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When originally published in 1925, one reviewer called ...)
When originally published in 1925, one reviewer called Forty Years on the Frontier "the odyssey of a nineteenth-century Ulysses." In 1852, Granville Stuart (1834–1918) traveled with his brother and their father to the Sacramento Valley of California, where they spent five years mining for gold and served in the Rogue River War. In 1857 he and his brother started back to Iowa but were delayed by the outbreak of war between the Utah Mormons and the United States. After relocating to Montana’s Deer Lodge Valley, the Stuarts found gold, and news of their discovery sparked the first Montana gold rush in 1862. Stuart was instrumental in developing the Montana cattle industry and was a leader of the vigilantes who captured and executed numerous horse thieves in the summer of 1884.
Stuart's edited reminiscences are a priceless and authentic account of pioneering, prospecting, and community building in the northern Rockies and Great Plains.
Prospecting for Gold: From Dogtown to Virginia City, 1852-64
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The Montana Frontier, 1852–1864 was originally publis...)
The Montana Frontier, 1852–1864 was originally published in 1925 as Volume I of Granville Stuart's classic Forty Years on the Frontier, based on his reminiscences and journals. The opening chapter reviews his early years in Virginia, Illinois, and Iowa; the narrative proper begins in 1852 when the eighteen-year-old Stuart headed for California with his father and his brother James. ("There was not a habitation from the Missouri river until the small settlement of Salt Lake was reached; nor one from Salt Lake until the Sierra Nevada mountains were crossed.") The volume covers his experiences in California, including an account of the Rogue River War, and describes how—almost fortuitously—he was able to confirm rumors of gold in present-day Montana. Because they lacked equipment and supplies, the Stuart brothers were unable to cash in on their find until 1860; during the interim they were traders along the emigrant road near Fort Bridger. After 1860 Stuart became a permanent resident of Deer Lodge; in 1864, thanks in great part to his efforts, Montana became a United States territory.
Pioneering in Montana: The Making of a State, 1864-1887
(This title was originally published in 1925 as Volume II ...)
This title was originally published in 1925 as Volume II of Stuart's classic FORTY YEARS ON THE FRONTIER, based on his reminiscences and journals. This volume covers the years from Montana's admission as a territory - in which Stuart played a significant role - up to the end of the open range. It includes chapters on quartz mining, the life and customs of the Indians of the region (Stuart's wife, Aubony, was a Snake Indian), and on the Indian wars of the Northwest, but the primary emphasis is on the establishment and development of the cattle industry in Montana.
Granville Stuart was a pioneer, gold prospector, businessman, civic leader, vigilante, author, cattleman and diplomat who played a prominent role in the early history of Montana Territory and the state of Montana.
Background
Granville Stuart was born August 27, 1834, in Harrison County, Virginia (after the civil war this area became part of West Virginia), United States, to parents Robert and Nancy C. Stuart. He was their second son and brother to their first son, James Stuart. In 1838, the Stuarts after a brief stay in Illinois, moved to Muscatine County, Iowa near present-day West Liberty, Iowa. It was in frontier Iowa that a young Granville and his brother James learned to hunt, explore and respect the wilderness.
Education
Young Stuart attended school.
Career
In the spring of 1852, the father, a returned Argonaut of '49, taking Granville and James with him, again set out for California, reaching the gold regions in September. All three became prospectors. The father went back to Iowa in 1853, and in June 1857 the sons, with nine companions, also set out for the East. On approaching Great Salt Lake they became alarmed at the hostility of the Mormons and turned north. In October they crossed the Continental Divide and entered Beaverhead Valley, in the present state of Montana. Proceeding to Deer Lodge Valley in April 1858, Granville and James, with two others, found gold and were thus among the early discoverers of the metal in that state.
A journey to Fort Bridger followed, but in May 1861 the brothers were again in the valley, where they found more gold. A letter to a third Stuart brother, Thomas, then in Colorado, brought to the territory its first party of avowed prospectors in June 1862. On May 2 of that year Granville was married to Aubony (or Ellen), a Shoshone girl, who was to bear him nine children. For some years Stuart followed the rush to the various new mining camps, engaging in many activities, but in 1867 he settled in Deer Lodge.
With the growth of settlement he took a leading part in community affairs, and in 1871 was elected to the territorial council.
In 1876 and in 1879 he was elected to the lower house, and in 1883 again to the council, being chosen president. Impressed with the practicability of cattle-raising on the open range, he organized, in 1879, the Davis, Hauser, and Stuart Company, of which he was made general manager. In the following year he placed a large herd in the Judith Basin. The experiment was for a time successful, but, by reason of overstocking the range and of losses suffered during the terrible winter of 1886-87, it ended in disaster.
In 1887 he was appointed state land agent. In 1894 President Cleveland appointed him minister to Uruguay and Paraguay, a post he retained for more than four years. In 1904 he became librarian of the Butte city library. His later years were spent in or near Missoula.
In 1916 he was commissioned by the legislature to write a history of Montana, but it was not completed. He died at Missoula.
Achievements
Granville Stuart was the first secretary of the Montana Historical Society, later its president; in 1886-87 he was president of the Society of Montana Pioneers, for seven years president of the board of stock commissioners, and for sixteen years a school trustee. In 1865 he published Montana As It Is, a book important for its historical information and now exceptionally valuable by reasons of its rarity.
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When originally published in 1925, one reviewer called ...)
book
Politics
On August 25, 1897, Stuart was at the side of Uruguayan president Juan Idiarte Borda when he was assassinated in Montevideo by a follower of a rival political group during an Independence Day parade.
Personality
Stuart was more than six feet tall, and somewhat gaunt of frame. His portrait reveals a finely formed head and a kindly, intellectual face. His manner was suave and courtly.
He was a student, an observer, and an experimenter, and to the end his mind was alert and keen. Perhaps no one in the state more fully enjoyed the confidence and respect of his fellows.
Quotes from others about the person
Arthur Pound, "The Grandfather of Montana" New York Times Book Review, June 13, 1926: "In the end he left a mass of diaries and memoirs, from which a judicious selection has been made by Paul C. Philllps, who has done excellently in correcting his principal's occasional lapses in dates. Still, despite the color and vigor of the present volume; the unpublished residue must contain much else of value. In such a rich mine as Granville Stuart, even the tailings should be worth rework at some time. As the incidents unfold themselves richly, the reader has the feeling, somehow of buried treasure just around the corner, of things left unsaid for lack of space, even though they richly deserve telling. Still, lovers of frontier lore should be grateful for the salvaging of so many tales of high emprise which deserve a place in the folklore of America. "
Connections
His Indian wife died in 1887, and in 1891 he was married to Isabel Allis Brown, a school-teacher.
