Our Town 100 Years Ago...December Part I

In December 1896, the entire United States was in the grip of a strong winter. The Great Northern and Northern Pacific railroads were struggling to keep their lines open due to heavy snowfall and a deadly rail accident occurred at the Mullen tunnel east of Missoula. William Steinway of piano manufacturing fame died of typhoid fever. Congress was making "Laws Without End" with 1456 measures on their calendar. The Treasury Department reported that the government spent more than it took in. Here in the Jefferson Valley, politics were surfacing after the general election and with a new editor at the Zephyr. The accompanying photo is an ad from the December 4, 1896 Zephyr.

EDITOR'S OPINION: Everybody earnestly hoped that the predictions of prosperity would be verified, but the wave seems to have washed against breakers. This only proves the fallacy of those men who declare that business can be done on "confidence" and people are now realizing that the ante-election "confidence and prosperity" gush was moonshine. ...the Union Pacific has hauled to Butte thousands of tons of Utah products. Recently this condition has been brought so forcibly to the notice of the railways that they are making an effort to fix the rates so that Montana produce may be sold in the Butte market, as it should be.

The Home News: Yesterday the smoking car of the westbound passenger train caught fire, and the flames were noticed when the train was a few miles east of Whitehall. Conductor George acted as fire chief and the blaze was extinguished. It caught in the front part of the car in the roof and not near the stove pipe. The car was somewhat damaged. Trains are still delayed east of Montana and the westbound traffic is behind.

Oyster supper tonight at the M.E. church by I.O.G.T. Oysters any style, 50c per couple.

Saturday morning was the coldest of the season up to that time. The thermometer at the post office showed 20 degrees below 0 and the average citizen was ready to believe that the mercury was telling the truth. The river was frozen over so that teams could cross-an unusual event in November. Reports from Homestake on Saturday gave 28 below zero, and Bozeman telegraphed that it was 25 below there.

Thursday the stage did not make the return trip from Twin Bridges on account of the blizzard, but on Friday the regular trips were resumed.

Cards are out announcing the marriage of Miss Carrie W. Winslow with Mr. Lou C. Dear, which will take place Sunday, December 6, 1896, at the residence of the bride's parents at Fish Creek, Montana. The young people are both well known in this locality.

The Butte Miner of Monday morning prints an account of the robbery of L. Larson, "a resident of Whitehall." The touch occurred at the Casino, where Larson flourished a roll while setting up the drinks for the boys. Tim Cronin is the fellow who is alleged to have nipped the roll.

Charles Frank, a placer miner from near Helena, was taken into custody last Saturday and examined by the sanity board. He was acting strange and was thought to be crazy, but the board decided he was of sound mind and turned him loose.

December 1922 things were changing in Europe. The Irish Free State was established, all the Catholic churches in Petrograd were closed by the Russian government, the American radio station WJZ was heard for the first time in Britain, and German physicist Erwin Schrödinger gave a lecture in Zürich related to quantum theory. Here at home, several tragedies made the headlines. A steam engine accident on the railroad in Humble, Texas left 15 people dead and 40 injured; in Astoria, Oregon 24 blocks of the business district were destroyed by a fire that burned under the streets in old wooden pilings; and John Elroy Sanford, better known as Redd Foxx, was born. Here in the valley, people were getting ready for Christmas and looking forward to warmer weather.

Our concert band is busy practicing to make enjoyable music. We have some new budding musicians.

On clarinets, Mr. Huntley, Mrs. Carne, Mrs. Beamer, and Miss Hixson. Coronets are being played by Marg McFadden, Mr. Mees, and Frank Shrauger. Alto is played by Eleanor Wolverton, Gerald King, and Kenneth Baker. Trombones will slide in with Mr. Shaeffer, Hugh Mosier, and baritone Art Needham.

T. T. Black, Jr., B. B. Bass, and Mr. Lowry will join in on their tubas. The beat will be kept by Billy Wolverton on his snare drum.

The local spud crops this year were no half-baked matter. H. B. Scott shipped seven cars of whites with some gems. Mr. Messenger shipped six cars of the same order. Misters W. Jergensen and L. Knight filled up three cars with whites, cobblers, and gems. Leo Kelly and his partners loaded five cars of all-white potatoes and Jake Borden of Cardwell had two carloads of gems. In all, 24 carloads of fine Jefferson Valley potatoes were shipped and netted the growers from $144 to $285 for their crops.

Our city council reports that Ordinance #93 has been passed and Railroad Avenue is now officially Legion Avenue in honor of our local American Legion post. At the council meeting, other businesses included a motion to pay E. C. Speck $195.40 for his bill of labor and material for the new city fountain.

The new town clerk is Alex Robert and town treasurer Myers has been replaced by Mr. P. W. Bootman.

The Christian Church had its bell rung for the last time this week. Mr. J. F. Donohoe's milk wagon team was spooked by something yesterday morning. They bolted through the backyard of the church where the bell tower resided and toppled the structure. The wagon did not fare well, either.

Charles Clark's home, across from the Common building was damaged by fire this week. Fortunately, the flames were quickly subdued. The fire department has reason to push for installing a siren instead of the bell currently in use.

The lowest temperatures since 1920 are freezing our holiday spirit. It's hard to say Merry Christmas when old man winter pulls the thermometer down to 30 and 33 below zero. Of course, the old timers say that is nothing compared to 1883 when Deer Lodge dipped to minus 48 and then the thermometer froze up.

Mr. Hart narrowly escaped being incarcerated for the holidays when he was arrested for selling liquor. The judge was in a good holiday mood when he gave him just a $100 fine and suspended the sentence of 30 days. Merry Christmas Mr. Hart. You might want to celebrate with a soft drink.