And then C. Griswold and W. A. Clark came and claimed 320 acres of land for ranching purposes, and described as follows:
"Commencing at crossing of Granite Creek, thence up said creek one-half mile from said crossing, and down one-quarter mile, and running up Alder Creek at right angles, with Granite Creek, far enough to include 320 acres, June 10th, 1863."
The Stinkingwater District.
Began at the Big Hole, and ran up the Stinkingwater as far as the Canyon on Alder.
March 19th, 1864, Branstetter and Robert Dempsey took ranches. They were located on Stinkingwater (Ruby) near the mouth of Mill Creek. From that time on, many more places were taken. Of course, these men, as well as others, have squatted on land in that vicinity; as Mr. Chas. Beehrer says that Mr. Redfern had located in 1863, on Bevins Gulch, and had raised potatoes that year, and sold in Alder Gulch, for $1.00 per pound Redfern later planted fruit trees, and was one of the first to raise fruit in Southern Montana.
As early as 1857, Andri Trudeau, a Frenchman, had come to the valley as a trapper. Trudeau is living on a ranch about ten miles above Alder, at this time. (The rifle that he used is the old-fashioned muzzle loader, and it cost him $175.00. It is now in the show window of J. E. Chambers, in Virginia City. There has not been any other gun that has been kept in the County of madison for so many years. Chambers also has two six shooters t!iat were said to have been the property of Jack Gallagher and Club-Foot George Lane. One of these is cut off short, and belonged to: Jack.) But even before Andri, there had been other trappers, as James Gammel told, that he had camped where Virginia City is, on the 12th of January, 1852, or eleven years before William Fairweather and party found the first gold. Gammel was evidently not a prospector, or he might have found the treasure.
We also know that Jack Slade had taken up a piece of land; in fact, two, one on the Madison, which he called "Ravenwood," and one in a gulch, seven miles from Virginia, where he was living at the time he was hung, on which he built a stone building, which is now in existence. My idea is, that Slade must have only used his place for raising or caring for stock.
We are told that Ray Woodworth was the first man to farm in the Madison Valley. John F. Bishop said that he met Ray in Salt Lake, May 1st, 1864, and that Ray got up to the ranch early enough to raise vegetables, for which be received $4,000.00 that fall in Virginia City. Woodworth also raised the first grain in the county, or in Southern Montana, as near as I can find out.