HUGH DAILY

From 'Fanning the Embers', published 1971, Range Rider Reps, Miles City, Montana

By Chloe Daily

Hugh Daily, the son of Christopher Harris and Sarah Gentry Daily, was born Dec. 25, 1886, near Raton, N. M., in Colfax county. New Mexico was a territory of the United States at that time and many went there by wagon train with the intentions of filing on claims. They were disappointed when they found that much of northern New Mexico was controlled by the Maxwell Land Grant. Many continued on west and some remained to get out ties for the Southern Pacific Railroad which was in the process of being built at that time. Hugh's father traveled north down Otter Creek in Montana looked the country over and settled there. The boys worked for ranchers and Harvey, Percy, Floyd, Eben and Loren filed on claims. Hugh did not follow the pattern set by his brothers; instead he bought the relinquishment of the George Daniel's place where George Daniels Jr. was born. He filed on the claim in 1911 and he and I were married Nov. 15, 1911. The log house was in bad shape as it needed a new roof and window panes. Grandma Daily helped Hughie clean the inside; when I arrived the foot-wide floor boards were white and clean the walls and ceiling swept clean, the windows sparkled. Hugh and I lived there several years. Amy was born there in 1912. When she was a child she was stomped by a saddle horse which had kicked her Dad and she was going to punish him. By the time she was five, Hugh built a frame house on the lower end of the place and we were close to Jack Disbro and I could see their lights at night. Disbros filed a year or two after Hugh did and we became great friends and still correspond. It was the fall of 1920 that Hugh and I moved to Oregon but Hugh couldn't stand the rainy weather so we returned to Montana. He built a house in Ashland and went to work for J. D. Shy who operated a mercantile store. At one time everything he sold was freighted in from Rosebud by teams of horses. Sometimes it took four horses to a load when roads were muddy. Our second daughter, Hughette, was born in 1925 at the Darcy Hospital. She finished grade school work in Ashland and was graduated from Custer High in 1942 and took a business course at the Miles City College. She worked in the Welfare Department at the Courthouse. Later, she worked in the office of the Miles City Star and last at the Highway offices. She married Milton Benge in 1945 and they have three children, our grandchildren. In 1942 Hugh had a bad accident out in the forest. They were installing a large wooden tank for water near a spring and Hugh slipped and fell and was crushed from hip to hip. He was in the Holy Rosary Hospital from June to September, then he went back to the forest work. Hugh and I moved to Miles City in the spring of 1948. Hugh worked for Midland Lumber Company until he was 69 and the Social Security took over and became his best friend. He and I now spend our time raising flowers and keeping the grass green during the summer days. We feel God blesses our efforts.