Our Town 100 Years Ago: July Part II

July Part 2

July 1896 offered a lot of storms, locally and across the nation. There was dissent in the Democratic party on who to nominate for President, storms in South Dakota and Nebraska killed livestock and ruined crops, a war in Cuba with Spain was showing heavy losses for the Spanish, and gold reserves here in the U.S. were growing as banks made good on their treasury promises. The following news items are taken from the July 17, 24 and 31, 1896 editions of the Jefferson Valley Zephyr. The accompanying photo is an ad from July, 1896.

A CLOUDBURST: Last Sunday, between 1 and 2 o'clock, occurred one of the severest cloudbursts in the main range west of here, known for many years. At least one life was lost through it-that of Frank Lemoin, well-known and highly respected placer miner on the Little Pipestone. The storm was general over the mountains, and in Madison County partially wrecked several bridges on the Pony branch of the N. P. railroad. The most deplorable event connected with the storm however, was the killing of Frank Lemoin, who for ten long years had been working on a placer proposition on the Little Pipestone. As related by Frank Houghton and Ed Woolverton, who were at the camp at the time, Lemoin expressed fears of the cloudburst, and said he would go up and open the gates of his reservoir, to prevent it being washed out; that was the last seen of Frank alive.

About midway between the Big and Little Pipestone creeks, "Lige" Stewart and his invalid wife had a delightful little home, but it is now ruined and the little ranch almost totally destroyed. The house had been located with a special view to escaping anything of a cloudburst, but the torrent was partially deflected and struck the house; they succeeded in getting to the rear of the house, where a vacuum in the flood was created, and there remained in safety until the waters subsided; in the meantime the suspense was terrible, as the house rocked and groaned and creaked, and was in momentary danger of being swept away.

PERSONAL CHAT AND ZEPHYRETTES: John Weingart and Postmaster Cochrane were down from Silver Star Monday night. The postmaster's store was burglarized of about $50 worth of goods recently. Mrs. Martin Toole, wife of the superintendent of the Perry Canyon sawmill, arrived from Hamilton Tuesday, and is now at the camp with her husband; and the boys didn't do a thing but get a couple of old saws and all the old oil cans possible and treat Mr. and Mrs. Toole to several choice operatic selections, while Herman Johnson, the French chef d'cuisine, prepared an elegant wedding dinner for the occasion. Gov. John A. Leggatt, was a visitor to Whitehall yesterday; it was his first appearance hereabouts for many years. Mr. Leggatt has considerable mining interests in this and Madison counties. D. A. Black of Chicago, representing a prominent wholesale tea house, was in town Wednesday, departing in the afternoon for a brief visit with his son, T. T., on the South Boulder, going thence to Virginia City and surrounding country. Mr. Black, though having been a resident of Chicago for many years, is one of Montana's pioneers, having built the first house at Bannack.

Alex McKay has gone to Long Branch, Coney Island, Bar Harbor and other notorious resorts for the summer. Just before leaving, he received a telegram from Grover Cleveland extending to him an invitation to visit him at Gray Gables and spend a few days playing sluff and hunting ducks. Alex sent word right back to Grover that he did not know him. "I'm sorry," said Alex, "but I can't afford to associate with such a man as Grover has turned out to be."

By 1922, war was less of a focus than sports. Ty Cobb made 5 hits in a game for a record 4th time in a year; the St. Louis Cardinals are in first place; the Tour De France is won by Firmin Lambot of Belgium; and 18-year-old Ralph Samuelson skimmed across the water in Minnesota on the very first water skis.

Thanks to a lot of rain, crops were doing well in the valley and preparations were underway for the upcoming general election. The following stories are based on notes made by Roy Milligan, Sr. from the July 27, 1922 Jefferson Valley News.

Pleasant Valley farmers are raking in the profits from their vegetable sales in Butte. Charles E. Davis, Irwin Tuttle, and Mrs. D. E. Liddle are popular vendors for the top-quality crops grown in our valley. On the west side of the valley in the Pipestone area, fowl is often favored over crops. Mr. and Mrs. H. Cresap started out with just four turkeys back in 1918 and now are raising at least 600. Last year, their pockets were filled with $1000.00 in sales. The Mrs. is the main turkey tender while Mr. Cresap spends most of his time in their 10-acre garden on the bench.

Politics are front and center in our valley. Registered voter numbers are looking good. Whitehall District 4 has 483; the lower Boulder No. 6 has 57, Cardwell No. 8 is 113; Homestake is listed at 22; and Pipestone 80. Running for County Commissioner in the general election are Fred Tebay on the Democrat side, H. H. Huber for the Republican ticket, and W. J. Elmer.

If you are looking for work, the Northern Pacific is hiring, and wages are at Railroad Labor Board scale. Openings are available in the following positions: Machinist, Blacksmith, Sheet Metal worker, Electrician; and Passenger Car men all at $0.70 per hour; Boilermakers at $0.70 and $0.70 ½ per hour; Freight Car men at $0.63 per hour and Helpers at $0.47 per hour. Time and one-half is paid for work over eight hours. In case you did not read last weeks edition, regular employees of the NP are on strike.

If you were waiting for some "medicinal alcohol" from the Quaintance ranch up the Whitetail, the birds have flown the coup. The 25-gallon still, 250 gallons of mash, and the only remaining quart of finished medicine has been destroyed by some local drys.