The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-05-27
BY A. X. YERKES

Forty years ago the Yellowstone
valley for nearly its entire length
was the thoroughfare of the overland
stages, having its eastern terminal
at Bismarck and its western at Hell
ena=a long stretch of country, meas
ured by the wheels of a Concord
coach. The Yellowstone valley was
also in communication with Bis
marck through the medium of a stern
wheel Missouri river steamboat from
May to September-if depth of water
permitted-as far up the river as
Junction City, the entrepot of Fort
Custer. These boats were extreme
~ active during the June rise when
the river was at it's full, and the
trip up the Missouri to Fort Buford
and thence up the Yellowstone to
Miles City vas made in about 10
days; but in May it required as many
as "a days of tedium and discomfort
to accomplish the passage.
The coach offered a much speedier
mode of conveyance, but this vas
offset by the danger from small bands
of marauding Indians - officially
presumed to be safely confined to
their reservations. But with buffalo
I6GOluR on Lu6 16llOMSIOuG Ill Sltdl
numbers, it was impossible to keep
the young bucks at the agency under
the restraint of their elders, who,
since the Custer fight, saw the fu-
tility of warning with the whites and
running the danger of being sent to
the Indian Territory land with a
doubtful Happy Hunting Ground"
Traffic rates were also high and pre-
cluded the possibility of luggage lar
ger than a valise or a roll of blan-
kets. The menu at the stage sta
tions, as a rule, was far from elabor-
ate, out of an excusable scarcity of
edibles other than buff" the short
term for buffalo meat. The modern
lied packages and canned goods were
then a dream rather than a reality
and freight via the bull trains ran on
a slow and irregular schedule. The
stage coach trip to Miles consumed
many hours of days and nights, du-
ring which it was impossible to sleep
unless one, gaining the favor of the
driver, was allowed to curl up in the
boot at his feet.
The river rate for a first-class pas
sage from Bismarck to Miles was as
low as s21.00 in the spring of 1879,
and included three good meals each
day, provided one was fortunate
enough to sit at the first table, the
being served in relays. For
this amount n was also permitted
to "bed down" on the floor of the
main cabin and dining room, after
the cabin passengers had retired, to
be rousted out in the early morning
the breakfast tables might be
prepared. Cabin accommodations
were at a premium and had to be en-
gagged weeks ahead. The cabin pas
paid in accordance with his
privileges and was a person to be
envied, for he was treated with con-
~sideration, ate with the captain, army
officers, post traders, men with big
freight contracts and with a pull"
Below, in cramped quarters, amid !
the freight, the roustabouts, usually
as tough a bunch as the upper coun-
try afforded, were quartered; also
the army recruits being forwarded I
to Keogh and Custer. But few la
dies travelled on the Yellowstone
steamers, but those who did were
western chivalry. +
Making Roadway against the i'm {
petuous Yellowstone in a long, heav- {
lily laden boat, not too amply pro- S
vided with motive power, generated I
with cottonwood, was exasperatingly t
slow, especially the first trip up. Co S
ing down stream was different, for 7
the stream carried the boat at head '
long pace that sand bars could not t
break. An example of this was once '
witnessed at Junction City, when a '
boat coming downstream approached {
the cable used by the ferry. The cap {
tain whistled long and often as he
Junction, but the owner of q
the ferry paid nc heed and as a re- c
suit the smokestack and part of the