Archives West Finding Aid

Dorothy Floerchinger was a longtime resident of Conrad (Pondera County) Montana. An active collector and historian, she wrote a number of studies on the history of the Conrad family and Pondera County, including: School days, good old golden rule days (1987), The story of Conrad in the Whoop-Up Country (1980), To speak of love was not enough: a biography of Daniel and Panayiota McCorkle (1974), The Bruner bunch / by kith and kin (1973). In 1963, Floerchinger was contacted by Lesley Heathcoate, librarian at Montana State College, to assist in the collection of primary source materials dealing with Montana agriculture. During the following years, Floerchinger provided the library with various photocopies of original documents from her own research and specific collecting efforts for this purpose. Floerchinger was particularly interested in the families of W. G. Conrad and Charles E. Conrad. W. G. Conrad (for whom the town of Conrad was named) was born in 1848 and came to Fort Benton in 1868 with his brother Charles. They first clerked for the firm of I. G. Baker but eventually acquired the firm by 1876. Extremely successful businessmen and bankers, they took up land in Pondera County in 1886 where they ranched and established the Conrad Investment Company, the largest irrigation project in Montana during the earlier 1890s. This company later became known as the Valier Land and Water Company. Charles eventually made his home in Kalispell where he died in 1903. W.G. dabbled in politics during his later years, serving in the Territory Legislature and running for the U.S. Congress before his death in 1914.