USA > Montana > Then and now; or, Thirty-six years in the Rockies. Personal reminiscences of some of the first pioneers of the state of Montana. Indians and Indian wars. The past and present of the Rocky mountain country. 1864-1900 > Part 2
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We frequently passed trees in the branches of which a dead Indian was placed on a kind of scaffold eight or ten feet above the ground. This place of burial was constructed of poles and branches of trees tied together with strips of raw-
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hide. The remains were carefully wrapped in beaded and painted robes, in Indian fashion, and secured with rawhide ropes to the scaffold. Thus the dead Indian rested, high and dry, on his sacred roost until his gorgeous couch was destroyed by the elements and his bones picked by birds of prey. We also passed several scaffolds built on four forked stakes, on which remains of Indians were placed, and wrapped in the same manner as those on the trees.
Very often some aged Indians would visit our camps and go from one tent to another and peep in as if they were counting to ascertain how many there were. We treated them kindly and gave them something to eat; they always asked for matches and were very fond of tobacco. Our guide warned us that they were spies and for us to have our guns in a con- spicuous place so they could see our strength. We had many obstacles to contend with on our journey. One day we had to travel forty miles without water. It was very hot; many of the horses giving out, their tongues being swollen until they protruded from their mouths. At another time we had to let the wagons down the mountain with ropes, with the hind wheels locked; and we had to cross rivers on rafts and wagon boxes; again fording streams where there was great danger of being taken down by the surging waters. Four of our men came very near losing their lives in this way; but being good swimmers they avoided drowning. We crossed the Powder, Clark's Fork, Rosebud and Yellowstone rivers and many other streams. The first we came to were very high, for at that time the snows were melting off the mountains.
Upon reaching the Rosebud we pitched our tents and camped till the next morning. It was in the latter part of June; the trees and shrubs were in full foliage and the wild flowers per- fumed the air. The Rosebud is one of the prettiest rivers I
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AN INDIAN GRAVE.
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ever saw; like all mountain streams the current is swift and its water as clear as crystal. Its beds are inlaid with pebbles of all imaginable colors, with occasional large boulders, where the speckled trout hides as one approaches the water's edge. Along its banks are groves of ancient trees, with un- derbrush of many varieties and wild roses in great profusion. The bottom lands for miles are but nature's meadows, while the rolling hills, as far as the eye can see, are a vast pasture land dotted here and there with clumps of timber. Al- though away from civilization, the small birds flutter among
IN THE ROCKIES.
the branches, singing their sweet songs with as tender cadence as if in somebody's front yard in the civilized East. The same can be said of nearly all of the streams and valleys that we crossed and came through on our journey. On first view of these beautiful landscapes a person would think that some prehistorie race had cultivated these fertile valleys and plant- ed those ancient trees and groves that grew as uniform as if the ground had been laid out by some expert landscape gard- ener. On further observation, we could see high, tempest tor- tured towers of grand masonry work, which had withstood the elements for ages. All is but the handiwork of nature, di- rected by the Great Architect of the Universe.
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THIRTY-SIX YEARS IN THE ROCKIES.
NATURE'S GRAND MASONRY WORK.
When in the Yellowstone valley we saw from a distance a party of Indians all mounted and coming towards us. Our captain at once gave orders to form into a camp, and, before the Indians got near, we were formed into a stockade and ready for battle, if necessary. As the Indians approached our guide stepped forward about two hundred yards to meet them. They were eighty-five in number. Then they whipped their horses to greater speed and began yelling. When within about two hundred yards of him, he lifted his hand and the Indians stopped as if they were shot. The chief of the party and our guide had a sign talk for a few minutes; the chief came forward and stated that they were "Crows" and he wished to know who we were. He was informed who we were and where we were going. They talked for about ten minutes, then the balance of the Indians came forward and were invited to come to our camp. They were mounted on good horses and had on their war paint and all were stripped
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to their waists. We gave them bread and coffee and took a smoke with them. Smoking with an Indian signifies that he is friendly. They all left very peaceably and never came back. They were the last Indians we saw until we got to Alder Creek.
Some distance after crossing the Yellowstone river the writer and two others were considerably ahead of the wagons and crossing our course was a ripple of clear water. The sun was hot and the effect of the heat made us thirsty. All three, nearly at the same time, got down to quench their thirst with the sparkling water. The first one cries at the top of his voice : "My God, it is hot ;" the second remarked : "Well, boys, we must be near to the jumping-off place," while the third thought that we were getting near to the infernal regions. However, it was a great wonder to us, for this was the first hot spring that we had ever seen.
