USA > Montana > Yellowstone County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 42
USA > Montana > Park County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 42
USA > Montana > Dawson County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 42
USA > Montana > Rosebud County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 42
USA > Montana > Custer County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 42
USA > Montana > Sweet Grass County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 42
USA > Montana > Carbon County > An illustrated history of the Yellowstone Valley : embracing the counties of Park, Sweet Grass, Carbon, Yellowstone, Rosebud, Custer and Dawson, state of Montana > Part 42
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So prominent is this feature that it never fails to attract attention, and all descriptions of the Canyon abound in reference to it. Lieutenant Doane (1870) notes the "brilliant yellow color" of the rocks. Captain Barlow and Doctor Heyden (1871) refer, in almost the same words, to "the yellow, nearly vertical walls." Ray- mond (1871) speaks of the "bright yellow of the clay." Captain Jones (1873) says that "about and in the Grand Canyon the rocks are nearly all tinged a bright yel- low." These early impressions might be repeated from the writings of every subsequent visitor who has de- scribed the scenery of the Yellowstone.
That a characteristic which so deeply moves the modern beholder should have made a profound impres- sion on the Indian, need hardly be premised. This re- gion was by no means unknown to him; and the re- mote, although uncertain, period of his first acquaint- ance with it, the name of the river has undoubtedly descended.
Going back, then, to this obscure fountain-head, the original designation is found to have been Mi tsi a da zi, Rock Yellow River.
And this in the French tongue, became Rouche Janne and Pierre Jaune ; and in English. Yellow Rock and Yellow Stone.
Established usages now writes it Yellowstone.
So much for the name.
That portion of the state of Montana which is now designated as Yellowstone county was at one time inhabited (if we are to believe those who have made a study of the Indian tribes) by the Bannacks, as was the whole Yellowstone valley. This was long before white men had any acquaintance with the country. Later the Bannacks were driven out by the Crows, or, as they called themselves in the early days, Absarokees .*
Of much importance to us was the expedi- tion of the Lewis and Clark party, which, was
*Which. translated, means crow.
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HISTORY OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY.
sent across the continent by President Jeffer- son. The story of this famous expedition has been told in a preceding part of this volume.
In speaking of Pompey's Pillar, Clark says :
It is nearly 200 paces in circumference, 200 feet high and accessible only from the northeast, the other sides consisting of perpendicular cliffs of a light colored gritty stone. The soil on the summit is five or six feet deep, of a good quality, and covered with short grass. The Indians have carved the figures of animals and other objects on the sides of the rock, and on the top are raised two pillars of stones.
Captain Clark says in his journal: "1 marked my name and the day of the month and year." This inscription is still to be seen at the point where the ascent to the rock is made.
When the Northern Pacific railway was being constructed, Col. J. B. Clough, the en- gineer of the Yellowstone division, saw that Clark's name was being rapidly effaced, not alone by time, but by vandals. In behalf of the railway company and under Mr. Henry Villard's instructions. Col. Clough had a heavy double iron screen, 301/2 by 24 inches in size, made and sunk firmly into the rock with lead anchorings, so as entirely to cover and protect the name, which is now hard to decipher, for the irrepressible fool has been there, and has scratched and cut his various names all aorund it, and even over some of the letters and be- tween the lines .- Wheeler's "Trail of Lewis and Clark."
We have been able to find an account of only one white man visiting the future Yel- lowstone county, except the fur traders and trappers, during the first half of the century. That one man was P. J. De Smet, a missionary of the Society of Jesus. His expedition is mentioned in the general history of this book.
It is doubtful if many residents of Yellow- stone county know that at one time the whole county was included in the Crow reservation, but such is the case. By a treaty between the Crow Indians and the United States govern- ment, made September 17, 1851, a reservation
was set off with the following boundaries : "The territory of the Crow nation, commenc- ing at the mouth of the Powder river on the Yellowstone; thence up Powder river to its source ; thence along the main range of the Black Hills and Wind river mountain to the headwaters of the Yellowstone river; thence down the Yellowstone river to the mouth of Twenty-five Yard creek [Shields river ] ; thence to the headwaters of the Musselshell river; thence down the Musselshell river to its mouth ; thence to the headwaters of Dry creek, and thence to its mouth."
