Archives West Finding Aid

Robert A. Bell was born on August 30, 1853, in Scott County, Kentucky, the youngest of twelve children of James Franklin Bell and Mary J. (Wilson) Bell. He attended high school in Shelbyville, Kentucky, until age 17 when he went to work as a station agent for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. In 1877 he moved to Greenville, Mississippi, where he was a foreman on a cotton plantation and then worked for a mercantile business. In 1879 he returned to Kentucky and worked briefly as a deputy sheriff before moving to Dakota Territory to work as a rodman on the Northern Pacific Railroad survey. He then took a contract to grade three miles of roadbed through the Bad Lands. He continued to work his way west in a variety of jobs along the route of the Northern Pacific until he arrived in Gardiner, Montana, in 1883. In 1885 he moved to Helena, Montana, where he worked as a bookkeeper for Larson and Keefe, contractors for the construction of the Montana Central Railroad and for the Marysville branch of the Northern Pacific. In September 1888, Bell accepted a job as bookkeeper for the Empire Mining Company in Marysville. The following spring he was promoted to mine manager, but the mines closed in October. Bell then moved to Helena and worked for several businesses until in 1892 when he founded R.A. Bell and Company and was given the contract for the construction of the county jail. After the completion of this job, Bell began operating the Little Nell Mine near Clancy. In 1896 he bought the East Pacific Mine near Winston and operated it at great profit for a number of years. In addition he developed the B and G Mine and the Eagle's Nest Mine, both on Warm Springs Creek. He later incorporated the Montana States Mining Corporation to develop his Warm Springs Creek properties. He also developed copper prospects at Delpine, near White Sulphur Springs. Around 1907, Bell's fortunes took a turn for the worse, as he ceased being able to work his mines profitably. He spent the next 10 years in a frustrating attempt to interest potential investors in or buyers of his mines. He worked through a series of mine investment firms and individuals to promote his properties with little success. In 1910 he was forced to give up his fashionable residence on Ewing Street and move into the Broadway Apartments. In addition to his Montana mining properties, Bell invested in real estate and oil lands in Aransas Pass, Texas. In late 1917 or early 1918 he moved to Aransas Pass to manage those properties. He was still living there in 1930. Robert Bell married Sallie Viley, of Scott County, Kentucky, in 1889. They had two children, Mary Louise Bell (b. 1890) and Viley Bell (b. 1892). Mary Louise married Frank Knowles. Viley attended the Montana School of Mines and went to work for his father at the East Pacific and Eagle's Nest Mines. Sallie Viley Bell died June 18, 1909. In the summer of 1910, Bell married Maud Morrison (?) of Chicago. The East Pacific Mine. west of Winston, Montana, was located by George Brooks about 1867. It was bought in 1886 by John W. Kendrick and Winston Brothers, railroad contractors. The new owners sank a new shaft and began shipping ore. From 1889 to 1895 the net value of ore shipped was over $500,000. In June 1896, Robert A. Bell bought the mine. He incorporated the East Pacific Mining Company in 1903 under Arizona laws. Under his ownership the mine produced almost $800,000.00 through 1902. It operated intermittently thereafter. The Eagle's Nest group of mines was located in the Warm Springs mining district near Alhambra, Montana. Among the claims were the Eagle's Nest, the B and G, the R.P. Bland, and 32 claims named for states. Bell acquired the group of claims and organized the Eagle's Nest Mining Company, but did little more than exploratory work on them. They showed good potential, but would require large amounts of capital to develop. To this end Bell and several prominent Helena businessmen organized the Montana-States Mining Corporation in 1911 to raise funds. They had very little success in fund-raising and the mines were never fully developed.