1875-1877 Trevanian Hale was born in 1839 in Iowa. He married Clemas Doney in 1874. At least two children were born in Chouteau County in 1875 and 1879. In 1875, five of the Sheriff's horses were stolen by Gros Ventre Indians. Lieutenant Booth and a detachment of Company B 7th Infantry soldiers out of For Benton recovered the Sheriff's animals. After his term as Sheriff expired, he and his wife continued to live in the Shonkin Creek area until 1900, when they were last found in Meagher County. All leads were lost after that date.
1875-1877 William Rowe was born in 1841 in Cornwall, England, and when he was 4 years old, his family immigrated to the US and settled in Illinois. William arrived in Fort Benton on a steamer in June of 1867. From Chouteau County, he moved to Helena but returned to Fort Benton in 1872, where he worked in the hotel business. William Married Kate Jane Babbage from Fort Benton in 1876. He was appointed Sheriff of Chouteau County and then won his reelection. His work history is long and varied: US Marshal, livery stable owner, mail carrier daily between Helena, Fort Benton, and Fort Assiniboine, and owned a farm and ranch. In 1886, he purchased the Grand Union Hotel and managed that until it was sold in 1900. William and Kate had 16 children, of which 7 died in infancy. William died in 1925, followed by his wife Kate in 1937.
1877-1882 John J Healy was born in 1840 in County Cork, Ireland, and he and his family, after living through the Great Famine, immigrated to New York City in 1953. He joined the US Army and was posted in Utah and Rocky Mountain West, where he patrolled the Oregon Trail. John left the army but stayed out west and tried his hand at several endeavors: wagon train master, trapper and trader, mountain man, and gold miner. He was in several western locations, Oregon, California, and Idaho, and ended up in Bannack. John ran out of money and returned a steamer from Fort Benton to New York City. He married and left the city to avoid conscription into the Union Army. John returned to the west and tried prospecting again from Montana to the North Saskatchewan River. His brother brought his wife and daughter to Fort Benton. After a few other failed attempts to make his fortune, he traveled to Sun River, where he made a living as a farmer, trader, ferry operator, and later an Indian Affairs Department Agent. John switched plans and opened a trading post near Lethbridge, Alberta, where he sold supplies to the natives in exchange for Buffalo robes. The main commodity was whiskey, and the post was soon called Fort Whoop-up. He stayed at Fort Whoop-up until 1874 and returned to Montana, where he started a grain mill and divided his time between Fort Benton and the Whoop-up Area. In 1877, he took up permanent residence in Fort Benton. John was elected Sheriff and stayed at that job until 1882, when he again attempted panning for gold in the Canadian Rockies and opened another trading post to sell supplies to the miners in the Klondike Gold Rush. In the early 1900s, he undertook his most significant endeavor, gathering investors to construct a railroad between North America and Siberia. After six years, the project fell through. Healey was broke and ill and went to visit a daughter in San Francisco, where he died of liver failure in 1908.
1882-1886 James McDevitt was born in Pennsylvania in 1850. He moved west to Fort Benton in 1881, and a year later, he assumed the office of Sheriff for Chouteau County. James served four years and, in 1886, purchased land around Fort Conrad on the Marias River. He continued to purchase land between Choteau, Conrad, Dupuyer, and Shelby from 1888-1900's. James was frequently listed as a sheepherder, woolman, and cattle rancher in the Montana newspapers during that time to finally "Prosperous Cattle King of the Upper Marias". From the many news articles on James, this writer has selected just a few topics to share and, in 1896, bought from E.F. Leech 2,500 head of sheep. The price would have been $2,500 if Democrat W.J. Bryson had won the presidential election, and if McKinley had been elected, the price would have changed to $5,000. Also, in 1896, he took 40,00 pounds of wool to be sold at the market in Anaconda; while there, James had brought a large group of cowhands to herd 800 head of cattle coming from Idaho back to the Marias River Area. His partners in the cattle operation were DG Browne and CE Duer. Their company was called Bar 11, and they ranged their cattle "just south of the borderline. Those two men and James were called the "heaviest Stockmen in Northern Montana. James married Grace Josie Griffin in Great Falls in 1897. Both were widowed at the time, but no mention was ever found of his first wife's name or death. In 1898, James and his new wife took residence in Great Falls, but James frequently traveled back to his ranch lands. Also, In 1898, James sued his minor son Thomas Dewitt. James "wanted to restrain his son from squandering money ."None of the newspaper articles gave any information on his death.