This spring is to-day the renowned Hunter Hot Springs, a place of resort for its mineral properties, where hundreds of people are treated every year for rheumatism and kindred diseases. It has fine hotel accommodations and all modern conveniences and improvements for the comfort of its pa- trons. What was "then" but a ripple of hot water is "now" a Western Saratoga.
After a journey of two thousand miles over plains and sandy deserts, up the hills and down the canyons, crossing rivers and through many beautiful valleys, fatigued by much suffering, hardships and dangers, we arrived in Alder Gulch July 13, 1864. We found it to be a great camp, and were told how many dollars to the pan and how rich the mines were, and of the "road agents" robbing and killing people; of the organization of the vigilance committee and the good work they were doing by hanging the desperadoes, and sup- pressing lawlessness. Not until we arrived did we learn of the organization of the Territory of Montana, for it was com- pleted May 26th, while we were in the wilderness. Truly, Montana "then" was but an infant in its cradle.
Feb. 11, 1898,
ROBERT VAAUGIIN,
ON A STAMPEDE TO THE YELLOWSTONE.
In September, 1864, James Gibb, Jack Williams, Charles Howard, myself and a man named Wilson, left Alder Gulch on a "stampede" to the upper Yellowstone country. It was reported that a rich gold discovery had been made not far from the canyon at the Yellowstone river. Each of us procured a saddle pony, and a pack horse. We undertook to follow the base of the mountains; crossing the headwaters of the Madi- son, Jefferson, and Gallatin rivers. We were traveling by direction of a map and the use of a compass, but made the mistake of keeping too near the mountains, for we were de- layed several times by the dense pines that grew so thick in some places that we had to chop our way through. In one small valley there was a great quantity of petrified wood, and in the bed of the creek nearly all the stones were petri- factions. I remember that we stopped on the banks of this creek for dinner. The mountains were very steep. On a cliff about one hundred yards off stood a Rocky mountain goat, At first we thought it a domestic sheep, for it was very white, bleated, and acted as if it was glad to see us. But then, as there were no settlers within several hundred miles, we could not imagine how a sheep could get to such a place. While we were discussing the matter, the animal leaped over cliffs and up the mountain as if it was on level ground, and this satisfied us all that it was a Rocky mountain goat. Not one of us had seen one previously. The next day we came to a small lake on top of a mountain, on approaching which we could see a big black bear rooting in the edge of the water, but it
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disappeared before we had a chance to shoot. After that we were on the watch for bear. Sometimes we would travel for several miles on a well-beaten trail made by wild ani- mals. At one time Jack Williams was considerably in ad- vance of the balance of the party, and on one of these game trails, at a point where the ground was a little marshy so an impression of any kind would show very plainly. Suddenly we could see Jack coming around the bend helter-skelter as fast as his pony could carry him, saying that he had seen the track of a grizzly bear coming straight towards him. I asked, "Do you mean to say that you saw a grizzly bear coming straight towards you?" "No," said Jack. "I saw its track coming this way." "And you went after the bear, did you?" Jack studied a minute and said : "I'll be hanged I never thought of that, but I'll tell you, boys, those tracks are fourteen inches long and eight inches wide; I don't care what direc- tion they point to, the sight of them is enough to convince a man when he is alone that he has not lost any bears." On the seventh day we camped on the Yellowstone and stayed until the next morning. The river was not wide, but the current was very swift and the banks and the bed of the stream were very rocky. It was a fine place for trout fishing, and we caught some that weighed two pounds. We could not see any indications of travel up the river, but we went as far as the canyon. Wonderland was not known then. We concluded that the new Eldorado was not in that direction, so we turned back and went down the valley for many miles; we did some prospecting along the route. Finally we found about fifty men working in a place which had been named Emigrant Gulch. There were but few taking out gold in paying quantities ; most of them were prospecting in the gulch and on the bars. We remained there several days, but found nothing that we thought would pay, although a great deal
