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Thomas Charles Power papers, 1868-1950

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Power, Thomas C. (Thomas Charles), 1839-1923
Title
Thomas Charles Power papers
Dates
1868-1950 (inclusive)
Quantity
290 linear feet of shelf space
Collection Number
MC 55 (collection)
Summary
T.C. Power was a Montana merchandise, transportation, mining, ranching, banking, and real estate magnate; and U.S. Senator from Montana from 1890 to 1895. Collection (1868-1950) includes personal, business, and political correspondence plus financial and legal papers of many of his business enterprises. Collection documents Power's involvement in military and Indian trade, steamboating, freighting, stage coach lines, mail contracts, cattle and sheep ranching, mining, banking, bridge building, townsite development, and other enterprises.
Repository
Montana Historical Society, Library & Archives
Montana Historical Society Research Center Archives
225 North Roberts
PO Box 201201
Helena MT
59620-1201
Telephone: 4064442681
Fax: 4064445297
mhslibrary@mt.gov
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Additional Reference Guides

Table of Contents to finding aid is available at the Montana State Historical Society

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

Thomas Charles Power was born at Dubuque, Iowa, May 22, 1839, the son of Irish immigrants, Michael W. Power and Catherine McLeer Power. He was raised on the family farm near Dubuque. The eldest of four children, Power contributed heavily to the work on the farm while completing the rudimentary education offered in area schools. In his teens, Power attended Sissinawa Mound College, in Wisconsin, where he studied science and engineering. After three years of study, but without graduating, he returned to his home and taught in rural schools near Peru, Iowa, during the years 1858-1860. In 1860, Thomas Power accepted a job with a survey party for the federal government and spent the next four years surveying for government and private firms in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, and eastern Montana. In 1865, he settled in Nebraska, first working as a carpenter, and, in 1866, he became a minor partner in a wholesale merchandising firm supplying several frontier areas.

This investment, and his familiarity with the West, led him, in the following year, to locate at Fort Benton, Montana Territory, head of navigation on the Upper Missouri. With the stock of goods he brought with him, he opened a general mercantile firm in the spring of 1867. His younger brother, John W. Power, followed with a further stock of goods later that spring, and Power's initial company, T.C. Power and Brother, was formed.

T.C. Power's firm was ideally located, for not only did it trade with residents of the locality, the military garrison, and Indian tribes of the region, but as head of navigation on the Missouri, Fort Benton offered unique advantages of supply and served as the hub of a freighting network to the towns and camps of the isolated Territory. Power rapidly exploited his situation and, in 1868, began supplementary overland freighting operations while expanding the range and quantity of his merchandise.

T.C. Power and Brother and the other large Fort Benton firm, I.G. Baker and Company, dominated trade and freighting on the northern plains by the mid 1870's. A significant portion of the business of these firms was in the fur and hide trade with Indians of the region and other hunters, an involvement that coincided with the period of slaughter of the northern buffalo herd. The hide trade, and, later, buffalo bones made up many of the down river cargos in the 1870's and early 1880's.

The rapid expansion of the Power and Baker firms caused them to invest in the construction of the river steamer Benton, to supply goods for their operations and to carry gold, silver, hides, and other products down river. This investment, in 1874, resulted in the formation of the Fort Benton Transportation Company and in subsequent years other steamboats were built or purchased to expand this facet of the trade. In the late 1870's, Power purchased Baker's interest in the steamer line and continued its expansion until the firm dominated the Upper Missouri commerce in the years remaining before railroads reached the region and effectively ended river transportation. As an adjunct to his steamer and freighting interests, Power, in 1879, formed the first of several stagecoach lines which served much of northern and central Montana and, eventually, linked with the transcontinental Northern Pacific Railroad at Billings.

While retaining his investments in the Fort Benton area, in 1878, T.C. Power settled permanently in Helena, by then Territorial capital, and later State capital, and rapidly emerging as the focus of Montana's finance and trade. Having centered his business interests at Helena, Power became active in the capital's economic, political and social life. He maintained several commercial firms, built and operated the American National Bank, and speculated in real estate and regional mining companies.

