Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1904-10-19

,'e TWO drivers, the messenger. and
vac Hlul's W" had. and all the ponies
9"'c TWO, gong north with them: SO
| nov We llNe passengers had nine sacks
"i government mail. the risk pt two
| uuHdrrd pounds Of gold dust MIR
uIhuhoiS and Just tW0 ponIcs M hc,,,
us 10 The station. We were uoI long IN
.', '""N''S our start Tor The station, and
SH'cVeI'u IN reaching II at shutdown.
II We had not had rhr benefit of the
lidil broken by JaCksons fourteen an
lhlalS' It is NOT likely thar we woDId
nave gotten To the station tbat nipbt
we remained at the station tbre, davs
men TWO men came from The soutn
lldlnS TWO mules ana leading two Tie
next morning the stage men rode two
mules and gave the fye pa,senpars
me othcr Two, so two out Of five of
Us rode, IL being bareback riding from
udlllSht until O'Clock. Nnen we mad,,
Drl creek station, fifteen miles. We
hau Nddcd snow for over thirty miles
across the main Rocky mountain
range and had paid 81 cents a mile
10 me Stage company for the privilege.
We reached Salt Lake City without
lur'her trouble, except that. no mat
''f now cold II was, we never allowed
I single curtain OF the stage To he
"""h al any time, and each passen-
ger carried "A dOuble-barreled shotgun
ACROSS his lap loaded with buck-shot
arrived at Salt Lake Jity four hours
IN advance of brother Milt and Hard.
'hDrook We remained there three
,l'H" 10 view The city and rest. On
,he morning OF December 10, 1864. we
'upk our seat In the coach and tray-
'icd continuously for thirteen days
ana nights, reaching Atchison. Kas..
lich TOOK rail, reaching our old homes
't west Point. Iowa, at II o'clock
new year eve. and tiiure | met my
pride wife of twenty-one months, who
had become such two hours before [
mad left for the west.
On May LIST, 1865. we three started
nom West Point, Iowa, with twelve
wagons loaded with Two tons of goods
TO each wagon, and having four yoke
ol oxen To each. In addition Ia our
party OF three. were Hardenbrook S
wife and daughter (now Mrs. John II.
Ioolel, my wife, my sister lnow Mrs.
william Hardenbroob1. my brother.
David Davis Walker. and Dr. Robert
Fletcher and Thomas C.. Fletcher. step
brothers. We arrived at Virginia City
the 18th day of September. having
been on The road four months and sew
enleen days. This year OF 1865 prov.
ed TO be n very hard year for both
people and beasts to cross The plains.
The Indians were very hostile. When
we arrived at Fl. Kearney the military
commander there had standing or
der that none should leave there with.
out organizing into trains. having fif-
~ men 10 each train, electing a cap
tain, then h. would commission him
and give him written Instructions with
regard 10 governing the train, also the
route 10 travel. We spent one day
organizing the train. We counted six
boys to make the fifty men, elected
A. Hardcnbroolt captain, then the COM
mander of the post gave him his COM
mission. The next morning we pulled
out. an organized train. The trains
being SO large made il worse for the
people and still worse for the stock.
Friday, July 9TH, we made camp at
Laport, on the Cas-La-Pondre stream
the foot of the Black Hills on the
Cherokee trail. nine hundred miles
IRON the starting point. Within few
minutes Charles Seymour came into
our camp. We had both been meni-
bers OF the same train two years be-
fore over the same road. He and his
partner had some teams loaded with
goods for Montana. Seymour told me
that the stage driver reported that a
little train of five wagons had been
attacked by Indians. the people being
all killed and the wagons burned. He
said he and his partner were going to
turn around and take their loads to
Denver, and he thought we had better
do the same. told HIM no, that we
were going to Montana If we could
get there. The next morning the train
Seymour was In broke camp before
ours did, but Seymour remained with
his train for Montana. In due time
We passed the place where these peo-
pie with the five wagons had been
slain. All that remained was the irons
of the wagons as they had dropped on
the ground when the wood work had
been burned away, and goose feathers
that were still sticking to the sage
brush. From the appearance OF the
irons and the feathers still clinging
10 the sage brush. we were satisfied
they were a party of emigrants.
On July 18th We made dry camp at
noon midway between the two Lar
amies. being iii at the time my wife
had made bed on the ground in the
shade OF one of the wagons, and then
got some OF the men to help me out
OF the wagon and place me upon IL.
Our train just before camping had
pulled down a long descending grade
from high bench TO low bottom.
While was lying on my bed looked
back the slope we had come down and
saw that coulee came down from
the high land and about parallel with
and In easy shooting distance of the
road. | called the attention of mem.
ber OF our own mess 10 the lay of the
ground, telling them that | had seen
no place on The ground more favorable
for an Indian attack. Just three
weeks from the time those words were
spoken there was upon that very spot
OF earth horrible massacre, and that
camp in which we had spent our noon
Of three hours was drenched in blood.
The sad history is as follows:
A man by the name of Beers from
Chicago had a contract to freight min.
ing machinery to Salmon river. He
had twenty wagons and one hundred
yoke OF oxen. Three emigraut fami
lies asked Beers If they might travel
with his train. He said they might,
but he told them emphatically that il
they ever got one quarter of a mile
from his train. that his train would
be no protection to them. On this
fatal afternoon these three families
were travelling in the lead. and forget.
ling Beers Injunction when they came
to this downward slone thev wpra