The Story of the Orchard Homes

By Edna Foster

This is a tale of the Orchard Homes addition of the Garden City. The Treasure Room of the University library, the clippings file of the Public library, the documents, minds, and recollections of some of the people of Missoula and the Orchard Homes have yielded the following information:

Beginning with the Orchard Homes section before it was the “Orchard Homes addition,” we will quote from a paper prepared for the Orchard Homes Women’s club by Miss Spurgin some time ago; the “old Spurgin place” is still pointed out, with the house deep in trees that have now reached a large size.

Miss Spurgin wrote: “Father bought the old Conniff ranch in March, 1885. The only neighbors were the Farrells and Mr. Miller, the Kelleys, the Booths living on the Wolf and Ryman land along the Bitter Root river, the Folays [Foleys] living where the Feltons used to live and the Gannons living east of the Marshall place.

“Frank Higgins some years later built a big barn and race track near the old Shryock place on Third street. He had a fine string of race horses. One night we saw a big blaze and ran, thinking it was some wood up in the upper field near the east line. It proved to be the Higgins barn. A boy was burned to death and some of the fine horses, among them the famous Brino Trix.

Busy Community

“The next 15 years the community was busy growing grain and tators and improving the home surroundings. We set out some fruit trees, the first in the section. Some of the trees are still standing on Third street, near Mrs. Clements’ place.

“Our house stood a little west and north of Mrs. Briners. There used to be a beautiful grove back of the house for half a mile or more, but the river has washed it all away. In 1894 the water was so high we decided to move the house up where it now stands. The river used to cause us many sleepless nights. One night father and mother were alone and the water began to come in till it was up to the front door and a good-sized stream in the back yard. They hitched up and drove to the Farrell’s for the night. We have ridden up and down in front of the house in a boat in those days.

“Neighbors being scarce, we visited often. Never a week went by but what Mrs. Miller and mother visited back and forth.

“We usually drove to town by the flat road as there were so many gates and bars to go through the ranches. A long lane extended from our house to the bench to the south. The main road was about the middle of the reserve. There was no fence then on the flat. We could drive all the way to the bridge and not pass a house, and often not meet a soul. I have seen hundreds of kerlews feeding on the flat and often coyotes prowling along. Great flocks of wild geese would feed in the grain fields in the fall, where the Jamesons and Richardsons live now. Many a fine fat goose have we had to eat. Once a cub bear was killed between our house and Miller’s. The fall of the smokey summer father and brother killed 16 deer in the woods along the river. The smokey summer was one of awe. We did not see Kelley’s house, or the outline of the sun for weeks. As we drove on the flat it was like a great curtain all about you, the smoke was so dense. One could see only a short distance in any direction.

“Mother used to take a shot-gun and kill the pheasants and prairie chickens the dogs would tree in the woods.

“My brother and I always attended the town school, for there was no school nearer than the Cold Springs school, which stood at the foot of Pine Hollow beyond the fort.

“In 1894 Father helped organize the Target Range district, for the McCauleys, Kelleys, McClays and Jane Slack at the fort needed school. I taught three terms of three months each at a salary of $40 a month. The schoolhouse stood in the corner of McCauley’s field, farther east from where it is now located. One year I had a house full, for all the officer’s children from the fort came. The soldiers hauled our drinking water.

“The Indians used to come through our place to ford the river as they traveled to and fro between the valley and the reservation.

“The first newcomers were the Jasper Woods family, who bought the property where Mrs. Erfert lives, and the Dorsetts. Then the Finklenburgs came.

First Subdivision

“Father sold the old ranch in 1901. Our east line ran just east of the old pine tree on Seventh street. The west line was beyond the Davis place. Mr. Dinsmore began at once to subdivide the land. He got control of the ditch and began the construction. The headgate was near the mouth of the canyon. The headgate was carried away by the high water of 1904, as was the old rock cribbing. The first place sold in Orchard Homes, as Mr. Dinsmore called it, was to Mr. Van Alstine. He bought the place Mrs. Clements is on now. The next place was bought by the Pattersons. This is now the Memory place. Then the Bradys came to the Seventh street place west of Ball’s. We bought up on the Miller land and began to build that fall. We moved May 29, 1902, after living 17 years on the old ranch.

“The first school was built on ground donated by Mr. Dinsmore, about where the Irvings live now. It was a little one-story frame building. Mr. Dinsmore donated the corner plot and the schoolhouse was moved. Another room was added, as the enrollment had increased as more people moved in.

