The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-03-18

earliest white pioneers of what is to
day Montana lived within the boun
daries of this commonwealth during
the periods when the country wal
under jurisdiction of all four terri
tories, and later lived to be citizens
of Montana as a state.
The last living white man who
had that experience was Judge Calet
E. Irvine, soldier, pioneer and jurist
than whom few more interesting
characters ever lived in Montana
and whose death at Anaconda in
1891 removed a frontiersman of the
fur trapping days who had a wealth
of historical and traditional lore OF
those romantic days stored in his
mind.
Judge Irvine was born in Robin
son county, Tennessee, September 4,
1925. His father died six months
before he vas born, and his early
years were spent on a farm in the
Tennessee backwoods, where the OPP
portunities for obtaining an educa-
tion were extremely limited. In
fact he secured his learning largely
from the great schools of observa-
ton and experience, although all his
life he was a great reader, and he
was a thoroughly well informed MAI
on all subjects.
Irvine Became a Soldier
While still in his teens, Irvine
worked as a clerk on a number of
Mississippi river steamboats,, and at
the age of 81 he enlisted in a regi-
ment of mounted infantry, which is
today the Third United States caval-
ry, and served throughout the Mexi@
can war on SCOTS line, from Vera
Cruz to Mexico City. He joined the
army in 1916, and when the Mexican
war came to an end in 1848 he re-
turned to Jefferson City, Mo-, when
he was commissioned a lieutenant.
In 1849 Irvine's regiment was or
dered into the trackless wilderness
of the west beyond the Mississippi,
and with it he headed for Oregon,
following for part of the way the
historic Oregon trail. The next
spring he was ordered to The Dalles
on the Columbia river, where, as as
sistant quartermaster, he had charge
of the building of the fort at which
General Phil A. Sheridan won his
spurs first in Indian warfare as a
lieutenant.
On Bitter Root in 1851
In 1851 Irvine resigned his COM
mission in the army and, in COM
pany with Major John Owen, came
to the Bitter Root Valley, where he
lived most of the time until 1863,
when the gold excitement started on
Alder and Grasshopper creeks.
From 1851 to 1856, Irvine each
summer made trips to the old emil
grant road at Thomas Fork of Bear
river, SO miles easterly from Soda
Springs, Idaho, where he traded In
dian horses and dressed skins to the
passing gold seekers for broken
down horses and cattle, which he
would then drive back to the Bitter
Root valley. There, feeding on the
rich pasturage, they became fat and
se~rviceable, and in this manner r.
vine introduced much well-bred east
ern stock into Montana.
These trips from the Bitter Root
to the Bear river in Idaho involved
travelling several hundred miles each
summer, and many were the thrills
md adventures that Irvine had with
hostile Indians. He had a wide ac-
luaintance with early day trappers 5
traders, and frequently met such 3
heroes of the old west as Kit Car r
ION, Jim Bridger, Dick Wooton and :
| dozen others who fingered after !
he sur of the free trapper's glory s
lad set. +
In 1859 Irvine grew a crop of
Wheat, oats and potatoes on a 20
ere tract of land neal the present
Onn nf Cnrra11i5 q, Douo1Ji aarotx, Il
nd during the winter of 1859-60 he l
vas employed by Captain Mullan in /
he building of Mullan's road from q
'ort Benton to Walla Walla, Wash I
In the spring of 1861 he I
vent to Portland with Major Owen. II
Irvine in the Gold Camps g
In the fall of 1863 the new Mon n
ana gold camps lured Irvine and he \
oined in the stampede to Alder v
Iulch, spending the summer pros
on Mill creek, above Sheri- e.
an. A portion of 1864-5 he spent
t Bannack. tt
After the first capital of Montana G
as established at Bannack, Irvine "
as elected engrossing clerk of the "
rst legislative council of Montana b.
nd served as such throughout the F
In February, 1865, he was tt
ppointed by Governor Edgerton pro- Ia
ate judge of Deer Lodge county and a.
pened his office at Silver Bow, near ri
ute, then the county seat. From CO
time until his death he lived st
Deer Lodge, Butte and Anaconda. st
Nearly Buried Alive 81
While a cavalryman during the 81
war, in 1847, Irvine had re
he of the most terrible experiences ST
a human being can undergo F.
lat of being in a trance, unable to tr
owe, speak or Y e flutter his eye
Is, while perfectly conscious of th
-erything going on about him; and ia
lille in this condition being thought to
and narrowly escaping burial al
lille alive. Sc
One day in camp, without warn fu
G or serious illness, Irvine fell into
hat was termed a trance. He was ev
pposed to be dead, was so pro- ma
'unced by the regimental surgeon of
ID was placed in a coffin that was hi
made. His body became VIZ
lite rigid and NJ doubt as to his sa
ing lead was entertained by his in