JUNE 2021 Ghost Towns and History of Montana Newsletter From the Fergus County Argus August 3, 1906 L I F E I N L E N N E P https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ Way back in 1877, Norwegian immigrant Martin T. Grande started a sheep ranch on Comb Creek. Mr. Grande and William Smith brought the first sheep into the Musselshell River valley from Boise, Idaho. Mr. Grande made many pit-stops and partook in several adventures before making his way to the Big Sky Country. Martin and his brother, Anton, left Norway with a socalled case of “American Fever.” It would take six weeks for their small sailboat to reach Montreal. From there the two men were hired to “pump” their way to Quebec on a boat that was victim to several large leaks. Next, they headed to Minnesota where they worked as harvester hands for 75 cents a day. Martin would move on to Wyoming where he worked in the coal mines for three years. Following that stint, he ventured on to Montana. Mr. Grande teamed up with Pete Jackson in Sun River Country and the duo made quite the hunting team. One spring they sold 400 elk skins at $4 each. Martin would next find himself working for William and John Smith at their ranch on Willow Creek near White Sulphur Springs. They had located placer gold in Thompson Gulch, but it didn’t take long for the mines to play out. Nevertheless, the men would grow the ranch into one of the most thriving properties in the west, located on land west of Martinsdale. When Bill Smith and Martin T. Grande brought those first sheep into the valley, they did so by way of Bannack and just a week after a Nez Perce uprising. Lennep, Montana by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
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 Mr. Smith and Mr. Grande divided the sheep and Mr. Grande and his brother Anton settled on a ranch along Comb Creek. A small settlement known as “Comb” developed as other Norwegian immigrants arrived. Many worked for Martin and it is said that they only English they spoke was to say “M.T. Grande.” Locals have shared an amusing tidbit revealing that when the different groups of Norwegians gathered here, they chatted with each other and one commented that “I don’t think English is hard to learn, I’m understanding already,” thinking that he was learning English when it was actually just a different dialect of his own native tongue. The town of Comb would move to become what we now know as Lennep, Montana. Lennep was a station along the Milwaukee railroad and is said to be named after a railroad auditor’s hometown of Lennep, Germany. The post office opened in 1903 and wouldn’t close until 1962. In 1914 the mercantile opened and the post office was re-located there from a log home across the street. The mercantile carried a small supply of dry goods and the large hall upstairs was used for dances and other community events. When the passenger train stopped passing through Lennep in the 1960s, the store and post office soon closed their doors. The school would serve local children clear up until 2010. Just seven miles up the road, Castle Town would see its boom in 1886 when silver and lead were discovered in the area. At its peak, the town would house over 2,000 residents and support numerous businesses. The town struggled with the transportation cost of moving ore. They desperately needed the railroad to reach their camp and Richard Harlow was taking on the task until the silver market crash of 1893 urged him to continue the line down the river. It would be the Norwegian population that remained after Castle’s demise. They decided they needed to form a Lutheran church in the vicinity. They first met in people’s homes or schools until the gorgeous Trinity Church of Lennep was constructed in 1914 at a cost of $4300. The church still holds services twice monthly. Photo 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 Lennep seemed to be a tight-knit community that took care of their own. Tales of many festive occasions dotted the pages of The Harlowton News. March 18, 1910: “One day last week a set of chairs and an elegant center table arrived at Lennep. On Saturday evening at half-past seven a large number of young people gathered there and in a few minutes they and the furniture were speeding toward the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hans G. Lain. After the astonished host and hostess had been brought out of dreamland, A.C. Grande made a speech in explanation of their unexpected visit. Supper was then served by the young ladies of the party, and later games and various forms of amusement kept the party busy for the rest of the night. It was not until the rays of morning broke upon the party that they departed for their homes. The object of the gathering was to show the young people, just at the end of their honeymoon that they had many friends who were glad to see them remain with us.” April 15, 1910: “Last Sunday another surprise party was given. This time the long line of carriages and equestrians sped along the road leading to the home of J.O. Berg. Having arrived there, the guests took possession of the house and in a short while a grand repast was served by the Ladies Aid Society and the object of the surprise was to show in a measure of their thanks to their former president, Mrs. J.O. Berg, for the active part she had taken in the work of the society, and also to Mr. Berg, for the great aid he has been in the past in securing high prices for the goods which the society from time to time has disposed of at auction. The astonished host and hostess were presented with a handsome set of cut-glass bowls.” May 13, 1910: “On Sunday the 1st of May, our community again assembled for a surprise party. This time Albert Haugan and family were the favored ones, it being the wish of the community to show them that they appreciated their long stay with them and the work that they have partaken in. So immediately after church services a large number of carriages drew up before the house of Mr. Haugan, only to be as much surprised themselves. For Mr. Haugan was not at home but was distant about 15 miles at his new home. A speedy messenger was