T.C. Power's entrepreneurial interests were extremely broad; he founded or invested in over ninety-five companies in the course of his active career. During the period 1880-1920, in addition to major interests in merchandising and transportation, he invested in cattle and sheep ranching, real estate throughout the northwest, lumbering, coal mining, electric power generation, hotels, automobile distributing, military and reservation supply, agricultural implement sales, banking, grain milling, municipal water supply, metals mining, oil, and irrigation.

An interest in politics paralleled Power's diverse business career. A lifelong Republican, he was an active supporter of the Territorial and State party, as well as contributing to and involving himself in national party affairs. He served as a delegate to the abortive 1884 Constitutional Convention, but chose not to run for the 1889 Convention which resulted in Montana's statehood. Power was defeated in the first state gubernatorial election, in 1889, by Joseph K. Toole, the Democratic candidate. In 1890, he was selected by the divided First State Legislative Assembly as one of four senators, two from each party, to fill Montana's two seats in the nation's upper house. Power and the other Republican chosen, Wilbur Fisk Sanders, were seated by the Republican-controlled U. S. Senate over the bitter opposition of the Democratic contenders. Power's service in the Senate, 1890-1895, was creditable, with concentration on the State's major interests: the free coinage of silver, irrigation, the disposal of the public domain, and the wool tariff. T.C. Power's one term in the Senate ended his active involvement in politics.

Thomas C. Power married Mary Flanagan at Dubuque, Iowa, in 1867, just prior to travelling to Montana. The couple had one son, Charles Benton Power. T.C. Power, still in active control of his varied financial interests, died at Helena, Montana, March 16, 1923.

Charles Benton Power was born at Dubuque, Iowa, November 9, 1868, the son of Thomas C. and Mary Flanagan Power. His early life was spent at Fort Benton, Montana, center of his father's financial interests. He moved to Helena with his family in 1878. There he completed his early education in the public schools of the community. In 1888, C.B. Power received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., and later completed a supplemental Bachelor's degree and a law degree at Columbia University, in 1891 and 1893.

C.B. Power returned to Helena, Montana after completion of his education and entered the practice of law. He joined his father, in 1895, in the management of the Power business interests in Montana and the northwest. In 1923, after his father's death, C.B. Power succeeded to ownership and operation of the remaining firms. During his business career, C.B. Power's interests remained primarily in merchandising and real estate, but he also invested in oil, hotels, agriculture and mining.

C.B. Power married Mable Larson of Helena, in 1901. The couple had three children, Margaret, Charles B., Jr., and Jane Elizabeth. Mrs. Mable Power died in 1918. In 1944, C.B. Power married Pauline Ely. Charles Benton Power died at Helena, November 15, 1953.

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Content Description

The T. C. Power papers are arranged into sixteen subgroups: 1) T.C. Power--Political, 2) T.C. Power--Personal, 3) T.C. Power and Brother (includes associated companies), 4) C.B. Power--Personal, 5) Grain Companies, 6) Hardware Companies, 7) Mercantile Companies, 8) Mining Companies, 9) Organizations 10) Ranch Companies, 11) Real Estate, 12) Transportation Companies, 13) Water Companies, 14) Bismarck, North Dakota, enterprises, 15) Washington and Oregon enterprises, and 16) Miscellaneous enterprises.

The papers (1881-1902) in the 'T.C. Power--Political' subgroup document his unsuccessful bid to be the first State governor in 1889 and, more importantly, his term as a United States senator, 1890-1895. Forming the largest segment of the political papers is the General Correspondence, which reflects issues that affected the livelihood of his constituents: free silver and the wool tariff. Most of this is incoming correspondence with only a few letters of reply from Power. Other questions of interest to Montanans during his term of office were the establishment of better services, such as post offices for rural areas, irrigation, uses of public lands, and requests for political patronage. The subgroup also contains Financial Records, including an election expense account for 1888-1895; Legal Documents, Speeches, including an 1889 campaign speech; Clippings, mainly tariff issues, irrigation, and political scrapbooks; and a Miscellany Series, which includes lists of registered voters; federal documents; a record of bills, etc., pertaining to irrigation introduced in the U. S. Senate during the 52nd Congress, an 1892 list of attorneys in Montana, and petitions for the establishment of post offices.

