One good deed deserves another

By DANIEL PERSON Chronicle Staff Writer

A Belgrade landlord found more than dirt when he was cleaning out some furniture last week. He found a chunk of prime real estate.

DEIRDRE EITEL/CHRONICLE Michael Mattson found this original homestead document in the used dresser he bought to furnish his Belgrade condominium. The Homestead Certificate #2315, dated Dec. 31, 1904, bequeathed 160 acres in the Bridger Canyon free of charge to one Nels Peterson. Michael Mattson’s first thought when he found a homestead certificate dated Dec. 31, 1904, in a chest of drawers he bought last September was, “Hey, I got some free land,” he said.

And what land it is: Homestead Certificate #2315 bequeathed 160 acres in the Bridger Canyon free of charge to one Nels Peterson.

His second thought was, “I’ll sell it on eBay,” he said.

It might fetch a price. They yellowed document, neatly folded in a Phoenix Co. Insurance envelope, is adorned with elegant cursive writing and two Theodore Roosevelt signatures, although he’s unsure if they are authentic or were done by a proxy. A blood-red American seal on the bottom left corner lends it even more gravity.

But he finally “went with the good angel” and set about finding the person who he thought was most entitled to the title.

At first he thought that would be a descendent of Nels Peterson.

But Mattson said that proved to be impossible.

So he went for the next best thing, the man who has Peterson’s homestead now.

That turned out to be Michael Liebelson, Mattson said.

Leibelson said he had not seen the certificate, but doesn’t doubt its authenticity. After all, much the land in the Bridger canyon was deeded by the government, he said.

It’s a mystery how the certificate wound up in the chest of drawers, Mattson said. The furniture only dates back to the 1960s n long after the homesteading era was over.

He bought the chest at East Main Trading Company for $300.

Lee Phillips, co-owner of the East Main Trading Company, called the case “kind of odd.”

“We’ve never come across one,” he said. “We obviously missed that one.”

When the company gets furniture, employees go through it, looking for things the owners left behind. Phillips said they have found silver certificates, two-dollar bills and a half-dime.

After all, furniture collectors are often on the look out for hidden treasures.

“You’re always looking for the trip to the ‘Antique Roadshow,’” he said, referring to the popular PBS program.

Mattson called the certificate “his first big find.”

“I’m very interested in what comes next,” he said.

And for those jealous of the Gallatin Valley forefathers who were given land, not asked to plunk down a few million dollars for it, there is one condolence.

Nels Peterson did have to pay a filing fee on the deed. Cost: $1.50.

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