The Bozeman courier., February 05, 1926, Page PAGE TEN, Image 10

About The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
y- ' .. » □. . ^h. » =»■ * 11 >
Development of Communication in the
Old West Following the Gold Strikes
b.
3 EH
□ C
(By MRS. M. E. PLASSMANN)
OLLOWING the discovery of
gold in California, came the de
mand for some quicker means
of communication between the East
and the mining camps scattered ov
er our American "Gold Coast," than
was possible through immigrant
trains or freighting outfits. This de
mand, which became imperative and
eventually forced Congress to take
dction, was not that of the majority
of the people who might have been
interested in the project, and had a
certain amount of influence on legis
lation, but through the economic
need for a mail service. Eastern busi
men wished to share in the profits
of this El Dorado, and desired to be
in closer touch with what was going
F
on there.
On eman tried to solve the prob
lem through the use of camels. His
name was Edward Fitzgerald Beale.
He purchased camels and brought
them to the Southwest in 1856,
where they were tried for a coupie
of years. He found them well
adapted for crossing the desert re
gion, and in every way desirable.
His difficulty, though, was his in
ability to interest those who could
have aided him in the project, and
it proved a failure.
A year later, an Act of congress
gave to the Postmaster General the
authority to call for bids to estab
lish a regular mail service to Cali
fornia, which should operate day and
night on the 25-day schedule, over a
route chosen by the successful bid
der. who was to have a six-years con
tract. A year of preparation was
granted him, which, considering dif
ficulties to be overcome, was alto
gether too short, it would appear, yet
Buterfield, the successful compet
tor, accomplished what was little less
than a miracle, and he had his line
in operation by the middle of Sep
tember. 1858.
The postmaster general favored
the southern route, as was to have
been expected at that period in our
history, when North and South were
Guard Against "Flu
With Musterole
Influenza, Grippe and Pneumonia
usually start with a cold. The mom
ent you get those warning aches, get
busy with good old Musterole.
Musterole relieves the congestion
and stimulates circulation. It has all
the good qualities of the old-fash
ioned mustard plaster without the
blister.
Rub it on with your finger-tips.
First you feel a warm tingle as the
healing ointment penetrates the
pores, then a soothing, cooling sensa
tion and quick relief. Have Muster
ole handy for emergency use. It may
prevent serious illness.
To M others: Musterole is also
made in milder form for
babies and small children.
Ask for Children's Musterole.
Jan and Tube«
SBH
o.7
Better than a mustard plaster
\
■-tV®,
%
(fsAKING
«uw BYATW*
Calumet
I v CBMTCNTSII» 1
d
i
• &.
A Èâ
f 4
1
»
M*.
When Baying Alfalfa Seed be sore
it is Montana Grown
OUR CATALOG
NOW READY
WITH
COLORED PLATES
r i
No Farmer or Gardener can
Afford to Miss It.
A POSTCARD Bring. It To Yam Door |
m
:*
:
Montana HARDY GROWN
Farm and Garden Seeds
of Every Variety
State Nursery and Seed Co. Helena
daily growing more antagonistic.
Buterfield decided to follow the
northern route.
Professor Paxon, in his history
of the American Frontier, says there
were no roads at this time,
must have been an error, as the
Plate route was then taken by most
of the northern emigration to Cali
fornia after the discovery of gold
there; and not alone by emigrants,
but by countless freighting trains,
carrying supplies to army posts, and
for Indian annuities, as well as for
the mining camps springing up along
the way. Professor Paxon cites a
writer of 1860 as claiming there
were 18,000 freight wagons in con
stant operation, at that time. Many
of these must have over the
This
Plate route.
In 1863 there was a far better
road either north or south of the
Platte, than those we had known in
Ohio. We followed the north side
of the North Platte. There were
stretches of sand, to be sure,
these were not so hard to traverse as
the deep mud of eastern roads.
