Henry Cestnik Comments on Scotch Coulee Personalities

A supplement to the Scotch Coulee Family and Map pages.Cestnik Photo Page and Scotch Coulee Photos

    Right Side


  1. Persha Slovenian. He was a miner.

  2. Karina Slovenian. He was a miner with a big family.

  3. Tastovorsnik Slovenian. She was a widow.

  4. Bobich ??? He was a man with a nice white beard. He was friendly to people. Uncle Hank doesn't remember him working. He just watched people go by his house.

  5. Puhek Slovenian. Steve. He was a miner. His wife was Mary Krivitz.

  6. Meyers Slovenian. They were miners. MAYBE! They raised kids.

  7. Rasborschek Slovenian. Fred. He was married and a miner.

  8. Padobnich Slovenian. He was a bachelor and a miner.

  9. Appleton English. He was married and a miner.

  10. Tweedy English. Bill. He was married and a miner.

  11. Lindsay English. Tom. He was a miner. His wife was named Anne or Margaret.

  12. Brezar Slovenian. He was married and a miner.

  1. Danichek Slovenian. Frank. He was a miner. They raised bees. After the 1943 Smith Mine Disaster, his kids started a truck mine (coal) in the lower part of the Coulee. You can see the remains even today in 2001.

  2. Planichek Slovenian. Blaz and Anne. He was a miner. They raised kids!!! A lot of tragic things happened to that family. Tony had Frank, who is married to Linda, who sent me several photos of Scotch Coulee. They have the Thundering Peruvians -- a horse ranch.

  3. Eggeritz Montenegran. Nick. He was a bachelor and a miner.

  1. Reher Slovenian??? Martin. He was a bachelor and maybe a miner.

  2. Krivitz Slovenian. Rudy. Wife's name ??? They were our next door neighbors. They were ranchers. In the summer time they had a ranch behind the Red Lodge Cemetery. After summer, they brought the milk cows to the Coulee and kept them in a big barn behind the house. They sold milk year round in the Scotch Coulee area for about ten cents a quart! (Oh, that sounds so nice!)

  3. Cestnik Slovenian. Vincent and Elise. My grandparents. Vince was a miner. He died in a mining accident at the Brophy mine, just over the hill from the Smith Mine. Louis and Frances Cestnik's ashes are scattered at the site of the Vincent Cestnik house in Scotch Coulee. Henry Cestnik use to stomp on the cabbage in his bare feet (always well cleaned!) to make sauerkraut.

  4. Crtalic Slovenian. Louis and Lucy (Godina). He was a miner and a good accordian player. They came from Kansas. The sons, Edmund and Bill played basketball and were on the team that my Uncle Larry coached! In April and May of 2001, Edmund found the Scotch Coulee page and sent me a few corrections. He included a poem that he had written about his days in the coulee. Thanks, Mr. Crtalic.

  5. Rapajic Slovenian. Mike. He was a farmer and a bachelor. He lived lived higher up in the coulee and they called it Mana's cabin.

  6. Sheep Shearing Pens They belonged to Frank Clark. He had a big ranch in Wyoming and another one up above Mana's. Eventually, he bought John Cestnik's ranch. They (John and Rosa) would have sold the ranch about 1934-36 Uncle Hank says because Lench and Polly lived on the ranch and went to school in Washoe (i.e. the 8th grade). That would have made them about 14 years and Lench was born the same time as Uncle Hank.

    Left Side


  7. Otonich Slovenian. He was a miner. Later, he moved to Clark's Fork near Belfry. He had a small farm around 1930.

  8. Kangelo Slovenian. Guy. I'm guessing he may have worked at night. :-)

  9. Negovan Montenegran. No other information.

  1. Naglich Slovenian. Steve. He was a miner. Her married Mary (Krivitz) Puhek after Steve Puhek died.

  2. Allison English. Bobby. He was a bachelor. He was an old man when Uncle knew him. One eye was bad.

  3. Hemovich Croatian-Montenegran. Frank. He was a miner. He married Kata (Kathrin) Naglich, Steve Naglich's sister.

  4. Kotar Slovenian. He was married. Rose, his wife was the mother of Tom Lindsay's wife, Anne. The Kotars split up and Mr. Kotar died.

  5. Anderson Finn. Elmer. He was a miner. His wife was named Agnes.

  6. Kotar Slovenian. Joe. He was a miner and son of Mr. Kotar and Rose. He married Anne Planichek.

  7. Kotar Slovenian. Rose. She was married to Mr. Kotar (#31). After they divorced, her kids took care of her.

  8. Kotar Slovenian. Rudy. He was a miner.

  9. Morris English. He was a bachelor. The kids thought he was scary because he had a cane. The kids would "tease him," and he would wave his cane at them. Uncle Hank worked for the Union Meat Market. (Guido Marcello and Eli Pekich owned it.) He delivered groceries to people in the coulee. He got to know Mr. Morris and discovered he was really nice. Uncle Hank never did see him out of his yard.