at once dispatched to find him, and in the meantime a dinner was served by the unbidden guests. Toasts were responded to by J.O. Berg, Rev. A Reece, A.C. Grande and S.G. Hoyem, who dwelt on the appreciation the community wished to express. A beautiful set of furniture was presented to them. It consisted of six chairs, rocking chairs, a beautiful center table, and a large chiffonier. But Mr. Haugan failed to arrive, and the audience had to be contented with paying their respects to the family and thanking them for the service they had been to the community. But the audience was intent upon finding Mr. Haugan at home and so decided to attempt again, which they did on Wednesday evening. And so, another pleasant time was enjoyed with them on that evening. Our community is very sorry to see this family leave, as they have for nearly twenty years been one of the leading and Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
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 staunch families of the community. Mr. Haugan has served us as postmaster during the last nine years, and has also filled other positions, among them Justice of the Peace and Notary Public. On account of his many attainments, Mr. Haugan has been one of the leading spirits in all our undertakings, and has served as instructor for our choirs, as well as director of our once flourishing brass band. In short, he has been one of the men that has made our community more pleasant to live in and is one of the men we least can afford to part with. It is the wish of the community that the Haugan family make the distance between their new and old homes as short as possible by means of many visits to our community.” Now, Lennep remains as a ghost of the days when it bustled with all those happy people. The mercantile and schoolhouse still stand in addition to that beautiful church shining proudly. Martin T. Grande, known locally as the “King of Little Norway”, passed away in 1930 but the memories of Lennep still remain and, a few new memories are still being made today. Early Aviation in Montana Eugene Ely and Cromwell Dixon celebrated aviation firsts in Montana in 1911, and ironically, both young pilots met tragic ends soon after. Twenty-five-year-old Ely was already famous as the first pilot to take off and land on a naval ship. The well-known aviator was also the first to fly an airplane in Missoula. On June 28, 1911, he took off and landed at the baseball field at Fort Missoula. He made three successful flights, the third with his mechanic as a passenger. It was the first dual flight in Montana. His Curtiss Pusher airplane arrived at the Missoula depot by train after similar flights in Butte, Great Falls, Kalispell, and Lewistown. To transport excited spectators to the fort for the event, both the railroad from the Bitterroot Valley and the Missoula streetcar line added extra cars. Over three thousand people witnessed the flight. On October 18, 1911, at the Georgia State Fair in Macon, Georgia, Ely died after jumping from his plane as it crashed. In Helena, Cromwell Dixon made headlines that same year. On September 30, spectators watched him take off from the fairgrounds and land on the west side of Mullan Pass, becoming the first aviator to cross the Continental Divide. Cromwell Dixon at the controls of his plane, the Hummingbird, after crossing the Continental Divide. Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, 941-849 Days later on October 2, Dixon died when his plane crashed at the state fair at Spokane, Washington. Both pilots died within two weeks of each other, having made aviation history in Montana. –Ellen Baumler 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
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 The Cabbage Patch These shacks and outbuildings were at the extreme north end of the shanty town that grew up in the 1880s on the near southeast side of Butte’s main business district. The “Patch” was home to bootleggers, drunks, prostitutes, poor families, newly arrived immigrants, widows with children, criminals, and other down-on-their luck residents. Photo by Richard Gibson Construction is truly vernacular, using available materials, scavenged or stolen from waste piles, mine yards, and elsewhere. In 1916, the Cabbage Patch extended approximately from Arizona Street on the west to Oklahoma St. on the east, and from Galena (and its extension) on the north to Platinum or Porphyry on the south. Most of the buildings – more than 200 – were razed in 1940-41 to make way for Silver Bow Homes, the ranks of low-income apartments that still stand south of Mercury Street. At about the same time, the buildings here were converted to garages, with addition of flooring and large garage doors. When used as residences, these places had dirt floors, and no electricity, running water, or sewer systems. Important original elements include scraps of linoleum and loose fabric used as wallpaper and insulation, and pressed tin and wood timber walls. The name reflects the frequent use of cabbage in meals—that smell, combined with that of the open sewer that wound its way through the district, contributed to the seedy feel of the neighborhood. Photo by Richard Gibson The surviving buildings of the Cabbage Patch are part of a tour with Old Butte Historical Adventures. –Richard Gibson Modified slightly from original publication in Vernacular Architecture Forum, Butte Conference Guidebook, 2009, p. 102 -103, by Richard Gibson. Additional resource: Butte Voices, by Pat Kearney, Skyhigh Communications, 1998. Richard Gibson is a geologist. His career has ranged from analyzing kidney stones to 35 years in oil exploration. Butte's history, architecture, and people captured his interest like he thought nothing could, and have expanded his life significantly. He’s still passionate about geology, but now he’s passionate about Butte, too. His book "What Things Are Made Of" came out in March 2011; his writing blog focuses on it. The Butte History blog contains interesting stories discovered in Butte, Montana, which are documented in "Lost Butte, Montana," from The History Press. Check out more great stories from Richard by visiting his sites: http://buttehistory.blogspot.com/ http://butte-anacondanhld.blogspot.com/ https://www.verdigrisproject.org/butte-americas-story
