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 3
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"April 29 .- Started at sunrise accompanied by the two chiefs and six others. One of them had a letter from Agent Schoonover of Fort Union, which stated that the bearer was
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'Red Bear,' one of the principal chiefs of the Crow nation. We gave them some supper, etc. He then presented me with a black horse; said he was all right; friend of ours, etc. Had a long talk with him, in the course of which he asked about old Jim Bridger, and also Peter Martin, desiring to know where they were and why they never came to see the Crows. The other Crows had told me that the Sioux had attacked the Fur Company's express boat from Fort Benton, near Fort Union, and some said they had taken it, and others said they had killed some of the crew, but liad not captured the boat. I asked Red Bear if it was so, and he replied that a rumor to that effect was current among the tribes, but he did not know whether it was true or not. When we retired to rest I gave orders to the guards not to kill, but take prisoners, any Indians which they might discover prowling around after our horses, and sure enough, about eleven p. m. they discovered one crawling up to two of our best horses that were tied to the same trec. They watched and waited until they got dead wood on him, and then captured him and called me up. I introduced him to Red Bear as one of his good Indians, who, he had just been telling me, would not annoy us any more, as he had told him not to, etc. He said the man was crazy and had no ears, etc. The old story, anything to excuse him. We had already had a practical illustration that stealing or at- tempting to steal is far from being considered a crime by even the best of them. We turned the thief loose, and carly in the morning they all started back, leaving us alone in our glory. Traveled eighteen miles.
"April 30th .- Traveled all day down a valley between ter- raced table lands and buttes; valley about eight miles wide; snowy range to the west about eighty miles distant; no other snowy mountains in sight; low, open country around base of mountains. Camped three miles below the mouth of a large
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stream coming in on the south side; suppose it to be Clark's Fork. I accepted Red Bear's black horse last night and pre- sented him my white mare in return. I thought at the time I had a little the best of it, but I found, during the day's travel, that I was mistaken. We are so far away from any high mountains that all the party feel discouraged and lonesome. Give me the mountains in preference to plains, where one call see more level ground than he can ride over in a day. The ground is literally covered with young crickets. Between them and the grasshoppers I am afraid the grass will soon be used up. Course of river, six degrees north of east. Traveled fifteen miles.
"Friday, May 1, 1863 .- About one o'clock last night Bost- wick had his roan horse stolen while he and Greery were on guard. It was taken by two Indians, one of whom showed him- self, but not plain enough to shoot at; while the guards were bothı watching to get a shot at him, his companion crawled into the other end of the camp and cut the horse loose and got away with him without attracting their attention ; and this, too, when the moon was nearly at the full and without a cloud. Verily, the Crows are world-beaters, and words cannot do the subject justice. Fortunately, Bostwick was on guard himself, so he cannot charge anybody with carelessness. Course of river nearly northeast."
The summary of the journal for the next eleven days is as follows : May 2d they saw large herds of buffalo and elk. May 3d they camped a few miles from Pompey's Pillar. Arriving at this natural monument, they found the names of Captain Clarke and two of his men cut in the rock with the date, July 25, 1806. There were also two other names inscribed-Der- ick and Vancourt-dated May 23, 1834. On May 6th five men were detailed to cross the Big Horn river and survey a townsite and ranches, and another party of four was sent out
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prospecting for gold. On this day James Stuart and four others engraved their names on a sandstone up the river. On the 7th the party went up the west bank of the Big Horn, trav- eling eighteen miles that day. On the 8th they traveled fif- teen miles through a desolate country. On the 9th the remains of an Indian were found buried up a trec. On the 11th a party of three white men was observed a little ways across the river; they would neither answer nor halt. It proved afterwards that this party were J. M. Bozeman and John M. Jacobs and his daughter, eight years old. They were on their way from the Three Forks of the Missouri river to Red Butte, on the North Platte river, and were then selecting a route for a wagon road, which was afterwards located and known as the "Jacobs and Bozeman cut-off." This party had been chased by a party of Indians a few days before, and when they saw the Stuart party they at once mistook them for Indians. But two days afterwards they met about eighty mounted Indians. Knowing that they would be plundered of everything they had, if not murdered, Jacobs dropped his rifle and ammunition into a bunch of sage brush. Sure enough, the Indians did capture and stripped them of nearly everything they had and many were for killing them on the spot, but, after holding a kind of council, they let them go after giving them three miserable ponies for all their horses ; most of their clothing and what pro- visions they had were taken away from them. They started off slowly until the Indians were out of sight, then returned and got Jacob's gun and ammunition, but, unfortunately, there were but five bullets. Soon these were exhausted, and when they got through to North Platte they were in a famishing condition.
