Nicholas H. Connelly

 Another notable asset, to the history of Granite County was Nicholas H. Connolly. Progressive Men of the State of Montana, stated he was born in the County of Armagh, Ireland on August 19, 1825, the fourth of a family of six children. Immigrating to America, at the age of twenty three, he arrived in New York and his first job was as a clerk in a dry goods store in Philadelphia. In 1855, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he continued in sales of dry goods. Then in 1862, he married Miss Elizabeth McDonnell, in Philadelphia. 

His next venture was traveling to Idaho Territory in 1863, arriving at Fort Benton on a boat trip up the Missouri River. It is unknown if his wife traveled with him on this trip or followed at a later date. Shortly after his arrival, Montana Territory was formed, out of the eastern section of Idaho Territory. He settled in Deer Lodge County and in 1865 opened a general store at Gold Creek. He also served as Postmaster of Gold Creek during the administration of President Lincoln and Johnson. N. H. won the election for Deer Lodge County Commissioner. with 1,376 votes versus 988 for Conrad Kohrs, in 1867 and also served as County Assessor of Deer Lodge County. He lost the sheriff race to W.W. Jones in 1871. 

In 1877, he moved to Philipsburg and opened a general store. While conducting business in his general store N. H., became active in extending credit to the mining enterprises that were the basis of the commerce during that era. 

In 1881, Nicholas, served on a coroner’s jury in the homicide of Eugene Garland, with the following verdict: “An inquisition holden (sic) in the back room of George W. Morse’s butcher shop, in the town of Philipsburg, Deer Lodge County, Montana Territory on the 25 day of March A. D. 1881, before me, Davis E. Thomas, Justice of the Peace, acting coroner of said county, upon the body of Eugene Garland, there lying dead, by the jurors whose names are hereunto subscribed: The said juror’s upon their oath do say that the said Eugene Garland came to his death by a pistol shot wound feloniously fired from the hands of Elisha Reed. The murder occurred after the two men had attended a dance and Mr. Reed (a married man with three children) thought that the woman Mr. Garland had taken to the dance had made some remarks about the Reed family.” 

At this time, the Algonquin Mine and the Emma and Salmon mines, near Philipsburg produced some $400,000 in bullion. All of this ore was being processed at the Algonquin Mill that was two years old, in 1882. The investors thought they were doing great, when a telegram arrived from the Philadelphia office, on March 16, 1882, directing a total suspension of milling and mining operations at Hasmark. The company did not have enough money to make its payroll of $15,000. 

When Pardee (President and Managing Superintendent), arrived from Philadelphia, he reported the bondholders in Philadelphia, had foreclosed their mortgage of $107,000 and were advertising the property at a Sheriff’s sale. Obviously the $400,000, had not been utilized to pay off the debt, but Mr. Pardee, was certain that the Algonquin Company, would be reorganized and achieve the success everyone believed it could when the mill was built. Meanwhile, the local creditors led by William Weinstein and Nick Connolly got a judgment in Deer Lodge County court for $8,000, but the bondholders sale took precedence. The property was bought by former Algonquin President E. C. Markley and Associates. 

Nicholas Connolly thought that he could recover what was owed to him by leasing the property. The endeavor was a bust and “Connolly lost everything but the esteem of his fellow townsmen.” The Connolly property was attached for $13,000.00. The ore was too low grade and the mill could not produce the money needed to pay the workers, thus, leaving $4,000.00 due in back wages, over the $13,000.00 of the property attachment. 

What happened to the property is not clear, but on May 5, 1887, The Philipsburg Mail, reported: “For many years Nicholas Connolly has lived in and occupied as a business house the two story frame on Broadway, well-known throughout this section as the Connolly Store. Recent surveys place the building partly on an adjoining lot, the property of George W. Morse, of New Chicago. This morning Mr. C. was notified to move his store building. It is hardly necessary to say that until matters between the parties are settled there will be h--l on deck.” This appears to be the known Ben Pizer building on upper Broadway. 

