Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1895-12-13
AND M'GINNIS HUSTLED
How Town in Montana Re-
ceived Its Name.
DOOMED IN THE NEWSPAPERS
General Passenger Agent whitney Re.
calls Bit of Great Northern
History.

Many people have been puzzled in en-
deavoring to account for the naming
of the town of Chinook, in Choteau
county, says the Helena Independent.
Some have said it was SO named be-
cause it was the initial point in the
Chinook winds; others have said 1t was
because tribe of Indians called Chi
hooks were on the land when the white
people first settled there. A moments
thought, however, is sufficient to con-
vince any one that neither of these
guesses is correct. General Passenger
Agent Whitney tells why it was so
named, and those who We're in Montana
at the time he referred to will have ev-
cry confidence in Mr.. Whitneys histor-
ical narrative. Mr.. Whitney's story Is
this
AS travelling passenger agent of the
Great Northern in 1889 D. R. McGinnis
spent much time "hustling'' in the Milk
river valley. Shortly afterwards he was
made advertising agent. About this
time the road was extended from Dew
lis Lake into Montana through the
Milk river valley to Great Falls and
Helena. He conceived the idea of build
ing UP a town in the valley because he
thought it was a good country. Why
he thought so he did not and does not
yet exactly know. A sort of boomers
instinct inspired him to boom that des
olate waste full of coyotes bowls and
red mems shrieks and convert it into a
metropolis" of trade and commerce.
His scheme was his own. No one else
wanted it. He could not get rid of it.
Grosventre, Piegan and Blackfeet In
dams, who inhabited the wilderness,
gave him the steely stare, squatters
gave him the silly laugh and the prairie
dogs fled before his presence as they
would before crazy wolf. He followed
the sluggish Milk river as it wormed
it's way towards the southern horizon,
where the peaks of the Bear Paw noun
tains frowned sternly on the enterprise,
and failed to get friend.
Squatters watched his movements
very closely, not because they regarded
him responsible individual, but be-
cause he represented a railroad corpo-
ration. When he selected the townsite
they crowded on it to take chances,
just like squatters all over the world.
Mr.. McGinnis then executed a flank
movement and assumed to select an
other townsite 20 miles further west.
The squatters Immediately packed up
their lares and penates and moved their
shacks to this place, and Mac returned
to St. Paul.
He commenced campaign of educa-
ton in the natural resources of the
Milk river valley and the metropolitan
life of Chinook, as if the town really ex-
listed. But the warm winds, from which
his town derived it's name, still blew
the sand in whirling gusts and ripped
up all in the town the hand of man
(McGinnis) had made-the stakes.
Finally Macs effort was crowned
with success. After advertising Chinook
town was divided off into lots, held by a
townsite company, which gave quit
claim deeds to the settlers.
Some time during the latter part of
February people began to flock there
from the east, first in parties of two
and three, and afterward in squads.
The gamblers, of course, took posses
sion and fieeced the settlers to the Sec
ond cutic1e of their skin as fast as they
came. The country looked wild and the
Indians were wicked. The settlers fled
in droves. The special settlement agent
whom Mac placed in charge stood in"
with the gamblers, and everything went
wrong side up. All this time the father
of Chinook sat serenely In his office in
st. Paul, congratulating himself upon
his success.
One day he received the following tel
egram from the company's agent: For
heavens sake do something. Settlers
going fast as come" He took the next
train for Chinook. General Manager
Allan Marvel met him at the union de-
pot, and to encourage him said: "If
YOU keep the people and think the BUSH
ness warrants it we will build mag
nificent depot there Immediately"
On the morning of March IL the
winds blew fiercer than usual at Chi
nook, and the black clouds overhead
scattered a dismal rain on the murky
scene Mac beheld as he got off the
train. He walked up the hill to the
point he had selected for 100000 city
hall. and the first sound he heard was
the veil of a drunken man and the
clink of poker chips. His special agent
was inside playing faro. 1t was crisis
in Mac 8 lie. w dlhlHS pOlOiy lulO bAiS
gambling joint, he said:
Here, you'll stop this or walk over
nv dead body. Quit right here, or I'll
have every one of you arrested and the
depot will be built somewhere else"
The gamblers packed up and most OF
them left town.
Macs experience at the train was as
trying as that in the gambling hell
When the train came in a half dozen
settlers and their families tumbled off
dragging with them their earthly pos
sessions, They stood irresolutely on the
platform, while the sharp driZzle cut
their cheeks, gazing sullenly at the ap-
parently barren hills covered with short
dry grass. AS soon as their eyes lighted
on the Indian tepees across the river
they groaned with disappointment. One
burly fellow Topped into the station ant
said to the agent:
"See here, mister, what's the price uN
a ticket back to Sugar Creek, Inji
| anny?"
"What. do you want to go back 81
soon?"
"Too durn dry. Eff could git holC
/ Nv that Teller McGinnis, who called THU
dashed desert paradise I'd skin hin
alive, begoshp
Mac heard this remark and stepped
forward. After much solicitation h,
induced the party to wait long enough
to see the country. The next day h
drove them around and did the jolly.