George Frances GRANT

Male 1850 - 1927  (77 years)


Personal Information    |    Sources    |    Event Map    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name George Frances GRANT  [1, 2
    • Excerpt from "An Uncommon Journey, The History of Old Dawson County, Montana Territory. The Biography of Stephen Norton Van Blaricom".

      It was George Grant and Emmet Dunlap who got the first irrigation project going on a small scale up on Grant's Prairie in 1883. They built a ditch and diverted Grant Creek into it. George and Emmet only had about ten acres apiece under water, but, over time, Emmet kept enlarging his area until it covered nearly a full quarter section. Because of Emmet's success, the local took to calling the creek "Dunlap Creek," and "Grant Creek" eventually fell into disuse. The agency farmer at Wolf Point up north on the Fort Peck Reservation got some irrigation water going there in 1884....

      Early irrigation projects: The Grant-Dunlap irrigation scheme near Tokna on Grant's Prairie was the first commercial irrigation scheme developed in the original Dawson County. George Grant was a buffalo hunter who came into Montana in 1873. He had settled on the lower Yellowstone in 1878, originally locating about a mile south of John Burns on Burns Creek. In 1879 he moved to the flat adjoining what is now the settlement of Savage. The area was early known as "Grant's Prairie." George Grant was the son-in-law of Eben and Louisa P. Slawson. He was married to their daughter, Imogene, who, after marrying Grant in Minnesota in 1873, accompanied her parents to Dawson County in 1879. (In Courage Enough and contemporary newspaper accounts, Mrs. Grant's first name is seen spelled as "Emogene" or Emigene." Her tombstone in Cashmere, Washington, cemetery, however, reads: "Imogene Grant, May 17, 1853--July 18, 1898". consequently, the spelling of "Imogene" has been used throughout this text.)

      Emmet Dunlap had worked on the construction of the NPRR between Bismarck and Glendive. In 1881 Grant met Dunlap in Glendive and encouraged Emmet to move himself and his family to Grant's Prairie. Dunlap liked the idea and the location and took Grant up on the proposition. By 1883, the two men had completed a diversion dam on what became known as Dunlap creek (on Grant's Prairie) and initially built a small canal from which they could collectively irrigate perhaps one-hundred acres between them. Shortly after completing their canal, Grant and Dunlap got into Dawson County's first "water fight" and wouldn't speak to each other for a number of years. Their wives, however, stayed relatively close and they served as the "water mediators" until Mrs. Dunlap's death in 1888. Following her death, the two men seem to have worked out the water rights deal and were good neighbors thereafter.

      By 1889 Emmet Dunlap had enlarged his end of the small canal and was irrigating one-hundred-and-sixty acres. Grant, whose irrigated property in 1884 was reported to cover an eight-acre garden and a small orchard, was stated to have been "using water from the same ditch." Emmet Dunlap was still residing on his home place as late as 1897. In 1974 the Dunlap ranch was owned by Bob and Ida Seeve.

      The Grant family sold their place to Augustus Alfred Frederickson, the Glendive-Ridgelawn mail carrier and stagecoach driver, late in 1896. On 1 January 1897 they departed the lower Yellowstone and moved to Old Mission (now Cashmere), Washington. This move put them back near Imogene's parents, Eben and Louisa Slawson, who had sold out along the Yellowstone and had gone to Old Mission in 1888. Imogene(Slawson) Grant died in Old Mission, Kittitas County, Washington, on 18 July 1898 at the age of forty-five... [1]
    Birth 3 Feb 1850  Delaware County, New York Find all individuals with events at this location  [3, 4, 5
    Gender Male 
    Census 1875  Living in Gordon, Todd Co., Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location  [6
    Census 1880  Living in Dawson County, Montana Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Census 1900  Living in Mission, Chelan Co., Washington Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    Census 1910  Living in Cashmere, Chelan Co., Washington Find all individuals with events at this location  [7
    Census 1920  Living in San Juan, San Juan Co., Washington Find all individuals with events at this location  [8
    Death 1 May 1927  Mission Creek (Cashmere), Chelan Co., Washington Find all individuals with events at this location  [5
    Person ID I73901  Main Tree
    Last Modified 12 May 2014 

    Family Imogene J. SLAWSON,   b. 17 May 1853, Delaware County, New York Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 18 Jul 1898, Cashmere, Washington Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 45 years) 
    Marriage 17 May 1873  Osakis, Douglas Co., Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 5
    Children 
    +1. Minnie Irene GRANT,   b. Jul 1875, Minnesota Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 30 Mar 1964, Seattle, King Co., Washington Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 88 years)  [Birth]
     2. Ruth L. GRANT,   b. 1879, Montana Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 24 Feb 1965, Yellowstone, Montana Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 86 years)  [Birth]
     3. Nettie GRANT,   b. Mar 1884, Montana Find all individuals with events at this location  [Birth]
     4. Etta GRANT,   b. Mar 1884, Montana Find all individuals with events at this location  [Birth]
     5. George Washington GRANT,   b. 18 Oct 1890, Glendiue, Montana Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 26 May 1963, Multnomah, Oregon Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 72 years)  [Birth]
    Family ID F29970  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 12 May 2014 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 3 Feb 1850 - Delaware County, New York Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Sources 
    1. [S5839] H. Norman Hyatt, "An Uncommon Journey: The History of Old Dawson County, Montana Territory, The Biography of Stephen Norton Van Blaircom".

    2. [S03336] Slason-Slauson-Slawson-Slosson Family by George C. Slawson dated 1946.

    3. [S5817] 1880 Census Dawson County, Montana.

    4. [S5811] 1900 Census Mission, Chelan County, Washington.

    5. [S5821] Ancestry.com: Family Trees - CLAPIER2 by cclapier1.

    6. [S03804] 1875 Census Gordon, Todd County, Minnesota.

    7. [S5814] 1910 Census Cashmere, Chelan County, Washington.

    8. [S5818] 1920 Census San Juan, San Juan County, Washington.