Naughty David J. Maclay’s Lolo History Letter

How Naughty David J. Maclay Got In Trouble With A Letter

Allen’s death sparks memories of old Lo Lo

The recent death of William Allen, former president of Boeing’s Aircraft Co., calls to mind not only his superb accomplishments but opens a bit of history as well.

Bill Allen, his nickname was “Widge,” began life about 1900 in Lo Lo. He spent his early years in grammar school and high school before going to the university at Missoula after which his neighbors saw little of him nor did they hear much about him until he became head of that pioneering aircraft concern.

But “Widge” was one of the boys about town. His home was one of those large turn-of-the-century ginger-bread structures common among prosperous citizens of the time. It was located on the lane beginning at Fred Gilbert’s general store and post office and ending at the railroad station.

The afternoon train, coming from the south on its return to Missoula, was the signal for the gathering of the notables and the boys of the place to see the excitement and be on hand if anything special happened. The old steam rig would whistle as it passed by the Rock farm and we’d witness old Bill Rock rounding the turn at the store, his horse on a high lope dragging that old buggy loaded with the day’s milk from Bill’s dairy. That horse would pass by Delaney’s blacksmith shop, past the Clifford Hotel and saloon, past Dave Anderson’s horseshoeing shed, past Dave’s home and on past bachelor Theon Durnford’s place, just across the road from Widge Allen’s home.

And with a clatter, the rig would swing right up close to the baggage car where Rock would toss in his big cream cans to the waiting attendant. For the 50^th time old Bill would say “Well, by George, I made it” and the horse would blow awhile.

And all those assorted residents would look along the train and wave at Mr. Marks, white-mustached conductor, and old “Mutt,” the brakeman.

There would be among the people old gum-chewing Bill Cuney, fat agent Lines, old “The” Mr. Gilbert with his mail cart, Civil War veteran Perry McClain and standing a bit apart from the older group would be C. M. Allen, father of Widge, his brother “Dud” and sister Audry – he well-dressed in dark suit, short and trim.

Then we’d see the young crowd including Widge’s friends from across the track, the Hughes boys, Ray and Ralph, whose sister was the Allen kids’ mother. There would also be Charlie Delaney and Homer and Norman Rock from the dairy and wise-cracking Elliot Pellens with his latest: “He didn’t like her apartment so he knocked her flat.” All these boys milling in the dust in the turnaround at train time constituted society in the afternoon at Lo Lo (the town so low that they named it twice).

The young crowd would repair to the Post Office after the mail was sorted and they’d sit on those old wire chairs in the store trying out Mr. Gilbert’s ice cream soda ‘til somebody suggested they go back of the store to Ed Miller’s pool hall and saloon for a game or two. Old Ed couldn’t assemble at the station because a year or two before that he got drunk and fell into Joe Andrews’ separator. The self-feeder pulled him into the cylinder where he lost a leg right up to his hip which slowed him down some.

So he opened up his place to keep abreast of the young crowd. Those other saloons and with Clifford’s joint and Delaney’s spot provided lively times in Lo Lo. Most of the shootings or knifings took place when farm hands or sheep herders got paid for summer’s work and somebody – usually a stranger – would get killed and Charley Marsh made frequent trips from his Missoula mortuary to gather up a body in his wicker basket.

There were also many days when the Allens and other neighbors gathered around the “pot hole” a mile or two south on the Sam Maclay place to shoot ducks at dusk when those hundreds of poor things tried to settle for the night. You could see just the dark forms drifting in so it was great sport to see how many ducks you could kill in an evening. Sometimes the Lo Lo boys would be joined by Paul Bishoff or Holmes or Lamar Maclay.

But it wasn’t all fun and games then. There were the crops to harvest – especially picking the apples in the Allamount (Allamont)[1] orchards across the track from the Allen home. Many carloads of apples were shipped from that fine stand of trees.

