WILDER RIVER RATS  PART 3

came to the river breaks and badlands in 1916 the few people there "were about the most hospitable in the world. The latchstring was always out. If no one was home you just went in and spent the night. The only rule was "fill the wood box in the morning." Times were changing.
  But there were compensations, for the most part the campers, fishermen and hunters lured into the country were lovely people and the couple made many new friends.
  When the James Kipp Park came into being the government tried to force Ray and Rosalie off. People protested and the result was that Ray could stay for the remainder of his life, but Rosalie would have to leave within a year after his death.
  Ray was the first caretaker at the park; Rosalie took over when age forced his retirement and was caretaker for 12 years.
  A letter to Ray, dated April 23, 1973, from the Montana Department of Fish and Game, was the beginning of the end for Ray, according to his wife. It stated that as of May 15, 1973 all range livestock had to be removed and by May 31, 1973 all horses and dairy cattle had to be removed.
  Ray took the 'eviction' notice to court and won, after a long battle. He was heartsick and weary after the long struggle and in March of 1975 at the age of 82, he passed away. Ray McNulty, veteran of WWI (army and navy) and of several decades of living at and loving his river breaks home, was finally gone off the river.
  Rosalie, though not wanting to, gave up her beloved home and soon moved into Roy with her brother, Wally Raymond, who had made his home with the McNulty's for several years. Rosalie, always busy, raises large gardens, still milks a few cows and has a few head of cattle that she runs on a permit she holds in the Charles Russell Range and Indian Butte Grazing District.
  Beverly McNulty married Floyd Emery and they live on the old Harry Moyer place south of Roy. They raised a family of five children: Bruce, Roger, Anita (Peters), Pattie (Rife) and Kim (Miller).
  Billie is married to John O'Reilly and they also live in Roy. Billie raised three children from her first marriage: Karen Rindal Huck, Lee and Curt Rindal. Curt died in 1983 on his 18th birthday in an auto accident.
  David and his wife, Carol, live in Billings where he is in the telephone- communications business. He has four children: Lori, Misty, David and an adopted stepchild, Susan.

  Rosalie McNulty was remarried in 1977 to Al Nordahl. Al came to the area in the 1950's with Roth Construction who was to build the new highway. Al, who was from Draper, South Dakota, worked on construction all of his life, until retirement.
  When Roth first came he took Al and showed him where he wanted a road dozed, from the top of the river breaks to the bottom, in order to bring in the workers trailer homes. As Al stood at the top of the hill his first impression was "this is no man's land if ever I saw it." Al built the road and from then on the river breaks became his home too, as when ever he wasn't working on construction he worked for the McNultys. He became part of the family.
  Al passed away in December of 1985.

  Tom and Edith were livestock operators in the Wilder section along the Missouri River for many years. They came in 1916 and took up property at the mouth of Armells Creek and lived there continuously and ranched with their son, Ray, until Tom's death on December 6, 1939, just a week short of his 80th birthday.
  Tom was born in Shelsburg, Wisconsin and received his education in Wabaska, Minnesota and at Alma, Wisconsin, where he grew to manhood and where on June 2, 1891 he was married to Edith Miller, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Miller.
  Their son, Ray, was born on December 16, 1892 in Alma. Another son, Murle Thomas, was born in 1895 or 96.
 

  In 1893 the family moved to Mandovi County until 1904 when they moved to Louisiana for two years. They then returned to Wisconsin for a few years. In 1911 they headed west, first to California and then north to Oregon where he was in the grocery business until 1916.
  Murle McNulty was the first from 'this section' to give his life in the service of his country, during WWI. On July 29, 1918, Murle, a member of the field artillery, died as the result of an 'aeroplane' accident, in France.
  Edith McNulty retired and moved to Lewistown in 1948. She remained spry and active all of her life. At the age of 90 she was still maintaining her own house, doing all of her own house work and washing. She returned to the river and spent her last years living with her son and wife, Ray and Rosalie. Edith was born in Alma, Wisconsin on April 22, 1875. She died in Lewistown in 1969 at the age of 94 years.

Lewistown Democrat News article Dec. 22-26 

  In the 1870's Paul Morase and his wife, Margaret, came to the Montana Territory from Canada where he had been a fur trader.
  They settled at Rocky Point on the Missouri River where he operated a wood yard supplying wood for the steamboats as they made their way between St. Louis, Missouri and Fort Benton.
  At that time Indians, prospectors and trappers roamed the country. Game was plentiful along the river, supplying them with meat. Their staple groceries were brought in by boat from Fort Benton, a large supply of which was stocked for the winter months as ice would curtail the steamboat traffic until the ice break-up in the spring.
  Morase had several men working for him and they stocked the wood yard during the winter months.
  One day in the summer of 1879, Mrs. Morase had just put her baby to sleep and returned from the bedroom to find six Indians in the kitchen.
  She at once recognized one who had traded at the trading post in Canada and he also remember her because of her red hair.
  She had learned much of their language while living in Canada. This Indian told her about some Indians on the warpath who were possibly coming in their direction. She told him that her husband and the men would be back shortly for the noon meal. He asked her to go out and meet the men and tell them that they were friendly Indians.
  After hearing about the hostile Indians and the danger of remaining on the river, Morase decided to move and loaded the wagons. They headed for Judith Basin and Reed's Fort.
  After leaving the Missouri they made their way through the coulees and across the prairies, passing prairie dog towns and the bleaching bones of the buffalo.
  They came to a valley where a creek wended it's way towards the Judith River. This was the location of Reed's Fort and later the site of the city of Lewistown and Fergus County.
  No one seems to know for sure who were the first settlers in Lewistown, whether it was Morase or Francis Janeaux, but most agree that they arrived about the same time.
  Janeaux's claim was the north part of what was to become Lewistown and Morase's joined Janeaux on the south. Morase's house was near Janeaux Street between Dawes Street and First Avenue South.
  After the death of Morase in 1894, Mrs. Morase married Pete Shields, from whom Shields Street in Lewistown is named. Morase Street is named for Paul.
  The Morases's daughter, Bertha, married William Brown. They had a son, John (Pat) Brown, all of whom lived in Lewistown at one time or the other. Their daughter was Mrs. Merwyn McChesney.
  Mrs. Morase Shields died in 1928. She is buried in Calvary Cemetery along with Morase. All of the original Morase family have long passed on. They saw Montana in the Territorial days when roads were but dim trails traveled by wagons and Red River carts, the last of the great buffalo and the days of the open range.
  The influx of homesteaders, the breaking of sod and the building of barb wire fences, changed the country.
  They saw a few scattered tents and log cabins change to a city with modern business buildings and residences with paved streets to replace the rutted ones. They saw the coming of the railroad and the advent of the automobile.
  In the beginning they, too, suffered the hardships along with the other pioneer settlers, but they found happiness in living and raising their family in the town they helped to build.

