The Bozeman courier., 1926-06-18

trail to Montana, largely to the ex-
clusiOn of the more freQuented lines
of travel.
For time this way to the mines
was known as 1.-The Virginia City
road and "the BighOrn road" but
the original title for the man who
dared to defy the Indians, became
the accepted appellatiOn, hence,
the Bozeman trail.
During the month of July, 1854, /
one emigrant train consisting Of $50 /
wagons, 369 men, SO women, SCI
children, 636 oxen, 1914 cows, 79I
horses an da dozen mules, Of a val |
uatiOn of $13O,OOO, reached the gold |
fields over this forbidden path. In
vasiOn of even one caravan Of this
magnitude enraged the Indians to
hostile activity, for the penetration
of this, their land, meant the destruc-
ton of the wild game and the influx
and control by the whites. If fight it
must be, the country Of the Powder
river and it's minor streams was an
inviting battlefield.
In April, 1857, BOzeman, Tom
Cooper and others, on their way
down the Yellowstone, en- route to
Fort G. F. Smith, made a camp where
they encountered Indians who stole
man yOf their horses. The following
lday, April 18, after this attack,
while cooking the noon meal, five
Indians entered the camp elading the
stolen horses of the day before. Boze-
man, believing the Indians to be
friendly Crows, invited them to the
meal, when without warning, two
Indians shot BOzeman through the
body. COOVer escaped into the
bushes. The Indians stole the
horses and blankets but did not
scalp BOzeman. 1t was afterward
learned that these Indians were
Blackfeet, fugitives from their own
tribe on account of having killed one
of their chiefs, and that at this time,
they were living with the Crows.
Buried at BOzeman
According to Nelson Story, Sr.,
who caused a monument to be erect
ed in the Bozeman cemetery over the
grave of John M. BOzeman, a grave
that stands at the brow of a bluff
which the cemetery crowns, and OV-
eriOOking the beautiful city which
has grown up since BOzeman ushereC
reckless man and refused to see dan
ger ahead when the Indians came in
to his camp, though his cOmpaniOnl
warned him. He good naturedl!
2, set to cooking a meal for the redmen
is talking with them as he cooked
Suddenly an Indian from behind tn,
- shelter of the one to whom BOzemal
was talking, fired at BOzeman. TIL
i IL ! H. n-an
y ing him instantly. He was thirty
y two years old at the time Of hi
- death.
% Moutain Chief, according to MI
Story, was one of the renegad
Blackfeet, and he was seen at FOl
G.. +. Smith the next year by w.
Mckenzie who was a member of tn
BOzeman party at the time of tn
murder. Mckenzie asked the con
manding officer to put MOutai
Chief under arrest, but the office
according to McKenzie's narrative
Mr.. Story, feared the Indian would /
hanged and trouble would ensue, 6
he refused the request.
A newspaper correspondent wri
ing from Union City, Montana TIE
ritOry, October 21, 1857, a fe
months after the BOzeman murde
made this comment:
"The three murdereys of Colon
BOzeman came in and received the
annuities recently at Fort BentO
and bore their gifts straightWay
hostile camps. Two of them we
sons of a chief who processes to !
at peace with the whites. He do
the part Of diplomacy, while his so
and followers rob and butcher.
large portion Of the annuities I
ceived by this tribe go to those vi
are On the warpath; he shields t
fraud and aids the merciless enemy
Trail Precipitated Wars
The city of BOzeman was esta
A'O lished in 1864. Three years lat,
Fort Ellis, located about three mil
. east Of the city, was built to qua
the BOZeman pass which was with
ze- 16 miles of the ground CT thOusan
her Of hostile Indians to the east. A CO.
the mand of three companies of Unit
tin States troops was stationed at
lrt- fort.
Of The BOzeman trail brought
ind complications for the government.
ad, started at Fort SedgWick on
red North Plate, and then northwest