Dan Metschter, writing in the Philipsburg Mail “Flint Chips” in 1988, stated: “Philipsburg took him to its heart. It repeatedly elected him Justice of the Peace. He supported himself on the fees from that office for the next 23 years”. This statement comes into question though when you read The Citizen Call, during 1893 and 1894. A petition was circulated stating: “We the undersigned residents and taxpayers of Granite County respectfully request your honorable body to appoint to the office of Justice of the Peace of Philipsburg Township, N.H. Connolly, to the unexpired term of A.G. Berthoud, deceased. Mr. Connolly is competent and we heartily recommend his appointment.” Following this statement were eighty six signatures that included: J.D. Kennedy, Erastus Amerine, William Neu, L.C. Degenhart, John Rodda, John Kaiser, and Herman Kaiser, 

Also in 1893, very sarcastic comments were editorialized in the Philipsburg Mail, calling the Citizen Call newspaper “The Tool”, and implying that Nicholas Connolly was the exalted editor, etc. Then, a very acrid letter to the editor was published alluding that the petition was inappropriate because any swindler or unsavory character could sign the petition and that the intent of the petition made it look like the voters were having their rights of selection usurped. Whether Connolly fulfilled the reminder of the term or not is not discussed in further issues, but he was named an alternate for the Democratic election of 1894. 

The tax records of Granite County in 1893 show Connolly assets as follows: A log building, frame house and store stock valued at $11,055.00 in Philipsburg plus $300.00 in Firearms. The average price of a firearm at that time was $45.00. He also paid taxes on a frame house in Drummond valued at $450.00. There were a total of six lines on the tax roles dedicated to Connolly and two of those including a partner, John Cole, the first Granite County Sheriff. 

Nicholas ran for the position of Justice of the Peace, for Philipsburg Township, in 1894 as a democrat and the results of the election were: Connolly, Nicholas H., 130, Miller, John H. Democrat, 280, so there was at least one term Nicholas was not the Justice of the Peace, of Philipsburg Township. 

In 1896, Nicholas Connolly, made application for the position of Enrolling Clerk for the State Legislature. Nicholas was busy that year as he also served as Deputy Sheriff: “Deputy Sheriff N.H. Connolly came in on the Saturday train with Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Guinanne of Bearmouth, who were placed under arrest for resisting an officer. Deputy Argall, sometime ago went down to Bearmouth regarding a man named Ryan living next door to Guinanne’s, and they had attempted to put the officer off their land.” I do not find any other reference to Connolly being a deputy, so assume he was deputized as a special deputy to perform this one function. 

Then in 1897, he was active as an involved community patron: “The public reading room, located in the Connolly building, has been running for three weeks and is proving to be quite a success. Nicholas, was appointed Deputy County assessor under Will Neu, and performed those duties whenever work in that office required his services. 

In March, 1898, the official bond for Nicholas Connolly, Justice of the Peace was ordered filed. Then May, 1898, N. H. Connolly was listed as one of the eighty three volunteers for the Spanish American War. He would have been seventy two. 

In the 1900 Census, Nicholas (74) and his son Nicholas J. (32) and daughter Anna (30) were living in North Philipsburg. September, 1901, on the regular session--fifth day of the County Commissioners proceedings, N. Connolly, was paid $36.00 for his services, as Justice of the Peace. 

His obituary in the August 24, 1906, Philipsburg Mail, stated Judge N. Connolly passed away Tuesday August 21, at Wallace, Idaho where he had been visiting his children. It goes on to cover the same history of his birth in Ireland in 1825 and travels to Montana in 1863. It also lists survivors as two daughters and one son in Wallace, Idaho and two sisters, Mrs. John Keenan and Mrs. Jettie Jordan of Gold Creek. Nothing in the obituary stated his body would be brought back to Philipsburg for burial. 

