The Doe Family

Everett Doe at the Doe Rexall Drug Store Circa 1917 

The Doe’s were an early merchant family and still remembered in Philipsburg. Although no longer a mercantile and drug store the business housed in their building continues to carry the Doe name. The first comment I found of Doe’s while researching the newspapers was December 19, 1895. 

The members of the May-Pringle combination, who have traveled all through the western country and have played in much larger cities, said they have not anywhere seen a stock of holiday goods or a collection of books equal to the present display at the store of M.E. Doe & Co. As a result they bought their Christmas presents here.

 The next article thanks the Doe’s when they remembered the Mail office New Year’s Day by presenting the staff with a bottle of the celebrated Harper’s whiskey. All the staff could say was thanks, but assured Messrs Doe & Co., that the chemical was not wasted on the drifted snow, according to the January 2, 1896, Mail. 

Known always as M.E. Doe, Marshall arrived in Philipsburg in 1885 and opened a retail business with J.D. Thomas (brother-in-law) on “upper “Broadway. In 1888 A.E. Dearborn (Pharmacist) was hired to take charge of the pharmaceuticals and prescription department of the M.E. Doe Drug store. They later moved to a more central location according to Marshall’s obituary. The earliest Sandborn Insurance map shows the store at it’s current location in 1889. 

Marshall was Born on April 25, 1856 in Canada. The Doe family moved to Shepardsville, Michigan when he was eight. At the age of twenty three M. E. came to Butte where he engaged in mining; operated a skating rink and then joined a survey party at Anaconda where he worked for two years. He then left for California for one year before showing up at Philipsburg. 

Marshall married Jennie Crable in Los Angeles on July 25, 1895. The couple met in Butte before she attended business school in Los Angeles. Announced in the Philipsburg Mail “On July 7, 1896 a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. M.E. Doe”. This son, Marshall E. Doe Jr, died after suffering a convulsion at the family home on Montgomery Street, April 28, 1899 and was buried in the Philipsburg cemetery. (Current articles date the Doe home as being built in 1902, so they must have already lived on the property prior to building the current structure included in the Philipsburg tour of historic homes.) 

Following the birth of Marshall were three more children: Everett in 1901; Milton in 1908. and a daughter Margaret. In 1910, Doe’s became known as the Rexall Drug Store 

M.E. Doe & Co. are so well and favorably known for their sterling honesty and square dealing that we predict a great success for them with the Rexall Remedies, and they are heartily congratulated in bringing this great and modern business enterprise to Philipsburg.

 In 1917, the cast of the operetta “The Pennant” included Everett as Owen and Margaret as Mrs. Reno Grass. M.E. Doe bought out J.D. Thomas’s, interest February 1, 1918 and in 1921 C.K. Durkee of Glasgow, Montana, accepted a position as pharmacist in the M. E. Doe drug store. 

Everett Doe married Miss Wilda Marie Wetzel, on December 31, 1925, in St. Louis, Mr. Doe had been studying for the past two years in the Pharmacy School, in St. Louis. After a honey moon in Minnesota, the couple made their home in Philipsburg. 

M.E. Doe, died at his home, on October 13, 1928. “Taken ill at work, he was brought home and put to bed, on October 10. He died from bronchial pneumonia and a blood clot in the lung." 

Survivors were: his widow; a daughter Mrs. L.W. (Margaret) Maxson; two sons: Everett, who was associated with the business and Milton, a student in a School of Pharmacy, in St. Louis; his mother, Mrs. James Doe, in Ovid, Michigan and four sisters and three grandchildren. He held membership in the Philipsburg Rotary Club and Granite Camp, Woodsmen of the World. The funeral was held at the family home with Rev. Maris, of the Methodist Church officiating. Services at graveside were conducted by the Woodsmen. 

Milton married Ruth Anderson, at the Doe house on Sunday, May 27, 1934. After a wedding breakfast the couple left for Billings, where they attended a Rexall convention. 

Mrs. Jennie C. Doe, died at her home after being ill for several weeks, on February 19, 1938. 

