The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-02-03

W
make. Passenger business as well as
freight added to the receipts. The
freight rate was ten cents per pound.
This made the prices of heavy or bull
ky merchandise very high, but old
records show that many other ar
ticles were not as expensive, even
this far from trade centers, as they
were during the recent war.
/ A record of charges made by Leigh
ton & Jordan, who kept a trading
post at old Fort Buford, about 100
miles east of here, shows under date
of December 3, 1877, the following
entries: John Thompson & Co. Wolf
Point
10 cad. dark tobacco, 219 lbs. 90 CSC
2 chests of teay ITO Ibs- "a ---4Oc
One Al ID. irkin butter @-..35c
l clothes wringer $50
2 lamps with shades @---2.0O
2 pair shoes 80
500 rim fire Al cal cartdgs.
Charges to other parties on the
same date:
2 lbs. of cheese 25c
2 lbs crackers a ---25c
2 Tbs. sausage "a -4Oc
"a yards Of prints @-.I0c
Shooting horses S 800
2 balls knitting cotton --15c
TO yards cashmere a --S1.25
l bottle Colgates perfumery ---..75c
1 h. ground coffee --. soc
l ID. candles.
I gallon of whiskey --.S4.5O
Captain PeaIey of the 2nd Cavalry,
bought himself a pair of "mocassin
pants" that set him back five plunks,
on December LIST, 1877. Jakey Writ,
who still lives at Poplar, invested in
two pounds of soap that cost him
only a quarter and a plug" of tobac-
co at 50 cents
Wood was used BY these river
freight boats and it took a lot of it.
To carry a supply of coal with them
would have meant too great a reduc-
ton in their mechandise cargo.
Wood vas taken on at frequent
points along the river, bought from
wood hawks"-men who made it
their business to cut wood and sell
it to the steamboats,. Not fnfrequent-
ly the woodlands were killed by In
dians and the boats would be disap-
pointed in not finding a supply at
points where they expected it.
The river captains and pilots of
those days were a distinguished and
honored class of men. There was a
fascination about their occupation
that bound them to it in most eases
for the term of their lives or until
old age put them on the retired list.
Mr. Cogswell recalls his acquaintance
and conversation with some of the
captains who stopped here
and who had been navigating this
part of the river back to the sixties
or still earlier.
Captain Massey told Mr.. Cogswell
that when he first came up the Mis-
souri, it was a good ways from its
present channel at this point, running
miles south, just under the
bluffs. Other of these river captains
whom old timers will recall were
Coulson and Captain
Grant Marsh. The latter, before his
death a few years ago, wrote a book
entitled Fifty Years on the Mis-
In the ummer of 1886, w. B.
Shaw bought the store of the t. C.
Power Company and on February II,
1891, Mr.. Cogswell became its pro-
He made annual trips east
and visited his former home in Michi-
gan. In 1889 Miss Alma Cogswell
her brother here, and in 81
she came out and made her home
here. But these events take us past
period that is replete with interest
big ranchers and their suces-
sive owners, the passing of the Vigil
under Cantrell, the many
unique characters of the times and
some of the incidents they recall, the
of the railroad-these all car
ry important roles in the changing
drama, and must not be overlooked.
CONTINUED Next Week