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of gold has been taken out of this gulch since. Consequently we decided to go home. This time we took the lowland un- til we reached the emigrant trail. On our way, on the divide between the Yellowstone and Gallatin valleys, we saw about one hundred and fifty elks all in one herd, on a slope of a hill, grazing. Grass was abundant and game was plentiful ; wherever we traveled we had all the trout and deer meat that we could eat. At the crossing of the Gallatin we met Mr. John Bozeman, for whom the City of Bozeman, Montana, is named, as I have mentioned in a previous letter. The last time that I met him was on the North Platte. There were with him three or four Indian people. He was return- ing from Alder Gulch, having made a successful trip with a train of emigrant wagons, of which he was guide. He brought this train, which was about one hundred and twenty wagons, from the North Platte river and by his "New Boze- man route," east of the Big Horn mountains, to the Yel- lowstone valley and thence to the gold fields; now he was on his way back to organize another train for the same place and by the same route. Some time afterwards and but one day's travel from the place where I met him last he was murdered by the treacherous Indians, for whom he had done many kind aets. Thus the brave pioneer and frontiersman John Bozeman, came to the end of his route. We had been very lucky; we saw but few Indians; the weather had been delightful, and all enjoyed the trip. We saw grand scenery, groves of lofty pines, natural parks stocked with wild deer and elks, brooks of clear water where the speckled trout played among its pebbles and had all the harbor to them- selves; beautiful springs bursting forth from the mountain, side, still higher the majestic peaks stood in bold relief above the mountain pines, where lay the perpetual snow; and to render man's enjoyment complete, his lungs are filled with
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pure mountain air perfumed with scent of pines and herbs that grow everywhere. I know of no place like the moun- tains for one that loves nature in all its glory.
After twenty-nine days of "roughing it" we returned to Alder Gulch, not any richer, but wiser, men.
ROBERT VAUGHN.
Feb. 12, 1898.
THE DISCOVERY OF ALDER CREEK, THE RICHEST GULCH ON THE GLOBE.
On April 9, 1863, several courageous miners met at Ban- 1 nock City, and formulated plans to organize an expedition to the country of the Yellowstone and Big Horn rivers for the purpose of prospecting for gold, and if successful, the idea was to lay out townsites, and so forth. James Stuart, a brother of Granville Stuart (now of Butte), and William Fairweather, were the prime movers in getting up the ex- pedition. It was agreed that those who were going to join the expedition should meet at Rattlesnake creek the next day. There the form of organization was to be adopted; the original manuscript, which is now in the possession of the Historical Society of Montana, reads thus: "Having determined to ex- plore a portion of the country drained by the 'Yellowstone' for the purpose of discovering gold mines and securing town- sites, and, believing this object could be better accomplished by forming ourselves into a regularly organized company, we hereby appoint James Stuart captain, agreeing upon our word of honor to obey all orders given or issued by him, or any subordinate officer appointed by him. In case of any mem- ber refusing to obey an order or orders from said captain, he shall be forcibly expelled from our camp. It is further understood and agreed that we all do our equal portions of work, the captain being umpire in all cases, sharing equally the benefits of the said labor both as to the discovery of gold and securing townsites.
"(Signed.) James Stuart, Cyrus D. Watkins, John Van- derbilt, James N. York, Richard McCafferty, James Haux-
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hurst, Drewyer Underwood, Samuel T. Hauser, Henry A. Bell, William Roach, A. Sterne Blake, George HI. Smith, Henry T. Greery, Ephraim Bostwick."
George Ives overtook the party the next day; he had not yet signed the agreement, but he intended doing so.
William Fairweather, Lewis Simons, Bill Sweeney, Thomas Cover, Barney Hughes, Henry Edgar and Rogers intended to meet Stuart and his party at a given place, but on account of losing their horses they failed to make the connection, but arrived there three or four days after Stuart and his party had passed. They took their trail, making as good time as possible, with the expectation of overtaking them in two or three days. But, on the upper Yellowstone, they were met by a large party of Crow Indians who took them prisoners. And this is the reason why the "Bill Fairweather party" and "the James Stuart party" became separated. The con- sequence was that Fairweather and his men were forced to turn back, and, when returning from what they thought was an unfortunate trip, they discovered Alder Gulch, which proved afterwards to be the richest gulch in the world. And it appears to a man in the moon that the Crow chief had a hand in making this discovery, and likely if Bill Fairweather had thought of it he would have staked him a claim.
.
When the news reached Bannock that Fairweather's party had made a rich discovery everybody rushed for the new El- dorado, and in a few days Bannock was almost deserted. June 6, 1863, the Fairweather district was organized (in Alder Gulch), with Dr. Steele president and James Fergus recorder. And then and there the sills and rafters of the State of Montana were hewn.
