, owner; Sarpy Sam McDowell,[...]e Powell; We came here in the spring of 1907 and Bill Prante ; Clarence Stevens; Emory Pease; Bill homesteaded four miles northwest of Hardin. My father Cosgrove; Elmer (Slim) Kobold ;[...]lbert and half-brother had come earlier with two other Thomas, and in 1913 his brother Frank; Bob Anderson, families from Fort Collins, Colorado, and built tar paper who came out from Pittsburgh every summer; Gene shanties on their claims. One of the families was that of Haynie; George Zentmeier, one of the oldest; Jack Francis E. Bateman who[...]ith shop. Stimson; Bill the night wrangler (don't remember The night Mother and I arrived there was a terrible name); a cowboy called Minnie, from the southwest; electric storm. The depot was a box-car set out on the and several " reps" from other outfits. When we were east side of the river. There was no wagon bridge and near Wyo[...]rs across the railroad show up and finally became a regular hand. bridge. Sam Hill had left a light in his house so we knew These are by no means all of the fellows who were what direction to go-no roads, no fences. Most of the working for the Antler then. Many were on the ranches furniture had been stored in a tent, and my brother or in the camps. When we mov[...]howled close by. He was Bill had retired, we had a different crew, but with many thirteen, and cared. well-known faces.[...]use, so we had pans all around to catch the drips a four-horse team. It was part of the cook's job, though, when it rained. to driv[...]Hardin , and missed two weeks because of severe cold[...]been built. All but one year of my grade school, when[...]In the winter of 1915-6 Mother and I moved into[...] |
| [...]eos, picnics, jack rabbit drives, and sleigh drug store at $12.50 a week. I had two years at Mon- parties. In 1[...]battery radio. tana State College, and graduated from the University When the coyotes liking for lambs took the profit of ebraska in 1922, after which I worked in the Omaha out of the sheep business, we moved to Wyola and Nationa[...]1924 to Hugh Wells, and One Goose Place for a couple of years. We then moved we lived in various towns in[...]also milked cows and supplied the town operation of the Harriet Theatre which had been built with milk. by my step-father, Edward Lawlor. Hugh passed away In 1949 we moved to the other side of the tracks in March 1951, and July 1954 I married[...]into our first privately owned home. Ned sublet a mail Wheeler. I continued to manage the theatre u[...]contract, now starting the twenty-seventh year of when I sold it. My husband passed away in January[...]I am still enjoying living in Hardin. of driving a school bus. He's also been a summer time[...]h rider for the Bozeman Trail Ditch Co. He's been a State Deputy Brand Inspector of Livestock for thirty- four years, and Chairman of the Big Horn County Weed[...]HERBERT A. WILLIAMS AND FAMILY[...]and Big Horn County in the spring of 1905 to prove up on a homestead approximately twenty-five miles north of Hardin, which lies on the east side of the Big Hom River and is now owned by a Mrs. Margaret Wolfe of[...]When the two departed from the train at Custer, fresh out of Toledo, Ohio and the restaurant business,[...]was one of their few neighbors for the years to come,[...]and you can imagine what a welcome sight he was.[...]They had to cross the river on a log to get to the site, across from the "Old Mission".[...]his parents, J. C. and Clara Edward Lawlor, owner of the Harriet Theatre, and Williams, again arrived in Big Horn County to dig in secretary-treasurer of the Big Hom Land and Irrigation and make a life and living in the country so new to Company[...]ine Wiley Hazel and Howard of Spokane joined forces with Herb Ned and Pauline Wiley came to the Wyola com- as wife and family. In 1919, and after a son John and munity in 1940 and have lived there[...]Wibaux County and raised his family along with his parents moved lock, stock and on farms. We attended rural grade schools in the barrel to a farm on the west side of the Big Hom River County and Ned went two years a[...]d Mary. Everyone worked hard, had fun-sorrow - as a hired hand for farmers . Some winters he worked for tears-and sweat, but all survived with a broader $7 .50 a month. knowledge of what life was all about. Pauline worked on the family farm and later as a Herb was very active in all community pr[...]or entertainment either in the the pen-name of "Rhode Island Red", where he brought home[...] |
| punches for you always knew how you stood with four years earlier he had encount[...]Stillwater Valley after his abandonment by a gang of Now-the year 1975-Herb is a guest at the Big deserters, who evi[...]al Nursing Home in Hardin and is like a sla ve, and abused him so tha t he was covered 91 years of age. Those of his family living are a son with bruises. The Crows befriended him and finally John of Hardin; daughters Hazel Alderman and[...]. His India n names were Esa Ah Kha Dorotha Jones of Myers, Montana ; Norma Miller of Waush (Hides his Face - because he avoided whites ) Ennis, Montana and Mary Dumler of Red Lake Falls, and Ak Pahk Shipitus (Black Cloud ). He moved with Minnesota along with eight granchildren and twelve the tri[...]in great grandchildren. He has been and still is a GRAND 1884. He learned to speak Crow per[...]allotment of land . Yellow Leggins was his Crow foster[...]father. Mr. MacKenzie's letter says : " He served as a[...]servation. He acted as an interpreter the subject of various legends. What I know about him during the Sioux uprising in South Dakota in 1891. is from my own memories, my father's stories, and While at Fort Custer, he was stationed with Troop L, General Hugh Lennox Scott's account of his early 1st Cavalry. He received board and room, equipment friendship with the youth who had impressed him by and $65.00 a month. his daring, expert horsemanship. Smokey was breaking horses for the Cavalry when Scott, a recent West Point graduate, first went to Fort El[...]id that the first time he saw Smokey, the boy was a mile high on a bucking broncho that couldn't shake him. Scott made a trip to Billings in the fall of 1929 to see my father about the Government's inte[...]1929 Gazette. Charles Wilson was the child of S t . Louis slaves. He didn 't know his birthday.[...]r boat. According t o my fa t her , he worked for a livery stable there for awhile.[...]Smokey {Charles Wilson] with S. G. Reynolds and[...]" According to old Agency ration records , he[...]worked as a kind of all-round handy man at the Agency .[...]and placed Mr. Wilson in charge of caring for his horses[...]"When C. A. Asbury became superintendent in[...]1914, he hired .. . mokey to perform the duties of[...]retired April 30, 1931. " His second wife, Pine Fire, daughter of Goe Ahead, Custer Scout, was the mother of his son, John[...]We Reynoldses remember him as one of the Smokey and one of S un Dream's colts supports of our childhood, who saddled ou r ponie ,[...]p to Hardin, Smokey took the team aero s the A letter to Beverly Wilson Big Man , Smokey 's[...]e had walked over. I can see him granddaugh ter , from eil A. MacKenzie, Realty Officer yet. I can see him also exercising Monty ( un Dream , (1971), tells of a 1924 affidavit in which Smokey says[...] |
| black, so full of life one feared he might explode. Many of the town people turned out to see the Smokey had[...]ly- trains arrive, stop, and pull on-a thrilling ex- achin'!" was as severe as he ever got. He loved our little perience-one could never tell when a famous person sister, Rosalind, and would sometim[...]ng salesmen, well dressed and carrying at home on a dark winter morning was the tramp, brief cases came in on the morning train, picked up tramp of Smokey as he built the fires.[...]the grocery and caught the next train He was a member of the Crow police and served out. The s[...]in the dim light, several men beside part of the meal because there were no eating houses in m[...]Smokey and Lodge Grass. some Indians. A man had been killed in an accident, My dad handled everything from cracker jacks to and some hours had passed before the messenger wagons and harness. Much of the produce came in reached the Agency on horseba[...]s, so was measured and sold according to and left with Smokey.[...]made into boiled coffee. Households were Walking with the baby carriage, I'd meet Smokey, as awakened every morning to the sound of the hand he went about on official business. He'd always stop, coffee grinder. Soon the aroma of freshly boiled coffee stick his head under the buggy hood, and say a few fiJled the house. friendly words[...]Hitching posts were a necessity, for team and Two years later, Smokey came to see us in buggy was the mode of travel for most of the country Billings-the last time we saw him, except Dad, who people. How I liked going for a Sunday drive with my always hunted him up when in Crow.[...]parents in the two-seated, black-fringed surrey with[...]My dad ran a livery stable and kept it neat and clean with everything in place. He was a lover of horses. HELEN PEASE WOLF[...]odge Grass, Montana to jumping from a building, and dislocating his hip as a I, Helen Pease Wolf, was born on Rotten Grass child. He was never taken to a doctor to have it set. He Creek in 1906. My pare[...]ease, never let his handicap bother him from serving people had ten children. Nine boys all o[...]ked cabinet making and built wooden tenth child, a girl. My folks traded at that time at their cas[...]y wrapped and laid in trees or on top of the ground purchased supplies for the ranch. The trip was cross covered with white canvas. country by team and wagon twice a year. It was a common sight to see chopped fingers, My dad owned and operated the first trading store scratched bloody faces, and always hair cu[...]unity and was postmaster for awhile. He women in mourning. Many of the older women had gave the town its name, Lodge Grass. He sold this fingers gone from both hands. business and built a new Indian Trading Post close to My dad owned one of the first Model T Fords. It the railroad. Merchandise for the stores had to be was a treat to ride to Hardin by way of the Two Leggin hauled from the Little Horn Station a distance of about bridge, stay overnight at the beautiful Hardin hotel, six miles up the Little Hom Valley south of Lodge and awake the next morning to the clanging of horses' Grass. This was the distributing point by[...]me. All outgoing mail for Lodge Grass was hung on a delivered merchandise to the business pla[...]in. my dad purchased an Overland car with side curtains Incoming mail bags were tossed from the train and and carbide lights, this was a big improvement over the picked up by the officia[...]n't stop model T. except when flagged. In 1908 a depot was moved in My parents, brothers and I took a trip to North from another location and Lodge Grass began to grow. Dakota to visit my mother's people. It was a week's There were a number of depots and substations located trip becau[...]en't geared to go much over on the Burlington for a distance of about sixty miles. twenty miles an hour. We crossed the Yellowstone at The names of some of the stations were Little Horn, Terry, Montana by boat and that was a thrilling ex- Lodge Grass, Ionia, GarryOwen, Crow[...]perience. It was on the way back my dad met with a Dunmore, Hardin and Toluca. Some of these stations serious car accident and died from leg amputation due provided coal and water for th[...]the accident. locomotives. Fires along the right of way were quite My mother and I became very close after my dad's common from the hot cinders due to coal burning death. She told me many beautiful Indian legends all of engines. which I have forgotten-I'm sorry. She came from an There were four passenger trains that went ancestry of warriors, medicine men and hunters. She through Lodge Grass every 24 hours, two going south, told of an incident in her life I shall never forget. It[...]rth, #41 and #43 . The in the spring of 1876 when her sisters and other girl passenger tr[...]s. The cars were companions were playing with their dolls on their backs baggage, mail, express, smoker, chair, pullman, din- as[...] |
| [...]to take place Jesse Wolfe filed on a homestead in the Sarpy soon after but the children impressed the men with section, Steve Wolfe filed on one in t[...]I believe all the land west of the Clark ranch was Soon after my mother h[...]. She still were their nearest neighbors for a year. harbored the feeling that the soldiers who[...]the winter Jessie stayed at the Margaret Dyckman with other boys and girls to go to school at Hampton, home and Olga and Billy stayed with Grandma Dyck- Virginia. This was a drastic change and some of the man. The following year there was a school built on the children died away from home. They traveled by steam Wolfe place.[...]ouis, Missouri lumber for the school and with neighbors, built the then on by train. She stayed until she graduated from school. Jesse Wolfe had asked at the land[...]went up in homestead the land to people with families. the New England states and worked. After finishing The first year of school at the Wolfe school there she was employe[...]I believe the next family to come to the auspices of the Unitarian Mission. She worked there thi[...]orge Pease. McKerns-from here on I am lost. I finished grade school[...]dwell. Mary Funk (married Harry Hite) and Lillian of college. I have been a life long member of the Crow MacLeod were teachers there also- I don't remember Indian Baptist Church in Lodge Grass and have tau[...]the years. The teachers at Wolfe school boarded with the women's Sunday school class for over twenty years.[...]y. I married in 1931 right at the beginning of the Olga, Jessie, and Billy attended high school in depression with drought, infestations of grasshoppers Hardin; Jessie graduated with the class of 1925. and Mormon Crickets. My husband, being a Billy died at the age of twenty-five in Billings. conservative man, was able to save money from $40.00 Jesse died in 1943 in Richmond, California. Olga died in a month ranch jobs to make a down payment on the 1965 in Modesto,[...]nt paid the rancher mineral land consisting of coal. Jesse Wolfe mined the stockman $18.00 per h[...]he school houses in the Sarpy strength to walk up a ramp and into a truck to be area. hauled away. We killed our sheep and turned in a patch Grandpa Wolfe lived with Uncle Steve, and came of hides where the animal was branded to receive small to the area with him. We all came from Pinedale, pay for destroying them.[...]Wyoming. I saved the hind quarters of some of the sheep and smoked and dried the meat. It was v[...]1874 to our gardens twice due to the infestations of insects. Times like these made us more appre[...]is in the southeastern part of what is now outh am especially thankful I was privileged to live at the turning of the 20th Century for I got a glimpse of what Dakota. our fore-fathers must have fac[...]me parentage, nine brothers and four children and a devoted husband. Life has been complete for me an[...]By Evelyn Dyckman Brennan The Wolfe family of five: Jesse L. Wolfe, father ; Laura M. Wolfe, mo[...]r ranch on the Little Horn Riuer, Montana in 1914 with Steve Wolfe, (uncle of Jesse). near Wyola[...] |
| [...]ad railroad grading con- In February of 1901 E. C. married Helen E. Burks tracts that bro[...]on the family homestead, which he had the summer of 1882. They lived at Big Horn City, nea_r ta[...]y moved to Wolf Creek Plume Ranch south of Wyola, Montana. near the present site of Dayton, Wyoming. They They far[...]Little Horn, some purchased the squatters rights of one Albert Thomas of which were deeded and some that were leased from on Pass Creek, which joined their original homest[...]Some of the first speltz that were raised in Big[...]He came to Big Horn County, Montana with his parents in 1914, settling south of Wyola, Montana.[...]He was engaged in farming and ranching with his[...]56 years. He was a life member of the Elks Lodge in Throughout this time that Mr. Woodley was Sheridan, Wyoming and was one of the charter growing to manhood he worked for several ranchers in members of the Midland Production Credit Ass'n. that area, and when he was in the employ of E. L. Dana Mr. Woodley passed away at[...]Ennis, Ellis County, Texas. She was the youngest of five children of Joseph Drew and Rebecca May Burks. A brother, William Burks, and a sister and[...]a log cabin on the bank of the Big Horn River ... near the present site of St. Xavier.[...] |
