Our Town 125 and 100 Years Ago...January, Part II

125 Years Ago - January Part II: Mine tragedies in Butte, Anaconda, and near Georgetown continued in the second half of January. Three men died at the Gold Coin mine at Gold Coin near Georgetown when two of them "were nearly hurled into eternity." A man known as George May or George Fisher was arrested in Malta, Montana on a charge of bigamy. He had wives in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, Grand Forks and Devils Lake, North Dakota, and Glasgow, Montana. Thousands of cotton mill workers in New England refused to work after a major dispute with mill owners. In Halifax, Nova Scotia, more than 300 people were living solely on cornmeal and water. Some families had eaten nothing for five days. In Deer Lodge County, a $100,000 bond was approved to build a new courthouse. There was also excitement here in the Jefferson Valley, perhaps on a bit lighter scale than in other parts of Montana or the U. S. The following articles are taken as written from the January 21 and 28, 1898 editions of the Jefferson Valley Zephyr.

SOUTH BOULDER NUGGETS: Miss Clara Belcher, D.G.C.T., organized an I.O.G.T. Lodge at South Boulder schoolhouse on January 8. Seven members came in by card and nineteen were initiated. Miss Belcher was ably assisted by members of Whitehall Lodge in the initiatory ceremony. The following officers were elected and installed: Chief Templar Carrie Randall, Vice Templar Lilly Black, Secretary Johnny Jeffries, Assistant Secretary Laura Williams, Financial Secretary Addie Moore, Treasurer T.H. Rundell, Marshal Harry Sacry, D.M., and Marshal John Morris, Past C.T. Miss Noble, Chaplain Bertie Church, Guard Fay Newton, and Sentinel Arthur Shaw. Lodge meets on Saturday night in the South Boulder schoolhouse.

NOTICE FOR PUBLICATION: Land Office at Helena, Montana. December 28, 1897. Notice is hereby given that the following named settler has filed notice of his intention to make final proof in support of his claim, and that said proof will be made before Robert N. Hawkins, U.S. Commissioner, at Pony, Montana, on Feb. 12, 1898, viz: GEORGE D. GOETSCHIUS, H. E. No. 6216, for the e ½ be ¼ sec 34, twp 1 n, r 3 w. He names the following witnesses to prove his continuous residence upon and cultivation of, said land, viz: Jasper Bricker, Elisha T. Noble, Oscar E. Randall, Highland Shaw, all of Jefferson Island, Montana. W. E. Cox, Register.

HOME NEWS: J.W. Carver did not attempt to commit suicide last Saturday, but he sawed a hole in the ice and walked into it going up to his watch pocket in the icy water. For some of the language heard, Wes. McCall thought that Carver was baptizing himself.

The ice crop has been harvested and there are several hundred tons packed for Whitehall use. The quality of the ice is better this year than last.

Mrs. Lena Wiseman, who spent some time in this city last summer, and who delivered a health lecture to ladies at the M. E. church, died in Butte this week of an abscess of the brain.

The Free Silver Orchestra will give a hard times ball next Friday evening. The bills announce a series of small fines for putting on airs or borrowing better clothes than you own. Remember the date, Jan. 28.

By January 1924, new technology was spreading news faster, the Teapot Dome scandal was making almost daily headlines, Vladimir Lenin died in the Soviet Union from a stroke and his brain was removed to be studied at the Brain Research Institute in Moscow. In Milwaukee, Shoeless Joe Jackson was suing the Chicago White Sox for $18,200 in back pay. Here in Whitehall, the local paper appeared to be reporting less news. As Roy Millegan, Sr. noted in his research, "Paper appears to be going downhill some, not the news it once was, less news, relying on the correspondents in the various areas to write articles on who had dinner where, who was sick, etc. The following articles are based on notes that Roy made from the January 17, 24, and 31, 1924 editions of the Jefferson Valley News. The photo is of Sarah Cowdry who lived in the Bone Basin area and would make trips to town on her cart.

Our high school boys and girls are doing very well in most of their basketball games. Clinton, Rafferty, Wolverton, Potter, and McNeeley led the team to victory over Big Timber's Sweet Grass team 26 to 17 and the girls beat Cardwell 25 to 15. The boys lost by only one point, 15 to 14, with Livingston.

With the new bird refuge at Pipestone, protecting the birds from poachers has become a full-time endeavor. Eight new deputies have been appointed to help. They are Frank Piazzola, Andrew Rodoni, and Oscar Slette all of Pipestone Springs; Thomas McArthur, John Capp, Frank Delmoe, and Frank Strozzi, of Whitehall; and, Charles A. Snyder of Grace.

The South Boulder Electric Company has elected its new officers for the coming year. They are Ed Armstrong (President) and Charles Kyle (Secretary-Treasurer). It has also been reported from across the river in Madison County that Ed Torrence and Leo Cowdry made a rich strike at their mine in the Bone Basin area. Bring the gold to town, boys!

Nearly 50 children were brought to the Better Babies Contest at the Farmer's Short Course event last week. Nurse Henrietta Crockett examined all the children ranging in age from 6 months to six years of age. Those receiving the highest scores were Thos Crane (boy under one year), Lois Gregson (girl under one year), Paris Robert (boy under two), Jewell Kyle (girl under two), Grover Gregson (boy 2-6), Elizabeth Ann Morris (girl 2-6). Other babies that received high scores included James Brennan, Lloyd Brooke, William Tuttle, Jean Tait, Lucile Mickleson, Dorothy Brennan, Hope Hughes, Samuel Pyper, Jack Mountjoy, Paul Toepfer, Bill Cheley, and Pauline Woodward. The Farmer's Short Course ended a great weekend with about 500 people attending the Old Folks dance.