The first meeting of County Commissioners of Madison County was April 22nd, 1864. Present, James Fergus and Frederick Root. Samuel Stanley, absent.
The first business was the appointment of Clerk. R. M. Hagaman was appointed, and sworn in.
There being a vacancy in the Sheriff's Office, Robert C. Knox was appointed to fill that position.
The board proceeded to divide the county into precincts. It was ordered that all that portion of Alder Creek, and tributaries, above the upper line of Highland District, shall be known as Precinct No. l. And they proceeded to form several more, as they were needed, in those days, for the convenience of the thousands of men who wished to vote. (Speaking of voting in those early days, Mr. Senate, of Sheridan, told me of the following occurrence. A Colonel Nelson, whom Mr. Senate thought was the late Colonel Nelson, of Kansas City, had made himself so objectionable to some of the southerners, that they said he should not vote. The Colonel was open to conviction and placed himself in line to cast his vote. He found that there was a double line, that extended for some distance from the voting place into the street. In order to vote, the Colonel must go through this line. As soon as he got nicely started, they began to kick him, and continued their sport until he was kicked through the line, and past the ballot box, without taking time to vote.)
The first Justice of the Peace appointed was Clitus Barber. First Constable was Neil Howie, who became first Deputy sheriff, and later on Sheriff. T. C. Jones was the first Probate Judge.
Clitus Barber did not qualify. The people of precinct No. 1 petitioned the Commissioners for the appointment of Justice of the Peace, and Constable. W. A. Shroyer was appointed Justice of the Peace, and Dave McCranor, constable. The first bill presented for payment was board for Culberson and M. Gary, confined in County Jail, for $84.24. Allowed.
First Court House.
The Commissioners signed articles of agreement with W. F. Sanders for the rent of said. Sanders' house, on Idaho street, for one year, to be used as a Court House, and to be paid quarterly, in advance, at the rate of $1,200.00 per year. Said agreement filed with Clerk, and said payments to be made in orders on the County Treasurer.
June 7th, 1864.
We find a letter from W. C. Rheem, of June 7th, 1864, District Attorney of Third Judicial District, that Dr. Smith had been appointed County Clerk, and qualified, but that his continued absence had caused a vacancy, which had been filled as above stated, by the appointment of Hagaman. This letter had been written to the Commissioners, as advice, because it appears that Smith had come back, and desired to oust Hagaman.
On June 19th, 1864, N. J. Bean, the first assessor of Madison County, resigned on account of ill health. He had been appointed by the Governor, and from that, we must assume that all of the Territorial officers were appointed in that way. J. J. Hull was appointed to fill Bean's place.
Sealed proposals for building county jail [Note: James H. Morley's diary says July 16, 1864, a collector came up the Gulch to "stick" us for $4.00 for money for a $5,000 jail.] were opened June 21st, 1864. Following are the bids and bidders:
M. D. Leadbater $4,475.00
R. C. Knox $4.767.00
R. M. McKinney R J. W. Wilson $8,500.00
Z. M. Dumphy $4,674.00
Griffeth R Thompson $5,800.00
Mr. headbater failing to appear and. give surety, for building of the jail, the contract was awarded to E. M. Dumphy, for the sum of $4,674.00, to be paid out of the first moneys that came into the County Treasury, not otherwise appropriated.
N. J. Davis was Treasurer of Madison County, in those days.
On August 18th, the jail was accepted as far as completed. They, on that date, agreed to allow Dumphy $5,000.00 in all, the extra money for a few extra things, and did pay him $8,500.00, and had paid him before $1,000.00.
J. L. Corbett was appointed first County Surveyor, and in 1865, Jesse Armitage was the County Assessor.
We find that May 7th, 1866, B. Cantrell became a County charge, and was allowed $20.00 per week for his support.
The first matter for probate was the petition of Maria V. Slade, on April 14th, 1864, for the probating of the will of J. A. Slade. Mrs. Slade did not appear, having left the Territory, taking the will with her and probably $7,000.00 or $8,000.00 in valuables.
