The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-18
IN THE PIONEER DAYS
Christmas Celebrated Much the
Same as at Present.
WINTER A LONG HOLIDAY
How ths Old Timers Made Merry at
Fort Benton-Every Latch String
Was Out-The Darker Sid
OF the Story.

Great Falls, Dec. 17.-Christmas In
the pioneer days N Northern Montana
was not SO wholly different from the
Christmas of to-day as n might
imagine. OF course there was no Great
Falls; everything in his part of the
state was at Fort Benton or came from
Fort Benton. There was the head Of
navigation and when along in Novem-
Der. or perhaps as late as the LIST of
December. the frost closed up the
river and the rattle of the ferryman
and built a solid bridge across the swift
Missouri. there was time to think Of
other things than b~usiness. IL is true
hat there were weekly stage coaches
from Helena and another ran down
to Buford. but with the advent of win
ter the little town at the top Of the
Missouri practically closed up shop for
three months and turned it's attention
20 the social side of life. 1t was the
season of. parties and dances, n
though WOO was sometimes as high as
SIS per cord and coal was s16 per ton,
these festivities were carried ON re-
gardless of expense. From the close
of navigation to the day when the
first boat came up the river mot n
swallow but one boat made spring for
Fort Benton i'm those days. was one
long holiday. OF which the better part
was Christmas. On that day there
We're little hunting parties for the more
active. inc II was not hard to find
game when the heavy SHOWS drove the
antelope within the very limits of the
town: there was skating on the ice and
occasionally Ice yachting for the ladies'
and their escorts: in the early evening
came the celebration at the churches.
.Nfth pnN - 1llnnlxtGfnn mr. Father
Camp I'm charge. and every child was
sure Of n present. for that was a matter
which the generous souls of that day
never overlooked: n the rest of the
night was spent in the dance given
byAhe Pioneer club I'm its hall or per-
nav there was a grand hop down AT
the old barracks. II was a lively day
I'm spite Of its isolation and Of the fact
that holiday goods had to be brought
into town a month or so in advan OF
the calendar date. Hospitality shone
in generous CLEANS and every house
was open to the reception of it's friends
and its friends friends. The punch
bowl was in evidence. and II II was Wis
tied too often the mistake was par
doned for the sake OF the day
Sometimes there was a darker sid
TO the story. The sign of the cruciic
made i'm the snow by a ~lifeless body on
n dreary road a few miles from town
WIS nol ultuiliilbli. h'l' ~ ih
dams in the n~eighborhood who knew no
conscience i'm times of necessity and
occasional white men who were worse
than Indians. Then the Christmas
brought no such glad tidings. but the
hunt was organized. and " it's quarry
was human there was none the less
zest. Snow marks a broad trail and
the business of the day was usually
dispatched In haste.
This was also the time OF the rush for
the gold fields of Yogo. for the now
prosperous camps Of Neihart and Bar
ker and the Little Rockies. The miners
who had been at work on their claims
I'm those distant camps made IL a point
to be in town on the one day Of the
wear and tn help swell the general jol-
lily. II was the gathering time of the
year. the annual roundup of humanity
IN Northern Montana. it's one play day.
But while people We're no doubt nearer
together because fewer In number I'm
those days. the old feeling has not
wholly died away and the hospitality
Is now merely of wider distribution.