The next news article found is a publication of the Notice to Creditors, for the Nicholas Connolly estate, published by Walter W. Kroger, Administrator of the estate on September 20, 1912. What was the reason causing six years to pass before publishing the notice to creditors for the estate? 

As evidenced above the name Nicholas H. Connolly, is prominently embedded in the history of the county of Deer Lodge and later Granite, when it was carved from Deer Lodge in 1893.

Rock Creek Coyote Wizard: Fred Splitt

                                                              Fred Splitt in 1971

Among the many personalities of Rock Creek was Fred Splitt. He always attended the dances at Uncle Tom’s Cabin and never danced with a partner. His dance was a jig which consisted of moving one leg to the rhythm of the music for a period of time and then changed to the other leg. He would begin with the first dance and leave to go outside at each intermission to have a little refreshment. As the evening progressed his jig got slowly less jig and more sway until he would just sit down on a bench and go quietly to sleep. Fred said he “was the very best dancer….well maybe there is one better…Fred Astaire.” 

Fred was born in Duport, Wisconsin on March 6, 1887. It is unknown exactly when he came to Granite County. There is no record of him in the 1910 Federal Census and he was living in Wisconsin in the 1900 Census. He arrived before November 1, 1912 as he was is listed as a registered voter with his address as “Dearborn Ranch” in the Mail on that date. The Dearborn Ranch was located on the Middle Fork of Rock Creek at the mouth of Dearborn Gulch in Section 32. The buildings were destroyed by fire on March 30, 1927 when G.Z. Adams lived there according to the April 1, 1927 Mail. This may be incorrect because Adam’s had a homestead in that same area. 

The December 26, 1913 Mail stated “F. E. Splitt came in this week from Seba siding near Anaconda, where he has just completed a big contract for getting out mining timbers. He will return there after the holidays and take another contract to cut on railroad land.” He was a known far and wide for his sawyer skills such as when he cut all the logs to rebuild the Allen Webb Ranch house after the newly built home burned to the ground. 

Fred entered World War I in August 1918 after he sold his modern bungalow cottage on lower Broadway to Mrs. J.W. Sundberg for $2,800.00 detailed the Mail May 24, 1918. He was discharged August 1919 at Fort D.A. Russell in Wyoming. By 1921 he was a well established biological survey hunter with his picture shown standing beside a one month catch of coyotes in an article in the Missoulian in February. The article described predatory animals costing stockmen more than $100,000 per year and acknowledged the work of federal survey hunters taking 25,361 animals for the year ending June 30, 1920. 

On October 14, 1921 I found where Fred had a close call near the Six Mile House, when his Ford plunged off the grade and was wrecked with his body bruised. Fred continued to trap coyote’s according to the December 8, 1922 Mail, and was credited with twenty-three trapped and two others shot when they failed to get into his traps. The paper goes on to say he hung all the pelts on a line and took a picture of them then sold them to a local fur house. At the time of the news the past week had a heavy snow storm, so all of Fred’s traps were snowed under and he was going to have to dig them out and reset them. 

On February 26, 1926 the Mail identified Fred as the “Rock Creek Coyote-wizard” and stated he spent Tuesday in town. This was probably during the time Fred homesteaded in Antelope Gulch. After selling the homestead to Ed Sanders he bought the Foster Smith place at the west end of Eagle Canyon. Fred lived there until it was sold to the Lyon’s family about 1940. 

One of his major means of income was building the Beaver Slide hay stacker and almost every ranch on Rock Creek and the Forks had a Beaver Slide, built by Fred. As the years progressed he taught the craft to a couple of protégé’s. But most of the ranchers believe they have either “the last” or “one of the last one’s” he built. 

After living in cabins and trapping around Mount Amerine for many more years, Fred moved into Philipsburg. He was admitted to the “Old Soldiers” Veteran’s Home at Columbia Falls, Montana on an unknown date and died there at the age of eighty-eight on October 8, 1975 of Pulmonary Edema. His body was returned “Home” where he was given a full military graveside service with internment at the Philipsburg Cemetery.