Anton Martinius Holter (1831-1921) was a

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

pioneer, businessman and politician. He made his fortune in lumber, farming, real estate and hardware. He emigrated from his native

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, arriving in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1854. He first worked as a carpenter in

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

and

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, before building his first sawmill near

Virginia City, Montana Virginia City is a town in and the county seat of Madison County, Montana, United States. Virginia City was the territorial capital of Montana from 1865 to 1875. In 1961 the town and the surrounding area were designated a National Historic Landm ...

. Holter established lumber yards in several other Montana towns, including

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer * Saint Helena (disambiguation), this includes places Places Greece * Helena ...

, Great Falls, and Nevada City, among others. In Helena, he founded several general merchandise and hardware companies, including A.M. Holter Hardware Company, which remained in business until 1958. Holter also served on Montana's first territorial council and first legislature, as well as Helena's first school board. The Holter family remained active in Montana public affairs for many years and the family name is featured prominently in Montana, and especially within Helena, on places, institutions and landmarks, including the Holter Museum of Art, Holter Lake,

Holter Dam Holter Dam is a hydroelectric straight gravity dam on the Missouri River about northeast of Helena, Montana, in the United States.''Upper Missouri River Reservoir Fisheries Management Plan, 2010-2019,'' Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Pa ...

and Holter Street.Aarstad, et al., Montana Place Names From Alzada to Zortman, 2009, p. 125. The World War II

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Although British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost cons ...

SS ''Anton Holter'' was named in his honor.

References

External links

"Pioneering Lumbering in Montana"
reminiscences by Holter, Holter family papers held by the Montana Historical Society, viewabl
here
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holter, Anton 1831 births 1921 deaths Norwegian emigrants to the United States American businesspeople in timber American businesspeople in real estate Businesspeople from Montana