Migration From Montana to California After WWI

This past week I attended a class at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy called “From Sea to Shining Sea: Researching Our Ancestors’ Migrations in America.”[1] We learned so much about migrating families in the United States these some 400 years. We have learned about trails, roads, canals, and railroads that took them to new places. We learned about possible economic and social reasons (and push and pull of migration) that prompt their moves. Moving to a new place often were due to seeking freedom, a better life, free land, or being with family.

I started thinking about why my ancestors moved. Of course, any of the above reasons probably factored in their moves, depending on the time period and their circumstances. Specifically, what brought my Hork family to California in the early 1920s?

Cyril’s Move
Cyril Hork had married Anna Sullivan in Butte, Montana on Thanksgiving Day in 1922.[2] At the time of his marriage, he was working as a warehouseman with the Northern Pacific Railroad in Hamilton, Montana. He was dismissed on the 19^th December of that year, due to reduction in force.[3] He had been there since July of that year and made 45 cents per hour.

What a sad time. He had been married only about three weeks and it was just one week before Christmas.

However, in January, he had a plan.[4] They would move to California. Why California? Weather could have been a factor. Who wouldn’t trade cold and icy weather for sunny California? Perhaps he heard there were lots of jobs to be had as the Los Angeles area was growing.

Cyril knew about Southern California. He served during World War I in San Pedro from 30 Sep 1918 to 12 Jun 1919 aboard the submarine tender USS Alert.[5] He would have remembered the nice warm days of Southern California during the winter. Perhaps he thought it was a good place to raise a family.

Even the newspaper remarked on their move.[6]

Railroad Route?

So how did they get there? Using The Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States for 1923, I can trace which railroad lines they would have traveled from Hamilton, Montana to Los Angeles, California.[7]

Since we know he worked for the Northern Pacific, he likely took a Northern Pacific train. Hamilton was on the Bitter Root Branch and Cyril could have ridden to Missoula, where he caught a mainline train west toward Portland on the Northern Pacific, changing to the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railroad at Spokane for Portland. At the Portland Union Station, he could get a train on the Southern Pacific Railroad to Oakland, and then on to Los Angeles.

Butte to Portland

There was also another route he could have taken. His Northern Pacific train to Butte, Montana. From there, he could take the Union Pacific Railroad train to Salt Lake City, and then change a train on the same railroad to Los Angeles.

The two routes the 

Both routes involved changing railroads and making overnights in Butte, Portland, or Salt Lake City. Which would he have chosen? Either the cheapest route or the shortest route. It is probably unlikely that he had a car and drove to Los Angeles, which would have taken several days. Autos in those days were not able to drive as fast as our cars do today. They also were very costly.

Santa Monica
Cyril and Anna did arrive in Santa Monica. They were listed in the Santa Monica Area city directory, living at 144 Grand Avenue in Ocean Park. I couldn’t find the address on a current map, but found it on a 1918 map.[8]

They didn’t stay here long. Their twenty years living in Southern California found them in multiple addresses. Cyril never held a job very long. In 1940, Anna would move to Napa with her four children.

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[1] https://slig.ugagenealogy.org/cpage.php?pt=608#course-1

[2] Silver Bow County, Marriages, A-14551, William C. Hork to Anna M. Sullivan, 30 Nov 1922.

[3] "Northern Pacific Railway Company Personnel Files, 1890-1963," digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com), File 144100, Notice of Suspension, Dismissal or Resignation, 19 Dec 1922, Cyril Willis Hork.

[4] Ravalli Republic, 26 Jan 1923, p. 4.

[5] Military Enlistments (Montana), World War I, Montana Adjutant General's Office Records 1889-1959 (RS 223), Montana Historical Society Research Center, Helena, Montana., World War I (HAUGEN-JACOBSON), Cyril Willis Hork, ser. no. 173-64-55.

[6] Ravalli Republic, 26 Jan 1923, p. 4.

[7] The Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, 1923, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b2999709&view=1up&seq=9.

[8] Sanborn Map, Santa Monica, California, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4364sm.g4364sm_g008361963/?sp=26&r=-0.168,0.187,1.268,0.572,0), image 26.

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