Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1887-1890, 1888-07-18
THE FIRST SCHOOL.
THE PRIMARY SCHOOL STARTED
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO IN
ALDER GULCH.
Professor j. b. Patch Tells How He Taught
the Young Idea Amid Queer Sur
neutrality-suspicious. Bright Pu-
pills of the Professor.
WRITTEN FOR THE TRIBUNE.

| WRITTEN FOR THE TRIBUNE
I The difficulties and embarrassments
which were to be met and overcome in
planting this first school interest in Mon
tana were Of considerable magnitude. AS
might be surmised, no school building
had been erected in Montana, inasmuch
| as no school interest was in existence, to
| require one. To build at this season
1s63-was out Of the question, as the
| mountains were we'll covered with snow
/ and the timber quite inaccessible. To
rent building for this purpose was al
most equally out Of the question, as ev-
cry cabin and store appeared to be occu-
pied by the parties who buiNsit, and, as
winter was coming on, no one appeared
| willing to rent for any reasonable price.
As the teacher only brought into Vir
ginia City 81 in gold, and the patrons
with families were mostly of limited
means, it became matter of serious
doubt whether such an enterprise
could fairly be started with
any hope of success. After full
acquaintance with the families of the
place, however, it became settled con-
viction in the mind of the teacher that he
could rely upon the patrons of the school
to advance the pay for weeks tuition to
meet the expense of rent, for at least one
month. This experiment was tried and
succeeded admirably. There was gen
erous and noble confidence expressed on
the part of all concerned to give this first
effort an encouraging start The purse,
with its $50 in gold dust, was consequent
ly handed over to the owner of the cabin
on Idaho street, and the school opened
promptly on Monday morning, October
%, 1868, with about one dozen pupils in
the primary and intermediate grades.
| As might be expected, the peculiar di
versity and variety of patrons, like the
population, was very great. One com.
mon impulse, however, seemed to actuate
and govern the majority, and that i'm
pulse was in behalf of the school. Those
who had children seemed bent on trying
to screen their offspring from the
fearful scenes Of vice and crime
that then invested Virginia City, by
fplacing them behind the log walls of this
humble school house, and under the
watchful care of schoolmaster, who had
arrived in these far-oH mountain regions
to give special attention to this work
One foorless cabin, lighted by single
window, with rock chimney at the back
end, furnished with half q dozen slab
benches, and blackboard Of ordinary
dimensions suspenden to the wall, consti-
tuted the whole equipment for this first
school plant in Montana. II is none the
less true, however, and very gratifying
reflection to know that many hero,
blessed with noble name and character,
whose fame the world will not willingly
let die, has sprung from just such primi-
tive and humble school rooms of instruc-
tion as this.
There were gathered, from week to
week, during the winter 1868 4, some rs
to 80 pupils to be trained in lessons Of
science, self-government and moral vir-
tue. Considering the surrounding com
munity, the young students of this school
made marked progress in their studies
and made very creditable record in de-
pertinent. As some of these young peo-
pie are married and are now residents of
this territory, and we have had the pleas
ure Of meeting some of them since our
return two years ago, we will mention a
few names. Among the young ladies
were Miss Mollie Shehan, now Mrs Maj
Roman of the Flathead agency; Miss
Katie McKinsey, now Mrs, Fowler of
Bozeman City; Miss Joanna Balls, now
Mrs. Heib of Moreland. Then came
Miss Molly Dustan, Miss Molly Gray,
Miss Carrie Crane and other young misses
whose lives are now gracing society with
their sweet and hallowed influence.