The Kevin review., 1926-08-05
How T. c. Power Relieved Grave Situation by
Establishing "B1Ock-P" Line of River Steamers

boats between Fort Benton ard Bis
maick and between Fort Benton and
ST Louis. Captain Baker was gen.
eral agent of the enterprise in the
palmy days of river traffic.
A Hodge Podge of Humanity
In the years Immediately following
the gold strikes in western Montana
/ TERRITORY, there was perhaps no 9TH
er city in the United States where ex-
listed population so marked in its
general character. The permanent
lnhabitants of Fort Benton were re-
spectacle and progressive, yet the
Ilrst impression of a stranger was
apt to border on an atmosphere of
recklessness, if not lawlessness. This
because of the fact that the city was
then the center of the Northwestern
fur trade, as we'll as the outfitting
ldepot for prospectors and adventur-
ers, from every class east of the Miss
lssippi, bound for the new EldoradO.
Passing the open doors of one of
the flimsily constructed buildings on
old Front street, the stranger might
stop short as he hears the sound of
crude music accompanied by strange
noises-perhaps some trapper from
the starving regions Of the Rockies,
believing his favorite Indian song.
Here the sa1low Red River half
breed from the North unsteady bend
ing over his cups; and there, with
poke of dust" the miner fresh from
the new diggings. All these and 9th
ers of the picturesque frontier, ex-
changing yarns of "pay dirt" of In
dian perils, of narrow escapes, per-
haps greatly exaggerated for the
special benefit of of the on-coming |
army of pilgrims.
1t was this Fort Benton, with its
hodge-podge of humanity, that bus
tied under the inviting May sun of
'67 when Thomas G. Power, then 28
years of age, unloaded his first stock
of merchandise brought up river by
steamboat from st. Louis, for the
purpose of engaging in the trade of
the posts across the border of Can
ada.
Was With General Sully
Mr.. Power, a young civil engineer, !
who, for about three years, had been
in the employ of the government, had
only year or two prior to this time,
accompanied the famous expedition
of General Sully against the Sioux
nation. across the wilds of North Da-
kota. He was in charge of Sully's
trade ship. On this and other Upper
Missouri trips he had met many old
traders returning from the Northwest
with the fruits of their toll; he had
observed the immense wagon trains
of pilgrims headed for the gold
fields. 1t was then that he became
imbued with the spirit of
the new West, and foresaw his OPP
portunity in Montana. Territory.
Started in Log Cabin
Placing his stock of goods in log
cabin, he began to barter them for
gold dust and for furs, his customers
being for the most part, Indians,
soldiers, trappers, prospectors, min
srs from the placer camps, and all the
others of that picturesque frontier
which was scattered here
ind there over the plains and in the
mountain gulches, and who found
heir way occasionally to the head of
navigation on the Upper Missouri to
their earnings for provis-
ons and equipment.
From that log cabin store in the i
ess than fifty years that Mr.. Power :
yas actively at the head of his en-
erprises, emerged a chain of COM
1ercial institutions covering con- '
iderable portion of Montana, with a I
ON bined business floor space of
lore than two square miles. That I
Modest log cabin was crude affair L
ut it served its purpose we'll, and I
rom it have sprung scores of modern .
lercantile Institutions, rs per cent ?
which are housed in the latest 9
ype of fireproof buildings. i
To review the commercial activi- Z