Granville Stuart
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
May be copied for non-profit purposes.
USGENWEB Montana Archives

Granville Stuart, United States Minister to Paraguay and 
Uruguay, was born near Clarksburg, Harrison County Virgnia, 
August 27, 1834 and when he was three years of age his 
parents moved with their children to Princeton Illinois 
and one year later to Iowa where young Granville was 
employed on the farm during the summer and attended the 
pioneer schoolduring the winter season until 1852.In 
1849 his father went to California in search of gold and 
returned in 1851. In 1852 his father and brother James 
crossed the plains, arriving at Neal's ranch in the 
Sacramento Valley in October after a very adventurous 
trip, the Indians being very hostile that season, 
especially along the Humboldt River and this also was 
the year of the cholera epidemic, which carried off 
many emigrants across the plains. Every camping place 
along the Platte River showed newly-made graves and 
hundreds lie along its banks with nothing to indicate 
their resting places. Their rude head-boardswere either
 burned by the annual prairie fires that swept across 
those vast plains, or in after years the remaining head-boards 
were used by the emigrants for firewood and the graves 
unmarked soon sank back into the boundless prairie.The 
outfit of Mr. Stuart's party was a small one--two four-
horse teams and but four men--the father, two brothers 
and a companion. They traveled swiftly to get beyond 
the epidemic, passing train after train and lying in 
camp, withnot well men enough to drive the teams. 
They went by way of Salt Lake to recruit their horses, 
which were becoming thin and here they remained weeks, 
boarding with John Taylor who at that time was one of 
the twelve "apostles" of theMormon Church and who 
subsequently on the death of Brigham Young succeeded 
to the presidency of the church.Proceeding westward, 
the party went down the Humboldt River and by way of 
the Truckee River to Beckworth Valley to Spanish 
Ranch in the American Valley and to Bidwell's Bar 
on Feather River. Soon, however, they went on to 
Neal's ranch in the land of perpetual summer.After 
feeding and resting up they went into the mountains 
and became miners on Little Butte Creek and the west branch
of the Feather River. The rain season setting in with 
heavy rains, their cabins and works were swept away by the
floods. Subsequently they mined at Rabbitt Creek, Warren 
Hill and Spanish Flat in Sierra County and at Shasta and
Yreka in Sisiyou County and while they were in this 
country the Rogue River outbreak of the Indians occurred and
Mr. Stuart served in Captain White's company of scouts 
around the lakes where General Canby was afterward 
massacred by the Modocs in 1874.In June 1857 in company 
with his brother James and nine others, he started on 
horseback with pack animals to returnto the States. On 
the 4th of July they suffered greatly from a snow storm 
at Stony Point on the Humboldt and July 17at the head 
of Malad Creek, Mr. Stuart fell ill and was compelled 
to remain in camp. After waiting here a week, eight of 
the party went on, leaving Mr. Stuart and his brother 
and companion (R. Anderson) to follow. Mr. Stuart was 
very ill for five weeks and remained in camp until 
their provisions were pretty well exhausted.This was 
the year of the Mormon War and Colonel Albert Sidney 
Johnston was about this time coming up to the South
Pass with 5,000 United States troops to reduce them 
to subjection, they having seceded and begun to defy 
the Government. Brigham Young put Utah under martial 
law, imposing heavy penalties for selling provisions 
or ammunition to the "Gentiles" and Mormom rangers 
were stationed throughout the country, patrolling 
the roads and passes and arresting all "Gentiles" 
as spies, and surreptitiously condemning them to 
death. Being penned in on both sides and with but 
a few provisions, the Stuart party began to cast 
about for some loop-hole for escape. A man named J. 
Meek, who was a trader with the emigrants, advised 
them to go with him and others about 400 miles north 
to BeaverHead Valley at the head of the Missouri 
River and to winter with them there. Having no other 
alternative and being of an adventurous disposition, 
they determined to do so. Before starting the problem 
of supplies presented a serious question for them to 
solve; but finally in spite of Brigham's prohibition 
a kind hearted old Mormon secretly sold them provisions 
enough and ammunition to last them through a portion 
of the winter which he delivered to them at midnight; 
and by morning they were well out of the country. 
Finding plenty of wild game on the way, they managed
to get through safely. During the latter portion of 
the winter, however, they had to subsist almost 
exclusively onwild meat and that without salt.By this 
time they had discovered that the country was a mineral 
one, and they tried to do some prospecting, but their 
tools were limited to an old shovel, a piece of a pick 
with a willow handle and a tin pan. They found good 
prospects but the lack of facilities and embarrassment 
by the Blackfeet Indians prevented them from doing 
any mining.They decided to go to Fort Bridger, 114 
miles east of Salt Lake with the few horses they had 
left and sell them there and get another outfit and 
return to their discovered gold-mining places; but on 
arriving at the fort theyfound that the army had moved 
on into Salt Lake valley, wither they followed them. 
Here, however, they ascertainedthat they could not 
outfit sufficiently well to warrant them in returning 
at once; and they sold their horses to the soldiers 
and camp-followers, and went to Green River, Utah and 
engaged in trading with the Indians and California
emigrants until the fall of 1860.During this year 
they returned to Montana and located at Benetsi's 
Creek at the lower end of the Deer Lodge valley and 
continued their prospecting. They were still in 
adequately equipped and the Indians stole most of their
horses, but in the fall of 1861 they succeeded in 
obtaining a whipsaw and picks and shovels packed in 
Walla Walla, 425 miles distant. Their flour was 
brought from Salt Lake, 500 miles away in another 
direction. Their first mining adventures were not 
very remunerative as they operated only in the gulches; 
afterward they found better diggings on the hillsides 
and in the bars and they continued to mine here during 
the years 1862-63. In the general history of Montana 
contained in this volume, Mr. Stuart and his brother 
James have the credit of being the first discovers of 
gold in Montana.In the meantime a younger brother 
had come West to Colorado and had been written to 
come to Montana as it was a better gold-mining 
country than Colorado. The letter being shown to 
parties in Colorado, a Montana fever was started 
there, and men in considerable numbers started for 
Deer Lodge. Some of them became lost, scattered a
bout and found other diggings. Mr. Stuart relates 
many interesting events in the early history of 
these diggings, which are substantially incorporated 
in the formal history of Montana in this volume and 
is the author of some publishedaccounts as 
"Vigilantes" and "James Stuart's Expedition to the 
Yellowstone."He continued mining for several years 
at various places, some of which have turned out to 
be rich in gold. During most of this time, in 
connection with his brother, he also had stores 
at Deer Lodge and Phillipsburg. In 1871 they quit 
merchandising and confined themselves mostly to 
mining until 1879 in which year our subject engaged 
in therange cattle business and continued the same 
for ten years in eastern Montana, on the lower 
branches of the Mussellshell River and between 
Indian depredations and the white cattle kings he 
led an active and exciting life.Retiring from 
active supervision of this business in 1887 he 
again engaged in quartz-mining until 1881 and he holds
many mining interests to the present time.

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