There was a post office in the Fort Maginnis area as early as March of 1875 (then Choteau Co.) Henry A. Kennedy was postmaster from March 16, 1875 to February 9, 1876. It appears that there was no post office for a couple of years. In January 14, 1878, it was re-established with Kennedy again postmaster. It was discontinued, again, on June 16, 1879. The mail was then delivered to Parker (then Meagher Co.) Amelia Parker was postmaster from September 10, 1880 to September 27, 1881.
  On September 27, 1881, the name of the post office was changed from Parker to Fort Maginnis. Charles McNamara was appointed postmaster. Ernest Kies became postmaster on October 25, 1890. Sallie Anderson was appointed to the job on February 12, 1902. Carrie Beal became postmaster on April 28, 1915 when Sallie gave up the post. Minnie Malone was appointed June 12, 1917 but declined. Walter A. Harrah took over duties on October 20, 1917. On November 9, 1926 Mary P. Beerman became the postmaster.
  The post office remained in operation until 1938 when it was closed, and the mail was then sent to Gilt Edge.
  The Gilt Edge Post office was established in 1894. Louis Beaupre was the first postmaster at Gilt Edge. Lenneil Hurvitch was appointed to the job January 7th, 1899 and Ila Dunn became postmaster on July 17, 1918.
  The Gilt Edge post office was closed in 1948 and mail was then received and distributed out of Lewistown.

  District # 184 was formed in 1896. The site of the school was several miles east of the fort on the Sally Anderson ranch. It was later moved nearer to the fort on Ford's Creek and a log building was used until 1911 when a frame building was erected. In 1942 #5 Alpine was abandoned and attached part to #184 and part to #27 Grass Range. In 1967 the school was abandoned and annexed to #27. ^{P. 188}

  Fort Maginnis was established in June 1880 by Capt. Dangerfield Parker. The location was on the upper end of Granville Stuart's hay meadow, much to his annoyance. He lost half of his hay meadow for the cantonment, but the fort furnished telegraphic communications and a convenient place at which to purchase supplies.
  Two companies of the Third Infantry occupied the fort by October 1st. Mrs. Fitzgerald and her three children, family of the post tailor, were the first family to arrive. In October, Mrs. John T. Athey, wife of the post trader, arrived about mid-month.
  The first baby, a girl, was born to the Frederick France family in the spring of 1881. She was supposedly the first white child born in this section of the country. The first fall the fort commander rejected bids for beef as being too high. So 25 head were bought at Shonkin and the detachment that was sent for them lost half of them due to poor herd management and then they lost themselves and the rest of the herd in a snow storm. They were rescued by a trapper. After that incident beef for the post was bought from Stuart.
  Other incidents arose and Stuart finally informed the commander that if the soldiers persisted in disturbing his cattle it would be at their own risk. The soldier boys evidently were not very good cowboys. There was government red tape back then....as now.
  When getting permission to deal with Indians who stole cattle, orders had to go from Ft. Maginnis to Ft. Benton to Ft. Shaw and finally to the department commander at Ft. Snelling, Minnesota. The same process had to be gone through when dealing with cattle rustlers, thieves, or anything else.

taken from December 18, 1983 issue of the Lewistown News-Argus

  There were a lot of "comings and going" among the commanding officers at old Fort Maginnis during its 10 years of existence near the eastern edge of the Judith Mountains.
  It had 17 different officers from August 22, 1880, when the Fort was established, to July, 1890, when it was abandoned. Five of the officers were in command twice, and three of them three different times.
  Two were first lieutenants, eight captains, three majors, three lieutenant colonels, and another was promoted from captain to major while in command. Eight of the commanding officers were Cavalry men, seven infantry men and the records do not show in what branch of the army the other two served.
  The names were taken from the "post returns" sent by the adjutant at Fort Maginnis each month to the adjutant general's office in Washington, as was done at all forts in those post Civil War days. The adjutant general was in the War Department, now renamed Department of Defense.
  The reports then, included such things as changing units assigned to the post, changes of personnel within the post, brief descriptions of events that affected the post or its personnel and other pertinent information.
  When Fort Maginnis was established on August 22, 1880, the commanding officer was Capt. Dangerfield Parker, Company K, 3rd Infantry (brevet rank of major.)
  Capt. John Q. Adams, Troop L, 1st Calvary, was in command when Fort Maginnis was abandoned in July 1890.

