The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-07-29

but a solitary Indian rancher called
Nichola.
ION passing the timbered noun
tains OF the reservations western
line, we pass many an old hidden
Blackfoot fort, occupied in the days
of blood, and enter the Horse Plains
where in days gone all the tribes oil
the region and more were wont to
~congregate to trade with the Hud-
sons Bay boats dispatched from Col
vile. Here a war party of Black
feet tok all our horses from us once
and we narrowly escaped the entire
destruction of our party. They were
go and we'll armed, while we were
only five with two guns. AS our
horses grazed united, however, they
did not trouble themselves with TAX
ing Jul scalps.
1.-The Horse Plains are not so call
ed in Indian, their name being Com
kanee, from a yellow granite boulder,
resembling in shape the upper part of
the human body. Frequent offer
ings were made in good will, in past
days, to that same stone. This plain
will be a place of much resort and
value in days hence.
Leaving it we pass the Bad Rock,
now partially leveled and blasted,
which in my early days was the steep
est pass for pack horses in Montana,
and come to Thompson Falls, named
after the western traveller of that
name; above the falls was an old
Hudson's Bay post last occupied by
myself and a party in 1849. Many
a fine buffalo tongue and many a
glass of the finest brandy that ever
crossed the Atlantic were served in
that sylvan building; not a vestige of
it now remains. Where the stirring
reel of Gillie Cruback and the solemn
strains of the Flowers of the Forest
were whistled and sung, and where
we were glad to hear once a year
from Europe, though seldom, if ever,
from the United States, Montana's
rye grass and evergreen kenekenek
now wave. The wolf may howl there
and the cock of the hills and inca
dows dance there, but we say with
the old bard, When will it be morn in
the grave to bid the slumberer
Angus Mcdonald was a fine speci-
men of the splendid type of early day
fur trader who left an imperishable
story of romance and adventure that
is interviewer with the history of the
Rocky mountain region. The Hud-
sons Bay company produced many
of these stalwarts who became out
standing figures in the scattered COM
merce of the vast western wilder
nesses. A nan of great strength of
character, dignity and vision, McDon-
aid inherited the best traditions of
resoluteness, fair dealing and a
strain of the Scotch sentiment and
marked him everywhere as a man of
gentle breeding and fine soul. The
Indians always liked and trusted him,
and the confidence he inspired in
them saved his life on more occa-
sions than one when trouble doomed.
Mcdonald had the distinction of
beng the first man to ''stake" a gold
p%rospector in Montana, and the man
he "staked" found the first gold ever
washed out in the territory, which
later yielded it's hundreds of millions.
In fact McDonald's action, to which
he gave little thought at the time, re-
in the second great epoch in
M%ontana's history, the first being, of
course, the fur trading period.
This tremendous event came about
quite by accident, and in its circum-
was not unlike the finding of
gold in California by James w. Mar
shall in 1848. AS has been often told,
he honor of the first discovery of
gold in Montana belongs to Francois
known as Benetsee among
he Indians, a mixed blood of Scotch
and Indian antecedents. 1t was,
however, the aid given him by Angus
Mcdonald that permitted him to