P. 468

  V. A. (Bud) Norskog and Kenneth Norskog moved to the Knox Bottom, on the Missouri River in the spring of 1947.
  No one had lived in the house for nine years. Joe Hopkins had moved out and left everything. It was just as the day they walked out. Canned goods in the cellar were still good. Clothes hung in the corner. Hams hung from the rafters. The mice ate holes in the floor where the grease had dripped. Bedding on the beds, just dusty. Cobwebs hung everywhere.
  Later Kenneth moved up the river to the Hess bottom. Bert Peters had lived there until he was killed in a plane crash at Fred Mabees.
  There were no good roads over the top, so in the winter the river was used for a road.
  I bought the Gus Anderson place in 1960 and moved there in 1965, but continued to lease the Knox Bottom and hayed the Hess bottom until 1980 when we (Bud and wife, Virginia Woodard) moved to Stanford, MT.
  There were two Gus Andersons. One was called White Gus and the other Black Gus. They were both wolf trappers. Gus also carried mail from Zortman to Wilder.
  One time Black Gus decided to go to a dance at Crooked Creek School. He walked to Ray McNulty's place and had a cup of coffee. The other boys at Rays went horseback down to Joe Maulands; picked up Joe and rode to the Crooked Creek School. When they got there Black Gus was sitting by the piano, drinking coffee. He traveled with a skip and a hop!

  John and Virginia Meckling lived in Lewistown after John came back from the army in 1945. John served with the 49th Bomber Group in North Africa and the Italian War Zone. He then worked for Sawyers and Safeway stores and also lived for awhile at the Red Barn Ranch when Mary Woodard was sick.
  They bought the Roy Grocery from W.C. Buechner in 1953. This was during the time when they were building the Fred Robinson Bridge and the highway from the Missouri River to Hilger.
  John died of a heart attack in 1957. Virginia continued to operate the store until 1959, then sold it to Betty and Fred Warneke.
  Bud (V. A.) and Virginia were married in 1958. After the store was sold they made their home on the Missouri River on the Knox Bottom. In 1962 they purchased the Arnold Smith place which joined up with the holdings on the Knox and Hess Bottoms.
  Wherever they wintered their cattle, the closest place is where the kids went to school. It was no easy task sending kids to school living so far out. The older ones went to Roy. Kelly and Patience were born to Bud and Virginia while they still had a house and kids in school at Roy.
  In 1980 they sold out and moved to Stanford, Mont.
  Virginia's children: John Meckling graduated from RHS and went to Montana State University. He is married and has a son, John Preston, and a daughter, Krista. At the present time he lives in Kansas City, Kansas, and works as a carpenter and attends General Baptist Theological Seminary.
  Mary Dale went to school in Roy and attended Billings Business College. She married Michael Jones, is now divorced and lives at Townsend, Montana where she is employed by a mining company.
  Mary and Mike had twin boys, Craig and Joe, and a girl, Trudie. They went to Roy grade school and high school until 1986 and are now attending school in Townsend.
  Connie went to school in Roy through the 4th grade. She went 3 years to Gerhard School at Tom Fords. She graduated from the 8th grade from the Gar School (Rock Creek).
  Connie graduated from Winifred High School and married Ed Heggem. They continue to ranch there and have a family of 3 boys; Travis, Heath, Brett and a girl, Rebecca.
  Michael Meckling went to school through the 6th grade at Roy. He graduated from the 8th grade at Gerhard and high school at Winifred. He now lives at
 

 Stanford and works for a post mill and for local ranches.
  Keith Meckling was born at Roy and went his first two years to school there. He then attended the Gerhard and Gar schools. He graduated from Winifred High School. He is married to Becky Econom and they have 3 daughters, Amy, Tara and Candee. They ranch out of Winifred and have the M & E Outfitters.
  Bud's children: Jason and Chris Norskog went to school at Whitefish, Montana. Jason joined the Navy. He married Roberta Kinkelaar and they have a son, Perry, and a daughter, Heidi. Jason is an airplane mechanic and they now live at Juneau, Alaska.
  Chris graduated from WHS. He is married and has a son, Eddie, an adopted son, Adam and an adopted daughter, Christine. He lives in Juneau, Alaska and works as a mechanic.
  Bud and Virginia's children: Kelly went to school in Winifred but graduated from Stanford. He now lives in Stanford and ranches with his parents. He attended Northern Montana College and Montana State University at Bozeman and is a brand inspector for Judith Basin County.
  Patience Norskog also attended school at Winifred and graduated from Stanford. She attended Eastern Montana College and Billings Vo-Tech.

