The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1927-04-15

the team ashore and dragged logs aboard
with the oxen. Then the boat swung out
into the channel again and the crew cut
the wood up with the mill.
The 'sTacOny"
Some of the most thrilling stories OF plO-
neer days have had 70 Go with
traffic on the big Muddy" and one OF
these was graphically related a few years
ago by Colonel William r. Norris, who was
a former army scout under General Custer
and for many years a we'll known tracer az
Fort Claggett at the mouth or JUDITH river.
In 1869, says Colonel Norris, low water
on the Missouri was experienced somewhat
early, and a steamer, the TacOny, DOunQ
for Fort Benton from st. Louis was IOrced
to stop at Fort Peck, an early-day trading
post on the north bank Of the Missouri,
opposite the mouth Of the Big Dry. This
Fort Peck should not be eongused with
the Indian agency established at the mouth
Of the Poplar river, also known later as
It happened that Colonel Norris was in
Helena in the fall Of 1869, when word was
received by United States Marshal William
F. Wheeler that the TacOny had been
seized by it's crew in payment Tor their
wages, and subsequent action by the own
ers required the boat to be taken into the
possession of the federal marshal. COlOnel
Norris was deputiZed for this work. lie
bought a black saddle mare at Helena to
make the trip with, and with his warrant
and the necessary attachment papers, SCI
out on his long ride of several hundred
miles.
By the time he reached Fort Benton the
going was extremely bad on account OF a
surface of ice along the trail, caused by
thawing and freezing after early SHOWS, Dut
he kent on going until he reached the
mouth Of the Musselshell, where he left
his mare and decided to finish his journey
in a light skin. The river was IunhIng
| slush ice, making progress dangerous anO
/ difficult, but he managed to keep gOlne
until he ran onto a big upstream snag
against which his craft stuck fast.
Colonel Norris was in a precarious con.
dition. He had little or no food and would
| soon freeze to death if he remained on the
river. while he found that he could not gel
his boat loose and push it around the snag
against which a lot OF Ice mad drlIteq
After many efforts he was forced to clint
onto the snag, holding to the boats rOap
and at length managed to pull the poa'
back into an eddy behind the snag. Th'
: current, however, had pushed the boat NJ
on one side until water had half filled 1t
His only hope was to get into the partl!
l submerged boat and try to get ashore, ant
, this he succeeded in doing, although no
2 until a box containing his deputy mar
shals warrant, his other papers and HI
! matched had gone overheard and Wer
swept down stream. He managed to saw
his rifle and a package Of tobacco an
e his pipe which he had in his coat pocket
i In Desperate Situation
On reaching shore, he found himself IN
desperate situation. Without food or nr
wet to the skin and with his clothes frozeI
- / He ndu Tic UELNCA pat " AAAA~1 =
!, travel through a hostile Indian country be
a fore reaching Fort Peck. His immediat
u need was a fire. for unless he could DIR
q his clOthing-and particularly his mOccS
q sins-he could not hope to get far. He h@
d ured that he had one chance, and that Ia
in being able to find a good sized log tni
had rOtted inside and was dry enough
g make good finder. By good luck he di
, covered just such a log, and poking II
barrel of his rife into it he shot three tim'
/ in rapid succession. The fame from Il
black powder set fire to the rotten WOO
and on scraping it out he found embel
u that he was able to blow into a flame. /
q spent the night beside a roaring fire, DIR,
ing his garments and his mOccasins, an
a then set out for Fort Peck as fast as ]
could travel, his hunger appeased on
with numerous cigarettes that he rolled.
At nightfan he calculated that ne ha
made half Of the distance, and finding
D convenient cOulee and another rotten 10
~ repeated his experiment of the day befO
le and again slept beside a fire. At daybre9
~ he started out again and before night
10 reached the post.
An old man, Farwell, was in charge
u the post, and to him Colonel Norris e,
o planned his predicament; he had been cor
&C missiOned to take charge Of the steambO
but had lost his papers. What was he
G do?
y Judgment, which was to go to the man
- charge of the boat and by force, II nece
- sary, take possession. He learned that t
- aptain had gone down the river leaving
~ Waterman in charge of the vessel. III
~ Waterman, it appeared, had been under /
structiOns to set fire to the craft with
NJ view to the owners getting the insurant
=. Some of the crew, however, caught t
fireman in the act and shot him, .inhicti
1o a slight wound. The boats engineer h
~ then taken possession in behalf Of t
crew, the members of which had not be
H. paid of.