Old Missoula

County to Observe Founding (December 14, 1860) Monday

By Jane Byard

In 1860 the 54 residents of the Missoula Valley, then part of the Washington Territory, proud of their new community and dissatisfied with being separated from the nearest county government office by a two-day ride, asked that a new county, Bitterroot County, be created from huge Spokane County, which stretched from Walla Walla, Wash., to the Rocky Mountains.

On Dec. 14, 1860, 115 years ago Sunday, the Washington Territorial Legislature created Missoula County on the east side of the Bitterroot Mountains, and Shoshone County to the west.

Monday at 3:30 p.m. the Missoula County commissioners will celebrate the county’s 115^th birthday with a party in Room 201 of the Missoula County courthouse annex. The public is invited to attend, have a piece of free birthday cake and listen to John Toole, whose great-grandfather Cornelius C. “Baron” O’Keefe was one of the first county commissioners, reminisce about the history of Missoula County.

According to Audra Browman, who said Monday she studies Montana history “just for the fun of it,” Frank Worden and Christopher Higgins, partners in a store in Walla Walla, loaded goods on 75 pack animals in the summer of 1860 and came to Missoula to trade with Indians. They started the Hellgate Trading Post on Mullan Road, which at that time was the Military Road, built by John Mullan to move troops from Fort Benton to Walla Walla.

Hellgate, the tiny community growing around Worden’s and Higgins Trading Post, was designated as the Missoula County seat, Browman said.

“Two years later Missoula County became a part of Idaho Territory and 15 months after that the Territory of Montana was created,” Browman wrote in “Nemissoolatakoo Valley: Crossroads of Western Montana,” an early history of Missoula prepared for a Montana Institute of the Arts history group.

Montana was admitted to the Union as the 41^st state in 1889, 19 years after Missoula County was created.

Browman said many state “firsts” took place in Missoula County including creation of the first post office, first white couple married, first white child born, first jury trial held, first school established and first official hanging. She noted that some persons discount the Missoula County “firsts” because Missoula County was not part of Montana when they happened.

Nemissoolatakoo, an Indian name for the Missoula Valley, was shortened to Missoula by white men, according to Browman. The meaning of the phrase is no longer known, she wrote, although “some say . . . it suggests a happy place of sparkling waters, while others are just as sure it refers to a place of chilly waters to be dreaded.”

The above article appeared in The Missoulian on December 9, 1975.

 Early History Is Recalled at Courthouse Party

By Jane Byard

The first trial in the Missoula County, Montana Territory, took place when Baron O’Keefe was tried in Bolte’s Saloon, Hellgate, on charges of killing Tin Cup Joe’s horse back in 1864.

O’Keefe asked to see Judge Blackie Brooks’ judicial credentials. Brooks spread a deck of cards across the bench and said “These are my credentials.”

O’Keefe said “You want to see mine?”

“And he hit him right in the face,” John H. Toole, student of Missoula history and great-grandson of Baron O’Keefe, told about 100 persons celebrating Missoula County’s 115 birthday Monday at the county courthouse.

Missoula County was officially created by the Washington Territorial Legislature on Dec. 14, 1860, after approximately 50 residents of the area petitioned for a new county. The original Missoula County was composed of Lincoln, Sanders, Lake, Ravalli, Missoula and Mineral counties. Toole said what is now Missoula County was first part of Oregon Territory, then Washington Territory. In March 1863, Missoula County became part of Idaho Territory, and finally in 1864 became part of Montana Territory.

“Baron hated toll bridges. Rather than pay a toll, he’d swim the river,” Toole said.

O’Keefe later served in the Montana Legislature, and introduced a bill outlawing toll bridges, Toole said, adding that the abolishment of the toll is also responsible for the absence of a sales tax in the state.

The first county seat, Hell Gate, a small community four miles west of what is now Missoula, was moved to Missoula in 1865 to take advantage of the river current to power a grist mill. And the first county courthouse was built in 1871 at a cost of $22,000, Toole said.

“The biggest historical event that ever happened in Missoula,” was the celebration when the Northern Pacific Railway reached town, Toole said.

