USA > Montana > Blaine County > In the land of Chinook; or, The story of Blaine county > Part 4
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IN THE LAND OF CHINOOK
ground.' As to that the writer could not get Skillen to say.) The department ordered a detachment of soldiers, under the leadership of Scott, from Ft. Maginnis to be stationed at Rocky Point to keep order and supervise the reservation.
"The heaviest gold found on the Little Rockies was found at the mouth of Alder Gulch, on a high rim, by "Nigger" Shelby. Quite a little money was taken out at this point. The heaviest piece of gold found in the Little Rockies was found by William Skillen. This nugget weighed a little more than eighty-three dollars. It came from Rock creek and was valued at seventeen dollars an ounce. This nugget was sold for one hundred dollars.
"Gold quartz was discovered in the Little Rockies, in Mon- tana gulch, by Pike Landusky. The first lead was discovered, The August, by Bob Orman. There was also some small quan- tities of galena in the creek beds." That is Billy Skillen's account of the mines as he saw them in the Little Rockies. Men depend too much on memory and do not think that some time they will be called on for facts.
After the reader had gone through all that is recorded he will find the story of the discovery of gold in the Little Rockies of a contradictory nature. Why it is that people become impressed with a thing as a fact that is more than half fiction, I do not know, but several have given me a story of the finding of gold in this part of Montana. None of them were under oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, as one who is trying to gather facts and information for history can not afford to try and get his material in that way, as men from whom he was expecting facts would rebel if one even suspected they were careless in their statements. As the lands where the gold was discovered was on an Indian reservation no one would have a right to stay there. If it could be made to appear that the values were sufficient to prove that this ground could be made to produce more as mineral ground than it could for Indian sustenance then the Government allows the whites to remain in charge. When the soldiers came there to make their investigation, the miners, so I have been told (see above) salted the ground on bedrock so that it would appear to carry more value than it really had. Be that as it may the miners were allowed to stay and that part of the mountain range south of the summit was thrown open so that no more conflicts could occur as to the invading of the Indian rights by the whites.
The bad lands of the Missouri, in those days, were more or less the homes of many who could lay no claim to right living. These men had come as buffalo hunters, traders, wolvers or what not and many of them had become free-lances who could see no
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
particular use for law and order as they had done something some time or some where to throw them beyond the pale. Some of them became rustlers and made havoc among the big herds of cattle that had taken the place of the vast herds of buffalo that had so recently been wiped from the face of the earth by these same hunters. Of course not all of these hunters and wolvers could be considered bad men because some of the finest men on the frontier helped to slay the Indian's food supply.
There were enough of them, however, who did not believe in the property rights of others and these were the ones who made it necessary to form a vigilance committee under the leadership of Granville Stuart and Reece Anderson. These two men were old pioneers of Western Montana who had passed through a period of outlawry, in the early sixties, when it had become abso- lutely necessary to form a band of valiant men to safeguard the rights of men who could not protect themselves from a band of men who had made the Western part of the state an unsafe place until they were exterminated.
While this is not a part of the chapter on mining in the county it was owing to the peculiar conditions of outlawry that at that time existed that caused the gold to be found in the Little Rockies if "Billy" Skillen is right.
It does seem too bad that we cannot get the truth of things that happened not more than fifty years ago. Chris Keyes and John Lepley found the first gold in what was to become Lewis and Clark county. It was found at Silver Creek in 1864. This same man Keyes is the one that Skillen mentions as the man that might have found the first gold in the Little Rockies as it is known that he had written to Lepley to drop all he had and come. It was not long after this that we find he was killed down on the Missouri when on his way to the claim he had written to Lepley about.
A noted character of the plains and mountains, Cyprienne Matt, some one tells, heard that J. M. Arnoux, Tom Haley and another man found gold in the Little Rockies in 1866.
While Skillen may be right as to dates, it is a fact that the first news given to the world of discovery of gold was September 3rd, 1884. And that "Dutch Louis" was the man, according to most reports.
Frank Aldrich had come a few days after Louis. He went to Ft. Assinniboine for grub and Louis panned, while he was gone (two weeks and two days) One Hundred and Nine Dollars.
