46 | SignatureMT
Written by Suzanne Waring
U
nlike other well-known pioneers of
north central Montana, Charles A.
Broadwater was never the object of
satirical remarks in regional newspapers.
He was even called colonel by everyone, not
because he had been a colonel in the military
but because he had earned this Southern title
out of courtesy from others.
His parents had been part of the Virginia
aristocracy. e soil on their plantation had
played out over the years, forcing Broadwater's
father to leave the land of his heritage and to
purchase a coon plantation (some biogra-
phers called it a rocky farm) near St. Louis,
Missouri, where Broadwater was born.
When he was sixteen years old, Broadwa-
ter le school and worked in a large St. Louis
mercantile house. Although he received a
business background there, this kind of work
C.A. Broadwater
A Montana Name Everyone Knew
Broadwater, photographed in 1880 at his home in Fort Assiniboine, held the construction and sulfur contracts for both Fort Assiniboine and Fort
Maginnis. Photo provided by F.J. Haynes, photographers, Haynes Foundation Collections, MHS Photograph Archives
Charles A. Broadwater in about 1885.
Photography by Taylor, Helena, MHS Photograph Archives
