When James J. Hill was building his railroad empire, he often needed towns located in specific places along the planned route, and would call upon land developers to work with him to that end. In Minnesota and North Dakota, that function had been performed by the North West Land Company, a partnership of Almond A. White and Solomon G. Comstock, but for the development of the Flathead Valley of Montana, he was in need of a Montana man with sufficient capital to start a town the railroad could use as both a stop and a division point.
In a letter to his chief engineer, E. H. Beckler, Mr. Hill said that he had found a man with “the capital and the disposition” to open up the Flathead.[1] That man was Charles Edward Conrad[2] of Ft. Benton, who provided the bulk of the money to capitalize the Kalispell Townsite Company at its formation, and although three other men were co-incorporators,[3] he remained the majority stock-holder. For all intents and purposes, Charles E. Conrad was the Kalispell Townsite Company (hereinafter KTC). The KTC under C. E. Conrad’s direction created the town of Kalispell and Mr. Conrad, known to his friends and family as Charley, was then and is now recognized as the founder of the town. Until his death in 1902, he retained an abiding interest in the growth and development of both Flathead county and the city of Kalispell and did what he could to help things along. An excellent illustration of that interest is demonstrated by the part he played in the building of the county courthouse.
When Montana was yet a territory, what is now western Montana was Missoula county. Montana became a state in 1889, and what was then Flathead county[4] was carved out of Missoula county by an Act of the state legislature in 1892, which Act designated Kalispell as the temporary county seat. The Act further directed that an election to select the permanent county seat be held as soon as possible. The new county government offices were housed in rental space located in various buildings in the equally new town of Kalispell. When the new county government began its operations, the main concerns of the County Commission[5] were roads and bridges and the Commissioners quickly had their hands full. Very soon it became apparent that the county government needed its own quarters and after a period of getting organized, the Commissioners set out on the road to a new county courthouse, a road which eventually proved to have a few potholes in it.[6]
Although the Act forming Flathead county was passed in 1892, the county did not come into official existence until 1 Mar 1893 as the new law required. The first meeting of the Board of Commissioners was held on this date as well. The men appointed by the state as the first commissioners were Samuel Pratt, Frank N. Emerson and T. A. Churchill. One of the first things they dealt with was moving the jail from Demersville to Kalispell.[7] The building was moved to Lot 5, Block 65, which location was provided by the Kalispell Townsite Company for $1.00/yr in rent for two years, and the lot was exempted from taxation for that period.[8]
Another matter which occupied the attention of the Commission was the construction of the first steel bridge over the Flathead River.[9] The bridge was ultimately built in 1894 by the Gillette Herzog Manufacturing Co. at a cost of $9,999.00.
The first hint in the official record of plans for a courthouse was on 2 Nov 1894 when the Kalispell Townsite Company filed an agreement with the County Commissioners wherein the Townsite Company promised to donate one block of land within the corporate limits of Kalispell if in the upcoming election the voters of the county selected Kalispell to be the permanent county seat.[10] The agreement was signed by C. E. Conrad as Vice-President of the Kalispell Townsite Company and gives the first hint of the behind-the-scenes role Charley was to play in the building of the courthouse.
The election of November, 1894, would determine where the permanent county seat was to be located and it was somewhat controversial for that reason, as the residents of the town of Columbia Falls stumped long and hard for the honor, only to lose out to Kalispell, a result which rankled the citizens of that town for many years to come.[11] This election also swept in a complete change in the County Commission and a new county Clerk & Recorder as well, with Michel Therriault replacing J. F. Vogt. The new commissioners were Fred Cooke, William G. Fitzpatrick and E. L. Preston.
The new commissioners wasted little time in taking Charley Conrad up on his offer of one block within the now-permanent county seat of Kalispell and at the meeting of 6 Mar 1895 they designated a committee of two, Commissioners Preston and Fitzpatrick, to secure the deed to said block. However, this committee of two reported back that the Townsite Company had several desirable properties available and the Commissioners would have to pick one of them. Consequently, the full Board, accompanied by a committee of citizens, spent that afternoon viewing the properties, which were the west half of Block 88 and all of Blocks 105 and 106, south of Second Street on Main.
