Early Settlers of Salesville, Spanish Creek and Cherry Creek Basins

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Todd, Lester H.
Title: Early Settlers of Salesville, Spanish Creek and Cherry Creek Basins
Quantity: 41 p. : photocopy of typescript
Collection Number: Collection 368, MtBC, us (collection)
Summary: The Early Settlers of Salesville, Spanish Creek and Cherry Creek Basin consists of one file containing a photocopied manuscript with a typed name index and an oversized file containing a photocopied hand-drawn map. The manuscript contains a thumbnail sketch of each settler, when he arrived and where he homesteaded. Information includes crops and livestock raised; the succession of ownerships of many homesteads including the large buyouts by the Flying D Ranch; other businesses, enterprises and jobs undertaken; and many events of note including the murders of John Bozeman and John Allen.
Repository: Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections
Montana State University-Bozeman Library
Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT
59717-3320
Telephone: 4069944242
Fax: 4069942851
Access Restrictions: This collection is open for research.
Languages: English
Sponsor: Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Lester H. Todd was the grandson of Hiram H. Todd and Thomas G. Lemons who were two of the early settlers chronicled in his manuscript. (There is some confusion as to the one surname. Lester H. Todd uses Lemon in his manuscript but Lemons is the name given in the "1892-93 Gallatin Valley Gazetteer and Bozeman City Directory" and the 1880 Montana Census). Hiram H. Todd migrated from Missouri by wagon train with his wife and 10 of his children including William P. Todd ( Lester's father) in 1879. They arrived in Salesville, Montana in July of that year. The next year Hiram filed on a homestead southwest of town. Thomas G. Lemons and one son were in the same wagon train. His wife, two daughters, married son Thomas J. and his family followed the next year by train. Thomas G. filed on a homestead at the mouth of Spanish Creek in 1882. His daughter Adda and William P. Todd were later married and farmed outside of Salesville. In a letter of foreword, Lester H. Todd explains that he has gathered the information for many years and "put it into History form so that the Generations that follow will have a true picture of early settlers who come to this part Montana and settled". Mr. Todd was born in Salesville and lived in both the Spanish Creek and Cherry Creek Valleys for many years before moving to Bozeman in the 1930s.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

One file containing a photocopied manuscript with a typed name index and an oversized file containing a photocopied hand-drawn map. The manuscript contains a thumbnail sketch of each settler, when he arrived and where he homesteaded. Some sketches are very detailed and include anecdotes about families and events while some are more incomplete. Areas described include Salesville and surrounding area, the Cherry Creek basin area and the Spanish Creek basin area. Information includes crops and livestock raised; the succession of ownerships of many homesteads including the large buyouts by the Flying D Ranch; other businesses, enterprises and jobs undertaken; and many events of note including the murders of John Bozeman and John Allen as related by old timers. The map with the names of settlers, the locations of their homesteads and other community features has been filed separately.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

Original manuscript written by Lester H. Todd and its accompanying map were loaned by him to the Montana State University Library in 1965 to be photocopied. They were returned to Mr. Todd after their reproduction. An index of the names of settlers was produced later by the library staff.

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