According to Toole, saloonkeepers put barrels of liquor in the street so all could drink, and a huge cannonball was fired down Higgins Avenue. Toole said John Rankin, father of Jeanette Rankin, was leaning against the cannon when it was fired, was knocked to the ground and lost hearing in one ear,” . . . “which may or may not account for the amazing qualities of the Rankin family.”

“Before that we were a pioneering community – a frontier outpost,” Toole said.

Lud Browman, chairman of the Missoula County commissioners, announced at the party that a $5,000 grant from the Montana Committee on the Humanities will be used to make six television documentaries about the history of Missoula County. The first documentary will be aired at 10 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 21, on KGVO television, Browman said.

The above article appeared in The Missoulian on December 15, 1975.

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No Birthday Celebration of Missoula County

It’s interesting that Missoula County’s birthday has not been officially celebrated since 1975. At least it appears that way. More often than not, Missoula County’s birthdate is overshadowed by what we think of as Missoula city’s birthdate, which is generally recognized as 1865. Or Missoula County’s birthday is often presented in conjunction with Hell Gate’s birthday, which is also 1860; the date of the arrival of pioneers Higgins and Worden to the valley with their provisions for founding a place of business.

One notable fact, sometimes overlooked, is that Missoula County was the first county in what is now Montana. It existed four years before Montana Territory did. The creation of Missoula County took place in Olympia, Washington in 1860, reflecting the need for organized self-government, mainly in response to recent growth in the Bitter Root valley. A map of the Oregon and Washington Territory in 1860[1] does not even show a Missoula River; not Missoula anything, only Hell Gate, at the junction of the three important rivers and their valleys, Hell Gate River, Bitter Root River, and Blackfoot Fork.

The big centennial celebration in 1960 will forever be the highwater mark of historical interest in Missoula, Hell Gate, and Missoula County. The local Missoulian newspaper furnished a huge edition dedicated to the birth of the community. Among hundreds of articles this edition presented one that detailed the history Missoula County as it changed from Washington Territory, to Idaho Territory and finally Montana Territory. The county designation also changed over time, beginning with Clarke County, then divided to Skamania County, then Walla Walla County, then Spokane County, and finally Missoula County. The area included in this fifth iteration was still huge, including a good portion of what is now western Montana. The County seat also changed with these reorganizations; from Wordensville, then Hell’s Gate, and finally Missoula.

In December, 2010, Missoula’s Kim Briggeman wrote a great Missoulian article celebrating the 150^th birthday of Missoula County. With humor, Briggeman noted that the founding legislation came with some macabre irony:

“Considering the shenanigans that transpired in what became western Montana over the next few years – especially the bloody deaths at Hell Gate in 1864 – 1865 – you have to wonder if “‘carrying the law into execution’” wasn’t misinterpreted.”

Briggeman also noted that the Montana legislature moved the seat of the county from Hell Gate to Missoula in 1865, and then made it one of Montana Territory’s original nine counties.

He also noted that the county’s first election occurred the summer of 1861, with a meager 74 votes cast at three sites; Jocko Agency, Hell Gate, and Fort Owen.

No Celebration of 150th Anniversary

Still, there was no official celebration that I can find reference to in 2010 for Missoula County’s 150^th anniversary.

The next event that qualified as a celebration happened in 2014, the 150^th anniversary of creation of Montana Territory. The Missoulian, along with writer Briggeman, and Dr. Bob Brown at the Fort Missoula Historical museum, agreed to “jump on the sesquicentennial bandwagon” and joined to kick off a two-year celebration that opened with exhibits at the Fort museum. It came billed as “Growing the Garden City: Missoula’s First 150 Years.” It included museum exhibits on everything from Missoula’s leadup to WW1, the Fort Missoula’s WW2 detention center, and the history of forestry in Missoula. Apparently, the Fourth of July, 2015, was the crowning event.

Locally, Missoula County’s 160th birthday was not on the historical agenda for December 14, 2020. No mention of Missoula County’s birthday appeared in The Missoulian on that day. What a shame!

So, what can be done to preserve Missoula County’s Birthday. Start with building and preserving the County’s history in general. It needs to start at the offices of Missoula County officials and requires the participation of the commissioners themselves. If for no other reason than to highlight that the county has a unique past that is different from the city’s.

