The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-05-01
SEVENTY YEAR OLD
DIARY UNEARTHED
RECORD OF DAILY DOINGS AT
FORT SARPY BY JAMES
I'll. CHAMBERS
Winter of 1855 Was Mild, and Came
Late in January; Fort Was Con-
stantly Crowded With Hungry
Indians; Indian Wars.


One of the coIorful histories of
early days of Montana, a document
that obviously never was intended
for publication, is the diary of
James III. Chambers, a copy of
which is in possession of the Mon
tana historical library. Chambers
wrote his diary over a period of
years, the fifth being started on
New Years day, 1855, at Fort
Sarpy, Montana. The language he
employed and the candor with
which he expressed himself and
the nakedness of his expressions
of opinions of others prove con-
clusively that he had no idea that
his writings would ever see the in
side of a print shop.
1t would be we'll for the gentle
reader to be prepared to skip sudden
ly entire paragraphs and pages, yet
in between such passages are set
down picturesque descriptions of life
in the territory that afterward be-
came Montana.
Part of Diary
Here is part of the entry for Jan.
1, 1855:
Here we have a new year upon us.
God grant that it may be a prosper
GUS one; not only to the natives of
the prairies but the white men that
are in this country, as also all others.
"Our little band of brothers are
celebrating the day with a vengeance.
They are cooped up in the fort wait
ing for the Dawes heads party to
start and be killed and captured by
the Sioux"
Continuing the writer makes it
plain that the party hal had been
guests at the fort and who were
about to leave at the risk of their
lives, were Crow Indians, who great
ly feared the Sioux. Chambers at
times expressed considerable con-
tempt for the Crows, calling them
towards, loafers and thieves. He de-
clared that they were the worst of
of the begging tribes and he saw in
them no virtues at all.
"Six Ca Blackfeet Indian) asserts
that a Crow can smell coffee five
miles" wrote the keeper of the diary,
who then expressed indignation be-
cause the cook at the fort had de-
clined to start the noon meal until
another party of visitors which had
departed had gotten six miles away
from the camp. If the departing
should smell coffee, he in
ferred, they would abandon their
march to war and return to the fort.
A Mild Winter
The winter of 1855 seemingly was
On the first day of the year
wrote, $50 far we have had
snow and but a few cold days
still open but think it may
up tonight"
Chambers frequently took to task
IN his diary, the officer in charge I
IF the fort because of his generous j
feeding of the begging Indian tribes. {
On the 18th of January that year t
after having complained of the loaf /
ng Indians about the fort for a week 6
previous, he contented himself with {
his terse entry: Saturday, January
L3-Hardly room to breathe. oh! t
rou pests" Fort full of Indians" T
vas his frequent plant. I
Slang phrases that were popular in
dontana in 1856 were not 81 numer- h
us as the expressions of today but +
here was one phrase hat appears t
eyeral times in Chambers writings s
dlSO Ill dnOLhCl Qlaiy VI iO6 pOOh 11
hat was kept at Fort Benton about Ii
he same time, author unknown. This
yas "You can take my hat" =
The diary shows that winter "came =
t last on January 81 but that Feb. h
was "a beautiful day" and the ice =
roke in the river again on Febru- q
z. =,
''The Crows and Blackfeet were h
litter and constant enemies and =
lere was almost perpetual war be- =
veen other tribes, among which :,
ere the Piegans, Bloods, and Nez ~
erces. The Indians seldom bother =,
l the whites except to steal their ~
othing and horses but the writer -
Ills of seeing a squaw killed and :
aalped just at shutdown by a hostile !,
ldian band a few rods away from bte
fort. co
-O-