It was forty-seven years after Captain William Clark passed through the Yellowstone valley before another government expedition visited this region. On the 24th day of May, 1853, Col. Isaac I. Stevens, who became the first governor of Washington territory, started out from St. Paul, Minnesota, under orders from the United States government to ex- plore and make a preliminary survey for a rail- road to the Pacific coast. Stevens and his party arrived at Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellowstone, on August Ist. A wide belt of country was explored by throwing out small parties on either side of the main body, with instructions to rendezvous at a given point ahead. At Fort Union Lieutenant John Mul- lan, who later built the famous Mullan road in Montana, Idaho and Washington, and de- tailed with a party to survey the valley of the Yellowstone. He ascended the river to a point not far from the present town of Billings, and then, turning northward through the Mussel- shell country and Judith basin, rejoined the main party at Fort Benton, near the falls of the Missouri, which point it reached on September first.
After the surveying party under Cap- tain John Mullan had come up the Yellowstone river as far as the present county of Yellow- stone in 1853. it was ten years before whites again visited that part of the Yellowstone val- ley which is now designated on the map as
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HISTORY OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY.
Yellowstone county, with the possible excep- tion of the few fur traders still in the country, This trip was made in the spring of 1863 by a party of fifteen men tinder Jas. Stuart, and was brought about by the discovery of gold at Bannack and a few other places in the mountains of Montana (then Idaho).
The other party which was to have joined the Stuart party on the trip of exploration, composed of William Fairweather, Henry Edgar and others, was turned back by the Crows. This turned out to be a fortunate cir- cumstance, for the party on the way back to Bannack discovered the world-renowned Alder gulch mines, where Virginia City was built. This division having failed to arrive at the appointed time, the fifteen men tinder Stuart started out on the advance to the Yellow- stone country, with the belief that the others would soon strike the trail and follow. Keep- ing a generally northeast course, this little band of explorers crossed the Madison river, finding plenty of burnt quartz, and frequently "raising the color" when prospecting ; crossed the Gallatin valley where it was watered by two forks; crossed the divide between the Mis- souri and Yellowstone, reaching the latter river on the 25th; keeping down the river, on the north bank, two days beyond Boulder creek, where they fell in with a band of Crows, from which they narrowly escaped through the in- trepid behavior of Stuart. It was on the 28th day of April, 1863, that this trouble with the Indians arose. From the journal kept by Mr. Stuart it is impossible to locate exactly the spot, but it was, doubtless, within the boun- daries of the present county of Yellowstone.
Mr. Stuart tells of the events of this day in his journal* under date of April 28th, as follows :
About an hour before sundown, while lying around camp resting from the fatigues of the day, we were startled by hearing several guns fired in a clump of cottonwoods across the river, and immediately after- ward we saw about thirty Indians fording across. They came on a run, vociferating "How-dye-do" and "Up- sar-o-ka," which means "Crow Indians" in their lan- guage. By the time they were fairly in camp we had our horses all tied up and every man prepared for emergencies.
They first inquired who was our captain. I told them, and asked which was their captain. They showed me three, one big and two little ones. The large chief told me to have all my men put all our things in the tent and keep a sharp lookout, or we would lose them.
I gave him a small piece of tobacco to have a grand smoke, and I also found that one of them, a very small man with a big belly, could talk the Snake language, and he was at once installed as interperter. They ( the interperter and chiefs) sat down in a circle and requested the pleasure of my company. I com- plied with the invitation, and our party stood guard over our horses and baggage, while I smoked and ex- changed lies with them. It would take me a week to write all that was said, so I forbear. Meanwhile, the other Indians began disputing with each other about who should have our best horses. I requested the chief to make them come out from among the horses and behave themselves, which he did. At eight p. m. I put on double guard, and at ten p. m. all but the guard re- tired to rest.
The trials of the little band were by no means at an end. All night long the Indians wandered about the camp like evil spirits. stealing everything they could lay their hands on. Every few minutes somebody would have to rush out of his tent to rescue some piece of property that an Indian had stolen out of the tent, in spite of the watchfulness of the guards and the fact that it was bright moonlight all night. It was the incidents of this trip that gave the Crow's the reputation of being the most accomplished thieves of all the Indian tribes of the Northwest .*
*Published, with notes by Samuel T. Hauser and Granville Stuart, in the Montana Historical Society's contributions.
