Pioneers, homesteaders, ranchers, veterans, and children are among the silent occupants who lie beneath the sod in this small, still active, community cemetery. The area has a rich cultural heritage. Before the arrival of trappers, traders, homesteaders, and ranchers, generations of Native Americans hunted buffalo nearby. They left pictographs on cliff faces and remnants of tools and weapons scattered across the landscape. Lewis and Clark trekked through in July 1805, naming the Dearborn River for Secretary of War Henry Dearborn. The Mullan Road, completed in 1860, cut a primitive swath through that area. Dearborn Crossing sprang up soon after. The rural community quickly grew from a remote stage station along the road from Helena to Fort Benton into a bustling settlement that included a substantial hotel and a school. The Dearborn Crossing Cemetery, located circa 1868 on a high knoll overlooking the Dearborn River, served the early community. When the Montana Central Railroad bypassed Dearborn City in 1887, the settlement died out, and the Dearborn Crossing Cemetery was abandoned. However, families continued local ranching and agricultural operations. In 1909, a tragedy prompted the founding of this burial ground. William A. and Minnie Reinig put their toddler to bed and of necessity left him sleeping as they went out to attend to evening chores. The little boy awakened, crawled out of bed, and pulled a candle off the table. He suffered fatal burns. His grandparents, rancher Frank Reinig and his wife Hattie, gave the land to establish the Dearborn Cemetery in Arthur’s memory. Arthur Reinig was the first person interred here. The cemetery incorporated in 1964, and longtime board treasurer and secretary Gary Murphy built the gate. The adjacent log chapel commemorates local ranchers Mary Burggraff and her son Adolph and daughter-in-law Ann, who died in an automobile accident in 1956. The cemetery continues to serve the local community.
]]>In 1886-1887 the Montana Central Railroad wound its way through the steep Prickly Pear Canyon, an area prized for its superb trout fishing. The town of Wolf Creek, named after an Indian word meaning “Creek That The Wolf Jumped In,” grew from Cartersville, a mile to the east, to serve the railroad. James Carter built a small one-story hotel here in 1887. He soon sold the hotel to a young Englishman, Charles Forman, who replaced it with this three-story frame building circa 1892. Forman attached his new hotel to the original manager’s house, covering its log walls with clapboard siding. Its simple no-frills style was once a common sight across rural Montana. Ten rooms and home-cooked meals offered respite for outdoor enthusiasts as well as stage and railroad travelers. Forman, a butcher by trade, also operated a livery stable and meat company. The small house out back, once filled with ice cut from the Missouri River, kept his larder cool. The hotel operated from 1887 to 1984 under only five owners. It served as a stage stop along the Mullan Trail and routes from Helena to Augusta and Fort Benton. Later it sheltered workers who built Holter Dam in 1910, gas pipeline laborers in the 1930s, and highway crews who divided the town in the 1960s. Although now under the shadow of the interstate, its time-layered walls earlier witnessed high winds and waters, fires, births, and deaths. Restoration as a private home in the 1990s began a new chapter in the long life of this railroad-era landmark.
]]>Nestled against the dramatic rise of granite bluffs, this monumental Craftsman bungalow style home blends well with its setting. The masterful use of natural materials and fine design reveal the decided influence of Robert C. Reamer, whose work as architect at Yellowstone Park popularized the rustic ideal. Great Falls architect W. E. Donovan carried out the conceptualized plans and supervised construction of the residence, which showcases Reamer’s trademark: the manipulation of rugged materials. Upon its completion in 1913, the Great Falls Tribune declared it the “… best country residence in Montana, if not in the northwest.” Native stone and Idaho cedar carry through to the interior, which features rough log walls and a massive granite fireplace. The living room rises to a ceiling height of twenty-two feet, and a second-floor balcony extends around its perimeter. An innovative power plan fueled by a private water system originally supplied the residence with electricity. C. B. Power was the son of U.S. senator T. C. Power, who made a vast fortune in merchandising and freighting during Montana’s territorial period. The younger Power used the home as both summer retreat and permanent residence. Among the notables who visited here were Montana senator Thomas Walsh and prizefighter Jack Dempsey. Power sold the property to rancher and former Lewis and Clark County sheriff Brian D. O’Connell in 1947. O’Connell’s children extended their gracious hospitality in 1993, opening their former home to the public as an inviting inn.
]]>The small settlement of Stearns emerged in the 1890s as homesteaders filed claims between the towns of Wolf Creek and Augusta. Stearns became a focal point for the scattered community and, by 1900, boasted a school and a post office. The Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 brought new arrivals and in 1910 Stearns had grown enough to need a community hall. Local members of the Modern Woodmen of America, a fraternal benefits organization, took the initiative in coordinating the community for its construction. Built between 1910 and 1911 on property left in trust by rancher F. M. Stowe, the hall was constructed of lumber milled from logs from the south fork of the Dearborn River. The local builders, experienced in barn raising, designed the spacious hall to reflect their agricultural base. A St. Patrick’s Day dance christened the two-story hall in 1911. The second floor was removed in 1912 to allow for basketball games, and the facility became the center of social activity. Drought and depression ended the homestead boom and the population of Stearns dwindled after 1921. The automobile simplified travel to larger towns, and the hall was even less frequently used for community activities. In the 1940s, it served as dining room and dormitory for construction crews working on Highway 200 over Rogers Pass. While other reminders of Stearns have fallen victim to time, Stearns Hall is a lonely representative of one community that rose and fell with America’s last homestead boom.
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