Great Falls daily tribune., 1919-03-28

it passed. would have meant that this
country would have gone into the Span.
ism American war with a standing army
consisting Of six regiments Of cavalry
and 10 of infantry.
His Civil War Record.
Major Maginnis was born in Wayne
county, New York. in 1S41. With his
parents, he emigrated to Minnesota and
was a student at Hamlinc university al
the outbreak of the Civil war. On Apri
IS. 1861. be enlisted in the First Mime
sofa regiment with the rank of ser
geaQt He was wounded at the first bat
tie Of Bull Run, but incapacitated fol
only few days. He accompanied Gen
era! Shields in his campaign through Nir-
at the battle Of Gettysburg. where his
company of 81 men was in the thick o!
the fight, and in which it lost II killed
and IS wounded The regiment partici-
pated in the most fatal charge known to
the annals of warfare up to the Eu-
ropean war. the loss aggregatlng S3 per
cent of the men engaged. Major Magin-
mis- was later given command of the Elev-
enth Minnesota regiment, serving under
Grant. Thomas and Meade, and was mus
tered ont a major.
Led Pioneers to Montana.
Returning to Minnesota. be established
a newspaper at Red Wing, but firing OF
it. concluded to come west. and organized
a party of his own consisting of 1.O men
and 40 wagons. which followed the Mix
River route. thence to Fort Benton, ar
irving in Helena in the fall of 1866. Ma
ior Maginnis spent the winter mining at
Ill pronE apG Tucknr pIlirh
returning to Helena in the spring. 1r
1867 there was bitter campaign on in
Montana for the position of territoria
delegate to congress. Major Maginnis
was supporter of James NJ. Cava'
naugh, and when he secured the demo
cratic nomination. the major went to the
Rocky Mountain Gazette to conduct the
campaign in behalf Of Cavanaugh. The
latter was elected. and then Major Ma
ginnis returned east to be married t.
Miss Louise Z. Mann, sister Of Mrs. W
W. Phelps. the wife Of the owner of the
Red Wing Sentinel where Major Ma
ginnis learned the newspaper business
and studied law He returned to Helena
with his bride the following spring, built
home here and lived here ever since.
Seven Terms in Congress.
He enlarged the Gazette to daily and
it continued as the leading journal oi
the territory. In 1874 Major Maginnis
was elected territorial delegate to CON
gress and was reelected six times I'm
mediately he devoted all Of his time tc
the affairs of the territory. and, through
his army friends. secured the sending Of
military expeditions into the country
which resulted in the establishment oi
.{or TIM nncninU nf fhr
country.
He Open Land 10 Settlement.
Federal authorities long had claimed
that the Stevens treaty made the whole
of the country east of the main range
of the Rockies as Indian country. Major
Maginnis introduced and bad passed ;
bill declaring all country south of tht
Marias as open to settlement and occu
patton This was the first time congress
ever brushed away the bogus Indiar
treaties and declared it's control over the
public lands, which heretofore had vir-
tually be usurped by the senate and the
interior department Another Indisr
question was in the Bitter Root. The
Garfield treaty. which Chief Charlei
claimed he had never signed, provided
that settlers should pay $50 an acre to
remunerate the Indians for their land
Major Maginnis had this amended Sc
that settlers to file upon the lands unScr
the provisions of the general law and
that the government should pay the In
dans out of the treasury.
Stopped Railroad Subsidies.
One of his greatest achievements in
congress was the enactment Of his meas
ure granting to all railroads a general
right of way over the public lands. with
out any charter from congress or any
without land grant or other
subsidy other than perpetual easement
Chartered roads bitterly but unsucccss-
fully fought the measure. Under this law
all the railroads of the west have been
built. save those previously chartered by
congress.
Major Maginnis took great interest in
the DEVELOPMENT Of the west thru the
of new railroads, and it was
thru his representations that the Union
Pacific purchased the Utah Northern,
later merged into the Oregon Short Line
system. Major Maginnis drafted the
and right of way Of the Oregon
Short Line. and it was under the pro-
visions Of this brief charter that Harri-
man later consolidated the Southern Pa
cific system.
While the Montana delegate did every
thing to further the legitimate interests
Of the corporations. he was opposed to
any grabbing by them. He opposed the