Colorful past: Book documents Centennial Valley

By Maryanne Davis Silve for The Three Rivers Edition - 11/28/2006

P eople who write historical books are like people who plant trees. They are thinking more about posterity than they are of themselves.

“It was a journey,” Gayle and Terry Hanson of Sheridan said as they described the project they and 20 other people tackled in October, 2004. Gayle is the secretary of the nonprofit group, the Centennial Valley History Society.

Their thousands of hours of accumulated work are about to roll off the printing press in the book titled “Centennial Valley — a Journey through Time- 1920-1930.” The group meets monthly and the third Saturday in August for a barbecue in the Centennial Valley. Anyone who is interested may come to the barbecues.

Though many people have driven through the lush, beautiful Centennial Valley south of Dillon, most don’t know the history of the community and the people who once called this rugged piece of Montana home. The book pulls together a priceless block of western history that would have been lost forever.

“Most of us who worked on the book actually did have grandparents or someone who was living in the Centennial Valley in the 1800s and 1900s,” said Mary Holt, president of the society. “We have a love for the Centennial because we have a link to the Centennial.” The book is being dedicated to Lillian Hanson Culver because without her diaries and the newspaper pieces she wrote the group said they never would have had the volume of information about the Centennial Valley. Culver is Terry Hanson’s and Sherrie Harrison’s great grandmother.

Hanson’s wife, Gayle said she will never forget the first time she went to the Centennial.

“Terry’s mother made elk stew for supper with biscuits on top and it was so delicious,” she said.

The book actually evolved over the last 20 years as local people were drawn together with a mutual love for the valley and deep respect for their hardy ancestors.

Vice President Chris Montgomery and her husband, Mel, of Lima have run a hunting outfitting business in the Centennial for 20 years. She remembers the small embers of curiosity that sparked her passion for this project.

“About 14 years ago we had two clients from Missouri,” she said. “One of them was a professor who was writing an article on the Missouri and he wanted to go to the headwaters of the system, which is in our permit area. My husband, Mel, took them but he couldn’t answer so many of their questions about the history. That’s how we got started going to the museum to learn about the local history.

“It was there I met the Hansons and then others who cared about the Centennial history.” The book pulls together some fascinating little known history.

“One of the most important pieces of history was the Yellowstone Stage Line that went through the Centennial,” Montgomery said.

“People would get off the train at Monida and head through the Centennial on the stage to Yellowstone Park. They trotted the horses all the way and had a stage stop every 15 miles where they would trade horses. Then they would stay at the Dwelle’s Ranch for the night, the last place before the Park.

“The next day they would go on to Yellowstone Park. There is also a rumor that President Roosevelt rode on that Centennial Stage. However, I could not find that documented anywhere, but I’m still looking.” Diane Gray Rule’s great-grandfather Charlie Gray was a driver on the Centennial Stage. He was friends with Charlie Russell. The Gray family donated letters with drawings to the Russell Museum that Gray had received from Russell.

“My grandfather’s ranch was sold to the government and is part of the Red Rock Wildlife Refuge,” Rule said. “I wasn’t attached to the Centennial at all until I joined this group because I was raised in Sheridan.” Many of the stories are taken from memories families passed down. Others were gleaned from the newspaper articles. One story tells about the trial of a man named Albert Yeik.

Apparently he was running around Monida shooting things up. He was the last person who was ever hung in Dillon. Other little known tidbits of history are spread throughout the book. For instance, the first train in Montana came into Monida in 1880.

As each member of the group got to pick what they were inter See, HISTORY, Page 3 History...

(Continued from Page 1) ested in, Lily Riley shares about her part.

“I got all the fun stuff- the murders, the mysteries, the mayhem, the midwives and the moonshiners. I spent a lot of time doing a lot of research,” she laughed.

“It ended up being so much fun that we decided to call Lily’s segments ‘Would you believe?’” Holt added.

The book is not just the pulling together of information from 20 people, but many hours of research and gathering stories people told from as far as the east to the west coast who had friends or relatives touched by the Centennial.

“Family trunks were also a great resource for information,” Holt said.

“We did a lot of research in the museums,” Montgomery said. “Especially here in Beaverhead County. We also went to the Historical Society in Helena, the Renne Library-Special Collection at MSU Bozeman, Special Collections. We followed up wherever we could get a lead.” How the valley got its name is another fascinating story.

According to the group, the Centennial Valley got its name from a lady named Rachael Orr. She was from the ranch up on the Blacktail, the P&O, (Poindexter and Orr), now called the Matador. In 1876, as they summered their cattle in the valley, Rachel rode with them, seeing the area for the first time. She named it the Centennial because it was the centennial year, 1876. Ever since then it has always been called the Centennial Valley.

Though the book was a labor of love, every project takes money and each dedicated person has contributed much. However, Holt would like others to know of special help they have received in this area.

“The book was paid for by the dues and presale of the book,” she said. “Recently, we received a wonderful gift from the Beaverhead County History Book Volume One Group. They gave us $2,500 and made us a loan of $2,500 to publish the book.” Another book featuring family histories is planned, with a section called, ‘Looking Back.’ The society is asking people to contact them if they have pictures and stories for the book on families. It would be best if people could write up their own family history.

The Centennial was once a thriving community with schools, a store, a hotel, saloons and at least a hundred families living in the area. There was even a justice of the peace.

Filled with many local names that people will recognize, this book would be a treasure for a Christmas present. The cost will be $50 before Jan. 1 and $55 thereafter. One wanting to buy a book or those interested in contributing information to the second volume about the Centennial can call Mary Holt at 683-4540; Chris Montgomery at 276-3463; Gayle and Terry Hanson at 684-5480 or Judy Staudenmeyer at 683-6440.

The book is tentatively scheduled for a book signing at the library the night of the Twin Bridges Christmas Stroll on Dec. 8.

There will also be a book signing at the Book Store in Dillon on Dec. 15 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and in the Lima city building on Dec. 17, starting at 2 p.m.