The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-04-08

one of her deck hands stole a pack
age, and the Vigilantes learned of
the theft. The thief was tried by one
of their mysterious tribunals and the
next night was seized and borne away
to a secluded spot, where he was
whipped till he was nearly dead. Cap
tain Marsh was afterward informed
that the Vigilance committee had
come within three votes of hanging
the culprit.
Fort Union Dismantled
No sooner had the Luella been I'M
loaded than there appeared at Fort
Benton a representative of the firm
of Smith, Hubbell e Hawley, which,
in the previous year, had bought out
all the interests of the ~lOng-estab-
lished American Fur Company, and
which now had determined to aban-
don the famous old post of Fort
Union, at the mouth of the Yellow
stone. Their representative was look
ing for a steamer to convey the goods
from Fort Union to Fort Benton, and
he drove a bargain with Captain
Marsh. The Luella thereupon drop
ped down the river to the old post,
AoooOo OfOl lb1h6 I'LL DOd1O anu Ool
ried the cargo to Fort Benton.
Probably no one thought of it at
the time, but when the Luella drop
ped away from the bank that day,
leaving the stout walls of the desert
ed Fort Union, which had withstood
the storms of nearly 40 years, she
had turned the last leaf on the clos
ing chapter of an epoch which for
thrilling romance has seldom been
equalled in the history of North
America-the era of fur trading in
the northwest. Fort Union had been
the greatest Indian trading post, bar
ring Bent's Fort in Colorado, within
the boundaries of the United States.
For years the most powerful tribes
of the northwest had congregated
there for trade; there had come the
factors of the company's other posts
from all over the vast watershed of
the Upper Missouri; there had as
sembled bold voyageurs of the wild
from the Great Slave Lake,
the Platte river of the south and the
Red river; there had visited some
of the worlds most famous explorers
and scientists, including such nota-
bles as George Catlin, Prince Maxi
and Audubon, greatest of nat
mantled that day by Captain Marsh
there passed with it the last vestige
of the fur trade as ar Independent
commercial institution.
Captain Marsh, after unloading the
Fort Union cargo at Fort Benton,
was called upon at once to drop down
the river again with the Luella for
70 miles to rescue the passengers and
of the steamer Marion, which
had gone to pieces in shallow water.
Famous Return Trip
1t was now late in August and the
was the only remaining boat
at Fort Benton, for never before had
one dared to stay so late in the sea-
But the captain was confident
Of his ability to get out of the upper
safely, and ne advertised in the
Helena papers that the Luella would
leave for st. Louis the first week in
There was a rush for applications
for passage, due to the fact that this
offered the last opportunity of the
year for leaving the country. When
she dropped away from the bank at
Fort Benton September @, 1866, she
had on board 230 miners and SILL
ESQ, 700 in gold dust, the most valu-
able cargo of treasure ever carried
Town the Missouri. Having lost his
on the way up, and being him
self unfamiliar with bookkeeping,
Captain Marsh was sorely puzzled for
/ time as to how he should collect
md keep account of his numerous
passengers fares and the freight