A Leaf From Early Montana History (2 Parts) Part 1 Establishing Missions – Traditions and Reminiscences of the Indians By Charles Schafft (The following paper was written in 1867, but has remained unpublished until the present time.) In the year 1740 (sic) [1840] Father De Smet, a missionary of the Read More
A Leaf From Early Montana History (2 Parts) Part 1 Establishing Missions – Traditions and Reminiscences of the Indians By Charles Schafft (The following paper was written in 1867, but has remained unpublished until the present time.) In the year 1740 (sic) [1840] Father De Smet, a missionary of the Read More
A Visit to “Whoop Up” in the Days Gone By – Charles Schafft A few years ago when a man suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from his accustomed haunts, and the inquiry was passed around, “What has become of him?” the answer and conclusion arrived at in some instances was, Read More
More Unraveling of Charles Schafft Charles Schafft Timeline 1838 – Born – Berlin, Germany 1849 – To N. Y. – worked for father 1853 – Joined U. S. Army – N. Y. 1854 – Crossed Panama Isthmus to Calif. 1855 – To Arizona & New Mex. 1856 – Fort Yuma Read More
More Unraveling of Charles Schafft The preface below appeared as the introduction to an article about Charles Schafft that appeared in ‘Montana The Magazine of Western History’ in its Winter, 1976 issue – “Sketch of a Life: Charles Schafft.” The author of the article was historian Vivian Paladin: In his Read More
My Experience as a Resurrectionist It was not the expected stipend from a medical student, or a reward to be offered by some sorrowing relative for a missing corpse, that caused me to become a desecrator of the grave. A phrenological society in New York had repeatedly applied to Read More
The First Arrest in Montana The first arrest within the limits of this Territory, made under shadow of legal authority, seems to have been made in December, 1861. The subject was slightly alluded to in the New Year’s number of the Benton Record under the head of “Reminiscences of Read More
An Incident of Travel by Charles Schafft Late in the month of October, 1864, two old chums and fortune hunters of the old California type, men who are always on the tramp and look-out for better prospects, came to the conclusion to emigrate to Montana and strike it “big.” Read More
The First White Women of Montana On a cold evening, in the month of December, of the year 1859, I, a solitary and tired traveler, arrived at the house of Antoine Plant, on the Spokane river, in Washington Territory, and begged the proprietor of the half-breed establishment for a Read More
Reminiscences of the Mullan Expedition by Charles Schafft – From The Benton Weekly Record – Jan 2, 1880 Commencing at Walla Walla, in Washington Territory, and terminating at Fort Benton, in Montana, is located one of the oldest public roads in the Territory. Its construction was commenced and consummated Read More