Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1888-02-18
Condensed History Of Agent
Williamson's Regime.
Privileges Sold to Favored
Cattle BarOns. II,
Violations of Indian
Commissioners Orders.

ence OF the leases and permits, and
agent Williamson's connection therewitt
lie says Agent Williamson is a man OF to
q nuch dignity OF character to defend him
elf through the press, and so forth. NJ
berson who heard Agent Williamson bias
bheming on two or three occasions whel
his administration was shown up throug1
The press, would give him credit for mucl
dignity Of character. 1t Is quite true h
does not wan to rush into print; he know
his only safety is in silence, n that il b,
could nave kept out OF print for the las
lS months. he would not nave been invited
10 tender his resignation. 1t is a reproacl
10 the people OF Yellowstone county tina,
This man has been permitted to stay on tn,
made to take immediate effect. As long al
10 remains there their interests
81 Arr IN DANGER.
This late correspondent endeavors to show
that the cattlemen first obtained the priv
33eges in the severe winter of 1867, anG
obtained them by just driving on thei1
cattle and relying on the good nature o.
the agent and Indians to allow them to
&sremain there. lie say it was in that
s winter that the agent was instructed from
Is Washington to drive all cattle of the reser.
a walton, and to enforce his orders by the
4 mid of troops from Fort Custer, if necessary.
81 This fellow PROCESSES to be telling the true
q history of these matters to enlighten the
public. His story is utterly false, and there
is not a a in Yellowstone County who
has been there for four or five years, that
does not know it to be false. 1t is we'll
$known in that county that there has not
a 1ou oinco WiI1iu rnenn onorrnnod hiu
|3position as Crow agent, that a privileged
Few of the cattle barons did not have full
run of the reservation. Though he issued
5&prders on several occasions that all cattle
55hnd sheep should be driven of the reserva.
zion, and that no grazing permits would be
*granted on n consideration, and caused
%these orders to be published in the local
Hpapers. and telegraphed to the East, the
%Orders were never carried out. Travellers
Fl ACROSS THE ~sERvATIo
hny time through 1885 and 1886 Toasted
their eyes on from 1 1000 to $4,000 head
ii fat cattle, owned chiefly by Nelson
y torey, that dotted the hills OF Clarke's
fork and Rock Creek, and were scattered
through the hills West of Pryor Creek.
There was no secrecy about the presence
bf these cattle; they did not stray in from
outside of the reservation, but it was their
ID headquarters, and there were corrals and
cabins built, and hay cut there for those
cattle. There we're other cattle there be-
bides Nelson Storey's, and at the regular
meetings of the Yellowstone Range Asso-
geiation, the south side roundup was arrang-
ed and published in the local papers, lay
Ing out the work OF the roundup covering
iii that part OF the reservation between
Pryor Mountains and Rock Creek, and
rom the Wyoming line to the Yellowstone.
Further east Hoskins & McGirl had the
bame privileges, with the full know ledge
and consent OF the agent, and other cattle
Ebarons who need not be enumerated here.
1T was we'll known that the presence OF these
Rattle was a violation Of the instructions
from Washington, but it was understood
that the agent fixed a tariff OF
FIFTY CENTS PER HEAD
per season for the cattle, and ten cents for
= heep, and it was so stated by the owners
5$cf cattle and sheep there, who could be
named here. and by the Bozemau papers,
(which stated hat Nelson Storey had ar
ranged with Agent Williamson for his cattle
to remain on the reservation at a rental OF
fifty cents per head. But even these priv
|leges did not suit the cattle barons; a select
few OF them wanted entire control OF the
reservation, and during the winter OF
1856 Briggs & Ellis, Hoskins & McGirl,
and several other heavy firms, with Agent
Williamson, worked up q scheme to that
end. They arranged that each firm should
have a large section OF the reservation,
with about t venty miles OF river front, ex-
tending frvt.. Big Timber to the Big Horn,
"a distance Of about IT'S miles by river.
Williamson worked up the matter in Wash
ing SO successfully that by the spring OF
Il SSE ifa GJccpSS GpQYnp6 QaEurnH- The
papers were all in his hands ready to send
to Washington for execution, but some of
the cattlemen interested we're SO indiscreet
as to boast of their success, and to state
e%xultingly that they could keep that reser.
walton from being hrown open for
THE NEXT FIVE YEARS.
A counter agitation then set in; the scheme
was exposed in the Yellowstone papers,
and telegraphed to metropolitan journals
in the East. Williamson then notified the
cattlemen interested that it would be no
use sending the documents to Washington
in the face OF what had been published, and
issued another OF his orders for the cattle
to be driven off. He stated through the
press that no leases or permits we're under
consideration, nor would be granted under
any circumstances, and when his state
ulCuto SIO tCiCStdpACOA oDus why oAOVVu
what a conscientious agent be was, and
the Eastern journals paid him some high
compliments. But his order Mas not en-
forced; the cattlemen soothed his wounded
feelings by the application OF a certain
plaster, which.Omar Hoskins subsequently
described as being expensive, and though
they failed to secure the leases they retained
the privileges OF the reservation on the old
terms. Hoskins vented his rage on the
publishers of the Montana Stock Gazette,
which had shown up the scheme, and
threatened, Oh behalf OF the cattlemen who
THEIR BRANDS
in it, to withdraw their advertising patron.
age. In the fall of 1886, in consideration
OF the bad condition OF the ranges north
of the Yellowstone, the Gazette advocated
the opening OF the reservation for the win.
ter; not for a favored few, but that all the
cattlemen might place a certain percentage
OF their herds on the reservation, and thus
relieve the exhausted ranges. This did not
suit the favored few, who commenced to
close contracts with Williamson, and the
Bozeman papers again announced the sue
cessiul conclusion Of contracts between
Nelson Story and the agent, at the usual
tariff OF SO cents q head for the winter.
These items, and Others in that connection,
went the rounds OF the press, and gave
Williamson another scare. He wrote y let
ter to Deputy U. 8. Marshal Quivy, order
ing him to 60 down to Bull Mountain STA
ton, eight miles east Of Pompey's Pillar,
and burn some buildings and corrals that
had been erected there by cattlemen; to
dive all cattle off the reservation; and il
he met with opposition, to draw upon Fort
Custer for troops to enforce his orders. He
was further instructed to inform the Bill
ings Gazette that no white mems cattle
would be
TO CRAZE
on the reservation under any 'circum-
sstances. such being his instructions from
Washington. This was early in the fall OF
1886, long before there was any sign of cold
weather. or course Williamson's orders
aud his statements for the press wero again
published and telegraphed to the East, and
he again posed before the American people
as a most conscientious official, who was
determined to carry out his instructions to
the letter. Hoskins went with Quivy to the
GaIattn Ofhca accunoH the nuhliahora NJ