Lander's Cut-Off, which we followed
later, was a new road through the
mountains, and even here the diffi
culties met were easily overcome. It
did not require a vast amount of
travel to define a road across the
plains. In the mountains, it was
another story; but even here, by
1858 there was assuredly what could
have been denominated a good road.
Of course, it may not have been like
the streets of a city, but no worse
than the average country road,
think all who traveled the Platte
road in the '60s, or earlier, will bear
me out in this statement.
From Tipton, Missouri to San
Francisco, the initial journey of the
new line was accomplished in 24
days, 18 hours and 35 minutes, an
impossible record to have made over
roadless prairies and mountains, no
matter how capable Butterfield may
have been.
1
The government receipts from this
experiment were not so large as had
been hoped, and the postmaster gen
erai was doubtful of its ever prov-1
ing a success. He voiced his opinion
s «TTr,*si o
in these words. Until a railroad
shall have been constructed across
the continent, the conveyance of the
but
Pacific mails overland must be re
garded as wholly impracitcable."
Nevertheless the mails continued to
find their vray to California, and by
the route the same official had not
favored. This was due largely to
the starting of the Pony Express in
1860.
The coach service was for carrying
the mail, passengers being merely a
side issue. For this reason those
who traveled by stage did not fare
luxuriously, as is testified by no oth
er writer than Mark Twain. He
states: "Twenty-four mortal days
and nights—25 being schedule time
—must be spent in the ambulance;
passengers becoming crazy with
whiskey, mixed with want of sleep,
are often obliged to be strapped to
their seats; their meals dispatched
during their lb-minute halts, are
simply abominable, the heats are
excessive, the climate malarious;
lamps are not to be used at night
for fear of non-existent Indians;
briefly there is no end to this Via
Mala's miseries."
The North Plate route was that
commonly taken by the Mormon
freight outfits. I do not know what
hauled to the East from Salt
was
Lake, but from Omaha westward,
converts to the new faith, together
with their possessions filled the great
wagons, and overflowed onto this
road, where the strongest, both men
and women walked. From this it
will be evident that their rate of
progress was slow.
The mail coaches took the south
ern road.
never called upon to make way for
the United States mail. In 1873 I
distinctly remember seeing a man on
horseback in northern Utah forced
to do so. The month was February,
with the ground covered to a great
depth with snow, which, packed hard
from constant travel,
paved.
For this reason we were
was as if
Forced to leave the beaten
track, the man plunged ne irly to his
horse's back into the snow, and the
profanity he uttered made my ears
tingle worse than they did from the
prevailing cold weather. Laughing
derisively, our driver cracked his
long whiplash, and we soon outdis
tanced the abuse launched at us by
the unfortunate man as he struggled
back into the road.
In this instance a sledge took the
place of a coach, as was often neces
sary in winter. It was a long one,
capable of carrying at least ten pas
sengers, three on a seat, and one with
the driver, the baggage and mail be
ing lashed onto the rear.
The ordinary Concord coach was
so named from its place of manufac
ture, Concord, New Hampshire, in
which region it passed its novitiate
and proved its fitness for the severe
test of western mountain and plains
travel. Its true name was the Ab
bot-Downing coach. Professor Pax
on thus describes it; "At a pinch it
would carry 14 passengers, nine in
side and five, including the driver,
on the box or on the roof seat. Its
wide-tired heavv wheels were near
h as laaahlfi as those of the nrairie
iy as capaoie as inose OI me prairie
schooner. Its body was slung on
Stout lather braces, and was shelter
ed from the weather by stout leath
er curtains. At the rear of the body
was a projecting 'boot' with leather
CO y e r, in which the scanty baggage
qj the passengers was carried. Twen
tv-five nounds of nersonal baggage
1 I1V6 pounas oi pefboudi uaggage
was the USU al allowance for a three
weeks' journey; many of the passen
g ers carried their whole allowance in
a jog. it was on the boot that the
mail sacks were packed, and if there
W as more mail than could be accom
modated here, the sacks rode inside
to the exclusion of passengers.