  Kenneth Norskog was married to Evelyn Buttke Weasa. They lived on the Hess Bottom. While they lived there Kenneth spent some time in Alaska working.
  After he left the river he worked for the Prong Horn Ranch and other ranches and on construction. He died in 1972 on the Knox Bottom and is buried in Lewistown. Kenneth had no children of his own but did have two stepchildren: Alan Weasa and Judy Weasa Hyem.

  I spent an enjoyable afternoon, visiting with John and Elizabeth Barrett Overgard at Roundup on the 31 May 1989. John is 92 years old and gets around very well, his only handicap being his eyesight.
  Elizabeth looks great and they are such a happy couple, being married 56 years. They have three daughters, one at Lavina, one in Columbia Falls and the other in Great Falls; nephew, Marion Robinson is at Roundup.
  The Roundup Tribune of 1 March 1989 carried an article by Sam Overgard, who is now at the Roundup Memorial Nursing Home. Sam, 95 years, was born at Buckley, North Dakota, 4 August 1894 to Berant and Olivia Overgard. There were six boys and three girls in their family.
  In 1904, Sam and his brothers and sisters loaded two covered wagons and headed North. They homesteaded west of the Big Red Deer River near Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Their father, now widowed, joined them later in the year. Sam was nine years, at this time.
  Their sister and her husband, the Robinsons, went to Kendall, Montana in 1906 and he worked in the gold mines. In 1916, Sam knew that it was inevitable that the United States would soon be involved in war (WWI), so he moved to his sister, Jenny's, ranch near Lewistown. When the mines closed down at Kendall, Robinsons had taken up a ranch near Suffolk. Sam and John joined the Army and when they left the Service, they joined their sister, Jenny, whose husband had died and she had two small boys and a ranch to take care of.
  The severe 1919 drought came and there were no crops, so Sam went to South Dakota to work in the harvest fields. Sam and John stayed with Jenny for several years. In the mid-twenties, the boys, John and Sam, purchased a ranch on the north side of the Missouri River. (Robbins place). They got their mail at the Wilder Post Office.
  John and Elizabeth Barrett were married. She had been raised 25 miles north of Jordan and her folks bought the Joe Legg place and were neighbors of Overgards. Their oldest daughter was born at this place.
  In 1935, they had to sell to the Government, due to the construction of the Fort Peck Dam. John and Elizabeth bought a ranch on the Tongue River, south of Miles City. The lack of schools presented a problem at this location and so they bought a ranch and moved to the Lavina area, west of Roundup.
  Brothers Sam and Gorman, ranched north of Missoula after leaving the Missouri. They retired several years ago and moved into Roundup. Gorman passed away in 1988. John and Elizabeth have a nice home in Roundup with a beautiful view of the Musselshell breaks to the east of town. They have lived here for a number of years.
 John recalled some incidents while they were on the Missouri River ranch: it was nearly Christmas, the
 

 weather bad and no one had been up to Wilder Post Office for the mail for some time. He was thinking of the little Athearn boys who lived across the river, so he saddled his horse and put a saddle on a pack-horse and went up to get the Christmas mail. He tied one sack of mail in the saddle and the other bags hung down over the sides of the horse. All went well, the pack horse following his saddle horse. As they reached the narrows below Huttons, the trail was slick and snow deep, so he dropped down on the ice of the river for a ways. As they came up off the river, the pack horse ran around his horse and took off down through the timber, with sacks flopping as he brushed through the trees. John chased the horse and caught him, but by that time the Christmas packages were pretty well mangled.
  The winter of 1927, Sam Overgard drove the wagon for the ill-fated cow-outfit that had crossed the herd on the ice and were heading for the mountains. They were stopped by storm and camped at Webb's river place and on the second try, the boss ordered them to go out. They were caught in a terrible blizzard by the time they reached Little Crooked. The cattle scattered all over the country and the storm took it's toll. The men took shelter at Bakers who lived on the Spiker place.
  John told about riding up the river by Eichermiller's cabin and as he approached, smoke was billowing from the one window and open door. He rushed over, thinking the place was on fire. Eichie was baking bread and didn't bother to cut the wood in stove-lengths. He just stuck a long stick into the stove and let it burn. The bread was as black as the stove.
  The river hills were rather treacherous at most any time of the year, ice and snow-clogged in winter, muddy when it rained and when dry the loose shale gave no traction for a climbing vehicle.
  No one wished to leave the Missouri River, but you couldn't argue with the Government.

