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EARLY BEGINNINGS OF LEWISTOWN RECOUNTED
By Robert Dissly
December 17,1972
(Editor's note: Lewistown's Mayor, Robert L. Oissly, is both a historian and an artist. After doing
considerable research to support the information included here, Mayor Oissly wrote the two
accompanying articles about Lewistown's earliest days (the other article is called Army Order
influenced.. by Oissly in the same newspaper]. He also illustrated the stories by drawing the two
accompanying sketches of Camp Lewis and Fort Sherman.)
December 7, 1873 was, in fact the date the community of Lewistown got its start. They didn't
place a corner stone or have a ceremonial moving of the first shovel full of earth, but an entry in Peter
Koch's journal merely stated erecting the buildings on that date. The buildings referred to in this journal
entry were the five log cabins and a stockade to be called FORT SHERMAN on the banks ofTrout Creek
(now called Big Spring Creek) and between Little Casino Creek and Big Casino Creek. No traces remain of
this trading post but the community it started grew and prospered and after several name changes
became Lewistown, the geographical center of Montana.
In a speech the late Judge H. Leonard DeKalb in August, 1949 the Judge quotes from a letter
written by the Honorable Peter Koch to members ofthe United States geological survey who were
working on a report ofthe mineral resources of the Judith Mountains in the early 1890's of the last
century. "The region was traversed frequently by trappers and hunters all through the early part of the
century, but the first visit by white men of which I find any record is by Father DeSmet, Sept. 13, 1846.
He gives an interesting account of a meeting within the basin of peace congress of various Indian tribes.
The next mention is in a report of the explorations of Lieutenant John Mullan through the basin
from the west to east on July 22-25, 1860. Before that, however, in September, 1853, it was visited by
Lieutenant Mullan, who was sent out by Governor Stevens in the exploration for a Pacific railroad route
to find a camp ofthe Flatheads, and who passed through the Judith Basin going out through the (Judith)
gap. "In 1869 Captain Clift, 30th infantry, surveyed a wagon road from Ft. Ellis to the mouth of the
Musselshell river, going through the basin, and a freight train went over it at this time. All this time there
were no settlements of any kind in the basin. "In the winter of 1872-73, Major F. D. Pease negotiated a
treaty with the Crows, according to which they were to give up their reservation on the Yellowstone and
accept in lieu of it the Judith Basin. This treaty was never ratified by the Senate and therefore came to
nothing; but anticipating this removal would take place, Messrs. Story and Hoffman, who were traders
to the Crows, engaged me (Peter Koch) to go down to the basin and establish a trading post. Captain
Gross, an employee of the Crow Agency, went also to select a site for the new agency."
In an article written by Clyde McLemore of Helena the treaty is also mentioned. His article says
that the treaty was concluded at "Crow Agency on Mission Creek, a mile or so south of the Yellowstone
and some ten miles east of the present Livingston ..." He states that a commission headed by Felix R.
Brunot, chairman, on August 16 (1873) had concluded the treaty, etc. Letters written by Peter Koch
from Fort Sherman speak of Mr. Brunot's treaty and the fact that F. D. Pease, lately suspended as Crow
Agent, C.M. had visited Fort Sherman with Mr. Hoffman sometime prior to Feb. 8, 1874.
Object Description
| Rating | |
| Title | Early beginnings of Lewistown Recounted. |
| Description | A 4 page article written by Robert L. Dissly about the early men who explored the Lewistown area. The last page includes two sketches made by Dissly showing the trading post built by Peter Koch and Camp Lewis as he envisioned them. |
| Creator | Robert L. Dissly |
| Genre | newspapers |
| Type | Text |
| Language | eng |
| Date Original | 1972-12-17 |
| Subject (keyword) | Fort Sherman; Camp Lewis; Peter Koch; |
| Rights Management | No copyright restrictions |
| Contributing Institution | Lewistown Public Library, Lewistown, Montana |
| Publisher (Original) | Lewistown Public Library, Lewistown, Montana |
| Geographic Coverage | Lewistown, Montana. |
| Coverage-date | 1853-1874 |
| Digital collection | Central Montana Historical Documents |
| Digital Format | application/pdf |
| Physical format | Typed manuscript. 4 pages. |
| Digitization Specifications | Canon MX310 300dpi |
