From Mineral Argus at Maiden -- October 29, 1885

  Word reached Maiden Saturday afternoon last, that a man had been killed the night previous in a shooting scrape at Rocky Point, requesting at the same time that an officer be sent down to arrest the parties who did the shooting. Rocky Point being in Choteau County, our officers did not think it incumbent upon them to comply with the request and run the chances of not being remunerated for their trouble. The sheriff of Choteau County being the proper officer to apprise the occurrence, but the telegraph line being down (as it is nine months of the year) it was no doubt thought best to telegraph the nearest magistrate.
  From M.F. Marsh, who arrived in Maiden, Monday, direct from the Point, we learn the following particulars. Several cowboys had been drinking and gambling at the Point during the day, and one Frank Ray, being determined to wind up the week with an established reputation for being a very bad man, loaded himself with "budge" and his revolver with cartridges started for a half-breed's cabin in that vicinity for the purpose of "Rounding up" the occupants therein, especially the female member of the cabin. Another cowboy named Sam Dodge and a half-breed Lola Dona, interfered and tried to quiet Ray and protect the woman, when the latter pulled a gun threatened to shoot any one who interfered. Mr. Marsh says this is all that he could learn as to the cause that lead to the shooting. He was informed that there was liable to be trouble and before he could reach the cabin five shots were fired in rapid succession and Ray was found lying in the cabin dead, his body pierced with three bullets. Dodge and Dona made no effort to escape, claiming to have killed Ray in self-defense. They were under guard at Rocky Point when Marsh left, but how long they will remain or what disposition will be made of the prisoners he did not know. He has written the sheriff of Choteau County the particulars and he may be expected at the scene of the shooting soon. The men who did the killing will make no effort to escape as they think they were justified in so doing and Mr. Marsh seems to entertain the same opinion. ^{P. 441}

  Tex (Tom) Afford made nine trips from southern Texas, with the Turkey Track Outfit, to Montana with trail herds and was boss on most drives. That was a 3,000 mile trek taking three months. Those cowboys endured many hardships as well as harsh weather, stampedes and the crossing of many rivers. He knew cattle and horses.
  He was a squarely built man with a short-cropped beard and graying hair, as I remember him. Tex had very small feet for his size and was very proud of his small boots. A very quiet man who spoke slowly and with a Texas drawl. He did not discuss his past. I remember him coming and spending a night or two occasionally in the winter months and in the evenings, the old men sat in the post office by the fire and swapped yarns. I use to sit on my father's lap and take in those interesting tales. What good times!
  His saddle horse and pack horses were much a part of his daily life. He wolfed in this area and was an excellent trapper.
  For many years, he operated a saloon across the river from the settlement of Wilder. Wilder at that time had 65 residents and besides a saloon and several houses there was also a post office and a trading post; all made of cottonwood logs.
  Some of the more notable patrons of the saloon included Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and Kid Curry, along with others of the "Wild Bunch" who often stopped in.

From December 19, 1982 issue of the Lewistown News Argus

  Today's rubber-tired cattle rustlers don't have to worry about "getting their necks stretched," like in the old days. The laws were a bit different then too. For instance, when a man butchered a beef around the turn of the century he was supposed to hang the hide, hair side out, so people could see the brand. That way they'd know if the cow had been stolen.
  The story is told about the late Tex Alford.
  He stayed on a while after Wilder died as did many other little pioneer Montana communities. Then, he moved to the mouth of the Musselshell River where old Fort Musselshell once stood, and made a meager living running a cable ferryboat across the river.
  When Tex got too old to run the ferryboat he stayed on in an old log cabin. Friends would give him potatoes and other vegetables....beef too in the winter.
  One winter friends had given him several quarters of beef. A lawman from Malta who saw no hide hanging up with the fur side out as required by law, asked Tex about   it.
  "Thar is one," Tex said. "Then where is it?" asked the law man. Tex, so the story goes, pointed at a hole in the river's ice and asked, "Kin ye dive?"

  One time, when Tex became ill and a neighbor, Roland Matthews, notified Tex's only known kin, Tex ^{P. 442} became angry at Matthews. Tex was very independent.
  Later he moved in with another old trail drover, Ben Rogers, at Rogers' little ranch on Squaw Creek. But when he became very old and once more was ill, he was taken to Winnett and placed in a hotel room with a nurse to care for him.
  Tex died and was buried in the Winnett Cemetery. He was missed as much as any old timer of that part of Montana. Everyone who knew Tex loved him. Today, young and old alike, still speak of the old gentleman.

  [This story is made up from bits and pieces of several stories that Con wrote about his early homesteading days.]
  I decided to homestead near the mouth of Armells Creek where there was stock water and a lot of free cattle range. It was the most suitable location for me.
  Old "Humpy King", who was an early settler and a good friend of our family, had settled on the Missouri River north easterly of the new town of Roy, Montana. Humpy claimed the land near the river where I homesteaded.
  I built a log homestead cabin using dirt for the roof, and only having one-inch boards for the floor and door.
  The land was not ready for filing a claim on and I had to use a squatters right, living on the land until it was opened for filing, which I did. That part of Fergus County had only been surveyed about a year before.
  Later in the summer of 1914 my mother felt sorry for me living by myself so gave me two half-grown cats for company. Having no other buildings, I cut a small hole in the door to allow the kittens to come and go. They were good company for me.
  Later that summer I went to Roy for about a week. Coming back at night, when about a mile from my cabin I began to sing and whistle. The kittens heard me and came to meet me about a half a mile from the cabin and were very happy to see me. I found out why, when I reached the cabin. Phew! What a smell! I went into the cabin and lit a lamp. The skunk was under the bed in an apple box with some apples in it. I placed a board over the apple box and carried it outside. By morning the skunk had chewed a hole in the apple box and disappeared. My cabin still smelled skunk for about a week. I repaired that cat hole in the door so that I would have no more skunk visitors.