Everett Doe died at the age of 66, January 5, 1967 in Arcadia, California after an emergency surgery. Everett retired in 1965 after nearly 45 years as the Pharmacist at Doe’s Rexall Drug. Survivors were his wife and daughter Marilyn Lovitt and family. 

 Research has not revealed Milton’s obituary.

City Without Night

Upper Left: Miner's Union Hall; Lower Left: Granite Mining Co. Hoist; Center: Main Street June 9, 1891; Upper Right: The Moore House, H.T. Cumming Prop.; Lower Right: Bi-Metallic Mine. ( Views of Granite, Philipsburg and Vicinity, Chas. Weitfle)

In my personal library is a bright orange seven page booklet titled “City Without Night: nothing ever closed; nothing ever stopped in Granite, Montana.” Authored by T.J. Kerttula and available only at “Doe’s Rexall Drug”, the publisher James G. Paul Pharmacist-Owner of Doe’s gives credit to Mr.Kertula (sic), Mary Sanders Editor of True West Magazine and Virginia Hansen of Philipsburg on the back page. This page has a map of the area and tourist attractions such as the Sapphire Mines, East Fork Dam, Seven Gables and Georgetown Lake. 

The booklet contains a number of black and white pictures and etchings of the area and details the beginning of Granite with a few stories describing the residents. Unfortunately there is no publication date, although the author does state he first visited Granite in 1938. The internet gives the publication date as 1988. 

Kerrtula, began with this opening: 

They called Granite the Silver queen but to me she is the City in the Sky. Perched high on an out-jutting ridge of Granite Mountain, she overlooked the broad upper reaches of Flint Creek valley and literally down the chimneys of her sister town, Philipsburg, at the foot of the mountain, some 1500 feet (in elevation) below. At the approach to Philipsburg’s main street one can look up, way way up, and pick out a tan scar high on the mountain. That is the dump of Montana’s fabulous Granite Mountain Mine. Less frequently she was also called the City without Night. The mines operated around the clock and business houses stayed open to accommodate the miners. You could buy a hat as easily at 3am as 3pm. Granite was rich, fabulously rich, as attested by McLure’s records. From 1882 to 1893 she produced some $45 millions in silver before the panic of ’93 reduced her almost to a ghost town…Granite was one of the most pleasant mining camps in which to live. The first workers were lodged in huge boarding houses. Then the Company began leasing building lots for $2.50 and log cabins, frame houses, and business buildings soon spilled down both sides of the ridge. The first business house constructed was a three-story hotel, The Moore House, by H.T. Cumming. It’s first two floors were elaborately finished in hand-carved black walnut. It was as proud of being the first three-story building in the area as it was of its tables, topped with Tennessee marble.

 Excerpts from H.T. Cumming’s Diary show that Hugh leased the already built Moore Hotel some time after he arrived in March of 1889 and did not try buying the Hotel until “9/11/1891 “Bargaining for the Moore Hotel; it costs a lot of money.” 

 Kerrtula continues on describing 

wages were $4.00 a day for the mill-men and $3.00 for the miners. For a dollar a month either could enjoy the company operated bath—reading room located at the Granite Mine. The bath-house contained a 16 x 16’ steam heated plunge and adjoining it was a reading room well stocked with current newspapers and periodicals, some of which were in foreign languages. The Company also operated a small hospital directly downhill from the Mine in what was known as the Sunnyside district. It was probably so named because facing west it received the late afternoon sun for hours after Main Street was in shadow. Five doctors-Dickson, Hall, Schley, Pleasant and Power—practiced in Granite and at times were very busy, but not from the most common disease of boom camps—lead poisoning. In spite of the eighteen saloons, old timers insist that Granite wasn’t any wilder than a town of the same size today. They do hedge a bit with the story of the man who, exhilarated by firewater, ground out the marshal’s eye with his boot heel. Hardly had the town started, in 1884, when black diphtheria struck hard. At least thirty-five children and a large but unknown number of adults, died. Typical, perhaps, is the story of Mrs. John Hickey who came to Granite to live in the first family house constructed there. Of her four children only one survived and during the time her hair turned white. But after the death of her children, Mammo, as Granite affectionately called her, became a familiar sight as she went from home to home helping nurse other sick children.