| Full text of this item | EARLY BEGINNINGS OF LEWISTOWN RECOUNTED By Robert Dissly December 17, 1972 (Editor’s note: Lewistown’s Mayor, Robert L. Dissly, is both a historian and an artist. After doing considerable research to support the information included here, Mayor Dissly wrote the two accompanying articles about Lewistown’s earliest days [the other article is called Army Order influenced..by Dissly in the same newspaper]. He also illustrated the stories by drawing the two accompanying sketches of Camp Lewis and Fort Sherman.) December 7, 1873 was, in fact the date the community of Lewistown got its start. They didn’t place a corner stone or have a ceremonial moving of the first shovel full of earth, but an entry in Peter Koch’s journal merely stated erecting the buildings on that date. The buildings referred to in this journal entry were the five log cabins and a stockade to be called FORT SHERMAN on the banks of Trout Creek (now called Big Spring Creek) and between Little Casino Creek and Big Casino Creek. No traces remain of this trading post but the community it started grew and prospered and after several name changes became Lewistown, the geographical center of Montana. In a speech the late Judge H. Leonard DeKalb in August, 1949 the Judge quotes from a letter written by the Honorable Peter Koch to members of the United States geological survey who were working on a report of the mineral resources of the Judith Mountains in the early 1890’s of the last century. “The region was traversed frequently by trappers and hunters all through the early part of the century, but the first visit by white men of which I find any record is by Father DeSmet, Sept. 13, 1846. He gives an interesting account of a meeting within the basin of peace congress of various Indian tribes. The next mention is in a report of the explorations of Lieutenant John Mullan through the basin from the west to east on July 22-25, 1860. Before that, however, in September, 1853, it was visited by Lieutenant Mullan, who was sent out by Governor Stevens in the exploration for a Pacific railroad route to find a camp of the Flatheads, and who passed through the Judith Basin going out through the (Judith) gap. “In 1869 Captain Clift, 30th infantry, surveyed a wagon road from Ft. Ellis to the mouth of the Musselshell river, going through the basin, and a freight train went over it at this time. All this time there were no settlements of any kind in the basin. “In the winter of 1872-73, Major F. D. Pease negotiated a treaty with the Crows, according to which they were to give up their reservation on the Yellowstone and accept in lieu of it the Judith Basin. This treaty was never ratified by the Senate and therefore came to nothing; but anticipating this removal would take place, Messrs. Story and Hoffman, who were traders to the Crows, engaged me (Peter Koch) to go down to the basin and establish a trading post. Captain Gross, an employee of the Crow Agency, went also to select a site for the new agency.” In an article written by Clyde McLemore of Helena the treaty is also mentioned. His article says that the treaty was concluded at “Crow Agency on Mission Creek, a mile or so south of the Yellowstone and some ten miles east of the present Livingston…” He states that a commission headed by Felix R. Brunot, chairman, on August 16 (1873) had concluded the treaty, etc. Letters written by Peter Koch from Fort Sherman speak of Mr. Brunot’s treaty and the fact that F. D. Pease, lately suspended as Crow Agent, C.M. had visited Fort Sherman with Mr. Hoffman sometime prior to Feb. 8, 1874. The saga of Peter Koch’s adventure to the Judith Basin began in the Gallatin Valley on Oct. 27, 1873. The weather was soft that day when they started out towards the east from Fort Ellis to cross the Bozeman Pass. Going was slow and Koch returned to Bozeman after another “yoke of bulls” the third day out. Nelson Story and Tom Lewis were hard at it the next day when Koch arrived with the fresh stock. They were having a “terrible time getting to the top of the hill.” They reached the top on the 30th but then a wagon broke down and that night it got bitterly cold. Anxious to get on to Crow Agency, Story and Koch went on to the east foot of the hill. At Quinn’s they got to good road and were met by a man named Cooper and another man in a buggy. Story went with them in the buggy and Koch on his mare to the Agency. This gave Koch an extra day to select and pack supplies for the Basin. Packing went on at a feverish pace on Nov. 1, 2, 3 and on the 4th Koch got up at 1 a.m. to load coffee and sugar from the agency warehouse. Perhaps this was because the weather had been blowing a gale the day before. Anyway, they were only half finished with the coffee and sugar when the doctor interrupted them and told them he wanted it done in the daytime! November 4 saw the wagon train loaded and started across the Yellowstone. On the 5th Story returned to Bozeman and Koch prepared to catch up with the wagon train on the 6th, leaving the Agency at 11 a.m. in a wind storm that had been blowing hard for three days. He passed Dr. Hunter’s ranch at Warm Springs and camped with the train that night. With him how was the exploring party to locate the new agency under the command of Capt. Gross. With Capt. Gross was Mr. Horace Countryman, engineer, Mich Bouyer, guide; a teamster and a cook. (Mich Bouyer was later to lose his life as a scout with General Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876.) Peter Koch and Tom Lewis, employees of Nelson Story and Charles W. Hoffman were in the words of Koch, “going along simply as camp followers.” When they reached the mouth of Big Timer Creek the party turned north by northwest for ten miles and then struck across a rolling prairie, traversed by numerous little streams. They crossed the Musselshell River at or near the present site of Harlowton. “From this place we went up a gentle incline to the