The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1889-09-01
MONTANA PIONEERS.
The BOBquet at the BroadWater. tn
Ioasts and SPeeche-.

1Le MOI tAuA IlOleer Association gave
their annual banquet at the Hotel Broad
water last evening and the men who
blszed the trails hack in the sixties had q
grand jubilee over the walnuts and wine.
A special train took the party out on the
Montana Central at 7;45 and half an hour
later LIS or more guests were seated at the
table Among the guests were A. N, HOI-
ter, Col. BrOadwater. II. NJ Parchen,
Judge Hedges, Martin Msginnis, Granville
Stuart, Col. Curtis, James Fergus, J w
Sanders, t II KIeinschmidt jas Sullf-
van, John Horsky, W. W. Anderson and
many other notable characters from Helena
and other points in the territory Many
ladies were present
immediately after tie edibles had been
disposed Of Judge Hedges announced Ln~
Cof Sanders was unavoidably sSsent and
requested John Snober tc act in place OF
the colonel as tOc<ruaster Mr. ShOber
then called upc.s Hon I II kleinschmidt
to respond ITO the Old and New, and
the Trail and the Railroad" TO which toast
one gentlemen did full justice in short
pithY and characteristics speech which
brought forth generous applause
Major MReinnis was then requested to
respond to "Ihe Montana Pioneers" or
the Pioneers of Montana, who met the
pioneers as il were, from the Atlantic 20
the Pacific. The major stepped forward
amid a storm of applause and said.
"Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
| Ny friend says in calling the toast that u
was on this spot that the pioneers from the
/ e st met the rFfiux tide of civilization aud
/ the pioneers from the west. 1 know that
/ is true, for even when 1 first came here the
/ west siders weFe the dominating power,
/ the "self risers, as they called Them, from
California were the aristOcracy OF the
/ country. l have always thought this con
| tinent was discovered on the wrong side
/ | think il would have been much better
| il il had bsen discovered in san
! Francisco bay rather than Plymouth rock
/ II Christopher Columbus had come around
| the Cape OF Good Hope and struck the Pa
/ ciflc shore in the first place New York
/ would now be q territory aud New Eng
land an Indian reservation. Loud sp-
plauSe
Pioneers Gre indeed the founders Of en-
| pires; they are the men whose ambitious
| hearts anc gallant spirits, filled with the
desire of adventure and the thirst for en-
| terprise, sought untrOdden paths to walk
! In and new fields to cultivate and pillow.
/ They are the men who do not wish 70 walk
in the common paths and regular
I ways of lite, but, inspired with
more romantic ideas, with Taste
for adventure with thirst for new things
which ought 10 ill the blood and nerve the
metal of the ambitious youth to walk in un-
trOdden trails; 90 ind new places where
none have gone befOre-of such are the
pioneers that settled this territory of Mon
without saying, fOT IN the face Of savage
foes they crossed the plains, climbed the
mountains and came to this new undiscOv-
cred country opened Il mp aud made
known its riches and resources 10 the
world
They laid here the foundation of good
government and order. they were the lead
ing spirits Of old communities, and in the
face Of danger, OF rough society, and of
rough men, they had the nerve and courage
to put down crime, TO put down immortality
and iTregularity and to found here a civil
izatiOn which IS the peer of any eiviliza-
ton on the earth Loud applsusel
They were not ot-house plants of civ
iIiZatiOn, bred under glass 20 wither with
The rude blasts of the adversely of the
frontier; but they were men nursed in q
rough land, with the hearts, with the spirit,
with the enterprise of men, they were in
deed the founders of empires
Ny venerable friend. who was
the pioneer of two cOuntries-the
has properly named the county of Fergus
| / see his smiling countenance and vener-
able beard, surrounded as he is by the
| friends who hOnOTed him because he was
one OF those who led the way 20 the land in
which they have made their homes and
fortunes.
see beside me the pioneers from an
PIoeF aofer coH35Ty tTom tbsf eSden5 faasb A o145
land beyond the seas, the lands
OF fords and mountains and OF the midnight
sun; the land OF that great Norman race
| which founded the aristOcracy of the earth
which thrilled the hearts of all the inhabi-
tants OF the world, and yet in this later
| generation sends out as noble representa-
| tives as ever sailed under its ancient ban
ners 70 found new empires IN this new
land. The legal people were repre-
| sented by such eminent intellectually
as my friend Sanders, and Shober who Is
tOsstnaster OF this occasion Science, and
art, and medicine. and geology. and agri-
culture, and every calling that makes man
| useful among his fellow men, was centered
in the bod spirits who came out In search
of gold, In search OF homes, in search Of
! prosperity to this new country l need
not speak, my friends, of that other piO-
Deer under whose roof we sit to-Diebf
| loud and continued applause
The speaker then gave q history of his
arrival in Montana, his meeting with the
Broadwater trail in the Milk River country
aud concluded with an eulogistic disserta-
ton on the virtues and progressive qualities
/ OF the 81 lrdy pioneers and their wives
| The other speakers Of the evening re-
sponded to the following tOssts:
ITO the Wives, the Sons and Daughters
Of Montana" DR.. w. l. Steele
ITO the Pioneers OF California, the Sol
dlers OF the Mexican War and the Pioneers
Of MOntans," Thomas II Gorham.
'To Our Ex-president Who was a Pio-
neer IN Montana, One Of the Pioneers of
Montana, and Not the Least 70 be Remem-
6ered in Our Association Hon. James
Fergus.
"One of MoDtana's first pioneers who
knows her history we'll" Hon Granville
Stuart.
"To the young bachelors Of Montana.
our first president" Col. DeIacy
In behalf of the educational Interests OF
the territory and its advancement" Judge
The pioneers then adjourned until
August, 1890.