An Uncommon Journey: The History of Old Dawson County, Montana Territory

Based on the memoir of Stephen Norton Van Blaricom, An Uncommon Journey details the origins of Dawson County, Montana, in the late 1800s.

The oldest of nine children, Van Blaricom left home at the age of thirteen and worked for many of northeastern Montana's earliest ranches. After working for the Northern Pacific Railroad, he married Maud Griselle, one of the first female telegraphers for the Northern Pacific.

More than a family, history, An Uncommon Journey tells the personal stories of many of the first settlers of this last West: buffalo hunters, cattlemen, train drivers, early tradesmen, saloonkeepers, scallywags, and lawmen. There were few women m this vast and trackless country; those; who ventured into this remote land often lived in harsh and lonely conditions.

The 1880 census recorded 180 white men, women, and children inhabiting the 25,000 square miles of the original Dawson County. About 2,000 more followed them over the next six years. These resilient and resourceful individuals were the "first settlers"-the first wave of pioneers who attempted to carve out a living in the desolation of northeastern Montana Territory:-Many of them died, and they lie buried in remote graves in the countryside. A few found jobs and eked out a living in Glendive or Wibaux. Many more failed and moved on to greener pastures. There were a few who, prospered and stayed on.

This is the story of many of the long-forgotten first settlers of old Dawson County and how they met the challenges of a country that was then primitive and remote at its best and deadly at its worst. For all of them it was indeed, An Uncommon Journey.