Autumn 2009 www.pioneermuseum.org
A publication of the Gallatin Historical Society
Jane Forsythe on life in Bridger Canyon John Bozeman helps George Custer Meet His Maker Spanish Flu strikes the Gallatin Valley Andrew Wormser - The Booster of Churchill and Amsterdam
In This Issue…
The Pioneer Museum Quarterly
From The Pioneer Museum
Autumn, 2009 vol. 32, No. 4
Page 3 Letters
The Pioneer Museum Quarterly is published four times a year by the Gallatin Historical Society, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the history of southwest Montana and Gallatin County. The Gallatin Historical Society operates the Pioneer Museum at 317 West Main Street in Bozeman, Montana. The museum is open during the winter from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Summer hours (Memorial Day – Labor Day) are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5.00. Members and children 12 & under are admitted free.
Page 4 In their own words…Jane Forsythe. Page 5 “In Flew Enza” The Spanish Flu Outbreak, 1918-1920 -by John C. Russell
Memorials & Memberships
Page 9 Page 12
Pages from the Past
“Gleanings” from by-gone autumns in Bozeman & Gallatin County.
OFFICERS John Russell, Executive Director Ann Butterfield, Assistant Director
John Bozeman Helps George Custer Meet His Maker
DIRECTORS Fred Videon, President Carolyn Manley, 1st Vice President
Andrew Wormser The Booster of Churchill and Amsterdam
-by Dennis Seibel
By Delbert Delos Vandenberg
Milly Gutkoski, Secretary • Peggy Biekert, Treasurer Robin Choate • William Grabow Dia Johnson • J. David Penwell • Pat Brownell • Todd Reier
Page 14
Page 17
Page 21
In the Bookstore
Page 26
Image Gallery
Page 27
NEWSLETTER EDITORS John Russell, Ann Butterfield, Byron & Kay McAllister, Lois Adams.
EMERITAE Grace Bates • Esther Nelson • Lou Ann Westlake • Shirlie White
Issues of the Pioneer Museum Quarterly are mailed to all museum members. Additional copies are available at the Pioneer Museum.
On The Cover… Gateway to Bridger Canyon, Susan and Jack Davis collection.
Please support the Pioneer Museum! The museum operates on admissions, bookstore and photo archive revenue, donations, grants, memberships, and memorials. It is not taxpayer supported. That’s why your continued support is paramount to the museum’s future. Ways you can help the Pioneer Museum 1. BECOME A MEMBER. 2. VOLUNTEER YOUR TIME - Tour guiding, research, museum bookstore, publications, cataloging, displays, articles. 3. REMEMBER THE GALLATIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY IN YOUR ESTATE PLANNING. 4. HELP US BUILD THE ENDOWMENT. 5. GIVE UNRESTRICTED GIFTS FOR ANNUAL OPERATING SUPPORT.
The Pioneer Museum Quarterly Ň www.pioneermuseum.org
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From The Pioneer Museum… Highlights of Summer.
Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce “Green Coat” members relax after their annual summer dinner outside the Pioneer Museum on July Pioneer Museum photo 16.
From Left-to-Right, Kim Allen Scott, Todd Reier, and Anita Nall, all dressed in period piece, ride on the Pioneer Museum Sweet Pea float August 8. Pioneer Museum photo
Summer goes by so fast. That seems to have especially been the case this year, and one of the contributing reasons is how busy we were. At least 1,700 visitors came to the Pioneer Museum in the months of June, July, and August, representing nearly every state in the country and many foreign nations as well. We were pleased to welcome a group from History America Tours, visiting important sites along the Bozeman Trail. The Green Coat Ambassadors, an arm of the Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce, also stopped by, choosing the Pioneer Museum as the location for their annual summer dinner. We were also happy to host the Bozeman Exchange Club for lunch, and the AG chapter of PEO, who stopped by in August for an afternoon tea. And, summer would not be complete in Bozeman without the
annual Sweet Pea Festival. The museum, as it has now for the past several years, sponsored a float in the parade, our theme being “Many People, Many Roots.” Thank you to all the volunteers who worked on preparing the float - bending chicken wire, stuffing napkins, etc. A special thanks goes to Bill and Edith Wright for loaning us their pick-up and small trailer. We also want to single out those who donned period costumes: Todd Reier and his daughter, John Geis, Rachel Phillips, Kim Scott, and especially Anita Nall, a member of the Crow Tribe who so ably represented the Native Peoples. Long-time museum volunteer and promoter Wilbur Spring was our “guest of honor” in the parade, riding in the passenger seat of the pick-up, keeping driver and museum director John Russell company.
Thank You, Pioneer Museum Volunteers!! Lois Adams Becky Adamson Annabelle Anderson Helen Backlin Thia Barnes Peggy Biekert Ellie Bowles Richard Brown Pat Brownell Hali Camper
Robin Choate Giles Cokelet Sally Cokelet Harriet De Witte Tom Egelhoff Jan Elliott John Geis William Grabow Tracy Grazley Willis Griswold
Milly Gutkoski Richard Heuck Mary Dell Hietala Janet Hodgson Ivy Huntsman Skye Huntsman Dia Johnson Naomi Pace Johnson Lain Kay Meredith Lewis
Carolyn Manley Byron McAllister Kay McAllister Francie McLean Ruth Metcalf Mark Miller Nick Nickelson Wayne Oldach David Penwell Todd Reier
Pauline Sager Dee Seitel Wilbur Spring Dolores Uptain Fred Videon Nettie Warwood Glenn Welch Ruth Welch Marcia Woodland Bill Wright Edith Wright
Your generous assistance is the most important reason for the success of the Pioneer Museum! 3
Volume 32ŇNumber 4ŇAutumn, 2009
mentioned were the telephone men that restored the phone lines re-connecting the folks of West Yellowstone and the frightened campers to the outside world as they were rescued. They too, spent some interesting hours swinging on telephone poles in “Jell-O” ground. Pat Oriet
Thank you for the wonderful Quarterly magazine. I love every bit of it. I come across names from my childhood, growing up on 17th and Durston Rd. I won’t ever get to live in my hometown again, but we do have a small bit of real estate now on the east end of town for our final resting place. Keep up the great work! Ann Dixon Anderson This is a belated note to say thanks for working with us on the silent auction at the Emerson. It was great to meet you both! Darcy Western Folklife Center We wanted to thank you for your hospitality and let you know how much we enjoyed visiting the museum. If you are ever in Republic, Washington, stop by the “Broken Budget” Ranch and say hi. Chuck & Marsha Wilson I enjoyed the latest issue of your Quarterly as usual. The article on the Hebgen Lake earthquake was particularly good. However, there is a minor error in the Springhill and Reese Creek article that I would like to bring to your attention. In the first sentence of the next-to-last paragraph on page 18, I found the following: “the Milwaukee Railroad owned alternate sections of the land.” This is incorrect; it was the Northern Pacific Railway that owned the alternate sections of the land. It was indeed the Milwaukee Railroad that built the branch north from Bozeman to Dry Creek, but it was the NP that owned the alternate sections. And it had owned them for more than 20 years by the time the Milwaukee Railroad entered Montana. The Milwaukee Railroad never received any land grants in Montana. But the NP did. Keep up the good work. Roger Breeding
We want to thank you for the hospitality and flexibility in working with us during the production of our television pilot, “Made in Montana.” We are now in the post-production stage, and our plans with the finished product will consist of pitching (it) to major networks and gaining interest from the powers that be in that industry. If the goal is realized, we will hopefully have the opportunity to continue the show in Bozeman and around Montana. Thank you again, and we hope that our professionalism in dealing with you has represented the MSU film program and local filmmakers alike in the best way possible. In appreciation, Kyler Ernst & Brian McCauley Johnson Made in Montana Productions
Many thanks for the excellent article “The Hebgen Lake Earthquake” in the Summer 2009 Quarterly. Yes, it brought back many memories! When you are rudely awakened by a “jolt” that tries to roll you out of bed and a second “jolt” when the phone rings, and the boss is calling your husband to work: “Willie, get up the canyon, the phones are out!” - you can’t forget that night! Many have been recognized for their heroics, hard work, and risks taken to help those trapped that night. One group rarely The Pioneer Museum Quarterly Ň www.pioneermuseum.org
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In their own words… Jane Westerman Forsythe was born in Scarsdale, New York, on August 5, 1912. Raised “with culture and money,” her first visit to Montana was a high school graduation present. Little did she know Montana would become her home, as it was during this trip she met and married Evans Forsythe. Together they purchased a 960-acre site in Bridger Canyon that became “The Forsythe Range” dude ranch. The two operated the ranch from 1932 to 1941. On September 27, 1975, Jane was interviewed by Lee Cooper of the Gallatin County Bi-centennial Project on Oral History.
LC: Mrs. Forsythe, would you first please tell me the story of how you came west and how you met your husband?
JF: No. There’s too much snow up here to cut ice. LC: I see. How did you advertise for your dude ranch?
JF: We came out to a dude ranch, my mother, my sister, and I, in 1929. We arrived the morning of July 2, which is the first day of the Livingston rodeo. It was quite an exciting time with all the rodeo festivities and everything. My husband was head wrangler at this dude ranch, and I married him the day before we were to leave. I came back two years later, and it was very much of a thing with us still, so I stayed here ever since. We hunted all over this part of Montana, trying to find a spot to buy, to put a dude ranch of our own, since that was about the only thing we had in common. This area in Bridger Canyon was the only free one in 1931, so we negotiated to buy this, and Evans recruited two Norwegian carpenters to help us put up the cabins for the dudes. We built two, two-room and bath cabins. We had a gravity flow of water system, which is the only way to do when you don’t have any power to run it from a spring or something. In fact, on our place here, we had the first five bathrooms in the canyon.
JF: Mostly by word of mouth. We got a few dudes from the Chamber of Commerce in Bozeman, but not many. And the Northern Pacific advertised for us. They sent an excellent photographer, I can’t remember his name exactly, except it was Brown, but we had some pictures from years and years, back in the 1930’s. He took some beautiful pictures out here, magnificent pictures of the mountains, parts around here, and everything. LC: And did they make up a brochure? JF: Yes, they had sheets for every dude ranch. LC: How much did you charge dudes to come and stay at your ranch? JF: If I remember correctly, it was about $30 a week apiece. LC: And what would that provide them with? JF: Cabin, kerosene lights (laughter). We did have water - hot and cold running water though! Horses, dude wranglers to go with them, take them out on rides and everything, all their meals and everything of course.
LC: Did you have electricity out here? JF: There was none in the canyon until later. I think it was 1956, or perhaps even later when we got electrical power. LC: What did you use all those years, instead of the electrical appliance you have now?
LC: Did you do the cooking? JF: A good deal of it, yes.
JF: We had an old-fashioned waffle iron that went on the wood stove over an open hole, I guess you would call them. We toasted toast, either in just sort of a grill effect that you could lay over the fire, or we toasted it in the oven, if you get the oven hot enough.
LC: What would a day’s activity out on the dude ranch involve, for you? JF: Well, getting breakfast ready, and getting everybody fed, and putting up their lunches for a ride out in the hills, and uh, then cleaning out the cabins, and then getting supper ready.
LC: What did you have for refrigeration? JF: The creek (laughter). Yes, Evans built a box in the creek, and the water ran through it, and that water runs cold, about 38 degrees, so it wasn’t too bad to keep everything cool.
LC: What type of dudes did you have? What were the people like?
JF: Well, milk. We milked a couple of cows, and the milk was set down there to raise cream. And then we had a ladle skimmer, was about a six inch circle with holes in it, small holes, so that you could just skim off the cream from it.
JF: Well, there’s one wonderful example, and that was a woman who was sent out by her doctor to get away from it all, and she brought her maid. She had the whole lower cabin. Half the time we served her meals over there, because she couldn’t even sit in the same room with her maid! In fact, she always had breakfast in the cabin.
LC: Did you make butter then?
LC: Who had to take that to her?
JF: Oh, yes.
JF: Oh, I did.
LC: What kind of a churn did you use?
LC: Was she a good rider, or was she truly and truly a dude?
LC: What would you keep in the box in the creek?
JF: A little, one-gallon, glass daisy churn, with a paddle wheel that you cranked by hand. LC: Did you ever take in ice in the wintertime too?
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JF: She was a tenderfoot from way back. Evans first saddled her horse, and led. And that still scared her silly so Evans, a cowboy, unused to being on foot, had to lead her horse on foot! And then, she still was scared. She hardly ever went riding. LC: How long did she stay?
they could take it more and more. LC: Where did you get your horses? JF: We bought them all around, wherever we could. Got some at Clyde Park, some down the valley, some up the Gallatin, all around, wherever we happened to hear of someone having horses for sale.