  My grandparents were Charles Fred and Amanda Anderson, both of whom were born in Sweden. They had five children: Ted, Con, Hazel (Mrs. Walt Haney), Mable (married to William "Bill" Anderson and later to Frank Spoon), and Julia (Mrs. Charles Oquist).
  My dad, Con, married Angeline M. Blais on October 20, 1926. They had three sons: Gordon born in 1928, Clayton born in 1930 and myself, Alvin, born in 1931.
  Neighbors I remember from when I was small were: Olsen, Hatch, Henderson, Kaiser, Bourke, Larsen, all homesteaders whose land Dad purchased. Other people I remember were: Art Jones, Bowser, Woodard, Braiser and Satterfield.
  We had a well  1/4 mile west of the house and hauled water in a 150-gallon tank. We bailed water by hand and filled a cistern. It wasn't bad in summer, but miserable in winter.
  I remember traveling to Roy with horse and sleigh in the winter when I was very young, the road impassable. We didn't go to town, maybe once a month. In later years roads were still impassable and we couldn't get to town for 2 or 3 weeks at a time, then we would go across country with the pickup.
  When I was little in the 1930's all the neighbors would help each other thresh grain; going from one neighbor to the other until all were done. Though us kids were too small to do much work we would go anyway. It seemed like a lot of fun. Those farmer's wives put out a lot of good food. We little kids were always the last to eat and they would always save some of the best for us!
  I lived with my parents on the ranch until 1958 when I bought it from them. I married Janet Davis. We had 2 children, Bradley and Tammi; both attended school in Roy. Janet and I divorced. I sold the ranch in 1966 and left the area. My present wife, Beverly J. Woodard, and I were married in 1969 and we presently live in Helena.
  Mom passed away May 7, 1968 at the age of 65 and Dad on April 21, 1977 at the age of 84.
  Con and Angeline lived in Roy for several years. Con became quite well known for his writings about homestead days and the people who inhabited the area.
  Gordon Anderson and his first wife, Joan, and their small children lived in Roy for a few years in the 50's and 60's. He still owns the land that he got from his father and it is leased by Bill Davis. Gordon lives in Libby and is employed at a mill.
  A sister of Joan's, June Marsch, came to Roy and stayed with them and attended school. When they left she stayed with the Homer Willis family and graduated from RHS in 1964.
  Clayton moved around for many years in his job as a reporter for western farm and ranch magazines and papers.
  Rich and Deb Bowser now own the part of the ranch that Alvin sold and live in the Con Anderson house. ^{P. 443}

  Nils Anderson was born August 17, 1862 at Egersun, Norway and came to the United States in 1889, first stopping in Minnesota and later in North Dakota. In 1892 he came west to Big Timber, Montana, where he met John Mauland.
  John Mauland was born at Starvanger, Norway, April 11, 1872 and immigrated to Montana in the early nineties.
  These men formed a life-long partnership in 1896 and two years later, came to Fergus County where they engaged in sheep ranching on a large scale. They first ran on lower Dog Creek at the mouth of the Judith River where the post office was called Judith in 1904-05. The postmaster was G.R. Norris, vice president and manager of Judith Mercantile and Cattle Company with H. Powers, president (PN Ranch).
  An article in the Daily News stated that Svend Norheim was with them on lower Dog Creek range and due to his expert marksmanship had obliterated the wolves that had been raiding the sheep. Svend was also a pioneer sheepman in Fergus County. This range was getting too small at this point and they moved further east, locating in the area of the present Ford Ranch which was about twenty-five miles northeast of Winifred. A post office named for Claus Mauland operated here from 1905-08.
  In 1914, due to the invasion of homesteaders on the open range, these men made their last move to the Missouri River where they purchased the Fergus Land and Livestock Company's hay and stock ranch. This was located between King's Island and Sand Creek where they carried on their sheep enterprise until 1919 when they sold most of the sheep and went into cattle raising. Their brand was Bar SF.
  They continued to build up their ranch holdings as time went on and started irrigating the hay land which greatly increased the yield.
  Odin Mauland, John's nephew, stayed with them for a time before Joe joined them in the late twenties and became manager. In 1928 they built a new log house, with Tom Howard, veteran and master log architect. This was the newest and nicest home built before the Corps of Engineers bought out the river places for the Fort Peck Dam Project.
  John did the cooking and was a culinary expert, however, at haying time John did the stacking when they put up loose hay. Nils rode horseback and used to ride a pretty, shiny black that he called "Mexico". They bought a chestnut gelding when Smokey Johnsons left the river and he was named "Roy" for Ida's boy. Nils always rode with one spur on his left foot. He managed to ride up for the mail, even when he was an old man. He would come early, have a little nap in the big morris chair and visit for the day. John traveled with a team and buggy in the earlier days. They had a good buggy and a Democrat (two seater) in the machine shed in later years. In 1929 they bought a Model A Ford sedan (green) and Joe did the driving, however John made one attempt to drive and had a confrontation with the woodpile and that ended that career.
  Both men owned beaver coats which were high style in the early days and had to be put in cold storage when not in use.
  Nils passed away December 7, 1945 and the following year John died on November 28, 1946. John was seventy four and Nils eighty-three. These men were well respected for their good character and honesty and were good neighbors and friends. John was survived by eight nieces and nephews from the Big Timber and Lewistown areas. Nils had no relatives in this country. Both are buried in the Lewistown City Cemetery. ^{P. 444}

