Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1889-11-27
THEY BLLzED TEE WAY.
Men Who Conquered the VIII
derness and Created a
Vast Empire.
Sketches Of Heroes Who Laid
the Foundation Of the
New State.

AHe oio-timsfs Oh montana are now 9
proud lot Of msn. They have just reason
to be proud because it was they who first
blaxed the trail and withstood the trials
and tribulaticns which the wild and woody
West had only TO offer the onee who first
entered its domain. Coming as many o.
then did from homes surrounded by ali
the luxuries and civilizing influences neces.
sary to make life worth living. it Was NO
small ask for those men to tear them.
selves loose from the world and enter q
wilderness where for months at a time
nothing save the blue canopy OF heaven
shielded them from the frosty breath OF
old Boreas as he swooped down on them
from the ice-clad shores OF Manitoba.
Bacon. beans and fiapiacks comprised
their bill OF fare, and the man who at all
times was fortunate enough to have the
latter delicacy three times q day was con.
sidered to be q dude. Flour ia those days
was not the cheapest article OF diet the
market afforded. as it had to be packed or
hauled hundreds Of miles. At times when
it vas scarce hundreds OF dollars were
paid for a single sack. Money was plenti-
ful, as it was then that the placer CLAIMS
were yielding up their hidden wealth.
These men, who slept, ate. drank
and worked together, are the ones
who o pause and glance back at the
rugged pathway along which they Travelled.
Some OF these pioneers have accumulated
q handsome competence, while others have
not been so fortunate and are nov merely
the shadows OF their former selves. For
tho-e who have been fortunate, nothing
but praise can be spoken, because in their
efforts to achieve that which every living
hopes to some day possess-plenty OF
money-they had their ups and downs,
more OF the latter than of the former. For
those OF the old.timers who have neither
become wealthy nor achieved greatness,
but who have I evertheless plodded along /
the rough road and withstood the vicissi- |
tudes &c natural to lie in q new country,
nothing hut pity can be expressed, because
tried and failed. The pioneers, one
and all, are q brave lot Of men, and it is
to their courage and energy that Montana
indeb: ed for the place it now occupies
among the galaxy OF stars.
The newcomers are q different class Of
from the old, and although some Of
them are possessed OF q get-up-and-get
spirit, they have not the proper qualities
TO plunge into q wilderness and stay with |
It until it would become the tenderfoot's
c, a, as the old timers in NJ ntana have
done. Those who left Eastern homes many
years ago to invade the unknown precincts
Of the aboriginee did something which re-
1uired grit. After they had crossed the pale
Of civilization they did not know at
what moment they would fathom the
--L--- L-- I-t
red man. who ut that time was monarch
Of all he surveyed. Many tales OF narrow
escapes from Indians can be related by
some OF them, and yet there was something
10 fascinating about the outdoor, rough
way Of existing that they even
low breathe q sigh of regret when they
to the Relation that those days
Of bacon and beans have forever vanished
rom view. Although the new men Conn
monty known as "senderfeet'' are virtu-
ally in the West, they do not know any,
thing about western life. Some OF them
eft their eastern homes with q goodly sup-I
ply OF lucre, earned, perhaps, by their
old fathers, and have never even SUI
the Inconvenience OF riding outside of
. Pullman sleeper. They did not pack
their grub and blankets on their backs and
walk hundreds OF miles to reach the great
silver producing camp on earth, as did
The pioneers, bat quietly snoozed in their
,osy berths while the iron horse wh;rled
Them westward over the trail bla zed by |
5he hardy gold hunters. 1t is safe to say
that not one out OF every one hundred
'tenderfeet" b have left the East for the
West during the past two years but what
before starting armed himself ito the
with a 22 calibre pistol, with which
10 kill buffalo and Indians from the
Lro;p uinlnwc onI Snnn1io6 himGolf 4
letters OF recommendation to the
'illiterate" people OF Montana to the ef-
'ect that the .'bearer is 80 and so, knows
more than anyone else in the state, and
would like a soft job and q large salary
IN consequence OF his smartness." This is
the calibrs OF the average person who row
seeks to usurp the place OF the man who
or twenty or thirty years has labored in
,essantly to establish q commonwealth,
hat the "tenderfoot" might not be sub.
ected to the ''horrible" fate OF having to
outside OF q parlor or subsist on q
liet not fit for a lord.
It is now the intention of THE MINER to
i've its readers short sketches OF the ex-
Of some of the pioneers OF Mon
ana. These sketches will be published
very Sunday morning, and in order that
hey may be interspersed with as little ex
sggeration as possible, pioneers are re-
to unlimber their thinkers and
lave data, etc ready for the sketch fend
when he calls upon them for it. These
are for the purpose Of comparing
be condition OF the territory az it was
years ago with the new state OF
he present, and instilling into the minds OF
he 'stenderfeet" who are even now afraid
10 cross the fat below town for fear that
he few PARASITIC and lazy Indians
yho are now swiping the con
of swill barrels in back
llleys for their winters supply |
If food will swoop down upon them and
,onfscate their canes and t~oothpick shoes
or their own selfish use, some idea OF what
he old-timer withstood and suffered that
equal to the ones the tenderfeet had
n tne East might be provided for them
here. There are a number Of men now in
Butte who have been in some portion OF
Montana since the sixties or earlier, among
whom may be mentioned Henry McMurphy,
James R. Boyce, John Manning, Caleb
irvine, George w. Irvine II, Charles g.
Warren, John Eddy, John 81. Curtis and
Frank Beck, the latter having camped in
Dublin gulch twenty-five years ago. |
Col. John III. Curtis. L