Bob Main and Charlie Smith and "Dutch Louis" and Frank Aldrich were the first to begin sluicing and took out as much as $20 per day to the man.
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IN THE LAND OF CHINOOK
FRANK ALDRICH'S STORY.
"When and under what circumstances was the discovery made?" was the question put to Aldrich by the reporter on The River Press of Benton. "We struck it on the 15th day of June. Charlie Brown and myself were prospecting the little Rockies and came upon Louis Meyers or "Dutch Louis" in this gulch. He had found good indications but had not prospected the gulch well. We proposed to crosscut the gulch working together, and did so. We found two channels where good prospects were got. On bedrock where we worked we got as high as $3.50 to the pan and it averaged 25 cents. There is five feet of solid gravel that will average a bit to the pan. (The discovery claim was set aside for Aldrich, Brown and Louie.) We were not the first to find gold there as near the mouth of the gulch there was a pit 100 by 150 that had evidently been sluiced out years before." This discovery was made on Beauchamp's creek.
Generally when gold is discovered the news travels very rapidly. That it did not get out in this particular case is because of the fact that those fellows had no right in there prospecting as it was an Indian reservation. The Government had learned that when the prospector finds gold he will have it no matter where it may be located so as soon as they could they threw open that particular portion of the reservation as it would be much the wisest thing to do. Had they attempted to have driven the whites out would have resulted in too much expense.
Quartz was soon found and the quartz mining began to take up the attention of many of the people and large mills for the reduction of the ore was soon in operation. Some of them did not prove of any value till some new process was learned so that some of the largest mills for the reduction of gold ore in the United States are now to be found in the Little Rockies as a result cf Dutch Louie's trying to hide out from the vigilantes.
BEAR PAW MOUNTAINS.
It is not many miles from the Little Rockies to these mountains, so men tried to find both placer and quartz in them.
We find in a report by Leon J. Pepperberg, the following : "The placer deposits of the Bear Paw Mountains are of very little importance, although some coarse gold has been recovered by panning and crude sluice methods from the small gravel bars occurring along the drainage ways throughout the group. Since the early seventies prospectors have searched the mountains for lode deposits, and although several pieces of promising looking float which were reported as having been picked up within the district were brought to Havre and Chinook, no vein of value
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ST. PAUL'S MISSION.
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
was discovered until about 1888. (V. Bogy says the lead was first found in '78 by Lloyd.) In 1888 work was begun on an argentiferous galena vein about three miles southeast of Lloyd postoffice, by a number of Chinook business men.
Development was continued for several years and according to L. V. Bogy, of Chinook, who is interested in the property, about seven tons sorted ore was shipped to Great Falls for treat- ment. The claim was patented in 1892 and since that time nothing has been done with it.
In 1906 Steven Randall discovered a vein of supposed copper ore about three-fourths of a mile southeast of Clear Creek P. O. Immediately after the discovery the Copper Gulch Mining Com- pany was formed of Chinook men, to sink on the claims Randall found. The shaft sunk on the site of the original discovery showed the vein to carry values in lead, silver, gold and copper and as a result of this showing much prospecting was done during 1906 and 1907 along the tributaries of Cleark creek, especially around the head of White Pine Canyon. The district is not a producer at the present time."
The veins that carry gold in the Bear Paw mountains are very thin so far as known. There may be at some time values opened up in that section. The leads of the Little Rockies have been large and valuable because of that fact.
CHAPTER VI.
THE CHURCH IN BLAINE COUNTY.
The writer has been very fortunate in being able to find in Father Eberschweiler, of Havre, one who has the early story of the Catholic Church of Blaine County, as far as the records show, well in hand. We quote from a letter from the Father the fol- lowing: "Father De Smet was the first missionary who traveled through the country in which the Assinniboines and Gros Ventres lived, and through which Cree half-breeds, of Canada, roamed in their extensive buffalo hunts. Then Father Point visited those Indians in passing. Father Giorda came from Fort Benton to them for only a few weeks before Easter, 1862, and baptized 134, mostly children; after which he had to leave for work in the far west.
