APRIL 2023 Ghost Towns and History of Montana Newsletter From The Whole Truth (Castle, MT) April 3, 1897 IN DAYS OF BIG HORSE RANCHES, VARNEY AND FARRELL LED FIELD, 6,000 HEAD OVER THE FOOTHILLS From The Montana Oil and Mining Journal, Jan. 2, 1937: When people refer to Montana as a livestock state, they usually think in terms of cattle and sheep. But the breeding of horses on a commercial scale has been carried on in years past. Montana horse ranchers have sold thousands of animals to the United States army in years gone by. Montana bronchos were sold through the states of the middle west by the hundred, to pull the plows of corn belt farmers. Montana cattle and sheep ranchers who did not care to engage in horse raising themselves, but who had use for a large number of horses, furnished a strong home market. During the Boer war to South Africa hundreds of Montana range bred animals were shipped to that country for army use. One of the largest horse ranches that Montana has ever had was the old VF ranch in Madison county. It was owned by two men, horsemen both, who came to Alder gulch during the gold Osmond B. Varney Courtesy of The Madisonian, 1906 Thomas J. Farrell Courtesy of The Madisonian, 1906 Accessed via: https://montananewspapers.org mining boom of the early sixties. One of them started a livery stable in Virginia City upon his arrival. The other established a custom horse herd, one to which the prospectors and miners of the vicinity could take their horses to be cared for when not in use and to be delivered to them upon request.
P a g e 2 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz These men, T. J. Farrell and O. B. Varney, after they had become partners and at the height of their prosperity had more than 6,000 horses on the range bearing the VF brand. Their mark was known all over southwestern Montana and in every big eastern horse market. Cow horses bearing the VF brand could be found upon almost every range in the west. Varney, a relative of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," was from Massachusetts. Farrell, a native of Ireland, was three years old when his parents immigrated to America, and grew to manhood in Illinois. He was a boyhood chum of the late Gen. Charles S. Warren, noted Butte character of early days, and police judge in that city for many years. Farrell, tired of farm life, ran away from home and went to St. Louis, spending several years working at the horse market there. He learned the horse business so thoroughly that he was considered one of the shrewdest judges of horse flesh ever to come to this state. When the Alder Gulch gold discoveries started prospectors trekking into the state, Varney and Farrell joined the throng. Varney freighted into Virginia City from Denver, and Farrell from Salt Lake City. Farrell arrived first. He it was who engaged in the livery business, having as an adjunct to it a horse auction sale. Varney started the horse herd. He had a camp at a spring eight miles from Virginia City, a spring which bore his name for many years afterwards. His herd headquarters were at the spring and in the vicinity he ranged the animals given into his care, delivering them to the camp whenever they were wanted. The two men became acquainted and after a time formed a partnership which lasted all during the Alder Gulch gold excitement. When the rich and shallow placer diggings were worked out, the prospectors left. There were no more horses to keep up the herd, and the livery business petered out. Then the partnership was dissolved and Farrell and Varney each entered the horse business independently. Farrell had a camp in the foothills on the west side of the Madison valley Eight Mile house. Varney established his headquarters at “Scandavine,” on the edge of a big stretch of bottom land along the east side of the river. Each of them had a hay ranch in the lower part of the valley. Farrell had 30 mares which he had picked up in trading and trafficking around, none of them thoroughPhoto by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
P a g e 3 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r breds, but good, solid stock. Then he bought a Chestnut stallion, a pacer, which he called “Chief.” Chief, big and homely, was from the Dan Rice strain. He could pace a mile at the end of a halter in less than three minutes. Varney, also had about 30 mares of the same class as Farrell's, those which had stood the long trip to Montana harnessed to freight wagons or under saddles. He bought, to head his herd, a long barreled, short legged stallion which he named “John.” John was an Oregon horse. During the years that Varney had him he became famous as the sire of the fastest short distance running horses the west has ever known. The “Oregon horse” was a type entirely different from the Indian or Texas ponies which were so numerous over the old west. The Oregon horse was bigger, taller and heavier, a good all-purpose animal, dependable either under