Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-12-02

The first sfreescar system Ia
Montana was two miles Of line be-
tweem the ED Yellowstone river
town oE COuRSan ana Billings, about
kwa miles away. The trip required
@bome 10 minutes, and ]. ). Alder
sen presided ever the dessanAes OF
the @s3reess ears Attached 10 every
kixAe& was = esmp0n which entitled
the rider 90 two glasses ea beer
at Ash g. Boots brewery at Coal
SAM The story Of the now nom
existent eown Of CouKson wss told
reoemssy by I. ID. ODonnen, BIZ
EgmgS historian, In The Billings
Sunday Ganeete, as follows:
The original town Of Couls0n was
started about 1877 and thr1ved as a
frontier trading post for five years,
Il was during this period Of 1877 that
the first settlers located on the Vel
l0wstone within 100 miles of Billings.
The first house built near the Vi
entity OF Billings was built by Mr.
Young of Park City In 1877. he had
no wagon and hauled all Of his ma
teriaI by packtTain. He cut logs along
the bank Of the river and floated
be located and dragged them out, tied
on TO the horn OF the saddle
In the same year building started
In COulsOn with the overland stage
from Bismarck to Walla Walla. Coul-
son soon developed into trading post
of quite Importance.
The first irrigation ditch was taken
out by p. w. Meadow In the bend
of the river just east OF Billings and
is still in operation but Is now called
the Grey Eagle ditch.
Fred Foster set the first broken leg.
Thomas Mcnamara, located at a ranch
hill E4~~e-4 4sa
May, 1877. ]. M. v. Cochrane drew
UP the first homestake in Custer
county, near Billings.
About this time there was a line
of boats on the Yellowstone river,
known as the Coulson line, Josephine
Montana, Rosebud Dakota, Key West,
Far West and Big Horn. These boats
came up the river as far as Huntley.
The steamer Josephine reached the
highest point on navigation at point
Just south OF Billings near the south
bridge. The tree that it tied up to at
that time is still known as the JOS
ephine tree.
One of the historical events of this
time was the retreat of Chief Joseph
from his reservation IN Oregon east |
through Idaho and Montana, across |
the Yellowstone at the mouth of Clark !
Fork and passing up Canyon creek, |
IOQEIlb NfE4lGIdA OJu1ECSo dt bllG AOIk ]
OF the creek, then retreated north /
and was finally captured in northern
Montana. Two men buried In BoOthill |
cemetery were killed in this battle.
Billings Founded In 1882
Billings started In 1882. The townsite
was owned by what was known as
the Minnesota Montana Land 81 I'm
prOvement Co, a corporation headed
by Herman Clark, the man who had
the contract for building the Northern
Pacific from Bismarck to the coast.
The Montana Land company consisted
Of Herman Clark, Frederick Billings,
and other directors of the Northern
Pacific. The town of Billings was laid
1ut on the first land owned by the +
company as it crossed the Yellowstone
liver at the present site. At this time
Ill the country on the south side of
me river was an Indian reservation.
There was no doubt but what Bill
ings was a booming town. They were
eIling Billings lots in the east and ]
specially in Boston, Mass, before the
own was located at its present site.
)ne OF the boom features was a street. !
ar system from Billings to CoulSOn, J
dvertiSing agency on one Of the main :
treetS of Boston. The car had a big :
amer pinned across 1t with the name !
;oulson on It, This Streetcar system, Z
utside of the booming feature, was :
ot financial success. Later on they
arrfed passengers from Billings to :
'oulSon. including a glass of beer, for :
5 cents, the brewery at that time be-
lg located at Coulson.
The main influx of population came .
'om the Black Hills country-Dead- 8