The papers (1871-1923) in the 'T.C. Power--Personal' subgroup reflect his involvement in the firm of T.C. Power and Brother, and his financial investments in other areas. Because Power played such an important role in the administration of T.C. Power and Brother, his General Correspondence details some of the activity of the holding company, particularly after 1900. The Financial Records, which detail his personal investments in mining and real estate--including areas outside of Montana, make up another significant portion of his personal papers. There are also some records for his household expenses. Other series include Legal Documents, consisting mostly of agreements and bills of sale; Organization records, including stock certificates and minutes of meetings; miscellaneous Clippings; assay and company Reports; and a Miscellany Series including such things as a 1920 list of sheep owners in Montana and a 1916 list of materials suitable for paving streets in Fort Benton.

The largest volume of records are those in the 'T.C. Power and Brother' subgroup. T.C. Power and Brother was a holding company whose operations first centered at Fort Benton. Originally the activity of the company focused on steamboating on the Missouri River, supplying merchandise to branch stores, Indian agencies and military posts, cattle ranches, and area residents. The company later expanded to include mining, stage coach lines, and real estate. Records for the holding company are nearly complete for the period 1880-1900. Some records, such as outgoing correspondence and financial material, date to the late 1860s. Between 1900 and 1920 there is almost no correspondence in the company's records. Consequently, the personal papers of T.C. Power and of C.B. Power, and those companies in which T.C. Power and Brother had an interest, must be used to fill this gap. Series in this subgroup include "Incoming Correspondence (1881-1893; Outgoing Correspondence in letterpress books (1868-1896); General Correspondence (1919-1930); Legal Documents (1871-1895); Court Papers (1883-1887); one 1889 Speech by W.V. Pemberton; one assay Report (1885); and miscellaneous Clippings (1882). The Financial Records Series contains bills and statements (1873-1930), credit books (1892-1899), dry goods books (1882-1899), inventories (1881-1890), trial balances (1881-1891), journals (1870-1927), ledgers (1867-1903), cash books (1868-1901), day books (1868-1899), and order books (1872-1899). The Miscellany Series consists of consignments (1878-1883), shipping books (1868-1889), receiving books (1869-1891), loading books (1875-1879), discharging books (1870-1882), bills of lading and freight bills (1868-1897), tracers and claims (1880-1889), requisitions (1881-1893), and ammunition orders (1877-1882) for the Blackfeet Indian Agency. This subgroup also contains records of various subsidiary companies.

Charles Benton Power's personal records (1895-1941), in the 'C.B. Power--Personal' subgroup, document his active participation in various aspects of T.C. Power and Brother, as well as his extensive interests outside of Montana. His General Correspondence (1895-1940) documents the economic reversals of the 1920s and 1930s, particularly as they affected the companies of T.C. Power and Brother. Other series include Financial Records (1895-1940); Legal Documents (1894-1938); and Organization records (1922-1932), including stock certificates and minutes of the Montana Automobile Association.

The 'Grain', 'Hardware', 'Mercantile', 'Mining', 'Organization', 'Ranch', 'Real Estate', 'Transportation', 'Water', and 'Bismarck, North Dakota' subgroups reflect the Powers' wide-ranging economic interests. In many ways the records represent a cross-section of Montana's economic life during the late 1800s and the early 1900s. During the 1800s most of the records of these companies were retained with the T.C. Power and Brother records. After 1900, however, they were filed separately by each company. The difficulty then in dealing with this collection is that the whole Power corporation was not entirely consistent in either of these practices. Consequently a researcher interested in one of these subgoup companies also has to look in the T.C. Power and Brother records, and in the personal papers of T.C. Power and C.B. Power. In addition to their Montana businesses, T.C. and C.B. Power were also involved in real estate, irrigation, mercantile, banking, and lumbering operations in Oregon and Washington.

The records in the 'Washington and Oregon' subgroup have been kept separate from the Montana businesses, but additional material can be found in the 'T.C. Power and Brother', 'T.C. Power--Personal', and 'C.B. Power--Personal' subgroups.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

The Montana Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library before any reproduction use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.

