CITY & TOWN HISTORIEs

JEFFERSON CITY

The Jefferson Town Company was incorporated January 11, 1865, with Nathaniel Merriman, John Radcliff, Allen T. Axe and Philip Sheenan, incorporators.  The place was settled in 1864 by these men while en route from from Alder Gulch to Helena.  Allen T. Axe discovered the Gregory lode, and there the party located.  In 1865 the legislature designated the new town as the seat of justice for the county.  Shortly after the district was organized a post office was established with Nathaniel Merriman, postmaster.  The first school was conducted by Miss Sallie Allen, during the winter of 1866-7.  She was the daughter of "Dad" Allen, who kept a blacksmith shop after Frank Smith and John Haggerty, the first blacksmiths.  The first hotel was conducted by William Campbell, and the first store by J. S. Redding; Gou Camix and A. H. Moulter were among the pioneer business men of the village.  A substantial school building has given place to the pioneer school-house of 1866-7, the Emerson House takes the place of the first hotel, and even the blacksmith shop is modern compared with the old one, which was destroyed by the only fire that ever threatened the village.  The business circle of Jefferson in 1879 was made up of the following named traders: M. B. Thompson, Emerson Hotel; J. G. Sanders, general merchandise; Henry Dildine, general merchandise; Dell & Wehr, meat market; Conrad Becker, blacksmith; Henry Blakeman, blacksmith; Casper Deaflin, shoemaker; Thomas D. Tice, barber shop; William Whitstone, saloon and billiard hall; Kessler & Winters, saloon; Conrad Becker, saloon and billiards; Becker & Co., livery stable; Jessie Patterson, lumber dealer; Holter & Russell, lumber dealers; Dr. A. F. Rudd, physician.  Jefferson Lodge, No. 14, I. O. G. T., was organized May 6, 1869, with Geo. Benjamin. L. D., but ceased working.  Jefferson Lodge, No. 33, was organized by G. A. Douglas, August 10, 1872 with sixteen members.  J. M. D. Taylor was the first deputy of this Lodge.  Charter forfeited 1873.  The population of Jefferson in 1879 was estimated at five hundred; in 1880 the number of inhabitants in the village and vicinity was two hundred and ten.  The business circle of 1884-5 is made up as follows: Ellis & Berendes, general store; E. C. Eyl, general store; A. F. Rudd and C. Denbow, physicians; Clements & Fay, hotel; Wm. Campbell, J. McLaughlin, Wm. Whitstone, saloons; Soule Bros., livery; Wm. Neil, blacksmith; John Culver, justice of the peace, and F. W. Ellis, postmaster.

Source: Transcription by Ellen Rae Thiel, from the book, History of Montana: 1739-1885, by M. A. Leeson, published in 1885; located on the website, Hathitrust Digital Library (http://www.hathitrust.org).

MITCHELL GULCH

The first pay dirt was discovered at Mitchell's Gulch, near Helena, on June 12, 1865, by J. J. Doyle, who was associated with J. F. Mitchell.  Mr. Mitchell was at Helena the day it was discovered, but being the older man Doyle named the place in his honor.  Doyle was working on quartz at the time, but the gravel looking fair, he thought he would try it, and, doing so, picked out nine dollars that afternoon.  There were as many as seventy men working in the gulch during the spring of 1866.  The first death took place in the spring of 1870, when a man was shot in a miner's quarrel.  Mr. Mitchell now resides in Java.  The gold was discovered by Mr. Doyle directly opposite his present house in the gulch.

Source: Transcription by Ellen Rae Thiel, from the book, History of Montana: 1739-1885, by M. A. Leeson, published in 1885; located on the website, Hathitrust Digital Library (http://www.hathitrust.org).

MONTANA TOWN

Montana Town, reference to which is made in other pages, was incorporated by the first legislature.  The name was changed to Prickly Pear, under authority of the act approved February 6, 1865, which chartered the Prickly Pear Town Co., with James Gurly, H. M. Hill, A. H. Moulton, C. G. Hallback, T. G. Merrill and A. Ackeman, incorporators.  The boundaries of the new town were: Commencing at the northwest corner of mining claim number five, in the lower Prickly Pear district; thence up the Prickly Pear creek, one mile; thence west from said creek, one-half mile; thence north one mile; thence east one-half mile to the place of beginning, containing three hundred and twenty acres.  James Gurley was appointed president; H. M. Hill, secretary; A. H. Moulton, treasurer; and C. G. Hallback, T. G. Merrill and A. Ackeman, trustees of this town company.

Source: Transcription by Ellen Rae Thiel, from the book, History of Montana: 1739-1885, by M. A. Leeson, published in 1885; located on the website, Hathitrust Digital Library (http://www.hathitrust.org).

PARNELL

Parnell, now known as Weber, forty-eight miles southeast of Helena, on the Boulder, is one of the modern settlements of the county, claiming a population of about seventy.  The business circle is made up as follows: George Beemes, miner; J. Brady, stock and grain; C. Clark, grain and stock; T. Dawson, grain and stock; R. Dunn, grain and stock; J. Hagen, grain and stock; Olof Larson, grain and stock; Henry McCauley, grain and stock; William Mulvey, grain and stock; A. C. Quaintance, grain and stock; H. Ryan, grain and stock; Wm. Ryan, grain and stock; Con. Schmit, grain and stock; J. Schmit, blacksmith; J. Shay, farmer and stock; R. Swarbrick, mason; M. W. Weber, miner and postmaster; Patrick Wickham, farmer and stock.  At this point a church society and school are supported.  Manufacturing industry is represented by a steam saw mill.

Source: Transcription by Ellen Rae Thiel, from the book, History of Montana: 1739-1885, by M. A. Leeson, published in 1885; located on the website, Hathitrust Digital Library (http://www.hathitrust.org).

BACK TO TOP