It is an older institution that has a history that is specific to Montana’s 1^st County. The sheer size of the area involved was bigger than some states. In the early days the logistics to maintain an operation that big had to have been incredible. Try to find a simple list of Missoula’s County Commissioners from the past, or try to find out who were the County Attorneys and judges. Good luck. The Montana Committee for Humanities was willing to spend $5,000 for documentaries about Missoula County in 1975. Surely the county’s forefathers deserve some attention today.

Medill McCormick of Chicago, well-known nationally as a progressive leader and a newspaperman, has been looking Missoula over for a couple of days, while he has been outfitting for a camping trip in the upper Blackfoot country, for which region he will start this morning. Speaking of local conditions, Mr. McCormick said yesterday afternoon: “Your Higgins avenue is one of the finest streets I have ever seen anywhere. It will one day be a street famous throughout the west. Broad and straight, with a transcontinental railway station at each end, it presents possibilities for business development greater than any other street that I ever saw. But I am surprised that the city of Missoula has not obtained control of the river-bank property on the north side below the bridge. That should be done at once, it seems to me. Clear away the buildings there, build a wall along the river, and there is such a water front as any city would be glad to own. The island opposite and this north bank of the river, together, would make it possible for the city to develop a lot of good ground which, in twenty years, would be of inestimable value. The river could be confined to one channel; this could never be done as cheaply as now and if it were to be done, the city would be benefited in more ways than one.”

 The above article appeared in The Missoulian on July 8, 1913

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 Medill McCormick was a descendant of the wealthy Cyrus McCormick family, founders of International Harvester Company. He inherited The Chicago Tribune while a young man, and also invested in and ran newspapers in other places. He supported T. Roosevelt’s Bull Moose presidential efforts and became a close friend of Missoula’s Senator Joseph M. Dixon, who ran Roosevelt’s Bull Moose campaign. He was married to a prominent suffragette, Ruth Hanna McCormick[1].

He hunted big game in Western Montana with Missoula’s Homer Worden, a brother of Governor Joseph M. Dixon’s wife, Caroline M. (Worden) Dixon.

Largest Bomber In Army Service Through District

16-Ton Ship Soars Over at An Altitude of 12,600 Feet, on Way East.

Flying at an altitude of 12,600 feet, the YB-17, largest bombing plane for the United States army, soared over Western Montana Tuesday afternoon on its way to Dayton, Ohio. The ship passed over south of Missoula and on the flight through this section was in contact with the Department of Commerce radio station on the Missoula airport.

The ship left Seattle, where it was manufactured, Monday afternoon and grounded for the night in Spokane. It left Spokane at 12:15 p.m. Missoula time Tuesday afternoon and roared through the heavens south of here at 1:15 o’clock in the afternoon with Cheyenne as the next scheduled stop.

The ship was in charge of Major John D. Corklille. Major C. V. Haynes, regular army corps pilot, Langley field, Va., was also with the ship.

Major Corklille is en route to Dayton, Ohio, to deliver the first of 13 big Boeing army bombers manufactured at Seattle. The giant four-motored bomber is the largest of its type in the world. It weighs 16 tons, has a 105-foot wing spread and a length of 70 feet. It carries a ton of high explosives and can make a 1,500-mile trip and return without refueling.

The first YB-17 was cracked up at Dayton, Ohio, October 30, 1935. That ship was called a Boeing “flying fortress.” When it crashed to earth and burst into flames at Dayton during a test flight, Major P. P. Hill, chief of the flying branch of Wright field at Dayton, lost his life. Leslie Tower, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Tower of Polson, a test pilot, sustained injuries which resulted in his death.

When the big bomber went through this district Tuesday the only ones aware of the trip were the operators for the Department of Commerce and the Northwest Air Lines. It was out of the vision of Missoulians.

The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on January 13, 1937

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Leslie Ralph Tower was born at Sisseton, South Dakota, 21 January 1903. He was the first of three children of Ralph R. Tower, a farmer who would later serve as a state senator for Montana, and Mayme Amanda Johnson Tower, a Swedish immigrant.