| From St. Xavier Mrs. Woodley and her family Agency 's west edge in a small plat wit h large trees. crossed into Wyoming where they homesteaded on surrounded by a white picket fence. Pass Creek near the town of Slack, Wyoming. She Elizabeth Barstow was a fine pianist; bu t Mrs. made her home there for s[...]nch in t he Little Horn Valley, seven miles south of Wyola, Montana. They main tained a home there until J. P. Boyd purchased the ranch and they retired to Sheridan, Wyoming in the summer of 1945 Mrs. Woodley was active in the Wyola Womens' Club, Big Horn County Federation of Women's Clubs, the Lodge Grass Travel Club, The Ladies Aid Society of the Wyola Baptist Church and the D.A .R. She was very interested in preserving his tory and was one of several that had permanent markers placed on the[...]was born into an old-time New Jersey family , on a farm near Beverly, January 13,[...]verly High School and had worked for two years in a local drug store before his arrival in Crow Agency, 1900, to be a clerk for his uncle Although the Agency was over seventy miles bv in t he E. A. Richardson store. E rnest was seventeen train from anything that could be called a town, it was when he found himself in this exotic, but attractive, full of young people, and they found much to do. environment. He was a Westerner for t he rest of his life. Fishing and hunting expeditions, and camping, went on Faced wit h t he duty of serving many Crow all of the time. There were picnics inside and outside the customers, the boys at the store had to understand and Agency, group horseb[...]derly Indian, Big church parties, even dances. A place called the Mac- Ox, whom I remember, attached himself voluntarily to cabbees Hall had a room big enough for dance . I was the store, spending much time out in back examining inside once, at a dance evidently organized by an the treasures dis[...]w who made his living arranging such he had found a hat decorated with artificial flowers. He festivities. Children[...]I had never seen them dance before-didn't spirit of the Indians, who were wont to add to their[...]e-headed. always insisted that the Indians' sense of humor was Crow Agency being in Rosebud County then, and deep and real. The boys in the store teased him, Ernest Forsyth being the county[...]Erve to establish his second store there. In 1906 Erne t Ernest was a lover of music. His wife, Mary writes: went to work in the Richardson Mercantile Company of "E rnest was so fond of classical music, wanted to take Forsyth. He became manager of dry goods. For two piano lessons from either Mrs. Sharp or Mrs. Bar- years, he was president of the Chamber of Commerce. stow-which one would it have been? Uncl[...]m do it, saying t hat the accomplishment Ohio. A graduate of Miami University, Ohio, she had was only for no-good men who played in bars and been supervisor of music in the Forsyth schools for honky-tonks!" The music teacher in question could th[...]his continuing interest in music. His wa held one of the higher office positions earlier. Her one of the best voices in his Forsyth church. Ernest and[...]perhaps thur. Finally, Ernest had his own store, the Woolston to inspect her mother's grav[...] |
| [...]Upon her retirement almost Velmer Clark Furniture store. In 1959, Ernest retired. the whole valley[...]schools, spent two years at the University of Nebraska,[...]Lloyde Carper in 1925. She was an active member of the THE WORT FAMILY[...]ethodist Church until her Mr. and Mrs. Chas. A. Wort, and daughters Helen death in 1967. and Ada came to the Big Horn Valley from Hamilton, Montana about 1911. Originally from Nebraska, they brought their experience in farmin[...]the farm purchased four and one-half miles north of Hardin. The girls drove back and forth to school in a horse and buggy to Hardin. Helen graduated from Hardin High School in 1920 and Ada in 1925.[...]Ada graduated from Montana State University in[...]Kings were sent to Iran by an agency of the Govern-[...]part-time with the women. Son, Robert was on his own,[...]the valley and Ada was an extension worker with the Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Wort, 1931 Indian Department[...]quilting well as farming. Mrs. Wort was one of the first mail carriers down and other hand-crafts. the valley, starting in 1917. At first she drove a team and spring wagon on which Mr. Wort had built a wooden, box-type cab, with a window in the back that[...]JOHN T. YOUNG could be opened in summer, and a removable front panel and window, with a slit for the reins , that helped Mr. Young was born November 25, 1879, at deflect the winds of winter. In bad weather, or when Woodston, Kansas, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel roads were only muddy ruts. i[...]make the Young. He came to the Billings area with his parents in trip. Her stop on the upper road a[...]nths old. The family keenly anticipated for there a hot cup of tea was lived on a farm on Rock Creek flats near Joliet for a waiting. When roads improved she bought a car but for time, and then moved to[...] |
| [...]rth, where the concrete silo now stands. This was a raw piece of land of sage-brush and cottonwood trees.[...]threshing machine in this valley. It was a steam[...]threshed for the farmers from St. Xavier to Custer. This[...]the steam engine is in a museum in California. We also had a saw-mill and made lumber and railroad ties. A lot of this lumber was used to build[...]union was born a daughter, Lena, now Mrs. Unverzagt.[...]I went to work for the City of Hardin in 1929, and[...]1943 I took a leave of absence from the City, enlisted in[...]nuary 1946. I am now retired and Passport picture of Uriel, Ada, and Barbara King when my wife,[...]pointment to the State Board of Certification for Water He was married to Le[...]te Operators by Governor Tim Babcock. He is union a son and two daughters were born. Mrs. Young the recipient of the George Warren Fuller award, given passed away[...]by the American Water Works Association. He is a life area on February 29, 1912, and settled on a farm on the member of the Montana Section of the American Water lower Big Horn, later moving t[...]His particular contribution was the building of earth Tuchenhagen in 1916. She passed away in 1950. settling basins for the water of Hardin - a technique Mr. Young moved to Hardin about 19[...]ing inte~sts, he did custom combining and had one of the first self-feeding threshing machines in Big[...]0. He is survived by his wife; one son, Bob Young of The Young Brothers, Charles, Alvin, Albert, and Hardin; two daughters, Mrs. 0. J. Stevens of Custer, Frank came to this area in the early nineties, from Oklahoma, and Mrs. George Smith of Placerville, Chadron, Nebraska. Later a younger brother, James, California.[...]Ranchester, Wyoming. This ranch had most of the eastern half of Crow Reservation leased and that is how[...]G they became acquainted with the Upper Rosebud. They I arrived in Hardin in February 1912, at the age of purchased the Hammond homestead just off the eight, with my grandfather and grandmother, Sam and Reservation and Charles lived there the rest of his life. Minnie Young. My father, John Young, ha[...]ly . My mother died in Albert married a ebraska neighbor girl, Elsie 1908; we moved from Canada to the United States in Litchfield, and homesteaded on Spring Creek north of 1910 to Galata, Montana ; from there we came to Decker, Montana, lat[...]ce on the Hardin and farmed about ten miles north of town. We Rosebud, and spent his last years in Sheridan, where lived there for two years, then bought a ranch five miles Elsie still lives. They[...] |
| [...]t Lodge Grass. He married Minnie McKinley and ran a store there. He also ran a store at Kirby about 1907 and 1908. They had three chil[...]children to Montana. Some came by train, some in a car, and the remaining four, along with their father, came with team and wagon, 400 miles, a nice summer tour. Today Mary, LaRue, John, a[...]James Albert Youst, more commonly known as " Brig" Youst, was born in Corbin, Kansas, September 11 , 1874. He died at the age of eighty-eight in Billings, Montana on September 1[...]ut before he was twenty he acquired the nickname of "Brig.". Albert moved with his parents, brothers and The spring of 1892, Albert went to work on the sisters, to Rat[...]g Mallin Frost ranch on Sage creek. In June of 1893 he by covered wagon, where they homesteaded near Chico and Jess Frost, son of Mailin, drove horses to Nebraska Springs. When the historical land grant war with the but were unable to sell them and bro[...]Youst family Sage Creek. Then in December of 1893 he drove a again packed their belongings in covered wagons[...]freight team for Al Bell, and took the first load of trailing horse and cattle herds struck-out for Sheridan freight into the town of Cody, Wyoming. The following County, Wyoming wher[...]shcooling. route stage from Meeteetse to Eagles est, on the Red Wyomin[...]r N Cattle Ranch, then In September of 1894, Albert joined with his owned by George L. Smith, cattle wranglers re[...]rothers, Claudius and George, in the homesteading of distress of the Hutchinfeller widow, possibly a farm and ranch one half mile from the town of (later snowbound. Albert, now 17, loaded a covered wagon named) Belfry, Montana, Clarks Fork Valley, Carbon with the necessary provisions and battled the elements[...]Albert and Goldie Fem Hancock, daughter of the two horses, and continued on to the Marquette, Owen C. and Emma Hancock of Belfry, Montana were Wyoming area on the Shoshone[...]found the widow, her five traveled from Illinois to Kansas, then joined wagon children; three girls and two boys, one a small baby, trains to New Mexico and also[...], homesteading too in the next few years and news of his heroic deeds and the Clarks Fork Valley. A son, Gordon July Youst was good Samaritan response to women in distress, roused born on Albert and G[...]nts among family and friends-likening A daughter Velda Belfry Youst, was the first baby born Albert to Brigham Young and his many women-he in the town, after it had been named Belfry-thus was nicknamed " Brig " for Brigham. given the middle name of Belfry - November 20, 1907.[...] |
| [...]and Albert became Ranch Foreman for John Tolhnan, a rancher in the Clarks Fork Valley. In the year 19[...]Montana, where he engaged in farming then started a *transfer business in 1910 and moved his family into the town of Hardin. He served the community in this business[...]of Billings; and daughter, Velda B. Youst (Mrs. Edwi[...]H.) Miller of Boulder, Colorado; a grandson, Gary Brig Youst and his dray, 1912 Edwin Miller of Montreal, Quebec; a grandaughter,[...]hree great grandchildren, Randy, Minda and Blaine of deeded to Albert and Goldie in 1930 and they sol[...]sidence in Hardin, moving to the farm. Albert was a lover of the open range and not happy being a farmer, so the farm was leased and he returned t[...]AND URSULA ZELKA County in 1936. Until the year of his retirement, in By[...]n Hubert Woodard on Fly .Creek. He made his home with the Ford garage for W . E. Warren, and t[...]d Woody Creeks were Albert "Brig" Youst was a man with a great heart being developed about 1923. an[...]y man, woman or child in need or distress. He had a great wealth of friends where ever he lived or traveled, regardless of race or creed. He would befriend any Indian who c[...]ancial or otherwise. He was an experienced trader of horses and dealt with his Indian friends honestly and was trusted by them. He was a skilled horse breaker and wild horses were his "apple pie" -at the age of 83 he was still riding in County Fairs and Rodeo[...]hough he had no chronic illness, just infirmities of old age. Albert's sunny disposition and joviality; the wonderful historical stories he told so well, of his many experiences in life; his great love for[...]fully; his compassion for all people in all walks of life, endeared him forever in the hearts of his family and a world of friends. Ray and Ursula Zelka, with his Taylor Craft plane, 1948[...] |
| [...]irst flight training school in Big Hardin-the era of horse-farming-two machine Horn C[...]planes. Florin Baldwin, who started Gamble's store in welding shop in 1925 and in 1926 got the first electric '46, joined in the operation of the flight school. It was a welder in the entire area. That same year I marri[...]first airplane ride! That year Ursula Janskovitch of Bear Creek. the County[...]nager I joined the Volunteer Fire Department of Hardin for Big Horn County, and the airpor[...]Custer-now abandoned-was part of my respon-[...]mission to develop the Fairgrounds Air Park-a county[...]so the Hardin field was licensed. The head of the State[...]routinely stop here because of the closeness to services[...]er where the shop now stands-the southwest corner of 2nd and Custer. The first shop was built with St. Louis hard brick that had been brought in on a river boat and the home-made brick from Fort Custer. In 1938 we moved about two miles east of town, bought a two acre tract from Floyd Warren, and built a two-story house. This meant that I was no longer[...]il 1942 when we built the house on the south side of the shop and moved back to town. Altha I had built a glider in the early '30's, it was 1944 when my interest in flying-and the happiest years of my life- began. I was appointed Civil Defense Coordinator of Air-Craft Watch. I took flying lessons 1944-6, and in 1946 received my commercial license. I started a flight school up on the hill where the water[...]Boles and I were partners for a time and then it became[...] |
| [...]000 and the remaining funds were used expansion of the water plant was the big problem, and to fence[...]Bob Young deserves a lot of credit for saving the City money on many of its projects.[...]Manager. (The salary for this latter job is $1.00 a year.) Ursula Zelka outside Dr. Labbitt's hospital, where she Getting the high tension wires buried at the west Front and west side of hospital[...] |
| [...]Sept ember 1890 Mr. A. A. Spencer succeeded Mr. Bond 1919 Lucy Batt[...]as superintendent and reported for the year of 1892. In 1921 Fay Alderson it he said " Its capacity is fifty. It is a model school on a 1923 Nellie V. Brown small scale. The building is really like a large cottage, 1925 Nellie V. Brown rather crowded by having a home like appearance. The 1927 Nellie V. B[...]and on the farm and wood shop work." For nine years 1931 Lillie A. MacLeod t he schoo[...]the Unitarian Association and 1933 Lillie A. MacLeod then t he[...]church's interest. During the summer of 1896 the school 1937 Charles R. Stobaugh[...]Agency where the government was operating a 1943 Charles R . Stobaugh[...]When ranches were very remote from any set- 1967 Thomas Lippert[...]and if he could afford such help, he employed a teacher i 968 Altha F. Montgomery (Elected[...]schools, or to live with families in town, so that they[...]E BOND MISSION Harry Drum of Pittsburgh had established his ranch on The Bond Mission School down the valley from Painted Robe Creek in the 1880's-a day's journey from his post office, Billings. His boy later attended Hardin was one of the earliest schools in this area.[...]early days. Mr. H. F. Bond, Superintendent of the Mission School wrote "In April 1886, the American Unitarian Association sent me, an agent of the Uncomnaghre Utes, with my wife, to select a location for establishing a mission school for Indians. We came to Crow Agenc[...]off the reservation and to combine the ch1i'1:- n of the Crows and Cheyennes. We located on the 0 Big T-Iom, seven miles from Custer Station on the |