  James Franklin Athearn was a pioneer Fergus County stock raiser and writer of widely read Missouri River "Jungle Philosophy". The "Jungle Philosophy" by Ol' Man Athearn appeared in Montana newspapers and was widely read and copied. This homey philosophy of life was written in his ranch home in the breaks of the Wilder section. Earl Athearn, of Helena, recalled that his grandfather would take periodical trips, to visit the folks up and down and along the river. He'd be gone a week or two--maybe longer; visiting and gathering material for his "Jungle Philosophy". [We have 15 of these newspaper articles on file.]
  James Athearn was born in Sawyer's Mills, Maine on June 12, 1856. On July 4, 1876 he was married to Amy Wade, also of Sawyer's Mills.
  At the age of 21 he moved with his wife to Fargo, North Dakota, residing there and in other Dakota sections for 32 years. In 1909 he came to Montana with his family and settled near Wilder, where for over a quarter of a century he carried on successful stock raising activities in partnership with his sons, John and Fred. He was also associated with the proprietors of the famous old Horse Ranch at Armells for awhile.
  In 1935 he moved to Lewistown where he lived with his son, John, who had moved his family into town. 0l' Man Athearn was a familiar figure about town and had a quiet, cheerful, unassuming presence. He retained exceptional health up to a week before his passing. He was taken ill with a cold and forced to his bed. Death came quietly to the 79-year-old philosopher while he was asleep, on April 19, 1936. His wife Amy had preceded him in death about 1916. He was survived by his sons John, and Fred, and a daughter, Mrs. T. B. Torson. Burial was in the Lewistown City Cemetery.
  Athearn was "one who left as a heritage to his children and friends, much more than money and material things," said Rev. George Hirst of St. James Episcopal Church at his funeral service.

  John P. Athearn was born in Grafton, North Dakota on December 13, 1887, the son of James and Amy Athearn. He received his education there and in 1909 moved to Wilder. He drove stage from Zortman to Harlem. After returning from the service in WWI he ranched at Wilder until 1935. He then served as a Fergus County Deputy Sheriff for two years.
  In 1937 he moved to Deer Lodge where he was a guard in the state prison until 1942. From then until he retired in 1952 he worked for the Milwaukee Railroad. After retiring he and Ruth settled in Arizona. John passed away on May 11, 1965. The funeral was held at Deer Lodge.
  John Athearn married Susie C. Maxfield on April 12, 1912. They had one son, Max Marcotte. After her death he married Ruth Green. They had three sons: Jack, Murray and Earl. Susie and Amy Athearn are both buried near the ranch at Wilder.

  Joseph H. "Jack" Baucke was born July 9, 1889 (or 1888) in Elk Creek, Nebraska. When he was quite young he moved to Bellingham, Washington with his parents, in a covered wagon. He grew up there and on April 28, 1911 he married Laura Jane Sleasman.
  Laura, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Sleasman was born on April 25, 1891 at Nooksack, Washington.
  The couple lived in Washington when they were first married, then moved to Canada. They had three children. Rose, who was born in Sumas, Washington June 5, 1912; William "Bill", born in Halkerk, Alberta, Canada November 13, 1913 and Roy born in Shoshone, Idaho on May 2, 1915.
  The Bauckes came to Montana from Sullivan Lake, Canada and settled along the Missouri River in 1921 where they raised and custom threshed the first alfalfa seed in Central Montana. They also ranched at Roy.
  They lived on the Andrew Tresch place for five years, then at Fergus for four. Their next move was to the school section, along the Missouri River, and finally they bought the Jim ranch at Roy. Jack and Laura then moved back to Washington.
  The following news item appeared in the June 2, 1924 issued of the Democrat- News.

Searchers Scour Breaks for 72 Hours and Find Them At Little Crooked Store, 40 Miles From Home  ROY. June 1. Lost in the wild and rugged breaks of the Missouri river for 
72 hours was the thrilling experience of two young lads, aged 7 and 9 years, sons of J.H. Baucke, a rancher residing near Wilder. According to the report brought in here yesterday the two youths had wandered away from home, some time elapsing before their absence was discovered. The alarm was sent out to neighboring ranchers and a search instituted, with every rider in that immediate vicinity joining in the hunt for the little fellows.
  Occasionally they ran across the footprints of the children which were discernible in the soft ground, only to lose them again within a short distance. With scarcely any letup the searchers continued their quest for the lost children over a period of 72 hours, scouring every part of the badly cut up breaks, which in this section are seamed ^{P. 445}  with innumerable ravines, making the task of the searching party an exceptionally difficult one.
  Close to the banks of the Missouri River the tracks of the boys were picked up again and when followed a short distance on to ground were once more lost. For a time it was thought the youthful wanderers had ventured too near the steep banks of the river and fallen in.
  Continuing the search, however, the tracks were once more found below the point where it was thought they had fallen into the river, and from this place tracking was not so difficult. Arriving at the Little Crooked store the two boys were found apparently none the worse for their long pilgrimage through one of the wildest sections of northern Fergus county, and nearly 40 miles from their home. How the little chaps managed to make this long trip through a broken country infested with wolves and coyotes without meeting with any sort of a mishap appears to border on the miraculous.

 The community had formerly been known as Fort Musselshell, but when John Town became postmaster in 1922, he moved the post office three miles up the river to their ranch and renamed it for a town in Ontario, Canada, where his mother had grown up. Bervie was abandoned when the waters of Fort Peck Reservoir covered the site. ^{P. 446}

Members of the Town family included John, Bill, Ada, and Eva; brothers and sisters. Eva Town married Joe Murphy and became a prominent resident of Roy; active in community and county affairs. She was a school teacher as was Ada.

