The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1897-06-12
JOTS A-JOGGING
WHILE PASSING THROUGH THE FORT
DERTHoLD BAu LANDS. :g-

SAASASoeSAS
for special llnstration-with his addenda
-'that there ID tide In the atfalrl -af
mon when taken in the flood lead on to
fortune" But the ebbing flow moro often
concern US with the glering wrecks upon
the strands when food tide had passed.
The subject ae above quoted came mp
very recently for mental review. while
the LEADER scribe was slowly jogging
along with poEy and blackboard through
tho Fort Berthold bad. lands, and ass the.
deserted frontier mansion of Wilson Parks
came to view. A broken single tree and
rheumatic roadster added irritation 9r
piquancy in otherwise meditative mood.
It is only about one year ago-perhaps
thirteen months--that Wilson Parks ap-
peard here fresh from Pennsylvania, and
with money to burn. He had been left q
small legacy though ample enough TO
make good start-and it did. Old files
of the LEADER records his arrival and de.
parture from Washburn-of his purchase
of teams, hay rakes, moving machines,
wagons, ,plows, harrows, drills, fence wires,
windows and window castings, stoves,
dishes and cooking outfit generally. In
fact when Wilson Parks gathered all of
these serviceable things about him, he
felt proud of the outlay that good money
had brought-and he had right to. But
Wilson Parks made one mistake, viz:
choice of location-and that was fatal
one. Not that the land was not rich-the
water not goud,- fuel not plenty or the
grass not nutricious. Not a bit of it,
These things were all right. But over
the river was limited tribe of wild peO.
pie called the Billmillers. They had a
kind of Spanish grant claim dating back
to the Louisiana Purchase or the passage,
of the Missouri Com mpromiss-and Wilson
vas told it would be best to vacate. There
was no old musty documents tied up with
faded ribbons to show-no Jaryndise Va
Jarynuise reports to go over-tactics less
,diilatory was more suitable in this case.
rulings and authorities we're quoted from
Judge aGrinnell Of steamboating days
whom some tenderfoot wood hawk wqpla
have the tsmerity TO start woodward
within hundred miles of the sacred pre-.
cincts wherein the judge chopped and
sold his wood. The judge's hard point
was the elasticity of the reservation lines
aud especial permits signed by all tho
Chiefs" There was no kicking on that
authority, though the tenderfoot would
feel the cactus leaf.
Half price Is what new farming imple.
plements sold for at Wilson Parks place
in short time thereafter, yet hrs floating
castles of air, like Noah's ark, may settle
firmly ON a Mount Arrat one Of these
days, for, unless the call is recent Wilson
Parks Is not dead yet.
In these jots-a- jogging, and while pore.
ing at the environs Of the passing Parks,
the MUD followed the eye out over Mr..
Park houss roof through the frost singed
cottonwood tree tops-0ut against the
blue sky and down along the west aide OF
the Missouri until Square Battes Crock
was reached, and the hand Of time
put back ON the dial, 2s years and sixty
i've days-April 11th, 1874:
A trapper with led pack pony stood
ON the north bank of square Buttes oreek
Watching its flooded banks and the moving
mass of ice. A man afoot was noticed
coming down tho south side dripping with
wet and ice. He seemed the personation
of the proverbial drowned rat. He asked
the srapper who he was, aud ON receiving
reply said: 'Oh, am all right" and
asked to have some meat and crackers
thrown across to him, saying Il am nea':.
ly starved" A hssty meal finished; an
improvised raft made and the fugltive Was
across--for fugitive he was. He told biz
story tersely. From ,tha Fort Lincoln
guard house Rain-in .the-Face ana him
self had broken away at midnight. He
had swan Heart River safely on rail,
though flooded with doating ics:s ,The
guards fired several yolleys at himssli
and the fleeing Indian but had escaped
them all 5s7l.ssg
The fugitive Was an ex-wagon boss, and
nntil his present trouble, had m ire.
proaohable, character. HIS trouble in
this instance cams from disposition "
serve his employers in . aimstter where
Government forage had been treated
4 "a raleaslv sS VI. e. s2 '25