JUNE 2024 Ghost Towns and History of Montana Newsletter From The Roundup Record, June 24, 1910 MONTANA CLAIM BRINGS WEALTH Accessed via: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ George L. Omstad, Former Store Clerk, Has large Possessions—Known Here. Grand Forks Daily Herald– Jan. 17, 1916. George L. Omstad of Westby, Mont., a former resident of Grafton, N. D., and well known in Grand Forks, spent Sunday in the city as the guest of his former employer, O. L. Sateren, manager of the Guarantee Stock Food company, while en route to his home from Minneapolis, where he has spent the past few days attending to business matters. Eleven years ago, Mr. Omstad was a store clerk, working in a general store at Grafton for Mr. Sateren. Today he is the owner of about 2,000 acres of rich farming land, one of the richest coal mines in northeastern Montana, two lumber yards, four elevators, hardware stores, general stores, banks, and with a fine chance of becoming an oil magnate also within the next few years, and all without the aid of outside help. A little over ten years ago, Mr. Omstad left Grafton to try his luck on a Montana homestead. He settled on a 320 acre claim, near the present site of Westby, bought a pair of oxen with his savings, and erected a small one room board "shack." in which he ate, slept and stored his goods. One day, as he was plowing up his land for the first time with a small walking plow and the pair of oxen, the plow share, struck a hard "rock" and broke. As Omstad was pulling the rock from under the plow, he was struck with its appearance, and took it to an assaying office to be tested. The "rock" proved to be a very fine grade of lignite coal. Photo by Seth Haines Old oil Infrastructure near Westby, MT
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 Omstad at once proceeded to look for coal all over his claim, and found it in abundance near the surface of the ground. Borrowing money on his find, he purchased a large amount of land surrounding his property, and found coal on a large part of this also. With the money secured from the sale of coal after he had mined it, the railroads became interested, and built stations on his land, thereby forming the nucleus for the two town sites, and greatly aiding in the marketing of his coal and farm products. He also bought modern machinery and built a fine home near one end of his ranch. Later he built a grocery store, hardware and dwelling house. Another town has been laid out near his coal mine, and has been named Coal Ridge. Last year, Mr. Omstad found oil floating down a creek through his farm, and sent for oil experts to decide as to whether the oil was out of his land. The experts agreed that great quantities of oil was in the property and as soon as the ground thaws out in the spring, Mr. Omstad expects to begin work on his oil wells. Last season, Mr. Omstad cultivated 1,200 acres of land and marketed 20,000 bushels of wheat. Accessed via: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ Ruth Garfield Ruth Lane was visiting relatives in Montana when she met Jesse Garfield, a Yellowstone County homesteader. The couple married in 1912 and later moved to a ranch near Ryegate. Jesse became the first sheriff of newly created Golden Valley County in June of 1920 He had been reelected to his first full term of office in November but had not yet been sworn in. On December 6, Jesse went out to the Snowy Mountains to investigate a complaint. When he knocked on the rancher’s door, the man fired his rifle, seriously wounding the sheriff. He made it to his car and tried to drive back to town, but the gas tank had been hit and he ran out gas. He walked back to the town of Franklin where a stopped freight train took him to Billings. Jesse died two weeks later. County commissioners appointed Ruth to fill out her husband’s term as sheriff. She never carried a gun, but she earned the same salary as her husband: $166 a month. The couple’s son, Ford, was about seven at the time. Every day after school, he would wait at the jail in the Golden Valley county courthouse for his mom to finish work. Ruth served out her husband’s two year term. Upon his election in 1922, Sheriff Dick Carr appointed Ruth Garfield undersheriff and probation officer. She served in that capacity for two years before retiring from law enforcement. Ruth Lane Garfield was the first female sheriff in Montana. –Ellen Baumler Ellen Baumler was 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. The legacy she left behind will be felt for generations to come and we are in debt to her for sharing her extensive knowledge of Montana history in such an entertaining manner. To view and purchase Ellen’s books, visit: http://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html Photo courtesy Ford and Barbara Garfield, via Ancestry.com