There was some concern about the distance between these properties and the business district, and Charley explained that he anticipated that the town would grow up around it, but if they wished, he would be glad to rent them land nearer to the existing business section for $1.00 per year until such time as the town had indeed grown to where the properties were more centrally located by dint of said expected growth, provided that the land so rented be exempted from property taxes while in use by the county. This objection over the property’s distance from the business district was to follow the courthouse project during its entire life and even for some time after the eventual construction of the building. In view of this objection, the Board elected to chew the matter over a bit before making their decision.
Two days later, on 8 Mar 1895 in a special session, the Board decided to take Block 106, and a deed conveying the same to the County was obtained.[12] As was—and still is—common in conveying title for a gift, a nominal price of $1.00 was charged. The Board also instructed the County Clerk to put out a call for bids for the construction of a courthouse for a cost not to exceed $4,000.00 “according to the to the plans and specifications on file in the Clerk and Recorder’s office.”[13] Take note of that cost. It will change several times before the building is finally built years later. It is apparent that the Commissioners were investigating alternatives as well, for they instructed the County Clerk to also put out a call for bids for the rental of office space.
Having at their disposal bids for rental space and for construction of a courthouse during the special session of 15 April 1895, the Board rejected all bids for the construction of a courthouse and accepted the bid of Sharp & Sell for rental space in the Union Block[14] at $150/month. This is the last reference of any kind in the Commissioners’ journals to a courthouse until 12 Sept 1899.
The county offices did not move into the Union Block quarters immediately, but by the first week in June, the Commissioners had designated who got what office. The assignments were as follows: the West Room of the first floor was given over to the County Clerk and Recorder, while the east room was assigned to the County Treasurer.
On the second floor, the first room to the left of the stairway was used as a general utility room. The second room to the left was for the County Surveyor, the third was for the County Assessor. The fourth room to the left was given to the County Sheriff, while the County Attorney got the fifth room on the left, leaving the sixth for the District Judge. The large hall on the second floor was used for Court purposes, and the Clerk of the District Court used the rooms to the right of the hall.[15]
Not spacious, perhaps, but these rooms met the needs of the county government for the moment. At the end of the two-year rental agreement, the Board of Commissioners once again entertained bids for rental space.
There were two contenders this time around. John Sell offered several options in addition to keeping things as they were, and Charley Conrad offered two buildings belonging to the KTC for a significantly lower rent.[16] However, after examining the buildings that Conrad had offered, it was concluded that it would cost too much to make them suitable for County purposes, and so they accepted the offer of John Sell for the space already occupied in the Union Block with one additional room for $150.00 per month ($1800.00 per year). With the additional room, the county’s needs were once again met—for the moment.
By mid-1899, however, it had become increasingly obvious that continued renting of space for the county’s needs could not continue, as rent for all the county functions—not just the offices mentioned above—was getting out of hand.
At their meeting of 12 September 1899, the Commissioners—W. H. Griffin, David Grief and H. O. Christenson[17]—passed the following resolution, thus setting the county firmly on the path to a new courthouse:
On 14 October 1899, the Commissioners met to review the bids and specifications for the new courthouse. Firms from all over the northern tier of states had responded, from Spokane, Washington, to Peoria, Illinois. Several bids had been submitted late, but were accepted anyway.[19] Several Montana firms submitted bids and the contract for plans eventually went to a Helena firm.
The commissioners put their plans for a new courthouse on the back-burner until they could secure financing for the project, and that took some time. They took up this question on 20 November 1899 and after some discussion, decided to ask the voters if the county should make a loan and be bonded for the amount necessary for the construction of the courthouse, which by this time they estimated at $40,000.00 ($35,000 for the courthouse and $5,000 for the jail), a ten-fold increase over the amount previously estimated in 1895![20]
A special election for the purpose was called and was held on 13 January 1900. The proposal passed, 784 to 488. There were a few irregularities which the canvassing board resolved. The precinct at Howard’s Camp[21] did not hold an election, as nobody showed up and so the polls were not opened.[22]
After the election, the Commissioners once again discussed their options during special session held on 20 February 1900. They considered whether to issue a bond or warrants or whether to pursue other means to raise the funds, but ultimately decided on a bond issue,[23] and bids were duly called for.
