Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1939-03-10
By JOEL F. OVERHOLSER

~ CAKCEL1 Hdu rOIt DtHtoH
~ become the recognized head
~ of navigation on the Missouri
river, in the early 1865, than am
bilious men, anxious to get a
share of the immense profits made
by the river boats from the Mon
tana mining trade, began enter
prising attempts to found rival
towns which would take the Mis-
souri, traffic from Fort Benton.
Reminiscent of the now ghost
towns of gold rush days are the
names of Ophir. Kercheval City, Mus
selshell City and Carroll, each of
which, in its time, was expected by its
founders to become the chief port of
entry into Montana. Where the stray
Cling log cabins of Ophir once stood, 10
miles northeast of Fort Benton, Is now
the little town of Iona, but it is said
that the actual occupied townsite has
long since been washed into the Marias
river. Carroll is no longer even name
on the maps, and Musselshel and
Kercheval are but dim memories.
Yet each OF these towns represented
the vision of a man or group OF men,
and each effort represented hard work
and hard cash put up by the men who
hoped to make a success of a shortcut
to the Montana mines. An angered
war party of Blood Indians wiped out
10 men on the Marias river and killed
the startlingly ambitious plans OF the
founders of Ophir, stern opposition OF
river men killed Kercheval City, Sioux
hostility took care Of Musselshell, and
vigorous opposition by Fort Benton,
Sioux horse thieves, and. it is said, the
failure of the Kountz steamer line to
fulfill its contracts wrecked eventually
the more substantial town of Carroll.
based upon the fact that the distance
by land across the Judith basin to the
Montana mines was shorter than the
distance by river to Benton, plus the
OK train haul from that place to the
mines All four were predlcated upon
the expressed belief that the Missouri
river Immediately below Fort Benton
was not really navigable. that boats
made the trip to the head of naviga-
ton for no other reason than that OF
necessity.
All Failed for Same Reason
Each effort to found a rival town
failed for virtually the same reason
that in spite of rocks and shoals. 1t was
easier to haul 100 or 200 or 300 tons of
load it upon the required OK trains and
freight it overland. So in spite Of
temporary success, each place eventu-
ally saw the steamers passing 1t by Tor
the better facilities OF Fort Benton IN
loading and unloading and storage. and
for a closer approach by water to the
mines at Bannack. Virginia City and
Helena.
Ophir was the first, and by far the
most ambitious, of the towns which
hoped to rival Fort Benton. Under
charters granted by the Bannack legis..
lature in February, 1865, a group OF
Montana men gained permission to es-
terprises. Their ambitions almost
SPAWNED Montana from North to south.
included private improvement OF the
Missouri river above the Great fal!S,
a railway, wagon roads, exclusive right
to navigate the Missouri above the
Great falls. the founding OF the town
of Ophir on the Marias river and OF
GaIlatin City at the Three forks. and
ferries, wharfS and all other things
pertaining to river navigation.
Included in the charters were those
for establishing Ophir on the south
bank of the Marias, North .Ophir on
the other side, and East Ophir across
the Missouri river. The company
planned to construct wagon road or
railway or both from Ophir to point
above the Great falls, from which point
they intended to remove distractions
and make navigable the Missouri river
from the Cascades of the Missouri to
the Three forks, where another am
bilious town-Gallatin City-was to be
built. Wagon roads were to be built
across Lewis and Clark pass and
through Marias pass to He'll Gate.
The company which was capitalized
at 1000, included prominent citizens
of Chouteau county-Matthew Carroll
John j. Healy and George Steel-all
prominent later as Indian traders
Carroll probably being the man for
whom Carroll was later named, and
Healy the founder of Fort Whoopup In
Canada.
Lease River Steamer
The Ophirites leased the steamer
Gutter, which had probably spent the
winter of l864-65 at Fort Benton, and
which was operated by the Idaho
Steam Packet Co. They built saw
mill at the site of their proposed me-