Again Mr. Stuart says : "May 13, 1863 .- Last night Smith and I had the first watch, and about eleven o'clock the horses at iny end were scared at something, but it was very dark and
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I could not see anything. I thought it might be a wolf prowl- ing around the camp. A few minutes before eleven o'clock I sat up and lit a match to see what time it was, and also to light my pipe, but at once lay down again; we were both lying flat on the ground trying to see what made the horses so un- easy, and to this we owe our lives. Just then I heard Smith whisper that there was something around his part of the horse herd and a few seconds later the Crows fired a terrible volley into the camp. I was lying between two of my horses and both were killed and nearly fell on me. Four horses were killed and five more wounded, while in the tents two men were mor- tally, two badly, and three slightly wounded. Smith shouted, 'Oh, you scoundrels !' and fired both barrels of his shotgun, but, as far as we could tell next morning, without effect; he most probably fired too high. I could not fire, for the horses were in the way. I shouted for someone to tear down the tents to prevent their affording a mark for the murderous Indians a second time. York rushed out and tore them down in an in- stant. I then ordered all who were able to take arms and crawl out from the tents a little way and lie flat on the ground, and thus we lay until morning, expecting another attack each instant and determined to sell our lives as dearly as possible. When, at last, day dawned we could see a few Indians among the rocks and pines on a hill some five or six hundred yards away watching to see the result of their bloody work.
"An examination of the wounded presented a dreadful sight. C. D. Watkins was shot in the right temple, and the ball came out at the left cheek bone; the poor fellow was still breathing, but insensible. E. Bostwick was shot in five different places- once in the back of the shoulder, shattering the shoulder blade, but the ball did not come out in front; three balls passed through the right thigh, all shattering the bone, and one ball passed through the left thigh, which did not break the bone; he
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was sensible, but suffering terrible agony. H. A. Bell was shot twice-one ball entered at the lowest rib on the left side and lodged just under the skin on the right side; the other entered near the kidneys on the left side and came out near the thigh joint. D. Underwood was shot once, but the ball made six holes ; it first passed through the left arm above the elbow, just missing the bone, and then passed through both breasts, which were large and full, just grazing the breast bone. H. T. Greery was wounded in the left shoulder blade with an arrow, but not dangerously hurt. George Ives was shot in the hip with a ball-a flesh wound; S. T. Hauser in the left breast with a ball, which passed through a thick memorandum book in his shirt pocket and lodged against a rib over his heart, the book saving his life. Several others had one or more ball holes through their clothes."
Mr. Stuart continued his diary until they arrived at Ban- nock on June 22, 1863.
As the "Standard" man always camps on the trail of the pioneers, again, November 5, 1899, he met John Vanderbilt, who was with the James Stuart expedition of which I have spoke. During his conversation with the "Standard" reporter, Mr. Vanderbilt consented to give an account of that historical event. IIe said :
"We left Bannock on April 9, 1863. Our principal object was to explore the Wind, Big Horn, and the Stinking rivers. We got down among the Crows on the Yellowstone, when our troubles began. As we went into camp they tried to rob us of this thing and that, whatever happened to strike their fancy. We had a parley, but it did no good. They became so des- perate that we had to show we were ready for action. There were probably thirty or forty Indians in the party, but they all gave in after we showed fight. That was in the latter part of April. They put down their bows and arrows and retreated.
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We immediately packed our camp and moved on. They fol- lowed along some distance behind. It was this band of In- dians who turned back the Edgar and Fairweather party, which was just one day behind us.
