White Sulphur Springs
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Montana
White
Sulphur Springs Directory Listings
A view from 1939:
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, (5,200 alt.,
575 pop.), seat of Meagher (pronounced mar) County, was so
named because of mineral springs. The springs are now privately
exploited. Indians came great distances to use the hot water
here for medicinal purposes. White people who follow their
example, report improvement in cases of rheumatism and some
stomach disorders.
Meagher County was named for Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher, an
Irish patriot and Civil War hero who came to Montana as a Federal
official. Acting as Territorial Governor in the absence of
Sidney Edgerton, General Meagher made a trip to Fort Benton,
July 1, 1867, intending to go down the river to obtain arms
for a campaign against the Indians. Late at night, on the eve
of his expected departure from Fort Benton, he went to his
stateroom on the steamer after a visit to a tavern, and was
never seen again. For some time rumors were afloat that the
general had been pushed into the river while attempting to
board the steamer, but this was denied by responsible citizens
of Fort Benton who had escorted him to his room. He was a large,
powerful man; it is improbable that he could have been forcibly
taken from his stateroom and hurled into the water without
a struggle that would have aroused the crew and passengers.
What happened to him remains one of the mysteries of pioneer
Montana.
Contemporaries say that Meagher was a quarrelsome person; that
many of his decisions as Acting Governor had met bitter opposition
and made enemies who might conceivably have seized the opportunity
to do away with him. Some members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians
took the stand that he was a martyr to the Irish cause and
erected a statue of him on the capitol grounds at Helena, near
the main entrance.
White Sulphur Springs was the boyhood home of Taylor Gordon,
a Negro singer of spirituals.
The country around White Sulphur Springs offers excellent hunting
and fishing, and is a popular summer-resort area. An annual
Labor Day Rodeo in the town draws some of the best riders and
ropers in the State.
The Auditorium, built (1870) when plans were projected to make
White Sulphur Springs a rival of the popular spa of the same
name in West Virginia, boasts a false ceiling made of a "big
top" purchased from the Ringling Brothers' circus.
Source: Montana: A State Guide Book; Compiled and Written
by the Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration
for the State of Montana; September, 1939.
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