JF: A couple of weeks I think.
LC: Did you have to get a special type of horse for dude riding?
LC: Was that how long people would usually stay?
JF: Definitely. We had to get one which was well broken. It didn’t have to be a gaited horse or anything like that. They didn’t go that far. They were just mountain horses that were easy enough for a dude to handle, that wouldn’t get a notion and take off on their own.
JF: Anywhere from a week to a month, sometimes more. LC: How many dudes would you usually have? JF: Well, we had anywhere from two to sixteen or so. We had an outing, I guess you would call it, of ten boys, twelve boys, different years, with two counselors, who came out from Connecticut. The first year they came out, they were camping along the way, and they stopped here for a week to rest up from putting up tents, taking them down again, and getting their own meals and such. They went on up to Glacier Park, and then they came back for another week before they started for home. And then the next year they just came out, staying in motels along the way, and came here and stayed. LC: Were they very well-versed in wilderness things? JF: Yes, they were. I think they did a lot of camping under Boy Scout outings and stuff like that perhaps. But, they got along pretty well, in every way. LC: Where were the trails that your dudes would follow with the horses? JF: Well most of them were connected with the main ranger trail, which circles the top of the mountains just below timberline, mostly. The Bridger Range, with shortcuts across at Flathead Pass and Ross Peak Pass, goes right on around.
LC: Who would take care of the horses, and shoe them and stuff? JF: Evans. LC: He shod all the horses? JF: Oh yes, yes. He took the shoes off in the fall and put new ones on in the spring. Always gave their feet a rest, so to speak. LC: Would he have to shoe them twice during the season, or would… JF: Oh, no. In fact, one horse, he was reluctant to shoe at all. She’d been brought up in a rocky country and her feet were hard as rocks. She couldn’t get used to this country because there weren’t as many rocks here. LC: Where would you take them for the winter? JF: Down in the valley. Find somebody with a straw stack or a place that kept open pretty well with some feed on it. LC: How did the depression years affect dude ranching? Was it a bad time for setting up a business?
JF: Oh, yes. You could go in on Olson Creek to the Bangtail station, and then up north and come out on Skunk Creek, and down to Brackett Creek, and back up here again.
JF: Well, yes probably. We probably would have had more if it had been good. But, by the time it was getting good again, ‘36, ‘7, ‘8, and through there, why then here came the Second World War in 1941, and after 1941, there was no traffic in dudes at all, and we just suspended matters.
LC: Would they ever go out for an overnight trip on horses?
LC: What did you do then?
JF: Well, I think they took two of the boys who came back a year after they had been here with the whole bunch of country-day boys. And one of them decided he was going to come back again, and he brought a friend, and the two of them stayed for a month and a half, I think, here. And we had a time keeping them busy, I can tell you.
JF: Well, we converted to housekeeping cabins. We put a cook stove, turned one room into a kitchen, and the other room was the bedroom. And then we rented to whoever was interested in a housekeeping cabin.
LC: Were there trails over on the Bangtail ridge too?
LC: But most people didn’t go on overnight trips then, when they were out riding. JF: No, because we could hit so much of the country in just a daylong ride to start out at 9 o’clock in the morning, and get back around six. They’d take their lunches with them. They were stiff the first few times, but we made it short trips at first, and then The Pioneer Museum Quarterly Ň www.pioneermuseum.org
LC: Who were some of the people you rented to? JF: Well it wasn’t very long after the Second World War was over, that they wanted to cut wood, timber of all kinds, for the sawmill and for pulp wood and everything, and we had it in plenty. So, we rented to some of the loggers up here. LC: When did you sell the property and stop the housekeeping cabins? JF: Well, we sold that acreage up there, with the main guest 6 ranch, in 1961. My husband had had an eye on this little plot
“It was just a mud road. It was the type of gumbo-mud that rolled up on the wheels…” Forsythe’s description of the Bridger Road in springtime. These two men endured a similar experience on the road in the late 1920’s. -Lawrence Christie photo, GHS Archives
enough – they didn’t have kindergarten then – so he went to a nursery school, and we lived in town. It was very nice to have electric power then, though we didn’t have too many appliances because we couldn’t use them up here.
down here, and every time he came down here to dig out the spring for our pasturage, he said, “Gee, this is a beautiful place to put a house!” So, we did! LC: Well, when did the ski area start going around here?
LC: Didn’t someone have a comment once on your strong arms?
JF: I’m pretty sure that it started with a short rope tow run by a car engine in 1953. And Evans helped Lyle Olson, the deaf-mute skier, to run that. That was the first tow, and people walked in to where that was.
JF: Yes, that was a girl who came here and stayed. She said “Geez, you must play a lot of tennis.” I said “Tennis? No, I don’t play tennis at all,” and she said “Well, your forearms are so muscular!” And I said “Well, that’s from wringing out diapers!” (Laughter).
LC: When did the road come through then? JF: Well it was a few years later that they started the road up in there, and it ended at the first crossing of the creek. That was that way for several years before Bozeman bought in, and extended the upper road up to the upper chalet.
LC: How often would you go to town to shop when your children were small? JF: Well, I co-opted several of the dudes to run errands for me. We had a mailbag that we used. It was camel-skin, saddle-bag from North Africa that we used for the mailbag. Sometimes, I would send one of the girls down to do my shopping for me, and she could charge groceries or anything like that as long as she was carrying that bag.
LC: Did you own all that property that is now the ski area? JF: Yes. LC: Have you ever regretted that the ski area is there? JF: No, just glad to have somebody use it is all. We got to the point where we couldn’t use it.
LC: Was it pretty easy to get into town in the summertime then? JF: Oh, yes, unless it rained.
LC: Going back now to life in the thirties, you raised a family up here. Would you tell me when your children were born and what it was like to be up here, especially in the winter time with small children?
LC: And then what happened? JF: Well, then the road got sort of impassable. It was just a mud road. It was the type of gumbo-mud that rolled up on the wheels, and soon you found you were pushing your front wheels. Then the back wheels would get jammed up too, and there you sat until
JF: Well the older boy was born in 1932, and well, that was alright, that was in the summer … we didn’t have to get to town. But with the second one, coming along in January of ’36, why, I moved to town to stay with friends until he was born. We all moved to town when our girl was born in ’38. Pete was old
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you dug them all out by hand or something, then you could go a little bit further until it all got banged up again. But in winter, we went in maybe once every two weeks, and went in overnight. We took a sled, with our team, from here, about halfway down the road, and then we picked up our car that was parked with the neighbors, and went on into town and stayed in a motel overnight, and took in a movie. Then we did all of our shopping and came home the next day. LC: Where did your children go to school? JF: We went to town, moved to town every fall, they were in school in town because it was just too dad-blamed far to commute on a lousy road. They, most of the winter, would have had to be on horse–team sled. And though my neighbor did it for two years, they wore out three teams of horses thoroughly every winter.
JF: Well, mostly they went to bed. (Laughter). After riding all day, and full of fresh air and lots of husky food, why they weren’t too interested in staying up very long, but we did sit and chat by the fire a good deal with the adults. The kids, if it was a beautiful summer evening, they went out and played tag, you might say, all over creation. They had a terrific time with that. LC: When you first came up here, how isolated were you from other people? JF: I think the nearest neighbor was three miles down the canyon, old Jack Zahn, the Swiss that came over here in 1912, I think it was. He was quite the guy – very enterprising person and a hard worker. He believed in doing everything by hand, and he had the Swiss type of interest in keeping his land clear of underbrush and everything, wherever it was cut over, it was clean as a whistle – everything cleaned up, all the stuff burned up and out of the way.
LC: What activities did you have on winter evenings up here LC: Did you have any other neighbors, shortly after that? when your children were small? JF: Yes, the Yadons lived about two miles down the road, I guess, JF: Oh, we played cards, there were many different varieties of when we came, and then they moved out, and then somebody else cards. When my sister and her husband were here, we played a moved in later. And then the Dentons, Gale and Erma Denton, little bridge at times. It was auction rather that contract bridge. moved into that place, and we used to go down there to get milk. And, we played Russian bank, and we played rummy. We even played dominos – that can be a cutthroat game when you set your LC: So then, you really didn’t have a lot of contact with people mind to it. We had a double nine set that was really something, a then, in those first years. lot of fun. LC: Did you have a radio? JF: Oh, yes. We had excellent reception all winter. Evans was listening to KNNX, Los Angeles, one night after we had had a terrific storm, and he heard that a plane had gone down in Bridger Canyon, northeast of Bozeman. He had heard an odd noise earlier in the day, and had gone outside – the wind was blowing so he couldn’t see a thing – it was just shrieking, and he couldn’t hear anything. Well, it turned out this had gone down here about half to three-quarters of a mile from us, south, and he had known nothing about it until 10 o’clock that evening when he was listening to the news.
JF: Well, yes, pretty well. We could always visit with the neighbors, used to go down and play cards in an evening, and it was usually sun-up before we got back on the road (laughter). LC: What do you remember about the Flaming Arrow being put in down there? JF: Well, we put up some of the workmen - they lived with their families up here. And, after all, they were building that in the winter, so the cabins were vacant – we didn’t have any dudes then, so we thought, might as well have them come up and occupy the cabins. LC: When was that, that that was going in? JF: 1934 and 1935. They had a heck of a time getting all the materials to build that with. I’m not talking about the logs, I’m talking about the finish lumber, and rough lumber, and the tarpaper for the roofs, and the windows, and doors, and stuff like that there – all had to be brought up from town, and if the road was bad, why it didn’t get up.
LC: Now, which plane crash was that?
JF: That was one of the first big Lockheeds for the Northwest Airlines, and it was a defect- well, it wasn’t exactly a defect, it just wasn’t built strongly enough to cope with the winds we had here that day. The wind was blowing madly from the west right over the top of the mountains, just below that, there was a south LC: Why do you and your husband still live way out here in wind in the canyon, and below that, there was a north wind comBridger Canyon? ing in too! So, it just tore the tail fins right off the plane. JF: Because it’s the best place in the world. I still think it’s by far LC: Did your husband find any of the things from the crash? the nicest place to be, to live. JF: Yes, the airlines asked for the pieces so that they could find out exactly what had happened. And, he went hunting, he found Following their retirement, The Forsythes continued to live in Bridger Canyon, where Jane was a volunteer weather watcher for the National one, and a neighbor down the canyon found three of them. Weather Service. Evans’ experiences were the inspiration of Linda
LC: I meant to ask you before, how did you entertain dudes after Peavy’s book Allison’s Grandfather. He died in 1979. Jane Forsythe they’d been riding all day long? died January 13, 2004. The Pioneer Museum Quarterly Ň www.pioneermuseum.org
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“In Flew Enza” The Spanish Flu Outbreak, 1918-1920 -by John C. Russell
I had a little bird, Its name was Enza. I opened the window, And in-flu-enza.