"Under President Grant the missionary work for the Indians of the United States was divided among the missionaries of diverse beliefs. Under that order each reservation was exclu- sively confided to a certain denomination. The care of the large Ft. Kelknap Reserve was given to the Methodist preachers, none
256668
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IN THE LAND OF CHINOOK
of whom ever came to do any work. Nevertheless the Jesuit Fathers were forbidden to reside in the reservation or do any missionary work among its Indians. Anyhow some Fathers came from the St. Peter's Mission, the headquarters of East Montana, to visit the hunting Cree half-breeds. On one of these visits Father Philip Rapaglio became sick and died on the 7th of February, 1877, at a place near the present railroad station, Zurich. This place is marked by a cross and now called "Priest Point." He was buried in the basement of the Jesuit Church of the Sacred Heart, the first church in Helena, which became the cathedral of the first Bishop of Montana, Right Rev. J. B. Brondel, when he arrived at the end of August, 1883. Father Grassi visited the half-breed Crees, 1879; Father Damian till 1883; Father Bandini, 1884.
"At the end of August, 1883, Father Fredrick Hugo Eber- schweiler, S. J., came from Burlington, Iowa, to Helena; he was attached to St. Peter's Mission and appointed to be the first resident priest to which belonged a very large district. At one of his visits to the garrison, Fort Assinniboine, Indians told him that they greatly wished that a mission be founded for them. The Father wrote to President Cleveland asking the permission to erect a mission and school buildings on the reservation belong- ing to the Fort Belknap Agency. On the first of November, 1885, he received the official letter granting the request.
"The exclusive distribution of Indian missions to special sects was no longer upheld. He went to the Fort Belknap Agency, showed his official letter to the Indian Agent, Lincoln, made arrangements with the Indian trader, Thos. O'Hanlon, to build there a log cabin which, for a time, could be a priest's residence and a chapel. Mr. O'Hanlon was always a most generous friend of the missionary until he (O'Hanlon) died.
"On the eighth of December, 1885, Father Eberschweiler occupied the erected building, which was the first mission house and church of any kind ever erected in the Fort Belknap reserva- tion. During the winter his chief occupation was to learn the Assinniboine language with the gratuitous help of Mr. William Bent, the Indian interpreter, and to compose an Indian cate- chism and to teach the children, who came from the Agency school, to his chapel, to say and sing prayers.
"The Indians wished that their permanent mission should be built in the Little Rockies, a sub-agency nearby, as many of the Indians wished to settle near there. Their missionary formulated their petition, to which their Chiefs subscribed, and sent it to the President. Senator Vest recommended it to Congress, which favorably received it; all to be settled in a treaty to be made.
#
FIRELE
ST. PAUL'S MISSION. Drawing made 1911 by Indian boy 12 years of age.
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
"On the first of May, 1886, the missionary went to the Little Rockies and selected for the mission the place on Peoples creek where it comes out of the woody mountains into a beautiful valley. He then traveled to Fort Benton to find a contractor and workmen for the erection of the mission buildings. Meanwhile a war between the Balknap Indians and the Canadian tribe of Bloods had started and no man would come into their land and expose his scalp to be taken by either of the warring tribes. It was also not possible to get the material for the buildings. The Great Northern railroad was not yet built, nor Great Falls.
"In summer time steamers brought all kinds of articles up the Missouri river from St. Louis to Fort Benton, from where they were freighted to other places in Montana and Canada. There was no surplus of lumber nor did any freighter like to come to a country of warring Indians.
"Father Eberschweiler returned to the Little Rockies, where he found some gold miners. He made a contract with Mr. Umstet to erect, with the help of his companions, large log build- ings for a residence for the missionary, a church, school and dwellings for pupils and Sisters. The necessary lumber was ordered and it arrived in the summer of the next year, 1887. The work was begun; logs were cut in the near woods, the foundation and basement was built. The corner stone was laid on the fifteenth of September, 1886. The work was stopped unfinished before winter. During the winter of 1886 and 1887 Father Eberschweiler remained at Fort Belknap.
"From January 18 to January 23, 1887, Indian commission- ers from Washington made a treaty with the Indians by which the lines of the present reservation were defined and their petition regarding the Little Rockies agreed to and the selected place for the future mission given to the Jesuit Fathers. Father Eber- schweiler subscribed to the treaty as witness. That summer the Belknap tribes and the Bloods smoked the 'Pipe of Peace.' The mission buildings were, little by little, finished on the 15th day of September, just one year from the day when we started.
