For more than a generation of human life this successful and energetic stockman and farmer has lived in Wyoming. He came here in 1868 when the country was in truth and fact the “wild West,” with no evidences of civilization save here and there the lone cabin of the daring squatter, the dugout of the hardy trapper, the stockades of the military post or the humble meeting house of the Christian mission. And to the settlement development and improvement of the section he has given his life and energies since that time. Mr. Marquette is a native of Ohio where he was born in 1841. His parents were Peter and Catherine Marquette, natives of Germany who came to the United States soon after their marriage and settled in Ohio and there engaged in farming. Their son lived at home until he was seventeen attending the schools of the neighborhood and assisting on the farm. At the age mentioned he sought a new home in the West, a land of abundant promise but exacting conditions and locating in Minnesota farmed for a time in that state and also for a time in Wisconsin. During his stay in this part of the country he worked at intervals on the rivers and in the pinewoods. He has been bred to industry and knowing hard work from his childhood, he was not afraid of it in any form but with the true education which Nature gives her offspring who commune with her in proper spirit, stood ready with a hearty will to do whatever came his way and was remunerative, however arduous and apart from a sense of duty repulsive it might be. In 1860 he removed to Missouri and not anticipating the troublous times that were almost at hand, settled down to a quiet farmer’s life in that state. The next year when armed resistance threatened the existence of the Union, he enlisted in its defense as a member of Co. C Fifth Missouri Militia and during the two years of active service under arms which he saw had many exciting and dangerous experience confronting the organized forces of the Confederacy in the field following the path of ruin and devastation of the guerrilla Quantrell, guarding the supply trains of his command and protecting life and property on every hand. At the close of his term he returned to Minnesota, and after a year of labor there again enlisted this time as a member of Co. H eleventh Minnesota Infantry and served in that command until the end of the war. He then engaged in rafting on the Mississippi for some months after which he went to Council Bluffs, Iowa and aided to the construction of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad. In 1868 he landed at Cheyenne, Wyoming finding it a straggling village with high hopes but only a few unpretentious house as yet. From there he went to Laramie and worked at making and selling railroad ties for a period of six years. In 1874 he began a three years industry in hunting trapping and prospecting with headquarters in North Park, Colorado and in 1877 returned to Wyoming stopping at Sherman until the spring of 1878 when he came by way of Fort Fetterman to Lander, going from there to North Park again and later to Rawlins. There he joined the Patti Mining Co., for the summer and in the fall returned to Lander. He soon after located on the Bighorn and built the first house in the Bighorn basin near the mouth of No. Wood Creek. From here he hunted trapped and prospected for three years, and in 1881 located on the South Fork of the Shoshone River. After a season passed there he removed to near his present ranch took up a homestead and began farming in earnest. In 1890 a post office was established at Marquette and named in his honor. It was the first post office on the South Fork, and he was appointed postmaster and office, which he has held continuously since that time. Mr. Marquette has a fine ranch on the river and carries on a profitable and progressive stock business. His home is beautifully located and by the systematic improvements he has made and is still making is fast becoming one of the best and most attractive in this section of the country. While he has been a great hunter and trapper in his time and still has all the spirit and cunning of the craft and has lost none of his intuitive knowledge of the woodsman’s needs and methods he has readily adapted himself to the changed conditions and settled down permanently to farming and raising stock. In 1901 his brother, Philip, of Ohio made him a visit and gave him the first sight of a member of his family since the war. He had not seen any of them for forty-three years. His bachelor home, while lacking the elegance and style of the city drawing room has an abundance of homely comfort cordial hospitality and genuine good fellowship for all who find shelter under its pleasant and attractive roof.
