T. C. Power & Bro.: The Rise of a Small Western Department Store, 1870–1902

Business History Review

Volumn 66, Issue 4, 1992, Pages 671-722

  Klassen, Henry C ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84972318916     PISSN: 00076805     EISSN: 2044768X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3116844     Document Type: Article

References (85)

1. Fred Mitchell Jones, Middlemen in the Domestic Trade of the United States 1800–1860 (New York, 1968), 44–47.
2. Lewis E. Atherton, The Frontier Merchant in Mid-America (Columbus, Mo. 1971), 143–50.
3. Richard S. Tedlow, New and Improved: The Story of Mass Marketing in Americ (New York, 1990).
4. Mansel G. Blackford, A History of Small Business in America (New York, 1991’ 54.
5. For an important article on how various scholars have defined small businesses see Mansel G. Blackford, “Small Business in America: A Historiographie Survey, Business History Review 65 (Spring 1991): 2–4.
6. Harold C. Livesay, “Entrepreneurial Dominance in Businesses Large and Small, Past and Present,” Business History Review 63 (Spring 1989): 21.
7. Stuart Weems Bruchey, Robert Oliver, Merchant of Baltimore, 1783–1819 (Baltimore, Md., 1956); Gary J. Kornblith, “The Craftsman as Industrialist: Jonas Chickering and the Transformation of American Piano Making,” Business History Review 59 (Autumn 1985): 349–68; Mansel G. Blackford, A Portrait Cast in Steel: Buckeye International and Columbus, Ohio, 1881–1980 (Westport, Conn., 1982), 1–119; Alexa Benson Henderson, “Heman E. Perry and Black Enterprise in Atlanta, 1908–1925,” Business History Review 61 (Summer 1987): 216–42; E. Bruce Geelhoeld, “Business and the American Family: A Local View,” Indiana Social Studies Quarterly 33 (Autumn 1980): 61–62; Dave Walter, “Simon Pepin, A Quiet Capitalist,” Montana: The Magazine of Western History 39 (Winter 1989): 34–38; Donald J. Mabry, “The Rise and Fall of Ace Records: A Case Study in the Independent Record Business,” Business History Review 64 (Autumn 1990): 411–50. The career of Henry J. Kaiser illustrates well the role of a creative, western entrepreneur in the development of big business. See Mark S. Foster, “Giant of the West: Henry J. Kaiser and Regional Industrialization, 1930–1950,” 59 (Spring 1985): 1–23; Warren A. Beck and Susanne T. Gaskins, “Henry J. Kaiser—Entrepreneur of the American West,” Journal of the West 25 (Jan. 1986): 64–72.
8. Bradford Luckingham, Phoenix: The History of a Southwestern Metropolis (Tucson, Ariz., 1989), 56, 193; June Webb-Vignery, Jacome’s Department Store: Business and Culture in Tucson, Arizona, 1896–1980 (New York, 1989).
9. Joan M. Seidl, “Consumers’ Choices: A Study of Household Furnishing, 1880–1920,” Minnesota History 48 (Spring 1983): 183–97. For a recent comment on the importance of family business enterprise in America, see K. Austin Kerr, Amos J. Loveday, and Mansel G. Blackford, Local Businesses: Exploring Their History (Nashville, Tenn., 1990), 7–11.
10. The early development of Halle Bros. Co. s department store, founded in 1891 in Cleveland, Ohio, appears to have been much the same as that of Schuneman & Evans. See James M. Wood, Halle’s: Memoirs of a Family Department Store, 1891–1982 (Cleveland, Ohio, 1987).
11. For some recent insights into the history of general stores, see Tedlow, New and Improved, 183–86.
12. R. G. Dun & Company Collection [hereafter cited as RGDC], Montana, 1: 228, Baker Library, Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University.
13. C. B. Power to J. R. Overholser, Helena, 26 June 1926, Joel Overholser Collection, Fort Benton, Montana
14. RGDC, Montana, 1:228.; T. C. Power & Bro., Certificate of Increase of Stock, 6 Feb. 1897, Clerk of District Court, Choteau County, Fort Benton, Montana.
15. Southern country stores did business in much the same manner. See Thomas D. Clark, Pills, Petticoats and Plows (Norman, Okla., 1944), 136–42; Lewis E. Atherton, The Southern Country Store, 1800–1860 (New York, 1949), 69–86.
16. T. C. Power & Bro. to E. P. Smith, 6 Jan. 1875, Department of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs, Letters Received, Record Group 75, [hereafter cited as RG 75, OIA, LR], reel 502, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
17. Joel Overholser, Fort Benton: World’s Innermost Port (Fort Benton, Mont., 1987), 185.
18. The most outstanding contribution to our knowledge of the subject is William E. Lass, A History of Steamboating on the Upper Missouri River (Lincoln, Nebr., 1962), 1–19.