*One thing is certain; they can discount all the the thieves I ever saw or heard of; in fact, they have to be seen to realize their superiority over all other thieves, either white, red or black, in the world. They would steal the world-renowned Arabs poor in a single hour .- Jas. Stuart.
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HISTORY OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY.
This night of unrest was followed, in the early morning, by one of the most dramatic in- cidents ever occurring on Yellowstone county soil, in which Captain Stuart, by his masterful actions, doubtless saved the party from massa- cre. In his journal he thus modestly describes the vent :
At daylight I aroused the party, and we proceeded to ascertain our losses, which were too numerous to mention, everybody having lost something. In case we stood them off without a fight I thought it best to pack up and go about eight miles before breakfasting, for I knew that before we could get something to eat we would probably have half their village to watch, and judging from their last night's haul, that would be too good a thing for the thieving scoundrels.
As soon as we began to pack up, they at once pro-
ceeded to forcibly trade horses (always taking much the best of the bargain), blankets, etc., and to appro- priate everything they wanted. I saw that the time had come to die or do; therefore I ordered my men to be ready to open fire on them when I gave the signal. With one hand full of cartridges and my rifle in the other, I told the Indians to mount their horses and go to their camp, telling them that they were thieves and liars ; in fact, calling them everything mean that I could think of under pressure. I ordered them to leave im- mediately, or we would kill all of them.
They weakened, got on their horses, and left. Pretty good for the chivalry of the Crow nation to be driven off by fifteen white men!
Two of the chiefs, however, very politely requested to be allowed to go with us to where we would stop and take breakfast with us. I told them that was played out : that the whites were now mad and would not give them anything to eat. They took the chances on that and went along.
CHAPTER II
LATER EXPLORATION AND EARLY SETTLEMENT-1864 TO 1882.
Facts applying the context of the preceding chapter led to the conclusion that the future Yellowstone county, and, in fact, the whole of the Yellowstone valley, was, up to the early sixties, a country as little known as are the Arctic regions today. It was a country given over entirely to the savage red men. True, a a few trappers and explorers had penetrated the country, but the extent of the general knowledge of this vast empire was simply that there was such a country as the Yellowstone valley, extending from the Missouri river in a generally southwesterly direction for a dis- tance of several hundred miles into an equally unknown country. So little was known of the country that such a body of frontiersmen as the James Stuart party had difficulty in deter- mining the exact location in 1863, Mr. Stuart declaring that had the party followed the directions of the government maps, they never
would have found the Yellowstone river. Truly, it was a terra incognita !
Had it not been for the discovery of gold in the mountain country to the west of this val- ley there is reason to believe that the future Yellowstone county and the whole of the Yel- lowstone valley would have remained in this unknown condition for a much longer period. Prior to the discovery of gold there was abso- lutely nothing in the country which is now Montana to attract anybody except trappers and fur traders. But with the unearthing of the precious metal at several points in the mountain country came a new order of things. Although these discoveries were far to the west of the county whose history we are writ- ing the settlement of the mountain country had an effect on the Yellowstone valley. With the rush to' the points of discovery came the be- lief that gold existed in other parts of the coun-
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HISTORY OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY.
try and the determination to find out. From American Fork, Bannack, and later from Vir- ginia City and Helena, went out parties to all parts of Montana to prospect for gold. Such an one was the Stuart party, who came to the Yellowstone and Big Horn valleys, as we have told in the first chapter.
In order to get into the known gold fields, it was necessary to traverse vast stretches of unsettled and heretofore unknown country, and this fact alone led to knowledge of differ- ent parts of the present state of Montana which must, otherwise, have been left marked on the map as "unknown region" for years to come. Of more importance to the Yellowstone valley than any other event in the early history of Montana was the opening of the Bozeman route from the east to the mining camps, over which several trains passed in 1864 and later years.
Beginning with the year 1865, and for several years thereafter, the Yellowstone river became quite well known and popular highway for people going from Montana back to the states.