  The district was created in 1893. The first trustees were C.W. Allen, A.B. Frame and Owen Dunn. The first teacher was Miss Wilkerson. School was first held in Sawyers Hall, named for the judge who owned it. It doubled as a dance hall and saloon. Later school was held in what had served as a hospital. In 1902 a large two story frame school was built. There were three classrooms on the first floor and the second story was a large room used for the Miner's Union Hall. There were about 90 pupils the first year with three teachers: Miss McCue, Mary Green and Marvin Drinkard. The building was a landmark for years until it was struck by lightning in 1950 and burned to the ground. Other early teachers were Miss Nellie Glancy, Mr. Moulton and Miss Gertrude Shipman. ^{P. 189}

  Rezin Anderson was born in Grayson County, Kentucky on August 16, 1831. He was the middle son of William Anderson and Rebecca, nee Nelson, also Grayson Co., Kentucky. He had an older brother, James, and a younger brother, William, who became a dentist.
  The family moved to Illinois and Rebecca Anderson rode on horseback carrying a child on her lap all the way.
  William Anderson, the father, died with fever a few years after moving to Illinois. He was a very estimable man and was highly respected by those who knew him, according to Mr. Cuppy.
  He lived on and owned a farm on the outskirts of Clinton, Ill. We do not have the date of William Anderson's death, but Rebecca married a widower, Thomas Cuppy, in 1846. They moved to Iowa for a short while and it was there that they became acquainted with the Stuart's, through their cousins, the Bozarth's, who lived near the Cuppy's.
  The Cuppy's soon moved back to Illinois. In the spring of 1853 Rezin (affectionately known as Reese) finished his apprenticeship as a blacksmith in the town of Waynesville, Illinois.
  He then went to California. We can find no record of whether or not he went to California with the Stuart's, but they were together in 1857 after returning from California. They were on their way back to the States when they learned of the discovery of gold in what is now known as Gold Creek by Francois Findlay, a French half-breed trapper, known as "Be-Net-See". There Reese whipsawed lumber to make the first sluice box used in what is now Montana.
  He has told his children of fighting in an Indian War around Grants Pass, Oregon. We do not have the date on this but feel it must have been on the trip from California. (There is a book on Indian Wars that mentions his name.)
  There apparently wasn't much gold in Gold Creek and he became engaged in hauling freight from Milk River to Helena to Deer Lodge.
  In 1861 he returned to Illinois but returned to the west a year later.
  He then became one of the first residents of Virginia City, where he conducted a blacksmith shop. He also was a member of the famous committee of vigilantes. His next move was to Deer Lodge, where he married Mary Payette, whose stepfather was Thomas LaVatta. This marriage took place in 1865. Their home was located on what is now the site of the Milwaukee Depot. The following children were born to them in Deer Lodge; Sallie, August 25, 1866 to 1953; Julia, January 16, 1869 to ?; Jennie, June 8, 1871 to ?; Ella, October 15, 1873 to 1953; Josephine, May 7, 1876 to 1967; Martha, June 14, 1879 to 1961.
  In 1880 he moved the family to Helena and drove a herd of cattle for the DHA to Meagher County, now Fergus County. He settled there with the Granville Stuart's. In 1881 he moved his family there from Helena. Two sons were born on this ranch: William James, 1884 to 1940 and George, 1886 to 1953.
  The log house was built in an L shape, with the Stuart family living in one end and the Anderson's in the other. Occupying the corner was a bastion which was higher than the rest of the house. The reason for this fortification was to ward off the Indians.
  Mr. Anderson suffered many strokes over a period of several years. This was the cause of his death on December 8, 1908. He is buried in the Ft. Maginnis cemetery.
[Note: Anderson willed the ranch to his daughter, Sallie, and she, her mother, sister June?, and brothers, Bill and George, lived on the ranch. Harry Harding ran the ranch for her. An item from a September 1914 issue of a Lewistown newspaper reads as follows: 

One of the novel features of the cattle shipping was the four lady cowpunchers who had the handling of Miss Anderson's cattle and the way they took them across the tracks prove that the girls know how to handle a bunch of bovines about as well as members of the opposite sex. 

