The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-03-15
MONTANA
DID, LINERS
COL John H. Curtis, OfBUtte
Tells Stories of Road Agents and
Indians in the Early Days
OF the Territory.

rewarded. says the Anaconda StanC
ard. The man who put his money I'M
Butte mines or real estate in the earl
days and stayed with it usually &C
uumuated considerable wealth Man.
however had confidence by spells The
would have confidence enough TO in
vest and then they would lose thei
confidence and sell. There are ais
$ one who gained wealth in Butt
fhi ugh their utter inability at on
time TO sell their Butte property 70
enough to get out Of town on. The
simply had to stay and keep thei
property.
Colonel John II. Curtis is one of thos
VINO in the very early days had i'm
piic.t confidence in the great future o
Butte from the first day he saw tn
town. 1t wasn't much of town then
,ther, but he went to work accumu
l8jng lots. As a consequence of hi
carly confidence in the town and hi
indomitable energy, infeXibility of pur
pose and splendid business ability he il
one Of Butte's wealthiest citizens, as
well as one of its most honored men
has built more business blocks than
any other individual and is the largest
individual taxpayer Of Butte.
In the village OF Cloyne Ireland
three miles from the birthplace of Johr
wait 10 get acquainted with Mcguire
or in fact. with much OF anything else
ia the old country, for his parents
ID ught him over to his country when
NE was > years old-that was 1874. He
was raised in St Louis, where his pa
rents settled, and remained in Missouri
until he came to Montana-that was in
1866. He came up the eriver TO Fort
Benton by steamboat with John Noyes
as a travelling companion. He travelled
from Fort Benton to Helena on the
first express coach that ever ran be-
tween these two towns. 1t was piloted
by c.. c. Huntley.
We had reached about twenty five
miles out from Fort Benton" unused
the colonel in telling of those days to
the Standard, when we went into
camp for the night.-I didn't turn in at
once. bat stood talking with a herder
who was on guard near the outskirts
of the camp. 1 asked how he could tell
when Indians were around.
The mules always neigh, he re-
piled
The words were scarcely out of his
mouth when the mules began neighing.
The whole camp was aroused and
everybody got his arms. 1 secured two
revolvers and prepared to fight hard if
! had to fight. But it was only a wagon
that was coming in from Helena.
Colonel Curtis located at Helena and
lived there fourteen years. He went
into the general mercantile business.
He had 81 $40 with him when he came
into the country. He kept store in a
loE cabin, on the site of which he aft
erward built the Atlas block, opposite
the Merchants bank That is of two
stories. FTe occupied that for his store
Untf he left Helena.
81 made money in my Helena store
said the colonel That was the foun-
cation of my fortune. Freights were
high. but we got good prices for every
thing Sugar sold for 81 a pound coal
oil was 81 a gallon, whiskey $40 gal
Jon, -four $50 a sack, and everything
else accordingly. Everything had to be
brought i'm by boat to Fort Benton and
then freighted in. The freight was p
cents a pound from st. Louis to Fort
Genton and cents a pound from Fort
Benton to Helena. The freight cost
more than the original price of the
goods. Then. as another drawback, !
when we needed money to get our goods
in. we had to pay the bank , per cent |
interest a month. or SO cents a year.
When did you first come to Butte?"
"That@Was Aug. 20, 1850. retired |
from business in Helena with $4,000 |
Came to Butte, however. ! expected to |
take the very next stage coach back to |
Helena. and l brought no change of /
clothes with me. I liked the look of |
the town from the first. and in the first |
twenty-four hours l was here ] invested /
s. 600 in the towns real estate. i'm |
uCdistely prophesied a great future for
Butte. Instead of going back to Helena
on the next coach / invested in new
II. guwr
Helena again for three years. Then 1t
was only To wind up some business"
Colonel Curtis and family have lived
in their present residence in South
Washington street for twenty-one
Years The advance Of the pioneer was
Q ways beset with dangers in those
early days. The country was wild and
rough and Indians were plenty. The
colonel however had no serious bat
ties with the Indians in the early days,
hut he had some narrow escapes.
In company with Ed Sparks, said
the colonel Il was chased all the way
from Diamond City to Whalen's toll
bridge by road agents. They kept close
DaGind us, firing occasionally and ali
that saved US was that we had splendid
horses. We killed them in saving our
lives for on getting to safety they were
completely gone. / had $4,000 IN gold
dust and Sparks had $4,000, all IN can
Teens That was in 1868.
The following years l was with a
party on the Marias prairie. Jim Hea-
ley. sheriff OF Choteau county. joined
as, and it was his influence that saved
Us when we were surrounded by In
dams shortly afterward. Healey per
Suadcd the chief to compel his braves
70 leave US alone. They left US. but
little way out the Indians killed their
chief Little Dog. and his son. That
WAS because they wouldn't let them
attack US. We found their bodies few
niles out Of camp the next day.
We passed q big encampment of In
dams about that time coming from
Deer Lodge over the old Frenchman's
q ide After passing them, lot OF [,
drunken and naked Indians rode out of
tae woods to our horses and command
.d us to halt. We rode at topmOst {
speed down TO the foot Of the mountain
and were very much frightened / can I
ten YOU They kept firing at US, but in {
some uneXplainable way we made our
escapes without injury
Colonel Curtis is the father Of St.
James hospital in this city. and was I
ono Of the leaders in the building Of the J
FIRST Catholic church IN Helena, and 2
llso in Butte. In Helena he secured a I
log cabin right next to his store, and ]
''fS. HplldS IdHCiS -hedS ilci llAtu w 7
The ca bin and constructed an altar out :
Vi some dry goods boxes from the store
ana some cloth. Father KupDens gave
he first mass there. Soon afterward a
Meeting Of the Catholics was held, and !;
t was decided to erect a church. The !
contract was let to John NJ. Sweeney. :
The church has now been moved back )
md a brick edifce erected in front.
Butte's first Catholic church was also :
little frame church erected on the site
II where the present edifce is.
when I came to Butte said Mr.. 1 l
'urtis, there was no hospital here. I