Our Town 100+Years Ago... December 1899 - Part I

One hundred twenty-six years ago, Whitehall was still an adolescent community searching for a path to maturity. You could find most of what you needed locally, and the school was expanding as more families moved here. The railroad provided the opportunity to travel faster to other parts of the state and country in a little more comfort than by wagon or horse, especially in the cold month of December. The front page of the Jefferson Valley Zephyr brought news from outside of our relatively peaceful daily life.

The Boer War on the African continent was featured week after week, with the average citizen expressing support for the Boers over the British. The following are some of the headlines and news items that residents were reading in the Zephyr back in December 1899. The ad photo is also from that month. Some articles are edited for length.

A STIFF BREEZE. It Blows a Work Train Off the Track, and the Death of One Man is the Result. The work train on the G.F. & C.R.R. going north from Great Falls was blown from the track by the wind one mile south of Shelby Junction, and one man was burned to death, three were injured, and six cars were dumped and burned to ashes. The wind, which was blowing a hurricane, lifted the boarding car, which fell a slight embankment, carrying six other cars with it, and piling them up in a mass of wreckage. The stove, which was in the boarding car, caught fire, set the wooden framework ablaze, and in a few minutes, the entire pile was a mass of flames.

LARGEST DEED RECORDED. The largest deed recorded this year in Silver Bow County was filed last week. By the deed, R.M. Cobban and Mrs. Alice M. Cobban of Missoula, transfer to William A. Clark of Butte, real estate and timber lands situated about the Big Blackfoot River. The consideration named is $33,718,75. The deed bears revenue stamps to the amount of $34.

MASSIVE SMALLPOX OUTBREAK. In a population of 1300 at Uniontown, Ky., there are fully 500 cases in various stages of smallpox. There are many cases in the adjacent county.

VICE PRESIDENT IS DEAD. The death of Vice President Hobart naturally recalls the death of Vice President Hendricks, who expired suddenly of paralysis of the heart on Nov. 25, 1885. The law applicable to the vice presidency was enacted Jan. 19, 1886, by the XLIXth Congress, first session. A proviso limits the succession to those who would be eligible to the presidency under the terms of the Constitution and who have been appointed with the advice and consent of the Senate.

AREA NEWS BITS. Preparations for the exodus from the town of Elkhorn are going on, and people are steadily leaving there. The town will not be entirely deserted till after January 1 next year, as the mill will be kept running till that time. The work of mining has stopped, and the filling of the big Elkhorn mine with water is being allowed.

The road between Whitehall and Boulder is now in better shape than it has ever been. Some good work has been done thereon during the past summer, and the road machine has proved its value as a road maker.

The Loy Hoy Co. has sold its property on Pony Creek to Ah Tio, who will continue to carry on the laundry business there. A representative of the Stemple Fire Extinguisher Co. gave an exhibition of what their apparatus would do Tuesday evening, and as a result, several of the businessmen are placing the extinguisher in their places of business.

Twin Bridges is blessed with a store kept by a Chinaman, some celestial with an unpronounceable name, having moved into the front room of Bow's laundry with the usual supply of feather fans and toothpicks.

DEATHS. Mrs. P. Carney at Rome, New York. A telegram received Wednesday morning by W.M. Fergus conveyed the sad intelligence of the death of Mrs. Patrick Carney, of Waterloo, which occurred on Monday in New York. Yesterday morning's train brought Mr. Carney from the east, and the remains were conveyed to the Carney home at Waterloo. Mrs. Carney was thirty-eight years of age and was born in Boston, Mass. On June 2, 1897, she was united in marriage with Hon. Patrick Carney, widely known among the state's prominent citizens. Mrs. Carney had been sorely afflicted the last year of her life.

Cancer developed dangerously. May Anderson. The people in the vicinity of Parrot were startled last week by the announcement that smallpox had made its appearance in the home of Aug. Anderson, a half-mile west of the station on the Jefferson county side of the river. When Dr. Dobyns diagnosed the girl's malady as smallpox, and the diagnosis was confirmed, there was considerable alarm. On Monday, the little girl died and was buried near the Anderson home.

HOME NEWS. The Less building is approaching completion. Tucker and Sutton completed the brickwork on Saturday. Dr. A.R. Robertson, the dentist, will be in Whitehall all of next week, beginning Monday. He may be found in his dental car. Capt. Townsend of Waterloo lost two fine calves recently, which were taken one at a time from his pasture. It is needless to say that he is pretty mad about it.

School boards have no right to prevent children who have not been vaccinated (smallpox) from attending school unless such boards are enforcing regulations laid down by a county board of health. This is the essence of an opinion promulgated by Attorney General Nolan.

The sheet and pillow slip dance given by the M & M Club Saturday evening is reported to have been very much of a social success. At the hour of 10:30, the ghostly robes of those participating in the masking were dropped, and many surprises were the result. Hon. Ed Cardwell is in Helena, where he was summoned as a United States grand juror. T.T. Black has news that two of his daughters are ill with typhoid fever at Brigham, Utah, where the family went for the health of another daughter, who was thought to have consumption.

The purchase last week by Col. C.F. Lloyd of Butte of 185 acres of land from Major Brooke, and the leasing of over a section in this vicinity, is of more than passing interest. The land purchased lies just south of town and east of the railroad. The intention of Col. Lloyd is to supply milk and cream to Whitehall people and to ship to Butte.

Deputy Sheriff Sherlock was in town on Monday with the photograph of a man now held in California and who is supposed to be Beld, the man who murdered one Denny in Whitehall several years ago. Several parties in Whitehall are supposed to be able to identify Beld.

Brennan Brothers have moved their saloon to the ground floor, and it is no longer the basement saloon. It is reported that the Brennan Brothers have bought the Common building.

ENTITLED TO HALF HOLIDAY. Pupils who have not been absent nor tardy, and have not received less than 70 per cent in their classes during the month of November, and are entitled to a half holiday, are as follows: Meady Anderson, Josephine McDonald, Isabell Morrison, Catherine Fergus, Kate Tebay, Boyd Tebay, and Floyd McCall. Zella F. Hazelton, Teacher; Jno. F. Curran, Principal.

RAILROAD TALK. On Saturday, the work of filling in the bridges between Whitehall and Butte, which had required three work trains and crews, was stopped, owing to the weather conditions, which are unfavorable to such work. The men engaged on the work were somewhat disappointed at the recent order, as some of them had moved their families here and expected to work all winter steadily.

Whitehall is assuming such proportions as a railroad town that some interesting facts may be stated in connection with payroll at this point. It is not quite up to that of Livingston yet, but it is growing at a rate that is very satisfactory and has already become such as to stamp Whitehall as one of the most important towns on the Northern Pacific in Montana. Eight engines are stationed at this place, or at least that number are in Whitehall every night. As helpers, there are four hog engines, the 81, 85, 92, and 94, with Engineers Barry, Bullard, Murphy, and McGonigal. Engineer Zeezee Hanscom, who is now a Whitehall citizen, has fixed up elegant gander quarters over the J.V.T. store. The machine shops at Livingston turned out a special set of bed springs equal to Mr. Puss' weight, and it stated that the entire force of boilermakers at Livingston is at work on a bathtub for Mr. Hanscom's apartments.