Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-12-06
PASSING OF JOHN f. BISHOP REMOVES
ANOTHER OF FAST THINNING PIONEERS

nearby, drove his cattle over also. One
day he went over to look for them and
did not return. Later on, when l was
looking for my cattle, / saw where some
thing heavy had been dragged into the
water and always thought hat someone
had killed the German n thrown his
body into the Missouri. A gambler, who
had been around with the German, and
who was said to be broke, was seen to
have money enough to pay his passage
down the river on the next boat and I
always thought he had murdered the
German.
One day, while we were lying in camp,
about a dozen buffalo came down the
bank on the opposite side of the river
and we all got our guns ready to shoot.
One young fellow was SO excited that he
jumped up and down and said, Now,
boys, keep STILL and every time he spoke
he jumped higher n yelled louder. The
buffalo took fright n ran back over
the bluffs and we didn't get q shot at
them.
indian Give Scare
when the BOAT finally arrived and
unloaded the freighters loaded up their
wagons and pulled out as soon as they
could to drive eight miles to Cow creek
to camp for the night. l was the last to
load and before l finished loading about
lAO SIOW 1AlQihiLS lOot up OA llltlI pOlllto,
They all had rifles and were pretty impu-
dent. My hair stood on end while they
were looking over my outfit. l think
they were looking for whisky and when
they found none they rode off. 1t was
nearly night and we worked as fast as
possible and hurried on in order to camp
with the other teams that night, fearing
the Indians would return and attack us
There were go wagons In the train and
Comm five pr civ hT1pdrod Poff1a
'One day two of the boys killed o
buffalo a long way from camp. Night
fell before they got the animal dressed
and they decided to stay where they
were until morning. 1t soon got pretty
chilly SO they took the green buffalo
hide, turned 1t hair side down ano
crawled under It,. They reported a good
nights sleep when they returned to camp
before breakfast next morning.
Mirage Gives Another
when we were within 40 miles OF
Fort Benton q man and his wife, whit
had shipped a horse and buggy on the
boa with them when they came up the
river, decided to leave the wagon trair
and drive into Benton that day. 1t would
take the train three days to cover the
distance as we went about 15 miles 6
day. When we had been out an hour
we saw the horse coming back down thu
road on the dead run, the man shout
ing, 'Indiansl Indians! Get your guns
ready to fightl' The wagon boss corrallec
the train and we got out our guns. VIZ
waited and waited but no Indians showed
up. Finally some of the boys started out
to reconnoYter. A mile or two up the
road they saw what had scared the cou
Pile. Ahead on a ridge was a prairie dos
town n on account Of a mirage, the
dogs sitting on their mound looked 81
tall as men on horseback. The tender
feet, as we called the couple, were sub
jected to considerable joking but in spite
of it,, stayed with the train after that
"As 1t was now too late In the day tx
hitch up the wagons and make a drive
to water the boys all went hunting. Be.
fore long q black bear was sighted in thu
brush near camp. The boys surrounded
the bear, some of them went into thu
brush to drive 1t out and the shooting
began. The bear brok through the cir
Gle and escaped into the hills with every
body firing at 1t.
Last chance Boom
I'VE arrived in Fort Benton Aug. A
and a few days later / sold my outfit
to /. G.. Baker & Co. for 81, 100 gold dust
Mr.. Baker loaded the wagons with frelgh'
and l took them to Helena and delivered
them to his agent there. l rolled up m.
bedding and extra clothes and left then
in a store and piled my cooking utensil
in the corner of q corral and felt like
homeless wanderer.
while l was there in Helena a mai
came In from Nelson gulch about 81,
miles from Helena with a nugget tina