saddle or in harness. The Oregon horses were brought into this country from Oregon, where they had been developed by the early settlers as a particular strain. For many years they enjoyed a reputation not only in the west, but through the middle western states, where they were sold by the thousands even in the late nineties. Miles apart the herds of Farrell and of Varney wandered on the open range, the river dividing their territory, and with scarcely another animal in the region to become mixed with them. Each band was carefully guarded by its owner, or by some one in his employ. Year after year the two men stuck to horse raising and their herds increased. Either one of them would trade for a good horse at any time and before long both were recognized as the leading horsemen in that part of the state for they had good stock and had built up a reputation. Also, each of them had expanded into the cattle business. Their ranches adjoined and between them covered the best of the land in the Madison valley. Although the two men were fast friends, they became, as a matter of fact, a little jealous of each other as their success grew from year to year. Then, once again, they decided to enter partnership. In 1880 they got together one day at the old Eight Mile house and drew up a simple agreement that in the future they would pool issues. They founded the firm of Farrell & Varney, and the VF brand was established. Prior to that time Farrell had used TJF as his brand. The Varney horses were branded with a V. There were 700 horses in the two bands at the time of the consolidation. From that time on the combined herd grew apace and the horse industry in Montana took on new life. The men had similar ideas about breeding -- good sires and mares. The ranch prospered for many years. It accumulated much land and the annual income of the firm from livestock sales frequently reached $20,000 or more. Farrell & Varney sold horses to the government for army purposes for many years and won from army officers the commendation that the animals pur
P a g e 4 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r chased from the VF ranch were the best stock the army had ever had. It was claimed that the VF horses could stand more grief and give more service than any other stock that ever bore the US brand. The saddle horses used on the VF ranch itself could make 100 miles from sun to sun and cover the trail home the next day. Butte furnished a market for their heavier horses, purchased by freighters and ore haulers. Eastern Montana cattle ranches came to the VF to obtain saddle stock for their cavvies, and the VF horses were considered tough and wise. There was a good market in North Dakota for VF horses, both in the cattle country and the newly opened agricultural regions. Finally the horse business went to the dogs. The best animals on western farms were sold for a song. Farrell & Varney were forced to quit. At that time the firm had 6,000 head of horses They were sold at prices ranging from $4 to $8 a head. That was in the middle nineties. Two years later horses were bringing from $30 to $50 a head and being shipped to South Africa for use in the Boer war, while bigger and better ones were in demand in the southwest where farming was undergoing rapid development. The old VF ranch passed into the hands of John B. Wellcome of Anaconda and after his death was purchased by the Hodgens Brothers of Butte. Its purpose was changed. Instead of furnishing range for thousands of head of horses, it was put to raising grain and alfalfa. A 12 -mile irrigating ditch that carried a river of water to formerly semi-arid benches, transformed them into amazingly productive acres. Varney died in Virginia City a few years after the firm went out of business. Farrell moved to Missoula, where he resided for many years. Thus passed Montana's largest exclusive horse ranch. The old VF Ranch in 1938, Courtesy of The Sanders County Independent-Ledger During the past few years a condition similar to that which was responsible for the VF brand going out of business has existed. Tractors and automobile displaced the horse. Comparatively few of them were to be found on farm, and ranches. Then came the depression and hard times, and the horse has come back—part way at least. During the past year market reports from all over the country have told of the scarcity of horses and the growing demand for them as farmers again sought to harness them to their plows. The biggest horse outfit in Montana at present is that of Chappell Brothers, which ranges animals in northern Montana and sells to eastern markets. -Accessed via: www.montananewspapers.org
