The Anaconda standard., 1899-11-15
PRESS LEWIS PLAN.
An Original Method of Persuadine Oxen
to Pull

to Pull.
Great Falls, Nov. 14-Every old timer
In Northern Montana knows Press
Lewis. Press was on earth when Ben
ton was the head of navigation in Mon
lana ana all goods came by steamers
from st. Louis; at that time Press was
one OF hundreds of freighters who haul
ed BY slow-footed oxen freight to all
parts of Montana; now Press is one Of
the few that are left, and year after
year he covers the distance between
Great Falls and Lewistown or Benton
and LeWistown, loaded with freight for
the busy merchants Of that city. To
those who know Press the following
story, told in Forest and Stream, will
be appreciated, and to those who do not
know him the story may serve as an
Introduction:
The palm for picturesque, compre-
hensive and polyglot swearing has been
awarded to the old "bull-whackers Of the
plains. l have heard a freight brake
man try to express his feeling when
wrestling with a stiff brake on car
golng. down grade; I have seen strong
men janb their fingers while trying to
SET up stove pipes; and many times
have been with the festive cowboy in
pursuit Of q refractory steer. The
brakeman, the stove pipe artist and the
cowboy are not wanting in eloquence,
but they are as infants when compar-
ed with a bull -whacker exhorting a
string of balky oxen with his wagons
stuck In the mud OF some creek
It was universally acknowledged that
old Press Lewis, who used to freight
from Fort Benton to Fort Mcleod.
stood a head and shoulders above his
brethren on the road when 1t came to
the use of winged burning words. But
this Is the true and simple little story of
the time when Press had to acknowl-
edge that there were limits even to his
powers.
1t had been raining, just enough to
make the long hill out of Fort Benton a
veritable slough of despond. The soil
was 'gumbo"-delightfu stuff which
sticketh closer than a brother. The
wagons were rather heavily loaded--I
Press was loaded to, but 1t is prob
able-and half way up the hill the long
line of oxen and creaking wagons came
TO stop.
Then Press opened up; at first, like
the skirmishers fire at the beginning of
marks, comparatively mild--personal
remarks on the character of the
oxen considered individually and
collectively; then. with heavier artil-
lery, he b1azed away at their ancestors
far back to the remote ages, embrace
ing also in this volley the wagons in all
their parts and the unfortunates who
built them. After this he turned his at
tention to the country and evidently
not wishing to show any partiality,
cursed all people living or dead. A spe-
cial corner in the anathema was always
reserved for Christopher Columbus for
having .'nosed around and raked out
sich a derned, ornery, dog -goned, To-
coed, son of a gun of a -mud-heap"
About this time it is said that his re-
marks became SO sulphurous that the
sage brushes in the neighborhood shriv-
elled and died. .z...
From the beginning Press had been
literally punctuatins his sentences with
strokes from his bull whackers whip.
which is no toy. But, as far as results
showed, he might as well have been
quoting hymns to the oxen or tanning
them with q feather duster; like the
everlasting hills, they stood fast and
would not be moved.
Then Press sat down by the eide of
the road in the mud and wet and with
a still, small voice mildly remarked to
the stubborn oxen: "Gentlemen, please
pull"
And now strange thing happened.
for each and every OK did straightway
brace himself and, with one mighty
pull, dragged those heavy wagons out
of that sticky gumbo and up the steep
hill as though they had been 2:40 trot-
ters hitched to pneumatic tired sulkies
leaving the bewildered Press Lewis
to plunge through the mud in pursuit.
/ should like to be able to say that
this little incident cured Press of swear
ing, but my love of truth compels me
to admit that 1t did not.