within days. By mid-October, there were eight other confirmed cases, all carrying the usual symptoms: a sudden onset of dizziness or weakness, body pains and headaches, and a sudden rise of body temperature to as much as 103 or 104 degrees. Many victims had also contracted a sore throat or laryngitis. On Tuesday, October 15, 1918, the Bozeman Health Board closed all public “gathering places” - schools, theaters, churches, pool halls, soda fountains, etc., until further notice. The order came just days before the State Board of Health did the same statewide. Margaret Gee, then a senior at Gallatin County High School, remembered that “there were so many people down with the flu – every once in a while, we had to go to the funeral of someone who had died… My mother took us all to Belgrade to Dr. Kress, and he had a new serum. He inoculated the whole family, and we didn’t get the flu very hard – in fact, I never did get the flu.” Montana State College officials closed the campus until after the Christmas holiday, but because of the war, the U.S. Army ordered members of the Student Army Training Corps to continue on-campus training. On October 12, one of the SATC members wrote in his diary “there’s lots of excitement about the Spanish influenza. They say it is coming west. I don’t believe it will hurt us.” His optimism changed within a week, a notation in his diary acknowledging, “some of the boys have it.” On October 21, the diarist lamented that there were no more dates – “the girls at the dorm are all quarantined.” SATC member Paul Davidson remembered that a room on the top floor of Montana Hall was converted to a hospital. “They took all the seats out of that, and put in beds, and they carted food from the Home Economics Department up there, I think. And the college girls served as cooks and nurses and whatever they possibly could, both at the college and in town.” An additional hospital was also set up at Gallatin County High School. A week later, following reports of three more local deaths, County School Superintendant Ida Davis ordered all rural schools in Bridger Canyon closed, though that portion of the county had had no reported cases. By the end of October, there were fifty-five patients at the high school hospital receiving treatment from doctors, nurses, and community volunteers. One of them, nurse Agnes Talcott, would herself contract and die from the disease in early November. Unlike today, inoculations to ward off the disease were not common. Margaret Gee was one of the fortunate few able to get a flu shot. Gallatin Valley residents, as well as those worldwide, were encouraged to eat wholesome foods, get plenty of rest and exercise, and bathe frequently to ward off the disease. People were urged not to spit on the sidewalk, and to cover their face
-1918 children’s rhyme The Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918 was the Black Death of the 20th Century. It killed twice as many people, perhaps as many as 50 million, than the first Black Death, or bubonic plague, claimed between 1347 and 1351. By the time its deathly grip eased in 1919, 20% of the world’s population had contracted the disease. 670,000 Americans- ten times the number of U.S. soldiers killed in World War I – died, including 5,000 Montanans, or 1% of the state’s population. Per capita, Montana tied with Maryland as the second hardest-hit state, surpassed only by Pennsylvania. So devastating was the disease, it depressed the average life span in the United States by ten years. Scientists believe the first wave of the flu started in China in the spring of 1918, when a genetic shift of the common flu virus carried by waterfowl created a never-before-seen strain, a subtype of today’s H1N1. The disease spread into Europe, where the earliest reports of its devastation came from Spain, a neutral country in World War I, unfettered by the censorship used by combatant nations – hence, Spanish Influenza. Troop movements during the war spread the disease throughout Europe, and then on to North America, the South Pacific, Africa and Brazil. The virus, many believe, mutated in the United States near Boston, probably in March. During this first phase, symptoms were typical – aches, pains, coughing, fever, and diarrhea. Those who recovered in this stage were, for the most part, immune from the disease. So too were older people who had survived a major flu outbreak twenty years earlier. The second wave, fueled in part by American troops returning from Europe, started in August and lasted until Thanksgiving. It proved to be much more virulent, particularly among 15-34 year olds. Stories of healthy people in that age range contracting the disease and then dying within hours were common. The first recorded Montana case occurred in Scobey, where 16-year old Viola Paus died on September 27, 1918. "She had taken cold last week, which developed into pleurisy," read her obituary. "On Wednesday she felt better, but later in the evening she suffered a relapse. After a brave struggle, she went to her reward." In early October, the Miles City Daily Star reported that influenza had spread to 21 more Montana cities and towns, including Deer Lodge, Harlowton, Hingham, Rapelje, and Richey. Since the disease had not taken hold in Gallatin County, many Bozeman residents felt immune from the threat. That changed in late September, when a migrant farm worker from Minnesota, William Simpica, contracted the disease and died
(Continued on page 10)
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Volume 32ŇNumber 4ŇAutumn, 2009
(Continued from page 9)
when sneezing. If you were sick, stay home, and avoid visiting those who had the disease. County residents were told not to worry, and “don’t worry others,” but some businesses played on people’s fears. The Bozeman Farmer’s Creamery advertised its pasteurized milk and butter products as being clean of any germs. Walker’s Specialty Store hosted a clothing sale, so customers could invest “more liberally in needed garments” to combat the flu. The Lang Brothers Shoe Store promised patrons they could escape the flu with a purchase of its footwear that would keep one’s feet dry. And the City Dye Works advised everyone to have their clothes dry-cleaned with its “perfect disinfectant”, as their chemicals were “sure germ getters.” Even politics entered the outbreak, with the Republican-backed Weekly Courier accusing Democrats of fostering the spread of the disease when they refused to call off a political rally a few days before the election. A snowstorm that blanketed the Gallatin valley with 15 to 18 inches of snow the first week of November coincided with an abatement of new cases. This led to rumors that the schools would soon re-open, as the “detention” hospital at the high school began plans to relocate patients and fumigate the building. But the decrease in the number of sick was not enough for the town’s physicians to sound the all clear. As Americans enjoyed public gatherings to celebrate the Armistice ending World War I, the influenza outbreak held firm, and in Gallatin County, the death toll mounted. Christine Kamps lived on a farm seventeen miles west of Bozeman during this stage of the flu. “Our father’s youngest brother died of it. The neighbor man’s boy died, and he left a wife
and a young baby. Another good friend died and left a wife and a baby. She was alone in the house when he took sick, and there were no phones or electric lights, so she went out in the yard and waved an old lantern until someone saw it and came to see what was wrong. He passed away that night. Another family lost a couple of young men, and one young man’s wife died. The grandmother raised their little girl.” Erma Reid, then 25 years old, recalled that “coffins were just stacked up at the depot to be taken other places for burial. Businesses were closed. It was a terrible thing.” Reid’s brother-inlaw, who operated The Fountain ice cream parlor in Three Forks, contracted the disease and died five days later. In what the Courier rightly called “the most heart-rending tragedy in years,” all five children of the Lewis Brown family three girls and two boys, ages 4 to 15 – died within days of each other. The Brown’s were farmers who, ironically, had moved from Missouri to the Gallatin Valley in 1917, where the drier climate might improve Mrs. Brown’s health. The grief she and Lewis Brown suffered over their unthinkable loss lasted for about two weeks, for they too died of the Spanish Influenza. As the disease once again spread, the state board of health urged cities to curb any more assemblies. Any chance of Bozeman’s schools reopening before the end of the year were quashed by architect Fred Willson, a member of the city health board, who announced that the board was firmly against the suggestion “… until the epidemic has been stamped out, or a successful method of combating the plague is discovered. Furthermore, I heartily believe that household quarantining will go far towards getting
Bozeman Deaconess Hospital nursing staff, shortly after the end of the outbreak. The Pioneer Museum Quarterly Ň www.pioneermuseum.org
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-GHS Archives
reported in Salesville and Bridger Canyon, and by the time the wave ended in mid-April, three more people had died, and thirtyeight had been hospitalized. In all, there were nineteen confirmed deaths from the flu in Gallatin County in 1919, and another two dozen where the flu was thought to be a contributing factor. When added with the numbers of 1918, the Spanish Influenza was responsible for no fewer than a hundred deaths in Gallatin County. ___________________________
the best of the plague. At least it can do no harm.” Gallatin County remained under strict quarantine rules, but incorporated towns were allowed leeway on operation hours for bars and other public establishments. Attendance at any town gathering required all to wear masks. The third wave of the flu came at Christmas. A week later, the County Health Department released its statistics for 1918: 650 cases of influenza, and including fatalities at MSC, eighty-seven deaths. Statewide, nearly 38,000 cases of influenza were reported in just the last three months of 1918, with 3,222 Montanans dying within a six-week period. In January, with sixty-four Bozeman residents still bedridden by the flu, the schools re-opened. Gallatin County High senior Wason Shannon died at his South Tracy home on January 15. Four more city residents would die before the end of the month, two of them infants, bringing the total January fatality count in Gallatin County to nine. MSC student Glenn Dyer, who had fallen ill in October, died on Jan. 30, 1919. Hundreds contracted the disease for the first time in January, including nearly 200 students in Bozeman public schools. But since health officials considered the current flu a milder strain than that of 1918, classes continued. This included MSC, where instructors agreed to drop “less important” material from required courses, so students could still realize credit for the lost fall quarter. More deaths were reported in February, and in early March came the third wave of the epidemic. Ten Gallatin County high teachers were down with the malady (one of them, Ida Davis, insisted she had only a “bad cold”), their spots filled by substitute teachers. MSC faculty member Emil Jahnke, only 28 years old, died in March, followed days later by the death of Robert Cooley, son of MSC Professor R.A. Cooley. Additional cases were also
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Through the years, there have been variants of the Spanish Flu: the Asian Flu of the 1950’s and the Hong Kong Flu of the 1960’s that together killed more than 100,000 people. The Russian Flu hit in the 1970’s, but was not as deadly. None of these were as virulent as the Spanish Flu, but the latest threat could be a different story. The Spanish influenza virus was transmitted from humans to pigs in 1918, and beginning in 1998, bird and human viruses (such as Asian and Hong Kong) merged with those evolving in pigs to create a novel strain - the swine flu. The similarities between swine flu and the Spanish flu have virologists worried because both began in the spring and hit young healthy adults the hardest. Like the outbreak ninety years ago, the swine flu is about to enter its second phase. The question is, will the second phase this year be as deadly as that of 1918? More people will be able to obtain vaccines than was the case with the Spanish flu. When coupled with other medical advances, we can only hope modern medicines will prevent history from repeating itself. John Russell is the Executive Director of the Gallatin Historical Society. SOURCES: Articles Mullen, Pierce C., and Nelson, Michael L. Montanans and “the Most Peculiar Disease.” The Influenza Epidemic and Public Health, 1918-1919. Montana, the Magazine of Western History, Spring, 1987. Boswell, Evelyn. 1918 Flu Epidemic Shut Down College for Full Term. MSU News Service, May 20, 2009 County Records Record of Diseases Dangerous to the Public Health of Gallatin County, Montana, September, 1901 – September, 1929. Gallatin County Health Department, Bozeman, Montana. Register of Deaths, Gallatin County, 1885-1922. Gallatin County Clerk & Recorders Office. Files Influenza, Gallatin Historical Society Archives. Montanan Yearbook, 1920. Newspapers The Weekly Courier and Bozeman Daily Chronicle, autumn of 1918 - spring, 1919. Oral Interviews: Paul Davidson, Margaret Gee, and Christine Kamps. Gallatin Historical Society Archives. Websites: www.virus.stanford.edu www.pandemicflu.gov/general www.medicalecology.org
Volume 32ŇNumber 4ŇAutumn, 2009
M M ȹJulyȹ1- eptemberȹ30,ȹ2009. Gift acknowledgments have been sent to the families of those you have honored. * - Memorials totaling $100 or more. ** - Memorials totaling $1,000 or more. Names of deceased under both categories are engraved on the museum’s memorial board.
Dr. Johan Asleson Marie & Gerald Delin Dorothy Refling Walter R. & Shirley Sales Darby Bailey Rental Developments, Inc. Dr. John Beall Peggy McLeod Richard Brenden Ray & Betty Bradley Pete & Naomi Pace Johnson Candace Clark Walter R. & Shirley Sales *Kirsten "Kit" Clinton Joe & Milly Gutkoski Gertrude Coffin Carol Denecke Joe & Milly Gutkoski *Marian Cook Wayne & Marcia Edsall Rubye Cooper John Kuipers James Dolan Joe & Milly Gutkoski Walter R. & Shirley Sales Volney W. Steele Raymond Dore Walter R. & Shirley Sales Martha Droge Walter R. & Shirley Sales *Robert Dunbar Doris Ward Nancy Dusenberry Sharon Harvey **Everett & Nina Mae Fraser Mary Clark, CPA
*Esther Groepper Bill Groepper, Jr.
Joyce Little Mary Gee
Kathryn Elaine Hain Ray & Betty Bradley
Arthur Lund Walter R. & Shirley Sales
Cliff Hallstead Pete & Naomi Pace Johnson
*Genevieve Marx Wilbur Spring
Iola Hansen Sharon Harvey
*Gordon McLeod Don & Eloise Hargrove Wilbur Spring
*Inez Hecox Doug & Marilee Langohr Robert & Sharon McIlhattan Yvonne Pickett Wilbur Spring Laurence & Beverly Wallace
Ted Morford Wilbur Spring JoAnn Powell Ray & Shirlie White
Larry Johnson Carol Denecke Carol Denecke
R. G. & Dorothy Roberts Roberts Bookkeeping Svc
Jessie Zeier Nadine Loetzer
Corrections to Memorials listed in the Summer Quarterly: Leona Pritchett should have been listed as‌ Leota Pritchett. Georgiana Anderson should have been listed as ‌ Georgiana Andersen. We apologize for the errors.
