Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1903-08-05

a brief account of the first settle
mcnts made in the different sections
of Fergus county will probably be- Of
interest To many cf the earlier set
tiers. as well as to those who have
taken mp a residence here in more
recent years.
The first settlement in the vicinity
of Lcwistown was made on Spring
creek by Mai. A. $. Reed and J.. j..
Bowlcs on the ranch that is now used
as the county poor farm. They locat-
cd there in 1877. and shortly aftc:.
ward established a trading post on
the Frank Day ranch just south of
the city. This post was known rs
Itccdsfort, and the first pcstoffico her"
was known by the same name. In
August. 1879, +. A. JancauX built y
trading post on the present site of
L.cwistOwn. and Paul MOrasc located
81 lhll'H, "l'H 'liilil ~ " h'hilg ~
the southern part OF the city. A great
part Of this ranch was made an addi-
tiOn to the original tuwnsitc Of Lewis
town. The StOckadc built by JancaaN
SIGGd partly On the present site Of the
Power Mercantile vOmpany's build
ing and partly between that building
and the Judith Hardware cOmpany's
store. While cXrayating for the foua
cations of the Power building last
year traces of this srockadc were
found. ID. VI. Crowley located mis-
ranch Just north of tn" city in April,
1850. At that time beside those Al.
ready mentioned there were 10 other
whites in this part OF the county OK
ccpt a few rowing hunters and trap
pers and an occasional horse thief.
The settlement of the upper valley
of the Judith river Is contemporary.
cous with the stampede to the fogo
placer diggings in 1879. In this year
Tom King. Jacob Hoover and {. g.
David located ranches in Paradise
valley. or Pig.cyc basin. as it Is more
commonly known. William and James
Ettien. l.. W Peck, Ed. Pagcl and w.
II. BabcOck were other early settlers.
Some of them reside in the valley
yet. The upper Judith was an ideal
hunting ground in those days AMI
sportsmen from the eastern cities aad
ENGLAND visited there in search 81
large game.
Continuing down the Judi ! valley,
John Murphy and Jo" Gudahy win
tered at Utica in 1879 and were ih"
pioneers of that section. MIR. Mur-
phy sill owns his ranch adjoining the
Town. g. Gray, l.. u, Divers, 81. AMI
ThsOd0I, Gray and q few others ma IT,
loraiipns there In the summer Of $3.50.
At this time Utica was called Garden
Land.
i. u. Waite. William Wallace and
W. Il. Edgar drove sOnc small bands
of sheep to the ranges up the riy =
I'Iira i'm the summer of 1850
and were the first TO Engage in that
industry in that part Of the county.
The pioneer settler at PhilhrO0k
was Henry %Suprcnant. of lewistown.
who established a home on what is
now known as the PhilbrOok ranch In
1879. Mr.. Suprenant was nineteen
years old AT that time. william Clegg
entered that part Of the valley the
following spring, and during the sum
MGR Of 81 T.. j. Morrison, Harrison
r. Kendall and George Stone came" IN,
Mr.. Morrison bought the location or
.igirally made by %Suprenant and called
II p%hilbrOok. In honor of mis- mother.
that being her maiden name.
A mail route was established
through the Judith Basin from Fort
Benton 10 Martinsdalc in 1879. but
Okla was the only Office established nj
that time in the basin country. The
route from Benton TO Billings was
made in 1852. Al Oldon was tho con.
tractor on the Renton.M artinsdal"
route and r. G., Power was the first
contractor ON the Benton. Billings line