Archives West Finding Aid

The collection is divided into two subgroups: Family Papers and Business Records.

Subgroup I, Family Papers (1879-1986), subgroup of four series: Marcus Daly Papers (1879-1906), Margaret P. Daly Investment Files (1912-1958), Marcus Daly II Financial Records (1916-1930), and Countess Margit Sigray Bessenyey Papers (1929-1986). The family papers contain financial records, correspondence, and subject files related to Daly family investments and businesses.

Series I, Marcus Daly Papers (1879-1906), consists of an estate journal (1901-1902) as well as thoroughbred and standard bred horse records (1879-1906), an index of trotting stock, and published catalogs of horse sales from the Bitterroot Stock Farm and other places (1890-1906).

Series II, Margaret P. Daly Estate Papers (1907-1958), is divided into two subseries: financial records and subject files. Subseries 1, Financial Records (1922-1952), contains investment accounts related to the Daly family estate including estate tax and income tax records as well as valuation worksheets. Subseries 2, Subject Files (1907-1958), contains family investment subject files arranged alphabetically and includes correspondence related to investments or businesses across the family holdings or which relate to Marcus and Margaret Daly.

Series III, Marcus Daly II Financial Records (1916-1930), includes income tax records (1916-1930), a trial balance (1930) and land investment files (1925-1931).

Series IV, Countess Margit Sigray Bessenyey Papers (1929-1986), is divided into four subseries: financial records, correspondence, subject files, and Hungarian Horse Association files. Subseries 1, Financial Records (1960-1985), includes personal accounts, horse accounts, bank statements, and cancelled checks. Subseries 2, Correspondence (1958-1979) and Subseries 3, Subject Files (1929-1986), both contain information related to the daily operations of the Bitterroot Stock Farm. Subseries 4, Hungarian Horse Association Records (1955-1981), includes certificates of registration (1965-1981) and a ledger of Hungarian Horse Breeding Records (1955-1966).

Series V, Publications (1890-1912), is primarily catalogs of horses bred and maintained by Marcus Daly. Also included are some telegraph code books.

Subgroup II, Business Records (1883-1992), is divided into fourteen series and represents the bulk of the collection. Although some of the companies represented in the collection existed prior to Daly’s death in 1900, including the Bitterroot Stock Farm, the Lexington Foundry and Tuttle Mercantile, the Republican Ditch Company, and the Hamilton Flour Mill, most of the companies were investments made by the Daly family heirs after 1900. The business records include ledgers, journals, cash books, audit reports, and vouchers as well as articles of incorporation, minute books, and correspondence related to the business investments of the Daly family from the 1880s-1990s. Many of the companies represented in the collection were either dissolved or absorbed into the Bitterroot Stock Farm. It should be noted that the collection does not include records of Daly’s mining activities in Butte, Montana.

Series I, Bitterroot Stock Farm Records, (1896-1986). This series is divided into five subseries. Subseries 1, Administrative Records (1901-1962), Subseries 2, Financial Records (1896-1987), Subseries 3, Correspondence (1896-1959), which primarily contains letters of family members and superintendents of the Bitterroot Stock Farm related to daily operations of the Farm and Subseries 4, Subject Files (1959-1982), which consists of contracts, deeds, right of ways, and papers related to water rights.

Series II, Lexington Foundry Records, (1886-1889) and Tuttle Mercantile Company Records, (1889-1917). The Lexington Foundry was created to carry on and conduct a general foundry business as well as machine and repair shops and boiler works at Butte City in Silver Bow County Montana Territory. Shelley Tuttle, Joseph V. Long and William R. Kenyon were the directors. In 1889 all real and personal property transferred to Shelley Tuttle. The record book for the Lexington Foundry continues as the record book for the Tuttle Mercantile which was founded in 1903 in Napa, Idaho in Canyon County to conduct a general business of buying and selling wares and merchandise for the gain of profit and to acquire real estate necessary for business. From the records, it appears that Shelley Tuttle sold all of his shares to Margaret Daly in 1911. The company dissolved in 1917. This series contains articles of incorporation and minutes of the corporation.

