Placer Post Office and The Gillies Ranch on Rock Creek

Names on the Face of Montana states “Placer (Granite County) was a post office 1896-1898 with James A. Gillies as postmaster. Near Philipsburg, placer mining no doubt gave it it’s name.” A large population of miners were living on West Fork, Stony Creek and Basin Gulch during this period. The location was on Upper Rock Creek at the Gillies (Gillis)/ Province ranch. 

The story goes that the original land was bought by James Albert Gillies and Frank “Rock” Province from the Northern Pacific Railroad who was in bankruptcy and sent out salesmen to sell the railroad sections for $50.00 a piece. With this land they operated a dairy and raised stock. Rock’s job was to tend to the “manufacture of dairy products. He was a master hand and his butter and cheese were known to many of the housekeepers of western Montana” stated his obituary. Frank “Rock” Province, also known as Shorty was born in Italy about seventy-one years before his death on February 22, 1931. 

The Gillies Ranch was the third place to be settled on Rock Creek, in the mid 1880’s. It is known they were there when the Cornish Gulch fire burned in 1888 and the big ranch house was built in 1893. Mail articles reveal that the County Commissioners on June 6, 1895 audited and approved: J.A. Gillis work on Rock Creek Bridge $20.00 June 18th. Also, J.A. Gillis, of District No.12 was paid $5.00 for one man and a team and $3.00 for one man by the Granite County Commissioners for road bills (May 21, 1897). In the September 1898 election, Precinct Number Five voted at the Gillies house with James Gillies acting as election judge. 

In articles listing persons that paid more than $100.00 in taxes for the year: 1904 is Gillies and Province $158.06; 1912 is listed Gillies and Province $262.27; and Gillies, J.A. & F. Province for 1927 were $449.36. 

The wedding date of James and Annie Walters McCale is unknown but prior to December 3, 1899 when “Mrs. James Gillies visited her sister, Mrs. Simpson in Parkerville (Philipsburg Mail). Annie E. Walters, born in Pennsylvania in 1864, came with her parents to their homestead at Sluice Gulch, when she was very young. Before Annie married James A. Gillies she was married to William McCale and had three children: Ida, Mary (Midge) and George. To the union of James and Annie was born Joseph April 2,1903. 

The Pullar brothers caught the measles in 1911 and Annie, being a good neighbor went to their house to care for them. She caught the measles and then a cold. Annie died from the complications on May 6, 1911, at the age of forty-seven years and left eight year old Joseph motherless in a house full of men. 

The location of the ranch has always made it a geographical site, such as: “The Gillies Bridge”; “The stop over for the Rural Mail Carrier two nights a week”; “The location of the Forest Service Emergency Telephone; and often the only telephone on Rock Creek. 

                                                               Frank "Rock" Province

                                               J.N Gillies (Father), J.A. Gillies and Robert "Bert" Gillies

James Albert, born in Australia September 7, 1861 moved to Canada at the age of seven and at seventeen came to America (1878). First settling in Butte and then Philipsburg, he engaged in the teaming business, before buying the ranch. James died on March 15, 1930 at the Northern Pacific Hospital in Missoula. His brother, Robert “Bert” Gillies born in Canada in 1871 also died in 1930. He was a lifelong bachelor. It is known that he studied music at McGill University in Montreal. 

The headlines of the September 26, 1930 Mail are “Rock Creek Rancher Meets Tragic Death” Joe Gillies went searching for his uncle Bert when he failed to come to breakfast on September 22 and a shotgun was missing from its usual place. Joe found Bert about 100 yards from the house in a barn. Sheriff Gus McDonald was immediately notified and a coroners jury empanelled. Their investigation revealed: “A note was found near the body written upon the back of an envelope which read as follows: Shot myself, after skunk, I am in awful pain, Going to put myself out.” Apparently Mr. Gillies while hunting for a marauding skunk during the night met with a serious accident. Returning to his sleeping quarters and frenzied by pain he wrote the note and decided to take care of his misery. Bert was fifty-nine years of age and had lived in the Rock creek area for thirty-four years (1896). Joe told his son Bob that Bert’s dog was guarding his master when Joe found him and they had difficulty getting the dog to let anyone near the body 

Reminding everyone how strong our ancestors were, the Mail stated: “After Annie’s funeral Mr. James Gillies with his eight year old son, mounted his horse and returned to the ranch.” There must have been some type of estate left for Joseph when Annie died as the March 1, 1918 Mail on the March Court Calendar lists “Estate of Joseph Gillies, minor, … annual account. 