Between the date of the first arrival of emi- grants through the valley and the settlement of that part of the valley which is now Yellow- stone county, many stirring events took place.
An event of the year 1868 should have its place in the history of Yellowstone county, al- though at the time its effect on the territory of the future county was nil. This was a treaty between the United States government and the Crow nation concluded at Fort Laramie, Dak- ota, on May 7, 1868. By the terms of the treaty the Crow reservation was cut down to that part of Montana south and east of the Yellowstone river river and west of the 107th degree of longitude (which is still the eastern boundary of the reservation). This removed from the Crow reservation (which had been created in 1851) all that part of the county which lies north of the Yellowstone river, but left in it that part which lies to the south of the
river, which latter portion was opened by sub- sequent treaties, the last one only a short time ago. As there were no settlers in any part of the present county in 1868, or any prospects of any, the immediate effects of this treaty were not apparent, but when, a few years later, a few settlers took up homes in this part of the valley, the wisdom of the treaty was apparent ; those who sought to build themselves homes in the valley had a legal right to hold land on the north side of the stream.
In the preceding chapter we told of the pre- liminary survey of a part of the Yellowstone valley by Captain John Mullan, of the Stevens party, in 1853, for a Pacific railroad. The next attempt to survey a line for this road in the valley was made in 1871. In the fall of that year Mr. Muhlenberg, a Northern Pacific en- gineer, accompanied by a force of cavalry from Fort Ellis, commanded by Captain Ball, started out from Bozeman, and ran his lines easterly to a point near the mouth of Pryor's creek, a point known among the early visitors to the valley as the "Place of Skulls." Here Mr. Muhlenberg was forced to abandon the work on account of a heavy fall of snow. There are no records to the effect that this party en- countered any hostile Indians. In fact, there was little danger of this at the time of year in which the survey was made, as the Sioux and other war like tribes were generally out of the Yellowstone valley by the time cold weather set in.
By the terms of the charter granted to the Northern Pacific railway company, the United States government bound itself to afford all necessary protection against hostile Indians to the parties engaged in making the survey of the route, as well as in the construction of the road. It was in carrying out these obligations that the troops under Captain Ball accom- panied these surveyors in 1871.
The Northern Pacific company desired to carry on its surveys on an extensive scale dur- ing 1872, and in the spring of that year called
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HISTORY OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY.
upon the government to again furnish protec- tion for its surveyors. It was the intention to run lines over the vast region stretching from the base of the Rocky mountains to the Mis- souri river at Bismarck-a country which was in complete possession of the hostile Sioux. Two surveying parties were to take the field, one to begin at the Missouri river and extend its explorations westward, the other on the up- per Yellowstone and proceed down that stream, take up the work where it had been abandoned the fall before, near the mouth of Pryor's Fork, and complete the survey of the valley to the mouth of Powder river, where it was expected to meet the eastern corps.
For the protection of the surveying parties the government furnished troops .* For the party which started westward from the Mis- souri river an escort of nearly 1,000 men, com- manded by Col. David S. Stanley, 22nd infan- try, was furnished. As this division of the sur- veyors had nothing to do with the history of Yellowstone county we shall pass the story of its operations with this brief mention.
But the other party played an important part in the early history of Yellowstone county. To Col. John Gibbon, 7th infantry. commanding the district of Montana, was as- signed the duty of providing from his troops a suitable force for the protection of the Yel- lowstone valley corps of engineers. For this purpose the colonel selected companies C. E. G, and I, 7th infantry, from Fort Shaw, and and troops F, G, H, and L, 2nd cavalry, from Fort Ellis. The command of this force which .
In his report for 1872, General Hancock says : "On the 29th of June I received instructions from the lieutenant general to prepare two commands as es- corts for two surveying parties of the Northern Pacific railroad, one to proceed from Fort Rice on the Mis- souri river about 240 miles and return, the other to start from Fort Ellis, Montana, proceed to the mouth of Powder river, 310 miles, and return by way of the Mussellshell river."
numbered about 400 men, was given to Major Eugene M. Baker, of the 2nd cavalry.
