Page 15 - Cornelius Hedges Story

For This And Succeeding Generations Gardiner 2

of the United States government as its district attorney, or the editor
of the leading daily papers of the state, Judge Hedges was a power
for good, and for the development of the best in Montana.

The great work done by Cornelius Hedges for Montana will be
more appreciated as the years pass. There are a few who know
what a dominant personality he was in placing before the world the
beauties of the Yellowstone National Park. He was a member of the
expedition which visited the park and told of its attractions to the
world. Always modest and keeping in the background, others have
reaped much of the credit that should have gone to him in connection
with the setting aside of the park as a national pleasure ground.

The Helena public library owes more to Judge Hedges than to
any other for its present efficiency. In the late years to it he devoted
much of his time, and its good work was his pride. Above and
beyond all, Judge Hedges was a loyal Montanan. He went through
the good times and the hard ones, and never did he lose faith in
the greatness of the state and its future. As it was with the state, so
with his adopted city Helena, which for so many years had been
his home, was to him the one place in all the world and he was the
friend of every man and woman in it.

Thoughtful, kind, charitable, ever ready to heed the call of the
unfortunate, without selfishness or guile, no better man has ever
lived in Montana, nor to any, is there a higher need of praise due for
what he did and gave to Montana.

Because of his abiding faith in the essential goodness of his
fellow men, his moral beliefs which governed his daily life, his
multifarious interests and avenues of activity, and his dedication to
the improvement of Montana and the world around him, Cornelius
Hedges was one of the prime forces responsible for the cultural,
social, moral, intellectual, aesthetic, and religious development of
Montana in her formative years.

As we look back the most important aspects of Hedges’ life will
show his major contributions to Montana, along with the necessary
material endeavors for a comfortable existence for himself and his
family, and economic ventures for support of himself and his family,
the National Park idea, education, the Helena Public Library, literary
ability, his love of books and knowledge, Masonic activities and
writings, and religion.