| country. I never saw it, or met the teacher, who was of that the North Bench Track Meet was about to[...]mong the con- school was open during nine months of the year which testants. Our two managers were our two big boys, Guy included summer. With the snow deep, and the roads Atkins and Ramon Kent, both 14, if I remember right. mere trails anyway, going to school on ho[...]dangerous for children in the winter. ship. A hat was passed before each event to pay entry[...], but winners got no ~ash prizes, just our awards of honor. It was a wild, wild night, full of rivalry, ex- HOT LUNCHES AT NOON[...]rafters, and an ever-swelling pile of cash for our hot OF lunch fund.[...]One event I <!specially remember. Our school seats By Violet R. Al[...]had pedestal bases and slatted backs with quite a I cannot say precisely when hot noon lunches were distance from the seat to the slat. Our managers started at the Spring Creek School, but they were a positioned two of them, and called upon the rival teams healthy institution by 1919. Patrons of the school to select their entries for the competition. Two husky brought out stacks of cans of Campbell's soup from men came out, and were instructed to thrust their feet Hardin. Children of the school carried pails of milk from out under the slats, sit on the seat, and keep[...]alance while racing the seat backwards the length of preparing and serving the hot soup, which was hea[...]nsidering him both dignified and dour. He mounted a as tables, so each could arrange things to suit h[...]ped, while tears raced down Cold food was brought from home to accompany the[...]er, we counted our cash, soup, but sometimes some of it was warmed up .[...]lunch program that year. My knowledge of the hot lunches at North Bench runs from the fall of 1920 through the spring of 1922. I do not know how the supplies were furnished most of whe time, can't remember, but can and will give the OUT ON THE NORTH BENCH I 1920-1922 story of part of it. A kerosene stove was the cook-stove[...]rict 17H prided itself on its good rural schools from scratch. Every Friday we voted on the menu for[...]was "standardized", and awarded the plate of honor to jumping up and down, braids flying, and[...]modern and well equipped. Outside Cream-style com with crisp bacon was another it had a good playground with out-door toilets, barn, favorite. We could never get through a week without coal-house, pump, swings,[...]and rushed to the rescue. There were walks from an abandoned school, prepared jumping Ramon and H[...]. Inside, there were the windows on one side down with their usual books and things, and besides only, the latest word in jacketed coal stoves, a kerosene that, carrying the makings of chow mein for our hot stove for hot lunches, flag, organ, victrola, picture of lunch that day. It was a surprise present from their Washington, water cooler, kerosene lamps, teacher's mother, and the boys didn't dare let go of it, but they desk and chair, individual desk[...]s. Kent everything thought to be needful. A supply of library sent, and enjoyed our Chinese dinner very much. books was obtained every week or so from the library in In the spring of 1922, we learned that the hot lunch Hardin, whi[...]would have been made, but . Finn", "Anne of Green Gables," the Grace Moon the children and I did not wait to[...]we kept secret. I went (and listened to) a wide variety of books, _including into Hardin, and purchased enou[...]n. to cover the neighborhood. On each one, I drew a large The people of orth Bench had not made their red heart, and typed, "Have a heart, and bring a few fortunes in that dry area, but they were a close knit dimes and nickels out with you.", then North Bench community of high aspirations and ideals, and the School House[...]cally everyone. Mr. Tom Atkins was filled rapidly with rigs. All comers were tagged, and the supe[...]ight to the long benches Supplies were obtained from the David C. Cook and seats crowded near t[...] |
| [...]day, carrying water three-quarters of a mile from a spring, cooking my own meals, packing a lunch each[...]my aunt's home-a fifteen mile trip horseback each[...]way, across country with many gates to open,[...]sometimes in snow, rain, sleet, mud or darkness. Of[...]wash my clothes, first heating water in a big iron pot[...]using a washboard. I would return to a cold log cabin, drag wood in- North Bench School[...]on the porch side to chop and start a fire in the sheepherder's stove.[...]oticed some pins offered that I thought were of the stove, put my feet inside the oven with my plate perfect for my class of pre-schoolers, so I ordered them. on my lap,[...]cracks between caption was "The Cheerful Wigglers." the floor boards. The cr[...]ere big Folks there were·very sociable, but with no phones, enough to lose all my pencils. The pack rats stole the it was a little hard to plan a get-together until they were silverware and the[...]school I turned it upside down; out rolled a dead, planned a week ahead, but very often it was decided[...]home the pot-luck would on account of the mice. I also used tin containers. be held, and the caravan started out. It was a very flexible arrangement, but oh, homemade bread[...]ts and mashed potatoes and gravy! A SCHOOLMA'AM'S TALE |
| me out. No one was in the house as usual. I left a note saying, "Why doesn 't someone stay home?" Later I heard a bachelor was looking for that girl who left him a note. This cured me of writing notes! But, I had to continue traveling and there would be a fog or some other accident of nature that would keep me wandering, lost again. I still have dreams of being lost. At school I also started the fir[...]ies. At times we had to clean out the stove pipe- a job for the whole school. The big events at school were literary nights, visit s from the County Superintendent and the County Health O[...]the children. The patrons would come that day and a big picnic dinner was prepared. I did not get to town from the time I started teaching in the fall until school ended in the spring. It was a hard cold winter as some will still remember and there were problems. One was that all my shoes wore out and I had to borrow boots from another teacher, three sizes larger than mine, until new shoes could come from a mail order house. One time my aunt and I rode to a dance at Shorty Caddell' s with our 'war bags' tied behind the saddles of our horses. We changed to dresses and then got a ride home after the dance in a wagon. The key to the school house was in the pocket of the riding skirt and I forgot it when we had changed clothes. It was a red-faced teacher that stopped at this bac[...] |
| NOTES FROM THE TEENS AND TWENTIES By Violet R. Alexander In the lovely fall of 1919, I started the school year at Iron Springs[...]ct 17H, then, and Iron Springs was contemporary with Wolf, Spring Creek, Maschetah, etc. It was an area of salt of the earth, backbone of America, never· say-die, sort of people. They had to be to survive, and that lov[...]ied, and people counted the bean days. Many of the children had to come uncomfortably far to school, and shortly after the opening of the term, another school they called "The Log Cabin School" started up, draining away several of the children. Some moved away. Iron Springs was a remote area in those days, with communication and travel both difficult,[...]len Romine in front especially after that winter of death and disaster bore down upon us. At the middle of the year, the teacher at Spring Creek resigned, and I was transfered to that school, where I stayed with my uncle and aunt, Sid and Emma Romine, and thei[...]d hit, but at Spring Creek, I could tough it out with relatives. I wish I could recall the names of all the Iron Springs folks, but more or less continuing association does make me remember the Kamps, Kifers, Flys, and Butkays, also, Kray[...]and wood chunks in the back yard. I had an ax and a hand saw, and got to work, so I got some fuel collected, and built a small fire, as it didn't take a big one for Jennie and me when we sat by the stov[...]lete her lessons, either, so after they were over with, we made candy on my kerosene stove. I was staying in the school house in the cold weather, and keeping one of my uncle's saddle horses in the school barn, so e[...]Heat was supplied by a huge jacketed coal heater, By V[...]the jacket protecting children near the stove from This picture was taken in the spring of 1920, but excessive heat, but making sure[...]and kerosene were kept in the coal house. efforts of J . A. Perry and J. S. Romine, who were Equipment was up-to-date-a good teacher's desk determined that their children should have a place to go and chair, individual seats and desks for the children, a to school. The building also served as a community large crockery water cooler and individual cups, a flag, center. School has not been held there for several years, a large picture of Washington, globe and large roller but it is still used as a voting place, and for special wall maps, a victrola, pencil sharpener, huge waste meetings.[...]Hills Note the screened out-door toilet for boys. A similar one modem. for girls is out of sight at the right. The outside door led into the store room, cloak rooms, and space where the kerosene s[...]ll built on one side, in com- Many of the schools of yesteryear had their pliance with a state department ruling, as cross lighting b[...]ation for the Sorrel Horse School, so named after a kerosene lamps.[...] |
| [...]Guy Van Cleve ranch about twenty-one miles north of Hardin was put into use. Mary Gilliland (Van Clev[...]eacher. In 1923 the building was moved north a few miles and served the Old Mission area which had been without a school since about 1897. By 1926 the Big Horn Val[...]lated ; the building was moved again-this time to a site about a mile and a half south of the Van Cleve ranch onto an acre of dryland donated by Jim Quest. Teachers working in[...]ay White and Ella Mae Cline (Clenn). In 1929 a new school was built on this site ; the old building was used for a teacherage some of the time. Frank Mielke and his son, Dick, were th[...]he old equipment was moved into the new building. A well had been drilled and a fine new pump was installed.[...]Dr. Russell was the County Health Officer who for a house-warming on Saturday night . What a good came to check the sanitation in the[...]r in this new building was Beulah job became a part of the many tasks that t he Hoffman (Crouch ) who was paid $120.00 a month, superintendents had when they came to visit the thirty dollars of which was paid for board and room school. with the J runes Cech family more than a mile up the A barn was built to shelter t he several horses tha[...]turned loose to graze. One janitor work consisted of building fires and banking time a loud noise was heard banging against the t hem in[...]on we fou nd t hat Billy, carrying ou t huge pans of ashes, sweeping every one of the an Cleve horses, had lai n down to roll and e[...]luding The piano was bought in the fall of 1930 with raising and lowering the flag each day . proceeds from a Halloween yard party and from a play, ellie Brown was County Superintendent when "Three Days to Marry " that was "put on " by the Sorrel Horse was organized, followed by El[...]Cleve, Walt and Lizzie Quest, Mary pencer and " Red " Thomas Lippert.[...] |
| presented at the Custer School, too. Between acts of hired; this was a blow to the students who admired and both perfor[...]al selections directed by their teacher. No a petition asking that he be retained; the entire student time was lost in getting the piano from Lindamood's in body signed it, but the Boa[...]underlying cause, made public years later, was a matter hand and on the other he wore a contraption that of church affiliation. At the close of the year the whole covered ar octave. He sat down and entertained us for high school had a banquet at the Hardin hotel. several minutes the[...]If I can The second year the west half of the building was do that with one hand, think what you can do with two completed and we had two rooms, plus a small room at hands!" It was a fine piano. The children and teachers the end of the hall. Mr. Harold V. Westergaard was were always proud of it and took such good care of it principal, and Miss Alta Dunlap was added to the staff; that it still had a beautiful tone when the building and she tau[...]ears later. It had helped classes, and with a gym in the basement of the new part immeasureably to provide many specia[...]trying to arouse Dick Warren, another member of the In 1937 a two-room teacherage was added to the team, who was asleep in a Billings hotel. He succeeded, building. A few years later electricity became available[...]get to the schoolhouse was wired for lights. What a boon that Columbus, the game was cancelle[...]were suspended from school for several days. In May Other Sorr[...]Tate, 1916 the first graduating class, of three members, Thelma Matson, Josephi., e Erickson, Luella Artz proved we were a four-year high school. (Paul), Kassie Ree Owens ([...]The last term at Sorrel Horse ended in the spring of 1964. Mona Cornell, with the children, parents and friends in the community had the usual last-day-of- school picnic in the oyes pasture to mark the end of the term and the end of our beloved school. It was hard to realize that t[...]g who moved it to their ranch, remodeling it into a lovely home. The piano and old seats were sold to[...]iggins, Sina Logan; Class of 1918 front row: Marion R[...]n one room-the nor- theast corner, second floor , of the old school built in The third year[...]music, and knowing that Marion couldn 't carry a tune, algebra and general science in his small of[...]asked her to please take roll, thus avoiding one of the ha ll : there was no laboratory for experimen ts , so discordant note. A room was finished off in the we drew pictures of the changes made by sun or basement for a science laboratory, and all the physics chemicals[...]ol other equipment, under the direction of G. Wiley gave a play, and was so elated at its s uccess that we Brown.There was a room on the other side of the fur- took it to Crow Agency where we gave it[...]r became the manual training room . assembly hall of the Boy 's Building. The School Board[...] |
| [...]block between Cody and Crawford A venues and Third[...]There was a slight smile if he had kept any youngster from being marked tardy."[...]had gotten to town, taken care of the horse, and into the[...]quietly lend a hand to any individual who needed help-or, a word of encouragement.[...]was no Big Horn County. Wyola was part of Rosebud County with the County seat at Forsyth, Montana.[...]missioners appointed Chris Gross, chairman, of the Hardin High's First Basketball Team[...]s, Willard Scott, Bill Hutton, coach, Graham of Owl Creek to serve with him. G. Wiley Brown; Bottom row: Dick Warren, Ste[...]made our first public appearance when we were in a parade that ended with the laying of the comer-stone of the new library, May 12, 1918. Our baccalaureate was held in the basement of the Methodist church (now the Masonic temple), with Rev. Thomas Hardie, Bill's father, delivering the[...]aledictorian and salutatorian essays were read as a Montana, 1914 part of the program. The boy's quartette, of which Bill and Willard were members, struck a "funny" spot and The first school house, the west room of the old dissolved in laughter. On the third attem[...]ained to finished until almost Christmas. W. A. Ru sel of get their diplomas. Sheridan, Wyoming was the builder. A second room HOW TIMES HAVE CHA GED.[...]building in the spring of 1911. The first school term[...]teacher, Mrs. Pointer, had 12 pupils. Because of the late Mr. Doane was the janitor and custodian of the beginning, it was decided to have school six days a Hardin school building that stood in the center of the week, and try and finish the studies for a year.[...] |
| [...]e Upper Little Horn school house was moved in for a gymnasium and community center as the population grew and the bus transported all the children from the ranches nearby to Wyola. In 1957, a modern school building with several classrooms, lunchroom, and gymnasium was completed. Over a hundred pupils now attend the Wyola School.[...]ek School: Chester Crackenberger, Crow {a-~he.r ~nd '!>On ·trom an v,-,.;;~ned[...] |
| [...]ca pupils and teacher Pine Ridge School: Mrs. A. Brown Teacher, Miss Pryor Ind[...] |
| A ntler School, cement building used as a school[...]First School building, specifically built for a school at[...] |
| [...]building, 1919-20 Teacher, Clifton Jackson-Supt. of Schools, Leslie Cammock, Miss Duffield-teacher; f[...]ft to right: Tam Dyvig, Stanley Ronald Bur/a; Front row: Miss Olive Cory Director, Kell[...] |
| [...]on right MacDonald ::ichooL 4b miles south of Hardin[...] |
