“Radersburg(h) (Broadwater) is southwest of Townsend and named for Reuben Rader, a large landowner who donated the property for the townsite. Radersburg is an old mining town which sprang up in 1866 when John Keating opened his Keating Mine; the town boomed the following year when the East Pacific claim was discovered north of town.  The post office was established in 1868 with Robert Mimms as postmaster; at the time it was in Jefferson County and for awhile the county seat, complete with courthouse and jail. The two-story Freemont Hotel, made of squared logs and square nails, was described as a “a first-class hotel” in 1871.  A now-decaying frame church was dedicated by Brother Van in 1917. Radersburg was the birth place of movie star Myrna Loy, whose real name was Myrna Williams.  The post office was changed to a rural independent station in 1966.” Roberta Carkeek Cheney, Names on the Face of Montana, The Story of Montana's Place Names, Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula, 1983.

“This particular bit of Montana history concerns one small southwestern town named for its founder, Rader, and located thirteen miles west of Townsend, county seat of Broadwater County.  Radersburg is situated on Crow Creek, former hunting grounds of the Crow Indians.  Teepee rings, buffalo jumps and Indian artifacts can still be found in the vicinity.

“As with so many others of Montana, Radersburg is a ‘Ghost Town.’  A population of perhaps 1000 or more in the early ’60s, 600 in 1868, had dwindled to 250 in 1879, 200 in 1880, and in this year, 1964, there are about 75 people living in Radersburg.  Instead of a farsighted citizenry retaining it, to be as famous as Virginia City, many of its buildings have been torn down, many others left to fall down.

“The valley of Crow Creek at this point possesses all the qualities to render once a rich agricultural and stock country.  The mining booms were responsible for the shifting of the county seat from its original location at Jefferson City to Radersburg in 1869, precipitating a controversy which lasted until 1884.  Here a courthouse, at a cost of $18,000 and a jail at a cost of $6,000 were erected.  The two were built on top of a small hill just west of Main Street, about the center of the town.

“Radersburg is classed among the early settlements of Montana.  In 1866 Radersburg, Jefferson City, Boulder City, Wickes and Clancy were the principal towns of Jefferson county, which was organized in 1865.  Radersburg developed out of a number of needs.  The agricultural resources of Crow Creek valley, and its location midway between Helena and Bozeman made it a logical place for a stage stop. 

“After Broadwater county was created and Radersburg became a part of it, the courthouse was used as a schoolhouse until the brick school was built at the western edge of town and ready for occupancy in 1912.  After this, the old building was used as a community center where programs and dances were held until 1926 when it was sold to Thomas Williams, who razed it and built a barn of the material.  The foundation of the building is still there and, locally, the site is still referred to as ‘Schoolhouse Hill.’

“The small town is known only as ‘home’ to its few remaining citizens.  It has no large shopping centers, no theaters, no cafes to offer It does have clean, cold air, a marvelous mountain view on every side, fishing, hunting, and, one man put it, ‘those wide, open spaces sure are the place to slow down and enjoy each day.’

“As with so many other boom towns, Radersburg history was rip-roaring, rough,
and brief.  The century-old story of Radersburg is a story of its people, their lives and parts in the past as well as the present.  It is a story of the gold that brought people here, and, who knows?, someday will bring them back.

“The first account of gold in Montana was made when Major John Owen, proprietor of Fort Owen in the Bitterroot Valley made this note in his diary of 1852:  ‘Gold hunting.  Found some.’ In 1856 a lone mountaineer named Silverthorne brought gold dust to the American Fur Post at Fort Benton and traded it for $1,000 worth of supplies.   The discovery of gold in the Salmon River district in 1861 started the gold rush through the territory.  Gold was discovered in Bannack in July of 1862, Alder Gulch in 1863, and from there to Last Chance Gulch in 1864.”

“Permit me to follow the foot prints of time back, say 76 years, to give you a few details of the little city and a very lively mining town with a population of perhaps 1000 souls with various methods of gaining a livelihood characteristic to mining towns, as they were then known.  Radersburg was a very popular and convenient stopping place for the travelers, being located on the Bozeman and Helena route.

“(As for Radersburg being a convenient stopping place for travelers, it was that.  Any place would have been.  However Radersburg did have hotels and accommodations for the very weary travelers.  Travel by stagecoach was not nearly as romantic as it sounds, not as it looks as we today view it on TV westerns.)