Young Joe was not the only youngster on the ranch. His Mom’s older daughter, Ida had traveled to Grand Forks, Canada where the Joseph Gillis family lived. (The Family name is spelled Gillis in Canada and Gillies in the U.S.) She planned to attend school there but instead fell in love with Mr. T.R. McKinley and married him on October 24, 1899. Mr. McKinley was the step son of Joseph Gillis and Ida was the step daughter of James A. Gillies. From this short lived marriage a son Robert was born in 1901. After this marriage failed Ida resumed the name of McCale until she married Jack (John) Guinnane January 18, 1905. After her new marriage Robert spent most of his time with Grandma Annie and remained at the ranch after her death. 

The following story confuses Robert (Bob) with young Joe: “Master Robert Gillies of Rock Creek was the hero in a runaway Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Gillies left his team standing in front of a store while he went inside on business and Master Robert was left in the sleigh holding the lines. Something frightened the horses and they ran away. The young man was not strong enough to stop them but he managed to keep them in the road until they tired of running and were ready to slow down. Then on the flat west of the depot he turned them around and drove back to town. The team crossed the railroad tracks only a short distance in front of the afternoon train which was just pulling into the yards. No harm was done.” Robert McKinley would have been about twelve and Joe almost ten at this time. 

Another priority issue causing the ranchers a great deal of financial stress was the wolf population, killing off or “hamstringing” their stock. According to the Granite County Clerk and recorder’s office, Albert Rupp et al, bought, in 1905, the appointment of bounty inspector for the Willow and Rock Creek area of Granite County. By 1912 Gillies, Rupp & Greenheck, Rodda and Province were all suffering huge losses to the wolf packs. In the Mail December 27, 1912 an article stated that: George Metcalf, Rupp & Greenheck, John Rodda, Gillies and Province set up a fund to pay a $75.00 reward “for each wolf killed during the next 30 days in the district south of Maxville embracing upper Willow Creek, Rock Creek, Trout Creek and upper Flint Creek.” In addition to the $75.00 bounty individuals killing wolves would also receive the bounty from the state of Montana. No small sum of money during that day and age. 

Young Joseph grew up to take over the Gillies ranch and met a young school teacher who came to teach at the Spring Creek School. Martha Murray, born November 28, 1905 in Missouri lost her mother at the time of birth. Her father was left with a motherless home so the grandparents raised Martha until she was five years old. By that time her father had remarried and in 1909 he moved the family to the Flathead Valley where eighty acres of land plots from the Indian reservation were available for veterans. Martha recounted to her children how they stayed overnight in Kalispell and then crossed the Flathead Lake on the “Klondike” and claimed their land at Round Butte. Joe and Martha were married at her parents home at Round Butte on February 15, 1927. To this marriage was born three sons: Jack in 1929, James in 1930 and Robert in 1934. Jack died as an infant and is buried in Ronan, Montana. 

                                                      Joe and Martha Murray Gillies circa 1927

Joe and Martha took over running the ranch after James, Bert and Frank died in 1930 and 1931. Life on Rock Creek was never easy, even after the automobile, because the rutted roads were either knee deep in mud or snow. If you could make it to town once a month it was a really big deal and stated in news articles along with Gillies Ranch temperatures. 

 Joe and Martha moved into Philipsburg in 1958 due to Joe being ill. When he recovered he worked on the East Fork Irrigation Project and then drove school bus for several years. Joe died January 27, 1987 and Martha joined him April 9, 1995 and is buried next to Joe in the Philipsburg Cemetery. 

Hard working ranchers enjoyed picnic’s, fish fries and dancing. Early on these were held at the Gillies ranch and Rock Creek School. Later, Uncle Tom built the dance hall and picnic grounds at the West Fork Bridge. One of my best memories was when the Gillies or Bohrnsen boys graciously asked this much younger girl to dance. To overcome the height difference they would let me stand on their well polished dress boots as we whirled around the floor. T

The Gillies sons, Jim and Robert, attended Rock Creek school for their primary grades and then as all the rural children did at that time, Jim boarded in Philipsburg to attend Granite County High School. When the rural schools closed in 1948 Bob began riding the school bus to High School in Philipsburg. At first, Bob had to find a way to the West Fork Bridge. Then the School District recognized they had to provide better service to the ranchers and began bringing the school bus over Marshall Creek Hill and making a loop up Rock Creek to the Skalkaho Highway over Mungas Hill to Highway 1 (Hwy 10 at that time) and on into Philipsburg. 

