Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1893-12-08

as they are to day. there was no county or
other civil organization, and of course there
could be ho records. The government
could have no control of the land until it
was coded by the Indians, and no filings of
claims could be made. The railroad could
give no title other than contracts to lots,
because 1t was itself seeking title through
Joseph Pencils presumption claim, when
the land should be finally opened to settle.
ment. This was a season of hope deferred
10 the impatient settlers, who hesitated to
improve their lots or erect permanent
buildings thereon until there was a Ger.
talnty of obtaining clear title thereto.
10 return to the Ida S%tockdale. Cutting
: a road through the heavy growth of under.
brush, at the place of landing was atedious
task, and it was many hours before we
were ready to land. Many citizens of the
town were collected there. among them
Col. &. w. Smeet, attorney for the l.. S.
ana L. 5. Co.. who managed the affairs of
that company with marked ability. He
drove a handsome pair OF bays, attached to
a hight road-wagon, as handsome a turn
out as can be seen in Bismarck today,
Dr. Slaughter had no hospital steward,
and was experimenting the unloading OF
MS medical stores. so it was suggested
that and Baby Rose should accept Col.
Smeet's invitation to drive up town. and
then take a room at the hotel and await nv
husband there. "Hotelw How nice that
sounded after having lived so long in a
lots. But amazement Overcame me, when
was left at a huge unfinished log house,
described in my journal of that date as
follows: IAN immense log building with
matched roof and ground floor, the walls
chinked but not daubed, and admitting the
light in a thousand places" There was no
furniture but a long board table with
wooden benches beside it. A back room
contained a cookstove and some blankets
piled in one corner of the room. Hotel,
indeed! The place was deserted save that
in one corner of the front room, an old man
of 20 lay asleep with his face to the wall
and the soles of his bare feet turned up to
public view in the most surprising way. 1
sat down on a bench and waited a%nxiously.
The evening was hot, the mosquitoes ter
rlble, and a "smudge" outside the door sent
curls of ill-smelling smoke into the room.
Suddenly the old man stopped snoring and
turned over, disclosing a long. gray beard
a dirty face and a pair of bloodslot eyes.
Seeing NE. he raised quickly to a sitting
posture, and gaZed at me with such a
prolonged and awful stare, that l screamed
and ran out of the house. There was no
one in sight. A few log huts and dilapi-
dated tents, struggling along the sides of a
grassy street to the eastward, alone met
my view. 1 thought of the dreary picture
l had seen at Carleton City, from the
Miners deck in June, and as L realized
that this dreadful place must be my home
for an indefinite period, I sat down on a
box outside the door and began to cry.
Company D soon came up and halted on the
green in front of the house. Capt. Clarke
came over to me, and l told him of the
dreadful fright l had received. After Civ
ing me a fatherly scolding tor not staying
at the fort until a place had been made
ready for me, he hurried off to give orders
to have the surgeons tents set up first of
all.
Soon appeared the landlady of the hotel
a tall, grey haired lady of 70 years, who
with nearly all the population of the town
had been down to see the steamboat and
the soldiers. She greeted me with country
grace, conducted me into the house and in.
troduced me to her husband, the old man
inside, who was now wide awake and
setting the table for supper. Just here
was the beginning of the most useful
lesson, l had even learned, and which
learned thoroughly during my first year
in the new city, and that was not to Judge
of the character of the people by their
dress and appearance, or of their deserts
by the station they occupyin life. Mr.. and
Mrs. Paul r. Anthony. the aged proprietors
of that wretched hotel, were of good
family, and had been born to wealth and
luxury, but in their old age had met re-
verses and were now seeking to reach re-
lations IN Montana, travelling overland and
stopping at the different towns OH the
route long enough to earn money sufficient
to carry them on to the next. The ole
mans face was dirty because a face canno
be kept clean in the dust arising from 6
ground floor, and his eyes were intlamed
from the same source, coupled will
the smudges, which the cloud of mosqui
toes made a constant necessity. He was
one of the gentlest and kindest of mer
and as for the dear old lady, l shall re
member her with love and gratitude
while life lasts. Supper at the "Hotel-de
Anthohy,"-was one of the best afforded
by the store that supplied the town
Potatoes were a luxury understandable
The meal consisted of tea, with sugar the
color of burnt lumber, salt pork and soda
biscuits, set forth Oil the broad, bOar(
table, which was crowded with men who
observed an awful silence while they ate
and stared at us all the time. We cOult
eat nothing, but over in camp we secured
some canned peaches, sardines and crack
ers, and dined picnic fashion i'll the cap
tain's tent, and with a glass OF sherry
ohrlstened our new home Camp Greeley
in honor of the liberal candidate for TIN
presidency.
Camp Greeley or Camp Hancock. as W