Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-09-12
M0MADIC TRADERS, DEVOTED JESU1TS, FIGHTING INDIANS
nm 40'S AND SOS PRECEDED PIONEERS NEAR MISSOURI

place was known for many years after
wards as Council Grove.
In 1854 the first white woman came
to the country now constituting Mis-
soula county and was probably the
first white who honored Mon
tana with her presence. In that year
Mrs. j. Brown came from the east,
and while crossing the Rocky our
tainS gave birth to a male child. She.
with her baby and two little girls, rode
alternately a stout Manitoba steer and
a Canadian pony. She visited the Hud-
sons Bay post in the northern part
OF Missoula county and remained sew
eral days, and then went On TO Wash
lngton. Her son was probably the first
white child born within the limits OF
what is Montana.
In 1854 Governor Stevens appointed
Thomas Adams special agent for the
Flathead Indians. In 1855 the govern
ment appointed the first regular agent
for them in the person of DR.. Lans-
dale of Oregon. The doctor established
his agency at the mouth of the Jocko
river and erected two log cabins. The
agency remained at this place until
1860. In the spring of 1856 DR.. Lans-
dale went to Fort Hall, and while there
engaged Henry G. Miller and his wife
to take charge of the Jocko agency.
Miller and his wife arrived at Jocko
that same spring and remained there
until the following year, and then went
to Walla Walla. Mrs. Miller was the
second white woman to come to Mon
tana and the first one to make it her
residence.
Settlement of F~renchtown
In 1858 Baptiste Ducharme and Louis
Brown, two old mountain men. located
farms and built houses near French
town. In 1859 R. A. Pelky and w. Bills
located farms and built houses in Hell'S
Gate Ronde. About the same time
Angus Mcleod and James McIvor set
tied on two creeks and Captain Rich
ard Grant, a former officer of the
Hudson's Bay company and for many
years a well known trader on the emil
grant road, came to the Bitter Root
valley, spent q winter there and in the
spring removed to Hellis Gate Ronde,
and in the fall of that year filed on
land and built himself a home on the
creek which bears his name, four miles
north OF Missoula.
Captain Grant was the father of
Mrs. c. P. Higgins, and this union re-
suited in the founding of n of the
great families of Montana. Captain
Grant died at Walla Walla in the
spring Of 1862, while on a visit at that
place.
In the summer of 1860 Frank l..
Worden and c. P. Higgins built a log
house at Hell's Gate and opened a gen.
eral store with a stock brought in from
Walla Walla. This was the first build
ing erected at that place and around
it grew up a small village. The town
originally stood on a piece of ground
owned by Clices LaVasseur. During the
fall Of this year a number Of settlers
came into the country and farms were
taken up around Hells Gate, French
town and in the Bitter Root valley
and q considerable number of men
wintered in the various settlements.
First Marriage of Whites
On March 5, 1862, the first marriage
Of two white persons was solemnizec
at HellS Gate, that of George p. White
and Mrs. Josephine Minesinger. The
Brooks, justice of the peace, who wa
afterwards known as Bishop" Brooks
This was the first marriage Of white
persons in Montana.
On February ID a son vas born tC
Robert and Adeline Pelky, the first
white child to be born in Missoula
county. He vas christened Jefferson
Henry Pelky and removed TO Wash
ington when he arrived at mans es-
tate.
Placer Mines Discovered
The Kootenai placer mines were dis
covered in the spring of 1863 and hun
dreds of men f1ocked to the new dig
gings, passing through the village Of
Hell's Gate. This stampede created 9
demand for all sorts of supplies an6
prices scared. Wheat sold for $40 6
bushel, yeast powder $l.50 a box, cot
fee 81 per pound, and flour of the
poorest quality $50 per hundred with
everything else in proportion. The cur
rency at this time was principally golc