More Unraveling of Charles Schafft
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 quarters at Bass Mill, a few miles northwest of Stevensville in the Bitter Root Valley, a small, grievously crippled man named Charles Schafft sat down to write a sketch of his life. In the Spring of 1887, at the age of 49, he thought he had reached the end of his road, that his predilection for drink would soon be his undoing. Writing in ink, in precise and graceful script, he filled eighteen pages of long, lined sheets with so much early Montana history and his own involvement in it that the document, on first reading, seems to good to be true.
How could one relatively obscure man have known, worked for, and associated with the likes of John Mullan, Father Ravalli, Frank Woody, W. J. McCormick, Thomas Francis Meagher, and a whole procession of Flathead Indian Agents, to say nothing of General Phil Sheridan, Interior Secretary Carl Schurz and others prominent on the national scene?
Was Charles Schafft, indeed, a quasi-official member of the Mullan Expedition? Was he actually the first clerk of the newly organized Missoula County, appointed by Governor Sidney Edgerton himself, and elected to the same post in the first official election in September, 1865? Did he ghost-write columns for the Fort Benton Record, receive physical and spiritual support from the great Jesuit physician, Anthony Ravalli, and keep books for the famous Kleinschmidt firm in Helena? Or was he a Nineteenth Century name-dropper, a spinner of wild tales who just happened to write well?
Not only was support found for virtually every segment of Charles Schafft’s fascinating memoir, including his enlistment record in the National Archives, but more was found than he wrote about. He was, for instance, postmaster of Missoula in 1866. Although he apparently expected to die soon after he wrote his manuscript in 1887, the record shows that in 1890, he worked as a clerk in a Missoula law firm, and that on November 21 of that year, he homesteaded on a tract of land just west of present-day Missoula.
The one thing that research has not so far revealed is where and when death finally did come to Charles Schafft. Because of his wandering habits, it is possible he left the Bitter Root, for death records in the area, which begin in 1895, do not list him. It is possible that he died in the vicinity between 1890 and 1895, and that a record of his death and burial may yet be found.
The manuscript which follows is reproduced in its entirety. Because of its length, we have foregone illustration; no picture of Schafft himself, of course, has so far emerged. Footnoting, held to a minimum, is confined to explanatory, narrative notes which we feel illuminate the manuscript for our readers. No attempt has been made to cite every happening, person and locale mentioned by Schafft. It is sufficient to say that his dates match in all cases, and so do the basic facts. Except for his ultimate fate, perhaps at the hands of “demon rum” which he says had so long possessed him, no one can tell the story of Charles Schafft better than Charles Schafft himself.
Following the completed Schafft article in the Montana Magazine of Western History, the following additional commentary appeared:
Odyssey Of A Manuscript And A Word Of Thanks
Folded and placed in an ordinary business-size envelope, Charles Schafft’s manuscript was found a few years ago on the inside of a 1913 first edition copy Following Old Trails, a compilation of historical sketches written and published by the late Arthur L. Stone when he was editor of The Missoulian. Stone, who became the first dean of the University of Montana’s School of Journalism in 1914, apparently felt the manuscript was worthy of publication, for in his own hand, he wrote at the top of the first page: “Preserve this clean and uncut.”
How did Dean Stone come by the document? Some supposition is necessary, but there are some clues: Schafft addressed his manuscript to John Armstrong of Missoula, and a check of Historical Society holdings quickly showed that in 1887 John Armstrong was working on The Missoulian, which his brother, Duane J. Armstrong, owned and edited. In 1889, John started publishing The Bitter Root Bugle in the town of Grantsdale, near present-day Hamilton, and at his death in 1911, had moved to Wisdom and was publishing the Big Hole Breezes.
Since Schafft was obviously depressed and down on his luck in 1887, he may have hoped that the Armstrongs would publish his manuscript and pay him for it. A search of The Missoulian and other papers published by John Armstrong has so far failed to show that it was ever printed. It seems likely that Dean Stone, one of Montana’s great journalists and history enthusiasts, found the document in the files of The Missoulian and kept it in his private collection until his death in 1945.
Through how many hands the words of Charles Schafft have passed during the last thirty years cannot be determined, but it is quite clear that this is its first publication. It was acquired for the Historical Society last October through the efforts of E. E. (Boo) MacGilvra of Butte, a member of our Board of Trustees, from Mrs. Everett Shuey, who for a number of years operated a used and rare book store in Helena.
