Our Town 125 and 100 Years Ago...December, Part I

125 YEARS AGO - December, Part I: December 1897 was proving to have a typical Montana winter. More horrific deaths were reported in the Butte mines. At Dunham, Montana, on the Blackfoot reservation, a wreck on the Great Northern railway resulted in two deaths and two injuries with the eastbound passenger train engines a tangled mass after derailing from heavy snow. The University of Montana and the Bozeman Agricultural College (now MSU) played a Thanksgiving Day football game with U of M winning 18 to 6. In Butte, their football team defeated the Reliance team from San Francisco by a score of 8 to 4. A repeat game three days later was poorly attended with the temperature near zero. The weather was not kind outside of the U.S. either. Six thousand died when a typhoon struck the Philippine Islands. A large loss of life was reported when many ships were wrecked by massive storms near England. Whitehall had its share of excitement too, although not as front-page worthy as the rest of the state or nation. The following articles are taken as written in the December 3 and 10, 1897 editions of the Jefferson Valley Zephyr.

THE HOME NEWS: A couple of toughs who have been laying around Whitehall for the past few days held up J.D. McGee, of Virginia City, on Tuesday morning at about 6:30, as he was on his way from the hotel to the stage barn. Fortunately for Mr. McGee, he had left his purse at the hotel with his wife, and the footpads got only a little silver.

There is much snow on the Pony-Norris branch and a double-header was run there on Monday. It was a job of snow-bucking at that.

George Rundell, the well-known South Boulder ranchman, was in Butte Wednesday, where he went to market with a couple of tons of choice pork.

William McKeown went to Butte Wednesday to see Mrs. McKeown, who has been in the Welles Hospital there for several weeks. Mr. McKeown also greeted a brand new son on his visit to Butte. Mother and child were both getting along so well that they would be back at the Jefferson Island home in a few weeks.

While the stage was coming in this direction on Monday one of the horses fell and broke its leg. It was found necessary to shoot the animal and the stage came on with two horses, arriving an hour late.

Last Monday was the last day for the payment of taxes and it was a busy one for all concerned. There are some folks who wait till the last day and there are other folks who cannot raise the amount till the last day, and there are still others who cannot raise it any day, but the last-named class is small in number.

PERISHED ON THE TRAIL: The Body of H.W. Shearman Found Beside the Upper South Boulder Trail. H.W. Shearman left Whitehall on Nov. 19 for a trip to the properties of the South Boulder company, located seven or eight miles above Mammoth. The next morning he started from Mammoth, where he had remained overnight, to walk to the mine, but he never reached there-he got within a half-mile of the mine cabin when he, presumably, sank beside the trail exhausted and he died there, alone in the hills. Sunday friends followed him to the grave. Six young men lowered the remains to Mother Earth, at the close of an affecting supplication to God to rest a weary soul in peace. The grave was closed, the sun shone on a new-made mound and the last mortal chapter in the story of a life was closed.

100 YEARS AGO - December, Part I: You can change the decade or even the century; but, some types of news never change. In December 1923, natural disasters and miner deaths were still happening. The Gleno Dam in Bergamo, Italy burst and only three of the 500 residents of Dezzo survived. A rope broke on a shaft man-lift at the Nunnery Colliery in England resulting in seven deaths. Here in the U.S., President Calvin Coolidge gave a State of the Union address that was broadcast by nationwide radio. The steamboat T.W. Lake sank off the coast of Washington state and took all 18 crew with it. Cecil B. DeMille released his first film version of The Ten Commandments. Bob Barker, who would become the popular host of The Price is Right, was born in Darrington, Washington. Whitehall meanwhile was rolling along with winter and the fast-paced early 1920s. The following articles are created from notes made by Roy Millegan, Sr. from the December 6 and 13, 1923 editions of the Jefferson Valley News. The photo is from circa the 1920s during one of our notorious winter storms.

Ben T. Orr has finally taken the spur line to retirement after 43 years. Mr. Orr started his railroad journey at the age of 29 at Browning, Missouri on May 1, 1880, as a section hand for the B&SW and was soon promoted to section foreman. After a time railroading in Iowa, he came west to work for the Northern Pacific at Helena. For the past 15 years Ben has lived here in Whitehall and at the age of 72 has no plans to get sidetracked in his well-earned retirement.

There are plenty of Christmas celebrations coming up this month. The community band concert will be held on the 14th to help with the organization of the library board. The library committee wishes to thank Ralph Shaw, Charlotte Hughes, Mrs. E. Werner, Dan Morrison, and Mrs. William Peck for the books they have donated to help fill the shelves of our new library. While on your way to the concert do not forget to stop by the following businesses for some great gift ideas: Modern Pharmacy, McKay and Carmichael, The Golden Rule, Taits Garage, Whitehall Drug Company, C. S. Baker the Baker, Whitehall Meat Company, Whitehall State Bank, Interstate Lumber Company, Yellowstone Billiard Parlor, The Electric Shop, Greene and Sons, Smith Garage, and Smith and Tuttle. The community Christmas celebration will take place on December 24th at the high school gym with plenty of activities and special treats including candy, oranges, nuts, popcorn balls, and apples.

A batch of new councilmen have been appointed to the town council. They are C.J. Pruett, A.J. McKay, and C.H. Miller. Mr. Justus has resigned from the council. An important item before the council is the proposal to turn the Common building into the new town fire station. However, considering the financial condition of our community and the condition of the Common building, no action will be taken at this time.

Butte DeMolay members will be in town next week to induct the new class of candidates. Thirteen young men in Whitehall, ages 16 to 21, will be initiated into the local order. As DeMolay members, these young men will learn valuable lessons about becoming fine, upstanding leaders in society.

The Jefferson Valley News has a very nosey cat and listens intently when people think no one is listening. Here is what Inker overheard this past week. Mr. H.H. Huber said, "The nice thing about two autos crashing is often you find whiskey in one for the injured in the other." A. W. Robert was heard to say, "Friday is one of the seven days on which it is considered unlucky to buy too much stuff on credit."

Leonard Miller expounded "Reformers say the modern dance looks more like a race. We say it usually ends neck to neck." From the high school, Professor Lowry was heard asking a senior in his physical geography class "What makes mountains?" The bright student replied, "The valleys in between." And as the cat passed by one of the soda shops, it heard Mr. Hatch's statement on alcohol prohibition, "So far the nation's experience with the 18th amendment shows that you can lead a people to the desert but you can't make them play in the sand."