MARCH 2024 Ghost Towns and History of Montana Newsletter From The Rocky Mountain Husbandman, April 3, 1884 EARLY DAY COURTS AND JUDGES; FIRST GREAT TRIAL WAS THAT OF GEORGE IVES, ROAD AGENT Accessed via: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ Here is a rare historical narrative, the story of the first great trial in Montana, that of George Ives, master highwayman, by the pen of a famous Montanan, the late Judge William Y. Pemberton, who served the miners' court as clerk, and afterwards became chief justice of the state. It gives something of the personnel of the officers of that famous court, and narrates the fact that Plummer's men, enraged at the execution of Ives, and the part Colonel Wilbur P. Sanders, the prosecutor of the court, had taken in it, and of their attempt to assassinate him, a circumstance not generally known. Judge Pemberton pays a great tribute to the courage and ability of Sanders, then in his early twenties, in connection with the prosecution of Ives: The late lamented and greatly loved Dr. W. L. Steele was the first miner's judge in Alder Gulch. It was before his court that Hayes Lyon and Buck Stinson were tried and convicted of killing Dillingham and sentenced to be hung. They appealed to the miners in mass meeting and the sentences were reversed. They escaped, only to be afterwards caught and hung by the Vigilance committee. The first great murder trial in the territory was the George Ives trial. And truly it was a great trial. Don L. Byam was the judge; the main street of the town of Nevada, in Alder Gulch, was the court room; George Ives was the noted defendant. Colonel W. F. Sanders and Major Charles S, Baggs prosePhoto 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 cuted in behalf of the people. Alex Davis, J. M. Thurman and H. P. A. Smith defended. The charge was murder. The jury consisted of twenty-four sturdy miners; the trial was public. Ives was not tried by the vigilance committee as many erroneously suppose. He was tried and executed before the organization of the vigilance committee. W. H. Patten and myself were selected to write down the testimony of the witnesses. The judge sat in a wagon. The jury sat in a half circle around a big log fire for it was cold. It was about the 20th of December, 1863. The prisoner, Mr. Patten and myself, were within the half circle. Hundreds of determined men stood around the court and the jury during the entire trial, which lasted two or three days. Was Epoch-Making Trial I said it was a great trial. It was; it was a grand court. There were no paraphernalia or insignia of office to impress and awe the beholder there. But surrounded by the snow covered mountains, sitting in that open street in mid-winter, no court ever had more vital questions put it than the one presided over by that grand old bearded man, Don Byam. Crime was rampant. Robbery and murder had become common crimes committed by men whose duty it was to protect the lives and property of the people. A great crisis had arisen in the history of the pioneers struggling for life and fortune in their new home. The lawless cut throats had tendered the issue as whether the people should live and enjoy the fruits of their discovery and labor. Here in this great trial before this grand court, the people had accepted the issue thus tendered. It was a royal battle. The result was by no means certain. It was a debatable question whether the lawless or law-abiding were in the ascendency. This was to be determined in this wonderful trial. Both elements were in their force; both determined; both armed. But as the battle waged the friends of law and order gathered strength and completed to some extent the organization of their forces. You could look into the eyes and faces of the honest people as they stood guard round that court and jury, sitting out in the street under the cold blue heavens and read the thoughts that filled their souls. You could discover their determination to see justice done, though the heavens should fall. This resolution and determination having been taken, the battle was won. Lawlessness, assassination, murder, crime, however well organized, could not withstand these resolute and invincible men who were fighting for their lives and homes. Verdict was Unanimous At the conclusion of the able and eloquent arguments of counsel, the jury retired. Mr. Patten and I were carried along by the jury so that in the event of any dispute as to the testimony, we could refer to our notes. We were placed in the corner of the large jury room of a log cabin, and the jury proceeded to ballot. There was but one ballot—"Guilty of murder charged." It was unanimous, it was right, it was just. By another ballot the jury fixed the death penalty; by the law and practice of those courts the jury
