User talk:Mike Cline/Articles Under Contemplation/James Stuart (Montana)

James Stuart (March 4, 1832 – September 30, 1873) was a gold prospector, pioneer, businessman, explorer and indian agent who played a prominent role in the settlement of Montana Territory.

Early Life
James Stuart was born March 4, 1832 in Harrison County, Virginia (after the civil war this area became part of West Virginia) to parents Robert and Nancy C. Stuart. He was their first son and brother to their second son, Granville Stuart. In 1838, the Stuarts after a brief stay in Illinois, moved to Muscatine County, Iowa near present day West Liberty, Iowa. It was in frontier Iowa that a young James and his brother Granville learned to hunt, explore and respect the wilderness.

California gold fields
In 1849, James's father Robert made his way to the California gold fields as a Forty-niner but had little luck. In 1851 he returned to the family in Iowa. In the Spring of 1852 James and his brother Granville accompanied their father west on the Oregon Trail back to California. By the summer of 1853 Robert was tired of gold prospecting and returned to Iowa. The brothers Granville and James stayed in the Sacremento, California area to make their own life. After failing to strike it rich in Sacremento, they moved to Yreka in June 1854 and the Klamath River valley in 1855 in search of gold. Because of troubles with hostile Rogue River and Klamath Indian tribes in northern California, Granville and James enlisted as scouts in the First California Mounted Riflemen for three dollars a day to fight indians in the Rogue River Wars in February 1856. Their military career lasted about a month without any encounter with hostile indians. They returned to Yreka to prospect but by the Spring of 1857 had decided to return overland to the family in Iowa.

The road to Montana
James and Granville, along with nine other travelers, were enroute east when Granville fell seriously ill in southern Idaho. Granville was too ill to travel so James stayed with him while the others went east. By the time Granville recovered, it was too late in the year to continue east over the Rocky Mountains. The brothers could not winter over in southern Idaho nor could they seek refuge in Salt Lake City because of the ongoing conflict between the United States and the Mormons called the Mormon War. Instead they befriended a former fur trapper Jake Meek who wintered a small cattle herd in the Beaverhead Valley. On October 10, 1857, Granville and James Stuart and Jake Meek crossed Monida Pass 200 miles north into the Beaverhead Valley and what was to become Montana Territory in 1864. They established a camp along the Beaverhead River near present day Dillon, Montana. Others were already in the valley. Many former fur traders had adopted the practice trading one good cow or oxen for two trail weary animals on the Oregon Trail during the summer. They overwintered the animals in the Beaverhead to get them healthy for the next summer. One of these traders was French-Canadian Richard Grant, father of Johnny Grant who established the Grant Ranch in Deer Lodge in 1862.

For three years, the Stuart brothers traded cattle, horses and other goods between the Big Hole valley, the Beaverheadm Deer Logde Valley and Fort Bridger in Southern Wyoming. In the Fall of 1860, along with their friend Reece Andersen, the Stuarts decided to move north into the Deer Lodge Valley. They established a camp on Gold Creek (Benetsee Creek), where in 1852 a French prospector, Francois Finley (Benetsee) had discovered gold. In the Spring of 1858, while doing a bit of prospecting along Gold Creek, the Stuarts along with Reece Anderson found enough gold to make them want to return.

Settling Deer Lodge, Montana
In 1861 the Stuarts decided to settle permanently in the Deer Lodge Valley along the Clark Fork River and Mullan Road. The road gave the Stuarts good access to supplies at Fort Benton 187 mi to the east and from Walla Walla 433 mi to the west. They built a small cabin along Gold Creek. Many other prospectors joined in the rush to the Deer Lodge Valley in search of gold in the early 1860–1862. Johnny Grant in 1859 built a cabin at Little Blackfoot Creek and later in 1862 a ranch at Cottonwood Creek. Those prospectors that congregated along Gold Creek called their community "American Fork", while at the other end of the valley, Grant called his growing community Cottonwood. With the discovery of gold in Alder Gulch in the Summer of 1863, most of the inhabitants of the valley moved south to Virginia City including the Stuarts. However, the Stuarts wanted to sustain a presence in the Deer Lodge area. In 1864, James organized a townsite company and employed Colonel Walter W. deLacy to survey and plat a proper town on Cottonwood Creek. The town was christened Deer Lodge, Montana.

Indian agent and death
James and his brother Granville were partners in most things since they were teenagers and were rarely apart until January 1871 when James left Deer Lodge to operate a trading business at the government trading post on the Milk River, Fort Browning. He left his wife and three sons in the care of Granville and Awbonnie. In June 1873, Fort Browning was closed and James was transferred to Fort Peck. He was ill at the time and succumbed to Liver disease on September 26, 1873. Granville recovered his body at Fort Peck and returned James to Deer Lodge where he was buried on November 5, 1873. Mourners at the funeral included pioneers Samuel Hauser, Nathaniel P. Langford and Wilbur Sanders.