And across the Bitter Root River near the orchard was L. L. Howland’s home where he built a steam-operated pump for C. M. Allen so he could wash down the hillsides and recover the gold there. Howland lived there in poverty “proving up” on the homestead so they could reap the gold. That was innovative enough for Mr. Allen’s plans. But that never happened and another great hope fell by the wayside. So now that golden sand is covered by the subdivision called Rodeo Ranchettes.

So there is a bit of history as witnessed firsthand about a young man who went on from there to become one of America’s big businessmen after shucking off assorted early friends at Lo Lo.

Well, time took its toll – the boys all found other things to do.

C. M. Allen died leaving Bill’s mother alone in that big house because Widge went off to Harvard, Dud went to practice medicine in Chicago and Audry married college friend Russell Neal.

The Hughes boys worked a while in their sister Clara’s general store. Later Ray Hughes took over the sister’s store and ill-gotten post office so Ralph tried several other jobs. Clara married widower D. R. Maclay and became “Aunty Cyde” with other projects in mind. The layabout Pellens died and was buried in the place he’d never left; “there in Fort Wayne.”

And oh yes, Theon, the shy one, married old Gert Allen, lived for a short while in the Allen home ‘til she urged him to return across the lane where he lived out his life in his modest home.

The “Bitter Root Special” was discontinued and they parked the old steam rig down by the depot in our town. They are all dead now, the dust in the old station ground has settled and newer generations have found their playgrounds elsewhere. – David J. Maclay, 828 Ronald, Missoula.

The above letter appeared in the Reader comments section of The Missoulian on December 6, 1985.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/351025418/

A reply/rebuttal to David Maclay’s letter appeared in The Missoulian a few weeks later. The letter was written by a relative of Bill Allen’s.

Straightening out the record about old-time Lolo

A copy of your Dec. 6 Reader comment: “Allen’s death sparks memories of old Lo Lo” has reached me here in Tucson and the article makes my Hughes blood boil.

Naughty David J. Maclay is up to his old tricks again when he “calls to mind” the accomplishments of William Allen that open up a bit of history. It seems only fitting we help him close a bit of history as well. With the truth. After all, family is family, and we liked to never get that through David’s head.

Let’s go right to the part about “Theon, the shy one, married old Gert Allen. . . “

Shy one, hell. Old man Durnford was an ornery cuss who gave Gert nothing but trouble. And when she had had enough of him, she didn’t urge him anywhere, she damn well kicked him out. Hughes women never mess around with urges. I don’t know where exactly Theon returned to, or how he lived out his life, but the fact that Gert did what she had to do settled the matter once and for all as far as her children were concerned.

Years later when mean Mr. Durnford came up in a conversation, Bill Allen’s youngest daughter, Poo, said, “Daddy, you never told us that,” and “Widge” was heard to reply, “I didn’t think it was necessary.”

That’s how Widge was. He knew how to say the right thing at the right time in the right place. To this day, until Dec. 6 that is, the name Theon Durnford is not one associated with Gertrude Allen, as a matter of courtesy to her and to Widge. It goes without saying: once an Allen, always an Allen.

As to the young crowd, including “the Hughes boys, Ray and Ralph, whose sister was the Allen kids’ mother,” David has that one right. There were, however, four sisters – Gertrude, Clara May, Mabel Lee and Kathleen Myrtle. And we never called them “old Gert” or “Aunty Cyde.” We called them Aunt Gertie and Aunt Kide and Aunt Mamie and Aunt Kate.

Hughes women are remembered as formidable, outliving each of their husbands by many years. Gertie, of course, was married to Charlie Allen; Kide to D. R. Maclay, the other David Maclay; Mame to George Heimbach, and Kate to Howard Schroeder. As to the boys – Ray married Dolly Maxwell and Ralph married Charlie Delaney’s daughter Ruth.

To say that Hughes Mercantile was family owned is saying enough. Speculation as to which Hughes owned what and when could get David in a bigger heap of trouble than he’s already in. The fact of the matter is that Ray and Dolly operated the store for the better part of their lives, including the “ill-gotten post office.” Now then. By ill-gotten, does David mean they were ill when they got it, or is he suggesting something obtained by evil, unlawful, or dishonest means? Is he perhaps giving his opinion of United States post offices in general?

