The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1926-04-23

Carroll enjoyed a prosperous ex-
for several years, but with
the coming Of the Utah & Pacific and
the Northern Pacific railroads, and
the consequent dissolution Of the Dia-
mOnd r company, the town began to
decline, until today, but a very few
people know that it ever existed.
COuIsOn, Rival Of Billings
The coming of the railroads to
Montana was the cause of many a
shattered hope as we'll as the ma
FERTILIZATION Of many a fond dream.
far as towns and cities were con-
cerned. The development of the
close in the wake of the construction
of the Northern Pacific railroad line
through southern Montana. All up
and down this great waterway there
resulted much speculation as to pos
sible and probable permanent town
sites.
Towns sprang up in great number,
many of which we're destined to but
a short life, and among these, and,
perhaps the one which left the most
interesting history was "COulsOn'.
COulsOn was located on the banks
Of the Yellowstone river at the point
where Clark's Fork river has it's con-
fluence with that stream. That was,
to be true, an ideal location for a
future metropolis, and the dreams of
the founders of the tOwnsite were
well and apparently sanely grounded,
but the railroad builders saw things
different, and as a result, there is to-
day, no COulsOn. A. H. Yerkes, who
was the newspaper editor of this
promising settlement, has preserved
COulsOn's story and many interesting,
as well as amusing anecdotes in con-
nectiOn with it's existence. Mr.. Yerkes.
in n article said in part:
"Bud'McAdOw stood on the banks Of the
Yellowstone in the early fall OF 1877 and,
gazing for miles across the Clark's Fork
bottom, saw, like Jacob Of old, that It was
good. And, like Jacob, he had a vision
the railroad, then at Bismarck, would
bring to the spot q city; hundreds of
farmers would be drawn thither; il would
become q cattle center: the hub Of a vast
area, potentially rich. Percy Meadow was
not an iliusiOnist nor a dreamer; he was a
practical MissOurian with good, horse
sense. He at once acquired a large tract
! of land at the lower end of the bottom and
named COulsOn, presumably in honor OF
one Of the steamboat captains; and by
1881 had become a place Of some impOr-
lance, with q pOstOffice, an eating station
for the overland stage, a saloon, a gambling
hall, livery stable, blacksmith shop, and il
was the center Of railroad grading opera
tons. COulsOn was about to occupy a place
on the maj.
1T became apparent that at this point
must arise one Of the great c%enters, q
Denver Of the West" " . . 1t had a maiI
street of creditabie length, and log houses
for the families were On every hand. II
had a nnuUcngnnr 1nwywnpu doctors rno1 ng.
tate agents, and all that go to max up Z
city.* . . 1t was the only place on the bot
tom where a city could be built. 1t haC
water, it had drainage, it was the logical
the only location. And so they built will
feverish haste that the incoming hosts, an'
they were mighty, might be accommodated
But. almost within sight Of this hustle an'
hustle, men set to work to lay out anOthe
city and what they did to COulsOn was a
plenty. When June came and the railroad
! left Miles City on its way to the coast
Heman Clark, a tOwnsite boomer, apBeare'
and once and forever gtilled the Dulsatinj
hope and life of COulsOn. He had builde'
better than the hackers Of COulsOn hat
knew for he had gone to headquarters, Sc
cured the sanction and the land Of tn
railroad and by modern means of adVertis
ing and boosting stirred the whole cOun
try with its promises and predictions.
And what Of COulsOnG In a fortnight j
was a deserted village. It's buildings wer
2 torn down and erected at Billings.
l Bud Meadow was still there but he di
not linger long. With that admirable cOuT
age which characterized the early settler
? but hardly to be expected Of a man who's
/ only means Of lOcOmOCiOn was through tn
I medium OF a wheel chair, he Joined a part
ner he had grub-staked and became ric
: enough through mines to spend his dacliI
lig years in the east and in comfort"
Toughest Town in the World
Among the ghost towns Of tn
Treasure state, in whose balmy day
p flOurished the romance of hard an
= fast living there is probably non
e which will live longer in the memOl
D les of the pioneers of northern MOI
C tana than McCarthyville, which is az
e claimed by MOntanans who %sOjOurne
d there, to have been 'the TOUCHES
q town in the world"
McCarthyville was a city for a pei
t iod Of only IS months, and that wa
q IS years ago. For the most part
railway construction camp at th
time when the Great Northern Raj
way company was building it's lin
g into the mountains of Northern MOI
tana, it's population, always Arab.
in disposition, wandered away, 70
IS lowing the rails that Jim Hill We
then laying toward Puget Sound.
The garish, false-frOnted fran
r dance halls, saloons and stores wei
IS wrecked for the lumber and II
d sturdier log buildings succumbed [
g the elements. Today, this wild an
WOOlly'' camp is represented only