Preferred Citation

Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers. Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives, Helena, Montana.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged by subgroup and series. Some material housed in manuscript volumes. See inventory below for more information.

Location of Collection

2:6-6

Acquisition Information

Acquisition information available upon request

Processing Note

The arrangement of the T.C. Power papers closely follows the original ordering given the manuscripts by Power and his employees. Because of the complexity of his investments and the consequent overlapping files, some difficulties will be encountered in using the papers. It was felt by the staff, however, that it was desirable that the manuscripts retain something of their original filing to reflect Power's activities, his personal involvement, and the emphasis given the variety of pursuits documented by the manuscripts. It can also be argued that retention of the original order demonstrates the operations of the holding and collateral companies. The user of the papers must rely on the Index to assure that he deals with all of the related materials pertinent to his interest. The name-oriented Index is relatively detailed and covers, with two exceptions, all of the subgroups and series in the papers. The exceptions are relatively minor; the letterpress volumes of outgoing correspondence of T.C. Power and Brother, which are arranged chronologically and individually indexed; and the bound financial and miscellany volumes of the several companies, which proved to be impossible to index in a reasonable period of time.

Separated Materials

Photographs, artifacts, and maps transferred to the Photo Archives, Museum, and Library map Collection respectively. For other related material see the Guide to the Thomas C. Power papers, at the Montana Historical Society, MC 55b. Also see the Guide to the Charles B. Power papers, at the Montana Historical Society, MC 55a.

See Guide to the Power family photograph collection, at the Montana Historical Society Photo Archives, Lot 006.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Agricultural Credit
  • Agricultural Implements--Trade and manufacture
  • Agricultural Laborers
  • Agriculture And State
  • Agriculture--Societies, etc.
  • Assiniboine Indians
  • Automobile Industry And Trade
  • Banks And Banking
  • Blackfeet Indian Tribe
  • Boardinghouses
  • Capitals (Cities)
  • Cattle Ranches
  • Coaching
  • Coal Mines And Mining
  • County Agricultural Agents
  • Detectives
  • Elections
  • Farm Produce
  • Freight And Freightage
  • Fuelwood Gatherers
  • Fur Trade
  • Gold Mines And Mining
  • Golf
  • Grain--Milling
  • Grocery Trade
  • Hardware Stores
  • Horse Industry
  • Hotels
  • Indians Of North America--Appropriations
  • Irrigation
  • Land Companies
  • Liquor Industry
  • Lumber Trade--Montana
  • Lumber Trade--Oregon
  • Lumber Trade--Washington
  • Meat Industry And Trade
  • Military Bases--Supplies and stores
  • Mines And Mineral Resources--Montana--Cascade County
  • Mines And Mineral Resources--Montana--Judith Basin County
  • Mines And Mineral Resources--Montana--Lewis And Clark County
  • Mines And Mineral Resources--Montana--Silver Bow County
  • Missouri River--Commerce
  • Municipal Water Supply
  • Petroleum Industry And Trade
  • Political Parties
  • Promotions--United States
  • Railroads
  • Ranches
  • Real Estate Business
  • Reservoirs
  • Retail Trade
  • Salish Indians--Trading posts
  • Sheep Ranches
  • Sheep Ranches--Montana [Central]
  • Sheep Ranches--Montana [Western]
  • Silver Mines And Mining
  • Smelting--Montana--East Helena
  • Steamboats--Missouri River
  • Taxation
  • Tourist Trade
  • Town Planning
  • Trading Posts
  • Wages
  • Wool Industry

Personal Names

  • Power, Thomas C. (Thomas Charles), 1839-1923 (creator)

