The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-04-27
OLD Time TOLL ROADS.
How Life Used to Run In the OId
Days When Bull Teams Used
to Have the Right OF
Way.

bound with ribs Of steel the widely scat
tered settlements of Montana, there was
a stage route running from Denver to
Salt Lake and from Salt Lake to Helena.
From Helena there was an ordinary
wagon roa extending to Deer Lodge,
which Ia the old days was n great trading
center. This wagon Dad was laid out
and kept i'm repair by n number OF toll
keepers, each Of whom had a section OF
road which was virtually the property Of
the toll keeper, and passed from hand to
hand by bargain m sale like mining
claims, ranches or other property.
One Of the earliest of the old toll-keep-
ers was Henry $. Clark, at present assist
mi clerk OF the district court of Silver
O county. Mr.. Clark came TO Montana
in 1866. He came In by stage, his wife ar
then Is months old, and now clerk of the
irving n year later, packing Will L. Clark,
district court of Silver Bow county. Mr..
Clark came from WATERFOWL, N. Y, and
landed i'm Helena, which was then q thriv-
ing town of 1900 inhabitants, who were
engaged i'm placer mining. Mr.. Clark OBJ
tanned n placer mine which he worked
with some success for few months, and
the was offered the purchase OF a
toll-gate route from Mullin Summit TO
Blackfoot city, on the way from Helena to
Deer Lodge city. He paid $500 for the
road, which comprised a stretch of about
IL miles, and entered on his duties as toll
gate keeper at once. Mr.. Clark gives this
ccoun of his experiences in taking toll
in Montana n quarter of a century ago:
~ bought the section of road from old
man Anthony, who laid il out two years be-
FORE said Mr.. Clark. "When / arrived
at the toll station l found il consisted Of a
little log cabin, and a gate. i went To
work Immediately and built a second story
-. sLa "a q. @.r.
home for my family when they arrived.
The station was known as Greenwood.
The road was an ordinary wagon road,
with occasionally a stretch of corduroy or
a bridge where necessary. The toll was
81 for a wagon and two bits for a horse
back rider. The trade was good and many
days l ooh i'm as much as S75. My total
receipts the first year amounted TO 81
Blu of this sum i expended $1,000 in i'm
proving my stretch of road, adding to my
house and erecting barns on my place. ]
also did quite a business in the hotel lire,
as many traders would stop for dinner
and l would occasionally have to set the
table for n score or two OF people. Most
of my patrons were traders, n the teams
were of the style known as bull teams,
oxen and mules doing about all the draw
ing over my road"
"Life was O lonely there" added Mr..
Clark, 'for traders were constant
ly passing to and fro. They were
moi a bad set either, and l never had any
trouble to speak of over collecting tolls.
My wife arrived IN the first stage from
Salt Lake after the great Indian raid. Al
our station the indian did not modest us.
The Flathead and Nez Perces passed near
us occasionally OH their great buffalo
hunts. But the unprecedented danger
things TO eat. A little stream ran very
near our station filed with the finest ol
trout. Antelope, deer, elk u good beei
gave us plenty of meat, and the traders
passed with fruits of the best style from
Oregon. Occasionally we would have q
little trouble with a grizzly. l remember
one year We were greatly troubled WIFI
an immense grizzly. At near morning he
would come around and once he captured
a live calf and carried him OF. Another
time he went into an clubhouse and stole
a quarter of beef, but my hired man was
on the watch and started for him with d
Winchester, The hired man in his excite
However, he took a shot at the big fellow
and wounded him. We chased him ava,
up TO the top OF the range, following the
bloody marks"
~ kept toll for nearly five years" con
tinued Mr.. Clark, until 1871. didn'
save much money for everything ! made
/ put on the road or into min
ing. Blackfoot city was more OF .
place then than il is O ant
quite a spot for placer mining. invested
all | saved in il. About two miles from
my ranch an immense gold nugget was
taken out i'm placer mining. II was ~
inches wide, Z inches long and 2 inche,
thick, and was worth about S2,SU. In
1870 was elected county clerk OF Dee
Lodge county, which then included Silver
Bow county and much Of Missoula. ] as
sulned my duties i'm the spring OF 1871
abandoning my ~toll-gate and removing tt
Deer Lodge city. The latter was more OF
a trading town in those days than II Il
now. II contained, l believe, between
700 and 200 inhabitants. George w. Irvine
was i'm Deer Lodge mt the same time, ant
was clerk of the district couri."
Concluding his reminiscent chat, MIR
Clark said: ~ have never gone back tc
my toll gate and never sold the property
The last ! heard from there somebod,
was living on the ranch. | don't charge
any rent for il, but ! think | will run owe
there some day and see how my old toll
gate station Is doing"