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Clifton Boyd Worthen research collection: Central Montana History, 1882-1955

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Worthen, Clifton Boyd, 1899-1963
Title
Clifton Boyd Worthen research collection: Central Montana History
Dates
1882-1955 (inclusive)
Quantity
2.4 linear feet
Collection Number
MC 75 (collection)
Summary
The Worthen Research Collection consists of materials gathered by Clifton Worthen, amateur historian, including writings, reminiscences, research notes, copies of original source materials, clippings, and miscellany dealing primarily with the Judith Basin, Montana area. The Clifton B. Worthen-James Fergus Collection is a combination of original documents, photocopies, and typed transcripts. The materials document both the intellectual pursuits of Clifton B. Worthen as a historian and teacher, as well as the pioneer experiences of the James Fergus family. Subjects includes: history of central Montana, especially Fergus County and the Judith Basin, the vigilante activity of 1884, the DHS Ranch, the Lewis and Clark expedition, Montana politics and elections, ranching, gold rush towns of Bannack, Virginia City, and Helena, the Society of Montana Pioneers, the winter of 1887 and its effect on ranching, and territorial Montana's relations with Indian residents. The Clifton Worthen collection is also a combination of original documents photocopies, and typed transcripts collected by Worthen while earning his master's degree and later while teaching in Lewistown and Missoula. Most of the material focus around the history of Central Montana.
Repository
Montana Historical Society, Library and Archives
Montana Historical Society, Library and Archives
225 North Roberts
PO Box 201201
Helena MT
59620-1201
Telephone: 406-444-2681
Fax: 406-444-5297
mthslibrary@mt.gov
Access Restrictions

Collection open for research.

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

Clifton Boyd Worthen was born in Lynden, Washington, on January 30, 1899. He attended the University of Washington and received a master's degree in social studies and education in 1928. His thesis was entitled "The history of Central Montana to 1871." Worthen moved to Montana and taught for 13 years at Fergus County High School in Lewistown and for 26 years at Missoula County High School. During the summers he worked as a fire lookout for the U.S. Forest Service in western Montana. He was a World War I veteran and served as historian for the Missoula American Legion for many years. As an amateur historian Worthen did extensive research on the history of the Judith Basin region of Montana and the mining development in the Maiden-Kendall area near Lewistown. While at Lewistown, Worthen came into possession of a number of original documents created or collected by James Fergus, a pioneer rancher and politician for whom the county was named. The documents had been deposited at the school after the Fergus ranch house had burned. Worthen used the documents in his own research and for teaching until he was contacted by Allis Stuart in the late 1930s who demanded the materials on behalf of Andrew Fergus's widow, Hazel. Even though Worthen gave Stuart most of the Fergus papers, he retained an undetermined amount himself until his death in 1963. In 1969, Worthen's widow, Gladys, turned over the balance to Merrill G. Burlingame for transfer to the Montana Historical Society. Worthen and his wife Gladys were married on December 25, 1922, and had one son and two daughters. Clifton Boyd Worthen died at the age of 64 in Missoula on July 3, 1963.

James Fergus was born October 8, 1813 at Lanarkshire, Scotland. He immigrated to North America at the age of nineteen and lived for a time in Quebec, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota where he built and managed a number of mills and factories. In the 1860s, Fergus became interested in gold strikes occurring in the west and after a brief stay in Colorado, he joined the Fisk expedition to what would become Montana Territory in 1862. Fergus lived in Bannack, Virginia City and Helena where he prospected and held a number of minor governmental offices. With his son, Andrew, he ranched near Helena until 1880 when they bought land in the Judith Basin area and established one of the largest ranching operations in the territory. James Fergus was involved with the vigilante activity of 1884 in central Montana and served as a delegate to the constitutional convention of the same year. James Fergus died in 1902 and his son, Andrew, died in 1928. Shortly after a fire destroyed the family home Andrew's widow, Hazel, temporarily stored some of the salvaged family papers at the Fergus County High School where Clifton B. Worthen worked with them during the 1930s. Mrs. Granville Stuart, who had obtained work through the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration, contacted Hazel Fergus and arranged to sort and transcribe the family papers for the WPA. This work was carried out by both Mrs. Stuart and Mrs. Fergus primarily in 1942. The transcripts only included the papers in Mrs. Fergus's possession and the ones retained by Worthen were overlooked. Merrill G. Burlingame, in 1943, worked with the administration of the WPA to assume ownership of the transcripts. Hazel Fergus eventually donated her original papers to the University of Montana at Missoula.