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 named the penalty. Ives was hung. Law and order had achieved a great and everlasting victory; for the first time life and property were rendered safe in these mountains. I have purposely avoided giving the facts and circumstances of the homicide of which Ives was convicted. These are all matters of history. They were demanded by the necessities of the times. The people, in their exercise of their inherent right to the protection of life and property, created them. They served a necessary and noble purpose. When the conditions and circumstances changed, and there was no longer a necessity for their existence, they passed away, leaving behind them a record which entitles them to the everlasting gratitude of the people. The execution did not at once absolutely demoralize and disorganize the lawless element—they were inclined to resent and avenge Ives' death. I can never forget how things looked, and I recall many incidents that occurred in the little town of Nevada that night after Ives was executed. It was after dark when he was hung. The people were standing out in the street and in the cold, talking about the tragic event. They were nearly all armed. The situation looked gloomy. Hard things were said; threats were made. It looked as if a spark might create an explosion. One incident that occurred to me deserves mention, I think, in the history of that day. I was standing on the street talking to someone, when I heard a man who was standing in the middle of the street, say, with a hideous oath, "Let's take him back of the house and kill him." This, of course, attracted my attention and excited my curiosity to know who was to be the victim of this man's wrath. There were three men in a knot whence came the dreadful threat. Immediately one of the three said, "Yonder he stands now." One of them said, "I will call him," and at once he called Colonel Sanders. Sanders' Close Call In going to the men, Colonel Sanders had to pass near where I stood. I at once went to meet him. I told him what I had heard and advised him not to go behind the houses with the men. He said, "I guess they won't kill me." He insisted upon going with them, then I asked him if he was armed. He said he was. I then said, "If you will go, I shall go too." He then walked to the three men. One of them said, "We want to see you back here." They crossed the street, one man leading the way, Colonel Sanders following him, the other two and I following them between the log houses which were built a little apart. in his early twenties, served as prosecutor in the miners’ court which convicted George Ives the highwayman. It was Sanders who, when the jury of miners had brought in a verdict of guilty, moved, “That the sheriff be instructed to hang George Ives, forthwith, by the neck until dead,” and a few moments later one of the most notorious of Plummer’s men had paid on the gallows for his numerous crimes. Colonel Wilbur F. Sanders, one of the foremost of early day Montanans, who, when
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 The first man and Colonel Sanders had gotten out of the passageway in the rear of the house and the rest of us were following, when, "bang!" went a gun. The two men in front of me jumped out behind the houses and I rushed out as fast as I could, expecting to find the colonel killed. When I got out, however, I saw that all three of the men were running away; and Colonel Sanders was standing there with his overcoat on fire. I asked him if he was hurt. He said, "No." The truth of it was that about the time the killing was to have commenced, Colonel Sanders' pistol was discharged in his overcoat pocket, as he was in the act of drawing the weapon. This stampeded the assassins and saved his life and perhaps mine. Colonel Sanders had taken, as is known, a fearless and active part in the prosecution of Ives. It was beyond doubt the purpose of these men to murder him as a matter of revenge. Sanders' Magnificent Effort It is a great pity— an irreparable loss, amounting to a calamity—that no copy of the great speech of Colonel Sanders in the Ives trial was ever taken or preserved. Sanders was a great orator, and thousands of our people have heard and enjoyed his splendid speeches in the courts and on the platform. But those who did not hear his speech in the Ives trial never heard the best effort in the lifetime of this gifted man. During its delivery on that cold wintry day, there stood these hundreds of miners in the street of Nevada spellbound by the marvelous appeal on that occasion by this wonderful man, to the jury and the struggle for the protection of their homes, property and lives in their new mountain land. And never did a great speech go home with more directness and force to the hearts of honest and determined men. This great speech, if we had it in the archives and history of the state, would constitute a monument to this peerless pioneer that would stand in glory's sky, hallowed with the golden sunlight, when the bronze statue being erected by a grateful people to his memory, shall have crumbled into dust. On the day George Ives was hung a real democracy was established in these mountains. Its foundation was laid upon the bones of the desperado and outlaw. And Colonel Sanders is entitled to be called its Pericles. A