Les Tower attended high school at Polson, Montana, graduating in 1922. He then attended the University of Washington, where he studied engineering. He was a member of the Radio Club.

Tower enlisted in the United States Army as an aviation cadet, training at Brooks and Kelly airfields in Texas. He then served with the 2nd Bombardment Squadron at Langley Field, Virginia. In 1925 Tower started working for Boeing as a draftsman, but soon began test flying new airplanes, which included the B-9 bomber and the Model 247 commercial airliner. He also demonstrated and delivered Boeing airplanes around the world. On 20 August 1935, Tower and Louis Wait flew the Model 299 from Seattle to Dayton, approximately 2,100 miles, in 9 hours, 3 minutes, averaging 233 miles per hour (375 kilometers per hour). Les Tower was aboard the XB-17 as an observer during the 30 October flight. He saw that the control locks had not been released and tried to reach them, but was unable. In the fire that followed the crash, Tower suffered severe burns to his face, right arm and both legs. Leslie Ralph Tower died of his injuries 19 November 1935 at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. His remains were transported by train, escorted by Army airplanes, and were buried at Lakeview Cemetery, Polson, Montana.

A Boeing profile of Leslie Tower appears at the link below:

https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/leslie-ralph-tower/

Airplanes Prove Success as Fire Protection Aid

25-Man Outfit Is Delivered in Pattee Canyon as An Experiment

Delivery of a 25-man outfit for Forest Service crews, made as an experiment in Pattee canyon, near here, by airplane, in a rugged terrain, covered by timber, rocks and down logs, was so successful as completion of a series of experiments that it is likely that tools and equipment for men dispatched to remote fires will in many cases be delivered by airplane this year.

The latest experiment, just performed, comprised delivery of 12 shovels, 12 Pulaski tools (combination mattock-and-axe), two cross-cut saws 5 ½ feet long, beds and food for 25 men for one day. The entire outfit weighed 556 pounds, packed especially for dropping from a plane. White canvas wrapping was used to facilitate identification of the packages in the forests.

A small fire had been built to act as a guide target. The packages were dropped from elevations of 200 to 400 feet above the ground, 12 minutes being required to deliver them. All fell within a radius of 250 feet. No damage was done to the contents of the packages, and only one wrapper was injured, a six-inch hole being torn.

The plane was piloted by Bob Johnson of Missoula, while Dick Johnson and W. B. Apgar, regional communications officer, threw out the packages. Pilots experienced in mountain flying are essential if the deliveries are to be accurate.

“We will have 12 outfits for delivery by airplane on hand at all times, six at Missoula and six at Spokane,” said Theodore Shoemaker, chief of fire control.

The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on May 22, 1936.

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Forest Shops at Work on a Fire Fighting Truck

To Be Built on Lines of Vehicle Model Brought Here From Coast.

Construction of a new fire truck completely equipped with pumps, water tank of 300-gallon capacity, hose facilities of various sizes and accommodations for a fire crew of six to eight men, has been undertaken at the Forest Service machine shops on the South side here. A truck used in California in the past has been obtained by region No. 1, to be used for emergency fire calls and as a model for the new construction.

Necessity for mobile equipment in fighting fires has arisen in the forested country, especially due to the prevalence of rapid-flashing fuels, such as cheatgrass, in areas along the public highways. Water equipment as provided by the new fire trucks may smother such blazes quickly, it is believed.

The truck also contains backpack and hand equipment for use in climbing hillsides to smother fires (sic) So the metropolitan fire departments may be emulated by Forest Service trucks in cases where they can accomplish the most good, when the new equipment is available.

The above article appeared in The Daily Missoulian on May 22, 1936.

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Cyra McFadden circles back to home base

McFadden memoir takes look at famed Montana rodeo star

Below is a small poem from “The Old Copper Collar,” a short novel by Montana author Dan Cushman:

 Oh, me old copper collar

It makes me heart so proud;

When I’m wearing me copper collar

I stand out in the crowd;

Throughout the land there’s none so

grand,

I want you all to see

This beautiful copper collar

That the Company gave to me!

 Author unknown. Cushman did not claim to be the author of the poem:

“Thus some poetic reporter on one of H. B.’s [Clark’s] newspapers.”