“The first cabin was built by Jim Watters in the very early ’60s and was of cottonwood logs.  Soon other cabins were under construction and about 1865 the Government let a contract for carrying mail from Bozeman to Radersburg, a distance of sixty miles, and on to Helena, another fifty miles.  This was known as the Bozeman Trail.  Concord coaches were used to carry passengers, mail and express.  Express was consigned under the name of Wells Fargo Express Co.  From two to six horses were used, depending on the condition of the roads and the size of the load.  Teams were changed every 15 to 20 miles and the tired horses just in from their run would be stabled and cared for.  Radersburg was the layover station where all were put up for the night.  The following morning the Bozeman driver would return to Bozeman, and the Helena driver would return to Helena.  At the same time, drivers would leave Bozeman and Helena for Radersburg, making a total of four coaches and drivers on the road at all times.  The mail was handled in a very primitive manner by the shoemaker, a German by birth named Carroll us.  Men were not accustomed to wearing shoes, all wore boots, most of which were made by the shoemaker.

“By this time Radersburg had become the business center and hub of most all the business of the surrounding territory, which added to the growth of the then active little city.  About 1868 it was the center of a tremendous stock and dairy region and at that time supplied Helena with milk.  The first houses in Radersburg had dirt roofs and the walls were covered with newspapers, and being scarce, it was a lucky woman who had all her walls covered.”

[From the book Ghost Towns of Montana (information suppplied by Mrs. William Schniedskamp Guntermann:]

“One of Radersburg’s characters boasted he had not had a bath since his mother last gave him one.  Tales persist that when he picked up his mail-order bride in Butte, she wasn’t too impressed, but married him anyway, since she was lacking in funds to return East.  But she wouldn’t live with him.  The story goes that when he called on his wife, she would set a chair by the door, place newspapers on the chair and floor, and chat with him— at a distance.

“The Methodist circuit rider, Brother Van (W.W. Van Orsdel), frequently held services in Radersburg.  One local businessman had no love for the popular preacher One hot summer day when Brother Van was preaching, he left his horse tied up for several hours.  The merchant had Brother Van arrested on a charge of cruelty to animals.  Brother Van acted in his own defense and won the ensuing trial.  The presiding judge requested that the preacher suggest an appropriate sentence.  Although the prosecutor isn’t usually ‘sentenced’ when the defendant is acquitted, so went Montana justice.  The penalty was leveled: attend church once a month for the rest of your life.  And so it was, even after Brother Van’s death, the merchant dutifully donned his ‘Sunday-go-to-meeting’ clothes whenever services were held, which was about once a month.

“It was Brother Van, indirectly, who was responsible for Radersburg’s ‘near- miracle.’ A few years after Van Orsdel’s death, the district superintendent of the Methodist church came to Radersburg to hold services and talk about Brother Van.  An eyewitness says, ‘Hardly any men ever attended church there under most circumstances, but on that occasion the pool hall [saloon] closed for the first time in its existence.”

Broadwater Bygones:

“When a certain boy was born in 1833 in Roanoke, Virginia to bear the name of Reuben Rader, little did anyone realize that this person at the age of 21 years was to leave his native state to journey west and not only discover the first gold in the district hut become the founder of a small Montana town —Radersburg.  As did most of the trains of covered wagon that crossed the plains have trials, so did Rader’s company.  He arrived on horseback in the area that was to bear his name as early as 1863, so history reveals.

“He acquired large acreages of land and along with mining he became a leading citizen and cattleman.  He deeded 40 acres of his land for the township of Radersburg, used his equipment (horses and scrapers) to level the land for its first courthouse. In 1865 when Jefferson County was formed he became its first County Commissioner.

“The name of Reuben Rader is now a legend. In 1875 he was married to Cora A. Herrick, the two making one of first and most hospitable homes in the area. The log structure still stands in the northerly end of “The Burg.” Mr. Rader died in 1905 leaving his wife and three children, Lee, Clifford and Mamie, the boys staying on for a number of years and then settled in Envermere and Cranbrook, B.C. Mamie married A. Franklin and had two daughters and is now deceased. Three other children of Mr. and Mrs. Rader were Daisy, Earl and Nellie who died early in life and the family plot is in the Radersburg cemetery.”  [Although there are no cemetery records for any Raders being buried in the Radersburg Cemetery, nor are there any grave markings remaining with that family name.]
 

