Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-02-07

NOLD in Great Falls with the Their
mometer registering a mere 10 to 30
degrees below zero and people living
in steam heated apartment houses and
homes?
Not Then conditions OF some SIS years
ago are compared with those of today
and stage drivers cracked their whips and
drove miles with the weather at 60 de
grees below zero, such as was the expert
ence OF Allen Pierse, we'll known pioneer
OF Montana and Great Falls.
The career Of Mr.. Pierse, h from
time to time during his residence in
Montana has been an office holder, can
didate and business man, reads much
like the fictitious characters in the books
of Horatio Alger. Although the years
have streaked Mr.. Pierse's hair with
gray, he still retains a youthful vigor
and recalls the past with clearness.
Arrived I'm 1873
During the winter of 1884. Mr..
Pierse arrived in Montana from Buffalo,
N. Y, a youth of IS or 16 years and with
a view of becoming a stage driver at $40
per month and board. His uncle, E. E.
Corbin, was at the time superintendent
for Gilmer, SALISBURY 81 Co, operators OF
virtually all Montana stage lines except
the express lines of Wells Fargo.
The youth made his trip to Deer Lodge
through Portneuff canyon and on a stage
that the day previous had been marked
by tragedy, when holdup men attempted
to stop 1t. Instead of stopping, however,
the driver whipped up his team. The
bandits fired at him with rifles. One
bullet struck the driver. who continued
to drive -four miles to the nearest stage
station. One hour after his arrival there,
he died.
Hearing the details of this tragedy Of
western life, Pierse expressed the belief
that this stage driving business ap-
peared to be pretty scaley." He, how
ever, did not abandon his intention to
become a driver.
During the winters Of 1874 and
1874-75, Mr.. Pierse drove two, four and
six horse stages between Divide and Deer
Lodge. During the latter winter, he de-
clared, he left the state station then To-
Gated about III mile from the present
Oregon Short Line railroad station at
Divide, when the thermometer indicated
that 1T was 60 degrees below zero. One
passenger was or the stage.
Despite the cold, Pierse drove his team
and stage to Deer Lodge, across the Deer
Lodge pass, n arrived at the latter
town but one hou behind schedule.
Fifty-four miles were travelled in the Bit
ter cold.
Warmly Clad
Pierse admits that While he was warm
ly clad in buffalo coat and buffalo nit
tens he suffered somewhat from the cold.
The winter of 1874-75, according to Mr.
Pierse, was cold,' and this cold con-
tlnued for several weeks.
Pierse recalls that stage drivers put up
q monument to the driver that was
Killed the day preceding his arrival in
Montana. Corinne, Utah. was the center
of all stage line activities at that time
Among his associates of that time were
John Davis, noted driver of the Helena
Deer Lodge line, who later became super.
intendent OF lines from Great Falls tc
Fort Benton. Davis drove the stage from
Helena to Deer Lodge on a schedule Of
six hours. used six horse stages at all
times and was given fresh horses at five
stations, averaging from 8 to IA miles
apart.
When II years old, Mr.. Pierse had &C.
cumulated $48O as evidence of his two
years in Montana and earnings of $40 PEI
month, He induced his mother, two sis
tiers and a brother to come to Montana
and located a wayside inn and Darn or
the stage line about IL miles from Butte
The business fiourished and he was able