| [...]BPBO:EAL AB T:EOLBB THE STORY OF one left at Kirby[...]ion in the fall Mrs. Adsit didn't vote because women had not yet of 1912. There were about twenty-two men in the crew[...]vote. Everyone was busy at his job when we saw a top buggy I didn't see much of Hardin until 1914. At that coming across the p[...]o finally arrived the Crows called south end of Main street. The Savoy Hotel had been them "Whi[...]loor, when some one came along and said "There is a McKinley, a rancher, who had a small ranch on movie up the street",[...]treet 'til we Thompson Creek, (this is now part of the ranch owned came to a sheet iron building. We went in and took our by[...]e Hope). The other man was John seats on a rough pine two by twelve board laid on Boylan, who had a coal and ice business in Hardin; empty na[...]hat building is there any when they stepped out of the buggy all work stopped more, it would have been about across the street from and all hands gathered around. They had a lot of cigars Safeway's present store. and several jugs of cheap whiskey. They passed out the The m[...]Hardin, Matt cigars, then told us that they had a petition to form a Tschirgi and I reported to the Court House and we were new county, to be made from portions of Yellowstone sworn in as jurors. The only case I was on was for and Rosebud counties. The name of the new county was butchering a steer belonging to Doc Spear branded to be Big Horn. open box A. This man went to the penitentiary for As[...]y got on the the judge took the case away from the jury for lack of petition but I do know they got some signers. Th[...]second District Court held in that the officers of the new county would be selected Big Horn County. It was thirty-five years before I was from the various communities. Those selected to be[...]on another jury. Commissioners were Dan Sullivan of Kirby, A. H. Bowman of Hardin, and Herschler of Sarpy. I think HOMESTEADERS, RANCHERS, AND Carl Rankin of Hardin was selected to be County Clerk;[...]membered by Lloyd Snyder and Lloyde Carper Roush of Perl was to be Assessor; Clerk of Court was South of Hardin: to go to Frank Nolan of Decker; County Superin- tendent of Schools was to go to Bernice Myers. Gus Thompson owned the farm about a mile south The first County Attorney, I am sure was a Mr. of Hardin where the large house and barn are still Haven; Al Young of Kirby was offered the sheriff's job standing.[...]oing to sweeten Elmer Savage, Guy Logan, and A. P. MacDonald. me up with an office. I am going to fight them teeth[...]ns, Coxes, ievert Torske, Lou Dewey Riddle of Sarpy Creek heard that Al Young Torske, Frank[...]refused the sheriff's job, so he rode all the way from Sikkenga, Dagget Brothers, Frank Kincaid, Fred Sarpy to Kirby to see Al about the office of sheriff. It Wervery, Cal Pike, Albert and Otto Olson, Ben and must have been all of sixty miles from Sarpy to Al Billy Moore, Ed Torskes, Guy[...]s Elsie Gibbs Riley Sheriff, but John Kifer, also of Sarpy Creek, was his whose father, Tom Gibbs[...]threshing under-sheriff and was the next sheriff of Big Horn machine on the bench ;) Hannah a[...]aught school in Hardin for many years and was one of Well, to tell the story of the first election. It was the first County Superintendents; ) Alfred and Otto voted on the 12th day of January in 1913; the day was Person who did a lot of trapping each winter and clear and bright and 40 degrees below zero. There is no brought large bales of furs to the depot to be shipped[...] |
| [...]e Roy Petersons-their daughter, Mrs. Send a rider down from Heaven Alvin Torske lives on a farm south of Hardin; Noah Before it is too late Goodel[...]still lives here; Albert West, and To sort of ease around him, Louie Berthold and Frank Brummel[...]threshing crews. Across the River and Northeast of Hardin: |
| [...]There was very little amusement, only what we with a 1300 foot span; the present Yellowtail dam is 525 created ourselves. When there was a public horse sale at feet high and has a span of 1450 feet, and is about 300 the Fort we cou[...]gton, night late, X Beidler, ringleader of the Vigilantes, came D.C. and the project approve[...]Things looked very he would not hurt any of us. He was on the trail of some rosy when the events preceding the entry of the United men who had slipped away from Deer Lodge to the States into World War I caused a postponement of the Bitter Roots. launching of sales of stock on Wall Street. The Whe[...]the only thing sunk by German afraid of the Crow Indians as much as any other tribe, subm[...]but we soon learned that they were friends of the white failed and the project died. When work[...]o get over the loneliness and to Yellowtail, Mrs. A. W. F. Koch, the only survivor of get familiar with the western way of living. the original group and widow of the engineer, filed suit One day, Fred[...]The soldiers found out he had gone to bring back a surveys in the six weeks they took if they had no[...]his been the chief witness-and could not come for a bride arrived about sun down. The soldiers managed to trial- and with Mrs. Koch's death shortly after, the get the ferry boat out of com.mission so they could not suit was dropped.[...]ort Custer, July 24, 1878, just as railroad from Bridger to Bear Creek. He died in his the sun was[...]formed we could one-hundredth year in a little log cabin near Fromberg, not remain in the Garrison. We were at a loss to know Montana. what to do. However, we made our lonely camp on the There was a lot of travel in Montana even in those banks of the Big Hom River. The officers and soldiers days and we had difficulty in taking care of them. We were very nice to us, but told us it was breaking had a neighbor, John. Ramsey, who lived a short military rules to let us stay at the Fort. We left the fort distance from our cabin. They had two daughters and with very heavy, lonely hearts, thinking we may never[...]d Mrs. Lillie Goulding live in and we were afraid of the Indians. The lonely hills and Billings. Mr. Ramsey ran a dairy and delivered milk to the tall cottonwood t[...]row Scouts camped Montana, which was on the banks of the Big Hom about fifty yards from our house, when we lived by the River, close to w[...]rs, when an order came to order all civilians off of were very proud of the distinction of being a govern- the Crow Reservation, then we moved to Co[...]Indians talking. Our windows were about six feet from enough money to return to our dear old home in[...]nsas, but we never saw our old home again. We ran a there was a band of Indians who were not Crows. We stage station and[...]the stage driver and did not dare to light a lamp. They were galloping the passengers had thei[...]shooting. their horses there. We occasionally had a dance as we We crawled under the bed for[...]e ladies and few times only one lady. hold of the door knob and shook as though they were There were two large freight outfits and with the coming right in or knock the door dow[...], they managed to handle the away from the building about twenty feet and then freight.[...]ts we could see buffalo rush back at a gallop just like they would go right playing seve[...]the hill sides. through the door with the horses. They carried on this There was a general store in Fort Custer run by a way all night until four in the morning. When they at Mr. Barreup. Everything was so high in this store. last did go we were afraid to look out for fear some of[...] |
| [...]round. That night has always been and much of it came down to the lower hills and valley a nightmare to me.[...]g trips. Many As was said previously, most of the dances were in people came to this country[...]either in cattle or the mining industry. A number did only a hewed log floor to dance on. We always had good[...]s by pack outfits our place. But we could not buy a board to make our provided by professional scouts who kept these outfits tables and chairs with. When the river was high some and guides[...]vices on these trips. There were all kinds of game birds it up. A sight that was usually interesting was the[...]ell as big game to hunt. We used to look swimming of cattle across the river to be butchered for[...]k in the fall to get our the Fort. One summer day a number of cattle were winters supply of meat. I nearly always went with my being taken across and the cattle, as usual, d[...]tains and had to stay there ten horse on the bank of the river to hold the cattle back. days in a tent. We had plenty of fresh meat and He finally went down into the wate[...]d. We when he got in the water and he backed into a deep hole brought a lot of fresh meat home with us which we and both horse and rider were drowned[...]ke the cattle across the river. The winter of 1880 was not very cold, but there was One cold night in 1881, the stage driver failed to lots of snow, but the winter of 1881 was very cold with come in at his usual time. We all became quite con- lots of snow. In the summer of 1880 the Far West cerned as the hours of the night slipped away. In the commanded by Capta[...]ield and the could find any trace of him. They did not get very far[...]ge the names had fallen off. The following summer a new[...]hem that unloaded at Fort Custer. The next winter a huge sled[...]o'clock in a blinding snow storm. The men then turned could only take 1/4 of it at a time and it took eight yoke[...]ck but did not get home until eleven o'clock that of cattle to haul that much. The stone proved very[...]left, I horseback where we would see great herds of buffalo. heard a noise outside. I went out to see what it could Th[...]me. I said "Why don't you get off and come A report was circulated one day that a large band into the house?" He did not answer me. I spoke to him of Indians were camping at the same place that Reno several times with no answer. I finally stepped up a camped during the Custer battle. The general sent[...]overed he was tied to his saddle. I two companies of soldiers to investigate. They tried to pull him off, but couldn't. I went and got a returned with the word they were there. Orders were kn[...]off and dragged him up to the house. There was a high ambulance would come to get them and take them into step at the door and I had a hard time getting him over the Post for safety. W[...]p by the fireplace. His Post for ten days. It was a dreary place, but a much overshoes and woolen German socks we[...]e were. The commanding feet. I took a knife and cut them off. His clothing was officers and three companies went to the scene of the frozen too as there was sleet in the s[...]. o one knew where they speak. I made a bed for him right by the fire place, but went. Th[...]soon saw that would not do, so I went out and got a everywhere for miles, but could not locate any of them. large tub of snow. I tried to get him to drink some hot We wan[...]Suddenly I manding officers would not let us go. A man came by thought of the idea of giving him some whisky, so I who had been past ou[...]re and went to the bunk house and found a bottle. I hurried said there was an Indian camp fire there that was still back and poured some of it down his mouth. He rallied burning. This frightened us considerable. When we a little. I worked with him all day, and when the men went home we feared[...]pt him at our place for about two months. haying. A little ten year old girl stayed with me at Then he went to the hospital[...] |
| [...]There were several larger freight outfits that with cord-wood, hay and grain. He was also allowed to hauled the larger portion of the freight for the Fort and have all the wood we could use. We had a huge fireplace some of it was brought up the river on the steamboat which gave us both heat and light. If anyone ever got a Josephine. After the Northern Pacific R.R. was[...]to the Fort by a large freight outfit called the Diamond It w[...], which mostly used ox teams for the hauling. had a small cook stove and a large fireplace and a stone There was a government garden across the river hearth with sufficient room for four dutch ovens and from ·our place and another garden about three miles two tripods which answered for all boiling purposes, from there. They raised everything that could be raise[...]only, but veniences whatever. our house stood in a large grove of the gardeners saw that we had lots of fresh vegetables. tall cottonwood trees and we had hundreds of cords of In 1884 a report was circulated that a small band of government wood piled around. Our fireplace took a Bannock Indians were seen and as soon as possible a four foot stick. We never got to bed until about eleven detachment of soldiers were sent out from Fort Custer o'clock each night and up the next mo[...]place each day, one to dians, had quite a battle, all the Indians escaped except Coulson, o[...]while the sergeant was which was across the river from where the town of gathering up the dishes after the prison[...]nd ran toward the river They ate breakfast at six a.m. and supper at seven p.m. and jumped off the high bank on the out skirts of the and each night I had to put up forty lunches.[...]r no one saw bread every day. We got our supplies from the Army them jump in the river. The river was dragged with a Commissary every three months, we were not allowed grappling hook but no trace of them was ever found. to get supplies any oftener. To get the supplies the One stage line ran from Fort Custer to Fort request would have to go through so many hands to get Benton. It was a very hard drive and bad roads and no ok'd. We had a large bunk house for the wood choppers conveniences when they reached the end of their and one for the travelers.[...]r cabin to visit and Benton the stage hauled a ~ t deal of valuable cargo. enjoyed staying for dinner. We on[...]to get drivers for the road as robbers but it was a change from the food served at the fort. had them all fr[...]any times the two young men by the name of Hughes and Leunrs who officer's wives use to come to our cabin, too. My were not afraid of the robbers, though they did have brother would play the violin and we used to dance on some trouble with them. They continued to carry the the old rough h[...]mail over this route until 1907 when the building of the once in three months. We were paid in silver and gold. Milwaukee R.R. put the stage Line out of business." Many times we had so much that I could not carry it ote: The original copy of this account belongs to Mrs. home and would leave[...]and send someone Hazel Christiansen who was a personal friend of Mrs. for it.[...]ompson's, and has graciously consented to our use of We had no place to put our money. There was a it. small bank in the Fort, but we could[...]money in boxes and bags. We decided we would have a bank of our own. The requirements were each one must furnish his own TO MO TA A' PIONEER containers in the form of tin cans with their names By am E. McDowell written under the cover. As our floor was made of large Montana is an empire in these old United States, hewed pine logs, we could raise the log with a crow bar. A host of sturdy pioneers have entered through her We put our bed over this part of the floor for safety. I gates; was chosen cashier. o one ever took any money from And today her towns and cities are ranked[...]te throughout the ourselves. We were never afraid of our bank being Great orthwest. robbed as I never left home. In homes of sweet contentment these dear old people My[...]eel that Mother Nature gave all she had to afraid of the Indians. Several men stayed m the[...]e to them Montana in which to live and was to put a light in the window. But I never did this. die, But many a night I did not sleep a wink and some of With her beauties and her wonders perched up he[...] |
| A grander, better people, never yet have graced thi[...]When I think of the early days of Hardin four We of a younger generation, can't realize their things stand right out in my mind, a lot of mighty fine worth. people, hordes of twenty-four hour working mosquitoes, They stayed[...]rew mighty fast and the station work They tell us of the changes Old Father Time has increased by leaps and bounds. I was holding down a wrought homestead nine and one-half miles north of Hardin, and Since the time when they first c[...]heavy in those days, How one time they "ketched" a horse thief, and hung the road was full of trains and many days it took over him to a tree,[...]"shorely" glad their That's before the days of auto and truck competition children didn't see.[...]for the railroads. I knew every foot of the road between[...]back under some very trying conditions over a period with snow; of fourteen months. I made the ride one morning when[...]is entirely too cold for pleasure horseback Where of old the indian ponies played out on the open[...]operators to work with, Ralph Peck and Rastus Elder. Now are homes, and schools, and churches, and They were a great help to me, the only trouble the waving fields of grain railroad officials would only use them a few months at a Their work and perseverance brought about this[...]on me with the following duties to attend to: train order And now instead of bison, sheep and cattle roam work, deliver[...]deliver freight and express, answer and keep up the Where the prairies once were waving with luxuriant[...]there was Now you hear the shriek and rattle of freight trains a telegraph office maintained just east of the Big Horn as they pass.[...]called Fort Custer and at one Ah, those pioneers of the west! We point to them with time had been a station and there was a small depot pride[...]Custer as telegraph At their homes you found a welcome-the lat- operator for train or[...]Hardin was made a station. I had my office in a small And no matter what the task was, a helping hand shack at the east end of the Big Horn Bridge. The Fort they'd lend.[...]it never got too hot or cold for them to help "a through Big Horn bridge and moved to the ne[...]site of Hardin. That was Hardin's first depot. The They love the lofty mountains, with their depot was set upon a new fill made mostly of gumbo ever-changing moods, and when it rained it was a sea of gumbo around the Love to listen to the silence of their lonely new depot. Before the brick[...]warm chinook winds that melt the winter was a mess. When the passenger train arrived from the snow east they had a five-hundred pound barrel of red paint And bring back to them the memories of summers for the new depot. I stood in the[...]baggage car door, neither one of us willing to step out Where once stood the India[...]that barrel of paint and decided to drop it from the The Indians, like the buffalo, are on all[...]where no done and the barrel sank about a foot in the mud and "Pale Face's" gun resounds,[...]Their sturdy pioneer spirit will be left alone with Crow Agency for several days at a time until I could God;[...]g it over to us. I If I could keep on writing for a hundred million years, would look after the m[...]'s Pioneers. times the mail would come over on a fast freight that[...] |