Lewistown News Argus, -- 18 July 1964

  I wish I had kept more track of the years and date of things that happened, but I didn't. I can tell some of it for I spent 55 years of my life around the mouth of the Musselshell River and know a lot of things that went on around there, but not so much on dates.
  The first ferry around the mouth of the Musselshell that I know of was started a few years before 1908 about one half mile east of the mouth of the Musselshell at what was the Ed Anderson ranch and later they ran a post office by the name of Kismit. That is the first post office we got our mail from after coming to the river in 1903.
  In May and June of 1908 we got one of the biggest floods that I ever knew of on the Missouri. It ran from hill to hill and ran everyone to the hills. We lived in a tent on the hill for some time afterwards. The man that ran the store, post office and ferry was drowned and most of the stuff washed away, and that was the end of that ferry. They moved the Kismit post office to the UL ranch on the north side of the river for a few years and the ranchers took turns at carrying the mail from the Leedy post office.
  In the early summer of 1912, Mr. Walt Fletcher and family came to our place to visit and was looking for a site to start a ferry, and he and my father got on our horses and went down to the old Fort Musselshell site and he liked the looks of that place so he started the first ferry that I know of there.
  My father had a little cable ferry for his own use at the ranch, three miles up the river for several years and he let Mr. Fletcher use that the first summer.
  Mr. Fletcher also was a freighter and did a little freighting for people, and also a store-saloon and got the Fort Musselshell post office started.
  Mr. Fletcher died in January of 1914 and Mrs. Fletcher ran the place for a while and then it changed hands and was run and operated by the following people through the years up to the time of the Fort Peck Reservoir time: Ed Herman, John Caster, Roland Mathews, George Hackett, Bill (Dick) Rogers and Fred Lute.
  Roland Mathews lives in Lewistown. I don't know what became of George Hackett, but the rest are dead.
  After the big flood of 1908, they had a flood sale of all the flood damaged goods at Kismit. There was a steamboat that some way had an interest in the store and they took the boat and gathered settlers along the river for several miles each way up and down the river and took them to the sale on July 4, 1908 and then took them all up to the UL Ranch where they had left George Beckler, an old noted roundup cook, to have chicken dumplin' Fourth of July dinner, for everyone. They left Dad Hickman with Mr. Beckler, to help and to keep him sober as there was a large amount of wet goods stored at the UL house from the flooded store and saloon at Kismit.
  Mr. Beckler was a real good cook when sober, but when they all arrived back from the sale on the steamboat, the two cooks were dead to the world at the UL Ranch, but we found chickens boiling in a large hog cooker outside, boiling away with feathers on! My mother and Mrs. Fletcher dumped them out and got the feathers off and the large crowd had chicken and dumplings.
  I will give you names of the men drowned in the Missouri around there and close to the Musselshell while I was there: the Postmaster at Kismit, operating the ferry; Harry Piemente, swimming cattle; Martin Matovich, operating the ferry (Martin was an uncle of Marcus and Phil Matovich); Jess Orr, fell out of a boat; Ronald Doucette, swimming and Glen Collier, crossing on horseback.

                As ever, John Town, Bridger, Montana

  Graveside services were held Wednesday afternoon at the Malta Cemetery for John H. Town, 70, a former Phillips County rancher.
  Town had come to Phillips County in 1903 and attended Malta schools. He ranched near the Missouri River in the southern part of the county with his brother, Bill, before moving to Bridger in 1959 where he had lived since then. The funeral service was held Wednesday morning in Billings.

  William Richard Town, age 81, died Saturday, 31 October in Billings after a brief illness.
  Born 15 March 1906 in Malta to Richard and Mary Town. He attended Malta schools. Mr. Town traveled for years as a public relations representative for the Sioux City Stockyards before returning to the family ranch on the Missouri River in Petroleum County.
  When the ranch headquarters were flooded by the Fort Peck Dam project in 1944, with his brother and partner, John Town, they established a new ranch on the north side of the Missouri River in Phillips County, raising top of-the-line, white-faced Herefords. In 1960, he dispersed ^{P. 447} his herd and sold that ranch. He continued his business raising cattle on shares around the state.
  On 6 December 1933 he married Evelyn Heiser in Malta. He married Lizzie Bird on 23 July 1982 in Rough and Ready, California.
  Survivors include his widow, Lizzie Town, Billings; three daughters, Marilyn Varga of Enumclaw, Washington, Rosemarie Strope of Helena, and Margaret Town of Seattle, Washington; daughter, Clara Mae Smetana of Kent, Washington; nephew, Jim Murphy of Malta-Roy.
  Graveside services were held Tuesday, November 2 at the Malta Cemetery with Fr. James Thistle, officiating.

