Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1904-10-05

had eaten up his horse and saddle.
suppose he wanted to come into
our gulch for the same reason that the
Irishman wanted TO be buried in the
Jewish cemetery, believing the devil
would never think OF looking for him
there. and this young man probably
thought the road agents would never
find him up a gulch where the sun
rose and set twice a day, as IL did
on Mill creek. but as a matter of fact
there were very few of us at that
time in making our trips and domicil
ing in our lonely cabins whose flesh
MAS not creepy at times.
In the spring when the water began
To run so We could start the mill I
went TO Virginia City TO get some oil
TO use on the mill. but could find no
machine oil OF any Kind in the city.
| then asked a druggist what he would
tax me for a gallon of easter oil and
he said forty dollars; took the oil
and n little later | was in the CITY
aud | went around III, Virginia civ
hotel and gathered up a lot OF empty
oyster and fruit cans; found one
piece of sheet zinc and got several
glass bottles and then bought some
lard and sent the lot out To the mill.
The men there melted the whole lot
together and made splendid babbitt
boxes for the arbor. after which we
had no more trouble from the saw
arbor's heating.
May %. 1864. heretofore. We have
all been Idahoians. but from this day
forward our government extends, we
shall be Montanans, and We accept
ed the change most gracefully.
In June or early in July OF this
year, a self-constituted assessor and
ex offlcio tax collector presented him.
self at our saw mill on Mill creek
and proceeded to asses the mill. lum-
Der, teams, wagons and all the prop.
erty he could see and in a few min.
utes he had computed the amount
of taxes due thereon and demanded
payment from my brother. who was
experimenting the running OF the
mill. Upon being questioned as to
his authority he said that he was
assessing all Of this part of Idaho.
and also collecting the taxes. My
brother told him that he never kept
any money at the mill. so he very POI
litely said just to give him an order
on the Office at Virginia City. My
brother told him he would write me a
letter and give to him to present to
me; he said that would be all right.
| MY brother wrote me he thought he
was a fraud, but as he had been i'm
the gulch all winter and spring he did
not know how rapid the old order of
things might change. shortly after
a stranger presented himself at our
lumber yard on Idaho street in Vir.
ginia City. had not witnessed such
~politeness since | had left my old
home in Iowa. fourteen months be.
fore. All the people who had crossed
the plains and mountains and had
used one eye for Indians and the 9th.
err for road agents and turned flap
jacks between winks or cooked a loai
of bread on a fiat rock. had ceased
bowling, tipping the hat or making
any gestures that required any extra
movements. Had he been soliciting
pupils for a dancing school his move
ments would not have been so notice
able. ! asked him how 1t came that
he was collecting as well as assess
ing, and he said II was a long ways
up into this part OF Idaho and that
il was cheaper for n officer TO dc
the whole work and that IL had been
so ordered. | told him | would moi
respond to his demands until he
showed me his authority; he said he
had the law but not with him just
then, but that he would get it and
bring il to me. He disappeared. show
ing ust as much p~oliteness as he had
shown when he first presented him
self; that VAS forty years ago but he
has never returned with his law
Awhile after | spoke to Alfred Lo
max, who was conducting a feed sta
BILE just across the street. asked
him ii he had heard of an assesso
and tax collector being around and
he said yes, and that he had collected
from some of the merchants. and he
thought from quite a number. but
after they began to believe they were
hoaxed they were not disposed to tall
about IL. How many thousand dol
lars this bogus tax collector ma,
have collected no one knows. but al
would certainly hope that II was no
many. II was really Montana then
instead of Idaho. In which this pre-
tended officer was exercising his pre-
tended official functions, though buI
few of u people knew at this time
that congress had organized the ter
ritory of Montana. The Indians hat
SO demolished the mail lines east o.
Salt Lake City that our mail vas {
long time in reaching us, but 1t made
little difference where and from
whom this man made his collections
as there were no G spapers herr
and nearly all the people were strang
ers to each other; many an inciden'
occurred that never gained publicity
A few men might know Of an occur
renee of considerable importance yet
that few men might change theiI
abode and might not impart the fac
to others and that item would be los
to history, and perhaps SO In the cas'
of this tax collector. Those who bluff
fed this man we're satisfied and thos'
victlmlZeu were not TuhnlnS arouu'
with something new to tell.
From December, 1868, to May, 1861
in our mess of fourteen men, we die
not have a single table knife or fori
with which to eat our meals; we hat
two butcher knives and n carvint
fork. No merchant that | knew o
shipped in any table knives and fork
in the fall OF 1863. The Oversight
was not very great either, for all thu
people that were there had crossed
the plains and had started with ful
supplies, but their eating from ont
hundred and fifty TO four hundre,
meals in the grass on the way, they
had but few knives II forks lett a
the end of their long journey. though
that we were more unlucky than 9th
/ 80 o uUAnt IL