It is of interest to note that advertisements were to be inserted for a period of 30 days in some news-paper of general circulation, published in the County of Flathead, State of Montana,; and the City of Helena, said State; and the City of New York, N. Y.[24]
As a result, bids were received from Spokane to New York and from Denver to Minneapolis, twelve firms in all offering to purchase the bonds. Initially, all bids were rejected[25] and a second round of bidding was called for, but this time, only three banks offered.[26] The winning bid was from N. W. Harris & Co., of Chicago for $40,000.00, 4% 20 year par bonds to be dated February 1st, 1900. The bonds were ordered issued on 25 April 1900.[27]
It appeared that financing had been achieved, and the Board could move forward on obtaining the land for the new courthouse.
The previously obtained Block 106 in Kalispell was now deemed unsuitable as a location for a courthouse, and a replacement property was sought. At some point, the Kalispell Townsite Company had offered to swap the East half of Block 115 and the West half of Block 116 for Block 106. As part of this swap, the City of Kalispell had agreed to vacate the right-of-way between the two half blocks. These half-blocks are along Main Street, which today splits and goes right through the half blocks and around the Courthouse, which actually sits in the vacated right-of-way for Main Street.
At their meeting of 11 May 1900, the Commissioners accepted the swap by a vote of 2 to 1—Commissioner Christensen voting no—and ordered the deed be drawn up.[28] However, this was not done immediately, as the deed was not recorded at that time and the issue was apparently put on the back burner at some point for reasons not stated in the journals, for it was not taken up again for two years.[29] They did, however, accept the plans & specifications previously submitted in October of 1899 by Bell & Kent of Helena.
That in the afternoon session, the Clerk was ordered to place ads requesting bids for the construction of the courthouse and jail indicates the intent to go ahead still existed and that the Commissioners expected to soon obtain the deed to the property. The ads for construction bids were to be placed in these publications: Flathead Herald-Journal (they had the county printing contract), The Improvement Bulletin of Minneapolis and the American Contractor of Chicago. Sealed bids were to be accepted until 2 PM, 18 Jun 1900 and of course they were to adhere to the plans/specs of Bell & Kent and a 5% deposit was required,[30] but this was, as noted above, put on hold.
The various problems and delays chronicled above were pretty much routine for a major project and amount to not much more than a little bump in the road, but now we come to one of those potholes mentioned previously. The meeting of 5 July 1900 has this intriguing entry:
In the matter of submitting the question of the legality of the election held Jany 13th 1900 for the proposition of bonding Flathead County for the erection of a County Court-house and Jail to the Supreme Court of the State of Montana, W. H. Griffin, Chairman and David Greig Commissioner voted for the submission and H. O. Christensen Commissioner voted against submitting the question to the Supreme Court.[31]
It would seem that the commissioners had unintentionally broken the law in holding a special election for the building loan. What on earth had happened?
The trouble had arisen when the bond purchaser, N. W. Harris & Co., of Chicago, had the bonds sent from the printer to Helena to be validated before they took official possession. They encountered an unexpected barrier:
Whereas, in accordance therewith, said bonds were sold to N. W. Harris & Co. of Chicago, and by them said bonds were ordered printed and forwarded to Helena to be by them taken up, but before they were so taken up by the said N. W. Harris & Co., the Attorney General of the State of Montana advised said N. W. Harris & Co. that a special election thus called, for the purpose aforesaid, was illegal, and the said N. W. Harris & Co. acting under said advice refused and still refuse to take said bonds....[32]
In response to the Attorney General’s pronouncement, the Board decided to place the issue before the voters again by placing it on the ballot for the upcoming General Election, which was certainly legal, with the idea that if the Supreme Court failed to render an opinion before then (which was almost certain), then the general election would render the Court’s opinion moot, and if they did get an opinion before then, they could cancel the ballot proposal. However, over the course of time, the cost had gone up yet again, for the new ballot proposal was for approving a bond issue of $55,000, a $15,000 increase.