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 Early Montana Pioneers: The Story of William & Clara Dalton, and their daughter Matilda Dalton –Continued According to documents gathered by Mable Ovitt, historian and author of Golden Treasure, which is a highly regarded history book on the early days of Bannack and Virginia City, it was learned that Matilda Dalton was “drop-dead gorgeous” and was known throughout the town of Virginia City as “Desdemona”. She was not only one of the few available girls in town, she was by all accounts the prettiest. In fact, many years later Matilda spoke briefly of what it was like being a young attractive single girl in the Wild West town of Virginia City. She recalled that one of the men interested in courting her ended up shooting himself in the head because she refused to date him. With this being said, shortly after the death of her parents, in 1864, she had her pick of gentlemen and decided to marry Count Zebulon Bonaparte Thibadeau. They were wed on April 14, 1864 in Virginia City. Together they cared for Matilda’s 3 young siblings. (According to Montana Historical Society documents, it seems that other youngsters were not as lucky during these early days in Virginia City. For example, there were three very young girls who lost their mother due to typhoid, and their father essentially lived in saloons, so they were forced to beg for food on the street. Martha Jane Canary, better known as "Calamity Jane", was one of those girls.) Brief History of Count Zebulon Bonaparte Thibadeau Count Zebulon Bonaparte Thibadeau was born in Maine in 1836. His father was Count Antone Clare Thibadeau, one of Napolean Bonaparte’s advisors in France. During the French Revolution, Napolean Bonaparte’s brother and Count Antone Clare Thibadeau fled France together to avoid the guillotine, and landed in New Orleans in the 1790s. This is where and how the Thibadeau lineage started in America. After Virginia City Matilda and Count Zebulon Bonaparte Thibadeau left Virginia City and moved to Oshkosh Wisconsin, where they owned a store and had three children of their own by the names of William Wallace (02/26/1865 to 08/08/1933), Matilda Estelle (04/17/1867 to 11/23/1955) and Helena Francis (11/10/1869 to 05/03/1957). William Wallace is my Great Grandfather. His son Clarence Thibadeau is my grandfather. Clarence married Thelma Kelly (my grandmother) and had two children, Doris Jeanne and Noreen, who are my mother and aunt. My mother married Oscar Biegel of Harlowton Montana, and had five children, including myself (David). Matilda died in 1931 and was laid to rest in Dillon, Montana. Matilda’s husband Count Zebulon Thibadeau passed away in Idaho in 1894 at Wallace, Idaho after owning a business for many years running pack trains between Idaho and Montana. 1928 Thibadeau Family Reunion A few years before Matilda died there was a Thibadeau Family Reunion in Sheridan Montana in 1928, just
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 down the road from Virginia City. Among those who attended included Matilda Dalton (age 85), her son William Wallace, her grandson Clarence Thibadeau and his wife Thelma (my grandparents). The youngest in attendance was my grandparents Clarence and Thelma's daughter, Doris Jeanne at the age of one. A photograph was taken of Matilda, her grandson Clarence (my grandfather) with his one year old baby girl in his arms, who is my mother Doris Jeanne Thibadeau. Below is this photograph... Clarence Byron Thibadeau, my grandfather and the son of William Wallace Thibadeau and grandson of Matilda Dalton Thibadeau, was raised on a farm near Dillon Montana, He married my grandmother, Thelma Marie Kelly and had two daughters, Doris Jeanne and Noreen. Clarence became a railroad detective between Anaconda and Butte Montana during the wild mining years. He then was part of the first graduating class of the Montana Highway Patrol. Interestingly, the numbers 3-7-77 that is found on each Montana Highway Patrolman’s badge even today, was the cryptic numbers used by the Vigilantes during the “clean up” of Virginia City and Bannack in 1864. As a Highway Patrolman in Deer Lodge Montana, he and his family were transferred to the railroad town of Harlowton, Montana, where my father Oscar H. Biegel met my mother during their 8th grade year in 1941. Clarence died of lung cancer at the age of 60 with his family by his side, and my grandmother, known to all of us as "Grandma Thib", died in June of 1983 due to respiratory complications following a devastating house fire. Clarence and Thelma are buried beside one another in the Harlowton Cemetery. Matilda Dalton’s Own Words.. Shortly before her death in 1931, Matilda Dalton described the life of her parents William and Clara Dalton, as well as her own. Matilda dictated this story to Bertha Thibadeau in Dillon Montana. Bertha Thibadeau was Matilda’s son William Wallace’s wife. These words were first published in the Philipsburg Mail newspaper in 1935, and then also appeared in the highly regarded history book "Golden Treasure" by Mable Ovitt. The following are Matilda Dalton's own words... “I, Matilda Dalton, was born at Houlton, Maine, August 28, 1843. My father, William Dalton, lived on a farm three or four miles from Houlton. About 1844 or 1845, William Dalton moved his family to Wisconsin, where he took up land by Homestead and Government Land Warrant, which was received from the government in return for services in the War of 1812 and 1814 with England, which land was situated on the Wisconsin River five miles from Portage City. Here the family lived until I was 14 years old.
