Walter Cooper

History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894

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The last thirty five years have witnessed a marvelous 
transformation in the great 
Northwest, for during this short period the almost limitless 
region, for years known 
as the American desert has been wrested from hostile tribes 
and its vast area converted 
into rich, prosperous and productive States. The men who have 
accomplished these 
wonderful results, now presented to the view of those who roll 
across the boundless 
West in a luxuriant palace train, were, it is needless to say, 
men of iron, of 
restless activity, of more than ordinary endurance and 
persistency of purpose; for 
their achievements outrank the efforts perhaps of any previous 
generation since the 
first settlement of North America, when religion was the 
mainspring of their actions.

As a faithful private in the ranks of the early pioneers, 
Walter Cooper now deserves 
to rank as an officer in the army of those hardy veterans who 
with gallant hardihood 
hewed the way for "millions yet to be".  He was but sixteen 
years of age when in 1859 
he reached the Rocky Mountain region.  He was without the 
benefits of an education 
when he was firth thrown amid the wild scenes and rugged men 
of Colorado, where he 
grew to manhood unfettered by classroom, but schooled for 
life's battle by the uncouth 
usage of the wildest and roughest of frontiers, where one's 
native ability is brought 
to a keen edge and mere book learning does not add an iota to 
the scale of merit, as 
weighed by the discriminating hands of the pioneers.  Worth it 
is that makes the man, 
where people are forced to estimate him in times of peril, and 
every hour is fraught 
with danger and imerpiled life.  Such was Mr. Cooper's school.  
Little time has he had 
to seek the polish of higher education, but it would be 
erroneous to assume that he is 
lacking in this particular for, with an unusually well-equipped 
mental reservoir, and 
expanded by his early training, Mr. Cooper's relentlessly 
active mind has gathered to 
it the attributes of the thinker and student, well able to 
present his views in the 
public prints and upon the rostrum.

Mr. Cooper was born in the town of Sterling, Cayuga County, 
New York, July 4, 1843 and 
was the third son of Andrew H. and Sarah E. Cooper.  His 
paternal grandfather was of 
Irish descent and his grandfather on his mother's side was of 
Scotch descent.  Both 
mother and father were from the town of Argyle, Washington 
County New York.  Argyle 
was founded by Donald McGillvra, great-grandfather of Mr. 
Cooper, and was by him named 
for his birth place Argyle County, Isle of Mull, Scotland, 
where he was born in 1723 
and whence he came to America--first to Canada as a private 
soldier in the British 
Army.  In 1752 he served with General Wolfe during the latter's 
campaign against the 
French, and fought under Wolfe on the plains of Abraham, 
September 13, 1759.  This 
sturdy Scotch soldier gained an enviable reputation for 
courage and stability and was 
honorably discharged, in the year 1759 seven years service.  
The original discharge is 
now in the possession of the Cooper family.  After his 
discharge, Donald McGilvra went 
directly to New York City where he remained three years, 
and then located in the town 
of Hebron, in Washington County, New York.  There he remained 
a number of years.  
Having cast his lot with the American party, he was set upon 
by Indians and Tories to 
such a degree that he was forced to abandon his home, and he 
finally joined the American 
army and entered the Revolutionary struggle.  In 17898 he 
settled again in Washington 
County and founded the town of Argyle, where he died in 1812, 
aged eighty-nine years.  
George Cooper, grandfather of Mr. Cooper on the father's side, 
and Daniel McGilvra, 
son of Donald McGilvra, grandfather on the mother's side 
emigrated from Washington 
County New York to the town of Sterling, Cayuga Co. New York, 
arriving April 27, 1827, 
and being among the early settlers in that section.  George 
Cooper was of Irish 
parentage and served in the War of 1812, being stationed at 
Fort Oswego where he was 
taken prisoner by the British squadron under Sir James Yeo who 
bombarded and 
captured the fortress in 1814. 

Andrew H. Cooper, father of Walter Cooper, was born at Argyle, 
Washington Co. New York 
in 1813 and married Sarah E. McGilvra, daughter of Daniel 
McGilvra at the town of 
Sterling, Cayuga County, New York, October 30, 1832.

Sarah E. McGilvra was born in Washington Co. New York, 
November 29, 1814.  Mr. Cooper 
lived in the near vicinity of Sterling until 1845 when he 
emigrated with his family, 
consisting of wife and four sons to Shiawassee County Michigan 
where he died June 24, 
1851 leaving a wife and six sons.  The oldest son was but 
sixteen years of age and 
upon him drew the care of this family.  Shortly after the 
death of his father, at the 
age of eight years, Walter was sent to Lansing Michigan to 
live with a maternal aunt 
who promised to educate and care for him as her own.  For 
three years the boy lived 
with this aunt, not having seen the inside of a schoolhouse.  
Becoming dissatisfied, 
he ran away from his aunt and at the early age of twelve, he 
worked as a farm hand in 
summer and in the lumber camps in northern Michigan in winter--
depending entirely on 
his own resources.  Mrs. Cooper had in the meantime returned to 
New York, taking her 
second and three younger sons.

The fall of 1858 Walter started West, reaching Leavenworth 
Kansas in the month of 
November, where he passed the winter, driving team for the 
government and doing such 
work as he could find to do until February 1859 when he engaged 
to drive a team across 
the plains to Pike's Peak where he worked as a herder on a 
ranch.  In the spring of 
1860 he joined a prospecting expedition to the San Juan 
Mountains.  The party left 
Denver Colorado early in May and visited old Mexico.  Returning 
to Colorado in the 
winter of 1861, our subject spent the summer and fall of 1862 
near Colorado Springs, 
acting at times as scout for the First Colorado Regiment.  In 
November 1862 he started 
for Montana (then Idaho) arriving at Virginia City in February 
1864 and engaging at 
once in mining in Alder Gulch.  In May be became interested with 
Charles Cooper in a 
freight train with which he started for Fort Benton to meet the 
steamboats, expecting 
to return to Virginia City with freight.

During 1864 the water was so low in the Missouri River that 
little freight reached Fort 
Benton and he was forced to return with his teams empty.  
Arriving at Virginia City in 
August, he disposed of his train, fitted out a team with supplies 
for winter and located 
and passed the winter of 1864-5 in the Missouri River valley 
near Round Grove, spending 
the winter in hunting.  In the spring of 1865 he engaged in 
mining at Nelson Gulch and 
other points, which occupation he followed with varying success 
until the fall of 1869 
when he settled in Bozeman, Gallatin County Montana.

On the 19th of April 1870, Mr. Cooper married Mariam D. Skeels, 
only daughter of Nelson 
Skeels, of Boulder Valley, Jefferson County, Montana.  Mr. and 
Mrs. Cooper have one son 
and two daughters born to them, the son and one daughter having 
died in infancy; they 
have one daughter, Mariam, living aged four years.

In 1870 Mr. Cooper founded in Bozeman a mercantile house which 
became famous as the most 
complete establishment of its kind in the Northwest.  He also 
engaged in the fur 
business in 1872 giving this branch of business such energy 
that as a result of his 
efforts, Bozeman in three years became second in importance 
as a shipping point for 
fur robes and skins.  Mr. Cooper invented and patented many 
improvements in firearms 
and at one time manufactured the most famous long-range hunting 
rifle ever used in the 
West.  He was selected as one of the incorporators of the city 
of Bozeman in 1883, on 
the adoption of the city charter and was a member of the first 
City Council; was 
nominated for Mayor of the city in 1888 but declined for 
business reasons.