"Father Eberschweiler traveled with some Ursuline Sisters from St. Peter's Mission and some Indian pupils to St. Paul's Mission and occupied its first mission buildings.
"The successors of Father Eberschweiler built, in the course of time, large stone buildings for the flourishing mission."
Fredrick Hugo Eberschweiler, S. J., was a native of Prussia, Germany. He was born at Waxweiler, in the beautiful Rhine province, on the 19th day of June, 1839. He pursued his studies in the college at Treves, entered the Society of Jesus on the 30th day of September, 1858. He was ordained a priest on the 15th day of June, 1870. When the war broke out
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IN THE LAND OF CHINOOK
between Germany and France he was a hospital chaplain. He came to America in August, 1872, worked in Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio; Burlington, Iowa, and finally in Montana and is at this date (December, 1916) at Havre, Montana.
The St. Paul's mission is in a beautiful cover, or amphitheater, at the northwestern base of the Little Rockies, and was built for the education of the Fort Belknap Indian children. The place selected is one of great natural beauty on Peoples creek where it emerges from the canyon.
The main buildings are of stone and in good repair. The church is stone and the entire ceiling is covered with paintings. They may not be works of art of the highest kind but the themes were chosen from and help tell in pictures, much of the story of the Bible. To the American Indian this means more than written word could ever convey as they were adepts in picture writing. If not adepts it was their way of conveying their thoughts other than spoken language or the sign.
That the Jesuit Fathers had any other desire than the upbuild- ing of their church and the wish to assist the Red Man to become civilized is not my business to find out. That they have tried to reach out and preach the doctrines of their church to all nations is a certain thing. That many of the brightest and most highly educated of their belief have lived lives of unselfishness must be the verdict of those who may be in no way associated with them and may not at all believe as they do.
Certainly many good and true men and women have assumed the mantle of chastity and celibacy to teach what they believe to be for the best interests of mankind.
They have poled their boats up the swollen rivers of the west; they have driven the light birch canoe across the wild, but beautiful, lakes of the east; they have urged their dog teams across the frozen tracks of the north; and sent their best men in to the fever-stricken sections of the south; but here in Blaine County, Montana, and beneath the pine-clad summits of the Little Rockies they would meet with no particular hardships and could bend their knees in grateful thanksgiving to their Father in Heaven for the particular blessings He has bestowed upon them.
The mission proper consists of the large stone church above mentioned and two four-story stone buildings, one for the boys and the other for the girls. About forty of each sex, boys and girls, find a home at the place. Father Boll was in charge at the time the writer was there, December, 1916. Father Dinier is the Missionary. Both of these men are French, and no doubt highly educated.
Besides the buildings mentioned there are shops, stables, out- buildings and a nicely arranged and well-kept farm.
-
REV. FATHER EBERSCHWEILER. Founder of St. Paul's Mission and a Grand Old Man.
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
Sister Josephine has been longer at the mission than any other person.
Sister Eulalia has charge of the girls' school and Mr. I. Nicholson, of San Francisco, is trying to instill into the minds of the boys the right way of living that has been prescribed for those who must now travel the white man's road. These boys do not learn too readily, so the teacher said.
Connected with the mission is a trained nurse, who has her home in the little cottage which is used for guests.
As above mentioned this is a most beautiful location for a church, school or ranch. It was first occupied by Col. Healy, now of Lodge Pole, who had selected it as a place for his resi- dence. He sold his cabin to the Fathers and went to another place on the reservation as he, having an Indian wife, was granted that privilege.
Father Eberschweiler's attention was called to the place by William Bent, who was well acquainted with all of the Milk River country. It was to Bent that the father had to go to get some one who could help him translate the English into the Assinniboine language.
Father Eberschweiler was one who had the appearance of a man who had tried to live as he had preached. His was a most benign countenance, full of the milk of human kindness which impressed me with his sincerity.
Just a short distance up the creek from the mission is a most beautiful natural bridge which should be seen by any passing that way or who visit the mission.