Series III, Republican Ditch Company Records, (1883-1901). The Republican Ditch Company was organized in 1883 in Corvallis, Montana to furnish water for an irrigation ditch in the Bitterroot Valley. In 1901 the company and its assets were purchased by the Ravalli Land and Irrigation Company and they moved their principal place of business to Hamilton, Montana. This series contains financial records, minutes, stock records, general ledgers, and a cash book.

Series IV, Hamilton Flour Mill Company Records, (1898-1917). The Hamilton Flour Mill Company was founded in 1898 by Marcus Daly with H. H. Grant, M. D. Grant, G. F. Grant B. McGinty and P.J. Shannon as stockholders. The Flour Mill Company was created to sell, contract and deal in wheat, oats, corn, and other grains as well as the manufacture of the same into flour, meal middlings, shorts, bran feed and other milling products. The business was connected to the irrigation system in Hamilton. The mill was first operated by water power provided by a flume from the Daly saw mill. In 1911, the Marcus Daly estate transferred their shares of the Hamilton Flour Mill to the Bitterroot Stock Farm. The Daly family sold the mill in 1914 and it became the Hamilton Cereal and Flour Mill, which was destroyed by fire in 1917 never to be re-built. This series includes a corporation book and a stock certificate book.

Series V, Cattle Company Records, (1898-1902). Hodge Daly & Company was created in 1898 and was succeeded by Marcus Daly & Company in 1899. It was quickly turned over to Daly Donahue & Greenwood Company in August 1899 and was then transferred to Daly Bank & Trust in January 1901, which lasted until December 1901, when the company became William Montgomery & Company. In March 1902 the assets were transferred to the Lakeview Land & Cattle Company which was created in 1901 to buy, sell and convey lands, livestock and other assets of Marcus Daly and William M. Montgomery in Madison and Beaverhead Counties in Montana. This series consists of a journal and a ledger documenting several cattle companies that Marcus Daly either created or invested in from 1898-1902. The Lakeview Land and Cattle Company records are housed in Series VI, Lakeview Land and Cattle Company Records.

Series VI, Lakeview Land and Cattle Company Records, (1901-1917). The Lakeview Land and Cattle Company was preceded by several other companies that Daly invested in or created. Hodge, Daly & Company was succeeded by Marcus Daly & Company in 1899, followed by Daly, Donahue & Greenwood Company in August 1899 which was transferred to Daly Bank & Trust in January 1901 and lasted through December 1901, when the company became William Montgomery & Company. In March 1902, the assets were transferred to the Lakeview Land & Cattle Company, which was created in 1901 to buy, sell and convey lands, livestock and other assets of Marcus Daly and William M. Montgomery in Madison and Beaverhead Counties in Montana. The company bought and sold as well as bred horses, cattle and sheep, and constructed canals, ditches, flumes and other works of conveying water and reservoirs for storing the same. The company was dissolved in 1917. This series consists of articles of incorporation, general ledgers and journals, a stock certificate book, and an application for dissolution. A ledger (1898-1902) and journal (1898-1902) of the companies preceding Lakeview Land and Cattle Company are housed in Series V, Cattle Company Records.

Series VII, Ward Ditch Company, (1901). The Ward Ditch Company was created at Corvallis, Montana in September 1901 with G. W. Ward as President. By November 1901, the Ravalli Land and Irrigation Company purchased the Ward Ditch Company and transferred all ditches, property, water and water rights to them. This series contains minutes of the company.

Series VIII, Yale Mining Company Records, (1901-1910). The Yale Mining Company was incorporated in October 1901. The company purchased the Nickel Plate Mines situated in the Osorfoos division of the Yale Mining District near Similkameen River in British Columbia. John R. Toole and John G. Morony of Anaconda and A. J. Campbell of Butte became joint stockholders and Margaret P. Daly was also an investor. The company carried on a business of mining, milling, buying selling, converting, smelting, treating and preparing for market gold, silver, copper, lead and other materials. M. K. Rogers was the general manager. The Nickel Plate Mines in the Yale Mining District were sold to Isaac L. Merrill in 1909. This series contains articles of incorporation, minutes, a stock certificate book, and a folder of proxy statements.

