USA > Montana > Blaine County > In the land of Chinook; or, The story of Blaine county > Part 5
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The people of Montana have known "Brother Van" for many 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. These people were just as much in need of religion as were the Indians of the plains. But there is one thing certain, and that is, that as soon as others came to take his place among those of his first choice he, with his char- acteristic willingness to do his duty, got down in the "Cow Coun- try" and tried to help the cowboys. So we find by some writer who has not taken time to verify his story that "Bro. Van" was the first one, after Father Eberschweiler, to preach the gospel along the Milk river, but the foregoing account of Brother Van's has given credit where credit is due and the one who wants facts will find them in this chapter on the Church in Blaine County.
Other men who came here to help carry on the work were Rev. Brewer and Revs. Stringfellow and Chrisler of the Episco- pal church and Revs. I. N. Roberts, Baird, Mills and Day of the Presbyterian church.
These men did their work well and left behind them the fruits of their labor in the churches and schools that are to be found in convenient places throughout the country.
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IN THE LAND OF CHINOOK
CHAPTER VII.
COWBOY DAYS.
It took no stretch of the imagination for one to believe that cattle could be raised to advantage on the northern plains, Milk river, and the mountains adjacent.
The plainsmen, traders, freighters and squaw-men, had seen the actual conditions of each season. The buffalo that had ranged in countless numbers needed grass, and plenty of it, to keep them in good condition. It was known that there were seasons of drought and seasons of plenty of rainfall; that many a winter the snow did not fall and that the Chinook was almost sure to melt the snows, if they came, and give the cattle a chance to live. The years that the snow would fall deep and stay were exceptions.
To begin stock raising on the plains as soon as the whites came would have been suicidal. The buffalo would have destroyed all hopes of success, even though the Indians had not been there to bar the way. Then, again, the mountains and valleys of Western Montana were ideal places in which to raise cattle, horses and, later, sheep, as hardly any snow would fall, to lay, and the settlements precluded any possibility of loss through Indian raids. The rustler had not become, so far as Montana was concerned, a menace. But, in a way, the valleys in the mountains were becoming settled and the stockman, ever being afraid of being crowded, pulled for the eastern and central part of the state as soon as the Indian was no longer on the war- path, as too many whites had come to settle the country for it to be longer safe for him to go on his raids for scalps.
The Judith and Musselshell were to be settled first-as they were known to be less hazardous than the Milk river country. When these sections became over-crowded (?) the stockmen began to look for new pastures; and, as above mentioned, the conditions were known in the Milk river section, they pulled for there with their numerous herds.
As near as I can find out, though, Thomas O'Hanlon and others of the Old Fort Belknap Indian Agency, were the first men to see the possibilities of cattle raising in what is now Blaine county. They could not, however, run them in large herds, as the Indians were apt to get away with them. They had to be closely herded, which is not by any means a good way to raise cattle to any advantage.
This, according to Mr. Joe Mosser, was in 1878. They had permission from the Agent, who had secured the privilege from the Government. Al Shultz became the foreman of this outfit. This was before the post was built at Assinniboine; hence before there was any protection to be had from the soldiers.
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
The cattle of the O'Hanlon company must, then, be con- sidered as the first to be raised. They were not raised exactly under what might be called range conditions, though they fed on the range.
In 1882 Simon Pepin moved his cattle from their range in the west and Pepin and Broadwater run cattle for years. Louis Shambrow, the noted scout, was one of their cow-punchers.
