Page 33 - Nov 2020 JOA

This winter, a collection of firearms owned and two remain that feature the “Style 3” barrel
used by Granville Stuart will be available at inscriptions as seen in the photo. This beautiful
Rock Island Auction Company’s December 4-6 piece of period technology remains an amazing
Premier Auction. representation of the frontier, the Montana
Rock Island Auction Company is the world’s territory, and one of the state’s founding fathers,
top auction house specializing in antique and Granville Stuart. A Winchester One of One
collector firearms. Of notable interest is the Thousand is a holy grail for collectors – now
Winchester 1873 One of One Thousand rifle combined with this fantastic Frontier Era history,
that was personally owned by Mr. Montana it is sure to generate its fair share of excitement
himself, as documented by direct relatives. this December when it will be offered at Rock
Winchester only produced 132 One of One Island Auction Company.
Thousand rifles for the Model 1873, and only For more information: rockislandauction.com

etter from Granville Stuart, 1896. Montana
pioneer legend. Superb Autograph Letter
LSigned, Granville Stuart, two pages, 8” x
10”, on stationery of the Legation of the United
States, Montevideo, [Uruguay], February 10, 1896.
This letter is a superb one in which Stuart
recounts the scare of being attacked by a band
of Native American Indians in the pre-railroad
days of stage coaches in the Old West. Responding
to a request from a student at the State Normal
School at Emporia, Kansas, now Emporia State
University, for a handwritten letter containing
“a reminiscence, a favorite sentiment, or a word of
advice” for one of several autograph albums to be
devoted to the country’s prominent men and
women, Stuart writes:

… As I am nothing if not generous, I will send
you all three, the reminiscence being intimately
wned by “Mr. Montana” himself, Granville Stuart.
connected with the plains of Kansas.
Even a young Theodore Roosevelt inquired In 1866, long before the days of Pacific
about enlisting in the Strangers, but was Railroads, one winter morning at Denver in
denied by Granville himself saying that he was company with several others I mounted the
too afraid of the increased publicity the group Overland Stage, eastward bound.
would receive as a result. There was no snow on the ground, and
Legends and myths report the group killed we bowled merrily along until the second
over a hundred different criminals but there day[.] Just as the Rocky Mountains that I loved
is little historical evidence to support this so well sank below the horizon, a war party of
claim. Stuarts Stranglers were responsible for Indians that I didn’t love at all rose above it.
returning over 300 horses back to their My hair also rose.
original owners. While certainly subject to The driver let out a yell and his whip began
modern scrutiny and criticism like many to descend upon the horses in a way that
other vigilante groups of the time, one cannot astonished them, and we were soon flying
deny the effectiveness of the group whose across the prairie at a gait that made that old
reputation extended across the country. coach rock like a ship in a storm.
Fortunately for us just as our pursuers
QA Lifelong Legacy bullets began to whistle about us we came to a stage station where there was a
small guard of soldiers, who hearing the din rushed out and opened fire on the
Active even until his death in 1918, Indians, wounding two, and causing them [to] draw off, while we escaped unhurt.
Granville Stuart spent his entire life in the Ever since this little western episode my favorite sentiment has been, “It is better
service of the Montana Territory and its to be born lucky than rich,” in which I feel sure you will join me.
settlement, aptly earning himself the nick-
name “Mr. Montana.” His notes and He finishes by taking a tongue-in-cheek approach to women’s suffrage—a swipe at
journal writings have helped stitch together a men—erroneously believing that the State Normal School was an all-women’s school:

historically accurate depiction of the early In view of the long desired, and now near approaching, change in the political
settlement of Montana, the building of its status of the new—I mean of the fair sex, my advice is to “vote early and often,” thus
economy, and the conception of some its casting confusion upon man, the tobacco chewing, whiskey drinking, animal, and
oldest institutions. founding a new and better civilization with him left entirely out.
Wishing grand success to the “State Normal,” and unbounded happiness to
Mike Burns is a Social Media Specialist at each and every one of the 1600 lovely young ladies that sent me such kindly
Rock Island Auction Company, the world's greeting, I remain,
largest firearms auction house. Concentrating Your Obedient Servant
primarily in creative digital content production, Granville Stuart
Mike and the rest of the social media team bring
history to life in a way that is enjoyable, This letter is an outstanding relic from the Old West. Stuart has boldly penned and
informational, and most of all fun! signed it in black ink.

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