Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-08-23

OF the Bitter Root valley and now a resi-
dent of Missoula. refused ownership Of
the entire Butte hill in 1865. Mr.. Lati-
mer came to the west, settling in Wash
ington in 1868, where he farmed for n
year. Later he went to British Columbia
and prospected for another year until, as
he termed 1T he went broke" He then
came to Montana, passed through what is
now Butte in 1855 n continued on to
Missoula.
Mr.. Latimer camped in Butte for a
week in '65 and as the Butte hill had not
then been claimed he could have claimed
1t. However, others also were refusing
ownership of the richest hill on earth"
because it had much copper but little or
10 gold. There we're a few itinerant
prospectors there at the time, Mr.. Lati-
mer explained. The stream was lined
with shrubs. willows and trees and in
summer many IN early day prospector,
lacking a tent, spent the night under
meath the willows of Silver Bow creek.
when I came here Montana had only
been a territory for three years. That
was in ST. On May 26, 1864, President
Lincoln signed the act that created Mon
tana territory out Of what had been the
northwestern section of Idaho and the
political situation here was in its in
fancy even three years later" narrated
j.. c. Steger of Hamilton, who came by
the river route from Kentucky.
Sidney Edgerton had been commits
stoned as temporary governor of the ter
ritory following his retirement from
, congress and his Job was to organize
the territory. He was later made the
first regular governor.
THE legislature was in session when l
got here. Sessions were only 40 days long
then. There was too much work to be
done on the ranches and in the mines to
permit of long sessions. Bannack was the
first capital of the territory. That was
before l came here and Virginia City
had been made the territorial capital
when l arrived. The territorial governor
got a salary Of $500 a year. In addi-
ton to being governor and territorial
head. the governor was commander In
chief of the militia and superintendent
of Indian affairs. Legislators got 81 a
day during legislative sessions and 81 for
each two miles they had to come to the
capitol"
when I came to Montana by way of
Council Bluffs in '65 we went up the
Platte to Bridger. I was new in this
country and at that time the indians
were raising plenty of trouble. There
had been skirmishes all through the
AtOShJ uNouAltdlA IOuAltly dllQ Wi1Sll L BOi
to Bridger the United States troops there
had enlisted a ompany of Grow Indians
to help fight the Sioux, Arapahoes I'M
Cheyennes," narrated Thomas Sheehy Of
Great Falls.
THE Crows were the finest appearing
men I have ever seen. They could ride
better thar cowboys; any one of then
could shoot as well as Jim Bridger, whom
I knew. n 1 sure was glad they were
with our troops instead of fighting
against them.
THE indian country around Bridgel
didn't appeal to me-, as l was interested
in mining, SO / went to Salt Lake anc
after prospecting In the Rockies for sew
eral years 1 came to Montana through
Alder gulch and settled" he said. "Bur
/ have always remembered that compan,
of Indian soldiers. They were manned
by white officers and the red-skinnet
troops were the best I have ever seen IL
any army"
Mike Canton of Butte is a member o.
the society, class of ST. II came up tn,
river to Fort Benton from Sioux City OF
the smallest boat that piled the stream
the Andrew Ashley" said Mike "Tha'
was In 1867. Injuns? Injuns?" he re.
peated. MY boy, l saw %, 900 Injuns a
Fort Buford in one bunch. They wer,
all Sioux, too. The number was esti
mated by n of our army officers.
III never forget when Little Phil
Sheridan came up the river on the Emil,
La Barge which got stuck on a sandbar
They were high and dry and in such
condition were subject to attacks by hos
tile savages. They sent for me over a
Buford and I went over and took Genera
Sheridan and his staff off. Next day thu
boat fioated down by itself. He was OF
an army inspection tour. Believe me
boy, / knew them all-ate with them
and drank with them, Meagher and al
the famous ones" Canton came t.
Butte and established the old Pittsmon
hotel where for years he was the leading
personality Of hat section of East Butte
The first telegraph line in Montani
took three years to build" according tx
Col. j. Allen of Columbus, who came tx
Montana in so by the river route. Col
Allen was an old-time Indian fighter. ="
remember its establishment here. 1t wa
built by Capt. Fred Ray. under the direc
ton OF the government signal service
The construction was completed befor
there were any railroads in the state ant