  T. L. Peterson came to the United States from Switzerland with his wife and baby. His wife passed away soon after their arrival and he raised his son, Roy. Due to an accident aboard ship as they came to America, Roy was stricken with seizures for the rest of his life.
  They spent some time in Hawaii where Mr. Peterson was a supervisor on a pineapple plantation. He had many pictures of the Islands.
  In 1914 he and Roy came to Roy, Montana, and took up a homestead at the mouth of Nine Mile Creek on the Rocky Point Trail, as it was called then, in TWP. 20 Rge. 24 in Sec. 21-22-27, Byford P. O. His buildings were dug in the hillside and logged up with a southern exposure, similar to the modern earth homes. Here he farmed and milked cows. Harold Bauman recalls that he raised some big corn crops on the land that he farmed.
  In the mid-twenties he and his son got a place on the Missouri River down toward the Musselshell and gave up the dry-land homestead where they ranched for a number of years. He traveled the Musselshell Trail and drove a big Studebaker that Lynn Phillips had cut down and made into a pickup from one of the famed bootlegger cars of that era. He called it "Carrie" and it had speed as well as the lugging power of a tractor. Carrie cruised at 60 MPH which was a tremendous speed. There was no cab and he sat behind the wheel, yodeling as he sped down the road. He also widened some of the sharp corners on the old wagon roads! Hard working, vivacious, and jovial. A great guy!
  A 1936 Lewistown paper article tells of a car accident involving T L. and his sister, enroute to her home in Kalispell. I shall enclose the article.
 When the Fort Peck Dam took over the River places in 1937, T. L. Peterson moved to Kalispell where he lived the rest of his life.
Newspaper Article, August 7, 1936 

  T. L. Peterson, a prominent rancher of the river country near Wilder, returned recently from the western part of Montana. More than a month ago Mr. Peterson was taking his sister to her home and somewhere near Kalispell he had a serious accident which was a narrow escape for both. He relates the story something like this:
 He was traveling on a mountain road with a steep incline on one side, when a big bus of a traveling troupe ran into his car and knocked it off the road. His car turned over several times as it tumbled down the hill and finally rested in a spot out of sight of the road. Both were badly hurt, but after many efforts Mr. Peterson was able to crawl up the bank; and as he lay with only his shoulders above the grade, he waved a bloody handkerchief at the next tourist.
  He said he might have been partly unconscious, but yet he knew what he was doing. For some reason he could not make the stranger understand that he wanted him to go down the hill after his sister. The stranger stopped the next tourist and both tried to understand his statements; they finally decided to go down the hill where he pointed and there they found the wrecked car, and brought the lady up. She had a broken arm and numerous cuts and sprains. They then took the pair to the nearest town where they were placed in a hospital. Mr. Peterson remained in the hospital for several weeks and has barely recovered sufficiently to return to his home.
 The car was completely wrecked so he returned by train. He feels lucky his hurts were no more serious, for had they been, very likely both would have perished before anyone could have found them.

P. 471

  Charles Phillips was from Kentucky where his father owned a plantation. When the plantation was either sold or went into an estate, Charles settled for some horses and some money and left. He went to Texas where he was a Texas Ranger for a period of time.
  In 1904 Charles and his wife, Elizabeth, came to Montana with their sons. They homesteaded along the Missouri River (T 21N, R 28E), later moving to the Forest Grove area where he had a coal mine and the boys, Hardee, Ray, George, Milton, Leon and Lynn, all grew up and went to school.
  Charles and Elizabeth moved to Columbia Falls when they left Forest Grove. He passed away in 1937 and she died sometime in the late 40's.
  Roy Lynn Phillips was born on July 21, 1896 in Lexington, Oklahoma. Except for a time spent in the service in WWI and working in the mines at Neihart, Lynn grew up and lived and ranched in the Roy and Zortman area all his life.
  Lynn homesteaded along the Missouri River about 1915 or 1916. His place was below the McAlpine place;T. 21 R. 27.
  In 1928 Lynn was the owner of a new Chevrolet truck which he used to haul alfalfa seed from his ranch, and for others, along the Missouri River bottoms into Roy. On the return trip he would haul groceries back, for the ranchers along the river. During the 20's and 30's, until Ft. Peck covered the productive river bottom lands, many thousands of dollars of seed was raised.
  Lynn made his living as a cowboy. He did do some rodeoing, but just at local shows. He rode broncs because that was a way of life; you rode them to break them to use in your work. It was said of Lynn that, "nothing could ever buck him off'. He participated in many roundups and cattle drives and was foreman for Roy Hanson on many of the big roundups for several years in those early times.
  In 1929 he was married to Martha Marie Jecha,(1) whom he met when she was working in the cafe in Roy. Martha had come to Roy, from Kansas, to visit with her aunt, Mrs. Frank Martinec, and stayed on.
  The young couple lived on the ranch along the river. Their first child, a girl, died soon after birth in 1931. She was buried in a grave on the river bottom. The grave was later moved to some bluffs higher up when Ft. Peck Dam began to cover the bottoms. Eventually Lynn and Martha had four boys and another little girl.
  The government bought Lynn out for the Ft. Peck project, and the family moved to Landusky in 1934 where he worked in the mines and became foreman of the Ruby Gulch mine. It was while living in Landusky Zortman that tragedy hit the family.
  It happened on a chilly day in October of 1940. Martha tried to start a fire in the stove with distillate and an explosion occurred. She died from the burns received. Lynn was severely burned trying to rescue her. Martha is buried in the cemetery in Malta.
  Lynn was left with five small children to raise. Charlie was 9, Jimmie 7, Georgie 5, Betty 2 and Billie 5 months old. The first winter after Martha passed away their grandmother, Elizabeth Phillips, cared for them as she did off and on at later intervals and others also helped Lynn care for the youngsters.
  Lynn left Landusky and went to Belt where he worked in the mines at Neihart for 2 years. Again tragedy struck. This time Lynn's back was broken in two places in a mine cave-in and he spent a year in a Great Falls hospital. Doctors said he would never walk again.
  But Lynn was tougher than they reckoned and with guts and determination he proved them wrong. He had practiced his own brand of therapy and had walked in secret for a time before he surprised the doctors and showed them what he had accomplished.
  After this episode his hip hurt him continually until an old paint horse bucked him off and injured his leg. He practiced more therapy. He had his sons, Charlie and Georgie, pull on the leg to stretch it and the two boys must have done things right, because after two years of numbness everything felt normal again.
  Lynn moved back to Roy in 1942 and bought part of the Hickey place and the Stendal house and got his family back together again. About 1947 he moved back to the river, having bought rights from Tom Link on the Turner bottom. Ed and Chet Trusty had the upper place; Lynn the lower place on the bottom. He divided his time between the ranch and the home in Roy where the kids lived and attended school.
  In 1953 he sold out to Frank Cimrhakl and Dick Komarek. After the kids were on their own Lynn remarried, in 1957, to Mae Cottrell. She died in 1964. In 1965 he married Irene Rasmussen. Lynn passed away on November 30, 1969 and is buried in Sunset Memorial Gardens in Lewistown. Irene remained in Roy until in the 1980's when she moved to Malta to be closer to her family.
  All of the Phillips brothers are now deceased. Ray passed away at Wallace, Idaho; Hardee at Waltham; George in 1982 in Missoula and Leon in 1951 in California. Milton committed suicide after killing his wife and child at Novary where she was teaching.
  The children of Lynn Phillips: Lynn's children all graduated from Roy High School with the exception of Billy (1). All four boys became quite well known around the rodeo circuit and they still take an active part in the sport.
  Charlie, Jimmie and Georgie served in the Army during the first half of the 1950's and all three were in the service at the same time. They all reside in Lewistown at the present.
 