 Jane O’Neil Hickey is the paternal great-great grandmother of my children. The children who died were Sadie May 17, 1885; Liddie on May 21 and Alice on May 28. Anna Armina (Minnie) age eight months survived when great grandma (Margaret) in desperation stuck her finger down the babies throat and pulled out the diphtheria membrane. 

Granite was run on steam engines which created more jobs for cutting and hauling wood than working in the mines. Because of the terrain the use of wagons was impossible so the wood was cut into lengths of four feet and packed into town by mules. These long mule trains were observed at all hours bringing wood into the camp. This endeavor was individually operated but the town water was a company business. Brought from Fred Burr Lake, the water traveled a wooden flume and was then stored in a large wooden tank near Granite Mine. Water wagons then hauled this water to people who subscribed for service. The daily ration was twenty gallons and on wash and bath days they were given an extra allowance. Often a fish from the lake arrived in the delivery barrel. 

Popular entertainment sites in Granite included the roller-skating rink between the Bi-Metallic and the hospital. This was often the scene of costume parties and sporting events such as boxing matches. In 1889 the match featured “Big Fish” Dan McLeod (U.S. Deputy Marshall in Granite) versus Frank Freeman of Butte. Butte bet Freeman would beat the Marshall in six rounds. Unfortunately Big Fish “got it” in the third round and “that night Granite was a silver-less silver camp. It all went to Butte the copper camp.” In the winter the entertainment was skating parties on the ice pond and fast bobsled rides down the hill to Philipsburg. Considering the road, “the rate of speed was terrific.” Arriving at the bottom they hooked onto the first passing freighter and were pulled back up the mountain. Many county elders remember the Miner’s Union Hall still standing when they were youngsters.

One of the highlights of celebration in Granite was the Miners Union Day celebrated on June 13. Kerttula in “City Without Night” describes it thusly: “ The celebration started early and ended with an all night dance in the open air pavilion at the ball park a mile or so out of town. Ball games, foot races, beauty contests, tug of war and drilling contests were some of the main events. To the drilling contest some of the other camps often sent teams. The outcome frequently resulted in swinging that had nothing to do with drilling. 

One irked Butte team accused the Granite blacksmith of dulling their steel instead of sharpening it, which Granite resented to the man, and that Miners Union day went down in history as one of the most exciting. On the basis of skill, stamina and coordination a drilling contest was something to watch. A team usually consisted of two men—one who held the steel and the other who swung the hammer. The drill was round or octagon steel, about an inch in diameter, flattened and sharpened on one end. One man knelt beside the rock, holding the drill while the other drove it with a heavy sledge hammer. He put all of his power into these blows and they had to be precisely placed or he would crush his partner’s hands. Timing was equally important, but between the blows the holder had to turn the steel and periodically pour water into the hole to cool the drill and wash out the dust and chips. They started with a short steel and as the hole progressed the holder kept changing to longer ones in between blows without interfering with his partner’s timing. As one man tired they would change places so fast there was never a pause in the rhythmic clang of steel on steel. 

Next in interest was the tug of war between teams from the Granite and Bi-Metallic Mines. One such contest in 1892 lasted two and one-half hours and would have continued but the Granite anchorman fainted from the heat, and Bi-Metallic won. That match caused so much bitterness between the two mines that a rematch was scheduled for the fourth of July celebration. This time Granite had a new anchorman, who plopped himself into a saddle and dallied the rope around the saddle horn and dug his heels into the dirt of the ball park. That contest ended in a draw and the feud was over. Presumably the two teams split the $500 prize money. Many claim the new anchorman was Strangler Lewis of wrestling fame. Others contend it wasn’t Strangler; just his kid brother. 

