The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1922-02-09
JOSEPH GUlBERTS0M, SON OF A FIXING OF THE UPPER MISSOURI, ;"
TELLS OF FATHERS LAST TRIP AMONG THE MONTANA INDIANS

stirring times, he dwelt mostly in the
past with the ghosts of the old river
men.
My father is know best to those
who have read Montana history as
the builder of Fort Benton, that old
fur-trading outpost that later became
notable as the commercial head of
navigation on the Missouri during
the gold mining days, but he should
be better known as the man who for
nearly a decade, from 1888 to 1912,
had maintained a trading post in the
heart of the dangerous Blackfeet
country, on the Marias river, known
as Fort Mckenzie, and thus had made
possible the profitable Blackfeet
trade. 1t was the combination of his
courage and diplomacy there that
won for him the respect of the treach-
erous and hostile Blackfeet and a
place in the Northwest fur trade that
later gained for him a partnership in
the great American Fur Company.
That day as we stood at Poplar and
said farewell to n another we had
just returned from the last trip that
my father ever took through the In
dian country. We had started in the
spring of that year, 1879, from Pop
lar, with a Sioux Indian, White
Feather, up the Milk river to find
the camp of the Yanktonais Sioux,
who then were under the leadership
of Black Catfish, Black Horn and
several other chiefs. My father, who
was we'll up in the 70's, drove a team
of horses attached to a light spring
wagon, while White Feather and l
rode horseback. We travelled on the
north bank of the river until we came
to a point where the town of Hins-
dale now stands, where we forded.
My father got too far down stream
with his team and had to swim the
whole distance across, but fortunate
ly landed safely.
Here we thought of camping for
the night, but as the country was full
of war parties, we decided to pull
out for a safer place on Beaver creek,
where we made camp. Leaving my
father, White Feather and rode to
the top of a peak, where we could
look up Larb creek for a long dis
lance. W. as first saw nothing but
buffalo in small bands, quietly feed
ing, but suddenly discovered an In
dian on horseback coming along Larb
creek from the direction of the Mis-
souri, river. AS the rider was headed
directly for us, I suggested to White
Feather that we wait quietly and sur
prise him, as he might be a dangerous
Zoe. To our surprise, the supposed
warrior turned out to be a woman, a
half sister of Sitting Bull. She had
all the way alone from the
Yellowstone, hunting the Sioux camp.
She was dressed in buckskin, rode a
,quaw saddle and had a buckskin
saddle-bag, used for carrying her
God and extra moccasins. She was
'iding a fine buckskin horse, carried
flintlock gun and had two knives
n her belt. She was fifty yards from
is before she discovered us, and
urning her horse quickly, was about
O dash off when White Feather
houted to her in the Sioux tongue.
she swung her horse around again
nd was soon sitting beside us on the I
She told us about her jour
ley and we took her to our camp. i
White Feather told her that her rel Y
tives, whom she was seeking, were !
t Poplar Creek agency, so the next a
1orning she left for there. t
We took up the trail again and
hat day found the Yanktonais camp
here the town of Malta stands to- t
ay. When we arrived we found the @
amp in a turmoil, for the warriors +
f the band were fresh from a fight t
18th the Upper Assinniboines and il
ros Ventres, in which there had "
49,. I4@,-x - 1,-I1Ar -, l@+I 1nn / N
S we rode into the camp the scalp E
ance was in full swing, and it was p
stirring sight. While the dancers s.
ere performing their grotesque e
cps with frantic abandon, outside r.
lie circle of the dance the mourners d
n those killed in the fight were k
ailing, the women with their hair tt
off and their arms and legs S;
acked with knives. A great warrior b.
amed Bull Eagle had been slain. t