SKY-PILOT TALES

Related by Joyce Donaldson.

The Rev. John Hoskins[1].

Rev. John Hoskins came to Montana in 1884 the seventeenth Methodist minister to enter the state. He is making his home in Missoula at present, where he is ever ready to tell the tales of the early days.

In 1885 I had a charge at Townsend, Montana. One day as I was walking down the main street I was stopped by a man whose appearance told me that he was a miner. “Say, Parson,” he began abruptly, “are you too proud to come up to Diamond City and preach to us placer miners?” I answered, “I’ll come any time arrangements can be made.” The next Saturday I saddled my horse and started out for Diamond City, which lies by the way of Confederate Gulch. The road I followed was the stage line, which at that time ran from Helena down through the Missouri river bottom at Winston, through Diamond City, and on to White Sulphur Springs.

When I arrived at the mining camp Mr. Allan, who owned the hotel, took charge of my horse, while his wife and daughter took charge of me and my saddle bags, which contained my Bible, discipline and several hymn books. That evening I strolled down to the cabins of the placer miners. Some of the miners were working, and others were in their cabins. Those dwellings were the cleanest cabins I had ever seen in a mining camp. The tables and stools were homemade and had been scrubbed white—real white.

I announced that services would be held in the hotel Sunday morning from eleven to twelve and in the afternoon from three to four. Sunday morning between ten and eleven the miners could be seen wending their way toward the hotel, each carrying a homemade stool or chair, as it was necessary to improvise pews. At eleven o’clock the bar in the hotel was closed, and the services commenced. At the close of the service the bar was opened for refreshments, but I was given refreshments of a different character in the other room. At three in the afternoon the miners again appeared for services and the bar was duly closed. At the close of the service the miners expressed the desire to have a social time with the dominie[2]. The bar was opened again but none, however, invited the parson to take refreshments! One grizzled old miner stepped up to me and said, “Dominie, don’t we take a collection?” I said, “That’s if you please” So he asked Mr. Allan for a sack, which proved to be made of chamois leather about one inch wide and about four inches long. “Could you also loan me a spoon?” queried the miner of Mr. Allan. Rising to his full height the instigator of the collection said in a dignified tone, “We will now take up the collection.” Turning to Mr. Allan he said, “Will you use the spoon first.” The hotel proprietor stooped down behind the counter and dipped his spoon into a bag. When he withdrew the spoon it was full of gold dust. The spoon was then passed to each man, who in turn scooped a little of the precious dust from his bag into the chamois leather sack. After the bag, which took the place of the more conventional hat, had been passed all around the room, it was handed to me with this pointed question, “Do you know what to do with it?” I answered, “Well, I think so.” I was then warned to “be sure and tell the man at the Assay office in Helena where you got this, for he’s apt to arrest you for robbing sluice boxes.”

Upon arriving at the Assay office in Helena I was greeted by a smile, which indicated that someone had already told the assayor about my collection. He took my dust, weighed it in a sack and dumped the contents out onto a marble-topped table. Then after mixing it thoroughly, he shoveled up a little and weighed it again. The next step was to put the dust into a crucible, where it was soon boiling over a hot flame. The assayer skimmed off the dirt and poured it out into two little molds, where it was allowed to cool and harden. After the gold had hardened he weighed it and turned to me and said, “Well, how much do you think your collection amounts to?” After I had made several futile guesses he said, “Well, Parson, you earned forty-five dollars by preaching to those miners.”

When I lived in the Deer Lodge Valley, around ’84, the Indians were just getting their first taste of civilization. The Montana Union was an independent Montana railroad which ran from Butte to Garrison, where it connected with the Northern Pacific. Along this line at any point where the train stopped there was certain to be several Indians who would climb on just before the train started. Having no comprehension of a ticket they would coolly ignore both the ticket agent and the conductor. They never got any farther than the steps of the train, and there they would ride until some whim beckoned them off at one of the numerous stations along the route.