  Tom Duffy was a native of Massachusetts. He came to Montana in 1875 as a soldier in the Indian campaigns against the Sioux and Net Perces. He was with his troop which arrived on the Custer Battlefield the day following that memorable massacre. At the end of his enlistment, in 1880, he homesteaded near the site of Fort Maginnis, which was established in 1880.
  Katherine "Kate" Parr was born November 6, 1865 at Mazeppa, Minnesota. She came to Montana in the spring of 1881 with her parents, sister and brothers. The large family traveled west by wagon. They reached the Yellowstone River that fall and spent the winter at ^{P. 190} a place called 'Froze to Death' or Ft. Pease, near the present site of Custer. It was there that Tom first saw Kate and the minute he saw her he stated, "That's the girl I'm gonna marry!"
  The Parrs homesteaded several miles southwest of Gilt Edge. Three small boys in the family died on the ranch of diphtheria.
  Kate and Tom were married in 1881 and made their home on his homestead. She was 16 years old.
  The Duffys had few neighbors. Rezin Anderson and his family and Granville Stuart, on the DHS, were among them.
 The Duffys had six children: Sadie (Burnett) was born September 2, 1882, Ann (Phipps) arrived in 1884, Francis J. was born in 1888, Mary (Coulter) was born in 1895 and Florence (Lichter) was born in 1910. Another child, Sally, died when she was about three years old. She is buried in the family cemetery.
  About 1910 settlers began coming in, taking up lands north and east of the Duffys. Many stayed overnight at their place. Tom delighted in visiting and story telling and guests enjoyed Kate's cooking, "meals to be remembered". In a tribute at her funeral in 1939 it was said that she "possessed sterling qualities of character; that her courage, self-reliance and cheerfulness were of true pioneer type and that friend and stranger alike always found a warm welcome in her home." Tom passed away August 12, 1912. His funeral service was held at the ranch with Rev. Father Van Broeck officiating. Burial was made in the family cemetery which is on Tom's homestead near the foot of the Judith Mountains, now a part of the Link-Wyman Ranch.
  In December of 1913 Kate married Ralph Bray.
  Kate died suddenly of a heart attack while in Lewistown in January of 1939. She was 74 years old. She is buried in the Lewistown City Cemetery.
  Family members still residing in the area: Tom and Chester Duffy live near Fort Maginnis and Dave Duffy lives in Lewistown; all are the sons of Francis (Babe).
  Richard Coulter and Leona Geary live in Lewistown and LeRoy Coulter (see L. Coulter) lives at Roy. Their mother was Mary Duffy Coulter Richardson.
  The Duffy's log house is no more. The homesteaders have long gone. Only a trace remains of once plowed fields. The wide open ranges, land covered with grass, ranches and fences remain but there are fewer people. The country is still the same, only the people have changed.

  In 1894 the pioneer family of Edward and Ardie Fields and brother, Harry Fields came to Montana from South Dakota and settled at Ft. Maginnis, where they were successful stockmen in this area throughout their lives. Edward Fields had three sons and two daughters: Carl, Lee D., Vern, Alta and Etta Marie.
  Carl Fields was born, 9 February 1885 at Pierre, South Dakota. He was schooled at Ft. Maginnis. He married Mrs. Josephine Baker and raised her daughter, Josephine. Carl. died, 4 November 1935 from pneumonia at the age of 51.
  The Fields used to trail large herds of cattle to the railroad shipping points at Armells and Roy, bound for eastern markets. Some of these were eventful trips, according to the cowboys. At the time of Carl's death, Mrs. Fields sold the cattle from the estate to Billings Livestock Commission Company and they advertised 925 head to be at the Roy stockyards December 9-11, 1935, where they offered for sale any number to interested cattlemen from this reputable Z Bar D herd of Hereford cattle.
  Mrs. Carl Fields and daughter left the state and moved to the west coast.
  Lee Daniel Fields, born 26 April 1889 at Miller, South Dakota was five years old when they came to Ft. Maginnis. He was a WWI Veteran and spent his entire life in this community, engaged in ranching.
  Lee Fields and Eleanor Vogel were married, 16 November 1924 at Lewistown and raised three sons and two daughters: George, Frank, Lee D. Jr., Louise and Ruthie. They attended schools at Ft. Maginnis, Roy and Lewistown. Frank and George .lost their lives in WWII.
  Lee Fields, Sr. died, 12 September 1952, 63 years of age. Mrs. Eleanor Fields continued to run the ranch where she lives at this date. Her children are married and she has grandchildren, great and great-great grandchildren.

Lewistown News-Argus - December 24, 1967

  Reese Anderson was the manager of the ranch on Ford Creek and had cattle of his own. Both Stuart (Granville) and Anderson married Indian women.
  Reese's daughter, Sallie, was twelve years old when they came to the Black Butte country in 1880. She and her brother, Bill Anderson, have told me many interesting episodes.
  One that I shall relate here:
  The year of so many prairie fires and when the timber in the mountains was burning, the soldiers at Ft. ^{P. 191} Maginnis were not turning a hand to help fight fires.
  Anderson went to Ft. Maginnis to see the commander about it. Of course, he was confronted by the orderly of the commander and was told he could not see him. Anderson roughly pushed the orderly aside and walked into the office of the frightened commander.
 The commander stated he didn't have any orders to fight fire, whereupon Anderson pointed his six-shooter at him. "You have your orders now. I'11 see to it that every soldier who does not fight fire will be shot, including you." They went and fought fires!
  Sallie told me that her father fought fires so hard and so long that it impaired his health, causing his early death.

