Pioneer Nelson Gage Remembered at Sweet Grass Picnic
Mrs. Josephine Gage Bartlett recalls the 1874 move from Colorado to Montana with Nelson Gage and his family. The memorial tribute at the Jarrett ranch site honors the settlers buried on Duck Creek with a granite plaque and boulder-marked graves. Bartlett, sole surviving family member, recounts the cross‑territory trek and hardships faced by early Gallatin Valley pioneers.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Nelson Gage
Gallatin Valley
Montana
Colorado
Elno
Josephine Gage Bartlett
West Yellowstone
Sweet Grass County
Pioneers’ Society
Ralph Jarrett Franch
Yellowstone River
Sweet Grass Park County
Kansas
Denver
Early Montana frontier life near the Crow agency and Livingston
The narrative recalls 1874 in the upper Yellowstone region with Dr. A. J. Hunter’s homestead near Hunters Hot Springs, Crow agency at Mission Creek east of Livingston, Benson's Landing trading point, and scattered white settlers facing raiding bands as Crow lands and nearby tribes interacted in a sparsely inhabited frontier.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Yellowstone Valley
Hunter's Hot Springs
A. J. Hunter
Montana
Bozeman
Big Horn River
Yellowstone
Crow Agency
Mission Creek
Livingston
Benson’s Landing
Crazy Mountains
Mission
Gage Family Remembered on Yellowstone Frontier
A reminiscence recounts the Gage family's cross country trek from Colorado to the Yellowstone region starting May 1874. They endure Indian attacks, harsh winters, and guard duties while homesteading near Hunter's Hot Springs, with father’s death and two brothers lost in river incidents shaping the painful frontier tale.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Shields River
Conraw’s Flats
Hunter's Hot Springs
Duck Creek
Yellowstone River
Miles City Pioneer George M. Miles Dies in Portland
George M. Miles, nephew of Gen Nelson A Miles and longtime eastern Montana figure, died at a daughter’s home in Portland after a lingering illness. Born 1854 in Westminster Massachusetts he helped settle Miles City in 1876, served as quartermaster clerk with the Fifth Infantry, and became a bank president and civic leader in eastern Montana. He married twice and left two daughters in Portland.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
George M. Miles
Miles City
Nelson A. Miles
Portland
Ore
Montana
Fifth Infantry
Miles
Yellowstone
Tongue River
Westminster
Mass
Daniel C
Lucy Ann Miles
John Miles
United States
Wales
Swansea
Worcester Academy
Amherst Agricultural College
Yellowstone River
Presbyterian Sunday School
First National Bank of
Custer County
Big Horn Mountains
North Dakota
Miles City Cemetery Association
Miles City Y.M.C. A
Ekalaka Teléphone Company
Royal Arch
Knight Templar
Helena Strewell
Jay D. Miles
Laura Ritner
Philadelphia
Ruth R
Helen G
Surviving Family Memoir Recalls Frontier Life
Mrs. Bartlett recounts a harsh frontier childhood with four sisters and two brothers, helping as cowboys in cattle drives and roundups. She describes milking 30 to 40 cows daily and running a stage station after her mother kept only the milk cows. She notes her 1880 marriage to Horace G Bartlett and that she is the sole survivor of her family.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Horace G. Bartlett
Also Mentioned on This Page
Gage
Bozeman Trail
P. P. Clark
Gage Ranch
Bartlett
John Fisher
Bill McDonald
Ben Blood
Thompson
Ogden
Utah
California
Salmon River
Baby Monte
Uncle Ben
Mein
Father
Hunter’s Hot Springs
Huntera
Fort Ellis
Stephen
Nelson Story
Pony Express
Sister
Dora
Ned
Bannock Jim
Sweet Grass Creek
Tommy Thompson
Elsa Gage
Stephen Gage
Clara Gage
Rex
Tadeh
Betty
General Foods
George Miles
Montana Cereal CO
Illings, Mont
This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!