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Content Description

The Worthen Research collection (Montana Historical Society) consists of Clifton Boyd Worthen's research materials on the history of central Montana's Judith Basin region. Included are correspondence (1929-1955) and newspaper clippings (originals and typescript research copies). Numerous unpublished writings by Worthen and other authors document Indian history, mining industry, and livestock development. Also included are several reminiscences of early settlers including Edward "Teddy Blue" Abbott, Hallowell F. Clement, Thomas J. Gregory, Henry N. Morgan, and Bob Shiell. Additional research materials (primarily typescript copies) provide information on Barnes-King Development Company, Judith Cattle Company, Lewis and Clark Expedition, and Granville Stuart.

The Worthen-Fergus collection (Montana State University) is a combination of original documents, photocopies, and typed transcripts selected from all of the sources described above. The materials document both the intellectual pursuits of Clifton B. Worthen as a historian and teacher, as well as the pioneer experiences of the James Fergus family. Subjects to which the collection pertain includes: history of central Montana, especially Fergus County and the Judith Basin, the vigilante activity of 1884, the DHS Ranch, the Lewis and Clark expedition, Montana politics and elections, ranching, gold rush towns of Bannack, Virginia City, and Helena, the Society of Montana Pioneers, the winter of 1887 and its effect on ranching, and territorial Montana's relations with Indian residents. Correspondents or authors of pieces in the collection include: Clifton B. Worthen, James Fergus, Andrew Fergus, Hazel A. Fergus, Oscar O. Mueller, Granville Stuart, Cornelius Hedges, Wilbur F. Sanders, Patrick Dunlany, Phillip Shoule, S.C. Gilpatrick, D.A. Meagher, A.L. Randall, Theodore Lindsay, J.L Perkins, William Cantrell, S.M. Emery, S. Spain, B.P. Carpenter, J.E. Richards, William Fly, and W.H. Watson.

The Clifton Worthen collection (University of Montana) is a combination of original documents, photocopies, and typed transcripted selected from all of the sources described above. The material mainly focuses on individuals, industries, and towns that rose to prominence in Central Montana from territorial times through the early 1930s. Also includes incoming correspondence addressed to Mr. Worthen from individuals he contacted while possibly conducting research for his master's thesis "History of Central Montana". Correspondence also covers research he continued to pursue while teaching in Lewistown and Missouls. Common corresponders include the Montana Historical Society Librarian David Hilger, MTHS Trustee Merrill Burlingame, Lewistown attorney and amateur historian Oscar Mueller.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical Society. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collection. In some cases permission for use may require additional authorization from the copyright owners. For more information contact an archivist.

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 record group and series. See processing information for more.

Location of Collection

4:5-1 (boxes 1-2); 95:5-6 (boxes 3-6)

Acquisition Information

Acquisition information available upon request

Processing Note

The collection is broken into three record groups: Montana Historical Society (originally under MC 75 Clifton Boyd Worthen Research Collection: Central Montana History); Montana State University (originally under Collection 913, MtBC, us Worthen-James (Clifton B.) Fergus collection); and University of Montana (originally under MSS 698). Each institution obtained the materially independently of the others and either fully processed and described, or partially processed the material. In 2025 both MSU and U of M gifted their portion of the material to MTHS to add to MC 75. Existing arrangement and description was retained. Although MSS 698 was physically processed down to the folder level, it is not known if the titles on and order of the folders were created by Worthen or the processing archivist.

It appears photocopies or transcripts of material housed in one institution were made and shared with the other institutions to add to their own portion of the collection. This may result in the presence of the original in one record group and a photocopy or transcript of the original in another record group.

Separated Materials

Amongst the material originally donated to MTHS, Photographs separated to Photo Archives. Printed material separated to Library. Artifacts separated to Museum. See inventory below for more information.

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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

  • History--Research
  • Mines and Mineral Resources--Montana
  • Ranching--Montana

Personal Names

  • Worthen, Clifton Boyd, 1899-1963 (creator)

Geographical Names

  • Andersonville (Mont.)
  • Fergus County (Mont.)
  • Judith Basin County (Mont.)
  • Kendall (Mont.)
  • Maiden (Mont.)

Finding aid prepared by MHS staff
2004

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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