| [...]omestead and would have mail along the track for a full block. It was brought my pony to the depot[...]r crane just over to us. The delay about getting a post office was on east of the depot, and I then went to my bathroom for a account of the name for the new office. The first name wonderful "cold" bath. I thought I knew of all the that was obtained from Washington was Teddy, trains on the[...]ana. That name did not suit the people at all and a along at Hardin for a couple of hours. But horrors ; just demand was made that t[...]e that the Burlington officials had whistle of an engineer sounding to get live stock off the se[...]stle that the train did not know, was named after a prominent Wyoming intend to stop at Hardin and thought of my pony. She cattleman. was my "pal" and a good tough Indian pony, but no The honor of being Hardin's first official host to a match for that iron horse that was bearing down upon mighty timid guest went to Carl Rankin. He had a her. I dashed out of the freight house to do the rescue combination office and sleeping room on the lot where act with less clothes on than Gandhi wears, all I had on Eder's store now stands. It was a small building and was a towel and birthday clothes. I saved my pony by a stood by its lonesome on the Great Hardin townsite of few feet. As I returned to the depot a wagon load of which Carl was the Agent. About the middle of July, Indians came along and I always fig[...]thirty p.m. and to our suprise came to using a towel instead of a blanket. The unlooked for a stop at the station. In the early days of Hardin trains train was a soldier special that had come on the road #41 and #42 not only did not make a regular stop at rather sudden. When I nex[...]mentioned when #41 stopped the conductor assisted a station agent's uniform that I was wearing when they lady to alight and she had a small baby in her arms. The passed through Har[...]e to the lady was Mrs. S. D. Slaughter. S. D. had a homestead homestead that afternoon I had lots of time to think on the bench and it was expected he[...]and I wondered just why one who had worked on a at the train. The mail then could not be depended[...]mind would tie his horse on the main line of a railroad? I available to take Mrs. Slaughter to the homestead and never used it for a hitching post thereafter. she was rather startled at thoughts of spending the In the early days of Hardin there was an old time night on the town site of Hardin with no place to stay. Irish section foreman. He w[...]lever. His wit was original and he furnished many a vacated for the night his elaborate office and sl[...]. I am quite certain Mrs. good and wet with five active saloons. But old Jack had Slaughter will always remember her first night spent on a wet and dry problem all of his own. His weakness was the spot which is now H[...]his likeness for liquid refreshments that had a kick in[...]certain and decidedly he would fall from the water[...]with his men working and they got very cold and came[...]main line, right in front of the depot. Jack and his men[...]had their shoes off warming their feet when all of a sudden out of the storm came a through freight from[...]car and one needed to be careful of flying tools when the[...]the wreckage clear of the track. He did a good job a he First station agent was J. S. Tupper, who moued from made kindling wood of old Jack' hand car. It was Fort Custer station Ju[...]always a disgrace to an old time foreman like Jack to let[...]his hand car be hit by a train, but much more so while One Sunday afternoon I put on a fast one act show he was toasting his shins[...]ers in Hardin failed to see. could get a new hand car and keep from getting fired. Bathrooms were then unknown in Hardin. A good big By the necessary arrangements by a charitable Road[...] |
| Master at Sheridan, Wyoming, and a lapse of memory Big Lake made the reply, he said, "Mascheta work so of the train crew and others, Jack was given a new hand fast that it made Daylight and himse[...]was old Jack them.'' All old timers will well remember old John "A Happy Irishman''. Whiteman, the old Indian with only one good eye. Now-a-days when electric refrigeration is so W[...]ficial ice so plentiful, it's hard to to be of special interest to him. He spent many hours realize how we early residents of Hardin craved for an loafing around the depot and would ask me about four ice cold drink of water. After the Hardin station was times a day the same question, "How soon Hardin all open[...]s before any good the same as Chicago?" He had great hopes for Hardin drinking water was[...]y the wrong idea about my station use was hauled from Crow Agency in a cast off importance as Agent. He seemed to t[...]the white people about the same only, but people of the new town had to have some good control as[...]over all the Crow Indians. Old John sure was a card. He countless barrels of the Crow Agency water away. took a liking to me and used me as his banker and There[...]ade by the Supt. office would leave his money with me for safe keeping. He at Sheridan to me that e[...]it was. The one thing that bothered being hauled from Crow Agency and expected me to me was how to take care of the railroad and Express see that an early improvement was made. Only those company funds as well as the Express money order who were in Hardin in the summer of 1907 know books. No safe was provide[...]w hot it was on the gumbo townsite. only in a small wooden drawer. I simply could not carry Th[...]d, the spots around the depot and never lost a cent. It would Division Supt. from Sheridan, Wyo, E. P. Bracken, have been a different story if there had been a fire at came along over the line and jumped me ab[...]ut to the homestead. water complaints and wanted a showdown about the I sure gave old John Whiteman the shock of his life same. Said they knew full well that I ha[...]in 1907. John came to the depot about quantities of water after repeated requests to conserve four p.m. and gave me a nice roll of money to keep for same. Mr. Bracken was a mighty fine man and a real him. Soon after he left the depot I got a message from a railroad man. I then told him I had been giving t[...]ong, he could see how urgent the Billings with him and attend a good road show, that need was and that the Burlington expected a town to be was to be in Billings that evenin[...]hirty p.m., would not stop but railroad by giving a " cup of cold water" to the pioneers slow up so I could catch the way car. It just happened of Hardin. I then told him that I not only gave away[...]er, but I coaxed certain train crews to throw off a came along. He saw me lock up the station in a hurry good supply of ice from the ice boxes of refrigerator and catch the rear end of that west bound train. Right cars going through i[...]along the track for four blocks leaving town with his money, "Such things have hap- after one of those trains would go through Hardin . pened". Old John nearly had a fit. He could not find When I explained the true[...]en, he out as to why I had left town in such a hurry. No one in smiled and said he hoped cold we[...]and ice demand would not be so great. in a long night awaiting my return. I returned at six After that heart to heart talk with Mr. Bracken, a.m. the next morning and made John happy by Burlin[...]he had left it nothing more was heard in the way of complaints. with me. With that assurance John slowly rode south to Th[...]h and the first death happened in his tepee with faith restored in his banker and still Hardin on[...]ndering" How soon Hardin all the same as Chicago. " think it was May, 1908. Melvin Gay, the first birth During the summer of 1907 when Hardin was very and the first death was[...]was cook young the new town attracted many of the nation's at the Hardin Hotel for a short time. floating population and one set that gave me countless Speaking of the Hardin Hotel and hot weather I trouble were the drug habit victims. They would float had a good laugh from watching two old time Crow into town and run out of dope, would order some and it bucks, Big Lake and[...]lings plasterers were sure making things fly. All of a to watch close to see that they did not steal some. In sudden Daylight and Big Lake left the shelter of the two cases the poor fellows got so bad[...]hotel and went out in the hot sun and sat down on a pile sufferings were pitiful to witness. I gave them the drug of lumber. I could not understand their actions so to get rid of them and arranged with a train crew to asked them why leave the coolspot for a real hot spot. take them to the next[...] |
| sells the drugs is the one that should be taken for a ride stall at the 0. K. Livery barn. Just before the storm instead of the poor fellow that is a victim of the drug broke, Old Roaney broke his halt[...]front door of the stable at top speed to the surprise of The greatest thrilling experience that I h[...]onths before Old Agent at Hardin was at the time of the cyclone. I think Roaney was found and[...]e p.m. My was not o.k., as it went down with the storm and killed wife had invited Mrs. Ethan[...]orse that was in the barn that night, some seven with us. Eloise was a small baby in arms at that time. or eight of them. Ethan was in Billings for the day. We noti[...]hat I coming up and it did not look at all good. A freight never had before or since. I was arrested for moving train east bound had just left town with instructions to horses out of the state, without brand inspection. The stay on[...]as coming up fast against me as Agent. A horse buyer came to Hardin and I knew the train[...]stock men and said he desired to ship a car load of horses from would stay in the way car waiting for the storm[...]er. I had locked up the depot for the night using a have to have brand inspection and took h[...]on and give me the certificate when place in case of a severe wind storm, as I well knew that he r[...]d allowed the horses to be loaded. This just west of the Center A venue railroad crossing. I took train did n[...]nded the way bill Eloise in my arms and the three of us started down for the car of horses to the conductor on a hoop as the stairs and by the time we reached the[...]Hardin. After the train had been storm had broken with all its fury and any old timer gone an hour and a half the Deputy Sheriff came to the that was in H[...]was so strong that we could hardly car of horses were being moved out of the state without stand on our feet in the shelter of the station. I had brand inspection. In a couple of weeks a warrant was trouble unlocking the switch lock on[...]served on both the railroad and myself. account of trying to hold onto the small baby in my[...]re we stood. advised the legal department of the Burlington at Just west of the depot stood a small coal house with a Omaha that he thought best to not resist[...]o my utter suggestion did not set well with the Burlington officials surprise and horror a long string of box cars were and they certainly came to my support. They wired the coming out of the station side track at Express train Billings attorney a long message giving my record on speed being moved by the force of the storm. My first three Divisions of the road and that they would fight thought was for those men in the way car of the train my case as well as their own regardless of the expense. that I knew was on the main line at[...]hat if any one was to blame it knew if the string of cars moved by the wind stayed on was the Deputy heriff for lack of duty and not the the rails it would be certain de[...]he storm brought in Billings and was of short duration. The Jury made whirling along the platform the small coal shed and short work of their job in finding in favor of th railroad parts of the "Chic Sales" attachment and threw them[...]o pay for needles on the main line right in front of the speeding cars and court expense. derailed them right before the three of us. I will always The Government required that legal residence believe that the hand of the Almighty rode in that must be est[...]1907, by all tho e who storm and saved the lives of the men in the way car at drew home teads in the row land drawing. On account Big Horn Wye. I was always thankful to the carpenters of a serious throat trouble I had not been working on who moved the Hardin depot over from Old Fort the railroad steady for[...]no avail. I Spencer building was blown flat just a block from the knew that 1 was slipping rather fast[...]me in a weaker condition and uni s a change took place The old timers will remember that there was a wise it would not be long before I would cross the great old range horse in Hardin the night of the storm. He divide. In this condition 1 made a trip to Sheridan was J. W. Johnston's old Hoss "Roaney." That horse about April 15. 1907. I we[...], he the Telegraph job at Fort Custer. one of the other knew a bad storm was coming up. He was tied in a rear railroad men wanted that pla[...] |
| it would only be about ten miles from my homestead. I through the windows. My wife[...]llings and bought the lumber for my gave us a fine party that night and some gifts that were h[...]ipment May first greatly appreciated. Some of those attending that to the siding where Hardin[...]ley. Quite Guy Logan, Milt Lyons and others. a number of the homesteaders were already on their One of the early residents of Hardin was Mrs. claims. I made arrangements to h[...]service and also arranged share the troubles of all those she came in contact with to have my shack built and ready for me to occupy and she had a heart in her as big as a box car. Mary same by May 15th. After making the[...]n was mighty good to me. I want to also say made a trip to ebraska to see my parents. I was quite[...]n they dition. I had been at the home place only a few days first saw me at my homestead that[...]been dumped off in the In thinking of the early days in Hardin, I can mud and water about four miles from my homestead. I always smile when I think of the plans, specifications, took the first train[...]and materials used in the Spencer's second store in would have to hurry in order to have my shack ready Hardin. Mr. Spencer's first store was on the south side for use by May 15th. Upon my arrival at Fort Custer I of the railroad track just south of the first depot in met up with a pal who was willing to help me out. His Hardin. Spencer built his second store on the north side name was Guy Logan. With his fine help we moved the of the railroad where present Spencer building stand[...]nd we both slept in same The Spencer second store was a "work of art". He used the night of May 15, 1907. som[...]me rather hard knocks while lots of building paper and "saw dust". The sides of the homesteading and as Agent at Hardin, but Har[...]than any other town for several inside of the studding, red corrugated sheets on the reasons. It was at Hardin that I staged a come back as outside and saw-dust in between.[...]ousekeeping there. We built our first in the store it most always took a nose dive for one of house in Hardin and our daughter, Cynthia Louise[...]e in 1911. remember the second Spencer store . The saw dust store We made a lot of fine friendships in Hardin. The was replaced by a two story concrete block store. The Hardin people were mighty fine to my wife when she third Spencer store was made a total wreck by the came to town as a bride. When I married my wife, her cyclone of 1909. The one story, fourth store replaced home was in Wenatchee, Washington and that point is same at the same location. one of the pretty spots in the state of Washington, Hardin was put on the ma[...]d by located on the Columbia River, and the "Home of the the fall of that year, the country was hit by the 1907 Big Red Apple". On our trip enroute from Wenatchee money panic and that was a hard blow to a new town to Hardin my wife asked many questions a[...]alley, and Note: The original copy of this letter written March 27, wanted to know what[...]was like. I tried 1933 is the possession of Mrs. Hazel Christiansen who hard to sell her on the greatness of Montana, Hardin, granted us permission to use it. the Big Horn Valley, and especially the fine points of my wonderful homestead. I found out upon our arri[...]the valley to the DR. W. A. RUSSELL homestead, "more tears " . Said the homestead was By Marion Russell Carper more desolate than the town of Harclin. But my wife is [Note: The following excerpts are from a paper given no clifferent from other people, when once you live in February 9th, 1975 at a meeting of the Big Hom Montana you learn to love the Treasur[...]rdin in 1909 she cried The major period of Dad's work as a health officer because it was desolate. When we moved from Hardin was 1918-24; typhoid, tuberculosi[...]know it today The Hardin people gave us one of those old time was just beginning. On his f[...]aking arrangements to go to the many of the conclitions which existed and he was homestea[...]Born in Michigan in 1872, Dad had grown up on a search of us put up ladders and came into the rooms farm, taught school, graduated from a medical college[...] |
