Joe Hartmann was born in Chicago on December 3, 1883. He came to Montana shortly after the turn of the century, and from 1904 to 1916 operated a freighting operation with his brother, Tim, between the railroad town of Malta and the mining town of Zortman on the south slope of the Little Rocky Mountains. They provided the main supply link between those towns. Of particular note was the nearly month-long journey Hartmann took during the harsh winter of 1906-1907, when his team hauled much-needed supplies to Zortman through deep snow and dangerously low temperatures. Also in 1904, Hartmann took a homestead southeast of Zortman, where he rested his freight horses between trips. He later raised horses and sheep, using the unusually large barn and sheep shed he built in 1914 and 1928, respectively. Joe Hartmann never married. At the time of his death on January 11, 1971, he was survived by one brother, Henry; brother-in-law Robert Pewitt, Sr.; sister-in-law Rose Hartmann; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by three brothers and three sisters.