The Commissioners duly placed the issue on the ballot again, and once again, the citizens of Flathead County voted in favor of it, approving it by a sizable majority, 1000 to 462. The major dissenting precinct was, as should be no surprise to anyone acquainted with county history, precinct 13, Columbia Falls (18 for, 104 against), although some of the outlying precincts also didn’t like the idea. The major support came from—as you might expect—Kalispell (precincts 1 & 2), which accounted for over half the yeas (559).
Having had their new loan request properly approved by the voters, the Commissioners eventually met on 5 Feb 1901 to call for a special session for 10 AM on the 20th to consider the new loan. One of the things that had to be resolved at that special session was the old bonds which had been issued, but were now legally invalid as per the state Attorney General, the Supreme Court not yet having rendered an opinion which in any case was now moot.
So it was that on 20 Feb 1901, the Commissioners duly passed a resolution to recall and cancel those now worthless bonds[33] on a vote of 2 to 1. Be it noted that Commissioner Christensen, true to his apparent perennial discontent, was again the dissenter.[34] They subsequently voted to call for bids to purchase the new, legal bond issue. Deadline for submission of bids was set for 2 PM, 3 April 1901, and a good-faith deposit of $2750 was required. The amount being raised was, again, $55,000. The call for bids was to be published in the Flathead Herald-Journal and the Financier which was published in New York City.[35]
The advertisements were duly placed, and while waiting for bids to arrive, the Commissioners voted 2 to 1 to return the deposit from N. W. Harris which had accompanied their bid on the problematical previous bond issue.
A special session for the purpose of reviewing bids was set for 10 AM, 3 April 1901. The five bidders were: N. W. Harris of Chicago (again), Minnesota Loan & Trust Co. of Minneapolis, Seasongood & Mayer of Cincinnati, Rudolph Kleyboldt & Co. of Cincinnati and the Conrad National Bank of Kalispell, whose bid was personally presented by Charley Conrad.
It should come as no surprise that the bid of the local institution was accepted as being “the best and most advantageous to the County,” and clearly it was.[36] The agreement was entered into and the contract was signed and recorded that very day. As Charley was out of town on business at the time, J. H. Edward, Vice-President, signed for the Conrad National Bank. This agreement was slightly modified the following month.[37]
The deposit checks of the unsuccessful bidders were returned.
Having at last settled the problem of financing the construction of the new courthouse and jail, the Commissioners again turned their attention to acquiring the land upon which to build.
To recap, originally the plan was to swap the county-owned Block 106 for the west ½ of Block 116 and the east ½ of Block 115—part of the current location. In addition, the City of Kalispell was to abandon that portion of the Main Street right-of-way situated between these two plots. Now (6 May), however, the Commissioners voted to put Block 106 up for public auction on 7 June 1902.[38] The cause of the change in plans was not recorded in the minutes until some time later.
Two special sessions for considering the land issue were called for, but had to be postponed as both times, only one Commissioner was present, the other two being in Helena as witnesses in a case there, likely pertaining to the previous (and now moot) illegal bond issue.
