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Original sign at Melrose pointing the way
Glendale, Montana ca. 1896. Far-right of the image is the Canyon House Hotel. Freighters can be seen in distance.
Henry Avery and his contempories
Henry Avery and friends. Prominent men of Glendale.
Glendale, Montana
Glendale, Montana, located in the East Pioneer Mountains of southwest Montana, was once home to approximately two thousand residents. The discovery of the Trapper and Forest Queen Lodes in 1872-1873 highlighted the need for local ore processing, as shipping it by wagon to the nearest railroad in Corinne, Utah, and then to San Francisco for export proved to be both costly and time-consuming. In response to these challenges, miners Charles Dahler and Noah Armstrong recognized the potential for profit and efficiency in local processing. They established a smelter and blast furnace miles below Lion City, leading to the founding of Glendale. By 1875, a thriving community of mill workers had developed around the town, and a 40-ton lead smelter was constructed to process the increasing output from the district.
Glendale, Montana ca. 1879.
George Benjamin Conway, accountant for the Hecla Consolidated Mining Company.
Raymond Rossiter reported for the year 1873 that Noah Armstrong has machinery on the way for concentration and reduction works. He is now preparing the building for these works. A saw mill will be put up at once, but owing to the great distance from railroad communication, and slowness of ox and Mule trains, and the inconvenience and expense of so many middle men and agents, the difficulties in the way of successful mining operations this season are very great.
In just a few short years, the Utah Northern Railroad reached Montana via Dillon, and the town of Melrose rapidly developed on land once known as "Camp Creek" by Lewis and Clark. This land had been acquired by William "Billy" Bowe, who purchased neighboring homesteads from Jefferson McCauley and Mr. Stone.
In honor of his stepdaughter, Melrose Flecer, Bowe named the newly platted townsite "Melrose." A road was constructed from Melrose to Glendale, facilitating easier access for miners traveling to work in the mines. This road, which crossed the Big Hole River at Melrose, extended westward to Glendale, approximately five miles up the gulch toward the mines. It also provided a vital connection between Glendale and other mining towns, including Greenwood, Lion City, and Hecla.
This same wagon road would be used to haul ore from the mines to the railroad at Melrose. In the early years following the construction of the wagon road, a group of mine owners who had financed its creation attempted to raise funds to offset the costs. However, individuals who had promised or guaranteed payments often failed to deliver the promised money. In response, the mine owners tried to restrict access to the road, which led to conflict and arrests when others attempted to use it for their own purposes. It was eventually determined that the men who built the road may not have had the legal authority to construct it through certain lands, nor did they have the right to restrict its usage once it was completed.
Charcoal Kilns located behind the smelter charcoal sheds.
Glendale, Montana as seen from smelter area. Brick building in foreground is Masonic Lodge.
Various accounts provide differing versions of how Glendale came to be named, but the true story has only recently come to light. Two men, Noah Armstrong and Jap Earl, wrote the names 'Clifton' and 'Glendale' on opposite sides of a chip of wood and threw it over the wall of the first assay office that Noah had built. The roof had not even been placed on the cabin yet. The chip landed with the name 'Glendale' face up, thus securing its place as the town's name. The small log cabin building served as a bunkhouse for Noah, as well as the first assay office and a general merchandise store. It was sold for fifteen dollars in 1884 and eventually torn down. Glendale grew rapidly, attracting miners from all corners of the world, including individuals from diverse ethnic backgrounds, with the Chinese among them.
Hecla Consolidated Mining Company, "Henry Knippenberg" check made payable to Henry Smith Pond
On June 25, 1879, a fire erupted that destroyed the main building of the smelter. A new smelter was quickly constructed to replace the damaged one, but within a month, the reduction facility caught fire as well, leaving only the roaster and the sheds that housed them. According to legend, the fire began with an explosion, and the smelter building was soon engulfed in flames. The fire was eventually brought under control the following day. While the exact cause of the fire was initially unclear, some smelter workers coming off shift reported seeing two men in the area. The sheriff apprehended the men, and after questioning, they confessed to arson. They revealed that they had soaked a pile of wood with kerosene and set off a stick of dynamite.
The two men had been fired for missing work. Before the sheriff could take further action, a local vigilante group took matters into their own hands. They dragged the two men down the road and placed them on the bed of a wagon, positioned beneath a large tree. The men pleaded for mercy, but their pleas were ignored. The foreman, declaring that the men had put others out of work, stated that they would be hanged for their actions. He then slapped the rear of the horse, causing the wagon to shift and sealing the men's fate. Following this event, attendance at the smelter was never an issue again.There was much debate in the town about whether the hangings were justified, with most agreeing that they were. Although Noah Armstrong, who was not present at the hangings, later wrote a memo declaring that no further executions would take place on company property and that law and order would prevail, I have yet to find a newspaper article confirming this version of events. If the story is untrue, it nonetheless contributes to a compelling piece of local lore.
Armstrong and Dahler Sampling works 1874 (top)
Original smelter built in 1875. It burned in 1879. (bottom)
Various photos showing the evolution of the Smelter and Reduction works at Glendale, Montana.
The plant was rebuilt and expanded at a cost of approximately $20,000, requiring 400,000 feet of lumber for its reconstruction. By 1885, the facility had grown to include three blast furnaces, two crushers, a large roaster, a blacksmith shop, a sack house, warehouses, an iron house, a stable, two powder houses, three coal sheds, an office, an assay office, a flume ditch, a sawmill, a tramway with cars, and five private homes.
