Home About Travel History Genealogy Resources
Americana Journeys - Genealogy
The Journey of John Evan Reese - Montana Reese Creek Homestead
Wales / Pennsylvania / Utah / Montana
Montana - Gallatin & Reese Creek
The Reese family left Utah and traveled into what was then the Idaho Territory
with their escort of cavalry troops as far as the Snake River. Safely in Montana
Territory, they stopped in Bannock for the summer and after two months headed
to Virginia City. Gold had been found there and John Reese felt he could draw
on his mining experience to make it work. The family spent the winter in the
mining camp of Alder Gulch. The men did their best at gold mining, or working
for other prospectors but the real gold, as usual in mining camps, came
from services. Mary Reese and her daughter Mary Jane and her mother provided
washing services for the mining camp laborors. According to the Reese journal,
young Mary Jane Reese collected the rather significant amount of $1100 and
carried it in a small leather pouch attached at her waist.
In the Spring of 1864, the family moved onward, traveling to the northwest. They traveled through the Bridger Range now found in the Gallatin National
Forest, through the Bozeman Pass, and came to the beautiful Gallatin Valley
in the shadow of Ross Peak and Sacajewia Peak where Lewis and Clark had passed
in 1806. John E. Reese stopped their wagons at a small creek of fresh flowing
water from the mountains and built a homestead. This is now called Reese Creek,
just outside of Bozeman, north of the airport. John E's. eldest son, John J
Reese had stayed on in Alder Gulch, but later rejoined the family in Montana
in 1866, becoming quite a prominent citizen himself, having led a party to build the first northern road into Yellowstone. The Gallatin Valley with
its sloping green land from the mountains reminded John Rees of the Carmarthen
hills of the Brecon Becons he had left back in Wales.
John Reese put his money into the homestead and his wife bought cows with gold
dust from the laundry earnings. A log cabin John E. built for his family also
served as a meeting place for worship and other community gatherings. He devoted
his life to farming and stock-raising. The house was built on the southeast
corner of the 10 acre homestead, and the family planted the rest with oats
and wheat. This land is at the crossroads where the present day Spring Hill
Road meets Reese Creek Road in Belgrade, Montana. The Reese Creek Church built
later was across the road from their property. John Evan Reese born in Wales in 1818 died March 21, 1900, after living to the age of 82. He is buried next to his wife in the
Reese Creek Cemetery, near his former homestead land.
Sources: Progressive Men of Montana, Descendants of Evan Reese, Journal of John E Reese, West Glamorganshire Archive, Wikipedia Commons
Additional Resources - Charlotte Gamel MarkTurner