19. Chinook Opinion, 19 April 1917.
20. Certificate of Incorporation, Benton & Helena Stage Co., 15 June 1878.
21. Benton Record, 22 Sept. 1876.
22. T. C. Power & Bro. to J. S. Atchison, 11 May 1871, First National Bank of Helena Papers, vol. 1, file 7, Montana Historical Society Archives [hereafter cited as MHSA]; Benton Record, 18 Oct. 1878. See also Lynne Pierson Doti and Larry Schweikart, Banking in the American West: From the Gold Rush to Deregulation (Norman, Okla., 1991), 19–20.
23. T. C. Power to Field, Leiter & Co., 9 July 1872, Letterpress Book, Power Papers, vol. 178, file 3, MHSA.
24. RGDC, Montana, 1:293.
25. T. C. Power to J. Q. Smith, 29 June 1877, reel 508; T. C. Power to E. A. Hayt, 29 Oct. 1877, reel 511; T. C. Power to E. A. Hayt, 13 March 1878, reel 511; T. C. Power to E. A. Hayt, 28 Oct. 1878, reel 511; all RG 75, OIA, LR, National Archives.
26. J. S. Hill to T. C. Power, 27 May 1878, Power Papers, Letterpress Book, vol. 182, file 1.
27. Benton Record, 16 July 1880; River Press, 29 Dec. 1880, 9 Feb. 1881.
28. Benton Record, 22 Sept. 1881.
29. Power & Bro., balance sheet for the year ending 28 Feb. 1882, Power Papers, vol. 231.
30. Benton Record, 25 Aug. 1883.
31. Certificate of Incorporation, Benton & Helena Stage Co., 15 June 1878; T. C. Power to J. S. Hill, 3 March 1881, Power Papers, box 147, file 5.
32. A. C. Johnson to T. C. Power, 3 Feb. 1881, Power Papers, box 14, file 22.
33. A. C. Johnson to T. C. Power, 31 Jan. 1885, Power Papers, box 148, file 4.
34. Historians have argued that businessmen in response to the changing nature of economic life and the unsettled business environment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries tried to impose order on their activities. See especially Samuel P. Hays, The Response to Industrialism, 1885–1914 (Chicago, 111., 1957), 48–54; Robert H. Wiebe, The Search for Order, 1877–1920 (New York, 1967), 17–27. Tom Power attempted to impose order on his business affairs by establishing clear channels of authority.
35. J. S. Hill to T. C. Power, 19 March 1881, Power Papers, box 147, file 5.
36. T. C. Power to J. S. Hill, 1 April 1881, Power Papers, box 147, file 5.
37. In his reliance on written records and a constant flow of communication to solve managerial problems, Tom Power used an approach similar to that employed by large businesses such as the Illinois Central Railroad and the Du Pont Company in the late nineteenth century. See JoAnne Yates, Control Through Communication: The Rise of System in American Management (Baltimore, Md., 1989).
38. T. C. Power to J. S. Hill, 1 April 1881, Power Papers, box 147, file 5.
39. River Press, 15 Nov. 1882; Overholser, Fort Benton, 115.
40. River Press, 23 Jan. 1889. Though there is very little written on the role of women in small western department stores, Webb-Vignery, jacome’s Department Store, 58–64, provides a helpful comment on the subject. For an interesting discussion of women and small department stores in the Midwest, see Seidl, “Consumers’ Choices,” 182–97. Included among the best studies of women and large department stores are Susan Porter Benson, Counter Cultures: Saleswomen, Managers, and Customers in American Department Stores, 1890–1940 (Urbana, 111., 1986); Susan Strasser, Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of the American Mass Market (New York, 1989), 3–28; William R. Leach, “Transformations in a Culture of Consumption: Women and Department Stores, 1890–1925,” Journal of American History 71 (Sept. 1984): 319–42.
41. Native American-U.S. Army issues are well analyzed in Robert Wooster, The Military and United States Indian Policy, 1865–1903 (New Haven, Conn., 1988).
42. For a brief discussion of Tom Power’s politics before 1890, see Clark C. Spence, Territorial Politics and Government in Montana, 1864–89 (Urbana, 111., 1975), 161–62, 177, 277, 297. Tom Power, one of Montana’s first U.S. Senators, served in the U.S. Senate from 1890 to 1895. Between 1864 and 1889, men like Martin Maginnis, Joseph K. Toole, and Thomas H. Carter spoke in Congress as territorial delegates for Montana Territory.