Since then over $85,000,000 has been taken out of this remarkable gulch.
Recently a correspondent of the Anaconda Standard had an interview with the Henry Edgar referred to, which inter-
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THIRTY-SIX YEARS IN THE ROCKIES.
view was published in the "Standard". Sept. 5, 1899, from which the following extracts are taken. Mr. Edgar said :
"In February, 1863, I sold .my claim, which was No. S on Stapleton's bar at Bannock, and went to Deer Lodge to get an outfit for this expedition. We intended to join Stuart's party, which left Bannock about the same time we departed from Deer Lodge. That was the latter part of April or the first part of May. We were in reality bound for the Black Ilills. Simmons accompanied us as our guide. There were six in the party. We had got two days' travel below the mouth of Clarke's Fork in the neighborhood of Pompey's Pil- lar, when we were captured by the Indians. There was no fighting. That would have been sure death, they so far out- numbered us. They took us into camp and made medicine over us for three days.
"It was jointly through Bill Fairweather and Lewis Sim- mons that we were saved. I do not understand why it was, but a rattlesnake would never bite Bill. When he saw one he would always take it up and carry it along with him. They never seemed to resent anything he would do with them and he never killed one. As we were going towards the Indian vil- lage he picked up a rattlesnake, and just at the outskirts of the village he picked up another. When the Indians saw him come in with a rattlesnake on each arm they were awed. He put the snakes in his shirt bosom and Simmons told the Indians that he was the great medicine man of the whites.
"They took us into the medicine lodge, where a large bush was placed in the center. They marched us around that several times and finally Bill said if they repeated it he would pull up the sacred medicine bush. They marched us around again and Bill pulled up the bush and walloped the medicine man on the head with it. We then were formed three to three, back to back. We had refused all along to give up our guns
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and revolvers. The old chief drove the other Indians back with a whip. They had a council which lasted from noon till midnight. In the meantime we were sentenced. If we pro- ceeded they would kill us. If we turned back and relin- quished our horses we would not be harmed. It was Hob- son's choice. I received for my three horses an old horse, blind in one eye, and a yearling colt. For my three pairs
INDIAN WAR DANCE.
of Oregon blankets a buffalo robe and a half, and for my grub, consisting of flour, bacon, coffee, beans, etc., a dozen dried buffalo tongues. Simmons remained with the Indians.
"We came back on the north side of the Yellowstone, after one day's travel. We met an old squaw, who warned us not to cross the river. We took up into the mountains and camped there until morning, fearful of the Indians. We then saw thirty or forty of them looking for our trail. We remained
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THIRTY-SIX YEARS IN THE ROCKIES.
until night and then crossed to the south side of the river. We came up pretty near to Shield's river or Twenty-five- Yard creek, where we crossed to the north. There we found the Indians were ahead of us and had gone over the hills toward West Gallatin. We came on over the pass where the city of Bozeman now lies, and saw the Indians coming up the valley. We concealed ourselves in the brush along the creek and exchanged shots with them. There was a parley. They agreed that if we came out they would not harm us, but we wouldn't trust them. We waited until dark and then struck for the Madison river, crossed it and went into the hills between the Gallatin and the Madison. The following day we crossed the Madison river and came up what is now known as the head of Wigwam gulch. We camped beside a lake at the foot of Bald mountain. We killed an elk there, and remained during the afternoon and over night to dry and smoke the meat.
"The day after we came down by the lake and over the bridge to Alder gulch. That was on May 26, 1863, about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and the sun was shining brightly. Fairweather and I were to make camp and stand guard. The other four proceeded up the gulch, to what is now Highland, prospecting. About sun down Bill went across the creek to picket the horses.
" 'There is a piece of bed rock projecting,' said Bill, 'and we had better go over and see if we cannot get enough money to buy a little tobacco.' So Bill took the pick and shovel and I took the pan and we crossed the creek. He dug the dirt up and shoveled it into the pan. I went down to the creek to wash it. While I was washing the dirt he scratched around in the bedrock with his butcher knife and picked out a piece of gold and called : 'I've found a scad.' I had the pan about half washed down and I replied: 'If you have
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one I have a thousand.' And so I had. That first pan weighed about $2.30. We washed three pans before dark and the three aggregated twelve dollars and some cents. As we finished, the other four returned tired and hostile because we hadn't taken care of the horses. They had only found a color. I showed Sweeney what we had and asked him what he thought of the pan. 'Salted, by G-d,' exclaimed Sweeney. 'You know well enough if you pike me down and run me through a sluice you couldn't get a color,' said I. Then all were in good humor. We had dried elk meat for supper.
