The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-09-29
NEW PRESIDENT OF P10NEERS' SOCIETY ONE OF PARTY OF THREE
WHO FIRST EXPLORED YELLOWSTONE PARK F1FTY-Tw0 YEARS AGO

When the Society of Montana Pho
neers last week at Lewistown elected
Charles W. Cook of White Sulphur
Springs as president for the ensuing
chose for the honor one of the most
interesting figures now surviving
from frontier times in Montana.
Mr.. Cook has two claims to dis
tinction as a pioneer and builder of
Montana. He is the last living mem
Der of a daring party of three men
who in 1869 first entered Yellow
stone Park for the purpose of verify
ing or refuting the floating rumors
concerning it's wonders, and who will
live in western history as a member
of that first exploring party. Also,
he is the pioneer living sheepman of
Montana, having in 1871 brought the
third band of sheep into the territory
and located the magnificent ranch of
10000 acres in the beautiful Smith
river valley, where he has spent the
greater part of his life.
Keen-minded, alert and still active,
despite his 80 years, Mr.. Cook can
look back owe a life filled with ad-
venture and romance, and crowned
with success. In the long ago he
rubbed shoulders with all the types
of men who went to make up the
drifting population of the frontier
miners, traders, stockmen, gamblers
and road agents. Once he traded a
steer for his scalp, when a war party
of Indians surrounded a bunch of
aoff1N hn xvon r.-s, ~ - Nrf1 sn%O NTNa
tana and demanded meat as toll for
crossing their hunting grounds. He
has witnessed the whole changing pa
nOrama of the west from the placer
camps to today. |
First Expedition Into Park
The first attempt at an exploration
of the sources of the Yellowstone to
set at rest the constantly multiplying
rumors of wonderful volcanic pheno-
mena there, which had been spread
by fur ~trappers, was in 1850. Cap
tain w. f. Reynolds, of the Corps of
United States Typographical Engin-
GERS, was ordered to explore the re-
gion. He left Deer Creek, Wyoming,
in the spring of 1860, with a small
force of men and the redoubtable Jim
Bridger as a guide. So far as dis
cOveries were concerned, the eXpedi-
tion vas a failure. The party, having
been divided into two detachments,
travelling oyer different routes, des-
cribed a complete circle around the
upper Yellowstone without actually
penetrating the region. In 1868,
after gold had been discovered on
Grasshopper Creek and Alder Gulch,
Walter w. DeLacy, noted pioneer en-
of Montana, penetrated the
district now within the park in search
of placer gold, but made nc explora-
ton of the geyser districts.
Early in the spring of 1869 the
newspapers at Helena, Virginia City
and other points in the territory, an
nounced that a party of citizens from
Virginia City, Bozeman and Helena,
accompanied by officers from Fort
Ellis and an escort of soldiers, would
Bozeman about September 5 for
the Yellowstone country with the in
of making a thorough exam
nation of all the wonders with which {
hat region was reported to abound, t
)ut concerning which the world knew t
literally nothing. Among those in |
7ited to accompany the expedition
we're David E. Folsom, a prominent
pioneer, who 81 years later, in 1900,
vas a republican nominee for COVER
Tor of Montana; and Mr.. Cook.
Folsom and Cook began making
Preparations for the expedition. Will
Peterson, a native of Denmark,
.lso decided to go along. The three
provided themselves with a good out
it, including repeating rifles, Colts
ix~-shooters and an array of sheath
with a double-barreled shot
.un for small game. They also had
ield glasses, pocket compass and a 4
together with utensils =
nd provisions for a six weeks trip. =
Only Three Have Nerve :.
In writing the story of this trip in .
alter years, Folsom said: about a =
Month before the day fixed for start y
ng, some of the members of the ex- :