| [...]icine and served as City is supplied with water where it is possible to get it, and health officer in Ludington, Michigan before coming to 80% of the parents were present to watch the the Huntle[...]908. He was the first per- examination of the children and discuss their condition. manent[...]first drug In one school, forty-five miles from a railroad, every store in Huntley. In September 1914 he sold his home parent was present at the examination of the children. and practice and moved to Hardin, w[...]e full. during the campaign just closed, out of 1200 children I time to his work as school physi[...]think only three gumboils were found. Doz,ens of these officer-in the city as well as the county. children have been fitted with glasses, they are being The Program: taught the value of fresh air, their diseased tonsils have[...]een removed, and parents are being taught the use of The pattern of examinations and school visiting[...]them up to normal. " They knew they had to visit those schools early b[...]Dolly Marsh recently told me a bout the of the weather and roads, saving those nearby for le[...]for milk morning, and in the afternoon were given a talk on[...]r Dad attended Harvard Medical community problems with them. In the evening there[...]hool to learn the lates t techniques in the realm of would be a stereopticon lecture on Flies, Tuberculosis,[...], etc. There were especially prepared slides, and a different lecture each year.[...]d checking The State Department of Health, which had kept and recording the weight, height, age, condition of eyes, quite a close watch on the work in Big Horn County, ears, teeth, nose, throat (with special checking for sent Mrs. Ann K. Waring, a public health nurse to give tonsils and adenoids), and evidences of malnutrition of courses and work with Dad and the people. I know that each child. These[...]and they held baby clinics in various parts of the county. the previous year's records compared[...]County became interested and asked Dad correction of abnormalities, etc. Often teachers planned[...]children, so a special physical-therapist, Miss Marion Amo[...]rings, Kirby, Mc- ments to those in need of them. Donald (on Grapevine), St. Xavier, Pryor, Y[...], Upper establis hed, to run one year, with the cooperation of Spring Creek, and others in 17H and 16.[...]Federal, State, County, City and school board . A That this program was of benefit to the com- representative of the Monta na TB Assn., Mrs. munities is evident from a report written, I think , in the Henrietta Crockett , s pent the summer here, con- spring of 1921: cent rat ing on t he benefi ts of good nu t rit ion . Clinics, " For the past four y ears, by t he cooperation of the meetings, etc. followed as well as more regula r check-up County Commissioners and School Boards of Big Hom on programs. Coun ty, t here has been carried on a campaign for better ot un ti l 1924 did Indians, as a ru le. attend public health among the children an[...]nditions. became involved and Dad had a new challenge. "After t hree years we are be[...]e chief problems. Kerosene vanquished the first , a has a population of 7,000 and in 1917 four babies died purple medicine kept the second in check, but TB was from preventable bowel trou ble, and one case from more difficult. Special talks were prepared, and gi en typhoid fever. I n t he t hree years from January 1918 to to groups where any I ndians were present. January 1921, only one baby had died from preventable One very touching inc[...]r, in bowel trouble, and there has been one death from 1919, and this was before the India[...]chools. It was a dark, rainy day with muddy roads and " One of t he striking results is the improved[...]rnoon. Dad had finished his examination condition of the rural school buildings. When this work of the children and announced that he would hold a began there was scarcely a sanitary boys ' toilet in the health meeting for Indian mothers. A large number County. 62% of the schools were without water, and it gathered on the second floor of a warehouse ; as the was impossible to get 25% of the parents to attend the lecture was abo[...]ht that Chief meetings and discuss t he condition of their children. Plenty Coups was downstairs and wished to ee Dad . " I n t he campaign just closed, t here were only t[...]ld Dad come down? T he poor old man had demnation of t he sanitary officer , virtually every sc hool d riven in from his home outside of Pryor , and after t he[...] |
| [...]thanked him, know the difference." After we barbecued these wether swallowed a few times, and went back up-stairs to tell lambs and started to serve them the Masons and the Indian women that when they nursed their first Shri[...]kid her Dad about being a cowman and serving sheep Health officer, and a clean-up campaign was among the instead of beef. first projects. I've been unable to find the picture of the[...]Willis Spear said, "Les, don't breathe a word about culmination of the first clean-up: Mayor Mitchell riding[...]this or they will scalp me." on the front seat of a topless car, inspecting the alleys,[...]ut on an old roundup mess wagon dutch the park as a conclusion came later. Dad remained City[...]the late Johnny Booz, old roundup cook, and most of all, Mother, who drove the car, kept the[...]ls. They had a public address system here at the At the end of one of Dad's writings I found this[...]barbecue and they took several pictures of the late summary : "I have not made money in my l[...]of the early day cattlemen of Wyoming and Montana. perfectly satisfied if I may[...]up cook, in the 80's and Les P. tied his wagon to a star, and the rope broke".[...]Booz told a story over the public address system about[...]the year 1885, and it was a dry year. He was cooking on OUTDOOR[...]got out about 40 miles he met an old Mother Goose with AT SHERIDAN, WYOMING IN 1932[...]little ganders going to the Yellowstone River for a ·Mr. and Mrs. Les P. Barlwin are in Story, drink of water. Wyoming, as guests of Mrs. Squaw Hedp High, Paul McCormick bought several thousand head of Jessamine Spear Johnson. Les says, "Mrs. Johnson, it cattle branded Ox Yoke from Nelson Story and they has been a lr,g time 'lince we saw you last, as it had were shipped from Bozeman, Montana to Billings and been 34 years si[...]idan, Wyoming they trailed them north out of Billings into the to help you and your late Dad, Willis Spear, barbeque a Musselshell country. DHS Granville Stewart.[...]ton Railroad Park for the This was one of the years Sheridan, Wyoming was Masons and Shrine[...]to advertise dude ranches, Francisco, California with the Shrine White Horse hunting, fishi[...]Les says, "I and Irene had the honor of cooking an the business men of Sheridan, Wyoming. And this old outdoor[...]neer people who lived in Spear Johnson had charge of the outdoor venison feed. Wyoming 40 year[...]eeks before they were to have the home of the cowboys coming up the trail and on the barbec[...]they tlefield in 1932 for the Army Engineers out of Mon- invited us to come to Sioux City,[...]guests tecito, California, the year they made it a ational and after 34 years we stopped i[...]to see Cemetery. Willis Spear said, "Les, I'm in a bad way, the Illustrious Potentate of the White Horse Mounted and I don 't know what to do." Willis Spear said, "I Patrol, Charles Th[...]son any place. Any other year there and one of his Masonic Brothers, Bill Harper of Sioux would be all kinds of deer meat in the lockers that was City, Irene's nephew said, "Charles Thorpe's wife is killed out of season. l[...]home and get about 7 or 8 her guests in honor of her late husband to attend The head of fat wether lambs and butcher them out and put White Horse Mounted Patrol. Les had the privilege of[...] |
| riding one of the white horses in the parade ground[...]Shriners at Sheridan, Wyoming should put up a marker The late Illustrious Petentate, Charl[...]lady and her fat her, Willis Spear and nicknamed " THE GROWLER. "[...]the State of Wyoming and Montana." Hvm farnwr ~ tht•y a lrc:ul) nrf' tu tlw Whe[...]A nn1..-umm[...]1:i,:: |
| [...]om County 1913 The statement of the First National Bank H1stoncal Society by Charles E. Sweeney, President of showed G. F. Burla, President, William Bend[...]Bank.] President, E. A. Howell, Cashier, F. M. Lipp, Assistant 187[...]Cashier. The Directors were G. F. Burla, T. A. Snidow, 1878 Mrs. Sarah Thompson came to F[...]William Bender, Guss Thompson, Sally B. Howell, a 16 year old bride from Fall River, Kansas in a wagon Charles McDaniel, and E. A. Howell. drawn by two horses and driven by her 1[...]got F. Burla was elected President, E. A. Howell, who had contract with Post to furnish hay, and they lived in a been Cashier since the founding of the bank, was cabin across the Big Hom River appr[...]years, was elected to Junction City at the mouth of the Big Horn. All Fort Cashier, and James J.[...]New Directors were G. F . Burla, E. A. Howell, hidden under the floor of the cabin. 45 men, besides the Guss Thompson, W. J. Scott, the father of Willard Thompsons, at one time kept several thousands of Scott, and W. E. Reno, the latter two[...]is was probably the first B. Howell and T. A. Snidow. All Directors were now unchartered and u[...]local men. One June 7, 1918 Frank M. Heinrich, E. A. stands. Howell, and H. C. Bostwick, President of the 1897 Fort Custer de-activated Stockyards National Bank in Omaha, purchased a large 1903 Fort Custer to be torn down under super- interest in the First National Bank of Hardin. Mr. vision of B.I. A . at Crow Agency. Heinri[...]trme. One June 9th, G. F. Burla resigned as acres of land across the Big Horn River to the West of President, and Director E. A. Howell was elected old Fort Custer where Hardin[...]rich was elected Vice sale was conducted on terms of sealed bids for cash. President. 190[...]B. 1920 On January 16th H. W. Howell, a brother of Arnold and E. . Howell, from Billings, for $550.00 and E. A. Howell, was elected Assistant Cashier and F. M.[...]er where Archie Grover's drug Heinrich, E. A. Howell, W. J . Scott, W. E. Reno and store now stands. Mr. Arnold and Mr. Howell had a Guss Thompson were elected Directors. Ca[...]and Surplus had been increased to $109,547.80. with a capital account of $10,000.00 the Bank of Hardin C. M. Squire opened a real estate office in the rear was established and opened in ovember, 1907 with J. of the bank and operated the Bank's Real Estate B. Arnold as President and E . A. Howell as Cashier. Department there. 1908 Advertised in first issue of Hardin Tribune, 1920 The Hardin Townsite[...]x month savings and 6% on 1 year site for a new sugar refinery. savings. These are almost ide[...]einrich and Major S. 1908 In August the Bank of Hardin changed its G. Reynolds, father of Carolyn Riebeth, replaced W. J. name to the First ational Bank of Hardin when it Scott, W. E. Reno and Gu[...]5, 1908. It was 1922 On July 21, E. A. Howell resigned as organized with $25,000.00 capital, and J . B. Arnold was President and F. M. Heinrich was elected President. F. President with E. A. Howell as Cashier. The first Board M. Lipp, who had been with the Bank since 1911, was of Directors consisted of J.B. Arnold, E. A. Howell, T. elected Vice President and Cashier. Howell remained on A. Snidow, Carl Rank.in and Sally B. Howell, wife of E. the Board of Directors. A. In September 1908 J . B. Arnold sold his interest in In the year of 1922-23, state banks closed their the Bank to G.[...]Yellowstone County Com- doors. missioner from Billings, who moved to Hardin in 1923 In January the First ational Bank took a October and replaced Sally B. Howell on the Board of full page ad in the Tribune making a strong showing- Directors. At that time the Bank had total resources of no borrowed money and carrying a big cash reserve. At $68,406.25 . 1908 slogan "A city with a reason". the end of 1923 the Bank showed: 1909 Two Leggin Canal[...]$104,819.33 structed. City of Hardin incorporated.[...]Loans 487 ,217 .3 1 of the First National Bank of Hardin shows William In Febr[...] |
| Thomas D. Campbell, in a speech, predicted that On October 2[...]petitioned the State Banking Department to have A. H. people.[...]as Receiver to replace George Swords. Lots of publicity predicting a railroad would be 1926 In November, 1926 F. M. Lipp moved to built South of Hardin to St. Xavier in near future. Hysham where he had accepted the position of Cashier 1924 Bank continued to grow and new deposits of the First National Bank of Hysham. were promptly loaned out. In January, 1[...]er being closed for 14 five Banks in the County with combined resources of months, the First National Bank of Hardin re-opened nearly $1,500,000.00. its doors with 80 stockholders. The new officers were as[...]ar that Hardin started receiving follows: A. S. Broat, President, J . J . Ping, Vice electricity from the Montana Power Company. President, 0. E. Anderson, of Terry, Montana, Cashier, Farmers in the ar[...]n stenographer for and muskmelon. There was lots of oil well drilling the Bank the past tw[...]The newly elected Board of Directors were as Lots of talk about a canning factory to be located follows: A. S. Broat, J. J. Ping, F. M. Heinrich, C. H. in Hardin. Lots of moonshining and illegal "still" ac- Asbury, Chairman, W. E . G. Humphries, J . L. tivity with consequent arrests and court cases. Hagerman, and Frank Kopriva. In April of this year, the Indian citizenship Act The bank was opened with: allowed Indians to vote. Reports stated there w[...]$76,417.24 1925 On November 27th of this year the doors of Total Resources 330,153.69 the First National Bank of Hardin were closed by Total Loans 146,433.00 George Swords of the Montana Department of After the bank had re-opened, a celebration in the Banking. The reason given was for the protection of the form of a public dance was held in the Sullivan Hall depositors. This closing left Hardin with only one with Mr. and Mrs. J . J . Ping and Frank Heinrich bank-the Big Horn County Bank. At the time of serving punch. closing, the deposits of the bank were $448,121.24 and The Trustees appointed for the Slow Assets of the loans were $416,785.88.[...]o the George Swords was appointed Receiver of the depositors, were W. E. G . Humphries, A. H. Roush and Bank.[...]approximately 500 depositors 1928 A.H. Roush replaced J. L. Hagerman on the of the Bank met in the Harriett Theatre and elected a Board and William Heinrich replaced F. M.[...]his 1929 On December 31 Total Assets of the bank Committee was composed of the following: were $348,890.33. Approximately 95% of deposits in old W. E. G. Humphries, Chairman, R. A. Vickers, First ational Bank were paid in full . Secretary, John MacLeod, J. H. Ransier, Rev. J. A. 1930-1945 During this period of years the following Meeke (Sam's father).[...]er was dicated that the depositors would not lose a dollar. shown-"Sunny Side Up." A. . Broat left Hardin and[...]by 0 . E . Ander on. J . J . In 1925 Ping's Store established a branch store in Ping became President of the Bank to replace A. . Powell, Wyoming called "The Leader".[...]n Bakery an- Bowman replaced him . C. H. A bury left in 1934, and nounced that, due to the steady increase in the price of H. G. Wells replaced him . Frank Kopriva left in 193 , wheat, and consequently the price of flour, they were and Ira Haynie replaced him. A. H. Roush died in 1940, forced to incr~se the price of bread to two loaves for 25 and Cornelius Rou[...]ital. Surplus & Undivided Bank and pay 70 percent of their deposits to the Profits 127, 93. 3 depositors over a three year period. The plan had to be[...]J . Ping, The plan was accepted. On June 4, 1926 a meeting of President and Chairman, H. G . Wells, Ira Haynie, the Stockholders of the Bank was held and seven Corneli[...]n January 11 , 1945 the Big Horn ounty Humphires, A. S. Broat, F. M. Heinrich, John Kopriva , State Bank was form ed from the consolidation of the J . L. Hagerman of Sarpy, C. H. Asbury of Crow First ational Bank of Hardin and the Big Hom Agency .[...]January 29, 1945. The First ational Bank dated from notes totalling $100,000.00 due 1, 2, 3, and 4 ye[...]pened in Gay Building where Big Horn did not have a legal obligation to do this, but did it as a County Bank had been. W. E. Warren retired from the moral obligation . banking business after 55 years of being associated[...] |