"After that trouble we followed on down the Yellowstone, keeping guard at night. We frequently saw signs of the In- dians, but had no more trouble for a few days. We camped seven days at the mouth of the Big Horn and laid out a town- site which we called Big Horn City. It still bears that name. We merely took a survey and platted the town, but took up no land. On May 3d we camped at Pompey's Pillar, where we were much interested in reading the inscription bearing the names of Captain Clarke and two men, and the date, July 25, 1806.
"Then we started up the east side of the Big Horn river, crossed the Little Horn and went further up as far as the can- yon. That was probably seventy-five miles from the mouth. On that night-the night of May 12th to 13th-took place our great fight with the Indians.
"It was just about midnight when the Indians attacked us. Stuart and Smith were on guard. They didn't hear the In- dians until they began firing on us. They first fired. one or two shots and then a volley. Bostwick was the first one wound- ed. Then Watkins was shot through the head. Bell was shot in the side. A ball went through Underwood's arm and into his breast. Another ball struck a memorandum book in Sam Hauser's pocket and glanced onto a rib, saving his life.
"After this attack the Indians withdrew. Stuart told us, however, to lay low, as it is a common custom with Indians to attack again just before daylight. Some of our men were groaning, and in the darkness we could not tell the full extent of our casualties, nor could we tell at what moment the attack might be renewed. It was, indeed, a terrible night,
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"Morning came without any further attack. Watkins died just about daylight. We found that three or four of our horses had been killed. Bostwick was badly wounded in the side. Bell was also severely injured. We held a consultation. To remain meant the certain extermination of the entire party. Yet we were reluctant to leave the wounded behind, and it was impos- sible to take them along. Sometime before we had all agreed that, in case we had a battle, each man would reserve one bul- let for himself, so that he could not be captured and tortured. It was also agreed at that time if any were wounded he would not permit the others to remain behind to help him, but would eud his own existence. It was, however, decided that if a man's wound was not mortal the others were to stay with him. It was decided that Captain Stuart should be sole judge as to whether a man's wound was mortal or not.
"That being the previous agreement, it was decided to wait until noon to see how serious the wounds of Bostwick and Bell might be. It was not considered possible to delay longer and save any of the party. All the forenoon the Indians were in sight on the side of the canyon. Stuart approached them and challenged them to come out and fight, but they made no ro- sponse. As noon approached Bostwick asked us to go on and leave him, as he could not live long. We did not want to leave him while life was left in his body. HIe then asked Greery for a revolver, and at the last moment it was given him. He put the revolver up to his head and killed himself.
"We started at noon, leaving all our camp except provisions for eight days. Bell said he couldn't travel and didn't want to kill himself, so we left him on the ground. We got about a quarter of a mile away, going toward the cast, when we saw Bell motioning us to wait. We went back, put him on a horse, and he kept along with us. He got through all right.
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"That same evening Greery accidentally shot himself with his rifle. We made the practice of laying our guns in the same place. His rifle, as he picked it up, became entangled in the sage brush, exploded and shot him. After fifteen or twenty minutes he begged us to kill him, as he said that he was suf- fering intensely and could not live. We refused, however. Finally, when it was necessary for us to go on, we let him have his revolver. He asked Stuart where the surest place for him to shoot himself was situated, and Stuart told him in the ear. All bade him good bye. I was the last to see him alive. I pleaded with him not to, but he said he couldn't live long anyway. I stood on a little raise. He was behind it. He was very weak. He pulled the trigger, but it didn't go off. Then he pulled a second time and killed himself. We dug a hole in the ground and buried him in his blanket. The In- dians were constantly in sight during this time.
