blackfoot-valley

“Wales Cabin” 1880s As is characteristic of small settlements in pioneer areas not within day- to-day contact with the “outside”, the Helmville area soon developed a strong community feeling which persists to this day. A brief outline of two of the pioneer families of the Nevada Valley will be of interest in helping to flesh out the early development of the area. As noted earlier, the first Gearys - John, his younger brother Jim, and cousin Michael were among the earliest to settle in the vicinity of what be- came Helmville. The Geary clan roots are in Waterford County, off the south coast of Ireland. One Geary is in the records as far back as the ninth century (the 800s) as having been in the service of the King of Munster and an arch- bishop as well. John and “Big Jim” Geary left Ireland seeking better opportu- nity in the New World, headed toward Montana and wound up in the Nevada Valley in the mid-1860s, known at the time for strikes of gold, silver, and copper. Another fortune seeker, and member of a close branch of the clan, Michael, came alone, unbeknownst to the other two. Michael Geary, who en- joyed the benefit of more education than most Irish at the time, but had little money, worked his way across the ocean on a freighter as far as Panama. Unable to afford the fifteen dollar stage fare to the Pacific side of the Isthmus, 124