The first account of gold found at Radersburg appearing of record was made by Reuben Rader in 1863, and by 1866 the town could boast of a livery stable, saloon, general merchandise store, barber shop, drug store and a shoemaker shop.  The little town grew by leaps and bounds, and by 1878-80 the business circle of the town had grown considerably.  At this time there were: J.E. Dougherty, general merchandise; J.R. Weston, drugs, tobaccos and notions; Charles Hossfeld, meat market and stock dealer; D.G. Warner, livery stable; Mrs. M.A. Parks, Central Hotel; Archie Macomber, hotel; S.S. Huntley, sheep grower; Charles Hallbeck, saloon and brewery; G.E. Norem, blacksmith; F.M. Smith, blacksmith. 

In 1884-85, Lesson’s History of Montana gives the following list of businessmen: E.M. Batchler, notions, tobaccos and postmaster; J.E. Dougherty, and Frank Wells, general merchants; J. Ripley, Central Hotel; Warner and Hossfeld, livery; E.J. Ripley and A.H. Dougherty, liquor dealers; Charles Hossfeld, S.S. Huntley and P.B. Clark, horses and cattle; Sam Shull, — Skinner, blacksmiths; R. Norem, shoemaker; John Johnson and Albert Sederburg, carpenters; D.G. Warner, Judge of Probate; A.H. Dougherty, deputy sheriff.

During the 1860’s, too, Owen Gillogly and Richard Shaw had a blacksmith shop here.  Richard Shaw was the father of Charlie Shaw, well-known in the county for many years, operated his own blacksmith shop in Townsend.  Charlie was born in Radersburg.

Some other businesses conducted in the ensuing years have included: Brown Brothers Lumber Co., 1914; C.R. Stevenson, general merchandise; Otto Allbrecht, gen. merchandise, men’s furnishings, notary public and postmaster; W.E. Spangler, groceries, fruits, confectionery, drugs, tobacco, and postmaster, 1906-08.

Theodore Fuhrken, general merchandise, groceries, hardware, miners’ supplies, boots and shoes, 1899.  [A receipt to Mr. Julius Hargrove, Sec. of Radersburg Lodge No. 61, I.O.O.F., states,- “Dear Sir; In payment of rent for hall, $10.00,” and was signed by Theo. Fuhrken.] This store was in the lower part of the Odd Fellow’s Hall.  Flora Holling ran a boarding house, as did Mr. and Mrs. Bill Moffitt.  Alex Moffitt was the sheriff of Jefferson county during the 1870’s.  Another was a Mr. Lineberger.  This note from Leeson’s History of Montana, 1885 shows that even the office of the law was not safe— “On the night of Dec. 31, 1874, the safe in the Treasurer’s office was opened during the absence of Mr. Lineberger, the Sheriff, and $8,000 in money belonging to the county and $2,000 belonging to Lineberger stolen.”

As mentioned before, Mrs. M.A. Parks operated the Central Hotel, which was subsequently operated by Mr. Lineberger, J.D. Ripley, John Keating, Mr. Augustine, Mr. Leathleon, Frank Wells, then Mr. and Mrs. Moffitt acquired it, where they ran the hotel and boarding house.  In 1909, William and Minnie (Hossfeld) Holdaway purchased the Central Hotel, which is still owned by the family and was until recently occupied by William Holdaway, Jr.  The Moffitts built a house on the eastern edge of town and continued the boarding house business.  This house is presently occupied by Tim Roberts.

George Trask and Vick Blacker operated a saloon in 1895.  John Poe owned a butcher shop in the ’70s; J.S. Hargrove was a postmaster; George B. Clark tended a saloon; there was a Shep’s Saloon operated by a man named Shepard.  Other business conducted include: G.E. Pool, cigars, tobaccos, confections; The Silver Dollar Bar was originally the $8,000 jail erected beside the Courthouse.   It was operated at various times by Cleve Beckwith, Ray Barroughs, Mr. Randolph, Joe Corey and Bert Chaney.

From about 1918, a bar across the street has been operated by Betty McCabe, Ben Martin, Geo Clark, Guy Williams, Jack Robbins, Tom Grey, Slap Berg, Lawrence Beckwith, Robert and Dorothy Seaman, Cloyd “Bud” Harris, Jim and Rose Baxter, then Art & Ann Roberts— the Nile Owl.

