The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1903-10-13

very spot where the electric light sta
+ ton now stands. | wanted the party
TO stay there. as we had a fair pros
pect, but the rest of them would not
stay. If we had stayed at that time
we might have found the diggings
which later proved so rich. Finally
we went back and went over Boulder
divide. and crossed the Big Hole,
near the mouth where it empties into
the Jefferson, on kind of bridge
that Jim Stuart built. We got to
| Bannack some time in the month of
| March. 1868. and went to mining. We
were in Bannack when Geo. Colbert
got killed in SINNERS saloon. l was
we'll acquainted with Fairweather
Edgar. Sweeney and Rogers. the
party that struck Alder gulch. There
was an election while we were in
Bannack. 1t was in Idaho then. We
elected Plummer for sheriff and Nc
Lain for member of congress.
think Colonel Saunders. the old re-
publican war horse. ran the first
time then. and was defeated.
i went into Alder gulch with the
when they hanged Geo. Ives. Boone
Helm, and, believe. Clubfoot
George, deputy sheriff. and Frank
Paris and Buck Stinson and Asa Ly-
ons. In February. Barney Huse
stampeded for the Yellowstone and
| went into that. Slade was on that
stampede. but he came back and was
hanged at Virginia City.
That fall | came back I carried
al express for old man Thorris. a
merchant. He sent his OK train down
to Fort Peck to get his goods the
boat sank in the meantime. and old
man Thorris sent me to intercept his
son. Tom Thorrirs. who was on the
train. | never got to him until I got
to the big bend of Milk river, and
they were in a terrible state. The
Crows had gone through their wagons
and took all their bedding and their
provisions. and they had nothing left
but 10 pounds of flour. | found the
Crow chief. RRottentail, about five
miles further on, and l went to him
and talked to him. and he brought
most all of the stuff back that they
had stolen, and also gave them
enough dried buffalo meat to come
down as far as Fort Union. I went
back to Fort Benton.
Finally, in 1868. | started out north
on prospecting trip. We went 40
miles above the Saskatchewan. There
we met a man by the name of Liv-
ingston. who was from Montana. He
had settled down there with the half
breeds. Free trade had been declar-
yDI CHI ~
son Bay company had run out their
SO years. We met man there from
Helena. | forget his name. and he
| brought in five cart loads of provis-
ions and Hudson Bay rum. So, it
was the Sd Of July When we arrived
there. and We came down the river
to celebrate the 4th Of July. We
asked the chief factor if he wouldn't
hoist the American flag for us, and
he said he would. In our party there
was John Wren, Little Marshall,
Charley Thomas, Colonel Spike and a
man by the name Of Seth They all
got pretty booZy, and the party all
had one or two revOlvers, and a Win
chester repeating rifle Well. up there
they had never seen such a fire arm
as that. The boys got drunk and
kept shooting around inside and yell
ing. "Hurrah for the United States"
Marshall, John Wren and Colonel
Spike. they looked up at the flag staff
and they saw the English flag above
the United States flag and they said
it was a shame and an insult to us
Americans. and they pulled down the
English flag and put up the American
flag. and also said that we would
come back and take the whole cOun-
try. After that we started and went
nearly 200 miles above the Saskatche
wan to another fort at the foot of the
Rocky mountains, called the Rocky
Mountain House. and We got pack
horses. We hired two Stony Indians
as guides through the mountains. and
we were going to try to follow up
the gold traces in the mountains. But
we could not find any traces after we
got through the first foothills of the
mountains. There was nothing in the
main mountains but solid rock. There
was no gra"al of any kind. OF
course we didn't look for quartz
leads; only placer mines. We trav-
eled along the main range of the
mountains from there until We came
to the head of the Teton, and then
we came down to Fort Benton. On
the 22d of November 1869. I arrived
at Fort Benton.
The next spring we heard from our
Fourth of July celebration on the
Saskatchewan. The United States
marshal came and arrested us all for
insulting the British flag The mat
ter - been reported to the east. and
don't know but to England. and at
last they got after us. Of course
we had to explain that it was some
drunken foolishness, and after an
apology to the British government
they let us off.
After that I went down to Leaven-
worth. got married and came back
and settled on the Teton river. few
miles from Fort Benton. and I have
lived there on the ranch ever since.
have a boy who was born in this
country in 1873, and he was the first