| Summary: | Cassius Cartwright. SAMUEL GEORGE AND LOUISE THAMES CARTWRIGHT In a quiet, peaceful valley of the Charbonneau Creek, before it empties into the Yellowstone River, lies the small village of Cartwright. Its history dates back to 1900 when Samuel George Cartwright came into this area and was captivated by the ideal location for hunting and trapping. A few large ranches with bands of sheep, herds of cattle and horses were not thickly settled enough to control the entire valley or the bountiful grass hills on each side of it. So George settled here, and when this area was opened up lor homesteading, filed on his claim in the bottom of the valley, with plenty of water from the Charbonneau Creek. George and Louise Cartwright and their family were instrumental in the settling of this small community which became a vital link in the cross-country migration of pioneers from Fort Buford into the vast region of western and southern McKenzie County; and so this tiny North Dakota village carried Samuel George Cartwright's name. In notes submitted by granddaughter Victoria Mick and son-in-law Milton Millhouse we find that about 1892, George (as he was called) came to Devils Lake, North Dakota and was a government scout out of Fort Totten. He also served as an Indian interpreter. The Cartwrights lived in the Mouse River Valley for a time and then came to the Missouri River Valley, looking for a ranch location. They camped on the north side of the river at Jones Cut, which was a pass for the Great Northern Railroad west of the present Lewis and Clark Bridge and across the river from the OH Ranch in McKenzie County. There was plenty of water for their stock and good hunting and trapping. After a time they planned on moving to Alaska but one day while George was hunting, the breech of his gun blew up, putting out an eye. This altered their plans. Again the homesteaders were crowding in on George Cartwright, so he moved across the river into McKenzie County, about ten miles up the river near the Wood-Hyde- Slator ranch. Cartwright and Wood were friends from the Mouse River Valley days. Jane Cartwright Millhouse remembers going up on a hill and watching the soldiers parade at Fort Buford. About 1900 the Cartwrights came to the Charbonneau Creek Valley. At that time, all mail came from either Williston or Buford. When anyone went to town they brought the mail for all the neighbors. When President McKinley was assassinated in 1901, it was thirty days before this news reached this area, due to the high river making crossing impossible. George Cartwright thought there should be a postoffice on the south side of the river, so he applied and received the official appointment as postmaster from the government. He held this position from 1905 to 1909 with the postoffice located at his ranch house. His son Wesley was the first mail carrier from Fort Buford. He made the trip once a week and some times it was quite an ordeal getting across the river. Cassius Cartwright also carried mail some of the time. With the influx of homesteaders, routes for a railroad into the "inland empire" were being surveyed. The surveyors discovered that the Cartwright house was located on the right-of-way, so it became necessary to move the house to a new location which was a short distance east of the present town site. Wesley and Nelson, the two oldest sons were expert horse trainers and also sheep shearers. The shearing was all done by hand in those days. George, however, preferred to hunt and trap and the Charbonneau Creek, and the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers offered this pleasure. Once again, George Cartwright needed "elbow room" so in 1911 he decided to immigrate to Alberta, Canada and he settled in the Athabasca River Valley, northwest of Edmonton. His family followed three years later. At first they named the location Fairchild Valley but later after the government surveys, the name was changed to Moose Wallow, but locally it is known as the Cartwright Flats. Nelson Cartwright, his son and one of the Corbett relatives of Nelson's first wife, helped to survey the area along the river and farther north. Now, one of the communities along the river between Blue Ridge and Fort Assiniboine is named Corbett Creek. One Christmas was spent by this surveying crew at a creek near this area and is called Christmas Creek. When George Cartwright came to the Athabasca-Fort Assiniboine area he homesteaded, raised fox, trapped bear and lived to a ripe old age. Samuel George and Louise Cartwright's family consisted of Wesley, who had two children; Nelson with ten children; Casius; John, six children; Jane, Mrs. Milton Millhouse living in Salem, Oregon, has one daughter, Marian; and Edward in a nursing home, Barrhead, Alberta, Canada. Nelson Cartwright's first wife was Sara Ann Corbett and they had two sons, Ellsworth, now deceased and George, both born in the United States. When Nelson remarried, they had the following children: Isabel, deceased; Victoria, Mrs. Mick, Mayerthorpe, Alberta; Alexander, killed in World War II; Leonard died at six months; Adell, deceased; Leo and Wesley, both at White Court Alberta; and Jane, Mrs. Alexis, Alberta. The family of one of the Edward Cartwrights lived in Cartwright and had three children, Gretchen, Renslar and Dahler. They moved to Sidney, Montana and it is understood that Gretchen lives out west. * S 11 \1 Mr. and Mrs. John Gulbraa, Joseph, Johren and Emma. (18) Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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