There was also the Gerharz-Jaqueth Engineering Co.; Thms. McClusky, hardware and lumber yard, 1912; Ray Kingsley, Forest Ranger; the Radersburg Lighting Co., with C.R. Stevenson as agent; Frank Williams had a general merchandise store in 1917; A.F. Smith Co., general merchandise in 1912; August Keitel, proprietor for Montana Meat Market, 1914.   Mr. Keitel closed his shop on the 1 st day of July.  Before closing, he had a sign hung on his door that said, “The first of July will be the last of August!” And it was...
 

“A few lines so that you may know how meat was handled.  Show cases and cooling systems were unheard of.  The slaughter-house was one-half mile from the butcher shop.  Big steers were driven into a corral made of big poles, high and stout.  From there they were forced into a slaughter house where a large rope encircled their heads, the loose end of which passed through a big iron ring in the floor, then outside around a log of the building.  By this you will note that the animal’s head would be near the floor.  Then it was either shot or hit on top of the head with an axe and hung up on the side of the butcher shop wall.  Mosquito net was placed over it to prevent flies from destroying it.  Can you imagine the swarms of flies?!— with a livery barn about 20 feet away, and another barn in the back of the butcher house- in other words, the same room in which the cuts were sold to the customers.  Should evidence of flies appear on the cut you were buying, the kind-hearted butcher would cut that portion off- very sparingly- and give it to you for your dog or cat.  Screens were unheard of in those days.

“We looked forward to court proceedings as one of the most active days for the Burg.  Attorneys from Helena handled most of the cases, namely Colonel Sanders, John Shober; Warren Toole, Judge Sims, Masena Bullard, - - - Johnson, and there may have been others.”

“In the spring when the snows began to thaw, or after a sudden rain storm, the mud was such that no passenger ever got where he or she was going and remained clean.  The mud splattered, and it was not unusual for the passengers to either have to push the coach through or get out and walk so the horses could pull it through.  Yet, this was the most convenient and fastest mode of travel of the day, so there was never a lack of passengers on any stage.”

Ed Spangler told the writer he remembers seeing P.B. Clark come in with a six-horse team pulling the coach and, with the horses on a dead run, turn the team and coach around on Main St. and pull up in front of the stage stop.  The drivers of these stages were crack teamsters, just as the sports-car racers of today are exceptional drivers.
 

To continue Tom Moore’s story:

“The poor people were crowded in the stages along with mail, freight, supplies or anything else there was room for and a profit in hauling.  And at that, only well-to-do people could afford to ride the stage, for the cost per person was very high.  Any luggage they brought with them was also at a very high rate per pound.  For instance, in July of 1869 Bishop Daniel S. Tuttle came to Radersburg and found the stage for Helena had gone.  No coach would go the next day (at the time the coach was triweekly) so there was nothing to do but stay over and go in the next day, Saturday, with a livery team.  Bishop Tuttle said, ‘There was a Ball at the hotel.  I could only get a space to lie down in the recess of the office “bed.”  The livery team for the trip to Helena cost me $38.00 [about a month’s wages].

“The competition between the stage companies was keen, so imagine riding as fast as the teams could be coaxed into running in a swaying, bouncing little box over mountain roads around sharp curves, through shallow streams, or if it had rained hard, through deep water in the bottom of gulches where the road had been dry the day before and now may be deep enough the horses should have to swim and the coach float.  In the dry months the dust choked one.  In cold weather, and Montana winters were cold, sometimes as much as 40 or 50 degrees below zero, passengers bundled themselves in as many warm clothes as they could possibly get on, then wrapped themselves in blankets and buffalo robes.  The drivers usually wore buckskin suites over their wool underwear then heavy clothes and coats on top of that.  The teams sometimes floundered in snow drifts so deep it took hours to free them.
 

[Tom Moore:]

“There was a government owned and maintained telegraph line which added much to the convenience of active communication.  (The telegraph was first completed from Salt Lake City to Virginia City by John Creighton in 1866, but besides being very expensive$1.00 per word- was not very reliable until 1870.) Mule teams of sixteen animals were among the interesting sights as well as milk cows, chickens, horse racing, bronc-riding and sometimes a fight, all led to excitement on our Front Street.  There were two streets in the Burg, the other being known as Back Street.  Peaceable Indians and many soldiers also went to make up the traffic.  Oh, Yes! I should not fail to speak of the prospector with his pack horse and sometimes one horse to ride.  Wood was the fuel at $6.00 per cord.  Sunday was the real commercial day.  Farmers came to town with their poultry, dairy and vegetable products.  This was the big day for the stores, but ‘most every day they stayed open until 9 P.M. and sometimes later.  (Note: after 1902 when Ed Spangler operated the store, he was the first to begin closing on Sunday and soon the others followed suit.)

