Homesteader Highlight: John Ervin, Upper Missouri River Montana
The Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument encompasses 149 miles of magnificent river corridor and adjacent landscape. For those of you who have enjoyed numerous multi-day river trips, you will understand the following statement: the river itself is only a portion of what there is to enjoy and explore on an adventure like this. Often, one of the most enriching aspects is what you see and experience when you hike and explore the landscape on either side of the river.
Learning about the history of this region is one of the most important parts of this particular river trip. Most people are drawn to this river corridor to learn more about and ‘relive’ the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but that portion of this river’s rich past is a significant but small part. From the fur trade to Native American history, from the homesteaders and cowboys to steamboats, from being the artery to the West and more, one could spend a lifetime exploring this time in our nation’s history with relation to the Upper Missouri River.
One of our favorite homesteaders stories is that of John Ervin. He might possibly be the most colorful character amongst the stories contained in our history digest. (A very important and valuable resource to have while floating and exploring the river. Click here to find out more and purchase.) John’s homestead is located in the Badlands or “Breaks” portion of the monument. We generally stay at a campsite just downriver from his cabin. It is possible to visit the cabin certain times of the year and if you have time to navigate the often thick willows and brush leading up to the cabin. Mainly, we love picturing John and his life in one of our favorite parts of the entire river.
John Ervin
River Miles 121.2 to 123.0 LEFT
John Ervin was born in Texas, and as far as he knew, he was an orphan. He wasn’t even sure if John Ervin was his real name or one that had just been given to him. Other had trouble with his name too, and it’s recorded as Erwin, Irwin and Irvine.
John’s education is another mystery, Some say he claimed to have a second grade education. He confided to at least one friend that he’d lived with a sheep herder for a while to get some education, but as soon as he learned his ABCs, he left because he then knew as much as his teacher. During these early years, he had to wrangle horses to pay for his board. He was on his own and working as a cowboy when he was twelve, and he received $6 a month for his work on the range.
He spent most of his pay for ammunition so that he could learn how to shoot a revolver. The attitude in Texas as the time was that you shouldn’t pack a gun unless you could shoot six bottles off of six continuous posts while riding a horse on a dead run.
He made two cattle drives from Texas to Montana. The notorious “Billy the Kid” worked on the same ranch and made one of those drives with him. After the second drive, John stayed in Montana and finally settled on the bottom land around the mouth of Bullwacker Creek. He was well established in the area before the turn of the century.
Montana was spared much of the conflict that occurred between cattle men and sheep men in other parts of the country. Sheep were seen as a good way to get a start - they didn’t require so much investment, and they yielded two crops a year, wool in the spring and lambs in the fall. John Ervin proved to be the exception to cow man, sheep man relations.
During the late 1890s, he was running cattle along the southwest fork of Cow Creek. A sheep make by the name of Fred Garber herded his flock across John’s range, and little to now grass remained after their passage. John warned Garber that it better not ever happen again. The next yes, following an absence of some time, John returned to his place, and one of the first sounds he heard was the tinkle of a sheep bell. He went to his cabin, got his saddle gun, and that was the end of Fred Garber. The coroner found two bullet holes in the sheep man: one through the skill after entering at the center of his forehead and the other through the torso after entering at the back of the right hip and ricocheting up and out of his chest.
Ervin turned himself in for the killing at Chinook on December 27th of 1899 saying he had shot the man in self defense. A coroner’s jury was impaneled, and the judge came through Chinook on January 2, 1900. John was charged with murder, and he pleaded not guilty. The charge was reduced to assault and battery with a deadly weapon with malice aforethought. Ervin again pleaded not guilty to the reduced charge. Bail was set at $2,000, and January 12th was set for a preliminary hearing. Four cattlemen signed the bonds and secured his release. Interest in the case was high because the area around Chinook was primarily sheep country.
At the January 12th hearing, Erving was bound over to appear in District Court in Fort Benton on the assault and battery with a deadly weapon charge. Bail was again set at $2,000, and bong was again secured.
In the District Court on February 9th, Ervin was arraigned on the charges, and a trial dates was set for February 20th. Names for jury service were also drawn, and in this case, forty-two names were drawn rather than thirty, which was normal.
It took all afternoon and evening of the first day of the trial to secure a jury, and that was only accomplished after an additional six names were drawn. The first witness to testify was J.A. “Canada Jim” Potter. He said that he was at Ervin’s cabin the day of the shooting and saw Garber, the herder, fire the first shot. He said there were other shots, but he could not say who fired them. He saw Garber start toward his cabin (sheep herder’s wagon), which was but a few hundred feet away, and then he went home, returning later.
Garber’s employer, Ed Bentel, testified regarding the ‘whereabouts’ of the band of sheep Garber was herding. The Chinook coroner testified regarding facts brought out at the hearing. And Dr. Hopkins was examined regarding Garber’s wounds.
The case went to the jury on February 28th, and fourteen hours later, they came back into court reporting that they were ‘unable to agree.’ Sixty-four days after he turned himself in, John Ervin was freed by the hung jury. At the outcome of the trial, the Chinook Opinion had some comment about the jury make up - only four of the jurors were from the area around Chinook, and the rest were from Fort Benton, Havre, Highwood and Warrick.
It’s not known when John settled here, but the Chinook Opinion identified the mouth of Bullwacker Creek as his home when reporting on the Garber shooting. A neighbor who arrived in the area around 1915 recalls that he was already well established. He raised good Percherons, and he had about 150 of the large draft horses by this time. He also had about 25 head of cattle.
John built a two room log cabin on the west side of Bullwacker Creek a short distance off the Missouri River. He lived there by himself, and he preferred to be left strictly alone. He was never without his gun, and it’s said that he kept it within reach even when he slept. He seemed to be always on guard as if he was afraid of something.
He supposedly had two notches on his gun, both earned here in Montana. One was for the sheep herder, and the other was for a man he caught stealing his horses. One time when he was drinking, he boasted to a friend that he’d been involved in a bank robbery somewhere in northcentral Montana. John liked his whiskey, which me made himself. The 'brew’ also supplemented his income from time to time.
John has been described as a tall, lean man with a long mustache. It’s said that his cowboy overalls were always clean. His day started at 2 a.m. Following a breakfast of sour dough hotcakes, he managed his livestock, including things like branding, alone. He was usually in bed by 7 p.m.
He received patent for his 320 acre river bottom homestead in May of 1929.
John couldn’t swim. To cross the Missouri, he’d ride his horse out to where it was swimming, slide back over the saddle and grab the tail, and let the horse drab him across. One time, his horse started floundering, and he was almost drowned.
John Ervin sold out to John and George Sanford on November 15, 1930. John Sanford had homesteaded along the north side of the river some 28 miles above here in 1926. Ervin moved to Hayes, a small community on the west side of the Little Rocky Mountains northeast of here. There he lived in a little cabin, alone, almost blind and still afraid and on guard.
A new ranch headquarters was built east of Bullwacker Creek, further back from the Missouri River. Title eventually was transferred to the Gist family, and they farmed and ranched here until 1980. In 1980, the spread was purchased by the Bureau of Land Management as part of the management program for the Upper Missouri National Wild and Scenic River.
Interested in learning more and joining us on a canoe trip to explore? Click the link below or get in touch!