Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1453344
44 | SIGNATURE MONTANA A ghost town now, Maiden, Montana, in its heyday around 1885. Granville Stuart le his home state of Iowa in 1852 at the age of 18 and headed west with his father, Robert Stuart, and his older brother, James, in hopes of striking it rich in the California goldfields. When prospecting didn't pan out, Robert returned to Iowa while the boys remained in the Sacramento area and followed leads to gold strikes. Coming up empty- handed, they enlisted as scouts in the first California Mounted Riflemen for three dollars a day to fight Indians in the Rogue River Wars in 1856. eir military career lasted about a month with no encounter with hostile Indians. In 1857, they decided to return to Iowa; however, when they found the trail blocked by the Mormon War in Utah, they went north instead, landing in the lower end of the Deer Lodge Valley in Montana. Soon they discovered the nearby (using Montana's perspective of "nearby") Deer Lodge Valley, where they developed a base from which to go and come during the upcoming years. ree years passed without the young men making plans to make a trip home. By that time, the Civil War was raging, and that was enough reason to stay beyond the conflict or the possibility of being draed. Granville finally returned home in 1866 aer the war had ended. Granville was a keen observer of nature and of men. During the ensuing years, Granville tried working as a prospector, miner, merchant, gunsmith, blacksmith, butcher, sawyer, home-trader, and rancher, always with an eye on making a fortune. At times he had money, but oen he was in debt. Early on, few white women lived in the Deer Lodge Valley, but that didn't prevent social gatherings. In 1862 Granville met and married Awbonnie Tookanka, who was a fieen-year-old full-blooded Shoshone. Awbonnie Tookanka Stuart was Granville Stuart's first wife. She was of Shoshone descent and married Stuart when she was only fifteen years old. When he finally went back to Iowa, Granville began to realize the error of this marriage from the standpoint of his family. Even in the Deer Lodge Valley, once white women came into the community, he realized that his marriage to Awbonnie was frowned on. However, Awbonnie wore a ring, and the two lived together for twenty-six years until her MEMORY LANE