These soldiers marched from their respec- tive forts, and on the 13th of July they assem- bled on Shields river (in the present Park county ), where they were joined by Col. Hay- den with his corps of surveyors. The march down the valley was at once begun. By easy stages the forces continued down the valley. without encountering hostile Indians or seeing signs of any, and went into camp at the point where the survey of the year before had been left off, arriving at this place in the first part of August. The soldiers were taking life easy in camp while Col. Hayden was making his arrangements for taking up and continuing the survey. The location of the camp, which became the scene of a bloody battle, was on the north side of the river, not far from the point where Pryor's Fork puits into the Yellow- stone from the south side, and not far from the present village of Huntley. There seems to have been little apprehension that there were Indians in the vicinity, and no special precati- tions were taken to guard against attack. The presence in the neighborhood of two or three Indian dogs, however, conveyed to some of the party the belief that redskins might not be far off; but the general feeling was one of con- fidence and security .*
Now while the troops were slowly making their way down the valley a heavy force of Sioux warriors, variously estimated at from 800 to 1,000 strong, was ascending the river upon a hostile incursion against the Crows, and about the 12th of August discovered through their scouts that they were in the pre-
* .. not only were no especial precautions taken by the force to guard against an attack, but on the very night fixed for it he [Col. Baker] permitted himself to become unfitted for the proper performance of his duties by an over-indulgence in strong drink .- Lieutenant Jas. H. Bradley.
17
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HISTORY OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY.
sence of Baker's command. This unexpected feature created a division in their councils, many being anxious to give over their former designs and measure powers with the troops. while the more prudent minority was disposed to avoid so hazardous an enterprise and con- tinue their advance on the less prepared and unsuspecting Crows. At length, however, tempted by the large spoils in horses which they hoped, by dexterous management, to se- cure at little cost to themselves, they declared in favor of an attack upon the troops, and fixed upon the morning of August 14th for carrying the plan into effect.
The camp of the soldiers was an ideal one and could have been guarded against surprise had proper precautions been taken, but this was not done, and that the result was not dis- astrous was due largely to the officer of the guard .*
The designs of the savages were well planned. Several hundred warriors were posted close on the lower side of the camp, where they were wholly screened from view by the timber and willows growing in profusion at the lower extremity of the slough, while the remainder of their force was to seek, by an at- tack upon the landward side of the camp, to draw the troops in that direction, when the
*Says Lieut. Jas. H. Bradley, who has written entertainingly of this battle, his information having been received from interviews with soldiers, citizens and Indians taking part, and who visited the site in 1876: "The camp was pitched upon ground favorable for defense, being located on the margin of the stream, with a timbered slough sweeping in a semi-circular di- rection around it so as to form in connection with the river what may be termed an island of two or three acres area, the whole at long rifle range from the ad- jacent bluffs. To have rendered the position wholly secure, however, it would have been necessary to guard the slough that it could not be occupied by the enemy as a preliminary to their attack ; but this was not done. Fortunately, it was rather the purpose of the Indians to get possession of the animals of the command with as little fighting as possible than to gain any decisive advantage over the troops, and their plans were laid accordingly."
ambushed swarms would burst from their con- cealment, sweep over the camp, cut loose the horses, throw the troops into confusion by at- tacking their rear, and at the worst escape with the herd. With such caution and success did they. under cover of the darkness on the night of the 13th, reconnoiter the camp previous to the attack that they were enabled to steal sev- eral saddles out of the tents of a party of pros- pectors, who had joined the command, while their owners lay within them asleep, cut from their lines and make off with six mules picketed near the tent of the commanding officer, and kill a dog that threatened to betray their pres- ence in the camp.
Although Colonel Baker had not made special arrangements for a guard on the night of the 13th. Lieut. Wm. Logan, who had com- mand of the guard (consisting of 26 men), was one who suspected the presence of the In- dians, and he made all the preparations to guard against surprise that were possible un- der the circumstances. His guard was posted on the flank of the camp, away from the river and some 300 yards distant therefrom, his sen- tinels covering the camp as far as possible, while the herds of beef cattle and mules of the government and contractors' trains, which had been left out to graze, were held well un- der cover of the guard of the island-like loca- tion of the camp, with a squad of herders over them to prevent straggling or stampede. The horses of the cavalry were tied at the picket lines within the limits of the camp.
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