Dick Rolfe Alice & Ray Haugland Walter R. & Shirley Sales
*Robert K. Johnson Helen Backlin Sandy Bailey Jack Brunton Thomas Duncan Wayne & Marcia Edsall Wayne & Leona Gibson Dia & Mark Johnson Ruth & James Kraenzel Doug & Marilee Langohr Carolyn & Joe Manley Phillip & Isobelle Manley Gerald & Marilyn Robertson Bob Tootell Steve & Nita Wheeler Ray & Shirlie White
Florence Stewart Joe & Milly Gutkoski Lawrence Stiff Pete & Naomi Pace Johnson *Goldie Tschache Marcia Melton Ann Vanderwall John Kuipers Douglas VanDyken Walter R. & Shirley Sales
Capi Vellinga Kountz Sharon Harvey
Glenn Vogel Ray & Betty Bradley
Thelma Kountz Sharon Harvey Wilbur Spring
*Lester Warwood Ann Butterfield Doug & Marilee Langohr Walter R. & Shirley Sales Wilbur Spring Nettie M. Warwood
John Preston Lawson Marie & Gerald Delin Everett Lay Walter R. & Shirley Sales
The Pioneer Museum Quarterly Ň www.pioneermuseum.org
*Mary Yeley Carol Denecke Wayne & Marcia Edsall
Margaretha Wessel Ray & Shirlie White 12
THANK YOU! To all of our generous donors & members. IF YOU NOTICE ERRORS IN OUR MEMORIAL LISTING, PLEASE CALL JOHN RUSSELL AT 522-8122. The memorials, memberships, and donations listed on these pages reflect payments made only during the previous quarter. If your check is dated October 1 or later, then acknowledgement will appear in the next issue of The Pioneer Museum Quarterly. Cash or credit card payments received October 1 or later will also appear in the next issue.
M M ȱJulyȱ1- eptemberȱ30,ȱ2009ȱNewȱ&ȱ enewedȱ General Jerry Abel Annette Alderson Marilyn Alke John & Joann Amend Ken & Ann Anderson Steve & Sharon Arts Sandra Avsec William Baxley Beartooth Bookkeeping Marvin Beatty Jim Berg Jane Bilbro BlueJacket Ford LLC Jennifer Bordy Elinor Bowles Barbara Boylan Louise Bradford Paul & Renee Brodt David & Peggy Bunger James Campiglia Frank & Marilyn Carter Ray & Kim Center Mary Clark, CPA Gayle Clifford Marie Cole Lauren Coleman Anne Cooper Tyler Cotterell Country Home Club Phyllis R. Craft Claudia Crane Jeff Cunningham Donna Dehn Chris Derham Rudi & Carol Dietrich Dorothy & Don D'Orazio Paul & Lynne Elder Elizabeth MacConnell & Randy Elliott Carol & Jim Ernst Patrick & Dee Dee Finkel Alan & Janie Forsythe Jean Francis George & Ida Mae Freswick Gesundheit! With Jacobus Alice M. Gilchrist Jane Grandy Joni Hagler Michelle Harley Eleanor A. Harrison Kenneth Hasting David & Patricia Hebner Margaret Henkel Richard & Beverly Heuck Terri Hodgson Pat & Kris Holland Margaret Houghtaling Adrian & Betty Inabnit
Karen James Dia & Mark Johnson Spencer Kack Robert & Susan Kallestad Michelle Kazemi Nejad Phil & Jean Keeter Donald & Connie Kent Barnaby Kerr Ken & Dottie Keyes Clem & Esther Lambrecht Ed Lane Gerald & Nancy Lapeyre Harold Levens Meredith Lewis Rick & Donna Lewis Marguerite Long Janine Lyon Elizabeth MacConnell & Randy Elliott Lloyd & Sandy Maher Scott & Zoe Mayer Barbara & Wayne McAnally Kurt McCauley Donald & Katherine McBride McGuire Business Consultants Drs. Richard & Gretchen McNeely A. C. Michael Montana Ghost Town Preservation Society Montana Vows Gene & Tamzin Munson Brian & Cynthia Murphy Anita Nall Wayne & Jean Neil A. Suzanne Nellen, PLLC Larry & Fran Nelson Angelina Parsons Kevin & Teri Patterson John Paul Sylvia Peck Kathryn Penwell David & Morgan Peters Sara Pfaff James & Doris Powell Suzanne Renne Rey Advertising Joan Rosen Hallie Rugheimer James & Mary Faith Ryffel Thomas & Geraldine Schessler Phyllis Schuttler Edwin Seifert, Jr. Merry & N. A. Shyne William Slaughter Mike & Sylvia Sparkman Carolyn Spector 13
Fred & Patti Spillman Vera E. Spring Phyllis Hoy Stoneback Laura & Steve Stonecipher Chuck & Gigi Swenson Dede Taylor Donald & Gloria Thiesen James & Judy Thompson Carol & Dave Thorn Becky Weed & Dave Tyler Herman & Patricia Vander Vos Hilda Walker Don & Kathy Ward Doris Ward Brad Watts Marilyn D. Weber Sas & Stuart Weber Connie Westlake James & Veronica Wing Karen Winheim Wittich Law Firm Ron & Vicki Young
Olde America Antiques Rand & Michele Oslund Redmon law Firm, P.C. Jeff & Karen Strickler Tarlow Stonecipher & Steele, Attorneys-At-Law The Last Wind-Up Treasure State Oil Dr. Kenneth & Jenny Younger Sustaining Scott & Lisa Manley Donors William Baxley Jane Bilbro Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce Paul & Lynne Elder Judy Farnsworth Eugene and Patricia Horton Eleanor Kinyon Jackie Kostelnik Margaret Kraft Lloyd & Sandy Maher McGuire & Associates Myra Miller Montana Ghost Town Preservation Society Larry & Fran Nelson Kevin & Teri Patterson Rey Advertising Dorick & Betty Sauvageau Speedy Print Becky Weed & Dave Tyler
Homestead Advanced Performance & Rehabilitation Services Diane Beeman Bruce Christensen Dick & Rita Fish Lesley Gilmore Gold's Gym Rusty & Nancy Heymann Patron First Interstate Bank Martha Weaver Pioneer Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce Mary Lou Cook Roy & Sandra Walters
Pioneer Museum Membership Levels & Annual Fees
Settler Calvin Braaksma, PLLC Bridger Heating & Cooling Ayn Cabaniss Clair & Sharon Daines East Main Liquor Robert & Sue Erwin William M. Fraser DMD Eugene & Erin Graf IV Jon & Berkley Hudson Donald L. & Connie M. Kent Margaret Kraft Lance & Sheila Krieg
General - $ 40 Settler - $100 Homestead - $150 Pioneer - $250 Patron - $500 Contributor - $1,000 Benefactor - $ 2,000 Gallatin - $ 5,000
Volume 32ŇNumber 4ŇAutumn, 2009
PAGES FROM THE PAST “Gleanings” from by-gone autumns in Bozeman & Gallatin County. Mr. Seymour and family are now living in the former residence of F. A. Lund, on West Gallatin, and have charge of the Ward Springs adjoining. We understand that it is the intention of Messrs. Tobin and Seymour to fix the bath house at the Springs, so that a person who may so desire can take a warm bath there this winter. Avant Courier, 11-15-1877
J. Aiken & Bro., the popular hotel keepers of Gallatin City, have again taken possession of their hotel building, and a person can get a clean bed and a “square meal” there now equal to the best in the territory. In passing through the city don’t fail to give them a call. Pete Emil was thrown from a horse near town on Tuesday. His left arm was dislocated and the flesh of the forearm laid open to the bone. He is at present at the LaClede Hotel. If he heeds the dearlybought lesson taught him, he will let whiskey alone hereafter.
To the Ladies of Bozeman: I desire to call your attention to a custom that exists here, and which, in my opinion, should be discontinued, namely: making calls on Saturday. It is a day devoted to general preparation for the Sabbath, and good housekeepers are so busy that they cannot devote the attention to callers that should be given. Also Monday, being the day for washing, no calls should be made on that day. I would suggest that Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday embrace the days for making calls, and as it is a subject we are all interested in, I trust that you will all give it your careful consideration. Respectfully, CONTRIBUTOR Avant Courier, 12-5-1878
During a lecture East, Col. Norris said: “The roads of these mountains are too steep and rocky for even a donkey to climb; therefore I do not attempt the ascent;” and the Colonel wondered why he
was applauded so heartily at this seemingly unimportant part of his discourse. Avant Courier, 12-15-1881
Miss Works, a Bozeman school ma’am, hired a four-horse team on Thanksgiving Day, and gave all her little pupils a sleigh ride. If the good works of that school mistress are appreciated, she will have an opportunity to change her name before long. - Missoulian, 12-1881 The grand opening ball at Belgrade, on Friday evening last, was in every way a success. About one hundred couples were in attendance. The music was excellent and the supper was generally admitted to have been one of the finest ever served in the territory. A large delegation of Bozeman boys and girls went down by a special car. Mr. and Mrs. Quaw are to be complimented upon the masterly manner in which they conducted the evening’s entertainment. We learn they intend giving another ball on the night of December 31st. It is needless to say that their commodious ballroom and residence will be packed to their fullest capacity. Avant Courier, 12-9-1886
W.J. Eastman returned to Bozeman this week, content to remain. He has spent six months in wandering over the west in search of a better location, but failed to find it. Avant Courier, 11-7-1891
THE WOMEN INVITED TO VOTE An Expression of the Fair Sex Will Be Given at the W. C. T. U. Rooms
Avant Courier, 10-11-1877
A Willow Creek correspondent says the threshing in that valley has given a better crop of wheat than was expected, but the ‘hoppers got away with the oats.’ The latter crop was a failure, and hardly paid for the harvesting. The quality of the grain is fully up to that of past years, which is saying a great deal, as Willow Creek has always been foremost in this respect.
All the women of Bozeman are invited to register and record their votes for capital and for state and county officials in a voting booth to be arranged in the W. C. T. U. rooms next Tuesday. The polls will be open all night and clerks and judges will be in place. The desire is to obtain a vote representative of all the women of the city, not of the W. C. T. U. or prohibition party.
Madisonian, 10-27-1877
Avant Courier, 11-3-1894
The Pioneer Museum Quarterly Ň www.pioneermuseum.org
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Walter Cooper, of Bozeman, confidential advisor to W. A. Clark, and who is said to occasionally carry a barrel or two of the latter’s big fortune around with him to use promiscuously in furthering the multi-millionaires chances for the United States senate, dropped down into Billings Saturday night from a trip to Bridger. All day Sunday and Monday were spent in conferences with a few of the leading “unterrified,” whom, it is claimed, he “fixed” to his satisfaction. -Billings Gazette, 10-1898
One thing we almost forgot to be thankful for is the fact that the big mining corporations and individual millionaire mine owners are editing and publishing a majority of all the leading daily newspapers in the state of Montana. We should not be so unappreciative as to lose sight of that important manifestation of capitalistic enterprise. Avant Courier, 11-28-1902
W. S. White of East Gallatin, was in the city Wednesday with a nice lot of Thanksgiving turkeys, all neatly dressed, ready for the oven, which he readily disposed of at good figures. He seldom fails in this custom and we rather suspect that he owes it to his good wife that the “national birds are always well fed and dressed to the ‘queen’s’ taste.” Anyway, there is some one around his farm domicile who is endowed with excellent judgment and exquisite neatness. Avant Courier, 11-28-1902
the auspices of the college Y.W.C.A. An appreciative audience of about 300 women and girls heard Dr. Ulrich’s splendid address. She spoke of the great importance of recreation as a part of the training of young people, and called attention to the fact that most grown people had not taken into consideration the need of recreation for the growing boys and girls of today. Sex education, Dr. Ulrich said, should begin with discipline in infancy, and mothers should realize the great privilege and the great opportunity they have to train their children in sex knowledge. She emphasized the importance of answering the questions of children fairly and squarely, especially in regard to the great problems of life. The schools, she believes, place too much emphasis on the unimportant things. For example, she spoke of the study of history where much of the time is given to the study of battles and dates of events that are considered of importance instead of
Last Monday Judge Axtell performed his first ceremony in the wedding line when he made Bert Barnes and Hattie Harbeson, both of Bozeman, man and wife, says the Stockman and Farmer. The judge was a wee bit nervous at first, but steadied, however, when he found he was doing fine, and finally tied an artistic, durable, double knot that he knows will hold.
giving time to the study of men and women who had done things, and to the history of the world’s industries. The moving picture shows were mentioned as among the most popular form of recreation. Dr. Ulrich emphasized the need of improvement in the quality of plays that form the majority of motion pictures, and said that in the growth of this industry there had not been a growth in the grade of pictures that there should be. Daily Chronicle, 11-14-1916
It was shortly after midnight when the word was received in Bozeman that the Germans had signed the armistice. Almost immediately thereafter bells begun to ring, locomotive whistles shrieked and lights flashed in windows throughout the city. The first sign of celebration, however, was when at 1:45 a.m., Henry Jacobs appeared on Main street with an auto horn which he industriously operated up and down business and residence thorough (Continued on page 16)
Republican Courier, 10-10-1905
“Moral Education of Young People,” was the subject of a practical and most interesting address given at the First Presbyterian Church in Bozeman Sunday afternoon by Dr. Mabel S. Ulrich, who has been in the city the past two days under
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Volume 32ŇNumber 4ŇAutumn, 2009
Pages from the Past, (continued from page 15)
fares all by his lonesome, for an hour. Henry gathered about him a bass drum, a snare drum and two drummers, and under his flag laden leadership was begun a serenade which brought tousled heads and plain and fancy robes to unite to scores of windows. Early in the forenoon enough of the band members to make a good showing had gathered. These led a parade composed of the S.A.T.C. and other college students of both sexes, hundreds of pedestrians and any number of autos from which floated banners and signs derisive of the Kaiser. No Fourth of July celebration ever brought out more noise and jubilation. Weekly Courier, 11-13-1918
Play by play reports of the last Bobcat football game of the season will be shown on the college grid graph this afternoon starting at 2:30. It will be the last chance to see the grid graph this year and both the Bobcats and St. Charles are ready to give the toughest battle of the year. The game should decide the Montana collegiate football title this year as both teams have shown up well through the season and the Bobcats tied with the Grizzlies. Daily Chronicle, 11-28-1928 Note: Bobcats lost, 19-0.