The main foot race was a man killing dash up the steep rocky face of Granite Mountain to the top and back, a distance of about a mile and a half each way. The prizes were $50, $25, and $15 for the first three. The winner of the beauty or popularity contest got a gold-cased watch set with diamonds and properly inscribed.” 

County Jail Besieged

May of 1895 found how far men from Combination would go for the release of a friend from the county jail. The May 16th Mail carried a three and one half column story detailing the happenings on the previous Saturday morning.

…It was shortly after 10 o’clock when some fifty or seventy-five armed men, with handkerchiefs tied over their faces besieged the county jail and demanded the release of Henry H. McCloskey alias James E. Daily, who had been arrested at Combination by under-sheriff Argall, accompanied by Kisney C. Sterling, a deputy sheriff and detective from El Paso, county, Colorado. After a successful release of the prisoner the group departed for Combination with him. The first intimation that anyone in town had of the contemplated raid was when someone gave jailer Coy a tip that it was to occur. He immediately sent word to Under-sheriff Argall, who went to the jail and after hearing the particulars went out and attempted to raise a posse to stand off the raiders. He started up North Montgomery street to where he thought he could obtain some guns and had hardly got the length of the jail when he almost ran into a crowd of those composing the raiders. He immediately turned and walked rapidly to the corner and down the street and entered various places and deputized a number of citizens as deputy sheriffs. But as not one of them had any firearms they were of little use in this particular case. By this time the crowd of raiders had surrounded the jail and demanded the release of Mr. McCloskey. Jailer Coy, Deputy sheriff Sterling and J. H. Miller were inside with all of the doors locked. When the demand was made for release of the prisoner the three men conferred and kept the crowd waiting outside for ten or fifteen minutes. Finally jailer Coy asked the Colorado man what had better be done in the matter, as the prisoner was his. Mr. Sterling said that the best thing to be done was give the man up, as they were taken at a great disadvantage and three men could hardly expect to accomplish much against such great odds. With this Mr. Coy went to the cell and conducted the prisoner to the door, unlocked and opened it and gave McCloskey up to the men that had come so far to secure his release. When they got what they were after they set up a cheer and started out of town, first firing a volley off in the air, though one gun must have went off prematurely, as it whizzed rather uncomfortably near a man standing near Jacky’s harness store. The crowd started down broadway, one man holding each arm of McCloskey. A picket guard was stationed some distance in the rear and everyone on the street was forbidden to approach too close to the raiders. When they reached the flat between the electric light works and the old Catholic church foundation, some horses were waiting and some of them mounted. Afterwards several express wagons went down Broadway and it is supposed that the men, or part of them, rode to Combination….

 The article went on to describe how well the scheme was planned, such as coming into town in groups of eight men and stationing themselves in key places like the rear of Inkamp’s corner and by the fire-bell, so as to block any posse from being able to assist the jailer in guarding the prisoner. 

McCloskey, had worked for several years at Granite, Combination and other mining camps. About the time of the silver crash he departed for Colorado and went to work at Cripple Creek, where he was elected president of the Miner’s Union. McCloskey was there during the strike and took a prominent role in the activities. He was charged with killing a deputy sheriff and along with several others he broke out of jail in October at Colorado Springs. 

Sterling the detective followed his trail to Utah and then Wyoming. McCloskey got wind that he was being shadowed and took off from Wyoming to Combination in January of 1895. He had quietly worked there until arrested last Saturday. It was also rumored that he was to marry a young lady of Combination in the next few days. 

The article stated Sterling would receive a $1,500 reward when he returned McCloskey to Colorado. After the release of the prisoner the raiders left as quietly as they had arrived and 

it is safe to say not anyone of those taking part is known to any outsider.

The argument for releasing the prisoner: the arrest could not be legal without papers issued from the Montana Governor by request of the Colorado court.