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 Within a few miles of the Dalton’s lived Ed and Rial Plummer brothers, with their families, also from Maine. Among the children of Rial Plummer was Henry Amos, his oldest son, and Rosie and Parnelia, two younger girls. In 1851, William Dalton went to California, returning in 1853. In 1850, Henry Plummer went to California, where he went into the restaurant business. His partner in the restaurant business was a married man, and over this man’s wife Plummer and his partner quarreled, Plummer shooting and killing his partner. After the shooting Plummer left, and went somewhere in what is now the state of Washington, probably in the vicinity of Walla Walla. When my father saw him in Virginia City he knew Plummer and spoke to him, but Plummer told father he must be mistaken. Father told him about Wisconsin, but he said he had never been in Wisconsin. It was impossible that my father could have been mistaken, since he had known him from boyhood days. We left Wisconsin in 1861 and moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota. From this point we joined Captain Fisk’s train in 1862. There were from 150 to 200 people in this train. Captain Fisk was a big man, 35 or 40 years old. During our trip the Indians rode up and tried to stampede the horses and cattle. Captain Fisk turned out all of the escort, and they got out the cannon and showed the Indians what a cannon could do. Among those in Captain Fisk’s train was a man named Fergus (James Fergus), Samuel Bond, secretary of the escort; Mr. Knox, wagon master; Henry Tyler, James Marston, Col. Bartlett, J.M. Castner and family; and Mr. And Mrs. James Stark, to whom was born on this trip a baby boy, who was called Julian. The last we knew of the Stark’s they lived at Twin Bridges. Mrs. Stark’s sister, Carrie Abbott, was married on the plains to Henry Taylor, by our Episcopal minister, a Mr. Langford. Near Fort Benton we met William Babcock, who had been lying in wait to steal back from the Indians his horses which they had taken. Between Fort Benton and Prickly Pear he had stolen back his horses and caught up with the train. He was in an expedition hunting some children whose father and mother were killed by Indians. Mr. Babcock came from Walla Walla hunting these children, and finally found one, a little girl. We arrived that fall at Prickly Pear, then went to Bannack City. We arrived during December, 1862. We lived there a year or so, then went to Virginia City where father and mother took the fever and died within two weeks of each other. This was January 1864, and they were attended by Drs. Smith and Glick. Father was a Mason and his funeral was the second Masonic funeral to be held in what is now the state of Montana. In 1864 I married Z.B. Thibadeau. We returned to Oshkosh, Wis., and lived there 10 years, my three children being born there: a son, William Wallace, two daughters, Estelle M. And Helena F. Later we came to Idaho where Mr. Thibadeau died in Wallace, Idaho on June 8, 1894.
P a g e 6 I attended the Montana Pioneers’ reunion in 1918 for the first time, but saw no persons who came out in Capt. Fisk’s first train except Col. Bartlett." Matilda Desmon Dalton attended several other Montana Pioneers' reunions, and died on December 6, 1931 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and was buried in Dillon, Montana at the age of 88. The "Adventures" Continued... The "adventures" did not end with the Daltons, but continued on through the generations. For example, my mother Doris Jeanne Thibadeau (06/19/1927 to 10/07/2007) contracted polio at the age of 13 just two months after her father Clarence Byron Thibadeau, a Montana Highway Patrolman, was transferred from Deer Lodge to Harlowton in 1940. She contracted polio by swimming in the local swimming hole. For over a year she was completely paralyzed from the neck down, as she watched many children inflicted with polio on the same floor of her Billings Montana hospital succumb to this dreadful disease. This all occurred during the devastating nationwide polio epidemic of the 1940's. Through the outstanding care provided by the doctors and nurses of St. Vincent Hospital in Billings, Montana, my mother not only survived polio, but lived a long, wonderful and fulfilling life. Upon returning to Harlowton following her nearly 2 year hospital ordeal fighting and surviving the ravages of polio, my mother showed up to school wearing metal braces from her neck to her feet. One of her 8th grade classmates was a boy named Oscar. Oscar didn't notice the metal braces but instead saw a beautiful brown-eyed girl who he instantly fell in love with. They became high school sweethearts and were later married after Oscar served in the Korean War. This young man by the name of Oscar, was my father Oscar Herman Biegel. And even though the doctors told my mother that she would not survive child birth due to the effects of polio, she ignored their orders and gave birth to not one child, but eventually gave birth to five healthy children. My mother Doris Jeanne Thibadeau Biegel was a fighter in every sense of the word, just as William and Clara were... just as Matilda Dalton and her husband Zebulon Thibadeau were. I feel very blessed to be in a family of such brave people, and I am so very grateful for their courage and strength. They are truly an inspiration to my entire family. A Brief History of My Father's Family, The Biegels 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 "Golden Treasure" by Mable Ovitt is a wonderful history book about the early days of Bannack and Virginia City. Born in Bannack, Mable Ovitt (01/16/1896 to 08/02/1968) was among the last residents to ever live in Bannack Montana before it became a state park. The Daltons are written about several times throughout the book. In fact, she ended her book with Matilda Dalton's story. Mable Ovitt is buried in the Bannack Cemetery, with the words "Our Golden Treasure" written on her headstone.
