The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1889-06-06
IN THT GOLD COUNTRY.
An Old Miner Talks Of the Early Days
In The Black BILLS.


AsI was travelling throught Colorado
and Montana on q trip for my health I
struck the town Of Big Sandy, Montana.
The little city was all excitement over
the reported discovery Of gold and silver
in the Sweet Grass hills, q distance OF
sixty miles northwest Of Big Sandy, and
the town was filed with prospectors Of
all descriptions, from the old timer Of '49
to the youth fresh from the east In search
Of his fortune, all bound for the now gold
and silver fields.
As had plenty Of time on my hands
and wanted little excitement, l Joined
q prospecting party. We started for the
promised land the next day, and on the
second day out we were in sight Of the
East Buttes. rode on in advance Of the
party, and as 1t was getting dark was
looking for some shelter In which 10 pass
the night. After riding haphazard for
nearly an hour saw the welcome light
Of q prospectOr's camp FIRE and rode to-
ward Il.
The camp proved to be party Of bluff,
good natured miners, who had been In
this section and the Black Hills for 4
number Of years. In answer to my In
quiries as to securing a place to put up
with them, one Of them said:
"Wal, stranger, our 'commodations are
purity poor, but I reckon II you kin STAN
Il we kin"
After eating q supper Of ierked beef,
hard tack and coffee the boys began to
tell stories Of their experiences In the
days Of the frontier. One Of them, who
went by the name Of Buckskin Jack,
said:
"Wal. boys, this ere rush makes ieller
think Of the early days Of the Black Hills.
The Indians wur purity ROll burned mad
and wur maxim Il middlin' lively for the
boys. Ther wuE eight in our party when
we struck camp In Q gulch In the west
part Of the Hills. The fnt night we thot
Il would be a purity good plan to set
guard. We drew cuts to see who
would be TleCted, an Of course wuz thef
lucky man.
"As we wuF not bothered that night an
had saw no signs Of any Of the pesky In
dians We did not Get any guard the next
night. We all turned In purity early an
) as we wuE all purity tired wuE soon asleep.
Bout u O'Clock, As near ~ could
reckon, wuz walked by Q noise as II
got up purity easy an took look round.
At last I thot seed somethin' movin,.
thot I wouldn't 'sturb theF boys until
foun' out what ther racket WuE. An
, takin' my rife, walked to'ards the place
whur l seed the thing movin', an as
theT wnz only one, I thot would follef
him an hn' out whar ther camp wuE, 90
that We could come down on them an
'stermInAte ther whole outfit.
"Wal, ter make a long story short
follered theF pesky Indian, as / thot, fur
bout an hour, an l foun' myself In the
'cinity Of our camp again, an III be goll
burned ef won't he kicked into the mid.
die Of next summer Il my Indian didn't
turn ont to be one Of our boys who wuz
a-walkin' In his sleep. wus purity mad,
but sneaked inter my blanket, an hev
never sed word bout II until ter-night,v
"Wal, l GEES II wuE purity good thing
that you didn't say anything. bout Il OF
. ulNCI
said Wild Dan, ''but CESS III tell yer .
"a lot Of rs boys came In from the
range ter blow oursel's In an paint ther
town red, an I CESS we did Il In hne
style. was paInlysed fur bout two
days, an when hn1y tumbled ter my
self found wuz busted an didn't have
penny an thet would hev ter 90 back
on theI range fur six months, an wuz
kickin' myself fur bein' such Q chump.
Just then I saw Q crowd Of fellers goin,
J to'ards ther Cheyenne and DendWood
stage oriice an ! Joined theF crowd. The
stage wuE drawn up before theR orfco an
ther six broncos were archawin' cher bits
an q wantin' ter be Of. The driver Of
ther stage he'd refused ter 20, as ther
road agents an Injuns he'd stopped an
robbed every stage fur week, an not
driver ever turned up ter tell how L wuE
done. Ther stage agent wus wild. As
ther wuz the Wells-Fargo treasure box
an six passengers thet wanted ter 70 thfo
thet would drive the stage through 70
Deadwood.
al tho't ter myself, 'Dau, old boy,
here's your chance, an I stepped out
from theF crowd and sez, Say, mister,
Wild Dams the man thet kin take yer old
shebanR thFo' ter DeadWood.' With that
I Jumped inter thef boot an yelled, Get
In here, you felleFs thet's euina with me-
an, the agent an six ielleTs jumped inter
the eodch. picked up ther lines, crack
ed ther whip an We wus OF on our Jour
ney. Just a. we started some one hoI.
lered, Three cheeFs for brave Dan,' and
they wus given with . viii.
Things went all right until We struck Z
Deadman's Gulch, when out from behind
some trees twelve men Jumped, with
rides pointed ct us, an ordered meter
halt.
"'Not BY . burned site, seq I.
"An' gave theE horses Q cut with ther
whip. an pickin' up my repeating rife
opened up on them, an In les time than
Ii takes ter tell Il six road agents bed BIZ
ther dust. he'd not been hurt, but my
hat had been shot of'n my bead.
81 picked up theF Hines and tried ter
stop ther horses, but there wus no stop 70
| theis. an they run till they pulled up In
front Of the ofiice In DeadWood. They,
| opened thef stage door, an thef agent
stepped out, an, Ilooked IN ter see u ther
passengers were safe, an, ther they Wuzt
every one q 'em dead, killed BY the road
sTher stage agent ssz, Three ehssn
for Dan, theF only man that's erot . siage
thFo' fur q week.
"'There's the idear,' ser I; n I can't
bring ,em in alive I'll bring iem In dead
New YORK Herald.