The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-07-23

Revival of horse racing in Helena re-
Gently after a lapse of several years
recalls to many of the "old-timers'
the palmy days nearly so years ago
when the stables of Marcus DAILY, Butte
copper king, and S. E. Larabie, Deer
Lodge banker and capitalist, were
among the foremost in the country.
own some of the most famous horses
on the turf at that time but they were
among the top in earnings on h big
gest track in the east. Days stable was
probably the most famous by reason OF
his great Tammany, the leading runner
of his time and rated of the great
est of all time.
Both DAILY and Larabie were at their
height in the sport of racing in the
tanans was fired by the phenomenal
performances of horses bred and raised
in the Treasure state. in competition
with the best in the world.
Larabie First
The start of Larabie's stable ante
dated that of DAILY. The mighty Ben
Holiday was the best horse he ever
owned. Tammany, Days greatest thor
oughbred, became a byword for fast
time and big purses. Days money win
ningS from his horses we're much
greater than those of the Larabie string,
but when the Larabie stable was in its
prime no greater aggregation of thor
oughbreds was known to American
tracks.
Running horses were a fad with both
of these pioneer Montanans. They bred
and raised them and trained them and
raced them because they enjoyed it.
Because both of them were business
men as well, they tried, of course, to
make the animals pay their own way.
Larabie bred his horses at the Will
low Brook farm near Deer Lodge, and
engaged in it as early as the
eighties. Larabie was a banker. He came
to Montana in 1864 from New York,
where he was born in 1845. His
trance into the state was by way of
the North Platte river trail and the
Bridger cutoff to Virginia City.
Six years later he was in Deer Lodge
as a member of the banking firm Of
Donnell, Clark and Larabie. His part
ner, r. w. Donnell, had been a whole
sale grocer in Helena and Virginia City
was the senior member of the banking
firm of Donnell, Lawson and Simpson
of New York City. The Clark who vas
a member of the firm was the late
United States Senator w. A. Clark,
who became one of its leading copper
magnateS before his death.
Made Fortunes
But in the late sixties all three were
hustling, young and successful men
taking prominent part in the develop
ment of a new country.
firm of Donnell, Clark and Larabie had
a bank in Butte, which wa managed
by Clark, and which later became w. A.
Clark and Bros. Larabie managed the
Deer Lodge bank and DonnellS con-
nections with the New York banking
firm gave the Montana concern a dis
tinct advantage in the matter of dis
posing of gold dust and bullion, the
buying of which was the principal bus
mess Of banks in Montana at that time.
Illustrating the amount OF business
transacted by the firm of Donnell,
Clark and Larabie, it may be said that
during the year 1871, it bought S 1885,
900 in dust and bullion. In 1872 the
firms dust and bullion business
amounted to 81, loo, 900; in 1873 to $780,
900; in 1874 to $3.50, 1000; in 1875 to $725,-
900; in 1876 to s650,O0O; in 1877 to $780,
900; in 1879 to $225 900; In 1880 to $780,
900, and in 1881 to $4,000.
tapered off as the gathering of free
dust and nuggets became more diff
cult year by year, as the rich workings
played out. The banks, however, turn
ing to other lines, prospered regardless.
Nearly all of the dust and bullion taken
in at the Deer Lodge bank came from
the Pioneer and Bear districts which
had become pretty we'll worked out by
the early eighties. But in the ten years
from 1871 to 1881, Donnell, Clark and
Larabie's Deer Lodge bank handled
a total of $7,075, 900 in gold dust and
bullion.
Turned to Sport
All members Of the firm were rich