43. Agreement between I. G. Baker & Co. and T. C. Power & Bro., 18 Jan. 1881, Power Papers, box 273, file 28; Agreement between I. G. Baker & Co. and T. C. Power & Co., 1 May 1884, Power Papers, box 274, file 13.
44. T. C. Power to E. M. Marble, 22 Feb. 1881, 61e 3579; T. C. Power to H. Price, 9 Sept. 1881, file 16761; 2 Jan. 1883, file 546; 16 June 1884, file 11637; T. C. Power to J. D. C. Atkins, 4 Sept. 1887, file 24188, all RG 75, OIA, LR, National Archives.
45. Clum & Dingman to J. D. C. Atkins, 21 Nov. 1885, file 27843, RG 75, OIA, LR, National Archives.
46. Certificate of Incorporation, 15 March 1882, Fort Benton, Barker and Yellowstone Railway Co., Clerk of District Court, Choteau County, Fort Benton, Montana.
47. Articles of Incorporation, 6 Dec. 1883, Billings, Barker and Benton Stage Co., Clerk of District Court, Choteau County, Fort Benton, Montana.
48. Agreement between T. C. Power & Bro. and N. M. Erickson, 21 July 1883, Power Papers, box 273, file 49; Agreement between T. C. Power & Bro. and Paul McCormick, 6 Aug. 1883, Power Papers, box 383, file 7.
49. Balance sheet for the year ending 17 Jan. 1885, T. C. Power & Bro., Power Papers, box 148, file 4.
50. Ralph W. Twyman, History of Marshall Field 6- Co., 1852–1906 (Philadelphia, Pa., 1954), 102–3.
51. T. C. Power to J. S. Hill, 5 May 1882, Power Papers, box 147, file 6.
52. T. C. Power to J. W. Power, 23 June 1883, Power Papers, box 148, file 2.
53. T. C. Power to Power & Bro., 25 Feb. 1884, Power Papers, box 148, file 3.
54. T. C. Power & Bro. to N. M. Erickson, 26 April 1889, N. M. Erickson to T. C. Power & Bro., 9 May 1889, both Power Papers, box 98, file 2.
55. I. P. Baker to T. C. Power, 9 June 1886, Power Papers, box 76, file 9.
56. River Press, 19 March, 15 July 1896.
57. T. C. Power to T. C. Power & Bro., 17 Feb. 1892, Power Papers, box 150, file 2.
58. T. C. Power to J. S. Hill, 3 March 1881, Power Papers, box 147, file 5.
59. T. C. Power & Bro. to T. C. Power, 2 July 1883, Power Papers, box 16, file 8.
60. Examiner’s Reports for the First National Bank of Helena, 21 May 1881, 24 Sept. 1886, file 1649, Records of the Comptroller of the Currency, Examiners’ Reports, RG 101, National Archives [hereafter cited as RG 101, RCC, ER].
61. Examiner’s Reports for the First National Bank of Fort Benton, 25 June 1880, 20 Aug. 1883, 3 Oct. 1885, 11 Aug. 1887, file 2476, RG 101, RCC, ER, National Archives.
62. G. A. Baker to T. C. Power, 13 July 1881, 8 May 1883, Power Papers, box 79, file 2.
63. Geo. C. Power to T. C. Power, 26 April 1882, Power Papers, box 15, file 5; L. J. Gage to T. C. Power, 31 July 1884, Power Papers, box 79, file 2.
64. George Stark & Co. to T. C. Power, Power Papers, box 14, file 9.
65. For a recent helpful comment on the May 1884 panic and the recession that followed it, see Vincent Carosso, The Morgans: Private International Bankers, 1854–1913 (Cambridge, Mass., 1987), 252–54.
66. T. C. Power to I. P. Baker, Power Papers, Letterpress Book, vol. 191, file 1.
67. A. C. Johnson to T. C. Power, 12 March 1884, Power Papers, box 16, file 33.
68. T. C. Power to J. W. Power, 27 May 1884, Power Papers, box 148, file 3.
69. G. A. Baker to T. C. Power, 7, 24 June 1884, Power Papers, box 79, file 2.
70. T. C. Power to T. C. Power & Bro., 11 April 1887, Power Papers, box 79, file 6.
71. T. C. Power to T. C. Power & Bro., 25 May 1889, Power Papers, box 149, file 5.
72. J. H. Moe to A. C. Johnson, 27 May 1887, Power Papers, box 79, file 1.
73. Examiner’s Reports for the Stockmen’s National Bank of Fort Benton, 4 Aug. 1891, 14 April 1893, 6 Oct. 1898, 12 July 1901, file 4194, RG 101, RCC, ER, National Archives.