While the copy of Dean Stone’s book was not part of a greater collection of Stone material, it was inside its front cover that Mrs. Shuey found the Schafft manuscript. When her book store gave way to Helena’s Urban Renewal program, she moved her inventory to her home in Butte and eventually shared the manuscript of Charles Schafft with MacGilvra and the Historical Society. Then began the detective work and the present publication.
Aside from acknowledging the obvious contributions of Boo MacGilvra and Mrs. Shuey in placing the manuscript in our hands, thanks extend to Rex Myers of the Historical Society Library; Dale Johnson, University of Montana Archivist; Mrs. Norris Nichols of Helena, former Bitter Root Valley resident; Mrs. Bessie Monroe of Hamilton, able historian of her area, and Mrs. L. G. Browman of Missoula, whose searches in Missoula libraries and court records brought forth much documentation to strengthen the words of Charles Schafft.
Whether or not Dean Stone had possessed, or misplaced, the Schafft manuscript is a question that likely will not ever be answered. That Stone was somewhat aware of Schafft’s history can be gleaned from the following article that he printed in The Great Falls Tribune in 1944.
This article started out as a tribute to pioneer Richard Grant, but ended as somewhat of a query on the obscure life of Schafft. Stone misstated a few facts relating to Schafft’s life, but seemed to recall some other facts that Schafft wrote about in his manuscript.
One thing that this article included was copy of a drawing by Schafft of the Grant Creek Valley, not long after Grant settled there. It shows a small log-built cabin with tepees beside it. Stone here mentions Schafft’s sketchbook as though he were in possession of it when he wrote this article.
Grant Creek
Missoula, June 10 –
When Frank Worden and Christopher Higgins unloaded their pack train on the bluff which overlooks Council Grove it was a return visit for Captain Higgins. This was the autumn of 1860. Five years before he had become so well acquainted with the valley, while a member of the expedition of Governor Stevens, that he had concluded to come back and live there. This was the fulfillment of his promise to himself.
When he had bidden a temporary good-bye to the ronde, there was no white man in the beautiful valley. But two years brought changes even then, and Worden and Higgins found white folks located in the wilderness.
Nearest to the site where they started their mercantile enterprise and founded the noisy Hell Gate town – so near in fact that he is listed as a citizen of the village in an early census – was Capt. Richard Grant. He had located on the pretty stream which now bears his name, Grant creek, which joined its waters with the Missoula river not far from the site of Worden-Higgins store.
Captain Grant played an important part in getting things started in the western valleys. A former Hudson’s Bay Co. man, he had spent several years as an independent trader at Fort Hall on the Oregon trail, dealing chiefly with the travelers on the famous emigrant trail. Buying trail-worn animals, he conditioned them on the native pasturage and found ready sale for the restored oxen, horses and mules. Amongst others, Captain Grant drove this battered livestock over the range into the Bitter Root and Missoula valleys where forage was prime. Attracted to this region as a permanent location, Grant built a somewhat elaborate farm plant and when Hell Gate town was getting its start his enterprise had already prospered well. He continued his pasturage business; developed a herd of his own; raised grain and some vegetables.
The old Grant creek irrigating ditch was one of his pioneer performances; his water right is yet the basis for the irrigation supply of some of the older farms in the valley below Missoula.
The name of Richard Grant is not familiar to many students of Montana history but it is deserving of much greater credit than it has been accorded. He was an enthusiast regarding these Montana valleys; he co-operated in many of the very early plans for development of the region which was his adopted home. He died in 1862 while on a visit in Walla Walla; his eldest daughter was with him and died of the same illness which took her father. Mrs. Helen Grant, his widow, continued the operation of the ranch until her death about two years later. Two daughters lived with her. The younger, Julia, became the wife of Captain Higgins, and lived to an advanced age in Missoula.
The accompanying reproduction of a sketch by Charles Schafft was made in upper Grant creek valley. Schafft preserved a good many western Montana scenes in his sketchbook. He was an unusual man. German, as his name indicates, he had served in the Prussian guard; there was a local rumor, never confirmed, that he had trouble in that army experience and came to America in consequence. He was a scholarly man; well read and with vast general information. He served in the reservation administrative staff and later held Missoula county offices
The article above appeared in The Great Falls Tribune on June 11, 1944.