Page 10 - MFM Aug Sept 2019

Scott Leavitt
Soldier, Teacher, Forester, Congressman, Freemason
Reid Gardiner, Editor
Brother Scott Leavitt was
born in Elk Rapids, Michigan,
he attended the public schools
and while in high school
enlisted in the Th irty-third
Regiment, Michigan Volunteer
Infantry, serving during the
Spanish American War. Leavitt
served in the campaign at
Santiago, Cuba during the
war. After the war he attended
the University of Michigan
at Ann Arbor. He subsequently moved to Oregon
in 1901 and began homesteading in the Coast
Range Mountains near Falls City, Oregon. Th ere
he worked as a Teacher and School Principal in
the communities of Falls City, North Yamhill,
Dayton, and Lakeview, Oregon from 1901 to 1907.
In 1907 Leavitt entered the United States Forest
Service, his fi rst assignment was on the Th omas Creek
Ranger Distict, Fremont National Forest in Oregon. In
1908 he became Supervisor of the Lolo National Forest
in Montana. In 1909 he was transfered to the Superior
National Forest in Minnesota. In 1910 he became
Supevisor of the Lewis and Clark National Forest out
of Choteau, Montana. In 1913 he became Supervisor
of the Jeff erson National Forest through 1918, out of
Great Falls, Montana.
At the start of World War I, he became the Federal-
State Director for Montana of both the United States
Public Service Reserve and the Federal Employment
Service.
Brother Scott Leavitt became a Mason in Choteau
Lodge No. 44 he was: Initiated on March 10, 1913;
Passed on April 13 1913; and raised to the sublime
degree of a Master Mason on April 17, 1913. In 1918
he dimitted from Choteau Lodge and transfered his
membership to Great Falls No. 118 he was a Charter
Member and fi rst Senior Warden of Grand Falls Lodge
U.D. Brother Leavitt became a Charter Member of
Delta Lodge No. 128 i 1919. He received his 50 Year
Member Award on April 17, 1963.
In 1922, he was elected to the United States House
of Representatives in Montana’s 2nd congressional
district. He served four more terms (1924,1926,1928
and his fi fth and fi nal term in Congress in 1930).
He served as chairman of the House Committee on
Indian Aff airs.
Montana Freemason
Congressman Scott Leavitt introduced a bill and
congress approved the funding for the Roosevelt
Memorial Obelisk monument at Marias Pass built on
the Continental Divide in 1931.
Dedication of Roosevelt Memorial at Marias Pass, Oct. 25,
1931. Brother & Gov. John E. Erickson, Brother & Congressman
Scott Leavitt, and Regional Forester Evan W. Kelley at base of
obelisk with tablet. Lewis and Clark National Forest. (Forest
Service photo by K. D. Swan)
Congressman Scott Leavitt sponsored legislation
called the Park Approach Act (H. R. 12404). Th e Park
Approach Act provide for construction roads that led
to National Parks and allowed construction of the
Beartooth Highway. In 1932, bill was introduced into
the United States Congress by Congressman Scott
Leavitt of Montana, to establish the International
Peace Park immediately adjacent to Waterton Lakes
National Park in Canada, and Glacier National Park.
Th e bill was passed by both houses and was signed
by President Herbert Hoover on December 8, 1932.
resulted in the establishment of the Waterton-Glacier
International Peace Park.
On March 5, 1932, Leavitt took to the fl oor of the
House to deliver a eulogy to Indian Chief Plenty
Coups. “I have chosen to announce the passing
of one who has graced the history of my state of
Montana,” said Leavitt on the fl oor of the U.S. House
of Representatives. “Plenty Coup’s” life was in truth
a symbol of the absorption of the American Indian
into the citizenship of the United States,” Leavitt
continued. “His was one of the fi nest characters I have
ever known.... He was a man of such caliber and such
high character, and his service was so outstanding,
that it is entirely fi tting that the American Congress
should pause for a moment to do him reverence.
Page 10 Aug/Sept 2019 Volume 95 No .6