The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-04-08

Illustration OF the stuff there is in som
Sheepherders. Montana weather is prett,
manageable. This morning the sun may b,
SHINING and the air too warm for an over
coat. Before noon you may be Thankful
Tor a buffalo coat and a heavy woolen cap
I've seen the thermometer change so de.
grees in less than that numb OF minute,
ana ~ degrees in twenty-four hours. Last
october was that way. As fine weather al
hrst as a man could ask Parties of hunt
ers. men and women. too. were up in the
mountains. having a good time and our
herders were on the outside ranges One
OF the boys. Angus Mcdonald. was away
up on the Marias headwaters. nearly into
/ the mountains. A mighty nice fellow he
was. Scotch OF course. and educated up Ia
! the handle. He once told me he had grad
! uated from Edinburgh University and af-
/ terward from a school on the continent
! Weimar, or Heidelberg or some such place
/ When he went out with the sheep in the
/ morning he would take a little book in the
! pocket OF his canvas coat to read on the
range and usually it was in Greek. He
was a steady reliable sort of a fellow and
we were thinking of giving him a mixed
band this season on shares, just to help
him along and because our range was get
ting bit overstocked. anyway.
about the middle OF the month we had
little storm. Il covered a strip sixty
TO hundred miles wide and two hundred
miles long. For three days it showed a.
if that was the last chance. il blew gale
and it dropped to zero in one night OF
course, our first thought was for our
sheep and the herders. Some Of the sta
tons reported by telephone. and these
were all right We sent men to the 9th
ers, and you can bet we went along too.
One herder had frozen to death: | forget
his name. His sheep had evidently STAN
peded and he lost his way. falling down
and dying not one hundred yards from
the door Of his shack. We sized it up that
he gave up his sheep fer lost and tried to
make camp. got confused in the STORM
and, passing his own door tried TO go up
the wrong coulee. When his strength
failed he dropped. and that was the end
for him. He stayed there.
1T took us seven days to get to Angus
You can imagine how hard it was when /
tell you that four men and horse made
just twelve miles in twelve hours 4 wag-
on could not be moved half mile in that
time. Angus had a shelter tent and that
was the first thing We found. His blan-
kets, grub, etc. were there-and some
thing else. On the bed was his lantern
and stuck in the handle this note
Here the speaker pulled out a pocket
book from which he took a dirty scrap Of
paper. evidently the hyleaf Of book. en-
ii in pencil this note was scrubbed:
October 16, 1899, 12.oj p. IN.
Mr.. -:
The sheep got away from me about G o'eloei,
this evening and have been following them up I
trying 20 corral them. ever since. 7 have ivst /,
left them for few minutes. ! shall try to bring I
them back. but I fear they hIvs gone Up the (
north coulee, and I have little strength left, As /
has v-fr
ANGUS McDOSALD.
He was worth more than million
sheep. that fellow, and he must have
known it. but he tried to save our prop
erty. just the same. We went up the
north coulee after him. On the top of a
rise We struck beaten trail. crossing the
coulee and looking as if it had been made
by one animal. We followed it out and 4
found at one end the sheep-at the other
was Angus Mcdonald and his dog. The dog
was alive The poor beast had made that
trail. travelling at intervals through the
seven days between the body OF his mas
ter and the sheep I suppose he thought
his duty lay between the two. The old
story. isn't it? Like dog. like master,
and both faithful unto death.
There we're seventeen herders lost in
hat storm, and most Of them stuck by
HelT SHeep Wneu lney COuiu nave quit and
,aved themselves. But they won't get any
big monuments nor much praise nor will
heir deaths raise the sheepherder much
higher in the popular estimation OF Mon
ana. | suppose the poor devils will con-
Inc to play sucker to tinhorn gamblers
nd divekeepeTs. and when their time
ONES to cross the divide. TO Dr. Mussig
rods institution for the mentally out of
yhack al Warm Springs. Still, sometimes
think I would as soon be a Montana |
heepherdeT as Montana politician"