  Charlie has been an automobile salesman for many years. He is married to the former Barbara Brooks. He has two daughters, Lynda and Lori from a previous marriage.
  Jimmie breaks and trains horses. He and his wife, Esther, have three boys; Terry, Jim Bob, and Billy and a daughter, Mickey. Terry and Mickey both attended grade school in Roy.
  Georgie is a Montana State Brand Inspector. He and his wife, Shirley, have three sons; Scott, Jay and Steve.
  Betty is married to Ted Distad, the son of Gib and Edith Distad, and they live in Billings. They have two sons, Hardee and Eric.
  Billy rode the rodeo circuit for several years before finally settling in El Dorado Hills, California where he is engaged in the ranching business with his wife, Gail. He has a stepson, Rex.

  "Wally" Wallace Raymond came to live with his sister and her husband, Rosalie and Ray McNulty about 1955.
  Wally had been declared 100% disabled both mentally and physically from injuries incurred during WWII. He had served 3 years and 9 months aboard the USS Dobin.
  Wally was born in Nebraska, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Rueben Raymond. The other children in the family were: his sister, Rosalie, and brothers, Leland, Clarence, Hilbert and Ira. The family settled in the Two Calf area. Raymond's Ridge marks the area of their homestead.
  Wally leased the Bill Jenkins place when he went on his own and ran cattle. He also worked for the three Peterson boys: Alfred, Fred and Garde, on a threshing crew each fall.
  Wally has been lovingly and faithfully cared for these past 30-some years by his sister.

  Tommy Thompson was an early cowboy who rode the ranges of the Judith Basin and Missouri River sections long before the homesteaders came in. He was an interesting entertainer with his historic experiences, for he knew all the early pioneers and related many stories of the quarrels between the big sheep and cattle outfits.
  Tommy was working for the Fergus Ranch at the time he was shot in the mouth, for calling a man a "Monkey-ward cowboy". This left the corner of his mouth scarred and necessitated the constant wiping of saliva.
  Thompson's place was located at the mouth of Armells Creek on the Missouri River bottom, where he lived in a little log cabin. He had two blonde roan horses, one he rode and packed the other, which supplied his transportation.
  In his later years, he spent his summers herding sheep for either the Hanson or Phillips Ranches in Phillips County. One fall when he came home from across the river, he brought me a little fat, white puppy on his packhorse. We named him Tag-along and had him for many years. "Tag" pulled my wagon and sled and was a good family friend.
  Tommy ordered from the catalogs, as was the custom at that time, and would come to the store and post office at Wilder to get his mail with his horses, which was approximately a twelve mile trip. The Mauland & Anderson Ranch was about half way which afforded another place to stop, visit and have a meal. He enjoyed visiting with the people at the post office.
  He would make a trip to Roy in the fall for his winter's grubstake and one time they sold him a gas lantern. These gave a much brighter light than the old kerosene lamps. When he got home he tried to light it. It blazed up, as they would do when a flame heated the generator and the gas was turned on. Tommy thought it was on fire, grabbed it up, ran out and pitched it in the river!
  Tommy became a bit eccentric in his late years. He would tell my mother that he had been packing in Glacier Park, working for famous, rich eastern women who came to vacation there. The fantasy of a tired, lonely old man.
 

  Suffering from pneumonia, he was taken to a Lewistown hospital by a neighbor and passed away January 16, 1933 at the age of 65. I believe that he was buried in the Lewistown City Cemetery and do not know of any relatives.

  The following article appeared in a November 12, 1912 issue of the Lewistown paper.

  Thomas Thompson, of Armells, is at the Sister's Hospital suffering from a bullet wound in the jaw, and John Maher, for some years employed at the Fergus Ranch at Armells, is in the county jail for doing the shooting, both men having been brought in last Wednesday.
  Maher's statement as to the affair is that last Tuesday night Thompson was intoxicated and he undertook to get him to bed. He succeeded in getting Thompson to the bunk house, when the man became ugly and made an attempt to shoot Maher. The latter says he simply shot first, using a rifle, the ball striking Thompson in the jaw, inflicting a very ugly wound. Thompson had also been employed at the ranch at Armells for a long time. Maher claims that he acted entirely in self defense. There will be a preliminary hearing as soon as Thompson is able to appear in court. He is getting along all right and will doubtless be able to testify in a short time.

