The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-04-23
NE Was MUCH DISGUISED
Confusion and MismanaQement
at the Blackfeet Opening.
WAS A WILD SCRAMBLE
MOL Drove Stakes Where They Fell.
The Norris Ranch Plastsrsd With
Claims-Endlses Litigation
in Sight.

Great Falls, April 22.-Continued re-
ports of the confusion and mismanage-
ment that obtained at the opening of
the Blackfeet reservation are received
In this city. Yesterday afternoon a
mining man of large experience re-
turned from the mineral strip to this
city and, like all others who have SO
returned. he was thoroughly disguised.
He states that prospectors were al
lowed to cross the reservation at will.
on or of the government road. and
were on the line of the coded land on
the 18th. The troops kept them from
entering the promised lam as well as
they could, and when the bugle was
blown there was a wild scramble.
Stakes on the townsite were driven any
which way" One man contented
himself with falling over the line and
driving a stake as he fell, while an
other who was on horseback rode mad
ly ahead. He had not gone far, how
ever, when his animal stumbled and
fell. n he likewise began to drive
stakes where he a The Hank Nor
ris ranch Is plastered with stakes, and
1t is doubtful II the title will be cleared
in a thousand years, provided the
claimants n their heirs have the grit
to fight II out. On the ranch the stakes
are thicker than those in q boom addi-
ton to a growing Montana town, and
it is hard to tell just where each claim
begins and ends. Norris himself got
nothing. He had hoped to hold the
ranch in the right of his Indian wife,
but that title is a shadowy one. and
he will ave to contest with hundreds
who a driven stakes in his wheat
fields. ,
st. Mary's lake is frozen over strong
enough to bear the weight of a four
horse team. and in the Mountains the
snow is still 10 feet deep. An expert
snow-shoer might be able to get in
there, but IL Is doubtful, as the snow
is soft and heavy and slides are fire.
quent n dangerous. A feature of the
rush is the ignorance of the majority
who went there to TAXI up land or to-
stake out claims. Many have M pro-
visions and no shelter except blankets.
Some of the ONE believe that there
is already a town of considerable size
on the strip. One fellow is said to
have travelled so miles through snow
and slush and mud i'm search of il.
Others went TO the opening as they
would nave one to a church picnic in
midsummer, and are now obliged to
give up what they may have gained for
the lack of proper clothing and sup
plies.
Just nov many have gone onto the
reservation or just o many are there
now IL is impossible to say Many
of those who went in the first day
made their locations and came away
TO await better weather before doing
the necessary work on their claims.
Others have strayed up into the noun
tains, one by one. or else I'm small par
ties, and their going was secret. while
IL is probable that others have entered
at different and unfrequented points
along the strip. An estimate of the
number who have visited the place var
les entirely with the man who makes 1t.
and probably one is as likely to be cor
rect as nothe while present conditions
preyail