Christmas (Part 2)

How the Festive Day Was Celebrated by Traders and Pioneers in Early-Day Montana Territory

(Cont. from last week)

Originally printed in the Hysham Echo on

December 16, 1926

by Mrs. M. E. Plassmann

We children hung our stockings near the stone fireplace, to find them next morning filled with needed articles, to be sure, but neither toys nor books. I have no recollection of Christmas, 1864; it was too near the hanging of Plummer, Buck Stinson, and Ned Ray, and a tense feeling of uncertainty prevailed amongst those of us who knew what was planned. We were in a better mood for celebrating after the hanging had been accomplished.
The New York Tribune of January 4, 1868, carried an account of Christmas in Virginia City, from which I quote:
The writer said the day was “one of the balmiest I ever witnessed in any climate. I sat most of the day in an office with the windows and doors open and a fire would have been uncomfortable. The air was soft as eastern spring and the sun shone out upon the hills and cliffs with such warmth as to start their winter crowns of snow in murmuring streamlets down their rugged sides. The city was gay throughout. * * * Sumptuous dinners were spread in various uninviting shanties, and fair hands and fascinating faces made guests forget the crude architecture that encircled them. In the evening, mine host, Chapin, of the planters, gave a ball, and one hundred jolly people responded. Tickets were twenty dollars each, but the supply was unequal to the demand. A second floor over one of the large store rooms was fitted up most tastefully for the occasion. Evergreens and flowers were festooned around the walls and the Stars and Strips hung in graceful folds over the orchestra. For the first time in the far west I found nearly as many ladies as men at the ball; but they were varied rather more in their ages than is usual in eastern gatherings of the kind. Young misses of ten and twelve years not infrequently, aided to fill up the dance; while my partner in the only active participation I had in the ball (the promenade to supper) was a grandmother who owned to nearly sixty winters.
“Supper came at midnight and it would have done credit to any eastern town of thrice our population. Oyster soup opened the course - the oysters having been shipped three thousand miles. Elegant salad, delicious jellies, game of all kinds, candies manufactured into temples and monuments, almost every variety of fruits and sparkling wines, combined to tempt the appetite.
“While there was freedom from the severe exactions of social rules in the east, there was the most scrupulous care on the part of all to restrain social freedom within the bounds of property. After an hour at the table, the middle-aged portion of the party returned to the ball room, while the old folks and little retired to their homes.
“Altogether it was one of the most agreeable gatherings I ever witnessed; and it was enjoyed by most of the company as only western people can enjoy social parties. With all the freedom of western life, I have never seen a man intoxicated at a ball or other social meeting; and the sincere cordiality evinced by the ladies toward each other would be an improvement on the more cultivated customs of the east.”

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After this florid description of an earlier day, the first Christmas celebration at Great Falls sounds tame. Senator Paris Gibson has briefly noted it in his reminiscences. That year of 1885, the new town on the Missouri had few inhabitants, and it seems almost incredible that fifty children, the number given by Senator Gibson, could have been present at the Christmas festivities, even including those who came form Sand Coulee. There was a tree provided for the occasion by Masseurs. Albert Huy, Silas Beachley and Hickory. The meeting was held in the schoolhouse on the south Side; the Rev. Largent presided, and Philip Gibson acted as secretary. Mrs. Ladd, Mrs. Largten, and Mrs. Pratt solicited the money for the presents, and Professor Mortson acted as Santa Claus. Print this post