Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1936-11-14
PHOTOS PRESERVE
PIONEER SCENES
MANY HIGHLTGHTs IN EVENTS
OF LATER DECADES ALSO PART
OF SMITHERS' COLLECTION
PICTURE OF RUMANIAN
QUEEN HARDEST TO GET
Itinerant Photographer Of the SOS
Took Hundreds Of Pictures Of In
dams; On His Passing Smithers Ac-
quired Prints, That Now Are Rare
Studies.
BY GEORGE MARSH

by GEORGE MARSH
-Four pounds salt, 81; six boxes
Of yeast powder, IS; two and q half
pounds Of tea $3.50; one bar SOAP,
% cents" a groceryman's dream2
No, just q list of items purchased
by w. A. CLARK fr0rn L0Gf brothers
Of Twin Bridges Nov. 3, 1862. The
goods we're for the use Of VigfIanses.
A phOtostatic copy Of the bin quot
cd above b IN the possession OF C..
Owen Sm1ithers, commercial and
news photographer Of Butte.
Smithers has a collection Of hun
dreds OF historical photographs which
ne has enlarged and renewed from
faded specimens owned by pioneers
throughout the state. Other items In
clude: A photostatic copy Of the Butte
Miner for July 81, 1877, which lists
volunteers who were to attempt to
stop Chief Joseph and the Nez Perces
on their flight to Canada.
A photo of James B. Daniels after
he was hanged by VigilanteS. Also a
photo of his skeleton after it was ex-
humed by a crew constructing the nat
ural gas line between Butte and Hell
ena. A photostat of the pardon granted
him by Governor Meagher before his
death is also In the collection.
Charlie RusseIFs First Check
A photostat Of the first check Charles
Russell earned as a Montana cowboy.
The ruins of Butte's great warehouse
explosion on Jan. 3, 1894, which killed
nearly the entire fire department.
A photograph of A. Ford, Butte's first
postmaster, who laid out the original
townsite
Photostat Of the advertisement of
the Yellowstone Wagon Road and
Prospecting Expedition to locate a
free wagon road from Bozeman to
Tongue river"
Fat Jack" Butte's early-day hack
driver
A photo Of a buffalo herd near
Butte's race track.
Ore-carrying street car on Butte
street. Built by w. A. Clark.
The McDonaId-McCoy prizefight on
Butte's "flat" In 1883.
Photo of the hanging of e. T. Triplet
and John st. Clair, Jan. 81, 1873, north
Of E. Main ST., Bozeman
William and Mary Allison, Butte's
first residents, from tin type made
IN 1867.
War Chest for vigilantes
Photostatic copy Of subscription
list of funds raised to defend Vigil
antes who we're being sued at Salt Lake
City by undesirables whom they had
1riven from the territory.
The parade in honor of President
Theodore Roosevelt when he visited
Butte.
Edgar Paxson. western artist. at his
,asel.
Placer mining at Highland City.
F. Augustus Heinze, copper king, and
lis legal staff.
Hotel De Mineral, southwest corner
# Broadway and Main streets, Butte, |
AIKEN in 1875
Smithers, who was born in Kalispell,
lad no formal training in photography. |
Since boyhood he has been interested |
b photography and his hobby soon |
'ecame his life work. He considers /
photograph of Queen Marie of Ru-
mania, when she passed through Mon |
ana on her American visit, to be the
most difficult picture he ever made.
Queen Becomes Subject
The queens special train, scheduled
D stop near Garrison to allow her to
make a short tour of the surrounding
ountry, slowed down as 1t passed the
rafting group Of local dignitaries and
ewspapermen but it did not stop. The
ueen stood on the rear platform as
he train passed at about 10 miles an
our. Everyone thought it would stop
nd back up to the station That is,
veryone except Smithers. He wouldn't
AXE chance on losing the picture so
e grabbed his heavy camera and
-ipod and rushed down the track amid
ne outlaws of the crowd.
The trains speed grew slower and
ower as Smithers chased it trying to
ct his camera into position for q pic
ire About mile from the station he
Aug1t up with the train. The queen
k.s. @a,=fxr C4e mn f4n
ear platform laughing at Smithers.