This must have been the first herd under range conditions as I find that the next cattle to come in were those which belonged to Granville Stuart, Kohrs and Bielenberg and others. They had been running their herds south of the Missouri but got per- mission from the Government to run them north of the river and on to the reservation in the summer or fall of 1886. Daddy Marsh told the following concerning the moving of the cattle across the Missouri river in 1886. "The season was exceedingly dry and Granville Stuart came to the conclusion that it would be wise to cross them. He got permission from the Government to take them to the reservation near the Little Rockies. The water holes were drying up on the south side so that when the cattle came to the Missouri at Rocky Point they were in misery. There was a big bar of quick sand that ran down quite a ways. I ccalled the foreman's attention to it and told him that he had better station his men to change the course of the herds as they approached the river so that they would not get caught in the trap. Say, you couldn't stop the leaders, as soon as they scented the water they rushed for it and soon hun- dreds of them were hopelessly entrapped. The boys tried to haul them out with their saddle horses and then hitched their teams but no good was coming from their efforts. Soon a steamboat came along and the Captain thought he could help so he ran out a spar and they dug down and put the rope around the animal and turned their engine loose with the result that they pulled the brute in two and never pulled her feet out of the sand. The boys had to use their six-shooters on the bunch and kill them to put them out of the way. I tell you the half-breeds that were around there had a picnic for days cutting in and getting what meat they could." The winter which followed was one of the most dis- astrous ever known to the stockmen of the Northwest. Books could be filled with interesting incidents of that winter. Men who had been considered wealthy-not considered, but actually wealthy-came out the next spring without a cent, and some of them in debt. Many were crippled so they never again recov- ered. They simply lost their nerve and quit. Though the range conditions were never again as bad, and they could have made good, they would not try.
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John Bielenberg and Con Kohrs-now men who have all they need-lost all they had. Mr. Bielenberg told the writer that that winter of '86-'87 they lost $400,000 worth of cattle. They had enough with which to pay all their debts and as they were noted for their ability to rustle and also a knowledge of cattle and range conditions they were extended credit by A. J. Davis, the rich banker and mining man of Butte, and got on their feet once more.
Mr. Kohrs told the writer the following concerning that trans- action : "My experience in the stock business savers somewhat of the romantic. I was a green German boy when I came to Montana. I was trying to get out of the territory and go west. I was camped on the Deer Lodge river and was waiting for the party to pull out when something occurred to change all my plans. I had learned something about the butcher business as a boy and thought I could make a living at that. While we were camped on the Deer Lodge a man had a beef to kill and asked if I had ever done anything of the kind. I at once told him I was sure I could do the job and he told me to turn myself loose. The pay that I was to receive was the head and neck. Now I want to explain to you that we had been living on short rations for some time and I was hungry and when that head was cut off I am ashamed to say it had the longest neck I ever saw on a cow brute, as it was cut off pretty well down toward the tail. Soon after I had finished this artistic job, a man who was to be somewhat noted in the story of Montana, Hank Crawford, came along and learning that I was a butcher(?) told me he would give me $25 per month and board if I would go to Bannack and work for him. Now twenty-five dollars was not much money in those days and that did not appeal to me but that word board was the one that made me consider his offer and take it, as I had not had enough to eat for days. I was a very able-bodied man in those days and did not know what tired meant but I was soon to learn it in all of its variations. That fellow Crawford must have sized me up for an animal of some kind, probably an ass, as the work first assigned me was surely some job. He had bought three wild heifers of some one on Cottonwood (the creek where the City of Deer Lodge is now) and helped me take them out a few miles and then told me that I was to take them to Bannack, a place that I had never seen. (He had asked me where my butcher tools were and I rustled a butcher knife and a hatchet and borrowed a hand-saw from a friend. These were well wrapped up and put in a wagon that some one was taking with them to the mines.) When he turned me loose with those heifers they were in no frame of mind to give me much trouble because there were no other stock in sight. When I got the other side of
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
Dempsy creek the baby cows saw a band of cattle that belonged to Bob Dempsy and they took for them as fast as they could go. The weather was hot and the exercise, which I did not need, caused me to get mighty warm. The fact is I was d-d hot in both mind and body. I chased those heifers and that band of stock all over those hills trying to cut them out. It seemed to me to be a useless expenditure of muscle and wind as it did not seem to do any good. All at once I saw a man going by on horse-back and I called his attention to my trouble and asked him if he wouldn't use his pony to help those heifers change their minds and get them strung out on the road to Bannack as it seemed that I was about to run my legs off without accomplishing anything. Sure I was a foot! That was what I meant when I said that Hank must have taken me for some kind of an animal.
