The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-10-14
WHEN OLD FORT UNION WAS LAST OUTPOST OF CIVILIZATION
AND KENNETH mKEMZE WAS OVERLOAD OF UPPER MISSOURI

for, as l found out a~fterward, they
were not allowed to go to table il
shirt sleeves. One of them, perceiv'
ing that l was coatless, was so kinC
as to LEND me a coat, and so we start
ed for supper. On entering the eat
ing hall, 1 found a splendidly set
table with a very white tablecloth,
and two walters, one a negro. Mr..
Mckenzie was sitting at the head of
the table, extremely we'll dressed.
Mr.. Mckenzie, who played the nabo5,
went to bed late, and rose later, and
as nothing could be served till he
was ready, it was nine o'clock before
we got to breakfast"
1t was here that one of the most
desolating plaques of history ragged,
the smallpox scourge of 1897, sweep
ing from this fort and Fort Clark ont
over the prairies and, according TO
Audubon, taking a toll of 10000
lives. Every day one or more Gait
loads of corpses were dumped over
the bluff into the river.
Audubon, in his journal, gives a
vivid description of the plague.
Blanket Carried Death to Thousands
early in the spring of 1897" he
writes, 1.-THE steamer Assinniboine ar
rived at Fort Clark, with several
cases of smallpox on board. There
an Indian stole a blanket belonging
to a Waterman on the boat, who was
then at the point of death, and took
it away to SOW the seeds of this dis
ease among his tribe, which caused
his own death and the death of thous-
ands of his nation.
when it was known that he had
taken it, a benevolent person on the
boat went to one of the chiefs, told
him the fatal consequences that
would follow, and offered to give a
new blanket and a reward besides if
he would have it returned; but sus-
picion, fear or shame prevented the
man from giving it up, and the pes
thence broke out and began to
spread among the Mandans at first
to which nation the chief belonged.
"Most of the Indians were distant
80 miles at the time, killing buffa-
loes and preparing their winter food;
and the whites sent an express beg
ging them not to return to their vii
lagos, and telling them of the fatal
consequences. The Indians sent back
word that they would return to their
villages, and face the danger, which
they thought was imaginary. Word
was again sent them that certain des-
truction would attend their return;
but it was all in vain, come back they
would, and come back they did, and
the plague began in it's most malig-
pant form, their habits and improper
fOaI. - o1xfnr fhnra n rooI,v xro,, anI |
a few hours sometimes terminating
the loathsome disease by death.
Stricken Indians Threaten Whites
1.-THE Mandans were enraged be-
cause at first it was confined to them
and they supposed the whites had
caused it, and saved themselves and
the Ricarees from the pestilence; and
they threatened the lives of all the
former, supposing they had a medi-
cine to prevent it, which they would
not give them. But by-andby Rica-
rees and whites died also; the dis
ease increased in malignity-hun-
dreds died daily, and their bodies
were thrown beneath the bluffs and
created an intolerable stencil, which
added to it's fatality. Men shot each
other when they found they were at
tackled; one mar killed his wife and
children, and then loaded his gun
and, placing the muzzle in his mouth,
touched the trigger with his toe and
blew out his own brains. One young
made his friends dig a grave
for him, and putting on his war
robes, he tottered out to it, singing
his death song, and jumping in, cut
H. L~I-. 1-.1.- T. 49, la T--sF-
and was buried there; and others
committed suicide after they were
attacked rather than die of the loath-
some disease.
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