P a g e 5 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r James Richard (Dick) Gibson and His Ranch on Blood Creek Photo by Shawn Shawhan A view of the ranch from the access road that runs down the ridge of a nearby bluff. The photos I’m sharing are about James Richard (Dick) Gibson and his ranch on Blood Creek as it flows (when it’s not dry) into the Musselshell River. But the following stories to get to that ranch story are a bit convoluted. The first part of the history is about Fred Gibson (Dick’s father), and the second part of the history is about John Winter (father of Hazel, Dick’s bride-tobe). There is a mention in these stories about Dick being “…very mechanically minded and inventive. He has turned many a "piece of junk" into a useful machine.” You will see some of Dick’s creativity in the photographs I will be sharing. Photo by Shawn Shawhan Photo by Shawn Shawhan One of Dick's creations: a backhoe shovel mounted on the rear of an Inside the old barn that contained a tack room and assorted supplies and junk. There is one barn on the ranch that is being used as a Tack Shed. I didn’t know that until I dug up weeds that were blocking the door into the barn and then cleared away a pile of dirt that prevented the door to open. I’ll be sharing 2 photographs from inside the barn. Two years after these photographs were taken I returned to the ranch and once again I had to remove weeds from in front of the barn door in order to open it. No one had been inside the barn since my previous visit. What an amazing collection of goods in that barn just rotting away. Here are the stories about the Gibsons and the Winters. ************** Gibson Story *********** GIBSON, Fred: Although Fred Gibson never made a permanent home in Petroleum County, he, and men like him, had a definite influence on the settling of the area. He spent his entire life in the West when history was being made. Fred, the only son of Henry and Merry Gibson, was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, in l879. He was orphaned at the age of fourteen, and it was at that time that he started cowboying as his only line of work. In 1908 he came to Montana, landing in Miles City. His first job was with the N Bar working for Tom Cruse, he later worked for the H Cross mostly as rep with the 79 wagon. In 1916 he married Myrna Garfield and settled in Garfield County 26 miles north of Sand Springs, Montana. He served as Sheriff of Garfield County from 1928 until 1935. Fred and Myrna had two sons. Robert and Richard. Fred died in 1949. Myrna then married Walter Haynie and moved to Winnett in 1961. old truck. The hoe was powered by a truck engine also mounted on the old truck rear end. As you can see by the hitch, the backhoe was pulled around by some other truck or vehicle. The tack room part of the old barn. Photo by Shawn Shawhan
P a g e 6 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r James Richard Gibson (Dick) was born in 1918 at the ranch at Benzien, north of Sand Springs. He received his education in Garfield County. Dick acquired some earthmoving equipment and started building dams. He stayed with this line of work until 1958, when they moved to the John Winter Ranch on the Musselshell. Dick is very mechanically minded and inventive. He has turned many a "piece of junk" into a useful machine. In 1947 James Richard married Hazel Winter, daughter of John Winter and Hellan Hill. They had five sons -- John (1948), Daniel (1949), James (1953), Joe (1955), and David (1961). ************** Winter Story *********** WINTER. John U. (Sec 11-17-29): Johnny, son of William and Anna Winter of Olathe, Kansas, was born November 1, 1887. His early years were spent in Colorado and Wyoming. As a lad, Johnny dreamed of taking first money at the Cheyenne rodeo and riding with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show, not an unusual aspiration for a young western boy. He practiced his roping and riding, entering rodeos and working for cow outfits, and finally, in 1908, at the ripe old age of 21, he took second money at the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Photo by Shawn Shawhan Another one of Dick's creations. Homemade sheep herder wagon. Photo by Shawn Shawhan rodeo. A man by the name of Ebon Low was impressed with his abilities and took him to Hawaii, as part of a Wild West Show, where he rode broncs and did trick roping. In l9l0, he joined Buffalo Bill's troupe and rode with them for a while. He was still riding in local rodeos in the 1920s. In the spring of 1913, Johnny Winter helped Floyd Norris move to Montana. Floyd went back to Wyoming in 1914: however, Johnny stayed and settled at the mouth of Blood Creek where he made his home for the next forty-four years. Through the years, he acquired other places, forming a well-rounded ranch operation. In 1917 Johnny married Hellan Allan and they had one daughter, Hazel, born at Mecaha in 1917. Hellan and John separated in 1919, and John married Eulalie Sterrett in 1928. Eulalie passed away in 1972. John had died in 1958. Hazel (Winter) Gibson received her primary education in various schools along the Musselshell River. When she was attending the Weede School, she, Alvin Hill, and the Benson children explored an old Indian cave in a butte near the river. They were unable to get to the