  Elsie Foreshurg and Tate Brumfield were married in Chinook, Montana 2 December 1912. They homesteaded on the Long Bottom, UL Bend. Sister Elna was born, 15 October 1913. Edith born, 6 May 1915. Tate Brumfield, struck by lightning and killed, 13 June 1915. He was buried on the homestead in a coffin his friends fashioned from a large hollow log.
  Elsie and the girls were left alone on the homestead, which had not been proved up on. She had ten head of cattle (mama cows), a team of horses, some bedding, 3 chairs, some beans, flour, sugar and salt and very little money. The UL Cattle Outfit and the Long X paid her for feeding their cowboys from time to time.
  Mom went to Punishi, Canada to cook in a hotel when I was 2 years old. We were there about a year as she had to go back to live on the homestead in order to make proof. So we came home to the river. All the chairs were gone and the rugs that she had crocheted from rags. The old range was there and in the oven was a big lard can with flour and a dry wad of sourdough, 3 plates, cups and tools to eat with. Everyone thought she wouldn't return--they brought back the things they had taken.
  Mom had to go to Glasgow to prove up on the homestead as that was the County Seat. Elna and I stayed with Mrs. Shellito while she went by team and wagon, which was over a hundred miles. This was Alkali Ike's mother that we stayed with.
  We then went to Chicago, where Mom had relatives, and she worked there. Joe Legg (lived up the river at the mouth of Beauchamp Creek) had gone to Hawaii on a trip by boat and come back through the Panama Canal, up to Boston, Massachusetts (his home before coming to Montana) and he corresponded with Mom. He wrote to her and asked if she would come back to Montana and cook for him at his ranch. He had taken his car with him on the trip and was going to drive back to Montana and would pick us up in Chicago. His Buick touring-car had no windows, curtains were used instead and this must have been the summer of 1919. There were no highways, only dirt roads and few bridges, many streams had to be forded; dirt roads were muddy when it rained. We were in storms and it took nearly a month to make this trip.
  They had built a schoolhouse on the lower end of the Long Bottom which was at the lower end of our homestead. Mom stayed the first winter there; I was four years old, but went to school with Elna. Eva Town (Murphy) was our teacher. The next year, Mom went to work for Joe Legg. It must have been fifteen miles to that school. Eva's sister, Ada Town taught and Elna and I boarded with her and rode home to Legg's on Friday and back Sunday. No one lived between the two places as we cut across, with no fences until you reached Legg's.
  The summer that I was seven years, Mom took a job cooking for Ben Manning, which was about twenty-five miles up the river. Joe Bell had a ranch 7 miles above Mannings, but he worked for Ben and was there most of the time. Two years later, Mom married Joe Bell. We lived at Ben Manning's which was across the river from the Wilder Post Office, where we got our mail. ^{P. 448}
  Everyone from near and far got their mail at Wilder.
  Ben Manning's hobby was ordering from mail order houses (Montgomery Ward, Sears Roebuck, western stores such as Hamleys at Pendleton, Oregon). Quite often we would have to borrow a team and wagon to bring down a load of saddles, harness, barrels of cookies, cases of canned milk and other supplies. He was a dear old man, and so generous. He gave Elna and I a new Hamley saddle, each. We had run away from school at Zortman and came home (little Indian kids got horses for us) and Ben told us that if we went back to school that he would give each of us a new saddle, and that is what he did.
  I have known Marie Webb Zahn since she was a baby--everyone called her Baby Webb. When you bought gum at the store, Mrs. Webb would be sure to check the package to see that none were missing because Baby Webb sometimes helped herself at the counter. She named all her pets "Bonnie"; Bonnie Manning, the black mama cat Ben gave her, her paint pony and finally her first-born.
  After Ben Manning's death and the place was sold to Dewar Brothers, we moved to Joe Bell's (my stepfather) to live. My oldest brother, Bucky, and youngest brother, Joe D. Bell, joined the Bell family. Bucky was born at the ranch with a dear old Indian lady as midwife. Joe D. was born at Williston, ND, where Joe Bell's folks lived. Joe Bell was a railroader for the Great Northern Railroad before he went into the Army in WWI. It was a long way to the Wilder Post Office, so we didn't get the mail regularly as we had to swim a horse to cross the river. We would take mail going up-river: McNultys, Knox, Crane and Anderson-Mauland and drop it off on our return. Daddy Jones was the mail carrier from Roy to Wilder for many years.
  My folks sold to the Government when they put in the Fort Peck Dam and moved to Beawawe, Nevada in 1936 and bought a ranch. The cattle were shipped by rail to Elko, Nevada. The Bells never returned to Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Bell and Bucky are deceased; Elna is at Yerington, Nevada; Joe D. is barbering at Elko and I live in Lewistown, Montana.

  Ben Manning ran around 500 head of white-face cattle (Hereford) and 200 head of horses. He had one of the best ranches on the north side of the Missouri River. Rock Creek, which headed at Landusky, ran through his place and was open water the year around.
  When Manning shipped the beef, he trailed to Malta to ship to Chicago and he would let nesters (homesteaders) who lived on the way, know when he was going through and would pick up their cattle, even though they had only a few head to go. He always accompanied the beef shipment to market. I mentioned that he ordered so much merchandise by mail from Montgomery Ward, and one time when he was in Chicago, he went to the Montgomery Ward store and when he met the manager, was presented the key to the City. Ben said that he taxied all over the city and really enjoyed himself. Ben was a wealthy man, but never acted so. He was a dear friend and a most honorable person.
  Mr. Joe Legg. Mr. Legg was from a wealthy family in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a very private person, always had a hired man, he loved his horses and stock. While we were there at his place, he hired a cowboy from Washington state to break some horses; some were 8-to 10-year-olds and had never had a rope on them since being branded as colts. This cowboy's name was John Green and the horses proved to be too much for him and he was knocked-out by one of them -- he kept saying "I'm a Winatchy driving a truck". After a few days, someone took him to Malta and he went back to Washington.
  I remember that on Sunday all the grub-line riders and drifters knew that Joe Legg had a lady cook and rode in for dinner. Some that come to mind are: Mauchy Morgen (called the "sunshine cowboy") because he was a fancy dresser; Mr. Peck, a little old man who lived beyond Sun Prairie, near the Long X; "Friday" whose name was Mr. Russell to us girls' and Tex Alford. Dear old Tex, called me "Tikey"; Charlie Stuart, son of Granville Stuart of the DHS, he wore a patch over one eye that had been put out somehow. Once he roped a buck deer in the school yard at the Long Bottom. He maneuvered the deer to wrap around a cottonwood tree and then cut the rope as that deer was really on the fight and threatening Charlie's horse. There was Dick Crookshank, a neat Scotsman, who lived up Beauchamp; Hugh Taylor, John Mayberry and Kit Carson; a guy they called "Sneaky" Coburn, Mike Machler and Andrew Tresch who used to call. All elders were Mr. or ^{P. 440} Mrs. to Elna and I.
  Mr. Legg had four or five big, and I do mean big, 6-and 7-year-old steers (bigger than a horse) and they had huge sets of horns -- he just liked to look at them and didn't need the money, so kept them on his place. There was a big old water-wheel down in the trees near his shop. It was from a river boat and was 8 or 10 feet high and 8 feet wide. He had pigeons and they roosted on it.
  I also remember stopping at Tom Robbins enroute to Mannings. His wife and two daughters lived in Malta. He shot himself.
  Elna and I went to school at the Trusty school and boarded with John and Julie Gairrett. We went home for Thanksgiving and a horse fell on me and broke my ankle. There was a retired veterinarian staying at Ben Manning's and he was my doctor. He made crutches from willows, after setting the bones. Nobody went to a doctor in those days until you needed an undertaker. My ankle was painful, but it healed straight.
  Bill Curtis was a government trapper who spent a lot of time at the Manning place. He was blind in one eye. Another old timer there was Tom Coyle. He would go herd sheep in the summer for Hansons or Phillips.
  When they had the County roundups, the breaks were full of wild, unbranded horses. They took 2,000 head out of the breaks surrounding Slippery Ann alone. They herded them for awhile near Malta and would sell them, take your pick at $2.50 to $5.00 a head. The rest were loaded in box cars and shipped to California for chicken feed.
  At that time, and up until we got all the Bureaucrats in here, buffalo skulls were numerous on all the ridges in the River breaks. Those guys must have picked them up, because you never see one anymore.

