Before it was Wallace, Montana, it was called Baker's Station
The oft-repeated history of Clinton, Montana claims it was established in 1883 as a stage stop and post office on the Mullan Road and was initially known as Betters’ Station, named after my great-great-grandfather, Austin Betters.
The reality is that Col. J.C. Baker had established a stage station on the Mullan Road in the vicinity of present-day Clinton at least 13 years earlier. Not only that, but the stage stop that became known as Baker's Station was much closer to the Wallace Mining District and the eventual locations of the railway stations for the NPRR and Milwaukee Road than the Betters homestead was.
Baker's Station, the Stage Station
The earliest mention I have found of Baker's Station in any printed documentation was in the January 20, 1872 edition of The Pioneer, which referred to Col. Baker as "the proprietor of Baker's station on the Deer Lodge road," but it's likely he established his stage station a few years before that. In the 1870 Census, his occupation was listed as "Keeps Stage Station."
Baker was certainly one of the earliest settlers of this stretch of the Hellgate Canyon. When this area was surveyed in 1870, his was one of just a few buildings marked on the survey map (see below).
In the cropped and magnified second map, you can see that it says "Baker" next to the little black square, which signifies a building. If you go back to the wider map, you will notice that there are very few other buildings on the map: There is a collection of buildings where Rattlesnake Creek empties into the Hell Gate River and another building where the Big Black Foot River joins the Hell Gate River. It looks like there are a couple to the east as well: The label for the black square near Beavertail Hill is illegible, but likely shows the location of Newman's (later Cramer's) Station. The label for another black square near the edge of the map likely says "McCarty," showing where Charley and Jane McCarty had their stage station and toll bridge.
The Mullan Road was completed in 1862. The earliest mail contract I have found for a route that would have passed through the Hellgate Canyon on the Mullan Road was for Route 16021 from Helena, Montana to Walla Walla, Washington. The contract was awarded to Wells, Fargo & Co. in 1869, so there would have been a need for stage stations beginning that year. Gilmer & Salisbury took over the route from Wells Fargo shortly thereafter.
I have learned a lot about stagecoaches and stage lines since starting this blog, but one thing I don't know is how much of a role the stage lines played in setting up new stage stations. Were they built and run by the stage lines, or were stage station operators independent businessmen who located their businesses in prime locations so they could attract the business of the stage lines?
If the station keepers were independent businessmen and similar facilities were required to support the numerous wagon trains that traversed the Mullan Road in the 1860s, it's possible that Baker began operating his business even before 1869, but I have not yet found any evidence of that.
Baker apparently exited the stage station business before my ancestors even arrived in Montana. The New North-West reported in its October 31, 1879 edition that "Col. Baker, so long the keeper of the well-known Baker's Station on the canon road, has bought of Nat. Daggett, the ranch known as the Miller ranch up Miller canon. Mr. D. S. Black is the Colonel's successor at the Station."
Compared to the decade or so that Baker ran his namesake stage station, Baker's successors did not last long. D.S. Black owned Baker's Station for less than a year. By June 24, 1880, it was reported that Frank Morrell was the station keeper. He sold it to James Osborne in December 1880, who sold it to William H. Smith and H.A. Amiraux in November of the following year.
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| 1883 newspaper ad for Baker's Station |
In August 1883, just as construction of the NPRR was nearing completion, Smith and Amiraux dissolved their business relationship, with Smith continuing the business at Baker's Station and Amiraux moving to the section house at Catching's Mill where, according to the August 17, 1883 edition of The Missoulian, he continued to "dish up sustenance to the hungry and lodging for the weary."
To help orient you on where Baker's Station was located in relation to Wallace Station on the NPRR (and present-day Clinton), here is an 1885 plat map:
Baker's Station as a Place Name
There is ample evidence that Baker's Station was not just the name of a stage station, but also the name ascribed to the area where the stage station was located.
The strongest evidence for this is the establishment of the "Baker's Station" election precinct by the Missoula County Commission on September 3, 1878. The polling place for Baker's Station was listed as "House of J.C. Baker" and the election judges were J.C. Baker, F.M. Keim, and J.D. Richards, the same men who established the Wallace Mining District about the same time. The election precinct kept the name "Baker's Station" through four elections. On September 11, 1886, the name of the election precinct was changed to "Wallace," but the polling place was still the old Baker's Station, which was then owned by William H. Smith.
Exhibit #2 is the U.S. Census. In the 1880 census, at the top of the sheet that included Frank Morrell, then-owner of Baker's Station, "Big Black Foot Bridge / Hell Gate Canon / Bakers Station / Three Mile Grade / Marshall Grade" is used to describe the area (see image).
Continuing with the U.S. Census, the August 5, 1880 edition of the Helena Weekly Herald shared "the population of various towns, camps, military post, and settlements of Montana...from the latest returns received from enumerators." Among the communities listed was "Blackfoot Bridge and Baker's Station" with a population of 31.
