The Republican journal., 1884-11-20
A Coach Ride in Montana.

A ROUGH VEHICLE AND ROUGH ROAD. HE
LENA, FORT BENTON AND VOLTS GULCH.
AN OPINION OF MONTANA. INDECENT IN
DIANS.
The following letter from Lieut.. Everard E..
Hatch, U. S. A., to j. 0. johnson, Esq, of
Liberty, was kindly placed at our disposal and
will be read with interest by many beside the
personal friends of the writer:
FORT AsSINABOINE, MONTANA, Nov. Cd,
1884. When in days gone by l pondered over
my geography in the old red school-house at
Liberty, Maine, l little thought as | studied of
the territory of Montana that in few short
years | should be stationed in that same terri
tory, an officer of the U. s. army.
But here am, far from my home and friends,
in northern Montana, two hundred and ten
miles from a railroad. | left Helena, Mon
tana, for this place Saturday morning, Sept.
2Sth. The vehicle which was to convey US
came to our hotel after we had enjoyed our
usual two hours waiting. This vehicle in the
East is usually denomnated a stage, but here a
coach. Well, a coach; | can but say that If
possessed know ledge of all the languages of the
civilized world | should still lack words to
describe that coach. The poorest stage ever
seen in Maine would be palace on wheels in
comparison, and the ordinary truck-cart of the
eastern farmer al easy, comfortable vehicle.
As we ride out of Helena let me describe it
briefly. 1t is the capital, contains about ten
thousand inhabitants, and Is Il city almost
entirely surrounded by mountains. As min
i'm bu. .l,n al ,f
people for inhabtants-Irish. Dutch, Chinese
and negroes. As we rode along the streets [
poor inotien>ve Chinese with his pig
TAIL oriental clothes and wooden shoes. and a
lot of negro boys We're following him and jeer-
ing. "Oh!' shouted a little negro urchn
there's too much chow chow about YOU
Another argument against the "Heathen Chin
ee." And now we are out of the city
and after crossing the mountains are alone
with the prairie and the sky Not tree.
not 4 house, not living thing to be seen.
Such riding. The body of the coach bears di-
rectly on the aXles, and the aNles on the almost
worn out boxes of the hubs. We sit cramped
up there on seat. | thought of the story 50
often inflicted on Mark Twain: keep Your
seat Horace and I'll get YOU there on time; and
he did. too, what there was left of him." Every
fourteen or fifteen miles we come TO a shark, =
where RELAYS of horses are established. The
horses are quickly changed the driver mounts,
the new horses are literally sworn at, and
away we 60 over a road which the wheels of
the coaches alone have made. AT one of these
'sharks" we get our meal. | ate quite eagerly,
although things were not above suspicion,
when unfortunately the cook came in. He was
a Chinee. covered with flour, dough and dirt
from head to foot. ate nothing more for that
meal During the day we came to "town"-
Wolt's Gulch--Whch consisted Of three build
ingS, one OF them store and saloon. This
store was once visited by an officer of my regi-
ment who found inside one sack of flour and
fifteen barrels of whskey. For heavens sake, y
said the officer to the proprietor, what are you
doing with much tlour?'
All day, all night and all the next day, we
ride, and at last come to Fort Benton, Il town
of about two thousand inhabitants. It is STU
ated on the Missouri at the head Of navigation.
and is 40 miles from Helena. We pass the
IIlS!il At ! u ptlilDI, dHtt lpul IcAi lHUl
ing are ON the stage again, riding over the same
kind of roads, past similar "sharks', and AT
night, almost tired to death, we are at Fort AS
>inaboine. 2l0 miles from Helena.
Now here is my opinion of Montana Take
it for what il i worth, and it don't cost cent.
There are some fair grazing lands, the river
valleys produce tolerably good crops; but the
land in general is totally worthless without IT.
rigaton and great part it is Impossible to ir-
rigate.
Fort .A>>inaboine was built in 1879, at the time
Sitting Bull, in command of the Sioux, was
with eight companies of the 18th Infantry,
and two troops Of the 1,t Cavalry. The Sioux
Indians are now all settled in Dakota; bat the
Backfett, Cree and Assnaboue Indians are
still III Northern Montana. They are peaceable
and quiet at present but need watching. These
three tribes OF Indians are now in very
destitute condition. The buffalo have all been
driven otfor killed, smaller game is very scarce,
and the result is. although the government ha :
agencies III" Indians are almost starving.
can see from my window now two Indians
with papp"oSe going across the prairie. Their
dress consist, Of a bright coIored blanket, shirts,
leather breeche> and moccasins. Their heads
are bare, their hair i never combed, and their
faces are coated over with red paint. The
>quaW carries the pappoose on her back under
the blanket and by the way, the squaws do all
the work. saw two Indians yesterday, a buck
and a squaW. who had secured a large black
dog for their meal. They had killed the dog
and the >quaw was dragging it along while the
buck riding behind on his pony was comfort
ably smoking his pipe. If Beva A. Lockwood
could have had th, story for campaign capital,
| doubt no. she would have been elected.
! am a constant RAIDER of the Republican
journal, and the first thing | read when get
my Journals Your paragraphs of Liberty locals.
They are always interesting, and about equal to
letter from home. Very respectfully,
ENEp,pn F II ,TCu