»I
It has already been told in these
columns, how a crafty driver man
aged, by taking advantage of this
custom, to force a United States of
ficial to connive in the throwing out
of some Congressional Reports, or
... . . ,
religious tracts, the driver held to be
undesirable for transportation. The
sacks warp nilpd on the front Seat
sacKS were puea on rne ironi seal
from Which they rolled Off, Wltn tne
able assistance of the driver, when
the coach was climbing a hill, and
collided with the official, who insist
ed that they should be transferred to
the back seat, on reaching the sum
mit of the hill. This was done, but
in going down hill there was the
same result, when the long-suffering
battered official demanded that the
offending mail matter should be left
on the prairie.
In mountain travel and over bad
roads, the 'jerky' was used. This was
a two-seated vehicle which was so
called from the involuntary motion
it inflicted on the passengers. I am
lacking the mechanical knowledge to
describe accurately the construction
of the jerky, but I can feelingly con
verse at great length on the suffer
ings of riding in one.
The building of the Union Pacific
ended the coach service. The means
„ . . . _, A
of communication between East and
West had at length become rapid and
comfortable. An educational movie
_. . , , *
might picture the slow developments
of the means of transit from the
prairie schooner, drawn by plodding
_ '
oxen or horses, the brief experiment
of using camels on the southern de
serts; the first mail service, which
traveled by day and camped at night;
the advent of the Concord stages; the
short-lived pony express; then the
railroad. This should bq followed
by a view of the same plains and
mountains dotted thick with count
less automobiles carrying thousands
on a veritable joyHde along the trails
over which their predecessors had so
painfully journeyed.
(y
'Havre Police Chief
Horses shipped east through
Havre from BrOwning and Cut
Bank to eastern canneries are
closely crowded in the cars that
when the animals reach
many are dead, or so badly tramp
led they mnst be shot, according to
Chief of Police James Moran of
that city, who is said to have com
municated with various officials
in an effort to obtain more hu
mane treatment for the horses.
Young colts, Moran said,
crowded Into the cars with thler
mothers and are trampled to death
by the dozens. Not only are the
animals mistreated, but they are
usually in a starve! condition
upon their arrival at Havre, the
police chief declared.
so
Havre
are
S. O. HUSETH
«
GREAT FALLS, MONTANA
Optometrist and Optician
(L
SHUT FALLS DYE NDISE
Practical Dyers and Cleaners
MEAT LAU, mm
16 trau bum.
MAY OUST BOARD
OF COMMISSIONERS
STATE EXAMINERS SAY OFFI
CIALS DREW PAY FROM
COUNTY ILLEGALLY
Attomey General's Office Contends
2 Mill Educational Levy Passed in
1920 is Unconstitutional; State
Treasurer Pays Farm Hail Trosse*
nau ljOSSes
As the result of disclosures made in the
examination off Sanders county books by
deputy state examiner A. B. Williamson
showing that three commissioners charged
the county $8 a day for their services as
foremen of road construction assistant to
surveyors on county roads and bosses of
road grading crews, ouster proceedings
have been «led at Thompson Falls. The
commissioners are W. B. Russell and Hugh
r. Stephens of Plains and F. B. Beers of
Tuscor. •
In the opinion of the attorney general's
office, as expressed to the supreme court.
the measure which was voted by the
people in 1920 to provide a mill and a half
tax for operation of the University of
Forty-five thousand dollars surplus ln
the state hail insurance fund for 1925 Is
used to P av warranta registered by
I the department In 1923. Warrants up to
land including number 122.771, are being
called by State Treasurer W. E. Harmon,
<$> <S> <8>
, According to certain sections of the
fÄ toariSt a of"w?y ff MS
ditch is not secured until the ditch is corn
plcted, and thereby O. N. Mannis, in his
£ u5t a } ïa , ins , t Powell county to restrain it
from mterfering with his ditch across a
public highway, held no title to the ditch
right of way.