  Les McEvony had the first and only steam engine threshing outfit in the Roy area for several years. Ira Davis was the water hauler for him, and Sonny Smith remembers pitching bundles into the threshing machine for him for many years. Later McEvony changed to gas tractors and continued threshing for farmers in the area. He also did custom plowing for the homesteaders.
  McEvony was seriously injured in a freak accident, while a youth, as reported in a November 3, 1897 issue of Lewistown publication.

  "Leslie McEvony, of Gilt Edge, fifteen year old son of James McEvony, was seriously injured Sunday last by the explosion of a nitroglycerin cap. The boy, together with several others of about his own age, were carelessly playing with caps, having secured them from the house without the knowledge of the parents, and were exploding them in an iron kettle. As the McEvony boy held one in his hand, another was about to be exploded. Placing the unused cap in his teeth, as he had seen his father do, he ran to a safe distance from the expected explosion. As he ran he fell, and the cap in his teeth exploded, injuring his face and mouth severely. At first it was thought his whole lower jaw had been torn; but upon examination by physicians, it was found that the injury was not so serious and the jaw will be restored to use. All the teeth, except a few of those further back, were destroyed and the lips severely cut. The boy was brought to Lewistown and is doing nicely.

  The town is quiet now. No longer do the hills resound with the stomp of miner's boots, the clink of glasses in the saloons, the happy shouts of children as they pour from school for recess.
  A few buildings still stand as a reminder of the boom period in the early part of this century when Gilt Edge had a population of about 1,600. The pile of tailings above the town speaks of the days when millions of dollars of gold were taken from nearby mines.
  George and Iva Smith lived in the community, tucked in the shadow of the Judith Mountains, when it was just starting to flourish.
  It is still their home today. George came to Gilt Edge with his mother in 1895 when he was two years old. His father, a carpenter, was already there. For a brief period the family lived in nearby Fort Maginnis. At the time George arrived, his father was taking down some of the old barracks and transporting the lumber to Gilt Edge, where he used it to build homes for miners flocking to the area.
 Since the large, two story barracks were too high to heat, the Smith family set up housekeeping in the Fort Maginnis jail. George's wife ,Iva, didn't arrive in Gilt Edge until 1900. Her father was a miner.
  Iva still remembers her trip from Armington (near Great Falls) to Gilt Edge. The family traveled in Whisker Davis' covered wagon freight train and the trip took one week. The road to Gilt Edge was no more than a trail and there were no fences along the way. "We saw big herds of antelope," she says.
 Her family moved into the old Flanagan house, half way up the gulch toward the mines. "It was full of fleas and they almost ate us up," she recalls. "Everybody had them."
  The second mill to extract gold from the ore had been built about 1887. It had the distinction of being the largest cyanide mill in the world, at that time. The cyanide method made it possible to run 1,800 tons of ore through the mill in a 24 hour ^{P. 192} period. The mill was in production around the clock, and miners worked seven days a week.
  The mining boom meant growth for the little town. In fact, at one time there were two separate settlements, Gilt Edge and an unnamed village two miles up the gulch. "Every place big enough to put a house on had one," George recalls.
  George started school in what was known as Sawyer's Hall, named for the judge who owned it. The building also doubled as a dance hall and a courtroom.
  By the time Iva arrived, school was being held in what had served as a hospital, although it was little more than a first aid clinic for emergencies. Anyone seriously ill or injured was transported to Lewistown.
  George's mother ran a combination rooming house and boarding house in Gilt Edge and there he grew up. The frame building is still standing and belongs to his son, Sonny Smith of Grass Range. It has been vacant many years.
  Among the early merchants was Norman Polland, who ran a general store. The Big Four Clothing Store, run by Jim Washburn, got its name from the fact he had four sons.
  Whiskey Annie ran a candy store, but George still believes it may have been a front for other activities. At any rate, it was a favorite place for young customers who enjoyed the licorice, jelly beans, gumdrops and peanut brittle she offered. The business district also included drug stores, barber shops, a blacksmith shop, grocery stores and livery stables.
  Two black women were well known in Gilt Edge, but for different reasons. Aunt Fanny was a midwife and officiated at many local births. To supplement her income, she took in washing until a laundry opened. The other black woman, Birdie Bland, ran a "sporting house." Although the town had its "red light district," which catered to miners and cowboys who rode into town on payday, residents of that section stayed to themselves and seldom went out in public. They preferred to hire someone to run their errands and young boys found it an easy way to earn money, since the women were generous.
  "You could buy 24 bottles of Lewistown beer for $3," George recalls. "They usually gave us $5 and told us to keep the change." The women also hired George and the other boys to cut their kindling and haul their coal for them.
  The town, as George remembers, had 12 saloons and one "blind pig", the latter referring to a drinking establishment that operated without a license, with entry from a back alley.
  George remembers one occasion when Kid Curry stopped in Gilt Edge. "His horse went lame," says George, "and I was sent to fetch a bucket of beer for the outlaw."
  Although it wasn't known at that time, Kid Curry was fleeing from a bank robbery he had pulled in the little town of Roy, just over the mountain.
  Like most boys, at that time, George went to work early in life. His first job, at age 12, was herding sheep for N-Bar Ranch. He received 50 cents a day.
  "I've herded sheep, broke horses, punched cows and done about everything there was to do," he says. George did some freighting too, and he remembers hauling all kinds of merchandise. Because it was difficult to get to Lewistown, Gilt Edge residents often asked him to do their shopping. Once a lady had him select her a new corset. "she loaned me her old one as a sample," he says, "to make sure I got the right thing." The mills shut down about 1912 and mining dwindled, leading to the town's decline.
  Tourists frequently turn off Highway 87 east of Lewistown to have a look at old Gilt Edge. They sometimes ask the Smiths why they continue to live there, in the same house they have occupied since 1924.
    George always replies by asking, "why do you live where you do?"