Series IX, Ravalli Land and Irrigation Company Records, (1901-1953). Stockholders of Ravalli Land and Irrigation incorporated the business in 1901 in Butte to take over, through an exchange of stock, several ditch companies including the Ward Ditch Company and the Republican Ditch Company, water rights, and the water system of the Marcus Daly Estate. All assets of the corporation were sold in 1943 to the State Water Conservation Board. The corporation was dissolved in 1945. This series includes articles of incorporation, minutes, audit reports, balance sheets, inventories, journals, ledgers, cash books, cash vouchers, and a box of materials related to water problems (1951-1953).

Series X, Daly Realty Company Records, (1903-1976). The Daly Realty Company was incorporated in 1903 in Butte, Montana and later moved their offices to Hamilton. The company purchased, leased, sold real or personal property and erected buildings and improved or maintained houses owned by them. They bought and sold properties in Missoula, Anaconda, and Butte. They extended life of the corporation in 1943, and in 1953 purchased the assets belonging to the estate of Margaret P. Daly including mining claims in the Oaxaco Mines in Mexico, the Great Falls Land Improvement Company, the Bitterroot Realty Company in Washington, the Ravalli Land and Irrigation Company, the Treasure State Mining Company, the Valley Mercantile Company, and the Daly Mining Company in Arizona, the Hy-Grade Manganese Production and Sales Corporation in Virginia, the Couer D’Alene Syndicate Mining Company, and the Reserve Mining Company Limited. In 1955, Countess Margit Sigray Bessenyey was authorized to sign checks for the company and became president of the company in 1959. In 1972, the Daly Real Estate Company sold mining properties in Silver Bow County to the Anaconda Company for forty thousand dollars. The company was dissolved in 1976. This series includes articles of incorporation, minutes, general ledgers and journals, check books, tax work papers and a plan map (1977).

Series XI, Valley Mercantile Company Records, (1908-1935). The Valley Mercantile was a store that sold everything from clothing and groceries to dry goods and lumber. The business was created by Marcus Daly in 1890 as the company store for the Bitterroot Development Company. It became the Anaconda Company store in 1893, and the Anaconda Copper Mining Company store in 1894. It became Valley Mercantile in 1908 until it burned down in 1935 never to be re-built. This series contains financial records of the company including general ledgers, petty ledgers, transfer ledgers, check registers, trial balance, minute book, stock certificates, audit reports, and inventories.

Series XII, Bitterroot Realty Company Records, (1931-1944). The Bitterroot Realty Company was incorporated in 1931 in Washington in order to purchase the Rhododendron Apartment Hotel and the Northcliffe Apartment Hotel in Seattle, Washington. The hotels were purchased from the Valley Mercantile in Hamilton, Montana. The Bitterroot Realty Company was dissolved in 1944. This series consists of financial records including ledgers, cash and check registers, journals, minutes and correspondence.

Series XIII, Daly Mining Company Records, (1903-1924). Nothing is known about the Daly Mining Company except that it was in Arizona. This series contains a stock certificate book.

Series XIV, Big Sky Management Company Records, (1972-1992). The Big Sky Management Company took over the management of the Bitterroot Stock Farm in 1985. The office was located in Livingston, Montana and was primarily involved with ranch management and consulting. Roy Rose was the president of the company and manager of the Bitterroot Stock Farm and reported to Francis Bessenyey, executor of the Bitterroot Stock Farm from 1984-1992. This series is subdivided into three subseries including financial records, correspondence, and subject files. Subseries 1: Financial Records (1985-1988) - RESTRICTED, includes a check register, journal (1985-1986) and financial statements (1986-1988). Subseries 1: Financial Records, is restricted at the request of the donor because it contains payroll information. Subseries 2: Correspondence (1985-1992) and Subseries 3: Subject Files (1972-1992), contain materials that document the daily operations of the Bitterroot Stock Farm including information about disputes over hunting elk on the property, potential property subdivisions, appraisals, and legal disputes with adjacent property owners over fences and herds eating and migrating to other properties. Other materials include equipments lists for the stock farm, publicity materials related to the Bitterroot Stock Farm Auction held by the Gardner Auction Service (1986) as well as files related to the Bessenyey estate, financial accounts, breeding contracts, cattle sale information, Hungarian horse sales, hunting contracts and newspaper clippings.