Old Missoula

Roosevelt Gets Big Welcome In Missoula – Sojourning at Valley of the Moon?

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt came to Missoula Aug. 20, 1920. He was on a barnstorming tour of several western states as the candidate for Vice President on the Democratic ticket with Presidential candidate James M. Cox. They were soundly defeated in the election by Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. Roosevelt would soon contract what was believed to be polio the following year, 1921.

While on his tour in Montana Roosevelt visited Helena, Butte and Deer Lodge also. Roosevelt’s visit received headline coverage in Butte while a Missoulian article is found casually on page 3 of the Aug. 20^th edition.

Missoula Democratic Congressman John Evans followed Roosevelt’s visit through the whole state. In his speech Roosevelt noted that he had come through Montana many times in connection with the Navy Department. It was also noted in a Butte newspaper article that he had been there five years earlier.

Roosevelt gave a short talk to about 200 people who met his N. P. train in Missoula. He advocated greater development of the U. S. Navy and naval facilities. He spoke of reclamation in the western states, especially in the Yakima area, and mentioned water projects in the Columbia Basin and southern Idaho. He spoke of federal aid and assistance for projects in building roads and in reclamation.

Attorney Charles Hall of Missoula escorted him to the fountain in front of the Missoula depot which was stocked with trout at that time. Roosevelt mentioned that he wished he had time to stay longer in the area so that he could “hook a few of them in the Bitter Root.”

Missoulian columnist Deane Jones mentioned Roosevelt’s visit in an article on Dec. 17, 1967:

“An argument arose the other day as to when Franklin Delano Roosevelt first visited Missoula. I can’t think of anything that matters less, but just by coincidence, Friz Prichard popped up with an old Butte newspaper picture and story about FDR sojourning at the Valley of the Moon ranch 24 miles east of here in August 1920. That was when he was running for vice president, as a teammate of James Cox.

“That may not have been his first visit to Montana, but, for the information of the guys in the argument, it places FDR out here long before the 1932 campaign for the presidency, or his wartime trips through Missoula.

“The picture showed Roosevelt with Gov. Sam V. Stewart, who had been presented as a candidate for the spot FDR grabbed, and Montana Lieutenant Governor W. W. McDowell, who owned the Valley of the Moon. McDowell died in 1933, while he was ambassador to the Irish Free State. Steward died in 1939, and Roosevelt died in 1945.”

McDowell, originally from Tennessee, became a favorite of Marcus Daly in Anaconda in the late 1890’s, specializing in researching and buying mining properties. He was also a very successful Montana politician, becoming speaker of the house and a lieutenant governor under Governor Stewart.

Another Butte mining speculator, James Finlen, apparently owned the Valley of the Moon Ranch prior to McDowell and McDowell then sold it back to Finlen’s son, James Jr., in the 1930s. James Finlen Sr. was the son of another prominent Butte politician and Daly affiliate, Miles Finlen. Marcus Daly was at one time interested in building a railroad from Philipsburg to his ranch at Hamilton using the upper reaches of the Rock Creek area.

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