"I afterward learned that the gentleman who helped me change the minds of those brutes and get them strung out on the road again, was Dr. Glick. He cut them out and helped me for a few miles and then rode on his way. It was one hundred and twenty miles from Cottonwood to Bannack. We came by the Big Hole and forded the river near the place where Brown's Bridge was afterward built. This was the first place where I could rest. I laid down thinking that the cattle would be tired enough to rest for a while at least. I know that I had only been asleep but a short time when I missed the heifers. I started on the back trail and caught them before they could cross the river. This was enough to satisfy me that they needed more exercise and that my only hope was to keep them going. I got after them and hazed them right along and when within a few miles of Bannack Hank came out and met me and they were soon placed where they could not run any more. I had made the 120 miles in about 36 hours. I only worked for him for one month at $25 per month, as he soon found out I could keep his books so he raised me to $100. I worked for him for some time and came to the conclusion to go into business for myself. I saw several of the miners and got them to loan me some money with which to buy a starter in the business. Some one had several steers for sale and I bought them with the borrowed money. I turned them out up the Grasshopper just above town and that night they were run off by the Indians or some one else and I had to begin over again. The miners from whom I had borrowed the money knew the shape I was in and they asked me what I intended to do and I told them they must loan me some more in order to give me a chance to make something to pay them what I had first borrowed. They were nice fellows who were making money and they kindly helped me again.
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"When they discovered the mines at Alder I went there and began the business. Every time I could find steers for sale I got them and was a big cattle man in a very short while. I bought the John Grant ranch in '66 and with it about 600 head of cattle, probably the largest herd in Montana in those days. This gave us headquarters until we got more than we could handle to advantage in the Deer Lodge country so we had to change our base and look to the range in the central and eastern part of the Territory. A lot of us who had been in the business for years soon found that the Judith was well adapted to stock raising so we sent many of our cattle to that section. One soon expands on the range, that is, he soon allows his herds to scatter into the places where the best grass is to be had. It was in that way that we got several miles east of the Judith country by the season of 1886. The grass being better on the north side of the Missouri we got permission from the Government to put our cattle on the Belknap reservation. That winter we made such a big losing that we were broke. I met A. J. Davis one day and he said: 'Con, I hear that you have met with some heavy losses this past winter, how is it?' I replied that we had, but that we had enough to pay all we owed.' He then said: 'There is $100,000 to your credit in this bank so you can start in the stock business as soon as you want.' This was a surprise to me that the judge should offer us a credit without solicitation on our part, so I asked him how long the offer would hold good. I did not have any definite plan in my head as to what I wanted to do. I soon came to the conclusion to go to Oregon and look over the situation. I soon found that I could spend the $100,000 and as much more in what looked good to me. I wired Davis what I thought and asked for an additional $100,000. His reply was to do what ever I saw for the best. I had no sooner spent that money than I found where I could use $60,000 more and so wired him. To make my story short the judge allowed me to use that also. When I returned to Montana I owed him $260,000. I will say that that credit for which I had not asked came to us in time to help us make a success in the stock business. I had lived so long in Montana that Mr. Davis knew I had always met all of my obligations."
The man who would have the nerve to attempt to drive three head of wild range cattle on foot for over one hundred miles had nerve enough to get out from under almost any serious load.
The ordinary cowboy would never have started on such a trip. He would have invited Hank to or directed him to a most decidedly disagreeable climate and gone off disgusted to think that anyone took him for such a fool as to even try such an almost impossible feat.
