THE INCORPORATORS OF THE KALISPELL TOWNSITE COMPANY

As part of my continuing research into the Conrad family, I have of necessity also had to investigate those with whom C. E. Conrad associated, both friends and business associates. One of the most important of his business dealings was his involvement with the Kalispell Townsite Company.
Over the years, many different stories have surfaced concerning who founded the company, but the fact remains that only four men were involved in the creation of that company.[1]  All were hand picked by James J. Hill, the “Empire Builder” and president of the Great Northern Railroad. Of the four original incorporators of the Kalispell Townsite Company, only Charles Edward Conrad is well known and we can even tour his house today, but the other three have been somewhat enigmatic.
I include here short biographical sketches of the remaining three:  Almond A. White, John B. Connor and William P. Clough.
Another man, Solomon G. Comstock—a business associate of A. A. White—was later a stockholder and a member of the Board of Directors of the Townsite Company and is included here. 

Almond Alonso White (1844-1930)

Alonso A. White

A. A. White was born 18 June 1844 in Whiting, Addison County, Vermont, the son of Lyman P. and Marion Louisa (Knight) White and moved west with his family, first to Wisconsin then to Minnesota where they settled. He was a Civil Var veteran, enlisting in Co. E, 40th Wisconsin Infantry out of Appleton in 1864.
He kept his primary residence in St. Paul. He was a principal partner in Northwest Land Co. along with Solomon G. Comstock  working with James J. Hill in locating and platting towns along Hill’s railroads in Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana. His house in Motley, Morrison county, Minnesota, is on the National Register of Historic Places. White later moved to the Flathead area of Montana and was at one time owner of Wild Horse Island in Flathead Lake. He also bought land on the west shore of the lake and established the town of Big Arm. 
He died 14 Aug 1930 in Blois, France. His son-in-law, came from the American embassy[2] in Switzerland to take possession of Mr. White’s personal effects. Mr. White was buried in the cemetery in Blois (row 3, grave 1, ‘Report of the Death of an American Citizen,’ American Consular Service, Paris, France, 16 Oct 1930).

John Byrd Conner (1831-1912)

J. B. Conner was born 28 April 1831 near Vernon, Jennings county, Indiana, the
son of Willoughby Conner, and died 11 April 1912 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was the proprietor of the Central Indiana Printing Co. and the president of the Indiana Farmer Co. and was a Civil War veteran, having served as a 1st Lieutenant and later Captain with Company “A”, 12th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was the State Statistician from 1892-1901, a position he helped create while in the legislature as a representative for Marion County. He was a Police Commissioner in the mid-1890s and served on the Board of Public Safety for some years. Mr. Conner was also the author of Indiana agriculture. Agricultural resources and development of the state. The struggles of pioneer life compared with present conditions, (Indianapolis, W.B. Burford, 1893) and had been associated with the Indiana Farmer as editor and publisher for over thirty-seven years.

William Pitt Clough (1845-1916)

W. P. Clough was born March 20, 1845, at Freetown, Cortland county, New York. He was the son of William Parks and Sabrina (Vunk) Clough and a resident of St. Paul, Minnesota and later, as one of the directors of the Great Northern Railway, of New York, NY.
The following account of his life is from the Railway Age Gazette, August 1, 1913, p. 372:
“William P. Clough was born in Cortland County, New York, and began railway work on October 1, 1880, as general counsel in the West for the Northern Pacific; occupying that position until June 1, 1887, when he entered the executive department of the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba as assistant to the president [James J. Hill, – Ed.], soon after becoming a director and second vice-president of that company.
“On February 1, 1890, when the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba was taken over by the Great Northern, he became a director of the latter company,[3] and remained until the summer of 1901, when he resigned them to become a director of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, and a director and member of the executive committee of the Northern Pacific, which positions he has continued to hold, and which, for the past 12 years, have chiefly occupied his time. On July 1, 1912, he became the first vice-president of the Northern Pacific.”

Solomon Gilman Comstock (1842-1933)

Solomon G. Comstock

S. G. Comstock was born 9 May 1842 in Argyle, Penobscot co., Maine, the son of a lumberman and came to Moorhead, Minnesota, as a railroad worker on the Northern Pacific. He stayed in Moorhead. He had completed law school at the University of Michigan in 1869.
Comstock was a lawyer, businessman and legislator during his life in Moorhead. Comstock was the first County Attorney for Clay county, Minnesota, and held similar posts in Pembina and Stutsman Counties in Dakota Territory. He was elected to the Minnesota state legislature in 1875 and served until 1888 when he was elected to the United States House of Representatives for a three-year term.
In 1883, he and Almond A. White formed the Northwest Land Company of which he was President from 1883 to 1914. The company worked closely with James J. Hill in locating and creating towns along Hill’s railroads in Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana. As part of this association, Comstock served on the Board of Directors of the Kalispell Townsite Company for a number of years.
He was also involved in the Minnesota and Dakota Northern Railroad Company, the First National Bank of Moorhead, the Moorhead Foundry, car and agricultural works, the Bishop Whipple School and the Moorhead Normal School. He donated six acres of property within the city of Moorhead for the Normal School which later became Moorhead State College and is now the University of Minnesota at Moorhead.
His daughter, Ada Louise, was a noted educator. She was the first dean of women at the University of Minnesota and third president of Radcliffe College. 
His home in Moorhead is on the National Register of Historic Places.

NOTES

1.  Articles of Incorporation, Kalispell Townsite Co. 20 Jan 1891. True copy. Permanent File #80, Flathead County Records Preservation, 307 FFA Drive, Kalispell, MT. See Footnote 4 on page 1 of this journal for more details.

2.  Mr. White’s daughter, Cecilia, married Gaetano Vecchiotti (1886-1973), a son of Giuseppe Guerriero Vecchiotti, Count Gualtieri, of Servigliano, Italy. The son was the Italian Consul in Basel, Switzerland at the time of White’s death and had previously served the Italian foreign service in New York and other places. The “Report” cited in the text indicates that Mr. Vecchiotti came from the American consulate in Basel, which is puzzling, as he was in the Italian foreign service, not the American.

3.  This article is somewhat in error here. The Great Northern was organized 1 February 1890 at which time Mr. Clough was elected to the position of Vice-President of the GN. The GN then acquired the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba (also J. J. Hill’s company). After serving as VP for the GN for some years, he sat on the board of directors as stated.