 Andrew Tresch was born June 30, 1889 in Wheeler Grunnelen Uri, Switzerland, the son of John and Mary Tresch. He and his brother, Edward, came to the United States in 1911 and settled at Kalispell.
 Later in that year, he walked from Malta to Lewistown because of his acquaintance with Toby Machler. He moved to the Grass Range area with Toby and Rose Machler, who had homesteaded there.
  Tresch worked for the Dengel ranch at Grass Range before moving to the Missouri River in 1915, where he was associated with Fred and Mike Machler and had a livestock operation at this location. Andrew bought a grey Model A Ford roadster in 1930 and was an early automobile owner.
  In 1958 he sold his holdings and moved to the old Fergus Ranch where he worked for the Yaeger Brothers until 1977, when he moved to Lewistown to be near the George Machler family.
  He passed away at Valle Vista Manor May 14, 1987, after a lengthy illness. His brother Ed, passed away in 1979. He had no other relatives in the United States. He was never married.

  The Trusty brothers, Chester, Everett (Ed) and Howard came to Fort Benton, Montana in 1905, from northern Minnesota where their parents Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Trusty took up a homestead, after moving from Ionia, Iowa where the children were born.

  Chester was born 21 September 1882, Ionia, Iowa.
  Chet and his brothers went to the Flathead area from Fort Benton and engaged in the orchard business and farming at LaSalle which was a post office (1900-1905) near Kalispell.
  In 1914, Chester and his wife, Emma C., homesteaded on the Missouri River on the bottom below Rocky Point, Wilder P.O., T 21N., R 26E., Sec. 9, 17. The deed was recorded 19 May 1916 (coastal part of this bottom) as Frank Honrais had previously settled on 310 acres next to the hills and on the lower end. 10 March 1917 Trustys sold to Lawrence and Minnie Whittemore, Malta, Montana and went back to the Flathead.
  Chet and Emma divorced. He came back to the river intermittently while his brother Ed, was living on the river. Sometimes he stayed for lengthy periods and did carpentering or was in an enterprise with Ed. In an article in the Lewistown Daily News in 1962, when he and Ed were living in Roy, Chet said that his main interest had always been carpentry, although he had farmed and spent much of his life in lumber camps. He said that Ed was the cowboy of the family. Even at age nine, when his father had left him at their new unfinished cabin in northern Minnesota, he completed it while "snowed in", as his father had gone to Iowa to bring the family to the homestead.
  In late 1962 he went back to northwestern Montana. He purchased property in Troy, Montana in 1963 and sold it the following year.
  Chester died at the Kalispell Convalescent Home, 25 November 1964, after 5 weeks in this institution; 82 years of age. Internment was at Woodlawn Cemetery, Columbia Falls. He was survived by one daughter, two step-daughters; his brother Everett of Columbia Falls; one nephew and three nieces. Informant: Ted H. Christofferson of Troy, Montana.

  Everett Lee Trusty, born 29 July 1887, Ionia, Iowa to Andrew and Mary E. (Cox) Trusty. He and his two brothers, Chester and Howard, moved to Fort Benton, Montana, when he was 18 years old in 1905. He married Erma Krohn in Fort Benton in 1916. He had been in the orchard business at Big Fork and they moved to the Missouri River, Wilder, P. O. He resided on the bottom
 

bove Knute Gairrett's for many years. Ed and Erma had one daughter, Esther. They divorced and mother and daughter left the river when Esther was nine years old. Ed remained on the river place until the waters of Fort Peck Dam forced him to move. He spent some time in the Roy area and moved to Columbia Falls in 1966.
  Esther remembers going to school on the river. The sod roofed, log school house was on their place. The teacher lived in the teacherage and took meals with Trustys. The six oldest Gairrett boys, Jean Hutton and Esther were the pupils. School was usually a short term. She recalls that her father and uncles were very musical and Ed played the fiddle and called square dances. Wayne Gairrett was very musically talented and played the banjo very well. When the river had frozen solid, it became a hiway in the winter and the neighbors up and down the river had many all-night dances, going by team and sled, bundled up with fur robes and hay in the box. Dancing and visiting helped pass the long winters as this was many miles from town.
  Ed moved to Columbia Falls in 1966, where he lived until 1973 when he went to the Colonial Manor Nursing Home. He died there 2 February 1975, age 87. Erma died, 5 May 1973. He is survived by his daughter, Esther Provost of Lewiston, Idaho; two grandsons, and four great grandchildren. He is buried beside his brother, Chester at Woodlawn Cemetery, Columbia Falls, Montana.

