Stover, Raymond M.

Ray and Iona Stover owned and operated a ranch near Oswego, Valley County, Montana. The ranch is part of an area known as the "Big Dry," the focus of large-scale ranching activity in the 1880s. The Big Dry took its name from Big Dry Creek, named by Lewis and Clark in 1806. By the 1870s and 1880s, however, the whole region had taken the name of the creek and much of Garfield County is known as the Big Dry. During the 1930s and 1940s the Stovers corresponded with some of the cowboys who had lived and worked in the Big Dry during the 1880s and 1880s, including Al H. Wilkins, Edward C. "Teddy Blue" Abbott, and Dominick J. "D.J." O'Malley.

Al H. Wilkins was born to Daniel G. and Deborah Starbeck Wilkins in Morristown, Minnesota, in 1863. Daniel Wilkins was a merchant ruined by the Civil War, who became an Indian trader. In 1874 when he was eleven years old, Al Wilkins left Minnesota with his father on trapping expeditions to Canada and northern Montana near Fort Benton. During this time he had both hostile and friendly encounters with Indians, including Gros Ventre and Cree, as well as with mixed bloods. Until 1885 the Wilkins traded with the Indians and put up hay for C.A. Broadwater's Diamond R Freighting Company. Al Wilkins then moved to Livingston where he made his home. He married Mary J. Billman in Gardiner in 1886. They had no children.

Edward C. "Teddy Blue" Abbott was born in England in 1860. His father left England with his family in 1871, and settled near Lincoln, Nebraska, where he became a cattle rancher. By the age of fourteen "Teddy Blue" had become an able cowhand. He left home in 1878 and worked many cattle drives from Texas to the Northern Plains. In 1883 he found work in Montana Territory. After some riotous years, he went to work for Granville Stuart on the DHS Ranch. He later became a prosperous rancher on his own Three Deuce Ranch near Gilt Edge, Fergus County. He married Stuart's daughter Mary in 1889. Abbott died in Gilt Edge on April 17, 1939.

Dominick J. "D.J." O'Malley was born in New York City in 1867. His stepfather Charles White served in the U.S. Army and in 1877 was stationed with the 2nd Cavalry, Troop E, at Fort Keogh, Montana Territory. The family lived at Fort Keogh until 1881. In 1882 D.J. O'Malley went to work as a horse wrangler for the Home Land & Cattle Company, owner of the famous N-Bar-N brand. O'Malley stayed with the Home Land & Cattle Company for fourteen years, eventually becoming their "repall working outside the home range keeping track of cattle and generally looking afer the company's interests. During his nineteen years as a cowhand, O'Malley made three trips with southern cattle bound for their Northern Plains ranges. His last trail drive was in 1894. The Home Land & Cattle Company sold out in 1896, and O'Malley went to work for other livestock companies, including the Bow-and-Arrow, the M-Diamond, the Half-Circle-L, and the L-U-Bar. He also worked as deputy stock inspector for the Montana Stockgrowers' Association. In 1904 he served as special deputy sheriff at Rosebud, Custer County. He later worked as a guard in the Montana State Prison. In 1909 O'Malley went to Wisconsin where he married. Except for a brief period from 1921 to 1924 when he returned to work as a Montana prison guard, O'Malley lived in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. O'Malley had two daughters, Margaret and Mary Alicia. O'Malley died in Eau Claire on March 6, 1943.

The Montana National Cowboys' Association, Inc. was the result of a reunion of cowboys who had worked in Montana before 1900. The first meeting was held in Great Falls on March 12, 1938. The purpose of the association was "to establish a Cowboy's Home Ranch...to provide a home for aged cowboys." Ben "Packsaddle" Greenough of Red Lodge was an early association "Waggonboss."

From the description of Ray Stover and Iona Stover papers, 1934-1943. (Montana Historical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 276170205