Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-08-30
THE DAYS Of
LONG AGO,
Continued from Third Page.)

Sinking Water river, now known as the
Ruby. and camped, waiting for Stuart
ana his men to join us; but somehow
they got by us without our seeing them,
ana guess we were about two days be-
hind them when we took the trail and
tried to catch them. Louis Simmons, a
nalf-breed, was our guide. We went up
10 DIVIDE, Ramshorn INK Biven gulches
and on to Meadow creek, into the Gallatin
valley, and from there into the Yellow
stone country n on towards the Big
Horn, where we were captured by the
Indians one morning about daylight. The
Indians took us to their camp and made
medicines over us for three days, try
IN gto decide whether to kill us or not.
Finally they took everything from us
but our horses and a few trinkets and
ordered us to go back, which we were
glad to do. our guide remaining with the
ndian as a hostage. The last Indians
we saw were where the town of Bozeman
now stands. which was then virgin
ground. Here we had a fight with tho
Indians. Then we came up on the Madi-
son to Wigwam gulch; from there to Bald
mountain and across by the lakes and
struck what is now known as Alder
gulch, at a point where the old tollgate
used to be. This was bout 4 o'clock on
May 70. We made camp there and ate
elk meat for supper. After we had eaten,
che other members Of the party went up
the gulch prospecting and left Fair
weather and myself in camp to look after
our effects. Fairweather went down a
little distance to see if he could find
some good grass for the horses and came
across the gulch where the bedrock was
exposed. and suggested that we do a little
prospecting.
W took a gold pan and a butcher
knife and went to the place on the west
sld OF the gulch at it's narrowest point.
and filled the pan. l took the pan of dirt
and went down to the creek and began
to wash it. When I had it pretty well
PANIED down, Bill, who was picking at
the bedrock with the butcher knife, called
to me and said: I have got a scad.' L
replied. I have a thousand" And sure
enough | had. We panned two more
pans before dark and got $3.50, and the
scad weighed 1920. making a total of
Sl2.so, which we put in our pans and
went back to camp. BY that time it
was dark n the other fellows had re-
turned, and I tell you they were mad be-
cause we had not picketed the horses.
l picked up the pan, held it UP to Sweeney
and asked him what he thought of it.
Sweeney looked at it a minute and said
Sailed, by -"
The next morning we We're up before
working On the bed rock. Stu
art and Rodgers went down the sulch
and made a discovery and staked out
t'iSlI CldllIlS dt TIE IOOI OIL Wn1t is known
as Wallace street. Coover and Hughes
went up the gulch and made a discovery
at a point at the head of the flume now
used by the Alder Gulch Consolidated
while Fairweather and myself
staked our claim at the point Of the orig
inal discovery. The second day we
washed out SIS. In the evening we re-
for the first time that we had
nothing to eat in the camp, but luck was
with us. F~airweather saw q fine ante
lope on the ridge west of the gulch, say
ing, there is our supper Each took a
gun and went after the antelope, sue
ceeding in killing two.
THAT night we held a consultation in
camp and decided to stake off two claims
for each of u party n then return at
once to Bannock for provisions, agreeing
to keep our discovery secret. On the
morning of May % we made ready to
start for Bannock. I started to write out
the location notice and then arose the
as to naming the gulch. Var
ious names We're suggested. The boys
wanted to leave it to me, and told me to
cali it whatever I chose. I said I would
call it from the alder trees, which grew
proflsedly along the banks. and I called
it Alder gulch. Then we started to a
mock, leaving there on the evening of the
Goth. The discovery was too good for
Coover. to keep, n he told his partner,
Colonel Mclean, about it. In a short
time it was all over the camp. We