Montana oil and mining journal., 1935-08-03

- ~AAAa6S N- A@~~~AS N~@S@f
s youthful gentiIes peddled their ware
at a neat profit and Halliday was O
| his way to his first million.
He acquired the forerunner Of thu
: Overland company as q birthday pres.
ent when he became 38. The ground
/ work for the gift was laid through
judicious loans and timely foreclosures
on the part Of the recipient.
I He set up the Overland company II
1851 and In seven years had the long
est line in the world, extending from
Il Leavenworth to the Pacific, with
branches in Montana and Idaho. IN
addition, shrewed bargaining brought
the MisS0urian no less than l6 Pacific
ocean packets In the same period OF
time.
4 Halliday had flare for the spec
tacular and never passed up an op-
| portunity to use it. For instance, once
wishing to impress the post office de-
partment with the speed Of his line he
staged from Salt Lake to Atchison,
Kan, about 200 miles, in the then
phenomenal time Of eight days and six
hours.
Halliday rolled up the bulk of his
fortune by hauling gold from diggings
| in California, Idaho and Montana The
company charged S per cent Of the
value Of gold shipments and 1t did not
take long before the Halliday bank
account grew to the proportions of the
Fifth avenue town house and q palatial
going yacht.
But when the speculator was given
the Virginia City contract only he alone
knew how close the Overland company
was to out-and-out bankruptcy.
The expense of operating, protecting
or1d ooY1cfo saf1u T.of1grfITtYcr oTaH y.aq1lorm
ing stations and equipment in the
hostile Cheyenne country ate heavily
into the firms fortune through 1868
and 1854. On top Of this outlay, Hal
] ladays' remuneration for the overland
mail contract, from Leavenworth to the
Pacific coast, was slaShed so per cent
from the 100000 year he had been
paid.
The Montana contract brought the
company's mail-hauling earnings to
$840, 900 year, an amount sufficient tol
keep It out of bankruptcy. In 1886 Hal
laday disposed of his interests to the
Wells-Fargo company, receiving ST.
600, 600 IN cash and $3.50, 900 in paid-upl
stock. He was paid an additional $780,
600 for hay, grain and provisions in his
stations.
Yet when Halliday died in Portland
in 1877, at the age of So, he left scarcely
By the middle SOS stage routes were
firmly established south of Montana
and as far north as Virginia City and
Bannack- It was not, however, until
the Indians we're driven from the Yell
lowgt0ne or rounded up by Miles and
Terry that stage coaching blazed the
way across southeastern Montana.
The first line extended from Boze-
man to Miles City. Coulson and, later,
Billings, became the junction for q line
running north to Lavina and Fort Ben
ton. The ghoStly Junction City SIM
ilariy served for a route south INTO
Wyoming.
Many names were connected with |
these enterprises. The most successful
operators were Gilman and Salisbury, |
who became partners and operated the
Bozegnan- Miles City line until the COM
ing OF the Northern Pacific.
wiley King drifted out Of Virginia 4
City when the diggings petered away |
and the population abandoned the camp
for more lucrative fields.
He turned up In BOzeman at the
age Of 20 and Immediately went to work /
for Gilman and Salisbury.
The year previously one OF their
stages had fallen into the hands Of the
willy Chief Joseph who used it as his
royaI carriage on his triumphal march
down the Yellowstone almost to C0ul-
son. The rig was abandoned a few
miles west Of Billings when the Nez
Perce were driven into the hills by
General Sturgis. Eventually tn he
coach, q jerlSy, by the way, was restored
TO service.
It was on such a vehicle that King
spent most Of his nights. For the un-
the jerky was no more than
a sprfngleSs wagon with covered body
and two boots, fore and aft. In these
she mail and freight we're carried, the
driver perched over the forward boot
20 his feet rested on his cargo.
The passengers, if they were lucky,
rode inside. But the driver had no
such protection and was exposed to
whatever the weather had to offer.
The Concord coach was slow in arr1v-
ne in southern Montana. It was not
until the populace threatened divers
Inpleasant things that the q. g. S.
'ina1lv acquiesced and put on the heav-
er but more comfortable equipage.
By that time Wiley King had given /
I'D staging In favor Of horse raising,
IN occupation which occupied him un-
II the panic Of 1907.
Gilman and Salisbury used common
ense IN meeting the demands Of the
rade. AS late as the spring Of 1882
he COulson Pest was highly uncomp-
iuenfary about the service and letters
q fl1e editor fOrboded evil things un-
ess Ire company agreed TO let pa6sen-
.ers riGae ID any kind Of weather. IN
vet weather freight and mail were
,laced in the passenger compartment
nd travelled forthwith were put OH u1-
n skies cleared and another coaeh
''I,as Issssnrsch @s as citizens Of Miles City
,sN gsmsensaklw hanged q gentleman for I