In any case, my grandfather was assistant postmaster of the Missoula Post Office for 37 years and there was nothing ill-gotten whatsoever about him. He was a Rotarian, a Mason, a member of the first Grizzly football team, and he was married to a Hughes woman, but not necessarily in that order.

Ralph Hughes inherited his mother’s ranch when he was 17, when ranching was a full-time job, so he never had a chance to try “several other jobs.” Only David would know what “other projects” Aunt Kide had in mind when she married a Maclay, but one thing for sure, she never tried her hand at writing a commentary about Lolo for the Missoulian.

Also, “Dud” to us was always Uncle Dudley, and Dr. Edward Allen to his patients. And “Audry” was Audrey Allen who married Ralph W. (Red) Neill and then became Audrey Allen Neill. (Give us a break, David!)

The reference to L. L. Howland living on the Allen homestead “in poverty” and “‘proving up’ so they could reap the gold is pure hogwash. Charles McPherson Allen was a metallurgist and mining engineer and he didn’t have to prove anything. He just plain liked metals and mining, which he did for a living, not only in Lolo but throughout Montana. I can’t put a dollar amount on how much gold Charlie ever reaped, but for the record, he and Widge never let one of their people, family or otherwise, live in poverty.

It is true that one by one, the Allen children left Lolo, just as one by one, the Hughes children left, too. At various times Audrey and Bill Allen and Evelyn Hughes left Lolo to live in Missoula with my grandparents, in order to attend high school and college there.

It is not true, however, that as a result of leaving Lolo, William “Widge” Allen was known for “shucking off the assorted early friends at Lo Lo.” (It was Gertie, remember, and she did not shuck T. Durnford, she chucked him.) Besides, a good farmer knows that you don’t shuck people. You remove the shucks of things – i.e. shells, pods of peas, husks of ears of corn. And you say shucks when you are disappointed or disgusted, as I am with D. Maclay.

In November, the Allen women brought Widge’s ashes back to Missoula to be with his beloved Dorothy, his family and friends. Back to God’s country, we like to think. Close to good old Bitterroot earth. And I’ll bet if he had been able to see David, hiding in the bushes, getting ready to take a couple of cheap shots at the Allen name, Widge would have punched him in the mouth.

Not to mention what newer generations of Hugheses and Allens – Grahams, Heimbachs, Murphys, Neills, Penroses, Silvernales, and Van Canagans – might have done from “their playgrounds elsewhere.” I reckon that in itself would be innovative enough for my Uncle Bill.

“Widge” was one of the boys about town all right, and my grandmother was one of the girls. And we never paid any mind to no-accounts like David J. Maclay anyway. But if I have to come all the way to Missoula the week before Christmas, for the sake of family, to help him get his act together, I damn well will. You can bet Hughes boots on that. – Kathleen Ann Graham Gray, 11302 E. Gunsmith Drive, Tucson, Ariz.

The above letter appeared in the Reader comment section of The Missoulian on December 24, 1985.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/351065346/?terms=%22audrey%2Ballen%22

To better understand the circumstances behind the comments in the letters above, without undertaking all the complexities of their family histories, please find below several short comments and links that may provide some clarification:

William ‘Bill’ Allen, the president of Boeing (1945 – 1968), died in Seattle in 1985. He was a graduate of Harvard Law School. He is considered the prime force behind Boeing’s 707 Airplane, and the creation of United Air Lines. As his N.Y. Times obituary stated, he “married the Governor’s daughter,” Dorothy Dixon, of Missoula. They had two daughters, Nancy and Dorothy. Dorothy, his wife, died in 1943, and he married Mary E. Agen five years later.

