The Helena independent., 1891-11-17
Scenes and Incidents Of Rough
Journey BY Doctor Of
Medicine,
But Death Made Better Time and
There Was Mourning In
the House.
Dividing Line Between Montana aud Wyo-
ming-Narrativc of the Driver
Out In the Rain.

Fork railroad. At Rcd Lodge, the seat q
an unborn county and vast mineral wealth
a good dinner at the Comeroial hotel forti
fed the inner man, and then the outwar,
man climbed into u two horse rig prepared
for the worst. We were long time il
reaching the worst, but as usual we go
there before the last horn blew. Fighter
miles out from Red Lodge was the frs
stopping place. 1t was hve o'clock whel
our outfit hung up here for supper. The
road half way to this place waa q picture o1
the journey of life; when We were not goins
up We were going down. The hardest real
ity was the buggy seat, but there
was nothing to do but face tn
music. Leaving this mans towr
passed the dividing line between the states
of Montana and Wyoming. The line il
celebrated by pile of stones, and looks
exactly like certain marks in Mason and
Dixon's line between Psnnsylvania and
Maryland. Shortly after getting into the
sagsbrush state night overlook two taci-
turn travellers who were just enough awake
to encourage their beasts to hit the trail.
At the Eagles Nest ranch change of horses
was secured, and again at the postottice
near Sinking Water river bridge. A hay
feed for two horses at the former city costs
two dollars.
Thursday morning, a. the first streak OF
dawn lighted the eastern aky, and the frost
began to make the sage brush look like sill
yer embroidery on natures night gown, our
destination was reached. The horses, glad
to get to anything like haystack. went
fr, &ho 0f n
neat cabin on the bank of the
Greybull and We were Welcomed
by sturdy ranchman. The look
on his face showed plainly that death had
: made more haste than the doctor. No more
pathetic situation could be imagined than
this facing the grim monster out in the
wilderness. A sixteen-year-old wife, hold
ing baby of two months in her arms, sat
by the bedside. A kind hearted cowboy
had finished the task of laying out the dead.
TWAS twenty miles to point where lumber
enough could be procured to make a coffin
and soon wagon was being driven after
boards and carpenter. Silence, made
oppressive by the ticking of q clock. reignea
about the house. Nothing could apparently
be as still as the landscape in this thinly
populated district, but yet it was relief to
get out in the open air where the occasional
chatter of q squirrel the flight of a bird, or
the low murmur of the river in the distance
seemed to add ray of cheerfulness to the
scene.
Wandering down the bank OF the Grey
bull We mused on the uncertainties of life
There seemed to be books in the running
brooks and sermons in the stones, as Shake
spears expressed it. While there we cut q
cane from the willows to keep as me-
mento of the trip.
At four .. NJ, without waiting for supper,
the return trip was commenced. The moon
shed her beams upon our homeward path
way. Clouds intervened between her celes-
tial highness and the earth, and that night
instead Of light we had rain. The cowboy
who acted a. driver beguiled the tedious
of his life. He was born in Toledo, Ohio,
twenty-six years ago. At the age of IL
he ran away from homo and shipped on q
Spanish brig. Cruelty was no name for the
treatment he received. Beatings were
what he was raised on for several
almost every foreign port was visited by
the ship he sailed on and finally he turned
up in Mexico and began to herd CATTLE
From there he wandered to Central America.
which country he liked better than any
place he saw in his travels. According to
of people there, the rich and poor; the poor
had to work for the rich, who kept them
poor. 1t was his idea that the United
States ought to send an army to this land
and clean out the whole outfit, and then
give the land to white settlers. White
people are the only stuff to make colonists
OF. This last observation shows the cowboy
to be a real philosopher. Greece several
thousand, and England several hundred
years ago taught the world this lesson. In
both cases change of climate bred a strain
OF Independence into the thoroughbred
stock. Another idea worth repeating of this
guide was that wherever he found a church
and school house be felt SAFE He claimed
to be hroncho buster. but to be honest
he did not look as If he could
bust anything but the truth Neither the
doctor nor the cowboy knew the country,
an and as 1T was as dark about now as it was
at one period in the history of Egypt the
horses began to founder about like trout
on hook. In the course of an hour the
conclusion was forced home that we were
lost. The balance of the night wus spent
IN hunting fuel for camp fire and in won
derlng how soon it would quit raining.
Anybody would have known the next morn
ing, when the Sinking Water river hove in
sight, that the bridge was either above or
below us. The horses seemed to have as
much brains as the rest of US, SO we let
them make the choice, and they missed it,
All morning they followed a wel-worn
trail, and at dinner time brought up at n
sheepmnn's ranch by the name of Howells
We expected to find the occupant of this
house to be native Oh Holland. from the
system OF dykes he had constructed on his
property, but were aareeably surprised at
his nationality ana his cook. No China
man has ever seen us do such equal and
exact justice to a meal OF his concocting.
Food and rest soon revive the dropping
spirits of man and beast. and it was only a
few hours until we were in the midst Of u
great revival. just before coming to How
ellis the cowboy pointed out u bear making
tracks for the brush. He drew lung full
of disappointment as he thought that gun
was not in the rig, and it did seem at that
time as if bear meat was the greatest lux
ury of the season. Ten miles up the other
side of the Sinking Water river, in CROSS
ing fat valley almost completely sur
rounded by snow capped mountains, two
young elk were caught mapping, and shortly
afterwards twelve deer filed goose fashion
across the road i'll front of the horses. Fri
day night at nine o'clock Eagle's Nsst
lanch was reached again from another di-
rectlon. by II we were on the road to Red
Lodge. The moon was favorable now,
and no trouble was experienced in keeping
in the middle of the road. Breakfast was
eaten at the first road ranch outside of Red
Lodge. Here We had the opportunity of
getting into q romance. An eloping couple
from Lander, Wyo., were waiting for the
stage to get to Red Lodge. They carried
WincheBters as if on the lookout for blood
thirsty pursuers. However, the villain did
not pursue her. All went merry as a mar
rihgs bell and is still going perhaps. Ono
of the most beautiful sights witnessed on
the trip was the dawn Saturday morning.
The full moon was nearing the western
horizon and the sun WAS rounding the curve
in the east. 1t was nip and tuck who would
L &