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 My father Oscar Herman Biegel is also a descendant of Montana pioneers, as the Biegels left Indiana in the late 1800's after owning a butcher shop, and settled south of Harlowton, Montana after acquiring land stemming from the Homestead Act. As all the homesteaders did at this time, they envisioned raising watermelons the size of houses. Of course they found out very quickly this was not going to be the case. The Biegel Family ranched and farmed, and fought hard to make a go of it for many years. However during the Dust Bowl Era they lost everything. All that remains of their years of struggle is the original stone foundation where their homestead once stood on the wind-swept prairie south of Harlowton. The sons of these early Harlowton area pioneers, my grandfather Oscar Sr. Biegel and his brother Art Biegel, then had to quickly reinvent themselves because they had families to care for. They decided to open a bar in Harlowton called "Biegels Bar", which proved to be a success. My grandfather Oscar Sr. and my grandmother Marie (whose family also were early settlers in the Harlowton Area), had two children, Donna Mae and Oscar Jr. They lost their daughter Donna Mae at the age of 5 due to scarlet fever. Oscar Jr. went on to be a high school football star, and then turned down a full ride football scholarship to Notre Dame to instead enlist and fight in the Korean War. Upon his return to Harlowton following the war, he married his high school sweetheart, my mother Doris Jeanne Thibadeau, and became the first of the Biegel Family to ever go to college. He graduated with honors as a pharmacist from the University of Montana and owned a successful pharmacy in Harlowton for over forty years. He was also the mayor of Harlowton for nearly 20 years. My mother and father had five children, all of them graduating from college, with two Doctors of Optometry degrees (myself and my brother), two masters degrees in education and an engineering degree (my three older sisters). Every one of my siblings' children (my nephews and nieces) also graduated from college and are enjoying wonderful careers. My father Oscar died in 1998 at the age of 70 after a long and brave fight with colon cancer, and my mother Doris Jeanne eventually succumbed to post-polio syndrome in 2007 at the age of 80. They are buried beside each other in the Harlowton Cemetery, after living a wonderful and fulfilling life together. My Thoughts... As I look back on the lives of my ancestors, it's obvious that there was no shortage of hardships. But what I find so inspiring is the fact that no matter what adversities they were faced with, they never lost hope. They held on tight and continued to "fight the fight" for a better life, which on many occasion took an incredible amount of bravery, courage and strength... far more than I could ever imagine. I have great admiration and respect for my pioneer ancestors, as well as an immeasurable amount of gratitude for their unwillingness to ever lose hope. My parents, Doris Jeanne Thibadeau Biegel and Oscar Herman Biegel.
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 As I sat down and wrote this story of my family, it became my hope that my ancestors somehow know as they look down upon us, that their struggles were not in vain… A big Thank You to David and Shannon Biegel at The gravesite of William and Clara Dalton on Boot Hill in Virginia City, Montana. www.enjoyyourparks.com for sharing their amazing family history with us! This photo was taken at the wedding of one of my nephews in 2018 on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. My wife Shannon, myself and all of my siblings are present, as well as their families... including my three great nephews and great niece who are 8th generation Montanans. The Daltons would be very pleased indeed. 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 126, Warm Springs, MT 59756
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