“I had not been teaching for a while, and one day I told Superintendent Williams if he’d give me the Orchard Homes school I’d go back to work. At Thanksgiving a change was made and I took the lower room. I had Francis and John Cooney, Maurice and Harold Richardson, Olsons, Colvilles, and all the other first, second, third and fourth-graders of the day. The room was so crowded, we had a big tin protector about the old air tight heater. The poor kiddies next the stove roasted while the ones by the windows froze. I stood on a rug to keep my feet from getting numb.

The Schoolhouse

“One day Mr. Kohn, then president of the school board, told me: ‘You people can have a schoolhouse out there if you ask for it.’ A meeting was called for Sunday afternoon, at the schoolhouse. The patrons came out and also several board members. After much discussion the building was promised, but only a four-room one. We argued for a larger one, saying the future would demand it and it would be economy to provide for larger enrollment. Mr. Dallman and I met with the board and after much urging succeeded in getting six rooms although we had urged the building of eight. This fine building the Orchard Homes people may well be proud of, for it is one of the pleasantest school buildings to be found anywhere.

“There have been many changes in the past 40 years. Many have come and gone. Only dear Mrs. Miller is now left of those days of the past century, but the friendships of those days are warm and lasting. As new neighbors came and established homes and new friendships were formed, new interests grew. First the school and then club drawing all together, in common interests for the good of the community.”

 Some History

To Mrs. Edward Miller, of whom Miss Spurgin makes affectionate mention, we are indebted for permission to use her copy of this bit of history, most of which has never been printed.

Mrs. Miller is the last of the “homesteaders” in the Orchard Homes. Of the old homestead she has now but 30 acres left, 15 more of which she is willing to sell since she has no use for more than the ground her buildings are on. She is alert and active and does not look the part of the “last of the oldtimers” at all.

The place spoken of as the Memory place is now owned by Z. Johns, and the Taft dairy is now on the Brady place. The old pine mentioned as the “marker” of the Spurgin east line was struck by the wind this summer and partly blown down. People in the Orchard Homes will find other tie-ups for changes made since Miss Spurgin wrote this piece of history.

She mentioned her father’s selling his old ranch to Mr. Dinsmore; a somewhat faded pamphlet found in the Treasure Room of the University library, (where other records of Montana history are kept,) entitled: “Montana the Treasure State and Missoula the Garden City,” evidently published by Mr. Dinsmore in 1902, gives the following:

“In the spring of 1900 Messrs. R. M. Cobban and Samuel Dinsmore, then doing business under the firm name of Cobban & Dinsmore, platted into five-acre tracts land near Missoula aggregating about 600 acres. Each lot has a frontage of more than 300 feet on a 60-foot street (some fronting on public highways of usual width). Ample irrigating ditches, with a never failing supply of water from the Hell Gate river, were so constructed that each tract is easily watered, and a perpetual water right sufficient for all needs (one miner’s inch to each acre) is deeded with the ground without extra cost. These tracts comprise some of the very best lands in the state, and every acre of it is especially desirable for fruit raising and market gardening. All is easy of irrigation, being practically level. These tracts lie near the junction of the Missoula, varying from one to four miles. Nearly all the ground is free from brush, stone and gravel. All is within sight of Missoula and the surroundings are beautiful and picturesque in the extreme.

“These tracts were placed on the market at prices ranging from $100 to $300 per acre, unimproved but including a perpetual water right, with ditches constructed so as to bring water to the edge of each tract at the point from which irrigation would be easiest of accomplishment.

“Where desired, the purchaser could buy under contract providing for the improvement of the lot purchased. In that case the company agreed to prepare the ground, set out to trees to the number of 108 to each acre, cultivate and irrigate the land, prune, spray and otherwise care for the trees for the full term of five years at an additional cost of $100 per acre. Also to gather all fruit grown during the fourth and fifth years and render the proceeds of the same to the purchaser less actual cost of gathering, boxing and marketing, or the purchaser could gather and market the fruit for himself if he so desired.

“In either case – improved or unimproved – these tracts were offered on five years’ time, the purchase price being divided into 60 equal monthly payments or 20 equal quarterly payments, with interest on each monthly or quarterly payment, from date of contract until paid at the rate of 8 per cent, per annum.

