Edward W. and George D. Beattie were natives of Rockford, Illinois, born in 1847 and 1857, respectively. As a young man, Edward set up a cutlery business in Rockford, which he later moved to Chicago. George joined him there several years later as an employee. In 1884, their brother Alexander H. Beattie, who had been active in Helena, Montana, real estate and banking, died leaving a large estate. The following year, Edward and George moved to Helena to manage the estate's property. The Beattie brothers invested widely in mining, ranching and real estate. Their most important interests were the Rosebud Land and Improvement Company and the Silver Bow Park Addition in Butte. In November 1913, the brothers decided to turn over all of their property to the Beattie Company, newly incorporated by A.L. Smith, Carl Rasch, and Milton S. Gunn, in exchange for all but fifteen of the Company's 100,000 shares. After the deaths of the two brothers in 1914 and 1915, the Company continued to manage the property until the late 1920s. Edward W. Beattie served as U.S. Surveyor General for Montana from 1897 to 1904 and was a close associate of the state's Republican senator, Thomas H. Carter.