  About the year of 1900 or before, Elmer W. Turner was a passenger on a steamboat going up the Missouri River. The boat stopped at what is known as Rocky Point or Wilder and tied up to a big cottonwood tree for the night, on the south bank about where the ferry crossed.
  I was told that they layed over at night on the trip upstream. Elmer got off and went to the General Store (this building became the barn at the Turner Ranch) and the post office was in the same building. Elmer was asked by the proprietor of the store if he was looking for a job and he said that he was. The store owner hired him and he stayed and worked at the store. In due time, Elmer purchased the store and ran it for a period of years, as well as the ferry. He bought the land where the buildings stand and homesteaded more ground below. Cecil Mitchell, a relative from Ohio, homesteaded the upper end of the bottom in 1918 and sold it to Mr. Turner. He gained ownership of the entire bottom, which was one of the biggest. In 1915, Bertha Lehman came from Ohio and became Elmer's wife. Bertha's sister, Mamie, was married to Cecil Mitchell.
  Back in the days of the Indians, the location of the Turner Ranch was known as Fort Wilder as there was an Army Post stationed there to protect the settlers and freight line. Many people lived in dugouts in the hill south of the buildings and these spots were still visible in the 1930's. Elmer Turner operated the ferry for many years.  In some cases he took merchandise for pay. During the prohibition years, this was a main route of the bootleggers who hauled Canadian liquor to points south. Fred Dow and his men ran the biggest fleet of
 

 cars. Many times these men barely made it across the river ahead of the law.
  When Elmer first started ranching he ran sheep, but sheep and cattle did not mix and he changed to Hereford cattle and had a well-bred herd. He always prided himself in good equipment and stock. He was a "Jack of all trades" and could do anything and do it well.
  The Halls made several visits and even stayed with Turners for awhile in 1930, however they returned to Ohio to make their home. This account was written 15 February 1976, shortly after their last visit.

  Elmer Turner was a quiet, reserved person, neat and exacting. He had studied law in Ohio before coming West. This man followed the "code of the West", for he asked no questions of strangers--if they gave a name, that was what they went by and it was not customary to pry into their past unless they volunteered information. Some went by nicknames only. The oldsters guarded these subjects with mystery.
  You felt privileged to be told of his early life at Wilder, for he was not one to boast of who he knew or events that had happened.
  This was my reason, personally, for being proud of his friendship and we kept in touch with Elmer and Bertha as long as they lived. They resided at Kerrville, Texas after traveling awhile when they left the Missouri River.

  Romo White was an early settler on the Missouri River, Phillips County. Floyd Hardin's picture of the Manning roundup wagon, dated 1915, shows Romo as the cook, donned in white apron. He ranched at the above location, raising cattle and alfalfa seed. He was also a bee keeper and processed the honey, being very clean in handling it and knowledgeable in the bee business. He brought the honey in 10 lb. pails to the Wilder store and put it on the shelf for sale.
  Mr. White was a kindly person, good neighbor and friend of the people of this area; energetic, honest with a quiet personality.
  He was an excellent blacksmith and could make horseshoes to measure to perfection, which took craftsmanship and skill in handling hot iron.
  His early life was spent in the southeastern states. A train accident was responsible for the loss of the toes on one foot. He fashioned his high-laced boots with a block of wood bolted in the toe to keep his foot from slipping forward, thus he had a slight limp. Romo got his mail at the Wilder post office, crossing the river in a rowboat and walking the seven or eight miles quite often. He ordered goods through the mail order catalogues, so often carried a large pack home.
  The U.S. Corps of Engineers purchased his ranch in 1935 for the Fort Peck Dam, but he continued to lease it for a number of years. He then lost one leg, but continued to keep ranching. Young Bill Woodcock remembered the determination of neighbor, Romo, with one leg and his father, Jesse Woodcock, who had lost one arm; how hard they worked, with no thought of their handicaps. He said Romo even stacked his own hay.
  In 1960, the Fish and Wildlife Service took over the management of the CMR and established the Slippery Ann Game Station at Romo White's place. Mr. White moved to the Flathead area, settling at Lake Blain, northeast of Kalispell. Several inquiries have failed to get further information as to his demise.

  Arlo C. Williamson, son of Christen and Nettle Williamson was born 28 October 1908 at Ruthven, Iowa. He came with his parents to homestead ten miles southwest of Dodson, Montana. The Williamson family and the Sandvigs, who were Nettie's brother and his family, came to Montana with two immigrant cars loaded with household goods, machinery and livestock as a result of the great "Jim Hill" land promotion with the coming of the Great Northern Railroad across the Hi-line. There were eleven children in the Williamson family, four were born in Montana.
  In the fall of 1927, Arlo rode to the Missouri River and crossed on the ferry at Rocky Point and stopped at Wilder. He liked this area, but had decided to leave his saddle horse and pack horse at Roy for the winter while he made a trip to Texas. He purchased a motorcycle
 

  and made the trip down and back the following year. He picked up his horses and went to work for Rube Raymond, east of Winifred. Shortly before winter, he came back to Wilder and worked for Steve Webb for a year. He had the opportunity to purchase some river land, which was the lower part of the Smokey Johnson bottom, between the mouth of Sand Creek and the Turner bottom.
  Arlo was a big strapping young man and was well liked in this community. His brother, Ole, who was a school teacher, stayed with Arlo while he was teaching the Byford School for three years. Ole was a fine teacher and he gained many friends during this time. Norval, his youngest brother also spent one summer with Arlo.
  When the river places were sold for the Fort Peck Dam in the fall of 1935, Arlo went to his old home near Dodson and he and Ole bought the ranch from his parents in 1937, where they had lived for 27 years. Ole and Arlo operated the ranch for the next 36 years. Arlo was especially fond of his horses, although they also raised cattle and farmed extensively. ACE was his brand.
 Arlo was a great hand to take snapshots throughout his life time and kept up correspondence with his friends. His long letters were wonderful to receive. He wrote to young and old alike, a very admirable trait. Arlo never married. He died suddenly of a heart attack at the ranch, 1 April 1973, at the age of 64 years. He was buried at the Malta Cemetery.

