History of Camp Creek and Melrose
In 1862, my Great Great Grandfather "Henry Smith Pond" arrived aboard the “Shreveport” into Fort Benton when Montana was then known only as “Idaho Territory”. Abraham Lincoln would eventually form Montana Territory as a means of fueling the war efforts back in the States. The rich metals being mined at Bannock City and other camps throughout the Territory would ultimately fill the coffers of eastern Capitalists and economies helping supply the war efforts against the Confederate States.
Henry Smith Pond first made his home in Gold Creek along with notable Montana Pioneers, James and Granville Stuart, Christopher Higgins, and Frank Worden. It was my Grandfather who built the first trading post in Gold Creek where he stood vigil over an accused horse thief, Charlie Spillman, the following day, Charlie was hung. After successfully pleading his innocence, his counterpart was sent packing with the warning of “never to return”. This would be the first hanging in what is now Montana. Stealing another man’s horse was considered the most punishable offense during them years. This particular hanging put Gold Creek on the map as “Hangtown” which didn’t sit well with the US Postal Service so maps would eventually return to listing it as “Gold Creek”.
After leaving Gold Creek, a young Henry went on to Bannock City where he mined and worked his trade of carpentry. He eventually opened a general merchandise which he later moved to Glendale during the summer of 1878.
Back in Henry’s home state of Illinois, he attended the Knox Business College where he acquired his knowledge of business which came in handy at Bannock, Glendale, and then Melrose. At college, Henry attended a speaking engagement where Abraham Lincoln campaigned for his first term as President. Ironically, the same young lawyer who would eventually win the presidency, once defended Henry’s father and brother during a trial that took place on June 11, 1845 where Abraham Lincoln and his partner, Herndon appeared in the Menard County Circuit Court as attorneys for Marvin Pond, indicted for harboring a slave, “John Hauley”. William Hauley of Kentucky claimed ownership of John Hauley.
The court quashed the first count of the indictment, and Pond pleaded not guilty to the second count. The jury found Pond not guilty. Lincoln and Herndon received $5 for their legal services. Billious and Bartholomew Pond would be acquitted of the charges but would go on to be well known abolitionists on the Underground Railroad. Henry owned and operated two stores in Glendale and a third store in Melrose which opened in 1880, serving as the first Postmaster of Melrose. He also served as recording secretary for the Montana Pioneer’s Society being a charter member of the Beaverhead County Chapter. When Henry died in Melrose in 1898, his funeral was considered one of the largest ever attended at that time. He was well loved throughout the Territory having been there since its inception. He left a sizeable estate to his children, Mary, Marcia and Elmer Pond. My Great Grandparents, Mary Pond and George Vance, were married in Glendale on November 23, 1884. They had three children, Ethel Roy and Percy.
George and his brothers, along with their parents, Charles and Elizabeth Vance, came to the United States from Cowansville, Quebec during the summer months of 1878 and settled in Glendale. George’s brother, Sherman met and married Melrose Fleser on December 27, 1887. Most locals living near Melrose today are familiar with Mt. Fleser which earned its namesake from the tiny stage stop that once stood at its base, operated by Adam Fleser during the early 1870’s. “ Fleecer Mountain”, as it is known today on official maps, has been erroneously misspelled over the years. Adam Fleser was known to be a heavy drinker and this drinking eventually took a toll on his marriage to Lucina Phillips. They had four children, their youngest daughter Melrose was born in 1869. After Lucina divorced Adam, she moved to the Stone Ranch at Camp Creek where she met and married William Bowe.
William Bowe, a Montana pioneer of 1864, and the founder of the town of Melrose, was born in Ireland, March 17, 1844, fourth in the family of five children of Lawrence Bowe and Margaret Delany, both natives of the Emerald Isle. His parents emigrated to America in 1848 and settled in Connecticut. In 1859 they removed to New Britain, that State where the father died in his eightieth year. William Bowe spent several years of his early life at Cromwell, on the Connecticut river. When he was only fourteen he was employed to run an engine in a manufacturing establishment, and after the family moved to New Britain he worked on a farm for some time. In 1863 he went to Denver, Colorado, spent the winter there, and in the spring came to Montana, arriving at Virginia City, July 8, 1864, with a capital of $100. The history of his life for the next few years was that of a miner going from camp to camp, sometimes owning an interest in a mine himself and at other times working by the day until he had visited nearly all the mining districts in this section of the Northwest, and on the whole his mining career was an unsuccessful one. He then turned his attention to freighting, which he continued until the fall of 1873, when he came to his present location at Melrose.
In the spring of 1875, he bought out two squatters, John Stone and Jefferson McCauley, giving one of them $100 and the other $150. At the time, Stone and McCauley were the only other settlers in the valley. When the land was surveyed, Mr. Bowe pre-empted 160 acres of land, to which he subsequently added eighty acres of desert land. In the fall of 1875 he built a small log house which served for a home until he could get a better one. Finally he purchased a house at Rocker, took it to pieces and moved it to his place, and this house now forms a part of the hotel building. On December 25, 1876, William Bowe married Lucina Fleser, ex-wife of Adam Fleser and daughter of Elihu Phillips. She was born in Strongsville, Ohio, February 16, 1837. By her first husband, Adam, she had children as follows: George, Charles, Calista, wife of James Mackboy of Phillipsburg; and Melrose, wife of Sherman W. Vance. For a period of time, Sherman and his family lived with Mr. Bowe on the Bowe Ranch along the Big Hole River. From 1876 until the arrival of the Utah Northern, the stage stop served many travelers coming through Melrose, heading to the mining camps of the Hecla Consolidated Mining Company. The arrival of the Utah Northern in 1881 made it possible and profitable for the Hecla Mining Company to ship silver and lead bullion (once hauled out by wagon road) to the refineries for further smelting. Hauling ore by wagon was not only costly but time consuming. The arrival of the railroad greatly reduced the costs and overhead of the company and improved profits, helping bring in the necessary supplies, machinery, and charcoal needed to supply the furnaces at Glendale. The railroad arrived at Melrose in the spring of 1881 marking an end to an era of freighting for Melrose and the Bryant Mining District.
As the narrow gauge of the Utah Northern inched its way closer and closer, Bowe platted the town of Melrose and at once sold off a number of lots. In 1880 he made further additions to his hotel, which enabled him to entertain comfortable all who stop there. As William Bowe platted the town site, he decided to change the name from “Camp Creek” to “Melrose” in honor of his Stepdaughter, Melrose Fleser. William Bowe would begin selling off lots of this newly platted town around 1880. Business establishments, saloons and homes quickly sprang up.
Mrs. Lucina Bowe crossed the plains with her first husband in 1864, and on that journey met with many thrilling experiences and narrow escapes, a detailed account of which would fill a volume of no small proportion and would be more thrilling than many a romance. The company with which they traveled was composed of twenty men, four women and five children, all well-armed. At the South Platte river they were delayed on account of storms and high water. One man was drowned and one man and a child were killed by lightning. Further on in the journey they had trouble with the Indians, and it was with difficulty that they escaped with their lives. Mrs. Bowe is the daughter of a physician and by her knowledge of curative powers made herself very useful in taking care of the sick and wounded on this journey, as she also has during her long residence in Montana. After their arrival in Virginia City, Mr. Fleser engaged in mining, and later moved to German Gulch, where he kept a station. On account of his dissipated habits she left him and obtained a divorce, after which, as above stated, she became the wife of Mr. Bowe. During their long residence at Melrose, Mr. and Mrs. Bowe have made a wide acquaintance throughout the State, being noted far and near for their genial hospitality.