Judith Gap, a low depression between the Belt and the Big Snowy mountains. Entering the basin we found it consisting of low level table lands, separated by different streams forming the Judith River.” Wild game was very much in evidence with buffalo and white tail deer being taken on the trip from Crow Agency to Trout Creek. They reached Trout Creek on November 14 and at dark Tom left the horses to look at what he claimed to be Indians on the other side of the creek. The horses thereupon strayed and they were set afoot. After finding them the next day the party explored what they called Buffalo Heart Mountains (believed to be the Judith Mountains) and Warm Spring Creek Mountain (South Moccasin) before coming back to Trout Creek (Big Spring Creek). On Nov. 20, 1873 Koch helped survey land on the west side of creek as site for Agency. Extent of land to pine bluff about 350 acres. They completed the survey the next day in a snow storm. The entry in the Koch diary or journal for Nov. 22, 1873: Snow going fast, beautiful day. Coop. and party started for home leaving Taylor, Williams, and myself in charge of wagons.” It was Nov. 26 before mention was made of cutting logs for new buildings. On that date the journal noted that a road to the timber was being built and that logs were being cut. The next day’s entry tells of a bridge being made across the creek (believed to be Big Casino Creek) and the road to timber being fixed. Cold weather set in as the party started to cut logs. It was only on Dec. 2, however, that it became so bitterly cold that work was suspended. Construction went fast once the logs were cut. They started putting up the walls of the houses on Dec. 7 and finished the walls on the 9th. The warehouse was covered on the 10th and they moved into the warehouse on the 11th. The first three buildings built were the warehouse, store and kitchen. Roofs were covered with dirt and cracks between the logs were daubed with mud. Although Peter Koch states in his journal that he installed a stove in the warehouse, he also states that after installing the stove he then moved up (Dec. 15th). The warehouse was the first building occupied so it is my belief that the warehouse was unheated and that the store was the first building to have heat installed in it. At any rate the store was completed with counter and goods in place on Dec. 23. December 25th found them “keeping Christmas” according to the journal entry. Two more houses were to be built before the stockade and gate were to complete the installation. An Indian house was finished on Jan. 3. A Wolfers house finished on Jan. 12. Feb. 11, 1874 found the crew finishing the stockade and a notation in the journal that all was finished but the gates. The gate was finished on March 7. Peter Koch’s word description of FORT SHERMAN, M.T. The biggest single incident occurring at Fort Sherman was recorded in a letter written by Peter Koch. It was about the murder at Warm Springs Creek. “Trout Creek, Judith Basin, M.T. February 8, 1874 Editor, Avant Courier: “Thursday, February 5th, an old trapper by the name of Louis Gaznon was killed by a party of Indians on Warm Spring Creek, about 21 miles from this fort... Peter Koch told in his letter about an incident related to him by a trapper, James Campbell, who was trapping beaver on Warm Spring Creek with Gaznon. Campbell was in their lodge at about three o’clock in the afternoon when he heard two shots. On running out with a gun he was confronted with four Indians coming his way. Jim thereupon lit out across the creek and headed for “the hills.” The Indians did not follow. Campbell waited for awhile on a hill and not seeing Louis anywhere decided that he’d better get over to Fort Sherman on Trout Creek, post haste. On arriving at the trading post he became reinforced with four hunters to return to check on Louis. Koch’s letter continues: “They found the body in the willows, shot three times - through the leg, the body and the head. He had apparently died without a struggle. He was not scalped nor cut in any way. His gun, cartridges and knife were gone, but the lodge, with all its contents except a pair of blankets, some sugar and a few beaver skins, was unmolested. Strangest of all, they left a horse, after taking off the lariat and the hobbles. Nothing was found to indicate what tribe the Indians belonged to; but it seems as if they must have been afraid of being found out if they took the horse…“ If the good people of Bozeman have heard of the killing Gaznon, before you get this, I presume they have us all killed and the post taken and burned; but they needn’t be afraid. We will give them a call next summer, and with our scalps on. The party that went to look for Louis buried his body on the hill overlooking Warm Spring Creek.” Peter Koch left Fort Sherman on March 16, 1874. He left in a dense fog and storm which lasted all day according to the journal. Story and Hoffman, learning that the U.S. Senate would not ratify the treaty with the Crows and that the Crow Agency would not be moved to Judith Basin, sold Fort Sherman to Theodore I. Dawes who had been in the trading business 18 months. The Dawes Brothers ran the trading post for the most of 1874. The trading post in turn was sold to “Major” Alonzo S. Reed and he