Twice Divorced and Three Times A Bride

                                                              Bessie Dunn Musselman

Bessie, youngest daughter of John P. and Catherine (Kate) Dunn was born April 7, 1887 in Anaconda, Montana. As she grew into a beautiful red headed lady her marriages made frequent news. Her first marriage was an elopement on March 17, 1906 at the Justice of The Peace in Deer Lodge to Frank Gillmurray.  

By the 1910 Federal Census, Bessie was back living at home with her parents. By WWI, she had married for the second time to a young clerk at the Anaconda Reduction Works named William T. Masten. Known as “Tom” and in the National Guard he was soon transferred into the regular Army. He was cited twice for bravery while overseas and advanced from Private to Captain. Shortly after his return from the war, the marriage dissolved and he remarried. Bessie…now known as Betty also remarried in a short time to a High School Coach named E. Raymond Musselman. Known as “Tip” he was younger than Bessie and doted on her every whim. Descriptors about him are: “a skinny school teacher”; “ liked to live well without working”; “worshipped the ground Betty walked on and never doubted her.”

A story in “Gold on a Shoe String” stated that although “known as the Mine Manager he was never an aggressive partner. Once while in the extensive tunnels he dropped and broke his carbide lamp. Lost for hours, he was ever after terrified of the dark, demanding the electric plant at the cabin be kept going all night so he could have a light on. The noise of the motor carried across the lake annoying others.” 

As stated in the John Dunn article, Bessie became secretary of the John P. Dunn Mining Company when it was incorporated in 1919. By 1922, John had deeded all the Homestead acreage and cabins to Bessie. When John died in 1925, all of the rest of the Dunn properties at the Lake were inherited by Bessie and ended the family relationships. Thus it was up to Bessie to make the business profitable. The Frog Pond Basin Mines were creating a lot of excitement with eastern investors and it became Betty’s task to interest these investors in her enterprise. Some say this included face –lifting saloons and adding switches to her “full” head of hair plus “In the spring as soon as the buttercups bloomed Bessie returned home to salt her mines.” 

The story goes that fascinating people came to visit Bessie at the Lake but no one ever met them “because she wanted to keep them insulated from any adverse information about the mines.” One guest was a Dutch mining engineer who was infatuated with his Hostess and sent her lavish gifts; another was a European woman who wore flowers in her hair. These guests were seen out on the Lake or on the streets of Philipsburg and Anaconda. 

In the early 1930’s William Isom and Arthur Taggart bought up a section of the patented claims running east up the canyon behind Whale Mountain and with J.L. Darnell Jr. began building a new mill. Bessie brought suit against them and before the mill was finished Bessie won, with Isom and Taggart gone from the lake. During this period, Betty met a Knight in shining armor named Bill Leamon and a new romance blossomed. Bill was a college graduate and executive and major stockholder in the Houdaille Company, manufacturing hydraulic equipment. Bill invested more than $9,000 in Bessie’s operations and they formed the Toro Mining Company in 1933. They began construction on a new mill with a dozen or more men working during the winter and more than 25 during the summer months. 

Bill and Betty spent most of their time in the east and “Tip” continued as Mine Manager. Bill even christened a drink for Bessie known as the “Golden Betty.” By 1935, the main vein was being followed up the hill rich in gold. Leamon had located nine different outcroppings of ore and many green outcroppings of copper. 

Bill loved to fly and in July of 1936, Bill, Betty and Bill’s two son’s took off in a four passenger plane for the east. They dropped the boys off in Chicago and went on to New York. On their return flight near Fair Oaks, Indiana the plane developed engine problems. Bill sent out one flare before the plane crashed. He was 40 and she was 49. Earlier Betty had deeded “Tip” six of her claims and now her Will gave him all the Lake property and claims. 

He had neither the will or motivation to keep things going and his final report in 1939 showed income $6,328.12 and expenses $8,375.51. Betty Musselman is buried at Lower Hill Cemetery in Anaconda.