REV. PETER THOMPSON.
The Catholics are not the only ones who are trying to upbuild the Indian character in a religious way. Over near Big Warm is the home of Mr. Thompson, a half-breed, who is giving up his life to the advancement of his people. He is a Presbyterian and has a nice little church which has the appearance of being well cared for. We were not fortunate enough to meet this gentleman though we called at his place. These are the only places on the reservation where there are houses of religious instruction.
As mentioned by Father Eberschweiler the reservation was given over, under President Grant, to the Methodists. There were but few preachers of that denomination in Montana in those early days and they were in the mines and not on the outskirts of civilization as were the priests of the Catholic church. There was but little chance that the ministers of the Methodist church would be able to go among the Indians with as small a possibility
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IN THE LAND OF CHINOOK
of being killed as the Jesuits, as the priests of that denomination had been for years among the Red man and had taught them to have respect, more or less, at least, for the Cross, which was worn by them as an insignia that was so well known that the Indians had respect for those who wore it. The preachers of other denominations did not wear this badge of honor hence could not as well protect themselves from the cupidity of the Red Man.
The Cree half-breeds who came to the Milk river as early as 1865 had their priests with them. These people came from Canada and with them (while they were prosperous, as Louis Shambrow tells us) their priests. He said: "These fathers were the most prosperous ones that were in the camps during the days when the buffalo robes were most plenty but as soon as the hunt- ers became poor the priests no longer came." I suppose as long as men live we will have imposters. It may have been that those so called priests who followed the fortunes of the buffalo hunter were only there for the purpose of getting wealth from their ignorant people. This is not really a digression but as an explan- ation why the ministers of the other denominations did not get out among these peculiar people.
We find that the next man to try to reach the people with the Word was "Brother Van." Now we have known Brother Van Orsdel for years and feel that he thought he had work to do among the whites, in the mining camps and out along the streams where the scattering ranch homes were. They were just as much in need of religion as were the Red Men of the plains. But there is one thing certain and that is that so soon as others came to take his place among those of his first choice he, with his characteristic willingness to do his duty, got down in the cow country and tried to help the cowboys. So we find that his is the first name mentioned in his profession after E.
The first Protestant denomination to begin work on the Milk river was the Methodist, as we find the following from "Bro. Van:" "The first Methodist Episcopal minister to visit Chinook was Dr. W. B. Spencer of the Board of Church extension. This was in July, 1889. He preached and sang in the hotel. The same summer the Rev. Jacob Mills, Presiding Elder of the Boze- man district, preached. At the Annual Conference held in Liv- ingston, July, 1890, the Great Falls District was organized which took in all the country from the summit of the Rocky mountains to the Dakotas, and from the Musselshell to the Canadian line.
"W. W. Van Orsdel was appointed Presiding Elder. There were five preachers in the district. The Presiding Elder came to Chinook in the month of September. He visited the town at different times, and in February, 1891, Rev. George Logan of
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
Fort Benton accompanied him, and they held a series of meet- ings for two weeks.
"The church was organized with nine members, as follows: R. D. Perret and wife and their daughter Mabel, Peter Denny and wife, H. D. Riegle and wife, Mrs. Gelder and Mrs. Rain- bolt. Bro. Lewis Wilson and family came soon after.
"In July, 1891, the conference, Rev. R. A. Armstrong was appointed pastor at Chinook and Glasgow, being the only Pro- testant minister in the whole Milk River valley, in fact from Fort Benton to Dakota. It was during his pastorate that the present church site was secured and a subscription was taken, and the church was built. To the best of our knowledge this was the first Protestant church between Great Falls and Dakota. Brother Armstrong served his charge for two years successfully. He was succeeded by the Rev. Thos. Hicks, who remained but one year.
"In August, 1894, Rev. Allen Rogers was appointed pastor of Havre and Chinook. During his successful pastorate a new organ was purchased, and the interior of the church was finished. A gracious revival was held and thirty united with the church. J. A. Martin of Glasgow and Superintendent Van Orsdel assisted the pastor. It was during this meeting that A. W. Hammer, the Cow Boy Preacher, was converted and soon commenced his suc- cessful ministry."
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