In his
ment contesting the application for an ln- 1
junction against the state board of exam-F
iners the effect of which would be to place
all proceeds of the levy at the disposal of
the university, A. H. Angstman, assistant
attorney general, raised several constltu-1
tlonal questions. He pointed out that upon
the present valuation of Montana the con
stitution limits the levy to 2 mills. By an
initiative act, the people attempted to
ment must originate in the legislature.
. .. it .
An invitation to carry his case to the |
state supreme court seems to be contained
In an award of the Montana Industrial
accident commission to Bob Dozen, miner,
injured March 3, 1922, while in the employ
of the Bast Butte Copper Mining company.
Dozen Is awarded total liability damages
of $2,898, from which the company is
allowed to dednct $2.898 heretofore paid,
leaving a balance of $373. His original In-J
jury consisted of a fractured jaw, fracture
and dislocation of the right ankle and
fractured left ankle. The ankle Injury left
him with a shortened right leg and the
dislocation did not come properly into
place so that there has resulted an ln
flamation of the bone. The award suggests
that, he return to the company's hospital
and snbmit to the amputation of the
affected limb and to such other treatment
as is necessary, at the company's expense.
<$> <$►
<a <*
Persons contracting with a municipal
corporation must at their peril Inquire into
the statutory power of the corporation or
its officers to make the contact, maintains
the supreme court in quoting a general
and fundamental principle of law, in an
opinion handed down in which it affirms
the judgment of the district court of Lewis
and Clark county by which tbe action of
Galen D. Pue against the county of Lewis
and Clark was nonsuited.
<S> <» <S>
All property owned by a person at the
time of his death, including gifts, or
transfers previously made by him but
which are to become effective at the time
of his death, is subject to taxation under
the state inheritance tax law. according
to an oplnion of the supreme court handed
down in the Silver Bow county appeal case
of the executors of the will of Joseph E.
J5 a i nat ,
thm and the county of Silver Bow.
<$> <£ <S>
Property of a stockholder In an insolvent
bank is not subject to attachment at the
time of the issuance of summons in an
action for the enforcement of the stock
holder's liability, according to an opinion
of the supreme court handed down in the
Rosebud county suit of the receiver of the
Bank of Commerce of Forsyth, against
Margaret Young.
<$> <£
The fish and game fund showed a bal
ance of $9(5,458.90 on Jan. 1. according to a
financial statement furnished Game Wan
den Robert H. Hill, by David Marks, the
department's auditor. The biological fund
of the same department contained $11.
033.50 on the same date and this balance
after the game commission paid $500 to
the state bounty fund which it is required
to do on each year under the provisions of
a law passed by the last legislature.
<» <8>
Increase in the number of cattle in Mon
. tana is reflected in a distribution table
[just completed by D. R. Cloan, chief elerk.
f° r the state board of equalization, cover
» m
Montana counties. In 1924 the thretf-mill
livestock head tux assessment amounted to
$55,756. Last year the assessment reached
$56,947. an increase of $1,191. Beaverhead
county led with an assessment of $2,704 for
t h{ S purpose, with Mineral county's con
tribution of $47 last on the list,
Children Cryjsî
w
S
A
m
I
I
w
i
i
t
MOTHER:- Fletcher's
Castoria is a pleasant, harm
less Substitute for Castor Oil,
Paregoric, Teething Drops
and Soothing Syrups, espe
cially prepared for Infants in arms and Children all
7
ages.
To avoid imitations, always look for the signature of
Proven directions on each package. Physicians everywhere recommend it
NOT WHAT YOU MAKE
--But WHAT YOU SAVE, COUNTS.
A life insurance policy is a savings fund for
one's self, which, when disaster comes,
leaves the family the estate in cash one
hoped to create while living.
MOITAIA LIFE IISIRAICE COMPANY
En&urmg «a tkc Mount amt
A. C. JOHNSON
I'resident
H. B. CUNNINGHAM
Vice President and
HELENA
MONTANA
STATE BRIEFS
It is expected that the 1926 state con
vention of the Montana Aerie of Eagles
will be held at Missoula the first week of
Au « u8t thl » Tear.