generation has passed away since those dreadful days with their exciting events. And the influence of the miners' courts, and especially of the Ives trial, upon the people of Montana has not passed away, and will not for generations to come. These courts and the result of this trial taught the people that life and property were worth defending at all hazards, and that the enforcement of the law was the only hope of human safety and liberty. Since Montana has had a history, the people have never forgotten the lessons they learned In those early crucial days. The devotion of the people to the law, the estimate they early learned to place upon life, liberty and property, have made our state a palladium of safety to the peaceable, law-loving citizens, and a place to be avoided by the assassin and the desperado. So long as our people keep in mind these lessons and teach them to their children will Montana be worthy of the patriotic devotion and pride of her sons and daughters. –From The Circle Banner, March 23, 1923, Accessed via: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
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 HUGE GOLD DUST SHIPMENT FROM DIAMOND CITY J. X. Beidler, noted pioneer peace officer, gives the following interesting account of a big shipment of gold dust from Diamond City: “In the fall of 1866 two tons and a quarter of gold dust was shipped out of Diamond City for Helena, valued at about $900,000. At Helena it was placed In Hershfield's bank. I was at Diamond City a couple of weeks previous to this shipment, and William Fredericks asked me if I could be employed to guard this gold from Helena to Fort Benton, to which place they had concluded to ship it and then load it on boats for the states. I agreed to go along. He told me to consider myself employed and to keep a lookout for toughs in the meantime. "I had known this man, Fredericks, before either of us came to Montana. In the winter of 1861 Fredericks was prospecting in Colorado in the Gunnison country and was snowed in for the winter. He had to eat his pack animals to live. I met him in the spring as he was coming out near Twin Lakes. He came to my camp nearly starved to death. I fed him and his party some good, substantial grub, which they had not seen for six months, never forgot that square meal, and the next time I saw him was at Diamond City, where he employed me, after he had made a cleanup from his rich strike on Montana bar. After we shook hands he brought out a pan of dust and set it on the table and told me to help myself to a nugget. I picked out a large one. He said, "X, there are larger ones there—take a big piece. Several weighed over four hundred dollars, but I was too modest and kept the first one. "Well, we started from Helena to Benton with the dust loaded on three two-mule wagons, the dust in three safes, and fourteen men armed and on horseback. Job Travis went along to bring the horses back. While in the bank on Budge street in Helena, getting the money ready, one of the men interested in the money let his double-barreled shotgun go off accidentally and the charge went in to the ceiling, which raised quite a commotion. ROBBER SHOWS UP "When we left Helena we were ready for almost any emergency and camped the first night in Prickly Pear canyon. While we were in camp an outsider came to me with a proposition to steal the dust and whack it up. He said I could fix the guns in our party so they could be stolen, and then no one need be killed on either side. He said when I was ready I could whistle. Then he would have his gang take the treasure and I would get my whack. "I told him I didn't want to hear any more plans — I knew the man well, and I told him that if I heard any whistling I would kill him if I could. I reported the proposition to Fredericks and it alarmed the outfit and the men put on a heavy guard---no whistling and no money taken. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
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 "The next night we camped at the Dearborn. Had no trouble till we got to Bull's Head, 12 miles this side of Benton. While riding on a walk my horse broke his right forward leg just below the knee, through no ap parent cause—no holes, rocks or anything else to cause it, and how it was done none of us could find out. It just snapped off. We shot him right there and I rode on in the wagon to Benton. "While we were there we fixed the safes ready for shipping them down the river in mackinaw boats, no steamers being there. We fastened ten-gallon casks with long ropes to each safe in case the boats might upset, when the casks would act as buoys and the safes could be located. They got through to the states all right. I got eleven ounces for my trip." –From The Circle Banner Newspaper, June 11, 1920, Accessed via: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ The GARRISON district has produced little if any metallic ore. However, the district has been a prolific producer of phosphate. Deposits containing 60 percent tricalcium phosphate are located