The 1881 printing of Rand, McNally & Co.'s Indexed County Map of Montana proclaimed on its cover that it gave "FULL POSTAL DIRECTIONS For Sending Mail Matter to Every Place not a Post Office, In the Territory, known in the Post Office Department as 'Locals.'" While Baker's Station did not make it onto the actual map, it was included in the "TOWNS, COUNTIES, ETC." section of the index. It placed Baker's Station in Missoula County and indicated that people who wanted to send mail to locals in the place called Baker's Station were to send their mail to Missoula.
Other examples of Baker's Station being used as a place name:
- F.M. Keim is mentioned several times in area newspapers in the late 1870s as being "of Baker's Station." I don't think Keim boarded with Baker, so Baker's Station must have been used to describe the geographic area where he lived.
- When describing the location of the Wallace Mining District in the November 22, 1878 edition, The New North-West reported, "The mines of this district are located on the trail leading from Baker's Station to Camas Prairie, the high-water trail of the Indians going east on the buffalo hunt."
- When discussing a proposed road construction project, the Helena Weekly Herald printed in the April 8, 1880 edition, "J.D. Richards, the forefather of Wallace mining district, says that a road can be built from Baker's station to Wallace district for about $1,200, and think the miners of Wallace should do the largest part of it themselves. This done, it will not be a difficult task to complete a road into Bear."
- The Helena Weekly Herald reported in the August 02, 1883 edition, "The Northern Pacific track has advanced to Baker's Station, eighteen miles east of Missoula.
Col. J.C. Baker, the Man Behind Baker's Station
So who was Col. J.C. Baker?
In the 1870 census, the enumerator recorded that Baker was a 43-year-old married white male who was born in New York. He reported the worth of his real estate at $1,000 and his personal property at $500. Despite describing himself as married (not widowed or divorced), I have found no other family members with the same last name residing with him in Montana in any census. In the 1870 census, his household included five other men with ages ranging from 30 to 53. Three look to be employees and two look like they could have been guests or boarders.
I have found newspaper reports of a J.C. Baker coming and going from Virginia City in the 1860s and one instance of a J.C. Baker in Bears Mouth, but I haven't been able to confirm these are the same person. I have found other J.C. Bakers living in Montana at the same time, including one in the Butte area.
When mentioned in the newspapers, the proprietor of Baker's Station was usually referred to as "J.C. Baker" or "Col. Baker," and occasionally, "Col. J.C. Baker." With Baker's origins in New York and the Civil War ending in 1865, I assumed his title meant he served with the Union forces in the Civil War, but I have yet to find any relevant Civil War records. Other possibilities I considered were that he served in the "Indian Wars" or he was one of the Army's Topographical Engineers on Mullan's road crew. I have since discovered that Colonel was (and still is) an honorary civilian title that predates its adoption as a military rank. To me, that seems like the most likely explanation.
Running a stage station probably kept Baker busy, but I have found some evidence that he found time for other pursuits. Whether for sport or out of necessity, it appears that Baker was a skilled hunter and fisherman. This blurb appeared in the January 20, 1872 edition of The Pioneer:
...and this snippet was published in the January 5, 1876 edition of The Weekly Missoulian:
Baker served as an election judge when the Baker's Station precinct was established in 1878 and he had some involvement with mines in the Wallace Mining District.
As I noted earlier, it was reported in The New North-West that after selling Baker's Station, Baker had bought from Nathanial Daggett the ranch known as the Miller Ranch up Miller Canyon. I have not found land records that corroborate this, but I did come across The Miller Creek Comprehensive Plan, written in the 1990s, which includes this important bit of historical information about the area:
John Maloney, a blacksmith, bought the Miller Ranch in 1878. The Miller ranch was also owned from the 1870’s to mid-1880’s by Nathaniel Daggett and Colonel Jimmerson Baker, who together formed the Baker Ditch, which is currently used for the Maloney Ranch. By 1890 Col. Baker sold his part of the Miller ranch.
Sadly, the document did not list its sources, but it is the first and only time I have seen a full name given for Col. Baker. Whether it is correct remains to be seen, but it should prove slightly more fruitful in further research than the initials "J.C."
Their dates might be slightly off, as Missoula County records show J.C. Baker deeding 160 acres of the Miller Ranch to Albert Ahren in October 1891 and another 160 acres to Ahren in January 1892.
The story of J.C. Baker took an interesting, sad, and surprising turn when I found this notice in the November 12, 1892 edition of The Missoulian:
Baker would have been about 65 at the time. The Montana Historical Society has patient records for the Warm Springs State Hospital from that period, but they are protected by confidentiality laws, so access is restricted. I would think that I should be able to access records that are over 100 years old, despite the confidentiality laws, but we will need to wait until next year to find out, as access to the Montana Historical Society's collections is closed through "early 2025" while their building in Helena is being renovated.
I did find the following death notice in the March 27, 1897 edition of The Missoulian:
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