Boston and Montana Development Company (Signed by William R. Allen)

Product Details

Historical Context

The Boston and Montana Development Company was incorporated in Montana in 1913, financed by Boston money.

The company owned or controlled about 1,500 acres in the Elkhorn Mining district, Montana, and between 1100 and 1,200 acres in French Gulch, Montana, together with all the necessary mining machinery.

The company produced copper, silver, gold and lead.

The company went into receivership in 1923 and was reorganized as the Boston-Montana Corporation.

William R. Allen

William R. Allen was born in French Gulch, near Anaconda, Montana, on July 25, 1871, to parents Cordelia Waddell Allen and William N. Allen. After his mother died, the younger Allen and his father split their time between French Gulch and a Mill Creek ranch. Allen graduated from local schools in Deer Lodge County and attended Helena Business College.

Upon earning his degree in 1891, Allen helped his father run the French Gulch mine. Following his father's death in 1898, Allen began his own mining venture. In 1903, he was first elected to the Montana Legislature. That same year, Allen branched out into timber development. He won a second term in 1905, and later succeeded Benjamin F. White as lieutenant governor of Montana. He moved to Boston soon after the end of Edwin L. Norris's governorship and added real estate, fire insurance, banking, and railroads to his holdings.

Allen founded the Boston and Montana Development Company in 1913, which became less profitable throughout the 1920s. That decade, Allen served as a delegate to the Republican National Conventions of 1920 and 1924. In 1940, he contested the Republican primary for a seat on the United States House of Representatives, losing to Jeannette Rankin.

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