The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-06-01
OLD DAYS RECALLED
When Malcolm Clark Was a Friend
of the Festive Red Man.
HE WAS A BRAVE WESTERNER
Mysterious Sounds That Lewis and
Clark Heard 90 Years Ago In
This Country Repeated to
the Present Time.

Great Falls, May 31.-The announce
ment in to-day's Standard of the death
of Mrs Malcolm Clark. revived in the
minds of many old-timers now in Great
Falls, pleasant memories of Mrs. Clark
and her husband, and the casual mem
ton of Malcolm Clark has awakened
in the minds of many who cannot claim
the title of old-timers curiosity TO
know who Malcolm Clark was.
He was one of the pioneers, not only
OF Montana, but of the entire country
west of the Father of Waters. He was
born at Fort Wayne, Ind, July p, 1917,
and remained there two years, when
his father. Lieutenant Nathan Clark,
was ordered to Fort Smelling, then in
the heart of that wilderness in which
the Twin Cities now stand. At IL years
of age he entered West Point. but his
high sense of honor impelled him To
engage in a duel, and for TINS ne was
dismissed from the school. He then
went to Texas and engaged in the bat
ties for the independence of the Lone
STAR republic. When the independence
of Texas had been achieved, he re-
turned to Cincinnati, and in 1871 Sc
cured a position with the American
Fur company and came to Montana.
He was an expert marksman. and
soon after his arrival in the Blackfoot
country the Indians bestowed upon him
the name of Ne-so-ke-i-u Four Bears,
in recognition of his having killed four
grizzlies before breakfast one morn
ing.
Among the Indians he traded success
fully. He lived with them as brother
and died from the wound inf1lcted py
an Indian bullet He made their inter-
ests his own; they looked upon MN as
a great and powerful chief ana lateT
as medicine man, in whom they hau
implicit faith. He identified himself
with the red skins by marrying among
them.
But in 1869 the powerful whites en-
croached upon the territory or the IN
dams and many of the red skins fell
before the pale-faces' weapons. The
Indians feared that this man. their
great chief, Ne-so-ke-i-u, who had
grown old among them, would. in the
impending struggle, betray them to the
whites: a foul conspiracy against his
life was entered into, and, under the
shadow of his own home, Malcolm
Clark fell a victim to the deadly ball
from the rife of him whom he had De-
friended, Netuscho.
Malcolm Clark was a brother OF Mrs
Charlotte Ouisconsin Van CleVe, the
noted temperance crusader of st. Paul,
who visited Great Falls four years ago,
and was the father of Miss Nellie +.
Clark, formerly county superintendent
of schools of Lewis and Clarke county.
strolling along the streets recently, in
the quiet of the late evening, have ire
uuently heard peculiar sounds. These
at first excited little wonder. but as
many have heard them, they are now
frequently commented on. Those who
have heard them describe the sounds
as a mixture of an explosion and the
swift rush of waters. They are unable
TO account for the sounds. but many
believe that they are the sounds heard
by Lewis and Clark 80 years ago.
Lewis and Clark were considerably
disturbed by the reports which they
heard, similar to those of cannon
fired at frequent intervals to the SOUTH
west They attributed the sounds to
the bursting of the mountain sides.
which enclosed vast quantities OF prec-
ious metal.
In August, 1872, Thomas p. Roberts
and party were engaged in surveying
a route for a railroad from Three Forks
to Portage Coulee. While in the Long
Pool above Great Falls, they heard a
sound exactly like the booming OF a
cannon some miles distant. IL was
repeated thrice. at intervals af 10 min
utes They engaged in bordering over
many theories as to the cause OF the
sounds. but the mystery was not
cleared until a few days later when
General Gibbon, then commandant at
Fort Shaw, stated to the surveyors
that he had been exercising his peace
makers" at the very time when they
heard the mysterious sounds.
But there was no Fort Shaw in 1903.
when Lewis and Clarke heard reports
similar to those which several citi-
zens of Great Falls claim TO have heard
80 years later. when there are no can
non within 200 miles, and many are
DESTROYS of learning the cause OF the
peculiar noises.
Some contend that IT is not impossi-
BILE that in some yet unexplored gulCh
in the mountains near Great Falls
there may be q geyser similar to those
of the Upper Madison river. some If
which always give a salute before they
spout If there are such geysers near
this city, the credulous contend. then.
the explosion of hot gases generated
in the geysers causes the sounds. Others
contend that the sounds are caused by
blasting in some place near the city,
and maintain that the publication of
the fact that these sounds have been
heard will educe an explanation.