John Schively

Another local Philipsburg resident was intimately involved in the Chief Joseph encounters that occurred during the tribe’s attempt to reach Canada, in 1877. John Shively (sic) born in 1825 came from unknown parts to the west in 1852 according to the Philipsburg Mail February 21, 1889. This account states John was traveling from the Black Hills in Dakota to Philipsburg when he was captured by a party of Chief Joseph’s warriors in Yellowstone Park. The Indians took him prisoner and demanded he guide them through the park. This news article names others taken prisoner a couple of days later after the Indians killed the men in the party, as a Mrs. Dr. Carter, her sister and a daughter. 

An account in Volume IV of the "Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana in 1903" and a condensed version in "Montana Margins" in 1946 describes more of the story from the eyewitness account of Mrs. George F. Cowan. The article is titled “A trip to the National Park in 1877: An account of the Nez Perce raid from a woman’s standpoint-Incidents and accidents." Mrs. Cowan's party consisted of A.J. Arnold, J.A. Oldham, Mr. Dingee (all of Helena), Mr. Charles Mann, Frank and Ida Carpenter, Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Cowan and a cook named Myers all from Radersburg, Montana. The group had left for Yellowstone Park on August 6, 1877. 

After many days of sight seeing, the group returned to their main camp on the 23rd of August, where they encountered General Sherman and his troops and were told they may encounter Indians before they left the Park. Sherman described to them the recent Big Hole Battle with Chief Joseph. That same afternoon a man named Shively [sic] called at their camp and told them he was traveling from the Black Hills and was camped about a half mile down the valley. The next morning their camp was surrounded by Indians. They included Chief Joseph who explained they needed to take them to safety. Then forty or so warriors proceeded to move the party out of the Park. For some unknown reason Mr. Cowan was shot at. When his wife tried to care for him an Indian came up and shot him in the head. Mrs. Cowan lost consciousness and when she awoke was on horse back being lead by one of the Indians. She was told her sister was with “Poker Joe” and Mr. Shively [sic] [who had been captured the night before] at another camp and she could see her in the morning. Her brother was being used by the Indians to guide them and was with her party.”

 During the episode an injured soldier was added to the captured group. For some reason, the Indians decided to let Mrs. Cowan, her sister and the injured soldier go free. Mr. Schively gave them directions to Bozeman.. Mr. Schively was retained by the Indians to guide them through the park. The group traveled under dark of the night to keep from being seen by Indians and on the second day found a group of soldiers. In the days following more people caught up with the group, before they reached Bozeman and their families. 

About a week after arriving at her father’s Mrs. Cowan was visited by two men who handed her the Independent where she read this account: COWAN ALIVE--HE IS WITH GENERAL HOWARD’S COMMAND. He was badly wounded but would survive. 

Mrs. Cowan rented a double seated carriage and traveled to meet her husband. On the return trip from the ranch the team became frightened; ran away and threw the occupants and seats out. A passing traveler rode to Fort Ellis and returned with an ambulance to carry Mr. Cowan the remainder of the trip. Mr. Schively escaped after being with the Indians for ten days. 

The February 21, 1889 Mail stated that John escaped from the Indians by “jumping over an embankment during the night and reached Helena after two days and nights of travel without any food except two potatoes and one egg. From there he wrote his old friend John McLean of Philipsburg who informed him in return that the party he had so nobly rescued were safe under his roof to which place Mr. Shively had directed them before they were released from the savage tribe.” This must be referencing the Carter family. 

John was found dead in bed at the Metropolitan on February 16, 1889 by his room¬mate Mr. Wakefield. John had been subject to apoplexy and apparently died during an episode. He was survived by a brother living at Black Pine according to his obituary. The spelling on his tombstone in the Philipsburg Cemetery spells his name as Schively and gives his age as sixty-four years.