The third time was the charm, and during the morning session of the 15 May 1902 special meeting, bids for the construction of the courthouse and jail were again called for. Advertising was to be as before, and the deadline was set for 2 PM, 17 June 1902. These bids were to be for the construction “and entire completion of a two-story and finished basement brick and stone Court House and a two story Jail and Jailors residence....”[39] Bidders were to be allowed to bid on either the complete project or either of the two buildings alone. Bids for the detention area (cell work, window guards, jail doors, etc.) were to be taken separately, and a 5% security deposit was required. Interestingly, these checks were to be made payable to W. H. Griffin, Chairman, for the benefit of Flathead County. In addition, the Board required that the winning bidder submit a guaranty bond for one-half the amount of the contract to guarantee faithful performance, etc.[40]
The Board also indicated that they preferred that local labor be used whenever possible. The plans & specs were still the previously accepted plans from Bell & Kent of Helena.[41]
During the afternoon session, the Commissioners revisited the land issue yet again, and this time, we have a full picture of what was going on, as the agreement with the Kalispell Townsite Company (KTC) is recorded in full.[42]
The essentials are thus: [1] The County was to sell at public auction Block 106 – this was already in progress (see above). Remember, the KTC gave the county this property in 1895 and the county paid a nominal $1.00 for the title transfer; [2] the KTC was to sell to the County those portions of Blocks 115 & 116 previously described for the same amount as the County received from the sale of Block 106. This was the method chosen to accomplish the swap previously planned in 1900 (supra). Signing the agreement for the KTC was C. E. Conrad as President. In addition, as mentioned previously (p. 5), the right-of-way between the two half-blocks was abandoned by the City and given to the county. Interestingly, it is the formally abandoned right-of-way upon which the courthouse was constructed, and not the half-blocks given the county by the KTC.
The sale was duly held on 7 June 1902 at 10 PM and Block 106 was sold for the sum of $3000. The winning bidder was none other than the Kalispell Townsite Company! After the dust had settled, contracts had been signed and all the paperwork signed, sealed and delivered, the county ended up with the land upon which the courthouse and jail were built and upon which it now sits plus the land which is now occupied by the split street around the courthouse and the two adjacent small parking lots for the princely sum of … $1.00, and that was a mere formality, as the original land (Block 106) was in fact a gift.[43]
That was typical of the way in which C. E. Conrad worked.
At another special session on 17 June 1902, construction bids were received. The list of bidders is as follows:
Courthouse & Jail:
Hastie & Dougan - $40,000 + $4500 do.
B. B. Gilliland - $45,988 + $3936.
Shakelton & Whiteway - $41,103 + $5890.
Edward Wagoner - $39,865 + $6000
Heating and plumbing:
Missoula Mercantile - $5379.80
Detention area:
Pauley Jail Building & Mfg Co. - $6993.00
The bid of Hastie & Dougan for the construction of the courthouse and jail was accepted, although Commissioner Christensen declined to vote, continuing his obstructionist pattern. Apparently, he was utterly against the courthouse altogether. McIntosh Hardware got the contract for plumbing & heating and Irwin Hodson the contract for the detention area. The contracts were drawn up and up and signed the next day, 18 June 1902 and in that day’s afternoon session, all transactions concerning the sale and transfer of the land for the courthouse were completed.[45]
Bonds from the winning bidders were received, approved and filed by 1 Aug 1902.[46] One more little bump in the road appeared on 2 Aug, when the Commissioners got a report that “bad bricks” had been delivered to the job site. The Board adjourned to go take a look and upon their return, re-convened and ordered the bad bricks hauled off.[47]
On 27 November 1902, the citizens of the county were greeted with bad news: Charles E. Conrad—one of the biggest boosters of both Flathead county and the City of Kalispell—was dead at 52 years of age, the victim of congestive heart failure brought about by recently contracted malaria and his diabetes.[48] He did not live to see completed the structure he helped get started.
While the death of Charley Conrad was a blow to the community, the construction of the Courthouse proceeded with alacrity and on 4 March 1903, “Mr. Dougan of the firm of Hastie and Dougan appeared before the Board and stated that the Court House was complete and requested the Board to inspect and accept the same. The Board proceeded to inspect the court-house and adjourned to 2 PM.”[49]
Two days later, the Board sent Brice B. Gilliland to inspect the newly finished courthouse and jail, with the result that he considered it “A” number one in every respect with but a few minor problems that could be readily fixed, to wit: glass in one door in pantry broken, painting on outside wall, doors on electric cut-offs, finishing painting, etc.[50] Mr. Gilliland’s report was accepted.
