The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1925-01-08
Selling Montana To The
World Over The Radio
Continued from Page One)

election was held for delegates K
congress and members of the legis
lature, which met at Bannock.
Probably the first white men who
visited this portion Of Montana were
Lewis and Clarke, who, with then
party, sometime during the summer
of 1905, entered the Bitter Root Val
ley from the south, through a pass
known at the present time as the Big
Hole Mountain, a small valley near
the head of Bitter Root River,
where the party of Lewis and Clarke
first met and gave the name of Flat
heads to the tribe of Indians now
known by that name. Noise, the sec
ond chief of the Flatheads, was a boy
at the time Lewis and Clarke passed
through the Bitter Root Valley, and
well remembered the event and many
circumstances connected Herewith,
the party being the first white men
ever seer by these Indians. Noise
was a warm and devoted friend of the
whites from the time of his first
meeting with them up to the time
of his death, which occurred about
1897.
Western Montana has been occu-
pied from time ~immemorial by three
different tribes of Indians, to-wit;
The Salish, called by Lewis and
Clarke the Flatheads, and by which
name they are generally known; the
Kelespelmns, now exclusively known
bv the French name of Pend d.
Oreilles and the Kootenais. These
tribes speak dialects slightly different
and most probably constituted at a
remote time one tribe or nation.
Eighty-two years ago, the first at
tempt at farming was made In the
territory which is now Montana, in
the spring of 1912, by the fathers at
the mission of st. Mary's which had
been established upon a tract Of land
upon which Fort Owen is now stu
ated. The same year the first cows
we're brought from the Hudson Bay
Company's Post at Fort Colville on
the Columbia River. About this time
or a little later, the fathers also
erected q saw and grist mill, the
burrs for the latter being brought
from Belgium.
Seventy years ago, in 1854, the
first white woman came to the coun-
try which is now Missoula county,
and she was also probably the first
white woman who honored the state
with her presence. In the following
wear a Mrs. j. Brown came from the
East. and while crossing the Rocky
Mountains gave birth to a male
child, which was probably the first
white child born within the limits OF
Montana. She and her baby and two
little girls rode alternately a stout,
hardy Manitoban steer and a Canad-
ian pony. She visited the Hudson's
Bay Post in the northern part OF the
country, and remained several days,
adm then proceeded the same season
to Washington Territory.
Sixty-two years ago, on the fifth
Of March, 1862, the first marriage OF
two white persons in Missoula Coun-
tv was solemnized at HelPs Gate,
which was also generally conceded
the first marriage of white persons
within the limits Of what is now Mon
lama. it was that of Mrs. Josephine
Mineinger to George P. White. The
was performed by Henry
Brooks. Justice of the peace, who
was afterward known as Bishop
Brooks"
In the same year and the same
month the first lawsuit was com
menced in Montana, and tried at
Gate before the same justice.
A Frenchman named ''Tin Cup Joe"
other name forgotten, accused Baron
O'Keefe with beating one OF ms
with a fork handle and then
orshing it into a hole thereby caus
.no his death, and claimed damages
10 the amount of $4,000 n sued
0,Keefe to recover that amount. Inc
,lace of trial was in Bolte's saloon
A iury was impaneled and sworn 10
~ he case. AS the trial progressed
PROCEEDINGS became less har-
nonious until it ultimately eliminated
n a bit of unpleasantness. Inc
of the respective parties lent :
!, hand and it was far from being a
elect or private affair. While the J
,-nDleasantness was in progress the :
.ourt and jury had fled for dear :
ife. and when harmony was restored !
bev were nowhere to be found. At :
err considerable search the court and =
ury were captured and the trial pro :
.eeded. The case was finally given +.
the jury and after a brief time j
came into court and rendered =
verdict for the plaintiff for forty q
dollars damages. The costs swelled 9
he Judgment to about $4,000. {
Today Montana has its courts of =
ivil and criminal jurisdiction equal =
L. LL-:-- !.