  Edward A. Crain resided on King Island for over thirty years. He raised alfalfa seed and was a beekeeper. His closest neighbor was Tommy Thompson, who lived on the same bottom. McNultys ranched on the bottom above and Ed visited there a good deal. Mrs. McNulty was a wonderful cook; the bachelors enjoyed her meals. Ed hiked to the Wilder Post Office frequently, where he got his mail. He would visit Anderson-Mauland ranch enroute.
  His land was taken by the Corps of Engineers for the Fort Peck Dam project, and in 1936, he moved to Lewistown. He was in failing health, suffering from asthmatic heart trouble and was hospitalized from time to time. At the time of his death he was living at the Brookdell Hotel and was found dead in his chair by a maid, which occurred 4 April 1939. He was 68 years. He never married and was survived by a brother in Detroit, Mich. Ed was a respected citizen of the Wilder area.

 The Dewar brothers came to Montana from Canada and located at Zortman, where they ran a saloon for awhile. One of the boys was killed there. The youngest, Jack, married Pearl Schwag and had one son. Jack died of war injuries and Pearl married Edwards, a sheepman from the Bear Paws. When he died she married Tom Dewar. Tom and his brother, Alec, homesteaded south of Zortman and raised cattle and horses. When Ben Manning died in January of 1927, his brother sold the ranch to Al Dewar. He continued to ranch on the Missouri River place until it was sold to the Corps of Engineers for the Ft. Peck Dam. Al married and moved to Great Falls. Tom had the upper Rock Creek place. He sold this ranch to Bob Lund and it is now the headquarters of the Square Butte Grazing Association. The Dewars got their mail at Wilder. Both Tom and his wife died in the sixties.

  Joe Dvorak was born March 1873 in Czechoslovakia and came to the United States as a young man. He homesteaded the above location on the Missouri River, where he ranched until the late 1920's when he purchased a place from Walter Haney near Roy, located at the mouth of Blood Creek and Box Elder. In 1940, he sold to Jerry Siroky, retired and moved to Roy, where he purchased the former Foresman house, block 9, lots 7 and 8. He resided in Roy from 1940 to 1960.
  Dvorak spent his last years at Valle Vista Manor in Lewistown and died, 8 November 1967, 94 years of age. He never married. He is survived by a niece, Lillian Thompson of Denver, Colorado. Interment was at the Lewistown City Cemetery. ^{P. 450} 

  John Eichermiller filed his intent for naturalization in Fergus County 2 April 1898 and it was granted 3 June 1901. 
  Eichermiller was born 6 March 1879 in Germany. He resided in Phillips County from 1913 and owned a ranch on the Missouri River. He received his mail at the Wilder Post Office and crossed the river by boat or on the ice in winter, and walked to Wilder. He used to get eggs by the water-pail full at the store. He lived at this location until 1935 when the Corps of Engineers purchased the river lands for the Fort Peck Dam project.
  He resettled near Zortman. He had been in ill health since 1951 and died at the home of Ed Young at Dodson 19 July 1954.
  His occupation is listed as a retired farm laborer. He was not married and had no relatives in this country to anyone's knowledge. Eichermiller was buried in the Malta Cemetery in the John Wood McGuffin lot #3, block 289, 1st Addition and his name was not listed in the cemetery records because he was buried in someone else's lot. Records from Adams Funeral Home at Malta, Montana.

  Ab Furman was another of the Missouri River Rats. He was an uncle to Ray McNulty, his wife being a sister to Edith McNulty. He was born December 31, 1859 in Leadman, Oregon. He and Henrietta Miller were married in 1893. They had two children, Esther and Pearl.
  Pearl became Mrs. Joseph Searles and lived in Portland, Oregon. Ester married Joe LeClair (Irish river bottoms). An item in the Roy Enterprise announced their marriage and stated they moved to their 'home on the Missouri River near Wilder'. 
  He (Joe) was a "wide and favorably known horseman" of the Missouri River district. His homestead was on "Duck Foot" bottom at the mouth of Armells and he raised horses.
  Another undated item told of a hunt Ab went on. Charles S. Parker and Ab Furman got back yesterday from a bear hunt in the Sun River country.
  They brought back skins of 4 bear; 1 black and 1 mother and 2 cubs which they "slew them with a single shot 22." They rode in circles fired and reloaded til he (Chas.) brought down the three. Ab was off chasing a runaway horse.