74. Examiner’s Reports for the American National Bank of Helena, 31 Oct. 1890, 29 Nov. 1893, 19 Sept. 1895, 18 April 1897, 13 June 1903, file 4396, RG 101, RCC, ER, National Archives.
75. Organization Certificate of the Bismarck Bank, 31 Oct. 1892; Public Examiner’s Reports for the Bismarck Bank, 31 Oct. 1892, 30 June 1894, 1898, 1904, all in State Historical Society of North Dakota Archives.
76. C. B. Power to T. B. Quaw and L. E. Quaw, 12 Sept. 1894, Power Papers, box 376, file 11. The impact of the Panic of 1893 on Montana can be followed in the useful study of the state’s banking history by Bill Skidmore, Treasure State Treasury: Montana Banks, Bankers 6- Banking, 1864–1984 (Helena, Mont., 1985), particularly chaps. 4 and 5.
77. T. C. Power to T. O’Hanlon, 29 July 1893, Power Papers, box 150, file 4.
78. T. C. Power to J. W. Power, 9 Aug. 1893, Power Papers, box 150, file 5.
79. T. C. Power to C. L. Coder, 29 May 1894, Power Papers, box 150, Ble 6. Richard E. Welch, Jr., The Presidencies of Grover Cleveland (Lawrence, Kans., 1988), 131–38, provides a helpfal assessment of the Wilson-Gorman tariff bill.
80. T. C. Power to D. M. Browning, 10 April 1895, file 16085, RG 75, OIA, LR, National Archives.
81. Estate of John W. Power file, 23 Sept. 1901; T. C. Power & Bro., Certificate of Increase of Stock, 6 Feb. 1897, both Clerk of District Court, Choteau County, Fort Benton, Montana. On 6 Feb. 1897, the Power brothers increased the capital of the firm from $100,000 to $500,000, divided into 5,000 shares of $100 each. Tom held 2,999 shares, John owned 2,000 shares, and Daniel Brereton, the secretary of T. C. Power & Bro., held 1 share.
82. Ralph M. Hower, History ofMacy’s of New York, 1858–1919 (Cambridge, Mass., 1943); Twyman, History of Marshall Field à- Co.; Nicholas C. Polos, “Marshall Field— The Merchant Prince—and Robert E. Wood—The Soldier Merchant,” Journal of the West 25 (Jan. 1986): 28–38; Mansel G. Blackford and K. Austin Kerr, Business Enterprise in American History (Boston, Mass., 1990), 163–65; Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business (Cambridge, Mass., 1977), 209–39; Peter Samson, “The Department Store, Its Past and Its Future: A Review Article,” Business History Review 55 (Spring 1981): 26–34; Harry E. Ressigue, “Alexander Turney Stewart and the Development of the Department Store, 1823–1876,” 39 (Autumn 1965): 301–22.
83. The story of Montana’s mining, ranching, and farming frontiers is succinctly traced in Michael P. Malone and Richard B. Roeder, Montana: A History of Two Centuries (Seattle, Wash., 1976), 50–194.
84. The application of Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis has attracted considerable criticism, and much of this criticism has validity. But as Michael P. Malone and Richard W. Etulain, The American West: A Twentieth-Century History (Lincoln, Nebr., 1989), 9, have aptly observed, “all of the West shared a frontier experience.” The opening of Montana to settlement in the last third of the nineteenth century, it is suggested here, was part of that experience. Urban frontier businesses like Power & Bro. were a central element in helping to open Montana to settlement. In studying the history of small business in frontier Montana, I have found most useful Mansel G. Blackford, Pioneering a Modern Small Business: Wakefield Seafoods and the Alaskan Frontier (Greenwich, Conn., 1979).
85. Miners, ranchers, and farmers in frontier regions throughout the late nineteenth century West, along with king crab fishermen on the Alaskan frontier in the post-Second World War period, depended on outside capital. Included among the best discussions of frontier regions’ dependence on outside capital are Blackford, Pioneering a Modern Small Business, 10–11, 52–56; Rodman W. Paul, Mining Frontiers of the Far West, 1848–1880 (New York, 1963), 145–49; Lewis Atherton, The Cattle Kings (Bloomington, Ind., 1967), 173–77, 182–92; Fred A. Shannon, The Farmer’s Last Frontier: Agriculture, 1860–1897 (New York, 1945), 303–9; Stuart Bruchey, Enterprise: The Dynamic Economy of a Free People (Cambridge, Mass., 1990), 281–307.