Burt G. Shorey
Yellowstone County
History of Montana, Sanders, 1913

One of the best known men of this section of Montana is 
Mr. Burt G. Shorey of Billings who has for a long period 
of years been identified in a large way with the 
development with various portions of Montana.  The 
Shorey family is one of those rugged pioneers of New 
England who settled in Waldo County Maine in an early 
day and it was left for the representatives of the 
present to push out into the great northwest where 
life is freer and less camped than in the older parts 
of the country.  Mr. Shorey was born in Belfast, Maine, 
September 7, 182, a member of a family of seven children, 
six of whom are still living.  Three brothers, John, 
Waldo and Raime, are now residents of Montana, the 
first living at White Sulphur and the latter two at 
Forsyth.  One brother, William lives on the old 
homestead at Waldo, while the only sister Jennie, 
who is the wife of John McGrey is a resident of 
Knox, Maine.  The parents of this family, Wellington 
and Louise (Durham) Shorey were both natives of Waldo 
County, Mr. Shorey having been born there in 1828 and 
the wife in 1839.  He was a young man of twenty two 
when he went out into the Maine's wilderness and made 
a clearing for his home and also cleared and improved 
the land now contained in the family homestead, and 
he was engaged as a general farmer throughout his 
life.  He was a man of prominence in the community 
and filled various minor offices among them being 
that of member of the school board and of the board 
of selectmen for his township.  His death occurred 
in 1900, while his wife survived him seven years 
and died in 1907.

When it came to establishing a home of his own, Mr. 
Burt G. Shorey also chose for his wife a daughter of 
Waldo County and a member of an old Maine family, and 
his marriage to Helen A. Simmons occurred August 11, 
1889.  Her parents were J. Allen and Addie (Ray) 
Simmons, and of their family of eleven children, 
eight are now living as are Mr. and Mrs. Simmons.  
Mr. Simmons cultivated a farm all his life and he is 
active in public affairs.  Mr. and Mrs. Shorey have 
one daughter, Adelaide.

Like his father before him, Mr. Shorey early started 
out to carve his own fortune in the new and untried 
part of the world and on March 15, 1880 when in his 
eighteenth year he left home to go west.  He journeyed 
as far as Ogden Utah by railway then finished the trip 
to White Sulphur Springs, Meagher County, Montana, 
traveling overland and consuming seventeen days in 
the journey from Maine.  He immediately secured 
employment on the ranch of Cook and Hussey but 
remained there only three months, then went to 
Judith Basin and took up a claim of one hundred 
and sixty acres of government land.  For a year 
and a half he engaged in sheep raising, then sold 
out and became superintendent of the big sheep 
ranch of Miss Carson at Hoplay Hole.  He remained 
there for two years, then worked for Charles 
Severance for a short time and in the spring of 
1886 again took up independent operations as a 
sheep rancher, this time locating at Lake Basin, 
Yellowstone County.  Mr. Shorey met with success 
in his various ventures and devoted his earnings 
in land and sheep.  when he finally retired his 
ranch contained two thousand acres and in 1908 
he sold the property to L. Thomas.

Mr. Shorey in the meantime erected a residence in 
Billings and made his home in this city from the 
year 1901.  It was in 1907 that he was first 
elected to the presidency of the Billings State 
Bank and he has held that position ever since.  
Among his land holdings are a stock ranch of 
eight hundred and twenty acres in Carbon county; 
another in Dawson County containing eleven hundred 
acres and a half interest in an eighteen hundred 
acre ranch near Custer Station, Yellowstone County.  
He also has a third interest in the International 
Coal Company at Bear Creek, is a stockholder in the 
Babcock Office and Theatre Building here and also 
owns the Security Warehouse in Billings.