  10. O'Blak Slovenian. Ciril. He was a miner. Uncle Hank didn't really know him in Scotch Coulee. He moved to Washoe and got connected with a woman who had two daughters. He moved to Washington (Cle Elem???). One of the daughters, Milka (Amelia) had a fiddle and raffled it off. Bill Cestnik got it. Vince Cestnik "accidentally" broke the bow over Uncle Hank's head for ". . . being a good boy!" :-) Later on, Ciril married my Grandmother Elise Cestnik and they moved to Thermopolis, Wyoming. Ciril liked to make home made wine and he bought grapes from my Uncle Dick Lovell, who married Betty Cestnik.

  11. Rodeshed Slovenian. John. He was a miner and a bachelor. He was a real nice guy. He'd come and visit and welcomed you if you came to visit him. EVEN THE KIDS!!!

  12. Wydits Slovenian. He was a shoe maker. I asked, "Was he a good shoe maker?" "You, better believe it!" Uncle Hank smiled! He moved to Roundup, MT.

  13. Vertin Slovenian. Jacob. His wife was Katarina Schutte. He had a farm up near John Cestnik's. And he was a miner too.

  14. Mourich Slovenian. Jacob and Ursula. (Nicknamed Mat and Oche -- Mother and Father) in the coulee. She was German. He had a carpenter shop at home. He made furniture, cedar chests. It was fancy, good stuff. "Nobody could do it better!" Mat, (Ursula) was the midwife of the coulee and probably delivered most of the kids living there.

  15. Thomas Montenegran. Tom. He was a miner. His son, Nick worked in a mine and stood up in a mantrip (the cart used to pull men in and out of the mines) and hit his head on a beam; he broke his neck and died.

  16. Kosmac Slovenian. Frank. He was a miner. His wife was Rudy Krivitz's sister. She died and the whole family moved back to Yugoslavia.

  17. Cestnik Slovenian. John and Rosa. Raised kids. He came from Trbovlje and Rosa came from Novo Mesto, Slovenia. They had a farm, higher up the coulee that John homesteaded. Lench, one of his daughters use to collect Bitterroot flower petals and put them in a jar. She would add water, put on the lid and sit it in the sun. Then she used it as perfume! Cool!!! John and his family moved to Cody, WY about 1949. Mary, became the custodian of photographs. She has lots of family pictures and remembers who most of the people are. She has been helpful in our quest to recapture some of the mystic surrounding Scotch Coulee.

  18. Golub Slovenian. Frank and Kata. He was a miner. I have pictures of their two daughters, Kathryn and Frances, with my Uncle Ed. They turned my great grandfather John Cestnik's house into their garage. They moved to Kirby, WY. I remember him as a kid. My Dad would go and visit him. He had a hole in his throat and used a box or something over it to talk. It scared me as a kid. I think he bought grapes from my Uncle Dick.

  19. Cestnik Slovenian. John, Sr. My Great Grandfather. He was a cobbler. He was married to Ana Petelinsek. To my knowledge, nobody knows what happened to her. My cousin said she came to America, but then she disappeared. Please come back .
    Werholtz Slovenian. George. He was a miner and played the zither. He and Mrs. Werholtz got divorced. George left and moved in with Martin Reher. Mrs. Werholtz stayed with the kids. She moved to Red Lodge and set up a dress shop there and maybe one in Bear Creek. She was really good.

  20. Lamport English. Walt. He made ice cream. "Good?" I asked. "You damn right!!!" was Uncle Hank's reply. "And it was a big cone, too!" It was a nickle a cone. They also sold ice for the ice boxes to people in Scotch Coulee and Bear Creek for twenty five cents a block. They had a horse and buggy and went down through the coulee with it. Later on, he became sheriff of Carbon County. He developed appendicitis and died from it.

    Creekside


  1. Hodnik Slovenian. John. He was a miner. His wife was Apolonia. (It means butterfly!) Their son, John, was killed in the Smith Mine disaster in 1943. They are buried in the Bear Creek cemetery across from the Cestniks.

  2. Godina Slovenian. Their daughter, Lucy, married Louie Crtalic. Mary Godina married Frank Danichek. Uncle Hank delivered groceries to them.

  3. Kochivar Slovenian. John. He was a bachelor and maybe a miner.

  4. Petrik Slovenian??? Fred. He was a bachelor and must have been a farmer. He walked across the hills every day to 100 acres he owned towards Wyoming and the Clark Fork river. Frank Clark eventually bought it.

  5. Naglich Slovenian. John. He was a miner and made good Zinfandel wine.

  6. Bizak Slovenian. John. In the summer time, he walked a trail over Mount Maurice where he fished in a lake. He caught lots of fish and gave them away to people. He kept a big garden.

  7. Simington English. John. He moved into the Werholtz house (#47) after Mrs. Werholtz moved to Red Lodge. Ah, he probably worked at night too!

Scotch Coulee Stories by Mary Horn. To send your own Scotch Coulee story, drop an e-mail to cestnik@q.com.