❖ <» *
G. L. Ellingson of Valiev was elected
president of the Glacier Three Link asso
ciation at a quarterly meeting of the or
gaulzation ln Co " ra ^
A sudden attack of heart trouble, re
suited in the death of W. A. Wendling,
dairyman of Great Falls, whose body was
found In the seat off his delivery truck.
•
The former Equity elevator containing
about 15,000 bushels of grain, was destroy
{ed by fire at Shelby recently, entailing a
loss of $35,000, which is partially covered
{by insurance,
<$> $>
Ira T. Wight of Helena, secretary of the
| Montana Wool Growers Exchange, spoke
on "Financing the Wool Clip," at the 29th
annual convention of the Oregon Wool
Growers' association, held at Pendleton.
I £> <fe> <£>
L. C. Stevenson, head of the Sunburst
| i P. tereata * been elected president of
the ^° r f at «. Fa ^? Commercial club. He sue
£ ,?• biggin, superintendent of the
G ^ eat * alla P lant of tbe Anaconda Copper
minlug company.
* Ä
I <$ <§> <S>
I Winning sweepstakes for the best 10 ears
and for the best bushel of dent corn in
the non-lrrigated class, L. T. Pemberton of
I the Forsyth Flat, hail the outstanding
{exhibit at the ninth annual Rosebud
County Corn and Bean show held at
I * orsytn.
„ . , . . , ,
Members of the Bozeman chamber of
om ^ er< 5 re-elected Lovelace as
R™ Bident {, ? th £ r o«*«« . named n ffe ™
Ç h " le * Vandenhock. 1first vice president;
T, a t?,° r ° d >lce president ' aud
ueor 8 e i - ox » treasurer. ^
Carl Leavitt of Fowler was elected presi
dent of the Pondera Poultry Growers asso
ciation for the coming year at a meeting
held at Conrad. The other officers are:
, «> ♦ ^
Frank 'Merritt, a worker at the labora
tory for spotted fever investigations at
Hamilton, is critically ill at the Hamilton
hospital with spotted fever. The young
man contracted the disease while caring
{or animals at the laboraory, it is au
oounced.
A. P. Smerud was elected president of
the Flaxville Commercial club at a meet
ing held recently. Other officers named
were Rasmus Nelson, vice president;
George Lane, secretary aud treasurer ;
Peter Uexom, street light commissioner,
and Harry Bunhart, fire chief,
1 Superintendent S. D. Largent. head of
the Great Falls public school system sinco
1898, has been unanimously reappointed to
{that office for a period of three years. The
appointment becomes effective September 1,
1926 at the expiration of his preseut term
l of office.
<$>£><$>
Replacement of 147,000 ties on the Rocky
Mountain division of the Northern Pacific
in Moutana will cost the railway approxi
mately $280,000 this spring. Work on the
tie replacements will not start for several
weeks yet, as crews are now busy laying
steel on tbe division.
<§><$><$>
Objectors to the decision of Mrs. Alice D.
Objectors to the
Knapp, county superintendent of schools
of Daniels county, to create school district
No. 18 from parts of.district No«*. 4, 5, 13
and 1, won a point when the county com
inisioners, at an adjourned meeting, sus
tained the objection.
♦ ^ v
About 50 miles of rural telephone line
were connected with the Mountain States
line at Frazer recently. This Hue serves
the farmers directly north of Frazer for a
distance of 31 miles, ana also serves those
in the Lustre neighborhood. This line is
known as tbe North Star Telephone line.
<$> <S>
Real estate and improvements in Cascade
county are greater in value than these of
any other Montana county, according to
detailed figures released at Helena by the
state board of equalization. Beaverhead is
the premier livestock county anil in other
personal property Silver Bow is well in
tbe lead.
