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of Sto Feter9§ Missioim aed j Killed? Dearborn Was Maieferring g. U«htthe late t Ward, w laterEarner's d trap-in. One, peal toof the h were td with them, en thele edge near a eap of antler cachew and the fir emen-d out 3ughiy dacityYear# afterwards I knew Thomas near Augusta. Perhaps the last time I met him he accosted me with:My friends shun me. My family want me out of the house. I feel like an outcast.**Why, Mr. Thomas, what Is the matter? I asked.se and trail; le dine, in a have 1, butit too nging i off. than o the it up 11 for The ■ overshort with iness. fear-; was 1 the wil-bearandI out,ilmklingmilyeastridgeherepre-iughbed.table“Well. said he, “during my life I have picked up 17 skunks by their tails and carried them out of buildings with no bad results. Yesterday I started out with the 18th—” Just then a wander ing breeze blew him to me and I said “Your friends and family are right.' Thomas was a good neighbor, with a keen sense of humor, and he did his part with the rest in opening up the new country. His children and grandchildren are. most of them, in the Sim river country today.David Auchard was raising horses and cattle on the Dearborn near the mouth of Auchard creek about three miles above the stage road as early as 1874. Coming from New York in 1872, he had spent a year or more on Silver creek near Helena, where his sister, Mrs. Gehring, lived, and then had located the Dearborn ranch, which he developed into a snug home. In October, 1879, he married and he and his wife settled down to a number of years of contented ranch life.Uncle Dave, as many called him was a man of vision, seeing profits in advance and ready to take them when the time came. Scrupulously honest, attentive to business and with a physique fitted to long hours, he was in comfortable financial situation by the time of which I write.As a neighbor he was kind and thoughtful, sometimes anticipating the needs of others and getting on the Job almost before they, themselves, knew a need was coming.He rode into our yard one March morning after a roundabout Journey ride of 15 miles through mud, melting snow and flooded gulches. As he dismounted from his horse, he remarked to me:“I thought I might be needed so I have come with my tools.”A near neighbor of ours died the day before. Father was away and there was no one to go ahead with burial preparations. Auchard heard of Hul-ten's death, sensed the situation and came at once with his hammer, saw and plane. I helped him clear a space in a cabin, showed him what lumber we had and he was soon at work. Father came a little later and the two of them went ahead with the coffin and other funeral preparations. After the burial the next afternoon and Auchard was certain there was nothing more he could do, he mounted his horse for a long, moonlight ride over the hitig to his home.His bequest to the Montana grandlodge resulted in the building in Pricklv Pe “ew Helena, ofa home aged Masons in Montana. His thought was to use part of the wealth thathe had wrested from the ranged of Auchard creek and the DearbonTso Itmen aSrf helpful 00106 the worthy men and women of Montana.John Cottle lived two miles ud the vaUey at the mouth of the little sS-eaS that comes down to Flat creek fmm th. M T*u dlrtde.Wireham place. The buildings were on that part°f the old MulianrSd tS had^ beenabndoned with the opening °f TU divide cutoff fromEagle Rock to Flat creek crossing.Cottle was a typical state of Maine Yankee, tall, wiry, and a little stooped.I see him yet as he stopped in our yard one morning and held up two fingers to my brother and said:“Long coulee. Come up this evening.Interpreted, it meant that he had killed two antelopes in Long coulee and for my brother to come and get one that eveningHe afterwards located on Sun river and married a daughter of Richard Auchard, an early day Sun river farmer and stockman.Ralph Wells was a pioneer sheepman south of the Dearborn. He came up the Missouri on a steamer in 1876, bringing with him 25 bucks and stayed that ,Vnt?5,a^ithe Jack Ackley ranch, where the Prickly Pear flows into the Missouri. He finally located near Craig and was in the sheep business there until about 116. He now lives at Great Falls.Ia Bresche, who lived on the west side of the Dearborn, was, as the name implies, Canadian-French. His wife was part Indian. There were several children. The family moved into the Browning country about 1889, where the children and grandchildren are living today.Another character of the was Fred Frost, who liVed alone at the head of Warner creek, at the western foot of Sullivan hill. He had a neat little cottage snuggled in a grove of quaking aspens by a big spring. His housekeeping was reported to be as neat as that of any woman and he was always well and tastefully dressed. He rode one of the best cow horses in the country, a buckskin single-footer of about 950 pounds, and he sat on the horse with erectness and an air of distinction. Among people he had an ease of manner and a polish not usual to the earnest hard working men of the range country.Fred found life in his little cottage lonely, however, and a year or so after our arrival at Flat creek he invited Mary Thomas, daughter of E. J. Thomas of the Dearborn crossing, to share it with him. They lived on the little ranch for many years, raising cattle andrehehetoa
Newspaper Details
Superior Mineral Independent
Superior, Montana, US
Thu, Aug 24, 1933
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Joellen C.
USA 29 Jan 2024
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Superior Mineral Independent
