Our Town 100+ Years Ago: August, Part I

125+ YEARS AGO - August, Part I: There were plenty of headlines in August 1898 to entice readers to stay engaged with the paper. American troops serving outside our borders were succumbing to Yellow Fever, with hundreds reported sick. Here in the U.S., typhoid fever was the enemy. A letter from a Butte soldier serving with Troop L at Chickamauga said, "Twenty men in our troop are reported sick this morning, and two more deaths are expected. There are 500 cases of typhoid fever. The extreme heat makes the camp filthy and of bad odor. Col. Grigsby had made application to move our regiment to Huntsville, Ala., in the mountains, where there is good water, but we do not believe they will pay much attention to his request." With most of the front pages covered with news of war in Cuba and the Philippines, one had to search near the bottom for non-war footnotes like the coal mine fire at Dailly, Scotland, that finally burned itself out after 50 years. Here in Montana, the news was of a Murder Epidemic, with half a dozen reported in just a few days around the state. People in the Jefferson Valley were going about their lives on a much lower key. The following articles are taken as written from August 5 and 12, 1898, Jefferson Valley Zephyr.

SUMMIT VALLEY GEMS: Rev. Oliver preached his farewell sermon here Sunday morning at 11 o'clock. Farmers are about through stacking the first crop of alfalfa. The crop is the heaviest ever known in the valley.

SILVER STAR HINTS: Shaffer Bros. of Sheridan made their last trip with the Butte and Sheridan coach Tuesday. Without a Butte coach, Silver Star will be neither here, there, or anywhere else. Benson and Wickes have recently struck a body of ore near the Aurora two feet in width and running up into the hundreds. Silver Star may possibly come to the front yet.

MAMMOTH ITEMS: Mr. Hathaway, of Whitehall, is doing representation work on three claims here and goes today to our camp to do representation work on claim adjoining Rock Rabbit, same ledge. About 25 men are doing representing work near our camp. We will build an ore road to Mammoth soon. Have about 40 tons of first-class ore on dump.

LETTER (edited for length) TO THE ZEPHYR from soldier Ernest Powell, Company E: On board S. S. Pennsylvania (at anchor) Honolulu, H.I., Aug. 2d-We arrived at this port on July 28th. We were met by the native band and almost the entire population of the city, who were throwing pineapples, bananas, etc., to the boys. We were given shore leave, and the boys scattered in all directions in short order. The native population (Kanakas) does not know how to view the annexation business. They have been told that the United States will treat them the same as it did the American Indians. The steamship Rio Janeiro arrived here two days ago, having on board two battalions of South Dakota troops, a signal corps and some others. We were all very glad to get on land, as seasickness was very bad the first part of the trip. The boys did not care then if the ship went down with all on board. The bill of fare was composed of meal, spuds, and hardtack and not half enough of that. There was strong talk of throwing the commissary man overboard, and most everyone looks for trouble on the voyage ahead of us. I send my regards through The Zephyr to all my friends and acquaintances in Southern Montana. Our address now will be "Manila, Philippine Islands.

100 YEARS AGO - August, Part I: By August 1924, war news was in the past, and other concerns were on the horizon, including the upcoming primary election. Local men Louis F. Lepp, William Dawson, and Andrew Less were running for county commissioner; Mait Goodiel was vying for Sheriff; and E.R. McCall was on the ballot for Clerk of the District Court. Some of the headlines in the August 7th Jefferson Valley News included "Skimmed Milk Valuable as SupplementaryHog Ration," "Montana Ranges are Closed to California Cattle, Rules Board," "Bigfoot," "One of The Largest of Wolves has been Captured-Stock Growers are Jubilant," "Unusual Fire Dangers Causes Forest Closing," and "Deer in Libby Vicinity Graze in City Gardens." Local news centered around day-to-day life in the valley. The following news bits are taken as written from the August 7 and 14, 1924 editions of the Jefferson Valley News. The ad appeared in several JV News editions in August of that year.

The valley farmers met Sunday afternoon at the Waterloo bridge on the Jefferson River to discuss ways to increase water in the irrigating ditches. They decided to install a canvas dam. Chas. Elmer motored to Butte on Monday and purchased the canvas for the dam across the Jefferson River, which is being built by the combined irrigation ditches in the valley.

Miss Mary Pyfer, brothers, and cousin returned last Wednesday from their trip through Yellowstone Park. While in Jardine they spent a day visiting with their brother, H.F. Pyfer, and family. The trip was made over the Yellowstone trail and they returned over the Vigilante trail.

The Girls' Club met at the Miller home Saturday afternoon with the Misses Shirley Miller and Rosalie Lahood as hostesses. A most interesting afternoon was enjoyed. Misses Thora Noble and Evelyn Craine gave splendid reports of their camping trip to Sheridan.

A car of tourists from Washington passed through here Monday, carrying with them a regular dairy-a pair of goats.

GAME LAW VIOLATOR IS SOME SPEED DEMON: Last evening shortly after seven o'clock a big Hudson car, with a man and woman as passengers passed through Whitehall at a speed estimated at anywhere from 50 to 500 miles per hour. It seems that the man, who is a resident of Oregon, was wanted by Game Warden Frank Marshall, of Bozeman, for shooting prairie chickens out of season. He went through our city at such a speed that to stop him without a spill might have meant death to both occupants of the big machine. The pair was evidently making for the state line, and haste was the essence of their journey. We have not heard, at the time of going to press, the outcome of the chase.