 The following write-up was published in the Idaho Statesman in 1975--Ben Garthofner has been creating and selling western art since 1928. Each piece tells a true story of the old west and is 100 percent authentic.

  "We often said ,'All you need on the Missouri River is a shot gun and a fish hook," says Ben Garthofner. "I saw the West from the freight wagon days to this modern age when men walk the moon."
  Now retired and living with his wife at 1019 Laredo Circle (Arizona), the former Montana rancher and self taught artist recalls his boyhood in the Missouri River "breaks" in Montana south of the town of Malta.
  "....a land without roads, except for old cow trails," he says. "My father made one trip to Malta a year for supplies. It meant taking the wagon apart and taking it to the north side (of the river) in a rowboat. The horses swam.
   "Our houses were cottonwood logs with dirt roofs and sometimes dirt floors. We raised lots of the finest beef and had lots of wild game and birds.
  "There really were no laws to worry about in those days. We used hoop nets and throw-lines to catch our catfish, sturgeon and pike. When we were visited by the sheriff or a game warden, they ate the same food as us, some being illegal and they knew it.
  "I never had a hunting or fishing license until I was past 40 years old. It was a free and easy country and although we worked hard, endured long, cold winters and went without luxuries....we would not have traded places with John D. Rockefeller.
  "I saw the last of the old time steam boats go up and down the Missouri from Mandan, ND, to Ft. Benton, Montana. There was the "Mandan" a boat to remove snags from the river, and a freight boat, the "Gros Ventre."
  "What we did in everyday life and what I saw on real trail drives on real roundups gave me background and knowledge to do a little art. I do believe I am one of the few now doing this sort of work who knows what things of the Old West should look like."

Ben Garthofner - 1986
(Ben passed away in the fall of 1988.)

  When the Government bought the Al Dewar place under the Fort Peck project Ben Garthofner leased it from the Government for $600 per year. It included two river bottoms. Ben moved onto it in April of 1937.
  In the fall of 1938 Ben's brother, Stan, went into partnership with him. They got a disease, called bangs, in their cattle in 1940 and had to sell them all. Ben left for three years while Stan stayed on. In 1943 Ben sold out to Stan and bought a ranch on the Judith River.
  After Stan took over the ranch he turned it into a very productive alfalfa seed operation. With the building of the north-south highway and the Fred Robinson Bridge, the area opened up and the raising of hay became more profitable as it could be easily shipped out to a wide market.
  Stan originally came from the Brussett area where at one time he was a print setter for a newspaper. He married Alice Orr Kurtz in February of 1942 at Fort Benton. She was raised in Rosebud County along the Tongue River. She had a daughter, Connie Kurtz, from a previous marriage.
  Stan and Alice had eight children: Dale, Jerry, Kathie, Linda, Lucille, Jim, Eilein and Dave who were raised and educated through the 8th grade at the Rock Creek School on the ranch. They attended high school in Roy.
  In the early 1960's the name Garthofner was shortened to Gar. Stan said he was tired of people asking him how to spell it all the time, so he had it legally changed.
  He was instrumental in the formation of the Square Butte Grazing District in southern Phillips County.
  He sold the government lease about 1973 and bought a ranch at Three Forks. He retired about 1974. He and Alice moved into Roy. Stan passed away on Thanksgiving morning of 1975 and Alice just a little over two years later, on March 18, 1978.
  The Gar Children: Connie married Everett Campbell.
  Dale and Jerry both passed away suddenly from heart attacks when Dale was 30 and Jerry only 24. Both were big, husky, handsome and healthy-looking young men and their deaths were a shock.
  Kathie is married to Bob Fink and lives on the ranch north of Roy. She has one son, Brian.
  Linda (Hansen) is a teacher and resides in Missoula.
  Lucille lives at Dodson with her husband, Jim Newby, and their son, Mark, and her daughter, Carrie Smith. Lucille's two older sons, Gary Robert and Earl Smith, live in Roy.
  Jim married Vicki Grabinski of Lewistown. They have two daughters, Tara and Tami. Jim was a bull rider for several years and was fairly well known on the Montana rodeo circuit.
  Eilein married Dick Cox. They live near Lewistown where they own the D C Guide and Outfitters. They have
  two sons, Jason and Cody.
  Dave is married to Shannon Myers. They live in Roy and have a daughter, Stacey. He is the mine superintendent for the construction company at the mines in Zortman, a job his dad would have loved.
  Stan was a miner at heart. He worked at the mines in Zortman in the early 40's and also had mining claims in Idaho. He and his friend, Lloyd LaFond, would take some time off each summer, and go panning for gold, something they both loved to do.^{P. 452}

  Roy Peters bought the government lease from Stan Gar and still raises hay on the river bottoms. The grazing rights to the Rock Creek Ranch were transferred to Charles Schwenke several years ago.
  From the mouth of the Musselshell River to Cow Island once was a very productive agricultural area. Tons of alfalfa seed were raised and shipped out, amounting to several thousands of dollars yearly. On today's market it would be over a million dollars annually. Not only was there alfalfa seed, there were also bountiful hay crops and several thousand head of cattle were wintered along the river. Several ranchers made extra income from truck gardening; potatoes and melons were shipped out.
  Where once many ranches dotted the river bottoms-today only the Rock Creek Ranch still exists. No one lives there; the hay is hauled out to the Peter's ranch near Bohemian Corners. Perry and David Irish were the last to live along the river on their ranch. With their passing the ranch was taken over by the Federal Fish and Wildlife.
  Approximately half of the area is now covered by the waters of Ft. Peck Lake and the rest is flood area and is a part of the CMR Game Range.