Geographical Names

  • Anaconda (Mont.)--Industries
  • Augusta (Mont.)
  • Barker (Mont.)
  • Beaverhead County (Mont.)--Politics and government
  • Belgrade (Mont.)
  • Belt (Mont.)
  • Billings (Mont.)--Economic conditions
  • Bismarck (undated)
  • Bitterroot River Valley (Mont.)
  • Blossburg (Mont.)
  • Bozeman (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Browning (Mont.)--Agriculture
  • Butte (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Butte (Mont.)--Industries--Mines and mining
  • Calgary (Alta.)--Commerce
  • Calgary Post (Alta.)
  • Canada--Commerce
  • Cascade (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Cascade County (Mont.)--Agriculture
  • Cascade County (Mont.)--Politics and government
  • Chinook (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Choteau (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Chouteau County (Mont.)--Agriculture
  • Chouteau County (Mont.)--Politics and government
  • Confederate Gulch (Mont.)
  • Conrad (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Craig (Mont.)
  • Custer County (Mont.)--Politics and government
  • Custer Station (Mont.)
  • Deer Lodge (Mont.)
  • Deer Lodge (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Dewey (Mont.)
  • Dillon (Mont.)
  • East Helena (Mont.)--Industries
  • Fergus County (Mont.)--Politics and government
  • Fort Belknap (Mont.)
  • Fort Belknap Indian Reservation (Mont.)
  • Fort Benton (Mont.)--Economic conditions
  • Fort Benton (Mont.)--Newspapers
  • Fort Clagett (Mont.)
  • Fort Kipp (Mont.)
  • Fort Macleod (Alta.)
  • Fort Maginnis (Mont.)
  • Fort Peck Indian Reservation (Mont.)
  • Fort Shaw (Mont. : Fort)
  • Fort Shaw (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Fort Walsh (N.W.T.)
  • Gallatin County (Mont.)
  • Gilt Edge (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Gilt Edge Mine (Mont.)
  • Glacier County (Mont.)--Agriculture
  • Granite (Mont.)--Industries
  • Great Falls (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Great Falls (Mont.)--Politics and government
  • Hamilton (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Helena (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Helena (Mont.)--Commerce--Banks and banking
  • Helena (Mont.)--Commerce--Express, freighting and stagecoaches
  • Helena (Mont.)--Commerce--General mercantile trade
  • Helena (Mont.)--Commerce--Real estate
  • Helena (Mont.)--Politics and government
  • Hughesville (Mont.)--Industries
  • Jefferson County (Mont.)--Politics and government
  • Judith Basin County (Mont.)--Agriculture
  • Judith Basin County (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Judith Basin County (Mont.)--Politics and government
  • Junction City (Mont.)
  • Kalispell (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Laurel (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Lavina (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Lewis And Clark County (Mont.)--Politics and government
  • Lewistown (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Livingston (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Livingston (Mont.)--Industries
  • Manhattan (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Maple Creek (N.W.T.)--Commerce
  • Meagher County (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Meagher County (Mont.)--Politics and government
  • Minnesota
  • Missoula (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Missouri River Valley--Commerce
  • Missouri River--Navigation
  • Missouri River--Power utilization
  • Monarch (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Mondak (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Neihart (Mont.)--Industries
  • North Dakota--Commerce
  • Oregon--Industries
  • Pendroy (Mont.)
  • Pn Ranch (Mont.)
  • Pondera County (Mont.)
  • Poplar River Agency (Mont.)
  • Powell County (Mont.)
  • Power (Mont.)
  • Power State Bank (Power, Mont.)
  • Rock Creek Ranch (Wolf Creek, Mont.)
  • Spotted Horse Mine (Maiden, Mont.)
  • St. Paul's Mission (Hays, Mont.)
  • St. Peter's Mission (Mont.)
  • Stanford (Mont.)
  • Sun River (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Sunnyside (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Teton County (Mont.)--Politics and government
  • Toole County (Mont.)
  • Townsend (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Trident (Mont.)--Commerce
  • United States--Politics and government
  • Valentine (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Vaughn (Mont.)
  • Warm Springs (Mont.)
  • White Sulphur Springs (Mont.)--Commerce
  • White Sulphur Springs (Mont.)--Industries
  • Willow Creek (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Winifred (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Wolf Creek (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Wolf Point (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Yellowstone County (Mont.)--Commerce
  • Yellowstone County (Mont.)--Politics and government
  • Yellowstone National Park--Commerce

Finding aid prepared by William R. Massa, 1976; revised by Clint Attebery and Ellie Arguimbau, 2005
2006

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