Plentywood herald., 1928-05-18

Darby-The Harper logging camp has
resumed operations and 1t is expected
that about is cars Of logs day will be
shipped to the Bonner plant OF the A. c.
M. company from 1T.
Butte-Hundreds OF friends of Or. E. ]
Groeneveld, veteran pastor of the Pres
was junction and q mighty live COW
town. One saw real cowboys not NOV
ing picture ones. there in the old davs
In Great Falls / sold to Churchill and
Webster Ryan and Copeland. Foster, Jar
dine and Noble. and Pat Regain Regan
and Noble are survivors in the retail
business and have prospered and SO has
Mr.. Copeland. Ryan is now the head OF
five Montana wholesale houses.
THE city OF Kalispell had not been
born. Demersville was the center OF that
great inland empire north OF the Flat
head lake. Arising at q. m. / would
stage it from Ravalli to Poison. 40 miles.
arriving at noon. Charlie Allard ran the
stage and we considered that fast going
Then l would take the boat across the
lake and up the river so miles to Remers-
Vile. The wagon followed the water
| grade after q road was made, then rail-
roads knit the land with bands of steel
followed the automobile and the airplaue
have made the territory by every kind
! OF transportation. Once I walked part
| of it,
During the A. r. U. railway strike
about 1894, was caught at E1liston and
wanted to get to Helena, so hired sec
ton crew to take me to Helena, about
25 miles, on handcar for $40. They
were Italians and as we neared the big
tunnel I got suspicious of the tone OF
the conversation although I could not
understand word. They stopped at the
tunnel and told me unless / paid them
$40 they would go back. paid the $40.
When we got through the tunnel had
the widest ride 1 ever had in my life l
think we made that Is miles down that
mountain to Helena in is minutes.
II once in company with Attorney j. L.
Templeman made the trip from White
hall to Three Forks via water We left
Whitehall at a. m. and arrived at Three
Forks little after dark. Tempe was a
crack shot and I could handle the pad
dies, SO we loaded our boat with ducks
and geese.
And Miles Cityl What a COW town
and horse market it was-rich in the
types which made Montana romantic and
Hollywood rich. Miles City was not the
neat, smart, citified place it is today.
loved its wildness and secretly admired
| its badness. w, B. and w. j. Jordan
owned the wholesale store and this town
seemed thousand miles from Butte
Colonel Malone was youthful looking
citizen then and Col Sam Gordon was
just atting fame as brilliant and vitri-
olic writer and editor.
'I staged it from Great Fails to Lew
istown. There was no jaw bone or
other railroad In Fergus county The
arrival of the stage Was an event and
the citizens lined up. to see who got off
Prices were higher here as all freight
hauling charges were nat cent pound
Charles Lehman and T. G. Power ran the
general stores. Today it has two whole
sale houses.
For every camp I have seen fade and
die away, have seen dozen fine, well
ordered cities grow up. My touch with
them all was personal. In every town
called by customer by his first name and
frequently stayed as a guest at his house
THE last buffalo hides had gone down
the river from Fort Benton when I first
arrived there and navigation was on the
decline. The railroads had taken Mon
tana business from st. Louis and given
! it to Chicago. The mercantile evolution
kept pace with agriculture, mining ano
stock raising and shows quite as great
and interesting contrasts and develop
ment.
Down at Dillon, Beaverhead county
was youthful, vibrant stretch of prom
ised land which had not yet realized Its
possibilities except for live stock. Ihavt
never known q section to be blessed
with higher type of men, most Of
whom have passed away. P. H Poin-
dexter, w. c. Orr. David Metlen
Craig Cornell. Joe Metlin, A. F
Greater Colonel Roe, Martin Barrett, r
L. Graves, B. F. White, o. M Best anc
John Bishop Mr.. Best, Mr.. Bishop anc
Craig Cornell alone survive. O. M. Bes
and j. II. Dickey were my two customer
and friends Mr. Best, still leading
business and personal figure, is still
buyer with his own wholesale grocery
Mr. Dickey subsequently became prom
inent figure in the management and op
Grafton of several large stores Throughout
Montana and wyoming, finally returning
to Dillon where he now owns one Of th'
finest retail stores in the state. In thos
days, and for that matter yet, Dillol
freighted into Bannack and that trtbu
tary territory
The liquor statesmen and the actors o
travelling troupes were interesting fellow
travellers on many Of my tours. The
were colorful and interesting compan
ions. Many trip was enlivened by tn
i presence of John Mcguire, then tn
: Belasco of Montana. One liquor sales
man chagrined at not getting an orde
from Bannack saloon man sent him
Z barrel of whisky expecting he would pa
, for it anyway. The saloon man refuses
to accept 1t and 1t was stored In ricket
: old clubhouse. Here some OF the boy
: about town tapped 1T and drank 1t up +
: few days. Nobody ever paid for i
t Mr. Best is gold mine of interesting an
humorous tales of primitive merchandis
t ing in the day before the efficiency ma
S played havoc with the expense accoun
: of many western drummers who referre
/ to 1t as "the swindle sheet"
e "At Melrose, which once promised
;, be metropolis, the Hecla Mercantile an
I Banking company, using tremendor
g volume of goods was managed by Charl
Harvey and owned by Henry Nippenber
S In it's declining days the back was tor
n out of the bank building and the cor
8 tents of the vault removed by the owr
n ers, as this manner made the transfer {
IS It's equipment the simplest. Later Q
! two yeggs visited Melrose and pulled Q
: a Job. While the residents were sleepir
l. they drilled and blasted the vault doc
i 1t took them hours and several cans
h nitroglycerin. When the vault door WI
d finally blasted open, nothing greete
l. them but fine view of the countrysid
i, This is the only case / know of whe
II bandits had to commit burglary to get
k view Of Montana scenery.
If II don't believe that any one apprec
l. ates the true greatness OF Montana vi