Charles M. Allen, his father, was a successful mining and smelter engineer in Butte, Mt. and an inventor. He was a superintendent of the Butte and Boston Co.’s Butte smelter for several years. He was also involved in various mining projects in the Butte area that became the subject of court actions. He was later instrumental in building the large smelter at Basin, Montana in the late 1890s. which was later bought by F. Augustus Heinze. Along with others he had several patents for the treatment of sulphide ores (copper). He was a large stockholder in the First National Bank of Missoula, along with such prominent men as Bickford, Keith, Greenough, Ross, McCullough, Jacobs, and Coffee. He was very interested in horticulture and became an officer in the Montana Horticulture Society. He invested in Bitterroot property in the 1890s, and finally moved to Lolo, Mt in 1899 with his wife, Gertrude (Hughes) Allen. He invested in a large apple orchard operation in Lolo called Allomont Orchards. He died in Missoula in 1920.

Allomont Orchard was later purchased by C. L. Allen of Aberdeen, South Dakota in 1909. It was then purchased by S. J. Bischoff of N. Y. in 1913. At various times the orchard was called Altamont, Allamont, etc.

Theon Durnford was the manager of the orchard in 1910. W. P. Dunlevy was manager by 1911.

William J. Hughes was born in 1844, died in 1901 and is buried in Missoula. His wife, Rebecca A. Willis was born in Zanesville, Ohio in 1847 and married Mr. Hughes in 1865 in Ohio. They moved to Butte, Mt. in 1887, and to Missoula County in 1896. They had 7 children, 3 sons and 4 daughters. The daughters were Mrs. C. M. Allen, Mrs. Dave R. Maclay, Mrs. George Heimbach, and Mrs. Howard Schroeder. Sons are Ray, Roy and Ralph.

Clara Hughes Maclay (wife of David R. Maclay) was born in 1879 in Macon City, Missouri, moved to Butte, Mt when eight years old, and then to the Bitterroot in 1898. She was a Postmaster in Lolo, started a general store and married David R. Maclay in 1912. David R. Maclay and his first wife, Carrie Virginia McClain Maclay, who died in 1903, had the following children: Emily M. Hovet, Helen M. Schroeder, Holmes Maclay, and Carrie Grether, and Lamar Maclay. Clara Hughes Maclay was their step-mother.

The civil war veteran referred to above was Jacob P. (Perry) McClain who came to Montana in 1867 by steamboat to Fort Benton. He spent time ranching in the Deer Lodge area, and came to Missoula in 1874. He was a partner with C. P. Higgins of Missoula in a large cattle operation in 1878. He sold his part of it in 1883 and returned to his Lolo area ranch.

Three pioneer Maclay brothers came to Western Montana from Pennsylvania in the 1880s.

William P. Maclay – born 1851 – died 1940 – came to W. Montana 1880 (bought 800 acres from J. P. (Perry) McClain in 1882) – moved to Msla 1884

Samuel Maclay – born 1857 – died 1934 – came to W. Montana 1881

David R. Maclay – born 1863 – died 1953 – came to Lolo 1883 (wives were Carrie Virginia McClain [died 1903] and Clara Hughes)

The author of the letter above, David J. Maclay, was the last of 4 sons of Samuel Maclay – born 1905 – died 1997. A graduate of MCHS and U of M, he became a biologist and worked for various government agencies. He donated large tracts of River Front land to the Five Valley Land Trust.

Sources:

C. M. Allen info – Silvernale / Shook Geneaology – from Rootsweb

https://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=shook&id=I3565

C. M. Allen – Missoulian Obit. – 4/15/1920 (Charles M.)

https://www.newspapers.com/image/348696693/?terms=%22c.%2Bm.%2Ballen%22

https://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=shook&id=I3565

Mrs. C. M. Allen (Gertrude Allen) Obit – Missoulian 5/26/1946

https://www.newspapers.com/image/349303069/?terms=%22william%2Bhughes%22%2Blolo

Mrs. William Hughes Obit – Missoulian 10/20/1915

https://www.newspapers.com/image/349015574/?terms=%22william%2Bhughes%22%2Blolo

David R. Maclay Obit – Missoulian 1/29/1953

https://www.newspapers.com/image/349390035/?terms=%22maclay%22