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
All cow men know how hard it is to drive two or three cattle any place. In the large herd they will stay together and, even though one happens to stray a little to one side, the main herd goes on and the stray can be brought back without any serious trouble. Take three head and if they do not stay together, and they are not apt to, there is all kinds of hard feelings in the cowboy's mind toward that little outfit. One will go one way, probably the other two in another direction, or the three may make up their minds to go in three different directions at the same time, while the cowboy is sure that there is only one way at a time that he can go. After the cattle have acted in this way for some time there is only one place where the cowboy wishes them to be and that is a place where the barbecue is certain and where they will no longer bother him. It recalls to the writer's mind a little thing that occurred at his ranch one day. One of his sons was trying to cut out a saddle horse from a band of fifty horses and take it to the corral. He was having a whole lot of trouble. Wm. Montgomery, the big ranchman of the Big Hole, was looking on and he said: "That boy of yours puts me in mind of a hired man I had on my ranch. I sent him out after a saddle horse and he began just as the boy is doing, to cut the horse out and bring it in alone. He was not successful. He came and reported and I asked him why he did not bring the whole band in? He turned on me with disgust depicted in his face and said: 'How in hell can you bring in a whole band when it is d-d hard to bring in one'?"
The brand of Kohrs was the D-S. The foreman was John R. Smith. They had their headquarters on Dry Beaver at the east end of the Little Rockies. The circle C, Bob Coburn, came from the same section and located not far from Kohrs. Horace Brewster was in charge of their stuff. Henry Seiben came about the same time with Frank Arnett as foreman.
The Bearpaw pool came in 1891 with L. B. Taylor, now Senator from Blaine county, as foreman.
Charlie Williams came with the Shonkin pool about the same time.
"Si" Gamble came with the Tom Crain outfit in '89.
It did not take long to take up the range, that is, all that was outside of the reservation. Thousands of cattle were finding plenty to eat, and big frisky calves were growing and getting fat to become toppers, as steers, on the Chicago market. Hundreds of cowboys and cowmen roamed all over Northern Montana clear to the Canadian line. Wagons would start in the spring and the boys would gather and brand the calves, then the beef herd was to be gathered in the fall and taken to market.
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The getting of the steers to the railroad some times required days and even weeks. Of course weeks when men from Montana had to drive their stock to Cheyenne to load in those times before we had railroads in this country. To take cattle that distance required care, as they must take on flesh and not lose any. The way that could be done was to allow them to drift in the direction they were to go and their ordinary travel to fill would take them the required distance toward their destination for the day.
The fording of streams that must be crossed was not the easiest thing in the world. When such streams as the Yellow- stone are at their high times it is no fun to swim a bunch of cattle and get your outfit over in safety. One man told me that it took them three days once to cross the Yellowstone with a herd of Con Kohrs' cattle and that eighty-three head were drowned in the attempt.
On these trips there was the night herd to be stood. It might be very easy pastime or it might, before morning, spell tragedy to some of the cowboys who might be mixed in a stampede. But it was a life the boys liked.
I recall a little story that was told me by Nick Bielenberg. "Quite a number of years ago I bought some cattle of Granville Stuart. We had to move them across the country to the railroad. Granville was along with the outfit but as far as making a hand was concerned he was no good. He was always a great fellow to read. He thought it would be a good thing to take a whole lot of books for the cowpunchers' enjoyment. Darned if I know how many he had, but anyway a sack full. The way those cow- boys would tackle those books was a caution. They would come into camp and pick up a book and the cook would holler 'Grub Pile' till he was red in the face and he could never get all those fellows to come at the same time. Just as soon as a fellow would drop a book some other galoot would grab it. The cook called me aside one day and told me he was going to quit as the boys thought more of Granville's books than they did of his grub. It would never do to lose a good cook at that time in the game and I told him not to say anything and I would see that they would cause him no more trouble. It was the next day that we arrived at the Yellowstone so I gathered up the books and threw them into the river, thus starting the first circulating library ever known in Montana."
