Transcript

MONTANA MISSION, during its brief existence (1896-1898), comprised the state of Montana and was divided into five conferences, namely, Anaconda, Billings, Butte, Missoula and Sheridan conferences.

In the spring of 1896 Elder Edward Stevenson, one of the Seven Presidents of Seventy, and Elder Matthias F. Cowley, second counselor in the presidency of the Oneida Stake, were appointed to travel through the states in the northwest, visit members of the Church who might reside in that section of the country, open up branches and prepare a way for a mission. As a result of their labors, which were principally in the state of Montana, the Montana Mission was organized later the same year and placed under the direction of the presidency of the Bannock Stake (Idaho). Pres. Thomas E. Ricks of the Bannock Stake had previously extended his jurisdiction into Montana and organized a branch of the Church at Lima. Elders Stevenson and Cowley preached in Lima, Dillon, Butte, Anaconda, etc., and established headquarters for the mission at Anaconda. Elder Stevenson and his companion visited Gov. Richards of Montana, who received them with great kindness, he having met Elder Cowley at the Trans-Mississippi Congress in San Francisco, and Pres. Wilford Woodruff and Pres. B. H. Roberts in Salt Lake City, some time previously. The Governor gave the Elders letters of introduction to many of the leading men of the state of Montana. On Aug. 26, 1896, Elders Stevenson and Cowley left Montana and Elder Phineas Tempest of Rexburg, a member of the Bannock Stake High Council, was called to preside over the Montana Mission under the direction of Pres. Ricks of the Bannock Stake. Previous to this, Elders Franklin S. Bramwell and Frank H. Mason of Parker, Idaho, had joined Elders Stevenson and Cowley and labored as missionaries, under their direction. Other Elders came to augment the missionary force in Montana, and a splendid work was accomplished in that state under the direction of Pres. Tempest, and his successor, Franklin S. Bramwell, who became president of the mission in October, 1897. Pres. Ricks of the Bannock Stake was a frequent visitor when conferences were held.

After the organization of the Montana Mission, Elders Stevenson and Cowley extended their labors into the states of Oregon and Washington, and other missionaries were sent from the Bannock Stake to assist them in their labors. But on June 12, 1898, agreeable to instructions from the First Presidency of the Church, the Montana Mission was consolidated with the Northwestern States Mission, and Franklin S. Bramwell, who presided over the Montana Mission, was called to preside over the Northwestern States Mission, which then included all the territory previously embraced in the Montana Mission.