21 January 2012
The world was just as chaotic for the fur trader and buffalo hunter in Montana in the late 1870s as it has been for workers seeking employment during the last few years. Like the workers who suddenly found their world void of work and in need of a new direction or a new set of skills, the trader and the hunter could no longer depend on the buffalo or a familiar way of life.
By 1879, the Métis in Montana were being forced to make a decision. They needed to settle somewhere. For my ancestors that choice was Spring Creek. They were thrown into a situation that they may or may not have wanted, but they took with them their best assets.
Among those resources were strong relationships. They had lived, worshiped and worked together for many years. In difficult times, relationships that have been built and nurtured through time have staying power.
They had skills. According to Ben Kline, they knew how to build a trading post, take it down and re-establish it somewhere else. Just by the fact that they lived long enough to produce another generation means that they knew what it took to endure the bitter cold in the winter and the prairie fires in the summer.
Great-great-grandfather Janeaux knew how to read and understood the basics of business. He knew how to negotiate, when to speak up when prices charged were too high and when to keep quiet and listen intently when it was to his best interest.
Janeaux also knew how to move forward. By the summer of 1879 the Métis had arrived in the Judith Basin. It was not until late September that our family arrived at Spring Creek from Fort Benton. While in Fort Benton, Janeaux signed several important legal documents. On September 22 of that year, he contracted with T.C Power for the supplies he needed to begin a trading establishment. He waited a couple of additional days for what may have actually been the most important legal document he signed that week.
On September 24, 1879, Janeaux officially declared his intention to become a United States citizen. All the years that he worked along the Missouri and Milk Rivers, Janeaux had been a Canadian subject of Queen Victoria. This one decision, a declaration of intent to become a citizen, coupled with the rules of the Homestead Act of 1862, eventually led to the founding of Lewistown.
The 150th Anniversary of the Homestead Act is this year. What a fortunate opportunity for our great-great-grandfather.