"We then packed up and continued that long and terrible journey. We traveled nights and rested part of the day. In that way the Indians following our tracks would almost over- take us, but we would get ahead again during the night. We suffered hardships that can never be told. We took only eight days' provisions along after the battle, and that was soon consumed. One night we had nothing to eat. Then Stuart killed an antelope. The next day we had nothing but a fawn two or three days old, which made us all sick. After, that we had plenty of buffalo meat, and for eight or ten days we had nothing else, and only alkali water to drink. For a long distance we traveled through snow two or three feet deep and would sometimes sink down into pools of ice water. While crossing the Big Horn range we were wet nearly all the time. We hadn't been able to buy boots or shoes at Bannock and had nothing on our feet except moccasins. . Crossing the Big Horn mountains we were guided by the stars, changing our course a good deal,
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"We struck the Wind river above the canyon and followed it up, going in a southerly direction. Bell complained of pain all the time, so we could only go at a walk. When we crossed the divide we saw emigrant wagons on the road twelve miles away. Hauser felt so overjoyed he tied his handkerchief to a stick and hurrahed. Then we traveled rapidly along towards the road, which we soon reached. The emigrants thought we were Indians; we were so black and dirty, and they came out to fight us. We soon convinced them that we were all right. They let us have flour, potatoes and everything we wanted. They didn't want to charge us, but we had plenty of money and so paid them for what we obtained. We went on to Pacific Springs, on the California road, by the Snake river to Ban- nock, which we reached sometime in June. We left Bell at a soldiers' station, where the bullet was extracted, and he re- mained until he had recovered.
Mr. Vanderbilt has made his home for several years past in New York state, but recently he returned to this state, where he has met many of his old-time friends. He says that the changes made in the "Rockies" by "Then and Now" are great, but that the old mountains that he used to climb in search of gold are the same; and that the high peaks that reached to welcome him back to his old camping ground are the same "now" as they were "then," otherwise he would have thought that he was still in the East.
Nov. 14, 1899.
ROBERT VAUGILN.
FROM ALDER GULCH TO LAST CHANCE.
Having remained, in Alder gulch all summer working in the mines for Boon and Vivian at ten dollars per day in gold dust, in December, 1864, four of us made a bargain with a man who had two small Mexican mules and an old spring wagon, to take us and our baggage to the new gold mines called Last Chance (now Helena). It was understood that we were to walk, and help the mules (or "Jerusalem ponies," as one of the boys called them) up the hills. The little ani- mals were not over thirteen hands high, and would weigh about 400 pounds each. We came down the Prickly Pear creek, where now the Montana Central railway is. "Then" there was no town of Clancy, nor a quartz mill nor a smelter on the creek; not a sound could be heard there, except that of the pick of the prospector on the mountains, hunting for gold. We kept on the trail until we got to the new Eldorado, where several hundred miners were at work; many were taking out gold in great quantities, others were prospecting their claims.
Before going any further we will stop a minute and listen to "Now" telling a short story in connection to the creek re- ferred to. "A few days ago I was invited to go to the round- house at this place to see two new locomotives which had just arrived from the East. They were the largest in weight and dimensions ever built in any country up to that time, each weighing one hundred and fifty-four tons. 'Mr. Bruce, the master mechanic at the railway shops, informed me that they were to run on the Montana Central railway from Clancy, on Prickly Pear creek, and over the Rocky Mountain divide. Although this is one of the heaviest pulls in the country, the
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big engines each are to draw six hundred and seventy tons. Several hundred passengers are drawn over this divide every twenty-four hours, besides about seven thousand tons of freight, principally coal from Cascade county to Butte and Anaconda, and copper ore from the Butte mines to the copper smelters and refiners at the falls of the Missouri river, near Great Falls, and lead and silver ores to the East Helena smelter.
When looking at those two great locomotives I could not avoid thinking of the contrast between them and the two Mexi- can mules, and of the motive power on the old trail, and the motive power on the new. The little mules were thirteen hands high and drew one thousand pounds; each of the big locomo- tives is fifteen feet, or forty-five hands, high, and draws six hundred and seventy tons. It is to me like a dream to think of the great changes that have taken place since that time.
