Archives West Finding Aid

Wilbur Fisk Sanders was born in Leon, New York on May 2, 1834. He began his career as a schoolteacher in New York and Ohio where, in 1856, he completed his training as an attorney. Sanders served as a first lieutenant in the sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the early years of the Civil War. In 1863, he joined the rush to the gold fields of Bannack and Virginia City in what would later become Montana Territory. He was active during the vigilante activity of 1864, and afterwards practiced law in Virginia City and Helena. In addition to his interests in mining and stock raising, Sanders also embarked on a political career in the new territory. He was defeated in four separate elections for the territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress, but later served as a delegate in the territorial legislature from 1873 to 1879. After Montana achieved statehood, Sanders was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from January 1, 1890, to March 3, 1893, but was unsuccessful in his bid for reelection. He married Harriet P. Fenn on October 27, 1858 and the couple had at least three sons, James, Wilbur, and Louis. Louis P. Sanders (1870-1940) attended Harvard University, served with the First Montana Infantry Volunteers as an officer during the Spanish-American War and also became an attorney. Wilbur Fisk Sanders died in Helena on July 7, 1905.