UNIVERSITY MERGER BILL KILLED
Though it survived a hectic journey through the house committee of the whole this morning, the Watson Bill for consoli-
dation of the six University of Montana units at Lewistown, fell far short of sufficient strength to carry it through third reading late today. Proponents of the measure, summoning it up to roll call immediately after the noon recess, could muster but 40 supporters while those favoring retention of the six separate units at Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Missoula, Dillon and Havre numbered 56. Legislators supporting Watson told the assembly today the act might be derided as a waste of time but that the day was coming when necessity would compel the measure. Weekly Chronicle, 12-21-1933
Bozeman merchants reported that their Saturday business was one of the largest single day’s sales in recent years. Cash registers were jingling like sleigh bells, and merchants were chuckling some tune about believing in a Santa Claus. County Tribune & Belgrade Journal, 12-15-1954
One of the merchant marine’s new transport vessels sill proudly bear the name “Gallatin” when it is commissioned in the next few weeks. This information reached Bozeman through a letter written by Constance M. Hoover, librarian at the U.S. Naval Air Station at Astoria, Ore. How the name Gallatin happened to be chosen is not revealed in the librarian’s letter. Bozeman Courier, 10-13-1944
After what seems centuries of waiting, a Gallatin County High School football team has beaten an eleven from Park. The event, long overdue, came last Thursday, when the locals made the finish of an otherwise undistinguished season an almost unqualified success by their vanquishing of the perennial rivals from over the hill by a score of 26-6. Bozeman Courier, 11-5-1947
The Pioneer Museum Quarterly Ň www.pioneermuseum.org
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It’s been a beautiful fall; day after day of clear, crisp, invigorating weather. We have had some disagreeable days, like Monday when a chill wind swept across the valley, but in contrast we cite Saturday, Homecoming Day at the college, when 6,000 people watched the Bobcats beat Idaho, most of them without overcoats. Even the little drum majorettes, at the head of the band, with their only visible means of support bare to the autumn breezes, didn’t scatter any goose-pimples as they strutted up Main Street County Tribune & Belgrade Journal, 10-25-1956
John Bozeman Helps George Custer Meet His Maker By the summer of 1863, a new road led north from the Oregon Trail to the gold fields of Montana. Although hardly a road, builders had marked a trail through the dry sage and Indian-filled plains by which wagon masters could guide a string of wagons along a relatively easy path. This new road reduced travel-time some six weeks by shortening the route to Bannack nearly 400 miles. The downside of saving weeks of hard labor with little sleep, dust in the mouth and smoke in the eyes is that one ran the risk of losing one’s life—or entire families. The Ogallala Sioux had not taken to the invasion of palefaces trekking across an everdwindling supply of hunting grounds. For that reason the road lasted only six seasons, becoming well-known as the Bloody Bozeman Trail. In fact, after four seasons, only the military and military contractors traveled the road. Emigrants were naturally frightened; blood ran too freely on the Bozeman Trail. The natives won that battle to save their land. That trail was promoted by two entrepreneurs, John Jacobs and John Bozeman. Jacobs had been in the mountains for years, had married an Indian woman and was raising a half-Indian daughter; his wife had deserted him. John Bozeman was a ricochet gold-seeker up from the Colorado rush of 1860. At the age of twenty-three, Bozeman deserted his wife of four years, and three daughters, whom he left in his home state of Georgia. He would never see them again. This behavior seemed to have been in the Bozeman genes. His father, William, did the same thing in ’49, when he left a wife and five children, and headed for California. William was never heard from again. John Bozeman cannot be considered a mountain man, nor really much of a frontiersman. He was a man with a family doing okay, but wanting to do better. That description fit most of the others heading West in the 1860’s. They weren’t out for adventure, but they were gamblers. They had little to lose, except for life, which for them was little enough. They knew of the dangers but they didn’t really believe they might be the ones to be pierced by a Sioux or Cheyenne arrow. They had heard that all they needed was a pan and a stream and they could live high on the hog. Placer mining became a poor man’s dream, for gold now brought $18 an ounce. These early displacements were not driven by anything in particular other than a craving for a better life. They considered gold the catalyst for that. Miners didn’t have to make good—they just wanted to get rich. John Bozeman wanted to get rich. As he did in Colorado, Bozeman missed getting a worthwhile claim in Bannack. He then decided on another line of work. Bozeman and John Jacobs hashed over an idea: find and mark a short wagon route to Bannack, shave miles and time off the trek, and collect for the guide service. Travelers paid good money for that kind of thing—and Bozeman and Jacobs just wanted to make money. The two marked out the alleged road heading north from Fort 17
By Dennis Seibel
Fetterman, nearly a hundred miles northwest of Fort Laramie. This road pushed up the east side of the Rockies, coming into the Yellowstone River drainage and crossing rivers like the Little Bighorn, Rosebud, Stillwater, and Boulder. The trail then followed the Yellowstone up-river, reaching the future site of Livingston, where the trail sneaked west over a rough but manageable passageway now called the Bozeman Pass. There it bumped into a fledging group of folk who were contemplating building a few cabins along the East Gallatin River. From there, it was easy enough to get to Bannack. No one had to cross that dreaded obstacle that divided this continent into two watersheds. On May 13, 1863, Bozeman, Jacobs, and the latter’s eightyear old daughter were on their way to intercept some wagons heading west on the Oregon Trail, with the hope of coaxing the travelers to take their new trail to the Montana El Dorado. Suddenly, some seventy-five Sioux appeared, loaded for bear and none too happy with the continuous stream of whites through their lands. The trailblazers were trapped. According to the account, the Indians argued about the fate of the three. Finally, they decided to let the men live, but beat the girl for being with whites. They helped themselves to everything else save for scraps of clothing. Then they traded the whites’ three good mounts for three miserable and half-dead horses and rode off. Half-dead themselves, the men and girl reached the Oregon Trail at what is now Glenrock, Wyoming. It took some time, but they managed to get themselves recharged. Undaunted by their experience, by July 6, they contracted to lead forty-six wagons with eighty-nine men, ten women and maybe a half dozen children north on this precarious new route to the gold fields of Montana. The road proved rough, although the grass held out for the cattle. Making about ten miles a day, the group pushed north. But water became increasingly scarce, and what there was became salty and laden with alkali. By July 13, every emigrant and all the cattle were sick from the awful water. Forcing meat-fat and lard down cattle’s throats was the standard bovine treatment. The people preferred to suffer. On July 20, about noon, someone noticed about 150 Indians—Cheyenne and Sioux—blocking Bozeman’s new road. The Indians came into camp—peaceable enough. The ladies went about trying to feed them – which did not impress the natives. Then the old chief made a speech which maybe Jacobs interpreted. The Chief said, You can’t go on in the direction you are going. You are going into our country, where we hunt. This is the only big hunting ground left. Your people have taken the rest. We won’t let our women and children starve. If you turn back we will let you go. If you go on, we will wipe you out. (Continued on page 18)
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ment was organized very nearly at the three forks of the Missouri, called Gallatin City. This city was to cater to the crowds expected Well, the white wagon-men decided they better talk about to be disembarking from the steamboats landing at the head of the this. And talk they did, and worry, and talk some more. They Missouri. The settlement struggled for several years and became became upset about the time they were losing in the gold streams. the county seat once the county of Gallatin formed. Despite a For ten days they talked. They even sent for reinforcements, valiant effort, it began to decline probably because no boats could which the army refused to send from Fetterman. There was a get there. (Seems someone had forgotten about the Great Falls of treaty against whites crossing this land; the wagons were on their the Missouri some 150 miles downstream.) To boot, the road to own. Finally the travelers decided against being wiped out and Virginia City was two miles south, and in 1883, even the railroad turned back. Except for John Bozeman, who convinced nine by-passed the site by a couple of miles. Gallatin City died. Some other men to continue on with him. They loaded one pack horse, of the remains are still visible today, although fading fast. mounted their steeds and headed out. They traveled only at night John Bozeman remained a true booster for his namesake to evade the Indians, but they lost the advantage of seeing the town. He convinced a couple of men, including Tom Cover, to dangers of the trail. The second night, they lost the one pack build a flour mill—a type of business that would flourish in Bozehorse in the river. man for many years. Other familiar names rolled into Bozeman For twenty-one days, they continued eating only fresh-kill, during 1865—names like Mendenhall, who ran a saloon, and Dr. half-cooked on sticks. Their kettles had gone with the pack horse. Lamme, who operated a retail store. (He didn’t practice mediNow without salt, they were being consumed by the heat. First cine.) Lester Willson and Nelson Story came in 1866. Story had the game disappeared, then the water. After thirty-three hours of been a Virginia City Vigilante, and had been present at the thirst, they reached the Big Horn basin. From then on water be- group’s first hanging a couple years earlier. He had also made a came frequent. They soon managed to cross the pass and gazed pile of money prospecting gold—$40,000. into the Gallatin Valley. Story then went to Texas to drive up some longhorns, making This was John Bozeman’s first experience as a professional history by doing so. But he became a millionaire by engaging as guide for immigrants coming to Idaho Territory. Even though it a government contractor, providing food staples and dry-goods to was not far from a disaster, the nine men considered John Boze- the army and the dependent natives, who had lost control of their man pretty much a hero. hunting grounds. Indeed, farming seemed the thing, for the valley Bozeman took a liking to this valley. He noticed the rich produced 20,000 bushels of wheat that fall of 1866. black soil, together with an apparent abundance of water—creeks Meanwhile the natives were becoming increasingly conand rivers. Bozeman guided another train up the trail during the cerned about all these palefaces storming onto the land. Now let summer of 1864. In fact, hundreds of wagons made the trip that me explain what’s happening to the native people. There’s a finsummer—some say 1000. But before he left to guide this train he ger of white development extending up from Wyoming, between made arrangements—perhaps he made a deal—with two men, Bozeman and Bannack. This is not a propagation of whites movWilliam Beall and Daniel Rouse, to lay out a town site along a ing east to west across the country. Instead, the natives are being small creek running north into the East Gallatin. It was agreed pinched east from Bozeman and west from the badlands and that all three would lay claim to some land and engage in real Deadwood area of Dakota. As I mentioned, the Bozeman Trail estate and other speculation. It must be noted that John Bozeman was virtually abandoned by emigrants by 1867 because of the had some sort of insight here. He reasoned that most miners were slaughter occurring between natives and whites. The whites rebecoming anything but rich; farming would be a more stable pur- turned to using the old Oregon trail, heading north much further suit, and this valley was well-suited for that. Bozeman also noted, west and entering Montana in the area of Monida Pass in the southwestern part of the present state. The town site has many advantages, its water privileges, and By now, 1867, the natives began to organize a united resisits standing right in the gate of the mountains ready to swallow up tance to the onslaught of whites. In February, there were rumors all the tenderfeet that would reach the territory from the east, that the pinched Indians were going to bite back and Bozeman with their golden fleeces to be taken care of. was to be one of the points of attack. The good citizens of the town roused into action. They constructed a stockade around So the town organized itself in 1864, with obvious motives Tom Cover’s flour mill, and then readied their firearms and linked to economics. John Bozeman must have been well liked, counted cartridges. John Bozeman wrote to acting governor Thofor his name was attached to the site in August, 1864. However, a mas Meagher (Bozeman may have dictated the letter because he month later at a meeting of the claim association, as they called was barely literate) stating that the natives would soon overrun themselves, the name Montana City was proposed by some who the valley unless state militia were sent. Meagher telegraphed didn’t like Bozeman, or at least his name. But the association President Grant with a request to muster volunteers, to be paid defeated that motion. from the U.S. Treasury. Grant turned him down. Nothing came During this time, in fact beginning in 1862, another settle- of the rumored Indian attack. In April, Thomas Cover solicited the company of John Bozeman to ride east out of Bozeman with the stated mission of securThe Pioneer Museum Quarterly Ň www.pioneermuseum.org 18 (Continued from page 17)
ing contracts with the government to furnish flour, beef, and grain, to be distributed to the natives. On April 19, maybe twenty miles east of present-day Livingston, the two were approached about noon by five Indians on foot, leading a pony. According to Tom Cover, Bozeman at first thought they were Crow, but then shortly stated they were Blackfeet. They shook hands with Bozeman, but Cover states he just aimed his rifle at them. Cover states he turned to saddle the horses and that’s when Bozeman was shot by one of the Indians. Cover continues it was then he received a shoulder wound. He ran back to Bozeman but found Bozeman dead with a second ball. Cover ran with his rifle about 400 yards, turned and fired, killing one of the Indians. The other four fled with their dead comrade. And Cover took off walking back to Bozeman City. I’ve read the description provided by Cover and it seems a weak reconstruction. His actions seem contrived and inappropriate. The Helena Herald loved it, though, with headlines of Panic among the Gallatin settlers! War meeting at the Court House! 300 mounted men wanted to march out to the defense of the Gallatin settlement. Rally! Rally!! Everybody!!! The event came to be known as the Bozeman Massacre, implying that the whole settlement had been exterminated. Acting Governor Meagher telegraphed the Secretary of War about “citizen murdered” and asked for authority to recruit and pay 800 volunteers. In fact, Meagher sent a barrage of telegrams until General Sherman ordered him to stop sending them collect. Sherman did authorize to equip 800 men for two months at 40¢ a day—peanuts for ex-gold men. But the town of Bozeman had a heyday supplying whiskey and food and horses to the men, all on Uncle Sam’s ticket. This militia was a mess—mostly boys under 16, maybe 18. They were unruly, untrained, and mutinous. And absolutely nothing was accomplished—except a total bill from the Bozeman merchants of $1.1 million handed to Congress. Years later, Tom Byron Story, TB, recounted that his father stated Bozeman was murdered by his partner, Tom Cover. In fact, the wound Cover received showed powder burns, which might imply a self-inflicted wound. If not, the Indians at that range could have certainly finished him off. But Cover indicates they were never that close to each other. Nelson Story also sent a man out to the site of the murder, a man name Spanish Joe. Spanish Joe reported that he found no signs of Indians, and all of Bozeman’s belongings were intact. This doesn’t ring true of previous encounters with the natives. Also, the Blackfeet by this time had moved north mostly into Canada. Why five would be down by the Yellowstone is unclear, especially since they were in unfriendly Crow territory. Congress didn’t buy the story either. Like a good creditor, it did not pay the Bozeman merchants’ bill for five years, and then only fifty cents on the dollar.