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 Historic Mining on the Helena National Forest In the 1860’s, miners combed the mountains of southwestern Montana for gold, silver and other precious metals. Their simple pick, shovel and pan technology soon gave way to more aggressive hydraulic mining involving water, ditches, flumes and hoses. Gold mixed in stream (placer) deposits was washed free of gravel and sand, and collected in rocker and sluice boxes. Entire streambeds became fields of waste rock. The economic trade-off was millions of dollars worth of gold and precious metal. Colorful but short-lived mining camps sprang up in mountain gulches surrounding the diggings. Abandoned mining camps were washed away by subsequent placer and dredge mining or became ghost towns. When the rich placers played out in the 1870’s, the search for the “mother lode” began. This hailed the advent of hardrock lode mining and laid the economic foundation of many Montana communities. Lode mining involves excavating and processing of an ore body in order to free the gold and other precious metals embedded in its matrix. Once hauled from underground tunnels, the ore was crushed in stamp and ball mills. The crushed ore concentrate was transported to smelters in Anaconda, East Helena and far away Wales for final processing. Lode mines were dirty, noisy and dangerous places to work. By the turn of the 20th century, lode mines of varying scale and fortune operated throughout southwestern Montana. Especially productive mines produced millions of dollars worth of precious metals. Flotation cell technology became the economic salvation of mining in Montana and the West in the late 1920’s. It allowed the mining of low-grade ore bodies after the richer deposits were exhausted. During the Great Depression, some mines remained solvent while others were operated at a subsistence level or went belly-up. World War II gave the mining industry a much-needed economic boost. The machinery of modern warfare depended on metal. In 1943, the Government passed an order that closed all mines not engaged in the production of strategic metals such as lead, copper, and zinc. This wartime order and ensuing economic speculation led to a period of unparalleled productivity at many southwestern Montana mines. In the 1950’s, mining in the West changed. Open-pit mining was more cost efficient and safer. Ore concentrating and processing technology evolved. Corporate capital was needed to keep operations afloat. Most small corporate and family mining operations could not compete. Many are now historic mining ruins.
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 A Mining Example: Charter Oak Mine and Mill The ruins of abandoned placer and lode (underground) mines are a common sight on the Helena National Forest. Exploration and prospecting on public land has resulted in thousands of prospect pits, trenches and mining shafts. When placer or lode claims seemed promising, the land was usually patented and thus came out of government ownership. Mines and mills were then developed on patented land but the resulting waste rock piles (from excavating tunnels) and tailings piles (from milling the ore) was often strewn across adjacent public land. These areas are now the scene of toxic mine waste cleanup. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Briefly, Charter Oak was a lode mine and mill active off and on from 1916 to 1955. The Hopkins family ran the first Charter Oak operation as a stamp mill until the stock market crash of 1929. The mine was inactive during the first years of the Great Depression. In 1942, the Hopkins & Sons Mining Company developed the 50-ton flotation mill you see today. The Hopkins brothers and leaseholder James Bonner operated the mine throughout World War II and into the 1950s. World War II brought great productivity to the mine. Designated a strategic metals mine by the federal government, Charter Oak produced lead and zinc essential to fighting the war. Toxic waste rock and mill tailings were removed from Charter Oak from 1996-1998. The historic mine has been stabilized and interpreted by the Forest Service with the invaluable assistance of Passport in Time program volunteers and Helena High School X-CEL program students. Charter Oak is one of a handful of standing World War II-era lode mines still in existence on public land in the West. For this reason, the Charter Oak mine was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. – Courtesy of Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest Offices, https://www.fs.usda.gov/ Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
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 Skeleton Washed Out– August 16, 1918 The skeleton of a man that was washed from a sand bank in the St. Regis river a few days ago has revived old stories of the wild life in Taft when the Milwaukee railroad was being constructed and killings were taken as ordinary occurrences. All the flesh was gone from the bones and it is believed the body is that of a man who was robbed and killed at Taft and the thrown into the river. The skeleton, which is in a good state of preservation, may be presented to some medical school. –The Dillon Tribune, Accessed via: www.montananewspapers.org Taft, Montana Some of the earliest school days in Montana consisted of kids gathering in a cabin for lessons taught from any books available. By 1897, certain books were given out by the state textbook commission. These books had to be used throughout the state of Montana. Here's a list of some of the book prices at that time and the trade in price: Stickney's first reader: 24 cents and 14 cents Spelling book: 20 cents and 10 cents Walshs' Primary Arithmetic: 30 cents and 20 cents Geography: 50 cents and 15 cents English: 38 cents and 22 cents Bookkeeping: 70 cents and 45 cents Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz 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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