  In 1914, Samuel T. Sherman, at the age of 21, married Pearl Davies Dundom, the widow of Willie Dundom. (See Dundom history) She had seven children. To this number they added eleven more. Their first born, Lillian Elsie, was buried on Willie Dundom's grave. Theoline Elsie Sherman died March 5, 1920 and is buried in the Roy Cemetery. The other children of Sam and Pearl are: Marvin, Jack, Pansy (Pat), May, Shirley, June, Frederick, Ray and Walter. Most of them made their homes in the Susanville, California area in their adult lives.
  Sam was born January 10, 1892 at the Sun River Crossing near Great Falls; the 4th of 9 children of Fred W. and Elsy Dundom Sherman. His father was a freighter who hauled for the Great Northern Railroad. In the summer of 1893 the family moved to Gilt Edge where Fred hauled ore from mine to mill.
  The children attended school, in the fast growing town, in a converted dance hall. The first four grades were held in the back of the hall and the 5th through the 8th grades were held in the front. There were no desks. The benches and tables they used were made by a local carpenter. There were "miner's kids, rancher's kids and Indian kids" all attending school.
  Sam was a horseman most of his life and was involved in the rounding up of the last great herds of wild horses that once roamed the prairie lands of eastern Montana. He lived the rugged type of life that has ^{P. 193} been glamorized in western novels, and on the movie screen.
  Samuel Tekumseh died September 30, 1970. Pearl died September 7, 1968.
  Their son, Jack Sherman and his wife, Pat, lived and worked in the Roy area in the early 50's. Jack worked for the Indian Butte Grazing District, riding and checking on cattle, and then later for Louie and Glen Rindal. Jack is now deceased. Pat was a writer of poetry; with a sense of humor she could convey a message, as evidenced by the following poem.

  John Taylor came to Montana from Scotland in 1912. Due to advice from his doctor to move to another climate because of an asthmatic condition, and as he had a brother homesteading at Wilder, Montana he decided that is where he would go. After his arrival he worked for several years in the Wilder area.
  He took up a homestead, proved up on it and sold it after a short time. He went to Gilt Edge where he worked for Perk Burnett who had a stock ranch.
  In 1916 he married Carrie Beal the daughter of John Beal.
  Beal, his wife and six daughters lived in the Gilt Edge area. They were neighbors of the Duffys. Their only other neighbors were Jack Gallagher and Allison Clarke. The Beals had come from Iowa in 1910.
  Mrs. Beal passed away in 1918 and John and eleven year-old daughter moved back to Iowa via horse and wagon.
  The Taylors then moved onto the Beal place and John worked on the Burnett Ranch. Carrie took over the Ft. Maginnis postoffice after Sally Anderson gave it up. In 1919 the Taylors moved to Hobson.

• The Fort Maginnis School, 1928. Standing in front of the school are Margaret Pitz, Lucille Bishop and her mother, Louise, and Loretta Mondeau.
• Sam Sherman hauling pipe from an oil well near Half Moon Pass in 1924.