| with Nebraska and Montana banks. Richard E. Warren Bank and became a member of the Fed. Moved to is devoting his time entirely t[...]ere Jack's Pharmacy is now located. Directors of the new bank were: J . J. Ping, The purpose of the merger was stated to be for economy Chairman, H. G. Wells, CarlE. Bowman, Fred M. Lipp, of operations, greater facilities, and better servic[...]The Officers of the new Hardin State Bank were: J. Officers w[...]bookkeepers. The Directors of the new Hardin State Bank were:[...]J . W . Chapman, A . H. Bowman, W. E. Warren, Walter[...]showed: 1911 On August 21 of this year a charter was Total Resourc[...]1923 On January 15, 1923, the doors of the Hardin Lewis, Vice President, E. L. Kelley Jr., Cashier. State Bank were closed because of a steady withdrawal Directors were: J . W. Chapman, W. E. Warren, J. of deposits. The affairs of the Bank were placed in the F. Young, L. D. Lewis, and A.H. Bowman. hands of the State Banking Dept. Borrowers were told[...]replaced L. D. Lewis as Vice President and other of- G. Reynolds was appointed Receiver of the Bank. ficers remained the same. Directors Le[...]ers and Young were replaced by E. L . Kelley Jr., A. H. found that more than half of School District 17-H Roush, and R. P. Ross.[...]At the annual election on January 11, 1918, J . of the bank. They considered calling a special election W. Chapman was elected President[...]Bushlen, Ass't. Cashier. The first three officers with R. On February 9, 1923, County Treasurer Harvey H . P. Ross and A. H. Roush formed the Board of Direc- Barnett and the County Commissio[...]ed in Hardin. from the assets of the Bank. Total Resources on Dece[...]On June 22 the Court held the Directors of the were:[...]25,613.05 resigned as Receiver of the Hardin State Bank to be 1919 On April 7, 1919 the Bank changed hands Receiver of the 1st ational Bank of Forsyth. H . W. and Charles W . Greening of Miles City was elected Vice Bunston was appoi[...]eed W. E. Warren; George L. Peterson Bank. of Butte was elected Cashier to succeed E. L. Kelley Jr. 1924 Warrants were issued for the arrest of J. W. Chapman and R. P. Ross remained on the Board Greening, Rarey and Skaug in connection with perjury of Directors.[...]sentenced to 3 to 6 years on the charge of grand larceny President, C. W. Greening, Vice President, George L. for transferring $1500.00 from the account of Johnston Peterson. Cashier, and Henry Skaug, Ass't. Cashier. R. Boyd, a depositor, to Rarey 's personal account. The[...]Greening and Skaug cases were dismissed for lack of elected: J. W. Chapman, Charles W . Greening, Geo[...]1925, that Court ordered the John Boylam replaced A.H. Roush who had resigned in case dismis[...]caused a very substantial loss to its depositors. 19[...]354,805.75 chartered on August 31, 1917, with authorized capital 1922 On March 6, 1922, the Hardin State Bank of $40,000.00. merged with the Stockmens ational Bank and The Officers of the new Bank were: A. H . Bowman. operated under the name and charter of the Hardin President, W. 0. Lee, Vice[...]ock in the Federal Reserve Cashier, and A. J . Sheets, Ass't Cashier.[...] |
| The Board of Directors was composed of: A. H. 1924 On August 12, 1924, the Fir[...]Walter 0. Lee, C. T. Garvey, B. S. of Lodge Grass entered Voluntary Liquidation and Langworthy, Vice President of Montana Natn'l Bank closed its doors. There was no loss to depositors on this of Billings, W. L. Lawson, General Manager of Great Bank closing. Western Sugar Co. of Billings, E. A. Richardson, Vice President of Bank of Commerce of Forsyth and Crow Agency, Montana and Frank H. Conner of Clay, Robinson and Co.[...]February 20, 1919, and opened on April 7, 1919 with Total Capital & U. P. 40,634.86 Capital of $20,000.00 and Surplus of $5,000.00. 1919 On January 31, T. H. Mouatt was elected to The Officers of the new Bank were: A.H. Bowman, the Board of Directors and W . 0. Lee and W. L . Pre[...]ar, Vice President, Albert Sheets, Lawson retired from the Board. Cashier-wh[...]ee building at the corner The Directors of the new Bank were: A. H . of 4th St. and Center Ave. (where Jack 's Pharmacy i[...]S. G. Reynolds. The holdings of Garvey and Langworthy were 1921 E. C. Woodley replaced W . M. Spear as a purchased by Roy Covert of Billings, Bert Rarey of Director. The published Statement of December 31, Baker, A.H. Roush, and R. P. Ross of Hardin. 1921 showed: Officers of the newly organized Bank were: A. H. Total Resources $121,197.55 Bowman, President, E. A. Richardson, Vice President,[...]pital, Surplus, & U. P . 38,611.93 Directors of the newly organized Bank were: A. H. 1922 George W. Messick of Sheridan, Wyoming Bowman, E. A. Richardson, W . L. Lawson, T. H. replaced A. H. Bowman as a Director. Mouatt, and A. H. Roush.[...]ent, E . C. Woodley, Vice Directors were composed of the following; ,'\ . H . President, Albert Sheets, Cashier. In addition to the Bowman, E. A. Richardson, Roy J . Covert, T. H. thr[...]also elected Mouatt, Bert Rarey, R. P. Ross, and A. H. Roush Directors, M . H . Tschirgi[...]Messick were 1922 The Stockmens' Bank merged with the elected Directors. Hardin State Bank on March 6, 1922, in a voluntary 1924-1935 In 1925 Henry mall, row Agency liquidation. It was merged with and taken over by the merchant, replaced Geo[...]Stockmens ' 1935 In 1935 the Board of Directors was reduced location in the Lee building. There was no loss to the from 5 members to 3 members with the following being depositors on this merger.[...]and lbert heets. The FIRST NATIONAL BA K OF LODGE GRA published tatem[...]99,432.60 1918 The 1st ational Bank of Lodge Grass was Capital, u[...], 1918, and opened for business on March 25, 1918 with capital of 25,000.00. The first published statement appeared on May 24, 1918 and listed A. H. Bowman, President, J. W .[...]6th Bank Directors: . H. Bowman, W. M . Spear, W. A. Pet· 1920 The t. Xavier tate Bank was chartered on zoldt, R. J. Miller, and A. M. Stevenson. pril 7, 1920 and opened for busine sin ay , 1920 with On December 31, 1918, the arne Officers and capital of 25,000.00 and urplu of 2,500.00. Directors as before named were listed on the year end The Officers of th.i Bank were: A. H. Bowman, published statement and it showed:[...]esources 140,745.30 Cashier, and A. F. Howorth, s't ashier. To[...]nd U. P. 25,613.05 The Directors of the new Bank were: A. H . 1919-1923 On September 14, 1923, J.M. T[...]. Roush, R . P. Ro s, Harry Lobdell, and formerly with the 1st ational Bank of Hardin and for John E. Keough. This bank appeared to have been the past two years, Cashier of the 1st ational Bank of promulgated by Officers and Directors of the Stock- Lodge Grass, has taken the job of Cashier of the Bank mens ' ational Bank in Hardin. of Commerce in Sheridan, Wyoming.[...]December 31, 1923 published statement listed a proper tart by a h.ier B rt Rarey of the tockmens' J . Mason Daniel as Cashier and W. T . Benbrooks as a ational Bank of Hardin". Mr. Howorth, who has been new Director. It also showed Total Resources down to with the Stockmens' ational Bank of Hardin, will $64,302.16.[...] |
| [...]St. warrants more help. Mrs. Charles McGarrity of St. 1937-1944 The published statement of December Xavier made the first deposit.[...]the following: 1922 The published statement of December 31 Total R[...]Bank surrendered its' charter and merged with the 1st From the May 7th, 1920, issue of the Hardin Tribune. National Bank of Hardin forming the Big Horn County[...]Crow Agency State Bank will open on June 1, 1920 with In addition to the Banks in Big Horn County, there Capital of $20,000.00 and Surplus of $5,000.00. E. A. were several individuals and business[...]cy merchant and Forsyth types of loans. Some of these concerns were: banker to be President. The Cashier will be named later. The Directors of the new Bank will be: E . A. HARDIN BUILDING AND LOAN Richardson, Crow Agency, A.H. Bowman, Hardin, J. Opened[...]1916, C. F. Gillette, W. Scally, Crow Agency, E. A. Galliher, Crow Agency, Secretary. In[...]Bank and consequently it never opened its' doors. A building had NORRIS & WAD[...]MERCHANTS LOAN COMPANY of Billings This was the last Bank to be Chartered i[...]was Chartered on loans. MRv 9, 1923 with Capital of $35,000.00 and Surplus of 3.b00.00. The Incorporators of this bank were: W. E. Warren, Hardin, J. W. Chapm[...]W. Bun ton, Hardin. When the Bank opened, it had a Guarantee Fund of 315,000.00 which was 9 times the Capital ccount and formed a reserve. The published statement of Sep· tember 14, 1923 how : Total R[...]1930 The March 27 statement showed Total Re ource of $440,511.36[...]Ass't Cashier. 1936 In 1936 William Reilley from Miles City and Red Lodge was elected Vice Preside[...]to Hardin and was elected Cashier. The Board of Directors elected in 1936 were : W. E. War[...] |
| TBB OBOW BBBBBVATIOH A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF 7. There were no scho[...]where the Government, under the Crow Treaty of 1868 By Robert Yellowtail, Sr. provided a boarding school for the half-hearted at- This is a review of Crow Tribal History since 1884 tempts to educat.e Crow Indian children, of which I was when I was born into the Crow Tribe and I have lived one. The whit.e employees of Crow Agency, to solve my entire life under 16 different American Presidents their problems employed a t.eacher and were permitted beginning with President Grover Cleveland to to use a vacant room adjoining the laundry where President Nixon. This long period of eighty-four (84) their children were taugh[...]he conditions years, watching the administrations of government that prevailed in the McKinley Administration. under the various Presidents of both political parties, Kenneth Lewis of Hardin is the only one still alive of has given me the rare privilege and understanding of the employees' children and can attest to the conditions the workings of American politics and the ad- of the early 90's herein referred to. ministration of Indian Affairs by either Party as they 8.[...]Today as I look back over the years, I think of the Montana and, thus, it was a case of the survival of the people-both Indian and whit.e-that I was born[...]ir Indian Medicine Doctors to and amongst, I have a mixed feeling of joy and sadness whom they went for Medical treatment but the whit.e as I remember them and see them in my mind's eye, p[...]hey were still alive to see the great and as a matt.er of comparison, we have at Crow Agency, a unbelieveable changes that have taken place since their modern Public Health Hospital equipped with every death.[...]l equipment known to the AMA, which To those of the present generation, you can only the[...]nothing about. When I reflect guess at the kind of life your fathers and mothers lived, back to th[...]rugged frontier life that they lived without any of the know what they are talking about. Every condition of modern conveniences that you enjoy today.[...]ng the food and living Let me set forth some of the modern conveniences facilities they ha[...]days" just never existed; and it is a wonder that we, 1. There were no trains in th[...]when the Burlington and N. P. were granted rights-of- 9. This country was still wild in t[...]le across country. deer of the lower areas had been driven into the Big 2.[...]pulled by four-horse vanished. t.eams from Wyoming to Cust.er Junction on the The tilling of the soil wa the new method of Yellowstone River, thence to destinations at Ft. securing a livelihood for the Crows, which they did not Benton on the Missouri River-the t.erminus of steam take kindly to until they had work hor es big enough to boats from St. Louis and thence to destinations at Ft.[...]forced upon them. It was a.musing and fun to watch the 3. All passengers[...]addle poni to four-horse stage coaches from Wyoming to Ft. Cu st.er plow , and trying[...]owstone River, thence to destinations all with government employ called "Bo Farm[...]conveyances. supervising the effort, with an Indian trying to lead[...]each pony and another Indjan u ing a whip to urge the 4. All travel in those days[...]their appearance. the plows trying to plow a straight furrow and thus, Wagons were too slow an[...]the show continuing all day to the merriment of all when the trains began taking o°"er the duty of hauling concerned. This was the beginning of farming by the freight and people, and the ox-teams and horse-drawn Crow Indians in the early 90's . A complete re rsal of passenger state coaches relinquished that duty. securing their living from the chase of wild game, which 5. There were no t.elegraph[...]invaded his country and destroyed his mode of living, penetrated this country yet. All urgent messages were way of life, his native culture and left him to survive a by couriers on horseback of the Paul Revere kind . best he could under the new whit.e man 's way of living. 6. There were no wire fences between Sheridan, It was a case of plowing the earth for food or starve in Wyoming and Billings Montana as all of this area was economic want and mi[...] |
