Our Town 100+ Years Ago: March 1895

The March weather of 1895 in the Jefferson Valley was not a lot different than now. There were blizzards and warm days and people were busy going here and there. Back then, the Zephyr reported the good, the bad, and the funny of the town and valley. The following is as it was written in the March 15, 1895 edition of the Whitehall Zephyr.

William Franklin, a well-known knight of the grip, departed last Wednesday morning, after enjoying several days in Whitehall society. He found upon a frequent and judicious application of his tape line that his bay window was being considerably diminished without the aid of anti-fat, the result of temperate but substantial living; he can now see the end of his toothpick shoes without hanging himself across the top of a board fence.

U. W. Elmer has displayed good judgment by ordering a number of fine blooded swine with the idea of breeding fine stock. We also noticed on the platform at the freight depot the other day a number of boilers for cooking stock feed, etc.

Ed Wynne is kicking because Jo Morris gave him the slip the other night and did not show up until 3 a.m. He wonders what Joe was doing, prowling around at such uncanny hours. Jo retaliates by exposing Ed's talents as a mustache curler – barbers ain't in it with him – and how he manages to display his talents in that direction to young lady acquaintances. Jo can best give you the particulars in the one case and Ed in the other.

Two carloads of horses were loaded and shipped from Whitehall to the Chicago market last Tuesday, in palace horse-cars. They were from the famous Raymond stock farm.

That blizzard Monday night and Tuesday was a corker and gave the banana belt a body blow. T. T. Black says his pineapple crop will be a complete failure for sure for the season of 1895, but he has strong hopes of saving his (Irish) lemons.

The following is rewritten from notes made my Roy Millegan, Sr. from March, 1921 editions of the Jefferson Valley News. The accompanying photo is circa 1921, looking north on Division Street.

The secretary of the Montana Sportsmen's Association made a very convincing presentation to local avid sportsmen and these gentlemen have decided to form their own local association which will be known as the Jefferson Valley Rod and Gun Club. A committee has created the by-laws and officers have been elected. W. G. Myers will serve as the first president; James Brennan is the vice-president; R. V. Wright is the secretary/treasurer and board members include Nat Chamberlain and Nate Root. The groups' objectives are to promote the conservation, protection and propagation of game fish, game animals and game birds in Montana. Members will be making an effort to stock lands with Chinese Pheasants and to try and exterminate magpies. There will be a magpie hunt with two teams, 22 members per team. The losing team will have to host the winners at a dinner.

Shadan Lahood is an agent for Runely Oil Pull Tractors. He can supply tractors in four sizes: 12-20, 16-30, 20-40, or the powerful 30-60. The numbers represent the horsepower on the draw bar and the the horsepower on the pulley.

Whitehall hosted a great district basketball tournament this month. At least 900 people were estimated to be in attendance for the championship game in the gym (what we now know as the old gym) when our boys beat Bozeman 20 to 10. Unfortunately, we lost to Big Timber at the State tournament, 16 to 13.

The agricultural department at the high school will be making hot beds this spring at the school so they can grow starter plants for the community. The price range will be 20 to 25 cents per 100. Home gardeners can choose from cabbage, cauliflower and/or tomato plants.

We have a fine slate of gentlemen running for the town council. The 1st Ward will be between Andrew Less and S. H. Wolverton; 2nd Ward is Dr. Packard or Jasper Yotter; and the 3rd Ward is F. Fessenden or E. Speck. During the town meeting, Sam Justus was nominated for Mayor and our current mayor, Robert Tait, announced that he will run again. Election results will be reported in the April 7th edition.

The Masonic dance held at the Yellowstone Hall was a great success. The decorations made it an even more joyous occasion. There were 100 couples present and they danced until 4:00 AM to music provided by the Purcells Orchestra of Butte.

Baseball has fast become the game for men in town. The first town tournament will be between the married men and the single men. This will be a great opportunity for the single ladies to observe the prowess of eligible bachelors. The single men include W. Woll, Ed Smith, W. D. McMurray, G. Mercer, J. M. Gilman, Ed Miller, E. Harper, H. M. Werne, T. Bertoglio, J. Bertoglio, Len Miller, K. Clawson, Frank Greene, D. F. Naughton and G. Bleichner. We will not mention the married men at this time due to requests from several wives. The umpire position will be honestly held by Dr. Packard. The next heated match-up game will be between the fats and the leans.