Charles Anderson, the inspiration for the patriarch of the Anderson Chronicles, and my great-grandfather, may not have built an empire that reached across an entire county, or established a town, or amassed a vast fortune, but he did live an adventurous and fruitful life.
Records are scant on Charles’s immigration to America from Sweden. Family lore tells that at the age of seventeen, Charles stowed away on a ship in order to join his father in the mountains of western Montana. He worked as a teamster, first hauling wood and then later ore from the now ghost town of Princeton to Maxville. A dozen years after landing in Montana, Charles had a mining claim named ‘Non Pareill,’ meaning ‘model of excellence.’ Even then he was an optimist.
A dozen more years passed and Charles and his partners purchased several mining properties and built a concentrator, successfully establishing The Moorlight Mining Company.At one point, the Moorlight Mine was the only operating mining company in the area, halting production when the depression hit.
Along with two local businessmen, Charles organized what was probably the first cooperative rural electrification project on record. They rented a power plant, sold stock, and built a power line through the valley, providing electricity to many homes. Montana Power eventually bought the line.
Charles also had a wilder side. Among his other business ventures, he owned a local bar and tended to drink whiskey in excess. Family lore tells of the time he was drinking in the barn with a couple of friends, kicked over a lantern, and burned down the barn. Grandma was not happy.
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