six to ten miles from the town of Garrison. Outcrops can be traced from Avon west to Drummond. It has been estimated that 100 million long tons of material have been removed from the district for the manufacture of fertilizer (Montana Bureau of Mines). Anderson - Brock: The Anderson mine is located on the east fork of Brock Creek. Throughout its history the mine has been owned by the Montana Phosphate Products Co. It is the largest underground producer of phosphate rock in the "Western field" and the deepest such operation in the United States. Development on the Anderson sector of the mine began in 1929; the Brock sector began development in 1955. At one point the operations employed 180 men in two shifts and produced 1,200 tons of rock per day. Total production of the Anderson mine since 1929 was estimated to be over 4,500,000 long tons with the majority of production after 1945. The mine was developed for more than 9,000 feet on the strike and for a vertical distance of 1,500 feet. Ore was hoisted from the Anderson mine via a 3-compartment vertical shaft while that of the Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Brock was brought out by a tram through the main adit. Ore was extracted by a modified room and pillar method with overhead open stopes (Popoff and Service 1965). Luke: The Luke (Mineral Hill) mine is located six miles southeast of the Anderson mine. Prior to the Montana Phosphate Products Co. purchase of the mine in 1943, the mine had produced an estimated 25,000 tons of phosphate rock (Popoff and Service 1965).- Courtesy of Montana DEQ Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz
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 Haunting of the Judith River Ranger Station The Judith River Ranger Station has a homey ambiance where the past is everywhere. Some lucky guests have experienced this firsthand. In the summer of 2009, a crew of six archaeologists, students, and volunteers excavated a portion of the long-abandoned mining camp of nearby Yogotown. The Judith Ranger Station served as headquarters for the crew. My husband Mark and daughter Katie were project volunteers. They, along with director Chris Merritt of the University of Montana, took the upstairs bedrooms while the rest of the crew camped nearby. The weather on the first night was hot and very still. Mark awakened to the sounds of breakfast cooking in the kitchen downstairs. He could hear banter between the kitchen and the dining room, someone chopping something on the cutting board, and bacon or sausage sizzling. Mark thought it must be about 6 AM, and almost time to get up. Then he fell asleep again. He awakened sometime later to utter silence. It was still pitch dark, and so he knew it was not time to get up. Suddenly it struck him that with all that activity downstairs, there were no cooking smells. He began to worry that maybe some animal had gotten into the house. So he got the flashlight and looked at the time. It was 3:30. He tried to get Katie to go with him to check, but she wouldn’t get up. He went downstairs and found nothing amiss, so he returned to bed and both he and Katie went back to sleep. Photo Courtesy of Montana Moments Blog Katie awakened a while later. The night had been hot and stuffy, but a cloud of cold air seemed to surround her. She lay there shivering in the deep quiet. Then she heard a very loud rhythmic creaking, like someone was coming up the stairs. The next morning, Mark asked if anyone had been up in the night. Everyone said they had slept soundly. Then as they all milled around waiting for breakfast, someone sat down in the living room rocking chair. It creaked loudly, and Katie suddenly realized that she had not heard footsteps on the stairs, but rather the rocking chair’s distinctive creak.-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
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 Castle Town, Montana Castle is one of countless towns that were built in a hurry on miners’ gambles and railroad men’s dreams, only to become quick victims of unstable metals markets. Castle was established in 1884, when the North Carolina Mine opened. Miners were drawn to the silver ore in the area and by 1891, Castle hosted 991 mining claims and was an incorporated town. Businesses popped up along Main Street including Baker’s General Store and Post Office, Kidd’s Furniture Store, Minnie’s Sporting House and Berg’s Meat Market. The town grew to 1500 residents. Castle's prosperity didn't last long. The Silver Panic of 1893, when the silver market crashed, delivered a fatal blow to the town. Most people left immediately, and by 1920, Castle became a ghost town. Castle Town, 1927. Courtesy of the Montana Historical Society. Current Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Constructed in 1881, these brick beehive-shaped charcoal kilns produced charcoal for use as blast furnace fuel at the Hecla Mining Company’s silver smelter at Glendale, Montana. 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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