On a side note, the City of Kalispell had been sharing jail space with the County in the old jail building which had been moved up from Demersville back in 1893 at county expense.[51] The Commissioners decided that as they now had their own jail, they would no longer house Kalispell city prisoners.[52]
Although the interior was not quite complete (it lacked lighting, for example) the Commissioners held their first meeting in the new Courthouse on 27 March 1903, and the first order of business was to accept the resignation of W. H. Poorman as County Attorney and to appoint G. H. Grubb to fill out his term. The second item was to award the contract for providing and installing electric light fixtures to G. R. Cairncross at $169.00.[53]
In fact, there were a few other things that needed to be done before the courthouse could be considered complete. During the month of May, a contract for laying water pipes in courthouse grounds & connecting them to the plumbing in the boiler room was awarded to McIntosh Hardware for a cost of $145.00 and G. W. Avery got the contract for sidewalks, curbing and other items to be installed on the grounds.[54] With that, the Courthouse and Jail were completed.
Well, not quite. They had a little problem with the roof that needed to be fixed, so the county Clerk was ordered to write to Brown Brothers of Spokane advising them that the slate roofs on the new courthouse & jail were defective and required repairing and to request them to please fix it at their expense. It was also ordered that needed repairs to the archways over the entrances to the new courthouse be made.[55] It is assumed the repairs were made.
During the eight years the various County Commissioners wrestled with getting a courthouse, modern technology caught up with the area: the Clerk of Court was authorized to get the first telephone in the building on 25 June 1903.[56]
And so we come at last to the end of a somewhat bumpy road, the goal achieved at last: Flathead County had its new courthouse and jail.
The court house ca. 1905. Photo edited to remove distracting features. ©2023 Richard L. Hardesty
In 2011, 108 years after it was finished, the Courthouse was re-modeled and refreshed. While it still has the classic look of the original on the outside, on the inside the floor-plan was changed to fit today’s needs, yet it retains the look and feel of the original. The grand staircase, the upper section of which was destroyed during a previous “re-model” was completely restored and along with it, the superb view north up Main Street.
Although he did not live to see it completed, Charles E. Conrad would no doubt have taken great pride in the courthouse whose building he helped by both providing the land adjoining it as a gift to the County and by securing the financing.
Although the courthouse was built with a clocktower, it did not get a clock until 2015! An anonymous gift allowed the county to purchase a clock for the tower and it was installed September 14, 2015. Finally, the courthouse was complete.
—Richard L. Hardesty, ©2022. All rights reserved.
Revised 1/18/23
NOTES
1. James J. Hill to E. H. Beckler, 29 Aug 1890. James J. Hill Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.
2. James J. Hill to E. H. Beckler, 1 Sept 1890. James J. Hill Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.
3. The other three were Almond A. White of Moorhead, MN, John B. Conner of Indianapolis, IN and William. P. Clough of St. Paul, MN. (Articles of Incorporation, Kalispell Townsite Co. 20 Jan 1891. True copy. Permanent File #80, Flathead County Records Preservation, 307 FFA Drive, Kalispell, MT.) The Articles were executed in Ramsay county, Minnesota, but were not filed in Montana until 20 Jan 1893, when they were filed in Missoula, as Flathead county did not yet officially exist until 1 March of that year. The cited copy was made after 1 March during the transfer of document copies from Missoula to Kalispell. The originals of all such documents remained with Missoula county as the originating county.
4. The original Flathead county included modern Sanders, Lincoln and Lake counties, which were all carved out of Flathead in later years.
5. The County Commission is also referred to as the Board of Commissioners.
6. The account which follows draws heavily upon Commissioners’ Journals A & B (Flathead County Records Preservation, 307 FFA Drive, Kalispell, MT), augmented with other official records.
7. Commissioners’ Journal A, p. 1-2.
8. op. cit., p. 4.
9. op. cit., p. 5, et seq. The full story is more complex than is given here.
