The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1894-01-26
JUMPED BY THE SIOUX.
Hard Luck Of an Exploring Party
in the Yellowstone.

in the Yellowstone.
"My story begins back at Bozeman in
'64," said James Gourley at the Montana
club to New York Sun reporter. "Boze-
man was then town where things
went on a run-a regular bird with the
feathers on. 1t was a day all night in
the night time, as the poet, Cy yWarman,
wrote about Creede. The streets were
filled with bull teams, fighting freight
ers. stampeders and strangers from
every corner of the country. The
gambling houses never stopped to clean
the bark from the floor, and ON every
corner you would see groups of men
listening to some orator who had dis
covered new gulch. Everybody had
money and blew it, because he expected
to have loads of it before spring.
"Well, one day in the gold exchange
] happened to save a young fellow
named Wiseman from row, and we
struck up an acquaintance. He had
been sent out by the government to ex-
plore an unknown region now known
as the Yellowstone park and had come
to Bozeman to start the expedition.
He wanted me to make the outfit,
agreeing to pay for everything and let
me boss the train at a salary of five
hundred dollars in gold month.
put up the figure because l knew we
were going to have trouble with the
Sioux Then l picked out three good
would fight to the line. There was
Henry Maloney, young fellow who
had gone wild in the east and whose
people paid him a salary to keep away
from home; a freighter called Right
Side Jack, because when drunk he
was always claiming to be right side
up, and Brule who had come down
the spring before from the Red river
country and was rattling good cook
1--WE fitted out two wagons, loaded
with the best of everything that Uncle
Sans money would buy, calculating to
live well anyhow, even if nobody got
back alive. We weren't thinking much
about that, but l knew it was risky
business. The boys gave us good
send off at the Gold Exchange corner,
and off we started, going down the val
ley toward the Yellowstone, which we
expected to follow south until we
reached the geyser country. Nobody
in the crowd knew much about these
geysers then. Two years before trap
per said he came from there after hav-
ing fight with Indians, but so far as
we knew he was the only white man
that had ever been there. recollect
his telling that these geysers were big
streams that come from hell, and, ac-
cording to what the Sioux Indians said,
the water boiled only when the devil
was getting ready to cook the Chey-
ennes. Then he said, besides. that there
was a big hole where he looked down
and saw big bars of gold all stamped,
but we thought he was crazy or lying
and didn't pay much attention to him
l remember Wiseman-we called him
the professor-saying that it wouldn't
surprise him much to find gold, seeing
that the country had been sort of torn
to pieces by earthquakes, and of course
that set us all on an edge and kept us
thinking how we would go back home
and cut figure with Vanderbilt and
the rest of them
Nothing occurred much to disturb
us IOT IllC lIIHb WCCh O01 AO "NoSASA
was fine, for it was in the fall of the
year and the travelling was good for
country where there were no trails.
We found good game along the Yellow
stone. which we struck and followed
down. There were plenty of fine an
telopes, which were mighty shy. And
there was no end of black-tailed deer,
mountain trout and birds. We didn't
see any Indian signs for ten days, or in
fact until we got along about where
Cinnabar now stands for the entrance
to the park. Then one morning when
got up early to catch mess of trout
for breakfast ! looked over across the
range which lay to the west of us
about twenty miles, and See long
line of blue smoke curling up into the
air in funnel shape. The air was
cool and clear. and ! could see the
smoke lined out as clear cut as knife.
This settled the question about In
dians, and after breakfast / told the
boys we must be on the dead open
watch. They all said they didn't care
much and tried to get some fun out of
the Brule by telling him that when the
Indians there got hold of half breed
they cooked him alive the same as they
would fish. This joke turned out to
have more truth than poetry.
1--WE travelled along during the day
at slow rate, Right Side Jack riding
ahead of the train a quaEter of q mile
or SO, and on one side, so as to watch
out for signs A Sioux Indian, you
know, beats the world for sneaking on
a wagon train. He don't follow up on
a crawl like other Indians. He goes
ahead to meet you, and then seems to
rise right up out Of the ground and
tackle you before you knoy whether
you are on the prairie or ia the queens
drawing'room. We didn't see anything