The Livingston enterprise. [volume] (Livingston, Mont.) 1883-1914, 1885-11-07
"a Cloud on the Mountain"

t1dllOck OOCe, anu IL mas Doen long,
very long, SO long that we do not re-
member to have ever seen its like be-
fore, that we have read fanciful sketch
that contained so much of faithful rep
resentation Of nature as she appears in
the western mountains. The heroine
is Ruth Mary Tully, the eldest child and
budding daughter of "downeaster"
who has moved to Idaho, made some
money in placer diggings and sunk a
large share of it in asawmlll--a method
of dropping money that is very common
even in Montana. With.the residue
Mr.. Tully has moved with his family
up Bear River and started cattle ranch
in partnership with Joe Enselman from
Montana who is in love with Ruth
Mary, greatly to the satisfaction of Ruth
Mary's parents but not to Ruth Mary.
A new railroad is on it's way up Bear
valley and Ruth Mary incidentally
makes the acquaintance of Kirkwood,
one of the surveyors, who stops at the
Tully rauch in the course of a hunting
trip. Ruth Mary falls in love with
Kirkwood who merely feels laZily in
terested in the fair little flower that
blooms amid such uncongenial sur
roundings. Ruth Mary sees Kirk
wood but the one time but forever af-
terward thinks of him where he is in
charge of the tunnel work down in
Bear canyon. In the spring Joe Ensel-
man comes back from proving up on
his ranch in Montana, but during the
winter has lost an eye. Ruth Mary in
pity of his misfortune and his love
agrees to marry him. And while the
day Of marriage is approaching one hot
afternoon in June, Ruth Mary looks up
at the mountains and sees what she
knows to be Cloud burst at the head of
the river. Her father is away but, in
stantly thinking of Kirkwood's camp
down near the canyon and of the GER
tainty that it will be swept away, she
gets into the Tully boat and paddles
with all her might down to warn the
camp, followed by the terrible wall of
water formed by the cloud burst. The
railroad camp did not have man in it
that day; even the Chinese cook was
away and Kirkwood with all his men
was in the tunnel. When they started
for camp that night they found it swept
away and amid the mud and debris cast
up by the flood was Ruth Mary's body.
So runs the story. But it is not the web
of fancy that. is SO entrancing to the
western reader as the woof of descrip-
ton. The little touches. the pictures Of
natural scenery are the catching points.
The engineering party in a double-seat-
ed blackboard fording Bear River by
following along the rifles; the little
spaniel dog trying to breast the current
and being rescued by Kirkwood who
wades out with pair of high rubber
boots; the few cattle that are lazily
feeding on the lower ranges "like specks
upon the sides of the hill" while the
larger herds have been driven to higher
ground in the summer; the curiosity of
Tommy, Ruth Mary's little brother who
is great trout fisher with willow pole
and grasshopper bait, over Kirkwood's
jointed pole, artificial fly bait and reel;
the picture Of Kirkwood lighting his
match on calm day by protecting the
flame with his hands after the habit Of
all men who live an open-air life; the
little waxen matches lying in gaudy
box which opens with sort of spring;
the Cinnamon packing placer dirt to
miners cradle in square kerosene cans
suspended from pole over their should
ers; Tommy's burning desire for IAN
injun pony, one that won't buck;" the
ripping, rushing river itself, shaded by
willows and cottonwoods; the valley
sloping back to the solitary, grass-cov-
cred foothills with the mountains
bounding the view in every direction;
the description of the ranch buildings
these are few of the exquisite glimpses
of western life that bring us right home
to Montana and even to the valley of the
Upper Yellowstone.
We have heard it said that Mary Hal
lock Foote, the authoress Of this bril-
liant sketch, though an eastern lady,
lived for some time with relatives in
Colorado and there obtained by close
observation her rare insight of western
life in many of it's most common but
most picturesque and peculiar phases
We doubt if Bret Harte, Mark Twain
or Joaquin Miller have ever portrayed
anything so strikingly western in it's
details as this "Cloud on the Mountain" :"
by Miss Foote.
| Cowardly Threats.
The following quoted extract is from
the minutes of a public meeting held in
Billings few days ago. 1t would appear
that the threatening letters referred to
we're directed at Banker H. H. Mund as
he seems to have been the one who was
gratiied by the resolution: ''The follow
ing resolution was then proposed by John
Tinker, and seconded by Sam Wilde
Whereas it has come to our knowledge
that the practice of sending anonymous
threatening letters to respectable citizens
has begun in this community, we do here