A wedding thirty miles away in the eighties didn’t mean a half-hour ride. Getting up about seven o’clock, I hitched my horses and started out for the place where I was supposed to make two people happy for life. Between five and six in the afternoon I saw that I had reached the end of my journey, for I saw a log house with three tents pitched around it. I was later informed that the tent at the rear was for the babies, the one on the south side of the house for the men, while the third tent was for the women. After I had performed my part of the ceremony, one of the men a little bolder than the rest suggested that I lie down. He sent me up a ladder to the second story, where I was supposed to go to sleep. After time had been allowed for me to get to sleep, the fiddle commenced and I could hear them dancing until three or four in the morning. As I hadn’t slept any I dressed and went down stairs, after they were through dancing, and asked a young man if he would feed my horses while I got a cup of coffee. It was four-thirty when I started; I arrived home about one that afternoon. I went to bed immediately and slept until five, when I was awakened by my wife’s shaking me, saying, “John, get up. There’s a man out here who wants to get married.” “Where?” I drawled out sleepily. “Up Paradise valley about five miles away,” was her reply. Seven times during my ministry I had two weddings, a funeral, preached twice, and attended Sunday school, in the same day.

In the year 1888 I was the pastor at Glendive, Montana, the seat of Dawson county. Dawson county at that time was bounded on the east by both North and South Dakota and on the north by Canada. Seven counties have since been taken out of this county. I was the only resident pastor in the county. One evening an Indian scout rode up and informed us that Sitting Bull intended to drive all the whites out of Dawson county. The five hundred people who lived in Glendive at this time began to prepare for defense. A message was immediately dispatched to Helena for ammunition as there was not over a dozen cartridges in town. At night the women and children were put in the brick school house, while the men, two by two, went on sentinel duty. Before the ammunition arrived we heard that Sitting Bull and his band of five hundred Sioux Indians had left Poplar and gone down to Sidney, where they had crossed the Yellowstone and had made their way into Dakota, from where they went down into Wyoming. When we heard this our fears were allayed, but we felt even safer when news reached us that Sitting Bull had been killed.

One of the funniest sights that I have ever seen was in the Deer Lodge valley in 1884. At the small town of Stewart the railroad had sunk a well so that the railroad might have a water tank. A hydrant had been attached to the tank in order to supply water for the depot and the community. One day about noon a group of Indians got off the train. They approached Mr. Kinney, who owned the post office, restaurant, grocery, store and rooming-house, with the usual request for food. Mr. Kinney filled a dishpan full of pieces from the table and scraps of meat and led the Indians to the hydrant, where he showed them how to get water. To see those Indians eat the meat with their fingers, meanwhile turning the faucet on and off in an effort to fathom its source was as good as any curiosity show I ever saw.

 The article above appeared in The Frontier Magazine, published at the State University of Montana in Missoula in November of 1930.

 The Reverend John Hosking and his wife, Isabella, were born in England in 1850. They were parents of two children, William and Annie. The 1900 Silverbow census (Butte, Mt.), misspelled their name as Hoskins. The misspelling also occurred in several instances, as above. The Reverend died in Deer Lodge, Mt., in 1931 and was buried in Helena. His obituary appears below:

 Rev. John Hosking Laid To Rest Here

Last rites for Rev. John Hosking, age 80, pioneer minister of the Methodist church and for several sessions chaplain of the Montana senate, were held yesterday forenoon on the arrival of the train from Deer Lodge, where services were held Friday.

Rev. David J. Donnan, pastor of the Presbyterian church, officiated at the commitment service at Forestvale, where he was laid to rest beside his wife and daughter.

Rev. Mr. Hosking, father of William Hosking, state accountant, came to the United States when a youth from Cornwall, Eng., where he was born over 80 years ago. He early entered the ministry.

Arrives in Deer Lodge

His first charge in Montana was at Deer Lodge in 1884. Later he was at Townsend, where he served several churches, making his trips winter and summer on horseback. He preached at Winston, Crow Creek and White Sulphur Springs. Some years later he served in the eastern part of the state, having a circuit which included Billings, Livingston, and Glendive.

For five years he was at Grace Methodist church and at Trinity church in Butte for another five years. He was a member of the Masonic lodge having joined the order more than 50 years ago in Connecticut.

The obituary above appeared in The Independent-Record of Helena on May 24, 1931.