Recollections of Old Milestown (Main Street)
From birchyHistory
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With the exception of a few piles of mouldering brick lying out-doors in the neighborhood of the poor house, this building occupied by Abbotts, is the sole reminder of the days when Milestown lived in the expectation of rivalling Chicago as a slaughtering and packing center. The De Mores experiment in that line, at Medora, N. D., had not exploded at that time, and an Iowa outfit with a fair amount of capital -- but not enough -- was so convinced that range beef, slaughtered and dressed close to the range, while in prime condition, and shipped as dead weight to the eastern markets, would be a winner. It was as plain as daylight that the shrinkage on live weight in transit and the freight on offal, would be saved, and a better quality of meat put out. So they built a plant, down the river a few miles, brought a skilled crew from the cast and opened up. The outfit made one run of about six hundred head of Oregon steers and closed down, never to open again. But the fortunes of the slaughter house are pertinent to this story only so far as they connect with the Abbott building. When the slaughtering business became a fact, a merchant here, "lkey" Silverman by name, thought he saw a business chance in a store to supply the employes close to home, and Colonel Bryan put up a building for him at the plant. When the plant shut down "lkey" moved his stock back to town and later Colonel Bryan moved the building up and planted it on the Main street site, and although it has been camouflaged and added to, it cannot deny its origin and early history. | With the exception of a few piles of mouldering brick lying out-doors in the neighborhood of the poor house, this building occupied by Abbotts, is the sole reminder of the days when Milestown lived in the expectation of rivalling Chicago as a slaughtering and packing center. The De Mores experiment in that line, at Medora, N. D., had not exploded at that time, and an Iowa outfit with a fair amount of capital -- but not enough -- was so convinced that range beef, slaughtered and dressed close to the range, while in prime condition, and shipped as dead weight to the eastern markets, would be a winner. It was as plain as daylight that the shrinkage on live weight in transit and the freight on offal, would be saved, and a better quality of meat put out. So they built a plant, down the river a few miles, brought a skilled crew from the cast and opened up. The outfit made one run of about six hundred head of Oregon steers and closed down, never to open again. But the fortunes of the slaughter house are pertinent to this story only so far as they connect with the Abbott building. When the slaughtering business became a fact, a merchant here, "lkey" Silverman by name, thought he saw a business chance in a store to supply the employes close to home, and Colonel Bryan put up a building for him at the plant. When the plant shut down "lkey" moved his stock back to town and later Colonel Bryan moved the building up and planted it on the Main street site, and although it has been camouflaged and added to, it cannot deny its origin and early history. | ||
| − | The south side of this stretch of Main street, from Eighth to Ninth, now so handsomely improved, was in the early days the despair of all enterprising citizens, it being given over principally to corral purposes. It was always dirty and foul-smelling and being on the way to the court house, it caused our people -- particularly the members of the local bar -- much chagrin when court sat; for in those territorial days "court" was quite a function. The judge -- a presidential appointee -- was resident generally at Helena and when he came here he was accompanied by quite a train of lawyers of state-wide | + | The south side of this stretch of Main street, from Eighth to Ninth, now so handsomely improved, was in the early days the despair of all enterprising citizens, it being given over principally to corral purposes. It was always dirty and foul-smelling and being on the way to the court house, it caused our people -- particularly the members of the local bar -- much chagrin when court sat; for in those territorial days "court" was quite a function. The judge -- a presidential appointee -- was resident generally at Helena and when he came here he was accompanied by quite a train of lawyers of state-wide repute, who either had clients here with cases in court, or else came along in the expectation of picking up enough business to make it worth while, and then it was a sort of an outing trip for these high-flyers, who were always entertained most hospitably by the members of the local bar. So it happened that this disreputable corral was a thing to be ashamed of before visitors. The first "improvement" in this block was a one-story brick at the corner of Main and Ninth, built by Dr. Burleigh and occupied first by [[Brill & Osgood]] as a butcher shop; later it became the office of a livery stable in conjunction with the old corral. Shortly afterward "Pete" Sorenson put up the two-story brick on the corner of Eighth, for a blacksmith shop, with living rooms upstairs. Pete was a blacksmith then and a good one, though you would never guess it now. The building is still there, somewhat disguised by the Ionic columns in front but still a monument to the builder's faith in Milestown. With the exception of a Chinese laundry or two, this block never improved any more until it came under the control of W. C. Jackson and Ed. Arnold. |
From Ninth to Tenth on Main, some interesting relies of the early days remain. On the north side, where the Iris theater stands, there was a log shack, owner not remembered, and it was along about here that "the first house built in Miles City" stood. The legend is attached to one of Huffman's old pictures and "Huff" must stand sponsor for it. The frontage now occupied by the Masonic Temple had a row of frame shacks built for rental by a Dr. Woods, then resident here. The two frame dwellings next east of the Masonic Temple are veritable old-timers. They were there "from the beginning." The one next to the Temple was originally the home of "Jimmy" Coleman, and the other, now partially obscured by the concrete block building on the corner, originally occupied that location and was used by Dr. Burleigh as an office and sleeping quarters. The doctor was practicing law, not medicine. The concrete-block building that now stands at the corner is in disguise. It is a frame building with a concrete overcoat, and its story belongs with the other side of the street. To take that up we go back to the corner now conspicuous as the home of the Midland Lumber Co. It always was a lumber yard. Charley Larsen and Ben Smith were early proprietors and later Geo. M. Miles was interested under the title of The Miles City Lumber Co. Then followed the Midland which largely extended the plant and made many improvements, but there was one of the old buildings that was permitted to remain, perhaps because it bad a history. This is the building now occupied by Deschner. | From Ninth to Tenth on Main, some interesting relies of the early days remain. On the north side, where the Iris theater stands, there was a log shack, owner not remembered, and it was along about here that "the first house built in Miles City" stood. The legend is attached to one of Huffman's old pictures and "Huff" must stand sponsor for it. The frontage now occupied by the Masonic Temple had a row of frame shacks built for rental by a Dr. Woods, then resident here. The two frame dwellings next east of the Masonic Temple are veritable old-timers. They were there "from the beginning." The one next to the Temple was originally the home of "Jimmy" Coleman, and the other, now partially obscured by the concrete block building on the corner, originally occupied that location and was used by Dr. Burleigh as an office and sleeping quarters. The doctor was practicing law, not medicine. The concrete-block building that now stands at the corner is in disguise. It is a frame building with a concrete overcoat, and its story belongs with the other side of the street. To take that up we go back to the corner now conspicuous as the home of the Midland Lumber Co. It always was a lumber yard. Charley Larsen and Ben Smith were early proprietors and later Geo. M. Miles was interested under the title of The Miles City Lumber Co. Then followed the Midland which largely extended the plant and made many improvements, but there was one of the old buildings that was permitted to remain, perhaps because it bad a history. This is the building now occupied by Deschner. | ||