 The Buying Conditions

“Under these exceptionally favorable conditions many tracts were sold. Several purchases were old residents of Missoula and the surrounding country who for years had watched the growth of the orchard industry but had heretofore been unable to engage in it without buying a farm. Others were sold to residents of Montana cities, some buying simply as an investment, others for the purpose of securing a home and assured income in so delightful a location and where they could have all the educational and social advantages offered by the beautiful city of Missoula. Nor were the purchasers for either purpose confined to residents of Montana – Illinois, Wisconsin and North Dakota furnished their quota, and so far as known all are highly pleased with their purchases and future prospects. A large number of the tracts sold early in the season were set out to fruit trees – some by the purchaser and others by the company under the conditions previously described – and without exception all have shown a splendid growth and surprisingly small loss of trees. Great quantities of potatoes and other vegetables were raised. A number of purchasers have built comfortable homes and are now living on the ground, and all are satisfied and confident of success.”

No doubt present residents of the Orchard Homes may smile at the statement that the soil is “nearly free of stone and gravel,” such a dream being hardly expected in this geological formation. He speaks of the “Hell Gate river” as the source of supply for the irrigation ditches, which is now generally spoken of as the “Missoula” river, and is, of course, the Clark’s Fork of the Colombia.

This article is followed by endorsements of their new sites in the Orchard Homes district by Reverend George Stewart, of the Episcopal church, O, C. Finklenburg, George A. Cook, J. B. Catlin, C. F. Dallman of the Missoula Nursery company, H. G. Davis, M. A. Robinson, L. A. Brouillard and William Dorsett.

At present Orchard Homes, according to the County Surveyor’s office, comprises about two and one-half square miles; and the land sells from $100 to $1,000 an acre, depending upon its location, improvement, and so on. Roughly, its boundaries are Curtis street on the east, the river road on the north and extending to the fort and McClay bridge.

The entire population is estimated at about one thousand – counting 400 voters and averaging two and one-half non-voters for each of the 400.

Mayor Beacom compiled hurriedly from memory a representative list of Orchard Homes enterprises and products which includes:

Dairying, including goat dairying; raising of pork, chickens, ducks and geese; fruits of all kinds as grown in New England states, including grapes, berries of all kinds, some watermelons and cantaloupes, vegetables of all kinds and some sweet potatoes, floral culture.

There are four large dairies in the Orchard Homes, and many smaller ones; two large poultry farms, with numerous others doing business on a smaller, though successful scale. Nearly every resident has fruit of at least two kinds, and all who go in for planting and raising at all have berries. Watermelons and cantaloupes are not so common; the season is ordinarily a little too short for these. Vegetables of all kinds are commonly grown by all, and are very fine; a good deal of truck gardening is done.

Head Lettuce

The birth of a new industry occurred just recently, that of raising head lettuce, which has hitherto been looked at askance, as though too great a gamble. Like all agricultural products, it is a gamble, depending upon the whims of nature for a chance. A little rain when it is needed, too much when it is not, too much heat at the wrong time, a hail-storm, hot winds, early frosts – all of these enemies of the farmer are the enemies also of the lettuce grower, for head lettuce is supersensitive to the unpleasant moods of the weather. However, study, skill, applied science and experience are helping to defeat the foe in a fair fight, and some headway was gained this year, and the experimenters are far from discouraged in their efforts.

Flowers are raised by all in the Orchard Homes on varying scales, but mostly all with success, judging by the yard displays throughout the section. The children also have flower gardens, the Orchard Homes Women’s club sponsoring a flower show every fall, in which the school children display their products. Prizes in money are given the children; adults may compete if they wish, but for honors only. About 40 children entered this year, in the seventeenth annual exhibit. It is held every year, the last week in August.

There are also the 4-H clubs for both the girls and the boys; their exhibits are displayed at the Western Montana fair.

Considering the diversity of industry and enterprise carried on in the Orchard Homes, it might be interesting to note a few “hints” taken from The Missoula Gazette, for January18, 1892:

Back in 1892

“Poultry farming – an overlooked industry which would prove profitable if followed: This is another line of business which has not yet received the attention its importance demands. Whether as an accompaniment to general farming, or as an exclusive pursuit, it would be found very remunerative in Missoula county. The bright sunny days for which Montana is famous, the dry atmosphere and freedom from damp, chilly weather, make conditions here extremely favorable for poultry raising. But, best of all is the excellent market always found for all kinds of barnyard fowls. The supply is never equal to the demand, as they can not well be shipped long distances, and the consumption is almost wholly confined to the home production. At certain seasons of the year dressed fowls are shipped from the East and bring good prices, but home birds are preferred and are always purchased, even at dearer figures. Eggs are shipped in by the carloads the year round, but they generally arrive in unsatisfactory condition, and are only salable because better can not be obtained. Case eggs, as the Eastern shipments are known on the market, are served frequently at the hotels and restaurants and the diner is truly courageous who musters sufficient determination to allow the passage of a food into his stomach which paralyzes the palate, and causes the hair on the top of his head to assume perpendicular attitude. The flavor of the ordinary case egg possesses remarkable staying qualities, and so the egg does itself, as it is about as indigestible as the ancient cove oyster found at the corner grocery…..

