The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1883-06-08
PICKED OUT OF THE PAST.
What . Couple OF Old Timers Remember of
stampedes and Explorations.
Huoh NcOuojd, in yods,endeut,

| Hugh McQuoid, in Independent.
The Cnur d'Alene stampede was conducted
on the old-time secrecy and celebrity principle
CLOSED mouths and swift hoofs were the or.
der of the day. So long as horse flesh held
out, well and good; but when the animal sank
exhausted on the trail, there the prospector
must needs take up his burden and struggle
along through roaring torrents and over
mountains of snow to the new FL Dorado.
A fortune, an immense fortune, lay only a
few milesahead of him.. 1t would never do
| now, afte ;seafs ofhardships and privations,
| with the rich claim almost in view, to sink
exhausted in the snow and let his more fer
tunate comrades stake all the rich ground in
the gulch; so, shifting his heavy burden to
the other shoulder, he staggers along through
the yielding snow, and reaches the long
sought gulch in time for an equal share, to
find only disappointment and "color" to
the pan. How the telegram will carry the
old timers back to the early stampedng days;
the horses saddled and bridled hidden in the
Alder Gulch willows, waiting for the "risIng
Of the moon" to light up the trail; the mid
| night ride, and the pursuing party trailing"
| the discoveries to be in at the death and the
division; the return of the crestfallen party,
and the muttered vows Of vengeance upon
the 'old man" who got up the stampede.
How it will remind John j. Healy, Of Ben
ton, the discoverer of the Florence mines, Of
his fruitless wanderings and p ivations in
searching for the lost river whose bed was
paved with nuggets of gold, and the rescuing
of the starving party by Jack Meudenhall,
now of Rozcman. The story as told Healy
by Father de Smet was glittering and an
alluring one. In travelling through the
mountains to the valleys and the buffaloes,
the indians crossed a stream whose waters
were clear and rapid While fording, the
poles, railing behind the ponies, loosened
the gravel and the swift water washing it
away lift nuggets of gold exposed upon the
bed ro6. For weeks and weeks Healy and
party hunted for the golden river and its
shining shore
Through tangled willows, beds of reeds;
Through many fen where the serpent feeds,
And man ne'er trod before"
The hidden river still leaps and laughs over
its yellow treasures, and Healy is almost the
only survivor of the starving little band of
prospectors rescued by Jack Mendenhall at
the old deserted Lemhi post. Hundreds of
Hontanians, who have sat in the saddle day
and night, following the old stampedes, have
noticed this last stampede with interest. 1t
began to look like the old days and the old
hurrah again, and steady-going, religious
men who had given up youthful follies, were
to be observed looking a cayuse over with q
critical eye. Didn't 1t remind you of the old
days on the Yellowstone, Captain Mills,
whei the sixties were small and the boulders
unusually large? Didn't you feel like taking
a caater with the boys when they passed
through Deer Lodge for the mountains of
goldt Too old, Hugh)
s-as-.s, . -ABoET THE cAHFIELpPARIY.
Missoulia', Nay 25a.
In last weeks NEw NoRTH-wEsT Captain
Mills contributes leaf to history, detailing
how himself, DIR. Mitchell, and few
other old-timers drove down to Little Black
foot in 1869, TO meet Thomas n. Garfield and
Engineer Roberts, Sam wilkeson and a few
other n +. advance agents, who were look
ing over "the proposed new railroad route"
F. L. Worden and Captain Higgins were at
that time keeping store on Front street, and
when the N. p. party came into Missoula ria
Pen dOreille lake, they were not n little
surprised to learn that they could be taken
over the summit by wagons. Messrs. Hig-
gins and Worden and David Pattee agreed |
TO accompany them, ard it was under their |
guidance that the party made the trip frem
Missoula to Deer Lodge, where they were !
joined by Granville Stuart and piloted to |
Mr.. Worden says the Can
field party did cross the mountains and get |
two miles beyond the summit ere they dis. |
covered the fact; but there was no fooling |
Engineer Roberts. He had the fact down in |
his notebook in moment after he reached |
the summit. Another incident Mr.. Worden /
calls to mind that ought also to join the NEW |
NORTHWEST scrap of history. As the party
were proceeding up He'll Gate canon, Mr.. |
Wilkeson quietly remarked: "They tell us
there is no timber aleng this route; notice /
there are actually spaces of thirty feet where
there isn't a tree"