Many an amusing incident took place in the cattle shipping days. Some of the things would not bear repeating. A cowboy, or several, if the train was a long one, would need to be along to see that the cattle were not injured. When stock got down in the car there was a chance that they would be tramped to death. Care was required at all times to keep them on their feet. If an
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THE STORY OF BLAINE COUNTY
animal was lying down in a natural way there would be no danger unless it was so lying that it might be in the way and upset some of its fellows and thus make a pile-up. There are many things to do in such cases but it is not part of this story to try to educate those who do not know how to ship cattle to market.
After the boys got to market they would take in the town and have a little innocent fun. If there was a one who was green along it was up to them to see that he became wise to all that was to be known.
There was a character in the range days of Montana known to all Montana people either by sight or by name, "Two Dot" Wilson. He was one of the big stockmen in the state but he was the most careless man as to his appearance known in the country.
One season he made a shipment to Chicago and sold his steers. The cowboys thought that they would have some fun at the old man's expense so, as they were walking up the street they met a policeman and told him that the old man coming behind them was a vag as he had just asked them for money to eat on. When Two Dot came up the police said "Come with me." Wilson wanted to know why, but was told not to talk back that he would know why soon enough. He went along with the officer till he got to a bank where he did business and asked the gentleman in whose custody he was if he could go in. For some reason he was allowed to go into the bank and he walked up to the cashier's window and said: "Can I get a check cashed here?" "Why, certainly, Mr. Wilson, you have about thirty thousand dollars to your credit, how much do you want?" "D- if I know how much this S- -, pointing to the policeman, wants." It is needless to say that the man was some- what taken aback and would have given quite a lot to have found the cowboys who had given him a "bum steer."
But to return to the days of the range; the line riding in winter, on cold and disagreeable days, was something that would try men's souls. The life of the cowboy was by no means a picnic.
It was a life that had much of the hum-drum in it as well as the moments of fun and excitement. The class of men who followed it were not much different than the ordinary ones, whom we meet on the frontier. The writer has been all his life from early boyhood a cowman, a ranchman, if you will. He never saw the peculiar class of people of whom the story writers tell.
The fact is the cowboy was almost human, as will be seen today, if you will try to get next to him and not be afraid.
In the last legislature, in Montana, we had Senators John Edwards, L. B. Taylor, Meadors, Featherly and McCone. It
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is said that you could actually approach these men and talk to them without having your hand on your gun. These men were noted cowboys and cowmen. Even the late Governor of Wyoming, now Senator, John B. Kendrick, was a cowboy.
They can even run autos and dance the Turkey Trot with the good-looking girls who most do congregate at Helena when the legislature is in session (at least some of them can), and have not killed any one for such a long time that if you were to ask them when their last great scrap came off they might even lie to you and tell you they never killed a man.
But I will tell you this, these same men-men who are at the heads of affairs in Montana could, had they have wished, in those range days when they were working as hard as men can work, for "cattle punching" was hard work-could have taken time to have thought up, and had brains with which things could have been invented, to make the tenderfoot story-hunter see many things that were the exceptions rather than the rule.
When you take into consideration that Charlie Russell, the great cowboy artist; Frank Linderman, the poet and author; Wallace Coburn, the movie picture actor, and Senator B. D. Phillips, the foot-racer, cowman, politician, sheepman and mil- lionaire miner, were all cowboys at some time in their lives, you can see that you could, had you been at all susceptible, stung by some of the original dope they could have mixed for you.
If these fellows didn't suit you, tackle young Dr. Treacy of Helena, Chub Reed of the Big Flat, Jay Rhodes of Harlem, George Barrows of Chinook, Bob Stuart of the Reservation or Frank Landon and Tommy Flynn of the P. & O. bunch. Stung, yes, so badly that you could not tell the truth again if you saw it coming up the road in less than nothing.
It was in the fertile brains of just such men as these that the great (?) cowboy stories have gone out to the gullible readers of the east.
It was always a wonder to me that any of the cowboys ever lived to grow up as there were so many shooting scrapes (?) The boys were young and full of life-as it took a red-blooded fellow to follow the trail; no place for a weakling.
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