The second matter was the estate of John White, the discoverer of Grasshopper, April 29th, 1864.
Henry Coppock, being duly sworn, deposes and said: I know John White, by sight. I went with Mr. Temple to White Tail Deer Creek, to bring his body to Virginia City, for burial. We found the body, he had died from effect of wounds. We brought his body from where we found it, to my camping place, and kept it there about four days. I saw his body searched for papers, and other things. No will was found on his person, and no property of any value, or money.
John Temple, sworn and says: I was well acquainted with John White in his lifetime. I saw him at Virginia City, about the first of February, last. After I heard of his death, I went with Coppock to bring in his body for burial -- found the body and recognized it. While at Virginia City, he boarded, and was out prospecting, at the time of his death. I don't think he left a will. If he had, I should have known it. I understand he was a married man, but don't know them (presumably the family).
John M. Fletcher sworn and says: I was well acquainted with John White for the last four years. He had a wife and child living in Illinois. The child is about five years old. He had, at the time of his death, two horses. He had a one-third interest in a mining claim, in Bannack. I should say his interest was worth $100.00. I heard him say he also had a quartz lode in Bannack. He had no relatives in this country, or part of the country. The horses are worth $75.00 each. He owned lode claims in Colorado, in Park county. Don't know what they are worth. Know of no other property.
This rung the curtain down on the last act of John White, the man to put the Montana miners before the people, in such a light that they became known to so many, that other hardy fellows cast their lots with the early prospectors, and helped to form the Treasure State. We can't predict what White might have become, had he not been murdered on White Tail.
It is evident that Mrs. Slade came back to Montana, as we find the following:
This is to certify that the undersigned, Chief Justice of the Territory of Montana, did, on the evening of the 22nd of March, 1865, at Virginia City, in said Territory, unite in marriage, James H. Kiskaddan and Maria V. Slade, with their mutual consent, in presence of Annie Stanley and Oliver Sweet.
H. S. HOSMER.
This man James Kiskaddan was somewhat of a dreamer, as the following matter shows E. P. Lewis, James Kiskaddan and Wm. Chumasero, on the 24th day of December, 1864, incorporated the Missouri River Portage Co. Object was to build a wagon road and eventually, a railroad, "commencing at a stake now standing near the mouth of Highwood Creek, below the Great Missouri Falls, and running around said falls, to another stake, just above said falls. The distance from stake to stake being about 12 miles. To charge such tolls upon said road as may be agreed upon, by above named corporation, etc., etc. Capital stock shall be $500,000.00, 5,000 shares, of the value of $100.00 each. Time of existence of said company shall be fifty years. Principal place of business, shall be Virginia City, Madison County, Montana."
These men felt that there was a possibility of navigating the upper water of the Missouri, anyway, as far as Three Forks, as a city had been laid out by such men as Gov. Hauser the year before, on the Gallatin. They did not take into consideration, that the capital would be taken from Virginia, and that Last Chance Gulch would be found before another year should pass. They could not know that the navigation of the Missouri was only an idea that had entered the minds of Lewis and Clark, for lack of knowledge of conditions that would arise at a future time -- when they themselves had been asleep for years.
Lewis Kiskaddan and Chumasero, played their parts, and lived in "Day dreams" of a greater state of Montana, which they would help establish. Chumasero did live to see the falsity of his expectations, and did help to build up Montana, not in poor old Virginia, but in the new camp, on Last Chance Gulch, Kiskaddan returned soon after his marriage, to Salt Lake, and probably used some of his ability there. I can find no trace of Lewis.
[Note: There are people in Montana who will tell you that Maud Adams, the great actress, is the daughter of James Kiskaddan. If she is, she is not the daughter of Mrs. Slade. My information as to iVlrs. Slade's ultimate end leads me to believe that she must have become divorced from Kiskaddan and ended her life in Chicago, in quest of pleasure of a forbidden nature.]