History acted out at Historic Walk on Sunday

Some notable forefathers (and a fore-mother) from Phillips County's history were brought back to life on Sunday afternoon as part of the Phillips County Historical Walk held at the H.G. Robinson House.

About 150 people flooded into the home and garden of the H.G. Robinson abode and were entertained for nearly three hours as Orvin Solberg, Dr. Jim Curtis, Barry McNamara and Bridgett Ereaux portrayed Fred L. Robinson, Dr. Hamilton, H.G. Robinson and Julie Ereaux Schulz throughout afternoon.

Each actor set up in a different section of the yard at the H.G. Robinson House and each gave three, 15-minute performances on the day as spectators traveled from one station to another to hear stories about the people they were portraying.

H.G. talked about purchasing the land that his home was built on and how he ordered the house from Sears as it was a "kit home." H.G. said he made his way from New York to Malta, doing so after reading pulp fiction about cowboys and deciding he wanted to live on the open range. .

"I didn't want to be a bee keeper," he said. "I wanted to be a cowboy."

He later told a story about the time he and his good friend, John Survant, once had to cross a river near Rocky Point and decided not to get their clothes wet while they did.

"We wrapped the clothes up, fastened them down to the saddle and began to lead our ponies across," he said.

As luck would have it, H.G. dropped the reins and the mounts scattered leaving Survant, Herm Robinson and H.G. with just "their boots and their hats on."

"That was 70 miles or more from Malta," H.G. grinned. "But we were up for the task. We walked 10 or 15 miles and found a farm where a farmer had set out a little garden with a scarecrow...Herm got the shirt, John got the pants and we continued on our way."

Another 10 miles on and the trio reached the Ole Veseth place and Ole fed the men dinner, found them some clothes and even offered to go round-up their missing horses.

"Well, we found the horses, but we never did find those clothes," said H.G (McNamara.)

Next up was a conversation with Fred L. Robinson (portrayed by Solberg.)

Fred recounted the time he first came to Malta. He was on his way to Seattle, via locomotive, and decided he was hungry. As his hunger pains grew, the train barreled through Malta and didn't stop. Well, Fred, decided that Malta looked like a good ofplace as any to take a break from traveling, leaped from the moving train, hit the ground in Malta and then decided he liked it so much that he never left. (Solberg admitted at the conclusion of his portrayal of Fred that he made up the bit about the man being hungry, but everything else in his 15-minute spiel was historical.)

Fred talked about how he loved the people he encountered while working in a general store in Wagner and recalled the sensory overload he often experienced.

"A general store is like a recipe," Fred said. "It's a combination of things that bring it to wholeness. In that store, I can remember smelling cheese, coffee, cigars and baloney, kerosene, pickles, vinegar and rawhide. I liked working in the general store."

Fred went on to talk about serving in World War I and how he lost many of his friends during that time.

"War shapes a man," he said. "Whether he wants to be shaped or not."

He added that a few of the goals he achieved during his life were the construction of the Malta Hospital and "the bridge that spans the Missouri River 70 miles south."

Next up was Julie Ereaux Schulz (portrayed by her great-great niece, Bridgett Ereaux) was joined by her niece, Cecilia (portrayed by Bridgett and Bob Ereaux's five-year-old daughter, Emma) in Aunt Julie's lap for a story about some of her life's history.

Julia and Cecelia, decked out in in tradition Native American dresses (Emma's jingle-dress handmade by her mother) sat back in the rocking chair and opened up a photo album containing memories from Julia's life.

Julia told her niece that she was born in 1872 near Augusta, the daughter of Lazure "Curley" Ereaux and Mary Standing Bull.

She said as a girl she attended St. Peter's Mission, just outside Augusta, and later helped the teachers at St. Paul's Mission in the Little Rockies.

"It was there, in 1891, I was married to Al Schulz," said Julia. "He was a fine young man, very ambitious and known as a great cowboy. We were in the first wedding preformed at St. Pauls' Mission."

She said although Al and herself had no children, they provided a home for many of the nieces, nephews and adopted nieces and nephews who went on to attend Dodson School. Some of Julia's living descendents, in fact, still live in the area and include the Cecelia (Ereaux) James-Lankford family and the Byron Stevens family.

"I had many, many opportunities as a Gros Venture woman at the time," she said. "I was one of the first women elected to the Tribal Council. In the 1930's, I encouraged and taught my people how to preserve food by canning... we would get together and have canning parties. Everyone would be there, we had a great time."

From 1936 until 1941, she also headed-up a WPA project to revive and preserve Indian Arts and currently artifacts she created are on display in a museum in Helena.

Julia loved the Dodson County Fair and at the age of 70 became a correspondent for the Phillips County News, a position she held for 20 years.

"Dodson was a wonderful place to live," she added.

The last person to be portrayed on the day was Koscuiszko Hamilton (played by Dr. Jim Curtis.)

"But you can call me Doc," he said, "we'll get to the name later."

Doc Hamilton said he was born in Tennessee in 1873, got his medical degree from George Washington University in 1906 and made his way to Dodson in 1910.

"When I got to Dodson," he said. "I thought, this is the place. This is where it is happening."

He said that the medical practice was booming because of all the gun-shot wounds, bar-fight wounds, broken legs caused by ornery horses and the Whooping Cough afflicting the children of the area at the time.

"As I went along I am fixing up car wrecks because these cowboys could handle a wild horse but couldn't handle the steering wheel of a Model T," he added.

He said that he was named after a man who fought in the American Revolution and his family is the direct descendent of Alexander Hamilton.

"You can't say my name, much less spell it, so just call me Doc, that'll do," he added.

He said that in 1913 he sent for his wife, Wilhelmtina –a staunch Confederate Democrat while he came from a family of aristocratic, pro-Union, Republicans – and when she reached Dodson, she turned back and returned to the south.

"She took one look at the Wild West Town of Dodson and said 'no way, Dr. K., and left'," he explained.

After a few more tries, Doc's wife stayed in Montana and made quite a life for herself and went on to be known in local, state and national democratic circles.

"She was with me, by my side, tirelessly," Doc said.

When the Flu Epidemic of 1918 hit the area, the couple spent countless hours, days and months sitting at bedsides tending to people.

Though the couple never had any children of their own, Doc brought many of the area's babies into the world.

"Maybe even some of you," Doc said as he pointed to members in the audience.