Captain John G. McLean

A short article in the Philipsburg Mail, June 27, 1919 announced Captain J.G. McLean’s death at the age of ninety-one on June 26th, 1919. The next week was published “Passing of an Argonaut…Born in 1830 in the town of Fall River, Massachusetts, he (Captain McLean) acquired in his early years the reputation of a skilled mechanical blacksmith. Before attaining his majority an obstacle arose that prevented his marriage with a sweetheart won when both attended a country school. The event culminated in the immediate enlistment in a party of adventurers outfitting in his city for the gold mines in California. Leaving his home in September 1849, he arrived in San Francisco, California, via Nicaragua, March 20, 1850. From there he went to the placer mines in Marysville, (and) established a shop. But the lure of adventure entered. With the abundance of money came no contentment to his mind. In the fall of 1856 he left for Honduras to join the filibuster Walker in the latter’s Nicaraguan campaign. Soon tiring of that he retraced his steps for the coast and ceaseless followed trails leading to mining camps along the Sierra’s. The fall of 1859, found him rocking the gold sand of the bars of the Peace River and prospecting the gulches of the Ominica. He followed the dim game trails through… the Canadian Rockies to the placers of the Cassier and Frazier. The spring of 1860, found him at work on the bedrock in the Elk Creek diggings in Idaho. Thereafter he prospected along the Clearwater and worked at his trade in Boise City and the Loon Creek diggings. It was while wintering the fall of 1863, in a tributary of the Snake that he heard of the discovery of gold at Alder. Despite the severe weather prevailing he at once started for the new Eldorado with saddle animal and pack horse. Being unable to secure good ground he rode away into western Montana to the placers at Bear Gulch in Deer Lodge County. At intervals he followed his trade in Reynolds Gulch and Deer Lodge city. He was horse shoer for the Diamond “R” Wagon Transportation Company while its trains were engaged in hauling merchandise over the Bozeman cut-off from Fort Laramie to the Platte. In 1872, he was with the Baker expedition into the Yellowstone valley and participated in the fight with the Sioux under Crazy Horse, upon the north bank of the river opposite Pryor’s Fork. The following year found him engaged in his trade in the City of Deer Lodge and in the spring of 1876 he came to Philipsburg to reside, as it proved, permanently. Upon the site of his last (blacksmith) shop stands the handsomely constructed building of the Masonic Society. In 1898, he became interested in the placers in Basin Gulch. He purchased a ranch on a tributary of Rock Creek and lived there several years… With a companion blacksmith, McLean returned to Philipsburg, and the two lived together until Landers passed away in 1918. His every want was provided for by Mrs. J.C. Lalor, the daughter of the James H. Mills, former Lieutenant Governor of Montana, during the territorial days. (She) drove from his humble home the shadows of privation and anxiety and prolonged his life well beyond the years allotted man to live.” 

This lengthy tribute failed to mention the following: The New Northwest, August 10, 1877, named forty nine individuals, from the Philipsburg and Granite County area that organized, when the band of Nez Perce Indians, under the leadership of Chief Joseph, were announced to be headed toward Montana. Twenty volunteers, from The Philipsburg Co. B First Battalion, under the command of Captain J.G. McLean, were the only volunteers, actually in contact with the Nez Perce during this incident. The Missoulian, stated that of the fifty-eight armed men who answered the call “only twenty--the Phillipsburg company--were ever at Rawn’s barricade (now known as “Fort Fizzle.”) These twenty volunteers, provided their own gear (muzzle loading Civil War muskets) and rode their own horses to the call for arms, when Chief Joseph was reported crossing the Bitterroot divide. T

The discussion stated: “While the main column of Nez Perces was crossing the trail, the company of volunteers from Phillipsburg, under Captain McLean, marched up to the Indian cavalcade, and actually passed through the heart of the Nez Perces, minus knowledge of them being the Indians they came to annihilate.” The men of Company B, First Battalion, Philipsburg, were: Captain J. McLean, First Lt. J.K. Pardee, J. Arthur, W.T. Allison, Second Lt. D.B. Jenkins, John Caplice, John Duffy, T. Baier, H. Horton, H. Lamb, G. Ternic, A. Lock, T. McKay, S. Lablain, J.H. Price, B.P. Tilden, J.M. Merrill, John Ulery, John Westfall, C.V. Timmons, and T.O’Conner.