The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-09-11
THAT SUN RIVER STAMPEDE
HUNDRED MEN TRAIIED a NAN
VINO sTRUCK 1T RICH.
Those Who Reached tho PieEan Chiefs
Tent Blamed CowleV Reeves for Their
Failure TO Find the Expected Gold Mine,
Though He Had q Pretty Good Thing.

Aont blhn1eu SOWteV INnoNot TOT IntlI
Failure TO Find the Expected Gold Mine,
Though He Had q Pretty Good Thing.
HELENA, Mon, Sept. Sta a case Of his
tory repeatin' ITSELF" said Bob HARDWOOD. only
in this Copper River stampede the men come
out with a round robin blsmin' nobody in par
tlcular because IL was a failure. while IN tho
Sun River rush, right here In Montana, every
body knew who to blame and blamed him.
And IL wasn't put in writin'. neither.
You see, Cowley Reeves come into town one
day and begin to tip the wink to the boys he
knew. He was drinkin'. OF course. but the
moro he took the soberer he seemed to get,
and so everybody waited TO hear what he had
on his mind. Pretty soon he says:
1--we got as good q thing as I want. I've
struck IL easy
Now. everybody knew that Cowley was an
old-time prospector. They knew that he had
struck Confederate Gulch and also Tin Cup
Creek and Diamond Bar as we'll. or course,
gettin' robbed out OF 1t all right afterward.
which. however, amt neither here or there.
And. moreover. they knew that he generally
told the truth. so when he goes about from
saloon to saloon repeatin' them same words
and winkin' solemn like over his whiskey
glass. they concluded that since he wouldn't
say nothin' further. they'd Just follow him
up and see for themselves where he'd struck
1t. Of course. It wasn't long before the whole
town heard Of Cowley's sayin'. And the town
got the thing with the usual trimmin's. It
was said that Cowley's remark was that he'd
struck It easier and better than at Confed-
e~rate-which. you remember. produced mil
lions-and that there was more gold In sight
than would reach from Ubet to Truly. Any
how 1t was the story Of the three black
crows over again. with the town swallowin'
the crows. And when Cowley went to sleep
that night with his head hangin' limp like over
a chair. 800 boys In the camp. fearin' he
might sneak out on awakin'. sat UP with him.
well, about noon next day Cowley loads
some -four and salt on his pack horse and
lookin' round and givin' everybody the baby
stare. finally rides of in the direction OF Sill
YER City. Just about three minutes afterward
somethin' like 500 men ollowed him.. They
kept him In sight. Of course. but lodged about
SOS they wouldn't be seen themselves. They
seemed to think that once Cowley saw 'em
he'd tumble to their game and would either
turn back to town or turn of at a f1uke and
throw 'em off the trail. Discoveries Of big
placers didn't like TO be followed in them
days. But Cowley either didn'ts see 'em or else
he never cared a jot. for he rode on as peace
full like as II he hadn't started half the town on
one OF the biggest stampedes the West had
ever knew.
Once they got to Silver City. fifteen miles
out. an October rain began to fall. At Prickly
Pear it changed into hail and a mile further
into sleet. At Wolf Greek. where Cowley
Reeves went into camp. it had got to be as cold
as u dogs nose at Christmas time. Cowley
was all right. for he had his blankets. But
some Of the boys a-followin' had gone out In
a hurry and in their shirt sleeves. and not one
in forty had either blanket or o%vercoat. And
they were afraid to build much OF q fire for
fear that Cowley would see it. and by scoutin'
back to learn the wherefore catch 'em all
a-followin' him. So they shivered all through
that night, swallowed some cold beans and
hardtack and set out at daylight followin'
Cowley as before.
THE sun came NJ lookin' like a piece OF
frosted cake. Tive or ,ree Of the boys got
the chiils &C bad that they bumped aGin ono
another and a lot more fell to laggin' behind.
At the Dearborn crossing. tifty-two mile from
town. there weren't more'n 400 still stickin'
TO Cowley's trail. 1t was at this place that
Burke Challibad rode up to Green Sterritt and
says; o.n,, ,.H,o ,a
gun to Cowley's ear aud make him go straight
as to, be dodgin' back here out o sight and
awhile l"9 He might as: s dis es s5ssnhi e q I've !fsss in 70 sS
sides. we ought to stand It as long as he can
tqmary thud:, What was tantaliTing EN- all
about as much as the extreme. cold was Cow
ley's cheerful whistle. For though he was
sometimes as far off as four mile his eternal
lands as clear as a coyotes howl at daybreak.
And 1t made every ,man-lack IN the crowd.
w wopfs a 1pd5 c wsse To And 1dN Gow HiSGe ridin, S SPea n so
ehipIWeTL; v h,.ma h,s nids,, saws Parry Gru,
here with my leg froze stifr" And Perry's leg
wasn't the only leg that was froYe %stiffCCespee-
which was, as events showed later. the last
stoppin' place Of Cowley Reeves before he
reached his I destination mat r. d For At Fla Greek tSsls
was more'n ninety Of the boys with frozen
hand. foot. leg or somethin' while everybody's
Clipped beef.
The next morning they give CoEley 2 long
Ssafs; SO some eNe eoff SSl'a T Hse Os eouldn't Oi sta md f the
absence Of s9metbin, red hot any tPSI longer aTf and !
And in this they were right. Nothing but coy:
ote tracks crossed CoYley's. and the smallest
ing that day; Then. too. to clinch matters.
they were lucky enough to meet with a long;
Been down in this section long?'
r" Two year says the hunter.
Know Cowley Reeves;'
Then where's his diggin's?'
",'Diggin'sY' says the hunter, lookin' puz-
2led.. and %glancin' at Perry like. a man who
half believes he's bein' joshed. oh, why. down
ON lower Sun River, about five mile below the
crossin'.'
'Hurrah!,, says Perry; and the whole party
like tove clicked the buffalo man with
swigs from, their demijohns. for thirty mile
more would find 'em, there. and already they
how far they'd locate from discovery, And
pretty soon. too, they begin to eye each other
Burke Challibad. after II long scowl at Jim
Warren. who saw IT. and afterward spoke Of L.
leaned over and whispered to Green Sterritt
that he hoped every man in the stampede
would beat Jim in ut the rush and get the
whole OF the good ground.
" Blast himp said he. the no ky side of a
hill is good enough for him. And Jim glow
him that he wished to heaven that Burke Chal-
libad would get his other foot froze. SOS he'd
have to walk down the pay streak on his head
II he expected to get anything. And so it
went, Rettin' worse and more Of IT. as they
neared the spot and made ready for the grand
squirt at the finish.
AT 8 O'Clock everybody suddenly quit talk