Arthur James
Jordan was born on September 14, 1873 in Tettenhall Wood, near
Wolverhampton, England, the son of Benjamin and Jane (Rhodes) Jordan. At
the age of sixteen he worked his way across the Atlantic aboard the
steamship Freemona and came west to Deadwood, South Dakota where
he worked for ranches along the Powder River, drove stage coach, and
hunted. In 1891 he, and Charlie Hart, took his first trip north of the
Yellowstone and explored the country where he would later settle.
On August 1, 1894 he married Hattie
Elizabeth Hart at Powder River, Montana. She was the daughter of Isaac
and Jane (Miller) Hart, and niece of Arthur’s friend Charlie Hart. In
the summer of 1896 they decided to move to the country that Arthur had
explored in 1891. Edward and Mary Gillis and family (Hattie’s sister)
traveled with them to a place on the head of Sand Creek south of Sand
Springs. They spent the summer haying and in the late fall Arthur,
Hattie, and their first child Esther moved to where the town of Jordan
now is and set up a tent while building a log cabin.
As the large ranches such as the XIT
moved out of the country between the Yellowstone and Missouri, they were
replaced by smaller cattle and sheep operations. These ranchers would
make a trip once or twice a year to a large town such as Miles City for
supplies but it occurred to Arthur Jordan that he could sell supplies in
this area if he brought in extra when he purchased his own.
There was also a need for a post
office in the area so that there would be a central location to pick up
ones mail, even if it was only occasionally. In the summer of 1899 about
ten people gathered at the Jim and George Donaldson ranch to sign the
petition to get a post office in the area. The Post Office Department
required that a name be given to the post office and a place chosen as
the ultimate destination of the mail. The name "Big Dry" was
suggested for a name for the post office but it described too large of
an area of country so it was decided to have the mail come to Arthur
Jordan’s cabin and the post office was named "Jordan". It
was later reported by Arthur Jordan that the post office had been named
for his friend W.B. Jordan, a Miles City businessman, but none of the
early patrons of the post office agreed with that story. It is not known
who all the signers of the petition were but they included Mr. and Mrs.
Jim Donaldson, George Donaldson, Ralph Tandy, and August Anderson.
The post office, with Arthur Jordan
as postmaster, received its commission on July 11, 1899 but it was some
time after that before the first mail arrived. The mail contract was
secured by Mr. Lovelace of Miles City and the route left Miles City,
crossed the Yellowstone and went to Terry, over the sheep mountain to McMillan,
through the Crow Rock country, and up the Big Dry to Jordan. When it
arrived it was dumped in a corner and you helped yourself to your mail.
Being the post office, and store,
the area became the social center of a large area and others moved in to
take advantage of the business. Some of the earliest were a bar started
by Ed Curl, Billy Sanders, and Charley Hill. Frank Wilson (known as the
"Darber") was persuaded to start a restaurant in a vacant
building of Arthur Jordan’s. By 1902 the store was taking more of
Jordan’s time than he cared to devote to it so he sold out to W.C.
Henderson and Frank Kramer who brought in an inventory worth $25,000.
"Nigger Bob" Leavett purchased the saloon from Curl & Hill
and Billie McRae opened a hotel and restaurant. A barbershop was opened
in 1903 by Fred Foster of Miles City who later added a drug store. A
blacksmith shop built by George Gallimore and another by Raymond
McCants. Other early businesses were rooming houses owned by Mrs. Fred
Ramsey and later Lester Hash who also had a stable.
