CHAPTER X.

BUTTE. HELMSVILLE. PHILIPSBURG. GRANITE. ANACONDA.

STONE STATION.

Butte City, one of the first dependencies of the Deer Lodge Mission, was visited by Father De Ryckere upon his arrival in 1866. A goodly number of miners were engaged in placer diggings which had been discovered in the fall of 1864. This kind of mining, however, did not last long. It began to die out in 1868-69, and by 1874 placer mining in Butte had dwindled into insignificance.

One year after 1875, the discovery was made that Butte's dark rocks and grey ledges contained far more treasure in silver and copper than the gold that had been found in its grovels, and from that date the place loomed up as Silver Butte or the "Copper City," and became in time the largest mining camp in genealogists.

There being no longer any doubt as to its future Father De Ryckere built a church there in 1877-78. It was a frame structure, which some time later was lined with brick. Services were held from the time of it completion, but its formal blessing took place August 1, 1879, when Archbishop Charles J. Seghers was making the first Episcopal visitation of Western Montana, to which we refer more in detail elsewhere. The Archbishop dedicated the church under the title of St. Patrick. Butte was attended from Deer Lodge to about March, 1881. At this date, the "Copper City" became part of the new County of Silver Bow, as well as a separate Mission. Hence we speak of it also separately and more in detail a little further on.

Some time later a church was also built b y Father De Ryckere at Helmsville, in Nevada Creek Valley, where there is a fair number of excellent Catholics. The structure is also frame, and cost about $3,000. It was blessed July 7, 1889, by the Rt. Rev. John B. Brondel, who named it after the Apostle St. Thomas. The fact that this was the Christian name of Mr. Coleman, one of

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the leading Catholics and first settlers of the place, most likely suggested the title.

Philipsburg comes next as a dependency of the Deer Lodge Mission, and a chapel or church was erected there in 1890-91 with the name of St. Philip. Adjacent to Philipsburg lies Granite, another mining town, where a church is being completed at the time of our writing. It is a frame structure with Rectory attached. Its dimensions are 39 feet by 68, and is to be named after St. Andrew.

Since the latter part of October, 1891, a resident priest has been assigned to this field, and with his new provision the Philipsburg district ceases to be a dependency of the church of Deer Lodge, whence it was attended for several years.

The one to whom this portion of the Lord's vineyard has been recently confided is the Rev. A. H. Lambaere, a young and talented missionary priest, hailing from Vlamerthings, West Flanders, Belgium, where he was born December 11, 1865. He was ordained to the priesthood in the American College at Louvain, December 27, 1888, and not quite a year after came to Montana. He was at first one of the assistant priests at the Cathedral and visited during that time as a missionary, Great Falls, where he built a church, and also Boulder Valley. In January, 1891, he went to Bozeman, whence he also attended Three Forks, the Boulder and Missouri valleys as well as other stations, till his appointment to the Philipsburg and Granite Mission. Father Lambaere's pastoral care extends not only over the faithful of the twin mining towns and vicinity, who number close to one thousand, but also over those who are scattered through Beaverhead and Madison, since both these counties are now attached to his missionary district.

Another flourishing Mission and one that in the short period of its existence has outgrown the older settlements of Deer Lodge County, is Anaconda. Large smelting works have been established here by the Anaconda Company, a concern that gives employment to thousand of men. Many of these laborers being Catholics, the place was regularly visited from Deer Lodge until the expansion of the works and the number of our people being employed therein rendered indispensable the permanent residence of a priest. The Rev. Peter Desiere, who had visited Anaconda

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from Deer Lodge, where he has been residing with Father De Ryckere for a year or so, was appointed to the spiritual charge of the faithful in the smelter city.

The Reverend P. Desiere is a veteran of learning, tact and much experience, counting now twenty-five years' efficient service in the ministry. He was born at Houthen, in Flanders, Belgium, April 7, 1843. After six years of Latin at Furnes, he entered the higher courses at Bruges, and received the priesthood December 21, 1867. He had been twelve years a professor at Dixmude, and four years Curate at Roulers when he was promoted to the pastorship of Westende. This, however, he surrendered four years after, to become a missionary priest in America, leave being granted him, not without regret, by his ecclesiastical Superiors. His proffered services were gladly accepted by the Rt. Rev. J. B. Brondel, the Bishop of Helena, and coming to Montana in April, 1887m he was first assigned to Deer Lodge as assistant to Father De Ryckere. After Father Desiere did missionary duty for a few months at Butte, and in September, 1888, was appointed to Anaconda and became the first resident pastor of that new Catholic community.

The neat brick church erected at the cost of some $12,000, and blessed November 25, 1888, under the title of St. Paul, a comfortable pastoral residence, built shortly after, ST. Ann's Hospital, quite recently opened under the management of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth; and, above all, a well organized and edifying congregation, are substantial evidence of Father Desiere's zeal and efficient work at Anaconda. Nor should we omit to mentioned that visiting the Insane Asylum and Penitentiary, two state institutions located in this part of Deer Lodge County, has also been one of his cares.

At the close of 1891 there were in anaconda 2,650 Catholics, with the following number of baptisms and marriage for the last three years:

The last church to be mentioned in this connection is the one just completed by Father De Ryckere in the Flint Creek Valley,

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at the mouth of Douglass Creek. It is a frame building, erected at the cost of nearly $3,000, and will be a great boon for the Catholics who are either mining or farming in that section.

The number of baptisms and marriages for the last three years in the now reduced district of the Mission of Deer Lodge--that is to say, exclusive of Butte and Anaconda--has been as follows:

The Catholics in the same district numbered in 1891 a little over 2,000. By adding these and the faithful of Anaconda together, it will be seen that out of a total population of 15, 155, as given to this country by the census of 1890, nearly 5,000, that is, about one-fourth of the whole number are Catholics

To complete this part of our subject, it remains to speak more in full of the portion of the Deer Lodge Mission which has become Silver Bow County.