"The next morning, as soon as daylight, we were all out. Sweeney's first pan weighed five dollars. Hughes and Cover went up the gulch. Fairweather, Rogers, Sweeney and I went down. We staked two claims apiece, two hundred feet to the man, all connecting. We took fifty feet adjoining the claims on each side of the creek.
"We obtained about $180 that day altogether. We were tired and hungry and all out of provisions. As we panned the last gold we saw five antelope on the hill. Bill said to me: 'Old man, if you ever looked straight for your supper, look straight now.'
"He went around one way and I went up the hill the other side, and each of us secured an antelope. We had neither coffee nor bread. Our supper consisted of antelope straight and visions of gold. We spent the next morning measuring the ground and staking it off. I wrote out the notices. The first I wrote was for Barney Hughes.
" 'What shall we call the gulch ?' I asked. 'You name it,' he said. So I called it Alder Gulch on account of the heavy clump of alders along the banks of the creek."
Mr. Edgar was born in Dumfries, Scotland. He came to the United States when eighteen years of age. In 1850 he was in the Michigan Innber region; in 1857 he lived at Fer-
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gus Falls; in 1858 he was at Fort Geary, in the British pos- sessions ; in the fall of 1862 he was mining in Bannock and the following spring joined the party that discovered Alder gulch. Mr. Edgar is now past seventy-four years of age, and lives with his wife in a cozy mountain home near Plains, in Missoula county, in this state.
ROBERT VAUGHN.
Sept. 25, 1899.
THE JAMES STUART PROSPECTING PARTY.
This expedition had the most desperate experience of any party of men in the Rocky mountains. They were chased by hostile Indians for hundreds of miles, endured untold pri- vations, perils and hunger, some being killed; and during all this time they were in an unexplored region where assist- ance could not be obtained.
The first part of the history of this expedition has been given in the foregoing letter. The day the Fairweather party discovered Alder gulch the James Stuart party was being chased by Indians. The following are extracts from Captain Stuart's diary, which he kept on that eventful prospecting trip in the "Yellowstone Country" in the spring of 1863.
"April 28, 1863 .-- We have traveled twenty miles today. About an hour before sundown, while lying around camp rest- ing from the fatigues of the day, we were startled by hearing several guns fired from a clump of cottonwoods across the river, and immediately afterwards we saw about thirty In- dians fording across. They came on a run, vociferating 'How- dye-do,' and 'Up-sar-o-ka,' which latter means 'Crow Indians,' in their language. By the time they were fairly in camp we had our horses all tied up, and every man prepared for emer- gencies. 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 my men put all our things in the tents, and keep a sharp lookout or we would lose them. I then gave him a small piece of tobacco to have a grand smoke, and I also found that one of them, a very large man with a big belly, could talk
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the Snake Indian language, and he was at once installed as interpreter. They (the interpreter and chiefs) sat down in a circle and requested the pleasure of my company. I accepted the invitation, and our party soon stood guard over our horses. Meanwhile the other Indians began disputing with each other about who should have our best horses. I requested the chief to make them come from among the horses and behave them- selves, which he did. At eight p. m. I put on double guard, and at ten p. m. all except the guard retired to rest. The In- dians wandered around camp all night, like evil spirits; and such an odd night's sleep as we had! Every few minutes somebody would have to rush out of his tent and capture some- thing which the Indians would steal from under the tents, in spite of the guard, and this, too, when it was bright moon- light. At daylight I aroused the party, and we proceeded to ascertain our losses; each had lost something. As soon as we began to pack up they at once proceeded to forcibly trade horses, blankets, etc., and to appropriate everything they want- ed. I saw that the time had come to do or die; therefore I ordered every man to be ready to open fire on them when I gave the signal. With one handful of cartridges and my rifle in the other, I told the Indians to mount their horses and go to their camp. They weakened, mounted their horses and left. Two of the chiefs, however, very politely. requested to accom- pany us, which we refused, but they came along. After the Indians fed on the fragments of the breakfast, the chiefs and five others offered their robes, which we refused, I saying to keep them until we met again. After breakfast they went back and we traveled on down the river. After sundown we saw two Indians.
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