Archives West Finding Aid

Diaries kept by Lucy and Lou Stocking. Lucy Bigelow Stocking, mother of Winfield Scott Stocking, kept the first diary dating intermittently from 1871 to 1883. It details her trip from Chicago to Fort Benton from April 4, 1871 to May 15,1871 by train to Sioux City, then continuing by the steamer. The diary describes weather, scenery, passengers, wildlife, Indians and their camps, repairs to the boat, details of stops for fueling, loading and unloading of freight, and meals. The diary entries resume in 1873. From 1873 to July 1875, Lucy lived with the Winfield Stocking family and her diary documents weather, farm activities, hunting, household activities (food processing, clothing construction, etc.) visitors, parties, letters written and received, and local travel. The diary ends with a brief description of Lucy's return to Chicago in July 1875. The final section details travel, household, social and religious activities, and includes poems. A second diary also kept by Lucy Bigelow Stocking (donated in 2009) contains intermittent entries from October 31, 1884 to May 12, 1889 and documents a second residence in the Fort Benton area during the fall of 1884 up to her return to Elk Rapids, Michigan in the summer of 1885. This diary also concludes with poetry and some pasted newspaper clippings. The balance of the diaries in this series were written by Lou Stocking (later Lou Stocking Stewart). Diary in folder 3 begins in 1883 as Lou left home (near Benton) by coach and wagon to Helena, continuing by train to Chicago. She describes weather, scenery, passengers. From Chicago, she traveled by train, boat, and coach to visit various relatives (including the length of Lake Michigan to Traverse City, Elk Rapids, Blair, Lowell, Grand Rapids. Description is mostly of social life of the young unmarried set including formal entertainment such as theater and at home entertainment such as card playing. Lou returned home three months later and the remainder of the diary mainly deals with the social life in Fort Benton. Diary in folder 4 continues description of the Fort Benton social scene up to 1887. Diary in folder 5 was kept by Lou much later in her life and after her marriage to Albert H. Stewart. Stewart at this time was managing the Los Angeles Sheep Company near Sun River, Montana. Descriptions include weather, farm activities, household activities, social events, correspondence, financial references for farm and personal expenses, medical problems. Names include Judge John W. Tattan (Choteau County). Diaries in folders 6 - 8 were kept by Lou while living in Great Falls. Chronicles weather, social and religious activities, business activities, personal expenditures, illnesses and burials of acquaintances, club activities, occasional references to local, national and international news items.

Letters from Lucy Bigelow Stocking to her daughter Mary (Winfield Scott Stocking's sibling) and letters sent or received by Lou Stocking Stewart in chronological order. Includes personal, business, club and research correspondence. Includes research correspondence with Harry P. Stanford concerning the history of the "Whoop-up Trail" from Fort Benton to Canada.

Scrapbooks containing mostly newspaper clippings; some magazine clippings, letters, photographs, and greeting cards. Most clippings are from the River Press newspaper in Fort Benton and the Great Falls Tribune. Most of the clippings are undated and without attributions. Where dates are shown or have been penciled in they have been noted. Most of the clippings are on Montana historic topics but exceptions have been noted. Topics include but are not limited to mining, vigilantes, pioneers, Lewis and Clark, Charles Russell. One heavily represented column is from the River Press with headlines: "Items of Long Ago" and "Twenty Years Ago." There are also clippings on women's club activities. Volume 10 has clippings relating to Miss Lou Stocking and the Stocking family. Volume 11 has undated photo of Lou Stocking Stewart, p.15; return of the Fort Benton cannon, steamship line, stagecoach, death of Civil War veteran John Chestnutt, Missouri River pilots.

Handwritten and typed essays, poetry, and reports prepared by Lou Stocking Stewart and others pertaining to a variety of historical and social topics. Included are program speeches for various women's clubs that Lou Stocking Stewart attended; official reports on the operation of the Great Falls public library; a reading composition book kept by Lou Stocking Stewart as a teenager while she attended school at St. Mary's Academy at Leavenworth, Kansas; manuscript histories of Fort Benton and Fort Shaw, Montana.

Printed brochures, programmes, and ephemera collected by Lou Stocking Stewart and pertaining primarily to the women's groups of which she was a member. Material pertains to: the Grand Army of the Republic Women's Relief Corps; the Ladies Improvement Society of Old Fort Benton (dedicated to stabilizing the ruins of the first fort's buildings); the Great Falls Federation of Women's Clubs; the Fort Benton Women's club. An asterisk indicates oversize material in the folder has been removed for separate storage.

Halftone prints of historic scenes of Old Fort Benton and an unidentified ranch (possibly one operated by A.H. Stewart); cigar box lid; convention nametags and ribbons for Montana Pioneers and GAR Women's Relief Corps meetings; vintage canning labels for Montana-produced vegetables; small scrapbook containing newspaper clippings and original letters from the Baker family [2010]. Oversize materials have been removed for separate storage and indicated by an asterisk.