<S> <$>
Five students at Montana State college
at Bozeman made "A-flush" grades during
the last quarter with more than three
points per credit These students were
Miss Edith Swingle of Bozeman, Miss
Alene Morris of Bozeman, Harry Kligora
of Butte, Miss Ruth Swingle of Bozeman,
and Max Legge of Dagmar.
# «.
A supply of narcotics seized at various
points In Moutana sufficient to permit a
score of "peddlers" to wax opulent, has
been shipped by federal narcotic agents
at Butte to Washington, D. C. The ship
ment contained cocaine, opium, heroin aud
yen shee and It is estimated th * the whole
would be worth $150,000 to $2ou,000 at re
tail prices.
„ . . . , .
®.® w . r< J nn tT funds are in such a
condition that there will not be any neces
! / or registering warrant-, and there
*** plenty of money on hand to meet
all requirements until the half yearly pay
ment of taxes in May. Such was the state
ment of Comity Commissioner William
Gemmell, after going through the report
of County Treasurer Brett.
<$> <§> <&
The Rosebud Mercantile company of
Rosebud, has purchased and shipped 12
cars of alfalfa seed, containing in all
360,000 pounds, according to B. Bryson,
manager. This greatly increases the pro
duction of alfalfa seed for Rosebud county
over the estimation made according to
figures available a few weeks ago. An
<s> <a>
average price of 18 ceats a pound waa re
ceived for the seed or 164,800.
♦ <W
Plans are under way for the completion
of the proposed Harlowton-Durand irriga
tion project In north central Wheatland
county were indorsed at the last meeting
of the Harlowton Chamber of Commerce.
The estimated cost of the construction of
the project is $1,000,000, or about $45 an
acre for the 22,000 acres that would be
irrigated. The estimated worth of the com
pleted works and water rights would be
*1,254,985.
-o
Shave with Cuticura Soap
And double your razor efficiency as
well as promote skin purity, skin com
fort and skin «health. No nnig, no
slimy soap, no germs, no waste, no
Irritation even when shaved twice
daily. One soap for all uses—shaving,
bathing and shampooing.—Adv.
-o
N. P. May Make Ice
The Northern Pacific railroad com
pany is seriously considering the con
struction of ice manufacturing plants
at the division points on its system,
it was announced by B. O. Johnson,
assistant to the vice president, in
charge of operations. Mr. Johnson
said that the present practice fol
lowed by the company of cutting ice
from the streams and small lakes and
shipping it to the principal icing
points involved too much shrinkage
and the method is not considered de
pendable.
O
Idaho Mill Purchased
The Dewey Lumber company of
Poison has purchased the machinery
and equipment of the saw mill of the
Hope Lumber company of Hope, Ida
ho, and it will be moved to Poison
where it will be in operation by Ap
ril 1.
Lake Erie, the shallowest of the
great lakes, has an average depth of
204 feet.
MOTHER!
Clean Child's Bowels with
California Fig Syrup"
c.
êM
v ^ H
:rs
T
»
5#^
•^->S
Even if cross, feverish, billons,
constipated or full of cold, children
love the pleasant taste of "California
Fig Syrup,
fails to clean the liver and bowels.
Ask your druggist for genuine
"California Fig Syrup" which has
directions for babies and children
of all ages printed on bottle.
Mother! You must say "California"
or you may get an imitation fig
syrup.
A teaspoonful never
» *
pOULTRY WANTED
We are in the market every day for
live chickens, turkeys, ducks aaû
seese. Highest market prices paid, accord
ing to quality on day of arrival. Montana
Vfeat and Commission Co« Butte, Montana.
Vfeat and Commission Co« Butte, Montana.
Mining
Supplies
Station Pumps
Sinking Pumps
Electric Hoists
Repuano Gelatine Powder
Drills
Compressors
Sirocco Ventilating Fans
Anything and Everything
Yon May Need for Mining
Mail Orders Solicited
A. C. M.
HARDWARE
HOUSE