  Jesse Albert Woodcock was born 25 November 1902 in Tama, Iowa. He was seven years old when he came to Montana with his parents, Bertha S. and Dr. G. A. Woodcock.
  His mother taught schools in Fergus County for twelve years and was principal in Kendall and Roy, where Jesse was educated. After the Woodcocks divorced, Mrs. Woodcock and Ralph Jenson married and both were homesteaders on Sand Creek, northeast Fergus County, Little Crooked Post Office.
  Jesse was a very energetic, ambitious boy and made many friends during his school years. When they moved to the homestead, he became a cowboy and had many friends among the young crowd who were interested in horses and cowboying. Lynn Phillips, Harlan Green, the Sandstrom boys, John Athearn, Roy Hanson, Ivar Mathison, and Charlie Miller were some of the boys he rode with.
  In the fall of 1925, Mabel Larson, a beautiful young lady from Wisconsin, came to teach the Coal Hill School, District #165, northeast of Roy. She taught an eight month term and came to Little Crooked School to finish a two month term in District #101. She then taught the following nine month term at Little Crooked followed by two nine month terms at Joslin, District #52, from 1927 to 1929. Mabel was not only a beautiful girl, she was a superb teacher, and it was love at first sight for Jesse. His cowboy friends didn't have a chance with this new schoolmarm.
  Mabel and Jesse were married 27 September 1927. The Woodcocks left Montana for a few years, after 1929, going back east to Minnesota. Jesse lost his right arm in an industrial accident there. Jesse William (Billy) was born. The dry thirties and the depression were on, so the family moved back to the Jenson ranch to help and Jesse bought a new Ford stock-truck with dual wheels, a first for this area, and did trucking. He amazed everyone with his skill of operating the truck on the river hills where it was necessary to do a lot of gear-shifting with his left hand. He rolled Bull Durham cigarettes with his left hand, which was also quite a trick. He was a hard worker, full of ambition and anticipation and with his wife as his right hand, he achieved any task he set out to do.
  The Missouri River lands were sold to the U.S. Government in the fall of 1935 for the Fort Peck Dam. Joe Bell and his family moved to Nevada in 1936 and the river places were leased on a yearly basis, with the Government having the discretion to terminate at any time. Woodcocks leased the Bell place and moved across the river in 1937 where Jesse resumed ranching, with the raising of alfalfa seed as his main crop.
  Woodcocks added a new member to their family, baby Carolyn.
  Jensons dispersed their holding in Fergus County and moved to Helena, where Ralph worked for a few years.  Mrs. Jenson's prize refrigerator was moved to the Woodcock ranch and used for many years. The
 

Jensons returned from Helena in the early forties and lived with Woodcocks, until Mrs. Jenson's death.
  Schools were a problem, as it was 25 to 30 miles to the closest ones at Landusky or Zortman. Mabel taught the Landusky school in Phillips County in the 1934 term with Bill in the 5th grade and little Carolyn starting, a bit early in age.
  In 1949, Woodcocks lost a big seed crop to wind after it had been cut, so Mabel taught the 1950 Zortman School. Bill was in high school at Malta.
  The Searle Seed Company of Lewistown gave big publicity to Jesse in 1951 when he raised a $10,000 alfalfa seed crop.
  Bill attended college at Castile, New York. He married the daughter of Jesse's old friend, Harlan Green. Bill and Joan raised four children: Mrs. Susan Wilber, Mrs. Linda Schnider, Rodney Jesse and David Harlan. Bill and his wife live in Billings, Montana.
  Carolyn married Jim Dolbare and lives in Casper, Wyoming. They have five children
  After ranching on the Missouri River for 24 years the Woodcocks moved to Roy in 1961. Mabel taught the Warm Springs School, District #146, from January 1952 to May of that year In the fall of 1962 she took the Central School, District #131 and taught to the end of the year when she was forced to quit, due to ill health. Mabel passed away at a Great Falls hospital, 11 April 1963, age 65, a cancer victim. She was born, 31 December 1897, at New Richmond, Wisconsin. Besides her husband and immediate family she was survived by three sisters and three brothers of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Burial was in Sunset Memorial Gardens at Lewistown.
  After Mabel's death, Jesse lived at various places. He remarried to Margaret Mock in 1966 and he died 21 July 1967 at Casper, Wyoming. He was buried beside Mabel at Sunset Memorial Gardens.

PHOTOS-DESCRIPTIONS

• Rosalie McNulty
   

• Ray McNulty and his brother in law Wally Raymond
   

• The first residence of the McNulty family on their Montana homestead. From left to right are: Tom, Edith, Etta Furman (Edith's sister), Murle and Ray.
   

• Back row: Keith Meckling, Patience Norskog and Bud. Front row: John Meckling, Mary Dale Meckling Jones, Virginia and Connie Meckling Heggem. Not pictured is their son, Kelly: Bud's two sons, Jason and Chris and Virginia's son Mike Meckling.
   

• House on the Knox Bottoms.
   

• From left to right, three young cowboys: Roy Hanson, Lynn Phillips and George Hamilton.
   

• Ed Trusty
   

• The Trustys go bear hunting
   

• Elmer W. Turner, Wilder Postmaster form 1899 to 1917
   

• The Turner house is now a historical site that has been restored by the government. It still stands on the river bottom where once was the thriving town of Wilder (or Rocky Point), a stopping off place for steamboat passengers, freight and an Army post.
   

• Arlo Williamson
   

• Jesse and Mabel Woodcock
   

• Young Billy standing on the running-board of his dad's cattle truck. 1934.

(1) changed by Betty Phillips Distad--Billie to Billy. 

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