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 cidental or a suicide. Two years later another tragedy struck the family on Saturday, July 23, 1905, when four-year old Lester LaDuke fell into one of the 145-degree springs while walking to the soaking pools. His older sister went to his rescue, pulled him out of the water and removed his near-boiling woolen swim suit. A doctor from Aldridge was brought to render his services, but all their Photo Courtesy of Yellowstone Gateway Museum Collection Another View of the LaDuke Spa. efforts were for naught and the poor “suffering little fellow lingered until Sunday evening when his peaceful spirit took its flight.” He was laid to rest in the Electric Cemetery. Julius operated the resort for a few more years, but the operation was ultimately doomed. Business dwindled due to a variety of circumstances that included labor and financial problems at the nearby coal mines, lack of easy access to the site, the propensity for Yellowstone tourists to travel straight through on the railroad from Livingston to Gardiner, and probably the lack of capital to create a first-class tourist facility. Apparently unable to see a successful future, he sold the hot water rights which eventually ended up in the hands of the company building the new Corwin Springs Hot Springs resort a mile or so to the north. The hot water from LaDuke was channeled to the new resort, where in 1909, Dr. F.E. Corwin, former doctor at Chico Hot Springs, opened an impressive new “modern” hotel and beautiful plunge facility. A steel bridge was constructed across the river that would directly access the railroad and main road. Meanwhile, around 1908-09 Julius and his family moved to Livingston where he had purchased several downtown commercial and residential properties, which included the infamous Bucket of Blood Saloon and the LaDuke Pool Hall. Marital relations deteriorated between Julius and Lena, and by 1914 ugly divorce proceedings were in progress. A news article from an Anaconda newspaper in April claimed that “she (Lena) has treated the defendant [Julius] with contempt, sworn at and abused the defendant, and called him a ‘fool’ and a ‘d____d fool’.” The local Livingston paper featured a melodramatic front page article entitled, “Many Sensational Assertions Made in Answer in LaDuke Case.” One of these assertions was that Lena LaDuke had once ordered her son Albert to shoot her husband. Julius also claimed
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