View XML QR Code

Kohrs and Bielenberg Land and Livestock Company records, 1892-1928

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Kohrs and Bielenberg Land and Livestock Company
Title
Kohrs and Bielenberg Land and Livestock Company records
Dates
1892-1928 (inclusive)
Quantity
7 linear feet of shelf space
Collection Number
MC 145 (collection)
Summary
Conrad Kohrs and John Bielenberg operated a ranch at Deer Lodge, Montana. Records (1892-1928) consist of three subgroups: the Kohrs and Bielenberg Subgroup, including correspondence (1913-1920) and financial records (1892-1918) pertaining to the Deer Lodge ranch; the Conrad Kohrs Estate Subgroup (1920-1928), including correspondence of Samuel McKennan, estate executor, and financial records; and the John N.W. Bielenberg Estate Subgroup (1921-1927), including correspondence of executors Samuel McKennan and R.O. Kaufman, court papers, financial records, legal documents, and miscellany.
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 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.
Return to Top

Biographical Note

Carston Conrad Kohrs was born in Wewelsfelth, Holstein, Germany, on August 5, 1835, the son of Carston and Gesche Krause Kohrs. His father, a distiller and brewer, died when Conrad was only seven weeks old. His mother married Claus Bielenberg in 1844. In 1853 Kohrs settled in the United States and learned the meat packing trade. He joined the California gold rush in 1857, and worked a claim near Eureka, before continuing his search for gold on the Frazer River in Canada. He returned to the East, but in 1862 he crossed the plains to Salt Lake, and from there ranged north to the Big Hole and Deer Lodge valleys of what is now Montana. Although he had intended to prospect for gold Kohrs was hired as a butcher and it was in this trade that he found success. He soon began supplying miners and other butchers with meat.

On August 23, 1865, Kohrs bought John Grant's ranch and cattle in the Deer Lodge valley. Kohrs and his half-brother John N. W. Bielenberg are credited with initiating the practice of open-range grazing in central Montana when they moved their herd from Deer Lodge to the Sun River in 1870. By the late 1880s Conrad Kohrs' Pioneer Cattle Company, incorporated in January, 1885, was one of the largest cattle raising operations in the Northwest. In the mid-1910s the Pioneer Cattle Company sold its livestock and retained only the ranches which were run by Bielenberg through the Kohrs and Bielenberg Land and Livestock Company until his death.

Kohrs was also interested in mining. In the spring of 1867 he joined with some partners to form what was to become the Rock Creek Ditch and Mining Company. After locating water rights on Rock Creek, the company constructed a ditch and dam in 1870, and sold water to nearby miners. Kohrs bought another ditch opened by the Atlantic Cable Mining Company in 1868, and began the Pioneer Placer Mining Company near Pioneer in 1870. Ownership of the latter company was transferred to the Kohrs and Bielenberg Land and Livestock Company in 1923.

Kohrs operated the Deer Lodge ranch and many of his business concerns, including his real estate holdings, in partnership with John Bielenberg. The Kohrs and Bielenberg Realty Company was formed in 1906, with Conrad Kohrs, John Bielenberg, and Kohrs' son-in-law O.Y. Warren as directors. A major holding of the Kohrs and Bielenberg Realty Company included the Higgins Block in Missoula. Another Kohrs-owned business was the Conrad Kohrs Company whose assets included the Treacy, Beveridge, Kohrs, Brazier, and Denver blocks in Helena, as well as the Pioneer, Holland, and Robecker ranches and other properties.

By 1908 most of the Kohrs and Bielenberg ranch, mining, and real estate interests were incorporated as the Kohrs and Bielenberg Land and Livestock Company. This holding company was organized in June 1908 with four directors and stockholders: Conrad Kohrs, John Bielenberg, Edward Scharnikow of Deer Lodge, and Conrad's wife Augusta. The Conrad Kohrs Company was a primary stockholder. Samuel McKennan, Kohrs' friend and president of Helena's Union Bank and Trust Company, replaced Kohrs as director of the Conrad Kohrs Company after his death; Anna Boardman, Kohrs' daughter succeeded John Bielenberg. Kohrs and Bielenberg Realty was sold to the Kohrs and Bielenberg Land and Livestock Company in 1909 and was dissolved in 1919. The Pioneer Placer Mining Company was sold to the holding company in 1923. In 1930 the Kohrs and Bielenberg Land and Livestock Company charter of incorporation expired, and its holdings were transferred to the Conrad Kohrs Company.

On February 23, 1868, Kohrs married Augusta Kruse (1849-1943), a German immigrant who had come to the United States in 1866. They had three children: Anna Catherine (1868-1924), Katharine Christine (1870-1958), and William Kruse Conrad (1879-1901). Conrad Kohrs died on July 23, 1920. John Bielenberg died on June 16, 1922. In 1972 Kohrs' grandson, Conrad Kohrs Warren (b. August 16, 1907) sold the home ranch and outbuildings and 216 acres to the National Park Service, which created the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site.

John N.W. Bielenberg was born in the Duchy of Holstein on May 1, 1846, to Claus and Gesche Krause Kohrs Bielenberg. He immigrated to Davenport, Iowa, with his parents in 1854. In 1864 he moved to the Deer Lodge valley of Montana Territory where he became associated with Conrad Kohrs in ranching. In 1909 he was elected to the Senate of the Montana Legislative Assembly from Powell County. He was director of the Union Bank and Trust Company of Montana in Helena and one of the original directors of the Deer Lodge Bank & Trust Company of Deer Lodge.

Return to Top

Content Description

The Kohrs and Bielenberg Records include three subgroups. The Kohrs and Bielenberg Subgroup contains interoffice correspondence (1913-1920) between Bielenberg and Conrad Kohrs, primarily dealing with business matters, and financial records (1892-1918) pertaining to the Deer Lodge ranch operation. The Conrad Kohrs Estate Subgroup consists of general correspondence (1920-1928) chiefly to and from Samuel McKennan, executor of the estate; and financial records (1920-1928) pertaining to properties held by the estate. The John N.W. Bielenberg Estate Subgroup consists of general correspondence (1924-1927) of the executors Samuel McKennan and R.O. Kaufman and others, court papers (1922-1927), financial records (1922-1927), legal documents (1921-1922), and miscellany (1922-1926). A list of maps transferred to the Library is included in each subgroup.

Return to Top

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.

Return to Top

Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged by subgroup and series.

Location of Collection

7:2-4

Acquisition Information

Acquisition information available upon request

Separated Materials

Maps have been separated to the Library. See inventory below for more information.

Return to Top

Detailed Description of the Collection

Detailed Description of the Collection

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

Finding aid prepared by MHS staff
2004

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

About Creative Commons Licenses in Archives West