“In Missoula the price ranges from 25 cents to 50 and 60 cents per dozen.

On dairy farming, now flourishing here, the 1892 Gazette says:

“The dairy business has been sadly neglected in Missoula county. This is a most profitable source of employment in any country, and could be made eminently so in this country. Butter is seldom less than 40 cents a pound, and frequently 50 and 60 cents.”

Factories were also urged; among the likely ones listed by the Gazette:

“Oat meal mills, starch factories, woolen factory, white lead factory, a shot tower for the manufacture of shot, soap factories, pickle factories, canning factories, sugar factories.”

 Other Enterprises

Missoula has the sugar factory, and the Orchard Homes could boast J. C. DeJarnette’s pickle factory, which supplies the locality with excellent dills and sweet pickles; he did not operate it this year, however. Orchard Homes also boasts another manufacturing plant – a doughnut factory operated by Ed Lanham on Curtis street.

Successful raising of celery, especially along the river road, and the raising of bees are two more of the enterprises; Belgian hares raised for their meat and fur is another.

The whole Orchard Homes is irrigated from the two main ditches, the Miller – Cave – Cannon [Gannon] ditch, and the one owned by the Orchard Homes Ditch company.

So much for the industries; as to the homes – nearly all are inviting and good to look upon; two stand out – the Gilbert Davis home, which Mr. Davis and the two boys built almost entirely alone – a concrete house, six rooms, with modern equipment practically all installed; it is still in the process of being gradually finished – as most homes are. The L. R. Barnett home which receives the attention of the whole family, being a partnership affair, with a workshop in the basement where such things as furniture, boats, or automobiles may be made or repaired by any one of them at any time. There are many others – beautiful and unique – but it is best that you see them for yourself to enjoy them.

The children of the Orchard Homes have the same educational advantages as children of the city of Missoula, for the Hawthorne school takes care of the grades, and the Missoula County high school and the State University, the further training.

The Country Life club has received mention before as the most successful organization of its kind. Quoting from a bulletin published by the Agricultural Experiment station at Bozeman: “The hall was built in response to the need of a place for community gatherings. Everyone cooperated and the construction was made a community enterprise. It was financed by donations of money and labor, chiefly by the people of the community, but the merchants, business houses, and banks in the adjoining town responded liberally with cash and materials. The original cost was approximately $2,500, with a $2,800 addition. The original hall was 30 by 80 feet; later an addition 30 by 40 feet as built on one side.

The hall is well equipped, having folding chairs, a piano, furnace, electric lights, rolling curtain, kitchen range, pump in kitchen, and necessary kitchen utensils.

“The title rests with the Orchard Homes Country Life club, which is incorporated. The hall is in charge of an executive board, elected by the paid-up members of the corporation. The money necessary for the current expenses is obtained from dues, initiation fees, paid entertainments, dances, and rent for private use of the building. The hall is used by various organizations in the community and also for dances, carnivals, banquets, and school entertainments.”

A sidelight on the hall being built may be interesting: it was originally intended for a community church, where all sects and orders might preach and worship in unison; as is usual with such undertakings, arguments soon arose, and gradually grew so heated that it became necessary to lock even the ministers out; so the place was closed for some time, and finally the movement to make it into a community meeting place for entertainment other than for religious purposes grew. Much antagonism to the idea had to be overcome, and with a majority vote on the part of the people who had subscribed the money, to open it for community interests, they called a mass meeting in the hall for a certain night. One zealot, still earnestly holding to his purpose to preserve the hall for religious fights only, secretly removed the stove, the absence of which was not noted until about two hours before time for the meeting. A hasty trip to town resulted in the purchase of a new one, the meeting was held and resulted in the Orchard Homes Country Life club.

And so the people of the Orchard Homes have all the advantages of the city and the country, with the disadvantages of neither – at least that is the way most of them feel about it.

The above article appeared in The Missoulian on October, 6, 1929.