The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-11-19

the freight wagon served from both
ends. At these places people gathered
from long distances as they now gather
more frequently on the sidewalks of
Home Town."
So granddad and grandmother knew
then ALL f by reputation p9onsepE d II not }ba person aWn
generation who, following the paths
Of their predecessors upon the scene,
became the shock troops of progress.
They knew Granville Stuart, who,
with his brother, James, and Resin
Anderson, discovered gold in 1858; they
knew of Fairweather m his partners
and started the stampede which was
to write. an amazing and dramatic
chapter in Montana's primary history;
they recall Judge Dr.) Don L. Byam
and Col. Wilbur F. Sanders, outstand.
ing in public service service in 4.ot the trial and md
danger of death from desperadoes.
They knew, perhaps intimately and
knowingly, the members of the famous
Vigilance committee which ended the
reign of terror of Plummer and his
road agents; they knew well the men
who brought law and order to a pioneer
land when, isolated from the civilized
world by great distances and weeks of
time. honest men became a law unto
themselves to preserve their homes n
persons to lay the foundation for a
new empire of the Rockies.
They knew the great legion of mer-
chants and %financiers and Transports
ton men. who, handicapped by the
snail's pace of bull team and miry
trail, founded Montana institutions
and wrote the great and variegated
romance which is Montana's past.
They knew the hardships of pioneer
life, the isolation, lack of cammunica-
ton, and the slow motion of life in a
new land; they knew of the dangers
their own early experiences there were
wars and rumors of war; with belliger-
+ ent Indian tribes. Cattle ruStling and
various forms of outlawry laughed at.
a still loosely knit government organ
iZatiOn.
All that was pioneer Montana has
been written into the life experience
"Old-Timer.
With all that they endured of hard
ship and anxiety and labor, along. with.
the much of life's bounty that they
: enjoyed, grandmother and granddad
today represent the passing rear guard
of perhaps the most fortunate aggre-
cation Of Americans in the nations
:. history-that generation of pioneers
who transformed a wilderness and
built "a. new, empire. in the most dra-
matte, era of the human race.
When Montana first entered the
American scene with a semblance of
community life in the early mining
camps, the rest of the nation, already
had railroads, telegraph and a-variety
of refinements for the scheme of liv-
ing which had been developed through
/ thousands of years.
But in Montana
The beginning was launched with
only human courage, the dexterity of
hands. a few very simple tools and a
few animals of burden. Men had to
live" almost completely off the country
itself-a task only for hardy, coura-
geous souls. Even the wheel, oldest of
J. human inventions, vas not. to appear
upon the scene until men began to
gather in numbers and to demand
goods and services from beyond the
frontier.
Grandmother and granddad came
upon the Montana scene while it was
reaching the tempo of a new commun-
ity, anticipating better things.
AS they worked and built for their
future, and in anticipation of the future