The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1921-03-25

freight receiving point, however, the
Diamond r operated also extensively
out Of Fort Benton and other river
points. At Fort Benton the company
had stiff competition in the l. G.. Ba-
ker & Co. and T. c. Power and Broth
er transportation lines, both of which
had steamers on the river, as did
also the Diamond r. r..~
Diamond II Partners in 1866.
An interesting sketch of the Dia-
mond r partners, before they had be-
come associated in business, was once
written by Major Martin Maginnis,
who first visited Fort Benton in 1866,
at which time Carroll, Broadwater
and Maclay were all living there. It
follows:
cat Fort Benton / found Carroll
and Steele, leading merchants at the
head of navigation, soon to become
in the largest transportation company
and which rivalled Russell, Majors
and Waddel on the central and south
western routes. The long strings of
mules and trail wagons, the hand
some equipments, the towering col
lars and arch of bells on leading
teams, the driver ON the hind Wheel
ers-these have all given way to the
great locomotives and the many loads
of the railway; but they were both
picturesque and useful in their time.
II also met Broadwater and Ed
Maclay. They were living in house
on Bridge street, where they had an
office in front and sleeping rooms in
the rear. Broadwater was recovering
from an accident. The two young
men were coming in from the races
at Fort Benton one day when their
wild team of brOnchos ran away and
upset them. Both of Broadwater's
legs were broken and the slight cur
vature which he had inherited from a
family of horsemen and foxhunters
was increased to well-defined bow
by the bone-setting operation of the
surgeon.
"Maclay was one of the handsomest
fellows ever saw, quiet and unas-
Stunning, and no maiden ever had a
finer complexion-delicat as the
bloom of a peach. They were live
ly lot, full of activity, energy and fun.
Many stories of their pranks and fun
were told in the territory, but first
of all they were the hardest kind of
workers, and neither of them ever let
any sort of play to interfere with the
active and persistent pursuit of bust
ness.
Grim Fulfillment of Contract.
| Ito show the manner of men they
were, that very autumn they had
made contract with the army quar-
termasters to deliver a large quantity
of oats at the calvary posts. The
regular dealers at Fort Benton were
incensed at the low price they had
Icontracted for and formed combi-
nation to boycott them in selling
them oats, so that they could not full.
fill their contract.
However, they were not to be
downed and struck out on horseback
to deal directly with the ranchers who
grew oats and who were few and fal
|scattered. For two months they
spent 20 hours out of the "a every
day in the saddle or buggies. calling
on nearly every ranch in the terri.
tory where any oats We're grown
Both were we'll known and very pop.
ular, and they were able to secure
enough grain to fill their contract
and save their credit and regulations
but they did not make much none,
out of the transaction"
Express Freight Line.
: When the Union and Pacific rail
roads We're united at Ogden, a new
transportation route was opened int,
, Montana. Corrine, Utah. became tn,
new basis and the Diamond r, will
other transportation companies, be
gan freighting from there. Amon
other competitors were many Nor
r mon teams, which broke in upon tn
larger companies, and when white
: came, communication ceased alto
gether.
The Diamond r put on fas
freight line, to be run as regular ex
press at all seasons of the year. A
l extremely cold and snowy winte
came on. Broadwater, Maclay an