cave entrance except by being dropped on a rope from a rock above the entrance. In the cave they found bones and bright-colored beads, which they gathered and took with them. Their parents weren't very happy, as they had heard that the cave was a burial ground for Indians who had died of smallpox. Mrs. Hill, and Hazel’s mother, took the beads and burned them, and the children were taken to town for vaccinations. They had sore arms instead of beads. Hazel continued her education and became a teacher. She taught for many years in Montana and Wyoming before marrying J. R. (Dick) Gibson and taking over her father's ranch on the river. –Courtesy of Shawn Shawhan, Check out more of his beautiful photos at: https://abyssart.smugmug.com/? Photo by Shawn Shawhan
P a g e 7 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r Chickens Can Make Money The following is a story told by Abbie M. McLain to Garnet Stephenson at Georgetown Lake in 1964: I Abbie May Belyea McClain was born in the green timber land of New Brunswick, Canada Sunday afternoon of January 18, 1885..at 5:00 p. m…My father John Wesley Belyea was a hard working dairy farmer. My mother Mary Elizabeth Delong Belyea who was thirty-nine when I was born was a good farm woman. I was her tenth and youngest child. Four girls and five boys lived to maturity. One child died at birth. My father worked in the lumber woods in the winter. I was one month past five years of age when my father died of dropsy at the age of forty-eight. His body filled up with water and when it reached his heart he passed away…My brothers stayed home to finish paying for the farm. $300.00 was owed on it… I was twenty-three years old when in July 1908, my sister’s husband and oldest boy came to Missoula, Montana. The following March I helped my sister bring her seven children to Missoula... I fully intended to go back to New Brunswick where I had done housework for another family for seven years. I was young, pretty and had good clothes. I had blue eyes, a straight nose and cheeks that stole the bloom of the wild rose. I wore my hair in a large bun on the top of my head. I had a fancy pin in it. My tall, slim figure was clothed in dresses of the bustle-mutton-leg sleeve style. The better dresses had long trains that trailed behind. Women often carried the trains over their arms. Shoes were high top button style. I found a job doing housework in a place called Washington Gulch eighteen miles north of Avon. I worked there sixteen months, then I went to Missoula to work. I arrived in Missoula December 3, 1910. While I was in Missoula a neighbor, Mr. Gibson used to tease me about a Will McClain. I had never seen Will, but jokingly told him to invite Will down sometime. The Gibsons had worked for Will and his brother Charlie on their farm in the Bitterroot. I found Will to be a handsome, blue-eyed man of medium build with dark curly hair. We had supper at Gibsons then Will and I went to a revival meeting. A teacher named Lowry had meetings in a big tent across the tracks. We went to revival meetings often after that. I had been in Missoula exactly one year when Will and I were married December 3, 1911… Will was thirty-eight and I was twentysix. I, the bride wore a brown suit with an ecru lace blouse. I paid $10.00 for the blouse. On my head was a brown velvet hat trimmed in front with blue net. We drove a buggy from Missoula to the ranch near Philipsburg. Will and I lived on the ranch from 1911 until he died January 26, 1949. Will and I worked hard and over the years we expanded the original ranch of 160 acres to 2,470 acres. We had three children. The first was a boy who died when he was ten days old. He was born January 29, 1913. Howard was born eleven months later on Christmas day, 1913. Emily was born December 6, 1917… To make a living we raised horses, range cattle, chickens and milked cows. We sold fifty pounds of butter a week…I have always been fond of chickens but Will never wanted to have any. I took some of my own money that I had earned and put away before my marriage and bought a dozen hens. Later I bought another dozen red hens. When Will saw that I could make money with them he built me a hen house… We milked one cow at first then Mrs. Belleview had cows she wanted to sell. We then bought more from Cleve Metcalf. Fourteen were the most we milked at one time. We both milked and after they were big enough the kids milked. After Howard was three years old, we had a hired man all of the time. Abbie and W.H. McClain The years have passed and I am an old woman. I have five granddaughters: Lesa Marjorie Lyon, Charlotte, Mary Etta, Lydia “Gail”, and Nellie McClain and one grandson George W. McClain. The ranch that I worked so hard to help pay for is still in the family. My son Howard operates it. I had my part in the progress of the west and now I relinquish the work to younger, stronger hands. Abbie an unassuming person lived a simple life consisting of hard work, harsh reality, and her legacy: the ranch and grandchildren. – Courtesy of The Granite County History Blog The purpose of the Granite County History Blog (https://granitecountyhistory.blogspot.com/) is to share and seek information on the history of
