The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-12-17
ONLY A LITTLE SQUAD
Fort Missoula Is Lonely These
Days.
WILL THE POST REMAIN?
That Is the Question That Is Keeping
the Bitter Rooters Busy-Senator
Carter Says That New
Garrison Will Come.

Will Fort Missoula ever ben regarri-
Stoned? That is the question that the
people of Western Montana have asked
themselves many times during the past
year, and the only answer that they
have received has been the echo of their
own voices. At stated intervals, it is
true, there has been a message from
Senator Carter to the effect that he
had positive assurance that it was not
the intention of the war department
to abandon the post at Fort Missoula,
and once there came message from
the secretary of war to the effect that
the post is to be continued permanent
ly. But that was when Alger was Sec
rotary Of war and, according to the
boys of Troop F. his statements We're
not always reliable. They are in a po-
sition to know, and they say that AL
ger was in the habit of giving jolles
that had no weight at ALL
Since the brave Twenty-fifth march
ed away from the fort it has had no
garrison except a corporars squad of
meI detailed to do patrol duty and to
see that none of the Bitter Root farm
ers walked away with the buildings
or the saw mills. That is all that there
is left of the post now All of the
equipment was removed long ago. The
ranges and the kitchen furniture of the
barracks, the desks and furnishings of
the headquarters building, the tools and
implements, everything but the saw
mill and the pile of cord wood for
which w. Q. Rant made his celebrated
DID during the last campaign The
wood pile is not as large as it was
when Lieutenant Shattuck turned it
over to the department in his final re-
port as quartermaster, but there is still
a wood pile there The buildings are
there, too, and it has not yet been con-
Venlent for the department to trans
port the saw mill to some other post.
For the most part the post has been
guarded since March, 1898, by detail
from the Twenty-fourth infantry.
While that regiment was in Cuba a
detail from the cavalry post at Fort
Yellowstone held down the post, but as
soon as the dusky heroes of the San
tiago campaign came back north some
of them We're sent here, and they have
been in charge ever since. Immediate
ly after the old Twenty-f1fth marched
away Lieutenant Pardee, regimental
ad1utant was in command of the little
body of men at the fort. When he
went away Lieutenant Shattuck, the
regimental quartermaster, had charge
till he turned over the post property
to the department. Then George Slack.
the master mechanic at the post, was
in command. He was ordered to keogh
and Carpenter John Taylor succeeded
to the position of commandant. He
broke his arm and was unable to con-
tinue the duties of the post and Ord
n UT lpI,- ,nl
gracefully and satisfactorily the func-
tions of commanding officer. Captain
Goe is now here and in charge of the
post. When he came there was a furry
of hope that his coming meant that
more troops We're to follow, but that
hope has died out. There is no larger
garrison than the corporal's guard.
The only man of the old garrison, the
25th infantry. that is left at the post
Is Ordnance Sergeant Pillow. Through
all the changes and transfers. he has
held the fort. OF all the familiar fig
ures of the old times his is the only
one that remains. His red stripes and
chevrons are about all that Missoula
has left to remind her of the days when
Fort Missoula was lively army post
with good garrison. He comes and
goes and, it is supposed, receives his
pay check with due regularity. There
seemed to be no place where he was
wanted during the war and since then
he has not been called upon to do any
thing more than to represent the old
garrison, of which Missoula was so
justly proud. Pillow does that to per-
lection. He comes into town OCCASION
ally to get his mail and to make sure
that the city is still on. the map. On
such occasions he brings the gratify-
ing assurance that the fort is still on
the banks of the Bitter Root and that
there is no immediate prospect of It's
blowing away. AS long as Pillow stays
there is some faint hope that the post
will not be abandoned. Squads may
come and squads may go, but if Pill
low remains there is still hope
AS to the merits of the retention Of
Fort Missoula as an active post, it
has never been possible to get up any
argument. All of the army authorities
admit that the Site and sur
roundings are all that could be de-
sired and that the aphical posi-
ton OF the fort is such as to make it
important as strategic point. A gar
rison can be maintained there at less
cost than at almost any other post in
the West There is certainly no place
in the northern mountain country
where the cost of maintenance is less.
All of these facts are admitted and
yet the post is not garrisoned. There
must be some truth in the statement
that it is politics that does it.
1t is said that as soon as the stand
ing army has succeeded in disposing
of Aguinaldo and the Philippine ques-
ton there will be soldiers sent here to
garrison the fort. That is a point that
has made President McKinley's war in
the East most unpopular in these
parts. That is one mighty good reason
why the war should be chopped off al
once. Missoula would like to see Otis
deposed and Andy Burt given a whaclI
at the Philippine question. In the |
minds of those who used to know the |
colonel, now general, there exists no
doubt that he could take the matter in
hand and carry it to a successful is |
sue. One thing is certain, when he |
captured town or a piece of the re- |
bel army, he would capture it for |
keeps and it would not be necessary |
to capture it regularly every week af- |
But there are still Sergeant Pillow and |
the assurance of Senator Carter that a
cavalry squadron will be sent here !
Missoula and Bitter Root people have |
these farte n cheer them and IN