This route was driven by Forrest “Buster” Merrifield and he watched over us with eagle eyes in the rear view mirror. Bob, Joe Haggard, Wesley Sutherland and I were given assigned seats so we could not sit together and tell “Dirty” jokes. The school bus was a reliable service, but Buster refused to drive it when the temperatures reached forty below. He arrived on time at thirty-nine below but not forty. Often there was a three foot drift at the mouth of Trail Gulch and he would ram through it after having to back up a few times, but we never doubted he would get us to our destination. 

At that time in history the young men were drafted after they finished High School. Jim worked for a couple of years on ranches and doing construction work until he performed his Civic Duty in 1950. When Jim returned from his military tour of duty he was so very handsome in his uniform. He worked as a combat engineer rebuilding Germany and when he returned used those road building skills to work on the Marshall Creek Road, Trail Gulch and Kings Hill. 

Jim met Lorraine Grimes while she was working summers at The Sweet Palace in Philipsburg and attending Carroll College in Helena. I clearly remember the two gliding across the gymnasium floor at the Junior Prom when I was in the eighth grade. At that time everyone with a date or spouse attended the school dances. 

                                         Lorraine Grimes and James Gillies on their wedding day

They were married June 16, 1956 and Jim began work at the Scratch-All Mine. In 1958 he moved Lorraine and Karen on to the ranch in a modern home built south of the original ranch house. Jim and Lorraine had three daughters: Karen in 1957; Kathy in 1959; and Maria in 1962. The original ranch house was demolished in 1977 and a new house built at that site in 1986. Daughter Karen and son-in-law Sam Peterson moved into the new ranch house to assist Jim. They have a daughter Jenelle. Karen and Sam worked hard to continue the ranch productivity.

Jim and Lorraine’s daughter Maria married Jamie Conn and they live in Hall. They have two children: Danny and David. Danny and his wife Kiara have two sons: Riley and Dillon. Their youngest son David has recently moved to Missoula and is enjoying his independence. 

Bob suffered all of his childhood with severe atopic allergies exacerbated by allergens on a ranch. After graduating high school in 1952, he worked at logging; the Taylor and Knapp Mill with Vince and Stub Fessler; the Mill in Stumptown for Jess Evans; then in 1968 began hauling chips at the Mill in Bonner until he retired with his wife Alice at Mill Town. They bought property up Willow Creek east of the old Mungas ranch as a second home after selling the acreage he received on Willow Creek when Martha died (Bob, 2008). Alice continues to live in Mill Town and Bob is in a Memory Care Facility in East Missoula suffering from the late stages of Altzheimer’s. 

Jim worked from daylight and into the dark, twenty-four seven to keep the ranch producing and provide a living for his family with outside jobs and running a sawmill on the property in the 1960's. Lorraine died October 20, 2012 in a Care Facility in Anaconda and is buried in the Philipsburg cemetery. 

Jim proudly watched while the fifth and sixth generations of his family assumed the ranch responsibilities. Daughter Kathy (Kulaski) Graybeal had two children: Paul and Billie Ann. Kathy currently lives with Jim. Her son Paul Kulaski, wife Genevieve and children Sophia, James and Wyatt have taken over the major ranching duties. They built a nice modern house in 2016, just south of Jim and Lorraine’s home.

Jim died peacefully at the ranch on May 20, 2019 at the age of 88 years 8 months and 25 days. He was buried at the Philipsburg Cemetery on May 29, 2019. Jim was survived by brother Bob and his wife Alice (Milltown); Daughters: Kathy Graybeal, Karen Peterson and her husband Sam; Maria Conn and her husband Jamie (Hall); Grandchildren: Jenelle Peterson, Paul and his wife Genevieve Kulaski, Billie Ann Kulaski, Dan and his wife Kira Conn and David Conn; Great grandchildren: Sophia, James and Wyatt Kulaski; Titus Kulaski; Riley and Dillon Conn. 

The area of Granite County has been able to survive the economic ups and downs related to mining because the hard working ranchers keep a stable basis for taxation. Their hard working contribution needs to be recognized.