By Stephanie Keeley
His First Years | Skills | His Travels | The Hold Up | In Montana | Later Years
| HIS FIRST DAYS | Walter Brown's first twenty years were spent in Scotland where he was born in Lanarkshire near the town of Stonehouse, on May 30 1856. He grew up in a rural and pastoral community and his schooling was intermingled with his father's occupations of weaver and farmer. in 1976 he decided to seek fortune in Australia, but fell in with some young fellow bound for Canada, and sailed from Glasgow to Richmond Hill near Toronto. |
| SKILLS | His skills included carpentry and soon became on of a team of carpenters recruited by James J. Hill, the guiding genius of the Great Northern Railroad. in the succeeding few years he helped build section houses and depots on the Canadian branch to St. Vincent, a large hotel on Lake Minnetonka and the United States at St. Paul. During those years he became Hill's private yachtsman. |
| HIS TRAVELS | A little while later he was traveling by stage to Fort Benton and making his firs acquaintance with a Montana sheep ranch near Shonkin. his employer, John Patterson realized Walter Brown's experience in Scotland had made him very knowledgeable and would gladly have kept him at the Shonkin Ranch. In the next year Brown and one of Patterson's relatives set out for the Judith Basin country looking for a ranch themselves. there is no record of what the encountered on this trip |
| THE HOLD UP | After left alone Walter worked for John McClellan in the
Shonkin area until 1884.in that year he started down the
Missouri River, working part of his passage by helping to fuel
the steam boiler on the boat. At one point during the journey
the boat was forced to stop by a large herd of buffalo crossing
the river. About that time Granville Stewart and Jimmie Ferguson
organized a band of cowboys to bring about the extermination of
the bandits infesting the region. and so came about a western
style holdup on that river boat- the vigilantes ordering Brown
and all others to "hold up their hands" while they searched to
see if any of the outlaws were on board. the river was very low
and it was the last trip down for the season. Brown left the boat at at Bismarck, North Dakota, and traveled by train to Minneapolis. There he met and married Helen Gray, an native Glasgow, Scotland. |
| IN MONTANA | In 1886 Walter came to Montana, crossing from Billings to
Fort Benton. He took up a tract of land near Shonkin, secured
some sheep on shares from Joseph Hirshburg, a pioneer merchant
of Helena and Choteau, and was then able to bring his bride to
Montana. He ran flocks until 1887. When the Indian lands were thrown open for settlement in 1888, the Browns Established their home eight miles east of Box Elder on Box Elder Creek, living in a tent while the log house was being built. one day while Mrs. Brown was alone with her baby, that strange "eerie" sound made by the Indians was heard. Peering from the tent she sighted a band of Indians across the Creek. Terrified, her first impulse was to run with the baby and hide. before she could do its they had waded the creek and approached the tent making friendly gestures. she brought out a loaf of freshly baked bread and a jar of jelly. they all sat down and ate. After that the Indian women were her friends and would often show her where the best berry patches were. Something of the sturdy character of Walter and Helen Brown can be realized from the manner in which they withstood the dangers and rigors of the far west in that pioneer era. from a nucleus of a homestead and a desert claim Walter Brown acquired finally 12,000 acres of ranch land. Much of this came from buying out homesteaders who became discouraged with the hard life, the bitter Montana winters and the danger of Indian trouble. For forty years Walter Brown was engaged in business including the raising of sheep, cattle, and horses. in 1934 Brown sold his original homestead and adjoining lands to the United States government. They are now part of the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation. he later purchased a stock ranch on Clear Creek which is still in the family.
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| LATER YEARS | In the later years of his life he turned over operation of
his ranches to his sons and established a home in Havre. his
first presidential vote was cast for a Republican and he
continued as a lifetime member of that party. he was a Scottish
Rite Mason and a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. and Mrs. Brown had six children: Mrs. Isabelle Kougher, now deceased; Jack, of Kalispell; Hellen, of Havre; William, Deceased; Walter, living in Stockton, California; and James, deceased. Walter Brown passed away at Havre on June 21, 1946, and was buried in the Mausoleum at Great Falls beside his wife.
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