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Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer -GHS Archives
But it became a fantastic opportunity for the Bozeman business folks to raid the federal treasury in a country where government funds were looked upon as fair game. In 1872, following an investigation into the claims made, this report was issued: “There is no question that many irregularities, extravagant expenditures, and doubtful, if not fraudulent, transactions occurred in connection with supplies furnished and with the final disposition of government property. It appears that vouchers were issued for a greater number of articles or larger amounts of property than were actually furnished, or issued at extravagant value, or for property which never was purchased at all.” Coffee and flour rang in at twice the normal price; hay was $25 above normal. Most other items were 25 to 60 percent higher. The list of claimants: Nelson Story, L. M. Black, William Tracy, Lester Willson, William Beall, Tom Cover. As Bruce Putman states in his thesis about this, these claims even paid at 50% started several of the local residents off on the right financial foot. Nelson Story continued to do a fine business with the army. In the fall of 1867 he sold 100,000 pounds of potatoes to Fort C. F. Smith. He bought them at $1 per hundred weight and sold them to the army for $10 per hundred weight. Nelson Story also provided supplies for the Crow Reservation. In 1875, a scandal surfaced of alleged graft and fraud in these contracts, and whose name should appear? None other than Nelson Story. He was accused of double sacking flour so that bags would be counted twice. He was accused of filling pork and beef barrels with (Continued on page 20)
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heads, backbones, fat and trimmings. According to Malcolm Story, in a sale of horses to the government, army inspectors were shown fifty head, but wanted to see more of a sampling. Nelson ran those best fifty around the hill and back through the inspection. Nelson received $35 a head for a whole herd of several hundred. Most were hardly worth half that. Another benefit of the 1867 Indian scare, besides the inflated claims, was the establishment of Fort Ellis, three miles east of Bozeman, which the citizens claimed insured the safety of the town and all travelers. Named in honor of Colonel Augustus Van Horne Ellis, a Union officer killed at Gettysburg, the fort had elementary beginnings in 1867 with more buildings added the following year. The army constructed a stockade around the fort, with two blockhouses on opposite corners. The blockhouses were removed when the fear of the natives subsided. This fort, too, provided Bozeman merchants with a chance to make money. Two to three hundred men were stationed there, and it was garrisoned for twenty years. Because the soldiers did not do much fighting, they provided the county with an invaluable service: they built roads. They built the road up Bridger Canyon, roads leading north out of the county, and many roads throughout the county. The years following were not particularly notable. Farmers were finding that weather was not on their side in Gallatin Valley. One said it is nearly perpetual winter. However, flour mills did become big business. But the greatest need in Bozeman that all merchants discussed was the need for a railroad. The Northern Pacific Railroad inched its way from the east, but in 1873 it went bankrupt, stalled in the middle of Dakota. This indeed delivered a blow. While placer mining proceeded to decline, refractory mining required huge amounts of money and equipment - equipment that required railroads to deliver. In addition, farmers desperately needed to access larger markets. No access road had yet been built from the east, mainly because the natives maintained control over those lands. So the Bozeman merchants decided on their own to do something about their marketing problem. A group of "Bozemanites" vowed to clear out the red menace themselves and establish a road connecting with Bismarck, where the railroad would easily link into a national market. These men organized the Yellowstone Wagon Road Company. Nelson Story and James Mendenhall were some of the officers. Then another expedition formed to look for gold along the Yellowstone. With overlapping objectives, the two groups merged to become “The Yellowstone Wagon Road and Prospecting Expedition.” (By the way, nobody thought gold lay over the Bozeman pass in the Yellowstone Valley. The effort may have been another ploy in making a link east.) The local paper, the Avant Courier, had been promoting the need for an eastern access for several years. In January, 1874, an article stated, “The front door to Montana is on the east side and it must be opened and invitations extended to all to enter therein, creating The Pioneer Museum Quarterly Ň www.pioneermuseum.org
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a demand for our products. A little pioneer army composed of our truest and honest men, fully equipped for self-defense, will move out of Bozeman into the Yellowstone Valley determined to make a permanent stand…and thus shall the Indian question be solved, by the brave enterprise of pioneers.” The expeditionary force moved out in March, 1874, with 147 men, twenty-two wagons, 200 horses and mules, and twenty-eight yoke of oxen. This little group of pioneers also had two artillery pieces and 60,000 rounds of ammunition. The Avant Courier stated, “The men of that expedition are a host within themselves and hostile Indians had better keep out of their road.” Lester Willson voiced concern about this force expressing his fear that the expedition will encounter the whole Sioux Nation. Officers at Fort Ellis opposed the amalgam of men but did nothing about it. When the Secretary of the Interior found out about it, he said there is grave apprehension that this may provoke collisions that may lead to a general Indian War. He ordered the expedition to return, but the order came five weeks too late. The force was long gone. Others expressed concerns. George Custer wrote that the expedition might precipitate difficulties with the Indians. But the Avant Courier wrote in March 1874, “If the hardy pioneers of the West were compelled to supinely wait on military operations to make the way into rich mineral and agricultural regions clear of hostile Indians, they would remain in their wild uninhabited state until doomsday. All the pomp of military movements does not hurt the Indians nor benefit the pioneer struggling to make himself a home in the West.” The expedition did encounter the Sioux, hundreds of them, on at least three occasions. Some reports state that sixty Indians were killed and only one white. One of the expedition wrote, “Give us a few more men and we can clean out the whole Sioux nation.” The expedition returned, but now came the belief that the Sioux were not formidable and could be subdued easily. A second expedition went out in 1875, further defying the Indians. This group established a Fort Pease on the mouth of the Big Horn which fell under siege all winter until March 1876, when relief came from Fort Ellis. As John Bozeman had tried to do during the mid-1860’s the motive again for the effort into Sioux country was to establish a road leading east from Bozeman through Indian lands into Dakota. And these "Bozemanites" seemed to care little for any treaties of Indian rights. They just wanted a market! Meanwhile, pressure on Indian land grew from the east, where gold had been discovered in the Black Hills. The natives were in a vice that keep squeezing their life ways. One historian writes, “If ever a people were goaded into war, it was the Sioux.” Now from the east came a general out to lick the world, with some 225 troops. On June 25, 1876, on a hill overlooking the Little Big Horn River, he is tested and fails. Now a resident of Mancos, Colorado, Dennis Seibel is the former Director of the Gallatin Historical Society & Pioneer Museum.