and John Bowles moved the buildings and goods 2 ½ miles downstream to a point where the Carroll trail crossed Big Spring Creek. This, then, was the end of Fort Sherman and the beginning of the next phase of trade in this new and interesting community that would soon grow into the city of Lewistown. Before the demise of Fort Sherman, however, another installation was to come to Big Spring Creek just across from Fort Sherman on the north side of Little Casino Creek, the temporary army installation of Camp Lewis, as written in a letter to the editor of Avant Courier: “Fort Sherman, Judith Basin, M.T., March 2nd 1874… “The fort consists of a row of buildings, facing southeast, 100 feet long, and comprising a warehouse, store, and kitchen. On the northeast and southwest side are two Indian houses, a stockade completing the square, with flanking bastions on the north and south corners. The buildings stand on a perfectly level bottom, about 500 yards from Trout Creek, with a brook, Little Casino, running close behind the buildings. The houses and stockade are all of unhewed pine logs, built for use and not for show.” While all the building and trading was going on, Peter Koch also was a weatherman of sorts. He took barometer and temperature readings three times a day. The average temperature for the month of December was 16.75 degrees; January was 20.73 degrees. |
| Local Identifier | SC 1.1 |
Description
| Title | Early beginnings 1 |
| Type | Text |
| Contributing Institution | Lewistown Public Library, Lewistown, Montana |
| Digital Format | application/pdf |
| Digitization Specifications | Canon MX310 300dpi |
| Full text of this item | EARLY BEGINNINGS OF LEWISTOWN RECOUNTED By Robert Dissly December 17,1972 (Editor's note: Lewistown's Mayor, Robert L. Oissly, is both a historian and an artist. After doing considerable research to support the information included here, Mayor Oissly wrote the two accompanying articles about Lewistown's earliest days (the other article is called Army Order influenced.. by Oissly in the same newspaper]. He also illustrated the stories by drawing the two accompanying sketches of Camp Lewis and Fort Sherman.) December 7, 1873 was, in fact the date the community of Lewistown got its start. They didn't place a corner stone or have a ceremonial moving of the first shovel full of earth, but an entry in Peter Koch's journal merely stated erecting the buildings on that date. The buildings referred to in this journal entry were the five log cabins and a stockade to be called FORT SHERMAN on the banks ofTrout Creek (now called Big Spring Creek) and between Little Casino Creek and Big Casino Creek. No traces remain of this trading post but the community it started grew and prospered and after several name changes became Lewistown, the geographical center of Montana. In a speech the late Judge H. Leonard DeKalb in August, 1949 the Judge quotes from a letter written by the Honorable Peter Koch to members ofthe United States geological survey who were working on a report ofthe mineral resources of the Judith Mountains in the early 1890's of the last century. "The region was traversed frequently by trappers and hunters all through the early part of the century, but the first visit by white men of which I find any record is by Father DeSmet, Sept. 13, 1846. He gives an interesting account of a meeting within the basin of peace congress of various Indian tribes. The next mention is in a report of the explorations of Lieutenant John Mullan through the basin from the west to east on July 22-25, 1860. Before that, however, in September, 1853, it was visited by Lieutenant Mullan, who was sent out by Governor Stevens in the exploration for a Pacific railroad route to find a camp ofthe Flatheads, and who passed through the Judith Basin going out through the (Judith) gap. "In 1869 Captain Clift, 30th infantry, surveyed a wagon road from Ft. Ellis to the mouth of the Musselshell river, going through the basin, and a freight train went over it at this time. All this time there were no settlements of any kind in the basin. "In the winter of 1872-73, Major F. D. Pease negotiated a treaty with the Crows, according to which they were to give up their reservation on the Yellowstone and accept in lieu of it the Judith Basin. This treaty was never ratified by the Senate and therefore came to nothing; but anticipating this removal would take place, Messrs. Story and Hoffman, who were traders to the Crows, engaged me (Peter Koch) to go down to the basin and establish a trading post. Captain Gross, an employee of the Crow Agency, went also to select a site for the new agency." In an article written by Clyde McLemore of Helena the treaty is also mentioned. His article says that the treaty was concluded at "Crow Agency on Mission Creek, a mile or so south of the Yellowstone and some ten miles east of the present Livingston ..." He states that a commission headed by Felix R. Brunot, chairman, on August 16 (1873) had concluded the treaty, etc. Letters written by Peter Koch from Fort Sherman speak of Mr. Brunot's treaty and the fact that F. D. Pease, lately suspended as Crow Agent, C.M. had visited Fort Sherman with Mr. Hoffman sometime prior to Feb. 8, 1874. |
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