The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-07-04
How the City Grew up. the Fairest
Daughter of all the Northwest,
Sturdy Child from
Her Birth.
The Men Who Made Her and How
They Did it The Early His
tory of the City from
its Beginning.

Under the rapid footsteps Of tn,
modern days each vcstige of those older
drawer times is fading fast. BY the tur
bid waters Of the old Missouri where
oncc roamed herds of antelope. whose
startled eyes never say Il pale face, tn,
constant rumble and whirr of huge saw
great plateau. erstwhile the abode o
wild Indians and buffalo. young cite.
have sprung up and their lively business
hum seems strangely out of place il
what was once primeval silence. TIL,
red man has retired before his light
skinned brother; wigwam villages are
long since a part of the buried past.
Even the earlier ''shacks" Of the city of
cataracts and progress are yielding to
the rcmorseless scythe of time and soon
it's pioneer history shall be recalled only
in story. Unless. therefore, it shall be
preserved on paper, even as its ancient
landmarks it must pass away "like a tale
that is told" Moved by such consider
atoms it was considered meet that the
city's history should be written, and I'M
willing that these fine old days should
ever become a mere credible legend, the
TRIBUNE today presents its readers with
a short history of their city.
Great Fails is not an old town and yet
the difficulty Of preserving perfect &C
curacy in all details can scarcely be real
lied. Different men are apt to recall
different stories and all early evidence is
mere heresay. The following facts are
in the main supplied by Hon. Paris Glib
son and Messrs, II, o. Chowcn and
Howard Criss.
BRIT OF Til CITY.
The conception of Great Falls may be
placed as early as May of 1882 when, as
will be seen by his narrative, Hon. Paris
Gibson first visited the her unoccupied
waste. There was little in sight to for
tell future metropolitan greatness. The
great plains stretched away in solemn
stiffness, their waving grass rising at in
~tervals and climbing the sides of neigh
boring benches. Away in the distance
the Belt and Iiighwood ranges reached
high up toward the blue heaven. Two
years passed away and her the child
leaped into healthy being. Her site was
plated and at intervals over the prairie
the surveyors stake, forerunner to many
a mammoth American city. told where
stately buildings and dwellings might
one day be. The young city was named
Great Falls.
PROGRESS OF THE CITY.
During this time the few denizens of
the neighborhood were dwelling in a
tent. Those, who are acquainted with
the vigOrs of a Montana winter, will ap-
preciate life in a tent with the murcury
climbing backwards from the zero
point. Many times the early pioneer
must have recalled with regretful long
ing certain cosy tiresides then far away.
But the winter SHOWS finally melted and
old Sol, who always looks kindly on Mon
tana, shed his brightest beams en-
~couragingly on the band OF
struggling pioneers. That was a little
more than six years ago, in the year Of
our Lord, 1884. The building boom
failed to strike the prospective city with
unheard OF violence this year. A short
distance outside Of the city limits Johnny
Woods cabin, as the boys still call it,
was built in the spring. 1t yet stands
on the southern hillside, the oldest land
mark neal the town. Next a frame hotel
was built by William Warner. Prior to
its erection the few people had boarded
in a tent near the Missouri. This hotel
has since burned down. During the fall
the TOWNSHIP office was built. 1t stood
then where the Blackberry block now
stands and looked really quite a build
ing in those days. 1t was moved last
year back Of the Bach Cory block and
stands there yet. About the same time
Howard Crisis put up a blacksmith shop.
1t is also standing now and forms the
back part Of Mr.. Crisis present place OF
business. The Pioneer hotel, now the
Pioneer saloon, was next put up by Dan
Mckay, and this was followed by a
saloon built by Doc Spurgeon and Chas.
Chowder, on Third street and Second
avenue south, where it may yet be seen.
Another winter dragged itself away,
and in the spring OF 1885 the building
now occupied by Dunlap & Gaunt was
built by Dunlap & Arthur. Several
building enterprises followed, among
them the Leland house on First avenue
south, by Joe Koch and Charles Remp,
and the building on west Central avenue
now occupied by Frank Er.
II. ..Linb Mummy Maclax n Co. bull