Estella Amanda Muth’s Diary

What would it have been like to be a 25 year old wife and mother, living in a tiny Montana mining town in 1881?

Estella Muth’s diaries give us a glimpse into that life.   Estella was married to William Muth, a businessman who had moved to Helena in 1873.  In 1880, according to the census, he was working as a “merchandiser” in the little town of Belmont, Montana, about 20 miles from Helena.   His life intersected with Isaac Greenhood’s in 1893, when he was named the receiver for the property that Ike lost to the Merchant’s National Bank.

Estella Hoyt and William Muth were married in 1875, and in 1880 they had two children: Bess (3) and Roy (6 months.)  The household in Belmont also included a servant named Minnie, who was 17 at the time of the census.  There were about 250 people in the little town of Belmont in 1880, mostly miners and laborers, along with the occasional butcher, carpenter or blacksmith.  The town was definitely mostly men,  but the census does list 16 women in addition to Estella who were “keeping house,” so she did have other women to talk to.     Estella and William eventually had two more boys:  William Herbert and John Freeman.   Before she married, she graduated from Helena School District 1, where she was noted as “a model student in every respect.”     I wasn’t able to find any photographs of her, but here’s the Estella of my imagination:

Estella’s diaries reveal an intelligent, curious, and occasionally self-critical young woman.   Here’s an entry from January 30, 1881:

“Sunday.  As usual kind of a loafing day.  Nothing done.  Wish I could employ my time better.  What am I good for?  Knowing there is a God, I fail to serve Him.  Will he be any better to me?  I hope He may.  I will try to do better in the future.” 

She also seemed to suffer from fairly chronic ill-health. Many of her entries in 1881 concern her tiredness and a general malaise, and she occasionally complains that Will is not as understanding as he could be:

“Will thinks there is nothing the matter with me.  I wish he could have a little sympathy for me.”  (February 15, 1881)

Despite not feeling well in February, Estella and Minnie planned a birthday party for Estella’s 25th birthday on February 11, which included baking all day on the 9th.  Her birthday, however, did not go as planned:

February 11:  “My birthday. (25 years old.) The most terrible one I ever spent.  At four this morning Mr. Trent came and woke Will.  Told him the mine was on fire.  The men came out to eat their lunch at midnight.  They made a fire to warm it and went back to work leaving their fire burning.  It caught the blacksmith shop.  They smelled smoke and two of them rushed through the fire and escaped.  Another tried to follow, fell, and was burned to death.  There was great excitement all day.  Toward night they got to where the men were and found five dead.  The other body was not found.  The men were Tom Woods, Pat Laughlin, Hugh McDonal, Breslin, James Keegan, and Jack Shorter.  The men who escaped were Dan McKay and E. Innis.  It has only burned No. 3 and will not stop the work.  The mill stopped until after the men are buried.  I also gave up my birthday party.  Everyone seemed to feel it so much.  There is much sympathy for the widows, Mrs. Woods and Mrs. Laughlin.  They are little more than brides.  It is called the Belmont Disaster.” 

There is something touching about the detail Estella included in this entry, and the way she made sure to list the names of the men involved, as well as their wives.  But she sounds like the young person she is when she adds “I also gave up my birthday party.”

Estella’s days are mostly taken up with sewing, and helping Minnie with the baking and washing.  It seems that Minnie does most of the cooking for the family, since Estella never mentions preparing any meals.  She attends the ”Ladies Society”, and church, and occasionally attends theatre productions that she usually enjoys.    She seems to enjoy being in the outdoors, because her longest entries include details of horseback rides or picnics.  For example, June 23rd, 1881:  This afternoon went down town and out to ride to a lovely place near the Diamond Springs.  There was a stream of spring water and some nice trees.  Did not get home till half past eight.”    And on July 1st:  “The warmest day yet.  We went for a picnic.  I never suffered so much with the heat in Montana.  The comet is still beautiful at night.”    [Note: I did a little research, and in1881 there was a comet that was visible in the western United States for most of June and July.]

She also writes a detailed entry about an eleven day fishing trip that she and Will took in August, 1881, up Canyon Creek, during which they “had so much fun.”  They read around the campfire at night, the men did the cooking, and even though the road was rough and frightening, Estella had a grand time.   She finishes the entry with “All things must end, and our fishing trip is at an end.  When will we see another?”

In October, Minnie married and moved back East, which was difficult for Estella.  The following July, she wrote:   ”I never missed anyone more than I missed her.  She was always so good to me.  Since then I have had almost as many girls as there have been months.”

I don’t have a picture of the Muth’s Belmont home, but here’s what it might have looked like:

Estella continued to keep her diary sporadically through 1886, with particularly detailed entries whenever she and Will took fishing or camping trips to Canyon Creek or the Blackfoot River.  In 1886 they moved back to Helena, building a large home there in 1889.   In August of that year  she and Will went on a 10 day trip to Yellowstone National Park, and Estella kept a wonderfully detailed diary of that trip, as well.  The Muth house in Helena is still standing.   Here it is:

Estella died on December 29, 1905, from diptheria, just a week after the death of her son John Freeman, also from diptheria.  She was 49.