By 1879, Glendale was home to a weekly newspaper, The Atlantis. The town’s merchants and businesses included a brewery, several saloons, general merchandise stores, hotels, a livery stable, an opera house, two dentists, a hospital, and, eventually, a two-story schoolhouse. Glendale also boasted the largest skating rink in the Northwest.
Cashier, George B. Conway
An article in the Helena Independent from 1877 highlighted the rapid development of the new smelter town. It described Glendale’s reduction works, operated by the Hecla Consolidated Mining Company, as the central focus for any first-time visitor. The success of the entire camp, both directly and indirectly, relied on these works. Not only Glendale but also Trapper, to a large extent, depended on them. While some ores from Trapper were sent to Argenta for reduction, their quantity and the employment generated by their shipment were minimal compared to the steady demand for ore at the Glendale works, which employed a significant number of people in the process.
The foundation of the reduction works was laid a little over two years ago. Ever since then, improvements have been going on until the present time, when the works look as complete as anything can be, although we hear there are still additions to be made to them. The works as they stand consist of two water-jacket cupola furnaces, one reverberatory furnace already finished, and another, to be used in smelting copper, now in course of construction. The power furnished by a 28 inch leffel turbine wheel. By this wheel are worked a blake crusher, a set of cornish rollers, a rotary force blast of immense force, and the different lathes, etc that are occasionally used.
By the crusher and the rollers, the iron ore used as a flux for the copper, is pulverized. When sufficiently fine it is mixed with the copper ore which is so soft as not to require crushing, and the mixture is then ready for the furnace. From the furnace there are three spouts, one for metal and two for slag, and by some improvement in the interior construction of Glendale furnaces stream of metal is constant, while others are tapped for slag. By this improvement the slag is kept from reaching the bottom of the furnace, and, consequently from chilling. The smoke stack through which the smoke and fumes from both furnaces escape, stands off at some distance from the works. If the blast were to ascend through the furnace and escape through a stack directly over it, a quantity of valuable metallic dust would be lost every day.
Instead of ascending vertically, the smoke from the furnaces passes off through a horizontal flue leading from the dust chamber to the stack, through which it finally escapes. In the chamber, some hundreds of dollars worth of dust are saved every day that would be lost. This fine dust is placed in a reverberatory furnace together with other ores which it will combine, so as to assume a massive form, in place of being an almost impalable powder, and is then returned to the smelter.
St. Charles Hotel 1880s
The small furnace only has as yet been used. The large one has been finished and ready for work for some time, but the 50 or 60 tons of ore necessary to keep it running could not be delivered with the teams engaged in transportation. The contract of supplying the needed amount of ore has been taken, and the work of delivering it will begin this week, when the large furnace will likely be started. In working the small furnace 600 bushels of charcoal per day are used; but the large one will consume somewhere between 1200 and 2000 bushels of charcoal every twenty-four hours a day.
Glendale's Opera House ca 1898. This was the old St. Charles Hotel. This is not the Glendale Opera House of old.
The smelters and the village that has sprung up around them are on Trapper Creek, about 8 miles from the Big Hole river into which the creek empties. The village is built in the creek bed, and as the banks are quite steep, it not being very high, there has been no room for the ambitious town to spread itself but instead lies along the creek- a town of one street, about a quarter mile long and approaching pretty near the mathematician’s description of a line i.e. length and width But it’s citizens were not attracted to Glendale by the beauty of the town site, and the many improvements going on prove them to be confident that their village has a prosperous future before it. Among these improvements we noticed a fine brick store now being erected by Messrs. Thomas and Co., with a very large stone fire proof warehouse adjoining it. Several new dwelling houses are going up. One owned by our friend Frank Luton, who was probably lead to believe by a little occurrence mentioned in another column under the head of married that more roomy quarters are needed-or may be by and by.
The town boasts of several saloons. The “pony” owned by Fairfield and Peck.- The “Bit Saloon” by Dillabaugh, whose Kentucky whiskey we can vouch for as being better than some in Butte and at half the price- Luton's Saloon in Front of the Glendale House- and a large billiard hall kept by J.C. Metlin. There are one or two more, but we could not “smile” enough to go round, but will make a heroic effort to make the round trip on our next visit. John Mannheim is proprietor of the only brewery, which is quite a large affair. Chester and Mahan own the meat market and a livery stable of 22 stalls, and John Cannovan is landlord of the Glendale House, at which you can put up with confidence, for it is a well conducted hotel, and it’s landlord makes a point to treat his guests with politeness and to see that their wants are attended to.
The population of Glendale is about 125 and in this number are included but very few idlers, as almost every one about the village is busy. As the reduction works increase in size and in working capacity a greater number of employees will be kept at work, and occupation given to a large number of citizens engaged in trade, etc. in the neighborhood. Upon the whole, Glendale is a very substantial little town about whose prosperity there is nothing speculative; nothing transitory. Being essentially a mining town, and it’s citizens engaged in the same industry as those of Butte, a constant intercourse is kept up between the two towns by this identity of occupation. But this intercourse is limited and compared with what it should be, as Butte is much nearer Glendale, I interest as well as in position, than any other town in Montana.
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