Then Helena was but a mining camp, consisting of but a few log cabins. There is where I helped to run a drain ditch, com- mencing at Discovery Claim, near where now stands the Mon- tana Club building. We reached bed rock in the upper end of the city. Among the gravel in this drain ditch, about forty- five feet from the surface and near where the Helena fire de- partment building is, a mastodon tooth was found; it was a grinder, three inches on top, six inches deep and eight inches lengthwise; it was as perfect as it was when it came from the monster's mouth, when this northern country was a tropi- cal region. In another claim a tusk was found like that of an elephant. Many other remains of animals have been found in mines and rock formations in the Rockies, showing that the Rocky mountain region has, at one time, been the home of ani- mals that are not now in existence, at least not in the west- ern hemisphere. It is estimated that thirty millions of dol- lars have been taken out of Last Chance gulch and its tribu- taries, and most of it from where the streets of Helena now are,
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Miners' wages were then ten dollars per day; common la- borers seven dollars. During the winter of 1865 eatables of all kinds were very dear, except meat, for game was plentiful; flour sold for one hundred and twenty-five dollars per one hundred pounds. "Then" my friend Charley Cannon was an humble baker, and was selling dried apple pies that were not
OR BUSY
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From Painting by C. M. Russell.
A PRAIRIE SCHOONER CROSSING THE PLAINS.
sweetened, with crusts as thin as a wafer, for one dollar a piece. "Now" he is an honored and respected citizen and one of the wealthiest men in the state. "Now" Helena is a city of twelve thousand inhabitants and the capital of the state. The capitol building is in course of construction, and, when completed, will be one of the finest in the West. Where the log cabins stood, handsome business blocks and pleasant homes are everywhere visible,
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Besides the Montana Central, which runs north and south and through Helena, the transcontinental line of the North- ern Pacific connects the Atlantic and Pacific by extending east and west. Their freight and passenger depots are located on the old mining claims, where husky miners, in their overalls and flannel shirts, swung the picks and tossed the shovels with their brawny arms and contributed thousands of dollars to the world's treasury. Today railroad conductors and other officials are skipping over the same ground in broad cloth, with pen and pencil behind ears that are braced up by high collars attached to boiled shirts.
And so it goes-the miner, the mechanic, the herdsman and plowman, the conductor, the railroad official and the man with the pencil, yes, the tie ballaster and the newsboy, all are linked in the endless chain of Western progress. And now a com- merce is created which brings a revenue to our government amounting to millions of dollars annually, besides many mil- lions more to the laborers and those who furnished the money to carry on these industries and enterprises that are continu- ally developing and adding to the wealth of the nation.
Thus the wheel of progress has moved forward with tre- mendous speed since my first arrival in Helena in 1864 with the man who had the two "Jerusalem ponies."
From Helena I went to Nelson gulch, where there were some very good diggings. The richest was that owned by the Maxwell & Rollins company, near the head of the gulch. In July, 1865, this company had a crew of ten men running a set of sluice boxes in very rich gravel. The man who used the fork to throw the stones which were too heavy for the water to carry out of the boxes, noticed that one small stone that he cast away was very heavy for its size. Wishing to know what kind of a stone it was, he went to the pile and examined it. To his astonishment it was a nugget of gold worth two
.
A SCENE IN THE CITY OF HELENA.
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thousand and seventy-three dollars. All hands quit work to see the big nugget, and the men on the adjoining claims came also to view it. Finally three cheers were given, and repeated several times until the echo went up and down the canyon. I was about a quarter of a mile down the creek at the time. Hearing the yelling, many thought that a serious accident had occurred. Soon the men came down the gulch with the big nugget suspended from the center of a pole, with the crowd following, and, as they marched down the gulch, everybody joined the mob; and when they reached the town which was near the lower end of the gulch where there were two stores and as many saloons, besides several miners' cabins, the crowd numbered three hundred or more. From two to three hun- dred dollars was spent by the Maxwell & Rollins company in treating the boys. The nugget was pure gold with no quartz. It was the shape of a hand with the thumb turned under. In 1877 another nugget worth one thousand and fifty dollars was found in the same gulch by Mr. Rogers. The gold of the Nelson and Highland gulches is the purest of any ever found in Montana.
The largest nugget was found in Snow Shoe gulch in 1865, which weighed one hundred and seventy-eight ounces and was worth three thousand two hundred dollars; there was some quartz attached. This nugget was long in shape, more like a foot than a hand. Snow Shoe gulch is located on top of the main range of the rockies, and near the Mullen tunnel on the Northern Pacific railway.
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