The Booster of Churchill and Amsterdam By Delbert Delos Vandenberg
ture in the mid-1800s. During the late 1800s, expatriate miners from the various mining districts of western Montana relocated their families to the Gallatin Valley and engaged in a lifestyle of ranching and farming. These early settlers from Missouri, KenTraveling south of Manhattan today on Route 288, you will tucky, and Tennessee supplied the mining cities of Bannack, Virencounter one of the most productive agricultural areas of the ginia City, Diamond City, and Helena with produce and meat. Gallatin Valley, and quite possibly the state of Montana.2 Just The new residents of the Gallatin Valley turned it into what was outside Manhattan, as the road begins to climb a gentle grade, termed by some the “Granary of Montana,” and by others the short grass prairie gives way to fields of grain, alfalfa, and pota“Nile of North America.”5 When the railroad arrived in 1883, toes. As the road continues Gallatin Valley’s agriculture south, you encounter buildings reached into an ever expanding and scenery typical of Monnational market and the valley tana’s western landscape. became nationally recognized. However, along side the Andrew Wormser’s first visit meandering irrigation ditches to the Gallatin Valley was not and weathered corrals are artiprecisely recorded, but it is facts of the area’s ethnic backgenerally accepted that he visground, mailboxes that carry ited the area before 1890 on a Dutch surnames, black and reconnaissance trip for Midwhite Friesian Holstein cows, western real estate developers. carefully groomed beds of colAndrew wrote of his journeys orful tulips, and small wooden around the West in glowing windmills bravely facing the terms in his book Verspreide winds that blow across the Manhattan Malting Company Geschriften, Heir een weinig, valley floor.3 -Grace Bates, donor Daar een Weinig.6 It was on In the Gallatin Valley, this early trip, after visiting the climate and natural geography combine to provide a favorable successful Mormon experiment in Utah, that Andrew became environment for agriculture. However, the productivity and succonvinced that an inclusive and tightly controlled settlement cess of the western end of the valley is in part due to the descencould succeed in the arid West, if it utilized irrigation.7 Andrew dants of the Dutch settlers, and the man who brought the first imwas so convinced of the importance of irrigation in the West that migrant Dutch to this isolated intermountain valley, Andrew he became a frequent participant in the Irrigation Congresses that Wormser. met to promote it.8 The Gallatin Valley is what geographers call a “park.” Andrew Wormser’s visits to southwestern Montana conThis natural phenomenon is found throughout the Rocky Mounvinced him that the area had the climate and soil that would attains where a large valley is surrounded by mountain ranges retract large numbers of Dutch immigrant farmers. He singled out spectively, the Bridger, Gallatin, Madison, and Tobacco Root the Gallatin Valley because it contained three necessary compoMountains. While the valley is partly open to the north, the nents for successful development: an abundance of unoccupied northern quadrant consists of an ancient mountain range and fault land, water for irrigation, and a financial infrastructure to promote line called the Horseshoe Hills. The Gallatin, Madison and Jeflarge scale agriculture. The added bonus of a railroad would ferson Rivers drain the mountains and valley, and join together on bring immigrants to the valley and transport the excess crops of the northwestern edge of the park to form the headwaters of the the immigrant farmers once they expanded beyond subsistence Missouri River. agriculture. The Gallatin Valley is approximately 575 square miles, Andrew Wormser’s ties to financial interests in New York, with an elevation of 4,000 to 6,000 feet. The climate of the valley Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin were well established and provided a is considered “continental,” with a mean temperature in the lower flow of capital for his settlement projects.9 His numerous trips 40s, and an average rainfall of 14 inches. The valley’s mountainbetween the West, the Midwest, and the Netherlands also suggest ous fringe contains 9,000-foot peaks that provide snow melt to the Andrew received a considerable amount of outside funding even perennial streams that interlace the valley floor.4 (Continued on page 22) Visitors to the valley recognized its potential for agriculUndoubtedly it is not only church and faith that have cemented the Dutch community in the Gallatin Valley but also ethnic consciousness. – Rob Kroes1
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though records are incomplete.10 It is known, however, that Henry Altenbrand’s Manhattan Malting Company and its subsidiary, the West Gallatin Irrigation Company, provided Andrew with money and samples of produce, photographs, and literature to attract settlers to the Gallatin Valley.11 In 1889, a group of wealthy maltsters from New York and Brooklyn learned of the Gallatin Valley’s high quality barley, and under the leadership of Henry Altenbrand, Sr., formed the Manhattan Malting Company. Altenbrand was joined by Jacob Rupert, owner of the largest brewery in the world, and George Kinkel, Jr., whose father owned the New York Yankees baseball team. Altenbrand, Rupert, Kinkel and two other maltsters, John Gillig and Frank Merges, proceeded to purchase 13,000 acres in western Gallatin Valley south of Manhattan, an area which in 1889 was known as Moreland.12 The land Altenbrand and his associates chose is today recognized as the valley’s most productive soil. A band of earth that stretches south from Manhattan for fifteen miles contains what is known as “Amsterdam silt loam.” The soil has a mulch-like texture containing little gravel, and is interspersed with lava dust that washed up on the western shore of an ancient lake that once covered the valley floor.13 This band of soil contains few natural streams, but has a topography that ranges from flat prairie to gentle rolling hills. Most importantly, the land the Manhattan Malting Company purchased was well suited to irrigation. When Altenbrand and Wormser arrived in Manhattan, the area already had a successful irrigation project underway. The town and a canal was named after a Mr. Moreland, one of Gallatin Valley’s first major land developers. Moreland’s canal stretched from the West Gallatin River to the 10,000 acre Moreland Ranch, located near the town of Hamilton, three miles south of Manhattan.14 Purchased in 1889 by the Manhattan Malting Company, Moreland’s ranch and canal became the cornerstone of its enterprise. In 1890, Altenbrand and his fellow maltsters proceeded to build a large malting plant and paper mill at Moreland, and the officers of the company, in an attempt to make the town sound more cosmopolitan, changed its name to Manhattan.15 Soon after they set up business in southwestern Montana, the directors of the Manhattan Malting Company formed the West Gallatin Irrigation Company. The company was incorporated with the intent of constructing a large irrigation ditch later called the High Line Canal. The canal would provide water to 53,000 acres adjacent to the Manhattan Malting Company’s holdings, which at the time was owned in “checkerboard fashion” by the Northern Pacific Railroad and the United States government. Once the land was purchased from the railroad by the Malting Company, and the federal government opened the land to homesteading, the West Gallatin Irrigation Company would sell its water to the new settlers.16 Henry Altenbrand and his associates wished to attract Dutch settlers to their land, and they needed an agent who could attract the settlers they preferred. Altenbrand, a devout PresbyteThe Pioneer Museum Quarterly Ň www.pioneermuseum.org
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rian, turned to Rev. Wormser, the Presbyterian Church’s superintendent of missions in western Montana, to fill the job. In order to attract and settle Dutch farmers from the Midwest and immigrants from the Netherlands, Altenbrand recognized the need for an ordained Reformed minister to do his recruiting, Altenbrand took advantage of an already well established pattern for Dutch immigration and settlement. Reverend Andrew Wormser proved to be an excellent choice for locator. While serving as a missionary in the Presbyterian Church, Rev. Wormser had retained his reformed ministerial credentials and his association with many religious dissenters in the Netherlands and the Midwest who wished to immigrate. He made two trips to Michigan between 1890 and 1891, exploring possibilities of Dutch settlement in Montana.17 Andrew Wormser had already accumulated some experience locating immigrant settlers for the Dearborn Canal Company of Helena. Under the leadership of Donald Bradsford, L. V. S. Ames, and Henry Semple Ames in 1888, the Dearborn Canal Company was the first irrigation company in Montana to take advantage of the legislation that distributed land under the Carey Land Act.18 In 1889, the officers of the Dearborn Canal Company contacted Andrew Wormser to assist them in their efforts to make their development venture more attractive to Dutch immigrants. Andrew translated the company’s promotional pamphlet into the Dutch language in an attempt to attract potential Dutch immigrants. The promotional brochure entitled, Dearborn Kanaal Co. [Dearborn Canal Company], urged Dutch immigrants to opt for an adventure in settlement in a valley north of Helena bisected by the Dearborn River.19 The development company promoted farming with irrigation in an area previously known only for dry land farming. Andrew Wormser’s Dutch translation, following the claims of the English version, said that farming with irrigation would insure a “full crop every season.” More importantly, the use of irrigation in Montana would create “wealth from the water, sunshine, and soil.” To endorse the information contained in the pamphlet, Andrew allowed his name to be printed on the brochure. Although Andrew had not established a permanent home in Montana, he jointly listed his address as Helena and the Netherlands.20 To encourage Dutch immigrants, Andrew Wormser and the Dearborn Canal Company assured their readers that farming with irrigation would be beneficial to them and the land, Het is gunsig bekend gewarden our gyne voordeelige uitbomlen, Geeft droge landen eengraat voordeel oversteken waar regen valt, verdrieboodigt de waarde van ket land, waar regen velt. [(Irrigation) has become popular because of profitable returns, it gives arid land a larger advantage over rain fall areas, and will increase threefold the value of land having rainfall.]21 Even though it enjoyed a vanguard position in irrigation development in Montana, the Dearborn Canal Company was not
Amsterdam in 1915.
particularly successful. In 1900, three years after Andrew Wormser had established his Holland Irrigation Company in Sweet Grass County, the officers of the Dearborn Canal Co. appealed to Montana’s Arid Land Grant Commission (ALGC) for assistance in their troubled land development. The ALGC was set up by the state legislature to administer the one million acres given to the state by the national government for reclamation. The ALGC would help fund the water systems that developers constructed on the government land with state issued bonds. The sale of the bonds would guarantee the developers a return for their investment on the water system and guarantee settlers a continuous flow of water for their crops.22 With three of their company’s trustees on the five-member Arid Land Commission, the Dearborn Canal Co. appeared to be in a position to take advantage of the Carey Land Grant legislation. However, the company did not receive any assistance because in 1900 the commission and its members came under intense scrutiny from the legislature for financial inconsistencies, particularly with District No. 2, Andrew Wormser’s Holland Irrigation Company project in Sweet Grass County. The legislature disbanded the commission in 1903, and the Dearborn Canal Co. lost its favorable position and consequently its much needed assistance.23 While Andrew Wormser’s experience with the Dearborn Canal Company was fundamental to his immigrant locating in Montana, his membership and subsequent activity with the Presbyterian Church became the vehicle for his contacts and influence on immigrants who sought to come to Montana. After his brief activity north of Helena with the Dearborn Canal Company, Andrew concentrated his activities in the Gallatin Valley and areas adjacent to the valley. As an official of the Presbyterian Synod in Montana, Rev. Wormser traveled extensively throughout southwestern Montana coming in contact with established settlers and businesses, as well as newcomers to the area. In 1891, Rev. Wormser’s efforts paid off when he helped establish ten Dutch settlers from the Netherlands and the Midwest
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in Manhattan. These vanguards of Dutch settlement were sandwiched into a small wooden building with only blankets for walls. From this inauspicious beginning in a structure the immigrants called “Castle Gardens”, named after the place they were detained on Ellis Island, the immigrants moved out onto the land selected for them by Andrew Wormser and the West Gallatin Irrigation Company along Godfrey Creek, an area south of Churchill.24 In April of the next year, the Avant Courier of Bozeman announced that “about forty” Dutch settlers arrived from Michigan and the Netherlands, and more were expected to arrive soon.25 As a result of Andrew Wormser’s promotion and locatGrace Bates, donor ing, Dutch settlers continued to arrive in Manhattan throughout 1892. Building on the success of 1891 and 1892, Andrew continued to recruit more Dutch immigrants. In January of 1893, the Avant Courier reported that “quite a number of Hollanders were expected in Manhattan March 1st,” and followed with another story in May proclaiming “three more Dutch settlers arrived with a large number expected that same week.”26 Starting with the original ten settlers, the colony of Dutch immigrants grew to include twenty-five families in 1895. By 1898, the Dutch settlement increased to fifty families. Through either a direct or indirect connection with Andrew Wormser, the settlement totaled eighty-five Dutch families by 1911. News of Andrew Wormser’s successful settlement activity in the Gallatin Valley began to appear in 1894 in Montana newspapers and Dutch language newspapers printed in Michigan and Iowa.27 One of the most widely circulated articles was a letter written by D. J. Walvoord, who later became an important partner in Andrew’s Holland Irrigation Project.28 Walvoord described his adventure to Montana, giving Andrew Wormser a great deal of the credit for the success of Manhattan’s Dutch settlement. Traveling to Montana in what he called a “harvest excursion”, Walvoord arrived in Manhattan in the fall of 1894. Given the royal treatment, Walvoord was met at the railroad station by Rev. Wormser and Rev. VandenHoek of Chicago, and taken to the Manhattan Hotel for breakfast. Rev. VandenHoek, on his second visit to Montana, wanted to see for himself the progress of Manhattan’s Dutch settlers, and compare the settlement to other settlements in Washington where he had just visited. Andrew proceeded to escort Walvoord and VandenHoek on a tour of the valley visiting Dutch settlers. Inspired by the fertility and beauty of the valley, Walvoord wrote, After breakfast we took a ride in the surrounding country, (Continued on page 24)
