Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-02-10

| ~ OAS VIII tloIlo IOAuy VIC OOo u
tiful valley of the Lower Yellowstone
in Montana and North Dakota, it
seems far cry to the days of the
Indian who once grazed his ponies
on this grass-covered plain, and yet
it was not so long ago that the In
dian. the road agent and the cattle
| rustler in turn held full sway in this
section.
Today. in all directions, the eye
meets comfortable farm houses and
! buildings. and broad areas Of Guilt
waited fields crossed and re-croSsed
with the irrigation canals which have
transformed the valley from a graz
ing country into prosperous, thriv-
ing agricultural community. This
same valley, which is now dotted
with farm houses, in 1884, was un-
safe for Travellers
In March of the year, Major Whip
pie, one of the paymasters of the
United States army, started from
Glendive for Old Fort Buford on the
Missouri river opposite the mouth Of
the Yellowstone He followed a
trail across 80 miles Of open country
with only one or two ranches or
road houses where meal could be
obtained. His outfit consisted of an
army ambulance, in which road Ma
jor Whipple, Seargant Conrad.
Chief Clerk Such and driver by the
name of Sims. He was followed by
an escort wagon with a driver and
l ,1,{0 o~1c To-,
on was an iron safe placed inside a
wooden box and containing $35 900 in
money. Owing to the bad reputation
of this region, the paymaster became
nervous a short time after starting
out and transferred the safe from
the wagon to the ambulance, and
with it drove on ahead of the es-
cort. When he approached Burns
Creek, he was stopped by dozen
masked men. each armed with rifle.
Seargant Coonrad who was sitting
with the driver, took a shot at the
road agents, who returned the fire
and MORALLY wounded the seargent.
A bullet grazed the head of the driv.
er who fell to the ground uncon
scious. Major Whipple and the Clerk
dropped out of the back end Of the
conveyance and the four-mule team
took fright and ran away. The road
agents evidently expected the money
to be In the rear wagon and paid no
further attention to the Major and
! the Clerk, who ran after the mules,
and caught up with them and drove
on with the safe to nearby ranch
house without further molestation.
The road agents awaited the COM
ing of the escort wagon which came
along shortly after and instituted a
search for the money. Chief Clerk
Such was held up with the rest, but
the bandits secured only about 50 and
a few personal articles belonging to
the party.
A detail of soldiers were sent back
as soon as Major Whipple reached
Buford, but were unsuccessful in
rounding up any of the road agents.
Seargant Coonrad, just before he
died, stated that he was positive his
lone shot had wounded one of the
bandits, and this belief was borne
out by the finding of mutilated
body in the Yellowstone river some
days later. 1t was believed that this
was the body of one of the robbers
and that his comrades had mutilat-
ed it to prevent Identification before
throwing it into the river.
The Reclamation Service has TAX
en- up, and is rapidly completing one
! of its most important irrigation pro-
| jects in this section,- which accounts
! in a large measure for the remark
able Transformation that has occurr.
ed in this valley in the past five
years.
This project embraces a total OF
| Sc 900 acres lying partly in Montana
and partly in North Dakota. The az
erage elevation of the irrigable lands
is about 1900 feet above sea level
The principal engineering structure
is a rock-filled timber dam across the
Yellowstone river, having maxi
mum height Of ~ feet and total
length of crest Of 700 feet. The
main canal with a carrying capacity
of more than 300 cubic feet per Sec
ond, is 80 miles in length. Connect
ing with this, and distributing the
water to the irrigable land, are luz
miles of lesser canals.
Construction of this project was
authorized on May 10, 1904, and on
January 1, 1910, was Sc per cent COM
pleted The soil of the irrigable
lands is deep sandy loan of excep-
tional fertility. 1t is region emil
nently adapted for general farming
and livestock raising. Surrounding
the irrigable lands is a vast area OF
free grazing land, upon which the
cattle of the settlers may range in
summer. Several new towns have
been established within the irrigated
area: branch line of the Northern
Pacific railroad is being rapidly ex-
tended through the center of the
project. and the valley has been the
mecca for homeseekers for the last
three years. The opportunity here
for men who desire to secure farms
is regarded as one of the best in the
northwest. While the public lands
have all been filed on, there is a con-
siderable area of land in private
ownership, which under the terms
of the Reclamation Act, must be sold
to bona fde settlers. Men who are
20 h1 irri oo f.