  The Gairretts, John and Newton families, came to Montana in 1913. They spent about a year working for different ranches.
  They built a boat and floated down the Missouri River and homesteaded about a mile apart.
  To make ends meet, they took horses and wagons into Canada at harvest time, the wives cooked for threshing crews and the men worked in the fields. They remember many people they met and saw on those long trips.
  Abe Bittison was a horse thief, he tried to steal their horses more than once.
  Jake Parker tried to shoot Newt and almost shot Wayne, Newt's son; they had gone to Roy for groceries. (Jake Parker was killed by Alkali Ike.)
  The boys remember some men coming to their place, dressed in fancy clothes and driving big cars. They didn't realize at the time that they were gangsters. The men ran the car off in the river and left. The Canadian Mounties came looking for them, but found nothing.
  Some of the neighbors were: Hottenbackers, Huttons, Machlers, Town, McGinnis, Doneys, Brumfields, Johnsons, Tom McAlpine, Bauckes, Overgards, Armingtons, Novaks, Skibbeys, Zahns, Legg, Rukavinas, Hansons, just to name a few.
  There was school at Ceekay and one further down. Some of the teachers they remember are: Ray Holzey, Miss Sweenery, Abbott, R. Carney, Parker, Miss Fezendon and J. Fullmer.
  Remembering some of the things that went on, some funny and some were not so funny.
  When walking to school once, the boys didn't know they were being trailed by a mountain lion. Some of the men heard the cat squall, went to investigate and found it had trailed the boys almost to the school.
  Once, John and Newt took the team and wagon and went to town for groceries -- 100 pounds sugar, dried fruit, lard, coffee, 50 pounds of salt, beans, macaroni, and basics for survival. It usually took about four days each way to make the trip, due to weather and distance. Well, John and Newt started for home with their goods and their most precious cargo, a jug of whiskey, so they had a little drink, they weren't worried about getting lost as the teams would take you home. So, many miles and some more drinks down the road, the boys were merry to say the least. They didn't notice that the tailgate on the wagon had come down and that they were losing some of their grub, but some coyotes did and they were following the wagon, eating the things that dropped off. When they arrived home they saw what had happened and with fits of laughter they crawled off the wagon. One of the boys asked Uncle Newt how it could have happened and he said the coyotes must have done it!
  Old Fred Machler was a regular around the place and when he didn't come around for a few days, the boys were sent to see if something was wrong with him. They found a very sick man; they asked what was wrong and he said that the coyotes ate his cows and so he ate the coyote.
  In 1924, John bought a Model T Ford and drove it back from Missouri; he had to ford creeks everywhere, he came through Hardin and Pryor. This car was going to solve a lot of transportation problems, but it led to some interesting things to come. The mighty Missouri was the biggest means of travel. In the winter it was a highway, less miles and easier going, but it had it's draw-backs too, one being air holes in the ice. With John's ingenuity, he tied big long poles to the car so that if it broke through, it would not be lost! He and Pete Smith went for groceries and when they came home the ice gave way, they lost the groceries and sure got wet.
  Whitey Novak got a car and came to a picnic to show off. With all the wide open space, he smashed into a big cottonwood tree, going backwards, yelling WHOA!
  1920, the Steamboat Mandan made it's last run up the Missouri and we remember the cargo of flour, sugar, and most of all the dried fruit, especially the peaches!
  Cow Island was above the bridge, named for all the stolen cows and horses that were kept there by the outlaws.
  We had a Negro that came to our place, by the name..........cont'd.

• Rocky Point 1885. The saloon of Milton Frederick Marsh and his wife. (Photo courtesy of the Montana Historical Society, Helena, Mt.)
• This was Wilder from the north side of the river. Note the ferry. This was where Tex Alford lived and ran a saloon for many years (on the north side). 1922
• Tex Alford and a young friend, Edith "Tyke" Brumfield (Blair) when she was about 5 or 6 years old.
• The newer log home built by Nils and John [Anderson]. A housewarming was held in the summer of 1928. Friends and neighbors came from miles away to the party. The last people to live in this house were Joe and Laura Mauland. They left in 1968 and moved to Lewistown. That's Nils on the left and John on the right.
• Nils Anderson
• The Baucke family taken in 1927 at the Hutton's place on the Missouri River. Pictured are Rose Bauke Rindal and her husband, Olaf Rindal, Laura Baucke, Ralph Rindal, John Rindal, Jack Baucke, Bill Baucke and Roy Baucke.
• 1943--Fort Peck Lake came up around the buildings on the Town Ranch. They moved everything across the lake to the site of the old U L Ranch buildings where a road went out. That winter they moved the house across the ice.
• Branding calves at the Town Ranch in 1942. The fellow on the ground on the left, holding calf, is Davie Jordan a brother to Larry Jordan.
• Mrs. Bell, Elna Brumfield Wright, Joe Bell, John Wright (Elna's husband), and Walter Wright in 1936 as they get ready to leave the Missouri ranch for Nevada.
• Edith Brumfield Blair wearing a typical early day cowgirl's garb. The split riding skirt is made of leather.
• Elna Brumfield on Toad; Robert McGinnis on Injun and Edith Brumfield on Ted. Taken at Joe Legg's place.
• The Rock Creek School on the ranch where the Gar children attended school through the 8th grade. Other students who attended the school included Mike, Pat, Tim and Danny Jones, whose father Casey, was with the Federal Fish and Wildlife at Slippery Ann, and Bruce, Clark and Loreteta Cummings who lived with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Newt Cummings on the Joe Bell river bottom. Mrs. Jones (Vernadine) was one of the teachers--1988 photo.
• The younger Gar children from left to right: Jim, Kathie, Linda, Dave, babysitter (unidentified), Lucille and Eilein.