Volume 32ŇNumber 4ŇAutumn, 2009
(Continued from page 23)
visited the Holland settlers, who one and all were satisfied that their lines had fallen in such pleasant places. Their narration of the wonderful fertility of the soil, and of the healthy climate of their newly chosen homes, was only excelled by what my own eyes beheld; and I may state right here, that fertile as our good state of Wisconsin is I never saw such fields of grain and other produce . . .29 Completely taken by the success of Andrew Wormser’s locating activities, D. J. Walvoord decided to stay and become a teacher in a new school that was to open in the Dutch settlement. Rev. VandenHoek also wrote, in a letter published in 1892, that on this tour of the valley he encountered wheat so tall that he couldn’t see over it.30 Not all the information flowing from Manhattan’s Dutch settlement resonated positively, nor were the stories all supportive of Andrew Wormser.31 Andrew alluded to the negative reports in an article he published in 1894, and identified a group of malcontents who were “an undesirable element” who “hindered the growth and development” of the settlement.32 It was this faction of Dutch settlers, in part unprepared for frontier life and disillusioned by promises of settlement, who produced a slow but steady trickle of complaints back to their relatives in the Netherlands and the Midwest that Andrew feared could undermine public opinion of Dutch settlement in Montana. One immigrant by the name of Wasters wrote to relatives that as for settlement in Montana, “it is all lies, deceit and hyperbole. . .the Reverend Wormser is only in it for the money. . .all he speaks is untruth.”33 Another immigrant, A. Vogel Sr., echoed Wasters’ disappointment when he wrote, “Montana was excellent for grazing, but it was a dry country where gambling and violence was prevalent.”34 Most damaging of the immigrant letters were the ones sent in 1892 by M. Powder, A. Van Woudenberg, B. Wrester Dye, and P.C. Van Doeberg, all of Manhattan. All complained that Andrew Wormser’s presentations in the Netherlands were exaggerations of the truth, and that a drought had prevented them from growing vegetables and corn. The letters also contained references to stony land, changeable weather, dry air, and frosty nights. Most irritating was the complaint that they had to work on Sunday to make ends meet. Wormser recognized the danger of negative reports about the land development business, and countered the potentially damaging letters with a widely published report initiated by Montana’s governor, Joseph A. Toole. Governor Toole commissioned a knowledgeable Bozeman citizen, Colonel Charles A. Gregory, to write a response addressing some of the misgivings about the state and the trustworthiness of Andrew Wormser that the Dutch settlers had expressed. Gregory wrote the report on December 12, 1891, in Bozeman, and it was endorsed by state officials on December 14, in Helena, and published in two of the major Dutch newspapers in the Midwest, on January 12 and 13, 1892.35 The speed with which the report traveled is remarkable even by modern standards, but the swiftThe Pioneer Museum Quarterly Ň www.pioneermuseum.org
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ness accented the urgency of the matter as seen by those who wished to preserve fragile public opinion. Colonel Gregory’s article “Onwaarhiden Omtrent of Montana [Lies Concerning Montana]” was a lengthy report to Gov. Toole which addressed the fitness of Montana as a state in which to settle, and the charges which were raised by unhappy Dutch immigrants.36 The report focused on two general themes, the harshness of the climate and the “wildness” of the state. As for the harsh climate, especially the cold winters and dry summers, Gregory wrote that Montana’s winters were warmer than the ones in Wisconsin, Minnesota, or Iowa. He continued that even though the climate was dry, the potential for agriculture was enhanced by winter snowpack in the mountains which stored an abundance of water for irrigation. As for the “wildness”, Gregory pointed out that the state contained 150,000 industrious people living in prosperous mining and agricultural districts, and that even though there were Indians, . . .Hi is zoo reheel verwijidert van de stricken waar de blanket woven dot men hem gevoegelijk kin raugschikkenop deselfde list awls de poor gored vertrokken buffet. [He is so completely removed from the areas where white men live that people classify the Indian in the same category as the fast disappearing buffalo.]37 To add weight to Col. Gregory’s letter, it was endorsed by a long list of leading citizens that included the secretary of Bozeman’s Chamber of Commerce; editor of the Bozeman Courier; Gallatin Valley bankers, lawyers, and ministers; and citizens of the Netherlands. In the middle of the list was Dr. A. Wormser, identified as a minister from Fort Benton. Governor Toole endorsed the letter along with the secretary of state, state treasurer, state auditor, and superintendent of public education. Colonel Gregory’s letter was designed to help dissipate rumors outside the state, but Andrew Wormser still had to deal with individuals who were unhappy in the growing Dutch settlement. When given the opportunity, Andrew used the pulpit in local churches to address problems of the settlement. On one such occasion, he encountered a group of Dutch settlers around Amsterdam and Churchill who were unhappy with the lack of water delivered by the High Line Canal. Rev. Wormser, using his well-honed ability as an orator and salesman, answered their challenge with a sermon on II Kings 3:18 which simply stated, “Thus saith the Lord, make this valley full of ditches.” This sermon became a catalyst for the Dutch parishioners, and encouraged the settlers to begin digging the Low Line Canal that nearly doubled the amount of water delivered to the fields surrounding the community.38 One very important enterprise related to his contact with the Presbyterian Church was his position as editor and publisher of the church’s voice in Montana, The Light of the Valley. The Light of the Valley was a monthly newspaper first published by Rev. Edwin M. Ellis at Stevensville, Montana in 1889. Along with information and news regarding Montana’s Presbyterian
Church, the paper contained national and international news briefs, human interest editorials, and ads that might appeal to a broader readership not directly associated with the church. Shortly after Andrew Wormser took over the monthly in 1892, it was moved to Bozeman. Between 1892 and 1894, Rev. Wormser continued the original intent of the monthly, that is to promote and provide information about Presbyterianism in Montana. However, in several editions, Andrew used the paper as a sounding board for his view on issues related to the church, national and international events, and the growing Dutch community in the Gallatin Valley. Andrew also used the paper to promote different business ventures related to his family, and to gain name recognition around Montana. Articles associated with Dutch immigrants appeared along with articles that described the advantages of settlement in the Gallatin Valley. In 1894, Rev. Wormser wrote a lengthy article on Gallatin Valley’s Second Holland Presbyterian Church, located seven miles south of Manhattan at the present site of Churchill. Even though the Dutch immigrants who attended this church had been experiencing some difficulties with finances and settlement, Andrew boasted of the fine roads, fences, and homes that were built in the settlement. With fields plowed and the return of spring, Andrew praised the community’s health and optimism, One or two years of good crops and better markets and the future of the colony will be assured, and people will come flocking in. It is a matter of congratulations, that not one of our farmers have left discouraged. . . . In future years they and their posterity will look back upon all this with happy thoughts and pleasant recollections, and the meetings in the barns and kitchens will become part of a proud history.39 The Light of the Valley was initially designed to serve more than the grandiose schemes of one man, but by 1894 the newspaper was a one-man operation. In 1894, Rev. Wormser left the Presbyterian Church, returned to the Reformed Church, and moved to Wormser City. With Rev. Wormser’s departure from the Presbyterian Church, The Light of the Valley ceased to exist.40 With the first Dutch community secure by 1894, Andrew Wormser set out on a new challenge to create a second major Dutch settlement that would rival Gallatin Valley’s colony. While his settlement activity around Amsterdam and Churchill was in concert with the Manhattan Malting and West Gallatin Irrigation Companies, Andrew’s new settlement six miles north of Big Timber would be dependent only on him as indicated in the name he gave it, Wormser City. While Andrew attempted to manipulate financial and governmental institutions in order to succeed, he learned that a successful land developer was very dependent on two factors over while he had no control: climate and geography. About the Author Gallatin Valley resident Delbert Delos Vandenberg first pre-
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sented this paper on Andrew Wormser during the 1996 Gallatin Historical Society history conference. It is a chapter from his Masters of Art thesis at MSU, “Building Castles in the Air:” Andrew Wormser, Immigrant Locator and Land Developer. Vandenberg has extensive teaching experience in junior and senior high schools in Montana, Iowa, and California. ENDNOTES 1. Kroes, The Persistence of Ethnicity, 8-9. 2. William DeYoung and L.H. Smith, Soil Survey of the Gallatin Valley Area, Montana, no. 16, (Washington: GPO, 1936), 17-21. 3.Rob Kroes, ed. The American West: As seen by Europeans and Americans. European Contributions to American Studies, vol. 24 (Amsterdam, Netherlands; Free University Press, 1989), 166-180. 4.William DeYoung and L. H. Smith, Soil Survey of the Gallatin Valley Area, Montana, no. 16, 2-3. 5.Ibid, 4-9; John A. Alwin, Western Montana: A Portrait of the Land and its People Montana Geographic Series, no. 5 (Helena, MT: Montana Magazine, Inc. 1983) 77-79; for an undated Booster pamphlet see Gallatin Valley: Nile of North America, (np., nd.) at Gallatin County Historical Society. 6.Wormser, Verspreide Geschriften, 149-59, 187-204. 7.Ibid, 160-86. 8.“Andrew Wormser,” Progressive Men of Montana, 501. 9.Lucas, Netherlanders in America, 403; Kroes, The Persistence of Ethnicity, 45. 10. Records of Andrew’s financial associations in or out of the West are as of yet unavailable, and with only a few exceptions are there any indications that his financial activities were anything but honest. See Lucas, Netherlanders in America, 501. 11. Robert G. Dunbar, The Economic Development of the Gallatin Valley, Pacific Northwest Quarterly, vol. 47 (October, 1956): 119; Lucas, Netherlanders in America, 403; Nevin, Manhattan Omnibus, 267; ChurchillAmsterdam Historical Society, A Goodly Heritage, 2. 12.Nevin, Manhattan Omnibus, 177, 188. 13.DeYoung and Smith, Soil Survey, 2, 17. 14.Nevin, Manhattan Omnibus, 165. 15. Ibid, 178. 16. Ibid, 177. 17. Bozeman Chronicle, 3 December 1948. 18. Lesley M. Heathcote, The Montana Arid Land Grant Commission 18951903. Agricultural History, vol. 38, no. 2 (April, 1964): 3. 19. Dearborn Kanal Company (New York: The South Publishing Co., nd.) 20. Ibid, 30. 21. Ibid, 30. 22. Heathcote, The Montana Arid Land Grant Commission 1895-1903, 9; Helena Independent, 20 December 1900. 23. Heathcote, The Montana Arid Land Grant Commission 1895-1903,: 10. 24. Churchill-Amsterdam Historical Society, A Goodly Heritage, 4; Bozeman Chronicle, 10 December 1948. 25. Avant Courier, 9 April 1892. 26.Avant Courier, 15 May 1893. 27.Several articles appeared about Andrew Wormser’s settlement activity in De Volksvriend, a Dutch language newspaper published in Orange City, and in De Grondwet and De Hope, both published in Holland, Michigan between 1892-1903. 28. Avant Courier, 2 February 1895. 29. Ibid. 30. De Hope, 24 August 1892. 31. De Ommelander, 2 July 1892; De Hope, 7 September 1892. 32. The Light of the Valley, May 1894. 33. Kroes, The Persistence of Ethnicity, 46. 34. Lucas, Netherlanders in America, 405. 35. De Grondwet, 12 January 1892; De Hope, 13 January 1892. 36. De Grondwet, 12 January 1892. 37. Ibid. 38. Churchill-Amsterdam Historical Society, A Goodly Heritage, 71; Dick C. Flikkema, Unrecorded interview with author, 17 January 1996. 39. The Light of the Valley, May 1894. 40. McKinney, Presbyterianism in Montana, 66.
Volume 32ŇNumber 4ŇAutumn, 2009
Items donated to the Pioneer Museum July 1 - September 30, 2009
In the Bookstore….
$12.95 $24.95
Branding irons.
W. H. Williams
Ice tongs, buggy-warming box, photograph, Elks Minstrel Show, Ellen Theater, 1947.
William H. Thomas
Bozeman High yearbooks.
Bozeman Public Library
CD images of 200 block, E Main.
Mark Hufstetler
Two cassette tapes, oral histories by Story, Langohr, and Davidson.
Chuck Parks
1956 aerial view of MSU campus.
John & Bernice DeHaas
Gallatin Canyon Women’s Club 1950 cookbook.
Carol Morrow
Holy Rosary burial cards; 1925 Montana license plate; Key ring; Photographs.
Maggie Heisick
Gallatin County & SW Montana tourism books & pamphlets.
Carol Code
1946-1947 brass belt buckle, MSC.
Leroy Latta, Sr.
Eleanor Rich Battle of Midway medallion; US Navy commemorative pin; 1921 Unicorn (MT) silver bank coin; Charles Rich military documents; one Bozeman history, eight newsletters, three Montana Magazines.
$21.99 $16.95 These and other books may be purchased in the Pioneer Museum bookstore, or by filling out the order sheet at http://www.pioneermuseum.org/bookorderform.pdf
Bob Soper
Eleven CNFR Belt Buckles.
Wayne Gibson
Book, Growing up in the Gallatin.
Zelpha Boyd
GCHS 1939 Yearbook; Then and Now, 1939-1959.
Richard L. Nelson
Three Hebgen Lake Quake photographs.
Marie Thompson
Gallatin County addressing system; Atlas; Ft Ellis Quadrangle map.
Ted Newman
Two photographs of Constance Crist; DVD of County Health Dept.
John R. Tkach, MD
Nash’s Coffee tins, spices, labels.
John M. Nash
City of Bozeman flag; Handmade sunbonnet.
Doris Ward
1924 Bell System telephone directory.
Ruth Cloyd
Abstract.
Geb Anderson
Eighteen photographs, GC Sheriff & Fire Ivy Huntsman Dept.
and mailing to us with your payment.
Fifty-year reunion photograph, GCHS class of 1947.
Members enjoy a 10% discount on all bookstore purchases.
The Pioneer Museum Quarterly Ň www.pioneermuseum.org
Society of Montana Pioneers, 1899, v1.
Donald H. Cheever
Five diplomas & certificates, Busch fam- Church Street Properties ily, 1909-1923.
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1941 4H Fair portraits.
Clinton Gee
Four photographs of 1982 Wally Byam Rally at MSU.
Louise Bradford
Image Gallery
Given the success of Ken Burns’ latest PBS production The National Parks - America’s Best Idea, we thought we’d show an inkling of the Gallatin Historical Society’s Yellowstone Park pictures.
In all, there are more than 16,000 images in the GHS collection dealing with Gallatin County, southwest Montana, and Yellowstone Park. Reproductions available. Come browse. 27
Volume 32ŇNumber 4ŇAutumn, 2009
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