P a g e 8 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r Granite County, Montana. In a few cases our topics will lap over into adjacent counties as mining districts especially do not respect the later boundaries imposed by politicians! It is a project of members of the Granite County Historical Society, an organization founded in 1978 by the late Barry Engrav of Philipsburg and now comprised of 8 members dedicated to preserving and interpreting historical documents, artifacts, and sites in the greater Philipsburg area. Our goal is to interest current residents, folks with family roots, and those with an academic interest in the area to add their knowledge to this blog as an ongoing project to deepen and in some cases correct the narrative of the people and events that shaped history in this part of Montana. The recent explosion of scanned historical documents onto the internet is making it possible to greatly speed up historical research, refine historical chronology, and deepen historical interpretation. Perhaps we are entering into a "golden age" of research into our past! Anyone with an interest in the Philipsburg area or Montana history is invited to discuss the topics of our posts, as well as their own data and sources, which we hope will create an ongoing dialogue about the area now known as Granite County. A Monument to Convict Labor Upon Statehood in 1889, the federal penitentiary at Deer Lodge, Montana, became a state institution. The prison housed 198 inmates in a cell block built to hold no more than 140. Prisoners spilled over into the outbuildings in the yard, the wash house, and the prison’s carpenter shop. Warden Frank Conley foresaw the deterioration of the prison if nothing were done to repair and expand it. But the state had no money. Conley was convinced, like other penal administrators of the time, that idle convicts bred trouble. The prison had no funds, but it did have untapped manpower. The Board of Prison Commissioners gave Conley permission to use convict labor to build a stone wall around the prison. The Commissioners hired James McCalman, a skilled stone and brick mason, to serve as architect, builder, and teacher. McCalman never drew a plan. He designed his projects entirely in his head, and then, with the help of his construction foreman, he taught the unskilled and inexperienced prisoners how to build what he envisioned. Construction began in the spring of 1893 and it was a huge undertaking. Inmate crews first rerouted a Northern Pacific sidetrack to transport the buff-colored sandstone from a local quarry. The rail cars brought the raw chunks of stone directly through the prison’s main entrance and into the yard where inmates cut them. James McCalman ably taught the men and directed them in the construction of the elaborate wall. He designed the Romanesque-style enclosure, twenty feet high, with four massive round corner towers and two central square towers to resemble a medieval fortress. The walls extend four feet below ground to foil inmates who considered escape by tunneling beneath. The overall appearance not only brings to mind the medieval castle, but also the inevitable dungeon such places contain: a dark and dank place no one wants to visit. When the imposing wall reached completion just one year later, incredulous officials pronounced it an architectural marvel and a “monument to convict skill and labor” unsurpassed in the United States. It was the beginning of James McCalman’s long career designing and constructing buildings at the Montana State Prison.-Ellen Baumler Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives James McCalman building the wall at Deer Lodge State Prison. Ellen Baumler is an award-winning author and Montana historian. A master at linking history with modern-day supernatural events, Ellen's true stories have delighted audiences across the state. She lives in Helena in a century-old house with her husband, Mark, and its resident spirits. To view and purchase Ellen’s books, visit: http://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html My/Donor Information: SUBSCRIBE TO THE GHOST TOWNS AND HISTORY OF MONTANA NEWSLETTER! Renewal? Y/N Send a Gift to: NAME____________________________________ NAME___________________________________ ADDRESS__________________________________ ADDRESS_________________________________ CITY______________________________________ CITY_____________________________________ STATE__________________ZIP________________STATE_________________ ZIP________________ Yearly subscriptions are $19.95 (published monthly). Please make checks payable to Ghost Towns & History of MT, LLC and send with this clipping to P.O. Box 932 Anaconda, MT 59711
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