10. Flathead County Misc. Land Records, Book 28: P. 345, 4 Nov 1894.
11. A rivalry of long-standing between the two towns is chronicled in the newspapers of the time. It was often a bitter feud.
12. Flathead County, Book 1 of Deeds, page 471-472. The deed was obtained on 19 Mar 1895.
13. Commissioners’ Journal A, p. 137, 8 March 1895.
14. Now part of the KM building. In 1892, Sharp & Sell built a two story building on the NE corner of the lot, then added a similar section to the south in 1894-95. This addition was the location of the county offices and courtroom.
15. Commissioners’ Journal A, p. 154 (4 June 1895).
16. op. cit., p. 398 (17 July 1897). Charley offered the two KTC buildings for a total rent of $1000.00 per year.
17. These gentlemen were elected to office in the election of November, 1898.
18. Commissioners’ Journal B, p. 95, 12 Sept., 1899.
19. op. cit., p. 97.
20. op. cit., p. 100.
21. I have not yet identified the exact location of this place, but it was undoubtedly in the west or Kootenai portion of the county as the June 13th, 1912 issue of the Libby Herald (quoting an 1896 issue of the Troy Times) mentions it as one of the mining registration districts in that area along with Troy, Libby, Jennings, Yahk [sic] and Snowshoe. I suspect it was the location of the mining activities of B. F. Howard et al. on Libby Creek.
22. Commissioner’s Journal B, p. 123.
23. op. cit., p. 127-128.
24. ibid.
25. op. cit., p. 157-158.
26. op. cit., p. 159, 10 April 1900.
27. op. cit., pp. 167-172.
28. op. cit., pp.173-174.
29. The reason for this delay is given below.
30. Commissioners’ Journal B, pp.173-174.
31. op. cit., p. 198.
32. op. cit., p. 218-219.
33. The bonds were being held at the Montana National Bank of Helena. (op. cit., p. 272).
34. Party politics apparently were involved, as Christensen was the lone Republican on the Board. This was a pattern that continued over the course of this Commission’s tenure. Henceforth, 2-1 votes should be understood to mean that Christensen dissented.
35. Commissioners’ Journal B, p. 272. For those who find such things interesting, the details are: the bids were for the purchase of Flathead County Coupon Bonds in the sum of $55,000.00 of a denomination of $500.00 each, redeemable in twenty years bearing interest at 4% per annum payable semi-annually on the first day of January and the first day of July each year until redemption of said bonds.
36. Charley bid par plus a premium of $515.00, 4% interest. Seasongood & Mayer bid par plus a premium of $328.66, 4% interest. The marginally lower premium of Seasongood was not enough to overcome the convenience of having the bonds purchased by a local bank. Further, Charley stipulated that the interest should be made payable at the County Treasurer’s office, a convenience an out of state institution would not have afforded. The other bidders set premiums that were considerably higher than either of these two bids and were thus obviously out of the running. (op. cit., p. 288).
37. op. cit., p. 289-290 (3 April 1901) & p. 387-388 (6 May 1901).
38. op. cit., p. 387-388.
39. op. cit, p. 390.
40. ibid.
41. ibid.
42. Comissioners' Journal B, p. 391.
43. op. cit., p. 404-405.
44. op. cit., p. 403-404.
45. op. cit., p. 404.
46. op. cit., p. 410.
47. ibid.
48. Charles E. Conrad death certificate. State of Montana, Office of Vital Statistics, Department of Public Health and Human Services.
49. Commissioners’ Journal B, p. 468.
50. op. cit., p. 473 (6 March).
51. Commissioners’ Journal A, p. 2.
52. Commissioners’ Journal B, p. 476-477, 6 Mar 1902.
53. op. cit., p. 483.
54. op. cit., p. 489, 2 May. Avery contracted as follows: 6 ft. walk at 23¢/lineal ft.; 8 ft. walk at 30¢/lineal ft.; cross walk at 25¢; curbing at 12.5¢
55. op. cit., p. 501, 5 May.
56. op. cit., p. 509.
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