The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1894-02-08

Of "fxin's;" they would take one
white mans suit and divide it, gar
ment to each one, so at times they
looked rather startling, but all wore,
summer or winter, the inevitable
blanket. | never yet saw NOBLE
red man, though some of them might
have had good features if one could
have seen them rid of the paint and
dirt. In times of peace they used to
daub their faces with red paint
made from clay, and when on the
war path with black and white; either
kind made them hideous. Their Ian
guage was not of the poetic, howery
style had come prepared to hear,
bat was, if anything, decidedly prac-
tlcal, muck-a muck and coppee being
their favorite expressions, and when
ever they came 1t was muck "a muck
and coppee until one actually won
dered where they slowed it all away.
The Indian, as rule, is taciturn, but
there were some laxative ones among
them. Old Bannock Joe was one.
He was a great hand to visit the
whites and was nearly always accom-
panied by his two squaws. | know
one time he was at Cap. HIS, and
Cap. was showing him how VIM
chester rifle worked, when it acct
dentally went off and came very near
~ m Ia 10.
winked, but merely looked up and
said: Cheap big fool shot, Cap.
Another time, up in Indian valley,
he was visiting one of the old timers
there and he was telling them about
their war dances. He said to NJ,
"You sit down. me show you how
Injun take scalp" and he took out
great dirk knife and commenced 90
ing round slowly at first, keeping time
to kind of Il ''ja va, tum tum' chant,
and getting faster all the time. He
finally caught NJ by the hair and
no, he didn't scalp him, but he
his wife nearly as bad as
if he had M, however, never
moved a muscle either, and Joe said
"Heap brave man." He was around
for years, but disappeared during the
Bannock war. think it was report
ed that the Beard boys saw him last
on the Payette. | will leave the
Indian for a time, there will be more
to tell about him i'll the character of
a foe. One would not think, to ride
through the bills of the surrounding
country now, that they afforded
grazing ground for large
bands of cattle and horses. For
years the bunch grass was so album
dant and high that stock wintered
out, horses all winter and cattle with
very little feeding; but the days of
large bands of cattle around the
Weiser valleys have gone by and
sheep are taking their place, as there
is good feed for them for years.
Many are prejudiced against them,
but | don't see any reason for it. If
sheep bring more money into the
OouhuJ ehih Cat1ie, say WelcOlne
the sheep. | am afraid the demo-
Gratis big q will make it bad for the
sheep men if he don't have the quie-
tus put on him some way; but he
never will get there again, and we will
to live through his brilliant
administration somehow.
| will tell you a little story, how
Johnny j. was going to replace the
bunch grass. Several years ago Her
man Haas shipped the first rolled oat
meal in here. One evening Johnny
was looking around and he spied the
barrel of oat meal. ''What's this,
HaasY' "Oh, that is the new grass
seed imported from Switzerland as an
experiment. The higher up the hills
you plant it, the better it grows. "
"You don't say! Queer looking stuff,
amt it?. Sold much?" ooh, yes;
lots of it, That is the second bar
rel. "Well, put me up ten pounds
and | will try it.. " So John rode off
with his grass seed. | guess he found
out he was sold, as he never sowed it.
He got even with Haas, though, and l