Great Falls weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1894-1???, 1894-11-30

which they called a hotel, the Rolfs
family and myself and wife. We livec
in the rear part of the building, which
stands on the northeast corner of Contra
venue and Fourth street. At th..t time
it was simply boarded in and the cracks
were stuffed up with old papers and
rags to keep the cold out. Ira. Hickory
and Silas Beachly lived with US. I re.
member just before Thanksgiving Mr..
Hickory and myself returned from Hell
ena with a wagon. load of provisions,
which constituted our winter supplies.
We had an old camp stove in the house,
which Silas had used the year before
camping olt in a tent located just where
the Third street owe enters the river
now. Outside of the stove every article
of furniture in the h, use was home
made. I had built a table which l con-
sidered u masterpiece of construction
and it served a double purpose, for after
eating our Thanksgiving dinner off il, l
remember we used it to sleep under in
order to keep off the rain. For about
Thanksgiving time a cold rain set in for
about a week, and as the roof of the
shack was not shingled the rain came
through the cracks between the boards
freely. and everything in the house was
wet. That old table 1 have yet and in
tend to keep it as a memento of early
days in the city of Great Falls.
"The Thanksgiving dinner, as near as
/ can remember, consisted of bread and
bacon and beans. Turkey was some
thing never for a moment thought of,
and even an old hen was not obtainable
for love or money. If coyotes had been
good to eat We might have had plenty,
for l remember they used to come around
the house every night and howl till
morning. l have no doubt that Mrs.
Beachly and l went to sleep that
night under the table, with a whole pack
serenading US through the hours Of dark
ness. Beside the three families l named
the only other persons ] can now recol-
lect living here then were Dell Chowen,
Thomas Carter, Jim Walker, Howard
Crisis, George Buddington, Thomas Wall
and a few men who worked for him run
ming a little sawmill.
The fall before Silas Beachly and
John Woods camped on the townsite,
and while Woods was absent at Benton
Silas had a visit from a party of Indians
who compelled him to cook about all the
provisions he had in his tent for them
and then stole his blankets and other
goods. They tried to get his firearms
but he managed to prevent that part Of
the program being carried out. How
ever, the Indians never bothered US any.
One of the greatest privations We suffered
in those early days was the lack of medi-
cines and medical attendance. Two
men died that winter who are buried on
Prospect hill. One of them at least
might have been saved if be had been
able to get prompt medical aid. He got
lost on the prairie in a snow storm while
coming from Fort Benton and the chill
he received brought on pneumonia. l
believe his grave can still be seen on
Prospect hill. Yee, remarked Mr.
Beachly looking around his comfortable
dwelling, the pioneers of Great Falls
suffered a good many hardships, and /
believe I have a good de-. to be thank
full for to day when I compare my com
forts with those I possessed 10 years ago
TODAY.