| development of their children so that they will be able lives; the period when they gave up their way of life and to compete on an equal footing with whites in the culture as they and their forebears lived it from time busine s world of this country for their livelihood. immemorial; that of a nomadic huntsman whose 10. At about this time[...]ll swing to the Montana ranges. elson Story, clothing and shelter, in exchange for the white man's who was a local cattle raiser, initiated grazing the Crow way of life which meant living in a confined small spot Reservation ranges and employ[...]s for his This period in the life of the Crows which I was cattle horse-working herds. Other cattle men with born into and helped live it was, in my judgment, the herds from the Texas drives, such as the 04, UT, FUF happiest period in the lives of the Crow people. We had and other cattle outfits[...]. leases for 3 cents per acre on the lush ranges of the Watson, Captain George Stouch, E. H. Be[...]John E. Edwards and Major S. Reynolds, all of whom bringing $2.00 and more per acre. The Crow[...]rs and yet through their transition period of adjustment to the the Crow people are languishin[...]ll now, the misery because they hadn't the money with which to social life of the Crow people reached its happiest peak graze[...]s is still 1910, and during the administration of President going on. All of the Indians' economic woes were Theodo[...]raising and the 11. The General Allotment Act of 1887, known as the education of their children in the Reservation schools, Dawes Act, was an Act of Congress to speed up the sale both secular and Government Boarding Schools at of Indian land to the whites. The Indians under this[...]ncement Act, were allotted 160 acres to the heads of families since the Reservation system was i[...]the reser- the whites. In this manner vast areas of Indian lands vation schools was sub-standard and the courses of were transferred to the whites and soon thereafter the study were never in accordance with the course of study Indians became a landless horde seeking Government prescribed by the Board of Education of Montana. aid to urvive. Thus began the Indian problem of today Instead, the children of the Crow Agency Government which the Government it. elf created. All of the Indians' Boarding School were forced to do[...]to get idea being, to keep the children out of camp-the boys the Indians· lands.[...]there were no graduations from the eighth grade, and[...]CROW AGENCY they were of age, then turned loose to live as best The Capital of the then Known World they could,[...]nothing more than a prison to hold them there im- s previously[...]prisoned until they reached adult life. I was one of such between the heridan. Wyoming area and Billing , Montana was still a va t tretch of wild country, which imprisoned children sinc[...]napped from my Mother's arms by Policeman White was governed from Ft. Custer at the junction of the Little Hom and Big Horn Rivers, where the U.[...]nsferred to the big in the control and government of both the Cheyenne[...]rade School-the Carlisle ~d Crow Indians, in ~ase of any warlike upheavals by School of the West until 1910, when I returned to the[...]Reservation where I have lived ever since. either of these two tnbes, as the warlike tendencies of both the Cheyennes and the Crows had not completely ow back to the social life of the Crows. During subsided from the Custer Fight, which was only years this period, social life of the Crows boomed to its pr vious, and bitter animosities were like live coals greatest heights. All of the Crows of the seven Districts needing only a little fanning, and a full fledge shooting of the Crow Reservation vied with each other to would be in progress. Thus, Ft. Cus[...]~ protecting shield for all non- Indian residents of this that they had adopted. This friendly com[...]exerted in all aspects of the white man's life.[...]In 1903 Major Reynolds, vith all of the tribe's The Social Life as it exi ted at both[...]d elders, decided to, each y'¾lr, r,ut on a white man's Crow Agency, from the time of Pre ident Cleveland on agricultural fair in which they could compete with each down through President T. Roosevelt' administration. other in the production of agricultural products, and This period in the lives of both the Crows and engage in all of their tribal sports, dances and other Cheyennes could well be termed the crossroads of their sacred rituals. This was enthus[...] |
| of the tribal elders and the annual Crow Tribal Fair was satisfaction as the best period of my life a t.h y h Jped the result - see Mrs. E. A. Richardson 's vivio account me to view life in its true per pective. Th y w r t h of one of these tribal celebrations. Shortly thereafter, molding years of my life, and hav kept m in an un· the Washingto[...]derstanding mood. have similar shows and, as a result, there are such Law and order on[...]ws all over the Indian country now. At one of these Crow Fairs-1906 I think - Coach[...]stated, t h re w re five ub tation , Pop Warner of Carlisle was present looking for football a[...]ard dash was called, were as follows: each of the seven districts of the reservation sent forth 1. Pryor, on t he extreme w t end of t h Crow two runners. This race was to determine[...]ng the Crows. All runners were charge of a boss farm er, and a siz.abl numb r of row s tripped down to their breech clouts, bare-footed , as who lived there with chief Plenty oups. running spikes were unknown i[...]The Black Lodge District, immediately north of runners standing on the starting line to start with the Crow Agency and extending to the mouth of th Big firing of a pistol ; Pop Warner holding a s top wat.ch to Horn River, t hence up th Ye[...]3. The Reno District, immedia ly south of ro s tanding on the finishing line with Mr. Reynolds to Agency, and ext.ending[...]He did, and when the race was Sand Creek, with i headquarte at Ganyowen. over Mr. Warner turned[...]said , 4. Lodge Grass Di trict from and k to t.h " Mr. Reynolds, the world 'e record is broken. Were this Mon tana-Wyomi ng boundary line , with it race a regular and official race, a new record would be headquarters at what is now Lodg town. declared." The Black Lodge Dis trict was the proud possessor of the Reservation title. Thus, sports and all 5. The Big Horn District on th Big Hom Riv r kinds of athletic contests have been a main feature of valley to its confluence with th Litt! Horn Ri r. the Crow Fairs.[...]These were the ub-di · ion of th Cro r- ow as for the ocial lile activiti of the white em- vation with their district h dquarte und r a bo ployees of the Government and their famili at Crow[...]c . row Agency by a policeman couri r ho carried hi t Crow Agency, t he white employees were a m sag by the police on ho back. Th" th happy bunch. T here were a large group of them here administrative, law and ord r y m of th during Mr. Reynold 's administration and among[...]n and b For in tance, Mr. E lmer Dove was a fine musician w re disbanded and removed to who organized a fine brass band among the Crow and three. white employ , which compared with any band in th Tb g tate of ontana at that time, a it prinkled with lod . ex-Carlisle band[...]ho a prof ional pi d with the voe · · a mixed choir which ctPr Vlr,.[...]ndian tho good old d y with much and[...] |
| [...]person in this country. What a change under respect for[...]existing law and its enforcement! One of the highlights of autocratic rule on the Crow A new day has dawned for the American Indians Reser[...]will always be respected. They must remember that secure a written permit; if his request was granted, things and questions of policy and administration ate setting forth the number of days granted and the decided politica[...]is means that the Indians must organize in charge of the District he was visiting so that he could a[...]w Indians also, made the Constitutional guarantee of "Human Freedom" the Respectfully submitted to all Indians and their friends , Equal Protection of Law, on Indian Reservations a Robert Yellowtail, a Crow Indian of Montana false deception, and, thus, the Constitution, a dead Editor's Note: Robert Yellowtail was[...]the land. This assertion be sup erintendent of any reservation in the United of Government might and power reverted back to the States. In 1933 he was appointed Superintendent of the days of the "Spanish Inquisition" and the exercise of Crow R eservatio n and served in that capa[...]ee, and how the Indian 1945. I n 1917, when a very y oung man he was chosen Bureau got away with it under all of the Presidents of by the Crow Chiefs to answer Senator T. J. Walsh who this country has been a mystery to me. Let some officer wished to open t he reservation to non-Indian owner- of the Government try to enforce such arbitrary rule[...]Later he ran for Congress and also answer charges of felonious conduct and sentenced to fo r t[...]General Eisenhower offered him the post of Com- other citizen, under the Civil Rights Act and the missioner of I ndian Affairs but he declined. Yello wtail Cons[...]o r him, desp ite his opposition to its guarantee of the civil rights the same as any other c[...]Robert Yello wtail - first Indian Superintendent of the Crow R e[...] |
| [...]R uins of Old Fort Smith T,lnwn[...] |
| Fir t T, rm of Court of B ig Hom County, 1913 [?] Back row: -, Walter Ham[...], Jason Wilson at work horse, Fred Phelps at row: a ·mall by- tander, pri oner, - right buckling belly band on work horse. Horse with Taken in front of old Lammer building which served as ad[...]1e wagon climbing the mountain at the head of Rotten Ora . 81 ·c·t ·<i Official of Rig H om ounty, 1 -o |
| [...]on hor eback Breaking a bronc on the Crackenberger ranch P,l of ugar t • 1 1.'; |
| [...]and wagons, 1912 Mormon cricket along fence of B uckley's garden Campbell Farming[...]the Sarpy arM, 1920- lie" RomiTle. ag d |
| [...]tracto and And w filkr, o Plowing with tlu! Woodley Oil-Pull tractor[...] |
| [...]Dell and Walter Standish with pelts of animals caught[...]North B ench Women in front of Washington Hall[...]er's bee yard, 1917 Trapping: Walter Standish with skin of the last wolf he Maschetah Post Office, at the home of Mrs. B ertha E . |
| [...]F. Wilson, Roy Chambers; Sunshine Club of North Valley seated: Rueben Elarth, A. M. Crilly, Ed Kuehn Back row fl t[...]Helen Carper, Mary Besel, seated, Rueben Elarth, A. M. Crilly, Ed Kuehn Andrea [Babe][...]Carper A group of Sarpy Homesteaders Mrs . Mabel Franklin's Sunday[...] |
| [...]D ocking time Stan Lynde-cartoonist, creator of "Rick O'Shay" |
| [...]Dr. Thomas Marquis, author of "Memoirs of A White Crow Indian" talks with Thomas LaForge, a former scout, and subject of the book. Dr. Marquis lived in[...]this and other books. He also had a smal,l museum for a time in Hardin. White Man Runs Him-a Custer Scout[...]Ed Kopac -wheat farmer and generous supporter of[...] |
| [...]lBllllWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-IIIIII •1mna.a11111mu1111n111111111.,•••••"'• ---••--------[...]The Crow Bill became a law on June 4, 1920,[...]thousand (1,750.000) acres of the most fertile[...]land in Eastern Montana, of which approxi-[...]To each of the 1,700 Indians will be allotted[...]Now Available Has a population of 2,0CO, in the neighborhood of 1,000 acres of land. Of f" Is on the mal n line of the Burl i ngton. between[...]as competent and incompetent. If Has three banks with tot,1 depos its of[...]Indians. Competent Indians can d1spoee of If Has two progressive newspapera, a job print-[...]petent Indians may dispose of their land snh- ages and business houses, a new creamery, Ject to the approval of the Department of the steam laundry, and two modern apartment[...]Interior. Thousands of acres of these lands are houses.[...]avaJlable at this time. fl Has a city water system, electric li ghts, tele-[...]n offers to the home seeker phone system, sewer-a, municipal h.ospital,[...]the best land yet undleposed of. The uplands modern grade achoo ls and a $100,000 H ig h School an.ta Carnegie Library.[...]over 100,000 acres of which ls susceptible of Has Methodlat, Congregational, Christian and[...]few years from the Big Horn Canyon Project, a re organized.[...]which was made possible by the passage of the IIHas storm sewers and th irty-five blocks of[...]and on which work is ex- blthu li th ic paving, with shcty-flve more to be[...]Th e Secretary of the Interior Is authorized H.as at It's door[...]marine,, on annual payments covering a period H.ARDlN TH.£. HUB[...]exceed twenty years. modern lines. ft possesses a ftne community[...]directions. A large number of good schools H.iwalJ[...]m,a::--.••--1""'11---------,------"I "Fleet' of 1[...]Hardin, Montana, a Modern Citg on the Custer Battlefield Hiwal.j[...]B rochure on Hardin and opening of part of the Cro w R eservation[...] |
| [...]Hardin the Hub of the Crow[...],r u •s roads, like spokes, lead Lo every part of[...]hub or an empire larger than the State of Rhod e[...]Island, with a wealth of natural resources.[...]II These resources cover a wide range, but their[...]county seat, bas nn area of 5,000 square mlles[...]3,200,000 acres-all but a comparatively email[...]11ortion of which Is tillable land .[...]from the point where the Big Horn River[...]l'J In the fall of 1017, Mr. Thomas D CampiJPII. a[...]Pmerges from the monntalns to Its coniluence[...]with the Yellowstone. Seventy-five m.Ues in[...]the Idea of utilizing id le lndlan land tor raising[...]length and from twenty Lo twenty-five miles In[...]wheat on a big scale as a "Win-the-War" enter-[...]width, it has an area of 1,600 square miles-[...]prise. He enlist ed the approval and support of[...]of producing crops worth at the loweet estimate[...]caUy unlimited backing from J. P. Morgan and[...]$40,000,000.00 a yeu.[...]l, 1918, with headquarters at Hardin.[...]with an altitude of only 3,000 feet, this fav-[...]ored valley was the bone of contention among[...]a single day 300 acres has been plowed and as[...]was the chosen wintering place of the bu.t talo much as 169 acr"" has been seeded by one out-[...]because of Its m.lld climate and luxuriant grass;[...]fit, a tractor pulling three twelve-toot seeders,[...]with a crew ot two men. Seventy-five men are[...]tion the land bas been found to posaess a pro- from army service, to whom preference Is[...],r Otllclalcrop records furnish the proof of lllore t han 100,000 acres of the land In the[...]fact that the originator of the greatest single[...]ha s become a law. the Immediate construction[...]1s assured. This project will . at a comparatively[...]lre,a,endous 1uagn11ude a,i to insure the develop-[...]m~nt of th••[...]favored S<:Ctlon Into one of u,e[...]nn acre anti non-irrlgatt'd land for from $15.00[...]h,i,uance of this !older. The {act.a It briefly 11re- Conditions tor suc~e:.slul div[...]im11rovPd farms arfl to be had al prl('es only a[...]ed upon request. Eastern markets. Recorded yields of potatoes[...]profits. run ns hi gh as 400 bushels to the acre; of[...]I But the only way for the man looking for a alfalfa, ten tons; of wheat. fifty-five bushels; of[...][arm, a borne or a business location lo under corn, sixty-ft ve bushels; of flax, ten bushels; ol[...]•PPiog It with bis own ey<>a. hearing Crom their est sugar test or any beets g[...]The second great re•ource of lhe Big Horn[...]Valley ls water p0wer. At the mouth of the[...]and thrn drawing his own eonrh1•lnna. temperate wne fl ourish[...]" W~ stand baek or every otat ... ment made, but acres were pl :rnted to sugar beets and a factory[...]e world, 's assured nPxt year, giving the fnrmers a cash[...]with onp PX<"epllon. I he largest undeveloped tion crop. Within two and one-halt milPs of[...]WP w11nt you lo ome with tht'm wide op('n. llardin Is a 1.200 acre farm devoted almos t[...]of power will be sutndPnt for the ele<'lrillca- exclusively to the raising of beet seed. Ship- tion of all railroads for hundreds of miles and ments rrom Jlardln la , t year Included[...]Chamber of Commerce consta.,tly increasing demand for lan[...]H A RDIN. MONTANA •Ull possible to obtain Irrigated land of the[...]le avsllnble in the Imm<' most dN1irable sort for from $76.0ll to Slfi0.00[...]"A CITY W ITH A REASON"[...] |
| Approach of the Long Night by Paul Goller Chow Line by Ernie Rader |
| First Rails, north of Lodge Grass by Frank J. Williams[...] |
| [...]..... . .... .. ................... .. 51 Table of Contents ...... . .. . .... .. ..... .. . .. . ..[...]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Baker, E. A. and Irene .............. . ... . ..... . . . ..[...]. 70 Beall, S . A . ..... . .... . ............. . . . ............[...]72 Bentley, Dr. and Mrs. C. A . .............. . .................. 32[...].. 83 Buckley, Phil a.n d Helen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...] |
| [...]..... . .. . ......... .. ... 145 Fowler Family (A . E .) ............................. . .. ..... 1[...]........... ....... 104 Maxham, Frank A. ........ . .... . . . ...... . . . ...... . ....[...]............ .. . . . . .......... 164 Gustafson, A. 0. and Family ...... . . . ............... ..... .. 113 Mitchell, A. L . .......... . .. . .... . ..................[...]... .. ..... 123 Olenik, Edward A .. ......... ... ... ...... .... .............. 1[...]. . . . 127 Peden, Mr. and Mrs. W. A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........[...]. . . 131 Petzoldt, Dr. and Mrs. W. A. .... . ..........[...] |
| [...]. ........ 194 Taggart, Dr. A. T ................ . . .....[...]. . 250 Ransier, Dr. W. A. and Mrs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]. .. 254 Richardson, Ervin A. ..........[...]Vickers, Robert A . ...[...]. ....................... 265 Russell, Dr. W. A. and Family . . . . . . . ........ .. .. . . . ..[...]. ..... . .. 220 Williams, Herbert A. and Family .......[...].243 Notes From Teens and Twenties 288 Stevenson, Mr. and Mrs. A. M .....[...]245 Hardin High " AsWuz·•[...] |
| [...]Settlers . 297 nd Down a Rid r (Poem) .[...]Local Artists . 332a-332c lndu;[...] |
MD | |
| A history of Big Horn County communities; a history of the Crow Reservation, and profiles of families, schools, ranchers, homesteaders,[...] | |
| Local Histories of Montana | |
| Local Histories of Montana |
Big Horn County Historical Society, Hardin, Mont., Lookin' Back: Big Horn County (1976). Montana History Portal, accessed 13/03/2025, https://www.mtmemory.org/nodes/view/5597
