The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1894-01-26
JUMPED BY THE SIOUX.
Hard Luck of an Exploring Party
in the Yellowstone.

IN the euOWetOue.
my story begins back at Bozeman /,
81, said James Gourley at the Montan;
club to New York sun reporter. .'Boze
man was then town where thing,
went on a run-a regular bird with tn,
feathers on Ii was a day all night il
the night time. as the poet, Cy Tarman
wrote about Creole. The streets were
filed with bull teams. fighting freight
e-s. s.ampcdcrs and strangers from
every corner of the countrr. 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 a new guich. Everybody had
money and blew it, because he expected
10 have loads of 1t before spring.
well. one day in the gold exchange
happened TO save a young fellow
named Wiscman from a row, and we
struck up an acquaintance He had
been sent out by the government to ex-
rlore an unknown region now known
as the Yellowstone park and had come
T. Bozeman to start the expedition.
lie wanted me to make the outfit.
agreeing to pay for everything and let
me boss the train at salary of Eve
hundred dollars in gold a month. 1
put up the figure because l knew we
were going to have trouble with the
Sioux. Then l picked out three good
men-all devil-may-carc fellows who
would fight To the line There was
Henry Maloney, young fellow who
had gone Wild in the east and whoso
people paid him . salary to keep away
from home; q freightcr called Eight
side Jack. because when drunk he
was always claiming to be right side
up, and a Bruie who had come down
the spring before from the Red river
country and was a rafting good cook.
We fitted out two wagons, loaded
with the best of everything that Uncle
Sans money would buy, calculating TO
live well any how, even il nobody rot
back alive. We weren't thinking much
about that, but knew 1t was risky
business The boys gave US a 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. y ,ody |
In the crowd knew much about t.icsc |
peysers 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 I reco.icct
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-
enaes. Then he said, besides. that there
was big hole where he looked down
and saw big bars OF gold all stamped,
hut we thought he was crazy or lying
and didn't pay much attention to him
remember Wiscman-we called him.
the professor-saying that il wouldn't
surprise him much to find gold, seeing
that the country had been sort Of torn
% 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 for the first week out The weather
was fine. for IL was in the fall of the
year and the travelling was good for a
country where there were no trails.
We found good game along the Yellow.
stone. which we struck and followed
nown. There were plenty of fine an :
'e'opes. which were mighty shy. And
there was no end of black tailed deer. ,
mountain front and birds. We didn't |
Zee any Indian signs Cor ten DAYS, or in :
Iaet until we got along about where /
.'nnabar now stands for the entrance
g the park Then one morning when
got up early TO catch mess Of trout
Tor breakfast looked over across the =
range which 10y to the west of rs \
about twenty miles, and see a long
me cf blue smoke curling M into the ,
i'r IN funnel shape. The air was \
-ooi and clear. and ] could see the 7
, !, lined ont as clear cut as knife. :
,ns settled The question about In .
i'ans and after breakfast I told the :
we must be On the dead open 4
"a'sh They all said they didn't care =
aucn and tried to get some fun out OF :
- nruie by telling Rim that when the 4
h there got hold of half breed =
Wy cooked him alive the same AZ they q
ou'a hsh- This joke turned out 20 =
~. more truth than poetry. %
!, "e travelled along during the day Il
: : SLOW rate, Right Side Jack riding c,
eA' % the train . quarter OF mile =