“Corinne, Utah some 500 or 600 miles away was the closest railroad and a round trip would require 4 to 6 months.  Apples have been known to sell for 25 cents each, soap 25 cents a bar, and one time flour was $1.00 a pound.   Kind readers, should anyone tell you that they were the good old days, you will not make a mistake to ignore the assertion.  Admitting hospitality was a ruling factor and the latch string was always out in comparisons with these times, we are living in luxury.  In these GOOD OLD DAYS, a few of the people were blessed by having a coal-oil lamp— providing they could get the coal-oil (kerosene).  Others less fortunate would have some grease in a small container in which was placed a rag to answer in the place of a real lamp wick.  Compare that if you will with your electric lights of today and all the other conveniences— the ox team with your automobile, a wash-board with your washing machine, and so on down the line.” [Oxen were merely cattle, usually steers that were worked.]

“Should it be decided that some very undesirable individual should be dismissed from the country entirely, the figures 3-7-77 were placed on the outside of his cabin door.  Arriving at his place of abode he would recognize it to be the demand of a well-organized Vigilante group.  Without losing any time he rolled his bed.  His pack horse was soon loaded with the usual paraphernalia- frying pan, coffee pot, pick, shovel, gold pan, bacon, flour, baking powder, bedding, etc.  All he left behind were his tracks, which were far apart for the first mile which indicated his running.  Thoughts of the hangman’s rope gave him courage to make haste.  Realizing others had met the fate awaiting him should he ignore the warning, he was never seen in those diggings again.”
 
 

In 1877, Allen M. Easterly was appointed sheriff of Jefferson county for one and onehalf years, after which he was elected for two terms.  While acting as sheriff, Mr. Easterly executed the first man who suffered this penalty of the law in Jefferson county.

The hanging took place on March 1, 1868.  The man executed was Micaja McAndrews who murdered George Mavor.  The two men had been traveling together from the Black Hills, and when 12 miles above Boulder, McAndrews shot his companion through the head while he was asleep.  He was arrested at Butte (Pioneer City) by Samuel P. Alexander, who with five guards brought McAndrews back to Radersburg where he was given a trial and hanged.

Tom Moore continues:

“In the earliest days of Radersburg as well as Keatingville, there were many altercations, some of which proved fatal.  One occasion in Keatingville, in 1871, two men known as Baker and Mann became enemies.  Later, as Mann Was entering a boarding house, Baker stabbed him, which resulted in his death.  Baker was then taken to Radersburg, found guilty of murder, and there not being a jail, was placed in a little cabin with a guard who had a gun in a position of being pointed at the prisoner.  Relief guards were changed quite often.  Authorities decided to take Baker to Helena for further trial, as was a custom in those days.

“The prisoner was placed on not too good a horse, and was accompanied by a posse of 10 or 12 men, all of whom were riding good mounts.  After getting to Hog’em, a ride of about 15 miles, the posse decided to return to the place where this fellow Mann was killed.  Later that afternoon the posse could be seen in the distance returning with the prisoner.  My mother said, ‘Just look, they are bringing the prisoner back.  My God, they sure are going to hang him!’ Sure enough, they did take him to Keatingville, and there hung him.  This is the way they did it.  They had Pete Schaler, who owned a span of mules and a wagon to drive directly under a beef scaffold.  A big dry goods box was placed on the wagon, a rope suspended from the top of the scaffold, then placed around the neck of the prisoner— the lower end of the rope was securely fastened near the ground.  Then Pete was given the signal to drive on, which left the body hanging.  Your writer remembers seeing the body hanging in mid-air.”

(From Leeson’s History: “Execution of Baker, 1871.  In August or September, 1871, a man named Baker stabbed Dr. Mann, who died the next day.  It was a cool and seemingly unprovoked murder.  All medical aid could do was done to save the doctor, without avail, and the citizens of Radersburg dealt a summary vengeance on Baker by executing him.”